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I thus name you Sir NowItsAngeTime of Fuwa, Knight of Hentai, Defender of Fapping. Speaking for the silent majority that takes full advantage of their favorite medium. :3

I will be the sole defender of H-scenes for fap purposes if necessary.

One should keep in mind that just because a certain contribution to the story could be made without the use of H-Scenes does not mean the H-Scenes are unnecessary, for by that logic, most things are unnecessary. Just because I am the author of "Gadsby" (which I am not) that does not mean the letter 'e' is unneeded. Take into account games like Grisaia no Kajitsu and G-Senjou no Maou (which is actually a bad example because no official 18+ version exists), where the act is meant to display the emotions and scars of the characters. How you evaluate the H-Scene will then depend on the execution. If it devolves into a fairly normal H-Scene with the occasional mention of the character's emotions, then it may be failing to create a scene that meaningfully contributes to the story, instead creating some fan service (which can also be done badly, as Fate/stay night and Key VN's tend to demonstrate). If it devolves into Gahkthun and every line is a metaphor or euphemism used to describe the character's emotions, then it probably is making a greater contribution to the story than the former situation. By my evaluation, Grisaia and G-Senjou are both more interested in providing good H material to the reader than developing its characters, because they certainly wouldn't need scenes that extensive for the latter. But as a wise someone once said somewhere: "Why not both?" H-Scenes can also be used to characterise characters in ways specific to sex. In Majikoi and its sequels a lot of characters have specific traits that they only display during the deed, and, in that sense, contribute to the character. These would not manifest themselves if all we had was an "and then sex happened" line*, or if there was no sex at all. Of course, these don't quite contribute to the overall story/plot in most cases (though it depends). Margit's route in S (which, to be fair, isn't very good by most accounts) is entirely dominated by sex, and could not be done any other way -- more fitting for a nukige, really. *Even if mentioned in conversation afterwards, the "show, don't tell" adage would dictate that explicitly writing the H-Scenes would be the best approach in these cases. In Moege and certain Charage, where characters and their interactions ARE the plot, H-Scenes can obviously have a greater impact and contribute to the "story" in different ways. This is not always the case -- certain Yuzosoft VN's and the already mentioned Chrono Clock have a plot that supports the story by itself, and is not simply characters doing random stuff every day. Of course, if you've played a Yuzosoft VN you would know that in these cases the H-Scenes are very much fan service, and represent both a culmination of a relationship (sometimes -- exaggeration and blatant pandering in most routes creates and obviously unauthentic and fan service-y scenario) and a means to reward the reader after the considerable hours of investment already put in. In fact, representing a relationship between two characters of ages around 18 without H-Scenes could seem out of place. Keeping in mind that everyone is different, most romantic relationships include sex at some point, and people around this age have, allegedly, more interest in the act. It also provides Of course, none of these require explicitly written out H-Scenes, and mere mentions could and should be sufficient. By generalising my personal experience, it's in this latest sense that I appreciate H-Scenes. That is also why I skip the meat of them, as, from my point of view, their presence is necessary but depictions of them not quite. I remember how Brighter than Dawning Blue lacked H-Scenes, and that severely hampered my enjoyment. The characters had very little apparent displays of affection, and too late into the routes. Despite their age, displays of affection consisted, at most, of holding hands or being shy. The route might culminate on a kiss! Obviously, that by itself isn't a problem, some routes in Clannad or Little Busters! are similar. I imagine the problem arouse from the fact that the story had little more to offer than the character's relationships, and that the route I read, in particular, was about a more standoffish character. My interests don't align, so I'm not well-versed on this topic, but the exploration of certain fetishes, such as sado-masochism, could in themselves be the topic the VN explores. Assuming most fetishes create emotions other than simple sexual excitement, these are topics that could be contemplated in VNs, and would necessitate semi-explicit scenes. Cute Demon Crashers! has a scene lightly exploring one, and due to how the VN is executed, all sexual acts in this VN, although explicit, are extremely tactful, and the culmination of the story (which would technically be a nukige, maybe?). Yume Miru Kusuri is, I think, perhaps my best counter-argument to allegations that explicit H-Scenes add little value to Visual Novels that aren't focused on sex. The visual novel is about indulgence, youthful indiscretions, vice, drugs, pregnancy, and bullying. So yes, not your run-of-the-mill affair, but it should be credible that even more explicit H-Scenes could meaningfully contribute to these themes. School Days is another good example, if you can be convinced that it isn't a nukige. I don't believe endings where where the protagonist essentially prostitutes himself, or endings where multiple relationships are tolerated because of his bed skills could be quite as effective without depictions of the act. I'll also take a moment to mention Rance and its particular brand of disagreeable comedy, one that results from having a protagonist so dastardly and outside the norm. A form of black comedy that necessitates at least some explicit scenes to drive the point home and is unafraid of tackling many sexual matters in both comedic and serious manner. All this said... I will concede most H-Scenes exist to provide fan service and check a checkbox. That checkbox that lets them put X-Rated on their game boxes.

