Kara no Shoujo: A Visual Novel to Die For

Player(s): 1
Platforms: PC

I was really surprised by Kara no Shoujo. ​For someone who never had an interest in visual novels, I have been enlightened. So let me shed some of that light on you.

Warning; this game contains blood, gore, nudity, and other adult themes.

Kara No Shoujo: The Girl in the Shell, takes place in 1956, a time when “a series of bizarre murders rocks the city of Tokyo.” The story revolves around Tokisaka Reiji, an ex-cop, private detective who dives into these mysterious murders as they resemble the same case of his murdered fiancé six years ago. However, the people disappearing now are young high school students, and the bodies discovered are in horrifying conditions. In order to discover the truth and find the killer, Tokisaka Reiji assumes the role of a part-time teacher at his younger sister’s school. Tsukasa Reiji has also picked up a peculiar case from Touko Kuchiki, a student from the same academy as his sister. Touko asks you to find herself, her true self, and in doing so, Tsukasa Reiji finds out more about himself as well. While discovering new facts and theories to the murders, he builds a strong relationship with many of the people he meets. But like day and night, not all relationships last...

Like all visual novels, Kara No Shoujo goes through numerous chapters with prompts that will decide your destiny. But you are Private Eye Detective Tsukasa Reiji, doing more than deciding who to fall in love with. You need to determine evidence that will lead you to the killer. Pick places to either take a break or continue working hard on the case. Whether it’s something small or big, each decision could lead you to an early bad ending.

The game features voice acting making it more personal as each character’s voice truly represents who they are. Each interaction sets me on a different emotion making me just a mess at certain points of the game and even when I hate some of them, I can’t help but love their portrayals. The C.G. collection is fantastic and the background scenes make me feel the same tension I should be feeling during the chapter. When you combine these great voice actors, visuals, and musical accompaniment, it turns into something so passionate, so real that I forget the main objective of Tsukasa Reiji and fall into bliss. If only I could have saved HER...

Just like the characters in Kara No Shoujo, this visual novel is not without sin. Certain parts of the visual novel can be slow and, although I did not succumb to the unconscious click-skipping, I did not feel as invested. I had a difficult time in the first couple chapters because I was not making the right decisions and I kept getting the same bad ending. Some choices are obvious answers to the story but there are so many combinations of decisions, it became difficult keeping track of my current story which led me to many downfalls. The numerous save slots for the game were helpful, but difficult to remember where I left off or where to start for a different ending. And knowing there were different endings did not help me as I attempted to save those that died which would ultimately lead to one of many bad endings. 

This game had me thrilled! I paid for the whole seat but all I needed was the edge! If you enjoy beautiful art, incredible voice acting, wonderful visuals, mystery, romance, or just plain love Innocent Grey’s visual novels, then this is the game for you. Take up Kara no Shoujo and see if you can crack these mysterious murders.

-Jordan

For more On Kara no Shoujo or if you'd like to pick it up, be sure to visit MangaGamer's site!
KARA NO SHOUJO MANGAGAMER PAGE!

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Story: A
Art: B+
Sound: B+
Value: A
 
OVERALL: A
 
Pros:
+ Fantastic mystery
+ Great voice acting
+ Wonderful art
 
Cons:
- Slow-paced scenes
- Relentless punishment for simple decisions
- Confusing save mechanic and skip feature

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Disclaimer: This game was provided to us by the publisher for the purpose of this review.