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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

Kamidanomi Shisugite Ore no Mirai ga Yabai

Content Created by Kiriririri and edited by fun2novel and myself (Clephas: I kept myself to grammatical fixes, so the content is pretty much as-is, with me only eliminating some excessive spoilers here and there. Kamidanomi Shisugite Ore no Mirai ga Yabai. Hulotte’s previous game Yomeyaba was an unexpected surprise. It wasn’t anything special but it appealed to readers with a fondness for charage with lots of ichaicha and some drama. Hulotte’s newest entry, Kamiyaba, treads simil
Clephas

Clephas

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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
Clephas

Clephas

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Hatsukoi Syndrome

I've been avoiding Campus's games.  Why?  Because the Uso series they began with and all their other games are based in the same setting, which I thought would be pretty frustrating.  I broke down and played this one pretty much just because it was one of only three releases this month, including Grisaia's new game, which were non-nukige and non-fandisc... that said, I'll say the conclusion first.  This game isn't VN of the Month material.  That isn't to say that this game doesn't have its
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VNs: Haru Uso, Natsu Uso, and Aki Uso

The 'Uso' series by Campus is a series of games, each focused on a different heroine who is in love with the same protagonist. That protagonist possesses the ability to hear lies (note that he doesn't hear truth), due to a magical artifact accidentally implanted in his body half a decade before the story begins.  The last game in the series, Fuyu Uso, will be coming out in July and covers the final heroine, the school president.   The other three heroines are Satsuki (Haru Uso) the school idol w
Clephas

Clephas

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Tayutama 2 After stories

For my post on the original Tayutama 2 game, look below Now, my opinion of what LoS did wrong with Tayutama 2 hasn't changed at all, and, in my mind, they did the same thing with this one.  As fandiscs go, it has a lot of content, though most of the stuff that was actually of interest was to be found in the extras portion.  While it might bet tempting to see the three original heroines' stories as the main part of this one, they are in fact a secondary issue.  Their actual stories are shor
Clephas

Clephas

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My list of the greatest charage

This list isn't in any particular order, but I'm going to separate out the fantasy ones from the non-fantasy for the sake of those who have no taste in fantasy elements.  This list excludes nakige and utsuge.  I got a request to make a charage list a while back, but I only got around to it today.   Fantasy World Election (first-class) Floral Flowlove (kamige) Minamijuujisei Renka Koiiro Soramoyou Senren Banka Ore no Tsure wa Hitodenashi Yomegami
Clephas

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Random VNs: A second play of World Election

As you can see above, this isn't the first time I've played this game, and I had a reason for going back to it... a good one.  To be blunt, I thought I hadn't given it a fair review, as it seemed a lot better as the memories soaked into my backbrain than it seemed immediately after.  So, naturally, I decided to play it again after a year had passed (my minimum for replaying non-chuunige). First, I should say that my view of the common route is pretty much the same as the first time I played
Clephas

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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
Clephas

Clephas

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Semiramis no Tenbin: Characters

Like Akagoei, I've previously posted on Semiramis no Tenbin, so I'm going to limit my comments to some generalities and character descriptions.  This game, for the most part, focuses on the manipulative efforts of one Kamio Ami, the game's main heroine, seen from the point of view of Hayami Reiji.  The game starts out with Reiji being tricked into having sex with Ami, who then proceeds to blackmail him into giving her a place to stay.  He then ends up being at her side as she manipulates the hel
Clephas

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Random VNs: Bradyon Veda

Bradyon Veda is one of the hardest to read VNs out there... right up there with Kajiri Kamui Kagura, if for different reasons.  One reason is the frequent usage of internal jargon, obscure (to an outsider) physics terms, and other setting issues.  The other reason is that the writer is, similarly to Masada, in love with spellchants and rarely-used kanji.  That said, Bradyon Veda is science fiction and science-fantasy, not fantasy.  One of the biggest distinctions between this game and fanta
Clephas

Clephas

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Utawarerumono Mask of Deception

First, I should note that this is the first half of the game and as such, it might be wise to wait until the second half comes out in September before trying it.  Second, this game is based some time (around sixteen to nineteen years) after the original Utawarerumono in the much larger nation of Yamato, on the continent across the sea.  For those who don't want spoilers about the original game, STOP HERE. Second, I will note the differences between the anime and the game.  There are numerou
Clephas

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VNs

Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu!

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b264/Rihochan/Ojomasu.png Now, this was a game I didn't really have high hopes for, but I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  While this falls short of kamige level (primarily due to the disproportionately short epilogues), it is definitely an interesting take on the trap protagonist ojousama-ge.  Generally speaking, trap protagonists and ojousama-ge go together like hot fruit pie and ice cream.  While the formula (begun with the original
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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Character settings, game settings, and their use

This is a theme that actually doesn't come up very often in my reviews/commentaries on VNs these days, primarily because most VNs use what settings - whether those of the characters or of the game itself - to at least an adequate degree.  There are actually very few VNs that include setting elements that are interesting but never end up used... because it irritates the hell out of people who actually pay attention. The most recent example, which made me go off on a foul-mouthed tirade in pr
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Gouen no Soleil

