Hoshizora no Memoria -Wish Upon a Shooting Star-

[big bad birtha]

After an entire week of playing this nonstop, I'm finally finished with this title. Obviously, since I actually bothered to make a thread about this, I loved Hoshizora no Memoria. They really do well with the theme of stars, and actually put some thought into everything that's said about them, even giving a bunch of stories and lessons about astronomy. All of the main characters (except Ashuho) have great background stories behind them, and their paths do a great job with their problems. Onto the details and stuff!

Hoshizora no Memoria is about a guy named Kogasaka You. He moves into a fairly rural town after his mother passes away. He used to live there 7 years ago, but due to family circumstances, he moved to the city. He regularly recals his time playing with a girl he used to hang out with. Since he was very reserved, she was his only friend at the time. They always hang out in a lookout that gives a great view of the stars. You goes back to the lookout in hopes of reuniting with her only to meet a "grim reaper" named Mare, who looks just like the girl he used to hang out with. After visiting her a few times, Mare eventually "reaps his nightmare" and makes You forget the name of the girl he used to hang out with. Despite this, he keeps on looking for the girl in hopes of reuniting with her. You also gets the help from some members from a club he joins after moving in. It's an astronomy club named "Tinkuru".

Characters/routes



Mare
Mare is the mysterious girl who calls herself a "grim reaper of nightmares". She only hangs out at the town's lookout at night. She's a very charming character, and I love most of her scenes. Unfortunately, they rush her path. While she still plays a big part in everyone's path, I was really looking forward to her path.



Minahoshi Asuho
Asuho is the bubbly energetic character. She's the vice president of the Tinkuru, and someone You knew as a child. Though, because he was antisocial, he never really interacted with Asuho. Asuho's path is by far the worst one. It has a great start, and Asuho's worries are understandable, but they're taken a bit too extreme. Also, everything was settled rather anticlimactically. I also don't like how she turns into a crybaby during her path.



Aoi Isuzu
Isuzu is You's antisocial next door neighbor. Anytime anyone tries to interact with her, she usually either ignores them or responds with a sharp remark. Isuzu's great. Some of her insults can be amusing, and she makes a point of being someone you can't depend on. Her path was great. I liked the main character's struggles to find out just what's going on in Isuzu's head. It did a great job of going through how her head works, and I liked how during the confession she said "I love you, but I also hate you for making me dependent on you."



Hisakaki Komomo
You can't have an eroge without a tsundere, and Kagami Hiiragi Komomo is this title's tsundere (and Mare). She's a shrine maiden of a nearby shrine, and she's a member of the student council. Until a path starts, she often tries to get the main character to join the student council. Komomo also hates the Tinkuru. Komomo's path is really good. Most of her path is about dealing with nightmares she has, which always exhaust/scare her. There was quite a bit of story behind her nightmares. Also, taming a tsundere is always fulfilling.




Hisakaki Koname
Konami is Komomo's twin sister. She's a member of the Tinkuru. She's also a shrine maiden at a local shrine, but she doesn't have as much responsibility as her sister. Most of her dialogue involves her teasing the other characters. Kosame's path is pretty much the other side of the events from Komomo's path. While not as good as her sister's path, where more actually happened, it was still a nice path.




Kogasaka Chinami
Chinami is You's younger half-sister. She's an unphasable ball of energy. At first, she was annoying as piss, but eventually, I warmed up to her. Chinami's path involves her fighting some past issues, as well as her and You bonding with the aunt that took them in after their mom died. Like Komomo's path, a bunch happened, and there was a great story behind everything. Also, the end of the path was amusing. After her and You's H scene, their aunt starts talking to one of her friends in a good mood. When he asks about it, she happily says "I might be having grandchildren.", completely ignoring all of the wrong things about what was going on.



????
This is You's friend from before he moved from his hometown. She taught You how to interact with others and how to be a little selfish. I can't say much about her without spoiling everything, but I sill say that her events were some of the best moments in the title.

As far as negatives go, I have a few, but other than the rushed paths, they're not such a big deal. I guess my biggest issue is how some paths are rushed. Mare and Asuho's paths had potential to be great, but they skipped out on quite a bit of information, leaving not much closure. Also, I kinda don't like how they beat their gags into the ground like they do. I mean, I didn't irritated at them like I typically do, but I still wasn't crazy about the reused gags. I mean, the gags are great at first, but after a while, they get kinda old.

There you have it. As much as I'd like to replay this, I don't quite have the free time to do so, so it's time to put down this amazing VN. I was really wrong about alot of the assumptions I made about this when I first started playing. I was really surprised about the amount of story everyone (except Asuho) had behind them. The main character was fairly intelligent, and usually thought out all of his actions, which is a huge plus compared to most eroge protagonists. I also loved the art, and the moe in Hoshizora did kinda get me. I actually lost sleep over this title, playing it until I couldn't keep my eyes open. As for a score, it's kinda hard to decide. I guess logically I should give it a 9, but once again, I got hopelessly addicted to Hoshizora. That said, I think I'll give Hoshizora no Memoria -Wish Upon a Shooting Star- a 9.5. I'm really glad to have played this. While I doubt anyone here would like it at all as much as I did, I still think it fully deserves what I gave it.

[lilboocorsola]

A story involving stars? You've got my attention. =O

The premise resembles Kanon a bit. Aoi also reminds me of Rin; she looks and sounds like my type. ^~

Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much. =3 Color me intrigued. Filing this next to Little Busters when I have time.

(LOL at the club's name though. XD)