Asonn

I recommend reading this one on my blog as forum formatting makes tables look like shite. Your choice though.
I’ve mentioned earlier that I think one of the reasons there haven’t been a lot of translation blogs on Fuwanovel is that a lot of advice the editing blogs are peddling could equally well be applied when translating. But how would that look? In this blog (and maybe series, but me and regular effort don’t tend to get along), I’ll try to show you the process of translating with an eye to using the structure of English writing rather than following the Japanese.
The great thing about being the translator rather than the editor (or editing while knowing Japanese, but that’s a luxury) is that you don’t have to go ask the translator if the structure of the Japanese prose, when copied, looks weird. You can just make the adjustment yourself, without worrying that you’re distorting the original meaning too much.
This post is primarily aimed at translators, but should hopefully be useful for editors as well. It is probable that some of the patterns shown here could just as well have been picked up by an editing blog; the main difference will be that I can also show how it looks in Japanese.
I am by no means perfect, and any comments or suggestions are appreciated.
In the spirit of leading by example, I’ll be quoting my in-occasional-progress translation of 私は今日ここで死にます (Watashi wa Kyou Koko de Shinimasu; ‘This is where I die today’). Me and Asonn have settled on the shorthand “shinimasu”, but the author’s comments actually use わた死 (“Watashi” with the last syllable using the kanji for ‘death’ that appears in “Shinimasu”). Thus the title.
Let’s start with three lines from the very beginning of the novel. Our protagonist 京介 (Kyousuke) has just seen a girl jump off a bridge, gone after her by jumping himself, and managed to get her out of the river and onto land. The reader doesn’t know this yet, however – the start just talks about what you’d do if you saw someone about to kill themselves.
Japanese Literalish translation Adapted translation 「入水自殺、か」 “Suicide by drowning, huh.” “Tried to drown yourself, huh…” ぽつりと呟きつつ、腕の中でぐったりとしている“それ”を見る。 While mumbling a few words in a staccato manner, I look at “that” resting limply in my arms. I look at the girl resting limply in my arms. まだあどけない顔をした少女だ。 It is a girl with a face that is yet cherubic*. Face innocent as a newborn babe’s. The adaptated first line is based on trying to get nuance right. While I mostly did it on instinct, we can motivate it more logically. In English, the literal version feels like something you’d say when starting to talk about a topic – I’d expect Kyou-boi to expound on the subject of suicide by drowning afterward. But in context he’s commenting on the specific act the girl in his arms has attempted. Another consideration is brought by the second line, which shows that Kyousuke is looking at said girl while saying this. So we’re looking for a line that sounds reasonable spoken to a person that can’t hear it. Which is a weird category now that I think of it, but not entirely uncommon. The ellipsis is questionable, especially when cutting ellipses is something editors do all the time in j>e translation, but I have a reason; it’ll be in the next line analysis.
The second line features a thing frequently found in Japanese visual novel writing that doesn’t really agree with English style conventions at all: describing speech after it’s already been said. Frequently this is entirely redundant information in a visual novel due to speaker tags, but in some cases it will contain some kind of judgement or opinion of the viewpoint character that you might want to preserve. These kinds of redundant lines is a good reason to ask whoever’s doing technical work on your translation if you can just plain remove lines (for example, they might be able to program something that detects the translated line being exactly “SKIP” and cuts those lines.) However, it should be noted that cutting these redundant lines will change the flow of a text. If it’s frequently used in a passage, you may end up with a very different feel than the Japanese ― perhaps this is worth it, but it’s something to take into consideration. わた死 doesn’t do this that frequently, however, so we probably don’t need to worry.
This gives a bit of motivation for adding the ellipsis in line #1; it makes the line more mutter-y in a way that doesn’t make it look weird. This is one strategy for dealing with structural incompatibility: move the piece of information where it does fit.
There’s more. The line doesn’t mention “that” being a girl, revealing this in the next line. I’m not sure why the author did this －maybe the lines read better in Japanese that way, and Japanese lines in succession often depend on each other － but the technique just looks weird in English. Thus, we move the information from line 3 to line 2 in our adaptation.
The third line is annoying because while we technically do have a word that fits あどけない fairly well, cherubic － angelic, innocent, and youthful － few people are likely to know it and it doesn’t really fit the register the Japanese word uses. As such I’ve tried to reword it, though honestly I’m not really satisfied. I’m also not entirely sure if I’m missing a nuance of まだ (yet in the literalish translation) I should be getting; it’s probably just consonant with あどけない as “still looking young”, but it could also be referring to her state of unconsciousness causing it or something. The next line that I’m not showing talks about her looking young for her age though, so we can at least use that. The other thing of structural interest is that we’ve moved the “girl” piece of information to the second line, as mentioned.
…Man this took a while and I only did three lines. I think I’m just going to post. Like, comment, watch the Shinimasu translation progress here, design a double-sided daki with both Yukas on it for me if you’re feeling generous.
As a bonus, have a few other examples of describing things after-the-fact and how I’ve currently handled them:

As you can see the pattern isn’t limited to just speech. Here I decide to go IN and use context to write a line half new.

Another thinking version.

And here’s one with 返す. Also this has mixed speech and narration, which I’ve tried to work into the English as well. Though I’m going to go change this to present tense now since I picked that later, fuck.
 
View the full article
 

Live footage of rare JOPs hearing the bimonthly autistic EOP scream over some license
Today I got to know that my blog's reader base has been very sad that my blog has been so quiet for a long time so I decided to do a little update. This time I'm gonna list you some reasons why you might want to learn Japanese! (Start it today or you will never start it just like this blog post)
These reasons are not in any order (are)
Can play Idol M@ster Shiny Colors (or any other idol game but Shiny Colors is the best one)

  Number 2: Kotose. Can become a true believer of the true god
Can get all the Yuuko goodness (get cucked!!) Have a meme I made earlier this week but got deleted for """derailing""" CoC


  Get to know the difference between Keyakizaka46 and Keyakizaka46!! There is a difference trust me.
  Other idols in general such as Nogizaka46 and AKB48
  Can watch all the idol bingos. Always wanted your favorite anime to have 10 seasons??? Well idolbingos do have more than 10 seasons and are of the same size as anime seasons!
  No more shitty scans or subs. Only godtier real source material. (Eats all your money but who the fuck cares just work a little and be rich xD)
  Make bad memes

  Get vampire GF

  Can make shit lists like this  
Did this motivate any of you my lovely readers? I hope it did! Now smart ones of you might have noticed where is all the eroge!??? Well to be honest eroge is not worth it. It fucking sucks and so does the community. Idols, soshage, anything, is better than eroge. Don't do eroge kids. Peace out!

Yuuko, aka the best waifu EOPs will never get if I can do something to stop it. (Looking at you MG be careful!!)

 
Hey what's up guys in this new blog entry I will be talking about the best girl in Hapymaher Kirikoi. Her name is Toriumi Yuuko, the perfect girl if you ask me. Those of you who are playing Hapymaher Kirikoi get cucked. She pretty much only appears in the fan disc that is not translated *insert evil laugh here*. (Wait Kirikoi is not translated in the first place.
Anyways here is a list what makes Yuuko so good.
Is cute Has short hair Has big bobs Pukes on you Needs you to protect her Very wife Here is a list of pics of Yuuko being cute:
Despite her weak body Yuuko is very good at fencing

 
 
Also Yuuko is a genius piano player

 
Yuuko is also friends with the Scandinavian princesses

 
Yuuko watches movies with her lonely neighbor girl

 
 
Yuuko knows how to eat very stylish dinner

 
 
Yuuko can also take the lead when needed

 
 
Yuuko is a bowling pro

 
 
Yuuko is also a crocodile

 
 
Thanks for reading folk. Remember to smash that like and subscribe button if you want more high quality content like this.

