Visual Novel Translation Status (25/12/2022)
Because we have Otome Domain release and that we have Bokukotsu cameo in the trial, I decided to parody the latter by changing the word 'Akuma' in the full title (Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma) into 'Ojousama', so we have 'Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Ojousama' (Because we have ojousama heroines in Otome Domain) in which it might be work as another title for Otome Domain, seeing that the heroines are more or less pretty useless with the MC is the only one who is the most capable among the cast. Anyway this week highlight is obviously Otome Domain release by Shiravune, which I've been waiting for this for an admittedly personal reasons. Other than that, we also finally have the update from Sekai, and more importantly the annoucement of the exact release date for Mizuha's patch of Ginharu. Overall this week here is slightly above average, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
For Sekai's update, once again I can summarize it by it's just too bad that it still didn't have the updates from both of Madosoft VNs (Hamidashi and Raspberry Cube). That said, if anything else, at least they still have Sheol update if we talk about the update for their AX project, with the current progress is at three quarter translated along with a quarter edited. Other than Sheol, we also have Chiisana Kanojo is at 30% translated along with 10% edited, Akaneiro is at 40% translated, and Zutto Mae Kara Joshi Deshita was fully translated. We also finally have the update for Usonatsu, and currently it's been at 40% translated along with 30% edited. Lastly, we have Kanojo no Seiiki is at 80% in QA, which mean we finally get the build of it.
For fan translation, obviously the most prominent update is in regard of the plan to release Mizuha's patch of Ginharu on 26th later (ie two days later) with all of the processes on her route are already done, so let's see if we can see the release from Daybreak on that date later. For the other updates, we have Shin Koihime Musou is at 62% edited, Chronos is at 85% translated, 43 out of 138 script files for Umi kara Kuru Mono are translated, and H2O is at 72.6% translated with Yui's route is at 88.9% translated. Almost forget to mention that Todokanai already translated the 4th bonus drama CDs from White Album 2 Mini-After Story, and with it now we only have two untranslated bonus drama CDs.
Last but not the least is Otome Domain release in which it's released by Shiravune yesterday. Personally speaking while I knew that the premise of it is kind of cliche, actually I like to see more of it being translated, simply because it's nice to see the VN with have trap MC and the female heroines. For the premise we have our Minato who lost all of his family after his grandmother dead, so naturally he's all alone. After taking care of the funeral, an ojousama, Kazari, come to offer the help, and said offer is to have Kazari take care of Minato as the way to repaid the late grandmother's kindness to Kazari. Of course it including the offer to attend the school that Kazari herself is the board director of, although the school itself is obviously all girl school so Minato must dressed up as girl in which it really fit him much to his dismay. After coming into the school, turned out that Minato need to deal with the other problems besides him being forced to cross-dress, because all of Minato's friend (Including Kazari) are kind of useless, so it's up to Minato to take care of them like Ren in Bokukotsu. Go get Otome Domain if you've been looking forward to it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and merry Christmas. See you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. As for this week, well compared to the last week I think this time we have more updates than release, although some of the updates can be said as interesting one, especially with one of the updates is that Sekai finally starting the translation work on Parfait Remake. Other than that, there's also Walkure Romanze update from fan translation along with several other fan translation updates. Overall, this week is an average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it. I'll mention the title on PS later, and yes I know Nekonyan finally give us a bunch of updates but I'll save the talk of it for next VNTS Review.
Cherry Kiss was suddenly released Muscle MILF back on last Friday. From what I see, it's more or less about a very sexy construction work boss ask the MC to fulfill her sexual needs, which of course the MC will be doing so a lot. At least the English description of this is quite entertaining if I may say something, and feel free to get it if you want to play more Cherry Kiss nukige. For Sekai updates, we have Sheol is at 90% translated, Nie no Hakoniwa was fully translated along with 20% edited, and Usonatsu is at halfway translated. Other than the aforementioned Parfait that has begin the translation work, we also have Hoshizora Kakaru Hashi starting the work as well. Sekai also has two upcoming releases, in which those two are Kanojo no Seiiki on 13th and Drapri 3 on 14th later, and yes basically Sekai just confirm that they licensed Drapri 3 which to say is very obvious so much that I'm a bit surprised to find out that they just announced it's license recently.
From fan translation, we have Nursery Rhyme was almost finished the testing work, ChuSingura is at 18.88% translated, Senmomo is at 91.18% edited with side stories is at 69.13% edited, Tsukihime Remake Ciel's route day 9 and 10 are finalized, Bishoujo Mangekyou 2.5 entering the second pass, Akagoei FD is at 18.39% edited along with 3.45% QA-ed, Yosuga no Sora is at 69% TLC-ed along with 48% edited, and H2O is at 11.2% edited. Like I say beforehand, there's also Walkure Romanze in which we have Mio's route is currently being QA-ed while the translator already have some more work on Noel's route (Around past halfway up to 60%). Lastly we have Kara no Shoujo 3 trial translation patch release (The patch is in the translator's Discord), in which actually is more like the prologue of the full game. In case you wonder if the translator want to translate the full game, then the answer is not. Still, feel free to read the trial if you've been waiting for the translated Kara no Shoujo 3.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
PS - Because we have Muscular MILF nukige release with the title has the word 'Gatenkei' that can also be translated as 'Blue-Collar Worker', I'll just change the word 'MILF' into 'Blue-Collar Worker' so we have 'Muscular Blue-Collar Worker' as this week title.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review and sorry for being very late here. For the title since we have Tokimeki Memorial released and that the writer is Igarashi Koji who is known for writing Castlevania franchise, I decided to parody the most famous game of said franchise, Symphony of the Night, by changing 'Castle' into 'Heart' (From the Heartthrob at the translated title) and 'Night' into 'Daybreak' because we finally have Tokeijikake Daybreak released in near future, so we have 'Heartvania Symphony of the Daybreak' as the title. As for this week, well let's just say that it's quite interesting seeing that Sekai did give us several updates along with two new projects, although release wise there's no much compared to the last week. In the end, this week is pretty much average one and let's see what I can write about it.
Finally we have Aoi Tori fully translated, and for the info the source is from Nekonyan's Discord. That said though just because it's fully translated doesn't mean that it's almost ready for the release, seeing that there's still so much work to be done on it such as the remaining editing work, the engine work in regard of porting it to Unity, the QA, and finally setting up the store front (Including waiting for Valve's review) before finally ready for the release. Speaking of waiting for the review, turned out that Dokyuusei Remake need more time to get the review done so unfortunately Shiravune need to delay the release of it, although that said the new release date should be still at this year. We also have Yumemi Dreamer 8th chapter released, and Ninetails announced the exact release date for Frontier mini fandiscs in which it'll be at 25th later.
As for Tokimeki Memorial release, it's been released by a fan translation group. What I can say is I did remember that I show some interest with the game seeing that it's said as the most popular dating sim in the article that mention it back at 15 years ago (I forgot the detail), although nowadays I can only say that the graphic is quite outdated for an obvious reason (It's 1994 VN after all). Still if you show some interest into playing historical dating sim, go play Tokimeki Memorial at SNES emulator and have fun. For other updates from fan translation, we have both of Taimanin Kurenai and Arcueid's route of Tsukihime Remake fully translated, 93% original lines of Summer Pockets were reworked, Chaos Head Noah was at 24.27% TLC-ed along with 13.95% edited, Yoshitsune's route of Majikoi A-5 has 20 scripts worked on, Harugi was at 55% edited, and Senmomo was at 37.14% edited with side stories was at 29.34% edited.
Like I say earlier we finally have the exact release date for Daybreak (Tokeijikake second part for the reminder), and it'll be at 18th later. Let's just hope that after this Sekai won't need long time to finally released Morning Mist there (Last part of Tokeijikake trilogy). For Sekai other updates, we have both of Harvest Festa and Imouto no Seiiki was at 80% translated, and Yumeiro was at halfway translated along with 20% edited. For the first new project we have Sekai localized Usokara Hajimaru Koi no Natsu (Usonatau), and from what I can see it's GL VN that'll be released at this year along with has same staffs as Fatal Twelve, so at least I can expect some nice graphic from it. The second is Nine Shinshou in which it's unsurprisingly their secret project, and they already have it ready for the release with the exact date is the same day as Daybreak release (At 18th later). While I did say that it's more or less just the fandisc for the whole Nine series, at least it should be nice to get if one want more Nine and Tsubasu's art.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (03/09/2023)
Because we have Norn9 FD with Nobuo Uematsu as one of the composer released and Nekonyan also announce the exact release date for Secret Agent, I figure that I make a parody for one of the most famous soundtrack that Uematsu have, specifically 'One-Winged Angel' which is very famous as the theme of the main villain for FF7 (And yes, in the past Uematsu is more known as the main composer of Final Fantasy), so we have 'One-Winged Agent' as the title, which somehow still fitting seeing that there's Agent archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh with each members themselves are the angels that represent the planets. Anyway, while Nekonyan announcement is interesting, overall I should say that this week is another below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Aksys did release the fandisc for Norn9, and it's obviously the after stories for each of the routes in the main game. Other than that, it's just too bad there's no Steam release for English version of Norn9 while Idea Factory approved Steam release for Chinese version. Go play Norn9 FD if you want to see it's and obviously have Switch, and have fun. Once again Frontwing delaying the release for Sharin to September, and apparently the reason is because there's still some works left or something like that. Then again, Frontwing did have two (Relatively) major releases in last two months, so perhaps the delay is kind of make sense to a degree. As for the exact release date of Secret Agent, it'll be on 29th later so feel free to take note of the date if you want to play first translated ensemble VN.
For fan translation, we have the QC work for H2O is finished, so all that's left is obviously working on what's left before finally released it, and since the translator targeting September release we may see it in the near future. For the rest of the updates, we have 1465 out of 2499 main scripts of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, Tsuma Netori is at 40% edited, ChuSingura is at 31.11% translated, Akagoei FD is fully edited, and Akagoei 3 is past halfway (50.03%) translated. We also have Aonatsu Line trial patch release, although since the translator is very honest so much that he admit that he used DeepL to learning the base of the dialogue, obviously it's no longer can be called as manual translation. At least I can just ignore this altogether now, seeing that I'm not exactly a fan of them working on Switch version instead of PC version even though I know the programmer can only work on Switch game.
That's all for what I can week in regard of this week, and sorry for being short here. See you next week.
PS - I know today we have Majikoi A-5 release along with Shiravune leaked a very obvious hint to their next announcement, although I'll talk about it in the next VNTS Review.
Visual Novel Translation Status (27/08/2023)
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and since we have Shukusei no Girlfriend announced with magical girl in the VN along with Samurai Vandalism release, I decided to just change 'Samurai' into 'Magical Girl' in the latter so we have 'Magical Girl Vandalism' as the title. As for this week, while we have many new announcement, I can say that in the end those new announcements are kind of plain. We also have the releases, although compared to the last week I did find those are less interesting. Overall, I suppose this week is a below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Cherry Kiss has sudden release back on 25th, and said release is unsurprisingly another nukige called License to Breed with the premise is the MC who is from the branch family of a prestigious family come back to his hometown with his late grandfather gave the authority to the MC to breed in his hometown, which the MC will make full use of the authority to have sex with any female for the sake of increasing the birth number. Speaking of nukige, Shiravune announced Tenioha feat. Mami in that the MC will have a lot of sex with Mami who is the big sister from one of the heroine in the previous work. What I can comment is that I remember Tenioha is a nukige that has the translator removed one of the route, which is quite understandable because it's trap route with the MC will do BL sex with said trap. No exact release date from Shiravune, but they announce that they'll release it in between October to December later.
Frontwing released Aikagi After Days, and with August is almost ended I suppose we may as well think that Sharin release is impossible to do with the remaining days. In Aikagi After Days, what I can see is that the MC will spent more days with his girlfriend in summer, and they'll have a lot of sweet time. Not quite interesting to me, and I hope sometimes Frontwing can release bigger title from the developer, like Amakano. Still, have fun if you're interested with it and been wanting to play it. We have another new title from Shiravune, and said title is the aforementioned Shukusei no Girlfriend with the MC have the chance to be a couple with the popular girl in his class who turned out to be the magical girl after she save the MC. For the release estimation, it's the same as Tenioha. Kagura Game released Samurai Vandalism, and from what I see it's usual RPG Maker game with the developer do their best to refine the production value, so at least it might be good gameplay VN on it's own.
Shinzou Translations released Memolily, and it's about a story where Yuta met with a nameless girl that he'll call Lily with Lily open her heart to Yuta. I can only say that it's quite underrated VN, and feel free to get it if you're interested. For the rest of fan translation updates, we have Tsuma Netori is at 70% translated, H2O is almost finished with QC work with the current progress is at 92.8% in QC, ChuSingura is at 30.76% translated, Akagoei FD is at 96.55% edited along with 57.47% in QA, Akagei 3 is at 47.6% translated, Fate/Extra CCC editing work was past halfway (1343 out of 2499 main scripts) done, and Yosuga no Sora is at 73% TLC-ed along with 60% edited. Lastly, we have Tsui no Sora Remake was past halfway (51%) translated along with 47% edited.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (16/07/2023)
Since we have Aquarium (VN with VTuber Minato Aqua as the main heroine) English release announcement along with Tsui no Stella fan translation release, once again I make the parody for Tsui no Stella opening title (Breath of Stella) by changing 'Stella' with 'Cassiopeia' (The ending song for Aquarium, obviously sang by Minato Aqua), so we have 'Breath of Cassiopeia', which is still fitting seeing that Cassiopeia is the name of star constellation (The Wikipedia article) and Stella is the Latin word for star. Anyway welcome to this week VNTS Review, and compared to the last week this time it's definitely more lively, especially with the Tsui no Stella fan patch release. Other than that, we have some surprise update from a certain project. Overall, this week is more or less is an average one to a degree, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Entergram did plan to release Aquarium Steam version on October 26th later, and it also mentioned that it'll have English language support. At least Entergram here is starting to tried English market, although they obviously limit it to all age VN (Just like their former main company GIGA) with their first English product is VTuber VN. We also have yet another Obedient Women route released (Which mean the next route release would be the full release of it), with the story is focused on a sex crazed married woman Harukaze Akari who've been sexually frustrated because she didn't have sex for two years, at least until she met the MC who is her subordinate that she initially hate. Alicesoft released their another work, and said work is Hentai Labyrith with shota MC and monster girl heroines in a dungeon crawling RPG gameplay. Feel free to try if you're interested with it, although I can say that it's not as well received as the other Alicesoft VNs.
JAST Blue did mention that they almost finished the formatting work for Hell Academy, and after the formatting done then they'll move on to the programming. We also have some updates from Sekai, with we have Akaneiro is at halfway translated, Chiisana Kanojo is at 60% translated along with 30% edited, and currently they're waiting the engine for Gakkou no Seiiki which for the info has threesome. Speaking of threesome, as expected Shiravune announced the 2nd part of Succubus Session that has threesome sex like Uchikano no Koibito with the name Yuri & Marin’s Second Helping, and for now the info in regard of it is only available on Johren's store page of it, so no exact release date for now. By the way in regard of exact release date, Nekonyan announced they'll release Clover Day's on August 18th later, which mean the wait for Clover Day's for almost a decade since fan translation project of it established is almost over.
Last week we have a surprise release from Shinzou Translations, and this time they released another short VN called Mienai Nitousei which to say has some nice graphic. For other fan translation updates, we have ChuSingura is at 29.01% translated, 744 out of 2499 main scripts of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, and Akagoei 3 is at 36.14% translated. We also have sudden update from Loverable after more than a year with no update, in that we suddenly have more than halfway (50.42%) of the script are approved. Last but not the least, we have Tsui no Stella patch that was polished from the initial leak back in May, and yes it mean the Visual Arts release of it will become redundant (Although at least it'll be available on Steam). For the VN itself, once again the setting is quite grim with the emphasize on the white color, it's been written by Tanaka Romeo, and the MC Jude is asked to escort the robot girl Philia in her journey. Go get the patch if you chose to play Tsui no Stella as soon as possible, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (06/08/2023)
Because we have White Album release, I'd make a parody of Wild Arms remake (Wild Arms Alter Code: F) by changing 'Wild Arms' into 'White Album' simply because both series have same initial (WA). Anyway welcome to this week VNTS Review, and as for this week I guess I'll just say that this is quite an average one with Shiravune has some updates to note. Another thing to note is Kagi o Kakushita Kago no Tori (Shortened as Kagitori) release, which to say has some things to talk about. Lastly we obviously still has regular updates from fan translation, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
The publisher decided to released Kagitori suddenly back in last Friday, and as expected they didn't have the sex scenes translated. Apparently the publisher is still new and Japanese native who didn't understand English, causing some questionable translation choice. From what I see in Steam discussion, it seems publisher also quite clueless when it come to release 18+ patch outside Steam, because they got the info that Valve immediately ban the company for doing so, which seems to be farfetched even with Steam randomly ban several VNs. In any case, it's too bad that it seems Cabbit didn't have enough money to go to proper VN publisher to localize their VN, so their works are always ended up localized by shady publisher. Oh yes, for the premise it's about the MC who decided to try prove the innocence of the cute girl that was accused of murder, and so the MC decided to live together with the suspect. Feel free to try Kagitori if you can get past the translation problem and 18+ contents removal.
This week we see yet another ChuSingura update, with the current progress is reached 30% mark (30.14%) translated. Other than that, we also have Tsuma Netori is at 55% translated, H2O is past halfway (50.4%) in QC, 1083 out of 2499 main scripts of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, Akagoei FD is past 80% mark (85.06%) edited along with past 40% mark (40.23%) in QC, and Akagoei 3 is past 40% mark (40.07%) translated. That's all for this week fan translation updates.
For some reasons, Aksys decided to delay Norn9 FD release for a week, from initially will be released on 24th to the new release date on 31st later. Speaking of announcing exact release date, we also have both Frontwing and JAST announced it, with Frontwing will release Aikagi After Days on 25th later and JAST will release Gears of Dragoon 2 on September 28th. Sekai finally manage to release Hoshimemo FD, and well I have no much to say other than it's redundant release unless you prefer new HD graphic, although at least Sekai's backlog is decreasing. Speaking of redundant, Shiravune announced they'll release Taimanin Asagi on Q4 of this year (Between October to December), and they already set the Steam store for it, which really telling on how clueless Kagitori publisher is seeing that Asagi has a number of sex scene. Oh yes, we already have this translated for several years, although Shiravune version may have better translation.
Last but not the least, we have White Album release, which should be mentioned that it's not really the prequel of well received White Album 2 even though it was set in the same setting. For the premise, in here we have the MC Touya who is already university student and has his girlfriend Yuki being an idol that currently starting to become very popular. However there's a problem with it, namely Yuki being popular put some strain in her and Touya relationship. As the result, Touya can ended up with the other heroines beside Yuki. While it sounds like it could lead to drama like in WA2, in the end it's not much seeing that WA is part dating sim. Also this is actually the backport for PS3 remake, so don't expect the sex scenes in here (The one that had sex scenes is 1998 version), although it has new heroine route to make up the loss anyway. Go get White Album if you're interested with it (Just don't expect WA2 drama), and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (30/07/2023)
Welcome to this week week VNTS Review, and for this week since we have Venus Blood Gaia release, I changed 'Gaia' into 'Persona' simply because in Gaia we have Tarot Motif, which if we know Persona series is the category of personae (Plural form of persona) that the player could get. Although there won't be personae in Venus Blood though as interesting as it is, but instead the player will insert Persona Arcana and Shadow Arcana to the general unit. Anyway for this week, let's just say that we have a number of releases compared to the last week, so in theory this should be an interesting week. That said, my interest here is only toward Gaia release in which it's still has interesting gameplay. Overall, this week here is more or less another above average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Frontwing released PC version of Chronos Rebellion, which as we know is their failed Grisaia gacha. From what I see at least there's some original story in it, and the art is still nice looking. Go get Chronos Rebellion if you want to see more Grisaia even after the trilogy and Phantom Trigger eight-parter, and have fun. We also have Radiant Tale otome VN release, and from what I see it's about the female MC who work in an unsuccessful circus troupe (Or rather an organization called CIRCUS) wishing for their next performance to be successful. Unfortunately though, Idea Factory here is not making the PC version of this so you can only play it on console (Switch). Go get it though if you have Switch and been waiting for this.
Cherry Kiss released their nukige (The one that parodied Super Smash Bros), and well feel free to play it if you interested with the nukige. Speaking about nukige, Shiravune just announced they'll release the third game of their sadistic nurse nukige (Nope Nope Nope Nope Nurse), which tell the story about the poor male who got intensive care in a hospital full of sadist nurses. Not my taste, but at least it has some veteran eroge VA. Oh yes, it'll be released on October 13th later in case you wonder on when it'll be released. Shiravune also just released Kara no Shoujo (Translated as very non-indicative The Shell) on Steam, with the version is HD version. Once again I still not change my mind that it's redundant release, especially with the patch that can insert Mangagamer translation into HD version on top translated the additional scenes, but at least people can now purchase it on Steam if you find purchasing Japanese version of it is quite bothersome.
Some fans apparently like nukige Shabura Rental, and the fans did show their love by released the full translation patch of it. From what I see, Shabura Rental is about the MC who is live in his older sister dormitory and quite lucky that no residences of it are not mind of the MC because they want younger brother. As the MC luck is not ended yet, all of the residences (Including his own sister) are willing to help with the MC sexual need. Go get the VN if you want big breast nukige, and have fun.
For the rest of fan translation, we have Shin Koihime Musou is at 67% edited, Akagoei FD is past three quarter (77.01%) edited along with 40.23% in QA, Chu Singura is at 29.88% translated, Tsuma Netori is at halfway translated, Kud Wafter 18+ version is at 43.2% translated, 981 out of 2499 Fate/Extra CCC main scripts are edited, and H2O is at 30.7% in QA. For the last fan translation update, finally we have all of the sex scenes from Aojashin has been translated, so in case you hold back from playing it because the lack of sex scenes now you can do it. While I know that Aojashin sex scenes not in line with what the author want, I still say at least the reader should have the choice to skip the sex scenes instead of just removed it altogether. If anything else, now with Aojashin sex scenes has been restored, at least there shouldn't be any issue if the author want to localize his all age works. Also note that there's some typo in the patch, so the translator will fix it in the future.
After several times of delay, finally we have Sugar Sweet Temptation released by Love Lab. For the premise itself, is about the mysterious MC Crow who came into the town after Meru who is the granddaughter of an older baker wishing to the star, and turned out has amnesia. As for Meru, the reason on why she make a wish to the star is because she's need some help after her grandfather injured which render his bakery closed down. Seeing Meru really need help, Crow decided to help with his knowledge of bakery. It should be mentioned that while it has Kirikoi writer and the mystery in regard of Crow's memory, obviously it's far more lighter than Kirikoi. Go get Sugar Sweet Temptation if you've been waiting for it, and have fun.
Last but not the least, we have Ninetails manage to release Venus Blood Gaia on time. For the premise, we have the world where it has the Holy Empire that view anything else against their belief as heretic with them will do their best to get rid of it. Our MC Theofrad did work very hard to do the research on the alternative energy called ether, although the Empire did view it as heretic which obviously lead Theofrad to fight against the Empire because the Empire are about to crush Theofrad. As per Venus Blood MC, obviously he'll make good use of the tentacles to get his job done. For the gameplay, unlike in Frontier and Hollow this time we have dungeon defense gameplay with the party tried their best to repel the intruder. While I did initially think that it's not as much interesting as previous translated Venus Blood, in the end it's still an interesting VN on it's own. Go get Gaia if you want to play more Venus Blood, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (23/07/2023)
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and as for the title I'll tell it in PS later. Anyway as for this week, let's just say that it's an above average one thanks to Nekonyan's release. Other than Nekonyan's release, we also have Cherry Kiss announce yet another nukige and Shiravune has some announcements. Let's see what I can write in regard of this week here.
We have From Madness with Love VN release, and what I can say is that the VN is about the MC who get transferred into another school because the MC last school was bombed by terrorists (Would be plausible to happen in war zone) will eventually date one of four heroes who are never in the same page with the MC. And yes I keep saying the MC, because the synopsis didn't mention whether the MC is male or female, so maybe this is self insert VN. Either way not my interest, but feel free to try if you're interested with it. For Cherry Kiss newest nukige, it's pretty clear the translator make the parody of Super Smash Bros with the title is Super Smash Gals: Ultimate Orgy. From what I see, the nukige is about the male MC who has his female companions being disgusted with thanks to the MC like to see their big breast, and the MC decide to correct the girls through sex. By the way it's about to be released, with the exact date will be on 28th later.
For some reason, Shiravune decided to delay Succubus Session 1st pat release to be between August or September. Curiously, turned out that their plan to release the 2nd part is actually not supposed to be known by public, so they removed the entry in Johren store back in 21st after said entry is being open for at least a week. They also released Queen of the Otaku back on 18th, and the premise is about two cute girls who enter the manga club with one of the girl is someone who is very popular and didn't like anyone else is more popular than her, so of course the popular girl would end up bullying the other girl (At least that's what I got from the synopsis and review). Lastly, they also announce the exact release date for White Album, and it'll be on August 4th later.
For fan translation section, we have H2O is at 15.8% in QC, Kozue's route of Haruka na Sora is at 41% translated, 908 out of 2499 (Around 36%) main script of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, ChuSingura is at 29.43% translated, Tsuma Netori is at 45% translated, Akagoei FD is at 73.56% edited along with 39.08% QA-ed, and Akagoei 3 is at 37.56% translated. There's a new group with the goal to translate Tsui no Sora Remake with the current progress was at 28% translated song with a quarter edited, although knowing on how the last translation project of it ended, I may as well wait and see until very significant progress happening, such as the release of the full translation patch.
Last but not the least, we have Nekonyan released My Klutzy Cupid which to say is quite surprising seeing that it's Hulotte VN with Shiravune did release one of it's library (Kamiyaba). Like Kamiyaba, the MC still has need to deal with love through supernatural mean, and in this time the MC Tsumugu need to be contend with the titular klutzy cupid Eil. For the premise, we have Tsumugu find a suspicious note called Love Note with the cupid who owned it Eil forcefully pass the ownership to Tsumugu. While it seems that the Love Note can force someone to be in love with the owner, unfortunately he can't just write up the name like in Death Note to do so, but instead Love Note offer the advice to get closer to the name that written in there. Also turned out that Tsumugu only have 90 days to find his love interest, or else he'll not be able to have sex anymore. While the premise is very obviously parodying Death Note, turned out that it also has the story that resemble Bokuten, albeit without 'love can only bring suffering' stuff. Go get Klutzy Cupid if you've been waiting for it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and sorry for being late here. See you next week.
PS - For the title, because we have Klutzy Cupid released with someone said that the 90 days limit is like American reality show 90 Days Fiancee (Besides Death Note and Bokuten). Said reality show has the premise of pairing the people from different country with the foreigner receive K-1 visa that require the foreigner to marry within 90 days, or else the foreigner must leave. So yeah, I decided to make the parody of the reality show by changing 'Fiancee' into 'Cupid', especially with the titular cupid would accompany Tsumugu through his love interest searching.
Visual Novel Translation Status (04/07/2023)
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and as we know we have AX at this week. That said though, I should say that this week AX is quite dry compared to the last year. AX aside, of course we still have some updates with the most notable one is in regard of Sekai two releases in a week. Overall, with the update and this week AX, I can say that this week is almost exciting one with obviously the main highlight is the AX. Let's see what I can write in regard of this week, and as for the title I'll write about it on PS later.
Idea Factory announced Bakarina VN and Sympathy Kiss, with them announce the former for Winter release and the latter for early 2024. For Bakarina VN, it should be obvious that it expand the story that actually is already complete in Season 1 finale with this time Bakarina and friends involved with the pirate. Also in case you want to see Bakarina has route with her female friends (Mary, Sophia, and Maria), unfortunately the VN staff decided to make the VN as full otome VN so no GL route in case someone hope for it. Idea Factory also released Charade Maniac, with the VN tell the story about a female student who've been kidnapped into some unknown place together with nine handsome men, and the cast was forced to work together while made aware with the existence of a traitor. Go get Charade Maniac if you've been waiting for it, and have fun. Oh yes, I should also mention that all of those Idea Factory otome VNs are only available for Switch.
Aniplex announced that they got the license for Tsukihime Remake Part 1, and let's just say that it's redundant now that we already have the full translation patch of it was released just over two weeks ago with Aniplex didn't announce PC version of it (At least it has PS4 version if anything else). Speaking of Aniplex, they released the trial for their new VN called Hira Hira Hihiru in it's Steam store. From what I see, it's set in Taisho era with the citizen suffering the disease called Aerodema with the people who caught in it called hihiru, and the symptoms is that the patient body are rotting like zombie while at the same time their cognition, memory, and awareness are slipping away. Other than that, we have Musicus writer did write the VN and it's planned to be released on this year. Speaking of release, finally we have new exact release date for Sugar Sweet Temptation on 28th later, although we may have it delayed again so let's wait and see here.
Somehow Sekai didn't manage to bring anything interesting at AX, despite that they proven to at least has some interesting announcements in their past AX. If I may say something about it, at least Sekai manage to cut their own backlog a bit because they manage to have two released in a week (Amairo Chocolata 2 and Imouto no Seiiki). At the same time though, they announced the newest Nekonin VN (ExHeart Spin) that's still not released yet, so they cut exactly one backlog which while it's not much at least it getting decreased. We also have Harvest Festa progress, in that they still finishing up the translation work because they find some untranslated text and currently undergoing image editing. Honestly speaking, outside Rewrite Quest Sekai version here is redundant because of the leaked patch, but still good luck to them to finishing it.
From fan translation, we have ChuSingura is at 28.57% translated, 500 out of 2499 (20%) main script of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, H2O is at 88.6% edited, Tsuma Netori is caught up with the proofread (At 35%), and Yosuga no Sora is at 58% edited. We also have the update from the remaining Akagoei trilogy, with the FD is currently at 72.41% edited along with 36.78% in QA, and for Akagoei 3 currently it's at 31.83% translated (For the info, the translator change the progress from script files count into percentage). Oh yes, we also have Kemco announced their plan to localize Archetype Arcadia with the premise is the MC has the sister with fatal illness, and the only way to save his sister is by living inside the online game. Kemco already has the exact release date, and it'll be on October 24th later.
