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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

Ninki Seiyuu no Tsukurikata

First, I should say that, left to my own devices, I would never have played this VN.  You ask me why?  It's because I avoid show-business themed VNs and anime like the plague.  If a rl friend hadn't begged me to try it, I would never have picked this VN up.  I should say that one thing I didn't like about this game is that it has a similar protagonist to the one from Aokana... a former talent in his field who gave up and ends up helping others 'rise to the occasion'.  To be honest, I loathe
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Kanojo to Ore no Lovely Day

To be honest, Parasol is one of those companies I have extremely mixed feelings about.  Roughly half of the games I've played from them, i dropped before finishing out of frustration or boredom.  This company is primarily a charage maker, so this probably won't surprise a lot of the people who read this blog, lol.  That said, this game was a surprisingly good one, wiping away the foul taste left over from Hoshi Koi.  It also told me that I'd judged Hoshi Koi about as fairly as I ever do wit
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Hoshi Koi ＊ Twinkle

As a first effort from a new company, I didn't go in with any real expectations... and that was probably a good thing. To be blunt, this VN is one of those that keeps showing signs of promise then tripping itself up along the way.  It follows the pattern of 'charage with true endings', in that it has a central story that involves elements from the non-true heroine paths... unfortunately, the endings are a total write-off.  I'm not kidding.  I don't think I could have written a more frustrat
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Burned out

It's been a while since a single VN burned me out completely, but Silverio Trinity managed it.  That VN had many of the best elements of its predecessor, while being more balanced, having added unique soundtracks, and overall creating a mostly new experience that, while it didn't completely transcend the original, still managed to stand on the same plane. Unfortunately, it was a highly emotional experience, with a lot of excitement along the way... so I know I won't rate any VNs I play at t
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Silverio Trinity Part two: Mistel Valentine, Rain Persephone, True

Mistel Valentine For those who have played Vendetta, look in the spoiler box for a small gift.  Anyway, Mistel is a Paladin of the Japan-worshiping Holy Country of Canterbury, which is based in the same region as Britain is today.  She is an older woman with a strong sense of compassion, her duty as a warrior in service to her faith and her country, and a lot of experience with the ups and downs of life.  As one of the three heroines, she shares one quality they all possess... a deep
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Silverio Trinity Part one: Common route and Aya Route

**** WARNING WARNING it is impossible to talk about Silverio Trinity without talking about the events of Silverio Vendetta, so this post is going to be full of spoilers.  Until and unless you have played Silverio Vendetta, do not under any circumstances read this post!!!!****               Silverio Trinity is based three years after the events in Vendetta's path in Silverio Vendetta, in the city of Prague.  The technology to make Esperanto warriors h
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A Minor question

At present, I'm conflicted between playing Silverio Trinity, a VN I've been anticipating for quite some time, and continuing Tales of Berseria, which I'm enjoying immensely.  Right now, the balance of my thoughts is caught perfectly between the two, so I'd like yall to decide by tomorrow morning, lol.
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JRPG: Tales of Zestiria [UPDATED/EDITED]

With Tales of Berseria coming out today, I pulled Zestiria out of my long backlog last week and began playing it.  I've been playing the Tales series since Tales of Destiny came out for the PSX in the nineties, and I've played most of the mainline series, though I regretted it in some cases.  To be blunt, Tales of Vesperia is still the last truly great Tales game, even after playing this one.  However, my conclusions will probably differ somewhat from the reviews out there on the net, which
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Random VNs: Kono Sekai no Mukou de

Kono Sekai no Mukou de was the first game made by Orange Yell, and it is based in the same world as their second game, Sakura Nikagetsu.  This company is a low-budget maker that produces comedy/nakige (from the time between each release and the low budget, I'm guessing they are almost completely self-funded).  While they are nothing special visually or in terms of the audio, their games 'have heart' as some people put it. Kono Sekai starts out just after the protagonist, Asobu, discovers hi
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VN of the Month December 2016

Before I announce the VN of the Month, I'm going to go ahead and apologize to those who wanted me to play Honoguraki... to be blunt, I don't have the energy for it.  Ragnarok sucked me dry, and I need to get away from undead and demons for a while.  Moreover, I hate zombies in the first place (so many reasons), so I'd be unlikely to give a pleasant review or comment anyway. Now... it is kind of startling how so many great games got packed into a single month.  December 2016 was a monster mo
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Venus Blood: Ragnarok

Yes, you were waiting for it, all you tentacle-loving freaks... this is the newest game in the Venus Blood series, as full of tentacles and sex-training as any of the others...  I come to you having finished the Law route and after being forced to go back a chapter in order to get to the Chaos route on my second playthrough (apparently you absolutely have to start the 'goddess insanity' chapter, by failing to complete one of the monster-hunting side-quests).  The gameplay will be familiar t
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Akiyume Kukuru

Akiyume Kukuru is the third (and possibly final) game in Sumikko's 'Seasons' meta-sci-fi series.  It centers around a group of five 'Holders', people genetically altered at the embryo stage to possess possibilities that don't otherwise exist in Earth's evolution using artificial DNA and RNA known as XNA.  These five people are individuals whose actions or abilities have made them a threat to society/the government/etc., and they have been exiled to Ruruan, a closed city in Hokkaido where a
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Shinsou Noise ~Jushin Tantei no Jikenbo~

Shinsou Noise is the first game by a new collaboration company called Azurite, which was founded as a joint effort by Silky's Plus and Liar Soft.  In this case, Liar Soft provided the writing staff and Silky's provided the art and programming staff.  It is also fairly obvious that the planning wasn't done by the Liar Soft team, given the general style of the story, which is more in line with my experiences with Silky's Plus (and thus lacks the annoying conventions Liar Soft usually indulges in).
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December 2016: The remaining VNs

