kokoro

If I had to summarize the experience I had when reading the first half of Umineko for the first time, it would go something like this: At least for the first three episodes I mainly tried to identify the culprit with a typical mystery reader mindset. Even when it became obvious the game told its story from a fantasy standpoint, my focus was on discerning which parts could be taken at face value and which were made up by Beatrice. Even as I was able to see how this approach was getting deconstructed, I was still waiting for Battler to come up with the one logic argument able to solve it all. Even as Beatrice kept repeating "without love it cannot be seen" (or WLICBS, as I am going to call it for the rest of this post)) I took this mainly as an incentive to look at all the romantic and fantastical scenes from the "detective" angle and tried to spot if anyone had unintentionally slipped up. I dismissed the scenes where "real" characters chatted with fantastical ones as merely character building because to me they weren't actually happening. If the discussions of Umineko on this forum and especially in the "What are playing" thread are anything to go by, most readers have a somewhat similar experience. Even the ones whose theories get quite close to the truth usually base them on secondary clues like character designs.
Recently I started rereading Umineko, and well, now I know what the "it" in WLICBS is about. The scene where Maria is searching for the wilting rose isn't primarily setup for the first mini-mystery, namely who gave her the umbrella, it's a tale about a small girl who, being overwhelmed by the loss something precious to her and getting abused by the one who should console her, gets saved by love. The first hour or so of episode 2 isn't just Shannon and Kanon bonding with their love interests and a witch, it is important context for establishing the culprit's motive. Which is way more helpful when trying to figure out who is behind the Rokkenjima killings than guessing how the culprit could have killed someone inside a room locked with a key chain. Thinking about why Shannon and Kanon don't see themselves as full humans deserving of love brings you closer to the truth than pondering on some howdunnit.
So why do most readers seem to not pick up on this the first time, even when it is right in front of them? Why is everyone reading Umineko the wrong way at first?
Yeah I know, it is a polemic question. There is no objective right or wrong way to read something. However, more or less every piece of media contains some form of message or subtext, either explicitely stated or at least implied by its author, often intentionally although it doesn't have to be, and which can be read into.* Depending on your own view of the handled topics and which motive you assume the author to have, your interpretation can change (as well as your overall enjoyment of the work). To name one example and shamelessly plug one my other blog posts**, in my analysis about Steins;Gate I argue the common interpretation of its message that fate can't be changed doesn't really get at the core of S;G but that rather it's a story about growing up and learning to make your own fortune. I came to this conclusion based on the true ending contradicting the former reading. If you assume it wasn't included for some deeper reason, but rather the writers feeling like
that is also valid, keeping the "inescapable fate" interpretation as the most reasonable one (although a message definitely becomes weaker when it gets contradicted by the story itself).*** Of course that doesn't mean all interpretations of pieces of media are created equal. They should be somewhat rooted in the plot, characters, themes and so on.**** If your main takeaway from Steins;Gate is that microwave radiation is evil, you are either a troll or should seriously work on your reading comprehension skills.*****
So is there even one "correct" reading of Umineko? Not really, though luckily the game more or less directly states that it wants you to read "with love" for lack of a better term, and not just Umineko but in general. The concept is pretty complex and it takes Ryukishi07 the whole 60+ hours of Chiru to explain it. The basic idea is to base your mindset while reading on the motivations of the characters and the author. Umineko is not even secretive about this or makes it some unexpected twist. Beatrice says WLICBS for the first time at the beginning of episode 2, and over the course of the VN this sentence gets repeated many, many times. So why does it often take readers so long to adapt this mindset, besides it seeming somewhat abstract at first?
I would say it is because Umineko intentionally tricks you into reading it as a mystery story at first. It deliberately frames itself as a murder mystery. This begins with its setting where a rich family fights over an inheritance while at a remote mansion with a mysterious backstory and then people start dying under strange circumstances. Of course you would want to know what is going on there and the seemingly easiest and most logical way to do so is to look for inconsistencies in the alibis and shown series of events. If Umineko wanted to be read as a story about love from the beginning it would have built up the interpersonal drama first and then culminated in the serial killings. Also each episode has a new set of murder mysteries, constantly giving your inner detective more fodder. After the first game board the battle of wits between Battler and Beatrice gets presented as the central conflict. The latter is a witch claiming to be the culprit and killing people in the most ridiculous and unrealistic fashion possible, so of course you would take the viewpoint of her opponent who tries to explain the killings as "real" murder mysteries and try to solve everything his way******. Umineko's structure caused me (and presumably others too) to not really think about what all the scenes of characters talking about the nature of love and miracles and such are trying to convey, but rather search them for clues for the whodunnits and howdunnits, which made me miss the core of the story.
Which is the point of telling it this way: "Mystery literature" thought patterns don't just not help you to solve Umineko. In fact they get you further away from being able to see the truth, even though it is right in front of you the whole time. Umineko basically forces you into adopting the "mystery" mindset to make its deconstruction hit you harder. By gently, but decisively shoving you into taking a certain perspective you start to have a personal stake in the story, which makes the takedown of said viewpoint so much more effective.******* Only by utterly defeating your own seemingly logical default approach it becomes apparent why the alternative Umineko proposes is superior.********
There is one huge downside to this approach though: Most readers wont get even half of what is going on in Umineko on the first reading. Which is a big deal when your VN is so long most people won't bother going through it a second time. Those that do though get rewarded with an experience that is even better than the first readthrough. Or as Kinzo would put it: The bigger the sacrifice, the greater the magic that results.*********
 
 
 
* This topic does a great job exposing (probably, hopefully) unintentional subtext in a certain subgenre of VNs. Not to say this only happens in trashy media, whenever something is considered to "not have aged well" it usually has to do with some its implicit assumptions about how the world works not being considered acceptable anymore in today's society.
** Originally I thought about naming my blog "Paca Plugs" which would have been an amazing pun, if I dare say so myself. I decided against it because I didn't actually plan on doing any plugging. I don't orgle on here either though so maybe I should have gone with my original idea…
*** I have to admit that after having read Steins;Gate 0 and Chaos;Child, both of which seem very confused about what they want to communicate, I've become much more inclined to accept this admittedly more cynical interpretation, and have started to see Steins;Gate as more of a case of a broken clock showing the right time twice a day within the SciAdv series. I hope Robotics;Notes manages to prove me wrong…
**** I mention this mainly for the sake of completeness, to preemptively invalidate the "if any interpretation is possible, no interpretation can be true, thus interpretation is pointless" argument, not because it ties into where this post is going.
***** Here, have another footnote where I apologize for the length of the sentences in this paragraph and for adding so many footnotes. There's just too many possible ways to get sidetracked with this topic. I thought about adding another one later on where I would rant about Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi and why I thought the way it forces the reader into becoming complicit doesn't work, especially when compared to how clever Umineko achieves this, but then decided not to.
****** One of the greatest ironies in Umineko is that the "real" murder mysteries in the games are just as made up by Beatrice as her fantasy explanations. And just like she keeps adding characters to a closed circle, I keep adding footnotes to a post that would work just as well without them. Without my boredom during proofreading "it" cannot be seen.
******* So about why Totono doesn't work in comparison: Where Umineko lets you make the choice how you want to read it in your head, Totono literally forces you to take the approach to its choice system it is trying to deconstruct if you want to progress beyond its first few hours. Because of this it is easy for you to divorce yourself from your in-game decisions. So when the game scolds you for picking them, you can rightfully shrug it off because your only alternative would have been dropping the VN. I can't imagine Nitroplus praising you for asking for a refund in that case though.
******** The more I think about Umineko's concept of love, the more I find myself actually disagreeing with it. No, I won't go into more detail here because it would take me another blog post of this length to properly explain why. Weirdly enough despite this my enjoyment of the VN hasn't suffered at all.
********* Oh my, this post has gotten really really long. Thanks a lot to everyone who actually bothered to read through all of it! Yes, all three of you!

You should read this over at https://j-addicts.de/vn-of-the-month-december-2003/ as not only does it have (some) juicier screenshots, but the formatting is much better.
 