JAST USA
For JAST, we have both the main and side branch (JAST Blue) announced their new licenses. For JAST Blue, we have new partner Pil/Slash which is obviously focused on developing BL title (And apparently it's quite well known with them usually has dark theme in their works) with JAST announce two of it's title. The first title is Masquerade in which I may as well call it as Hell Academy, and the premise is we have the MC who is always bullied find himself in a hostage situation with his bully and his teacher with the police point the gun at them while forcing his hostage to do some workout. The second title is Paradise with the premise the MC hoping to see cute girl in his vacation (Obviously not gonna happen), and then he caught up in the situation where everyone is suspicious with soon the situation turned to become more chaotic.
JAST has Goblin on the March, which from what I can see from DLSite it's about the MC who dead and then reincarnated as goblin. From there, the MC will try breed human as much as possible which of course lead into a high number of sex scenes. Almost forgot to mention that JAST also announced Gears of Dragoon 2 estimated release time, and for the info they'll try to release it around September later. They also got another Nitroplus VN, and said title is Mojika with the premise is we have the ugly MC who've been bullied, so it's obvious that he'll enact revenge when he decided to use his hidden power to eventually rape the female who've been bullied him. While it's easy to dismiss it as dark nukige which is quite unusual for Nitroplus to produce it, seeing that the writer is also Kimikoi (Also Carnevale and Tokyo Necro) writer, it should be obvious that there's something more beneath it.
Another announcement is Sisters: Last Day of Summer, with the VN has good technical aspect with the sex scenes are animated on top of the graphic has anime style. The premise itself is nothing special though, with the MC live together with a woman who has two beautiful daughters. No much I can say other than that and currently it's in QA. We also have another Alcot VN announced, and the name of the VN is Yomegami with the premise is our MC is formerly a devil who need to do a lot of good deeds in order to return to the world of God, only to have his effort is constantly foiled because of his remaining devil power. I should also mention that one of the heroine is his mother who is the reincarnation of the goddess, which while I didn't mind much of it I know some may be wary.
Surprisingly JAST manage to have one of Frontwing VN, and said VN is Djibril in which it's used to be Frontwing flagship series until Grisaia. The premise is we have a girl was suddenly chosen to become magical girl in order to fight the devil, and from there the girl together with her childhood friend (The MC) do her best to do so. While I know some may wait for this, I may as well wait until JAST announce the rest of the three VNs in Djibril series. Lastly there's Yamizome Liberator, which is the Escude VN with the exactly same premise and gameplay as Revenger. That said, it has some difference, namely that the one who possessed the MC is the female demon queen instead of the male demon king, which I assume that Escude do it in order to squash the complain from some people who think that the demon king in Revenger do the NTR toward the MC. By the way I've been looking forward to see Liberator translated, so good for JAST there.
Mangagamer
We have Hana Awase announced by Mangagamer, and from what I see it's obviously otome VN. The other thing I can see is that it didn't have sex scenes, already announced that it would have English version, and have complicated Hanafuda card battle gameplay with the story really put the focus on the card battle itself. I don't know if the card gameplay would be as simple as Princess Waltz or as complicated as Soukoku no Arterial, although looking from the screenshot it's probably like Princess Waltz. Almost forgot to mention that the developer initially release it in four parts, and Mangagamer will release one big bundle that compile the four parts of it. Oh, and currently we already have it fully translated and edited with the remaining work on it are coding and testing.
Mangagamer announce Moonstone VN, Sex Open World, and well I can say that it's their biggest announcement in a way lol (Poor the heroines though that they could suffer backpain). Anyway, the premise is that the loser MC was thrown out into another world thanks to the accident as usual, and find out the legend that he destined to be the father of the heroes that will end the Era of the War. So, of course he was chased by several female, and out of those female seven of those have lucky chance to be blessed of the future heroes with the MC does his best to produce the heroes. Yeah, this is isekai nukige all right. Also, we already has some progress on it, with currently the translator already finished working on common and Yuuna's route, and currently on a third way working on both of Anna and Alecia routes.
After working with Shiravune in regard of Sacrifice Villain, Clockup decided to work with Mangagamer in regard of Dead Days. From the premise, we have several dead people trapped in the other world with the promise that they will be revived in the real live, with one condition that the people must work together to eliminate all of the monsters called specters. While it simple enough, turned out that there's some slightly minor side effect of the revival, namely their libido increased which obviously increase the complication of the situation. By the way while we know that Clockup like their disturbing sex contents, in Dead Days its perfectly possible to avoid those, as long as you did your best to avoid the bad ending.
Last but not the least, Mangagamer announcement is Ixseal, in which it's the third Beat series from Alicesoft. For the premise, we have our MC Tsuguhiko who is the reincarnated demon king bidding his time to gain his former power. One day, one of the female angel, Ixseal, decided to strike Tsuguhiko when he's about to recover his power. After surviving the attack, Tsuguhiko's loyal follower decided to betray him and stole six out of seven sins from Tsugihiko, leaving him with the sin of Lust. Then he found out that his former follower also trapped Ixseal on Earth and seal her source of power, so naturally she's got weakened. Having no choice, both decided to work together with Tsuguhiko providing power to Ixseal by using his own power of Lust to arouse Ixseal. So yeah, usual Beat series setting where you need to power up the magical girl through sex. Anyway, I've been waiting the license for this, so good for Mangagamer they managed to get Ixseal's license.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week VNTS Review, and sorry for being very late here. See you on the next VNTS Review here.
PS - Because we have Mangagamer announced Beat Valkyrie Ixseal and JAST announced Yamizome Revenger, I made the parody of Beat Valkyrie Ixseal, so we have 'Beat Fencer Hiyori' as the title with Hiyori herself is one of Liberator's Heroine (So yeah it should be obvious that this is not the review of the game with the premise of grinding Hiyori's status through sex lol). For more elaboration, Hiyori title is Divine Fencer, although the kanji in her title is mean Divine Guardian, which mean Hiyori title as Fencer may come from the word En garde (On Guard) that always shouted by the referee when fencing match start.
Following my list of translated VNs at 2009, I decided to follow up with 2012 translated VNs list. Also yeah I decided to talk about 2012 first even though I'm supposed to talk about 2010 list, because back at 2012 there's some decline in fan translation and yet there's still no increase from the official release, and I think it might be the best if I'm focused on the hard year first. Regardless the different order here, the rule is still the same in that there's no BL (Togainu no Chi), nukige (Monster Girl Quest 2), otome (The Second Reproduction), and fandisc (Tomoyo After (Sort of)) here. As usual let's see what I can write in regard of 2012 VNs list here.
10. Never7 - The End of Infinity- (VNDB 6.80)
The last of Infinity trilogy to be translated after Ever17 and Remember11, and it's the most lighthearted one seeing that this is the first part of the trilogy, so it's understandable if someone find that this VN is more leaned toward moege a la Memories Off in the beginning instead. Although like other Infinity series, this VN did have Arc Number though and in this case it's 7. As for the premise we have our MC Makoto who was attend an extra seminar at the resort island thanks for him being tardy at the university, and that he saw a dream where he saw a girl was dead at April 6th. After he woke up, he realized that the date was at April 1st so essentially Makoto did have five days to figure whether his dream will be really happen at Aprl 6th or not, and if it would be happen what kind of action that Makoto should take to prevent the tragedy. This work was also mark the first work of Lemnisca, in that back then GundamAce also post this translation project back at TL Wiki. As for my comment here, it would be better if we expect this as moege instead of hardcore sci-fi VN so that we wouldn't be disappointed here, seeing that the sci-fi element only appear at the later part of the VN. Oh yes, this is the first VN on the list that has score 6.
9. Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru aka Otoboku - Maidens Are Falling for Me! (VNDB 7.00)
I admit that I add this onto the list because of my interest toward the MC being trap (Especially with him good looking in female outfit lol), and more importantly it's still rare to see this kind of VN to be translated. As for the premise our MC Mizuho that was voiced was told to attend a school by his late grandfather to fulfill his last wish, in that he want his grandson attend the same school as the late Mizuho's mother. Of course nothing as simple as it seems because turned out that Mizuho's mother did attend all girl school and that Mizuho is a male, although with the help of his cousin (Mariya) there's no problem at all though seeing that she just do a make up to Mizuho and it fit very perfectly seeing that Mizuho is already have female like appearence. And thus begin Mizuho's adventure in the all girl school in that turned he managed to fool almost all students except for one people (Shion, who also act as the other Secret Keeper after Mariya), and that he was adored by all girls as their onee-sama. As for Otoboku itself here while granted it's quite underrated compared to similar title such as Tsukiyori, it's very nice to see that we can have VN that have trap MC with the female heroines such as this one here being translated.
8. Period (VNDB 7.13)
Out of all Littlewitch VNs that were translated, only Period here that did have Japanese place setting or to be exact the place setting was at Nagasaki which is very notable because usually their VN did have European setting (ie Romanesque and Quartett). The other matter is that the art here is not very fitting seeing that Littlewitch's usual artist (Ooyarii Ashito) was in charge of the characters design, and let's just say that his design here is not fitting for the Japanese setting despite being beautiful there (And let's not forget that the characters did have Japanese name while at the same time did have Euorpean look). As for the premise, we have our male MC Mitsuki who supposedly did have a boring life and have been seeing vague disturbing dream. At least until one day when he get the key to the observation (Or to be exact Mitsuki was forced to accept it), and after that he did have his fated encounter that was cause Mitsuki's days become more exciting in that he can date one of the eight heroines here. Anther interesting things to note is that we'll going to have angel heroine here, in that the appearance of the angel here is also one of the plot point here. What I can say is that if you didn't like the story here, at least you can play for the art in which it's quite beautiful.
7. Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni - Dai Ichi Ya aka Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni - The First Night (VNDB 7.30)
This time our Ryukishi07 decided to create the novel, and turned out that he didn't managed to achieve satisfactory result for that seeing that it was cancelled. After that he tried to adapt it into the manga as well, only to have it cancelled as well. And thus he decided to create the VN of that, which in turn it's the best version here seeing that it did have music and that (Well 07Expansion VNs always did have good OST). As for the art, while it's still not as good as usual VN at least it's not so bad and that it somehow very fitting. For the premise, we have one bullied girl (Marie) was offered to be the 8th youkai at the school, and that Marie was offered by the titular Higanbana who is one of the youkai. From there we'll see on how Higanbana going through the school that did have seven youkai who ruled over The Seven Mysteries, and eventually knowing more about Higanbana herself. As for the release, the VN was divided into two part and the first part was released back at 2012 while for the second part it was released at 2014. Almost forget to say that Higanbana here is more or less a compilation of the short story so we'll going to have multiple MCs here, although Higanbana here is remain the most important character here (Her title and all).
6. Dengeki Stryker (VNDB 7.32)
This VN is a unique one in that it did have two releases and thus two opening. The premise is goes like we have our MC Yamato who is a big fan of the shounen manga (The title drop), and that he formed his personality in that he have a lot of sense of justice. Although too bad that he always fail to protect his childhood friend Haruna so much that he always feeling down because of that. Nevertheless Haruna was always grateful for what Yamato did and she felt so sad when she must move from Yamato neighborhood, and of course Yamato can't accept that. After Haruna announced her move away, Yamato met with the Memory Collector that willing to grant any wish in exchange for his memories, and seeing that he was still a child he decided to make his wish to become the hero of his favorite manga. Thus Yamato became Stryker Zero and at the same time he must fight the enemies that he was inadvertently bring from the manga.
As for this VN, unlike both of Kira Kira and Deardrops this time Overdrive decided to go with write about cliche shounen superhero story, and it show. As for the release, we have two releases in that first we have Dengeki Stryker with only three routes available, and then we have Chou version in that it expand the story by adding three routes (Two of Chou's route did have dating the antagonist routes). Also since Dengeki Stryker here is more or less created like cliche shounen manga, it's easy to forget that this is eroge as well so it's easy to surprised by the sex scenes (We shouldn't focused on that anyway). As for both of the opening, I must say that Masaki Endou here did the good job for both of those and that those two opening really fit the atmosphere of the VN itself (Hot blooded).
5. Duel Savior (VNDB 7.38)
One of Aroduc's works, and obviously it'll be a gameplay VN. As for the premise, we have our MC Taiga who is also happen to live alone together with his brocon stepsister Mia. One day after both of them going home from school, Mia find out a mysterious book. After that, both of them were suddenly teleported into another world (Avatar) and then one of the people who summoned them tell Mia that she was chosen as the Savior candidate. Although while it's usual that the male that was always the chosen one, this time the people was confused because there's a rule that the savior is always female. In order to resolve the case, they decided to test Taiga in order to determined whether he really fulfill the the criteria as Savior candidate or not, and turned out that he was passed because he can summon his weapon. From there both of Mia and Taiga attend the Savior school in order to prepare them to save Avatar.
I guess we can say that Duel Savior story here would be amounted to be usual isekai story, which is more unique than it sounds seeing that surprisingly the story where the hero was summoned into another world and gathered the harem is very rare in the VNs while it's pretty abundant in the light novel (I can only recall that the same VN that this kind of story are Aselia, Seinarukana, and Koihime Musou). Another thing to note is that for the gameplay we'll going to have fight game, although the fight is easy to understand though. Also like Baldr Force Duel Savior here did have PS2 port too, and that our Aroduc did work very hard in order to bring PS2 voices and contents into PC version, so you can hear Nabatame Hitomi and Shizuka Ito voice if you wish (Too bad that there's no 'passionate Hitomi Nabatame-voiced love-making' scenes seeing that Nabatame here is voicing PS2 version). As for PS2 opening, at least it's more fitting compared to Baldr Force PS2 OP.
4. Forest (VNDB 7.43)
As for this VN, instead of usual Sakurai Hikaru who usually write for Liar-soft we have Hoshizora Meteor (His works (Kusarihime) was said to inspired well known VN such as Saya no Uta and Cross Channel), and also this VN is the sixth work of Amaterasu while at the same time third Liar-soft VN to be translated. Also apparently this VN did have a lot of Mind Screw and Metafiction or something like that, so you'll need to think a lot when you play this. Even then you may not understand any of that, because there's no exact answer for the story so you must figure the answer by yourself. That aside, at least I can understand the premise in which it goes like there's a phenomenon called Forest that was started to swallowed up Shinjuku. And then there's five people who somehow was chosen to fight back the phenomenon (The five people themselves are fit Five Man Band trope to a degree) and the way to fight it was through the riddle or something like that. There's also some reference from the popular work such as Winnie the Pooh, Lord of the Ring, and the most obvious of all Alice in Wonderland seeing that we got a mysterious girl called Alice here. Another thing to note is that the sex scenes at this VN might be quite disturbing.
3. Deardrops (VNDB 7.51)
To answer the critic Deardrops's writer here is probably like to write in a dramatic way (Apparently he'll carry his dramatic writing into Bokuten), so we can't exactly fault him for using some of (Not clever) plot device. Even with that in mind I'm still mind of Rimu's route though in that to me it's being redundant, although maybe I'll change my mind if I manage to replay this. As for the premise, we have Shouichi (Our MC) who fall into depression after he injured his arm back at Germany, and seeing that he's a violinist it's very serious matter. One day after he's fascinated with the rock show like Shikanosuke from Kira Kira, he decided to form a band with some eccentric talents including the aforementioned Rimu and straightforward high school girl Riho (Who also the main heroine, and that her route is the central focus of this VN). From there, Shouichi started to find a new passion when he play together with his bandmate, and then pull himself from the depression. As for the VN here, Rimu aside this is another Overdrive VN which mean that this VN have more focus on the music like Kira Kira, although unlike Kira Kira this time Shouichi here is a young adult and that he work at the bar before form the band.
2. Hoshizora no Memoria -Wish upon a Shooting Star- (VNDB 7.79)
The first translation was released by Insem, in which it did contained some minor controversy. Namely that he decided to change Mare's sex scene CG into dolphin which is quite reasonable seeing that Mare is like a child and Australian law (Insem was live in Australia) is strictly banned lolicon, and yet quite questionable (Well it's easy to fix anyway). Fast forward to 2017, Sekai decided to rerelease this by using the new translation that was worked on by Akerou and apparently the translation for that was heavily criticized (Well it's another redundant release by Sekai anyway). Controversy aside, the VN premise was in regard of our MC You (Yeah that's his name) that was move to the town where his aunt live and that he's been at the town when he was a child. One day he decided to go to his childhood place and at the place he met a shinigami (Mare) who somehow resembled his missing childhood friend. From there You decided to investigate the shinigami while at the same time enjoying his school life at the Astronomy Club. Anther two thing to note is that the common route is been criticized as a long one, and that the staffs behind the VN (FAVORITE) was said to take a liking to mysterious loli as shown with Mare here.
1. Kamidori Alchemy Meister (VNDB 8.13)
At first I'd read Taka-jun review on this at 2011 (The review in question), and then I decided to forget abut it seeing that it's still untranslated back then. At least until 2012 when I saw this VN was shown at a certain site as being translated in the morning, and after did some research I find out that back then Aroduc released it quietly. Of course seeing that Aroduc was the one who translated this it mean Kamdori here is a gameplay VN, and a heavy one at that. The premise is that we have our MC Wilfred aka Wil who was abut to take a test to determined whether he'll pass as an alchemist or not, and he passed easily. From there Wil established his workshop, and decided to work very hard in order to make people around him smile. Of course he's not alone at this quest seeing that he need bodyguards, and he'd manage to got three girls as his bodyguards not long after he become the alchemist. Yeah we supposed to not put the focus on the story because Eushully here is more famous as gameplay VN maker, and so far only two Eushully VNs that were being properly translated. As for the gameplay, there's a lot to do but basically this is a strategy RPG with emphasis on selling the items (And you can get game over from losing all of the money).
While there's still some good new releases like above there's fewer fan translation compared to last three years though, although to be fair most of well known VNs back then were already translated and Lemnisca was focused on I/O (Ixrec was also focused in Rewrite). To add more problem on that the official is still no aggressive like nowadays seeing that Sekai was still working together with JAST for releasing School Days, so there's still no much release from Sekai (Duh). Still 2012 here is also important year as well in that it bring Kamidori as the first translated Eushully VN along with the completion of Infinity trilogy after we have both of Ever17 and Remember11 being translated, so yeah it's not a bad year here.
PS - As for the title I decided to add alchemist part from Kamidori into the literal translation of Hoshizora no Memoria (Memoria of a Starry Sky), so we have 'Memoria of an Alchemist' as the title although obviously we wouldn't read the diary of an alchemist here.
After 2010, the next year is 2011 so obviously I'll cover 2011 releases. As for this year, it's still more calm here (Ixrec's debacle with Mangagamer in regard of age and Liar-soft aside) although there's a lot of very good VNs here so it's another interesting years (I remember that when I idly browse TLWiki and suddenly find out that Little Busters patch was released, and back then it's one of highly anticipated VN). The rule is still the same in that there'll be no nukige, BL, and otome here. So let's see what releases that we have for 2011 here below.
10. Katahane (VNDB 7.36)
At first we can see this as GL VN, although turn out that there's male and female relationship so Katahane here is not full GL VN. As for the premise, we have Wakaba who write a play based on a well known history, only that she decided to portray a well known traitor as someone who love his country. Seeing that she would have hard time to search for the actors, she decided to tag along with Cero who have his own business to do the journey. After that they began the journey and along the journey they met new people such as Belle and Angelina, and in the journey they may learn something about the real truth of the history. As for the art, to me Angelina here is good looking and the background is also good as well thanks to minori. Almost forget to add that Katahabe here have multiple MC, and the POV will change a lot. We also will have JAST release this at fall later, and as for the version that they chose they'll release the updates version. Although seeing that apparently there's no new story (They only have new opening and graphic update), I think I can say that Katahane release will be redundant here. Granted that the new opening of Katahane here is not bad, although it's not like the older one is not sufficient here. If anything, at least people can get Katahane legally if JAST really will release it later.
9. Zanmataisei Demonbane aka Deus Machina Demonbane (VNDB 7.39)
The second Nitroplus title to be officially translated after Phantom of Inferno, and also the first Nitroplus title localized by JAST. As for the premise, we have our MC Daijuuji Kuruo who drop his study university and after that he work as private detective with less than ideal income. One day he suddenly got a girl client (Ruri) and turn out that Ruri is the heir of mega conglomerate, and Ruri hire Kurou to find a grimoire because the town face a threat from a villain called group called Black Lodge which consist of Master Therion together with his cadres. When Kurou did his investigation, he stumbled upon a little girl who called herself as Al-Azif aka Al. Suddenly one of Black Lodge cadre goes attacking the town using a giant robot, and obviously Kurou is run away. At least until he stumbled into a giant robot which turned out to be the titular Demonbane and Al urge Kurou to pilot it. Seeing that there's no choice, Kurou board the Demonbane and Al reveal that she able to control Demonbane because she herself is a grimoire called Necronomicon. After ward away the cadre, both of Kurou and Al decided to work together to fight Black Lodge. It's worth to note that there's a lot of Cthulthu element in here, in which it's already prominent with the aforementioned Necronomicon.
8. Corpse Party BloodCovered (VNDB 7.53)
As for this VN, it's too bad that only PSP version that have well known seiyuu while for PC version we have less known seiyuu. I guess they also need to deal with the license cost as well if they want to port PSP voice so there's not much that we can do, and besides the rereleased PC version did have missing chapter that was unavailable at the PC anyway so the PC version is more or less better feature wise. Anyway the premise here is we have a bunch of high school student did tell the scary stories to each other, and scaring one of them to a degree. When they abut to going home, suddenly a mysterious earthquake strike and suddenly the students find themselves at a ruin of an elementary school. To make it worse, turned out that there's some ghost who sought the revenge and she'll kill the students. So there's no choice for the students other than try to survive and hopefully escape from the ruin, which easier said than done. Almost forget that this is horror VN in case you didn't catch it from the title, and that it was created by RPGMaker so you'll see some sprite movement in the VN (You may reminded older SNES RPG if you see the sprite). Apparently Corpse Party here is quite popular, so much that it spawn several sequel so good for the creator there.
7. Shikkoku no Sharnoth -What a Beautiful Tomorrow- (VNDB 7.55)
The second Liar-soft VN to be translated by Amaterasu (ie Ixrec), and also the second 'What a Beautiful' Steampunk VN to be translated as well. As for Sharnoth's setting here unlike Inganock that was a fantasy one and not based on the real life location, this time we're going to have slightly realistic setting with alternative London at 1905 with the dark sky thanks to smoke and all. Sharnoth here is also notable with our MC here in which it's a female one and that her name is Mary Clarissa Christie, or in her real life she's more well known as Agatha Christie. Of course seeing that it's Steampunk VN we wouldn't see on how Mary brainstorming the idea for her detective novels, but instead we'll see on how suddenly she trapped in another world that was infested by monster and on how she'll need to constantly escape from the monsters with a help from a mysterious man called M who is quite enigmatic himself in that he might be connected to the monsters. This VN is also notable for the translation, in that it's using British English which only logical seeing that the setting is in London. Also like other Steampunk VN, Sakurai here is still like to write Strictly Formula so you need to prepare for that. Almost forget that like Inganock, Sharnoth also already have Full Voice version already translated as well.
6. Galaxy Angel Eternal Lover (VNDB 7.71)
I'll talk about both of Moonlit Lover and Eternal Lover (Or you may treat those two as the first and second fandiscs for Galaxy Angel respectively) here, because both of those were released at the same year by Aroduc (So obviously we still have the same RTS gameplay). In Moonlit Lover, Tact was clearing the remaining prince's rebellion and more importantly gaining new member of the Angel Troupe Chitose (Who was butchered in the anime adaptation). As for Eternal Lover here, our Tact here will face the of a new enemies that was more dangerous compared to the previous villains. For the routes, in here Tact will chose one heroine and the heroine will be Tact's partner throughout the VN so no harem route. As for the route selection here, while it have flaw in that all the routes is the same save for some routes exclusive scenes, actually I prefer Galaxy Angel approach when it come to the trilogy so at least it can be consistent here (Which is what Grisaia trilogy lack). For the design, once again it remind me of some magical girl group in which apparently Kawamura (YPC5 duology, SmPC, and HugPC character designer) realized as well, so much that apparently she design some of her PreCures based on Galaxy Angel heroines (It's just assumption for now though, although it might be surprisingly true).
5. Kara no Shoujo (VNDB 8.02)
Back at 2010, a group that translate this VN at TL Wiki got C&D notice from Innocent Grey. One year later, the group got confirmation that Innocent Grey would willingly work together with Mangagamer to localized Kara no Shoujo. Although too bad though that the release did have problem, namely the voices is missing because apparently it's too costly to add. At least there's fan patch to alleviate the problem, and sometimes later Mangagamer did rerelease this with the voices available. As for the premise, it's quite depressing with our Reiji face his wife's death at the hand of crazy serial killer. One day, he accept a request from a mysterious girl that asked him to find her true self. After that, he also accepted two jobs in regard of a disturbing serial killing and the disappearence of all girl school students, so Reiji decided to work as the teacher while at the same time investigate the serial killing case. At the school Reiji met the mysterious girl who then introduce herself as Kikuchi Touko, and then two of them become friends despite the difference in age. As for the ending, seeing that we already knew that Reiji was down at the beginning of the sequel (Kara no Shoujo 2), it should be obvious that this VN ended on a bitter note so poor Reiji can't catch a break in misfortune here (Hopefully his end will be better in Kara no Shoujo 3).
4. Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo YU-NO (VNDB 8.10)
Graphically wise I prefer the graphic from the older version of this sci-fi VN, because at least it's not as bad as When They Cry original graphic. I understand though if some people did prefer the newer graphic and that they wait for the remake to be released at October 1st later, although it's not like it's necessary to get the remake if you already content with the older graphic seeing that the gameplay did have almost zero change. As for the premise, we have our MC Takuya who one day before the summer vacation Takuya got a mysterious package which a mysterious device from his late father. Seeing that there's something fishy behind it, Takuya decided to investigate it and hopefully will be able to untangled the mystery behind it. I also like to note that both of the director and composer of YU-NO were already passed away (My condolence to both of them), so obviously there's no way that we can get the new story from the original creator in the remake. As for the remake, while I didn't agree with the seiyuu change in that there's no 17 years old step mother heroine in the remake (Kikuko Inoue did provide Ayumi's voice at the older version, and Ayumi here is Takuya's step mother) even though there's might be a valid reason for that (Such as the contract matter), I still agree that the new opening is quite good so I'll post it below.
3. Little Busters (VNDB 8.61)
In his childhood Riki (The MC) lost his parents, and one day a cool boy (Kyousuke) ask him to join his gang and introduce the gang as Little Busters. From there our Riki was enjoying his days together with his friends up until the high school, and one day Kyousuke decided to do baseball. Seeing that Little Busters only have five members and baseball team need nine people, it's up to Riki for searching the rest of the member which consist of the heroines. Of course seeing that it's KEY VN, nothing as happy as it looks even though there's a lot of funny moments in the common route. We also have this rereleased back at 2017, although in this case it's not as redundant as previous examples seeing that the new release did add the additional routes that was available in the 18+ version (Originally Little Busters is all age VN). Granted that the rerelease version didn't have sex scenes, but it's not like it's a big loss anyway seeing that it's KEY VN and we know on how incompatible KEY VN with the sex scenes. I also like to note that Kyousuke seiyuu here is Midorikawa Hikaru, and his roles is usually handsome man. One thing for sure Kyousuke here is surely almost as cool and handsome as Sakamoto (Same seiyuu), so much that some people lauded him as the main heroine even though he's obviously male.
2. Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru (VNDB 8.95)
I know that Umineko's ending here was not quite satisfying for majority of the people, although it's very surprising to see though on how harsh the score was dropping in Erogamescape for EP8 alone (At 58 average score compared to the previous EPs which usually at around more than 80 average score). What I can say is that at least the ending is not as inconclusive as Remember11, and that there's the manga which solve the remaining mystery of Umineko here. The premise here is simple though, in that it continuing Battler struggle with his family murder, only this time he got some new perspective from the witch's side along with the arrival of new antagonists. For comparison with Higurashi, there's a reason on why Chiru here is called as Core arc instead of Kai which is called as Answer arc, because there's no clear cut answer in Umineko and that the reader must figure out the answer by themselves. As for the anime, DEEN only adapted the first part which obviously left the anime inconclusive so much people call it bad adaptation. Mangagamer was also rereleased this as well, but it's a redundant one anyway seeing that we already can play this with PS3 graphic and voices as well.
1. Muv-Luv Alternative (VNDB 9.01)
One day Takeru was suddenly find themselves go back to the time before the whole world was destroyed, and that he remember the world that he was in was invaded by the scary alien (BETA) leaving the Earth population to only a billion. Seeing that there's no choice, he decided to go to the military base in his town and use his past knowledge to fix the problem. In case you have the hard time to understand the premise, all of that was happened in the prequel (Muv Luv) so it's necessary to play the prequel to understand the premise (If you're not spoiled) in which it might be very time consuming. But it's worth it though seeing that Alternative here is the best VN that currently was ranked first in Bayesian score at VNDB, and it's also very well received in Japan seeing that very well known Attack on Titan franchise was inspired by this. We also have this rereleased back at 2017 in that it's a redundant one unless you prefer the newer translation, although at least it have Gallery menu in that somehow age manage to forget to put that on the older version. Speaking about age, honestly I mind it very much that age was milking Muv Luv too much and that they can only make VN that was pretty much a fandiscs of Alternative. Although seeing that there's a lot of bankrupt VN companies, perhaps it's the smartest strategy to survive.
That's all for my 2011 list, and in this year we have JAST being more active with Demonbane release here. As for the next list, I'll combined both of 2013 and 2014 lists seeing that some releases did overlapped between those two years. I hope that you'll like my list here.
PS - For the title, I decided to parodied yet another Attack on Titan spin-off seeing that Alternative here is the VN that inspired Attack on Titan writer (Ishiyama Hajime), and this time it's 'Attack on Titan: Junior High'. I know that it would be more fitting to use 'High School' here, although we already have high school setting at original Muv Luv anyway. So instead I decided to just change 'Titan' to 'BETA' in the original title for a very obvious reason, which somehow still fitting anyway seeing that one of Corpse Party main characters is a junior high student.
