Preorders for our very first BL game, No, Thank You!!! are now open! Get your order in before the game goes on sale on February 27th for 10% off!

This summer vacation begins with a car accident…

Our protagonist protects a man from an out of control car, but gets hit and loses his memory in the process. The man he saved happens to be the owner of a jazz bar, sótano. Out of sympathy for his hapless savior, the man decides to set him up with a job and a place to live.

From the outside, sótano looks like a cozy little jazz bar, but behind the scenes they solve problems that the police and legitimate detective agencies won’t touch. The staff there give our protagonist the name “Haru”. He gradually makes his way deeper into the organization, and the hearts and lives of the staff, while working as an apprentice bartender. But just who is Haru really…?

Developed by pa-rade, a new BL game brand comprised primarily of employees of seasoned eroge developer ClockUp––including artist Shigeo Hamashima––No, Thank You!!! sports an elegant and modern interface, 1024 x 768 (fully uncensored) graphics, and a whole slew of unique features (character body hair settings, background vocals, and more!). While this is the first foray into the BL genre for most of the development team, they do not disappoint! The game eschews many of the genre’s conventions, creating a rather refreshing (and titillating) experience. You’ve never seen BL quite like this before!

For more information about the game, visit the game site or take a moment to check out the free demo.

Hello again, Neko here. Seems it is time for me to comment on another game, this time eden*.

Oh hey, another minori title! I’ve actually been looking forward to this one for a good while, because, well, Sion is freaking adorable.

That expression is not fair, dammit!

Main reason I was requested to test this is to play the role of the sorriest excuse for a military advisor ever. Spent time in the Navy during a time when we actually were not at war. Bombed Iraq once, but that was normal, even then. Seeing as this has a bit of a military theme/setting, I helped with getting terms and stuff right (granted, the Navy is a waaay different beast with entirely different terms and traditions, and I had to look stuff up during this…but hey, I was available…). My first challenge has to do with the protagonist, Warrant Officer Haruna—explaining what the hell a Warrant Officer is.

Okay, two answers… First, I’m not sure if even the military knows for sure.

Second, from a fellow sailor: they’re gods, transcended from enlisted and not accepted by officers. Like Hercules.

Basically they are experts in their given fields. It is very hard to explain, and they are very rare, and tend to be old, owing to the sheer experience needed. WO Haruna is very, very, very young to be one. He is either exceptionally good, or they are desperate. Possibly both.

Aside from checking military related stuff, I quite enjoyed this project. As usual, minori’s visual, voice and music quality are outstanding. For once, I also found every character to be quite likeable.

Despite the end of the world scenario, and some heartrending moments, I found the overall message to be quite positive as well.

To close, I will admit one thing. One screenshot made me want to test this for years. One which I shall provide without context, just like DS did with me…

Have fun, Neko signing out~

No, Thank You!!! follows the exploits of a mysterious young man after he saves the life of the kindly middle-aged man and starts working at the man’s jazz bar. He soon discovers that there’s more to this cozy little jazz bar than meets the eye. As our amnesiac protagonist delves deeper into both the back-alley dealings of the bar and his attractive male coworkers, we do begin to wonder if the bar is the only thing with a hidden side to it…

To start, let me introduce the game’s protagonist––he loses his memory in the process of rescuing Kouichi, the bar’s owner, from a wayward vehicle and can’t even remember his own name. Thankfully for him, Kouichi is a nice guy who offers to give him a job and a place to live until he recovers. When he starts at Kouichi’s jazz bar, sótano, the other employees there give him the name ‘Haru’.

Name: Haru
Voice Actor: Tetsuto Furukawa (Also voices Nikola Tesla in Gahkthun)
Age: 22 (He thinks)
Height: 5’9” (175 cm)
Voice Sample:

“Good afternoon, Haru here! Hehehe, it’s a pretty great name, isn’t it? Oh, so, I’ve got uh… amnesia? Or whatever it’s called, so, I uh… What was it again? Umm… Well, whatever! My favorite things are boobs and butts! It’s been nice talking to you!”

Haru’s (probably) in his early 20s (he thinks), but he can’t remember exactly. He may have amnesia, but he didn’t lose his personality in the process either. His personality and mannerisms may be somewhat childish, but at the same time he has unusually (suspiciously?) detailed knowledge of some peculiar subjects. He’s also unabashedly bisexual and enjoys groping and hitting on his coworkers––no one’s quite sure if that’s just another side effect of the accident, or if he was always like this.

He’s a pretty unusual protagonist for a BL game. Not only does he play the ‘seme'(pitcher rather than catcher, so to speak) role during sex, but he’s a very proactive character in general. Haru takes the lead both in pursuing the other leads and advancing the story. He’s also bright and cheerful with a sense of humor (as juvenile as it might be). I find him to be really charming and a refreshing change of pace from your standard BL lead. Oh, and as far as subverting BL genre conventions goes, while Haru is the seme in the sex scenes, he’s not silent and emotionless during the deed. I should also note that while he offers to switch it up in just about every route, it never ends up happening.

As silly as Haru might be, there’s decidedly more to him, and the game as a whole, than jokes and casual sexual harassment. I don’t want to spoil it, but if you’re concerned that the game looks like it’s just a light-hearted nukige and therefore not worth your time, I will say that the demo (and beginning of the game) is, uh… let’s go with ‘intentionally misleading’.

With development starting to reach its final stages, we have a brand new demo for The Menagerie from Lupiesoft available for download! Download it now for a glimpse at the story and the hot futa action!

The Menagerie Teaser from Peter Tao on Vimeo.

Today, we’re proud to present a few words on eden* from Kaitsu!

First and foremost, while you’re reading eden*, you’ll need a box of tissues. You can use them when you’re playing PLUS+MOSAIC too, but you’re mostly going to need them during the main story. Many staff and beta testers have commented that it’s “oh god, my dog just died” level of sadness if that tells you anything… So prepare yourselves!

So before I get into the nitty-gritty part, I’d like to take a moment to share my experience with eden*. I have been eagerly waiting for its release for quite some time now and I can definitely say, without a shadow of a doubt, that it did not disappoint. I was introduced to it shortly after I joined NNL, which was just a few weeks shy of us releasing ef – a fairy tale of the two unofficially in 2010. My interest was immediately piqued when the translator for both ef and eden* promised me a story of maids in a pre-apocalyptic love story, and the gross sobbing that would come along with it. However, after ef was officially licensed and released digitally (and now as a physical copy!), eden* was put on the back burner and was put on my to-read list. We stayed optimistic on someday releasing it, and after many exchanges, hundreds of emails, and one jumping up and down like a major derp session later, releasing eden* finally became a reality. Naturally I was excited, but having only read a fourth of the game back in our NNL days, I didn’t have much else to go on but remained positive about the content, as I’ve been a minori supporter/fangirl from the start and I intended to read it one way or another. Once the plan to release eden* and funding Supipara came to fruition, I was over the moon. I cannot even begin to describe my excitement when we announced the acquisition at the Otakon panel back in August.

