Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai is a visual novel developed by Tone Work’s. This game was released for the PC in 2014 (in Japan). This version of the game was translated by Tsurezure Scans in early 2019 (they really did a great job with this one). Minimal spoilers in this review, but I will avoid anything that reveals a crucial plot element in this game. I will provide a general outline of the game while also providing my thoughts on it as a visual novel (production value, story, characters, etc.). Anyways, let’s begin!

A Look Towards Our Future Together (Setting/Story)

Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai has a setting we’re all accustomed to in this medium. It takes place in a town called Shionagi, and a large portion of the story is going to be taking place in a school setting. In this school, Hino Ryousuke (the protagonist and a recent transfer student) will meet 6 potential love interests that will make him look towards a better future for himself. Already, this game doesn’t seem too special based off these 3 sentences. The way this game deviates from the typical galge (or the ones I’m used to) is that it attempts to go incredibly in-depth with the relationship that Ryousuke has with each heroine. The time-span of his relationship with each girl will not just span high school to graduation, it spans well after adulthood. Despite the school portion of this game lasting significantly longer than the After Stories it provides, the relationship in adulthood feels far more consequential to both Ryousuke and his lover in the route. They reach adulthood together and forge a path towards a beautiful future, each route typically having a climax involving marriage between both characters. The game has a general tone of optimism throughout, so drama is infrequent. There is some level of conflict in the routes, but it never feels overblown. The game is a very happy one. It doesn’t try challenging the player’s ideals. Instead, it attempts to provide them a close look into relationships and how they shape us into the people we are today. This game is more about self-improvement and reaching your goals, keeping the drama minimal because it only wants to show us one thing: how these characters reach their dreams together despite some of the hurdles imposed by them and their environment.

Ryousuke has recently moved back to Shionagi (his hometown) after being away from it for several years. It is here where he enters a new school and attempts to chase down his dream of being a great architect. He makes 6 female acquaintances while at school and, depending on his choice during a fateful camping trip, he will share his future alongside one of these female characters, bearing their baggage and vice versa. This is the main story of Hoshi Ori, like I stated previously in this review. It’s not the most exciting visual novel to describe story-wise, since a lot of the “story” is its characterization and relationship building. Which is why the meatiest portion of this review will be the sections talking about each girl individually and their routes. What makes Hoshi Ori a special visual novel is how it executes the stuff I described earlier (its characters and their relationships). The game’s focus will entirely be on how Ryou’s relationship with each girl will evolve over the years after the school portion by observing through his perspective on the things that have changed and the things that remained the same.

The Citizens of Shionagi (Characters)

This game contains 6 heroines and 3 (2 of which will be shown to avoid potential spoilers) minor characters. Including the main character, this makes for 10 characters (with portraits). They are:

Personality wise, what I described is standard for the visual novel medium. These character archetypes aren’t exactly breaking new ground (except maybe Morio with his occupation/personality allowing for a fresh perspective in the workplace). What Hoshi Ori does correctly with these characters is execution. One of my favorite aspects of Hoshi’s characterization is that, despite the characters being able to be taken fully at face value most of the time, the game does subvert the players expectations with them. A shy character like Marika can be assertive/proactive, and an energetic character like Natsuki can be intelligent/wise. They aren’t simply just one thing. They have multiple layers. This goes along with their actions. A gag involving a character had them cooking with ingredients that seemed very unconventional. Seeing this, Ryousuke told himself that he’d eat it because he cared about them, but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it: by the time he was about to have the meal served to him, the game flips the scenario upside down to Ryousuke being the one that isn’t knowledgeable on how to prepare the food because it came out fantastic. A lot of the character humor in Hoshi Ori will be situations likes this. Situations that tell the player that they may not know everything about each heroine and that there is more to a person than what’s presented initially. This is what makes the game feel special because it throws the occasional wrench into the characterization to throw the player off and keep their interest. This isn’t to say that the game completely avoids being generic (it can be at times), but it finds a very good middle-ground appealing to both fans and casuals of its genre (charage).

