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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

***SPOILERS*** Komorebi no Nostalgica: Why I think this is the best AI VN out there.

Komorebi no Nostalgica is one of the more interesting VNs I've read in the past three years.  I occasionally go back and play one of its paths when I want to restore my faith in VNs, and one of its primary themes is artificial intelligence.  There are a number of different viewpoints represented in the VN about AIs, ranging from classic horror stories and instinctive repulsion to acceptance and/or affection.  Cinema, who is the source of most of the central conflicts of the VN, is a humanoid rob
Clephas

Clephas

5

Renai Phase: No VN of the Month, as expected

As I’ve said before, Giga is at its best when it is doing the Baldr series.  Why?  Because their high production values really shine in a more serious setting, as it gives so many more tools for presentation.  That’s not all… for some reason, in my experience Giga seems to be incapable of making a non-Baldr gem.  Their stuff is inevitably visually beautiful and has great sound… but in exchange, the stories tend to be deeply flawed or poorly paced compared to other companies with less money power
Clephas

Clephas

0

Why September (probably) isn't going to have a VN of the Month

I've played a number of releases from September's releases, and I'm currently playing Renai Phase (which I'd promised not to, as Giga is incapable of making anything truly great outside of Baldr). However, this month really doesn't have anything I'd really consider VN of the Month material... Seikishi had its fingertips on the vague possibility, and it is undeniably the best thing I played from September. Unfortunately, 'the best from September' is not good enough.   The reason I'm already p
Clephas

Clephas

3

Valet Style: Slice of life with a side of ojousama and female butlers

As I mentioned in my most recent post, ojousama-ge are one of my guilty pleasures. So quite naturally, I couldn't help but get my hopes up for this VN. It definitely has its ups and downs, and it provides some entertainment... but the downsides are kind of painful.   First, the common route of this VN is some of the better slice of life I've seen in the last few months, with a mostly comedic bent. The protagonist, who is dirt poor, is a generally capable guy who is busy living life when a pair
Clephas

Clephas

0

My Guilty Pleasure: Ojousama-ge

What is an ojousama-ge? It is fairly simple... it is a VN where multiple heroines (sometimes all or most of them) are young women from wealthy families. I love these VNs... but it isn't so much because I like ojousama heroines (though there is that, since I love people with warped personalities). Rather, it is because some of the best charage, nakige, and non-action story-focused VNs I've played are ojousama-ge.   Examples Otome ga Boku ni Koishiteiru 2 Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no Akatsuk
Clephas

Clephas

4

Himesama Love Life: Why is this month so awful so far?

Despite the title, this isn't a horrible VN. It is basically a rehash of Himesama Gentei which was a near-nukige all-moege about a protagonist 'romancing' (I have to wonder if you would really call a bunch of princesses falling in love with one idiot and him deciding on one or a harem route 'romancing') princesses. I can actually enjoy some of the heroines' routes... but the premise is so ridiculous and so unrealistically presented that it goes beyond suspension of disbelief, even for a moege.
Clephas

Clephas

3

Clephas' basic advice to untranslated beginners

Since I get asked questions constantly on this subject, I'll go ahead and list a few pieces of advice I felt apply to most beginners.   1) Use translation aggregator and a text hooker, even if you feel like you should be getting out your kanji dictionary, out of a sense of self-reliance. I'll be blunt, it is hard to enjoy something if you have to refer to a kanji dictionary for every other non-particle word. I am sometimes stunned at people bragging about spending 100 hours on an 8 hour moege
Clephas

Clephas

4

Seikishi Melty Lovers

To be honest, after the moe-moe disaster of Juukishi, I wasn't really interested in this VN... and while the VN was much more interesting than that lump of adorable pink crap, it had the down-side of being utterly predictable... to me.   Now, I don't know how many of you are familiar with a particular VN fad that several major companies bought into about five years ago, where they did partial 'slice-of-life' VNs in faux-medieval settings. This fad resulted in some good VNs, lots of mediocre one
Clephas

