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Welcome to this week VNTS Review and sorry for being very late here. For this week, since we have Uchi no Koibito sudden release with the premise resemble horror movie Knock Knock (The man was live together with two girls, although in Knock Knock the girls raped the man and then ruined his life) and Tamayura Mirai release from the last week with mod Clephas mentioned that it resemble Monobeno, I'd make a parody of Monobeno updated version, Monobeno -Happy End-, by changing 'Monobeno' into 'Knock Knock', so we have 'Knock Knock -Happy End-' as the title. As for this week, we have a bunch of announcements and releases, although unfortunately none of those are quite interesting to me. If anything else, at least Mangagamer announcements have good graphic, and so to me this week is more or less an average one. Let's see what I can write in regard of this week here. There's a new fan translation group (Shinzou Translations) that translate several short VNs, with two of those are Fukyou no Hana and Hikage no Himari. I can only say that good for the group if they manage to working on their favorite VNs, even with the VNs are the short one. We also have Dei Gratia full translation patch release, and yes by Dei Gratia I mean the VN that Lemnisca was decided to scrapped the localization plan after their KS with the base goal 57,000 dollars failed (The link to the patch). The premise is still in regard of several people who were trapped inside a closed room like in Ever17 (Which make sense considering Dei Gratia here is some sort of Ever17 tribute), and said closed room is in the sinking submarine 700 meters below the surface with the unknown threat at the depth of the ocean. Go get the translation patch if you want to play this ever since Lemnica announced the KS plan for this, and have fun. For this week fan translation updates, we have ChuSingura is at 24.72% translated with the translated lines passed 20,000 lines mark, Tsuma Netori is at 20% edited, H2O is at 60.2% edited, Senmomo is at 98.42% edited with side stories is at 94.47% edited, and Akagoei FD is at 40.23% edited along with 24.14% QA-ed. That's all for this week fan translation updates. While this is not VN news, may as well mention that Nekonyan will release Lorena on 26th later. Speaking of release, we have both Aksys and Cherry Kiss released Koinegau and Oppai Samurai respectively. Koinegau here is about a female MC who live in Edo era can see the black thread that will be followed by a disaster and thus be shunned by the villagers, which of course eventually lead her to have a romance with one of six handsome heroes. Go get Koinegau if you want to play it and have Switch (Because it's only available on Switch). As for Oppai Samurai, once again it's about a very famous demon slayer who've been forced to have sex with nobody, and it also has interesting description courtesy of Cherry Kiss translator. Go get Oppai Samurai if you're interested with it, and have fun. Shiravune announced they'll release another nukige from Appetitie with the localized title Queen of the Otaku, and they already have the exact release date for it in which it'll be on July 18th later. Other that announce the new title, Shiravune released Kuroinu Redux with them had all characters in silhouette on top of cutting the contents leaving the prologue alone in Steam version, which is understandable considering Valve can be very random when it come to ban even with the game that has less explicit contents. From what I hear apparently it has new contents, although in the end it's still redundant anyway. If anything else, at least people can purchase the whole Kuroinu in cheaper price seeing that Mangagamer release it in three parts with each parts price is at 25 dollars. Sekai manage to be predictable by announced both of Animal Trail FD and Animal Trail 2 back in Anime Central, and at least the graphic for both are good seeing that Unless Terminalia (The VN from the same company) won the Best Graphic Award back in Getchu 2022. Oh yes, Sekai already had both are fully translated and edited with them currently wating the build for both. For the other updates, Sekai also has Imuto no Seiiki was in QA which mean they manage to get the engine, and lastly we have Amairo Chocolata 2 being approved by Valve with Sekai currently doing the testing for it. Mangagamer announced two VNs, with the first one is the aforementioned Uchi no Koibito that Mangagamer was suddenly released on Anime Central. For the premise, this time instead of living with either his childhood friend or little sister, the MC live together with two girls who work at the cafe that the MC frequent because their home was burned down, and obviously it'll lead the MC to eventually have the romance with two girls with them occasionally do threesome. With this, now we have Uchi trilogy available in English, so go get the VN if you interested with it and have fun. The second one is Nightmare x Vampire in which it's possibly Mangagamer's secret project with the progress is fully translated and edited, and this time we have the vampire girl Rei who at first have rivalry with Setsuna (The first Nightmare series MC) before finally respect each other capabilities. Obviously, we'll going to have Rei got raped as per Nightmare series. Mangagamer also has several updates with the most significant one is Sona-Nyl finally in testing, which if we know that it's been announced from all the way back in 2016 it mean that the wait for is is almost over. Speaking of testing, Mangagamer also mentioned that they almost ready to do the testing for Raillore. For the rest of the updates, we have Rance 03 is at 48% translated along with 29% edited, Rance X is at 56% translated along with 5% edited, Funbag Fantasy is past halfway (51%) translated along with 49% edited, and Eve of December is at 91% translated along with 8% edited. That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.