The use of side characters in this game is minimal. Most of the side characters (such as the parents or fellow students) don’t have character portraits, and they are instead used to portray conflict in the heroine’s route. There’s nothing wrong with this, since the conflict in Hoshi, despite feeling very small (compared to a typical visual novel), is always relatable and solved in an interesting manner because we see every step that leads towards the solving of the conflict along the way. It never feels quite forced, always fitting the tone of the game and the characters involved within the conflict. The 3 (though I can only show 2 for spoiler reasons) side characters with portraits are fantastic. Shuuichi fulfills the role of a best friend character magnificently. Despite being presented as a joke immediately, he very much has a very successful life and isn’t just used as a punching bag for the rest of the characters. Ryousuke often looks up to him for relationship advice. It’s honestly one of the most fresh presentations of a “friend” character I’ve seen in a while, since he isn’t relegated to mostly comedic relief. Being very much his own person. Morio is also great as well, allowing us to see a more determined side of Ryousuke’s character. Feeling more like a mentor than a boss to Ryousuke, he gives his sentiments on Ryousuke’s lifestyle (both praising and criticizing the fact that he’s so young) and providing advice to him on how he should go about solving his problems. He’s a very admirable figure despite his initially off-putting personality.

A great thing about Hoshi Ori is that it manages to balance character development very well between all its heroines. They all feel like they get a time to shine throughout the common route in various ways. The routes themselves having many moments that distinguish each girl from one another, so that debate for who is the best heroine (or route) isn’t always going to be one answer. This is far from a one-note game where the girls will have unevenly distributed time to share. They all feel like their own entity and have roles to fill that show different sides of Ryousuke’s personality. Examples of heroines showing a particular aspect of Ryousuke’s personality are Marika revealing his more doting side and Sora displaying his hardworking side throughout their routes. Each girl, despite the quality of their routes differing (in my opinion) , manages to bring something new and fresh to the table.Their dreams are distinct enough for each route to feel completely different despite all of them following the same structure (school section, problem that gets solved in the school section, and then after story with marriage as the cherry on the cake). The relationship between Ryousuke and each heroine feel detailed enough to the point in which the player will be able to remember specific months and days in which they had certain interactions with them. The characterization in Hoshi is simple, no signs of grey morality or complexity at all. The game at its core, is just trying to tell a story about how two people can change their own lives by finding confidence in each other.

A Helping Hand Towards Our Dreams (Gameplay/Production Value/H-Scenes)

Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai is a visual novel. It doesn’t change up the formula with its “gameplay” in any way. You make choices, and you get to a route based on those choices. A great thing for fans of simpler choice system is that the choices in this game are very straightforward. There is only one bad ending in this game (Touko), and because of this, you’ll be able to breeze through the game for the most part if you’re eyeing a specific heroine. There isn’t going to be some long arduous choice system like a game such as Fate/Stay Night. You will be able to get to a route with absolute ease. A very nice QOL thing that Hoshi Ori provides is a way to start immediately at a route when you press the “Start” option after you finish. Nothing too special, but I really liked the presentation of it. I also noticed a sprite viewer that let me configure character portraits into cute situations. Very cool additions in my opinion.

On the production value side, Hoshi Ori absolutely went all out. There are plentiful CG’s for each heroine (though I wish the side characters got something as well), and the art is gorgeous for the characters/environments. Every character, due to the games high production value, feels incredibly expressive, showing a lot of personality through the way they move their faces and bodies. They even have separate character portraits that have items such as sunglasses, blindfolds, and stuffed toys. If I had nitpicks with the visuals of Hoshi Ori, it’s that I wish the environments had slightly more personality to them, since they just look pretty rather than having character. I won’t remember Shionagi as a place outside of a few select places dispersed throughout the game. But honestly that’s just a small issue that really didn’t affect how much effort and money obviously went into this game. The game also boasts a great soundtrack with fantastic ED’s for EACH heroine. These ED’s even have neat imagery that directly relates to the heroines dreams (such as Natsuki’s involving photos or Sora’s involving stars to present images), which is a really nice touch, and it made me understand how important their goals truly felt by the end of their routes. Voice work is also great with well known voice actors such as Tanezaki Atsumi and Ono Ryouko providing their talents to bring these characters to life. One of my favorite moments reading a visual novel specifically had to do with this game’s voice work. Marika’s voice actor (Aji Sanma) gave an absolute STELLAR performance throughout her route, breathing life into a very initially seeming reserved heroine with her voice-work in the After Story. I actually felt goosebumps during many moments due to her immersing herself fully into the character. I felt this way for the other heroines as well (goes to show how great the voice acting is), especially Rikka and Sora.

