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About this blog

This is a blog primarily focusing on but not limited to VNs.  It is primarily designed to express my opinion on otaku media (jrpgs, anime, manga, LNs, VNs, etc), individual VNs, and otaku community issues.   Most of the posts are related to my VN of the Month and Random VN columns, originally started in threads in the forums. 

As of March of 2017, I'm also looking for people to help with VN of the Month.

Entries in this blog

Kikouyoku Senki Gin no Toki no Corona part 2: Mini-review

First, I should state that I couldn't stand Yumina from Yumina the Ethereal, so I dropped the game about halfway through. I hate it when a ditz is the main heroine, and Yumina is one of the most air-headed heroines I've ever run across... and I've played a lot of moege. As such, I went in without a lot of the knowledge you are supposed to gain in Yumina's late-game, so my experience will be slightly different from those who played Yumina. First, Touka, the protagonist, is a former chuunibyou
Clephas

Clephas

1

Bullet Butlers: Final

Final Having finished this VN for the second time, there were a number of things I took notice of in a different way from the first time through... but perhaps the biggest one is simply that I was surprised at how many of the most important details I remembered. I had to laugh when I realized I'd subconsciously solved the riddle of the path themes in my first read through, and they came back almost immediately after I entered them. First, with Valeria's path, it is straight-and-narrow love
Clephas

Clephas

5

Hana no No ni Saku Utakata no Final Part: Ryouko, Shione, and Ouka (true path)

Yakushi Ryouko To be blunt, Ryouko is a sub-heroine, so there really isn't much to say about her. Her path quality is lower, the details are less involved, and the drama is so mild you almost have to ask yourself if it even exists. Despite this, she is a fairly cute character, and she does fill the 'adorable kouhai' slot nicely. Fujimiya Shione This path, in terms of quality and nature, is something of a hybrid of Shizuku's and Reina's. Similar to Reina's, it is an osananajimi's pat
Clephas

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An explanation of the "Golden Age of VNs"

Some veterans of reading untranslated VNs refer to the period between 2004 and 2010 as 'The Golden Age of Visual Novels'.  However, you shouldn't really take that statement at face value, as the meaning is a bit more complex than you'd think. There are some significant differences between VNs today and VNs during that period that both made it the peak of the medium's sales in Japan and produced the greatest ratio of quality VNs to crap VNs.  One of the primary differences was that, oth
Clephas

Clephas

5

Angenehm Platz -Kleiner Garten Sie Erstellen-

... well, I guess I was wrong.  They do still make pure moege.  The only problem with this is that 'pure moege=kusoge' these days, so I honestly can't see a reason to be happy about that.  This VN was written partly by the same guy who wrote Flyable Heart, and it is by a company (Hexenhaus) that has a fondness for producing moe-based VNs focused on eating establishments of some sort (this case, a Cafe Club at a school).  I'll be perfectly honest... this VN starts out with all the elements n
Clephas

Clephas

2

Sakura Sakimashita Final Part: Sumire and Omake

Shirataka Sumire By the time you hit this path, all the VN's secrets will be pretty much revealed, so this isn't a path about revealing secrets. It is simply the path that follows the character most central to the story as a whole. Sumire is the club president of the Lifestyle Club, a club devoted to finding reasons to live, joy in life, etc. She is also perhaps the person who enjoys life the most... and also the one who is the most desperate to do so. I won't spoil it for you, but even after
Clephas

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2

Sakura Sakimashita Part 1

I'm currently replaying this, a VN by Sorahane. This is not a moege or a charage, despite the packaging. Rather, it is a VN centering around several major themes: life (its meaning), death (immediacy and fear of), and 'immortality'. This is one of the few VNs with an immortality theme that I felt attacked the matter of immortality with something approaching intelligent thought, which gave it a special place in my heart, despite the fact that this is a mediocre company overall (its other two game
Clephas

Clephas

2

Hataraku Otaku no Ren'ai Jijou

This is the second game in the Hataraku series by Akabei Soft3, the company made when most of Akabei Soft2's subsidiaries either went out of business or merged together.  This series is about adults and adult romance in the modern world, and could be categorized as a 'non-moe charage', as the heroines aren't moe heroines, really. For my thoughts on the first game: My thoughts on this VN don't differ terribly from the original, though I do have a number of additions I would like to mak
Clephas

