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The original Butterfly Soup is named for its ending monologue. Its four main characters, Diya, Min-seo, Noelle, and Akarsha, use the liquefaction of a caterpillar inside a cocoon as a metaphor for the awkward teenage growing phase they’re all in. In the sequel, set a few months later, they find a butterfly with a crumpled wing. It’s a victim of a false spring, having emerged from its cocoon too early due to unseasonably warm weather. One of them worries that they are like the injured insect; forever marked by their early life. And it’s this that Butterfly Soup 2 digs into much more deeply than its predecessor.
If you’re not familiar with the original, Butterfly Soup is a visual novel about four Asian girls navigating high school in the late 2000s, playing baseball, and falling in love. On replaying it to get ready for this review, it made me cry at least twice and laugh out loud a bunch more. It’s pay what you want with no minimum price, and takes about 2-3 hours. I’m also going to spoil parts of it, so go play it already.