Dia:Dol - Diamond Idol

So I've played the demo about 4 or 5 times now, and I absolutely love it. I've been a fan of the studio since the early days of April was a Fool's release and all I could think was how similar this art style was, but I was so glad to see it was from the same studio. I love the training , and all the characters are so diverse in appearnce and personality I love it!

A couple notes: 

There are a couple missed words or typos in the demo, but nothing so bad it ruined the flow

I would love the ability to craft more of a persona (Choosing more nice, mean, sarcastic, or down to earth options which unlock more on air time with certain characters, make tv rivalries, and ultimately affect your interaction with your brother)

It would be cool if we could see stats on your current singing and dancing ability, and maybe certain events you could unlock abilities to see the levels of the others, say in the second preformance when you get to watch some of the others you could gauge a range their abilities fall in, or if you slack off and talk to the others they may give you hints to where they fall

It seems (from a few play throughs) there is not much influence you have to shift your standing in the top three, but it would be nice to have something you can do to practice instead of being around the others at night. And just like Justin practices with Oliver, it would be cool if we could bond a tad and practice with another guy as well (like if one has higher dancing skill and one has higher singing skill they each gain a point in their lower area). Maybe even to the extent we could keep people from going home if we help them enough!

Honestly if none of these were implemented and the game stayed as its heading I'll be happy as can be. The twist at the end of chapter 3, the implications it has for the brother, how hes acting, the title of Ice, it was slightly being peiced together but not nearly to the level of twist that happened, even with the clue Jasper drops in the kitchen. Truly amazing groundwork and I'm sure it'll only get better. A great studio and I'm glad to see more happening from you!!

Finally finished the Demo. I'm not into Visual Novels, but if there's one thing that can hook me up, is the musical theme. Keep in mind that the following opinion, as well as the suggestions, come from a guy who never played VN before, at least not enough to fully understand the common structure of the genre.

Does that mean I didn't like it? Nope! I actually enjoyed it a LOT! I believe the most important element to create a good story is contrast - comfy scenes, light conversations and exposition, along with tension, mystery and even sadness. 

Another mechanism that I'm a fan of: Indirect character building - basically, when the player gets to know a character only by dialogue from other characters. The Prince of Ice, while serving as a Mcguffin at first, has become one of the most, if not the most interesting character in the Game for me. I really liked the way you shifted his role in the story.

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I like the way the Game progresses in tone. Not only that, the subtle changes from "waking up late" to "waking up earlier than expected" show how much thought was put in every small detail. I also have to mention that my favourite scenes were the ones at my bedroom, looking at the phone and talking to myself - I like monologues and inner thoughts - Also, the music helped a lot! Reminds me of Chrono Cross =)

Placeholder Backgrounds, oh man, I love it! I really do. I'm one of those kind of guy who watches 1 hour of speedpaint, but closes the video before the final result... So looking and analysing the Background Images was kind of a "guilty pleasure" (is this the right term? Ah, doesn't matter).

I could talk for hours about the Game Flow, story bits, but let's move on to the suggestions.

> Choices: We all know a game can't have real consequences for every choice the player makes... it simply wouldn't be worth the effort. So why not include a little bit more of "shallow choices"?

- Let the player choose his food at breakfast table;
- You woke up late? Do your hair; brush your teeth; find matching clothes. Only one choice: Go! 

And last but not least, I'm always thinking about ways to insert gameplay bits amongst dialogue, and dialogue amongst Gameplay sequences... I know it's not a goal in VN, but why not some more simple "Reaction choices"? 
For example: Oliver asks: bla bla bla?
Player: 
> Polite answer
> Sarcastic answer

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I believe this is it for now. The game's structure is really solid - you focused on what's important and despite the placeholder art, as mentioned before, you managed to create a strong identity. Congrats!