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Man, I've finally reached 1,000 post counts. It only took me 3 years, lol. My activity on this site has always been pretty volatile and spontaneous. Often I would be really active for a couple of months, then disappear for around half a year, and then return like nothing happened. It's for this reason that I don't feel like I know a lot of users very well. Especially newer ones. So I'm mostly going to dedicate this post as a retrospective of both my time here, and how much fuwa has changed. So hopefully even people who don't really recognize me, can at least take interest in some fuwahistory from this dinosaur ;P. The Fuwanovel community has changed significantly since I first joined in March 2013. Back then Fuwanovel was still a fairly new site, and the community was quite small. I really miss those days during the spring of 2013, which was my first round of activity on this forum. Back then, you ran into the same people all the time on the forums. There were few active users, but the ones that were active were fairly involved. A lot of the time it was the same people having conversations about different topics across the forums, and it felt like the community was a lot more unified. Whereas now, it seems to me at least, that users tend to stick to their favorite sub-forum or even thread (I feel like the people active on the fuwanovel confessions thread are their own sub-community, lol). I'm not criticizing this, and in a sense I feel like that is the natural progression of when online-communities get bigger. But back then, people would often post across all the boards; and you would see the same person’s views on different subjects. It allowed a chance to really get to know other users. Which is why even though the forums were fairly slow in activity back then, people remained; because of vibrant discussion and a comfortable small community. Regarding vibrant discussions, that was the reason I loved fuwanovel so much when I first joined. Before Fuwanovel, there wasn't really a good place to discuss VNs casually. The few other places where VN discussion did exist (notably vndb and JP), were fairly elitist and not welcoming to new comers and casual VN readers. Fuwanovel had a completely different vibe, everyone was outwardly friendly. Fuwanovel's goal since its inception was to make "VNs more popular in the west", and having a friendly community that welcomes the less initiated is crucial for such a cause. While admittedly most people that were active back then already had some experience with VNs, the friendly environment promoted discussion without fear of being judged. And I remember Aaeru (the founder of Fuwanovel) made it quite clear that fostering an anti-elitist vibe was a very important goal to her. But combined with being friendly, debate and intellectual exchanges were a huge aspect of many discussions back then. It was quite frequent that different sides would get into huge debates with each other, but would always have respect for the other. They were not flame wars because people were listening to the other side, and respected their views. I remember one of the first acquaintances I made on this site (I believe it was Sieg), was a guy I got into a long argument about G-Senjou no Maou with, and afterwards we became friends. Precisely because it was a small community, people usually posted meaningful replies and would then start a conversation with each other in the thread. If you are ever bored, I highly recommend looking at the really old threads on VN talk, as many of them are quite interesting. Aaeru would also very frequently get in huge debates with people (especially with Sanahtlig). Another aspect I miss about the old Fuwa, was the activity of the old staff, notably Ryoji, Tay and Aaeru. Ryoji has hardly been active since the summer of 2013 but was one of the first users to break 1000 post counts, back when merely having 100 was impressive. I will forever remember him as the Sage of Anime. He had been collecting and following anime since the 80's, and knew a lot about the topic. The only person who was his match was another user name Eldin, and when they conversed with each other we referred to it as "Ryoji vs Eldin". Both of them would talk about the most obscure anime that most people have never heard of, and get into intense debates about said long forgotten shows. It was quite entertaining, and fascinating to watch. Ryoji's wife, Kotomi, was also occasionally active on the site. It was always cool to see when the two of them posted in the same threads. Well, those were my thoughts on Ryoji, onto Tay from 2013. These days I feel like few people actually know Tay. I think for especially newer users he is the guy who runs the site, and is often too busy. But back in 2013 (and 2014 as well), Tay was really active. He would participate in many conversations, and he was a strong reason why many people felt that the community was so nice. He recognized users and got to know them. I remember after my first long absence from the forums when I returned, he sent me a pm greeting me back. That gesture deeply touched me, as already then, I felt like a lot of users that I once knew had left. This was back in late 2013, at that point Aaeru disappeared, and Ryoji was also no longer active, not to mention a lot of other formerly active people left. I didn't really know the new community (lol, this was back when Nosebleed was actually new) and I didn’t feel at home. But then with that one Pm from Tay, I knew that I wasn't forgotten. Tay really knew the community back then, and it was obvious he cared a lot about its users. This is still true about him, but now I feel he is too busy to be as engaged as he used to be, which I completely understand. I just want people to know that Tay really does care a lot about this community, and I am glad he runs this site. The last staff member I remember being active from 2013 was Aaeru. Unlike with both Ryoji and Tay, I never really interacted with Aaeru that much. She posted on my Introduction thread, and that’s about all I remember interacting with her. But what I do remember was her crusade against licensing and her vehement pro-piracy views. She believed two things very strongly about Priracy. 1) Was that Piracy was the most efficient means to spread word about VNs, and 2) That fan translators could do a faster job than official licensors and translators. To be honest with you, I agree with both these views still. I respect licensors, but Fan translators can translate any VN they want (they don’t need a license to do so), and I’ve noticed that they have usually been faster. Furthermore, of English translated VNs, I feel like more good ones have either been fan translated, or picked up from fan translators. They are still the backbone of the Western VN community in my view. Furthermore about Aaeru, it was her “Learn How to Read Japanese in 2 Years” thread that first motivated me to learn Japanese. I always assumed that it was an impossible task before that. But her thread convinced me that I could learn the language, and that motivated me to study. If it were not for that blog post, I probably would not know any Japanese right now. So I really must thank her for that. Even though Aaeru has long disappeared, I hope people don’t forget about her. While a lot of drama and controversy was started by her, we wouldn’t have Fuwanovel at all if it were not for her, and so we should pay our respects to her for at least that reason. The spring and the summer of 2013 were the golden age of the site for me. I’m glad that Fuwanovel has grown (and is continuing to grow). It makes me happy because it serves as evidence that Fuwanovel is succeeding in its mission statement to “Make Visual Novels popular in the west”. I have had plenty of great interactions with people during 2014 and 2015 (I have not been very active during 2016 thus far though). I’m constantly adapting to the community’s evolution and support where the site is going. But I don’t want the early days of Fuwanovel, the days that really first shaped the site, to be forgotten. I hope you guys didn’t mind my huge nostagiafest. In the title I mentioned that this was a "3 year retrospective". So if you are curious about my thoughts on 2014 and 2015 I would gladly share them. Every year of this site has been distinctly different, so I definitely have a lot to share. And if others have perspectives of old Fuwa to share, I would love to hear them.

