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Just letting everyone know that, from now on: Requests for walkthroughs or threads with nothing more than a link to other walkthroughs should be tagged with [REQUEST] in the title, and should not have 'walkthrough' in the title, so as to not create false hope or confuse internet searches.

I guess it's both counter-intuitive and kind of depressing, but I don't see another answer unless we include a concept of soul (in some form). I mean, just a small experiment: how much you can control what you're thinking? How much do you control how you react to things? You make "choices" every other moment, but are you enacting your free will, or are just your past experiences, present incentives, subconcious codes of conduct and reflexes (etc. etc.), all coded in the form of neural networks and electrical currents in your brain, coming together to create an action? The answer is irrelevant anyways. Our lives are liniar stories, with just one set of circumstaces we'll encouter and exacly one set of actions we'll perform in reaction to them (multiverse theories aside, but even those are about random chance rather than some methaphysical concept of self-determined actors). Alternative universes exist in books and our imaginations, they may even haunt us, but that doesn't make them any more real or our actions any more independent. Moral systems exist to give us the incentives to do the right things, not to give us salvation. Moral judgment, both external or internalized, exists to dissuade us from causing harm to others or breaking the accepted order of things. I personally find this vision way more clean and appealing than some higher plains of existance where our consciousness would reside, above the obvious limitations of the material world. That would make the whole thing utterly confusing.

