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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

2016: VN of the Year Candidates so far

Compared to 2015, this year has been an excellent one.  That isn't to say that we saw a glut of first-class VNs like in 2011 or 2014, but there have nonetheless been several releases worthy of consideration for a VN of the Year award from me so far. Candidates so Far Inochi no Spare Amatsutsumi Floral Flowlove Tokyo Necro Akeiro Kaikitan Close but not quite there Koi Suru Otome to Shugo no Tate ~Bara no Seibo~ (a direct sequel, so not a potential winner)
Clephas

Clephas

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2015, the weakness of a year from a VN-gamer's perspective

First, I should say that never before, in my seven years playing VNs, has a year been as... stale as this one has been.  It is not that there haven't been good VNs coming out... it is just that no VNs I might consider worthy of a VN Hall of Fame have come out this entire year.  Generally speaking, I can usually expect about three to five VNs in any given year to make it into my personal 'hall of fame'.  Unfortunately, this year has literally produced none worthy of that group.  Understand, when
Clephas

Clephas

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11gatsu no Arcadia Part 5: True Ending and final comments

Yeah, I know, this picture is actually nothing like the protagonist, lol. True Ending Ok, first this game stops well short of being a kamige, so don't expect me to give hands-down praise of it... but I will say this is the first VN I've played that uses the G-Senjou story structure and doesn't short the heroine routes. I can say that conclusively, having finished all the paths. Those who have encountered my virulent hatred of Aiyoku no Eustia will probably be surprised to hear this
Clephas

Clephas

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11gatsu no Arcadia Part 4: Mitouya Sena

Sena Sena is another active type of heroine... the lazy martial artist heroine. With anything other than pursuing self-training, she is lazy, and she is also a glutton. Generally speaking, she's good if you like boyish heroines with a tendency toward sexually harassing other girls. Her path split is shortly after Kokone's, so there is not really much in the way of extra character development... but in exchange, her route is probably the most detailed of all the heroine routes. Not only
Clephas

Clephas

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11gatsu no Arcadia Part 3: Hoshizaki Kokone

Kokone Kokone is the strict but gentle 'older sister' of the group. She is very devoted to her duty, as well as to the safety and happiness of the 'family'. Her character archetype is really easily recognizable from the beginning, so I'm sure most will find it easy to understand her. Her path, much like the two before it, starts from a split at the end of the next chapter. The events leading up to the split are - again - saddening and painful for the protagonist, and again he has to giv
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11gatsu no Arcadia Part 2: Hattori Airu

Airu Airu is the game's 'fushigi-chan', or a girl who is mysterious/acts oddly. Generally speaking, her role in the earliest parts of the VN is fairly weak, but in the chapter leading up to the split for her route, she suddenly gains density and roundness as a character, and there is a definite sense that she is someone the protagonist might choose over his objective. Airu's route is a bit less of a depressing wind-down than Nono's is, if only because Airu's relationship to the protagonis
Clephas

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11gatsu no Arcadia Part 1: Nonomiya Fuuka (Nono)

Because this VN uses the same basic structure as G-senjou no Maou, the 'common route' is actually the 'true route', so I felt a need to evaluate each heroine route separately from it. People who have read my comments on the forums will realize I despise the structure, because it has a tendency to be an excuse for h-scenes and inconsistent half-assed side endings (Eustia and G-Senjou are both perpetrators of this particular crime). Keeping that in mind, I'm going to strive for something resembl
Clephas

Clephas

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*sighs* more ladder-style complaints

For those of you familiar with my tendency to bitch and moan about this kind of story-structure, I don't really need to explain... but I'll do so anyway.  The 'ladder-style' story structure is the style used in games such as G-senjou, Aiyoku no Eustia, and Sen no Hatou.  While it does make it easy to fit in a 'true' path (the true path being main street) and breaking things down into 'arcs' makes for a more expansive story, that is at the cost of increasing irritation in a way that would never h
Clephas

Clephas

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*cries* Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru

... I'm going to be blunt.  It has been a while (think 2014) since any company has produced a nakige that compares to this one.  The characters, their backgrounds, their personalities, and the setting all come together to form a story of deep affection, pain, and tears that had me crying more than a dozen times throughout the VN. In terms of heroines, this VN's imoutos are the best.  Shinobu is the twisted, obsessive half-yandere, super-capable imouto who adores her niisan (with good reason
Clephas

Clephas

12

**ON REQUEST** Ruri no Ie

Hmm... to be honest, I haven't played many VNs of this type, mostly because they don't really fit my tastes.  This is one of those dark horror/rape/sex training VNs that also happen to be based in the middle of the Cthulhu Mythos universe.  To be precise, this one is based on an island that mirrors Innsmouth in the mythos.  It is ruled by the Mashuu Family, and the protagonist ends up marrying the last daughter of that family, Mizuki.  He also gets stuck with an immense power and the role o
Clephas

Clephas

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***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

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[Major Spoilers]Some fun VN Setting facts

Right now, in order to 'clean my palate' before playing Mojika, I'm replaying Bloody Rondo, 3rdEye's first (and arguably worst) VN.  A thought came to my mind that has been bothering me since I finished Oratorio Phantasm.  Are Shinkurou and Luna still alive at the time this VN occurs within the setting?  The reason I ask is because Now that we are finished establishing my hypothesis about why things in Oratorio Phantasm played out as they did, I thought I'd consider Shinigami no Test
Clephas

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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

[Changed] Reminiscence Collectors Edition part 1: Reminiscence

I picked up the Reminiscence Collectors Edition, despite the fact that I already possessed the original game, primarily so I could see how they altered things.  To be blunt, the changes so far - having finished Rin's, Nozomi's, and Aki's routes - are a lot less than is indicated on the site.  The typos I vaguely remembered from my first and second playthroughs are no longer present, Rin and Nozomi both got minor (very minor) touch-ups to their paths, and there are a few added scenes in the commo
Clephas

Clephas

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