Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and as you can see this week is quite packed because of AX that was finally happened after two years absences thanks to pandemic. While in general the AX announcements are quite interesting and that it mean there's a lot of new announcements, there's still some doubt whether we can see it quickly especially when it come to Sekai Project. Although seeing JAST recently manage to upped their game combined with their announcements, we may have some good title from them in the near future if all going well. Overall I can say that the first AX after pandemic here is quite exciting and so does in regard of this week, and for the title I'll tell it at PS later so let's see what I can write in regard of this week beforehand.

We have Chinkamo Twins release, and no much to say that it would be a nice VN if you're in the mood for little sister nukige with nice graphic so have fun if you like it. Love Lab also has some progress on Sugar Sweet Temptation, and said progress is that it's been fully translated and they're aiming for September release. Fakku also announce something, and said announcement in regard of Iku Iku Succubus exact release date in which it'll be on 19th later. Lastly we have Steam listed Kirikoi Golden Time release date will be on 15th later, although the date might be placeholder so let's see we'll see Golden Time release at that date later.

Spike Chunsoft announced Anonymous Code, and they also state that they'll release it on 2023 later. What I know is that while initially it's not intended as part of Science Adventure series, some times later the creator said that Anonymous Code here is the part of Science Adventure series because he realized that it might help the hype if it's established in the same universe as Steins Gate. As for the premise we have Earth in 2036 was face some disaster that caused by the computer and said disaster expected to repeat in 2038, so a group of scientists decided to make an Earth Simulator by using a supercomputer, although turned out that the Earth Simulator here also manage to create their own Earth Simulator thus causing the scientist to have existential crisis. I don't understand much of it other than the MC has the power to 'Save and Load' like in video game, it'll have a lot of science fiction, and that it'll be available for PC later. Speaking of PC, we also have Noah will be available on PC as well.

Aksys Games announcement consist mostly otome VN, and unfortunately those announcements are only available for console. There's one exception though of both though, and said exception is the horror VN Death Mark II that was apparently still in development with PC version will be available. For the rest of the announcement, we have Norn9 fandisc (I only know that Nobuo Uematsu (Who's more famous as FF composer) compose some of the soundtrack of the main Norn9), Shuuen no Virche (Quite dark looking from the premise, seeing that it involve curse and death along with the female MC was called up as the god of death because she's said to bring misfortune to anyone who is close with her), and Radiant Tale (The premise is apparently featuring the circus or something like that (The group is even named CIRCUS), and the female MC is quite good looking). For the info, all of their announcements were slated to be released on 2023 later.

Shiravune announced several new VNs, and if I may blunt all of those are quite plain compared to what they can do in the past. At least Great Deceiver here has a nice art courtesy of Seishoujo (Bible Black, Discipline, and Starless artist), and yes I know that it's Empress's VN which mean that supposedly it should be JAST's license although perhaps because there's a character from elf as the cameo the producer decided to ask Shiravune to localize it. Anyway if you want to get Great Deceiver bcause of the nice art it'll be released on August 5th later. For the other announcements, we have one Escude VN (Himeyoku) with the premise the MC taking the revenge by corrupting the princess with the help of the demons, one Dieselmine nukige, and two Debonosu VN (Tamakagura and the second part of Maika trilogy). At least Shiravune will release those in this fall with they'll release Dieselmine nukige in August later, and there'll be eight more VNs from them at this year.

This time Mangagamer only has two announcements, although this time they also do some updates to both Rance license with IX was almost ready for the testing because they already got the testing build for it, and X was already past halfway (52%) translated. Coincidentally one of their announcement is Rance, or more specifically Rance 03 in which it's the remake of the old Rance 3 with the revamped gameplay and more importantly add the voice acting. What I can say is that while Rance 3 story here is can be said to be better than the previous two Rance and that it's also translated, I would say that the remake is better anyway seeing that the original Rance 3 graphic was already outdated and that 03 here has some change in the story. For the last announcement we have BL VN Lkyt with the premise resemble Attack on Titan one, and it's from the same company who produce both No Thank You and Room No. 9.

Fan Translation

After two years since the beginning of the fan translation project from yumi, I figure that I should keep my eyes on the project that has the goal to translate GL VN True Love's Lily Dyes Red (Or in short it's Manakashi from the Japanese name Manakashi no Yuri wa Akaku Somaru). What I can say is that while the art is definitely cute looking, there's quite a number of twisted sex scenes which may be too disturbing if you decided to play it which is fitting seeing that it's from Bug System who as we know also develop Chrono Box that also has some twisted sex scenes. Obviously anyone else who didn't like disturbing sex scenes should be beware of the contents, especially if you're playing for GL romance (Of course Manakashi here should be interested if you like the combination of GL and twisted sex scenes). Anyway as for the current progress we have it at 42.09% translated.

