Clephas

Hmmm... an ice giant, eh? I was thinking more like a brown dwarf for me, lol.

First, I should say that I disapprove of releasing visual novels in pieces. I'm perfectly willing to wait three or four years for a good story, but I hate nothing more than being interrupted in the middle and having to wait another year for the next one. The habit of releasing VNs in chapters was a vice mostly restricted to doujin VNs in the past. The more obvious reasons are people like me who hate having their stories interrupted, the previous dominance of physical media, and other issues. However, as digital releases have become more common, companies have begun to try to find ways to suck more blood out of their readers without investing as much money. The result has been a rash of fragmentary game releases, like Corona Blossom, Grisaia Phantom Trigger, and the Uso series by Campus. Now, while I used them as an example, those are mostly positive examples. All three constructed their 'pieces' so they could stand on their own. Phantom Trigger takes an episodic approach, making each entry feel like an anime episode in a series or a novel in a series that does a good job of concluding the events of each entry, so that you don't become desperate waiting for the next. The Uso series by Campus made each entry so that it stood on its own without needing previous knowledge of the other entries, despite their interlinked setting and characters. These are probably the two best ways to approach micro-releasing VN stories... but in both cases, I would actually much prefer to read all the chapters at once, lol. I say I hate micro-releases, but that is because I see VNs as game hybrids. For me, I only want to invest money in a game once. I hate subscriptions, I hate microtransactions, and I absolutely despise random additional (paying) content. I can justify buying a season pass along with the game itself, but that is because it is a one-time transaction that gets me everything without having to concern myself with continuous pushing of bits and pieces of essentially worthless digital merchandise. In other words, I hate that this has become more common because I instinctively fear the day when some 'brilliant genius' manages to incorporate true microtransactions into a pure VN.

Well, as of thirty-nine minutes ago, it is officially my birthday (as of the time I checked at the beginning of making this post). I have a lot of things to reflect on this year. I am now thirty-six, settling into the beginnings of middle-age, knowing my lifestyle will probably kill me before I hit fifty. I'm a sugar addict, I love fatty foods, I make my own alcoholic drinks (this year, a mixed fruit wine that actually turned out well and was much easier than the rum and hard root beer I did last year). I sit on my ass eighty percent of the time, I am hugely fat... ... and I'm surprisingly happy. I won't say I don't have my down moments. Looking back, I regret not going for more athletic pursuits while my knees and back could still stand them. I regret not trying for a more regular and less... frustrating line of work. However, I can honestly say that, for all its frustrations, I actually seem to like being a fat, balding otaku who has pretensions at being some kind of VN guru (lol). I do wish that I could fit into a plane seat, lol. If I ever go to Japan, it is going to have to be a sea trip, since buying two plane tickets for one person is both embarrassing and more than a little expensive. I hate my work, but I'm good at it and, in good times, it pays well, so I keep doing it. So what would I change? Honestly, it is hard to say. I won't pretend I'm all love and joy when it comes to life. I have too much toxic waste going through my brain for that (I just happened to have gained just enough maturity not to feed the trolls constantly *smiles dryly*). I'm fundamentally a passive person once I set foot outside my hobbies, preferring not to do anything I don't absolutely have to do. I'm also negative and misanthropic... but is that stuff I actually want to change? *shrugs* I've never been any other way, so it is impossible to say. However, every year I hit this day and wonder what could have been, which probably says everything that needs to be said about my experiences with life, for all my proclamations of relative happiness.

