Today I come not with a recommendation, but rather a topic of discussion that pertains to how I deal with the recommendation list.

AI generated art

A contentious thing to be sure, but one that will become harder to avoid as time goes on. It has come to my attention over the past year that some Visual Novel devs (and of course any other kind of game dev) are starting to rely more on this tool than they perhaps should or are capable of. I will not name any particular groups or studios, but there has been a flood of yuri visual novels and games that use AI art quite liberally, both for characters sprites/CGs and even backgrounds.

The issue with AI art has been and will continue to be heavy uncanny valley, basic mistakes that even an amateur can spot and bad anatomy. In many cases these mistakes are so obvious that it seems outrageous they are not at least touched up in post. Bent bones, extra fingers, hair fusing with skin, impossible clothes, inhuman writing etc. Devs who do not even care to hide these flaws in their screenshots or trailers exist now.

I do see AI as a double-edged sword and as long as it is of good enough quality I may even be accepting of its use. As long as the writing is human and interesting, perhaps art is a secondary concern.
But these are after all in the majority products that cost money. Money that rewards the use of what in some cases can only be considered art theft (most AIs are fed with existing art to remix it).

So frankly, is it even permissable for me to add such VNs to the list?
Should I make a separate section that specifically lists these AI riddled products? But in that case would I not simply create a contamination zone so to speak rather than a recommendation?
And in cases of devs who are much more adept at altering the AI base and make seamless transitions into handcrafted works, must I make a distinction?

I would appreciate some insight from other users so that I may figure out how to deal with the recommendation list going forward. Thank you.

EDIT: It appears the topic is not that important to people, so for now I just chose not to include AI generated art VNs on the list. Ultimately anyone can still just recommend them normally in here anyway.

last edited at Oct 3, 2023 1:29PM

@Yasako
Claiming Crossick's real life break up happened because of fans is really disingenious. They were a real couple and they had a real break up. These happen sometimes and the volatile minefield of having a public relationship most likely did not help, but this is really not the same situation as some business/entertainment ships stopping. We will most likely never know their true reason for breaking up and it should not concern us.

last edited at Jul 21, 2023 4:05AM

I likewise cannot wait as well. But the temporal force is not willing to bend the knee and accelerate to that glorious future for some reason. Such a tantalizing time to binge read this wonderful manga, just to be stopped before the true pay-off.

The most enjoyable part is how both of them are so multi-faccetted. Yoroizuka seems apathetic, but she can absolutely be emotionally affected and express desires. She simply has a higher resistance to emotional connection with her own feelings and others. I was especially proud of her for being capable of using empathy to predict that putting off the Christmas celebration out of some over-serious concern about passing on sickness would have been emotionally devastating to Kurumi and reconsidered. It subverts the usual "selfishly considerate" trope and makes her more human. People are not robots that will avoid all risks and always act by the book.

Kurumi appears as the cutesy airheaded type who only has pure love to give, but she has a lewd streak and a real impatient desire to advance their relationship. Her pro-active nature is wonderfully refreshing, even if she lacks the emotional stamina to keep up with her own daring plans and fails to pick up on cues from her girlfriend at times. The fact that she has a healthy mix of emotional and physical needs makes her feel much more real. It is also enjoyable to see that while she has her declared goal of spoiling her girlfriend she is still secretly happy when the reverse happens as well.

last edited at Jul 12, 2023 12:00PM

Good news everyone!
Volcano Princess sold 600k copies. That is an incredible achievement for a small indie game. I believe this will set a good example for future Princess Maker style games and perhaps also give them the funds to make either some DLC or a sequel.

The keychain makes it look like Subaru has a fluffy tail. Phenomenal! Revolutionary!
The art was cute and the story was to the point. Very enjoyable and digestable.

The only question is whether the neighbour to the left is also listening to them and will eventually reveal herself to tell them she loves "stargazing" as well.

Ah, poisoning the well. (snip)

tl;dr
Somebody cares to condense it?

