LinovaA

For those that don’t know, the other day some villains ambushed me and they gave me a task – to produce a writing critique of Sakura Spirit. This, they say, will entertain the masses and provide much mirth for those on Fuwa. It is a task I went into full of hubris.

But first some background. Sakura Spirit is an English developed Visual Novel with extroadinarily pretty art, and yet it suffers from a horrible reputation. A reputation even more repulsive than those terribly translated, doujin, nukige abominations Mangagamer spews forth. The mere mention of this title produces hisses and insults from nearby people, reactions you’d usually only hear if you gatecrashed a teenagers party. Dressed in only a bathrobe and slippers. Shouting that it was past your child’s bed-time, you were here to collect them, and had anybody seen them?

There’s very few people or institutions that could release something so aesthetically beautiful only to produce such disgust in the public, and my money’s on the Government.

And so I went into this challenge supremely confident, reassured by the knowledge that the Government has never done anything right. I would be gifted a game that was completely horrid, and I would need to apply only a minisule amount of brainpower to produce a detailed critique. How misplaced a feeling this was!

But onto specifics, why the uproar over such a beautiful looking game? Well, there’s 4 reasons: there’s no plot, it’s a game about sex but there is none, it’s an English developed visual novel with Japanese words and phrases sprinkled everywhere, and the writing is horrid. So the only positives to the game are the pretty art, and the fanservice.

But surely gamers are a smart species, they wouldn't fork over good money just because of some large, oil-smeared boobs, am I right? That would be like watching NASCAR for the crashes, or watching a foreign film to laugh at the funny mistranslations in the subtitles.

But I was wrong. Over 100,000 people own Sakura Spirit, and that’s more than the entire voting population of Aruba. And most of them appear to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, if the review system on Steam can be taken at face value.

Which it can’t.

But here’s the thing, if a small indie studio can sell over a hundred thousand copies just by including some nice art, and sprites with reflecting boobs, then there’s no incentive to provide a decent story or good writing. Writing takes time, and good writing even more so, and if there's little monetary reward to head down that path then people won’t.

But unlike Winged Cloud, Sekai Project is a production studio and DO have a professional reputation to maintain. In response to the uproar they made some apologetic sounds and issued some vague promises on Reddit. They said they asked Winged Cloud to “improve the grammar and writing” and have since “changed their QA procedure”. But despite their revamped QA procedure the situation repeated itself with Nekopara, another awfully pretty game that was obviously translated by the Government. This didn’t bode well for their first promise.

So over the next few weeks (Fuwa time) I will analyse the game’s writing to find out how much it has improved, and what writing issues are still included in the script. Obviously they wouldn't have been able to shoe-horn in a plot, or much additional character development, but what have they improved and how bad is the writing in its current form? Is Sakura Spirit finally worth purchasing or is it still nothing more than a glorified erotic CG gallery… with no actual porn?

That’s what we’ll find out.

Hello everyone, quick post and no time for introductions this time, for if you didn't received the news, then there you have it: After four years in development, the Majikoi translation project is finally complete! So if you plan to read this game or was waiting for the complete patch to finish it, then go thank the team in the discussion thread, you can find their profile links in the translation thread if you feel like PMing then as well. Thanks a lot everyone on the team, you guys are amazing and our deepest gratitude!

Hey Fuwans! Lino here again to bring you some more fabulous happenings from the community.

As some of you may be aware, solidbatman is holding a contest, and a mega big ultra one at that. For the next 8 weeks we are going to be subject to many an event set by the man himself, earning points after the completion of each one. Why do this you ask? 'Cause he is our Dark Knight, and we do not question that.

So why participate? Well, the participant with the most points at the end of it all will be taking home a big big prize. To see just what is at stake, you can check it out over on this thread. If you want to participate, you best head on over there now, as the first event is going to end on the 13th of March. All you need to do for the first event is voice your wish to join in on the fun, and the first challenge will be complete. I'll be hoping to see you there myself, as I too will be participating. Probably going to be a bloodbath, so all the more reason to head on over!

Good luck guys, and may the strongest bat Fuwan win.

Last week I read It's A Hard Life. Three years ago I read Katawa Shoujo. And here I sit, writing, having finished neither of them. I bring this up because it says something about me that might not be immediately obvious and I wonder if maybe this actually matters. I think I'm in dire need of some accountability and of some understanding of what I'm really doing with myself.

So, the first thing to do is to take a step back and think about why I haven't finished half of my favorite stories. From the Dune series to Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou to Hakomari and more, I've struggled for years to actually finish the stories I love the most. It's kind of a weird problem, as far as I can tell. I haven't run into anyone with quite the same issue. Let's begin.


Do you know that moment? That moment when something is so good that you cannot stand it being ruined; When you tell your family to be quiet or turn off your phone so that nothing distracts you from something truly amazing. That moment when you decide that crunching on some chips does the mood a disservice and seriously focus in on what may just be the best thing you've read in the last two years. Or ever. It's that moment when I tell myself that the time isn't right. The mood needs improvement and I'm a little tired so tomorrow when I'm feeling utterly perfect is when I will return to this amazing experience. It's that moment, when I become aware of everything around me, that it all goes downhill. Because the perfect moment rarely arrives.
So why not, as others have offered, just screw the mood and jump into it? It just always feels wrong. It's like having trouble trust falling. I'm afraid that if I take the chance and screw the mood, take the fall, and trust in the strength of the story I have chosen that I'll end up in in pieces on the floor. It's pretty dramatic, I know, but the dangers aren't skin-deep.

