With Anime Boston and Sakura-Con running concurrently, this has been a very busy weekend, especially for VN fans! MangaGamer and Sekai Project were present at both conventions, and announcements were made at both over the last couple days. There’s some doujin games, there’s some expected announcements, and there’s one utterly surprising bombshell that I promise you won’t anticipate. Let’s get into it!
MangaGamer
Starting off MangaGamer’s announcements is Imouto Paradise 2! This one has been rumored to be in the works for a while now. The first game was a very popular nukige for MangaGamer, and there are plenty of fans out there looking forward to the sequel. Expect pretty much more of the same, for better or worse. MangaGamer has said nothing of a release estimate, but I suspect it won’t be very long before a release.
The other two announcements were a set of Kindred Spirits drama CDs and a physical edition for Free Friends. The Free Friends hardcopy is available for pre-order now (NSFW link) and will ship on May 20th. The Kindred Spirits drama CDs are a series of after stories for the original game’s many characters. The first CD is slated to be released in April in a subtitled video format for $10 on Steam, with each successive CD release trailing around a month behind the last. Kindred Spirits was such a splendid little title and I’m sure these will be great for fans who want more of its great character interactions.
If these announcements didn’t tickle your fancy, then you may have to wait a little while longer. It seems like MangaGamer is holding back during their early conventions this year. Their next convention will be Anime Central on May 20th, with a new partnership being teased. However, expect the true big guns to not come out until their summer conventions, Anime Expo and Otakon, as is usual for MangaGamer. See their announcement site for more info.
Sekai Project
Sekai Project came out swinging. Across both Sakura-Con and Anime Boston, they announced 5 new VN localizations, two of which are major Japanese VNs, in addition to one English VN announced online. Starting with the doujin works, Companion is a Taiwanese VN that promises to be a bit of a tragic story with apocalyptic themes. Sekai Project has compared it to Planetarian, and I’m personally seeing some similarities to eden*. You can check out the official site here. A release is coming in 2016.
Next up is the Korean VN Still, I Miss Her. Originally a mobile-only VN, SP is bringing this one to Steam in 2016. It features many themes not typically seen in all-ages VNs, such as NTR. It’s hard to tell from the description and screenshots alone, but it looks like it may be taking a more whimsical approach to the subject matter than most VNs of that genre. You can find the official site here. Although I have to say, if that site was written by their translator, that’s not very encouraging. As of the time of this writing, the English is rather appalling.
Moving on, Just Deserts is an Indonesian-made dating sim that has been on Steam Greenlight since December of last year. They technically announced a partnership with Sekai Project earlier in the month, but it seems no one noticed until SP formally announced it at Anime Boston today. Whoops! Anyways, Just Deserts appears to skew much further towards the dating sim side of things than the VN side (to the point where it’s not and probably will never be on VNDB), but I know a lot of you are fans of both. The Indonesian VN/dating sim scene is absolutely massive, so it’s nice seeing more commercial activity from them. You can check out their official site here. A Steam release is planned for 2016.
And next, we have an English Boys Love VN titled Monstrous Lovers, announced by SP today via Twitter. Currently on IndieGoGo and asking for $11,500, this BL title has a neat sounding premise and some great art. If you’re into BL, please give it your support! I know you BL-fans are out there! Current release estimate is August 2016.
And now, onto the big name stuff, starting with A Clockwork Ley-Line: The Borderline of Dusk, or as we’ve been calling it in our weekly VNTS updates for years, Tasogaredoki no Kyoukaisen. That’s right, the eternally stalled Ley Line project from Kohaku Translations was picked up by Sekai Project and will be released officially on Steam. Ley-Line is a comedic magical high school mystery series. This game is the first in a series of three, with the sequels being crucial to the plot. As we all know, translation has been basically complete for close to a year now. Assuming SP’s TLC and editing process doesn’t take too long, we will hopefully have our hands on it soon. And who knows, maybe if it does well, we can get another certain gem from Unison Shift that I’ve been pining for… Official site here.
And finally, we have Maitetsu! Maitetsu is the latest game from Lose, released just yesterday. Taking place in a fictional Japan where trains became the dominant mode of transportation even in the modern era, trains are controlled by humanoid control modules known as “Raillords.” A boy is victim to a train related accident, and later in a chance encounter meets one of these Raillords, becoming her owner. It’s an unusual premise, to be sure. The hot button issue at hand is that Lose is known for pushing boundaries and having what are probably the most scandalous VNs in the mainstream moege/charage space. Their games feature some very young looking heroines. For Maitetsu, Sekai Project has only confirmed an all-ages version, and are supposedly “looking into” the possibility of an 18+ release, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
So here are some facts about Maitetsu: Throughout the entire main story, there are no h-scenes. There is some occasional nudity that will likely be covered up (although other VNs on Steam have proven that nudity is okay), but there are no scenes should necessitate removal. It depends on how safe Sekai Project will want to play it. All of the h-content in Maitetsu exists solely within the extras menu after completing the game, similar to eden* Plus Mosaic. So for those of you bemoaning the lack of an 18+ version, at least know that it is unlikely anything of substance will be cut from the core game. Some further word from Sekai Project on how they plan on handling the Steam release would be appreciated. The official site is here.
So there you have it! Which of these are you all looking forward to? I’m personally probably most pumped for Ley-Line, but only if they manage to snag the whole series. What about you?
Thanks for the info about the BL indiegogo! I’m a little nervous about the Mangagamer announcements. If they’re planning on doing any more otome, would that be considered small news or big news? If it’s not in the small news, does that mean there won’t be any next year?
