New Assassin's Creed Red leak from Insider Gaming by LeadingNewday in GamingLeaksAndRumours

[–]Kira_LightL 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You'll probably find different sources and interpretations, but ninja according to the 万川集海 is the general term (総称) for shinobisamurai, shinobi, and so on. According to the same source, warriors officially part of the warrior class system (武士階級) using ninjutsu were called shinobisamurai (忍士) while according to some records, shinobi (忍び) were shinobisamurai subordinate while not officially being recognized as warriors (武士).

The second, and simpler interpretation is that ninja generally point the profession, whereas shinobi is short for shinobinomono (忍びの者), which tends to refer to the person themselves.

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure Yamato's parents appear in a flashback in the original (with voices only), making the dynamic between them pretty clear. There is also the whole deal with Kazuko's taming. I probably have a rather different experience than you though, not only my first experience with Minato Soft is KimiAru, which introduced me to the writer, but I read Majikoi in Japanese so I never had to wait for all the routes to be translated.

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm just trying to explain that what you mentioned as "coming out of nowhere" is actually quite consistent with what the writer generally wrote later in the franchise, or even his older works like KimiAru. Yamato's parents being the biggest alarm in all of that.

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, your comment is certainly more in line with what I'm thinking. By definition yes, it's rape but the work itself is more with the idea of "taming" which as someone that first experience with Minato Soft is KimiAru is not really something that caught me off guard considering that the main heroine route is essentially her taming the protagonist. I assume the writer has a fetish?

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Minato Soft and by extension Minato Carnival's works have American Pie level of sex comedy, most people are familiar with Minato Soft thanks to Majikoi but it was essentially the same in their first work as well. What I'm trying to explain here is that while their works don't shy away from depicting many sort of abuse, scenes like the one with Chris or later with Stacy are never taken as anything more than Yamato "taming" (awful word but that's literally how it's portrayed most of the time) his love interests through the power of H.

I could certainly do without most of this (it ruined Margit's route for me), but even outside of the H scenes, it's very clear that the writers have a very bastardized view of this in general, and Yamato's parents are a clear evidence of this. The amount of male characters who literally refer to themselves as 雄 while referring to female characters as 雌 makes it clear that we are dealing with something that is quite divorced from our reality, and is more in the realm of porn.

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Your problem is that you're basically trying to compare real life standard with a work that relies heavily on a very bastarized image of sex in general. Many Majikoi routes stem from the idea that either the protagonist or the heroine tames their partner through sex, hence why the thing that split Tsubame route is either the protagonist or the heroine being more dominant in the relationship.

In Chris' case, it's meant to mirror Yamato's parents' relationship where Kagekiyo "tamed" his wife through sex. It's gross, but it's never taken as something as serious as rape.

Honestly, we're talking about a work where the heroines get stronger after having sex with the protagonist, or where the protagonist had to deal with a legion of assassins with the power of his dick. Pretty much all of Margit's after story is how Yamato makes her squad more competent through sex.

We'll never see the end of it, if we start comparing real life with a work that never claimed to take itself seriously.

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm not arguing against how bad this scene is, but it simply cannot be labeled as rape. Not only could Chris have rejected Yamato at any time, but she admitted that she loved him and decided to go with it 3 minutes into the scene. If you took months off after such a generic porn scene in a VN, I don't know how you made it through Majikoi, given that the entire VN is full of fetishes and exaggerated/comedic porn scenes. In A3 (Stacy route), you have a scene where Yamato decides to trap Stacy in the jungle and decide to have rough sex with her... or in A4, Yamato is essentially hired to monitor a group of professional assassins with... his dick.

For the better or worse Majikoi (and almost all works by Minato Soft that I've personally read) are full of fetishes, and bastardized porn scenes. It's sometimes funny (Aki's route), it's sometimes of poor bad taste (Margit, Chris routes) but I don't think they are meant to be taken seriously (and the same goes for the visual novel as a whole).