Done. As for your spoiler tag,

After every translated monster girl game, something dies inside me. Either its monster girls raping you violently like in monster girl quest or its this kind of twisted shit. Why cant I have some vanila monster girl boobies.

First, I should mention that this was an awesome month. There are multiple releases worthy of consideration for the winner and there are two releases that will be added to overall consideration for VN of the Year 2017. The actual twin candidates were: Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary and Imoten The runner-up was: Junjou Karen Freaks For various reasons, I avoided playing several VNs this month, including Boukyaku Shitsuji and Tsugihagi Make Peace. The biggest one with the former is that it is yet another VN in the same setting as the 'Uso series' by Campus. With the latter... it is that it is a relatively high-end charage appearing charage by a new company. To be honest, Tsugihagi is not something I want to play right now. It will probably take me until the end of the month to be human again after trying out Giga's massacre of that game. If I played it now, I'd take my anger out on it, and that would be... unfair. Imoten and Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary are both great games... falling somewhat short of kamige level, but then, there haven't been any kamige releases this year anyway so far. I actually struggled a lot when considering the two. Either one could be VN of the Month for October... and in the end, I couldn't decide. As such, I announce the rarest of the rare... a tie for VN of the Month October 2017 between Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary and Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de!

Don't worry too much. For amane's route, try to binge the last few chapters of angelic howl and the end. It will make it a lot better. And please, please don't skip the bad endings. Use the walkthrough to get them first. They are unbelievably impactful.

I'm fairly new in this VN format, especially compared to other people who have read hundreds, if not too many to keep the track. However, I've noticed some controversy and disagreement on the topic of h-scenes, erotic scenes, adult scenes or whatever you want to call them. While some people seem to be quite OK with it, as long as they feel in place for the VN in question, there seem to be other people who absolutely reject and even despise them as they deem them to be detrimental to the story. As I said, I'm not quite that experienced yet on the topic to provide a full-fledged opinion, so my intention is just to share my first thoughts and listen to other people's pondering. As an open-minded person that I like to think I am if I say so myself, my first reaction to a sex scene in a piece of fiction and the parameters I use to judge it are the same that I would use for any other type of scene, namely, how much does it contribute to the story, does it feel coherent, in line and cohesive with the rest of it and last but not least, is it enjoyable, though this is of course subjective at the very least. I don't like to think in terms of "is it really necessary?", because for that matter nothing is necessary, just contingent. Or maybe we could say that only the scenes that add to the plot are really necessry for following the story, but I think we could all agree as well that a scene doesn't necessarily have to contribute to the plot in order for it to be good. So, this is the theory I approach every work of fiction with. In practice though, things take a turn, and not for the better, as it turns out that most of the h-scenes I've read in VNs are outright awful. Not all of them, but the vast majority. But, why? Sure, the easy way of explaining this would be to say that they are only for fan-service, to serve as fap material and the writters don't give a damn about the quality... and while in some cases it might be true (or rather, it definitely IS true), I don't think one could happily apply this logic to really long VNs with very few (and poor) erotic scenes and overall good quality writing otherwise. Like, come on, one does not simply sit through 30 hours of reading just to pull one off. I've been therefore pondering this for a while, and I reached the conclusion that maybe ultimately it comes down to japanese culture. Sex is a taboo in almost every society on earth, in ours, and it's not breaking news that it's even more so in Japan. If you think about it like that, it's hardly surprising that they are usually not able to write a sex scene that feels "natural". How could you, when you have a twisted version of what a natural erotic scene should look like because of your social preconceptions? It's as good as guaranteed that it will feel out of place. Now, I'm not claiming that it is the main reason. I just don't know, but I feel like it's at least a plausible factor. So, what do you think? I'd appreciate your thought on the matter and your own conclusions