I can do it for you, real easy. It's an incoherent word salad, full of blabbing and devoid of meaning. He toots all his headcanons as if they were facts, he accuses the other poster of personal attacks (because they reminded him of the forum rules) and demands that they address his arguments (when they aren't the one who was debating with him). I think this was just an attempt to drown everyone under a logorrhea. Srsly, you did the right thing not reading it.

Well at least you two have something in common, you both didn't read my post.

Of course the mellowing of Toudou Itsumi is very noticable (no doubt making out with lots of cute girls helped), but I want to point out that Shirashiro also calmed down massively since her introduction. She used to be rather unhinged. Her manga like persona was obviously a defense mechanism, but I once would have ranked her at the top 3 of most unreasonable characters in this story. Now she is mostly just a shy introvert who tries her best. Toudou also went from treating her like a nutcase to calling her her best friend. It is truly something remarkable.

On the topic of the Twitter previews, seeing Tsubasa on the tweet talking about erotic developments gives me pause. Either Mochi is trying to integrate her into the fold again or she has plans to put Tsubasa into a pairing with another girl. Or perhaps it is just a reaction to something erotic going on that doesn't involve Tsubasa herself...

And as many predicted, Toudou's little sister is most likely a siscon. Not only is it implied that her little sister's popularity is what even awakened Toudou's desperate need for attention and approval, it also seems that she has no idea she is being the target of incestuous affection. It wouldn't be Mochi without a little incest.
That strange ball she is holding makes me wonder if aside from love potions you can order online there are still many other strange products to be discovered.

Ruruka just lost her best friend position

And deservedly so.

last edited at Jul 3, 2023 10:54AM

Excellence both in artistic skill and character portrayal. Details and references everywhere. Very stimulating depictions of sex that feel no bit exaggerated, yet flashy at the same time.

How harrowing that the world was bereft of such talent for 2 entire years. I wish hiyocco the best.

last edited at Jul 2, 2023 1:13PM

Constantly accusing another commenter of biases and hidden motives, as you do time and again, contributes nothing to the debate.

Ah, poisoning the well. A true classic.
Aside from you projecting some habit on me, you didn't seem to get the joke. Then again, my career as a comedian was always doomed to fail haha

Well maybe I am not as easy to convince as some people here, but I can definitely say that I have some disagreements with Nene's post. There seems to be some selective reading going on there, perhaps due to personal biases?

And when you reply to someone's post, try to actually address their arguments. In your message, you completely ignore the points you don't like. For example, that Yomotsuka is just another love potion victim and whatever she feels isn't real, unlike Rin whose love is the real thing.

It's interesting that your post would quote the exact part that renders this accusation meaningless. As I said, and you quoted, I only had an issue with some of Nene's points and that's why I only addressed those points. I do not quite understand why you wanted me to talk about points I agree with?

But to indulge you on this, let's take your one and only example of me allegedly ignoring "something I don't like" (which is weirdly contradictory as the only points I wanted to address were those I don't like?). I excplicitly went in depth on the situation surrounding Yomotsuka, because Nene has a self-expressed bias against her right now. I explained both why their interpretation of her actions in Volume 4 may have been skewed and also agreed that Yomotauka's love is not portrayed as strongly romantic.

But unlike you, Nene has not actually claimed that the love potion victims cannot have real love for Toudou, just that Rin is the "only one" who never drank it, to put her on a narrative pedestal. I already debunked the idea that there are no cast members who didn't love Toudou without the love potion by pointing out Kamisada's case.

So to oppose your completely new point, this is simply not supported by the material. The love the victims feel during the love potion drugged state is not real, but anything that happens outside of that is. Kamisada, Kuroshiro and the like are all crushing on Toudou right now and there is zero indication that those feelings are fake or caused by the love potion's "lingering effects". We know this is not the case because Toudou drank the potion herself and was drugged to love Ruruka, but clearly has no such lingering feelings left for her. Meanwhile Tsubasa entirely stopped having feelings for Toudou after her potion wore off, because she has zero incentive to have real feelings for Toudou.
Ergo, anything happening beyond the drugged state is real. Which is obvious as Kamisada has feelings for her before the potion and Kuroshiro likes her because she shows interest in her hobbies and treats her as a friend, which she has never experienced before.

