For this week title, because we have Irotoridori no Hikari released and I did make the parody of the first part of Narnia when Irotoridori no Sekai was released, I decided to make a parody of the second part of Narnia, Prince Caspian, by changing it into 'Princess Asumi' with Asumi is the main heroine of the new little sister VN (Countryside Siblings). Anyway, we have Irotoridori no Hikari translation patch as the most notable news for this week, and another notable news is we have Mojika release. Overall this week is an above average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
After several delays, JAST finally manage to released Mojika. For Mojika itself, while I know there's much more beneath the VN with it seems like a disturbing nukige, I feel the content a bit too disturbing and hard to recommend to most people. In here, we have an ugly student, Suteru with he was constantly bullied because of his ugliness. Unbeknown to the bullies, Suteru has superpower which allow him to read the mind of the people within the radius of 120 centimeter, although since every thoughts towards him are harsh he keep looking at the floor to avoid it. One day Suteru was asked to come into the rooftop by a girl he has crush into, although obviously the girl was also cruel to him like the rest of the other. Have enough of it, Suteru decided to take the matter into his own hand by make full use of his power in order to get even at his bullies. Go get Mojika if you didn't mind the disturbing content and want to see what Nitroplus provide in the game, and have fun.
Cherry Kiss released their newest nukige, and no much to say other than it's about the teacher who was blackmailed into have sex with one of her male student (The MC) because he find the teacher in the sugar mama website. Hayasaki no Kuroyuri Kickstarter was finished, and it managed to gather around 15,000 dollars through the campaign. We have 40 out of 197 script files for Shizuku are edited, and we have Tsukikana updates after a while with the translator mention that finally the script translation is now nearly complete so hopefully we can see more Tsukikana progress later.
We have a little sister VN released, and said game is the aforementioned Countryside Siblings. What's worth to note is that the game was made by Onikiss director with he also bring the artist for it, so the art for Country Siblings is quite good. For the premise, it's about the nameless MC who need to take care of his sickly little sister Asumi, which really worth to mention is really blood related. Hearing their father was passed away leaving an inheritance, the sibling decided to move to the countryside if only for Asumi's sake seeing she has asthma with the polluted air will cause the attack. Starting new life is obviously not easy, but regardless the MC decided to do her best to keep taking care of his sister for the rest of his life with he'll have a lot of sex with Asumi. Unlike Onikiss, in here we have some gameplay with the MC has map movement in the game. Feel free to get Country Siblings if you're in the mood for little sister VN and waiting for Onigyu, and have fun.
Last but not the least, we have Irotoridori no Hikari translation patch release in which it's the sequel of Irotoridori no Sekai, although the one who release it is a random 4chan user instead of Nekonyan. While I said the sequel, actually it was initially mentioned as the fandisc thus make it the same as Nukitashi 2. I said that the first game should be complete, although I see some want to see more of the characters so obviously Hikari should be interesting to play for them, especially with Favorite put the effort on writing the after stories for all of the heroines compared to when they only focused on two heroines in Eternal Heart (Hoshimemo FD). Either way feel free to get Hikari if you want to see more of Irotoridori characters or want to see more of the setting, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. For the title, because we have Nekonyan released Koichoco, I decided to make the parody of its English title (Love, Election, and Chocolate) by changing 'Election' into 'Invasion' from Rance 03 event (Helman invasion to Leazas) and 'Chocolate' into 'Marshmallow' with it being Mashiro's (Tayutama main heroine) favorite food, so we have 'Love, Invasion, and Marshmallow' as the title. For this week, the three releases alone (Koichoco, Rance 03, and Tayutama) make it being an active one, and of course we also have some other updates with the most notable one is Mahou Shoujo release. Overall, this week is quite an interesting one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Nekonyan did release Koichoco as planned, and honestly speaking to me it's redundant release seeing we have nine years old translation patch which was released in November 2015. That said, it still has nice production value, and Nekonyan version is much easier to install compared to the old version so at least you didn't need to go through the hassle to play the new version of Koichoco. For the premise, it's the same no matter which version, with the MC Yuki need to join a very dramatic student council election as the candidate in order to save his unproductive club which about to face financial reform. Forgot to mention the new version also remove the necessity to play Chisato's route first, although I don't know if that feature will be able to improve her not quite good reputation among the one who play Koichoco in 2016. Go get Koichoco from Steam if you want to play the VN with the new translation or maybe did decide to wait for Nekonyan version, and have fun.
Speaking of 2016, I do remember there's a project to translate Mahou Shoujo back then, although that project was going nowhere. Nevertheless, a new translator worked on it, and now we have the game available in English (The post in regard of the release). For the premise, it's about the normal high school girl Chiyoko who thrown into the battle against the monster after approached by a strange talking cat, and then she gather more allies in order to increase the manpower. While this seems like the usual premise of magical girl work, the outfit is more like the bodysuit instead of usual magical girl uniform with the aesthetic is leaned toward sci-fi, and the tone is quite heavy. It has SRPG gameplay and some people who played it praise the game, so you can try the game if you're curious about it.
Mangagamer released Rance 03, and it has the most distinctive feature with it the only Rance game that have voices with Alicesoft decided to omit that feature in X because X has many characters which would be very costly to dub all of the characters. Back to 03, in there we have Helman army led by the prince Patton invade Leazas. Seeing no choice, the rules of Leazas, Princess Lia, ask help from a certain adventurer that she knew, Rance. Of course, Rance asked for his reward immediately, which should be obvious revolving of having sex with the beautiful women. Rance 3 is the game where Alicesoft start to write the story in the bigger scale compared to the previous games that have smaller scale, and the remake is no different with Alicesoft going all out to polish the remake as much as possible with they also overhaul the gameplay. Go get 03 if you want to play Rance 3 in better graphic or maybe want to play another Rance game, and have fun.
We have Cherry Kiss announced yet another nukige (Swipe Right for Sugar Mama Sensei), and they'll release it on April 4th later. For fan translation updates, we have Shizuku is now fully translated, the original Tsui no Sora was past three quarter (76%) edited, and QC work for Ushieta is 73.8% done. We also have Cartagra Remake Switch version announced with it will have English language support, although the one who will release it is Visual Arts instead of Shiravune and obviously won't have sex scenes. For now, I can only wonder if Shiravune will also localized the PC version later.
Lastly, we have Tayutama released with it didn't have the sex scenes. However, someone (Who may or may not be the translation staff) make the 18+ patch for Tayutama and released it just today (Four days after the full game release), with it remind me of Baldr Sky 18+ patch release. For the story, it's about Yuuri who is a son of a priest about to perform a ritual in an ancient monument before it accidentally destroyed by his friend. Turned out the monument is the seal containing the spiritual creatures, Tayutai, thus the monument's destruction causing Tayutai to roam in the human world. Then, Yuuri saw a girl with her turned out to be a deity who manage Tayutai. Following that, Yuuri give the name to the new girl as Mashiro, and afterward Yuuri's life start to be more lively with Mashiro. While it's good now we have the 18+ patch, some may prefer to play Tayutama without the sex scenes, so feel free to get the VN if you interested (Whether with 18+ patch or not) and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and because we have Hentai Prison released I decided to make a parody of Jojo Part 6 setting namesake, On Green Dolphin Street, by changing 'Dolphin' into 'Tulip' from Hentai Prison's setting, Tulip Prison, so we have 'On Green Tulip Street' as the title. There's also another reason on why I made Jojo Part 6 reference, namely it's because both Jojo Part 6 and Hentai Prison settings are harsh prison with the MCs do their best for their survival in there. As for this week, obviously the biggest release that we have at this week is Hentai Prison, although we also have some re-releases of the VN that were translated by the fans in the past. Overall, this week is ended up to be very interesting, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Aksys dis release DesperaDrops, and it's about a Japanese girl who got mixed up in the murder cases before she ended up in fugitive with the six handsome criminals while she herself find out that she has superpower that was sought by another group. That, and it's only available on Switch so feel free to get it if you're want to have another otome VN in your Switch. Sekai has two updates, and the updates are in regard of both Nekopara 5 (Fully translated and edited with it's now in programming) and Wagahigh FD (90% translated). Shiravune has another release planned after they release Hentai Prison, and for the next release they planned to release Real Eroge Situation DT on 18th later so you can note the date if you've been waiting for it.
Visual Arts released Air, and it should goes without saying that it didn't have sex scenes (You can always picked the fan translated version if you want to see the sex scenes of Air). For the premise, it's still about Yukito who is a very poor wondering puppeteer who can control puppet without string with he do the journey to follow his mother last wish to find a girl in the sky. Then in a rural town near the sea, he met a cheerful girl, Misuzu, and he start to have relationship with her. Go get Air from Steam if you decided to hold up to not reading the fan translation of it until now, and have fun.
We have Never7 and Ever17 double package release, although Never7 release is pretty much redundant with we already have it fan translated by Lemnisca (Who work on Kara no Shoujo trilogy that Shiravune released) way back in 2012, and obviously it's still the same with the game at the beginning is like Memories Off (KID charage series) before the writer decided to sprinkle some science fiction story in the later parts. For Ever17, it's not as redundant as Never7 because Mages decided to localized XBOX 360 version with it has several changes in the writing. As for whether the change in writing is good or not, well I can only say it depend on whoever you asked although it seems the fan who've been playing the 2005 version of Ever17 didn't look at the remake fondly. In the end, I can only say that you can purchase the package if you want to play both seeing this is the only way to have easier time to get both of the VNs legally (The old version of both are quite hard to purchase), and have fun.
Last but definitely not the least, we have Shiravune released Hentai Prison with it is the third Qruppo's work after Nukitashi duology. Of course like Nukitashi, it should be obvious there's much more in the VN despite the very obvious title that won't be out of place in a nukige with the title is quite well received when it was released in Japan on 2022. In Hentai Prison, we have Shuuichiro who like to streaking naked in the public claiming that all he was do was in the name of art. Obviously, everyone won't be able to believe something like that, especially after he assaulted some of the police at the moment of his capture, so he was sentenced 10 years imprisonment in a very harsh prison called Tulip Prison. In there, we have Shuuichiro need to heed very rigid schedule and rule, and most of all anything that related to sex can't be allowed no matter what or else the offender would face very harsh punishment (Which is quite ironic because it make the setting is the reverse of Nukitashi duology), so Shuuichiro have a very hard time at the prison. Nevertheless, he did his best to adapting in the prison. Go get Hentai Prison if you've been waiting for it ever since it was released in Japan, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (25/08/2024)
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and for the title I'll tell it in the PS below. For this week, at the very least I can say it's more lively compared to the last week. For this week highlight, we have Mangagamer and JAST announce new title, although both of them didn't announce big title like Nekonyan. Other than new title announcements, we have Shiravune became slightly active with them finally announce the release time for Sacrifice Villain along with Daybreak released Majikoi Ryouken After. Overall, initially this week is an average one to me, although we also have one surprise big release two days ago, so I can say this week is an interesting one. Anyway, sorry for being late and let's see what I can write in regard of this week.
Aksys released Ihanashi no Majo on Switch, and they also announced the exact release date for PC version (October 22nd). For the premise, it's about the boy Hikaru who move to Okinawa in order to live together with his grandfather, although it's more like he's abandoned by his family because his grandfather was already fled before Hikaru came. In his first night on Okinawa where he search the place for him to sleep, he met the mysterious girl Lilun who is clearly not from Japanese despite her fluency. With both have nowhere to go, they decided to break into Hikaru's grandfather house and set it up as their residences. Few days later, Lilun was decided to reveal that she's a witch because of the emergency situation, with her fluence in Japanese is also thanks to magic. From what I can see, apparently there'll be many talks about Okinawan culture. Go get Ihanashi no Majo if you have Switch and want to play it (Or maybe wait until October 22nd if you only have PC), and have fun.
Both Mangagamer and JAST were announce new title, and Mangagamer decided to bring surprise announcement by announced two Empress VNs (Sleepless Midsummer Night's Dream and Sleepless Nocturne). As we know, both JAST and Shiravune have licensed Empress title, and it's quite surprising because Empress apparently prefer JAST looking from two of their VNs licensed by JAST (I can only say it's too bad the announcement is no Lewdness which would be interesting if only because it has female MC). Anyway, both title have male MC who have the meeting with very sexy rich woman Mamiya Marie, although obviously we can't say MCs have the best luck, especially if we know on how ruthless she can be in Starless. Regardless my opinion on both VNs, at least I can see the art is quite good thanks to Sei Shoujo. No info on the release date, but at least there'll be no mosaic if you're worry about it.
JAST released their VN from AX, and said VN is Seira. For the premise, it's about the male MC who is an office worker somehow have very strange dream with he always saw the maid Seira who always show her underwear. The MC tried to make use of the situation, and Seira being the good maid fulfill whatever the MC want, including to have sex in which Seira will do her best at it (Being nukige and all). The other notable thing is the art, with the artist also design the characters in both Shibukuzu and Manakashi, although obviously Seira is not have disturbing contents like those two. Go get Seira if you want maid nukige, and have fun. Back to the announcement, JAST announced Minagoroshi no Otome which is the newest VN from Dead End Aegis developer, so obviously there'll be magical girl have a lot of disturbing sex. Apparently it's about the female MC want to achieve her revenge with some GL romance between three couples, although I suspect there'll be tentacle sex scenes like in Dead End Aegis. No release date for English yet, because the VN itself is still not released yet with Japanese version will be released on October 25th later.
For fan translation, we have Kud Wafter suddenly have progress with it's all age version is at 79.4% translated, Taima Seiko Alice is past halfway (55%) edited, Karenai Saku is past three quarter (79%) edited, and Akagoei 3 editing is almost finished with it is at 98.65% edited. Daybreak just released Majikoi A Ryouken After, and from what I see it'll tell the story on how Yamato will have many moments with Margit (Because Ryouken After is the sequel of her after story) with he will have harem because of Margit's squad members all show the interest to Yamato. Not my interest even though it has harem ending and Minato Soft somehow make this as the only Majikoi with wide screen resolution (1280x720), but good for Majikoi fan to get another Majikoi spin-off. Oh yes, I know there's Sakura no Uta translation project, although I decided to not wrote about it until now. Seeing it now finally has sizeable progress (At 8% translated), I decided to keep my eyes on it from now on.
