SPPL Review

The world says spring is when all things revive, and also the season for love.

In this season of revival, I shook off the filth and mud I’d accumulated over winter, crawled out of my hole, rubbed my eyes that had spent years in darkness, steadied my mind, and hoped to see the outside world clearly again. At the very least, in this season of spring breezes, I ought to follow the trend and do the things I’m supposed to do.

The sunlight above was blinding, the wind hitting my face carried the breath of life. Once my vision settled, I saw the source of the great light—besides the sun above, there was something gleaming gold on the ground. It was a book. On its clean cover were just two lines: a big title, SPPL, and below it a subtitle: alice the magical conductor. Nothing else.

With the elementary-school-level knowledge in my tiny brain, I think I remembered this book.

It’s the magic book of the most controversial witch, said to deliver a double experience of spring and love.

Some laughed at this book, calling it meaningless whining, and sneered at it.

Some believed in this book, calling it the most beautiful thing in the world, and lamented its sequel.

Because this was the witch’s final masterpiece—after it, the creator of this magic book ceased to exist.

Laughing or believing, the book was fresh to me. I’m filth that’s lived in darkness for years; regardless, right now I needed a dose of spring. With enormous curiosity and anticipation, I slowly picked up the magic book, dragging my body that couldn’t stand straight, twisting my creaking joints, and moved my moldy frame slowly toward the spring sunlight.

Eventually I reached a seaside, slowly sat down on the sand. The sea breeze was salty, damp, but also fresh. I took a deep breath, letting the ocean air fill my alveoli—the overly pure air made me cough…

I steadied myself and opened the magic book…

The book emitted a cherry-blossom-colored light, and my vision turned pink…

A woman’s gaze appeared in the book, staring straight at me.

I don’t know if it was because I’d been in the cave too long without moving, or what…

That gaze gave me a pee shiver…

………………

The cherry-blossom dream was so long…

I don’t know how much time passed…

When I found my vision again, the sea not far off was already full of sunset reflections.

The witch’s magic book didn’t make me feel like I’d met it too late or hated it to the bone. What filled my brain was endless confusion. Honestly, I don’t know what this magic book is saying… more directly, I didn’t get it.

The story in the magic book is simple and pure—a boy and two girls in different periods of love—but I didn’t understand the meaning behind it. My brain was like a paste, all mixed together, and at the end of the magic book, the story wasn’t over, but it was already destined to be a magic book without an ending. I don’t know what the witch who created it was trying to tell me…

A baffling story. The story itself is full of sunshine, but after the sunshine poured down, nothing remained for me…

At the same time, I felt a huge disgust toward this magic book, like a demon seeing a cross—disgust, even fear. Because many people relish the content of the magic book, and I couldn’t understand it. Was I abandoned by this world? Or am I destined to live forever in that deep dark cave, never to see sunlight?

I really want someone to tell me what this magic book actually says, whether it’s my fault I can’t understand; I want someone to tell me I haven’t been abandoned by the world.

In a blink, I saw someone smiling at me.

Behind his glasses, his small eyes were bright and piercing. He wore a crisp suit, hands crossed over a round belly.

It was an Elder.

The Elder smiled at me, glanced at the magic book in my hands, and nodded with a smile.

I shook my head and waved the magic book.

“I… I don’t get it…”

The Elder picked up a ceramic teacup and took a sip. Suddenly the sea breeze rose, and I caught the fresh scent of tea leaves.

The Elder laughed, a bright laugh this time. He looked at the book in my hand and nodded confidently again. I understood—this Elder would answer my doubts. Facing his smile, I spoke:

“The content of this book is made up of two love stories. The first story is about the male protagonist transferring to his distant cousin’s school. This cousin is infatuated with him from the start, teasing him with both words and body. Stranger still, this cousin—Narumi Sakura—seems to like him, yet not like him. Meanwhile, the protagonist discovers a witch’s house deep in the city’s cherry-blossom forest, belonging to Miss Kamishiro Alice. Miss Kamishiro Alice is a genuine witch; she makes contracts with people, taking their memories or similar as payment to grant their wishes. After the protagonist confesses to Narumi Sakura and they become a couple in the first story, Miss Kamishiro Alice suddenly appears and tells me the story isn’t over. Then I see the story shuffled and restarted, only this time the protagonist’s little sister Rikka joins the cast, and the second story ends with the protagonist and the twintailed girl Hotaru becoming lovers. After Hotaru’s story ends, the book reaches its last page and tells me there will be more. It hints that little sister Rikka and the shrine maiden who barely appeared might show up in the next story, and that the reason the two stories restarted after shuffling seems related to Miss Kamishiro Alice. The book just cuts off there.”