H-scenes in Hoshi Ori are quite good for the most part. They aren’t really trying to be plot relevant, and I can respect that it has a lot of variety in sex positions/situations with its h-material. But I do feel that the game does include too many at them at points, and they can really feel annoying at points in the After Story section where they take up at least 30% of that section of the game. Despite that small issue, the h-scene quality is nice. There’s a lot of variety here. Lactation, pregnancy sex, bondage, titjobs, handjobs, cowgirl, condom sex, etc. So I appreciate that they did try to vary the pool, so that it isn’t just normal sex. An aspect of the h-scenes I really enjoyed are the interactions after them sometimes, such as heroines trying to learn how to “please” Ryousuke through looking it up online or Ryousuke himself trying to buy condoms throughout each route. Speaking of condoms, I enjoyed that Ryousuke always bought them thinking about the heroine rather than himself. He always wanted to consider how they felt about sex and didn’t want to badger them about it because he truly enjoyed their company. It’s vanilla touches like this that make the h-scenes incredibly enjoyable to read through, especially if you care about their relationship.I also liked that the game gave options to where Ryousuke would unleash his load. Details like that really make them feel meticulous in the art department. I do feel that the h-scenes in Misa were bad (but I will explain that when I talk about her route). Overall quality of them are great though, and the pure vanilla sex (for the most part) really adds a layer of depth to their relationship at points. If I were to criticize the visuals of the h-scenes, I do feel that the game does go a little overboard with the proportion of some characters. I can understand characters that are a little thicker, such as Marika or Misa, having massive thighs and buttocks, but thinner ones, like Rikka and Sora, look laughingly massive in some of the CG’s, which is off-putting when we see CG’s that show respectable proportions but nothing that HUGE (what they show in some of the h-scenes).

Sora Route

Sora is an interesting heroine in the sense that I initially thought her route was just good for the most part, until I got to the end of her school portion. This is where my opinion of her completely changed, and I found myself loving the earlier moments with her much more with context of the person she would become in the future. Throughout this route, Sora is characterized as quiet, until you mention stars. Then she goes on expositional speeches about every detail relating to stars, almost reading like an astronomy textbook. This was cute the first few times, until it became grating with how repeatedly she would go on and on about information without sounding as passionate as I feel she could be. Then the game addresses this towards the end of the school portion that Sora actually has trouble conveying her true feelings towards stars through words. I still think they could have cut down on her tendencies to talk about stars for long periods of time, but I felt that the payoff made it worth reading through due to how it was addressed towards the end. Especially with how the After Story puts a very neat bow on her character, making it more about Ryousuke reaching his own goal to be an architect through her encouragement, mirroring him helping her in school. She became a more defined character, and I found myself missing those long tangents about stars as I thought about it. That’s not to say I had a negative feeling throughout (I did mention finding the earlier stuff good, but nothing fantastic until the later stuff) her route. There are fantastic moments spread throughout the route with Ryousuke and Sora’s relationship. The confession scene between the two, working together at a job to raise funds, and working on a project with the group being particular highlights in the early portions of this route.

Overall, the relationship between Ryousuke and Sora is awesome. They both work together to make up for their individual flaws, and I really liked how the game characterized them through their dates, being extremely cute and wholesome (having Ryousuke eat her pickles off the burger was a nice touch). The After Story has their relationship evolve in the sense that Ryousuke is the one receiving emotional support from Sora rather than the opposite in the school portion of her route. This After Story had a big focus on Ryousuke’s career as an architect as well as his relationship with Sora when they live together. Ryousuke has a lot of trouble with his own confidence as an architect. Sora, in this route, has a certain level of maturity not seen in her school portion at all. She feels very wise and more passion driven (possibly due to her job in the planetarium) than she was in her school days. Seeing how far she came really put into perspective how significant Ryousuke coming into her life was to her in terms of growing as a human being, and she returns the favor in the After Story by emotionally supporting him, providing a place for him to discuss his troubles at work. Really, the only thing I’d fix from this route is cutting slightly down on Sora’s star talk. It’s honestly a fantastic route overall.

