Tyr

Erewhon is a full nukige. There is literally nothing to it but (good) hentai scenes. Minikui Mojika no Ko is in all essence the real "Clockup" eroge this month. It's not a kamige but it's still good and has many interesting themes and scenes that make it worthwhile.

No you can't. "Auto Suppress Repetition" is not for suppressing endless loops. It's for repetition of single characters. In fact, you should never check this option because it's unreliable and there are better ways to clean single character repetition. For endless loop repetition, you have to use a text hooker who can do that. However, the hook in question (mono_string_to_UTF8) is a VNR-exclusive hook. That means, only VNR and ITHVNR have it. Since ITHVNR cannot suppress endless loops, simply hook the game with the original VNR and activate the endless loop suppression in the hook settings. That will solve the problem. You can't. The activated hooks will always spawn every thread they are using. Use another subcontext. You can't do that easily with ITHVNR though since the developer of ITHVNR decided to remove all options for manipulating hooks that were in the original ITH because most people wouldn't know how to use them anyway.

Don't think that you can just use ITHVNR for every game now. I still use ITH mainly because it has more Windows API hooks that are necessary for older games or certain emulators, does not have outdated engine hooks that will crash your game and the debug options are life saviors when something does not work correctly and you have to manually fix it. However, it is true that ITHVNR has better compatibility with newer games. That's why most people use it. Just keep in mind that ITHVNR is not the end it all solution. In my personal experience, two out of three times when people asked me to help them with their hooking problems, the problem was that they didn't use ITH but ITHVNR.

I completed the game yesterday and gave it a 9.7/10. It's a masterpiece. Even if it's not to one's liking, I can't see how it can be in any way mediocre. The way the story is told, characters are developed and the gameplay is implemented is so unique, I have never seen anything like this in any other eroge I played. And I doubt I will.

This is a common trope in scifi novels. It's not like Kanno invented this theory. He simply used this as a means to make the story look more complex than it actually is by explaining pointless backstory in the end. Which is a practice that was common back then. Elle, which was also published by elf a few years earlier, also used an elaborate scifi infodump in its epilogue to make the game appear more complex and meaningful than it actually was. Incidentally, both games take place in a seemingly normal town where you spend most of the time trying to bed waifus while some mystery is going on in the background and at the end of the game you have a long epilogue that tries to explain everything with science fiction twists. I don't see how YU-NO is anything special. I don't think science fiction visual novel writers only played this one eroge. That's like saying Ever 17 was influenced by Elle because both games' twists are based on a misconception of when the story actually takes place. Instead of the more plausible explanation that these tropes are simply popular concepts scifi writers like to use. And were already using for decades in literature and cinema.

