Chronopolis

Now, I've said this several times before, but AXL is a company that reuses its art, music, and character designs/features heavily.  As such, I rate their games solely based on plot/story and how those elements are used (in other words, jackasses who point out the somewhat dated art style and recycled music can go sodomize themselves with a pickle for all I care).  Unless you are a bigot who absolutely has to have the latest art styles, this shouldn't be something that bothers you anyway.
Ou no Mimi is a medieval fantasy done in the same style as Princess Frontier and several other of AXL's earlier games.  In this case, it centers on the protagonist, Kas, who lives there as a bodyguard for the village, occasionally working the fields (when the old lady Nasta threatens to sodomize him with a hoe) and doing other odd jobs, earning him a reputation as a classic 'lazy young whippersnapper' amongst the villagers.  In fact, he is a former knight-assassin who worked in the unit known as the 'Ears of the King', and every night he patrols the village, setting traps for dangerous monsters and animals, as well as looking for suspicious 'visitors' in the night. 
This VN follows a similar structure to that of many other games by this company, with a long, dramatic and eventful common route (with some nice action scenes and political machinations), and a heroine route split between heavy drama and lovey-dovey moments. 
One huge improvement over previous games of this type from this company is that many of the social elements are a lot more realistic.  In particular, the way politics is handled in a constitutional monarchy (think Shakespeare-era England when it comes to the ruler's level of power and influence) is included into the story. 
One thing that might or might not turn off some people is the way Kas struggles with his past as an assassin and how it interferes with him forming a relationship with the heroines.  A lot of this comes from the fact that he was an assassin in the darkest sense of the word (as in obliterating entire noble families at times), and it was only with the first scene that comes up in the prologue that he is forced to a realization of just how far he has fallen due to his loyalty to his kingdom.  (For those who want to cry spoilers, these aren't spoilers, since they are described on the Getchu page and on the official site)
Except for how willing they are to accept Kas's past, the heroines aren't really unusual for an AXL game.  Jinea, the princess heroine, is a bit childish, but she is also very obviously someone raised to rule, as evidenced by her thought processes.  Pinyo, the protagonist's little sister (and the village apothecary) is your classic 'intelligent adult heroine', though she does have hidden depths that come out in her path.  Collio, the daughter of the bandit chief the protagonist defeats in the prologue (again not a spoiler), is a dreamer and a genkikko who is also something of a genius at mercantile negotiation.  Finally, Shizuru is an endlessly hungry poor noblewoman living in a run-down mansion on the edge of town. 
The best point about this VN is that, despite its length and the amount of content in it, there really isn't any wasted scenes, a quality that even AXL fails to manage to keep in its VNs.  Every scene is linked either to the development of the characters or the story, and the endings are all satisfying and well-done conclusions to each heroine's story. 
Overall, this is yet another great VN from AXL in a long list of such VNs.  For those who like AXL's style (which, while it tends to be the same from one of their games to another, differs dramatically from other companies' styles) games, this is pure crack.  For those who like their protagonist to have a shady or downright dirty past, this game is also an excellent choice.  Finally, for those who want medieval fantasy slice of life with a strong dose of spice, this is a great choice.

Ryuukishi is the sequel to Ryakudatsusha no In'en, which was released last month... or rather, Ryakudatsusha is a prelude/prequel to this game.  However, the fundamental nature of the game has changed greatly.  For one thing, this VN lacks the constant rape and mutilation scenes that were so a part of Ryakudatsusha...
... well not entirely.  There is only one rape scene, and there are a few guro scenes.  However, those scenes are not nearly as dominant as the ones in Ryakudatsusha.  For those who liked the prelude, this game might be a bit of a shock to the system.
Anyway, this VN is based some time after the events in Ryakudatsusha, and Roy's manner and appearance have changed greatly.  The grim adolescent of the first game has become a smiling young wandering apothecary, and his sword is now no longer in evidence.  The setting is in a walled city at the foot of a mountain where a fire dragon lairs.  Despite attacks by the dragon at irregular intervals, the city has thrived for several centuries, and its knights have systematized the process of sacrificing their lives to draw the dragon away from the civilians, knowing they can do nothing else. 
The tone of this game, despite its frequently bloody/gory events, is far milder than Ryakudatsusha.  There is some slice-of-life, which is mostly used for deepening the connection to the setting and heroines, as well as progressing the story.  There are also some seriously good fights in this game, as Roy sometimes is forced to show his old skills in order to protect the four female knights who serve as the harem/heroines for the game (yes, it is a harem, lol). 
The actual progression of the game is kinetic, with all the choices merely creating changes in individual scenes, rather than the story itself.  The setting itself retains the darkness of Ryakudatsusha, while leavening the blood-soaked dough that is this particular fantasy world with lighter and gentler moments.

Some people on this forum already know me as a pretty big Cyclet fanboy. They make some pretty good dark games, which is right up my alley. Tokage no Shippo Kiri is by far my favorite Cyclet game to date, and in this blog entry I'll be talking a bit about why.
I found out about this through some people on Discord, and after looking through some CGs from the game, I was rather confused when I was told this is a pure love story. That made very little sense to me, which just sparked my interest even more. After having read the game, I have to say I agree; this is definitely primarily a love story, though a rather tragic one at that. I will be mainly talking about the first few hours of the game in this blog post, then reflect on why I like the game and what it does right, so it's pretty much spoiler free. What you see here is just the introduction to the story that you see after a little bit of reading, so the major plot twists and such is not spoiled here, should you ever feel like reading the game.
 
The title of the game plays a very central role in the story, and it does so almost immediately. Tokage no Shippo Kiri = (rough TL) Cutting the lizard's tail.
The main character, Shuu, is an honor student. Among the smartest people in school, and certainly among the most diligent, Shuu seems like a rather normal guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. He doesn't come in late, he does all his homework and places among the top students on tests. However, this story is meant to show you that although people might seem totally normal on the outside, they could be just a single step from breaking on the inside.
As Shuu ends up being late one day, he starts running to school in order to make it in time. On his way though, he ends up stepping on something. Upon looking down, he spots a lizard with its tail ripped off. However, the lizard doesn't cower in pain, scream or anything that a human would in a situation where their limbs are ripped off them. Instead, it completely calmly runs away, fleeing from danger, completely unfazed by the fact that a portion of its body is missing. As he sees this, Shuu breaks. Something inside him is stirred, and he wonders, "is it possible for humans to regenerate their limbs like a lizard?" Suddenly, very interested in how exactly lizards can do this, he starts researching anatomy, biology and such extensively. Every single day he goes to the library to read up on immortality, regeneration of limbs, and anything he can come across slightly related to learn how it works. Shuu concludes that the only way to figure this out though, is through practical experiments. Now, at this point this probably sounds like it will turn into a guro fest, but it's not quite how things goes. This is like I said before, primarily a love story, (although the game has a decent amount of guro, it's not quite the same as other guro games in that regard). Anyways, enter Kanau.
Kanau is a girl who is totally in love with Shuu. She is so madly in love with him, it's a bit confusing really, as she hasn't actually talked much with him before at all. At first, you don't really get any explanation for this. She just loves him, and wants to be with him. She eventually approaches Shuu, and he politely agrees to letting her help him with his research. The two start reading books together in the library, although Kanau of course has no idea what kind of research this really is. Two other students eventually joins in on this as well, and the four of them come to library every day to research. Each one of them have their own motive for doing this, and the way the story keeps their reasoning hidden until the later segments is very well executed, even for the main character Shuu.
Leaving the other two on the side, let's talk about Kanau and Shuu's romance. (The other two have rather minimal roles in the main route, but bigger parts in their own routes that are connected to the main route later on.) Shuu and Kanau start to get along well, and soon enough they both develop romantic feelings for one another. (Well, Kanau already had these, like I mentioned, but it becomes mutual at least.)
The thing is though, as the reader you really don't know whether Shuu's feelings are genuine, or if he is just using Kanau for his potential experiments. As I was reading the game I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. Exactly what is it that Shuu wants, what is fueling him, and what is going to happen next? And likewise, Kanau's motives were totally mysterious to me as well. Sure, she loves him, but why? To be frank, you really don't get what is going on for a long time. Though, all of the answers will come in due time.
Shuu talks Kanau into helping him with an experiment, though she is not the test subject; he wants to test this on himself. Shuu wants to know, "can humans grow back their limbs? Just how far can the human body be pushed when it comes to healing itself?"
And so, he decides to have Kanau cut off his finger, and then observes the result. (Don't worry, not a bloody CG. I won't link any of those ) 
Needless to say, Kanau is not a big fan of this idea, but due to her extreme attatchement to Shuu, there is no way she is saying no. Big parts of the game is told from Kanau's point of view, and deals with her conflicted emotions. She hates the idea of Shuu being in pain, but hates the idea of Shuu rejecting her because she won't help him with his research even more.
 
After this, things keep escalating and the characters are forced to face their own mortality, quite literally. The truth is that no matter how you try to spin it, human beings are very fragile creatures, both mentally and physically, and you can't defy the laws of nature. This is the main point the game tries to get across, at least that's how it seemed to me. Shuu and Kanau's romantic story is a rather messy one, and this game really brings out loads of different emotions in the reader. I think a big misconception with dark themed stories is that they must always go a bit over the top, so that we can separate them from reality. However, Tokage no Shippo Kiri doesn't do that at all. It's as realistic as you can get with a story like this, and that makes the impact it has on the reader even stronger. 
The game is very psychologically straining, as you are put into the shoes of these characters in rather gruesome situations. I felt like certain choices in the game were very hard to make, as I was honestly afraid of the result they would lead to. So far, this is the only guro game that has made me feel a connection to the characters in that way. I mean, most of the time, story and writing pulls you in, but the surreal and rather "silly" settings if you will, completely separates you from seeing the story as being anything close to reality. (Like Maggot Baits and Nikuniku. Both games are fantastic, but you don't feel like what you are reading is reality, which makes it easier to stomach the dark and gruesome situations.)
Of course, it's not like Tokage no Shippo Kiri makes you think it's based on a true story or anything, and 1 route in specific is rather... dumb to be completely honest. It feels like that route was just put there to please guro fans, and it serves little importance to the plot, but still retains some value so that you can't quite skip it either. That was honestly one of the reasons why this game didn't get a higher rating from me. Without that route, I'd be more inclined to go closer to the 10/10 than my current 8.4 rating of it. I like guro in nukige settings too, but I don't like having it crammed into a game that quite honestly felt like a very serious story. The guro in the other 2 routes is used in a way that makes sense to the plot, because of the mentality of the characters and such. Although the same point can be made for the route in question, I think it was purposely just stuffed in there to make the game appeal more to the guro crowd to draw them in. I won't mention which route this is, and I'll let you find that on your own if you are going to read the game.
This does bring me to the second part of the game I did not like too much, and that was the sheer amount of H-scenes. I never thought I'd be saying that about a game like this, but it's true. The game does put some H-scenes in situations where they honestly don't really need to be. Sometimes the scenes make perfect sense, as many situations in the game stirs up a mix of different emotions in the characters and that makes the scenes feel fitting. But at other times, they just really don't need to be there at all. This game isn't a full on nukige, though it's quite similar in certain traits, and Cyclet might have been trying to flip it a bit more in that direction than I want to admit. Still, the game's story is very good, and the amount of H-scenes hardly changes that fact.
 
