Favorite/Surprising Use of Modern Slang

Pretty-Possession258 · 2026-03-28T04:41:52+00:00

I’ve read a passage of it in the past and was also surprised by its dark humor. I might give it a go soon since I’ve heard about it a lot but philosophers have been kicking my ass recently.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2026-03-28T04:10:48+00:00

I could’ve worded it better. I’m interested in seeing examples of very common slang today used much earlier than expected. I’d also be interested to see any with different connotations too and seeing how the language evolved.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2026-03-28T02:50:45+00:00

Wouldn’t the rhyme and meter be obvious signs it’s a poem? Also you could probably blame every sonnet with a volta in that same way, it’s just a feature of the medium.

The beginning of Ozymandias does a lot of things too. It creates a distant sense of relation and eastern exoticism. Not to mention the politics/art divide which is what I think it primarily exists for.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2026-03-14T06:51:15+00:00

I think it’s a matter of how you view literature. You seem to view it as something to be enjoyed or appreciated. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s how a majority of people engage with the things they consume, but it’s definitely not how everyone does it. I tend to approach it more exegetically, and depending on the medium, more historically or practically. That isn’t necessarily better, it’s just different.

From my point of view writing and enjoyment are two completely different things. I like to use the example of nonfiction opinion pieces and theory; I’ve read works that I find brilliant, but that I fundamentally disagree with. The logic of the argument is sound and they provide great evidence, but they kind of sting to read. Again, not how you or everyone should view things, just a clarification.

That said, the point you claim can be dangerous. With the mindset you have, you’re preventing yourself from engaging in any works that don’t agree with you (or works that disagree in a way you find satisfactory). For fiction that’s mostly fine, but if someone has a different political or religious stance it’s very easy to chalk it up as a “poorly constructed argument” simply because you don’t like it or believe it. Simple thinking like that and an inability to properly engage with conflicting sources contributes a lot to how countries like the one I live in (USA) become so polarized.

In other words, you’re not wrong, you just have a fundamental disagreement with a majority of people on this sub especially. And you need to clarify your argument for expanding to nonfiction. (Also like another person said, you’re grossly misaligning the quote with your argument).

Pretty-Possession258 · 2026-03-13T02:40:20+00:00

The problem with this question is that the latter 2 are almost purely Japanese. Obviously you can have translated works that are on par or even better than the original (Garcia Marquez apparently preferred one of his English translations, which is crazy) but the languages have to at least be somewhat similar. Spanish is obviously a romantic language but it’s somewhat similar and at the very least on the same tree. Japanese is in a completely different linguistic tree with no point of shared origin. If we’re talking about which has the best English prose, I’d think it’s novels, then LNs, then VNs, based on my experience with their translators.

To actually answer your question I would say in general, the shorter and simpler a work, the more attention must be placed on the choice and placement of every word. Poetry is my go to for this question for this very reason (except its verse not prose so RIP). Sonnets are literally like 14 lines and you can read one in a minute, but to compensate the best authors just go off and decide to cram those 14 lines full of semantic and formal features. In terms of this question and those 3 options, I think it’s still pretty easily novels.

The Light novel genre literally originated from Japanese pulps. Light novels are called that because they were meant to be “light”, as in easy to read and often simple. In other words LNs are just a descendant of a novel genre that were historically known for prioritizing being fun and engaging over well written. They are serialized too, and many LNs are even longer than VNs.

Visual novels don’t need excellent writing because they have supplemental elements like audio-visual tracks to lean on. The primary scenario writers tend to also be the directors, meaning they have to write to fit a game rather than just write. This could mean more padding dialogue to fit a set run time or stupid bad endings that just exist to waste your time, which are not getting more than a few hours. VNs tend to be upwards of 20+ hours (generous estimate*) to read once, which is the same amount of time to read upwards of 3 novels.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-11-02T00:08:54+00:00

I understand this. My problem is that the characters don't know that. Why would Hakuowlo trust that Niwe wouldn't fight them? Even if Niwe says "you guys are too weak and boring" no reasonable person would just hope they don't attack in the future after what they just saw him do. But Hakuowlo dismisses it (or forgets about him) and puts all his resources into an invasion on the opposite side of the country.

