Magical Eyes presents the quintessential example on how not to handle a female role: If she’s there solely to moon over her male counterpart, rather than to provide anything of value to the narrative, perhaps it’s time to rip up the script and start again. Yuu’s comrades Rin and Roku often mention their female partners, characters who I anticipated meeting but never so much as showed their faces. Shizuku, the only other female character present, is Yuu’s little sister who doesn’t seem to have much point other than to fawn over her best friend Jun. The problems with Chiharu extend to the rest of the game’s female cast, or lack thereof.

Chiharu’s narration was so bad I nearly found myself yelling at the game in frustration on more than one occasion. This doesn’t just make Chiharu look bad, but also adds to the feeling that the relatively boring Yuu is nothing more than a Mary Sue protagonist: when he’s not on-screen, everybody’s asking where he is. What follows is a day of Yuu skipping class to make headway on his investigation, and ending with Chiharu sitting at her desk as school lets out, staring into space and nearly at the verge of tears over Yuu’s absence. One particularly egregious example is a chapter that begins with Chiharu sitting at her desk, anxiously waiting for Yuu to arrive at school.

It’s not uncommon to read a scene from Yuu’s perspective in which he’s narrating the mystery plot, which is immediately followed by a scene in which Chiharu is laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering what Yuu’s up to. Yuu and Chiharu have a mutual crush on each other, but Chiharu’s feelings go beyond a crush and into full-on obsession: Whereas Yuu’s focus is mostly on his duty, Chiharu’s focus is on Yuu alone. Yuu supposedly isn’t the sole protagonist of Magical Eyes, though many scenes take place from the perspective of Chiharu, Yuu’s love interest, who happens to be one of the story’s biggest problems. It’s at Pops’ shop, the appropriately named “Noodle Graveyard”, where Yuu meets with fellow Disobeyers Rin, Nanashi and Roku to trade information about Variant-related happenings. When not attending classes, Yuu’s routine is to patrol his neighborhood on the lookout for rogue Variants, and then report in to his superior, Pops, who operates under the cover of a legendarily terrible ramen joint so as to keep the general public away. The protagonist, Yuu, is (you guessed it) a mild-mannered high schooler by day and a super-powered Disobeyer after night falls. If the story sounds familiar, then you’ve probably played Lux Pain or Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy, as I’m sure the developers of Magical Eyes probably have, too. Disobeyers are a select group of individuals who have become “Varied,” yet able to harness their newfound abilities while still keeping control of their sanity. When a particularly bizarre and violent crime occurs, it’s usually the doing of a Variant. Working alongside the police, The Disobeyers are tasked with neutralizing Variants: humans, animals or objects that have become possessed by negative spirits. Magical Eyes tells the story of a secret organization called The Disobeyers. Unfortunately, this meant I was doubly disappointed when this short visual novel squandered its enticing premise in favor of meandering conversations and ham-fisted attempts at romance.

The culprit? A traditional-style doll he had on display, which then escaped…taking the arm with it.īeing a big fan of both horror and mysteries, the plot of Magical Eyes: Red is for Anguish hooked me immediately. As the temperature rises and the days finally begin to grow longer, the quiet, suburban town of Kamisaki finds itself rocked by a bizarre incident: A knick-knack shop owner’s arm is dismembered in his own shop.

Magical eyes vn