Zalor

How much did my thread influence the naming of this one. Or do great minds simply just think alike, as the adage goes.

Some may casually dismiss this as a "first world problem". But other sources have convinced me that the internet is serious business. Cited Sources:

Thank you. I prepared a thread in response to this change. It is up to fuwans to decide whether my eternal status still remains: PSA: Avatar Change, has an Eternal fallen? Have mercy, and please understand my circumstances for enacting this change.

I don't know when this happened, but at some point the the aspect:ratio of avatars subtly changed on Fuwa. Which wouldn't effect most people, but for my (previous) 16-bit avatar, it zoomed it. Which made the pixels even more pronounced, which is not good for 16 bit art. However, I managed to find an image (somewhere) of a completely revamped version of the same exact picture. Not only is it the same character, but he is in the same exact position as well, just in higher picture quality. In Eclipsed's blog post: Avatar: The Last Fuwabender, it says, "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)." Some may argue that this past Fuwapocalypse was simply the site predicting beforehand of this massive disruption, and trying to revert back in time (by losing data) to prevent it. But I argue, that my Eternal status still stands. I merely adapted to the times to look more aesthetically pleasing to people who have to see my avatar on forum posts. I changed, out of consideration for other Fuwan users. I am the modern equivalent of who I always was. But I decided, I would allow the Fuwa community to decide. So that is what this poll is about. Am I still an Eternal, or this site doomed to destruction with my fall? While casting your vote, please remember to have mercy. Voting ends a week from today, which will be Saturday the 16th at 4:00 EST. To give some reference, here is a before after of my avatars. Before: After:

I second Symphonic Rain and Narcissu. These VNs not only fit the bill, but are two of my favorites.

I agree, especially about the ending. A more ambiguous ending would have fit with the rest of the VN better. Ironically enough, it provided a sense of closure, which doesn't feel appropriate for Sayooshi. But regardless, I think the ending was overall good. Also, I'm really liking the Denpa genre. Before this, I only read Saya no Uta (which is kind of denpa), but now I really understand what this genre is about. I have 2 or 3 other VNs on my plate first, but when I get through them I think I will finally read Subahibi (only heard fantastic things about it).

From other things I've read from you, I think we both share a huge appreciation for VNs that take advantage of audio and visuals to enhance the writing. And for people who appreciate such things, I feel that video is the best possible trailer for the VN. I really do wish it would get translated so more people could read it. I believe what happened is that the VN was picked up by a team, got translated around 30%, and then the main translator shifted to doing the Subarashiki Hibi translation. I think the Subarashiki Hibi translation is pretty much done, but then it got officially picked up, and so now there is another delay. Hopefully, once Subarashiki Hibi gets released he will return to translating Sayooshi.

