Back at the beginning of this thread, Peter-sama solicited comments about Yume Miru Kurasu and Snow Sakura. Since these are two of my favorites, I appreciate this opportunity to say a few words about them. But I’m not going to discuss them as games, bit rather as works of fiction, as stories.
The sex aside, both YMK and Snow Sakura offer us two fascinating narratives that work on many levels at once, and it's interesting that Peter should mention them both in the same breath; because I believe that they share many of the same themes in common. Most notably: the loneliness of the individual and coping with a hostile environment. We see this most starkly in YMK. Kouhei's school can justly be described as a Blackboard Jungle, where bullying is commonplace. In particular, the scene in the cafeteria where the students are struggling against each other foe sandwiches is a classic example of survival of the fittest. Our protagonist, Kouhei, has learned to cope with this environment by not calling attention to himself. He has a reputation as a good student, but he tells us himself that he only does enough to get by and studiously avoids calling attention to himself, because in this school, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down, and there are plenty of self-appointed hammers, like Antoinette, around to do the job. His situation at home is not much better. His parents are farcically absent emotionally. They are, seemingly, incapable of noticing that Kouhei harasses his sister unmercifully in the same way that the bullies at school harass the weaker students. And that's not the only thing that goes on in this house-practically in front of their eyes-that they fail to notice. We learn early on in the game that Kouhei is actually not blood-related to these people; that he's actually adopted (as if that meant anything). I have to wonder about all these "adopted" siblings that appear in eroge. Are we supposed to take that literally? Or, rather, can we view Kouhei as not so much a stepson as an (out of step) son.
At the beginning of the game, it would appear that Kouhei's life is going nowhere and that the only future we can expect for him is one of increasing emotional isolation, but as he gets involved with one of the three girls in the game, things change dramatically. The way the story (or stories) is structured, it appears that he saves their lives (or not), but from the way I see it, it's they who save his life. After he hooks up with one or another of these girls, he seems better able to cope with life. The moral of the story seems to be that if two individuals can come together, they can tame their environment.
YMK offers us a storyline that is mostly serious, but with a few light touches here and there. By contrast, Snow Sakura is mostly funny, but with a few dramatic flourishes near the end. But like YMK, it's about individuals dealing with a hostile environment. But in this case it's the physical environment that's the problem. At the beginning of the game, we meet Yuuji, another young man making his lonely way thru the urban jungle. Yuuji is quite literally alone, because his parents have (seemingly overnight) moved to a distant part of Japan called Hawaii. Yuuji's father, however, has made provisions for him by sending him off to live with an uncle who lives in Hokkaido. Yuuji at first reacts to this relocation with anger and cynicism. His uncle's home seems to be perpetually covered in snow, and the only things people do there seem to consist of shoveling snow, drinking and playing Mah Jong. At first, Yuuji is determined to remain an outsider, but he eventually comes to accept his place in the group, because the moral of Snow Sakura is that the only way that people can cope with a hostile physical environment is to stick together. In contrast to YMK, which suggests that society is dangerous, Snow Sakura valorizes Community.
Finally, what do the titles of these two games mean? What is The Drug That Makes You Dream? There are drugs in some of the storylines, but they don't seem to play a very important part, and they are presented as negative elements. But the title suggests something more positive. What is the drug that makes you dream? Is it love? Sounds a bit corny, but nevertheless, it could be true. And what of the Snow Sakura, the tree that blooms in the wintertime? The introduction to the game implies that there is something mysterious about it, but, really, it's just a symbol of a community that can thrive in the frozen north. When it's mentioned that long ago Yuuji made a promise under the Snow Sakura that he's forgotten, it's simply that the promise was to take his place in the community.
It’s an entirely different medium and calls for a different approach to storytelling. It’s not just the PLOT that makes a great book… it’s the nuances, and those nuances are no longer operative when you change the medium.