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Thank you! We were all shocked as well!

I try not to talk about it too much, but... I am actually a direct descendant of Kaiser Franz Visual Ferdinand Novel the First.

EVE: The Lost One is the only masterpiece of the month. 1. Imagination Love いまじねぃしょんLOVE [980306] Ume Soft The store manager escaped with 10 million yen and hero is forced as a new store manager and he needs to earn this sum within a month. Most of the staff left after the incident leaving you with only four sales girls. Contrary to the synopsis, it's not really a SIM, but rather an ADV. There are still three times of the day. Earning money is not difficult, but getting flags for girls is challenging. The feelings part is serious, but game's filled with a good portion of laugh. 2. She'sn She’sn ～シーズン～ [980306] Accent 1 She'sn (aka "season") is a visual novel love adventure game which focuses on a four different stories through all four seasons. The player can select to play the story of any season in any order. Different season also features different heroines and different love stories to play through. The spring story revolves around a forbidden love with your sister-in-law. The summer season tells the love story with your childhood friend. Love story in the fall is about the school romance. And the winter season is a sad love story between the protagonist and a girl with an incurable disease. Game's too ordinary and multiple stories make for hasty progress. 3. Eberouge 2 エーベルージュ2 [980306] JAMP 1 The game is divided into 2 different parts: - The first part is the childhood of the main character (takes places in the first 2 years in the magic institute) at the age of 9. - The second part is between the age of 14 and 16 up to graduation. The objective of the game is not to graduate, but to to save the world from total destruction with the acquired magical skills and the help of one of 10 girls. More SIMs 4. EVE: The Lost One [980312] C's Ware 1 2 EVE: The Lost One is a sequel to Eve burst error. The events of the game take place three years after those of the first game. The player is able to control two characters - the female detective Kyoko and the mysterious Snake, as they try to solve a complex mystery full of betrayals and political intrigues. In order to complete the game successfully, the player will have to to experience it from the perspectives of both heroes, helping each other to gather clues and to unlock events. I've prepared a full review. 5. Roman Reine ロマンレーヌ [980312] King Records The world is guarded by the goddess Gertruz. The queen who governs this world is chosen from the best girl candidates. One of the candidates got ill and hero's nephew is going to try to become the next queen. Fantasy raising SIM to raise the best girl worthy of Queen's title. 300 days is the period (1000 days for other candidates), week by week. The events vary from fighting competitions to beauty contests. At first only 6 candidates are available, but with time all 12 open up. 6. Yuki-iro no Karte ~Karte von Schnee~ 雪色のカルテ～Karte von Schnee～ [980312] Peach A small town in the mountains. Hero is a doctor who works there with a nurse. One day a girl affected by some incurable disease comes to this doctor after hearing about his prowess. There are three girls, each one with her own problem and sad past story. A girl who is poor and being affected by an incurable disease. A girl who closed her mind through parent abuse. A bad-looking little girl who was forcibly put in the hospital while parents participate in the election. Finally some quality nakige started to show up. Curing leads to a happy end while failing to do so leads to patient's death. Scenario is good, but hospital nakige is a genre not for everyone. 7. Zutto Issho ずっといっしょ [980312] HAMSTER Corporation The main game's hero has to start living by his own when his parents had gone due to a job transfer. He got an apartment and started living with a girl. The SIM part is repetitive and dull. The scenario is mediocre at best. But game is released for PS and has lots of animation and cute heroines. 