Met in the middle
(Played with Japanese text on Switch handheld mode)
It goes without saying that this is a review reader should read with at least a grain of salt. Then again which piece put up by some anomalous strangers on the internet should be taken at face value?
Witch On the Holy Night is something closer to a motion comic than a visual novel and it is certainly not a dating dim or gal game as some Japanese people would call the genre. It original came out on PC in 2012 after Type-Moon’s five years long sabbatical from visual novel since Fate/Stay Night’s PS2 port. This piece is also a nice coda to this year of Type-moon for yours truly, mainly because my adjust expectation and Type-moon’s improved presentation finally met in in the middle.
The console port with official English translation and Usual Suspects filled Japanese voice cast released on December, the 8th, 2022 is actually quite seasonal. The main story takes place in December with the final “money shots” packed battle on Christmas and a nice epilogue minutes before New Year. To people who had gone through the whole of Fate/Stay Night, this is pretty much a more refined telling of Unlimited Blade Works.
Allow me to clear that with the characters, the pictures below were taken from the trailer.
Aoko Aozaki, the girl usually in the centre of the game’s marketing, voiced by Haruka Tomatsu. Ms. Tomatsu played Haru Okumura in both Persona 5 vanilla and Royal. Call Aoko a carbon copy of Rin Tohsaka in Fate would be unfair but the two do share lots of treats. Both are cool girls with disaster hidden under. Both are witches who would not step down from a throw down. Though Aoko chants in English while Rin does in German. Fun fact, Aoko had a cameo in the beginning of Tsukihime, both the 1999 original and 2021 remake. Ms. Tomatsu was cast for that remake already.
Soujyuro Suzuki, the boy you would think as the sole or main pov of a visual novel, voiced by Yusuke Kobayashi. Mr. Kobayashi voiced the male player avatar in Fire Emblem Three Houses. Sojuro is SO not Shiro. In fact, the closest Fate counterpart to this boy is Mr. Kuzuki, the stoic enemy henchman early in the Unlimited Blade Works storyline. While Fate readers never get to know Kuzuki’s internal thoughts, Sojuro’s mostly stoic manner would explains itself through his thoughts and flashbacks throughout Witch On the Holy Night.
Alice Kuonji, a girl who Aoko had been “married” to for the last 2 years, voiced by Kana Hanazawa. Ms. Hanazawa played Marie in Persona 4 Golden. The aforementioned Haruka Tomatsu and Kana Hanzawa played quite a few duos of loud one and quiet one in anime before. With this visual novel not about a love story between a boy and a girl, the Married energy between those 2 witches and roommates is a lot of fun to read.
Kojika Kumari, a girl goes to the same high school with Aoko and Sojuro, voiced by Chika Anazi. Ms. Anazi played the female player avatar in Astral Chain. Little Miss Kumari here does not have much to do with the story until after the credits rolled. The game has a long epilogue, so long in fact that a warning is posted before it saying “If you came here soon after the credits rolled, please turn the game off and come back when you are refreshed. We really don’t want you to feel burnt out”(Yours truly is paraphrasing here, of course). Little Miss Kumari would be the lens we look that horror comedy where people literally laugh themselves to death through. This epilogue also stands out as it has choose-your-adventure branches while the main game is a Kinetic Novel. The “go right you die or go left you might continue the story” kind of branch.
Yours truly choose the 4 above as highlights of Type-Moon’s casting since they reflect the target audience. 2 Persona game cast members and 2 Switch exclusive cast members are quite obvious.
Witch On the Holy Night is not a dating sim where you read through only one pov character usually also with a first person narration. Instead, you read this one through several points of view with mostly limited third person narration. It’s refreshing for both the readers and the writer. Kinoko Nasu(referred to as “Mr. Eggplant” below) finally got to write a page-turner since he(or “they”?) did not have to get two little shits together or explain some tabletop gaming rules. Come to think about, yours truly quite enjoyed Garden of Sinners by Mr. Eggplant, Witch On the Holy Night is a story finally got the same vivid energy that poetically written horror novel got.
Presentation wise this game went for a certain cinematic vibe and succeeded in feeling more like a motion comic. Audio effects played a bigger role here to immerse the readers. Character sprites are abundant and detailed. Background is very well drawn.
It would be hard to yours truly tell how someone would like this one if it’s their first visual novel. But as someone who had gone this as their 4th Type-Moon visual novel, I like this one the most. I know long reading section is inevitable with those, and Witch On the Holy Night is no exception. But at least, the “animated illustration” here is way more lively. With this be an official English release, unless the translation is too abysmal, maybe one can try their luck with visual novel at the bet of 40 us dollars.