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I've been on an Anime marathon since January when I left work due to medical leave. I had carpal tunnel syndrome and since my work uses 90% of that arm, there was nothing I could do. It's probably been around 10 years since I've returned to the Japanese scene. Anyhow, with all my free time I searched for all the greatest Anime hits that I've missed in between those years. I finally stumbled on the cover of Fate/Stay Night and Zero and thought they were nice covers. Not knowing which one to watch first, I did some research on the title and that was where I heard about the term "Visual Novels" for the first time. Unlike Light Novels that I've been wanting to read for awhile but couldn't due to language barrier, I was overjoyed that these Visual Novels have a fan base of translators behind them. In March I Googled Fate/Stay Night visual novel, and a post by Kaguya 50 VN's You should Play Before you Die came to the top. That's how I found Fuwanovel. I have to admit, the first time I saw that homepage, I was instantly captivated by its layout - O 'dat childish innocence. Those colorful, playful words drew me right in. I knew I was in the right place. Thus, Fate/Stay Night was downloaded and I was glued to my seat for a full week. What did I just read? The tears were so beautiful. I hadn't felt this touched by a story in so long. The feeling of being there every moment, living and breathing through the MC's eyes was unlike anything I've played before. Bliss, bliss, bliss was all on my mind. Being home out of work for extended periods had this collapsing affect on my well being. I was falling into a pretty bad depression. I was pretty close to getting married before I left work. All I could think about was my ex-fiance and Saber. Saber was so much more pure and loyal that when she disappeared in the end I cried for her while cursing my ex. Some people may not understand where my obsession with honorable female leads come from, but it's been a trust issue for me since. The second VN I played hit me with another impact. The serious nature of Fate/Stay night was replaced by Sengoku Rance's, detestable MC and his adventures. Ironically, this game pulled me out of my depression. Perhaps I just needed a kick in the rear and start seeing relationships in a more comical fashion. The game kept me constantly laughing. That, the pretty women and the truly addicting gameplay distracted me from any depressing thoughts. This game really was my saving grace. I still slipped in and out of depression after Sengoku Rance. More than two years ago my sister passed away. More than two years after that, I still wake up with nightmares related to her, wondering what am I doing with my life right now? Everyone around me's going to end up dead and long gone. The long hours drag by and your thoughts begin to wander into unnecessary deep and dark places. ---- Some VNs later I decided to reload up Sengoku Rance for more laughs. After doing every route, every accomplishment and discovering every H scene, I declared myself a true Rance fan. As weeks began passing, my shoulders began feeling lighter as I get more and more distracted from the memories of my ex. Replacing that depression has been a lot of anger. Anger is supposed to be healthy. It's when you wake up and understand that you are alive again. You no longer want to take it all for granted. But it's not healthy if the anger starts taking over you. I needed something to release my pent up anger. What I needed was exercise. And playing Grisaia No Kajutsu was what inspired me to take up running each day. The main character brought out the child inside me who always dreamed about being a super soldier when he was young. Each morning I wake up at 5 in the morning, do my running exercise and then make breakfast. I've added in more exercise routines as I've been feeling more fit to do so. I forgot to mention that somewhere there my Carpal Tunnel is about 100% gone. All that rest I receive at the beginning and the gradual exercise I've built up with my arms have made it vanished. I really have no excuse to be gone from work anymore. It's been about 6-7 months since I've been absent. I just wish I had more time to learn Japanese. My study came along really fluidly. Much faster than my study in Spanish due to motivation and love. I probably should worry about myself first, but if I have anything to spare I'd like to someday give back and spread joy.

Finally, we have a somewhat decent KiriKiri 2 engine for Android. I was browsing through Sakamoto's website, and came across one of his posts about it. I won't be talking much about it, but instead on how you can play the free version. The site has two different sites link for downloading, the Google play site and the Baidu site. At first, I didn't know, but there are two different versions, but after reading in the forums (It's mostly in Chinese), I found out why the baidu download didn't work. The two versions, the paid one in the Play Store, and the Ad-driven Chinese version. Chances are, (unless your phone is in Chinese), the app will crash if you try to launch the free version. That's because the developers intended it for the Play-Store-less China users. If you haven't guessed already, all you have to do to bypass this is simply change your language to 中文(简体） [simplified Chinese]， and perhaps also your region to China time (GMT+8:00, 中国标准时间）. Course, this seems like such a pain for a single app, and I for one hold a certain disdain towards the Chinese language, so the whole UI in Chinese might not fit well for some of us, in that case the app is for purchase in the Play Store in English, so there's that. Do read Sakamoto's article on it, the links are in there. Oh, BTW, I've gotten the G-Senjo no Maou, the English ver. From Fuwa, working with it, the patch to make it compatible can be found in the site listed in Sakamoto's post. As far as I've tested, it can go in game and seems to work flawlessly. Source: http://visuallyneko.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/kirikiroid2-for-android/