December was a month with a ridiculous number of highly-anticipated VN releases... and after having played three of them in such a short time, I felt a need to recall which ones I hadn't. Currently, I'm playing Shinsou Noise, which is a dark fantasy mystery written by the Liar-soft team and drawn by the Silky's Plus team (of Nanairo Reincarnation fame).  What remains after that that I planned to play is: Venus Blood Ragnarok (sequel in the 'main setting' of the series) Akiyum
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Ou no Mimi ni Todokenai

Now, I've said this several times before, but AXL is a company that reuses its art, music, and character designs/features heavily.  As such, I rate their games solely based on plot/story and how those elements are used (in other words, jackasses who point out the somewhat dated art style and recycled music can go sodomize themselves with a pickle for all I care).  Unless you are a bigot who absolutely has to have the latest art styles, this shouldn't be something that bothers you anyway. Ou
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A long-time Consumer's point of view: Sequels and Fandiscs

One thing I've noticed as a difference between the kind of VN consumer I am now and the one I was at at the beginning is that I fundamentally have difficulty mustering interest in sequels, fandiscs, and even anime continuations of my favorite VNs. When I first started playing VNs, I was your classic fanboy.  If they put out some kind of new story related to a VN I'd enjoyed, I'd snap it up in an instant.  Before I started playing the untranslated, I would obsess over fandiscs and sequels to
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Amenity's life (Well, I warned you) *shrugs*

Anyway, as I said in my previous post, I've never finished all of the routes of a Hook Soft game, despite their VNs being almost universally of relatively high-quality as charage go.  This one didn't turn out to be an exception, for the same reasons as all the others. It isn't a horrible VN.  In fact, for lovers of slice-of-life, cheap romance, and 'golden road' standard heroine routes, this VN is pure crack.  Unfortunately, the excess of any one of those elements without a good balance wit
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A warning for Amenity's Life

For those looking forward to my comments on Hook Soft's latest release, I should probably warn you that I've yet to finish every route of any Hook Soft game.  If you ask me the reason... it is pretty simple.  Hook Soft is the charage 'ideal' company.  I say this because I've never encountered a company that sticks so tightly to the 'golden road' of the charage.  Moe-moe heroines with soft, non-threatening personal settings?  Check. Cute tsunderes that just have trouble being honest wit
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Liber 7 Eigou no Owari o Matsu Kimi e

First, I should state that I'm not a fan of Lass in general.  Legion and Tsurugi Maya are decent writers... but as scenario-designers go, they tend to screw up the pacing at the beginning and toward the end of their VNs to one degree or another.  Also, they have a long-standing preference for the 'only difference is the epilogue' style of 'heroine route', which leaves people like me who enjoy immense variations in story based on which heroine is chosen feeling unsatisfied. In that sense, Li
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Ryuukishi Bloody†Saga

Ryuukishi is the sequel to Ryakudatsusha no In'en, which was released last month... or rather, Ryakudatsusha is a prelude/prequel to this game.  However, the fundamental nature of the game has changed greatly.  For one thing, this VN lacks the constant rape and mutilation scenes that were so a part of Ryakudatsusha... ... well not entirely.  There is only one rape scene, and there are a few guro scenes.  However, those scenes are not nearly as dominant as the ones in Ryakudatsusha.  For tho
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Random VNs: Koitate

Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate - The Code Name is "Shield 9" is the VN that most vets think of when they think of AXL as a company.  For better or worse, this has become the defining work in this company's library, and it is the only one that has any sort of English release patch out (though it is only a partial with Yukino's route).  This VN is something of a thriller, focusing on Kisaragi Shuuji as he protects Yukino, Ren, and Marina from the assassins and would-be kidnappers inside their
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Random VNs: Like a Butler

As part of my series of posts on AXL, today I finished replaying Like a Butler, one of AXL's earlier charage-type VNs.  This VN is of a type that hadn't really been touched until AXL opened it up... the ojousama-ge.  Just to give you a little history, until the release of Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no in 2006, there hadn't been any really good or famous ojousama-ge made.  It was only after 2010 when the sub-genre exploded outward into the ridiculous numbers we've seen since (with Ensemble alone pr
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Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana and VN of the Month Announcement

... I'm going to be blunt about this... I can't  believe this was written by the same guy who wrote Nekopara, Sakura Bitmap, and Strawberry Nauts.  This VN has an overwhelming degree of impact compared to his other works, to the point where I'm even willing to consider it a kamige.  Music, music-usage, story, presentation, art, and art usage are all at their highest levels, combining to create a nakige whose impact is far out of proportion to its length (which is only about seven hours, for me).
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Random Vns: Itoshii Kanojo no Mamorikata

This VN is the third AXL VN I played, way back in 2011.  This VN is a charage with a twist.  That twist is that its setting is a military school run by a PMC (Private Military Corporation) named Blaze, designed to produce bodyguards, special forces mercenaries, and military researchers.  It starts out with the protagonist entering the school, hoping to reunite with his osananajimi Yui, having promised to do so as a child *pauses for laughs*, and having exchanged letters over the years, keep
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AXL: The same characters... but they feel new!!!

AXL is a really weird company.  I don't mean that as an insult.  AXL produces VNs with very little variation in quality, consistently producing stories and characters that are fun to read about...  However, when I take a step back and really think about it, their characters are the same between products, right down to the voices and (to an extent) their appearance. AXL is probably the only VN company out there that hasn't radically changed its visual style in the past ten years... in f
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