Farther Than the Blue Sky shines in its design story elements and layman-level explanations of rocket science concepts, while faltering in its romance and emotional moments, at least until the Arisa route and true route (which were the penultimate and ultimate routes I read, respectively).

The common route starts the story off on a high note, seeing the protagonist be introduced to rockets for the first time, being recruited to the rocket club Byakko, and introducing and having the protagonist recruit new members to the club in order to prevent its abolition. The second half of the common route that sees the five members of Byakko designing a rocket for an amateur competition that they must place first in in order to keep their club alive, with its strong focus on how a rocket is created from first blueprints to final product, was a highlight.

Unfortunately, when the heroine routes begin, FTTBS's strong design story elements are thrown to the side to put more focus on the romance and relationship with the heroines. These routes are a mixed bag: Natsu and Kaho's routes are only average, Honoka's route is quite terrible due to her annoying personality but is redeemed a bit by the conflict that develops in its second half, and Arisa's is the best due to its emotional beats that are much stronger than those found in the other heroines' routes.

The true route, other than the competition section of the common route, is where Farther Than the Blue Sky really shines. The story here has some of the most emotionally impactful story beats in all of FTTBS.

While Farther Than the Blue Sky falters during most of its heroine routes, its common route and true route step up to make this visual novel a compelling and touching, but flawed, story.

A relatively fun story with an interesting premise that takes the general trope of main protagonist getting caught up in a club not entirely of its or his own merits, and takes it in a fairly unique direction. It still has a lot of the same old familiar concepts of "club in danger of being shut down" "forced to compete for its future" and "one guy in a club with only girls" but the rocket science aspect is interesting, and the overall story is not bad. That said, of all the routes, there's only one that I really liked, two that were okay, and one that to be honest, made me a little uncomfortable.

The art is good quality, bright and full of life, and doesn't leave you with the feeling of being completely recycled, even though a lot of shots are just that.

Sound, again good quality throughout. Nothing really stand out, but nothing that stands out in the wrong ways either.

Story wise it's decent, and would be worth the read even without the sex scenes, which again are well drawn, and with reasonable dialogue

In the end, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5

very unique and funny characters, all adorable even the slightly stubborn main char. the voice sound is really great. all routes worth playing. has some scientific problems explained in simple ways with drawings. i like science and especially space, so it's perfect. h-scences are awesome and well suited in the story (not animated, but very nice pics and talk, not just standard sex talk)

**Spoilers in the review-fair warning**

This is an amazing game (with only a few minor nitpicks, but I'll get to those). It has fantastic artwork and a wonderfully memorable soundtrack. Not needing a creature of sorts as a mascot or anything to get ya hooked, it's a cool concept for a game that's worth trying.

First and foremost, I never thought learning the basics of rockets with diagrams would be so interesting (granted, I realize they dumb them down to get the basic point across and that falls into place based on how the protagonist is portrayed, so it's fine by me).

Depending on your attention span, this game MAY not be for you. If you wanted a nukige for no plot and just the H-scenes, this game will stretch on and bore you, but if you're up for some great story-and some rudimentary lessons about rocket science, along with, yes, some quality time with a given route's girl, then this game is up your alley.

Okay, so, despite the story itself and concept and a bunch of other stuff about this game being phenomenal, I have a few issues...Keep in mind these are only minor complaints and I still wholeheartedly think this game deserves all 5 stars.

Arisa: She's pretty and determined and resourceful, but she gets verbally and physically abusive to the point where it makes me uncomfortable. I understand that that form of humor is supposed to mix it up and lighten the mood when it tries to teach you some potentially boring stuff and you think "hey, isn't this supposed to be FUN?!", but, really, it does it a bit too much for my liking. Otherwise, she's a great character and seems to be the canonical match for the main character, as shown in another Chaublesoft title, 'If you love me, say so'. Going through her route almost makes me wish there'd be additional route for one of the side characters. I accredit this to how clever and enjoyable the writing CAN be.

Honoka: She cute and sounds playful, but she is also too much of a prankster for me. The protagonist gets pulled into WAY too many moments of entrapment and emotional blackmail (it's softhearted "fun", but whatever, everyone has their hang-ups, and this is mine) from a combination of her and Arisa ganging up on him. Also, her route starts on a weird, frustrating note that makes sense with how the characters are written, but it's annoying to get through and makes me wonder if they couldn't think of anything more creative as a jumping point. However, to me, this route had the most fulfilling climax.

Nazuna: She speaks in confusing metaphors when talking about rockets. Her style of speech could bug some people at first and going into her route, there's only gonna be more of it.She's a large-breasted, naive airhead, but she's lovable and my second favorite girl (genuinely based on personality and story).

Kaho: Despite being an unemotional girl who feels more the further you get down her route (not to mention the loli of the game), some people love those types and the combo was written well enough for me to like her here as well. I don't have much criticism about her route. I guess I never really liked when one of the defining characteristics about a girl-or a major factor in her route-in these games is a disability. It feels to me like the writers are using a crutch or being lazy, so they wrote her around that shortcoming instead of a real hook.

BUT, as I mentioned beforehand, these are nitpicks based on personal preferences. This game is thoroughly enjoyable and well worth getting if you're on the fence about it.

It has hot girls, rockets, teen angst, feeling defeated (there were tears), accomplished, and even doesn't make you wait for the "true"/full ending on some fandisk or whatever. Awesome game; I highly recommend it.

This is one of the funniest VNs I have read in a while. Lots of laughs to be found here, as well as some serious moments. The artstyle is pleasant and the H scenes are done really well. The routes are all worth reading but it does lose a star because Honoka's route starts out in a very stupid way (gets better about an hour in) and Arisa's (while still very good) has a recurring theme I found annoying. Kaho's is the best. Worth a read.

very beautiful story and character has a bit too much info dumbing sometimes but it's okay. the only maybe bad thing is that true ending is kinda forced but kinda makes sense too. greatly reccomend it though