Tenkuru

You'd expect them to be of a size adequate to fulfill the role of spread on a particular food, but I can't think of any widely consumed product that would require this little butter. This is inconvenient especially because I don't know how many butter packets to take when I need to use them in the future, which is exactly their intended purpose. How am I supposed to know how much butter something warrants when the amount of butter in the packet isn't set to any standard? If it were set to cover a regular-sized slice of bread, then I'd say "I'll just take two" when I intend to apply the butter to a bagel. But no, I cannot fathom any metric justification by which the mass of butter abides. The size of these packets serves no righteous ends. By that I mean that they may be convenient for those who have power over their specifications, because some companies profit liberally by excessive packaging and other iniquitous forms of mass production. But viewing the situation from a zero-sum perspective, this obviously isn't beneficial to the general population. That extra packaging probably costs small companies an additional marginal sum, which adds up to a lot across the board. And it certainly doesn't help myself and other consumers who want larger package sizes.

Making moeblogs in IPB4 is suffering now, I used to be able to copy and paste an entire post and now I need to manually embed each image and make sure they don't get messed up while I'm at it.
There's a good way to fix those frustrations, looking at adorable MOE will make it all better, no matter what's troubling you!

Had a long day? Then I have just the thing! Adorable and heart-melting MOE!

And now a little something for all you image editors out there. (If you don't speak Photoshop, just keep walking; there's nothing for you here.)
Some visual novels make image edits simple — the UI is mostly flat colors, 90º angles, and 1-bit transparencies. Easy peasy. Meanwhile, some more recent VNs like to store all their UI elements as semi-transparent overlays with full 8-bit alpha channels. If you've ever tried editing these, you know what a pain they can be.
And so, I came to love a command I've never had to use before in all my years with Photoshop — namely because if there's a transparency on something, I'm usually the one who put it there in the first place.
Ready? Tattoo this on your arm: Layer > Layer Mask > From Transparency
Let's look at one possible scenario where it might come into play: Text on paper.

At first glance, doesn't seem like it would be too hard, right? Then you get it into Photoshop and realize it's a mix of transparent elements and fully opaque type.

If you just grabbed the rubber stamp tool and tried cloning out the text right now, you'd end up with something like this.

That's because your cloning source is semi-transparent. The trick here is to separate out the 8-bit alpha channel from the source image so you have an entirely opaque image. So with the source layer selected, choose Layer > Layer Mask > From Transparency, temporarily disable the resulting layer mask, and you get something like this.

From there, it's just a standard retouching job. Once you clone out the type as best you can, you're ready to add new text from your TL team. (In this case, since the type and paper are at two different levels of transparency, you'd also need to do a quick cleanup on the layer mask. If you look closely at the mask thumbnail, you can see the type as pure white on a 60% gray. Just paint over that part of the mask with more 60% gray and you'll be good to go.)

Enable the layer mask again, export as a file with 8-bit alpha support (a PNG, most likely) and you're done. This was a fairly straightforward example, of course, but the basics remain the same no matter how complex the retouching job.
Now rinse and repeat 500 more times with all the rest of the game files. Aren't you glad you decided to take up image editing?

I make a living in copywriting, but KoiRizo was my first attempt at editing a visual novel. Suffice to say, there were a few bumps along the way. So in the spirit of this blog, here are just a few of the many, many things I wish I had done differently.

1. I should have started out using a style guide.
From the very beginning, I should have picked one of the major styles guides and made it my bible. Instead, as I came across questions — Should this be hyphenated? Should that be capitalized? — I just googled the answer. As long as I had a browser open, I might as well have gone to Orbitz and bought myself a one-way ticket to Inconsistencyville. Population: this guy.

Thankfully, I quickly realized the error of my ways and was able to minimize the damage early on, but save yourself some pain and don’t repeat my mistake. Pick a style guide. Use it. My formal training is in journalism, so I’m partial to AP style, but most any style guide should do just fine: Chicago, MLA, MHRA, etc.

But if you don’t use the Oxford comma, you deserve to die alone.*

2. I should have (mostly) ignored the VO.
In hindsight, I spent a bit too much time worrying about how the English script would match up to the exact cadences of the voice over. As a result, I kept in far too many ellipses from the original Japanese. So … at times … the script reads … like this. And, as it turns out, most of those VO pauses weren’t even perceptible enough to warrant their inclusion in the English text. Feh.

Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll give priority to the written word. After all, it’s called a “visual novel,” not a “visual audio play.”

3. I should have established character voice cheat sheets early on.
This ranks pretty high on the list of things wish I had done differently when editing KoiRizo. The base translation was very literal, so, at least on the page, the characters’ speech patterns all read pretty much the same. The actual content of their dialogue gave them some level of characterization — oh Yuuhi, you so crazy — but still, I wish I’d been able to give everyone a more distinct voice ...

Next time out, I plan to make up an index card for each main character with notes on speech patterns, vocal tics, and catchphrases. And then, I’ll spend sufficient time with the translator agreeing on how each character should speak. (I'm just an editor. The nuances of untranslated Japanese speech are a bit beyond my pay grade.) Do they drop their “g”s when talkin’? Does one use painfully proper grammar when one speaks? This should go a long way toward making sure each character maintains a consistent voice, particularly if multiple translators and editors are involved.

4. I should have picked a visual novel I liked more.
I know, right? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with KoiRizo. It’s a perfectly fine moege. It’s light and fluffy and inconsequential. (Except for the dramatic bits, which are angsty and fluffy and inconsequential.) I guess that’s partly why I chose it; far easier to hone my craft on lighter titles like KoiRizo, then move onto more substantial fare.

