phantomJS

Perhaps the most universal complaint of those who read Japanese VNs, regardless of their tastes, is the bland, non-people, average protagonists that make up better than 90% of all VN protagonists.  This trend began with the first moege, as a technique to allow people to self-insert more easily, but the tradition has worked against VNs more than it has worked for them, with protagonists with unique quirks turning out to be almost as important to a VN's lasting popularity as heroine quality. 
Unfortunately for those new to VNs, it is impossible to tell at a glance whether a protagonist will be interesting or not based on the cover, since most protagonists don't have a tachie, voice-acting, or a character description on the official site, lol. 
So, as a service to my fellow Fuwans, I decided to go ahead and make this list.  The greater majority of these games will be untranslated, but I will go ahead and list ones that are translated that I know of.  Feel free to help me add to the list, though this one is for Japanese-origin games, not EVNs. 
The baseline for these protagonists will be that they are either unique, unusual, or capable (intelligent, talented, and/or skilled at something and have something approaching a personality) without deliberate nerfing of their qualities to make heroines stand out more.  Harem protagonists who are merely kind to everyone will not count for the purpose of this list, and characters whose personality/capabilities/talents/skills get toned down in the heroine routes will also not qualify.
Translated
Tokyo Babel
Ayakashibito
Hello, Lady (soon)
Hapymaher
Noble Works (yes, he does make the baseline)
Dracu-riot (assuming the official release comes out)
Nanairo Reincarnation (soon)
Tsukihime
FSN
Comyu (yes, I include this... because even if you hate Akihito's man-whore qualities, he is definitely not a cardboard cut-out character)
Rance games (I hate the Rance games, personally, but you can't say he isn't unique)
Majikoi
Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road (Dai only seems sheeple on the surface... he has enough depth as a character to qualify) 
Eien no Aselia (while his personality is standard for a jrpg protagonist, it has enough twists and unique qualities to make the list)
Seinarukana (similar to above)
Fata Morgana no Yakata (I wavered because of the way the game is structured, but I chose to list it anyway)
Grisaia series
Kikokugai
Demonbane
11eyes
Rewrite (I hate this protagonist, but he stands out, even if he is a dumbass)
Animamundi
Baldr SkyDive (whenever it comes out)
ChuSinGura (I honestly wavered on this one, both because the protagonist is a moron and because I don't consider this to have been truly translated)
Cross Channel
Daiteikoku
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai
Dies Irae
I/O
Yumina
Kyonyuu Fantasy (yes, I'm serious even as I'm laughing)
Planetarian
Rose Guns Days
Sekien no Inganock
Gakthun
Sharin no Kuni
Shikkoku no Sharnoth
Shin Koihime Musou (apparently tl is at 100%, so I'm including it)
Sorcery Jokers (Senri!!!)
Tears to Tiara
Tokeijikake no Leyline series
Venus Blood Frontier (whenever it comes out)
Wanko to Kurasou
Eden*
Untranslated
Akeiro Kaikitan
Ikusa Megami series
Soukoku no Arterial
Fuukan no Grasesta
Madou Koukaku
Silverio series
Tiny Dungeon series
Zero Infinity
Electro-Arms
Soranica Ele
Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier
Komorebi no Nostalgica
Devils Devel Concept
Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana
Evolimit
Bullet Butlers
Tokyo Necro
Soukou Akki Muramasa
Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai
Shugo no Tate series
Amatsutsumi
Floral Flowlove
Aoi Tori
Mirai Nostalgia
Bradyon Veda
Draculius
Gensou  no Avatar
Abyss Homicide Club
Hyper→Highspeed→Genius
Inochi no Spare
Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai
Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo
Konata yori Kanata Made
Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de
Jingai Makyou
"Hello, World"
Natsu no Owari no Nirvana
Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas
Rui wa Tomo o Yobu
Ryuukishi Bloody Saga
Vermilion Bind of Blood
Satsukoi
Sinclient
Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide
Suisei Ginka
Yurikago yori Tenshi Made
Izuna Zanshinken
Tasogare no Sinsemilla
Valkyrie Runabout
Sekai o Sukuu dake no Kantan na Oshigoto
Haru to Yuki
Semiramis no Tenbin
Tsukiakari Lunch
Tsuisou no Augment
Kamikaze Explorer
Prism Recollection
Houkago no Futekikakusha
Izayoi no Fortuna
Natsuzora no Perseus
Minamijuujisei Renka
Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu
Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary
Sakura no Mori Dreamers
AstralAir no Shiroki Towa
Irotoridori no Sekai
Senren Banka
Reminiscence
Akagoei series
Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru
Harumade Kururu
Haruru Minamo ni
Kin'iro Loveriche
Love Rec.
Natsuiro Recipe
Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic
Sakura Nikagetsu
Iroha ~Aki no Yuuhi ni Kagefumi o~
Campus's Uso series
World Election (seriously push this one for fantasy charage lovers)
Curio Dealer
Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai
Lamunation
Sora no Tsukurikata
Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa
Sakura, Sakimashita
Amairo Islenauts
Blade x Bullet
Gouen no Soleil
Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu
Doushite, Sonna ni Kurokami ga Suki na no?! (more charage with some plot)
Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake
Butterfly Seeker
Fake Azure Arcology
Re:Birth Colony
Gekkou no Carnevale
Hatsuyuki Sakura
Gurenka
Hikari no Umi no Apeiria (this guy's personality is so out there you wouldn't even be able to tell if anything effected him, lol)
Hotel. (this is also a joke from me that I can share only with those few who have read it, lol)
Kamigakari Cross Heart
Kimi to Boku to no Kishi no Hibi
Witch's Garden
Kono Sekai no Mukou de
Kouyoku no Soleil
Lovesick Puppies (more food for charagamers)
Toppara Zashiki Warashi no Hanashi
Naka no Hito Nado Inai
Natsuiro no Nostalgia
Ojou-sama wa Gokigen Naname
Onigokko
Otomimi Infinity
Para-Sol
Prima Stella
Paradise Lost
Kajiri Kamui Kagura
Sanzen Sekai Yuugi (only Otomege I know of that fulfills the prime condition)
Primal x Hearts
Tayutama  (original only)
Shinigami no Testament
Shogun-sama wa Otoshigoro
Stellula Eques Codex Tasogare no Himekishi (seriously, the protagonist is subject to some interesting stuff, like akuochi and/or corruption of characters)
Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku
Unjou no Fairy Tale
Yuganda Uso no Koi to Letter
Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu
Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou
Request includes
G-Senjou no Maou
Aiyoku no Eustia
Watashi no Real wa Juujitsu Shisugiteiru
Shirogane no Soleil
Root Double
Edit:  A lot of these characters stand out due to personality traits or quirks, as much as anything else.  The key point is that the protagonist is a 'person' instead of a cipher or catalyst.  For those who wonder why I didn't include Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou 2, the reason is pretty simple... in every path, the protagonist's individuality vanishes and he becomes enslaved to the heroine's character needs. 
 

