Fiddle

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

I just had an extra big breakfast, so I thought I'd pull up a chair and solve one of the most hotly debated issues facing the English-speaking VN community today. No, no need for thanks. Just name a stadium or sandwich after me at some point. Or both.

Ready? Here we go. Honorifics or no honorifics? Should translated visual novels maintain the traditional Japanese cavalcade of name suffixes — san, kun, chan, sama, and so forth? Or should they adopt a more familiar Western approach, dropping honorifics entirely and/or replacing them with English titles — Mr., Mrs., Sir, etc. — only where situationally appropriate?
San? Or sans san?

I've thought long and hard on the matter and I think I've finally figured it out. Here's the answer you've all been waiting for.

ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?

Haven't you been reading this blog? Did you really think a self-professed amateur VN editor would suddenly crack the code wide open and save the day? I’m quite literally an idiot. My wife will back me up on that one. And besides, this isn't some question with an obvious answer, like "Should I put ketchup on my steak?" (Answer: No. And if you do, you're an awful person who probably pushes elderly nuns in front of buses when you think no one's looking, then steals their mangled nun panties.)
In fact, that question doesn't even have an answer, per se; it has a decision tree. Imagine your friend asks you, "Should I get a tattoo?" There are a lot of considerations to run through before you can give an answer. What kind of job do they have? Bankers and bartenders each have different leeway when it comes to full-sleeve tats. What's the context of their question? Is your friend asking you this over coffee? Or looking up at you from a vomit-filled toilet bowl in a way off-Strip Vegas casino? And what's the tattoo of? If it's Tweety Bird, then it's off to prison with them, along with all the steak-on-ketchup panty sniffers.
Same for honorifics. There's no one-size-fits-all answer — only questions and considerations. And the first big branch of that decision tree: Who are your readers and why do they read VNs?
The Battle Lines Are Drawn
By and large, we can break VN readers down into two camps: story-seekers and culture-seekers. It’s an overgeneralization, of course — there’s some drift and overlap between these two groups — but it will give us a useful starting point for our discussion.
Story-seekers tend to read visual novels for the plot, for the romance, for the giant mechs, for the faps, and for THE FEELS, MAN, THE FEELS. The fact that these stories are Japanese in origin is kinda cool, but secondary to the overall experience. As a group, they value readability over verisimilitude. They don’t get their stolen nun panties in a bunch because Ixrec’s translation of Rewrite doesn’t capture every last nuance of the Japanese, or even gets a few lines wrong at times. They just sit back and enjoy the ride. And for them, honorifics are often just weeaboo speedbumps that interfere with said ride.
Culture-seekers, on the other hand, tend to read VNs not only for the story, but to indulge their passion for Japanese culture. They might speak Japanese, or they might be in the process of learning to do so. Visual novels are often a means to an end: they read VNs in part to practice their Japanese. (And they practice Japanese to read VNs. Loopity-loopity-loop.) Culture-seekers enjoy the inherent Japanese-ness of the medium — seeing the subtle social interplay of honorifics at work, for example — so for them, stripping away “san” to please some Naruto-watching noobs is like throwing away part of the story.
As a translator or editor, you will inevitably piss off one of these camps. Sorry, that’s just how it is. You’re dealing with two groups of people who have inherently different motivations for reading the same work. And you can only translate/edit one way. Sucks, right? To extend my steak metaphor, it’s like owning a restaurant that, for logistical reasons, can only cook its steaks to one temperature — rare or well-done. And it’s up to you to pick which. If you go with rare, all the well-done lovers will give your little bistro one-star reviews on Yelp. And if you choose well-done, the folks who like their steaks blue and bloody will come at you with knives drawn.


