I'm the angry visual novel nerd and this is my saya review, spoilers ahead

Saya no Uta! The most hyped up piece of mid I've read. It’s crazy how much casual VN fans (and to be frank a lot of posers, too) hype this shit up. I think if I see another video essayist call this the most disturbing VN ever I’m gonna blow my brains out. Anyways, Saya is a really short read at only four (4) hours. Which makes it even crazier that people don’t read it! It doesn’t even take up half your day! I don’t care if you have a computer or not, watch a let’s read! It doesn’t utilize it’s medium enough to justify holding out to read it on desktop.

Saya isn’t even a complex read either, its very simple and to the point. There were no points in Saya where I was pondering any underlining themes or crafting theories for what will happen next. It’s all show and tell. I have no problems with actual prose itself, I’ll stomach anything, even the sloppiest of slop. I’ll just say it, but don’t think Urobuchi is a very good storyteller. He’s got some pretty good ideas up in that noggin of his but I don’t think that’s an impressive feat, anyone can be an idea man. Take my musing with a grain of salt, though, I am still going through his works and my only other experience with his writing was Fate/Zero. Him being a lolicon doesn't help my disdain in him, either.

Speaking of, this vn has a total of six (6) H scenes. This amount is crazy when you think about it because all of those were shoved into a 4hr VN, I’d estimate the H scenes take up half the work. Ignoring the fact I’m not part of the audience that want to see a little anime girl get molested on screen, they’re all written like shit. I have yet to read a single [non bl] VN with a well written H scene. The one’s here are rather hard to read with how many metaphors are haphazardly shoved into them, with thought provoking imagery such as:
"but her tongue continues to devour me like a kitten desperately sucking on her mother's teat."
Wow! Very quaint, thank you for comparing your penis to a teat, Fuminori. The CGs for these H scenes take a quality drop, too. There are anatomy mistakes throughout the Cgs, but the H scenes feel especially soulless for some reason… These scenes don’t really add that much to the story either. The first scene somewhat sets up Saya as a succubus-esque creature, but the ones after don’t offer anything other than useless drabble on how much Fuminori is dependent on Saya. Quick aside, but what is up with the phenomenon of VNs protagonist turning into evil rape demons at the sight of naked women?
"Or maybe Saya doesn't understand that a man faced with a woman's naked body can't help but react regardless of his feelings."
"Men are, well... really depraved creatures"
I swear to god I've seen these exact line regurgitated in other VNs. Is this real? Is this a byproduct of the otaku male's psyche I need to watch out for? If I was born a woman in the scary world of VNs I think I would just find it easier to just kill myself.

A lot of the characters in Saya aren’t that interesting, to be honest. The only notable ones are the main couples Saya and Fuminori, Dr. Tanbo and Koji by proxy. Yoh is only pitiable and quickly gets thrown away when Saya turns her into a sex slave. I forgot the name of Koji’s girlfriend but she’s only there to get eaten.

Dr. Tanbo ended up being my favorite character. She has a cool, aloof vibe to her I liked a lot and her design is nice. I think I ended up liking her the most because she offers explanation to the only interesting parts of the story; the mystery of who Ogai was and the occult/alien world building. I got sucked into the secret well room and the things she had to say about it until the scene was over and I'm reminded I will have so see Fuminori and Saya suck and fuck again. Although, I think her spiel about why Koji shouldn't go to the police was corny. I think if the police talked to Fuminori and saw the state he is in, yeah, I think they would believe he shoved Koji into the well. especially if they search his house? realized that his neighbor and 2 of his friends are missing....this shit is lowkey an open-and-shut case. Especially sense Fuminori went through an experimental surgery that was showing mental complications with the few that did survive? His unsociable ass was not masking well at all either. Tanbo was right about him being a flight risk, though.

