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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

Random Vns: Itoshii Kanojo no Mamorikata

This VN is the third AXL VN I played, way back in 2011.  This VN is a charage with a twist.  That twist is that its setting is a military school run by a PMC (Private Military Corporation) named Blaze, designed to produce bodyguards, special forces mercenaries, and military researchers.  It starts out with the protagonist entering the school, hoping to reunite with his osananajimi Yui, having promised to do so as a child *pauses for laughs*, and having exchanged letters over the years, keep
Clephas

Clephas

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Devils Devel Concept: Heroines

I realized that I've always focused excessively on Sora, the protagonist, when I was describing this game, so I thought (on a whim) that I would go ahead and introduce the heroines to you all.      SPOILER WARNING     1.  Amatsu Kanata https://vndb.org/c8804 Amatsu Kanata is the first heroine in the recommended play order and perhaps the heroine who comes closest to Sora in personality.  Selfish, cold-hearted, ruthless, and in possession of an iron will that wo
Clephas

Clephas

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Japanese literature

WN: Imouto no Iru Seikatsu

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n6442ez/ This particular series is another reincarnation story, but it stands out because the entirety of the story so far is concentrated in his childhood, where he is constantly dealing with problems beyond his abilities, faced with situations where revealing his true abilities would harm his family, and generally trying to keep his yanderish little sister from being lonely.  His name is Alto Cranepot, and he is the bastard son of a noble who married into an Earl

A likely delay for VN of the Month, January 2018

To be blunt, there is no way I'm going to be able to use more than an hour or two each day for the next week for VNs.  My work pace is currently at the highest it's been since the summer of 2013.  I, quite frankly, had to cut sleep out of my schedule to get through Shogun-sama, and that is costing me in focus and energy now.  As such, I am unsure of when I will get to the next VN.   Of late, my days have consisted of work>eat>take nap>more work>eat>take nap>yet more work&g
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Litrpg: Everybody Loves Large Chests

Everybody Loves Large Chests (the series) by Neven Iliev is probably the most horrifying dark comedy fantasy I've ever read.  I laughed almost constantly throughout the first five books (what I've read) of this series... simply because it is just so far out there that it insulates you from the sheer horror of what is going on. This series is focused on the antics and life of an aberrant, sociopathic, homicidal and ever-hungry mimic (yes, the treasure-chest monster) named Boxxy T Morningwood
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Clephas

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Random VNs: Comments on Silverio's setting and VN of the Month

Silverio's setting is based approximately fifteen hundred years from now, just over a thousand years after a massive disaster obliterated the civilizations that existed then.  The disaster was caused by a dimensional reactor melt down (basically, a reactor that draws energy from higher dimensions) and it basically erased Japan, the entire east coast of China, and most of Alaska (along with most of the islands in the Pacific).  In exchange, it created a 'second sun', known as 'Amaterasu' in the a
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Sci-fi Addiction: An analysis of AI-focused sci-fi VNs

Recently, I played (partially) through Missing X-link, and this led me to think of how various VN writers handle the concept of AIs and machine sentience.  There are a number of different approaches, each of which has its own ups and downs. There are minor and major spoilers in all of these examples, and, as such, read them at your own risk.       The argument of the 'emulated human' AI and the philosophically-built AI (Komorebi no Nostalgica)- Komorebi no Nostalgi
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Update: VN of the Month plans for April's releases

For those who were wondering, I do plan to play most of the April releases.  Unlike March, there are no non-VN game releases I'm even the least bit interested in, so I won't be losing any time there.  Right now, due to a request from a friend, I'm starting with Wizard's Complex, by Windmill.  Windmill is a company that has produced a number of notable VNs, such as Witch's Garden, Hyper→Highspeed→Genius, and Kamigakari Cross Heart.   In other words, they make decent fantasy VNs, though their
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Litrpg series: Emirillia Chronicles

The Emirillia Chronicles by Michael Chatfield (incidentally my favorite litrpg author), the writer of the Ten Realms series, is one of the more fascinating ones I've come across.  Unlike the Ten Realms, which is fairly unfocused due to Erik and Rugrat's generalized motivations based on their personal ethics, desires, and whims, Emirillia has a somewhat clearer goal for the characters.   In the series, humanity was defeated by an alien empire called the Jukal, but the Jukal almost lost every
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Ojounana Character Special: Sakurazaki Hajime

Hajime is your ultimate lady's valet (not a butler, as he says repeatedly), serving as Naname Nanami's bodyguard, tutor, and general servant.  He and his sister, Hana were brought to the Naname Manor as children after their parents' death to live as servants by the head of the Yuuzenji Family at the time (the Yuuzenji are one of seven cadet branches of the Naname Family).  He earned Nanami's trust and became her ultimate ally, protecting her from attempts to forcefully betroth her to members of
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Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol 4

First, I'll give you links to my observations of the first three chapters of this game. Contains Chapter 3 Chapters 1 and 2     Now for Chapter 4... as I said in my post on Chapter 3, the bottom line for this is that if you liked the first three chapters, you'll like this one.  It is humorous, it is bloody, and it contains an odd mix of the grim and abnormal slice-of-life.  I laughed out loud - literally - several times while playing this game, and I honestly liked the
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Book series: The Recluce Saga