I told a couple people I would post my thoughts about Sayonara wo Oshiete when I finished it, and just a few days ago I finished a bad end and Mutsuki's good end. So here are my impressions, thoughts, and analysis of that experience. Also, this post does not contain any significant spoilers to the VN. So its safe for all those that are curious. (Also from here on forward I will refer to Sayonara wo Oshiete as 'Sayooshi') Before I start talking about Sayooshi, I want to briefly describe the circumstances in which I discovered it. During this past summer, after having studied Japanese (with a grammatical focus) for a while, I wanted to get a few easy moege under my belt before attempting something I actually wanted to read. I was honestly having a miserable time, as I hate moege. I was reading them for no other reason than to practice and learn Japanese, as they were appropriate for my level. I wasn't having fun, and it honestly felt like work more than anything else. Just as I was about to give up on Untld Vns for the time being, I read a post by Vokoca talking about Sayooshi, and he linked to this video. The unsettling music and ominous imagery instantly piqued my curiosity and I set out to get this VN. For a while I was saving it, still thinking "My Japanese isn't good enough yet", but then at some point in the fall I decided "Fuck it, with the help of dictionaries and text hooking software, I can make this journey", and began reading it whenever I had time. And boy was this a journey worth taking, even if I did proceed through it a bit slowly. I love the first person narrative because getting inside the heads of interesting characters is truly experiencing the world through a different person's eyes. And VNs in my view are the best medium for first person narration, as they allow you to to see and hear what the MC experiences. Furthermore, back ground music enriches the story by immersing the reader in the moods of various settings and situations. Sayooshi takes all these strengths of VNs and the first person narrative, and uses it to put you inside the head of a madman. A man whose sense of reality is slipping further and further away by the day. The unreliable narrator is a literary trope that I really enjoy, but this is an area where I think VNs by default have higher potential than books. It is one thing to solely read the mind of a madman/untrustworthy narrator, it is another thing all together to see and hear that man's world, on top of reading his narrative. Too often I see wasted potential in the artistic side of VNs. Visual art is important for not only conveying ideas (i.e. a picture of a hallway should look like a hallway, a picture of a girl should look like a girl, etc.), but art can also convey moods. VNs of the same era usually have extremely similar character designs, and there is usually a lack of creativity in artistic style in VNs. While the character designs aren't anything revolutionary (it is admittedly nice that this VN came out before moe blobs became popular though), what is special about the art, is the eternal twilight. Hitomi's world is a world drenched in the orange and reddish hue of twilight, as the VN takes place exclusively during the evening. And coupled with all the things Hitomi experiences, the color of twilight really makes things even more ominous. It instills a feeling of loneliness, or at the very least detachment. Supporting the artwork in creating an unsettling atmosphere, is the music. The main theme that plays when Hitomi is wandering the school alone (this theme), only reinforces the feelings of detachment that the visual art and writing create. Character themes as well are quite well suited for each of the characters and the moods they represent, further successfully reinforcing the tone of the writing. Now onto the writing itself. Things are confusing, and they only get more confusing. Any sense of orientation is screwed around with, and this only gets worse as the story continues. You are left thinking "Did what I see actually happen?", until it gets to the point where you just altogether give up on distinguishing reality. In this way, you yourself submit to the insanity and fall further into Hitomi's world. Not knowing what to make of his situation. The only difference between you and him, is that you know he is crazy, but nonetheless identify with him because you experience the same sense of the world as he does. And perhaps weird to say, but the H-scenes in this VN serve to further sympathize with his madness. When I was telling a (non-VN reading) friend of mine about Sayooshi. He admitted that it sounded interesting, and even could appreciate the use of the H-scenes from an intellectual perspective. But he then told me that what he thought was truly disturbing, was not the use of H-scenes, but that "inevitably there will be people out there that will find it arousing". For him, (and his understanding of what I told him about Sayooshi), the sex scenes, which are exclusively rape scenes, serve to reinforce Hitomi's insanity, and therefore their portrayal is justified. But finding the scenes arousing yourself, is horrific as it is identifying with a monster; like the monster that plagues Hitomi's dreams. But it is here, where I disagree. The VN does everything in its power to have you identify with Hitomi's insanity, and the sex scenes are no exception. The sex scenes are arousing, despite knowing that they shouldn't be. It isn't just rape, but the Heroines are (supposedly) middle school girls for Christ's sake. Perhaps eroge players (particularly nukige fans) maybe a bit desensitized, but this is certainly fucked up. But just like when Hitomi experiences the dream that plagues him for the first half of the story, he knows he is the monster raping the angel, and there is pleasure still drawn from this. A pleasure that Hitomi knows is horrible and monstrous. But just as Hitomi submits to the role as the monster as he views his nightmare; we are in an identical role, viewing (and partly identifying) with his sexual misdemeanors as he commits them. It coerces you into submitting yourself to the madness of these H-scenes. By doing so an enjoyment is found in them, but for you and Hitomi alike there is a darkness implied in that pleasure. Furthermore, Hitomi seems to understand that he is defiling them. There is a guilt and sense of disgust felt, but also a feeling of extreme excitement, just as we as readers feel. This is shown through the multiple references he makes to 'contaminating the purity of the angel/Mutsuki', to paraphrase what he says. The H-scenes, and our feelings towards them, mirror Hitomi's perspective; furthering our identification with his insanity. Yet, just like the reoccurring nightmare, the H-scenes almost always end abruptly, and are divorced from continuity. It is not uncommon for an H scene to abruptly happen, end all of a sudden, and the next thing you know you are placed into a completely different context. And not only do the H-scenes lack continuity immediately before and after, but the characters never make reference to it afterwards, and act just as they did before. Further questioning whether they ever really happened. And this confusion surrounding the reality of the h-scenes, makes it easier to identify with Hitomi during them, since the normal consequences and damage caused by rape, do not apply. (Perhaps this would be a considered spoiler if I could guarantee that it actually happened ) And for all these reasons, I feel that the thesis of this VN is the fragility of the human mind. Often we draw huge differences between the mentally deranged, and functional normal human beings; but what Sayooshi points out is that the difference is actually rather subtle. In seeing the world Hitomi experiences, and sympathizing with him, it gets us to realize that we ourselves are not that different. That given his circumstances and what he experiences (and seeing it through his eyes), his reactions are actually understandable. The atmosphere of his world, and reading the thoughts of his mind, gets us to question his sanity, and in doing so, eventually gets us to question our own sanity as well. Sayooshi in an incredibly strong atmospheric experience. And it is for this reason that I feel Sayooshi is a great representative of the strengths VNs offer as a medium. This VN took advantage of all the tools it had as a VN (music, sound effects, visuals, and narrative) to provide a full experience of what the wanders of a madman look like. I really felt like I understood to a degree what it was like to be insane reading this work, and I don't think I would have been able to identify as well if it were told in any other medium in any other way.

