Visual Novel Book Club // Now reading: ISLAND

The sneaky recruitment has started :eyes: . It’s probably a good time to update the OP with the new nominations @Daisoujou whenever you have a minute :

Hopefully I haven’t missed any. What do we do with the other 3 that were nominated last time, btw? Maybe we should notify @/natarin to see if they want to continue with their nomination for this round?

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Pretty much catching me running out the door, but I see no reason we can’t make the top post a wiki like someone suggested in case anyone else wants to toss them up there. I don’t mind updating the list later today, but the community seems to handle collaborative stuff totally fine so no reason not to open up the option.

I think we were intending to just leave all of the nominations as options for now and deal with how to start cleaning up later, but if people have other opinions on that, feel free to share.

@Mods Could you make the top post a wiki please? :heart: you all

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Ah sure, even better :slight_smile: . I thought about that too but I feel like I’ve offered help way too many times in the recent past I didn’t want to come off as pushy or trying to appropriate anything ;-; . Which still stands, happy to help whenever needed.

Ah great, I say keep them, they will make a better pool to choose from, especially if we decide on going for 3 votes finally.

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Still running around doing things so I admittedly didn’t double check yet for missing posts, but I did add those to the list. And you’re likely correct anyway. Thanks so much for getting the links ready for me already! I’m still happy to have it made into a wiki for whatever comes up.

Appreciate it! You’re totally fine and I do appreciate all the support from you all. Don’t worry about that at all; for whatever it’s worth I don’t really want a true “leader” role and mostly conceive of this as a collective shared thing in the first place, doing my best to let it move on its own down whatever path pleases the majority and avoids exclusion anywhere possible.

I’m doing some work to facilitate it now just because I’m willing and initially posted it, but if I’m in charge in any sense it’s only so there’s someone to tell people to knock it off if needed. Which of course hasn’t been needed even a single time.

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Hey Daisoujou! It is now…a wiki! :sunglasses:

-Nick at WK

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百花百狼 戦国忍法帖 (English title: Nightshade)

NightshadeCover

Developer: Red Entertainment Corporation & Lantern Rooms
VNDB Play Time: 30h
VNDB Link: 百花百狼 戦国忍法帖
Character count: 492k (from someone who finished it)
Number of weeks to finish: 20-22 weeks

Summary

From VNDB:
Thanks to an age of constant war, the Iga and Kouga had independently achieved an expansion of their respective forces.

Both shinobi forces, owing to that long history of warring, shared an antagonistic relationship of mutual hatred towards one another. However, during the ninth year of the Tenshou era, the Iga forces fell into ruin due to the Tenshou Iga War started by Oda Nobunaga. The few Iga members that had survived were taken in by the Kouga forces.

Seventeen years later, the Sengoku period had ended and lasting peace came to the world.

Dreaming of performing shinobi duties, Ueno Enju (the protagonist), daughter of the Kouga forces’ leader, Ueno Kandou, had been training everyday.

After finally being selected to go on her first mission, a major incident occurs. It not only derails Enju’s fate, but the fate of the village as well…

[Translation of the official website’s story summary.]

Availability

Steam
Switch: JP US EU
PS vita (JP release) (not sure if it is possible to get new still, can’t figure it out)

Personal Opinion

Who can resist ninjas? This is an otome, aka protagonist is a woman and she’s dating men. So it is historical Japan. According to Steam’s description, the story is fiction, but there are real historical figures and events sprinkled in it. Nightshade is set a few years after the sengoku war ended.

I’m hoping there is a lot of ninja goodness with romance. It just sounds like a lot of fun to me.

It is a bit long for the club, but all the otome I’m interested in that had more story rather than just pure dating seems to be this length. :sweat_smile:

It seems to have 5 routes with two endings each. Not sure if there is a true path/ending.

And according to @Belerith (link to post):

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Ninja
  • Historical Japan
  • Seems to have chapters (according to a screenshot at VNDB)
  • Fully voiced except protagonist
  • Romance
  • Many endings

Cons

  • Time and subject specific vocabulary
  • It might be a little too long to be read within this club’s parameters (max 25k character per week, max time allowed 5 months), meaning speed might need to be higher from the beginning or increase after a couple of months
  • According to reviewers: Not all routes are as enjoyable and the romance is better than the plot
  • Has bad ending(s)
  • Many endings

Pictures

Screenshots

Not sure these show the range of language, but I can’t seem to find any other good ones.