The Recluce Saga, despite being a somewhat niche 'high fantasy' novel series, is perhaps one of the largest and most monolithic such series to have been written in the last forty years.  Beginning back in the eighties and spanning more than twenty books now, it is LE Modesitt Jr.'s signature series, the series that propelled him from a somewhat eccentric author of varying science fantasy and science fiction novels and series to one of the quiet dominators of high fantasy as a genre.   The R
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Litrpg

Litrpg series: Apocalypse Gates and Alpha Alpha World

Recently, I've been devouring anything written by Daniel Shinhofen, the writer of the Binding Words series I recommended in a previous post.  Shinhofen is a harem specialist that can vary from having non-existent ero to full-on BDSM in his stories, but a common element to all of them is that all his protagonists end up with a harem and that harem is happy (for the most part).   Lest I make that sound like he scrimps on story, the very reverse is the case.  Every one of his series is extreme
Clephas

Clephas in Litrpg

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Book Series: The House War

The House War series is one of three co-existing (to some extent, each of the series co-exists in time, often with the same characters) series written in the same universe by Michelle West, a half-Japanese, half-Canadian writer who first came to my attention when I was stunned by the first book of the Sun Sword series. The universe created in the three series (the Sacred Hunt duology, the Sun Sword series, and the House War series) extend across over thirty years of time in-series and invol
Clephas

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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
Clephas

Clephas in Japanese literature

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The Value of Catharsis

For those who read my reviews, you will have probably heard me refer to catharsis as a positive element in VNs.  I push catharsis like it is the best new designer drug on the market I'm dealing and you are my customers.  So... the question that occurred to me recently was, what is the meaning and value of catharsis? First, while the strict dictionary definition of catharsis in literature refers to a emotional, moral, and spiritual release or cleansing, I can honestly say that the word as I
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Litrpg series: Project Crysalis

Since I'm still messing around with Cabbit's new game, I thought I'd drop a short review of a litrpg series I just finished reading. Project Crysalis is based in a future where Earth has been abandoned (not because it is ruined anymore, but because the first non-Terrestrial human nation forced people to leave) in favor of living in colonies all across our solar system.  The main political and scientific power in the first three books is Lunar, a nation built on the Moon that began when a pr
Clephas

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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

Clarification: VN commentaries

I've been asked what my standards are for VNs in general and how I apply them to my commentaries on VNs I've played in this blog. I've explained my standards before, as needed, but there is something that came out in that conversation that I think needs to be addressed. First, my favorite genre of VNs is and probably always will be chuunige.  This is because I like violence, I like internal monologues, I like hedge philosophy, and I love all that crap that makes former chuunibyou patients r
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Random Translation: Silverio Trinity (Dainsleif rant)

「かつて、核爆弾という殲滅兵器があったらしい。旧暦二十世紀に誕生した破壊の炎は、長らく人類を焼き尽くせる破壊の象徴だったんだとよ。　2500年代にもなればどの国でも当たり前の基本装備になり、それぞれが世界を焼き尽くせる量を保有しつつ、それぞれの領土へ常に矛先を向けていたそうだ。おまえ達が撃って来たらこっちも撃ち込んで滅ぼしてやる、という感じでな――いわゆる核抑止論というやつだ」 Dainsleif "In the distant past, there used to be a weapon of annihilation known as the nuclear bomb.  This destructive flame, born in the twentieth century of the old calendar, was for a long time the symbol of humanity's ability to destroy itself.  By 2500, it was basic equipment for every nation, ever
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A Ramble: Various Random subjects

The Poll To be straight with you, this is a suggestion that has been brought up numerous times by the small number of people I recommend books (in English) to.  I am a bibliophile, with a focus on history, anthropology, fantasy, and science-fiction.  It has been suggested to me that I should add book reviews/commentaries to my blog in addition to my posts on VNs.  While this is in some ways a good idea... I'm unsure if it makes sense to post about non-otaku content in this blog. Fantas
Clephas

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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

Some thoughts on Digination and its subsidiaries

As I'm currently playing Sorceress Alive and have played numerous Digination games in recent years, I thought I'd talk about my thoughts on the company and its subsidiaries.  My first thought is that the company is both aggressively pushing the current boundaries of the industry fanbase while also regressing into an older time.  When I first expressed this thought to a friend of mine, he asked me if I was crazy... but this is how I explained my thoughts to him. While charage/moege have
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Character settings, game settings, and their use

This is a theme that actually doesn't come up very often in my reviews/commentaries on VNs these days, primarily because most VNs use what settings - whether those of the characters or of the game itself - to at least an adequate degree.  There are actually very few VNs that include setting elements that are interesting but never end up used... because it irritates the hell out of people who actually pay attention. The most recent example, which made me go off on a foul-mouthed tirade in pr
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VNs

Magatsu Barai: Preliminary Thoughts

Before someone asks, I merely paused the other VN to start Magatsu Barai (and Xenoblade Chronicles 3).  I will finish it (eventually). Magatsu Barai is the first Light game to be made from beginning to end after the collapse of the company's original owners.  As such, it is only natural (and unfortunate, at least to an extent) that some things will have changed. To address the elephant in the room for anyone who has seen the cover or sample cgs... The coloring really is that awful.  I
Clephas

Clephas in VNs

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