Year 2001 is a year of lost opportunities for visual novels, at least for chunige. The matured industry failed to produce breakthrough works. Of course there are lots of new cool openings Visual Novel Openings 2001 with songs.
My list of masterpieces in 2001:
Renaissance
Yougen Tennyo
Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia
Silent Hill: Play Novel
Gensou Suikogaiden Vol. 2: Crystal Valley no Kettou
Mizuiro
No Reality
Chain Ushinawareta Ashiato
There are two masterpieces this month - Air and Gensou Suikogaiden Vol. 1: Harmonia no Kenshi. My hate for Air is too big, so I'd nominate any other candidate besides it, so my initial choice is Gensou Suikogaiden Vol. 1: Harmonia no Kenshi as VN of the month.
1. Omakase☆Demakase Angel!! ~Chocolat to Milfy Shukufuku Shichau zo~ おまかせ☆でまかせ え～んじぇる!! ～ショコラとミルフィー祝福しちゃうぞっ～ [000901] Triangle Main character wakes up and sees two celestial girls from his dreams. Both girls want to
Foreword: C's Ware chuunige is always welcome by me. There are only couple Japanese reviews with mediocre scores, but knowing C's Ware... they must have prepared a new exhausting system like Kazeoto or Vist that most of people could not even pass through. Welcome to the elitist club review, since I made it to the end and have much to say about it.
Title: Heart & Blade
Developer: C's Ware
Date: 2000-09-29
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v6129
Youtube walkthrough:https://ww
Baldr Bullet is the definite winner as VN of the Month, but I'm not up for a gameplay game. But then the question arises - what to review from October 2000? The obvious candidate is Bloomers 2000 , but it also has gameplay elements and its content is quite ambiguous for youtube. So my choice is Kaichuudokei - a lesser known school mystery horror.
1. Fuuma Jinja 封魔神社 [001006] TinkerBell Youkai sealed for 1000 years is now released in the peaceful city. An ordianary high
Foreword: Won't lie, I only picked this game since the other notable titles of the month were gameplay-centered. But this one is a mystery story centered around time travel which makes it stand out among the rows of typical charage in October 2000.
Title: Kaichuudokei
Developer: Free's
Date: 2000-10-13
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v21778
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8GxGaUo6Yc
Synopsis: Some girl appears before main character and gives hi
Foreword: I only got sort of interested in Femme Fatale as prequel of Edelweiss and as a part of chaotic production of Inspire company. Detective mystery game should be a safe bet for an interesting story, right?
Title: Femme Fatale
Developer: Inspire
Date: 2001-05-25
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v11647
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEQ3nVwC13A
Synopsis: Taisho era. Main character is a detective in Tokyo. He returns to hometown to dispose o
The main shock this month that the number of blocked games surpassed the number of passed games for the first time and instantly by 50%. The only masterpiece of the month is Nijuuei . I also made 1/4 playthrough of Parallel Harmony ... but it was absolutely senseless to go on.
1. Twins Rhapsody ~Kaedama Ren'ai Kyousoukyoku~ ツインズラプソディ ～替玉恋愛狂想曲～ [001102] Discovery One morning main character can't find his school uniform upon waking up, but instead there's his twin sister's un
December 2000 is a total ripoff. I have zero interest in almost all its games except for Never7 -The End of Infinity- which ends up to be the VN of the Month. But for review I'd rather choose some nukige over Never7, and that game for review is Dorei Ichiba.
1. Effect ~Akuma no Ko~ effect～悪魔の仔～ [001201] Hadashi Shoujo Nagi Izumi has a normal life... except for a couple of things. Sei, a bullied girl in his class, has telekinesis. And his girlfriend, Mayumi, has the power to
Foreword: I actually knew nothing about the game apart of KeroQ background as a company. There's just one review of the game that blames SCA-JI writing as "feels amateurish and he didn't even try to write characters that would feel fitting to the setting" and theory-crafting as "it wasn't detailed or insightful enough to be interesting alone". I'm speechless. This is an absolutely genius 10/10 work and probably the best visual novel I ever read. The only possible explanation for low scores for N
Foreword: I heard about this game couple years ago that it actually had a decent plot, and around the same time got acquainted with the anime version. It's been my longtime wish to show that nukige may have a decent story, but is this exactly that case?
Title: Dorei Ichiba
Developer: Daiginjou
Date: 2000-12-22
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v1127
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wh8zelvX-I
Synopsis: During the 17th century, the Ronbaldia Allian
It took a huge amount of time to finish year 2000, but it's over. The industry has matured to contemporary state, so there's no need to search for novelties this year.
First of all, here's the collection of Visual Novel Openings 2000 with songs.
In 2000 I've made a number of videos with only 1-2 routes, so now is the chance for you to choose one of those games to make playthrough of the rest of the routes. Less than 10 votes in 2 weeks time will mean that noone needs that, an
Viper-RSR is the only masterpiece of the month
1. Psychicer Mimi サイキッカー美々 [020705] Soubi Kenkyuujo Main character is a genius young man. One day he has his psychic powers awoken in front of a female classmate. She agrees to help him train these powers with a series of exercises, but others think of them as usual lovers. Strange incidents start to happen at school - is it possible to investigate them with newly acquired powers?
Training is a form of H. The
There aren't masterpieces this month. I could not decide what to review myself. But in the end Akane Maniax has enough English reviews and Shitai o Arau is of quite familiar Silky's signature to me. I decided to play Fearless] . Akane Maniax is VN of the month even though I don't consider it a masterpiece either.
