This is the latest game by Clochette, a company known mostly for four things: It's decent stories, it's excellent characters, a tendency toward fantasy and sci-fi settings, and the forest of oppai heroines that spring up in its wake. lol
Clochette is straight out my favorite plotge/charage hybrid company, mostly because they understand what they do well and don't try to do anything but develop from that perspective. The result is that I can depend on their games being enjoyable. Some people will probably go 'eh? Isn't that a matter of course?', but most companies that always produce the same genre never manage Clochette's level of consistency in quality and type. To be straight, this is the only charage company whose games I can still enjoy without reservation, even after my burnout.
Kokorone is based in a setting where mysterious out of place objects, in the form of underground black pyramids surrounded by unnatural foliage, began granting people mysterious powers about thirty years before. The protagonist, Komachiya Soushirou, has one such ability that he defines as an affliction. His ability is indiscriminate telepathic reception (under the theory that people 'project' their emotions and thoughts constantly if they don't try to shut it off). He suffers from headaches and having to hear people spill their thoughts and emotions into his mind wherever he goes, and he can't shut it off.
That said, seeing as this is a Clochette game, this 'constant suffering' stage only lasts about five minutes (Clochette games have dark moments, but none of them have an overbearing atmosphere). It is soon relieved by his experience of the mind of Kamishiro Sumika, one of the game's heroines, and he finds himself drawn into helping out with her club, which tries to build bridges between Magia Saucers (yes, that is the name for them, lol) and normal people. They are joined by the iai mistress and Sumika's best friend, Tatewaki Chihaya; the genius Magia researcher Tsumuri; her cat-like best friend Leeruxu; and (eventually) the protagonist's senpai-imouto Nazuna (yes, she is both his little sister and his senpai).
The common route is pretty straightforward Clochette, with ecchi happenings that never cross the line, mild humor, and a few serious story/plot points that serve to properly introduce you to the setting and characters (and give you an idea of what the heroines will be like). The protagonist does deal with his personal issues in the common route just well enough to provide a baseline for them possibly becoming less important in the heroine routes (or become important again, depending on the path), which was definitely intentional and typical of heroine routes... but I never really thought Clochette would pursue the production of a game with a constantly gloomy protagonist, anyway.
Chii-chan (Chihaya)
Because of this route, Chihaya will forever be Chii-chan to me. I mean, Chii-chan is so adorable that you can totally see why Sumika adores her... and the route is extremely lovey-dovey, even at its darkest moments. Part of that is helped by Chihaya being a complete open book to the protagonist for much of the path, resulting in an endless cycle of ichaicha that is oddly non-annoying (probably because the ability to see into her head makes it less fake-seeming).
Anyway, Chihaya's route focuses, unsurprisingly, on the personal issues for her that surround her Magia and her relationship with her father... as well as the problems Magia can cause for athletes and competitive martial artists (by law, they can't participate). This route gets highly emotional at times, especially toward the end, but it stays light and cute for the most part.
Leeruxu
The obligatory catgirl of this VN, a young woman who possesses a Magia that grants her incredible physical abilities and the visual traits of a cat-person. She is a friendly and whimsical heroine, closing in suddenly and vanishing on a whim. She eats a lot (think food-fighter levels), and she can generally be trusted to be smiling or encourage a warm atmosphere wherever she goes.
Her path circles around her abandonment issues and the protagonist's reaction to them, and as a result, it has less focus on the characters' powers than in Chii-chan's path. There are some strong emotional moments in this path, as Leeruxu's issues have a very strong basis in her past that isn't easy go leave behind. That said, it mostly comes off as a moe-focused sort-of nakige route... especially since everything about Leeruxu is built to be moe or ero, right down to her voice.
Nazuna
Nazuna is the protagonist's imouto (little sister for the uninitiated) and she is pretty typical of Clochette imouto characters. How so? Every single Clochette imouto shares two major qualities... they are a total brocon and they are extremely erotically designed (all Clochette heroines manage to be ero in a good way, despite being oppai monsters). Nazuna shares this quality with standard-issue tsundere piled on top, in the way of old-style tsundere (right down to the classic tone of voice when denying her affection). Also typical of routes for these heroines, the incest issue is mostly minor to the heroine and protagonist, though there is a short period of thinking over the difficulties involved. (incidentally, Nazuna is only #4 on my Clochette imouto list, with Konoka from Prism Recollection being the top so far, mostly because they did so good a job combining her quirks, her high intelligence, and fundamentally tragic innocence... oh yeah, and her perversion)
As a clarification, one reason why most Clochette sister heroine routes go more smoothly than most is because there is usually at least one other person who is supportive of the relationship, if not the entire group of heroines and sub-characters. While drama often pops up later on in the path, the initial transition is usually fast and easy, in comparison to blood-related imouto characters in other companies' games.
In exchange for not being overly focused on incest drama, this path tends to focus on the issues with their deceased parents and their relationship to the school they are attending... and the dreams they left behind for the relationship between Magia Saucers and normies (lol).
Note: I'm doing this VN really slowly, doing a path whenever I feel like it, but one thing I'm noticing is that there is a great reduction in drama from previous games by this company. While the issues of the prejudice between Magia Saucers and normal people are present in each path, in the ones I've done so far, it has been mostly mild.
Sumika
Unusually for Clochette, Sumika is the main/true heroine of this game, though you can play her path from the beginning. Sumika is a kind-hearted, innocent young woman who desires nothing more than to see others happy. Her goal is to see Magia Saucers and normal people get along, and she works hard as the club leader to make it happen (while baking cakes and other snacks for her friends). She is an 'open book', as her spoken words and inner 'voice' don't vary from one another very often, and she is the 'voice' that heals the protagonist of his growing misanthropy early on in the story.
Her path, atypically for Clochette, is by far the most extensive in terms of dealing with Magia-related issues, the protagonist's past, and his problems with his ability. As a result, this path feels the most like a normal Clochette path, though it is also the only path that doesn't have an epilogue. It is an excellent path, but, having read it, I have absolutely no desire to be disappointed by Tsumuri's path, so I'll stop my play here.
Conclusion
As a charage, this is a top-class game, with all the best elements of a charage (ichaicha romance, SOL, mild comedy, etc) involved without most of the flaws (average/weak protagonist, lack of origin for romantic feelings, excessive dating). As a Clochette game, however, it falls somewhere below the midline, being just a bit better than Amatsu Misora Ni while falling below all their other works. That said, even a below-average Clochette game is still much better than the common ruck of charage, so I can honestly recommend it to those who love oppai and charage, lol.
Sakura Nikagetsu is a VN by the company known as Orange Yell. So far, Orange Yell has produced two VNs, including this one, both of them nakige that at times come just short of being utsuge.
First, I should mention that the art is pretty under par in both this company's games, in comparison to the industry baseline (if you exclude nukige and doujin). The reason for this becomes pretty evident when you start reading, and you realize how well-written their games are... and how good the music melds with it. tbh, if I wasn't so sure this company was doomed to go bankrupt because of this approach, I'd have a lot of hope for this company's future, just based on these two aspects of the VN.
The protagonist of this VN is an open and admitted lolicon, a genius 'human breeder' (in the Japanese sense that 'breeder' interchangeable with 'trainer') is locally known for having turned his three local osananajimi's (who were all three of them 'ponkotsu' in the same sense that a car can be a lemon) into 'proper human beings'. He is perhaps the most open and honest pervert I've ever seen in a live-together situation, and the way he takes advantage of every opportunity for a good time (stopping short of actual sex) outmatches that of any other perverted protagonist I've seen in a VN. Combined with the fact that he is a genius, manipulative, and overall all-powerful as an athlete, his perversion is pretty much his only weakness (a big one, as he has virtually no impulse-control).
One of his osananajimis, a girl named Korobu, dies before the story begins in an accident, and one day, in front of her grave, an 'angel' appears and makes a deal with him to allow him to talk to Korobu just one more time. In exchange, he has to 'reform' four new 'ponkotsu' girls in two months' time, or his emotions toward Korobu will be taken away. Being a confident 'oresama' type character, he says yes immediately, of course.
The four heroines are: The ignorant would-be yamato nadeshiko (Hako), the airheaded miko who talks to the doll sitting on her shoulder (Nayu), the cursed hikikomori who can sleep anywhere (Shimai), and last of all... the self-described spiritualist (medium) and ojousama (Mamori).