In a way, this becomes sort of liberating. No matter what you do, you will annoy a good chunk of your audience. This is fait accompli. So you’re now free to do what you actually think is right for the work, knowing it won’t really affect the outcome much.
Of course, you’re also probably in one of those two camps yourself. (I know I am.) As such, you probably have an clear bias toward a particular approach — san or sans san. And you know what? That’s fine. Recognize your bias. Embrace it. Make friends with the fact that you prefer to translate/edit one way or the other. Then remember the advice I gave a few blog entries back: You are not your audience. Your close friends are not your audience. The message boards you follow are not your audience.
Your audience is your audience; its needs may differ from yours. And the novel is the novel; its needs may also differ from yours.
So here’s what I propose: Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach to every VN, just accept that, all things being equal, you will probably prefer one approach to editing/translation over the other. And then leave yourself open to the possibility of changing that approach based on the specific needs of the VN and the audience for that VN. Handle it the same way you would that friend asking about the tattoo. Is getting inked right for them right now? And is including honorifics right for the audience and right for the novel?
Let’s walk through some questions you might ask yourself while making that decision:
Who’s the primary audience for the VN?
Are your readers primarily story-seekers or culture-seekers? Is your VN some niche title that appeals only to otakus, or is it a game with broad crossover appeal? A stronger case could be made for honorifics in the former situation; less so in the latter
What's the setting of the visual novel?
If your characters are all alien catgirls on a spaceship 23,000,000 light years from Earth, it's harder to justify keeping in honorifics than if you’ve got a cast of high school students in modern-day Japan.
Are the honorifics plot-relevant?
Is there any good story-related reason for all the sans and kuns to be there? Is the central conflict of the VN about whether the protagonist and his best girl are ready to go first name-only? If so, you have a better case for keeping honorifics than if they're just there as subtle social shading.
Is the visual novel voiced?
This one's common sense. You’ll have an easier time not including honorifics if the reader isn’t hearing them in VO. And vice versa.
How annoying are the honorifics?
This one is totally subjective, but it needs to be asked. Some writers tend to favor narration over dialogue, so their scripts will have fewer honorifics to deal with. Other writers love the rhythms of slice-of-life dialogue, so their prose might be a minefield of sans and chans. Read the script aloud. How jarring is it to the ear?
Is this an OELVN?
Stop it. Just stop it already. You don’t need honorifics. You’re writing a novel in English for an English-speaking audience, for crissakes. Don’t make me come back there.
Run down the decision tree. Be honest with yourself. Is there enough evidence to make you reconsider your approach to this novel? Are you an anti-honorific type editing a VN set in feudal Japan, where one missing “sama” could mean the difference between life or death for the characters? Consider keeping them in. Are you a pro-honorific person translating a VN about competitive bread baking in Paris? Consider ditching them.
Full Disclosure
I’m a story-seeker. Given my druthers, I will choose to omit honorifics from a VN for the sake of more readable English prose. I’m fairly certain that if it’s possible to translate Murakami and Kurosawa into English without honorifics, it should be more than possible to do the same for some random high school moege.
I admit you might be losing a certain amount content by omitting those honorifics — clues about the social standing of various characters in relation to one another, not to mention their personalities — but as far as I'm concerned, it’s content that can either be (a) baked into the script via other contextual clues, or (b) written off as redundant — that is to say, most of what those honorifics are communicating will already be apparent through the rest of the dialogue and on-screen action.
I also admit that my sans-san approach won’t be the right one in every situation. Same goes for the opposite approach. Every work and every audience demands its own solution. Your job is to stop for a moment and ask yourself what that solution is.
And then be willing to listen to the answer.

Making moeblogs in IPB4 is suffering now, I used to be able to copy and paste an entire post and now I need to manually embed each image and make sure they don't get messed up while I'm at it.
There's a good way to fix those frustrations, looking at adorable MOE will make it all better, no matter what's troubling you!

Had a long day? Then I have just the thing! Adorable and heart-melting MOE!

A good editor is a good reader.

By that, I don’t mean that he or she is well-read (although that helps). And I don’t mean that he or she reads exceptionally fast (although I’m sure that helps, too).

An editor’s most important job is to serve, quite literally, as the reader’s proxy. If you want to edit anything — a magazine article, a TV script, a visual novel — it’s your job to approach the text not as yourself, but as someone you’ve never met, someone who doesn’t share your likes, your dislikes, your accumulated knowledge. And that doesn’t mean approaching the text as some imaginary “ideal reader” either. They, like unicorns and affordable housing in San Fran, simply don’t exist. Seriously, when you ask a content creator to describe their “ideal reader,” they invariably end up describing themselves. Instead, it’s your job to edit for the “average reader.”

And just who is that? And how do you edit for them? That’s going to vary from title to title. If you’re editing some hardcore and super-niche VN, your assumed reader will be very different than that of some light and frothy moege. (And if you’re editing a Sakura title, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Let me buy you a shot.) That said, I do have some basic ground rules I try to follow.

1. Anticipate that this could be the reader’s first VN.
I've decided to edit visual novels because I believe in them as an art form. I want to see their English releases improve in quality and become more widely accepted outside of certain closed cultural circles. That means I choose to invite new VN readers into a text and make them feel, if not at home, then at least like a welcomed guest.

Stop. Put down the pitchforks. I’m not talking about dumbing down VNs. This is simply Writing 101. Among the authors I know, a common credo is, “A good novel teaches the reader how to read it.” (Unless it’s trying very, very hard to be unreadable. *cough*) A text in translation needs to work doubly hard to achieve this. First, it needs to bridge the gaps in cultural knowledge between the original audience (Japanese VN fans) and the secondary audience (Western VN fans). Otherwise, the work becomes much harder to read and enjoy than the author ever intended.

