Mr Poltroon

Oh, well, I personally like all kinds of artstyles, although if you'd ask me for my favourites, they'd likely turn out to not be non-anime, but more stylized/unconventional spins on anime art... Like Steins;Gate for example. The point being, I'm a weeb, I like anime-style things and most people that will ever look at a visual novel for more than 5 seconds are either like me or Japanese.
From their very beginnings, Japanese VNs had a pretty strong connections to anime and they are made primarily for Japanese readers, who seem to be pretty conservative with their tastes. Non-JP VNs are made primarily for weebs, often very explicitly copying Japanese media to appeal to Western otaku. While writing about VNs I always advocated for non-JP devs to avoid being copycats, but mostly in the sense of creating their own narratives and experimenting with style. I don't think rejecting anime art is needed that much, the thing you should probably try to avoid is being generic and uninspired, which a lot of VNs (from all sources) are. Plus VNs, no matter who makes them, are currently offering very thin profit margins, sadly making anything more than mild experimentation quite a big risk. You can make a non-anime one, but unless you absolutely nail the presentation, it might very easily appeal to no one – the weebs or JP otakus won't like the departure from what they usually enjoy and the broader audience still won't find your "waifu power point presentation" interesting enough to check out. Thus, I don't think VNs can really free themselves from anime art, or have much reason to do so. They won't get meainstream any time soon, considering they didn't already and the younger generations generally have the attention spans of gerbils.

The first episode of Yofukashi no Uta was pretty much all I was hoping for. It's quirky, with a bit of Monogatari vibes, but way less horny and more cute/comedic. The dynamic between the protagonist and Nazuna is really fun and Nazuna herself is kind of an adorable dork behind the "cool vampire" facade. Plus the whole affirmation of the night theme... Lovely. ^^
Also, a possibly interesting note for @Mr Poltroon... The protagonist starts as more or less aromantic (very explicitly stating he "doesn't understand that stuff"), not sure how this changes later on, but I wouldn't expect real romance to show up very soon. :3

Nice, I'm happy I was able to buy VN's and I'm going to buy more VN's when I get chance.

In nearly all cases, yes.
The companies that license these games for English release put them on Steam.

Here's a hot take
How the hell did Subahibi get an overwhelming majority 9+/10 ratings (avg 8.68) on VNDB?
Yeah, sure, innocent lighthearted SoL beginnings turned GOTCHA! pyschological multiple viewpoints wtfmux that rabbit?! delusional EnDSkY savior bonanza
But nothing that made me feel like goddamn, this is a 10/10 masterpiece!@#. 
I gave it a 7/Good. Gets too rapey at times. And Takuji can go suck it.

~~
I feel bad for people who followed 9-Nine since its first episode released in 2017 and had to wait until 2020+ to get the final episode. Idk how episodic releases fare against just making one complete VN, but whatever floats your boat. I got the luxury of finding out about this VN in 2022, so huzzah me, can just marathon the whole thing!
9 9 was fun. It's another modern day high school setting with a dash of the supernatural/superpowers. Good balance of highschool SoL Romance and Supernatural Overarching Plot Build Up to keep things interesting, with 4 Episodes to keep ya busy and add to the superpower lore(each Episode is dedicated to one of the 4 heroines, yee Enforced Route Playthroughs). The payoff when you finally get to Episode 4 is similar to, if not only a fraction of, the payoff you'd get from making the trek from Muv Luv to Muv Luv Alternate. Things can get pretty high stakes and epic, just don't uh, overload. Heh.

7/10 Ep 1-2,
8/10 Ep 3,
9/10 Ep 4.
~~ 
I was gonna do a misc. thoughts for both Subahibi and 9-Nine, but uhhh I kinda got too lazy, srrz. And I kinda just wanna start reading:
 

So after two years not being held, finally we have Anime Expo returned and for the first panel Sekai here bring some interesting title such as Hamidashi Creative or Parfait (At least GIGA still willing to localize their VN I suppose). I'll list the announcements here later on.
PS - Here's all of the announcements for AX 2022 below, and I'll try to sort it based on the order of the panel.
Sekai Project
Aksys Games
Spike Chunsoft
JAST USA
Mangagamer
That's all for the announcements for the first AX since the pandemic happened, and of course I'll write my comment on those later on.