The Aojiru verse: Entry #1: An introduction This is the first in a series of blog posts I will be making about the "Aojiru verse", referring to a series of Tinkerbell games drawn by Aojiru, which includes popular games such as Kowaku no Toki, In'Youchuu etc. Tinkerbell has quickly become one of my favorite VN devs ever, specifically because of the games drawn by Aojiru. I have bought all of the games in the Aojiru verse, and have slowly but surely made my way through them. While I am not done with every single game yet, I have played enough to start making these blog posts. I will be doing a few specific game spotlights of my favorites later on, though this entry will mainly introduce the Aojiru verse in general. The next entry will talk more specifics about what to expect from Aojiru games in general, as well as a game spotlight of the first major title in the series, In'Youchuu 1. The "Aojiru verse" started in 2004 with Hanamaru! While Aojiru drew two other games for Tinkerbell before this, Okite no Shima and Hidamari no Kage de, these do not share any characters or story with the games that followed, so Hanamaru! becomes the game that basically started the "Aojiru verse". Hanamaru! Is interesting in that it is a completely vanilla game, without any real dark content at all, though it's still set in the Aojiru verse, which mainly consists of very dark stories. Very dark stories. Aojiru has drawn a few more games similar to Okite no Shima/ Hidamari no Kage de that are not counted in the Aojiru verse due to being done by different writing staff, and generally not fitting the tone of the Aojiru verse games at all. (The creative team behind most of his games have been the same, which has probably been one of the main reasons why they were turned into this one big universe.) Though, while most of the games in the Aojiru verse share characters and stories, there are some that do not, but that are still counted in the Aojiru verse. I have a list of all of them below. Games colored in green are important to understanding the overall plot in future games, and are considered "must reads." Yellow means they share characters/ plotlines with other games to some extent, and are recommended, but not needed. Red means they have little or no connection to the rest of the universe. They are still a part of the universe, though can be skipped completely if you want. This also means you can START with these games if you want, as they are standalone. The current Aojiru verse: 2004-2009 The beginning of the Aojiru verse, consisting of games all tied together in some way Hanamaru! (2004) - Introduces characters and story elements relevant in later stories such as In'Youchuu, Kowaku no Toki etc - Chou no Yume (2005) - Happens before the other stories in the current Aojiru verse, but is confirmed to be a part of the story in Hanamru! 2, and simply happens way earlier, in the 1600s - In'youchuu ~Ryoujoku Gakuen Taimaroku~ (2005) - Shares characters, story and a setting with Hanamaru! + introduces many new, important characters to the Aojiru verse. It is considered one of the, if not the best Aojiru game. It is definitely the most iconic - In'youchuu Shoku ~Ryoushokutou Taimaroku~ (2006) - A direct sequel to Gakuen, introduces Ouka and Kikuka - Kowaku no Toki (2007) - Somewhat standalone, though does use both Ouka and Kikuka, showing what they do after Shoku. Also shares a general setting with In'Youchuu, and introduces youma with different appearances and abilities from the ones found In'Youchuu games - Hanamaru! 2 (2008) - Shares characters from ALL of the previous games, and introduces the idea of a multiverse. No, I am not kidding, this is marvel cinematic level shit. The game is mainly pure comedy, though it has dark scenarios for each heroine available in a side menu, so fans of the standard Aojiru games won't be disappointed - In'youchuu Etsu ~Kairaku Henka Taimaroku~ (2009) - Introduces new characters relevant in future In'Youchuu games, teaches you more about the origin of youma - 2010-2014 The following period took a step back from the previous style of crossovers, introducing new stories and characters to the Aojiru verse, without needing knowledge of previous works Mouryou no Nie (2010), Kuraibito (2012), Kagome no Mayu (2013): - All confirmed to be in the same universe as In'Youchuu, introducing other sides of the world. No shared characters - Fuka no Jugoku ~Ugomeku Moushuu no Rensa... Owari no Nai Kyouen~ (2014)... - A standalone game seemingly unrelated to the rest of the universe, though based on the content and staff working on it, it's in one of the universes introduced in Hanamru 2 not related to In'Youchuu. It's an extremely dark thriller / horror game not for the faint of heart - 2014-2019 Releasing only games without any shared characters seemingly did not pay off too well, as the following period goes back to creating several new games int he In'Youchuu series, whilst also creating some new stories (Since I have not had the time to play each one of these titles yet, some of them will lack detailed information) In'youchuu Gaiden (2014) - Side stories setting up for the new In'Youchuu game, Kyou. Can be skipped since it's a side story, though I recommend reading it - In'youchuu Kyou ~Ryoujoku Byoutou Taimaroku~ (2014) - Introduces a whole new set of characters. While they have been mentioned in passing during previous games, they have not showed up yet- In'youchuu Kyou ~Kuon no Hime Miko~ (2015) - Side story to Kyou - Sarai no Me (2015) - Standalone horror game - In'youchuu Rei ~Ryoujoku Shiro Taima Emaki~ (2016) - Sequel to Kyou - In'youchuu Goku ~Ryoujoku Jigoku Taimaroku~ (2016) - Squel to Goku - Shin'yaku In'youchuu (2017) - A remake of the original In'Youchuu, mixing in the new characters from Kyou/ Rei/ Goku. It has a new artstyle, and some parts of the story has been re-done. It is considered canon in the In'Youchuu game, and basically works as both a reboot and a sequel to Goku. In short, it's basically just a modernized re-telling of the first In'youchuu story with the new characters mixed in - Shin'yaku In'youchuu - Shiro Neko Honpo Hen & Tsukishiro ... (2017) - Side story, can be skipped, shows what other chars not in Goku were doing during those events - Grand Guignol no Yoru (2018) - Standalone horror game - Mugen no Sakura ~Hitsuya-hime Injoku Youshokutan~ (2019) - Standalone fantasy game where elves from another world flee into ours for sanctuary, as they are hunted by a mad sorcerer. No standard youma are present, and there are no shared characters or lore to the previous games, so it's considered completely standalone - Hanamaru: With the general introduction to the Aojiru verse out of the way, let us quickly talk about Hanamaru. There really is not all that much to say, so I'll make it quick. (The next game spotlights will be much more detailed, of course.) It is honestly a fairly average moege. It's cute, it's fun, but that's about it. As someone who likes the Aojiru verse for its dark content, I wasn't really that interested in this game. But, it does set up the world that In'Youchuu is built on, so it's definitely still important. It's clear in the small details of the writing that the creative team were going to take this to a dark place. They just did not do it in Hanamaru itself. There are magical beings in our world, some good and some evil. Hanamru only really shows us the good ones, but introduces the idea of evil ones existing. You don't really get many answers to where these beings come from or why they are the way they are. These answers come later in the In'Youchuu games. But, this helps create a mysterious atmosphere to the game, which will be picked up again when the main characters of In'Youchuu travel to the school where Hanamaru is set to solve a case of a large amount of youma, (monsters, I'll get into details about them in the next entry,) have invaded the school. You are also introduced to Momono Momo, who is actually a monster hunter herself. Though, she does work actively anymore, and rarely shows her skills on screen. She is also the character with the most cameos in all of Aojiru's games, and has become the games' mascot. Anyways, the tl;dr of Hanamaru is: cute moe with a bit of a dark undertone that is picked up again in the games that follows it. Here is the game's opening. Personally I find the song incredibly catchy. That is it for this entry. In the next entry I will explain more in detail what to expect of the Aojiru verse games in general, as well as introduce the first big entry in the universe, In'Youchuu.