Marika Route

I absolutely loved this route. From beginning to end, I was consistently entertained by Marika and her relationship with Ryousuke. This route was handled with so much care, that I honestly prefer it to Rikka (a route that seems to be the fan-favorite of this game). This is Hoshi Ori to me. A wholesome experience that subverts my expectations when needed and puts me into a day in the lives of people’s existence together. This route, in my personal opinion, has a lot of influence from Nagisa’s route in Clannad in terms of the tools the route has. What makes it completely different from that route; however, is that it completely tones down on the drama aspect of Nagisa’s route. Instead, it chooses to focus on Ryousuke’s fixation on Marika’s past. Being childhood friends, Ryousuke constantly witnessed Marika miss out on so much of her life due to her sickness. And once he left, he really didn’t know what she would end up becoming. There was always a hint of doubt in Ryousuke that she would adjust herself due to witnessing her most of his life in a weakened state, so the route focuses on that worry that Ryousuke has. I won’t dare discuss the conclusion of Marika’s character arc. But seeing her change so much as a person initially from Ryousuke original vision of her was, for me, the best moment of Hoshi. I love how they subverted my expectations with her character by constantly throwing situations that made me lose confidence in her health only to make me feel ashamed I even had these thoughts to begin with. They made Marika a STRONG female character by showing me her actions.

The bond that Ryousuke and Marika share is incredible. It never felt like one character was supporting the other more; it was completely even. I love all the interactions they had together. I genuinely felt happy as I read each line of text in this route. The most beautiful scene in the game, to me, is their wedding night. I legitimately was overwhelmed by emotion in that specific day. It encapsulated how far Marika really came as a character. She discarded her past self and became a woman worthy of others to look up to. No longer was she a weak child, she fully blossomed. I also really enjoy how the friendship element in this route is handled. All the characters provide a fresh perspective on their relationship and assisting them with their issues. The climax of the school portion and most of the After Story are superb as well. Being the highlights of the route, they gave me the most genuine sense of accomplishment reading through. I truly felt like I learned about Ryousuke’s true nature here and how caring of a person he is in those portions. It’s a side of him that wasn’t as prevalent in the other routes (to me personally). If I were to nitpick, I don’t think the conflict in the school portion was as creative as it could be (kinda being similar to the Sora one), but outside of that, I just love everything about this route. This is a huge highlight of the game (which is saying a lot since so much of this game is great) to me.

Natsuki Route

Natsuki brings a lot of life to the game. She is the comedic relief in the game and, because of this, is relegated to making comments that the player will find funny. These comments oftentimes come off as annoying and rude to her fellow students. I’ll be honest. I thought Natsuki was a brat when I read the common route, but once I got to her route, my reservations on her character vanished. I love the development that she undergoes here so much, and I think it’s one of the strongest character arcs in the game overall. You really see that Natsuki has a lot more to her than just being a clown. Her relationship with Ryousuke brings out a side of her that shows how caring of a person she truly is and how a lot of her initial annoyances were just moments of immaturity that she would grow out of with time. The After Story in particular really showcases her maturity (and some immaturity) as she grew older. I really enjoyed that a lot of her problems stemmed from the fact that she didn’t apply herself, despite being very capable as a person. Ryousuke provides the push she needed to achieve great things. It really shows that labels can’t truly define a person, and if they have the right tools, they can surprise anyone with their determination and talent. Her passion for photography is also highlighted very well. In my opinion, whenever she talked about her craft, it was consistently entertaining. She really knew how to find a middle-ground between giving information and also inserting personality into that information. I can say without a doubt that it was fully her. I never felt like I was reading a book with the way she described her passion.