A few last words about the game. It's told in three routes, though Kanau's route is the true one, and the other two take place assuming you have already read Kanau's route, (so if you are going to read this, read Kanau's route first.) All three of them tie into each other, and only by reading all three will you truly understand everything. If you only read one, you will be lacking key information to piece the entire puzzle together. There is one route which has less of a purpose than the other two, like I said, but you should still read all three if you want all the answers to the questions that might be swirling around in your head when you read this.
Tokage no Shippo Kiri is a very good psychological game, about a romance between people on the verge of breaking, and them facing the harsh truth of their own mortality. It's definitely not a game everyone will enjoy, but for the people who like darker games with a more bitter taste to them, this is a very good choice. If you can't stomach gore and such, it's not really advised to touch this game.

... I'm going to be blunt about this... I can't  believe this was written by the same guy who wrote Nekopara, Sakura Bitmap, and Strawberry Nauts.  This VN has an overwhelming degree of impact compared to his other works, to the point where I'm even willing to consider it a kamige.  Music, music-usage, story, presentation, art, and art usage are all at their highest levels, combining to create a nakige whose impact is far out of proportion to its length (which is only about seven hours, for me). 
I honestly wasn't expecting the emotional impact of this VN.  In terms of this quality, it approaches Houkago no Futekikakusha, without being an utsuge... I literally cried throughout the entire game, to the point where my sinuses are swollen and my eyes bloodshot.  From the very beginning, this game makes no pretense at being anything other than what it is... a cathartic trip full of love, despair, sorrow, and loss with a drop of hope. 
I won't spoil you as to the central concept, even though it is tempting.  Based on the fact that no details of the setting other than the characters are revealed in any detail on either the official website or the Getchu page, in addition to my own experience, I can say straight out that this is a VN best enjoyed without someone giving you details to the setting or situation.  I will say that it is a fantasy setting, based in a world that has early nineteenth-century tech (no guns that I saw though), based on the presence of an ice box and ice sellers in the game.  This is also based on the fact that matches exist but electric lights apparently don't, since the characters are using candles and oil lamps. 
This game is pretty short, mostly due to its structure, where heroine 'paths' only come into existence after the main story is over, as epilogues for each of the four individual heroines (Haru, Yuki, Kotose, and Ren).  There is no 'true' heroine in this game, for those are wondering.  All the heroines are quite literally equal, though the protagonist is a bit more intimate with Ren and Haru, which is probably more of a reflection of the writer's preferences than anything else.
This game is 100% 'business', including the slice-of-life scenes.  Not one scene in this VN is wasted on something other than portraying the characters' suffering and joy or progressing the story.  To be blunt, if this game weren't so perfectly designed, I'd probably be calling it 'bare-bones' in that aspect.  That lack of wasted time is actually of immense help, as it prevents the phenomenon of 'contempt due to familiarity' that tends to occur when a VN has an excess of 'meaningless' slice-of-life scenes. 
This VN isn't humor-centric, so don't expect a lot of laughs out of it.  The heroines have serious issues, and even in everyday life, those issues peek out from beneath the surface on a regular basis.  As a result, humorous situations are relatively limited after the setting's central issue gets introduced to you and you come to understand the protagonist's objective.
Unfortunately, there is little more I can say about this VN without ruining it for you.  I can say it is a first-class nakige, and I can say it is a cry-fest designed to suck the tears out of you with a virtual vacuum cleaner.  However, that is just a repeat of what I said above.  I do advise that anyone who goes into this VN should do so without excessive prior knowledge, as it is a VN that is best enjoyed with a 'clean slate' the first time around.
VN of the month November 2016
Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana

Let  me put down a few clarifying points regarding this blog. I kind of felt that I had to write down my feelings about VNs I read somewhere, and this seems to be a nice place for the same. I also drew much of my inspiration from Clephas, who is my guru when it comes to VNs (I proclaim this myself).
0. This blog is NOT a review or what-to-read-next-recommendations site.
This is only about the VNs I read and want to write about. Besides, I have got nowhere enough experience to be doing that. Clephas VN home is the place I recommend you go for the same. The only ones I can recommend are the ones I enjoyed reading, regardless of their flaws or things like that.
2. I don't read a lot of VNs in a short period.
While I enjoy reading VNs a lot, it is impossible for me to read several VNs in a short span of time, simply because my speed is not enough.
3. My thoughts WILL be biased towards heroines I find more likeable.
This is also part of the reason why my posts won't count as "reviews". They won't be unbiased. I will tend to gush more about heroine routes I liked, rather than trying to judge them from an objective viewpoint.
4. You may or may not like what I like.
This goes without saying, but I had to make it clear. Each person has their own way of thinking and expectations from VNs.
That being said... I'll dive in.

I'm going to say this straight out... Awesome job, Alcot!!! 
There is a peculiar balance needed to make the perfect fantasy story-focused charage... and it has literally been years since the last time a VN has managed it.  I should know, since I play everything fantasy that isn't a nukige and some that are. 
Alcot's formula of comedy (in particular sexual comedy and situational comedy) is pretty straightforward and easy to enjoy, going across cultural lines fairly easily.  As such, it doesn't require much effort to enjoy.  That provides one element of this VN that 'completes' it. 
Another element is the setting.  Is there a solid setting?  Is that setting vital to the story and utilized well to enhance it and give it life?  That is definitely the case with this VN.  The fantasy elements are vital to every aspect of this VN and touch upon every element of the story.  I am happy to say that this VN is one of those rare fantasy VNs (non-chuuni, non-rpg) where the setting is so integral to the story as to make it inseparable.
Third is the heroine paths.  Are the heroine paths consistent with the setting and the story of the common route?  Are none of the heroines overly favored?  Is there a good balance between ichaicha, drama, and plot?  I can say yes to all these questions with this VN.  The heroine paths are universally solid, with none of them exceptionally favored over the others.  I was seriously impressed at the creativity of the writer when dealing with the endings, since they pretty much universally deviated from the 'golden road' of charage in peculiar ways while keeping to the spirit of the genre (happy endings for beloved characters).
Fourth is the characters in general.  Do they fit into the story?  Do the relationships between the characters feel 'alive', even if they aren't necessarily always believable from an excessively realistic point of view?  For that matter, does the protagonist 'fit' into his role as the center of the story (and the heroines' affections)?  Again, the answer is yes to all.  While the protagonist isn't necessarily exceptional in most ways, he has many qualities that both make him attractive enough to make the romance portions feel real, as well as the roundness to justify such a protagonist-centric story.
What this all comes down to is that this VN is fairly close to a perfect example of the best of the sub-genre, as well as being an example of why I still play charage, even though most of them are crap hiding the gems.  For people who like a strong element of fantasy in their charage, as well as a strong plot for both the characters and the game in general, this is an excellent choice.  For those who prefer to avoid seriousness and stress at all costs, it might be a too much though.  Also... SPOILERS BELOW

Since this week had no noteworthy progress being made, I decided to do this instead of a regular update and splitting percentages.
The Future
Current Projects
Let’s talk about release dates. Note that these are only estimation based on pure calculations and logic and will not be final nor necessary truthful under any circumstances.
As I’ve stated before, I would’ve fancied this project finishing before end of the year. Now, I’m sure the editing and QC will finish before that, but I’m not so sure about the proofreading. It could be at 75% at most, but in all seriousness, that’s as far as it’s going to get, I’m afraid.
So, according to my estimations, Biman -1- will most likely release in mid to late January, most likely.
 
Then, Biman -2.5-.
As much as I’d want for the translation to finish in 2016, I do think such an event is rather unlikely.
If all goes well, the translation should finish around at the same time as Biman -1- releases.
As for the full release, probably mid-year or sooner, but that’s a really rough estimation, so don’t quote me on that.
 
Future Projects
As much as I’d like to start a new project right after Biman -2.5-, I’m most likely going take a short hiatus from translating, so be wary of that.
As for actual, I have a few in mind, but I’ll disclose information from those after these two will be out, in the same time as my hiatus.
 
My thoughts on Biman -4-
As you may or may not know, there’s a new Biman game on the horizon, and I’m quite excited for it.
It’ll be a game with a trap protagonist and it’s been a pretty long time since I played a Trap VN, but it’ll be a very nice change of pace from what I’ve been reading recently. As for the whole story, I’m more or less expecting something along the lines of the first Biman with some kind of S/M relationship.
As for the name, it does set some nice undertones it might have, a rough translation being “A Girl’s Crime and Punishment”.
At this point, there’s really quite little I can speculate about, but I do wish for something more akin to the first game in the series, but we’ll have to wait and see, and I hope it doesn’t try to be too many things at once and just fall flat on its arse.
As for translating it, well, it’s a possibility and I’ll leave it at that.
See you next week, everyone.

After reading Clephas’ recent blog update I decided to rip him off was inspired to do something similar. My own experience with visual novel is not as vast as his so go read his blog, his list is awesome and is way more interesting, so just give up reading this and go to his blog -__-
Every work should be judged on its own no matter who the writer is but it’s impossible, in my opinion, not to rely on those writers that really speak to us, those that know how to push our buttons and inspire us, touch us deeply, bring us to tears, and blow our minds. When you find a writer that does all that for you then you’ll probably want to read more of his works if only because nobody else does that for you.
Takumi Nakazawa – Best known for his work on the Infinity series, Nakazawa is one of the most incredible writers and story builders of our time. He writes Hard Science Fiction Mysteries and is completely crazy for plot details. Every single scene in his stories have a purpose to be there, every line can have multiple interpretations. Each story he writes explores many philosophical themes and scientific theories. His obsession with details what gives his stories so much depth. His characters is another part where he excels at as each one has a reason and an important part in the overall narrative. Nakazawa is not just a writer but a director and a producer but his plot structure and narrative mastery is in everyone of his major projects.
Notable works:
  
Never7

Ever17

Remember11

I/O

Root Double.
 
