Plk_Lesiak

Best song, dumbest title & lyrics, just as it should be in eurobeat.

Still, the OP question stays. The English-speaking VN fandom migrated mostly to Reddit and Discord communities, what would be the equivalent for Japan, if there is one?

https://mobile.twitter.com/PulkownikLesiak I mostly share my EVN reviews there and retweet updates devs and publishers.

That's a good question... Does ErogameScape have a forums section or some social features in general?

Maybe the original author didn't mean kusoge, but more literal shit... [euphoria's electric chair scene flashbacks intensify]

All Best Wishes to @Dreamysyu!

Right, the first episode feels like another silly comedy, but it's also fun with the protagonist's over-the-top approach at correcting the mistakes of her character... And seems really wholesome, which is what I was hoping for. Maybe even this kind of story fits the anime format better than a WN or manga? It's just exactly the kind of show I want to watch when too tired/stressed out to even look at text longer than anime subs. :>

Hey guys, how the hell did we miss the Otome Villainess Isekai? It sounds lovely and the voice cast looks pretty awesome. I think it randomly became my most-anticipated series along with Kaguya-sama S2 and maybe SNAFU S3 (if I manage to catch up with that series before the lockdowns end). :3

Even the artstyle looks really nice. I guess I'll add it to my massive "to watch" list. ^^ Anyway, I guess it's a nice moment to summarize my last week of anime watching. Tsukimonogatari was a pretty cool prologue to Final Season stuff, although it had the usual problems of an intermission/side story episode. The massive incestuous fanservice section at the beginning was just bonkers. On the other hand, I deeply appreciate the premise of I also very much like Yotsugi, so every episode that focuses on her is a good one in my book. Generally, it was a good spin on the formula, outside of the excessive middle-schooler-ogling. 7,5/10 Hanamonogatari (which I watched out of airing order, but it's Suruga's epilogue story, so it doesn't matter) was very good, in my opinion not very far from the Second Season stories (which are as good as this series ever gets). A serious story focusing on Kanbaru was kind of missing from every season outside of Bake and this explored her character really nicely. The plot was relatively straightforward and meaningful, with a melancholic, but satisfying conclusion. At first, I was kind of disappointed we won't ever get a real yuri subplot in this series, despite all the lily imagery and the title, but at least what was actually there was satisfying enough. 8/10 Owarimonogatari was pretty meh, to be completely honest. Oikura's arc came out of nowhere and was too over-the-top, without any satisfying mystery or solution. I guess its purpose was primarily to expand Koyomi's story, but I can't say I find his motivations or personality particularly compelling. I don't hate him as a character, but the lesson I took from Second Season is that the less of him there is in the story, the more interesting and enjoyable it becomes. And a whole arc about the roots of his self-righteous asocial tendencies? Borefest. The second arc was... OK, but felt strangely rushed. I think it needed a lot more time to develop the First Servant as a character and make the reader care about the rivalry with Koyomi. As it was, it felt empty despite clear attempts at creating some emotional impact/meaning. Ultimately, the season was a 7/10 for me, probably the weakest one alongside Kizu. Koyomimonogatari was nostalgic fun in the first episodes and I enjoy the idea of failed investigations without paranormal elements, showing that those grand events from previous series are not the only things happening in the characters' lives. The thing is, while it acts like a cute side story for the most part, it throws some crucial lore bombs and ends with a massively important arc leading straight into Owari S2. It seems there's no such thing as side story in the Monogatari Series, at least if you want to understand anything about what's going on... Anyway, a weird season, but I didn't hate it like some people. 7,5/10. This leaves me with Owari S2, which I already started watching, but to be honest, I have little drive to go forward. While I see all the story threads coming together... I kind of can't be bothered to care? I'm not even sure if I want some grand conclusion and I don't find Ougi that interesting as an antagonist. In a way, it's kind of antithetical to what I enjoyed in Monogatari to have so kind of grand resolution focusing on Araragi. Maybe it's just me, but while superfans really adore those late instalments, I don't think it can get even close to Second Season... Maybe I'll be proved wrong, but probably will switch to something else before I continue. Maybe it's just fatigue with the overall formula and I'll enjoy it more after a break. I've also finished the first three instalments of Initial D with my GF. I really like this series and while the first season was kind of slow in developing stuff, with the "clueless genius" protagonist and tons of other cliches kind of lowering my enjoyment, it really only got better over time. Second Stage and Third Stage were pretty awesome in my opinion, with characters being treated more seriously and showing more depth, animation and use of CGI improving massively, races getting genuinely intense... There are still some silly flaws, like over-the-top foreshadowing for some plot developments and overdone romance drama, but generally, a really fun, unique series that goes quite deep into its subject matter and generally strives for realism (that by itself is pretty refreshing). Overall, a solid 8/10 series. I think we're going to watch the cursed Extra Stage OVAs today before going to Stage Four, I wonder how that will go.

