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Fuwa VN Reading Club: April - Deardrops


Fred the Barber

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Here are your lovely nominees for the music-themed month of April. The poll will be open through the evening of March 31st PDT, at which time the selection for April will be declared and we'll all start reading.

As usual, please only vote if you intend to read along with the club. Happy voting!

Deardrops

Spoiler

 

deardrops1.jpg

A violinist, entrusted with great hopes for his future, but sealed off from that path.
A lone diva, more devoted to singing than anyone else.
A guitarist, lacking the courage to take the first step towards her ideals.
A bassist, unable to face his past mistakes, but who can't leave music either.
A drummer, finding it impossible to enjoy performing with others.

When Shoichi and the friends he was destined to meet overcome their pasts and the trials before them, how will they grow as individuals, let alone as a band? A new world spreads from the live house as these musicians in their prime journey through a tale of rock'n'roll and aim for new heights as they discover themselves deep within.

(Description edited down from MangaGamer's official description)

 

Kira☆Kira

Spoiler

KiraKiraGroup_5101.jpg

Shikanosuke Maejima is a student at the Missionary school, Oubi Academy. He doesn't attend his club, he doesn't put much effort in his studies, all he does is show up at his part time job; in short, his life could be better. One day, he meets a strange girl, Kirari Shiino, at work and before he knows it, they've formed a punk band.

The band consists of Shikanosuke, Kirari, his childhood friend Chie Isurugi, and a rich but weak young lady by the name of Sarina Kashiwara. The four of them are members of the Second Literature Club, which has hardly any active members and is already scheduled to be disbanded. This band is their chance to stand out and give one final farewell at the Culture Festival.

The challenge was foolhardy, but after eccentric training they managed to succeed and rock out the peaceful Oubi Academy with their debut performance. That should have been it.
They were satisfied.
They should have returned to their normal lives.
However, their final performance at a local Live House became a hit on the Internet and requests for their performance start flying in from far and wide.

One problem: exams are coming up and their parents are opposed to the band!

Who cares!

The four of them embark on their final adventure, a long tour of Japan, armed with their dreams and their instruments, all aboard a rickety van that could fall apart at any moment.

"First stop, Nagoya!"

(Description full-on copy-pasted from MangaGamer's official)

Quartett!

Spoiler

Quartett-Visual-Novel-mainArt.jpg

On the 17th of March, there is a classical strings concert unlike any other in the world. Ninety-six young musicians, divided into twenty-four quartets perform before an audience of the world’s greatest conductors and instrumentalists. Only one group - a single quartet - is chosen from these performers. Success brings prestige beyond imagination and guaranteed entry into any orchestra on the planet. It is a once in a lifetime chance for those striving to perfect the art of music. The ultimate dream… and possibly the ultimate nightmare.

(VNDB description)

Brass Restoration

Spoiler

cit_brass_restoration_-_start_screen.png

Takiguchi Ryo is a genius percussionist in high school with a bright future ahead of him, until he loses his left arm in an accident.
The accident causes him to throw away his dream to become a percussionist like his father, and he loses all hope in life. Ryo tries to abandon music, but the girls around him encourage him to take up music once again.
Will he be able to find hope in his life and a passion for music, in spite of his handicap...?

(edited VNDB description)

 

Edited by Fred the Barber
Poll completed, retitling thread and reusing topic for discussion
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Interesting results so far. I've read three of these four (except for Brass Restoration). KiraKira has the best story, hands down. DEARDROPS has the best music (IMO) and Riho <3. As for Quartett!.. I read it ages ago (and I don't remember hating it) but I really can't remember much of anything about it... other than that it's my favorite example of Oyari Ashito's art in a VN. And I don't really like Oyari Ashito's art in VNs.

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I'm certainly looking forward to this, whatever we choose. I haven't read any of these, and they honestly all look pretty good. Also, I just love stories about musicians.