As for Yomotsuka, I pointed out before she seems to be the player type. She seems quite serious about wanting to make Toudou hers and she appreciates the true Toudou on a level nobody but Rin has until now. Whether you consider this romantic enough is up to you, but that's why I went out of my way to flip the script from who is totally in love with Toudou to what is equally important... who Toudou is in love with. Toudou has a crush on Yomotsuka that is supported by the entire manga and she has a strong focus on her. It is even implied that she has been paying attention to her since before the manga started. I may go out on a limb here, but I think there is a reason why she chose her to be the love potion test subject beyond "revenge". In the very first chapter she already questions whether she truly ever disliked her.
So as you can see, if you want to claim narrative superiority to one character for their love being real, then you need to also understand that there is an equally strong narrative point being made in the opposite direction. This is why I explained that Toudou only showed an interest in Rin after being confessed to, while Toudou has always had feelings for Yomotsuka, but told Rin she doesn't know whether she realy loves her back.

"Attack motives of opposition, don’t address their arguments" is a terrible rhetorical combo.

Ironic, considering your post has addressed exactly zero of my arguments and only focused on attacking me, while actively ignoring the parts that would make this reply pointless. I won't project a motive on you, but I hope this was a benign misunderstanding.

last edited at Jul 1, 2023 2:35AM

Well maybe I am not as easy to convince as some people here, but I can definitely say that I have some disagreements with Nene's post. There seems to be some selective reading going on there, perhaps due to personal biases?

I used to be a fan of Prez x Toudou, but not anymore. I stopped liking Prez when she used Toudou to bet against Banryuu, knowing well that it could end with Toudou being tortured in a yakuza dungeon. She doesn't have feelings for Toudou; she's just possessive and looks at Toudou like property. FUCK HER.

Evidence 1! Just kidding, I won't be playing armchair psychologist here. But on the point of selective reading, this is definitely the strongest case. Two major pieces are relevant here:
1. Yomotsuka made quite clear that she wouldn't actually let any harm befall Toudou. She has a possessive streak and has made clear she won't back down on what is hers. The torture thing was a good motivator and Yomotsuka knew that, but there is no indication she would have let it happen.
2. Perhaps due to your dislike of the scenario you overlooked the authorial intent of this whole development, which is that Yomotsuka had perfect confidence that Toudou would succeed. That is the main conceit of that arc in fact. Yomotsuka sees Toudou's strengths more than anyone else and is using them on purpose. She knew that Toudou is like a cockroach that will do its utmost to survive even nuclear fallout and that she has gathered quite the circle of abnormally talented friends around herself. And lastly she has no hesitation to speak her mind, which helped break Sachie's defenses.

While I could agree that Yomotsuka's feelings are not portrayed as strongly romantic, her affection and appreciation of Toudou are second only to Rin as of right now. You seem to be selling her short.
And to flip this around...

All chapter 25 is like Mochi on a soapbox yelling at us that these two have found mutual love.

..if this is Mochi yelling that Rin is endgame, then I would say the fact that Toudou had a crush on Yomotsuka for the entire manga and has basically mentioned her almost every single chapter in 5 volumes is Mochi yelling on a soap box that Toudou has the hots for prez. Meanwhile she has only felt any interest in Rin after Rin made clear that she likes her first, which plays nicely into her attention fetish.

I do not want to discount Rin at all, I think their interactions are amazing. But as far as Toudou goes, she has shown a much stronger sway to Yomotsuka for a far longer time and if we go by authorial intent, she was definitely set up as the main love interest until the latest chapters. So we can either see this as a swerve or (and this is far more likely in my opinion) Mochi sticks to the obvious path of not doing a mono pairing. There is no strong indication that there is supposed to be an endgame pairing.

One thing, though: Kamisada has a best friend who is in love with her.