Seeing that nowadays we have many translated VNs, I figure that it would be nice if I can write about some VNs that was translated in the past (Before 2015) because after all there's no present without the past. Also it's always interesting to see on how much the translated VNs did develop in the past and how we'll compared it with the present, so here's my list for translated VNs at 2009. The rules is still the same in that there'll be no BL, otome, fandisc, and nukige VNs here.
10. Galaxy Angel (VNDB 7.51)
My encounter with this was started back at 2006 when I spent my Saturday morning watching this through Animax, and back then I thought that it's magical girl anime. Fast forward to 2011, back then I'm still new in VNs and decided to ask some recommendations from someone, and one of those is Galaxy Angels in which it'd interest me. After that I'd search it and find out that the VN is very different from the anime in that the VN itself did have usual male MC while the anime was a gag one with the MC is the heroines. As for the VN itself, the premise is goes like we have our MC Tact who is a lieutenant from a space empire, and he's quite lazy. One day, the empire is destroyed thanks to a rebellious prince and suddenly Tact was handed the responsibilities to handle a squad who consist of five girls that was also known as Angel Troupe. From there, our Tact decided to handle the girls and hopefully will be able to romance one of the girl while at the same time put down the prince's rebellion. For more info, this VN was came in trilogy, translated by Aroduc, and that it have the gameplay in form of RTS combat in that the player must control the Angel Troupe in order to beat the enemy. As for my opinion, I think it's still good if a bit outdated mostly because of the unintuitive way to save.
9. Kira Kira (VNDB 7.54)
This is my second serious VN after Shuffle and it's the most shocking one, mostly because a certain ending that was very surprising to me back then (At 2010 iirc) because I expected a happy ending like Shuffle. As for the premise, we have our MC Shikanosuke who have a very bitter experkence in that he was dropped off by his girlfriend after his performance on tennis were dropping significantly, and that he's obviously very depressed by that. At least until he met with Kirari who is his friend at the part time job, and he got the chance to watch a rock show with Kirari. Fascinated, Shikanosuke decided to perform as bassist together with Kirari as the vocalist in a band. Other than Kirari, there's Shikanosuke's childhood friend Chie as the drummer and rich girl Sarina as the guitarist for Shikanosuke's band, and they decided to perform at the school festival which to say was quite a hurdle seeing that the school is a strict traditional Catholic school. This VN is also one of first Mangagamer releases, so the translation here might be less refined compared to what we have nowadays (Not that it matter to me anyway). For last note here, the staff here is show a lot of knowledge in music because the producer himself (Bamboo) is also a band member.
8. Kanon (VNDB 7.68)
Very popular VN from back at 1999 seeing that it did established nakige that was mixed with slice of life back then, and also put KEY as the most successful VN developer seeing that it'd adopted to the two anime series along with console ports. One from back at 2002 by Toei in that Yuuichi's (The MC) face is very distorted, and another one from back at 2006 by Kyoto Animation with improved graphic. Since this is very popular VN it mean that there's a lot of VN that was influenced by this, such as Kana Imouto and Da Capo. As for the art, while granted Inoue's art is quite infamous at least it's not as bad like back at Koropokkur. As for the premise, we have Yuuichi coming back to the town where his aunt live after his last visit back at seven years ago, and that he forgot what happened back at his last visit. In there he met with a mysterious girl with the name Ayu, and then Yuuichi started to play more with Ayu while finding out what happened back at seven years ago. Other than Ayu, Yuuichi will encounter four other girls including his cousin (Nayuki), so we'll going to have five heroines in Kanon (Duh). As for the sex scenes, let's just say that you shouldn't play Kanon for the sex scenes even though it was initially sold as eroge.
7. Aoishiro (VNDB 7.75)
The most graphically beautiful VN when it's translated back at 2009, and I think it's still can be on par with nowadays VNs graphically wise. Also since this is ported from the console (PS2), obviously there'll be no sex scenes. The premise is goes like one day our female MC Shouko as the kendo club captain going to the Southern area in order to do the training camp, and that the area itself did have the legend in regard of the demon extermination. At night Shouko saw some mysterious beautiful girl got washed at the shore, and little did Shouko know back then that the girl did have a lot of connection between the legend and Shouko herself. While the story did have a lot of action and supernatural element, there's also a lot of food talk so you may dislike that element. Although the most infamous thing that this VN did have a lot of endings with only five of them were good, so the guide is very neccesary if you want to avoid the bad endings. That said the technical aspect of Aoishiro here is definitely very good, like the aforementioned graphic and also the music in that one of those resembled one of Ar Tonelico 1 hymnos song (Same singer as well). Almost forget to say that this is a GL VN, and there'll be a lot of fights.
6. Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- (VNDB 7.84)
The second Amaterasu's work after Cross Channel, and one that was based on the poll. Back then Ixrec decided to ask the reader to do the poll in order to determine which next VN that he want to translated, and out of many candidates Inganock here came as the first one in the poll. And so we have Inganock being translated here which also mark the first 'What A Beautiful' Steampunk VN series that was translated into the English (There's also Sona-Nyl that was localized by Mangagamer as well). As for the writer it's said that Sakurai Hikaru here is like to write in repetition, so it's inevitable if someone dislike that kind of writing especially with the Strictly Formula that Inganock have (At least the art here is looking very artistic with the watercolor and sketchbook look). As for Inganock's premise, we have Gii who is an illegal doctor who recover the poor for free and that he live in a city that was affected by mysterious phenomenon known as Revival, in which it caused some disturbance in that some of human being were mutated into part animal. Gii as the one who still looking normal decided to look into the town's mystery along with his old friend (Ati) who's been mutated into the catgirl and a mysterious girl (Kia) that Gii encountered. Almost forget that if you want full voice, you can play the Full Voice version that was already translated as well.
5. Saya no Uta (VNDB 8.01)
The third translated Nitroplus VN after Phantom of Inferno and Chaos Head with the former was written by the same writer (Gen Urobochi), and the background for this VN is the most creepy one with meat and all. The premise goes like we have Fuminori was saved by a brain operation after he suffered a fatal accident, only to have his perception was twisted thanks to the possible mistake in the operation and that he perceive the other human as grotesque creature with inaudible voice. Of course Fuminori being paranoid that he'll become the experiment subject, he decided to not tell his story to the doctor. One day in the hospital he see a young girl in white cloth with the name Saya, and seeing that Fuminori already goes insane thanks to his perception he just accept Saya as it is without wondering what Saya really is. From there both of Fuminori and Saya did the things that is normal in Urobochi's work, and let's just say it'll full of death and all because Urobochi like to killing the characters in his works (Just see both of Fate/Zero and Madoka, in which both of those are his famous works). This VN also picked up and rereleased by JAST at 2011, although it's a redundant release though because there's no change between fan translation and official version.
4. Sharin no Kuni Himawari no Shoujo (VNDB 8.17)
While we have Frontwing crowdfund this VN and they still didn't managed to deliver it, actually we didn't really need to wait in order to play this because we already have Sharin being translated since back at 2009 (ie redundant). If anything at least Frontwing still managed to give us the updates, unlike Sekai who more or less already abandoned their Yuzusoft VNs license. As for the premise, we have a very capable MC Morita Kenichi who come back to his hometown in order to supervise three criminals who coincidentally are girls with one of the girls was his childhood friend as told by his supervisor who also happened to be his teacher. From there, Kenichi did his best to supervise the girls. As for the setting, it's a unique one in that each criminal would be punished by wearing the badge and the wearer must bey the condition that the badge impose, otherwise the criminal would be severely punished. Naturally it mean that Kenichi will find out what's really happening in the girl's life that cause them to face the punishment, and it's Kenichi's job to improve the girls situations. As of Sharin itself, I guess it's quite influential in that Yuuji from Grisaia franchise did resemble Kenichi to a degree, and that both of Sharin and Grisaia did have the fandisc that resolve the story in the main VN.
3. Sengoku Rance (VNDB 8.34)
The first Rance series to be translated (By Takajun), and also the first Alicesoft VN to be translated. As for the premise, it's very simple with our selfish Rance want to have sex with two princesses and one of his target is Kouhime who happened to be JAPAN's princess (Or Nippon's princess as Arunaru translate it), only to found out that Kouhime was still underage and Rance still have some standard to not going lolicon. After being fast friend with Kouhime's brother Nobunaga (Yeah that Oda Nobunaga), Rance decided to help him to conquer some Nippon territories seeing that his heath is very bad along with his territory is declining and our Rance didn't want to see Kouhime being sad. Like other Rance series, Sengoku here did have gameplay element and after I see some LP of previous Rance VNs along with playing VI I can say that Alicesoft here really refined their gameplay element in here (It also help that Sengoku did set up the big Myth Arc for the franchise despite the lighter premise compared to VI). We also have this being localized by Mangagamer and retranslated by Arunaru, although seeing that there's no much problem with the translation (And Arunaru's reputation as translator is slightly gotten worse) I can say that Sengoku's license by Mangagamer here is a redundant one (At least it's nice that people can get this in English legally).
2. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (VNDB 8.54)
Once upon a time, there's man who was inspired by KEY's VNs. And thus he created a doujin VN that was attempted to recapture the success, but instead of nakige element the man decided to add horror and paranoia instead (With the man's drawing that was very bad). Also like KEY, his product is very successful so much that it became the man's Cash Cow Franchise. As for the man, he's Ryukishi07 and the product is obviously Higurashi. As for the premise, we have Keiichi who transfer to a rural town called Himanizawa and he managed to be friend with some unique girls. While at first Hinamizawa is very calm and relaxing, beneath that there's a lot of covered secrets that may cost a life to be uncovered, and our Keiichi was realized that as well. And so Keiichi decided to investigate what's really happen in the peaceful Hinamizawa, although too bad that his investigation was already doomed to be failed. Again and again. As for Higurashi itself, it's divided into eight arcs and the first part did covered the four arcs. As for the opening song here, since the original didn't have the opening I'll use Matsuri one (It's very good anyway). Almost forget that Mangagamer did localized this, and if you didn't like the default arc you can use the art from PS3.
1. Umineko no Naku Koro ni (VNDB 8.84)
After being successful with Higurashi, Ryukshi07 decided to tackle another new series in When They Cry and this time he'd write about murder mystery. The premise goes like there's a very rich family that was trapped in the secluded island because of the storm. To make it worse turn out that each of the head's children did have some slight financial problem and the only solution to resolve their problem is a mysterious fortune that the head hide (Also rumored to be borrowed from the witch (Beatrice)). Things not going to be easy seeing that the clue to find the fortune is like a murder pattern, and all of the siblings are more than likely to commit the murder because they are very hostile to each other. As for who is the MC for Umineko, we have Battler (The head's grandson) who was challenged by Beatrice who claimed that she can kill the whole family using the magic. Refused to believe in magic, Battler decided to challenge Beatrice into a game of wits in that he must proof that it's possible for human to do the crime. Like Higurashi, Umineko here is also localized by Mangagamer with the help of a fan group (Witch Hunt) back at 2017, although it's redundant though because there's already a patch to insert PS3 art and Ryukishi's drawing is still bad (He improved at least), and of course already translated.
I guess that's all for 2009 translated VNs, and as you can see most of those are still fan translated (Eight out of 10 VNs) so we can say that 2009 here is the start of fan translation golden era. Also back then Mangagamer was just starting their operation, so it's normal for them to have little number of released VNs (ie Kira Kira and Higurashi) compared to what we have nowadays. Also back then we obviously still didn't have Sekai yet and JAST did release less compared to the last years, so yeah thanks to the fans we can have a lot of good translated VNs whereas most people would categorized VNs as the porn games back at 2009. As for the next plan, I think I'll cover the translated VN release from 2010 up to 2014.
PS - For the title I decided to joined two animal that was noted in both of 'When They Cry' series, and since we have both of cicada from Higurashi and seagull from Umineko I joined two animal into 'When the Sand Crabs Cry'. The reason is simply because sand crabs is also known as sea cicada, and besides it's not the first time someone use 'Umi' part from Umineko seeing that we have When the Seacats Cry doujin VN (TL Note: Umi mean sea).
After 2009 and 2012, this time I'll talk about 2010 in which there's still quite a number of good VNs being fan translated while at the same time Mangagamer was slowly making their way to be more active. Of course obviously we still didn't have Sekai yet and JAST here is still idling with they readying the release for 2011, and apparently from what I remember they already got infamous because on how they only announced fan translated projects or something like that. As for the list here, the rule is still the same with no nukige, no otome, no BL, and no fandisc in the list. Let's see what kind of good VN that we have at 2010.
10. Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer (VNDB 7.46)
There's a story abut a Ki Master (Kong Taoluo) who lost his sister (Ruili) that married to his best friend (Haojun), because her husband way of showing his affection by brutally rape her and split her soul into five (Also storing the souls in the sex cyborgs). Enraged, Taoluo decided to kill Haojun and try to get back Ruili's soul by fusing all of five separated parts, only that it's not as easy as it looks seeing that Haojun became the Chinese mafia leader and that he handed the other four sex dolls to his trusted four cadres who each of them are quite strong. Seeing that there's no other choice and the cadres are also helping Haojun showing his affection to Ruili, Taoluo decided to kill them as well even though it may prove too much for him. As for the releases we have two version with the original one was back at 2010, and at 2015 we have the remake release in that it have improved graphic and voice from famous seiyuu (Including Yukari Tamura as Ruili and Sho Hayami as Haojun) in exchange for slight CG censorship. We also have JAST was abut to release it since back at 2011, but considering that we already have the remake translated let's just say that it'll be redundant release if they ever manage to release it. Almost forget to say that this is another Urobochi's work, so obviously don't expect happy story here.
9. Daibanchou -Big Bang Age- (VNDB 7.47)
Another VN that was translated by Aroduc and that was released by Alice Soft, so it should be pretty obvious that Daibanchou here is another gameplay VN. For the premise, we have our hot blooded student Zanma Ruga transferred to a school in Tokyo in order to cure his fiancee's curse, and that he must collect the magical items to achieve the gals. There's a problem though, namely that the items was held by some powerful school leader so Rouga must gather his army in order to take the items. By the way in here we have a setting where the world was invaded by the demon and that each student did have superpower, and the strongest one would be the school leader (Rouga here is one of the strongest student). Since this is Alice Soft VN, it's possible for Rouga to have sex with other woman even though Rouga himself already have fiancee (Well she allow it if I remember). As for the gameplay itself, it's sort of crude version of Sengoku in that you can only attack enemies territory once per turn, although the most significant things is that you have time limit in which it force you to play several times if you want to get all of the characters and clear them. Even then, I'm still find that Daibanchou here is quite fun and that Rouga was not as selfish as Rance (Not say a lot though).