Previously to joining this company, the writer did a couple of nukige that had surprisingly well-constructed stories (coincidentally, I read one of them early on in my VN career). I remember seeing the reviews from nukige-players that basically said 'eh, I just wanted ero, why are they making me read a real story?' back when I played it, lol. Anyway, he is really good at making you like his characters and making you cry. This VN is no exception, showing off his ability to create a situation and cast of characters that will draw your emotions in and hit you with some good emotional whammies.
About two-thirds of the VN is the fairly-hilarious common route, where the heroines and the protagonist live together and the self-described 'angel' sometimes drops in to be picked on by the protagonist (or so the protagonist, Yasumi, says). The common route is mostly about how the somewhat over-protective Yasumi 'reforms' the girls, teaching them how to wash their own hair, put on their own clothes, and study for school (seriously, to one degree or another, they are that bad). They never do get over having no sense of direction, though.
Anyway, each of the heroine routes took me about two hours to finish, making them about average length for a charage. However, since ichaicha was generally a secondary objective and low in amount, a great deal of story was packed into those two hour periods. I was actually impressed at the degree to which I was emotionally dragged into the situation in each case. That said, this is just a really solid nakige, not a kami-nakige. The 'true' ending is basically a short recounting of the story from Sakura's perspective, where she reveals what she was thinking and feeling during the entire business, and it ends in a pretty sad note.
Overall, I felt that this VN would have had a good chance at VN of the Month if it wasn't for Sorcery Jokers. It is amusing, has a unique protagonist, a solid character dynamic, and some good cathartic moments in each path... just enough to make it a 'pleasant meal'.
Now I have to figure out if there is anything else I should play before announcing the VN of the Month for July...
Signalist Stars came at me from out of left field, smashing me across the face with a spike grenade. I literally wasn't expecting anything from this VN, as my recent experiences with new companies have left me unwilling to hope for better.
This VN does, in my mind, fall into the charage genre, but it does it so well that I was left a bit stunned. Signalist Stars is based in a city where people who have a burning passion are encouraged to pursue it, regardless of what it is. In this city, for the most part, those who sneer at people who have bright hopes for the future and those that try to smash young people down with the hammer known as 'reality' are virtually nonexistent. For people who grew up without discarding their dreams, it is a utopia.
Atsushi, the protagonist, is one of those people, a young man who desires to become a hero. He is the head of a committee devoted to dealing with the problems that pop up as a result of the somewhat indiscriminate nature of the city and school's affirmation of people's dreams. To be specific, this policy has led to 'geniuses' (people who excel in one area to insane degrees) being a little out of control, and the day to day life is a bit wacky and over the top.
Atsushi is an idiot. I mean that literally. He is so stupid that he makes a chimpanzee seem intelligent sometimes... however, he has a nose for trouble, an endless passion for helping people, and a willingness to discard his own well-being in the pursuit of helping others. He also talks like a delinquent and loves a good fight. Trouble is his drug and peace is its aftermath, lol.
Anyway, this VN is extremely comedic for most of its length, Atsushi's antics and stupidity creating so many running jokes that I found myself smiling constantly throughout most of the VN.
However, if you asked me if this is just a straight-out comedy, the answer would be a definite no. This VN has some dramatic moments, with one major one serving as the turning point just before the route split and one in each of the heroine routes, where the protagonist and heroine must confront both of their issues as a team. This drama is fairly serious, though it tends to be resolved easily, in the fashion that is common to charage. Nonetheless, it adds just the right level of spice for me to consider this one of the most technically excellent charage out there... from a writing perspective.
Unfortunately, there is one issue with this VN that is as annoying as hell. Of course, it is a technical one and one that will probably be fixed with a patch later on... but there are huge problems with the sound in this VN. To be specific, voice cut-outs, voice switches, sudden musical and vocal volume shifts, etc. For some reason, in this one area, this VN has points where it suddenly jars you with its imperfection. The actual BGMs used are 'common' ones I'm familiar with from other games, indicating that they are 'recycling' music from other VNs (probably at low cost). However, they are mostly used ideally. If it weren't for the technical issues (which might be programming-related) I'd honestly say that using 'generic' music wasn't a minus.
Even if one ignores that this is a first effort on the part of this company, this VN is a gem. While it needs some polishing (preferably with a technical patch to fix the sound problems), it is one of those rare charage that appeal both to me and the mainstream without throwing either side out of the boat. If you asked me what I liked best in this VN, I'd have to say it was either the comedy or the character dynamics (both of which are intricately interrelated). My favorite heroine was Isumi, the 'witch' and my favorite character overall was Atsushi (yes, despite the fact that he is an idiot). Why do I like Atsushi? Because, despite being an 'idiot' character, he actually manages to escape the archetype, becoming something more than the frame that was used to shape him through the skill of the writer.
VN of the Month, October 2016
This time it is a straight-out race between Sora no Tsukurikata and Signalist Stars. Both VNs escape genre and archetype flaws through skilled writing and surprising escapes from the traps of convention, and both VNs managed to surprise me with their levels of quality. They are neck and neck in my mind and almost so in my heart. So, when it comes down to it, I'm going to decide this Month's VN of the Month based on a smidgen of personal bias, simply because they really are that equivalent when I eliminate that bias.
In other words, Sora no Tsukurikata is VN of the Month October 2016. Both games are going on my list of VNs to play from this year, though. For those of you who just want a comedic romance and slice-of-life (albeit an unrealistic one) Signalist Stars would probably be the better choice, whereas Sora no Tsukurikata is a far better choice for raw story and plot.
Anyway, have fun yall, and look forward to November's releases! I won't be playing Nanairo Clip, due to my inability to enjoy any story focused mostly on the entertainment industry in general and the Japanese idol industry in particular.
Hmm... I could say a lot about this VN... NOT.
To be honest, this VN is a perfect example of how a VN can have a decent concept, a decent staff, good art, good music, and an interesting (if derivative, at this point) setting... and fall flat on the details.
Wizard's Complex is a fantasy VN, based in a future where magic and magic technology have become an accepted part of life (this is a setting type first done effectively in Suzunone Seven by Clochette). In this world, all magic users are women... except the protagonist (basically an excuse to send him to an all-girls school where there will be no rivals, lol).
Now, perhaps one of the biggest down points of this VN is the protagonist. It isn't his personality, its his role. To be perfectly honest, his personality isn't interesting either, but his role in the VN is so often passive or reactive that it completely ruins the entire setup. While cipher protagonists are common to charage in general, this was one of those cases where it probably wasn't a good idea, as the heroines in this VN are all a bit... meh.
First, Honoka... she is the classic 'kind-hearted airhead prodigy' archetype that some VNs have thrown up in the past. She's the type that will honestly and wholeheartedly endorse wishes for world peace and still believes in the idea of a knight in shining armor as the ideal love interest. I'm going to be blunt, for first and later impressions, she was the most irritating heroine in the VN. While she will occasionally break character by acting in a manner that seems out of sync with her archetype, that is only to reinforce that the core of her personality, as presented, is exactly what I just defined it as.
Iris... I picked her first. Why? I always pick foreigner heroines first. I always pick heroines who are out of place above all other things, and in most cases, it is the foreigner heroine who is most obviously out of place. Iris is... frail, fragile, and weak-willed... until she isn't. Her base personality is exactly how I just described her, but in her path, she does manage to break the mold a few times... unfortunately, the pacing in her path is godawful (this applies to all the paths to one extent or another), and I was honestly left behind as the romance and events progressed in her path.
Kazuha... I'll be honest. I liked Kazuha at first, but she falls into the classic pitfall of giving the 'martial artist heroine' too many weaknesses... not to mention that she is one of those classic ones who is constantly talking about how her hobbies don't fit her outward persona. This drove me crazy both in and outside her path, and it wasn't helped by the fact that the protagonist is so... passive.
Mei... a gamer heroine is a rare type, even now. Moreover, one that is aiming to become a pro gamer is a first in a VN I've played. I'm sorry, but I hate one-sided rival heroines (the ones who feel a rivalry for another character who doesn't even recognize their existence). This is made even worse because Melissa, one of the sub-heroines, has an almost identical role in her 'rivalry' toward Kazuha. As a result, her half-idiot personality looks even more uninteresting than it would otherwise. This is a presentation issue, more than anything else.