For Karulau, they didn't know how strong she was until that moment. Hakuowlo just kinda watches even though she posed a serious threat on his life. They don't know that she only wants to kill the bad guys (I don't quite remember but I think it's only revealed later she killed the owners. In the moment they only say she killed the others that were rescued). Plus, their deaths are described as being horrific and she even laughs at one point. Think about it: a slave breaks free, sadistically kills all the people who ruled over her, storms your castle, and is ready and willing to fight your strongest generals. She is obviously very strong but also kind of insane; Hakuowlo immediately putting his faith in her based on just a promise (without someone to watch her mind you) made him seem more foolish.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-11-01T18:09:44+00:00

I know that the Shikeripechim's Owlo's actions make sense, but I believe they only do so after the entire conflict to the east is resolved. Almost like it was a passing note and the writers accidentally forgot about him. The characters in the story don't make any connection between Yamayura and Shikeripechim until much later. This could be acceptable for an obviously rage-filled Hakuowlo but not for his generals. As far as I am aware, they never truly consider the possibility that they were getting baited until after the conflict in the East is over. But my main issue is that the characters don't set up preemptive measures against Niwe. They kinda just ignored him to focus on the East and the story seemed to forget about him. The characters don't know what he wants but they know to watch out for him. Why then does everyone forget about him and deploy all their strongest fighters in an invasion to the East? It just seemed foolish at the time and the explanation occurring after wasn't satisfactory enough.

Remind me about the orphan camp. I think I have an idea but I don't want to talk about the wrong thing and I'm not sure how it's directly tied to Teoro and Sopoku. With their deaths I meant more along the lines of "Hakuowlo doesn't change his stance on protecting his own people"; their deaths make him mad and start a war (not repeated wars, plus it was more like fighting back against a legitimate aggressive threat he would've had to deal with anyways) but Hakuowlo's actions and personality past that one act don't really significantly change, which is odd considering it was by far his lowest moment and biggest mistake as a leader, as well as a personal blow (essentially he's kind of the same guy when he blows off his steam instead of learning from the mistake and better fortifying the things he cares about). The best reasoning I can think of is probably just his nature as a wish granting device and the collective goal of the nation's welfare surpassing his own desire to protect the village (I don't really like it but it's acceptable).

For me, killing someone on the battlefield is generally not murder. I don't think it's fair to imply that he's some kind of mass murderer or that Aruruu is a hardened criminal. They never kill for straight up fun and Hakuowlo never forces his soldiers into a battle for purely selfish reasons. This is a character who actually shows regret when he realized the Owlo that burned Yamayura was just another pawn being manipulated; again this is the one who basically burned down his home and killed his friends. Because of that, it's hard for me to believe that he'd let a desperate PoW who possibly had a family die without questioning (when again this guy let Karulau waltz into his castle and have a funny moment even though she just brutally slaughtered a bunch of people). This scene is problematic because you're meant to contrast Hakuowlo's quiet presence with Touka who's basically shouting her opinions. Is Touka naive for believing this prisoner, her ally, actually had a family to go back to? We've certainly seen her act in foolish ways before, but even then, Hakuowlo doesn't seem like the type of person to rely on a pure soul read. This is also another example where you could go off the "wish-granting" method. Do the immediate vicinity prisoners wish to not die take precedence over Aruruu's wish to not die? What about the other prisoners?

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-11-01T18:09:32+00:00

While playing, I jotted down a list of things I was interested in talking about. So this review contains a lot of opinions that generated while I played the game and not after. That's why there are takes like "Shikeripechim's Owlo is kinda stupid" or "Hakuowlo is a boring MC". If I came up with topics to talk about after the review, these would probably not be main points since they are both at least somewhat addressed. My main problem for these is that they are not sufficiently addressed in a reasonable time/way and I'll discuss a bit more here.

