RetroRainbow said:
Surprisingly, when I finally got around to playing it, it wasn't gory enough.
Yeah, it wasn't especially graphic. I don't think it really needed to be, though, as the way the story played out was disconcerting enough. But in a good way! I'd venture to say it was more suspsenceful and intense than any anime horror I've seen (aside from the first arc of Higuarashi perhaps). The music certainly played a big part. One track I'll always remember is that sickening, grinding industrial track with the dissonant guitar, which seems to represent the descent into madness of various characters.
What was your favourite ending? I personally liked the one where Koji goes insane. There was something oddly surreal about a dazed Koji offering an imaginary Ryoko with her arm falling off a cup of tea. Deliciously dark at the end with the thing about the bullets in the gun, too.
That was the first ending I got and at first I remember thinking "what the hell"? But shortly afterwards I stopped being dense and realized what was happening and, yeah, I loved the dark twist at the very end. In my typically indecisive way I'm not able to pick a favourite, but I liked the "true" ending where
Saya found love and regained her instinctive drive to reproduce, releasing her spores and transforming humanity into her kind. It's a testament to the strength of the writing that I wanted Saya and Fujimori--characters who did some nasty things--to be together even if it meant the end of the world... the one we know, at least.
The so-called "good" ending, where
Fujimori chooses to return to normal and Saya selflessly grants his wish, was the most emotive. The conversation they had via the mobile phone was heartbreaking, total emotional devastation.... excusemeIhavesomethinginmyeye
It wasn't really the length that killed me about Kirakira, it was actually the translation. Incredibly awkward, and totally took away from the feel of the story.
Ah yes, MangaGamer's translations. Apparently Shuffle and Suika are better, but I'm not interested in either of those, so I'll have to wait until Soul Link to see if there's been the major improvement that their translation work really needs. KiraKira's writing was a lot better than the writing in their early games, which were just about comprehensible, but still, I can't imagine it was translated by a native speaker. Too many glaringly obvious grammar and syntax errors. And I can't believe they messed up with the music references! The scenario writer clearly has a lot of love for punk/post punk/new wave, but it's not shared by whoever did the translation.