Istillneedtouploadthatpanelvideo… /cough

Best. Maid. Ever.

Soon after, add on another hundred or so emails, and a beta test later, we’re finally here! Having said all of that, did eden* live up to my hyped expectations?

Absolutely.

While this is a linear/kinetic novel, it does not hinder the overall feel and overwhelming beauty that this story tells. Everything from the cinematics, the backgrounds, the music, and the voices… all of these amazing factors contribute to a gorgeous, bittersweet visual novel that will give you so many feels… so many. There were moments where I can recall going “Aww~” or “Wait, what?!” as I played, and feeling as if my heart was ripped out of my chest during… certain scenes. A story that really captivates you from start to finish, especially one that is as short (it’s about 15 hours’ worth of reading material) as eden*, that definitely says something! Some visual novels take a handful of character routes and sequels to really capture your heart, but this game does it so flawlessly, effortlessly, and seamlessly that you don’t feel like you need more. It wraps up everything in a nice, pristine and sad little bow.

Oh shi-

Lastly, the one thing that stuck out for me the most was that Ryou, the MC, was voiced. Obviously most MC’s in visual novels are not voiced, so it was nice to hear Ryou being a sarcastic asshole while Elica flirted and giggled her way into my heart. Mm… Elica…

Speaking of which, did you know that quite a few of the minori staff and cast members from previous titles (like ef) returned and worked on eden*? Obviously it shouldn’t be a total surprise, but notable staff members include Makoto Shinkai, Tenmon (music composition), Eiichiro Yanagi (music composition), Yu Kagami (story), and mikage (story). Pretty impressive, right? But what about the seiyuu? They are important too!

Ryou (MC) – Junji Majima. He voiced Ayumu in Is This A Zombie and Ryuji in Toradora.
Sion – Yumi Shimura. She voiced Chisame Hasegawa in Negima.
Elica – Yumiko Nakajima. She voiced Yuuko Amamiya in ef.
Lavie – Eriko Nakamura. She voiced Haruka Amami in Idolmaster.
Inaba – Koichi Tochika. He voiced Yuu Himura in ef.
Maya – Mai Goto. She voiced Mizuki Hayama in ef, as well as Ryuubi in Shin Koihime Musou.
Natsume – Junko Okada. She also voiced Kei Shindou in ef.

Whew. So much talent!

I hope after reading my little post, you consider taking the time to check out eden*. This all-CG visual novel was created by an amazing team, and both minori and MangaGamer staff alike went above and beyond to ensure that this was a fantastic release from start to finish. It’ll be money well spent!

Princess Evangile is now available for Pre-Order! Get 10% off if you pre-order the adult or the all-ages version from us now, and both come with a free Steam Key!

The full version will be available on March 27th, 2015, but you can check out the demo on our website and Steam now!

Today we’ll be introducing two of No, Thank You!!!‘s four pursuable leads: Hiroyuki Akiyama and Ryu Kurosawa.

Starting from the youngest of the guys we have the oh-so friendly Hiroyuki Akiyama!

Name: Hiroyuki Akiyama
Voice Actor: Kazuya Uemura
Age: 22
Height: 5’10” (177cm)
Voice Sample:

“Um, I’m Hiroyuki Akiyama. I’m 22. I think I’m about… 5’9″? I work as a bartender at bar called sótano. My hobbies? Well… I’m so busy with work, so I uh–– Oh! I do jog and exercise just about every day, and I also––”
(Haru): “Masturbate!”
“M-Masturbate!? Don’t say that! Oh, uh, no, I–– It’s not what it sounds like!”

Don’t let the T-shirt fool you, Hiroyuki is straight (he has no idea what his shirt says) and he’s not really one to fool around with people casually––or at all even: he’s still a virgin.

Hiroyuki’s a friendly, cheerful guy. He’s the first member of sótano to really warm up to Haru. He’s never had a girlfriend before even though he has no trouble talking to women. I guess you could say he’s a bit of a romantic and kind of old-fashioned. Though, as a 22 year old dude with an average-to-high sex drive and no girlfriend, Haru’s rather forward approach proves quite effective.

On the work side of things, Hiroyuki’s diligent and eager. He really admires Ryu and Maki and wants to learn all he can from them. As far as the unofficial business goes, he’s probably a little overeager even. He always wants to do the right thing and help people out, but, well… let’s just say Hiroyuki doesn’t exactly have the best of luck in general.

He’s not exactly naive and he’s far from stupid, but sometimes his enthusiasm gets the better of him and he says a little more than he probably should––he sort of wears his heart on his sleeve.

The creators recommend playing Hiroyuki’s route first and I’m inclined to agree. It’s sort of the introductory route and a fair portion of the first part of the game tries to steer your toward him. Not that you have to play in the recommended order, just putting it out there. His route is often described as the most traditional BL route and it’s definitely the one most closely resembling a romantic story.

The next oldest of the pursuable guys and nearly Hiroyuki’s polar opposite is Ryu Kurosawa.

Name: Ryu Kurosawa
Voice Actor: Lee
Age: 27
Height: 5’11” (181 cm)
Voice Sample:

“Ryu Kurosawa. 27 years old. 5’11″ 150lbs. Occupation: bartender. I play piano about three times a week as well, but it isn’t my primary profession. I have no interest in women or any desire to get married. …Men? Hah. I have work to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Ryu is the resident tsundere glasses type! He’s sótano’s head bartender and occasional pianist. He puts on a charming, affable face when customers are around, but the ‘real’ Ryu is uptight, neurotic and anti-social.

He takes his work very seriously and doesn’t tolerate idiots. Naturally, he and Haru are at odds from the get-go. Ryu prizes efficiency above all. Whoever can’t keep up with him gets left behind. On the unofficial side of things, Ryu tends take on more of an organizational or investigative role, but he’s not exactly helpless in a fight either.

As far as how Haru wins over this icy, no-nonsense glasses guy… Well, Ryu seems to acquiesce to Haru’s advances rather readily, almost too readily for someone with such a prickly persona. Is there something else going on or is Haru’s technique just that enticing?

