Clephas

In this case, I'm responding to a direct request from a few members of Fuwanovel, who asked me in pms in the irc for a list of VNs that are very ecchi, without being nukige. The level of decent story in these games tends to vary greatly, but the common factor is a desire for ecchi without the game being entirely about sex. Such games will tend to have a lot of ecchi content, in addition to outright h-scenes (lukky sukebe, swimsuits, etc). Again, I don't remember enough about translated games to give a good list for those (as I recall, most translated VNs tended to be either nukige or non-nukige, with none of the borderline stuff you run into occasionally when you play anything that interests you) Untranslated: Anything by Clochette (a producer you can look up on vndb) Noble Works (this game has an excellent story, but it is also very ecchi, lol) Akabanzu Alia's Carnival Baka Moe Heart Erect Ichiban Janakya Dame Desu Ka Mahou Shoujo no Taisetsu na Koto Sakura Iro Quartet Otomimi Naka no Hito nado Inai Ryuusei Kiseki Sara Sara Sasara Prima Stella Acchi Muite Koi Grand Libra Academy (stops just short of nukige, like Erect) Guardian Place Imouto Spiral Imouto no Okage de Motesugite Yabai 08/15/2015 Monster girl series by Vanadis (just go through the company name on vndb) Neko Masshigura Ore to 5-nin no Yome-san ga Raburabu nano wa, Mirai kara Kita Aka-chan no Okage ni Chigainai!?

Kanji is just a lower priority... if you don't mind restricting yourself to PC VNs, there are any number of ways to get around a lack of kanji knowledge.

Yes, I do understand everything they say. As for how old I am... I'm the third oldest person in this forum at 32. I first began learning Japanese seriously at the age of seventeen. I'd stopped using textbooks by the time I hit nineteen years of age, and I was watching at least some anime without subs by the age of twenty. However, I still preferred to watch already-aired anime with subs, when possible, as it took effort back then to keep up, thus tiring me out. I only watched raw video for anime that I was seriously obsessed with, and I still archive subbed versions, though I stopped paying attention to the subs long ago (the subs are for the benefit of the rare individuals who want to watch them with me). If you just want to get to the point where you can understand most of what is being said without the subs, it won't take that long... but there is a point where you will have to start thinking in Japanese. Otherwise, you won't get any better at it. The best translators think in both Japanese and English, and the worst ones are the ones who have to actually pull out a dictionary or a textbook to remind themselves. I don't say this to be mean... but most official subs are horrible because most of those translators are people who came out of a college with textbook understanding and not much else, lol. Internalization is the key... and it is also the biggest barrier. I usually suggest long period of immersion, once you get to the point where you can do without subs to a certain extent. Say... a month without speaking or listening to anything spoken in English while watching TV dramas or anime constantly in Japanese? That's usually enough to tip reasonably intelligent people over the brink, if they are almost there. For the average person, who still has a minimal talent for linguistics, it might take two or three months... Edit: I did it unintentionally, during a long period where I did nothing but watch anime series after anime series for weeks on end. By the end of that long marathon, I was muttering Japanese in my sleep, lol.

Mmm... once I had the grammar and particles, I pretty much just ran with my hobbies (subbed anime and rpgs with Japanese voices), and I eventually absorbed enough vocab that I didn't need any aids to understand the spoken language. Literary Japanese (which differs significantly from spoken Japanese, as everyone knows I harp on at every opportunity) took about another three months to master completely once I started playing VNs in Japanese, but after that, I had no problems, except for the occasional typo or conceptual/technical phrases that popped up. Understand, I don't translate to English in my head... I just understand it 'as' Japanese. I think in Japanese while playing VNs, even to the point of muttering in the language under my breath at times. For me, it is now as natural as breathing to understand Japanese... it stopped being something special years ago. I'm also aware that my experience is exceptional, mostly due to the unfair advantages I had (Japanese class at the high school level, a teacher who rearranged the class so everyone learned ALL the grammar in the first two semesters, with minimal focus on vocab and none on kanji, and I also happened to already have the skills necessary to comprehend language precisely, built up through over a decade as a bibliophile) . Edit: Just to let you know... YES, I do have better than average intelligence, at least enough that I had something of a problem with megalomania when I was younger. So, as arrogant as that sounds, I'm well-aware this approach will not work for others, will require more time for them, or would have to include rote memorization for them to reach the level I'm at. It isn't like most non-native speakers can reason out the meaning of an unknown word in Japanese just by how it sounds and is used... like I said, most people won't be able to do things like I did, and even fewer will be able to skip through most of the 'translating it to English in my head' stage like I did. If I had a piece of advice for supplementary learning... train yourself to reason logically until it is completely subliminal for you to do so. Once that happens, you'll find it a lot easier to pick up language, because all languages have their rules (which don't necessarily translate or show up in the textbooks), and those rules all have a logic behind them, even if that logic might seem odd at first glance. Edit2: The downside of subliminal logic is that you stop being able to enjoy inconsistent stories as easily and you have to make an active effort to distance the more mechanical side of your thinking when dealing with entertainment. This is the biggest reason, incidentally, why I dislike pure moege and moeblob anime, haha