Here it comes, a possible VN of the Month!!! Seriously, I hadn't expected that Whirlpool's ten year anniversary game would be this good. It is written by the same person who wrote Koisuru Doll to Omoi no Kiseki, and it feels in many ways like a return to the better of Whirlpool's two distinct styles. Whirlpool's two styles are: 1- A straight moege/charage that makes a vague attempt at seriousness on occasion and inevitably falls into the habit of producing endlessly repeated 'ongoing jokes'. 2- A VN that seems like a pure charage at first but develops a more serious and involved story with great drama as the game goes on. Most of these have a 'true ending', and the characters in general are better designed than in the first type's case. This one is based in a world where five different parallel Earths merged into one. One was the human world, a second was the Goumakai (demon world), the third was the world of the divine (angels and gods), the fourth was the world of the beastpeople, and the fifth and last was the world of machines. Twenty years before the story began, this event caused a lot of conflict and chaos, and it was only resolved to an extent right before the protagonist's birth. At the same time, humans with special powers started to be born, and the protagonist was one of them. The protagonist of this story, Kei, likes to believe he is a 'normal' guy and will say he is to anybody and everybody if they ask... but no one seriously believes it. He is one of those 'metsuki warui' protagonists who appear frightening naturally, and his power makes him even more frightening, especially since he had the bad taste to get into a battle with Sofia, the most powerful being in the world (and bring her to a draw) on her first day at school. As such, he is somewhat isolated. He is also unbelievably dense (standard VN protagonist quality) and kind-hearted, lol. Anyway, in order to avoid being dragged back to the human part of the world, where he would normally have spent his entire life being watched and studied (he is the most powerful human 'Neos', and as such, he grew up basically being researched and watched), he decides to run for Student Council President. The common route of this VN is entirely taken up by the election and his efforts to convince the student body he is worthy of the presidency. The common route is pretty well-paced, and it gives you an opportunity to get to know each of the five main heroines (there are also eight sub-heroines with mini-routes). The main heroines are Kururu (the true heroine), Sofia (the daughter of the former Demon King and the most powerful being on the planet), Faura (the wolf-girl and leader of the school's beastpeople), Papheel (a loli angel), and Iori (the protagonist's tsundere little sister). Except for Kururu's routes, most of them have a standard fall in love>brief ichaicha>conflict>resolution>ichaicha>ending resolution that has a nice pace, not wasting your time with endless dating or giving you pathetic 'we are still in school' endings. In fact, I was quite satisfied with the four main heroine routes other than Kururu's, and I didn't feel that the writer did the heroines a disservice with the balance of attention between them. Kururu's route... is technically the true route, and it reveals her secrets as well as the full measure of the protagonist's ability. It has two endings - a 'normal' ending that you are required to see first, then the true path that digs into Kururu's true nature and past, as well as certain events during the common route that are left unexplained in the other routes. Overall, it is decent, though it lacks the impact of some other true routes I've encountered (if the other main heroine routes were a 1, it was a 1.2 or 1.3). Overall, this is a pretty high quality, well-written VN that is worth reading if you want something that isn't quite your average charage but don't really want to become an adventurer and go play something like a horror, mystery, or chuunige.