Being popular does not matter in any way if you want to make an interesting statement about a genre or medium. Popularity does not say anything about a work itself, just about the time and environment it was released in, and even then you can't really make educated guesses about the reasons for its popularity because it's hard to find trustworthy sources when everyone tries to infer success from quality post hoc. Popularity is poison for historic research because it's a catalyst for muddling the truth, especially if it is a field like video games where history is written by non-academics who write misinformed blog posts which later become sources for even more misinformed articles. This thread is a good example for this: I can name you a dozen pre-YU-NO VNs that influenced each other, formed the multiple route mystery genre and were the inspiration for YU-NO. But nobody cares about them, right? Because YU-NO is the one everybody remembers talks about. And because it is the only eroge from that era people even know, they are very quick to make outrageous statements to explain why it is the one that is still talked about today. Like the first reply in this thread ("YU-NO also created the Multiple Route Mystery genre") which is hilariously wrong since we talk about one of the last games of an era that was the golden age of mystery adventures where nearly every VN that wasn't a linear mystery adventure was a multiple route mystery adventure. How is it even possible to make such a grave mistake? Well, the poster probably read this false statement somewhere on the Internet where a number of misinformative reviews and comments about YU-NO exist, written by people who don't know anything about the time and context YU-NO was released in but want to make explanations why it's such a good game and why it's still talked about today. However, this is all baseless conjecture, essentially historical revisionism. I didn't say that popularity can't be an interesting topic to explore. But that wasn't what I was talking about. What I wrote in my last comment was that none of the aforementioned VNs are innovative. Their popularity can't be explained solely by their content since VNs like these already existed for years. OP asked for VNs that were important. However, being popular does not make something important (though it certainly can be both). But we should refrain from inferring importance from popularity. I'm not sure what you mean exactly. You are probably referring to me saying YU-NO is not particularly innovative, aren't you? As far as I see it, YU-NO implements two concepts; multi-branched intersecting routes in the first part and an isekai world in the second part. Both are things you can already see in Kanno Hiroyuki's earlier works and are not that uncommon in other vns from that time either. (I don't want to make a statement what was the "first", I don't believe I have the knowledge to do that.) However, it's not like the different routes are interfering with each other story-wise. As far as I remember it's nothing more than taking an item from one route to use it in another. The links between the second and first part of the game are not that different from what you can see in a time travel story. The multiverse stuff that comes up at the end of the story is not really more than background information and not part of the actual story while there are also a multitude of other VNs implementing some kind of space/time cop trope. The reason I said it's not that innovative is because I don't think YU-NO does anything "new". What it does however is taking every trope that was already there and blends it together in one big epos. I think the reason YU-NO is remembered today is that it's the culmination of everything Kanno did so far and he never really tried to surpass it afterwards. However, if we are looking outside of Kanno's oeuvre, we can find many other VNs that explored and expanded on the genre in a similar or even different fashion. If you mean multiverse theories as in "multiple routes that connect with each other" like in Higurashi, for example D.O.'s Zatsuon Ryouiki has a multiple route mystery where the protagonist can remember stuff from other routes. A few years after YU-NO, elf released Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku 2 which is based on the flowchart and multiple route mystery concept introduced in YU-NO but expands on it and tells a story where visiting multiple routes is essential for the protagonist and the reader and everything is deeply connected with each other and not just an alternative reality on its own. As far as I see it, YU-NO is an important link in the evolution of the genre, but I don't think it's a beginning or an end.

If I have learned anything from having played over a thousand VNs from the 80s till today, it's that pretty much everything that is written on the Internet about the history of VNs is wrong, even the articles written by Japanese people. For example, there is nothing particular innovative about Kanon, YU-NO, To heart or Higurashi. The only reason that these novels are always mentioned in the context of "being the first of something" is that they are popular. And because people like to simplify everything and want their favorite VNs to be very special, they are very quick to give out awards based on their feeling of "this must be something special because I haven't seen anything else like this" even thought these people don't have the expertise to be able to make these kinds of statements. This is especially dangerous with the younger generation which likes to generalize about the past since social media encourages them to enter discussions about their hobbies, but are too lazy and ignorant to actually do the research. And because people nowadays don't want to read articles and news based on truths but rather want to read something that simply confirms their narrow worldview, these lies and made-up facts are quickly going viral. And if everyone says it, it must be true. History is written by the popular VNs. Just as it is with anime, video games, movies, books etc.

Maeda didn't draw hentai mangas initially. His intent was not to draw intercourse. Look how he phrased his explanation: That is clearly not meant in the context of porn since, well, explicit sex is the whole reason for its existence. He talks about exploring the boundaries of non-porn mangas with softcore elements. In this context, a tentacle monster is of course not as sexual as a naked man. And provides more opportunities for drawing stimulating situations without using an actual sexual context. Remember that "tentacle rape" was invented for the anime adaptation of his work, it wasn't his intention in the beginning to go this route. A quote from Wikipedia: Also, when he speaks of censorship, he doesn't mean mosaics, he really means what is allowed to be published (in a non-porn magazine) and what not. If you apply his reasoning to actual hentai anime, the genre of tentacle porn and the fascination with tentacles (Maeda even admits in your quote, that he was probably subconsciously influenced by ukiyo-e), you're using it out of context.