Just a general idea: shouldn't this thread be pinned instead of all those super-outdated compilations? It's kind of a core part of the forums... Anyway, to the topic. I was actually reading quite a few things lately, even though it doesn't show very much in my VNDB. I've finished the route I once skipped in Fragment's Note, Misha's (the deredere childhood friend) and read all the three arcs of After Stories. It's one of the very few genuine mobile JVNs (that is, counting those that actually tell stories and not the microtransaction-riddled messes just masquerading as VNs) that were translated into English and I can't really decide what to think about it. The main intrigue is quite cool and I like most of the characters, but there are just no limits to how dumb and repetitive this VN can get. The stepsister's and childhood friend's routes are nearly identical, the drama showing up after the main plot is resolved is utterly idiotic and drags on for an eternity. But I still kind of can't force myself to hate it, especially when reading it leisurely on my phone. After Stories were nice to read mostly because they skipped on serious drama and just focused on the protagonist and the heroine of your choice figuring out what their relationship should be like. And in the end, two things are certain: Eri is the best girl (she starts as a bit of a confused moron, but I think a slightly-traumatized teen could easily end up being that way – at least she has an actual personality) and Misha is annoying as f*** when she's not in a supporting role. But also, even if I'm reading through an utterly mediocre series, I find it impossible to not feel some connection to the characters and to not enjoy the whole thing more and more over time (well, Sakura MMO might be an exception, but that's beside the point...). I'm slowly starting to get into Fragment's Note 2 and I think I'll enjoy it even if it repeats most of the sins of the original – also because every VN reads better when it's your only entertainment during a long, boring bus ride... I've also finished reading No One But You and well, it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons. I have a review of it more or less ready and it will show up soon, but damn, I'm sometimes amazed by what kind of monstrosities VN writers can produce. I think I've lost like 10% of my brain cells reading through Shiro's and Megumi's routes. Also had a bitter laugh after learning that ebi-hime wrote Chinatsu's route (it was okay-ish, way above the ones I've already mentioned for sure), not only getting involved in this trainwreck but also having her nick misspelt as "ebi-himi" in the credits. And continuing with ebi-hime, I went back to reading The Language of Love, happily reminding myself what a mature work by a talented writer looks like. It's utterly mundane in its flow and themes, but still manages to be original by tackling the kind of everyday scenarios and characters that aren't usually a part of VN's romantic fantasy, with a struggling single mother and a screw-up in his mid-twenties being at the center of it all. Also, it gave me that awkward moment of realization, that even these unusually old VN lead characters are still six-seven years younger than me. When did that happen?

Who'd think the makers of Hanamaru also did Inyouchuu lol

Yeah, once you start going this way, it becomes strangely addictive.

Yeah, I am aware of those problems. That's why I am hoping that if it indeed gets localized, then someone capable of delivering the prose would be working on it. I wish you luck in any case No matter how slow, it's always more fun to read the work at hand in its original language.

Trust your instincts next time?

Could not agree more with this assessment of Tsui Yuri, tbh. The bad endings are entertaining, at least.

I'm glad you're gonna give it a try I'm jelly. Maybe I should read it too, although my JP skills are still shit. I was kinda holding back from it because I believe it's gonna get licensed. It's a title I see loc companies fighting to get licensed (even though sales-wise it'd probably fare as well as this masterpiece is doing at the moment). That's fair. Sometimes H-scenes feel forced and make no sense to be in the places they are. But there are VNs where I can't forgive the lack of H-scenes, forced or not. As you said, it depends on the story, how it's written, etc. I think I only read one VN so far where I didn't feel bothered enough to grab the adult release... and that VN is Dies irae. For me, the all ages release of it was a masterpiece enough. Well, for the all-ages portable one, you would have to read it in JP. But seeing how you managed to complete Mashiro Iro Symphony just fine, I know you wouldn't have any trouble completing DameKoi in JP too.

Well, I think I'll manage somehow Recently I finished PC version of Mashiro Iro Symphony, and I loved it - including most of the h-scenes (I'll write more about it once I complete additional routes from the console version) So yeah, there are games where I prefer all-ages version, and the ones, when adult version feels better. It depends on how the scenes are written, and how they fit into the story. But I still cannot decide which version of DameKoi to get - adult one from MG, or all-ages portable one (it's hookable from the emulator).

Seems there's no all-ages release for it. At least its VNDB page doesn't show anything. How are you gonna survive an adult release of it? xD

There's also a Mahokoi which I've played but that was terrible, so it's probably better it remains forgotten.

So I decided to take a detour from playing genuinely well made vns and play some trash instead This is the trash I ended up playing The only real entertaining part of it were the bad endings, those were some good ole wholesome fun I rate it: Kinda toilet/10

But isn't that concept coming mostly from before people had any understanding of how human brain works? It's kind of hard to treat "motivations" as anything more than another form of stimuli, just "internal" one rather than "external". You still approach every situation with one set of internal motivations and external stimuli, resulting in some kind of action – not "predetermined" by some cosmic influence, but determined by this incredibly complex net of factors that are fully beyond your control. It's pretty inconvenient for most ethical systems, but still, it's hard to escape.

https://imgur.com/a/RBDOnJn Special thanks to @Sonikun4 on Twitter for archiving his current Rewrite readthrough on Twitter through screenshots.