As long as Good Haro works for MangaGamer, they will continue to do Otome and BL. They may squeeze in an announcement later this year, but it may be a while before we find out what Good Haro’s next project is after Ozmafia, since that one isn’t even out yet.
Unfortunately, she’s the only one there willing to do that work, and they seem to be struggling to find qualified translators who can help. So from MangaGamer at least, we can expect otome and BL releases to continue at a trickle. It’s a sad state of affairs.
“The hot button issue at hand is that Lose is known for pushing boundaries and having what are probably the most scandalous VNs in the mainstream moege/charage space.”
What’s with the beating around the bush? Lose makes loli games. Just because it rubs Westerners the wrong way doesn’t make it scandalous. The Japanese don’t seem to have a problem plastering banners of the game in public places. Westerners need to learn the difference between fiction and reality and stop badgering others about sexual fetishes that are outside their comfort zone.
The very fact that it rubs many people the wrong way makes it scandalous. That’s like the entire definition of the word. “causing general public outrage by a perceived offense against morality or law.” This appropriately describes the effect Lose’s games would have on the west, your ideals have nothing to do with it, and this isn’t Japan so its level of acceptance there is irrelevant.
Also, I immediately followed that quote by stating rather clearly that these are games with large amounts of loli content, featuring very young looking lolis. So I don’t really see how this is beating around the bush.
They aren’t just ‘young-looking’… Suzuha, at least, really is underage, which is one of the reasons why I skipped all the h-scenes in that game. To be honest, I thought Monobeno went way too far on some issues, though I loved the protagonist’s daughter with the Zashiki-warashi.
This isn’t much different with Gothderi, their first game… to be honest, I don’t see the attraction of lolis as sex objects, though I know some people feel that way. I’ve been pretty relieved by the trending toward loli-abolition in recent years in mainstream VNs (with a few exceptions), as it increases the number of VNs that can be localized without nearly as much potential for trouble.
The community really, really doesn’t need the loli problem to come home to roost in an official localization anytime soon. From a purely pragmatic perspective, it is blatantly obvious nothing but trouble comes from localizing materials with loli-H.
Yeah if it is something that might put heat other the translating business, then I would rather loli content be held back until English VN as a whole has a more solid base.
Lose makes Japanese games for a Japanese audience–who don’t appear to consider the games all that scandalous. The games aren’t scandalous in their original context nor in any objective sense. Whether they’d be considered scandalous by an English audience is a complete unknown–we have very little information on the game’s original content, the content of a hypothetical non-adult release, nor what would be removed for an English release. The basic facts are unresolved, yet you’re already claiming to know the reaction of the English audience to an unknown English version as if it were an objective truth.
Oddly enough, on sites like Getchu Lose is one of the very few companies that get the “loli” tag on their games. Others games get labels like “puni” or “pettanko”, even if they’re clearly featuring the same content. [following links are NSFW]
Maitetsu: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=877397
Yuzuminatsu: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=768829
Musumaker remake: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=896688
This is turning into a really boring pedantic argument. I’m not attacking or insulting this content. It’s going to be controversial, I think that’s the safest statement anyone could possibly make about it. Sorry you feel otherwise? Well actually, I’m not.
“Controversial license” is how I describe it myself. Your usage of “scandalous” in the context you used it was what I took issue with. We’re both writers and we both know that word choice matters. When I write professionally a few misplaced words is all it takes to draw the wrath of my superiors. I know you were trying to frame the issue for a general audience, and I think you slipped in the execution–therefore the criticism.
Oh wow, another butchered game for me not to buy? Good going Sekai Project. Thanks to you I have plenty of leftover cash to give MangaGamer. You being so shit sure is good for my wallet.
What is with a 18+ Release from A Clockwork Ley-Line: The Borderline of Dusk?
Dammit, two more great games are now being held hostage by Sekai!
Damn I hate today sekai project, they took a lot of games, and then hold the 18+ version hostage. I rather having those games never get localized if this is the case
Remember when fully experiencing a game was a thing? As long as there’s people who will happily pay for bits and pieces of games and shitty providers of butchered content like Sekai Project, you can say goodbye to the old days. But I guess it’s fine, at least your soul won’t be damned for seeing an underage pixelated boob.
The main story won’t really be affected according to the information. As for all the extras at the end that will obviously be removed:
I never understood why you would want to watch them having sex. I can launder a lot of guesses though.
aha Clockwork Ley Line getting an official release, hopefully in the next 3-4 months!
There is no real need for H content in my opinion. Take for example Nukige. It’s main focus is on the H but we all know it lacks in terms of plot. Yes plot not “plot”. Now I’m not saying that Nukige and Visual novels can be compared on a like for like basis but Im trying to point out the fact that the story of a novel is its most notable quality.
Most visual novels, especially the slice of life with some fantasy theme does not even have a good story anyways. H content is the main reason they are selling like hotcakes in japan. But now english publishers is trying to make these vn with sol genre with medicore story without H content as a norm in western release. And the reason they have medicore story to begin with is because the jpn publisher is marketing these vn with H content + moe art. I dont mind vn like ace attorney, zero escape, root double for not having H content since that was never intended as its selling point, thus the good storyline. But if you remove the selling point from a already medicore story vn, then the vn just feels incomplete and empty
Yet more victim’s of the “Con Artists Project”.
Well, at least in case of Maitetsu, you buy it, finish it, and then watch the hentai scenes on a hentai site. But I agree, ‘Shitty Localization Project’ should at least provide the 18+ version as well.