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About this blog

This is a blog primarily focusing on but not limited to VNs.  It is primarily designed to express my opinion on otaku media (jrpgs, anime, manga, LNs, VNs, etc), individual VNs, and otaku community issues.   Most of the posts are related to my VN of the Month and Random VN columns, originally started in threads in the forums. 

As of March of 2017, I'm also looking for people to help with VN of the Month.

Entries in this blog

Hataraku Otaku no Ren'ai Jijou

This is the second game in the Hataraku series by Akabei Soft3, the company made when most of Akabei Soft2's subsidiaries either went out of business or merged together.  This series is about adults and adult romance in the modern world, and could be categorized as a 'non-moe charage', as the heroines aren't moe heroines, really. For my thoughts on the first game: My thoughts on this VN don't differ terribly from the original, though I do have a number of additions I would like to mak
Clephas

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2

Haruru Minamo ni

I first encountered Clochette with Suzunone Seven, a game recommended to me by a friend who lives in Japan.  Suzunone Seven is one of the more memorable charage I've played, both for the depth of its story and the depth of its setting and characters.  Now, Clochette is frequently jokingly referred to as 'oppai central' or 'The Oppai Corporation'... or any number of other similar names, with good reason.  Their style has it so that all the heroines are either close to flat or... the opposite.  It
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1

My March Release schedule

I'm going to be blunt.  As soon as Persona 5 comes out, I'll probably drop everything and stop talking for at least two or three days.  As such, you can pretty much be sure that the time from now until the fourth is the time for me to play VNs, lol.  This month is, however, extremely heavy on the number of releases, if not the level of excitement that follows them (Minori's style is antithetical to me, so I really do want to offload Trinoline on someone else, despite their high quality productio
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6

Omoi o Sasageru Otome no Melody

About the February Releases Currently, fun2novel is reading Ouka Sabaki for me, and he has a fondness for mystery games and the Ace Attorney series, so he is a good fit for that game.  When he completes it and I post his commentary, we'll make the decision on the VN of the Month for February at that point. Omoi o Sasageru Otome no Melody This is the newest game in Ensemble's ongoing trap protagonist series of ojousama-ge (charage where all or most of the characters are rich girls)
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VN of the Year 2016

As usual, I spent a lot of time thinking over this before I even considered making a decision.  The original list of candidates at the end of the year (after the initial series of in-brain eliminations) is as follows: Tokyo Necro Akeiro Kaikitan Amatsutsumi Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana (knocked Inochi no Spare out of the running) Tokyo Necro Tokyo Necro is Nitroplus's first masterpiece outside of the Science series (Steins;Gate, for those who don't know what I'm talk
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3

VN thoughts: Charage and heroine perspectives

Recently, I've had reason to consider precisely what it is that makes the difference between a strong charage and a kusoge charage.  There are a lot of important elements involved, from levels of character development to the overuse of the non-person protagonist.  However, there was one element - or rather a tool - that seems to get overlooked a lot, despite its ubiquitous presence in almost every first-class charage.  That tool is the heroine perspective. The heroine perspective is where t
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2

Potential Parters: This is what I would like someone else to take care of for March's releases

https://vndb.org/v20314 https://vndb.org/v20339 The games linked to above are the ones I would prefer to leave to someone else for March's releases.  For Giga's new game, the reason is that I can't bring myself to play anything non-Baldr by Giga.  For the other, it is because I don't like the theme (a k-on club).  Anyone who is playing one or both of these anyway, could you do me the favor of sending me your opinions when or if you complete them? 
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Looking for partners for VN of the Month

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've simply reached a point where playing four VNs from every month's releases is now unfeasible.  However, at the same time, I wish to ensure that the role I set this up for in the first place continues to be fulfilled. The Original Purpose of VN of the Month The central purpose of VN of the Month is to give people a general idea of what they can expect going into a VN that is untranslated.  Is it enjoyable?  Who would it be enjoyable for?  What kin
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My VN slump

