“Maybe…see, it’s true. It hurts when you break up, or you’re blamed, or you’re hated. But…none of that hurts as much as being forgotten.”

True Remembrance takes place in the future in a world where suicides have reached a pandemic level. Dubbed “The Dolor”, psychologists have attributed the pandemic to an accumulation of painful memories known formally as “Psyche Corrosion”.

In events leading to the pandemic, it has come to light that several individuals have displayed latent psionic capabilties that can cause others to forget their memories. The government, recognising the potential of such a discovery as a powerful cure to victims of The Dolor, established a formal but secretive field called Mnemonicidology, a modified form of applied psychology using the power of these individuals to destroy memories.

These individuals are sent to a special training school where they graduate as Mnemonicides and are classified according to their abilities; from class Epsilon to class Omega. Class Omega Mnemonicides are so rare that they only exist as legends and rumours. The protogonist of the story is a male Class Alpha (one class below Omega) Mnemonicide who has just received a new assignment. His newest patient posseses mysterious hair as white as snow and as the story proceeds, we learn more of this Mnemonicide and the patient’s twisted past.

Story (10/10)

“…if we accept the premise (and we must) that killing a man’s memory is equivalent to killing the man
himself – then a Mnemonicide is a destroyer of worlds.”

Well, this is the first time I’ve ever decided to give numerical ratings in my editorials of modern Japanese media, but I feel that it is imperative that I do so for this one. True Remembrance is purely a visual novel. If you delved into this game thinking you’ll find lolis, Bishoujos and irresistably moe voices, you’ll be severely dissappointed.

However if you have the time and energy to appreciate a stunningly complex story intertwined with slight violence, mystery and an indepth exploration of the human psyche told by memorable characters, you’ve picked the correct visual novel to play.

Presentation (8/10)

The visual novel is presented rather well. The only real problem I have with the presentation is the title menu which looks kind of plain and uninspiring. Really not much to say here, just look at the screenshots for some of the helpful features that they have included, including in game music volume changes and autoplay speeds.

This release features full OP and ED movies. While I loved the ED movie, I wasn’t really impressed by the OP. In fact, the OP actually gives the player a wrong impression about the game. After watching the OP I was expecting some soppy love drama but was sorely mistaken. The world of True Remembrance is a dark and forbidding one. Sure, there is some love at the end but it isn’t presented the traditional way you would expect in generic love dramas.

Character Designs (8/10)

While True Remembrance cannot match up to doujin greats such as Narcissu in terms of character design, the characters do look much better than the average doujin visual novel. In fact, the characters look much better than those in the infamous Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novel.

That said, doujin visual novels do not succeed due to their character designs but through the strength of their stories. This underscores how difficult it is to design a character and get a professional Seiyuu to match the personality of the character, which is why many professional visual novels and Bishoujo games get by with a lousy story but excellent character designs.

Music (9/10)

This is definitely one of the visual novel’s stronger points. While there are scarce few different pieces of music selected from free online sources, the points of the story where they are inserted in are genius. Especially so for the screechy church organ piece that is inserted whenever something really bad is going to happen (like when they entered the “haunted” house). I play my visual novels past midnight with the speakers up, and the organ piece almost always causes my hair to stand on end.

The other pieces are inserted at heart-warming moments, and at points when the author wants to make a strong point about something in life that he has a strong opinion about. While I do not actually agree with most of the points he has made, they are strong enough to cause me to reconsider my point of view on life in general.

Overall… (8.75/10)

…definitely a must play. I would recommend to play it late at night with speakers up Don’t worry that much because it isn’t a horror visual novel, and won’t pull the normal tricks that those kinds of games do.

True Remembrance has been translated by Insani, the guys behind the full translation of Key’s Planetarian and can be downloaded at Insani’s main website for True Rememberance here.

For visual novel fans that are eagerly anticipating the English localisation of Narcissu: Side 2nd, True Remembrance serves as much more than mere distraction to keep us occupied. Kudos to Insani for the excellent timing of this release. =)