But yeah, it never really clicked for me. (My VNDB rating for it has been hovering around a 6, if that tells you anything.) I tend toward VNs that take more narrative and metatextual risks, whereas KoiRizo is perfectly happy being an average, trope-heavy, cookie-cutter moege. Moreover, it had way too many H-scenes for my taste, often at the expense of plot. While it forced me to learn how to edit those types of scripts very quickly — more on that in a later blog post, I’m sure — it wasn’t something I always enjoyed.

But still, I never let any of this affect the quality of the output. I work in advertising, and we very rarely have the luxury of actually liking the brands we create campaigns for. You either learn to compartmentalize, or you get weeded out fast. All of which is to say, I always tried to honor both the original authorial intent and the lead TL’s vision for the project as best I could.

__________________

So there you go. Just a few of the many editing mistakes I have made, presented here for your approval. May you go forth and learn from my facepalms.


Because, as Goro says, forewarned is four-armed.

*Or surrounded by cats.

A good editor is a good reader.

By that, I don’t mean that he or she is well-read (although that helps). And I don’t mean that he or she reads exceptionally fast (although I’m sure that helps, too).

An editor’s most important job is to serve, quite literally, as the reader’s proxy. If you want to edit anything — a magazine article, a TV script, a visual novel — it’s your job to approach the text not as yourself, but as someone you’ve never met, someone who doesn’t share your likes, your dislikes, your accumulated knowledge. And that doesn’t mean approaching the text as some imaginary “ideal reader” either. They, like unicorns and affordable housing in San Fran, simply don’t exist. Seriously, when you ask a content creator to describe their “ideal reader,” they invariably end up describing themselves. Instead, it’s your job to edit for the “average reader.”

And just who is that? And how do you edit for them? That’s going to vary from title to title. If you’re editing some hardcore and super-niche VN, your assumed reader will be very different than that of some light and frothy moege. (And if you’re editing a Sakura title, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Let me buy you a shot.) That said, I do have some basic ground rules I try to follow.

1. Anticipate that this could be the reader’s first VN.
I've decided to edit visual novels because I believe in them as an art form. I want to see their English releases improve in quality and become more widely accepted outside of certain closed cultural circles. That means I choose to invite new VN readers into a text and make them feel, if not at home, then at least like a welcomed guest.

Stop. Put down the pitchforks. I’m not talking about dumbing down VNs. This is simply Writing 101. Among the authors I know, a common credo is, “A good novel teaches the reader how to read it.” (Unless it’s trying very, very hard to be unreadable. *cough*) A text in translation needs to work doubly hard to achieve this. First, it needs to bridge the gaps in cultural knowledge between the original audience (Japanese VN fans) and the secondary audience (Western VN fans). Otherwise, the work becomes much harder to read and enjoy than the author ever intended.

As you edit, read with beginner’s mind. Where might someone new to the VN genre get hung up? Which cultural nuances might prove confusing? Ask yourself if there’s a way you can bring clarity to those aspects without diluting the original text. If you do your job right, they’ll seem organic enough part of the VN that the experienced reader will barely know they’re there.



2. Choose to operate on the same timeline as the reader
As an editor, you have a luxury the reader does not: access to the full text. You probably go into the project already having read a large chunk of the VN several times over. Maybe you were even involved in the translation of it. Whatever the case, you run the risk of your brain filling in gaps that might leave the average reader confused.

Think of yourself as Bill Murray midway through Groundhog Day. Trapped in those endless 24 hours, he bull-rushes through his routine, responding not to what people are actually saying, but what he remembers them saying in past loops. He falls prey to over-familiarity and, as a result, alienates everyone he meets. It’s only when he learns to interact with people in their timeframe again, living and responding in the moment, that he finally gets what he wants. (The girl. It’s always the girl.)

Be late-movie Bill Murray. Edit mindfully.

When working on KoiRizo, I forced myself to do three separate editing passes. First, I tackled each script completely blind, going in with no more knowledge than any other reader. No cheating, no reading ahead. As I encountered lines that left me, the reader, feeling like I just missed something, I edited them as best I could but flagged them for later. Maybe the author intended that line to be cryptic. Maybe it was foreshadowing. Or maybe something got lost in translation. No way of knowing, so best to keep moving.

After reaching the end of a script, I’d start back at the beginning and do another full edit, this time focusing on the lines I’d flagged previously. VNs tend to be episodic, so if I hadn’t found the answer I needed inside that self-contained script, I elevated the flag and left a comment for the translator asking for clarification.

Finally, when I’d finished an entire route, I’d go back do a third, quick edit through the whole thing, top to bottom. I had all the facts from the scripts and all the notes from the translator, so if something still wasn’t working, it was likely all my fault. And that meant it was time to really hunker down and do some major surgery.

Technically, I also did a fourth edit pass once I’d finished the entire VN, since some of the routes had little in-jokes and references to other routes, but I consider that more of an enhanced read-through than anything, since I was only making tiny tweaks. Which brings me to my last point ...

3. Read, read, and read again
You might be done editing, but you’re not done reading. Find that beginner’s mind and read through everything again. And again. And again. Forget that you’re the one who rewrote the words on the page and just try to approach them anew. Be the reader. Each time, you’ll probably find something new — typos, grammatical errors, slight nuances you might have missed earlier that change the whole meaning of a line.

