the ultimate Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus fanfiction of all time ever. It's a work that I find impressive in it's structure-- it is the perfect encapsulation of "the japanese visual novel" (heavy intertexuality, poststructuralism, epistemology, yeah I'm using a lot of big words but this is because most of the japanese visual novels i've played have a completely different approach from english language ones, the latter of which draws more from genre fiction. not saying one is better than the other they are just very different beasts in their construction)-- but I have a far more difficult time praising it's actual contents. I can think back to Xenogears in how it goes all out with the Bible fanfiction, but while the image it evokes is grand, I'm ultimately left wondering if simply evoking those images is enough to add meaning. Subahibi pulls in Wittgenstein, Alice in Wonderland, Cyrano de Bergerac and plenty of other sources to paint its story. Looking at a graph I've constructed of the route structure is extremely entertaining, but I struggle to find much affection for the work since I just wasn't a fan of reading it. I don't have a weak stomach (my last status was about Slow Damage, so anything goes) but I can't say that it needed all the rape and bestiality and whatnot (you probably got slapped in the face right there huh). I've read Tsui no Sora previously, I waved it off as a highschooler edge lord's fresh off the library fantasy, and that stink comes into Subahibi as well. I'm rambling on but ultimately Subahibi is a work I find interesting on paper but lacking in execution. It's a life changing work for some but the nietzsche shock horror otakuisms had me tight lipped. TLDR: men writing denpa kinda pisses me off (is denpa as a genre even real? in the essay i will--)