meru

Hi & welcome! I'm afraid I can't help with the technical side of things, but I hope you get Little Busters working soon

Welcome! There's loads of info & recommendations round here, you'll be an expert in no time ^_~

:lol: rofl

I agree that it might be good to have more vn that stick to one category rather than trying to appeal to everyone via including H-scenes (and actually ending up alienating some potential fans). However, there are games now that you could label as standard 'porn games' (nukige, etc) - but these often tend to be rather 'hardcore', and maybe if the market started separating 'adult' and 'general audience' vn, the 'adult' section would become populated by only the hardcore, plotless stuff. I mean if you look at porn in the West, there isn't that much like the strange middle ground that Japan has, which is very much pornographic material, but can often be seen as rather "cute" and sugary. I really enjoy a good story, and definitely think that there is a place for more general-audience vn. But I also like being able to encounter H-scenes within a narrative, or with romance involved, and I do often play vn based on the quality of the H-scenes ^^;; Maybe I'm just a massive pervert....

Yeah, I guess we can't really judge 'til we've seen it

Hi, welcome to the forums! I'm not really a fan of otome games, but I've been thinking of playing Starry Sky simply because I'm a bit of a yaoi fangirl and can see so many potential pairings in it XD

^___^ I actually gave up on Clannad half-way through, for some reason it just didn't grab me like the others. But I'm thinking I should definitely give it another go, maybe I was just in a bad mood or something..

Very interesting discussion going on here. Although I don't have anything to add really, as I gave up pondering "true love" and the like ages ago because it hurt my head, and decided to just ~go with the flow~ As far as love in vn is concerned.. I personally feel that love between two people can be demonstrated with or without sex; it's all down to good storytelling. If it's done well, people should be able to empathize with this love even if they believe that "true love" for themselves should happen a different way. And sorry to interrupt the topic, but I just wanted to mention a few things related to the commercial rather than philosophical side of sex in vn.. A lot of people are mentioning that studios probably feel they have to have ero in their vn in order to sell them. I'm thinking that it would be really interesting to be able to test this theory.. does anyone have any concrete stats on how well the non-adult Key vn have sold, in comparison to the releases with adult content? Also I think it would be fascinating to do a survey of Japanese consumers of visual novels to see their opinions. (I specifically say Japanese consumers as this is who the creators are marketing to). Do most consumers buy vn for the ero content or the story? Are people who might be interested in the stories put off by the ero content? Or even put off vn altogether because of a perceived notion that all vn are 'hentai'? What companies are seeking to target markets other than the stereotypical 'horny otaku'? There's otome games for starters, although some of these also feature adult scenes.. Lots of questions.. I'm off to do some googling

I think this is an awesome idea! So meta ;P I'd be on board~ (although I could really only contribute to the writing part..)

I wish Kyoto Animation were doing it >_<

1. Air I adore the anime adaptation of Air. The animation is beautiful, the music is lovely, and of course the story is a real heartstring-puller. 2-10 in no particular order: Highschool of the Dead Chobits Death Note Welcome to the NHK! School Days Digimon Tamers (shut up!!) Angel Beats! Kanon Ouran High School Host Club It's a bit of a mix of genres, but in general I tend towards darker series, or those with strong, emotional drama (not annoying highschool drama).

Hi Andre! So you're a fan of more X-rated vn? Any in particular?

Hello & welcome!

Hi Sun!

Hi there, welcome to the forums! Don't be shy to post, we don't bite ^_~

Hi there! Really looking forward to more blog posts from you, it's great to see reviews of a wider range of vn than usual. I'll be using your reviews as a guide when I'm in Japan & deciding what to buy ^_~

Hi there! So you're that person? XD I love your blog!

Hello and welcome! Yeah, I was aiming for Hanako first but ended up with Emi - and I'm glad I did because I absolutely loved her route!

Hi there! I'm interested in your favourite genre Share?

Hi! I don't think we met before, but I'm meru~

Welcome! I think Aeru's already covered the best places to direct download games.

My list is: Shin Sekai Yori Litchi Hikari Club Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! BTOOOM! Zetsuen no Tempest To Love-ru: Darkness Little Busters! I probably won't end up watching all of them, but these are the ones I'm gonna watch at least the first episode of

Where abouts in the UK are you? I'm afraid I won't be here much longer, moving to Tokyo in a few weeks Wow, it's really great to hear from someone who might actually understand what I was writing about XD I was actually inspired by Hiroki Azuma's book and based my thesis around his work! I did include some discussion of Baudrillard's ideas, but I didn't go as deep into that (my degree was in Japanese Studies, so I couldn't let it get too philosophical). Unfortunately I didn't get to cover the topic in anywhere near as much depth as I wanted, as it was only for a BA, and I had two terms in which to complete it. The dissertation itself wasn't actually on visual novels, but on doujinshi; specifically yaoi doujinshi and the way in which fangirls produce and consume within a postmodern framework. I'm not sure if that would be something you're interested in reading about, but if it is I can definitely send it on to you Although, looking back on it now, there's so much that I think I'd want to change/improve >_< Feel free to send me a PM, I'm always up for chatting about any of this stuff

Hi there, welcome to the forums! :3

I'm being lazy with my Japanese right now, so I've moved onto Kara no Shoujo in English, and it's got me completely hooked!