Zephyr Colerain (Silverio Vendetta) - This guy is the odd duck on my list of favorite protagonists. He isn't brave, he isn't a genius, and he isn't exceptionally strong-willed. He is seemingly the scum of the Earth... except for his one real talent... dragging those more capable than him down into the mud. When cornered by circumstance, he becomes a vicious killer capable of doing anything to survive, taking apart opponents in a positively sadistic manner. Shigure Sora (Devils Devel Concept) - Frequently described as a 'beast' by the heroines, Sora is an inhuman monster in human form, his psychology only bearing a passing resemblance to that of a human being. Bound by a 'contract' to kill every demon he comes across and driven by his body's overwhelming impulses, he nonetheless manages to live something approaching a 'normal' existence. He is incapable of romantic love (though the heroines never admit that, even to themselves), but he is capable of the attachment/obsession an animal has for its mate... He is highly intelligent and ruthless with his enemies, but he has a tendency to take pleasure in every aspect of fighting (hurting and being hurt, killing and being killed) that can easily lead him into excess. Asagiri Kaito (Akatsuki no Goei) - At first, Kaito seems to be a clown and a braggart, a goof-off who brags about talents he never shows. However, beneath the surface, he is just as capable as he claims to be... he is a genius who instantly grasps the essence of anything he learns and never forgets anything he reads. In addition, he is a master martial artist, with a great deal of experience in both survival in a hostile environment and in fights to the death. However, he is also utterly unbound by social mores and norms, so he can easily take actions that seem crazy by other people's standards and ignore borderlines that others think have to be protected at all costs. Kashima Toshirou (Vermilion Bind of Blood) - Toshirou is a former samurai and a century-old vampire living in the city of Foggy Bottom as a 'Guardian', one of those vampires responsible for enforcing the rules of vampiric society on his fellows. He is seemingly apathetic and disinterested on the surface, his eyes those of a man long dead, but he has a strong sense of honor (for a vampire). He is a master swordsman who enhances his blade with his ability to control magnetism through his blood, and one of those few vampires that regularly slays those more powerful and older than himself. He can often be heard to say, 'There is no such thing as a vampire... there are only humans with delusions of greatness and the need to suck blood.' Shiranui Yoshikazu (Evolimit) - Shiranui is one of a pair of survivors from the first Mars colonization effort found in cold sleep. Seemingly a cheerful, joking young man with an active curiosity about the world, he is also a determined survivor and a natural hero in the classic sense. Due to his inability to feel sorrow (caused by him allowing Kokoro to live inside of him), he often finds it difficult to empathize with others, but he is nonetheless compassionate and kind-hearted by nature. He is a man of strong will and bravery who will go to any lengths, willingly sacrificing himself for others if he feels it is necessary.

Lots of Vita releases, but not so many good ps4 ones.

It was the Akane path that dealt the fatal blow to Loveriche's candidacy... if not for that, it probably would have come in second.

As always, I took a ridiculous amount of time considering candidates for VN of the year, this year. The final lineup of candidates were: Aoi Tori Kin'iro Loveriche Bakumatsu Jinchuu Houkoku Resshiden Miburo (I determined that it, to an extent, stands on its own enough to be considered) Suisei Ginka Haruru Minamo ni Eliminated: Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary (lost to Aoi Tori) Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de (lost to Haruru Minamo ni) Oni ga Kuru (lost to Kin'iro Loveriche) Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu (lost to Suisei Ginka) Explanation: While those five candidates made it to final consideration, I have to say for the fanboys that I never really seriously considered Kin'iro Loveriche for the final selection once those five candidates popped up. I reviewed my experiences of each VN individually, then compared them in my mind. While Kin'iro Loveriche is an excellent game, it just didn't match several of the other VNs on the list. If I split this into candidates by genre, though, I would consider this the nakige of the year. Miburo falls off for a different set of reasons... in fact, it probably wouldn't have made it to the finals at all if I wasn't a weaboo and a Japanese history freak. It is good, it is detailed, and the bloodshed is awesome... but if you asked me if its raw quality is at the very top of the list, I would have said 'In another year, maybe.' Suisei Ginka was a great game. I'll say that before I go through why it failed to make it through the final selection... actually, it just fails to get there because it just isn't good enough. Oh, the story is interesting and enjoyable, but truth be told, Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary was better in its limited battle scenes, and I honestly found the antagonists to be too weak for a chuunige. Great bad ending though. Haruru Minamo ni is definitely my pick for charage of the year, if Loveriche is nakige of the year, lol. I'll state it outright... no other charage this year got anywhere close to Haruru Minamo ni. That isn't a surprise, because Clochette's formula (if not the boob obsession) is probably the best established one for the genre. However, it just didn't make it there. VN of the Year 2017 Now, you've probably already figured it out from my explanation above, but Clephas VN of the Year 2017 is Aoi Tori. I probably could have picked any of these in a year with no other equivalent candidates and been satisfied with them as VN of the Year, but, after four 'layers' of consideration (I've been filtering candidates since March last year) this one was the one left over, having barely eked its way past the other VNs above. Any of the VNs that made it past the filter back in December really had VN of the Year levels of quality, which is unusual. 2017 was a good year for quality VNs, even if I didn't choose the one you wanted me to, lol.

