Prologue
Nayuki’s route starts as soon as the VN starts, Yuichi teasing her, being and overall dick, not knowing he’s actually really worrying the girl who’s genuinely afraid he’s completely forgotten her. That’s an opening scene right there, immediately tying into one of the last scenes of a route while also properly establishing itself as an opening scene. My dick is frankly rock solid.
January 8th
“Hey bro do you remember this path hey bro you haven’t just known me for a few days HEY BRO REMEMBER?”
Nayuki fishing asap and hard for Yuichi to remember things.
January 19th
“Feels like a date to me EY LUICHI?” “Feels like siblings to me”
Wheeeeeee. Nayuki making him buy something for her because that’s what you d-d-do on a d-d-dato, Nayuki really is good at this subtle implication thing. Yuichi is also great at not noticing it at all.
January 21st
That said ‘you probably forgot because you were sad wink’ is the subtle starting to loosen up, going for a more direct assault, directly provoking a memory, probably because she’s too tired to give a shit.
January 22nd
Kitaaaaaaaaa, for a Nayuki only playthough, this day marks the debut of the wonderful Fuyu no Hanabi(Winter Fireworks), this music is a special little thing, generally linked only to flashbacks, although the scene itself is entirely in the present, you’d think it seems out of place, but the snow bunny is incredibly important to the past between these two, being present when they last saw each other. To Yuichi, and first time players, the scene and music with it might not seem like much, but when you’ve got the full picture, the music playing here is a fantastic nod and very subtle foreshadowing to thinks to come.
Not done with new music this day however, as the couple step onto the balcony for the first playing of Kaze o matta hi(The Day I Waited For The Wind), the atmosphere of this scene is fantastic, the dark blue colours, the dramatic slow music, it is ill fitting for the extremely casual conversation the two are having, but the combination of it and the atmosphere makes it feel like so much more.
But this is the day that keeps on giving, and rightly so, at this point there is no turning back, you’re in Nayuki’s route. Winter Fireworks comes out once again for it’s true purpose, a flashback scene. The sketchy CG being the only image is great, it invokes seeing the memory from Yuichi’s eyes, as Nayuki patters on about snow bunnies, before she finally gets to the point with ASA DAYOOOOO
(From this point onward, I will no longer mention dates, we’re in Nayuki’s route)
Nayuki’s horoscope tells her her luck will be bad for the next week. I concur. Her mom getting hit by a car is pretty shit luck.
The next balcony scene is once again wonderful, Yuichi pretending he’s Tomoya and hating the town, the snow, while Nayuki tells him upfront that she loves these things. And then Yuichi tells himself upfront that he loves this narcoleptic girl. And this is where the extremely short routes of Kanon rears its head, maybe people, myself included, would think that this is too early for a bombshell like that.
Damned if it isn’t good to have that followed by Nayuki saying the same thing in the flash back immediately after though. Too bad Yuichi is a fucking savage and smashes the shit out of her bunny, and feelings. It’s with the full flashback you realize how horrible his teasing is in the Prologue, how her last memory of the guy is him ignoring her and killing her bunny, and he comes back only to pretend he doesn’t even know her name.
The conffespologize is good shit, but better is the next balcony scene, with the music finally really suiting the content of the scene, and Nayuki’s laughably weak requests for Ichigo Sundaes to make up for it. It’s true to the simple nature of the character while also supporting how she does love him enough to not be mad for 7 years of nothing.
OOPS H-SCENE. The H-scenes of this game are a magical thing, they’re absolutely hilarious, I choose to always play some more fitting music over them, the theme for this playthough will be Metal Gear Rising Revengence music, the track for Nayuki’s H-scene I have chosen to be Collective Consciousness. Some of my favorite quotes from this one are:
“AY YO NAYUKI GET NAKED” “BUY ME FOOD” “K SURE” “AIGHT”.
“I want to replace the pain I’ve caused her all these years(with my dick)”
Nobody is going to say the having Nayuki quote the alarm clock scene is top tier stuff. Shortly followed by Yuichi calling her fat.
Hello Ayu what are you doing here this is Nayuki’s route I’ll get to you later.
We need some despair, lets hit mom with a car. The scenes following this are good, Toudo Kougen playing as Yuichi just kind of lives though his day, and the realization that Nayuki actually broke the day after, leading up to Yuichi entering her room.
“…do miracles happen, Yuichi?”
He doesn’t answer this question, she doesn’t even press him for an answer, but it reeks of Kanon. All references to miracles in this route so far have been in reference to Nayuki getting up early, someone she’s always dismissed as not a miracle in the slightest. But when a real miracle is needed, Yuichi can’t even think of a sentence. Not right away.
The last day begins and oh baby is it good, deliberately invoking that glorious prologue, the skys which had been clear for the past two days are thick with snow, Yume no Ato plays for the first time in a long while, the scene is the same. The parallel is wonderful, someone up there mentioned how Kanon likes to repeat(I’ve found my time short as of late, I’ve not been able to full read all the posts of this thread) and this is yet another example of that, for the big finale scene to so deliberately and effectively invoke the very first scene is fantastic.
The glorious Alarm Clock that’s been with us the entire game saves the day, it’s very interesting that Yuichi ends up saying he can’t do miracles, going back on the absolute certainty he told Nayuki that Akiko would get better, and instead focusing on what if she doesn’t, focusing on being a reason for Nayuki to smile again. Kanon may truly be a story of miracles, but this route certainly supports that even if you need one, you can go on if it doesn’t happen.
Nayuki Epilogue
Umaretate no Kaze(A Newborn Wind) is some good stuff, I don’t believe it shows up anywhere but Epilogues, and of course, being remix of the ED theme it shouldn’t have to, the Kanon soundtrack I find, while weaker than a lot of other Key stuff, is certainly fantastically used in game. Yuichi makes one last reference to miracles, with him examples being such simple things like Nayuki’s smile. Stuff like that makes Nayuki the perfect starting route, the miracles are simple, and the route heavily invokes the first scene.
Nayuki’s Character
Nayuki is wonderful, the dozy cheerful ditz is generally a good character, her personality shines extremely strong but despite all that, she’s incredibly simple. Along with it’s Atmosphere another thing Kanon really shines at is it’s Character and Nayuki is a great example of that. The route is much like her character, it’s extremely barebones and basic. Unfortunately this does have it’s flaws, because I have nothing more to say about Nayuki.
Akiko’s Character
Good Morning Yuichi-san.
Akiko is extreeeemely bare in the VN and I know you guys have had a bit of a fussle and bussle over her up there. Akiko is simple and likable, much like her daughter, unfortunately she lacks the screentime to truly be any more than that.
Overall
As I said in Nayuki’s Character, the route is extremely simple and barebones, focusing more on the character interactions than any ongoing situation, the drama is a 15 minute ride at the end at best, while it suits Nayuki, and like I said, makes it a fantastic first route, I do think it leaves a lot to be desired as a story in general. I do like it but ultimately it’s just never been a huge thing to me.
Sorry for the fairly bare post and lack of responding to anyone, you guys have said a lot of things I’d want to say because I’m so behind and lacking in time hopefully I can bring more to future route discussions.