AaronIsCrunchy

I love the in-game art that's been drawn for this so far, if the story's as good as the art then I'm gonna have no trouble getting on this when you finish it ^.^

I got the good, romantically satisfying ending, albeit with the feeling that I could've been so much more academically. It'd have started off with me as an incredibly social difficult but fairly precocious youngster, who remained that way for 4 years before starting to slowly come out of his shell - coincidentally lining in with the gradual drop-off of grades. Eventually, I got into a relationship for the last year and a half of school, which seemed to develop pleasantly enough with little ambiguity of continuation (I asked her if she wanted to stay a couple after school. We're now engaged ), and my final grades ended satisfyingly enough but not the dizzying heights expected of me at the start.

Happy birthday Green Practically an adult now!

Im impressed how many breakdowns they could cram in a breakdown lol Check Devourment's 'Babykiller', slams for days :3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpkjLHtylu0

They say the truth hurts, and I can tell you it's hurting right now ;-;

^ Really impressed with how well written this is sounding so far. That being said, there's something seriously wrong with Spongebob Squarepants popping up in BDM.

Figurines are the one common item of anime/manga/VN paraphernalia that I just can't wrap my head around. I can definitely understand the appeal of the limited edition box set due to my love of limited-run music releases. The little added extras, the presentation of the box as you open it, containing the disk, album art and any other odds and sods they decide to throw in (I got a tiny jar of tealeaves in one with a note attached once...) just do it for me. Plus I admit the sense of exclusivity is pretty damn nice too, to make myself sound a complete dick. I can understand posters; a glorious visual representation of your favourite character, emblazened across your wall, simultaneously making the room a brighter place while adding a clear sense of personality to the surroundings. I even understand the dakimakura... cos let's face it, hugs are fucking great. But figurines... I just struggle to get excited about, or see the appeal. Rika Furude's life was painfully repetitive enough, without being cast in PVC to stand still for eternity. I'd like to qualify right now that this isn't a rant against figurines as such, and certainly not against the people that may collect them. Now I've qualified that, in the event I kinda lose track and it becomes a rant, it's not a rant, because I said so. My biggest problem with the figurine is the justification of the price for what they are. In the interests of myself not getting shouted at I won't name any company names that sell them, but generally speaking the ones I have found start at roughly ￥4000 and go up from there. Once postage is taken into account, this is normally just shy of £30, and that's a cheaper one. For £30, I can feed myself for at least 2 weeks, buy an entire series of literature to read (or a translated visual novel) or change the strings on my guitar 3 to 4 times. If I was to buy a figurine, I would likely forget its existence after a month tops due to its lack of practical application (something I will touch upon in a bit), and this is only if they look nice enough to warrant even considering in the first place, which many just...don't. The ones that do actually look good enough that I would even consider buying them would set me back in excess of £60-70, and I can't justify that for a glorified ornament. To my eyes anyway, the clean way most characters are drawn does not translate well to 3D, and this is reflected in the model's appearance 90% of the time. Furthermore, they're typically made out of PVC, which only serves to compound the clean-cut presentation of many figurines. Granted, this does in theory provide the purchase with greater durability, but the amount of times I have read about or spoken to someone talking about a broken figurine just puts me off on that front too. Thanks to its PVC makeup this can be corrected by superglue, but surely it's better to have something which can be assembled without having to perform corrective surgery on it? The other thing I don't understand particularly is their purpose. I mentioned earlier that I can understand the interest in purchasing a poster, which to my mind performs the same purpose as a figurine but looks better, is cheaper and has a greater impact on the feel of a room. As with everything that has a purely aesthetic purpose, unless they're really, really into something then the most of a reaction it will elicit from people is an 'ah, nice' or a 'looks cool'... and then that's that. There's no real scope for discussion, not much to set the imagination going and not even really much in the way of a point in lending it to someone. In fact, the primary practical function I can make out that they have is a 'certain practice' which I've seen pictures of on /b/, and that's just grim. I've never really been one for owning things with a lack of practical application, so I suspect my lack of understanding of the figurine's appeal is largely a reflection upon my slightly dull self. In my explanation I earnestly hope that I've not annoyed anyone, as if collecting them makes you happy then that's all I could really ask. That being said, if anyone does collect them and wants to let me know why, I'd be very curious to hear Laters potaters!

