All aboard!
Hop on, my dear audience, as I take you to a whole new world, but instead of a carpet, we are taking a plane! Welcome to Under One Wing, a visual novel developed by Harmorise and published by Sol Press. The game is available on Steam with the 18+ content censored, but you can buy it uncensored from JAST USA.
A visual novel with a focus on airplanes is quite an oddball to shake up the common formula for the high school harem style of games, and that’s great for me honestly. I can’t say I am an old hand at visual novels, as I am still young yet, but I have seen my fair share of simple rom coms with the same premise. I do think that these can get tiresome quickly, despite my taking my monthly shot of teen romance with a smile on my face. Something to mix it up is very welcome!
Now, are we falling out of grace or are we soaring high into the sky with this game? The captain of this flight shall guide you through it! And coincidentally I was actually born on the National Aviator Day, so who better to fly this plane to our destination?
Captain Speaking!
The story basically revolves around the idea that airplanes have turned into a common product for people to own, thanks to the abundance of them during WW2. Now, if you wanna go to your nearest newsstand to grab the latest volume of that manga you are currently reading, you can put your sunglasses on and hop into the plane in your garage to head there.
Of course, humans always find a way to make entertainment out of common situations, so Fairy Fighting became the main sport of the world of Under One Wing. It’s all based on mock battles between airplanes with fake bullets and more to simulate real combat. And, due to the type of luck only often seen in anime, you inherit the flying machine called the Shinden from your grandmother. She was one of the most well-known fairy fighters in the past and she believes you have a future with planes as well!
Your grandmother sends you off to a dorm she owns in order for you and Shinden to attend a flying school. Anime luck strikes again and the dorm is full of girls except for you. Good luck keeping your little airplane in its hangar, if you know what I mean!
The premise for the story is attractive at first glance and I was genuinely surprised by how much the game develops the fairy fights themselves. You can definitely imagine the combat in your head with the amount of detail described. The story’s pacing, however, isn’t as well managed, with the story accelerating and decelerating out of nowhere and some of the girl’s routes definitely feel more rushed than others, giving the feeling that a few more hours of gameplay would definitely help to better flesh out the story and the 4 character-specific routes.
Flying This Plane
Speaking of the routes, let’s talk about the gameplay! Under One Wing functions like many other visual novels in this department, with lines of dialogue showcasing the bond developed over time. That said, I did see a lack of choices to be made by the player except for dialogue options which, despite triggering different answers, end up overall as the same one. The only choice that truly changes the game a bit is choosing which character’s route are you going to invest in, but that happens about 70% through so it takes a bit for you to feel like you have a lasting impact on the game.
The characters themselves are quite good. I am particularly a Hikari fan because I love energetic girls and I can’t even deny it. She knows a lot about airplanes so that’s another plus, as I love knowing odd trivia about different topics. She even has pink hair so that’s passing with flying colors in my taste for waifus. Sadly though, her route was one of the weakest.
About the other girls, Nahoko is the student council president and someone who looks like the reliable type. She manipulates situations for her to come out the winner, so that made her route more interesting. Oh and she’s got big breasts.
Kazusa looks like she’s thinking “you are a worm” whenever you’re in the room, but she is quite considerate of others so that’s fun. I always enjoy tsundere’s routes in games simply to see their character development as they open up.
Last but not least, we have the curveball called Mimari, who keeps the majority of her background hidden but you do know she’s rich because she just pulls the ultimate card, literally, to buy an expensive plane. I’ll leave it at that to avoid spoiling her route.
I will keep the routes vague as to not spoil the game’s details too much but expect the usual high school shenanigans with our average protagonist. He honestly got a bit boring as time passed due to being not perverted but every 10 minutes being framed for something. Let the man fall into boobs by accident, his anime feet can’t help it!
One point I want to mention is that the settings menu in Under One Wing was probably one of the best I’ve seen. The option to use Japanese honorifics or not is something I had glanced over at the start but only later noticed how unusual it is. The sounds when you click options on the menu along with the art really make it feel like an airplane panel so it won points with that too.
The Beauty of the Sky
The character art is something I do want to praise overall as that was a highlight for me. They all should have what seem to be simple designs, but the shading and gloss on them bring the touch of personality to make it really cool. The CG’s are of amazing quality too, even when the CG is zoomed in, you can see the details on the portraits. The backgrounds are really well made too, and even the planes bring different designs that honestly got me hooked on their history in our world.
The voices are great and fully in Japanese as normal for visual novels. I’m trying to learn the language, so hopefully, I can provide more commentary on that in the future! The opening is also quite catchy and I didn’t skip it whenever I started up the game so I have to mention that too.
Verdict
Overall, Under One Wing was a good experience. Not something that blew me away, but certainly better than I expected. I was particularly surprised with the amount of effort put into making sure the planes were not just background information or a thin setting, but instead something that is truly integrated into the game and is part of their daily lives. If you want an experience that will hook your attention and interest you in the theme of the world, I suggest you play Under One Wing.
UNDER ONE WING IS RECOMMENDED
Purchase Link: JAST USA
Enjoyed this visual novel review? Why not check out Aokana, another visual novel with flying and sport? Want to read more about Under One Wing? The NookGaming chief actually reviewed the same game long ago if you want another opinion.
Many thanks go to Sol Press for a PC review code for this title.
Nick has been gaming for quite a while, a decade now! His first console was the DS but the first one played extensively was the Nintendo 64. He loves a huge variety of games, favourite genres include RPG, platforming, metroidvanias and visual novels. No longer a member of the NookGaming team, but still here in spirit. Follow him on @NickMendz.