Last of all, I need to talk about the common route. This thing is too short. I hate to say it, but charage with short common routes just don't work, if they don't have an above-average set of heroine routes in terms of length and non-ichaicha detail. I'm pretty sure the writer thought s/he was making you like the characters, but the branch-off point basically serves to truncate the protagonist's own evolution, weakening an already weak and undefined main character.
Overall, this is one of those utterly mediocre VNs that occasionally get produced by great companies... I'm tempted to cynically lump this VN in with all the other VNs that amputated their own potential over the last few years, and I probably should... but beginners to VNs who have a taste for moe will probably get at least some enjoyment out of this. For me, this was a VN with at least some potential that deliberately shot itself in the leg, but - like many mediocre VNs - it will probably get eaten up like ice cream at a birthday party by the moe-addicts, though not with the kind of relish you'd see in the case of one of Favorite's games.
Edit: Understand, I did like some parts and others made me smile... but having played much better VNs that used a similar setting (with better characters) made it virtually impossible to enjoy this VN without serious reservations. I honestly like some of the conflicts, but the way it was presented made it impossible to get emotionally invested.
Edit2: This protagonist is a cipher in the truest sense, as he literally doesn't have any interest or goals outside of the heroines. Generally speaking, this is not a good idea in any protagonist, as it leaves them with nothing to draw the heroines except their 'personality', which is pathetically underdeveloped, in most cases.
Yes, I did this game first. This is one of those games that is a bit hard to define. It is part moege, part nukige and part charage... and part surrealist story. It is about cats being reborn as humans being reborn as cats being reborn as humans (it gets ridiculously complex, to the point where there is no point in keeping track).
There also isn't a whole lot to say about this game... it is mostly at-home SOL, h-scenes, and reminiscence of past lives. As a VN, it is a bit hard to read because it jumps around in time so much, and I'll probably forget this VN before long. However, I gave it an extra point for making me cry several times, lol.
This is the third game in Crystalia's series based on a world where a sport has grown up around using spiritual swords and a prequel to the original game, Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha. For those who haven't played the other games, I can say that you might or might not get more out of this game by playing the others first, as playing the original spoils you on the winner of the tournament and a few other issues. On the other hand, this game also fills in a lot of gaps on characters from the original, such as Miyako and Tsubaki.
I'm going to come out and say this outright... this game is probably the best of the three. Why? The more obvious reason is that the battles are generally better quality than the other two games. However, the larger reason is the way it is structured. Ninety-percent of the game is actually a straightforward seishun drama based around a class of talented dropouts and a teacher protagonist. Romance doesn't change the outcome, and actual heroine paths are actually in the 'omake' section of the game, rather than being the main focus.
This comes as a trade-off. For those who want romance to be the central element of their VNs, this game will probably be a disappointment. However, if you like seishun drama with fierce competition and lively interaction between the characters, this is a first-class game.
The protagonist, Murakaki Iori, is a member of the JSDF's Tenju Tokka unit (wields Origami and Tenju as part of their tactics), and he gets pulled for a side mission involving educating a class full of talented individuals who normal teachers can't seem to handle. Iori is, on the surface and for the most part, a good-hearted and hotblooded teacher with a true belief in acting in the best interests of his students and treating them equally. However, he does have a somewhat traumatic past and that past isn't ignored during the story.
Takamine Setsugekka is your classic 'aho no ko', also known as the 'idiot child' or 'airheaded' heroine. She wields a close-in style wielding a ninjatou and hand-to-hand combat, and she starts out at the lowest point of all the heroines in terms of skill. She occasionally, when hurt or driven to rage, goes berserk and wields immense power, but in this state she is easy to handle for an appropriately skilled opponent. Typical of this kind of story, she grows the most in skill as time goes on.
Suzakuin Momiji is, on the surface, a competent and cool swordswoman who focuses on taking apart her opponent's style and habits until she can predict and lead them down the path to destruction. She wields a long katana similar to that of Sasaki Kojirou from Fate/Stay Night. She is Tsubaki's (from the original) eldest sister. However, behind the scenes she is a lazy young woman who can't be bothered to pick up her own trash or get out of bed if she isn't forced to. In all honesty, the first time I saw her chugging non-alcoholic beer (apparently, when at her family home, she goes for the real stuff) with sashimi in her other hand, I fell in love, so I favored her from the beginning (yes, I'm a bit weird sometimes with my heroine preferences).
Kuki Asahi is the younger sister of Iori's best friend and former rival, Kuki Takahisa. From a very young age, she has been in love with Iori, but for some reason she has grown up into a very yandere-ish Iori-worshipper who will ruthlessly act to protect her hold on him. Her preferred style is 'iai-battou', a defensive style where the user counters their enemies with draw-slashes. Emotionally, she is perhaps the most volcanic of the characters, though I imagine some will say Setsugekka is.
Tobe Ririmu is a gyaru swordswoman who has a rather unique style that is very-dance like, combining Tenju illusions with unusual steps with a difficult to predict rhythm. In all honesty, I felt bad for how this game treats her toward the end. While she has a strong presence throughout much of the game, that presence fades almost to nothing due to the events of the tournament near the end. In a very real way, she is a character that existed solely to provide emotional firewood for certain events near the end. She is something of a free-spirit, with a desire to combine fashion with Jindou, designing combat costumes and Origami skins. In many ways, she is like your typical 'slightly delinquent-like child' character, especially when it comes to dealing with teacher-student issues.
I'm going to avoid Saga Planets' new game for now, because I'm getting a lot of mixed signals... even if I set aside the fact that all the highest votes on it are by troll and duplicate troll accounts. As such, it came down to a contest between Shirogane Spirits (by Giga) and 11gatsu no Arcadia (by a new company named Levol). Naturally, being wary of anything non-Baldr by Giga, I've chosen to play 11gatsu no Arcadia.
When Corona Blossom came out recently, I once again came face to face with a niche trend in gaming that has roots back in the nineties era console games... video games that, rather than presenting a full story in and of themselves (even if they are intended to have sequels), instead are released in parts.
Now, I thought about why this kind of game production method has never really caught on... and it took me all of ten seconds to remember why.
Let's take the Shenmue series. Really and truly, the Shenmue series of games is one story that is nowhere near complete. Shenmue was released for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and it was a seriously eye-popping experience for me at the time. I'd never played a game that included so many varying elements to let you throw yourself into the main character's story, and all the side-quests and other stuff there was to mess around with only made it that more interesting.
Unfortunately, it is seventeen years later and the series still isn't complete. Heck, since Shenmue 2 was released on the original xbox in 2002, there hadn't been a peep about the third game... until last year.
And that is the real danger with this kind of game series... the danger of never getting the complete story or having to wait decades for the next entry in a story that is obviously and blatantly left incomplete.
Another problem with this type of game is illustrated with the Xenosaga series... Xenosaga was the spiritual successor to Xenogears on the psx, and it had a psychedelic meta-fiction story that would have made Mr Kojima proud... but in exchange, the makers ended up treating each part of what was supposed to be the same game in pieces as an individual game... which resulted in huge variance between each entry in both gameplay quality and story. To be blunt, Xenosaga's original game does an excellent, close to perfect job of dragging you into the science-fantasy world in question. Unfortunately, Xenosaga 2 botched everything... literally. In terms of scale, it was far more limited than Xenosaga 2 and the actual gameplay was... unpleasant and counter-intuitive for the average jrpg-gamer of the time. Naturally, this made it something of a flop with the fanbase. As a result they hurried to put out Xenosaga 3, which aborted or cut short almost all of the story that was meant to have been put in for two or even three more parts. In this case, the series was completed... but none of the ambitions that caused the immensely complex and interesting setting involved survived the holocaust of the game's second entry.
Generally speaking, games made in parts tend to be immensely frustrating for the consumer. A friend of mine recently replayed the Xenosaga series and immediately said "Good god! I didn't realize how much they fucked up with 2 at the time, but it is blatantly obvious now." It is far harder to maintain a standard of quality across all parts, and cohesion is usually the first thing to be sacrificed.
Thus, don't expect me to ever praise a decision to release a game in parts.
Mmm... first I should explain why I chose to do Hinako last before the true route. Hinako is the secondary protagonist of the VN, the one who introduces you to the characters as well as to the nature of the rehabilitation plan in the story. As a result, Hinako's character development is jump-started, to the point where she is incomparably developed compared to Ruka and Momo.
