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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

Microtransactions and my views

Let's first lay out my basic view... I loathe microtransactions. I'm not an anti-industry activist, and I don't have a serious bone to pick with any individual company about them.  I've had a few bad experiences with them, but the reason for my loathing is something more fundamental, that I came to realize only after I'd put a year or so between my worst experience with them. First of all, my experience was with an MMORPG on PC, rather than a blockbuster title or a smartphone game.  As
Clephas

Clephas

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May 2018 VN of the Month and Maoten

VN of the Month, May 2018 First, VN of the Month, May 2018 is Shunkyoku no Tyrhia.  While the game had some serious flaws, like all Liar Soft games, it was enjoyable enough that I felt it worth becoming a candidate for VN of the Month.  Maoten Maoten is the game I was looking forward to the most for June's releases... and I was not in any way disappointed.  The game is classic Candy Soft in some ways (the over the top characters, looser sexual mores than the norm in non-nukige, et
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March Release: Kieta Sekai to Tsuki to Shoujo -The World was Prayed by The Girl Living A Thousand Years-

This review was written by fun2novel and edited for grammar and style by Clephas.  Etatoto review The mystery genre is one of the most interesting and captivating genres in fiction (Clephas: We are all entitled to our opinions). While there are many mystery vns out there, finding one that has an addictive, twisting plo, and a satisfying ending is a difficult task. It is even harder if you’re looking for something really unique and different from the usual murder who’dun’it, detective,
Clephas

Clephas

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March 2019: What I'm going to play

It appears that March is going to be my first death march of this year (as compared to me doing it every month for the five years previous).  The simple reason is that, for some insane reason, a bunch of companies released a bunch of interesting games all at once this month (it is technically still March). First, we have Alpha Nighthawk, a game by Liar Soft that just looked too interesting for me to ignore (which I normally would have).  My initial impression from the first scene is... that
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Majo to Tsurugi to Sen no Tsuki

This review was written by Dergonu   Majo to Tsurugi to Sen no Tsuki Majo to Tsurugi to Sen no Tsuki is the newest game in Kai's mahou shoujo series. (There is no need to play the two previous games in order to follow the story in this one. I personally did not, and understood everything just fine. The game does a very good job of explaining everything that happened in previous games properly for new readers. Of course, reading a general summary of the two previous games will h
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Maho x Roba -Witches Spiritual Home-

Maho Roba is the latest release from Akabei Soft 3, the subsidiary made by conglomerating staff and resources from a number of Akabei Soft 2's other subsidiaries.  Now, this game is in a different vein from the games previously released... in the sense that this company has done pretty much everything but a fantasy charage since it was formed.  ... I'll be straight with you.  My first thought upon finishing this game was that it is exactly like another half-dozen 'average quality' fantasy c
Clephas

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Magical Dears Part1: Some complaints and some compliments

Magical Dears is the newest VN by one of Navel's subordinate companies, Navel Honeybell... and to be honest, I was interested to see what they would do with it.  The VN itself is your standard slice-of-life charage based in an alternate Earth where magicians have been working behind the scenes to save the world since the dawn of civilization.  In this world, the magicians revealed themselves when they realized that intervening behind the scenes to prevent disasters had already reached its limit
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Magical Dears Final: Good god, this is crap.

Yes, I'm going to say it right here and now... this is a kusoge.  Oh, there are some good points...but unfortunately, the really half-assed way things are done between and after the most vital points kind of make this VN the crap it is. First, this VN as a whole suffers from the 'didn't go far enough' and 'not enough detail' syndromes.  Even the romantic elements in this VN feel truncated, and that is usually the only story element in which charage excel.  Why do I say 'didn't go far enough'?  I
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Maggot Baits (Yes, I played this)