Shiravune finally show some activity in regard of Sacrifice Villains, and said activity is they manage to open the Steam store for it with the release time is said to be in Q4 of 2024 later (Up to December 31st later). Not really my interest, but let's see if Shiravune can release it before 2025. Speaking of Steam store, we also have Nekonyan manage to open the store for Kamikimi. Shiravune also announce one more VN, in which it's Real Eroge Situation DT with it's being nukige and telling us the reality of eroge MC with he will have a lot of sex with the girls around him (In this case five girls) even with he was called out as being unlucky. No release estimation as of now, so we need to wait for more news.
Last but not the least, we have Tsui no Sora Remake translation patch, which is definitely good news after a certain failed attempt. For Tsui no Sora itself, it's more or less very similar to the first half of Subahibi, in which SCA-JI obviously designed Subahibi as the 10th anniversary game of Tsui no Sora before change the time setting to match 2012 apocalypse trend (I never forget on how I find out the days in Subahibi is actually match July 2009 instead of July 2012). The premise is once again very similar with Subahibi, with we'll going to see the events before the upcoming dreaded July 20th, 1999 from multiple perspective. The remake itself is obviously very similar to the old Tsui no Sora and the first half of Subahibi save for one difference, namely the addition of Yasuko POV who is basically nobody in Subahibi (She has slightly bigger role in the original, although not by much). Forgot to mention the developers did their best to revamped the character arts, especially to Yasuko who look very cute compared to her original art. Feel free to get Tsui no Sora Remake translation patch if you want to play it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and once again sorry for being very late here. See you next week.
PS - For the title, because we have Sakura no Uta translation project significant update along with Tsui no Sora Remake release, I decided to make the title as 'Sakura Philosophy' simply because Tsui no Sora Remake has a number of philosophy talk just like in Subahibi.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. For the title, because we have the news from three GL VNs (Qianse, Hayasaki no Kuroyuri, and Clover Reset), I decided to combine all three into 'Red Clover's Tale' with it being the parody of English title of Hayasaki no Kuroyuri, Black Lily's Tale. As for where the word 'red' from, it's from Qiansi with it literally mean red-colored (Or Akaneiro in Japanese). As for this week, obviously this week is a breather after the last week with the fan translation bring a number of updates along with the aforementioned GL VNs updates, although it's also notable that both JAST and Nekonyan finally have the exact release date for their upcoming VNs (Mojika and Koichoco respectively). Overall, this week ended to be slightly above average, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
This time I decided to write a bit of Qianse, and for the VN itself it's Chinese GL VN with it also has English and Japanese language support. For Qianse, it's about a pair of woman who have been live together ever since their childhood to their adulthood, although the VN focused on the school part. Like many other GL VNs, the story is obviously focused on a single couple, although the developer surprisingly write the story quite long with it even had four endings. It also has some supernatural element, with one girl has meeting a mysterious person in her dream. Note that the developer did release the main game back at last Christmas with they also provided DLC that has released back on 1st. Feel free to try Qianse if you want a Chinese GL VN, or maybe just want to try GL VN in general.
I forgot to mention the news about Hayasaki no Kuroyuri, so I'll mention it now. For the news, it's about the staffs who decided to do the Kickstarter in order to fund the localization back on 1st (The link to Kickstarter page), and currently they already gather more than thrice of their goal at around 9,200 dollars with the initial goal is only at around 2,700 dollars with 13 days remaining. They also planned to deliver the translated game in December later, so let's see if they'll be able to do it later. The developer of Clover Reset launch its trial on Steam, and for the story it's about Marin who is a student of all-girl school got awestruck by the new transfer student Shizuku. Then, Marin find a clover that said to grant a wish if she pressing it in her student notebook. Marin's wish is very simple with she want to get closer with Shizuku, although turned out there are much more complicated situation between two girls. No release date for the full version as of now, and feel free to try the trial.
JAST finally have fix date for Mojika instead of another placeholder date, with them will release it on 31st later. Nekonyan also have the exact release date for Koichoco, with they'll release it on 28th later so feel free to note the date if you decided to wait Nekonyan version to play Koichoco instead of installing nine years old translation patch. From fan translation, we have 180 script files of Shizuku are translated, Sukiuso is currently in editing, and the original Tsui no Sora is at 62% edited. We also have the update from Junketsu Megami-sama with the team was done translating the main story contents with the other scenes remaining. Last but not the least, we have Sousaku Kanojo is at 35% edited along with Shinzou's new secret is at halfway translated with it's assets work is 10% done, and said secret project turned out to be Dekinai Watashi ga Kurikaesu with the MC has the power to traveling time to the past although he can't change the event that would be happened in the future.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Seeing that nowadays we have many translated VNs, I figure that it would be nice if I can write about some VNs that was translated in the past (Before 2015) because after all there's no present without the past. Also it's always interesting to see on how much the translated VNs did develop in the past and how we'll compared it with the present, so here's my list for translated VNs at 2009. The rules is still the same in that there'll be no BL, otome, fandisc, and nukige VNs here.
10. Galaxy Angel (VNDB 7.51)
My encounter with this was started back at 2006 when I spent my Saturday morning watching this through Animax, and back then I thought that it's like magical girl anime (Which apparently Kawamura (YPC5 duology, SmPC, and HugPC character designer) realized as well so much that she design some of her PreCures based on Galaxy Angel heroines). Fast forward to 2011, back then I'm still new in VNs and decided to ask some recommendations from someone, and one of those is Galaxy Angels in which it'd interest me. After that I'd search it and find out that the VN is very different from the anime in that the VN itself did have usual male MC, Tact, while the anime was a gag one with the staffs also butchered one of the heroine, Chitose. In the VN, we have our lazy MC Tact who is a lieutenant from a space empire. One day, the empire is destroyed thanks to a rebellious prince and suddenly Tact was handed the responsibilities to handle Angel Troupe squad which consist of five girls (Later six girls). From there, our Tact decided to handle the girls and hopefully be able to romance one of the girl while at the same time put down the prince's rebellion. For more info, this VN was came in trilogy, translated by Aroduc, and it have the gameplay in form of RTS combat with the player must control the Angel Troupe in order to beat the enemies.
9. Kira Kira (VNDB 7.54)
This is my second serious VN after Shuffle and it's the most shocking one, mostly because a certain ending that was very surprising to me back then (At 2010 iirc) because I expected a happy ending like Shuffle. As for the premise, we have our MC Shikanosuke who have a very bitter experkence in that he was dropped off by his girlfriend after his performance on tennis were dropping significantly, and that he's obviously very depressed by that. At least until he met with Kirari who is his friend at the part time job, and he got the chance to watch a rock show with Kirari. Fascinated, Shikanosuke decided to perform as bassist together with Kirari as the vocalist in a band. Other than Kirari, there's Shikanosuke's childhood friend Chie as the drummer and rich girl Sarina as the guitarist for Shikanosuke's band, and they decided to perform at the school festival which to say was quite a hurdle seeing that the school is a strict traditional Catholic school. This VN is also one of first Mangagamer releases, so the translation here might be less refined compared to what we have nowadays (Not that it matter to me anyway). For last note here, the staff here is show a lot of knowledge in music because the producer himself (Bamboo) is also a band member.
8. Kanon (VNDB 7.68)
Very popular VN from back at 1999 seeing that it did established nakige that was mixed with slice of life back then, and also put KEY as the most successful VN developer seeing that it'd adopted to the two anime series along with console ports. One from back at 2002 by Toei in that Yuuichi's (The MC) face is very distorted, and another one from back at 2006 by Kyoto Animation with improved graphic. Since this is very popular VN it mean that there's a lot of VN that was influenced by this, such as Kana Imouto and Da Capo. As for the art, while granted Inoue's art is quite infamous at least it's not as bad like back at Koropokkur. As for the premise, we have Yuuichi coming back to the town where his aunt live after his last visit back at seven years ago, and that he forgot what happened back at his last visit. In there he met with a mysterious girl with the name Ayu, and then Yuuichi started to play more with Ayu while finding out what happened back at seven years ago. Other than Ayu, Yuuichi will encounter four other girls including his cousin (Nayuki), so we'll going to have five heroines in Kanon (Duh). As for the sex scenes, let's just say that you shouldn't play Kanon for the sex scenes even though it was initially sold as eroge.
7. Aoishiro (VNDB 7.75)
The most graphically beautiful VN when it's translated back at 2009, and I think it's still can be on par with nowadays VNs graphically wise. Also since this is ported from the console (PS2), obviously there'll be no sex scenes. The premise is goes like one day our female MC Shouko as the kendo club captain going to the Southern area in order to do the training camp, and that the area itself did have the legend in regard of the demon extermination. At night Shouko saw some mysterious beautiful girl got washed at the shore, and little did Shouko know back then that the girl did have a lot of connection between the legend and Shouko herself. While the story did have a lot of action and supernatural element, there's also a lot of food talk so you may dislike that element. Although the most infamous thing that this VN did have a lot of endings with only five of them were good, so the guide is very neccesary if you want to avoid the bad endings. That said the technical aspect of Aoishiro here is definitely very good, like the aforementioned graphic and also the music in that one of those resembled one of Ar Tonelico 1 hymnos song (Same singer as well). Almost forget to say that this is a GL VN, and there'll be a lot of fights.
6. Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- (VNDB 7.84)
The second Amaterasu's work after Cross Channel, and one that was based on the poll. Back then Ixrec decided to ask the reader to do the poll in order to determine which next VN that he want to translated, and out of many candidates Inganock here came as the first one in the poll. And so we have Inganock being translated here which also mark the first 'What A Beautiful' Steampunk VN series that was translated into the English (There's also Sona-Nyl that was localized by Mangagamer as well). As for the writer it's said that Sakurai Hikaru here is like to write in repetition, so it's inevitable if someone dislike that kind of writing especially with the Strictly Formula that Inganock have (At least the art here is looking very artistic with the watercolor and sketchbook look). As for Inganock's premise, we have Gii who is an illegal doctor who recover the poor for free and that he live in a city that was affected by mysterious phenomenon known as Revival, in which it caused some disturbance in that some of human being were mutated into part animal. Gii as the one who still looking normal decided to look into the town's mystery along with his old friend (Ati) who's been mutated into the catgirl and a mysterious girl (Kia) that Gii encountered. Almost forget that if you want full voice, you can play the Full Voice version that was already translated as well.
5. Saya no Uta (VNDB 8.01)
The third translated Nitroplus VN after Phantom of Inferno and Chaos Head with the former was written by the same writer (Gen Urobochi), and the background for this VN is the most creepy one with meat and all. The premise goes like we have Fuminori was saved by a brain operation after he suffered a fatal accident, only to have his perception was twisted thanks to the possible mistake in the operation and that he perceive the other human as grotesque creature with inaudible voice. Of course Fuminori being paranoid that he'll become the experiment subject, he decided to not tell his story to the doctor. One day in the hospital he see a young girl in white cloth with the name Saya, and seeing that Fuminori already goes insane thanks to his perception he just accept Saya as it is without wondering what Saya really is. From there both of Fuminori and Saya did the things that is normal in Urobochi's work, and let's just say it'll full of death and all because Urobochi like to killing the characters in his works (Just see both of Fate/Zero and Madoka, in which both of those are his famous works). This VN also picked up and rereleased by JAST at 2011, although it's a redundant release though because there's no change between fan translation and official version.
4. Sharin no Kuni Himawari no Shoujo (VNDB 8.17)
While we have Frontwing crowdfund this VN and they still didn't managed to deliver it, actually we didn't really need to wait in order to play this because we already have Sharin being translated since back at 2009 (ie redundant). If anything at least Frontwing still managed to give us the updates, unlike Sekai who more or less already abandoned their Yuzusoft VNs license. As for the premise, we have a very capable MC Morita Kenichi who come back to his hometown in order to supervise three criminals who coincidentally are girls with one of the girls was his childhood friend as told by his supervisor who also happened to be his teacher. From there, Kenichi did his best to supervise the girls. As for the setting, it's a unique one in that each criminal would be punished by wearing the badge and the wearer must bey the condition that the badge impose, otherwise the criminal would be severely punished. Naturally it mean that Kenichi will find out what's really happening in the girl's life that cause them to face the punishment, and it's Kenichi's job to improve the girls situations. As of Sharin itself, I guess it's quite influential in that Yuuji from Grisaia franchise did resemble Kenichi to a degree, and that both of Sharin and Grisaia did have the fandisc that resolve the story in the main VN.
3. Sengoku Rance (VNDB 8.34)
The first Rance series to be translated (By Takajun), and also the first Alicesoft VN to be translated. As for the premise, it's very simple with our selfish Rance want to have sex with two princesses and one of his target is Kouhime who happened to be JAPAN's princess (Or Nippon's princess as Arunaru translate it), only to found out that Kouhime was still underage and Rance still have some standard to not going lolicon. After being fast friend with Kouhime's brother Nobunaga (Yeah that Oda Nobunaga), Rance decided to help him to conquer some Nippon territories seeing that his heath is very bad along with his territory is declining and our Rance didn't want to see Kouhime being sad. Like other Rance series, Sengoku here did have gameplay element and after I see some LP of previous Rance VNs along with playing VI I can say that Alicesoft here really refined their gameplay element in here (It also help that Sengoku did set up the big Myth Arc for the franchise despite the lighter premise compared to VI). We also have this being localized by Mangagamer and retranslated by Arunaru, although seeing that there's no much problem with the translation (And Arunaru's reputation as translator is slightly gotten worse) I can say that Sengoku's license by Mangagamer here is a redundant one (At least it's nice that people can get this in English legally).
2. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (VNDB 8.54)
Once upon a time, there's man who was inspired by KEY's VNs. And thus he created a doujin VN that was attempted to recapture the success, but instead of nakige element the man decided to add horror and paranoia instead (With the man's drawing that was very bad). Also like KEY, his product is very successful so much that it became the man's Cash Cow Franchise. As for the man, he's Ryukishi07 and the product is obviously Higurashi. As for the premise, we have Keiichi who transfer to a rural town called Himanizawa and he managed to be friend with some unique girls. While at first Hinamizawa is very calm and relaxing, beneath that there's a lot of covered secrets that may cost a life to be uncovered, and our Keiichi was realized that as well. And so Keiichi decided to investigate what's really happen in the peaceful Hinamizawa, although too bad that his investigation was already doomed to be failed. Again and again. As for Higurashi itself, it's divided into eight arcs and the first part did covered the four arcs. As for the opening song here, since the original didn't have the opening I'll use Matsuri one (It's very good anyway). Almost forget that Mangagamer did localized this, and if you didn't like the default arc you can use the art from PS3.