As you edit, read with beginner’s mind. Where might someone new to the VN genre get hung up? Which cultural nuances might prove confusing? Ask yourself if there’s a way you can bring clarity to those aspects without diluting the original text. If you do your job right, they’ll seem organic enough part of the VN that the experienced reader will barely know they’re there.



2. Choose to operate on the same timeline as the reader
As an editor, you have a luxury the reader does not: access to the full text. You probably go into the project already having read a large chunk of the VN several times over. Maybe you were even involved in the translation of it. Whatever the case, you run the risk of your brain filling in gaps that might leave the average reader confused.

Think of yourself as Bill Murray midway through Groundhog Day. Trapped in those endless 24 hours, he bull-rushes through his routine, responding not to what people are actually saying, but what he remembers them saying in past loops. He falls prey to over-familiarity and, as a result, alienates everyone he meets. It’s only when he learns to interact with people in their timeframe again, living and responding in the moment, that he finally gets what he wants. (The girl. It’s always the girl.)

Be late-movie Bill Murray. Edit mindfully.

When working on KoiRizo, I forced myself to do three separate editing passes. First, I tackled each script completely blind, going in with no more knowledge than any other reader. No cheating, no reading ahead. As I encountered lines that left me, the reader, feeling like I just missed something, I edited them as best I could but flagged them for later. Maybe the author intended that line to be cryptic. Maybe it was foreshadowing. Or maybe something got lost in translation. No way of knowing, so best to keep moving.

After reaching the end of a script, I’d start back at the beginning and do another full edit, this time focusing on the lines I’d flagged previously. VNs tend to be episodic, so if I hadn’t found the answer I needed inside that self-contained script, I elevated the flag and left a comment for the translator asking for clarification.

Finally, when I’d finished an entire route, I’d go back do a third, quick edit through the whole thing, top to bottom. I had all the facts from the scripts and all the notes from the translator, so if something still wasn’t working, it was likely all my fault. And that meant it was time to really hunker down and do some major surgery.

Technically, I also did a fourth edit pass once I’d finished the entire VN, since some of the routes had little in-jokes and references to other routes, but I consider that more of an enhanced read-through than anything, since I was only making tiny tweaks. Which brings me to my last point ...

3. Read, read, and read again
You might be done editing, but you’re not done reading. Find that beginner’s mind and read through everything again. And again. And again. Forget that you’re the one who rewrote the words on the page and just try to approach them anew. Be the reader. Each time, you’ll probably find something new — typos, grammatical errors, slight nuances you might have missed earlier that change the whole meaning of a line.

I read through KoiRizo a bunch of times and I know I still missed all sorts of things. Sorry! I've been kicking myself whenever I see the occasional typo report float through. (Editors are not proofreaders, by the way. Or vice versa. Fodder for a future blog post.) But at a certain point, a work just wants to get out in the world, warts and all.

And that’s another part of editing: learning to let go.

In honour of this being the 25th Moeblog post, I've written a little poem. Ahem...

There once was a man named Moe
He had a lot of moe
So he posted the moe
Something-something the moe
Moe moe moe moe moe moe moe

IF YOU LIKE MOE AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS
(Disclaimer: The poster is not responsible for any moe-induced symptoms including but not limited to dizziness, light-headedness, vomiting, diarrhea, heart failure, loss of limbs, asphyxiation, brain damage, or premature ejaculation.)

Warning: Super slight spoilers ahead. Kidding, there's none.

If players think that the game's common route is more or less average, I say that is an understatement. The common route surprised me in many ways. The pacing and they way the story was structured is very unique, which made me realized that both the common route and our main character himself, Okonogi Masaya, are a breath of fresh air.

Let me give you a super short synopsis of the route first. The story is set in an all-girls school, with of course, full of girls. However there is a plan to make the school coed due to its financial problems. There has been a gradual decline in the student population because, well, it is exclusive to girls, the tuition fee is expensive and the entrance exam is hard. There are oppositions, of course. These are the guys who can't leave behind the old traditions and want everything to remain the same. Eventually, the two opposing parties are stuck in a loop, and this is where Okonogi Masaya enters. A few minutes in the game, he will be scouted as a male "sample". While he doesn't represent all the males in this oh so little blue planet, it was the best compromise the two parties could agree on. He is given a deadline to prove himself and convince not just the school's authorities, directors, backers or whatever you call them, but also the students, that it is not so bad to accept male students in the future.

So you know the drill, our beloved character is surrounded by beautiful ladies which is impossible to happen in real life (duh), however the fact that no one is pointing out this impossibility baffles me to no end. And as the story goes by, he will eventually establish a harem comprised of girls of all sorts and sizes....sort of.

So what's so unique about this? It looks like your run of the mill moege.
It is not the story which is unique, but the pacing and structure which I said earlier.

