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I previously did a simple 'starter list' of relatively easy to read VNs. However, they were all over the place, and the likelihood of anyone finding a VN that was spot-on in that list was unlikely. As such, I decided to make a list of five recommendations from each genre for someone who is just starting to play untranslated VNs but isn't up to reading the hardest language out there. Keep in mind that chuunige and plotge in general have - at the very least - slightly inflated difficulty levels as a result of the writers' tendencies and the fact that narrative/literary Japanese is fundamentally different to those accustomed to dialogue-only mediums like anime or manga. I'm excluding gameplay hybrids because the sheer amount of crap you have to read without a text hooker in those means beginners won't be able to handle them for the most part without some kind of interface patch or guide. Chuunige Bloody Rondo (note that I don't recommend this because it is awesome - it isn't - but because it is heavy on slice-of-life for a chuunige and relatively dialogue-heavy) Sora no Tsukurikata Unjou no Fairy Tale Ryuukishi Bloody Saga (if you want to, you can play the dark rapegame prequel... but I don't recommend it for the faint of heart) Draculius Nakige (note that I'm not including anything Purple Soft and Saga Planets because their games are heavy on wordplay that even an experienced reader will sometimes miss out on) Haru to Yuki Koi Suru Doll to Omoi no Kiseki Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru (for true beginners, I recommend this or Haru to Yuki for lower difficulty levels from this part of the list) Sci-fi Plotge Komorebi no Nostalgica Re:Birth Colony Lost Azurite Fake Azure Arcology Fantasy Plotge (some action but not action-focused or chuuni) Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai Curio Dealer Hyakka Ryouran Elixir (yep, these are all AXL games... simply because no one else does this anymore) Tiny Dungeon series (this is harem, so if you don't like harem, you probably won't like this) Moege/Charage (Yuzu Soft aren't included because their reading difficulty is often too high for beginners) Haruru Minamo ni (Straight fantasy ero charage with just enough plot to keep it from being mundane/boring) Love Revenge (If you want to know what my idea of a 'decent charage' is based off of, play this) Natsuiro Recipe (for those who want their heart healed in a rural Japanese setting) Kanojo to Ore no Lovely Day Miscellaneous Plotge Yomegami: My Sweet Goddess! Satsukoi Tsuisou no Augment Utsuge Inochi no Spare ('soft' utsuge) Konata yori Kanata made (a 'soft' utsuge probably the only true kamige on this list) Houkago no Futekikakusha ('hard' utsuge) Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de (yes, despite appearances, this is a soft utsuge)

I don’t like coffee. I don’t like being around cats. Hustle Cat is a game about working in a cat café that specializes in coffee. What could go wrong? …not a whole lot, it turns out. Part of the fun of playing games is being able to pretend you’re a person you’re not—in this case, a person who genuinely enjoys drinking coffee and being around cats. One of the things that Hustle Cat is most famous for is its character creation. Rather than selecting a gender as in most games, Hustle Cat allows you to pick the protagonist’s pronouns (he, she, or they). There’s a minor element of appearance customization, with three skin tones (pale/medium/dark) and two builds (one slightly more feminine, one slightly more masculine—although both are heavily androgynous; the biggest difference between them is their hair length) which can be combined. And unlike many visual novels which allow the protagonist’s appearance to be customized, Hustle Cat actually shows your character in its CGs (and there are quite a few CGs compared to how long the game is). Something I noticed is that, despite (or possibly because of) the pronoun selection, pronouns are rarely used for the protagonist at all, and they’re never explicitly gendered (i.e., if you pick “she/her” pronouns, Avery still isn’t referred to as a girl or woman, just a nerd). I’ve seen some people say that Avery is canonically non-binary because of this, though I haven’t seen anything from the developers confirming it. Regardless, it’s still pretty rare to even have the option of playing a non-binary character in a game. Main characters (in order of introduction) Avery Grey is our extremely relatable protagonist. A recent college graduate, they’re looking for their first job while living in their aunt’s apartment. While going for a walk, they discover a cat café named The Cat’s Paw which just so happens to be hiring. After a strange interview with the café’s proprietor, Graves, Avery becomes its newest employee. Landry is a waiter-slash-unofficial-carpenter at The Cat’s Paw. He’s super friendly and kind. Graves Serling is the eccentric owner of The Cat’s Paw. He clearly is hiding things—a lot of very big things, in fact. Most importantly, the fact that he was in a goth band in the 90s named Xpidercoven. (Okay, that’s not the most important one.) Hayes is the café’s barista; he suffers from a pretty severe case of anxiety. Finley is the super-outgoing social media intern. (By the way, it’s a complete coincidence that I read two visual novels in a row with major characters named Finley…) Mason is the taciturn head (and only) chef of the café. I fell in love with her immediately, and hers is the first route I went through. Reese is the assistant manager. He talks himself up a lot. I hated him almost immediately. The love interests of Hustle Cat: Finley, Mason, Reese, Graves, Hayes, and Landry Read full post at Pixels, Polygons, Prose

Well there is still vol 4 to look forward to so it could happen.

MTL is a horrible idea in general and for comedy its even worse. None of the jokes will make sense since everything is gonna be translated extremely literally with no care for context whatsoever.

Do you know what Majikoi is? Comedy Do you know what is the WORST thing to machine translate? Comedy