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2018, A Year of Possibility in Visual Novels [source] ~ Leaving Behind the Old Year ~ Let's face it. 2017 was not an impressive year for Japanese visual novels. Sure, the OELVN scene had a breakout hit in the form of Doki Doki Literature Club. Sure, the VN localization industry amazed everyone with prominent official releases of super-popular titles like Muv-Luv Alternative, Little Busters, and the never-before-translated Subarashiki Hibi, Dies irae, and Chaos;Child, to name a few. But the heart of the visual novel industry remains in Japan. And this year has been fairly mediocre for it. I mean, if you take a look at the numbers on Erogamescape (also known as EGS, it's Japan's equivalent of VNDB), you'll find that Hikari no Umi no Apeiria [vndb], and Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart 2 [vndb] were the only VNs with a median around the mid-80's or higher and more than a hundred votes [EGS source data]. For reference, 2016 had 6 titles at that level: Island, Chaos;Child, Akeiro Kaikitan, Utawarerumono 3, Tokyo Necro, and Baldr Heart. Of course, that data point doesn't tell the full story. EGS is geared toward eroge players; in terms of pure adventure games (also known as ADV, the common way Japanese players refer to visual novels) New Danganronpa V3 [vndb] was very well-received. (V3 is also the only 2017 VN among VNDB's top 100.) The very recently released Kiniro Loveriche's [vndb] reception has been extremely positive, and though it hasn't had time to accumulate votes yet, I'm optimistic it will stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Apeiria. It's not like there aren't an assortment of noteworthy VNs that merely fall short of the top tier statistically, such as Ouka Sabaki [vndb] and ChronoBox [vndb]. Fans of particular studios like SMEE [vndb], Purple software [vndb], and Moonstone [vndb] were also able to get their fix this year. The VN industry is far from dead; if anything, it's evolving to fill various niches. But that's a whole other topic. The bottom line is I'm ready to move on from 2017. And once you see what's in store for us in 2018, I'm sure you will be, too. ~ Ringing in the New Year, Along with Potential Kamige ~ Every year has promising titles. Unfortunately, they often don't live up to their promise. Still, some titles are so promising--the studios behind them so reputable, the staff working on them so consistent, so little room for error--that it's hard not to get excited. There are, in my opinion, 5 such confirmed titles for 2018. ~ Summer Pockets (Key) - June 29, Delay Likely ~ Let's start with this one, because it's the one I'm personally most hyped for. To state the obvious, Summer Pocket is a major ADV from Key. No matter who the staff behind it is, you'd be foolish to underestimate it. Key's complete major titles are Kanon, Air, Clannad, Little Busters, and Rewrite. (I skipped Angel Beats because it's not complete.) Every one of these VNs is resoundingly famous. But let's pretend we don't know that Key, with its reputation for ambitious works that are patiently crafted rather than quickly pumped out, is behind Summer Pockets. Instead, let's take a look at the staff. The heart of Summer Pockets is Niijima Yuu. He's the mastermind behind Hatsuyuki Sakura, a massive hit from 2012. His prose is hilarious, fresh, and really endears you to the characters. With his tendency toward fanservice and lewd humor, and the way it's always hard to discern the supernatural from the metaphorical in his narratives, he has a lot in common with Maeda Jun. ...Hopefully you already knew this because you've read Hatsusaku. Nobody should miss out on that one, whether they're a romance fan, an action fan, a mystery fan, or a FEELS fan. Anyway, the problem with Niijima Yuu is that he can't be allowed too much creative control. If he is, you end up with the likes of his later works Majo Koi Nikki and Koi x Shin Ai Kanojo, where he made creative decisions that alienated many players. When he was with Saga Planets, they reined him in well. When he was with Amuse Craft, they obviously didn't. But he announced a period of self-reflection in response to Koikake's criticisms. And he adopted a very humble attitude in the first Summer Pockets interview from back in December 2016. Furthermore, Key is a company incredibly concerned about its brand identity, and on top of that, Summer Pocket is constrained by Maeda's outline. So I'm confident that Niijima's strengths will truly shine through, like they haven't since Hatsusaku. And my optimism has been boosted further by all the Summer Pockets info released this past week. Not only are the character designs and backgrounds beautiful, but the excerpts of scenes with each heroine are charming and demonstrate that yes, this is Niijima at his finest. On a final note, it's very possible that Summer Pockets will be delayed--hopefully not past 2018--because Niijima's recent tweet indicated that he's not at all confident he'll be done with the scenario in time for a June 29 release. ~ Kimi to Mezameru Ikutsuka no Houhou (Navel) - April 27 ~ I won't say a lot about this one. I'm not a Navel expert; I've watched the Shuffle anime, and read Oretsuba and Tsuriotsu, but that's it. One reason I'm so optimistic about Kimimeza is rooted in the way Navel handles their creative works. A cynical way to look at it is that they squeeze all their works dry with at least one or two fandiscs, often way more than that. A better way to look at it is that they rarely put out a title that doesn't deserve fandiscs. Navel has finally moved on from Tsuriotsu, and I believe they haven't done so casually. The real question, to me, is how much of a creative role Jackson will play. A fair amount of what made Tsuriotsu so special to me came from Jackson (yes, I'm aware of what interviews and such say, and I believe it's deceptive). We know Jackson does miscellaneous work for Navel, but will he involve himself in this new VN? Or will Navel just let Kazuki Fumi do what he wants within a particular framework, and hope for a decent reception? Even if Kazumi Fumi doesn't receive any support from Jackson, Kimimeza could still wildly succeed. He's a talented writer who wrote Gun Knight Girl and Akeiro Kaikitan, among others, and the constraints of Navel's brand identity could help refine the finished product into one that's broadly appreciated. The premise of Kimimeza feels really interesting, not overly generic but not silly or half-assed either--it's the premise of Chobits where a guy finds an abandoned android, except the girl isn't an android, she's disguised as an android but actually a victim of human organ trafficking, plus there are apparently assassins. Although the story seems like it'll be exciting, the fact that there are only 3 main heroines makes me wonder if Kimimeza will be smaller-scale than Tsuriotsu. Still, there are plenty of reasons to pay attention. ~ Rance 10 (Alice Soft) - February 23 ~ Rance needs no introduction, and doesn't lack proponents. The Rance games are always above average in quality, and they always sell well. In case you hadn't heard about Rance 10 in particular, it will be the final one in the series. As the concluding chapter, the big question is whether fans will consider this a fitting end that wraps everything up the way they hope it will. My gut is telling me that it will be. What's also awesome about Rance 10 is that once it's out and the series is over, people like me who aren't into the series will no longer have to feel jealous that they can't join in on the hype. ~ Minikui Mojika no Ko (Nitroplus) - Summer ~ The literary core of the current Nitroplus, and the brain behind many ambitious and unique titles, Shimokura Vio, is making a new eroge. I haven't researched this much, and not a lot has been announced either (maybe more has been mentioned in interviews that I'm just not aware of). The tagline is "I (僕) know your ugliness (醜さ)" and the title is a play on "The Ugly Duckling". "Mojika" is probably a reference to 文字禍 (lit. "letter calamity"), Nakajima Atsushi's 1942 short story about a fatal curse upon an Assyrian king, which originated from a spirit (霊) of written language (文字). I'm not someone who reads classic Japanese literature, so I don't know more than that. In any case, my impression is that it will be another deconstructive work by Shimokura. ~ Sakura no Toki (Makura) - TBA ~ Is it stupid of me to assume that the sequel to Sakura no Uta, of all VNs, will actually come out within a mere year, rather than suffer delay after delay? Probably, but it's being steadily developed and Sca-ji initially aimed to release it in 2017, so the whole of 2018 should be enough time, unless... well, unless history repeats itself. Again, this will be the sequel to Sakura no Uta, the best VN in the last half a decade. And it'll be done by the same writer, and probably mostly the same audiovisual staff (too lazy to check). Although it's possible that it won't be as ambitious as Sakura no Uta, it will naturally feature Sca-ji's writing and have some excellent parts, and probably be rated highly too. I don't have much to say about Rance 10, Minikui Mojika no Ko, and Sakura no Toki, because their staff situations aren't as complicated as Summer Pockets and Kimimeza, as far as I can tell. ~ Other Notable Titles~ Many other VNs will be both announced and released in 2018, so this is far from a representative portion, but here a few other titles that caught my eye. Sorry if I missed your favorites, hypothetical reader. Kieta Sekai to Tsuki no Shoujo on January 26: A collaboration between La'cryma and Hiyoko Soft. I love Kamiya (writer of fortissimo), but although he's involved with the scenario, it doesn't seem like he's personally writing it. The developers announced they'd be deliberately concealing the staff who work on this. I'm also a little afraid it may repeat the mistakes of Lass with an overly dark scenario. But it's worth paying attention to. Butterfly Seeker on March 30: Another Silky's Plus VN, this one is from Unabara Nozomu, writer of Fairytale Requiem and Shinsou Noise. (The writer of Apeiria doesn't have any announced VNs in the works, if you were wondering.) Riddle Joker on March 30: The new Yuzusoft VN. Many moege fans swear by Yuzusoft, and although their VNs usually aren't rated very high, they sell very well. Toishi Hiroki (an apparently decent writer) will also be taking part in this one. ~ Other Predictions for 2018 ~ My wild prediction is that 2018 will be the year that people accept that the eroge industry won't be pumping out kamige like Fate/stay night or Muv-Luv Alternative reliably any more, and won't be standing at the cutting edge of moe again anytime soon, but still has unique worth as a medium and will continue to steadily produce awesome works that rival any popular anime or manga. The big investors and talented writers are mostly gone, but in exchange, studios are getting smarter and playing to the medium's strengths. Maybe we'll also see people categorize less in terms of eroge versus console ADV, and more in terms of (doujin) eroge versus commercial ADV.

After Silvz's idea to make a new list of recommendations, I decided to make one just for otomege, because the general list will not have a single one. Probably. So you can look here if you're in the mood for some romance games with female protagonists. First of all, this list is MY OPINION so it's not like only those are good, the rest is trash (Or "you put xyz in here, this game is trash!"). Also, I tried to put all types of things in here, from dating sims to plotges, even if some of those titles aren't thaaaaaaat good for me simply bc it didn't fall in what I usually like (I prefer plotges than charages, mind you). Of course, you're free to add some feedback, this list is not definitive. The order is completely random, nº 1 game is not necessarely better than nº 7! It's too much work to add descriptions, so I'll put at least important tags for you to see what can interest you. Of course I didn't include the "Romance" tag bc every single one of these games have it. The only ones that have sexual content are the ones I said. This list contains both translated and untranslated stuff. I'll probably do one for BL games too... Translated Otomeges 01 - Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Notable tags: Steampunk, Strong Female Protagonist, Alchemy 02 - Hakuouki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Notable tags: Edo Era, Hero based on Real Person, Sword Combat 03 - Black Wolves Saga ~Bloody Nightmare~ Notable tags: Medieval Fantasy, Madness, Discrimination 04 - Nameless ~The One Thing You Must Recall~ Notable tags: Modern Day Korea, Living Doll Hero, Drama 05 - Collar x Mallice Notable tags: Terrorism, Police, Mystery 06 - Amnesia: Memories Notable tags: Unique Routes, Drama, Alternate Dimensions 07 - The Second Reproduction Notable tags: Fighting Protagonist, Fantasy, Demons 08 - Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ Notable tags: Literary Adaptation, Trapped, More than Seven Heroes 09 - Cinderella Phenomenon Notable tags: Proactive Protagonist, Curse, Fairy Tale (This one is an OELVN) 10 - Ayakashi Gohan Notable tags: Youkai, Countryside, Multiple Common Routes 11 - Dandelion ~Wishes Brought To You~ Notable tags: Kemonomimi Hero, Dating Simulation, Non-Japanese Voice Acting (Seriously, use a walkthrough for this one) 12 - Norn 9: Var Commons Notable tags: Protagonist Selection, ESP, Dystopia 13 - Ozmafia!! Notable tags: Dramatic Love Triangle, Same Roof, Amnesia 14 - Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome Notable tags: Slice of Life Comedy, Joke Endings, Sexual Content 15 - Bad Apple Wars Notable tags: Afterlife, High School, Nakige 16 - Cupid Notable tags: Gothic Romance, Mystery, Protagonist with Psychological Problems (This one is an OELVN) Untranslated Otomeges 17 - Shinigami to Shoujo Notable tags: Brother/Sister Romance, Philosophy, Episodic Story (Several times I heard people said that this one is the "kamige" of the otomes) 18 - Ken ga Kimi Notable tags: Edo Era, Youkai, Sword Combat 19 - Clock Zero ~Shuuen no Ichibyou~ Notable tags: Nakige, Post Apocalyptic Earth, Genre Shift 20 - Yoshiwara Higanbana Notable tags: Drama, Brothel, Sexual Content (Bring tissues) 21 - Kokuchou no Psychedelica Notable tags: Life and Death Drama, Trapped, Monsters (Aksys will localize this one next year!) 22 - Watashi no Real wa Juujitsu Shisugiteiru Notable tags: Otaku Protagonist, Same Roof, High School (Super easy to self insert here, but I don't really play for that) 23 - Sakuya Notable tags: Robot Hero, Future Japan, Sexual Content (The free version, without the sexual content and with only one route, is actually translated with VNR user-submitted subs) 24 - Danzai no Maria ~The Exorcism of Maria~ Notable tags: Christian Church, Magic, Timed Choices 25 - Bloody Call Notable tags: Action, Fantasy, High School (the "chuuniest" of the bunch) Extra Stuff If you think that 25 is not enough, you can also try these novels recommended to me by awesome forum guys! 26 - Cinders (EN) Notable tags: Fairy Tale, Lots of Choices, Proactive Protagonist (suggestion by Plk_Lesiak, confirmed to be an otomege by Tamaki Sakura, but Palas added that it's not really focused in romance, thanks everyone for the feedback! Btw, this is an OELVN) 27 - Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story (EN) Notable tags: Dating Simulation, High School, Threesome Ending (suggestion by onorub) 28 - Arcana Famiglia (JP) Notable tags: Mute Protagonist, Comedy, Italian Mafia (thanks onorub to make me remember that it exists >.<) 29 - Café 0 Series (EN) Notable tags: Death of Protagonist, Multiple Routes Mystery, Life and Death Drama (suggestion by SeniorBlitz) 30 - The Confines of the Crown (EN) Notable tags: Fighting Protagonist, Strong Female Protagonist, Multiple Route Mystery (suggestion by Palas. This is an OELVN)

Having studied Japanese for close to three years now myself, through both self study and at a university, I'd say your best bet is finding a class at a nearby college/ university, if you can. Taking a class with native Japanese speaking professors is a 10x more efficent way of studying the language than trying to handle the task all by yourself. That being said, if you're set on self study, then I recommend buying some proper textbooks to start with. There are many good online resources, but textbooks are generally less overwhelming. From experience, I find that self study in the early stages can easily lead you to the point where you think, "Ok, I'm done learning what this website had to offer! What now? Uh, I guess I'm basically fluent!" (Spoilers: you're not.) Your number 1 priority should be learning the kana, then you should combine grammar, kanji and vocabulary. Grammar being the most important, vocabulary coming second, and kanji third. But, you should not ignore any of them, as they are all pretty important. I personally recommend the Genki books, as they give you a good introduction to the grammar forms that forms the base for the language. You also learn a decent amount of common use kanji, and a good chunk of helpful vocabulary. It also comes with a CD and a workbook, so you can test yourself using the workbook, and check that you aren't pronouncing anything incorrectly with the CD. (You might have to buy the workbook separately.)

Not taking anything from the effort and general usefulness of the Kaguya's list, I would be all for replacing it with/transforming it into a few smaller, genre-specific ones. I think it would be much more convenient, TBH a list of 50 "must-read" titles is a bit more headache-inducing than useful to me personally - it's probably thousands of hours of reading material and when I'm actually looking for recommendations, it's for something much more specific than just universally recognized "kamige" - I can just look those out by userscores on VNDB. Also, making this kind of list makes sense mostly if it gets a permanent, visible place on the forums, so it can serve people that are new to VNs or those exploring new genres. A blog entry would just get buried under tons of other posts after a few weeks and no one would be able to find it later without some serious forums archaeology - it would simply miss the point.

Don't bully poor Rem.

While there might still be a few hours of 2017 left for you American pig-dog imperialists, who dominate this site, here in Europe midnight is closing in. On this occassion I wish you all a happy new year, with a lot of time for your favorite otaku media, quality western VN releases and all your dreams coming through. Let's have a lot of fun in 2018 and let's Make Fuwa Great Again! Happy New Year!

Flutterz's powers are weak. I need the power of a global mod to ban me.

I only need 4 more quartz for a 10-roll so more apologems are welcome, I guess

Haha if we be pig nosed imperialists then what does that make you? But yes even if it is not yet over 2017 is heading towards a screaming death It will be good riddance I will be happy that it is over Hopefully 2018 is better than the year that came before it

Lucid9 is a stand-alone experience without question, but it ends on something of a cliffhanger. Furthermore, the game has a number of choices which will only prove more relevant in the 'rest' of the game. It feels more like the first title in a duology, but I understand why one would say it's incomplete. It is, technically, just a giant, self-contained common route. Some games have those, except they also have the routes right after.

Not a bad way for my life to end

Frankly, I also had problems to confirm if this game is really a otomege. I didn't played it either. But if you can confirm it for me, and think it's worth it, I can switch Ken ga Kimi for it, since the latter have tons of traits that Hakuouki have already.

