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medakakurokami · 10 months

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I finished over 100 visual novels, here’s a long post with some recommendations

Last month I hit 100 Finished VN’s over on the VNDB and I thought I’d shoot out some recommendations while the Steam Summer Sale is going on (even though some of these aren’t going to be on Steam)

I already have finished up some stragglers and caught some shorter titles so it’s up to 104 Finished, but all the better. I have been reading some VN’s since 2015, but it really became a hobby and a genre I was invested in during Covid lockdown in 2020. I had trouble getting into some of the popular titles, but a couple of games that were lesser known at that time really blew me away that year and I started digging more into the medium. I still have a lot to try out and other classics I’m still interested in trying, but here’s a top 10 I’m confident in recommending to most people, at least the kinda people that would follow this blog. A few of these recommendations are actually multi-part series, but hopefully accessible all around.

Planetarian ($10 on Steam and Switch, ~$5 on sale)

This is a very late entry onto this list but I think it’s an easy recommendation. This is a very short 2-4 hour visual novel that got a well received 2 hour movie adaptation in 2016, but it was strong enough that even while knowing the plot everything still hit hard. It is a story set 30 years after an apocalyptic event destroys most of the world, as a human junk-trader comes across a planetarium with a somehow-still-functional robot named Hoshino still performing her daily duties after 30 years without customers or coworkers. It can come across as a bit saccharine, but it is a quick, well made, and effective tearjerker.

Narcissu 1st & 2nd (Free on Steam)

Narcissu’s first two parts are pretty compelling stories to do with suicidal ideation within the scope of the terminally ill. Which is to say they’re also real tear jerkers, and pretty open about some harsh self-reflective emotions. They both have stellar endings, and can be quite immersive despite the very limited artwork (if the screencap looks weird, the game’s art exists within a narrow strip on the screen, with a sentence or two reading out the story underneath it). Maybe the least accessible on this list, but a $0 price tag makes it easier in some sense to get into.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni / When The Seagulls Cry (~$50 on Steam, $30 on sale)

Umineko you’ve probably already heard of, and here’s me recommending it. Umineko comes in two parts, on Steam referred to as the Questions Arc and the Answers Arc. Despite the split, the overall story follows the events of a certain day on Rokkenjima Island in 1986 as a family meets to discuss their inheritance and their family’s mysteries. Unbeknownst to them they are soon haunted, over and over again, by the revenant of the Golden Witch said to live in the woods of their family’s island.

I’m in the minority of preferring the Questions Arc, where well written and deeply human characters find themselves in deeply inhumane and nonsensical scenarios. The Answers Arc back seats some of that to start delving into an esoteric explosion of clues and backstories, and was still very entertaining even if I was more invested in the episodic stories than the overarching mystery. This may also be seen as inaccessible, $30-50 for a slightly older title and over 140 hours long on average playthroughs, but it is deeply absorbing.

Witch on the Holy Night a.k.a. Mahoyo ($40 on PS4 and Switch)

Mahoyo is me and Nasu’s marriage counselor, it really made me see the good in him. It follows a young witch co-habitating with her magic colleague and the puppy-like boy that unwittingly steps into their world at risk to his own life, just as unexplained apparent murders are witnessed in their town.

This could possibly be a higher level recommendation, though it was apparently intended to have sequels and you can somewhat feel that in the isolated feeling of its main conflict. Despite this, the game is definitely worth experiencing for its classy charm and extremely well made action sequences that at times make you forget you’re not watching a full anime film. It’s also a showcase of Nasu’s strengths in writing character interactions and comedy, and he finally lets Show take over and stops Telling you piles of mage society worldbuilding quite so often. It is also has some of the highest quality production value I’ve ever seen, second maybe to...

Marco and the Galaxy Dragon ($20 on Steam/Switch, less than $10 on sale)

Marco and the Galaxy Dragon is an explosive opera of art, energy, color, and of course music. It follows the orphaned Marco and her dragon compatriot Arco as they hunt for treasure across the cosmos, finding their way to Earth on the hunt for Marco’s mother.

If Umineko’s 140 hours seems steep, Marco has you covered with a quick 6 hour rundown of a rebellious orphan fighting back against her space alien menace to find her own sense of place and identity in the universe, along with ALL the friends she made along the way. If Mahoyo feels like an anime film sometimes, Marco actually just has fully animated FMV cutscenes that are fun as hell and have their own unique artstyle to the VN itself. Thousands of pieces of artwork and a 52-track OST fill the game’s short runtime with no cut corners and and overflow of passion from the devs. Honestly even if you don’t want to read it go buy it, it’s cheap and they earned it.

White Album 2 (You’ll have to be creative to find this one)

This is the only recommendation that’s currently only available in an adults only 18+ Rating for the English translation. That being said, it’s one of the few erotic VN’s that felt justified in its pornographic scenes. The story is split into two releases: Opening Chapter and Closing Chapter.

Opening is a short and powerfully delivered love triangle narrative following Haruki, Setsuna, and Touma as their hastily formed 3-man light music band falls into itself with feelings. It’s charming but gut wrenching and sweeps you into its drama very effectively before kicking you on your ass in the end.

Closing Chapter is a long and drawn out disassembling of their lives as they fail to heal from the wounds of the relationships seen in Opening. It, to great effect, takes the readers own experience with how fun and passionate the Opening Chapter was, and shows how trying to cling to halcyon days can make us so dispassionate about our present lives. Painful stuff! Good music, too.

The Princess, The Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart 1 & 2

a.k.a. Noratoto ($40 on Steam for both, ~$15 for both on sale)

This is a very personal recommendation, and maybe one more easy to make on this blog where many of my followers might be receptive to sincere but slapstick ecchi comedy as art. Every route is highly different however and to me, some are pretty average for galge, while others stand out as amazing. The comedy writing as well feels like it was written by someone with actual comic writing experience, and not just regurgitating the usual ecchi manga jokes.

The general premise of Noratoto is the protagonist Nora, being transformed into a cat by Patricia the princess of the Netherworld, and he must reverse this curse via a kiss before it becomes permanent. A benign fairy tale premise, but one that somehow gives way to underlying stories about existence and finding purpose in families and where that leaves those without families or with abusive or divided families (it is from the same developers as Marco and the Galaxy Dragon, and the themes of finding identity without family match up very closely). Uniquely it is a visual novel written somewhat in 3rd person, narrated by a motherly voice as if the VN was being read to you as a bedtime story.

Like I said, it is dependent on route and some come across as your usual ecchi gal-game schtick, but some stick out, and if every route was as high quality as Nobuchina’s in the 2nd game, it would probably be my favorite visual novel.

The Original Ace Attorney Trilogy ($30 on most platforms, $10 on sale)

You’ve almost certainly heard of Ace Attorney already and have most likely played it. This is me telling any Ace Attorney fans reading that the original trilogy still reigns supreme (regardless of Turnabout Big Top). This is also me telling anyone who has held out on trying Ace Attorney to try it, and to start with the original trilogy.

Obviously this trilogy follows the Meme Man Himself, Phoenix Wright, as he defends the innocent and brings the guilty to justice acting as both lawyer and his own main investigator. While each case presents a unique mystery, the original trilogy has an underlying arc that reaches from beginning to end with a massive conspiracy that Phoenix has to breach to bring justice to the perpetrators and resolve the memory and regrets of his beloved mentor.

These games have some speedbumps as you may be banging your head against the wall trying to find the right evidence, but the experience that breaks through does so with gusto, succeeding on what it sets out to be: games that make you feel like you’ve brought justice to the world.

Utawarerumono Trilogy ($40/60 each on Steam, trilogy bundle $62 on sale)

Utawarerumono was my first proper visual novel, and it set the standards pretty high. I’ve posted about it several times in the last few years, and it remains one of my favorites. It is a labor of love on the part of the developers (the same developers as White Album 2), who developed the latter two games over the course of several years and have made this the spearhead of their company for the time being. Which makes sense, since it is about war.