Welcome to Fuwanovel @ciel_yuri
Hope you enjoy your stay here
Btw nice topic title for your introduction 

Hi! I've been a longtime lurker of Fuwanovel, and recently decided I'd like to become semi-active on here. I originally posted this review on my Tumblr, but thought it might spark some interesting discussion here.
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I am both an aspiring VN dev and a longtime otome/BL game fan. I’ve played dozens of indie EVNs as well and involved myself in the community. So, it pains me to write a negative review about an indie EVN that I’ve looked forward to for a long time.
I’ll just get right into it: Seiyuu Danshi! is a bad game.
Meyaoi Games made around $40,000 back in 2016 on Kickstarter, which was an astonishingly 800% of their initial $5,000 goal. Back then, it looked like it was gonna be something special. So, when it released just the other day, I got it immediately and started playing.
But my expectations were immediately thrashed by the low quality of the writing.

Not only is the English awkward in nearly every line of the game, but the whole time it felt to me like the writers were obsessed with trying (and failing very badly) to make me think this was a translated Japanese visual novel rather than an OELVN.
From the title itself being Seiyuu Danshi! (why not just name it Voice Actor Boys?), to the names of all the characters, to the protagonist nicknaming everyone in some Japanese manner (Toru-chi, Tocchan, etc), to uninspired references to anime, it was made very clear to me that this was a game trying to be something it wasn’t.
Along with this, the game is filled with ultra-generic characters and dates that you’ve seen a million times elsewhere. You go to an amusement park later on with your boy, which was a $39,000 stretch goal. Are you treated to any special CGs or fun interactions on this expensive date? Nope! You just go, choose between a few rides, and read some dull dialogue about them going and having fun.
And maybe *I’m* missing something, because you can change the underwear of the protagonist as well as buy a whole bunch of clothes for him but he never actually wears it outside of the dress-up screen (and in the context of clothes, he doesn’t even put THOSE on). The clothes seem to simply be there for a boost in love points from your chosen boy, but you can just wear the same thing every time and he responds the same way every time. I vaguely remember there being one comment from Toru about the protagonist’s underwear choice, but I’ve only ever seen it when I put it on him in the first place.