And this of course does not mean Kamisada has to respond to those feelings, should they ever come out. It's not impossible of course, but you seem to be ignoring that Kamisada had an interest and implied feelings for Toudou since before she took the love potion. So if you wish to give Rin a place on the pedestal, make some room for the tough girl, eh?

(Oh, I'm not counting Yanagi because she isn't part of the circle of girls who claim to love Toudou. From what we've seen, she just thinks of Toudou as a piece of ass, and Toudou just likes sex with her because she's so cool and gorgeous. No feelings to be detected between them.)

There is plenty of room for her to get more chapters and to be more involved. I am intrigued by her hinted backstory and why exactly she has to avoid school. This seems to be the next major conflict in the works. The question is whether that will lead to her falling for Toudou or bring up a crazy ex-girlfriend. Both seem equally likely and entertaining.

but, then again, with the data we have, I have to admit that it's not 100% certain for now.

I'd say.

last edited at Jun 29, 2023 6:04PM

@Yasako

I'm not really bothered by het if it's a towards anything resembling a female player surrogate since I can just detach.

It's so odd that this is even applicable in a game where you technically play as the father. Regardless, if a game has yuri options I will staunchly ignore all het as best as I can. I do not play yuri games to experience het content. If I do engage with het works then I obviously already made up my mind to deal with it and can appreciate it more naturally.

I do not mind missing out on 100% completion in this case, that's for sure.

they fight over Rose. Like, what are you doing? That's the entire opposite reason of why you would go for poly, practically speaking?

I hear that is the ultimate fantasy of most straight women. Two hot guys who fight over you.
Imagine me rolling my eyes.

I wish the NPC/villager romance endings had more content. Rebecca is sooooo cute. I had to turn off the part of my brain that remembered her age (I wouldn't have had to if she only joined the town when Rose hit 15 or if she was even two years younger though rip) but she's still so sweet with Rose.

I like Rebecca too and this is going back to my statement that the game definitely leans more towards het romance. Out of the 7 female love interests, 3 are immobile NPCs with very limited interactions and involvement (Rebecca, Mary and Connie). Lebsa and Gwyneth being house leaders also only hang out at the base, but at least they have more general presence. Meanwhile all the direct male love interests can appear all over the map and have a lot of involvement with the world and each other. The only stationary ones are the real outliers like Mark (that one knight who never shows his face) and the blacksmith and the boatman who both don't actually romance Rose themselves (thank the goddess for that brrr).

You'd think Nina fails in the androgyny metric, but she has a mullet, so like, even applying the male standards, she passes, if barely.

A mullet is not a masculine hairstyle, it is unisex, but I suppose that is what makes it androgynous in your mind? Also final year/adult Nina has no mullet, she has long free flowing hair. In general I actually like the sprite changes in the winter year a lot. Nina definitely gets the best glow-up though.

@h3x

Finished Flowers series.
-printemps- 7/10
-ete- 8/10
-automne 6+/10
-hiver- 6/10
Yeah, the grande finale was disappointing.

Putting Printemps above Automne should be a violation of the Geneva Conventions. I have seen war crimes less gruesome! I can only assume this evaluation is pairing related or something and not an objective assessment of the writing.
Automne is still objectively better written than Printemps and Hiver though, whether someone likes it or not. Ete is rather popular and it often is a head to head race between these two, but I generally see it come down to pairings. EriChido is simply that good, so it is not hard to see why Ete often wins out for people. On the other hand those who do not like Ete generally think it is too much fluff with very little actual advancement of the plot. It is definitely the lightest course in the 4 set meal of Flowers.

That aside, on the prior pages me and a few other posters had some... intense discussions about Hiver and I did indeed find myself on the same side as you, one who is a bit disappointed with it. Though I would not rate it that low because of it. It stumbled in a few crucial places, but it still hit the emotional highs it needed and serves well as a cap on the series.

last edited at Jun 28, 2023 6:00PM

As good as this series is, I'm not going to pay for it twice.

