Riku

People should just read Miyabi's route already. Heck, I wasn't sure if I should do it considering my limited time, but now I decided, I'm gonna reread it with the English patch (that way I'll read faster). SHino's is fine too. Tonoko's, though, I honestly didn't like it much, but many loved it, so it's worth it too.

Yeah, it's a shame she doesn't get her own route. But because Miyabi and her are similar to Theia and Ruth from Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (light novel from the same writer) my head canon is that he ends with both of them.

The VN's worth is Miyabi's route. As long as it's translated, everything is fine. Like, seriously, the route is just so well structured and Miyabi is such a good character (+Liida!). I'm glad people will be able to play it! Special mention to Shino who has one of the most memorable and romantic H-scene I've ever read. Still remember her dialogue to this day, 5 years later. Now the question is: should I replay Miyabi route in English?

For the last one the LN is still ongoing and pretty popular. I also think it's kinda different from the WN and that's why the author abandonned the WN. EDIT: Took a peek at the WN, but it's completed apparently. Why do you say it isn't? EDIT2: Looked at the LN, it must add a LOT because as of vol 9 it's still at the 4th chapter of the WN.

Yeah, it's strangely addictive. And even now that the update pace decreased, I still eagerly wait for the next chapters even though I stalled quite a few WNs because it was a pain to wait too long between chapters.

Seeing as you're reading lot of (or rather, only) Isekai WN recently, I'd recommend: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0089bk/ Beginning looks generic (minus some foreshadowing), but it quickly becomes something far more interesting and is one of, if not the best use of an Isekai setting I read. Also, not Isekai, but recently read: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9310bv/ I found it to be a pretty good read and it should be a nice breather in between two isekai novels. EDIT: While I'm here, guess I can give a few others. https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9350eg/ is pretty nice with a MC who isn't strong but can use his head well. (main story is finished) https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2273dh/ if you want some laidback isekai where everything is peaceful. (main story is finished)

So, almost a month ago, I read the latest Youjitsu volume, and a bad habit of Kinugasa shows up in it, so I decided it was time to read Akatsuki no Goei and Reminiscence to see if the endings were really that bad. Well, let's start with the conclusion: I didn't mind the way the routes ended, but didn't like the endings themselves. I'll come back to it later. First, AkaGoei 1. It was honestly pretty disappointing. Yeah Kaito is amazing, yeah the comedy is great, but that's it. Worse, the structure of the routes is terrible. Really short common route, then heroine route starts, but there is some common route chunks inserted in between creating some incoherences in the way the characters act. Also, the start of each heroine route is basically another common route considering that whatever stuff happens without leading to anything. Anyway, the only thing AkaGoei 1 has for it is the comedy. The rest is just some patchwork making it looks like a VN. Next, AkaGoei 2. Well, it's a FD, so nothing much to say about the after stories (or the fact that Reika totally got the short end of the stick). Kaito's past was interesting and make you understand why he's so strong, so it was pretty good. AkaGoei 3. The first half is amazing. The rest not as much. Kaito gets to shine more this time, but then come another problem I have with the trilogy: we never get to see Kaito being serious. Or rather, he does get serious, but never can show his 100% (either he's tired, or injured, etc) Kaito is so strong that Kinugasa had to do that to have some sort of tension, which is a shame. Then back to my other problem: not having either an open ending or harem ending. Like I said above, I didn't mind the way the routes ended, but my problem is that considering canon stuff happening in the series, there are 2 girls who literally can't live without Kaito, and arguably 3 others who most likely will never find another man beside him. So even if not a harem ending, an open one with everyone would be better. (though, considering Anzu is only in the Forbidden Area part of the story, it'd be difficult. At least she's with Kaito in all the Forbidden Area endings). Anyway, even that aside, Kaito's awesomeness and the comedy were totally worth the time I invested in the trilogy. Special mention to Son, and his antics with Kaito. More stories should make you love the male characters like that, rather that just using the heroines. Now we go 150 years in the future with Reminiscence. It's even more of a disappointment than AkaGoei. I think the main reason is because I played them almost successively. Hidetaka is a good MC, but when compared to Kaito (who I was with for 3 VNs just before), he just pales in comparison... Also, I wasn't particularly fan of all the negotiation stuff (the cases were so obvious). Another thing I didn't like was the fact it's the future of AkaGoei. Yeah, it's just an alternate future, but still. Even more so considering the crumbs we learn (and that CG in Kyouichi's POV). Still, it wasn't boring and I did went through all the routes. Special mention to Aki's, I guess. In a way, the whole story is all about her and Hidetaka, so once you've done her path, the way you see the other routes is different. Unfortunately, I just can't care about Re:Collect, so I'll stop here. TL;DR: AkaGoei Trilogy was great and worth my time. Reminiscence wasn't bad, but too long far what it was, so I feel like I wasted a little of my time.

I love common routes too, and that's why I started to play less VN since a few years, as I don't enjoy doing each girl's route anymore. To this day, Majikoi's prologue (which is quite long for a prologue lol) is the peak of what I love in common routes. If you can read Japanese, I recommend Hikari no Umi no Apeiria. Single path and fun all the way to the end.

