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Hi everybody, It's been a while. I'll make a personal update post at some point, but for the moment I'm posting to ask our users to take the first of what may be a series of surveys we put out this Summer. This first survey is essentially an open invitation to tell me exactly what problems are bothering you about the site, anonymously. My site work this Summer will be heavily influenced by this survey, so if you care about Fuwa and want to see site improvements, please participate. Survey Link: https://goo.gl/forms/DHWvWdmusKKXZBh43 I want to thank @Emi for a recent email, @Clephas for some recent posts in the forums I've read which gave me encouragement, all our moderators, @Decay for his patience with my crazy schedule and a soft VNTS pause, and all of our users for keeping Fuwanovel alive. Much love to all of you. Tay

Can't see main site at all, but I can bring some neat forum stats! We've been really about the exact same for the past year and a half. After we killed torrents there was a big decline, then a soft one until mid 2016 where we reached what we have right now, where it has been more or less stuck since forever. We get about as many new users as we lose old ones, and so the balance remains stable (note that we're approaching what has historically been out lowest period of activity in the year, as you can see by all the declines around this time.) We can still consistently reach over 150 topics almost every month, which is already more than when I joined the forums. The community right now is pretty stable, though we can't really match up to our relevance in the old days. But that's torrents for you.

Mmm... I dunno about now, but there was a time just a few years ago when Fuwa had a ridiculous amount of influence for what amounts to 'just another otaku site'. A lot of it was that most of the people here were VN or otaku newbies and we had a solid set of veterans who were less interested in looking down on newbies than getting the good word (eroge) out there. Most other VN sites, for better or worse, were dominated by the most jaded type of veteran (unwilling to admit that anything outside their favorite genre is good, categorically rejecting anyone who likes OELVNs, etc). As such, it was easier just to come to Fuwa. A lot of the people doing fanstranslations at least posted here, and there were a lot of helpful people here. Unfortunately, that kind of thing never lasts long... and Tay hasn't been around lately, so there is only so much anyone can do to keep things going. We still have a solid core community, but the ratio of trolls to regular users went up and some people left. A lot of the veterans are ghosts now, and a lot of the former newbies have gone off on their own (becoming veterans themselves). Edit: The main reason Fuwa was so successful was because it was a VN-centric community in a period when there weren't many of those. Once SP, MG, and the others started mass-localizing, it was inevitable that the 'guerilla' atmosphere of the VN community would disperse and a VN-centric community would lose ground to more generalistic otaku communities. The English-only crowd tends to go elsewhere and the otaku crowd tends to head for more generalistic sites. Those of us veterans of the site (as opposed to VNs) that still hang around do so mostly because this is 'our place'. Heck, I post blogs on VNs that I know mostly won't be read until months or years later (I go look later and see a thousand views where only fifty to a hundred people look the first month or so) because this is the place I like to be. I don't have a real presence anywhere else anymore outside of my browsing accounts on Japanese sites, and that isn't likely to change as long as Fuwa is reasonably lively.

Here's some broad big-picture suggestions: Moderation consistency/fairness: There's been grumbling about this lately, both on and off-site. Partnerships and engagement with publishers: Promoting visual novels effectively means working more closely with English publishers. I'd like to see them engaging openly with the community here, including posting on the forums and doing more interviews on the official blog. Outreach to Japanese developers/communities, including developers not currently selling games in English: Fuwanovel is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between the Japanese and English communities due to the many fans here who have learned or are in the process of learning Japanese. Sending out these fans in an organized fashion to establish connections could accelerate the already growing interest in the English market--and help developers be less boneheaded in their attempts to enter it. A highly innovative project like this would also re-establish Fuwanovel as a central pillar of the English community.

This is something I'd like to post about on the front site. A community update is long-overdue and there's a lot to talk about. I haven't looked at the analytics for a few weeks, but the site's still growing traffic-wise. The front site's major traffic goes to VNTS and Reviews. Kaguya showed some of the forums data, I'll add that walkthroughs are still big. And VNTL-Moon, oddly, is still getting traffic despite being woefully outdated and buggy.