Ryu’s route is recommended to be played last, since, without going into details, his route probably provides the most closure overall.

Today, for the next 27hrs, we’re offering a special VNtines Day Sale with up to 50% off on select titles from our catalog, as well as a special giveaway offer! Click below for more details!

Da Capo @ 50 % off → $14.98 (Hardcopy @ 25% off!)
Da Capo Innocent Finale @ 50 % off → $9.98
Da Capo 2 @ 50 % off → $22.48 (Hardcopy @ 25% off!)
Demon Master Chris @ 50 % off → $8.48
Edelweiss @ 50 % off → $14.98
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Shuffle! @ 50 % off → $19.98 (Hardcopy @ 25% off!)
Tick! Tack! @ 50 % off → $17.48
We Love Master @ 50 % off → $14.98

For our giveaway contest, we’re looking to see who you spend VNtines Day with! To enter, just tweet the following link to our sale (http://bit.ly/VNtines) along with a picture of your 2D significant other, and use the hashtag #VNtinesday along with @MangaGamer so we can track your entry! The contest will last for the duration of our VNtinesday sale, and three lucky entrants will win their choice of a free copy of No Thank You!!! or Princess Evangile. Don’t miss out on your chance to win!

Today we’ll be introducing the last two of No, Thank You!!!‘s four pursuable leads: Maki and Kouichi Inui.

Continuing with the age order, next is Maki (probably):

Name: Maki
Voice Actor: Takemaru Matsuoka
Age: 35?
Height: 6’3” (192cm)
Voice Sample:

“I’m Maki. Talk? About what? You want a long line? (thunk) This is a Mexican tequila. It’s an añejo, which means it’s been aged for at least a year. It’s good neat or on the rocks. If I’m at home I’ll do shots an–… Is that long enough?”

Maki is sótano’s manager (in name only, Ryu does most of the actual work) and head chef. He doesn’t speak much or emote much and no one knows a whole lot about him. Maki’s not even entirely sure how old he is. I guess you could say he’s the quiet mysterious type taken to an extreme.

Maki’s an extremely talented chef and bartender, but he’s also apathetic to an almost comical degree. Maki doesn’t like wasting energy on things that he finds annoying, like speaking for example (a whopping 40% of his lines are “……” with some kind of grunt or sigh for the voicing!). Instead of arguing or complaining, Maki opts to put the bare minimum effort in if he’s forced to do something, or he’ll just ignore or endure the annoyance.

Oddly, Maki’s the only one of the main four who just rubs Haru the wrong way right off the bat. Haru doesn’t really even understand it himself, but something about Maki just pisses him off. But Haru’s not about to let that get him down! A challenge can be interesting too after all.

Maki’s route is a little different from the others in that it’s actually quite action heavy. The last couple chapters really make your heart pound (in more ways than one!). And despite Maki’s characteristic deadpan blank stare, it’s actually quite an emotional route.

The last of the pursuable leads in No, Thank You!!! is sótano’s owner, Kouichi.

Name: Kouichi Inui
Voice Actor: Tamaru Ryu
Age: 45
Height: 6’1” (186cm)
Voice Sample:

“The name’s Kouichi Inui. Huh? My age? I guess I’m 45. It’s not something I usually think about. …If you want my height and weight, I just had a physical, so I know exactly: 6’1″ 202lbs. I’m not overweight. I’ve got a doctor’s note and everything. Apparently my cholesterol is a little high, but… I’m pretty sure that’s normal for someone my age. Right?”

Kouichi is a kind, middle-aged man who has a propensity to sort of collect oddballs in his attempts to help people out. As much as he tries to be practical about things, he really hates seeing people in trouble, especially if he can do something to help them out.

He lives alone in a small apartment littered with empty beer cans and sake bottles. He knows that, at his age, he should probably try to eat better, but he’s got a taste for comfort foods and booze. That said, he’s still in pretty good physical condition and can definitely hold his own in a fight.

He’s something of a fatherly figure to the guys at sótano. Though, that doesn’t stop Haru from wanting to get in his pants, putting Kouichi in a bit of an awkward position because Haru kind of reminds him of a certain someone…

Route-wise, it’s generally recommended that you play Kouichi’s route second or third. It’s a pretty heavy route and it’s just not the best route to end on. It’s not like going off the suggested order will ruin anything, of course. I know Kouichi (and Maki too for that matter) is pretty far off the usual BL character types, but you’d really be doing yourself a disservice if you skipped out on his route (or any of them really). All the guys are great in different ways and you really don’t get the full picture of who Haru is without them all––so, seriously, even if they’re not normally the type you go for, you should really give them a chance!

 eden* is a simple but unique visual novel from minori, the developers of ef – a fairy tale of the two. It isn’t an epic tale like what you might find an Eushully game. It doesn’t ooze melodrama like a Key game. It doesn’t have the plot twists of a Nitroplus game. It’s just a touching, heartfelt story.

eden* is short and sweet, clocking in at maybe 15 hours long. It focuses more on its characters than its story. It will leave an impact, even if it doesn’t leave you in tears. It is deliciously bittersweet.

A Study of Character

As a character study, eden* focuses on exploring a cast of interesting characters. I won’t cover them in too much detail, you can read more about them here. eden*’s characters are wonderful for a few reasons:

First, they are simply interesting people. Even the characters who seem to be less inspired have elements that make a huge difference. For example, Elica, who appears to be just an unassuming maid, is also a genetically engineered genius.

 Second, eden* skillfully uses flashbacks to bolster character development, and not as a replacement. It’s hard to get into this without encroaching on spoiler territory, but each character’s personality and identity is shaped by their troubled pasts. They are just as much defined by their flaws as their strengths.

Lastly, eden* manages to tell a complete story about all of the main characters in a relatively short game, something I highly value and revere. As someone who no longer has the time to play 80+ hour visual novels, eden* is perfect.

Themes and Stuff

It’s hard to discuss eden*’s story without touching on spoilers, so I will instead ramble about some of the game’s themes.

In the first half of the game, eden* touches on some interesting science fiction concepts, such as the aforementioned genetic engineering and its morality. In addition, the military setting brings up topics such as politics and chain of command.

 The second half pulls a complete 180. It feels a lot like a fairy tale. The characters learn how to live life. They learn to persevere in the face of death. They learn that sometimes being selfish is okay.