While I strongly disagree... Who said anything about paying twice?

@Iuinthoron

I just finished the last Flowers game

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for the physical release that should have been out already at the end of last year, but somehow still isn't...

I hope you do not make your playthrough dependent on that physical release. I fear you may never play the game then. My advice is to play the digital release and then play the physical release again. Any excuse to replay these phenomenal novels is good!

@Giftnova

It's fine, this is one of the few benefits of having sleep disorders and literally no sleep schedule, it let's you binge a lotta shit in a short amount of time xD

That sounds... awful. My condolences. I have a friend with very strong insomnia, so I know the trial and tribulations through osmosis. I can't imagine sleep deprivation enhanced the experience, but it's good that you take it in stride.

@Yasako

Re: the post about Volcano Princess...
You forgot to mention the fact that Mona and Gwyneth are friends. I was very pleasantly surprised by certain developments in that regard.

I tried to be very brief with my post as you can surely tell (hahaha), but yes, there are infinite details I have not elaborated on. It was just a recommendation post. I can talk about this game for eternity to be honest~
However, I agree on Gwyneth and Mona. That poly ending is my favorite in the game right now.

Also, I feel like while there are more het options, the game expects the player to match Rose and Nina on the first playthrough. Until you get used to the game's mechanics, Nina is the most reliable party member. She's also the first party member (aka romance target) you interact with and has the most events you're forced to see. Also she's cute. Also the moe of the fact that she stays short but Rose, who started out much smaller than the comparatively more ikemen Nina, ends up a fair amount taller.

I cannot say whether that was the intention by the devs, but Nina has a very strong presence unlike most of the other female love interests, that is for certain. She has to do the heavy lifting in all the school events too. She is the only girl you can dance with during the school festivals and the like. And she is so very charmingly confident about it too.

(though I would not call her ikemen per se (not just because I dislike using that term on girls))

Speaking of Rose growing, the events where she grows taller seem to differ sometimes for reasons I do not know. My Rose has had different heights in different playthroughs. It's a true mystery to me.

As for the game giving some more weight to yuri options, if Nina is the starter pack of love interests, then Lebsa is certainly the final boss of love interests (heh). Her plot related involvement and special ending conditions make her stand out the most by far. After all there is no other love interest who is affected by the True Ending.

By the way, Mona is the absolute best party member due to her tier 3 skill, meaning the ideal party composition in most cases is just The Girls. lol

Nina's healing is certainly a good reason to take her along early on, though I feel Ze's petrification shot is just far better than a heal. Mona is very strong, no denying that. I still think Rose's third skill (pick Sunbird) is the most OP in the game and honestly makes it very easy for her to solo dungeons.

Also, I went for a poly het ending twice because I was praying it'd be like the yuri one I got before and I could create boys kissing boys, just for giggles. Unfortunately this didn't work out. God hates me.

It's amusing you thought a reverse harem would give you BL, but thankfully I tend to avoid either, so I did not have to live with that disappointment haha (no denying that some of those poly endings specifically exist for the fujoshi crowd to fantasize though).
The only het poly ending I forced myself to go through is the Gwyneth and Kenneth sibling poly route. There is no way I would not get a romance ending involving Gwyneth and I perceive Ken more like... a harmless pet that comes as a set with his sister. It was a cute ending. It also helped that I got it during my Volcano Queen profession ending. It just made so much sense!

last edited at Jun 28, 2023 1:41AM

And thus ends Kinniku Taro's attempt to proliferate his lolicon fetish across the yuri community. I will never not be amused by this absurd insistence to focus on breasts that simply do not exist. Poor Hino got absolutely no focus for the mere crime of having an average grown body.
I believe he just lost all control around the the time he introduced an actual grade schooler and very randomly threw Omichi at her just to have someone validate the feelings of loving a kid, but good on him for putting the "let's wait until you grow up" clause in the "I am in love with this grade-schooler right now" legal debate.