I read through KoiRizo a bunch of times and I know I still missed all sorts of things. Sorry! I've been kicking myself whenever I see the occasional typo report float through. (Editors are not proofreaders, by the way. Or vice versa. Fodder for a future blog post.) But at a certain point, a work just wants to get out in the world, warts and all.

And that’s another part of editing: learning to let go.

It's here! It's finally here! The Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort English patch release, brought to you by the tireless MDZ and team.

The plot: Soutarou thought it would be a summer like any other, working part-time at his aunt's dilapidated island resort. But then came the night of the meteor crash and the five strange space girls who climbed out of the smoldering crater. With them, they brought an ancient artifact that could doom the entire multiverse ... or save it.

Oh, who am I kidding? There are no space girls. It's just a moege set on a tropical island. I had a fun time editing it. Now go and read the thing already.

I’m a research junkie. Before taking on any new venture, I tend to waste stupid amounts time reading up on whatever it is I’m about to tackle. So when I got it in my head earlier this year to try editing a visual novel, the first thing I did was start googling like mad:
“visual novel editing tips”“visual novel editing advice”“visual novel editing examples”“should my baby’s poop be this color?” (Okay, I was multitasking. The answer is “yes,” by the way, but call your pediatrician if it stays like that for more than two or three days.)

It didn’t look good. I stumbled on a blog post Moogy had written on VN editing way back in 2009, but that was pretty much it. Still, to paraphrase Cadillac cribbing Brené Brown quoting Teddy Roosevelt, better to dare greatly and fail than just sit around and whine. So I dove in head-first … and landed head-first. I’d been hoping my experience in writing and editing ad campaigns would help me make short work of things. I mean, how different could it be?



Very different, as it turns out. I made a ton of rookie mistakes, followed by a bunch of slightly less rookie mistakes, topped off by several “Did you seriously just do that?” whoppers near the very end. Yet somehow, 36,000+ lines later, I managed to stumble across the finish line, just having edited my first visual novel. The result, MDZ’s translation of Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort, turned out pretty nicely, all things considered. (It should be releasing any day now. I’ll link to the patch when it does.) Of course, I still can’t read any of the scripts without obsessing over the countless things I wish I’d done differently.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. Back when I first started, I couldn’t find any good resources on VN editing. Don’t worry – this won’t be one either. I’m still a rank amateur by any standard, so I wouldn’t presume to offer authoritative advice to anyone. But what I can do is discuss the various editing challenges I faced, my approach to them, and the many, many different ways I fell flat on my face. I might not have the right answers, but at least I can point out some of the things you might want to start considering if you’re planning on editing a VN.

Here's another way to think about it: In the (insanely great) Dark Souls games, there are bloodstains scattered throughout the game world marking places where other players have met their demise. Activate one, and you can see a spectral re-enactment of their final few seconds. Point being, if you see a bunch of bloodstains massed around a door, you can be sure something there’s something truly nasty lurking on the other side. It's probably a good idea to stop, watch, and learn from others' mistakes before going any further.

Let me be your Yoko Ono bloodstain. 

As promised, a repost of the MOE that got deleted in the rollback!

So the previous MOE Repository #27 got deleted in the rollback, and my only backup is 7500 km away... so naturally I just spammed more intro threads with MOE and now I have an all-new batch of MOE! Yay!
Also I'll repost the deleted MOE in about a week when I get back, in case you missed it!

So I just spent 50 minutes of my day watching this. Trying to process what I just watched is hard, there's just so much information to take in. I watched it alongside OriginalRen, SuikaShoujo and The Major, yet despite our best efforts, our brains simply were no match for the depth and intricacy this anime provides.

I'll try to give you a feel, a small sample of what it feels like to watch "Issho ni Sleeping: Sleeping with Hinako", but I truly believe that the only real way to appreciate this show is to just watch it yourself.

So first off we have our heroine Hinako. Hinako really likes to sleep. Her main trait as a character is not being able to fix the strap on her shirt.



As you can see from this cleverly crafted angle, this entire anime is told in first person perspective. But we're just scratching the surface of how thick the plot really gets.

After Hinako changes clothes, covering your face so you don't see her changing, even though she just ends up sleeping in her underwear anyway, she goes to sleep.

And thus, our sleep adventure begins!





That is the face of pure bliss.



Here we have some amazing shots that truly depict the wonders of a 2D girl sleeping.





A real good close up of the heroine, it's almost like she's breathing on you





In this shot here, you can see Hinako's breasts changing sizes, giving us a clear reason why Hinako just can not get the left strap of her shirt to stay in place, her left breast simply doesn't have as much mass.






This shot here is a classic. The subtle twitch Hinako's leg makes each time really provides livelyness to her sleep, making you feel like you're sleeping right next to her.







10 minutes in and the anime really ramps it up by having Hinako turn to the other side. In my opinion this was one of their best moves yet.







Here we get a first glimpse of Hinako's windowsill which displays a clock and a vase with a plant. This is a very intringuing as the clock displays no numbers, a fact that will become really important later on so make sure you keep it in mind.







Another very rare shot of Hinako's armpit, one of my personal favorites if I daresay so myself. The disproportionally sized breasts really help elevate that armpit.







18 minutes in and the biggest game changer yet, Hinako makes use of one of her pillows! We can neither confirm nor deny if there's any significance behind this pose and the pillow's peculiar shape.







And just 30 seconds later we are shown Hinako's sleep eating abilities.







This is one of the rarest shots in the whole story, at the 22:22 minute mark, Hinako dangles her arm from the bed. What a delightful display of character.







