Eclipsed

In response to my friend @Mr Poltroon's grammatically-questionable-but-nevertheless-generous patronage, I've decided to utilize my artistic skills and produce a drawing that does justice to his favorite character, Kilometers Edgeworth.
In short, I labored to reproduce the following piece that I found on an insider artists' hub known as Google Images:


(I forgot to replace the transparency in his eyes with whiteness, so please don't use a dark skin or he'll look scary and deformed.)

If some of you failed to notice, I've been going back over my list of ancient favorites amongst the moege/charage/slice-of-life genres.  Why am I doing this?  I actually have some good reasons, other than whims.
First, I keep recommending these things to people, but when you start talking about a VN you last played five years ago, people tend to let it in one ear and out the other.  I mean, my long-term memory for games and books is pretty good, but my brain is fairly compartmentalized, so I don't remember them actively unless I go through the effort to refresh that memory.  Can I continue to say that I honestly recommend something without playing it in the recent enough past that I can compare it to other, more recent VN experiences, through more jaded eyes?
Second, I want to know just how much nostalgia is coloring my viewpoint.  To be blunt, the longer you are away from your favorite games or VNs, the more the memory gets beautified by distance in time.  When I recently did a speed replay of G-senjou, I reaffirmed why I disliked the story structure while at the same time realizing that I didn't always do it justice due to my biases (no, I didn't blog on it, but I was mostly doing it for my own edification, anyway). 
Third, I like to think that I try to be as objective as possible, so I wanted to reexplore my VN roots when it came to my attitude toward charage/moege.  One thing I've noticed as I replayed certain charage from the past is that the best of the older generation wasted the least time on 'everyday' slice-of-life, ironically.  The gradual shift to put an excessive emphasis on the everyday life aspects of charage and moege is a relatively recent phenomenon, from what I've re-experienced.  A part of this is that, as the audience in Japan has aged, so has their nostalgia for an 'ideal youth' become much stronger.  The fact is, a lot of the 'devoted' moe-gamers in Japan aren't young people (at least not the ones who are also erogamers).  They are older people who want to experience an idealized version of youth through a non-person protagonist's viewpoint.  Ironically, this seems to be the reason why the market is shrinking, since younger generations don't find that kind of stuff as accessible as the older generation does, so you can tell to some extent what generation a company is appealing to by how weak the protagonist is and/or archetypical the characters are, lol.
 

Review - Fairy Fencer F (PS3, Pc)
  Fairy Fencer F box art     The story in this game is in one word ‘fairies’. You see, you have a fencer who controls the fairy when wielding them in battles. Naturally you have some evil villains who want to control all the fairies for World domination or some such thing. But all you really need to know is that this game is trying to be kind of edgy, which doesn’t work out at all, because it’s about fairies. Anyway the characters are pretty 2 dimensional as you might expect and although the art style is nicely detailed, the actual character design is kind of anodyne, and the main protagonist in the game called ‘Fang’ is a bit on the tiresome side. As for the rest of the characters, they do have some vaguely witty dialogue in cut scenes sometimes but the rest of the time they spend reminding you of what cardboard cutout their personality is supposed represent. When you stack up the visuals of Fairy Fencer F to say Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 you can see they look pretty similar. This is because Compile Heart is still using the same game engine in 2014. Considering that this game looks like a PlayStation 3 launch title, this is not good at all.      Fairy Fencer F(left) compared to Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2(right)   Now mediocre visuals don’t really bother me but tin his case it reminds of when Fallout 3 came out on the old Oblivion engine and everyone bitched about it, and then when New Vegas came out on the same tired old engine people where even more pissed off. The difference is that Compile Heart have released 4 games on their now archaic engine, to add insult to injury, even if you decide to do the optional 3.5gb install for the game it still chugs. That’s right a game that looks like in 2014 cannot manage a consistent 30 frame per second. In the positives for the visuals department, the special attacks in this game are glorious, you will feel like your power level is over 9000 guaranteed. The biggest strength of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series was in my opinion the sound. However the soundtrack in this rather less successful in this game. While the battle music is usually quite upbeat and fitting, for some insane reason compile heart decided that using songs with lyrics was a good idea, and this really takes away from the experience. The voice work is passable to fairly good, the female voice actors tend to do a slightly job than their male counterparts although this seems to be almost always the case in video games for some reason. Early on cut scenes will be interesting, the ones that are voiced anyhow but because the plot is dull and edgy you’ll probably ending up skipping a lot of the cut scenes later on.     Fairy Fencer F cutscene   As for the gameplay itself, well the battle system in this game is basically a polished version of that seen in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. Only now you don’t have to worry about using buffs and de-buffs all the time in order to defeat the enemies. This game uses an active turn based battle system so whilst there is clearly a turn order you can move around during your turns in order to line up Area of effect special attacks and the like, you’ll also be able to pull off lightening combos where you get to attack with all of your party though this feels mostly random. The biggest aspect of battles is to build up your combo meter, the little purple bar at the top. This will allow you to ‘Fairize’ which gives you hyper powerful attacks and better combos. You can also use spells to deal extra damage to enemies who are weak to certain elemental based attacks, although the enemies with the exceptions of bosses are generally pretty easy so you’ll end up mashing buttons far too much of the time. It only takes a couple of hours before what, I would like to call ‘battle fatigue’, sets in. This is where you pretty much aren’t paying any attention to stats, and are reliant on audio cues to tell you when it’s time to use a potion to heal or whatever the case may be, this because you’ll be so damn bored from having played out 100 similar battles in a row.      Fairy Fencer F gameplay screenshot   Outside of battles you can explore the map using world transform which is basically where you stake fairies you’ve gained through the campaign. It’s very basic, and you can even pay for the information on where to get fairies. It’s really pointless since all you’ll end up doing is beating dungeons in an order that is pretty much pre-set. The game does allow you to customize your characters stats to by using WP points, so you’ll be able to increase your attack, defines and learn stronger spells through the menu as you progress, there is also an option to synthesize potions and other items in the main towns shop but it’s not exactly a big part of the game. Lastly you have side missions, and sure they do add more game time, but they always consist of either killing X number of this monster, or fetching this random item from dungeon Y. Half of the quests are even labelled ‘fetch’. Ultimately I found Fairy Fencer F to be incredibly shallow, and whilst the battle system was improved over Compile Heart’s Hyperdimension Neptunia series, the gameplay is still so similar it feels more like an update patch then its own thing.   Dodd, R. (2014). ComicConReviews: Review - Fairy Fencer F (PS3, Pc). [online] Comicconreviews.blogspot.co.uk. Available at: http://comicconreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/review-fairy-fencer-f-ps3-pc.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2016].  

