The Fruit of Grisaia

Absolute cinema.

Main character has more edge to him then Hajime and Kirito combined, but at least the main girl has them bazooka bozangas

Ignore playtime, I've 100% complete it on a different version.

This is a really great VN. The premise is a bit wacky, but the story handles it well enough that you shouldn't mind it pretty quickly.

The common route (all the scenes before you enter a girl's specific route) is downright hilarious, genuinely one of the funniest things I've ever read at points crab-monkey-amoebic dysentery ; and the girls' routes are all generally heartfelt, very heavy, and well done. Quality writing all things considered. The art is also pretty great for a VN with over a decade on it.

There is an 18+ patch that adds all the missing H scenes, and I found them to be pretty tastefully handled overall. Having watched the 1st season of the anime after finishing this I can say that the anime is waaay thirstier than the VN despite it not having any actual nudity or romance.

On that note there is the issue with Makina given her "situation" and the nature of her relationship with Juicy-Yuuji. If someone told me they have a problem with it, I completely understand. That said, I felt it was handled fairly well and given that Makina and Juicy-Boy both separately acknowledge both her behavior, the veracity of said behavior, and the reasons behind it, I don't think its as much of an issue as it might appear. Still cutting it pretty close though.

All the girls are great in their own ways, each one starts out as a comedic caricature and eventually is revealed to be a deeply flawed, troubled, and very human person. Juicy-Yuuji is likewise initially presented as a mildly misogynistic, sarcastic, and borderline psychotic, asshole. However, he does eventually show himself to be a caring, doggedly-loyal, and definitely psychotic (but in a good way, I guess), friend/boyfriend. Mostly at least, more on that in a moment.

My biggest issue with the game is the way one of the routes is handled, and it unfortunately happens to be my favorite girl's route. Mild to moderate tone spoilers ahead for one of the routes:

The way Juicy-Yuuji treats Michiru for a large chunk of her route is at best just north of bullying and at worst borderline abusive. In every other route Juicy-Lad is a genuinely kind, caring, and attentive (if maybe a bit unhinged) partner, but for some reason he can't help but treat poor poor Michiru like she's yesterday's trash. I almost didn't want to even continue her route at one point because the way he was treating her was making me actually upset. It does eventually come around but I still can't help but feel bad for my girl Chiruchiru.

And that's it, that's the bad thing about this VN, other than that the only other thing I can really complain about is that some of the flashback sequences can drag on for juuuust a tad too long.

I haven't played Labyrinth or Eden or any of the other Grisaia VNs and from what I can tell that's fine as they're mostly either backstory, sidestories, or the harem route (not what I want, I feel like it cheapens the other routes). Fruits definitely delivers a complete story with mostly satisfying conclusions to each route.

One last thing. If you've seen the anime and aren't sure if the VN is worth it, then listen to me. Forget the anime even exists, compared to this, it's trash. The anime skipped, changed, and bastardized so much quality storytelling, it's kind of baffling. At most the anime should be viewed as a side dish if you want to see more of the Mihama crew. This VN is 100% worth it if you even remotely liked anything about the anime.

The Fruit of Grisaia is one of the best and longest visual novels I’ve ever played, with an overpowered yet fascinating protagonist, multiple romance routes (that go beyond just cute dialogue, depending on your version), a perfect blend of comedy and emotional gut punches, and an incredibly engaging story, though it sometimes leans a bit too much into slice-of-life instead of keeping the plot moving, but seriously, if you’re going to play it, get the Unrated Version.

Best Common Route I have ever read.

Really fun character dynamics.

Get it elsewhere

The Fruit of Grisaia is a visual novel that I give an overall positive recommendation, but I have mixed feelings about it that prevent me from calling it great, let alone one of my all-time favorite visual novels like it is for many. Almost every major aspect of this visual novel is a double-edged sword.

The characters are generally pretty likable, especially the main five heroines. They have quirky humor, and the reveals that their quirks are related to surprisingly dark pasts are developed quite well. However, I don't like how their pasts and character development feel a bit TOO over the top for an otherwise down-to-earth setting. Without giving too much away, elements like burials, explosions, and alternate personalities particularly irked me.

The main protagonist, Yuuji, is a character I've seen people love and consider one of the best VN protags while others HATE him. I have mixed feelings about him. I sometimes enjoy his sarcastic humor, and having a backstory and personality is nice. However, he feels WAY too much like Superman in how he solves the heroines' problems himself and barely gives them a chance to take action.

As for the routes, I think the common route is actually pretty funny. The heroines get to show off their quirks, and there’s enough variation to get a good laugh out of me. The problem? It was TOO LONG. Ten to fifteen hours of just slice-of-life comedy was too much for me, especially since it was building up to darker psychological routes. If Grisaia were just a moege made by SMEE or Asa Project or something, I wouldn't have as much of an issue, but even then, the common route could EASILY be cut in half, especially when there's very little plot or character foreshadowing.

Regarding the heroine routes, again, the character development and backstory reveals for all five heroines were done pretty well. It was nice to see why they ended up at Mihama Academy and how they overcame issues in their own ways was usually emotionally rewarding with solid buildup. The problem? Well... a bunch. Similar to the common route, every route was TOO LONG and slow-paced. Some routes were better, like Yumiko's, which wasn’t too bad with things moving along relatively quickly. Then there’s Makina's route, which was godawfully slow, with the other three routes somewhere in the middle.

As I mentioned earlier, every resolution to the main heroine's problems has two main issues: first, Yuuji literally resolves almost everything himself like Superman; second, there’s some element that’s too over the top compared to what had otherwise been a quirky yet down-to-earth setting.

If you don’t mind or even like long and slow VNs, super blunt and competent protagonists, some over-the-top drama or coincidences, and a lot of slice-of-life before the deep stuff, then Fruit of Grisaia could easily be your thing—maybe even one of your favorites. However, for me, despite its very positive upsides like solid humor and memorable psychological character development, I can personally only give a mild positive recommendation due to the pacing being excessively slow for me and Yuuji's humor being hit or miss; his overcompetence often takes me out of the moment at times.

extremely cringe localization

mitcher

Peak game and absolute cinema.

Makina best girl nanoyosa

10/10 Story, only visual novel game all routes were really good. I liked all heroines equally in this game, the character writing and development was very good. However the story is very slow compared to other visual novels and slice of life comedy might be boring to some people. There is a 18+ patch google it, it is good.

Strawberry Shower, Want to Smile; World End.

Really good story

juicy yuuji

Ignore the hours on this account - played the fan translation for a ridiculous amount of time. The Fruit of Grisaia is absolutely the best VN I have ever played. The story, characters, music - it's all top tier. One of the best MC's in any game. It's one of the few VNs that I go back and replay just for comfort.

Best visual novel I've ever read