Due to work in recent weeks, I wasn't able to play any VNs for about a week straight... and when I tried to pick up Ouka Sabaki to finish Feb's releases, I found I had no urge whatsoever to play a VN... any VN.  Understand, I've been playing VNs constantly since 2009.  I literally have not gone more than a day without playing at least a little bit of a VN (even if it was only a half hour or so) since then.  So, to my shock, I've found I don't have the energy to pick one up for the first tim
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12

Isekai Mono: 'Otherworld travels' as a genre

Traveling to other worlds is so common a plot element in otaku media that it has actually become a fantasy sub-genre in and of itself.  This is actually one of my favorite plot elements... if it isn't screwed up magnificently (like in RE:Zero) by putting the wrong sort of person into the mess. The first otaku media that hit me with this was The Vision of Escaflowne, followed by Fushigi Yuugi.  The latter isn't one of my favorite anime, but I did like it up to a point.  The former is one of
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2

JRPG: Tales of Berseria

It has been a while since I bought a new jrpg and played it all the way through in under six months...  To be blunt, most new jrpgs just aren't worth finishing these days.  I gave up on Atelier shortly after Mana Khemia, Square hasn't produced anything interesting in ten years (for a story-addict), and most of the best old series are dead or in semi-permanent hiatus stasis.  Before this, I played Zestiria, and if you read my comments on it, I mostly liked it, though there were some aspects
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5

Suisei Ginka

Suisei Ginka is the latest VN made by Akatsuki Works, the makers of such classic VNs as Ruitomo, Comyu, and Devils Devel Concept.  This was written by Morisaki Ryoto, the writer of multiple kamige including Hapymaher, Komorebi no Nostalgica (as an assistant writer), and Re:Birth Colony.  He is one of the most flexible and skilled writers out there, and I've yet to fail to enjoy a VN he's had a hand in. This VN is based in a port city half-owned by a company that caused a disastrous chemical
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8

VN element: Slice-of-life

One of the single biggest elements of most VNs in existence is slice-of-life.  This entire post is based on this fact, and it isn't one that can seriously be argued against by anyone who has read more than a hundred VNs. So what is slice-of-life?  With VNs, it is a type of scene where bits and pieces of daily life, without any particular conflict, are portrayed.  These can be humorous, mildly touching, or informative.  So what is the value of slice-of-life as a tool for storytelling? 
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4

Random VNs: Otomimi Infinity

Why did I pick this game to play?  Because, when I went into Shugaten, I was actually wanting a bit of charage goodness.  So, it seriously pissed me off when I got a mindless loli moege.  As a result, I decided to pull out one of my favorite fetish games, Otomimi Infinity.  Otomimi Infinity is based on island in a world where beast-people and humans live side by side (it isn't mentioned often enough to reinforce this, but the beast-people were originally artificial creations).  On the islan
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5

Shugaten: Almost forgot

Sadly, I couldn't bring myself to finish this one... for a certain type of person (moe-addict plus lolicon) this is a heavenly game, but... it so boring for someone who actually wants some substance under the fluff.  This is one of those cases where there is no possibility whatsoever that an ending could justify me going through twelve hours of torture (four hours was enough for me to want to sell the game on Ebay...).  The biggest problem was the fact that there is no balance to the realit
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2

Ouka Sabaki: Some preliminary comments

Because I'm a mystery-hater, there is an even chance I'll drop this VN somewhere along the line, so I'll describe what those who are interested should look at when it comes to this game. For lovers of the Ace Attorney games who don't mind or like ero content, this game is looking to be an interesting one.  Each chapter has an evidence-gathering part, followed by a part where the protagonist and his allies (I say allies because several of them are backed by outside influences or are outright
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4