Hinako is probably the strongest person in the VN, at heart. Of course, she has her - rather obvious - weak points, primarily due to her lack of social experience. However, she is also a big-hearted young woman with a strong sense of compassion and love for others. As a result, it is rather easy to get to like her, and it was tempting to do her path first as a result.
Her path, like Momo's and Ruka's, is short and inconclusive (for reasons that become apparent after you finish Ai's path) in the sense that very little is revealed save for Millia's origins and her relationship to Hinako. I honestly was touched by that particular set of revelations, though the path itself was pathetically stunted, just like the others.
Ai's path is just the reverse... you get to discover Tsukasa's true past, the origins of the difficulty that pops its head up in the other paths, and... it is basically a standard true path, lol. To be honest, I actually liked Tsukasa's character development in this path, since it is deliberately neglected and/or stunted in the others. However, if you were to ask me based on this path whether I would name this VN a 'true great', I'd have to say no, unequivocally. It is a good path... but it stops there. There is too much infodumping toward the end, especially.
As I've been playing Floral Flowlove, I've been recalling my experiences with Saga Planets. This is one of a very small group of companies that has never produced a 'complete kusoge' in my experience, and they always manage to maintain a certain level of quality, though they do their best work in VNs with a strong protagonist.
Saga Planets is unusual amongst VN producers in that their games (at least in my experience) always maintain a certain baseline of quality... and in that they don't attempt to erase their protagonists' individuality. In my opinion, this company's two best games are Natsuyume Nagisa and Hatsuyuki Sakura... and these two share elements that are common to Saga Planets' best works. One is that they have stories with a certain 'ache of sorrow' to them. Another is that the moe-like surface hides a more sorrowful, sometimes bitter experience that is generally not found in most games with a moege art style. They follow a far older storytelling pattern, in that they don't try to eliminate bitter experiences and painful catharsis from the story, and this tends to benefit them immensely.
More recent works, like Hanasaki Work Spring and Karumaruka Circle, have been closer to what I call 'normal charage', save in that they have strong protagonists. I'm not saying they were 'weak' (in fact, by normal charage/moege standards, they leave a bit too strong of an impression as a whole), but they do suffer in comparison to the other works I listed above.
Now, coming back to the topic at hand... there is one other quality that the best Saga Planets games share... and that is there is always at least one (sometimes two or three) heroine paths that are... abortive or just immensely weak in comparison to the others. In Hatsuyuki, it was Shirokuma's path, and in Natsuyume Nagisa, it can be said that all paths other than the true one are abortions, considering the content of said path.
This is a nearly unavoidable aspect of what I sometimes refer to as a 'story-focused VN'. For better or worse, there is almost always a true/main heroine in these games, and it is hers and the protagonist's story that are most important. Other heroines are frequently given less of an impact or the true heroine has an immense impact even on other heroine paths, as she is just so central to the game as a whole. This can be somewhat frustrating if you happen to like/love the heroine in question, but it is just one of the prices of reading a great story, sometimes.
Edit: The above kind of ignores the 'side-trips' the company took into other genres early on, lol.
Edit2: As an example of a heroine that some of the people here might be familiar with whose impact on the other paths in the VN is pretty obvious, Kagome from Comyu is a rather obvious example, as is Suzu in Ayakashibito. To be blunt, there is not a single path in either game where either of those heroines is separated from the protagonist, making it rather obvious to anyone who played any of the paths in the game who they were 'supposed to' love the most, hahaha.
First, I should mention that this was an awesome month. There are multiple releases worthy of consideration for the winner and there are two releases that will be added to overall consideration for VN of the Year 2017.
The actual twin candidates were: Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary and Imoten
The runner-up was: Junjou Karen Freaks
For various reasons, I avoided playing several VNs this month, including Boukyaku Shitsuji and Tsugihagi Make Peace. The biggest one with the former is that it is yet another VN in the same setting as the 'Uso series' by Campus. With the latter... it is that it is a relatively high-end charage appearing charage by a new company. To be honest, Tsugihagi is not something I want to play right now. It will probably take me until the end of the month to be human again after trying out Giga's massacre of that game. If I played it now, I'd take my anger out on it, and that would be... unfair.
Imoten and Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary are both great games... falling somewhat short of kamige level, but then, there haven't been any kamige releases this year anyway so far. I actually struggled a lot when considering the two. Either one could be VN of the Month for October... and in the end, I couldn't decide. As such, I announce the rarest of the rare... a tie for VN of the Month October 2017 between Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary and Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de!
Before I start this, I should probably explain the company known as AXL to the newbies. AXL, which is known for Shugotate, as well as a number of other high-quality VNs, is an 'old-hand' company that was started pretty soon after the turn of the century. They developed an extremely beautiful art style, as well as a penchant for high-quality fantasy and romance stories. The thing most people will notice upon playing any two AXL games is that the art-style is exactly the same... it still possesses somewhat thicker lines than is the norm for VNs nowadays, and the actual character faces and poses tend to be reused heavily between games. The saving grace of this is that the actual quality of the original art is so high that it still looks pretty today, so you find that you don't really mind, for the most part.
Common
The common route of this game is a lot closer to what you would have seen in their best games, in that it is heavy on the story and the character development. From the very beginning, you are encouraged to enjoy the protagonist breaking out of his shell and developing a relationship with the heroines, the youkai, and his new male friends. The youkai, looking like adorable stuffed toys for the most part, are mostly comedy elements, and the protagonist's relationship with the tanuki Shouji is perhaps one of the most consistently amusing aspects of it all.
There is a definite serious element to the story (AXL doesn't believe in completely drama-free main stories, apparently), but that makes for much better character development during the common route. It certainly made the heroine choice about something more than who had the biggest breasts or the cutest nose! lol (this was nice after the somewhat... disappointing heroines that resided in most of the VNs I've read so far from May)
Minagi
I'm regretting, in some ways, choosing Minagi first. Why? Because I can't imagine a better heroine to have picked for the main/true one, haha. Minagi is the VN's 'fushigi-chan', a girl who prefers the forest to school and who avoids others' company like the plague. However, underneath her lonely mask, there lies an incredibly adorable girl that is unbelievably easy to love.
Her actual route is actually one that would not have been out of place as a true one, in another VN. Right from the beginning, straight through the end, you are learning more and more about the setting, about Minagi, and about how she and the protagonist are related to it all. The drama that takes up the last part of her route is particularly fitting for a canon/true/main heroine, and I honestly think it was worth it to play this, even if just for this route. Most importantly, the ending/epilogue actually goes into detail about what happens to the heroine and protagonist afterward, concluding better than five years after the events in the main story.
If I had to classify this game so far, I'd have to put it in the 'nakige' category, simply because of how deeply emotional it gets at vital moments and the fact that I spent most of the ending and epilogue crying (in a good way).
Compared to 2015, this year has been an excellent one. That isn't to say that we saw a glut of first-class VNs like in 2011 or 2014, but there have nonetheless been several releases worthy of consideration for a VN of the Year award from me so far.
Candidates so Far
Inochi no Spare
Amatsutsumi
Floral Flowlove
Tokyo Necro
Akeiro Kaikitan
Close but not quite there
Koi Suru Otome to Shugo no Tate ~Bara no Seibo~ (a direct sequel, so not a potential winner)
Senren Banka
Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru
Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku
Since there were no really worthy candidates last year (I named Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier the VN of the Year, but I would have preferred to leave it blank), this year is definitely the one to watch.
First off, those who remember my comments on Natsuzora and 12gatsu will remember I mentioned hating Minori games, with the exception of Eden*. The fact is, that I still do hate them, I hate reviewing them, and I hate reading them.
The question is, why?
I keep asking myself this. Minori has really good visual quality, good writers, and decent characters (even if they basically reuse the exact same cast over and over with different appearances and background stories to suit a given VN).
The reason turned out to be very simple... Minori is very good at making the interesting seem mundane in a bad way. To be blunt, if there is one thing I hate, it is mud and blood romantic drama (ie, the Lifetime Movie Network turned VN). Except for with Eden*, where romance wasn't really the focus of the game (though it existed), all of Minori's VNs are basically this type of story with the addition of fantasy. I don't think I've ever come across a VN company that can so consistently make me hate its protagonists in such a personal and intimate manner as I've encountered with Minori.
