Formlose Gestalt

Since I started this topic last year, I thought should share the latest tweet from Light's twitter account.
https://twitter.com/light_staff_tw/status/1353504981836414976
 
So they get asked about a Silverio translation again and responded with "no plans at this time" and honestly it doesn't look like the chances have improved. But that didn't stop someone from creating a petition to show support for Silverio so have a look here:
https://www.change.org/p/light-silverio-franchise-localization
Also consider responding to the tweet if you are interested in SIlverio.

Good morning everybody,
Tonight I'm planning on finishing the update process for the forums (including all themes) as well as finalizing some back-end sharing necessary for Emi to take over my admin duties. I'm still alive and around, paying for the site (etc.), but enough is enough and this is what needs to happen. 
I'll post later today with more definite hours/timezones for the update, and will hop on Discord closer to the appointed FuwApocalypse hour.
Much < 3,
Tay

The release date for official release of Majikoi by JAST has been announced and it is tomorrow December 25th!
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1341026098662891523
 
You can buy the game here:
https://jastusa.com/majikoi-love-me-seriously
Those that have preordered the physical edition will get digital keys so that they can play on release while the physical shipment is being handled.
 
Unfortunately due to licensing issues the English release won't contain the full voice cast of the Japanese release, but the main characters are all still voiced. You can read more about this in this blog post:
Blog post is NFSW!
https://blog.jlist.com/featured/official-jast-usa-post-about-majikoi/
 
But there are already rumors that the community is working to fan patch the missing voices into this release so maybe it won't be an issue for long.

The release date for official release of Majikoi by JAST has been announced and it is tomorrow December 25th!
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1341026098662891523
 
You can buy the game here:
https://jastusa.com/majikoi-love-me-seriously
Those that have preordered the physical edition will get digital keys so that they can play on release while the physical shipment is being handled.
 
Unfortunately due to licensing issues the English release won't contain the full voice cast of the Japanese release, but the main characters are all still voiced. You can read more about this in this blog post:
Blog post is NFSW!
https://blog.jlist.com/featured/official-jast-usa-post-about-majikoi/
 
But there are already rumors that the community is working to fan patch the missing voices into this release so maybe it won't be an issue for long.

The release date for official release of Majikoi by JAST has been announced and it is tomorrow December 25th!
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1341026098662891523
 
You can buy the game here:
https://jastusa.com/majikoi-love-me-seriously
Those that have preordered the physical edition will get digital keys so that they can play on release while the physical shipment is being handled.
 
Unfortunately due to licensing issues the English release won't contain the full voice cast of the Japanese release, but the main characters are all still voiced. You can read more about this in this blog post:
Blog post is NFSW!
https://blog.jlist.com/featured/official-jast-usa-post-about-majikoi/
 
But there are already rumors that the community is working to fan patch the missing voices into this release so maybe it won't be an issue for long.

The release date for official release of Majikoi by JAST has been announced and it is tomorrow December 25th!
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1341026098662891523
 
You can buy the game here:
https://jastusa.com/majikoi-love-me-seriously
Those that have preordered the physical edition will get digital keys so that they can play on release while the physical shipment is being handled.
 
Unfortunately due to licensing issues the English release won't contain the full voice cast of the Japanese release, but the main characters are all still voiced. You can read more about this in this blog post:
Blog post is NFSW!
https://blog.jlist.com/featured/official-jast-usa-post-about-majikoi/
 
But there are already rumors that the community is working to fan patch the missing voices into this release so maybe it won't be an issue for long.

For the past few months, I've been tinkering with the idea of translating one of my favourite games, Axanael. While you may have heard of it if you were looking
to learn Japanese through Visual Novels, it's considered a relatively more obscure title from Nitroplus' catalogue. It's not a particularly highly praised game, and
it didn't even sell well as far as I know. Nitroplus themselves seem to prefer forgetting it, not bothering to give it any sort of digital release. It's a niche game for a
niche crowd, one that I suspect doesn't totally overlap with a fair bit of people expecting a certain type of narrative from Visual Novels. It's not particularly likely to
get a localization from JAST over any other, more popular, more highly received Nitroplus game, especially when it contains numerous references to Sumaga, a
title that's been in localization hell for the past decade. 