Joking aside, this was a manga I sort of enjoyed looking forward to binging, because if you do not have to wait for updates the incredibly slow pacing actually doesn't feel that way anymore. When binging the manga it feels like incremental progress is properly made. Was the body swap arc necessary? No. Did the very sudden rush of Hino development save the manga from its repetitive slump? Yes.

Goodbye Hino-san no baka. You truly were a manga.

last edited at Jun 28, 2023 12:55AM

I just finished the last Flowers game after spending the last week or so binge playing them all for the first time and. Woof. What a ride. I laughed, i cried, I yelled at the screen in frustration, and i loved every second of it!

You binged them in a week?! Skipping that much sleep sounds unhealthy! Even I took around a month to finish the three volumes that were out at the time. I do think playing them all in succession (with some healthy breaks) is best actually, as it lets you vividly remember all the details and catch even the smallest references and parallels in each successive release.

And now that it's over there's nowhere for these feelings to goooo

There are some drama CDs with extra content, but I have only found sparse translations for those. It is worth looking into if you are not sated just yet. There was also the artbook/compendium with extra information that was mentioned a couple of pages back. It seems to contain even vital information that would have been better off included in the actual VNs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XKtPmodBvA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNcQfkf0te4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qxpj80W2sM
This Youtuber went above and beyond to even recreate some of the drama CD scenes with the sprites and text boxes. This should be a treat for everyone who has or hasn't listened to them before (I picked the only 3 videos on that channel that matter, the rest is not relevant)

Considering Hiyama already admitted to herself that she can't say no, the time where things will go frisky is entirely dependent on when Kimura feels like rewarding her girlfriend after bearing all the teasing. Prepare at least a couple of defibrilators for that promised night.

I am glad that I chose to stick with the series beyond its repetitive beginning. I made no secret of how skeptical I was early on and how easily this could have devolved into a dead horse being kicked to dust, but the author knew what she was doing. Now I will always remeber this manga as a positive reminder of why sticking with a stumbling work can be rewarding.

last edited at Jun 26, 2023 6:19AM

godly manga. mochi's matured so much as an author

Mochi has always been a talented writer in my opinion. There is a yuri work on Dynasty that is written by Mochi, but drawn by another artist and I suspect many people would not even have been able to tell it was a Mochi story. The writing was just so good and, well, "normal" for a lack of a better term. Mochi's stories are deliberately more out there and weird, but they can absolutely go into deep or classic romance territory too.

I think what is much more impressive and noticable is how much Mochi matured as an artist. Again, to cite my own comment on that other work, "Professional art with Mochi's writing is the ultimate combination that elevates the work to its full potential." It used to be like that anyway. But now I can confidently say that Mochi's unique and personalized style is not an inhibition anymore. This manga looks good, especially in the later volumes. Volume 4 is a good example of Mochi trying out new things. It is no coincidence that there was such an action focus all of a sudden. The artwork showed off what Mochi can do now and to me it seemed like an artistic flex. Spreading of the wings.

The sense of making standout, yet simple character designs was always there. You will not confuse any character in this manga for another. This is one of the most important principles in manga and anime as an artform I believe. Too often artists draw the same exact character over and over and just change the hairstyle or outfit.
(Of course the lack of realism does lend itself to more bizarre designs and I understand that works trying to emulate real human looks are naturally handicapped in that regard)

Just looking at facial expressions, posing and outfit choice, Mochi's art is perfectly capable of drawing the eye and giving nuance that the older works definitely lacked.

last edited at Jun 26, 2023 4:56AM

Canon.

After reading the recent chapters again I feel a tangible shift in the way the story is conveyed. The most major shift is perhaps Toudou herself. Beyond her admitting her utterly uncontainable homosexuality, there is the fact that she is... less of a bastard so to speak. She used to be completely mean-spirited and honestly, beyond redemption. This is why her getting her comeuppance by the end of a chapter felt so satisfying. She was the villain and she got her just desserts. In the same way this was a way to justify when bad things happened to her - bad karma.