Today, I made the most famous Karaage (から揚げ). I do make this often and today I thought why not start a blog with this delicious content. Spoiler: I didn't let my chicken rest enough so it had some excess potato starch on it... but the heck with it. Preparation: Sake Corn/Potato Starch sugar Ginger (just a bit! we will only use the sweet juices) Soy Sauce Chicken ( cut them a bit larger than your normal bites, as it has a lot of fiber so it will shrink when frying) Secret frying process: Fry them 3 times. For best results go with 2 min on 190C, then let them rest for 1 minute. fry them again on 190C this time for 1 min, rest 30 sec. and then once again 1 minute on 190C. I couldn't be bothered this time, probably also the reason why I have still corn on my finished product. It still tasty af tho. Tip: use Japanese 7 spice mix (七味唐辛子) on your mayo. Here is a video of me actually making it. unedited. (I didn't film the whole frying process as I couldn't be bothered...) Enjoy the Cringe : )

For those looking for discounts, there's a Reddit post trying to pinpoint all the JP VN ones, I'm making the list of best (discounted by 40% or more) EVN ones in the comments. Steam seems dead ATM, so I've stopped adding new ones temporally. ;p And, when it goes back alive, I'm definitely grabbing Dies Irae (first time I see it actually discounted), Harmonia and a few small ones.

The list in this thread is no longer being updated - any future updates will appear on my blog, in this article. The Steam Creator feature is quite a neat thing and I think it can be used to promote quality VNs and good brands on Steam, which are now always at risk of drowning in the sea of crap that gets published on the platform on a daily basis. The devs and publishers are really jumping in to make use of the new tools, so I thought it could be a good idea to already start working on a comprehensive list of creators that are worth following from a VN fan's perspective. When I think it's comprehensive enough, I will publish it on the blog, but for now, I will appreciate all the feedback on the format, descriptions I use or the profiles I might've missed. I've only started going through the profiles and I know new creator pages will be popping up every day in the coming weeks, so this will be a prolonged process. For the descriptions, I include only titles available on Steam in them and state some pretty obvious facts, but I would like this to be somewhat useful even for people that know relatively little about VNs and want to find good sources of those on Steam. --------------------------------------------------- EVN developer and publisher profiles Sekai Project (localization and publishing company, mostly focused on visual novels; World End Economica, Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius). Ebi-hime (critically-acclaimed Western VN developer, most well-known for her yuri and horror titles; Sweetest Monster, Asphyxia). Christine Love (writer and EVN developer, one of the early starts of the Western VN scene; Analogue: A Hate Story, Ladykiller in a Bind). Hanako Games (EVN publisher and developer specialized in yuri and otome games; A Little Lily Princess, Long Live the Queen). WinterWolves (Western developer creating RPGs with visual novel-style storytelling, dating sims and romance VNs; Loren the Amazon Princess, Roommates). Razzart Visual (EVN developer most well-known for her yuri titles; Love Ribbon, Starlight Vega). InvertMouse (Australian EVN developer, known for unusual, mostly non-romantic stories; Without Within, The Last Birdling) Lupiesoft (EVN development team best known for creating futa eroge; The Menagerie, Mutiny!!). MoaCube (EVN developer known for distinct, non-anime artstyle and characterization; Cinders, Solstice). Zetsubou Games (writer and developer involved in many well-known EVN projects; Sable's Grimoire, Sickness). Afterthought Studio (EVN developer and publisher; Forgotten, Not Lost; CUPID). Dharker Studios (EVN developer and publisher, best known for ecchi titles; Army Gals, Negligee). Sukeban Games (Venezuelan game developer, authors of VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action). Other VN-related profiles MangaGamer (the biggest VN localization company in the West; Sorcery Jokers, Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome). VisualArts/Key (one of the oldest and most respected VN developers, now localizing and publishing their own games in-house; Little Busters, Planetarian). Frontwing USA (Western publishing arm of Frontwing, a major JP VN developer; Wonderful Everyday Down the Rabbit-Hole, Grisaia series). JAST USA (the oldest VN/dating sim localization company in the West; Eiyuu Senki, Flowers series). Spike Chuunsoft (Japanese developer and publisher; Steins;Gate, Danganronpa). Degica Games (Japanese game publisher, occasionally delving into the VN niche; Symphonic Rain, Love Nurse Addiction). Fruitbat Factory (localization company focused on doujin Japanese games, including VNs; Seabed, Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation). Idea Factory (Japanese developer and publisher, most known for the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, but also for popular otome VNs; Amnesia: Memories, Hakuoki). Sol Press (Japanese media localization company that recently expanded into the VN market; Sakura Sakura, Newton and the Apple Tree). NekoNyan (VN localization company specialized in moege; Fureraba ~Friend to Lover~; Sanoba Witch). Alice in Dissonance (Japanese doujin circle; Fault series, Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell). NEKO WORKs (Japanese developer, creators of the Nekopara series; Nekopara, Tropical Liquor). SakuraGame (Chinese publisher infamous for their low-quality, machine-translated English releases; Tricolour Lovestory; Fortissimo FA). Small developers and publishers Culture Select (doujin game localization company; Dead End Junction, One Small Fire at a Time). Top Hat Studios (EVN developer and publisher; Episicava, The Wilting Amaranth). DigitalEZ (publishing company best known for Western releases of Chinese VNs - sadly, with inconsistent translation quality; Notch - The Innocent LunA, Oblivious Garden). roseVeRte (Japanese doujin circle specialized in otome VNs; How to Take Off Your Mask; Cafe 0). NoBreadStudio (EVN developer from Poland, authors of mystery/romance VN SoulSet). Neoclassic Games (Italian EVN developer, authors of Elisa: the Innkeeper). Sierra Lee Games (EVN developer, author of the yandere horror title Crimson Gray). Gosatsu Visual Novels (EVN developer, authors of SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair). NVLMaker (Chinese VN publisher; Gaokao.Love.100Days, Season of 12 Colors). Nyu Media (doujin game localization company, publishers of the English version of Cherry Tree High Comedy Club). Hikari Field (VN localization company from China, occasionally producing English releases; Tayutama 2, Magical Charming!). Träumendes Mädchen (EVN developer; Ambre, Garden of Oblivion). Tranquil Studios (EVN developer, authors of Oakwood Academy of Spells and Sorcery). Goldbar Games (EVN developer, authors of the freeware title Detective Butler: Maiden Voyage Murder). Deadline Softs (EVN developer, authors of Blue Bird). Kurenaibook (JP developer, author of futa VN Ayakashigami) Mystery Corgi (EVN programmer and GUI designer, co-developer of AIdol). Mikołaj Spychał (VN developer from Poland, author of Jake's Love Story).