You'll find out eventually. I'd really advise against asking other people to spoil masterpiece VNs for you. It takes all the fun out of things. As for how long I took to learn Japanese... about three years before I reached the point where I didn't need anime subs anymore. I started playing VNs in Japanese about five years ago... maybe longer (I'm not really good about remembering the passage of time). Bush wasn't president anymore, but the healthcare debate that lead to Obamacare hadn't happened yet either. I was still fansubbing anime at the time, and it was my VN-obsession that eventually put the last nails in the coffin of my fansubbing career (too many interesting VNs, too little time, lol). I plowed through all the translated VNs of the time, and for a while I was playing newly translated ones as well as untranslated... but then I got to the point where I wasn't interested in translated versions at all and sort of stopped paying attention to what was getting translated. Playing the untranslated was made so much easier by jparser, which utterly changed the speed with which I could process kanji. I'm now at the point where I can read a Japanese VN at a time equivalent to what it would take me to read one in English (with jparser in use)... and my English reading speed is enough for me to finish the entire Game of Thrones series currently released in just under fifteen hours...lol Needless to say, since I can't 'swallow' entire paragraphs in a VN the way I do with books, I'm slower with VNs, as I can only read them one line at a time, but a single glance is enough for me to read, process, and comprehend anything in a line written in modern literary Japanese (trying to be precise here). If I try to process it into English, it takes about five to ten times as long, so I don't even bother with that, haha.

I generally don't play multiple VNs at once, though I do put gameplay-heavy ones on hold after a single path frequently. I can finish VNs fast enough that I don't feel the same level of frustration some people get with ones that don't fit their tastes, allowing me to finish games that are outside my personal range, despite the parts that irritate me about them.

Grisaia is huge... G-senjou has various problems (plot structure that will make you hate the writers for having more than one heroine), and Sharin no Kuni has a really unique cultural setting. If you want to go for the main dish first, go for Grisaia... but be warned that most of the stuff written in other VNs suffers a lot by comparison. It is one of those VNs that causes other VNs to pale greatly in comparison. Also, if you use jparser, kanji knowledge isn't really necessary for playing vns in Japanese. What you need is a working knowledge of grammar, particles, and common words. Depending on your mental agility, you'll probably pick up the most common kanji automatically as you go. I do suggest you know the kanji for 'reasoning', 'minute', and a few others (mostly conceptual kanji) that get used commonly in literary Japanese. These aren't necessarily ones that will pop up early in your kanji lessons, either... so I'd suggest you make it your business to go out of your way to learn 理　and 分かる, as well as others that have seemingly unconnected usages, though many of those will be automatically grouped in jparser, so you'll learn them automatically.

It's probably a side-story/joke... some fandiscs and side-story VNs do weird things with the original's characters.

Mmm... most protags in VNs tend to be nekketsu (hot-blooded/somewhat thoughtless) or normal. Shirou's personality and action make a lot more sense as you go along, but that doesn't decrease the sheer annoyance with the Fate arc, where all of his most annoying aspects are displayed in the most annoying of ways. Shirou shows better both in UBW and Heaven's Feel, though for different reasons. tbh, the only pragmatist protags I know of in translated VNs are G-Senjou's protag, Sharin no Kuni's (to an extent), and Yuuji in Grisaia. They all have their reasons for being that way (ingrained fear in G-Senjou's, survival instinct and cold planning with Sharin's, and training for Yuuji's), but those are the closest you'll get. You can also get bugfuck insane protags in a few VNs (Cross Channel's Taichi) or a protag that is cool on the surface while impulsive under it (Akihito from Comyu). I could suggest large numbers of protags to fit your tastes in untranslated ones, but it is apparent you aren't ready for those, lol.

