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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

Issues when Reviewing/Commenting on stuff you like and stuff you don't

Something I'm sure people have noticed in my posts in this blog is that I almost invariably compare VNs I'm reading on to either a genre standard or a similar VN in the past.  To be blunt, this is a shortcut, as it is incredibly tedious to write out an extensive analysis of a genre-typical something that is only minutely different from a hundred other VNs of the same type.  Comparisons provide a frame of reference, giving the readers a chance to figure out what they can expect based on prev
Clephas

Clephas

2

Haze Man -The Local Hero-

Yes, I played this.  On the surface, this game looks like a straight-out thematic nukige... but in reality it is a comedy VN that just happens to have a lot of sexual humor and h-scenes, lol.  Basically, the protagonist Shotarou receives a fatal wound protecting a pretty girl, who proceeds to kiss him, fusing her body with his, covering him in an armor suit and granting him incredible physical abilities while also healing his wounds... and then immediately asks for sex once he is finished b
Clephas

Clephas

2

Akiyume Kukuru

Akiyume Kukuru is the third (and possibly final) game in Sumikko's 'Seasons' meta-sci-fi series.  It centers around a group of five 'Holders', people genetically altered at the embryo stage to possess possibilities that don't otherwise exist in Earth's evolution using artificial DNA and RNA known as XNA.  These five people are individuals whose actions or abilities have made them a threat to society/the government/etc., and they have been exiled to Ruruan, a closed city in Hokkaido where a
Clephas

Clephas

2

Venus Blood: Ragnarok

Yes, you were waiting for it, all you tentacle-loving freaks... this is the newest game in the Venus Blood series, as full of tentacles and sex-training as any of the others...  I come to you having finished the Law route and after being forced to go back a chapter in order to get to the Chaos route on my second playthrough (apparently you absolutely have to start the 'goddess insanity' chapter, by failing to complete one of the monster-hunting side-quests).  The gameplay will be familiar t
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VNs: Kono Sekai no Mukou de

Kono Sekai no Mukou de was the first game made by Orange Yell, and it is based in the same world as their second game, Sakura Nikagetsu.  This company is a low-budget maker that produces comedy/nakige (from the time between each release and the low budget, I'm guessing they are almost completely self-funded).  While they are nothing special visually or in terms of the audio, their games 'have heart' as some people put it. Kono Sekai starts out just after the protagonist, Asobu, discovers hi
Clephas

Clephas

2

A Minor question

At present, I'm conflicted between playing Silverio Trinity, a VN I've been anticipating for quite some time, and continuing Tales of Berseria, which I'm enjoying immensely.  Right now, the balance of my thoughts is caught perfectly between the two, so I'd like yall to decide by tomorrow morning, lol.
Clephas

Clephas

2

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
Clephas

Clephas

2

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
Clephas

Clephas

2

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
Clephas

Clephas

2

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
Clephas

Clephas

2

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

Clephas

2

The pitfalls of creating a unique setting

I'm currently playing Ai yori Aoi Umi no Hate, AXL's latest game by their 'unusual slice-of-life' team, and the setting is seriously bothering me.  It isn't that the concept is boring... there is nothing wrong with the concept of people living on a massive self-repairing ship hundreds of years after the demise of land-bound culture due to global warming.  No, the problem is the concept of the game and how it interacts with the setting.  Ok, I can live with the idea that advanced culture was
Clephas

Clephas

2

Omokage Railback

First, I should mention that this review is split into two parts.  One covers the free prequel VN released back in May and the second covers the main game, which was released last week.  My personal advice is that you play the prequel first.  Both games are written in a really odd fashion (multiple narrators with the prequel and third-person with no insight into the protagonist for the main game).  Prequel The prequel covers the events eight years before the main game, filling you in o
Clephas

Clephas

2

Mono no Aware wa Sai no Koro

The review below was done by fun2novel and edited by me.  One word about the title that might be interesting to you is that 'Mono no Aware' is a term for the 'awareness of impermanence', and it is one of the fundamental concepts underlying the traditional Japanese views on life and death and mortality.  In essence Mono no Aware wa Sai no Koro is a Japanese take on the film Jumanji staring the late Robin Williams (Clephas: I cried when he died for a week straight...). However, this is doesn
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VN: Venus Blood Brave

After almost three months of playing it about a half hour a day (usually right before I sleep), I finally finished this one... I didn't have the time to devote to this all at once, so I've been inching forward to victory since it came out back in October. First, this is the latest Venus Blood game in the 'monster birth' side of the series (except for Hypno, all Venus Blood games fall into the 'Goddess Corruption' or 'monster birth' types in a general sense).  Unlike Gaia and Abyss, which re
Clephas

Clephas

2

2nd Experimental Book Post: Honor Harrington

First, I should mention that I'm a huge fan of David Weber.  Even his crappiest book is still interesting to read (the crappiest book being Out of the Dark, an Independence Day-style story where the world is saved by Dracula, lol).  However, the Honor Harrington series is my favorite series written by him. Beginning with On Basilisk Station, this military sci-fi series begins focused on the character known as - obviously - Honor Harrington, a young warship captain getting command of a new l
Clephas

Clephas

2

Companies that rest on their own laurels

(Note: Right now I'm playing Dungeon of Regalias, on a long-standing request for me to make an assessment.  This doesn't have anything to do with my statements below.) One of my pet peeves is companies that depend on their reputation to sell their games, regardless of quality.  Pulltop, Navel, and Circus are the most frequent offenders on this side...  Pulltop, in particular, has developed a habit of releasing second-rate games under existing IPs (the second and third Lovekami and their sex
Clephas

Clephas

2

Dir Lifyna

Dir Lifyna is the name of the world in which Eushully's Ikusa Megami games, Kamidori Alchemy Meister, and most of the rest of their games are based.  I love Dir Lifyna.  I don't think I'm alone in this, since it was the unexpected popularity of the setting in the original Ikusa Megami that resulted in the ridiculous number of follow up games that culminated in Ikusa Megami Zero (which most fanboys consider the best game Eushully has ever made).  The setting is deep, based in a world bu
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VN: Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic

This was one of the group of about forty VNs I played in my first year after I began playing untranslated VNs.  It was also the fourth chuunige I played that was untranslated.  For those who are interested, this game was written by Takaya Aya (the writer of several kamige, including Komorebi no Nostalgica and Otoboku 2).  He is a writer who can handle just about any genre, including nakige, chuunige, charage, serious drama, and deep science fiction.  Alicematic is his first chuunige, writte
Clephas

Clephas

2

A VN of the Month Announcement

I've been considering this for some time, but it has suddenly become a reality. To be blunt, I've come to my limit when it comes to playing pure SOL games.  Oh, I can still enjoy many of them, but if you asked me whether I can look at them without my resentment of 'normal' SOL content blinding me, the answer is no.  If I have to read through one more template date scene or see another osananajimi climb through the window from next door, I'm going to start tearing out the last remaining hair
Clephas

Clephas

2

Clephas' Translated VN recommendations

As you can imagine, I got a lot of requests for a similar list over the years, but the thing is, I don't play VNs in English that didn't start out in English.  As such, my recommendations are based entirely on my experience of the Japanese versions of these VNs, rather than the localization.  As such, don't hold me responsible for your personal experiences, lol.  I'm going to split these by genre so I don't have to answer questions along those lines.  For the purposes of fairness, I won't includ
Clephas

Clephas

2

Izuna Zanshinken Analysis [SPOILERS]

For the sake of those who haven't played the game and don't want to be spoiled, I will endeavor to keep the worst spoilers in a spoiler box, but since I can't speak of what I want to speak of without spoiling things, I'm going to say right here that if you read any further, I will spoil things for you to some degree.         First, it needs to be said that I usually present Izuna Zanshinken in a way geared to take the interest of someone without extensive experience of V
Clephas

Clephas

2

Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol 5

Umm... it really isn't worth it to make a post for this, but I went ahead and played Phantom Trigger vol 5 in Japanese. My impression of this one was that it was very  much like the 'flashback episodes' that pop up in so many urban fantasy anime of the nineties and two thousands...  It is all about Haruto and Murasaki's past (how they got acquainted, Saki's sister, etc), and, while that is in itself interesting, I felt cheated at the end. I'm going to be blunt.  They should be putting
Clephas

Clephas

2

September 2018 Releases That I'm not Playing [Edited}

This is a list of next month's releases that I'm not playing (that aren't nukige) and my thoughts on each, based on the Getchu and official pages, as well as my experience with the writers and companies involved. Raspberry Cube This is from the makers of Wagamama High Spec, one of the most average charage in existence *Clephas sticks out his tongue defiantly at the inevitable protestors, accidentally allowing several demons he was eating to escape*  First, the good signs... this game's
Clephas

Clephas

2

Fuukan no Grasesta: Story and final impressions

Now that I've completed the main game, it is time to post about the story... which is the most important part of any VN, hybrid or not. The story begins with Judar Schwarka, a Rovari (race of nomad/barbarians who are the source of prejudice due to their physical attributes) mercenary and his employer, Eutre Hyte, heading out to ambush the supply train of a Telphion Federation army besieging the Belgrad Empire forces in a fortress.  Judar, flat and uninterested in anything except the job, is
Clephas

Clephas

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