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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

My Random VN Schedule For July

Normally, I don't finish the VN of the Month games so early (I'd expected to be forced to take more time out for Neyuki, and so I've been left at loose ends). So, I normally just pull a few random VNs out of my massive backlog (mostly stuff I got at really low prices through my friend in Japan), play them, then mini-review them. However, I've chosen to be a bit more ambitious this time around, since I have the time. I'm actually going to make a schedule! 1. Kikouyoku Senki Gin no Toki no
Clephas

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11

Bunny Black 3

I've been playing this one off and on since it came out, but I went ahead and finished it today. To be honest, this game's difficulty level is about three levels higher than either of the previous ones, whereas the actual gameplay isn't improved all that much from the second one. The addition of a town-building element just made the game tedious, rather than adding anything to it. Story wise... a good beginning, some good moments in the center, and a last part that falls flat on its face.
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1

Aoi Tori

Aoi Tori is Purple Soft's latest project, a VN based in a girls' school in the mountains, where the protagonist, a priest (I'm assuming Episcopalian/Anglican for various reasons), goes to school as an exception, as he cannot live outside of the school without being taken by demons. Ritsu, the protagonist, possesses the power to take others' negative emotions, thus enhancing their feelings of happiness and joy, and this power works best when he has sex with them.  Now, given that he is a you
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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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11gatsu no Arcadia Part 1: Nonomiya Fuuka (Nono)

Because this VN uses the same basic structure as G-senjou no Maou, the 'common route' is actually the 'true route', so I felt a need to evaluate each heroine route separately from it. People who have read my comments on the forums will realize I despise the structure, because it has a tendency to be an excuse for h-scenes and inconsistent half-assed side endings (Eustia and G-Senjou are both perpetrators of this particular crime). Keeping that in mind, I'm going to strive for something resembl
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VN Special: Reader's Choice of the Month

I've decided to start a new column called Reader's Choice of the Month.  The concept is simple.  I will post a poll of end of the month releases I don't intend to play, and the readers of my blog will have a chance to pick which one I will play and review.  This column will take the place of VN of the Month in the sense that I will still be playing something for the sake of the readers, but this time I won't be going out of my way to play every obscure charage/moege I find.  This is about p
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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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Venus Blood Lagoon part 1: Main and Law Route

First, I should note the reasons why I keep playing Venus Blood games, despite not being fond of tentacles in general and rape in particular.   The first reason is that the story and characters in each game have been exceedingly interesting, which is a good enough reason in and of itself.  However, the second reason, and the one that makes this series stand out, is the sheer depth of the gameplay most games in the series since Frontier have displayed. I played Empire and Abyss first, and, t
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Ren'ai, Karichaimashita

To be honest, I wasn't intending to read this game... then I happened to catch a Japanese review and immediately purchased a copy (that arrived two days ago).  This game has surprised me by being the first comedy SOL VN to make me laugh this year (comedy VNs being small in number in the first place making this worse), so just starting this game up was enough to satisfy me that I hadn't wasted my money.  ASa Project is a company that has long produced standard charage of various levels of quality
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Random replay: Izuna Zanshinken

Izuna Zanshinken is one of three pretty high-quality VNs made by Akatsuki Works Black during the period of a single year.  I say 'high-quality', but it was more for the pleasure levels rather than literary value.  Izuna Zanshinken and Yurikago yori Tenshi Made are both what I like to call 'perfect examples of chuunige crack' that are also readable by people who aren't translators or native Japanese.  Of course, there are hard moments, but in comparison to the normal ruck of chuunige, they are re
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Hanasaki Work Spring part 2: Kuon Ayano, Wakaba

Kuon Ayano Aaah... to be blunt, Ayano's path blows Inori's out of the water in some ways, if only because the sheer impact of her unusual approach to being the protagonist's lover can't help but make you rofl. Let's just say - as they do in the game - that Ayano is the 'best woman to make your wife but the worst as a woman'. There was almost no date time in this route, though there was plenty of ichaicha... fortunately, it was immensely humorous, so I didn't feel the need to puke sand. The dr
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0

Why I haven't posted recently? (a new addiction)

Needless to say, when I hit my latest speed bump in the form of another partial burnout on VNs, I was left wondering what to do with all that free time.  For about forty hours of that time, it was Ghost of Tsushima, but when that was over, I accidentally picked up my first litrpg on Kindle Unlimited... and oh god, I almost wish I hadn't. The problem, when I analyze it in retrospect, is that my fondness for anime like SAO, Log Horizon, and Overlord had primed me perfectly, my addictive perso
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14

