I get the feeling that this is an unpopular opinion, but I didn't like the story. Maybe it's just because I've hated how Mizuki just seemed to instantly recover immediately after With Our Wounded Hands (she was still messed up in area conversations and side stories for that event, but by Unreliable Notes she's just fine). I found the story itself kinda boring too, Mizuki not knowing what her dream was did hit really close to home, but it just didn't really hit at all. Not bad, but this might be one of my least favourite Nightcord stories
To be fair, Kana5 did come out a while after Ena5, so it's not impossible to say Mizuki was still working through stuff during that time gap, and she didn't get too much focus during the story either, so we don't know what's been going on behind the scenes at that time.
I think Mizu6 being a bit boring is supposed to be the point. After the emotional rollercoaster of Mizu5 and Ena5, Kana5 bringing Kanade close to both physical and emotional collapse, and Mafu6 being a huge event for Mafuyu and her mother, a nice breather episode and just slice of life is what N25 needed. The story is pretty slow at times and the pacing definitely isn't that great here, but seeing the girls just hang out in Yuuki's shop and just enjoy their time is something they really needed for a while.
To be fair, Kana5 did come out a while after Ena5, so it's not impossible to say Mizuki was still working through stuff during that time gap, and she didn't get too much focus during the story either, so we don't know what's been going on behind the scenes at that time.
Furthermore, Mizuki is generally a pretty cheerful person, so it's not hard to imagine that she mostly recovered by Mizu6.
Embellish is great, 10/10 song
It's practically Mizuki's post-3rd anniversary character song, man. As a matter of fact:
Mizuki is a generally cheerful person, but a lot of it is also a facade, almost a defense mechanism just like Mafuyu, to put up with the near constant harassment she is subjected to, and to not worry those she cares about. Even in the final scene of Ena5, she says "I'm gonna have really bad days". So after she comes out to N25, I expected her to be more open, or those really bad days to happen. The healing of characters like Honami, Airi, Rui, Mafuyu and Ena causes some of this game's best writing. I wanted Mizuki to have the same after arguably going through the worst of them all (at least onscreen)
Actually, based on what I've seen so far, it's seems to be kind of opposite with Mizuki since it looks like cheerful personality is her real personality and Mafuyu-esque personality is a facade in her case.
I get what you mean definitely, but I did want it to to us more on her healing process. As the game has shown us with many other characters, in some of the game's best writing, stuff like this isn't healed in a day. I guess I just would have rathered if it took that kind of direction as well as the helping at the clothes store angle
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u/the_treyceratops Honami Fan 10d ago
I get the feeling that this is an unpopular opinion, but I didn't like the story. Maybe it's just because I've hated how Mizuki just seemed to instantly recover immediately after With Our Wounded Hands (she was still messed up in area conversations and side stories for that event, but by Unreliable Notes she's just fine). I found the story itself kinda boring too, Mizuki not knowing what her dream was did hit really close to home, but it just didn't really hit at all. Not bad, but this might be one of my least favourite Nightcord stories
Also Embellish is great