MAMIYA Reviews

This is one of those games where I really wish I could give a "mixed" review. The parts of MAMIYA that are good are VERY good, but it does, in my opinion, have a tendency to stumble before the finish line once it comes to actually resolving all of the complex ideas and themes it sets up and formulating them into concrete messages. It's very much one of those cases where something that's sometimes questionable and sometimes amazing can frustrate you more than something that's clearly bad. Without going into spoilers, what I'd argue is the best part of the game (and the part that I would say makes buying MAMIYA worth it) is Act 1, which is basically an anthology of fairly grounded and relatable personal tragedies with a slight supernatural edge, told in an empathetic and subtle way that respects the intelligence of the reader. I would absolutely recommend that part to anyone who likes dark visual novels. But while Act 2 and 3 still have some great reveals and emotional moments (that one moment in Ryou's conclusion route absolutely made me cry, you'll know the one), the meta-plot that takes increasing precedence after that point can be much more hit-or-miss. It honestly just feels like a much shallower imitation of Umineko no naku koro ni at times. The biggest issue, though, were the ultimate route conclusions in DoomsDay, in my opinion. You could really feel the writer(s) hit the limits of their understanding and imagination when they finally had to tear away the veil of ambiguity and fully reveal and resolve the very complex and often systemic problems of the characters, leading to some probably accidental but nontheless rather questionable messages regarding childhood abuse especially, as well as some very bizarre explanations for certain character and plot elements (this is especially prominent in Minato's conclusion, which is a shame because they're otherwise my favorite character). Generally, I would describe MAMIYA as a visual novel with an incredible amount of potential that it unfortunately doesn't fully live up to. I got it on sale and don't regret the money I spent on it, especially the base game, but the issues that appear later in the story do mean that my recommendation is limited. Still, frustrating or not, I do appreciate that this visual novel tried some new and unexpected things (a route structure without a focus on romance, for example) and as far as "dark" VNs go, it is still one one of the better ones I've played. That's what ultimately swayed me towards a positive rating.