I've always accepted that the best VN writers, such as Fujisaki, Shumon Yuu, and Masada, will probably never receive full recognition for their skills, accept amongst bibliophile VN readers and people who like the type of thing they write. I hate it... but I also hated it whenever I passed the romance novel section in my book store and saw it was three times as big as the fantasy/sci-fi section. After more than twenty-five years of such experiences, all I can do is struggle in my own way to come to terms with the fact that I'm always going to be a minority, in terms of preferences... though it took me fifteen of those years to accept it (I'm stubborn). The very proof of my statement is the fact that Light and Nitroplus inevitably have to sell large amounts of goods related to their games to make up for their costs every time they release a big one. It is the price of making their VNs virtually unreadable for the uninitiated, lol.

The single best-selling book genre are crappy romance. I don't mean deep, meaningful romance novels... I mean the sexy, tawdry, 'dark and handsome man sweeps the girl away' types. It is just human nature.

Yes.

Tiny Dungeon, with all new cast. The setting is awesome, but Hime's plotline was fully played out by the end of Endless Dungeon. Unfortunately, the writer died a few years back, and the company shut its doors (incidentally, same writer as Shuffle and a couple of other familiar games, lol). The next game in the same setting as Nanairo Reincarnation and Akeiro Kaikitan... no announcements so far. The third Reminiscence game. Aselia and Seinarukana. While there is supposedly a new Eien Shinken series game in development, there is no date for it, and it wouldn't be the first time such a project fell through. Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier. While the events of the Bakumatsu era are complete, there is no reason they couldn't go back in the setting to the Sengoku era and make an interesting game out of it. Bradyon Veda... literally a multiverse of possibilities. Ikusa Megami II needs a remake, like Tenbin was for the original Ikusa Megami. It has aged horribly, and it would be a waste not to remake it. Draculius. This game has an excellent setting, and I would love to see a true sequel to it, perhaps with the original cast as side characters (Jun and Belche's kid, maybe, as the protagonist, lol). Komorebi no Nostalgica. This game has one of the single most subtly-built futuristic sci-fi settings, and it needs a true sequel. It is a waste to ignore the excellent design of the setting. Tsukihime needs a sequel or at least to have the remake come out. As it is, the Fate-based multiverse part of things has taken the fore, but Tsukihime has become something of an orphan child. Yurikago yori Tenshi Made. This game was made with a sequel in mind, so why hasn't there been one? Izuna Zanshinken. Same as above. It was obviously originally intended to be an episodic series of games, rather than a single one. However, it never happened. Bullet Butlers. Seriously, while Chrono Belt was first-class stuff, about as good as a crossover fandisc will ever be, the setting in Bullet Butlers is nowhere near fully explored. The number of races, the unusual tech, magic, etc. It makes for endless potential for a series of VNs... or even rpg hybrids.

Sorry, I don't get notifications for comments, so I didn't realize you had commented until now (please join the community).

I watched anime, I played video games, I read books, I worked... and then I discovered VNs in 2009.

Utawarerumono Mask of Truth and Mask of Deception... Harem situation, adorable half-naked twins who sleep with the protagonist on a regular basis... but no H

Kind of surprised that Silverio Trinity made it on there, despite my fondness for the game and the series. The rest was par for the course... predictable. I'm sad that Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary wasn't on there, but meh...

Tiny Dungeon has a set order. It is a time-loop story where Hime is being pressed to choose one of the futures he is seeing. The story has him seeing the potential futures in the order the games were released.

