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Just off doing their own thing, with their friends or by themselves. Most people will check in at a community or two every now and again, but not actively participate. They get their news by browsing storefronts and maybe occasionally checking company twitters and such. People like these are actually the majority of the VN market (thousands of people buy every new release, with many of them being different each time, yet not anywhere near that many people are active or even lurk these communities), but are incredibly hard to get data on and predict.

Now it's time to read One.

Let me explain it from the purely statistical perspective. Polls done measure the opinions of the group questioned. In order to get a good sample, honest pollsters attempt to ask a broad range of people. Asking the opinions of people in California may do a good job of telling you what Californians think about something, but it does very little to tell you what the French think about something. In this case, the poll was made available to people on Fuwa, reddit, and a few other VN communities. Therefore, this poll can be viewed as a decent representation of the opinions of those communities. However, these communities do not represent the entirety of the population of VN buyers or players. Second, the poll is a self-selected poll. That is, rather than randomly selecting people from the available populations, it allowed people to choose to participate. Self-selected polls are very vulnerable to differences in enthusiasm. People that feel strongly about something are much more likely to go and participate in these sorts of polls than those people that do not have strong opinions. This is why there is an entire field of statistics dedicated to polling methods: because careless polls produce inaccurate results. An accurate description of these polling results is that, amongst the populations of the larger VN online communities that chose to answer the poll, there is a bias towards keeping honorifics. One can attempt to draw conclusions about the larger populations from that sample, but your accuracy goes down the further out you extrapolate. Extrapolation to all users of the polled VN communities is reasonably likely to be accurate. Extrapolation to the population of all VN owners is much less likely to be accurate. Extrapolation to the general English-speaking population is very unlikely to be accurate.

08/02 - Released the addon patch with Hibiki's HSCENE 05 without mosaic, you still need the OLD "Maitetsu 18+ Demosaic Patch 7-31-2018" patch. In your folder you should have patch.xp3 (bandaid fix), patch2.xp3 (old 7-31 patch) and patch3.xp3 (this new addon patch) DOWNLOAD PS. Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Hibiki's COMPLETE ROUTE!

Purpose of the survey: Find out the preference for honorifics in JP->EN translated VNs Target group: People who are interested enough in VNs to be a part of a major VN discussion community Communities approached: 4chan, Fuwanovel, Reddit, VNDB, and various Discord servers Survey duration: July 17 to July 31, 2018 Sample size: 752 people Subsample of Fuwanovel respondents: 62 people Link to the questions, possible answers to each question, and graphs made from raw data by Google: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdC78xb3vobwtZJRHVY9ITMQtED3Xn15kvT2kaOghBoedA8GQ/viewanalytics Link to my excel sheet with the raw data, analyzed data, and all the graphs I made with the analyzed data: https://mega.nz/#!u0kl2C6b!3f_ZD3AG_k9aEW-iElozzleB54-x6UJkUqWNyUPZvic How the analysis was done: The main source for the graphs are the answers people gave in the "What is your reason for picking the last answer the way you did?" question. I fell back to the short answer when things weren't clear. There are several cases when the short and long answers clearly contradicted each other. I put comments to some of them. Setting split: Having been through quite a few of these conversation myself, I know setting is the most common reason why people change their minds on the presence of honorifics in the text. This was confirmed by the results and the respondents' comments. The results: Starting with Chart #1 We can see 75% of the respondents prefer honorifics to be kept in the translated text when the setting of the game is Japan (including current Japan, historical Japan, future Japan, alternative universe Japan, or fantasy land heavily based on Japan). The most commonly stated reasons for this preference include: Ability to see the same nuances and character relations as the Japanese readers; Some honorifics which replace names OR conversations which play with honorifics are untranslatable without heavy re-writing; Simple fondness for honorifics (As part of character moe, fetish, etc.); Desire to see the original writer's vision in the work; Discrepancy between voice and text in names (honorifics being a part of how characters address each other) 5% of the respondents want honorifics kept in the translated text only when certain conditions are met. The most commonly stated examples are: Relevance to the plot (e.g. feudal Japan, used honorifics give some foreshadowing); There is a conversation about honorifics in the VN itself; To preserve the moe factor or sexual appeal of some honorifics which replace the name entirely (Senpai, Onii-chan, etc.) 11% of the respondents have no preference or leave it up to the translator's preference 9% of the respondents want honorifics removed from the translated text, stating the following reasons for their preference: Honorifics are not a part of the English language - leaving them in is the same as leaving any other untranslated text; Desire for the translation to read as if it was originally written in English; Good translators are able to show the nuances through other means than honorifics; No reason to see them in text when readers can hear them Moving on to Chart #2, we can see a significant dip in the "keep" camp when it comes to settings which are not Japan. Examples of those would be: Isekai VNs, fantasy world VNs (which are not based on Japan), VNs set in historical or alternative universe Europe/West. However, the majority of respondents (52%) still want honorifics to be kept in those settings. The reasons for their preference are the same as stated above. 8% of the respondents want honorifics kept in the translated text only when certain conditions are met. All the examples listed above still apply. What should be noted, however, is how some respondents differentiated between isekai, fantasy, and western setting, with some outright stating that honorifics should be always kept in isekai (Such as Koihime Musou or Newton to Ringo no Ki) and others wanting them kept in fantasy (Such as Evenicle or Kamidori Alchemy Meister). Medieval or modern western fiction (like Fata Morgana no Yakata) was not mentioned in these replies, leading me to believe people's desire for honorifics in such titles is smaller. 12% of the respondents have no preference or leave it up to the translator's preference. 28% of the respondents want honorifics removed in a non-Japanese setting. From this, we can see a major move from the "keep" camp to the "remove" camp. A 19 percentage point gain from the people who voted that they want honorifics kept in a Japanese setting, yet they want them removed/replaced in a non-Japanese one. These people have the following reasons for why their opinion is different: Breaking the immersion - Japanese is likely not the "real" language of the world/country they're in, so it makes no sense for them to use honorifics; There are more likely to be English equivalents for honorifics when you have the option of using old English in the translation. (scroll down for comments, open the image for a larger version) Now I will use the other data I collected to show what has and does not have impact on the preference for honorifics. First, here are the preferences for Fuwa only. A lot less people want honorifics kept in all settings (14 and 15 percentage points below average), with a very large group of people wanting them to be always removed in non-Japanese setting. Next up, I split the respondents into several groups based on how long they have been reading visual novels (this is global data, not just Fuwanovel). I initially thought newcomers to VNs would be the biggest opponents to honorifics, due to them not being used to seeing them in text or even not understanding them. However, it is exact opposite. This goes to show that while these people are new to VNs, they are certainly not new to Japanese culture in general. It is very likely that most of the people who read VNs started with other forms of media such as anime or manga. Other than this, there is nothing special to say. All the other groups are pretty close to the average with their replies. I also made groups based on number of completed titles, as the length of reading VNs and number of completed titles don't seem to be connected at all. For example, a large number of people who have been reading VNs for over 5 years have only read 25 or less (translated) VNs. In my opinion, you just need hands-on experience with localized VNs to see the real state of the translation scene, what are the realistic expectations for translators, and what are the common roadblocks in localization of honorifics. Anyway, you can see the charts in the picture. What stands out the most is the 101+ completed VNs chart (I merged 101-200 and 200+ because 200+ was a very small subsample). The number of people who want honorifics kept in Japanese settings is about 8 percentage points above average, but the number of people who want honorifics removed in non-Japanese settings is 10 percentage points above average. (scroll down for comments, open the image for a larger version) And here are the other statistics I got from doing the survey. Left is Fuwa, right is global. People here have been reading VNs for longer than average, are more likely to know Japanese, and read more VNs in general. You also love cute things. Note: Obviously there is an overlap between some of the communities, so these charts based on community might not be completely accurate, but I posted it all over the place at around the same time, which means the place you saw it first is likely the one you frequent the most.

I just finished Kanon. It was beautiful. Can be seen as sort of prototype for later Key games, but still holds up on its own. I think my favourite girls and routes were Nayuki and Ayu (first and last played). Probably because we spend most time with one or both of them, whichever route we're on. Nayuki's route felt natural for first one to read, it makes nice introduction into the world. Shiori, Makoto and Mai were good too. Makoto's story was really sad, but with many heartwarming moments near the end. Shiori's route was nice romance story. Mai's route was interesting, also with right amount of feels included. The setup for this route was very similar to Saya's route from LB!. The ending - in some ways - too. The nicest thing about this route was observing how Mai slowly opened up before Yuuichi as their relationship progressed. Then the ending hits somewhat unexpectedly, and whole epilogue sequence is vague enough that I wasn't sure if KeyMagic finally did it's work, or it was bittersweet one. Still, good route. Ayu is main heroine of the game and her route is closest to "True Route" we can get here, that's why I read it last. It was really good, classic Key - but it started it all. Some of the most heartwarming CGs from these route for me were Music and voices were good. Backgrounds were beautiful, and character's look didn't bother me at all - I guess I got used to this drawing style by going gradually LB! -> Clannad -> Kanon. I actually liked them. I played with All-ages patch. I briefly checked some of the h-scenes, and they feel so out of place and out of character, that it's best to go MoeNovel on them and pretend they never were there. Really, they feel like the result of applying Rule34 to the characters. Avoid at all cost. KEY stories don't work as eroge at all, period. Translation was okay. It was smooth read most of the time. However it's slightly inconsistent. On one hand, it replaces some more obscure cultural references with Western ones (with clickable pop-up TL notes explaining what whas there originally for those who are curious), and that's good. OTOH later in Ayu's route they left ”ごちそうさまでした。” untranslated (with TL-note), which makes no sense at all. But apart from that, it's okay. Overally - great experience, not as epic as Clannad or LB!, but for a first attempt - really good. 8.5/10

Let's get back to the actual demosaic patch: Check out later today for a new HSCENE!

If you meant what that the other guy on reddit was trying to fix it. I quote Jacob from fakku: " Missing voice lines have been fixed. Some monologue lines that did not play have been corrected. Cut off lines in various scenes have been repaired." Another guy found some bugs and posted on fakku forum and Jacob answered to that: "christantoan wrote... I just downloaded the latest version and did some quick checks based on previous translation mistakes I've seen. Any translation errors (or additional bugs) should be sent to Denpasoft https://denpasoft.com/pages/contact https://twitter.com/Denpasoft_pr" So if you find bugs, send it to denpasoft. Aside that bug in translation everything else should be okay (as we should believed everything is fixed). But of course they could be somewhere some mistakes, but we should find them first.

First, I should mention that this post is mostly going to focus on how this VN improves on the original content from Shin Koihime Musou. The reason is fairly simple... if you like the series, you'll eventually play this, and if you played the original Shin Koihime Musou, then that is probably what you want to know. I know I would. Next, I will go ahead and come out with it... I loved what they did with this path. The degree of added detail in this VN is actually higher than in Souten no Haou (Gi/Wei), and at least part of this is that it adds in a huge portion of time in the prologue, added story in the later areas of the game, and significantly revamped scenes involving the much larger cast of characters available to the somewhat sparsely-populated (comparative to Shoku/Shu and Gi/Wei) of the original. The prelude (the period of the game starting with Kazuto's arrival through the Yellow Turbans and Dong Zhuo eras) is so completely redone as to be unrecognizable. Son Bundai (Sun Jian) being both alive and present in this part of the game alters how it begins dramatically. Ienren (her manna) is like Sheren/Hakufu magnified with a foul mouth and a fighting power roughly equivalent to Ryoufu/Lu Bu. She is harsh with her enemies, domineering but thoughtful with her subordinates, and rules her people with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Under her tutelage, Kazuto actually ends up pushed into the bloody/dirty parts of war, and as a result, he ends up a bit fiercer/harsher than he is in the other paths at times. This path does indeed follow the basic bones of history (if you know what happens with Sun Jian and Sun Ce in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you know what I'm talking about), which matches the original events of the path in the original Shin Koihime Musou. However, because of the experiences in the prelude with Ienren, the emotional moments were all the more poignant, and I felt myself able to empathize more with the characters as a whole than I did in the original path, where things seemed to move far too fast through that part of the game. The generalized 'fattening up' of the story is present at all levels, and the story is much more complex in the particulars as a result. While this has the effect of making playing all the way through this path somewhat exhausting, I felt it was worth it in the end. The extra heroines are something of a mixed bag. I really liked Taishiji and Raika, but I despised Pao and was disinterested in Teifu (yet another drunkard older woman in a game that already has way too many). I do want to say that I really seriously don't understand why they kept the system where you can't read all the heroine events each chapter. Sengoku Koihime allows you to read all of them, and it didn't seem to hurt the story... and it was immensely annoying to end up seeing some of the scenes that were slightly out of line with the current progression of the story. Only the 'ruler' heroines' scenes perfectly matched what was going on in the story as a whole, and that disrupted my enjoyment of them immensely. Last of all, as rumored, there is indeed an 'alternate' ending to Go's path, unlike Gi's. This ending branches off at the most dramatic/sad turning point of the original path and gives you a 'what if' for if This alters the events that proceed from there and the ending as a whole greatly. I honestly cried happy tears at this ending, and for those who are displeased with that particular turning point of the original path, it is a treat. Anyway, that is my commentary on this game, for those who are interested.

