This story is a fairly interesting dive into the contrast between the usually considerate ‘normal experiences’ and personal likings and notions that may not be aligned with the standard.

Going to a bar is something that most people could enjoy, so hit a conversation with someone whom you could find there with a drink. However, that’s not something that happens here. Wonder is portrayed as someone who doesn't really care for going to parties, or drinking alcohol, or even socializing, but yet, knowing that he probably wouldn’t enjoy going to a bar, decides against it and gives it a try, in an attempt to understand what is so good about it.

I may be a little biased, but I can resonate deeply with the idea of going outside your comfort zone, attempting to understand what it is to be normal and what is the good thing about alcohol, parties, and sex. Wonder and I share multiple traits that make me understand his inner monologue. He can see why someone could enjoy going to those places but at the same time notice that bars and parties and things that simply are not made for him, and that’s OK.

However, that is. There is nothing really more going on. I understand it’s a fairly short game, but nothing really happens, it's just the scene of an introvert going to a bar and having—expectantly—a disappointing time. The game doesn't try to be more than it is, and that’s good, but at the same time, it is difficult to be memorable with such a mundane scenario.

The presentation is good enough, managing to be unique by changing the sprite’s colors and having an interesting break of peace with the scene of Mirth's TikTok, and the music, despite being fairly relaxed for a bar atmosphere, is explained by being off-hour time.

The folklore theme is simply not there, others have debated if maybe the implementation was the contrast of older generations’ approach against the younger's laid-back and disconnected interactions, but it is just a big stretch. The story had something to tell, and it wasn’t something related to folklore.

The story was good, but nothing really outstanding.

Really nice VN, actually. After I've come to expect bizarre humor from your VNs, it's a refreshing change of pace to read something this down-to-earth. This story is about a very relatable experience (at least for me), the first time going to a gay bar. Alone, at least. The visuals are kept very simple, but consistent. In a way, it's a marvel that the VN remains interesting despite having just the one background. The story covers just one conversation. Well, two. The first conversation is to the bartender, a well-meaning if slightly overenthusiastic guy. It's pretty neat getting Wonder's cynical perspective on the situation, and seeing how his worldview changes a little by the end. You can really tell that, much like many of us trying new things, his mind opened up a little more toward the end. It's not a quick or massive change, but I get the feeling he will come back, and that's already meaningful. Even that asshole at the end was a good challenge to that change, and it's also nice that Wonder didn't let that negative experience stop him. It's a short and sweet story, one with a lot of subtle nuance that makes it feel relatable.

'RIP Normalcy', to me, is a contemporary one-scene drama about the disconnect between the terminally online and the terminally offline. It's a classic meet-cute location, a bar, and the where the main character, Wonder, deals with their first time doing something that they consider 'normal'. I think what intrigues me most about this story is how easily the dichotomy between the bar regulars and Wonder can be polarized. As in, depending on the reader's personal experience, will align with the online fox or the offline wolf and tanuki.

Wonder, always in their own head, apprehensive about how they come across, seeking the action of visiting a bar to fulfill a checkbox of saying that they've experienced it, without allowing themself to be authentic or vulnerable. Complaining that the drinks are expensive, the bartender is chatty, and getting hit on by bar patrons, and then wondering why they bothered to come to a bar in the first place (a very "I don't know what you expected" type scenario). On the other hand, the bartender and bar patron, despite their casual and filtered-less dialog, can come across as both cringy and somewhat vulgar, despite being genuine. The bartender hamming up puns, using internet lingo speak, and being a fan of painfully popular media products can come off almost patronizing or having an ulterior motive (to sell expensive drinks) and the tanuki bar patron being so forward and blatant about discussing sexual preferences (in a gay bar), could be seen as offensive towards an ace common talking points of 'how do you know if you don't like it if you never tried it'. In essence, what I take away as a reader is the folly/tragedy of the youth unable to embrace the vulnerability or honesty of pursuing a genuine connection face to face, as opposed to across a screen.