A potential issue that I can see people having with this route is that they don’t enjoy the fact that Natsuki becomes more submissive than she was presented initially. I can see this posing an issue with people who didn’t think that it made sense for it to go that direction. My counterargument is that this route hints at it sometimes with the way she gets shy when Ryousuke proposes that she takes lewd photos of her (because she was badgering her friends to do so as well). I think the route also suffers from an After Story that’s great but feels short-changed due to being less impactful and shorter than the other ones. Though, I really enjoyed the unconventional result at the end, which put a smile on my face when I finished the route.I also think some portions of the route feel weird to have, since they don’t really relate to anything, such as Sora talking about cucking twice. It didn’t make anything more interesting, and it just confused me. The actual conflict in the route also feels the weakest in the game. I didn’t mind that the routes had small conflicts, but this one really felt minuscule and didn’t add much. These things don’t really take much from the route, but I do see them as things keeping it from being as good as the higher tier routes in this game.

Misa Route

I did not like this route. It really sucks, since I do enjoy Misa’s character, but man does this route feel so weak compared to the other ones. It’s easily the black sheep of Hoshi Ori. The route started off very well with Misa giving very passionate speeches about the ocean. I especially enjoyed that we saw how infectious her love for the sea was when it made Sora take a step back and not think about stars for a moment. There’s a lot of beauty in having others become interested in your hobbies. But the route really screws up afterwards. They accelerate the relationship between Misa and Ryousuke far too quickly and don’t give the player enough time to process everything. This route in particular got into the h-scenes immediately without building to them like the other routes. Not even after the first date, Misa and Ryousuke are having sex. This really put me off since it came literally right after Ryousuke’s confession to her. I’d be fine if the relationship felt very developed afterwards, but it almost feels stagnant. It’s just constant boob jokes and shallowness with Ryousuke constantly talking about Misa’s body rather than her. It really felt like I learned nothing about them through them being together. If anything, both characters regressed because nothing of note happens until the very end of her After Story, and even then it feels incredibly slapped together and rushed with how quickly it goes about it.

I don’t really learn more about Ryousuke here, and Misa honestly seems very well off without him, if the After Story is any indication. There is a time-skip of several years, and the player is never given a proper answer to how long the characters were truly separated. According to Ryousuke, they haven’t been on talking terms for that time but somehow got into an argument slightly before the After Story. This is already a red flag and a HUGE deviation from the other routes that emphasize the characters relationship being strong well into the time-skip. If distance was a theme of her route, I could see this having potential to be something fantastic, but it immediately discards this plot point afterwards. Misa and Ryousuke have drunken sex after barely addressing their relationship issues (which felt uncomfortable because it almost felt like Ryousuke was taking advantage of her being drunk), and everything is fixed. This is honestly the point where I couldn’t play the game for a day because of how infuriating this moment was. After I continued, the After Story did get better with some great relationship building between the two, and then it just ends. The ending feels like a wet fart compared to the other fantastic ones in this game due to how little I actually cared about their bond. It seemed to have won me slightly back with some of the shenanigans in the After Story, but it wasn’t enough.

Rikka Route

The fan favorite and with good reason. Rikka’s route is quite possibly the most consistent route in the game in terms of characterization. Rikka is very clearly the heroine with the most effort put into her character with how much love she gets from the scenario writer and the artist (even having a character EXCLUSIVELY drawn for her route). She even has the longest initial segment before the games intro with a CG to boot. A lot of obvious love went into her route. Rikka is much more of a character here than the other heroines, having her perspective showcased almost as much as Ryousuke’s. It feels like she’s a protagonist in this route rather than an actual heroine. The love that Ryousuke shares with Rikka is easily my favorite besides Marika. Both characters constantly interact with each other in meaningful ways that allow the reader to know so much about both of them. The friendship aspect is also the most consistent of the routes. Rikka finds herself to be a part of a group that empowers her to move forward with her own dreams and aspirations, and it’s so fantastic. It’s so fantastic. This route has so much going for it that it honestly I almost feel guilty that it isn’t my favorite (but what can I do). I really can’t praise this route enough, but I do have some small personal issues with it.