All Best Wishes to @Dergonu! Though I feel like I was writing this just a few months ago? How it's a full year already? Time is passing disturbingly quickly...

Welcome back to (now half-dead) Fuwa!

Very much this, although thankfully my serious responsibilities are pretty limited ATM. Still, I'm quite disgusted with how little I'm able to get done despite being mostly in one place, able to set my own schedule... Although, nearly all shopping for my household is currently on me. This, along with limited remote work and just managing the fact of being constantly stuck with two other people in a relatively small space is surprisingly time and energy consuming. Other than that, I'm mostly binging anime. I'm pretty close to finishing the whole Monogatari series and I'm watching stuff with my gf every evening (we're going through the second season of Initial D now). I have little mental energy for VNs though...

1 - c 2 - a 3 - c c c !C! 4 - b 5 - b 6 - b 7 - c By the way, I would have no idea it's April Fools if not for that Jast x MG event that shouted to me on Twitter. I think the holiday itself got infected and died of pneumonia before it could even start.

There's a lot of them, but mostly they're small teams. Studio Elan, PixelFade and Love in Space are notable, relatively large ones. Also, many of my favourite Western-produced VNs are made by solo devs like ebi-hime or Hanako Games. There's dozens of those.

Well, this gives me quite a different vibe than the actual name... Anyway, welcome to Fuwanovel! That's... Quite a username and avatar you have there. ^^

I'm not sure if it's just my impression, but it feels like male VAs doing BL are less secretive about it than most female seiyuus that do eroge. Like, the former is treated like a fun piece of trivia/something to joke about and the latter like a dirty secret (outside of those few that really dedicate their careers to eroge and don't seem to give a fuck, but that seems to be a small minority)...

Oh, I totally agree, but those arcs are actually standout ones IMO, while the series also has tons of avant-garde nonsense and semi-random babble that people will dig through for meaning that really isn't there. And their conclusion will be that the whole thing is some kind of esoteric masterpiece that most people are simply to dumb to understand, which I don't think is the case. Still, I was very close to calling Second Season a masterpiece regardless, for reasons stated above.

Finished Monogatari Series: Second Season and... It was excellent, to the point I was considering rating it 10/10, although my final one will be 9/10. It's everything I hoped for this series to be and a bit more. I loved the focus going away from Araraki and other characters having their time as protagonists, including an unlikely one like Kaiki. I enjoyed all the storylines, particularly the opening and final arc, but every one of them left me with a strong impression. Also, I now want Sengoku to just drop dead and never be seen again, although another part of me really wants to see how she changes after what she went through. Really, this is the point where the overall formula was already perfected by unlike Nise and Neko: Black, the actual storytelling is also really, really cool. I still don't think this series is extremely deep, but it really doesn't have to be. Its main strengths are the unique form, and unpredictability that set it apart from your typical anime narratives. At the same time, this season was actually emotional and thought-provoking on top of all that. Disturbing at times, but not through visual grotesque that I disliked in Bake and Kizu, but through actual story developments. I'm looking forward to Owarimonogatari now, but I'm probably going to take a break after watching Tsuki... Maybe I'll try Dance in the Vampire Bund? It looks like the kind of bloody mess to be mindlessly enjoyed between more intensive shows. :> Edit: And I managed to forget about Hanamonogatari? Damn, this series' timeline is so confusing. Anyway, I get I'll get that one done before Vampire Bund too. '^^ Oh, and Beatless was a disappointment. I stalled after episode 8 and I'm not sure I'll ever come back – sadly, it proved to be less comically bad and more straight-up obnoxious. Possible the worst, most hamfisted "do androids have souls?" kind of plot I've seen to date, and there's plenty of bad ones...