The first game follows a masked man who is given the name Hakuoro waking up in a rural village with amnesia, confused about the strange population of beast-men living there. Despite not understanding his situation, his ingenuity brings the village prosperity. When the local lords try to put the village under their thumb, Hakuoro and the villagers are able to turn the tides against them. Their village grows into a kingdom as Hakuoro seeks the mysteries of himself and the world around him.

The latter two games pick up some twenty years after the conclusion of the first, and follow a man who is given the name Haku, waking up in the woods with amnesia confused about the... you get it. He is met by Kuon, a young girl on her way traveling to the capital of their nation of Yamato. Haku graciously accepts her help getting out of the cold woods, and decides to join her to the capital. As events play out, Haku finds himself under the direct command of the nation’s leader the Mikado, and carries out missions on his behalf as the nation continues to drag itself into war and conflict and Haku also seeks the truth of his identity.

These games are expansive in scope while still putting a large focus on the day-to-day lives of its characters. Around 100 hours across all three games it is impressive how much story it manages to fit in, but the pacing does bounce around between sweeping conflict and sleepy conversations. It is also in part, a strategy RPG game with the battles in the war being controlled by the player. These are decently made, especially well in the third game, but don’t ask too much of the player and the story remains the main focus and biggest portion of the runtime.

The House In Fata Morgana a.k.a. Fatamoru

($40 complete version on PS4/Switch, ~$40 main game + expansion on Steam)

I’ve gushed about this enough on this tumblr, I’ll keep it brief.

You are a formless soul who is led by the hand of a mysterious maid through the doors of a mansion on an unknown plane of existence. Through each door lies a story of the house in a different era, all following people bound together in ways that leave them cruelly and violently undone by the end of their stories. The connection between these stories, the mystery of the house and the supposed witch that resides within, and the mystery of You the wandering soul all slowly unravel in a bloody show of catharsis and soul. The game is dripping with traumatic poetic text, grating beautiful music, and all of its atmosphere geared toward being oppressive yet enticing. One of the best things I’ve read.

Honorable mentions:

Va-11 Hall-A and Endless Mondays get shout outs as some of the best Original English Language VN’s I’ve read, with cool artstyles and a mature cast they manage to be fun and relatable. Va-11 Hall-A delivers a great arc for its protagonist and Endless Mondays has great dialogue on the threat of automation of creative industries.

Grisaia Trilogy and Hatsumira are both absolutely raucous trilogies that are a lot of fun. Not wholly recommendable to all, Grisaia has some strong moments and a hilarious unique cast but is a mess overall (but we love Michiru). Hatsumira is a bit more consistent, a more stable and fantasy-oriented Grisaia.

A.I. The Somnium Files duology are detective games with highly divisive endings, but great comedy and characters that make them very easy to get through and enjoy the whole way to the end. It’s just a toss-up whether you’ll like that ending.

Sakura Wars games are finally being translated, and they are a great showing for anyone who wants to try some classic dating sim stuff but with some pizazz thrown in with the setting and mecha combat.

The Tears to Tiara duology by the same developers of Utawarerumono and White Album is also one to keep an eye out for. The first game's definitive version isn't available in English and the second game is stuck on the PS3 and no longer available digitally, but if they ever come out on Steam they are worth your time.

Nanairo Reincarnation and Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche are also two solid ecchi comedy galge. Both have surprisingly deep and genuinely heartbreaking underlying mysteries and conclusions.

I still have a lot I wanna read, Planetarian is the only Key novel I’ve read. On the docket are Labyrinth of Galleria, Little Busters, the 9 -nine- series, and Kara no Shoujo and White Album 1 releasing on Steam this year. Some classics I didn’t mention are Fate/Stay Night, Muv Luv, Steins Gate. Muv Luv I read Extra and enjoyed it, but never pulled the trigger on reading the rest, I may at some point on a whim. Steins;Gate I played through half of on PS3 and now my PS3 is in the closet, the VN is really good and has a unique atmosphere to the anime, buuuuuuut knowing the plot has made it hard to want to restart on PC or another console. Steins;Gate is good, if anyone is reading this far and hasn’t seen the anime or read the VN, do it.

#long post #i'll only tag the main ones #planetarian #narcissu #umineko #witch on the holy night #marco and the galaxy dragon #white album 2 #the princess the stray cat and matters of the heart #noratoto #ace attorney #utawarerumono #the house in fata morgana

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lightflame · 22 days

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Tagged by @bagadew (Also tagging in @waermeflasche because you tagged me weeks ago and I didn't get back to you)

Last song I listened to: Soap by The Oh Hellos. I burn CDs and listen to them in my car. (The first few I tried to give themes and titles, and select the perfect song orders, but ended up kind of bad and the other was cursed and wouldn't play even though I remade it three times, so I just switched to throwing a ton of songs together on "Random Mixes" and enjoying.) I was listening to my very first random mix on the drive home from work and this one came up. It's a pretty snazzy song. I think Theseus and Hello, My Old Heart are my favourites from the band.

Last book I read: Can I do a couple? I just recently finished Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell. It's the first book of Court of Shadows, the sequel series to his Greatcoats series. Greatcoats is one of my favourite series, filled with swashbuckling action, clever humour, and an absolutely miserable protagonist, Falcio val Mond, who always manages to get back up and keep going anyway. I read everything de Castell writes, and after a string of books with severe pacing problems (check out The Malevolent Seven for a book that doesn't have a second act) and other problems (I have a hard time seeing any book topping Crucible of Chaos as the worst book I've read this year), he finally seems to be back. The book didn't pack quite the emotional punch of some of his other books, but it definitely made me want to jump up and cheer for the heroes at the end.

The other book I just finished is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I liked her Winternight Trilogy (look it up and be prepared for some absolutely gorgeous covers, with prose to match), so I was excited to see something new from her. This book was about World War I, with some fantasy elements used for magic realism. (Portraying a soldier's struggle with addiction and PTSD through the lens of him losing his soul to the devil was a brilliant idea.) I most subsist on a steady diet of fantasy books, but this one had me hungering to read a few more historical books. I might have to pick up some books about the Halifax Explosion.

Last film I watched: I haven't watched much on my own for a while, but my friends do a movie night every Sunday. The last two times I tuned in, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar and Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown. They were both fairly cute movies. I liked Judas's actor.

Last TV series I watched: I've been making my way through The Office for the first time. I'm on Season 3 and this happened to me, actually. There was some stuff I was like, "Wow, that was funny. I should tell my coworkers about it," but then I realized that I can't be the guy who tells his coworkers about this funny new show called The Office.

Last video game I played: If visual novels count, Umineko. I've been working my way through it slowly for about five and a half years and I'm finally closing in on the end. It's peak fiction and the greatest love story of the twentieth century. It's also funny I picked a game this insanely long for my first visual novel. Other than visual novels, I just finished Pokemon Legends: Arceus, after putting in 104 hours this year. Completing the Dex is my favourite part of any Pokemon game, so having it be more involved and include a big checklist made the game basically crack for me. I've also been casually playing some Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) with my brother. Every time we play it, I'm always amazed by how good it is and how much content it has. I want to take command posts forever.

Last thing I googled: "Dandadan Aira". I just started the manga the other day and I like her best, so I wanted to double check her full name, I think? Other than that I'm mostly looking up when books are available at my local stores. I've been religiously checking when The Book that Broke the World will be available and I'm not even sure if I'm buying it.

Last thing I ate: A few snacks from my snack drawer. I also had a Quaker yogurt bar at work. I bought a big box of them last year, but I had to throw them out because of the Salmonella. (Chewed through a lot of them before that came out, though, including eating three on an airplane.)