8. Narcissu 2 (VNDB 7.53)
The second part of Narcissu duology in that it tell us the story abut our main heroine Setsumi before facing a certain ending that rumored to made some reader spent a lot of tissue, and apparently the same rumor would hold true to this VN as well (After all Narcissu is categorized as utsuge not for nothing). Anyway as for the premise in the first part we have Setsumi was go through the journey with the nameless male MC seeing that she didn't have a lot of time thanks to her disease, and in this second part here we'll roll back to seven years ago when Setsumi was at 15 at the hospital. At the hospital Setsumi will slowly befriended Himeko who is also a car otaku, and that Himeko have some problem with her faith because of her past. As for the release it's an unique one seeing that the author himself did approve the fan translation just like True Remembrance, and that this release was also combined the first part that was released back at 2005 so you can get this to play Narcissu fully. There's also Sekai rereleased this back at 2014, although of course by then it's release is already redundant. For the bonus, here's the second part opening and as usual eufonius here did a good job.
7. Da Capo 2 (VNDB 7.59)
Took place ~50 years after first Da Capo and ~20 years before Da Capo 3 Prologue, once again we have our advanture at Haysunejima in that it was famous because of the everlasting sakura that can grant any wish. This time our MC is Sakurai Yoshiyuki who been best friends with Junichi's (Da Capo 1 MC) granddaughters, and those two granddaughters are also one school with Yoshiyuki. Other character to note is Sakura (Returning character from the prequel, and Junichi's cousin who doubled as one of Da Capo heroine), in that she's the principal of Yoshiyuki's school and that she didn't aging for ~50 years because she's a magician and all. As for the writing it's generally accepted that the routes writing here did improved from Da Capo, although there's a flaw as well though in that Koko's route which became infamous because Yoshiyuki here prefer to make some drama instead of resole it calmly. Other than that, this time Circus learn from first Da Capo in that they place the main heroines (Junichi's granddaughters) routes unlocked later instead of available from the first. Lastly we can play 'passionate Hitomi Nabatame-voiced love-making' scenes here, because we have Nabatame voicing Nanaka who as we know is quite similar with DC Kotori.
6. Eien no Aselia -The Spirit of Eternity Sword- (VNDB 7.64)
An isekai VN in that we have our siscon MC Yuuto was summoned into anther world, and forced to work for a warmongering king that want to expand his territory as much as possible. To make it worse, the sword that Yuuto weld is a sentient being and Yuuto himself is could be succumbed into the sword's influence and thus make the people around him suffer. Of course seeing that it's a VN Yuuto is not alone in that he have female companions with one of them is the titular heroine Aseila (ie the main one), and that her ending is canon thanks to a certain character at Senarukana (The sequel). As for the release, while back then it's censored at least it could be justified because back then Xuse still not released the perfect edition in that it contain both of PS2 contents and 18+ contents, and that Dakkodango (Later will become Fruitbat) already finished this back at 2010 (Besides the PS2 contents are more than enough to make up the censorship anyway). After a year (At 2011), JAST rereleased this and it's still censored as it is. While they gave a reason in that they didn't want to take a risk on the lolicon contents, I'm more convinced that they didn't want to do an extra work to either translated the sex scenes or working on the Complete edition.
5. ef - a fairy tale of the two (VNDB 8.05)
If back at 2009 we have Aoishiro as the most beautiful graphic in regard of translated VN, then in 2010 we have ef in that we can say this as minori's Magnum Opus. And it really show considering that it's still famous because of the arts, in that it's still be able to rival some modern VNs graphic (And both of ef opening here is really show good animation thanks to Makoto Shinkai). Another thing to note is that apparently ef was released back at when both No Name Loser (NNL) and minori did have a conflict of interest, and that the incident was called minorigate. In the end even with that shenanigan in that in the past they say that they didn't need foreign support, it's still unfortunate though that minori is no longer operated after their big fail in Supipara (Well not exactly though seeing that they still develop some VNs after Supipara, but Supipara here is apparently need a lot of money so much that it cost minori a lot).
As for the VN itself, it contain five different MC with five different love stories. While at the first glance this looks like separated stories, actually there's a Myth Arc happen behind it and it also happen that each characters in each stories turned out have some connections with each other to a degree. As for the Myth Arc, we have our main MC Himura Yuu have meeting with the main heroine Amamiya Yuuko at the church in the Christmas Eve, and both of them reminisce on how they help some couple along with their own love story. For additional note here, we have Mangagamer act as the third party in regard of minorigate, so in order to resolve the conflict they decided to allow Mangagamer to own minori's license. So obviously Mangagamer did rerelease ef at the latter years, and the release is not so redundant because they add the Extra menu that was missing in 2010 release (Probably because NNL release it hastily back then).
4. Symphonic Rain (VNDB 8.13)
Also known as the only rhythm gameplay translated VN (So naturally there'll be some insert song), and that it's only all age release in which it's logical seeing that we have well-known seiyuu voicing the heroines here. It also have rerelease as well back at 2017 by Degica, in that it change the graphic slightly (Not as drastic as YU-NO remake). And for the most important part, the songs and the BGM here is the late Okazaki Ritsuko's Swan Song because she compose the BGM for this VN before she passed away back at 2004. The premise is we have our MC Chris attend a music school in a city that always raining, and he somehow managed to befriended a fairy. One day he's about to graduate from the school and that his last test is he must play a fortell to allow his partner to sing along, and that it might be too hard for Chris seeing that he didn't have much friend. Even so, there's no choice for Chris other than to search the partner to do his graduation test. While graphically wise this VN would give you the impression that it'll be a lighthearted story (Especially the rereleased one), don't be fooled by that because like Hakuai (Same developer) some of the ending are quite heavy.
3. Remember11 -The Age of Infinity- (VNDB 8.18)
The most infamous Infinity series, manly because the fact that the ending was quite abrupt thanks to the conflict between the staffs that didn't allow them to have a consensus in regard of the true ending (Or so that's what I'd read somewhere). This VN is also the second Infinity series to be translated after Ever17, although people was more well aware with the controversy though. As for the premise, we have two accidents in that both of Kokoro (Female MC) and Satoru (Male MC) did get trapped around the place where the heavy snowstorm is happen. As for the circumstances we have our Kokoro was one of the surviving victim of a fatal airplane accident, while for our Satoru he apparently was abut to be murdered only to be survive and trapped in a snowstorm. To complicated matter, both of Satoru and Kokoro was somehow can swap each other soul in the most impossible circumstance seeing that both of them was separated for around a thousand kilometers and more importantly the accidents were happened in the different years. As for the solution here, at least we can still guess what's really happen if we get a certain bad end, although for now most of the solution is only hypothesis though.
2. G-Senjou no Maou (VNDB 8.29)
The most famous VN that was translated in 2010 and also the most controversial rereleased by Sekai (At 2015) because not only the license itself is redundant, it's also because Dovac was use his trusted brand of public communication to respond the criticism in regard of the censorship back at VNDB, and let's just say that it make me face-palmed there. Granted that Sekai was finally release the 18+ patch for this at April, but even then (And even back at 2015) most people are already know and discuss about this a lot so more or less people already know about this (If nothing else at least it's good for newbie). Controversy by Sekai aside, in here we have Kyousuke who is a stepson of a head yakuza and that he was intelligent. One day, he crossed path with a beautiful intelligent woman that have messy long hair (Haru, who also the main heroine here), and that she's chasing her nemesis who known by the alias 'Maou'. And so the curtain for the battle of wits between Haru and Maou was started, and little did Kyousuke know back then that he have much more involved into the battle more than he know. As for the route structure, it'd use the ladder system in which Kyousuke can either pick a girl or keep going until he reach Haru's chapter.
1. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (VNDB 8.75)
The second part of Higurashi that contained the last four arcs (Higurashi have eight arcs for the reminder), and unlike the first part this time we'll going to uncover the truth behind Hinamizawa tragedy and mystery. As for the release while back at 2010 Mangagamer did release Matsuribayashi as single release instead of released full version of Kai, it still count here because Matsuribayashi here is the last arc of Higurashi. As for Kai itself of course things were still as bleak as ever with death and all even though it's not as scary as the first part, but this time our Keiichi and friends are starting to uncover some information. That said even with the horror was slowly diminishing, the 5th arc (Meakashi) was also quite infamous because of some action that was quite horrifying. This is also the part when Ryukishi started to ask some help to compose the BGM instead of rely on the free BGM, and it really show seeing that the soundtrack was considered as being very good. For more info Mangagamer was also rereleased this along with the first part, and the only two arcs that was still unreleased is Minagoroshi (Will be released at 18th later) and Matsuribayashi. For the opening I'll use Miotsukushi opening in which it's the PS2 last arc for Higurashi, although it's quite fitting anyway for Kai's opening.
That's all for 2010 list here, and as you can see some of the releases were rereleased officially with the most notable examples are G-Senjou and ef. Another thing to note is that we got many good VNs, and also JAST was starting the decline in regard of their activity (They started to be more active at 2011 if I remember). We also have some drama though, namely with the aforementioned minorigate in which apparently it's because minori so traumatic with Rapelay incident so much that minori was lashed out. Honestly both of Rapelay and minori VN are very vastly different, but remember back then the stigma that VN was a porn games for Westerner is still stronger compared to nowadays. I hope you'll like my list here.
PS - As for the title, seeing that we have Symphonic Rain and G-Senjou released back at 2010 I decided to combine those two so we have 'Rain on the G-String' as the title. For additional note here, G-Senjou title is derivative of Bach's 'Air on the G String' so of course I change the 'Air' part into 'Rain', even though it was impossible in the real life (It sounds romantic though). Forget to say that both of Symphonic Rain and G-Senjou did have music as the topic, and the latter did remixed 'Air on G String' to be used as a BGM in the G-Senjou soundtrack itself.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review and sorry for being very late here. For this week, since we have Uchi no Koibito sudden release with the premise resemble horror movie Knock Knock (The man was live together with two girls, although in Knock Knock the girls raped the man and then ruined his life) and Tamayura Mirai release from the last week with mod Clephas mentioned that it resemble Monobeno, I'd make a parody of Monobeno updated version, Monobeno -Happy End-, by changing 'Monobeno' into 'Knock Knock', so we have 'Knock Knock -Happy End-' as the title. As for this week, we have a bunch of announcements and releases, although unfortunately none of those are quite interesting to me. If anything else, at least Mangagamer announcements have good graphic, and so to me this week is more or less an average one. Let's see what I can write in regard of this week here.
There's a new fan translation group (Shinzou Translations) that translate several short VNs, with two of those are Fukyou no Hana and Hikage no Himari. I can only say that good for the group if they manage to working on their favorite VNs, even with the VNs are the short one. We also have Dei Gratia full translation patch release, and yes by Dei Gratia I mean the VN that Lemnisca was decided to scrapped the localization plan after their KS with the base goal 57,000 dollars failed (The link to the patch). The premise is still the in regard of several people were trapped inside a closed room like in Ever17 (Which make sense considering Dei Gratia here is some sort of Ever17 tribute), and said closed room is in the sinking submarine 700 meters below the surface with the unknown threat at the depth of the ocean. Go get the translation patch if you want to play this ever since Lemnica announced the KS plan for this, and have fun.
For this week fan translation updates, we have ChuSingura is at 24.72% translated with the translated lines passed 20,000 lines mark, Tsuma Netori is at 20% edited, H2O is at 60.2% edited, Senmomo is at 98.42% edited with side stories is at 94.47% edited, and Akagoei FD is at 40.23% edited along with 24.14% QA-ed. That's all for this week fan translation updates.
While this is not VN news, may as well mention that Nekonyan will release Lorena on 26th later. Speaking of release, we have both Aksys and Cherry Kiss released Koinegau and Oppai Samurai respectively. Koinegau here is about a female MC who live in Edo era can see the black thread that will be followed by a disaster and thus be shunned by the villagers, which of course eventually lead her to have a romance with one of six handsome heroes. Go get Koinegau if you want to play it and have Switch (Because it's only available on Switch). As for Oppai Samurai, once again it's about a very famous demon slayer who've been forced to have sex with nobody, and it also has interesting description courtesy of Cherry Kiss translator. Go get Oppai Samurai if you're interested with it, and have fun.
Shiravune announced they'll release another nukige from Appetitie with the localized title Queen of the Otaku, and they already have the exact release date for it in which it'll be on July 18th later. Other that announce the new title, Shiravune released Kuroinu Redux with them had all characters in silhouette on top of cutting the contents leaving the prologue alone in Steam version, which is understandable considering Valve can be very random when it come to ban even with the game that has less explicit contents. From what I hear apparently it has new contents, although in the end it's still redundant anyway. If anything else, at least people can purchase the whole Kuroinu in cheaper price seeing that Mangagamer release it in three parts with each parts price is at 25 dollars.
Sekai manage to be predictable by announced both of Animal Trail FD and Animal Trail 2 back in Anime Central, and at least the graphic for both are good seeing that Unless Terminalia (The VN from the same company) won the Best Graphic Award back in Getchu 2022. Oh yes, Sekai already had both are fully translated and edited with them currently wating the build for both. For the other updates, Sekai also has Imuto no Seiiki was in QA which mean they manage to get the engine, and lastly we have Amairo Chocolata 2 being approved by Valve with Sekai currently doing the testing for it.
Mangagamer announced two VNs, with the first one is the aforementioned Uchi no Koibito that Mangagamer was suddenly released on Anime Central. For the premise, this time instead of living with either his childhood friend or little sister, the MC live together with two girls who work at the cafe that the MC frequent because their home was burned down, and obviously it'll lead the MC to eventually have the romance with two girls with them occasionally do threesome. With this, now we have Uchi trilogy available in English, so go get the VN if you interested with it and have fun. The second one is Nightmare x Vampire in which it's possibly Mangagamer's secret project with the progress is fully translated and edited, and this time we have the vampire girl Rei who at first have rivalry with Setsuna (The first Nightmare series MC) before finally respect each other capabilities. Obviously, we'll going to have Rei got raped as per Nightmare series.
Mangagamer also has several updates with the most significant one is Sona-Nyl finally in testing, which if we know that it's been announced from all the way back in 2016 it mean that the wait for is is almost over. Speaking of testing, Mangagamer also mentioned that they almost ready to do the testing for Raillore. For the rest of the updates, we have Rance 03 is at 48% translated along with 29% edited, Rance X is at 56% translated along with 5% edited, Funbag Fantasy is past halfway (51%) translated along with 49% edited, and Eve of December is at 91% translated along with 8% edited.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Visual Novel Translation Status (10/07/2023)
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and because we already have the exact release date for Klutzy Cupid may as well make a parody for an old anime I'm Gonna be An Angel! by changing 'Angel' into 'Cupid', which is fitting because Cupid is literally an angel (Or rather a Love Angel). As for this week, well it should be obvious that this week is quite plain because of the breather after AX, although at least there's some interesting update to note here, especially the announcement of exact release date for Klutzy Cupid. In the end, once again this week is a plain one and let's see what I can write about it.
Turned out that JAST Blue was already finished their translation work on both of their announcements (Paradise and Hell Academy), so at least there's one big step done. Speaking of big step, we also had Goblin on the March about to enter the QA, so the wait for it shouldn't be too long. Personally speaking I prefer JAST put the effort on Yomegami or Liberator before AX, but I guess the technical works for those two VNs are a bit harder than usual. Sekai also announce their plan for Sheol, in that they'll release the trial for Q3 (Sometimes in July until September), and then do the full release in Q4 (Between October to December).