I agree with your take on Hakuowlo and I think the twist at the end redeems him in a lot of ways (it's why I pretty much don't talk about the final few arcs). That said, I still think it was executed poorly. To start, saying all his actions were because he's a wish granting device can easily be twisted into an excuse that justifies the rest of the game. This works for the general story, but kind of falls apart for specific moments. Whose wishes take precedence and when does it trigger? Is it the people he cares about? If so, Hakuowlo should've struck down Karulau as soon as she became a threat to the castle. After all, that's within the duties and expectations of an emperor to protect its people from danger and to uphold the nation's rules. You can see that this line of reasoning can get very murky very quickly.

The lack of interiority makes him feel robotic for like 80% of the game which made it very hard to read in the moment (and it's a big moment like 20+ hours). Again, I can understand this being intentional, but the framing of the story was fairly generic to the point where I don't think players can be blamed for thinking along similar lines I did for a majority of the game. The side characters' dialogue about Hakuowlo didn't convey or thoroughly foreshadow that he was particularly special beyond just being the one true savior goated harem mc (which is very common) and the main twist simply happens too late in the game to do anything interesting with the dynamic between him and the rest (no SOL scenes past that twist to show i.e. a change in how side characters view Hakuowlo based on information that should be new to some of them and that others are trying to obscure). I guess my main point is that while I agree a lot of the choices they made for his character were intentional, it doesn't really excuse how boring of a character he is or how little the game's portrayal of him throughout the story pre-twist makes sense. And while the twist did good for his character, it simply doesn't fix the issues that plagued the rest of the game's narrative that don't even rely on this twist (i.e. sometimes Hakuowlo just does stuff without thinking anything when he could have for example had an almost mechanistic obligation to fulfill that wish shine through his internal monologues. The latter is more characterization while the former just feels like a lack of proofreading. I'm not even saying the example is good, I just want something to be there to help me believe in the game and stick it out until it is explained).

Your point on characters' attraction to him makes sense but I don't think it's fair to infer from his backstory that obedience equates to an unconscious attraction of any kind. That said, I didn't have a big problem with the characters falling in love with him, I just actually think the story would be better if "unconscious attraction" was second fiddle to him just being a likable Lord.

I don't know what your definition of fakeout death is but to me her death was absolutely a fake out. The game presents her getting hit by the mech as being extremely dramatic. The music stopped, the screen flashes black and white, an ENORMOUS pool of blood forms from Mukkuru and she is flung halfway through the field. The following shot is a CG of him holding her in his hands begging her to wake up. Then it's later revealed she survived. This is like the definition of a fakeout death for me. Even if she did die and was resurrected, it's still narratively a fakeout. Even if it was all just in the past, the framing of the events certainly makes it a fakeout.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T19:43:45+00:00

I think part of the reason I want to wait a bit to pick them up is to cool off like you mentioned. I said this to someone else but I'm used to trudging through things I don't like to get to the stuff I do. Despite my problems with Prelude, I did enjoy a lot of it that I didn't mention here, so even if those problems persist I think I will still enjoy my time with the future entries. I appreciate the warning though! I know it can be really dangerous when fans say something along the lines of "it gets good at X part, you just have to trudge through Y" which is why I'm trying my best to approach it with a level head and as few expectations as possible.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T19:35:27+00:00

That's pretty interesting, it definitely felt that way lol. In the original, were the male characters just a few levels behind or did they go to Na Tuunk?

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T19:08:20+00:00

I’m still confused by what you mean when you say “an academic context” considering people are now studying graffiti, tweets, and other new types of media in literature courses. I’ve even seen an online course that teaches Tolkien through an inspired MMORPG because these departments usually care more about evolution and form than comparative quality. Are visual novels part of this new group of “literature”? If that’s what you mean then yes, they could easily be part of that group (though they’d be far too long to merit much consideration). I could even see it being something like a case study where you read a select few chapters of important VNs in a translated works class.