Jesus christ I'm tired so its the perfect time to make a stupid post. IMMA WRITE FANFICTIONS HERE! (Disclaimer: These are legit being written while in sleep deprivation mode and will be shit. Enjoy). Book The First Batman Visits the Local Anime Convention Chapter I The Knight is dark. Dark as night. Batman swoops down from the top of a building landing on a parking deck. Cars fill in every available spot. A gruff voice echoes through the concrete structure. "You see Robin, this is why we didn't bring the Batmobile." A group of girls all dressed as Dawn from PokeMan glance at Batman before tightening their group and scurrying past him. "He's creepy," says one of the Dawns. "Like, totally," Dawn replies. Dawn also looks at Batman and mutters something. Batman slowly makes his way to the stairwell. "Robin, what is the location of the mayor?" he asks. The stairwell is empty. No one responds. "I see. In the central building across the street from this parking deck. Good work Robin." Batman hurries down the stairs, tripping over his cape only once. When he finally reaches the bottom, sunlight blinds Batman. Bats are nocturnal and do not like sunlight. (Authors note: I researched this and came to the conclusion that Bats are in fact nocturnal, but Batman can function in the day time as evidenced by that one issue of The Legends of the Dark Knight where he beats the shit out of a shark.) Batman slowly makes his way across the street. People snap pictures of him while gasping in pleasure at the sexy sight of justice. Girls were watching, and Batman knew this. Taking great care to not trip on his cape anymore, he reaches the other side of the street and jumps through the automatic doors. "Robin, there are too many people here. It will be tough to find the mayor." Batman continues walking through the main lobby of the building, right past a large desk. A scrawny man dressed as Solid Snake sits at it. Batman flips the table sending the scrawny Solid Snake sprawling across the sparkling, speckled surface of a floor (Authors note: High School English has taught me that alliteration improves everything.) Batman picks up the Solid Snake and begins screaming at him. "WHERE ISH THE MAYOR WHERE ISHE!" "SOMEBODY HELP ME!" the Solid Snake screams. A new voice rings out in the lobby. "Snake? SNAKE? SNAAAAAKKKKEEEE!?" Batman drops the Solid Snake and turns to see the owner of such a voice. It is a girl, cosplaying Mio (from Nichijou duh). Batman takes a step towards her. She just flashes a big grin and runs off as sirens blare in the distance. "Robin, I need an extraction. The local authorities have been alerted." People run every direction. In the chaos, Batman simply walks towards the front door. There, he spots a little white animal. "Do you have a wish?" the little creature says. "A wish?" replies the confused Batman as people run past him. "Yes. A wish. I can grant any wish you like if you form a contract with me." "Deal. I wish to..." "Wait! You don't want to hear the contract?" "Look, I need to get a head of the cops and fast." The little white creature lets out a little giggle before resuming the conversation. "Fine then, what is your wish?" "I wish to avoid the cops in anyway possible." The world suddenly began to bend and change shape. Batman felt something coming out of his chest. It was a gem. The world around him was collapsing, as if it were a dream. Batman began to lose focus as the world put itself back together again. When he came to, he knew not where he was. Everything felt... different. There were no more sirens, no more screams, and no more sweaty smelly cosplayers aside from himself. Instead, four other girls were standing next to him posing. Batman just stood there, confused as to what had just happened. He wasn't at his local anime convention anymore, that's for sure. Chapter 0.5 The Taylor of the Batman (Authors Note: I have no clue if Tay's name is Taylor. It could be Jawaharla for all I care.) Batman walked into the steaming bath house. No one was around for miles. It was a really big bath house. Batman removed his hockey pants, and then his baT-shirt (It was summer). He left on just the mask and slowly lowered himself into the warm bath. The hot water washed all of Batman's worries away. Who cared about solving riddles and stopping silly clowns. This was life. Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Using all 7 of his senses (touch, smell, sight, hearing, taste, sonar, and flying), Batman quickly identified the intruder. It was a male, likely 7 feet tall, and 180 lbs (thats American for fuck the metric system). "Oh, I didn't know anyone was in here." Tay's soothing deep voice caused ripples to move across the water. "It's fine," Batman growled in a raspy voice. "You can stay citizen." Tay slowly took off his clothes revealing a finely sculpted body no doubt due to a vicious training regime involving typing and doctoring. Batman was jealous. Why should this 7 foot man have a body that would make the Statue of David weep in envy? "Nice abs." That is all that Batman could say to this person. "Thanks. Nice mask." Batman blushed. He liked the mask. He must be a good person. Tay lowered himself into the water and let out a sigh. "Long day?" Batman