SO I WAS PLANNING TO HAVE A PERFECTLY COMFORTABLE EVENING WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF MY GODDAMN LAMP

AND THIS THING GETS SO HOT THAT IT BURNS ITSELF AND MELTS THE PLASTIC
YOU CHINESE PEOPLE GOTTA PUT MORE EFFORT INTO DESIGNING SHIZZLE

How many of you started reading VNs, manga, or watching anime solely because the girls were so adorable?  I wasn't one of those (I began with Record of Lodoss War, lol), but Ai Yori Aoshi and Love Hina introduced me to the concept of the 'moe-heroine'.  Whether it was their way of speaking, their looks, or their attitude, moe heroines became an integral part of the otaku experience at some point (well, the male-oriented one anyway), and I actually don't have any problems with that.  I have lots of fond memories of moe-heroines (since almost all VN heroines and anime heroines nowadays are done like this, to one degree or another).
However, as I've dug deeper and deeper into the VN universe (I realized this with anime long ago) I came to realize... all the heroines were beginning to melt together into one big moe blob inside my back-brain.  This is because very few heroines stand out enough to remain distinct in my mind from all the other, similar heroines inside my brain. 
Understand, I never really experienced the 'blob of moe heroines' phenomenon until the last five years or so... first with anime, then (two years ago) with VNs.  As a result, it is harder and harder to find 'standard' heroines interesting in and of themselves... their situation and setting have to be interesting enough to keep me from abandoning them emotionally. 
Do you want to know how many heroines remain distinct in my brain from the last three years of playing VNs?  Just thirty-three... and that is from well over seven hundred heroines whose routes I've completed in that time.  Frankly, even if I find an archetypical heroine interesting for a single playthrough, it is a rare heroine who makes an impression strong enough to retain her individuality in the collective VN memory of my under-psyche. 
I once mentioned this to a newbie VN-player (naturally a moe-gamer) and he essentially blasted me about how I was a blasphemer against the pure love of 2D... 
My response was, quite naturally, explosive laughter which I didn't bother to put into text. 
How many people do you actually remember in real life as a distinct human being without meeting them every day (or at least with some frequency)?  Even if you see 2D as a real world, do you seriously think someone who has gone so far down the road of the VN otaku as I and some others in the community have to remember every single heroine they've encountered? 
I'm fortunate.  I have a natural gift for storing episode memory, so if I start replaying a VN, I generally remember the heroines and their paths almost immediately.  However, expecting me to remember yet another tsundere osananajimi amongst hundreds of others off the top of my head after a year is fundamentally ridiculous, in my opinion (real example... also one of the two most common archetypes, along with the deredere osananajimi). 
This doesn't necessarily mean the VN in question is bad... it just means the heroine is one I've seen dozens of times before, placed in different situations with a different appearance.  Some of the heroines I forget until I'm reminded about are from truly wonderful VNs... but that has absolutely no effect on whether I can remember them without some serious effort, lol.
For my fellow vets... are you any different?

The Saga of PINK


 

The following is meant to serve as background information for Eclipsed's Danganronpa Steam Giveaway. Try your luck at it, if you dare 

Question for Giveaway: "Who is the mastermind, The Ultimate Pink?"

Old Stuff:

~~
Chapter 1 - The Death of Louise?


~~
Chapter 2 - The PINK SAGA Begins!     ~~ Chapter 3 - The Best Pink I

~~
Chapter 4 - The Best Pink II


~~
Chapter 5 - The Best Pink III


~~
Chapter 6 - The Ultimate Pink


Chapter 7 - The Fuwans
Louise couldn't let it end there. With the last of her strength, she soaked her finger with her own blood and began etching her last words onto the ground.
"Hoh... is this your final act of defiance, my precious Louise?" I kneeled over beside her and read the phrase out loud. "LITTLE... GOB...? That's your dying message?"  Poor Louise. I was expecting something far more ominous, far more significant. Not that I knew what a 'Gob' was, anyway. Probably some alien cousin to Nana's pet Meda-Q. 
I looked at Louise one last time. She wasn't breathing anymore... I ran my fingers through her hair affectionately. "Good bye, Louise."
"Now then..."  I stood up. "It appears the Morphogenetic Field has been accessed... by them..." I put on my gas mask and took off into the shadows as I prepared to make my final stand as the Ultimate Pink.
"The Fuwans."

