Okarin

Do you mean that reading those will drag on forever?

I don't know about what HMN does, but a LP of an untranslated novel would be rather clumsy. If they read the plain text in Japanese, it will take some time to get a translation on the fly (and will take a pretty amazing skill at Japanese too). If they use a text hooker, it can be as bad or worse. I guess the people that criticise LP as some form of piracy pay for their every game and despise piracy sites such as Ero*****load.

This is another discussion, but in the West, cartoons have always been considered "for kids". In fact, most animes of the early 80s were aimed at growing kids from the Baby Boom (and thus were pretty successful). Even now, there's a lot of stuff produced for kids of every age, but most of them don't come out of Japan, as there's no market. These days it's another matter, as there are Western shows like Regular Show and Adventure Time that are multi-layered: they offer a layer for kids and a deeper layer for adults. So they're not only aimed at kids. They try what everyone tries these days: to appeal to the more the merrier. But of course, some people are stuck years ago by their education or mindset and don't acknowledge that a cartoon can be for adults. That's where the "anime shock" settles in. Violence and porn (explicit or not) in a cartoon? Unacceptable! (right, Agnes?) That doesn't mean that claiming you LOVE hentai openly for everyone to hear isn't wrong. Look, the rest of the people don't care. If anything, they'll use it to criticise you. And after all, I'm afraid it's a private thing. There is something such as "shame" and "embarrassment" when you reveal something private and personal to the public. It's like violating some taboo. People don't expect you to do that, and they are shocked.

There are some rules for considering something art, but they are quite vague. Or if you prefer, you can go with the "art is subjective and varies from person to person" approach.

The best romcom in existence is Kimagure Orange Road, from which all modern romcom derive. It's already 30 years old but as fresh as the first day. https://myanimelist.net/anime/1087/Kimagure_Orange☆Road To keep with the oldies, there's another classic anime called Touch which revolves around baseball and really heavy drama, with the death of one of the protagonists, and a pretty bitter romance triangle. This anime has been known to upset some people while being a masterpiece for others. https://myanimelist.net/anime/1065/Touch After Kimagure, the next big stop is Love Hina, that created the modern harem genre (though Rumiko Takahashi used lots of characters with complicated relationships before, such as in Ranma 1/2). https://myanimelist.net/anime/189/Love_Hina

How do you feel knowing that the "hentai is art" thread will have always way more replies than this one?

If you're going to consume it do it in reasonable quantities. Is what I think of hentai.

Next: What's your least favourite character in original Steins;Gate? (Original only because if we talk about Zero I risk you mentioning a character I don't know about.)

Next in line... What's your real name? (Note: give only your first name.)

This isn't solely about S;G Zero, isn't it?

They laughed in a derisive manner appropriate for their (your) age. As in, "look what XXX put on his presentation. Isn't it hilarious?...". And so on, and so forth.

But... hentai is a mundane thing. I can understand how he can derive a lot of pleasure from it. But it's not an elevated, holy thing. Not to most people, at least.

Don't forget that this one consumes A LOT of hentai (or so he says...). Balance is a virtue, and showing NSFW images in a class presentation is surpassing it. The talk about art is secondary.

Well, as Rin's route in Katawa Shoujo showed (this is a board about VNs, right?) defining art can be tricky. So I wouldn't delve too much into that.

Well that's not a fault of the Youtuber. Anyway, anyone likes the people's devotion. In Spanish we have a saying that goes something like: "turbulent river, the fishers get a full basket". Meaning exploiting the turmoil, basically.

Was it... you know... explicit? Were the naked man and woman doing some kind of intercourse? That's the difference. Displaying a naked body isn't something terribly provoking, otherwise doctors, and coroners would have it hard (heh). Displaying two or more people having intercourse is more provoking, really. I doubt the nature of the art had a weight in those people's reactions.

It's just like uploading a movie with copyright and all into your Youtube account. Nothing more, nothing less. Has its uses, but to some people it's hideous.

Care to explain this? How did he shape his followers' minds in an Hypno-toad way? How did he ruin those millions of fandoms?

There are some things that are of private nature. Sex is one of them.

Well, putting a NSFW image on display for a whole class to see seems over the top to me. I must be from a different generation though... Hentai may be art, but if I'm not wrong, you use it as a form of escapism, and escapism is never as good as the real thing (in this context, "the real thing" is a full-blown relationship between two human beings). Also, one thing is liking it, even wildly, another altogether is sharing it with no qualms with the general public. Fetishes exist, but people don't talk about them very openly, and with good reason.

It's exactly because they are like books. It's not quite like seeing a person read a book and reading it too yourself from above his/her shoulder. It's more like reading the book yourself, but with added comment. There are fantasy books with notes (such as Tolkien's books and Dragonlance ones, to name a couple). Only here the author isn't making the comment. Remember that in good LPs, you have the full script available for reading (except the repeating text). So, you actually READ the game itself. Since VN have no gameplay, you won't miss much. This is different from a videogame you would actually want to play yourself, because the gameplay experience there is the key element. Anyway, I'm positive that the narrator can make or break the LP. And I also followed a text-based LP for "Words Worth" some years ago in good old RPG Codex.

1- I like, I'm quite a fan of NicoB's Youtube channel and I first knew about Steins;Gate there (the whole universe, since I didn't watch the anime). Also watched Virtue's Last Reward (as a rerun, since I had finished the game first) and Zero Time Dilemma (practically playing it while watching the LP). I started to watch Corpse Party, but it wasn't as much fun. 2- I don't think they affect the industry very much, just imagine there was a Youtube channel heavily bashing VNs or heavily praising them, it would make small difference. Anyway, if you can't play a VN, you might as well watch a gameplay, don't you? And we have to take into account the talent of the narrator. Some youtubers are very funny people, others are not, I'm afraid. If anything, I like the option of experiencing a game through a different medium. And I talked about Youtube but Twitch is the same.

In all honesty, the localisation can hardly ruin Steins;Gate, because the focus of the game is elsewhere. As long as the scenes make sense, the quality of the story will shine through.

Well, I guess people do realise, but learning a language (and Japanese at that) can be a daunting task, especially if you never have cared to learn one besides your mother tongue (but that, today, can be pretty rare). I'm the type that laughs at the plebs demanding Spanish translations for everything and anything. If I had done that, I could have never played tonnes of good games. But then again, I have been learning English since age 6, and then did some Latin in high school. I like learning new words and expressions. Grammar is trickier. In the case of Hatsuyuki Sakura, and other untranslated VNs, I don't delude myself. It will take years of practise to get a level good enough to understand it fluidly. I have a big Japanese primer in anime though (but, as people always say, due to the nature of the medium, I know far better how women talk).

I want to check out Hatsuyuki Sakura, but I need to hone my Japanese skills first. Because, if I wait for a TL, I'll grow old waiting.