Clephas

Two major issues with transition from VN to anime. 1. The more complex the 'internal' aspect of the story is, the more difficult it is to transform it into an anime. Grisaia, whose story is at least half internal to Yuuji, will definitely suffer from the transition. Hitsujikai also possesses a strong internal element, which will make the transition difficult. 2. Paths- This is a problem seen in the original FSN anime and the non-existent Tsukihime anime. It is also seen in various other conversions to a lesser extent. It basically demands the anime-maker either choose a single path or steal elements from all the paths to make a final ending. For a moege, it isn't really hard to turn it into an anime, because there is so little distinction between the paths in terms of atmosphere or events. However, with a game like Grisaia or Hitsujikai... Edit: Understand, the average moege will just end up as a perfect 'harem story' anime, which is just fine (Shuffle as an example where the anime actually surpassed the original VN), but for a story-focused VN that isn't a kinetic novel...

It is a visually beautiful game, but I doubt it will make the transition well.

*Clephas sighs sadly* It looks like there won't be a VN of the Month this month. Love Sweets turned out to be a rather straightforward romance-moege with not even strong enough character development to deserve the charage label. The protagonist is yet another 'average guy' protag, and while the heroines aren't bland... they don't really stand out, either. For people with imouto-fetishes, Iori will appeal, as a little sister who is rather obvious about her love from the beginning. For the rest... none of the heroines really struck a chord with me, even after playing their routes. Kanae is sort of pushed forth as the primary, but her character development is weak because she has difficulty speaking and because the protagonist lacks the kind of perceptiveness that would add depth to her character through a resonance/echo effect. To be blunt... my impressions on first sight about this game were absolutely right. I knew I wasn't going to like it, but I tried to give it a chance because Moonstone surprises me sometimes... This closes the April edition of Clephas' VN of the Month, with no winners. Edit: One of the reasons I really, really couldn't get into this game was because there is too little character interaction before the path splits, and if you are going for one heroine, there is so little group interaction to give you a strong impression of the character dynamics. For that reason, I wasn't able to develop an attachment to the heroines beforehand, and because the individual routes are only moege-strong... getting attached to the heroines there wasn't a possibility either. Edit2: A few clarifications... my main complaint was that almost all the character development of the heroines happens after the actual heroine paths begin, and while that is not terribly unusual in and of itself, most decent games at least give you a strong hint of what the heroines are like under the surface before the heroine paths. One of the great points of a good charage is the before-after for heroines. Post-dere and pre-dere. Because this game's common route is so short and lacking in detail, most of the reader's impressions of the heroines come from 'after', preventing the formation of a good 'gap moe' sensation (yes, I do like well-used moe at times).

In order, Comyu; Draculius; Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no; and Evolimit. All of those are VNs and permanent residents of my top twenty.

Are you ready for my family? lol

I won't make any recommendations until I know if the thread author included untranslated in his request, lol.

Use VNR, it works.

About five to nine non-nukige VNs are released for PC every month. It has been that way since around 2004, with fluctuations for market conditions and other issues. As such... just how many do you think have come out by now, just in that time?

I passed the 400 mark recently. I've had five years to do it, though.

Piracy of anime is actually hardly noticed, because Crunchy tacitly permits the hijacking of their subs for the Horrible releases. Money for anime is made from advertising on the sites where it is streamed, mostly. Few people actually buy DVDs or Blu-rays anymore, and those that do generally wait until the entire series is released in a box-set. Manga... to be blunt, the business of selling manga here has never been that big, or at least not as much so as anime. For one thing, it requires the reader's active participation in reading as well as imagination (both of which are difficult for the functionally illiterate). For another... they are too expensive for buying a single one to be worth it, in most people's eyes. Those who do buy them are usually buying them after they already read the pirated version. However, again, anime and manga pirates aren't as vulnerable as VN pirates. For one thing, the actual monetary worth per unit is astronomically higher with VNs and for another it is much easier to attack the weak link (a small group) than a large, strong link (the larger group). The more minor the minority, the easier it is to attack and the less backlash there is. Burnout can take years... or it can take months. However, most fantranslators/fansubbers experience it eventually. For one thing, rl is something that can't be avoided, and trying to balance being an active translator with any sort of rl such as work or school is difficult and exhausting in the best of times. Translation eats time and energy, after all. It is even worse for people in relationships and the like. Most of what I listed above are 'tipping issues', the issues that are usually the last straw that broke the camel's back. Real life produces a constant pressure... whereas those issues will frequently tip the translator over the edge. Once you've burned out once, it is quite painful to go back, even for a short time.

... auto-play is really, really slow...