As many (hopefully) of you know, I like to read a lot of different things, providing my stomach and the laws of my country allow it. My VNDB list will never reach Clephas level of completeness, so I'm aiming for something different instead: to have the most random, hipster, no prejudice, unlike any other VN list. Of course, as slow as I am, I can only hope to achieve this dream within the next 30 years or so, but hey I'm still young!
I have conquered otomege, devoured BL, collected EVNs, discovered yuri, threaded in chuuni waters, tiptoed into nakige, read through memeges, tasted horror, and tried my hand with gameplay hybrids. But how can I call myself a Ultimate VN Reader if I never read a single nukige? No, I have to change that. I must to. So I decided to give a chance to the glorious fangame our friendly neighbors Asonn, Arcadeotic, Hanako, HMN, Jptje, Nandemonai, Zakamutt, and other sweeties (because the list is damn long), shared with the West: Maki Fes!
What were the impressions of Maggie, guaranteed 12% female readership of Fuwa, someone who totally didn't went in for the memes and that totally knew something about Love Live beforehand? Find out now!
 

There's a catchy song in the title screen, pretty much the only song I remember from the game.
 
In Maki Fes!, you play as Matt yourself! The boyfriend (wait, it should be girlfriend if I had to play as myself. Well, I can stick with Matt just fine) of the cute red haired tsundereish Maki! How lucky are you? Nukige convenience is convenient, alright! Not a bad start to be honest, I was expecting something more stupid, but Maki Fes already proved itself as above average intellectual level than my preconceived opinion of what constitutes an average nukige. Anyway, Maki needs to write a song and you, as a good boyfriend, agree to help her get some inspiration. And yeeeeeees, that means lots of porn!
Maki is pretty much the only character you'll meet through the entire game, since more girl means harem or yuri, right? And that's not what this doujinge is about. And she's fully voiced! The actress does a very good job for most part, except during those background moans that goes like a machine gun shooting fast going "a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a" that got annoying after two loops. The art is also quite pleasant to look at, Maki pouting and smiling are just the cutest. I enjoyed her character, but I don't know the original to say if she's going too OOC.
So! The game provide you with the following scenarios, and all of them leads to porn. Yes, some of these choices leading to porn is quite creative, I know. The twist would be if the last option didn't, but that's not what happens here.
 

Choices, oh choices.
 
If you don't want to be spoilered, stop reading right here! Not that I consider sexual position a spoiler, but hey, there's weird folks of all kinds out there! So let's go over what I get out of each scenes. And no, it wasn't masturbatory material.
"Let's recall our first time!": Exactly what it says on the tin. It was quite a sweet scene, where Matt the protagonist was mindful of Maki, and if she was feeling comfortable. Of course, she had to say the typical "you can be more rough, I know you're holding yourself back", but hey, at least they discussed it! Relationship is all about two people understanding and being respectful with each other after all! Another thing that I have to praise this game is that the classic "Cum inside/Cum outside" option only affect the CG right after it, and not the ending, so I could pick "Cum outside" to my heart's content.
"Wear your maid outfit!": This one was nice too, as far as h-scenes goes. It's a blowjob scene and HEY, it have simple ANIMATIONS (*insert here the face of a surprised girl that never saw a animated VN before)! The translation of this scene was pretty good too, I was amazed with how many different porn sound effects this guy could came (get it? ) up with. It also had a marriage proposal discussion there that I liked, but I can guess 80% of the people that played this game didn't even noticed it.
"Our good luck charm!": This was one of the last scenes I read, so there wasn't much of my patience left. I think it was something about writing good luck wishes on Maki's butt. Yep. Of course, not with a pen or a penis, but with his finger. Oh yeah, this guy goes on and on about Maki's cellulite free butt but this game don't have a single anal scene. For shame, game, for shame!
"I'm hungry!": I can only say one thing. How Maki decided she wanted to feed this guy and do it like this???????????
 

 
"Dancing is inspiring!": Probably, but it was the very last scene I read and at that point I just wanted the game to end. Four scenes is my limit for h-scenes one after another. Multiple rounds indeed is a lie. Oh yeah, the scene. I think it was a cowgirl scene and... that's it.
"Use traditional elements!": Was it on that scene that Maki came with the penetration alone? God, that was dumb. This guy have such lame foreplay skill it's a wonder Maki can even come once. Oh yeah, there's pee in this scene, weird that Zaka didn't work on this. How does her pee makes an arc in the air though? Pretty sure you need a penis to do that...
"You need some excitement!": Man, this scene have one weird dick. It looked like a fishing hook. Animating it didn't make it any better. But I think this scene had some well crafted puns cumversation, so it was somewhat amusing.
"I wanna fuck!": (Chorus: FUCK!)* Now that's a scene where Matt truly shines! And Maki as well. How could a forget when she uttered my favorite quote of the game, "My nipples are playing the blues!"? Now that's what I call talented nipples!
*Joke stolen from ZakaTM 
After seeing all scenes, you can finally watch the desired True Ending, that I'll not spoil here. That was... tiring to be honest, but also educational (?) to say the least. It helped me to understand some before unexplored corners of the VN fandom. And I can't really doubt that it must be a nice game if used as intended. Should I be ashamed that this was my first contact with anything related to Love Live? Maybe. But now I can proudly (??) say that my VNDB list is one step closer to perfection. And since I already ticked the nukige checkbox, I can safely remove any other nukiges/games tagged with high sexual content from my wishlist!
...Wait, that one nukige is BL.
...
Guess I'm making a nukige misadventures part 2.

Unrelated PS: No, I didn't forget about Dankaronpa, chapter 4 is halfway done. Maybe next week!

Today, I made the most famous Karaage (から揚げ). I do make this often and today I thought why not start a blog with this delicious content.
Spoiler: I didn't let my chicken rest enough so it had some excess potato starch on it... but the heck with it.
Preparation: 
Sake Corn/Potato Starch sugar Ginger (just a bit! we will only use the sweet juices) Soy Sauce Chicken ( cut them a bit larger than your normal bites, as it has a lot of fiber so it will shrink when frying)  

Secret frying process: 
Fry them 3 times. For best results go with 2 min on 190C, then let them rest for 1 minute. fry them again on 190C this time for 1 min, rest 30 sec. and then once again 1 minute on 190C.
I couldn't be bothered this time, probably also the reason why I have still corn on my finished product. It still tasty af tho. 

Tip: use Japanese 7 spice mix (七味唐辛子) on your mayo. 
 
