Introduction
Welcome, fellow Fuwamembers, to the FuwaRecognition thread. Starting this March, we’ll be highlighting some of the best contributions made by our members each month. From snazzy blog articles to delicious forum threads, and perhaps even a few things more on the shitpost part of the spectrum, we'll keep an eye out for the cream of the crop. And then we'll gather them here. Just for you.
*holds up giant APPLAUSE sign*
A-hem, so this is the f
I've played a number of releases from September's releases, and I'm currently playing Renai Phase (which I'd promised not to, as Giga is incapable of making anything truly great outside of Baldr). However, this month really doesn't have anything I'd really consider VN of the Month material... Seikishi had its fingertips on the vague possibility, and it is undeniably the best thing I played from September. Unfortunately, 'the best from September' is not good enough.
The reason I'm already p
A preview of Oyako Rankan, an NTR eroge from AliceSoft, along with an English prologue patch and Let's Play video. [Preview][NTR] Oyako Rankan + English prologue patch + Let's Play video
As I mentioned in my most recent post, ojousama-ge are one of my guilty pleasures. So quite naturally, I couldn't help but get my hopes up for this VN. It definitely has its ups and downs, and it provides some entertainment... but the downsides are kind of painful.
First, the common route of this VN is some of the better slice of life I've seen in the last few months, with a mostly comedic bent. The protagonist, who is dirt poor, is a generally capable guy who is busy living life when a pair
*** astro has shared contact details with Joe. ***
Joe: Hi astro, I'm wondering can u pls translate Aiyoku no Eustia?
Me: sorry I really don't have time to take on more projects right now
Joe: But it's a rly good game
Me: I'm sure it is. look, I hope that you're not asking me to do it for free at the very least - I don't even know who the heck you are
Joe: Well how long will it take u to do it? I can pay u $2000 at most depending on how long it takes
Me: ...Do you have any idea h
As any translator can probably tell you, Japanese jokes are a huge pain to capture in English. There are unfamiliar memes, cultural references, wordplay, riffs on kanji characters — none of which are particularly easy to convey to Western audiences. If you get lucky, a few nips and tucks in editing are all you need to make one of these unwieldy beasts work in English. If you get unlucky, however, you end up having to grab the rib spreader and do some major linguistic surgery. Sometimes the patie
What is an ojousama-ge? It is fairly simple... it is a VN where multiple heroines (sometimes all or most of them) are young women from wealthy families. I love these VNs... but it isn't so much because I like ojousama heroines (though there is that, since I love people with warped personalities). Rather, it is because some of the best charage, nakige, and non-action story-focused VNs I've played are ojousama-ge.
Examples
Otome ga Boku ni Koishiteiru 2
Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no
Akatsuk
Despite the title, this isn't a horrible VN. It is basically a rehash of Himesama Gentei which was a near-nukige all-moege about a protagonist 'romancing' (I have to wonder if you would really call a bunch of princesses falling in love with one idiot and him deciding on one or a harem route 'romancing') princesses. I can actually enjoy some of the heroines' routes... but the premise is so ridiculous and so unrealistically presented that it goes beyond suspension of disbelief, even for a moege.
This rant stemmed from a conversation on Twitter. I'm posting this here purely because posting this line by line on Twitter seemed retarded, and I'd disable the forum notifications for this post if I could. You can dig through my recent Twitter replies if you want to see the context. Have fun. *** The problem is a bit more complicated than "some people don't like what I have to say". Sure, there's that, but the majority of detractors don't like how I raise my voice to be heard through the din. T
There is a secret language spoken in the darkest corners of the visual novel world, a cant so ancient and intricate that none know its origins. To be initiated in its ways, one must drink from the Dread Chalice and be reborn in fire. Only then will the caul be drawn from your eyes. You shall know onomatopoeia. And you shall know fear. Sploosh 101: What is onomatopoeia? Before we jump in with both feet — *splash!* — let’s do a quick primer on terminology. An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates,
Mikandi Japan announces a Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter for a professional-quality (censored) eroge. Will it get an uncut release in English? Steam Greenlight for eroge Libra of the Vampire Princess Also see the Fuwanovel discussion thread started by Satsuki.
There’s no getting around it. If you’re looking to edit visual novels, at some point you’re going to have roll up your sleeves, put on the rubber gloves, and get elbow-deep in some H. The good news is that if you come prepared, practice your technique, and set some clear boundaries, it can be a pleasurable experience for both you and the reader.
First, a disclaimer: I don’t like pineapple on my pizza, and I don’t like H-scenes in my VNs. It’s not a prudish thing; it’s a narrative thing. They’r
Introduction: When it comes to reading VN's in Japanese, required skills can be grouped into four areas: Vocab, grammar, basic parsing skill, and kanji skill. In this post, for each area I'm going to explain: -what knowing skills in the area are good for -how you might study them -how much you'll need to start reading. I'll also give some related tips. The requirements mentioned below are a conservative estimate. I've known people who've jumped in to playing VN's with less or much less, but
Since I get asked questions constantly on this subject, I'll go ahead and list a few pieces of advice I felt apply to most beginners.
1) Use translation aggregator and a text hooker, even if you feel like you should be getting out your kanji dictionary, out of a sense of self-reliance. I'll be blunt, it is hard to enjoy something if you have to refer to a kanji dictionary for every other non-particle word. I am sometimes stunned at people bragging about spending 100 hours on an 8 hour moege
And now a little something for all you image editors out there. (If you don't speak Photoshop, just keep walking; there's nothing for you here.) Some visual novels make image edits simple — the UI is mostly flat colors, 90º angles, and 1-bit transparencies. Easy peasy. Meanwhile, some more recent VNs like to store all their UI elements as semi-transparent overlays with full 8-bit alpha channels. If you've ever tried editing these, you know what a pain they can be. And so, I came to love a comman
Pop quiz, hotshot. There’s an untranslated (i.e, romaji) word sitting there in the script you're editing, staring right up at you. It’s been left like that because the TL team figured people ought to know what it means. But will they really? And what are the ramifications if they don’t? You’re running out of time, and patch release day is breathing down your neck. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO? In the case of KoiRizo, I ended up relying on a journalistic standard commonly called “the first refe
To be honest, after the moe-moe disaster of Juukishi, I wasn't really interested in this VN... and while the VN was much more interesting than that lump of adorable pink crap, it had the down-side of being utterly predictable... to me.
Now, I don't know how many of you are familiar with a particular VN fad that several major companies bought into about five years ago, where they did partial 'slice-of-life' VNs in faux-medieval settings. This fad resulted in some good VNs, lots of mediocre one
I make a living in copywriting, but KoiRizo was my first attempt at editing a visual novel. Suffice to say, there were a few bumps along the way. So in the spirit of this blog, here are just a few of the many, many things I wish I had done differently. 1. I should have started out using a style guide.
From the very beginning, I should have picked one of the major styles guides and made it my bible. Instead, as I came across questions — Should this be hyphenated? Should that be capitalized? — I