Nya

Riiiight, I think it was more what you told about the anime that made me feel I shouldn't watch it. Subtle differences. :3
Anyway, managed to catch up on some more of my watch-to list over the last week (including a bit of binging over the weekend) and none of it was trash! How weird.
So, a very positive surprise was I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying, a comedy short about a young marriage between an otaku and a normie. You wouldn't expect an anime with 3 minute, gag-filled episodes to have much substance, but damn, it's such an on-point portrayal of young adult relationships. And on top of that, it's really good at tackling adult themes, including sex, in an unpretentious way. It's already refreshing to see a series that escapes the eternal high school drama hell, but even more fun to see a comedy created obviously for mature audiences (in the sense of relating to their life experiences, not being explicit in any way). You can finish both seasons in under two hours, but it condenses a lot of enjoyment within that runtime. 8/10.
Restaurant to Another World 2 is, well... More Restaurant to Another World. Wholesome food porn mixed with fantasy, purely episodic, relaxed and inescapably making you hungry with every eating scene. It looks even better than the prequel and, despite of what I just said, manages to slowly build up its lore into a more cohesive vision of the fantasy world the restaurant is connected to, and does a bit more with interactions between patrons. What it culminates with, I won't spoil, but it's obviously wholesome and pleasant. If you're looking for low-stakes chill, definitely another 8/10.
And then, Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Season 2... I think deep inside I was a bit scared of watching this one, pushing it for later all the time, as the first season is one of my most beloved pieces of anime. The second season is still REALLY GOOD and in some ways it improves on the original, but I'm slightly conflicted about it. For the positives, it tones down the fanservice a bit, especially the cursed Lucoa/Shouta sexual harassment "gags" and delves a lot deeper into the backstory of Tohru and her world. The problem is, it adds things like massive retrospective arc between Tohru and Elma, showing a very complex and deep relationship between them... But it's on the level that is a bit hard to reconcile with what the show offered earlier and the tone of the comedic interactions. Same goes for what we learn about Tohru herself... It's something that makes sense "on paper", but not something I fully buy after what we learned from her behaviour so far. It very much feels like things the writer of the source material came up with on the fly, rather than properly foreshadowed character development. And of course, the yuri stays just as vague and one-sided as ever (with obligatory arc teasing some development and bailing on it at the end of the season, as apparently every anime has to outside of those 4-5 actual yuri ones in existence). And as the last nitpick, I don't think this season had truly epic, hard-hitting moments, on the level of the fight between Tohru and her father. It's even more of whimsical slice-of-life series, but on the other hand, still a fantastic one, with on-point comedy and wonderful relaxation factor. 9/10. Also, little dragon Tohru just melted my heart and there's no coming back from that:

Did I? Last I recall about that show I found that the anime and LN seemed to diverge, and should be taken as such disparate experiences. Though in respect to the LN I agree with Dreamysyu here. It's well paced until it isn't anymore, at which point it's hard to just keep going.
The stuff I recall recommending against was actually the Bakarina light novels, as I find the anime works better as the medium.

Hiya, folks!
We have a few additions for this latest Penlight release.  First, there's a new CG added to cover the rooftop conversation in the Villainous Robot story, along with a slight amendment to that scene.  
The main content this month concerns the alternate path of Sayori's Doll storyline, which now has a couple new scenes written along with two new CGs to accompany them. We're still missing a conclusion, but you can view the new scenes by choosing the option "Prove to her that she wants this (Under Construction)" on the Doll storyline when prompted.
As usual, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions on my Patreon, itch.io or SubscribeStar pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the latest public news post on Patreon.
Please enjoy the new release and look forward to next month where we should see a conclusion to this alternate storyline. Until then~
What's New

WRITING: Two new scenes completed for Sayori's Doll storyline alternate path ("Prove to her that she wants this"), plus an outline for the following scenes ART: Two new CGs for Sayori's Doll storyline, on the alternate path ART: New CG art for the Robot storyline, on the original path Word count is now around 347,000 LOCALIZATION: Various edits and corrections to the existing Spanish script FIX: Corrected a couple of instances where an in-game variable was incorrectly referenced during the Spanish translation of the Robot-Tennis Bot path FIX: Many older CGs are no longer unlocking correctly in the CG Gallery. Some have been resolved, but a number of them are still broken Minor typo corrections

Did I? Last I recall about that show I found that the anime and LN seemed to diverge, and should be taken as such disparate experiences. Though in respect to the LN I agree with Dreamysyu here. It's well paced until it isn't anymore, at which point it's hard to just keep going.
The stuff I recall recommending against was actually the Bakarina light novels, as I find the anime works better as the medium.