Here is a video of me actually making it. unedited. (I didn't film the whole frying process as I couldn't be bothered...)
Enjoy the Cringe : )

Today, I made the most famous Karaage (から揚げ). I do make this often and today I thought why not start a blog with this delicious content.
Spoiler: I didn't let my chicken rest enough so it had some excess potato starch on it... but the heck with it.
Preparation: 
Sake Corn/Potato Starch sugar Ginger (just a bit! we will only use the sweet juices) Soy Sauce Chicken ( cut them a bit larger than your normal bites, as it has a lot of fiber so it will shrink when frying)  

Secret frying process: 
Fry them 3 times. For best results go with 2 min on 190C, then let them rest for 1 minute. fry them again on 190C this time for 1 min, rest 30 sec. and then once again 1 minute on 190C.
I couldn't be bothered this time, probably also the reason why I have still corn on my finished product. It still tasty af tho. 

Tip: use Japanese 7 spice mix (七味唐辛子) on your mayo. 
 
Here is a video of me actually making it. unedited. (I didn't film the whole frying process as I couldn't be bothered...)
Enjoy the Cringe : )

Today, I made the most famous Karaage (から揚げ). I do make this often and today I thought why not start a blog with this delicious content.
Spoiler: I didn't let my chicken rest enough so it had some excess potato starch on it... but the heck with it.
Preparation: 
Sake Corn/Potato Starch sugar Ginger (just a bit! we will only use the sweet juices) Soy Sauce Chicken ( cut them a bit larger than your normal bites, as it has a lot of fiber so it will shrink when frying)  

Secret frying process: 
Fry them 3 times. For best results go with 2 min on 190C, then let them rest for 1 minute. fry them again on 190C this time for 1 min, rest 30 sec. and then once again 1 minute on 190C.
I couldn't be bothered this time, probably also the reason why I have still corn on my finished product. It still tasty af tho. 

Tip: use Japanese 7 spice mix (七味唐辛子) on your mayo. 
 
Here is a video of me actually making it. unedited. (I didn't film the whole frying process as I couldn't be bothered...)
Enjoy the Cringe : )

Today, I made the most famous Karaage (から揚げ). I do make this often and today I thought why not start a blog with this delicious content.
Spoiler: I didn't let my chicken rest enough so it had some excess potato starch on it... but the heck with it.
Preparation: 
Sake Corn/Potato Starch sugar Ginger (just a bit! we will only use the sweet juices) Soy Sauce Chicken ( cut them a bit larger than your normal bites, as it has a lot of fiber so it will shrink when frying)  

Secret frying process: 
Fry them 3 times. For best results go with 2 min on 190C, then let them rest for 1 minute. fry them again on 190C this time for 1 min, rest 30 sec. and then once again 1 minute on 190C.
I couldn't be bothered this time, probably also the reason why I have still corn on my finished product. It still tasty af tho. 

Tip: use Japanese 7 spice mix (七味唐辛子) on your mayo. 
 
Here is a video of me actually making it. unedited. (I didn't film the whole frying process as I couldn't be bothered...)
Enjoy the Cringe : )

Today, I made the most famous Karaage (から揚げ). I do make this often and today I thought why not start a blog with this delicious content.
Spoiler: I didn't let my chicken rest enough so it had some excess potato starch on it... but the heck with it.
Preparation: 
Sake Corn/Potato Starch sugar Ginger (just a bit! we will only use the sweet juices) Soy Sauce Chicken ( cut them a bit larger than your normal bites, as it has a lot of fiber so it will shrink when frying)  

Secret frying process: 
Fry them 3 times. For best results go with 2 min on 190C, then let them rest for 1 minute. fry them again on 190C this time for 1 min, rest 30 sec. and then once again 1 minute on 190C.
I couldn't be bothered this time, probably also the reason why I have still corn on my finished product. It still tasty af tho. 

Tip: use Japanese 7 spice mix (七味唐辛子) on your mayo. 
 
Here is a video of me actually making it. unedited. (I didn't film the whole frying process as I couldn't be bothered...)
Enjoy the Cringe : )

The problem
While spurred by recent events, this essay touches on something that seems to have been a pattern in site moderation for some time now.
Let me make a claim: if a rule, especially one that is vaguely worded, is not enforced, for a decent amount of people that rule does not exist. This nonexistence integrates into the mental model of the rules that forum members construct, no matter what the formal rules may say. For members using this mental model, beginning to enforce a rule that was previously unenforced is equivalent to creating a new rule. As such, the same procedures as those used to notify forum members of new rules should be applied, possibly with some adaptation on the lines of "we will now actually enforce this rule", as the rule effectively did not previously exist.
The ur-example of this is the loligeddon of yore. The takeaway from the loligeddon when it comes to this essay is this: mods repeatedly stated that no rules had actually been changed. Yet nevertheless the appearance and subsequent removal of a particularly problematic post sparked sweeping policy changes, a cleanup operation, a tl;dr post by the administrator explaining the changes, et cetera. This should make it clear that changing policy is a big deal, even if no written rules actually change.
Recent policy changes, however, have been very different from what happened during the loligeddon. Frequently the only indication that effective rules have changed has been moderator action, sometimes fairly strict. In essentially all cases this action has been explained either inadequately or, most commonly, not at all. When this occurs the target(s) of moderation will likely feel that they have been unfairly, erratically targeted by a capricious, uncommunicative bully. What do you do when you get bullied? Well, you could talk to HR, but the mod that bullied you is probably in HR anyway and you might not even know who did it. Another option is to fight back. You annoy me, I pay you back in kind - and if I can get some fun at your expense, sure, why not? You're a bully, you deserve it.[1]
I do not mean to suggest that we need to have a tl;dr writeup every time a rule is changed, but a simple statement of intent would be appreciated. I estimate that writing this should take no more than 20 minutes. As an example, here's a hypothetical notice regarding the changing of rules on gifs that took me ~10 minutes to write. Note that the policy mentioned here could be reversed or altered to be more specific if it turns out that it was unclear or did more harm than good, which is arguably more difficult to do if the rule has been made official.[2]
In the light of this, I would like to present some recommendations.
Recommendations
When moderating, consider if your action is effectively creating or modifying rules
Remember: in the minds of some of your users, unenforced rules may as well not exist. If you decide to moderate something that was previously typically not being moderated, this will cause confusion and consternation.
As such, whenever you make a decision, ask yourself: am I changing the rules? If so, you need to consider both whether your action is actually justified, and how you are going to inform the public of your policy change. You are not a cop, you are a judge in a precedent-setting court. This is especially true due to the (understandable) current policy of supporting other mods' decisions near unconditionally.
Do not make controversial decisions when following up is difficult
On some occasions moderators have moderated while on vacation, using their phone, with bad connections et cetera. I strongly recommend against making anything close to a controversial decision in these conditions. You will end up both ruining your vacation and doing a bad job.
Talk first, shoot later
If you are performing a moderator action which reasonably should include notifying the target of the action, write up the informative PM or otherwise establish communication before enforcement. You could also consider writing up the notification of intent to change / differently enforce / clarify rules before moderating. Most of the time nobody is harmed much by leaving something up until you can handle it properly. For things that require more urgent management such as a fast-evolving derailment, consider either using a PM template for 1-2 people or making a post stating that you have removed derailing posts in the thread you moderated.
Make people feel heard
One key theme of this essay is the importance of communication. This extends beyond just notifying people of changes to the rules. I am under no illusions that your actions will go uncontested or that people won't meme and fling shit at you even if you try your best to communicate as advised in this essay. In part this is due to the frustration some people, and certainly I myself, consider you responsible for creating due to your actions up to this point. However, when hostility meets well-practiced civility its fires often run out of fuel. If you constructively engage with those who would oppose you, you can both soothe their frustration and create better, more precise final rules.
Obviously there has to be a limit and ultimately you set the rules to follow. But explaining, refining, and justifying your position elevates it from that of a dim-witted bully with little justification for their actions to someone who has a well-grounded but different opinion of what the rules should be. The first one deserves punishment, the second, grudging respect.
As a personal observation: in general, you should assume that much less of your decisions are obviously justified than you currently think. One man's common sense is another man's borderline acceptability is another man's utterly idiotic rule enforcement.
Moderation is a hard job
If this all seems like a lot of hard work to you, congratulations! That's what I thought too when the mod applications came along, so I didn't apply. Any moderators that cannot actually moderate disputes should either confine themselves to routine, uncontroversial moderation tasks or step down from their position. Believe me, nobody will die either way, and you'll get to spend your free time doing something that suits you better.

