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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

Hanidebi! Honey & Devil

I thought so after playing Koiken Otome... but this company is absolutely incapable of properly utilizing their settings.  Good music, mostly good characters (the protagonist sucks), decent art... but so empty of content it isn't even funny.  The sex obsession from beginning to end is carried out poorly, the actual paths have too much ichaicha, and the potentially humorous elements fall short of where they would have gone in any other game.  In other words, this is yet another kusoge f
Clephas

Clephas

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Hanasaki Work Spring, part 1: Shiranui Asuka, common

So far this VN takes the form of a straight-out high-quality charage, with some nakige elements. The protagonist, Yuuma, is like the ultimate lazy guy... so much so that he researched ergonomics solely so he could create the ultimate pillow for sleeping in class. The heroines are Ayano - the much-older senpai who is a genius but has been held back more than any other person in the history of the school -, Inori - a lone-wolf girl who hates people who ask her personal questions -, Wakaba - t
Clephas

Clephas

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Hanasaki Work Spring part 3: Hikari, Nonoka, Kanna, True

Kotobuki Hikari Hikari is the most apparently 'normal' of the heroines that have routes splitting off from the common route. She is in love with the protagonist from the beginning, so them getting together is mostly a matter of the protagonist getting over his self-derision. Her route's drama is intensely personal, though it isn't a relationship problem... The route itself has a lot more ichaicha than any of the other routes, so I felt like puking sand several times during it... but for peopl
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Hanasaki Work Spring part 2: Kuon Ayano, Wakaba

Kuon Ayano Aaah... to be blunt, Ayano's path blows Inori's out of the water in some ways, if only because the sheer impact of her unusual approach to being the protagonist's lover can't help but make you rofl. Let's just say - as they do in the game - that Ayano is the 'best woman to make your wife but the worst as a woman'. There was almost no date time in this route, though there was plenty of ichaicha... fortunately, it was immensely humorous, so I didn't feel the need to puke sand. The dr
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Hana no No ni Saku Utakata no part 2: Kasasagi Shizuku

Kasasagi Shizuku Shizuku is the student council president, an intelligent young woman who appears strict and unbending but really just interprets matters through her own unique psychological 'lense'. She is the only heroine who doesn't have a past relation to the protagonist before the story begins (one way or the other), and obligingly, her route seems to be the longest of the four heroines other than Ouka. She also possesses three endings... though two are basically 'normal, nothing ha
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Hana no No ni Saku Utakata no part 1: Common and Reina

This is a VN by Applique, the makers of Concerto Note and Tasogare no Sinsemilla. Like most of their other VNs, this one has a layer of the supernatural mixed in with slice-of-life, wherein the supernatural becomes integral to their daily life. There are two major supernatural aspects present from the beginning. One is the protagonist, Michitaka, and his ability to see the traces of other human beings as colors, both on they themselves and the objects they touch or own. The other is Ouka.
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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
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Gusha no Kyouben [UPDATED]

First, I should say that I have no taste for loli-shota whatsoever, so I'm going to drop this now that I've finished one of the paths and gotten a feel for what this VN is like.  So... this turned out to actually be a loli-shota game, despite my hopes otherwise.  I have no idea of what Akabeisoft is thinking, turning its main child brand into a sub-brand that produces random games, but I can honestly say that I wish they would stick to one or two genres... Now, this is one VN that has no bu
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Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol 5

Umm... it really isn't worth it to make a post for this, but I went ahead and played Phantom Trigger vol 5 in Japanese. My impression of this one was that it was very  much like the 'flashback episodes' that pop up in so many urban fantasy anime of the nineties and two thousands...  It is all about Haruto and Murasaki's past (how they got acquainted, Saki's sister, etc), and, while that is in itself interesting, I felt cheated at the end. I'm going to be blunt.  They should be putting
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Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol 4

First, I'll give you links to my observations of the first three chapters of this game. Contains Chapter 3 Chapters 1 and 2     Now for Chapter 4... as I said in my post on Chapter 3, the bottom line for this is that if you liked the first three chapters, you'll like this one.  It is humorous, it is bloody, and it contains an odd mix of the grim and abnormal slice-of-life.  I laughed out loud - literally - several times while playing this game, and I honestly liked the
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Grisaia Phantom Trigger parts one and two

Since this one was released in English already, I'm pretty sure at least a good number of the members of this community have already sampled it.  However, this is also the last VN for this month (that isn't a nukige).  This has been a month full of short kinetic novels that are parts of a larger story... a setup that I normally dislike intensely.  Since this game is only a partial, it isn't actually a candidate for VN of the Month (VN of the Month's rules require that the release in question be
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Grisaia Phantom Trigger Part 6

Tbh, there isn't a lot to say about this episode.  For those who were curious about Haruto's past, this pretty much reveals everything (well, since it is non-ero, it doesn't touch upon my suspicion that there was some classic Grisaia oneshota in there somewhere).  It is pretty bloody - again, as usual - and it properly spotlights Haruto and the group of adults who raised him (questionable whether you can really call them adults, though).  That said, it should be noted that this is obviously
Clephas

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Gin'iro, Haruka Part 2: Yuzuki

I'm going to be blunt... I can only take Tone Works games in small doses (one path at a time), so I'll be setting Gin'iro Haruka aside now, though I am interested in two of the remaining three heroines (despite Hinata's horrible VA).  Yuzuki's path actually starts out fairly similar to how you would imagine the classic 'imouto' path would if it was done by Tone Works... the slow growth into full sibling-hood, the slipping into habits that go a bit too far for teenaged siblings, then the rea
Clephas