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this VN?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know
0 voters
12 Likes

BU$TAFELLOWS

bustafellowsCover

Developer: Extend
VNDB Play Time: 35h
VNDB Link: BU$TAFELLOWS

Summary

From VNDB:

Arrive in New Sieg, a beautiful fictional town. Step into the shoes of a strong, smart and gifted journalist in this romantic adventure. You play the part of a young woman with the ability to leap in the past for a very short period in the bodies of others, which you use for data collection and helping people. After witnessing the murder of a crooked lawyer – she goes back in time in an attempt to save him. Thus, the journey begins as our protagonist goes back in time in the body of another person and tries to warn Limbo. It’s up to you to figure out how to save him!

Availability

Android
iOS
Switch JP (The ones in EU and US eshop is English only), physical also exists

Personal Opinion

A fictional New York City, crime, romance, and some kind of weird magical ability? What more can you ask for? Honestly, this one seems like it is gonna be a lot of fun. More kinda 1920s style NYC story with lawyers, crooks, and such; although obviously modern with helicopters and such.

And there is a mystery to solve, in a way.

I believe someone mentioned that it starts with a common route that is the main story, then followed by the romance routes.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Fun setting
  • Romance
  • Voiced to some degree (even protagonist)
  • Many endings

Cons

  • Only available on Switch and mobile
  • Very long at 35 hours…
  • Has bad ending(s)
  • No idea if there are good dividers
  • Many endings

Pictures

Screenshots

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this VN?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know

0 voters

10 Likes

First nomination post took like an hour to put together, at least the second one only took 15 mins. xD And yeah, I wasn’t sure which one would be better to nominate so I went for both… :sweat_smile:

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Uuuh, I’ve heard really good things about Nightshade and Bustafellows sounds really interesting! Both are definitely in my to-play wishlist. I personally don’t mind that they are so long but I can see that scaring off voters…I wonder if we could reach a compromise like… play a couple routes with the club and then decide if we want to continue with the whole thing or as a spin-off (kinda like I imagine the situation with 9-nine-ここのつここのかここのいろ would be?)…Idk just throwing some ideas around since I really like those proposals and this feels like an issue we’ll constantly be facing in this club. But maybe it feels too unsatisfying leaving it like that? And yet it’s not that different from clubs just reading the first volume of a manga or a light novel series… But our user base isn’t that big to begin with so spin-offs might be dangerous…ok I’m just rambling now

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The good thing about Nightshade is that each route kind of exists in its own little world. Plus, they are a little shorter than the routes in Bustafellows.

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I was definitely wondering the same thing. Unless there is a like a true ending type of thing, getting the good romance ending with a route should be satisfactory for that route. So it would totally be possible to only do a few, say 3 or something. And we can vote which ones to do towards the end of the common route.

But yeah, there is a certain satisfaction from finishing it all. I saw that Bustafellows seemed to have some extra something from completion since it had that tag on VNDB, but it could just be some pictures for all I know (which is nothing).

And yeah, splitting off in too many offshoots. On the other hand, even off shoots finish, and we all sometimes have to make decisions on where to put our focus. Hard all around.

7 Likes

I just added my two nominations to the OP.

I also edited all the links to change the thread title to just x, like this for Bu$stafellows: https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/57316/196. Something about continuity with changing thread titles makes just the x a safer bet than the whole long thing. It is just in the master book club list and most of the main book clubs. Hope you guys don’t mind.

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Hehe I’ve been lurking, I’ve just learned that I’m incapable of doing long-term book clubs at the same time as school :joy: so I probably won’t be joining in this time unfortunately, but if people wanna go for ATRI that’s totally fine with me! I don’t really get the impression people are leaning that way at the moment, but if that is how it goes no worries! :grin:

Oh no, your favorite font is back :joy: I’ve heard good things about BU$TAFELLOWS and I definitely want to play it sometime but who knows :eyes:

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aww that’s unfortunate ;-; . Best of luck with school! I’m sure we’ll lure you in with another VN in the future :eyes: .