Amount of sleep: Supposedly seven hours, since I went to bed right after finishing The Warm Hands of Ghosts last night. The only problem is that if I get to bed at a good time, I sleep fitfully, so I'm either sleeping poorly or sleeping well, but not getting anywhere near enough sleep.

Currently reading: I started Empire of Silence, the first book of The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio, at work today. I've had the first three books sitting on my shelf for a year or two and I finally got around to starting it. (I'd resolved to do both this series and Kushiel's Legacy this year, after having both for so long, and I got that one done at the start.) I'm not very far in, but I enjoy the writing style a lot, even if a lot of the worldbuilding is obviously cribbed from Dune. (Whoa, look, mentats.) I've heard it picks up a lot in the second book, so I'm excited for what's in store for me.

Passing this on, I'll tag @somerunner @lyssq @soulsinshadow @lunawithsocks and @dancerladyaqua. (They also have currently watching and sweet, salty, or savoury as questions, which I didn't do.)

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whenthechickencry · 2 months

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Umineko EP8 Tea Party, ??? and End

Featherine is writing and starts talking about when is an appropriate time to finish a tale, remarking that this kind of tale should probably be left in a cat box. Bernkastel is sewing Lambdadelta back up in very sexually charged language, Erika comes to the room, Bernkastel reveals Dlanor is still in touch with her, LambdaBern flirt some more and Erika gets jealous.

Gertrude has earned a promotion, Cornelia is learning martial arts. Will is.... a landlord who plays Badmington with Lion. Dlanor is still hard at work. Lambdadelta and Bernkastel promise to see each other when something else cries.

I think I mentioned it before, but one of my goals for this replay was to have a deeper appreciation for Bern and Lambda. I played the game originally as my first WTC game so I was constantly like, "Well that's definitely hinting at something I don't get". On replay, I appreciate them a lot more and I think reading their lines also gives you a lot of understanding towards other characters, as well.... a lot of scenes are even further contextualized by GouSotsu. If you don't have the context for Higurashi it is very easy to villainize Bernkastel a lot and not understand her as anything more than evil, which I think is a disservice for any Umineko character. I also appreciate Erika a lot more, she feels kind of like a tertiary main character of the answer arcs haha, I mentioned it a lot but I really do pity her a lot and I do kind of hope for better for her anyway. Meanwhile....

Sakutarou is now famous, and also Ange I guess. Or Kotobuki Yukari. Ange is spending her life writing books, hoping to help more children find magic and happiness. Then the name Hachijo Tohya gets brought up... Ange remembers how Hachijo's refusal to reveal the truth ultimately led to the Rokkenjima Mystery to die down, and thanks her. Ange agrees to meet with Hachijo and it is revealed that Hachijo is 2 people.

Ange doesn't really know how to deal with the reveal Battler is "Alive", other than shock. Happy he's alive though. She mentions how if it happened at another time, she would probably be pissed he hadn't shown himself up earlier, but right now she's just happy the miracle happened. Battler confirms what we saw at the very end of ep8, and Ange seems to blame herself for the reunion taking so long, due to her changing her name. But then she thinks about how she did try to meet with Hachijo once and was denied, but then instead of blaming anyone decides to just thank God for the miracle. I am so happy to see Ange so.... at peace. But Hachijo and Tohya reveal that they were perfectly capable of meeting her before, which throws her for a loop, and starts getting actually angry. Tohya explains how he has Battler's memories, but isn't Battler.

I forgot Tohya tried to kill himself, damn, considering Sayo's own issues with identity I can imagine writing the forgeries also helped him cope with his own fragmented identity....

Those tears are so pained... I want to cry. Ange accepts that Battler is both dead and came back to her, and is doing her best to hold herself together for Tohya.

I am a little relieved it is an entirely different Gospel House, the original was kind of fucked up, but this is a house for children to learn of magic. Ange reveals that not only is this a replica of the Ushiromiya Mansion hall, but it's the same as EP8's Halloween party... certainly showing the Battler inside Tohya that he can rest easy with everyone else now.

Battler is back home, Ange and Tohya can keep living in the future with no regrets.

Man, I really don't know what to say. I have already said so much but it still feels like I have so much to learn from Umineko. Umineko and Higurashi have meant so much to me across the years and I am so glad my replay led to me loving this experience more than I did. I hope one day I can revisit the game in Japanese, I am on classes and I want to come back once I am good enough to read this. That's uh, very far in the future though. I still have a lot to say and I will make more posts about my general thoughts once I finish reading all the side content. For now, I will say this replay made me appreciate a lot more how carefully handled the mystery was, and how it made me appreciate the answer arc in a lot of new ways.... first time I thought ep5-6 were one of the weaker arcs and now I think they are among the strongest. It's kind of funny though, I don't really feel the finality I feel when ending a lot of games. I still have so much more to learn about the world of Umineko and When They Cry, so finishing a game doesn't feel like an ending but just a step toward understanding more. This blog has mostly just been a tool for me to force myself to think a bit deeper into scenes than usual, via forcing myself to write down my thoughts. It's a little embarrassing but it has been a fun thing to do. I will probably keep doing it in the future, and I hope doing this will help me improve myself if only a little bit.

#umineko #umiepisode8 #umiepisode8teaparty #umiepisode8???

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disquiet-doll · 2 hours

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read The Decagon House Murders

good book! wanted to read more mystery novels because of the umineko brainrot (especially considering i haven't read any since i was a kid) and figured y'know, umineko's very much in conversation with the shin honkaku movement in japanese mystery fiction, only makes sense to read one of the novels that kicked that off

a lot of the characterization was kinda thin, but i think they were pretty enjoyable for what they were

solution wasn't what i expected at all, in part because i was (as seems to be my habit...) way overthinking some things that i really had no reason to aside from "wouldn't that be clever'

(although to be fair, there were other things where if i did that i would've been correct to, so y'know! more a problem of target than of method)

i will say that the solution, for as clever as it was, didn't really have the emotional punch i wanted? but it does have me looking back and going "ohhh yeah, no i can see that now" which i think is more the intent with these kinds of books, so. pretty sure it succeeds at what it was trying to succeed at, just missing an element i would like more of.

(<- reading a VN that is specifically noted to have more focus on the whydunnit than the average puzzle mystery and still caught off guard by another mystery, in fact, caring more about the whodunnit and howdunnit)

anyway, yeah, engaging enough that (after a couple false starts) i think i basically finished it in a few days? which considering my attention means i was clearly pretty engaged, so defintely enjoyed

#i really should have a tag for this kind of post #where i just go ''read/played/watched [thing]'' for something i *didn't* liveblog my whole way through and give my thoughts #finished a thing #there's the tag it's there now #i'll go tag the ones i remember

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construingseacats · 7 months

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Umireread: Legend of the Golden Witch - Chapter 6: Sandy Beach

Sat, Oct 4 1986 - 3:00PM

The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Umineko. Please do not read if you are yet to finish it.

We finally have our first real entry to the Tips menu in the form of the Epitaph, but it’s just a copy of what it says without any further notes. Going forward I’ll just comment if something is added that I think merits inspection, other than starting each post with “no new tips this time” or “there’s something new but there’s nothing to say about it”.

I mean, I have to make the joke about Maria being the one writing the Tips, right? We get the Epitaph in our “book” and then she pulls it out of hers. Anyway Maria writes all the tips 100% canon confirmed

Battler says he’s hungry and Yasu immediately goes into “I would do anything in the world for you” mode.

Umineko is just full of microcosms of itself, isn’t it? This whole scene of the kids discussing the Epitaph is just one giant metaphor to the narrative structure of the mystery as a whole. The Epitaph tells you about a sweetfish-filled river, so you take it as the truth. You try to figure out where it is, but it’s fruitless, because it doesn’t exist. The same applies to all the testimonies and text that dances around the red truths later - if you take it at face value, you’ll find yourself in a dead end. It’s only when you take a step back and realise what the words actually mean that you arrive at your actual truth.