That is an Internet myth that became popular because it provides simple answers for something most people can't understand, but it is actually not true. Censorship was very lax in the 80s. The reason for this is that home video anime was still a new medium and hentai as a genre wasn't yet as pornographic as it is today, so the creators didn't know yet how they should apply these censorship laws that initially were invented for 3DPD porn. Tentacles back then were uncensored, but so were also vulvas and other things without a pornographic context. That changed a few years later when hentai became mainstream and censorship was enforced vehemently. Not only needed human genitals to be censored, vaginal and phallic objects, like tentacles, had to be censored too. Tentacles being a workaround for censorship laws is therefore nonsensical. There were no need and when the need arose, tentacles too were victims of it. Also, littleshogun already provided a source showing that tentacles were part of Japanese erotography for a long time already, so tentacles becoming a "thing" in the 80s couldn't have been true anyway. That was for aesthetic reasons since mosaics are ugly. For some reasons the perception of this changed in the later 90s, but that has nothing to do with censorship either.

Here is the correct viewing order: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai Prologue Movie. Introduces main characters and setting. After watching this, you will know if you want to spend the next weeks watching 110 episodes of this stuff. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Aratanaru Tatakai no Overture This movie is a compilation of the first four episodes of the series. I recommend watching this instead of the first four episodes since it's better in every regard, better animation and new scenes make for a quite cinematic viewing experience. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (110 episodes OVA) You can skip the first four episodes if you watched Overture, but they are not completely redundant since there are some scenes which were not included in the movie. The first season (first 26 episodes) is by far the best, the second season is still good (till episode 52) but I was honestly disappointed by the rest. Your mileage may vary. However, it's still a masterpiece and a must watch for every fan of Japanese animation. Optional: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden Two seasons of side stories taking place chronological before even the first movie. You can watch the different arcs in any order you want, but I highly recommend you watch the majority of them during the first 26 episodes of the main series. It's the point in the series where these side stories are the most relevant and they might not get to you as much emotionally if you watch them much later or after you finished the main series.

I really like that you include PS1 visual novels. That's a pretty obscure part of the vn history.

Sad to see no Ushinawareta Rakuen on your list. It's my favorite PC98 game and I really think it's an overlooked gem of its time. I never gave the Yuujuu Senki series a chance because I didn't like the English Windows remake. Maybe I really should check it out again if the later parts are so much better.

I like the evolution the Custom Mate series had. I'm not really a fan of "customizing" your waifu, but it seemed to me this series is more about exploring different types of heroines rather than just catering to the whims of the player. Which means the emphasis is more on the personality and less on the visuals... contrary to modern "Custom" heroine games. I played Custom Mate 2 a few days ago and while it is short, repetitive and a little bit nanpa-esque, I did enjoy seeing the same situations with different types of girls. I really want to play Custom Mate 3 someday. Seems to be quite "epic", conceptually.

You open ITH in your virtual box, then you activate "clipboard sharing". TA or whatever you use, which runs on your Host OS, will get everything the ITH in the virtual box captures since it will be shared between Guest OS and Host OS. Simple solution and works flawlessly (as long as you use VirtualBox as your virtual machine). I use VirtualBox for every game prior to Windows 7 and never had a problem with it. It's really the best solution to play older games. I have a WinXP VM for nearly every game and a Japanese Win98SE VM for really, really old games that only work on this OS. You can't use ITH in Win95 or Win98, so if you want to hook them, you have to hook the VM itself. I doubt anyone wants to do it, so I wont go into it here, but it is possible. ^^