I have absolutely loathed all of the protagonists, at least on some level (though I wasn't conscious of it until I really went back and thought about it later) of the Minori games I've played besides Eden* and Wind (which I can barely recall at all, lol). All of their protagonists should, logically, be interesting... but with the 'mud and blood romance' that characterizes their stories, they make those interesting aspects into a reason for contempt and mediocrity. Since I get behind a protagonist's eyes when I play, it is like being forced to hate myself, and self-hate isn't exactly a healthy emotion, even when it is vicarious.
What is worse is that all their works after ef have followed this exact basic pattern. I used to have a vague hope they might do something as interesting as Eden* again, but I've more or less been forced to forget that hope as I've slogged through VN after VN by this company. If there is a company that is antithetical to my tastes while achieving partial synchronicity with them, it is this one. I find myself feeling like a hypocrite for hating them, which makes the hate worse, ironically.
I can't even really enjoy the suffering of the characters like I would with an utsuge... because there is always at least one moment where the protagonist makes such a big ass of himself that I want to throw my laptop on the ground and stamp on it in every single one of these things. There is no catharsis for me these games... and the whole reason I go for VNs that stimulate the emotions is because that catharsis is one of the things I seek from VN stories.
*breaths heavily and sighs* Anyway, that is enough raving... understand, this is just an opinion. I really, really hate ef and all the Minori works that are based on the same model. Some are good, some really are awful, despite visual and audio quality, but I hate them all nonetheless. Hearing people praise Minori causes me emotional stress, hearing people say ef is good makes me want to scream, and having people pm to ask me what I think of Minori games other than Eden* makes me want to break something.
PS: Soreyori no Prologue is more of the same so far... protagonist has already made me hate him, and he has only gotten worse since the first turning point of the story.
For those of you who are curious, I played this VN on a request from an old friend who wanted an opinion before he bought it (I already had the game, just hadn't opened it). This game is relatively short, being a kinetic novel, but that doesn't detract from the experience at all, at least in my eyes.
Now, I was skeptical about the concept of a VN focused on romance between a middle-aged guy and a girl in school... for one thing, it is a theme that has been mostly avoided like the plague outside of nukige in recent years. For another, it is a type that is hard to pull off without it seeming like a self-serving old man writer vicariously enjoying time with young girls.
Luckily, this game manages to pull the relationship and its formation off rather believably, which was a surprise to me. While this game isn't the type to get named in an awards show or make it to the top of my list of VNs to play, I can honestly say it was worth playing, and I don't regret the time spent on it. The relationship formation is extremely gradual, with neither of them having any feelings for each other beyond awkward friendliness at first. This made the slow shift in their feelings feel natural to me, as they began to get past their mutual loneliness and began to care for one another aside from the need to ease it.
This isn't, for once, a story about an old man taking advantage of a much younger girl (if anything, she's the one who forces things along at the critical points), but it doesn't avoid the issues that inevitably come up in this type of situation either. There is some drama, but it ends on a touching note, with the major issues involving the characters' relationships solved for the most part.
I'm currently playing Koko kara Natsu no Innocence, the latest VN by Clochette, a charage company specializing in busty heroines that tends to produce first-class character development and heroine stories. One aspect of Clochette that I've always thought was a bit funny was the obsession with 'shoushika', the current phenomenon in Japan where fewer and fewer young people are getting married and/or having kids. This is touched upon to one degree or another in a lot of VNs, because it is an issue that becomes bigger every year for the Japanese. Why? Because they are dying off faster than their kids are being born, and it has been that way for more than two decades. That in itself wouldn't be that big of a problem normally... falls in population are actually positive when you get to modern population levels. However, the drastic population fall in Japan is such that it is constricting them economically to a degree that scares many of their social scientists, making it into as big a scientific deal there as climate change is here. Clochette has a tendency to insert subtle anti-shoushika propaganda into it throughout its length, actively encouraging the reader to go out and have kids. It is one of the funnier things about it, as most charage gloss over the kids aspect outside of the h-scenes (and then it is only get the perversion levels up). However, themes of continuation across generations, preparing for the next generation, thinking about a future for the kids, etc. are common to all of Clochette's games, to one degree or another. Ironically, it is this 'activist VN-writing' that is what makes their stories frequently so much fun to read, and the message itself is kind of amusing when you think about it (since we aren't Japanese). However, I do find it interesting how VN makers will sometimes use the platform for subtle activism (brainwashing through eroge, lol). If you want another example of VN-activism, Semiramis no Tenbin is a bit more blatant about it, hitting on almost every major piece of 'dirty linen' in Japan's social closet. VNs in general, like all entertainment media, can be used in such ways... and frequently, the best VNs will be activist on one level or another, because passion plus skill tends to bring out much better results than just one or the other. Edit: Namima no Kuni no Faust is another example of somewhat blatant 'VN-activism', and in its case, it is a combined statement, criticism, and speculation on capitalism as a religion. Yes, I say a religion, because to those who worship the mighty dollar, that is precisely what it is. The entire VN is a story about a true free market economic society taken to its logical conclusion. It was a fascinating exercise, and it left a lot of food for thought, without necessarily being completely negative about capitalism in general or even some of its more obvious flaws.
Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary is a VN made by Azarashi Soft, a company that I’ve ignored up until now due to its obsession with the Amakano series (a series which is aesthetically uninteresting to me). It is written by Kizuki (of Tasogare no Sinsemilla, Gurenka, and Hanono) and Onsen Daisuke (of Kon Kon and Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort). Kizuki was responsible for the writing of the common route and the central heroine route (Alice’s), as well as the character settings. Apparently, Onsen Daisuke was responsible for the non-Alice heroine paths.
The game begins with Himegami Alice and Izumo Souji coming to a mysterious island to attend the school where Alice’s older sister apparently vanished years in the past. Souji is there as Alice’s bodyguard, to protect and aid her as she seeks out the truth of her sibling’s disappearance.
The common route of this game caught me from the very beginning. Souji and Alice’s relationship, Alice’s reactions to the island, Souji’s odd personality and history… it is all pure gold for a chuunige fan.
There are three fight scenes in the common path… all of which are a bit crazy. Souji is unbelievably strong… and I think I should make an explanation of him as a character before I go any further.
Souji was raised as the successor to a fighting style that has existed for at least a thousand years (recorded), known as the Izumo Style, designed solely for the purpose of killing nonhuman threats. Used against humans, it is effective enough that he can overcome the shock absorbency of carbon nanotube armor, toss adult men around like toys, and launch an attack from just about any kind of footing.
His personality is… a bit strange. First, his interactions with friends and the heroines tend to be that of the average, somewhat naive, martial artist protagonist (dense at first, awkward after, bed yakuza and obsessively protective last). However, his first reaction to any threat is ‘kill’. Not ‘fight’, not ‘defend’, not ‘rescue’… it is to kill. If he sees a monster threatening a human, he kills it. If he sees a human threatening a friend, he doesn’t hesitate… and yet there is nothing cold or hot blooded about it. He might consider consequences afterward, but his reactions to threats are pretty close to mechanical in some ways, hardwired into his psyche by his grandfather’s training. As normal to him as breathing is killing monster threats.
I wrote Yulie’s and Claudette’s paths’ commentaries before the common route’s while putting this together because I wanted to see the difference between what was written by Kizuki vs Onsen Daisuke. Kizuki, the writer of Tasogare no Sinsemilla as well as several other kamige, is far better at drawing you into the action and the story as a whole. Sadly, Onsen Daisuke’s heroine paths, while interesting, also seem to be reliant on the dominos Kizuki set up during the common route, at least to an extent. Considering Onsen Daisuke’s previous works (of which I’ve played three), he is a bit less consistent and has a tendency to fall back on common patterns in the industry when he runs out of ideas. This was borne out to an extent when I read Julie’s and Claudette’s paths, as the setup for Yulie’s, at least, was a bit sloppy at times.
Yurie
Yulie’s path is done in a style that is quite familiar to me, having read Tasogare no Sinsemilla (this game’s scenario design was done by the writer of that esteemed game), though the writing style differs (this path, Claudette’s, and Yuuri’s paths are done by a different writer). This game’s setting makes for some interesting twists and turns, and Yulie’s path is no exception. While it is subtly obvious that she takes a backseat to Alice in the VN as a whole, Yulie’s path can in no wise be considered a second rate one.