So about a month ago, I said "Fuck it, if no one else will do it, I will", and began translating the demo by myself. I love Axanael, it's a game that inspired me greatly
ever since I first played it and the kind of thing that made me fall in love with Otaku media in the first place. Its issues don't matter to me whatsoever in comparison
of things in it that make me love it, so I wanna do the best I can to bring it to more people I think could genuinely enjoy it. The problem is that I'm only one girl. One
girl who's still a relative amateur in comparison to professionals who could do a much better job than me. Also, doing everything yourself on a game like this is uh, really
hard, and includes skills I can't even pretend I know much about. I'm sure this will be visible in this demo release. But that's exactly why I made it.

This release is rough, I've had to do all the translation work myself, so there's definitely stuff to be improved on. I know basically nothing about coding, so the typesetting
and menus totally suck. I don't really like image editing, so I pushed a lot of that onto my friends (Thanks guys), who themselves can't do any of the more complicated
stuff that's in this demo and the final game. I want to do this game justice, and I know I can't do that alone. So I made this demo release to hopefully get some people
talking, get the word doing, and show them how devoted I am to seeing this through. If you see potential in this, enjoy any part of it or think you can improve on it, then
I hope you reach out to me and help make the full release a reality.

DOWNLOAD:

Google Drive

 Credits:
Contact Info:
If you don't think you can apply into any of these roles, but still want to help, please spread word of this demo around! I want anyone who
could possibly help with it to know. I'll be maintaining the patch for the next week for any big issues with it that I can fix (Mostly typos
or big mistranslations that slipped under my nose), but after that I'll be done in order to scout people for the full project.

Thank you for reading all of this. I hope you have a good day and enjoy the demo. Oh, and early happy new year, I guess!

Amano Pikamee is a female Japanese Virtual YouTuber under VOMS Project.
Pikamee is very energetic and often laughing at the smallest things. Despite this, she is very reserved and shy in real life. She frequently jokes about having "no friends," although she also occasionally recounts stories involving her friends, she even invited Agomy (her only otaku friend) to the stream on June 16 2020.
She is known to use Japanese phrases like "sousousou" and "dakara," even when speaking English.
Her usual greeting is "Ohao!" and her sendoff is "Otsupika!" (a combination of "otsukare," meaning "thanks for coming," and "Pikamee").
YouTube | VTuber Wiki

So while the situation on Steam never changed (Adabana Odd Tales is still blocked in most of Europe) Aniplex has now decided to put their games on the JAST USA store that of course has no block for European customers.
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1329848103952818177
In other words anyone from Europe can now officially buy Adabana Odd Tales if they want!
 
I am not going to lie I have no idea what their problem on Steam is, since my theory that they don't have the license for Europe is now invalid, but that's good news. If they continue to put their games on the JAST store I wouldn't even mind if they translate more games, where before I would have hated if they published more games.
ATRI -My Dear Moments- is of course also avaible on JAST.
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1329847238856642562

ATRI -My Dear Moments- is now also avaible on the JAST Store.
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1329847238856642562
The same is true for Adabana Odd Tales which is important in that now European customers can buy the title for the first time.
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1329848103952818177

So while the situation on Steam never changed (Adabana Odd Tales is still blocked in most of Europe) Aniplex has now decided to put their games on the JAST USA store that of course has no block for European customers.
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1329848103952818177
In other words anyone from Europe can now officially buy Adabana Odd Tales if they want!
 
I am not going to lie I have no idea what their problem on Steam is, since my theory that they don't have the license for Europe is now invalid, but that's good news. If they continue to put their games on the JAST store I wouldn't even mind if they translate more games, where before I would have hated if they published more games.
ATRI -My Dear Moments- is of course also avaible on JAST.
https://twitter.com/jastusa/status/1329847238856642562

Here is a list of translated Nitroplus titles:
Phantom of Inferno (Translation is very old and from what I heard not very good.)
Kikokugai (Fantranslation)
Zanmataisei Demonbane (Official Release by JAST)
Saya no Uta (Official Release by JAST)
Hanachirasu (Official Release by JAST)
Dra†KoI (Fantranslation)
Kaigen Seito (Fantranslation)
Chaos;Head (Fantranslation and the extended Chaos;Head Noah version is being workd on)
Steins;Gate (Official Release by JAST)
SoniComi (Official Release by JAST)
Guilty Crown Lost Christmas (Fantranslation)
Phenomeno (Fantranslation)
Robotics;Notes (Official Release)
STEINS;GATE ELITE (Official Release)
Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi. (Official Release by JAST)
 