Notes
[1]
I personally don't consider the mods bullies when I do this kind of thing, but I do consider them deserving of public ridicule. The intention is both to correct behaviour and to extract some entertainment out of people that deserve to be made fun of.
And yeah, I have no respect for authority. None. I will judge you by your actions alone.
[2]
This is an assumption based on my conception of normie considerations like pride, sticking with your decision, whatever.
Obviously if a rule does more harm than good it should be removed whether or not it was enforced temporarily, but it is probably easier to do so politically if it was in fact considered temporary.
Look, I'm trying desperately not to kill all normies every day here. Give me a break.

As you may (or may not, at least yet) know, ChuableSoft has filed for bankruptcy on 7th of July. In his Twitter, Ishida P - ChuableSoft's director - stated they had no other choice than to close, simply because it was not possible for them to continue with the company in it's current state. This may come of as slightly surprising, considering their previous game - Watashi ga Suki nara "Suki" tte Itte! (SukiSuki for short) won the 2015's Moege Awards and was met with warm praise - both from the fans, as well as community. The rights to the game were also acquired by MG and it's slated for an english release in late 2017/early 2018. How was it possible, that a rather well known japanese studio known for it's high quality charages went bust like that?
As a fan and avid reader myself, I've been keeping an eye on the japanese vn industry for the past 15 years; More than a decade, with all it's ups and downs and various events, that shaped and changed it's face overtime. It's not hard to summarize, that even if the start of the new millenium had proven to be a highly productive period for japanese developers, things don't look as bright when you start to look past 2010. To put things short - it's golden age is already long over and creators are currently facing numerous issues, which had been slowly but steadily piling up within the last years.
Market oversaturation is often being considered as one of the biggest culprits behind the increasingly difficult task for japanese developers to stay afloat as working businesses. The competition is fierce and industry itself is partially at fault for that; The ammount of new game makers rose expotentially after 2000's, while majority of them stemmed from the same exact community of fans. People, whom - as they grew up - changed from consumers into creators themselves. The otaku market is incredibly closed off and as such, consumes almost everything it produces by itself. It's a self-regulating social wonder of sorts that slowly grew for as long as 80's. Sadly, things finally came to a halt where it produces far more it's capable to consume. As such, to keep up with market's rising competition and social changes, creators had to start minimizing risks, often by lowering standards or switching entirely to budget works; if successful, such couple shorter games could support their more important, high quality productions, at worst make them stay afloat. This system worked for a couple of past years, but the more aware fans often kept pointing at the detoriating quality of games and nonsensical stories, which more than often subdued to popular tropes and cliches. Certain companies found delicate safety within particular niches, protected by circles of avid fans and doujinshi works. It's really difficult to presume, how long will they manage to keep up with the rising requirements, especially when trends change and people swap their interests. "A lot" does not necesarilly equate "good", neither will the fans remain forever loyal. The constantly lowering standards also caused a response within the market itself - people slowly got used to cheaper, lower quality games and as such, their needs grew smaller as well. This came to a turning point, where a lot of people began to feel content with low quality works and won't bother with better releases, mainly because they are a lot more expensive, far longer and usually harder to approach.
Instead producing high quality games, companies turned to churning out budget-type games, often serialized or episodic in nature, but how are you supposed to keep up with a market, that literally has thousands of competing companies, each producing exactly the same type of games? Formulas that used to be highly succesful in the past are now often a nail to the coffin for many starting studios. This is especially prevalent for moeges and charages, often built around slice of life genre; the "coming of age" stories, that used to be so popular are now considered completely cliched and overused to the point, where multiple games released often feel alike; there's little to no distinction between them at first glance and this causes the fans to feel resigned and makes them lose their motivation to get involved with anything further. At the same time, thousands of games are being sold to thousands of consumers; each company has to make a living and that wouldn't be a problem, when the population of fans would be kept at a steady number. Unfortunately, the japanese demographics are clear on that - the population is aging very quickly, with losses greatly superseeding gains. The same can be said about the market itself - the ex-fans, who are currently producing their own games have less and less potential customers, as their generation became incapable to supply the population with a steady birthrate. It's a tale of an aging market, with people who slowly drift away from being fans, as the modern, day-to-day japanese life consumes them almost entirely. In the end, this means less and less total available revenue to creators. Less money available within the market means less available budget to create future games. This means everyone has to settle for less and cut costs, which further lowers the quality of the final product. It's a vicious cycle and one that is increasingly difficult to break from, once you get caught.
In a world of merciless competition for disappearing population of consumers and aging fans, this means pretty much a single flop - especially an incredibly expensive, high quality game - can lead to a complete downfall. Growing risks prevent creators from retries and keep them pinned down to a life, where they barely scrape by from production cycle to another. As the costs grow, they finally find themselves in a difficult situation - often indebted and without funds, because their games didn't bring the expected revenue - where they simply have nothing else to do, than declare bankruptcy. This is more, or less what causes many studios - such as ChuableSoft - to finally close down. Sadly, I presume this is just the beginning and we'll see many more of our beloved companies closing down in the near future.
The only hope now currently lies within the western market - a body of almost infinite possibilities, with a massive and constantly growing fanbase, always thirsty for new games. Perhaps it's time for the japanese developers to finally embrace that possibility and move on.

I thought so after playing Koiken Otome... but this company is absolutely incapable of properly utilizing their settings. 
Good music, mostly good characters (the protagonist sucks), decent art... but so empty of content it isn't even funny.  The sex obsession from beginning to end is carried out poorly, the actual paths have too much ichaicha, and the potentially humorous elements fall short of where they would have gone in any other game. 
In other words, this is yet another kusoge from Eufonie. 
A lot of the problem is that the game is so sexually-obsessed it might as well be a nukige, while still making pathetic attempts (truly pathetic attempts) at telling a story.  This is a classic example of a game where all the elements of a potentially high-quality game existed but didn't come together in a cohesive whole.  I was more than a little horrified at how incompetent the efforts of this company were in this area. 
This is a game of lost opportunities, and I honestly wish I hadn't paid for it.
Edit: Oh and the protagonist is a total hetare in the slice-of-life scenes, which makes him horribly unsuited to the situation they set up in the story.
Edit2: This game is horrible mostly due to the degree of frustration it creates in me.  Given the same setup of characters and plot elements, any half-decent VN writer should have been able to write a far more interesting story than this.  Heck, even if they did it as a simple charage, it should have been better than this.  If this were a true nukige, it would be par for the course... but there isn't enough H for that, comparatively speaking.  Heck, they even failed to utilize most of the girls' personal settings to their fullest potential, which is just pathetic.