(For those interested in the gameplay, I used a clear save I downloaded from the beginning to skip the battles, so you'll need to ask someone else) Gouen no Soleil is the second entry in the Soleil series and the first one where Lovecraftian elements are included.  For those wondering about cameos and characters from other games, the protagonist of this story, Nagare, was classmates with the protagonist of Shirogane, and in some of the endings, you get to see the world and some of the chara
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Soukyuu no Soleil

Soukyuu no Soleil stands out a bit amongst the others in the series so far, in that it is based in a world far more obviously in trouble than either of the first two games or the later games.  The main problem in the world of Soukyuu no Soleil is that all use of magic drains life from the planet itself (as opposed to the user's lifespan in Shirogane).  In that world, most of the nations of the world got fixated on using magic to defeat one another... and as a result, much of the world was destro
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Kouyoku no Soleil

Kouyoku no Soleil was the first Soleil game I ever played... and from a purely action perspective, it was fun... but it lacked something from my perspective because so much of the game is steeped in pre-existing knowledge from the other games (literally, this game pulls stuff in from Shirogane, Gouen, Soukyuu, and even Primary).  Basically, this story starts with the Norns fighting one another over what to do about the original Norse Mythology world, which hasn't moved on from the moment th
Clephas

Clephas

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Anata ni Koi Suru Ren'ai Recette and VN of the Month May 2017

Clephas's comment I dropped this VN because I couldn't take the sugary texture of the thing... Sweetness and cute without depth turns me off every time.  This game looked to me like your standard yurufuwa food-business moege, and Kiririri's comments haven't really changed my viewpoint, lol. Kiririri's review (edited by Clephas) So, I originally played this game because Kasu was the artist for 2 of the heroines and I love her artwork. And well uh, it didn't start well. I started wi
Clephas

Clephas

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Ojousama wa Sunao ni Narenai

This is yet another VN from Ensemble, the company specializing in trap protagonist infiltrations and ojousama-ge.  For the first time in a while, the protagonist in this one is actually not a trap and the game actually has something approaching a good story... which was nice.  However, if you ask if it met my expectations for it, that's another story entirely. First, this VN starts with the protagonist, a part-time bodyguard from a family of such individuals, transferring into a school to s
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Golden Marriage (and Jewel Days)

Like many of the charage I choose to replay for this particular part of my blog, Golden Marriage is one of those VNs I thought I didn't quite give a fair chance to the first time I played them, looking back.  In retrospect, I realize I'd really come to expect great things out of Ensemble due to the examples of Koi no Canvas and Gokigen Naname.  The former is a kamige, beyond all doubt, and the latter was a deliciously dramatic look into the muddy world of money and old families.  While things tu
Clephas

Clephas

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VN of the Month June 2017 update

This is an update of the play status of June's releases. Ai yori Aoi Umi no Hate- On hiatus/stalled for the moment due to gaming exhaustion.  Plan to resume by the tenth. Haruoto Alice ＊ Gram - Planned for play after Aiao.  Pure Song Garden! - Currently being played by Dergonu. Tantei Seven- Dropped and labeled a kusoge by fun2novel, our resident mystery VN lover.  No plans to include it in the contest.
Clephas

Clephas

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VN Staff: Hino Wataru

Now, those who are accustomed to my praise of Akatsuki Works will probably think I have nothing but praise for Hino Wataru, and they aren't  completely wrong.  However, he has some major issues that tend to make his VNs hard for a certain type of reader to take seriously.  For better or worse, Hino Wataru is a dyed-in-the-wool chuunige writer.  Even when he isn't writing a chuunige he is writing a chuunige.  I don't think I've ever encountered a writer so completely bound by the genre's con
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Tasogare no Sinsemilla

This is a VN frequently recommended to those who have just gotten used to playing untranslated VNs, a story-focused mystery VN focused on the village of Minagami, a small farming town in the mountains somewhere on the main island of Japan.  I remember playing this back when it came out and enjoying it immensely... but since it was like the twentieth untranslated VN I'd played, I was still not quite to the point where I was able to grasp every single detail of the story.  In addition, I was still
Clephas

Clephas

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June Release Issues

I'm going to be blunt... I won't be playing any more of June's releases for a while.  My reasons?  I have several. 1)  My phys copy of Haruoto isn't set to arrive until mid-September, so I can't play it right now. 2)  Aiao keeps pressing my pet peeves, but I'm feeling more irritable than I really should, indicating that I simply won't be able to rate it fairly.   Problems with Aiao I've mentioned this in the past, but I intensely dislike pop culture and the entertainment busi
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Onigokko

Onigokko is a high-quality fantasy charage that was amongst the second fifty I played after I began plowing through untranslated VNs.  Unlike many I read during that time, I find I haven't really forgotten anything significant, so it turned out to be a bit harder to get into than I expected, even after half a decade.   That said, it has a lot to recommend to it, even today. The story focuses on the protagonist, Keisuke, who is also the Phantom Thief, Ura.  He and his family have been steali
Clephas

Clephas

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Pure Song Garden

Submitted by Dergonu, edited by Clephas Pure Song Garden has a similar structure to Pulltop's previous games, Kono Oozora and Miagete Goran: a club at a school doing something together to achieve a common goal (Clephas: Seishun, lol). But this game does put a lot less focus on the club part compared to the previous games, and it actually spends very little time in the school part. During the entire common route + the routes that I played, they only stepped into the club room, and they ne
Clephas

Clephas

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