asked. "You could say that. Someone is always angry." Batman didn't know what this man was talking about. "So what is your name?" the man asked Batman. "I'm Batman!" Batman yelled. "I see. I am Tay. I have no last name that is publicly known but for the right price certain people will give it out." "I understand. So if people want to know your last name, they should send $37.56 to [email protected]." "Exactly." Tay let out another sigh. Batman felt awkward. Bats fluttered around in his stomach. "Say... you don't think I could see yours?" Tay suddenly asked. "What what what what!?" Batman began panicking. What if Tay didn't like it? Batman put a lot of work into it and was filled with pride by it. But this 7 foot Tay might not like it. Who knows what went on behind that sexy face of a god? "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Tay was upping the ante. How could Batman refuse now. Slowly, Batman wrapped his fingers around the base, slowly pulling up. Being very careful, Batman continued to slide his fingers up as Tay watched on with a gentle smile. The mask finally came off. Tay gasped in delight upon seeing the man behind the mask. He now knew who Batman was. "Your turn," batman whispered. Tay then tore off his mask revealing his true identity. He was Batman. Batman and the Little Busters (Note that Little Busters Spoilers will appear) "Oooh! Nice hit Riki!" Kyouske's voice can be heard from across the field. Riki made stupid girl noises in response. "You have such a man boner for him Riki, just ask him out." "Wha!? Batman! Where did you come from!?" Riki asked turning around. Batman was already gone though, running down the third baseline chasing Kud. "Things sure have been strange with him around, haven't they?" Kengo was walking towards Riki from first base. "And his muscles are just HUGE! ARRRGH!" Masato took off after Batman screaming something about a fight. He never won these though. "I don't like him." Rin was glaring in Batman's direction with suspicion. "He did show up out of nowhere, with no memory of how he got here," Mio added. Batman, done chasing Kud around who had passed out from fright at the sight of Masato and Batman chasing her, walked back to home plate. "Are we having a team meeting? If so, I have some suggestions to make. Cut Kud. She is a liability. I think we can trade her for a draft pick next year if we package her with Haruka. We need to think about the future here." It was just another day for the Little Busters. Mio was right though. Batman had just appeared out of nowhere, with no explanation other than, "I made a wish." Kyouske had asked at one point to investigate, but Batman turned him down. Still, it was Kyouske's idea to add Batman to the Little Busters. In the battle standings, Batman was never able to take first due to Kuds secret weapon, "The God Damn Beam". It's attack melted the heart of anyone in a 5 foot radius and was especially effective on balloon boobed onee-samas. The days were filled with fun and games with Batman around. Batman seemed to have the answer for everything. He saw through Komari's conveniently timed issues, he repaired some rocket for Kud, he simply shrugged his shoulders towards Mio, he even made a movie starring Bill Murray based off Kurugaya. Despite Rin and Mio's reservations (Mio was jealous she didn't get a movie), Batman was loved by the Little Busters. And nothing seemed like it would change that... until the fateful day. Batman awoke on the roof like any other day. He made his way off the roof using the same path Kengo took one day. Being Batman, he did it with more grace obviously. Once at the bottom of the building, he grappled his way back up to the classroom to take his seat. Riki had asked why Batman didn't just simply use the stairs like a normal person. Batman just replied something about Key needs quirks to offset poor writing. It didn't make any sense to Riki, but what did? Batman quickly noticed how silent the room was. There was no loud obnoxious pink haired girl trying to rip his mask off today. Where was she? Batman secretly looked forward to seeing her everyday. He was a tsundere after all. Setting that aside, Batman slowly realized that there was in fact no one around. The class room was just silent, and still. Batman grew unsettled. It was just like the last time he entered a world. Had he come to the end? He looked out the window and saw the Little Busters out on the baseball field. What were they doing out there!? Class was about to start! Odd as he was, Batman did not accept tardiness from the Little Busters. He swooped out of the window and glided down to the field. "Citizens!" he growled. "Class begins in 1 minute! HURRY!" No one paid him any attention. Instead, Riki was staring, dumbfounded at Kyouske, who was crying. Kengo too had tears welling up in his eyes. "Wh...what is going on?" Batman asked. "Batman," Kyouske said turning to him. "Watch over Riki and Rin. Make sure... make sure they live on. Make sure, Riki is strong enough. One by one, the Little Busters walked up to Riki and Rin, saying goodbye. After each one would say something inspirational, they would vanish, as if they never existed. Soon, only Rin and Riki remained with Batman. "Uhhh.... what