First of all, I believe I should thank the j-addicts/Koutou Yuumin team for their knowledge and expertise. This article grew way beyond my expectations, and I would surely have lost my way without them. Also, to the several friends who gave me feedback and helped me out in various ways, thank you very much. Well then, shall we start?
This month has four masturpieces (get it?). They are Saishuu Chikan Densha 2, Kadowakashi, Christmas★Present, and Kizumono no Shoujo Gaiden. That being said, there are still several other quite decent games. The game that surprised me the most by the positive and my personal masturpiece is Jam 'n Limit, and the games that disappointed me much were Eisai Kyouiku and Yami no Koe III. If you're looking for this month's overall best game, the answer is probably something boring like Saya no Uta (the answer, not the game).
How are masturpieces decided, you ask? Introducing: the fap-o-meter!
In Erogamescape, it's possible to vote on how suitable the H-scenes were for fapping material, ranging from "Weren't useful at all" to "Were pretty useful." Thus, I will attribute a numerical score (from 0 to 5) for each of those and tally up the average. This will be known as the fap-o-meter.
This isn't a fallible and objective method, but it should give an idea of how much cummies the players were able to get out of these games.
The Games
To begin with, I decided which games to play based on EGS's database. This is because it's bound to have more games listed than vndb. Out of 107 releases, I checked out 31 games. There were 21 games I would've considered for review, except that I wasn't able to obtain them as nearly all of them are obscure doujin games, which were sold exclusively at Comiket. I blacklisted 55 games: 32 are moege/charage/plotge – basically, games that have too much plot or other crap in the way of my precious porn, 9 were re-releases, 7 were PS2 games or not VNs, 6 were all-ages and thus no porn, and 1 was listed incorrectly.
Please keep in mind that just because a game is ranked higher or lower, it's not an absolute indicator of its quality. Some games cater to one fetish exclusively, so they're not bound to please everyone.
The game titles have been localized by me, as I thought that's something that a predominantly English-speaking audience would appreciate. That is if they don't have one already. The same goes for the synopsis. Many of them are translated by me, and at times, I've had to replace what was very obviously nonsensical machine-translated garbage.
I am still in the process of learning Japanese, and translating is, well, challenging, but I can assure you that there are no lies, falsehoods, or made-up stuff on them. I will put any game descriptions that aren't mine between quotes and credit them appropriately.
The screenshots are at 75% of their original resolution, except for one of the games where I could only play the widescreen version, so it's at 50%.
If you're interested in a specific game, I'd advise for you to CTRL+F search for it. If you'd like to read my overall conclusions on this whole venture, search for My Thoughts and Conclusions.
One last thing: I did not rely on machine translation tools to play these games.
1. Midnight Sleazy Train 2
EGS-Score: 74 (442) Atelier Kaguya TEAM HEARTBEAT Fap-o-meter: 3.26 (91) Saishuu Chikan Densha 2 Main appeal: chikan, forceful sex, group sex 最終痴漢電車2
"Touch her/Lick her/Verbally abuse her"
Well, color me surprised! For some reason, this game has hundreds of votes, so I was curious about how that came to be. Perhaps a lot of people watched the H-OVA and became interested in the game that way? That's what I call a marketing success.
But that's not all. The game itself is a pretty good nukige. Beyond the beautiful art and hot H-scenes, the game bolsters a pretty robust map movement system. Unlike most games where you wander at random, hoping you'll run into the characters, the game tells if there's someone at the place you're about to visit. It sounds like something straightforward, but it doesn't matter how good the game's content is if the system doesn't facilitate the access to that very content.
Besides that, you also have verb-based interactivity during the H-scenes (filling up their lewdness level gauge), and this makes for perfect roleplaying. You're not just playing as a groping protagonist, you feel like the groper yourself. With all of these factors combined, it's no wonder that so many people enjoy this game and the series, yet to this very day.
Though, if you're not that big of a fan of uh...gangbangs, you might not enjoy it that much. Maybe watch the H-OVA first and see if it's something you'd like.
2. Kidnapping
EGS-Score: 65 (41) ZyX Fap-o-meter: 3.25 (4) Kadowakashi Main appeal: sexual slavery 拐 ～カドワカシ～  
 
Wow, uh, what a fast development. They really get straight to the action, huh. Within a couple of minutes, the protagonist rapes one of his students, Tomoko. I'm actually not a fan of justifying this as "lol deep dark desires," but I guess that's the setup they were going for.
The main meat of this game is to sexually train a trio of heroines. True to its name, with Tomoko's help, you kidnap two of your students and confine them in a locked room, starting off with Mizue.
What really makes this game stand out is the sheer variety in H content. The heroine has stats, most of them sexually-related, and you have to raise them to allow for even kinkier play. You have to be strategic with your options to train the ultimate sex slaves. Though, if you suck, you can play on Easy difficulty.
When I say variety, I mean that ALL of these options are available at the start (well, as long as the heroine "consents" to it). This means all kinds of play. You can choose to be kind or to be sadistic. You can make her service you or teach her pleasure through shamefulness. Ultimate freedom and variety.
That doesn't mean you can just do anything. If you're too harsh on her, she'll collapse. Have this happen enough times, and you'll get a game over. So please, be responsible, and take good care of your sex slaves!
When it comes to the staff members, the spotlight is on the game's artist, Mutou Keiji. He is responsible for the character design and art of many games I have played in the past, from Studio Triumph. It's extremely similar to JAST published Do You Like Horny Bunnies?. Perhaps they had the same teacher? It might seem odd at first, but I grew really fond of this style over time. The sex scenes are also animated, and for once, they actually look good. Nice!
3. Christmas★Present
EGS-Score: 70 (62) Ail [Team Riva] Fap-o-meter: 3.09 (11) Christmas★Present Main appeal: BDSM, forceful sex, comedy クリスマス★プレゼント
This was actually the game I was looking forward to playing the most. Considering this is the month of December, I really wanted to play at least one game that would really get me into the holiday spirit. It took me hours to figure out how to get it working, but man, was it worth it!
While the description is a bit grim and dark, the game is actually the complete opposite. It's always fun and filled with comedic moments. The best way to describe this game would perhaps be "bakage" (silly game) due to its sheer absurdity and ridiculousness.
Of note, the game has a sort of "affinity" system. Your actions will increase your "evil" points by a certain amount. So, you can abuse the powers of the Saint's Crest, which can make any wish come true, or you can be a good boy and play along as Santa's Little Helper, spreading happiness all over town.
The art is beautiful, the sex is hot, the banter between characters is great. This game would make for the perfect Christmas present.
4. Defiled Girls - Campus of Used Goods Side Story
EGS-Score: 70 (83) Rasen Fap-o-meter: 2.82 (17) Kizumono no Shoujo -Kizumono no Gakuen Gaiden- Main appeal: blackmail, forceful sex, group sex 傷モノの少女－傷モノの学園・外伝－
This an insult game. This game has insult scenes, the protagonist and his buddy insult the girls...wait, what? Duh, I mean, rape. Yes, that's the word. This game is basically a side story of the original Kizumono no Gakuen. You don't really need to have played the previous game as it's not a direct sequel.
Takeshi and Narumi's involvement in the previous incident is briefly explained - Takeshi was forced to film the girls being raped, under threat of being killed, and Narumi was one of the victims. Upon finding one of his old videos, he can no longer contain his excitement.
I prefer this game to the first one because I like seeing the gap between peaceful school life and the moments of higher tension. That's not to say that the battle royale setting isn't thrilling though. It also feels like more of a personal experience, since you have one protagonist instead of multiple ones/multiple POVs.
While you might initially think it to be a rape fest...it's just so much more than that. It capitalizes on human emotions: sorrow, anguish, sadness, loneliness...and instead of an abrupt chaotic state, it's gratifying to witness that transition. You can also expect exciting developments such as betrayals when you least see them coming.
The H-scenes are well, pretty good. There's nothing that bonds friends together any more than doing the same girl at the same time...the story is about the defilement of the girls, as much as it is about the corruption of the protagonist's psyche. Though it helps to have a friend who is crazier than you. At least in this game, the "villains" actually feel like villains as they delve into their intricate plots, instead of your casual rapists.
Of particular note, this game has a quite nice atmosphere, boosted by a quality soundtrack. Good faps are to be had with this game.
5. I'm a Booth Attendant - Heisaku and Kenta's Wild Tales
EGS-Score: 65 (35) Interheart Fap-o-meter: 2.75 (4) Oira wa Bandai ~Heisaku & Kenta no Yume Monogatari~ Main appeal: voyeurism オイラは番台～平作＆健太の夢物語～
One day, a police detective suddenly barged in a certain popular public bathhouse that the protagonist was in charge of.
"Dan Koutarou! You're under arrest, under suspicion of sexual assault!"
With a clack, he was handcuffed.
Several months passed, and after a hellish series of interrogations, his guilt was established.

"Why, why am I the only one serving a prison sentence?
Why are Heisaku and Kenta getting away scott free?
But, it seems that is my fate...
Even if they were to be caught, it does not mean that my punishment would go away, but...
Is the public bathhouse that I inherited from my pops done for?
I've really done something awful to him..."
 
