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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

Sakura Sakimashita Part 2: Common route, Miyako

The common route of this VN is fairly short, though what is there is pretty strong. It basically establishes the character relationships, the setting, and the characters' personalities. Since this is the role a common route should serve, I have nothing but praise for this one, lol. The character interactions are fairly comical most of the time, and the way it moves into the heroine routes is so natural you almost don't notice (in fact, you aren't supposed to notice with Miyako's route, since the
Clephas

Clephas

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Sakura Sakimashita Part 1

I'm currently replaying this, a VN by Sorahane. This is not a moege or a charage, despite the packaging. Rather, it is a VN centering around several major themes: life (its meaning), death (immediacy and fear of), and 'immortality'. This is one of the few VNs with an immortality theme that I felt attacked the matter of immortality with something approaching intelligent thought, which gave it a special place in my heart, despite the fact that this is a mediocre company overall (its other two game
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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.
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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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Ayakashi Contract Part 1: Common and Minagi

Before I start this, I should probably explain the company known as AXL to the newbies. AXL, which is known for Shugotate, as well as a number of other high-quality VNs, is an 'old-hand' company that was started pretty soon after the turn of the century. They developed an extremely beautiful art style, as well as a penchant for high-quality fantasy and romance stories. The thing most people will notice upon playing any two AXL games is that the art-style is exactly the same... it still possesses
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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
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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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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
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A guide to Devils Devel Concept (Necessary spoilers)

Why I made this post. Devils Devel Concept is one of my favorite VNs and has one of my top 3 VN settings.  The setting is so ridiculously complex and explained only in fragments along the way, so it is difficult to gain any real grasp on what is going on just reading any one path... Not to mention that there are a ridiculous number of details that can be lost along the way as you read.  Sora is fundamentally an indifferent narrator when it comes to such details, because he doesn't have any
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Random VN: Vermilion Bind of Blood

This is my fourth time replaying the Light VN, Vermilion Bind of Blood, and to my startlement, I realized that my only commentary on this is is in my ancient VN of the Month Thread on the forums.  So... of course I cannot leave my beloved public ignorant of this game (though I've made a habit of recommending it to everyone, like Evolimit). Vermilion was the first chuunige made by Light's second team, and it was my first experience of the team's work.  It is also probably that team's single
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Random VN: Concerto Note

Concerto Note is a game I bought years ago and stuck in a small box containing my 'rainy day classics' without playing it.  Recommended to me over eight years ago as a classic kamige, I essentially forgot about it until I saw that Cross Concerto was coming out soon. This game uses a 'parallel story' system with a flowchart, where obtaining items on the non-true paths is required to complete the true path successfully.  This particular type of system is fairly rare, but it occasionally pops
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VNs

Random VN: Yome Sagashi ga Hakadorisugite Yabai

This is the second game in Hulotte's Yabai trilogy.   It is also, by far, the highest quality of the three.  Like the other two, it is a harem-ge/charage with slight rom-com elements.  Where it differs from more modern charage/moege is that it is more of an issue of 'who' he picks rather than falling in love in the normal way.  The why of this makes sense (and not in totally forced way) within the setting and story, so that isn't necessarily an issue. The protagonist, Ashihara Daiki, is the
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Clephas in VNs

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Japanese literature

WN: Ikidaore no Shoujo o Hirotta to Omottara Mirai no Maou Datta

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7471fo/34/ This is a very short WN I read on a whim over the course of a few hours.  It is complete for what it is, and what it is isn't what you'd think.  The protagonist is a reincarnator who was reborn in a game world, where he became a rootless traveling mage, sightseeing in the fantasy world he knew from the game.  One day, he comes across a collapsed Dragonkin girl, who turns out to be the demon lord from the game. This story is one of romance and redem
VNs

Tenshi Souzou partial review

This is the latest game from the makers of Dracu-riot and Sanoba Witch, Yuzusoft.  For those who are curious, in nature it is somewhere in between the two styles this company tends to use (placing more emphasis on the SOL portions or the story portions).  There is, technically, an overarching story, but it is given more focus in some routes than others, while there is as much lovey-dovey and ero content as the most SOL-focused entries in Yuzusoft's library. I'm going to be blunt, I basicall
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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