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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

Japanese literature

WN: Maou-gun Saikyou no Majutsushi wa Ningen Datta

This particular WN is remarkable for a lot of reasons.  The protagonist of this story is reincarnated in another world as the adopted son of a lich general in the service of Dairokuten Maou (lol, if you can guess who else got reincarnated, I'll clap in congrats), and he joins the demonic armies as a commander while hiding the fact that he is human behind a skull mask and lich's robes.  The story itself begins after he has already begun to become famous as a conquering commander but before his re
Japanese literature

WN: Cheat Majutsu de Unmei o Nejifuseru

To be honest, this is probably the best of the last six WNs I've read in the last month.  It is also complete.  This one is a 'same world, different protagonist' story from the same world as Elf Tensei kara no Cheat Kenkokuki, and the protagonist of that one is the father one of the two heroines.  However, even if you haven't read the first story, this one stands on its own quite well. The protagonist, Souji, was a player of a game on Earth that was insanely realistic, with time compression
Japanese literature

[Edit] 4 WNs

Niito Dakedo Hello Work ni ittara Isekai ni Tsuretakareta This is a WN by Katsura Kasuga.  An unemployed NEET named Masaru goes to Hello Work (the official Japanese employment agency) and signs a contract for what he thinks is playing a video game, and instead he gets dropped into a world about to be destroyed (or so he is told) and told to test Itou's (apparently that world's god) new skill system for twenty years (incidentally, the amount of time until the end of the world).  If he surviv
Japanese literature

WN: Hell Mode

(Note: To be clear, this is an unfinished VN with over 500 chapters) Hell Mode is the WN I recently began (and finished to the current point) reading.  It is another reincarnation one, where the protagonist was a heavy gamer who is one of those types that loves high-difficulty setups, reveling in grinding, conquering dungeons, and generally indulging in his desire to see more.  He goes to a website where he gets the choice of difficulty and his job, and he picks the hardest difficulty Hell
Japanese literature

WN: Omake Tenseisha

Omake Tenseisha is the story of a girl who lived through hell on earth and had a new hell waiting for her when she was tossed aside by the gods and reincarnated again.  For those who have read a Snake's Life or Kumo, this will be a story that is somewhat familiar.  The protagonist is fairly similar to Kumoko (naturally ruthless, tends to think cheerfully most of the time, ends up eating everything that is her enemy, lol).   The story itself is one long 'driven out of a town', 'ate everythin
Japanese literature

WN: Isekai de Skill o Kaitaishitara Chito no Yome ga Zoushokushimashita

To be blunt, this WN is a straight-out slave harem story in another world.  The protagonist is a run-down salaryman who escaped a black company workplace only to end up summoned to a world where the king was raring to put his summoned heroes to work.  Quite naturally, the protagonist wants nothing to do with this, so he arranges to get himself thrown out of the castle and goes off on his own.   The protagonist, like most summoned heroes, has a unique skill (typical of this kind of story). 
Japanese literature

WN: Hazurewaku no "Joutai Ijou Skill" de Saikyou ni Natta Ore ga Subete wo Juurin suru made

This WN, also published in the West as Failure Frame, is a variant on the 'isekai summoning' genre where the summoner is malicious toward the summoned.  This particular sub-genre has become more common of late (since the straight-up good people summon heroes out of desperation setup has gotten stale), but this one stands out to me for the sheer evil and brutality of the antagonist (the goddess) and the protagonist (who is probably the epitome of an anti-hero in its most brutal form).   One
Japanese literature

WN: Ikidaore no Shoujo o Hirotta to Omottara Mirai no Maou Datta

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7471fo/34/ This is a very short WN I read on a whim over the course of a few hours.  It is complete for what it is, and what it is isn't what you'd think.  The protagonist is a reincarnator who was reborn in a game world, where he became a rootless traveling mage, sightseeing in the fantasy world he knew from the game.  One day, he comes across a collapsed Dragonkin girl, who turns out to be the demon lord from the game. This story is one of romance and redem
Japanese literature