“I’m a bit confused about the length of this book’s story. It’s long, but… not fun. The daily progress is very… how should I put it, dull? Because besides going to school, class, after class, it’s just the protagonist and his cousin, the tsundere twintails, and Miss Kamishiro Alice bantering endlessly. The conversation doesn’t advance the plot at all; it’s just endless bickering, and the bickering stays at the level of nitpicking words. It looks like a comedy routine on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala—I was overcome with massive drowsiness…”

The Elder kept watching me kindly. Hearing this, he nodded, gesturing for me to continue. He knew my doubts had only just begun.

“I saw many people even saying things like ‘Narumi Sakura is literally my big sis,’ and claiming the other routes are all bad, that Narumi Sakura is the only true heroine. So this female character should be written to be liked… but I… didn’t feel that at all. On one hand, I found her too verbose, nitpicking over trivial details and dragging arguments with the protagonist forever—it felt like an ill-mannered shrew. On the other, her voice actress is too shrill, with too little emotion, like she’s constantly overly hyper. More importantly…”

I paused.

“Compared to the mainstream ‘Narumi Sakura is literally my big sis,’ ‘I wish I had a big sis like Narumi Sakura’—my reaction was the opposite: ‘How could Narumi Sakura be my big sis,’ ‘How could a big sis like Narumi Sakura exist in this world’—negative feelings. Is there something wrong with me for thinking that? Am I the only one who finds the character Narumi Sakura unpleasant?”

The Elder kept smiling. I figured I should ask more directly…

“So… do you think Narumi Sakura is a good character?”

The Elder adjusted his glasses and finally spoke:

“Hao ah!” (Good!)

“So you also think she’s the heroine?”

“Of course lah!”

“But I’ve heard some say the real protagonist of this story should be Miss Kamishiro Alice…”

“Who’d you hear that from?”

“From some people who’ve read this book. And the book itself tells us the story isn’t over, that everything is Miss Kamishiro Alice’s scheme…”

“You person ah~” The Elder sighed. “Don’t ‘see wind, think rain.’ When you get this kind of news, you have to judge for yourself, understand? If these completely baseless things, you help repeat them, then you… you also bear responsibility, right?”

“But you’re also highly respected, with many supporters, and a lot of say. By saying this, are you representing your supporters, personally declaring that Narumi Sakura is the heroine?”

“I don’t mean anything special. Whether Miss Narumi Sakura is the heroine is all determined by the person who wrote this book—by the basic laws in the heart of the one who created it.”

“But judging by the story’s length, Kamishiro Alice as a witch might have too little screen time, and she isn’t introduced much, but she is the story’s director. If this book had a sequel, wouldn’t she be the heroine? Would your attitude change then?”

“You ask me this… I can tell you ’no comment,’ but then you’d be unhappy, so what to do? I’m not saying I insist Miss Narumi Sakura is the heroine—absolutely not. As for Miss Kamishiro Alice having a role in a sequel, but now the sequel is gone. With no sequel, you ask me if Miss Narumi Sakura is the heroine—right now she has the most screen time, how is she not the heroine?”

Facing the Elder’s challenge, I could only explain:

“But you know, the character introductions on the title page of this magic book are shown with animation. Unlike other plain flat images, SPPL’s intro is animated and gorgeous, with the feel of spring and youth. I’m not talking about that—more importantly, Miss Kamishiro Alice gets a huge proportion of the intro screen, and keeps flying for nearly half the time. Doesn’t that prove she was meant to be the heroine?”

“You ah…” The Elder took a sip of tea, sighed meaningfully, then looked into the distance. “I feel these book publishers still need to learn a thing. They’re very familiar with this whole pretentious-theory set, but they’re still too young. Understand? I tell you, I’ve been through many battles, seen a lot! Which of the Virtual Novels that can make noise have I not read? You know, District 11’s LASS company—their intro scenes are far above this. I curse them while chatting and laughing with others. So these book publishers need to raise their posture level, know what I mean? Don’t think that making an animated intro with a sudden Duang flying stunt proves you have depth. Actually, think about it—what’s in the intro? Does it tell you the plot summary? Does it tell you about the witch’s contract? It doesn’t even tell you the voice actors’ names. After watching, besides feeling ‘Duang, so pretty,’ what’s left? Miss Kamishiro Alice’s flight is fake, it’s added special effects, it’s the effect of stunts, it’s deceptive stunts—spinning, spinning, meaningless.”

