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A warm welcome to our three new additions to the staff team. They have been very active members of our community through the years, always jumping in and helping newcomers with their questions and to find their next VNs to read, as well as already having some experience being part of the fuwa staff, in the case of the notorious knight of Varela. Glad to have you on board, @Mr Poltroon, @Clephas and @Dergonu. I'd also like to announce we have upgraded @Zenophilious to a global moderator, making it the first addition to our team since forever now. His nonstop work in moderating the forums with me these past few years have more than earned him the spot, and with this lineup, I'm sure we'll have no moderation problems for a long time to come.

Is this a technical issue, sir? Or is there some undemocratic tampering going on here?

Kikokugai does. You can compare for yourself what you think looks hotter, the dialogue is all the same. Personally, I'd take the all-ages porn above the +18 one any time, oddly enough. Of course, nsfw warning.

Hey, that's one of my favorite games. Go for the all ages remake. It has significantly better art and I don't remember if the +18 version has voice acting. Even if it does, the sex scenes are still hotter in the all ages version because of the better art anyway. They're still there, just in an oddly less explicit way. No violence was cut.

Nobody in their right mind would have recommended Hoshizora. So I'm going to say it's a bug.

It is difficult to reconstruct my timeline, but not impossible. Making use of my first posts on Fuwa, along with my votes on VNDB, it is possible for me to figure out what I played first, Early 2014: Ever17 - The Out of Infinity - Remember11 - The Age of Infinity - Never7 - The End of Infinity - Umineko no Naku Koro Chiru Little Busters! When I started Visual Novels, I avoided 18+ like the plague. What I do not remember, however, is what made me first try an 18+ game. Well, I actually do know what made me: Fuwanovel. Its list of games frequently showed me the 18+ tag, and I was compelled to try one out. I would like to say the first one was Katawa Shoujo, but I remember I at least saw the H-scenes in that one. This does not align with my memories of skipping the H-Scenes in my first few VNs, and I do remember skipping them in both Sharin no Kuni and Hoshizora no Memoria, which means the first 18+ title was likely one of the prior two. Sharin, I think, is the most likely candidate. The first VN in which I even attempted to read (and to my amusement found that I had little interest in them) the H-Scenes was G-Senjou no Maou. Now in my later later years I have found that I may have been somewhat overeager in my efforts, for I skipped certain scenes with Usami from G-Senjou that we supposed to be rather emotional and touching. An alternative possibility for my first 18+ VN springs to mind: It was precisely because I ended up disliking the scenes in G-Senjou that I skipped all the scenes for a few VNs. This would place my reading G-Senjou before Sharin and Hoshizora. This research has, however, reminded me of something I had long forgotten: I have actually skipped a wealth of content in Hoshizora no Memoria. Didn't finish a route, and skipped most of a couple others. My standards and tastes have clearly changed.

Confession: I'm a lonely weeb, but I don't like drinking or people so that's 99.9% my fault. ANIME WILL NEVER DISAPPOINT ME.

