Doujin game: Himawari
Himawari is a Science fiction ADV doujin game by blank-note that was released at the end of 2007 during the winter comiket.
I originally bought the game during the last comiket but I threw it in the pile of doujin games that I’ll never actually get around to because the game description of “ADV game about living with loli aliens” made it sound like a chara moe game which isn’t my kind of thing.
But after seeing raving review after raving review for the past 5 months, to the point where one blog said it was as good as Higurashi or Tsukihime, I decided I had to try the game out.
The game takes place in 2050 and the protagonist is Hinata Youichi who had lost all his memories having been the only survivor in a space plane crash that happened 2 years ago. He meets this girl with mysterious powers called Aries who crash lands on Earth in a space craft, losing all her memories too in the crash landing.
The quality of the game is excellent, although the event CGs are slightly lacking, it’s definitely not of inferior quality as a whole even when compared to the commercial games that are out in the market being sold for 8 times the selling price.
The story is constructed in the way that is as if the writer threw a bunch of puzzle pieces scattered across the ground and keeps the reader interested as he slowly puts the pieces together piece by piece to reveal the entire picture, as opposed to having a huge surprise near the end like in Sharin no kuni.
I originally felt disappointed when I reached the end and saw the first ending feeling that it was only average, but the 2nd playthrough completely changed my thoughts on the game, and next I knew it I couldn’t stop reading till I completely finished the game.
Apparently the game has been repeatedly selling out in the doujin stores and they had to keep ordering new stock, which is kindaaa rare for doujin stuff. Maybe Himawari will become the new doujin boom! But that’s a really really big maybe.
I’d definitely recommend the game to people who’re hungry for games that have strong scenarios, and at only 1000 yen and approximately 20 hours to finish the game, it’s pretty easy to pick it up for a quick go.
