Tag Archives: Visual Novel

All too often, sequalization is motivated by money rather than any earnest attempt at artistic expression. Perhaps that’s seems like an excessively cynical perspective, but I’ve seen far too many follow-ups that either offer only ...

Since the 1920s, the term juken jigoku (meaning ‘examination hell’) has been used in Japan to describe the period of intense studying before students take high school and university entrance exams. It’s an unbearably hectic ...

Portrayals of teen deathmatches resonate with the public across a multitude of mediums. Both Koushun Takami’s Battle Royal and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games started as books, before being transformed into films, while the Danganronpa ...

In film, auteur theory contends that the director is the primary ‘author’ of a motion picture, responsible for overseeing and uniting the entirety of a movie’s aural and visual elements. As such, a film symbolizes ...

Although the conflict only lasted for four days, the Battle of Toba-Fushimi was a pivotal moment in Japanese history. Following the forced opening of the Hakodate and Shimoda ports by Commodore Matthew C. Parry, tensions ...

Like Criminal Girls, the Summon Night series has outlived the studio who originally created the franchise. The inaugural entry, its three subsequent follow-ups, and several spin-offs were all crafted by Gifu-based Flight-Plan, which departed from ...

In one of Hollywood’s best meta-analyses, Scream 2 explained the difficulties of crafting a slasher film sequels. Identifying larger body counts, more elaborate and gruesome death scenes, and the apparent immortality of the franchise’s bad ...

When Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception was released last May, we gave the title an affirmative review; albeit with a major caveat. Box art and promotional screenshots made the game look like a strategy role-playing game, ...

While it’s inspiring when a developer’s inaugural effort becomes an unqualified success, it’s tremendously gratifying to witness the gradual cultivation of an artist’s talents. The latter is especially true with InvertMouse (aka Marcus Lam), a ...

While the Hakuoki visual novels has received a plethora of ports, emerging on console, portable, and now PC, the timing hasn’t always been kind to protagonist Chizuru and the men of the Shinsengumi. 2012’s Hakuoki: ...