Wouldnt this imply that all VN's are porn first and a story second? We arent really talking about Nukige here, and if it is nukige most of us kind of accept that we arent going to get that much of a story and that there will be lots of random sex scenes. No, people are saying that if it doesnt fit in the story and feels like it has been hamfisted in to allow random Otaku to fap to it, why is it in the game. Not that it absolutely has to be important. That being said I personally prefer a h-scene to have some kind of meaning. Lots of VNs are trying to tell a pretty deep and meaningful story, what use is there for a bunch of pointless sex scenes. As an alternative example take the Lord of the Rings trilogy (a very different example I know and impossible given the market that it is being released for), but a bunch of sex scenes randomly popping up in there with little context would just cheapen the story and that is the same regardless of the media type. Eroge style LOTR, Eowyn reverse rap$s Aragorn any one? I do remember googling some images for Mitsuru from Persona 3 back in the day to satisfy my own curiosity, and the fact I thought she was hot. But I wouldnt have wanted sex scenes with her in the game.

(actual footage of rl Ange) Anyway, my opinion. For me, they are never useful for the plot. But I read them anyway, because why not? I don't skip pages of a book I like just because I find some parts useless. If it's bad, I can laugh. If it's good, I can enjoy. If it's painfully boring, I just endure.

I will proudly wear this badge I'm a 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil dude and I love H scenes. I've lived with my brother and his fg and I dunno about other people but they definitely have sex for at LEAST 15-20 minutes (but it includes foreplay and stuff) my brother has been pretty open at least to me how his sex life works. We (half-)joked about hentai and how it compares to real sex and well outside the Japanese style high pitched moaning and the girl narrating everything that's happening it's not really that much different (but my brother still doesn't really get off to hentai, he's tried it and still much prefers 3D pr0n)

I will make no effort in grandstanding by trying to defend my position by conjuring up some elaborate excuse, I simply like h-scenes because I'm a horny bastard. I've recently gotten allot of shit for rating some eroge higher than story centric visual novels on vndb. No, I don't think Funbag Fantasy has a better story than Kara no Shoujo, but they weren't aiming for the same goals. You can't rate a comedy on the same grounds as a action film, just as you can't yell at Stephen Hawking for being shit at baseball. I know that isn't what this topic is about, but I wanted to preemptively explain that before getting to the meat of the matter. The real question is how to feel about sex scenes in story focused visual novels. Well personally I like them, I'm the type of person that after becoming a fan of characters in fiction I look up fanfiction and doujin about them fucking. Having the porn in the source material beforehand is something I find incredibly convenient and a major time saver. Do I expect people to be fine with this? Absolutely not and I completely understand why people would dislike these elements in visual novels. Not everyone has a masturbation addiction to help deal with the condition known as "living", some people drink alcohol instead...... or they just like a great story to distract them from life. I find the question of whether "sex" can be used effectively as a narrative tool to be an interesting one. It's pretty common for people to cry out that an H-scene is "unrealistic", which always baffled me. We don't cry fowl when a FPS doesn't include a 40+ hour rehabilitation simulator after the player character is shot and no one complains that half of rom-coms don't end with a sloppy divorce. Fiction will always contradict reality on some level. I have never believed that a sex scene in any medium was "realistic" aside from Harry Turtledove books and quite frankly it kinda sucks. Realistic depictions of sex without dramatic flourishes are no different from depicting eating a meal or getting over a cold, it's just another boring part of life. Would I like more story centric visual novels with sex scenes integrated better in their plots? Absolutely, but as I stated before it's not that easy. Sex is a relatively boring act as a plot device, without going into FSN territory and inviting contrived reasons sex is required, it can only be used as a plot device in stories of youthful indiscretion, Romeo/Juliet rip-offs, and stories of jealously. In all three instances sex isn't even necessarily required and could be substituted with something else. Sex isn't as big as a deal as society makes it. Oddly enough I think the horrible act of rape is a much better plot device and something that society needs to be better and handling. This act of abject evil opens the door to a menagerie of storytelling opportunities, however if the writer isn't incredibly skilled and knowledgeable it will come across as a cheap shock tactic that is "trying too hard".

