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The World God Only Knows This manga is one of my favorites and one of the best I've read so far. Since I finished re-reading it yesterday, I'd decided it would be a good point to start this series at. Nonetheless, Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai is a manga created by Wakaki Tamaki and consists of 267 chapters and one alternative final chapter. It was made in the span of 6 years and it's main genres are harem and romance, with a spin of fantasy. In it, Keima Katsuragi hs unwillingly made a contract with the devil and now has to capture Runaway Spirits with Elsee from the Runaway Spirit squad by making the girls, which the spirits have possessed, fall in love with him. The manga consists of 3 major arcs, first arc being the Conquest Arc, second being the Goddess Arc, and the third being the Childhood/Jupiter Sisters Arc. Let's begin. The overarching theme of this manga is the evolution of Keima from a reality-despising otaku to a game-loving man with a respect for the real. This is also seen in the ending and his endings through the series. There are plenty of characters in TWGOK, but they're put into one of three categories: "conquest targets", some who don't matter that much, only for the conquest, "conquest targets", who matter as the story progresses, and the major characters who appear constantly in the whole story, like Elsee and Keima. The conquest targets who don't matter are nice for the time they appear in, but Don't provide anything new to the story, par from giving more depth to the main cast, like in Reiko and Nanaka's case. All of these characters are rather shallow, but that's to be expected when they only get a few chapters to show in. All of the "main conquest targets" seem really shallow at first like every other target, but accumulate depth as the story progresses. I especially took a liking in Shiori and Tenri, but all of the characters are great. All the Jupiter sisters have a greatly improved personality from the time they were conquered. For example, Yui's personality has thoroughly progressed from the time she was captured. Tenri's personality doesn't really progress visibly in the story, but at least you can see the change in Tenri when you arrive at the end, where she plays a big part at. Shiori and Tsukiyo's personalities never really develop, which is a shame. The other main characters, mainly Elsee, doesn't really develop at all until the end, where everything you thought about her comes crashing down. Some more minor characters, like Dokurou and the classroom teacher, play a large part in the latter arcs. The main point of the manga is undoubtedly Keima is the main point of the manga. In the beginning, he's a cold-hearted and analytical pessimist who loathes the real world. As the story keeps going, a change in Keima is ever-present. In the first arc, he doesn't have any visible change other than Kanon's queries and Chihiro, where the change in his thinking is completely seeable. As the second arc begins and Kanon gets injured, an evident change is seen in Keima's acting. He becomes more serious and stops his favorite past-time, gaming, almost completely, whereas he always gamed whenever he had the chance in the Conquest Arc. He also shows emotions of love for the first time in the end of the second arc. In the beginning of the first arc, he sort of reverts back to his original ways, but he really is saddened by the events in the end of the second arc. When he gets the gift from Dokurou, do the things start moving. He gets even more serious, and the reader gains all of the knowledge that'll fill in the blanks. This part of the story handles Keima's inner conflicts and does a good job with it, and makes this part the shortest of the arcs, but in my opinion, it's the best part of this manga. The tie-ins, Keima's development and the concept of time travel are well executed, and gives a nice ending to the manga. Overall, The interactions of the character is tied strongly in the story, especially Keima's. Speaking of Keima, I strongly like him as a character. His personality has many points I value, like logicality, smarts and calm thinking. The way he brings his "god-complex" and games to almost every conversation is a nice twist on things. He is by and far my favorite protagonist in manga thus far. The art of TWGOK is really good. It's pretty iffy for the first 10-20 chapters, but that's to be expected for a mangaka's first work. Going to the end, it does get much better. The art style shows thick outlines, clear emotions, flashy movement and a clear difference between black and white. It's pretty much my ideal art style I look for in a manga. All in all, the manga is constructed well. It has clear end-points, colorful characters, a strong supportive cast, great main character, gripping story and progression, and loads of references to the medium I oh so love. It really is one of the best mangas I've ever read and it is my favorite manga to date.

