Love how the animation always feels elastic. And the ironic humor is very well-made, as always. Great job!

Always so smooth and glossy, I wonder if you could add *even* more light. I'd recommend it, specifically in your positive space (not light colors, you're good to keep that, I mean effects of light/darkness). Anyway, great stuff regardless!

Would have appreciated some more frames/fluidity on the parts where we see the gangster talking. And also some consistent shadows, like we see after Chin Strap is presented but are missing on many characters. But the rest was great! Loved the funny shapes of your drawings and the thick, clear lines. Also the saturated colors, think they fit well with the whole of your style. Keep it up!

Really liked the shapes with a lot of smoothness and straightness and the limited choice of color, both of which I think work together for a simple aesthetic that's pleasing to my eyes by demanding less focus on detail (exception being the intricate pattern on the text box but I think it's fine since it's on a separated area, close to the text. I'd still say it has a different visual appeal but I'm thinking on the whole here).

I also really appreciated the symbolism constructed from many uses of visual effects and a number of sound effects (e.g. the heartbeat or the moment of rage during the reunion with the mother, or the series of camera flashes also on the reunion), that was a nice device of communicating/expressing many different things on different parts (emotions, ideas, events...). There were also sfx with less symbolism and merely realism, like the bell ring at the store or the car drift when the deer appears, they were nice and all but just trying to make clear what are the ones I'm talking about here.

The "photography" was also very nice (as in the angles you portrayed the images, lol), I thought they were in general clear and representative/meaningful, many of them could have worked well if this was a comic, IMO. The smooth and varied/deliberate image transitions also complemented this and in a way befitting of your chosen media.

I also liked how the color limitation, the very subtle image filter and the music often worked together, I'd say. On the first and last parts of the visual novel the slower rhythm and "isolated" notes (as I'd describe it) + the color and filter evoked in me feelings of sadness; the filter + the faster paced song on the scene preceding the reunion evoked something of turmoil/unease/anxiety; and the stretched out notes + filter + color evoked something of relief and sadness on the hotel scene. Speaking of the music, it also evoked in me the notion of something delicate (like feelings, which matter a lot in this story, let's just say) in the title screen in conjunction with the pattern.

I think the introspective 1st person narration was a good fit for this story, including the narrator's personal views and value judgements. Speaking of writing, the different small sounds for when either Clara or her mother was talking was a nice touch.

And finally, let me say why I'm not voting 5/5. On the funeral scene, after the baby starts crying, Clara smiles to herself; considering the funeral context, the whole mood stablished by the song and story so far and everything, it felt really out of place to me, as if she was enjoying the couple's misfortune sadistically for no clear reason (or at least that's what I thought at first); my guess is that it was intended as some brief comic relief, if that's the case any additional clues to stablish contrast or something would've helped IMO, a brief stop in the music as the baby cried louder and then a quick chuckle animation played out, some short remark in addition to "I smiled to myself" in the narration, just anything to prevent a misinterpretation.

A somewhat similar thing happened when Clara smiles during the otherwise heartbreaking phone call when her mother says "Okay then. It'll be nice to see you."; it was kinda subtle and I could understand if that's just showcasing the joy of her mother saying those words, so it didn't bother me as much, but I might as well mention it also as feeling out of place (maybe I'd suggest have it as a quick smiling animation before returning to the frown, idk).

One last thing, I felt like the ending was cut too short, either there could've been some more tension build up before Clara gets to the stand, or maybe the way her relatives react to her speech could've been shown (even if they wouldn't react much, like her brother on a previous scene), or maybe the story could've ended with Clara's lament and reminiscence of her father on the hotel room...it's almost as if it ended on a cliffhanger (specially when her father used to give out good speeches) since so much of the story's conflict lies on the way Clara and her close ones relate and treat each other and we are left without knowing how'd that go after the speech. Would they approve her speech despite everything else? Would their attitudes to Clara's life choices tarnish their views on her contribution? Etc. Think you could either give us that or build up some tension a bit before if her presence there was the thing in itself you wanted us to focus on.

That was basically why the 4.5/5 (I mean, still great, right?), now I just want to mention some things extra. Think you could've made either the visuals have more details or the text box pattern have less and much of what I said would still be achieved (if adding more details maybe a more descriptive writing would also be a good fit, think it'd be possible without sacrificing the introspection). Don't think any of these would've been better or worse than how you made it or than each other, but I just wanted to share these ideas for...options for next time? Reflections on the work process? I don't know, hope it's useful, lol.

Well anyway, thank you for making this and may good tides come about in your life story and this review got so long @_@

Very cute game!

I think the amount of colors and of details in the shapes, plus limited use of lines and lights/shadow work together for a cohesive and simple aesthetic (which I could guess that was your vision, if that's the case, bonus points).

I'm impressed by the smoothness of animations and camera movements, made for a very pleasant visual experience to me.

I also liked the soft/relaxed mood of the song yet aluding to the western/cowboy theme through the instruments and melody, I believe.

The cereal boxes buildings were also a cute idea, heh.

I thought it was fun to shoot the enemies in slow motion as if conveying the toast shoots with the speed of a gunslinger (I've seen that in other games before but the implementation here was well done and fits well with the game IMO without being cliché or anything).

My beef with this game is that I felt a number of shapes lacked smoothness, specially at the beginning and end cutscenes, which felt purposeless, uncohesive (including with simplicity) and a bit unpleasant to look at, for me.

The stages could have a bit more of variety also IMO, in background, colors, theme, etc, the train one was a good exception.

And I could have appreciated some lore into the bandits, one small cutscene or clue in the stage would be enough, anything to explain why they caged the dude's sweets (I surmise that's the link between them and the initial cutscene?). I guess there was a bunch of pro-cereal propaganda in the buildings, which could mean that was their motivation; when I first played I thought the bandits probably were occupating the place illegally rather than own it so maybe the problem was on my end, but I hope all of this is still helpful feedback, anyway.

By the way, good choice on the words' font, aluding to western movies posters(?) but "Los Tostadores *here* to save..." instead of "are here" felt like a needless typo rather than some casual/relaxed use of language (unlike "went zzz" at one of the ending cutscenes).

Also, small stuff, I believe some small elegant details could add a bit of clarity while maintaining the simple aesthetic (e.g. on the bed on one of the endings, is the white a pillow?).

Well in any case, nice job! It was a really fun game, looked like a lot of care was put into it and I saw it in the things I praised. If you guys enjoyed making it, make more! Thank you for your work!

The tone of the narration was dry and merely descriptive, I found that a bit dissapointing for a character in such a fateful situation (with his brother no less) and after such a bombastic intro song. Maybe a heavier tone? Deeper? More pauses? Infrequent cadence? Varying volume in some moments? These are some ideas, anything to add more style to it and immerse the listener more to add more vicarious appeal.

The story was fine, I think the content of the narration conveyed well the magnitude of everything. The voice actors added some nice life to it too.

Good job.

Hehehehe, cute and fun.

This is awesome! So freaking touching!

Great effects of light, I especially like the rendering of the face.

Astounding work with the rendering and the view angle, I can almost enter inside the picture! The lines, or course, are also helping greatly for that effect with their length, straightness and angles. The only tragedy is how some of the shadows blend with the lines and make it harder for me to appreciate them clearly! Do you feel like adding a single color would hurt your style too much? Or maybe a less vast placement of shadows, anything could work. Well in any case, very great job!

Very cool shades and lights, but what I love the most are how expressive those squinted, baggy eyes are (with help from the shaded forehead and neutral mouth). The thin physique with the coat is also great, and also all those irregular lines with the unsettling atmosphere, of course. Overall a very cool piece!