大図書館の羊飼い Review

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Figures. Mainly I write blog as a side job from reading papers. Since I have grown sore from reading so many papers (and STILL many ahead), here I write again another post in the meanwhile folks ^_^

Well, talking again about visual novels, my all time favorite company is オーガスト. Some old readers might remember that フォーチュンアテリアル is my favorite title ever released and this one is another work from the same company. Coming with a different formula from August past releases such as 穢翼のユースティア, フォーチュンアテリアル, and 夜明け前より瑠璃色な, by returning the theme similar to their roots (月は東に日は西に ～Operation Sanctuary～ era), how would this visual novel fares to their superb predecessores?

大図書館の羊飼い

by オーガスト

Released: Jan 25, 2013

Title screen

Synopsis (definitely taken from the web, for a good title I don't want to screw with my typical teenlit synopsis hahaa xD):

When he was young, Kyoutarou wanted to read all the magic books in the world, but they were all in the magic library. Someone told him that to get there, he must be kind to everyone and bring happiness to their hearts. He received a bookmark, which was his entrance ticket to the magic library.

One day while heading to school, he received a text from the ‘shepherd’ (hitsujikai) telling him that his fate was going to change. He had a vision of an accident at the tram station and helped prevent any injuries by calling away a nearby girl. That girl, Tsugumi, later came to the Library Club room, which he was a member of, to thank him and also to ask for his help to make Shiomi Academy more fun. It seemed that she had also received a text from the shepherd, who is rumoured to appear before people who try their best to grant their wishes. One by one, other students also join their group with the shepherd’s guidance.

Screen sembarang 1

Screen sembarang 2

Anddd for the scores:

Story: 8.5/10

A good theme. Returning to the root with a mystery school themed is refreshing for オーガストtitle. Furthermore, there are many humour embodied within that brings more school life into the story. Regretfully, the mystery isn't as deep as I expected. The depth of story definitely losses from フォーチュンアテリアル and 穢翼のユースティア. Also, the pace of story is very slow that I find, maybe around 80% of the story, is practically filler. Moreover, the characters characteristics are mostly copycat from characters in older titles. Even so, the title is still enjoyable.
Graphic: 8/10

Good graphic. Nice drawn backgrounds and sprites. The characters also goodly drawn too. Although, I am wondering about the artists fashion style. Most of the characters fashions could have been better. Angle used in CGs could have been better too. Some are still good though, but it should have been better for a title that is quite awaited for a long time by the people.
Music: 7.5/10

The opening and ending theme are godlike. It is catchy and memorable. The BGMs though, fall short. Little to almost none of the BGMs are memorable. VAs play their role quite good. Overall, the music has its ups and downs.

Personal Impression: 9/10 -> 18/20 (x2)

One of the strongest point of a long title is it can leave you a long lasting impression. When the story ends, you might feel like missing on some 'friends'. 大図書館の羊飼い is able to do that. Moreover,   オーガスト also included one of my favorite mode, the append story which mainly tells what happen to the characters after the story ends. In append story you might expect some good story, but actually most of them are silly and because of that the feel of missing on some 'friends' is even worse. 

Overall: 42/50 (84%)

A very awaited title. Managed to bring the unique オーガスト feel, but falls short on the execution. The humour is very pleasing and it has a long lasting impression, so I recommend this visual novel if you are seeking worthwhile visual novel to spend your time on.

'till the next work, オーガスト!

New update (4/13/2013):

- Anime adaptation is coming!!! Apparently the title was a huge hit in Japan ^o^. Let's just hope the big studios that handle the adaptation (Kyoani come on! No Zexcs again please, Fortune Arterial badness should have been enough for you)

- Character polls result has came out. Link here. Hmmm quite surprising results in my opinion.