From fan translation, first of all we have H2O was fully edited with the last process is the translator will do QA work before the release. Other than H2O fully edited, we have Tsuma Netori is at 40% translated, Akagoei 3 is at 33.8% translated, and 631 out of 2499 (More than a quarter) main script of Fate/Extra CCC are edited. I knew that Quof already drop his Lovely x Cation 2 and posted a quarter translated script on 4chan, although I already move on ever since Quof work with Mangagamer, so whatever. Good luck to whoever pick the slack and decided to continuing the project though. Lastly we have Nekonyan announce the exact release date for Klutzy Cupid, and it'll be on 21st later so you may note the date if you've been waiting for it.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and sorry if this week is quite short here. See you next week.
PS - I know about Tsui no Stella release by fan group, although I decided to try comment on it on the next VNTS Review.
Visual Novel Translation Status (25/06/2023)
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and as for the title I'll explain it in PS later. As for this week, it's definitely an interesting one with Nukitashi release despite several shenanigans happening. Other than Nukitashi release, we also has the sequel announced as soon as the first game was released. Of course, we also have other updates, with the most particular one to me is in regard of Clover Day's release. With that done, let's see what I can write in regard of this week.
Frontwing announce the exact release date for Grisaia Chronos Rebellion on July 27th, and I can only say 'Yeah, okay. Whatever'. Admittedly speaking it could be good announcement from Frontwing, had they announced it in... 2011. My point is that while Grisaia franchise is indeed good VN, nowadays there are more translated VNs compared to back when Kajitsu was released in 2011. Cherry Kiss did release their nukige (It's Mommy Sensei: Horny Homework for the reminder), and I find that the premise is quite unique with the ugly male MC got support from very sexy (And big breasted) principal to do his revenge quest from being bullied. Go get the VN if you're already waiting for it, and have fun.
This week we have H2O show some significant progress, with the current progress of the editing is past three quarter mark (75.12%) edited. Other than H2O major editing progress, we also have Tsuma Netori is at 20% proofread, 400 out of 2499 main script of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, ChuSingura is at 27.92% translated, and Akagoei FD is at 62.07% edited along with 35.63% in QA. We also finally have Alka returned after being absent for a while, and for their recent progress we have Kud Wafter all age version is past three quarter (75.5%) translated with the 18+ version is at 40.1% translated. Speaking of returning, we also have Umi kara Kuru Mono being updated with the current progress is we have 91 out of 138 script files of it are translated.
JAST did release Onigokko FD, so in case you want to have little sister route back in the main VN because the little sister didn't have the route in there, go get Onigokko FD and have fun. After several years of waiting (For almost a decade ever since the original fan translation project started), we finally have Nekonyan announced the release estimation for Clover Day's, and it'll be in this August. Granted that it might be placeholder for now, but at least it's better than nothing. Oh yes, Clover Day's itself is already passed the Steam review thanks to Hikari Field submit the new build, and in case you need more proof then you can visit the Store page of it.
Shiravune did announce Nukitashi 2 in which it had a new story along with the after stories for the heroines, and no idea on when it'll be released. Anyway congratulation to Qruppo now that we finally have Nukitashi released, especially after their first deal with Sol Press was failed because Sol Press lack of fund. For the premise, well it should be obvious that you better expect a lot of sex scenes because it's title and all. Or if you need more elaboration, it's about the MC Junnosuke who came back to his hometown, only to find out that the town heavily support wild sex with the new law. While it sounds good on paper, turned out that the town is basically become the police state with the government force the people to have sex, and Junnosuke has his own reason to not agree with the policy, so he decided to fight against the law by gathering several allies who've been wronged by the law in one way or another. Go get Nukitashi if you've been waiting for it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week VNTS Review, and see you next week.
PS - Since we have Nukitashi release, I figure that I'll just make a parody for one of Mangamer nukige, How to Live a Healthy Hentai Lifestyle, by changing 'Lifestyle' into 'Police State' (Because Nukitashi setting is the police state), so we have 'How to Live in Healthy Hentai Police State' as the title.
Because we have Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- release with Nasu as the writer already have Fate as his most famous franchise, I figure may as well add 'Fate' in the title along with 'Twilight' (Because it's has vampire with Tsukihime also has it) and change 'Blue' into 'Cerulean' (The synonym of blue, and it's because Nekonyan announced Cerulean Day), so we have 'Fate/Twilight Night -Cerulean Glass Moon-' as the title. Anyway as for this week, I can definitely say that it's more interesting compared to the last week, especially with Tsukihime Remake Part 1 translation patch release. While the main highlight is obviously Tsukihime Remake, we also has several other updates, with the most prominent one is that Clover Days passed Steam review (Yes you didn't read it wrong). Overall, like I say beforehand this week is an interesting one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Cabbit announce their newest VN (Kagi o Kakushita Kago no Tori) in English, and you can try the trial in the Steam store of it. What I can say is while Cabbit has some VNs with interesting premise (Including this), it's quite unfortunate that they can't just trust other companies to handle their non-nukige VN, especially because it mean that they'll cut the sex scene. Ultimately, it's not like there's no much interesting VN that are or about to be translated anyway, and if anything else at least Cabbit didn't work together with SakuraGame again. Craftwork delayed Geminism release to September 29th later, which mean they probably has more work left that they're initially thought.
Aksys released Jack Jeanne, and from all of their releases it's the only their otome VN that didn't produced by Idea Factory, but instead it's worked on by Broccoli (Galaxy Angel developer). What I know is that the MC attended the school for theater acting, she need to hide her identity as girl because the school is all male school, and it's only available in Switch. Go get it if you've been interested with it and had Switch. PQube announced Konosuba VN, and it has dress up game with the casts (The female main casts) personality reversed because of a curse, so you'll get sadistic Darkness, Megumin embracing her role as lolita, and Aqua act like the proper goddess. Unlike Jack Jeanne, at least PQube also announced the PC version of Konosuba VN. Frontwing announced that they'll release Aikagi After Days in this year, which from what I can gather it's about the after story of first Aikagi with the MC and the heroine will have a lot of fun in summer.
Sekai did have several updates, with them about to release Imouto no Seiiki on 26th later along with had Sheol engine work is 80% done. We have Clover Days passed Steam review, and once again you didn't read it wrong, because Hikari Field decided to tweak the build and submit the new build to have it reviewed. For the reminder, the last time Valve did reject Clover Days, so it's obvious that they passed it is a good news. That said, there still some works left before the release, but at least that's one major step got taken care of.
For fan translation updates, we have ChuSingura is at 27.13% translated, 275 out of 2499 main script of Fate/Extra CCC are edited, Akagoei FD is at 60.92% edited along with 27.59% in QA, Tsuma Netori is at 35% edited, Planetarian Snow Globe image editing work has been finished, and Yosuga no Sora is at 72% TLC-ed along with 57% edited. We also have new translation project from the former White Album translator, with said project is Aikano that also has love triangle story. For the progress of Aikano, currently 186 out of 4471 lines of it are translated. Other than Tsukihime Remake 1 release, there's another release from fan translation in that it's a VN called Nakoruru, and from what I gather it's about a character from SNK fighting game Samurai Spirits. Oh, and that the VN is only available for Dreamcast. Go get Nakokuru if you're interested with it.
Lastly, we have Tsukihime Remake Part 1 translation patch release, in which unfortunately it's not available for PC, so you need to have Switch if you want to to play it. The basic premise here is still like in 2000 version, with our orphan MC Shiki called to live together with his strict young sister Akiha, and he also has power to see the line of death that he impulsively use to kill passerby vampire Arcueid, weakening her in progress because she did use most of her energy to revive. The remake has some differences though, with Nasu filled his idea as much as possible in the new version (Especially on Ciel's route), so much that he need to make it in parts, and so he only manage to release one part of it with he obviously need more time to develop the second part. Nasu here also add more new prominent characters in the Remake, in that it'll be nice to see if Battle Moon Wars or Carnival Phantasm can add them. Go get Tsukihime Remake if you've been waiting for the big release of it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and sorry for being very late. For the title, because Shiravune just announced a nukige with the premise a succubus dragged the MC into her village which turned out to be populated by succubi (The plural form of sucubus), I decide to make parody of a Yu-Gi-Oh card Secret Village of the Spellcasters by changed 'Spellcasters' into 'Succubi', so we have 'Secret Village of the Succubi' as the title. As for this week, if I may something it's less interesting compared to the last one, but on the other hand we have some updates from fan translation with the most notable one is Ginharu update. Overall, this week is a below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Cherry Kiss announced yet another nukige, and said nukige is localize as Oppai Samurai with the premise that one very strong female samurai was forced to have sex with the MC who is nobody. While I should say that Cherry Kiss catalogue is not what I keep my eyes on, at least they can provide entertaining localize title and the description as Oppai Samurai description can tell. No exact release date for this as of now, but we know that we'll get see it released in this month. Speaking of exact release date, we finally have Ninetails announced Gaia release date, although unfortunately it isn't in June because of some circumstances beyond their control, but instead they'll release it on July 28th later so you can note the date if you've been looking forward into it.
As for the aforementioned VN that Shiravune announced, it's Succubus Sessions: Mami Mamiya's Sweet Slice of Hell with the premise is exactly what I wrote beforehand. It's worth to mention that it's actually Moonstone (Or rather it's child company Argonauts) which as we know is Mangagamer's partner, so perhaps there was some things happened behind the scene with them asking Shiravune instead of their usual partner to localize their VN. Oh yes, it's actually the first part of the trilogy, just like Uchi trilogy in that Mangagamer already released two of it's title. Also I should say that the graphic is very nice, and that we already have the exact release date for it in that it'll be on July 21st later.
For fan translation updates, we have Senmomo is at 97.54% edited with side stories is past 90% mark (91.38%) edited, ChuSingura is at 21.86% translated, Tsukihime Remake Ciel's Route Day 12 has been finalized, Tsuma Netori is at 10% edited, Koiyasumi is past halfway (50.58%) edited, H2O is also past halfway (52.2%) edited, and both proofreading and editing work for Planetarian Snow Globe are finished with the translator now finishing up the image along with getting the technical side functional. We also have some translator decided to translate the beta version of Jingai Makyou, or to be exact the trial of the beta version that didn't manage to make it to the final version (The VNDB link of it). I can only say that it may be interesting if you want to see on how Jingai Makyou was envisioned at first.
Last but not the least we also have several updates from Daybreak, with Akagoei FD is at 32.18% edited, Akagoei 3 translation work resuming with the current progress is 15 out of 169 script files are translated, and Yuzuki's route of Ginharu is at halfway translated. Or rather, actually it's just approximately halfway translated because it's based on when the translator did ask Irru about the progress a couple of weeks ago with Irru answer that it's about a third translated back then, and the translator estimated that Irru should be already edited half of Yuzuki's route by now. Also in case you didn't like on how there's a number of editing error in Mizuha's route, the translator already addressed the complain and apply the changes, although he decided to released polished Mizuha's route in Yuzuki's patch.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week, and as for the title I'll explain it in PS. For this week, let's just say that we have Shiravune being very active for an easy word with them had a number of announcements. Other than Shiravune, Nekonyan also has some news to share, although unfortunately it's not in regard of their releases yet. Lastly, we obviously still have some updates from fan translation. Overall, let's just say that this week is an almost below average one and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
This week we have Tsuma Netori is at a quarter edited, 225 lines of Fate/Extra CCC main script has been edited, ChuSingura is at 25.9% translated, Tsukihime Remake Ciel's Route Day 13 has been finalized along with Day 14 of it has been fully edited, and Akagoei FD is at 48.28% edited. I know there's also Koiyasumi release as well, although I'll save the talk for next VNTS Review. We also have Rewrite Harvest Festa partial patch release that Amaterasu did work on (For the info initially it's Amaterasu 9th project before they're disappear), and the patch did contain full translation for all of the routes along with translate the beginning part of Rewrite Quest (The RPG minigame in Harvest Festa). In case you've been waiting for this ever since Sekai announce it (With them currently struggling with the editing work) and just want to read the story, then feel free to try the patch.
While we know that Sol Press has financial problem when it come to the tax, turned out that the problem is far worse than we thought, especially with them didn't manage to pay the royalty for Tinkle Position (ie Onikiss developer). Since Sol Press has been suspended from doing business, naturally Onikiss license has been indirectly stopped and thus there's no way to get the royalty. With that circumstance, Nekonyan decided to help them by took over the license for Onikiss, and they planned to re-release it in the near future. Well, initially they want to release it in last Friday, although there are some unavoidable circumstances so they need to delay it for a while.
Honestly speaking while Kara no Shoujo trilogy announcement from Shiravune is good news, I can't help but think that the announcement for the first two title is redundant, especially with almost no change in the second part. Granted arguably the first part has a number of improvement compared to what Mangagamer released in 2011, but even then there's a patch that add Mangagamer's translation into newer version of the first part (And also the second part), and thus the first two parts are redundant even with the new version and translation (Lemnisca is responsible for the retranslation work) on top made it available on Steam. If anything else, at least it mean that they have the license for the long awaited third part, so you can just wait for it to be released. Speaking of release, Shiravune already have the exact release date for the first part, and it'll be on July 28th later. They'll also release Nukitashi on 23rd and Dungeon Travelers 2 duology on Friday later.
Other than Kara no Shoujo trilogy, they also have White Album, as if the first White Album that has no relation with WA2 (If I remember right, WA2 only has mention the first WA heroines in the beginning), and for the info they'll release PS3 backport version which as we know has no sex scenes. For the premise, it's about our MC Touya who's been in relationship with the upstart idol Morikawa Yuki, although thanks to her popularity their relationship has been pulled apart, so Touya need to be either tried his best to maintain their relationship or perhaps find someone else. It should be mentioned that while it eventually spawn the well received WA2 and it also has love triangle story, it won't be as dramatic as WA2. There's still no plan on when Shiravune release WA, although looking at the Steam store it'll be on Q3 of this year (ie between July to September). I also know that WA has fan translation project, so I'll just wait and see for both.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
PS - Since we have Kara no Shoujo trilogy announcements with the direct translation of it is 'Girl in the Sell' (By the way Shiravune localize the title as 'The Shell' which to say is very generic) and White Album announcement, I make the parody of Kara no Shoujo translated title with I change 'Girl' into 'Star' (Because WA has idol and the most well known idol anime is Oshi no Ko with the title can be translated as 'My Star'), so we have 'Star in the Shell' as the title.
Since we have someone say that Aoishiro is like 'Dark Soul of Yuri' (Thanks to a huge number of choices) along with Spiral Dystopia release, I did make a parody of a very well known newer game from Dark Soul developer, Elden Ring, with I change the 'Ring' into 'Book' (Because Spiral Dystopia plot is started thanks to the MC hold the mysterious book), so we have 'Elden Book' as the title. Anyway for this week, we have a number of releases, with the most notable one are Akai Ito and Aoishiro releases, although compared to the last week there's no much new title announcements. Overall, I guess we can say this week here is yet another average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
We have Akai Ito and Aoishiro release for Steam and Switch version, and as you know it's GL VN duology with very good graphic, which to say is still looking good even now regardless the problem that popped up in the Steam version. For both VNs, in both we have a girl who have come to the location that happen to have some problem with supernatural, and said supernatural event is meant life or death with the MC need some help from the heroines who have some experiences in dealing with those. The difference is that Akai Ito MC Kei is only a normal teenage girl and thus have no experience in fighting, while Aoishiro MC Shouko is kendo club captain so at least she has experience in fighting. While Aoishiro release is technically redundant because we have the translation for it since 2009, at least in this release we have the interface of this being translated on top have it's HDD size reduced. Go get both VN if you've been waiting for it, and have fun.