And this 24 minute mark is the crucial turning point where we have a clear view of Hinako's room and lo and behold, nobody is sleeping next side her, even though we're supposed to be there, what could this possibly mean!?







At the 26 minute mark, Hinako has a dream about the moment we confessed to her and she gladly accepted our feelings. While the dream itself lasted a mere 10 seconds, I could really feel a deep emotional connection with Hinako's character just from watching her sleep for the past 26 minutes.







And in the next minute, Hinako wakes up. I'm sure we were thinking the same thing, and that is how much we love each other. Hinako, being the amazing girlfriend she is, sings us a lullaby with really inspiring lyrics such as "Go to sleep, go to sleep on Hinako's chest" which have the result of making her fall asleep.







At the 30 minute mark, Hinako has yet another dream, this time about when she was training hard to lose weight, she even gives us advice on how to be BIG like Hinako.







And now, the biggest game changer yet, Hinako falls off her bed! My heart could barely take it, seeing Hinako fall on the floor after 30 minutes of sleeping really came out of nowhere, this anime sure knows how to tug on your heart strings.







And now starts the most romantic scene in an anime I have ever seen.








What a straightforward approach. Hinako tops all those tsunderes in generic romcoms, you don't get this level of romance too often.








Of course we have a really deep connection with Hinako, and she reassures us of that by returning our feelings (even though we didn't really say anything, I'm sure our feelings got acress).



I had to hold back my emotions over how realistic everything got, the intense urge to kiss my screen really started to come out.








*doki doki*





Hinako wastes no time though, she knows what her main goal is, this woman has her priorities set straights, that's why right after this she once again heads to bed and instantly falls asleep. Pro sleepers really are something else.







But the thrilling ride isn't over yet, can you believe they still have more in store? This time, Hinako invites us to sleep on the same bed as her. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. The anime really makes this a realistic experience by tilting the camera 90 degrees. It truly felt like I was right next to Hinako.







[immersion intensifies]








35 minutes in, Hinako does yet another unpredictable thing, she decides to get a night snack. Gosh, this anime really doesn't hold back on the plot twists.







Brushing your teeth is important too. Even if you didn't eat anything. Deep.







Once again, after falling asleep, Hinako falls on the floor. This time facing the other way, I liked that change of pace, this anime really knows when to spice it up.







She doesn't forget her girlfriend duties though and reminds us we are also an entity, a sentient being, and thus we need sleep as well. Notice how her strap keeps sagging lower and lower, symbolizing we're reaching the end of our journey.







After she falls asleep, Hinako has one last dream. In this one though, she ended up getting fat due to eating so many snacks. I'm sure she'll resume her training the next day!







And now, after a whole 40 minutes of Hinako sleeping, morning comes, and this is where the plot really thickens!




You see, after this, Hinako sleeps with us again, twice, do you not see what this means!?




This whole time, we've actually been trapped in a dream world, but not just that, we were trapped in a dream world, inside a dream world, inside a dream world, inside a dream world, and we weren't a human being either, we were a ghost that posessed random objects around Hinako's room in order to try to wake her from the dream by looking at her body from several different angles. Remember the clock I mentioned at the beginning? What was missing? Pointers! That's because in this dream world, there's no time flow! We've been stuck sleeping with Hinako over and over, that's why she always wears the same outfit when she sleeps.







I could barely see this coming, it came by so fast my brain just had no time to process it.




This anime is a deconstruction of the human psyche, one that if you're not paying attention to, you will miss its profound message, the 50 minute length time really manages to portray to intricacies of the brain by having the same still shots over and over again across the timeline, you really feel like you're diving into Hinaki's profound sleepiness and tracing its patterns.




The emotional bonds you manage to form with Hinako as you watch her sleep from every possible angle really make this a standout from the crowd. You can not get this deep level of characterization anywhere else.



It brought me to tears as my eyes were strained while I wtched 50 minutes of a girl sleeping on a bed, making me empathize with her.




The story sucks you in, almost making you fall asleep just like Hinako.



This 16 year old girl who can't put on a shirt strap properly is the apogee of all female characters. If you haven't used the term "waifu" now, I'm sure this anime will change your mind.




Issho ni Sleeping: Sleeping with Hinako is, without a doubt, the best anime ever made.

Attention Fuwanovel! This is a very important announcement!
MOE MOE MOE MOE MOE MOE MOE MOE

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I wrote previously about a display bug in Dual Tail's strategy eroge Venus Blood -Hypno- that prevented interface text from displaying correctly in non-Japanese Windows. Fan hacker binaryfail generously donated a patch that fixes the issue. I sent this patch to Ninetail (parent company of Dual Tail) via Twitter, requesting that they include the fix on their official support page. Project manager and game designer Keimaru responded to me in broken English. His response, edited by me, is as follows.

Original:




I thanked him and went my way. A commentator on Reddit later informed me that Keimaru had posted a much longer comment in Japanese. This comment showed such sincere and thoughtful consideration of the issue, from a Japanese developer's standpoint, that I decided it needed to be relayed to the English audience.

Japanese eroge developers are well known for their reluctance to get involved with the Western market. Packaging and splash screens prominently declare "For sale in Japan only". Westerners tend to dismiss this policy as apathy for foreign fans, even regarding the practice with contempt as just another manifestation of Japanese isolationism and xenophobia. When eroge companies block foreign IPs, they automatically assume that the company has closed its doors to Western release (despite abundant evidence to the contrary). "The companies are just being xenophobic," they say with bitter contempt. "Might as well just fan translate their titles, since they'll never officially release their games in English. They don't want dirty gaijin playing their games."