OK, first I am going to avoid spoilers throughout this review, so I would like those who want to comment to avoid the same, even in spoiler boxes. This is one of those games that is going to be harder to enjoy if you spoil it for those who come after, so I will personally eat anyone who spoils it. This VN is by the same writer who did Sumaga (blech), Gekkou no Carnevale (yay), and Totono (a VN a lot of people here liked). However, the style of story is much closer to that of Gekkou no Carnevale than to Sumaga, thankfully. So, those of you who have heard me bitching about Sumaga need not worry that this is going to turn into a long rant on how horrible anything by this writer is. First, I am going to give you an idea of the basic setting. It is 2199 and the world has plunged into a new ice age (this is actually one of the hypothetical results of global warming irl, if the Greenland glacier slides into the ocean early enough). Up until a decade before the story, humanity was fighting over the warmest areas of the world, putting all their power into a war that was becoming increasingly meaningless. In that war, there were many scientific advances... but the two that are most relevant to the story are Necromancy and the zombie-killing techniques developed by the protagonists' fathers. Necromancy is undertaken by injecting a special type of nanomachines into the human brain after death, turning the individual in question into one of the Living Dead and the person who did the injecting into a Necromancer, capable of moving the undead results at will. The zombie-killing techniques central to the story are the use of one vs many weapon techniques (the basic one is two pistols with muzzle spikes, which the male protagonist uses, though the female protagonist's basic fighting style is based off of the same) in combination with the EX-Brain, an analytical computer that fits onto a person's head and allows them to notice things their subconscious recognizes but their conscious mind doesn't (details the conscious mind filters out), thus allowing the person in question to fight more effectively. Tokyo of the future is a dystopian hell, where refugees from all over the world have gathered, necromancers roam the streets with their armies of the living dead, and bounty hunters (like the protagonists) hunt them for their daily bread. The city itself is kept alive by geothermal heat spread throughout the city by water-filled 'hot pipes' passed through the hot spot underground and circulated throughout the city. Main Characters (protagonists, heroines, and main antagonist) Nagaoka Souun Souun is the son of a hero of the American-Chinese War, who was killed some years ago. On the surface he doesn't show much in the way of emotion, and his fighting style is one where he uses the dual-pistols in combination with his EX-Brain to fight in the most efficient way possible, obeying the suggestions of his own subconscious like a machine. Indeed, he himself isn't really sure he has emotion, and that is one of his major internal conflicts throughout the story as he deals with his personal issues. He is a badass, to put it bluntly... the kind of guy who can re-kill thirty zombies in under a minute without taking a single scratch. His body has been trained using both conventional methods and tailor-made nano-drugs to turn it into a weapon capable of perfectly obeying the EX-Brain's suggestions. Kibanohara Echika Echika is in just about every way Souun's opposite. She is a rebel, preferring to use a chainsaw and shotgun and frequently ignoring her EX-Brain's suggestions in favor of her own impulses. She believes emotions should be immediately be shown on the surface and indulged, and she is more than a little hedonistic by nature. She is also a straight-out lesbian who has no hesitation going after pretty girls. Her outright hatred for her father is the most obvious cause for her rebellious nature and her unwillingness to use her EX-Brain (the horns, as opposed to the full helmet Souun version Souun uses). Hougyou Iria Iria is the main heroine of the story and the focus for most of the events in it. She has extreme synesthesia (look it up), though she is quite functional despite that. Her initial setting, amnesia, is one of the most obvious tropes out there, but it isn't the focus of most of the story. In a world where people are rapidly losing their emotions, both positive and negative, she is a bright, cheerful young woman whose very presence makes people feel hopeful and light-hearted. She is also an otaku. Kijou Mitsumi Kijou Mitsumi is Souun's 'other' potential heroine. She is, like him, a hunter of the undead. However, she uses a katana and muscle-enhancing suit, along with her talent for mapping out the actions of enemies on the battlefield, rather than the style used by Souun and partially rejected by Echika. To be honest, this is one girl who has a singular talent for getting herself into trouble... and a lot of it is caused by her somewhat single-minded personality. She is very devoted to any cause or person she latches onto, but that also means she tends to become dependent on those she attaches herself to, which is the cause of her personal conflict. Aso Kiriri Echika's adoptive older sister. She is the most 'normal' person amongst the main characters, ironically, despite the fact that she is a high-ranking member of the Military Police under Echika's father. She is kind-hearted and constantly worries about the broken relationship between Echika and her father, as she loves them both. She also is very idealistic, believing that her duty as an officer of the law is the protection of Tokyo's people above all other things (an idealism almost unheard of in the somewhat tyrannical Military Police organization). Kon Su Kon Su... is probably the straight-out weirdest character in the VN. She is a hard M (with bold and italics for emphasis), and she has casual sexual relations with both protagonists. She is a professional hacker, information broker, undead analyzer (dissects and analyzes undead bodies and brains to discover the individual styles of necromancers... sort of like forensics), and she is also one of Souun's and Echika's supporters. Unfortunately, explaining her weirdness is not really possible without