dreaife的休憩小栈

Today, I finally finished Sakura, Moyu~
From struggling through the untranslated Japanese in June 2020, to starting over after giving up in September 2021, and finally completing it now that the Chinese patch has been released in 2022, Sakura, Moyu has been with me for a very long time. Like the DC series, it witnessed my journey from eager enthusiasm to a hasty abandonment, and then to the renewed interest brought by the translation that ultimately led me to finish the entire game.
If I had to describe my experience with Sakura, Moyu, I would say it felt quite good overall. Yet amid the repeated intrusions of real life, I lost my motivation and eventually chose to put it aside. The release of the translation served as an accelerant this time, mingling with my desire to paint the unfinished darkness of the past pure white again—and today, I finally did it. In that sense, I am grateful to Sakura, Moyu. Clearing away even a little of the debris left behind by the past always feels refreshing. I was also fortunate to encounter it again during this turbulent yet stagnant period of my life, allowing it to rekindle a small part of my dreams.
Compared with the earlier Irotoridori series, you can feel how much Yukito has improved this time around. Yet many of its fantasies clearly grew from ideas first conceived in Irotoridori, such as the library in the Country of Night whose books record people’s lives. At the same time, there are plenty of fresh concepts, like the glittering Country of Night on the reverse side of reality—and we also got to witness Yukito’s mother-complex kink (laughs).

Looking back over Sakura, Moyu as a whole, the song 《さくら、もゆ》 runs through the entire work and carries the emotions it seeks to express. Brimming with dreams and hope, it strives to transcend time and convey to someone in the future—someone who can no longer be met—an otherwise inexpressible love that has remained devoted to one person for an entire lifetime. Gentle as cherry blossoms, yet just as passionate, the song ultimately reached the distant future and became the key connecting past and future. Perhaps it also became a hero in the hearts of many lonely people—perhaps Haru, perhaps Taiga Kanade.
In the end, the King of the Night was saved, and everyone reached a happy ending. Although Taiga Kanade rallied others to rescue and help him, what mattered even more was surely the hope that filled their hearts when they were brought back to the most hopeful moments of their lives. The happy ending they ultimately reached was not something bestowed upon them by others, but the result of their own seeking. Of course, Yukito still had to put Kuro through some suffering along the way—just another day for Yukito, lol.
Perhaps what left an even greater impression on me were the wondrous beings of the Country of Night: Nacht, who loved Chiwa as if she were his own child; Nana, Hiori’s mother, who sacrificed herself to bring Hiori into the world and gave her one final push forward; Asahi and Toya, who led the protagonist out of the shadow of choosing a cruel death and ultimately gave their lives for the happiness of the others; Kuro, who stayed by the protagonist’s side; and Mashiro, who projected her own wishes onto him and, after hurting him, chose to become the 《Queen of the Night》 as atonement. Though they possessed endless lives, they bloomed for a single instant. Their actions deeply moved me and gave a little hope and motivation to a heart that, without my realizing it, had remained dormant. They made me feel once again that perhaps having a few dreams would not be so bad, and that perhaps such a life could happen to me as well—instead of endlessly pursuing money, returns, or simply “survival.” Perhaps people are always a little impulsive. I only hope that, one day in the future, the reveries written by this newly awakened version of myself can stir in you even a little desire to keep living.
Now that I have reached the end, it feels less like I have been discussing Sakura, Moyu’s story and more like I have simply been recording all the fantasies and thoughts I had while playing it. Perhaps this also serves as proof of the first time I tried to put my feelings about playing a game into words? In any case, Sakura, Moyu truly is an excellent game, both to me as a die-hard FAVORITE fan and as an ordinary visual novel player. It would surely be wonderful if more people came to love this work—so when is the FD coming out, lol?
That is all. To close, I will leave you with 《輪廻》, a song I would gladly call a masterpiece.

“May the magic of happiness accompany you throughout the future ahead.”