【Impression】Handora Prologue

[fukaimetsu]

Okay, since I finally finished Handora prologue, I decided to write my impression here!

SPOILER ALERT

 

Overall, the story is decent, but there are some flaws. I think the series relies too much on mystery-teasing to the point where it becomes annoying, lol. It also tries really hard with twists. Some of them aren’t bad, but it gets frustrating when the writer is clearly trying too hard to subvert tropes.

The writing is pretty tropey, but that’s exactly what I’d expect from Kodaka.

As for the characters, I don’t have many issues so far, and I’ve enjoyed their antics a lot, though some of the tropes can be too much. Kurara is the biggest offender here.
I still hate her, lmao. Sorry, she’s just fucking annoying, man.

My favorite is still the same as my 30-hour impression. Nothing’s changed.

Now, here’s my main criticism—bear with me.

I genuinely hate the Takumi–Nozomi writing. Takumi and Nozomi are fine as individual characters, but the moment the writer puts them together, it becomes so fucking bad, especially on Takumi’s side.

The writing tries to show that Takumi accepts Nozomi as her own person, but he constantly brings up Karua and keeps comparing Karua and Nozomi every goddamn time—even though he claims they’re different. It’s painfully obvious that Takumi still sees Nozomi as fucking Karua, despite the writer tried to hammering how he sees them as a different person.

Honestly, it irks me so fucking much. It makes me really annoyed with Takumi. Then again, his obsession with Karua just sucks. It oozes that typical seigi no mikata light-novel MC energy:
“I want to protect my osananajimi / this mysterious girl I just met, but I’m not a simp btw.”

Thank God Takumi still has good dynamics with the rest of the cast. I really love his interactions with Eito, Yugamu, and Gaku.


 

Eito’s crash-outs are hilarious, I genuinely can’t take them seriously, ngl. His reasoning is kinda weak, though… but I still enjoy his deranged side.

Anyway, I can’t comment much on the overall story yet since there are still so many mysteries to unpack, and I’m mostly in the dark, at least my guess about the invaders was spot on.


 

Also, She's the best female character designs Rui Komatsuzaki has ever done. She so fucking hot, man.

Overall, I love how they leave so many mysteries for players to uncover through different routes. I’m really excited about that.

I think that’s my impression of the Handora prologue.
I’m ready for the wild ride.

I’ve been looking at route guides, and I think I want to try the Cult of Takumi route first.