Clephas

2

Drapri Guu-Ta-Life

Really, the name of this game says it all... 'A Dragon Princess's Lazy Life'.  This game centers around Takeru, a young martial artist NEET who will do anything to avoid real work, his osananajimi Suzuka, and the dragon he picked up off the street, Haru.  I'll be honest, this game is pretty similar to Nekonin in length, if not in quality (it is slightly better), and I mostly enjoyed it because the double-boke of Takeru and Haru is so hilarious.  Neither Takeru nor Haru has anything resembling co
Clephas

Clephas

2

Yomegami

I'm going to say this straight out... Awesome job, Alcot!!!  There is a peculiar balance needed to make the perfect fantasy story-focused charage... and it has literally been years since the last time a VN has managed it.  I should know, since I play everything fantasy that isn't a nukige and some that are.  Alcot's formula of comedy (in particular sexual comedy and situational comedy) is pretty straightforward and easy to enjoy, going across cultural lines fairly easily.  As such, it
Clephas

Clephas

4

Tiny Dungeon Bless of Dragon

Bless of Dragon is the second VN in the Tiny Dungeon series (see http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-727-tiny-dungeon-black-and-white/ for my comments on Black and White). The picture above is of Fon, who is one of this VN's two side-heroines (Opera the maid is the other). She is a half-dragon, half-demon girl with her own major issues that come out into the open in this VN, which is focused on Ururu Kajuta, the loli-dragon princess.   Ururu is technically what would be called a 'loli-bab
Clephas

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Random VN: Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi

Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi is a game made by 130cm back in 2006, during the 'golden age of VN innovation'.  Like many of the games made during this period, it is far less bound by convention than you see in modern VNs, which has its ups and downs (as most games from this era do).  In this case, the most striking element for modern VN readers would probably be the fact that the protagonist is fully voiced.  The second is that, in most of the H-scenes (of which there are plenty), the females are the d
Clephas

Clephas

2

Amaekata wa Kanojo nari ni

First, this VN is by Giga.  Yes, Giga, the same people who did the Baldr series.  However - and I have said this repeatedly in my comments on other non-Baldr Giga VNs - the second Giga steps outside of hard, complex, violent sci-fi... they get third-rate (except the visuals).  The best non-Baldr VN I've even tried to play by Giga was Harvest Overray, and even that was only just above average for a charage with a central story (though the humor was the best of Giga).  In fact, if you ignore the v
Clephas

Clephas

5

Reminiscence Collectors Edition Part 2: Recollect

ReCollect is the direct sequel to the original game, based on a 'normal' ending where certain major events in Aki's, Accela's, and Kizuna's paths never came to fruition.  In fact, it is based off of a romance-less version of Aika's path, as the events in the last part of her path (before the romance/lovers thing) occur immediately before the story begins.  So, if you've played Reminiscence but not ReCollect yet, it would be wise to use the update patch to activate Aika's path so you can get to k
Clephas

Clephas

4

Evenicle Part 2: Technical issues

Yes, I said my next post would be the end of this game, but the game is surprisingly long... especially considering the obscenely high encounter rate on the world map and the fact that if you don't keep your levels up (level 10 at least at the end of chapter 1, 20 at the end of 2, etc) you really are screwed. If nothing else, you won't be able to keep ahead of the regenerative abilities each chapter's main boss (except 1's) seems to possess. The reason for this? Primarily it is the cost of he
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VN: Mirai Nostalgia

Mirai Nostalgia is the game that turned Purple Soft around.  After Ashita no Kimi to Au Tame ni, the company produced a number of middling and poor quality games, and it looked like Purple Software was going to fade into the background, like a lot of other companies that prospered during the 'Golden Age'.  Then, all of the sudden, they released this game...  and they regained the hearts of their followers, leading to a series of high quality releases, including Hapymaher, Amatsutsumi, and Aoi To
Clephas

