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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

Ayakashi Contract Part 1: Common and Minagi

Before I start this, I should probably explain the company known as AXL to the newbies. AXL, which is known for Shugotate, as well as a number of other high-quality VNs, is an 'old-hand' company that was started pretty soon after the turn of the century. They developed an extremely beautiful art style, as well as a penchant for high-quality fantasy and romance stories. The thing most people will notice upon playing any two AXL games is that the art-style is exactly the same... it still possesses
Clephas

Clephas

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Shirogane Spirits

To be honest, I generally dislike Giga's non-Baldr VNs, simply because the dip in quality (outside of visuals) is so sharp it isn't even funny. From dialogue and narration to voices and music, it is unbelievable how little comparative effort this company puts into its non-Baldr games. That said, this is actually quite a decent charage... though I do have some serious complaints. I'll go ahead and get those complaints out of the way first. Cons First, for all that the sound effects are
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The two ways to view the Akagoei series

Akatsuki no Goei is something of an oddball if you ignore the existence of Grisaia, but they share some major traits.  Both have a relatively 'peaceful' (if dramatic) first game that involves romantic paths that are mostly irrelevant to the third game.  Both have a psychologically-scarred, killer protagonist with a criminal past.  Both have a quirky sense of humor that is mostly generated by the protagonist's abnormal actions... I could go on, but I'll move on to my point. The most blatantl
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VN of the Month, March and April 2018

Now that I have confirmation from Dergonu that the game he was playing is not VN of the Month quality (he has stalled on it), I will move on to finally announcing VN of the Month for March and April. March March was a decent month, since it had three potential candidates for VN of the Month.  Those candidates are: Butterfly Seeker AI Love Unjou no Fairy Tale Now, despite my rating of it, I'm going to go ahead and disqualify AI Love.  Why?  Because it is essentially
Clephas

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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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July 2017 Release Megapost (also completion of June)

Fuyu Uso Fuyu Uso is the fourth and final game in Campus’s ‘Lies’ series, based in a mammoth school with a hidden population of magical beings. As a bit of a recap, the protagonist of this story, Sakurai Souichirou gained the power as a young child to sense the lies of others through a magical tool within his body called ‘Red Line’. In the game, this shows as lines of dialog literally being highlighted in red when a person is lying (at the precise part of the dialog they are lying). As
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Random VN: Kanzume Shoujo no Shuumatsu Sekai

First, it should be noted that this game was planned and written by Watanabe Ryouichi, who also wrote the Harumade series (Harumade Kururu, Natsukumo Yururu, etc).  As such, it is - quite predictably - a mindfuck game.  Don't expect SOL romance in the traditional sense, because that isn't the kind of game this is. This game has two protagonists... the first is the normal-seeming Koumi Masataka, who begins the story by encountering Sarasa, the game's main heroine, as she eats canned saba mis
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Re: LieF ~Shin'ainaru Anata e~ Part two: Hinako and Ai (true)

Mmm... first I should explain why I chose to do Hinako last before the true route.  Hinako is the secondary protagonist of the VN, the one who introduces you to the characters as well as to the nature of the rehabilitation plan in the story.  As a result, Hinako's character development is jump-started, to the point where she is incomparably developed compared to Ruka and Momo.  Hinako is probably the strongest person in the VN, at heart.  Of course, she has her - rather obvious - weak point
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Random VN: Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic

This was one of the group of about forty VNs I played in my first year after I began playing untranslated VNs.  It was also the fourth chuunige I played that was untranslated.  For those who are interested, this game was written by Takaya Aya (the writer of several kamige, including Komorebi no Nostalgica and Otoboku 2).  He is a writer who can handle just about any genre, including nakige, chuunige, charage, serious drama, and deep science fiction.  Alicematic is his first chuunige, writte
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Random VNs: Damekoi Final part

Now, this is going to be a somewhat short post, despite the fact that Damekoi has turned into one of the better VNs I've played in recent years (well, for the first time, anyway).  That is because Asami and Mitoko's routes split at the same point and share at least some of the same events and text, and Asami's route is mostly done by that split. I'm going to be blunt... once you get past Himeo's route, it turns into a muddy and messy ren'ai drama.  The protagonist, Osamu, is torn between hi
Clephas

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Ichibun no Ni Koigokoro and VN of the Month, August 2016

Ugh... can you say kusoge out loud twenty times fast?  I'm sorry, but it has been a while since I played a VN that was this awful outright.  It had all the elements, setting-wise, that a good story VN should have... a protagonist who gave up high school to work to support his sisters, twin sister heroines (yay for incest), a generally capable protagonist, a hikikomori neighbor heroine, and a lot of hints of potential story points that could have been used to enhance the paths. Unfortunately
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VNs

Random VN: Tsukiakari Lunch

Tsukiakari Lunch is an oddball game that, despite the fact that I was in a particularly miserable state when I originally played it, I couldn't help but fall in love with.  I was playing it in thirty minute snatches in between some of the hardest work I've ever done, and it took me almost two weeks (that's a long time for me) to finish it.  Because of the way I played it, I've always felt that I didn't really do it justice, so I have wanted to go back and play this for years.  I recommend it to
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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Revised VN of the Month April Plans

After trying both of them, I dropped Anata o Otoko ni Shiteageru and Sankai, for similar reasons.  However, this leaves me with two VNs that have varying levels of interest from the community to play... Island by Frontwing and Wagamama High Spec by Madosoft. Madosoft... produces thematic VNs, rather than your standard charage.  They pick a theme and unify all the heroines into that type.  This tends to have pretty awful results so far (both Yakimochi and Namaiki were kusoge, though they wer
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VN of the Month Feb 2016 and March titles