Man, 23 replies in just 4 hours - it's kind of clear where people's interests are lying in... Anyway, the presence of H-scenes strongly affects sales (just ask Minori about Supipara... or better not), so they are shoveled into every VN regardless of quality and if they are needed or not. There are definitely VN's with good H-scenes, but most of them are untranslated. And good art is a very important factor for good H-scenes, so if you don't have that even a good (ero) writer is in trouble.

I think Japan is kind of a weird case here. Every piece of media is oversexualized in incredibly bizarre ways, but when it comes to real life they tend to avoid physical intimacy or for that matter any kind of intimacy, since expressing your own feelings is not considered polite for them. So, Japanese media is not by any means a reflection of their society, if anything, it would be a mirror image: the complete opposite. And for the latter part, I totally agree, and that's what I wanted to express in my post. There is no objective reason why a h-scene should be bad just because is has sexual content. What calls my attention however is that in actuality, perhaps depending on who you ask, but most people would agree that most of them are bad. I cannot help but wonder why, hence my little work of social speculation. My thoughts exactly. I'm sorry but I cannot agree with the people who say "h-scenes are bad because they are not necessary". Well duh, a good OST is not strictly necessary either, but it does add to the work. I appreciate a well-written h-scene, as few as they are, that feels like a natural development in the story, where the characters act as they are expected according to their previous characterization. Like any other scene, it must integrate in the story as a whole, without being regarded as something special or strange.

Honestly, this goes against what I thought, I thought sex was less taboo in Japan than where say, I am (UK, not that it is particularly taboo here). But I have never been to Japan so I do not know, I can only base that on how oversexualised a lot of the media they produce is lol. Personally I almost always end up skipping 90% of any hscene, because it eventually just becomes some variation of the "assumed" common sex talk of "do you like that", "yea thats good", "they are so soft", "girls are so soft" (all of which pisses me off) etc etc. I dont really see the need for them most of the time, and for all I know I am missing some interesting lines of dialogue because I skipped. Personally I would like to see some more moving scenes with art like emotional hugs and kisses, and maybe getting closer to sex without necessarily being sex (as long as the story justifies it, otherwise scenes like this just look stupid). I do not think I have yet seen a h-scene that entertained me so much that I wanted to watch it all. I think an h-scene can add something to a story Take Future Diary (anime) for example, whatever you think of the anime and the relationship Whereas for example in Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai road (not that I disliked the VN): Minor Spoiler. There are some places I would quite like to see a h-scene, for example in Clannad I would have liked to see a gentle, intimate and romantic scene between Nagisa and Tomoya, possibly leading to sex. If it was done well, it could add something for sure, if nothing else, increased emotional impact for erm, certain events later on. if they got it wrong (which key often do with h-scenes lol) it would be detrimental to the story. My conclusion therefore is that a well done h-scene can add something to any story (well, unless the story is completely hopeless), but it does not need to go on for 20 minutes of reading time, and they HAVE to make sure they get it right!. As far as I am concerned, trim them down by about 90% of their length and give them some meaningful text. Plus build them up PROPERLY do not just throw them in. Sex occurs spontaneously 90% of the time in VNs, generally with out enough chemistry built up between the couple and no proper context for the scene. Basically if: a male and female are in a relationship (even if only for 1 day lol) + on their own somewhere + one is the protagonist + one is a heroine == sex scene is a comin! That is not how it should be.

