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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

A bit of Hapymaher, as a motivator and because I'm evil

Before anyone asks, no I'm not translating this VN as a whole.  For one thing, it is long and I'm lazy.  For another, it actually has a small chance of coming over here, so I'm not going to do something that will spoil the whole game for them (I want this officially localized).  This is a fully narrated version (narrated by the poster of the video) of the first few scenes of Hapymaher, which was my VN of the Year 2013.  This VN has ridiculously good music... and a frequently heartbreaking story.

Clephas

Clephas

VN of the Month Feb 2016 and March titles

First, VN of the Month 2016 basically comes down to a competition between two titles, World Election and Tsumi no Hikari Rendezvous.  The other stuff from February was mostly... disappointing.  Shugotate 2 is great... but one of my rules is that direct sequels and continuances of previous games can't compete if they require knowledge of the original to enjoy (and in this case that is true).      Both games in the posts above are solid VN of the Month candidates... and

Clephas

Clephas

Tsumi no Hikari Rendezvous

Since I finished getting the acidic, poisonous, and unreasoning emotions out of my system - see this post: I was able to get through this VN without a lot of pain and twisted emotion such as I experienced with Soreyori no Prologue.  First, this is a VN that people who prefer moege/charage will not like.  I say this because, despite the high-quality visuals, this is - like most of Minori's more recent VNs - just a few steps too far in the direction of 'down in the mud romance dram

Clephas

Clephas

Minori: Some self-examination

Now, those who remember my rave from last year will probably sigh in exasperation (or boredom) that I'm posting on Minori again.  I mentioned before that I dislike most of Minori's games on a personal level, even while acknowledging the high-level art and sound in them... My reasons were varied but all of them were pretty amorphous, probably because I was so blinded by that intense, instinctive dislike that I never really sat down and meditated on just what was driving me crazy.  I mea

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Clephas

Amaekata wa Kanojo nari ni

First, this VN is by Giga.  Yes, Giga, the same people who did the Baldr series.  However - and I have said this repeatedly in my comments on other non-Baldr Giga VNs - the second Giga steps outside of hard, complex, violent sci-fi... they get third-rate (except the visuals).  The best non-Baldr VN I've even tried to play by Giga was Harvest Overray, and even that was only just above average for a charage with a central story (though the humor was the best of Giga).  In fact, if you ignore the v

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Clephas

Why I'm going to drop Kadenz Fermata

Yes, I'm serious about dropping this VN.  There are a number of reasons... but the main one is a pet peeve that has recently become my primary one when it comes to VNs... and that is flowcharts.  I HATE flowcharts.  Making it worse is that Kadenz Fermata's flowchart is combined with an unbelievably annoying 'gameplay' system that requires you to take a really half-assed 'active' part in the battles to bring them to the best possible conclusion... even though that conclusion is often identical to

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Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart

なんだこりゃ?!  Seriously, that was what I thought as I read this VN.  'What the heck is this?!'  Mmm... at times, it felt like I was reading an adult version of a children's picture book (if such things exist), at others I felt like I was reading a VN version of the various -gatari anime series, and at yet others, I almost thought this was just another charage.  This VN is by Harukaze, a subsidiary of Minato Soft (makers of Majikoi) that has produced one other game before, Love of Ren'ai Koutei

Clephas

Clephas

World Election

Here it comes, a possible VN of the Month!!!  Seriously, I hadn't expected that Whirlpool's ten year anniversary game would be this good.  It is written by the same person who wrote Koisuru Doll to Omoi no Kiseki, and it feels in many ways like a return to the better of Whirlpool's two distinct styles.  Whirlpool's two styles are: 1- A straight moege/charage that makes a vague attempt at seriousness on occasion and inevitably falls into the habit of producing endlessly repeated 'ongoing jok