Despite there being a few good editing blogs on Fuwanovel, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of translation blogs. I think part of the reason for this is that editors in the fan translation scene are often doing things the translator could very well be doing themselves, often to the detriment of the final product. Look at, say, the “big back” entry Fred wrote. Now tell me why this issue couldn’t be avoided back at the translation stage. There are two reasons why you would do this: one, you don’t know Japanese well enough to understand what is actually meant, so you put down whatever it says literally. In this case, the sane way to handle the issue is to ask someone who knows Japanese better than you for advice. Two, you’re just lazy. Who actually thinks “the date changed” sounds right in English? An edge case of this is prioritizing speed; Ixrec and MDZ* both prioritized speed and neither had very good results to show for it, but they did complete things. Personally I still think this is ultimately lazy; it is significantly more simple to translate literally than to try to actually write well. In this case, ask yourself if you really want to produce a shitty translation. What I’m trying to get at is this: if you actually want to produce something good, you can’t just leave writing the thing up to the editor. Editors are not miracle workers; they have to deal with what they’re given. Furthermore, many editors working on fan translations, and well, translations period, are not very good at the job. Any time you leave something bad in, there is always the possibility of it sticking around in the final product. I’m not saying you have to be perfect. I’m saying this: for the love of visual novels, try. If you ask me, before you hand your script to the editor, you should have already done an editing pass on it. Or two. The lines should connect with each other rather than float like islands in a sea of prose, there should be at least an attempt at character voice, and all ugly stock translations should be kawari-fucking-mashita’d, much like the 日付 at midnight, with extreme prejudice. Sometimes you’re still going to come up short. Sometimes it just won’t sound right whatever you try. That’s when you should pray that your editor knows better than you – leave a note at the line explaining the problem, move on, and hope to hell that your editor is actually good enough to work it out. That’s what the editor is for. The editor should not be translating from weeb to English. The editor should not be doing your job. *Its not just the fan translation scene that does this, by the way – there are companies, like Aksys, which demand its translators write a colorless literal translation to be punched up by superstar editors later. Unsurprisingly, they’ve put out some real stinkers; I have a lot of respect for Ben Bateman’s work on 999 for this reason. View the full article

Kindred Spirits on the Roof is already worth each cent (or your country's currency) spent buying the bundle, so go for it! Remember that the Steam version is also uncensored!

*Clephas laughs maniacally as offenders are swallowed up by walls of flesh, screaming for mercy*

With the 18+ version the H-scenes while technically plot relevant were just outright depressing to read. All Ages versions basically tones them down and makes them shorter but still gets the message across of what was happening (along with voice acting and better art).

Oooh, I'm back to my pink badge. Nostalgic, almost. A tease for what's to come: I jest. I'm only here to play the part of the janitor. Dealing with people is too hard. I'll leave that to someone else.

Yeah I know I did the exact same thing when that randomly popped up as a closing skit Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road

It's pretty short. Should take 3~5 hours or so to read it. I highly recommend it, good game.

Isn't like 80% of what we call "all-ages" around here actually 15+/17+ releases? It's just a short way of saying "a version without full-on h-scenes".

Confession: I feel quite similar. I think to myself quite often "ah, I'm so glad I have visual novels - the characters will always be there, they won't hurt me (OK this one's debatable... thanks, nakige) and I can be someone else in another world. VISUAL NOVELS WILL NEVER DISAPPOINT ME."

You'd need to contact Japanese schools and government officials to get an idea of how you can make such a move. As far as I know, Japan is quite selective in terms of only accepting very highly skilled immigrants, so you might have some trouble getting a visa. And even when you do, I hear many things about how immigrants have a very difficult time adapting and being accepted. Furthermore, the IB program is highly intensive. I have friends who took the program between 10th and 11th grade, and they barely had time for a few extracurriculars. I'm not sure if you'll be able to earn a living wage by working if you'll be doing the IB, especially considering the added costs of IB textbooks and the like (given how intensive Japan is, I wouldn't want to consider the culture around IB cramming.) I'd recommend you to look at other options, somewhere in the EU perhaps, if you dislike Denmark. If you're broke, I don't think it'll be very viable for you to go to Japan and establish a life there. But I don't know your circumstances, so I might be talking outta my ass.

My monkey-brain likes unlocking hidden content, so I'll play until that happens. Must unwrap banana for glorious inaccessible fruit.

Fur-lined, weather-beaten jacket screams "I work hard for a living" contrasting with the friendly goatee and vintage reading glasses that shout "I'm a tech support expert, how can I help you today?". Turtleneck sweater underneath the jacket for that Bear Grylls "I'm literally prepared to leave this concrete jungle and survive in the real woods at any time" rough and tumble feel. Slight smile that says "I want to kill myself, but don't really feel like it tbh". Somewhat unkempt but fitting hair that says "I care about my hair enough to not look like a fool, but I'm not metrosexual". Finally, the Apple earbuds show that despite all of this, you are modern and forward-thinking. 9/10. u srs handsome tbh

When I drop it.

