Plk_Lesiak

Most of it is complaining though. I have a feeling that those REALLY interested in the topic might be more reluctant to speak up.

Wait, is yandere normally spelled with katakana? Is it the same for other anime slang terms? Sorry for OT question, I've recently started learning Japanese so I'm curious. Going to add your game to my tablet's "to read" list btw. ^^

I will add maybe one more thing: I think there are eroge titles where sex is the topic of a legitimate narrative and even numerous H-scenes can complement it in a relatively natural way. For all the shit School Days received over the years, nearly every sex scene there shows up for a reason (even if that reason is simply the protagonist being a spineless moron) and what's even more important, have real consequences for the story. So, IMHO, it can be done right even though extremely explicit content, it's just much simpler for the developer to add some H-content as fapping material and leave it at that.

I'm a pretty wierd VN reader as I don't really care for H-scenes, at least hentai as such simply doesn't do it for me and is usually inserted in ways that rather hurts than add to the narrative. Same goes to milder fanservice in many VNs and anime, it's simply so superficial and dumb that it takes me out of the experience. I think that its just as much about culture as it is about negative tropes within the genre and looking for broad appeal - some people expect fanservice and actively look for it, even outside of straight up "adult" titles, so it ends up being pushed into everything. Still, I'm not a prude, especially when sexual content uses well written text rather than just explicit visuals and has clear reason for being there, I can enjoy it a lot. Especially yuri, as I find it much cutter and more interesting than straight sex scenes. In one of my favorite yuri VNs, Love Ribbon, theres a pretty explicit masturbation scene, that still manages to fit very well with the theme (a lesbian discovering her sexuality) and acts as an important plot device. When it's done like that, I can't complain, but it's a bit rare IMO.

Haha, thanks and I'm definitely avoiding Sakura games, less because of their infamy and more because of that sex-doll aesthetic that puts me off completely. I've heard that Sakura Dungeon was actually somewhat decent, but it's a dungeon crawler with VN elements, so I'm not ever sure if it counts. So yeah, definitely not what I want to write about.

It was impossible to keep the surprise factor as late in the line as I played it, but it was still a great experience. Maybe better this way, because I didn't get depressed knowing to some extent what's waiting for me (and I'm quite prone to that). If there was more variation with choices or bit more depth in the meta-narrative, it could've been a masterpiece, but it's still very notable. Also the business model is pretty admirable, with the whole game being free and that "donate to us" DLC. I'm really, really happy that it was able to get this much attention and probably a very decent amount of money, it really shown the good side if VNs to a lot of people on Steam and hopefully will encourage other ambitious projects. Now want the author to make a straight up romance VNs with the same characters, I will pay money to see them all get a happy ending. Those girls deserved better, even the evil one.

So angry... 10/10, shouting avatars are the best

Another Yuri Jam thingy? Can't say say no to that! Could you tell us how long the script is/how much time it should take to read though the whole thing?

For months I'm pretty much going through various feel-good anime to fend off stress, in past week it was mostly Flying Witch. Watching it is like petting a cute puppy - there's not much happening really, but you keep smiling like an idiot and forget all your problems. Highly recommended if you're into slice-of-life series.

Thank you, I will probably do exactly that in the end, but as I can't start now anyways I though it wouldn't hurt to probe the ground. I should have a lot of fun writing this stuff just "for myself" but if I annoy people with it rather than deliver interesting information it would still miss the point. Especially if I ask a developer to exchange long e-mails or talk with me for an hour to produce content no one wants to read, that would be a bit unfair on my part.

The new sprite looks good. I also like the backgrounds you've shown earlier, they're simple but still pleasant to look at. I think I'm going to follow this one.

Hey there lovely people, I've mentioned in my introduction thread that I'm a bit of a graphomaniac - I most likely spend unreasonable amounts of time writing reviews on Crunchyroll and Steam, writing those might be a hobby of mine just as much as watching/reading the stuff I write about. Before I registered on Fuwa, an owner of a certain obscure otaku website noticed my "talent" and invited me to write articles for him - while I quickly realized that it was pretty much a waste of time and only delivered a few texts, that experience gave me a few ideas on content I could create for the benefit of my favourite western VNs and their authors. While looking for an outlet that would be interested in my writing, I actually found this community and later decided to get involved (regardless on whether it could help me with sharing my compulsive creativity). Now while I rightfully gave up on the idea that anyone would want something of mine published on the Fuwa frontpage, there's still this nice little blog functionality available here. I could use it to produce two kinds of content I had in mind earlier: 1. Reviews of Western VNs that were not caught by FuwaReviews team or any blog included in the Reviews portal (possibly even polemic reviews when I'm done with "undiscovered" stuff). 2. Interviews with notable western developers about their games and all things VN-related (should be doable, considering that they're often one-person studios or tiny indie teams desperate for positive exposure). I know that western VNs don't receive much attention/aren't highly regarded here and we're a fairly small community anyway. So the question is: would anyone here be interested in reading the crap I've described above (if you want to know what my writing looks like, you can check the Steam link next to my profile picture or my Crunchyroll account - obviously the blog would have longer, more detailed entries). I will appreciate all honest feedback, I won't be doing much about it in the coming two-three weeks anyway because of RL commitments, but I would love to see whether there's any demand for what I had in mind or should I just crawl to a shady corner and not bother anyone with my weirdness. ;p Cheers!