1. Umineko no Naku Koro ni (VNDB 8.84)
After being successful with Higurashi, Ryukshi07 decided to tackle another new series in When They Cry and this time he'd write about murder mystery. The premise goes like there's a very rich family that was trapped in the secluded island because of the storm. To make it worse turn out that each of the head's children did have some slight financial problem and the only solution to resolve their problem is a mysterious fortune that the head hide (Also rumored to be borrowed from the witch (Beatrice)). Things not going to be easy seeing that the clue to find the fortune is like a murder pattern, and all of the siblings are more than likely to commit the murder because they are very hostile to each other. As for who is the MC for Umineko, we have Battler (The head's grandson) who was challenged by Beatrice who claimed that she can kill the whole family using the magic. Refused to believe in magic, Battler decided to challenge Beatrice into a game of wits in that he must proof that it's possible for human to do the crime. Like Higurashi, Umineko here is also localized by Mangagamer with the help of a fan group (Witch Hunt) back at 2017, although it's redundant though because there's already a patch to insert PS3 art and Ryukishi's drawing is still bad (He improved at least), and of course already translated.
I guess that's all for 2009 translated VNs, and as you can see most of those are still fan translated (Eight out of 10 VNs) so we can say that 2009 here is the start of fan translation golden era. Also back then Mangagamer was just starting their operation, so it's normal for them to have little number of released VNs (ie Kira Kira and Higurashi) compared to what we have nowadays. Also back then we obviously still didn't have Sekai yet and JAST did release less compared to the last years, so yeah thanks to the fans we can have a lot of good translated VNs whereas most people would categorized VNs as the porn games back at 2009. As for the next plan, I think I'll cover the translated VN release from 2010 up to 2014.
PS - For the title I decided to joined two animal that was noted in both of 'When They Cry' series, and since we have both of cicada from Higurashi and seagull from Umineko I joined two animal into 'When the Sand Crabs Cry'. The reason is simply because sand crabs is also known as sea cicada, and besides it's not the first time someone use 'Umi' part from Umineko seeing that we have When the Seacats Cry doujin VN (TL Note: Umi mean sea).
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and for the title because we have Harumade Kururu release delayed along with Visual Arts announced Air exact release date, I decided to make a reference one of Air's OST, Summer Lights, by changing 'Summer' into 'Spring' (Because Harukuru is represent spring), so we have 'Spring Lights' as the title. Anyway, for this week obviously the notable news are both Harukuru delay and Air English version announcement, although we also have Shiravune released Primal Hearts duology on Steam. Overall, this week is a plain one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Sekai decided to delay Harukuru release to the unknown date because they suddenly find the issues that need to be worked on. While admittedly encounter big issues before the release is certainly not new (ie Sakura Celebration), I do find the issue that crop up in Harukuru is a bit too convenient, especially with Sekai still negotiating with the license holder regarding of the 18+ assets, and not to mention the staffs post the xeet celebrating the release one day before February 14th (Which admittedly also has a layer of bad planning). Regardless, I have nothing to say other than hopefully Sekai can resolve the issue in Harukuru and finally manage to release it, either in the very near future or sometimes later. Of course, it would be better if they already manage to get the right for 18+ assets by the release time.
Shiravune did release Primal Hearts duology on Steam and some other stores, so feel free to get the duology if you've been waiting for Steam release just because getting it on Johren is too cumbersome. They also have plan to release Mashimaro on Steam, although there's still no release date for those yet (The link to the Steam store). Nekonyan did open the pre-order for Koichoco, so you can now order the game if you've been decided to get it from Nekonyan just because it would be easier to install. Like I say earlier, Visual Arts announced Air release, although obviously we already have it translated for 10 years so to me it would be redundant release. That said, if you want to get the Steam version of it in its store, then you can note the exact release date with it will be released on March 5th later.
I know the progress for Sakura no Uta is still at halfway translated, although I figure I should inform the detail here. For the detail of Sakura no Uta translation, Shizuku's route is at 85% translated, Zypressen & Marchen (Rina's route) is at 1% translated, Chapter 5 is at 93% translated, and Chapter 6 is at 12% translated. For the reminder, Sakura no Uta has six chapters with Chapter 3 was dedicated to the character routes (Rin, Makoto, Rina, and Shizuku). Lastly, we have Studio Frisay finished Ushieta editing work with the remaining works now are some miscellaneous stuffs before the patch ready to releases, with those works are image editing (Including UI), video editing, QC, and play-testing with it to find the possible remaining bugs. In any case, at least it mean the wait for Ushieta to be available in English is almost done, so you can look forward to the patch if you've been waiting for eight years ever since it was translated by another group with said group dropped it later.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
After 2010, the next year is 2011 so obviously I'll cover 2011 releases. As for this year, it's still more calm here (Ixrec's debacle with Mangagamer in regard of age and Liar-soft aside) although there's a lot of very good VNs here so it's another interesting years (I remember that when I idly browse TLWiki and suddenly find out that Little Busters patch was released, and back then it's one of highly anticipated VN). The rule is still the same in that there'll be no nukige, BL, and otome here. So let's see what releases that we have for 2011 here below.
10. Quartett (VNDB 7.18)
Unlike Littlewitch later release Period in which the characters have Japanese name, in Quartett it looks fitting because the developer make the setting in Europe (It definitely help that the character design being beautiful and have European looks). Also unlike Period with it using standard ADV, in here Littlewitch make use of the Floating Textbox with the textbox will appear near the characters make it looks like a manga. For the story, it's about the MC who is a violinist and about to join the competitive selection with he formed the group with three other girls forming a quartet of the string, and the MC group must compete with the other 23 other quartets with the winner will get a big prestige. Of course the road to success won't be easy seeing each casts have their problems, but nevertheless they did their best to facing it. Note that initially the PC version didn't have the voice with the voice was available in PS2 version, so obviously there won't be voices in the sex scenes seeing Littlewitch need to remove it in order to released it at PS2. For the info about the video below, actually it's not really opening but rather it's the demo video which available in the developer's website, although the song is still nice anyway which is appropriate for the VN with the focus on the music.
9. Katahane (VNDB 7.37)
At first we can see this as GL VN, although turn out that there's male and female relationship so Katahane here is not full GL VN. As for the premise, we have Wakaba who write a play based on a well known history, only that she decided to portray a well known traitor as someone who love his country. Seeing that she would have hard time to search for the actors, she decided to tag along with Cero who have his own business to do the journey. After that they began the journey and along the journey they met new people such as Belle and Angelina, and in the journey they may learn something about the real truth of the history. As for the art, to me Angelina here is good looking and the background is also good as well thanks to minori. Almost forget to add that Katahabe here have multiple MC, and the POV will change a lot. We also will have JAST release this at autumn later, and as for the version that they chose they'll release the updates version. Although seeing that apparently there's no new story (They only have new opening and graphic update), I think I can say that Katahane release will be redundant here. Granted that the new opening of Katahane here is not bad, although it's not like the older one is not sufficient here. If anything, at least people can get Katahane legally if JAST really will release it later.
8. Zanmataisei Demonbane aka Deus Machina Demonbane (VNDB 7.44)
The second Nitroplus title to be officially translated after Phantom of Inferno, and also the first Nitroplus title localized by JAST. As for the premise, we have our MC Daijuuji Kuruo who drop his study university and after that he work as private detective with less than ideal income. One day he suddenly got a girl client (Ruri) and turn out that Ruri is the heir of mega conglomerate, and Ruri hire Kurou to find a grimoire because the town face a threat from a villain called group called Black Lodge which consist of Master Therion together with his cadres. When Kurou did his investigation, he stumbled upon a little girl who called herself as Al-Azif aka Al. Suddenly one of Black Lodge cadre goes attacking the town using a giant robot, and obviously Kurou is run away. At least until he stumbled into a giant robot which turned out to be the titular Demonbane and Al urge Kurou to pilot it. Seeing that there's no choice, Kurou board the Demonbane and Al reveal that she able to control Demonbane because she herself is a grimoire called Necronomicon. After ward away the cadre, both of Kurou and Al decided to work together to fight Black Lodge. It's worth to note that there's a lot of Cthulthu element in here, in which it's already prominent with the aforementioned Necronomicon.
7. Corpse Party BloodCovered (VNDB 7.50)
As for this VN, it's too bad that only PSP version that have well known seiyuu while for PC version we have less known seiyuu. I guess they also need to deal with the license cost as well if they want to port PSP voice so there's not much that we can do, and besides the rereleased PC version did have missing chapter that was unavailable at the PC anyway so the PC version is more or less better feature wise. Anyway the premise here is we have a bunch of high school student did tell the scary stories to each other, and scaring one of them to a degree. When they abut to going home, suddenly a mysterious earthquake strike and suddenly the students find themselves at a ruin of an elementary school. To make it worse, turned out that there's some ghost who sought the revenge and she'll kill the students. So there's no choice for the students other than try to survive and hopefully escape from the ruin, which easier said than done. Almost forget that this is horror VN in case you didn't catch it from the title, and that it was created by RPGMaker so you'll see some sprite movement in the VN (You may reminded older SNES RPG if you see the sprite). Apparently Corpse Party here is quite popular, so much that it spawn several sequel so good for the creator there.
6. Shikkoku no Sharnoth -What a Beautiful Tomorrow- (VNDB 7.53)
The second Liar-soft VN to be translated by Amaterasu (ie Ixrec), and also the second 'What a Beautiful' Steampunk VN to be translated as well. As for Sharnoth's setting here unlike Inganock that was a fantasy one and not based on the real life location, this time we're going to have slightly realistic setting with alternative London at 1905 with the dark sky thanks to smoke and all. Sharnoth here is also notable with our MC here in which it's a female one and that her name is Mary Clarissa Christie, or in her real life she's more well known as Agatha Christie. Of course seeing that it's Steampunk VN we wouldn't see on how Mary brainstorming the idea for her detective novels, but instead we'll see on how suddenly she trapped in another world that was infested by monster and on how she'll need to constantly escape from the monsters with a help from a mysterious man called M who is quite enigmatic himself in that he might be connected to the monsters. This VN is also notable for the translation, in that it's using British English which only logical seeing that the setting is in London. Also like other Steampunk VN, Sakurai here is still like to write Strictly Formula so you need to prepare for that. Almost forget that like Inganock, Sharnoth also already have Full Voice version already translated as well.
5. Kara no Shoujo (VNDB 8.03)
Back at 2010, a group that translate this VN at TL Wiki got C&D notice from Innocent Grey. One year later, the group got confirmation that Innocent Grey would willingly work together with Mangagamer to localized Kara no Shoujo. Although too bad though that the release did have problem, namely the voices is missing because apparently it's too costly to add. At least there's fan patch to alleviate the problem, and sometimes later Mangagamer did rerelease this with the voices available. As for the premise, it's quite depressing with our Reiji face his wife's death at the hand of crazy serial killer. One day, he accept a request from a mysterious girl that asked him to find her true self. After that, he also accepted two jobs in regard of a disturbing serial killing and the disappearence of all girl school students, so Reiji decided to work as the teacher while at the same time investigate the serial killing case. At the school Reiji met the mysterious girl who then introduce herself as Kikuchi Touko, and then two of them become friends despite the difference in age. As for the ending, seeing that we already knew that Reiji was down at the beginning of the sequel (Kara no Shoujo 2), it should be obvious that this VN ended on a bitter note so poor Reiji can't catch a break in misfortune here (Hopefully his end will be better in Kara no Shoujo 3).
4. Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo YU-NO (VNDB 8.07)
Graphically wise I prefer the graphic from the older version of this sci-fi VN, because at least it's not as bad as When They Cry original graphic. I understand though if some people did prefer the newer graphic and that they wait for the remake to be released at October 1st later, although it's not like it's necessary to get the remake if you already content with the older graphic seeing that the gameplay did have almost zero change. As for the premise, we have our MC Takuya who one day before the summer vacation Takuya got a mysterious package which a mysterious device from his late father. Seeing that there's something fishy behind it, Takuya decided to investigate it and hopefully will be able to untangled the mystery behind it. I also like to note that both of the director and composer of YU-NO were already passed away (My condolence to both of them), so obviously there's no way that we can get the new story from the original creator in the remake. As for the remake, while I didn't agree with the seiyuu change in that there's no 17 years old step mother heroine in the remake (Kikuko Inoue did provide Ayumi's voice at the older version, and Ayumi here is Takuya's step mother) even though there's might be a valid reason for that (Such as the contract matter), I still agree that the new opening is quite good so I'll post it below.
3. Little Busters (VNDB 8.63)
In his childhood Riki (The MC) lost his parents, and one day a cool boy (Kyousuke) ask him to join his gang and introduce the gang as Little Busters. From there our Riki was enjoying his days together with his friends up until the high school, and one day Kyousuke decided to do baseball. Seeing that Little Busters only have five members and baseball team need nine people, it's up to Riki for searching the rest of the member which consist of the heroines. Of course seeing that it's KEY VN, nothing as happy as it looks even though there's a lot of funny moments in the common route. We also have this rereleased back at 2017, although in this case it's not as redundant as previous examples seeing that the new release did add the additional routes that was available in the 18+ version (Originally Little Busters is all age VN). Granted that the rerelease version didn't have sex scenes, but it's not like it's a big loss anyway seeing that it's KEY VN and we know on how incompatible KEY VN with the sex scenes. I also like to note that Kyousuke seiyuu here is Midorikawa Hikaru, and his roles is usually handsome man. One thing for sure Kyousuke here is surely almost as cool and handsome as Sakamoto (Same seiyuu), so much that some people lauded him as the main heroine even though he's obviously male.
2. Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru (VNDB 8.96)
I know that Umineko's ending here was not quite satisfying for majority of the people, although it's very surprising to see though on how harsh the score was dropping in Erogamescape for EP8 alone (At 58 average score compared to the previous EPs which usually at around more than 80 average score). What I can say is that at least the ending is not as inconclusive as Remember11, and that there's the manga which solve the remaining mystery of Umineko here. The premise here is simple though, in that it continuing Battler struggle with his family murder, only this time he got some new perspective from the witch's side along with the arrival of new antagonists. For comparison with Higurashi, there's a reason on why Chiru here is called as Core arc instead of Kai which is called as Answer arc, because there's no clear cut answer in Umineko and that the reader must figure out the answer by themselves. As for the anime, DEEN only adapted the first part which obviously left the anime inconclusive so much people call it bad adaptation. Mangagamer was also rereleased this as well, but it's a redundant one anyway seeing that we already can play this with PS3 graphic and voices as well.