There is some slice-of-life and ichaicha in this path, but it is kept mostly to a minimum, focusing on Yulie’s personal issues, as well as those of the non-humans in the setting. You also get to find out what she is hiding, which was something that bothered Alice and Souji in the common route. Her path’s story is solid and interesting… but I have to say, I wish they’d done at least one of the after-stories outside of the island.
Claudette
Claudette is Alice’s long-standing rival (self-proclaimed) and a generally capable young woman (like all the heroines). Like Yulie and Alice, she is also a natural schemer, and, having experienced life at the top of high society, she traps people with words as easily as she breathes.
That said, she is actually quite likable… you just shouldn’t say anything careless in her presence.
Her path… is interesting. Compared to Yulie’s path, which is focused primarily on Yulie’s personal issues, this one touches on the issues of the island itself. There are some interesting battle scenes in this path (though I still love the common route’s battle scenes the most), and I was actually mildly surprised a few times, which is unusual for me.
I liked her ending a lot more than Yulie’s, mostly because Claudette’s path’s epilogue actually shows what she and Souji are doing several years after graduation. Not to mention that what they are doing is interesting, to say the least. I’d really like to see a VN with one of their kids as a protagonist, lol.
Yuuri
Yuuri is Alice’s childhood friend, who came to the island as a rare childhood transfer (most transfer around middle school or high school age). She is a gentle, shy girl who is a perfect foil for the more active heroines. She is also an extremely skilled practitioner of kyuudou (the competitive archery sport from Japan which incorporates ritual and meditative elements into the sport as a whole).
Yuuri’s path… is frequently frustrating. I say frustrating because the romance between her and Souji is a classic ‘too shy on both sides’ situation. An inordinate amount of time is spent building up to the formation of the actual relationship, in comparison to the other paths (though the others had their own troubles during that stage).
The climax of her path is actually quite excellent… but I felt that the ending/epilogue and after stories were unsatisfying. In this way, it left me feeling similarly to Yurie’s path, sadly. That said, if I were to compare it to the average VN heroine path, it would win by several hundred miles.
Alice
Alice’s path, like most true heroine paths, is dramatically different, both in scale and content than the others. However, to an extent this is because the writer has such a different approach to the characters and the writing itself than the writer of the other paths.
To be straight with you, the combat and battles of wits in this path are incomparable with the others (the battle of wits thing is not a major thing, but it does pop up with a certain antagonist). Souji shows off his general awesomeness repeatedly in this path, making it immensely fun to read.
There are three endings to this path… an early ‘normal’ ending (in the Tsukihime sense of the word), one ‘good’ ending, and the true ending.
The normal ending, again in the Tsukihime tradition, is actually quite good and interesting. I can’t actually say anything about it without spoiling it, but I will say it is at least worth playing for the after-story, though those who like Alice will be hurt somewhat by how things turn out.
The good and true endings split off at a later point and involve the deepest (surprisingly non-dark) secrets of the island. You find out why the characters, regardless of who they were, were invited to the island in the first place, and, regardless of the ending, it is a more or less satisfying resolution. Lastly, the true ending is easily the most emotionally satisfying of those three endings, which is fitting (obviously). However, I could have done with a more extensive after-story… perhaps an encounter with the protagonist’s grandfather (since, regardless of the path, you never get to meet the frequently mentioned grandparent).
Noa
Noa’s path isn’t a path, as such. It is just an h-scene followed by a quick ending… with Souji condemned to the path of the lolicon and kicked off the island, his new and adoring loli fiance in tow.
Overall
Overall, this VN startled me with its quality, and I feel that this is one of those rare VNs that is both story-focused and has a pretty wide appeal. The characters have depth, the setting is interesting, and the protagonist is generally capable. Moreover, despite my complaints about the after-story/epilogues, I really did enjoy this VN as a whole.
It has turned out to be a big month, hasn't it? Three good quality games in a row... one of which I was sure was going to be a kusoge (guess which one). This month had a surprising number of non-nukige releases that I was interested in, and I didn't really want to leave any of them to anyone else (I was actually interested in most of them). Here is a list of what I've played and what I might play before picking VN of the Month.
Played
Aoi Tori
Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha
Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu
On the playlist
Bokura no Sekai no Shukufuku wo (looks like a mimikko charage, might be a nukige... either way, it stimulates my fetish)
Maho x Roba (to be honest, I don't trust charage from Akabei subsidiaries. However, I was asked to play this one anyway...)
Azayaka na Irodori no Naka de, Kimi Rashiku (might be a kinetic novel, looks mildly interesting... might use it for psychological rest, lol)
Yurameku Kokoro ni Michita Sekai de, Kimi no Yume to Yokubou wa Kanau ka (this one looks interesting... but I don't like the protagonist description, so I'm not sure)
Knonyuu Fantasy 2if is a remake of the original Kyonyuu Fantasy 2, with an apparently expanded narrative. Having played the Digitalized Novel version of the original Kyonyuu Fantasy, which I loved, I found Kyonyuu Fantasy 2if to be very… familiar.
To be blunt, everything in this VN is exactly like the first few chapters of that estimable game, with the easygoing, unambitious protagonist gaining political power and rising to the top over the course of the game… while having sex constantly with a rather large cast of heroines with massive breasts.
Now, at first glance, this series seems to be a bunch of nukige… and that impression isn’t entirely wrong. There is a lot of sex in all the VNs in this series. However, the writing, storytelling, and world-building in these games really is impressive… so impressive that I have been reduced to exasperation each time I played one of these games.
How could I not be exasperated? Most of the time, a writer of this level of quality would be working on major-name low-ero VNs, not something that verges on being a complete nukige. Yes, there are exceptions, such as the writer of Erect… but they are just that… exceptions.
Kyonyuu Fantasy 2if is based a century and a half before the original game, in Hillsland (the country visited as part of one of the Gaidens), where the king is dying of a curse and is looking to choose his successor from amongst the skilled youth of his kingdom. Predictably for a protagonist of the Kyonyuu Fantasy series, he doesn’t start as one of those candidates… rather, he gets sent away to serve as a captain of the guard of a small castle on the edges of the kingdom.
Generally speaking, this follows an eerily identical path to Lute’s rise to power in the original, probably because that particular plot was so well-loved by the fans of the original. That said, the protagonist is an administrator rather than a knight, and that shows in the true path, where he climbs the ranks (after his unusual start) of the bureaucratic hierarchy rather quickly. This VN is slightly longer than the whole Digitalized Novel version of the original and its gaiden stories, and it also has numerous endings besides the true one.
Overall, this VN will be instantly loved by anyone who loved Kyonyuu Fantasy. If there is a disadvantage to this VN, it is that it doesn’t have as much of an extended story as the original ended up with.
I felt like giving a you all a preview of the first quarter of 2018, after reading this blog post:
I generally choose to refrain from posts like this that cover the future of an entire year, but I feel that I have a good grasp on what is coming out over the next three months that is worth paying attention to, based on my own experiences.
Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol. 4
This is something to look forward to for anyone who has liked this series so far... more assassin action based in the same universe as Kajitsu and the others.
Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni
Let's get something straight... I don't have an absolute faith in Lump of Sugar as a company. If anything, their work over the last five years has proven to me that this is one of the least predictable moege companies out there. For every great VN they make, they make at least two games (usually three) that are pure crap or mediocre. The reason I keep going back to this company is for experiences like Hello,Goodbye, Tayutama (the original, not the sequel), and Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de. This game looks like it is based in the far future of the same universe as Tayutama, where coexistence between humans and the spiritual beings have stabilized somewhat (based on the content from the Getchu page). As such, I'm willing to give this the benefit of th doubt, despite the somewhat sour experience I got from Tayutama 2.
Sora no Baroque
So far, Light has yet to produce a bad game. I have no reason to think this game, another work from Light's more prolific second team, will be an exception. For chuunige fans, this is the game to pay attention to for the first part of the year.
Chuuni Hime no Teikoku
With a scenario team that was involved with both the original Love Kami (the later games had a different set of writers) and Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no, this is definitely a VN that will be worth looking at, despite being the first work of a new company. Of course, it could end up being delayed for the seventh time... it wouldn't surprise me at this point.