It is common for common routes across multiple VN titles that they start with some sort of slice of life feel into it. Characters will be introduced to you one by one, then you get to know them a little bit while hiding the important facts like their background, traumas, and/or circumstances that will be essential in their individual routes if necessary. Princess Evangile takes a very unique approach to that. It introduces almost all of the characters at once then you get to know them naturally without the feeling of "oh, so it's this girl's turn now eh?". That is how it goes in real life. If you experienced transferring once, you'll mostly likely agree. You'll be suddenly put into a class full of strangers and no one is going to approach you one day and say "Hey, today's the day you'll get to know me. So treat me well, okay? Don't worry, that cute girl by the window will be introduced 2 days from now.". I'm not saying that the game completely didn't use that approach. It is just that it rarely did, and when it does, it is out of necessity. In Princess Evangile, there is no GirlA's day. It is everyone's day to get known.

Another thing that is unique about it is the fact that it contains actual drama that you'd expect to be used in their individual routes. Dramas are what makes the individual routes in most VNs worth waiting for, but they completely ignored that advantage and threw them to our faces. Why is that? Do you need to be someone's lover so that their parents will die? Do you need to be someone's lover so that their oh-so-bad-parents do something bad? Do you need to be someone's lover so that their fiancee would show up and ruin your relationships? Of course not. You don't need to play their routes to know them a little bit more deeply. It is not necessary and I like that.

The common route is extremely long. I took my time reading the route but it still took me around 6-7 hours to reach the branching point. I didn't record how much time I played it, but I must still say that it felt longer than Grisaia Kajitsu and Little Busters!'s common route because of the amount of content it offered. It wasn't boring as what some people said. There was always something happening. It sometimes comes as a surprise and some are seen from several miles away. There's no sense of build up to most of these eventful events because of their realistic approach which made me surprisingly fully awake most of the times. Gosh, now I 'm reminded that I yawned many times while reading Rewrite's common route.

To end this, Princess Evangile's common route is a great read. I'm now looking forward for my first heroine. This better be good~


These are Japanese-style? I'm surprised....

Hey what's up, Satsuki here, welcome to my chan--- Wait, this is not Youtube...
*cough* Anyway, today I will do a review on Kujiragami no Tearstilla, a moege made by Whirlpool released in February 2015. You can download it fr--- oopsie. You can get a copy from AmiAmi, or just ask OriginalRen for some cheaper options. I noticed some people from Fuwa already played this game and gave it some pretty bad scores, but who care, my policy is "there is no problem as long as I like it". With that in mind, let's get down to business~!

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILER!
WARNING: 100% PERSONAL OPINION!






STORY

The water capital, Amanoshima Island, brings in many tourists with its network of canals. It became prosperous due to its ‘energy water’ industry which can be used for everything from consumption to energy, and a school was built to do further research on it. It is on this mysterious island that there is a folklore about a water god who can grant wishes.

One day, Yuuma drifted ashore in a suitcase. He met a young girl Riru, who was the kujiragami (whale god) in the legend. However, for some reason she had lost her ability to grant wishes. She asked for his help to regain her powers and thus, he became her messenger. This is the beginning of the story about the return of the legend of the water of wishes.


CHARACTER

1. Narumi Yuuma







Well...At least he is not Faceless Void


Our protagonist. A normal high school student, that one day got kidnapped (and almost killed) by his own imouto to the strange island "Amanoshima". He is a pervert, and pretty much a hidden siscon. He was forced to transfer to the school on the island after get forced (again) the position of "messenger" by Riru and unable to leave the island.

2. Narumi Marine







"Hora, boku no oppai, fukafuka dayo!"


Yuuma's little sister, a huge brocon and pervert. She loves to assault her onii-chan every morning (actually, any possible time) with her sexual attack . She came to Amanoshima island in order to research "condensed energy water" for some totally "pure and innocent" purposes. She is also the most helpful person when it comes to her onii-chan's love trouble. Energetic and mischievous, she is the mood-maker of the group.
Oh, she is also the "kidnapper" that brought Yuuma to Amanoshima island - in a freaking suitcase - "on a whim". Wow, my imouto, you are way too dangerous.

3. Kamitouno Ena






"So you are here after all. I was really worried, you know?"


Yuuma's osananajimi, a top-rated student that even teachers on Amanoshima island heard about. She took care of Yuuma and Marine since their childhood, because their parents were almost never home. A gentle onee-chan type that loves doing housework, but you seriously don't want to make her angry, because her inner demon will come out She came to the island after figured out Yuuma's kidnapping incident just by some small clues, and end up staying there to take care of Narumi's sibling.
Because she is older than Yuuma and Marine, they call her "Ena-nee".

4. Tenkawa Mitsuki







"Um...but I feel like we are just like a real family"


A student from Amanoshima High School (sorry, I actually don't remember the school name). She found a suitcase drifted ashore, and was plenty surprised to see a human come out of it
She came from a traditional miko family on the island that serve the kujiragami. Not much to say about her, since she is kinda...normal, with nothing special worth mentioning.

