Reverse Memories
Nintendo eShop
Never Knows Best / Navila Software Japan
2019 2021
Reverse Memories is a Chinese visual novel by developer Never Knows Best. Yes, it appears the developer took their name from FLCL, the VN even has the branded cigarettes. While I played Reverse Memories on Switch, it's also available on PC, though it was delisted from Steam for some reason. Computercels will have to get it from Epic, where it's part of a compilation called Black Hair Girl is Best Girl, advertised with the tag line of Love With Black Long Hair Girls. Well, okay then!
My expectations for this were fairly low, and I'm quite surprised and pleased by how not-bad this is. The plot is completely absurd, contradictory, and full of holes. It stars a young man named Yu Sheng, who has vague but pleasant memories of a female childhood friend. Now in high school, Yu Sheng one day spots an attractive young lady outside a classroom window. Apparently not bound by any rules of social convention, he immediately tracks her down and confesses his "love at first sight." The girl, Yi Yao, oddly reciprocates, they spend time together, everything is great... until the next day when Yi Yao claims to have lost all memories of her suitor. Yu Sheng can't simply bail on the love of his life, so he joins forces with his buddy and a female doctor to get to the bottom of the mystery. Which he eventually does -- though there's an incredibly obvious twist that appears halfway through the game. I spotted it a mile away, hell I could have guessed it just by reading a brief description of the scenario.
The writing is pretty straightforward in most places, but I'm surprised by how damn funny this was in parts. Maybe there's a style of Chinese humor I'm not yet acquainted with. At one point in the game there's a building on fire. One character suggests putting it out with the most obvious device available but another retorts with something like "would you actually trust a Chinese fire extinguisher to work?" At another part Yu's buddy tries to get Yu to accompany him to the bathroom and says "brothers pee together." Amazing. The ending is wholesome and satisfying too, though both lead characters devolve into weepy mushes who need to be saved by their respective partner. True love indeed.
Structurally, Reverse Memories is a bit unusual. There are two choices to be made, both appearing deep into the narrative. The "wrong" choices are obvious, and both lead to immediate premature endings. Why include this at all? To see the true ending, one must also play the VN twice. The second playthrough showcases "behind the scenes" stuff -- proably only 30-40 minutes of additional content -- but it's tedious as everything redundant must be reseen (albeit with the ability to fast-forward read text). This takes about six hours total to read through; I recall doing so in three sittings. The UI is very streamlined, and the save/load system was designed with a single fast-reading player in mind.
Graphics are pretty standard, though all the girl characters are quite cute. Music is completely forgettable, though I must say it's refreshing to hear Chinese voice acting in a VN for a change. Voiced lines will continue to play even if you advance beyond the associated text, so the audio can sound quite clippy at times. This isn't going to be anyone's favorite VN but it's just funny and goofy enough for a soft recommendation.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewed: 01/01/26