Kastel compares the first half of eden* to Muv-Luv Unlimited. While a good comparison of setting, the atmosphere and mood is more similar to planetarian. I also disagree with his comparison for the second half of eden* for similar reasons, though mentioning what exactly he and I would compare is a bit of a spoiler.

It’s God Damn Beautiful

It’s god damn beautiful.

 eden* and ef do not share the same artist, but the similarity in art style is plain as day. The sprites and CG look amazing; what’s more, transitions between sprites and CG don’t feel jarring because of the sheer number of CGs and because sprites and CG look very similar. It also helps that non-CG scenes feel very dynamic due to character poses; sprite and camera movement; and animated eyes and mouths.

 The backgrounds are stunningly detailed. minori’s usage of light leaves me breathless at times, and eden* is no exception. eden* is easily the best-looking visual novel I’ve ever played.

 eden*’s soundtrack is no slouch, either. Composer Tenmon is famous for not just minori visual novels, but also Makoto Shinkai films. Speaking of which, Shinkai animated eden*’s the opening movie, and it’s god damn beautiful. As an aside, I still maintain that ef – a fairy tale of the two’s opening movie is Makoto Shinkai’s greatest work.

The Obligatory Seiyuu Section

I usually only cover the best voices in my tester’s corners, but Sion, Elica, and Lavie are all wonderfully voiced, so you’ll have to deal with a little more text than usual.

Sion’s seiyuu is Shimura Yumi. She has a couple anime roles, but mostly does eroge work, and quite notable eroge work at that, though the only game she’s been in that can be played in English is Arcana Heart. Sion’s voice is calm and gentle. But not in a weak or shy way. She is strong, reassuring, and sincere.

 Elica is voiced by the wonderful Nakajima Yumiko. For some incomprehensible reason, the only other notable eroge or anime she’s done is ef, where she played the delightful Amamiya Yuuko, one of, if not the most memorable voice I’ve ever heard in Japanese media. Hell, any media.

 Finally, we have Lavie, who is played by Nakamura Eriko, famous for her role as Haruka in the iDOLM@STER games and anime. She also has parts in some well-known eroge, like Aiyoku no Eustia. Her strong, emotive voice fits her personality to a t.

Conclusion

You should play eden*. It has something for everyone.

Lolis, maids, and girls with guns.

Tense action and the cutest romance you’ll ever see.

Tranquil satisfaction, painful regret, and cathartic redemption.

Breaking free of the past, living for the present, and forging ahead into the future.

Fulfilling lives and peaceful deaths.

At long last, they’re here! The oft-request hard-copies of Imouto Paradise are now available for pre-order! Copies ship out on March 16th, so order your copy today!

No, Thank you!!! has some interesting system features, so today we’ll be introducing some of the more unique game mechanics.

First off, the titular gimmick: the No, Thank You!!! button:

While the game does employ traditional text choices like these as well (they’re generally route-determining choices of who you opt to spend time with):

The game’s main gimmick is the No, Thank You!!! button. Basically, this button will pop up in the upper left-hand corner of the game screen––like this:

––whenever you trigger a ‘flag’ (a basic game mechanic for most visual novels and many other types of games, I guess you could think of a flag as a prerequisite for an event or ending). If you click the button, you can destroy the flag that’s just been triggered. You can also opt to ignore the button and leave the flag standing. Functionally, the NTY button is more or less equivalent to a traditional two-option text choice, but the unique thing about it is that the game doesn’t explicitly tell you what the decision is, you have to intuit from the situation what you’re saying ‘no, thank you’ to.

But don’t worry! If you get really stuck trying to get all the endings, once you get through a route once (with any ending), you have the option to turn ‘hint mode‘ on and the NTY button graphics will change to tell you what the correct choices are (the hints also give you a little more insight into what Haru’s thinking).

One of the game’s other unique features is the body hair options! Yes, that’s right, you can decide how much body hair you want displayed on each guy:

You might notice that not all of the characters have the same hair options, well, that’s because not all the characters are equally hairy. Ryu and Haru in this case only have pubic hair, so there’s no point in making it a separate option. The options affect both how sprites are displayed:

And how CGs are displayed:

However, it should be noted that it’s exclusively a visual option. The text doesn’t change and Haru does make a few references to body hair on occasion (there’s actually a shaving scene in one route that ends up looking pretty silly if you have all the hair turned off!). The body hair options have no effect on the story, so feel free to set it up to your liking! (You can change it up at any point in the game too.)

You might have also noticed on that screen that there’s not one, but three voice sliders for each character. What are “BG Vocals” and “BGF Vocals” you ask? Well, while it’s a common feature in traditional eroge, as far as I know NTY is the only BL game to have it: looping background vocals during h-scenes. “BG Vocals” are general breathing and moaning and “BGF Vocals” are the sucking and slurping sounds (made by the voice actors) used in fellatio scenes.

For example, here’s one of Hiroyuki’s BG Vocal tracks:

And here’s a BGF Vocal track from Kouichi (yes, even him):

Check out the demo to get a better idea of what the effect sounds like in context (Hiroyuki’s scene is probably the best example).

The game also has a nifty little feature called ‘Voice Collection’ which allows you to save your favorite (voiced) lines to listen to again later:

Hi, Good Haro here to talk about No, Thank You!!! today.

I guess I should start by saying that No, Thank You!!! might just be my favorite visual novel. I’m admittedly not as well read as some people, but there are scant few BL games that are on the same level as NTY in terms of storytelling (and also porn…). It’s been a real honor to have the opportunity to work on a game I love in an official capacity.

Usually you’d think six writers on a game would be a huge red flag, but the planning was so thorough and cohesive that you can hardly tell. You can’t see them in the game proper for obvious reasons, but the scripts are actually full of detailed notes about all sorts of things from backstories to notes for voice direction (there are even a couple scenes where all the voice acting notes are denoted in emoticons). The staff even released a book full of production documents and behind-the-scenes information after the game came out: it’s close to 120 pages of detailed character bios, story logistics (there’s a whole section dedicated to the characters’ daily schedules), and a lengthy fan Q&A section. Needless to say, the staff clearly put a lot of care into the game.

I wasn’t really expecting to like NTY so much when it first came out. All of the promotional material had been selling it as a silly nukige (with very nice art!) and the demo only reenforced that notion. I wasn’t expecting much of a story, so I was completely blown away when the story was not only interesting, but packed a real emotional punch.

I guess fundamentally, NTY is a character-driven game and if you really strip it down to the core, it’s all about exploring different aspects of Haru as a person, rather than just discovering his true identity. Each of the pursuable characters ends up developing a unique relationship with Haru––I think that was one of the most striking things about the game to me, the relationships aren’t cookie-cutter fall-in-love-live-happily-ever-after style affairs. The kind of ‘love’ that develops in each route is different and also sex has a very different meaning to each of the love interests. For some of them (like Hiroyuki) it’s something weighty and emotional, but for others (like Maki) it’s more of a means to an end than anything.

All of the characters are fantastic and even over a year later I’m hard pressed to pick a favorite because they’re all wonderful. I know for most people at least half the cast is probably not going to be to your usual taste, but please give them all a chance. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you do.

If grand, happy ends where everything is flowers and roses forever are your thing (not that there’s anything wrong with them!), you might be a bit disappointed by the game. Like the tagline says, this is Haru’s first and last summer vacation after all.

That said, there’s plenty of humor and even a fair bit of hotblooded action (take a wild guess as to which our heroes is a gun nut!). I said it before in his character introduction, but Haru is a really charming lead. He’s very proactive (in all aspects, not just in the bedroom) and really drives much of the story rather being dragged along by the other characters/plot convenience.

The story’s ultimately pretty linear. Aside from deciding which guy you’re pursuing there are generally ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ choices. ‘Wrong’ choices will dead-end you pretty fast, until you get closer to the end where there are bad end branches. When the protagonist has as much personality as Haru does, I have a hard time seeing that as a negative, but some people might not like that. I should also note that there isn’t a true route or any unlockable routes.

Anyway, I guess I’ll just close by saying that I hope everyone interested in more BL coming to the west considers taking a chance on NTY even if it might not look like your thing at first. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed (if nothing else, the porn is really good?).

I was really excited to test eden* after reading a few reviews that set some pretty high expectations. But did it live up to them? The main focus of this game is of course the story and it delivers very well on that front. The genre is essentially an apocalyptic sci-fi romance story. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I won’t say anything beyond that about the actual events of the game and instead just talk about my impressions in a more general sense.

Somewhat atypical of a visual novel, it’s both short and completely linear. The very earliest parts of the game have some very heavy foreshadowing of the ending, but that doesn’t make it lose its impact. The game does a good job of developing the characters’ personalities and relationships and it pays off in really making you care about and empathize with everyone. Elica, the maid, ended up being my favorite character through her combination of badassery and extreme devotion to helping out those she cares about. I like to think of myself as not particularly weak to tearjerker moments but I cried at least 3 times during this game.

The visual presentation is a very strong point of eden*. The CGs look great and the resolution is respectably high at 1024×640. The only thing I didn’t like was the way male faces are drawn, most of them looked rather weird. There’s also enough CGs that you’ll spend most of the game looking at event-specific ones rather than a handful of constantly reused backgrounds. There’s around 200 for the main scenario and about 50 more for the PLUS+MOSAIC scenarios. Characters have animations for blinking and mouth flapping synced with the voices. There’s also a variety of ‘cinematic’ effects used throughout, such as lens flare, motion blur, and a depth of field filter. They’re all fairly small on their own, and the lens flare is overused, but on the whole I do think they make the game look a lot nicer.

The sound design of the game was also good but not as much of a standout as the visuals. The music was very nice and did a generally good job of matching the tone of each scene. It’s done by the same composer as ef, so for anyone who’s played that you should already have a good idea of what to expect. The voice acting was all well done, and the protagonist is voiced as well which is a nice thing that a lot of VNs lack.

There are two versions of the game, the standard one and PLUS+MOSAIC. There are only two differences between them; a few CGs in the main storyline are edited to be a bit more risqué and there are four ero scenes added. The ero scenes are bit unusual in that they’re not integrated into the main scenario at all. Instead, after finishing the game you can view them all separately along with the rather silly scenarios that lead up to them. I like this approach because I don’t think these scenes would have fit very well into the tone and pacing of the main game. There’s one per character, and it’s all pretty vanilla stuff. The kinkiest thing you’ll see here is a threesome. They’re all decent, and the scenes leading up to them are actually quite funny. So if you want to see some porn then PLUS+MOSAIC is worth the few extra dollars, and if you don’t you’re not missing out on much because the changes in the main story are extremely minimal.

I had high expectations going into eden* and it really lived up to them. The art is great, the characters are well developed, the story is touching, and in the end I’d say it’s easily in the top five VNs I’ve ever read.

No Thank You!!! is now live and available for download! We hope you all enjoy our very first BL game!

If you’re using Twitter to discuss the game, the developers have a spoiler account set up for easy filtering on all clients––just start your tweets with @pa_bare and only people following the spoiler account will be able to see those tweets.

Welcome to our Women’s History Month interview series!

For anyone who may be unfamiliar with Women’s History Month, it’s celebrated in the US, UK and Australia during the month of March to bring attention to the contributions of women in our society. So, in the spirit of Women’s History Month, we decided it’d be a good opportunity to highlight some women creators among our eroge partners and let them tell us about themselves and their work.

But, to kick things off, we thought we’d open by giving the floor to some of the women on our localization staff––bad end, Good Haro and KaitsuKai.
GH: (A big thank you to KaitsuKai for drawing these cute portraits of us!)

Why don’t we all start by introducing ourselves?

bad end: Heya, bad end here. It’s a very well-kept secret that I’ve fan translated some games in the past under another name, but I’ve been with MangaGamer since the end of 2013 and I’ve translated some three and a half-ish games with them so far (and hopefully many more in the future!).

Good Haro: Hi, I go by Good Haro and I’m a translator here at MG. I also run the Tumblr and help out with some other social media stuff. I worked on Ultimate Boob Wars, No, Thank You!!!, and I’m in the middle of Ozmafia!! right now. I’ve been fond of visual novels for probably close to half of my life now, and I’m really happy to have the opportunity to work on them in an official capacity and share games I care about with a wider audience.

KaitsuKai: Hello! I’m Kaitsu. I started working for MangaGamer in 2011 as a Beta Tester, and eventually became an image editor, hardcopy designer, and editor. I also manage the dealer’s booth and panel at Anime Boston (so feel free to come by and say hi if you’re at the con this April~). I’ve had the amazing pleasure of beta testing ten titles for MangaGamer, designing the packaging for Tick! Tack!, Eroge!, and the limited edition of ef – a fairy tale of the two, working on the UI for Hypno-Training My Mother and Sister and Princess Evangile, and I am also the editor for Bokuten – Why I Became an Angel. There’s never a dull moment.