5. Riru = Whale






"Wa...so good! What's this, it's so delicious!"


The legendary Whale God of Amanoshima Island. She met Yuuma by chance, after Yuuma fell down the waterway and got swept up the mountain and landed right in front of her shrine. A stubborn, immature and clumsy goddess that love to order people around whenever she wants something. She lost almost all of her goddess power due to *censored*, and the only power she has left are "causing trouble" and "granting wish in a weirdest way possible". Due to various reason, she enrolled into school, and was put in the same class with Yuuma and Mitsuki. She has a serious complex about her childish appearance and her small boobs. Her favorite food is canned mackerel.

ROUTE

1. Common Route







"You are the worst! Why did you use my pantsu to wipe the floor?!"


Aside from character introduction and everyday ichaicha, the common route will throw at you a bunch of unanswered events that you can explore in heroine routes, and give you more info about the island and the kujiragami. The level comedy in common route is pretty high - however - kinda depending on what you are into, because chances are some people won't enjoy much the annoying level of Marine and Riru (I have no problem though - in fact, I really like them). Not to the point of Chinami in Hoshimemo, but you should prepare yourself for something like that

2. Marine Route







"Onii-chan, I love you...I will love you forever"


In Marine route, you will be following her on the road of researching Viagra condensed water, finding out the "real love potion", and solving the lab incident in common route. The story focuses a lot on Yuuma and her, with not much to do with Riru. It has some light drama here and there, but it's kinda unnecessary for me, since it doesn't do much emotional damage. It will be a good route for your siscon out there you to have some laugh, but for plot value, it contributes pretty much nothing. Well, the route still explain this and that about energy water, but it's definitely not some unique-route-info.
Minor spoiler in white text: Oh, and she has a wedding ending!

3. Mitsuki Route







"Yappari dame!!!" (so much for the wet dream)


Mitsuki's route mainly focuses on her trying to help Riru regain her power by reviving the old ritual/festival to worship kujiragami. I have some real problems with the super fast relationship-progressing in this route. Also, the whole reason of her trying to holding back her feeling for Yuuma is...kind of dumb. Oh come on, don't just "hate" a guy just because he unintentionally took your place as Riru's "right hand". Some big drama happen in this route, but ended up solved by "miracle", which will leave you go all "wtf?" until the true route.Oh, and you will need some thinking to figure it out too

4. Ena Route







"Yuu-kun...can we stay like this, just a bit longer?"


80% of this route are "newlyweds life" of Yuuma and Ena. They threw in some plot-event, but just for the sake of reminding players "you are still playing Kujiragami no Tearstilla, not My Girlfriend is Ena". The only thing worth mentioning is the sudden drama come out of nowhere near the end. Expecting something good? Nahhhh, it will be solved in minute in a totally ridiculous way, with the nice timing support from a random guy call "Deus Ex Machina". Wow. To tell the truth, I skipped through half of this route, because it's just simply too boring for me (Ena is not even my favorite heroine). If Ena is No.1 for you, then you MAY enjoy this route, with nothing but flirting this and that. If you don't? Ctrl through it. Oh, but stop near the end though, because that sudden event will give you some hints about the true route.
Btw, it's kind of funny to see how Marine act in this route: she said that it's bad to use wish water to change a person's feeling, although she herself tried to get Yuuma with her love potion
I actually expected a triangle love in this route after Marine and Ena's "battle" in common route, but sadly, Marine just simply gave up and turn to support Yuuma x Ena instead. What a let down, my imouto -_-

5. Riru Route







"Ugh...calling me idiot again"


In Riru route, you will learn more about the history of kujiragami, and the sudden event that heading to her - the wall. Her route only serve as ignition for her true route, so you will see things go down real quick, along with heavy drama. Despite this, you may feel pretty annoyed with the super anti-climax power return, which just totally kick your feeling off the bridge.

After finished all 4 route, you will unlock Riru true route. Everything will be solved and explained in this route: the original meaning of the miko dance/ritual, the origin of energy water, the real kujiragami altar, the relation between Riru, the energy water, and the island. It's a pretty good (although kinda cliché, and again, hello miracle) ending for me. My only complain in this route is Yuuma (incoming rant and heavy spoiler):




GRAPHIC







"Haaa....please...be gentle with me..."


I like Whirlpool's art in general, and this one does not disappointed me either. However, I do find some CGs where character's body proportions look just...weird (usually leg and hand too small, compare to others part of the body). Also, I think they should give characters more sprites. Seeing Mitsuki changing clothes in a matter of seconds between CG and sprites is kinda meh.
The SDCGs are nice as ever. Need more of them though

MUSIC

Nothing special, just the typical BGM you hear everywhere. The OP and 2nd ED are nice though.