For the rest of fan translation updates, we have Imaimo was fully translated with the team decided to put focus on image editing, Noah was past halfway (50.15%) edited along with 49.29% TLC (It seems they decided to keep going despite Noah PC version was announced), Aya's route of Akagoei FD along with one third of Takanori's Extra was translated, Chronos was at 30% translated, Ruitomo was at 3.01% edited, and Eustia was at 97.25% in programming with Licia's chapter was at 85.41% in programming. We also have Tsukihime Remake translation team announced the exact date to release Arcueid's route patch, and said date will be on 16th later. For the last update from fan translation, we have Daybreak Translation finished two sex scenes from Yuzuki's route along with revealing that Yuzuki's route has 37 script files with nine of those are already translated by Trip and the translator translated two more script files, and so we have 11 out of 37 script files for Yuzuki's route of Ginharu was translated.

Sekai Project

In AX 2022 here we have Sekai announced several title, with most of those are from Madosoft and Neko Works. But before going to it I'll list some of the progress on their title. For the updates, we have Eternal Heart was at 95% in QA (Which mean we may have Hoshimemo FD released later) and more importantly we have Amatsutsumi's exact release date on 29th later (It might be placeholder date like Kirikoi Golden Time though, so let's see it if they already find a way to work around Steam ban of it). We also have one of AX announcement from Sekai in regard of Watashi-tachi no Marriage 1/Our Marriage 1, and turned out that the developer is still working together with Sekai to localize it. Also since the plan to release it on August later, obviously both of the translation and editing work of it are already finished.

The first announcement is Happy Saint Sheol in which apparently it's the VN about doomed world with the MC encounter an angel in his work as apprentice priest, and from there he encounter six girls who may involved with the MC in one way or another. No much that I can find out other than the full version of it slated to be released in Japan on August 13th later, Sekai will released the translated version of it on 2023 later with the current progress was at 5% translated, and that apparently there'll be some twisted sex scenes along with disturbing contents.

The second announcement is Parfait in which as we know it's another Maruto Fumiaki (Damekoi and WA2 writer for the reminder) that was focused on the MC tried to revive his bankrupt cafe, and looking from the premise alone I see that it resemble Damekoi to a degree. While I know that it should be a good announcement, I can't help to be a bit worry about the removal of the sex scenes seeing that it's from GIGA and we know on how GIGA caused Sekai to remove the sex scene from Baldr Sky. Doubly so for Parfait here because GIGA here is also make PS2 version that has two new heroine and that they'll port PS2 version into PC version with the HD graphic, so the chance that Sekai will localize said version is quite likely. If anything else, at least it's more like Yoake instead of Konosora situation if Sekai forced by GIGA to localized PS2 backport edition later.

We also have three announcements from Neko Works, and naturally one of those is Nekopara VN with said Nekopara is probably the last one. Said Nekopara VN will apparently focused on the catgirl from Nekopara 4, Fraise, and more importantly the little sister Shigure, and from what I see in the full title (Nekopara After: La Vraie Famille) it might be intended as Nekopara 5 (Note that 'V' is the Roman number of 5). Another project is Inupara (From the April Fool announcement), and no much that I can see other than this time they decided to try to make the VN about dog girl instead of cat girl (At least Sayori's art here is still nice to see). For the last Neko Works announcement it's Nie no Hakoniwa that was developed by Neko Works branch, Chatte Noire (Or in English 'Black Cat') with said branch will focused on the darker VN as the name suggest. As for Hakoniwa itself, from what I see it'll involving some sort of curse and nightmare. If anything else, at least it's nice to see that Neko Works trying to make some VN with darker story.

The first Madosoft VN that Sekai announced is Raspberry Cube, in which it's the VN that was developed after Wagahigh. Speaking of Madosoft, I realized that the hair color of the heroines are following a pattern, although seeing that the VN is still good enough as charage I suppose it didn't matter much (Or as some people saying if it ain't broken don't fix it). At least Madosot realized that drawing all heroines with big breast won't give everyone good impression to the VN, so good for them. The premise is goes like we have the MC Satoru come back into his hometown after several years away from it, and he tried to live up to his principle to do good once a day. While initially he seems to be successful to do the principle with three heroines, unfortunately Satoru's deed here seems to not working with the fourth heroine. The other notable feature is that Raspberry Cube here didn't have common route, which make this VN is like Makeover.

The second Madosoft VN announcement is Hamidashi Creative, and said VN is the one that people hoping that it would be translated. I admit that I sort of hoping that either Nekonyan or even Shiravune will took the license of it when Madosoft said that they'll localize it, but turned out that Sekai still the one who worked on it. Anyway in Hamidashi we have the return of student council setting like in Wagahigh, although this time we have our MC worked as student council president that he initially isn't ready for it because the school has a good idea to chose the president through lottery, and as the result he's at first scrambling for the help for a while before finally getting some help from the four heroines. Like Wagahigh each heroines are talented in certain field, although this time it's related to pop culture (Novelist, VA, illustrator, and VTuber). Unlike Raspberry Cube in that it has no common route, this time Madosoft decided to make a long common route.

