Clephas

All the roguelikes and rpg-type games by Eushully had random encounters. However, you could usually turn off random encounters on the second playthrough or - like in IM Zero - there was a cap per visit to the dungeon on how many random encounters you hit. Apparently, this game doesn't allow the elimination of random encounters on a second playthrough. In addition, the battle system is closer to that used in the Final Fantasy pixel era games combined with a formation system that grants status boosts and a free passive skill to add a semblance of strategy (though in reality the only useable option is the one that reduces SP-use for techniques and magic). Considering that the original IM games battle system (used up through Tenbin) was a mostly-standard jrpg battle system with the addition of being able to place your characters freely on a board on your side of the battlefield (which made it easier to protect the pure mage types) Hyakujou's battle system is definitely a regression rather than a progression. Hyakujou's encounter rate is ridiculously high (sometimes every five seconds and a few times every three steps), considering that most of the characters don't have the SP to support repeated battles (I survived by loading Sophia down with SP-regeneration items so she could heal without worrying about SP). That makes the game unnecessarily painful to play, despite the existence of an effective auto-battle system (the auto-battle system is actually pretty good, even by modern jrpg standards). Without Sharon in the party, the drop rates for most resources are ridiculously low (sometimes nothing dropping for like three battles), and even with Sharon and her drop-enhancing spell, you sometimes get no drops after battle, which can be painful when you FINALLY ran into the enemy that drops what you need.

Kuro no Shoukanshi- I read the book first, so I'm somewhat biased, but I honestly think this is the hidden (really hidden, since very few people over here watched it as far as I can tell) gem of this season's isekai. While it is par for the course as transport/adult reincarnation isekai go, it does have a few differences. For one thing, the protagonist doesn't retain memories of his previous life, instead choosing to sacrifice them for more potential power. For another thing, the anime is less fanservice-ey than the books, resulting in a serious anime with a battle maniac protagonist. If I have a complaint, it was at the poor decision to try to utilize 2.5D graphics for some combat scenes, even though only a few companies even approach utilizing the technology in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Isekai Ojisan- Basically a comedy that mocks all the fantasy/isekai conventions, with a psychotic paranoid gamer (cartridge console era) protagonist who reflects on his isekai journey and abuses his connection to the spirits in various ways. It is something to watch for laughs, more than anything else. Isekai Yakkyoku- A medical researcher gets reincarnated in a fantasy isekai and sets out to make the world a better place by establishing semi-modern medical standards, starting with his own pharmacy. A good series that could use a second season. Tensei Kenja- Good action, cute companions, standard-issue protagonist for an isekai transport. The action is good but the story is meh, for the most part.