VOICE

Damn, I especially like Marine super deredere voice and Mitsuki rage/embarrassed voice. I even recorded some of their lines to hear again (oh, did I mention this? The game has a function that allow you to "save" a dialogue into a collection to listen again later). Riru voice is kinda annoying, to tell the truth.
Quality of the voice sometimes decrease suddenly, (I felt like they were talking into a box or something), and may affect your enjoyment.

H-SCENE

Don't ask me, I don't care, I skipped them all . One thing though, after finished a route, you can go to scene collection and enjoy a bonus H-scene or two.

CONCLUSION

Pros:
- Nice art.
- Good comedy level.
- Marine!
Cons:
- Pointless route (Ena).
- Mr. Deus Ex Machine and Mrs. Miracle.
- Lack of sprites.
- Some illogical details.

Score

Story: 7/10
Character: 8/10
Route: 7/10
Graphic: 9/10
Music: 7/10
Voice: 8/10
H-Scene: 10/10 by default
Overall: 7,5/10







Marine: "Ehhh? Onii-chan has become an adult already?"



Ena: "Obviously. Dating is the staircase to adulthood after all."



Marine: "Oh, that means Ena-nee is still a child then? My condolences~"



(Ore no imouto yo, you are sooo dead)






My previous review:
Fragment's Note

And here we go, my second visual novel review! Today we will look into Fragment's Note - a visual novel made by Alvion and Ullucus Heaven. The English version was released in June 2014 for iOS, and just recently - March 10th 2015 for PSV and Android for the price of 4,5$ (that's actually the price for iOS and Android ver, I'm not sure about PSV) Unlike the iOS ver that you can purchase freely, only players from some selected countries can purchase the Android ver. I myself had to go through all sort of troubles, faking IP, faking account this and that to get this game. Nice business strategy out there
Anyway, enough ranting, let us begin!
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILER!
WARNING: 100% PERSONAL OPINION!





STORY

"I-I can't, you're like a little brother to me. Besides, I already have a boyfriend..."
"... I'm sorry."
One not-so-special afternoon, I, Tenjou Yukiha, confessed my love to my childhood friend and got turned down.
But before I have any time to grieve, a girl suddenly appears right in front of me.
"Nice to meet you!"
"I'm your daughter from the future, and I traveled all the way back in time to change your life for the better!"
That's how I met my self-proclaimed daughter-of-the future, who changes my entire life.
That was the beginning of it all.
The beginning of my new future.

Yup, this is like the perfect recipe for a pointless moege that has nothing but icha icha and *censored*. The daughter from the future (incest!!!), the osananajimi that already has a boyfriend (NTR!!!), what more can you ask for?!
Woa woa, calm down. Don't be fooled by the synopsis. This VN will give you much more than just a normal moege (actually, this is a nakige!).

CHARACTER

1. Tenjou Yukiha

Mr. Protagonist, a normal student that has a normal life, with nothing but a caring older sister (damn!) and a cute osananajimi (DAMN!). He is a huge siscon that doesn't mind kissing his sister everyday (oh **** you!). His family lived in Russia when he was small.

2. Mischa Eisenstein (Misha Ey-Sen-Sten?)






That name though...


A Russian exchange student, that actually Yukiha's osananajimi. Energetic, has no shame, and full deredere gauge, she caused lots of troubles to Yukiha, bonus with the cold stare from his classmate. She came from a prestigious family, that donated a lot of money to Yukiha's school.

3. Tenjou Haya






*purr*


Yukiha's non blood-related older sister that working at Yukiha's school as a part-time nurse. Caring and pretty much a brocon, she also doesn't mind giving Yukiha kiss and lap-pillow anytime he wants. She is really popular at school due to her personality.

4. Shirasagi Eri







Errr...okay...


Yukiha's classmate, and Yuki's best friend. She is a honor student, that known for her androphobia (dislike men). A tsundere that has a secret fetish that no one (or everyone?) knows: she loves taboo relationship. Due to this, she fully supports Yukiha and Haya to become a couple.

5. Asaka Yukitsuki (Yuki for short)







Almost lost my lips virginity...not that I mind though...


Yukiha's osananajimi. She came to wake him up everyday, even made breakfast for him. However, their relationship became awkward after the rejection 1 second into the game. She also came from a prestigious family that donated 60% of Yukiha's school funding.




6. Tenjou Miu







My daughter is sooo adorable!


Yukiha's self-proclaimed "daughter from the future". She came back to the past to "give him a better future". She is a genius, that can easily tinker with high-tech gadget from the future, and even solved a university level's math "out of boredom". Fun fact: her hair ornament can change "emotion" depend on her feeling. High-tech gadget is high-tech, indeed

ROUTE

1. Common + Mischa/Haya Route

Now, you may wonder, why did I combine 3 ROUTES in one part like this, instead of doing them separately? The reason is, the actual common route of this VN is really short (I can just call it "prologue"), that you can finish in less than 30 minutes, with mostly character introduction.






