Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish is a short all-ages visual novel by developer Totometori. While this may be the first title under that developer’s name, it’s essentially the same team as Uguisu Kagura, who are known for Meikei no Lupercalia.
Featuring tragedy, forbidden love, and plenty of drama, there’s plenty to unravel despite the experience only lasting a few hours. Just make sure you’re looking at the right version as the English and Asian versions have separate Steam pages.
Who Am I?
Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish sets the scene immediately by opening with someone being burned to death while being glared down at by someone described as the devil in human flesh. It can get quite tense at times, with the more negative side of human nature on display.
Before getting too dark though, we see the main protagonist Lazriel awaken in a place she doesn’t recognize with all sorts of mystical-seeming objects. She soon realizes she doesn’t know who she is or why she’s there, but mostly dismisses the issue with an easygoing attitude.
She was brought here by Remi, who calls himself a demon. Despite this, we see he’s a kind young man who is easily embarrassed. Lazriel soon takes advantage of this by playfully teasing him. A young girl named Rubia also makes an appearance, and she clearly isn’t happy about Lazriel being there leading to some one-sided friction.
The relationships between the three lend some levity to the situation, with occasional jokes, Rubia being adorably smug, Remi being put on the back foot, and funny moments caused by Lazriel being blunt about feelings. There are also occasionally sweeter moments of romance as the story goes on. These are used to good effect, preventing the story from becoming too depressing and at times sharing a more positive message.
Slowly Revealing
While Lazriel appears not to be too concerned about her lack of memories, hints begin to slowly reveal themselves even from the start. Hints like a sudden desire for revenge when looking at Remi and ongoing dreams of a girl named Ilsa who is in love with an angel start to paint a picture. She starts to wonder more about what’s going on and it’s made clear that Remi knows more than he’s telling her.
The dreams and other hints are used well to slowly unveil the mystery of what happened, as are certain aspects that intentionally mislead the reader to create a bigger impact for later reveals. It uses perspective switching to great effect here and the story had me gripped, especially in the second half where more information starts coming to light.
As the events from the dream are shown, we see them echoed in the waking world too. Mistrust starts to spread and religious fervor mixed with superstition and the evils of man leads to panic. Accusations of witchcraft and heresy fly about and we start to see what’s hidden under what seems like a peaceful town. Some of these moments are particularly powerful. One in particular feels very relevant to modern real-life events, despite the historical setting.
Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish explores topics like religious devotion, breaking taboos, and the supernatural. It also has great drama with mounting tension as the story proceeds. Perhaps most important though is how it shows the guilt of people and how they lash out.
Unusual Art and Sweet Sounds
A likely first thing that will catch your eye when first seeing Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish is the art style. With characters featuring unusually shaped eyes and very pointed chins, it certainly stands out. I got used to it quickly, but it did put me off a little at first. There are other little aspects that make it stand out when compared to more typical visual novel art too.
One other thing that took some getting used to was how several characters look quite similar. A lot of this has to do with the use of colors, with the characters who appear most often having white or near-white hair and either blue or red eyes. Fortunately the hair styles and clothes are distinctive.
While unusual, I did feel the artwork is quite nice and some of the CGs are beautiful. Even the user interface is particularly impressive, with some very nice animations.
The voices fit the personalities, with Lazriel’s easygoing attitude and Remi’s more serious personality coming through particularly well. The music fits the situation well too, adding a lot to the tension at appropriate points.
Looking Into The Mirror
Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish isn’t just Totometori’s first release (at least technically), but it’s also the first release of the English-language publisher, Kagami Games. With that said, it’s not completely new staff here either.
The translator for this title worked as the editor for Nukitashi 2, while the Editor has worked on quite a few titles in various capacities, including Sugar Sweet Temptation and YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story. And fortunately, the script reflects this experience, reading well with very few typos or issues.
As it’s always a question with lesser known publishers, I’ll mention that honorifics are not retained, with Laz-tan becoming Lazzie as the only change that stood out. Considering the setting and relationships involved, this decision makes sense, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens with future releases.
While little touches like implementing Steam achievements for occasions like completing the story would’ve been a nice touch, all in all, it’s a great first release for the new publisher.
Verdict
Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish is a gripping drama with forbidden love, religious themes, and mounting tension. While quite dark at times, this is made manageable by the occasional romantic or lighthearted moments which are much appreciated. It’s a short story, and worth the few hours you’ll spend with it.
PUTRIKA 1ST.CUT:THE REASON SHE MUST PERISH IS RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another visual novel, you may enjoy Love, Elections, and Chocolate. We have also covered a wide variety of visual novels both original to English and localized from Japanese, which you can check out here.
Many thanks go to Kagami Games for a PC review code for Putrika 1st.cut:The Reason She Must Perish.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