Make Anime Great Again.

Empty spaces in my CG gallery triggers me... And using 100% saves is a cheating I'll never do, goes against my principles. But I know that's not a good habit...

Hoshizora no memoria.

Disclaimer: This was the first purely GxB otome game I’ve ever played and my experience was most likely very different from that of a fan of the genre. While I stand by my conclusions, they’re definitely written from an unusual perspective. Locked Heart is a game I’ve encountered pretty much by chance, while randomly browsing VNs available on Google Play. As a nice-looking, free title it quickly found its way into my wishlist, but belonging to a genre I usually don’t play (and apparently following a very standard otome formula), it was never very high on my to-read list. Only another coincidence, leaving me stranded in a café for multiple hours with nothing but my tablet to accompany me, compelled me to run it and discover that I’ve stumbled upon something rather exceptional – definitely when it goes to Android games, but maybe even in a broader sense. Developed by Dicesuki, a small studio which later created the highly-regarded Cinderella Phenomenon, and published for Android in July 2016, Locked Heart quickly became one of the highest-rated mobile VNs out there, gathering an impressive 4.9/5 score among Google Play users and a decent VNDB rating. Of course, standing out positively on a marketplace full of horrible shovelware and shameless cash-grabs might not be a huge achievement by itself – in the case of this small otome however, this enthusiastic response from the readers seems to indicate a bit more than just contrast from the absolute trash that dominates mobile platforms. Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

Don't remember most of my early game, but I remember my firsts: First English game was Knights of Xentar, in 1997. Not really a VN, but still. First Japanese game was Kanon for Dreamcast, in 2000. My, how time flies...

Grr! I spent a while cooking up my application, too. I thought I had a chance against Clephas at least since his entire application was ostensibly just "Me.", but I can't argue against the three that were ultimately chosen. They are all fine candidates, and with that in mind I rest easy knowing that when I am inevitably banned for shitposting, the blow will be struck by someone I respect.

Congrats!

All ages it is then! Let's do this, guys!!!

rigged don't ban me @Dergonu gz

Damn, that second CG is hot. Kinda want to play this now. (/ω＼)

I don't know if the violence was toned down or not (Probably not), but at least the sex scenes was toned down by making it less graphic indeed. As for the version, if you like the voice just pick All age version although beware though the font was quite small. In the end, I'll leave it to you in regard of which version that you interested with the most. Oh, and 2011 version have opening as well if you want to watch Kikokugai's opening.

No truer words have been spoken, ever. :')

If you still haven't done that, find someone who studies or recently graduated from that university and ask them about how things there are different from where you study right now. They also can point out possible drawbacks that are not widely known. The more information you have about that place, the lesser is the probability that you'll regret your decision. It may be a good idea to find people from there on different social media and ask around. Don't fully rely on what the official sources are saying, they are often not telling full truths to get more students. Also, if you're planning to apply for a higher level degree after you graduate, then another possible way of action would be getting you current degree where you study right now and then transfer to that university. Though note that if the quality of education is much higher there, then it might be tricky.

So the theme material of yuru camp should be boring me to tears yet I find myself grinning throughout and occasionally laughing. What a fun harmless show.

No, I am not a Yuri-Fan! - Love Ribbon (Yuri + Incest = forbidden Love between sisters --> Do you need something else?) - Hakuisei Aijou Izonshou (Yuri, imouto and one bad End was like: "OMG! Holly SHIT! SERIOUSLY?!") - Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke o - New Gen! (Was okay, but I played it because of the Yuri Incest Route <3 and it was worth) - Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke o: Watashi no Ouji-sama - Okujou no Yurirei-san So you see I am not just a Yuri-Fan... I am a ONE HELL OF A YURI-FAN!!! Therefore we need more Yuri VN's especially with a forbidden Love between Sisters! I am not kidding, that's my honest opinion. Who read the current chapter of Citrus?