I’m going to be frank with you about this VN.  Maggot Baits is in no way, shape, or form a story with good guys.  Everyone in this VN is a monster or scum.  This VN has way too much guro, even for a VN focused on the grotesque, and it is actually made worse by the high-quality writing, lol. That said… story-wise, if you skip through 90% of the H-scenes, this VN is actually pretty good.  Unfortunately, if you don’t skip those h-scenes, it is very hard not to see this as one big snuff-film turned
Clephas

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VNs

Magatsu Barai: Story

First, I should note that this game suffers from what are likely budget constraints.  I say this because some of the VA choices are... questionable.  Ragou's VA in particular is something of a disaster, with a discordant mismatch between the voice and the characterization.  This stands out even more because other choices like Kaen and Diran's male VAs are actually really awesome matches.   I failed to properly articulate what the music in this game resembles at most sometimes... and that wo
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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VNs

Magatsu Barai: Preliminary Thoughts

Before someone asks, I merely paused the other VN to start Magatsu Barai (and Xenoblade Chronicles 3).  I will finish it (eventually). Magatsu Barai is the first Light game to be made from beginning to end after the collapse of the company's original owners.  As such, it is only natural (and unfortunate, at least to an extent) that some things will have changed. To address the elephant in the room for anyone who has seen the cover or sample cgs... The coloring really is that awful.  I
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Clephas in VNs

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VNs

Madoi Shiroki no Kamikakushi

This is the latest kemomomi VN from Lump of Sugar, whose best VNs all have kemomimi girls, lol.  In this one, the protagonist Takuto and his little sister Shiina are transported to the world of the gods, where human perceptions of the world, mythology and legends come to life.  As a game, this story feels a lot like a 'gentle and slow nakige'.   To be blunt, the first thing I think most people will note upon getting past the prologue of this game is... that Roka is the most moe-moe heroine
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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Maboroshi no Dystopia part 2: Kaede's path and one pissed off Clephas

Ok... if just one path got gypped by the writers, I would have overlooked it as a minor flaw. It would have been worthy of irritation, but I wouldn't have bothered remaining angry forever. It isn't uncommon for a single heroine to pull the short straw when it comes to route quality... but after reading Kaede's route I have something I need to say. This game is incomplete!!!! Here are my reasons for saying that: 1. Ruriko's route goes from dark revelations to sudden lovers to the ending
Clephas

Clephas

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Maboroshi no Dystopia Part 1: First Impressions and Ruriko's path

For various reasons, I had high hopes for this VN. For one thing, it is by the same company that did Reminiscence and for another, I just liked the basic concept. However, there is one issue that is more than a little irritating... they used an entirely new main staff (new writer, new artist) and tried to maintain an aura of similarity to the Akagoei series without the heart and soul that made that series interesting. First, the protagonist is obviously a knock-off version of Kaito, with a
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Maboroshi no Dystopia Final: Akari and Youko - Why the difference?

I left these two to last for the simple reason that they were obviously intended to be the main heroines. As usual, my instincts for the intentions of a writer were correct. There is a significant difference, both in depth and in detail, between these two paths and those of the other two heroines. First, in both cases, the protagonist's past (though different parts of it) is revealed, and there is something approaching drama involved in the story. Second, the heroines themselves are much dee
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Clephas

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Lump of Sugar redeems itself! (Kodomo no Asobi Part 1)

First, I should explain why I felt a need to make a title like that... though it is really quite simple.  Out of Lump of Sugar's last five VNs, three were complete kusoge.   Only one of them was something worth remembering (Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de) and the others were just downright rotten, due to their use of really stupid gimmicky progression systems (flowcharts with tons of scene-locks and going back and forth, Magical Charming's half-assed 'gameplay' etc etc) that ruined the games even
Clephas

Clephas

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Love, Vampire Flowers Part 1