Uchikoshi Koutarou – Very famous among the western visual novel community and one of the very few writers recognized outside the community. Uchikoshi worked closely with Takumi Nakazawa on the Infinity series, that is where he found his passion for Science Fiction Mystery stories and what he kept writing since Never7. His ideas are incredible and just as much fascinating as Nakazawa’s ideas with a detailed narrative structure only matched by Nakazawa himself. It’s impossible to talk about either of those writers and not to compare between their individual works. Uchikoshi is an amazing writer but he doesn’t spend as much time into fleshing out his plots as much as Nakazawa does. But his stories are still amazing and highly entertaining.
Notable works:
   
                        Never7                                                 Ever17                                                              Remember11

12Riven

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
  
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma .
 
 
Eve - New Generation -
 
Masada Takashi – This guy is… the only words floating in my mind is insane and epic. His got the most chuuniest chuuni style of any writer out there. Until you read him you don’t know how good his narrative mastery truly is and just how much research he puts into his stories with everything from the bible to ancient mystical rituals to all kinds of mythologies and philosophies. The guy is a freaking poet and manages to turn a chuuni battle story into the most mind blowing FEELS kind of visual novels. What even more interesting about him is that he’s not just about the chuuni, his stories are very character centric and he is a master at making the reader sympathize with his characters and gives just as much attention to them as he does to everything else in his stories. His stories are like epic poems or German operas with extravagant imagery and presentation. He is the guy that put Light on the map and his Dies Irae built a lot of fan following for the company.
Notable Works:

Paradise Lost
  
Dies Irae
 
Kajiri Kamui Kagura

Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin

Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Bansenjin

Dies irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~.
 
Kurashiki Tatsuya & Takahama Ryou – Also known as the Light’s non Masada chuuni team. Masada has a very unique instantly recognizable style that is both incredible and difficult to replicate. Kurashiki Tatsuya & Takahama Ryou don't try to copy Masada and instead try different a lot more diverse styles compared to Masada and every visual novel they worked on is a completely fresh and unique work by its own merits with different presentation, visual, and writing style. Their stories are epic chuuni through and through with great prose and narrative structure. Sometimes they will bring another writer as they did with Mugi Ayumu when they worked on Zero Infinity, Electro Arms, and Silverio Vendetta or Monaka Koke for Silverio Trinity. Tatsuya also did some contractual work for Clock-Up on Maggot Baits and both of them worked together on Studio e.go!’s Izumo 4. Masada and this non Masada team defined what a chuuni visual novel should be like, they are the superstars of any chuuni visual novel reader.
Notable Works:

Vermilion -Bind of Blood-

Zero Infinity -Devil of Maxwell-

Electro Arms -Realize Digital Dimension
 
Silverio Vendetta

Maggot Baits

Izumo 4

Silverio Trinity(coming soon).
Higashide Yuuichirou – Another one of the best chuuni writers. His style is both varied and distinctly his own. One of the most noticeable things about him is how much he loves to create very unique settings and puts a lot of time into building his worlds. The settings in his stories are as much a character as the main characters themselves, pick any of his works and you’ll be pulled into a place so alive and imaginative you will believe it actually exists. When it comes to characters Yuuichirou is a master, at least when it comes to protagonists and the main cast and his characters really shine. Besides writing cool stylish epic battle scenes Yuuichirou is also the best comedy writer in the chuuni genre and his comedy can get absolutely hilarious. Sometimes he’s so good with characters and humor that you’ll not want those so called ‘slice of life’ scenes to end once the real plot kicks in. Unfortunately he left Propeller the company where he created his most famous works and went to work for Type-Moon.
Notable Works:

Ayakashibito

Bullet Butlers

Chrono Belt

Evolimit

Tokyo Babel.
Ryuukishi07 – One of the most prolific visual novel writers of this decade. The guy is like a perpetual machine never running out of oil and never rusting. He is known mostly for Higurashi and Umineko two of the longest visual novels ever made and are well known for being some of the best mystery stories ever written. His prose style is long but never boring, slow, or full of filler. It’s quite amazing to see long works without being full of fillers but Ryuukishi07 somehow does it. His works are very diverse on the one hand and very recognizable as his own style on the other. He also did a lot of work for and with other people like Lucia’s route in Rewrite, Ookamikakushi for Konami, and Iwahime for DMM. He can write anything from horror, a style he is known for, to drama and mysteries. Currently he is working on Rewrite side stories and is writing one of the scenarios for the Kamaitachi no Yoru remake.
Notable Works:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Ookamikakushi

Rose Guns Days

Iwaihime

Trianthology ~Sanmenkyou no Kuni no Alice~.
 
Hideo Kojima – Aka the father of Metal Gear series. His Snatcher and Policenauts are a lot more like Japanese adventure games than straight out visual novels but these games are story driven and any visual novel gamer should not miss on either of those games. Kojima fills his stories with a very detailed setting, detailed and interesting characters, and a very detailed well crafted plots. This incredible detailed stories never feel like too much or too overwhelming because every single detail is explained in a clear and understandable manner and it’s a lot of fun to try out every item and every option just to see what new stuff you’ll learn about the world, characters, and plot. Both games are full of futuristic atypical detective stories and have what could only be said as the best moments in gaming history. Even back then Kojima was a master game designer and an excellent storyteller.
Notable Works:

Snatcher

Policenauts.
 
Takumi Shuu – The man behind the Gyakuten Saiban aka Ace Attorney series. Similar to Kojima games, these are more of the Japanese adventure genre rather than pure visual novels. Not much else can be said about the awesome Ace Attorney that hasn’t been said before. It’s got one of the most boring premises, you play as a lawyer Yeah, Sure. That sounds like fun. But Takumi Shuu took the idea and turned it on its head with of the wall over the top characters and a lot of very well crafted mystery cases to solve. In a way all the cases are episodic but Takumi is such a smart writer he always has some kind of surprise up his sleeves by changing the formula in some way and brings everything together by the end in clever unexpected ways. Most of his characters are, for lack of a better word, very annoying. But even then the stories are so interesting that even that won’t stop you from having a lot of fun with his games. His Ghost Trick is a very innovative puzzle style game and shouldn’t be missed either.
Notable Works:


  
The Entire Ace Attorney series
  
Ghost Trick.
 
Kodaka Kazutaka – Worked in the games industry for a long time now and was a secondary director on Clock Tower 3 Kotaka Kazutaka is more famous for a small little series which today has exploded into a huge franchise, the Danganronpa series. Once again, like the previous two writers his games are Japanese adventure games and not what the purest will call a visual novel but really who cares about these small details anyway, Danganronpa is here to tell a story and that’s what’s important. Referred as as the Psychopop genre by Kazutaka himself, who sees himself as the creator of his own genre, Danganronpa can very easily be compared to the Ace Attorney series because of the episodic style of mystery cases the characters must solve. But Danganronpa has an overarching plot and a plot that is very detailed and a cleverly crafted crowning achievement of mystery, horror, despair, dark and bright humor, and plenty of twists and turns. The closer you get to the end of each game the more your head will be spinning and twisting with your jaw dragging on the floor. His characters are really fun, interesting and very likeable, most of them at least and they go through a lot of extreme stuff. Kazutaka loves to leave gamers  in complete despair.
Notable Works:

Danganronpa

Super Danganronpa 2

Danganronpa Another Episode
 
Danganronpa 3 (anime)

the next game in the series New Danganronpa V3
 
Fujisaki Ryuuta – The Grisaia guy. An excellent writer putting a lot of care into his characters and brings them to life. Not everything he writes is gold but with each new story he gets better and better. With a clear and easy prose and a lot of character and hilarious comedy Ryuuta is master at writing fun character exploration scenes almost perfectly avoiding the long boring nothing happens so prevalent in other visual novels. Grisaia is his most famous work and while the first game in the series had some very slow scenes that feel like they shouldn’t have been there, most of the game is a lot of fun and entertaining as well as humorous enough it never gets tiring. However he’s also known for writing in other genres like in Draculius and Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori both of which are great and highly entertaining. An interesting trivia, Grisaia is not the first work by Fujisaki Ryuuta to have an official English release, he was one of the scenario writers on Tea Society of a Witch released by Hirameki International.
Notable Works:
 
Draculius

Grisaia no Kajitsu

Grisaia no Meikyuu

Grisaia no Rakuen

Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yor

the upcoming Grisaia: Phantom Trigger.
 
Hiei Murasaki – The Cyberpunk guy heading the Baldr series. But he also worked on a lot of other visual novels with very different genres. He has great with characters when needed and a big idea man when appropriate. The Baldr series is what he’s mostly known for because of the awesome ideas but he also worked on the mecha anime style and highly entertaining Dengeki Stryker visual novel. His prose is very easy to read except when he goes into info dumping in which case it’s doubtful even the Japanese readers can understand him completely. But Murasaki’s awesome and crazy entertaining stories earned a huge place in a lot of visual novel player’s hearts.
Notable Works:

Cho Dengeki Stryker

Baldr Force


Baldr Sky

Baldr Heart.
 
Watanabe Ryouichi – An almost sinfully unrecognized writer. Watanabe Ryouichi is a very diverse writer adapting different style depending on the needs of the company and projects he works on, ranging from sports stories to science fiction. His prose is simple and very easy but can be highly emotionally charged full of dramatic elements. He is also a big ideas man and his ideas are BIG. Ryouichi also likes to troll his readers by disguising epic science fiction stories with marvelous ideas and wrapping it all in what, at first, appears to be a boring nukige. Nevertheless he is the one writer that needs more recognition and his works need to be translated into English ASAP.
Notable Works:

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm

Harumade, Kururu

Natsukumo Yururu

the upcoming Akiyume Kukuru.
 
Fushichou & Shimantogawa Seiryuu – Another pair of great chuuni writers. Fushichou and Seiryuu work for 3rdEye and wrote all four of their games so far. All chuuni, all have great beautiful and sleek presentation with great writing and good prose. Bloody Rondo was not their best work but with each subsequent game their stories got much better with a better focused plot and great narrative structure techniques. They are one of the best chuuni teams in the industry with a style all their own different from what Light, Propeller, or any other chuuni developers do in writing technique and presentation design. As chuuni stories go this pair’s games are full of action, packed with battles, fighting techniques and a fully developed magic system. Like every good chuuni writer Fushichou and Seiryuu also write great and lovable characters with their own dreams and motivations with personalities easy to care for. Fortunately their latest game Sorcery Jokers is officially coming in English, probably sometime next year.
Notable Works:
 
Shinigami no Testament ~menuet of epistula~

Gensou no Idea ~Oratorio Phantasm Historia~

Sorcery Jokers
 
There are many more visual novel writers I wanted to talk about but I don’t have enough experience with their works yet to write about them in depth. Writers such as G.O., Sca-Ji, and some other interesting mystery, comedy, chuuni, science fiction, and drama writers. Maybe in a year or two I’ll expand the list. Thanks for reading.