just happened? My Bat-sonar is not picking up any life form at all." Riki and Rin just stood there. This is no good, they are in shock for some reason. Most likely over the disappearing friends. Meaning... we are at the good part. Batman showed a small smile. This time, he could change it. He could make it all worth it in the end. "Riki! Rin! Lets go!" Batman grabbed both of their hands. Slowly the world around him vanished. The smell of gasoline and blood began to fill the air. The world was turning into a scene of blood and gore. Bodies littered the bus. Batman heard a moan. It was Riki, just where Kyouske said he would be. Batman grabbed Riki and dragged him faraway from the bus. As soon as Riki was safe, Batman ran back to the bus as fast as he could. He found Rin and just as quickly as he had come, he got her to safety as well. Batman then pressed the detonator, destroying the bus. "Let's see you bullshit a miracle out of that Maeda," he muttered. Batman called the Japanese equivalent to 911 and awaited the moe animu nurses to show up. This was always his favorite part. Batman swooped into the tree and waited. When the nurses showed up, Batman hid, and followed them back to the hospital. He would watch over Riki and Rin, just as Kyouske asked him to do. He would make sure Kyouske's unwilling sacrifice was not in vain. 3 days later, Riki woke up. He had some bad injuries, but would pull through. Rin managed to make it out with minor injuries, thanks to Kengo. It was their first meeting together since the accident. Batman had finally pieced together what had transpired. Kyouske, Kengo, and Masato had created that world to make Riki stronger. The Little Busters never included the likes of Haruka, Kud, Komari, Kurugaya, Mio, or anyone else. It had always been those original 5. To Riki, those times would be but a simple dream that would make him stronger. He would use what he learned in the dream to care for Rin, and lead a happy life, not knowing what had really happened. Kyouske's brilliant plan would turn Riki's weakness against him to make him stronger. Riki would move on. But that isn't what happened. Batman overheard Riki talking to someone. Riki was simply saying it wasn't enough. He had to keep going. Batman knew, this wasn't part of the plan. He was going to have to show himself to make sure the plan stayed true to the path. "Riki," Batman growled from a dark corner of the room. "Don't do this." "So you are real!" Riki look surprised, but acted relieved. "So this means..." "No Riki. I'm special. I can exist anywhere. All I am is a mask, a symbol. That is why I was there." "You're wrong. You were part of the Little Busters. With all of us. Komari, Haruka, Kurugaya, Mio, Kud... all of us." Riki was smiling. "Riki, it was a dream. Those people... you never met them!" Batman was growing impatient. His time was running short. He could only remain for so long before everything collapsed. Already, he sensed the world fading from him. "You have to move on! Don't let what Kyouske and the others did go to waste!" Riki looked at Batman with a look of steely determination. It caused batman to take a step back. Had he really become that strong? "They are real, Batman. As real as you, as real as me. They were, and are my friends! We are the Little Busters. If Kyouske is strong enough to shape and create a new world... then... then so can I!" "You're set on doing this. You know... if you fail, it means you will die. And Rin... Rin will be left alone. Are you prepared for that risk. To lose everything you've gained?" "Yes, Batman. I am. I have to do this. For me, for Rin, for the Little Busters. I know they are real. They are part of the Little Busters... and I will save them." Batman did all he could to hide a smile. Kyouske really was something else. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two from him... if only he had the time. "Then do it Riki. Use all the strength you have. Save them, save the Little Busters. I was supposed to watch over you, to make sure you lived a happy life. But, its impossible for you and Rin, without all of them. Go." "When this is done, Batman, lets play one final game of baseball." A single tear fell down Batman's cheek. "I would love to." The world began vanishing. Batman could hear Riki calling for him. He would soon forget though. That is how this power worked. Lights appeared everywhere. Batman felt the constraints, binding him, preventing him from resisting. He was back... as back as he could get. The anime convention was far far away from here, wherever here was. "Damn you Maeda. You clever bastard. I thought I had you that time. But don't worry. I have one more trick up my sleeve you miracle writing hack." Batman stood up, ready to move on to the next world, to try and end Maeda. As he stood up, a picture fell from his utility belt. The sight of it brought back a flood of emotion. Batman really did enjoy his time with the Little Busters. He realized it now. Despite all of their flaws, and how cliche those people were... he did enjoy being with them. Putting the picture back into his belt, he braced himself for the next world. But he would not forget his new friends. The first he had ever had. The Little Busters.