While the principal job of a good VN editor is line editing (making sure that a line reads well and that a script flows), copy editing is vital as well, and copy editing should follow a style which is consistent both internally and with other comparable texts. That said, most VN editors (myself included) are way too lazy to sit and read the MLA, Chicago, or AP style guide cover to cover and actually internalize it, let alone to extrapolate from them what, if any, changes need to be considered for styling a VN, which, being a different medium, may require different stylistic choices than the media covered by traditional style guides.
As is abundantly obvious if you read older officially-localized VNs, VN style has grown somewhat organically over the past decade and, if you compare against works published in only the last year, you'll find that the predominant style has become fairly consistent across the major localization companies. However, fan translations often miss the mark and make many styling mistakes and deviations from this standard, resulting in irritatingly inconsistent texts.
To help solve that, I put together this brief VN style guide a couple months ago and shared it around a number of people, and I've subsequently refined it a bit in preparation for posting it publicly today.
This is not a full prose style guide by any means, but it covers every interesting and potentially divisive topic I've seen come up in styling VNs; it is, I believe, pretty complete, especially given how concise it is. I've tried to avoid topics of grammar and of style that are not generally deviated from in VNs. Basically, I only tried to tackle areas where people actually have issues. This style guide, I believe, more or less represents the state of the art in officially localized VNs. I haven't read a recent official localization which I noticed to be following different rules than the ones I lay out here.
All that said, take this with a grain of salt: I'm not a professional, and I haven't actually read any official MLA/Chicago/AP style guide cover to cover, though I have dabbled in each of them. At the end of the day, this is more a summary of what I've empirically discovered than anything else. But when you're a fan translation editor, you've got to start somewhere; this is a better option than any other that I know of.
https://github.com/FredTheBarber/EditingPublic/blob/master/style guide.md
Feedback is most welcome, whether to offer corrections or to ask questions for areas which I have not covered.
Edit: By popular demand, I've made a markdown version of the document so it doesn't display like shit on github. The link has been updated accordingly.
Edit2: who will edit for the editors?

I got my first welfare check in summer last year, just before I went on vacation with my parents.
There are some demands placed on those applying for welfare; one is that one must not unduly refuse suggested interventions. No interventions were suggested for about six months, but hey, cash money. Then I was summoned to a meeting, where I was given a plethora of options, except eight tenths of them were second hand shops and cafes and fuck anything where I have to do customer service. Also, everything had long waiting times anyway.
There were only really two options left: go back to the environment & ancient remains conservation agency where I worked in late 2013 / early 2014, or this other place that did carpentry – more specifically, in-shop manufacture of wooden items. My counselor was not particularly subtle in recommending the woodworking shop, claiming it had both rave reviews and, amazingly, the ability to accept new recruits right this moment.
I left the meeting put in queue for a potential spot at the agency and awaiting a text regarding an interview for the whole wood thing. “To start with you’ll build a box, and if that works out, we’ll put you straight into production.” Well, I’m not a huge fan of handicrafts, but it’s not like I hate it either; guess I’ll check it out and decide afterward.
About two weeks later I was given a tour of the premises, then an interview by the supervisor. I noted the structured approach to the interview; especially a technique used where, before asking about who I was as a person and where my problems lay, the manager volunteered some details about his personal life first – his kids, not enough time, how his work there gave him meaning, that sort of thing. It was pretty transparent; I figured it was likely an adaptation to help people with certain neurodivergences, but also wondered if it was part of the broader style of the therapeutic techniques used.
Earlier during the tour I was told about the “sharing” ritual, where at the start of your shift you sat with the other participants and could optionally share how you were currently feeling, if there were any special affordances you’d need or appointments to keep that day, and what you were working on briefly. This ritual was shielded from latecomers, which served to protect it, but also as a soft punishment for arriving late. I’m not sure how explicit he made any of this; I could feel myself starting to assign greater value to coming in time, realized I had been hacked, and figured that this was fine as the hack was desirable anyway. The boss seemed pleased, but in what might have been another affordance, he wanted me to go back home and think about it before taking any decision.
Two days after my social security contact had said she’d called me she actually did, and I accepted. I was then scheduled for a quick meeting where we would actually negotiate working times and other details. Some time later, I had agreed to work there from Monday to Wednesday, 12:00 to 15:00, with the assumption that I would eventually take on more hours. I was to start on a Tuesday, February the 21st. I was told by phone that day that, umm, I’m kind of sick so can we make it just tomorrow? Okay, fine, my sleep was all kinds of shit anyway that time rip me.
I woke up at like 2am on the 22nd. I had crisps for breakfast. Brewed tea, which is a pretty potent mindhack when you’re not acclimated to it. Biked through miserable snowfall on my mum’s three-speed bike, on which only the first two gears actually work. The front tire was inadequately pumped. It was not a good experience. I arrived twenty minutes early.


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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
 
 

It's National Poetry Day. Read some. Or listen to me read some, that's cool, too.
Apologies for the minor screwup at 0:40; I did it in one take and didn't have the energy to do it over.
 

We just hit 50% translation! Yaay!

I just wrapped up the translation of Futaba's good ending last night, (fought through some H-scenes... ) And here we are!


 
So with this, we are officially halfway there. It's a pretty good feeling. Although the actual line count hasn't changed that much since last week, just seeing the "50%" makes me feel awesome  


 
I wanted to do something a bit special for the halfway mark, so I'm going to talk a bit about the game first, then I'll be answering some random questions some people might have/ just in general talk a bit about the project and how things are progressing on our end. Let's begin with some info about the game:


 
Many people might not really know that much about this small, fairly new yurige by a fairly unknown company. In Tsui Yuri, you follow the twin sisters Futaba and Ichika, who get along very well. So well in fact, that their mother thinks it is a bit too much, and she asks them to spend some time apart. Seeing as they live in the same house, go to the same school and pretty much always do everything together, this is a bit hard, and their relationship is strained. The story is told from both girls' perspectives, and there is 2 routes, with 4 endings total.

During the common route, you will make several choices that will impact the story and the girls' relationship. The "status" meter in game will show you how strongly each character cares for the other at any given time, and each choice will change this meter to a varying degree. One choice might bump Ichika's feelings a lot, where as some might make her care less and less for Futaba, and so on.


Currently not translated, as the image editing is not done by me. It is in the works, but not done yet.


What really interested me about this game was the choice and route system. There is no real set combination of choices that will lead to a route; you can freely play with the status meter, making different choices to see how it changes their feelings. To get a character's route, that character's feelings has to be stronger than the other one. (Meaning if Futaba has about 60% and Ichika has 40%, you enter Futaba's route.) But, if you manage to completely push it all the way to one side, (so now Ichika doesn't care about Futaba at all,) then you will get a bad ending. Meaning, which ending you get is decided by your choices in the common route, and not during the actual character route itself. This is really cool, because that means you actually get a "bad route" and not just a bad ending. (The line count in the bad routes are actually just a tiny bit shorter than the good ones. If you like bad endings with a bit of meat to them, these are actually pretty good. Also, yandere fans, look out.)