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.

First, I should say that I have no taste for loli-shota whatsoever, so I'm going to drop this now that I've finished one of the paths and gotten a feel for what this VN is like.  So... this turned out to actually be a loli-shota game, despite my hopes otherwise.  I have no idea of what Akabeisoft is thinking, turning its main child brand into a sub-brand that produces random games, but I can honestly say that I wish they would stick to one or two genres...
Now, this is one VN that has no business being localized outside of Japan.  I say this because all the characters are blatantly underage until after the climax (after-story I saw so far was decent).  They even refer to themselves as kids and they are immature right down to the voices.  As such, I very much wanted to drop this VN inside the prologue.  However, I'd promised I'd finish this one, if only to see if they would escape that... and they didn't.
Now, I'll say that the idea for the story, in itself, is not awful.  This kind of 'Home Alone' style setup is pretty amusing, and if this were an all-ages title, I might have been able to sit back and enjoy it.  However, the inclusion of h-content was a huge downer in this case, at least for me... 
The characters all have their problems with adults, ranging from Orino's insanely controlling parents to the teachers' betrayal of Sen.  For that matter, the protagonist has his own abusive environment to deal with.  As a result, you end up with a bunch of characters who have unified around defiance of the adults in their lives by fortifying a run down love hotel, which was funny in and of itself.
Is this game amusing and interesting?  Yes?  Is it something I'd recommend?  Not in its current form. 
Update: To be clear, I didn't drop this because it was boring... I just happen to have a distaste for shota-loli focused content...  In addition, considering things just from the plot and setting, this game really is interesting.  Unfortunately, its possibilities are stunted by only focusing on the characters during that one period of their lives, when it would have been more interesting to see how their personalities evolved as they became adults...  To be blunt, the writer went for a loli-shota thing when he could have actually made a first-rate VN story, just based on his writing and the way he presents the characters and setting.  Another option he could have chosen would be to go for the all-ages route, where he would have been able to tell the characters' stories in more detail (the hints he drops about the male characters' problems are tantalizing) while discarding the hindrance of h-content (no, I'm not a prude... I just think straight-out loli-shota is distasteful).

Something I'm sure people have noticed in my posts in this blog is that I almost invariably compare VNs I'm reading on to either a genre standard or a similar VN in the past.  To be blunt, this is a shortcut, as it is incredibly tedious to write out an extensive analysis of a genre-typical something that is only minutely different from a hundred other VNs of the same type. 
Comparisons provide a frame of reference, giving the readers a chance to figure out what they can expect based on previous experiences.  In that way, my VN blog is a bit more geared toward relatively 'experienced' readers of VNs than it is to those just getting into reading VNs.  After all, if you have never read a charage, you won't have any point of reference to understand what I'm referring to when I indicate something is a charage.
Understand, I recognize this limitation... and in the end I have to shrug.  One of the issues I've made a point of reinforcing in the past, when working on VN of the Month, is to eliminate spoilers and try to be as objective as is possible, though in some cases this involves me posting something immediately previous that warns the readers about my prejudices and how they are likely to effect my viewpoint on what I'm reading.  I'm categorically prejudiced against Minori, for instance... and just letting people know just how I feel prior to posting on a Minori game (and reminding them each time another one comes out) gives you a realistic expectation of how I will be looking at the VN in question.  Similarly, I periodically reinforce the knowledge of my dislike of the charage genre (or rather, my dislike of many of its conventions) to help those who read my blog keep in mind that it isn't exactly my favorite genre.
In the case of chuunige, my prejudice is in perfect opposition to my prejudice with charage.  I am naturally inclined to give chuunige and fantasy VNs in general far more leeway than I would ever grant any charage... and thus I almost inevitably make an effort to savage any chuunige I play critically in retrospect.   A perfect example would be Zero Infinity and Electro Arms... both are by Light, a company I adore... and both are games that I found to be immensely fun to play.  However, in both cases I found myself lingering on their faults in the aftermath, savagely criticizing Zero Infinity's blatant Masada-worship and Electro-Arms' prolific sub-heroine paths and obsession with busty main heroines.  Did this mean I didn't like them?  Quite the opposite.  I enjoyed both immensely... but I felt obligated to be even harsher than them than I would have with a charage. 
Similar things occur whenever I find myself getting deeply interested in a VN.  I feel a sick need to nitpick at something, the more I'm enjoying it, as if I were some masochistic fanboy that likes driving himself into a rage.  This is a disease that has crept in as I've been posting on VNs, making it difficult for me to just sit back and enjoy the ride with many that I otherwise would have at least given a better chance.
Understand, some of those VNs I would have enjoyed immensely before I hit the three hundred VN mark.  Unfortunately, my habit of blogging on just about everything I play has left me with a sense of obligation to those who read this blog, to be as unbiased as it is possible to be or to at least warn those reading about my prejudice and bias beforehand. 
As a clarification, I was never particularly fond of the dating stage of a charage heroine's path... just to let you know.  'Cute' interactions grow stale really quickly when you've seen it a hundred times before (literally) in all its permutations.  It is also why I inevitably praise routes that step off the beaten path if they don't suck outright.

First, I'm going to say right out that this VN feels very familiar to me, as someone who dropped Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai.  I dropped that game for a number of reasons... but the biggest one was that I was extremely tired of slice-of-life and romance at the time.  Since Hoshi Ori (and indeed all games by Tone Works) is a pure slice-of-life/romance VN (not charage) it just was a bad time for me to hit on it.  As I studied my feelings about my experiences with the path I'd played, I went ahead and rated it based on that, and I'm going to tell yall some of my impressions of Tone Works' games. 
Tone Works, unlike most slice-of-life companies, doesn't utilize any sort of heavy-handed moe.  As a result, it definitely isn't a moege company, as most slice-of-life companies are.  This is only the first - and least important- distinction.  The most important distinction is the detail in which this company portrays the blooming, growth, and maturity of the relationship between the lovers.  The creation of the relationship, its growth into deep love, and its mellowing and deepening into maturity in adulthood are all portrayed in this company's VNs in incredible detail...  That is why their heroine paths are generally ten hour affairs (seriously) and actually much longer than the common route.
This VN is no exception that way.  The common route covers the first half of the central cast's middle school experience together... and that in itself covers about six hours of reading.  However, from there it extends through the end of middle school, throughout high school, college, and into the characters' mid-twenties, touching upon various experiences in each era, as the characters grow and mature.
To be honest, this kind of VN will probably overwhelm most people who read it with the sheer overload of information you get.  By the time I'd finished Bethly's path, I'd been playing for eleven hours, just covering the growth of their relationship and path to marriage.  As such, I can't really make a good comparison to give you reference points for how to understand the experience of a VN like this.  In my experience, neither novels nor VNs actually cover this kind of gentle, almost real-feeling relationship growth.   That is probably the reason why I had trouble with Hoshi Ori. For better or worse, the story goes so deep into the characters that it really feels like a betrayal when you pick another heroine, to the point where I actually feel like I'm cheating on Bethly for starting a new path.  I didn't even realize I was becoming this emotionally invested in her, lol.  It isn't quite the same as the epiphany I had when I first watched a love-comedy anime (Ai Yori Aoshi), but it is the first major epiphany I've had in some time, when it comes to fiction. 
While I always complain about the incomplete nature of Vn endings, I am definitely getting the feeling that I should have been careful what I wished for, lol.
PS: Incidentally, I rofled hard at the scene from the pic below.
http://s21.photobucket.com/user/Rihochan/media/Bethly zombie.png.html
 
 

For the last two years or so, I've gotten repeated requests to unequivocally name my top VNs made up until the present, ignoring objectivity, my vndb votes, etc.  I've more or less just ignored most of those requests, because it is a pain in the ass to name a 'favorite' VN in the first place.  I've made lists of VNs I loved from various genres, and I've also made lists of VNs for a specific purpose.  However, I've avoided making a list like this one up until now, mostly because my 'favorites' switch out so often. 
Let's get this straight for those who are going to criticize my choices... these are the VNs I like the most, not the fifty best VNs of all time.  I make no pretense to preeminence of opinion in this case, because I'm also discarding all attempts at objectivity.  What a person likes is ultimately a matter of personal tastes, not a matter of logic.
Why did I make it fifty?  Because my number of VNs played, setting aside replays and nukige, is over six hundred already (with replays and nukige, it is closer to eight hundred...)... I'd be surprised if I didn't have this many VNs I considered wonderful. 
Keep in mind that these aren't in a particular order.
 
1.   Evolimit
2.   Dies Irae (the one by Light)
3.   Ikusa Megami Zero
4.   Nanairo Reincarnation
5.   Semiramis no Tenbin
6.   Bradyon Veda
7.   Vermilion Bind of Blood
8.   Hapymaher
9.   Tiny Dungeon (as a series)
10.  Bullet Butlers
11.  Chrono Belt
12.  Ayakashibito
13.  Otome ga Boku ni Koishiteiru 2
14.  Chusingura
15.  Draculius
16.  Otome ga Tsumugu, Koi no Canvas
17.  Silverio Vendetta
18.  Konata yori Kanata Made
19.  Grisaia series
20.  Akatsuki no Goei series
21.  Reminiscence series
22.  Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no
23.  Harumade, Kururu
24.  Soukou Akki Muramasa
25.  Tokyo Babel
26.  Tasogare no Sinsemilla
27.  Komorebi no Nostalgica
28.  Yurikago yori Tenshi Made
29.  Izuna Zanshinken
30.  Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba
31.  Kamikaze Explorers
32.  Devils Devel Concept
33.  Suzunone Seven
34.  Baldr Skydive series
35.  Baldr Sky Zero series
36.  Toppara Zashikiwarashi no Hanashi
37.  Tsuisou no Augment (series)
38.  Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier
39.  Shin Koihime Musou (series not including the original Koihime Musou)
40.  Soshite Hatsukoi wa Imouto ni Naru
41.  Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide
42.  Irotoridori no Sekai
43.  Noble Works
44.  Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate (series)
45.  Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo
46.  Jingai Makyou
47.  Sakura, Sakimashita
48.  Abyss Homicide Club
49.  Re:Birth Colony Lost Azurite
50.  Owaru Sekai to Birthday
 
