Genre: Casual
Developer: Innocent Grey
Publisher: JAST USA
Release Date: Jul 15, 2018
Edited by KnightAvenger
Flowers -Le volume sur été- (a.k.a. “Flowers 2”) is the sequel to the yuri visual novel, Flowers -Le volume sur printemps-. It is developed by Innocent Grey and published on Steam (and its store) by JAST USA.
Flowers 2 is set in Saint Angraecum Academy – an all-girls Christian missionary school in Japan. It follows the lives of a group of students in the freshman class as they grow as people, which seems to be a theme for this series.
While Flowers 2 follows the events directly after the story of the original Flowers game, the main character is now Erika Yaegaki – a somewhat anti-social wheelchair-bound girl who refers to herself as “bookworm buddies” with the previous game’s main character. The introduction gives the reader a grounding into the backstory, so it is possible to understand the context, but it does rush through it slightly and there are references to the first installment throughout. As such, I would recommend reading the first in the series before going through Flowers 2.
Story:
Flowers 2 is a story more about the characters and their growth, rather than the events around them. Shown through the eyes of Erika, a self-proclaimed misanthrope, it has quite a different tone from the previous game. A new character, Chidori Takasaki joins the school and becomes Erika’s partner in the school’s Amitié system (Friendship System). The fact that Erika is not happy about this is not hidden at all. Chidori’s standoffish personality does not make things any easier.
As the story progresses, you can see the characters open up to each other and you gain more of an insight into their motivations and thoughts. While the focus is on Erika and Chidori, many other characters are explored. The story takes itself somewhat seriously overall; many of the interactions with these characters lighten the mood by sprinkling comedy throughout. Erika’s harsh jokes added to this, making the humor one of the enjoyable parts of this visual novel.
One aspect I had mixed feelings about; the game is littered with references to literature, movies and music. These range from Grimms’ Fairy Tales to Led Zeppelin to even South Park. While this would be fine in moderation, I personally felt that this was slightly overdone at times, appearing too often and throwing me out of the story, as many of them were unfamilar to me.
The writing may have had the occasional error, but, in general, it was well done and did not detract from enjoying the story.
Artwork:
The artwork is top-tier and it has that distinct style where you can tell at a glance that it is a yuri novel just by looking at it. Each visual is of high quality, in particular the CGs. The character models stand out in particular for having a style which looks hand-drawn rather than purely made digitally.
Sound:
The music is certainly a positive, but it does not overly stand out. It had a fairly relaxing background through the playthrough and rarely stood out aside from a few moments. The character voices matched the characters’ personalities quite well and I had no issues with the delivery of the lines.
Technical:
I did not come across any significant technical issues while playing through Flowers 2. The only minor fault was when changing from fullscreen to window mode or visa versa, it sometimes stuttered until the music changed. As this was usually done at the title screen before I loaded the game, I didn’t feel it was much of an issue.
The features included are fairly standard with one nice extra. As well as the auto mode, skip mode, reading the backlog and general configuration options, it has a function to go back and forth to decision points which have already been seen before for quickly unlocking the other routes after the initial playthrough.
I would recommend Flowers -Le volume sur été- on the proviso that the reader has already read and enjoyed the first installment of the series. It is an interesting continuation of the lives of the girls. It has quite a few humorous moments but not so much that it detracts from its story. That said, I do feel like it falls short in comparison to the original Flowers -Le volume sur printemps- with less interesting characters in the spotlight and a stronger focus on them only. It also feels that there is less in the way of challenges for the characters to overcome and grow through.
Pros:
- Nice artwork
- Interesting main character
- Relaxing soundtrack
Cons:
- Side characters weren’t explored much
- Technical issues with fullscreen
- Main girl wasn’t particularly endearing
Eden gives Flowers -Le volume sur été- a Drastik Measure of 6.5 out of 10.0 (65).
Many thanks to JAST USA for the review copy.
Flowers -Le volume sur été- is available on JAST USA for $19.99 (USA).
