Laughing Warawau Review
Laughing Warawau is the ninth entry in the Towelket series, released on February 19, 2011. Like the previous game, this one is also considered a "spin-off" title, and the next few entries will be placed under that category.
The story begins with a whiny high school girl named Warawau who lives in a large mansion, but despite her apparent wealth, she has been mercilessly teased and bullied by her maid Pucchi to the extent of missing school for the past two weeks. On this particular day, Warawau is determined to make it to school, but on her way there, she ends up falling right into a manhole that leads to a mysterious place called the "Laughing World".
In it's introduction alone, Laughing Warawau immediately sets itself apart from the previous entries in the series. Whether it’s from the more surreal take on the visuals or the absence of classical MIDIs which are now replaced with more atmospheric music, this game quickly establishes a unique tone that we haven't seen before. This also happens to be the game where Kanao's usual writing takes a different direction. Most Towelket games, while fully capable of having deeper themes than what initially meets the eye, are told in a fairly straightforward manner. Laughing Warawau, on the other hand, takes a more cryptic approach to its narrative, where the player may actually have to put the story together based on the pieces given to them throughout the course of the game. While this is clearly new territory for the series, the end result is probably one of the most cohesive and intriguing stories Towelket has to offer.
Something I always neglect to really discuss in these reviews is the visuals and the soundtrack. If you've followed the series up to this point, or really just looked at any of the screenshots provided, then you've probably already noticed that a lot of these games just kind of look the same. They mostly sound the same too, often utilizing royalty free classic MIDIs for the background music. Of course, I don't think that's a bad thing, most of the time the sprite work in these games is quite passable, and the classical MIDIs tend to fit well with Towelket's particular style of writing. But Laughing Warawau takes a different approach to how it presents itself. The usual bright sprite work has been toned down to a more monochromatic palette and everything else borders on pure surrealism. The soundtrack reflects this as well, although it's still all free music (some of which you might recognize from other RPGmaker games), the way it's used in this game perfectly enhances the atmosphere it's going for. For some, it might be a little too busy, especially with some of the more "interesting" audio and visual design choices during certain scenes; but I think it just serves to enhance the atmosphere of the game. There's just the right amount of disturbance and beauty in the presentation of this game, and while I've seen many games attempt a similar atmosphere, Laughing Warawau still manages to stand out in my mind as something incredibly unique.
The characters in this game are well written and memorable. I feel like I cannot overstate how refreshing it is to have a much smaller cast for the first time in a while. This allows the game to focus primarily on its main characters, which couldn't be better for a story like this. There is a noticeable lack of "air" or gag characters in this game, and that's because all the characters in Laughing Warawau serve some kind of purpose, whether it's obvious at first or not. The cast is pretty well balanced, and they're able to provide a good amount of humor without sacrificing established characterization or plot progression. Warawau in particular stood out to me for how well she was written, even though she comes across as a bit silly at first. The character designs are also great. This is another thing I hardly mention, but you can really tell that they were made specifically to fit the tone of this game. Even characters that we're familiar with get these pretty amazing redesigns that give off this sense of grandeur. It just goes to show the amount of effort that went into presenting this game's atmosphere and tone.
Now, if there's one thing this game lacks, depending on who you ask, it's probably the gameplay. Combat takes even more of a backseat this time around, as all enemies except the bosses are completely optional. In fact, you'll often gain EXP not by fighting, but by interacting with your environment. Personally, I don't mind this particular element being toned down for this game, as combat has never really been the series' strong suit. Besides, for the most part, there are other gameplay aspects present besides the standard combat, which is something we've never really seen before in this series. To progress through some of the areas in the game, you'll often need to find a certain item or use a certain skill. They're not exactly challenging in any way, but it's honestly a pretty interesting concept and a nice break from the usual "walk from point A to point B until a boss or cutscene happens" that's present in these games. Considering that this game is a bit more exploration based than the others, as you're often encouraged to check out every single area on the map, I'd say it's a pretty fitting design choice.
Another thing that's not really gameplay related, but still worth mentioning, is the fact that you can just collect and change Warawau's outfit throughout the game. Do they do anything? Nope. Is it a totally cool and unnecessary feature? Absolutely. The only thing I’d ask for is maybe some kind of wacky New Game+ where you can have all the outfits you collected from the last playthrough at the very start of the game. The game already softly encourages you to play through it at least twice, so I think it would have been a cool feature to have.
Laughing Warawau is really a gem of a game. Even though it's incredibly unique for a Towelket game, it still has that classic Towelket flavor and I think it's a game that really anyone can enjoy, regardless of whether they're a fan of the series or not. Personally, I think it is one of Kanao's greatest works and it still manages to surprise me with how well realized it is every time I replay it. If you're someone who just enjoys a good RPGmaker game, I seriously recommend Laughing Warawau, as I think it's criminal that it hasn't gotten much attention outside of Japan. It's quite short, and what it manages to accomplish in its runtime is something truly worth experiencing.
Talking about this game was a bit difficult since all I can really say is to just try it out for yourself, I don't believe any amount of words can really convey just what this game is like without giving it away. But regardless I hope this review was able to show my appreciation for Laughing Warawau as it's one of my personal favorites in the series. As of writing this there's a remake of this game in the works. I can only hope it manages to capture everything that made the original so great and if not well...expect some sort of write up on that.
I rate this game 5/5 Towels