 

As I began this VN, I decided to change my approach to how I would handle it.  My dislike of ladder-style story structures will probably cause me to go berserk when I finish the final (Haru's) route, but for now, I'm going to evaluate the story based on each arc and its associated heroine route, ignoring the VN as a whole until I've gone through the final route.
Now, the protagonist of this story is a pretty archetypical character... a PI who has been scarred and run down by life living in a town ruled by a vampire, controlled by two mafia organizations, and dominated by something approaching a capitalist caste system, where the financial circumstances of the individuals involved determine their social status completely and it is almost impossible to climb up the ladder, though it is relatively easy to fall down.
Technology in this world hovers about the level of the 1980's, with the biggest differences being the existence of real-life magic and magical beings, as well as beast-people (cat-people, bunny-people, dog-people, etc).  The protagonist isn't a wielder of magic, if you are wondering.  His role is something close to a neutral party in the realpolitik landscape, due to his role as the vampire Rizal's representative, as well as his personal relationships with high ranking members of both mafia groups. 
This VN has a lot of situational comedy in it, ranging from Haru 'fixing' machines by hitting them and using magic to Chiroro's (a chibi homonculus that is something like a servant to both the protag and Haru) foul mouth toward the protagonist and fawning on Haru.  I honestly enjoyed the back and forth between the characters through most of the first arc, and I doubt that will change through the rest of the VN.
The first arc covers the introductions to the characters and the city of Naoka, and it ranges from non-school slice-of-life events (protagonist and Haru going out to solve problems as part of their work) to moments of tension in the shadowy underworld of Naoka.  The first route that branches off is Kazuha's...
Kazuha is the VN's resident genkikko+doggirl.  I honestly fell in love with her from the first (I mean, she is working to support her twelve siblings and is endlessly cheerful and generous by nature... what could you not like about her? Not to mention that she is a mimikko, which automatically skyrockets my impression of a given heroine based on my fetishes, lol), so, while I'm sad she isn't the true heroine, I was happy to get a chance to see her route early on.
And it is a surprisingly detailed route... in fact, it is roughly equivalent to 1.2 times the length of the average charage heroine route, in my experience.  It doesn't mindlessly focus on the heroine and protagonist's love affair, instead involving all the characters (a bad habit with many VNs of this type is to sideline the massive cast of characters during the side-heroine routes, weakening the setting in general) in a dramatic mess whose impact is equal to that of the story arc previous to the heroine route. 
So, my initial impressions of this VN based on what I've played so far are positive... let's hope they stay that way.

This is a simple post putting forth my views on what the largest pitfalls are for a fantranslator, both in the immediate sense and the long-term.
Immediate
1. Making promises: Anyone who starts a translation is bound to do something stupid... such as setting a deadline or predicting how long it will take them to do something.  Even experienced translation groups trip and fall into this particular trap.  Nothing good comes of making promises, primarily because rl exists.
2.  Agreeing to translate/edit/proofread something you aren't interested in: This links to motivation.  To be blunt, no fantl will be able to finish work on a VN if they don't enjoy the original or at least prefer the genre it is in.  Fantls are a labor of love not a workplace with a set salary and a boss telling you to get back to work or he'll dock your pay.  Passion about the subject matter is necessary to get anywhere on a fantl project.
3.  Taking on a job you aren't qualified for: This mostly applies to beginner fantls... to be blunt, don't take on something you can't read easily.  If you can't read and fully comprehend the text of the VN you've agreed to translate, don't even make the attempt.
4.  Machine translations: Don't work.
5.  Looking up your name/reputation/etc: Some people get addicted to looking for positive reactions to their work.  Unfortunately, this also means that they stumble across the negative responses and can damage their confidence in ways that can destroy a project. 
Long-term
1. The choice to announce  a project or not: Many who translate VNs use community comments to help them build motivation.  However, choosing to involve the community in your project is a two-sided sword... it cuts both ways.  Negative comments, people asking you when it will come out, and complaints about the translation of any partial you put out can obliterate your motivation and cripple the project.
2.  Internal group chemistry and mechanics:  No matter how you look at it, the translator is the origin and star of any given project.  Without the translator it goes nowhere... but translators can't be the ones going around motivating the group to keep working.  It's inefficient and emotionally draining for the person in question, and it is the number one cause of project failure I've seen related to group chemistry, when the translator finally falls apart.  An editor's role only seems minor to a translator.  It is actually a job that can be equally frustrating to that of the raw translation, and a decent translator's secondary job often becomes tlcing and explaining his own work to the editor.  Thus, my advice to any fantranslator is find an editor you can talk to and get along with, or you'll regret it later.  My advice to editors is: Be patient.  Many translators really don't like going back over their own work, so just keep an eye out for potential signs that they are at their limit. 
3.  Burn-out: This can potentially happen to any fantl position.  It is also related to all the things above, since it is a state where all motivation is lost and the individual in question basically just drops out of the project.  Apathy toward the project and ignoring group members are fairly common signs of this.  Whether it is permanent or not depends on the individual, but it can take years to recover mentally and emotionally once you've reached this stage *speaking from personal experience*
 

Hey guys, It's dfbreezy here, your greenhorn Vn writer who's gonna use this blog to educate and enlighten readers as to the deeper workings and challenges in VN creation. The topic i'm going to choose for today would be Vn project recruitment.
VN recruitment sounds easy at first because, hey, all you have to do is post an ad and wait for the interested parties to flow, right? Unfortunately that particular thinking process was quashed in a very short while. If you have ready and available money to pay, recruitment is never a problem. In such a situation it all boils down to what you want and how much you're willing to pay. But for a newbie, unemployed university student (like myself), such feats of maturity are far beyond our grasp. 
Recruiting for a free project is actually easier than recruiting for a paid project with delayed payment. That's because when recruiting for a free project, members are aware that there is no monetary gain whatsoever. For a commercial project, team members expect some form of compensation for their work (not always monetary), so in the case of money, they expect upfront payment. They may have their own complex pricing methods or they may utilize a general flat fee, but all in all, you have to pay something.
Being a penniless soul planning to gather funding from Kickstarter, i tried to recruit a team of people on the notion of delayed payment. This, was the most trying time in the production process for me. This particular duty was made much harder due to the fact that all this is transpiring over the internet. Without seeing my face and knowing my name, i attempted to gather people to help produce my idea on the promise of future money that may or may not come depending on various factors. Laughable isn't it?
But it didn't fail completely. With not a single penny exiting my pocket, i managed to gather writers, A programmer and composers. Satisfied with my recruitment, i turned to what i thought to be the easiest avenue. Artists. To sum it up, it took a whole month and 15 rejections for me to finally fill up those positions.
Hardly anyone wanted to take the risk of trusting a newbie with no money with their time and experience. There's no way you can blame them for that... after all it doesn't align with reason to take such a risk. 
Nevertheless i gathered a suitable team and work begun on the project. Episicava had hit off and was going smoothly. I had quite a bit of a breather and a sudden increase in my leisure time, so i decided to work on a small scale project while Episicava's assets were being worked on.
The recruitment process for RD wasn't as difficult as that of Episicava since, i fully utilized my wealth of information and tactful wording to gather a second team. It took me about 2 weeks to gather a full team for RD as opposed to the one month+ time it took for Episicava. Experience really is the best teacher.
There are probably a few others in the same position as i am, wanting to work on an idea they have, but not being sure of it's advisable to move forward and recruit. To all those in such a situation, the truth of the matter would be to not recruit yet and to rather gather some funds, say at least $1000- $2000 if you're planning to use low quality assets. Another is to do the impossible and convince someone to work for free on a commercial project. If there's someone who can perform such a feat, i tip my hat off to you.
To round up my short essay, recruitment, whether free or commercial, whether EVN or another language, would possess and create it's own challenges that only the lead dev can solve with his own power and actions. That is... if you don't have a dime to your name.

First, a little background for those who didn't read my previous posts on the subject.  I'm one of those rare souls who read Aiyoku no Eustia, by this same company, and came to hate it in the end.  I have reasons... even good ones.  The biggest one is that the side-heroines' endings make no sense in the context of the story as a whole.  This isn't a joke and it isn't something that can actually be denied by anyone who finished the main path (Eustia's).  This is actually the thing I despise most about the 'ladder-type' story progression seen in this and G-senjou.  The inconsistencies in the setting and plot as a whole bother me, precisely because those side-heroines almost always seem to be more interesting than the main ones (this seems to apply to almost all VNs that utilize this story structure, for whatever reason).  This is not so much an excuse for how I feel about this VN as an excuse of why I temporarily abandoned playing it.  I got so stressed out when I found out it used this story structure that it took me seventeen days to get back to it. 
Sen no Hatou is August's second chuunige.  In some ways, it echoes Eustia's flaws while escaping others.  The thing that both VNs share is a massive hole in the setting (again, anyone who plays the main path of either game is going to run across that hole).  However, on the bright side, Akari makes for a far better true heroine than Eustia.  Eustia was a weak-willed, weak-spirited, and overall weak heroine in every possible way.  Akari, despite being politically naive (sorry, but no matter how you look at it, she is that), is a far stronger spirit and she grows a lot more during the story than Eustia does, which shows that August at least learned something from us hecklers' complaints, lol.
I did play the secondary heroines' paths, and they generally had interesting endings... that just aren't possible when you consider the elephant in the room waiting beyond the door to the true path.  Considering the nature of said elephant, there is no way any of those endings could have turned out that way, logically speaking.
The common route has its ups and downs, with plenty of blood shed for the 'hungry' ones such as myself.  If I have a complaint about this aspect, it is the relatively low number of combat CGs (considering August's investment in artwork, you'd think they would have included more than there were...), but the clever usage of the sprites made up for a lot of that.  The protagonist, being your classic stone-faced samurai by nature, tends to bear a distinct resemblance to numerous other 'donkan' protagonists, but, considering his origins, this isn't surprising.  For those looking for slice-of-life or comedy, this VN won't be a winner in your eyes.  August went completely for the 'serious storytelling' bug, so no scene is wasted and everything is focused on progressing the story.  From my point of view, this is a plus, but for people who have fond memories of more 'peaceful' works by this company, such as Fortune Arterial or Hitsujikai, this would probably be a disappointing aspect.
There are some really great moments in this VN... but as an addict of chuunige and fantasy-action VNs in general, it was a bit too obvious when it started stealing from Chuusingura and Hachimyoujin (yes, by Masada).  While stealing stylistic approaches and setting concepts is common in chuunige, those moments were definitely 'ah, I've seen that before' moments for me, and since August's team just doesn't have the flair for this that Light and the makers of Chuusingura do...
Some of my complaints about the setting from my previous - raving - post  and certain pms were eased by things revealed during the progress of the story (the elephant mentioned above helped with that).  As such, you can disregard most of that rave, save where it concerns the annoyances of this story structure.
As story-focused VNs go, this VN does manage to move the emotions and there are moments where it is exciting, but when I compare it with other VNs with similar themes and concepts, it tends to lose out on the details and in terms of impact.  It is definitely above 'common' chuunige like ExE by Yuzu Soft, but I can't really classify it as being in the same league as works by Nitroplus, Type-moon, or Light.  I did think the way they ended it was a bit cheap (I sighed in resignation there, since I was hoping to be allowed to cry for an hour after the end based on what was happening up to that moment), though.  The addition of extensive after-stories in the extras section is a huge plus and a familiar one for those who read Eustia.  In the end, I enjoyed this VN, and it was an interesting one to play.  However, if you were to ask me whether it would remain in my heart forever, I'd have to say no. 
PS: For those who love Eustia, understand that I consider this VN an improvement in some ways, but in terms of the raw setting, Eustia was about equally as interesting.  The biggest improvement, to me, was the decision to use a true heroine who doesn't grate on my nerves by the end (in opposition, Tia drove me insane every time she came on the scene, and I hated the way Kaim acted in her path). 