Clephas

Clephas

Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate - Bara no Seibo

First, I should mention that this is a true sequel to the original Shugo no Tate and that it is based three years after the events at St Terejia Academy.  The protagonist, Kisaragi Shuuji (who didn't get together with any of the girls from the original) is stuck in the job of the cross-dressing bodyguard, and he agrees to carry out this one last mission in exchange for the right to stop cross-dressing (lol).  I'm going to say right off the bat that Nozomi is the true/central heroine of this

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Clephas

VN of the Year 2015: A statement in Compromises

First, let me state that 2015 is the flat-out worst year for VNs I've seen out of the last six.  There was a lot of upward and downward flow hovering around the line known as 'mediocre' or 'average', but there were - saying it straight out - no kamige and few titles that really stood out from the crowd.  It is definitely the worst year since I started VN of the Month, just two years and five months (or so) ago.  Unlike in 2013 or 2014, there are not a lot of titles I really even seriously c

Clephas

Clephas

VNs: Gears of Dragoon 2, settling in for the long haul, VN of The Month Announcement

OK, I started playing Gears of Dragoon 2 about four days ago (I've only managed twenty hours so far, due to work), and I have a few comments on the game. For better or worse, Gears of Dragoon 2 Reimei no Fragments is a dungeon crawler/rpg/VN hybrid, and like most VNs of this type, it is pretty big.  To be blunt, in 20 hours, I've only managed to get to level 24 and get halfway through Chapter 2.  Considering that with the same amount of time I was already halfway through (or farther) with e

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Clephas

Fake Azure Arcology

Mmm... because I replayed Lost Azurite, I thought I'd do a bit of comparison... also because I didn't feel up to playing Sengo or Dragoon yet.  Fake Azure Arcology is based some time before Lost Azurite, in Amahara, an arcology completely cut off from the outside world.  It is a city that basically tries to maintain a sense of the 'outside' inasmuch as it is possible while essentially living inside a giant dome.  Seasons and the sky are simulated, as is weather, and it is even possible to cook r

Clephas

Clephas

Random Replay: Re:Birth Colony - Lost Azurite

Re:Birth Colony is a VN that has a special place in my heart.  It is the second VN in the two VN series about a future where a rain of meteors rendered the planet's surface lifeless and humanity is living in arcologies of various types.  The first one, Fake Azure Arcology, I plan to replay a bit later.  It has the same writer as Hapymaher, Harukiss, Sakigake Generation, and a number of other VNs going back to 2007.  The protagonist, Keram Souji (also known as Rindou Souji), is the adoptive

Clephas

Clephas

My attitude toward moege/charage

Since most of the people who read my blog at all are probably already aware of this, I'm not going to hide the fact that moege/charage aren't my favorite sector of the VN industry.  I see VNs in general as a storytelling medium first and a visual art third or fourth, so the overfocus on visual elements that defines 'true moege' and the inevitable inconsistencies and storytelling incompetence in charage can be pretty irritating for me.  That said, I have and do enjoy some charage/moege.  One

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Clephas

Angenehm Platz -Kleiner Garten Sie Erstellen-

... well, I guess I was wrong.  They do still make pure moege.  The only problem with this is that 'pure moege=kusoge' these days, so I honestly can't see a reason to be happy about that.  This VN was written partly by the same guy who wrote Flyable Heart, and it is by a company (Hexenhaus) that has a fondness for producing moe-based VNs focused on eating establishments of some sort (this case, a Cafe Club at a school).  I'll be perfectly honest... this VN starts out with all the elements n

Clephas

Clephas

Hataraku Otona no Renai Jijou

As the title above indicates, this is a story about the love life of a working adult... to be specific, a twenty-five year old salaryman named Oga Itsuki.  At the beginning of the story Itsuki, who has already begun to settle into the dull exhaustion of the salaryman style of life, is awakened to just how pathetic his life is by his immediate superior, who suggests he try to change himself.  The amazing thing is that he does go through with it, and it changes his fate (makes it interesting).