Absolutely WILD take. You’d really think Maria would be big into the fantasy motifs associated with castles. That being said, this probably does track - Maria has probably been on days out to actual castles and, as a kid, found them relatively mundane and boring. Under the lens of reality, theme parks are indeed the more whimsical of the two, and probably easier for her to lose herself in fantasy-wise.

Hitting the nail on the head there by focusing on the Kanji of the Epitaph being important, eh?

Yeah this was just me at every family meeting when I was her age.

Battler cutting the Gordian Knot here. This is a really interesting line, honestly - it’s a sense of pragmatic bluntness that I don’t recall us getting a lot of later (although that might just be my memory), but moreover, it shows a sense of gunning for answers without caring for the why. It’s definitely a far cry from Erika levels of depravity, but it’s neat to know how much he grows as a person as this story goes on.

I do wonder what Yasu’s thoughts are regarding this discussion. I know she’s rooting for Battler - or anyone, really - to solve the Epitaph, but I’d loved to have seen a beat-by-beat reaction of her internal thoughts to everything going on here.

Maria talks about wanting to believe in Beato and Yasu chimes in immediately. Feed that imagination and you can use her to your advantage later.

Good to know that we’re establishing the servants being willing to lie in service of fantasy this early on.

Battler goes “woah, that’s scary” and then Yasu immediately retreats and goes “nooo it’s not that scary please like me”.

I’m imagining a conversation where Maria asks Rosa for a book for her birthday, a happy Rosa asks her which one she would like, and then Maria goes “The Lemegeton :)”

I dunno man, I used to cast fire strike on scorpions at the Al Kharid mine to train my magic and they didn’t put up much resistance.

I’m imagining an alternate universe where the Rokkenjima Massacre never happens and Maria grows up as one of those girls obsessed with Star Signs and Crystals.

“Even I don’t think of myself as the sort of loser who’d laugh at something like that”. Oh Ryukishi is coming for the throat of anyone who makes fun of other peoples’ interests. I think this is quite a neat comment to drop - like, internally, part of me wants to say that he’s painting with too broad a stroke here, but at the same time I don’t think he’s wrong at all? Like, using the above example of people obsessed with astrological signs, it’s pretty common to see others poking fun at them because obviously it’s not real. But is that a valid reason to disparage them? Aren’t we all retreating into our own personal fantasies of reality, especially when it comes to more existential topics? Umineko, at its core, really is a story of compassion for your fellow man. I think this is quite a direct point for the story to make, but it’s a well warranted one.

Yasu, once again, is writing Battler as the ultimate gentleman dreamboat who would be her perfect partner.

This scene is quite interesting in that it gives you a good insight into the philosophy of the trio here - Battler, results focused, is initially disappointed that the roses will be battered by the storm. Jessica chimes in, saying that they were lucky to have lived and left an impression on them, and George echoes this by saying that the finite nature of their existence is what truly allows you to admire them in their bloom - with Battler coming around to their way of thinking afterwards. I like seeing Battler being so open minded, but I also like thinking of this as a reflection of all of their thoughts about life in general.

Oh that’s a scathing comment from Jessica. Literally one scene ago we had a callout directed towards people for looking down on what brings others joy, and now we have Jessica calling Maria’s obsession “pointless”. That has to be an intentional criticism of her character.

Mother of the year incoming.

The themes of fantasy and reality rise once again. Of course, the rose is gone - presumably it was pruned by Yasu to get Maria into this situation - but none of what the cousins or Rosa is saying here actually helps Maria. You can’t help her with the truth, you can only upset her. So do you force the truth down her throat? Do you make her even more upset, so you can feel vindicated that you’re right? Or do you approach her in a way that might actually calm her down? To be fair, I’m not entirely sure what the right approach would even be in this scenario - I’d presume the best bet is to weave some fantastical tale that the rose ran away somewhere, or that it wasn’t wilting and was actually getting ready to hide before the typhoon hit, so it’s actually safe and sound under the dirt. But anyway, I certainly know what the wrong approach is in this case!

Yasu writes the Ushiromiyas as completely rotten, who cannot be changed and aren’t worth saving. “But Battler, my hero? He’s different. He’s the good one.”

Once again, Umineko is such a good dive into the human condition. I’m almost certain that Rosa and Maria are based on a real case he saw during his time as a social worker. Rosa is a terrible mother, but you can see why she’s ended up like this. Not just because she’s issuing the same treatment Kinzo gave to her generationally, but because she’s a single mother who is not able to cope with Maria’s additional needs and struggles by herself. Her actions aren’t excused - and they certainly aren’t excusable - but you clearly understand why Rosa is like this. I’m so grateful whenever a piece of media is able to navigate a difficult topic like this with an understanding of the humanity behind both parties without just taking the easy route and vilifying one of them.

Wow, George is so great with kids! Anyway, let’s defend the mother who is beating her daughter.

It’s actually really messed up that both George and Jessica are so defensive of Rosa’s actions here. The generational trauma is real - they’ve both absolutely received similar treatment growing up and have become numb to it.

Yeah? You think what Maria wants the most right now is to be left alone? Bet you feel real good about yourselves letting that 9 year old get a beating, huh?

Through the lens of Yasu’s writing, I can’t help but see this as a venting moment - a reflection of the times that she was hurting, that she wanted someone to reach out to her, but it was too proper for them to do so and so a blind eye was turned against her. After all, it’s the Ushiromiya family, their entire tattered history is full of them simply ignoring their problems and waiting for them to go away. No doubt Yasu was frothing at the bit at the prospect of them trying to “wait for the problem to go away” while standing on top of several tons of military grade explosives.

It’s worth mentioning that I’m writing these notes as I go, because occasionally I’ll make a comment and then be pleasantly surprised by seeing a point I make be immediately reinforced by the narrative. Case in point, we have some discussion from Battler about how messed up it is for George and Jessica to act as they do in this scene.

Honestly, I want to revisit a suggestion I made earlier about Maria implanting herself onto the rose - if we read this scene with that assumption, this all hits so, so much harder. The wilted rose, the odd one out, has disappeared - and no-one seems to care. And here we have Rosa basically confirming that’s a one-to-one reflection of Maria’s school life; a wilted rose that people tolerate at best, want to see gone at worst, and the odd one out without any friends regardless. It’s just sad all round.

Also, Fortitude is the perfect pick for this scene - such a great track. Flawlessly captures the emotions at play here.

And we find ourselves in a Kinzo scene to send us out. With no witnesses in the study, this is the fantasy of an empty room. The sound of rain against the window with no-one there to care. A study draped in isolation and silence, all alone. It is left to the reader to decide what is lonelier - this vista of emptiness, or the abused child in the rose garden.

Beatrice.

#umireread #umineko #umineko spoilers

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csthefirst · 7 months

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Hey so about 10 years ago (literally give or take a week) I read a funny little visual novel called Umineko no naku koro ni. I have been irreversibly changed for the better and to this day I have never read anything that comes close to being as good as Umineko. Honestly, there's a part of me that believes I never will.

So, after ruminating about that, and noticing how eerily close we were to October 4, Umineko Day itself, I've decided to dive back and read the whole thing from start to finish with all the knowledge I've gained since then (both of the tale, and as a person). I've really enjoyed seeing some other people liveblog their thoughts about it (both for first time readers and re-readers), so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring for that as well!

I've made a sideblog to throw the posts in (as not to annoy the dozens of followers here, who I'm already on thin ice with), and I'll be tagging all the posts with #umireread to keep them organised that way. Apparently no one has used that tag yet. Very surprising!