Maybe I should have waited until it was a full year, but eh, I was bored. And I reached 400 posts, celebration song! I noticed that I'm here in this damn forum for 10 months now, not so much compared to the senpais but still some accomplishment. Hell, I never thought that I would come back here so often, must be some kind of curse. Or maybe, gasp, I actually enjoy spending time here! I could use the time to read visual novels instead, but time management was never my strongest asset. Well well, I was all nostalgic and then I remember that I never did an introduction thread. Until now. But at this point is kinda pointless, because by now, people must be aware of how I really am. Or not, I don't know, not sure if anyone stalks me. I hope not. Anyway, just for formalities, hi, name's Maggie, 24, Virgo, blood type O, Castlevania is my game, Carnival Phantasm is my anime, Pandora Hearts is my manga, steel is my body and fire is my blood. You must have already see me around either doing serious posts about girl games or shitposting in general, so if you remember me for either of those, I'm glad I did my job well and my contribuitions to this site weren't in vain. And it will be on that time that I'll be an important addition to this team. So, with nothing more to discuss, I decided to look back in what I did here in this past year, like a review of myself. So let's see... - I did a lot of VNR troubleshooting back when I joined and saw at least 67 noobs that create an account just to ask why the text didn't appear. Pick the text thread, pick the text thread yo, pick the text thread. I said that so many times, I can make a rap with it; - Why didn't I just ignore them? Because I actually found a fujoshi friend doing it, back in May I think :3 We still talk to this day, every day; - Speaking of friends, I'm glad I found some nice, adorable and slightly weird people derailing threads and shitposting here. So yeah, even shit had it's purpose; - I got myself a harem even; - I think I talk bad about Comyu some 103 times; - And talk good about Shingakkou other 134 times; - Played a lot of free BL and otomeges that I found around; - And 179 new games ended up in my backlog, rip; - Not counting non VN things, le double rip; - Made 248 edits to my posts. What even is english? - My most liked content was in the "realistic romance in VNs" thread. And I just said "No, and that's why it's good". See people, sometimes less is more! Or something... - I saw things... I wanted to unsee things... - Actually, I guess I became a bit more degenerated these last months. It's you guys fault; - I'm also way less productive now; - Joking, I love this place. (Obs: this last one may vary with my mood) Yeeeep, sounds like that was a busy year! I hope to be with you guys one more year! Or be able to free myself from this place and be productive agaaaaaaaaaaaaain! AMA, except my three sizes. And post some pretty boys while you do so, please, thank you.

Here is a pretty boy. If only I were an anime girl figure I could be ogled by him, alone together in his shipping container~ Hello! It's really nice to see a post like yours, I hope maybe I can post something as positive in a year.

None of those. The VN is finished when I'm done with route of heroines that I'm interested in. It's hard to stay focused when I don't even care about the heroine in the first place.

When I've read all the routes I'm interested in. No option for it so I figured I'd post it. An example would be Hatsukoi 1/1 where I read all routes except for Kyou because her pizza obsession annoyed me.

I don't actually remember what exactly the first 5 VNs I played were, but I think that among whatever those 5 were includes Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius and Katawa Shoujo. I'd be tempted to also say Ever17, but I'm pretty sure I dropped it the first couple of times I tried to read it, and then, quite a bit later, actually read through it. Thinking about it, I also played a number of random flash games, some of which I'm pretty sure were at least similiar to VNs, with some of them perhaps qualifying outright. Also, lots of non-VN h-games. I think I even played True Love at some relatively early point. Basically, I don't know what my first games were directly, but I have a general idea of what kind of stuff it was. Seems pretty similiar to my start, though you apparently have a much clearer memory of your way here than I have of mine. Having read both Sunrider and Analogue, I'd say that they are both quite good, especially as an entry point to VNs.