In addition, some of the choices you make in the common route will give you different variations of each scene, some which includes unique CGs, so saving and testing out new stuff is actually pretty much required. (Though, seeing as the game is quite short, it's a neat feature, not something that makes you sigh because you have read something similar before.)

Story wise, it is a very light game with no real "plot" other than two sisters growing more and more fond of each other. It deals with them moving from the line of "sisters" to "lovers" and things like that. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for yuri fans it's a really solid title. Also, like I mentioned, the bad endings are actually pretty dark, so for the twisted fellas out there, this one might be a bit interesting for you if you can stomach some adorableness first.  


 
Let us take a quick look at the characters:

Ichika



Ichika is the smart, cool and collected sister. She speaks politely, has a very calm air to her, is a perfect honor student and is also the vice-president on the student council. She is a bit too soft on Futaba, always helping her out with anything Futaba needs. Although she is very smart, she isn't the brightest when it comes to relationships in general - she simply isn't that used to interacting with people.


 
Futaba (God I love her pout.)



Futaba is the energy bomb of the two. She loves Ichika more than anything in the world, and always follows her sister around. She is way too spoiled, and doesn't do much on her own; she wants her sister to help her out with it. She isn't the smartest kid around, but she is very good at sports, and is a member of the tennis club. She is also way too adorable.


 
Yuri



The sisters' childhood friend and Ichika's classmate. Yuri is a bit of a joker who tends to put ideas in the girls' heads. She speaks her mind, even if what she has to say isn't the most appropriate, which makes for some hilarious situations.

But although she tends to joke around a lot, she has a bit of an adult-like feel to her and is a very mature person when she needs to be.


 
Saki



The sisters' second childhood friend and Futaba's classmate. She is a bit different from Yuri, and is a lot more polite and in many ways, similar to Ichika. Saki is a very gentle and sweet person, and wants to help the sisters out whenever they are feeling down. One big difference between Ichika and Saki is that Saki gets what people are thinking a lot easier, making her a bit less of an "airhead" when it comes to relationships and people's feelings.


 

 

 
Moving over to some questions and answers.


 
Question... (kind of): When I started the project, I felt that there was a few people who weren't quite sure whether or not I could do this. I think the quality of the final translation was their main concern. Basically, am I a complete scrub, or do I actually have some skills?  

Answer: Well, a few things to keep in mind. 1, this game is very fluffy and very simple. It is also quite short. That does not mean it's something to underestimate of course, but I would never have started the project if I wasn't ready. There is a reason I aimed for a short, fluffy title without any intricate plot lines that would be hard to follow for a new translator.

In addition, the second I felt a bit overwhelmed, I stopped the project for a bit, as I knew that wasn't the way things should be. I am completely comfortable with this project now, and although I know my translation will not be a top tier piece of work, I can assure you at the very least, it won't be wrong. Like, I won't translate peppers to peas. (Isn't that right Kriririri ) 

Anyways, I know I am new to this, I know I will make some tiny mistakes here and there, I know the quality will be a bit lower than what some of the very skilled individuals out there manages, but overall I am happy with the way things are going. I'm learning a lot, I'm improving, and this is just the beginning of my translation career. (Even if that makes some people more angry than happy )


 
Question: Will there be a prologue patch/ partial patch released?

Answer: We still have a few issues with the engine, (which is stupid and retarded,) so a potential patch now would have a few annoying bugs and errors which would just be distracting. The scripts also aren't really polished quite yet, as it's only been me and an editor working on it as of right now so... I'm going to say, no. It just wouldn't be a pleasant read in its current state, and seeing as the game is so short, it's pretty much pointless either way.


 
Question: Do you have an ETA for the patch?

Answer: It's hard to say. I could give you a rough estimate, but I would rather not. The thing is, the amount of time I have to work on this is a bit limited. I absolutely love working on it, and I have a blast the entire time I do, (except for when the damn H-scenes suck the life out of me.)

The thing is, this is my first translation. I have never translated anything before, and the work is very tasking. Sounds silly, I mean, all I do is look at something in Japanese, then write it in English, right? Well, there is a lot more to it, and honestly, it's very mentally draining. Even just a simple one hour session can leave me exhausted. Not because I get bored, but simply because I have to think a lot, and I'm not used to that. Wait...

Because of the fairly limited amount of time I have each week, there is only so much I can get done on a weekly basis without overworking myself. This is a very new thing to me, and I want to make sure I move forward at a comfortable pace. Seeing as I have no deadline or anything, I can take it exactly at the pace I personally feel is right, even though that might be a bit frustrating to others.

Basically, I can say that it will be released in 2016 for sure, but I can't say anything more specific than that.


 
A bit of progress on how things are going on our end.

The translation and editing is going fine, and is moving around the same speed. The reason the editing is lagging a tiny bit behind me right now, is because the translation I work on every week isn't made available on the GIT for the editor until I upload it on Thursday nights. That means he literally has to edit it all during that night to get it ready for the Friday update, which ... well, if he was doing that I'd be a bit worried.


 
We have met a few problems in the game which the hacker has to take a look at. This is something I can't do anything about, as I barely know what a computer is, so without Porygon on this project, this whole thing would not have been possible. (Thank you so much.)


 
Image editing will be done so that the entire menu and UI is in English. There is no ETA on this, and all I can say is that it will be done at some point. An individual approached me without me asking for their help, which made me extremely happy. As of right now, I don't know if they want to be mentioned or not, so I'll wait until I know that for sure before I talk about that any more. Point is, it will be done at some point.


 
To finish up this post, I'll just put out there that we are working hard and that the patch will be finished. I know a decent amount of new teams tend to suddenly just die out and vanish. That will not be the case with this project. Like I said before, I'm having a blast translating this. Although it might not seem like I'm getting a lot done, it's simply because I'm making sure I don't rush through things. Also keep in mind that real life is a thing, and that sometimes it takes priority over the translation.

Thanks for sticking with me and the team, and I hope you are looking forward to the patch.

See you in next week's update.

Unedited interface of the trial.
Hello guys. I'm back from my short vacation so I'll continue to post the progress weekly as always. Hasa's latest update was because I went MIA for a week, so yeah, sorry about that.
Team matters are going extremely well, I hope things keep being the same as they have been for the last weeks. Progress this week has boomed due to several lines of a number of scripts being repeated, which made their "translation" fairly easy and fast. The editing in the prologue has been finished and the proofreading as well as the TLC are almost finished (When I say editing, I include TLC'ed lines too.).
I'll be probably posting a very big announcement regarding our team plans fairly soon. We've gathered enough man power to be able to host 2 projects at the same time. The second project has been decided, and it will involve our team taking over a project that has already been started. I will not tell what game/project it is until the preparations are done, but what I can say is that it has been up for several years if I'm not mistaken and that is currently stalled. If everything goes well and negotiations go smoothly then I'll present our secondary team for the project as well as giving a huge breakdown talking about what will you expect of us when we take over said project.
About the prologue patch, the only things left to do are:
1. Translating the interface and inserting the new images. (Currently in progress.)
2. Beta testing/QC.
We'll release the patch for both the full game and the trial (although I recommend the latter for this one).
I'll post it here, in the project thread and in the website, but if by some chance you're interested in applying for the position for Beta Testing of the patch then either post a comment in the website or PM me through here. The job is fairly simple: play our prologue patch and give us feedback about the quality of the translation/editing, both good and bad aspects as well as some advice about which areas should we improve. I'll open 2 slots for Beta Testing. By the way, the reviews have to be somewhat complex, I'm not looking for something simple like "It has good/bad English, I approve/disapprove". They will sort of be QC's but not fully.
Other than that I'll post the progress. DISCLAIMER: Do not expect this speed for normal weeks, this one has happened to be rather special.
Translation:   6866 (17,0762%) - PROLOGUE FINISHED
Edit:          4296 (10,6844%) - PROLOGUE FINISHED
Proofreading:  FIRST PASS  OF THE PROLOGUE FINISHED (20/20 scripts)