...
...
...
~~
@Clephas0 <AbsoluteZeroStomach> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@Dergonu <Lucy Giveaway Winner> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@Ekuripsu <Clipsy-chan> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@Flutters <TheTrueKudster> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@Half-Life <Decay> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@OriginalRen <Most Original Guy> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@SoliduBattuManu <Solidbatman's clone> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@Tiagfvarela <Tiag > Tiago> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field
@ZenonThePhiloftheFutureDelicious <Disney Fanboy Ex-Sachi Fate-Geeker> has accessed the Morphogenetic Field

    
    

The Nine Chosen Heroes have finally arrived!!! 
Can you solve the mystery behind the Ultimate Pink before they do?

 
~~
Because I'll be busy for the rest of the week I'm cutting this short
The mastermind, Ultimate Pink, is me Eclipsed
Louise's dying message, LITTLE BOG unscrambles into BLOG TITLE
>>THE ECLIPSED

I know what you're thinking - 'Rooke has news? He must be taking a leave from the site.' Well... HA! Not a chance, bub. No no no no no. I must annoy Tay, and I cannot do that while off in the never never.
I merely thought I might highlight the day's news. Keeping up with the world is important if you want to remain learned and engaged. PS: Please don't hurt me  
Technology:
'Driverless cars can now ‘see’ around corners,' is the first headline I see, an enviable trait lacking in inferior, organic organisms. This new ability is truly wondrous and will be of great benefit to everybody’s safety… until the sensor breaks. Not like you’ll notice, because the light on the dashboard that glows green when there’s a problem with the sensors will also be broken. But it's not like you’ll care, because the cars ability to tell its left from its right will also have taken a vacation, causing your lucky self to be driven straight off a mountain pass to your briefly thrilling but ultimately painful doom. Nobody at the manufacturer will know what caused this weird phenomena, and your death will be written off as a ‘software glitch, ain’t that just weird ahahaha.’
No thank you, I’ll walk.
More technology:
‘Volvo cars get advanced kangaroo avoidance tech in Australia’ – it’s called drivers with a working set of eyes, hands, and feet.
Politics:
‘Malcolm Turnbull’s (Australia’s current Prime Minister) visit to Indonesia could reset our relationship with our sometimes-beloved cousins to the North.’ What blessed voodoo is this? The ability to reset relationships at will? How can I get my roguish, rugged hands on whatever it is he's obtained?
Just last week he was busy flaunting his newfound powers when he ‘reset the Government’s relationship with science.’ It's just freakish. And convenient. And enviable. Mostly enviable. Because I’m sure most people have an ex-partner they’d wish to reset their relationship with... after they cocked up badly like so:
 
Social Issues:
'An all-female, Russian astronaut crew was asked (by journalists) how they’d cope without makeup and men.' One of the astronauts (or cosmonauts) replied 'we are doing work, when you’re doing work you don’t think about men and women’. At this point every man listening scoffed and choked. Why? Well, take a look at the dude opposite you, the one enjoying a burger and some fries. Is he thinking about how delicious all that fried oil is, and how he's going to die young and full of regret? Of course not, he's thinking about sex. The guy who’s on his cell, in the cinema, arguing with the tax office while having shoes thrown at him, well he’s thinking about sex too. A man could be in the middle of the Arctic, during the worst blizzard of the century, being threatened by a man wielding a machete and with 3 Timberwolves snarling at his feet and he would still be thinking about sex. This idea of thinking about 'work' when doing 'work' is alien, and foreign, and clearly too radical to take off.
Sometimes I weep for real journalism 
Health:
A recent study produced this headline: 'Why do 55% of women report a lack of interest in sex?' Because of their partner’s appearance. Too easy. Next.  
World news:
‘US releases plan for solar flares and space weather disaster’ - Aims to launch the first of many strongly worded letters into space early next year. That will show them the US is not to be trifled with.
Entertainment:
'Fifty Shades Darker’ release date delayed?' Are you heartbroken? I know I am…
Feel Good:
And we end on a happy note. ‘A 97 year old woman who was forced to leave high school 8 decades ago when her mother fell ill, broke down in tears this week as she was presented with an honorary diploma from her alma mater.’ A wonderful moment for someone who sacrificed selflessly for her whole life. 
Now, don't we all feel so much more informed?

*** astro has shared contact details with Joe. ***
Joe: Hi astro, I'm wondering can u pls translate Aiyoku no Eustia?
 
Me: sorry I really don't have time to take on more projects right now
 
Joe: But it's a rly good game
 
Me: I'm sure it is. look, I hope that you're not asking me to do it for free at the very least - I don't even know who the heck you are
 
Joe: Well how long will it take u to do it? I can pay u $2000 at most depending on how long it takes
 
Me: ...Do you have any idea how long the game is?
 
