'Blue Hour' is a dream-like and ethereal fantasy story in a strange land, with strange magics, and more than enough philosophical discussions than I expected this one to have. The art work is great at conveying the both familiar and alien setting of this story, and the characters are equally intriguing and fully fleshed out. The themes written in this story are big and profound, and still somehow in the end, I was surprised at how cohesive this setting ended up being. It works both in a literal setting, but also potentially allegorical, which is something I was worried this would end up being a bit too scattered and chaotic, but it all wraps up so nicely, that I was enraptured by the story being told.
I think it was surprising that one could read into the dynamic between the main character and the wolf as being an interesting conflict between science and religion/spirituality. I love all the character categories from the 'dreamers', the 'truthteller', the 'falseteller', the 'alchemist', the flower imagery, and the hearts on fire. I also really enjoy that our lynx main character wasn't some helpless every-man, but an intelligent scientist that has agency and will impose his will on the story. It's such a great read when the power dynamics shift between the lynx and the wolf, with the lynx coming across as in-over-his-head, but also being surprisingly competent, while the wolf is all-knowing and powerful, yet still apprehensive and vulnerable, very complex characterization.
The plot itself is something also quite interesting, a journey to the heart of this land that is covered in a blue haze, where the denizens are shells of living beings, unable to see, but continuously dreaming. The wolf, a 'truthteller', who knows all truths, but no understanding. A 'falseteller' antagonist, a creature that understands all, but cannot speak the truth the know, driven mad. Like, if this isn't an allegory for religion and science, it is quite the coincidence. I especially loved the twist at the end, where the lynx is described as an agent of the 'plague', which is an interesting way to describe the idea of knowledge and understanding that wipes away the 'parasite' that would be religion and 'blind' faith. It's also a great ending to have the whole land be twisted by a simple question and answer that was given but taken to a crazy extreme, the whole 'If you want to be happy, keep dreaming', which taken at face value without understanding, led to this weird cursed land in the first place. Really great way to bring it all full circle.
I will say, while I enjoyed the bathhouse scene, it was a little bit superfluous, and I either wanted it to go a little bit further, but I understand that this story wasn't quite set up to be one that had a lewd scene in the middle (even though I really enjoyed the two's playful flirtiness and getting to know each other better). As for the theme, 'a light in the dark', this is one story, that even though I think is amazing, I don't know how well it was inspired by the theme. There's the whole wolf is blind while the lynx is his guiding light, but I feel that's a bit too much of a stretch. There's the whole burning heart on fire in the middle of a blue scene, that's very striking, but didn't seem to permeate through the plot, as it was just an interesting starting point.
Overall, I'm really glad this got an English translation so I could appreciate the story it's telling, and how crazy good the narrative twists are. Love the two main character dynamics, the art is evocative and amazing, love the color choices, and the character designs go hard. I don't know how you can come up with a premise so dreamlike, but well done, a high recommendation and one of my sleeper favorites this game jam.