I've read a few volumes of the original LN. And it was kind of okay? Nothing particularly outstanding. Zero story to speak of. OP protagonist. But it also has none of these revolting elements so many other isekais have, and is kind of okay for a light read. I may continue with it eventually when I have nothing better to read.
Paladin LN, I believe, is quite well received, but I haven't read it.

So, I was mostly cut from internet for a bit, but I've got some series downloaded on my tablet and ended up watching some... Interesting stuff.
First, The Irregular at Magic High School... What in the actual f***. I just can't get over how much this series destroys itself with its OP protagonist. Who (warning: SPOILERS!) starts as unassuming badass (more or less a Yuuji from Grisaia kind of character), but is quickly revealed to be:
- A master-class martial artist,
- World's best magic engineer,
- Literally immortal,
- Literally able to make and unmake things at will(!!!!),
- Able to heal and resurrect people with minor limitations,
- A living tactical nuke.
So, this literal living god is shunned by his magical clan because... He's not a "real" mage. Still, his power level manages to kill all tension and cohesion in the story, as there's no challenge that... Well, would actually be a challenge for him, and there's no stakes because he can repair anything. What a freakin' mess, wasting a ton of actually cool ideas and world-building (even if the latter is often done with awkward info-dumps). Also, the incest... Is so uncomfortable that it even makes a degenerate such as myself feel distaste.
With protag's powers scaled down, it would actually be pretty cool visual novel material, as a VN could do something meaningful with the imouto character and other heroines (who are, admittedly, mostly quite badass)... But as anime it's honestly atrocious. Although, I guess it looked and sounded good enough to keep me entertained at the very shallow levels. 6/10?
Speaking of shallow entertainment. I also checked two isekais I wanted to watch, A Farawar Paladin an In the Land of Leadale. The Paladin show got some really bad rap, but I feel a need to defend it to some extent. It's cheaply-produced and iterative, but there are details about it that I really, really like. It's an isekai with no romance or harem, where the protagonist becomes a champion and devoted follower of a mostly-neglected deity. Maybe I'm easily amused, but the way his motivations are presented (having vague memories of dying as a hikikomori and desperately trying to make this new life meaningful – and this really plays into his decisions, like rejecting the immortality of undeath) and some of the characters he meets really left me with an impression. For example, the Bishop, head of the church in the city the protag visits mid-season... He is presented as this boorish tyrant, considered corrupt and power hungry, in contrast to his deputy. However, his first interaction with the main character suggests that there's more to his... And later he has a pretty brilliant dialogue about why he doesn't use divine blessings in public. This is NOT the kind of writing I usually see in crappy isekais. I mean, the show is still quite full of cliches and rather heavy-handed drama, but it's not trash despite of what many reviews would suggest. 7/10
Leadale... Is much less surprising, but I also think it's a bit underrated. It's a feel-good, "finding family in another world" kind of show and... Well, it just delivers. It also treats the fantasy setting in a way I enjoy, for example showing the protagonist confronting with the fact that the world she messes with is no longer just a game and her actions has very real - and deadly - consequences. There's also the pretty weird idea that the protag starts the story already having NPC children (now all holding important position withing the world) she has to deal with. It's shallow and meandering, more or less as you would expect from this brand of isekai, but outside of the children characters being too one-note I can't see a reason to hate it. If you don't mind these "pointless" power fantasies, you'll get exactly what you're singed up for – and I imagine the weak reception it got is mostly due to general isekai attrition. 7/10 if you're the intended audience.
Now, I think I'll catch up with the second season of Restaurant to Another World, it's probably not healthy to just live off of amusing trash...