It's a well crafted scene, and efficient in the time spent establishing the characters and presenting the meet-cute. What would be a simple two character sprite combo conversation does get spiced up with the use of a phone cutaway to simulate watching a tik-tok video, which I think is a great demonstration of the ren'py tech and pretty creative. The use of the jam sprites was great, really taking the time to use all the facial expression in the conversation, and even changing up the sprites' colors for a personal feel.  I thought the choice of music was on point for a modern casual scene like this. The writing craft is competent and does well to get the point across, though I think there were a few tense issues in some of the sentences, something that could be fixed with a few extra proofreading passes. I do appreciate how each of the character's spoke with their own voices and there wasn't a lack of friction between the characters.

In terms of creativity, I don't think this visual novel is breaking much new ground with it's concept or presentation, but I do think it is portraying a moment in time in the time-scape of social interaction in the digital age, which makes it feel very contemporary. As for the folklore theme, my assumption is that this might be based on that sort of, 'back in my day' story that feels normal to an older generation but foreign to the younger one. Where to a digital native, meeting in person is a myth/legend. I feel like I might be stretching it to fit the theme, rather than it be easily apparent that it would fit into the theme of 'folklore'. 

I remember bored_kitty's work from last year's farce of 'RIP Me', I sense a style that they really gravitate to is with these really distinct ideas and visuals, as a snapshot of what could be a larger story. Perhaps that's intentional, as expanding on the themes in the stories might lose out on the impact of the sudden closure of the scene, but I think that moving beyond drafting a single scene is easily on the table for them. That or lengthening out the story, as if it were a bottle episode. This might also be a scope issue, and they're being conservative on what they feel they can accomplish in 30 days, but I have faith that they got it in them. Overall, very solid entry even if it feels like it cuts out before it gets too real.

Alright, so this is clearly an attempt at something more serious and introspective than your submission to last year's May Wolf, and while I applaud the effort to change your approach, I'm not sure this entirely stuck the landing. Partially because I'm not entirely sure what landing you were trying to stick in the first place. More on that to follow. As is tradition, I'll break things down by category (also, this is my first review of the jam, so if it sucks and is unclear, I'm sorry. Someone's gotta be the guinea pig).

Implementation of Theme:

Unless I am totally missing some deep cut myth involving the concepts of mirth and wonder as well as wolves and tanuki, uh, I'm not seeing it, like, at all. What we're looking for here is "folklore" and as far as I can tell, there's no reference to that in this very mundane setting. Even if we were to extend the jam theme to include fantasy or nerd culture generally by the title of the jam, "Howl for Initiative", there's really nothing there either. Wonder has some vaguely "nerdy" interests, but I don't really think that's enough to qualify. 

Story:

Alright, let's circle back to what I was saying in the topline and talk about what this VN is actually doing thematically, jam theme notwithstanding. What are we going for here? What is the point of this encounter? 

Generally, having the protagonist of your story state outright "Did I learn anything? Not really" is a bad sign - typically, someone in your story should be learning something. If they're not, why is the reader here? What are they getting out of being privy to this interaction? There are stories that can lean into characters being static, whether that's through parody or absurdism, but this notion is also directly contradicted by Wonder's musing in the following lines that the Tanuki was right about him not knowing what he was missing out on [with being "normal"]. So did this bar excursion push Wonder to try going outside his comfort zone again later? If so, why? What made him come to that conclusion? His experience at the bar was, for much of what we see, fairly miserable. He made awkward small talk with two people, he spent money he didn't want to spend, he didn't have a good time, and he left feeling like he didn't want to go back. So what's making him feel like he still wants to experience "normalcy"? Is it just the desire for a partner? 

