IN DEFENSE OF RYUKISHI’S SPRITES

FELIX L. - Writer, 3rd Year, Environmental Engineering

"Read these. They're good."

Visual novels are a strange mediatic chimera that blends artistic elements from different formats into a whole that, when handled effectively stylistically, brings the sum of its parts to a whole new level when it comes to crafting a certain ambiance that is capable of enhancing its narrative qualities. Its storytelling is purely textual, as the story is told solely through that aspect of its construction, while the aesthetic, from visuals to music, exists purely as a tool to uplift what is being told in writing. Therefore, the value of these elements is dependent mainly on the extent to which it supplements the tone and narration that the text is going for. That is true of backgrounds, but most importantly the sprites of the characters. While visual novels retain mediatic aspects from the novel format which makes up half of its name, the style that it uses as far as storytelling is concerned is usually dependent on dialogue. Information is given through the lens of the characters, and it is their interactions that set a scene’s tone and lead to story progression. And that is where sprites truly matter. Sprites that effectively reflect a character’s identity, personality, and behavior at all times, and for all types of events, can be considered successful.

This is a point I wish to tackle in the scope of the works of Ryukishi07, perhaps the most notorious visual novel writer, though he may mostly be considered infamous as far as his drawing style is concerned. His main stories, namely Umineko and Higurashi within the When They Cry franchise, have gotten several different visual remasters when they were ported to different platforms, and with many ways to modify your game now, the style that the audience wishes to use to experience these stories is entirely up to them. In this context, people generally strive away from the original sprites for those works, viewing their existence as something that can only hinder their reading experience. When it comes to those who do appreciate them, one might be tempted to define this love as an acquired taste, that stems either from nostalgia or simply from experiencing those stories with those designs and therefore associating the characters and their writing with this unique art style, with later ones clashing with their view of those characters. But there are merits to these sprites that outshine many of their alternatives as an artistic tool for storytelling.

Their wide array of expressions is what comes to mind first and foremost. The exaggerated features of the sprites come to life in many different types of scenes, and in Higurashi for instance, are capable of showcasing emotions far more effectively than their updated versions, whose expressions don’t stray away enough from their basic design to fit the tone of the work at different points. This is true particularly for the steam Umineko sprites, or for most of Higurashi’s remasters.

This makes them a great storytelling tool for that specific VN in a way that in my opinion outshines alternatives. And the lack of technical proficiency in their structure and anatomy hardly matters within the scope of this role, as visual novels work as a literary medium, meaning that the audience’s perception of the characters is executed through many different means, with the visual aspect not needing the same level of technical quality or realistic anatomy for the characters to work.

And with the direction that Ciconia is showing, with Ryukishi using his designs while working with other artists for the coloring, the aesthetic appeal of his style is starting to show, and there is a point at which the gap between original and new sprites starts to disappear in terms of sheer artistic quality.

It should be said however that this is a matter that I find most important in Higurashi, but in Umineko’s case, the PS3 sprites have attained a level of expressiveness fitting of the characters and the tonal shifts of the story that makes them a great alternative to Ryukishi’s sprites, even on the fronts where I value Ryukishi more.

At the end of the day however, tolerance for the technical aspects of art is still something that matters in one’s experience, and personal preference should be prioritized for someone to enjoy these works (that are certainly worth reading) as much as possible. But I do believe that Ryukishi’s sprites hold a lot of value that is overlooked a lot in the medium of Visual Novels as a whole, and it leads us to question the role of aesthetic elements in VNs in an interesting way.