It's about time that we get the other side of this story. And who better to deliver it than a prominent and well-loved Japanese developer--one puzzling over how to respond to a bug that prevents foreign fans from playing his games? I provide my translation of Keimaru's Twitter comments below. I regret that my translation skills could not fully convey the honest simplicity of the original message, but I did my best to at least get across the ideas and intent.
I don't know about you, but Ninetail just earned one new (very loud) fan. For an example of one of Ninetail's outstanding games, see my Venus Blood -Gaia- review! (NSFW version, SFW mirror)

Special thanks to those of the Fuwanovel community who provided feedback on the translation, especially Majikoi fan translator dowolf.

In honour of this being the 25th Moeblog post, I've written a little poem. Ahem...

There once was a man named Moe
He had a lot of moe
So he posted the moe
Something-something the moe
Moe moe moe moe moe moe moe

Avatar: The Last Fuwabender*
 
 
 
 
*Note: There will be no Avatar: The Last Airbender references from this point on.*
 
An avatar, also known as profile picture, is defined via Google as "An icon or figure representing a particular person in computer games, Internet forums, etc."
 
In the case of the Fuwanovel Forums, avatars typically represent one's identity, or at least represents whatever appeals to them personally at that particular point in time (such as a favorite character, "waifu", etc).
 
Many users of this forum have different ways of utilizing their avatars and through years of extensive research I have been able to group them into the following:
The Eternal: users who have had a single avatar since the beginning of their creation. ie. Zalor The Loyalist: users who have a single unique avatar that they change to variations of. Can change to another avatar, but typically returns to the original unique avatar ie. TarzanofVersailles The Bandwagoner: users who change their avatar on a whim depending on their current mood or preferences which can change over time. This can branch to Settlers who very rarely change their avatar to a new one ie. Clephas, or Travelers who change to a new avatar relatively quickly ie. Eclipsed (pre-Louise era) The Identity Crisiser: users who cycle / rotate their avatar on a frequent basis to a select few unique avatars while typically being unable to settle down on any particular one. May also become a Bandwagoner at times. ie. Kaguya-sama  
Eternals are the most powerful class of avatar users. Their very existence is so great, that if one were to ever somehow undergo an avatar change, the resulting shockwave can very well destroy the forums (an example being the fateful Taypocalypse of '14).
 
Loyalists are the second most powerful class of avatars. They are typically very fond of their avatars and only choose variations of said avatar when changing avatars, or in the case that they do choose a new avatar, they tend to revert back to the original unique one eventually.
 
Bandwagoners (subclass: Settlers/Travelers) are the common folk. Settlers are more powerful than Travelers.
 
The Identity Crisisers are the wildcards. One can never fully determine if a Crisiser has finally settled on an avatar or if the Crisiser will continue their neverending quest for their one true avatar.
 
~~
TL;DR, here are all of my avatars since the beginning of my time here on Fuwanovel (times are approx.; not all images from an era are displayed.)
 
Lurker Era (Sept)
 
 
 
 
Date A Live Era (Sept - Nov)
 
 
 
 
Kotori Era (Dec - Jan) <Love Live>
 
 
 
 
Date A Live II Era (Jan)
 
 
 
 
Charlotte Era (Feb) <Machine Doll>
 
 
 
 
Frenda Era (Feb) <Toaru Majutsu no Index>
 
 
 
 
Louise Era (Mar - Present) <Zero no Tsukaima>
 
 
 
 
 
What avatar class are you?
 
~~
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more Eclipsed's ramblings!

IF YOU LIKE MOE AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS
(Disclaimer: The poster is not responsible for any moe-induced symptoms including but not limited to dizziness, light-headedness, vomiting, diarrhea, heart failure, loss of limbs, asphyxiation, brain damage, or premature ejaculation.)

WHOOPS I MUST HAVE ACCIDENTALLY DROPPED MY IMAGES OF ADORABLE GIRLS

PeasSoft. The first time I heard about them, was when they introduced their new title at that time - Koisuru Shimai no Sextet. And no, I was only interested in the catchy OP song, not the VN itself. For me, it was nothing but a nukige, although it's actually not. Definitely not the best first impression. So, why did I decide to try out their lastest title - Chuunibyou na Kanojo no Love Equation (release on May 29th)? Half of it, again, was from the catchy OP that I was humming all the time recently. The other half, well...I just couldn't take my eyes off Spica-chan. A-Anyway, let's get to it, shall we?





SYNOPSIS

The game will start when our protagonist transfers schools and comes to stay at a dorm which had just turned from a woman’s dormitory into a joint dormitory. But it’s only his first day in and he already runs into several unlucky encounters, meaning that he walks in on several girls as they are changing clothes. Does this mean that he’ll now be expelled from the dorm? Will that be the only thing he ever accomplished?

CHARACTER

1. Kanbara Ryuichi

Protagonist. Because of his parents's work (haaa........), he has to change school and move to Fushiki dorm in Kazami city. A lucky sukebe that dreamed about a harem life and all kind of lewd situation in his new place. He was given the name God Dragon by Aoi (Ryu = Dragon. The word "Kan" in his name can also be pronounced as "Kami" = God).

2. Kohinata Aoi







"Is she still alive...the Witch that threatened the peace of this world...!"


"The Dark Avenger". An incurable chuunibyou girl that is in the same class/dorm with Ryuichi. With the common sense level on par with Takanashi Rikka, she pro-claimed that she came here to defeat "the Witch of the Dorm". For whatever reason, she is really weak against dog. Kinda an airhead. Despite being the Dark Avenger, she is really afraid of ghost.