1. Muv-Luv Alternative (VNDB 8.99)
One day Takeru was suddenly find themselves go back to the time before the whole world was destroyed, and that he remember the world that he was in was invaded by the scary alien (BETA) leaving the Earth population to only a billion. Seeing that there's no choice, he decided to go to the military base in his town and use his past knowledge to fix the problem. In case you have the hard time to understand the premise, all of that was happened in the prequel (Muv Luv) so it's necessary to play the prequel to understand the premise (If you're not spoiled) in which it might be very time consuming. But it's worth it though seeing that Alternative here is the best VN that currently was ranked first in Bayesian score at VNDB, and it's also very well received in Japan seeing that very well known Attack on Titan franchise was inspired by this. We also have this rereleased back at 2017 in that it's a redundant one unless you prefer the newer translation, although at least it have Gallery menu in that somehow age manage to forget to put that on the older version. Speaking about age, honestly I mind it very much that age was milking Muv Luv too much and that they can only make VN that was pretty much a fandiscs of Alternative. Although seeing that there's a lot of bankrupt VN companies, perhaps it's the smartest strategy to survive.
That's all for my 2011 list, and in this year we have JAST being more active with Demonbane release here. As for the next list, I'll combined both of 2013 and 2014 lists seeing that some releases did overlapped between those two years. I hope that you'll like my list here.
PS - For the title, I decided to parodied yet another Attack on Titan spin-off seeing that Alternative here is the VN that inspired Attack on Titan writer (Ishiyama Hajime), and this time it's 'Attack on Titan: Junior High'. I know that it would be more fitting to use 'High School' here, although we already have high school setting at original Muv Luv anyway. So instead I decided to just change 'Titan' to 'BETA' in the original title for a very obvious reason, which somehow still fitting anyway seeing that one of Corpse Party main characters is a junior high student.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and since we have a certain magical girl nukige along with Hentai Prison announced by Shiravune, I decided to make a magical girl anime from this season (Autumn 2024), Acro Trip, with I changed 'Trip' into 'Prison', so we have 'Acro Prison' as the title. As for this week, well if not for Shiravune being active it would be a plain week seeing there's no much to talk at this week. As for the announcement, while Hentai Prison is admittedly big announcement looking from how well received it is, it didn't really surprising seeing Shiravune accidentally leaked it one week before the formal announcement. Other than Shiravune being active, we also see Mangagamer finally announce the exact release date for one of their VN, and we have Mages announce the remaster for both Never7 and Ever17 with both will be available in English. Overall, this week is another below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
The aforementioned magical girl nukige that Shiravune announced was ExS-Tia in which it's the series of magical girl nukige, although Shiravune announced the new one, ExS-Tia Concerto 1, instead of the older one, which make sense if we see it took Palette remake Mashiro Iro to have Shiravune localized it. It also should be noted that Concerto is the new series of ExS-Tia, so there's no need to play the older version before starting it. For the premise, it's about Haruno who is an ordinary girl was suddenly encounter a monster and then got a mysterious device that allow her to transform into magical girl, and turned out the people in the city can be possessed by a Guilt Seed with the possessed person turned into the monster. After fighting the monster, Haruno was asked to search for Guilt Seed, and so she tried her best to do so. Note that while I mentioned this as magical girl nukige, actually you can avoid all of the sex scenes with Haruno's virginity remain intact until the ending. Since this is the first part of the tetralogy, I hope Shiravune will announce the rest of Concerto VNs. No release date mentioned for this, although we'll most likely see the release in the next year.
Mangagamer finally announced the exact release date for one of their VN, although unfortunately said release is not either Raillore or Ixseal, but instead it's Sex Open World with it will be released on December 19th later. Well admittedly it has good graphic which is a requirement for a nukige, although I'm not sure whether I should feel excited or not. Regardless, feel free to note the date if you're interested with it. We also have LingerieS developer announce the new release time, and they'll try to release it by the next month, December, so let's see if we can see the release next month. We also have the translator finally finished Taima Seiko Alice translation, with the translator need to take care the remaining works for both editing and proofreading before finally release it.
Mages announce the remaster for both Never7 and Ever17, although somehow they skipped over Remember11 for some reasons. My first reaction of the announcements is redundant seeing both already have translation, with Never7 was translated by Lemnisca when they still fan group and Ever17 was translated by Hirameki in 2005. That said, seeing some comments on how rough Hirameki translation is along with Mages will use XBOX360 version which has new script that has some changed for better or worse, perhaps Ever17 here won't be so redundant after all, and if anything else they planned to use the sprites from the original PC version instead of the jarring XBOX360 version. Since Ever17 premise is widely known, I'll just write a bit about Never7 in which it would be better to expect this as Memories Off series with dramatic sci-fi twist at the end instead of full sci-fi story. Oh yes, Mages already have the exact release date for the remaster, with it will be released on March 6th of the next year.
Last but not the least, we have Shiravune announced they manage to get Hentai Prison license, which honestly speaking it's not surprising seeing they leaked the announcement a week beforehand, and even then it's not really surprising seeing Nukitashi sales on Steam show some big number so it's pretty obvious Qruppo will ask Shiravune to localize their Hentai Prison with it currently far more well received compared to Nukitashi duology with it already have good receptions. Still, it's nice of Qruppo to have all their VNs are available in English after they're almost failed to do so with Sol Press going out of business back when they still have Nukitashi's license. Anyway, for the premise we have the MC Shuuichiro who believe the best way of expressing the art is by being naked in the public, although unfortunately for him most of the people didn't share his opinion so he became the repeat offender before being arrested after assaulting the police. Seeing Shuuichiro didn't show the regret, the judge sentence him 10 years imprisonment in the worst prison, Tulip Prison. As for the exact release date, Shiravune only mention it'll be sometimes in the next year, so let's wait and see for the news later.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Following my list of translated VNs at 2009, I decided to follow up with 2012 translated VNs list. Also yeah I decided to talk about 2012 first even though I'm supposed to talk about 2010 list, because back at 2012 there's some decline in fan translation and yet there's still no increase from the official release, and I think it might be the best if I'm focused on the hard year first. Regardless the different order here, the rule is still the same in that there's no BL (Togainu no Chi), nukige (Monster Girl Quest 2), otome (The Second Reproduction), and fandisc (Tomoyo After (Sort of)) here. As usual let's see what I can write in regard of 2012 VNs list here.
10. Never7 - The End of Infinity- (VNDB 6.80)
The last of Infinity trilogy to be translated after Ever17 and Remember11, and it's the most lighthearted one seeing that this is the first part of the trilogy, so it's understandable if someone find that this VN is more leaned toward moege a la Memories Off in the beginning instead. Although like other Infinity series, this VN did have Arc Number though and in this case it's 7. As for the premise we have our MC Makoto who was attend an extra seminar at the resort island thanks for him being tardy at the university, and that he saw a dream where he saw a girl was dead at April 6th. After he woke up, he realized that the date was at April 1st so essentially Makoto did have five days to figure whether his dream will be really happen at Aprl 6th or not, and if it would be happen what kind of action that Makoto should take to prevent the tragedy. This work was also mark the first work of Lemnisca, in that back then GundamAce also post this translation project back at TL Wiki. As for my comment here, it would be better if we expect this as moege instead of hardcore sci-fi VN so that we wouldn't be disappointed here, seeing that the sci-fi element only appear at the later part of the VN. Oh yes, this is the first VN on the list that has score 6.
9. Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru aka Otoboku - Maidens Are Falling for Me! (VNDB 7.00)
I admit that I add this onto the list because of my interest toward the MC being trap (Especially with him good looking in female outfit lol), and more importantly it's still rare to see this kind of VN to be translated. As for the premise our MC Mizuho that was voiced was told to attend a school by his late grandfather to fulfill his last wish, in that he want his grandson attend the same school as the late Mizuho's mother. Of course nothing as simple as it seems because turned out that Mizuho's mother did attend all girl school and that Mizuho is a male, although with the help of his cousin (Mariya) there's no problem at all though seeing that she just do a make up to Mizuho and it fit very perfectly seeing that Mizuho is already have female like appearence. And thus begin Mizuho's adventure in the all girl school in that turned he managed to fool almost all students except for one people (Shion, who also act as the other Secret Keeper after Mariya), and that he was adored by all girls as their onee-sama. As for Otoboku itself here while granted it's quite underrated compared to similar title such as Tsukiyori, it's very nice to see that we can have VN that have trap MC with the female heroines such as this one here being translated.
8. Period (VNDB 7.13)
Out of all Littlewitch VNs that were translated, only Period here that did have Japanese place setting or to be exact the place setting was at Nagasaki which is very notable because usually their VN did have European setting (ie Romanesque and Quartett). The other matter is that the art here is not very fitting seeing that Littlewitch's usual artist (Ooyarii Ashito) was in charge of the characters design, and let's just say that his design here is not fitting for the Japanese setting despite being beautiful there (And let's not forget that the characters did have Japanese name while at the same time did have Euorpean look). As for the premise, we have our male MC Mitsuki who supposedly did have a boring life and have been seeing vague disturbing dream. At least until one day when he get the key to the observation (Or to be exact Mitsuki was forced to accept it), and after that he did have his fated encounter that was cause Mitsuki's days become more exciting in that he can date one of the eight heroines here. Anther interesting things to note is that we'll going to have angel heroine here, in that the appearance of the angel here is also one of the plot point here. What I can say is that if you didn't like the story here, at least you can play for the art in which it's quite beautiful.
7. Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni - Dai Ichi Ya aka Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni - The First Night (VNDB 7.30)
This time our Ryukishi07 decided to create the novel, and turned out that he didn't managed to achieve satisfactory result for that seeing that it was cancelled. After that he tried to adapt it into the manga as well, only to have it cancelled as well. And thus he decided to create the VN of that, which in turn it's the best version here seeing that it did have music and that (Well 07Expansion VNs always did have good OST). As for the art, while it's still not as good as usual VN at least it's not so bad and that it somehow very fitting. For the premise, we have one bullied girl (Marie) was offered to be the 8th youkai at the school, and that Marie was offered by the titular Higanbana who is one of the youkai. From there we'll see on how Higanbana going through the school that did have seven youkai who ruled over The Seven Mysteries, and eventually knowing more about Higanbana herself. As for the release, the VN was divided into two part and the first part was released back at 2012 while for the second part it was released at 2014. Almost forget to say that Higanbana here is more or less a compilation of the short story so we'll going to have multiple MCs here, although Higanbana here is remain the most important character here (Her title and all).
6. Dengeki Stryker (VNDB 7.32)
This VN is a unique one in that it did have two releases and thus two opening. The premise is goes like we have our MC Yamato who is a big fan of the shounen manga (The title drop), and that he formed his personality in that he have a lot of sense of justice. Although too bad that he always fail to protect his childhood friend Haruna so much that he always feeling down because of that. Nevertheless Haruna was always grateful for what Yamato did and she felt so sad when she must move from Yamato neighborhood, and of course Yamato can't accept that. After Haruna announced her move away, Yamato met with the Memory Collector that willing to grant any wish in exchange for his memories, and seeing that he was still a child he decided to make his wish to become the hero of his favorite manga. Thus Yamato became Stryker Zero and at the same time he must fight the enemies that he was inadvertently bring from the manga.
As for this VN, unlike both of Kira Kira and Deardrops this time Overdrive decided to go with write about cliche shounen superhero story, and it show. As for the release, we have two releases in that first we have Dengeki Stryker with only three routes available, and then we have Chou version in that it expand the story by adding three routes (Two of Chou's route did have dating the antagonist routes). Also since Dengeki Stryker here is more or less created like cliche shounen manga, it's easy to forget that this is eroge as well so it's easy to surprised by the sex scenes (We shouldn't focused on that anyway). As for both of the opening, I must say that Masaki Endou here did the good job for both of those and that those two opening really fit the atmosphere of the VN itself (Hot blooded).
5. Duel Savior (VNDB 7.38)
One of Aroduc's works, and obviously it'll be a gameplay VN (Which in here it's fighing games). For the premise, we have our MC Taiga who is live alone together with his brocon stepsister Mia. One day, Mia find out a mysterious book. After that, both of them were suddenly teleported into another world (Avatar) and then one of the people who summoned them tell Mia that she was chosen as the Savior candidate. Seeing the summoned savior in the past is always female, they decided to test Taiga in order to determined whether he really fulfill the the criteria as Savior candidate or not, and turned out that he was passed because he can summon his weapon. From there both of Mia and Taiga attend the Savior school in order to prepare them to save Avatar. We can say Duel Savior story here is amounted to be usual isekai story, which is more unique than it sounds seeing that surprisingly the story where the hero was summoned into another world and gathered the harem are very rare in the VNs. Also like Baldr Force Duel Savior has PS2 port, and Aroduc brought PS2 voices and contents into PC version, so you can hear the voice of both Nabatame Hitomi and Shizuka Ito (Who voiced two heroines in PS2 version) if you want.
4. Forest (VNDB 7.43)
As for this VN, instead of usual Sakurai Hikaru who usually write for Liar-soft we have Hoshizora Meteor (His works (Kusarihime) was said to inspired well known VN such as Saya no Uta and Cross Channel), and also this VN is the sixth work of Amaterasu while at the same time third Liar-soft VN to be translated. Also apparently this VN did have a lot of Mind Screw and Metafiction or something like that, so you'll need to think a lot when you play this. Even then you may not understand any of that, because there's no exact answer for the story so you must figure the answer by yourself. That aside, at least I can understand the premise in which it goes like there's a phenomenon called Forest that was started to swallowed up Shinjuku. And then there's five people who somehow was chosen to fight back the phenomenon (The five people themselves are fit Five Man Band trope to a degree) and the way to fight it was through the riddle or something like that. There's also some reference from the popular work such as Winnie the Pooh, Lord of the Ring, and the most obvious of all Alice in Wonderland seeing that we got a mysterious girl called Alice here. Another thing to note is that the sex scenes at this VN might be quite disturbing.