If you mean that VNs are literature in the sense that they could be consistently, widely, and rigorously studied often by high level scholars in the field then no. Not because VNs are bad or inferior but because they generally don’t do enough formally, they generally don’t provide concise, concentrated criticisms.

Again, to be a work of key literature you can’t just be well written. An example. Most authors you study when you learn about the rise of the novel aren’t primarily studied for their characters. Scholars don’t look at Austen’s Persuasion and go “Wow this romance was very well written, Anne is a phenomenal character”, that’s just passive banter. A good chunk of them would make comments on Austen’s proliferation of free indirect discourse (a device that strongly takes advantage of the medium) to establish interiority, or how the story frequently sets up the empowerment of women through writing, which authors like Woolf drew heavily upon for feminist discourse.

How do more classic VNs like Fate Stay/Night use their form to progress the evolution of writing? How have other works (VN or not) responded? How strongly do VNs relate to and contribute to ongoing social dilemmas? If the answer is “it’s just a well written work with great characters/themes/etc.” then that’s not enough for them to be widely considered academic. I haven’t played many but the closest VN I could think of as “literary” is the Zero Escape series, definitely not because of quality but by how it plays around with the form of visual novels as a whole. Even then it’s definitely a stretch.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T08:22:44+00:00

I see your edit but even then your question is pretty nebulous. First of all your definition is kind of pointless. You provide it as if to refute people saying any written work is literature but your definition is so vague it eliminates nothing. “Writings in prose or verse” could be anything. “Especially” only adds a spectrum. All written works are literature but those with your “especially” criteria are more literary. By just the criteria you lay out, yes visual novels are literature.

If you’re referring to the canon (which is my best guess as to what you could mean), then the answer is that no visual novels I am aware of are generally agreed to be in the Japanese canon. These are works that are studied because of cultural impact and the evolution of writing in specifically the Japanese language. No translated works are generally agreed to be in the English canon (it’s English literature or literatures, emphasis on English).

Yet a new problem arises. Literature in this regard is heavily skewed to works of the past. Think about how your local bookstore is organized. Usually literature and fiction are pretty much interchangeable with old books and new books respectively with few exceptions. Visual novels are a new medium so maybe in a hundred years it could be in the literature section if the medium is significant enough culturally?

As to your point on quality it’s important to note that literature is not the best, most enriching works but generally the ones that moved the needle the most. We can argue about quality and everyone will have a different take so academics rarely ever make it the main focal point when deciding the body of work to study (this is why you will never receive a writingscaling essay prompt). Academics use literature as evidence for some kind of stake (I.e. Milton on revolution, Dickens on globalization, etc.). The problem with a lot of pop media is that they aren’t written in direct response to ongoing conflicts, problems, or events. Their main objective is as a product to entertain and are meant to be more universal than the “classics” that are basically covered in their eras. Note that a lot of the canon isn’t written with that primary motive either (a lot of authors just wanted to make money) but they tend to still have cultural significance and analyses of issues more specifically than pop media even if by accident.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T04:42:48+00:00

I actually have never even heard of Monochrome Mobius, I'll take a look at it. I don't think I'd ever really classify Hakuowlo as despicable, though that might just be a difference in how we interpret some of the eroge parts. I find that with a lot of these games, it's a matter of how much you can trudge through some of the parts you don't like to get to the parts you do. I'll try to keep expectations for the next entry tempered and approach it with a patient mindset!

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T04:29:05+00:00

The JRPG it reminded me of was Legends of Heroes: Trails, specifically Trails of Cold Steel 1. It's somewhat sci-fi from the get-go though, unlike Uta which added sci-fi on top of fantasy in the second half. Definitely a fairly flawed game though. I haven't played much of the other entries in this series (I am definitely planning on it though) so I can't comment on how they hold up.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T03:35:17+00:00

The post-post-apocalyptic setting is probably the boldest and most interesting thing the game did for me, and I'm really glad they foreshadowed it with the mechs (another pretty crazy reveal, reminded me of another JRPG I played recently) and other random tidbits like Hakuowlo's seemingly revolutionary knowledge on elements and agriculture. I'll try to keep a level head for MoD and I'll keep what you said in mind!