Beat Blades Haruka review, By Dergonu, Fuwanovel Beat Blades Haruka is a gameplay oriented nukige released by Alice Soft, which was recently translated and licensed by Mangagamer. The game offers 150 H-scenes, ranging from normal vanilla scenes to darker things like rape and beastiality. The game's appeal is clearly rooted in it's H-content, but does that mean that's everything the game has to offer? In Beat Blades Haruka you play as Ikusabe Takamaru, a boy who desperately wants a girlfriend. His friend, Narika, keeps getting in the way of his possible romances, something that irritates him quite a bit. But soon, his fairly normal life of being rejected by women and half-assing himself through school quickly comes to a halt when the beautiful ninja Haruka, who has traveled to our time from the past, suddenly appears in Takamaru's life. Chasing the evil Noroi who has lept through time with his follwers in order to turn the world into chaos, Haruka and her fellow Cresent moon members turn to Takamaru for help. It turns out, Takamaru is a descendant of the Dragonian, meaning he has the power to transfer strength to the blades of the crescent moon. (The blades being female ninjas.) This power, SP, is transfered from the Dragonian to the blades by ... Having sex. Takamaru's mission is to use the blades at his disposal to fight the four Tetra Sealers, Noroi's most powerful subordinates, take down the towers which connect to Noroi's realm, and to stop him once and for all. During the game, the player gets a whole lot of choices that will allow them to take full control of their destiny. Will you be the good guy, fighting to stop Noroi? Or will you give in to your dark desires, using the blades as tools for your own pleasure and gain? Offering a large variety of different endings, Beat Blades Haruka is a very unique gameplay nukige that allows its player to choose a lot more than just a singular ending, but they have the ability to impact the very way the entire game is played. The gameplay: During the story, a big part of your time will be spent preparing your heroines for battle. During the gameplay parts of the VN, you will be matched up against an enemy. You can spend SP, (sex power), that you accumulate through dragon syngery, (sex), to unleash powerful attacks against your opponent, and you train your heroines stats through either dragon synergy, training, castle raids or defeating enemies. The lower your stats are compared to your opponent, the harder it is to win. The stats highlited in blue, like the defense in this picture, means the stat is underleveled compared to your opponent, and the chances of winning are smaller. By losing a fight against a male Kainin, one of Noroi's lieutenants, the heroine will be raped and an option to skip the following rape H-scene will appear. (Unless you disable that feature in the option menu.) The gameplay is entertaining, though it is a little difficult at first. Getting used to what all the different stats does is a little bit hard and overwhelming, and the stats are also a little poorly balanced. For instance, by stacking a large amount of reflex, you will be able to sweep through the game, as your character will essentially never miss, and she will also dodge a lot of the opponent's attacks. But if it's the other way around, and your reflex stat is low but your other stats are high, you still wont do much damage, as most of your attacks will be dodged. Basically, there is too much focus on reflex, something that makes combat a little bit imbalanced at certain points in the game. Your opponents gets really strong in the late game, meaning their reflex stats are high, and so if you didn't train your heroine correctly, a bad end is waiting for you. (If you are defeated by a sealer, you get a bad end and a game over.) Still, these flaws aside, the gameplay is enjoyable. It's fun training up your heroine, either choosing to clear out the streets to protect the people like the good guy, or simply being an asshole and having your heroine raped over and over. (This increases her stats a great deal, however it gives you + brutality, and if the heroine is raped too much, it can lead to a brutal bad ending.) The variety offered to you makes playing the game a second, third or fourth time fun. The phase system, Libido and your dice While we are still on the gameplay part of the VN, there is a few things to note. The game itself is split into four parts, 3 phases and then actual story. The 3 phases are morning, afternoon and night phase. Between these phases the game's story progresses, and you see normal VN style dialogue as well as choices that you can use to impact the story, as well as your heroine's stats. During the morning and afternoon phase, you either train up your heroine by having sex, raise your libido or rest, in order to get more dice recovered. The night phase is spent actually fighting your opponents, and going on castle raids. (What exactly are these dice and how do they work?) The dice system in Beat Blades Haruka is what let's you make your "moves" in the phases. You get X amount of dice each day, based of your dice recovery. You can have a maximum of 8 dice at a time. The dice can be a number between 1 and 6, and the dice itself is used to "pay for" actions. As an example, if you want to sleep with haruka to increase some of her stats and her SP, you have to "pay" some dice. The lower levels of dragon synergy are cheaper, but give less stats, the higher levels are more expensive but give you more stats. The system is very forgiving. If you roll a 7 on something that needs 8 to complete, 7 will be subtracted from the action, so that in the next phase, it will only cost 1 dice. The dice itself is based off RNG, though do note that it is essentially impossible to soft reset for. Still, with the way the system is made, soft reseting for dice is not even needed, so there is nothing to worry about there. If you do it right, completing the game in the 99 days given to you is a walk in the park. Lastly, libido is a strange stat. It is what makes your dice recovery higher. Every 10 points of libido, your dice recovery goes up by 1. What does this mean? It means that after the night phase, you will get back X dice. So if you have a dice recovery of 5, the next day following a night phase, you are given 5 dice. Raising your libido is simple, and is done by either having sex with a female Kainin, choosing an option at a choice screen with (libido) next to it, or just clicking "raise libido". The game's value beyond H-content? We have already talked about the gameplay side of the game. It's entertaining, though very repetative and it's also focused strongly around H-scenes. (In order to prepare your heroine for a battle you have to have sex, and if you lose a battle, you get into a rape scene. H is a big part of this nukige, obviously.) But what about the story itself? Music, art, characters and such. What is the value of the game outside just the H-scenes? The character designs and art in the game is overall very nice. A lot