This list is entirely devoted to VNs that serve to provide healing, light catharsis, laughs, and warm fuzzy feelings. Understand, most of the games on this list will be moege, charage, or nakige, with almost no exceptions. Some of these, I would not rate highly by my own tastes, but in the eyes of someone seeking this quality, would be awesome. I WILL NOT provide a translated list, as the last time I played a translated VN was more than three years ago, and thus others would be a better judge of what to include in the translated portion of it (hint, hint, Kaguya, Steve, and other Fuwa vets). A great story is generally not a requirement for this type of game, which is why I didn't always give them as high a rating as they would deserve from fans of the genre. Heavy drama (outside of the 'it is definitely going to end happily' type that you get in nakige) is not acceptable. I am going to be very picky for this list, as games that leave you with a bad aftertaste or leave you wondering why you bothered waste people's time, lol. (Hoshimemo would be borderline out of bounds, if you want a clear marker of what not to include. This kind of game has to be almost devoid of violence and meant to heal or soothe) Untranslated: Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no (seriously, this game is my universal recommendation from this type) Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru ~Futari no Elder~ (rare example of sequel far surpassing the original in every aspect) Toppara Zashiki Warashi no Hanashi Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi (yes, this starts out kind of sadly, but its generally light nature and characters definitely make it soothing) Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort (as I said in my comments on this game, it is like a much weaker imitation of Uruwashi no) Clover Days (another recent addition, perfect example of a light charage with no serious drama that isn't solved relatively quickly) Chiisana Kanojo no Serenade (pure moe, stops just short of moeblob, totally light, no really serious drama) Kaminoyu (no human heroines... but this game is enormously soothing and decently funny) Shiro no Pikapika Ohoshi-sama (this was the game that came to mind when I thought of making this list) LoveKami Sakura Bitmap Strawberry Nauts Tenshin Ranman - Lucky or Unlucky!? Natsuiro Recipe AI Love: Koisuru Otome wa Kikai-jikake YES I am being very picky about this list. Not every nakige is soothing/healing for the reader, and not every moege is capable of providing easy laughs and adorable cuteness. The basic reasoning behind all of these choices is: emotional release from sympathy/empathy with the characters and an overall sense of relief of pent-up non-violent stress for the reader. I could have put up to three times this many games up here if I'd been less picky... but then I would have been wasting the readers' time. Have fun, yall.

Just started the Hapymaher FD. It started out by making me cry, lol. The big downside of a good emotional VN is that just remembering it can make me burst into tears, in some cases, haha

Untranslated with genius protags: Hyper→Highspeed→Genius Hello, Lady Bradyon Veda Devils Devel Concept Draculius Jingai Makyou Noble Works (charage) Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu Soukoku no Arterial (there is an interface translation patch) Tenshi no Hane wo Fumanaide Tokyo Babel Akatsuki no Goei (series) Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake (this is scheduled for an official translation) Electro Arms Gleam Garden no Shoujo Hello,good-bye Kamikaze Explorer (charage) Kimi to Boku to no Kishi no Hibi -Rakuen no Chevalier- (charage) Ojou-sama wa Gokigen Naname Namima no Kuni no Faust Reminiscence Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin Gensou no Idea Dies Irae Kajiri Kamui Kagura Zero Infinity A few comments on Eien no Aselia: I know how you feel about protags that want to 'return to their own world', but it is an unavoidable trope in Japanese fantasy stories. It is a cultural thing, lol. On the other hand, in Yuuto's case it makes perfect sense, up to a point. He was taken from his own world along with his little sister, turned into a slave soldier, and even when he gets free of his first master, he is forced into a situation where he has to fight anyway. As for Kamidori: If you go into this game expecting a great story, you'll get burned. It is one of the weakest of all of Eushully's games, plot-wise.

Don't forget Ayakashibito. Also, check out my lists when you are ready for untranslated VNs.