It has some similar themes, but is definitely less disturbing/grimdark. For many it's the least favourite one, but that also depends on how much you like the character - I like Yumiko very much so it would be hard for me not to enjoy it.

I agree completely, the anime actually did this much better IMO (but they also had to connect of the routes together and leave space for sequels). I think most routes in Kajitsu have a bit of this problem, while the common route is consistently intriguing and very fun to read, the endings tend to be over-the-top and overly convoluted. They're enjoyable, but not necessarily hold up if you over-analyse them. Amane route is my favourite, but after Makina I would maybe suggest Yumiko, as a change of pace?

1. It was pretty much impossible to miss with that absurd title and the trashy vibe it generated, so it naturally got a lot of attention. 2. It probably requires less intelectual effort on the part of the viewer than any other anime I've seen, and it has a harem in it, so I'm not surprised it found its nieche. I think the LNs aren't much better but also successful.

It definitely is, although I've watched it on one very depressing afternoon and found it entertaining for all the wrong reasons. It's like a textbook on mary sue protagonists, overused tropes and various other forms of terrible writing.

While intoxicated you say? Looks quite cool. I've been dealing with writer's block for months now, maybe I should try out this method.

In Another World with my Smartphone might be like literally the the only series that fits your description fully. It actually surprised me a lot that they went with treating the harem aspect seriously, the last episode of the first season is all about confessions and stuff. ^^ The whole thing is still quite terrible though.

Well, this is probably not at the same level, but if it's enough for you to get verbally abused by your love interest Kaori from Ace Academy (warning - non-japanese voice acting detected) is maybe my favourite tsundere. Stays occasionally hostile even after becoming a couple. Has a super-sweet side, but basically never shows it in public and you can get smacked for minor things.

I wonder how extreme examples you're looking for? I guess it has to be something beyond typical Tsundere/Coodere archetype (ex. Sakaki from Grisaia - she starts pretty seriously violent, but gets much more approachable on later on)? I have a few favourite tsundere heroines but probably not anything extreme enough to count...

Sorry for answering an old post, but I feel like I need to protest this notion a bit. Obviously otaku has a negative connotation "at source", but these kind of subcultural terms don't have fixed meaning regardless of context. I use "otaku" for myself because it's the quickest way of saying "a devoted fan or manga/anime and related media" and I don't find it in any way self-deprecating, no matter what it would mean in "original" context, in Japan. For most people in the west it's simply descriptive. Also, even in Japan the meaning is changing. Many subcultures like to hijack pejorative terms for their own use, basically stealing ammunition from those that would want to debase them (like what LGBT+ community did with the word "queer", very offensive in the past). They make it part of their identity and their pride. I think "otaku" is heading in that direction, even if the social stigma is obviously still there.

Post it in tech support section and try adding an actual image to the post instead of a link, people rather won't click those blindly.

... but will anyone believe me that I bought it for the story? Not that I care what people would think at this point, my Steam library is forever tainted. I actually mostly play all-age versions of VNs as long as they're available, but I've felt that with Nekopara would be getting less an equivalent of a well-written Moe anime and more a neutered porn movie. Now I'm starting to have doubts again... (sorry for leading this OT, let's say it's still about the situation of VNs on Steam :D)

Well, the plot description made me chuckle a few times (like "picking berries for dessert"), it might not reflect the actual story, but the phrasing made it sound super-cliched. I would leave it more vague in future (same goes to character descriptions - they spoil a lot), because things like the said berry picking and sudden appearence of "assassins" make it sound a bit silly, while also revealing a bit too much of the plot. It's better when it gives the potencial player a general feel of the story, but details of it come as a surprise. But that's just a minor thing, with the amount of content described it actually looks quite ambitious. How long do you think it will be (in reading time) when you're finished?

Looks very good IMHO. I've seen people complaining about anime with unusual artstyle that "it doesn't really qualify" as something within the genre, but I feel that VNs offer much more freedom in this respect and people that read them are more receptive to innovation. After all, you can do many interesting things when dealing with sprites and occasional CGs, instead of full-fledged animation (or even a manga with the number of unique drawings it usually requires). There's no reason to create artificial limitations for yourself, original artstyles are a good thing.