Clephas

Clephas

Tokyo Necro

OK, first I am going to avoid spoilers throughout this review, so I would like those who want to comment to avoid the same, even in spoiler boxes.  This is one of those games that is going to be harder to enjoy if you spoil it for those who come after, so I will personally eat anyone who spoils it.  This VN is by the same writer who did Sumaga (blech), Gekkou no Carnevale (yay), and Totono (a VN a lot of people here liked).  However, the style of story is much closer to that of Gekkou no Carneva

Clephas

Clephas

Hanikami Clover: Succubi and wasted potential

... it has been almost a year and a half since the last release from Studio Ryokucha, and I was looking forward to this, almost despite myself.  This company has produced some really good games over the years, and I have generally enjoyed most of their games I've played thoroughly.  At first, it seemed like this one might end up being one of the better VNs by this company, but once I finished my first route, I was forced to come to the realization that my expectations - based on the building of

Clephas

Clephas

Random VN: Majikoi S and A-1 through A-4

To be honest, it is really hard to comment on this series of sequels/fandiscs...  S For better or worse, S really is a sequel, starting from just before the events in the true route of the original.  It adds a massive number of characters (seriously, the number added is ridiculous), extended after-stories for the original game, a what-if scenario for Yuki, and five new heroine paths...  unfortunately, those heroine paths are hit and miss.  I'm going to say it outright... Tsubame's

Clephas

Clephas

Random VN replay: Majikoi

I decided while I was playing my Tsuyokiss marathon to replay the Majikoi series.  My reason?  I played the original over five years ago, and my perspective on it was bound to have changed since.  In that sense I was correct.  I came to one conclusion that I'll go ahead and state beforehand... Majikoi is a game that definitely picks its readers (in a sense, this is true of all of Takahiro's games).  Whereas the Tsuyokiss series is, for better or worse, a series of VNs in the 'traditional go

Clephas

Clephas

VN Jargon: A few words (questions and discussion welcome)

VN jargon can be one of the most confusing things on the planet for newbies, when they first start playing VNs.  I say this as a straight-out statement because jargon-related questions are some of the most common ones I get from newbies, and jargon-related misunderstandings are pretty common.  However, I'm not making this post to explain each piece of VN jargon's definition and the like, but rather to poke a few holes in the illusion of the 'stability' of the VN lingua franca that people like me

Clephas

Clephas

Random VN: Iroha ~Aki no Yuuhi ni Kagefumi o~

This is a VN made by a long-defunct company called Cait Sith.  Its members went to a number of places afterward... the more famous ones include Nekoneko soft's art crew and the writer of Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de.  In fact I can see that, in this case, some of the inspiration for the writer's later works definitely came from this VN.  It is about a young man living in a mysterious village of youkai.  He was raised from a very young age by the town's doctor, Waka-sensei, and he was watched ove

Clephas

Clephas

Random VN: Psycho Logic Love Comedy

This one is a doujin VN by Initial, a doujin group that seems to have pretty varied tastes.  To be honest... I wasn't expecting what I got with this VN.  This is a kinetic novel, meaning that there is only one story that is progressed without any branches or choices.  You progress through the story by picking your chapters, which go in in order from one to forty-six.  The game itself is about eight hours in length, and it is a science-fiction/fantasy VN. The story begins in a city walled in

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Clephas

Dropping a title: Quintuple ☆ Splash

For those interested in this game, you have my apologies... but I honestly just couldn't bring myself to play anymore of this after completing the short common route and Sohori's route.  I have a number of reasons, but the main ones are: 1.  This is a lolige.  I am not and have never been a lolicon and my tolerance for non-immortal human lolis is pretty low.  All but one of the heroines in this game are either complete lolis or borderline, and to me, that is just visually tiring after a whi

Clephas

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Tsuyokiss Festival

This VN is a direct sequel to Next, beginning approximately at the end of the common route of the original.  At this point, the characters from the original series begin streaming back into town, Kachiki appears on the scene (dramatically), and Kitsune's character is given a new facet.  However, the common route in this VN is very short, mostly providing comedy (there is one ending you can get out of the prologue/common path that is absolutely hilarious) and fitting the new character dynamics in

Clephas

Clephas

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