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| Art by Mogeko |
If you do not do well with gore or shocking scenes, you are going to have a bad time late in the game during a specific scene. Also, tw for sexual assault. Possible warning for what seemed to me like suicide in one of the endings (if it is, it's subtle, and definitely not graphic; you don't see or hear much). If you are here for a full discussion of the game, skip the technical stuff and scroll down.
Mogeko says this game is for all ages, and that may be true of the beginning but by late game it is more appropriate for older teens, maybe 14 or 15. The game is about 6-7 hours, definitely one of the longest RPG Maker games I have ever played.
The story of Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea is that a young sea witch, Wadanohara, is returning to her home sea for the first time in a while. However, on her way home, she runs into an old friend, Samekichi, who repeatedly tries to fight her and her party of familiars to scare them off. Once she's home, she finds out from the princess that there have been attacks from another kingdom because someone has messed up the barrier meant to protect their kingdom and Wadanohara is the only one who can fix it. Along the way, Wadanohara and her familiars find out that appearances are deceiving and there is a traitor in their midst...
This game really surprised me. I meant to play The Gray Garden before this one but, after a bad day, I decided to give this one a shot since I knew nothing about it. It looked cute, so I thought it would be nice for stress relief. I didn't expect to fall in love with it, but I did. I have not had such strong affection for an RPG Maker game, or any game to be honest, since Ib. Yes, I think it is that good. I got sucked in and played for long periods. Once I was at the climax, I just blew right through to the end.
Characters. First off, there are many female characters, which I always love and appreciate. Also, everyone is Japanese (they all have Japanese names). There are two characters who do not go by cis man or cis woman: Tarako and Sheep.
On Tarako, this is what vgperson had to say:
"Tarako, though, I initially thought was referred to as a boy in their bio, as it says おとこのこ. However, this is sneakier than it appears - it could be 男の子, boy, or 男の娘 - which I believe would make Tarako a trans girl."I'll discuss Wadanohara's character in greater detail in my more spoilery thoughts on the game below, but although she is predominantly the "happy girl" character, she definitely has more depth than that, which I liked. Though, there's nothing wrong with having a character who is just happy, especially when bad things happen. I really liked Fukami's character. I liked that he was the only one to notice Wadanohara hide her true feelings and looked out for her the most. He has some of the best character development in the game, being selfish in the beginning, which you may not see until you look at the bonus scenes, but he has, in my opinion, evolved by the end of the game into a more selfless character.
Samekichi was kind of a cool character, I also liked to see how he "changed" by the end of the game. There was an element I did not like, and that was the "you're the only one I care about, Wadanohara" line. That type of line is usually for characters who are extremely possessive, which I'm not a fan of. It's also a cliched line, but Samekichi was a good character overall. Memoca was a cute character, I liked that she had different personality -- she was quick to anger, but playful and caring, and childlike. Chlomaki was a fun character, I enjoyed her interactions with her own familiar and I wish we had seen more of them. Unfortunately, Dolphi got the worst end of the deal. She didn't have much of a personality. I mean, she was a bit of a crybaby and scaredy cat but she shared too many traits with Memoca (caring, likes drawing, playful). There are way too many characters to discuss, but most of them left good impressions.
Gameplay is a pretty standard RPG Maker affair. Use the arrow keys to move, enter will interact with stuff, and the escape or x button will open the menu and such. This is an RPG Maker game with actual battle elements. But, as Vgperson notes on their website, the RPG elements definitely take a backseat to the story. The battles are not terribly difficult, and I never struggled with a regular enemy or boss. There are more than enough enemies for you to grind up on, but I made it to level 34 by end game and I was probably extremely overpowered.
Not much to say about graphics since I never know what a creator adds or just uses since I don't generally use RPG Maker. The sprites are, however, adorable. And Mogeko's art is always adorable and lovely. Throughout the game, as with, say, The Sandman made by Uri, there will interposed art during cut scenes, which is a nice touch. Even nicer is that some of them are animated. Generally, this is just a slight change in facial expression, but it is a nice touch nonetheless. One of my favorite things, graphic-wise, about the game was how looking in the mirror during different points in the game would result in different art of Wadanohara. Sometimes, it was just an outfit change, sometimes an expression change. I highly recommend doing it, especially during the gory scene late in the game...
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| Adorable. Art by Mogeko. |
As far as replay value goes, there is not a whole lot. For beating the game, you will get to keep your levels and items in the new file but that is it. After beating the game, you will also have access to a bonus room with character bios, extra scenes, the art from the cutscenes, etc., I believe that is a norm for Mogeko's games. Also, for clearing the game, you will get a password you can use to open the Bonus file found in the game's folder. This will give you a url to view illustrations and comics; some spoil plot elements of the game and some don't. Vgperson translated the comics, so I'll put a link down below. There are different endings but you get them all in one go. You need not do anything special -- that is generally awarded for the bad endings. (There are 2 bad endings, and 3 normal endings... even if they seem more "bad" than "normal.")
Now then, about the game's story. If you are familiar with the anime in question, you may know what I mean when I say this game definitely reminded me of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It starts off as a cute, sort of slice of life (though, in Wadanohara's case, with a bit more magic) story with an adorable main character, then it gets dark. I think I like Wadanohara's story better, in this case, because it definitely has a happier ending (in the true end) than Madoka Magica did.
Wadanohara goes through quite a lot (I say that as an understatement) but she remains upbeat and hopeful throughout. I enjoyed that she was still, despite her being a sweet girl her predominant personality trait, a well rounded character. She had concerns and worries that she hid from everyone because she did not want them to worry.
I was also surprised to see who the traitor was. Mogeko really hid it well and did not give away any hints. Though, I don't know, perhaps you will get it your first time through! I have mixed feelings about Wadanohara's assault, however. Spoilers!
I think that it is important to have assault in stories -- when tastefully done -- because then no one is pretending such things never happen. They do happen with too much frequency, it's a fact of the real world. Every single one of Mogeko's games (Mogeko's Castle, Wadanohara, The Gray Garden) deal with assault in some matter, with Mogeko's Castle the most overt. I am a little wary that every single one of their games has assault, especially, in the case of The Gray Garden and Wadanohara, sweet little girls, but I will not pass judgement on that because I don't know anything about Mogeko, of course. It is interesting that each of the games take place in a fantasy setting where assault happens.
In Wadanohara's case specifically, I both like and dislike the way assault was handled. I dislike that the perpetrator basically got away with it (and it happens twice, as far as I can tell), and I dislike that you never get a real chance to take them down. I would say that I dislike that it basically happens because of a power struggle between two siblings, where the one who committed the assault wants to hurt their sibling by taking away/hurting the person they love (Wadanohara). I think it's somewhat realistic since assault and rape in the real world is about dominance and power, and it may not even be about the victim, so I do not hate it as much as I originally did. I also like that the effects for Wadanohara are realistic. She doesn't remember the assault (the game gives a reason for it that I don't love) and when she does remember, it is an extremely traumatic experience. That is when the goriest sequence of the game takes place. It's fitting that she isn't mysteriously okay with what happened; she has to work through it.
As I mentioned, it happens twice in the game. The first time, you'll be aware of it, but I believe it's more than fair to say that it takes place in the first ending, too. Again, it's traumatic -- so much so that Wadanohara ceases being who she once was, which is haunting.
I do have a bit of an issue with Wadanohara's age which is: I have no idea what her age is supposed to be. By the end of the game, she does look a bit older, her hair is much longer which would signify that she has aged, but I have no idea how old any of the male characters are and, considering the 3 main male characters have some type of feelings towards Wadanohara, it is a bit distressing, but that is all I will say about that.
I found the ending a little unsatisfying, mostly the final boss; I hoped that, at least in the true end, you would get the chance to do more with them. The true ending is really sweet, and I think that there is definitely some good character development happening in the game. At the same time, there were some things I could not get on board with, like a gameplay mechanic where one of the armor pieces is a ball gag. I know it is a joke, but considering that Wadanohara is likely underage and Memoca and Dolphi are both childlike, I found it in bad taste. Also, while there were many characters, it feels like a lot of them weren't fleshed out completely or their stories did not get told in too much detail. I liked the different story "arcs," if you will, but I do feel like the game was so focused on two of them that one of the most important plot points in the game -- the story of the two princesses -- suffered, which is a shame because I would have liked to see how that was resolved.
Overall, a great game with a compelling story. I fell in love with the main canon couple by the end. I hope that this game has a sequel, I think that it could be possible considering there are whole other worlds, including a witch one that is not shown much.
Plot: Wonderful. Fun characters and an interesting story.
Graphics: Pretty average, but I do like Mogeko's artwork in the cutscenes!
Sound/music: I thought the music fit the game and mood aptly.
Difficulty: A pretty easy game overall. I never lost to any enemies, but I did die in several of the chase scenes. Those can be challenging.
Ability to replay: Not much of an incentive there, unfortunately! You could, but nothing really changes. Though, if you miss the bad ends, that could be an incentive.
LGBTQIA+ Representation: Nothing overt. To be honest, there is a scene where Dolphi is scared and asks to hold Wadanohara's hand, and Memoca says something like "Aren't you clever?" so there could be a reading there for Memoca, but likely not. This is not like the Gray Garden. However, there are two characters whose genders are purposely unknown, which I would take to mean they do not conform to the gender binary, which I do like. Is it representation? I am not sure, and that is not my call.
Download the (English translation) game!
Original site. You might want to check this out, there is some artwork and comics.
Translated comics. Contains spoilers for the game, check at your own risk!