JAST USA

It's quite surprising that JAST here manage to announce several interesting title, and combining with their current release pace we may see the announcements will be released within reasonable time. Anyway we also have some progress from their other available project, with one of those is in regard of waiting for the developer to develop Machine Child. We also have JAST announced that they resume the work on Katahane, admitting that the work on Sumaga is going slowly, and lastly saying that Slow Project is still being worked on. We also have JAST announced another Mamomo Musume exact release date (For the info it'll be released on 25th later), and for the reminder Mamono Musume here is a series of nukige that was focused on monster girls with this Mamono Musume is focused on spider girl along with cyclops girl and harpy girl.

First announcement from JAST is Inyochu, and from what I can see it's nukige about demon hunter that will be facing a lot of monster that would be rape the hunter if they fail to exterminate it. Well not exactly my cup of tea here, but some people may find Inyochu interesting. The second announcement is Gore Screaming Show, and yes it's been speculated that JAST will license it so it's pretty much inevitable. I know that it also got fan translation project, although I suppose it's good that JAST manage to get this seeing that JAST already has doing much on the translation work compared to the project. For more info the artist for the VN is Ueda Metawo who as we know worked on Sadistic Blood and Dead Aegis, and his drawing in this VN is still good looking despite that Screaming Show here is a 16 years old VN. On the other hand though, it mean that he can draw disturbing sex scenes very well so much that you can feel on how disturbing the contents from the drawing alone.

Third announcement from JAST is one of Alcot VN called Tokyo Hero Project, and from what I can see this VN is more or less tokusatsu parody (The fact that Alcot parodied Toei logo here is the giveaway) with the MC here witness the battle between the hero and the villain cadre only to had him miss the chance for part time job. Then the MC search the new part time job, and he met with the villain boss who accept him to do the job. Turned out that the part time job is involving the MC working as the cadre with his task is battling the hero (Or rather the heroine because the hero in here is female and thus one of the love interest) with the MC using mascot powered suit. What I understand from the premise is that the MC here is more or less like Onigokko in that the MC was acted as the antagonist, although this time it's because of the job instead of being the inherited one.

The fourth announcement is from their usual partner, and said partner is Ninetail although the announced VN is not one of Venus Blood VN but instead it's Gears of Dragoon 2. I can see that some people asking on why JAST not license the first game, and if I may speculate perhaps it's because of the resolution (The first game is only at 800x600, while the second game is at 1280x720). Gears of Dragoon 2 here is the dungeon crawling RPG, and the premise is we have the MC who inherited his father wish to traverse into the dungeon in order to obtain the great power, although as we know from usual dungeon crawling RPG going to reach the final point of the dungeon won't be easy so obviously the MC ask some help from several female characters who one way or another will have sex with him (Duh). Speaking of sex scenes, seeing that it's Ninetail VN of course it still has some tentacle sex scenes.

Last but not the least we have Tokyo Necro, as in the Nitroplus VN that was released back on 2016. For Tokyo Necro itself, we'll going to have two MCs with different gender (Male and female) and four heroines, so we can say that Tokyo Necro here is half GL VN. Of course though seeing that it's Nitroplus there's more than GL story in Tokyo Necro, namely that the setting is in 2199 with the world entered the second Ice Age. In said years there's a lot of zombie with some people are capable to handle them (Necromancers), and the one who tried to fight the Necromancers are both MCs who are the member of the organization that has the goal to fight it. One day the male MC Souun encounter an amnesiac girl who remember nothing but her name is Hougyou Ilia, and seeing that Ilia was somehow targeted by Necromancers Souun decided to protect her. Obviously there'll be a lot of battle as per Nitroplus VN, and you can look forward into it later if you want some action VN.

Almost forget to mention that all of JAST announcements here already have progress. For the roundup of the progress, Inyouchu was fully translated and edited, Gore Screaming Show was at 65% translated along with 40% edited with the release planned at this year (Well let's see if JAST can do it later), Tokyo Hero Project was at 90% translated along with 40% edited, Gears of Dragoon 2 was fully translated and edited with said VN was currently in testing, and Tokyo Necro was also already fully translated and edited with the release planned at this year (Which seems more plausible compared to Gore Screaming Show release plan, but the situation may change later).

That's all for what I can write in regard of this week along with AX 2022, and sorry for being late here. See you next week.

PS - For the title, since we have Raspberry Cube along with Nekopara 5 in which it'll feature the catgirl from Nekopara 4 Fraise, I simply changed 'Raspberry' into 'Strawberry' from Raspberry Cube so we have 'Strawberry Cube' as this week VNTS Review title. For the note, 'fraise' here is the French word (Which is quite fitting seeing that Fraise was initially in French at Nekopara 4) and in English it mean 'strawberry' which is fitting with the rest of the theme naming for the catgirl in Nekopara (All of the catgirl name are based on the ingredients that were related to the sweets).