Katawa Shoujo!

Lolis for the "cute is justice!" factor? Yes. Lolis are some of the most adorable things on the face of the planet. That's great. Going around having sex with children? Ehh, not so great. I think it's been said enough that 2D = fine. I believe most "loli-lovers" find 2D lolis to be extremely cute. I would agree. But I'm also sure most of them don't actually want to go around and have sex with children. I'd like to believe people can distinguish fantasy from reality. >_>

You know you want to. I don't know why people fret so much over reading the manga instead of waiting for the anime, I still enjoy the anime just as much despite knowing what happens. It's just like 2 alternative universes of the same story~

Yep yep. ...Bai bai money... But it is for the greater cause!

Okay, time to save up my money to buy 200 copies of Kajitsu. We must do whatever it takes to get Yuuji's backstory translated!

A thank you gift, eh? I don't really have anything to give. Hmm, how about the amazing album of Flaming June (Maeda Jun + Yanagi Nagi), Owari no Hoshi no Love Song? Yanagi's angelic vocals and Jun's genius composition, along with the stunning visuals tells a beautiful story . Here are a few of the songs! (Turn on the annotations for english subs!)

First of all, I was in doubt about which subforum I should post it, so if it's in the wrong one, sorry >.< Well, I have two minnor suggestions for the site. - Remove dead projects pages Some novels are not being translated anymore, or at least are stalled for months, and since Fuwanovel is a site for games that are actually translated, these games just end up getting in the middle of the others. It's annoying to, for example, see a title on the Random Novels section, at the right, to just find out that it's not being translated anymore =x - Link related novels to novels' pages I mean, Muv-Luv has a lot of games in total, so it would be nice if, when I enter Muv-Luv Alternative page, I can easily get to Muv-Luv page - That'd be possible if in every related Muv-Luv page, we could get a link for the other games. That's only it. I hope that people undertand both >.<

Image thread? Sure

For some reason, when I think infinity series, I think 'TUNA'. It's certainly 'unforgettable' for me.

So, I just learned how to take away the skill pop ups...makes it much easier to do the hard songs lol. Also, just ran into a problem...well, not a real problem but more a personal preference one. I got a normal girl on my cool team whose pic I love, bu doesnt have great stats. I just got a rare to replace her with, with double her stats......but I dont want to get rid of her >_< her pic is so damn cute.......

chivalry isnt necessarily acting in a kind and considerate manner towards women for the sake of being nice, it's something a bit heavier. I think it's just fine to be your vision of a gentleman, so long as it's for the purpose of being kind and considerate, but the whole problem with chivalry is that it's a little wonky as far as the 'why' you do the things you do, and I dont think it's as simple as "it's nice to hold doors for people," because I do that all the time even with my guy friends just to be nice. I dont think girls should get special treatment as a rule, but it's up to you to decide if you want to give them it, and I dont know if they should necessarily be aggressive towards that decision unless you somehow imply that you are inherently more capable through your actions. In my opinion, deferential treatment is a little silly on a strictly gender basis. If you have a special someone, that's perfect reason to be kind, but I dont see why you should be kind to all women just because they are women. That said, just 'being nice to everyone' is a pretty good alternative imo. You shouldnt feel responsible for treating women in a uniquely respectful way. the whole not hitting a girl thing, in my opinion is limited to forcing fights on women, because they tend to be weaker than men. If they want to fight or are asking for it, go at it, I say

She's so adorable! I mean, look at this: So cute.

Sachi best Grisaia girl. I mean, how can you not love this face:

The second episode wasn't as boring as the first one, but they share one trait: Almost nothing happened in them. Around fifteen to twenty minutes of the show was focused on a very irrelevant and pointless battle between Sinon's squadron and a random minigun squadron. I kept thinking "Throw a goddamned grenade at the heavy, dammit. These players are stupid. This is why I don't play MMOFPS" Well, I have nothing more to say. Absolutely nothing happened in the second episode. Better off playing chess.

Quite a few scenes have stood out to me but the one that had stood out the most is the iconic Muv Luv scene. It's not the best scene I have seen but it just... stood out a lot.

Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi had a lot of amazing moments where I didn't know if I should run away screaming and never turn on my computer again, or just laugh manically at how clever it all was. It completely changed the way I look at VNs, and I'm not going to easily forget that experience.

I think misandry is grossly under-represented yet it ironically weighs as being much more prevalant. So, they are certainly 2 sides of the same coin, however one side is far, far heavier than the other imo. I guess I just don't understand why this always pops up in discussions when it's larger sister(or should I say brother) recieves nary a mention. It's just annoying. That was the only point I was making. Mahouka is turning out to be one of my favourite series' this season next to NGNL. As I said, I love OP characters, and Tatsuya has a TON of backstory. Really, I don't mind his Harem. Who wouldn't be instantly drawn to a guy like that? It's just a shame a lot of the information cannot fit into the anime. I think having made Mahouka into 50m episodes would have been amazing, as the infodump that Mahouka is would be able to fully fruit that way. (Wishfull thinking, though) I'm not sure how it's doing in Japanland though. While I enjoy reading the LN, I'd be craving seeing Tatsuya being Tatsuya in an anime. If you haven't read the LN, you should check it out, it has crazy amounts of infodumping regarding the magic. Very fun if you're into stuff like that, though most people aren't. That's what worries me about this getting a S2. I'm also loving NGNL. It's just too much fun, and despite how the "OPness" of them can be a bit much,(That memory checkers with Clammy and the fight with Gal Guns) I'm having too much of a good time with it to care. And the colours! Voting for one of the most colourful anime this season. Amazing so far. I've even stopped reading the LN just so I could see how far it goes with anime. The good news is it seems to be doing fairly well in Japanland, so hopefully we get a S2. The author is a guy from Brazil, and one of very few outsiders to be successful in manga. He's a huge lolicon, too.

I would say that both problems are the 2 sides of one coin. Misogyny does plague the world of anime, as does the "man hate" ideas as you stated. They both originate from the same thing, and are both denigrant an infuriating. Also, guess I don't need to say much about the SAO 'counter'-argument, as you mostly agreed with what I said, except with my first point which you answered yourself with what I had intended (the problem I talked about was indeed that there's no reason for Kirito to be so op; it's pure and silly extreme wish-fulfilment. Mind me, I said extreme, because some wish-fulfilment is not necessarily bad, but Kirito's case is just really absurd) Mahouka's main character, Tatsuya, is really OP and I love him, cuz there is a story and reasoning behind his skills, and he's not just an empty husk used to drive the wish-fulfilment onto the spectators.