The next time someone asks you what Fuwanovel is.

You are completely correct in that I don't really care about Japanese people across the world who I have only engaged with through their written works, other than about said writing. If I spent time worrying about everyone, no matter if I had an emotional connection to them, I'd be hit with blow after emotional blow literally every day. Not caring about everyone is a healthy part of human nature. I completely agree that emptily wishing people well rings extremely hollow, which is why I didn't. If you have a problem with the social construct causing this well-wishing, though, you should probably find a more appropriate angle of attack than a headline on a third-rate news website.

"Random man you don't know what he did hospitalized" "Jun Maeda, writer for blah blah blah, hosiptalized" I'm not going to fault anyone for writing a headline more interesting than the first one. Did you just wake up on the wrong side of the floor after falling off the third level of a bunk bed into a pit of spikes or something? -- Well, let's hope he stays alive to write the rest of the angel beats vns.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-03-01/clannad-charlotte-writer-jun-maeda-hospitalized/.99216 We haven't received any information (as of yet) about the cause, nor his current status. We can only pray the great writer of VNs is ok

Videogames have been hailed as some of the most amazing storytelling platforms of the 21st century, giving an all new interactive experience to immerse yourself in, and have created one of the largest industries currently in the world. As for Visual Novels, these take the story to all new levels with unique narrative and visual design, becoming the game equivalent of a choose your own adventure book. But when Visual Novels begin to include such themes as nudity and sex in them, they fall away from the mainstream "gaming" market, and even those who are interested in such a game would only know about them if they actively search for that sort of news and content. So, What would happen if Steam was to allow distribution and sales of R18+ Visual Novels? Surely the world would collapse. Steam has been opening itself up to all sorts of innovative inclusions to it's platform, including selling creative softwares for video editing, game capture, and music production. These aren't really games of course, but it makes sense. A lot of gamers are quite creative, from artists, to video editors and youtubers, everyone loves experiencing something awesome as much as someone loves making it. They're also pretty easy to market in sales. Then of course, we have actual visual novels on Steam. The recent releases of Danganronpa and Nekopara Vol. 2 are just some of the visual novels that are making it to the best selling list, and that's only in the last month. Previously includes the others in the Nekopara series, as well as the steam port of the long standing visual novel Clannad, yes it seems that even if it's not as big as the market is for Team Fortress 2 hats, there is a lot of people out there that want Visual Novels. Trends recently though, have been pointing towards a more mature entertainment industry, with such triple A titles like GTA5, Black Ops 3 and Witcher 3 all getting R18 releases on steam, as well as Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 getting almost the same ratings. Now most of these are violent and combat relative, so it'd be a bad example right? Well, kinda, but violence is one of the themes that give a mature rating, and the other one, is eroticism. I mean, we just got a VR Controller for adult games that as of writing this, needs only $1000 more to complete it's kickstarter goal and be a thing. The first step was already taken. The somewhat recent release of Kindred Spirits was Steam's first completely uncensored Visual Novel on Steam. While it was relatively soft in it's actual content, with the story being lighthearted, and the adult content being light and tasteful, it's still the first time that an R18 game has had no changes made to it whatsoever as it's published on Steam. It's also one of the first games on steam to include the "Nudity" tag ( even though Witcher 3 and GTA5 don't have that tag, mainly because it's not a main feature ) Now let's not get ahead of ourselves, I mean a good percentage of visual novels that exist these days are what's called "Nukige", which translates to "masturbation helper". These includes graphic scenes of sex and eroticism as their number one feature. They don't even need a story most of the time. You bought this game? Here's some boobs and sex, and stuff. Of course if these were introduced into the Steam world overnight, there would be a huge fan uproar. Some positive, but most negative. Somebody, think of the children! I don't think we can plan on where the line between good and bad will lay exactly, but the line itself is moving, inch by inch, in the direction of accepting such games into such an immense online community and ecosystem, it might just see this dying art be made financially feasible again. One or two japanese developers have denied the western world their games*, purely because there's no reliable platform for their sale, and they'll likely just fall into pirates hands instead. *( needs citation ) But it seems, regardless, we are moving this way slowly. Too slowly maybe? as a customer and user of steam, it'd seem that way, but on the business side of things, there's a lot to take into account. Selling violent games to people is relatively easy, but once you age restrict a product based on sexual content, there's a lot of national laws that need to be taken into account. For example, Australia has very strict anti-child porn laws in effect that include the ban of all adult film actors with A cup size breasts, regardless of their age, and of course this ban extends to other mediums, including a book that was banned because it described a-cup breasts* in an erotic way *( needs citation ). If Steam moves too quickly and doesn't consider national policy, they can find themselves in some serious trouble. If French and German consumer groups can take Valve to court ( with limited success ) over reselling digital games, which in itself is completely stupid, then who knows what damage breaking an actual national law would create. So, Steam has been moving very slowly on "Steamy content", but it might be the fastest it can go. So, you'll just have to wait for your english translated japanese manga games, and cat dating simulators. What do you think, is Steam moving in a good direction? Do you condone the dating and mating with fox gods and monster girls being uncensored on the biggest gaming distribution platform in the world? Let me know what you think. ~Jason