Why would you use your mouse arm for that? That would be highly inefficient. would it now? Well it was before.

It's probably better, there's a reason why most mousepads are flat. I think the bumps have got something to do with wrist support... and if you've got a mousemat with squishy boobs, the likelihood is that your wrist is gonna need a whole lotta supporting

eden* has militaristic themes, and is also brilliant. So that'd be my suggestion ^.^

This gorgeous piece of late 80s goth perfection.

I've never read it either [3] and only watched a few episodes of it (but that's partially down to me being generally shit at watching series), so naturally I'm pretty damn excited for the release of this as well. It'll be pretty cool to play one of the 'classic' (by which I mean well-regarded) VNs too, as I've not really done too many of those. Drawing dango in anticipation.

I think after the first one I'd have just left my washing and got someone else who's braver. You're a strong person Zenophilious, never forget that.

Hey Fuwans! I've never done a blog before (or at least, not one that wasn't a work of fiction... is that still a blog?) and therefore I may lack the basic principles of layout, appropriate language, and possibly the most important factor of being slightly interesting. Still, I figured I'd give it a crack, partially to try to understand the events in my life leading up to where I am now and partially to offer my pearls of wisdom on various facets of all things Japanese and fun. I hope that in the very least it's a vaguely entertaining read, and that it might occasionally spark a blob of discussion! -------- A few days ago I found myself wondering, while browsing the forums in a way that can only be described as a procrastinatory fashion, at what stage in my life I started to become interested in Japanese things. As a child, I never watched Pokémon, nor owned a Nintendo device, nor played Yu-Gi-Oh! round the back of the playground shed (cards were banned at my infant and primary schools for some reason). I used to like the shape of Japan on maps, but then again I liked the shape of many places on maps - including my first national love of Finland. I used to randomly drop Finnish words into conversation (still do on occasion...), spend ages reading instruction manuals with the Finnish language in, and would watch any film with Finnish subtitles because it seemed cool. In some ways, I was a Finland weeb, if that ever could be a thing. Over time, this spread to an interest in language generally, leading to me collating words from anything I could find in a big diary, divided and split into their separate categories with unconnected words scrawled in. I guess I liked thinking how different these things were. However, even this eventually petered out, and for a while I had little more than a passing inquisitive interest in anything outside of my cosy little life in southeast England. After school, I went to college, and it was here that I had my first definite experience with things of a Japanese nature. On my second or third day, I started talking to someone - or rather, he started talking to me - about an online roleplaying game which he was an active member of. He was describing to me his current character, telling me all about her personality and appearance, when he said that she was a 'tsundere'. I had no bloody idea what that was, so I naturally asked him (actually, I asked him what's a sundern', which I later found out is a town in Nord Rhine-Westphalia). Following his description, I became curious about why such a trait would exist, although I had no real reference point to go on. This friend went on to play a key role in getting me interested in anime, as at his suggestion I watched Kill La Kill, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai and Tokyo Ghoul. I sadly don't talk much with him anymore as I left college and we went our separate ways, but we still chat every now and then. Also while at college, I was surfing that halcyon land of the internet formally known as 4chan, when I came across a Katawa Shoujo thread. I'd seen them previously, but never really paid much attention - but, through a mixture of people talking about 'feels' (I liked to think I was somewhat impervious to emotion... ), cute drawn girls and the only vaguely fun 'community' I could find on /b/, I gave it a bash. Hanako showing a somewhat accurate portrayal of my experience playing Katawa Shoujo for the first time. Yeah. That. My outlook on life was pretty shit at the time, so having something which made me feel so strongly felt like some kind of emotional release for me that I had never had before (Wiosna, its theme tune, still makes me feel rather emotional to this day). It was due to this experience that I started to look out for other visual novels - in the following months, I played True Remembrance, Marry Me Misato!, Homeward, Yandere-chan, and my homeboy at college sourced me a copy of Fate/Stay Night, which with my very basic awareness at the time I'd heard was 'alright'. I started to open up socially again - not only in my actual life, but in my virtual life too, as I joined my first internet community in the Katawa Shoujo forums. It was great to be able to talk to such a wide variety of people about something I couldn't adequately discuss with anyone in the 'real world'. How I learned what a 'yandere' was. Hmm. Over the course of the next 12 months or so (so I guess April 2014 - April 2015) my interest in things drawn and Japanese-based waned somewhat. After running out of things to say on the KS forums, leaving college and starting university, I just got doing other things - mostly involving playing guitar and habitually cursing my decision of taking mathematics. However, for some reason one day I decided to Google 'visual novels' and I came across a list of 50 VNs on some site called forums.fuwanovel.net by a user called Kaguya. Now, I'm not gonna say I danced on the rooftops (metaphorically or physically) but needless to say I became very intrigued, researching and reading about and around the titles on this list, as well as starting to make a concerted effort at learning Japanese. At roughly the same time, a friend of mine recommended that I checked out a guy called 'Gackt', in particular his first two albums. I was blown away, and so started to check as many different facets of the Japanese music scene as I could (visual kei, J-Pop, shibuya-kei... and grindcore ). Not two months later, I signed up to this glorious forum and things have only really continued from there! This past 5 or 6 months have been a bit like Alice wandering through Wonderland for me. Through my investigations into all things Japan, there have been things that have amused me greatly, things that have appalled me, and some that have just left me thinking what a truly interesting place it is. I still consider myself somewhat of a newbie to things, and that is in part what this blog is going to be about: feeling kinda like a tourist to a largely unfamiliar world, and trying to learn as much as possible along the way. Please be patient with me.