Shin Koihime Musou Kakumei Son Go no Ketsumyaku (note: The title used on vndb is incorrectly romanized)
Originally planned for a release this upcoming summer, this game has been moved forward to February. Like the release of Gi's rewritten route this past summer, we can look forward to a nicely reworked version of the original Go route from Shin Koihime Musou, which was already an excellently-written work.
Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou 2
This is worth noting because this series (of which this is the third game, despite the numbering) is one of the few non-nukige VNs out there that is set outside a school, and the previous games were enjoyable experiences.
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteiru Mitsu no Kiraboshi (note: again, what is with the shitty romanizations on new entries on vndb of late?)
This is the third game in the Otoboku series, a third game made over seven years after the second, which was a kamige. Caramel Box has been a lot less prolific in the last few years than it was, so I was gleeful to find a new release by them coming up so soon.
Unjou no Fairy Tail
A new VN based in the same universe as Hoshi no Tsukurikata, meaning that we can look forward to yet more antics in a dystopian steampunk setting.
Kieta Sekai to Tsuki to Shoujo
This is the game for fans of Japanese horror mysteries to pay attention to this quarter. A dark-looking game about a young man who has returned to his hometown, only to find the people around him disappear one by one.
Butterfly Seeker
A new game by Silky's Plus. I am unsure if I want to hold out hopes for this game, as the writer is mostly an unknown, though he has worked for Liar-soft in the past.
Now, this is going to be a somewhat short post, despite the fact that Damekoi has turned into one of the better VNs I've played in recent years (well, for the first time, anyway). That is because Asami and Mitoko's routes split at the same point and share at least some of the same events and text, and Asami's route is mostly done by that split.
I'm going to be blunt... once you get past Himeo's route, it turns into a muddy and messy ren'ai drama. The protagonist, Osamu, is torn between his lingering feelings for his ex-wife Asami, and his blooming (non-parental) emotions toward Mitoko (who happens to be over twelve years younger than him, lol). It is complicated by a number of events, as well as the intermingling views and emotions of all the characters...
Asami's route is basically the 'I chose Asami over Mitoko' route, and it is fairly painful to see how Osamu's choice hurts Mitoko, as by this time, if you don't have semi-parental feelings about Mitoko, you are probably heartless. I know I felt bad about choosing Asami, even though it made her happy. The ending itself was fairly light compared to the events up until then, mostly because things settle down more or less peacefully.
Mitoko's route, however, is only just starting when you pick her (which you can only do if you've seen all the endings previous). The events that occur from then on are a mix of forbidden love, clashes with loved ones, and doses of reality (on all sides) that is eventually resolved in a fairly emotional scene (where Mitoko's idiot mother gets shoved to the side where she belongs, lol). That said, I felt that the ending was a nice cut-off for the rough ride of this VN.
A few conclusions... Osamu's sincerity is both his great strength and his great weakness. He has an immense capacity for kindness, as well as being surprisingly wise at times. Unfortunately, it is usually the worst of times when that wisdom tends to fail him (he really can be an idiot when it comes to other people's feelings).
Mitoko, for lack of a better word, is a girl that was forced to become an adult far too early, because of her mother's abandonment. Her adult side is tempered by a childlike emotional side, where she is not really able to control her emotions when it comes to Osamu (with whom she falls in love early on).
I honestly enjoyed this VN as a love story... but I have to advise honestly against any localization company picking it up. The polite fiction of 'all heroines are over 18' really won't hold water in this case, haha. This story's slice-of-life is much grittier than you generally see in modern-day romance VNs, and that serves it well, at least for me.
After finishing this VN, I had a lot of thoughts... mostly positive. There is almost nothing to complain about with this VN. It shows off the best of Alcot's style of work, with hilarious character interactions, good nakige scenes, and a strong true route and ending. From the perspective of someone familiar with the structure of this type of nakige (which is what it turns out to be), this one is fairly close to kamige level.
First, there are four main heroines in this VN. Chiho, the deredere osananajimi who has absolutely no qualms about showing off either her love for Akira or her somewhat perverted/twisted personality. Miyuki, the tsundere ojousama amateur (almost pro) director with an incredibly demanding personality and a fondness for lolis that almost makes you think she is a female Steve. Nori, the professional video editor with the sweet, quiet personality and an intense otaku hobby (as well as being a devoted follower of idols in general and a specific virtual idol in particular). Last of all, there is Hitomi, the spirit of Akira's camera who materialized for the sole purpose of aiding Akira... and who has an almost endless hunger for food in general and sweets in particular.
This game is unapologetic in its approach to comedy, ecchi, and its somewhat ridiculously off the wall character interactions... and that is probably its biggest overt attraction. For those who begin watching the VN, its comedy is what will draw you in. The decision to resurrect the 'loli true heroine' cliche actually worked out well in this case, as Hitomi was portrayed perfectly in her role, presenting the kind of vulnerability mixed with adorableness and sweetness that the community's lolicons absolutely adore. Akira, being a solid 'following his dreams' type, actually serves well as a male lead, which is a rarity in this type of VN, where the protagonist usually exists just to be a cipher.
The downside to this game is that the heroine routes other than Hitomi's are somewhat overshadowed by Hitomi's route, which only makes sense in the bigger context. However, it isn't as much of a downside as you might think... since the true ending after-story is basically
For those who enjoyed Alcot's previous works, such as Osadai or Naka no Hito, this is a great choice. This is also good for those who like the twin aspects of comedy and nakige-style catharsis and those who just want to sit back and enjoy a moe-style VN with a reasonably good story. While the story itself is yet another take on a familiar old trope, it is carried out well enough that you can't help but enjoy it anyway.
Edit: I should have added that most of the nakige stuff (except for some heroine issues) is in Hitomi's path... This isn't an innovative game, and it doesn't add anything new to VNs in general. What it does well is utilize the cliches and archetypes about as well as it is possible to do, creating a high-level game of the type. If you have to follow the cliches of charage/nakige in general, this is a really good way to do it, in other words. This isn't VN of the Year material, but it is definitely VN of the Month material.
I keep getting questions like, 'Who are you?' and 'Why should I listen to you at all about VNs?'... not to mention questions that are a bit more personal. So, I thought I'd answer those questions I'm willing to answer (feel free to ask more in the comments, and I'll answer those that I can in a second post).
Full Handle Name: Clephas Aurenius
Handle Origin: A unique character I made up for a fictional fantasy universe some ten years ago. I've been using it as my sole handle for eight years now.
Age: 33
Country and State of origin: Texas in the United States
Hobbies: Gaming, VNs, reading (fiction and non-fiction), otakuism, mini-reviewing untranslated VNs, anthropology, linguistics, brewing rum and root beer, cooking, and attempting to define VN terms that are actually a lot more vague than I try to present them for the sake of convenience *smiles slyly*
Profession: ghost writer (don't ask me about this, look it up)
Dream: To build an underground house in a seismically inactive (inasmuch as that is possible) area and retire. Take a six-month trip to Japan and tour the hot springs, shrines, and temples.
Likes: Efficient and/or cunning work. People with a non-harmful sense of humor. Pragmatism. Chuuni-fiction, fantasy, science fiction. Good stories.
Dislikes: Wasting time (from my perspective). Being mentally inactive (this is actually painful for me). Foods with jalapeno or parsley in it. Sloppy work done when a more efficient method obviously exists. Political corruption (outside of reasonable limits).
Personality: I have a rather massive temper, that I manage to restrict through breathing exercises and violent video games. I value thinking as something that is both necessary and enjoyable. I am excessively introspective, to the degree of actively mocking myself and being self-derisive when I think I might have been in the wrong on some level. I am a natural troll who reformed himself as best as possible. I tend to think that everything is funny on some level, even my own stupidity and outright disaster. I am a recovering megalomaniac.
My role-play: The 'forums' Clephas is actually quite different from the original Clephas, in that he is a lot more comical and exaggerated. He is the megalomaniacal and overwhelmingly arrogant side of my personality, deliberately exaggerated to the very limits, to the point where it is actually funny. He is something of an insane deity who devours universes and envelops them in his infinite stomachs, using avatars to interact with those inside. He honestly thinks eating people (both whole and chewed) is an expression of love. He also does various seemingly (and most probably) meaningless things solely for the sake of his own amusement.