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3

*sighs* more ladder-style complaints

For those of you familiar with my tendency to bitch and moan about this kind of story-structure, I don't really need to explain... but I'll do so anyway.  The 'ladder-style' story structure is the style used in games such as G-senjou, Aiyoku no Eustia, and Sen no Hatou.  While it does make it easy to fit in a 'true' path (the true path being main street) and breaking things down into 'arcs' makes for a more expansive story, that is at the cost of increasing irritation in a way that would never h
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14

Random VNs: Poll

Right now, while the pain meds are wearing off and my mind is relatively clear (since I don't recall anything I did or posted today before an hour and a half ago) I figured I'd  post this poll.  First, I'm more or less decided on setting aside any more reading for VNs from March, at least for the next week.  I will resume playing at least one more on the nineteenth, so if you want, feel free to vote on the other poll, though I will probably ignore the results from it.  The first VN on
Clephas

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12

Ayakashi Contract: Final Part

Haruka Haruka is the traditional 'older woman' heroine that used to be included in just about every VN, as a token to those who preferred that type. Of course, they don't come out and say how much older she is, but considering that she was in her teens when Tsumugi was a toddler... Anyway, she is a spiritualist/youkai hunter who comes to the town with the intention of hunting down a man-eater that is supposedly hidden in the populace. She gets wrapped up in the events of the main story in
Clephas

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2

Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou 2

First, I should mention that my original review of the first Hataraku Otona didn’t really do it justice. Oh, I mentioned what I liked about it, but I was busy as hell that month, so it was what amounts to a short commentary. As such, I’m going to go into more detail this time around. Hataraku Otona 2 is the second game in the series (if you exclude the spin-off Hataraku Otaku no Ren’ai Jijou). The characters from the original game return as side characters, several years older, and it isn’t
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VNs

Tenshi Souzou partial review

This is the latest game from the makers of Dracu-riot and Sanoba Witch, Yuzusoft.  For those who are curious, in nature it is somewhere in between the two styles this company tends to use (placing more emphasis on the SOL portions or the story portions).  There is, technically, an overarching story, but it is given more focus in some routes than others, while there is as much lovey-dovey and ero content as the most SOL-focused entries in Yuzusoft's library. I'm going to be blunt, I basicall
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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Random VN: Eien no Aselia

I recently got the impulse to go back and replay Eien no Aselia, which sat at the top (mostly by inertia and alphanumeric reasons) of my vndb votes for so long.  Eien no Aselia was one of the final games I played in English before I took the dive into Japanese untranslated VNs, and I hadn't replayed it since, though I played Seinarukana within a year of entering the labyrinth. Eien no Aselia is one of those few 'oldies' I found hadn't lost anything vital in the years since I last played it.
Clephas

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7

VN reading speed, some tips and my own thoughts

I decided to make this post after analyzing my own reading speed and the reasons why it is so fast... but I also wanted to give tips on how to increase your reading speed without hurting your enjoyment of VNs, manga, and books.  At the same time I was doing this, I gradually came to realize that one of the big reasons why my favorite genre is so niche (chuunige) is simply because most people bump into the walls of complex text and give up. Regardless of which language you are reading (Japan
Clephas

Clephas

6

Resurrecting Posts: Arcadia no Tomoshibi

I lost five posts with the reset, and I probably won't bother trying to resurrect Natsuiro Recipe, except to say that it was the first addition I'd made to the Chicken Soup for the Soul list in over a year... and I generally don't update that list unless I really believe a VN is worth it. Arcadia no Tomoshibi is a two-in-one VN downloadable only from DMM, sold for around a ten dollars. It is by Nostalgic Chord, the makers of Houkago no Futekikakusha, which was easily the best utsuge made in
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Haru to Yuki

This is the latest game released by Akabeisoft3, the bastard company made by Akabeisoft2 to take in all the subsidiaries of its parent company other than itself, Applique, and Akatsuki Works.  The game was written by Nakajima Taiga, who first made his name as the writer of Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu and gained yet more fame with the utsuge Inochi no Spare.  This game is a nakige, though it is one that leaves a lot more bitter in with the sweet than is normal.  It is based in a Japanese i
Clephas

Clephas

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