And while this dynamic is still retained in broad strokes, it definitely feels different. Toudou is acting less like a bastard and more like a goofy narcissist. Her foul-mouthed and combative nature are now treated more as strengths than flaws. It helps her break the ice and force other characters to show their true nature. And beyond that she can actually act... nice. She considers Kuroshiro a friend, she constantly forgives her horrible "best friend" her transgessions, she actually has a group to hang with now (inclding the himejoshi fortune teller). Then there is the matter of Rin, where once she didn't feel bullied or attacked anymore she opened up to her considerably and had wholesome interactions with her (and even before that she always praised her indirectly about all her talents).

If I had to pinpoint this shift it would be around the time she used the love potion on the teacher again. That was her absolute lowest point where she acted the most petty and disgusting (and got molested in the worst way as comeuppance). After that things started to change. I suppose when she got close to Rin and generally opened up to yuri after having sex with Yomotsuka. The question is whether Mochi course corrected after perhaps realizing it got too unpleasant or if this was always an intended bit of character growth.

Regardless, we went from an evil bastard trope to lovable no-filter agent of chaos and I find this to be a pleasant development.

It seems like Toudou isn't getting every one in her harem. The pairings are perfect so far.

If anything Toudou is orbiting Yomotsuka's harem it seems. That pres has some serious game (and apparently an S&M dungeon). No wonder she was so experienced in lesbian sex from chapter 1 and not to mention, completely unaffected by the fact she did this stuff to another girl. She does it on the regular.

last edited at Jun 23, 2023 1:52AM

I saved up chapters to get through the alleged rough patch of Volume 4, but I cannot comprehend why the original translators disliked it so. The action was a fun breath of fresh air and it really displayed Toudou's friend circle well, while also being genuinely funny. Yomotsuka being absolutely smooth during the entire event, avoiding exerting herself or getting hurt and ultimately reaping all the benfits while also flirting with her target was truly a sigh to behold.

With that out of the way, we have by now passed the threshold where the title is no longer necessary. Toudou does not even attempt to deny her attraction to girls anymore and is in fact pining for all the hotties around her. I like the constant mentions of what parts of the girls she finds attractive, her blushing at girls being dominant with her etc. She has never showed a single detailed interest in that teacher that is now long forgotten, but she has always been clear about how hot she finds girls. Good to see her being honest, especially in the latest chapters wth Yanagi and Rin. Surprisingly she seems to be the type who will have casual sex as long as it's a "hot babe".

Naturally she has an attention fetish, so that explains her focus on "say that I belong to you/I'm yours", but that also feeds into the harem dynamic. More attention and love gives her more happiness hormones. I seriously find it hard to imagine a scenario where she picks one of the girls to be her exclusive partner. It still seems to me that Yomotsuka is her favorite (also the one who took all her firsts), but I can't deny how genuine her affection for Rin seems now.

last edited at Jun 21, 2023 10:59AM

With this kind of dynamic I believe the most interesting thing to explore is how they ended up having their first time together. It is easy to see them continuing to hook up angrily after that first hurdle, but I am really interested to know how that first experience transpired. With neither acknowledging their interest in each other and both believing the other wants boyfriends it would be exceptionally bizarre for them to end up in that spot. Perhaps alcohol played a role, but that is almost too mundane.

I imagine a scenario (perhaps in high school) where they piss each other off so much and intentionally lie about their experience with boys to the point where they rile each other up into making it a contest about who is better in the sack. Of course by this point in the present day they acknowledge quite easily how they are attracted to each other's bodies, but during that illusive first time it would be really intriguing to see them slowly open up to what they like and where they feel good.

Alas, I am writing pointless plot ideas again...

last edited at Jun 21, 2023 11:15AM

Do not be sad that it ended, but be happy that it happened. That is all the comfort we have when something wonderful hits its conclusion. And wonderful this story truly was!

I did not expect the ring from Hiyama's constant gifts to come back after all this time - and with such a bold marriage proposal at that! Although Hiyama is as innocent as a young girl in love and doesn't understand what marking means, she still seems to have developed some minor backbone in the final chapter and actually survived Kimura's affections. The future looks bright for these two. I am not even mad that we never got a proper kiss on screen.

