Kana Little Sister

"There's just something special about this game..."

Kana Little Sister has a few things I can say about it that I can't say about any other game. It's the only game I've ever played that has made me cry, and it has certainly had more impact on me than any other game I've played. However, if you've read any other review you probably have read this stuff already so this probably means nothing to you.

Kana Little Sister tells the story of Kana Todo from the view of Taka Todo. Kana is an ill girl. Not expected the live past elementary school, she's been in a hospital for most of her life. You make decisions while playing as Taka, her older brother, to slowly sculpt both Kana and Taka into whom they'll become by the end of the game.

The game plays fairly simple: there are backgrounds on which portraits of the characters are shown and most of the game is a narrative told by Taka. For most of the game, all you'll be doing is pressing enter and watching the words scroll by. Occasionally, you'll have to make a decision on what to do as Taka, and these decisions slowly branch out the game into several story branches. The game isn't exciting, it's simply a story being told.

Which is really the beauty of the game. The story is wonderful. You'll get swept up in the characters and you'll feel emotion for all of them. When something affects Taka, it'll affect you too. A feeling of panic spreads at a decision point since you are so worried about making a mistake that might send Kana down the path you hadn't intended her to take.

These paths are what allow Kana Little Sister to have significant impact. You are the one guiding Kana in developing as a person. You are the one that decides how close the relationship between Taka and Kana gets. And ultimately, you are the one that controls if Kana lives or dies.

Since there are paths, it logically follows that there are multiple endings. There are six endings in all, although two of these are just extensions of one of the endings. Since there are multiple endings, you would think that you could play through the game several times and get more out of the game each time. However, I've found that this isn't entirely true. When playing through again, I realized how much of the game is pieced together. I was encountering scenes I'd never seen before, yet in the following scenes there was no difference. Some things are literally unavoidable in terms of the story, which makes playing it through again a bit disappointing since it makes you feel like you really don't control the story since you can't change certain events.

Also, it should be noted that this is a hentai game. There is nudity, and there is a theme of incest. Sadly, these are the some of the more flagrant things that cannot be avoided. There are sex scenes that will always happen, regardless of what you try to do. Your character will also have an attraction to Kana, regardless of what you do. It's really saddening as it really detracts of what Kana is truly about. Most people avoid a game with hentai in it, and to an even greater extent if it has incest, which is a bit disheartening since the game really could be appreciated by anyone, and if these scenes weren't in the game more people would play it.

The main reason that the hentai scenes annoy me is that they feel completely out of place and mostly unnecessary. Being unavoidable just is adds to the problem. You just want to take care of Kana, and suddenly it becomes sexual. In some story paths it comes completely out of nowhere. You can avoid having sexual relations with her, but it doesn't stop your character from constantly talking about her. I can appreciate that some of these themes add to the impact of the story, but I felt there really should've been some way to avoid them if you wanted to take things in a different direction.

Kana Little Sister features a truly wonderful story. The vast majority of people that have played it were in tears by the end, and for good reason. Even though she's just a character on your computer screen that you watch for a few hours, Kana makes a home in your heart. Regardless of what you think about the genre, you should at least pick up the title and let the story take you away.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/06