Hyakusen no Jou ni Katawareshi Toki (from here on known as Hyakujou) is Eushully's latest game, based a generation or two before the events of Kamidori in the same region. It is technically a prequel, and the setting of Kamidori - the city of Yuidora - plays a pretty important - though not central - role in the story. For those who want to know what the 'canon' is, it is Route A of the Law Route. The game is designed to be significantly easier if you play the Chaos Route first, supposedly. However, I decided to focus on the 'true history' route for this review. First of all, Hyakujou's storytelling is done in a semi-free scenario, where - similar to the SaGa Frontier and Romancing SaGa games, you pick your destination and progress the story based on where you go. In this case, though, the flaws of that approach are fairly apparent. To be blunt, you are given far too much freedom and too little direction. Since you can never tell whether an event is central to the plot or just a character-related event (technically they are differentiated, but several character events are required to progress the story for each city, so differentiating them is often meaningless). This is the second most painful part of the gameplay and the reason why I decided to give this game a low score, because it makes the story disjointed to a ridiculous degree. I mentioned that there are painful parts of the gameplay... and I need to come out and say this: They seriously balanced this game horribly. First, this game absolutely requires an insane amount of grinding. Just staying at the same level as the enemies required me to spend over twenty hours just grinding for materials and levels. The enemies from the very beginning are on the higher end of the difficulty scale for Eushully games, which makes things even more annoying from the player's perspective. Sudden bumps in difficulty level are standard for the course, and I found myself cursing aloud at Eushully a lot of the time. It's not because of the difficulty that I was bothered, though. I was bothered by the fact that just gaining a few levels took hours of effort. To be blunt, this isn't an MMO. There is absolutely no need to make experience-gaining a painful process to this degree. One thing you have to understand about the story is that the protagonist and his friends are fairly ignorant about events behind the scenes, and they only get involved with them fairly late in the story. This is another negative issue, because Mark and friends' goals are overly vague and result in a lot of disordered events, going from city and city only to experience the same issues (corrupt nobles, oppression, etc) with only a minority of events actually feeling linked to the story that supposedly began with the events of the prologue. The beginning and end of this game's story are very well-ordered, and the end run was really interesting. However, it came at the cost of me lacking a sense of investment in what was going on. The actual writing/scenario team is identical to that of the last five Eushully games, which makes sense since only Fuukan no Grasesta amongst those came close to matching the better Eushully games. The artwork is typical Eushully, retaining the same nostalgic style. However, there are far fewer CGs in this game compared to previous games, and the entire story and game felt like they were working from a lower budget - though not a lot lower. Considering that I would be perfectly happy with them reusing the old IM battle system, it annoyed me that they felt the need to redesign things (wasting budget) in a way that doesn't really work (the formation and placement system is actually cruder than what was seen in much older Eushully games, making me wonder why they bothered making a new one). Overall, this game is a representation of Eushully's gradual decay. While the concept was interesting, and the effort to engage the Kamidori fans with a prequel is worthy of praise, the poor gameplay decisions pretty much eliminate any benefits they might have gained by piggy-backing on a classic's glory. The decision to utilize a semi-free scenario storytelling system was a huge screwup, as it resulted in a disjointed story that felt like it only had an end and a beginning, without a clear line between. I also found the decision to put the H-scenes in a separate patch and only include them in the extras to be a bit silly, since Eushully fans want their ero, and Eushully without ero just feels weird.