So, to address the elephant in the room right off the bat, we’ve all had to work on nukige, huh?

bad end: Yes… I feel like I’m very disadvantaged in that area because I’m actually asexual, but (and this is gonna sound really stupid) eroge kind of normalized sex for me in college when I started getting really into them. Like, somewhere along the line due to hanging out with a bunch of people who talked about sex all the time and also playing a bunch of eroge, I went from “oh my god stop talking about sex that’s gross!!” to “please play this porn game I translated guys it’s great.”

But as a person with no real interest or experience in Sex Stuff, I sometimes feel like I shouldn’t be translating it (and then I think that there must be plenty of people in the eroge business who also aren’t interested in 3D hahaha). So I guess what I’m trying to say about the ero parts of my eroge translations is b-be gentle.

Good Haro: Well, like most of the other TLs here my first game at MG was a nukige and a pretty hefty one at that (clocking in at close to a million Japanese characters), Ultimate Boob Wars. I definitely don’t have anything against nukige––actually, I think one of the great things about 2D porn is that it allows people to explore all sorts of stuff without hurting anyone––but I’d be lying if I said I was particularly fond of Ultimate Boob Wars. It’s more the repetitiveness (and frequently rather wacky conceptions of female anatomy) that got to me than anything else. I do have to admit that I did have a lot of fun with the sillier bits of Ultimate Boob Wars though: the boob-centric mythology and grand speeches about mammary equality were actually really fun to work on. Honestly, I think it’d be kind of fun to work on one of ClockUp’s light-hearted nukige someday.

KaitsuKai: Of course! My first project with MangaGamer was beta testing We Love Master. The only visual novel I had played prior to it was ef – a fairy tale of the two, so my experience and knowledge of the medium was very limited, and I can remember being really embarrassed about the content at the time. Funny story, I accidentally left the game open on my monitor and came back to my boyfriend’s mother looking at a very interesting CG. That was uh… something! Haha.

How about we talk about some of the projects we’re particularly proud of next?

bad end: Well, if you follow my twitter you’ve probably noticed that I can’t really shut up about how good KnS2 is. I think I’ve been improving a lot with every project I do (since I’m still relatively new at this) and KnS2 is sort of the result of all of that. I think it’s gonna look real damn nice when it’s all done and it’s been a lot of fun to work on.

Good Haro: I guess I haven’t worked on all that many games yet, so this is probably an obvious answer, but I’m pretty proud of No, Thank You!!!. I ended up doing a lot of extra stuff (like building the landing site––with a little help from Doddler with the javascript I should note) because I wanted to make sure the game had every opportunity to succeed and reach its potential market, and I had a lot of fun in the process too. Launch weekend was pretty great––it was really cool to see other people finally getting the chance to enjoy the game, and even the Japanese fans seemed really excited about the release too (I keep seeing a lot of them saying they wish they’d studied English harder so they could talk to all these new NTY!!! fans!).

KaitsuKai: I’ve enjoyed all of the projects I’ve worked on in some form or fashion, but I’m going to be a bit biased by saying that my favorite thing was working on the ef LE. Hours of love and labor were poured into its design, both inside and out. Obviously a good chunk of that was spent figuring out what content to put into the artbook itself, how to make the packaging stand out (and be unique), yet still be faithful to the original Japanese version. I still have the artbook proofs and approval disks from the printers sitting around! I’ll never get rid of those~

Hopes for the future?

bad end: WELL! I’m really excited about a lot of things! Things that I can’t say anything about! But to give a more legitimate response I guess I’d say that I know it’s impossible to please everyone, but I think MG is starting to get to the point where we have something for ALMOST everyone, so I’m really hoping people enjoy all of the stuff we’ve got coming up!

Good Haro: As far as hopes for the future go… as a member of the fujoshi illumi––I mean, as an upstanding fan of the BL genre, I’d like to be able to bring more of it over in the future (and more otome games too). But, perhaps more generally, I think it’d be nice if we could have the opportunity to do more projects like this in the future so English-speaking fans can have the opportunity to get to know the Japanese creators a little better.

KaitsuKai: I honestly just want to see more amazing projects and opportunities come our way, as a company and to the individuals involved on both sides. It’s always so exciting to bring our customers something new and exciting, and I cannot help but feel giddy when new possibilities are put on the table. I can only hope that the wonderful acquisitions we’re planning will be received well. Soon™ all will be revealed!

Well, that’s a wrap from us. Check back next week for our first creator interview with the very talented Shigeo Hamashima!

No, Thank You!!! was my first beta test for Manga Gamer and you cannot imagine how happy I am that it was. The game overall felt like a breath of fresh air for yaoi because it eschews all the sameness that exists in the genre. There are no waifish boys who are questionably over the age of 18 shouting “no homo” while getting pounded and being whiny over trivial matters. No, this game has real men that look like they jumped out of a men’s health magazine, are unquestionably over the age of 18, and all have actual problems to be concerned about. You even get two dudes over 30 if you’re into more mature men. I mean, just check these guys out. They’re all pretty hot.

The guy in the very front here in the red shirt with a confusing graphic is Haru. Haru is the protagonist who, if you’ve read the summary, was hit by a car and has amnesia at the start of the game. He’s been brought to a bar/detective agency called sótano by Kouichi (far right). The best way to describe Haru is that he is a major pervert. He has a weird obsession with describing sex in a clinical manner as well which is actually more funny than annoying. It’s especially amusing every time he suddenly blurts out “let’s have sex!” at completely inappropriate times. The thing that really shocked me when I first started playing was his lack of angst about his amnesia. It’s refreshing to have a character that throws up his hands and goes “well, this is my life now” and gets on with it.

This is Hiroyuki, who is the closest thing you get to the fancy-boy waif typical in yaoi titles. As much as he comes off as a little less manly than the others, he is still written like a person and not some sort of stock character. He’s a little messed up because everyone in this game has issues, but he’s actually not annoying most of the time. Personally I think I found his sex CGs to be the most enjoyable. They are probably the most vanilla of the bunch, but they’re still sexy nonetheless. He also has a hilariously odd shirt that he wears when he’s not at sótano. It says, and I quote: “Swing. I go out with boys, I go out with girls, so I don’t have to play with myself.” Yeah. Seriously. You can see it on the game page. Go look.