Considering the usual novels i play for me H-scenes are nothing more then love scenes, if i notice there isn't anything relevant plot wise included i just skip them after i'm satisfied enough of the two characters showing there love for one another.

You're welcome.

Okay i just finished Princess X and i need to clarify/change a few things originally said by Akshay (while keeping it as spoiler free as possible): Well this is basically my input on the routes/scenarios. Its not because of not clearing the monstrous emperor end, i had that cleared and it still didn't work, i think this route only unlocks after finishing: The power of a kiss <-This one is uncofirmed but i did finish this before the others. The monstrous emperor To the future A world without Shinichi Desire unleashed You will probably unlock it after getting all of them. It seems that this extra ending scene is unlocked after finishing all the routes or if your final route is one of the 2 harem options (Harem World or Fiancess forever) i got it with both of them. If your confused what i mean by final route, basically what i mean is this: There are 11 routes in this novel so basically if you did 10 out the 11 routes and your final (11th) route left is either Harem World or Fiancess forever this extra scene will unlock, and will play hench forth every time you finish one of the two harem routes. As for my final thoughts... well... I absolutely loved The Power of a Kiss route, and its the reason why i do not regret sincying time in this novel, i got nothing to complain with that route. As for the rest, i don't actually consider it bad, there where some interesting twists, but sometimes the novel did try to seem way to deep but with to little effort put into it, and i could have certainly enjoyed it more if it didn't force me through the bad endings to enjoy some of the good parts of it, the problem is that even while it did had some interesting elements in and of itself its not something i was interested in to be honest, that doesn't mean its bad, but it just sort of creates a discrepancy between what you expect when playing it and what you actually get, especially with Lady... a route with her was the second most expected thing in the novel for me... But even if i'm repeating myself The Power of a Kiss route made it all worthwhile for me (though i probably should have stopped there), the game and following down that route felt great! PS: Naja as a kid was one of the cutest things ever >.< :

To be perfectly honest, that didn't impress me in the slightest when I read the VN, because

Of course it can be done right, but sometimes waking up naked in the bed after the act is a better way. Some vn's are truly bad at portraying romance and almost only use the fact that they have sex as the way to show that they're a couple.

I'm a pretty wierd VN reader as I don't really care for H-scenes, at least hentai as such simply doesn't do it for me and is usually inserted in ways that rather hurts than add to the narrative. Same goes to milder fanservice in many VNs and anime, it's simply so superficial and dumb that it takes me out of the experience. I think that its just as much about culture as it is about negative tropes within the genre and looking for broad appeal - some people expect fanservice and actively look for it, even outside of straight up "adult" titles, so it ends up being pushed into everything. Still, I'm not a prude, especially when sexual content uses well written text rather than just explicit visuals and has clear reason for being there, I can enjoy it a lot. Especially yuri, as I find it much cutter and more interesting than straight sex scenes. In one of my favorite yuri VNs, Love Ribbon, theres a pretty explicit masturbation scene, that still manages to fit very well with the theme (a lesbian discovering her sexuality) and acts as an important plot device. When it's done like that, I can't complain, but it's a bit rare IMO.