I'm a stickler for organisation, so the plan is to give each Chapter their own post, with scattered and formulated thoughts throughout. I'll probably have some end of Episode reflections as well to mark each milestone. Also, obviously, heavy spoilers ahoy. Don't touch that blog if you haven't finished reading it yet. I honestly think your first readthrough of Umineko is one of the most magical things you can do with your life, it'd break my heart to ruin that for anyone.

Anyway back to never posting anything and just reblogging things on main. Overly long analytical posts of my favourite piece of media ever on the side. Zip zap zoom

#umineko #umireread

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fostersffff · 8 months

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What are your thoughts on umineko now that you (i presume) have finished it- what are your feeling on the themes and the presentation of the characters?

It's hard to go into everything so I'll just try to cover the stuff I can think of now. Placing it below a break for an obviously spoiler-filled read.

Short answer: it's good all the way down, genuinely can't think of a single element that left a lingering bad taste in my mouth, quite frankly might have retroactively made some things I enjoyed in the past less good. Read Umineko.

(for posterity, I see that people use "Sayo Yasuda" as the catch-all when speaking about Beato/Shannon/Kanon/Clair/etc. collectively, so I'll be doing the same)

Truth and Fiction

I think what Umineko has to say about the importance of truth and the importance of fiction, especially as related to coping with trauma, is fascinating. Conventional wisdom is that, in order to cope with trauma, the best- and maybe only real- way forward is to acknowledge the truth, work through the resulting pain, and then you can actually begin to heal. And- in basically every case that springs to mind- Umineko goes "that's bullshit".

Like, as I currently scan through the cast: what good did being confronted with the truth do for Sayo, or Maria, or Ange, or even Natsuhi? Sayo would probably still be unbalanced but not go full tilt if she hadn't realized that the entire purpose for her extended existence was to to give Kinzo the opportunity to feel forgiven for raping his daughter. A 9-year-old stands to gain less than nothing from being told, in no uncertain terms, that her mother is just a Bad Person. Ange finally understood that by the end of Episode 3, but couldn't get over it and poisoned herself with the Single Truth. There is literally zero reason for Bernkastel and Erika tearing down Natsuhi's illusion that Kinzo gave a single fuck about her but their own cruelty. The thrust of Umineko in this regard is that, at the end of the day, your coping mechanism ends with you- it's not capable of doing any more or any less than you are capable of without it.

However, it also doesn't purport that the coping mechanism needs to be there forever. The epilogue with Ange suggests that, eventually, she no longer needed to have everyone at her side to give her the strength to keep going.

There's only one other story that I've encountered where a character chooses to continue engaging with their trauma coping mechanism and it isn't presented as a bad thing (rot13: Fnzhenv Synzrapb), and I think Umineko makes that point much more effectively.

Gender

I've noted a couple of times in my reading that seeing a not-insignificant amount of unconnected "BEATO TRANS" art and memes influenced the way I thought about the story at some parts, mainly once The Mystery Baby manifested in Episode 5. Taking that into consideration, I think the way Gender As It Pertains To The Story is handled maybe better than anything else I've ever engaged with.

Direct discussion is brought up exactly one time- when Will asks Lion if they're a boy or girl- and Ryukishi07 then trusts the reader to Understand The Implications of that. Which is actually a recurring thing in the story: the reader is never told, explicitly, textually, who Beatrice is, nor what happened on Rokkenjima, which is a pretty bold move to make in (what could be described) as a mystery!

(Actually, it's twice, since someone mentions that Zepar and Furfur are also indeterminately gendered, but it doesn't seem as relevant in the moment as Will asking about Lion does in that moment, although in hindsight, it obviously is)

I had mentioned that I was a little anxious about whether or not they would dig into what Sayo meant when they were dressing down Genji and Nanjo for keeping her alive- if they would hackishly reveal that the only part of their body that was damaged was their genitals, and that's why they considered themselves furniture, or if it was more abstract, knowing that literally everyone they felt any kind of love for was off-limits due to the incest. @random-tree suggested that another popular theory is that Nanjo- intentionally or otherwise (because it was the 60's)- performed "corrective" surgery on an intersex baby Sayo. Ultimately, I'm glad that the gritty details were never dug into; in the same way that the narrative condemns the people desperate to know the Single Truth as intellectual rapists, it completely sails around even raising the opportunity to do the same to Sayo's body.

Also, since I don't want to reblog it to avoid spoilers and it's most relevant here, please look at this artwork of Sayo; it's outstanding.

NEVERMIND THAT SHIT, HERE COMES SHONEN!!!

The first time Kanon drew his energy sword, I assumed that was going to be a one-and-done thing. Like, "haha we're doing a shonen fight scene for shits and giggles before we get back back to our cerebral murder mystery and battle of wits between Reality and Fantasy". And then every single episode had at least one extended sequence that could be slotted in to Shonen Jump without anyone batting an eyelash.

For however I come across writing big long screeds like this about the stories I engage with, I am a shonen meathead in my heart of hearts. I love watching characters power up out of nowhere because they have determination, I love watching villains get outplayed because they underestimated their opponent- OR DID THEY?, I love Battler and Beato doing the Erupting God Burning Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyouken to defeat Erika. I drink all that up like water, and the fact that it was completely genuine was such an unexpected delight.

I mean, shit, Ange's masterpiece as a writer is not-One Piece.

Ryukishi07 was a social worker (you say) who wasn't driven cynical and hollow

Knowing nothing about Ryukishi07 besides the facts that A.) he wrote Umienko (and Higurashi and Ciconia, which I haven't read) and B.) he was a social worker in his past, paints a tremendously impressive picture of the man. Being a social worker is a potentially soul crushing job, in a completely different way than that term is typically used, and to come out the other end and write something so optimistic speaks to his character.

Like, there is exactly one character I complained about as being a one-dimensional waste of time, and that was Kasumi, who was ultimately literally just a vector for Ange to come to terms with Eva. It would've been such an easy decision to make any of the adult Ushiromiyas also be one-dimensional nothings. Like, even Gohda has something going on: he a glory-hogging oafish dumbass, but he's genuinely passionate about cooking! And even the characters who are beyond redemption- in no particular order, Rosa, Kinzo, Erika, and Bernkastel- you can at least see some reason for why they are the way they are, even if they don't actually earn (or even try to get) forgiveness.

I also don't think I have ever been as emotionally devastated by the two-hit combo of "Maria's 'verbal tic' is actually Maria trying to cast a spell to make Rosa love her" and "Rosa bought Sakutarou and pretended she made it", so, props for that as well.

I could probably rattle off more things I like if pressed, and if there was anything in particular you'd like me to comment on I'd be happy to, but those were my biggest thoughts.

Read Umineko.

#And thus concludes:#Tom Goes To Rokkenjima

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anonarat · 2 months

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I have been tagged by @evelhak, and it has been a long while since something like that has happened, so let's go:

5 Songs - Gira Gira by Ado. It's on YouTube, please watch it with subtitles if you don't speak Japanese, it is worth it. Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser by The Mechanisms. It gives you a very good idea of what The Mechanisms are about. Birth of a New Witch by Luck Ganriki. My personal favourite track on the Umineko OST, and that's saying a lot because that OST is full of bangers. Song of the Ancients -Atonement- by Keiichi Okabe. Another song from a video game, justice for Devola and Popola! That's why I Gave Up on Music cover by Shiranui Flare. One of the first music tracks uploaded by Flare, and one of the early reasons why I became an elfriend.

Three Ships you Like - Gosh, there are so many to choose from. I think my first is Freezerburn (Weiss/Yang) from RWBY. They have a great dynamic, although content for them isn't exactly plentiful these days, I do believe that it is the best ship for both of them. Next comes KuroMayaNana (Claudine/Maya/Nana) from Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight. KuroMaya is good, throwing Nana in there adds some real spice though. Just think about the dynamic of Maya and Claudine both *knowing* that Nana was stronger than Maya throughout the auditions. Finally... Edeleth (Edelgard/Byleth) from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I will not defend my actions.

