Inorin

https://twitter.com/DistantValhalla/status/1160226411677986817
RIP.

Yare yare daze

Completed Muv Luv Photonflowers. This VN is basically split into 2 sections: Extra and Alternative.
The Extra section has 1 main story and 6 side stories. The main story is about 4 hours long and the side stories about 15-35 minutes each.
Each side story is from the perspective of each member from the female cast:
Best Friends Forever: Sumika Never Judge a Book: Chizuru The Case of the Misssing Tail: Miki The Yakisoba Festival: Ayamine Learning to Love: Meiya  Learning to Lead: Meiya Of all the side stories, I liked Meiya's the most because they were the most entertaining and actually tell us what her life was like (albeit briefly) before the start of Extra.
As for the main story, it leaves off where Sumika's route in Extra ends. Nothing particularly interesting here, except for some serious relationship drama which all started from the debate of soy sauce and steak sauce. 
Now, on to the better part: Alternative. The Alternative section has 5 stories, 2 of which I skipped (Rain Dancers and Chicken Divers) since I had already read them. Thankfully, the other 3 (Atonement, Confessions, Inheritance) were engaging enough on their own, so that's good enough.
1. Atonement: Takes place around the time when Marimo enlisted and during Operation 9-6. Most other characters are really just filler characters, with the exception of Akai. Akai may come off as a terrible person at first, but as the story goes on, he starts to improve and you start to understand his motivations better. In the original story, there were rumours that Marimo deserted her squad on first sortie, but we get to know what really happened on that day in this story here.
2. Confessions: The longest story and the only one with redrawn art in Photonflowers. Since this was taken from the 2011 remake of Kimi Ita, you probably wouldn't understand some of the Kimi Ita references made in it. Well, not that it matters much, since this story takes place during her enlistment and not before it. Anyways, the story here follows Isumi and her 3 other squad mates, with Marimo playing the "bad guy" instructor (a huge contrast to her character in Atonement). At the start, Isumi is aloof from her squad mates, but through countless hardships, her bonds with them are strengthened. Then, one big event happens which would later change her and her squad mates forever. I really appreciated this story a lot since her background was barely touched upon in the original story, though its likeness to Unlimited rather than Alternative means that there are no BETA fights.
3. Inheritance: The shortest and takes place during the aftermath of Operation 21st. Characters who appear here are Captain Isumi's sisters. Main character here is Akira, who's one of them. At the end of the story, we see briefly that Akira had been involved in Operation Sledgehammer. Would really have liked to see more post-Ouka content, but I suppose this was as far as it went.
All in all, can't really say it met my high expectations (except for Confessions), but at least it provides some important background information on Isumi and Marimo. Overall, a 7/10
 

TIL that AnoHana's ED is actually the fourth version. Now I know why the AnoHana version is also called "10 Years After". I feel so dumb for not realizing it sooner.
1st version (2001):
2nd version (2008):
 
3rd version (2010):
 
4th version (2011):
Live version:
 

Thought you meant this one for a moment there LOL

I've finally completed Hakuoki. I have no idea why it was listed as "Long (30-50 hours)" since it is definitely way longer than that (13 routes each in Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, with an average route length of ~3h; excluding Chizuru's route which is about 16 minutes), so I took it upon myself to edit the length to "Very Long (>50 hours)".
Well that aside, I've got to say that it has definitely improved my take on otoges. My first otoge was Amnesia, and I didn't really enjoy it that much (A yandere male lead? A protagonist who doesn't even talk? Yikes). Hakuoki also has a yandere-ish male character in the form of Kazama, but he's definitely much more toned down than the one in Amnesia.
Before I get to the plot, I have to say that it has quite a star-studded lineup of voice actors; with the likes of Ono Daisuke, Seki Tomokazu
and Miyano Mamoru in the mix (Warning: The following list is very long). Tldr; some of them have voiced characters for Umineko, Higurashi, Muv Luv, Fate, Dies Irae, Majikoi , Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan and many other popular VNs/anime.
Ok, now to the plot. Since the story is loosely based on real-life historical events, one can easily predict the outcome of certain events in the game given that they have some knowledge of Japanese history (well, not that the average non-Japanese VN reader would know much Japanese history, but still). This is also why some events can never be altered in all routes. 
With that being said, while events remain roughly the same in all routes, the ways in which they are approached in are different. Depending on who Chizuru ends up with, we get to experience things from different perspectives, giving us a very detailed insight on each major event. Some characters like Kazama and Sanan may come off as evil and creepy at first, but as we get to their routes, we start to understand their motivations better. 
On a side note, 1 thing I feel quite intrigued about is 
  I had some expectations going into this VN, and I'm glad that those expectations were met. Plenty of action, decent romance and good pacing. Final rating: 7.8/10

I've finally completed Hakuoki. I have no idea why it was listed as "Long (30-50 hours)" since it is definitely way longer than that (13 routes each in Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, with an average route length of ~3h; excluding Chizuru's route which is about 16 minutes), so I took it upon myself to edit the length to "Very Long (>50 hours)".
Well that aside, I've got to say that it has definitely improved my take on otoges. My first otoge was Amnesia, and I didn't really enjoy it that much (A yandere male lead? A protagonist who doesn't even talk? Yikes). Hakuoki also has a yandere-ish male character in the form of Kazama, but he's definitely much more toned down than the one in Amnesia.
Before I get to the plot, I have to say that it has quite a star-studded lineup of voice actors; with the likes of Ono Daisuke, Seki Tomokazu
and Miyano Mamoru in the mix (Warning: The following list is very long). Tldr; some of them have voiced characters for Umineko, Higurashi, Muv Luv, Fate, Dies Irae, Majikoi , Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan and many other popular VNs/anime.
Ok, now to the plot. Since the story is loosely based on real-life historical events, one can easily predict the outcome of certain events in the game given that they have some knowledge of Japanese history (well, not that the average non-Japanese VN reader would know much Japanese history, but still). This is also why some events can never be altered in all routes. 
With that being said, while events remain roughly the same in all routes, the ways in which they are approached in are different. Depending on who Chizuru ends up with, we get to experience things from different perspectives, giving us a very detailed insight on each major event. Some characters like Kazama and Sanan may come off as evil and creepy at first, but as we get to their routes, we start to understand their motivations better. 
On a side note, 1 thing I feel quite intrigued about is 
  I had some expectations going into this VN, and I'm glad that those expectations were met. Plenty of action, decent romance and good pacing. Final rating: 7.8/10

So, I found this obscure idol group with a slight retro-pop/R&B feel and it became a constant source of amusement for me for some unexpected reasons...
Otaku idol, lvl hard:

Idol industry reality check, lvl soul-crushing:

Intricate route system, (some) humorous bad ends, good story and huge emotional payoff. Definitely would recommend 

Watched the first 4 episodes of Falling of the Shield Loser. You know, for some reason, it doesn't feel like a very good adaptation of the original material. I read neither the original LN nor the manga, but it does feel a bit rushed.
Overall, didn't like this anime. Didn't really buy the character development, and there's nothing that impressed me so far. Plus, the whole storyline where "everyone hates the MC, and the story always likes to remind us of how unlucky he is, while he is actually a good guy inside", feels kind of cheesy and not very interesting to follow, at least for me personally. So, I guess, I have a strange masochistic desire to continue watching this to see if it gets any better, but, to be honest, I should probably drop it here.

Judging by your second paragraph, I'd say it is a fairly faithful adaptation.
The story, be it the original or any of its adaptations, IS fairly unimaginative, and the author gets stuck, not to say becomes obsessed, with the idea of the suffering martyr, to the point the MC gets a bit of development early on, and then absolutely nothing for practically forever. What I personally found funny is that, very early on, tons of people realise that he's not the scumbag they're told he is, and he gets tons of support and the undying loyalty of his slaves allies, but every single conflict is basically him going into a rage because "the world is unfair and everyone hates meeeeeeeeee". It's the kind of cheap drama that really gets the blood pumping when you're a teen.
To be fair, the original concept is pretty good. It's just that the author is incapable of doing anything that's not edgy af with the MC, or to have him grow past his first steps into "herohood". It probably doesn't help that the show tries its darnest to make the other heroes so uncharismatic and dumb, to the point that it's difficult to care about them both as potential enemies or allies.