Zalor

Agreed. I personally found Kenji to be quite an entertaining character. His eccentricity was so comical and sporadic it was difficult for me to not enjoy a scene with him.

Actually I completely agree with your criticism of some of the fan base. There are some people who read what they want to read instead of what's actually there. So yeah, I can understand frustration towards that part of the fan base.

Actually Evangelion does have thematic and underlying significance. The problem is that a lot of people don't want to spend the time actually thinking about it, and would rather merely be "entertained". It takes work to properly deconstruct and find underlying meanings and symbols in any work of literature, (or film, or anime). The first time I watched Evangelion I was like a lot of people; I didn't like it and thought that people were bullshitting all sorts of hidden meanings. However, after two years of my first viewing I decided to re watch it; and accompanied with my prior knowledge of the series I was able to see and understand the thematic depth that is present in the series. My point is that in order to really appreciate Evangelion it is something you will have to rewatch (multiple times) and spend time thinking about. People (including myself when I first watched it) who only want to be entertained will be more likely to falsely criticize the fan base of pretentiousness, and not be able to recognize the true beauty of the series. If you gave Evangelion a try and didn't like it that's fine. What I have a bit of a problem with is when people claim that there isn't actually any underlying significance in it, because that is false.

You just reminded me that in grade school I had memorized the whole book and I would challenge random classmates. I would beat them with lighting speed until they realized it was a rigged game. Good times.

I recommend Yume Miru Kusuri. The main protagonist actually has a personality, and is fairly confident. There is also a fair amount of sexual content, (not too much, not too little). And best of all, the characters and story is quite well done. I don't exactly know what defines, " alot of choices and routes". But in my opinion, Yume Miru Kusuri had a decent amount of choices. Also there are only 3 routes, but they are quite well done and each one represents a theme. One girl's route explores interpersonal relationships, another girl's route explores how drugs effect people, and the third as well as my favorite route explores bullying. The girl whose route explores interpersonal relationships, (Mizuki's route) has the most sexual content.

Who is that character that is the special appearance?

Congratulations! *claps* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFQVZ2h0V8

You may not like him, but I think the "rich kid/first world problems before that was even a thing" was an intentional insight of J.D Salinger's. Salinger very accurately portrayed a upper middle class adolescent of the age, and was in a way both sympathizing with them but also criticizing them. I think he was showing that these kids were angsty and whinny because they created there own problems since they lacked any actual problems. I'm not accusing you of this but rather saying in general, that good literature doesn't have to have likable characters. Coincidentally just a couple of days ago I was watching the movie Six Degrees of Separation, and there is a very interesting monologue about Catcher in the Rye in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arPhzlHlyEY The movie Six Degrees of Separation also deals a bit with wealthy kids who are incredibly ungrateful and are oblivious to how privileged their lives actually are. The movie deals with many other great themes, and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

That really sucks. I thought that since they were on steam that they were at least doing pretty alright. That's even worse news for me. Doomfest is the guy who got me into visual novels. Memo, (I think the first VN he ever made) was my first Visual Novel and I enjoyed it enough to further explore the medium. He's a great artist and his loss is probably a bigger blow than the lack of sales. Anyway I really hope the best for them since their visual novels often interest me a lot more than many Japanese ones.

Yes, Quartett is fully voiced. However, the main protag has a voice as well. This actually works quite well though, and I can honestly say that due to the visual presentation it would have been awkward if he didn't have a voice. As for your question about Period, It does not get a recommendation from me. Period is quite banal and in my opinion all around dull. It even lacks the very neat presentation style that Quartett has, and instead uses a text box. I really wanted to like the VN since I enjoyed Quartett, but I just couldn't since it lacked any kind of originality. Also, I'm going to let the critic inside me continue. In my opinion the writing in Quartett is nothing special either. If I were to judge Quartett only on its writing I actually wouldn't recommend it. However, the music, visuals, and technical presentation are so excellent that it makes up for the bad writing, and even allowed for me to enjoy it. And usually good writing is a must for me, so for me to still derive pleasure from it still says something.