Man, I can't believe we came out innocent. I feel kinda bad about pushing the blame solely on Koutarou, but this too is part of fate, huh. Kou-chan, just sit quietly in your cell! So, we were cleared of suspicion, but what should we do from now on? You're right...for now, how about we go back to Koutarou's shop, and peek in the bath once again?! There's also videos of those women we filmed that we haven't used yet! To begin with, let's change bathhouse's name! Enter Heisaku and Kenta's Wild Tales! This is a side story, continuing off the ending of the first game. I really recommend that you play that game first so that you'll get the most enjoyment out of the story.
Basically, this is a real-time, public bathhouse management game. You take in customers, and you can peek at them while they change clothes, are in the toilet or just chilling in the bath. You'll have to follow the schedule carefully and know the exact times when the heroines visit the bathhouse. The game's system is pretty helpful in this regard, but something like a tutorial would've been much appreciated. It takes some time to get used to the gameplay, as you also have to use and buy items that will help you in your peeping quest, but I find the experience to be worth the trouble.
If anything, the banter between characters is pretty well-done. Most of the characters are actually adults, which is a nice change of pace. I also like that the previous game's protagonist went to jail since that's what happens when you do bad things. The game is pretty similar to the first one, so once again, that's probably where you want to start.
Interheart themselves published a walkthrough for this game, and I wish I had noticed it before playing...oh well.
6. Please Teach Nanami and Konomi the ABC
EGS-Score: 68 (101) Studio Ring Fap-o-meter: 2.61 (18) Nanami to Konomi no Oshiete ABC Main appeal: lolicon ななみとこのみのおしえてA・B・C
Alright, so uh...yeah. Despite the pretty art and cutesy voice acting, I found this game to be not much more than wish fulfillment for lolicon.
To begin with, I'm not a fan of deredere, lovestruck heroines, but if you're into this type of content, you're probably going to enjoy it.
7. Lewd Little Sister BABY
EGS-Score: 65 (65) Image Craft Fap-o-meter: 2.58 (13) Inmai Baby Main appeal: lolicon 淫妹BABY
Right, so, uh...yeah. There are two main points of interest in this game. First, it's the art or overall art direction. Not only are the H-scenes fully animated, but the sprites are also constantly changing very fluidly. The artstyle might seem simple, but it's nice and colorful. Honestly, this game very much feels like an anime, to the point I'd almost unironically call it an "anime game".
The second point is the sheer amount and variety of endings. You have the freedom to craft the story as you please, but remember that everything you do has a consequence.
Strictly speaking, I'd only recommend this to fans of the genre.
8. Children Milk Parfait
EGS-Score: 66 (28) Shiritsu Sakuranbo Shouggakou Fap-o-meter: 2.57 (7) Kodomo Milk Parfait Main appeal: lolicon こどもみるくぱふぇ
I swear, I'm not doing it on purpose! Anyway, for this game, I actually had to make a decision, since if I included the votes of the 2007 DVD release, it would score much higher. To make things fair, I decided not to.
In my opinion, I found this game to be boring. The children don't act like children (more like naughty adults trapped in a child's body), and most scenes are teasing.
I also thought that the OP was really catchy, it even forced me to get up from my chair and bust my moves for a few minutes. The UI is also extremely cutesy, which fits the mood of the game.

9. Matty, the youngest child
EGS-Score: 61 (22) Complet's Fap-o-meter: 2.5 (6) Matty Main appeal: straight shotacon まってぃ
I actually completed two routes of this game...but it's difficult to call them routes to begin with. Okay, first of all, this is what will usually happen. At school, you get two alternating choices that decide what type of event will occur. When you're back home, you get four choices which are meaningless by themselves (e.g., kill time, go back to your room, watch TV, etc.), and if you're lucky you'll trigger some kind of event with the heroines.
When it's time to go to bed, you can choose between going to sleep right away, going to the restroom, or reading a porn magazine (there are like four to collect, can you get them all?!). The first two of those choices CAN trigger events, but 90% of the time nothing happens.
And this repeats every single day until the game ends. You have no idea which choices trigger what, you have to constantly savescum if you want to see events with a certain heroine (and of course, you'll have to try all the choices first, every time), and even then, more than half of the scenes are teasing. So all you're really doing is collecting events.
I hope I was able to convey the frustration I felt playing this game. Why couldn't they have employed a map movement system, where you could just visit everyone in their respective rooms? Why this lazy, inane system? And even worse, the heroine I was aiming for doesn't even have an H-scene or a proper ending. The game just ends abruptly. What a piece of crap.
Either way, the art by Mame is definitely the game's high point. I recommend that you read the prologue, download a complete save file, and check out the H-scenes. Or play a better game, by the same company.
10. Surrender - Ravished Body, Broken Heart
EGS-Score: 60 (3) X[iks] Fap-o-meter: 2.5 (2) Shikkan ~Hazukashimerareta Karada, Oreta Kokoro~ Main appeal: BDSM, forceful sex, mystery しっかん ～辱められた躰、折れた心～
This is a mystery game where the objective is to uncover the spy and the island's other mysteries. Who is the spy, and what are they after? What secrets does this hospital hold?
The navigation is done through a map movement system. I usually dislike these, but you can at least trust the characters to hang out in a specific place. There's the doctor who hangs out at her own office, the patient that stays inside her room, the two nurses in the nurse station and the nurse in the psychosomatic ward. If you check out the other areas, you can find out more about the game's world, side characters, and... special tools.
When you talk to the characters, there's also this interactive system, kinda like the old verb-based games. Except that it's with nouns, people's names, locations and so on.In conclusion, the game's system is kinda annoying, and honestly, I don't feel like doing bad things to the characters when they're so lovely... The dialogue and voice acting are built in such a way that they actually feel like real humans. Speaking of voice acting, it's pretty good! You might recognize some industry veterans...
I'd say that despite some annoyances, the journey does feel worth it. It's definitely a game I'd like to spend more time with.
11. Good Girl's Worries Counselling Room - Fantasy World's Immoral Guidance
EGS-Score: 65 (15) Collection Fap-o-meter: 2.33 (3) Yoi Ko no Nayami Soudanshitsu ~Mousou Sekai no Haitokuteki Shidou~ Main appeal: group sex, forceful sex よい娘の悩み相談室～妄想世界の背徳的指導～
Essentially, when his brother collapses from overwork, by sheer coincidence the protagonist manages to find out that he was in charge of a counseling website. The gameplay is simple: you check your inbox on the website, pick the e-mail you want to read, read it, and then the protagonist imagines the H-events described on the e-mail. After that, it is your job to give the girls advice through a series of choices.
I was initially disappointed, thinking it was kinda lame to not engage with the heroines directly, but I find this to be a really novel idea. They take what would be generic H-scenes and give them a backstory, aftermath, and the female character's perspective. The most fun I had with this game was reading those very e-mails and challenging myself to give good advice.
For example, there's a high school student who talks about how several boys confessed to her at once, and she ends indulging their wish of wanting to create "pleasant memories" with her. I told her that she needs to value her body more and that she should be responsible and pick only one of the guys to be her boyfriend. It really feels like a very personal experience, where I am crafting my own story, almost as if I was actually talking to a real high school student.
I did not get that far, but it seems, later on, you'll actually be able to meet the girls, so there's something to look forward to. After all, most of the game's H-scenes only occur inside the protagonist's fantasy world, not in reality...or do they?
Another point I'd make is that while the art might seem kinda amateurish, I actually think it's pretty hot. I like it!
12. Bright Future - Wet 'N Messy 2nd Time
EGS-Score: 70 (93) FlyingShine Black Fap-o-meter: 2.17 (12) Akarui Mirai ~Wet And Messy 2nd time~ Main appeal: forceful sex, group sex, wet and messy アカルイミライ Wet And Messy 2nd time
This is a mystery/drama game that also doubles as a nukige. You, as the leader of the newspaper club, are initially given the task to investigate the so-called "Honey Ghost." The rest is according to the description: you start talking to a girl from the past and then realize that she died. Your objective is to find out what happened and change her terrible fate to a bright future.
But that's not all. There are also several peculiarities happening in the present. There's the mysterious psychic treatment (psychosomatic) school club, which is in fact just a front for a group of rapists. While you are busy with your investigation, be careful not to let the heroines fall into their grasp...
True to its name, you can expect things to get really wet and messy, by a variety of fluids...be it water, essential oils (aromatherapy), milk, SEMEN...But while the art is beautiful and the story seems promising, the game actually suffers from the excessive H-scenes. Before you really have time to care about a heroine, you end up peeking on them having or being forced into sex by a group of guys. If the scenes were more spaced out, the game would actually feel like it has some tension. Overall, I Just feel like it's trying to do too many things at once.
While you get plenty of choices, only very few of them branch out the story. Most of them just give you an alternate or slightly different scene. They don't really have an impact on the story. The series was rebooted as the Kurai Mirai (Dark Future) or Crime Rhyme series. By the name alone, you can see the new direction that they took with the games, which I'm not of a fan of. Because no matter which manners of cruelties they must endure, at least the title name "Bright Future" gives you the hope that there is a way for the heroines to avoid their awful fate...even if not entirely.
I'm not a fan of these quasi-NTR gangrape games, where you're just walking around, peeking on others having sex, and not really doing much about it. That's not to say that some of the scenes aren't hot, especially if you like it...wet and messy. I like this scene where your previous choice changes whether the heroine calls you senpai or onii-chan. It's, uh, a nice touch since you're pretty much defining the relationship you have with her.
13. Mansion, the Prison of Lust
EGS-Score: 60 (12) Girl's Software Fap-o-meter: 2 (1) Ingoku no Yakata Main appeal: BDSM, sexual slavery, maids 淫獄の館
First, I suppose I should start with what I liked about this game. The art is gorgeous when it comes to the character design and HCGs, drawn by one of my favorite eroge artists. The sexual slavery scenes are quite varied, but there's also a good number of vanilla scenes. You basically get the choice to give in to your "deep dark desires," or to defy your captor.
To be honest, despite this being a nukige, what I enjoyed the most were the slice-of-life scenes and banter between characters. The music is a great mood-setter, but what made these scenes that much more enjoyable was the stellar voice acting performance. I'm sure that if you look at their names, you'll recognize several industry veterans. I'd point out Isshiki Hikaru, who voices the protagonist's sister in Cartagra as especially memorable. However, all of them were really good, and I also liked their performance in...other parts of the game. That's the thing, though. After spending all that time growing fond of the characters, I don't really want to do awful things to them.
For this game's negative points, I'd say that getting a good ending is really difficult without using a walkthrough, and otherwise, it just gets frustrating. I also disliked the spontaneous H-scenes during the first part of the game. This is because they are all "dream sequences," more like showing a possible future for the protagonist.
It feels as if those scenes were just thrown in there because the slice-of-life and comedy sections were too long, and they thought people would get bored if they didn't get some fap material, but eh. They feel entirely out of place because there's no context and no build-up for those scenes.Another point is that when I train my sex slaves, I don't like sharing them with others...especially dirty old men.
14. Stray Sheep - Disgraceful Confession Room
EGS-Score: 55 (4) Panda House Fap-o-meter: 2 (1) Stray Sheep ~Chijoku no Zangeshitsu~ Main appeal: BDSM, mystery STRAY SHEEP ～恥辱の懺悔室～
Stray Sheep doubles as mystery and hardcore BDSM game. The protagonist makes use of his privileged position as the school's new Father to search for the truth, little by time, at times employing more forceful means.
I did not find myself able to empathize with the protagonist and his revenge-filled heart. It's not that I'm not fond of revenge stories, but if you're going to do awful things to someone, then at least do it to people who deserve it.
If one thing though, both the CGs and character sprites sure are pretty. Reminds me a bit of Mink's artstyle of that time.
15. Masquerade
EGS-Score: 64 (14) Soft Circle Courreges Fap-o-meter: 2 (1) Masquerade Main appeal: maid, pure love story MASQUERADE
While the setting seems to be grimdark, it's actually kinda wrong to call it a nukige. In fact, you could complete the game while avoiding most of the sexual content.
I actually completed this game as it's relatively short, about one to two others long. I found the main story to be sweet and very much worth the time I spent with it. Some might find it generic, but I guess I'm fond of these pure love type of stories.
You can choose to either engage in sexual acts with your maid or to have conversations with her about a variety of topics, getting to know her better. By sexual acts, I mean that you don't force yourself upon her and that everything is done consensually, even if the protagonist is in a position of authority. On that front, it's kinda weak as a BDSM/sexual slavery game, but I appreciate the variety of content and the hot HCGs.
The negative side is that both these conversations and H-scenes repeat themselves. For example, if you want to unlock further conversations, you'll have to approach specific topics an X number of times. The problem is that the conversations are the exact same the second or third time, so you're gonna be skipping them. It's just annoying. Did they run out of content even though the game is so short? Why force you to repeat conversations? Anyway, you'll probably want to follow a walkthrough.
The similar happens with the H-scenes, where you can unlock extra scenes or variations of the same scene. Anyway, this is a pretty decent doujin game if you like maids, sweet but kinda corny love stories, are willing to press the skip button half the time, and use a walkthrough.
16. A Naughty Doctor
EGS-Score: 58 (7) Sol-fa-soft Fap-o-meter: 2 (1) H na Oisha-san Main appeal: lolicon Hなお医者さん
So I booted up this game, which is unvoiced and has the same looping soundtrack all the time. And on the very first few choices, I hit a little girl, was sent to jail and got a premature Happy Ending. Great game.