Thank you, I'm really glad that you guys like it! I have to disappoint you, it will not be Natsu no Kusari xD (that was what you thought, wasn't it? ) To be honest, I don't like writing about really great games because I always have the feeling that I couldn't do them justice. Or that people think I'm exaggerating when I talk about games I really like and then dismiss my opinion as fanboying. At the moment, my plan is to cover some obscure/good/strange games ranging from 1996 to 2005. I also play games prior to 1996 but I think @kivandopulus already covered them sufficiently. I might write something about Ushinawareta Rakuen because that game is at the moment my favorite PC98 game and definitely needs more love! Of course, if you are interested in what I think about any game I have completed regardless of the release year, you can always request it and I probably write about it next time. I'm probably more motivated when I know that there is some demand, heh. I'm also open for recommendations, I'm always on the search for more hidden gems. If I ever come back to Natsu no Kusari, it will probably be less of a review and more of an analysis. Maybe when I re-read it someday which I will definitely do. Exactly. I think retro games are more diverse and capable of freely expressing whatever the creator intended to do. Nowadays, it's not really possible anymore since the market became so specialized and the expectations of the audience so streamlined that you can't really make something really innovating anymore without risking to lose your fanbase. Your comment made me realize why I thought that Hajimari no Kisetsu feels so realistic. It's probably because none of the characters can be classified as some kind of archetype. I really can't call anyone of them Tsundere or Genki girl or whatever stereotype there is. They all have distinct personalities, but they can't be summarized by tropes. I guess that is also kind of rare in this medium. Keep up the good work, I'm always looking forward to your retro visual novel reviews.

Ah, I have to follow my own content or I don't get notified when new comments were posted I don't think it's a cuck-ge to be honest! One of the reasons I do like Dearest Blue quite a bit is because the protagonist is not a cuck. Not really. He might be a hetare sometimes, but I don't think there is any scene where he actually feels aroused by being NTR'd. Well, of course not, being NTR'd in his case means he lost the game and will die, lol. So the cuck fetish has really no part in this story. Well, I deliberately chose to call this article "MY favorite eroge" so I hope you can excuse my shit taste. The problem isn't really whether I like NTR or not, it's more the fact that I mainly fap to characters, settings and events, and less to simple fetishes. For example, cheap NTR games where the only story is that some bland girl cheats on some bland cuck with a bland stud don't do anything for me. However, if the same story is told with well-developed characters and relationships my D might be exploding. Like with elf's games. I know that this is not the way most NTR fans look at this genre, but it's a very arguable genre anyway, haha. Dearest Blue works for me, because the heroine feels believable, the drama is serious and the raping/cheating makes perfect sense in context. In most other LiLiM games, the purpose of setting, characters and choices is much more obvious thus missing the tension so my D can build its own tension. I'm pretty open to all kind of fetishes, but what I really don't like is bad storytelling. Even in my porn!

