アカイイト
Developer: Success
VNDB Play Time: 33hr 45m
VNDB Link: Akai Ito | vndb
Character count: 528000 - 627000 based off of vndb play time
Number of weeks to finish: 22 weeks based off of the estimate - may have to increase pace near the end if it ends up being closer to 627k than 528k.
Summary
The English translation for this game doesn’t look good so I’m including multiple summaries + the jp one, hopefully these will be enough to get the gist 
Japanese steam summary
この夏に唯一の肉親だった母親を亡くし、遺産の整理をしていた桂は、父親が経観塚（へみづか）という聞き慣れぬ土地に、歴史のある日本屋敷を持っていたことを知る。
桂は処分するかどうかを決めるために、現物を見に経観塚を訪れることに。その道中の列車の中で、天を貫くほどの巨大な木と、蝶の群れを従えた少女・ユメイが現れる不思議な夢を見る……
経観塚に伝わる山神と人柱の伝承とは？
失われた桂の記憶の真実は？
桂の生まれ故郷でもある経観塚。舞台に役者が揃うとき、運命の輪が静かに廻り出す……
VNDB summary
To arrange the inheritance because of the loss of her mother, Hatou Kei heads for her fathers house in Hemizuka. In the train on the way there, Kei has a mysterious dream of a huge tree and a woman who seems to be lost in sadness. In the land of Hemizuka, Kei learns the secret concealed in her own blood through various meeting with an Oni Slayer, a friend of her late mother, a young girl accompanied by a white fox, and even the mysterious girl from her dreams.
English steam summary
After the death of her only living relative – her mother, this past summer Kei was sorting through her inheritance and learned that her father, who had already passed away, owned an old Japanese mansion in a little-known place called “Hemizuka″.
Kei decides to investigate in order to determine the prospects of this forgotten homestead.
On the way there, Kei has a strange dream in which a huge tree pierces the sky and a girl named Yumei appears with a flock of butterflies.
What is the legend of the mountain god and human sacrifice in Hemizumika?
What is the truth of Kei‘s lost memory?
Hemizuka is Kei’s birthplace. When the characters come across each other, the wheels of destiny quietly begin to turn…
Availability
Personal Opinion
This is a VN that I have been looking forward to reading for well over a decade now. It was previously a ps2 exclusive and many fan translators picked it up but disappeared throughout the years but it is finally on PC (and switch) for us to all enjoy.
It is highly acclaimed as one of the all-time classic yuri titles and currently has an 8.44 average rating on VNDB. While it is a yuri title, romance is not the focus. Success describes it as a “Traditional Japanese Horror Adventure” but horror may not be correct either since the game isn’t scary to my knowledge. From what I know, it focuses heavily on Japanese folklore & mythology and would probably fall in closer to the mystery category of things rather than horror.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Given the genre, there should be a lot to talk about
- Legendary composer MANYO did the soundtrack for the game
- Can texthook on PC
- Flowchart in the game could make it easy to plan out choices.
- Glossary in game to give additional explanations on terms - similar to what is found in the sci;adv series
- Fully voice acted, including the MC
Cons
- The game features kanji puns and lots of wordplay around 赤い糸 & with the folklore themes, it could make it a difficult read
- The game has 32 endings with 15 of them being bad endings, 12 normal and 5 “true” endings. The flowchart should make this less of a pain in theory but lots of bad endings can be annoying
- The glossary items might be a lot more difficult than the actual story text. I wasn’t able to texthook it either.
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this VN?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters