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This is not my VNTS Review, but rather I kind of want to do my version of 'Top 10 best rated translated VN at 2017' for a long while, so here goes. Seeing that we already has Conjueror posted his video in regard of that subject on Youtube, I decided to make similar list here because personally I didn't agree with some of his choice. That said, most of my pick here was still similar to him though. As for the rule, no yaoi and otome here. Also I'll use Japanese VN name and add the English name for the alias. For the score I'll use both of VNDB average and Erogamescape average, and keep in mind that it'll be fluctuate at the future - VNDB average score was based on December 4th, 2024 for the info. Let's see what I could write in this review here, and I'll explain the title in PS later. Beware of the spoiler when you play the opening. 10. Hatsukoi 1/1 (VNDB 7.19, Erogamescape 70) This is the first VN translation work for Tsurezure (Previously they scanlated manga), and I think they did the good job in regard of HatsuKoi translation because they're working on this pretty fast. This is the first translated Tone Work's VN as well, and as we knew usually they'll gonna have descriptive detail in regard of the relationship. As for the premise, it was very simple with the MC was forming cafetaria club with five girls. For the MC himself, the opinion from the reader was quite unfavorable to say the least. So much that the staff need to post apology video in regard of MC, which mean most of the people hate him because the MC could have some face-palming action that caused the situation goes worse. Other than that I like it though that they got some vocal song from different singers in this VN, and apparently they'll repeat that feat in both of Hoshiori (Tsurezure planned next project) and Gin'iro Haruka (Ginharu). One more thing to note that this is the shortest Tone Work's VN, because it didn't span years in lengthy detail like at both of Hoshiori and Ginharu. 9. Wagamama High Spec (VNDB 7.26, Erogamescape 76) My first impression in regard of this was not good though, if only because of how the female breast was drawn (It's too big) and the same face that the heroines have (I tried to not bothered with it though). But if you look past that art, actually this VN was pretty good because it show some comedy and good character development for the girls in which each girls did have their specialty. There's also another factor in regard of the developer (Madosoft) last VN in which it was Yakimochi Stream (Nukige like VN), so of course Wagahigh here was the major improvement from Yakimochi. The premise was the MC is a mangaka that was supposed to be the secret at his school, at least until the student council president knew that and sort of rope the MC to join the council in exchange of keep MC's secret. Turned out that the president was also the mangaka as well - and was supposed to be MC's partner in manga writing to boot, something that the MC learned after he joined the council. 8. Chrono Clock (VNDB 7.33, Erogamescape 71) The first Purplesoft VN that was localized, and let's just say that the translation choice for this is quite divisive (Either like it, dislike it, or just neutral). The premise is that our rich MC Rei did have a pocket watch from his grandfather, and with the pocket watch he's been able to turn back the time by five minutes. Even though the power is quite powerful, our Rei was mostly use the clock to search his girlfriend by confessing and then turned back the time. One day, he met Miu who was saved by Rei turning back the time after she did fall down and dead, and our Rei did impressed by seeing Miu's determination to confess to his best friend. From there Rei decided to help Miu while at the same time fall in love with her. While at first glance the man heroine is Miu looking from the prologue alone, actually the true main heroine in here is Cro who is the goddess that reside inside Rei's clock and thus the reason of why Rei's clock did have power. Also while I did say prologue here, I felt that it's not the case because we see Miu's development in the prologue and that Miu's route is more like her ending, so we can say that Miu's route here is the prologue (I did call it Miu's arc) and her ending. 7. Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki aka Saku Saku Love Blooms with the Cherry Blossom (VNDB 7.34, Erogamescape 69) I still remember that this VN was started as the translation project for Shinku TL with some steady progress back at 2014. At first I expected that they'll release the patch quickly, but then suddenly the updates was stopped at QC progress until one day Akerou did announce that he'll go to vacation in order to have some rest. Little we knew that back then Akerou already asked some help from Sekai in order to do the QC (Sell it to Sekai), and then Sekai announced that they help Saku Saku QC (Announced the license) back at AX 2016 in which it shocked me very hard. Even then, Sekai still have delayed the release twice back at August 2017 end (Mismanagement on the release date) before finally manage to release it back at October 2017 The premise was that our MC got a bounty of 21,000 yen to anyone else who managed to make him fall in love, because the MC was known as romance consultant and yet he himself is unable to fall in love which ironically caused by his role as the romance consultant seeing he need to hears a bunch of troubles related to love. The MC's problem is increasing when he meet a shinigami (Tina) who remind him of his childhood when he saw a shinigami, and Tina herself did insist that she's a love fairy who will help the MC love become true (A lousy one though seeing that she use dramatic romance manga as the reference). As for the graphic, it's very beautiful so at least you can enjoy the graphic there if the story is no good for you, seeing not everyone are the fan of the drama that happen in this VN. 6. Da Capo 3 (VNDB 7.49, Erogamescape 77) This one VN have some history with our Fuwanovel here, namely that there's first attempt of translating this by our founder Aaeru. Her method is quite divisive though because she'd use VNR which could be amounted as MTL to most of the people. Even so Aaeru keep working on this until she managed to release the prologue patch, only for Mangagamer to C&D her after they got the wind on this. After that she was disappear from the forum and nowadays nobody knew where she is. Anyway, what's done is done and we finally get the release back at 2017 January (By Mangagamer obviously). For the premise, it was set at 2072 after Everlasting Sakura was wither after Da Capo 2 event (The reason of why at 2072 is spoiler though), only to have that tree mysteriously blooming again. So more or less it's just usual Da Capo, and as for play order I would suggest you to play the first side story before going to common route because it's the real prologue for Da Capo 3 (Note that the Prologue and Common Route in Da Capo 3 did have VERY different setting). As for the opening here, there's too much opening for this so I'll just use the first opening in which it's very misleading because it only depict the situation at the Prologue (At least it did have 2D drawing). 5. Dies Irae (VNDB 8.10, Erogamescape 87) I'm sure that everyone already knew this VN, along with another certain well known VN that released at 2017 as well. But just for the formality I'll write the premise in which case it goes like there's a group of Germany who involved in some dark ritual which involved absorbing the souls in order to strengthen themselves, and the only one who could possibly put the stop of the group was the MC (Fuuji Ren) himself. From there, Ren and the group would engage in very crazy battle with the world at stake. If it sounds cliche, then yes the premise is a cliche one. But the strength of Dies Irae was supposed to be the prose that was hard to be translated, and perhaps to allow the reader immerse in the reading. Although it got some infamy though because of that as well, namely that the prose itself was pretty long and roundabout at that for some people so it might be not for everyone. Oh, and there's also some charismatic gods who is managed to get some attention. I'll post the all age version opening, because all age version is the best one with side stories available and most people would prefer it over 18+ version (I also recommend that you should play all age version instead of 18+ version here, even though the latter did have 'passionate Hitomi Nabatame-voiced love-making' scene). 4. Seabed (VNDB 8.16, Erogamescape 80) As for the scoring, since the number of votes was still very few this VN will be the most fluctuative one. As for the premise, it was very simple in which we got a woman (Sachiko) who has her lover disappear and from there she'll try to recover from the heartbreak that caused by the disappearance by the help of her childhood friend (Narasaki) who is also a psychiatrist. By the way Sachiko's lover (Takako) here was the woman as well, so we'll gonna get some yuri VN from the first glance although there'll be no explicit sex scenes though seeing that it's all age VN. Seeing that Sachiko seek some psychiatrist, there'll be some talk in regard of psychology in which it may confusing for some people out there. From there we'll going to see what's going on in Seabed through three POV (Sachiko, Takako, and Narasaki). The VN itself is a doujin one and didn't have voice, although seeing that we have example the good doujin VN that didn't have voice (ie Umineko and Fata Morgana before being ported to the consoles) I would say that you should try Seabed here to see it by yourself, and if anything at least the art is better than Umineko default art. 3. Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen aka Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (VNDB 8.32, Erogamescape 82) The first part of Utawarerumono sequel duology, in that it tell the story several years after first Utawarerumono. While at first it mean that you'll follow the older casts, actually in here you'll follow the new casts and the old casts here only have role as the cameo (Even though the role that the cameos have is not exactly small). So in order to enjoy this VN you better adapt with the new characters here, because we'll following them for the whole VN. As for the premise, we have our amnesiac man who find himself under treatment of a girl who capable in medicine. After the girl find out that the man did forget his name, the girl decided to call the man as Haku and the girl introduce herself as Kuon. From there both of Haku and Kuon will go to imperial city in order to find the job for Haku even though Haku just want to laze around, and from there the duo will eventually entangled in wars like back at first Utawarerumono. For more info the setting here is that the people except Haku have animal ears, and that Utawarerumono here is gameplay VN (SRPG) with the gameplay for the sequel here is vastly improved compared to the prequel. The most important thing in here is that it's only the first part of duology, so naturally the ending in here is a cliffhanger one and the second part (Futari no Hakuoro aka Mask of Truth) will pick up from the ending. 2. Chaos Child (VNDB 8.35, Erogamescape 85) Unfortunately so far it's for console only, so no PC version for now. That said, Committee of Zero promised us that someday they'll port Chaos Child PS4 translation to PC version, so there's that. Anyway, the premise was we have another serial murder in Shibuya which eerily resembled the one back at Chaos Head (The prequel), which of course would be quite graphic considering that in the past Nitroplus was involved with Chaos Head. From there, it's up to MC and his girls teammate to solve the problem and ease the anxiety of Shibuya. Forget to say that the casts also have some kind of superpower here. From what I read apparently the girls route was not quite satisfying (The girls good as eye candy though if that's the case lol), so at least it could be interpreted that the writing was more focused on the main story which is full of sci-fi. Oh, and actually this is more in line with Steins Gate instead of original Chaos Head. As for the opening, I'll post PS4 version below because it would be more fitting seeing that we have PS4 version release for overseas here, and personally I prefer PS4 version opening (Singularity). 1. Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~ aka Wonderful Everyday ~Diskontinuierliches Dasein~ (VNDB 8.70, Erogamescape 86) As for this VN we definitely have many history with this in regard of the translation, and this VN is another well known VN that I said back at Dies Irae. Long story short, it was started as TL Wiki project since back at 2012 before it was officially localized by Frontwing who expanded their business into localized the VN overseas. I think in regard of this they did good job for that, although there's a matter of censorship though (Not as bad as Pulltop because only the picture was censored, and it was quite disturbing for some people). As for the premise, it was in regard of the world which about to face the apocalypse at July 20th 2012, and this VN depict that day from several perspective - the beginning of Subahibi was deceivingly present this VN as yuri harem VN though. What make this VN was good was apparently some say that it could change of how one would view his life, although if one want to be more realistic it's a denpa story which is belong to a horror genre - some contents could be disturbing because it could be happen in the real life as well. In the end, while this VN was divisive enough I would say that you should try it once. Forget to said that Frontwing did add Germany subtitle for this, just like Grisaia trilogy with French subtitle. That's all for my top 10 here. In the future I'll try to write my list for 2016 as well later to show of how easy the VNs score was fluctuated in VNDB, and of course to compare the score difference in one year as well between Conjueror's video and now. Hope you like my post here. PS - As for the title, I just combined both of Chaos Child and Subahibi title into 'Chaotic Everyday'. The explanation is that the 'Chaotic' part was come from 'Chaos', and 'Everyday' was come from Subarashiki Hibi (Translator's Note: Hibi mean Everyday).

Now, I know what you are wondering... 'Why did Clephas pick a charage for a random VN this time around?" The answer is not as straightforward as usual.... This game is about as close to being the 'perfect' charage as I've ever encountered. That's not to say it is exceptional in every way. There are better written and better presented charage out there. However, I've yet to encounter a charage that utilizes every single element included to the greatest degree possible like this one does. First, the protagonist is not just the average guy, but neither is he super-exceptional. He is just interesting enough to make a good viewpoint (his fear of women, his skill at martial arts, and the taste for cross-dressing he tries to deny) for a game like this without his personality dominating everything. His issues are vital to all the paths, though in different ways due to the way they intertwine with the heroines' issues. Second, the heroines are all fairly interesting... or at least funny, if they aren't intellectually interesting (Honoka's tendency to see everyone around her as food when she hasn't eaten in the last hour is one example). The actual paths are split into three arcs... the Rielle Arc, the Honoka/Rin Arc, and the Renka/Senri Arc. Each arc approaches the protagonist's own issues differently, ranging from a gradual healing (Rielle) to confronting the source (Honoka/Rin), to a wildly different approach (won't spoil it: Renka/Senri). This game is brilliantly executed and not dependent on H-content to support it as a whole (which is probably why the game got ported five times), which is a huge plus, since most charage tend to be reliant on dating and h-content to fill out the heroine paths. This game doesn't waste time. While there is plenty of slice-of-life, much of it amusing, all of it moves the story - and not so incidentally, Yuuki's personal growth - forward. There is not a single wasted element in this story, and that is a feat in and of itself... I once referred to this game as 'bare bones', but that was probably not the right expression. This game is filled out nicely... it just doesn't waste time on stuff that has nothing to do with story advancement or character development. Overall, if you want to know what the charage ideal looks like, this is a good choice. While it isn't a kamige, it is a game that hits all the spots charage are meant to hit without seeming puerile or shallow to a reader like me, who is more than a little jaded. Edit: It should be noted that the phenomenon of 'heroines devouring the protagonist', where the heroines' strength of character pretty much buries the protagonist, does not occur in this VN, which is a feat in and of itself. For obvious reasons, most charage heroines are far more interesting than their protagonist, but that often results in a game that feels unbalanced and is vaguely unsatisfying, because many writers actually put down the protagonist to make the heroines shine more... thus leaving a vague feeling of dissatisfaction behind in the end. Edit2: Adding heroine, character descriptions below. Protagonist Kusunoki Yuuki- Yuuki is a reasonably intelligent (slightly above average) young man who is well known for his good heart and ability to put others before himself. When he tries to confess to his girlfriend, a young woman named Ran, she tells him she only went out with him as part of a penalty game and dumps him. As a result, he becomes unable to trust females and instinctively rejects interpersonal contact, even with his own little sister Tatsuki and his childhood friend Honoka. He quite naturally acts for the sake of others, despite this mental illness, and as a result he is a natural harem-builder. However, he is also as dense as the containment for a fission reactor core, meaning that he never notices. This comes at least in part from his inability to trust the feelings of women. He is a skilled martial-artist and very good at fighting one-on-one, but he has no talent for handling multiple opponents at once. Heroines Rielle Anderson- The CEO of the Anderson Corporation, an orphan girl who built her fortune from almost nothing in a matter of years. She is behind the new city policy that encourages romance, as well as engineering the 'love-war events' that are being tested at Yuuki's school. She is very blunt and expressive, as well as being highly aggressive when it comes to getting what she wants. She has a ruthless side, but it is not something she indulges to excess (she is a CEO after all). However, she, like Yuuki, tends to put others before herself when it comes to those she cares about, and she frequently indulges in philanthropy. Suzushiro Rin- One of Yuuki's classmates and a close friend of Honoka. She is extremely distrustful of men due to her past experiences, and her reactions to men tend to range from dry and disinterested to outright malice. The exception is Yuuki, with whom she finds herself forming a sort of rapport almost from the beginning, due to his affliction. At her core, she is a kind-hearted and considerate young woman, but her experiences have rendered her with one of the most terrible of all afflictions... tsundere-ism. Hiiragi Honoka- Yuuki's childhood friend and the person hurt the most by his inability to be close with women. She is a sweet, somewhat airheaded young woman with an insanely protective side directed toward Yuuki. She has been in love with him from childhood, but he never notices... and she is too much of a hetare to confess her love to him. When she gets hungry (which is often) she goes into a state where those around her start looking tasty, and she begins fantasizing about how she would cook them... with utter seriousness. She feels deeply and acts really directly in response to those feelings, especially when it comes to Yuuki. Hazakura Renka- The vice-president of the student council. Normally, she is a serious, somewhat uptight young woman with genius level intelligence, but when she sees Yuuki she becomes a prowling panther, panting after him as if he were a delicious-looking deer. She is close with Senri and the only person who can jerk her up short... and vise-versa. She is one of the very few people around Yuuki who don't set off his condition, and she is always very considerate about it, even going so far as to subtly lead him away from areas where females gather. Asagiri Senri- Called 'the Prince' for her behavior that looks like it came straight out of a shoujo manga, Senri takes a certain pleasure in being surrounded by females and naturally hits on any female that crosses her path. She takes a shine to Yuuki early on, after Renka becomes obsessed with him. Almost no one knows she is a woman, because she arranged things that way. She is a genius scientist who really doesn't need to attend school, but she does so for her own reasons, not the least of which her fondness for role-playing as the school's prince. Side Characters Azami Taiga- Yuuki and Honoka's childhood friend. He is a muscular guy who frequently gets treated like a delinquent, despite being about as far from one as it is possible to be. He is extremely protective of Yuuki, similar to Honoka, but he is also better than her about respecting his desire to change and encouraging him to break out of the shell he is trapped in. Unfortunately for him, almost everyone in the group that surrounds Yuuki and the class in general picks on him, and he ends up taking up the worst jobs in any given situation. Chigaya Rei- A teacher at Yuuki's school who is infamous for his heavy smoking habit and fondness for not coming to his own classes. His bad habit of getting off track during class makes him well-liked by the students, but most people wonder just how he manages to avoid getting fired. Kusunoki Tatsuki- Yuuki's little sister, she is madly in love with her older brother. When he begins rejecting all women, she discovers that she is a masochist and takes pleasure in the way he slaps her hand away and avoids her. She is Tsukumo's owner, and everyone but her knows that her job in life is to keep that particular monster in its cage. Kokonoei Tsukumo- A bisexual cosplayer and Tatsuki's closest friend. She moves entirely on instinct and is utterly uncontrollable, frequently stealing looks at Tatsuki's panties and stealing the panties themselves. She is incapable of forethought and has an unnatural instinct for knowing when and how to cause the most trouble. If it weren't for Tatsuki's ability to control her to some extent, she probably would have been expelled long ago. Rindou Anju- The school's banchou and the single most physically capable student at the school. She also is the child of the dojo that Yuuki attended and treats him as her underling... she is also one of two women Yuuki can actually deal with at close range from the beginning. Despite her attempts to act the lone wolf, Yuuki and the others inevitably manage to ruin her plans and make her seem likable, much to her consternation. Kuga Erika- One of Rielle's two maid assistants. She is a black-hearted young woman whose hobbies involve SM and writing down information in her 'blackmail diary' to use against others. While she technically has more common sense than Yuzuha, few would willingly want to deal with her over her sister. Kuga Yuzuha- A rude, violent young woman and one of Rielle's two maid assistants, primarily acting as a bodyguard and troubleshooter. She is easygoing and friendly to those with the right attitude and combative when provoked. When drunk, she reverts to a small child and tends to end up as a target for Erika's sadistic side. She keeps slacking off on the job and getting her pay cut, but she never learns her lesson. Tsubaki Koharu- Yuuki's homeroom teacher, a small woman in her late twenties who is obsessed over the fact that she still doesn't have a boyfriend. Her tendency to spiral into depression after mentioning this fact in class has become a regular source of amusement for her students, and Taiga generally gets the job of breaking her out of it.

Now, I love nothing more than an interesting setting, and I'm tired of normal charage in general... so one of the biggest points that can be used to draw me into a charage is a crazy setting. Crazy charage settings are settings that have no possibility whatsoever of happening in real life or are so far outside of common sense that they are inconceivable as a real possibility to most people. This includes fantasy settings and sci-fi settings, but more often it includes a simple concept taken to an extreme. There are several types that have become common in the last ten years (common as in they've popped up at least five times in the last ten years in different companies' VNs). The Love City/School Setting This is the second most common crazy setting that pops up in charage. To be blunt, it is a setting where love and romance are encouraged as a part of the law or by school rules. In this setting, love, sex, marriage, and/or children are desirable outcomes and the 'system' in those settings goes to weirdly extreme levels of effort and expense to create the desired result. This can be seen as a part of other crazy settings (such as Kamikaze Explorer, where having children as a student was encouraged) or on their own (as in Love Revenge, where romance was essentially forced on the students by the school's new owner), but this particular crazy setting has popped up at least fifteen times that I can think of off the top of my head in the last ten years. The Virtual World Setting This is the most common sci-fi setting, often mixing with fantasy ones, where a virtual world (partial or complete) is put into place either in common use or as a part of the main characters' lives. This has a relatively low rate of occurrence for a crazy setting on this list, but it has popped up six times that I can think of in a charage in the last ten years that I can think of. Some where 'enhanced reality' types like Harvest Overray and others were 'jack-in' types like Hoshi no Ne Sanctuary. However, the key to making this list is that the virtual world element is key to the progression of the story, at least through the common route. The 'Get/got sent to another world' Setting This is the second most common fantasy charage setting. It can range from 'After I defeated the Dark Lord' types (Valkyrie Runabout is an example of this type) and 'school life somehow in a half-medieval setting' type to ones where the protagonist just shrugs and starts living with the heroines whom he just met (Unlucky Re:Birth). I've come across this six times from VNs made in the last ten years, and mostly they are fun. The 'Magical/mystical school' setting The most common fantasy setting. This can range from Alia's Carnival types where the school is the only place where the magic/mystical element is practiced to charage based in mystical worlds (Such as Racial Merge). I can think of about seventeen VNs that chose this type of crazy settings. The Cross-dressing Boy attends a Girl's School This one is... well, insane on so many levels. However, it is also the most common 'mundane' (non sci-fi, non fantasy) crazy setting. I can't count how many times this has popped up since Otoboku and Shugotate started the main trends of this crazy setting (for silly/weird reasons vs for serious reasons), but it is also one of my favorites, since you can usually enjoy the protagonist's antics as he tries to fit in... or fits in almost too naturally, as the case might be. My thoughts Crazy settings can often be amusing and add flavor to an otherwise trite concept (fall in love stories, which dominate charage), but some people are put off by them. Also, utilizing a crazy setting in a relatively believable fashion is a rare skill amongst charage writers, and many such games fizzle in the end. Nonetheless, I'll probably keep diving into crazy settings, if only to keep myself from going insane with boredom at all the dating and romance that dominate charage.