This is the first of hopefully many little eroge reviews I decided to write, mostly for older and more obscure games since these are the games I find most interesting and like to talk about. You can use these reviews to find something for you to read (I will try to avoid spoiler as much as possible) but since I know that most people probably aren't interested in actually playing these games and might only be interested in reading about them, I will also add a spoiler section at the end of each review where I talk about the themes and endings of the games in depth and tell you about my personal feelings and impressions that can't be talked about without giving away the meat of the story. Hajimari no Kisetsu ~Izakaya Fuyu Monogatari~ (do not look at the tags or the screenshots on its entry because they are all spoilers) is the second visual novel by R.A.N.Software, a little eroge company which was active in 1997 till 2000 and you probably never have heard of. It's written by someone who never has written any other eroge again (at least not under this pseudonym) and drawn by people who either vanished like the writer or continued to work on eroge but never used the same art style again. All in all, Hajimari no Kisetsu seems like a pretty unique game, so why don't we take the time to look at this strange little eroge in detail? Story: Our nameable protagonist is in his last year of his university life. His girlfriend Kaori already graduated and works now as an office lady for a very big company. Because of her work he doesn't see her as often anymore and when she finds the time to meet with him for a few hours, they don't know what to talk about since their lives are so different now. The protagonist remembers the happy memories he had with her, especially when they went skiing a year ago and to rekindle their love he wants to go with her to the same ski resort again. Protagonist meets Kaori for the first time in a flashback Themes: Eroge are escapism. We all know it. What annoys me, especially with eroge in the last few years, is how safe-spacey they became. If you play a feel-good game, you know you will get feel-good scenes ... and nothing else. Erogamer became fragile and eroge companies know that. Drama in most charage is cheap, light and will be resolved in just a few scenes. We don't want to upset the player, he might even think that being in a relationship is not just fun and happy times! Or worse, he might get the impression that his waifu has other things on her mind than him, maybe even has her own life! And if a writer tries to break out of this limitation, it often seems like trolling and the readers are rightfully angry at the game; having a bittersweet resolution at the end of a route that consisted only of sugar and rainbows is neither appropriate nor meaningful; it's just mean-spirited. But this is also true for different genres; NTR heroines are most of the time unredeemable sluts and you have to wonder why the protagonist married her in the first place. It seems logical that an NTR game consists of only NTR scenes, but without the right buildup and good characterization, it can never be more than simple fetish fuel. And I really have to wonder why Nakige and Utsuge are oftentimes so painfully obvious labeled as such; how can you be emotionally invested when you already know how it ends? Well, the answer to this is probably that people want to get their emotional thrills in a safe environment. Being invested in a relationship with problems is only nice, if you know that the relationship can be saved at the end. If you are invested in this situation and the situation ends badly for the characters involved, you will feel bad yourself and that is not the feeling you wanted to have when you decided to read this story. This leads to a dilemma; do you want to be safe but never really that emotional attached or do you want to experience something surprising and truly thrilling but with the risk that you might get extremely disappointed and depressed by the outcome? The innkeeper knows that the only solution to problems is drowning them in alcohol. Hajimari no Kisetsu is certainly not a safe space. Right from the beginning, you notice that something is wrong. Kaori isn't satisfied with the restaurant you choose for your meeting with her, even though it's the same restaurant where you meet her for the first time. She isn't too thrilled about the idea of drinking beer and would instead rather take a glass of wine. And she also doesn't show much interest in your ordinary life and prefers to talk about her new designer handbag. Where did she even get this thing from? Looks expensive... mhm... Chances are you have experienced this kind of human interaction in your own real life, too. This steady process of people changing and slowly drifting apart. It's irritating, but you can't do anything against it. When the protagonist tries to invoke nostalgia in her, hoping that she shows signs that the old Kaori is still somewhere in her, she reacts coldly. A career woman like her has no interest in the past. Someone here seems a little out of place... Hajimari's greatest achievement is that the game portraits its characters so humanly. Kaori is not a bad woman for having different goals in life than the protagonist. It's also not necessary a bad thing that she changed over time. It's a human thing to do. Maybe it's even the protagonist who stays a child and simply can't keep up with her? ... but also, is it so wrong to not change and being happy with who you are? This winter, our protagonist will find the answers to these questions. He will find out what he wants to do with his life and, even more importantly, what kind of human being he wants to be. Characters: I like the protagonist of this story. He speaks in Kansai-ben which makes the game a little bit harder to read, but