First Ship Ever - Mudshipping (Isaac/Mia) from Golden Sun. Golden Sun was my first true fandom, and mudshipping was the default, because at that point... there weren't many female characters that were as fleshed out.

Favourite Childhood Book - Redwall by Brian Jacques. This is where I fell in love with fantasy. Should I ever get a pair of pet rats, one would be named Cluny (the other would Ratimus Prime).

Currently Reading - Demonic Devourer Book 2 by Aaron Shih. Yeah this one is power-fantasy popcorn, but with the way things are, it lets my brain turn off for a bit during work. I'm not counting the untold half-finished books that I'll get to someday(tm).

Currently Watching - For the first time in a long while, I've been watching a fair bit of anime as it's released, so this'll be a bit long. The Apothecary Diaries best show from last season, though not as strong currently, the last episode was incredible. Shangri-La Frontier continuing from last season, and good mindless fodder. The Witch and The Beast which does monster of the week over 2+ episodes and is great. Both of the protagonists are incredibly compelling. Solo Levelling mostly because it's been hyped up. It hasn't impressed really, but it also hasn't been a tremendous let down. I'll give it the season, but if it doesn't step up its game and gets a second season, I'll probably drop it. A couple of others that I don't really have anything to say about.

Currently Craving - Things that interest me. That's all I ever really crave, because my primary positive to negative emotional spectrum isn't happy to said, but interested to bored.

No suggested number of tags, so if anyone else wants a go, feel free. I will, however, send a few tags out with no pressure: @mellowdarkness; @castaras; @shoujospirit

#Tag Game

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fujoreads · 4 months

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2024 Reading Goals & Plans

Welp, I'm late! My ADHD acting up as usual, it seems.

Anyway, I'll be talking about my 2024 plans!

Aaalrighty, the year has started, so let's get right into it!

So basically, I'm doing the 52-a-year challenge (aka, read one VN a week) for all of my reading media (VNs, books, and manga).

I thought about including anime and cinema in general, but it'd be way too much.

Visual Novels

Phew... That's a lot!

I was already reading Umineko back in 2023, but I want to finish it all by the first week of February. Oh, and Little One is one I need to finish as well; it's more of a stats sim, so I'll have to use my brain orz

They are in weekly order, so with exception of Umineko and The Divine Speaker, just think of me reading through them weekly!

Manga

In theory, I'd have read Goodnight Punpun (Vol.1) by now but I haven't been so lucky! I'll try to read through half of it today and the other half tomorrow, but oh well.

Books

Okay, I got lazy and it shows. This grid is a bit different: I'm reading TWO books weekly. One is shorter (less than 300 pages) and the other is a bit longer, but not too long (around 300~400 pages).

You might be asking: but why do they stop midway? Well... I forgot to take into account that I'm reading TWO chonkers this year: Kafka on the Shore and The Old Curiosity Shop. For those two, I'm diving them into weekly quarters. For the rest of the year, I'm reading medium-sized books.

Anime

I haven't made any specific plans for anime... HOWEVER!

I did spend days filling my 2TB HD with all the anime I still want to watch and maybe rewatch. For self-hype, I will list the ones I'd like to (re)watch! 12 picks, one per month.

Ocean Waves

Wolf Children

Tokyo Godfathers

In This Corner of the World

Inuyasha (trying to finish rewatching it)

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Serial Experiments Lain

Trigun (the OG one)

16bit Sensation: Another Layer

Jormungand

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Michiko & Hatchin

Cinema

Same thing: 12 picks, one per month.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

The House

Love, Death & Robots

Adventures from Moominvalley

Summer of 85

A Very English Scandal

The Handmaiden

Funeral Parade of Roses

Carol

Merlin

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Life Is Beautiful

Games

12 picks yada yada yada—

Alicemare (replay)

DELTARUNE

Bayonetta (I need to finish this fr fr)

Moonlight Ghost (replay)

Mistrick

Who’s Lila?

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

Inscryption

My Sticker Book

Hades

Faith

Pocket Mirror

Aaaand that's about it! I'm super excited for all of these!!

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Thank you for reading it all to the end! Hey, kind stranger! Would you be so kind and consider giving me a little tip? It can be as low as 3 bucks and it’d make a huuuuuge difference!! If you tip 10€ (or higher), you can dictate my next read and be credited (if you’d like) on that review! Have a nice day!!

#Guess who deleted the original draft for this :')#2024 goals #reading #bookblr #blog #visual novel #books #cinema #anime #games

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pochapal · 1 year

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I have *a* answer for how people are meant to read and figure out Umineko! Time&Community. Umineko was released in 8 episodes over a period of 4 years. Most people read through each episode over a period of a week or whatever, but then they had 6 months of no new material and no option but to think the story over and to discuss (or lurk) on Internet forums. (cont)

(part2)Even if someone was not naturally inclined to overthink things so much, they couldn't just go and finish the story but they could see what others were thinking. And this incomplete mystery story plus contact with people who do overthink tended to foster a fandom culture of theorizing and analysis, which made even people who wouldn't normally do that participate.

(part3)Nowadays I think most people just read the full 8 episodes one after the other, trying to figure out as they go but not putting the insane effort that you do or that we were forced to do back in the day. That is a bit of a shame, but the fandom as a whole try to incentivize people to not be engage too passively with the story, as that is not the most fun way to enjoy it.

oh yeah that all makes sense! the whole active engagement of a "living" story versus the passive consumption of an already-complete one. it's kind of like the argument of how the netflix release model has massively altered fandom culture maybe irreversibly - if the whole thing is available to you, why still put the effort in?

i guess especially when you're dealing with a mystery the incentive to figure it out as you go diminishes when you know if you just power through you'll eventually get to a point where it'll be explained to you anyway despite reader participation being a major Thing in mysteries. according to my game i've been reading umineko for just over 70 hours and in that time if i was just passively reading i'd probably be at least halfway through the story by now and that's a massive commitment for anyone to make considering that i probably could have had umineko done and dusted within ~1 month if i didn't bother with all the over the top theorizing.

huge agree on the theorizing enriching the experience though! when first read the opening chapters passively before the story *clicked* for me around chapter 5 it was a much less fulfilling experience than the way i'm doing it now. going insane with the theories and discussions and speculations and dissecting the story to shreds by its very nature allows you to make the story your own in some way, which makes it far more likely to stick with you in the long run.

#heattth #i'm glad umineko lets me do this because imo this is the optimal way to engage with media #this is also why it takes me so long and why i am so hesitant to Get Into anything because if i need to explode my brain about it lol

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ignis-cain · 6 months

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tag 9 people to get to know better

tagged by @burn-throughout-eternity

3 ships: Wolfspider, ..., (hm, there must be others), ..., uhhh griddlehark and rosemary? Saying you "ship" a canonical pairing seems like a misuse of the term but they both have ship names so I guess they work

First ever ship: If I try to seriously answer this then you'll have to read several pages of analysis of the term "ship" and what it does and doesn't apply to. None of which will be at all accurate for anyone who actually engages in fandom. So to simplify things lets just say rosemary.

Last song: "Tripoli" by Pinback. Its a rainy day, kind of suits the mood.

Last movie: My local arthouse theater was showing The Holy Mountain, saw it on a whim. It's pretty good. Certainly a few very memorable scenes. I will say that while I'm not a fan of the "dude how HIGH do you have to even BE etc etc" response to weird art, I probably was not in the intended headspace to fully appreciate it.

Currently reading: Oh lord. Okay gonna limit this to what I've actually picked up the past week. I've gotten to the second chapter of Umineko, I'm on 9.4 of Ward, I'm still working my way through "The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age," I've just finished "Sword of the Lictor" in the Book of the New Sun series and am starting "Citadel of the Autarch," I'm making good progress on Borges' "Labrynths," and I've just started a book on Henry Darger that is way too psychoanalytical for me to take as a good piece of scholarship but is nonetheless interesting to read through. Oh and a bunch of the scholarship on Hardwig's "Duty to Die" argument and its various counters.