You see, most VNs that do include sex scenes do not need any. The "B-b-but they make the stories REALISTIC!~" argument is simply bullshit. Practically no visual novel story is "realistic" in any sense of the word. Going by moege (since the "it's realistic!" argument is often used for cutesy romance VNs), they're all practically wish fulfillment. Hanging out with a student club, or a committee, or just a bunch of girls sorted or introduced to the protagonist otherwise does not magically make all of them fall in love with you. They're contrived stories. Any defense of sex scenes in such VNs (especially considering how so many of them feature high schoolers) is simply not in the name of realism, it's at best because their audience cannot conceive of a romantic relationship without (usually unsafe and underaged) sex. Furthermore, I'd find it insulting to any medium to insinuate that they need to use sex scenes to establish the audience's investment in characters so comically trite and overdone that many characters, let alone relationships, can be described with a single fucking word. Sex scenes in eroge (broadly speaking) are not necessary to establish a believable relationship because the relationships to be established are often just as superficial as the characters and disputed h-scenes in question. The scenes themselves are also so fucking generic that I could spit out 50 different lines and you wouldn't get which VN I pulled them all from. Just about every single one works out the same. I can respect someone saying that they self-insert as the protagonist, see the heroine(s) have sex, or otherwise want sex scenes in story-heavy VNs (e.g. not nukige) in a self-gratifying fashion, that's fine. But the argument that explicit, drawn out, numerous sex scenes that never serve to meaningfully develop, evolve or deepen a relationship somehow add to the narrative value of a visual novel is absolute bullshit. I don't think I can recall a single case where an explicitly written out consensual sex scene (rape/assault is often used for characterization/shock value, and isn't what we're talking about here) meaningfully develops a duo's relationship in a VN. Which is not to say that I'll be crusading against every slice of life VN with sex scenes, but don't act like the average sex scene in the current VN industry is meant to add to characterization, narrative, or plot development. It's there to fucking sell, and for the audience to enjoy.

I would be interested, I'm a VN dev myself so yeah...I would read it for obvious reasons.

Good Luck! After Doki Doki, my respect for western VN's has shot up, and I only found it through recommendation. I think I'd be interested in reading about them. Just avoid the Sakura stuff.....

ha @ the reactions

Ok there...My own Saku Saku experience is closed.... I'll write what I think of it as spoiler (it contains spoiler, actually) That said, keep suggesting, guys! And thanks to Tamaki Sakura for having suggested both Saku Saku and Wagamama High Spec!

Kenshin_sama's participation is really unfair... I mean, look at that avatar! Cuteness overload/10

Well said! I was hoping that this would be something like Monster Musume with maybe some drama/SoL and routes for the monster girls. But yea, after seeing this, I am glad I never tried it before looking around =/ Why are the Japanese so obsessed with R$pe anyway /sigh. Or Netorare for that matter, I dont get the people that enjoy that crap lol.

After so many years of putting it down and picking it back up, I was finally able to beat Zelda Ocarina of Time without a guide last night. And when I say long time, I mean back when the N64 was current gen, lol. Even when I picked up the 3DS remake, I was still getting stuck on a lot of occasions and rage quitting every time. But with how my attention to detail has improved drastically over the years, I was able to beat the game somewhat easily this time (although I still got stuck in a bunch of times and had to rely on in-game tips). Beating Ganon felt nice. Have not yet started the bonus mode though, so I'll still have something to play while I'm out (I don't have that many 3DS games).

Makina's route is a good starting point. Yumiko's route has no bad endings, and is comparatively less grim. While it is less emotional, than the other routes, this was probably intentional and acts as a wonderful conclusion route to the series. You should probably play Amane into Sachi, though this is not strictly necessary. (some facts about yuuji's workplace, are learnt here as well). Michiru's route can be played anywhere, and pretty much its own story. I would use this for the change of pace. It's very emotional, but it feels the most different/fresh when compared to the other routes.

Finished tales of Xillia. i'd separate the game in two parts, attention, spoiler ahead. Overall, i enjoyed the game.

Princess X is a running joke I hope you're not taking the game seriously, as it literally twists the stereotypes and was made in a way to fuck the fanbase. That said, it's not your classic galgame with routes, it has a scenario system based on the choices you make, which lead you to respective endings.

