Saya No Uta (2003): The Mirror's Truth

This is the first time that I am going to review a videogame, so I am not an expert in this field, even more so taking into consideration that this is a visual novel. For the people who do not know, a visual novel is a type of videogame in which a text-based story is accompanied often by anime-styled visuals and the players makes choices to progress throughout the story (this last part is not compulsory though). In other words, it is basically a videogame with lots of words and anime imagery that tell a novel-like story. I have played two visual novels: Doki Doki Literature Club and Katawa Shoujo (I am currently playing this one), so I'm familiar with this genre, and in this case, I am reviewing a horror visual novel called Saya No Uta (Song Of Saya in English), distributed by Nitroplus and written by Gen Urobuchi (the mind behind Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass, among others). 

Saya No Uta tells the story of Fuminori Sakisaka, a medical student who is involved in a car crash, in which his parents die and he is left with a severe form of Agnosia, which means he perceives his world in a distorted manner: He sees the world as a horrific and gory hell made of flesh, and people as horrible monsters. 

The characters in the story are:

- Fuminori Sakisaka, our main character (MC).
- Saya, the beautiful "girl" who is in love with Fuminori.
- Koji Tonoh, Sakisaka's best friend.
- Omi Takahata, Tonoh's girlfriend and Sakisaka's friend as well.
- Yoh Tsukuba, MC's friend who has a crush on him.
- Ryoko Tanbo, physician who treats Fuminori.
- Yosuke Suzumi, Sakisaka's neighbor.
- Masahiko Ogai, former professor at the university hospital in which Fuminori studies.

As mentioned before, Sakisaka has friends (Yoh, Koji and Omi), but since his accident he is no longer able to see them as people. He decides to kill himself until he meets Saya, a cute little girl who appears normal to him and falls in love with. Fuminori sees Saya as a beacon of hope in all the darkness his life has become. But... Who is Saya? What is Saya? Those are the questions that make you keep playing.

The anime drawings are really beautiful and when the game shows Fuminori's hellish perception, it is disgusting and nightmarish: A universe you want to avoid at any cost and it looks like it was influenced by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft and Silent Hill.

Thematically, SNU tackles many ideas presented in the more recent Urobuchi's projects such as the role of morality in tragic and impossible-to-choose situations, the futility of existence and the heavy use of violence and gore to tell a very original and sad story.

The music is dark and oppressive, and it really complements the horror vibe SNU wants to transmit. Again, I feel the Silent Hill influence in the OST, which for me is a good thing. The voice work made by the actors and actresses is superb and the distorted monstrous sounds are bone-chilling.

Regarding, the gameplay, the choices inside the game are not many, and in reality you can achieve three endings and the game doesn't take many hours to be completed. Which may be a relief for people who are not used to visual novels, however, I truly believe that SNU may attract Urobuchi/anime/videogame/Lovecraft/Silent Hill/horror fans.

The game has many violent and disturbing moments which involve gore, rape, cannibalism, murder, among others, and while the player can avoid the erotic content in the settings menu, they can't escape Sakisaka's world. Saya No Uta is not for the faint of heart, but despite all the grim topics that are inside of it, it offers a sad tale about a tortured soul turned into a sadistic monster, and an out-of-this-world creature that finds love and humanity in a hell of their own making.