I've noticed a lot of VNs are coming to the Switch; a lot of VNs originally released on the Playstation Vita are getting remakes, like Norn9, and there is also the Kickstarter for My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?. What do you think? Will the Nintendo Switch become a popular platform for VNs (particularly in the West)? Would you, personally, enjoy reading VNs on it?

This is a question I've asked myself on any number of occasions (and despite my own thoughts below, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this as well). For some reason, most vampire literature with a vampire protagonist has that protagonist hating him/herself and his/her condition (switching to 'his' after this sentence, for the sake of brevity). Let's be honest with ourselves... if we could gain immortality, immense strength, and the ability to control people's minds in exchange for having to suck human blood and stay out of the sun, the greater majority of us would probably leap at the chance. Humans are selfish creatures, and the advantages seem to far-outweigh the disadvantages on the face of it. One common answer to this is morality. To be honest, I think this is the second worst answer of them all. Yes, in the case of a vampire setting where the vampire has to kill the subject or infects anyone he bites, it makes sense for there to be a moral issue. However, if that is not the case, this one doesn't pan out. Sure, drinking blood sounds evil in and of itself... but if you aren't human, it isn't cannibalism, now is it? Hedonism? Is there anyone in a first-world nation that isn't at least a little hedonistic? Another one is a sense of isolation. Now this one makes a bit more sense as a negative for vampirism... but not for sucking blood. Sure, it might be hard to make friends with your food, but it wouldn't be the first time. No, the issue here is lies. By nature, vampires need to hide themselves, since they are well... scary. I mean, if something essentially eats a part of you to survive and looks similar to you, how can that not be scary in a visceral sense? So yes, the isolation is a good reason to be afraid of your own vampirism if you are a vampire. A sense of normalcy. This is the one you see the most in VNs, and I honestly think that it is an abomination. It is the worst answer. Almost every vampire protagonist in a VN wants to regain their 'normal life', and this often results in them taking their anger out on the people who saved them and/or love them. Sure, you pay a price for your vampirism... if you can't go out in the sun (a rarity in VNs), then it is hard to go to school. If you have to suck human blood, then you can't really be called normal. However, that sense that normalcy trumps everything (no I don't mean the president) is ridiculous. I honestly find this kind of attitude annoying as hell in a protagonist, and it is only the ones who don't linger on it constantly that I'm willing to forgive. Violent instincts... now this one is laughable. 'Vampires have violent instincts!!!' Umm... hello? What race goes around killing people for stupid reasons like religious affiliation, what side of a line on a map they live, and who has a better cow in their barn? *snorts contemptuously* In the end, vampirism in fiction is a trade-off... and self-hating vampires who stay that way without a good reason always strike me as fake (Toshirou from Vermilion has good reason, but most don't).

