Photorealistic food and a calming atmosphere – not sure what more you would ask for.
This article was originally written on 6/21/2015 . May contain conceptual/structural spoilers.
Natsuiro Recipe is a work which surpassed expectations. Being the debut title for Pulltop Air, a subsidiary of Pulltop, I didn’t really expect much out of it. This was due to the fact that Pulltop Latte, another subsidiary of the same parent company (Pulltop), was regarded for putting out comparatively sub-par works (KoiRizo being perhaps the only ‘decent’ work out of three present existing full works from Pulltop Latte). With this said, I was ultimately pleased with how Natsuiro Recipe turned out — not only because it effectively ‘maintained’ that sense of camaraderie & ‘achievement’ befitting of PullTop games, but because it effectively distinguished itself as doing something ‘different’ than its precedessors, establishing itself as a meaningful, new subsidiary.
Generally speaking, Pulltop (and its related subsidiaries) release moege. But, in contrast to companies that produce solely character games (in a way similar to a dating simulator — e.g. Hibiki Works), Pulltop works tend to be more meaningful. Indeed, I had hinted that Natsuiro Recipe, like works from Pulltop Latte, maintained the ‘Pulltop feel’ — what exactly this ‘feel’ is characterized as being is rather complex. I’d best characterize a Pulltop work as on one hand, being atmospheric (whether this atmosphere is urban or rural — modern or more outdated, the result’s unchanged; Pulltop works value the setting of the work, and effectively develop it). Personally, I find their atmospheres to be relaxing and soothing (e.g. KonoSora’s modern, eco-friendly city, C@F’s highly-modern city, and KoiRizo’s tropical resort being prime examples). On the other hand, I think that Pulltop works are most distinguished by how well they develop ‘feel-good,’ tales of maturity. This path of maturity is made possible only through a collaborative group effort (i.e. elements of friendship & to a lesser degree, romance, are invaluable).
Natsuiro Recipe is a work which effectively conforms to this traditional Pulltop archetype (this may be a case in which conformity is good). The work is set in Shiratama Village, a rural village, and the central motif of the work concerns cooking (which meaningfully serves as the instrument through which some themes of the work are carried out, and which advances the storyline). In comparison with other Pulltop works, I didn’t like the heroines as much (collectively that is — individually, I liked the main heroine, Yuzu, and another heroine, Ryouka — the other two felt less important). The respective heroine routes, like mostly every other Pulltop game, were either considerably long and meaningful (Yuzu) or considerably short and negligible (a forgettable main heroine). The main heroine, Yuzu, reminded me a lot of Kotori from KonoSora (both in having their unique, idiosyncratic ‘quddities’ of speech & in being physically alike). Her route was without a doubt, the ‘true’ one of the work (as it’s both the longest and the most ‘relevant’ & complete). She serves as the ‘sister’ character for the protagonist; but, this trope isn’t played that generically (as there’s a special difference between her as a sister, and every other sister character as one). The other heroines of the work, while they contributed to the ‘mood’ of the series, didn’t feel as ‘closely-knit’ as the heroines found in most other Pulltop works.
I think it’s still a bit too early to unequivocally declare what distinguishes Pulltop Air from its predecessors, but at the present, I’ve noted at least one large difference. That is — in Natsuiro Recipe, there was a long passage of time (most Pulltop games are focused on a span of a few weeks or months at the very most — Natsuiro Recipe spanned as far as three years for some of its routes). I think that the work did a ‘good’ job at demonstrating the passage of time, but I don’t know whether or not it was truly effective. That is to say, while the work blatantly stated that ‘a year passed,’ the dynamics among the characters of the work don’t change too much (they’re just as friendly as they were when they started). Further, the passage of time wasn’t as meaningful in the sense that it probably ‘weakened’ the feeling of camaraderie (As some heroines became increasingly irrelevant as the story moved during particular routes), and because the work at times, moved too quickly to establish meaningful bonds. Indeed, since most Pulltop works take place within a very specified, focused period of time, group dynamics can be better accentuated & developed; in a work in which time passes by unhindered, the lack of focus results in a lack of overall ‘connection.’
So, I think that one of the major weaknesses of Natsuiro Recipe was its comparatively poor cast of heroines. While the main heroine was well-developed, the other heroines seemed to in comparison, play very little thematic or meaningful purpose aside from a few brisk scenes. Now that I think about it, only one route (Yuzu’s) within Natsuiro Recipe could be considered as a pragmatic ‘true’ ending, as in all of the other possible endings, there’s a lot left undone (a certain secret). This lack of character fluidity is made worse by the fact that some of the individual heroine routes in themselves, were not only disconnected entirely from the themes of the story (of maturity), but also only marginally connected to the main motif of the work (the work concerns homemade cooking; a particular heroine route was focused entirely on the protagonist assisting the heroine in studying for her exams). Subsequently, the work had ‘good’ pacing in some its routes (namely its common & in Yuzu’s route), while suffering from comparatively poor tempo in others.
Earlier, I had discussed how the work used the element of passage of time — I think that some works (notably HoshiOri) excel in playing around with this feature. But in Pulltop Air’s case, at times, the passage of time felt completely arbitrary/nominal, as nothing really changed through time. In some routes, despite timing rapidly changing, the majority of the scenes concern trivial slice of life. Perhaps this gesture in itself is meaningful and symbolic (in that monotony, or peace through time remains as such) — but, as a reader, it wasn’t by any stretch, enjoyable to sit through. However, despite these complaints against the work, it’s not to say that I dislike it. The work’s motif concerns cooking, and a lot of it — I personally am impartial to food (so I didn’t really obtain that much enjoyment out of this esoteric* pastime). But, I think that a lot of people would enjoy this feature of the work. While I commented that the other heroines were comparatively ‘bad,’ this could be interpreted as saying that the main heroine was just that much better (but this isn’t quite the case — I still did really enjoy Yuzu’s route though).
So all in all, it was a good work. On the topic of its aesthetics, I really liked the CG — but some of the character sprites were ‘off’ (KoiRizo suffers from this too, but Pulltop mainline works are seemingly impervious). The soundtrack of the work, while by no means extraordinary, was ‘fun’ to listen to (a certain upbeat cooking song was really memorable).