Eushully has been, for the past quarter century, one of the constants of the VN cosmos. Why? Because, with their first game Ikusa Megami, they struck gold in terms of setting design. Eroge VN/RPG's have created some seriously odd results and synergies over the past quarter century. The company that most embodies that is Eushully and the setting that embodies it is Dir'Lifyna, the world of the Ikusa Megami series and Kamidori Alchemy Meister. There are lots of arguments as to why the setting was so attractive. Ikusa Megami was not a very impressive game, even at the time. It's visual aspects were pretty standard for turn-of-the-century VNs, (actually a bit less so, considering what the gold standard of the time was). The gameplay was unimpressive too. However, the story and the hints about the deep, surprisingly well thought out setting that were dropped resulted in a cult following that caused sales to erupt, resulting in the second game, which was far more refined in every way, whether it was in visuals, sound, gameplay, or even story-telling. However, it was the telling of Celica's origin story in Ikusa Megami Zero that truly put this setting on the map and had numerous people going back to play the older games in hopes of recapturing the magic of the experience and the fascinating setting that accompanied it. Celica's progress from an idealistic paladin of a god of adventurers to the infamous God-Slayer of the original games was harrowing, emotional, and very, very revealing about the shades of gray that compose the setting as a whole. To really understand Dir'Lifyna and the way its stories are presented, one has to see past the limitations of the two major sides and their mutual enemy (Dark, Light, and the Old Gods). It is very, very easy to paint the Dark as 'evil' and its denizens as corrupt and destructive. However, in the context of Dir'Lifyna's setting, Darkness just represents one side of an eternal war for dominance over both the mortal and divine realms. Very few of Eushully's games have a Dark-aligned god or their worshipers as the ultimate antagonist of the story, and most people aligned with the Dark seem to simply have a looser idea of what good and evil are than the more structured view of those devoted to the Light. Throughout the Ikusa Megami series and the other side-games, Light-aligned gods and their temples are often the cause of the worst horrors one sees going on, whether it is betrayals, massacres, or endless wars. This doesn't mean the Light side is evil, either. Rather, both sides have a different vision of how the world should be, and many of the Dark gods are gods who departed from the Light because their viewpoint simply was incompatible with those who led. The god Celica originally worships, Barouhart, is a god of adventurers, a war god, and a god of storms. He is utterly amoral in his view of the world, being pragmatic to a fault. This is why he sacrificed the entire clergy of the region Celica was living in to corruption in order to make an attempt on the life of a single Old God who was in no way evil or attempting to disrupt the order of the world. In his eyes, sacrificing a few thousand of his most devoted followers to seal or slay an Old God was more than a worthy exchange. This goes to the heart of the third side of the eternal conflict of the Dir'Lifyna world, the Old Gods. To be straight about it, the Old Gods are Earth's deities, who fought for the losing side of the War of the Corridor, during the merging of Earth and the winners' worlds into one. Their human worshippers were stolen by the Living Gods and most of the Old Gods were killed, sealed away, or put into servitude in various ways. The people of Dir'Lifyna generally treat the Old Gods the same way an earthling would treat one of the Cthulhu Mythos gods, with horror and fear or with a lust for power. The gods of Dir'Lifyna treat them as potential balance-breakers in their game, seeking to eliminate their influence and relics as best they can. Now, why are the wars of the gods reflected on the surface of the planet? That is one of the more interesting questions. It also feeds into the way magic works on Dir'Lifyna. Almost all magic - except for species magic like that possessed by the Spirits and Demons - is fueled by mana. However, most beings don't inherently produce usable mana on their own (though some sorcerers manage to do so eventually through training and study). Most intelligent beings devote themselves to a god, their faith and raw (unusable to them) mana going to their god, who refines it for their own use before returning a portion to the worshiper. Most of a god's power and ability to recover that power after fighting come from this act of worship. As a result, the more worshipers offering their mana in the form of faith and prayer to them, the more power they have and the faster they can recover it. In addition, what their followers believe about them effects the shape of their abilities, allowing them power over various aspects. This also feeds back into what spells are easiest for their worshippers to use (Vastar's worshippers being best at using destructive Darkness Magic, Ice Magic, and Alchemy, for instance). A worshipper of Marsterria (the antagonist deity of the Ikusa Megami series) for instance tend to be able to use Light-based support and attack spells, but because his aspect is primarily of war, they aren't that good at healing magic (though most high-ranking priests manage to use it anyway). On the other hand, Iryun, the goddess of healing of the Light side, has followers who are fundamentally incapable of using attack magic but are excellent at healing and support. The moral ambiguity of all sides and the sheer complexity of the setting mean that this is a world that has endless possibilities for play, making it easily one of the most fun universes to experience in JRPGs in general, even setting aside the fact that they are eroge.

Yuusha, Yamemasu- Have to disagree with Kvan completely on this. This is nothing like Genjitsu Shuugi Yuusha (dunno where he got that). This is a fantasy novel about a world where the hero, after being exiled by humanity, joins the demon army and goes around helping them rebuild, generally providing advice and helping out wherever he can. However, the real attraction of this series is finding out the hero's past and the emotional rollercoaster of the last four episodes, lol. Gaikotsu Kishi- A guy gets transported to another world in the body of his skeleton paladin avatar and goes around saving people at random until he joins up with a pretty elf to free the slaves. While this series is not really exceptional, it has a lot of fun moments and a few really good emotional scenes that make it worth watching. Otome Game Sekai- A guy gets reborn in the world of an otome-ge where extreme female domination is the norm. It is a world of floating islands and airships, and the protagonist uses his knowledge of the game to gain an advantage in the form of a ship and AI from ancient times. The anime isn't nearly as good as the books, unfortunately, at least partly because it ends with the first arc. Shijou Saikyou no Maou- A demon King (called that more for who he fought against than anything else, apparently) chooses to abandon his throne and reincarnate as what he perceives as a 'normal' person, but in the far future, his view of the average is pretty close to the top of the food chain in terms of power. The results are fairly predictable, but the anime has a number of quality fights and good moments worth watching. It isn't at the top of my fantasy rankings, but it definitely shouldn't be one-sidedly condemned.