I think it has the potential to do so. After all look how many VNs came to the Vita (even in English) and the Switch is able to offer that portability that no other current console does. Plus we're already seeing publishers like Spike Chunsoft, Aksys, PQube, and Limited Run Games move over to Switch and those are all publishers that've had a hand to play in pushing VNs on Vita (especially if you include otomes in the definition). Couple all of that with a really nice screen and hardware, and a large and growing install base, and it stands to reason that it could wind up being common for VNs to come onto Switch and possibly get more people interested in reading them. As for me I would enjoy reading VNs on it, and I'm hoping somehow that we get the Switch version of Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm to come over (not sure that that's likely though), along with anything else. I originally liked playing VNs on TV (weird, I know) but being able to combine that with playing while out and about would make it incredibly convenient and easy to play.

I don't know. I'm pretty sure that if I buy something now, I won't play it till the next summer sale anyway.

...well, in my defense I was using non-tweeted raids as exemple. Tweeted 30-man ones blows really fast. Host chest have better chances at SSR weapons. At least for your "first element" it's worth, even more if it's light/dark as their SR weapons are useless on grid. Uncap at least the first star of your characters to unlock their skills. About the weapons, you can safely skill level up to 3 or 4 the ones with ATK skill(depends of your main element). In the long run, you either farm more resources or drown with surplus fooder(my case). Other than: Reading the Early Game Prioritization Guide; Use the Granblue EN Reddit; GBF Wiki is your friend too; Use the Favorite option to lock important stuff (aka proteck that Disparia, NOW); Buy a weapon stash and throw your unused SSR there; Don't touch weapons/summons on No Limit Crate unless you need them; ... You will have to ask (even though I think Reddit is a better place for questions)

I don't know when you consider "late game", but actual content is most powercreeped: Omega 1.0, Tier 1 raids = dies pretty fast, below 3min. It takes one or two average geared people to finish. Omega HL raids, Tier 2 raids = takes 5~10min to end, depends of how many average players enters the raid. Omega 2.0 raids = ever single player is racing here now. Expected lifetime ~2min. Tier 1 HL raids = where I think late game starts, 5~12min. Being 6-man raids, each player affects the average speed. Carbuncle raids = another set of 6-man raids, varies between a cakewalk to a shore. 7~15min I think. Proto Bahamut HL = Paralysis made this thing a joke, so it's just a matter of how many racers you have. 6~10min. Ultimate Bahamut = a real slog. It's not that hard or anything, but a high health pool + leechers drags down a lot. 8min++. Ultimate Bahamut HL = the "end game raid". Never done this one (I lack confidance and friends). There is a reason: time. Gathering materials is really just a matter of how much you grind, and leeching is the most efficient one.

Well, I'll write some suggestions later. Overall, I'm not sure if it's the right time to focus on that, but I feel something major needs to be done to the main site. After the torrents were deleted, the whole VN Library thing became kind of useless, and it's also pretty outdated right now.

Hello there! I know it's not the first time I start this topic, but I'll treat this as my final try. So, I've now established my blog as a separate entity and proved, hopefully, though over 30 posts, that my reviews and commentary don't completely suck. In the past, several bloggers had the ability to publish their reviews in the FuwaReviews, with a fairly short teaser going to the Reviews Hub along with a link to the full article on their external site. I want to review two rather interesting, fresh OELVN releases this summer: Sable's Grimoire and Perceptions of the Dead 2. Let's assume that the content I create won't be cancerous enough to actually hurt the half-dead Fuwa frontpage by its inclusion. This creates a few questions in my mind: 1. Did the said bloggers, such as Meru, had direct access to the Reviews hub, or someone posted the reviews for them? 2a. If the latter is true, who made the desitions on what to "borrow" from the external sites? 2b. If the former is true, who currently controls the access to the Reviews Hub? Sorry for the public posts, but in the past I've tried to figure things out through private messages, without much response, so I thought a bit of public discussion could maybe clear things up.

I'd love to consider adding yours (and several more) review blogs to the hub. The hub has stalled recently due to a complicated CMS bug, but the developer actually got back to me yesterday with a customized patch, and I hope to get it installed before this weekend. Afterwards, I should be able to add you. Just submit your site details per the link posted above and we can work on that! The hub structure and guidelines will be part of the site work this summer, and I'm hoping to bring more clarity to it and the other site projects. Going to plug the recent survey and ask everyone to submit their gripes, questions, and concerns!

Wow, that's something I'm happy to see. Already sent my self-interest-driven feedback your way.

I presume a lot might actually depend on how each author describes "vampirism" in itself. Is it supernatural, or strictly scientific? An ancient curse, some sort of an unknown disease or a symbiotic virus? That sort of context alone has huge impact one many different smaller details, including how other people might perceive vampires and as such, how vampires see themselves.

I want to buy and read Sorcery Jokers. And the upcoming Steam Sale isn't active yet. In the meantime, I'll read *eden. ..... I'm gonna get gut punched in the feels, ain't I? Why do I do this to myself?

Haha fair enough. I mean, I'm enjoying it and it's keeping my interest but it's not as amazing as I was expecting given the ratings. I'm still looking for the next, spend-the-whole-day-watching-and-doing-little-else, "this is one of my favorite stories ever" anime that leaves me wishing I could watch it again from the beginning without knowing anything about it. I thought this might be it but it isn't.

This might be a bit self-promotion, but still on subject. I hope that being just one, small, indie dev guy still counts me as EVN developer In next months I'll have another title released. https://store.steampowered.com/developer/mikolajspy

Yeah, this is a fairly high-effort money snatch.

Not sure where you got that from but his personality doesn't change at all between the branches or routes. Different aspects of his personality are emphasised depending on the heroine but not the MC's personality itself.

After saw the CG, I wonder whether I should play this or not because I saw one of the CG did have yaoi sex scenes. But then again after I read Subahibi, maybe it's not so bad after all although I admit though that I skipped the scenes back at Subahibi (I still understand the reason of why we have yaoi sex scene at Subahibi, okay). Anyway other than yaoi sex scene issue looks like the VN will be interesting if only because we'll gonna have mahou shoujo heroines (According to VNDB), in which it's one of underutilized trope in the VNs from what I saw so far outside of the nukige. Apparently the reception for this VN is quite good as well, so it's a plus. Now if only JAST managed to release it at this year, which at least it should be seeing from their past pattern. PS - I knew this VN was one of JAST project, but seeing that it's JAST I decided to just give up on this lol and therefore didn't do much research on this until now.

Koko the gorilla who learned sign language and spoke to our hearts is dead. It feels like we just lost a worldwide treasure. First Snooty the manatee and now Koko is dead. We are running out of beloved animals. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/06/21/koko-the-beloved-gorilla-that-learned-to-communicate-using-sign-language-has-died/?utm_term=.4e3dcaa20d30 “Her impact has been profound and what she has taught us about the emotional capacity of gorillas and their cognitive abilities will continue to shape the world.” Here, have some tears.