''You go through your 20's sort of like a chrysalis in many ways, stretching into your own skin and trying to bust out of a cocoon'' - Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Ebi-hime has taken a past character story Ohh, this is how you don't spoil the reveal of who the character is in your reviews for future readers and created a kinetic visual novel that beautifully showcases how transitional teen years can be specifically when dealing with emotional, mental pressures amid socially angst-ridden expectations that dictate early personality and/or identity when cocooning from late teens to early adult.

The story opens with a rain-soaked, shivering young adult hugging herself to her knees at a Cornish beach who is spotted, and approached, by a woman to offer help to the girl. Reluctantly, she accompanies the woman to her cottage nearby and is provided a hot bath, clothes, food and a bed to recuperate.
What develops is a slow mystery where the woman, Cora, stays hospitable to the young Adult while giving her space, and time, to self-heal without imposing too harshly upon her personal life and how she came to be on the beach alone.
Interestingly, we gradually see the young Adult become curious of Cora and this leads to an intriguing role reversal where the mystery focuses on reveals of Cora and we get more familiar with the confident, strong-minded and unperturbed personality of the young Adult's rescuer. The questions posed to Cora are honestly answered and we see the young Adult letting slip small reveals of herself inadvertently during Cora's conversations purely due to them never being aimed at her rather they are a response back to what began as a query to Cora!
Finally, after months passing, the young Adult starts to trust Cora enough to ask of how she came to be living the lifestyle she does which develops into the finale revelations of both Cora and the young Adult being disclosed to the Reader.
What is enjoyable of this story is how we see Cora sitting back at all times not pressuring instead she gives her guest ample breathing space to come to terms with her predicament knowing that once the chrysalis has been broken her guest will not only have naturally reformed herself subconsciously but also be ready to make her own decisions to what to do next.
I guess to a certain degree, it can be compared to a nurse overseeing a patient's healing and ebi-hime effectively portrays this in a heart-warming way.

The music & art is, once more, done to a sublime standard by recurring artists/CG's/sound/effects creators as seen in recent VNs such as The end of an Actress while the menu screen is a clever design of a postcard effect providing the expected Ren'Py options of skip, multi-save slots, volume controls, music & art gallery and notes in an Extra section that is unlocked upon story completion. There are achievements to unlock that naturally occur as the story progresses.

Some areas of this writing come across as rushed during key moments of the story which I was surprised to see as ebi-hime is adept at detailed story scenarios particularly when setting a scene development (or reveal) so when crescendo stages were being reached there were times where an abrupt solution was chosen instead of the attention we come to expect. Events in the story where this happen occasionally end up leaving the intended purpose being flat, an example being when Cora is revealing her past experience the backstory between Cora and her lover suffers a serious turning point that, in how it was handled, conflicted with the personality of Cora specifically in her approach to dealing with the 'turning point'. Another is the abruptness of the finale between Cora and her guest that seemed to lack a personal 'adieu' moment.

There is no denying though that ebi-hime created an inspiring, positive direction to a past character story in order to deliver a message that no matter how low or despairing a situation may seem during your late teens it does have a solution even if it is not immediately noticeable. The story shows that taking time away from the pressures can help gain a new perspective on what is truly important in life compared to the immediate socially trivial strains of a young adult's choices (or perceived failures). Often it takes a serious setback or personal collapse to reshape or redirect us onto a better placed path.

~~~ Liked what you see? You can find more reviews at Have a Word~~~

[i]''You go through your 20's sort of like a chrysalis in many ways, stretching into your own skin and trying to bust out of a cocoon'' - Jonathan Rhys Meyers[/i] [b]Ebi-hime[/b] has taken a past character story [spoiler]Ohh, this is how you don't spoil the reveal of who the character is in your reviews for future readers[/spoiler] and created a kinetic visual novel that beautifully showcases how transitional teen years can be specifically when dealing with emotional, mental pressures amid socially angst-ridden expectations that dictate early personality and/or identity when cocooning from late teens to early adult. The story opens with a rain-soaked, shivering young adult hugging herself to her knees at a Cornish beach who is spotted, and approached, by a woman to offer help to the girl. Reluctantly, she accompanies the woman to her cottage nearby and is provided a hot bath, clothes, food and a bed to recuperate. What develops is a slow mystery where the woman, Cora, stays hospitable to the young Adult while giving her space, and time, to self-heal without imposing too harshly upon her personal life and how she came to be on the beach alone. Interestingly, we gradually see the young Adult become curious of Cora and this leads to an intriguing role reversal where the mystery focuses on reveals of Cora and we get more familiar with the confident, strong-minded and unperturbed personality of the young Adult's rescuer. The questions posed to Cora are honestly answered and we see the young Adult letting slip small reveals of herself inadvertently during Cora's conversations purely due to them never being aimed at her rather they are a response back to what began as a query to Cora! Finally, after months passing, the young Adult starts to trust Cora enough to ask of how she came to be living the lifestyle she does which develops into the finale revelations of both Cora and the young Adult being disclosed to the Reader. What is enjoyable of this story is how we see Cora sitting back at all times not pressuring instead she gives her guest ample breathing space to come to terms with her predicament knowing that once the chrysalis has been broken her guest will not only have naturally reformed herself subconsciously but also be ready to make her own decisions to what to do next. I guess to a certain degree, it can be compared to a nurse overseeing a patient's healing and [i]ebi-hime[/i] effectively portrays this in a heart-warming way. The music & art is, once more, done to a sublime standard by recurring artists/CG's/sound/effects creators as seen in recent VNs such as [b]The end of an Actress[/b] while the menu screen is a clever design of a postcard effect providing the expected Ren'Py options of skip, multi-save slots, volume controls, music & art gallery and notes in an Extra section that is unlocked upon story completion. There are achievements to unlock that naturally occur as the story progresses. Some areas of this writing come across as rushed during key moments of the story which I was surprised to see as [i]ebi-hime[/i] is adept at detailed story scenarios particularly when setting a scene development (or reveal) so when crescendo stages were being reached there were times where an abrupt solution was chosen instead of the attention we come to expect. Events in the story where this happen occasionally end up leaving the intended purpose being flat, an example being when Cora is revealing her past experience the backstory between Cora and her [i]lover[/i] suffers a serious turning point that, in how it was handled, conflicted with the personality of Cora specifically in her approach to dealing with the 'turning point'. Another is the abruptness of the finale between Cora and her guest that seemed to lack a personal 'adieu' moment. There is no denying though that [i]ebi-hime[/i] created an inspiring, positive direction to a past character story in order to deliver a message that no matter how low or despairing a situation may seem during your late teens it does have a solution even if it is not immediately noticeable. The story shows that taking time away from the pressures can help gain a new perspective on what is truly important in life compared to the immediate socially trivial strains of a young adult's choices (or perceived failures). Often it takes a serious setback or personal collapse to reshape or redirect us onto a better placed path. ~~~ Liked what you see? You can find more reviews at [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32839633]Have a Word[/url]~~~