Just an introduction to my blog, but being me I had to take advantage of a pretentious sounding title just for the fun of it. In any case, on to the point. At their best, I find Visual Novels to be the most immersive medium of written fiction. I enjoy literature, but often I appreciate it more from an intellectual/contemplative standpoint than through an enjoyment factor. Great VNs however, are in my mind the best of both worlds (I can read them for fun, and they leave me with something to think about and to intellectually digest.) Perhaps I am a bit jaded, but there are a relative small amount of VNs that fit my tastes. But when I do read VNs that truly impact me, I like to organize my thoughts on them through writing. I've already written a few articles in the past (Kanon: Mai and Sayuri Analysis, Narcissu and Death, and Perspective in Saya no Uta), but I think I will place future submissions here. Also, I may write my thoughts on anime and some Japanese Video Games on occasion as well. This is meant to be my all purpose Otaku blog. Getting on a bit more of a personal level, I've been reading Visual Novels since my early adolescence (since I was 13). The first VN to really introduce all the bewitching and immersive powers of this medium to me was Yume Miru Kusuri. Admittedly I did dabble a bit in VNs before YMK, but they were more like 1-off experiences. They didn't really get me interested in the broader VN medium like YMK succeeded in doing. I still remember that one day during my 8th grade winter break when I first read it. Everything from the music, characters, art, and especially the MC's witty narration took me away. I spent that whole day in bed reading it until I finished. Whenever I search for a VN to read, I always hope it will have the same captivating and magical effect that YMK had on me all those years ago. Additionally, I've been a part of Fuwanovel for almost 3 years now, joining back in March of 2013. I've met many interesting people here, and it is one of the few forums that I actually still participate in. Granted, it should be known that my activity functions through bursts. Usually I get really active for a while, and then spend a long while on hiatus, and then return to being really active again. This has been true for not only my whole time on Fuwa, but I functioned similarly in previous forums I used to be active on. So if you ever see that my account hasn't been active for months, I'm not dead, just hibernating. This post maybe a bit short, but I think it served its purpose as an introduction. And besides, I should have my first real blog post submitted a little later today, which should make up for the brevity in this one.

It's really good to hear that. I've only spoken to Conjueror a few times, but I really like him and am quite happy for him.

Don't mean to be a prick about this, but there is no way that Ashadow reviews is the "founding father of VN video reviews", when PhatomZwei has been doing Youtube video reviews of VNs since 2006. His second oldest video is a review of Kana Little Sister and that was uploaded 9 years ago. So I think the title belongs to him. Furthermore, of all the VN video reviews I've seen, his stuff is probably the best. His reviews are organized, well edited, and do a great job of describing the successes and faults of a VN without delving into spoilers. His only fault really is that he rarely uploads.

In which way? My Chiitrans colors words exactly like JParser. Did I miss a feature? O.o The only way I could explain it is with a picture. So here is a reference: http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Thezalor/Text hooker comparison 1.png Chiitrans could understand that "掃除してくれていた" was all part of one word. But TA broke up that one word into three parts: "掃除して" "くれて" "いた". Which is just a pain in the ass. It is in this sense that I think that TA is weaker with compound conjugations.

