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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

How I feel about games that come in parts

When Corona Blossom came out recently, I once again came face to face with a niche trend in gaming that has roots back in the nineties era console games... video games that, rather than presenting a full story in and of themselves (even if they are intended to have sequels), instead are released in parts.  Now, I thought about why this kind of game production method has never really caught on... and it took me all of ten seconds to remember why. Let's take the Shenmue series.  Really a
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7

How Adorable Heroines are now just Generic

How many of you started reading VNs, manga, or watching anime solely because the girls were so adorable?  I wasn't one of those (I began with Record of Lodoss War, lol), but Ai Yori Aoshi and Love Hina introduced me to the concept of the 'moe-heroine'.  Whether it was their way of speaking, their looks, or their attitude, moe heroines became an integral part of the otaku experience at some point (well, the male-oriented one anyway), and I actually don't have any problems with that.  I have lots
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23

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
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2

Hoshi Furu Yoru no Farnese and VN of the Month September 2017

Farnese This review was written by fun2novel and edited by me.  fun2novel's tastes run to complex settings and stories, with a strong preference for mysteries and a fondness for chuunige. Let me start of by saying that Farnese is a good game. It has all the elements that make a great Phoenix Wright style mystery game. Much of the story is inhabited by murders, corpses, clues, trials, murderers, witnesses, and other characters involved. The game is divided into several chapters wi
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Hook Soft: A few comments on Moe VNs

There are a few companies out there, such as Feng, Hook Soft, and Circus, who specialize primarily in the 'pure moe' genre. They might tack on a real story to some of their VNs (Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou), but at the core is a direct appeal to the moe-addicts that make up about seventy percent of all otakus. There is absolutely nothing wrong with moe-appeals. Almost all Japanese VN-makers have moe appeals, even ones like Light that primarily do chuunige. I don't even think that pure mo
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Himesama Love Life: Why is this month so awful so far?

Despite the title, this isn't a horrible VN. It is basically a rehash of Himesama Gentei which was a near-nukige all-moege about a protagonist 'romancing' (I have to wonder if you would really call a bunch of princesses falling in love with one idiot and him deciding on one or a harem route 'romancing') princesses. I can actually enjoy some of the heroines' routes... but the premise is so ridiculous and so unrealistically presented that it goes beyond suspension of disbelief, even for a moege.
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3

Heroine wa Tomodachi Desu ka? Koibito Desu ka? Soretomo Tomefure Desu ka?

First, for those who are familiar with me... Yes, I did play this.  Why?  Something about the way it was presented in the Getchu page said that there was more hidden beneath the surface than a standard oppai-nukige.  Thankfully, my instinct was correct, in this case. Now, for those who are curious, this game is a straight-out harem, from beginning to end.  This game's primary attractions are the comedic reactions of the heroines and the way they and the protagonist slowly 'fall'.  It is lik
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Hello, Lady Superior Entelecheia

This is essentially a bundle release of all Hello, Lady related games/scenarios.  As such, normally I wouldn't really see much of a need to go back over it... but there was enough material added here to make it worth a further assessment. Hello, Lady The original game, Hello, Lady, is unchanged from its original version.  That's to say, it is the last truly great Akatsuki Works game.  For those who have never read my long-past review of the game, it occurs during the same time per
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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
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2

Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai

Well, that was a bit of a surprise... after people's iffy ratings of the trial, I'd honestly expected this VN to be disappointing, in general, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the VN as a whole exceeded the expectations I'd had for it previously.  What were those expectations?  I thought it would be a mere variation on the usual 'human goes to another world, gains ultimate power, defeats the evil, and gets a harem' theme that defines most VNs that have a protagonist go to another world
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7

Hatsukoi Syndrome

I've been avoiding Campus's games.  Why?  Because the Uso series they began with and all their other games are based in the same setting, which I thought would be pretty frustrating.  I broke down and played this one pretty much just because it was one of only three releases this month, including Grisaia's new game, which were non-nukige and non-fandisc... that said, I'll say the conclusion first.  This game isn't VN of the Month material.  That isn't to say that this game doesn't have its
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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).
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6