3. Kuromine Mion







"You really think that death has any meaning to me, the ruler of everything in the universe...? Kufufufu..."


"The Witch of the Dorm". A third-year senpai with low level chuunibyou. Basically, she is still capable of talking like a normal human being (LOL), just suddenly go full chuuni from time to time. Like her appearance suggests, she is a S that love to tease Ryuichi. Don't seem to have much sense of embarrassment.

4.Hanagasaki Momo







"The shining moonlight, the thorny rose wines...Respond to my desire!!"


"The Dark Priestess". One year younger than Ryuichi, it's still unknown whether or not she really has chuunibyou. I feel like she just got dragged into the "battlefield" at some point by Rikka Aoi without being able to refuse. Outside of "war zone", she is a pretty shy girl that love cute stuff and manga/anime. Second best cook in the dorm.

5. Hoshino Spica







"...Look, Astral...the Arcturus is twinkling..."


"The Alien Observer". She came to the Earth, along with her alien bunny(?) friend Astral, to observe the life on this planet and report back to her home planet (for unknown purpose). With the emotionless face, the only thing that she's interested in are the stars and pudding. She hates green pepper with passion. If anyone try to disobey her, she will threaten them about destroying the Earth. Because she is a genderless alien in the body of a human girl, she has no problem with Ryuichi seeing her naked. Due to the timeline difference between Earth and her home planet (morning on Earth is much earlier), she is really bad with morning, and always require other people to wake her up with a bit of "violence". Don't try to scare her with ghostly stuff, because those "non-scientific" things have zero effect on her.




6. Ayase Chisato







"Don't tell me, you are the rape demon that just attacked Momo...!? I-I have to call the police!!"


The only normal person in the group. Same year/class as Ryuichi, she is the best cook in the dorm. Serious, strict and good at cooking/shopping/housework, other people tend to see her as the mother in the dorm, and she is not really happy about that. Currently working part-time as waitress in a café.

STORY

After the fierce battle of Dark Avenger + Dark Priestess versus The Dorm Witch at the beginning, the time will be rolled back to 7 days before that, when Ryuichi just came to Kazami city. On the way to Fushiki dorm, he just couldn't stop himself from imagining his dream life in the new place - which was just recently converted from a girl-only dorm to normal dorm, and he would be the first boy to arrive. However, what greeted him at the dorm was absolute silent. Having no choice, he went in and looked for his room by himself. Opening the door, he was speechless when he saw a girl (Aoi) with weird clothes inside his dark room, chanting magic.






"I have never seen you before...Don't tell me, you are the Dark Messenger!?"


Panickingly run out of the room, he met Satomi - the manger of the dorm. She told him about the terrifying state of his room - water leaked everywhere, making the room unusable - aside from being the altar for Aoi, so he had to live in the living room until the room was repaired. Aoi ran down, and they exchanged a short introduction.
Having nothing to do, Ryuichi walked around the city. Back home, he suddenly had the urge of picking flower (LOL) so he headed straight to the bathroom. In there, he had the "fateful" meeting with Momo - just done with the bath and totally naked. Rushing out after Momo's death scream, he bumped right into Chisato (and shortly after, Aoi), who came to check on Momo. Of course, he got rekt after that.






"This is why I opposed the idea of having boys in here...There are only girls living here, so various problems will arise..."


In the middle of their conversation, Mion came down from her room. After a short exchange, she suggested that there should be an one-week-trial for Ryuichi, and everyone would decide his fate after that. Everyone agreed to that suggestion. However, for the "safeness" of the girls, he would have to keep all of his belonging and sleep inside a cage (literary).
Night time, waited until everyone (supposedly) went to sleep, he went to take a bath. And in there, another fateful meeting awaited him - the final resident of Fushiki dorm - Spica. Going in naturally in the middle of his bath, she asked him to wash her hair and back. Then, after everything was done, like nothing happened, she came out of the bath room, leaving Ryuichi all erected confused.
Lucky(?) for him, Spica was sleep-walking(?) at that time, so the next morning, she remembered nothing about him and what happened.






"...Who?"


Going to school, he met Akane - an energetic girl that was the helper of, like, every clubs in the school, and Soushi - a lolicon otaku that doesn't mind boasting about his love for primary schooler. On the way home, Ryuichi's scar on his forehead was discovered by Aoi, and she dragged him right back into her room, and showed him her "Forbidden Grimoire" (a.k.a university notebook). Inside, was a prediction about the future: "The brother from the past life with a wound on his forehead will soon appear". Immediately, she told him that he lost past life's memory from a curse, so she would become his "protector" until his memory came back.






"Alright, from now on, I will become your protector!"


Next day, after school, Spica was given the task of going shopping. Chisato also assigned Ryuichi to go along with Spica, to prevent her from buying whatever she pleased. Despite this, during the shopping, you would have the choice of whether or not you want to obey her to keep her from destroying the Earth spoil her with her eating preference (no green pepper, pudding for life!), or be a cold heart asshole proper man with the policy of "tonight dinner first, the Earth later!".
After various incidents in the next days, including him charging into the toilet with broken lock while Chisato was still inside, and the "I already done with changing clothes" troll from Mion, the judgement day finally came. And the result was...*censored*

This is the end of the trial version 1. In the version 2, you will be able to go a little bit further into the common route, and have a peak into Aoi and Spica route (about 1/3 the length of the actual route, I guess). Plus, 5 H-scenes for 5 heroines will be available.