Mbn to be able to re-read VNs; I apparently red Princess Evangile like 6 years ago and gave it a solid 8 and it was definitely at the time one of my favorite charamoeges. Recently I tried re-reading like Little Busters! and Grisaia no Kajitsu, both of which are literally like my second and third VNs, but nope I remember just barely enough that they're both completely a drag for me to even bother continuing 😪
Over the past month I finished the otome Bustafellows. I ended up giving it an 8.5/10, so same rating as what I gave for the likes of Code;Realize and CollarxMalice. But I think I enjoyed Bustafellows a bit more than those two, so maybe 8.75/10? LOL But VNDB doesn't allow such a blasphemy partial rating oh wells
What makes Bustafellows so stellar is if you particularly enjoy a cast that has superb camaraderie, friendship, familial bond etc with each other. Bustafellows is ALL about that life. The setting of New Sieg (fictional modern US) with its corruption-behind-the-scenes and band of five heroes each having their own place in society + heroine protagonist all living under the same roof banding together to do vigilante work just allows for many funtimes. 

What a solemn group picture LOL
Every Hero route will have the protagonist-heroine Teuta meddle with his private affairs, eventually culminating in them falling in love along with the other Heroes stepping in with the "Yo, we're bro's, let us help you out!" to resolve the conflicts. It's a good way to make use of all the characters without doing the whole out of focus thing.


YO, BRO'S BEFORE HO'S

Teuta herself is one of the more vibrant heroine-protagonists I've had the pleasure of reading. I don't even remember Ichika's or Cardia's personalities- I think they were stoic and realistic, or whatever genericness that allowed the reader to self-insert better. Teuta's strong willed, positive, and speaks her mind. She's also FULLY VOICED, can you believe that? At first it was off-putting for me- usually I don't like my protagonists voiced because it slows down my reading and whatnot- but at the end of the day having Teuta voiced for Bustafellows with all of her emotions ended up enhancing the narrative experience so much more than if I were to just use whatever headcanon voice I conjured up for her.
The romance is exquisite. Teuta conforms to her Hero of choice EXTREMELY well it's almost shocking how "made for each other" Teuta is able to be with each Hero, vs. some other VNs where sometimes you just laugh at how quickly and abruptly some pairings get together. It's probably partly because it was by design here- a majority of the Hero route flags are triggered by a 'personality' test Teuta takes during the common route and so yeah, the pairs do naturally end up having much in common.

The sassy and snarky playboy Helvetica
 

The playful self proclaimed "Underworld Boss" Scarecrow
 

The overly stoically logical Mozu
 

The lone wolf badass Shu
 

The charismatic and dependable posterboy Limbo
 
~~
There's plenty of supporting cast as well that adds to the one-big-happy-family-that-has-each-others'-backs theme. Teuta in particular has two lifelong childhood friends Luka and Adam who will make sporadic appearances throughout your time with Bustafellows and they're always a treat to see because you just know whenever they pop up that they'll take care of Teuta. She really is the central pillar that joins everyone together in this VN.



Luka and Adam are probably some of the best side support characters I've had the pleasure of reading. Their "lifelong friend" status really made me appreciate them.
 
And so, you may want to avoid stumbling into some of the bad ends. Overall they're pretty mild, but some can get JARRINGLY dark. Teuta's a great protagonist, and everyone loves her, but she's not invincible 💀
SUPER SPOILERS AND PROBABLY NSFW:
 

Long time no see, all of you! It's been a month, more or less! In the meantime, I've been playing Zero Time Dilemma and while I know many don't consider it a visual novel and for good reasons, I approach it the same way dknjasknda It was... well, it was something, alright. Yeah, I didn't enjoy it... I'll give it a 6/10 but honestly? It felt like a 4/10... Maybe I'm just done with these series and it's my brain saying "pls no moreee" but oh well; I did like one thing! The puzzles!! They are easier!!! I actually did most by myself!! Way to make me feel not dumb lmao
But yeah, the cast was not fun to be with at all, maybe except Team D, but the visuals didn't help aaaaa... I hate it I hate it I hate it. At some point I did get used to it but it was always something that stopped me from being too emotionally invested lol I just couldn't take the story seriously.
I'm almost done with Maggot Baits (finally!) at 90%, hooray! I might actually finish it lololol

PLEASE NOTE: Due to a recent change, older saved games of the Tennis Bot sub-path may produce an error concerning an undefined variable. If you get this error during play, please start the path again from the beginning. You can make use of the "Skip" option on the bottom menu to quickly get back to where you were.
Hello again, folks!
This month sees the completion of the Villainous Robot sub-path that I dubbed "Tennis Bot" due to its focus on Hiroko. It's slightly more humane than the main Robot path, and features three different endings with two of them contingent on choices that were made earlier in the path (check the updated flowchart guide if you're having trouble). We also have several new illustrations to accompany this new content~
As usual, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions on my Patreon and itch.io pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the latest public news post on Patreon.
Next month I hope to make some progress on one of the other unresolved, non-Hiroko-heavy story choices. I have a couple in mind, so we'll see where I end up.
In the meantime, please enjoy the latest release!
What's New