"HAPPY ENDING...hell if it is!"
But it's actually an enjoyable game. You touch the characters in places where you're not really supposed to, but get away with it with some convincing persuasion, and eventually get to do a more direct inspection.
I actually like this type of games where you play as a doctor and interact with a patient, deceiving them, and abusing their trust. For example, Studio Triumph's games. But well, this one doesn't even compare since the game is too damn short, as the whole thing is about 20-30 minutes long.
Apparently, there's a voiced version, but I couldn't get my hands on it. The game is decent for what it is, but it's nothing special. I think there should've been more bad endings.
17. Jam 'N Limit - LOCKED/ROOM/CON/FINE/MENT
EGS-Score: 53 (18) Studio Jikkenshitsu Fap-o-meter: 2 (2) Jam n' Limit ~Mis/shitsu/Kan/kin Main appeal: roleplay, forceful sex ジャムアンリミット～密/室/監/禁
The only reason I went ahead and made the description this long is that this is the type of philosophical musings that are constantly present in the game. You can only imagine my surprise, playing this game after I almost considered skipping it - from the cover it seems like a generic nukige, and the score reinforces that assumption. I'm very glad I did not.
Honestly, I can only do this game justice with a full review, which I'd like to do in the near future (maybe), so this will be a bit of a sample of what's to come. It comes with a fair warning though: this game isn't for everyone. It's probably only for sexual deviants like me.
I've played this up until I was done with the first heroine's section of the story. Instead of having character routes, you "conquer" one heroine after the other, so you follow the protagonist's journey through madness. That is to say, this is more the protagonist's story than anything else, but you only truly understand the depth of his madness when you have a "normal" person as a reference. But that isn't all, as they too will find their own "madness."
Your choices in-game have to do with the course of actions you take as much as the preparations you have to make. For example, for your plan to succeed, what kind of precautions should you take, what should you be most concerned about, how will you create the perfect locked room while avoiding suspicion, how will you psychologically corner your prey, how will prevent their escape, and what will you do in the event something unexpected happens.
Accompanied by an in-built flow-chart, you'll be making these decisions as you try to avoid the game's multiple bad endings.
I don't want to spoil the content of the H-scenes, but they've mostly based around..."personalized roleplay."For me, this is the best game I played this month and my personal master and masturpiece, or at least the one which surprised me the most, making this whole venture worth it. Please don't overlook it just because it has the "nukige" label.
It could also be that the game simply left a lasting first impression, which lead me to overhype it slightly. Either way, I look forward to finishing it and publishing a more detailed review, whether it lives up to my expectations or not. Maybe.
18. Gifted Education Frenzy
EGS-Score: 65 (89) Kuzuryuu Fap-o-meter: 1.93 (14) Eisai Kyouiku Main appeal: BDSM, sexual slavery 英才狂育
You might know this from the H-OVA "Study a Broad." With beautiful art from Innocent Grey's CEO Sugina Miki, renown artist responsible for Cartagra, Kara no Shoujo series and Flowers series, coupled with BDSM and sexual slavery themes, what could possibly go wrong with this game?
Put simply, this game sucks. Sugina Miki's art and the seiyuu's talents were put to waste with this game thanks to an awful gameplay system.
So, you have three phases during the day: morning, lunchtime, and after school. During those periods, you can visit different locations during the game, taking up one, two, and five time slots respectively. Oh, and I fail to mention that there are ten locations in the game? So, you have to visit the heroines at the RIGHT TIME in the RIGHT PLACE to trigger the events. What a load of crap.
This game is the ultimate proof that no matter how good your game's content is (in this case, H-scenes), it doesn't matter if it's locked behind a nonsensical and overly complicated system. Sure, you have an idea of where the characters are likely to hang out, but who would've thought that the flower arrangement club member likes to hang out on the rooftop?
So, definitely use a walkthrough. And don't try to pursue more than one heroine at a time, as the timeslots often clash. That's not everything, though. If you fuck up too much in the beginning, you can get a bad ending. And even if you follow a walkthrough, you probably won't get to see every event.
This game is as sadistic to its players as it is to the heroines. I actually completed one of the routes - the twins. And there I witnessed some of the most stupid teen drama I ever had the displeasure of going through in recent times. At the very least, the H-scenes are hot, but I don't think it's worth seeing them without the context behind them. How frustrating!
19. Erosion
EGS-Score: 74 (21) Black Package Try Fap-o-meter: 1.8 (5) Shinshoku Main appeal: sexual slavery 浸蝕
I actually edited the first part of this synopsis from vndb because it was filled with lies, so I claim it as my own. Ahem.
This game unceremoniously starts with four H-scenes in a row. It sure doesn't waste any time, huh? On the very first scene, the setting is established. Toshiya, despite being of high school age, is somehow a hardcore sex slave trainer, all because his mother was a whore when he was a child. The orphanage's director is already his sex slave, as are other girls in school, and then he "infiltrates" this loving family intending to make them his sex slaves just for the lulz.
You witness the mother, who knows the protag for nothing but a few days (or like, 10 minutes in-game), masturbate while calling his name. I mean, what the fuck. Already? She hardly even knows him! This protagonist is literally the equivalent of an isekai anime protag who one-shots everything in sight on the first episode.
I did not find the art or the voice acting appealing either, but there's plenty of variety when it comes to the training scenes, I guess.
If I had to mention any positives, it would be that the game is quite technically advanced. There's an in-built flowchart, a read text marker, the ability to jump to the next and previous choices, and voice lines on the backlog.
All in all, this game is nothing more than rape fantasy and is completely disrespectful and demeaning towards women.
20. Last Order
EGS-Score: 70 (50) 13cm Fap-o-meter: 1.75 (8) Last Order Main appeal: sexual slavery, group sex ラストオーダー
This is a game which seemed to be nothing more than a generic nukige, but ended surprising me. If there were such a thing as a theme for this game, it'd be moratorium, the postponement of social responsibilities. The protagonist and other characters deal with this issue on different degrees: feeling like they're growing up too fast, being afraid to become a full-fledged adult, or being too attached to things of the past. As someone finding themselves within this very period of transition, I felt I was able to connect to the game on a personal level, if even slightly.
The sexual content mostly revolves around the use of devices for sexual training and bondage. With two new waitresses bolstering floréal's ranks, so are there two new prey for the protagonist to lay his hands on.
I have mentioned this several times before, I believe, but I'm not fond of sharing my sex slaves. After the slaves' training is cumplete, you have them serve the customers, often multiple at once, and this happens when you had just thought they became yours. I'd say that might be why the fap-o-meter is so low, even though this is actually a quite decent game.
21. Intense Pregnant Belly - Senpai, Please Acknowledge My Child!
EGS-Score: 41 (18) Acme X Fap-o-meter: 1.67 (3) Hageshiku Botebara! Senpai, Watashi no Ko, Mitomete Kudasai!! Main appeal: forceful sex, group sex, yuri 激しくボテ腹! ～センパイ、私のコ、認めてくださいっ!～
First of all, I gotta ask. Who the hell came up with such a dumb title?
This game is just a tasteless and senseless complete rapefest. It is disgustingly evil and cruel. I'm sorry, but I don't have much else to say. I dropped it because I'm not a masochist and there's hardly a redeeming factor to this piece of crap. I guess some people might be into it, but I'm not. Moving along.
22. Say Yah! Happy New Year 2003!
EGS-Score: 55 (9) Authoring Heaven Fap-o-meter: 1.6 (5) Say Yah! 2003 Main appeal: comedy, straight shotacon Say Yah! 2003
This game is not only a sequel to first Say Yah!, but it also features characters from other Authoring Heaven and Complet's games, as they're both imprints of the same stock company. You can expect similar kind of content and humor from the same games.
Basically, you have a map, and you choose which house to deliver presents to... in the form of sex. It's not really my cup of tea, but the game is kinda funny, if you're into that type of humor...
23. Married Woman Slave Coffee Shop 2
EGS-Score: 60 (20) Black Lilith Fap-o-meter: 1.6 (5) Hitozuma Dorei Kissa 2 Main appeal: sexual slavery, group sex, forceful sex 人妻奴隷喫茶2
"To think that you'd really take pictures like these...you're scum, human scum!"
I played the first game too just so I could understand this game better. Thus this will serve as a review for both games. They're about 20 mins each, so that wasn't an issue. But well, there isn't that much to say, except that the games suck.
On the first game, these three high school students with nothing better to do than wander around town manage to spot a lady shoplifting. And somehow, they make use of that knowledge to blackmail her into becoming her sex slave. After the first H-scene, it's scene after scene until the game ends.
On the second game, this chick finds The Three Stooges talking about how much they love sex, and apprehends their sex toys. After calling them human scum, she ends up fapping with those toys inside the classroom, and she follows them to the coffee shop because she's secretly a colossal pervert, I guess. The rest plays out the same as the first game.
The games have slight ero animations which kinda look good, but since it's a zoomed up close-up, they end up covering most of the CG. These games are cheap, they're too short, and they suck.
24. The Voice in the Night III - Summoning Circle Pentagram of the Three Desires
EGS-Score: 60 (45) Black Cyc Fap-o-meter: 1.5 (14) Yami no Koe III ~Gobou San'yoku Mahoujin~ Main appeal: corruption of characters 闇の声III ～五芒三欲魔方陣～
Wait, what is a Black Cyc game doing at the very bottom? To truly understand this, you'd have to play the first two games, as this one is part of the original Yami no Koe trilogy. Thankfully, I am perfectly suited for this review as I played all of the three games. However, this is a game that I would like to review at a greater length, so I'll try to keep this short.
Basically, this game sucks. No, it would be more correct to say that this would just be an average nukige, if not for its preceding legacy. Because it bears the Yami no Koe name, anyone who plays this game expects high-quality nukige, the same as the first two. But it's the complete opposite.
Here's how the gameplay goes: you have a box with several magical items, starting with five, and each one of them is supposed to awaken a dormant fetish within the heroines. Once you reach the second stage, you get up to ten items to use on the heroines.
Sounds awesome, right? Well, not really. The heroines are only receptive to one or two of the items in each stage. Most of your time is actually spent trying out different items, getting a generic "this item wasn't very effective" message, reloading, trying out a new item, getting the same crap all over again until you get it right. That's not all. While a heroine might've been receptive to an item at first, it might happen that they will not be interested in it in the future. So, it's save, reload, save, reload, save, reload. How about I just quit, uninstall this piece of crap, and never play it again?
Even worse, the protagonist doesn't interact with the heroines directly. Thanks to K's powers, he makes the item magically appear in front of the heroine, and they'll make up a suitable excuse on their own for why the item is there. What a load of bullshit. The only time you have sex with them is at the very end (if you managed to corrupt them all fully), on what feels like the developers' way of mocking and trolling the player.
You know when you play a sequel to one of your favorite games, and it's complete shit? Except that here, you can't blame EA, like with its sudden takeover of Bioware franchises such as Mass Effect or Dragon Age. No, it's literally the same writers, the same director, the very same team. They knew what they were doing with this game, and it's nothing more than a quick cash grab.
I hope I was able to convey my feelings on this matter accurately, and looking at the scoring, it's no surprise. Everyone felt let down by what is the weakest game of the Yami no Koe series.
The only good point to this game is the amazing art, by one of the best eroge/nukige artists. Even Conjueror agrees! However, he gave the second and third games the same score, so I wonder if he actually played them at all.
25. Rape Secretarial Office 2 -Midou Shirou's Chapter
EGS-Score: 65 (12) Maika Fap-o-meter: 1.5 (2) Ryoujoku Hishoshitsu 2 ~Midou Shirou Hen~ Main appeal: sexual slavery, mind control, forceful sex 凌辱秘書室2 ～御童志狼篇～
This game is about rape. It has rape in the title, and even the game's executable file is called "RAPE2.exe".
Basically, you have Midou Shirou, who can use some sort of mysterious power, which translated literally would be something incomprehensible such as "Obscene Vortex Core Fist." Probably some kind of wordplay.
When he says specific keywords, it triggers something within the heroines - there are no tools that need to be used, so it's just a special ability of his. And by special ability, I mean that it's a complete cheat.
After you meet all the heroines, you can choose one of them to be your trained sex slave, as in, it's something that already happened. I found that to be interesting at first, but it's actually kinda lame. Let's say you were interested in a character, would you want to conquer her or would you want the game to gift you her as your already trained slave?
Your objective is to obtain sensitive financial information and have lots of sex while you're at it. Your chosen sex slave will assist you in this task, so you already have six slightly different ways of playing the game. This all sounds awesome, but it's simply too easy. It's too easy to make the heroines fall thanks to Shirou's ability, having them call you "Master" by one H-scene's time.
To begin with, the protagonist is already a cool stud, does he really need this power? He doesn't have any interesting motivations or something you can empathize with. This game is just a trashy rapefest, which puts its beautiful art to waste.
26. I'll Grant Your Wish - A Gift Received in Winter
EGS-Score: 58 (17) High Soft Fap-o-meter: 1 (1) Kanaete Ageru ~Fuyu ga Kureta Okurimono~ Main appeal: group sex かなえてあげる～冬がくれた贈り物～
The premise is rather simple. The protagonist wants to have sex with his girlfriend, but it's totally not happening any time soon, and he faps to his sexual fantasies all day. Wow, he and I are not so different after all!
So, these girls suddenly appear in his room and make the proposal as mentioned earlier. The story is well, as you could imagine, nothing special. It's nothing but senseless H-scene after H-scene, without any thread linking the events together. Put simply, it's just boring to read/play.
You literally play as Santa's little helper, as you go from house to house, and research which present to give to the residents. Depending on the presents you pick, your relationship will improve with one of the heroines. This is a quite cumbersome system, and not very easy without a walkthrough. I wasn't able to find one...
Since the protagonist is the only one who can see the girls, it could also be that he's simply had one fap too many, and none of this is real. Yep, that's probably it.
27. Let me fuck 'ya, teach!
EGS-Score: 50 (11) Tryset Fap-o-meter: 1 (3) Yarasete! Teacher Main appeal: straight shotacon やらせてっ！てぃーちゃー
For a while, I thought I was playing a Complet's game, as this one has similar art, humor, and sexual content. You play as an overly perverted brat and constantly tease the new assistant teacher. Instead of proper routes, just like Matty (ugh), you collect events. The difference is that you trigger those events by moving around the school, as you pick the location you want to visit. I find this blind guessing system to be annoying, so I'd recommend a walkthrough once again.
I actually liked the H-scenes, and I'm pretty surprised this game is sitting here at the bottom, especially when you consider that it spawned a whole series. Maybe Tryset were off to a bad start with this one, or the players just found the system to be too cumbersome.
28. Day-care worker <3
EGS-Score: 45 (9) Triangle-delta Fap-o-meter: 1 (1) Hobo-san Chu! Main appeal: roleplay 保母さんちゅ！
Thought I'd start by giving a warning that, despite the protagonist's profession and the game's setting, all participants in sexual activities are consenting adults.
That already makes for strange setting though. Who thought about mixing up daycare work with...roleplay? The worst part is that they do a pretty poor job at explaining the need for such a thing in the first place. I mean, I don't think it helps her understand the kids' feelings any better by changing adult diapers or making her piss on the ground.
Overall, the setting just feels at odds with the game's sexual content, but it does make for an interesting premise, I guess. I do commend them for trying out something different, and I do find the H-scenes to be not that bad...
The main highlights are the beautiful OP (no need to listen past 2:10) and yet another casting by Isshiki Hikaru.