I'm still not convinced. The tools seem equivalent except for fullscreen capability, which I generally don't need. Where is this improved user experience stemming from? 1) full screen compatibility is really nice for me. 2) Transparency mode is nice. It's nice to have my parser above (or in some cases below the actual text). As apposed to always having to look to the left (or right) of the VN. It's just annoying looking back and forth all the time. 3) I find that Chiitans deals with conjugations better (as well as with names). In conjugation heavy sentences, it's really nice how Chiitrans will change the color of grammatical extensions. It makes it easier (and faster) for me to determine how words are being used. All around I think it organizes the parsed sentences better in a way that helps my reading speed. Too be honest with you, a part of me always kind of disliked reading VNs with TA, and it felt more like work than anything else. TA feels more like a study tool to me than an actual tool to leisurely read untld VNs with. With Chiitrans, I actually enjoy reading untld VNs, and it doesn't feel like im studying (even though I kind of am).

I feel that TA+ITH is a bit outdated. Ever since I switched to ChiitransLite, I've been enjoying reading VNs a lot more. I would recommend it over TA. For those interested, here is a tutorial on how to install it. ChiitansLite ITH tutorial

Yeah, for me it varies VN to VN and I haven't quite figured it out yet. But interestingly enough, Sayooshi is actually among the VNs that work with it in fullscreen mode. I tried that, but it didn't seem to solve the problem. Also, I still vote for this to get pinned.

I'm sorry, but I can't get the the Chiitrans textbox to appear during full screen. Not when I hook the text with ITH. When I open a VN with Chiitrans I can get it to work full screen, but not if I uses Chiitrans to display text from a clipboard like ITH. I already viewed the video you linked about this issue, and it didn't help. Edit: Actually I just tried running another VN through Chiitrans and the textbox wouldn't appear during fullscreen mode either. Edit 2: I found that fullscreen (regardless of whether I use ITH or run it through Chiitrans) works for some VNs and not for others. And this confuses me. Am I not doing something right?

I'm so glad somebody bumped this. Thank you so much for this Deep Blue. I thought that I wasn't going to be able to read VNs in full screen again until I reached fluency in Japanese. Somebody please pin this! This is worthy of being pinned.

When ever I see this topic get revived, and I look at the title. My initial response is always "no".

Don't be, as I totally would have said the same thing, lol.

For me, understanding the Japanese makes the inaccurate subtitles even funnier.

You guys have to watch this:

In agreement with both Palas and Nosebleed. Particularly this quote: This is why I hate around 99% of moege. Too often there is pretty much a complete lack of any serious story, therefore no means for the characters to develop. And too often the characters themselves are cookie cutter deres as well. I suppose my the nature of OPs question, you could have a slice of life story with no plot; but this would rely on unique characters that have an interesting social dynamic between the group. But generally, conflict is a necessity in story telling, and story comes out of conflict. It is most rewarding to experience the roller coaster of a story, when the characters experiencing the events are interesting and unique. Because if you don't care for the characters, then you don't care about their journey; no matter how exiting of a journey it was.

I've been rewatching Kanon again, although this time in Japanese without subtitles to practice my listening comprehension. In any case, I discovered a few things that are relevant to my article. So in episode 15 of the 2006 anime, at around 3:02 it shows an infection growing on Mai's leg as she progresses in killing the demons. Further symbolizing that not only is she rejecting herself by fighting her powers, but actually killing herself by doing so. Given Mai's suicidal tendencies this makes a lot of sense. Also, I noticed that there are actually multiple scenes of Sayuri covering her wrist. I was already aware of one scene in which she does this, but it happens at least one or two times more if you pay attention. Anyway, this seemed like a relevant enough reason to bump this thread. This has been buried in the archives of VN talk for quite a while now. So I hope some newer members enjoy reading my thoughts.

I'm surprised Clephas hasn't posted here yet. Although according to him this whole year has been fairly disappointing, so this month probably won't be much better. Looking at the list, I'm in agreement that Maggot Baits looks the most interesting. Everything else looks like standard moege.

I read G-Senjou no Maou a while ago, but I remember the fan translators breaking the fourth wall a few times for some jokes. I don't remember exactly, but I think there was this one instance where Kyousuke tells his friend something like "Does this look like a crappily translated porn game to you". I swear, they better keep lines like that. They had me cracking up.