"Pyon pyon pyon...pyon"


SPICA IS SO CUTEEEE!!! Sorry, my bad.
Overall, this seems to be no different than Koisuru Shimai no Sextet - a moege with zero story and can easily be mistaken as a nukige. The comedy is at medium level, and mainly come from Spica's cuteness the chuuni exchange between the characters and all those lucky sukebe situation from Ryuichi. The heroine routes are expected to be all the same - they will fall in love with Ryuichi for whatever reason, then invite him to live with them in their room, and every kind of ichaicha will happen. I can't really say anything about the romance level in heroines route, since they have not even confessed yet in the taste-test trial. The common route is capable of keeping you away from falling asleep, but not good enough to make you want to play it for a long time. In fact, it took me two days just to finish this short trial, which normally I would consume in a single day. The language is painfully hard to understand when Aoi speak in full chuuni mode, though the daily conversation, and even Mion/Momo chuuni language are pretty simple.

GRAPHIC






It's Yukie a.k.a Peach Candy (Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana, Neko Cafe Macchiato, Hakoniwa Logic) who is in charge of the art, so no complain whatsoever. She is one of the few artist that managed to attract me even with huge boobs characters (Iriya Koko is an example. Well, there is the fact about Ogura Yui being her seiyuu too, but...). The moeness of her art is killing me! Still wish she would reduce the amount of balloons though...

MUSIC

Aside from the catchy OP, the rest of the BGMs are pretty normal, or maybe even, bland. Definitely not something that will make you remember afterward. Just my personal opinion though.

VOICE

Momo's voice is seriously annoying. I don't know why, but I just couldn't handle her weirdly high-pitched voice, especially when she was panicking. Again, personal opinion. Aside from that, everything is cool.

CONCLUSION

I have to say, this is not the moege-for-everyone. With the non-existence story, high amount of H-CG and just decent amount of comedy, unless you really like a heroine (like me, I played this VN just for Spica), or else, don't pick it, you won't be able to stay for long.

Temporary Score
Story: 4/10
Character: 9/10
Graphic: 9,5/10
Music: 6/10
Voice: 8/10
Overall: 7,3/10









My previous review:
Pure x Connect (Trial Edition)

It's been a while... Fuwa-fuwa moe-moe time!

Hey Fuwans! Lino here again bringing some more fabulous happenings around Fuwa proper. This post is going to be a tad beefier than normal, so bare with me here. In this case, it isn't as much a 'happening' is a thing that persistently exists. So without further ado, we'll be taking a look at the Fuwa-Skype Group and its offshoot; Fuwa-Skype Karaoke.

For those of you who don't know, Fuwa actually has its own skype group, the Fuwa-Skype Group (F.S.G). It's one of the places where a bunch of members here often frequent and give each other raburabu hangout outside of the forum. You can check out the thread dedicated to joining it over here. If the idea of getting into that is off-putting, perhaps take a look through the "unforgettable skype quotes" thread. We are also housing the next Nasu (a la Fate series and Tsukihime), so that right there is all the more reason to check it out.

Aside from that, as mentioned in the first part of this post, there is also an offshoot group of F.S.G; Fuwa-Skype Karaoke (F.S.K). As the name suggests, members get together and jam out and sing together every Saturday. It has been going on for a while now and everyone who ends up participating enjoys it a lot.


So we, the Recognition Team, have asked a few members of the Skype groups for a bit of their time for interviews, and they oh so kindly obliged. We would very much like to thank Kurisu-Chan, arakura, Jptje, and Joris914 for taking the time to deal with our questions and letting us interview them. Half of the interviews are in text form while the other two are available for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Interviews:

arakura (interviewed by Ezeefreak)

Kurisu-Chan (interviewed by your's truly)




Jptje (interviewed by Rose)




Joris (interviewed by Rose)

Peter Payne, owner of VN publisher JAST and the J-List empire, made the following comment in their official forums:

JAST's experience with RPGs

JAST has released several RPGs over the years, including the Raidy series, Brave Soul, Aselia the Eternal, and most recently Yumina the Ethereal. JAST has said hinted before that the Raidy series did very well for them, and they seemed quite eager to work on Raidy 3, so I'd infer that it's not included in this assessment. Brave Soul was heavily pirated, as evidenced by the repetitive posts in the old forums asking how to save (which was explicitly outlined in the short paper manual that came with the game). The release of Aselia the Eternal was mired by issues, including a widely available fan translation patch, JAST's decision not to release a version with the original 18+ content due to concerns about the sexual portrayal of children, failure to pursue a Steam release, and the fact that by the time JAST got around to releasing it 8 years had passed and the game's graphics (640x480) and battle system were horribly dated. I previously discussed how Yumina the Ethereal's marketing was poorly handled, although eventually they did release a playable trial at least. Since Brave Soul was released 12 years ago and Aselia the Eternal probably didn't cost much to localize due to the existing fan patch (JAST worked with the same group for the official release), I presume JAST's statement is based largely on Yumina the Ethereal's sales.

Seinarukana: JAST's most ambitious RPG license to date

Synopsis

Seinarukana follows the dimension-traveling adventures of Nozomu and his band of friends. The story opens in a typical high school in Japan. Nozomu's everyday life is shattered when the school is suddenly attacked by strange invaders from another world wielding medieval weapons and fantastic magics. Amidst the chaos he and others awake to supernatural powers that had long lied dormant--powers inherited from a previous life. When the dust settles the entire campus has dimension shifted, and the students find themselves stranded in an alien world. While at first Nozomu and his friends simply seek to return to their world, they gradually become entangled in a dimension-spanning intrigue that threatens the entire multiverse. In the process, they discover the nature of their powers, and memories of their former lives begin to awaken.

