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Air Review

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“The 1000th Summer”

I was visiting MAL one day, and saw that in my blogging club, one of them opened up a contest. Basically, it’s a contest where everyone had to watch an anime (Air, in this regard) and make a review out of it. Whoever wrote the best review will win and obtain the spoils. I jumped on the opportunity almost immediately, though it’s still kind of dead at the moment. I hope I’m not the only one joining this >_>

Not including the 2003 Kanon, Air is probably one of oldest animated works by Key, being adapted into anime from the visual novel by early 2005. Air stars Yukito Kunisaki, a young traveler whose only source of money making is his puppeting skills. His objective is to look for the “Winged Maiden”, after hearing an old childhood tale from his mother. As he arrived at a quiet town, his journey was put on hold for a quick while and stayed there temporarily. However, his search for the “Winged Maiden” may inches much more closer then he thinks..

Air presents it’s storytelling with great pacing in just 13 episodes. Key uses their signature non fanservice-y humors at the beginning, and at the same time, it doesn’t waste any time and uses the chance to introduce and set up the characters. Later on, the anime breaks up into 3 “story arcs,” and show the more dramatic part of Air. The first arc deals with Kano, the second one dealing with Minagi and the last one dealing with Misuzu. The anime may be be short but as whole, the anime doesn’t feel rushed at all. Each arc ended splendidly and while they may seem like they didn’t relate to each other much, their subtle relations to each other works perfectly nice, since it sets and build up the final arc pretty well.

As Yukito began solving the problems of the final heroine, Misuzu, this is when the anime begins unveiling the secrets and truths behind the characters, in which they are connected even throughout the eras. While the former two arc is great in their own rights, it doesn’t take rocket science to know that Misuzu’s arc is the canon arc, as more then half the anime is concentrated just on her. At this time, there are scenes which showed perspectives from different characters, which is nice. I also like how they uses a lot of time to develop Misuzu’s mother/aunt, and her change in character is positive to the series.

Speaking of characters, Air had one great cast, as expected of Key, who is known to create many likable characters. Yukito, is Air’s main protagonist and is at times cool, always putting his hands into his pockets, and at times goofy, always messing around with Michiru. He is also compassionate and had no problem lending a helping hands to those in need, even when he still has his own mission of searching for the Winged Maiden.

The other heroines are quite likeable as well, the outgoing girl Kano, the reserved girl, Minagi and the dojikko, Misuzu. I also like how some of the supporting characters relate to the main plot more so then you think, from the dude who brings a cake out of nowhere, to the housewife who carries multitude sacks of rice, and from her to the kids. There is no way of telling just what character will be the main focal point of the series, one character who showed up all of a sudden, might have a major involvement in one of the arcs. The only flaw I can find for the characters is that in the later part of the series, the heroines for the previous arcs are hardly ever shown anymore.

As for the visuals, it’s not bad. Yukito’s character designs look pretty stylish. As for the other character designs, specially the girls, are a reminiscence of old typical Key-style designs, round face and big eyes, and looks slightly unoriginal. I can’t help but feel the designs of the character faces look quite disproportional at times too. Some of the backgrounds are a feast to the eyes though, and the vibrant colors used in the anime is eye-pleasing, especially dat beautiful sunsets.

Likewise, the audio department isn’t the greatest, especially if we are talking about the background music. Although they sound calm and soothing, most of them are bland and doesn’t sound quite much attractive. Most of the tracks use almost the same instruments and tones throughout, without a hint of diversity. This is actually a recurring problem within most of Key’s works, and I can say they are improving slowly over the years. The seiyuu’s voice acting is great and natural, not much problems I can find generally. Ono Daisuke, is ironically my favorite seiyuu in the anime, probably because I was so used to his calm demeanor in his portrayal with Koizuki (Haruhi) and Sebastian (Kuroshitsuji) so much that I can’t help but admires how he can use his calm voice for loud retorts as well, shown countlessly with Yukito.

Air is a great piece of work, and showed just what Key is capable in. Though in my opinion, it is easily overshadowed by Kanon and Clannad, Air has a lot of great elements too; The soothing atmospheres, the fairy-tale romances, the lovely characters, all these make Air a force to be reckon with in it’s own rights. Air is definitely an anime worth your time watching.

