Released way back in 2006, the Sono Hanabira franchise has gained legendary status among the yuri fan community and for good reason! While yuri existed in hentai visual novels before most of the time they were mixed in with materials that more often than not, yuri fans wish weren't mixed in with there yuri, myself included. Then along came the very first game in the ground-breaking Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo franchise and it ushered in a new era of pure yuri visual novels, with Sono Hanabira at the head of the pack! :D
The first game in the franchise follows young first year, Nanami Oda, as she enters the prestigious St. Michael's School for Girls(despite her meh school scores :P). On her first day she meets the extremely beautiful and popular second year, Yuna Matsubara. After the fateful meeting, Nanami makes every attempt to be near Yuna, even going so far as to join Yuna on the schools Environmental Protection Committee to be near her. But after an odd turn of events, Nanami and Yuna are swept into a fun, loving and awesomely perverted whirlwind romance! :D Part of the appeal of Sono Hana are the characters who are cute, beutiful, funny, interesting and awesomely weird often at the same time! Nanami and Yuna fit all those descriptions and the love they have for each other is one of the franchise's best! Nanami fits well into the cute average first year category who's sense of right and wrong and common sence are a perfect balance to Yuna's random perverted nature. Yuna however steals the show with her very weird and very perverted tendencies in regards to Nanami. Her antics(ranging from trying to get sex from Nanami during school to tricking Nanami into becoming the aggressor) provide good laughs throughout! The passionate romance between these two opposites is just what the yuri doctor ordered! :D
Nanami Oda(fucking CUTE!)
Yuna Matsubara(fucking HOT!)
Being a visual novel on the PC, one may think there is some sort of gameplay element to Sono Hana. Well....there isn't really. Visual Novels are more like slightly interactive manga but with color images and voice acting. The most interaction you have is setting the sound, graphics and music volumes to your liking, saving your progress, as well as simply clicking to see the next part of the conversations and progressing through the story. There are instances where you can make some very basic choices. These choice moments won't have any impact on the outcome of the story whatsoever but by picking the right thing you can extend the story a bit by leading to more yuri romance scenes. Nothing fancy or deep at all but for what it is it gets the job done.
The art and sound direction to Sono Hana is simply amazing! The art is very soft and beautifully detailed and is a true joy to look at! There is a reason why the game has a gallery for several of the images seen in the story! Background images are highly detailed and fit really well with the characters. The girls themselves look simply beautiful! The soft look of the girls and the tenderness into the love scenes really sells the romance between these two cuties! Often times you may find yourself just sitting there and looking at the art(though you will most likely be looking at the sex scenes more :P)!Likewise the sound does a really good job of helping to bring the world of Sono Hana to life! The music is very catchy and fun to listen to, even if it does tend to repeat way too often. Maybe more tunes could have been added for greater diversity. The voice acting for the girls is simply amazing! The voice actresses did an amazing job bringing there characters to life, and the voices fit the personality of the girls very well! The writing of the game is also pretty good but at times there can be some cheesy lines. The important moments are well written and the lines fit the personalities of the girls well. A lot of the cute and random moments also have some good lines of dialogue to them but sometimes the things that are said in other parts may make you chuckle with the cheesiness of it all! Though for me that chesse adds some charm to the game and the series overall! :P
Simply put, Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo is one of the greatest things to ever happen to yuri and the first game in the franchise really helped to establish that popularity! Great yuri romance, fun and cute girls, amazing art and sound all combine to make Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo a truly MUST own for fans of yuri the world over! The fan translations that have been done for this game are very well done and you shouldnt wait to download the game and English patch for it! If you even consider yourself a lover of yuri in the slightest, stop wasting time and go buy/download this game! :)
Damn, Nanami has some perverted thoughts too! :D
Fuuuuuck...the cuteness is too much!
Yuna has no self control....awesome!
Guess Nanami can't control herself either! *drools
*drools and bleeds from nose
Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo score: 10/10