Story and gameplay

The premise is reminiscent of its prequel Aselia the Eternal, though it has lighthearted school comedy elements that more resemble spiritual successor Yumina the Ethereal. The gameplay system is an evolution of the strategic overland map movement and tactical combat found in Aselia the Eternal, streamlining leveling, adding greater complexity in the form of separate physical defense and magical defense, and introducing a large cast of playable characters with unique skills. Skills are awarded as map completion objectives, with faster and more complete conquest rewarded with rare and powerful skills, giving players incentive to master the gameplay. You can see screenshots of the gameplay on its VNDB page.

Evaluation

I've played through the entire game, and the gameplay is a blast. The story mixes typical high school comedy with a fascinating sci-fi / fantasy setting, but the blend is smoother and more convincing than Yumina the Ethereal, with the plot and setting gradually introduced rather than dropped in your lap halfway through like with Yumina. Unlike Yumina, there's no grind or random encounters, which I appreciate. Seinarukana is currently rated 8.4/10 with 151 votes on VNDB, ranking it #3 in untranslated RPGs below Eushully's epics Ikusa Megami Zero and Ikusa Megami Verita.

English Release

Insider information suggests Seinarukana is planned for a 2015 release, likely timed to coincide with Anime Expo in early July. Unfortunately, JAST appears to be heading for a repeat of the mistakes they made with Yumina the Ethereal: taking a high-caliber RPG, hurling it at fans, then expecting the game to market itself.

RPGs require special marketing at a different audience

Ask existing VN fans (JAST's typical customers) to buy an RPG, and they're going to whine that there's gameplay getting in the way of their story. RPG fans don't necessarily frequent VN sites, because they don't like VNs especially--they like RPGs. On top of that, when RPG fans are looking for RPGs to buy, they're looking for promotional materials that highlight the gameplay: gameplay screenshots, gameplay videos, and playable demos.

Reviews are important

RPG fans tend to read reviews before they buy, which means RPG review sites need to be engaged and persuaded to review these games. I never saw any reviews of Yumina the Ethereal on RPG sites, which was probably the #1 reason it didn't do as well as JAST had hoped. There's a huge potential audience for VN-style RPGs with strong gameplay, but it's going to take more effort to tap than JAST is probably used to. But if they're going spend the considerable resources to license a long high-caliber RPG like Seinarukana...why wouldn't they market it the best they could?

Seinarukana is a Steam dream come true

Seinarukana has to be released on Steam. Absolutely. Positively. If the game can be listed on Steam, priced affordably, and it gets noticed--the game will sell like hotcakes. I've played Seinarukana, and the gameplay is a blast. Steam users will eat it up. Censoring the H-content in Seinarukana will be no issue because there's hardly any to begin with. And with a censored version, sites like RPGFan and RPGamer should be willing to review the game, which will multiply sales. Getting these sites review copies before release, to boost pre-release hype, is a key aspect of proper marketing!

My message to JAST

Disappointing sales of your RPGs is your own fault. You're dropping the ball. Put some effort into the marketing this time around and you'll get results! You have talented people working for you on Seinarukana that know what it takes to market RPGs. Talk to them! Throw money at them and give them the authority to do what it takes to make this release successful!

My message to readers

It's outside the scope of this article to convince you that Seinarukana is awesome. You'll just have to take make word for it. Regardless if you agree, if you care about visual novel style RPGs then I have a message for you: JAST needs your help. They're at a fork in the road where they're debating if high quality RPGs are worth the effort of releasing. They don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine; all they see is a caved-in tunnel that is taking forever to clear. And if they don't dig down, they'll never realize it.

I want YOU, the RPG fans, to help me tell JAST what they're doing wrong. Here's a pre-release thread for Seinarukana on the JAST official forums. Tell them what they need to do to reach RPG fans like you and me and make Seinarukana and future awesome RPGs a success. Do you want to see shining gems like Eushully's Ikusa Megami Verita in English? First we have to convince Japanese developers like Eushully that there's a market for these games in English, and we have to convince localization companies like JAST that translating a 100hr epic like that isn't going to bankrupt them.

I leave the sword in your hands, RPG fans.

Hello everyone, quick post and no time for introductions this time, for if you didn't received the news, then there you have it: After four years in development, the Majikoi translation project is finally complete! So if you plan to read this game or was waiting for the complete patch to finish it, then go thank the team in the discussion thread, you can find their profile links in the translation thread if you feel like PMing then as well. Thanks a lot everyone on the team, you guys are amazing and our deepest gratitude!

Last one! So, what should I do with this blog now?

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? STOP OPPRESSING THE LOWER CLASSES, YOU DESPICABLE AUTOCRATS. I want to make a title that's two characters or fewer in length, and Big Brother restricts my due FREEDOM? Is this the kind of institution you proudly lead? Do you quell the voices of the public with pleasure!? CLEARLY somebody isn't familiar with the timeless proclamations of Voltaire. It seems liberty has declined over the ages, the result of the moral decadence manifest in those who so carelessly control us. Freedom of speech is my RIGHT, my PRIVILEGE, and I have no intention to live under YOUR TYRANNY.

Oh, wait, two-letter titles are still allowed, even though it says "longer than 2 characters." Somebody should fix that.



Anyway, I wanted to say that I've taken a liking to the color yellow recently.