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
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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
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2

Haruru Minamo ni

I first encountered Clochette with Suzunone Seven, a game recommended to me by a friend who lives in Japan.  Suzunone Seven is one of the more memorable charage I've played, both for the depth of its story and the depth of its setting and characters.  Now, Clochette is frequently jokingly referred to as 'oppai central' or 'The Oppai Corporation'... or any number of other similar names, with good reason.  Their style has it so that all the heroines are either close to flat or... the opposite.  It
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1

Haru to Yuki

This is the latest game released by Akabeisoft3, the bastard company made by Akabeisoft2 to take in all the subsidiaries of its parent company other than itself, Applique, and Akatsuki Works.  The game was written by Nakajima Taiga, who first made his name as the writer of Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu and gained yet more fame with the utsuge Inochi no Spare.  This game is a nakige, though it is one that leaves a lot more bitter in with the sweet than is normal.  It is based in a Japanese i
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0

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
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5

HaremKingdom

First, Smee is one of the few companies I've never bothered with in the past.  There were a number of reasons, but it all came down to one issue in the end... I don't like VNs where you name the protagonist.  Naming the protagonist inevitably means the protagonist is a shallow cipher/non-person whose personality and characterization can be changed to fit which heroine he is with.  As such, I tend to avoid games where it is possible to do so. HaremKingdom was an exception for two reasons...
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1

Hapymaher Character Special: Talking about the Protagonist

Naitou Tohru is the protagonist of Hapymaher and the character whose viewpoint you share for about 85% of the VN.  He is a character whose personality and situation are defined by a sense of loss and guilt so painful, it has literally driven him to the brink of insanity.  Oddly enough, the thing I find most admirable about him is the fact that is self-aware enough to actually rely on someone (most of the time) when he is at his limits and outside his specialty (which is altering/controlling his
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Hapymaher Character Special: Talking about Maia

Now, anyone who has seen pictures or videos from Hapymaher will have noticed the VN's resident loli, Maia. For various reasons, Maia is easily the character who leaves the strongest impression in the VN, hands-down.  She is the center of the VN's obvious conflict, and she easily has the greatest variety of character poses and non-H CGs.  If there is drama of some sort throughout the common route, Saki's route, Keiko's route, or Yayoi's route, she is somehow involved or the cause of it.
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1

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, as of thirty-nine minutes ago, it is officially my birthday (as of the time I checked at the beginning of making this post).  I have a lot of things to reflect on this year.  I am now thirty-six, settling into the beginnings of middle-age, knowing my lifestyle will probably kill me before I hit fifty.  I'm a sugar addict, I love fatty foods, I make my own alcoholic drinks (this year, a mixed fruit wine that actually turned out well and was much easier than the rum and hard root b
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12

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
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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
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1

Hanasaki Work Spring, part 1: Shiranui Asuka, common

So far this VN takes the form of a straight-out high-quality charage, with some nakige elements. The protagonist, Yuuma, is like the ultimate lazy guy... so much so that he researched ergonomics solely so he could create the ultimate pillow for sleeping in class. The heroines are Ayano - the much-older senpai who is a genius but has been held back more than any other person in the history of the school -, Inori - a lone-wolf girl who hates people who ask her personal questions -, Wakaba - t
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Hanasaki Work Spring part 3: Hikari, Nonoka, Kanna, True

Kotobuki Hikari Hikari is the most apparently 'normal' of the heroines that have routes splitting off from the common route. She is in love with the protagonist from the beginning, so them getting together is mostly a matter of the protagonist getting over his self-derision. Her route's drama is intensely personal, though it isn't a relationship problem... The route itself has a lot more ichaicha than any of the other routes, so I felt like puking sand several times during it... but for peopl
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