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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

Maboroshi no Dystopia Final: Akari and Youko - Why the difference?

I left these two to last for the simple reason that they were obviously intended to be the main heroines. As usual, my instincts for the intentions of a writer were correct. There is a significant difference, both in depth and in detail, between these two paths and those of the other two heroines. First, in both cases, the protagonist's past (though different parts of it) is revealed, and there is something approaching drama involved in the story. Second, the heroines themselves are much dee
Clephas

Clephas

2

Sorcery Jokers: It surprised Clephas, will it surprise you?

First, I'll give you a quick run-down on this game... it is a game by 3rd Eye, a company known mostly for producing chuunige that are more moe-influenced than is the norm. This game is actually more of a mystery/chuuni/action/conspiracy type than a 'pure' chuunige. The world in which it is based is a future where, ten years before the story began, magic appeared on the scene. Large numbers of people became capable of using magic, and a new branch of science was built up solely for the purpose
Clephas

Clephas

2

Monobeno Happy End part 1: Sumi

First, I should state that Monobeno is an unapologetic lolige. The extent the writers went to to make this game a lolige (even in Alice's path) is so ridiculous I had to sigh in exasperation. Sadly, it also has one of the best plots and some of the best characters you can see in a VN. Like this company's previous VN, Gothderi, dismissing it because it is a lolige is a huge mistake. I played the original version of Monobeno, where all the endings were extremely bittersweet and vague, and
Clephas

Clephas

2

Kikaijikake no Eve: Better than its concept

I'll start out saying this. The primary reason I hadn't played this up until now was because the concept just sounded so silly on paper, no matter how many times I read it. I mean, making sex toys as a gameplay element? Seriously? However, I don't regret playing this game in any sense of the word, and it escapes being a nukige despite the concept. First, the gameplay... There are two major aspects to the gameplay, a phase where you research and make sex toys as well as other daily activi
Clephas

Clephas

2

Possibilities for August's releases: VN of the Month

Tou no Shita no Exircitus (https://vndb.org/v17835 )- This company tends to produce either excellent games or horrible games. Astronauts is constantly exploring the borderline between nukige, normal VNs, and gameplay-focused VNs and frequently tips over into one of the three. However, because they do occasionally produce good games, I can't ignore them, lol. Tenkiame (https://vndb.org/v17337 )- Because I love kitsune. Traveling Stars (https://vndb.org/v16459 )- This is the newest VN fr
Clephas

Clephas

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Tenkiame

Shiro Kon Most of you already know that one of my fetishes is mimikko... and kitsune in particular. So, it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that I liked this VN. That said, this VN is so straightforward (in a 'in a straight line' sense) that you probably shouldn't expect anything in the way of twists. The two heroines are Shiro and Kon (see the pics above). Shiro is the little sister, a white-haired loli-kitsune who is totally innocent and carefree. She is straightforward both a
Clephas

Clephas

2

DS9 Debate School Nine

I'll be blunt... I got this for free a while back from my supplier, and ever since then, I've kept it shelved, simply because the description makes it sound like a nukige. Fortunately, it isn't one... in fact, it is pretty far from that.   Basically, it is a propaganda piece, speaking on the issue of rewriting the part of the Japanese constitution that prevents them from fighting except in a case where they were attacked first. The heroines and other characters line up behind either the ones
Clephas

Clephas

2

Sakura no Uta part 1: Makoto and thoughts on Sca-ji

First, I should say that I hated Subahibi.  Those of you who loved it will probably try to convince me it was a kamige or that I'm not rating it without bias... but from my perspective, it ultimately fell flat.  Part of this is because I absolutely loathed the psychedelic fantasy craze that went through otaku media around the turn of the century and gained full strength in VNs with Sumaga and Subahibi.  Another part is that Sca-ji doesn't know when to shut up.  Oh, I honestly think that if he wr
Clephas

Clephas

2

Sakura no Uta part 2: Rin and some linguistic comments (edit: added Rina and yuri ending)

Yeah, I said I was going to wait until I'd played at least two more heroines before I posted again... but Rin's path has enough impact that I felt a distinct need to post on it ahead of time. Misakura Rin is the protagonist's osananajimi... a childhood friend and one another's first love (this is said pretty much from the beginning, so it doesn't really count as a spoiler).  For reasons the protagonist deliberately only hints at (typical Sca-ji) he has been avoiding any sort of contact with her
Clephas

Clephas

2

2015, the weakness of a year from a VN-gamer's perspective

First, I should say that never before, in my seven years playing VNs, has a year been as... stale as this one has been.  It is not that there haven't been good VNs coming out... it is just that no VNs I might consider worthy of a VN Hall of Fame have come out this entire year.  Generally speaking, I can usually expect about three to five VNs in any given year to make it into my personal 'hall of fame'.  Unfortunately, this year has literally produced none worthy of that group.  Understand, when
Clephas

Clephas

2

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

2

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

2

Issues for VN of the Month

As the title says, there are some issues for March's VN of the Month... namely the fact that there are too many releases, lol.  After playing 3 VNs, I've  played less than half of the releases for March. This means that I'm going to have to prioritize.  Now, in this case the obvious cuts are going to be the gameplay VNs.  I'm going to avoid them this time around, simply because neither of them looks like anything special anyway.  I'm also tempted to avoid Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu.  T
Clephas

Clephas

2

Thoughts on the Cipher protagonist in VNs

First, let me state what I mean by a 'cipher' protagonist.  A protagonist of this type is basically a painted-on personality who serves solely to interpret the events for you, serving as your 'eyes' and 'ears'.  A protagonist like this is most likely passive and/or reactive in relation to heroines outside of sex/romance and tends to 'go with the flow' most of the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  If the protagonist isn't really part of the story, making them into a cipher isn't a b
Clephas

Clephas

2

**ON REQUEST** Ruri no Ie

Hmm... to be honest, I haven't played many VNs of this type, mostly because they don't really fit my tastes.  This is one of those dark horror/rape/sex training VNs that also happen to be based in the middle of the Cthulhu Mythos universe.  To be precise, this one is based on an island that mirrors Innsmouth in the mythos.  It is ruled by the Mashuu Family, and the protagonist ends up marrying the last daughter of that family, Mizuki.  He also gets stuck with an immense power and the role o
Clephas

Clephas

2

An apology and Vn of the Month May 2016

I have to apologize for being unable to deliver on one of my promises... to be specific, it doesn't look like I'm going to have time to finish Seiken Tsukai no Proposition this week... although, I could already tell it wasn't going to be a solid VN of the Month candidate. Unusually, there were actually two solid candidates for May's victor... Sakura no Mori Dreamers and and Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru.  It really could have gone either way... both VNs are memorable and interesting, w
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VNs: Draculius

NSFW?   I'll say it straight out... in my mind, Draculius is one of the top two vampire VNs in existence... with the other one being Vermilion by Light.  Meromero Cute was a company that had a tendency toward making... eccentric works.  Mahou Shoujo no Taisetsu na koto is particularly memorable for the cross-dressing protagonist who spends a ridiculous amount of time being reverse-raped in a magical girl costume...  It used the fact that nobody expects mahou shoujo stories and settin
Clephas

Clephas

2

Otome Domain

Well, this is the first June's releases I've dug into, and it was an... interesting experience.  This VN is a thematic trap protagonist VN that is fully voiced.  I say it is 'thematic' because all the heroines share the same general quality/direction... to be specific, they are all from the 'ponkotsu ojousama' sub-archetype.  Rich girls who are cute and generally nice to look at... and have an overwhelmingly high number of seeming irredeemable flaws.  Kazari, the VN's main heroine, is
Clephas

Clephas

2

Pragmatic VN gaming: Some common sense

For better or worse, the VN localization industry in America and other Western nations is expanding rapidly, primarily due to the efforts of aggressive localization companies such as Mangagamer and Sekai Project, but also due to the increased interest on the part of at least some Japanese VN companies in making a few extra bucks through localization.  I say 'for better or worse' because the increase in localizations has actually begun to outline what some of the biggest problems with VNs ar
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VNs: Shunki Gentei Poko a Poko

First, I should say that this is a low-price VN in the same setting as Hatsugamai (one of the better VNs released this year), written by the same guy who wrote that estimable VN, as well as Senren Banka, Love Rec, Satsukoi, Clover Days, Karumaruka Circle (Saga Planets), and Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai.  In other words, this guy is one of those rare, extremely high-skilled writers who regularly pumps out the highest quality moe-bait charage that so many Fuwans love but can also be loved by pe
Clephas

Clephas

2

Gin'iro, Haruka Part 1: Common and Bethly

First, I'm going to say right out that this VN feels very familiar to me, as someone who dropped Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai.  I dropped that game for a number of reasons... but the biggest one was that I was extremely tired of slice-of-life and romance at the time.  Since Hoshi Ori (and indeed all games by Tone Works) is a pure slice-of-life/romance VN (not charage) it just was a bad time for me to hit on it.  As I studied my feelings about my experiences with the path I'd played, I went ahead and rat
Clephas

Clephas

2

My odd experiences with Anime icons

Anime, if you limit it to Japanese animation (the actual word in Japanese refers to all animated shows, but I'm limiting the definition to J-animation), has been around since 1917, but anime as we know it, in its earliest distinct form, was born in the 1960's.  My personal experience with anime (where I understood it to be anime, as opposed to my Voltron experience in the mid eighties as a kid) began in 1992, with Record of Lodoss War (the OVA series, not the TV series), drawing me in and making
Clephas

Clephas

2

Oni ga Kuru. ~Ane ga Hinshi de Pinchi Desu~

First, I should mention that this VN, despite having a different writer, is in a style that is very similar to that of Oni Uta, a VN made by 130cm using the same artist back in 2009.  I say 'the same style', because the character dynamics are eerily similar.  First, there is the ponkotsu oneechan who is open about her desire to reverse-rape the protagonist (though she prefers it the other way around).  Second, there is the stalker osananajimi, who casually steals his underwear, toothbrushes, and
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

Foreshadowing: My experience in VNs

Foreshadowing is one of those elements in all forms of literature and entertainment media that is pretty much unavoidable.  To be specific, it's been around since at least the time of the Greek tragedies, lol. However, how a story uses foreshadowing says a lot about its style.  In a lot of chuunige, for example, it gets laid on pretty thick, though they generally choose their moment for 'grand effect' and melodrama.  In nakige, it is usually as a prelude to a tear-jerking event in the immed
Clephas

Clephas

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