The piano man with the slick glasses with an amazing haircut is Ryu. He is also the king of resting-bitch-face when he isn’t jamming out. Ryu is our cool glasses character for the game. He is the most orderly and put together out of the bunch. He has what seemed like the longest route in the game and one of the kinkiest sex scenes. I ended up liking Ryu a lot. I have a thing for glasses and tsundere, so if you’re into that you’ll probably enjoy his route as much as I did. His routes deal with more of the darker aspects of the game so be prepared to deal with some messed up stuff if you choose to pursue him. I suggest keeping tissues around because you’ll probably break down like a little baby at the end, I certainly did.

This hunk of burning love and general disinterest is Maki. Maki is our resident giant and is mega ripped. Seriously, once you get him naked you’ll be rolling in bara heaven. He’s dark, brooding, and monosyllabic. His back story and in-game routes are really enjoyable. I think it may have been my favorite in the whole game since he is an action movie-level BAMF. As grating as the “I’m not going to say anything and react vaguely” thing can get in characters in any media I actually found myself not hating it. It fits him and the little bits of actual dialogue you get with him fully balance out the nonverbal bits.

This is our daddy complex character Kouichi. He’s a pretty sweet guy and the head of the detective agency. He doesn’t betray his feelings easily and as you get deeper into the game you realize he is way more in control than he initially comes off. I can’t say I was all too fond of his routes because I don’t have an Electra complex, but they are not at all bad. I did laugh pretty hard when Haru described his dick as “old-manish brown”. He has some of the most strangely adventurous sex CGs in the game; I will say I’m into neither erotic shaving nor dairy items being involved in sex acts but they made me smile from the sheer out-of- left-fieldedness of them.

I haven’t specifically mentioned much about the art in the game it really is top notch. You can probably tell as much from all of the images I’ve included already. I was especially impressed by the penises in the game. I’ve gotten used to other yaoi media having questionably drawn dicks that look something like flesh tubes with pink caps; imagine my surprise when I saw the first veiny, throbbing, mass of cock on screen. I was absolutely ecstatic. The sheer variety is also worth a mention. Every character has a significantly different penis. From Kouichi’s “old-manish brown” dick to Ryu’s questionably described “fashionable” cock they are all special little snowflakes of fleshy goodness.

I want to give a special mention the cute little non-sex CGs that came up occasionally. For context, each of the routes starts out with Haru grabbing the butt of the person you’ve decided to pursue and each of them are visually represented like this. My favorite is Ryu’s where Haru gets the roundhouse kick he so desperately deserves for his shitty behavior.

These are just so cute I can’t stand it. You get a few of these throughout the different routes and I squealed with delight the first time I saw them. There is so much about the game’s art to love but I loved these to death.

The sound in the game is great. If you haven’t heard the game’s music yet you should go to the game page and watch the hype opening trailer. From the second I heard the main theme I was hooked. None of the music gets boring or repetitive even when you’re hearing it for the umpteenth time. It actually reminded me a lot of a certain ultra-popular all-ages game. The voices are on the same level as the music in how enjoyable they are. There is no character that has a grating and unpleasant speaking voice. As for the sex sounds, I’m going to let this Hiroyuki screenshot speak for me on that one.

Yeah, they’re good.

Overall the game is worth a play through. It’s especially impressive as it is the first game produced by Parade. The tone does shift back and forth between light and funny, and dark and disturbing but I think it makes this game even more interesting. Each one enhances the other to draw you deeper into the story. None of it feels contrived or out of place either. Since sótano is not just a bar, but also a detective agency, you fully expect to have some sort of noir storyline so the shift doesn’t blindside you and ruin the experience. Even when it delves deep into the most disturbing things you can imagine it never feels like the writers are just grafting in tragedy to push a stagnating plot.

Personally, I think that everyone could enjoy this game. If you like BL you’ll definitely like it and if you aren’t into BL I think you’d be able to enjoy the story. I have to note that even if you don’t like BL you’d probably get a kick out of the onomatopoeia for the sex sounds. At some point during the game I found myself thinking of how to make an electronic song about the game with the lyrics “burble, burble, glop, glop. Haru makes dat booty pop.” Also, all the characters like cats. How can you not want to play a game about people that like cats?

You should really play this game. The following CG represents the joy you’ll feel about the game when you finish it.

–MeatSandwichSpecial

Have you ever eaten a large meal and then had a satisfying dessert afterwards? Something light and fluffy that takes the edge off the large meal that is currently digesting well within the confines of your daily life? That is how I would describe my experience with the eden* beta test.

After a long day of work and dealing with the toils of my job, family, ect., eden was a great story I could curl up with and just relax. This by no means to imply the content itself was light. In fact, the story of eden is the exact opposite. The themes are heavy, the emotional strain a must at times, and you will find yourself reaching for a box of tissues multiple times throughout the experience, I know I did. However, it just makes you feel so complete. The story, although very bittersweet, will have your lips tugging at a smile and your heart swollen with joy when characters find their motivations and reasons for existing. Much like swallowing down some mint chocolate chip ice cream, a player of this game (myself included) will feel like they are experiencing a well-rounded treat that they will definitely want to recommend to friends.

The characters are nearly all likeable and shine brightly in a cast that is dealing with the end of the world. Elica in particular made me want to jump into the screen and become best friends with her. She was charming, witty, bad ass, and sweet all at the same time. Not a common character to encounter in the visual novel industry, and I found that to be a breath of fresh air. I always felt myself get excited whenever she stepped on screen and the communication with her never seemed forced or boring. Or maybe I just have a thing for maids. Elica aside, there was no character I could bring myself to hate, making the story even more enjoyable than it already was. There is no point in getting invested in a story if the characters make you feel like you are watching Saturday night re-runs of paper cut out people walking across the screen. Needless to say, that was not the case with eden, not by a long shot, and that was a wonderful beta test to be a part of.

The last thing I want to mention is the beauty of the artwork in the eden visual novel. It was absolutely gorgeous. Character designs, backgrounds, everything was dripping with serenity and beauty. The way the characters moved and reacted was also a new experience for me. With all previous visual novels I played the mouths and eyes were stationary. Not that this is a bad thing, but it was a nice new experience to see Sion blinking when she talked, or Elica’s lips curling up into a smirk when she made a quirky joke.

All in all, I cannot really say a bad thing about this game. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed. Everything fell into place and at no time could I say that the story, characters, or any other fundamental building block of this game lulled for me. 10/10. I will be recommending this game to friends.

In this article, learn about the hapless protagonist of Princess Evangile, and the trials he will face at the all-girls boarding school of Vincennes.