I dug up the fan TL patches for both Quartett! and Brass Restoration today, just to make sure they were still around, but I have to admit, I'm kind of hoping for either Deardrops or Kira☆Kira just since it will be much easier to get a copy of them from MG than it will be to import either of those VNs from Japan (or find a place to buy a digital copy, which seems unlikely to pan out).

@Ariurotl, two notes for you:

  • I may or may not have been interested in Deardrops in part because of seeing the guy in your avatar and thinking, "Now that looks like someone I want to read about in a VN."
  • You dropped a ☆ there in Kira☆Kira. Here, you can borrow some of mine: ☆☆☆☆☆
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8 hours ago, Adorabear said:

I tried to vote for Kira Kira, but the poll bugged out and for some reason it looks like my vote registered as Deardrops? O_o Kira Kira sounds the most interesting to me, but Deardrops also seems enjoyable! :) 

Uhh... hmm. I should have made the votes public, then we could settle this easily (plus it's fun seeing what people vote for), but I think I'm going to have to let the poll results stand as they are. Sorry about that :(

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1 hour ago, Fred the Barber said:

Uhh... hmm. I should have made the votes public, then we could settle this easily (plus it's fun seeing what people vote for), but I think I'm going to have to let the poll results stand as they are. Sorry about that :(

It's alright, I completely understand. It was weird seeing it glitch out (attempted to vote twice since the first time the poll disappeared, and then it showed up later like I never voted in it, chose Kira Kira both times, and then Deardrops shows up as the choice later...it was really strange! XD), but I'm fine with whatever gets chosen in the end. A VN reading club sounds really awesome and I'd like to participate in it! ^_^ 

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All right folks! The time has come, and I'm pleased to announce our selection for the April VN reading club: Deardrops. You can pick up a download copy from Mangagamer here: http://www.mangagamer.com/detail.php?goods_type=0&product_code=36 (NSFW). Or if you feel like you're gonna want that Deardrops x Kira☆Kira crossover fandisc as well, maybe get them as a package deal with a ~$5 discount: http://www.mangagamer.com/detail.php?goods_type=0&product_code=134 (NSFW)

Get started reading whenever you feel like, comment whenever you feel like, but remember that we all read at different paces, so please be extra careful to put spoilers in spoiler tags!

Spoiler

Like this, yo.

Get it, got it, good. Let's all have a good time with this one!

EDIT: Just for future reference, I'm going to record the vote count here, since I'm also going to delete the question and retitle the thread.

Deardrops: 9, Kira☆Kira: 6, Brass Restoration 5, Quartett!: 4

Edited by Fred the Barber
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Hooray for Deardrops! I definitely want to buy the game soon so I can read it with everyone! ^_^ I have a quick question though before I buy it: I noticed that the MangaGamer page for Deardrops says the required OS's are "Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7" and my tablet is Windows 8. Will the game still work even though my device is not one of the listed OS? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm new to buying/playing VNs on the PC (most of mine are console), and the game is quite expensive for me; I don't want to pay $55-75+ only to find out it doesn't work. :( 

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11 minutes ago, Adorabear said:

Hooray for Deardrops! I definitely want to buy the game soon so I can read it with everyone! ^_^ I have a quick question though before I buy it: I noticed that the MangaGamer page for Deardrops says the required OS's are "Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7" and my tablet is Windows 8. Will the game still work even though my device is not one of the listed OS? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm new to buying/playing VNs on the PC (most of mine are console), and the game is quite expensive for me; I don't want to pay $55-75+ only to find out it doesn't work. :( 

I'm playing it on a Windows 10 tablet (touchscreen and all); you'll be fine.

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35 minutes ago, Ariurotl said:

Whatever you do, READ RIHO'S ROUTE LAST.

Best order (this is not opinion, this IS the best order): Rimu and Yayoi (in any order) -> Kanade -> Riho.

If you read Riho's route first, you're setting yourself up for a major disappointment in other routes.

literally my first and only route so far. :rimu: i heard kanade's is skipable so i dont think ill do hers at all. shes really the stereotypical childhood friend and i find that a bit annoying so.

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