Plk_Lesiak

I think this would be the case this those smaller/older SonoHana games which are more or less pure yuri nukige, this one, just like New Gen, is a slightly different thing. Also Maidens of Michael already had a JP all-ages release on mobile (and that one all ages spin-off promoting it), so it's not just MangaGamer's catering to Steam rules against all logic. ;]

As the title says. I'm not sure to what extent this is newsworthy to everyone else around here, but I'm super-excited. Both about it finally showing up and about MangaGamer making the sexual content optional. Cute girls'-love stories await.

It's actually not on this list. Whether that's an appropriate categorization or simply a missing tag is up for debate. ;p

But my reputation/posts ratio will suffer. Description: A story which teaches you that coming back from a break five minutes earlier or taking a wrong turn in school corridors can lead you to surprise sex and cheating on your girlfriend.

Flowers? This actually fits perfectly with certain tiny OELVN I've read lately but I know it must be something else. ^^

Welcome, welcome! Well, It's hard to beat Steins;Gate, but I encourage you to browse through recommendations subforums, you'll find some titles to ease your pain somewhere out there.

Well, I simply think this term is used in a way that makes it lose any real meaning - it's better to simply avoid it unless for really clear-cut cases (that is, when you have an erotic plot with an adult and a pre-puberty child, like this SonoHana game for example). A romance between an adult and an older teenager might be "illegal" by our standards but doesn't have to appeal to pedophiles or be targeted towards them. And not every case of child rape or child molestation is connected to pedophilia whatsoever. So, when you use this term for broad generalizations, you'll more likely than not miss the point - it's not criticism, as I see it done everywhere and it's hard to really see through the misconception unless you deal with the topic in some more or less systematic ways (as both my master's thesis and my PhD project are primarily in porn studies, the discussion about pedophilia and child porn is something I've gone through dozens of times).

Very cool post, I still sometimes have problems with seperating how certain terms are used in Japan, among western otaku and in other fandoms, they flow through different communities pretty much gaining seperate meanings in every one of them. :] BTW, talking about pedophilia in connection to Japanese media is always a bit risky thing to do, the first thing it that it's a medical term that is generally overused in various contexts, the second one is that it pretty strictly relates to sexual attraction to pre-puberty children (basically primary school-age kids or younger), so there's a lot of questionable sexual scenarios that doesn't really fit the term, even if they're within the definition of "child porn" by western standards or would be simply socially unacceptable.

I'm pretty sure that second thing pays better, at the very least.

I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea, many people like it more than I do.

Possibly, to some extent? I've played it very early in my VN "career", so I could've missed a few things I would understand now (only briefly refreshed it before I've written this review), but there's definitely more than just that. Everything that involved Lilian in later parts of the story was not really about popcultural references, but was simply an absurdly cryptic side story, written so weirdly that I've seen people discussing on the Steam forums what was it all about. The worst part is that it makes you think, at multiple points, that it's something connected to the main mystery and that's why it was written this way, but no, it's a completely separate thing. I was just thinking "people don't talk/act that way" too many times to ignore it.

Hello again, my Dear Readers! Today, I present you another review of an enjoyable freebie and the last post in the long streak of rather random reviews and top lists I was spewing since the start of my blog. From the next week, I have two themed "events" planned. First, in the coming month and the first week of March, I will offer you reviews of five free, quality Otome and Otome-hybrid OELVNs - among those, some of the highest rated western visual novels to date. After that, for at least another month and a half, I will focus exclusively on yuri games - for that occasion, apart from reviews, I'm already preparing my first "developer spotlight" post, which includes an interview with a certain yuri VN author. I hope I'll be able to provide more of that kind of content in the future, but I don't want to rush it either, making sure that I know that author's work and background well-enough before I approach them, so I can make the interview meaningful and the time I ask from them worth it. For now, I'll hope you'll enjoy this week's review and until next friday!

Mystery/romance might not be a rare formula for VNs in general but seems especially popular among Western developers – this probably shouldn't be surprising, as it's very compatible with shorter, linear stories that indie devs usually aim for. Just like One Thousand Lies, which I've reviewed last month, Sepia Tears is a free visual novel available on Steam and mobile devices, which offers a fairly deep, complicated intrigue, relying on its mystery elements to keep the player emotionally and intellectually involved. It's also one of the better known free VNs produced in the West, at least partially thanks to its release date – in early 2013, when it first came out, quality visual novels made outside of Japan were still few and far between, while the official market for localized JP titles was pretty much only starting to develop. The game found its way to a content-starved Western VN community and was pretty highly appreciated. Does it stand the test of time though? Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

Indeed, it's pretty possible that I've been watching so many bad series lately (Smartphone included) that anything half-competent suddenly looks like the ninth wonder of the world, but I will cautiously stand by my unreasonable opinions.

