Sup~

[harry_kinomoto]

...yeah. I blame Card Captor Sakura for my chronic fascination with and adherence to the sunflower ideals of Mahou Shoujo anime. Well, more specifically, I guess Tomoyo would be more at fault. That's Tomoyo Daidouji mind you; though Ms Sakagami is cool too~

So CCS, as you may have gathered, was my entry point into the so-called Japanese Otaku culture. But even after the hype of the series and the bazillion fanboards on it I frequented (I defend to the death the notion that Tomoyo is a lesbian in the truest sense of the word) died out, my appetite for it was not sated. I wandered the anime landscape for a while, found Touhou a few years later; and VNs shortly afterward. In all cases, I find myself constantly amazed at not just the works themselves but also the sheer amount and quality of fanworks they have both conceived. To me, that spoke of passion of the highest order: produced solely for enjoyment of the process and without regard (or with less regard, shall we say~) for real-world vulgarities of money, popularity or fame - truly, art for art's sake.

I state categorically that I would not be who I am today without CCS. But if indeed CCS was the one that planted the seed, Visual Novels played no small part in making sure that what that seed became is still growing strong today. My drive to help Fuwanovel, indeed one of my main reasons for making so much noise here, stems partly from this: to give back to That Great Anonymous a little of what (s)he

*glasses*

had giveen me first.

**********

tl;dr: It's good to be here, and I hope to get along with everyone!

PS: VNs are awesome ^^

[Tay]

Welcome : ) and good luck with the demon project. I'll send what I have to you. Plus, I just found a hilarious and useful clip from G Senjou no Maou.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Tay

[Guest]

There's a CCS visual novel http://vndb.org/v4628

(Clamp should write another mahou shoujo...)

[meru]

Welcome! Ah, I remember back in my (not so)innocent youth, scouring the net for Tomoyo/Sakura yuri fic. Good times.

I also find the fan culture & fanworks one of the most interesting and fun parts of anime culture as a whole. I love doujinshi & doujin games, and fanfic. I actually wrote my dissertation on doujinshi & postmodernism.. my marker didn't seem to like it though o_o But yes, like you I want to give back to the community, and studying Japanese has meant that I can finally contribute a bit with translations, since I can't really draw or code or do anything else haha

Anyway, see ya around the forums~

[harry_kinomoto]

@Tay: Thanks ^^ Yes and let me know which G-Senjou scene's caught your eye! I've got the game and finished it so if it's trouble to send it I can find it through my own copy too~

@Aaeru: zOmg the memories~ I remember the internet was still a novelty when I first heard of those and I'd searched tirelessly for that AND that Tomoeda sports day game. Makes me wanna find it and play it again~

@Meru: Thanks~ and ohai fellow UK person Good to see that I'm not the ONLY jp/anime/vn etc fan here lol! B)

I have to say I'm quite interested in the subject of your dissertation, and would like to see a copy if possible! I was actually introduced to the very idea when a friend of mine said Jean Baudrillard's ideas on Simulacra are actually quite similar to the experience of playing a VN. Did you discuss him much??

Also, I'm not sure if you've already come across THIS book (click for link) already but it's basically discusses the subject in some detail as well. I don't agree with everything the author says in it, but it still makes for a cracking read~

[God of Conquest]

Harry, can you tell me a little about Touhou? I've always thought it would be cool to get into, but it never really seemed particularly accessible. I know it's like a fan-made game or something, right?

[meru]

Where abouts in the UK are you? I'm afraid I won't be here much longer, moving to Tokyo in a few weeks

Wow, it's really great to hear from someone who might actually understand what I was writing about XD I was actually inspired by Hiroki Azuma's book and based my thesis around his work! I did include some discussion of Baudrillard's ideas, but I didn't go as deep into that (my degree was in Japanese Studies, so I couldn't let it get too philosophical). Unfortunately I didn't get to cover the topic in anywhere near as much depth as I wanted, as it was only for a BA, and I had two terms in which to complete it. The dissertation itself wasn't actually on visual novels, but on doujinshi; specifically yaoi doujinshi and the way in which fangirls produce and consume within a postmodern framework. I'm not sure if that would be something you're interested in reading about, but if it is I can definitely send it on to you Although, looking back on it now, there's so much that I think I'd want to change/improve >_<

Feel free to send me a PM, I'm always up for chatting about any of this stuff

[harry_kinomoto]

@meru: sent you a PM!

@God of Conquest:

It's not so much fan-made as doujinshi, ie produced by non-professionals or "amateurs". The games follow the 3rd-person shooter style format and are insanely hard - too hard for me so I stick to enjoying their music and other bazillion fanworks that come out from it lol!

Check out this intro video too: