Leaderboard

Perhaps the most universal complaint of those who read Japanese VNs, regardless of their tastes, is the bland, non-people, average protagonists that make up better than 90% of all VN protagonists. This trend began with the first moege, as a technique to allow people to self-insert more easily, but the tradition has worked against VNs more than it has worked for them, with protagonists with unique quirks turning out to be almost as important to a VN's lasting popularity as heroine quality. Unfortunately for those new to VNs, it is impossible to tell at a glance whether a protagonist will be interesting or not based on the cover, since most protagonists don't have a tachie, voice-acting, or a character description on the official site, lol. So, as a service to my fellow Fuwans, I decided to go ahead and make this list. The greater majority of these games will be untranslated, but I will go ahead and list ones that are translated that I know of. Feel free to help me add to the list, though this one is for Japanese-origin games, not EVNs. The baseline for these protagonists will be that they are either unique, unusual, or capable (intelligent, talented, and/or skilled at something and have something approaching a personality) without deliberate nerfing of their qualities to make heroines stand out more. Harem protagonists who are merely kind to everyone will not count for the purpose of this list, and characters whose personality/capabilities/talents/skills get toned down in the heroine routes will also not qualify. Translated Tokyo Babel Ayakashibito Hello, Lady (soon) Hapymaher Noble Works (yes, he does make the baseline) Dracu-riot (assuming the official release comes out) Nanairo Reincarnation (soon) Tsukihime FSN Comyu (yes, I include this... because even if you hate Akihito's man-whore qualities, he is definitely not a cardboard cut-out character) Rance games (I hate the Rance games, personally, but you can't say he isn't unique) Majikoi Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road (Dai only seems sheeple on the surface... he has enough depth as a character to qualify) Eien no Aselia (while his personality is standard for a jrpg protagonist, it has enough twists and unique qualities to make the list) Seinarukana (similar to above) Fata Morgana no Yakata (I wavered because of the way the game is structured, but I chose to list it anyway) Grisaia series Kikokugai Demonbane 11eyes Rewrite (I hate this protagonist, but he stands out, even if he is a dumbass) Animamundi Baldr SkyDive (whenever it comes out) ChuSinGura (I honestly wavered on this one, both because the protagonist is a moron and because I don't consider this to have been truly translated) Cross Channel Daiteikoku Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai Dies Irae I/O Yumina Kyonyuu Fantasy (yes, I'm serious even as I'm laughing) Planetarian Rose Guns Days Sekien no Inganock Gakthun Sharin no Kuni Shikkoku no Sharnoth Shin Koihime Musou (apparently tl is at 100%, so I'm including it) Sorcery Jokers (Senri!!!) Tears to Tiara Tokeijikake no Leyline series Venus Blood Frontier (whenever it comes out) Wanko to Kurasou Eden* Untranslated Akeiro Kaikitan Ikusa Megami series Soukoku no Arterial Fuukan no Grasesta Madou Koukaku Silverio series Tiny Dungeon series Zero Infinity Electro-Arms Soranica Ele Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier Komorebi no Nostalgica Devils Devel Concept Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana Evolimit Bullet Butlers Tokyo Necro Soukou Akki Muramasa Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai Shugo no Tate series Amatsutsumi Floral Flowlove Aoi Tori Mirai Nostalgia Bradyon Veda Draculius Gensou no Avatar Abyss Homicide Club Hyper→Highspeed→Genius Inochi no Spare Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo Konata yori Kanata Made Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de Jingai Makyou "Hello, World" Natsu no Owari no Nirvana Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas Rui wa Tomo o Yobu Ryuukishi Bloody Saga Vermilion Bind of Blood Satsukoi Sinclient Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide Suisei Ginka Yurikago yori Tenshi Made Izuna Zanshinken Tasogare no Sinsemilla Valkyrie Runabout Sekai o Sukuu dake no Kantan na Oshigoto Haru to Yuki Semiramis no Tenbin Tsukiakari Lunch Tsuisou no Augment Kamikaze Explorer Prism Recollection Houkago no Futekikakusha Izayoi no Fortuna Natsuzora no Perseus Minamijuujisei Renka Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary Sakura no Mori Dreamers AstralAir no Shiroki Towa Irotoridori no Sekai Senren Banka Reminiscence Akagoei series Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru Harumade Kururu Haruru Minamo ni Kin'iro Loveriche Love Rec. Natsuiro Recipe Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic Sakura Nikagetsu Iroha ~Aki no Yuuhi ni Kagefumi o~ Campus's Uso series World Election (seriously push this one for fantasy charage lovers) Curio Dealer Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai Lamunation Sora no Tsukurikata Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa Sakura, Sakimashita Amairo Islenauts Blade x Bullet Gouen no Soleil Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu Doushite, Sonna ni Kurokami ga Suki na no?! (more charage with some plot) Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake Butterfly Seeker Fake Azure Arcology Re:Birth Colony Gekkou no Carnevale Hatsuyuki Sakura Gurenka Hikari no Umi no Apeiria (this guy's personality is so out there you wouldn't even be able to tell if anything effected him, lol) Hotel. (this is also a joke from me that I can share only with those few who have read it, lol) Kamigakari Cross Heart Kimi to Boku to no Kishi no Hibi Witch's Garden Kono Sekai no Mukou de Kouyoku no Soleil Lovesick Puppies (more food for charagamers) Toppara Zashiki Warashi no Hanashi Naka no Hito Nado Inai Natsuiro no Nostalgia Ojou-sama wa Gokigen Naname Onigokko Otomimi Infinity Para-Sol Prima Stella Paradise Lost Kajiri Kamui Kagura Sanzen Sekai Yuugi (only Otomege I know of that fulfills the prime condition) Primal x Hearts Tayutama (original only) Shinigami no Testament Shogun-sama wa Otoshigoro Stellula Eques Codex Tasogare no Himekishi (seriously, the protagonist is subject to some interesting stuff, like akuochi and/or corruption of characters) Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku Unjou no Fairy Tale Yuganda Uso no Koi to Letter Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou Request includes G-Senjou no Maou Aiyoku no Eustia Watashi no Real wa Juujitsu Shisugiteiru Shirogane no Soleil Root Double Edit: A lot of these characters stand out due to personality traits or quirks, as much as anything else. The key point is that the protagonist is a 'person' instead of a cipher or catalyst. For those who wonder why I didn't include Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou 2, the reason is pretty simple... in every path, the protagonist's individuality vanishes and he becomes enslaved to the heroine's character needs.

Actually, the dudes are exactly the reason Little Busters is a good game. The girls are just window dressing and a way to get you to spend some time with the characters and learn to like them all. In the end, it's all about the bromance.

On the "games for girls" side of things, I think 2018 was a pretty solid year. We got the localization of both Psychedelica games, and Sweet Pool recently. For Japanese releases, there were Cendrillon Palika as a Switch exclusive (as the Vita is dying in the West because Sony itself is trying to kill it, it's a good thing to expand the market), Piofiore no Banshou, a fandisk for Collar x Malice, and some great BL games from first-time developers, like Mahoutsukai to Tenshi to Akuma and Nie no Machi.

Requiem for Innocence.

Something similar occurs in Ef: The first tale(and the latter tale too). You play as og mc then get switched to his friend who had a voice who now doesn't and now the og mc has a voice. Makes absolutely no sense to me. If you're going to pay a VA for lines for the character, you might as well go the whole way. Though, I can understand if their budget wasn't the greatest.

I started Naoki's arc. I have one minor complaint - I wish they kept his face and voice as a protagonist too... I actually like voiced protagonists - it worked pretty well in Air or Planetarian. And here, since he already was pretty well developed as side character in Tooru's arc, sudden switch to faceless/voiceless form is a bit jarring.

My favorite characters ? Hmm... i like the fighter, or underworld type that's generally feared and aggressive, but actually has quite a dere side to her (i guess Ai from Tsujidou-san Jun'Ai road falls right into this one). Another one i like is one with yandere vibes, but not over the top bat shit crazy like Nishi Mayuko i actually disliked her, more like Akane from Renai Bokun: Other ones i'm really fond are characters like Margit, Tatsuko, Tsubame, Seiso (in her emperor mode) and Lin/Rin, all from the Majikoi series or girls like Nagamitsu Maya From Noble Works, she was my favorite in that VN. The ones that i really loved but don't fit into that bad/fighter girl type are Mayuzumi, from Majikoi, or Kotori and Nanaka from D.C.

I think the question was "Do we count translations as releases or not?"

Yes, I do, for pretty much every story I come to love. I feel sad when the story ends regardless of the type of ending, since I won't be able to keep experiencing it (that doesn't necessarily mean I'm not satisfied with the ending though!). I'm sad about not being able to keep those characters company probably forever, unless a sequel comes out. And yes of course, if the character in question is a tier A waifu the feelings only intensify Some would call having this sort of investment for fictional characters stupid, but I believe that as long as it's within what's reasonable and healthy, it just means you are enjoying those stories and characters to the fullest. I'm sure the authors would be really pleased

I have three types of fascination with characters. One is partially intellectual and linked to my fondness for 'difference'. Psychologically strange, twisted, and generally way out there people fall into this realm. A few examples would be the near-sociopaths Hinaori Kagome (Comyu), Shigure Sora (Devils Devel concept), and Kamio Ami (Semiramis no Tenbin), as well as a few stranger examples such as the yanderes of Gun Knight Girl. The second is character 'relations'. This can be a friendship, a deep familial bond, or an intense love match. A few examples of this include Eri from Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa, Suzu from Ayakashibito, and Shizuku from Evolimit (the order is reversed, incidentally). Last of all is admiration for a person who transcends the common ruck of humanity. I don't restrict this admiration to rl people like Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa, as an example of greatness is an example of greatness, regardless of fiction or non-fictional origin. A few examples include Dmitri and Shou from my previous post, Shizumine Ryuuji from Inochi no Spare, and Tokiwa Itsuka of Houkago no Futekikakusha. These people are individuals who fight through their agony for the sake of others, giving of themselves despite their own desperate straits, sometimes even giving up their very lives or something even more important to them. Their reasons might be personal and rooted in their own personal darkness, but their willingness to break themselves in the service of others still rips my heart out of my chest every time.

Too bad I cannot read it

So, done with Aselia's route. I wanted to make a mini-review of the game at this point, but, to be honest, I have too many conflicting thoughts about the game right now, and I need to let them sink for a while to turn my thoughts into a reasonable form. The last battle was a bit annoying though. It wasn't particularly difficult, but continuously moving the squads from one part of the dungeon to another kind of killed my enjoyment. I'm not sure I'm going to read all the routes though. It feels from the story structure that the differences between routes is pretty small, and replaying all the battles for 7 times might be a bit too much. On the other hand, I just found on the fan-translators' forum that if you max out the stats of all the characters in super-hard mode and then play the game in the easy mode, and then you will apparently be able to finish all battles very quickly and without much thinking. I don't know, I'll see how it goes. Also, I'll try going for Lesteena next, I guess.

Speaking of grimdark and questionable shock value, I'm done with euphoria (once more, no real spoilers incoming, but vague impressions/hints that some people might still want to avoid before reading the VN)! And well, it was... Something. I mean, I'm not sure even how to describe the post-death game part. Discount Higurashi with porn? That could work. It was all... Serviceable, but really not much beyond that. The true ending also wasn't that rewarding. There were some really cool ideas (the bait-and-switch in the final route was very cool in theory), but the way things played out in the end... I really had no clear reaction to it and considering I've spent two whole days with this game, that's pretty sad. I should feel more after following these characters and storyline for so long. After Natsuki and Rika, I went for Rinne... It started really strong, but once more, the epilogue part was just plain weird and confusing. Even after finishing the whole game and learning additional details to her backstory and personality, it didn't make much sense to me, but even beyond that, it was pretty... Alienating? The ending had very little emotional impact IMHO. Also, by that time the various "shocking" scenes lost their novelty so much that I wasn't reacting to them at all, especially considering how little most of the characters deserved compassion. This is a general complaint - this type of game should make you feel sympathetic for the characters to be effective in its storytelling, but euphoria pretty much undermines that in every route (and, of course, with the unbelievably dumb h-scene dialogue). I guess what's left is just weird porn, which, by the midpoint, was pretty much neither disturbing nor hot (Rinne's route, BTW, probably came the closest to, at times, actually being hot, with the genuine connection between her and the protagonist - one which, of course, fell apart later and never returned). Nemu's route was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be and made even more interesting after you know the full picture. The hints are fun and the struggle between her and the protagonist intriguing. And the final route is... Messy and anticlimactic? I didn't buy into pretty much anything in it when it goes to character's interactions, and the main reveal was even more lukewarm than I've expected. The dynamic between the protagonist and Kanae was a bit weird, but most importantly, made completely meaningless by the later events. The premise behind the death games was just edgy nonsense. But, well, I can't say it didn't try to do some interesting things beyond the insane variety of disturbing porn, and didn't have its genuinely captivating moments, even if those were relatively few and far between. 6,5/10

Relative to the era in which it was released? Tsukihime. There was literally nothing like Tsukihime at the time it was released, and it set the precedent for doujin circles going professional, which was one of the reasons for the rapid explosion in plotge that occurred in the years immediately after. The question is too broadly defined, lol.

I quantify an "NTR game" to be something built entirely out of the fetish, so most probably no.

you thought wrong

I don't see why I need to give proof to make a post, but sure. It's talked about in this twitter chain, for instance. (And other places on twitter related to VNs; just use the search button.) There is also the Imolicious situation, where the devs were simply told they were not allowed to submit their game because it had content exploiting children. (Even though it clearly didn't.) Just look up the dev on twitter for more info. And of course, Key to Home, which was already banned a while back. These are just some examples. There is also this.

And once again, Steam picks up their pitchforks. Not only are they removing store pages for VNs, they are banning them, which means that you can no longer submit an altered version; if they ban your title, it's banned for good. No going back. (In the past you could submit a new, altered version to get your game on steam, and they only banned very specific games like Key to Home, but now they aren't allowing this at all, I guess.)

In my case I gravitated towards Erika because she was most in line with the way I thought and felt about things. Also yes, you were the only one that liked that ending, but don't worry Shou's winter will come at some point, be sure to check back in the next three years. I go for a certain type of character I guess you can say, and if they are in whatever weird parameters I set for myself I'll probably always have intense thoughts and feelings associated with them. The characters I'm most interested in remind me of someone I'll probably always hold close to my heart. In the end I'm a bit sad when their story ends like I would after having finished a really good book. I think it would be more interesting to think of taking over the mind of a protag and living out their ambitions rather than just bringing said waifu to your world. But for that it's less out of my intense love of a character but my intense hate or apathy for the dense and stupid protag. I just know I could do it better. Watch out which one you choose though cuz those dense fuckers have no idea what birth control is.

Both. Because why should language be a barrier to good stories?