Yeah, it's definitely the "I will rape you in your dreams" kind of face. The earbuds are actually from Samsung, Apple is shit.

Oh the dating sims I remember them well that's what got me into both galaxy angel and love hina Okay let's see Galaxy angel Fate/Stay Night Lightning Warrior Raidy 2 Ever 17 and then either Moonlit Lovers or Tsukihime? It's amazing the amount of free time I had back then

- G-senjou no Maou (started early April 2014) - Katawa shoujo (started early April 2014) - Sharin no Kuni (started mid April 2014) - Rewrite (started late April 2014) - Kanon (started early May 2014) I played all those 5 within 2 months. Best time of my life. I wish I could go back to the day when I discovered their existence. At this time, most VNs bore me to death. Especial the moeges with their asset copy of characteristics and an unsavory, boring story. It's a sign I'm getting a bit too old for this or that I've played too much...

This will be a nice opportunity to make it into a timeline, especially because the trajectory that led me here is probably super-weird. It would go like this: RPG Shooter: Starwish (in mid-2011 on Kongregate, it's a shoot'em up with pretty significant VN elements, I had a blurry memory of it for a long time but only two days ago I've finally found what it was - ofc I had no idea what VNs were back then), Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (somewhere in 2014, while browsing free games on Steam - it's a very solid hex-based tactical game/VN hybrid, I was quite impressed with it, but didn't finish the game back then, only did it literally a few days ago), Analogue: A Hate Story (in mid-2015, still didn't know much about VNs, but was heavily impressed with the storytelling), School Days HQ (in early 2017, I was intrigued by the anime enough to check what the game looked like and whether I can get a positive ending there), Ace Academy (2017, soon after School Days - a very sweet, satisfying experience that got me sucked in for good). An honourable mention has to go to all the dating sims I've played on Newgrounds - some of them have really decent stories and it wouldn't hurt anyone to have them included on VNDB.

Simply put, it's completed when I'm satisfied with it. Usually I do all the routes, but especially for moe/sol VNs, sometimes I don't find all the heroines likable and so I don't play their routes. For action, mistery, drama, etc., all plot-driven titles, I usually play all the routes, although that's not really written in stone (for example, in G-Senjou no Maou I entirely skipped the imouto route and the silver-haired girl route).

The VN is not complete before I have all CG.

Just go to Japan and live in a manga cafe tbh

I'm not sure if you were sarcastic on that Gate definition lul. Gate was a sloppy handjob to Japanese imperialism. The other world leaders are cartoonish villains, the "moderates" of the Japanese parliament are pictures as bitchy clowns who don't truly love Japan, the MC is a "I can't be bothered to do anything but I'm literally the ultimate ultra soldier" self-insertion, and so on. The media? "Honesty? What's that? We're here for the big news and the money boissssssssssss". Literally everyone but the JSDF, the military, are depicted as Disney villains. To make an interesting comparison, think about how the Empire in the world of Gate is depicted. Kind of a decadent Roman Empire, an oppressive regime that's not even smart enough to realise they shouldn't pick a fight with the insanely more powerful Japan and whose stupidity is hurting its own citizens and oppressing most of them. Do you know what was the leading ideology of European Imperialism? We are not conquering these nations and people, we're helping them cuz they cannot properly manage things by themselves. We're basically doing them a favour! The resemblance is striking. Gate romanticises Imperialism. And does it so thoroughly, so in your face and so sloppily, that it becomes rather silly. I see... that's part of what I have heard. I'll still at least watch the first episodes to see how I feel about it or, worst case scenario, at least enjoy the sights

Surprisingly enough, it seems to also be about lesbians loving to make and read VNs. At least that's my impression, there's a lot of females, including LGBT+ ones in the OELVN scene, it's one of the things that makes it interesting and different. :3