3. Deardrops (VNDB 7.51)
To answer the critic Deardrops's writer here is probably like to write in a dramatic way (Apparently he'll carry his dramatic writing into Bokuten), so we can't exactly fault him for using some of (Not clever) plot device. Even with that in mind I'm still mind of Rimu's route though in that to me it's being redundant, although maybe I'll change my mind if I manage to replay this. As for the premise, we have Shouichi (Our MC) who fall into depression after he injured his arm back at Germany, and seeing that he's a violinist it's very serious matter. One day after he's fascinated with the rock show like Shikanosuke from Kira Kira, he decided to form a band with some eccentric talents including the aforementioned Rimu and straightforward high school girl Riho (Who also the main heroine, and that her route is the central focus of this VN). From there, Shouichi started to find a new passion when he play together with his bandmate, and then pull himself from the depression. As for the VN here, Rimu aside this is another Overdrive VN which mean that this VN have more focus on the music like Kira Kira, although unlike Kira Kira this time Shouichi here is a young adult and that he work at the bar before form the band.
2. Hoshizora no Memoria -Wish upon a Shooting Star- (VNDB 7.79)
The first translation was released by Insem, in which it did contained some minor controversy. Namely that he decided to change Mare's sex scene CG into dolphin which is quite reasonable seeing that Mare is like a child and Australian law (Insem was live in Australia) is strictly banned lolicon, and yet quite questionable (Well it's easy to fix anyway). Fast forward to 2017, Sekai decided to rerelease this by using the new translation that was worked on by Akerou and apparently the translation for that was heavily criticized (Well it's another redundant release by Sekai anyway). Controversy aside, the VN premise was in regard of our MC You (Yeah that's his name) that was move to the town where his aunt live and that he's been at the town when he was a child. One day he decided to go to his childhood place and at the place he met a shinigami (Mare) who somehow resembled his missing childhood friend. From there You decided to investigate the shinigami while at the same time enjoying his school life at the Astronomy Club. Anther two thing to note is that the common route is been criticized as a long one, and that the staffs behind the VN (FAVORITE) was said to take a liking to mysterious loli as shown with Mare here.
1. Kamidori Alchemy Meister (VNDB 8.13)
At first I'd read Taka-jun review on this at 2011 (The review in question), and then I decided to forget abut it seeing that it's still untranslated back then. At least until 2012 when I saw this VN was shown at a certain site as being translated in the morning, and after did some research I find out that back then Aroduc released it quietly. Of course seeing that Aroduc was the one who translated this it mean Kamdori here is a gameplay VN, and a heavy one at that. The premise is that we have our MC Wilfred aka Wil who was abut to take a test to determined whether he'll pass as an alchemist or not, and he passed easily. From there Wil established his workshop, and decided to work very hard in order to make people around him smile. Of course he's not alone at this quest seeing that he need bodyguards, and he'd manage to got three girls as his bodyguards not long after he become the alchemist. Yeah we supposed to not put the focus on the story because Eushully here is more famous as gameplay VN maker, and so far only two Eushully VNs that were being properly translated. As for the gameplay, there's a lot to do but basically this is a strategy RPG with emphasis on selling the items (And you can get game over from losing all of the money).
While there's still some good new releases like above there's fewer fan translation compared to last three years though, although to be fair most of well known VNs back then were already translated and Lemnisca was focused on I/O (Ixrec was also focused in Rewrite). To add more problem on that the official is still no aggressive like nowadays seeing that Sekai was still working together with JAST for releasing School Days, so there's still no much release from Sekai (Duh). Still 2012 here is also important year as well in that it bring Kamidori as the first translated Eushully VN along with the completion of Infinity trilogy after we have both of Ever17 and Remember11 being translated, so yeah it's not a bad year here.
PS - As for the title I decided to add alchemist part from Kamidori into the literal translation of Hoshizora no Memoria (Memoria of a Starry Sky), so we have 'Memoria of an Alchemist' as the title although obviously we wouldn't read the diary of an alchemist here.
Visual Novel Translation Status (04/02/2024)
Because we have Shuuen no Virche FD announced with the subtitle 'Epic:Lycoris' along with we have the exact release date for Tengoku Struggle, I combine both word so we have 'Lycoris Struggle' as this week VNTS Review title. Anyway, this week we have Aksys Games very active with they announced four new title at once, although unfortunately it's only for console. Another thing to note is obviously Aniplex finally make their big move in regard of Type Moon, in which they announced Fate/Stay Night Remaster to be available in English. Overall, I can say that this week is definitely far more interesting compared to the whole January, and so this week is an above average one bordering interesting. Let's see what I can write in regard of this week.
Cherry Kiss released their first BL VN (Or to exact it's usual VN with trap maid heroines), and nice to know they tried to branch out the demography. Visual Arts announced they'll release Lunaria on 22nd later, although there's no word if the PC version will also available at that date or not. Looks like Shinjuku Soumei staffs find out they did need to worked more on their VN, so they decided to delay the release from February to April 11th later. Idea Factory announced they'll localize Cupid Parasite FD, and they'll release it within this year. As we knew Aniplex has very big news with they announced they'll localize Fate/Stay Night. While technically it's the most interesting news, it should be noted that unlike Tsukihime Type-Moon didn't remake Fate, so basically this is a redundant release with they use PSV version (So no sex scenes), and even if one give the reason the old translation is very outdated there's more recent translation that translate majority of the VN. That said, if you want to purchase it, Aniplex will release it on this year, and it'll be available on both Switch and PC so good for Aniplex they did announce PC version of Fate directly (Unlike Tsukihime Remake).
Once again Aksys has four new title, although unfortunately it's only for console. Other than four new title, they also has Tengoku Struggle exact release date announcement (At April 4th later). For the four new title, those title are Shueen no Virche FD, Radiant Tale FD, DesperaDrops, and Ihanashi no Majo. No comment of the FD besides that it seems to be quite substantial. For Despera Drops, it's about the female MC who got arrested because she was suspected in the murder case only to be freed when the vehicle who escorted her got the accident, and some bad guy tried to get the MC's unknown power. Ihanashi no Majo is about 16 years old boy who moved on to the remote island in Okinawa find out his grandfather who suppose to take care of him disappeared, and then the boy met the girl who call herself a witch. For the release time, Aksys will release Despera Drops in 2025 with the rest of the three title will be available in this year.
For fan translation, we have Akagoei 3 is at 91.14% translated along with almost a quarter (24.25%) edited, Shin Koihime Musou is at 70% edited, Taima Seiko Alice is at 20% translated, and ChuSingura is at 38.48% translated with Chapter 2 is at 65.09% translated. That's all for fan translation updates on this week.
Last but not the least, we have Shiravune announce the exact release date for Nukitashi 2, and said date will be on 16th later so yeah we'll going to have three releases at that date. Anyway for Nukitashi 2, it should be obvious that it's the sequel for the first glance, except not really because half of the contents is the after stories of Nukitashi 1 heroines so in a way it's more like fandisc, which perhaps I should calling it as sequel/fandisc with the VNs that fulfill the category are Grisaia no Meikyuu (And Rakuen) and Irotoridori no Hikari. Anyway for Nukitashi 2 main story, it's about Junnosuke who somehow thrown into another dimension together with his three former enemies (FS member) when he masturbate (Yes it happen all right), and the world is the opposite what Junnosuke tried to acheive in the prequel with he himself is the highest leader know as 'Sex Emperor'.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
For this week title, because we have Kiminozo released with the story resembled White Album 2 (Or rather Kiminozo story was inspired Maruto to wrote WA2), I decided to make the parody of White Album 2 by using the English version of Jojo's White Album Stand name, White Ice, so we have 'White Ice 2'. Anyway, seeing we have Kiminozo in which it's one of the long awaited VN to be available in English back in October 30th, normally this week should be an interesting one. However, the publisher do so much wrong in all of this, especially in regard of the sex scenes removal, so I can't feel excited about that one. Other than Kiminozo release, we also have Shiravune finally released the rest of their Destiny Star Girlfriend. Overall, this week is an above average one, and let's see what I can write about it.
Well it's inevitable that I need to talk about Kiminozo release. From what I see, most complain is in regard of the removal of one route that age (Or rather Anchor as the new license holder for age VNs) add only for Japanese version and removed the two endings. While granted one of the ending is rightfully removed seeing it's from way back when age being very creative with disturbing contents, obviously it still won't feel right with the overseas only got the version that have some contents removed, doubly so when there's no previous translated version beforehand. In the end, well I just try to moved on from it, seeing nowadays there's much more interesting VNs already translated, with one of those is WA2. Censorship aside, in Kiminozo we have Takayuki who befriended Mitsuki because her friend Haruka has crush with Takayuki. One day Haruka decided to confess to Takayuki, and being the nice guy Takayuki accept the confession even considering his growing feeling to Mitsuki. While this looks like WA2, at least Takayuki is waiting until a careless car driver crashes into Haruka resulting her in comma before he making the move to Mitsuki. In the end, I just say it's too bad Kiminozo release is far from ideal for such a well received VN, especially when Todokanai can do much better to WA2. Still, feel free to get Kiminozo if you didn't mind the controversy, and have fun.
Other than Kiminozo, we have Galzoo Island full translation patch released with it featuring the MC tried his best to capturing all of the monster girl. What I know is that the developer for this is Alice Soft (So you'll recognize the monster girl design if you've been playing Rance or Evenicle), Aroduc mentioned this would be one of his translation project, and obviously it has some gameplay. Feel free to try Galzoo Island if you want to, and have fun. For the other fan translation updates, we have Taima Seiko Alice is at 80% translated, Akagoei 3 QA work is 26.45% done, and Sousaku Kanojo is at 93% translated along with 19% edited and its assets is 40% worked on. Shinzo Translation will release the trial patch of Sousaku Kanojo with it'll cover one fifth of the game, and no mention on release time other than soon. We also have two companies have the exact date for their releases, with Cherry Kiss will release a magical girl nukige on 15th later, and Aksys will release Shueen no Virche fandisc on Thursday later.
Lastly, we finally have Shiravune do the simultaneous release for the remaining two of Destiny Star Girlfriend trilogy, which mean now we have all of the trilogy in English barring the mini fandisc. For the premise, honestly all three VNs have same premise with the main difference is obviously which girl that the MC will date in the story, so essentially each part of the trilogy is like the character route like Nine. Honestly I'm not in favor of this format release, but obviously the companies start to use this because it can save some budget for the game development. For the premise of the whole trilogy, it's about the MC Seiji who involved in the magical girl battle against the space demon with he experiences near death experience before find his girlfriend. While he obviously have good enough luck to survive, the catch is he was forced to connected with the magical girl in order to recover. For the girl, in the second game Seiji has bonded with Maja who is the rival of good magical girl, while in the third girl Seiji has bonded with his underclassman who is a good magical girl and has a big secret. Go get the VNs if you want to finish Destiny Star Girlfriend, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Because we have Ixseal released with the MC being the reincarnation of the demon lord, I decided to make a parody of Tenshi Re-Boot with I changed 'Angelic' from its English title, Angelic Chaos Re-Boot, into 'Valkyrie' from Ixseal full title, Beat Valkyrie Ixseal, so we have 'Valkyrie Chaos Re-Boot' as the title even though the MC of Ixseal didn't suffer erectile dysfunction like Riku (Well, obviously Ixeal's MC suffer ED would make the game very different). As for this week, it's quite obvious the main highlight would be Ixseal release, although most people would pay attention to Shiravune announced ToHeart Remake with it being 3D causing some divisive opinion. Overall, this week is just slightly above average one with the next week would be a big one, and let's see what I can write in regard of this week.
Since Mangagamer did release Ixseal, they announced the release for the next month in which they'll release Rance 03 on 27th later. While the upcoming release is obviously quite big seeing 03 is the remake of Rance 3 with it is the only Rance game that have voices, I see Mangagamer finally back to their usual pace when it come to the release cycle so I hope they can keep it up if possible. Entergram released the continuation of the hospital VNs from Prekano (Boku to Nurse and Boku to Joi), Boku to Kanojo-tachi no Jisshuu Nisshi, on Steam with the VN featuring the MC who need to chose either his childhood friend who became the nurse, his senior who became the doctor, or perhaps both. Note that despite the two previous are nukige, this one didn't have sex scene which is happen because Entergram decided to focused on all age VNs. Feel free to get the VN if you want to see more of hospital VN from Prekano even though it didn't have the sex scenes.
Shiravune announced they'll release the remake of ToHeart on Steam (The store page) in June 26th later, and I see some did comment on the 3D arts in the remake are very bad. While obviously the remake won't have the sex scenes, at least it won't matter much seeing a fan translator translating the 1997 version which contain the sex scenes (For the progress currently 725 script files of it are translated with 401 of it are edited). Personally speaking I don't think the 3D arts are too bad, although I need some time for getting used to the 3D arts especially since Aquaplus experimenting replace the CG with 3D, in which I can only say that even Atelier Lulua with its 3D opening still use 2D CG. In the end, I can only say that good to see the influential ToHeart is about to be available in English.
