I haven't finished the game, but seeing this, I just want to tell you that this game has not been overlooked. I've never played a visual novel in my life, and I started playing Anura a month and a half ago. I'm beyond busy and have really struggled to find time to play, but I have with every chance I've had. I've put in about twelve hours so far (I'm a slow reader and have gone back to reread large portions of it to try to elevate my experience). One of my largest motivations to finish it is just to be able to leave a truly honest encomium on its itch page and yet nothing stops me from doing so not having finished it.
Your game has already made a serious impact on me. I have loved writing since early childhood yet I've never really taken it seriously. It's always been a hobby rather than a form of self-expression for me. This game has taught me otherwise. I feel like I know Ilaria and Jasper (my name for MC) better than I know some of my friends. There is something captivating in the dialogue that I cannot fully express. Something about the illogic of certain transitions or the fluctuation of the characters' behaviour makes it feel so much more vivid and entrancing than any other story I've experienced. It is uplifted by its flaws; it is truly a game I will never forget. Your prose is depthy and profound. The use of words and story in such a unique way has inspired me not only to write again but to write to immerse. I'm making my first work of interactive fiction now and having a wonderful time. Your game has allowed me to see games as a medium in an entirely new light: a vessel not of story nor of gameplay but of unfiltered emotion. Game creation has been my passion practically since birth and you have allowed me to see an entirely new, fascinating, and wonderful side of it. I'm now studying the use of games as a medium of art in school. I plan to include Anura, when I finish it, in my final essay as proof of how a game provoke the same emotions if not far deeper ones than other mediums.
I feel different playing Anura than I have playing any game before, and now I want my games to do the same. I truly cannot express how much of an inspiration it has been to play this game. One game has introduced me to philosophy, art, and music (don't even get me started--those tracks are so haunting and just awesome) again. Anura demonstrated to me how the two halves of my mind--the silly side fascinated with play and the darker, more imaginative yet suppressed side--can function as one and output something beautiful.
No matter what you think of it and no matter how vulnerable you had to be to post it, I just want you to know that your work did impact at minimum one person. Anura is quirky and surreal and unlike anything I've played in ways both good and bad. I feel like Anura does what art should: allow the artist to express themself in a way that allows others to empathize with them. Although I do not know you and likely never will, playing through your game has allowed me a glimpse into the mind of a stranger, and it is fascinating. Please don't feel dissatisfied with your creation. I'm enjoying it more than I can express in a poorly written Itch.io comment and I'm immersed in a way I've never been before. Thank you for creating this. Thank you for publishing this. That comes from my heart.
(P.S: My favorite scene so far has either been the scene in the excerpt above or the scene where Ilaria makes Jasper tripe. Something was so sickening yet fascinating about that that I thought about it for weeks until I wrote an entire short story stemming from the word "omasum" and an image of a fetid cut of tripe being cut from a decaying cow).
(P.P.S. Sorry for any grammatical issues, repetition, or illogical connections in this comment. It's late and my brain is fried from hours on end of work)
Edit: Reading over this, it still fails to truly capture what I think of the game and how it has made me feel. Perhaps I'll elaborate in my final review. In the meantime, stay strong. Your intellect, emotional depth, and creativity displayed across your projects--although admittedly Anura is the only one I've played in legitimate depth--is truly an inspiration.