While there are no sex scenes, the flirting and depth of soul-bearing during the deep-and-meaningfuls between the girls make it clear that this magical girls story is less Sailor Moon than it is what if Sailor Moon gave Tuxedo Mask the flick and hooked up with Sailor Jupiter instead? (yes, please!). It’s overt even in comparison to Blue Reflection (which itself was really not trying to hide it). To be clear: Second Light is very yuri and makes no pretence otherwise. The narrative value is far more simple: these are a great bunch of girls and you’re going to want them all to hook up. Much like in a Persona game, the main protagonist, Ao, can take girls on dates, and by deepening the relationship with them, she can power up the team for the dungeon delves. Rather, the deepening relationships between the girls it’s what the story wants you to really focus on. It’s also not the real focus of Blue Reflection: Second Light’s storytelling. Naturally I’m not going to tell you the answers here, but the overarching narrative moves at a good pace while keeping the revelations going. Theories range from this space being a period of “waking up” after a long period of cryogenesis, or that they’re all dead and this is some kind of heaven. Meanwhile, as this happens, cracks appear in the sky, an “AI” application that they’re all forced to subscribe to claims to be a helper, but only deepens the mystery, and during idle moments the girls wonder about how they ended up on this island/school prison.
That girl is without her own memories, so the process starts anew. By delving into special dungeons, she can remember key events and lessons that she learned in life, gain her memories back and (often) summon another girl that is important to her into the world. See, each of the girls finds herself trapped in an otherwise deserted school that seems to exist on a different plane of existence to reality, surrounded by water, and she awakens in this world completely without her memories. This time around, though, it happens within the context of what can only be termed an “ethereal mystery”.
This thing is just so beautiful.Īt its core, Second Light is the same as its predecessor: it is an often bittersweet and wholesome coming of age story for its large ensemble cast. Nonetheless, despite the unfortunate reputation, Mel Kishida and the team were given a second swing at the series, and Blue Reflection: Second Light delivers on every level. I’ve argued that Blue Reflection’s frequent use of bathing, communal showering, swimming and other such bodies immersed in water events speaks to a Japanese view on bathing that we don’t necessarily have in the west, and that lent the game an unfortunate and unintended tone on the western release ( check out my feature on that in the Dee Dee Zine). Unfortunately, it also had scenes that people chalked up as fan service, and as a consequence, the game developed a reputation for being something that it wasn’t. Related reading: Our review of the original Blue Reflection on the PlayStation 4.
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