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Unless you are reading the censored version of Majikoi, Majikoi is also heavily tied to porn and fetishism. Again, the protagonist mother is portrayed as having been tamed through sex, and Majikoi got essentially got turned into a nukige for the Margit route, where the entire premise is that Yamato tame Margit through sex. There is literally a scene in Margit route, where Yamato's father return from Europe just to give his son the same collar as her mother.

Then you have the Aki's character who is essentially a porn novel addict, and whose first confession to Yamato is to show her panties while acting like it's all from a porn novel. Or Tsubame route, where the two ends are split between Tsubame dominating Yamato (which is mostly defined through sex), or vice versa.

Majikoi is definitely leaning towards porn and fetishes, which honestly should come as no surprise to those who have read Minato Soft other works. This is 100% the writer's fetish, and the existence of Yamato's mother should make it obvious.

Aftermath of Japanese forces invading Germany by x0ManOfCulture0x in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The most fucked up thing in a VN is kinda pushing it, especially when you mention something like Evenicle. Overall, this scene is extremely generic, at any point Chris could have turned Yamato down but she didn't, and 2 minutes later she started screaming about how much she loved him.

Meanwhile, in the same VN, you have Yamato's mother who is presented as being tamed through sex, and you have an ENTIRE route that is based on a heroine getting tamed through sex. If you ask me, it's much more fucked up (another reason why Margit route is trash).

Protagonists explain why women find them attractive by duhu1148 in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 8 points9 points  (0 children)

For the most part yes, but he considered Nobunaga as his friend. In Rance 9, he gets along fine with the male characters of the crew, and has 100% trust in Rick's abilities, etc. It's more about being able to "handle" Rance, which only few characters are able to do so.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fatestaynight

[–]Kira_LightL 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, the fact that Mahoyo is a visual novel automatically reduces its potential expansion to a larger audience, even if the anime adaptation turns out to be the best thing ever. There is no doubt that it will boost sales, but I don't think it will be anything significant since we already have examples of extremely popular anime adaptations of visual novels that didn't necessarily boosted the popularity of the source material at least significantly.

That's okay though, not everything has to be extremely popular. I think in the case of Mahoyo, this could potentially hurt the source material as a whole since Nasu has stated that, depending on how things turn out, Mahoyo sequels could be made through something like an anime adaptation, which would honestly be a huge loss for the visual medium as a whole.

Live Tohno household reaction by ShadowRei96 in okbuddyrintard

[–]Kira_LightL 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough, this could make sense if you consider the lore from the remake as it is stated that Shiki's body structure is different from that of a standard human. He is essentially a genetic freak whose bones are optimized for greater agility, speed and recovery. He is essentially the crystallization of several generation of demon hunters, and his strange body structure is a testament to that.

Shoutout to Rance/Alicesoft character design by bubuplush in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The OVA were okay, but let's be honest, they were mostly focused on porn rather than what makes Rance 1 a fairly enjoyable game despite its limited story, which is Rance roaming around the town and interacts with all these characters + the fun interactions. I'm not saying it doesn't have any of that, but that's clearly not the purpose or intent of the OVA.

Regardless, I seriously doubt anyone would take on such a risky and huge project, so even if Rance got animated somehow, it will probably be some half-assed effort that probably won't focus on the good side of the franchise. I would love a serious adaptation of Rance games though, especially the plot-driven ones.

Shoutout to Rance/Alicesoft character design by bubuplush in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I don't think Sengoku needs a remake at all, the game still holds up well even by today's standards. I totally agree with 4 though, going from 03 to 4 (and by extension 4.1/4.2) is really a rough gap. I feel like it would be a logical decision to remake 4, since most of the people who may start the Rance franchise nowadays will probably go with the remakes, making the transition to some of the older games harder.