really helps to bring the point across that he has more in common with a country bumpkin than a well-spoken member of the high society even though he is by no means stupid. He is not very strong or confident, but also not useless or weak-minded. He is just a normal guy, who wants to do the right thing, but is seldom in the position to actually act on it. In fact, even though he always wants to do something, he rarely is able to actual do anything. Not because the game does not give the player the choice to do, but because it's simply impossible for him. This is not a story, where the protagonist solves every problem the heroine has. This is a story, where the protagonist gives the heroine the strength by being on her side, so she can overcome the problems herself. And to be honest, there are really far too few eroge like this. One of my favorite endings is actually a bad end you can get rather quickly by simply saying "I don't want that, I go home." The protagonist proves his worth by standing up to himself, and even though the bad ending credits roll, the usual bad end BGM is replaced by a more hopeful tune, emphasizing that the protagonist grew up a little and might have a better future in front of him now. Because somehow, this is more important than bedding your waifu. A side-character has to rescue the protagonist who wanted to rescue a woman... Gameplay: Speaking of endings, there are 24 "bad ends" and 4 "good ends". They are all interesting and one of the reasons (the other being spoilers) you shouldn't use a guide (there doesn't exist one anyway) to go straight to one of the good ends. Sadly, there are many choices that are badly designed because there is no indication that some of them are a hard route fork (like "going to the first floor" or "second floor"). But there are also some quite interesting choices which help forming the story in a meaningful way. For example, there is a choice during your already achieved happy end where you can choose between uncovering the secrets of your heroine's past or decide not to do it. You will get your happy end either way, but your choice does make difference in how you approach your eventual relationship with her. When you get a bad end, there is some hint for you telling you what you should have done differently, but it's really not important since in most cases it comes simply down to changing the decision of your last choice. I found everything the game has to offer easily on my own except for one good end which is a little bit non-obvious but makes sense in hindsight. I even had to use the Waybackmachine and read some random Japanese comment on a random Japanese website to get the necessary hint to unlock it. I will not spoil it here, so you can feel the same despair I felt. Choose wisely how to approach her, if at all. Emotional women are dangerous. Hajimari no Kisetsu is not a long game and every route can easily be finished in one reading session. The game tells short, romantic stories. They are a little bit cliché'd, but very nice and well-intentioned. There are scenes that make you feel good and some that make you feel depressed, but there is always a nice balance between the two extremes. And it's well earned. Even if you forget some of the details of the story a few months after you read it, you probably wont forget some of the scenes. At least for me that was the case. I did not regret spending my time with this game. Sound and Art: Let's talk about some technical aspects. This game was released in 1998 and sadly it shows. The biggest misstep is to not have any voices. Especially the kind of seiyuu work of the late 90s would have been perfect for this kind of game. There are many dramatic scenes which would be even better with some passionate dubbing. The soundtrack is very nice. Every character has its own theme, themes have several variations and the melodies are pleasant to listen to. You can choose between CD-Audio and MIDI, but the MIDI version, depending on your MIDI configuration of course, is not much worse. Seems to me the CD-Tracks are simple MIDI recordings. That could have been better. The game has no backlog and no "already read" skip function which is really a problem when you try to find all the different endings. You might think that you are on a known path because you skipped over slight text variations when in fact it's the beginning of a new route. The game has an old school omake room, where you can check CGs, endings and music by talking with the characters. Hentai scenes are short, tastefully written and quite romantic. Aside from the nice story, the art is the best feature of this eroge. Your mileage may vary, but to me it captures perfectly the whimsical, romantic and melancholic mood of the winter days. Sadly the artists never worked on another game, or at least not with this art style. Speaking of the staff, the writer also was never read again. What a shame. This makes this game even more unique though. Heh. Conclusion: Don't get the impression that this game is a masterpiece. It's not. It's just a nice little gem. It's not mind-blowing, but certainly thought-provoking. Not flashy, but pleasant ... except when it isn't. If you are alone on a cold, rainy evening and want to read something appropriate you can immerse yourself in for a short time, this is a good recommendation. This will not be the best thing you've ever read, but it will become a bittersweet memory you'll remember fondly. ... Now onto the spoiler discussion. Read this only if you've played the game or you don't care and just want to know what it's about: Thanks for reading. If you have questions, suggestions or something else on your mind, feel free to comment. The next time, I will talk about the sickest eroge I have ever read and explain why it's not as sick as you expected but far more sick than you thought.

