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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

Suki to Suki to de Sankaku Ren'ai

This VN is pretty straightforward.  It is a comedy charage with about 90% of the emphasis focused on the comedic aspects.  What about the romance?  At its best, it is a bare bones generic type, constantly interrupted by jokes that break the mood (deliberately).  What about the story?  Irrelevant to nonexistent. This is a VN where you get almost all the enjoyment out of the comedic aspects and character interactions.  Even if I were to compare this to the 'average' charage, the romance would
Clephas

Clephas

1

Anata ni Koi Suru Ren'ai Recette and VN of the Month May 2017

Clephas's comment I dropped this VN because I couldn't take the sugary texture of the thing... Sweetness and cute without depth turns me off every time.  This game looked to me like your standard yurufuwa food-business moege, and Kiririri's comments haven't really changed my viewpoint, lol. Kiririri's review (edited by Clephas) So, I originally played this game because Kasu was the artist for 2 of the heroines and I love her artwork. And well uh, it didn't start well. I started wi
Clephas

Clephas

0

Random VN: Venus Blood Hypno

Venus Blood Hypno is by far my favorite Venus Blood game.  There are a number of obvious reasons.  The story itself is the deepest and most interesting, it is emotionally powerful, and, if you follow the Law route, it is possible to avoid sexual corruption issues entirely. However, the true reason I love this game is because of Leonhardt and Anora. Leonhardt and Anora have one of the most powerful, deepest relationships I've seen in any type of VN, ever.  The emotional bonds between th
Clephas

Clephas

0

Hanidebi! Honey & Devil

I thought so after playing Koiken Otome... but this company is absolutely incapable of properly utilizing their settings.  Good music, mostly good characters (the protagonist sucks), decent art... but so empty of content it isn't even funny.  The sex obsession from beginning to end is carried out poorly, the actual paths have too much ichaicha, and the potentially humorous elements fall short of where they would have gone in any other game.  In other words, this is yet another kusoge f
Clephas

Clephas

1

The rules of a Good Trap Protagonist game

I will say it, yes, games with trap protagonists are one of my secret pleasures.  While there are numerous types of this particular niche in VNs, and there are a disproportionate number of this type of game compared to ten years ago, there are some rules shared by all the greats that I thought I'd put out there. 1.  A good trap protagonist is a voiced protagonist.  Most trap protagonists are voiced.  There are a number of reasons for this, but, regardless of the reason, almost all the 'good
Clephas

Clephas

9

Random VN: Uso Series (including Full Uso and extra stories)

The Uso series is the original series of kinetic novels made by Campus based in a school campus where magic and mundane exist in parallel.  The protagonist of the Uso series, Sakurai Souichirou, is the head of the Cat's Hand Club, which is a jack-of-all-trades club that will take on just about any request, as long as the individual is willing to pay the price.  However, that is merely the open face of the club, which has the purpose of gathering magical energy from the emotions of those whose re
Clephas

Clephas

2

Sen no Hatou, Tsukisome no Kouki

First, a little background for those who didn't read my previous posts on the subject.  I'm one of those rare souls who read Aiyoku no Eustia, by this same company, and came to hate it in the end.  I have reasons... even good ones.  The biggest one is that the side-heroines' endings make no sense in the context of the story as a whole.  This isn't a joke and it isn't something that can actually be denied by anyone who finished the main path (Eustia's).  This is actually the thing I despise most
Clephas

Clephas

2

Drapri Guu-Ta-Life

Really, the name of this game says it all... 'A Dragon Princess's Lazy Life'.  This game centers around Takeru, a young martial artist NEET who will do anything to avoid real work, his osananajimi Suzuka, and the dragon he picked up off the street, Haru.  I'll be honest, this game is pretty similar to Nekonin in length, if not in quality (it is slightly better), and I mostly enjoyed it because the double-boke of Takeru and Haru is so hilarious.  Neither Takeru nor Haru has anything resembling co
Clephas

Clephas

2

Koko Kara Natsu no Innocence Part 1: Common and Yuno

For those who care, I posted my thoughts on Clochette and VN activism in general in this post ( http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blogs/entry/975-clochette-activist-vn-makers-or-just-endless-oppai/ ).  Now, a few issues with this VN.  Kokonatsu (Koko kara Natsu no Innocence) very much follows in the tradition of combining science fiction, fantasy, and/or science-fantasy elements in a charage with solid scenario design and writing to create an interesting whole.  In this case, it would probably be best
Clephas

Clephas

0

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
Clephas

Clephas

5

Sakura Sakimashita Part 2: Common route, Miyako

The common route of this VN is fairly short, though what is there is pretty strong. It basically establishes the character relationships, the setting, and the characters' personalities. Since this is the role a common route should serve, I have nothing but praise for this one, lol. The character interactions are fairly comical most of the time, and the way it moves into the heroine routes is so natural you almost don't notice (in fact, you aren't supposed to notice with Miyako's route, since the
Clephas

Clephas

2

Ayakashi Contract: Final Part

Haruka Haruka is the traditional 'older woman' heroine that used to be included in just about every VN, as a token to those who preferred that type. Of course, they don't come out and say how much older she is, but considering that she was in her teens when Tsumugi was a toddler... Anyway, she is a spiritualist/youkai hunter who comes to the town with the intention of hunting down a man-eater that is supposedly hidden in the populace. She gets wrapped up in the events of the main story in
Clephas

Clephas

2

Harems: Vns and real-life

The idea of a harem is a very old one. In fact, there is literally no culture (prior to Christianity) that, sometime in its past, did not accept the idea of a harem in one form or another. However, it was never a simple system of one man simply marrying as many women as he wanted. In some places, it was a mark of familial wealth. In order to avoid long-term difficulties, a wealthy individual would take numerous wives, produce numerous sons, and split that wealth amongst those sons in order
Clephas

Clephas

5

VN of the Month plans: May Releases

I got asked what I was doing for this blog this month just today, by several people (probably because this is the longest time I've gone without posting since I started this blog). So... I suppose I'll go ahead and tell you. First, the two titles I'm reading on request (though I was planning on doing one anyway).  Sakura no Mori Dreamers (reading now) Ruri no Ie (yes, it is not exactly something I would normally bother with, but he was insistent... sort of like with Maggot Baits)
Clephas

Clephas

9

Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou 2

First, I should mention that my original review of the first Hataraku Otona didn’t really do it justice. Oh, I mentioned what I liked about it, but I was busy as hell that month, so it was what amounts to a short commentary. As such, I’m going to go into more detail this time around. Hataraku Otona 2 is the second game in the series (if you exclude the spin-off Hataraku Otaku no Ren’ai Jijou). The characters from the original game return as side characters, several years older, and it isn’t
Clephas

Clephas

0

The spirit of an older gamer: Why I play games and why other people play games

I've been playing video games more or less constantly for over twenty-five years.  That's a very simple statement that holds a surprising amount of meaning, considering how much video games have changed since I first began playing them. It began with the NES, for me... with Mario, Luigi, and the ducks.  I shot ducks out of the air, I jumped Mario across gaps and on top of turtles, without ever really understanding what was going on.  As a kid, this was fun, seriously.  Understand, this
Clephas

Clephas

14

Random VN: Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi

Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi is a game made by 130cm back in 2006, during the 'golden age of VN innovation'.  Like many of the games made during this period, it is far less bound by convention than you see in modern VNs, which has its ups and downs (as most games from this era do).  In this case, the most striking element for modern VN readers would probably be the fact that the protagonist is fully voiced.  The second is that, in most of the H-scenes (of which there are plenty), the females are the d
Clephas

Clephas

2

Yomegami

I'm going to say this straight out... Awesome job, Alcot!!!  There is a peculiar balance needed to make the perfect fantasy story-focused charage... and it has literally been years since the last time a VN has managed it.  I should know, since I play everything fantasy that isn't a nukige and some that are.  Alcot's formula of comedy (in particular sexual comedy and situational comedy) is pretty straightforward and easy to enjoy, going across cultural lines fairly easily.  As such, it
Clephas

Clephas

4

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

Clephas

0

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

0

dropping for now: IxShe Tell

I honestly normally wouldn't bother explaining why I choose not to play a given VN in a given month, but with Hooksoft games, given their rather high popularity, there is a real need for me to say something. First, I don't like Hooksoft games.  They are written well, are visually pretty, and generally have moe-stimulating heroines.  However, they are also perfect examples of every reason I can find not to bother with the genre at times.  The characters are cute, there is plenty of ichaicha
Clephas

Clephas

1

Koko Kara Natsu no Innocence Part 2: Arika, Kotobuki, and Iroha (edited)

Arika's path is... one of the ecchi-est paths I've seen in a non-nukige in a while.  That is to say, Arika plays the role of the 'honor student' of the future, the ideal of the people from Yoshikazu's era.  There are minor spoilers in the box below, but they were significant enough I had to box them up.  Besides this, it addresses seriously a number of issues when it comes to modern child-rearing and the reasons why it has become so hard (in an oblique manner) for kids to be raised in an era wh
Clephas

Clephas

0

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
Clephas

Clephas

10

An explanation of the "Golden Age of VNs"

Some veterans of reading untranslated VNs refer to the period between 2004 and 2010 as 'The Golden Age of Visual Novels'.  However, you shouldn't really take that statement at face value, as the meaning is a bit more complex than you'd think. There are some significant differences between VNs today and VNs during that period that both made it the peak of the medium's sales in Japan and produced the greatest ratio of quality VNs to crap VNs.  One of the primary differences was that, oth
Clephas

Clephas

5

Sakura Sakimashita Part 1

I'm currently replaying this, a VN by Sorahane. This is not a moege or a charage, despite the packaging. Rather, it is a VN centering around several major themes: life (its meaning), death (immediacy and fear of), and 'immortality'. This is one of the few VNs with an immortality theme that I felt attacked the matter of immortality with something approaching intelligent thought, which gave it a special place in my heart, despite the fact that this is a mediocre company overall (its other two game
Clephas

Clephas

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