Koji was an alright character. I mentioned he was only notable by proxy and that’s because hes the only bridge between Tanbo and Saya. He’s just a regular guy beyond that, though. I dunno, there’s nothing to hate about him and nothing to love him for either. Although I’m a sucker for the occult, I'll admit that I’m not into lovecraftian horror at all. I don't find hidden truths and forbidden knowledge that'll turn you insane all that interesting, but I thought it’s usage in his ending was pretty alright. I don’t care for Saya’s happy ending, so I prefer Koji’s. I liked his mental image of Tanbo being his only anchor to his sanity and how he keeps a gun with 1 bullet loaded so he can kill himself. I think the whole “who knows what else is out there” is a little corny, though, when Saya’s species was the only known possible threat to mankind. Who cares. Man up. Maybe I wouldn’t take that much note of Koji’s ending if I was more familiar with lovecrafrian horror. I wouldn’t know but it feels like a pretty standard, obvious ending for that kind of genre.

As for the main couple themselves… BOOORRRING! I don’t mind the VN starting off with Saya and Fuminori already together, but what little relationship building between those two that could’ve been done just didn’t happen. So much could’ve been done with Saya’s yearning for a proper true love, instead of the focus being on her getting molested and molesting 90% of her screen time. I thought Saya was supposed to be unique when it came to her species? That she didn’t care for animistic reproduction and wanted to seek out a normal human romance? For someone who’s only interaction with humanity was in an isolated cabin she doesn’t seem all that curious about the world around her. And for someone who wants to give Saya the proper relationship she wants Fuminori doesn’t seem that loving beyond the bare minimum and sex. I feel like I’m viewing their relationship at their peak instead of their middle. Which makes Saya’s ending a huge miss. This is supposed to be the epic payoff and the pinnacle of both Fuminori and Saya’s love for each other. There’s no tension or push back from either of them before this, they’re just two puzzle pieces that snapped together with no trouble or fanfare. So why should I care?

Saya is a pretty shallow character and Fuminori is too. I can’t tell if I’m supposed to root for him or not. From his point of view he’s just doing whats natural for him in that situation, but from Koji’s view hes a dickhead. Which can be interesting if it weren’t really, really easy to side with Koji. I mean why wouldn’t I, Fuminori is a stupid unlikable chud who can’t be bothered to cope with his situation and immediately turns to his escapism (Saya). Its an extreme bore to read Fuminori describe everything and everyone around him very nihilistly, but it was entertaining to watch him embarrass himself and ruin his life. His situation is cruel but if I was him I would have just thugged it out. He’s also very creepy. I think if they revealed people see Saya differently through the Yosuke rape scene it would be a little more interesting. Like he was a secret unsociable pervert before the accident, leading to those traits being brought to the forefront and exaggerated after said accident. Making him retreat further and further into the escapism Saya offers to shut out the world around him. Urobuchi should’ve leaned more into making Fuminori an unlikable retard. I also think the way he focuses on Saya looking like a little girl is very uncomfortable.
"On the one hand, she looked and acted like a child."
"Contrary to her appearance, Saya's appetite for sex would put any adult to shame."
"My body is all grown up. But you're…"
Just pack it up, bro.

The art style for the VN is fine. I like the sketchy style used for the sprites, however a lot of the CGs aren’t that really noteworthy. Some of them are even downright goofy, like the ones with Yoh. Tanbo’s were cool, though. My favorite CG was the one of Fuminori in his hospital gore bed. It was very funny looking. maybe even reaction image worthy.

The best thing about this VN is the music, hands down. It doesn’t matter how shit the VN is if its published by Nitro+ the OST is going to be good. “SCHIZOPHRENIA” is a very ionic song and its usage in the start of the VN immediately catches your attention. And all three (3) different versions of “SONG OF SAYA” are beautiful and iconic. I can’t even hate on the OST. Actually that’s a lie “SAVAGE” is a very jarring song. It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the soundtrack and it’s usage in Koji and Fuminori’s fight is just straight up goofy. The usage of such a “badass" action song felt wildly out of place, especially after the scene talking about how seeing Yoh's defiled lovecraftian body broke Koji's sanity.

I think that’s all I have to say when it comes to Saya. The only real reason I ended up reading Saya no Uta was because I wanted to cement my feelings on Gen Urobuchi’s writing. Even though I knew I wasn't going to like Saya when going in I think its still important to read the things you don't like. Plus, it’s such a short read you might as well just see for yourself what the hype is all about.

It’s getting late so I’m not going to bother proof reading this. I have a review of Full Metal Daemon Muramasa in the works, so stay tune for that. #peaceandlove

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