I was enlightened: “That makes sense. I felt the intro just gave me a brief freshness, but it didn’t actually serve as a real introduction.”

“Aiyah right, I’m anxious for them too, really. They have one good thing: no matter what book they put out, they add a Duang stunt in the intro, like spinning around once, looking better on the surface than anyone else. But the depth they finally produce is too simple, sometimes naive. Got it?”

“Well said.” I couldn’t help clapping. “But Elder, even if the stunts are fake and useless, sometimes stunts do have their effect, right? For example, in this book’s illustrations, everyone’s eyes blink, and every smile, every gesture is lifelike. The only thing I don’t get is that in the illustrations, there seems to always be something like a searchlight shining on everyone—day, night, outdoors, indoors. It looks a bit odd… Though it should feel as exquisite as people say, this constant spotlight feel still confuses me.”

The Elder laughed…

“First, I’m sorry, I’m actually here today as an Elder to talk to you. I don’t publish these books, but I’ve seen too many. I have the need to tell you a bit of life experience.”

The Elder slowly sat down.

“Just now I really wanted to—when I ran into you—I say there’s a Chinese saying: ‘Make a fortune quietly.’ Doing nothing extra is best. But I thought, seeing them messing around in illustrations like this, saying nothing isn’t good either. So you must understand: if there’s a deviation in the presentation, they’re responsible.”

“So you’re saying this random adding of stunts in illustrations creates a reverse effect?” I fell into thought, but soon reached a conclusion. “As expected of an Elder. So this blinking, turning illustration isn’t really a big stunt—just the artist drawing three or five extra frames. And the constant searchlight illusion is just deliberately made to show the illustration can express sunlight?”

The Elder nodded with satisfaction.

And I threw out my final question.

“Then my biggest doubt is still about the story this book wants to tell. It’s two love stories, but aside from the daily banter I personally find joyless, what is it actually trying to tell me? I can’t see it at all. To put it bluntly, this book is so thick, yet I don’t understand what it’s about… Is my comprehension lacking? You said this book has no sequel, but the person who published it seems alive. Have you received some news proving the sequel is dead in the womb? Does it prove that people who deliberately stretch out the plot and leave suspense at the end to split one book into several are unpopular?”

“I didn’t say it’s dead in the womb, no such meaning.” The Elder waved his hand. “But if you must ask whether I think splitting one book is right—right now this book’s sequel is gone, how can I say it’s right?? Right?”

“I mean, just in case?”

“Even ‘just in case’ must follow the publisher’s mood, right? Follow the publisher’s heart…” Here the Elder patted my shoulder. “Of course we readers’ decision power is also very important. Their publishing is ultimately supported by us. When it really comes out, we’ll express our stance. Understand?”

“So if there’s a sequel, you think the story can still be saved?”

“You ah, don’t try to make a big news, saying I’ve confirmed I’ll admit I was wrong if a sequel comes out, and then criticize me. You’re naive! I am angry! You can’t do this. I’ve offended you today.”

With that, the Elder stood up, brushed off the dirt, glanced at me with slight displeasure, crossed his hands in front of his belly, and paced away…

I looked at the book SPPL in my hands. I couldn’t understand the story. The book is thick, the plot long, but meaningless. Just when the story gets slightly interesting, the thread breaks. Even who the heroine is has no conclusion. If the witch Kamishiro Alice really is the heroine, then the book of its sequel seems to never appear again.

Why was this book abandoned by the roadside? I idly flipped to the title page and found a line of small text.

“Rikka won’t let you push, Alice won’t let you push, all-ages no H, Chuuni-sha die family!”

I smiled bitterly. This book without a sequel had its tail cut off—I don’t think it’s just these few simple problems…

The sky grew late, moonlight reflected on the sea, the night wind by the shore was a bit cold.

I stood up too, brushed off the dirt, and turned back to the entrance of my cave.

At the door, I weighed the SPPL in my hand, swung my arm, and threw it far away…

For me, no matter how many more heroines and plot this book adds, even a bit of adult content, I have no interest in reading it again.

“At least, don’t make me want to sleep just looking at it… otherwise it’s really too simple.” I mimicked the Elder’s way of speaking, turned, and went back into the cave.