8. Hiza no Ue no Partner ~Kitty on your lap~ ひざの上の同居人 ～Kitty on your lap～ [980312] 1 2 The game is a dating simulation that centers around the player winning over a female (feline) partner through the power of text. Visuals are displayed in a classic anime style with fully-animated scenes. The player assumes the role of a college student who adopts one of three Cats who turns out to be a cat-girl. Hijinks ensue. PS exclusive about training cat girls. You decide schedule and await events. The number of events is big and there's communication mode at regular intervals to talk with the cat, so gameplay is not boring. Training is not difficult and happy endings is easy to get. It's possible to fast forward schedule routine and just read interesting part - this way one playthrough takes from 3 to 4 hours. There are also endings for sub-characters who are not cats. 9. Pocket Love 2 ポケットラブ2 [980313] KID Two months after the prequel. It's the period when hero and heroines started to have feelings for each other. Sequel is praised same as original. The magical pixels are same intact. Number of heroines increased to 10 with 7 former ones and 3 new ones. 10. Mitsumete Knight みつめてナイト [980319] Konami 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The player is a mercenary from the east travelling to the kingdom of Dolphan, modelled after middle-ages Europe. He had been hired to aid the war fought by the country, which will last throughout the following three years of the game, where the player will meet a number of the different characters and develop a relationship with them. There are English reviews of this game. 11. Angelique Tenkuu no Requiem アンジェリーク 天空の鎮魂歌 [980320] Koei 1 2 The setting starts off from the Queen ED of Angelique Special 2. The protagonist is the same as Special 2, the series only RPG. There is an English review. 12. Changing My Heart ~Kokoro o Kaete~ Changing My Heart ～心を変えて～ [980320] Mesa One winter day you're forcibly pulled by a bad friend to visit a Comiket in Tokyo. Will you spend your time there with the classmates, cosplayers or total strangers? Story takes one day... no good story can come out in one day. There are three acquaintances and two strangers to pick up. The flow is absolutely ordinary. A nice feature that you can decide on your clothes and girls clothes. 13. Kuuhaku no Kioku 空白の記憶 [980320] Powder There is a girl who has lost memory. To regain it hero needs to use hypnotherapy to follow the flow of her memories. There are three girls each with a unique story. There are three girls each with two story branches. Both stories are needed to be read, then there's a recollection mode to get full picture. Branches are very short and of erotic nature. 14. Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo: Jigoku Yuen Satsujin Jiken 金田一少年の事件簿 地獄遊園殺人事件 [980326] Kodansha 1 2 In this case Kindaichi & Mijuki were having a discussion when they found that the police had found a man hanged in a park, so Kindaichi offers his help and goes to investigate the theme park and that's when the game starts. There are as many as 7 games released about this child detective Kindaichi. I have not watched even any of its 148 anime episodes and not going to. 15. Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 2: Irodori no Love Song ときめきメモリアルドラマシリーズ Vol.2 彩のラブソング [980326] Konami 1 2 3 4 It is 17 days to the Culture Festival and your band (Irodori) is going to participate in the band contest. On this day while your are practicing a group of girls gathers around your band to talk to Takumi while you just ignore them and practice. After practicing Takumi meets his classmate Katagiri Ayako and goes over to talk to her. You will not know who she is at this time. Suzune will follow you on your way home. At this point you will learn that she actually has some feelings for you, but you will not realise it. During lunch time you go to the rooftop to write a new song (Tears Angel) to participate in the Band contest. After school you can walk around to meet the other girls. There is enough information in English about this game as well as one European language review. 16. In Days 3 淫DAYS3 [980327] Lunar Soft A collection of four short stories: 1. Ｃｏｕｎｔｒｙ　Ｓｔｕｄｙ～後編～ 2. 玉置勉強氏が原画を担当！パイオツ　フォーエヴァー 3. 咲　香里氏が原画を担当！Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ～フレンズ～ 4. マンドラゴラ Third bullet in the series. This time there is not a single review, but box cover features 4 erotic stories. 17. Martial Age 2 Akki Houkou マーシャルエイジ２　悪鬼咆哮 [980327] Tenshindou Three years have passed since the last big fight. Masato receives a challenge from a person called "master" who summoned monsters to the island. Will Masato defend the girls? The curtain of a new battle rises again ... The same gameplay is inherited - story advances by winning fights. Game is mostly for old players who have nostalgia. New players did not like messed up fighting system with the need to search weak points. Text in H events is kind of trashy. 