The biggest news for this week is obviously Ixseal release with it being the Beat series from Alicesoft, and as for the series it's about the heroines who was got their power up through sex. As for Ixseal itself, in there we have Tsuguhiko who always confidently telling everyone that he is the reincarnation of the demon lord with the people understandably dismissed his claim. However, what he say is the truth with he was about to getting his power back with the help of a demon, Bezel. On the day when Tsuguhiko supposed to get his power, a female angel, Ixseal, suddenly attacking him, and to make matter worse Bezel betrayed him with Bezel making the cadres based on six Deadly Sin from Tsuguhiko's power leaving Tsuguhiko with Lust. Afterwards, Ixseal find herself trapped in Earth after using her large amount of her power, and like previous Beat series MC Tsuguhiko make good use of his Lust power to powered up Ixseal through sex. Together, Tsuguhiko and Ixseal do their best to fight Bezel and his cadres. Alicesoft most likely made this when they made Evenicle, so it's easy to see why there's Seven Deadly Sins motif in Ixeal. Go get Ixseal if you've been waiting for this, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. For the title, since we have both Kara no Shoujo 3 (English name is The Shell 3) and Tenshi Re-Boot released, I decided to make a parody of very well known anime, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, by changed 'Ghost' into 'Angel' (TL Note: Tenshi mean angel), so we have 'Angel in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' as the title. As for this week, this should goes without saying that this is the biggest one in 2025 so far with several releases, with the most notable one are the aforementioned Kara no Shoujo 3 and Tenshi Re-Boot. Other than the releases, we also have Studio Frisay give the big updates in regard of Ushieta after months of silent. Overall, this week is a very interesting one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
First of all, we have Shiravune manage to release Kara no Shoujo 3 (Or The Shell 3 if you prefer English name) without much problem. Unlike the previous two title, this time Mangagamer still didn't have the chance to localize this, so it's not redundant release like the previous two. Still, you may want to pick all of Shiravune version of previous Kara no Shoujo duology, if only for the consistency seeing Lemnisca did work on the whole trilogy translation. For Kara no Shoujo 3, it's about Reiji who still reeling from the ending of Kara no Shoujo 2 was suddenly find out the mad painter Mamiya Shinzo was dead. Afterwards, Reiji was asked by her acquaintance Stella to help sorting the deceased belonging, only to find out a creepy painting which soon led into another tragedy. Kara no Shoujo 3 here is the last game of the trilogy which mean Innocent Grey deliver the conclusion in here, although I'm not sure if all people find the conclusion satisfying. At least, I can be certain there won't be mosaic in there because Innocent Grey didn't depict the sex explicitly. Go get Kara no Shoujo 3 if you've been waiting for the trilogy conclusion for either a year or nine years, and have fun.
After several months of silent, we finally have another update for Ushieta with the update itself is quite big. Said update is turned out the translator keep working on the VN editing, and therefore currently we have Ushieta is at 65.6% edited with three routes (Kaori, Airi, and Nagisa) are now fully edited. The translator also mention that he aim for March release, so let's see if we can see it happen later.
Mangagamer released Battle Scarred Homunculus which they announced back at AX, and feel free to get the VN if you've been waiting for it. For the reminder, it's about the alchemist who was betrayed by the kingdom because he didn't want to use his homunculi for war saw a discarded female homunculus full of injury, and the alchemist decided to take care of the homunculus. While the premise is quite nice, my focus is more on Mangamer is finally have the exact release date for Ixseal, with they will release it on February 27th later so you can note the date if you've been waiting for it.
After failed to deliver Tenshi Re-Boot into Steam twice (Which is understandable why they went so far to make it available on Steam if people understand the high sales number of Senren Banka on Steam) because of the ban by the reviewer, Nekonyan finally managed to release Tenshi Re-Boot on several other platforms (JAST, Mangagamer, and Denpasoft). For the premise, it's about Riku who has the nightmare was getting kissed by the angel in the dream. Afterwards, Riku find himself suffer from erectile dysfunction which deal a blow to his daily life as eroge fan, although soon later Riku find another shocking reveal with him turned out to be the reincarnation of the demon lord from another world. As if the dramatic reveal is not enough, he also find out the angel in his dream, Noa, come to live together with him, and thus start Riku's turbulent new life. While the premise seems to be dramatic enough, one should be remember that this is Yuzusoft VN, which mean it would be mostly focused on slice of life. If anything else, I can say that Tenshi Re-Boot has high production value. Go get Tenshi Re-Boot if you want the newest Yuzusoft VN, and have fun.
Lastly, we have Sekai about to be release Harukuru on the Valentine day (February 14th) later, although it came with some string attached, namely they decided to release the 17+ version first with they negotiating for 18+ version. While at first we can dismiss it as another instance of Sekai's blunder, turned out the situation surrounding Harukuru is complicated, especially with the company seemingly already closed down if we knew the author worked on Silky Plus to developed the last game in Kururu series (Fuyukara Kururu), so it's inevitable the 18+ assets was already change the ownership. While we can say that Sekai should wait until the negotiation is over, I can see if they want to moved on from this. In the end, I can only hope there'll be no long wait for the 18+ version.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and since we have Yamizome Liberator along with Hatsuyuki Sakura (Hatsusaku) released, I decided to make the parody of Vexation of a Shut-In Vampire Princess opening song that was sang by same singer group as Hatsusaku opening, fripside (Even with different vocalist), Red Liberation, by changing 'Red' into 'Sakura' so we have 'Sakura Liberation'. As for this week, let's just say it's quite exciting with Hatsusaku release, although there are some other releases that are worth to note as well. Other than the releases, we also both Shiravune and PQube being active in this week. With that done, let's see what I can write in regard of this week.
JAST did manage to release Yamizome Liberator, and I admit I've been waiting for this. Story wise it's more in line with Revenger in which we have the MC corrupted by a demon lord doing his best to corrupted the girls by raping them, which as it turned out help the girls in the long run seeing they have some burden for being chosen as the one to vanquished the demon lord even though the girls are at first understandably upset by the rape. Anyway, in Liberator we have the MC Haruomi is getting back to his world after finished his job as isekai hero, only to suddenly find himself possessed by the demon lord (Which this time is female in order to avoid the fans complained about NTR), and obviously now he was hunted by the goddess chosen heroines. With the demon lord need some help to restore her body, she persuade Haruomi that he may have the chance to fulfill his desire to build the harem so that Haruomi want to gather the mana that the demon lord need, and thus Haruomi start his new routine to fight and rape the heroines. Go get Liberator if you waiting for this since Revenger release like me, and have fun.
Aniplex released Tanetsumi no Uta, and the story is about Misuzu who lost her mother at young age. One day when she is at 16 years old, she was suddenly visited by a girl who then revealed herself to be Mizusu's mother, Yoko, when she was at 16 years old. The reason for the reunion is because Yoko was chosen as the Seedshow Maiden who must do the journey to Eternal Realm to do the funeral ceremony for the gods. Then, the mother and daughter duo do the time travel to 2050, and have Misuzu's future 16 years old daughter Tsumugi and her supposed brother Hiruko accompanying them on the journey. Once again, the arts were done by Jellyfish anime artist, although I just realize the similarity of the characters with the anime recently. The scenario writer is notably write several doujin VNs, with the most notable one is Misuzu no Kuni which is available in English. Go get Tanetsumi no Uta if you've been waiting for it, and have fun.
Dramatic Create announced they'll release otome game Arcana Famiglia, with the premise is the female MC is the daughter of the gang leader was about to take a part in the gang lead by her father while getting romanced one of the handsome gang members. It'll be available sometimes in the next year, and more importantly it'll have PC version as well. Speaking of announcement, we have PQube announced the new releases for the next year, Iwakura Aria and Death Match Love Comedy (DMLC). I already know that we'll going have Iwakura Aria in English, but at least it's nice now we have the confirmation that it'll be available in PC as well (And it was confirmed that it'll have some GL, albeit a heavy one). For DMLC, it's about the MC who will exploded had he confessed by a girl, and being VN MC he was blessed (Or rather cursed in this game's setting) by the ability to attract any female so he was quite unfortunate to have two girls show interest towards him creating a love triangle. Another thing that I knew is the VN was written by Raging Loop writer, although apparently the reception for this is not as high as Raging Loop.
Seeing 2024 is almost ended, unfortunately Sekai must delay the release for Akaneiro with they'll try their best to bring it in the next year. That said, looks like they still don't know if they'll be able to bring Harvest Festa in the next year, seeing they changed the Steam release date into TBA. For the fan translation updates, we have Taima Seiko Alice is now fully edited, 12Riven is at 60% translated, Akagoei 3 is at 27.7% in QA, and Majikoi A Plus Disk is at 29.75% translated. I knew that Shiravune have some updates when I wrote this review, although I decided to save it for the next week. Anyway, Shiravune finally announced the exact release date for Sacrifice Villains in which they'll release it on January 21st of the next year, and delayed Primal Hearts duology release on Steam to the Q1 of 2025 (Up to March 31st).
Shiravune was released Nemurenu back on 10th, in which it's also available on Steam which marked the first Clock Up VN available on Steam (Admittedly with string attached with the Steam version is the barebone version of the full game). Technically speaking they also released its fandisc, although it's just had lighter stuffs that won't be fit the grim tone in the main game, so I'll just focused on the main game. In Nemurenu, we have a nameless man who use the false name Takeo work as the janitor in the love hotel, and he also work as the janitor for yakuza group with he need to kill people because he has severe insomnia case which only be able to be cured by killing a people. One day, he met with Azami who work as lady of the night. However, beneath of her work, she was known to killed several people so much Takeo's boss asked him to kill her. That said, this time Takeo become hesitate to do his job, seeing having sexual encounter with Azami allow him to be able to sleep. Obviously like Clock Up other VNs, there will be some disturbing contents, although it's not as much as Maggot Bait with it had same writer. Go get Nemurenu if you're want another Clock Up VN, and have fun.
Last but not the least, we have Nekonyan deliver Hatsusaku, which marked this as the third translated Niijima Yuu VN. By the way, I still remember when my roommate play the opening video for this back in 2011, with he also like to play Grisaia no Meikyuu and White Album 2 Closing Chapter opening videos. While it seems to be inevitable Nekonyan will get this, actually it would be harder to expect that seeing Saga Planets only own the license of their VN past Floral Flowlove after they left Visual Arts with Hatsusaku is under Visual Arts, and yet Nekonyan manage to get this anyway. For the premise, it's about the titular Hatsuyuki who is become infamous as the school delinquent with he was quite rude and like to drink alcohol. One night, he meet with a mysterious girl in a white dress searching for her rabbit, and he reluctantly help the girl. Later, the girl introduce herself as Sakura (Another titular character), and two days later he'll find out Sakura transferred to his school. Note that unlike Kakenuke, this VN will have a bittersweet true ending. Go get Hatsusaku if you've been waiting for this more than a decade ever since the failed translation project for this was established at around 2013, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (12/23/2017)
First of all, sorry for very belated VNTS Review here. Anyway welcome to this week VNTS Review, and right now it's almost Christmas here. As for this week, considering that today was almost Christmas once again, like last year we have many official releases of VNs there so obviously it's good here. Although unfortunately there's some release which safe to said was not good enough yet, and I hope that the release will be worked out in the future so hopefully we could smoothly enjoying the VN in question there. Other than that, this week we still have some usual updates from fan translation and like usual as well there will be Tsujidou update later. Let's see what I could write for this year Christmas Eve here, and if you somehow curious about the title for this week I'll explain that in PS.
As for fan translation, Aiyoku still have usual progress here with current progress was finally reached 30% mark translated (30.9% translated), and so does Musumaker in which it was at 45% translated. For Loverable, as usual there's still some weekly progress there and for more detail it was at already at almost 97% translated with Kaho's route was at almost 80% translated, along with 66.65% TLC-ed and 27.77% edited. For more progress here, we have Nocturnal Illusion was at almost a quarter (24.9%) for the 2nd pass and right now Venus Blood Chimera was at 92.8% translated. Also finally we have Majokoi translation progress after long time we didn't see that, and right now it was at 94.88% translated along with 93.49% edited. As for Tsujidou, Tsurezure released Maki's patch as the Christmas gift so go get those if you want to play Maki's route and have fun - the progress for Tsujidou was at almost three quarter (74.37%) translated with Maki's route was obviously fully translated. For the rest of the plan, they'll work on Saeko's route at early January and then finished it with Renna route. That's all for fan translation here.
Surprisingly I missed Ritarnia release date from Mangagamer, and the reason because back then I was took my attention more to Sorcery Joker. Anyway, as for Ritarnia release it'll be at January 26th so for next January Mangagamer will have two big releases, in which it was already sort of predicted. Go preorder that here if you interested with Ritarnia, and have fun. Other than preorder announcement, we have Imopara 2 release in which it was just rehash of first Imopara and even one of the heroine (Momoka) shared same look with the Aya from first Imopara - which to be fair make sense because Momoka did stated to have same look as Aya. Also apparently we'll gonna have four other sisters in which actually it could be said that they MC's cousins as well, which make it quite confusing if one want to make the technicality of it. Okay I knew that we could call them half sisters, but considering that first Imopara MC was married five of his sisters and managed to have six daughter with Aya as the lead harem (Because she was Imopara 2 MC and Momoka's mother), one could wonder whether the four sisters could be considered as cousins or not. In the end, it didn't matter though because what we care is that we'll gonna have many incest sex scenes in Imopara 2 (It's nukige by the way). That's all for Mangagamer.
As for Seabed, it was a doujin VN which is apparently depict a yuri couple whose be together since their childhood up to their adulthood (At 28), and they're gonna be live happily ever after. Or so that's what the couple would likely thought if not for the fact that one person from the couple was missing, and the result was the heartbreak for the person who was abandoned so much that she suffered some hallucinations. What follow is that the woman was going the therapy to hopefully allow her to move on from the losing her couple. As for the VN, it was doujin VN so unfortunately there's no voice if one want to play that voiced. That said, it got some good reception from what I saw at VNDB so I'll gonna check Seabed later. Oh, and for the reminder here we'll gonna have three POV. Other than Seabed, we have hemorrhoid VN that was finally about to be released overseas by Fakku, and apparently they'll gonna to became the eroge shop or something like that. Well whatever.
Sekai Project
This week we have two big releases from Sekai Project that was unfortunately still have some problem. Other than those two releases, we have announcements from Fault franchise. The first announcement was in regard of Silence the Pendant in which it was unfortunately get delayed. As for the second announcement here, there's another project from them with the title called Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell (I'll called it Mhakna). As for the premise, it was some sort of fairy tale from Fault world which tell a story of how a young girl and her best friend want to run away from the orphanage by using fairy's power, or at least from what I understand. While I could said that they make a good job in regard of expanding Fault's world by defictionalized the fairy tale, I would say that it'll be better if they remain focused on developed Side Below part and finishing the main saga before move on to the spin off.
As for Hoshimemo, to be honest the release was pretty redundant because we already have fan translated version back at 2012. For comparison, other than the translation the story and character should be still the same one. But in light of MoeNovel release of censored Miagete, I think it's still better than Miagete in regard of H scenes because at least we could access those in Hoshimemo. Also we have Tokeijikake release here in which I've been looking forward to this for a while. The premise was we're here as the student who transferred to the special school which still had some magic, and from there we'll gonna to have some work to take care the problem that caused by magic. This is actually the first part of the trilogy, so we're gonna have two more parts to be released and hope that Sekai take care of those two quickly. Oh, and I would say that Tokeijikake here was have better start for the trilogy compared to Grisaia, because in here we have the true route and there's canon heroine with side heroines was less focused - which if one like side heroines more might find that as the con. Almost forget to say that if you own Steam version, you could buy the 18+ patch for both as DLC from Denpa site.