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Aw thank you! :smiling_face: Lmao yeah I’ll inevitably get drawn in somehow, it’s not necessarily impossible this time even, we shall see :eyes:

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I did indeed note the font. I have a feeling I’ll either accept it for its faulty… beauty? Functionality? Popularity? and move on :joy: or go insane :scream:.

Considering there are crazier fonts, I’ll pick the former. :woman_shrugging: :joy:

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Hey folks! I’m currently too busy to do anything but low-demand beginner-level club stuff (which this certainly is not, haha), but I quickly wanted to leave a note too!

I had been stalling on Loopers chapter 8 or so for a bit until I realized that I really can’t keep up at the moment and silently dropped out for now. But I enjoyed it a lot, both the VN and the discussions here, fully intend on finishing it one day (but perhaps only after like half a year or longer of getting better at this with media that are more my speed, because it was really demanding for me), and I’m certain I’ll join this club again afterwards.

Thanks for reading with me, answering my questions and entertaining my theories! And of course, thanks for organizing this, @Daisoujou! It gave me a great introduction to this medium, and certainly made me hungry for more.

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Hey everyone, I meant to give notice earlier today but I’ve had the most exhausting day, needed a new car for ages now and spent pretty much my entire day dealing with salesmen, banks, etc. As I am typing these words to you, I feel like death!

That said, I think starting voting tomorrow sounds good if that info doesn’t panic anyone. You can let me me know if you’re trying to carve out time to make a nomination post the way MissDagger did, just please post a quick message soon if you need time. Otherwise, I’m anxious to see where this is headed.

I share the same general uncertainties and concerns re:length on those picks that @MissDagger and @Sylph discussed, but can’t say I have a good solution since every option is tricky. Partial reads would be a little unfortunate though maybe not totally unacceptable (and it’s true my VN is kind of a partial read itself, simply packaged differently, so if it happens to win it works as a sort of trial – but we’ll figure out something in the end for yours if one of those wins). That kind of feels like a discussion easiest to have along with scheduling after we’ve voted so we can have more space to get the mood of the whole group focused on one VN – but people need to know what is being done to consider in their votes so :exploding_head:. All I really have to add is we can always be flexible to the group’s desires in the midst of things; more than any other club I think we have to be open to adaptations partway through. Should we, say, get started on reading every route of something particularly lengthy, if there’s a way to semi-elegantly decide to stop it midway through, we can talk about that. Probably with a fairly significant majority only because I don’t want people to think we’re going to start and not finish anything, but you know, adaptability there too should a situation call for it. Adaptability everywhere.

It was nice to have you, and I look forward to hearing from you when you do get around to finishing! This medium unfortunately just doesn’t allow for truly easy or low time-commitment picks, so I expect it to have a bit of a long tail and will do my best if I can manage to engage at the time you get around to it. Surely someone will, anyway. Super cool to hear from people getting into VNs themselves as well. Best of luck with your learning, see you in a little while :slightly_smiling_face:

Didn’t even get much sleep before all this so I’m gonna go pass out or something

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I’ve wanted to read this because I really like the creator (same as Loopers actually), but judging from my JPDB coverage stats it’ll definitely require some studying beforehand.

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I changed my mind and decided to nominate something from this list of beginner friendly VNs.


UNRED NIGHT

image

英語じょうず

Developer: Gensou Eigakan
VNDB Play Time: 7h39m
VNDB Link: UNRED NIGHT | vndb

Summary

One night a boy went out and met a vampire with white hair and stuff. Look the font is hard to read and the dev put the freaking summary into a picture. They do some slice of life stuff. Play in school. Meet a cat. Woohoo!

Availability

Available for free through the dev’s website (linked on VNDB).

Personal Opinion

It’s free. There’s a cute vampire chick.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Short (48.4k characters by my count)
  • Simple language and daily life* scenarios.
  • Did I mention the cursor turns into a heart!?
  • There’s a cute vampire and a black kitty.

Cons

  • Only two characters.
  • Is actually a joke submission.
  • * Daily life = constant R18

Pictures

Screenshots




Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this VN?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know
  • It’s NNN
  • Breaks rule #1

0 voters

5 Likes