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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

Sci-fi Addiction: An analysis of AI-focused sci-fi VNs

Recently, I played (partially) through Missing X-link, and this led me to think of how various VN writers handle the concept of AIs and machine sentience.  There are a number of different approaches, each of which has its own ups and downs. There are minor and major spoilers in all of these examples, and, as such, read them at your own risk.       The argument of the 'emulated human' AI and the philosophically-built AI (Komorebi no Nostalgica)- Komorebi no Nostalgi
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Litrpg series: Project Crysalis

Since I'm still messing around with Cabbit's new game, I thought I'd drop a short review of a litrpg series I just finished reading. Project Crysalis is based in a future where Earth has been abandoned (not because it is ruined anymore, but because the first non-Terrestrial human nation forced people to leave) in favor of living in colonies all across our solar system.  The main political and scientific power in the first three books is Lunar, a nation built on the Moon that began when a pr
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Update: VN of the Month plans for April's releases

For those who were wondering, I do plan to play most of the April releases.  Unlike March, there are no non-VN game releases I'm even the least bit interested in, so I won't be losing any time there.  Right now, due to a request from a friend, I'm starting with Wizard's Complex, by Windmill.  Windmill is a company that has produced a number of notable VNs, such as Witch's Garden, Hyper→Highspeed→Genius, and Kamigakari Cross Heart.   In other words, they make decent fantasy VNs, though their
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VNs

Random VN: Death End Re;Quest 2

Let's first get this out there... I did not play the original game.  The reasons?  Well, mostly because it was supposedly horribly buggy and I have no patience for bugs and glitches.  The other part was that it didn't sound that interesting to me.  It sounded like an occult take on SAO.  However, I decided when this came out that I would buy it and later play it.  Why?  Because Touyama Mai is a much more interesting protagonist than Shina or Arata. The game begins with Mai being driven to m
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Litrpg series: Emirillia Chronicles

The Emirillia Chronicles by Michael Chatfield (incidentally my favorite litrpg author), the writer of the Ten Realms series, is one of the more fascinating ones I've come across.  Unlike the Ten Realms, which is fairly unfocused due to Erik and Rugrat's generalized motivations based on their personal ethics, desires, and whims, Emirillia has a somewhat clearer goal for the characters.   In the series, humanity was defeated by an alien empire called the Jukal, but the Jukal almost lost every
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Random VNs: Comments on Silverio's setting and VN of the Month

Silverio's setting is based approximately fifteen hundred years from now, just over a thousand years after a massive disaster obliterated the civilizations that existed then.  The disaster was caused by a dimensional reactor melt down (basically, a reactor that draws energy from higher dimensions) and it basically erased Japan, the entire east coast of China, and most of Alaska (along with most of the islands in the Pacific).  In exchange, it created a 'second sun', known as 'Amaterasu' in the a
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The Value of Catharsis

For those who read my reviews, you will have probably heard me refer to catharsis as a positive element in VNs.  I push catharsis like it is the best new designer drug on the market I'm dealing and you are my customers.  So... the question that occurred to me recently was, what is the meaning and value of catharsis? First, while the strict dictionary definition of catharsis in literature refers to a emotional, moral, and spiritual release or cleansing, I can honestly say that the word as I
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A Ramble: Various Random subjects

The Poll To be straight with you, this is a suggestion that has been brought up numerous times by the small number of people I recommend books (in English) to.  I am a bibliophile, with a focus on history, anthropology, fantasy, and science-fiction.  It has been suggested to me that I should add book reviews/commentaries to my blog in addition to my posts on VNs.  While this is in some ways a good idea... I'm unsure if it makes sense to post about non-otaku content in this blog. Fantas
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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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Some thoughts on Digination and its subsidiaries

As I'm currently playing Sorceress Alive and have played numerous Digination games in recent years, I thought I'd talk about my thoughts on the company and its subsidiaries.  My first thought is that the company is both aggressively pushing the current boundaries of the industry fanbase while also regressing into an older time.  When I first expressed this thought to a friend of mine, he asked me if I was crazy... but this is how I explained my thoughts to him. While charage/moege have
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VNs

Random Translation: Gilbert vs Valzeride

The video below starts in the middle of a side-story where Valzeride (the antagonist and hero of Silverio Vendetta) confronts Gilbert over his ideals.  They begin to fight because their ideals, while both based on goodness and light, are inherently opposed.  Valzeride ultimately sees himself as inhuman garbage and strives to slay evil and bring happiness to the people of Adler, whereas Gilbert wishes to create a world where people like Valzeride are free of jealousy and judgment of the masses. 
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Japanese literature

[Edit] 4 WNs

Niito Dakedo Hello Work ni ittara Isekai ni Tsuretakareta This is a WN by Katsura Kasuga.  An unemployed NEET named Masaru goes to Hello Work (the official Japanese employment agency) and signs a contract for what he thinks is playing a video game, and instead he gets dropped into a world about to be destroyed (or so he is told) and told to test Itou's (apparently that world's god) new skill system for twenty years (incidentally, the amount of time until the end of the world).  If he surviv

RPG commentary: Growlanser 3

Before I go back to my work, which is going to take the rest of the day to finish, I thought I'd leave yall with a commentary on one of my favorite jrpgs, Growlanser 3. Growlanser 3, released in the US as part of a collection with Growlanser 2, was the final localization done by Working Designs, the company that pioneered independent localization of jrpgs in the US (up until then, most had been localized by Japanese companies or the console first-party company).  It is the prequel to 1 and
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VNs

