Summary
A unique experience
The Good
Oh well... It is indeed very hard to come up with a good one-liner for this game. It is equally hard to write a whole review for it, as a matter of fact. It's been one hour since I finished the game, and I feel strange. Really strange. Almost drunk, intoxicated, deeply moved and depressed. This is what this game has done to me. And I didn't want to believe it...
No, it is not just touching. There are many touching games out there, and "Kana" is not the only one that could make you cry. Of course I did cry in the end of the game (and who didn't? Nearly all the reviewers stated they couldn't keep their eyes dry). But I also cried in the end of
Final Fantasy X, which also has a very touching story. No, "touching" is not quite the word. I also wouldn't say "disturbing". Sure, this game is about forbidden love, and its love scenes depress the player rather than make him sexually excited, but there's nothing perverse about them, and the game even emanates a kind of purity I never found not only in hentai adventures, but in any games in general. I can't quite describe in words the impact this game had on me, but it cannot be compared to any other feeling I experienced with games. It is just special. Very special.
I don't even feel like going into details when reviewing this game. And anyway, I feel I can hardly add anything new to Ed Evans' fantastic review. I agree with nearly everything he says, except perhaps the point that erotic scenes were out of place. I didn't feel this way. The erotic scenes surpassed by far everything I've seen in hentai games before. Masterpieces like
Cobra Mission or
Knights of Xentar don't even come close to "Kana" in this aspect. First, there were not too many of them, and they were never cheap. They were depicted with dark, almost desperate passion, that was much more convincing and realistic than any overblown sexuality of regular large-breasted hentai heroines. "Kana" uses eroticism as a medium of expression rather than an embellishment, an addition that would stimulate people to get interested in the game.
Of course, it is a pity that "Kana" is sold together with some meaningless hentai dating-sims or downright perversities without any sense or value, that is can only be bought online (I had to order it from United States, because it is absolutely impossible to find anywhere in Europe). This is ridiculous. People are not ashamed to produce and distribute idiotic games with buckets of blood flowing from all the sides, but they find it correct to make it extremely difficult for us to play games like this one or like the incomparable
Shin Megami Tensei... Yes, I'm still angry.
In any case, "Kana"
is a hentai game, technically speaking: it firmly belongs to an established genre of video games that has its laws and traditions, like any other genre. At first, I thought "Kana" was going to be a tremendous disappointment for me, because it didn't offer even rudimentary interaction, and for a while I seriously considered disregarding it for not being a game. But in the end I realized it was a game all right: the few moments where you
can interact with the game are in fact important decisions that would ultimately change the game's ending. After completing the game and getting the so-called "Intellectual Ending 1" (as I found out later), I did some online research and discovered the six possible endings were determined by your approach to Kana and the decisions your make throughout the whole game, and not just one or two decisions near the end. You can be more discreet and less romantic with Kana and tend more towards Yumi, thus getting Yumi ending; or you can be totally engrossed in the relationship with Kana and ignore all other things - this will lead to a "True" endings I haven't yet seen. Surprisingly, "Kana" has an excellent replay value, which unfortunately cannot be said about most "mainstream" adventure games.
"Kana" rises high above the rest of hentai crowd not only because of its unique story and its high-quality erotic content, but also because of its character cast. The three main characters (Taka, Kana, and Yumi) have very strong, memorable personalities, and are so much more than the horny teenagers and nymphomaniac babes of hentai games. Especially wonderful are the childhood scenes between Taka and Kana and Taka's school years. The psychology of a child or of a teenager is very convincingly depicted in the game.
What else to say? The CG backgrounds are very beautiful, and the music is catchy and moody. There are some excellent extras to the game, like the ability to view any of the endings (after you have achieved them, of course), view character CGs, read character profiles, and listen to the game's music.
The Bad
I still can't help thinking... what would have happened if "Kana" were a classic adventure game, and not a hentai "digital novel"? What if it had some real interaction? Dialogue options? Forget puzzles, who needs them - but perhaps the ability to look at objects in a room, to visit different locations?
Even compared to other hentai games, "Kana" has some disadvantages. The interaction is reduced to a barely sufficient minimum. Except the 25-30 "decision points" that pop out throughout the game, you literally do
nothing in the game. And I mean nothing at all. You can even let the game scroll the text automatically for you. You simply read the text, glancing at the beautiful character and background art. I know it is a hentai game, but come on...
Three Sisters' Story had much more gameplay. There, you could go to different locations, look, ask questions, think - not that any of that was really a challenge, but at least you had an illusion you were playing an adventure game. Forget about "Three Sisters" -
Divi Dead had more gameplay than "Kana"! And it is really hard to imagine a game with less gameplay than "Divi Dead".
Most modern hentai games have voices, "Kana" doesn't - I don't understand why. If voices disturb someone, it should be possible to turn them off, but why should they be omitted in the first place?
There is absolutely no animation in "Kana". I would appreciate at least an intro and an ending animation. Sometimes there aren't even enough character graphics, often you talk to people while staring at the background picture.
I was somewhat disturbed by the game's music. It is too repetitive, and there are too many happily-sounding pop-like tunes. Okay, they are nice and catchy, but the game is just too dark and serious for them. I was also annoyed by the strange decision to let music slowly fade away and then to start it again from the beginning.
There are minor problems, like the fact the characters often look out of place on the backgrounds. The translation often feels unnatural. For example, Kana constantly calls Taka "bro", which is probably "onii-chan" in the original; it sounds very cute and feminine in Japanese and unnecessarily rough and boyish in English. But I guess it was impossible to translate it another way... Translating from Japanese is very hard.
The Bottom Line
"Kana" is neither well-written enough to be a book, cinematic enough to be a movie, or interactive enough to be a game that would attract mainstream gamers, but it is nevertheless an absolutely unique experience and a piece of art. Few games really have a deeper meaning - "Kana" has it. To call it "best hentai adventure" wouldn't do it justice, in a certain sense it stands not only high above other hentai adventures, but above all other games in general. "Kana" is a must for anyone who takes gaming seriously and believe games can compete with books and movies - not in terms of script quality or cinematics, but in terms of influencing people and making them think and feel.