Super second this!!! Gii is on my list of favorite protagonists and his relationship with Kia and Ati are just too heartwarming, my heart melt everytime.

Well 'great' would be a hard one. Unfortuantely, the majority of VN's aren't exactly blessed with those types of protagonists. I think Tokyo Babel had a pretty good protagonist and Suguha from Chusingura too - especially in the later chapers. The Overdrive VN's like Kira Kira, Edelweiss or Dengeki Stryker usually have decent protagonists as well. Kanon had a great one, but you're better off watching the anime since the VN is ancient now. I personally also liked the one from Koihime Musou and Da Capo 2 but I wouldn't go so far to call them great. If you're also fine with adult ones, then Gii from Sekien no Inganock, Reiji from Kara no Shojo 1 & 2, Hakuoro from Utawarerumono and Ryou from Eden are good. (Eden also a has strong caretaker theme, but it's very sad) Those are just notification sounds if you were quoted, mentioned or got a post reaction. I guess you can desctivate them in your profile settings if you don't like them.

Did the Chrono Clock sister route and shed a couple predictable tears. Just finished the Hishomemo intro (wew serious goosebumps). I do believe that I may be on the verge of understanding why "imoutos" seem to have such an enthusiastic fanbase o.0. Chinami is so cute imma die. So far, the MC does seem to have a bit of a patient guardian aspect to him so this is very promising. Thanks again for the suggestions!

So, yeah. Finished this today, and I confirm two things I said before: The choice leading to the true ending unlocks after finishing one arbitrary route, but don't choose "For some reason, I saw a blue sky" before you are actually ready to read the true route, or you will be spoiled almost instantly! I believe, it should be added to the walkthrough, it's pretty important. Also, if you don't read Alice's normal ending, the true ending won't make any sense. Don't worry, you won't have to replay the whole route to reach it, the normal ending appears almost instantly after you finish the common route, and only the true end has an actual character route leading to it. Overall, I suggest the following route order: Saki->Yayoi->Keiko->Maia->Alice normal-> Alice true. The bad and the normal endings are not very important and can be skipped, though both of them contain unique CGs. On the other hand, the bad ending is very short and easy to get to. The normal end, if someone is interested, is basically this (chapter 7 spoilers):

Yeah, I was literally fuming in those scenes as well. Most people didn't seem to care though. Still, I didn't really hate Yuuji but he's certainly far from my favorite.

Popularity I would assume is based on the numbers of votes while rating I think is mostly about the average of the vote but also taking into consideration amount of votes so some VNs with almost no votes can't get to the top of the list.

That list is a bit dated I would recommend a list I made not long ago instead This only contains the ones officially released, though there have been a lot of releases the last few years. This list also have the different VNs sorted by amount of vndb votes and the average vote so it should be usefull for finding good VNs.

Chihayafuru (both manga and anime versions are pretty similar, from what I know).

Yeah, I was mostly being sarcastic. The main drawback of the polls like that is that it's impossible to estimate how representative the results even are. Still, 52% voted to always keep the honorifics in non-Japanese settings? I just can't. Something like Fata Morgana would literally never work if the honorifics were left intact.

Until you can understand enough Japanese to read untranslated (if you choose to learn), you are pretty much restricted to what is on that list for Japanese-made VNs... I'm afraid there just aren't a ton of the VNs you want translated, sadly. Edit: Just to be clear, none of my choices are translated. If I make a suggestion, it is almost always going to be untranslated. I figured, since you didn't specify, that you wanted choices for the future as much as for the now, so I went ahead and made a bunch of suggestions. The vndb pages for those VNs also display whether there is a translation or not, as well.

This is one of the most profound ways of saying "my parents are finally kicking me out" I've ever encountered.

The results show that a survey posted exclusively in weeb communities is mostly taken by weebs. Largely, yeah, though the degrees of weebness varies. I take umbrage with the survey giver stating that the target group are those "interested enough" in VNs to be part of a community, as if anyone not in a community lacks interest or isn't as big of a fan. There are a large number of dedicated VN fans who don't participate in any community (I know a few who were big enough fans of VNs to begin fan translating some without ever being a member of a community) as well as a number of members of the community who only casually read VNs. Basically, this survey was utterly meaningless from the start, but I'm sure we all knew that already.

There are reasons... one reason is that relatively few yandere heroines exist in non-rape VNs. Another reason is that very few writers can handle a believably yandere heroine, so most don't even try. Another reason why you wouldn't find these just by cross-referencing on vndb is that you were probably looking through non-obscure translated ones... and these are obscure untranslated for the most part. Inochi no Spare is emotionally intense and agonizing for the characters involved, but it is also the one that fits the 'caretaker' vibe the most directly. There are some VNs where things are reversed (the protagonist is being taken care of for various reasons), but the heroine-centric nature of most VNs has relegated the disabled heroine to a minor sub-genre tag. End Sleep is also a horror-mystery, so you might have trouble with it if you can't stand guro. If you don't mind a bit more subtlety (the psychological vs the physical caretaking), I'd recommend Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana... the protagonist is so intensely selfless about taking care of the heroines that it breaks your heart almost from beginning to end. For something more comedic, Sakura Nikagetsu is a first-class game, since the protagonist is a self-proclaimed 'fixer' of hopelessly incompetent/clumsy heroines. The big problem is that there just aren't that many VNs where the heroine is so maladjusted or incapable of taking care of herself in the most basic of fashions... and in most cases, the heroines are dying, so it is less about cuteness and more about melancholy.

Not surprised this didn't sell well. I didn't buy it, the aspect ratio and resolution are way too out of date. Other things that keep me away from it are multiple protagonists, cut content, and the art doesn't look all that good. I put a lot of emphasis on the 'visual' part of visual novel. You can have the best story in the world, but if I don't like the art I find myself having very little motivation to play it.

Sorry but almost everyone who plays VN in general are weebs not just VN communities.

Thank you for this patch. I appreciate your work for the community in helping to restore half-assed work that main companies do. Also, thank you for adding a description on what's going on with this game's release. I was literally looking around to understand why this is going on until now. Even the other Maitetsu board doesn't have a description like this!

The poll shows that most respondents were weebs. The difference is pretty crucial. A very particular type of fan hangs out in VN communities and responds to polls like this.

I played through the Chrono Clock sister route today.

I wasn't worried like that at all. After all I have known the result for a few years already

I don't know what is creepier, the fact this fic is excellent, or you nailing my character to perfection. I mean it's not like i'm a tsundere that speaks H24 about steins;gate 0!!!

Obviously from looking at the amount of votes on vndb and the fact that the game is readily available for uhm... "free" everywhere, though what's available for "free" is an older build from September 2017 and Subarashiki Hibi got a few patches since then. As Doddler mentioned on his twitter in October 2017 with the release of Saku Saku, usually people that play pirated copies are stuck with v1.00 versions since that's only what floating around on the net and patches/updates are not distributed stand-alone. It's a big change as far as Makura/KeroQ are concerned at least, this was their first attempt at releasing one of their VNs outside of Japan and for that they chose one of their most acclaimed VN, only to have it sell 2-3k in about a year (that's with including Kickstarter backers who got their steam digital download copies from there). VN Fans: "Please Please, release Muramasa in english... What's that? No, I don't care that it's a 200 hours long title with no heroines, this game is EPIC and we'll definitly buy it if you release it!" *few years later* VN Publisher: "Okay we have released Muramasa in english now, please go ahead and buy it" VN Fans: *torrents Muramasa away and uses money to buy NEKOPARA 11 and Funbag Fantasy 5 instead*

I see. If that's the case then keep up the good job there, and I hope that you'll have fun on Evenicle there (I saw your playthrough of that at Youtube after all).

endgame spoilers

I just had an extra big breakfast, so I thought I'd pull up a chair and solve one of the most hotly debated issues facing the English-speaking VN community today. No, no need for thanks. Just name a stadium or sandwich after me at some point. Or both. Ready? Here we go. Honorifics or no honorifics? Should translated visual novels maintain the traditional Japanese cavalcade of name suffixes — san, kun, chan, sama, and so forth? Or should they adopt a more familiar Western approach, dropping honorifics entirely and/or replacing them with English titles — Mr., Mrs., Sir, etc. — only where situationally appropriate? San? Or sans san? I've thought long and hard on the matter and I think I've finally figured it out. Here's the answer you've all been waiting for. ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE? Haven't you been reading this blog? Did you really think a self-professed amateur VN editor would suddenly crack the code wide open and save the day? I’m quite literally an idiot. My wife will back me up on that one. And besides, this isn't some question with an obvious answer, like "Should I put ketchup on my steak?" (Answer: No. And if you do, you're an awful person who probably pushes elderly nuns in front of buses when you think no one's looking, then steals their mangled nun panties.) In fact, that question doesn't even have an answer, per se; it has a decision tree. Imagine your friend asks you, "Should I get a tattoo?" There are a lot of considerations to run through before you can give an answer. What kind of job do they have? Bankers and bartenders each have different leeway when it comes to full-sleeve tats. What's the context of their question? Is your friend asking you this over coffee? Or looking up at you from a vomit-filled toilet bowl in a way off-Strip Vegas casino? And what's the tattoo of? If it's Tweety Bird, then it's off to prison with them, along with all the steak-on-ketchup panty sniffers. Same for honorifics. There's no one-size-fits-all answer — only questions and considerations. And the first big branch of that decision tree: Who are your readers and why do they read VNs? The Battle Lines Are Drawn By and large, we can break VN readers down into two camps: story-seekers and culture-seekers. It’s an overgeneralization, of course — there’s some drift and overlap between these two groups — but it will give us a useful starting point for our discussion. Story-seekers tend to read visual novels for the plot, for the romance, for the giant mechs, for the faps, and for THE FEELS, MAN, THE FEELS. The fact that these stories are Japanese in origin is kinda cool, but secondary to the overall experience. As a group, they value readability over verisimilitude. They don’t get their stolen nun panties in a bunch because Ixrec’s translation of Rewrite doesn’t capture every last nuance of the Japanese, or even gets a few lines wrong at times. They just sit back and enjoy the ride. And for them, honorifics are often just weeaboo speedbumps that interfere with said ride. Culture-seekers, on the other hand, tend to read VNs not only for the story, but to indulge their passion for Japanese culture. They might speak Japanese, or they might be in the process of learning to do so. Visual novels are often a means to an end: they read VNs in part to practice their Japanese. (And they practice Japanese to read VNs. Loopity-loopity-loop.) Culture-seekers enjoy the inherent Japanese-ness of the medium — seeing the subtle social interplay of honorifics at work, for example — so for them, stripping away “san” to please some Naruto-watching noobs is like throwing away part of the story. As a translator or editor, you will inevitably piss off one of these camps. Sorry, that’s just how it is. You’re dealing with two groups of people who have inherently different motivations for reading the same work. And you can only translate/edit one way. Sucks, right? To extend my steak metaphor, it’s like owning a restaurant that, for logistical reasons, can only cook its steaks to one temperature — rare or well-done. And it’s up to you to pick which. If you go with rare, all the well-done lovers will give your little bistro one-star reviews on Yelp. And if you choose well-done, the folks who like their steaks blue and bloody will come at you with knives drawn. In a way, this becomes sort of liberating. No matter what you do, you will annoy a good chunk of your audience. This is fait accompli. So you’re now free to do what you actually think is right for the work, knowing it won’t really affect the outcome much. Of course, you’re also probably in one of those two camps yourself. (I know I am.) As such, you probably have an clear bias toward a particular approach — san or sans san. And you know what? That’s fine. Recognize your bias. Embrace it. Make friends with the fact that you prefer to translate/edit one way or the other. Then remember the advice I gave a few blog entries back: You are not your audience. Your close friends are not your audience. The message boards you follow are not your audience. Your audience is your audience; its needs may differ from yours. And the novel is the novel; its needs may also differ from yours. So here’s what I propose: Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach to every VN, just accept that, all things being equal, you will probably prefer one approach to editing/translation over the other. And then leave yourself open to the possibility of changing that approach based on the specific needs of the VN and the audience for that VN. Handle it the same way you would that friend asking about the tattoo. Is getting inked right for them right now? And is including honorifics right for the audience and right for the novel? Let’s walk through some questions you might ask yourself while making that decision: Who’s the primary audience for the VN? Are your readers primarily story-seekers or culture-seekers? Is your VN some niche title that appeals only to otakus, or is it a game with broad crossover appeal? A stronger case could be made for honorifics in the former situation; less so in the latter What's the setting of the visual novel? If your characters are all alien catgirls on a spaceship 23,000,000 light years from Earth, it's harder to justify keeping in honorifics than if you’ve got a cast of high school students in modern-day Japan. Are the honorifics plot-relevant? Is there any good story-related reason for all the sans and kuns to be there? Is the central conflict of the VN about whether the protagonist and his best girl are ready to go first name-only? If so, you have a better case for keeping honorifics than if they're just there as subtle social shading. Is the visual novel voiced? This one's common sense. You’ll have an easier time not including honorifics if the reader isn’t hearing them in VO. And vice versa. How annoying are the honorifics? This one is totally subjective, but it needs to be asked. Some writers tend to favor narration over dialogue, so their scripts will have fewer honorifics to deal with. Other writers love the rhythms of slice-of-life dialogue, so their prose might be a minefield of sans and chans. Read the script aloud. How jarring is it to the ear? Is this an OELVN? Stop it. Just stop it already. You don’t need honorifics. You’re writing a novel in English for an English-speaking audience, for crissakes. Don’t make me come back there. Run down the decision tree. Be honest with yourself. Is there enough evidence to make you reconsider your approach to this novel? Are you an anti-honorific type editing a VN set in feudal Japan, where one missing “sama” could mean the difference between life or death for the characters? Consider keeping them in. Are you a pro-honorific person translating a VN about competitive bread baking in Paris? Consider ditching them. Full Disclosure I’m a story-seeker. Given my druthers, I will choose to omit honorifics from a VN for the sake of more readable English prose. I’m fairly certain that if it’s possible to translate Murakami and Kurosawa into English without honorifics, it should be more than possible to do the same for some random high school moege. I admit you might be losing a certain amount content by omitting those honorifics — clues about the social standing of various characters in relation to one another, not to mention their personalities — but as far as I'm concerned, it’s content that can either be (a) baked into the script via other contextual clues, or (b) written off as redundant — that is to say, most of what those honorifics are communicating will already be apparent through the rest of the dialogue and on-screen action. I also admit that my sans-san approach won’t be the right one in every situation. Same goes for the opposite approach. Every work and every audience demands its own solution. Your job is to stop for a moment and ask yourself what that solution is. And then be willing to listen to the answer.

The VN in question: https://vndb.org/v4028 I was hesitant to put the actual question in the title because it is a bit sensitive, but I have been conflicted for so long and I need help: did you guys jerk off to Koichoco's H scene, or are the girls too pure and they have a deep, engaging story and development and need to be cherished? I'm asking this because Koichoco's artstyle is something that just CLICKS for me - and the temptation is there.. But I still hold on the policy that I won't lewd or taint girls who have a deep character and a story of their own. Basically, my body is telling me yes (I haven't seen many eroges that have as good art as Koichoco), but my mind's telling me no with the reason that "what if they're pure girls who shouldn't be tainted with deep stories which need to be focused instead of their bed scene". As such, if people who have already finished Koichoco can offer me some inputs or even just anecdotes of how you played through the game regarding the H scenes would be very helpful for me. Is it fine using them just as fap material? Having a boner thinking about the potential H scenes with such art (and voice acting) yet held back by this feeling of guilt and conflict isn't the best thing to have. I want to resolve this feeling..