WRITING: Robot-Tennis Bot story sub path scripted to completion ART: New art for Hiroko's sprite, which appears in one of the Tennis Bot endings ART: Three new CG for the Tennis Bot sub path ART: New CG assets added to a scene in the Villainous Devotion storyline, on the fifth day FIX: Fixed an issue with the CG Gallery which prevented an image from the Villainous Robot ending from unlocking LOCALIZATION: Various edits and corrections to the existing Spanish script LOCALIZATION: Added a localised Spanish version of the texting phone close-up panel in the Hiroko Gullible sub-path Word count is now around 342,500 Minor typo corrections

Late to mention this, so I'll mention that we have Hatsumira released at Steam now along with the X-Rated version (Frontwing's tweet for the source below).
No much to say other than go get Hatsumira if you've been waiting for this since this thread created (ie at 2017) and have fun.

And we're back again!
This update keeps the focus on the Tennis Bot sub path of the Villainous Robot storyline that I began last month. As mentioned last time, you'll need to follow the Robot path and choose "No, I need to chill out" when prompted to get on this path.
The new content takes us to the weekend's events, adds a couple of neat CG sequences and ends on quite the cliffhanger. I also added one more CG to Nozomi's Trance storyline, along one of the alternate paths.
As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions on my Patreon, itch.io or SubscribeStar pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the latest public news post on Patreon.
That's all for this month's major updates. It's been another difficult month for me personally, but I'll try to crack on with writing a conclusion to the Tennis Bot path in time for next month. I hope you'll look forward to it
What's New

WRITING: Additional script for the Robot-Tennis Bot story path, up to the seventh day ART: Added two new CGs for the Robot-Tennis Bot story path ART: Added a new CG for the Nozomi Trance story path FIX: Sayori's induction CG in day 14 of the Doll storyline was not displaying correctly Word count is now around 336,500 LOCALIZATION: Various edits and corrections to the existing Spanish script Minor typo corrections

Okay, so yesterday I finished StarTRain 
It wasn't without problems, but I enjoyed it. It's kind of mix between high-school rom-com and KEY's classics - I feel like it borrows some ideas from Kanon and Clannad.
Main focus of this VN seems to be the true meaning of happiness - and, to extent, how relationships fit into that.
At the beginning of the actual common route (after the prologue) Tsukasa is quite depressed after breaking up with Nami (I previously tagged it as a spoiler, but it's such a big part of the setting, that it's hard to talk about this VN without mentioning this). He's rather weak, and she was his whole world so now he feels like he lost the meaning of life. He also keeps wallowing in self-hatred.
Depending on the choices, he can get closer to one of the three heroines, and there's also a "friendship" ending, which I wouldn't call bad - it's a bit like Crescendo's normal end.
Kanade's route was perhaps the closest one to the typical romance VN. Tsundere childhood friend having a long-time crush on donkan protag-kun, and all problems that stem from this situation
I liked this route even if it was full of cliches usually associated with tsunderes (and small tits ). Also, Kanade will get jealous in other routes, and then deny it in a classic tsundere way   And I absolutely love two final CGs of this route:
Asuka's route was the first one directly touching the topic of happiness. In the common route she said very important thing - "If you don't love yourself, you cannot become happy". And despite being very poor, living in a small rundown apartment only with her mother, she never gives up, always keeps smiling and encouraging others. Of course that's only the surface, and her route is focused on her family problems, especially her strained relationship with mother. I really liked it, and it's this route when I thought about Clannad, even though the setting is vastly different. Besides, Asuka is cute
Yomogi's route was quite a surprising one. In the beginning, and on the surface, it looked like another cliched moege route. But soon quite creepy undertones appeared. Yomogi and Tsukasa were both in similar situation - dealing with past breakup. And so they decided to date to escape the loneliness. Not very healthy already, but Yomogi's situation was actually even heavier -
After a few days and some events Tsukasa finds himself in Yomogi's room, and her in a rather miserable state, and he's faced with a choice - stay with her (forever...), or go home. (Or, in adult version - have sex with her or refuse and go home). The first choice leads to a bad end, and I think it was actually more pronounced in the all-ages version. It showed really unhealthy co-dependent relationship.
When choosing to go away, some more drama ensues of course, but thanks to it the characters grow up a bit, and then finally they are able to meet together again, this time in a healthier way. Really nice route, providing some good observations and food for thought.
 