Quartett! is a great VN that fulfills most of your requirements. The only demand that Quartett! might lack in is that it has somewhat frequent choices. However! The choices are really easy and obvious, and the choices only seem frequent because the VN itself is quite short. In fact, that's another reason Quartett! would be great to get back into VN's. It is short and sweet and could work as a great appetizer. Also the Interface and presentation are amazing in this VN. The game doesn't use text boxes and is like a colored manga only even smoother and better. It's hard to explain the presentation, but it's very good and quite innovative. I highly recommend you give Quartett! a shot! Here is an example of how the presentation of the game looks like:

I'm none of these, I'm an individual. Anyway, If I were to classify myself as one of these I would think I'm a sort of Kuudere. I'm not blunt or cold in any way. However, I am cynical and the most important attribute that I think has me identify more with Kuudere then the other categories is that I very rarely show my affectionate side. It's not that I'm cold (far from it), but I don't often express my honest feelings. For example I will purposely hide any affection from a girl I am attracted to, but at the same time be able to hold engaging and friendly conversations with them. (This is why I am so often fucking friend zoned, and its all my fault!). For whatever reason I feel really embarrassed if people know I feel honest affection towards them, and often I do my best to conceal it. (Hope I'm not the only one like this).

The title of this topic reminds me of this song since the fist line you hear is "It's Alive!": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwks_qV3h2U (I had a very short lived metal phase. MegaDeth being one of the few bands I was exposed to in that short period). Anyway, I was wondering why I couldn't access the site a few days ago. Nice to know everything is running again.

I think in the intellectual/academic community anime is largely not as respected as it should be. However, on to your point about video games; I agree video games are definitely a form of expression that has its merits. No where is this more clear than in indie game development.

I agree, and well said. Also, just a couple of days ago I ran across two videos where my views and concerns about art were expressed quite accurately. Very insightful view of art vs escapism by the brilliant writer David Foster Wallace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_xwBIcH1V0 This next video addresses a lot of my concerns on art on a cultural level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39UJuPogwiY I think this also applies to anime, which is why I argue that anime is art. The reason I highly esteem a minority of anime is because only a minority of anime (or any art) is unsettling and beyond mere escapism. As he suggested, only a minority of art is truly profound.

That's a great idea! That was also sort of an intention of mine by starting this topic. Well it was an intention to get Jan 7th to be Kanon's day on fuwanovel's calendar, but including the starting dates of other great VN's is a nice extension of the idea.

His whole Youtube channel is anime related. He is a fan of anime that are well written and have thematic depth to them. Such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Evangelion, Monster, etc. His target audience are anime fans who have "good taste", at least his subjective view of good taste. I personally agree with his views as works that get you to think and question life are a lot more valuable than 20 minutes of shallow entertainment that gets forgotten. Also the poor guy is a reviewer and he does watch a lot of these poorly written cliched anime to get his point across that the quality of anime has been going in a down trend for a while now.

I do agree, it would be nice to have more information. That said my Dad's been pressuring me to donate some of my money to something I care about, so I might as well use it to help fund a western made VN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z3hb93BZnI Pretty much my thoughts. I hate where the anime industry is going now...

This. There used to be an English subbed documentary about him, however now all I kind find are the raw Japanese uploads. Which is a shame because it was really interesting to see how he works and thinks as an artist. I also find Nobuyuki Fukumoto's art style to be quite interesting. He is the creator of Kaiji. His art style is intentionally not pretty due to his darker settings and themes. His style of art works great with his stories as he exaggerates expressions through caricatures in a very fitting way. And of course Kentaro Miura (the creator of Berserk) has a very detailed and beautiful art style. He pays lots of attention to details and it is a marvel to look at.

I really should have posted this topic earlier today, so that's my bad. But what's to stop people from celebrating tomorrow as well, I know I still will be.

Kanon is not only a great visual novel, but also among the most influential. It was Kanon that really introduced, (and more or less perfected in my opinion) the crying girl genre in Visual Novels. It was also Kanon that first made KEY a successful company, which therefore allowed KEY to create other great VNs like Air, Clannad, Little Buster, etc. Therefore, I think Kanon deserves a holiday of its own. The reason January 7th is the chosen date is because the story of Kanon starts on January 7th. Although the prologue may take place during Jan 6th, the game doesn't really begin until Jan 7th. I personally will be celebrating what's left of this day by playing through some Kanon. I also tried to start a personal tradition last year to play through one day of Kanon for every day in the game. So basically start playing Kanon on Jan 7th, and finish playing a route on February first (the last day in the game). This was unsuccessful last year due to my schedule having been packed with work, but I'm hoping it will be successful this year. In any case, Happy Kanon Day!

If you make the wrong choices then this could happen with every heroine. For example this one time when I was doing Mai's route, I made the wrong choice when fighting a spirit and I ended up with the black screen and was returned to the main menu. So I recommend saving at choices as a precaution.

What you are describing sounds like a bad ending to me. Kanon's bad endings usually end with a black screen and a return to the main menu. Unlike some other Vns, Kanon's bad endings don't provide extra exposition and don't unlock extra CGs, which is why all the walkthroughs don't mention what you described. So just reload a previous save and good luck!

My favorite type of monster? The eerily realistic ones like Johan Liebert from the anime Monster: