Month: September 2010

Analysis

Playing with Pathos; Narcissean Tragedy

Narcissu holds quite a reputation among English-speaking visual novel fans – it was the first encounter with non-branching VNs for many of us, and its particular brand of tragedy is significantly different from what we might remember from the Key anime adaptations. From the time of the translation’s release to now, it’s become an icon of heart-wrenching storytelling that every newbie stumbles into and invariably sheds tears at. I played the first game back when I was first introduced to the medium, but after reading through the second story a few years later, I found a few key points that differentiate the franchise from the other tales of terminal illness that are only superficially similar.

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Analysis

In Defense of Furudo Erika

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So, Erika might not be the most popular character in Umineko no Naku Koro ni. I can understand that. I suppose the shippers will always fawn over the servants and their respective pairings, or Battler’s and Beatrice’s mysterious bond. Pitting her against the entire When They Cry universe, she’s destined to lose to the classic niipah~, even if such thoughts are wrong.

Even so, Erika Furudo was the first character aside from Battler and Beato to make a strong impression on me, and she quickly earned herself Waifu Status for the WTC universe. The girl is worthy of more than people give her credit for, and here’s why.

(While this post contains spoilers, it has nothing to do with Umineko’s plot and it doesn’t matter if you agree with me. Think of it as a fanboy analysis.)

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Analysis

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru and Ryukishi07’s Sly Narrative

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Good old seakitties. It’s been the talk of the internet for years, the reason why half of the English-speaking community patrols Witch Hunt’s site, waiting for the progress counter to increase by one percent. I’ve tackled the story before; to summarize, my initial impression was that the Ushiromiya family had to overcome their hardship in order to break free of Beatrice’s curse, and my theory after the question arcs was that magic was more relevant for its thematic significance as a metaphor than as an opponent to logic. I’m glad to know that some portions of my original line of thinking still hold true: “without love, it cannot be seen”, which has been at the back of my mind since the beginning. Now that the Golden Witch has gone through her End and Dawn, it’s time to put my brain to the test and see if I can make sense of the strokes on this piece of art that only appear to be abstract from up close.

(This post contains spoilers from ep 1-6 of the visual novel)

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Review

Eroge Review: Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo


SonoHana is one of the better known yuri titles in the eroge world, and the fan translation from back in February has introduced me to the first game in the long-running series. The sole franchise of the company Fuguriya, SonoHana‘s most distinctive trait is its idealized portrayal of love and sex in the male-targeted yuri tradition. Some would call it a smut, others would call it a pure love story that’s impure in all the right places. Both are somewhat right. What I do know is that the game isn’t a bad way to spend $20 and ~5 hours.

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Miscellaneous

Two Years of Dreaming

Yuuki Tatsuya is still the greatest.

Hello there, readers. I’d like to inform you that today, September 1st 2010, is the two-year anniversary of this anime blog.

Anniversaries are a great thing – aside from con posts, they’re the one time a year that we can talk about ourselves without worrying about the ever-imposing word count ceiling, especially since many people have already skipped to the comment section to leave a one line reply (and that’s okay; your thoughts are appreciated no matter what). Oddly enough, despite the fact that this is a notable year for me in a lot of ways, I’m not feeling particularly emotional. I guess that means you won’t have to listen to too much rambling! Anyhow, if you’re in the mood, kick back and grab a cup of coffee for this early September midday. (I-It’s not my fault if you’re in a different time zone!)

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