A Lolicon pushing the SJW agenda in anime! This SAO discussion looks fun though. "This was completely trashed after Kirito goes 'lonely badass' style, and everything and everyone else becomes 2nd plane and unimportant. The show suddenly doesn't care at all about the idea it first presented, and instead gives us a "the hero must tread the path of the chosen one and save the world" kind of story." I fail to see what is wrong with Kirito being the lone badass. Personally I prefer OP characters, and this is exactly what the author intended. What you've stated there is pure opinion and doesn't make the show "bad". Basically, as we're discussing quality, I can't see why this type of character makes for low quality. It doesn't. As for WHY he's badass and develoment of that, THERE is the real argument. As for your point about a wasted idea, absolutely agree. They fail to show how the inhabitants of the world deal with their issue and instead focus on badass Kirito saving the world one dungeon at a time. A better example of doing societal development pretty well in the same sort of situatuion (minus the permadeath) would be Log Horizon. "The characters: shallow is a mild word to define them. First of all, Kirito has absolutely no reason at all to be not only badass, but likeable at all. As a human being we see him presented as reticent, closed, anti-social. Yet the anime, later on, suddenly presents him as a badass supercharismatic hero to whom everyone rallies to. Asuna, though is the worst case of them all..." Agreed. The characters are definitely shallow. And the deal with Kirito is a great example of the show's many asspulls; there is no reason at all for him to be badass. None. That's bad character development. As for Asuna.. I half agree with you. She was cool and mysterious because we didn't know her. In fact she was cool and mysterious until Kirito began to know her. I don't see the sense in her being abrasive, msyterious, and wary of Kirito (how she was when we met her) after falling in love with him, in fact she warms up (as she should, this is her character) and depends on him. He depends on her for emotional support as well, and we see this throughout the anime. Unless of course, you were expecting the annoying modern Tsundere archetype that plagues 90% of anime, which is mostly misandric, by the way. I'll get to that fun topic later. And that's the bit I don't agree with, however you're absolutely right in wondering why the fuck she became so weak-minded later on. She could hold her own, so what was up with that? I personally don't see that as a mysogynistic move on the author's part and think you're reading too much into it, more likely that he wanted to make everything revolve around Kirito. "The 'bad guy': do we really need to say much?" Nope. That bit was garbage for sure. Though I see no issue with a crazy villain wanting to toy with lives. That isn't a downside to me. The downside is that he's portrayed as being sane, and even someone Kirito almost looks up to in a way (what the fuck?), and the dude from Asuna's company? Yeah... ridiculous arc. What a mess that was. "The pacing: the first season goes forward and backward, then suddenly drops some random episodes with girls that prove to be useless without Kirito around them... The second part is even worse. It is presented as a "quick before it's too late" quest to save Asuna, yet the following episodes lose all sense of urgency..." These girls were just added fanservice, they were useless to begin with, they never needed Kirito to confirm their uselessness. I definitely agree with the urgency bit. The second arc had a very silly plot alltogether, so I'd actually be very surprised to see anyone able to defend it. Overall I give SAO a 5/10, it's dull, and shallow and should not be as popular as it is. Period. Why do I watch it? I like OP characters, and I like action, though if Kirito keeps being this silly, and even more asspulls are made I might actually just drop S2. (What the shit? The government wants Kirito's help? Really?) (My opinion) However I don't see anything wrong with a lot of "points" you made. Though, I agree with most of them. S2 has Kiritio more or less becoming a Trap, I hope you realize now the target audience of this show and that it was never meant to be taken seriously or to be found as "deep". Fanboys who try to make it seem like it is are delusional imo. Now to the "mysogyny in anime" bit. This kind of stance annoys me to no end and heats me up. And I'll apologize ahead of time if/when I sound rude. It absolutely baffles me how in an art medium FULL of the misandric modern Tsundere, man haters, violence against men for being in siutations that are the woman's fault, (When's the last time you've seen anime that makes comedic the beating up of women? That women are all perverts? That women are inhernetly out to get with men and are only interested in sex?) people actually throw out the word "Misogyny". Does it exist in anime? Absolutely. Is it some serious plague in anime? Absolutely not. Why does this take precedence over the obvious misandry going on in pretty much all anime? It baffles me even further that your MAL profile has quite a bit of ecchi type anime that you are watching all the way through, some that focus their entire selling point on fanservice. Interestingly enough, most also are full of violent tsunderes as the focus. Forgive me, but with how zealous you come off as with your SJW agenda regarding misogyny, (I could be wrong and it's not as big as I think you're making it seem) you sure don't have any issue indulging yourself in these type of shows where violence against men is comedic, where men are scum to be walked over by women. Conversely, you don't seem to have an issue watching anime that have "lone badasses who want to save the world" either, in which I hope your earlier post was simply stating that these lone badasses didn't make anime bad, but their character development did. Most anime is at best philogynistic with very heavy misandric tendencies and minor mysogyny. It's not like it's an issue for me though, it simply annoys me when people bring up the girl card like it's the bigger issue. Though I do get it, the misandry bit is for the masochist male otaku, and usually used to create tension because it's easy writing. Nobody usually wants to see the girl that automatically is in love with the MC. There's no conflict. Easy(read: lazy) writing = Tsundere to fill that gap. However you'll be very hard pressed to find a reversal of roles comedy with the girl being the one who gets beat up, etc. Why? Because true sexism. It's totally okay if it's the guy. This is the case with anime, movies, video games, even commercials, you name it. Bad guys are typically male. If they're female, they're dealt with in a pretty tame way if the MC is male. If it's an all girls anime then it's suddenly okay for the girls to get beat up or abused comedically because hey, another girl is doing it. With all you've said, your MAL, and your lolicon persona, it just seems bizzarely hypocritical that you'd even bother bringing up mysogyny like it's some large issue with anime, yet nowhere mention it's contrastingly HUGE sister. Rant aside, I'll now get to my actual opinion regarding all this; I personally think it silly to try and push out agendas such as these into niche mediums that are created specifically for a certain type of person. A lolicon should understand the point I'm making, if people had their way, Jun wouldn't exist. It's like creating a toaster then complaining that it's not a fridge, then blogging about how fridges are opressed due to this toaster. This entire argument can almost be a paradox of itself with no resolution however because of contrasting morals. It's like I'm saying to leave the niche alone because it's supposed to be that way, but that would imply I'm promoting mysogny or misandry. Yet at the same time, if I say that they should remove this from the anime, it's as if I'm saying that my morality/tastes rein supreme and everything should be changed to fit what I prefer and what I think is "right". (This is a HUGE issue with the video game industry right now) When it comes down to it, it's just confusing. Anyway, I get way more into this than I thought I would. Patiently waiting for this translation is difficult.

Then tell me what the "objective" view of what would make an anime good.

And other shows aren't like that? That's the case for nearly all anime. Those are also side characters. They don't have much depth because the story isn't about them. And by the same definition of "rallying behind something doesn't make it good," the opposite is true as well. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's bad. Your misogynistic argument doesn't hold water unless you apply it to most anime, in which case, to you, those would all be bad. And anyways, the new heroine in season two is pretty badass and doesn't really seem to be the weak "damsel in distress" that the others were. Give some other reasons for WHY you think the show is bad. As of now you're just begging the question. It's bad because it's bad.

This right here would be valid if the topic was science. Unfortunately, this is not science, but very much all about subjective opinion. Does SAO have its flaws? Of course it does. I'm a huge SAO fan, but I'm more than willing to admit that. But with manga and anime and the like, if enough people believe it to be good, then from the goal of the creators, that's mission accomplished, and it is good, no matter what the content may be.

one of the unforgeable moments for me is the english lesson in grisaia no kajitsu i still get a laugh of it every time on the creepy side of things there was that scene in kimi to kanojo to kanojo no koi..-no spoilers- that really caught me off guard i was ready to throw my computer across the room

Usagi Drop is a great show that should be looked up past the loli part, it really is a heart warming tale that anyone can enjoy. Although Rin is cute regardless, but there's much more to the show than that.

The whole second season was a "sorry Kirito, your princess is in another castle."

What the hell, Tsunkun...

Oh, bl3u, don't mind these old hags. Even if the topic was discussed before, there's nothing wrong with restarting it a million times. If you've already seen and talked about it, mind telling me why you don't go start a new discussion? We newbies wanna have fun too it's about time

That's... actually a good deal. ...How am I supposed to grant what already exists? I wish for a wish so that I can wish for more wishes.

Several years ago I wasn't doing a thing with my life, but then I found VNs. Now, a bit over 2 years later I'm sill not doing a thing with my life, but I'm also playing porn games.

How have visual novels impacted my life? Ya know, I've always thought about this question and how to best answer it and after much thought I can honestly say I can boil it down to one simple sentence: Visual novels are culture. I've used the phrase "language is culture" with my students many times before, but when I really stopped to think about it, it was the same for me with VNs. Visual novels aren't just games anymore, they are gateways into another culture that intrinsically motivate those around them. Sure, they may not always be rich in story or make much sense in the grand scope of things, but overall I can say that visual novels are one of the main reasons I wanted to teach English in Japan to begin with. It all started with a DeviantART friend of mine introducing me to Katawa Shoujo. After that game visual novel reading became a hobby of mine, one I still enjoy to this day. I read all the "popular" games and learned about new ones when I finally found Fuwanovel. For me to say visual novels alone changed my life is an understatement. It may seem like I'm kissing everyone's ass and singing the praises of everyone for all the land to hear, but in reality it is more than that. Visual novels made me interested in pursuing projects on this site, it made me interested in seeing the podcast stay alive, it made me interested in its people. Visual novels, no the entire fandom of the genre, are the people. Without the people you lose the excitement, you lose the joy of sharing a game with others, and you lose the force that breathes life into these games. Sure you can sit alone in your room and enjoy the fun of an awesome scene in a novel, but what good is it if you can't talk about how awesome it is to others? I'm not saying you need to share the experiences with every person you meet, but isn't it that much better when you yourself can say, "well shit, that game was amazing" and someone agrees? Visual novels made me proud to talk about what I enjoy, it made me want to teach more Japanese students English, and it made me motivated to learn another language. The friends I met through this medium make me proud to talk about what I enjoy and not be ashamed. Sure, everyone can use the argument that "internet friends" aren't "true friends," but what good is that? To me some of the people I have met through the common interest of visual novels are incredible people. I may not share the same interests as them in some cases, but you're damn right they are pretty awesome to talk to and a joy to have met and keep in touch with outside of the net. The people are the core, and the medium is the house that shelters them all. Visual novels impacted my life like I am sure they have other people, and I'm sure everyone has their own story to share.

I'm surprised this thread didn't get shafted. Fuwanovel Mods are going soft.

Oh this thread existed. I guess it's a nice place to drop this on.