Rating


Story: A
Character: A-
Art: B-
Animation: C+
Sound: C+

Final Score


8/10



Top 3 Visual Novel Studios

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While I do not count myself as a veteran visual novel player, over the years, I did played quite a number of visual novels. Some of them really stood out for me, and I was able to appreciate the inspirational creators behind these wonderful masterpieces.

Here are three of my most favorite visual novel studios:

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1. Type-Moon

Type-Moon is known for their intriguing plot and it’s clever storytelling, which drags it’s readers and help them immerse into the plotlines itself. It is not too exaggerating to say that Type-Moon may be one of the best breakthrough visual novel company ever.

Originally just a comiket circle, Type-Moon developed Tsukihime, a doujin game and a widely proclaimed vampire visual novel. Due to positive reception, Type-Moon, now, with more resources and budget, produced the phenomenal Fate/Stay Night, the widely acclaimed visual novel which every visual novel players around the globe should have seen or heard of. Fate/Stay Night is a more professional work, which entails the story of Emiya Shirou, and the mysterious Holy Grail of War. Its these two main titles which made Type-Moon as popular as it is today.

Type-Moon also has a recurring pattern in which all of their releases are universally related to each other. Long time fans of Type-Moon can enjoy the relation of other pieces of Type-Moon work when playing their games. For example, when playing Tsukihime, veteran fans of Type-Moon can appreciate the fact that Aozaki Aoko (who unmistakeably had some kind of F/SN-like magi power), has a sister in Kara no Kyoukai, who looks unmistakably similar with the same red hair. Type-Moon’s latest visual novel, Mahou Tsukai No Yoru will focus on these two siblings. It is most interesting to see and detect just how each media relates to one another as it feels the studio is joining every releases they made together as one.

Notable Type-Moon Visual Novels: Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Mahoutsukai no Yoru


2. Nitroplus

Nitroplus is known for it’s specialty in creating gore, dark and twisted atmospheres. In a good way, making a scene “nasty” and “bloody” out of nowhere is a child’s play for them. The studio had made countless bizarre masterpieces, like Steins;Gate, Zanmataisei Demonbane, Kikokugai and so on. However, the most twisted and grotesque of them all, and probably the one which delivers the most impact ever, is Saya no Uta, which even incorporates organs and intestines as part of their storylines and visuals. Some other classic Nitroplus titles are on par with Saya no Uta; bloody, gore, and visually destructive, though Saya no Uta still triumph them all in that department.

Currently, Nitroplus tend to have toned down with their bloodiness and grotesqueness, but they are still one of the best VN developers in integrating dark elements into their stories.

Notable Nitro+ Visual Novels: Zanmataisei Demonbane, Kikokugai, Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head, Phantom of Inferno, Soukou Akki Muramasa, Saya no Uta


3. Key

Key is the polar opposite of Nitroplus. While Nitroplus applies the use of dark elements, Key relies on their unique charming point; tranquility and warmth.

In Key’s path to fame, it is known to make good use of it’s “traditional formula” from past to present: Slice of Life + Romance + Tearjerking drama + A bit of Magic = Masterpiece. From visual novels as new as Rewrite, to ones as old as Air, this fixed pattern had worked wonders, even to this day. Using no complicated stories or confusing plot twists, Key uses the simple strength of slice of life drama and a bit of magic to obtain that fairy-tale like ambiance, while at the same time creating an atmospheric pristine serenity. Following them, many other slice of life visual novels uses almost the same pattern which Key had revolutionized. Key is indeed one inspiring visual novel company and it proved one simple fact: simplicity is the best magic.

Notable Key Visual Novels: Air, Clannad, Kanon, Little Busters!, Rewrite


There are still a lot of other studios who deserves honorable mention; and some includes AkabeiSoft2, kid, Eushully, Alice Soft, Leaf, Light and so on. Perhaps, there might even be various other undiscovered gems which I most probably haven’t come across yet and hopefully, I would expand my visual novels horizon much more in the near future.

Also, this is not what I originally intended, but I made a post which is coincidentally a good guide for beginners of visual novels, so off it goes to nopy’s project…


Kai’s Answers To Aaeru’s Almost-20-Questions Questionnaire

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I saw Aaeru doing a questionnaire too, similar to what Ace and Yumeka had done. However, this is more visual novel-focused and despite that I don’t play as much visual novels as most major players, I jumped into the fray just as soon as I saw it. Questionnaires like these are always fun after all.

1. Who is your favourite female visual novel character?
Tohsaka Rin! Favorite character in anime, and favorite character in visual novels. I like just how important she contribute to the plot, regardless of the routes. Other favourite female characters include Natsume Rin (Little Busters), Kud (Little Busters), Ikumi (Moon.) and Haru (G-senjou no Maou).

2. Who is your favourite male visual novel character?
The charismatic leader of Little Busters, Natsume Kyousuke, is definitely one of my top favourites, while Masato from the same visual novel, is second to none too. I also like Kong Taoluo (Kikokugai) for his badassery, and Kenichi (Sharin no Kuni) and Azai Kyousuke (G-senjou no Maou) for their decisiveness and quick-wittiness. While this doesn’t really count much as a visual novel, Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney is also a pretty good character.

3. What is your favourite visual novel?
My top 3 favorite visual novels are Ef-A Fairy Tale of the Two, G-Senjou no Maou and Fate-Stay Night. These three certainly put up a good fight but still, I think I will ultimately still choose Ef, it’s beautiful, relaxing atmospheres, yet top-quality productions make it a force to be reckon with. Of cause, other then these three, there are other visual novels noteworthy too.

4. What is your favourite visual novel soundtrack (or song)?
Once again, I would say my favorite soundtracks are from Ef-A Fairy Tale of the Two. While the styles and tunes are different, Ef’s soundtracks are akin to anime’s Aria, calm, soothing and relaxing. Aside from songs like those, I like hearing a bit of rock too, and Sengoku Rance had a collection of phenomenal rock songs. Similarly, Kira Kira and Deardrops is noteworthy.

5. Which is your favourite visual novel opening animation?
Once again, Ef, it’s opening is incredible. Bloody Rondo’s opening is pretty memorable too.

6. What is your favourite scene in a visual novel?
Any H-scenes. A bit of spoilers, but my favourite scene is in G-Senjou no Maou, where Kyousuke finally meet “Maou” in person and interacted with him. At that time, he had already discovered “Maou’s” real identity. The lengthy mysterious build-up between the two makes this scene so epic.

7. What qualities in a VN character do you gravitate most towards?
I like characters who are decisive and is able to make quick and calm judgements at the spur of the moment. They should also be strong, both physically and mentally and is one of the reason why I like the characters from G-Senjou no Maou and Sharin no Kuni so.

8. Which character in a VN is most similar to you in terms of personality?
Shouichi from Deardrops. Both of us are sometimes calm, yet passionate at the same time, and also, we both love music in our own ways.

Shouichi originally plays the violin and was a calm individual, however, after started learning the wonders of rock and being together with his boisterous bandmates for quite a long time, he’s became just as audacious, but still retained some of his calmness from before.

9. Who is your favourite VN Artist?
Na-Ga (Little Busters), Huke (Steins;Gate), Peko (Sono Hanabira), Nanao Naru (Ef – A Fairy tale of the Two) and Coffee-Kizoku (Cure Girl).

10. Who is your favourite VN writer?
Jun Maeda, Gen Urobuchi and Kinoko Nasu. Three writers from three epic studios.

11. What is your favourite thing about visual novel/eroge?
The fact how anime (slight motions and sound), manga (the different CGs and pictures of visual novels are almost akin to the different pics of manga panels) and light novels (I think this should be obvious) elements are merged into one. To me, visual novel is a combination of all of these, and while it still has it’s pros and cons, it’s almost the ultimate form of otaku entertainment.

12. What is one thing you would eliminate from all VNs to make them more perfect?
My take on this is pretty much the same as Yirba’s. Better distribution towards non-Japanese market.