Random VNs: Ouzoku

For a lot of old fans, this is Softhouse Chara's defining masterpiece... and with good reason.  It has superb, complex gameplay that rewards careful forethought and strategic thinking and more than thirty unit types to play around with, running from common infantry to dragons.  It also has a solid story with decent storytelling (though, true to Softhouse Chara form, it isn't the focus of the game). First, I should say that the first time I played this game, I seriously screwed up in my earl
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0

Nekonin exHeart

To be blunt, I'd expected at least a little more from a company that has made something of a name for itself balancing moe, ecchi content, and good story-writing.  This company occasionally slips up completely (Girls in Black was one example), and I'm afraid this is one of that type.  Nekonin follows an 'average guy' protag for roughly four hours (reading time) after he meets two kunoichi catgirls who say they've come to serve him.  The results are pretty wacky, and I actually had hopes for
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4

VN of the Month January 2017

This month was almost a no-brainer... while there were some halfway-decent charage releases, there weren't any that made a significant impression.  I'm afraid I don't have time to read Giga's newest half-hearted-but-pretty-looking charage (work is busy) and I haven't actually played any VNs since i finished Ninki Seiyuu last week.  Silverio Trinity is VN of the Month January 2017.  Normally, I wouldn't name a sequel as VN of the Month, on principle.  However, in this case, the game itself w
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Replaying VNs

I've been asked in the past many times, 'How can you replay VNs?' and 'Isn't that boring?'.  In fact, I get asked that a lot with my 'Random VNs' posts.  I thought I'd answer this question... Replaying VNs is a matter of passion.  To be blunt, if it is in a genre I don't like or hits my pet peeves too hard, I can't bring myself to replay it.  The fact is, VN experiences don't change through multiple playthroughs, and in this way they are much closer to a book than to the interactivity of ma
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Ninki Seiyuu no Tsukurikata

First, I should say that, left to my own devices, I would never have played this VN.  You ask me why?  It's because I avoid show-business themed VNs and anime like the plague.  If a rl friend hadn't begged me to try it, I would never have picked this VN up.  I should say that one thing I didn't like about this game is that it has a similar protagonist to the one from Aokana... a former talent in his field who gave up and ends up helping others 'rise to the occasion'.  To be honest, I loathe
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0

Kanojo to Ore no Lovely Day

To be honest, Parasol is one of those companies I have extremely mixed feelings about.  Roughly half of the games I've played from them, i dropped before finishing out of frustration or boredom.  This company is primarily a charage maker, so this probably won't surprise a lot of the people who read this blog, lol.  That said, this game was a surprisingly good one, wiping away the foul taste left over from Hoshi Koi.  It also told me that I'd judged Hoshi Koi about as fairly as I ever do wit
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Hoshi Koi ＊ Twinkle

As a first effort from a new company, I didn't go in with any real expectations... and that was probably a good thing. To be blunt, this VN is one of those that keeps showing signs of promise then tripping itself up along the way.  It follows the pattern of 'charage with true endings', in that it has a central story that involves elements from the non-true heroine paths... unfortunately, the endings are a total write-off.  I'm not kidding.  I don't think I could have written a more frustrat
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2

Burned out

It's been a while since a single VN burned me out completely, but Silverio Trinity managed it.  That VN had many of the best elements of its predecessor, while being more balanced, having added unique soundtracks, and overall creating a mostly new experience that, while it didn't completely transcend the original, still managed to stand on the same plane. Unfortunately, it was a highly emotional experience, with a lot of excitement along the way... so I know I won't rate any VNs I play at t
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11

Silverio Trinity Part two: Mistel Valentine, Rain Persephone, True

Mistel Valentine For those who have played Vendetta, look in the spoiler box for a small gift.  Anyway, Mistel is a Paladin of the Japan-worshiping Holy Country of Canterbury, which is based in the same region as Britain is today.  She is an older woman with a strong sense of compassion, her duty as a warrior in service to her faith and her country, and a lot of experience with the ups and downs of life.  As one of the three heroines, she shares one quality they all possess... a deep
Clephas

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