I probably need to sit down and just finish one of these. I'm not gonna though

Currently watching: I've been watching JJBA on and off for a bit, currently in early part 4.

Currently consuming: My third drink from the same teabag.

Currently craving: Lentils over rice and beans.

Tagging: @lakesbian @artbyblastweave @glowspider @ball-lightning @greatwyrmgold @yugonostalgia2019 @n0brainjustvibes @selamat-linting @theamberarchive (ignore if you're not interested and if you are interested but weren't tagged consider yourself tagged!)

#tag game #leo says

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ilaiyayaya · 3 months

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;-;

So like, I'd been planning to read VA-11 Hall-A for like, years, I used to have a really close friend who it was their favorite visual novel, and I've had a lot of other friends who have recommended it too, plus it's like one of the highest rated visual novels ever made, and I like visual novels! and I like things that are generally highly rated! and I like highly rated visual novels! (except steins gate) so like, I kinda expected I would end up enjoying it to some degree but like, yea it's really good. Like with a lot of things the biggest reason why I hadn't read it before now was just because it'd become to overhyped in my head, like the expectations I had of it had gotten so unrealistically high that it would never be able to meet them, and I didn't want to be disappointed so I just kept pushing it off, until I decided to start it at the very beginning of this year. My expectations weren't high enough, like I expected this to be like, maybe a personal top 10 vns at best, like I've read a lot of vns, and while not a lot of those are actually super amazing, I love dumb, bad visual novels, and I have a lot of nostalgia for a lot of those garbage vns and it's really hard to beat that. It's probably like top 5 vns for me now, maybe top 3, maybe top 2, like I just finished it so there's obviously recency bias, but like, it was really good, it beat the garbo vn nostalgia with nothing but pure quality and also really nice looking pixel art, especially with the crt filter, it really does wonders for the aesthetic. It didn't beat Umineko, Umineko is still #1, nothing will ever beat Umineko it's just impossible, Umineko literally has Super Paper in it, unbeatable by definition, Umineko is like that one boss in FFXI, Absolute Virtue, that was literally unbeatable without cheating, and if you beat it by cheating you got banned, Umineko is like that one minion in FFXIV, Conditional Virtue, that's literally impossible to get without cheating, even if you do Baldesion Arsenal like 10 times, it's just impossible it won't drop, um, I like Umineko :).

Ok actual thoughts time! VA-11 Hall-A is genuinely one of my favorite things I have ever read now, I was originally gonna say it takes a lot for a story to make me as emotional as I was by the end, but that's just not true, nonetheless I cried for like over an hour when I was done reading. At the start, it didn't really click for me right away, don't get me wrong I enjoyed the casual conversations with each character at the beginning, and Dana getting her head stuck in everything was really funny (she was easily my favorite character for the first half).

But around the midway point I started getting really invested, a lot of the earlier parts in retrospect felt like they were giving disconnected little bits and pieces of each character's lives and situations, stuff that could be interesting on it's own, just learning things about the characters, but nothing too compelling. But once those bits and pieces started to fit together, and there was actually a story forming around that character to get invested in, and they did that for every character all at the same time I started really loving the game's way of storytelling. I think the prime example of this is Sei, the first few times she showed up I kinda just thought she existed, like, she's relatively nice I guess, she's a cop, uhhh that's all I remember about her from the first few days. I liked her interactions with Dorothy! giving her advice on how to better conceal her illegal fingertip weapons was very based, but like beyond that I thought she was pretty forgettable. Then she goes to the bank and FUCKING DIEdoesn't die but almost dies, and then she goes missing for several days and Stella is searching for her, and then she reappears with severe PTSD and it's really sad. And then later you learn that both Sei and Stella died together as kids and you get a really haunting description of Stella as a child having her eye ripped out and Sei getting her ribs crushed AND that Virgilio was actually the one that saved them and that he's not some insane FREAK who doesn't know what halogens are, but is actually an ex-cop which is far worse (unfortunately I got spoiled to that little plot detail before getting to it, despite that it still hit really hard I wanted to vomit and cry reading about Stella's eye getting gouged out, but like, that's a good thing wanting to vomit is a positive). And this is just like one set of characters, and it is the most in-depth set of side characters, but all of them have some kind of really interesting or funny side story going on that you hear more and more about as the story goes on, like Ingram hiring Dorothy to roleplay as his daughter.

Another one of my favorites was Alma's storyline with her shitty sister. Like, god why are shitty parents such a common thing, in both real life and in fiction, and like, why does this game do such a good job at like showing how harmful that can be, not only to the children themselves but also just to like, people around them that end up being dragged into the situation that really shouldn't be, and how it can potentially ruin their lives too. Also based trans brother! this game came out in 2016 and it's like, really well handled, like it's barely brought up but like, in a good way, like it's not dwelled upon much but it's also not just like, brushed aside and that's cool. Really Alma in general is easily one of my favorite characters, she's such a good friend to Jill :)

Really Big Sandwich (tm) Break!

She's the best character, she's not my favorite character, but she's the best character.

I'm sorry you can't argue with undeniable facts.

It's just true. She's also just like actually a nice and good person that actually helps people and is cool on top of being wacky :)

Ok so like the side-characters are all really good, and cool, and well-written, and I really like them a lot but like, Jill herself is also like, probably one of my favorite protagonists in anything ever now. THE FUCKING DEAD KINDA-EX GIRLFRIEND STUFF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-; AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Genuinely one of the saddest things I've ever read, and outside of a couple of days where she's completely broken, she still just kinda lives on despite how horrible of a situation it is, but it still affects her so much. LIKE NO HER DEATH OBVIOUSLY ISN'T YOUR FAULT BUT I 100% GET FEELING LIKE IT WAS AND FEELING COMPLETELY CRUSHED BY ALL OF THE REGRETS OF NEVER RECONCILING OUT OF FEAR AND NOW SHE'S JUST COMPLETELY GONE SO YOU NEVER CAN AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SHE EVEN LASHED OUT AT HER LITTLE SISTER AND THEN FELT IMMEDIATE REGRET OVER THAT BUT THEN WORKED UP TO COURAGE TO APOLOGIZE TO HER ON THE FINAL DAY AND RESTORE THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO HONOR HER DEAD GIRLFRIEND AND IT'S SO NICE AND CUTE AND I'M SO PROUD OF HER AND AND THEY DO EACH OTHER'S HAIR IN ALMA'S ENDING AND ;-;

Sorry I'm very normal and not at all still crying off and on 5 hours after I finished the game. So anyways this game handles it's themes and messages really well and it does a fantastic job at storytelling in general and I'm gonna go not cry myself to sleep and be a normal girl with a normal not fucked up emotional state ok byeeee!

#va 11 hall a #really big sandwich #we are so not back and in fact we are so crying #i wish cybperbpunk dystopias were real #i wish spicy chickens were real #i wish dana was real and also i wish i was her #literally all of my notes from the 2nd to last day are about fuckboy getting laid #literally said practically nothing and barely even scratched the surface of my notes; but too busy bawling my eyes out to write more lalala #i think this is like the only time ever my unrealistically high expectations were actually completely surpassed to this high of a degree #very pleasantly surprised #i wish plok in a car was real

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shidiand · 1 year

Text

2022 shidi’s review

Best of media

- Umineko no Naku Koro ni

I started Umineko by manga in 2016 and made it to Ep 6, picked up the LP archive version ~1-2 years ago and made it to Ep 3, but this November I finally finished Umineko from beginning to end in its proper visual novel form. It may well be the longest thing I've ever read, and yet the remarkable thing about Umineko is that I believe it hardly squanders a single moment of its immense 1.1 million word count; it by and large fully justifies every use of its tremendous length. I feel that very few works of such length do. There are still things I want to resolve about it; I want to reread it again one day and solve them myself. There are still more things I'll probably carry with me into things I create from here on out. Is there any visual novel with better soundtrack or voice acting? I've become an Umineko Guy, and I will wear this mark with pride.