18. Muchimuchi Sexy Parfait Onee-sama You ムチムチセクシぃパフぇ お姉様用 [980327] JAST Co., Ltd. A sequel to Pompom Pretty Parfait Okosamayou. A year has passed. The main character was returning to normal college life after winning the game of sales in the previous game. And when the university studies came to vacations, a letter arrived from his mother's friend requesting to help with managing coffee shop "Muchimuchi Parfait". The game system is totally different from prequel - that was a management SIM - this time it's AVG. There is a map of the city where locations are picked to set flags. However there is also girl training mode where you need to click at body parts to train physical strength, sexuality etc. One heroine playthrough is about 2 hours without skipping. 19. Shuusaku 臭作 [980327] Elf 1 2 The girls' dormitory of Shukusei Music Academy is home to some of the most talented young female musicians in Japan. In such an elite school, appearances count for everything, but behind closed doors the sounds of screams, whimpers, and dull moans can be heard echoing through the halls. The school handy-man, Shusaku, cleans up after the girls and picks up all their dirty secrets, which he uses to blackmail them into some very un-ladylike private performances. Shusaku may get paid to clean up the building, but his true calling is just the opposite- sexually defiling and disgracing the innocent and high-strung musical maestros. There are two English reviews. Game is generally rated high, but it goes contrary to my principles to name such games masterpieces. 20. Toubousha 逃亡者 [980327] Zero Two terrorists have fled the prison and joined two travelling women as a result of hitchhike. They all took a break from the travel in an isolated mansion. But their identities are leaked through mass media. The two guys have nothing to lose and they don't plan to leave witnesses. The short introduction is quick to transform into an insult nukige. There are a lot of mansion hosts and guests to abuse.

Doukoku Soshite... is the only masterpiece of the month and thus is VN of the Month. 1. Kunoichi Torimonochou くのいち捕物帖 [980205] Polestar Co. 1 2 Long ago, during the Edo period, those chosen to become ninja train in secrecy from youth, living in an isolated village to become a secret agent for the shogun. Here, a young girl is training to become such an agent; her name: Ran Sagajo. Along with her talking ninja squirrel companion Sasuke, she has begun a trip to Edo to continue her train You generally choose destination and wait for events to happen. Battles are played in the way that you select a command and opponent selects and you watch the outcome, much like the other VN fightings. When energy is accumulated to the max, a special move can be used. There are stats and places to train them. Game's appeal point is a good balance between animated story sequences and picturesque battles. 2. Yume no Yukue Karuizawa Monogatari 夢のゆくえ 軽井沢物語 [980205] Fair Dance In Autumn wandering in the forest of Karuizawa of autumn leaves, I met a girl in a white dress living in an old villa. In winter three of my classmates and I came to ski and I had a vision of a girl in white dress again.. In spring I walked in the forest of Karuizawa to find a girl in white dress. And in the summer I shall wander between reality and daydreaming. Obscure work, mostly due to the fact that there is no save function in the game. 3. Ahiru no Pantsu あひるのパンツ [980206] Segue Laboratory My name is Rika. I live with my mother. Today I sell Pantsu in town. Although it is already late, only two pieces have been sold. What shall I do... One playthrough takes some 5 minutes and there are several scenarios. And most of them inevitably fall into H category. 