Well, as it says on the tin, this week I mangaed to reach the 90%-mark. This is pretty good news, as now there's just one last push for this game to be fully translated. I'm pretty excited.
Anyways, this update is going live one day before the normal because of VNTS. Other than that, some slight editing progress was made, but sadly no QC progress.
Other than that, I'll be gone for almost a week with my family, starting next Monday and I'll return late Sunday, so there most likely won't be an update next week, unless I manage to make a mini-update on Sunday or Monday. This of course depends on if I'm fast enough to do such a thing and/or am just lazy or not.
Progress:
Translation: 7/8 script files finished, 8th script file 37,7% completed (~90%)
Editing: 9,9%
QC: 3,1%
Proofreading: 0%
 
Later!

Hooray for huge progress.
This week has been a blast to translate. I was somewhat saddened nd disappointed that I didn't get to my goal last week and get the script file completed. Well, that's the past, more so because I got two script files finished.
That's right. 6th and 7th script file are now fully translated, which means I went through about 100 kB of text, maybe a bit more, this week. I feel so good now. 
Anyways, this means that this is the biggest update yet, surpassing the second update on this site, that was almost 10%.
Now one final wall stands in the way of this game being fully translated. I aim it to be done in a month  or so. Look forward to it.
Translation: 7/8 script files finished (~83%)
Editing: 9,2%
QC: 0%
Proofreading: 0%
 
See you again next week.

Another Saturday, another update.
This week was full of needless things for me. Travels, schoolwork, visiting relatives, ugh.
But enough of that, I'm still quite content with the amount of progress I got, even if it is about the same amount as last week.
I really do hope to get more done in the following weeks.
Update here:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Week 5: 204,5 kB/710 kB (28,8%)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Until next week
-   Arcadeotic

Man, I had no motivation to translate this week, yet somehow I got almost 30 kB of text squeezed out, so progress wasn't that miniscule, at the very least.
Anyways, this week basically went with only translating h-scenes, which isn't a suprise, but yeah.
Honestly, at this point I have no problems translating them, and they are going swimmingly at this point, so I think translating them should be a little faster.
But here's the update:
-----------------------------------------------------
Week 4: 171,8 kB/710 kB (24,2%)
-----------------------------------------------------
We're about 1/4 of the way there!
 
Till next Saturday!
     - Arcadeotic

So this time I'm going to review this awesome novel, some users even consider it the best vn out there by far, a true kamige through and through ....
 
...sadly this is not that Dies Irae neither is Masada involved in this title in any way  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This DIES IRAE (all in caps, because why not?) is the work of a company called Family Soft. They mostly made games for PC-98, 88 and MSX on the 90', later on they released some for the ps1. 
This visual novel is your typical interactive adventure game, that hybrid between a visual novel and adventure game, just like Snatcher, YU-NO or Desire, among others.
You can choose between 2 heroines from the get go and their stories, while not the same, they are in fact related and they go in parallel through out the whole game even interacting and working together at some points.

(the main characters of the novel)
The protagonists are Kimu/Kinbari (Kim/Kimberley) and his side partner Rii (Lee) and Kurisu (Kris) i'm not very good with translating katakana names so forgive me if they are wrong , both of them are professional detectives and they have very opposite personalities.
Kimu on one hand is very cheerful and lively all the time, joking around with every single character (even with her boss), specially with his partner Rii and the receptionist Maria of the police station that she works for. On the other hand we have Kurisu, she is very serious and doesn't joke at all, very quiet too, sadly the game doesn't develop the characters practically in any way, we are just tossed into the game and in the next second we are already investigating some murder case or killing a guy, yes if you play with Kurisu you literally kill a guy 10 seconds after starting the novel xD but like I said there is no backstory whatsoever, later on we do find a bit of pieces of the relation that Kimu and his side partner and best friend Rii have but just a little.. the novel only focus on resolving the murders and nothing else.
 
Plot
In terms of plot, there isn't much to talk about, is just a regular murder investigation that ends up being a much bigger issue, revolving gang members, the mafia and later on some sci-fi elements, to be honest it wasn't anything I haven't seen so far in this types of vns or this genre in general, although it does throws you some plot twist that you wont see them coming which will leave you a bit shocked, but overall nothing really stands out.
 
Graphics
In the graphic part, you have a pretty decent art style and sometimes with some really good "drawings" and CGs, It has some pretty gruesome scenes, sadly (or lucky for you depending on your tastes) there is no eroge. The characters are portrayed inside a side box and will change depending on what the characters are saying or felling just like your typical vn, they use this instead of the whole body characters sprites, although there are a few "whole body sprites" in the game too. As the sucker I am for old school pixel art style I just love it.

(the character portrait in the left side and some random violent scene at the right)
 
Sound
There isn't much to talk about here, the music is really nothing special, not bad but you won't remember the tracks after playing the novel, nothing to highlight, so yeah it does it jobs and that's what matter I guess.
 
Gameplay
Now the most important part... the gameplay, this is the biggest flaw of the visual novel. The gameplay is divided in two parts, the fighting and the way you progress in the novel using four types of commands, those are Move, Talk, Look and finally Act.
Move: will make you move through out the level, which is often divided into big section, for example the police station, the city, the slums etc.
Talk: will make you talk to yourself, other characters in the place you are or your partner if she is with you at that time.
Look: is pretty much explanatory, you will look into the scenery and search for clues.
Lastly you have Act, which will give you the option to interact with the scenery or things that are inside the scene itself, sometimes to progress by interacting with the scene and others is just for fun like harassing your partner or Maria if you are playing with Kimu.

(all the location you can move in the "city" map)
Now to progress you need to do every single option, exhaust all the dialogs, check every single little thing etc etc. This is a big problem because most of the time you need to do them in certain order and if you don't you won't progress. For example in one part you will have to check the same fence several times but in some specific order and then talk to a character just to gain a new action to progress, this is just  a pain in the ass and holds back the story and the game.
There is also an specific part of the game where you find yourself trapped in a maze inside a mine, it took me literally 1 hour to beat that part because of the combat and this is the other huge problem of the game ... the combat...it is terrible in any way you can think of, some parts or certain events have fighting scenes which are mandatory and they are hard as hell...

