Leaderboard

This is only natural. Just don't think about it too much. I struggle with it myself sometimes, but I don't let that discourage me.

Among the cassettes I bought recently, apart from two great Akina Nakamori's albums, there was also "Kids Blue" by Ayumi Nakamura. Her voice needs a bit of getting used to but the songs are lovely. I know her by the song "Tomodachi" I heard on internet radio - it's a third song from the album: Lovely carefree retro vibe And as for Akina Nakamori - with each listen of her albums, I'm liking her more and more. She's true '80s goddess.

Been an age since I last posted here :(. I've been reading Sabbat of the Witch. I finished the Tsumugi route yesterday (I've already done Touko and Meguru), and I'm now on the Nene route. I'm really enjoying the VN though. It is the kind of VN where it's really easy to read for a bit then wind up getting sucked in and reading more than anticipated. I'm a big fan of the soundtrack, and there are a lot of really good songs in there. I also like the way they have two versions of the heroine songs, and yet somehow both versions sound really good. As usual for a Yuzusoft title (as far as I can tell at least), the art is also very well done, and the characters look charming and inviting. I also am enjoying the story. The premise felt a little bit forced at first, but it has been handled nicely. It must also be said: Nene and Touko are hilarious :D. My only complaint is that the characters don't seem evenly done. Like, it seems like the focus goes towards one or two of the heroines in general (even outside of their given routes), and that leaves one particular heroine only really getting space to shine inside her route. Other than that though it is quite well done. So yeah I'm really enjoying the VN. I remember really enjoying Noble*Works, and I can see this being much the same. I can see why it got so highly rated. Bonus song

Kotomi Ichinose I'll be honest. Of all heroines in the history of heroines for me, I think Kotomi gave me the worst first impression ever. But she grew on me fast, and her route's GOOD! Here we have this enigmatic girl who you'll only happen to meet if you decide to skip class and wander into the library. Btw, someone at Key must've had a foot fetish, because the writing absolutely had to point out all the damn time whenever Kotomi would take off her socks and go barefoot whenever she sets up camp in the library l0l. For some reason this gal reads through books at lightning speed, occasionally taking out some scissors to snip out some pages. Just wtf is she doing...? ~~ Tomoyo Sakagami Aha, it's first impression best girl time. Former delinquent student turned model student Tomoyo meets former model student turned delinquent Tomoya. Confused? It's k, just swap your (A)pples with your (O)ranges and you're good. I don't know what Tomoyo or Tomoya mean in Japanese but I'm surprised noone really comments on their names being so close. Well, other than Bro Sunohara who calls the two the Tomo duo. Tomoyo's a great heroine. You know how Tomoya with all these blind choices kinda gets to choose which heroine he gets to harass until he finally enters her route in which he'll then go out of his way to meddle with said heroine's affairs? With Tomoyo it's the opposite- once you enter her route, SHE'LL go out of her way to meddle with HIS affairs. Which involves Step1: Waking him up so he can go to school on time. Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomine, Fuko, Mei. I'm lowkey running out of gas, but will keep chugging along.

Ah, CLANNAD being a "hunting VN" Tiago mentioned makes sense, along with his recommendation to just watch the anime. There's a lot of fluff to the VN in general, and the gamey route trial and error yo-if-you-got-nothing-else-better-to-do,-especially-back-in-200X,-then-you-might-as-well-just-grind-this-VN doesn't really hold up by today's standards. Ryou+Kyou's routes actually highlight the hunting-ness of this VN quite well. I spent the longest time ever trying to get Kyou's end. Ryou's was easy enough, because Kyou literally spoonfeeds you everything and if turns out you gots the hots for Ryou you can climax so quick it feels anticlimactic. WAIT, REMOVE THE R, I WANT TO PAIR UP WITH YOU, NOT RYOU!! ...But should you listen to your heart and lust for Kyou during the Pairing You Up with Ryou Plan... ~~ Yukine Miyazawa. Who the heck is this nice girl, just chilling around the Reference Room like a side character but actually having a dedicated route if you harass her enough?? She totally is a symptom of VNs trying to bump up their route/heroine count back in the day! Yes. The other day I tried to get together with this girl- Kyou, but it turns out she was trying to get me together with her twin sister, Ryou, and then there was this rodent whose problems completely overshadowed my relationship with Nagisa... But she's nice enough. Apparently she's so nice, she has amassed a sort of following- a bunch of well-meaning delinquents who would come visit her in the Reference Room every now and then to just vent about their problems while she would just stand there and listen. Tomoya also gets enthralled by her pleasant charms, and finds himself coming to visit her more and more... ~~ Mei Sunohara. Huh? Sunohara?! -SHUTS THE DOOR- NOPE. I'M TURNING OFF THE VN NOW. ANYTHING SUNOHARA-RELATED BY DEFAULT MUST BE TOXIC- Huh? You're telling me you have the same VA as Rinne from Island? NICE TO MEET YOU!! This is the writers' "Hey let us finally make you appreciate the bro side character" route where they bring out the big guns and throw in his kawaii little sister where you're like, there's no way these two are related! The lengths Mei goes to to bring Youhei back to his glory days was touching. ~~ Idk all the available routes, but uhhh Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomine, Fuko, Mei. Probably gonna try to do Kotomine->Tomoyo->Nagisa. Overall VN's looking really subpar-average, I still can't fathom just wtf can happen come lategame to 9+/10 tier this.

Among obscure Japanese musicians Punipunidenki is probably my favourite and this new track (dropped literally an hour ago) definitely reinforced that. :3