It'll probably be Football Manager 2016 when I eventually buy it. I don't really play much in the way of games however, so I can't think of many others. I enjoyed agar, I guess?

Don't even get me started on those little pots of jam you sometimes get with them.

I'm quickly realising why my parents were so reluctant to get me a PS1. They were obviously scared that my tiny 5-year-old mind would be blown as soon as I loaded this up, and I'd spend the rest of my days in fruitless search of something more. 15 years on, I understand this now. Thanks Mum and Dad.

Thanks everyone I will say that I enjoy living a somewhat regimented (or at least somewhat timetabled) lifestyle otherwise I find myself getting quickly quite miserable, but after reading the comments here I'll go with the idea that specifically earmarking a leisure activity is a bad idea, or at least, one that should be approached with some caution. Allocating time where I can do something might be a better option, and if reading VNs falls in to that, then so be it. Thanks again guys, appreciate the food for thought

Hey Fuwans, recently I've had even less time to play VNs than I'd like to have done, and it's bothering me. Through a mixture of work, reading/essay writing/lectures and trying to keep in contact with the outside world I've barely played anything in a month. I read about 30 minutes of Sekien no Inganock, however, and really enjoyed it. Would you say, even though I ultimately have greater priorities, it's a good idea to earmark, say, 30 mins to an hour a day for VN reading?

Let me put it this way. I really love Cryptopsy's 'None So Vile' album, possibly one of the best examples of death metal out there in my opinion. Most of the time, I can't understand a fucking word Lord Worm is saying, and it's supposedly in English :L

I... I just... I'm more concerned by what you mean by 'charming attitude' :3 Finally getting round to playing Sekien no Inganock after figuring out how to use the VN reader thing properly. Really loving the atmosphere present, even right at the start. The art is suitably grimy too, great stuff.

This is truly awful. Been following it on the news and I can scarcely believe it's happening. My absolute best wishes go to anybody in Paris or indeed France right now. Stay safe, please.

My quest for the perfect song has brought me here. I have searched far and wide, from the black metal wastelands of Norway to the Japanese grindcore scene in Osaka. I have listened to concept albums about Watership Down, and been brought to tears by a song about the first dog in space. But this. This is what I have been searching for, for all of these years. I have nothing else to live for now. Farewell, Fuwanovel.

I know pretty fragmented Japanese, and yet the range of emotions that I can feel when I listen to artists such as Gackt, Buck-Tick and Yanagi Nagi is practically indescribable. With that being said, if your motivation for learning Japanese will come out of music, do it :sachi: Regardless of where it comes from, motivation is motivation is motivation. With bands like Dir en Grey, understanding the lyrics can bring a whole new dimension to the music (albeit quite frequently a terrifying one), whereas is your thing is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu then I really don't think a knowledge of the language matters.ポンポンポン！

Uzumaki [3] - reading it right now, it's brilliant. Zashiki Onna Mimi no Kaidan is great too.