of a girl whose heart was standing still
and a boy whose breath was being stolen away,
both of whom die.
So you may have heard me talking about this almost a year ago when I read the first game for the first time. Or you may have heard me talk about it over the last few days while I was reading the second game. It's not quite an anime, but I think this is the closest place to where it should go.
Narcissu is a free doujin visual novel about a twenty year-old guy and twenty-two year-old girl named Setsumi. Both of them are terminally ill and are patients in the hospice ward, on the 7th floor of a hospital in Japan, where they meet for the first time. Faced with the choice of either dying at home or in the ward, the girl rejects both and the two escape on a journey.
Narcissu -SIDE 2nd- is also a free doujin visual novel, set six or seven years prior to the events of Narcissu. The story follows Setsumi, while still sick, is not yet a patient of 7F. One day, at the hospital for a checkup, she meets Himeko, a cheerful girl who was a former volunteer who worked with the hospice patients, and now a patient of 7F herself. This is the story of their friendship and their summer together.
I would like to recommend Narcissu to you. Why? I think it's really good, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be recommending it. But, it's also free and officially translated, pretty short (I'd say about two hours each, but I'm a fast reader), and simple (there are no player choices in this). I think visual novels are an interesting medium and I'd like for people who are interested to have a shot at one.
Narcissu's style is very, very minimalist. There aren't any sprites or anything like most other games. Instead, we're given a very narrow, cinematic picture. Since it's so short, we don't spend a lot of time with the characters, but the focus is razor-sharp. This is about the time that we spend with them; no more and no less. If you want a feel for the thing, here's the OP for Side 2nd. It's safe to watch even if you haven't gone through the first game.
For me, Narcissu invoked a feeling that was reminiscent of how I felt after finishing 5 Centimeters per Second. 5cm/s explored the atrophying of relationships caused by physical distance and I'd say that that's something that everyone resonates with. Narcissu explores the hopelessness and helplessness of those who are forced to face their own mortality and wait for their life to slowly drain away from them as well as the effect that has on those around them. Most people will eventually face one of those situations.
For those of you wondering about objectionable content, there is none. The story's told in text and there's very few images, but even there, there's nothing objectionable. I mean, these are people who are slowly dying, after all. Now, that doesn't mean that I'd give this to a kid. This is a story that deals with death. It's also a story where characters deal with their hopelessness. Narcissu -SIDE 2nd- focuses on a character who's a self-described former Catholic and it doesn't shy away from difficult questions. If you can't understand how facing death might change your perception of God, then this isn't for you.
It's a sad story. It's also a captivating story and it's a story that should make you uncomfortable.
You can download Narcissu -SIDE 2nd- for free here. It is cross-platform and comes with the first Narcissu. I definitely recommend playing through Narcissu before going through Side 2nd. After completing both, you unlock the final epilogue. You'll get a choice of translations by different translators and whether to go through the story with voice or not.
Also, I obviously started a thread so we can talk about it, so play it and talk about it here.
I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