This is a mini-VN planned by and written by Hino Wataru of Akatsuki Works, the company responsible for Ruitomo; Comyu; and Hello, Lady.  It was released for free at the beginning of the month, and it is done in a style that feels a lot like one of those close-ended hour-long 'preview' OVAs that sometimes come out a few years in advance of a potential TV anime release (Noblesse, Beelzebub, Phantom, etc).  In other words, it is done in the form of a single 'episode' in the life of the characters, serving as a prologue, and introducing characters and setting the stage for a future release or releases. 
Something that should be noted in advance is that this VN mentions the characters from Ruitomo (without using their names) in the context of their relationship to the protagonist's 'grandmother' (Izuru).  This is backed up by the fact that the protagonist, Akeno Yuuri, follows the same 'profession' that Izuru does... as a 'katariya' (the meaning doesn't really translate that well).  Basically, those who master this profession have the ability to create intentional changes in others through words they speak (in most cases, these changes are dependent on the others' expectations or desires, from what Yuuri says).  I won't go into any other details on this, because it is a spoiler.  The protagonist gets mixed up with the Kouga family, which runs the area through his client.
Another aspect that should be noted in advance is that this VN reuses a lot of resources from previous games by Akatsuki Works... in particular the city backgrounds from Hello, Lady and various songs and sound effects from other games.  For those that are bothered by this kind of thing... give up.  The game is free, so AW recycling backgrounds, BGMs, and sound effects really isn't a big deal.
For those looking for a translation... don't bother.  This VN utilizes so many subtle plays on kanji in its mere four hours in length that it even makes Ruitomo's text seem easy.  If I were to try tling it without ruining it, I'd be pulling out my last few hairs inside a minute.
This VN is standard Hino Wataru in style... which means a lot of quirky characters, a protagonist who has a bad case of ennui and a tendency toward hedge philosophy, and a general sense that whatever is happening at the moment is the most important thing in the world while saying the opposite openly in the text, lol.  I enjoy Hino Wataru, but for every person who likes him, there are two that hate him, so this VN will definitely pick its readers.
Action-wise, there are some nice scenes, which mostly seem to be designed to whet your appetite for more (again, I got this sense throughout the VN that they were advertising as much as trying to make a game). 
The narrative is, of course, high quality... Hino Wataru was quite obviously enjoying himself when he wrote this (believe me, I can tell when a writer is just writing what he wants to write, versus what he has been paid oodles to write, haha), since Yuuri is the type of guy who will drive a lot of people crazy.  He's a natural con artist with a heart of gold, a persona that changes from moment to moment, and a virulent hatred of soba noodles.  He also spends a ridiculous amount of time being insulted by the girls who will probably end up being the heroines of whatever future game or games he stars in, lol. 
While this isn't a VN of the Month candidate (as it is obviously intended to be a prelude or prologue to something else) it is nonetheless an enjoyable side-trip for me as I continue on my journey to avoid playing Sen no Hatou as long as possible *snickers*
 

I have been wanting to write something about this VN since the second I finished it, but never actually got aroud to it. Now with the TL announced, I figured I might as well write something. Might be a good thing to note that I absolutely adore this game, and it is probably my favorite VN of all time, so I'm a bit biased, just saying.
 
So, first, an introduction. Kimi e okuru, sora no hana is a nakige made by Cabbit. The game is about ghosts, people who can see them, and their attempt at a life together in a special school that trains its students to handle their powers. The main character, Shuuya, has been able to see ghosts since he was a child, and he has always wondered why. When the mysterious ghost Matsuri approaches him with the offer of a school that can teach him about his powers, he just couldn't say no. As he gets to the school he meets many others with similar powers, and they all seem equally eager to learn what their powers are. But, there is a slight twist. People with these powers are not the only students in the academy. About a third of the student body is also made up by ghosts. Now, this is a big deal, because, well, they are ghosts. Dead people with psychic abilities isn't exactly your ideal classmate. Naturally this causes some disturbance in the classes, but the presence of the ghosts is an absolute condition for the school to operate, and everyone has to handle it if they are going to attend the academy. (Even the headmaster is a ghost, and boy is she an... interesting woman, lol.)

The game is a nakige like I said, but it also has some other elements as well. The entire game isn't constantly story driven, and so people who hate "generic school settings" might be slightly annoyed at certain points in the game, even though these "plotless" moments aren't a dominating factor. Because of the way the game is structured, even normal days at school might suddenly turn into something dramatic, because of the relationship between the humans and the ghosts, as well as the ever present danger of a ghost going berserk. Still, there is definitely a decent amount of slice of life moments in this game, though I found them very enjoyable because of the rather unique take on the setting. Despite the fact that we have a "generic school setting", half of the students in the class being ghosts makes for a different experience. First of, it opens up for new types of humor, (people can't see ghosts, so if you walk alone with one, people think you are jut talking to yourself, for instane,) more drama (there is a lot of tension between everyone because of the ghosts), not to mention that the romance itself in this VN is very unique, as the ghosts can't actually touch anything solid. (I mean, they are ghosts.) So this opens up for a very fresh and interesting take on these overused elements. In addition, the game itself is 10-30 hours long, and with 5 heroine routes with at least 2 endings each as well as a common route, this means the routes aren't too long, so the "boring slice of life" moments in between the story is rather minimal in comparison to other, longer games. Still, despite all of that, you will have to suck it up and get through some slice of life if you want to play this game.
The game has 3 human heroines and 2 ghost heroines, as well as a few other short, special routes that you can unlock upon completing certain endings. The human routes are more similar to what you usually find in general nakige/ charage, and An's route is probably a bit more similar to a moege route at times, but all three human routes still use the ghosts as a part of their main story. The ghost routes, however, are very different from the standard stuff, and on top of that, the two ghost routes are very different from each other, making them both feel quite unique. Also, I have to point out that Matsuri is the "main heroine" in this game, and so she has 3 endings instead of the standard 2, and is a lot more in focus during the common route. Some people might not like "main heroines". I personally really liked Matsuri, but personally would have liked a bit more focus on some of the other routes, like Sekka's and Hinagiku's. Still, Matsuri is a really great heroine.
 
When I first played the game, I started with the Sekka route, and it just blew my mind. Mainly because Sekka was a character I honestly had no real expectation of at all. She just looked like a normal, cute and shy character who had nothing else to her. But once her route started, I couldn't stop reading.

Each ghost has a reason for... well, being dead. Something ended up killing them at some point in their life, though what this is varies. (duh.) In Sekka's case, whatever it was caused her to become extremely shy around other people, and she is so insecure she can barely even speak to others. She spends most of her time on the roof of the school, staring into the sky.
Shuuya is the only person in the school who actually ended up approaching her despite of her insecurity. He kept talking to her, which made Sekka open up a lot more, but at the same time, this created more insecurity. It's hard for Sekka to understand normal, human relationships, and she doesn't really get what friendship means in general. On top of that, a ghost's mental condition is directly linked to how well they can control their powers, which means Sekka is already in a bit of a shaky spot as it is. This route's entire structure was very unique and interesting.
Sekka's route is probably one of the most dramatic, and in my opinion it's one of the best, though it is a bit on the shorter side, sadly. Reading both her endings in succession is strongly recommended, and starting with the bad ending is the most ideal for sure. The reason for this is that the structure of her route is a bit different from what you tend to see in most games, with the order of how things happen turned a little on its head. In addition, Sekka's bad ending is longer than her true ending, and it also contains important information that will make the true ending even more impactful.
 
The difference between the human and the ghost heroines in the game might look slightly strange to some people. Why use both? Why not just one? On one side, you have nakige elements and drama, and on the other side you have standard charage material? Why?
Well, this game does a very good job of keeping the two connected. It's not two completely alien entities that exist totally independent of one another. For exmaple, An's route is the cutest and most slice of life driven route in the game, but even this route deals heavily with Shuuya's powers and his attendance at the school, as well as his past and the origin of his powers.
...
... But really though, most people should just want to play An's route because of how freaking adorable she is. I mean... come on.

Anyways, moving on. The other two human heroines, Kana and Hinagiku have more dramatic routes compared to An, but they are still quite different from the ghost routes. I found Hinagiku's route the most entertaining of the three, mainly because of her character. (Like, because she was a very interesting heroine, not just because she is so pretty! Well, she is incredibly pretty though. I mean... look.)

(The art really is nice in this game.)
 