Us on south-america are still on 2017 :< I'm still getting prepared to the festivities and all. It's nice to know that in the future the world hasn't ended yet!

yes year of doggo is the best

One of us. One of us. One of us.

Happy new year to you as well I'm so grateful for you translating Pure Pure and i'm looking forward to next year when I can finally read this VNby km

I am from Brazil and never had such problems (bought a few games from Mangagamer and Denpasoft), but then again, prostitution itself is legal here (but pimping isnt, so our laws tecnically protect freelance prostitutes ) and we really dont care about porn. Honestly, i feel like people can become way too paranoid with this stuff, the chances of you getting into trouble with this are less than getting yourself involved with a plane crash on a flight travel. Trust me, there are far "worse" illicit things that also get a free pass within Paraguay (and brazil as well), like smuggling (of all kinds, including PC hardware).

You can always just ban yourself. Make a throwaway email account, change your Fuwa email to that, change your Fuwa password to something random, then change the password of your throwaway email and delete your cookies for both sites.

So guys, it is here! The new year! Thank you very much for your support in 2017! Let's remember this as the year where Pure Pure has been reborn again. And let the year 2018 be the year, where we finally can read and finish together the story of Sachi, Hinata, Miwa, Tobari, Midou and the MC Jun. I would've never imagined that we would get such a huge interest in so old novel and yet it has happened. I want to say, that you are all great and I hope the TL will be to your liking. I also want thank to the former FOTS translations because it's partly because of them that we are here finishing Pure Pure. And the last thanks goes to Fuwanovel who is still watching our progress and informs people about this project as well. We are very gratefull to all of you, it's also because of you that this project exists. Happy new year to everyone, stay healthy and let's enjoy more and more novels together! Aki and the rest of the Abyss TL team!

No one really brings it up.

This is the list, as it currently stands, of VNs being considered and those previously considered but disqualified for VN of the Year 2017. While this year hasn't been good for producing kamige, it has succeeded in producing a number of memorable ones. Being Considered Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu Oni ga Kuru. ~Ane ga Hinshi de Pinchi Desu~ Haruru Minamo ni Suisei Ginka Additions from 12/30/2017 Bakumatsu Jinchuu Houkoku Resshiden Miburo Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary Aoi Tori Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de Eliminated/disqualified candidates/Runners-up Silverio Trinity (Disqualified for being a direct sequel incapable of standing on its own) Shin Koihime Musou -Kakumei- (ditto to above... with the addendum that it is also a remake) Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou (realistically, this VN just hits my sweet spot and really isn't VN of the Year material) Fuyu Uso (similar to Trinity and Koihime) Hikari no Umi no Apeiria (funny, interesting, but ultimately falls short) Additions from 12/30/2017 Kin'iro Loveriche (fun, good feels, but not quite there) Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha (great first job by a new company, but it isn't a finalist) Junjou Karen Freaks (funny fantasy with mimikko, but not quite there) Bokura no Sekai no Shukufuku o (great nakige, great story, but not a finalist)

I sure agree when it goes to Analogue. I've also heard great things about Lucid9 but haven't played it yet. I can already add Kindred Spirits on the Roof and Flowers series when it goes to yuri. Althought if we just go dropping titles like that I pity anyone trying to turn it into a list of any kind. ;]

Opa! I see people interested everywhere! I agree that redoing the list would be too much, and also that we could think of a completely new version. And Kaguya, even though you were only recommending based on your opinion, for the time it was a useful list when I barely knew what VNs even were, and that is why I think it would be a nice thing to return this to the community. What everybody should do now is to present titles you think would be interesting to be on the list, and after we have enough, we can start picking the "best" ones.

Seems like a nice idea, but I always liked Clephas' lists by genres/themes better. :3 (No, I'm not asking for an update on those! It's just an example of types of lists I like!) I really wanted to help, but guess people here knows that I play mostly otome and BL, and barely if any will ever make the cut in a 50 VNs to read thread. I could do a separate list just for this (a thread? a blog entry?), if there's enough people interested in it, because it's a lot of work...

the list was supposed to be just my opinion instead of a community thing. I can make a new one if people care enough about it, though of course, you're more than welcome to do your own thing as well. At that point, might as well just do a popularity poll though. More than reflecting what the community likes overall, that thread was just me recommending stuff I like.

NSFW?

I don't know if I would like this I like women with actual noses and lips I think I would settle for a nice fox tail and ears though

All hail our mighty neko overlords.