Zalor

Wow, what a missed opportunity for me. I other wise would apply, but seeing that I'm trying to bring my school's Anime club back to life, applying to colleges (which includes studying for the exams), working on Japanese, and have rigorous school work; I think if I took the position up I probably wouldn't be able to allocate the proper amount of time to it. It is probably best for me to just decline the offer. I appreciate how you made this an open offer.

I like the recommendation forum as its own form. If it were less active then I could kind of see why you would want to demote it to a sub-forum. However, that isn't the case. The recommendation forum is incredibly active which I feel warrants it the importance to be its own forum.

I second Swan Song. Swan Song's characters are exceedingly well developed and whats more interesting is that the story is told through multiple perspectives. So we get to see characters develop through there own perspective, and then later see them from the perspective of another character. The use of this literary technique was very well executed, as is every aspect of the writing. Swan Song also provides a rather grim out look on humanity, so it definitely qualifies as a dark VN. Couldn't recommend it enough.

No because the market adapts. If we don't reward a company for licensing trash, and instead reward them for licensing VNs of quality then we will get more quality VNs in the future. So my advice is if you want to support the English VN translating industry then buy something good like Steins;Gate, but don't buy something mediocre just so they can profit.

To answer the topic question. Enough people find big eyebrows moe for the archetype to still be profitable and thus justify its existence.

The only good anime I watched with a hikiomori protagonist was Welcome to the NHK. And for a hikikomori he sure did go out side a lot (relatively speaking). Not really a VN, but Yume Nikki is a game with a hikikomori protagonist.

Fuck... I was going to say Mai and Sayuri from Kanon and leave it at that. After writing a whole paper on them they became the heroines out of any VN that I feel most attached to . Also Sayuri is fair game since she has a subroute. 3) Well I also really like Falsita Fawcett from Symphonic Rain. (Her an Sayuri would compete for best cook). 4) My last choice would be Misaki Kawana from ONE ~To the Radiant Season~. (If InvertMouse gets to this thread we would have to fight for her ). Why not I'll add one more (I really thought I was going to stick to four at first). Anzu Yukimura from DaCapo 2. That mischievous smile always gets to me. This thread really got me to realize that I wouldn't actually care to enter a romantic/polygamous relationship with most heroines from most VN's I've read. Kind of strange actually. Even some heroines who I liked I wouldn't actually want to be romantically involved with some of them.

I highly recommend Dysfunctional Systems. Here is the opening/trailer to the Visual Novel: It's about these people who travel to alternative dimensions and different worlds. The main characters live in a Utopia and their organization tries to fix the problems of imperfect worlds. However, tampering with the politics of other worlds never is quite as simple as "fixing their problems". The Visual Novel does a great job exploring how good intentions can lead to less than ideal outcomes. You can read more about Dysfunctional Systems and buy it here: https://dischan.co/product.php?productID=8 It's only $5 and the group that made it are probably the only people who make good English original Visual Novels for profit. They could really use the support, and I think they deserve it.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who reads VNs impulsively. Speaking to some people on the forums it feels like some people just plow through them. I could never keep that pace up. Also if I did that I would run out of any decent VNs to read within a year.

I'm a guy and strangely enough I like Bishounens, I don't know why though. Touga Kiryuu from Revolutionary Girl Utena probabaly being my favorite. Oh, actually scratch that! Touga is my second favorite with Howl from Howl's Moving Castle being my number one favorite. More Howl: The greatest compliment I ever received (regarding my looks) was when somebody told me I kind of look like Howl.

I've never felt the need to watch 30 anime at once, but I could picture that being a difficult task. My watching style is to watch and enjoy one anime at a time. Also, I tend to hate any anime with fillers. Rurouni Kenshin being probably the only exception.

From my experience losing interest is more of a prolonged temporary thing. Often after reading a VN I won't pick up another one for several months to half a year. I generally get through around 2-3 VNs a year, with some years being better than others. (Also I've been reading VNs on/off for several years now). Honestly just give them a break for a while and before you know it you will start craving to read one. That's at least what happens to me. But if you want a good VN that will grab your interest from the start, I recommend Dysfunctional Systems. It's one of the few good OELVNs I've read.

One Piece is too long. It's a great gateway anime, but if you're already into anime then I wouldn't recommend it. I managed to get through the first 120 episode before dropping it. There are over 650 One Piece episodes! Considering the amount of episodes you would need to watch just to catch up with the rest of the community it would be quite a drag. On top of that the series is only decent. If you want a great anime that is long then I would recommend Legend of the Galactic Heroes instead. It's 110 episodes long, but unlike most anime of such length, everything in Legend of the Galactic Heroes felt like it needed to be there. If you really want to experience One Piece though, then read the manga instead. There should be less filler in the manga.

I'm definitely in this camp of people... That said for precisely the logic you gave (you have to learn to walk before you can run) I've been looking for some moege's to start reading. My only criticism is that I wish that you could provide a list of moege's that you think are best for beginners. I don't care whether the VN is boring, good or bad, I just want something to help me improve my reading of Japanese.

Main characters always sit next to the window, so therefore it's impossible for there to be a whole classroom filled with main protagonists, (unless they all cram next to the window). Great video.

Finally a Swan Song topic! This is my favorite visual novel. Let's analyze shall we. First lets talk about why the Rape scene was important. Onto the next point. I also hate Kuwagata, and that's why I love his character. We get to see how Kuwagata saw the world before and after the rape scene. Next point: While a coincidence, I actually felt this added to Tsukasa's character quite a bit. Tsukasa is presented as a stoic and silent character. I love how they put Aroe in the front cover because of how subtle her importance is. Okay on to your last point: I'm not entirely sure what your confused about. If you are wondering why no foreign aid came to help the survivor's here is why. Man its been a good 2 years since I last read Swan Song, yet so much of it remains fresh in my head. Definitely my favorite visual novel (even more than Kanon). I hope my interpretations helped you.

Really? But they host downloads for licensed games?

What Clephas said is basically my response. OELVNs need to sever ties with Otaku culture and start all over. If OELVN do this then they can succeed. The goal is only impossible if you view western Otaku as the only people who would read OELVNs. But if people use the medium of story telling to tell western stories, with western styles of art, then you could market to completely different audiences. Such as western comic book fans, and people who read novels, ect. The problem with OELVNs currently is that many developers think they have to market towards western otaku and fail to consider other audiences.

Considering my attachment/obsession with Kanon it would be impossible for me not to hate him. However it was admittedly really funny.

Nope actually I haven't. It's the only route I haven't read yet. But