29. Petite Idols - Disgraceful Fan Appreciation Day
EGS-Score: 52 (14) Black Lilith Fap-o-meter: 1 (3) Puchi Idol ~ Chijoku no Fan Kansha Day Main appeal: lolicon, cosplay, forceful sex, group sex ぷちアイドル～ちじょくのファン感謝デー
This is just bad. I feel like I really hit the bottom of the barrel with this one. It comes with a really stupid reasoning for revenge: the two idols are cheeky and foul-mouthed and treat their greasy, sweaty, disgusting otaku fans with the disrespect they deserve. But then came fan appreciation day...
30. Nestle Close III - Manager Hibiki
EGS-Score: 70 (3) Haikara Kissa Fap-o-meter: 0.5 (2) Nestle Close III Main appeal: onee-san, big breasts, glasses Nestle Close III
I physically cannot play this game, as short-haired heroines with glasses are the worst. Next.
31. Soft and Tender Lesson
EGS-Score: 50 (11) Trabulance Fap-o-meter: 0 (1) Pururn Jugyou Main appeal: breasts, big breasts, big tiddies, tits, oppai ぷるるん授業
As advertised, the heroines have enormous breasts to the point that it's sure to cause back problems. If you're into this type of thing, you might get some enjoyment out of it. However, I found the game to be a completely average nukige.
Of particular note, there is a toggle correct choice indicator. Interact with the same heroine enough times, and you'll have sex with them. Wow, now that I put that in words, it seems that'd describe most games. Either way, despite being thrown to the very bottom, it's certainly not THAT bad. Then again, there's only one vote which is... mine.
My Thoughts and Conclusions
First of all, thanks to everyone who stuck with me until the very end. Or perhaps you're one of the people who scrolled down to the very bottom? It's alright, I don't blame you.
The truth is, this format sucks. Usually, you'd first find a game you like, play it, and then maybe review it, not the other way around. This would've worked much better if I had a team of perverts working with me. Each one of us could pick a game that we might like, play it, and then review it. This was way too much work for one person, as this was all my own, original commentary, but I did my very best for the quality not to suffer.
The very idea of reviewing eroge and excluding nukige would be ridiculous, as despite bearing the "stigma" that comes with the nukige tag, there are some pretty good games amongst those that I reviewed. Making people aware of that was my initial objective, and I hope to have realized it.
Not surprisingly, there's a good number of games focused in particular fetishes. I think it's interesting that there wasn't a single Netorare game amongst these, perhaps the genre hadn't taken off yet. There's a big divide between games with consensual sex and games with forceful sex. The first usually focuses on lighter fetishes, while the second group often goes all the way with hardcore sexual slavery.
I play my games on fullscreen, so I wasn't bothered by the resolution. And there are plenty of games with beautiful art, mood-setting soundtrack, and stellar voice acting performances nonetheless.
The most significant conclusion I'd take is that most of these games, well, suffer from too much gameplay at times. Like I've said on my very first review, it doesn't matter how good your content is if the system is cumbersome in a way that players have too much of a hard time accessing it. You can have a map movement system like Eisai Kyouiku's, which forces you to check a walkthrough every 10 seconds, or you can have one like Saishuu Chikan Densha 2's, where you can worry less about optimization and focus more on having fun. The second is one where the creator really thought about the player experience, how would people actually feel playing the game.
I also found it interesting that most protagonists are actually adults. There are several university students, but you have them do all kinds of jobs: ordinary salarymen, teachers, daycare worker, clerk, doctors, idol manager, grocer, businessman, restaurant floor manager, tutor, even a priest... You also have many different kinds of settings, as if everyone was trying hard to carve their own niche. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside thinking about how everyone, even the little guys, was working hard, giving up precious time during the holiday season to provide us with great fapping material. God bless you.
Oh, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t talk about Saya no Uta. Well, it’s the title that needs no introductions, so I decided to go ahead and not talk about it at all to make my job easier. The point of this article was to have short reviews and summaries for lesser known games of the month, so I can’t just feature the most popular ones and not or just dismissively ignorant talk about the rest. The fap-o-meter is astonishingly low, which is complete blasphemy. This is one of the hottest english published eroge out there, with also one of the best translations available. There’s a story about how Makoto wouldn’t sell his translation until his writer parents approved it, so you can be certain of its quality.
As a closing statement, please, by all means, do try some of these games and enjoy yourself to your heart's content. If you have any questions you'd like to ask me, please go ahead and message me or leave a comment below. As always, thank you for reading, and I appreciate any and all feedback.

Sekai Project
VN
Start of Kickstarter
Estimated delivery
Actual delivery
World End Economica
June 2014
May 2015
Not yet delivered
Clannad
November 11th 2014
October 2015
March 2016
Grisaia Trilogy
December 2014
October 2015
April 2018
Memory’s Dogma
June 2015
December 2016
Part 1 of 3 delivered August 2020
The Human Reignition Project
June 2015
December 2016
Not yet delivered
Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project
October 2015
April 2016
Not yet delivered
Root Double
January 2016
March 2016
November 2016
Chrono Clock
August 2016
April 2017
Not yet delivered
A Clockwork Ley-Line
Febuary 2017
January 2018
Not yet delivered
Fatal Twelve
March 2017
January 2018
November 2018
Hoshizora No Memoria
May 2017
September 2018
Not yet delivered
Shining Song Starnova
August 2017
August 2018
June 2019
A light in the Dark
February 2018
June 2018
July 2019
Tokyo Chronos
July 2018
April 2019
October 2020
 
Frontwing
VN
Start of Kickstarter
Estimated delivery
Actual delivery
Corona Blossom vol 1
June 2016
October 2016
July 2019
Corona Blossom vol 2
September 2016
December 2016
July 2019
Sharin no Kuni
November 2016
October 2017
Not yet delivered
Corona Blossom vol 3
December 2016
March 2017
July 2019
Grisaia Phantom Trigger Volume 1 and 2
March 2017
June 2017
March 2019
Grisaia Complete box
March 2017
Q4 2017
Febuary 2019
Grisaia Phantom Trigger Volume 3
June 2017
September 2017
Not yet delivered
Wonderful Everyday
August 2017
January 2018
Not yet delivered
Grisaia Phantom Trigger Volume 4
November 2017
April 2018
Not yet delivered
Momoiro Closet
Febuary 2018
July 2018
Not yet delivered
Grisaia Phantom Trigger Volume 5
June 2018
October 2018
Not yet delivered
Island
August 2018
December 2018
Not yet delivered
 
 
Sol Press
VN
Start of Kickstarter
Estimated delivery
Actual delivery
Sakura Sakura
August 2017
December 2017
Not yet delivered
Newton and the Apple Tree
December 2017
May 2018
Not yet delivered
Irotoridori no Sekai
Febuary 2019
December 2021
Not yet delivered
 
Others
VN
Start of Kickstarter
Estimated delivery
Actual delivery
Muv-Luv
September 2015
September 2016
July 2018
Libra of the Vampire Princess
December 2015
November 2016
May 2017
Dies Irae
December 2016
May 2017
April 2018
Koropokkur
March 2018
September 2018
October 2018
Venusblood Frontier
September 2018
December 2019
December 2019
Seven Days
September 2018
January 2019
Desember 2019
Aokana
June 2019
December 2019
September 2020

For those familiar with me, you know I spent year after year doing VN of the Month and that I ritualistically complained about how tired I was of this or that trope or bad habit that plagued the industry or games.  I was asked repeatedly why I could still plow through so many VNs, despite the stress?  The simple answer is that I have always been stubborn as hell.  I've experienced 'burnout' numerous times in my life, mostly because I have a naturally obsessive personality.  Once I start obsessing over something, I literally am incapable of ceasing to do so without something jarring me completely away from it for a time, which usually results in me realizing I burned out long ago and have just been hanging out of stubbornness. 
The same was the case for VNs.  When I first started playing VNs, all VNs were worth at least trying.  However, as time went on, I increasingly lost interest in most nukige and eventually my interest in 'everyday teenaged life SOL romance' (or 'the standard charage') began to fade.  It was probably about 2016 when this reached the critical point, but it took another year and a two-week bout of flu where I couldn't think well enough to play anything to bump me out of my years-long trance. 
Part of it was that I rarely, if ever, took a break from VNs during those years.  I was always playing at least one, and I had a tendency to barrel through them consecutively without even a short pause to rest, week after week, month after month.  I used  most of my free time to play them, I structured my work schedule and habits around playing them, and I generally existed solely to do so.
I dunno how many of you can even imagine what living like that is like... but it was the fact that I am no longer driven to play game after game that is letting me sit back and enjoy the few I actually want to play.  I go back and pull stuff out of my attic on a whim, I dig through my collection based on a desire to relive a single scene, and I generally just take pleasure in playing what I want to play.
Would it be strange for you to hear that this all feels unnatural to me, after all these years?  I've been playing third-rate charage I didn't want to even see, much less play, for years... and now I only play stuff that takes my interest, dropping them if I don't see any hope for the game to break out of the shell of mediocrity.  I don't feel driven to blog about replays beyond when I feel like it or when I think I have something to add to a previous assessment, and I can actually sit back and enjoy the few charage I actually feel like I want to play.
While I do have regrets, they aren't about the years spent obsessing and over-playing VNs, despite my previous words.  I set out to do VN of the Month because, at the time, there was no way for people to have an idea of what they were getting into with most VNs.  It was a bit startling how few people were seriously trying to let people know what kind of VNs were out there without spoiling everything from beginning to end.  Even today, most reviewers can't seem to keep heavy spoilers out of the text, which saddens me.  However, I no longer feel that it is my mission to 'fix' this.  I've been there, I've done that, and I won't be doing it again.
I will still play VNs, and I will still review them (on occasion), but don't expect me to be as prolific as I used to be, lol.