Love, Vampire Flowers was one of the VNs I have been looking forward to, if only because Lovesick Puppies (by the same company) was such a hidden gem at the time. I won't say this approaches Lovesick Puppies for impact, because it doesn't. In comparison, it begins much more slowly and the problems tend to be more of the 'classic charage' type (well, the heroines' ones anyway). The big draw of this is that the protagonist is about as psychologically mature as you could hope for from a 'good g
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Love, Vampire Flowers Final

As mentioned above, this VN is a mass of wasted potential. Yes, there are really good points... but between those good points is an interminable amount of pretty much pointless ichaicha, slice-of-life, and a number of other things that made me want to scream. First, neither Lisa's nor Koharu's routes escaped the trap of mediocrity that Chris and Rie's were taken by. Sadly, both routes are fairly standard charage romance with predictable turns of events... so predictable I fell asleep during
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Love Rec part 2: Full Impressions

After finishing this VN, I had a lot of thoughts... mostly positive. There is almost nothing to complain about with this VN. It shows off the best of Alcot's style of work, with hilarious character interactions, good nakige scenes, and a strong true route and ending. From the perspective of someone familiar with the structure of this type of nakige (which is what it turns out to be), this one is fairly close to kamige level. First, there are four main heroines in this VN. Chiho, the deredere
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Love Rec Part 1: Initial Impressions (common route) and Nori

First, I should explain Alcot's varying styles to those who aren't accustomed to me discussing this company. Alcot has three types of VNs it makes. One is the classic charage type, like Clover Days. The characters and story are funny but tend to be shallow, with little overall depth. Nonetheless, because the stories are funny, you still like them anyway. The second type are the more serious works, like Kurenai no Tsuki, which have more adult (not in the sexual meaning of the word) themes an
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Love Destination

Umm... wow? This game is seriously out there.   Yes, I needed to start with that.  Love Destination's every aspect is more than a little crazy.  It starts with a salaryman in his late thirties dying in a car accident and being told by the lazy-ass woman at the gates that she accidentally killed him on a whim.  She offers him a chance to start over from the branching point of his life (after several other attempts to cover her own incompetence), and he ends up going back in time... only
Clephas

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Lost Echoes

Lost Echoes is the first VN by the new company Petitlinge and is written by one of the writers of Hatsugamai (https://vndb.org/v18790)  .  In this VN the protagonist, Yuuki Riku, is asked by the low-ranking kami, Ryuusen Umi (her name as a kami has been forgotten by both her and the descendants of her worshipers), to go to the past to save the soul of his childhood friend by preventing her previous life (Tachibana Ginchiyo, a rare female warrior leader in the Sengoku era who was the daughter of
Clephas

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Looking for partners for VN of the Month

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've simply reached a point where playing four VNs from every month's releases is now unfeasible.  However, at the same time, I wish to ensure that the role I set this up for in the first place continues to be fulfilled. The Original Purpose of VN of the Month The central purpose of VN of the Month is to give people a general idea of what they can expect going into a VN that is untranslated.  Is it enjoyable?  Who would it be enjoyable for?  What kin
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Loli-Clephas strikes again!

Loli-Clephas recently emerged from Clephas' mouth, beginning a reign of terror in which billions have already perished, their blood staining her massive metal teeth, their flesh sliding down her throat. As the universe trembles at the unleashing of this, the most beautiful and terrible of all the monsters ever conceived in the depths of the Abyss, Clephas himself is busy playing VNs for his VN of the Month blog, having allowed his female self free reign to indulge her hungers for the first time
Clephas

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Japanese literature

LN: Yondome, Sacchi sarenai Rule Breaker, and Kuro no Maou

Yondome wa Iyana Shizokusei Majutsushi Yondome is a series that would probably be traumatic to watch but is ideal for reading.  I say this because the things done to the protagonist and he does to others are pretty horrifying from an objective perspective.  He spends most of his first reincarnation being tortured as an experimental subject, his magical energy drawn out to make convenient tools, and his second reincarnation has him cursed and living his life surrounded by undead of his own m
Clephas

Clephas in Japanese literature

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