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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

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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JRPG: I am Setsuna

Yes, I went ahead and played this, having pre-ordered it on Steam. I've been pumping about three hours a day into it since it came out and my final level for my main party was 47 (which seems to be low, but that is apparently because people go for the 'beat the boss without weakening him first' trophy, pfft).  This is a game designed to bring nostalgia to the minds of those who are fans of the SNES and PS1 eras, and in that sense, it definitely succeeds.  It utilizes a battle system copied from
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Pragmatic VN gaming: Some common sense

For better or worse, the VN localization industry in America and other Western nations is expanding rapidly, primarily due to the efforts of aggressive localization companies such as Mangagamer and Sekai Project, but also due to the increased interest on the part of at least some Japanese VN companies in making a few extra bucks through localization.  I say 'for better or worse' because the increase in localizations has actually begun to outline what some of the biggest problems with VNs ar
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Random VNs: Kyonyuu Fantasy 3

The Kyonyuu Fantasy series is easily one of the weirdest series I’ve ever encountered.  On one side, you have what is clearly nukige levels of sexual content, with some of the most absurd h-scenes I’ve ever encountered, taking male breast-obsessions to new levels.  On the other side, you have startlingly detailed settings and interesting stories with protagonists who only seem weak on the surface. Kyonyuu Fantasy 3 is no exception to my experiences with the series.  When I started it, I w
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Random VNs: Kyonyuu Fantasy 2if

Knonyuu Fantasy 2if is a remake of the original Kyonyuu Fantasy 2, with an apparently expanded narrative.  Having played the Digitalized Novel version of the original Kyonyuu Fantasy, which I loved, I found Kyonyuu Fantasy 2if to be very… familiar. To be blunt, everything in this VN is exactly like the first few chapters of that estimable game, with the easygoing, unambitious protagonist gaining political power and rising to the top over the course of the game… while having sex constantly
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Random Vns: Valkyrie Complex

.... I finally finished this one.  It has been installed on my computer for the better part of three years, with me only going back to play it occasionally... This VN/srpg hybrid is by Circus, the same company that did Suika and the Da Capo series... so obviously, this kind of VN is completely out of character for them, lol.  I'm going to be blunt... this VN pales in comparison to just about every decent hybrid I've played, both storywise and gameplay wise.  The best thing I can say for the
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Busy and a preview of July's releases

... exactly how many times have I mentioned that I'm busy lately...?  Seriously.  I'm in the middle of VN withdrawal for the first time in over three years... and I'm realizing how addicted I am.  I'd be perfectly happy to play a kusoge for the second time, at the moment... if I had the time.  The best I can do these days is drop in for a few minutes and maybe a quick post or two.  Considering that I originally started this style of work because it made me enough money in a short enough per
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Random VNs: Shin Koihime Eiyuutan

Shin Koihime Eiyuutan is something of an alternate fandisc for Shin Koihime, including characters from the 'extra materials' that have come out over the years and a canon story flow from the original that seems to be based on Kazuto somehow being on all three sides at once during the wars (lol).  To be honest, for consistency, Moeshouden was much better, because it uses the Gaishi setting to explain everything, lol.  Having played all three, I can safely say that it is a very satisfying aft
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Koi to Koisuru Utopia and VN of the Month June 2016

Mmm... the first word that comes to mind with this VN is 'nostalgia'.  This VN isn't a high-budget affair... in fact, just from the looks and sound of it, it is fairly obvious it is on the lower-budget end of things.  The music is about as generic as it comes (fairly low-quality and lacking in variation), and, while there are character sprites for far more characters than is usual, the actual resolution outside of the h-scenes is fairly low.  This is a charage/moege, with no element that va
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Romanticization of War in Fiction

First, let me say this outright... I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with the romanticization of war in fiction.  I love bloody epic war stories even more than I love sushi and ice cream.  However, one thing I've noticed as I've read various historical fiction and fantasy is that the bloodier and more horrid a war is, the more it gets romanticized.  Western Examples The Hundred Years War- The Hundred Years War is perhaps the most obvious example of a war being romanticized in the
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4

Lamunation

... wow, it has been a while since I've come across a VN where I can't use meta terms to explain everything.  If I had to put a genre type to this, it would be 'random/comedy/ecchi'.  There are a few really unique elements to this VN that I should probably explain before I go any further.  First, narration in this VN is almost nonexistent... roughly 98% of the game's text is dialogue, though the h-scenes are narrated.  Second, this VN makes no attempt whatsoever to be serious at any point. 
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Ojounana Character Special: Sakurazaki Hajime

Hajime is your ultimate lady's valet (not a butler, as he says repeatedly), serving as Naname Nanami's bodyguard, tutor, and general servant.  He and his sister, Hana were brought to the Naname Manor as children after their parents' death to live as servants by the head of the Yuuzenji Family at the time (the Yuuzenji are one of seven cadet branches of the Naname Family).  He earned Nanami's trust and became her ultimate ally, protecting her from attempts to forcefully betroth her to members of
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Ojounana Character Special: Yuuzenji Tsurumi

Those of you who are familiar with Ojousama wa Gokigen Naname will probably wonder, "Why did he just introduce a non-heroine character before anyone else?"  The reason is fairly simple... this is a game that is defined at least as much by its antagonist as its protagonist and heroines.  This one of about a dozen VNs I'm replaying in parallel (as the mood takes me), and it is one of my favorites... as well as one of the two reasons I keep playing Ensemble games, even though they've made nothing b
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Otome Domain