Clephas

3

Sangoku Hime 4: Giving up in Exasperation

Like some others, I got tricked into playing yet another gameplay-hybrid in the series of games by Gesen known as the Sangoku Hime series. To be honest... I couldn't imagine how they could have screwed things up worse.   First of all, they used their 'restructuring' of the game as a big draw for those who were disappointed with a lot of the aspects of 3. They basically redid all the character designs (without exception) with completely new characterization, art, and voices... and I'll be honest
Clephas

Clephas

3

DS9 Debate School Nine

I'll be blunt... I got this for free a while back from my supplier, and ever since then, I've kept it shelved, simply because the description makes it sound like a nukige. Fortunately, it isn't one... in fact, it is pretty far from that.   Basically, it is a propaganda piece, speaking on the issue of rewriting the part of the Japanese constitution that prevents them from fighting except in a case where they were attacked first. The heroines and other characters line up behind either the ones
Clephas

Clephas

2

Endless Dungeon

Typical Dragon Race Members: "Ururu-sama Banzai! Ururu-sama Banzai! Ururu-sama Banzai!   lol, setting that aside, this is the ending of the Tiny Dungeon series (so far anyway. I'm sure they'll eventually reuse the setting, if not the characters). First of all, it should be noted that this VN does not have the impact of the rest of the series. It is mostly comedy, with a few really cool combat scenes mixed in (Veil vs. Note is pretty awesome) and H-scenes for all four of the new heroines.
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tiny Dungeon Brave or Slave

Beware of Wandering Maids   This is the fourth and final VN of the TIny Dungeon main series (see: http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-727-tiny-dungeon-black-and-white/ http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-747-tiny-dungeon-bless-of-dragon/ http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-749-tiny-dungeon-birth-for-yours/ for the rest of the series so far). It also serves as a conclusion to the story that began with the first one (though Endless Dungeon is basically the actual ending of t
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tiny Dungeon Birth for Yours

This is the third VN in the Tiny Dungeon series (see: http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-727-tiny-dungeon-black-and-white/ and http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-747-tiny-dungeon-bless-of-dragon/ for the first two). This one is focused on Note Ruum.   Note Ruum's secret you will already know from Black and White (it is central to the drama near the end), but I will refrain from revealing it anyway. She is the First Princess of the Divine World, as well as being the 'Grand Luna'
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tiny Dungeon Bless of Dragon

Bless of Dragon is the second VN in the Tiny Dungeon series (see http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blog/46/entry-727-tiny-dungeon-black-and-white/ for my comments on Black and White). The picture above is of Fon, who is one of this VN's two side-heroines (Opera the maid is the other). She is a half-dragon, half-demon girl with her own major issues that come out into the open in this VN, which is focused on Ururu Kajuta, the loli-dragon princess.   Ururu is technically what would be called a 'loli-bab
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tou no Shita no Exercitus final: An overall impression and VN of the Month

Tou no Shita no Exercitus, as I mentioned in the previous post, pretty much eliminates most of the problems that Verethragna had in terms of the card combat system, in exchange for a loss of any real challenge, outside of the last boss and a few others along the way. That impression didn't change throughout my experience of the last few chapters of the game, so at this point, I won't bother rehashing that explanation.   More importantly, I thought I should mention that this VN doesn't commit th
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tou no Shita no Exercitus part 1: So far

First, I should describe Astronauts, the mother company that created this VN. Astronauts produces a wide variety of VNs done in its own unique art style. Most are halfway to a nukige without quite going there, and about a third of them are gameplay VNs like this one. Since their VNs vary so wildly between subsidiaries and even just between games, the art-style is pretty much the only common thread.   Exercitus is reusing the base card-battle system from Astronauts' previous card-based battle
Clephas

Clephas

0

Koi to Mahou to Kanrinin

This is a VN by a new company, Prometheus that seems to be reusing members from ID, a company known for third-rate moege. Overall, I didn't have any real hopes for this VN going in, and thus I wasn't disappointed. That said, this VN did surprise me in that it actually had some good points to it, which I'll enumerate below.   Pros   1. The two heroines, while not entirely unique, actually have real worries in life that get wrapped up in the events of the heroine routes. There is actually dr
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tenkiame