of work seems to have been put into each character's design, though the personalities of the the main characters are fairly bland and simple. Most work seems to have been put into the kainins and tetra sealers. They are all very badass, pretty, hot, what have you. Each one of them has many small details that stand out, and are just overall very well made. The main characters are by no means poorly designed, but in comparison they do fall a little short. The art itself is very nice, with animated cut-scenes, well drawn backgrounds and detailed character sprites. The music in the VN is pretty good, offering a variety of tracks for different situations that fits well with the atmosphere of the scene. The story itself is what it is. The game does take itself seriously; it's not like it just jokes around and put all focus on H. The story is decent. There is moments where it will take you by suprise, certain moments that are more emotional than others, though the actual story is fairly short. The main focus of the dialogue aspects of the game lies in the different scenes you can get with the heroines and side characters by making choices. If you focus on one girl a lot, increasing her love hearts in the game, you will go on dates with her and get close with her. If you are an asshole and just have your blades raped and defeated, you will get unique scenes that deal with this. The actual main story that remains the same through all playthroughs is therefore minimal, as the game wants to keep the focus on your choices as the player. This is both a flaw and a strength in the VN. It's a flaw because it means that ultimately, the story itself is slightly underwhelming and short, but it's also a strength because it does mean the player feel like he or she is more in control of the outcome. All in all Beat Blades Haruka is a solid VN, offering unique and entertaining gameplay, a big variety of choices that lets the player impact the game's ending, though it does lack some impact in its delivery of the story. + Entertaining gameplay + Good art, music and character designs + A huge variety of choices that let's the player choose how the game is played - Slightly underwhelming main story - The main characters are a little bland and some more time should have been put into them - The stat system is a little imbalanced

If I could give you any two pieces of advice, gentle reader, they would be: don’t eat unopened mussels, and don’t proofread anything you’ve edited. Neither will end well for you. I always scratch my head when I see a visual novel translation project with the same person listed as Editor and Proofreader. Or worse yet, Translator, Editor, and Proofreader. Or (and I know I’ve seen this at least once) Translator, TLC, Editor, and Proofreader. I’m all for DIY, but that's a disaster waiting to happen. Here’s the rule: If you’ve touched a piece of copy in any one of these roles, it’s tainted for you in all others. Sorry, that’s just how it is. These jobs are meant to be a series of checks and balances to help ensure the quality and accuracy of the content. If a single person takes on two or more of these roles, you’ve got problems. If one or more of these positions goes completely unfilled, you’ve got problems. It’s not that you wouldn’t be capable — many editors are amazing at proofreading, and tons of translators are wonderful at TLC — but once you’ve worked with the text in one capacity, your familiarity with it makes you far less effective in any other role. Our stupid, stupid brains Like so many things in life, it all comes down our stupid brains being more helpful than we want — kind of like an overeager toddler who just handed you your iPhone. In the shower. (Thank god for Applecare+.) Whenever our brains see a gap in content, they try to fill it whether we want them to or not. “Hi, I’m your brain. Hey, is there a word missing there? Can I make a fairly good guess as to what it is? Wheee! I’ll just pretend like it was there and we read it and nothing’s wrong. Now let’s go think about boobies some more! BOO-BEES! BOO-BEES!” And the more familiar your brain is with the work in question, the easier it is for it to fill in those gaps. It already knows what to expect, and it’s just waiting to jump in and save the day. Our brains must be stopped before they kill again. The easiest way to do this is, at each step of the creation and revision process, have someone ready look at the content with fresh eyes and no preconceptions. Simple as that. You wouldn't go get a second opinion from the doctor who just provided your first opinion, would you? So don’t do it here. Don't double-up on jobs, and don’t leave positions unfilled. The final product will be better for it. Yeah, yeah, I know. Easier said than done. Finding good volunteers is tough and people flake out or have RL commitments all the time. So what then? The nuclear option When I got my first job in advertising, I was an idiot. Thankfully, my first creative director was not. A highly accomplished copywriter, she’d penned dozens of the brand slogans that had littered my youth. Suffice to say, she knew her stuff. (You’d probably know her stuff too, if you saw it.) And this was one of the first things she taught me: “Never, ever proofread your own work. But if you have to ...” That’s right, she had a trick. A big red button on the wall of her brain that said, “PUSH ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.” You never want to proof your own work, but sometimes you don’t have a choice. Sometimes you’ve rewritten the copy deck five minutes before the big pitch and there’s no time to send it back for proofreading. That’s where the trick comes in. Read it backwards. Start at the very last word and read your way back until you hit the first. This strips away all meaning from the text — your brain isn’t leaping in with a guess as to what comes next — so you can focus on minutiae like spelling, punctuation, repeated words, etc. This is a relatively laborious process, unfortunately, and it doesn’t scale well to an entire visual novel. But I mention it here in case you find yourself with a few lines or even a short script that needs a proofing pass and you’re the only one around to do it. .it of habit a make don’t Just. Full disclosure By the way, I’ll be the first one to admit that v1.0 of the KoiRizo English patch has typos. In my role as editor, I tried to work as cleanly as possible, but over the course of 36,000+ lines — I figure that’s gotta be at least 250,000 words — a few foxes got into the henhouse. The team didn’t have any proofreaders, and the QC process wasn’t nearly as robust as had initially been hoped. (Zakamutt touches on that here.) But you know what? For all of that, I think the launch product came out comparatively clean. I still want to drink bleach and die every time I see a typo report, of course, but that comes with the territory. And with any luck, there will be patch updates forthcoming that address some of these lingering issues. Which is good, since I’m running low on bleach. And lives.