Well, obviously the protagonist is in God Mode and that eliminates most of the possible drama, but it also have a very different feel than Smartphone, where you simply knew that nothing exciting can happen, because everything must lead to MC becoming bigger and bigger hero to the whole world. Also, action scenes? There wasn't much of that yet and I think they weren't the point of anything that happened so far. It's all about exploration and figuring out this artificial world and its rules - especially because the protag tries to play it smart and not revealing his true nature to others. Maybe it's just different expectations, but I've found all of this quite refreshing - also, if it's really going to devolve into super-standard harem fantasy anime, then my assessment will change a lot - Smartphone, if we go by that example, stank of harem since the very beginnings, I guess the cast of this one should suggest the same, but there was nothing screaming "ecchi trash series" in the episodes aired so far. BTW, I didn't try to say it's a masterpiece (by wonderful, apart from exaggerating just for the fun of it, I simply meant that for me it's super-entertaining), it is an isekai series with just some slight spins to it, so I judge it as the super-casual entertainment thing that it is. I just find it much more balanced and well-though out than some other examples of this I've seen so far (I don't count Re:ZERO obviously, because it's a very different beast). Also, I have a terrible taste when it goes to all kinds of media, so there's that too. EDIT: Also I find the part with discovering the "god-killer" title and realizing he randomly killed one while testing the meteor shower ability quite funny. The fact he's OP to the point that some of his skills are too dangerous to use is not a bad plot development - he has the means to completely screw this world over or take any role he wants in it, the thing is that he don't want to turn it upside down or bend it to his will, he wants to explore it and enjoy his time there. It's such a simple, casual concept that simply have a very subjective, personal appeal for me.

I'll have to check it out at some point, TBH I didn't really considered buying it before you (or was it someone else?) mentioned it on the forums a few times, the VNDB score isn't very encouraging. So thanks for the review.

It should be. :] The game's choice system and plot makes pushing the protagonist towards the bad ending quite painfull and the ending itself is properly horrible, but it was quite unique and I'm very curious what the better (good...?) conclussions look like. Sadly I won't have time to play it until the late evening at least.

I just hope that JAST gets their shit together and release the second chapter of Flowers. Other than that, my Steam backlog and wishlist are both already monstrous enough that I don't need any new stuff to make it even scarier.

I've just reached what I suppose is the worst ending in CUPID. I've always focused on fairly lighthearted VNs and never delved into really heavy stuff before, so maybe I simply wasn't prepared for this one, but the amount of internal screaming going on right now in my mind and body is not something I've really felt before.

I've just watched the third episode of Death March to the Parallel World and for me it's absolutely wonderful. It has some of those typical elements that should theoretically break it, with protagonist being completely overpowered etc., but I don't think I've seen RPG anime doing such a good job at creating a climate of adventure and exploring the game's world - it's like what In Another World with My Smartphone tried to do, but with a lot better writing, much less (if any) haren trashyness and a protagonist that might be a bit Gary Stue-ish, but have an actual backstory and motivations that make his actions in this new world meaningful and understandable - someone that doesn't want to play the hero, but just enjoys the opportunity to escape from his miserable life and tries to make the best of his situation. People obviously give it shitty ratings for how iterative it is - after all, it's probably the millionth isekai series out there - but it just does such a good job with this concept. It's still early in the season, but if what I've heard about the LN is true, it should be a joyful experience through and through.

There was a bit of discussion about this stuff here: There are some women that showed up here lately, but as it's often the case, most of them are pretty quiet and even the things on the forums, in general, are rather slow for the past week or two. So you might not get that much of a response.

I've stalled Grisaia no Kajitsu simply because how long it is and how little time I actually have for reading lately - it makes me prioritize short stuff. I've also stalled Nurse Love Addiction because I feel it deserves being picked back up when I have enough time and proper mood to play through it, most likely will get back to it in the summer. I don't consider a VN "dropped" if I went through all the content that really interested me (even if its just one route), but I sometimes come back to the "already finished" VNs to complete them after all, especially if I want to review them and don't want to miss anything and risk misrepresenting the game.

But why mention amnesia in the first place, after stating he lived a normal life and remember what the previous world was like? I will probably check it out at some point, but it still amuses me that you can start presenting your game with something like that and stick with it for extended period of time. ;]

Well, that's a sentence you don't see every day, I will give them that. 0.o

Confession: I was browsing new VN releases on Steam, saw something called Ascendant Hearts. Looked quite trashy, but art wasn't bad. I've checked it out on VNDB, found this description: "Hayato lived an ordinary life until he wakes up one day with amnesia… and finds himself in a world closer to the video games he plays than the world he remembers." That's the first part of the game's description. On a successful kickstarted campaign. How is this...? Who...? I don't even...