Okonogi Masaya never had what could be called a happy childhood. Thanks to a gambling bastard of a father, he spent most of it living hand to mouth, working laborious part-time jobs and in constant flight from loan sharks. But the day Masaya’s life hit rock bottom was the same day it turned around. Homeless, starving, and wandering the streets, he happened to save a mysterious, beautiful girl from a group of attackers. That became the “rendez-vous of destiny” that would change his whole life.

The girl he saved turned out to be a student at the prestigious all-girls boarding school of Vincennes, looking for a good man to attend the school as a way to promote gender integration. Masaya’s noble act proved to her that he was just the man she needed. So, in the course of a day, Masaya went from being alone in the streets to living in the lap of luxury, surrounded by the most beautiful girls he’d ever seen.

But Masaya’s new life isn’t all tea cakes and roses. Most of the girls at Vincennes are so sheltered, they scream “pervert” just at the sight of him. If gender integration succeeds, the school will be saved from financial ruin. But if it doesn’t, Masaya will have to leave at the end of the first term. If he wants to stay in his new life, he’ll need to fight against the prejudice of the old guard and convince the boarding school beauties that men aren’t as bad as they seem.

And in the process, he might even find true love!

Princess Evangile follows Okonogi Masaya over the course of a year as he fights to represent his gender at Vincennes and save the school in the process. It won’t be an easy task: 99% of the school is against him from the start, and the attempts by his few supporters to help ingratiate him to the school’s naive all-female population have a tendency to go hilariously wrong.

Along his journey, Masaya will get involved in the lives of the girls around them, and choose one of four girls to be his love. Each choice of girl leads to a fully unique storyline where Masaya deals with the primary conflict in his chosen girl’s life. Of course, there’s always time for a little R&R, and once Masaya makes his choice, there’ll be plenty of time for sexy romps in the hay as well as interpersonal drama.

Like the girls of Vincennes, Princess Evangile is beautiful, elegant, and earnest… and not always quite as innocent as it appears.

Welcome to the second installment of our Women’s History Month interview series! If you missed the first installment of the series, talking to some of the women on our localization team, you can read it here.

For anyone who may be unfamiliar with Women’s History Month, it’s celebrated in the US, UK and Australia during the month of March to bring attention to the contributions of women in our society. So, in the spirit of Women’s History Month, we decided it’d be a good opportunity to highlight some women creators among our eroge partners and let them tell us about themselves and their work.

This week, we talked to Shigeo Hamashima, ClockUp employee and artist of Eroge! Sex and Games Make Sexy Games!, No, Thank You!!!, and Euphoria to name a few.

How did you get into the eroge industry? Were there any specific works or creators that inspired you to work on eroge?

I first discovered eroge through the game Dokyusei 2. I decided I wanted to work in the industry after I played Demonbane, Saya no Uta, Fate/stay Night and so on.

I’ve learned a lot about drawing erotic imagery since I joined ClockUp. I’ve been influenced by Koutarou Imanaka and Minashika Taki and they’ve taught me a lot.

How do you think your experience as a woman has informed your work?

It can be difficult because I don’t know what it’s like to be a man. I end up asking the men around me about what kinds of things help them get into––and off on––a scene and what sorts of things make it more difficult.

What is your process like? Do you have any particular techniques for getting a feel for a scene or character?

First, I get a sheet of text roughly describing the scene I’m asked to draw, and then I work on several quick thumbnail sketches. Then based on that I get instructions on what sorts of variations to create and work on the final version from there.

I think about the characters’ reactions while I work––that’s where the real fun of drawing CGs is: drawing while imagining the characters’ expressions and gestures.

What are your favorite kinds of scenes to draw? Or favorite aspects of characters?

Lately, I’ve been pretty fond of scenes where characters start out bashful and gradually lose their composure.

I think just about any character can go through that sort of transformation.

Are there any parts of the process of producing art for eroge that you find particularly difficult? What keeps you motivated when things get tough?

I’m always struggling with the fact that my art just isn’t very good. I have these wonderful images in my head, but I just can’t get them out onto the page. I think all artists struggle with that though.

I tend to have trouble maintaining motivation, so that’s a particular issue for me. When I’m working on a game, seeing my coworkers giving it their all inspires me to keep going, so it really depends on the team.

Is there a game or other work you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of?

For the first time in a while I got to draw in the underdrawing shadows and highlights for every cut I was responsible for in Eromanga!, so I’m personally very satisfied with how that came out.

Ms. Hamashima has posted a few progress sequences of CGs from Eromanga! on her Pixiv account. Please note that the illustrations are NSFW.

How do you feel about the censorship and obscenity rules in Japan?

Obviously I have to abide by them because I couldn’t sell my work if I didn’t, but I always draw details beneath the mosaics on the off chance that someday, someone will get to see it. It makes me happy when people get to see my work uncensored.

What do you think about the state of the eroge industry as a whole? Is there anything you’d like to see change in the future?

I’m not all that well-informed about the industry as a whole, but… I’d like to work on something that could be played more casually. I think there are going to be increasingly more people playing games on tablets.

A lot of people, especially outside of Japan, are kind of surprised when they find out a woman did the art for Euphoria. What was it like working on the game?

I was involved with the game from the planning stages, so it was a lot of fun. I’m very grateful to Ei Asou, who came up with the idea, and the director Ryou Akutsu [for including me].

They used a bunch of scenes I wanted to include, so I had a lot of fun drawing them.

No, Thank You!!! was the first BL title you’ve worked on. How did working on a BL game compare with working on regular eroge? Did you have to do any research to prepare for it?

The hardest thing was probably the fact that you have to get both of the guys’ faces on screen at the same time. Generally, eroge for men are drawn in POV style, and you do what you can to keep the man’s face out of the shot, but BL is the complete opposite.

Most of my research was focused on figuring out how far I could push a more explicit approach to sex and still appeal to other women. I consulted with other women about whether I could get away with a more masculine approach instead of a sparkly-clean, romanticized one.

What do you find most rewarding about your job?

When people tell me that they really got off on my work. It just makes me happy to feel useful.

Are there any dream projects you hope to have the opportunity to work on some day?

I’d like to work on a really dense nukige where, even if the game didn’t have many sex scenes, each scene would have like 3-5 base CGs––instead of just one––to really thoroughly depict the sex.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to your English-speaking fans?

I was really surprised when I heard there were fans who enjoyed eroge overseas. I think eroge is a stage where you can express a wide variety of ideas. I hope I can keep on making eroge, and I truly appreciate all your kind and continued support.

Thank you very much. m(__)m

Stay tuned next week when we talk to another talented artist, Circus’ Yuka Kayura!