Yes, I've played it... those who played Ever17 and liked it but would have preferred a slightly more character-centric story will probably enjoy it. However, for those who are afraid of bad endings, you should probably avoid the game, as you'll be forced to see a lot of horror in the ends of each heroine's path.

http://vndb.org/v838 I was asked to check this out by members of Fuwa's lolicon community (you know who you are), and I went ahead and did so. This is a fantasy lolige, with nothing but loli or loli-appearing heroines. In all honesty, I didn't get much pleasure out of playing this game, primarily because the story is pretty poorly paced. I finished all the paths of the game in just under eight hours, and it goes pretty much from beginning to end in a ridiculously short time. It is quite obvious that not much thought went into the overall setting or story from the very beginning, and I felt the overall situation was kind of... iffy. I honestly can't come up with much of a redeeming value for the game... though I think with some work it could have been made into something interesting. The big problem is that the time from beginning to end is too short to get the sense of isolation that you'd need to get behind the protagonist's eyes in the story, as he goes more over to the monsters' side of things. Considering that it was obvious that was what they were trying to do... that is a critical flaw.

I never said that Shinri was a good guy, lol.

I just finished Clover Days... (I really sped through it). The paths split off really early, so you get a lot of each heroine, but it is mostly romance-related, though there is generally at least a little drama toward the end of each path. The exception is Hekiru and Hikaru's path, which goes pretty predictably, if you've ever read a path for a set of twins. For people who love the cuteness, this game is great... but if you aren't interested in being moe'ed to death, this VN is kind of painful. That isn't to say that it doesn't have it's good points... but if it wasn't Alcot, this game probably would have made me want to puke, lol. This game has Alcot's usual humorous character interactions, which fans of their other games will probably recognize. I can honestly recommend this to someone who wants some light VN reading, with plenty of heroine character development. I guess the main reason I couldn't get into this was because the protagonist/heroine relationships were all established at the beginning, as all of the heroines are either his imouto or osananajimi. Since I despise the osananajimi trope when it is overused, I couldn't help but get irritated at this. If I have to deal with a romance, I prefer situations where the heroine and the protagonist are finding out about each other at the same time I am, as it makes it easier for me to get into things. For those who want a moe-charage, this is a great choice... but for those who want something focused around a great story, I don't think that can really be provided from this. The story isn't bad... it is just all young romance between people who already know one another and don't really make any new discoveries about one another beyond the usual tropes for this kind of situation. Game of the Month Announcement: March The winner for non-action is: Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa My main reason for choosing Hikoukigumo was the enormous effort put into Eiri's path, which is worth a VN in and of itself. While both of the other paths had their down and dirty drama moments, Eiri's was a work of art, and for once I didn't feel something lacking from a game made by Flat. I also considered Alia's Carnival, but it just didn't possess the level of depth and thought that went into Hikoukigumo. Clephas Choice: Hello, Lady My reason for choosing this over Endless Dungeon (despite how hilarious and cool that addendum to the Tiny Dungeon series was), was simply the usual Akatsuki Works genius. Hello, Lady did for me what even the chuuni games of the last few months didn't quite manage... it made me have hope for the future of story-focused VNs. The incredible decrease in the number of quality titles over the past two years has been depressing, quite frankly, so I was happy to run across so many in such a short period of time in the last few months. Hello, Lady proved to me that a VN could still end without the story turning into just another moral lesson, where the bad guys are somehow forgiven for everything in the end. Shinri's unapologetic pursuit of his own goals, regardless of the cost to those around him and his determination to retain his humanity while doing it made him a singularly compelling protagonist. The fact that his everyday actions were hilarious was just a nice bit of topping to the cake.

Now draw her once she becomes an adult and tells Daddy that she is going to marry Uncle Sunohara.

Too cutesy for my tastes... No Game, No Life seems the most potentially interesting to me.

No, but it doesn't appear as if there is a direct relation. The heroines are different and the protag seems to be different as well.

Currently playing Clover Days, as Doko no Donata sucks donkey shit (ok, all the heroines are annoying, which was enough to get me drop it then and there... and it has that 'everyone loves the protagonist for no real reason from the start' setting that I despise). It will be my last game from last month, other than fandiscs. It is pretty decent so far, though all the heroines are either osananajimi or imouto. Too many lolis in this game though... retro, lol

*makes arrogant assumption* Well, now that you are addicted to Propeller games, don't you think it is time you ventured into the realms of the untranslated ones? lol

Kuki.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/260130/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1 Something to look forward to for jrpg gamers who still prefer to play on the PC. I enjoyed this series, personally, though it gets dissed a lot by various people. I'm a reformed jrpg-addict (ok, I just shifted my addiction to VNs, which fulfill my love for good story better than jrpgs do), but I still like retro-style games, lol

Haven't played Ayakashibito yet? lol