The nice thing about being hitler is that what you do doesn't actually matter. High treason is high treason and traitors should be hanged

Sorry, Ecipsed is my BM so he's right and y'all go to permaban hell before anything comes across him

lol. i just realized this is the second time you asked a question and i used if my heart had wings as an answer. i guess you can tell, i like that vn.

Oh boy. I also get to choose the character? I'd pick the Rance series. As, of course, Rance. ...What? You think I'd choose some serious story when I can run around being amazing, beating demons and raping people?

Maybe I'm just a jackass, but wishing somebody is well while using the tag "the great VN writer" makes me feel that you care nothing about him being an actual human being and care more about the fact that a guy who wrote some stories for Key doesn't die. Also, that tag seems rude. Rather than stating what he did in the actual post (write Clannad/Charlotte), the news report felt it important to state that in the title. To me, it's basically drawing attention from people for no reason when if they actually did know the guy and care about his well being, wouldn't need a title to tell us what he did. It just feels like the article is trying to draw useless "get well soon" responses from random fans. It just comes off wrong with the wording. Regardless, I hope things work out and he gets well soon.

I truly hope he is okay...

There is a good possibility that there is a possibility that monster rape is a possibility to possibly happen.

Just a lot of monster rape, more monster rape, and even more monster rape. Did I mention monster rape?

Reaper...i always thought about it but never said anything....your picture is a bit....

Time for me to start pestering our newly-crowned admins to add another emoticon! Plox gief :sacchan: \ /

to me griffith is pretty much the embodiment of an antihero, one who willingly sacrifices everything and everyone he once held dear, including the own child of his, all for the greater goal of obtaining enough power to ultimately create the kingdom he always desired/envisioned.

i dont have many SFW images of traps. are nipples allowed to show?

it was actually THE POWER OF TRAPS!!

Basically what it comes down to is this: people want source-oriented translations rather than target-oriented translations. A source-oriented translation is when you translate assuming the reader makes the effort to immerse himself into the cultural context of the work being translated, that that's what he looks for. A target-oriented translation is when you translate assuming you need to bring the work into the cultural context of the reader. I think it doesn't even need to be argued that people reading otaku subculture stuff want very source-oriented translations. The issue arises from the confusions between the source/target dichotomy (which is a real translation choice) and the literal/liberal dichotomy. The latter barely makes any sense in jp to english translations: a good source-oriented translation is not literal because a literal translation is not a good translation. The languages are not compatible that way for all the reasons evoked above and many more.

Hmm Yeah, I expected as much All of the catalysts were in place A true story? Check. Acting people who actually lived? Check. Dramatic story? Check. And the list goes on and on... Anyways, good job Leo, you most definetly deserved this

Let's say you are asked for a wish by the fairy goddess that if u want to get resurrected in a VN world which world would you wish and as which character......???

yep I'm from Argentina, C.A.B.A xD Well the routes are actually pretty good (I really enjoyed sachi, michiru and to some extend amane) but the problem is the common route which imo is way too long and it drags on. Muv luv is a bit boring but then muv luv alternative kicks in and oh boy..."join the BETA" is a joke about muv luv that you will only get it after playing the novel btw Katawa shoujo and Lilly <3 Si necesitas ayuda o tenes alguna pregunta respecto a algo mándame un pm o pregúntame

Hello Avernesh and welcome. I am the Virgin Smasher and lover of Kyonyuus. For VNs, I'd recommend G Senjou No Maou and the Kara No Shoujo series (start with Cartagra if you play it). If mystery isn't your kind of thing, I'd recommend playing Majikoi and Symphonic Rain's last 3 routes. I hope to see you around.