Human beings are contradictory creatures, whose behaviour is rarely as consistent as we would like to see and whose motivations are often complex, to the point they’re not fully understood even by the specific person themselves. This fact is often minimized in fiction, which instinctively strives for clear narratives and characters that are ultimately possible to fully understand and assess according to some kind of moral standards. At the same time, there’s undeniable value in exploring the ambiguity of the human condition and ebi-hime is one of the EVN authors that do it with a borderline-painful consistency, often creating harsh or melancholic plots and populating her stories with deeply flawed, realistic-feeling characters. And her latest release, The End of an Actress, definitely do not break this trend. Released on Steam in late February 2020, this new title by ebi is loosely based on the last years of Marie Antoinette’s life, where she was imprisoned by the revolutionaries and eventually executed for her perceived crimes against the French people. It transfers these core events and many features of the queen’s biography into a fictional setting, closely resembling 18th-century France, but without any pretences for full historical accuracy. However, instead of a grant political tale, what plays out on this stage is a very intimate drama involving the deposed queen, Liliane, and Marcus, a revolutionary who led the assault on her palace and unwittingly became her jailor. In isolation and hopelessness, the relationship between the two will be redefined in a few possible directions, fluctuating between naïve fascination, hate and, possibly, mutual understanding and affection, making for a rather captivating literary experience and one of my new favourites in ebi’s catalogue. But what makes it this special? Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

By getting sent more review keys that I can ever go through. It seems that just by being something as rare as a dedicated VN reviewer you get quite a lot of people willing to give you stuff, even when you're beyond the point where you can promise coverage with any kind of certainty... Oh, also VNDB tags, game jams, recommendations from fellow Fuwans... The backlog never stops growing.

Hah, how interesting! I actually found Nise meandering and (relatively) boring. Basically everything between Bake and Second Season felt like filler, not bad really, but nowhere near as captivating. I'm always amazed with how people's opinions differ. That EVN though, looks quite interesting. Might check it out this weekend, considering how short it is... My reading output is at disastrous levels though. I should start working on NaNoRenO coverage soon and if this quarantine apathy doesn't leave me I think I'll be working on it for the next three months.

You invalidated the whole review with just one line of text. So sad.

Welcome to Fuwa and good luck with your project! Looks quite unique and ambitious.

(Belated) Happy Birthday to @BookwormOtaku!

Nisemonogatari... Was interesting, but not as memorable as the first season. There was both less to hate in it (macabre and fanservice were kind of toned down) and less to love (openings were nowhere as catchy and stories were less focused and memorable, occasionally devolving into meandering nonsense I was wary of when approaching this series). I'm also still wondering whether the visuals and the general flow of the series were a little saner or I've just got used to it to this degree... But I think they actually are less over-the-top and I was missing the constant innovation and craziness of Bake. Maybe it's just not doable in the long run, but if I had to give something to Kizu movies is they managed to keep things fresh despite how late in the series' life they showed up... What I liked about it still is the relationship between Araraki and Senjougahara. People write a lot of weird shit about who is the "main girl" and the romance in Monogatari, but so far it's really straightforward and consistent. With all the harem vibes in this series, Senjougahara's place as Araraki's partner is never really threatened and is developing over time, even when it's not the focus of the current arcs. I'm actually very positively surprised by this and it makes me much more eager to continue watching. I'm not super impressed by the Araraki sisters and their stories, but as the focus is soon going to the "core" heroines, I'm excited to see more... 7.5/10 Edit: And Nekomonogatari: Kuro was... OK. I really don't get what they're going for with the overall lore of this setting sometimes and this arc was spoiled a bit too heavily in the flashbacks to be genuinely interesting. Also, Hanekawa is my least favourite of the core characters at this point. Kind of a shame that Monogatari Series: Second Season opens with another arc of hers, but at least I don't know what that one is about... 7/10