Title: そして明日の世界より―
Developer: etude
Release Date: 22nd November 2007
Age Rating: 18+
Length: 20+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
Ashiya Subaru has spent his life growing up on a small, remote island off the coast of Japan. Whilst they may lack some modern conveniences, the islanders make up for it with a real sense of community in their own little corner of the world. Subaru spends his peaceful days going to school with his childhood friends and classmates and then spending his afternoons helping an old friend in the lush mountains of the island. Like clockwork, every day continued seamlessly on these lazy summer days.
However, nothing can last forever and the world of Subaru and his friends comes crashing to a halt when they learn that a meteor will strike the earth in three months bringing destruction not experienced in millions of years. Faced with the possibility of their own morality and losing everything around them, Subaru and the islanders must try and find a way to come to terms with the current situation. Beginning now, is the exceptional story of two weeks or so.
My Thoughts
Soshite Ashita no Sekai yori (Asuseka) is a really intriguing game because (unlike most plot heavy titles) it tells you in the very synopsis what to expect from the game’s story. To me this is a good thing because it allows potential readers to make an informed decision on whether or not this is the kind of game you would want to play from the start, which I appreciate. I personally found the premise of Asuseka intriguing amongst the sea of moege on my backlog so have been meaning to play it for quite some time. Did it manage to deliver on the storyline promised?
I must say that overall, the story and the character interactions were one of the strongest areas of Asuseka. This game is a very unique take on the “traditional” apocalypse story and instead goes for more of a sombre, human approach forgoing the typical sci-fi or action aspects typically involved. I found this to be actually a good way of telling the game’s morals – it’s about quality of time not quantity and about how to feel as though you’ve left your mark on the world. Watching Subaru and the heroines throughout the story was incredibly heart wrenching but the game has a weirdly calming feeling despite (objectively) being sad/depressing as hell. I must say that my anxiety-ridden self did spend a few sleepless nights wondering just what I would do if I was in the same situation which was probably the sign of a good and thoughtful story.
The game takes its time building the cozy and comfy atmosphere of the island in the early common route and does an amazing job – I know that I was jealous my childhood wasn’t spent like Subaru’s at points! I think that this is in part due to the fact that there is only a small cast of characters but all of them had some depth. Unusually for eroge, Subaru’s parents are present and actually play a decently big part in the game, which was something I liked – the game does a good job with the family bond in particular.
Moving onto the four heroines and the majority (3/4) are childhood friends of Subaru so if that’s your thing you’ll appreciate them. Asahi and Yuuhi are sisters who have lived next door to Subaru since they were children and Aoba is a tomboy who Subaru considers his best friend. The final heroine is Minami – a transfer student to their class and is has some health issues. Whilst the game did generally do a good job with the routes, I did have a couple of small complaints.
Starting with Yuuhi and she exudes “main heroine” vibes – after the death of her mother some years ago she became extremely close to Subaru and is very rarely parted from him. However, their relationship is more sibling-like or parental than romantic at the beginning so that is what much of her route focuses on. Whilst it can be frustrating at times (and with one uncomfortable scene), this is overall a pretty good route and I actually still liked her at this time so that helped.
After reading Yuuhi’s route it can be frustrating to then move onto her older sister Asahi because the latter always seems to put the happines of others before herself, which is just heartbreaking. Similarly to Subaru, Asahi has taken on a more motherly role for Yuuhi after their mother’s death so cares for her more than the typical sister. The whole “love triangle” was awkward and I don’t really feel like it was solved well – I feel like Asahi got a bit shafted overall and was disappointed with this route even though I can kind of understand the reasoning.
Moving onto Aoba and this route definitely went in a direction that I wasn’t expecting but it made sense in the end and there were definitely some touching scenes. This route wasn’t my favourite but it wasn’t bad either. It probably didn’t help that I preferred Aoba as a friend character rather tha a heroine, which sounds mean when I write it out (sorry!).
Finally we have Minami – the girl who moved to the island mere months before the story begins. She exudes an aura of mystery and is quite enigmatic. I enjoyed her route as it was a little different to the others and Minami herself is extremely likable.
Once you finish the heroine routes, there is a true ending. It’s not too long but it is extremely emotive, ends the game nicely and left me in a puddle of tears. What more do you want from this kind of title?
Asuseka’s production values were pretty high, especially considering that this is a title from 2007. I was particularly impressed with the artwork from Ueda Ryou – all of the CGs were really very beautiful and looked better than some much more modern games. The background artwork was also to a similarly high standard.
The music in Asuseka was also very nice, with the BGM fitting the mood of the scene and being very high standard. I enjoyed the vocal songs also.
Final Thoughts
My Score: 8.5/10
Whilst I may have had some small issues (particularly with Asahi’s route), Asuseka is overall a very accomplished game that sets out to tell a story and does it well with generally likable characters and gorgeous artwork. I was impressed that the game managed to keep the story relatively grounded despite the subject manner and the emotions expressed felt fairly real. I’d just advise anyone playing to keep a box of tissues close because you will likely cry playing this.
This was my first experience with etude but I actually bought their aniversary box with all four of their games included so will get around to them at some point – if they’re anything close to this good I’ll be happy!
Thanks for reading!
Zettai Renai! 