Well, this is the first June's releases I've dug into, and it was an... interesting experience.  This VN is a thematic trap protagonist VN that is fully voiced.  I say it is 'thematic' because all the heroines share the same general quality/direction... to be specific, they are all from the 'ponkotsu ojousama' sub-archetype.  Rich girls who are cute and generally nice to look at... and have an overwhelmingly high number of seeming irredeemable flaws.  Kazari, the VN's main heroine, is
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Random VNs: Draculius

NSFW?   I'll say it straight out... in my mind, Draculius is one of the top two vampire VNs in existence... with the other one being Vermilion by Light.  Meromero Cute was a company that had a tendency toward making... eccentric works.  Mahou Shoujo no Taisetsu na koto is particularly memorable for the cross-dressing protagonist who spends a ridiculous amount of time being reverse-raped in a magical girl costume...  It used the fact that nobody expects mahou shoujo stories and settin
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The influence of Draculius on the Western community

Those who talk to me regularly or pay attention to my lists will notice that one of the VNs that comes up fairly often is Draculius. This is a VN that has had a surprising amount of influence on modern VNs... or rather, the Western VN world.  Oddly enough, that influence is mostly indirect rather than direct (it isn't translated, so the VN's direct influence is rather limited).  The most obvious point is Grisaia... to be straight about it, it had the same writer as the Grisaia series,
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4

An apology and Vn of the Month May 2016

I have to apologize for being unable to deliver on one of my promises... to be specific, it doesn't look like I'm going to have time to finish Seiken Tsukai no Proposition this week... although, I could already tell it wasn't going to be a solid VN of the Month candidate. Unusually, there were actually two solid candidates for May's victor... Sakura no Mori Dreamers and and Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru.  It really could have gone either way... both VNs are memorable and interesting, w
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Busy as hell: Working on Seiken Tsukai in my free time (not copious at the moment)

... for the first time in years, I just went through an entire week without finishing a VN... Why? The reason is fairly simple... real life.  I'm having to clean up all the work left over from the time I spent essentially mentally handicapped that I didn't subcontract to someone else.  That is on top of the work I would have received anyway... In any case, I'm slowly making progress on Seiken Tsukai, and I can tell you that it is a VN that will definitely pick its readers.  The st
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How Adorable Heroines are now just Generic

How many of you started reading VNs, manga, or watching anime solely because the girls were so adorable?  I wasn't one of those (I began with Record of Lodoss War, lol), but Ai Yori Aoshi and Love Hina introduced me to the concept of the 'moe-heroine'.  Whether it was their way of speaking, their looks, or their attitude, moe heroines became an integral part of the otaku experience at some point (well, the male-oriented one anyway), and I actually don't have any problems with that.  I have lots
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23

Natsuiro Kokoro Log

To be honest, despite how much some people recommended this VN to me (or hyped it without playing it *smiles dryly*) this VN didn't seem even the least bit exciting to me. This didn't change significantly even after I started playing it, and it never really felt like it got off the ground.  First of all, they plopped down a bunch of wastefully (and I do mean that as it sounds) colorful characters into a setting that felt kind of forcibly glued together.  Second, the story itself is brutally
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3

Signs of a saturated market: Charage/moege

Now... I know you've heard me bash charage/moege before.  That isn't the purpose here, though.  I've played plenty of VNs of the type over the years, and a decent number of them have actually managed to make it pretty high on my list of recommendations, despite the genres' flaws.  I've also mentioned before that VN quality has fallen drastically in the past two years... and I still think that, despite a few seriously stand-out works this year in general and this month in particular. The rea
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15

Tarareba

This is a moege (yes, a moege) and a nakige (think Key style, with less depth and more sex) by Aries, a company that makes 'themed' games (mostly).  In this case, the theme is 'what if?'  Basically, they set it up as a deliberate 'what if you changed these events?' scenario for the protagonist.  To be frank, Aries' games tend to rank from average down to somewhere below mediocre, outside of having some of the sexiest heroines I've seen outside of nukige and Semiramis no Tenbin, lol (this is sett
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**ON REQUEST** Ruri no Ie

Hmm... to be honest, I haven't played many VNs of this type, mostly because they don't really fit my tastes.  This is one of those dark horror/rape/sex training VNs that also happen to be based in the middle of the Cthulhu Mythos universe.  To be precise, this one is based on an island that mirrors Innsmouth in the mythos.  It is ruled by the Mashuu Family, and the protagonist ends up marrying the last daughter of that family, Mizuki.  He also gets stuck with an immense power and the role o
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2

*cries* Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru

... I'm going to be blunt.  It has been a while (think 2014) since any company has produced a nakige that compares to this one.  The characters, their backgrounds, their personalities, and the setting all come together to form a story of deep affection, pain, and tears that had me crying more than a dozen times throughout the VN. In terms of heroines, this VN's imoutos are the best.  Shinobu is the twisted, obsessive half-yandere, super-capable imouto who adores her niisan (with good reason
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The spirit of an older gamer: Why I play games and why other people play games

I've been playing video games more or less constantly for over twenty-five years.  That's a very simple statement that holds a surprising amount of meaning, considering how much video games have changed since I first began playing them. It began with the NES, for me... with Mario, Luigi, and the ducks.  I shot ducks out of the air, I jumped Mario across gaps and on top of turtles, without ever really understanding what was going on.  As a kid, this was fun, seriously.  Understand, this
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