I wanted to review a Christmas-themed visual novel on NLJ (having previously reviewed io [Christmas Eve] and Plain Song Christmas Special in 2022 and Christmas Rose in 2024 (with hindsight being 20/20, I should have reviewed A Winter’s Tale for Christmas instead of Valentine’s Day in 2022). I settled on Christmas Tina, which I had seen a couple of years ago on Manga Gamer but refrained from buying because I was not sure whether it would run properly on Linux. It is [now on Steam]…
I wanted to review a Christmas-themed visual novel on NLJ (having previously reviewed io [Christmas Eve] and Plain Song Christmas Special in 2022 and Christmas Rose in 2024 (with hindsight being 20/20, I should have reviewed A Winter’s Tale for Christmas instead of Valentine’s Day in 2022). I settled on Christmas Tina, which I had seen a couple of years ago on Manga Gamer but refrained from buying because I was not sure whether it would run properly on Linux. It is now on Steam (exclusively for North American *computer *users, in fact, but it is also available on the Nintendo Switch), and I saw enough to be convinced I could run it. I almost held off on my review plan when I realized I would not have time to start (much less finish) before Christmas, but I decided to change my angle (I can say I started it instead of watching a “Hallmark movie” for the occasion).
When I first stumbled upon Christmas Tina a few years ago, I assumed that it was a Japanese visual novel. I only just now learned that it is produced by a Chinese company and was first released in Chinese. But it is still a Japanese visual novel to a point. The author is none other than Tomo Kataoka of Narcissu fame (see my Narcissu review). Knowing that Mr. Kataoka is the author rendered me unsurprised when I read Christmas Tina’s bleak beginning.
What of the novel itself? I can happily report as an initial matter that it runs perfectly on Steam-Proton without any tweaks or haggling. I read through 8-9 chapters on Christmas (I am guessing I am somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 through the piece). It is aesthetically very impressive (certainly more cinematic than any novel I have reviewed previously) and I like the dual Japanese/Chinese voice acting. The translation reads well thus far (only noticed a few typos). I generally like the story and set-up but there are a few points about the lack of curiosity of the two main characters that is grating on me a bit in the early-going. I will save the rest of my thoughts for a review I hope to publish before the end of the year.