Hyakusen no Jou ni Katawareshi Toki

Hyakusen no Jou ni Katawareshi Toki (from here on known as Hyakujou) is Eushully's latest game, based a generation or two before the events of Kamidori in the same region.  It is technically a prequel, and the setting of Kamidori - the city of Yuidora - plays a pretty important - though not central - role in the story.  For those who want to know what the 'canon' is, it is Route A of the Law Route.  The game is designed to be significantly easier if you play the Chaos Route first, supposedly.  H
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Japanese literature

LN: Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata, Magan to Dangan o Tsukatte Isekai o Buchinuku, Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute

These three I'm only going to introduce to yall because they were the most memorable of the Web Novels/LNs that I read through in the last month. Chiyu Mahou Chiyu Mahou has the protagonist, Usato Ken, being summoned by accident along with two heroes.  Usato, being a kind-hearted young man to the core, isn't particularly annoyed or angered by this (Kazuki, one of the two heroes is more bothered by it than he is), but he has the misfortune to have a talent for healing magic, meaning he
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A long-time Consumer's point of view: Sequels and Fandiscs

One thing I've noticed as a difference between the kind of VN consumer I am now and the one I was at at the beginning is that I fundamentally have difficulty mustering interest in sequels, fandiscs, and even anime continuations of my favorite VNs. When I first started playing VNs, I was your classic fanboy.  If they put out some kind of new story related to a VN I'd enjoyed, I'd snap it up in an instant.  Before I started playing the untranslated, I would obsess over fandiscs and sequels to
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VNs

Random Translation: Silverio Trinity Countdown Video

"I have no regrets whatsoever about the fate I chose, bore, and walked to its end." "The reason is that I had only to but bear the burden alone.  It was a situation where the madman known as Valzeride was the only one that needed to suffer to the end." "If offering up the Monster of Light as a sacrifice would bring my homeland prosperity, then there need be no hesitation.  It truly was a perfect exchange.  As I desired, I ran through the infinite hells to their end." "Believing to
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Japanese literature

WN: Skill ga Mieta Nidome no Jinsei wa Chouyoyuu, Hatsukoi no Hito to Tanoshiku Sugoshitemasu

https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354055057378382 This is a short and complete series about a guy who dies and is reincarnated in a parallel version of himself, where he could see his status and has a skill that rewards him for repetitive actions.  Generally speaking, this story doesn't really have any complex elements.  The protagonist is something of an idiot about things he isn't interested in while being highly effective at learning and mastering things he does have an interest in.  He does
Japanese literature

WN: Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen mochi datta nanode

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3581fh/ This series is the odd one out of my recent reviews.  That is because it is a sci-fi story that contains a bit of Cowboy Bebop, a bit of Outlaw Star, and even a small dose of Tenchi Muyo(albeit a weak version with less mystic elements).  The protagonist, Hiro, wakes up in the cockpit of his ship Krishna from the game he had been playing for the past few years.  He has no memory of how it came to that, and his ship is floating around a random asteroid in a
Japanese literature

WN: Anata no Tenshoku wa 'Daiyoukai' Desu

This particular WN is the first I've read that isn't another world fantasy or isekai.   The first thing I found myself comparing this to was Devils Devel Concept.  Why?  There are a lot of reasons, but a lot of it is that the protagonist is a monster in human skin and most of the characters remind me of the characters from that VN.   The setting is based six hundred years after the near-destruction of civilization earth due to a massive war (basically WWIII), and humans have the option

AXL: The same characters... but they feel new!!!

AXL is a really weird company.  I don't mean that as an insult.  AXL produces VNs with very little variation in quality, consistently producing stories and characters that are fun to read about...  However, when I take a step back and really think about it, their characters are the same between products, right down to the voices and (to an extent) their appearance. AXL is probably the only VN company out there that hasn't radically changed its visual style in the past ten years... in f
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Japanese literature

Web Novel: Isekai Buyuuden Kakutou Ou ga Isekai o Iku (and the sequel)

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8490cj/ https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4499fl/ This series is the latest gem I came across.  It isn't the only one I came across, but I've decided to only present ones that have gone over 200 chapters without getting boring, which is a very small proportion of the web novel population, lol. In this series, Earth's greatest bare-handed fighter, a master of qi and warfare unmatched on our planet, walks through a tunnel to an alternate version of Earth where ma
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Web Novels

Clephas Japanese Web Novel Recommendations (Sci-fi, fantasy, and isekai)

I've been devouring web novels for some time now, so I have a pretty wide experience (within my preferred genres).  My preferences probably won't match many of yours, but I figured I would make some recommendations like I used to with visual novels. Isekai'd+Overpowered/cheat protagonist Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukoku (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9902bn/)- Despite the anime being a flop, this is easily one of the best fantasy web novel series of the type.  In addition, the
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VN of the Month September delayed and other announcements

September 2017 Releases I'm delaying VN of the Month September 2017 while fun2novel finishes up Farnese.  I honestly don't know when to expect him to be done, but I don't think it will be much more than halfway through the month of November. My schedule for October's releases. October is chock full of first-class releases in appearance... and I'm just going to mention the ones I'm most excited for. Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary (playing this right now... it is terrifyingly good
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Japanese literature

WN: Isekai de Skill o Kaitaishitara Chito no Yome ga Zoushokushimashita

To be blunt, this WN is a straight-out slave harem story in another world.  The protagonist is a run-down salaryman who escaped a black company workplace only to end up summoned to a world where the king was raring to put his summoned heroes to work.  Quite naturally, the protagonist wants nothing to do with this, so he arranges to get himself thrown out of the castle and goes off on his own.   The protagonist, like most summoned heroes, has a unique skill (typical of this kind of story). 
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