(The mines, you will be here for a while...trust me)

The fighting is turn based, but is so random and so fast that without using save states is pretty much impossible to beat, even using save states and lowering the speed of the fights(I used an emulator and cheat engine) I had so many troubles beating some fights, one fight took me 30 minutes.
You have your a health bar, four commands (forward, backward, offense and defense) and some kind of stamina bar to use which is constantly moving at light speed and doesn't follow any kind of rule. The game compares how much stamina you have against your opponent and depending on that you will hit, get hit or do nothing.
Now you think, offense will do some kind of attack and defense will well defense yourself but nope, sometimes defense attacks and offense does nothing and everything drains your stamina, losing your stamina means that you will get hit in that turn and probably the next 4 turns too. The enemy have almost unlimited stamina while you do 2 hits in a raw and you are done for.
The only good thing about the combat is that from time to time you can do an special attack which triggers a short full animation showing your character using a gun or doing some kind of fighting pose, nothing fancy but is nice to see.

(The combat)
 
Verdict
Overall I enjoyed this novel because it was dark and it wasn't afraid to do and show you what most of novels this days are and Kimu was a funny character to play with. The gameplay system is what made this novel really flawed but even with those drawbacks and flaws I still enjoyed although I can understand if someone doesn't want to play it or drop it after a few hours in because of that. 
Difficulty to read:
In terms of how difficult it was to read, it wasn't the hardest novel I read but it wasn't 120 yen stories or sanarara either, it's full of katakana terms and names (you will read more than 20-30 names in katakana I'm not joking..) Kimu is overall fairly easy to read, because she is a bit juvenile so her speech and thoughts are fairly easy to understand while Kurisu is more depressing and mature so her thoughts and dialogues are a bit more difficult, also later on the game gets a bit hard when the sci-fi elements kick in, by no means an impossible novel to read or understand.
 

Saturday, update time.
I really hastened my pace this week, and it most likely will continue as such.
2 more H-scenes done, and still as cringe as ever, but I don't hate them. They're still as high-quality as ever, and you'll love them!
Also, idioms can just go to the deepest pit and just burn. 
Update progress thus far:
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Week 3: 146,9 kB/710 kB (20,7%)
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See you next week!
       - Arcadeotic
 
https://euphemictranslation.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/update-3/

If you’re the image editor for a VN translation, you’ll probably spend at least half your time setting English type. Lots of it. (The other half will be spent laboriously retouching out all the Japanese text you’re about to replace.) Sounds simple on the surface, right? Any pixel monkey can copy/paste from a translation document.
But there’s a lot more to good typesetting than just clicking with text tool and banging away on the keyboard. Just like good prose, there’s a certain rhythm to good type. A practiced designer will make numerous small adjustments along the way that allow the to reader glide effortlessly through whatever’s being said. Reading good type should be like driving on a well-paved road.
And the one thing all good display type has in common: someone took the time to kern it.
The Basics of Kerning
I won’t go into a detailed discussion of kerning here — the terminology, the history, the fact that it sounds like something you’d have to pay an escort extra for. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, there are lots of sites out there for you to read. Better yet, buy yourself The Elements of Typographic Style, the best book about type you could ever hope to own. Call it an early Christmas present to yourself. For our purposes, it’s enough to say that kerning means to adjust the empty space between any two adjacent characters, either bringing them closer together or pushing them father apart.
And why would you want to do that? Otherwise, you’ll have gaps and crashes in your type that’ll make things feel ever so slightly off.
To illustrate, I browsed over to a free font site and downloaded a typeface at random. (There’s a very good reason I did this, rather than using some industry-standard font like Helvetica or Times Roman. I’ll get to that in a minute.) Downloading, downloading … done! Okay, let’s set some type.

Here we have a few words set in Font X — name redacted to protect the innocent. At first glance, everything seems fine. But then you look closer and start noticing little things. Like what are these weird gaps between the first two letters of some words? Some are almost as wide as the full space between words.

And hey, what about these letters over here that are more or less crashing into each other? That can’t be good, right?

Nope. These are problems. They need to be fixed.
Kerning Pairs
The reason I picked a free font is because most professional typefaces (aka, “ones you pay a lot of money for”) are designed to avoid the majority of such issues. Once a typographer has crafted all the characters for a font, he or she will then spend countless hours specifying “kerning pairs” for it — basically, instructions on how close each letter should sit next to every other letter. (Here’s how close A should be to B, here’s how close A should be to b, etc.) While some letter pairings may look good at default spacing, others will need to pull tighter or push father out to look right. Professional fonts will often contain hundreds of these kerning pairs. It’s mind-numbing work that takes far more time than most amateur typographers are willing to put into a freebie font project.
That work still needs to get done, however, but now it’s on your shoulders instead. And, since most fan translation projects use free fonts for budgetary reasons, odds are you’ll have a whole lot of mess to clean up. Congratulations! Thankfully, once you’ve learned how, it’s pretty easy stuff.
I work in Photoshop, so I’ll be showing its kerning interface here. If you use another program, it likely has something similar. Here’s Photoshop’s character palette, with the kerning field highlighted:

The "0" you see there means there’s no kerning currently being applied to the characters on either side of your text cursor. Make this number negative, and the two letters will start pulling closer together. Make it positive, and they’ll start pushing farther apart. (Photoshop measures this in units 1/1000 ems, but that’s bar trivia you don’t really need to remember. Just know that in most cases, you’ll be entering numbers in the range of -100 to +100.) You can see the results of some sample values below.

In Photoshop, you also have the option of “Metrics” (apply whatever kerning pairs the typographer included in the font, if any) or “Optical” (let Photoshop guess what looks good, basically). Play around to get a feel for things, then advance your cursor through your type, letter pair by letter pair, and adjust this value until the two letters are the right distance apart. Rinse and repeat. And what’s the “right” distance? The one that looks right, of course. It’s a subjective thing, and this is where practice and design experience come into play. 
Like The Sands Through The Hourglass
One of the first art directors I worked under offered me this analogy, which I’ve always rather liked: Imagine the negative space between letters as vases lined up in a row. They’re all different shapes, these vases, but you want each to be able to hold an equal amount of sand (or M&Ms or whatever). Kern until your vases all look like they could all hold the same amount. This is an imprecise rule, of course, and you’ll often want to make your “vases” bigger or smaller for visual effect, but it gives a beginner a good baseline approach.
So let’s take that approach here. Let’s go through, fix all the obvious gaps and crashes we noted earlier, then make smaller adjustments to even out the text overall. (We call this giving the type an even “color.”) After some quick fiddling, we end up with something like this before and after:


It’s subtle, but the "after" type just feels nicer overall. And if your text is a UI element that some poor reader will spend countless hours staring at, you want to make sure it’s as nice as you can manage. Because the longer you spend with something, the more obvious and annoying its flaws become. (Said every roommate ever.)
The good news is you don’t need to do this everywhere. It’d be insanity to kern entire sentences or paragraphs of text, especially since the effect is barely perceptible at those point sizes. You only really need to worry about kerning display type — things like buttons, headlines, title screens, etc. If your type is over 16pt, it probably needs to be kerned. The good news is, as you learn the keyboard shortcuts for your particular application/platform, you’ll be able to breeze through a piece of type in a matter of seconds. In fact, a lot of designers find sitting down and kerning type to be mindlessly relaxing, like knitting or playing Minesweeper or making fun of the animations in Fallout 4.
Mind Your Gaps
So that’s kerning in a nutshell kernel. It’s the absolute easiest way to step up your type game, and it’s quick enough that there’s no reason not to do it. As a bonus, there’s a fun little online game out there to let you practice your kerning skills in hypothetical situations and compare them to a professional designer’s solution. It’s a fun way to kill some time at work while you boost your skills.