And then there is Nitro+Chiral the BL branch of Nitroplus:
Togainu no Chi (Official Release by JAST BLUE)
Lamento -Beyond the Void- (Fantranslation but an official release is planned by JAST BLUE)
Lamento Treasure Disc (Fantranslation)
Sweet Pool (Official Release by JAST BLUE)
DRAMAtical Murder (Fantranslation but an official release is planned by JAST BLUE)
 
That makes 20 translated titles by Nitroplus. As you can see Nitroplus is partnered with JAST who publish their games in english, so If you are looking for a specific title they should be first ones to ask. Unless it is a title of the Science Adventure series (Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate and so on) then it is likely out of their hands.
And besides the listed titles the following Nitroplus titles are getting a translation as we speak.
Zoku Satsuriku no Django -Jigoku no Shoukinkubi- (Official Release by JAST, but it is said that the title will take quite a while until it is released)
Sumaga (Official Release by JAST, but it is said that the title will take quite a while until it is released)
Chaos;Head Noah (Fantranslation in the works)
Lamento -Beyond the Void- and DRAMAtical Murder are confirmed to get offical releases by JAST BLUE.
Slow Damage (Official Release by JAST BLUE)
 
There is another title that is regularly rumored to get an release but since there is nothing official it is not going to get added to the lists above.

Here is a list of translated Nitroplus titles:
Phantom of Inferno (Translation is very old and from what I heard not very good.)
Kikokugai (Fantranslation)
Zanmataisei Demonbane (Official Release by JAST)
Saya no Uta (Official Release by JAST)
Hanachirasu (Official Release by JAST)
Dra†KoI (Fantranslation)
Kaigen Seito (Fantranslation)
Chaos;Head (Fantranslation and the extended Chaos;Head Noah version is being workd on)
Steins;Gate (Official Release by JAST)
SoniComi (Official Release by JAST)
Guilty Crown Lost Christmas (Fantranslation)
Phenomeno (Fantranslation)
Robotics;Notes (Official Release)
STEINS;GATE ELITE (Official Release)
Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi. (Official Release by JAST)
 
And then there is Nitro+Chiral the BL branch of Nitroplus:
Togainu no Chi (Official Release by JAST BLUE)
Lamento -Beyond the Void- (Fantranslation but an official release is planned by JAST BLUE)
Lamento Treasure Disc (Fantranslation)
Sweet Pool (Official Release by JAST BLUE)
DRAMAtical Murder (Fantranslation but an official release is planned by JAST BLUE)
 
That makes 20 translated titles by Nitroplus. As you can see Nitroplus is partnered with JAST who publish their games in english, so If you are looking for a specific title they should be first ones to ask. Unless it is a title of the Science Adventure series (Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate and so on) then it is likely out of their hands.
And besides the listed titles the following Nitroplus titles are getting a translation as we speak.
Zoku Satsuriku no Django -Jigoku no Shoukinkubi- (Official Release by JAST, but it is said that the title will take quite a while until it is released)
Sumaga (Official Release by JAST, but it is said that the title will take quite a while until it is released)
Chaos;Head Noah (Fantranslation in the works)
Lamento -Beyond the Void- and DRAMAtical Murder are confirmed to get offical releases by JAST BLUE.
Slow Damage (Official Release by JAST BLUE)
 
There is another title that is regularly rumored to get an release but since there is nothing official it is not going to get added to the lists above.

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien is getting an english release!
https://twitter.com/muvluvseries/status/1319927555806277632
 
Âge is holding an online event right now and this announcement is part of the event.
You can watch the event here:
As the title says the event is in Japanese but on this discord you can find an English interpretation.
Discord link: http:// https://discord.gg/E8UApXt
 
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien has been the most requested Age title in the last survey but I the runner ups are also interesting:

 The event is still ongoing so we can expect some more Muv-Luv news like news about the anime adaptation or maybe something to the Alternative sequel Muv-Luv Integrate.

ShiraVN has now announced when exactly the game os going to release.
Oct. 23, 2020 10AM PDT
And you can win a free copy in their give-away on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shira_vn/status/1317857976405774338
 
And since it hasn't been mentioned here John Hooper / Lemnisca handled the translations for Iwaihime. They worked on Root Double, Dies irae and Raging Loop before.
Furthermore the release offers the extra content of the console release as an DLC on steam.
Oh and the Demos apparently skips a scene so keep than in mind if you played the Demo and buy the full release.
 