However, I pressed on, because from the screenshots on their itch.io page it seemed like the main focus of the game was on the gameplay rather than the writing. Much of the advertising seems to be aimed at the pornographic aspect of the game. In their list of features, they specifically talk up the “interactive gameplay” during the pornographic content along with collectible costumes and toys to use.
But Seiyuu Danshi! falls flat even there. Not only does it take months (see: several hours) of grinding in-game to even get a boyfriend in the first place, the H content in this game feels like it’s missing something. Sure, you can buy an assortment of costumes and sex toys to use on your boy, but it always seems to culminate in the same end-scene, which is my biggest problem with the H content: chibi porn.
WARNING: NSFW-ish image
 
 
That’s right, after you go through “Foreplay Mode” where you manually pleasure your boy, you get treated to a mildly animated visual of your boy and the protagonist having sex. As chibis. There is also a chibi blowjob scene and a chibi masturbation scene. Maybe someone out there finds this attractive, but I sure as hell don’t.
The game costs more than $30, because the game has “100+ hours of content!” Meyaoi Games needs to realize that longer doesn’t equal better, especially when much of that time is spent doing basically nothing. Seiyuu Danshi! doesn’t have a story to tell, and the pornographic content is lacking. Therefore, I would give this one a hard pass.

Figures. I was hoping maybe someone here already had some experience making their own, but I'll probably just order some DVD cases and try my best at it. I'll still buy official ones sometimes, but it seems like some of the physical versions people are getting through kickstarter and stuff are so bare minimum and shoddy looking that they might as well be homemade anyway.

Hello, I'm a college student studying computer science, and here in a sort place I don't usually frequent anymore: A forum. However, I have always enjoyed Japanese games all my life, especially visual novels; the people I look up to most are actually translators. I love the work they do, have always supported them, and continue to try to do so whenever I can. I love the whole community that is here where people work together for the passions they have. So I joined fuwanovel to be closer to my favorite passion and possibly dream profession ( I think it runs in the family, nearly every relative is bilingual, most trilingual, and my grandmother penta-lingual ). And so I as well study, and have been studying Japanese. I hope to contribute to the community me and others have benefited from for so long. 
    A pleasure to meet you all!

Hey guys! I'm arient.
I've been a silent reader for quite a LONG time, like since 2015? LMAO That's when I created this account. And now I've decided to start being active in the forums. 
The fact that I never posted anything is because I've been battling with anxiety for pretty much my whole life. I didn't know I had anxiety until recently, always thought I was just shy, but my "shyness" would extend to forums, social media, etc. It was that bad. Now that I'm treating it I feel much at easy to post things & I even talk too much now. 
Anyway, back to the main topic, I only read a couple of visual novels so far because I'm lazy. My favourites are The House in Fata Morgana & Rewrite, amongst a couple others.
Nice to meet y'all! 

Go into settings, select 'skip all text' and alt through Chisato's route. That's what I did the 1st time I read through the VN (really wanted to read through Mifuyu's route as she's the girl who attracted me the most). 
I would suggest you read through Chisato's route first though. There's a reason why hers was the 1st you had to read; she's a pivotal figure in all available routes and reading her story first gives context on her behaviour and involvement inside the other routes afterwards. 

Go into settings, select 'skip all text' and alt through Chisato's route. That's what I did the 1st time I read through the VN (really wanted to read through Mifuyu's route as she's the girl who attracted me the most). 
I would suggest you read through Chisato's route first though. There's a reason why hers was the 1st you had to read; she's a pivotal figure in all available routes and reading her story first gives context on her behaviour and involvement inside the other routes afterwards. 

Go into settings, select 'skip all text' and alt through Chisato's route. That's what I did the 1st time I read through the VN (really wanted to read through Mifuyu's route as she's the girl who attracted me the most). 
I would suggest you read through Chisato's route first though. There's a reason why hers was the 1st you had to read; she's a pivotal figure in all available routes and reading her story first gives context on her behaviour and involvement inside the other routes afterwards. 

Go into settings, select 'skip all text' and alt through Chisato's route. That's what I did the 1st time I read through the VN (really wanted to read through Mifuyu's route as she's the girl who attracted me the most). 
I would suggest you read through Chisato's route first though. There's a reason why hers was the 1st you had to read; she's a pivotal figure in all available routes and reading her story first gives context on her behaviour and involvement inside the other routes afterwards. 

Some of my english visual novels

More of my english visual novels

Grisaia complete box

English visual novels with NSFW cover
 
Japanese visual novels for PC

More japanese visual novels for PC

Some more japanese physicals, some of them have NSFW box
My japanese visual novels for PS Vita

My japanese visual novels for PS3 and PS4

I know Neptunia is not quite defined as a VN, though it does have long VN segments and I just wanted to add it here at the end

 
As you can see I have quite a lot.

I think Clephas more or less were already described the reason for Island, and you can search his Newton VN at his blog if you want to know his reaction for that. Anyway, as for my recommendation here I would say that you should keep read Island anyway, but just keep in mind that you need to be open minded about that - same goes for Himawari actually. Anyway as for the order I think you can go for Newton VN first, then Root Letter, Himawari, and finally Island. Of course you can change the order there. In the end, I hope that you'll have fun reading those VNs if you still interested to read those four.

Well, since nobody's going to read this, I might as well say this:
It's over. I'm done.
I thought, that when I came into this forum, I would come in, say what I needed to, get to work. Then I learned "Machine Translation Bad!" And backed off from it. Then I tried to get a translator. And I did, and when I did, they said, one to two weeks, it'd be done! It's been two whole months, and they went silent on me an entire month ago! I even tried to get someone to edit the UI for me, but they couldn't do it, because the game would crash all the time if they even attempted. I even went out and got an editor, and we've done fuck-all since I've appointed them.
I'm sorry if I'm going off, if I'm raging, but I had a vision, and piece by smoldering piece, it all came crashing down before my very eyes. Because of this, I came into this unprepared, and it was basically just me when I started, I didn't have a team or any of that until well after I began this thread. I'm sorry it came to this, but maybe I should leave translations to the pros, and I should just sit back at read.
So, now, where do we go from here? Well... I scrapped all my projects, now and for the forseeable future, and basically cursed out people without naming names. But, I did manage to extract the scripts from what I wanted to extract, so it wasn't a total loss.

Here, take the scripts from MEEEEEE!
And with that, I'm done. May some other team find this VN and translate it.

Fan translations are already in a legal grey area. Setting up a gofundme or KS for a non-officially licensed project will get this project C&Ded and it will basically cancel this project as it is currently. Also, it may get Type Moon to C&D any Mahoyo project afterwards. So don't be stupid and try to get money for this project or else this project will not have a good reputation and will fail.

In the most traditional sense, yes. However, there are Visual Novels which employ this method even without a true route. Consider The Fruit of Grisaia. The point at which you stray off the common route is when you choose to follow a specific heroine... except for Yumiko Sakaki. You never make a choice to choose Yumiko, you just naturally end up with her by rejecting everyone else.
This doesn't make much sense in the typical setting where you usually just choose the heroine you like the most, but it makes a lot of sense for true routes where 'ending up with that heroine was the natural course'. In The Devil on G-String it's 'only natural' you end up with Haru, assuming you do not stray off the main path with any previous heroine.
In Grisaia, there isn't really a main path, but you end up with Yumiko in much the same way.
In short, the ladder structure is there, but not in the way we traditionally associate with it (It's still a path and branches at every heroine, but not a 'true' path.). It's a ladder with various exits, but it's not like the main one is more important.
Choosing a heroine is leaving the ladder.
Not choosing a heroine means you go to the top of the ladder (which may or may not be the true route).

Shiniyuku Kimi, Yakata ni Mebuku Zouo
Terrible things happens to the female protagonist, and she's made to experience them over and over again with full memories of them.
Minikui Mojika no Ko
Dark sexual torture VN which is apparently very difficult to stomach (I had not actually read it though)
 
Edited: ops, forgot you (most probably) only read english releases
Anyway, ignore the above recommendations (or you can keep it in mind references, lol)

This VN is dark & moody, has a depressing-ish atmosphere (excessive imo; google Haru's epilogue if you don't plan on reading it) throughout the entire thing, and is full of plot-holes (see above responses). One of the only redeeming things about this is the writing; it's pretty unique (at least when compared to among the VNs which i had read. Also, the scenario writer, Looseboy, seems to be rather famous). 
If you can read Non-English VNs, then don't bother this as they are better similar VNs out there. It's also a ladder-style VN and I don't really like these.
Otherwise, can consider reading it as I don't think there are any English VNs like it as of now.