Who are your top five VN characters (other than the protagonist)? I went ahead and posted this thread because using my evil thread necromancy to resurrect the original zombie thread seems in bad taste, lol. 1. Kamio Ami- Semiramis no Tenbin's main heroine. Calculating, manipulative, and you can never tell when she is wearing a mask and when she is being honest. Her sheer intelligence and gut-level understanding of human nature combined with her somewhat hedonistic personality make her a fun heroine to pursue. While she represents the 'devil' (Eru being the 'angel') of the three main heroines (Touko being the 'human' of the three), ironically her path leaves most of the side-characters much better off than Eru's path, where a lot of horrific things happen to several of the protagonist's friends. 2. Welsheranto D Anoyance- Otherwise known as 'Belche', a three hundred year old vassal vampire turned by the protagonist's father. She was formerly a barmaid in Dublin, though she remembers very little about the time when she was human. She is Jun's guide, his surrogate mother, and the overseer of his vampire heroine. Her love for him is as pure as it gets, despite the fact that she is anything but pure in nature. She is terrifyingly powerful, even by old vampire standards, able to slaughter hundreds of humans in seconds if she wills it. When it comes to strangers, she is cold and distant, often ruthless if she thinks she can use them to better the circumstances of her vampire family. When it comes to her family, she often shows the face of a put-upon mother, despite spending most of her time in her smaller form. 3. Kuki Youkou- A brilliant martial artist and first-rate teacher who fell to his own hatred after his son was raped and killed by a serial killer with powers. He is both teacher and antagonist to the protagonist of Ayakashibito, while being the tortured protagonist of Chrono Belt. While we mostly see his bad side in Ayakashibito, Chrono Belt gives us a chance to see the man behind the vengeful demon so familiar from the original game. He is perhaps one of the most complex and deep characters written by Higashide during his time with Propeller, and it is worth playing Chrono Belt to see him come to life, even if only temporarily. 4. Christopher Valzeride - The hero and Fuhrer of Adler and the prime antagonist and cause of most of the conflict in Silverio Vendetta. Despite his supreme power and absolute heroism, he is not very talented. However, he is a supreme hard worker, turning a mediocre level of talent into a monstrous level of power by being utterly ruthless with his own body and enduring things that would drive almost anyone else insane. However, his seeming perfection of personality comes from a simple inability to understand the idea of giving up and doing evil, even if he can comprehend it logically. He is devoid of weakness, which is in itself his greatest weakness. As he once put it 'I am not an ally of justice, I am a slayer of evil.' He is self-aware enough not to hold others to his standard and he is in a constant state of rage toward himself and self-hatred due to his absolute hatred of evil. Unlike many would-be 'heroes' in stories, he doesn't think of himself as good but rather as the worst kind of trash due to his inability to find a perfect way to his goals that don't require the sacrifice of others. If he had it his way, the only sacrifice would be himself. "I will live and die for others. Know that my heart beats for only that purpose." 5. Marie- Dies Irae's main (if not true) heroine. A young woman born at the foot of the guillotine during the French Revolution, whose life passed without ever once knowing the touch of another human being due to the guillotine's curse. At the end of her life, she spoke something other than the song of the executioner's grounds for the first time, only to state 'I will always be here', becoming eternal at the moment of her death, inspiring the events that led to the 'war'. If there is a heroine one could say is 'pure of heart' with a straight face, it is her. A tragic figure who, in the end, turns her tragedy and innocence into compassion and an all-encompassing love for humanity. "I am watching. I'm at your side. I will never abandon you. I will embrace you. ... No, please allow me to embrace you. Oh precious everything, I wish to watch over you forever. Amantes Amentes, Omnia Vincit Amor. Everyone, please someday find happiness."

The new Eushully game is not a sequel, it is simply based in the same general region of Dir Lifyna (Eushully's fantasy universe). So far, my impression of it is that Eushully should have made it more linear. Due to the sheer freedom of how to proceed, it is hard to get a sense of the story in general, and there is no unity between the characters other than during their individual scenes or Mark and Luilie's bromance. In addition, they made the odd choice of making you go to the title screen to access h-scenes, rather than including them in the story, as is customary.

