holozone
holozone   Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
 
 
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Rpg and VN Enjoyer. I played 150+ games on other platforms (Ps4, Xbox, Switch).
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Novalisian Tragedy
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Until the day this sky is no more

Sometimes, one can reflect upon the concept of medium, and without any hesitation the preferable one to impart deep teachings and stories will always be the book. Because the book has got a long story; countless people used books to express their feelings and expose to the world their philosophical thoughts.

All considered, this can be a logical way of thinking: since it's one of the most ancient medium and its story is related to, basically, the major part of the human thinking, the book is certainly a perfect way to express complex concepts.

However nice and well wrapped up they may be, books can even be weapons. At the same time a book can be an immense love letter or a declaration of hate; I think that such is the core of CROSSโ€ CHANNEL. While not being an effective book, this Visual Novel is heavily oriented on the nuances of the language and the understanding of the deep references internal and external to the work itself.

CROSSโ€ CHANNEL is, in fact, the only Visual Novel I've read which can be paragoned to a massive philosophical book about the true sense of being an human and the depth of the interpersonal relationships. Let's start with the characters...

Gunjou Broadcasting Club

The characters of CROSSโ€ CHANNEL are, without doubt, complex and well developed. For each week, a singular character's story is presented and then "resolved" (partly) only in the last sections of the story. Probably, the most interesting girls of the entire cast are Youko and Nanaka.

The first, Youko, isn't well developed in the first sections of the story, but when the ending comes near, she plays a vital role to the plot. She is, at the end, a traitor. She is the epitome of a weak person: Youko wasn't able to commit an heavily sinful act, murder, to escape her dire situation, so she made someone else do that for her. That someone wasn't needed to be a particular person, that individual had the only characteristic to be close to her. In fact she choose Taichi, and lied, making him think that two different people where effectively able to become one single thing. The contrast in her actions and in her behaviour made her one of the most interesting characters in the whole VN.


The second is Nanaka. A misterious character. Something about her is off, but it's clear that her connection with Taichi is deep. Despite the final plot twist, her true identity is not made clear. Even her story isn't explicitated; while it seems to be a downside, such a lack of information is, in my opinion, a good thing. If the true past of Nanaka was told, Taichi would be completely exposed: but, this story doesn't tell what seems to be vital information for a precise purpose. Because, in this VN, the reader is bound to the vision of the main character, so the truths presented are often distorted and not always reliable. That's a charm of CROSSโ€ CHANNEL, and Nanaka literally impersonate it.

The other characters are good but not great: the friendship element is vital and well developed, but some characters simply aren't made to be memorable.

Now, to the main topic. Since the start of this masterpiece, I was stricken by the behaviour of the main character. Kurosu Taichi. It's clear that he's not a completely normal person, his adaptation coefficient is soon revealed to be over eighty and his perverted behaviour hinders an obscure, malicious, side. Even so, Taichi seems to be, to the core, a specimen: he is, since the start, heavily characterized, and his true emotions, while not laid bare until the very end, are functional to the story. He is the perfect main character for this tale, in a way I've never seen before in any other VN. The story spins around him, and he's never out of place.

That's right, since CROSSโ€ CHANNEL is, firstly, a story about Taichi and his interations with the other people. Will he try to make others life better? Or will he try to ruin the people around him? Can a person like him, subjugated by self-hate, live alone for all eternity?

These are the superficial questions that a reader may have during the reading. But, in my opinion, the story itself is not even about Taichi.

The true meaning

Then, what is the story really about?

CROSSโ€ CHANNEL wants to depict an impossible situation, the existence of a world outside the "real" one which can still hold contact (somehow) with the latter. All of this is just an allegory. The repeated world is, in fact, Taichi's inner world. It's the manifestation of his sorrow and of his deep emotional world. The atmosphere is oniric, sometimes it's unclear if the reality Taichi sees is a dream or not. Every information in the repeated world is distorted by the view of the main character and given to the readers in that form; in fact, speaking of truth in CROSSโ€ CHANNEL is a really dire affair.

What can be analyzed, are the numerous references and hidden critiques of the author toward the modern society. I remember a part about how literate men wheren't able to conform in society and had to isolate themselves in order to write a true "masterpiece". Maybe Tanaka tought that while writing CROSSโ€ CHANNEL; he wanted to write the masterpiece of a new form of media. He naturally included H-scenes and perverted acts, but they aren't clearly the main point.

The VN insists on the concept of solitude and promotes the connection between people while exposing the "bad" ways to form such connections; these topics aren't related to the sole Taichi, but to the other characters as well. Touko and Kiri needed to be dependent to someone else in order to fully know themselves. Youko betrayed Taichi due to her impotence, and she felt alone, after having a spontaneous contact with someone else. Miki felt aggressive impulses, even when with other people, she felt alone and uninterested in their lives. The list goes on.

But, at the same time, the VN instill the fact that, after all, Taichi's decision was right. He did well, deciding to be alone in the world. A man that known such dephts of the sin, can't be cured anyhow. That's the sad truth of CROSSโ€ CHANNEL. And even the ones who exited the loop, aren't really happy. They are still longing for connections, while struggling to respect each other, but that's not always possible for them. Their problems are still there, and the only things Taichi did, was sacrifice himself in order to save the others from his presence.

So, the truth of CROSSโ€ CHANNEL is a much darker and deeper one, than the superficial vision one can have of the epilogue. The final sentence, "Until the day this sky is no more", express this dark meaning very well. Taichi will continue his struggles, he will build over and over the same antenna, repeat over and over the same actions, the same weeks... All in order to give a message.

One day, Taichi's sky will be no more. His broadcasts will stop. But the world, the real world will go on despite that. For inertia.

That's the meaning of CROSSโ€ CHANNEL. See you next week.
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Thanatos
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Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~
holozone 9 Sep, 2024 @ 5:22am 
Your fault...
Miraakโ˜† 9 Sep, 2024 @ 5:01am 
Best Pubg Player (currently rightfully banned )
Lady Capybara 19 Aug, 2024 @ 6:39pm 
:LoveBetrayal:
:momocat: Thank you for your kindness, i really appreciate it :p4g_love:
Lady Capybara 4 Aug, 2024 @ 12:05pm 
:LoveBetrayal:
:momocat: Nice profile :p4g_love:
GP_Deoxyribonucleic acid 3 Feb, 2024 @ 12:19pm 
yo man
76561199437003354 9 Dec, 2023 @ 2:47pm 
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