Dungeon of Regalias was imho the best RPG of 2016 and I'm so disappointed there was nothing this year. I'm really surprised how good Astronauts Sirius is with making RPGs when they aren't even a dedicated RPG company like for example Eushully. I played the game on hard and I was surprised how well-balanced and engaging the gameplay is. It felt like every skill was meticulously designed to offer a variety of valid strategies and tactics the player can choose from to overcome the quite difficult challenges (on hard). It's something you can usually only find in hardcore nerdy dungeon crawlers. Of course, the writing is awful, same as literally every other Astronauts Sirius game. I probably won't even bother to look at the new one since it does not have any gameplay which is the only redeeming quality of the company.

No offense, but this is such an arrogant and entitled statement, I have to call you out on it. His intend was never to make a "good" translation of Cross Channel, his only purpose was to write his essay on Cross Channel. Also translating the game was a necessary evil because he needed a quotable source and Ixrec's translation was too liberal. He needed a translation that was very close to the Japanese script, because his thesis was based on nuances not found in Amaterasu's version. Saying he should rather practice writing and translate games instead of writing essays is extremely disrespectful to him and the work he did. Maybe I'm the only one, but I really appreciated his book. It's a very interested read and helped me to like Cross Channel (which I actually don't really like) a little more by offering some new points, ideas and theories I hadn't thought of yet. I might not agree with everything he wrote, but at least he gave us some interesting and original thoughts. That's 100% more than most people in the English VN community can offer (not you Rooke, you write usually very interesting comments) who are ironically the first when it comes to dismissing GHS' work and calling him a troll. Which leads me to: What even is this? This is exactly what it wanted to be; a literal translation of the original prose. You call him out on being too wordy when that was exactly the point of it. When he released his book (and with it his translation of Cross Channel, since the translation is an attachment to the book, not the other way around) he explicitly stated that the translation is not supposed to be a "normal" translation, not supposed to be read the first time you play the game and should only be seen as an accompanying material. A purpose it accomplishes adequately, by the way, and which would not have been possible if he translated it any other way. I know you know that, I know that most people in this thread know that, and still, you guys deliberately choose to ignore this fact just so you can thrash his works and efforts and make him look like an illiterate. I wonder why? What is the reason for being this envious, malicious and toxic? Has anyone of you actually read his book? What do you think of the points he made? Do you want to engage in a discussion about his thesis? ... Of course, you don't. That would take effort and actual thinking. It's much easier to make someone into a meme and criticize him for the things, he never was out do to. In some way GHS is really a troll, but not in the way most people try to depict him. He is the kind of troll who, every time he surfaces, gets people to show their true color, while still providing interesting and thought-provoking material. Just like last month, when he released his (pretty interesting) book and translations of the talestune games, and was again misquoted and badmouthed by people who didn't even read his essay or only skimmed through it to find something they can take out of context and make fun of it. The level of shallowness, pretentiousness and lynch mob mentality in the English VN community is really astonishing. GHS is indeed a troll, the best kind of troll. Not the kind of troll the VN community wants, but the kind it deserves.

I did not tag you. I quoted you. (I don't like this tagging feature. I don't like to get personal.) I used your discussion and its themes (disliking a culture, but enjoying its entertainment) as an entry point for my line of thought. Most of what I said was written in a very generalized way. I did not answer for him. Relating to your discussion, the only thing I stated was that nothing he said can be considered racist as all. Exactly because I'm an unrelated party and impartial, I found it important to say that nothing of what he said was offensive.

If you had read my post you would know it was part of my hypothesis on how the culture of Japan and the differences between it and our western society is linked to why we find Asian and especially Japanese entertainment so interesting; which is directly relevant to the topic of "what do we seek from vns?" and is an original thought of mine I wanted to introduce into this discussion. That is what a forum is for after all. You started this. And I was trying to be polite, it's your passive aggressiveness that made this ugly. And I know for a fact that some people here appreciate my thoughts. Why do you want to censor me? You assume that I assumed what you assumed? That's some inception tier strawmanning right here.

Eh, I was not being his voice. I just stated that he didn't say anything racist at all. I don't need to know him personally to be able to read his posts lol. The assumption that anything he had said could be considered even remotely as racist motivated me enough to give you some of my thoughts regarding this topic. Also, there is no such thing as "cultural racism". That's just a nice term people use as an excuse to label other people who dare to have opinions about other cultures as racists.

You're probably also watching Anime for the PLOT! He's not a racist, he's is a culturist. A racist thinks certain people are inferior for superficial reasons like skin color or the place of birth. A culturist however dislikes certain cultures based on his own morals and values which these cultures don't respect or are working against. Being a culturist is the inevitable conclusion to every human being who has a strong sense of what is right or wrong and does not just blindly accept other ideas and concepts just for the sake of being tolerant when they are (in his opinion) clearly wrong. There is much too dislike about Japan. I could count dozens of things that are (in my opinion) wrong with this country. But this wrongness is also the reason why this country can produce so many stories and other pieces of art that resonate with so many people around the world. I don't want to live in Japan, but I'll gladly take it's products.

Porn obviously. Dis thread is full of hypocrites, lmao.