WN: 29sai Dokushin wa Isekai de Jiyuu ni Ikita...katta

This series is a funny little one by the same author as Surviving in another world with Goshujinsama (not to my taste, as the protag is M and a bit of a hetare, but it is really popular in Japan).  The protagonist of this story is randomly transported to another world by a mischievous evil god (Pretty sure her/his real name starts with Nyarl, like most evil gods of this type in otaku stories) and left to his own devices.  Taking advantage of his high growth rate and ability to pick skills to gro
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Japanese literature

WN: Shinja Zero no Megami-sama to Hajimeru Isekai Kouryaku

This particular WN series falls into the set called 'transference', as opposed to summoning or reincarnation.  The protagonist, Takatsuki Makoto and his classmates freeze to death in a bus buried in an avalanche, only to wake up in another world, inside the Temple of Water, where it is explained to them that they have been saved by the mercy of that world's gods.  They all receive skills and are more powerful than the natives... except for Makoto, whose status doesn't rise when he levels and onl
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Japanese literature

Blessing from the Goddess and Transfer to Another World

This particular WN falls into a particular sub-genre of isekai where the protagonist is cast out of a group of people summoned as heroes to another world.  This particular genre began to become popular with Shield Hero, but it has evolved significantly since then.   In this WN, the protagonist is summoned along with eight hundred other people from the same school and is one of two people who are not granted a gift from the goddess.  As a result, he is cast out of the castle and driven from
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Japanese literature

LN: The Great Cleric (Seija Musou)

Seija Musou, better known as the Great Cleric for its English release (which I haven't read), is an interesting story about an isekai reincarnator who becomes a cleric purely because he wants to die of old age this time around.   In a way, Luciel, the protagonist, is fairly similar to Satou, the protagonist of Death March, in that his goal isn't to save the world but he ends up doing it anyway.  The biggest difference is that Luciel isn't all-powerful (well, at least not until VERY late in
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Japanese literature

LN: Yaritsukai to Kuroneko

To be clear, I haven't finished this particular WN series (at over 900 chapters, all of them of reasonable length, that would take a long time).  I have gotten around halfway through the story, enough to get a solid impression of how this is going to go.  Like most of the LNs/WNs I have been reading lately, it is an isekai story.  This particular story has a different approach compared to the ones I've posted about so far.  First, this story doesn't have a specific antagonist or group of antagon
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Japanese literature

LN: Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata, Magan to Dangan o Tsukatte Isekai o Buchinuku, Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute

These three I'm only going to introduce to yall because they were the most memorable of the Web Novels/LNs that I read through in the last month. Chiyu Mahou Chiyu Mahou has the protagonist, Usato Ken, being summoned by accident along with two heroes.  Usato, being a kind-hearted young man to the core, isn't particularly annoyed or angered by this (Kazuki, one of the two heroes is more bothered by it than he is), but he has the misfortune to have a talent for healing magic, meaning he
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Japanese literature

LN: Yondome, Sacchi sarenai Rule Breaker, and Kuro no Maou

Yondome wa Iyana Shizokusei Majutsushi Yondome is a series that would probably be traumatic to watch but is ideal for reading.  I say this because the things done to the protagonist and he does to others are pretty horrifying from an objective perspective.  He spends most of his first reincarnation being tortured as an experimental subject, his magical energy drawn out to make convenient tools, and his second reincarnation has him cursed and living his life surrounded by undead of his own m
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Japanese literature

Death March Kara Hajimeru Isekai Kyusoukyoku

Let's be clear about something first.  I will be the first person to admit that I am really, seriously strange for actually enjoying the anime version of this.  However, it turns out this story is a lot less frustrating in the written form, so I imagine that those that hated how the anime went might still enjoy the books.  To be clear, Death March is, despite the whole setup, essentially a story of Satou touring the isekai to see the sights and eat good food while incidentally (to his mind) savi
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Japanese literature