13. Do you think you’ll ever stop playing VNs?
No, but I will be slow for sure.

14. Are you open about the fact that you play VNs with people you know?
Likewise with anime, people in Brunei here are very ignorant of visual novels. In fact, visual novels are even lesser known then anime here, and their disinterest is really on a whole new level.

Surprisingly, my sister was interested the first time she saw me playing Ef. I immediately introduced her some mainstream titles I played like Fate/Stay Night, Ever17, G-Senjou no Maou and Saya no Uta.

15. Which visual novel was the biggest let down for you?
Princess Waltz. The art and music is good and all but plot and character developments are very poorly done.

16. Name one VN nobody-has-played that you would recommend for others.
Brass Restoration. It’s a free visual novel but it’s actually pretty good. It speaks of how the Ryo, the main character loses hope for his dream and his hardships of regaining the passion he once had.

Other answers from other participants
Rablazone
Yirba
Therussoturisto
Uuchujin
Nekotea


12 Days of Christmas: A Bond Between Friends – Day X

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On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love for anime gave to me…
10 inseparable friends
9 mundane mysteries
8 beats of jazz
7 legendary servants
6 witty lies
5 fun choir members
4 gigabytes of data
3 lovely flowers
2 sides of consciousness
And a wish-granting rock.

Little Busters, an anime adapted from famed visual novel producer, Key, a studio popular for visual novels like Clannad, Air and Kanon. Despite having to endure a long wait by fans, Little Busters became one of their newest anime adaption.

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Little Busters focuses on the life of Naoe Riki. His parents passed away at a young age and worst, he was even diagnosed with Narcolepsy, a sleeping disorder. When all hope is lost, four kids came up to him; Kyousuke, Kengo, Masato and Rin. The four of them bring him around and played with him in time of need. Eventually, he forgot about the pain in his heart.

I find the bonding between friends in Little Busters quite heart warming. Of cause, the visual novel was able to bring out more of this atmosphere but this is also present in the anime. When Riki became the fifth original member of Little Busters, he joined the rest of the gang helping future members too, who suffered similar losses.

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Friendship is a beautiful thing, and Little Buster’s portrayal of such themes was quite exhilarating. The five friends in the original Little Busters group, together with Komari, Kud, Kurugaya, Haruka and Mio, messed around from time to time, yet, they also helped each other in times of need. There had been quite a number of anime that uses such friendship themes but Little Buster’s is by far one of the best in my opinion, at least from the ones I had watched anyway.

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While of cause it definitely couldn’t be compared to the visual novel, the anime is slightly better then I would had expected. Here’s hoping that Little Buster will become a spectacular anime by the end.


Rewrite Review

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Little Busters was a breath of fresh air, instead of focusing on romance with the heroines, the themes are more about friendships and trust. Key, including some other visual novel studios, had been using their simple formula of nakige for quite a long period. While they are good, some begun saying that the formula is starting to get repetitive, so in that sense, Little Busters was really refreshing.

However, just when you thought Key had exhausted their options, out came Rewrite, which is probably one of their most unique visual novel they had ever made. The basic principles of nakige is still there, but overall, it feels totally different, which is obvious, considering the fact that Maeda Jun, the main scenario writer of Key had stepped down. In place, Tanaka Romeo became the main writer of Rewrite, in addition with some other authors.

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Rewrite sets in the fictional place known as Kazamatsuri city, a place where afforestation is active. Although the city is just like any modern city, the place is filled with attractive greenery. The trees provide a beautiful ambiance in an otherwise, bustling environment, it is the ultimate balance. The city is also situated close to the forest, which hides a number of intriguing secrets as well.

The visual novel puts you in the shoe of Tennouji Kotarou, a carefree high school sophomore, and also the main protagonist of the visual novel. Like every other kids, he also had some teenage problems that caused him some level of loneliness. In his second year, aside from his only friend, Kanbe Kotori, who is also his childhood friend, and also his rival, Haruhiko Yoshino, he also befriended other people, the clean-freak class president Konohana Lucia, the new school transfer student, Ohtori Chihaya, the “witch” of the school, Senri Akane and last but not least Nakatsu Chizuru, who seem to always wears an eye patch. He reopened the inactive Occult Research Club, and gathered them together for their occult activities. Throughout his daily activities however, Kotarou experienced countless supernatural phenomena; for reasons unknown, mysterious happenings seem to occur around him a lot. As if a counter-measure to those, Kotarou himself is far from your typical Key lead as well, he has a power of his own, the ability to “rewrite” parts of his body, rebuilding his body with supernatural strength and speed in return.