4. Natural ~Mi mo Kokoro mo~ Natural ～身も心も～ [980206] F&C Co., Ltd. 1 Rumor's spreading of a hot new couple on campus! A professor is giving the sexy swim star some very special lessons. And this teacher's pet is hot to trot and learning all kinds of new tricks! Yet another erotic training SIM, but this time it's kind of pure love bright training which is rare. The characters are also cute and easygoing. So this work represents shift from dark hardcore eroge to bright softcore ones in the years to come. 5. Kyouken Densetsu Crazy Knuckle 2 狂拳伝説クレイジーナックル2 [980213] ZyX Lunar shadow was a legendary ultimate fighting school, but its last descendant lived 80 years ago. Kusakabe Aoma is a bouncer of the street gang group in the city called Crown City. But he wants to get to know his true self. One day he arrives to the usual place, but instead of smiles of other members all he sees is a sea of blood. Compared to the prequel text has gone better. Scenario is the debut work of Arakawa Takumi who gave us Ayakashibito, Bullet Butlers and several other interesting works. There is a good balance of seriousness and comedy. The atmosphere gone even darker than that of the prequel. Fighting system got more difficult. Animation is widely used. H events are densely packed, pretty much with every battle. So a good entertainment work, but not more. 6. Sadistic Medicine [980213] FlyingShine A big pharmaceutic company develops a new medicine and sets experiments first on animals, then on humans. It seems to be a revolutionary aphrodisiac. First Flying Shine works are so terrible. Blurred real-life photos plus NVL walls of texts are accompanied by HCG. 7. Happening Journey はぷにんぐJOURNEY [980220] Euphony Production 1 Masaharu is long in love with his childhood friend Yuki, but lacks the courage to tell her his true feeling. One day Masaharu's friend Takagi asks him to go on a ski trip together, telling him that he would also take Yuki for Masaharu, so that Masaharu would take Miki, his partner in their tennis club, for Takagi. Somehow their plan becomes known to other girls too, who start insisting on joining the trip - so the party now consists of seven boys and girls. Will Masaharu have a chance to tell Yuki his love during the trip? There is an English review of this game. 8. Megami no Shizuku ~Jonason 95~ 女神の雫～Jonason95～ [980220] Xyz Daughter of a famous deceased thief Aya Kisaragi teams up with her father's buddy Unko. They excel in whatever job they take. This time they aim at three Nobunaga sacred treasures hidden in remote area mansion, but they get into a trap... There aren't reviews of this game and game's super rare, but chronological row of CG shows us first the CG from the prequel, then a spree of HCG, so I guess briefly the story of the prequel is retold followed by H fest. 9. Doukoku Soshite... 慟哭そして。。。 [980226] Data East Corporation 1 2 3 In this game, you play the role of a high-school student (whom you can name as you like). A bus takes him and his classmates to the school every day. But this time, just when the hero was talking to one of his classmates, the lovely girl Riyo, a car drove up to the bus, there was a sound of a crash, and then the hero became unconscious. When he woke up, he found himself, his classmates (most of whom were girls), and a couple of unknown people in a locked room in a strange mansion. Soon the hero realizes something terrible is going on in the mansion. People are being killed under mysterious circumstances, their corpses hidden; he finds a memo soaked in blood and a photograph. Will he be able to solve the mystery and to protect the people destiny brought him together with? There are three English reviews of this game. 10. Misa no Mahou Monogatari ミサの魔法物語 [980226] Sammy Corporation 1 Misa no Mahomonogatari - Heartful Memories tells the story of a young girl who got a mission from the queen of a magic world called Firimu, to travel to the human world, find a young girl and train her into a tarot magician so that she could defeat the evil forces willing to conquer both of the worlds. The game takes place in that high school and will last 4 years of training, the main character of the game is Misa and during that time period she has to train her abilities, meet different people and classmates, and face the evil that endangers the world. A raising SIM to train a justice magician girl. And that's enough already to stop discussing it. 11. Tour Party: Sotsugyou Ryokou ni Ikou ツアーパーティー 卒業旅行にいこう [980226] JAMP Tour Party Sotsugyou Ryokou ni Ikou is a board game, that was also released for the Sega Saturn console, in which the player can choose at the beginning of the game to play as a girl or a boy, the theme of the board is to travel, and the game features at the 4 human players to play as the same time and compete against the others. The gameplay is similar to Takara's the Game of life but in Tour Party, during the journey the players will meet different people and they can become friends with them, and different events that will make the trip more interesting. The game