I’m not writing this for you. I’m writing it for myself.
今年もとある滑稽な癖に従い、伝統ありのヴァルパージス炎を観に行った。別にその滑稽な想いだけが理由でもなくが、正直な所、その想い未だ持っているだけは情けないと思う。
I met my soulmate about a week before I started the first, transitional year of elementary school. I guess that means we were like, six or seven years old? She was sitting on the swing in the playground next to an apartment complex, and for whatever reason I was drawn to her instantly – I broke off from my parents and greeted her, and we got along like a house ablaze.
The next time I saw her was at school. She was in my class, and it was only natural that we’d be inseparable from that point on. Or was it? There was another boy who by now I barely remember who used to be in the picture, but he moved away. I think at one point she – I guess I’ll call her M – told me I was actually her second choice, but that other boy had left, so she’d picked me. Looking back I find myself analyzing this interaction as heckin’ weird, but at the time I accepted this without feeling bad about it. I guess I used to be even more obviously autistic than I am now.
Soulmates, for those reading who have had the misfortune of never having had one, are a real thing. It’s hard to describe the feeling of absolute, utter 乗り, of flow, I felt in her presence. Sometimes I doubt myself – did she feel the same? – and I guess by now I’ll probably never know. But there was something there I have never felt interacting with anyone else in my life.
She and I were best friends for I think five years. For most of them, as far as I know, I was essentially a donkan eroge protagonist, going as far as openly telling other people ‘she loves me, but I don’t love her’. We were officially boyfriend and girlfriend to each other for a little while at the end, but the most intimate thing that ever happened was a hug. Technically we got best couple at a dance or something, but frankly what I did there was a performance, not *real*. So I’m left with the curious feeling that while I may have unlocked the achievement ‘kissed a girl’, though we never did do it in the French fashion, I have never done it when it truly meant something to me. I think it’s fair to say I was a late bloomer when it comes to emotional maturity, if I ever hit it.
Eventually we slid apart, gradually, seemingly as naturally as we were first joined. Different classes and different friend circles meant we rarely met. We actually did happen to join up once again after having slid apart, however, and it felt just like to old times to me as we took a walk together. But that was it; we went to different high schools, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her since then.
今でも彼女を会いたいなぁっと想い、毎年あの炎に行く。 Mum told me she went to IT-Gymnasiet. 毎年「やっぱり居ないなぁ」って感じで炎の原始的な美しさを楽しみながらちょっとした悔しい思いも含む状態でいる。 She talks to M’s mum sometimes, I guess. 必死染みた所もあり彼女を探して失敗して、毎度悔いの有る想いを持ちながら火を観るのも飽き、家を向いて戻り始める。
今も会いたい。それだけだ。

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Ok, anyone who has read some of my rants about microtransactions will wonder why I decided to play this f2p smartphone game... until you remember I'm also a Nasuverse fanboy.
I made the questionable decision of picking this game up about two and a half months ago, and since then I've been left with a lot to ponder.  First, I'll list what I like about this game.
1.  Relatively easy to play for free, in the sense that simply doing free quests and story quests can get you the in-game Saint Crystals necessary to roll for higher-rarity servants with only a bit of patience. 
2.  Charity Servants, the ones that you can get from completing event quests, are often really good (there are exceptions, even so far, but meh), so if you just do the events, you can still build a decent party before going for the higher-difficulty story quests.
3.  Leveling up Servants can be fast if you have the items ready.
4.  Battle system is decent, if sometimes deliberately frustrating (to encourage you to spend money, probably).
5.  Support Servants borrowed from friends can let you clear hard quests easier.
6.  The story of the main game is extremely well-written (though the translators made a lot of obvious stumbles by not fixing the language into English grammar at some points).
7.  Manages to recreate the often ambiguous emotions drawn out when you played FSN or watched anime like Fate/Apocrypha that gave the series such grandiosity, along with the usual Nasu humor.
Negatives
1.  Too many obvious ways in which they try to get you to spend money, with the constant summoning campaigns and sudden difficulty spikes during and post Camelot.
2.  Blatant Japanese-style gacha-addiction builder.
3.  Missions can be extremely long irl time, and AP regeneration speeds make it possible to play seven hours a day on story missions during half-AP campaigns... which eats at rl a bit too much.
 
My Experience
My rule when playing standard video games that I already know I want is 'I'll spend $60 and no more', and I kept to that rule, with a lot of headaches from temptation and obsession with cute or awesome Servants (Evil Artoria is just sexy in her portrait at final Ascension, lol).  I've managed to enjoy the story of the main game and laugh through the events so far (the GudaGuda events were hilariously designed and written).  However, the lack of breathing space between events and summoning campaigns leaves me feeling exhausted even if I only play a few hours here and there.  Every time I wanted to sit back and enjoy the story, there was that time limit to get all the great skill-up and ascension items I didn't want to have to farm from the game nodes, and now there is an event coming up that requires you have completed the main story through Solomon... which is annoying as hell, since BB really looks cute, so I want her in my roster to stare at with drool dripping from the corners of my mouth, like with Medusa Rider and Evil Artoria...
Yes, that is the level of obsession this game can create for Fate fans.  The fact that several familiar faces are available in the beginning-of-the-game gacha (including Archer from FSN and Heracles) is tailor-made to draw a Fate fan in and trap him with his own lust.  I don't recommend anyone with a collector's tendencies or addictive tendencies in general play this game, as it is a potential money sink for any such individual, sadly.  Since I am such an individual, my words should have weight, lol.  It takes real effort for me not to look at the summoning campaigns when I don't have Saint Crystals or summoning tickets.
On the other hand, this game manages to actually tell a good story, and, having just finished Camelot (which is a difficulty spike on par with suddenly dipping into a Souls game when you thought you were playing Ar Tonelico level), I can tell you it is worth at least going this far.  While it lacks the huge emotionality of Fate/Apocrypha or the original FSN, it makes up for it with the sheer number of personal stories and glorious ends the various Servants manage to meet.  The fact that this definitely feels like a Fate story in both depth and detail makes it even better for a Fate fanboy. 
However, where things fall short is that we have yet another silent protagonist, similar to Fate/Extra.  While this makes, justifiably, the Servants the stars of the story, it can be a bit frustrating that your only inputs are frequently humorous interjections. 
Personally, one thing that has had me laughing on numerous occasions is how gloriously weird some of the Berserker characters are... since they are all psycho to one degree or the other, this can lead to some... interesting results.  While our friend Lancelot from Fate/Zero makes an appearance, most of the Berserkers can and do speak, even if their manner is downright crazy or obsessive.

Hello. I am the guy who wrote that review of Little Busters that everyone hated because I did not like the game. Those poor people are doing just fine, however, even with my evil, vile, disgusting review out there still. I, on the other hand, have never been worse off. You see, I've been overwhelmed with guilt. I feel bad for what I did. I took a beloved visual novel, one that has changed the lives of many people, and slandered it with my negative review. Then I continued to ride that infamy I gained into relevancy allowing my hatred of Little Busters! to manifest itself as a false representation of my true opinion of it, much like I am doing right this moment. 
The truth about my time with Little Busters! is that I enjoyed the VN. It had some bad routes (like all of them) and had a really unremarkable ending. But can I say I did not enjoy my time reading it? Not really. The 24 hour stream was a blast, and subsequent streams were a lot of fun, especially when people were involved in the jokes and discussion of the routes as I read them. For example, Lewycool's Sexy Seagull Legs during Mio's route was light in an otherwise forgettable, boring route (protip: a character with no personality other than "I like books" is not a recipe for a fun route) and allowed me to actually have fun with the route. Likewise, discussions of Kurugaya's Balloon Tits carrying me off into the sky made her Bill Murray wannabe route more enjoyable. Refrain was a blast to read right up until the ending. I didn't hate Rin and simply wished we saw far more development from her than what we got. She was a fun character. 
 
The experience of reading Little Busters! was good. I had a good time. While my opinions on Little Busters! remain the same, that it is a bad VN (not horrid at least), I do not regret the time I spent on it and I sometimes wish I could read it over again on stream with everyone like I did before. 
 
So, I owe everyone an apology. I'm sorry your favorite VN is so shit I had to bring in friends to enjoy it instead. I can't wait to get my hands on the official Rewrite release in 600 years. 

Also, a review of an InvertMouse VN is coming very soon to this blog near you, assuming I'm not blocked first. 

It is not uncommon to see people in mainstream news sources dismiss visual novels, if they’re even mentioned. Born of misconceptions such as belief that Japanese media is often “inferior”; a belief that they “aren’t video games” (despite copious evidence regarding their format and presentation suggesting them to be a different medium entirely); and a difficulty in easily describing and discussing often lengthy and complex works, journalists and other types of discussions tend to ignore them, only trying to focus on shorter, easier to discuss western works that, often, have a mere fraction of the budget and artistic ambition. It’s very telling that the mainstream press described freeware hit Doki Doki Literature Club as a masterpiece, while the majority of the VN community dismissed it as a mediocre horror game.
 
That does not have to be the case, however. Here, I shall discuss a great number of this medium’s greatest achievements, outlining why they work the way they do. Hopefully, with this, transcribed from the words of my own and others in the community, I believe we can truly enlighten people about what this medium is capable of. If you see one that interests you, read it. If you see one that’s localization isn’t out yet or doesn't even have one yet, build up interest in it getting one. Who knows, you may be surprised by what you find.
 
1. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
2. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
 
3. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
4. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
5. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
6. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
 
7. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
8. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
9. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
10. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
 
11. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
12. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
13. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
14. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
 
15. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
16. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
17. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
18. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
 
19. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
20. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
21. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
22. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
 
23. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
24. Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time-

Original Release Date: 2019-02-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. Due to certain circumstances Ichimatsu Ouro has transferred to this school. Three months have passed since then and Christmas. Just right before New Year is when this new tale starts. Even if a new year starts, the golden time won't end. The colorful golden time will continue surely forever.
Why You Should Read It: See before. ↑
25. Kin'iro Loveriche

Original Release Date: 2017-12-22
Developer: Saga Planets
Scenario Writer: Umbrellaman
Genre: Romance, Shounen, Slife of Life, Shoujo, Drama, Seinen, Death
Severity of Content: Max
Translation Status: None
 
The Story: Noble Private Academy: it is where the ladies and gentlemen of the future are raised. At this boarding school, students not only learn basic education, but are also taught how to be dignified. This year is especially unique since royalty from the small Scandinavian country of Sortilège were invited to the school. Ouro caught the eye of the princess Sylvia after a certain incident, which led to him being beaten up at the school and ultimately placed into a vacant room in the girls’ dormitory.
Why You Should Read It: When one begins reading Kin'iro Loveriche, one might initially be left wondering why you’re reading it. While it has good production values, an entertaining enough cast and some genuinely funny comedy, it feels like little more than a generic dating sim that one will forget about within days of finishing. While there is a noticeable emphasis on the girls’ physical features, blonde hair, this hardly seems like worth paying attention to.
This decidedly changes when one enters any heroine route, and the reader realises that the entire visual novel they just read through was little more than a prologue. Both Ouro and the reader find themselves in a completely different world, with no choice but to completely change how they view everything around them. At times, Ouro's difficulty to adjust to the rules of the elite world can be frustrating, but the reader themselves will often struggle to do the same. One who has never seen elites cannot truly understand it, after all.
What is especially impressive is that the majority of the characters don’t really change per se. What the reader is given is, on the paper, fairly flat and stock rom-com characters, but who become a genuinely engrossing ensemble once the reader meets them within a new context.
The presentation of Kin'iro Loveriche also deserves special mention. Unlike most visual novels, which rely on their text, static sprites, backgrounds and sound effects, Kin'iro Loveriche utilizes a more complex kind of visual communication. Character sprites have blonde hair. The sprites themselves move around the backgrounds in such ways to properly communicate a blonde hair. There are dozens of graphics which depict the interface of hair, the hails of blondness and movement of the hair. Reading Kin'iro Loveriche is like going to a barber.
It is when one reaches true route, the real meat of the narrative, that Kin'iro Loveriche becomes an explosion of emotion. After hours of build-up, the reader is thrust into the world of unfairness. It is a decidedly brutal tale which pulls no punches in showing the suffering on display. The fight is intense and tragic, with the ever constant feeling of the heroine never having odds in their favour. Character you have spent tens of hours with, perish. It is not a happy experience.
Regardless of the despair, however, Kin'iro Loveriche tells a story which still remains virtuous and enables one to push forward. Its sheer epic scope and complexity enables it to always be exciting and unique, and its moments outside of action always savour emotion, while a good number of valuable twists keeps the momentum going onward. It is a truly incredible experience and, while it might take a little while to get there, is one that should definitely never be missed by anyone.

 
 
 
Uguu~

Considering I've been seriously slacking off, I decided to talk a bit about my list of both japanese and western vns that remain on high priority for this season. Aside from a couple shorter, english-translated titles (Karakara 2, amongst others), Engima: I have yet to check and a bunch of doujin/amateur evns, this list consists of major games I'm mostly looking forward to this season.
So, without further ado, in order of priority from highest to the lowest:
Japanese titles:
Yougen Tennyo - A demon prince embarks on a voyage through mortal planes to bring his bride from the heavenly realm. Incredibly artsy and very much underappreciated. Otomimi Infinity - Near future, beast people and all the relatable sociopolitical dilemma. Definitely one of the best mimikko games out on the market. Komorebi no Nostalgica - Distant future and androids. This is a cult classic game, residing within the top 10 sci-fi vns of all time. Akatsuki no Goei (whole trilogy + fandisk, wew) - A pragmatic bodyguard and a spoiled ojousama? What could possibly go wrong? English titles:
Lucy - Androids and future, one more time. Highly emotional, western take on a sci-fi story akin to Planetarian. Quite successful. Considering my time is rather limited and I don't want to get stuck in an endless limbo of self-loathing, this is a somewhat reasonable schedule for the next two, three months of my life. I can't hide the fact I'm actually looking forward to Otomimi Infinity the most, considering the game's mostly about themes I currently find entertaining. There are a couple other titles on my backlog which are near the border, but not as near as to actually justify placing them within the list... or at least not until I finish those first. Not saying it might not suddenly change out of the blue, especially since I'm not sure whether Nostalgica is something I'll be able to cope with in terms of my japanese proficiency (I still want to try, regardless).
Be sure to drop me a comment, if you want to hear more or feel like this list is completely wrong and I should be playing other titles at the moment
Also, MFW still no Dies Irae.

Hello there! It's not Friday, so it has to be an unusual post and it definitely is one...
It will be a bit chaotic too - only now, late in the evening, after taking a day off and pursuing the only lesbian romance route in Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf for most of it, I've realized that today is Lesbian Visibility Day. For me, both as a fan of yuri and as an appreciator of OELVNs it probably should be one important holiday - definitely worthy of a few moments/words of reflection.
Visibility as something inherently positive is a curious idea. It's based on a very important and reasonable assumption, that to make something a public issue and fight for social change, you have to make people aware of that phenonenon's existence, scale and the consequences it might have for those most affected by it. To fight for the acceptance of gay people and systemic change that will give them equality before the law (and, hopefully, equality of opportunities), you cannot accept the conservative argument that sets sexual orientation as a purely "private" matter - the long-lived stance that wants people to visibly adhere to social "norm" and not "bother" others with the fact they're different. Most often, if you want your rights to be respected as a member of a minority group, you have to be loud, you have to be bold to the point of possibly being obnoxious and offensive to some people. You have to fight tooth-and-nail to make sure you won't be trampled by the majority's concepts of what's "normal" and "proper". In many Western countries, for lesbians that fight is to a large extent already "won" - the majority of people see them as a legitimate group worth respecting. Not everywhere though and it's not clear to what degree these gains are permanent. 

Hopefully?
But is all visibility a good thing? Paraphrasing painfully accurate thought by @Fiddle, we don't really praise Adolf Hitler for bringing attention to Jewish issues in Mein Kampf. Yuri, is, obviously, not nazism. It's not in any inherent way a negative phenomenon for the lesbian cause. But it's also not automatically an ally of any progressive agenda. Japanese media is full of depictions of lesbian romance, which reaches a society that ignores LGBT issues in a way more persistent than pretty much any other highly developed country. For me, it's not especially surprising - just like the saturation of Pornhub with lesbian porn probably doesn't lead to people watching it going to their local Pride parade, fetishized, male-oriented yuri themes in anime and VNs do not have to translate into any kind of educated attitude towards RL queer women. And Japanese yuri, at least until recently, didn't really have an ambition of grounding its narrative into any kind of reality of homosexual romance. SonoHana series is the perfect example of completely isolated, imaginary "yuritopia" (to borrow a handy term from Yurirei), where a huge number of young females live in a world where males exists only in passing references, pretty much everyone's gay by default and there's no prejudice or social stigma connected to that fact - which, of course, make possible a gigantic number of voyeuristic porn scenes. Is it a bad thing by itself? Not really. Does it make people more aware of the situation of sexual minorities as a social issue? Hell no.

Admittedly, some Japanese depictions of yuri romance are probably too lovely and heartwarming to say anything bad about them...
Obviously, there's a lot of issues with representation of women in anime and VNs and I don't want to write a book here. I want to make a slightly different point and this goes to yuri romance in English VNs. This is also not a black and white picture - many EOLVNs directly copy the Japanese formula or give slight twists to it, while still keeping the "lesbian porn for guys" premise. However, for every Negligee and Sakura Fantasy our VN scene produces maybe even a couple of projects that are genuine expressions and/or appreciations of lesbian identity and realities of lesbian relationships. Throughout the various editions of Yuri Game Jam, NaNoRenO and in many commercial titles, I've seen lovely, touching, thought-provoking depictions of f/f romance that gave me huge pleasure as a reader, but also made me empathise with people different than me. Christine Love's work I think holds a special place here, with powerful and persuasive depictions of discrimination and her courage in exploring themes that commercial games rarely dare to go anywhere close to, from Analogue to Ladykiller in a Bind. Lately, Brianna Mei's Butterfly Soup gained similar notoriety, also through a genuine message and creative passion involved. But even small, cute and silly games such as those by Nami can have a genuinely positive role to play, confronting people with diversity in an approachable and lovely way.

One other thing that OELVNs regularly prove to me is that some small, indie games can have more soul in them than many giant, high-budget productions...
I, in all of this, have a pretty questionable position of a straight guy that finds lesbian romance lovely and, to a certain extent, hot. The more genuine the romance depicted is, the more I'm probably a bit of a creepy voyeur getting a high out of something that for other people is part of their identity. But no matter how we see that problem, this genuineness depicted above is something I absolutely love many yuri OELVNs for and a thing to be shared and appreciated. And that's my message for this day.
Thank you for reading!