As for the unfortunate problem that was came with Sekai releases, it was in regard of the untranslated lines which unfortunately could sour the experience. I'm pretty much okay if their VNs still need Japanese locale considering that some fan translated VN need Jap locale, and it's fine if the English version couldn't read the old save because the engine was quite a pain to work at. But if there's still some untranslated text then it bring the problem to a new level, which simply to said couldn't be ignored especially if the lines was at very important scene. Ironically, the untranslated text issue here would bring Hoshimemo to be super redundant (lol) here because I'm sure that the old fan translation version was didn't have any untranslated text (Correct me if I'm wrong), the dolphin censorship aside (Easily removed if you know how). And of course the untranslated texts issue make Miagete ironically look better in regard of translated text area, because I'm sure that they should translated all the text except the H scenes for obvious reason. In the end, I just hope that Sekai would be at the very least take care the untranslated text issue.
That's all for my very belated VNTS Review here (Sorry). Merry Christmas, and see you next week (Or maybe next year).
PS - As for the title, basically it's just modified version of 'Land Sea Sky' trope which is very appropriate for this week. For the Ley Line part, it was from Tokeijikake which have the Ley Line word, and it was meant as the earth path which believed to have some significance spiritual - so we have 'Land' part from Ley Line. As for the Seabed, I didn't need to explain the 'Sea' part here, did I? For the Shooting Star it was from Hoshimemo, and since we could treat Star as 'Sky' part it should be pretty obvious.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. Since we have Criminal Border Part 3 release, once again I made a parody of Nine series by adding 'Liminal' in front of it (Liminal is from Criminal Border Steam version title, Liminal Border) because both series have same writer and director, and for the subtitle obviously I used the main girl of Criminal Border Part 3, Meryl Hathaway, so we have 'Liminal Nine 3rd Episode: Meryl Hathaway' as the title. As for this week, we have Sekai manage to release Harukuru after a brief delay, although it still didn't contain 18+ contents. Other than that, we have Shiravune release two VNs, the aforementioned Criminal Border Part 3 and Geminism, and some release date announcements. Overall, this week is quite an average one to me, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
For Criminal Border Part 3, we have Itsuki and friends finally manage to set up a foothold in his electronic drug business, although it mean they need to face up with the yakuza group head to head with the yakuza group has enough resources to easily destroy them. So Itsuki decided to recruit a mysterious girl who was introduced as Kotoko's companion, Meryl, into his own group with Meryl turned out have been a member of the overseas syndicate with Itsuki trying his best to make the contact into the overseas syndicate, so that he finally have a way to fighting against the yakuza group and if possible destroying it. All in all, Criminal Border Part 3 is like Nine Episode 3 in which the climax of the part did set up the expectation for the final part with the writer manage to do so in mind-blowing manner, although it seems Life Sentence (The name of Criminal Border Part 4) is not as well received as Nine Episode 4, so perhaps it might be be for the better to temper the expectation. Anyway, I hope that Shiravune announced Life Sentence later, seeing Criminal Border here is kinetic VN separated into four parts. Go get Criminal Border Part 3 if you want to read the continuation of Part 2, and have fun.
What I know about Geminism is that Craftwork released this in 2023 in which it's their comeback work after they released Sayooshi (Which also dubbed as one of three legendary denpa VN alongside original Tsui no Sora and Jisatsu 101) back in 2001, so it's their first new work after more than 20 years. They also have plan to release it in English, although back then we think it'll be simultaneous release until we see there's no English support back when Geminism was released in Japan until Shiravune worked on its English translation. Anyway, in here we have the twin sisters was fighting each other in a duel with each twin out to kill their opponent while their supervisor has friendly conversation, and let's just say there's more than it seems if Sayooshi is any indication, with both this and Sayooshi have a fair share of disturbing contents even though this is not as bleak as Sayooshi. Go get Geminism if you've been waiting for it ever since the English translation was announced, and have fun.
Sekai manage to release Harukuru back in 21st after a week delay, although unfortunately it didn't have the 18+ contents. That said, Sekai also announced they'll release 18+ version of Harukuru sometimes in Q1 of 2025, which mean we may get the 18+ of it at most in March 31st if all goes well. Well, this fiasco is ended up like Grisaia trilogy when Sekai delayed the releases 18+ of the trilogy, although back then I didn't care much seeing Kajitsu was redundant and the other two are like Kajitsu's fandisc to me. Anyway, while some obviously lament the loss of the sex scenes seeing the prologue was initially set up as nukige, some may appreciate the removal of the sex scenes seeing the nukige-like beginning is hard to go through if someone want to go to Harukuru main story quickly. Feel free to either get Harukuru if you've been waiting for almost seven years since Sekai announced it at AX 2018, or maybe wait for a bit longer until the 18+ version of it released later.
Shinzou did the editing work on Sousaku Kanojo for a bit with its current progress is at 32% edited, and they also have another secret project with it is at 11% translated although I don't know if it's for fan translation or official work yet. JAST announced they need to delay Mojika release by a month with the new exact release date is now March 28th later, so let's see if they'll release it at said date or it's just another placeholder date. Apparently PQube has plan to release Iwakura Aria on August 18th later, although said date is only available for physical edition so for now it's still unknown if it'll be released together with Steam version or not. Lastly, we have Kud Wafter All Age reach 90% mark translated with the exact progress is at 91.3% translated, so we should have it fully translated in the near future.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and for the title because we have Putrika localization announcement along with Tsukiyori new fan translation project, I decided to make a reference of Putrika's developer first VN, Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai, by changing 'Witch' into 'Maiden' with the latter is from Tsukiyori full title, Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou, so we have 'The Maiden on Paper' as the title. For elaboration, the literal translation of Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai is 'The Sorcerer on Paper' and otome mean maiden. As for this week, there's some releases and announcements, although I find the announcements are more interesting compared to the releases. Overall, this week is another below average one to me, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Cherry Kiss did release their newest nukige, and well feel free to play it if you like the NTR story about the teenager who prefer mother heroines and like to have sex with them. Kagura Games released the nukige called Welcome to Maison Chichigami which telling us the story about Onimaru who suffer erectile dysfunction because of the overwork at a black company, and in case you wonder Onimaru here is not the reincarnation of the demon lord from another world like Riku of Tenshi Re-Boot. One day, Onimaru heard a rumor about the secret hot sping that capable to cure his plight with he immediately decided to go there, and he somehow ended up in a mysterious mansion which contain of the women with very big breasts. I did read the spoiler and I can say there's much more than the premise indicate, although I'm not sure if I can recommend this seeing the VN is nukige. Still, feel free to get the VN if you interested with it, and have fun. We also have a little sister VN which was developed by Onikiss staffs, and for now we only know it has sickly little sister single heroine along with it'll be released someday in April later.
We now have Tayutama exact release date, and said date is April 27th later so feel free if you want to get it despite the lack of the sex scenes. Speaking of exact release date, now we have that for Hentai Prison in which Shiravune will release it on March 4th later so you can note the date if you've been waiting for it. We also have the new company called Kagami Games with the goal to localize more VNs, and their first project happen to be Putrika 1st cut which is Uguisu Kagura VN in all but name with the developer use the name Totometori presumably because of some complicated reasons. Putrika here is apparently to be episodic VN, although from what I heard the first part here is conclusive enough. As for the plan, the company will release Putrika sometimes on May later. Kagami Games also has four more secret projects, with the first project is at 40% translated and the second project is at 10% translated, and for the other two projects there's still no visible progress.
From fan translation, we have Ushieta now reach 90% mark edited (To be exact is at 90.6% edited) with Yui's route part 2 is at 13.7% edited, and Sakura no Uta is now at halfway translated. We also have a project to translated Sengoku Koihime (The link to the topic), and currently they finished working up to Chapter 7 out of (Possible) 35 chapters, although it's obviously still a long way to see it available in English thanks to its massive script. Last but not the last, there's Tsukiyori new translation project with the translation is is already reached about halfway done with one heroine (Luna) route fully translated with the team already had the second heroine (Ursule) route is at 5% translated. For now I can only say I hope they can finished the work, so good luck to them.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
For the title of this week VNTS Review, because we have Gensou Manege release with its premise remind me of Amagi Brilliant Park anime, I decided to make a parody of it by replacing 'Amagi' with 'Emma' (Gensou Manege MC), so we have 'Emma Brilliant Park'. For this week, well obviously it's not like the last week despite it still has numerous updates and releases, with the most notable one being Gensou Manege release along with some exact release date announcements from Shiravune. Another release worth to mention is Kaseki no Uta translation patch release in which it's one of the first age VNs, and also the patch that add Hotaru's route into Kiminozo English version. Overall, this week is an below average one to me, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Once again, a fan group did their best to add Hotaru's route into Kiminozo English version, which admittedly very nice seeing that route was only available for Japanese reader, although in the end it's just a small fix in the middle of the problems surrounding Kiminozo release with it still not restore the sex scenes. Admittedly, some of the sex scenes are disturbing, although it's still no good to remove the sex scenes from the main heroines route. Other than Hotaru's route patch, the group also released the translation patch for Kaseki no Uta with it being the fourth age's release. For the VN, it's about the amnesiac MC who was brought into the mansion by a catgirl together with his little sister, and the mansion owner was told the MC to do his job as a doll trainer. From what I gather, it has science fiction that takes place far in the future of the age VNs (Which may include Muv Luv seeing it was set in another planet with the word Earth mean the long forgotten home planet), and has some map movement. Go get Kaseki no Uta if you want to play the VN that age produce before decided to focusing on Kiminozo and Muv Luv, and have fun.
Cherry Kiss announced another nukige, and this time they decided to be frank with the title with said title is 'I Am Motherfucker' with they'll release it on Friday (7th) later. The VN is about the MC who has some problem to make his penis erect was suddenly getting erection after he was tangled by his mother's friend, thus causing the MC realizing he has fetish for mother heroine with he'll do some NTR to the other mothers. JAST did release Hell Academy with it being BL VN about the MC who was trapped in the school by a criminal posing as a police with his bully after the bully force the MC to steal the answer sheet from their school, and from there both the MC and bully was forced to have done a bunch of depravity acts in order to survive. Not my taste, although feel free to get the VN if you're into BL. Speaking of BL, we also have the exact release date for Nie no Machi fandisc, with it will be released on May 22nd later.
PQube released otome VN Gensou Manege, and it's always nice to see otome game available on PC even if it's not my taste seeing Aksys and Idea Factory as the one who localize most of otome VNs didn't release those on PC. Anyway for Gensou Manege, we have the MC Emma who is an amnesiac witch find herself led by her father's memento to a traveling amusement park. Beneath the park, Emma find out the park's employee are bound by the park's magic with only Emma's hidden magic capable to freeing them, although the way to access the magic has hidden within her repressed memories with she need to uncover her painful memories if she want to perform the magic. Nevertheless, Emma does her best to unlock the magic in order to help the park's employee, and she'll date one of the handsome heroes while at it. Go get Gensou Mangege if you're in the mood for some otome VN or just waiting for another otome VN for PC, and have fun.
This week we have Shriavune announced the exact release date for two of their announcements, Criminal Border Part 3 and Geminism, with they'll release it on 18th and 19th later respectively, so feel free to note the date if you've been waiting for one of those VNs (Or perhaps both). Speaking of Shiravune, they also planned to have released Primal Hearts duology at Steam on 12th later, so feel free to note the date if you want to buy the duology from Steam. We have Ushieta update with it is at 81.9% edited with Yui's route first part is at 69.1% edited. Lastly, we have Sousaku Kanojo update after a while (With the translator was busy with Nagi no Koi Steam version), with it now was fully translated along with 30% edited and its assets is 65% worked on.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week, and as for the title I'll explain it in PS. For this week, let's just say that we have Shiravune being very active for an easy word with them had a number of announcements. Other than Shiravune, Nekonyan also has some news to share, although unfortunately it's not in regard of their releases yet. Lastly, we obviously still have some updates from fan translation. Overall, let's just say that this week is an almost below average one and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
This week we have Tsuma Netori is at a quarter edited, 225 lines of Fate/Extra CCC main script has been edited, ChuSingura is at 25.9% translated, Tsukihime Remake Ciel's Route Day 13 has been finalized along with Day 14 of it has been fully edited, and Akagoei FD is at 48.28% edited. I know there's also Koiyasumi release as well, although I'll save the talk for next VNTS Review. We also have Rewrite Harvest Festa partial patch release that Amaterasu did work on (For the info initially it's Amaterasu 9th project before they're disappear), and the patch did contain full translation for all of the routes along with translate the beginning part of Rewrite Quest (The RPG minigame in Harvest Festa). In case you've been waiting for this ever since Sekai announce it (With them currently struggling with the editing work) and just want to read the story, then feel free to try the patch.
While we know that Sol Press has financial problem when it come to the tax, turned out that the problem is far worse than we thought, especially with them didn't manage to pay the royalty for Tinkle Position (ie Onikiss developer). Since Sol Press has been suspended from doing business, naturally Onikiss license has been indirectly stopped and thus there's no way to get the royalty. With that circumstance, Nekonyan decided to help them by took over the license for Onikiss, and they planned to re-release it in the near future. Well, initially they want to release it in last Friday, although there are some unavoidable circumstances so they need to delay it for a while.
Honestly speaking while Kara no Shoujo trilogy announcement from Shiravune is good news, I can't help but think that the announcement for the first two title is redundant, especially with almost no change in the second part. Granted arguably the first part has a number of improvement compared to what Mangagamer released in 2011, but even then there's a patch that add Mangagamer's translation into newer version of the first part (And also the second part), and thus the first two parts are redundant even with the new version and translation (Lemnisca is responsible for the retranslation work) on top made it available on Steam. If anything else, at least it mean that they have the license for the long awaited third part, so you can just wait for it to be released. Speaking of release, Shiravune already have the exact release date for the first part, and it'll be on July 28th later. They'll also release Nukitashi on 23rd and Dungeon Travelers 2 duology on Friday later.