What Fuwanovel means to me: In a lot of ways, Fuwanovel is my last community. I've just seen too many otaku communities collapse under their own weight to willingly involve myself with several at once, anymore. In many ways, I joined Fuwa solely because I thought it would be fun to argue with Aaeru (and it was immensely fun). I respected her for the strength of her beliefs, even if I disagreed with her on a number of points (pragmatists rarely agree fully with any idealist). Fuwa now is the community I've come to love, with the people I've come to love (Marie, Tay, solidbatman, Nayleen, fun2novel, Flutterz, Zakamutt, Mephisto, etc. etc), and so I'm more or less in it for the long haul. I chose this community because it was a lot easier to talk about VNs here than in the more Jaded tlwiki-related communites.
What are VNs to me: I like VNs, both as an enjoyable storytelling medium and as one with an immense potential for growth (if someone can just kick the industry out of its nukige/moege and cookie-cutter chuunige rut). They are emotional and intellectual rides (better on the emotions in most cases), that frequently have an impact far out of proportion with their actual quality.
My VN Experience: Tsukihime was my first VN... and it stunned me when I first played it back in 2007. I immediately devoured every single translated VN, in a marathon that lasted about two months... then dove into my first untranslated - Jingai Makyou - on 9/14/2008. As I'd been fansubbing for over a year by then, I'd thought I had a full grasp on Japanese as a language... but it was a rather rude kick in the butt. Translation Aggregator with Jparser presented me with a challenge that allowed me to get around the lack of kanji knowledge on my part... in exchange for mastering how Japanese syllables were put together in reverse (normally a skill learned through kanji, rather than learning it first, then learning kanji).
A few last comments: No, I do not have and will never have a Facebook or Twitter account. If you really want to chat with me live, pm me and ask me to get on IRC (rizon). Do not ask me to help translate more than one scene of a moege, as doing more than that (even for a friend) would make me want to scream. I do not have a lot of free time, other than that which I use to play VNs, so no I don't go to otaku conventions. I can cook a traditional Japanese breakfast... but sadly, the only parts I really like are the natto, the miso soup, and the pickled vegetables (cooked fish that tastes like cooked fish makes me feel sick). I have a fourteen-year-old calico cat, whom I adore and who tolerates me as a favor to me as her devoted slave.
To be honest, I generally dislike Giga's non-Baldr VNs, simply because the dip in quality (outside of visuals) is so sharp it isn't even funny. From dialogue and narration to voices and music, it is unbelievable how little comparative effort this company puts into its non-Baldr games.
That said, this is actually quite a decent charage... though I do have some serious complaints. I'll go ahead and get those complaints out of the way first.
Cons
First, for all that the sound effects are great and the actual slashing effects are good, that isn't a substitute for good combat narration. I found it really hard to get into the fights, simply because the writers quite obviously either didn't have the capability or the desire to add in the kind of detail that is exciting to fans of action stories. Making it worse was the degree to which several of the ending fights were anticlimactic or made deliberately comical. After all the buildup to those battles, I was hoping for something truly exciting... but what I got was an excuse for comic relief. Last of all, the endings... to be honest, they needed more after-story for Mei's and Masaki's routes...
Pros
First rate visuals, first rate characters, and first rate comedic character interactions. To be honest, the latter two are areas in which all Giga games excel to one extent or another... though some fail in that area anyway. The first is generally true, with some exceptions. I was actually surprised at the degree to which the character models were utilized as part of the plot in this story... the variety of expressions, the poses, actions, and even their atmosphere.
Overall
A few last comments... first, this game would have been a lot better if at least Hibana, Marisa, and Alice had routes of their own. The over-focus on the protagonist's fellow student council members spoke of a laziness in story-construction that made me cluck my tongue with disgust. Making the protagonist choose between Oubu (his school) and Akatsuki (the rival) would have made for some interesting twists. If they come out with a fandisc later and add in paths for those girls, they'll probably be half-assed and dissatisfying, so I can't say I'd be interested even if they did, at this point. The decision to split at three different points (choose one group of two heroines or the other, then another heroine later on) was a good one, adding a lot of content to the story. Unfortunately, the weakness of Alice as an antagonist and the somewhat disappointing fights on the Akatsuki-side route spoke of a weakness in scenario design that shouldn't have existed, considering how well the early stages are put together.
With all that said, though, this is still a high-ranking charage in my mind, easily pushing aside the common muck that I generally have to slog through... it is simply that they didn't go far enough or slipped humor or weak progression at a lot of the wrong points near the end. The relatively high combat to slice-of-life ratio for a charage is also a huge benefit. The fact that the combat is so... light is a bit of a flaw, unfortunately.
I haven't decided which of these VNs I will play this month, but I thought I'd let yall in on my thought processes.
Basic Impressions (based off of previews, official pages, and Getchu pages)
Hamidashi Creative- This looks like a solid charage, just from the way they actually decided to handle the intros. https://vndb.org/v27449/chars?view=2S-7Nx23xHY#chars
1) No protagonist intro- Speaking from experience, when the protagonist doesn't even have a brief introduction on the official or Getchu sites, that usually means there is a good chance of a kusoge. This is because it usually signals the writers' intention to twist the protagonist's personality to fit the heroines in each path, rather than giving him an actual solid characterization.
2) The story summary actually describes something valid to the story, giving you at least an impression of what the game might be like- This might not seem that important, but games that avoid giving such impressions, focusing 90% on introducing the heroines only, are basically moe-whore-bait. Very few aren't kusoge in those cases, and the ones that aren't are because the writers were actually hiding a story behind the fluff they put up beforehand (a tactic that tends to have negative consequences, but still some companies do it).
3) The existence of an imouto heroine- Very few charage that don't have an imouto heroine or imouto support character are any good. I don't say this because I love imouto characters (though I am moderately fond of them), but rather because for some reason, imoutos as support characters tend to help characterize the protagonist and heroines both. For some reason, charage writers seem to have trouble making heroines feel real if there isn't a token imouto standing by in the wings.
4) One of the heroines is presented as being 'whimsical'- This might seem like a weird sign for me to mention, but if at least one of the heroines (preferably an older one) or support characters is a whimsical and influential individual, the game tends to be more amusing and/or interesting. This is because the whims of this character can break up the monotony that plagues the average SOL game in ways that keep the reader interested, even if it isn't their favorite genre.
Sakura no Kumo * Scarlet no Koi https://vndb.org/v26664
1) NOT based in the modern era- This in itself can make things interesting, depending on how it is handled. Generally speaking, the 'present-day SOL school setting' is the most abused and overused setting in all of JVNs and visual novels in general.
2) Possibly a mystery VN? To be honest, this isn't that much of a draw for me. However, sending a modern-day guy back to the Taishou era (twenty years previous to WWII, before the extremist fires of Imperial Japan reached their peak) sounds like an interesting premise (technically Hachimyoujin did something similar, but it isn't the same thing). As such, I will definitely play this eventually, even if it isn't picked for this month.
3) Protagonist is introduced in the official and Getchu pages AND he has a sprite- This really is important, because it shows how much, in the way of resources the makers of this game are putting into it. Most of the time, even if the best friend and support characters have sprites, the protagonist won't, mostly using a FP perspective as an excuse (and it is an excuse). That he doesn't have VA is a downer, but VAs for protags outside of chuunige are rare, at best.
Kagi o Kakushita Kago no Tori https://vndb.org/v25670
1) Cabbit game- All Cabbit games are weird. No, I'm not kidding. They can be SOL one moment, with mild-mannered heroines doing normal things, then turn creepy as all hell the next moment, depending on choices or the events of the story. Midori no Umi was creepy from the beginning, but their other games were a bit more up and down. You can never tell what a Cabbit game will be like just by looking at it, so I'm interested to see what they'll do to my brain this time.
2) Androphobic heroine- This might not seem like a positive element, but the act of slowly getting past the guard of an androphobic heroine can be extremely therapeutic for the reader. It is also often interesting (unless they go the dark nukige route) to watch. Of course, depending on how it is handled, this can destroy the game too, lol.
3) Murder Mystery- This isn't the first time I've played a Cabbit game with a murder mystery, and, considering how they handled it in the other games, it is probably going to surprise the hell out of me. That said, I've already guessed the two most likely perps, but I'm still interested to see if I'm right (cues in character descriptions).