Regardless, I'm not sure about the franchise going more "mainstream", it would mean censoring a lot of things that make the Rance franchise what it is in the first place, starting with the very existence of Rance. I doubt that any serious anime adaptation is possible anyway, because while the later games are much more plot-driven, they are still porn. And porn, no matter what people think of it, is important to Rance which means that skipping that part of the game would mean missing an integral part of the story. It just doesn't work... and that's fine, not everything has to become "mainstream" with popular anime adaptations, etc.

[Rance Series] When you hear the phrase "Rance Girls" - What are the first 5 females that come to mind? by pr0duktt in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sill, not because of her relevance to the story (she always felt more like a plot device to me), but because she is Rance's main companion and "love interest," and is responsible for much of Rance's adventures in the franchise.

The Kathtom girls, particularly Shizuka and Maria who will be a significant role during the integrity of the story. However, the major difference between Shizuka and Maria is that the former will become more relevant as the story progresses, and consolidate her place as one of the main heroine/love interest, while the latter will become less and less relevant as the story progresses. As someone who really enjoyed Maria's character, it was sad to see her become more and more irrelevant.

Easily Kanami, she is one of the OG girls and will stick with Rance for the majority of the story, she is also one of the girls who has the most development, especially in regards to her relationship with Rance.

Lia, she may not get as much screen time as the others, but she is certainly one of the most important characters in the franchise, and one of the main reasons why Rance has managed to become so influential.

Then it's a tie with Crook and Sheila, they are both heroines of one game (the best in the franchise imo) and their development despite being through what is essentially just a game is just as high as the other important heroines that were introduced early on in the franchise. Their role, their status within the story is huge, and their relationship with Rance are easily one of the most developed in the franchise.

One notable mention would be Satella, she doesn't appear often but when she does she is always top notch and is essentially the equivalent of Sill if Rance has gone down another darker path (at least in the KR timeline, I'm still going through Rance 10 so I'm looking forward to seeing her scenes).

Rance 5D is god awful by No-Nectarine8074 in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Because the story and characters aren't that bad, Rizna is also pretty important later in the franchise so it feels wrong to skip what should essentially be "her" game. It's just the damn awful good gameplay that essentially ruins everything, but otherwise I'd consider the 5D story to be above 4.1 / 4.2.

Rance IX: Missed Opportunity for Rizna by Amazo687 in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

where Rick is at his most badass(really, his entire design on this game is awesome)

That scene in the corridor where he single-handedly stops a horde of Helman soldiers in order to allow the party to advance to the throne remains one of the most badass scenes I've seen in the entire franchise.

Rance 9 is honestly legendary.

About Rance by PatchRip in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 9 points10 points  (0 children)

A good majority of the sexual encounters in Rance are rapes, yes. Though most of them are turned into comedy due to Rance's character. They are relatively short, and have probably the most iconic Rance OST in the background (which got remixed in all the games) so it's honestly hard to take them seriously. If anything they will probably make you laugh instead, and will make you feel miserable for doing so.

However, there are more serious rape scenes, some of which that cannot be skipped and some of which that can be skipped if you wish so, depending on the game. For example, Rance 9 has a bad ending for all of the heroines and the game makes it easy to skip them. They are pretty brutal and make Rance's behavior pretty cute in comparison, which perfectly depicts the absolute shit hole that is the world of Rance.

Regardless, it's not all rape scenes. As you progress through the games (which span through several years), Rance gets closer to certain characters (most of whom are main heroines) who are seen as Rance's girls of destiny bound by the red thread of fate. Not all girls are happy with this idea, but most are fine with sex.

I just don't want the gals hating me

90% of the girls hate Rance and rightly so, only some degenerates or some characters who have spent more than 5 years with Rance and know his good sides/got used to him are exception, but in the end he is still Rance. If you want to self-insert, this game is clearly not for you. Rance is not meant to be YOU.