Yup, and now it's time for "breakfast" *itadakimasu*


The heroine route begins right away after your first choice. The VN will lead you through your "colorful" school days after rejection, the story about the future where Miu came from, why did she want to change the past, and the story about the "real" Yuki.
The story is pretty decent. However, they made a really big mistake: Mischa and Haya route are almost IDENTICAL. Beside some unique events due to the different in relationship between them and Yukiha, the other parts of the route are literally copy-paste. Everything is almost exactly the same, the only change is the name of the person in question. You may get some "feel" when playing the first route, but onto the second, you will just want to skip the hell out of it, and only stop for the unique events and ending. (thank God, at least the endings are different, somewhat).







Incest is fine too!


Another problem, is that the story in the two routes totally focused on Miu and Yuki's story. Mischa and Haya just served as comic relief, to give us some laugh with their everyday icha icha and jealousy toward other girls. Yes, Miu and Yuki's story are interesting and all, but these are Mischa and Haya route right?! Give them some love won't you?! And even if you really just want to focus on Miu and Yuki, at least make the story goes a bit different, please?! The reason, the progress, the resolve, everything is just the same!






Ugh...my heart is melting...


Hell, and here I'm, thinking that Material Brave's straight line story is already bad enough...

2. Eri Route







OK! Why not!


Surprisingly (at least for me), Eri route is what I considered true route, and the best route of the game. It dug deep into Eri's past, about her friendship with Yuki, and the reason for her to keen on helping everyone when they are in trouble. It will also show us what was not showed in other routes,

Maybe it's just me being weak, but

and the moment Yukiha proposed her really moved me to tear -_- And she suddenly jumped up to be my favorite character of this VN, surpassed Miu







Get rekt, son


Funny enough, at first I thought she was just a normal side character with no route, who know that she ended up being the most important one

GRAPHIC







Best friends - Best trolls


The art is pretty nice and suit my taste very well. There are also a-few-but-good SDCG with simple but cute draw. However, I do have a problem with the lack of kissing CGs. Even MoeNovel has some half-ass kissing CGs
And why is Mischa the only one with fan-service CGs?! So unfair!!!

MUSIC

It's...decent, I guess. Again, this is not in my area of knowledge, but at least the music suits the scenes well. There is nothing really special about it though.
Btw, just so you know, there is no voice, no OP, ED in this VN.

CONCLUSION

Pros:
- Nice art, good character design.
- Interesting, heart-warming story. (Eri route)
- Good amount of comedy.
Cons:
- Repetitive, copy-paste scene/line in Mischa and Haya route. (there are some in Eri route too, but doesn't affect much)
- No real story for Mischa and Haya.
- Boring wake-up line that used in almost every day.
- Typo, coding error at some places.
- Some unanswered questions remain (wonder if they will be in the after story?)
- No Miu route Nevermind
Small minus:
- No kissing CGs.
- No voice, movie.
- No Yuki route. I'm really curious about what will happen if Yukiha still choose Yuki in the end.

Score
Story: 9/10.
Character: 9/10.
Route: 9/10 for Eri, 6/10 for others.
Graphic: 9/10.
Music: 7/10.
Overall: 8/10.

Note: I recommend playing Mischa OR Haya first, then play Eri route next. You can just skip one of the first two route, doesn't really matter.







Who are you?! What did you do to the real Eri?!






My previous review:
Tokyo School Life

Hello everyone! Rose here, bringing you guys a bigger post than usual to give some proper recognition to an amazing member of our community. If you've already seen the beautiful gentleman to the left (Click on the picture to enlarge it), chances are that you've also used or at least saw someone using an avatar/signature with that face on the forums. If not, then let me introduce him to you. OriginalRen is our highlighted member today, he's a member of the Leadership Council, a VN delivery boy, creator, producer, performer and entertainer. He not only works hard as part of the staff, but he's also an amazingly generous person who hosts a lot of giveaways, as well as the host of many entertaining activities and cool projects around the forums.