Shigure Sora from Devils Devel Concept or Shiranui Yoshikazu from Evolimit. The former is a lawful evil protagonist with a strong animalistic side combined with a transactional view of the world, while the latter is a 'hero' type in the purest sense of the word. All my favorite protagonists are psychological messes to one degree or another, though. lol

The last five years or so has been mostly devoid of superior VNs, so I honestly don't have much to suggest. Since you haven't played it yet: Komorebi no Nostalgica Komorebi no Nostalgica easily makes it to the top of my sci-fi list, though it has very little action. The story and presentation is awesome. It might be a little too SOL for your tastes at times, but to my mind it makes up for it for presenting an interesting 'after' picture of a post Human-AI war.

Bisque Doll- A pretty cute SOL romance with a gyaru heroine and a serious, straight-laced protagonist who is trying to become a doll-maker. Shikkakumon- OP sage reincarnates himself after realizing he can't get any stronger and finds out that civilization collapsed after his death. Combat is no better than decent, unfortunately. There are some high points, but as fantasy goes it is pure vanilla. Leadale no Daichi nite- Girl dies while online and gets reincarnated into the game well-after it shuts down. The world has progressed and she finds herself reuniting with npcs, saving little girls, and generally making a place for herself in another world. It probably helps that she is a high elf and everyone expects high elves to be practically immortal. Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja- A guy does an in-game sex-change on a whim to use up an old item in a VRMMO, and he falls asleep in the body of his ideal woman (loli, lol) only to wake up in a world where the game has become real, stuck in that same body. Story is ok, but it doesn't really have any direction.

Since you haven't played it yet, Fuukan no Grasesta by Eushully. It is easily the most memorable Eushully game made in the last ten years, with the best story.

Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha- Generally an enjoyable anime, breaks from the original material massively after episode eight. Protagonist is a professional killer murdered by his own organization in a spectacular way, who - for the first time in his life - doubts his path and desires a second chance. When the goddess of another world offers him that chance in exchange for assassinating the hero once they've done the job of killing the Demon King, he agrees. He is reborn into a family that handles both medicine and assassination of those who can't be handled openly by the royal family. There is some good action in this series, and - typical of isekai protagonists - he takes advantage of his knowledge to make money along the way. Also some harem, though he is pretty devoted to the girl he falls for early on. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Phantom Train- While the original season was great, it was this season/movie that solidified Kimetsu no Yaiba's place in anime legends. The action and presentation of this anime shows why ufotable is the absolute best animation studio in existence. Combat animation and choreography is unmatched in this anime. Shin no Nakama- The first anime entry of one of the newer fantasy trends, of the 'exiled protagonist' who gets kicked out of an adventurer party then succeeds or becomes happy on his own. Anime's raw quality is average in terms of visuals and audio, but the story is good enough to be worth watching at least once. Saihate no Paladin- Easily the best isekai reincarnation in the last five years. The protagonist gets reincarnated in a D&D style world. The story is emotionally deep and the anime presents it almost perfectly. There is a lot to this story that is worth reflecting on, whether it is the spiritual themes or the more conventional ones. Shinka no Mi- Trashy isekai

Elfen Lied

Tsukimichi- A decent isekai, though it really doesn't get going beyond the comedy until near the end of the first season, when Makoto is forced to go beyond being dragged randomly into things. Genjitsu Shuugi Yuusha- This one is a nation-building isekai with a pragmatic protagonist who has no personal combat ability. If you like settlement-building, nation-building fantasy or isekai, it is top quality. Seirei Gensouki- The start and the middle are good, however the last few episodes are rushed and completely diverge from the original material, which pissed off the fanboys like crazy. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag- This is the 'reborn as an akuyaku reijou' (reborn as a villainous rich girl) genre's first real anime. This genre generally focuses on the perspective of a reincarnated Japanese person in the body of an otome game villainess. About ninety-percent of these protagonists are trying to change their own fate and end up going off in wildly weird directions as a result. In only four years, this genre has gotten ridiculously variable, for some reason. This is the most straightforward variant of the genre, and it is mostly a comedy as the protagonist accidentally forms a reverse-harem without realizing it. Peach Boy Riverside- Ridiculous aesthetic, ridiculous concept, decent action. Not much else to say about it, though. Cheat Kusushi- Guy is transported to another world and creates a pharmacy where he works to resolve local issues. Mostly iyashikei, with a monster girl wolf main heroine.