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Gin'iro, Haruka Part 1: Common and Bethly

First, I'm going to say right out that this VN feels very familiar to me, as someone who dropped Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai.  I dropped that game for a number of reasons... but the biggest one was that I was extremely tired of slice-of-life and romance at the time.  Since Hoshi Ori (and indeed all games by Tone Works) is a pure slice-of-life/romance VN (not charage) it just was a bad time for me to hit on it.  As I studied my feelings about my experiences with the path I'd played, I went ahead and rat
Clephas

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Getting back into VNs after time away

For most people who play VNs, taking a break is a normal thing.  Even taking a hiatus of a few months or a year seems to be standard for many in our little community. For ten years, for me, it wasn't. My new addiction to litrpgs succeeded in breaking me of my compulsive VN-reading for the first time in a decade.  While some might consider this a bad thing (and have told me so), others have said that it was a good one.  Personally, as I've started playing Purple Soft's latest game, Seis
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Games in General: Why I hate Trophies

Yes, I hate trophies, achievements, or whatever you choose to call them. Why? At least part of it is because I was a gamer back in the NES era, and I liked that sense of private accomplishment it gave me for beating a game on my own. Another reason is simply because I hate the way achievements and the like break immersion, particularly in rpgs and games with a good story. I can say this outright... I almost never finish games where I can't disable trophies. I'm not interested in showing off
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Fuukan no Grasesta: Story and final impressions

Now that I've completed the main game, it is time to post about the story... which is the most important part of any VN, hybrid or not. The story begins with Judar Schwarka, a Rovari (race of nomad/barbarians who are the source of prejudice due to their physical attributes) mercenary and his employer, Eutre Hyte, heading out to ambush the supply train of a Telphion Federation army besieging the Belgrad Empire forces in a fortress.  Judar, flat and uninterested in anything except the job, is
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Fuukan no Grasesta: gameplay as of Chapter 6

Fuukan no Grasesta is the latest release from Eushully, the company responsible for Kamidori Alchemy Meister and Ikusa Megami Zero.  As I mentioned in my previous post, it is based in a unique fantasy world based off of the idea that a futuristic version of our world got fused with a world of demihumans and gods who granted magic in return for faith.  Fuukan no Grasesta's basic system is that of a dungeon-crawler... with a few twists.  First, the party shares an HP bar, which signals the pa
Clephas

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Foreshadowing: My experience in VNs

Foreshadowing is one of those elements in all forms of literature and entertainment media that is pretty much unavoidable.  To be specific, it's been around since at least the time of the Greek tragedies, lol. However, how a story uses foreshadowing says a lot about its style.  In a lot of chuunige, for example, it gets laid on pretty thick, though they generally choose their moment for 'grand effect' and melodrama.  In nakige, it is usually as a prelude to a tear-jerking event in the immed
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Gaming

For Weebs (like me): Rise of the Ronin

Rise of the Ronin is an open-world game that covers important events from 1853-1868 from the perspective of a ronin (masterless samurai) of the fallen Kurosu-han (fictional).  This period of history is often called the 'Bakumatsu' (TL: The End of the Shogunate) or the events leading up to the Meiji Restoration beginning with the opening of Japan (signing of unequal treaties) and ending with the surrender of Edo to the Satsuma-Choshu forces.  Your character is one of a pair of twins (you can choo
Clephas

Clephas in Gaming

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For Those Who are Interested

From now on, in addition to my forum posts, I will be posting my VN of the Month and Random VN posts here, as well as occasional generalized comments on trends in VNs and the Western VN world in general. Feel free to comment and argue with me, as I welcome constructive (emphasis on that) criticism (in other words, commenting just to be a troll is not welcome). If you feel that my comments on a particular VN don't fit your impression of it, feel free to write a rebuttal in the comments.
Clephas

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For JVN Beginners: Clephas's Fantasy/sci-fi/science fantasy SOL/charage recs

First, I should state for those who are unfamiliar with my history that I have played a seriously ridiculous number of SOL romance/charage over the past decade.  While the sheer number I played exhausted me and I frequently desired something else to play, I don't think I ever came to truly hate the genre, regardless of how much it bored me.  What I liked most were ones that contained science fiction, fantasy, or science fantasy elements.   Now, for those who are unclear about the difference
Clephas

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Floral Flowlove

Now, as I stated in the previous post, Saga Planets' has two types of VNs it primarily produces... a story-focused type that doesn't avoid the kind of bitter drama that charage/moege tend to despite the moege-type visuals... and a 'strong charage' type that essentially is a more character-focused VN with many of the same strengths as the former type.  Floral Flowlove is the former type, being much closer to Hatsuyuki Sakura and the other 'Four Seasons Series' VNs.  As such, as in all VNs by
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First March Title

I'll be playing Sanoba Witch (https://vndb.org/v16044) first this month, and Boku no Hitori Sensou immediately after if Silverio Vendetta isn't available before that. So far, Sanoba Witch is Yuzusoft to the core... I'm curious to see where they'll go with this setting.
Clephas

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February 2019 Releases

Wow, there are a lot of VNs being released for February this year that aren't nukige... this happens occasionally, but usually it is four or five games.  A few major names got concentrated into this month, as well as a bunch of games by new companies or new subsidiaries.  To be honest, from my point of view, despite the fact that this is my birth month, there isn't much to look forward to.  There is a  new VN in the Shuffle universe here, but with Agobarrier, the universe's father, deceased, I c
Clephas

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