features 8 different characters to choose from and a complete viewer mode with character profiles, musics, and other unlockables modes. More SIMs, yay 12. Yuukyuu Gensoukyouku 2nd Album 悠久幻想曲 2nd Album [980226] MediaWorks The Third Division Vigilante Corps have earned the trust of the people of Enfield, and under the popular Commander Neumann, they have worked hard to earn this trust. However, Neumann is now gone, leaving the third division with low morale and little work, and eventually the main character from the previous game is the only member left. The third division is to be disbanded, but he appeals to the director, and is given one year to restore the third division to its former glory. Yūkyū Gensōkyoku: 2nd Album follows directly after the events of the first game, and is once more a traditional Japanese adventure game. You must gather your group to perform jobs for the people of Enfield, and interact with the various characters around town. Another SIM 13. Coach! Oshiete コーチ！おしえて [980227] Nouvelle New teacher was suddenly invited to a girls' school as an advisor to the athletics division. The final goal is to win the tournament! Is it possible to train six champions? Raising SIM with week as time unit. Apart of training routine there is summer and winter vacation training camps and various events. Period is one year. The biggest complaint about this game was that there is no H events in here, only peeping in the changing room etc. The worst part is that despite each heroine having unique profile, all the events and text are absolutely the same for each of them - zero personality. Also even with max stats (256) it's actually a game of luck whether you win tournament or not. A rare kusoge... 14. Houkago wa Fiancee 放課後はフィアンセ [980227] Sweet Basil Tadashi Wakita lost his parents in an accident at an early age, but thanks to the assistance of his uncle Kanno Rotaro, he is a high school student and lives in a house. Uncle dies and leaves a will that nephew must marry one of his three daughters in order to inherit his property and he must do it before the deadline. Depending on choices it can be either a pure love story or a tyranny story and choices aren't transparent at all. Game is not limited to three daughters, there are other, less profitable variants too. Each route takes about one hour and there is also a harem ending with five girls. Characters are cute enough, but H events are too frequent and dark side of the game constantly tries to pop up. 15. Kemono no Sumu Kousha -Shinshou- 獣の棲む校舎 -真章- [980227] T2 Co., Ltd. Three days after the first incident. But there's no time to rest - a new request awaits Ikuro Makita. Nothing is being told about the first incident. Protagonist always talks about incoherent things. Capture degree is very high as you need to remember all the appointments and at exact time be at exact place out of 20 places. 16. Mars Ball マーズボール [980227] Studio Jikkenshitsu Humans migrate to Mars, where the description of ancient sport is found in the ruins and it becomes the new craze - the Marsball. An ordinary salaryman gets fired and with his baseball experience in high school he tries his luck as a manager of a new Marsball team. Baseball game with card battles and quite high difficulty. Most of the time you train and once in a while there is match. H-events are hard to unlock with flags and are over in a flash. It's weak as love story, weak as H-story... then it's probably just a gameplay oriented game. 17. Mukuro ~Mesu o Nerau Agito~ 骸～メスを狙う顎～ [980227] Saga Planets When I woke up, I did not have a memory. Who am I? Why am I here? People around me do not have recollections about me as well. I shall make my way with women using this position that I do not know anything. And then I shall make my memory return... remember with my body! Production values are good, but in the end it's just a mystery nukige with weak cast of characters and protagonist. There are multiple routes and memories show up consequently with routes clearing. 18. Shift! [980227] Trush Boy drinks secret medicine "XYX" and and turns into a girl. The only way to get to original form is to have intimacy with girls. But that works only for a short time and there must be a permanent antidote solution... Will he be able to regain male form? Medicine fantasies are pretty popular in 1998 as I see. And it's at least third game where gender is suddenly changed. Game is mostly of erotic nature, but with a comedy touch.

