ChaosRaven

As sad as it sounds, I actually find it hard to belive that the declaration of bankruptcy of Overdrive is just an april fools...

It's a 'symbolic' visit, she doesn't have to worked on Summer Pockets just to act as a Key representative or messenger for a new annoucement. She went freelance just recently last year and her last release for Key - Harmonia - was just a few months ago. So it's not as she would have been gone from Key since decades ago. And since she's working freelance now, she can be hired for Key or Visual Art's any day. So, if such an iconic Key figure like Hinoue Itaru is visiting such a major anime con as a guest start for MangaGamer, then it's most likely a tiny little bit more than just a pleasure visit to check out the quality of US fast food burgers.

So, almost as expected, one bigger announcement and two lesser ones. Just that Trinoline barely justifies as a 'new' announcement. But it's baffling that they're still so paranoid to insist on mosaics. I wonder how far behind time they are really living? Maybe someone should send them a note that WW2 is over, so they're a least moving their offices out of the air-raid shelters. Wonder if there's really a deeper meaning behind the visit of Hinoue Itaru. Could be an announcement of the English version of Summer Pockets which isn't too unlikely considering most of their newer titles seem to be coming to the west. Though personally I think I would prefer some titles from Viusal Art's other studio's like from Saga Planet's or Tone Work's instead.

Sounds pretty good, especially considering that I love the whole fantasy and mythology stuff. Guess I'll make this my first Clochette title. Currently my backlog of Japanese titles I'm really interested in isn't growing particularly fast anyway, so I hope I can get to it this year already.

Quite interesting! The character sprites are animated and its even voiced. Not the best I've seen, but still not bad. The fantasy setting is also nice. I think I'll keep an eye on it. BTW, Kickstarter link is here.

Finished White Album 2 a while ago and it managed to unfold a surprisingly emotional power. It was a nice change of pace to watch an anime which didn't just use a the bog-standard slice-of-life comedy formua and kept a more serious tone instead. It actually reminded me of the better animes from Key like Angel Beats, Clannad or Kanon. Setsuna and Kazusa in particular were very likable heroines that were easy to fall for. The only thing that was a bit underwhelming in comparison to the aforementioned Key works was the somewhat generic protagonist and that the story lost a lot of steam in the second half. Still, it was a decent show that got me a lot more interested in the actual VN. I also started watching the infamous Re:Zero. Heard mixed reactions about it so I wasn't sure what to expect, but so far I can't complain. Although it uses one of the oldest anime tropes in history - time loop on death - it's actually very well made. The scenes get more tension and spice because you can't really be sure if the characters will actually survive. It also has some real bad-ass characters, like Elsa the scary as hell but totally awesome assassin chick or Reinhard the knight. Emilia the half-elf girl is also a great heroine, gorgeous girl but definitely more than just good looks. Protagonist is a bit too over the top, but in comparison to many others still on the okayish side. And the action is really great so far. No idea if it stays that way but for now I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Overall, the best thing is to read the original Koihime Musou for the Shoku route and Shin Kohime Musou for the Go and Gi routes (if the translation gets ever finished). The Shoku route in SKM is shorter and definitely inferior to the original, but SKM has quite decent Go and Gi routes instead which the original doesn't have at all. Gameplay in both versions is similar simplistic and more for decoration.

For the future: Keep an eye open for MangaGamer's release of Hapymaher, the title Purple Software released before Chrono Clock and which is widely considered to be the best VN they ever made. For now: Da Capo 2, Hoshizora no Memoria and good old Shuffle series if you're more into moege. If you want some more story you could try Comyu, Tokyo Babel or some of the old classics F/SN, G-Senjou or Sharin.

If they follow their usual routine, then it's most likely one bigger announcement and a few lesser ones. The big one is probably Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden since the cat is out of the bag anyway, while the other ones are most likely just shorter nukige or doujin titles. Wishful thinking demands that Kouryuu's sudden fanboy decoration of his Twitter account might hint for an announcement of the upcoming Shin Koihime Kakumei, but since Karin was always his waifu it probably doesn't mean anything.

So the prologue is actually just promotion for Da Capo 2 while the real prologue is hidden in some easy to miss side story?! Uh hu...

Currently multi reading Da Capo 3 and Pygmalion... I didn't really understand the purpose of the Da Capo 3 prologue, since it felt more like a trailer for Da Capo 2 just with cheaper and more slutty heroines, Considering Pygmalion, the prologue reminded me a lot of Tokyo Babel: Clueless girl, thrown back and forth between the real and an imaginary world, and no attempt to give even the most basic of explanations.

The limited edition most likely sold out and the deluxe edition is pretty much just a slightly different re-print. So nothing really extraordinary. And yeah, could we maybe use the description field for the actual description for a change instead of trying to squish it into the title?!

I really liked that when I played it last year. Had a great atmosphere and interesting characters. Individual routes were a bit repetitive though.

Wish you the best of luck with it. It's certainly a VN that deserves to be translated.

I'll wait a bit until I get the new Mass Effect since I have yet to complete the old trilogy and play the third part. Though I do have to say that the character faces look pretty lackluster, especially 'Botoxia' the protagonist. Maybe not as horrible bad as some in DA: Inquisition like Sera the kobold or Solas the ghoul, but still quite underwhelming. I guess part of the problem is the Frostbite engine they are using, but I still think that Bioware's character designers could do better, since I've certainly seen better faces with worse 3D engines.