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The common route feels a bit too lengthy, but it serves as an ample introduction to the beautiful and expansive world of Rewrite. From the pretty sides of Rewrite like the man-made trees to the dark sides featuring bizarre supernatural occurrence, mysterious creatures, uncanny individuals; everything is also slowly build up, manifesting a very mysterious vibe. We learned that Kotarou isn’t exactly the most normal human, and we learned that the world of Rewrite isn’t exactly ordinary either. The alluring forests may seem dazzling at first, but once inside, the areas covered by the tall forest canopy caused a dark, depressing darkness over the surface. The forest gives off a feeling of loneliness, coldness, solitary and also, anxiety and even fear. Metaphorically, Rewrite’s settings is a reflection of the forest, it is not as it seems.

A mappie segment - found a porn mag and talking to a random stranger.

A mappie segment – found a porn mag and talking to a random stranger.

However, being Key, it does not forget to pinch in some comedic slice-of-life moments. While good however, Little Busters feels like it’s definitely stronger in humors, and what’s more, Little Buster has a much more vibrant character cast for their humors too. Basically, the whole common route in Rewrite had Kotarou and his Occult Research club running around investing on seemingly supernatural phenomena, only to find out that everything that happened is completely humanistic. Throughout the game, there are “mappie” segments, where players can explore around the place through scrolling around a map. Instead of going straightaway to the area where the story is progressed, moving around the place is a good way to feel immersed into the world of Rewrite some more, talking with neighbors or classmates, messing around with pet animals of other households, and luckily finding a porn mag out of nowhere; this is a reminiscence of Little Buster’s mini-games. Although while the idea of “mappie” is good, I still find Little Buster’s mini-games to be more fun. Furthermore, Rewrite’s gameplays (if scrolling around the map can even count as one..) feels too simplistic and “tacked on”, the mini-games in Rewrite isn’t implemented well enough as Little Buster did. All this contribute to the fact that Little Buster is definitely the stronger adversary in the comedic slice-of-life area.

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Once the common route is starting to branch out into separate heroine’s route, you will probably be noticing the inconsistency. You will be surprised by the overall staff in the scenario departments. To those uninformed, the visual novel had Tanaka Romeo (Yume Miru Kusuri: A Drug That Makes You Dream and Cross Channel), Tonokawa Yuuto (he contributed to some routes of Little Busters) and Ryukishi07 (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Umineko no Naku Koro ni) on the scenario department. This caused a slight rift of disproportional condition when advancing through the routes. At times, the difference between the routes is a comfortable contrast, while at times, it feels too out-of-the-world. Kotori’s route feels too mediocre (it however, serves a very perfect introduction to all of Rewrite’s plot points, so I recommend playing this first for starters), Chihaya’s route suddenly became a shounen and Lucia’s route feels astonishingly creepy, in which I’m sure you know who’s the “culprit” behind such creepiness.

I feel that it would be better if Romeo write all the scenarios themselves, instead of sharing between authors. All the routes feel a bit too disjointed, as if they are different games. An honorable mention to Ryukishi07 however who contributed to Lucia’s route, which ended up better then I thought. Lucia’s character is exposed to tremendous depth, much more then most other heroines as well which is surprising, considering that I initially thought of her as more one-dimensional.