I watched Kara no Kyoukai / The Garden of Sinners. Pretty enjoyable. Episode 5 was far and away the most interesting episode: best plot, most developed cast, and an utterly confusing way of telling the story that, while occasionally frustrating, mostly just served to get me to watch more carefully. I actually liked episode 6 quite a lot, despite it being on the weak side on plot, largely because it introduced a fun, cute character who nonetheless kicked ass; "cute" was in terminally short supply throughout this show, so that was a breath of fresh air. 2 was also an outstanding episode, although I almost wish they hadn't gone back to resolve the threads it left open which were closed off in the show's finale, episode 7. 1, 3, 4, and 7 all were weaker episodes (hard to blame 1, though, since it had to serve as an intro; but there's less excuse for the rest), especially 7, which was also on the long side for honestly not having all that much to say. The "extra" episode, 8, was simultaneously somewhat interesting, in how it explained a lot of the mechanics of things, and mind-numbingly boring, since literally nothing happened. Would've rather I simply hadn't watched it and had ended the series at episode 7. Oh well. In summary, it had some boring episodes and some truly excellent ones, and it was quite a departure from my usual fare, so no regrets from watching Kara no Kyoukai. I'm now watching Watashi ga Motete Dousunda / Kiss Him Not Me, because I thought the title was funny and because I like watching the occasional lighthearted comedy + reverse harem. I don't watch them often, but normally I find reverse harem shows to be a little less shallow than normal harem shows; this one, unfortunately, isn't, at least so far. That said, things are looking up a little bit as of episode 5, so I'm hoping it gets a little more enjoyable for me soon. Episode 5 had a couple of nice features: 1) it introduced a little yuri slant, which I do not mind at all, and 2) it took a step towards overturning the extremely shallow premise of the show... before going right back to the start. I don't see quite how they'd fix the bigger thematic problems I have with the show, but episode 5 gives me a little hope that they just might do so.

Hey everyone! It's been a little longer than anticipated, but the seventh episode of the Broadcast Club is finally out! http://thebroadcast.club/2017/09/18/episode-7-popular-visual-novels/ We talked about popular VNs on this episode with the one and only, Cornetto_Man a long time member and moderator of /r/visualnovels. Cornetto has read a ton of VNs, so he was an awesome addition to the cast this time around. Nope, we didn't forget about the cast, or decide to stop doing it or anything. A number of factors led to delaying this latest episode nearly an entire month from our target date. Unfortunately, that's just how it worked out this time. However, we should be back on track now! I was contacted by a few people over the last few weeks asking about it, and to anyone who didn't reach out to one of us asking about the next episode, but was wondering about it, many apologies for the extended delay! As always, thanks for listening, and we're always willing to hear what you have to say about the cast! Hope you enjoy! As this cast was actually recorded in mid-late August, our news is a bit out of date on some points, but I felt there was value in leaving it in, so my apologies if Subahibi KS speculation is not particularly interesting to you anymore. Make sure to follow us on Twitter! https://twitter.com/VNBroadcastClub ------------------- I'd like to start a new Discussion series to not make these topics just postings of the episodes and here your guys' thoughts: Why do you think certain VNs are more popular than others? What VNs are you surprised aren't more popular or more highly read? What are your hidden gems that don't get talked about much? How much does a VN's popularity play into your own reading choices? With more companies shifting focus to the West, are you more excited about official translations of older titles, or simultaneous releases of new ones in both Japanese and English?

Well this was totally unexpected. I started watching Ranma 1/2 and... I love it! Instead of being sleep inducing I'm laughing regularly which is a miracle. It's actually a lot funnier and better paced than Maison Ikkoku was which is also considered a classic and from a similar era. I don't even need to speed it up to watch it. Perhaps it's because it's from a time when I was a kid and appeals to something in me. To add to the intrigue, it's from a time before they started nannying their TV shows and it has fan service right from the first episode, including nipples, despite being a prime time TV kids show. Compare that to today's stuff where nipples seem to be regarded about as offensive as a spreadshot - see the hype surrounding Asuna's nipple slip in the bluray of Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale D:

They hit their goal.

@Fred the Barber

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