- Hellsinker.

I first played Hellsinker in 2020, and I delved into about ~75% of the game at that time, but it wasn't until March this year that I finally pushed myself to finish it, and let myself see everything about the game. It's still one of my favourite games ever. One of my favourite experiences ever. A wholly, solitarily unique game uncompromising in its vision; it grants you a glimpse of it and its author's insanity, and I did my best to interpret it. You might bounce off of it, such a game it is. But highly specific games, that can only appeal to certain people, have their charm too. I was a Dead Liar main from beginning to end. I will continue to recommend this game to others until the day I die.

- Defunctland's Disney Channel Theme: A History Mystery A documentary of modest length, but a lovely one. Surely one of my favourite Defunctland videos ever (not that I have watched much of his work), and possibly for a very long time to come.

- action button reviews boku no natsuyasumi A longer documentary, but a remarkable one in how it weaves a deep analysis of the game and Tim Roger's personal stories and reflections into a potent emotional core. Beautifully told.

- Secret Base's Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb Another long documentary, this time one covering the more cut-and-dry story of Dave Stieb's baseball career, but it wrung much emotion out of me all the same. I'm glad I was able to learn about this single little story of sports history, one episode at a time.

- Nuclear Throne

I also started NT in 2016 and reached a resolution with it that year, but in the depths of my unemployment malaise, on a whim of coincidence (seeing Rami Ismail retweet a video essay about it by @dookasx), I decided to pick it up again this year, and it soon became my fidget game for killing 20-30 minutes of time. It was not long until I decided to push myself to achieve 100% unlocks to fill a newfound need for closure. Then the madness began. This challenge ran from about April to August. My understanding of the game and how to best build and play to unlock each crowns changed significantly from my 2016 understanding, and I surely improved quite a bit over the course of the challenge, but the Rogue (has weak passive and active abilities) and Melting (has 2 HP instead of 8) runs tested my patience and sanity towards the very end. I can say I have explored this completed game to a very deep degree, and that I would not recommend this challenge to others. There are probably better things I could have done with that time. However, the game is pretty fun.

- Alice to Zouroku

I didn't read or watch Alice to Zouroku for the first time in 2022, but I did do a rewatch of the anime in February, and on that revisit it went quite a ways up my ranking of anime and fiction in general. Something about viewing Sana's experiences through the lens of autism made me just a bit more fond of it, I've been thinking about it from time to time throughout the year. It's a very tender story. The soundtrack of the anime wrings emotions out of me. I didn't actually know that the manga continued after chapter 21 because the scans stop there (ahaha...), and it was such a strange yet not bad place to have an "ending", I respected that. Don't mind that. I recommend it.

- Berserk

I read all of Berserk for the first time this year. I am certain that if I had read this earlier in my life, it would have had a great and lasting influence on me, both in storytelling and art; however, I think works like Vagabond and Tenco's Story had already taken that spot for me years ago, so it was not to be. Yet I was still swept up in awe at this story quite literally larger than the life of its author, of epic confrontations, and pain, and healing. Miura's ability to depict portraits of scale was unmatched. The weight of Guts' legacy, looking back at the web of influence from Guts to every dragonslayer derived from him, is tremendous. Another epic-length story that I feel deserves to be as long as it is.

- Bocchi the Rock

There has been no shortage of effusive praise for the Bocchi the Rock anime, so I will exempt myself from writing much of my own, but it was a very enjoyable experience to watch and share in with the many positive bocchiposters on my Twitter and Tumblr feeds. The music was great, the musical performances blew the bandori scenes I'd been accustomed to out of the water, and it was genuinely quite funny and emotionally cogent. It's got a small cast of characters who simply give off so much personality, it would be hard not to love them.

- Healer Girl

This was a 2022 seasonal that I watched on my own, as I like to do, and it was a delight. A fine mix of lightness and seriousness in its storytelling, charming characters, presented with a musical coating. If that sounds like Bocchi the Rock... yeah, I guess it does. It might not be as insane and radical as BTR, but I think it holds up. You've all heard the good word about BTR. I would recommend giving Healer Girl a try.

- The First 12 Episodes of G Gundam

Okay, this probably doesn't deserve to be on here, not without having finished it first, but G Gundam is such stupid fun. It's just good to go back and watch some shit from a completely different time period and take in the differences. I really liked the orchestra-based soundtrack and stingers. And this Domon Kasshu fella. What a guy. What a classic burning-hearted coolguy.

- Kindred Spirits on the Rooftop

Another late-to-the-party media for me to experience in 2022. Though not without tangible flaws, it managed to tell a charming high-school story from beginning to end. It was a little longer than I expected due to wading through the latter, bonus half of the content that was more often than not an exercise in clicking through scene reruns rearranged for a different character's perspective (but there were enough new scenes that I could tolerate it.) I had no interest in the sex scenes, which were mostly just okay, and ended up zoning out while clicking past them. Even so, the ending made me feel something when it was all over, and perhaps that was enough to push me to faithfully 100% every scene, the seiyuu comments, the drama CDs, the translations on Tumblr of lead writer tweet-comments, whichever AO3 fics interested me enough to read them, the VN podcasters' episodes about it... so, not nothing. Not bad at all. Not an unconditional recommendation, but it was good, to me.

- Urasekai Picnic (vol 5 - 7 and fanfics)

I'd been reading Urapi since 2021, but I got around to reading the latest volumes this year, and the story has continued to develop in ways that bolstered my confidence in the series from "fun, episodical horror encounters with lesbian investigators" to "now we're really getting somewhere with these characters and this plot". The teasers for the upcoming volume 8 are giving me yet more bits of confidence that Urapi might just round out to a properly closed narrative. I also read @rabbiteclair's excellent Urapi fanfics this year, which is a notable side point to this item; all quite excellent and capable of making me hallucinate that I read an additional volume or two of Urapi this year at times when I am not fully awake.

Things I did

- Wrote https://shidiand.tumblr.com/intro2touhou. I don't know if it's good. But it's something.

- Wrote some other things. I think this was one of the few times I'd properly finished a major project on my own. It was a catharsis. If you took the time to read it, thank you.

- Drew a few things, not very seriously. I made my friends and my favourite artist smile by drawing their OCs, so I'm happy.

https://akiraita.tumblr.com/post/684828588797837312/as-veil-enjoyer-193-i-like-hina-a-lot-so-here-she

https://twitter.com/shidiand/status/1518375294268104705

https://twitter.com/shidiand/status/1572331492923310081

- Stopped watching vtubers. I took a step back from the excitement of keeping up with streams. I'll be alright.

- Helped archive the N-tone x Dust_Box_49 10th Anniversary collection on Youtube. I was conflicted over doing this permissionless upload. But this music is very important to me.

- Participated in TTRPG with friends. It didn't pan out for me but I was glad I gave it a try. Sometimes exhausting. Always quite engrossing. It was probably the most social I was all year. Thank you to my GM and fellow players.

- Started learning Japanese again. I'm plateauing a bit, and I've only been working on my reading, but I managed to get into a good spot for grammar.

- Started exercising regularly again. Have to take care of this body.

- Got my driver's license. Driving gives me anxiety but it's a little step of responsibility.

- Did not go insane during the long year of unemployment. I regained the will to find a job again by the end of the year.

I'll keep at it going into 2023. I think I can get a job, I'll keep thinking about some original stories. No promises about drawing. Let's become a human once more.

#bulb #long time no textpost hows everyone doing

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