Not my best month, but at least I found something truly impressive that made me want to try out more modern visual novels, which I tend to avoid. Let’s start.

Dimension Totsu lovers

Room that is impossible to leave without having sex

2026 eroge title by Crystallia. I stubbornly ignored it, because it seemed like an average overhyped story. I’d like to apologize to the developers, because it is kino. It might be the most entertaining visual novel I’ve read so far. There’s just nothing quite like it, despite the fact that it doesn’t really invent anything new. Totsuraba combines the features of both charage and chuunige in a balanced fashion, and that is already quite an achievement. Whole cast gets put to good use, even the side characters. Antagonists have some serious charisma too, especially protagonist’s father.

What people don’t mention often is that the soundtrack is pretty fire too — some of the battle OST has been stuck in my head for days, like this one:

Now about the bad. Pacing is sometimes too good (笑) (too fast), plot is often reliant on conveniences, and the true route is disappointing (some people say it’s a 神 route tho).Someone might say that the main problem of this route is that it is underdeveloped, but I strongly disagree, because it was doomed from the very beginning. My main problem with true route is that it’s way too easy on protagonist. He gets a full “completion guide” from parallel world Katan, which allows him to easily convince all the antagonists to join his side. Then Katan conveniently gets a super power up from parallel self. Enju’s willingness to abandon everyone at the end is out of character. Every fight in true route is nothing burger, no feeling of danger at all.

There’s also another reason I’m hyping this up so much. H-scenes. They’re fucking awesome. Femdom h-scenes in a mainstream VN aren’t something you see often, if ever, so it was a pleasant surprise. The heroines are pretty hot and interesting, so I was excited every time I entered a new route.

Also, there is a certain scene in Katan route that literally gave me goosebumps.the scene where Katan and Enju turn themselves into platinum, to beat the infinity is insane. This is kinda like death if you think about it.

Sometimes all you need from eroge are cute heroines and grand developments, and not deep themes or grand prose. Hopefully we will get a fandisc, because there are tons of questions left without answers.Does Kaede reunite with his friend? Did Le brun free his little sister? What happened to Katan route’s world after true ending? Katan said helping Enju would also save their world, but it is unclear how exactly is that possible. Afterstory with branching routes wouldn’t be redundant either.

I praise this one a lot, but in the end, does totsuraba deserve 88/100 on erogamescape? No, it’s not even close to the real giants of the genre. This is not a kind of work that will change your life, nor will it make you impressed by a cohesive scenario. Perhaps such a strong reception of totsuraba in japanese community is an indicator of bishoujo eroge industry’s steady decline. Still, I can safely recommend this visual novel to all readers because of its entertaining value.

Saiaku Naru Saiyaku Ningen Ni Sasasagu

Sasasagu finally got a Steam release (which is also a remake). It’s my favorite visual novel right now, so I was eagerly waiting for this release. I’ve already written a review you can read here. It is a long, coming of age story with exceptional direction and writing. The premise is strong: main character is a kid who lost the ability to see or hear any living creature, while the main heroine is a young girl who can’t be perceived by anyone alive. It is a story about them saving each other from loneliness, but hurting each other due to the unnatural situation they end up in. Despite the fact that it is a slow burn, there is not a single redundant scene. Also the message about life in despair (or life with chronic disease) is exceptionally strong. Everyone who knows Japanese should read it.

The Steam release has a new afterstory, and overall I’m very satisfied with what we got. To be fair, I expected true ending’s Kuro to get an afterstory too, but it would be hard to implement without ruining the ending, so I can overlook it. Every afterstory was well written, but the best thing about them are the endings. I didn’t cry, but I could have — the tears were welling up, I swear. I also cried many times reading the main story, so my tears had already dried up. Let’s move on… I haven’t reread the game to see all the new CGs and changes, so I’ll just state my opinion on the art style. It’s not better than the old one. Yes, it’s more polished, and they fixed some weird CGs, but new readers probably won’t mind it — still, the fact that Kuro’s eyes no longer shine like brilliants is a crime.

New CG looks very good, I admit it

I'd advise reading the fan port of the game first, then skimming through the Steam version for the new CGs and afterstories.

Meidokissa

It’s a nukige. The other VN from this developer is “Mainichi ga M!”, which is the best nukige ever, hence why I had high expectations going into this one. Meidokissa takes a classic approach: protagonist lives with 4 heroines, and player should choose which heroine should he visit to get on her route. It definitely took many elements from Mainichi ga M — like the shitty animation for every h-scene, the overuse of the phrase 短小包茎ちんぽ — but what it doesn’t have is any kind of plot. Or good heroines. Or good h-scenes. It’s beyond “bad” in terms of plot. Everything works in favor of protagonist, characters are nothing more than his slaves. Also, all the characters are stupid beyond belief.

I’ll just make example of a scene from this VN, so you would understand just how absurd it is: Protagonist finds his grandpa’s notebook. That notebook has a recipe for a cold drink. Protagonist makes the drink, drinks it in front of all heroines… And then a heroine reads the notebook’s contents aloud. Apparently it is deadly, and the only antidote is ammonia. The only good thing that contains ammonia is urine. You would think protagonist will drink heroine’s urine, but… The onee-san kind of heroine brings a cup to protagonist’s penis, he pisses inside, and then protagonist drinks his own urine in front of everyone, feeling humiliated. Then it turns out that notebook was filled with grandpa’s delusions and he didn’t need to drink urine.

Basically it’s a story about a guy fucking his nieces, who also bully him for having a small dick… despite the fact that he has an average, normal dick. They say his dick is 10 or 12 cm, but it just looks like a normal dick. WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH IT? It breaks the immersion, because I want to imagine I have a small dick, but I CAN’T. I skimmed through most of the routes once I realized it’s slop, and I’m glad I didn’t waste my time reading all of them. Only tsundere route was worth reading, since it at least resembled femdom, but it just doesn’t reach the highs of mainichi ga M. It’s not worth reading unless you are hunting for soft femdom content.

Conclusion

I think this new monthly format is pretty convenient, so I'll keep using it. I could probably do with more off-topic posts, but nothing came to mind, so I didn't post anything lately. I don't plan on abandoning the blog, I promise. Thanks for the reading.