In the end however, Romeo contributed to more then half of the game’s scenarios, and in my opinion, the visual novel might even make it out fine if he alone tackled on all the routes. Sadly, I didn’t read much of Romeo’s other works, aside from Cross Channel. However, I’m well aware of his skills, and no doubt he did a fine job in Rewrite as well. Meticulous foreshadowing, poetic phrases and inspiring thought-provoking themes are some of the magic behind the writing. The visual novel feels like a darker version of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, exploring the concepts of humanity, society and evolution.

kagari

Likewise with Clannad and Little Busters, you need to finish all the main heroines routes to have access to the “true end” route. In Clannad’s case, it was After Story, in Little Buster’s case, it was Refrain, and Rewrite’s “true end” routes come in the form of Moon and Terra, the former being one huge prologue to the latter. When playing visual novels, I dislike it when I had to finish all the other routes to play the true end route, when that particular true end doesn’t even have much of an impact at all, feeling just like the rest of the normal routes: this is one issue I find with some other visual novels. However, for Key, they had always made great, emotional and epic true ends, and Rewrite is no exception. Moon is a route of revelations while Terra is a route of conclusions, both routes effectively tied up all the key elements of the story, and the execution behind the attempt is top-notch.

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Rewrite’s artwork is certainly appealing. In a world of both greenery and modernization like Kazamatsuri city, the illustrations are the perfect reflection behind such scenery. The lush world of Rewrite is an embodiment of radiance and elegance, but it also empathized relaxation. Cunningly, the backdrops are at times deliberately colored in monotone aside from the usual vibrancy; the grey skies, the dark streets, they signify that something is wrong. This and the former is a skillful way of reflecting both the beautiful and dark sides of Kazamatsuri city.

Character designs however, I had a few pet peeve about them. Most of them look pretty good indeed, however, at times, Koutarou look like a scrawny, elementary school kid. The overall artwork for Rewrite is good no doubt, but some CGs look terribly awkward too, like this, which looks like a cheap art drawn from the oldies. At times, I also feel that the way the characters are drawn do not really complement well with the backgrounds, the mixture between them looks slightly unnatural. Those are just a few minor nitpicks however, overall, Rewrite is probably the most visually stunning piece of work by Key so far, the backdrops are just too beautiful, in fact, there is even a separate CG section for these backdrops for you to feast your eyes upon them!

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In my opinion, music in Little Buster feels somewhere above average, and Rewrite is more musically superior. The great illustrations paired up with such music made Rewrite is great piece of art. The mellow intro tone as you opened up the title screen, with a picture of a “tree” with the heroines around it, is a comforting introduction to the visual novel. There a great number of musicians working on the tracks behind Rewrite, and this spawned a great variety of tracks. The mellow intro song by Maeda Jun himself is one example, and when the scene becomes a thrilling suspense, an oddly matching creepy song comes into play as well. Orito Shinji made some great contributions for some battle-hardened songs like “Eruptible” and “Retribution”. They even had luchi Maiko (To Aru Majutsu no Index) working on the majority of the tracks too. Interestingly, they also have a song titled “Philosophyz”, and Rewrite, being extremely philosophical in itself, I’m sure it’s no coincidence.

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Rewrite tells a great, dark fairy tale. Story progressions underwent careful pacing and build-up, characters explorations are plentiful as well, in fact, much more then Little Busters, making the latter inferior in terms of seriousness and characterizations. Very beautiful illustrations and music, coupled with magnificent writing, create an almost ultimate form of art and literature. There may be flaws somewhere, but it is something easily overlooked in an overall, wonderful visual novel.

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Rating


Story: S
Character: S
Visuals: A
Sound: A-
System: A-
Gameplay: C+

Final Score


9/10


Distinguishing Visual Novels: Part II – Origin of Visual Novels

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In the first part, where I focused on the fundamental introductions to visual novels and interactive fiction games, I will now touch upon the history of visual novels, and how it came about.

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Visual novel originated from way back during the 1980s, and back then, the term “visual novel” was pretty much non-existent, before the term was coined, games such as those are simply known as H-game, or simply, eroge. During that time, Japanese companies were competing with United States with the quality of their computers; the Japanese had the Sharp X1, Fujitsu FM-7 and NEC PC-8801 as top contenders. Sharp and Fujitsu’s performance are much more higher then the weaker NEC with only 16 colors and no sound support. The latter needed some way to regain the momentum, and thus, eroge was born. The first erotic game came to life, with the release of “Night Life” by Koei, and a little later, Koei also released Danchi Tsuma no Yuwaku, making Koei one of the major software company in Japan. Following Koei’s success, the later years see more eroge releases from other companies like Enix, Square and Nihon Falcom, which would again, became major game software companies around a decade later.