A professor of mine once said, "identity is about the creation of meaning." And I really believe that. I've always told myself that these stories mean something. That they matter to me because they are somehow important, even if it isn't exactly clear how. These days I tie my very identity to their impact on me as a person and my development. They hold a place in my heart that I don't think it's exactly normal for stories to hold, but I'm quite happy that they are there anyway.

That's really what it comes down to. I'm afraid that if I'm distracted or something is wrong with my mentality or what-have-you that I'll no longer feel the way I did earlier. How horrible it would be if one day I pick up the third Dune book to realize that it's not actually as good as I imagined it would be. If I were to rewatch Guilty Crown and find a plot hole I would be crushed. Something more than a story will have changed. Something about me will be different. Something I don't want to be different. It's because somewhere in the world of me I put value in these stories and they sit there in their pretty glass cases in my mind. I look at them and think to myself 'how pretty that was' or 'how much you matter to me'. I am afraid that one day I will look at something once beloved and no longer will that passion burn. And then I will be left with nothing (well... not nothing). So I stop reading Dune, afraid that the third book will not live up to my image of the first two. I stop watching Ghost in the Shell because the timing isn't right. I stop and I worry and I worry.

I stop because I feel fragile. I want to change. So I will.

More on that to come, probably. Thanks for reading and I'd be glad if you left a comment.

Into the Fray!



First Foray into Untranslated VNs







Man does that title make this seem important. Hate to disappoint, but it is not important at all.

So recently I decided it would be a good idea to finally stop procrastinating on something I have been really meaning to do. I finally got off my butt and got my hands on Akatsuki no Goei and installed it on my computer. With my current Japanese level, I felt it would be a good one to try and work my way through. Not too difficult and not too easy.

I just felt like a moege wouldn't really help me as much as trying to struggle my way through something with a higher level of linguistic complexity. That kinda makes it seem like I am talking about the difference between a moege and things done by the developers Light, but believe me, I make no such mistakes. I am no pleb...

... I just really wanted to say the word pleb. Its like.. my favorite 'word' right now.


I have enjoyed it thus far, that is for sure. Kaito is a freaking AWESOME protagonist. I love him, in the manly not homosexual way.

I think I have spent a total of ten hours reading, but I would be really surprised if I made it even an hour in as far as 100% fluent in Japanese person is concerned. However, I have definitely felt my vocab improving, even if it has only been three days. I have picked up a few new words and phrases, which made me pretty happy.


Incoming Digression:






So yeah, its pretty good. Maybe I will do day by day entries about my experiences with it. You can see in post time how bad my Japanese failings are. We'll see how I feel after today's playthrough.

Hello, everyone! Rose here, bringing you the first official recognition team post.

A few weeks ago this kickstarter was announced on the forums. It is a korean visual novel originally made for the iOS and released back in 2010. It has an interesting story and in their testimonial, lots of people suggests that this novel is clearly going to give you some nice feels. I'll copy paste a bit of their introduction below, so if you enjoy it, check their kickstarter page. Furthermore, if you like it, consider backing them up. The next stretch goal will give Lucy a japanese voice acting, with 6 days to go and two thousand dollars away from it, any kind of support will be surely more than welcome. Lastly, if you want someone to talk about Lucy with you, there's a thread in the Ongoing Projects board, so feel free to comment there. Thanks a lot to the team for making such a good looking VN and what I believe to be an amazing story.










(Images and text taken from the kickstarter page)


Lucy -The eternity she wished for- is a Visual Novel, about a boy and an android. You play as the boy, who faces decisions and moral dilemmas in this near-future world. Depending on your choices, the life of this boy will lead in many different directions.

The game is a remake which was originally released back in 2010 in Korea, and highly praised for its great story. It has been redone for the international audience, with greatly improved graphics and streamlined storyline.

If any of you have doubts about how good this game is going to be, doubt no more. In the genre of visual novels, the quality of story-telling is very important for most gamers. Lack of story-telling in games often leads to a lot of dissatisfaction and makes many gamers feel like they’ve wasted their time in supporting it.

We know that everyone has different tastes and we can’t satisfy everyone, but there’s one thing we can say. This is a story that has touched many hearts and continues to have a strong impact on those who partake in this compelling journey.

We as a team believe that the most important aspect of a visual novel is not simply pretty drawings or a great story, but the combination of both, in harmony to create a memorable experience which will last long after the game is completed. With the experience we've gained and the many hours spent making the first game, we have been diligently working to refine and perfect the new 'Lucy'.

Into the Fray!



First Foray into Untranslated VNs







Man does that title make this seem important. Hate to disappoint, but it is not important at all.

So recently I decided it would be a good idea to finally stop procrastinating on something I have been really meaning to do. I finally got off my butt and got my hands on Akatsuki no Goei and installed it on my computer. With my current Japanese level, I felt it would be a good one to try and work my way through. Not too difficult and not too easy.

I just felt like a moege wouldn't really help me as much as trying to struggle my way through something with a higher level of linguistic complexity. That kinda makes it seem like I am talking about the difference between a moege and things done by the developers Light, but believe me, I make no such mistakes. I am no pleb...

... I just really wanted to say the word pleb. Its like.. my favorite 'word' right now.


I have enjoyed it thus far, that is for sure. Kaito is a freaking AWESOME protagonist. I love him, in the manly not homosexual way.

I think I have spent a total of ten hours reading, but I would be really surprised if I made it even an hour in as far as 100% fluent in Japanese person is concerned. However, I have definitely felt my vocab improving, even if it has only been three days. I have picked up a few new words and phrases, which made me pretty happy.


Incoming Digression:






So yeah, its pretty good. Maybe I will do day by day entries about my experiences with it. You can see in post time how bad my Japanese failings are. We'll see how I feel after today's playthrough.