Completing those three above routes unlocks another choice during the test of courage near the end of common route, and this is where we finally meet Nanami - who initially gets mistaken for a ghost and can proceed to the true route of the game.
And this route was a hell of a ride. Nanami is a mysterious girl, who appeared at night at the school. She looks like a younger version of Nami (voice included), and she's great at playing flute. It turns out that she's on a trip (or a runaway ) and she's been sleeping there because she ran out of money. For a few nights Tsukasa goes to school and brings her some food, but then somebody notices suspicious activity at the school and so Nanami gets locked out from her temporary room, which makes her end up staying at Tsukasa's home - and that's where the fun begins. While Nanami looks like a spitting image of Nami, her personality is very different - she's very optimistic, and she finds joy in every little thing.
Of course the two get closer and closer to each other, and suddenly Tsukasa noticed, that he's really happy when he's with Nanami. But sometimes she says some weird things - like that she used magic to get here, and, like in Cinderella's story, soon the magic will wear out...
And that's where the story decides to hit us with a KEY punch.
 
Another thing I'd like to praise is the Maiko and Hiroki duo. They're much more than a comic relief (although they're great at that) - they're Tsukasa's true friends, really caring for him, and helping in need - especially in true route.
WHoah... this became a huuge wall of text...
Time to sum it all up. I really enjoyed this VN, although the technical issues I mentioned in my initial post hampered that enjoyment a bit - the experience wasn't exactly smooth. Nevertheless true route was a great ride, and the standard routes also were decent.
I also checked out PC adult version, and while I prefer the way the story was changed and extended for the console version, it also isn't bad. The only route that IMO suffers from the "eroge logic" (=="Each heroine needs a sex scene") is Nanami's route - it's the only one when it felt out of place. OTOH the big plus of PC version is resolution - 800x600 isn't much, but it looks much better than the 640x448 PS2 version.
All in all - it was nice charage with a bit of a twist. 7.5/10
****************************************************************
Recently I got physical Switch versions of Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai and Aonatsu Line, and I think my next read will be one of those.

Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai

Summary

Kawakami City is famous for its strong dedication to its samurai ancestors. A strong fighting spirit is always valued and it's even an important factor in succeeding in school there.

Yamato, a second year student from Kawakami Highchool is always with his close friends (4 boys and 3 girls). They have known each other since they were young and have done loads of things together. They have many other friends, but this seven people is a close-knit group, they even have a secret base where they meet...

With the new semester, they welcome two girls into their group and shortly after things start to change...
 
Ending Guideline / Suggested Route Order
 
There are 5 main routes, 6 sub-routes and 1 hidden route, as well as a couple of other endings.
Initially you'll be forced to choose one of the 5 main routes. As you finish them more and more sub-routes will open up, and after finishing all of the main routes the hidden route will be unlocked. 
You may play all of these in any order you wish.
 
To get into a route, finish the prologue and you'll get into a choice screen. You get into a route by exhausting all red spheres with any given character. Each time you select a character she will lose a sphere.
Walkthrough
Choices crucial for certain CG's will be detailed below. Choices recommended will be written below, but only choices which will otherwise lead to a bad end will be in bold. Timed choices are included in the choice number. After Stories and Sub-Routes have no story relevant choices.  
 
Prologue

Momoyo Route

Chris Route

Wanko Route

Miyako Route

Mayucchi Route
 
Sub-Routes
Hidden Routes
Attribution

This walkthrough is based on info attained here, all info tested by yours truly.
Summary stolen from VNDB.
 
Changelog:
(23/08/18)
- Fixed broken main image.
- Fixed broken spoilers as a result of forum updates.

