Formlose Gestalt

I am disappointed that you didn't include the news that Aniplex.EXE blocks European customers. https://forums.fuwanovel.net/topic/22753-new-vn-publisher-aniplexexe-blocks-europe/

Do you have a link to that? I haven't heard about anything new.

Even though there hasn't been a thread here yet I am sure some of you heard about a new collaboration between Aniplex and Frontwing and Liar-soft to release to two new VNs by both companies with worldwide simultaneous releases. These two VNs are ATRI -My Dear Moments- and Adabana Odd Tales, and few hours ago it was revealed that they are planned for a release this June. Their Steam pages are here: ATRI: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1230140/ATRI_My_Dear_Moments/ Adabana Odd Tales: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1094820/Adabana_Odd_Tales/ But if you are from Europe you will notice that you are blocked from viewing the page for Adabana Odd Tales. This has been the case for at least a month as complaints on the Steam forum shows, so it's unlikely that this is just a mistake. It is also noticeable that europeans are also blocked from viewing the official site for ANIPLEX.EXE which can be found here: https://aniplex-exe.com/ Aniplex is mostly known as an Anime licensing company, where it is standard practice to divide the distribution license for different territories like North America and Europe. My speculation is now that this also the case with Adabana Odd Tales, which would be an alarming new development for VN market. So far the publishers for translated VN where a able to sell their english translations around the globe with exception of Japan for the most part. To my knowledge there has never been an translated VN that has been blocked like this before. If this becomes successful and VN licensing is becoming separated for North America and Europe it would be huge step back for the VN industry. Now I will admit that the last part is purely speculation on my part since ANIPLEX.EXE so far hasn't explained why the don't sell Adabana Odd Tales in Europe (but don't block ATRI), but until they clarify this situation I am concerned about this development. Even if you are not specifically interested in those two titles, as I explained above it could have further consequences for the VN industry, so It would be nice if you could spread this information further to raise awareness of the problem. If more people ask https://twitter.com/ANIPLEX_EXE and https://twitter.com/aniplexUSA maybe we could get an explanation.

If the "What types of visual novel would you most like to see more of?" question has more weight and the presented answers are representative of what Mangagamer thinks people want it's a catastrophic outlook for me personally. But what ever. But in the end I couldn't agree more with you on the rest of your post, there are too many factors involved with the licensing process, some of which you already mentioned. One I thing I found interesting is that on the Mangagamer Discord people where encouraged to explain why they want certain titles translated to convince a staff member of that title so that she/he can argue for the title internally. I guess having a staff member that is actually interested in working on a title is actually a factor that shouldn't be underestimated, besides all the business decision going into it. Because for example who ever get's to translate the game in the end has to spend months working on it and staying motivated. In another industry where the pay is better, that could be compensate for that, but in the VN industry is still (at least in part) driven by passion. Besides that I think the license survey is also at least partly a form of community engagement. Sure they get some data and suggestions, but the people also look forward to that and talk about it and Mangagamer as a extension.

I really hope that is not the case, because among the answers for the " What types of visual novel would you most like to see more of? " is not a single answer that I really fit what I want to see, but I already suggested them to introduce more answers. I hope that they look what is being suggested with the titles and try to find titles along those lines if they are unable to license the suggested titles. Edit: I guess you could also refer to the "Which genres of visual novel do you enjoy?" question, which is fine in my book.

I am happy to see DameKoi/The Most forbidden Love in the World coming in second when it comes to Mangagamer sales. As for the survey I would love to see some coordination between chuunige fans to get a title into the results akin to what the Otome and BL fans did last year, but I don't know how it would best to coordinate that, and I guess the readership is a bit more fractured. Having said that I am probably going to vote for my usual choices. 1. Evolimit 2. A liarsoft title (Maybe Alpha Nighthawk or Dungeons & Daimeiwaku) 3. A chuunige that is not from their existing partners (Last year I voted for Bradyon Veda but this year since Lights self publishing ended maybe it would make sense to vote for something like Silverio Vendetta)

Sure at least in the way that DMM operates a big store and Akabeisoft sells there (or is there a deeper connection that I don't know about?), but DMM has the rights to Ryuusei World Actor, so can just decide yeah let's do that without negotiations with another company. Maybe they could have negotiated with Akabeisoft for a western release of Akatsuki no Goei , but in the end it would have been more profitable for them to release one of their own games. But in the end that is all just speculation on my part, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, so I am just making assumptions that I can't really back up. But it would definitely be interesting to know why certain titles get picked, like in this case. It's just that we going to won't know in most cases.

I don't disagree, but as far as I understand ShiraVN is related to DMM and Akatsuki no Goei is not under that umbrella, so I don't know if they had the choice.

There has been no official confirmation, but the game has been found in the Steamdb as Meteor World Actor here. (Including a complete english opening here.) The translation company behind it is most likely ShiraVN (https://twitter.com/shira_vn) since they are partnered with or a part/subsidiary/western publishing arm of DMM. Since the game hasn't been official announced they can't really comment on it, but I would be pretty sure that they are behind it.

Thanks for posting they overview @ChaosRaven! I am personally looking forward to Nukitashi's translation, so seeing Nukitashi 2 win the award is a nice surprise. I don't know how good the sequel/fandisk is but at least it is not a pure moege. Ryuusei World Actor is already completely translated, but has been rejected by Steam twice, so who knows when or if that game comes out in the west. It looks interesting, but word is that this VN has no proper conclusion, which is a thing that I can't stand. Here is @Clephas impression on Ryuusei World Actor: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/blogs/entry/2846-ryuusei-world-actor/ Musicus! and Waka-sama no Zasuru Sekai are the other titles on this list that I am most interested in. Musicus! is supposed to get a translation this year by Mangagamer. Let's hope that happens.

Glad that it worked. Have fun with the VN!

Contacting the mangagamer support is an option. But I can tell you that "The Most Forbidden Love in the World" savegames are under c:/user/(your username)/saved games/manggamer/The Most Forbidden Love in the World c is usually where your operating system is installed but it could be different for you. So you can go there manually deleted your savegames and the game should have a fresh start. If that doesn't work try reinstall it again after deleting the savefiles.

Not that I know, but a good portion of the staff is based in Europe (including both founders) so from what I heard it isn't really feasible to attend US based anime conventions. Maybe they change that in the feature?

Kind of surprised to see Nekonyan drop all the announcements at once, when last year they said to announce titles closer from release and not before they at least are 50% done. Now the lesser hyped titles will have the problem that they fade away into the background by the time they are released. Personally I had hoped for at least one title that isn't a (moe-)charage, so these announcements where not that great for me. But people seem to love them, so that is how it is.

On the Muv-Luv Kickstarter they posted an survey what people want to see next from âge! Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/muvluv/muv-luv-a-pretty-sweet-visual-novel-series/posts/2739853 Survey: https://forms.gle/NE3hnyxp9YWMygk1A They ask explicitly " Which among our game titles are you looking forward to the most to be localized in English* next?" The offer the choice between Schwarzesmarken, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After, Muv-Luv Alternative - Total Eclipse or another work of your choice. So what should we rally behind?