First, VN of the Month 2016 basically comes down to a competition between two titles, World Election and Tsumi no Hikari Rendezvous.  The other stuff from February was mostly... disappointing.  Shugotate 2 is great... but one of my rules is that direct sequels and continuances of previous games can't compete if they require knowledge of the original to enjoy (and in this case that is true).      Both games in the posts above are solid VN of the Month candidates... and
Clephas

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An Assessment of the Silverio Series concept [Spoilers]

First, it should be noted that I love the Silverio series, regardless of its flaws.  I see those flaws, I recognize them, then I shrug as I realize I don't give a flying fart about how the critical part of myself feels.  First, lets consider the two games that have come out (so far, given that the setting is so insanely detailed that it would be sad if they didn't make more games) in the series separately.  Silverio Vendetta Silverio Vendetta follows Zephyr Colerain, an unemployed
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Random VN: Psycho Logic Love Comedy

This one is a doujin VN by Initial, a doujin group that seems to have pretty varied tastes.  To be honest... I wasn't expecting what I got with this VN.  This is a kinetic novel, meaning that there is only one story that is progressed without any branches or choices.  You progress through the story by picking your chapters, which go in in order from one to forty-six.  The game itself is about eight hours in length, and it is a science-fiction/fantasy VN. The story begins in a city walled in
Clephas

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Kamisama no Shippo ~Etogami-sama no Ongaeshi

First, this was written partially by Morima Marimo, one of Light and Campus's writers who specializes in naki-scenes and SOL.  Marimo has always sort of stood in the shadows of the other Light writers, but in terms of multi-genre versatility, he (she?) is worlds above the other writers employed by Light. This game is one of the few 'ladder-style' story structure games that haven't driven me into a rage.  The simple reason is that the main story is more interesting than the little side trips
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Poll: Which Random VN?

Now... I've been asked to play/replay several VNs and post on each by several people who read but don't post here, as well as several members.  These will have to come after I finish Damekoi  and after the VN of the Month (currently playing Floral Flowlove), but there is a distinct possibility I'll manage to play at least one more VN through before the release of Deus Ex later this month.  I've also had requests to play and comment on more JRPGs, but I'll be honest when I say there aren't a ton
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Random VNs: Damekoi Part 1

It has been a while since I did a partial post on a VN, and most of the time I either do it out of enthusiasm or because I got a specific request for a path-by-path detailed report from a friend.  In this case, it is because I ran out of time to finish Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi after I played through half the game and two of the paths.  I ran out of time because my copy of Senren Banka, which I asked me friend to ship to me directly, arrived two days early.  I wasn't expecting it until Tuesd
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VNs

Dies Irae: An Explanation of Shinzabansho

First, I need to explain the basic concept of the Shinzabansho series, for those unfamiliar with Dies Irae or Paradise Lost.  The Shinzabansho universe began with the creation of the Shinza, the Divine Throne.  The Divine Throne, when claimed by a Hadoushin/Conqueror God (formerly mortal) who possessed a Law, would then overwrite reality and impose the Law generated by that deity upon all of creation, on a universal level.  In each of the stories, whether it is the web novel Avesta (soon to be a
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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Izuna Zanshinken: Character portraits

Izuna Zanshinken is a VN put out by Akatsuki Works Black back in 2011.  It is a super-violent chuunige with a vigilante assassin called Musumi Kotarou at its center.  The game is split into two main parts... the common route and the heroine routes, which are accessed at a click of the mouse (convenient).  Save for the end of each heroine route, choices are mostly a matter of seeing different scenes or the same scenes from another perspective.  Each route is split into chapters, each with a defin
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Office de Sasou Ecchi na Kanojo

First, I should probably say that this isn't a nukige.  It looks like one, it has all the outward qualities of one, but it isn't one, strictly speaking.  The ratio of story and character development to H-content is too high, for one thing.  This game focuses on a young salaryman named Touma, who has just completed his training period, and he is given his first trial with one of the departments of his company.  He is assigned to a more experienced senpai, a capable young woman named Mai, at
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My experience with Fate/Grand Order

Ok, anyone who has read some of my rants about microtransactions will wonder why I decided to play this f2p smartphone game... until you remember I'm also a Nasuverse fanboy. I made the questionable decision of picking this game up about two and a half months ago, and since then I've been left with a lot to ponder.  First, I'll list what I like about this game. 1.  Relatively easy to play for free, in the sense that simply doing free quests and story quests can get you the in-game Sain
Clephas

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Playing and Replaying old VNs

First, I should define what I consider to be 'old' VNs.  I essentially define 'old' VNs by the 'ten year rule'.  When ten years have passed, generally the cultural references, the artwork, and even the sound styles have changed enough to be almost completely distinct from the most modern VNs.  At present, that means VNs made before 2007. Now, next I need to make a statement... I am not an art bigot.  One of the most negative issues I've run across in dealing with newer VN readers is art big
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A Few Things about Clephas Part 1

I keep getting questions like, 'Who are you?' and 'Why should I listen to you at all about VNs?'... not to mention questions that are a bit more personal. So, I thought I'd answer those questions I'm willing to answer (feel free to ask more in the comments, and I'll answer those that I can in a second post). Full Handle Name: Clephas Aurenius Handle Origin: A unique character I made up for a fictional fantasy universe some ten years ago. I've been using it as my sole handle for eight yea
Clephas

Clephas

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