Hige wo Soru, Joshikousei wo Hirou- This is easily my favorite anime of this season, which should surprise everyone given my obvious preference for fantasy and isekai. However, this is one of those rare slice-of-life anime that just hit the spot. The main character is a normal salaryman and the heroine is a runaway girl who has gotten so used to mistreatment that she has come to expect it. The biggest attraction of this story is that it isn't a romance, but rather the story of a guy serving as a father figure for someone who very badly needs it. Vivy- This sci-fi anime has a Terminator-style twist, in that a robot is sent back into the past to help arrange a change to the future. The difference is that the method it uses is to manipulate a semi-sentient singer AI named Diva to alter certain events so that AI's development is slow and the direction altered. Vivy/Diva, who gradually awakens to full sentience, is tortured by the experiences she has during this time, as they clash with her reason for being. It has a nice mix of themes that was interesting to watch. Slime Taoshite 300-nen- This anime is a semi-yuri iyashikei with only female main characters. The protagonist is former over-worked office lady who gets reincarnated as an immortal witch who lives about 300 years just killing slimes, gardening, and generally doing nothing of importance. However, one day she is found to be max level, thus earning interest from a variety of people who disrupt her peaceful and slow life. Sentouin, Hakenshimasu- A mediocre anime where a Power Rangers type minion and an android set out to conquer a new world after Earth has fallen to their organization. Generally a comedy more than anything else, the nonsensical nature of the story is jarring - at least for me. Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu- An otome isekai anime where a plain-looking but kind-hearted woman is summoned along with a pretty but insecure girl as a seijo (holy woman, saintess). Sei, the plain-looking girl gets ignored by the prince, who immediately sweeps the other girl off her feet and carries her off in absolute confidence she is the seijo. However, Sei, as she uses her new abilities to create potions and heal people, pretty soon earns the interest of a number of people. Generally a good story, with the downside that I'm not the audience it is directed at. For isekai-romance lovers, this is a good choice, especially when combined with the second season, which has a more romantic focus. Shuumatsu no Walkure- Excellent action. That is about it.

Even if you download, VNR won't work on Windows 10 or 11. At least not consistently. Better to use Textractor. Also, I doubt any downloads of VNR that are still active won't be infected, given that no one has updated it in the last seven or eight years.

To be straight, I'm an all-out anti-achievements gamer at heart. To me, they aren't an encouragement, they are a distraction. If I want to do something in a game, I'll do it without the achievements, and when an achievement randomly pops up to say I accomplished something, it makes me feel disgusted, not encouraged. I guess it is because I'm a solo gamer to the core, but more than once I've just stopped playing a game because of the intrusive ding of achievements in regular games. That was actually the reason I couldn't finish AI: The Somnium Files when I tried to play it. The achievements kept distracting me when I just wanted to experience the game and its story.

Mushoku Tensei- The aesthetic of this reincarnation isekai is really well done, with the protagonist only being highly capable rather than truly overpowered. I could have done without seeing his old body during conversations with Hitogami, but... *shrugs* Kumo Desu ga, Nanika- An excellent isekai series with something of a twist. While this wasn't the first 'reincarnated as a monster' story I've encountered, it is one of the more amusing ones. Tatoeba Last Dungeon- One of the first 'kanchigai' fantasy anime. In this case the variation where the protagonist doesn't realize how powerful he is due to his experiences in his early life. Like all anime/LNs/Manga of this type, it is mostly a comedy rather than action. As a result, the comedy gets repetitive as the story goes on, so it falls a bit flat. Hortensia Saga- An actually decent fantasy of the old-style of anime fantasy. However, it doesn't go beyond decent, so it isn't all that memorable.

Ah, let's keep the heat down, and you guys are thread derailing, so please make another thread if you want to debate the merits of the VN-learning method of mastering Japanese. Edit: Also, I should note that there is a small but significant (around eight percent of all humanity) portion of humanity that is incapable of learning languages that aren't directly related to their native language. Basically, these people, if they already know English or Chinese, they can't learn any language whose grammatical structure differs significantly from their own. This is not a problem with their intelligence but rather with how their brain works (basically how their brain forms associations).