It's not that we don't care about your videos, or the content. But it seems that the only use of this forum to you is to shill your stuff, rather then engage us. You could have linked to your video and typed out your top ten common routes here, for people who don't have time to watch a bloated video. Instead you want us to leave the forums, watch your video (which genuinely, I appreciate that you put time into) , and then direct all discussion to your comments section instead. That doesn't benefit the forums in anyway, only you. 
Now I get it, these forums are a bit of a necropolis. I can understand why you wouldn't want to put effort into genuinely engaging us. But as a long time user of these forums, it does irk me a bit that you don't even put 5 minutes into making it a genuine forum discussion.

im sure you worked hard on the video but i dont go to ihop for burgers and i dont go to a forum site to watch a video on a topic created.

Over the last couple of weeks I watched the anime adaptations of Key VNs I hadn't seen yet, namely Air, Little Busters and Rewrite.
 
Air: This is the only one out of the three where I haven't read the VN so I can't really comment on how good of an adaption it is. What I can say is that I enjoyed it quite a lot despite the rushed pacing at times. I feel like three or four more episodes to properly establish the heroines and backstory could have worked wonders for its general quality because what is there in the anime is in no way weaker than Kanon imo except maybe for the one route by the guy who hasn't written anything since whose name I'm too lazy to look up. It's quite atmospheric and Air as a story feels like the logical link between Kanon and Clannad thematically. I get why it is the closest thing Key has to a "forgotten" VN, with the game being (and looking) quite old and the anime falling somewhat short of the amazing adaptations of Kanon (at least the one by KyoAni) and Clannad, but I'd still highly recommend checking it out.
 
Little Busters: Out of the VNs written by Maeda I think Little Busters is the hardest to adapt, mainly because of all the minigames that make up a lot of its charm that won't work as well in a linear medium. Considering that I thought the adaption was pretty solid even though the drop in production quality when compared to Kanon or Clannad is immediately noticable. I feel like they tweaked a few of the heroines' personalities a bit, sometimes for better (Kotomi), sometimes for worse (Haruka). Also some of the heroine routes were actually handled better in the anime than the VN, especially in Mio's case. And is it just me, or is there a lot more fanservice than in the KyoAni adaptations? I'm not fundamentally opposed to it, but in a couple of emotional scenes it got quite annoying.
 
Rewrite: I know this one is kind controversial, as it has an original route and is pretty obviously rushed trying to cut down an 80+ hours VN into 24 episodes. Despite that I think this version of Rewrite is probably close the best that's possible considering the restraints in terms of time and budget the studio apparently had to work with. Yes, the way they handle Lucia's and Shizuru's backstories is clunky, and the bad CG, animation and direction in some scenes when compared to others make it pretty obvious what parts of the anime they thought were important to get right and which ones not so much. But I think in terms of what Rewrite wants to convey as a story they did a solid job. The new route itself captures the spirit of the VN well enough and where they make changes to mechanics or personalities they are sensible. Would I recommend it someone who hasn't read the original? Still no. For that it's just moving through things way to fast to make sense of what's happening without prior knowledge. But I think it shows they consulted Tanaka Romeo for the new route and if you're looking for a somewhat different take on some material you already know, I think its worth checking out.

Hello again, everyone!
This release brings with it the completion of the main script for the Redemption Spiral story path and adds a bunch of new CGs to accompany it. Overall I'm pretty happy to get it done, and in reasonably good time, too~
With the Spiral story path now written to a conclusion I've since turned my attention to the sliiightly more humane version of the Villainous Robot storyline, informally known as the Tennis Bot path. To see the latest script, follow the Robot path and choose "No, I  need to chill out" when prompted. We have a few more scenes done here, plus some outlining for some of the later stuff. I still have a lot to think about here, but I've laid a good foundation for next month and hope to make a lot of progress on it by then.
As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions on my Patreon, itch.io or SubscribeStar pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the latest public news post on Patreon.
So, enjoy! And I hope to see you again next month!
What's New

WRITING: The Redemption storyline's Spiral path has now been scripted up to an epilogue along one sub-path WRITING: Minor edits to and corrections to Sayori's Doll storyline WRITING: Some more script for the Villainous Robot story path following the choice "No, I need to chill out" (AKA the Tennis Bot path), up to the fifth day, and outlined script up to the sixth day ART: Added three new CGs for the Redemption Spiral story path ART: Added a new CG to illustrate some early scenes in the Villainous Robot and Devoted storylines LOCALIZATION: Various edits and corrections to the existing Spanish script Word count is now around 330,000 Minor typo corrections