Web Novel Review: Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou

Some people may have seen the relatively low-quality anime for Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou and are probably wondering why I am bothering to spout about this.  Lately I've been plowing through LNs and web novels because I ran out of interesting VNs, but this is the first one I feel a need to expound on at length.  Let's be clear, I am one of the freaks who enjoyed the anime, though I did so while wincing constantly at the animators' choices and the horrible monster CGs.  To me, Hajime's
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VNs

Princess x Princess and Kurogane Kaikitan

Princess x Princess is the sequel/extension of Rishia's route from Shuffle 2.  Essentially, it begins with Rishia enthusiastically searching out extra wives for Raito while he has difficulty adjusting to his girlfriend's values.  However, this quickly expands into a game that, to some extent, can actually be called a sequel rather than a fandisc.  This is similar to how the original Shuffle's 'extras' functioned more like true additions to the original game than fandiscs. I'm going to be bl
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Recommendations: VNs with Psychotic characters

I love 'psychologically challenged' characters, whether they are heroines, protagonists, or antagonists.  That said, I don't mean those cookie-cutter 'villains' and 'serial killer' types when I say this.  I mean characters who are twisted up inside and as a result have a completely different outlook on life or appear inconsistent on the surface as a result.  Villain and serial killer types, who just cause harm because they want to, just aren't that interesting.  Here is a shortlist of good VNs t
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Random VN: Death End Re;Quest 2

Let's first get this out there... I did not play the original game.  The reasons?  Well, mostly because it was supposedly horribly buggy and I have no patience for bugs and glitches.  The other part was that it didn't sound that interesting to me.  It sounded like an occult take on SAO.  However, I decided when this came out that I would buy it and later play it.  Why?  Because Touyama Mai is a much more interesting protagonist than Shina or Arata. The game begins with Mai being driven to m
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Ryuusei World Actor Badge and Dagger and Dies Irae Interview with Kaziklu Bey

Ryuusei World Actor Badge and Dagger I'm going to be blunt, I'm not fond of what was done with the previous game, and I felt like this one was a repeat of the same mistakes. That's not to say there aren't a lot of good points to this game and its predecessor. Kinugasa Shougo is an excellent writer (as VN writers go) with a great skill in characterization and scenario design. However, just like the first game, this one cuts off without completing the story.I'm not nearly as angry this time,
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Madoi Shiroki no Kamikakushi

This is the latest kemomomi VN from Lump of Sugar, whose best VNs all have kemomimi girls, lol.  In this one, the protagonist Takuto and his little sister Shiina are transported to the world of the gods, where human perceptions of the world, mythology and legends come to life.  As a game, this story feels a lot like a 'gentle and slow nakige'.   To be blunt, the first thing I think most people will note upon getting past the prologue of this game is... that Roka is the most moe-moe heroine
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Random VN: Ojousama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu

This game is a peculiar one.  This is the third time I've played the game, and the second time I've posted on it.  If you want to see my original review, please look here:    I'm going to focus here on coloring in some of the details of why I like this game and think it is underrated amongst Western readers of untranslated VNs.  First, the factors that lead to it being underrated. 1) The protagonist takes on a man-whore role through large swathes of the game and isn't a pure-hear
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VNs

Random VN: Yome Sagashi ga Hakadorisugite Yabai

This is the second game in Hulotte's Yabai trilogy.   It is also, by far, the highest quality of the three.  Like the other two, it is a harem-ge/charage with slight rom-com elements.  Where it differs from more modern charage/moege is that it is more of an issue of 'who' he picks rather than falling in love in the normal way.  The why of this makes sense (and not in totally forced way) within the setting and story, so that isn't necessarily an issue. The protagonist, Ashihara Daiki, is the
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Random VN: Raillore no Ryakudatsusha

Raillore is 3rdeye's  most recent chuunige, made back in 2019.  At the time, I tried to play it and dropped it after the prologue, for a number of reasons.  The primary reason was the lack of narration in combat scenes... For some reason, 3rdEye has almost no narration in this game, comparative even to charage.  Instead, battle scenes are done using CGs, brief animations, and sound-effects.  Unfortunately, this means you generally have no idea of what is going on, due to the limitations of such
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