Listed below are some of his finest works. From official Fuwa projects to personal ones, all of them are ultimately focused toward making this a better and more enjoyable place for everyone.
OriginalRen's VN Mail Call!/Fuwanovel Mail Call!/OriginalRen's VN Ordering Service (The inconsistency is real with this project's name) - Have you ever wanted a physical copy of your favorite VN but never got it due to high prices? Then how about getting them straight from Japan and by paying no more than what you would for a console game in the US? Ren offers himself as a delivery boy and will ship you figures, vns or general goods you might wish for reasonable prices. He also recently made a small list informing some cheap deals you can get.
Tutorial: How to Run a Pulltop Game - For whatever reason, Pulltop games require you not only to change your unicode settings to Japanese in order to play them. As a more experienced person with the company, he made a quick guide explaining how to Run them.
Fuwanovel's Contribution/Participation Recognition System (AKA: CPR) - Together with Nosebleed, Ren is responsible for making and handing out award badges to the community. You can check their amazing work right here.
Let's Play a Visual Novel! - This guy loves his stream, not only he plays random games but he also streams untranslated VNs with friends from time to time, so if you're interested in any of those, go watch him stream or check his VODs if it's a complete/postponed VN.
Giveaways and games - Did I already mentioned that this guy hosts a lot of giveaways? Well, while some of them are spontaneous, most of them require you to take part in an activity of some sort. Together with his generosity, he always finds ways to entertain the community by making forum games with great prizes for the winner(s).
Fuwacast - The official Fuwa podcast and its many series are all hosted by this guy as well. Among them, there are discussions about some VNs, community introductions and a lot more.

For all that and a lot more, we can only thank Ren for being all he is to Fuwa. And to end this post, let's have a word from our admin, Tay. (As a friendly easter egg and advice, a bit less of salt would do you good <3)



There really isn't any way to adequately recognize all that Ren's done for Fuwanovel. All I can say is you've got a gift, Ren. You've done some amazing things and made this a really fun place to hang out. I feel lucky to be friends, and Fuwanovel is lucky to have you here. - Tay

Hey!! as i promised i`m gonna talk about Hetalia!
Hetalia is one of my favourite Anime, it have a good jokes and not too deep story yet enjoyable. Its tell us about Characters which represent Counties. The main plot is about AXIS vs Allies.
Their antics are purely awesome and funny, and most of relationship between char are the real relationship between real countries. Both personality and appearance they followed their country uniqueness and because of that its so easy to tell them apart and of course all of this are based on Stereotypes.
So yeah, i really hope after u guys readin a little bit of my synopsis about it,your will try some of the episodes.


And i`m going to talk about one of the character.Liechtenstein
She is one of my fav female characters from the show.The closest relation she had is with Switzerland. Apparently Switzerland took Liechtenstein as an adopted sister, those two are very close and always helps each other. There is a time that Liechtenstein cut her own hair so she could looks the same as Switzerland.
She is described as being rather high-tech, with a humble and mature personality, though she will clearly state her views. She was passed along many different nations throughout her life, which became rough and difficult for her after WWI due to a food shortage. However, Liechtenstein was saved from her situation when Switzerland found her and adopted her as his sister.
Her birthday is July 12th and its corresponds with the date when Liechtenstein as country was given a full sovereignty after its accession to the Confederation Of The Rhine in 1806.
Finally her voice actress is Rie kugimiya AKA the tsundere queen, however she portrayed Liechtenstein as a sweet and deredere-ish character.


There you ago...my first volume of Hetalia's Nikki. I will talk about another char later. For now enjoy Liechtenstein's song


So any1 in fuwa are from Liechtenstein?

This time we have foxgirls (well, pretty much just Horo ) and sheepgirls aplenty.

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? STOP OPPRESSING THE LOWER CLASSES, YOU DESPICABLE AUTOCRATS. I want to make a title that's two characters or fewer in length, and Big Brother restricts my due FREEDOM? Is this the kind of institution you proudly lead? Do you quell the voices of the public with pleasure!? CLEARLY somebody isn't familiar with the timeless proclamations of Voltaire. It seems liberty has declined over the ages, the result of the moral decadence manifest in those who so carelessly control us. Freedom of speech is my RIGHT, my PRIVILEGE, and I have no intention to live under YOUR TYRANNY.

Oh, wait, two-letter titles are still allowed, even though it says "longer than 2 characters." Somebody should fix that.



Anyway, I wanted to say that I've taken a liking to the color yellow recently.

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? STOP OPPRESSING THE LOWER CLASSES, YOU DESPICABLE AUTOCRATS. I want to make a title that's two characters or fewer in length, and Big Brother restricts my due FREEDOM? Is this the kind of institution you proudly lead? Do you quell the voices of the public with pleasure!? CLEARLY somebody isn't familiar with the timeless proclamations of Voltaire. It seems liberty has declined over the ages, the result of the moral decadence manifest in those who so carelessly control us. Freedom of speech is my RIGHT, my PRIVILEGE, and I have no intention to live under YOUR TYRANNY.

Oh, wait, two-letter titles are still allowed, even though it says "longer than 2 characters." Somebody should fix that.



Anyway, I wanted to say that I've taken a liking to the color yellow recently.

Good heavens, would you look at the time! It's moe time! (spoiler alert: it's always moe time)

I'm not sure what the question was, but the answer is moe!