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Artist : Mariclee (twitter / IG)

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Artist : @haramibara

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Artist : 榧野ぐら

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Flowers - Le volume sur printemps

Amour et les fleurs ne durent qu'un printemps

Flowers is a series of visual novels immersing us in the daily lives of young female students at a Catholic school where friendship and love collide. We follow the shy Suoh, freshly arrived in this new school, whose objective is to make friends and try to detach herself from her traumatic childhood. This springtime introduction is full of sweetness and poetry, but I still felt that certain aspects were still a bit in the bud state.

❤ The aesthetic of the game is really well done, whether for the menu, the illustrations, the sprites or even the text window. It's flowery, soft and cute, and totally in tune with the calm and romantic atmosphere of the story. ❤ Beneath its air of innocence and purity, the game tackles some fairly sensitive subjects, such as psychological abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and neglect… but remains very modest in its approach. Also, in terms of its girl's love theme, I liked the fact that the character asked herself questions about her sexuality and that it wasn't something she immediately assumed. Her reflections on the fine line that can exist between love between friends or a deeper love were, in my opinion, very relatable subjects, especially for a character of that age. ❤ I think the development of the main character is very well carried out. She gradually opens up to the world around her, her dialogues become less indecisive and we gradually feel her more relaxed in her relationships with others. We don't get rid of her shyness, which is an integral part of her personality, but we do see Suoh gain in confidence and self-assurance. I've seen far too many media where the shy side of a character's character was quickly erased in favor of their development, as if it were something to be ‘’fixed‘’, so I was reassured that this wasn't the case here. ❤ The secondary characters are all very engaging (more so than the love interests, which is a bit of a shame) and add a lot of dynamism to the life of this school. A special mention goes to Erika (who's supposed to be the focus of another episode, bless), who has the best affinity with the heroine, and who clearly should have been a love interest (or at least earned the status of best friend, because frankly, she's the best).

+/- The music played by the strings and piano is perfect for accompanying the scenes, but there isn't much of it. One particular piece of music takes up 80% of the sound space and although it is long and beautiful to the ear, the musical redundancy is often felt. I also think there's a problem with the sound balance, as I had to turn the volume of the soundtrack down as low as possible to get the best out of the voices of the dubbing actresses, who interpret their roles very well, and it would have been a shame not to appreciate them more. +/- The story is easy to follow and plays out like a slice of life, with little episodes from the daily lives of these teenagers. Personally, I liked this approach, but some might criticise the lack of more intimate moments with the LIs. On the other hand, I found the last 2 chapters almost inconsistent; relationships suddenly rush in, and the attitude of one of the main characters changes drastically to the point of becoming toxic, with no real transition and no consequences at the end. It's quite confusing, and I was even put off playing this character's route after those events (because, on top of that, the route only unlocks after you've finished the ‘true end’, something that's never made clear). You should also bear in mind that the ‘true end’ is not really a happy ending either which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth once you've finished the whole game. It's a daring decision but one I didn't really like.

✖ At times, Suoh lends herself to games of deduction in which you have to pay attention to small details to solve enigmatic situations (otherwise, it's game over). The problem is that these ‘investigations’ are extremely difficult, as they either involve word games based on kanji that are not translated, or require highly specialized knowledge that is never mentioned in the story. So it's almost essential to take a guide with you… ✖ I don't usually pay too much attention to the cliché of femininity in Japanese games (which doesn't necessarily bother me) but here, it was over-emphasized at times with some rather embarrassing remarks; girls outside the norm of gentleness/politeness are called tomboys, the emphasis is often on the heroine's larger breasts, which make her seem more ‘feminine’ than the others, and too many categories are put on what it means to be a ‘real girl’. The game isn't that old (2014), but it feels that way :/ ✖ There's a lot of typo in the English translation, with mixed-up letters and repeated lines of dialogue. I was even given white text on a white background - genius!

It's a pretty good first part, in my opinion, although it's a bit frustrating in terms of its conclusion, which I think will encourage us to get on with the sequel. I've also heard that the following games are much better and focus more on the secondary characters, which makes me all the more intrigued. In any case, if you like your romances flourishing against a backdrop of slices of life, your spring will surely be more radiant.

➡ My personal VN ranking (in french) ➡ My Steam page

Today is a good day (;v;) <3 I participated to a fundraising some months ago to have a french color version of the mdzs manhua + some goodies in bonus but most of all....A TRANSLATED VERSION OF THE UNTAMED ARTBOOK////////////// I feel so spoiled right now <3333333333