This answer will probably have some spoilers (as you have asked about ending types.) However, I will keep them to a minimum. The game is garbage and you are probably playing it for the PLOT, so its probably fine. The game follows an ending system, where you end up with heroines/according to the scenario. Harem world -> Inconclusive harem ending + Saki The power of a kiss -> Nadja ending (Good ending) The monstrous emperor -> Nadja and her mother ending. You are evil but not cruel. (you actually love nadja, somewhat twistedly) To the future -> Nadja and proxima ending. Inconclusive (he marries neither). There is torture rape and cruelty in this chapter. A world without Shinichi -> Same ending as above, except shinchi just dies instead of ending with them. The title is pretty self explanatory. Desire unleashed -> Evil version of the to the future route. i.e. you torture and rape as much as you can. Fiancees forever -> Another inconclusive end where he can't decide who to marry so stays fiances with everyone. An unorthodox love -> He falls in love with the robot princesses maid-cylinder, and basically fucks a metal hole. Its very weird. A love steeped in lies -> Robot princess ending (Komadori) Somewhat good ending. The ruler of an empire -> Nadja and her mother ending, where he corrupts them by making them eat ice-cream Who is the true monster? -> Yandere childhood friend ending. Seriously disturbing shit. (Bad End) The promise -> Final ending. Everyone promised in the past to marry MC. NOTE: The MC never loves the spider girl and vice versa. It can be argued that she is not a major heroine. She doesn't get much screen time. They never have sex. She is not NTR'd. She runs off with someone she actually loves. Also your walkthrough is not adapted perfectly. Though you have used the * to indicate the other choice in different routes, you have in actuality written the same choice list for multiple routes. For example, You have written the To The Future Route and A World Without Shinchi exactly the same. Choice 16 is the diverging point where you need to select go to the torture chamber,. I am unable to comment there, so I have mentioned it here. Overall, this game is very average and you would probably be doing yourself a favour by skipping it. Hope this helps~

Sachi's, and especially, Michiru's routes are emotional rollercoasters (compared to the other routes). I teared up in both routes actually. Amane's has an amazing flashback though (that left one heck of an impression). As for Yuuji's decisions in Maki's route, well the Grand route in Labyrinth of Grisaia sheds some light on that...

It took a long while, but I finally finished Subahibi. And if anything, I'm very conflicted. Not as much with the VN, but myself. Like I mentioned before It's My Own Invention was from time to time too much for me to stomach and that certainly didn't help. Luckily the rest was better and it was just a problem of getting back to it. I guess when it comes to Subahibi you could say it has two layers: the surface level (or just the story) and "deeper level" (the ideas of the author) and depending how well these things meld together in someone's head can hugely impact the enjoyment. But in my case these elements kind of drifted around. At times amidst all the ugliness I just wanted to hear more of the philosophy, more food for thought. At times, just see the next part and make sense of the whole. Ultimately I really enjoyed Subahibi for what it was. The story itself is interesting with utterly fascinating and many-faceted characters and it challenges the reader to think in the most wonderful way possible. Yet, there's still this nagging feeling that I failed to truly appreciate it. Usually, as I look back at what I've done and read, and regret my lack of knowledge and understanding. A truly trite though of course, because without that I would know even less. But when it comes to Subahibi I feel like If I could have had the chance to read it when I was younger, more naïve, Subahibi could have something special. Who knows. But enough with existential crisis. If there's one thing that Subahibi does amazingly it's how it encourages the reader to think and read. My favorite parts of the VN are when the characters are used to teach the reader something. Be it philosophy, mathematics, economy, or literature. Through these scenes SCA-DI not only shows his understanding and knowledge of these subjects, but most importantly his enthusiasm. A heartfelt feeling that something is fascinating and the wish to share it. And not just wanting to teach about something, but to try share that enthusiasm. There hasn't been any other work like Subahibi, that has managed to make me so readily visit library and research. Not because I felt like I wasn't able to understand something, but because I wanted to learn more about subject and go beyond what was taught to me. I've seen people being intimidated about Subahibi because they feel like they have to know philosophy to understand it. But I feel this is very wrong. Basics are very helpful of course, but Subahibi is work that wants to teach you philosophy and how think. In fact, I think it's better to dive in to it knowing less and then studying inspired by it. Be brave and I dive into the unknown! Subahibi was curious experience and I'm still not quite sure how to feel about it. Fascinating it certainly is, in many ways. Like many have demonstrated Subahibi has the potential of being something truly special, and even if it won't end up that way for someone I feel like it has still lot to give.

Damn, that was a weird ride.

How did they ever think that making pokemon speak was ever a good idea.

Since i'd prolly give Rem 0/10 for being cancer, at least here i have some...oh and shit, everyone knows i have a weakness for 2B. 2B/10