1. Akane Maniax ~Nagareboshi Densetsu Gouda~ アカネマニアックス～流れ星伝説剛田～ [020501] Age 1 2 3 Jouji Gouda is a new transfer student at Hakuryo High School. On his first day
Foreword: With deletion of boukennonikki blog there's only one review of this game left, so I hope to fill the vacuum, even though it won't be even remotely as good, but should be same critical.
Title: Vampiridzhija Vjedogonia
Developer: Nitroplus
Date: 2001-01-26
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v433
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv8FJtK-V943T3Tubn32ekIB
Synopsis: One night the protagonist sees a beautiful woman in distress; he tries
Foreword: I rated Lipstick Adv.EX as 9/10 and I just can't believe that absolutely the same people - Fairytale and scenario writer Notori Shinji - could really make a terrible game after that. I hope to present an unbiased opinion from a person who knows the series well.
Title: Lipstick ADV.4
Developer: Fairytale
Date: 2001-02-23
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v8780
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgQ6XYeF1ro
Synopsis: A small detective office
Foreword: Why would KeroQ make a moege? This thought bothered me for a while. But what if KeroQ tricked everyone and made something entirely different under facade of moege?
Title: Moekan
Developer: KeroQ
Date: 2003-01-31
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v3139
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=011WabnKsQ8&list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv_47rfDklNMh3spmTY4nrpl
Synopsis: An anarchistic country that is said to dominate the world exists on a vast island known as
The masterpieces of the month are Silent Hill: Play Novel , Gensou Suikogaiden Vol. 2: Crystal Valley no Kettou. Silent Hill: Play Novel is the winner, mostly because Suikogaiden Vol. 1 was already the winner once. But I will play Sayonara o Oshiete ~Comment te Dire Adieu~ , because I need to work out my own position here.
1. Sayonara o Oshiete ~Comment te Dire Adieu~ さよならを教えて～comment te dire adieu～ [010302] Craftwork 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The protagonist is a trainee teacher who c
No Reality and Chain Ushinawareta Ashiato are masterpieces of the month, but No Reality is the best.
1. Records of Silfade [010608] SmokingWOLF The story revolves around Eshutā who wishes to be a doctor. He managed to enter the renowned Nōma Academy, and then he starts an extraordinary school life, in which he is surrounded by weird characters and peculiar events thanks to his misfortune and hard luck...
Not sure what it's doing here. Just an RPG Maker...
There aren't masterpieces this month. But closest to it is Mizuiro . I will review Handle With Care..
1. Bishoujo Ren'ai Mahjong Series 2nd: Shiritsu Houou Gakuen: 2-nen Junjou-gumi 美少女恋愛麻雀シリーズ2nd 私立鳳凰学園 2年純情組 [010403] J-Wing 1 In the story mode player controls a young boy who attends a private academy. There he meets different girls. During conversations with them he plays mahjong, and the endings depend on whether he wins or loses in the game. There are three stories each
There aren't masterpieces this month, but I evaluate Sapphism no Gensou higher than any other game this month. Wanted to review it myself, but there are too many English reviews already from the yuri army. I'll be playing Femme Fatale since it's the prequel of Edelweiss that I have certain hopes about.
1. Sora no Fudousan 空の浮動産 [010504] Jitensha Sougyou Near future. Magic has been invented a year ago, and law faculties now study magic. Magic has become an object of numerous re
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien , Ashita no Yukinojou and Kagetsu Tooya are masterpieces of the month with Kimi ga Nozomu Eien being the clear winner. But I'm reviewing the lesser known Bittersweet Fools
1. Cast! -Private Heroine- CAST！-プライベートヒロイン- [010802] Bell-Da 1 Takumi Ogata enters Wakasagi-Gakuin, a school majoring in entertainment, to pursue his career as a writer. He meets three cute and aspiring actresses: The reliable and confident Akane, the shy and childish Saya, and the pr
Foreword: I spotted No Reality many-many years ago, but I lacked technical skills to play it properly - I had just one monitor back then, and game crashed at even sophisticated attempts to launch it in window mode or minimize in order to hook properly. Now with the help of agth and two monitors it's been a piece of cake. The most mysterious cyberpunk'ish game finally opened its doors for me.
Title: No Reality
Developer: Unknown
Date: 2001-06-29
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v638
The only masterpiece of the month is Cosmos no Sora ni, and YES, I'm going to review a nakige!
1. Nakoruru ~Ano Hito kara no Okurimono~ ナコルル～あのひとからのおくりもの～ [010706] Inter-Let's 1 This game tells the story of one of the characters from SNK's popular fighting series Samurai Spirits: the girl Nakoruru. She comes from Kamuikotan, a small village on Japan's most northern island, Hokkaido, which is populated by Ainu, a nation with its own culture and traditions. The time of t
Foreword: It's a non-voiced nakige, so I'm ill-suited to evaluate such game. But it proved to be a masterpiece even in my pretentious eyes. Game does not have a true route, so according to my review codex I only play two routes for such games - one for the heroine that seems to be the main heroine and one for the heroine that I like the most from the rest of the heroines. That's Suzuka and Haruhi routes for me. Three omake side stories are of purely comical nature and are not touched in order no
This month does not have masterpieces. I did not like the game and the anime, but there's nothing to choose from this month, so ok, Planetarian ~Chiisana Hoshi no Yume~ will pass for now. I will review the game with an interesting concept - Ano Sora no Mukougawa
1. Love Songs ♪ ADV: Futaba Riho 19-sai ~Fuyu~ LoveSongs♪アドベンチャー 双葉理保19歳〜冬〜 [041103] HuneX Riho graduates from high school and lives a life of a progressive girl paying enough attention both to love and work. Curren
