I wanted to review a Christmas-themed visual novel on NLJ (having previously reviewed io [Christmas Eve] and Plain Song Christmas Special in 2022 and Christmas Rose in 2024 (with hindsight being 20/20, I should have reviewed A Winter’s Tale for Christmas instead of Valentine’s Day in 2022). I settled on Christmas Tina, which I had seen a couple of years ago on Manga Gamer but refrained from buying because I was not sure whether it would run properly on Linux. It is now on Steam (exclusively for North American computer users, in fact, but it is also available on the Nintendo Switch), and I saw enough to be convinced I could run it. I almost held off on my review plan when I realized I would not have time to start (much less finish) before Christmas, but I decided to change my angle (I can say I started it instead of watching a “Hallmark movie” for the occasion).

When I first stumbled upon Christmas Tina a few years ago, I assumed that it was a Japanese visual novel. I only just now learned that it is produced by a Chinese company and was first released in Chinese. But it is still a Japanese visual novel to a point. The author is none other than Tomo Kataoka of Narcissu fame (see my Narcissu review). Knowing that Mr. Kataoka is the author rendered me unsurprised when I read Christmas Tina’s bleak beginning.

What of the novel itself? I can happily report as an initial matter that it runs perfectly on Steam-Proton without any tweaks or haggling. I read through 8-9 chapters on Christmas (I am guessing I am somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 through the piece). It is aesthetically very impressive (certainly more cinematic than any novel I have reviewed previously) and I like the dual Japanese/Chinese voice acting. The translation reads well thus far (only noticed a few typos). I generally like the story and set-up but there are a few points about the lack of curiosity of the two main characters that is grating on me a bit in the early-going. I will save the rest of my thoughts for a review I hope to publish before the end of the year.