During those times, stories weren’t the main focus of the game, and it was more just about sex, literally. Customers quickly got tired of paying 8800 yen of multitude of eroges which were basically almost the same thing, and in response, a new genre was born. ASCII’s release of Chaos Angels marks a new direction, the game is an RPG eroge, and this one-of-a-kind genre at the time, inspired releases of other RPG eroges like the Dragon Knight series by Elf, and the Rance series by Alicesoft. Customers however, quickly got weary again, even though RPG elements were added, the stories were dull, and it’s like the plot were giving awkward excuses just to have their own characters having sex for no apparent reason. In the end, they were just like before, eroge, with sex as the primary focus.

However, in 1992, Elf surprised everyone with the release of Dokyusei. It no longer has the “mindless sex” flaw previous eroges possess. In here, players has several girls to choose from, and you need to win the affection of the girl you like by accessing her route and to make the correct choices. If done right, the player will be awarded with a sex scene. If you want to play another girl’s route, just restart the game from the beginning. This is a pattern most eroge uses, even the newer ones; Dokyusei pretty much set the basic foundation for later eroges.

During all these eroge hype, another game was attracting quite a lot of attention, and it was known as Otogirisou. The game had multiple endings, and the stories were delivered through text and backgrounds alone. They were known as “sound novel”, where elements like stories and sound (music and sfx) are the main focus instead of visuals.

Leaf realized the potential of sound novels, and in 1996, they implemented the concept of sound novels into their eroge with the release of Shizuku, featuring full backgrounds, music and character sprites; they called it the “visual novel”. The game features a psychological horror story, where the denpa genre originated from. It stars Nagase Yuuichi, as he investigates the mystery where girls were constantly losing their sanity; with suicide and rape a frequent occurrence. This visual novel still features quite some sex scenes, in fact, it’s pretty much one of the main themes in Shizuku. The game brilliantly integrated sex into the stories, effectively making the sex scenes actually relevant to the plot, unlike the previous eroges where sex scenes were more “mindless”.

Leaf later on releases another visual novel, this time titled Kizuato, which were just almost as dark as their previous release, yet compelling. This time, players assume the role of Kashiwagi Kouichi. He kept having nightmares that he was murdering people, and one day his nightmare turned into a reality: the news show a brutal murder taking place at the exact same location in his dream. The visual novel is a big influence to later famous visual novels such as Tsukihime and Higurashi.

Weirdly, Leaf released To Heart later on, the third visual novel which unlike the previous two, contain a simple, sweet and heart-warming story. To Heart would later went on and became a massive hit, rivaling that, or even topping the sales of their previous two visual novel by several folds.

With the success lead by Leaf, many other eroge companies followed what Leaf had done: visual novels. One such notable eroge company at the time, was Tactics. Tactics produced Moon and One ~Kagayaku Kisetsu e~, both with considerable success, before most of the main staffs in Tactics left and formed another brand of their own, which would be known as Key. The new studio then went on to make countless masterpieces, with Kanon, Air and Clannad; Key’s trilogy of visual novels which gained tremendous worldwide fame. Almost all of Key’s visual novels had been adapted into anime too, also with major successes.

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Visual novels are the next big thing, as they even made up of a majority of the Japanese games market. Newer visual novels like Fate/stay night, Ef – a fairy tale of the two, G-senjou no Maou, and even Steins;Gate stormed the new visual novel mainstream market and I’m sure we will still see more visual novels like these with similar quality as time goes on.

Source(s): Link

Usami.Haru.full.331016

Distinguishing Visual Novels
Distinguishing Visual Novels: Part I – Introduction to Visual Novels
Distinguishing Visual Novels: Part II – Origin of Visual Novels
Distinguishing Visual Novels: Part III – Deconstruction of Visual Novels
Distinguishing Visual Novels: Part IV – Differentiating Visual Novels from Games
Distinguishing Visual Novels: Bonus Part – Interviews