Doesn't look bad, but I've already used up my current Kickstarter budget for the Leyline trilogy. Might check it out if it's released and gets decent ratings though.

The title gets a lot of praise - I think I'll consider buying it if it got cheaper. Also have my eyes on NieR: Automata, but I certainly wouldn't buy it for full price either. On the other hand, I've not even the slightest interest in the new and (over-)hyped Zelda game. Doesn't get a PC release anyway, so I couldn't care less.

G-Senjou and ef have music more as a side topic - it's certainly not a central element of their stories. Heck, even Da Capo 2 would probably qualify more, since two of the main herines and one 'bro' are band members: Nanaka, Toko and Wataru.

I left both out intentionally. If he doesn't even like F/SN, I'm not sure if he'd like G-Senjou. And while I think that Cartagra's true story would be in principal better than both KnS 1 & 2, it unfortunatley doesn't have their high quality of writing yet. Besides that, Cartagra is so H-heavy that it rivals a full blown nukige. Back then I think I even counted its H-CG's and it was almost on par with ImoPara.

Typical visual novels are more about cute girls and the interaction with them, with a high emphasis on dialogue, fluff text, pretty art and... adult content. They are hardly about intellectual quality. Visual novels with mature themes and writing are still quite rare. You could try: - Innocent Grey VN's like Kara no Shoujo and its successor - Fata Morgana no Yakata - Nitroplus VN's like Saya no Uta or Stein's Gate (arguably) - Umineko although it has a pacing from hell - Liar-Soft VN's like Sekien no Inganock or Ourai no Gahkthun although their attraction lies probably more in their unique prose than the depth of their stories But in general, if you're searching more for intellectual challenging stories and writing, then you're probably better off sticking to real books or play a text heavy RPG like the new and old Torment.

You're aware that this could mean that you might have to read an actual moege, right?! You know, those not exactly story rich time-wasters about not particularly bright but cute girls doing nothing useful the whole time. Just be prepared!

I was really trying hard to not make it one my infamous 'impatience drops', stalled it a bit and picked it up again, but at some time it got clear that this VN just isn't for me. Though I think people with a higher resistance to silly over the top comedy will probably enjoy the title more. Though part of the reason I dropped it is that my backlog is currently getting bigger and bigger and so I think I can afford dropping mediocrity. Amusingly, the last decision point to drop it came from your review - I just checked it again and thought that with just a 3/5 I'll probably won't be missing much. Reminds a bit of when I watched the Chaos;Head anime and I kind of liked it, but I just couldn't stand the VN. Usually it's the other way round. Though I have to admit that Yukiko probably didn't really get a fair chance from me - she was just another 'hyper' character when I just desperately wanted the VN to get serious for a change.

I actually dropped 11eyes in favor of Da Capo 3. When they introduced Yukiko, another completely over the top idiot character, it was just too much. There's simply no way you'll ever get a half decent story with such a crappy cast of characters. There was almost no story progress and just some half decent red night sequences form time to time inbetween almost endless school life comedy scenes. That might have still been okay if those scenes at least would have had some quality, but I don't think I've ever read such unbelievable badly written slice of life and comedy scenes. Still, I do feel a bit bad about Kukuri though, because she was actually a rather unique and likable character - calm and with a more subtle sense of humor. Character ratings: Kukuri >>> Misuzu >>> Don't care >>>>>> Hate Overall rating: 3 / 10 Regarding Da Capo 3, I'm really enjoying it so far. Though I guess it doesn't really have to be good for that, since almost everything would feel like Shakespeare when coming from 11 Eyes. Still, Da Capo 2 and Hoshimem were pretty much my two favorite slice of life nakiges so far and Da Capo 3 has a similar style than it's predessor. It's moe slice of life, but more composed and not too over the top silly like others. The only thing I'm not too happy so far are the overly cutified character designs, at least from the main characters. From those only Charles really clicks with me so far, while Sara and Rikka are just on the okayish side and I'll most likely skip Aoi's and Himemo's routes. I kinda like Mikoto, but she seems to be just a side character which is unfortunate. I didn't meet all characters yet, but just judging from the character section on VNDB, there are several side characters that look better than most of the main heroines. And that's a bit... unusual to be honest. BTW, am I the only one who has kind of a messed up saving system in DC3? If I save a position and reload it, it's several minutes before the actual saving position and I have to skip forward to the true position. I think the only title I remember that had similar problems from time to time was Really? Really! years ago.

I was thinking about buying that, but I'm actually waiting for some sort of statement about the new Collected Edition version for PSV Vita with redrawn anime art and partial voices, and if there will maybe also be a PC version of it. I guess this new anime-style version will also have fully-drawn background art, and that was the biggest turn-off for me for the current version so far. And since MangaGamer is also translating the fan disc, it would make sense for them to make such an edition as well if they are able to. I guess there will be some more info about that when the fan disc is about to get released, and I think I'll just wait until then. For now, I just picked up Gahkthun and Himawari. Hope I won't regret that decision...

MangaGamer currently has a new sale going on: White Day Sale For people who are wondering what the heck White Day is, it's not some neo-racist 'White Power' day, it's actually Valentine's Day reversed and one month later in Japan: Guys that got chocolate on Valentine's Day from a girl are expected to return the favor and give the girl a gift.