Joe: No idk japanese so I've never played it before
 

 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Well, this isn't really Tay's fault, but my rule of thumb is to always blame Tay. taypls

This rant stemmed from a conversation on Twitter. I'm posting this here purely because posting this line by line on Twitter seemed retarded, and I'd disable the forum notifications for this post if I could. You can dig through my recent Twitter replies if you want to see the context. Have fun.
***
The problem is a bit more complicated than "some people don't like what I have to say". Sure, there's that, but the majority of detractors don't like how I raise my voice to be heard through the din. The majority of eroge fans are content to stay within their walled communities and gossip amongst each other. A few bloggers have appeared, but again they keep to themselves and expect their audience to come to them.
I've challenged this status quo. I've decided to be the black sheep that actually promotes his content: after all, why would anyone devote any amount of effort to writing for the smallest audience possible? I write to make a difference. I write to be recognized as a community leader. I'm not content with just being heard by a single insular community of hardcore fans. I can't accomplish anything like that.
I consider myself an industry activist. I do what the industry refuses to do: market and promote itself. In a community where freeloading is the norm, active promotion is very much frowned upon. Yet spurring people to buy stuff is incredibly important if eroge fans want to have a say in English localization. I want to be the facilitator that bridges the gap between eroge companies and the VN community. I want to be the voice for eroge fans when companies cross the line, thinking that sales are more important than the wishes of the fanbase. I can't do all of this by just whining in threads on Fuwanovel about the success of the Sakura series while games like Seinarukana remain in obscurity.
Mainstream activists make a living off what they do. I do what I do almost entirely for free, with the simple request that people click my affiliate links when they buy a game because of the content I provide. I would say that criticism of me is hypocritical, yet I realize that only a year ago I'd probably have said that what I do is distasteful. If things would get done without me, I'd be willing to pass the baton and go back to an online life of obscurity. If good content promoted itself, I wouldn't need to try to so hard to get the word out. But well, life isn't fair, honest effort isn't necessarily rewarded, and mediocrity is the formula for success. If I don't promote my content, no one else will. That's just how it is.
Long rant. I'm not going to post this on Twitter line by line.
Note: This is meant to be a conversation between me and my followers. If you say something unconstructive or just piss me off, I'll start deleting comments without warning. You have been warned.

Mr. Meogii's First Recognition Post.


Hello Guys ! Meogii here, bringing you your ever so loved members' highlight. Today we will be zoning in on Suikashoujo. She has been a member of our community for almost a year now and it pains me to see that the majority of us do not yet know what she's been up to. She enjoys singing, so much so that she has taken it upon herself to make song covers to go along with her music. I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd ever find enough courage to allow other people to listen to me sing. Be it in real life or over the Internet, such a feat requires confidence - something I'm sure Suikashoujo has in her great and pleasurable singing. Down below you'll find her latest video so if you like it, be sure to check out her channel for more awesomeness. From the community and myself, we wish you all the best regarding your future works.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube....GMm-XabSB6VXgrA

Latest Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ9RxxZPm1c

Avatar: The Last Fuwabender*
 
 
 
 
*Note: There will be no Avatar: The Last Airbender references from this point on.*
 
An avatar, also known as profile picture, is defined via Google as "An icon or figure representing a particular person in computer games, Internet forums, etc."
 
In the case of the Fuwanovel Forums, avatars typically represent one's identity, or at least represents whatever appeals to them personally at that particular point in time (such as a favorite character, "waifu", etc).
 
Many users of this forum have different ways of utilizing their avatars and through years of extensive research I have been able to group them into the following:
The Eternal: users who have had a single avatar since the beginning of their creation. ie. Zalor The Loyalist: users who have a single unique avatar that they change to variations of. Can change to another avatar, but typically returns to the original unique avatar ie. TarzanofVersailles The Bandwagoner: users who change their avatar on a whim depending on their current mood or preferences which can change over time. This can branch to Settlers who very rarely change their avatar to a new one ie. Clephas, or Travelers who change to a new avatar relatively quickly ie. Eclipsed (pre-Louise era) The Identity Crisiser: users who cycle / rotate their avatar on a frequent basis to a select few unique avatars while typically being unable to settle down on any particular one. May also become a Bandwagoner at times. ie. Kaguya-sama  
Eternals are the most powerful class of avatar users. Their very existence is so great, that if one were to ever somehow undergo an avatar change, the resulting shockwave can very well destroy the forums (an example being the fateful Taypocalypse of '14).
 
Loyalists are the second most powerful class of avatars. They are typically very fond of their avatars and only choose variations of said avatar when changing avatars, or in the case that they do choose a new avatar, they tend to revert back to the original unique one eventually.
 
Bandwagoners (subclass: Settlers/Travelers) are the common folk. Settlers are more powerful than Travelers.
 
The Identity Crisisers are the wildcards. One can never fully determine if a Crisiser has finally settled on an avatar or if the Crisiser will continue their neverending quest for their one true avatar.
 
~~
TL;DR, here are all of my avatars since the beginning of my time here on Fuwanovel (times are approx.; not all images from an era are displayed.)
 
Lurker Era (Sept)
 
 
 
 
Date A Live Era (Sept - Nov)
 
 
 
 
Kotori Era (Dec - Jan) <Love Live>
 
 
 
 
Date A Live II Era (Jan)
 
 
 
 
Charlotte Era (Feb) <Machine Doll>
 
 
 
 
Frenda Era (Feb) <Toaru Majutsu no Index>
 
 
 
 
Louise Era (Mar - Present) <Zero no Tsukaima>
 
 
 
 
 
What avatar class are you?
 
~~
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more Eclipsed's ramblings!

Avatar: The Last Fuwabender*
 
 
 
 
*Note: There will be no Avatar: The Last Airbender references from this point on.*
 
An avatar, also known as profile picture, is defined via Google as "An icon or figure representing a particular person in computer games, Internet forums, etc."
 
In the case of the Fuwanovel Forums, avatars typically represent one's identity, or at least represents whatever appeals to them personally at that particular point in time (such as a favorite character, "waifu", etc).
 
