Pride Month: Sad Story of Emmeline Burns- Visual Novel Review

“Sad Story of Emmeline Burns” is a kinetic yuri visual novel written by Ebi-hime in 2016 as a submission to the Yuri Game Jam. SPOILER ALERT: I will be covering the game from beginning to end so if you’re thinking about playing this, take this as a final warning. “Toma Andrews, aged 14, has always felt like an outsider. She enjoys spending time in graveyards and feels more comfortable among the dead than the living. That is until Toma meets a strange girl in her local graveyard who might be a real ghost. That girl asks Toma if she will stay for awhile and listen to a story. A story about a girl called Emmeline Burns, who died a tragic death back in 1851” (synopsis from Ebihime’s website.)

What caught my eye was how beautiful the art style is. The characters’ aesthetic makes them look like dolls which is fitting for this story, in my opinion. When you first start the game, the first thing you hear is fire burning. It’s also rather short so you can finish it in maybe an hour or less—especially since it doesn’t have any choices. Of course, this made me cry like a lot of the things that I watch/read/play. I found it incredibly sad having to think of the pain of having lost someone you love so abruptly and then having to grow up and marry someone who you didn’t truly love. I also found it incredibly sweet with how in the end Emmeline and Cornelia reunite and kiss each other and finally move onto the “other” side. The epilogue was also rather cute since you get to see hints of a new relationship arise.

Now, it is rather slow in the beginning, but the more you read, the more you start to immerse yourself within the story. The music also helps with the experience as well. I was a tad annoyed with Toma since she was being really negative in the beginning, but it makes me happy to see how she changes in the end. There was one part where they show Cornelia’s face staring straight to you, but for me it didn’t really seem like the expression was the correct one for when Emmeline was teasing her and kissing her neck—I would’ve imagined Cornelia being completely flustered or embarrassed, but what was shown in the picture was just Cornelia staring at her (then again, it could be to show how Emmeline thought how beautiful Cornelia was.)

With that, I give “Sad Story of Emmeline Burns” 4 out of 5 pairs of paws🐾🐾🐾🐾!  I really like how the story progressed and how it hits you right in the feels as you get to the climax. However, it does have a bit of violence in it because the author does describe and show a bit of how Emmeline died. I do recommend it though since the story itself is really interesting and absolutely beautiful. That’s it for today. Thank you so much for reading. Until next time, keep your paws and bowls of ramen up, everyone! Nya! 🐾