I personally did not like the h-scenes in Rikka’s for the most part. A lot of them were cute, but it honestly got really excessive and felt like they detracted too much from the route at points (which I didn’t feel for the other heroines nearly as much as I did here). Though if you like anal, you’ll love these scenes! I also felt that the route itself only felt like it exceeded the others in terms of Rikka’s characterization. It was valuing consistency far more than absolutely defining moments (not to say she has none, she has many, but they don’t stick in my head as much as other characters). These are honestly the only things keeping it from being the best route in the game for me. Outside of that, it’s honestly a fantastic route with minimal issues. It’s constantly throwing things at the player to keep their interest, and I really appreciated the direction they went with Rikka’s character by the end. It feels incredibly sweet. I’d be lying if I said the final scene in her After Story didn’t put the biggest smile of my face. It’s such a perfect moment to end her route on after all that hardship she endured earlier. A highly enjoyable route that honestly deserves its reputation.

Touko Route

I think this route is easily the most polarizing in nature from the rest of the game. It’s almost a walking contradiction if you think about how the other routes are structured. This route isn’t about her trying to accomplish her dream, instead, it’s more about her trying to get one. She doesn’t have a hobby/goal initially at all, so she kinda coasts through life doing whatever in order to get by. A huge departure from the other routes. This is why I feel that the best way to get enjoyment out of this route is to play it last. Then, the context of the route makes sense. This is the girl without a true aspiration, and she will find one through her relationship with Ryousuke. That’s where this route feels the most natural, and all the choices it makes are logical. This one is emphasizing Ryousuke’s determination to accomplish his goals and his attempt to help someone realize their own hidden passion. I feel this route utilizes a lot of tricks from the other routes and feels the most “true route-y” in terms of plot relevance. Touko is a very interesting character, being the only one who is capable of knowing how Ryousuke feels as a transfer student in a new environment (though for him, it’s more familiar due to his past). Because of this, she keeps herself alone for the most part in order for her not to grow attachment to others. The reason being that she’s going to be moving away soon and that she keeps herself in the old school building in order for her not to grow bonds. This is why I believed that the game kept her interactions with the other heroines minimal. A great choice if you see what it was going for narrative-wise.

I feel also this route has the biggest challenge in terms of Ryousuke confessing to a heroine. Touko is a very distant character and, because of this, refuses to attach herself to others out of fear that she’ll care too much for them once she leaves, so there is a layer of insecurity that she has imposed by her own beliefs. Because of this characterization, I believe others may not gravitate as much towards her character. She is a very self-deprecating and self-loathing (being one of the more introspective characters in this route, having some perspective shifts even) character. This attitude may cause a huge rift between the player and character, where they find her sticking out as a sore thumb due to how different she is from the other girls. I personally loved this choice, since it made her extremely interesting to me contextually, having the biggest conflict in the game overall. It made sense why she was the final choice for a heroine on the “heroine select” screen. She has the most weight to her in terms of baggage, and it feels like the logical progression from the other routes. That’s not to say Ryousuke and Touko’s relationship isn’t at the forefront. It very much is, if anything, Touko finds the most direction in her life out of the heroines through her relationship with Ryousuke. But this is very much Touko’s story rather than Ryousuke’s. For better or for worse.

Concluding Thoughts

Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai is a visual novel that, despite having some missteps here and there in its writing and structure, is still amazing. I found myself consistently happy playing through this one, and I’m glad that Tsurezure Scans brought it to life with their fantastic translation of the material. It’s not quite my favorite visual novel (or even charage), but it’s a very admirable effort from Tone Work’s that shows a lot of potential for a masterpiece, if they keep experimenting with this formula of relationship building and characterization. The best 3 routes in this game (in my opinion) are easily Marika, Rikka, and Touko. The other routes are great (besides Misa). The issues in Hoshi Ori are very easy to fix and would probably require mostly minor editing. The game has such a likable cast that is elevated with the bonds they share with the protagonist and how that bond brings them closer towards their dreams. I wouldn’t recommend this game to people who like a lot of conflict in their games, but if you want something wholesome and comfy that will occasionally subvert your expectations, then this game is the perfect one to add to your backlog. And with that, I’m giving the game a…