Other than Kara no Shoujo trilogy, they also have White Album, as if the first White Album that has no relation with WA2 (If I remember right, WA2 only has mention the first WA heroines in the beginning), and for the info they'll release PS3 backport version which as we know has no sex scenes. For the premise, it's about our MC Touya who's been in relationship with the upstart idol Morikawa Yuki, although thanks to her popularity their relationship has been pulled apart, so Touya need to be either tried his best to maintain their relationship or perhaps find someone else. It should be mentioned that while it eventually spawn the well received WA2 and it also has love triangle story, it won't be as dramatic as WA2. There's still no plan on when Shiravune release WA, although looking at the Steam store it'll be on Q3 of this year (ie between July to September). I also know that WA has fan translation project, so I'll just wait and see for both.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
PS - Since we have Kara no Shoujo trilogy announcements with the direct translation of it is 'Girl in the Shell' (By the way Shiravune localize the title as 'The Shell' which to say is very generic) and White Album announcement, I make the parody of Kara no Shoujo translated title with I change 'Girl' into 'Star' (Because WA has idol and the most well known idol anime is Oshi no Ko with the title can be translated as 'My Star'), so we have 'Star in the Shell' as the title.
Since we have Ninetail planned the Kickstarter for Venus Blood Ragnarok along with a fan released the less known VN with the title 'Fake World's End at 4 AM', I decided to make the parody for the later by changing 'World's End' into 'Ragnarok' so we have 'Fake Ragnarok at 4 AM', which is quite fitting because Ragnarok is known as the big war happening when the world is about to end according to Norse mythology. Anyway, for this week, let's just say that it's too bad that Steam decided to ban Tenshi Re-Boot which obviously cause the delay. Also yes I knew Nekonyan had done harsh but necessary action towards Sakuramoyu project, but it's still rough for Nekonyan to suddenly face the setback, so yeah overall I felt unpleasant to both incidents. My feeling for this week situation aside, overall what I can say about this week it would be another below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Once again Steam decided to ban Tenshi Re-Boot, which mean Steam didn't bother to change their policy to their random banning, although seeing that it got its job done for years perhaps Valve know there's no point to change the system. To be fair though, its not the fault of Valve alone, but rather one of the reviewer who randomly tasked to reviewing Tenshi Re-Boot. Also to be fair, there are several questionable image even on the Steam build, so of course the random reviewer probably just banned it as the response of the reviewer being panic. Anyway, for now Nekonyan decided to ask for Hikari Field help to resubmit the build to Valve, so it will take a while before Tenshi Re-Boot ready for Steam release. Wake-Up Call in form of Tenshi Re-Boot ban aside, at least we have Nekonyan manage to have Irotoridori finally ready to be released with they'll release it on February 16th later, so feel free to note the date if you've been waiting for very long time (At most 12 years).
Cherry Kiss manage to release their newest nukige, and I only know that it has aunt heroine looking from the title alone. Idea Factory announce they'll localize the newest Date A Live VN (Ren Dystopia), and they stated it'll be available sometimes in this year. Speaking of announcement, PQube announced they'll release Konosuba VN on February 8th later. From fan translation, we have Akagoei 3 is at 81.95% translated along with 10.14% edited, Nagi no Koi is at 45% translated along with 20% edited and the assets has been 30% worked on, and ChuSingura is at 37.08% translated. For the release, actually Fake World's End at 4 AM is from the last week, but I forgot to write about it. From what I can see, apparently it's about the MC who entrusted the mysterious egg by the mysterious girl Feni who tell the story about fake apocalypse by God at 4 AM morning, and it has a big number of cameo from the developer previous VNs. Go get the VN if you didn't mind the pixel art, and have fun.
I admit that at first I didn't look at Venus Blood Ragnarok favorably, mostly because it's the sequel of Frontier with the VN ended satisfyingly. That said, like Evenicle 2 my feeling can be changed, and so I'm look forward to the KS that Ninetail will do later. For Ragnarok itself, it's about the world after Loki united the world (Obviously with a lot of help from the tentacle). Five hundred years later, Loki was disappeared and Odin was passed away, so the political condition become chaotic with the faction that favor anyone with strong divine blood got rid anyone who have dominant demon blood, with one of those people is the MC Vali. Some times later, Vali met a boy who introduce himself as Loki, and Loki offer Vali his wealth of knowledge and tactic to help Vali which he accept. No idea when the KS will start, although most likely it'll be started around March when they released Venus Blood Hollow fandisc later.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and because we have OELVN Siren's Call released I decided to make the parody of the Winter 2025 anime from Studio Bind, Hana to Shura, by changing 'Asura' from its English title, Flower and Asura, with 'Siren', so we have 'Flower and Siren' as the title. As for this week, well honestly speaking if you follow translation only it's still as plain as the last week, although on the other hand you may like Siren's Call release if you've been waiting for the full version of it, Escape Velocity, seeing the developer finally released it on last Friday. Other than OELVN release, another notable news is in regard of the announcement for a certain GL VN, Hayasaki no Kuroyuri. Anyway, let's see what I can write in regard of this week.
Forgot to mention that we also have One Room VN released by Laplacian, although as it turned out it's just 20 minutes VN with anime drawing so it may not worth to get. Apparently one of the reviewer mentioned the developer just copy paste the anime into the VN, which is possible seeing each episodes of the anime only have four minutes each, so perhaps you may get the VN if you didn't watch One Room anime for some reasons. For Siren's Call, well the developer somehow make the story like Frieren with the MC was about to enter the university after resolve the terrifying mysteries in Florida with he about to say goodbye to his friends, although turned out it's not as simple as it looks seeing the MC need to deal with the crisis that he face which mean the adventure is not ended just yet. Anyway go get Siren's Call Escape Velocity from Steam if you're in the mood of mystery OELVN, and have fun.
Cherry Kiss suddenly released a nukige about the MC have sex with his boss, and feel free to get it if you're interested. We have three updates for otome game in this week, with PQube will release Gensou Manege on 31st later, Aksys will release DesperaDrops on March 6th later, and Idea Factory unfortunately delayed Temirana release to the next year. Speaking of Idea Factory, turned out the GL VN Hayasaki no Kuroyuri was made by two of its employee, Fukahire (Omega Quintet artist) and Oogi Saya (One of Mary Skelter trilogy writer) with both form a doujin group. Anyway the VN is about the life in the world where a mysterious virus wiped out more than half of the young people with the world start to reeling from it, and our MC Hana (Japanese word for flower) have problem to be openly admit that she's into her female friend Itsuki, doubly so with Itsuki was killed by the accident. After the accident, Hana somehow find herself always repeating the day. Note that it already has Chinese version on Steam, with the developer just mentioned they still planned for English version in their xeet (The link to the xeet), so I'll write more about this when there's more news from them.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (15/09/2024)
Since we have Ace Attorney Investigation 2 available in English with the name Prosecutor's Gambit along with Sheol is just released today, I decided to parodied the former by changing 'Prosecutor's' into 'Angel's' (Because we have Sheol's MC have angel in his dream), so we have 'Angel's Gambit' as the title. Anyway welcome to this week VNTS Review, and for this week admittedly there's no much update, although one of the updates is in regard of Karenai Sekai release, which is the best VN from its developer which honestly not saying much. For the other notable updates, we have both Sakura Celebration and Sheol exact release date, so good for the fans who've been waiting for both VNs. Overall this week is another below average one, and let's see what I can write about it.
Once again we have Capcom released Ace Attorney Investigation duology which included the long awaited Ace Attorney Investigation 2 so obviously this should be very good news. Although unfortunately since the fan team who worked very hard on this is not the part of Capcom translator, naturally Capcom use the different name from fan translator and thus it would took some more times to get used to it. To be fair though it's not fully the translator's fault to not immediately localized Ace Attorney Investigation 2 as soon as possible in 2011, because the reason for 13 years delay is the team who works on the game was disbanded as soon as the game finished in Japan in 2011, and thus they have no chance to work on the translation which would leave the game untranslated if not for the effort of the fans who do more than usual fan translation (Especially with them also think the fitting localized name instead of just leaving Japanese name). Overall, let's just say the player would need to get used to the new name for a while to put it nicely. In the end, feel free to get the duology if you're too lazy to emulate DS and didn't mind the Steam version use Denuvo.
Sekai finally have released Sheol on today (September 18th), and no much to say for now besides good for Sekai to have their backlog reduced yet again. Speaking of backlog reduction, we have Sakura Celebration exact release date with said date is on 26th later. Admittedly Sakura Celebration has nice graphic compared to Sheol, although it's definitely on the lower end compared to Nekonyan's other announcements on last Otakon. Oh yes, they also state they need to delay Dracu Riot release up to next year, 2025, so more waiting for the fans who chose to wait for official release.
This week fan translation focus is obviously on Shinzou with they're released Karenai Saku full translation patch along with their secret project is now fully edited, although Studio Frisay also make some progress on Ushieta editing work with it currently is at 19.9% edited with Kaori's route is past three quarter (82.8%) edited. As for Karenai Sekai, so far it's the longest VN that Shinzou translate (Usually their work are short VNs) with this is also the longest VN from the developer with their two other VNs that are localized by Sekai (Kemomusu and Nekogami). For the story, it's about Shou who traveled together with the little girl Ren came at the town with beautiful flowers. In the town, he met the three sisters who run a cafe, and Shou chose to work at the cafe in order to have a place to stay. In the middle of the night, Shou saw some unexpected happen, with he saw the middle sister Haru hugged the little girl who soon transform into the flower. Afterwards, Haru revealed that she's and her sister have been doing so to stay alive. With no much choice, Shou decided to try to help the three sisters, especially Haru. Go get Karenai Sekai if you're interested with it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
First of all, happy New Year 2025. Anyway, welcome to my first VNTS Review for 2025 and I should say the first week is very plain. Still, let's see what I can write at this week. Oh yes, almost forgot that for the title since we have Mojika along with Kara no Shoujo 3 about to be released, I decided to parodied the famous The Divine Comedy because the three Kara no Shoujo VNs based on each parts of Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso) by changing 'Divine' into 'Duckling' with Duckling is from The Ugly Ducking fairy tale which Mojika title make the reference of.
Idea Factory announced they'll release Senjou no Waltz on April 8th later, so you can wait for three months in case you want to play as the ordinary girl who got a very powerful cursed sword romancing several handsome man (And of course have Switch as well). Nutrients revealed they already open the Steam store for Nagi no Koi. which as we know is one of Shinzou Translation project, and they'll release it on Saturday later so feel free to wishlist it if you want to support the developer (Nutrients) even though the release seems redundant.
Seeing now it's been 2025, I decided to reveal that there's an effort to translate Tsui no Sora, as in the original Tsui no Sora in which it was known as the three legendary denpa (psychological horror) VNs alongside Sayooshi and Jisatsu 101. What I can say is that SCA-JI already perfected the original game in both of its 2012 remake Subahibi (More like 2009 remake, but whatever) and 2020 remake, but perhaps it's still worth to see the original VNs that got two well received remakes. At the very least, I can say that it'll be far better than the H OVA adaptation. For the progress, currently the team is already fully translated the VN. After three years of no news, finally Sukiuso team appeared again with the team now apparently planned to release the translation patch in the near future with them start the editing work, so let's wait and see if they can finally finished Sukiuso translation work after years of working on it.
That's all for my first VNTS Review in 2025, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (10/12/2023)
Because we have both Sona-Nyl and Fate/Extra CCC released with the latter opening song title is Sakura Labyrinth, I make the parody of it by changing 'Sakura' into 'Wisteria' with Wisteria is Sona-Nyl ending song title, so we have 'Wisteria Labyrinth' as the title. As for this week, first of all it has some new releases that people has been looking forward to, so theoretically this week should be interesting. That said, I'm not exactly looking forward into Fate/Extra CCC seeing that it's one of the spin-off (Read: milking) for Fate series, and turned out Sona-Nyl has the problem as the result of the porting. Other than the releases, we have Shiravune being active on this week again even with Amazing Grace release is delayed. Overall, this week is an average one to me, and let's see what I can write about it.
After waiting for seven years ever since Mangagamer announced it, finally we have them released Sona-Nyl. The reason of why it took very long time to release is because they decided to go all out by combining the PC version and console version contents while also adapted additional webnovel into the VN. Unfortunately, there's some problem with the release, because Mangagamer did port this to the other engine and we know that any VNs that has porting work tends to be buggy. Problematic release aside, in Sona-Nyl we have two women, Elysia and Lily, stumbled upon 1907 New York with it is the Ground Zero for the disaster five years ago, and then both of them tried to survive the abandoned New York which turned out is infested with monster. Forgot to mention Sona-Nyl is part of Steampunk series, which mean the setting is the alternative New York with the underground realm that has eternal purple sky. Go get Sona-Nyl if you've been waiting for it, and have fun.
This week we have Shiravune announced two new title, with one of those is the original Dungeon Travelers with the same gameplay as the sequel but instead the female are based on To Heart 2 heroines that Ittaku translated. No idea if we may see Shiravune get the license for To Heart 2 in the future or not, but I know that Shiravune will release Dungeon Travelers on next Valentine (February 14th later). The second announcement is a redundant NTR VN that has been available in English since 2021 with the fan translation, although in this case actually you'll do NTR in order to save the heroine who is the victim of domestic abuse. Said VN will be available sometimes on 2024 with Shiravune use the new translation. We also have Shiravune finally announced the new exact release date for Shukusei no Girlfriend, with the new date is on 14th later. Speaking of release date, turned out SukeraSomero has the plan to release their newest GL VN, Lip Trip, simultaneously in four languages (Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English), and said date will be on February 22nd later.
In regard of Fate/Extra CCC, I only understand that it's the sequel of Fate/Extra with the gameplay is RPG instead of VN, and we have new story with the MC is basically self-insert with you can chose the gender just like in Pokemon. That, and Sakura play a big role in the game along with it's only for PSP and PSV. Well go try the game if you're being Fate franchise fan, and have fun. For the rest of fan translation updates, we have Kusarihime update with the current progress is 122 out of 253 script files are edited, ChuSingura s at 34.40% translated, Tsuma Netori is almost fully edited at 95% done, and Akagoei 3 is past three quarter (76.77%) translated. Turned out Sekai also has update for ReLord 3, and currently they're scheduling it so it may be their next release after Animal Trail 2.
Last but not least, we have Nekonyan open the Steam store for Tenshi Re-Boot, and we also has the release month listed in there, which will be in next month (January 2024). That said, it may be just the placeholder for now, so keep in mind the release time may be change, especially with how long Valve review process can be.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
