Arcana Heart provides half of your daily recommended intake of moe with less calories than the typical moe anime competitor. Examu’s all-girl fighting game brawled its way to North American shores in mid-April courtesy of Atlus USA. Eleven girls, each representing a different facet of moe otaku culture, duke it out in a fighting system highly reminiscent of the Guilty Gear series.

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The concept of gender swapping popular anime and game characters has been around forever, but the infamous practice has recently surged with new life again. The Genderbending of Haruhi Suzumiya - Need I say more? I’ll admit that the revised Kyon-ko is surprisingly cute though. So what’s the appeal in reversing character genders anyway? One can only guess, but let’s explore the options.

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Completely, hopelessly, utterly addicted. Visual novels just have this way of drawing you in with immersive stories. Even “bad” visual novels usually still have decent stories. It’s funny how eroge barely qualify as games yet remain so engrossing. I’m going to get flack for saying this, but a lot of these games would actually be better without the hentai. Of course sales figures say otherwise when all-age versions sell less than the standard editions.

Oh yeah. I noticed that the blog’s load times have been a bit slow lately. Hopefully that will pass over soon.

Visual novels carry a negative connotation to the uninformed anime fans in the west. Just saying the word immediately conjurs up associations to hentai. While it is true that bishoujo/eroge games are visual novels, not all visual novels are bishoujo/eroge. Imagine visual novels as a big circle. A smaller circle for bishoujo games is nested in the visual novel circle. Likewise, an even smaller eroge circle is embedded in the bishoujo circle. Hope that explains my point adequately.

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Hirameki International, a US based company that brought over some memorable visual novels to English audiences (Ever17, Hourglass of Summer, and Phantom of Inferno to name a few), has announced their decision to bow out of game publishing on January 2, 2008.

It’s sad to see them go because this really puts a damper on the hope of games like Kanon, Clannad, Higurashi, Fate/Stay Night, etc. getting licensed and translated for a US release. Hirameki’s departure from the scene has only proven that there is no market for reading-oriented games in a country that doesn’t want to read. The funny thing is that the visual novel anime adaptations tend to do really well in North America, but the market for their source material is almost non-existant. What a pity.

Hirameki will be missed, even if their translations were spottier than a Leopard at times. If you’ve ever considered picking up one of their titles, then now would be the time. The games are now officially out-of-print.

P.S. Excuse the somewhat unrelated Rena UBW picture. I couldn’t find anything remotely suitable for the post, so I randomly chose this. It might be suitable in the fact that Hirameki is dead and well… You know what Rena does best.

More than two million Japanese anime fans put in their votes for 2007’s best anime. I was pleasantly surprised at the results. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but can two million fans really be wrong? If you’re expecting a top 10 list from me, I don’t have one ready so be patient. Topic picture is unrelated but funny.

Sources: Yahoo Japan, Danny Choo

1. sola - Sola’s spot is a huge surprise. I pegged either Lucky Star or Code Geass at the number one position.

2. Lucky Star - Lucky Star is average at best but has a ton of fanboy support. Expected this to be pretty high.

3. Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn - Hitman Reborn doesn’t really deserve a place in the top ten. Bad taste… It’s also technically ongoing from late 2006 but whatever.

4. Ookiku Furi Kabutte - No opinion on this. I wouldn’t watch a baseball anime to save my life.

5. Higurashi - I guess this is for Higurashi season 2. I don’t really care too much for the franchise but it deserves its place.

6. Gintama - Another Jump title ongoing from 2006. I don’t think it should count, but tell that to the voters. The Gintama manga is much better than the anime which I found to be a boring at times.

7. Nanoha StrikerS - StrikerS had to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2007. If StrikerS wasn’t related to the Nanoha series, it wouldn’t even be in the top 50.

8. Nanatsuiro Drops - It’s got some cute designs, but I don’t think it should be this high just because of Noizi Itoh’s moe characters. Oh wait, that’s why Shana is so popular.

9. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Good choice here. This top 10 list left me in despair, but SZS’s placement brought my spirits up a bit.

10. Hidamari Sketch - No opinion. Truthfully it didn’t look that interesting.

It’s already December 23rd (24th in the eastern hemisphere), and Christmas is creeping up. You have to buy a present for an otaku. Being unfamiliar with otaku lifestyle, the normal person is left in the dark and simply gives gift cards or cash. With a little help from yours truly, we will take a peek into the inner workings of what otaku crave. Instead of giving a present that will be exchanged, you will have the knowledge to get something that will be cherised for years to come. This post has content that some readers may find both objectionable and arousing. Curious readers proceed. Take heed that this is your last chance to turn back.

Note from the author: This post is not meant to be taken seriously nor do I condone holiday shopping to line the pockets of greedy corporations. It’s your money so do whatever you want.

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Visual novels have been around in Japan for a long time. For the uninformed, a visual novel is typically a game that contains a story told in first-person narrative with abundant amounts of text, making it akin to a novel that unfolds on your screen. They started on PCs with these bare essentials and slowly evolved to include voice acting, CG movies, and more user interaction. The basics still remain however, which is that your progress through the game is usually made by a list of choices that are presented to the player.

Most people associate visual novels with H-games/dating sims, but this is not always the case. It’s a major misconception that all visual novels contain hentai. There are a number of games that do not such as the popular handheld game series, Phoenix Wright. This lawyer simulation has you investigating crime scenes and participating in intense court battles to save your clients from going to the big house.

With the unexpected popularity of Phoenix Wright in North America, Capcom is going to give us the sequels to the franchise. While this may mean good things for visual novel enthusiasts, it looks like this genre with still remain a small niche for some years to come. At least it has its foot in the door for more visual novel games to head our way in the future. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.