Frontwing released 2nd work of Milk Factory, and let's just say that you may as well play this for the arts with the heroines are keep constantly suffer back pain because of their big breast, although of course it's okay if you want to just skip it. Frontwing also has announced that they'll localize Grisaia Chronos Rebellion in which if we remember it's their now defunct mobage with the PC version apparently only have the story, and I can only comment that Frontwing surely like to milk Grisaia until it's milk is dried out thanks to the constant milking.
Unfortunately Sugar Sweet Temptation release is delayed again, and the reason is apparently they still not finished with the build or something like that. Kagura Games did release Spiral Dystopia back on 26th, and from a first glace it seems to have some nice production value, although turned out that it's a game with some controversial sex scenes. That said, it still has some interesting story (Being chuunige and all) if you can see past that, courtesy of TORI who as we know is the former Rance series writer. Go get Spiral Dystopia if you've been keeping the eyes on it, and have fun. We also have another route for Obedient Women being translated (Now we have 10 stories of it in English), and the new translated route is about Ria Naeho who is not satisfying with her new marriage because she like to have variety in sex (Being young and all), so obviously she seeks that to the man who is not her husband that happen to be in her house.
For fan translation update, first of all we have Senmomo is fully translated with the next step is they'll do a lot of works (Including QA) before finally release it with the target is hopefully in this year. Other than Senmomo fully edited, we also have ChuSingura is past a quarter (25.65%) translated, H2O is at 64.2% edited, AND Akagoei FD is at 43.68% edited along with past a quarter (25.29%) in QA. That's all for fan translation updates in this week.
Turned out that Shiravune did have yet another project, and said project is One Remake that Nexton create as it's 30th anniversary product. For the reminder One is the work of Jun Maeda before he formed KEY, so naturally there'll be some nakige element in one along with supernatural story. For the remake, there'll be no sex scenes in there so you better not expect it, and if you've been desperate for sex scenes you can read it in old version that has been translated anyway. For the art, I can say that the coloring staff really now on how to make Hinoue Itaru art looking good, so at least her art in One Remake looks better compared to the art in Koropokkur. Oh yes, we already have the exact release date, and it'll be on December 22nd later with the release is also simultaneous release with Japanese version.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. For the title, because we have Hanako as the heroine in Tamayura Mirai, I made a parody of a manga which also has Hanako (Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun) with I change 'Shounen' into 'Shoujo' and 'Hanako-kun' into 'Hanako-san', so we have 'Jibaku Shoujo Hanako-san'. For the info, Hanako here is the urban legend in Japan about the spirit of young girl haunts the school toilet (The article from Wikipedia). As for this week, obviously the biggest release here is Tamayura Mirai, and other than that we have Frontwing announced the exact release date for Milk Factory 2nd VN (On 25th later). Like last week, this week we also have several updates from fan translation along with one release, although said release is more or less an unknown VN. This week here can be said as more or less slightly above average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
The release from fan translation is a VN called Kimi ga Daichi ni Kaeru made, in that once again to be blunt is not exactly my favorite here, but of course some people may think otherwise and find themselves like it, so feel free to get the translation patch if you're curious and have fun. For fan translation updates, we have H2O is at 56.7% edited, ChuSingura is at 23.36% translated, Yosuga no Sora is at 56% edited, Tsuma Netori is at 10% edited, Koiyasumi is at 52.98% edited, and Akagoei FD is at 39.08% edited along with 21.84% QA-ed. Lastly, we have Walkure Romanze update with the translator fully translate Noel's route, which in turn obviously mean Walkure Romanze is fully translated. That said, we still have some waiting before Noel's patch release, because the translator want to do a lot of extra editing and QA in order to make sure that the best possible release.
The biggest release for this week is obviously Tamayura Mirai, which if we follow the news closely was actually been delayed from the initial release plan on last April 21st. As for the VN itself, it's created by DMM child company Azurite, which is only natural that Shiravune as another DMM child company got to license this (Then again, we have Nekonyan licensed another Azurite VN Shinsou Noise after a hard battle). For the VN premise itself, we have our MC who is a sorcerer in a backwater village. The sorcerer's task itself is less fighting against evil using his magic skill and more to mediate the possible conflict between human and spirit, which is what the MC will be done in the VN, including having the relationship with two non-human heroines (The aforementioned Hanako and the succubus Midari). Go get Tamayura Mirai if you've been waiting for it ever since Shiravune announce it, and have fun.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and sorry for being quite short here. See you next week.
Because we have both of Lorena and the Land of Ruins (Controversial) update along with Shiravune announced Dungeon Travelers 2 PC version, I decided to change the word 'Dungeon' with 'Ruin' so we have 'Ruin Travelers 2' as the title (I know that the title is quite plain). Also yes, I know both are not VN, but may as well write about those two in here. Anyway, to be honest I'm about to call this week as a plain one, but thanks to both Shiravune and Nekonyan suddenly give the announcements, I manage to find this week become interesting, although it only apply to the announcements though. That said if you want interesting release, then there's Tsui no Stella leak. Overall, this week is an almost interesting one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Nekonyan announced that there won't be sex scenes in Lorena, and the reasons is because the developer decided to do away with 18+ game and go all age. What I can say is that it definitely resemble several companies who goes all age (ie Laplacian, Pulltop, Harukaze), but unlike those companies in which they decided to remove all of the written sex scenes, Lorena only has MP4 sex scenes video with the sex scenes are only encountered when Lorena lost. While obviously removed content is always sensitive matter, in the end I didn't care much of it when it come to Lorena. Anyway to dilute the censorship controversy here, I should also mention that Nekonyan manage to get Steam store page for Klutzy Cupid was opened (Link to the store page), and they said that it's the fastest wait because they only need for two days to be approved. For the comparison, it could took weeks for games to be approved, so good for them.
Shiravune announced the Dungeon Travelers 2 for PC version, and for the bonus they also announced 2-2 as well. For the premise, it's about the MC Fred who is an adventurers that was dispatched into combating the monster uprising, and for some reasons the monsters are cute girls. Well, Aquaplus is used to be develop several VNs, so it's normal to be like that, especially with the first Dungeon Travelers is a what-if for To Hearts 2 casts when they're in RPG setting. For 2-2, apparently it's more or less the same, expect that it took time after the MC failed to do the quest and lost the battle. It also has controversy, namely that Steam rejected the game. Oh yes, it also has PSV version that was released by Atlus, although it's been censored for the obvious reasons and they didn't localize 2-2.
We have another route for Obedient Women released, and with that it bring nine routes of it all translated. By the way the newest route is about Nagasaki Kotomi, who from what I see is more or less about a married landowner daughter who didn't happy with her arranged marriage had sex with another man, and obviously it lead the wife to have affair. Sugar Sweet Temptation release was delayed to 26th, so obviously we didn't have April release anymore. Speaking of release date, there are four otome VNs release announcements with three of those are from Aksys. For the detail, we'll going to have Charade Maniacs released on June 27th, Jack Jeanne on June 15th, Radiant Tale on July 27th, and Norn9 fandisc on August 24th. Feel free to note the date if you've been waiting for those four otome VNs releases.
From fan translation, we have Shin Koihime Musou is at 65% edited, Yosuga no Sora is at 71% TLC-ed along with 55% edited, Haruka na Sora is at 70% translated and TLC-ed along with 26% edited, Koiyasumi is at 45.91% edited, H2O is at 46.8% edited, Tsuma Netori is at 35% edited, and ChuSingura is at 21.34% translated. Once again if you want interesting release, then there's Tsui no Stella full translation patch leak (Because it was released without permission from the rest of the group), although said patch was pulled out quickly because the editing of it is still not completed with the progress is currently at 20% edited. That said if you can't wait for the official release of Tsui no Stella, then feel free to try the patch. Almost forgot to mention that we have Aojashin restoration patch progress, and the newest patch has 13 out of 17 sex scenes translated.
Other than Dungeon Traveler 2, Shiravune had yet another surprise announcement. Said announcement is Nukitashi, in which if we know is one of VN that Sol Press failed to release. The premise of it is still the same with our MC (Junnosuke) who chose to protect his virginity for his true love thrown into the island where have sex is a necessity, and he decided to organize the rebellion because he didn't like the rules. Also it's use the translation that Ittaku has been working on back when Sol Press still being active to translating VNs, so currently it's been fully translated and edited with the last progress is in QA work. Obviously it mean that it's almost ready for the release, and it'll be available in this year on both Steam (With the contents are apparently only 2 hours for the obvious reason) and Johren.
Last but not the least, Nekonyan announce an unexpected title, although it should be mentioned that it's very unexpected only to anyone else who never following VNs news in the first place. Yes, that title is Tenshi Reboot, and Nekonyan basically already indirectly confirmed that they'll localized the newest Yuzusoft VN through several tweets (They mentioned that they translated the 4-koma video and the info of it on VNDB are pulled from their tweets). That said, it's still surprising that they announced it as soon as Japanese version was released back on April 28th. For the premise, it's about our MC Riku who got visited by the angel Noa (One of the heroine), and then Noa reveal that Riku is actually the reincarnation of the Demon King with Noa was tasked to protect Riku. We already have some progress on this, and right now it's been at 10% translated.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review. As for the title, because we have ChuSingura Chapter 1 patch released along with Sorcerer's choice, I did change the word 'Chusingura' from Chapter 1 title of ChuSingura (Kanadehon Chusingura) to 'Mahoutsukai' from Sorcerer's Choice Japanese title, so we have 'Kanadehon Mahoutsukai'. For this week, other than the release for both of ChuSingura Chapter 1 and Sorcerer's Choice, we also have the other releases, although those are just nukige. We also once again have Frontwing announce the plan to release Sharin, but we still don't know if they can fulfill it or not for certain. Overall, at least this week is slightly more interesting compared to the last week, although in the end it's another below average one, so let's see what I can write in regard of it.
Frontwing did announce that they'll release Sharin in August later, and they'll release the different version with the different resolution (All age version with 16:9 resolution, 18+ version with 4:3). The reason is simply that they only have 16:9 assets for all age version, so they decided to just release it as soon as possible. Also yes as you can see it mean that Frontwing failed to do the ability to change the resolution within the game that they promised earlier, although to be frank it's more or less a colossal waste of time seeing that I didn't see the VN that allow the player to change the resolution (I may be wrong on this). That said, even with I said that what Frontwing did is 'colossal waste of time', at least we should give them a point trying to do it so that the player can enjoy the CG in both resolutions. All in all, let's see if Frontwing will manage to finally release it in August later or not.
Cherry Kiss released their nukige called Virgin Knight is my Onahole Tonight, and from what I understand it's about a male vice commander who is born from royal family cover the mistake for his female junior, with said junior is the girlfriend of his female commander. After the incident, the male MC started to teach his commander on how to have sex with male, and turning the commander into masochist while at it. We also have Shiravune released Hypno-Mart nukige, and once again the premise is about a convenience store manager who have enough of a naughty female part time worker give a lot of correction to the worker (Obviously involving hypnotism and a lot of sex). Go get either nukige (Or maybe both of those) if you want, and have fun.
Both JAST and Mangagamer released their BL VN, and I can only say that at least it has interesting dark premise. For Mangagamer release (Lkyt), it's about the struggle in a world where demon keep invading humanity, and humanity was only left with a very small part of the world, so yeah it's more or less like Attack of Titan which in turn was inspired by Muv Luv Alternative. For JAST release (The aforementioned Sorcerer's Choice), it's about a sorcerer who need to quickly decide his life choice after his family was attacked by a violent mob, and said choice is whether he'll either chose light or dark. Go get either BL VNs if you interested with those, and have fun.
From fan translation, we have Yosuga no Sora is at 70% TLC-ed along with 53% edited, Ciel's route of Tsukihime Remake has been fully edited up to Day 13, and Tsuma Netori is at 30% translated. Lastly we have the patch that translate Chapter 1 of ChuSingura, and the patch here is obviously translate 20.99% of it. For the reminder, while we already have the translated ChuSingura way back in 2016 on Steam, it should be noted that it has some mistranslation on top that it cut the sex scenes along with several other scenes. While I can see on why the publisher cut several contents, it's still too bad that there's no translated version of the removed contents, until now at least. Obviously the patch is still far from complete, seeing that there's still four chapters remain untranslated, but at least now you can have the translation for the uncensored Chapter 1. Oh yes, you can get the patch in this link, although it didn't compatible with Steam version.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and for this week title because we have Process of Elimination release with a group of detective called Detective Alliance fighting against serial killer, I decided to make a parody from usual title in Kindaichi (And sometimes Conan), so we have 'Detective Alliance Murder Case' as the title. As for this week, honestly speaking it's kind of plain after both of Kunado and Ars Magna release, but on the other hand at least we finally got the release date for Sugar Sweet Temptation along with Sekai gave us some updates. Overall, this week is a below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it.
For Process of Elimination, the premise is like what I said above with a group of detectives gather in order to fight a serial killer who already killed 100 people called Quartering Duke. Obviously like in any detective story, nothing as easy as it goes, especially with the elusive killer already mingled with the detectives and decided to challange them with Danganronpa like game. So the chaotic situation ensues with some detectives was enticed by the killer challange and then killed the fellow detective, with all hope to put the chaos to the rest by unmasking Quartering Duke is left to the MC Wato who got called as Incompetent Detective. Go get Process of Elimination if you've been interested with it along with have console (NISA didn't release Steam version of this), and have fun.
Cherry Kiss announced a nukige with the premise the MC is the subordinate of a female knight, and they'll release the nukige on 21st later. Speaking of nukige, Fakku released the nukige that have both of kitsune and tanuki, and I have no much to say other than it should be a nice release if you want to see a lot of sex scenes featuring kitsune and tanuki. Shiravune announced a nukige with title Hypno-Mart that they'll release in 25th later, and it featuring the MC doing a lot of correction toward the naughty gyaru who work part time as cashier in a convinient store. Love Lab finally announced the exact release date for Sugar Sweet Temptation, and the said exact release date will be on 28th later, so you may note the date if you've been waiting for it.
As for the most recent Sekai updates, we have Chiisana Kanojo is at halfway translated along with 20% edited, Hoshizora Kakaru Hashi is at 10% translated, and Sheol is fully translated. There's also the update in regard of engine work for two of their projects, in which we have Imouto no Seiiki engine work is 80% done and Harumade Kururu engine work is 60% done. While it's obvious that Sekai want to work on Imouto no Seiiki engine as soon as possible, it's kind of interesting to see that there's some significant progress with Harumade Kururu engine work, so hopefully it mean that we finally can have it released in the near future.
From fan translation, we have H2O is at 44% edited, Tsuma Netori is at a quarter edited, and Koiyasumi is fully edited along with 34.62% edited. There's also White Album update with it is at 17.48% translated, with the most important thing to note is Yuki's route is fully translated and the translator will work on Rina's route as the next route to be transated.
That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.
PS - I know there's some Sharin update from Frontwing today, but I decided to save the talk about it for my next VNTS Review.