Jujutsu Kaisen- Top-quality seinen action. Moriarty- The story of James Moriarty's rise to power and influence, how he built up his organization and set the background for his eventual conflicts with Sherlock Holmes. The anime succeeds in its mission of making the Moriarty group sympathetic, while maintaining their bloody and at times evil bent. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear- Iyashikei isekai. It is a pretty silly series that is heavy on humor, with most of the important characters either being girls or bears. The protagonist is overpowered to the extreme, with a dry personality and a tendency to do whatever she feels like at a given moment. Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko- Iyashikei isekai reincarnation. It really is just that. The protagonist is a guy who died of a silly cause after a life of extreme hard work and set out to enjoy a slow life (this guy is the original, and most of the slow life anime/wns/lns came afterward). It is a pretty cute anime, and there is no real darkness to the story. Just sit back and enjoy the puni-puni slimes and the surprisingly innocent interactions of the protagonist with those around him. Noblesse- As vampire anime go, this is on the higher end, being internally consistent and having good to top quality action. On the other hand, it could have used another arc or two before the story concluded, but what can you expect, considering current trends? Mahouka 2- This is probably the most boring arc in the series, and I wondered why they wasted an entire season on it when four episodes would have been enough (though the answer is fairly obvious, as they dragged out the third season's arc as well). Still, it is Mahouka quality, so it has some really good fights and moments where Tatsuya gets to shine.

When I saw there were replies, I was hoping there was new news. *looks sad*

In my experience, VN dark fantasy either emphasizes an endless path to despair or a path through despair to hope for the future. Nitroplus tends to focus on the former, as is seen in Tokyo Necro and Muramasa, where the majority of paths and their endings are unrelievedly dark from beginning to end. Indeed, there is this belief in a lot of Japanese makers that the dark needs to continue right through the epilogue. When there is an exception, it often comes with a backlash. One particular scenario that annoys me to this day is the Ein route vs the anime of Phantom of Inferno. In the original Ein route, the ending has Ein smiling and happy for the first time in her life, whereas the anime has the protagonist murdered during their trip to Mongolia. This contrast seriously pissed me off, because Ein's path was essentially the 'good ending' of the game, the only path where there was some level of salvation, and the anime makers ruined it out of a desire to turn it into some kind of twisted moral lesson. Anyway, one thing I find ironic is that there is far more dark fantasy on the otome-ge side of things than there is on the male-oriented side of things. I'm sometimes stunned at how deep into the darkness the otome genre goes, with levels of emotional brutality (both toward the characters and toward the reader) that are frightening. I mean, I like yandere heroines, but yandere heroes are freakin' scary. Dark Fantasy in male-oriented JVNs hit its peak in the mid-2000's, and most of the games were focused on extreme stuff similar to Maggots Baits, even if it went in a different direction. At present, the only real (non-nukige) dark fantasy company still operating is Clock-up, since Nitroplus hasn't put anything new out in half a decade. Edit: Incidentally, to this day I have extremely mixed feelings about Maggot Baits. It had excellent action and if you cut out the H, the story was great. However, if you include the H, it all becomes disgusting smut.

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n6247dd/ Something to keep in mind is that while the author hasn't marked it as complete, the main story is in fact complete.

A few more Shuumatsu no Walkure (Worth it for the awesome battles) Hyouken no Majutsushi (Deep lore, solid protagonist, some Fate-like plot twists, if not as well-executed as Fate is in general) Ragna Crimson (probably the closest to what you want, in my opinion) Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha (Series diverges massively from the original material toward the end, but it is still cool to watch) Saihate no Paladin (though this is more traditional pre-isekai fad fantasy) Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita (Protagonist is mostly a mentor and father figure for the main character due to his circumstances, but it is genuinely a great series with good drama and action)

Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha Overlord Saikyou Onmyouji no Isekai Tenseiki Solo Leveling Relatively few anime that would be considered chuuni in truth. That peculiar mix of aesthetics is pretty rare in general.