So recently DMM opened up an English storefront with the name Johren. So far they offer primarily Free2play games and some untranslated VNs. Iwaihime should be the first English translated VN available there.
In any case they have now asked for feedback. Here is the tweet by ShiraVN that is the english publishing site of DMM:
https://twitter.com/shira_vn/status/1318028914942373889
 
And here is the direct link to the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aZCpqRPNsi96RBCwiaIR1v76dvoVh_eAa-6odvAqAfE/viewform?edit_requested=true
If you have the time tell them that you are interested in translated VNs and not just F2P titles and tell them what VN you want to see translated.  While DMM has quite a lot of licenses under their umbrella (check out DMM Games and Hobibox and all of their subsidiaries on VNDB), they already picked licenses from other companies so you don't need to restrict your wishes to just DMM games.

So recently DMM opened up an English storefront with the name Johren. So far they offer primarily Free2play games and some untranslated VNs. Iwaihime should be the first English translated VN available there.
In any case they have now asked for feedback. Here is the tweet by ShiraVN that is the english publishing site of DMM:
https://twitter.com/shira_vn/status/1318028914942373889
 
And here is the direct link to the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aZCpqRPNsi96RBCwiaIR1v76dvoVh_eAa-6odvAqAfE/viewform?edit_requested=true
If you have the time tell them that you are interested in translated VNs and not just F2P titles and tell them what VN you want to see translated.  While DMM has quite a lot of licenses under their umbrella (check out DMM Games and Hobibox and all of their subsidiaries on VNDB), they already picked licenses from other companies so you don't need to restrict your wishes to just DMM games.

I personally think that VNs right now are in a sense stuck in a cursed loop. VNs as a medium just really lack variety and as a result appeal to a small number of people. Even most all-ages titles follow the same story structure: even in non-adult titles a male protagonist always has to be surrounded by a lot of female love interests; it almost always has to take place in high-school; even in plot-focused stories there are a lot of slice-of-life scenes, which aren't even well written, and mostly just serve as a way to stall the story for some time rather than developing the characters; finally, the personalities of the protagonist, the heroines and even the side characters typically just follow certain well-known archetypes. So, if you just happen not to enjoy some of these titles and just want to find something more unique, you're much better off watching some anime or reading a manga. Otome games are a bit different, but, from my limited experience with them, they seem to have a bag of different, though slightly similar, problems. There are indeed some unique and experimental VNs that do things differently, but most of these are doujin titles and don't get that much exposure. Most of them aren't even that good, since good authors are likely to join some company at some point and start making a lot more standard VNs, or leave the medium altogether. Also, we, the current VN fans, enjoy these tropes to at lest to some extend, and a lot of us actually prefer them. As a result, in a short run it's not a very good strategy for companies to experiment with story structures, since they don't know if the fans would like these changes, and they just stick to the strategy that worked thus far. And VNs are also expensive to make, so they don't allow for much flexibility. Nowadays, manga and light novel authors don't even have to make any initial investment at all, since they just can start posting their stories online and see how people react to them, or even completely stick to episodic online distribution. In case of VNs, even a single financially unsuccessful product can make a whole company go bankrupt.
I personally think that if VNs somehow let this loop, there's a good chance that they would start appeal to a bigger number of people. They probably wouldn't be the same people as the current VN fans. Will they ever do that? I doubt it, but I don't know. EVNs might actually lead to something interesting at some point, who knows?

Publisher ShiraVN and developer DMM Games will release an international edition of supernatural horror visual novel Iwaihime for PC via Steam and Johren on October 23. It will support English, Japanese, and Chinese (Simplified and Chinese) language options. A demo is available now via Steam.
Written by Ryukishi07, the creator of the When They Cry series, Iwaihime first launched for PC in January 2016 in Japan. An updated version, which was partially rewritten and contained additional scenario and CG images, was released as Iwaihime: Matsuri for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in July 2017 in Japan. The international edition of Iwaihime includes the scenario adjustments and CG improvements Iwaihime: Matsuri.

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/10/supernatural-horror-visual-novel-iwaihime-for-pc-coming-west-on-october-23

I pushed Akeiro, Silverio Vendetta (since Akabei has an in), and Aoi Tori.

Denpasoft has opened their survey for this year.
https://twitter.com/Denpasoft_pr/status/1305662564752338946
 
And here is the direct link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HDSDLQR
 
Please vote for Akeiro Kaikitan and some Chuunige while you are there. ^^