Shiro Kon Most of you already know that one of my fetishes is mimikko... and kitsune in particular. So, it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that I liked this VN. That said, this VN is so straightforward (in a 'in a straight line' sense) that you probably shouldn't expect anything in the way of twists. The two heroines are Shiro and Kon (see the pics above). Shiro is the little sister, a white-haired loli-kitsune who is totally innocent and carefree. She is straightforward both a
Clephas

Clephas

2

Traveling Stars End: Zirconia, Miisha, and Pascal

Zirconia Zirconia is the protagonist's elven 'oneechan', who basically took care of him while he was in the other world... and who raised him like Hikari Genji in the Genji Monogatari to be her ideal man. She is probably the most straight-out hilarious heroine in the game, because she even goes so far as to lock the door whenever they are alone in a room, has a dakimakura of the protagonist, and her favorite pastime is having daydreams about the protagonist... Her path is easily the most co
Clephas

Clephas

0

Traveling Stars part 2: Finn and Rea

Finn Finn is an angel who is also an oracle for the god of the other world where all the non-humans live. In the story, she has basically been told to 'go to the human world and learn', and she is a total innocent who is incapable of acting on her own. Her main draw as a character is the way she attaches herself at the hip to the protagonist almost from the beginning and her generally straightforward and innocent reactions to anything and everything. Her path is a simple one, with a really ob
Clephas

Clephas

0

Hook Soft: A few comments on Moe VNs

There are a few companies out there, such as Feng, Hook Soft, and Circus, who specialize primarily in the 'pure moe' genre. They might tack on a real story to some of their VNs (Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou), but at the core is a direct appeal to the moe-addicts that make up about seventy percent of all otakus. There is absolutely nothing wrong with moe-appeals. Almost all Japanese VN-makers have moe appeals, even ones like Light that primarily do chuunige. I don't even think that pure mo
Clephas

Clephas

0

Traveling Stars Part 1: Common and Chloe

Now... this is a VN by Hooksoft. Hooksoft is a company known for its 'sweet' stories, with lots of moe, decent (occasionally straying into excellent) character development, and lots of heroines. This is their first trip into fantasy, and from what I've seen so far, it looks like they did a better job than some companies tend to do with this kind of thing, though the character types are universally standard Hook Soft heroines (I can see echoes of previous heroines from their games in all of the
Clephas

Clephas

0

Tiny Dungeon Black and White

First, I’ll say a few words about the Tiny Dungeon series. This series is made up of five games (if you include Endless Dungeon, which is a sequel/canon ending that brings a conclusion to the post-Brave and Slave events). The first three VNs are each focused on one of the three main heroines… Veil Sein, Ururu Kajuta, and Note Ruum. The fourth VN – Brave or Slave – brings an end to the story began in Black and White, and the fifth – Endless Dungeon – is a final conclusion and after-story for t
Clephas

Clephas

3

Upcoming: 2nd year anniversary of VN of the Month (new post)

On the twenty-fourth of September, 2015, it will officially have been two years since I started doing VN of the Month. In that time, I've read just under 200 VNs, just under one hundred of them for VN of the Month. Even if you take my abnormally fast reading speed into account, that is several thousand hours of VN playtime... so naturally, I am a lot more jaded than I was when I started this. I've become more forgiving in some areas and less in others. I've struggled to keep bias out of my mini-
Clephas

Clephas

4

Possibilities for August's releases: VN of the Month

Tou no Shita no Exircitus (https://vndb.org/v17835 )- This company tends to produce either excellent games or horrible games. Astronauts is constantly exploring the borderline between nukige, normal VNs, and gameplay-focused VNs and frequently tips over into one of the three. However, because they do occasionally produce good games, I can't ignore them, lol. Tenkiame (https://vndb.org/v17337 )- Because I love kitsune. Traveling Stars (https://vndb.org/v16459 )- This is the newest VN fr
Clephas

Clephas

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