I could rant on for hours and hours about the game, but I think I got the most important stuff out of the way. This is a very solid VN, with great characters, an interesting plot and some seriously tear-jerking moments. If you like nakige, you'll like this one.
For the people who can't read Japanese, you should definitely keep your eye on the TL project. (You can show them some love by joining their discord, checking out their website or even offering to help out with the project. All the info you need, as well as the links to their website and discord etc, is here on this link.)
That's about it, hopefully my bias didn't rub off too strongly in the post. (But hey, even if it did, it's my blog so who cares )

Now, in the past I've often tried to clearly define my favorite VN genre, the chuunige.  While there are many elements that go into making a chuunige, the primary requirements are conflict (violent or otherwise), philosophy (hedge philosophy usually), deliberately exaggerated character personalities and backgrounds, and extremely detailed settings.
Now, for reasons known only to me, I felt like talking about the chuunige protagonist.  Understand, chuunige protagonists are inevitably... unique personalities (sometimes to the point of being unreal).  One of the greatest ironies of the chuunige is that the genre's very nature makes it impossible for its protagonists to fall entirely within the narrow archetypes that come standard with most VNs (the kind-hearted but dense protagonist of love-comedy VNs, for instance). 
However, they can be put into three more general archetypes based on aspects of their personalities and personal morality: the hero, the anti-hero, and the monster.
Heroes are very simple and straightforward.  These individuals represent virtue in general or a single human virtue and overcome obstacles through that particular virtue (at least in part).  A love of justice, a desire for love, a desire to save the people they care about or people in general, a desire for self-improvement, etc.  Most protagonists of this type are inspiring as individuals when placed into situations of extreme stress and conflict.  As a result, chuunige with this type of protagonist tend to be very inspiring in the end.  Also almost universal to them is a deep (Greek drama style) flaw that might destroy them in the end or at least trip them up. 
Examples of chuunige with this type of protagonist include: The Tiny Dungeon series, Evolimit, Bullet Butlers, Ayakashibito,  FSN (in the Fate path), Sorcery Jokers (the younger protagonist), etc.
The anti-hero protagonist is a bit more complex.  Individuals in this type of chuunige will generally obtain the same results... but they might do so through amoral or reprehensible methods.  Anti-heroes tend to fall into two types... the type that will willingly abandon everything for the person they care about most without a second thought and the type that will mercilessly cut off the one for the sake of the many.  This type often will have a moral compass that differs radically from the average human being.
Chuunige with this type of protagonist include: Vermilion, Dies Irae, Kajiri Kamui Kagura, Shinigami no Testament, Gensou no Idea (both), Sorcery Jokers (the older protagonist), Comyu, Jingai Makyou, Hello Lady, Zero Infinity, Electro Arms, Izuna Zanshinken etc.
The third and final protagonist type is the monster.  This type is the rarest of the three... mostly because few Japanese writers have the courage to create a protagonist of this type in the first place.  This type of protagonist has a tendency to be brutal, selfish, amoral, or outright villainous.  These protagonists have a tendency to be immensely intelligent and/or capable... but that intelligence/capability is usually directed to a goal that is less than wholesome in most cases.  Berserkers, killers, etc. 
Chuunige with this type of protagonist: Devils Devel Concept, Silverio Vendetta, Muramasa, Yurikago yori Tenshi Made, Maggot Baits (yes it counts, though I hate to admit it) etc.
In almost every way it matters, chuunige are defined by their protagonists.  Their perspectives are deliberately warped, corrupted, and/or out of sync with most human beings, and that is the primary reason I keep coming back to them, lol.
Edit: Note that most of the monster type protagonists come from chuunige-specialist companies that pretty much produce nothing but this type of VN, lol.
Edit2: A lot of the reason for the excessively exaggerated nature of character designs (both visual and written) in chuunige comes from a philosophy in the genre that is very similar to that seen on the stage when classic plays are acted out for a live audience.  Making things over the top is seen as both a virtue and an absolute necessity for creating understanding in the watcher/reader in both cases. 

*weeps hopelessly, his face a mess with tears and other fluids*
Inochi no Spare is an utsuge, produced by Akabeisoft3, the conglomerate company made from all of Akabeisoft2's subsidiaries except Akatsuki Works.  I'll be blunt, I didn't know what to think going into this.  It was blatantly an utsuge, right from the beginning... and one that is merciless in its descriptions of the characters' suffering.
The disease in question is called Oumon Disease (fictional), which manifests initially as cherry flower petal-shaped marks spreading outward across the patient's skin from over the heart and later as horrible pain attacks that are so terrible that they cause the patients to harm themselves in order to distract from the greater pain.  No element of this disease is spared from the reader's point of view, and it can get pretty graphic, both in narration and in appearance.  For those who can't stand watching others' suffering, this VN is probably going to be too much for you.
The protagonist and heroine's suffering, joy, love, fear, loneliness, and despair are all portrayed in an intimate fashion that gradually grasps your heart, building up from the initial point, where you don't know precisely what is going on.  For better or worse, I have to advise that you avoid reading spoilers on this VN, as the pace of revelation is as important as the content itself.
The writing of this game is excellent... and ruthlessly true to the characters and scenario.  The characters aren't perfect.  They are as deeply flawed as any human being can be.  Meguri isn't a saint, nor is Ria a pure-hearted martyr. 
The protagonist of the story, Shizumine Ryuuji, is a young man whose expression rarely shifts, living for all practical purposes alone in a home that once held his parents and an elder brother.  One thing that struck me as I read this story was that, for all his weaknesses, Ryuuji is a frighteningly strong-willed person, when given reason to be.  His role in this VN is as important... or even moreso than the sisters' roles. 
This is a 'soft' utsuge, meaning that the ending is extremely bittersweet but not devoid of salvation, and there is joy along the way, not lost entirely in the despair and suffering.  For those who like 'soft' utsuge, this will be pure crack... and it reminds me of some of the best moments of Konakana, which is still the best utsuge I've ever read.
Overall, this is a kamige... and it is rare for an utsuge to manage to reach that level.  Most utsuge slip up somewhere along the way, but this one is presented perfectly for fulfilling its purpose.  I cried out loud for the ending, vicariously experiencing the loss without needing to think myself into it, which was amazing in and of itself.  That's not to say it is entirely without flaws.  It is a bit slow to get going, at least in part because you aren't given all the pieces of the puzzle initially, but I can still honestly call it a kamige, because even those elements that felt like flaws at first added to the experience later on.

Now, Ruitomo is one of 'those legendary VNs', the first kamige written by the Akatsuki Works team.  It is well-known and often discussed amongst vets of playing untranslated VNs, and you can see how this was the formative stage for a team that would go on to make numerous great games in the future, most of them chuunige.
First off, Ruitomo isn't a chuunige, at least in the classic sense.  The protagonist is a trap who is bound by an inherited curse not to reveal his true gender, and the story begins with him encountering several others that also possess similar curses, as well as powers that he doesn't possess.  Ruitomo is one of those games that doesn't easily fall into a genre or sub-genre, as it has elements of action, mystery, mindfuck, fantasy, and romance all wrapped into one big bundle.  So, I just have to shrug and call it a 'story-focused VN', lol (as vague a term as moege or charage, haha). 
One thing that you should know about all Hino Wataru-written Akatsuki Works VNs... in every one of them a version of Akaneko (the final heroine of this one) appears, with the same personality, similar habits, and the same voice actor (Akaneko, Eru from Hello, Lady, Yuki from Comyu).  Similarly, there is always at least one 'straight-man' heroine who tends to prefer correctness over everything else (Iyo in Ruitomo, Saku in Hello, Lady, Benio in Comyu, etc)
I once read a crappy review that said this was a VN about friendship *spews laughter*.  Sorry, but that was one reviewer who mistook one element of the story for the whole point of it.  The real central theme of this VN is isolation, social ostracism, and moral relativity.  Technically, all Akatsuki Works VNs indulge in moral relativity, so you can just ignore that one, since it is Hino Wataru's favorite dog to beat.  The isolation and social ostracism elements are fairly obvious from the beginning.  All the heroines and the protagonist are social outcasts by means of their curses.  The protagonist is the most obvious example as it forces him to lie and distance others from himself, but others have their own issues.  For instance, Rui's curse, the inability to make promises of any kind, is crippling in a modern world, where you have to be able to sign a contract just to find a place to live or 'promise' to be at work on time.  To one extent or another, the others' curses hold them isolated and ostracized from society as well. 
Tomo is driven by a strong desire to escape his curse, intensified as time goes on by his growing fondness for his fellow curse-bearers and the guilt for deceiving them.  I honestly can't help but like Tomo... he is selfish enough to be human but selfless enough when it comes to his friends to give his all for them.  A lot of people who hate Akihito from Comyu will probably find Tomo to be far more pleasant, as that other's less pleasant qualities are diluted and his more pleasant ones enhanced in Tomo.  He lacks Akihito's female-directed philanthropic spirit, but he does have a strong generosity of spirit to him... without the somewhat indiscriminate sexual mores of Akihito.
One thing I think a lot of people who try to read this VN have trouble with, besides the somewhat complex turns of phrase that are endemic to all Hino Wataru works, is the way so much of the dialogue between the characters, even in the slice-of-life scenes, is... oblique, requiring reading between the lines to grasp the full content.  A lot of this comes from the curses, both referencing them, avoiding referencing them, and avoiding activating them.  However, at least some of it is simply an extension of how relatively easy with one another the group is in normal situations, despite their often conflicting personalities.  These conversations are easier to follow if you get the characters' personalities and roles in the group, but if you have trouble with that kind of thing, you'll probably be left behind at times.
Ruitomo has a definite playing order, with you being forced to play Rui's path before reading Atori's, Koyori's, and Iyo's (preferably in that order, or at least with Iyo as the last of the second three) and completing those four opening up Akaneko's path (the true path).  I'll be blunt when I say that grasping the whole of the story without reading the first four paths is virtually impossible, so 'cheaters' who use 100% save files to get the true end first will just be screwing themselves over, lol.
This VN's story starts out in the middle... one of Hino Wataru's questionable habits.  For better or worse, he likes to thrust you into the middle of the prologue before dragging you back to the beginning of it, and Ruitomo is the VN that suffers the most for it, in my experience.  To be blunt, it is really hard to figure out what is going on during the first scene, so about one-third of the people I've talked to that tried to read this VN dropped it or stalled within the first quarter of the prologue.  However, as the VN goes on, its characters, their personalities, their troubles, and their experiences grow on you rapidly, until you can't help but be entranced. 
One thing that I was seriously impressed about, coming back to play this through a second time, was the meticulous way Hino Wataru designed the common route and the paths... he made sure everything was perfectly consistent as a whole, even if it didn't seem like it at first, and every single scene had at least some meaning in the greater context of the game as a whole, even if it might have seemed irrelevant or secondary in the path in which it existed.  This shows off the rather impressive capacity for 'management of the details' that a very few writers in the VN world manage to display.  There is a good reason why creating a large-scale story-focused VN (whether chuunige or not) tends to be rare.  Most writers simply can't manage to maintain the internal consistency that you see in a VN like this one.
Overall, I was actually more impressed this time around than I was the first time I played this.  It is called a kamige for a reason... brilliance of design, emotional stimulation, intellectual stimulation, etc.  The fact is that VNs on this level are exceedingly rare and always worth the price I pay to buy them.
PS: I'll play the fandisc soon, though I might or might not manage to replay it before I begin playing this month's releases.
 