Enter Grisaia. ??? Profit. Grisaia is a nice one, yeah.

Hey, I never said kill him... I just accused him of being a cruel assassin who teleports people into the past and feeds off the potential lifespan energy. And that he has rock hard abs.

KUROINU HAHAHAHAHAHA Ze Reipu is gr8

http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/02/paypal-square-and-big-bankings-war-on-the-sex-industry/ Not happening anytime soon, unfortunately. Not sure if I want it to happen right now, either - even ignoring the above issue, there's the question of what kinds of adult VNs Steam would allow. Somehow I think they'd be a lot more likely to carry Princess Evangile's adult version than, say, euphoria or Maggot Baits. Considering that, I think I prefer the current situation for the time being, at least until the VN market outside of Steam grows some more.

That's sad to hear, hope he gets out of there soon

Preordered it! *ignores Fuwanovel and the outside world for the next few weeks*

1.) Hyouka 2.) Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru 3.) Guilty Crown 4.) Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 5.) Golden Time Welp, my tastes have always been weird, and they continue on being as such

Now this sounds like an ... interesting game

Damn you .... I think the payment page is finally open, but now I´m stuck at school for half a day before I can get it myself

Not really. Hentai is just 2D regular porn. It is not surprising that anything that even has a hint that it might sexualise children is considered not worth the risk of such a high profile online service in the west. Just because the author, reviewer, readers and most of Japan don't think this is pedo porn, doesn't mean that the west won't see it as such.

In no particular order: 1) Shinsekai Yori 2) Shinsekai Yori 3) Shinsekai Yori 4) Shinsekai Yori 5) Shinsekai Yori Honorable mentions go to Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass, and Madoka, so basically just give them all to Gen

lol... all but the last Kara no Kyoukai movie were first released well over five years ago... Overlord Mahou Koukou no Rettousei Fate/Zero Unlimited Bladeworks Sword Art Online (first arc of the first season only)

Shokugeki no Soma Charlotte High School DxD New and borN Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry The monogatari series in it's entirety Forgot a few i just remembered: Akame ga Kill Tokyo Ghoul Sword Art Online Tokyo Ravens

mesubutas. lots of them.

Grats on 1k posts, had no idea you were around for that long Here's to hoping you have memorable moments in 2016!

It's great to have you around Zalor, your rare apparitions usually come together with an insightful post or a nice analysis. I recently read your blog post about SayoOshi (or whatever it's called) and things like that are, in my opinion at least, what makes us such an amazing place, the great content some of our members produce. Hope to see you around more. ...Oh, and congrats on the 1k posts.

Everyone's saying that SP should have investigated the company more, but really, these things will just happen sometimes - to much bigger publishers too! It doesn't seem like any of you have had much insight into how SP did the whole thing, so why are you so sure it's their fault? Hell, the creators had actually both completed a game and added partial voicing to it, which should speak in their favor. This is just part of the risk associated with crowdfunding; believe it or not, it is not (always) a glorified pre-ordering system. SP even delivered on translating the initial version of the VN. I'd put most of the blame on SRL for this one unless some info surfaces that actually points to SP being at fault. I'm glad Sekai Project decided to work with doujin circles - it's had a great success in the fault series. I'm not really a fan of the crowdfunding-as-risk-reduction approach they've been using, but please, try not to think in these absolute terms. It makes my head hurt, and I already have a headache tonight for unrelated reasons.

Nostalgia fests are good, stay cool Zalor

I just finished P3P ALL THE SLOW CLAPS ALL OF THEM JESUS FUCK FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK WHAT A FUCKING GAME MAN BEAUTIFUL (not P4G level doe) HOLY SHIT WOW 1AM

What's unfortunate is that this shouldn't even be newsworthy. Most people who demand a more literal translation are those who only understand a little Japanese and think that the translation isn't conveying the original meaning because they get hung up on grammar and words and essentially aren't understanding what is being conveyed to native Japanese speakers. The most telling part is that when a translator's native language is English, the more Japanese they know, the more natural sounding English their translation is.

Oh come on ... Only the people who pre-ordered can get it at the moment? And here I was thinking I could finally buy stuff from Mangagamer again.

Oh right, I played that too, thanks for reminding me It was decent. Decent enough for me to be glad to have played it. I'd recommend that too.

My birthday is officially ruined. Thanks Mangagamer.