The games are sequenced chronologically (in a weird way). Black and White>Bless of Dragon>Birth for Yours>Brave or Slave>Endless Dungeon. The first game consists of the universal prologue and Hime experiencing the first potential future, with the successive two games having him experience potential futures for Ururu and Note, respectively. Seinarukana... is not what people expect when they go looking for a sequel to Aselia. Seen from that perspective, it is indeed disappointing. Also, most fanboys think they took too many liberties with the Euphoria issue in the true ending. It is also confusing for those who played the first game, because it adds many new layers to the setting as a whole. Gameplay-wise, it is much more refined, though. Edit: One more note on Seinarukana... the game is good as a stand-alone, but when seen as a sequel to Aselia, it pales.

Keep in mind that usage of the language shifts with the culture. I'm merely stating how they are used at present. If you had a dict from immediately after the Meiji Restoration, it would be more interesting. There is a saying in Japan that I think distills the essence of an 'eiyuu' perfectly... 'Kill one and you are a murderer, kill a hundred and you are an eiyuu.' Eiyuu is not necessarily a purely positive term, and it implies infamy along with glory, under current nuances. Yuusha has pretty much been reduced to only being used in reference to fictional characters or people who are stupidly brave.

The game's setting is a multiverse of five worlds and four races that were warring with one another just a few years ago. The war was so terrible that large percentages of each race's population had died off, and one race (the dragon race), was on the verge of extinction. It was ended by a human hero, who discovered the people behind the war and those who were profiting from it, revealed them, and brought them down, mediating an end to the war. However, while he was human, it was revealed that the primary instigator of the war was also a human, resulting in a great deal of hatred and prejudice from the other three races (Demon, divine, and dragon). Soon after, the fifth world, Trinity, was created to house a school to raise individuals capable of dealing with situations like the ones found during the war and to force the most capable from each race into close proximity with one another, to hopefully build a positive rapport in the long run. The protagonist, Shirasagi Hime, is one of only two humans attending the school, along with his partner, Kou. He suffers the brunt of the hatred and distrust of other races for humanity with a shrug, pursuing his goal of one day succeeding the hero who ended the war with single-minded determination. The story begins when Veil, a demon girl from the most powerful bloodline in the demon realm, appears on the scene, announcing her love for him (and also announcing she will happily turn anyone who even looks at him the wrong way into dust and ash). With this, he begins to gather a close circle (harem) of friends and his life at the school and his efforts at self-improvement meet a turning point... There are four games in the main series and one after-story fandisc (Endless Dungeon). The first three games in the main series follow three possible futures, based on whether he gets together with Veil, Note (divine princess), or Ururu (queen of the dragons and the game's resident eternaloli). The fourth game, Brave or Slave, serves as a conclusion to the main storyline. Hime is a determined and cunning young man, who grows immensely during the series as a whole. In the face of events beyond his control, he nonetheless manages to keep his cool and continue to seek a better future. This game's big attraction, besides some nice action scenes and a good story, is the comedy. Rosebleu's games, in general, have excellent humor (even if it is somewhat older-style), and this series is no exception. When it is serious, it is serious, when it is funny, it is funny.

Tiny Dungeon series Aselia Seinarukana

This one is a spoiler for the game it is in: Most charage, lol. I'm not joking. Most charage are entirely about the heroines and the protagonist is just a cipher. Edit: And just because I couldn't resist... this https://vndb.org/v18142 It is about a guy who literally is the 'best friend' of dozens of eroge protagonists, and he is cursed to be hated by the heroines. It isn't precisely what you are looking for, but it is worth it for the giggles.

First, use text hooker and translation aggregator with jparser to add furigana to all lines (it isn't perfect, but it does work for most stuff). Second, the easiest VNs to read are all going to be nukige (sex-centric VNs). Even straight-out moege are harder to read than the easier nukige. I'll give you a straight recommendation, though... since its sequel is getting a localization, the original Tayutama is a decent choice. I would also recommend you check out this thread:

Generally, it is associated with war, but it has more recently been applied to people who discovered vaccines to deadly diseases and the like, though it goes 'so and so no eiyuu' in cases like that. In actual fact, 'eiyuu' is a term that is almost never used outside of fiction, nowadays...

Gensou no Idea is the third VN from 3rdEye, a company specializing in chuunige. When I originally played this game, I was a bit more perverse, personality-wise, and as a result, I treated this VN badly, as one of my pet-peeves is dual-perspective VNs. I generally prefer for there to be only one protagonist, and my reaction to this game was colored badly by that. First, I'll introduce the protagonists. The first protagonist is Minase Yuuma, an optimistic young man who is nonetheless grounded firmly in reality. There isn't a scrap of malice in this kid, but he is not an innocent or unaware of the nature of the world he lives in... he simply has a very firm philosophy on life, as the result of being raised by a rather... strong personality. Yuuma is a 'cleaner', specializing in the removal of corpses and the cleaning of homes that have been contaminated by them. He takes pride in his work, and he is one of the few optimist protagonists I actually like. The second protagonist is Akashi, an Idea (the term that refers to beings from Utopia that roughly conform to human legends) who possesses control over fire. His emotions are weak in most areas, partly because he isn't human, partly because he is missing a big chunk of memories. However, he possesses a driving urge to recover his memories and destroy the 'Phantom' who brought ruin to his life. He has a strong interest in humans and believes firmly that he is good at mimicking them, but he is... not very good at it, lol. Now for the heroines... strictly speaking, there are no separate heroine paths in this game. This game is, like Sorcery Jokers, essentially a kinetic novel where you choose which protagonist perspective you see first sometimes. There are epilogues for each heroine, but they are pretty short and to the point. The first Yuuma heroine is Naru. Naru is a fortune-teller with a bad case of chuunibyou and an inherent optimism that matches Yuuma's own. She is very prideful and has a tendency to lose her cool rather easily. The second Yuuma heroine is Rinon. Rinon is an idol and an Idea that Yuuma follows obsessively. She is arrogant, possessive, and violent. However, once she falls for him she is... passionate and loyal. I really, really liked her epilogue, and I almost fell out of my chair laughing at its end. The third Yuuma heroine is Kokoro. Kokoro is your classic 'emotionless heroine', showing little reaction to most stimuli. The first Akashi heroine is Noel. Noel is a possessive, jealous Idea woman whose first priority is Akashi's love, second is Akashi's safety, third is Akashi's happiness, and fourth is Akashi's penis.... do I need to go on? One of her ongoing hobbies is drugging Akashi and having him tortured to find out the identities of women he is cheating on her with (she defines 'cheating' as talking to or being talked to by another woman... or looking at them, touching them, or breathing the same air as them). The second Akashi heroine is Mitsuki. Mitsuki... has issues. She is very much an introvert, and she has a tendency to keep her distance from others. She does get pretty cute when Akashi manages to make it past her guard, though. The setting This game is based around a century or two after Bloody Rondo (don't know if this is fully canon or not), seven years after a disaster that nearly destroyed humanity. In this new world, where a large portion of the planet's surface has been submerged and the human population has been greatly reduced, Archive Square, the corporation that has taken charge of the recovery, has become the central power in the world. This is the case across most of the world, but the city this story is based in is one where more than half of the population works for AS. There are two worlds in this game... one is 'Dystopia' (the name Idea give Earth) and the other 'Utopia' (the word the Idea use for their own world). Idea, beings of immense power from Utopia, have been going back and forth between the worlds for centuries, taking the form of humans on Earth and generally indulging their curiosity and whims as they desire. The story This story focuses on two perspectives... Yuuma as he deals with the changes in his situation, and Akashi as he seeks the past. This story has a lot of really good battle scenes, emotional moments, and some seriously interesting hedge philosophy (mostly out of Kyouko and Yuuma, though Akashi contributes sometimes). On my second playthrough, having gone in with a more open mind than my first, I found the story a great deal more interesting. I won't say it is perfectly paced or that the characters are the best I've ever run into in a chuunige (they aren't), but I honestly enjoyed the ride, from beginning to end. This isn't a VN that is likely to make it into my top fifty, but if you are looking for a good chuunige and have already read the more famous names, this is an excellent choice.

Yuusha can be translated as 'one who is brave' or 'brave one'. Eiyuu is more annoying, but the essential meaning is 'glorious man', though the 'osu' kanji used in this case is different from the scientific 'osu' kanji that simply refers to the male of any species.