Futakoi? https://myanimelist.net/anime/125/Futakoi

Hey, I'm back. I played Gikei, and considering I talk about Chusingura and Miburo in the previous posts, thought I might as well talk about it here. (well, say a few words, at least) But let's do things in order. First I played Maoten. It was OK, but nothing amazing. Had some fun parts, but otherwhise pretty average. However, I quite liked the last route and thought the drama was rather well done, so I can say it was worth my time. Next is Meikei no Lupercalia. It's praised as the best VN of the year since its release, but let's be honest, I didn't really like it. I do understand why it's liked, and I think it's well written. It's just not my kind of thing. You basically follow madmen during the whole story, and even if the end is a happy one, it's an open one and everything that happened leaves a bitter taste. So, yeah, some people might love it, but it wasn't my thing. Then comes WagaHime. I loved Majikoi, so even knowing it would be different, I had to try. Liked it overall, but was quite unbalanced. Shaon, while not useless, is pretty bland and almost like air in some scenes. Honestly, aside from a few times were he was useful by himself, the rest of the time it's just thanks to Minjara that he actually does something. Anyway, lot of great and fun characters, just a shame that because there are so many and the VN is divised by country you can't have everyone together. Hope WagaHime S will have a route with everyone together. Finally, Gikei. Well, it's said everywhere, so let's say it frankly: it's far below Chusingura and Miburo, but still a good VN nonetheless. To put it simply, characters aren't as memorable as the other two, the infodumpind is FAR WORSE too (mainly because, unlike Chusingura where Suguha is alone, so nobody to explain, and Miburo where Ken is from the era, so no need, here there is either Roko or Shizuka who has to freaking explain what is each freaking place and each freaking person and each freaking everything). I didn't find the story really compelling, and while the fight animations are done even better than the other two, being Heian era, it's mostly with bows, so it was meh. Honestly, the only thing better than Chusingura and Miburo is the ending. Here we have a truly 100% happy and good ending with everyone together, and that's great. Still, it was a good VN, just that I will never reread it, unlike Chusingura that I plan to one day.

It was heavily revised, but not entirely retranslated. It's far better than the PSP version, but it still has problems. Mainly the fact that Estelle is dumber in English. Anyway, it's only FC that has this problem, and after that the localization is great. Just that Estelle will suddenly become smarter in SC. (which is, actually, what many people like about English Estelle.)

While not as good, I would always recommend Tears to Tiara II, as I quite liked it (was years ago, though, so really need to replay one day). Most of the staff is the same as Utawarerumono. Only on PS3, though.

It's funny, considering FC has the worst localization of the whole series, as the first translator back then did a horrible job. It's full of mistranslations and changes quite a few things. (Like, English Estelle is dumber than Japanese Estelle, making them almost different characters)

Didn't think I'd post four times in a row. lol Gonna be the last one of the year anyway, as I decided that I read enough VN this past month and it's time to go back to LN and WN. First I read Mirai Radio, as Musei made me want to. Wasn't bad, but not particularly good either. Then after that, well, I was thirsty for battle, so, you know, I decided to give Miburo a try. lol The first hours were boring. It's just exposition, exposition and exposition, and contrary to Chusingura, that pulls you in pretty fast, here I almost gave up. But thank god, I didn't, and a little under the 10 hours mark, it finally picks up and becomes better and better. While it's different from Chusingura, it does have similarities (SoL, battle), and those are better in Miburo in general. Mainly the character interaction. In Chusingura you're mainly with one of the four girls and a few sub characters during a long time, but in Miburo you're basically always with (almost) everyone, like a big family, and it's great. Really loved that part of the VN. But here is the catch. It's a tragedy, and the more you like the characters, the less you enjoy the story as you see them die. So I was bored in the first hours, greatly enjoyed the middle story, then little by little, it was just suffering, no joy, even if the story was still good. And because of that, while I did the other 3 "main" paths, I skipped the 3 if routes. I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy them after finishing the main one. Anyway, back to my previous post about the MC, after reading the VN I get why people don't like him much, but that's necessary for the story. Contrary to Chusingura where Suguha comes from the future and tries to change fate, here it's not the case. In fact, the objective is to have everything go as history, so Ken HAS to be "useless", because in the first place everything would have went the same even if he wasn't here anyway. And that's also the reason why he's only useful in the last if path (aka true end), because that's the reason he was made to join the Shinsengumi in the first place. So what I want to say is that, while it's a shame he isn't "good" because of that, in the frame of the story he has to be like this, so that's "fine". So yeah, while I liked Miburo, I'm left with a kinda bitter taste, but it was a great ride. And that's it. I basically played two monsters and half as well as some other VNs this month, so I think I'm good for this year. lol Don't think I'll go back to VNs before a while, but who knows, I always do things on a whim, so...

Welp, in the end continued with some VNs. Einstein Yori Ai wo Komote: utter disappointment. A shame because MC has a clear personality, girls are cute and character interactions are good. Unfortunately, the plot and the end are meh. Thank god, the next one went over my expectations. Of course, I'm talking about the VN currently being called the VN of the year: Hakuuchumu no Aojashin. Honestly, I really didn't expect to get that much into it. Especially Case 2 and 3. I loved them. They were so much fun with the right amount of drama. On the other hand, Case 1 was more serious, so liked it less, but was good nonetheless. Then Case 0 ties everything nicely, though it has some problems and I was a little disappointed by the end. The Epilogue in particular, felt like it was made pretty quickly, like it was here just to be here. (and the H) While I'm at it, the OST is stellar, voice acting is amazing (Kamishiro Misaki's voice range for each heroine is impressive) and CGs are breathtaking. Yep, this VN was an absolute beast of a production. A shame there isn't any music mode to listen to the OST, though. Anyway, wasn't planning to post here again so fast, Musei just left me that much of an impression, so even if it's just a few words, I wanted to write something.