Many users of this forum have different ways of utilizing their avatars and through years of extensive research I have been able to group them into the following:
The Eternal: users who have had a single avatar since the beginning of their creation. ie. Zalor The Loyalist: users who have a single unique avatar that they change to variations of. Can change to another avatar, but typically returns to the original unique avatar ie. TarzanofVersailles The Bandwagoner: users who change their avatar on a whim depending on their current mood or preferences which can change over time. This can branch to Settlers who very rarely change their avatar to a new one ie. Clephas, or Travelers who change to a new avatar relatively quickly ie. Eclipsed (pre-Louise era) The Identity Crisiser: users who cycle / rotate their avatar on a frequent basis to a select few unique avatars while typically being unable to settle down on any particular one. May also become a Bandwagoner at times. ie. Kaguya-sama  
Eternals are the most powerful class of avatar users. Their very existence is so great, that if one were to ever somehow undergo an avatar change, the resulting shockwave can very well destroy the forums (an example being the fateful Taypocalypse of '14).
 
Loyalists are the second most powerful class of avatars. They are typically very fond of their avatars and only choose variations of said avatar when changing avatars, or in the case that they do choose a new avatar, they tend to revert back to the original unique one eventually.
 
Bandwagoners (subclass: Settlers/Travelers) are the common folk. Settlers are more powerful than Travelers.
 
The Identity Crisisers are the wildcards. One can never fully determine if a Crisiser has finally settled on an avatar or if the Crisiser will continue their neverending quest for their one true avatar.
 
~~
TL;DR, here are all of my avatars since the beginning of my time here on Fuwanovel (times are approx.; not all images from an era are displayed.)
 
Lurker Era (Sept)
 
 
 
 
Date A Live Era (Sept - Nov)
 
 
 
 
Kotori Era (Dec - Jan) <Love Live>
 
 
 
 
Date A Live II Era (Jan)
 
 
 
 
Charlotte Era (Feb) <Machine Doll>
 
 
 
 
Frenda Era (Feb) <Toaru Majutsu no Index>
 
 
 
 
Louise Era (Mar - Present) <Zero no Tsukaima>
 
 
 
 
 
What avatar class are you?
 
~~
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more Eclipsed's ramblings!

Avatar: The Last Fuwabender*
 
 
 
 
*Note: There will be no Avatar: The Last Airbender references from this point on.*
 
An avatar, also known as profile picture, is defined via Google as "An icon or figure representing a particular person in computer games, Internet forums, etc."
 
In the case of the Fuwanovel Forums, avatars typically represent one's identity, or at least represents whatever appeals to them personally at that particular point in time (such as a favorite character, "waifu", etc).
 
Many users of this forum have different ways of utilizing their avatars and through years of extensive research I have been able to group them into the following:
The Eternal: users who have had a single avatar since the beginning of their creation. ie. Zalor The Loyalist: users who have a single unique avatar that they change to variations of. Can change to another avatar, but typically returns to the original unique avatar ie. TarzanofVersailles The Bandwagoner: users who change their avatar on a whim depending on their current mood or preferences which can change over time. This can branch to Settlers who very rarely change their avatar to a new one ie. Clephas, or Travelers who change to a new avatar relatively quickly ie. Eclipsed (pre-Louise era) The Identity Crisiser: users who cycle / rotate their avatar on a frequent basis to a select few unique avatars while typically being unable to settle down on any particular one. May also become a Bandwagoner at times. ie. Kaguya-sama  
Eternals are the most powerful class of avatar users. Their very existence is so great, that if one were to ever somehow undergo an avatar change, the resulting shockwave can very well destroy the forums (an example being the fateful Taypocalypse of '14).
 
Loyalists are the second most powerful class of avatars. They are typically very fond of their avatars and only choose variations of said avatar when changing avatars, or in the case that they do choose a new avatar, they tend to revert back to the original unique one eventually.
 
Bandwagoners (subclass: Settlers/Travelers) are the common folk. Settlers are more powerful than Travelers.
 
The Identity Crisisers are the wildcards. One can never fully determine if a Crisiser has finally settled on an avatar or if the Crisiser will continue their neverending quest for their one true avatar.
 
~~
TL;DR, here are all of my avatars since the beginning of my time here on Fuwanovel (times are approx.; not all images from an era are displayed.)
 
Lurker Era (Sept)
 
 
 
 
Date A Live Era (Sept - Nov)
 
 
 
 
Kotori Era (Dec - Jan) <Love Live>
 
 
 
 
Date A Live II Era (Jan)
 
 
 
 
Charlotte Era (Feb) <Machine Doll>
 
 
 
 
Frenda Era (Feb) <Toaru Majutsu no Index>
 
 
 
 
Louise Era (Mar - Present) <Zero no Tsukaima>
 
 
 
 
 
What avatar class are you?
 
~~
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more Eclipsed's ramblings!

Welcome to my Shinsekai Yori Episode Commentary&Thoughts Compilation. These thoughts were posted back when Shinsekai Yori was the anime of choice for Fuwanovel's Anime Club back in February '15 and have been compiled here for everyone's convenience.
 
*Keep in mind I am no expert reviewer & analyzer or anything; I just watch and then say whatever's on my mind
 
*Sorry Flutterz; I was gonna edit all Squeara typos to Squealer but too lazy. Also monster rats -> queerats, and whatever other terminologies that had mutliple translations (ogre / fiend / akki)
 
Naturally, this will contain spoilers~
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 3
 
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 4
 
 
 
 
Btw, LOL at my amateur theorizing back in Episode 2
 
 
 
 
~~~
Anyway, Rijin criticizes the crew for not obtaining permission to venture this far out, but apparently the even worse crime they committed was 'listening to the words of a horse demon" which breaks one of the Ten Platinum Laws of their Ethics Rules and so he seals their powers (I'm interested into the mechanics of that) and then prepares to escort them to the Ethics Committee for their punishment.
 
Unfortunately, the crew gets ganked by Monster Rats along the way, and surprise surprise, Balloon Dogs do exist & Rijin dies protecting the crew from the explosion.
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 5 - 7
 
 
 
 
That random sexual moment b/w Saki & Satoru when they were captured though. Cheating on Shun already, Saki? xD
 
 
 
 
Again, I'm interested in how their abilities are sealed and unsealed. Saki was able to unseal Satoru's powers via hypnosis + remembering his mantra or so and that was pretty interesting.
 
Regarding PK powers in general, wow. Satoru completely rekt the Monster Rats while he still had mana stamina. Really shows how devastating the war in the Dark Ages must've been since PK users had free reign to use their powers against each other.
 
I also wish to see Saki kick some ass one day. Sucks her powers remained sealed for the remainder of this arc.
 
~~~
Regarding Squera, not sure how I feel about the rat. It seems he only assisted Saki x Satoru because of mutual benefits rather than him being a legit friend. Especially during that scene where he was 'captured' by enemy Monster Rats where the anime totally portrayed him to be a double agent so I was confused when he was still helping them, especially at the end when they are running from the Giant Hornets. But everything works out in the end~
 
 
 
 
~~~
That ending though.
 
"Yay everybody reunites and the Giant Hornets let us go despite being ordered to take us in (thanks to Satoru saving the general earlier I presume).
 
We'll go back home, unseal our powers, and since Rijin died, there's no way anybody will have known we were in trouble for breaking the Ethics Rule via talking to that magic horse!"
 
NOPE! Looks like shit is gonna go down in very soon. I'll be looking forward to it ~
 
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 8
 
 
 
 
Saki x Maria
 
 
 
 
~~~
Something's obviously up with Shun. For a moment I got annoyed by his distant shady attitude + breaking up with Satoru (he was such a nice boy 2 years ago; remember the starry river canoe moment he had with Saki? That's something only nice guys would do.)
 
I was worried that he was up to no good/doing illegal shit/will become a villain, but by the end of the episode it's hinted that he's doing the whole "I'm going to play hero and shoulder the burden all by myself to protect everybody" thing so props to him.
 
The 'burden' of course being the horse-demon-lies incident 2 years ago that the crew thought they had covered up, but apparently it took this long for it to come back and bite them in the ass.
 
 
Episode 9
 
 
 
 
~
Later back at home, Saki inquires her parents regarding Shun to which her mom freaks out and pleads with Saki to stop prying because "she doesn't want to lose another child" which she immediately rephrases (finally) to "I don't want to lose you".
 
I felt for Saki's mom at that point ;-;. If I was Saki I might've totally just dropped everything to keep the peace for the sake of mum. But Saki being Saki will obviously continue to pry.
 
 
 
 
~
Random flashback childhood Saki is soo adorable goddamn!!
 
 
 
~
SLKFJASKLFJ FRIGGEN' MARIA!!!!!! I'M WATCHING THIS WITH HEADPHONES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHY YOU MUST SCARE ME!@#
 
 
 
 
Maria reveals that she and Mamoru went to tthe off-limits courtyard at their school and that the 'storage containers' contained... the Impure Cats!@#
 
They heard one of their teacher's voices amongst the adults...
"Must take care of it before the transformation into a Karmic Demon is complete"...
"He was so talented. It's such a shame"
 
Welp I guess that means Shun's the poor sod who is turning into a Karmic Demon and therefore must be eliminated. Damn shame indeed.
 
Saki gears up, says her goodbyes to Maria and then heads out in the middle of the night to go look for Shun.
 
And guess who what she runs into!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 10
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 11
 
 
 
 
~
Mamoru. Typical whiny pathetic baby character who cracks when the crew start digging and conclude that Ryou =/= Shun based on their skewed memories.
 
You may have noticed by now but I HATE these types of characters. They are the bane of my existence. Chaos;Head's Takumi. Hated him. Accel World's Haruyuki. HATED HIM. Mamoru is no exception.
 
 
 
 
Though later on, Maria says something to Saki that finally made me realize something about whiny characters
 
 
 
 
Saki still wishes to pursue their lost memories of Shun but agrees to not involve Mamoru in their investigations anymore.
 
Oh and YESSS, more Saki x Maria <3 <3 <3
 
 
 
 
~
The head of the Ethics Committee (revealed to be Satoru's grandmother) summons Saki / Satoru / Maria. Uh oh. The resulting banter among the trio from this revelation was very much appreciated in the midst of all of this tension
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 12
 
 
 
 
Episode 13
 
 
 
 
Episode 14
 
 
 
 
Btw does that mean no more Saki x Maria...? NOOOOOOOOOO
 
 
 
 
~
The Education Committee play the whole "WTF is this blasphemy you speak of?" card but Tomiko-sama finally steps in and vouches for Saki. The once-scary Education Committee suddenly sound so passive. Wow, Tomiko-sama really does have HUGE influence 0.0
 
Saki has some heart to heart with Tomiko-sama; she is revealed to be 267 years old because her PK powers allow her cells to idk divide and not naturally deteriorate/something about Telomeres and that's why she has so much influence- with age comes experience, wisdom...
 
Tomiko-sama offers to protect Mamoru x Maria should Saki be able to bring those two home within 3 days otherwise the Education Committee will act on its own to execute the two elopers.
 
Saki meets up with Satoru and they begin their search for M & M. Hey look, it's Saki x Satoru vs. the world again. Looks like this is the default couple -_-
 
 
Episode 15 - 16
 
 
 
 
But alas, despite the initial friendly re-introductions, immediately you get the shady vibe from this guy and it's subtlely revealed later as to why. So I guess all of my suspicions in the earlier episodes about not to trust this guy *are* right soo yay me xD
 
Meh, don't really care about the lore regarding the Monster Rats. Yada yada yada we're building our colony by merging with other colonies and we got our hands on old-school technology/concrete and we incapacitate our Queens because they are too paranoid blah blah blah one day we'll mount a large scale attack against you Kami-samas
 
~
They track down Squnk with the help of Squeara and his questionable methods. Squnk gives them a letter from Maria and OMFG WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Maria's letter was an official "Good-bye don't come looking for me"
 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME MARIA T____________________________T
 
 
 
 
~
WTF KIND OF NIGHTMARE IS THIS SAKI?!??!
 
 
 
 
~
No leads on Maria x Mamoru. One day remains... will they be able to find them...? Saki x Satoru start talking about how they'll rebel and elope together and meet up with M & M and then Saki all of a sudden bursts into tears ;-;
 
Soo uh, Saki x Satoru confirmed?
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 17
 
 
 
 
Satoru also grew into a fine young man. His VA actually sounds decent when he's not playing whiny baby characters >.>
 
 
 
 
But I had to take a moment of silence because this time skip meant that they went 12 years without seeing M & M aka they never found them ;-; (unless they'll randomly pop up in the next 20 minutes and start reminiscing about the good 'old days)
 
~
Fk. Do the creators of this show have a thing for rats or something? Why does this show feature Monster Rats so much?! I want Ogres! Karmic Demons! Anything but RATS!!!
 
Not going to go into Monster Rat lore cuz I don't give a damn (quick summary: colonies going to war with each other and having drama about who attacked who) but it's interesting how they have do paperwork to go to war with each other >.>
 
And I'll be honest, if the Monster Rats at least looked half as decent as Kiroumaru I would've liked them better. Yes, appearances matter. Besides, it's not like Squeara had a good personality to contrast with his ugliness.
 
 
 
 
It's annoying to see Squeara silver-tongue his way through everything, but w/e.
 
~
Committee of Badasses:
 
 
 
~
What. The. F#@$%? The Giant Hornets led by Kiroumaru were wiped out by Robber Fly lead by Squeara?! Obviously this fking annoying rat has something up his sleeve, but I am totally disappointed in this show for having the Monster Rats be the 'grand conflict'.
 
 
Episode 18
 
 
 
 
~
Denial Mode #1: At the summer festival, Saki has halluncinations of Maria. That means Maria's still alive right...?
 
The Monster Rat Department has more meetings as to how the Robber Fly Colony could devastate the all mighty Giant Hornets. Conclude based on how effortlessly it was and the lack of damaged weapons could only mean one thing: they have a PK user on their side. But how...?
 
...Maria...? Mamoru? No way..!!! Why would they possibly side with Monster Rats? Revenge on society for exiling them?! Are they gonna be the big baddies?!
 
But that theory is quickly debunked by Tomiko-sama saying that that was impossible since they have the skeletal remains of M & M returned by Squeara that were thoroughly, 100% checked and confirmed to be theirs so it is for absolute certain that those two are dead.
 
Denial Mode #2: Wait, what? Those are really M & M's bones or is Tomiko lying to cover up that they never found M & M? Or maybe Squeara's just really good at coming up with legit-looking remains..?
 
~
Yup, the fking Monster Rats are the 'grand conflict'. 0/10 this show sux trololol GOD WHY RATS.?!@# Hopefully this arc is done by Episode 20 and the remaining 5 can deal with more interesting things.. Sorry, I just don't care about the rats >.>
 
The Rats mount an assault during the Summer Festival. It feels soo weird how everybody was caught off guard and how even the elite fodders get taken down by fodder rats.
 
 
 
 
 
Denial Mode #3: A flashback of Maria at the end of the episode with a 'Good bye' plastered all over it? Definitely means she's alive and that we'll get a reunite soon right?
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 19
 
 
 
 
~
Fodder girl pulls a Maria & volunteers to stay behind with wimpy fodder lady while Saki x Satoru escape to warn the village about the Ogre. RIP.
 
 
 
 
I didn't really take time to think about 'who' the Ogre could be. I merely thought it would be a fodder Ogre that would be explained like 'due to the Monster Rat attack, this person became traumatized so severely and thus became an Ogre".
 
 
Episode 20
 
 
 
 
~
Anyway Saki x Satoru cleverly escape the Ogre by using a mirror/reflection. A gunpowder-igniting monster thingy from the river then attacks them and Saki x Satoru are separated (I thought it was weird she didn't try looking for him after regaining her ground >.>)
 
Saki makes it back to the village and informs about Ogre. Wow seeing the 267 never-aging Tomiko-sama wrapped up in bandages made me feel bad x.x. Tomiko says that if there really is an Ogre, then all hope is lost because apparently even though she lived through an Ogre attack in the past it was just luck/a complete miracle. Dw, Saki can manage xD
 
 
 
 
 
Episode 21
 
 
 
 
~
Shisei easily gets ganked by the Ogre and Saki x Satoru flee. They meet up with some other guy who was tasked with eliminating the Robber Fly colony earlier but failed to do so because of said Ogre.
 
And then another shocking revelation: Squeara's grand plan? Raise an army of PK users by stealing babies. Well, shit. I was disappointed earlier for the 'grand conflict' being the Monster Rats, but this plan of theirs made things 100x more interesting.
 
 
 
But then that made me realize something. That Ogre isn't Maria. All of those Denial Modes where I was clinging onto hope that Maria was still alive was all for naught.
 
The Rats' plan was to raise an army of Ogres, right? So how'd they get their first one? From M & M's child.
 
 
 
And I bawled like a freakin' baby for quite some time upon finally realizing that. Maria's DEAD. She's gone forever. The remains they mentioned before is 100% proof of that. Killed by that fking Squeara and her child raised to become the ultimate weapon in his conquest.
 
Goddam that got me depressed. Like c'mon, you guys elope specifically so you guys could continue living, not die to these rats and then have your child raised to become their weapon!!!! FK!!!!
 
Ok I gotta stop now before I tear up again.
 
Ahem
 
~
I'm surprised I was impacted by Maria's death this much (or rather, the realization/confirmation of her death). I usually just shed a tear or two for character deaths aka Shun, but man, Maria's was just soo tragic.
 
It was probably a combination of me liking her character so much and then having to go through several episodes wondering if she truly was dead or not clinging onto hope even when facts are presented and then BAM the harsh reality is confirmed. T________T
 
 
Episodes 22 - 25
 
 
 
 
 
 
Overall Quick Review
 
 
 
Characters: 8 / 10
 
 
 
Art: 7 / 10
 
 
 
Music: 7 / 10
 
 
 
Enjoyment: 10 / 10
 
 
 
 
Random- my favorite scene (obv spoilers):
 
 
 
 
~~~
Overall: 9 / 10
 
   

Recently, a spirited argument erupted in the Monobeno -Happy End- project thread regarding the perceived poor quality of translation samples. As this a topic of general controversy in the fan translation scene, I decided it might be worth addressing on a general level to those who might not care about this particular title. Please don't take this post as an invitation to reignite controversy in that thread; post your comments here instead.
 
Fan translation is as much about the journey as the destination. While the audience may only care about the final product, for the translator the journey may be even more important. This is an opportunity for a translator to improve both his Japanese skills and his English skills. As much as he's doing it for you, he's doing it for himself. I don't understand why anyone would think that fan translators have an obligation to provide a quality product, and that the audience should have an expectation of a quality product. All fan translations should be treated as being of suspect quality until proven otherwise. That's really all there is to it. If you're unhappy with the final product, don't play it. A game like Monobeno will never ever get licensed in English, so it's not like a substandard fan project would be ruining our chance at a professional translation (as might be the case with other titles).
 
So before you complain about projects that don't meet your quality standards, remember that no one deserves a quality product for free, and that fan translators have just as much of a right to benefit from a project as their audience. Maybe if there were a better resource for tracking translation quality across different releases we wouldn't even be having these arguments. And maybe if the more skilled fan translators simply took pride in the quality of their own work, and weren't so preoccupied with the attention other groups were getting, there wouldn't be so much bickering going on.
 
[This is a repost of my response in that thread edited for a general audience]

Loli-Clephas recently emerged from Clephas' mouth, beginning a reign of terror in which billions have already perished, their blood staining her massive metal teeth, their flesh sliding down her throat. As the universe trembles at the unleashing of this, the most beautiful and terrible of all the monsters ever conceived in the depths of the Abyss, Clephas himself is busy playing VNs for his VN of the Month blog, having allowed his female self free reign to indulge her hungers for the first time in several billion years.

Unfortunately for the otakus of the world, because the true Clephas wasn't paying attention, Loli-Clephas began her invasion of the 2D realm, devouring all of the heroines that the true Clephas hadn't claimed as his own, leaving a barren wasteland of VNs, role-playing games, and strategy-rpgs void of heroines, only white spaces and a few drops of animated blood left behind.

Even now, Akibahara's denizens weep with despair, as their favorite heroines have vanished from their precious goods, the heads of their figures bitten off, their dakimakuras pure white, and their mousepads now flat and solid black.

While Clephas has become aware of the situation, the power of 2D has tilted toward his loli-self, and the upcoming battle looks fit to erase this universe entirely from existence. The true Clephas rises from the depths of his eroge-hazed fog, his eyes blazing with an infinite hunger and love to match that of his counterpart, and the fabric of reality begins to resonate with the power of the two great monsters.

Which of the endless devourers shall dominate the Infinite Stomach?!

FuwaHistory of Eclipsed



~The Beginnings~



Don't waste your time reading this if you've already read the thread version~

Hello members of Fuwanovel and welcome to the archived version of my 2000 posts celebration thread, now renamed 'FuwaHistory of Eclipsed' because why not.

Foreward




Lurker Days (Mar ~ Sept)




Newbie Days (Sept ~ Oct)




Member Days (Oct ~ Dec)




Glory Days (Jan ~ Present)




Source: What Fuwanovel Means to Me (Yay, 2000 posts!) - Eclipsed Ver.

Hello everyone, Rose here bringing you a post relevant to all Fuwa users. As we all know, the site went through a lot of changes lately and lots of people are still a bit lost about things, so to make everything clear, Tay made a really big post explaining his plans for the future, a summary of some new features planned and much more, so be sure to read it even if you're not confused, for you might actually learn about more stuff to come. Together with that, Eclipsed made a comprehensive list of the recent changes, and it brings you all the links you might possibly need to check if you're late for the party. Huge thanks to Tay for making a really clear and enlightening statement, and to Eclipsed for his great list of changes. Those two are surely going to help a lot of members understand the current situation.