I don't make a huge distinction between 3d art and 2d art, beyond making the obvious observation that most 3d art sucks.
2d art versus real porn aka 3d world live action porn - I'd say 2d porn is much more accessible and efficient. I can google what I want and have it and be done and it won't take all night. 3d porn, while potentially reaching greater heights of awesome than 2d porn ever could, requires 10x the time and effort to search through to find the good parts. The longer my life, the more live action porn I've fapped to, the more specific and demanding my tastes become, and the more effort and open tabs and hours out of the night it takes before I'm satisfied. Not efficient. But I can search some hentai and be done in 10 minutes. After all, anime girls can do things real girls can't...at least not without searching REAL HARD on the internet to find rare instances when they do ^_^.
2d/internet porn in general vs real life relationships - yet another balancing equation of maximum result versus efficiency. Real life sex, the "best of the best everything you've ever wanted with someone you love and think is hot" kind is exponentially better than any porn experience. However, the effort and time investment is also exponentially greater, and you have to deal with the excruciating fallout of what happens after the honeymoon period is over and sex/love starts dying off, or you breakup and/or get heartbroken for any other reason. In contrast, I read a VN, fall in love over a couple dozen hours, then get bored with that heroine and move on without being an evil person. In real life when I get bored of someone in 2 years (as I always do) it's tragic and makes me the bad guy.

I'd say my perfect plan is to have several real life relationships so I can have experiences that allow me to deeply connect with the romantic themes of VNs then just enjoy VNs forever. Yush. This is what I'm doing.

No one else have even voted for Coconut so far? Your taste sucks, guys. Coconut for life. 

@Corrupted
You absolutely have to read Nekopara 2 next since you love it so much.
Kidding. My vote goes to Fate Stay/Night~~

Sup guys, been using Fuwanovel guides for a while now, so i figured i'd make an account and get to know some of the wonderful people that inhabit this site.
Favourite VN's would be:
1. The Fruit of Grisaia
2. Majikoi
3. Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road
4. Hatsukoi 1/1
5. Fureraba
i love most sci-fi and fantasy works as well, so if you wanna chat or just say a friendly hello-hi, then feel free to pm me.
Cheers

Hello! I am limitseeker. I have been reading VN for awhile, mostly out of whim. The first exposure to VN was actually Katawa Shoujou (Emi route was very good). Afterward, I played Ace Attorney Trilogy on my DS and enjoyed further VN. Currently I have read all Ace Attorney series, Zero escape trilogy, Steins Gate and Steins Gate 0, and of course FSN Realta Nua and Hollow Ataraxia. I am hoping to soon complete Tsukihime and Chaos Head . I am hoping to expand my interest with joining this forum.
 
I often spend my time playing games, especially JRPG or Monster RPG. I also,admittedly, playing 3 gacha games lol (FEH,FGO,Dokkan) at the same time to waste my time when I am too lazy to do anything else.
 
I am currently enrolling in med school and spending my last few free days before the hell of uni. I hope i can read as many VN as I can.
 
Thanks for listening!
 
 
 
 
 
 

There's a VNDB tag for it. My personal recommendation, or rather the only game with that feature I played in which it actually made a difference, would be Sable's Grimoire. A very cool, story-centric EVN.

I'll be around for the next 6 months ~ 1 year, playing VNs like mad all day long every day, probably.
Given all this spare time I'd love to discuss the ones I've played and play other people's suggestions. Since I might very well finish a new VN every three days, there's a great chance I could play your favorite and talk about it with you shortly after you suggest it! 

Love and stuff!
~Corrupted
 

Well, I still mostly classified it as a FD, but I guess you can call it a sequel with the copious amount of new content and routes (and the extremely high number of h scenes)
A FD mostly has content / after stories of the original characters, and this is something which the majokoi-A series does not have. Instead, it focus on the heroines which you were not able to in Majikoi / Majikoi S. Personally this don't feel like a FD to me.
Anyway most important thing is that it's not a prerequisite to read Majikoi or S first (although it's preferable to first) for the A series