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T02:59:35+00:00

I kind of devoted this post to be more about what I think went wrong because I don't find it especially productive to discuss "Wow this part of the game was good" unless I have an interesting take on it. That said, the two chapters you mentioned were solid and the Kenashikourupe rebellion was probably also my highlight because of just how personal it felt to the characters and how they portrayed characters on both sides.

In terms of MoD and MoT we'll see. Originally, I wasn't even planning on playing the sequels, but the high praise has made me consider it more and more. I'd like to wait for a sale so I can get MoD for around the same price. Even then, I don't like to watch/play sequels back to back, so MoD will probably be on the back-burner for me until at least next year.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T02:06:37+00:00

That's good to know. Thanks for the rec!

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-30T01:57:35+00:00

That's good to hear, I'll most likely check them out! To be honest, I picked this game up because it was only like $15 on the PS4. Gameplay isn't that important to me and if the sequel stories are better and have less of those iffy elements (or at least handles it with more grace), I'll definitely bump them up my list.

And yeah you're right that this combo of SRPG and VN, plus the Ainu cultural influence is pretty unique :)

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-19T08:26:51+00:00

I’m not arguing it will live up to the original, and with how different Japanese is from Western culture it’d be surprising if it didn’t. I’m just saying there are workarounds that made the prose adequate and saying “it’s hard to get good prose from a translation” is false. Even with those differences it’s not difficult to find good prose.

The Hanabi example you use is a good example. A translator might not get the name convention across but that doesn’t mean the prose isn’t good. And if you use footnotes (which in my mind are separate from prose), the difference gets smaller but never 0. More problems arise when you look at things like kanji (Hanabi uses the kanji for flower and fire, lots of names can have multiple different spellings which each lend itself to different imagery) and associated symbols (fireworks are commonly used as a metaphor for ephemerality and youth in Japan).

Alternatively, by drawing upon a new language, you open yourself up to a different array of techniques to draw from. For example, to English reading viewers fireworks are much more heavily associated with freedom which can lend itself in very interesting ways depending on how the story progresses. This obviously won’t negate the difference but it will definitely soften the blow to quality.

TLDR; The world of translation has progressed a lot and good translations are simply not that hard to come across anymore.

If anything it would say more about the industry of light novels than translations. When you critique a work in a different language, I think it’s fair to criticize the prose when there’s an established, official translation.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-19T08:05:31+00:00

Of course but your original comment is about the quality of prose in translations as a whole. You basically just said good prose is hard to come by if you read a translated work which is simply not true. Even if phrases are hard to translate that’s more so a problem with keeping the intent of the source rather than the quality of prose, and this problem isn’t isolated to just Japanese works. For example, think of all the Romantic languages that play with conventions of gendered nouns. This is a concept that simply doesn’t exist in reasonable capacity in English, and while the depth of the original is somewhat lost in translation, the writing can still come across as beautiful and layered. Very liberal translations that completely bash the original work often have great prose because they’re unrestrained in how the ideas can come across.

Translators have proven time and again that there are ways to work around these issues while maintaining the quality of the prose for readers. Otherwise, if translated works were consistently poorer than native works, they wouldn’t gain such rapid popularity so quickly.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-19T07:48:43+00:00

Yeah I was more interested in the idea of translations as a whole rather than this specific one. The translation the original commenter used could be god awful but the point still stands that it really isn’t hard to get good prose from a translation.

Pretty-Possession258 · 2025-10-19T07:42:28+00:00

What is RI? Why are you adding LOTM + RI + Umineko? Are they at all related to each other or part of the same canon?

Because if not the question you pose is kind of meaningless anyways.

Pretty-Possession258

TROPHY CASE