Now, as I stated in the previous post, Saga Planets' has two types of VNs it primarily produces... a story-focused type that doesn't avoid the kind of bitter drama that charage/moege tend to despite the moege-type visuals... and a 'strong charage' type that essentially is a more character-focused VN with many of the same strengths as the former type.  Floral Flowlove is the former type, being much closer to Hatsuyuki Sakura and the other 'Four Seasons Series' VNs. 
As such, as in all VNs by this company, there is a definite 'proper' play order, if you want to fully enjoy this game.  First, unless you are inexperienced at playing VNs, you probably would have figured out that Kano's path is the one that touches on the core elements of the story most intensively... and that is the case, so I seriously suggest you do her path last.  This is my suggested path order Adelheit>Aoi Suu>Kohane>Nanao>Kano.  My reasons are that Adelheit's ending is the one that goes the most out of its way to avoid touching on the protagonist's most intensely personal issues and is the most 'charage-like' path, and Suu is a sub-heroine whose path branches off of Kohane's path.  Nanao and Kano share a basic flow of events up to a point that basically requires you to choose one of them and it dramatically splits off, so it is best to play Kano's path right after Nanao's.
Now that I got that out of the way, I'll make a few comments on the setting and subject matter.  For those who dislike Christian mythology, this VN might make you feel uncomfortable, though - given that it is a Japanese story - it isn't full of the moralist excess that a Western Christian writer would have put into it.  The focus on angels does have meaning, but for most of the VN, you won't know what meaning it has.  Another issue is the protagonist.  He isn't a cipher in any way, shape, or form.  He is an extremely emotionally-scarred, somewhat self-derisive character who also happens to be eminently capable at whatever he chooses to do (my favorite type, lol).  However, his tendency to distrust everyone, despite his ability to see the nature of people's intentions, will probably drive some people up the wall.  The guy is fundamentally a rationalist (which is fairly rare in Japanese VNs), save on a few issues regarding his emotional scars and the need to protect Kano from her own bad luck.
The common route of this VN is fairly dramatic and interesting, and Adelheit's path branches off from the rest almost immediately after the first dramatic point.  A second turning point occurs after the turn-off for Adelheit's path that sends you digging through the protagonist's half-healed emotional wounds and his past, and it is actually pretty interesting.  Save for Suu's, the paths and endings are universally first-rate (Suu's path is this game's abortion, though it is fun to watch the protagonist seduce a nun, lol).  I will say that I - as always - have to complain a bit about the fact that the endings only go a few months to a few years past the climax of the story (I really, really wanted to see Adelheit five or six years later, because I thought it would be rofl-worthy).  However, for most people this won't be a problem.
Each of the paths gives you a final snippet of the past after the credits, and it is, in part, this that made me give you that order of completion.  To be blunt, Kano's revelation is a bit too big in comparison, and as a result, it would be problematic if you saw it too early on (it is meant to be viewed right before going to the final path). 
About nine out of ten people are going to spend this VN wondering 'who the hell is Riku?' because the protagonist never really explains her in any of the game's main paths.  So... I'm not going to spoil it for you (though a lot of you will probably figure it out anyway).
Emotionally, this VN definitely has impact... but a lot of it is pitying, sympathizing, or empathizing with the protagonist.  I will say that Kano has seriously awesome hidden depths that come out in all the paths (think a ditz with an intelligence of ten but a wisdom of five hundred in a D&D game), as she is perhaps the single wisest, most selfless and compassionate heroines I've seen.  She isn't terribly intelligent though.  On the other side, Adelheit is pretty hilarious... she is easily the laziest heroine I've ever seen (though she is also one of the more intelligent ones).  Kohane is the kind of girl who would make the perfect mother for a family of twenty adopted kids, and Nanao is basically your standard tsundere (on her own merits, she is probably the second-weakest heroine). 
The true route... you will cry, so I predict (lol).  Anyway, the true route had me crying for a while, and it was definitely worth playing.  Unfortunately, it is also impossible to talk much about this route without spoiling the entire mess, so I'll just stop here.  I will say that they did manage to avoid the 'true route renders all the other routes meaningless/relevant only relative to the true route' screwup, which is what happens in most VNs with a true route.
Overall, this VN is Saga Planets at its best, having learned from a lot of the little mistakes in their previous games.  For those who liked Saga Planets already, it is crack, and for those who like a good story-focused VN that isn't a chuunige, this is an excellent choice. 

Understand, I'm not a huge fan of the moege and charage umbrella genres.  This is something I'm sure anyone who reads this blog is already well-aware of (to the point of exasperation in some cases) and at this point, it isn't something I need to reemphasize.  However, I've noticed that I've never really mentioned what I do like about moege/charage and their positive elements...  and I thought I'd go ahead and put that down here.
 
1. Charage do make decent breaks from my workday, as they don't require much in the way of brain activity to enjoy.
2. Generally, their visuals are maintained at a level where they are pleasant to look at (some other genres use really odd art-styles... in the case of 07th Expansion, outright ugly ones, lol).
3.  Junai (pure love) is a romantic genre that puts you at ease, in general.  After all, you know that a happy ending is coming and there is no reason whatsoever to fear for the characters' future.
4.  Comedy- Most charage at least attempt to be comedic.  That they don't always succeed (increasingly, they don't succeed in recent years) doesn't detract from the fact that it is a quality of the genre.
5.  Slice-of-life- Though you need to take it with a grain of salt, charage are actually much better as tools for learning about modern Japanese culture (outside of subculture) than anime and manga are, simply by the nature of a story with narration.  That said, it is ultimately an exaggerated, compartmentalized, and idealized version of 'everyday life', lol. 
 

It has been a while since I did a partial post on a VN, and most of the time I either do it out of enthusiasm or because I got a specific request for a path-by-path detailed report from a friend.  In this case, it is because I ran out of time to finish Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi after I played through half the game and two of the paths.  I ran out of time because my copy of Senren Banka, which I asked me friend to ship to me directly, arrived two days early.  I wasn't expecting it until Tuesday at the earliest, and more likely I thought it would arrive on Friday, lol.  I didn't have an excuse to keep playing Damekoi at that point, so I had to start on the VN of the Month.
Damekoi is a type of VN we almost never see today... in a number of ways.  First is that the protagonist is a full adult, without the need for the usual 'all characters are over eighteen' BS.  Second is that he is a semi-hetare (despite the tags, calling him a total hetare is inaccurate, as he is actually quite capable in his limited field of capabilities), which has pretty much gone extinct as a protagonist type save for in those shota reverse-rape monster girl VNs that have gotten so popular in the last four years or so, lol.  The third way is that it is pretty much the only VN I've played that uses the G-senjou story-split structure without making it seem like the side-heroines were neglected or the main storyline was left in the dust. 
Understand, I believe the G-senjou no Maou story structure is an integral flaw added to any VN that uses it.  First, it is based off of there being a main storyline that is full canon.  In the case of Aiyoku no Eustia it was Eustia's path, and everyone knows which one it was with G-senjou.  That makes it an absolute necessity to maintain a certain consistency with the main storyline... but the fact is that most VN writers simply don't have the necessary multi-tasking capabilities to manage that many different threads in a consistent manner.  As a result, you get massive inconsistency in the sub-heroine paths in most cases... and for someone like me, who demands consistency in heavy story VNs, this can go beyond annoyance to insane rage, regardless of how much I enjoyed things up to a point (it took me three years to forgive G-senjou, and I still haven't forgiven Eustia). 
I honestly don't know how they intend to solve things in this case.  I've been playing the side heroine paths as they come up, and so I can only give you my 'in-progress' views of this game, which is considered a classic by many and has been one of the few 'gold stars' in my backlog full of crap and moege. 
To be blunt, this protagonist is a run-down salaryman in in his late twenties, who is kind-hearted but fundamentally unwise when it comes to preserving himself.  He has an extremely low self-esteem despite being quite capable/talented, and he has the worst kind of bad luck.  He, like more and more young people in this age in fully-industrialized nations, suffers from a sense of alienation from his fellow man, partially created by his alienation from his own family as a result of both of them constantly working and rarely coming home.  This has resulted in a nice young man who nonetheless is utterly incapable of reading the people around him without as much as ten times more clues than anyone else would need, lol.
The heroines are... interesting.  Universally, they are the type of women who are attracted to men that 'need taking care of'.  Their varying personalities and viewpoints on life only serve to emphasize this common element, and it frequently leads to conflicts and tension between them.  The main heroine, Mitoko, is the daughter of a woman who ran off with a man on a whim, leaving her to take care of an ancient apartment in one of the wealthiest parts of town.  Now, anyone with a lick of common sense would instantly sell that prime real-estate at an inflated price and put up a newer apartment in a somewhat cheaper location.  However, expecting that kind of common-sense attitude out of any of the heroines in this VN when it comes to their own affairs (as opposed to the protagonist's, lol) is somewhat... ridiculous.
Mitoko has that puppy-love thing going for the protagonist almost from the beginning, though she is the oldest type of tsundere (before the term was coined and Zero no Tsukaima patternized even the speech of the archetype) who beats up on the protagonist whenever he does something wrong but fundamentally is positive toward him.  Unfortunately for Mitoko, Osamu isn't exactly perceptive when it comes to the emotions of others, so he takes her at face value most of the time, hahaha. 
The first two heroines - and the ones whose paths I finished - are Kaya and Himeo.  Kaya is a somewhat lazy office lady who is a bit younger than the protagonist.  She falls head over heels for him after seeing him at work, and she is rather straightforward about her affections, actively trying to turn him into a freeloader she'll take care of for the rest of his life.  Himeo is the daughter of the president of a major real-estate conglomerate with a penchant for charitable causes and an unreasonably intense affection for Mitoko that manifests itself in some seriously screwy ways, though it is sincere. 
Both paths have to deal with Mitoko's jealousy, the fact that the protagonist's first priority is always going to be Mitoko, and the instabilities of the heroines involved.  The protagonist's emotions toward Mitoko are definitely fatherly, and their intensity combines with his sense of duty to make it impossible for him to make them his first priority outside of certain moments.
I've honestly enjoyed this VN up until now, and I think it would be a good read for someone who is looking for something 'different'.  I can also tell why this never solidified as a genre archetype, as most of the people reading VNs in Japan are the type of people who would hate using a Japanese salaryman as their perspective of the story, lol.