Inochi no Spare

*weeps hopelessly, his face a mess with tears and other fluids* Inochi no Spare is an utsuge, produced by Akabeisoft3, the conglomerate company made from all of Akabeisoft2's subsidiaries except Akatsuki Works.  I'll be blunt, I didn't know what to think going into this.  It was blatantly an utsuge, right from the beginning... and one that is merciless in its descriptions of the characters' suffering. The disease in question is called Oumon Disease (fictional), which manifests initiall
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12

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
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2

Kami no Rhapsody: Initial impressions

Ok, first I should say that this is based in the Ikusa Megami (Battle Goddess) series world. I haven't checked to see what time period it is in, but judging by the statements so far, I'd guess it was after the events in Madou Koukaku but before the second half of Verita. That said, this is based in the most fleshed-out fantasy world in all of VNs, so there is plenty of lore to draw on and add to, and Eushully is definitely milking the setting's popularity for all it is worth. Unfortunately
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Tiny Dungeon Black and White

First, I’ll say a few words about the Tiny Dungeon series. This series is made up of five games (if you include Endless Dungeon, which is a sequel/canon ending that brings a conclusion to the post-Brave and Slave events). The first three VNs are each focused on one of the three main heroines… Veil Sein, Ururu Kajuta, and Note Ruum. The fourth VN – Brave or Slave – brings an end to the story began in Black and White, and the fifth – Endless Dungeon – is a final conclusion and after-story for t
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3

Sakura Hitohira Koi Moyou

For those who are interested, this VN is the latest production by Parasol, a company rather infamous for its incest charage (most of which are middling in quality).   This is one of the few companies where I've actually dropped most of the VNs they made simply because they were boring, rather than because of some inevitable mismatch between my tastes and some aspect of the game's setting, characters or story.  To put this in perspective, I rarely drop charage merely because they are boring.
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Kari Gurashi Ren'ai

For those who are interested, here is the first real comedy VN of the year...  The protagonist, Takuma, having returned to his hometown to live alone in his family's old house, finds that it has collapsed in on itself, and, desperate for a place to stay, ends up staying at the homes of his four childhood friends (osananajimi).  This leads to various hilarious antics and situations, with most of the heroines being 'ponkotsu' types (meaning that they are the kind of girls no sane man would wa
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5

Mirai Radio no Jinkou-Bato

First, apologies to those who actually want to read about some of August's releases.  I went on vacation (vacation being a word open to interpretation when it comes to sleeping in unfamiliar beds and helping with my brother's kids), and when I got back, I found I had absolutely no urge whatsoever to pick up a VN.  I guess that taking a true break from VNs for the first time in almost a decade (no VNs for five days straight) was enough to free me from the spell of my obsession. That said, Ji
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6

Do you like Japan?

This is a question I wonder if many people here have asked themselves... do you honestly like Japan, as a country (whether you've visited or just look in from the outside)?  My own feelings are... mixed.  Japan has a pretty fascinating culture that is essentially a scrapbook of various elements drawn from cultures that contacted it that were then evolved based on what the people of a given era wanted/needed.  However... the country itself is pretty problematic looking at it from the outside.  Po
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23

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
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2

Random VN: Bunny Black

Bunny Black is a VN and dungeon crawler by SofthouseChara, a company known for complex and well-designed game systems based in fantasy worlds. Bunny Black is one of their earlier games, and it is a lot more focused on the actual gameplay than the story. However, the gameplay is actually quite well-designed, with the ability to purchase monsters to serve as the other members of your party, the ability to choose how you will advance Darcs (the protagonist), and a mission system reminiscent of
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2

Boku wa Tomodachi - I am not Sweetheart

This is the first of August's releases I'm playing, and to be honest, I didn't really have any hopes for this VN... in a good way, my belief that it would suck was betrayed, though this is a very problematic VN, in a number of ways. 1. It is LONG. This VN is way too long for a story that is almost entirely slice-of-life (though it is an extremely abnormal life) and considering how self-abusing the protagonist tends to be. 2. The music cuts out at irregular intervals, and frequently it d
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Random VN: Baldr Sky Zero

Baldr Sky Zero is an entirely different animal from Baldr Sky Dive. I say this as a warning for those who are looking for a complete duplicate of the experience. Baldr Sky Dive was very much like a post-apocalypse apocalypse story in some ways, with a bunch of revenge thrown in. There is much to recommend to both duologies but they are fundamentally different in some ways. This review is of the first half of the Zero duology, which covers the Sakura, Kei, and Fran paths. I chose to review i
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5

My experience with Gameplay VNs

These are just a few thoughts that I've had after experiencing various gameplay VNs over the years.  First, understand that I see VNs as reading material (in the same vein as manga but with the addition of voice, some animation, and detailed narration) first and games second.  Second, the type of gameplay most likely to be fused to a VN (strategy or turn-based rpg) are ones I played for well over a decade before I first encountered VNs, so I have at least some qualifications to evaluate the
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