Just finished Umisora no Fragments... and there is just one emotion this game consistently provides to me... nostalgia. I don't know if Rootnuko does it on purpose or not, but to a greater or lesser extent, all of their games I've played so far have felt nostalgic. In Umisora... it comes out in the most obvious fashion in the story structure, as most ren'ai games these days don't have bad endings with story... and this one does. Not only that, the existence of a classic-style stalker-yandere girl as a heroine and a loli with psychological problems add to this. Making this sensation more intense is the art is so obviously not done by any of the usual suspects or in the usual style you see in a non-nukige. Is this good? Yes and no. The actual progression of the story is excellently written... but in exchange, the endings - including the true ending - are somewhat lacking in my opinion. Not only that, but the true ending felt really, really forced. I felt more connected to the heroines in the other paths than I did to Haruka in the true ending. This is mostly because there is a significant genre-shift between the regular game and the true path, and the results were far less interesting. On the positive side, the actual paths - other than the true path - are actually pretty good, outside of the truncated epilogues (even moreso than your average moege). Functionally, building up to the true end, it makes sense for the epilogues of this game to be truncated, but that doesn't get around the fact that they didn't do the other heroines justice. So, for those who are wondering about the VN of the Month for this month... none of these so far are even in the running. Umisora's true path knocks it off the list of candidates, Racial Merge... is too bland, and Sora wo Tobu Hitsuji just didn't quite get to where I'd be willing to consider it. None of these are kusoge... but none are good enough to consider, so I have to try one more game in hopes that it will be good enough to consider. http://vndb.org/v14269 I was honestly hoping to avoid playing Love Sweets, as Moonstone's games tend to REALLY miss when they miss. I've had some great and many awful experiences with this company's games, so I'm always wary when a new one comes out, though I try them if they don't show nukige-signs.

Most VN lengths are exaggerated due to slow Japanese reading times... there are really only a very few VNs that really require 50 hours or more that aren't gameplay-oriented. Most VNs sit somewhere in between 12 and twenty hours, for someone with the necessary Japanese knowledge to play using jparser/translation agg. I generally take lots of short breaks from work and during those breaks I play, as well as while I eat my meals. I also use almost all my free time on VNs...lol I don't have a social life to speak of, after all.

I've already repeated how I learned Japanese on this forum several times, so I won't go back over it... but I'll leave you with a few suggestions... First, 'slice-of-life' anime is best for understanding modern Japanese culture and will help you gain a contextual understanding of much of what ends up being said in moege-type VNs. For non-moege... tbh, there aren't any good examples of anime that would help you expand a contextual understanding of vocabulary made in recent years. I'd suggest watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes, simply because the sheer amount of literary power in that anime. The subs aren't all that good, from a translator's point of view, but the writing for the lines is excellent, so it is something that is good to listen to for understanding linguistic context for less 'everyday' vocabulary.

A few points about human sexuality and SM. Almost all humans carry S and M factors, both. There are very few people who aren't at least latent in both, even if they've never experienced sadism or masochism. If there is one thing you probably won't be able to avoid if you play VNs... it is confronting your sexuality. I'm forced to live with the fact that I'm capable of both, though I tend to be more sadistic than masochistic. People who are all one or the other usually have extreme trauma or personality disorders of some kind. People who possess sadism with no tint of masochism tend to be borderline sociopaths, or at least narcissists. People who are completely masochistic tend to be the opposite... extremely sensitive to others moods and desires, lacking confidence, and/or lacking other pathways toward releasing stress. Extreme masochism can also be caused by psychological trauma, usually intertwined with an intense self-hatred or guilt. Extreme sadism can also be caused by psychological trauma, usually intertwined with resentment, hatred... and self-pity. It isn't exactly a pretty fetish (no fetish is really pretty, but meh). However, SM is a fetish all of us are latent for, whether we want to admit it or not.

’だいじょぶ、なんとかなる！’

It means that he is an extreme masochist (actual Japanese is ドM). When it comes to fetishism, it means the difference between dominance games and actually enjoying having pain inflicted upon you by the other person. Merely being 'M' means you tend to be submissive during sex, but a person who is a hard M actually experiences pain as pleasure during a sexual encounter, to an extent.

Lucky sukebe moments (protagonist walks in on a heroine in the bath, chanting, etc.)

The idiot friend, who exists to be made fun of by everyone. Heroines who love cats but are hated by cats in turn. Heroines that can't cook, yet try anyway, with terrible results. Tsundere heroines that beat the crap out of the protagonist. Edit: Chuuni games where the protagonist expresses reluctance to fight but fights anyway

Depends on the game, really...with the average moege, my speed doesn't fall that much (.85 of normal), but with chuuni it falls to half or less, because chuuni writers habitually use kanji that are never used in everyday life. I can finish the average moege in eight to ten hours with translation aggregator and twelve without it. Chuuni games generally take me twenty hours with (because they are much longer than the average moege), forty without.

Generally speaking... I don't translate games as I play. I just play them in Japanese. It is on my beginner's list because its Japanese level is manageable for someone who has a good grasp on the grammar for everyday conversation, for the most part, given the use of jparser's furigana function. There are parts that are harder than others, but it is mostly about on the level where someone who is getting used to watching anime without subs can handle it with some effort... Edit: Since the average VN is generally harder than the average anime... you probably shouldn't be trying this if you can't manage what I said above.

lol, I thought that looked like Sukima Zakura... one of Propeller's (makers of Ayakashibito) few non-action games. Unlike its action games, there is no protagonist voice-acting... but overall it is a decent game, which is also on my list of games for beginners. Likers of Key's games will probably enjoy it, though not as much as Key's own.

Umm... try avoiding ones with 'all good endings' tags on vndb. Also, since it is being translated: http://vndb.org/v10804 That definitely fulfills your desires, so have fun waiting for it.

Basically you can copypasta the Japanese name (in kanji/kana) to google and add on kouryaku after it and you will get a walkthrough, in most cases. Some really crappy games, nukige, and really really old games don't have any walkthroughs out, but most moege do. For games made between two and seven years ago, check foolmaker, for anything else check seiya-saiga.

Needlessly adorable - and frequently emotionally dependent - little sisters as heroines.