To expand on those last points, there seems to be a lack of focus on what makes Wonder feel so disconnected from "normalcy". Gaming, anime, and YouTube are hardly deeply niche activities in 2026. I get Crunchyroll ads when I'm watching sports. One of the interests you can mark off on those dating apps is "anime". Even if you're taking the approach that Wonder's perception of others' "normalcy" is flawed, his rejection of even Mirth's superficial attempts to be nice make him seem more frustrating than sympathetic. The one aspect of Wonder that is interesting and unusual is his asexuality, but that's not even mentioned until the last 20% of the VN and even then it's barely explored in any way other than as a means to shut down a creep at the bar. Like, how has that affected his perception? Has that been a factor in why his relationships have been so short and unfulfilling (i.e., is it difficult to find partners that are also asexual or otherwise comfortable with his asexuality)? 

For what is ostensibly a look inside Wonder's character, we really don't get very much about him other than vague notions, and that leads to that feeling of not knowing what Wonder, or the audience, was supposed to get from this. 

Presentation:

Mostly fine here, though there were some hiccups here and there. Right out of the gate there's tense inconsistency in the second line of the VN: "I could be sitting in front of my computer and watch youtube right now. Or play games. Or finally learn how to draw" -> should be "watching," "playing," and "learning." It's not the biggest thing, and grammatical issues like that aren't particularly ubiquitous, but that' s not really the kind of first impression you want to leave. There were some other proofreading gripes too, like quotations within quotations all using double quotation marks instead of singles. 

No issues with the stock sprites per se, though there were times Wonder's expressions did feel a bit lacking. I'm not sure what expressions the pre-made sprites came with, but this VN would have benefitted a lot from Wonder looking visibly exasperated or annoyed with Mirth's attempts at humor. It's especially noticeable since Mirth's expressions feel far more varied. 

Music is alright. Feels a little chill for a bar, but it is off-peak hours so maybe plausible. Didn't really add or detract from the experience, though I'm not sure why there was a delay in the BGM starting, other than that just being a thing other VNs do sometimes. 

Writing:

Other than some of the proofreading issues mentioned above, the writing was mostly mechanically fine, but it did feel a bit dry and bland. I understand that, to at least an extent, these characters are supposed to not have any chemistry, but that does make the dialogue a bit difficult to get through, especially when the conversation topics are so banal. The pacing doesn't help much either - a third of the way through the VN we still have Wonder asking himself why he's even there in the first place without doing much to answer that question other than mentioning an ad. It's a 2,000 word story, get to the point. 

I've said plenty about Wonder already, but the other characters feel strangely written as well. Mirth is stated to be 31, but he's written much closer to someone in his fifties or sixties, especially with lines like "YouTube doesn't substitute cable TV though." My dude, I'm 31. I have zero peers that would say that. I'm not sure I have any peers that even have cable TV.

The interaction with the tanuki felt rushed and inconsistent as well. Aside from being a pretty cookie cutter "creepy guy at the bar", certain lines like "I'm not judging your lifestyle" feel totally out of place when he was just telling Wonder he'd reconsider asexuality if he got laid like two minutes ago. 

Also, I'm not sure where to put this, but as someone who lives in California, I find the notion of $10 USD equivalent drinks being egregiously expensive hilarious. I wish I could pay $10 for cocktails lol.

Creativity:

Alright, I think this review might actually be longer than the VN itself at this point, so I'll try to keep this brief. Like I said at the top, I think trying to push yourself to be a better writer and try new things is unequivocally a good thing. With that said, there wasn't much to really bite into here - everything was too superficial to leave a lasting impression. This honestly feels like an extended scene that could have been cut or edited down from a longer, more complete VN where we get a deeper dive into Wonder's life and see how he grows. 

It's not a bad effort and I think it's great that you're putting your stuff out there, but I think this needed to be more focused and fleshed out to make its core concepts work. Maybe it would have helped if I read this upside-down and chased it with some Sonic fan fiction. 

6 mojitos out of 2 All About that Ace app installs from me.