spoiling the VN, so I'm just going to drop it. Incidentally, her path isn't really a straight-out heroine path, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who completes one of the paths. Milgram Milgram is the charismatic leader of the Researchers, an organization of Necromancers that believe the only hope for humanity is to escape from emotion through death (extinction). He isn't your standard nihilist, but the philosophy he espouses is. This guy... is the single most powerful Necromancer in existence, which means he is also an extremely emotional person (emotion and artistic sensitivity being requirements for creating the best undead). This guy is flat-out scary, eerie, and freaky. However, in many ways he is a representative of one of the major aspects of the world the characters are living in. The Story For better or worse, this story has a ton of guro and is basically an action-horror story. If you can't deal with heroine deaths, torture, zombification, and occasional rape, this definitely will be hard on you. A lot of effort goes into portraying the most gruesome parts of the story in a way that will be as horrifying as possible, and the heroines don't always escape this particular treatment, so it is best to prepare yourself before jumping in. The lighter points - mostly centered around Iria - actually only serve to enhance the sheer horror and bleakness of the setting, which is basically an extension and enhancement of what this writer did in Gekkou no Carnevale. By nature, any story as full of zombies like this one is going to be dark, and this one really does go to the extremes of the dark end at times. It is really hard to talk about this story without spoiling some of the primary elements (and because I figured out those elements too early due to certain hints, my own reactions were more ones of 'expected horror/sadness', so I'd prefer not to do that to you all). To be honest, emotionally connecting with this story was hard at some points, but as I got deeper into the characters - usually near the ends of the paths - it became a lot easier. In terms of action, this VN is full of it, but it is most emotional toward the end of the paths and in the true route. Kon Su's route serves a purpose different from the other routes, revealing elements of her past that are important to the story as a whole while showing the steel that lies beneath the stuttering, drooling do-M surface of that character. Whereas the other routes have some element of romance, Kon Su's lacks that, and I honestly thought that was for the best (I honestly couldn't imagine any ending where she was romantically involved with either of the protagonists, as opposed to just sexually involved). Ironically, if I were to say which of the routes (other than the true one) touched me in the most positive manner, it would be this one. I really suggest anyone avoid playing Iria's route until you've played all the other heroine routes. It feels a lot more natural if you go into the true route straight after finishing her route, as the true route is in many ways wrapped up the most intimately with hers. The other routes can probably be played in any order without a problem, but I do advise you take my suggestion above seriously. Visuals Normally, I don't talk about a VN's visuals that much, but because of the styles used here, it needs to be mentioned. First, I should mention the action-scene styles. The action-scenes are defined by a type of cell-shaded animation that is very similar to SMT: Digital Devil Saga on the PS2. Literally, the action scenes are animated and combined with highly-detailed battle descriptions to give a degree of depth that is pretty rare even in action VNs. I was doubtful at first, but this VN definitely benefited from using this particular technology (though it probably detonated a nuclear bomb under the budget). The regular visuals, as seen above, are more 'classic-style' Nitroplus, so if you've played a Nitroplus game made since Muramasa, you probably noticed that it is in the same general style. As a result, there is no real need for me to discuss them... except that the way the designers used them was pretty amazing. The dystopian feel of the pipe-wrapped city of Tokyo in 2199 is pretty eerie-feeling and definitely adds to the general atmosphere of the story. The tendency to dress most of the characters in dark or harsh colors (except Iria) was probably intentional, to further add to this atmosphere. This is one of the few times in the last year when I've actually felt that a company went above and beyond when designing every visual aspect of a VN. Audio Musically, this game isn't really unique. The BGMs all feel 'familiar', though they are used effectively to enhance the mood, so I give this VN high ratings for its BGM use, if not for the songs themselves. Nitroplus's use of music shows a tendency to prefer unobtrusiveness and 'enhancement' as opposed to the use of music to 'define' the mood seen in a lot of other VNs (Hapymaher being one of the most extreme examples of the latter). What really struck me is the wide variety of sound-effects, such as gunfire, cutting sounds, etc, and the use of those sound effects. To be honest, the sound of zombies being blown apart by bullets in this VN is going to linger in my ears for quite a while, as is the sound of Echika's 'Rabbit Punch' chainsaw. Overall Overall, this VN is pretty impressive. I can honestly recommend this... though not to just anyone. To be honest, the 'average' VN-reader who prefers moege-variants will probably not be able to stand the darkness of this game. If you don't have a reasonably high tolerance for guro and dark atmospheres, this is going to be a hard VN for you to enjoy. Zombie-lovers will probably flock to this VN by the thousands if it ever gets translated, because it really does draw in a lot of what people like about the 'zombie apocalypse' style movies and TV shows, while giving it a uniquely Japanese/otaku media flavor. However, this VN is emotionally draining, so I do recommend taking it in smaller doses than I did (every minute I wasn't working for the past four days). In my opinion, this VN can be considered a straight-out kamige, but it is also a VN that picks its readers... simply because it is so high-stress.