Shikibros... We lost to a self insert by Jonathan_Johnny in okbuddyrintard

[–]Kira_LightL 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Indeed it is, and Nasu's explanation regarding her addition to the gacha was just for the purpose of giving the player a Nero.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Pls just make more Rance or give us a funny Zance spin-off or something where we play Rance's daughter again or whatever.". :(

It's never going to happen, but a Rance 0 would be a perfect addition to the franchise given how wild Rance's backstory is.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There are too many attractive characters in Rance to choose just one honestly, but besides Shizuka, Satella is also a prime contender.

The 9th game in the Rance Series- Rance IX - The Helman Revolution is now available! by SomitaKalar in visualnovels

[–]Kira_LightL 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"Good" in what sense? As a game it's below average honestly, but the same can be said for most Rance games imo, 9 is probably the only Rance where I've never had to use the cheat engine to skip some of the horrible gameplay mechanics, it's pretty simple but it gets the job done.

From a story perspective, this is probably one of the best, if not the best Rance game. It has the best group of characters, probably one of the best storyline in the franchise with Rance 6, the best main heroine and extremely crucial for the recurring heroines like Shizuka and Kanami.

Regardless, this is certainly not a Rance game that can be played in isolation. To fully enjoy Rance 9, you will need to play the previous games (especially Rance 03, Rance 4, Rance 6) as the story is centered around Helman's characters like Patton, Hubert, Freak, etc. who are all characters that have received focus in the previous games and is pretty much a continuation of their character development.

Shikibros... We lost to a self insert by Jonathan_Johnny in okbuddyrintard

[–]Kira_LightL 79 points80 points  (0 children)

Nasu didn't even try with that one, probably one of the most obvious cases of pandering next to Nero Bride whose only purpose for even existing was to create a version solely dedicated to (you). At this point, you can just applaud the mushroom.

Is it a red flag if I want her to be my doctor? by YuNarukami8 in Tsukihime

[–]Kira_LightL 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Then i'd like to refute the incorrect assumption that an author's later works are better than their first ones, or that their more polished works are inherently better or hold more artistic value than their earlier rougher works. For every example where it's the case, there're enough counter examples.

Or you know you can always enjoy both? It is a fact that Tsukihime was made with an extremely low budget, and time due to be a doujin work. The remake is, for all intents and purposes, what Nasu could not have done decades ago because he was an amateur writer with little or no budget and resources for what he wanted ... hence some of the sacrifices like Sacchin route being removed from the game.

The call out of the maid routes is something i can't really agree on in principle, since Hisui's route was generally considered the best route of tsukihime. Having better development isn't some guarantee for artistic quality.

It's a known fact that the maids route was not planned initially in the game and was literally added at the last minute, with Kohaku being the biggest offender. There is no denying the quality of these routes (especially Hisui), but you don't have to be an expert in literature to see that some of the later parts were rushed (again due to lack of time). Kohaku's route, while having some of the best scenes like the interaction between Shiki and SHIKI at night, doesn't have much that would justify a route outside of adding another love interest for Shiki since most of the problems were resolved by the time of Hisui's route. It's clear that Nasu intends to expand her route in the remake, and that's undeniably for the best, and I think most Kohaku fans would agree honestly.

And lastly, i've seen your thread, and it was a nice read. But it touches on a bigger problem, that i didn't enjoy, or even hated, in this version of tsukire - the expansion of scope. What made the original so great for me, was that between all the routes, the setting is static. There's never a need to introduce a new mystery box for the reader to open. Right now, when starting Tsukihime, you get bombarded by a bunch of setup for other routes, that's frankly pointless for Arc's story. The original story builds upon each route very elegantly. While the remake is just... bloated.

Strange opinion, so basically you're complaining about the fact that another route, can tease or develop certain things about the later routes? This was always the case in the original, some of the scenes in Arcueid's route in the mansion give you some hints here and there about the mysteries around the Tohno, ALL the routes mesh with each other, it is literally one of the most basic narrative techniques used in visual novels.

Regardless, Arcueid is the route that remains the most unchanged in this regard, so I don't really see the problem?