I would love to see a timeskip sequel chapter where we see lovehwipped bottom Hiyama being showered in affection and being pulled by the leash by her dominant wife Kimura in university or domestic life. One can only dream~

Good news everyone!
As mentioned before the Akaiito and Aoishiro remasters were both rather lacking due to the subpar translations. There were also the resolution issues that made the game crash or impossible to read.

Well, I was just given a link to a fix where both games are patched with the fan translations. While everyone probably is aware of the Aoishiro translation, some may not know that the Akaiito translation project was actually 90% finished before it was dropped. This patch will overwrite the official translation with the fan patch in all parts that were completed and will leave the rest to the official one. The Aoishiro one on the other hand is of course complete and will replace the horrible machine tanslation of the official release.

https://rentry.org/akaiito
Akai Ito Zohar's translation
The original fan translation, adapted to the Remaster.
This translation was never fully completed -- most of
Sakuya's route and some of the endings are untranslated.
Any missing content was replaced by the Remaster's translation.
https://files.catbox.moe/7wl64t.zip - [19/06/2023]

Akai Ito 1366x768 resolution patch
The Remaster expects your screen to be 1920x1080.
This patch lowers it to 1366x768 and scales some
of the interface according to that resolution.
It might not work on smaller resolutions.
https://files.catbox.moe/4f3etb.zip

Aoi Shiro Wings of Yuri translation
The original fan translation, adapted to the Remaster.
https://files.catbox.moe/icqog2.zip - [19/06/2023]

Aoi Shiro 1366x768 resolution patch
See above
https://files.catbox.moe/0ti8oa.zip

Credit goes to an anon on 4chan apparently. I am sorry that I can't thank them personally, but that is the nature of anonymous boards I suppose. Keep in mind that this probably has not been tested by a large pool of users and may have a few issues that have not been discovered yet. Always keep a backup of the original files.

last edited at Jun 20, 2023 9:18AM

She asked if it was A) and Watanabe said that wasn't it. She did the math, and because she's not interested, she moved to head her off with "I'm not into this in real life."

If it were as innocuous and sane as just saying that she is not interested this would not have left such a long lasting scar. She in no uncertain terms denied that lesbian relationships or love are real and only has a vague concept of fictionality of yuri as a genre to fall back on to dodge that bigotry stigma now.

The least damning possbility would be that she is indeed a lesbian or bi herself and just got burned in a similar scenario, so she coped by putting it entirely into the world of fiction for herself. "Yuri is just fiction" could well be a reflection of her thinking that fantastical scenarios where two girls could find each other and be happy are just not possible, because she made a bad experience.

It is not good, but her own cynicsm affecting her response would be more relatable. The fact that Watanabe clearly broke their promise to go to the same school and broke off all contact implies that maybe some things were left unspoken. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt there, because this feels like a loose thread for now.

Lovely recommendation!

I wanna try it already, but my laptop "apparently" had some issues with steam recently so I'll have to wait for a while...

already put it in my wishlist and will keep my eye on it tho~

Far be it from me to encourage piracy, but if it is only a temporary measure until official means become available to you, then I will say that there are other ways to get the game.

beyond the fact that you are a father who also had a wife once

do any raising sim ever give you the chance of being a mother? I am curious how often the gender of the parent matters, if at all, in this kind of game

I cannot think of any raising sim with a playable mother actually. Then again I haven't played many beyond the classics like Princess Maker (which this game is very inspired by) and Long Live the Queen.

Cute Bite is a very special vampire raising sim which I also have on the recommendation list though, in which you play the female servant of the young vampire lady and raise her to return to her adult form and power. She can take any role depending on how things turn out, from mother figure to lover.

However, Volcano Princess has a good reason for why you play as the father and not the mother, which is tied to its story, so I cannot actually go into it. Safe to say though that the parents could not be interchanged to achieve the same result.

last edited at Jun 10, 2023 1:01PM