MEDIA LOG














☐ started
☑ completed
☒ didn't finish
↺ rewatch/read/listen

eh
okay
good
great
perfect

Visual Novels



Kusarihime

developer: Liar-soft
genre: Horror, Mystery, Eroge
year: 2002
status: ☐
time of reading: December 2023 -> Present
rating: -

Finally getting around to finishing this one! I started it ages ago, but Uni became so busy, I decided I'd get back to it once I finished my final year. So happy to be reading again because I'm very invested. The enforced playing order is really interesting, and I'm enjoying seeing the mystery unfold with each playthrough. Also, the artwork is so charming. The sprite artwork is very cute, I love the big chubby cheeks characters have. But also, this visual novel does something very unique where it integrates character art into the backgrounds; for example, when the protagonist Itsuki goes to bed, it will show his bedroom with him lying down in the bed. If Kurame joins him, a little sprite of her will show up sitting beside him. It's really cute, I love how it sets the scene!

I'll write in more detail when I finish it, but this visual novel has a lot to talk about in it, so maybe I'll write up a bigger blog post.



Misericorde Vol. 2

developer: XEECEE
genre: GL, Murder Mystery
year: 2024
status: ☑
time of reading: 28-09-25 -> 29.09.25
rating:

So I caught covid and became very sick and used my time off to play through all of Vol 2 of Misericorde. Read the whole thing in like a day because I was so invested in it hahaha.

Again, loved it!! THIS Volume is where the yuri comes in and it's SO GOOD!! I think Angela is my favourite character. I love a good mean lesbian more than anything and she is so hot. But also seeing her weaknesses - how she's actually so lonely, despite her disinterested facade - I can't get enough of characters like this. I won't go into specifics and spoil anything but I was so brokenhearted at the end of the game and hope things can be mended in Vol 3, but also... Damn Angela I'm pissed off at you too.

I think I enjoyed Vol 1 more than Vol 2, but it's still fantastic and just as gripping. My only gripe was that new plot threads just kept coming and coming. I hadn't resolved anything yet but now more and more questions were getting added to the pile. I have so much more questions now than after Vol 1. But I know when (if?) they are answered in Vol 3, it will be very satisfying!

Also, it's fun reading something nowadays and immediately noticing "ah this person has read Umineko". My experience with 07th works is helping me build upon my theories. Something that I notice more and more recently is people my age, who grew up with the same media as I did, are now making works inspired by those works.


Misericorde Vol. 1

developer: XEECEE
genre: GL, Murder Mystery
year: 2023
status: ☑
time of reading: 26-08-25 -> 28.09.25
rating:

Been having people recomment this visual novel to me for quite some time, and finally decided to get on it! I can see why they've been pushing me to read it. I am absolutely gripped by this mystery !!! Misericorde follows the story of Hedwig, an Anchoress in a monastery. From a young age she is locked in a cell to devote her entire life to God, spending her days reading nothing but holy scripture. Until one day, there is a murder in the monastery. As the only person in the monastery who could not possibly have comitted the crime, the Superior puts her trust in the anchoress to help solve the mystery. Engaging story, great characters, and I love the soundtrack. I'm so excited to get onto Vol. 2 right away!! Also yay, it has Irish characters! Not much yuri in vol 1 but i know that will change later. I love Darcy and Katherine, but Angela is really starting to grow on me andI hope she ends up being the romance interest... I love a good enemies to lovers.

The characters are all very unique and interesting and I love the relationship dynamics set up. It's so interesting to experience the story through Hedwig as she learns more about the world and people around her. I have no clue as to who the murderer could be - I don't have any particularly strong theories yet. But that will probably change soon.


Overtime

developer: madhu
genre: BL, Zombie Apocalypse
year: 2025
status: ☑
time of reading: 10/09/25
rating:

Short and sweet! The pacing was great and I loved the dynamic between the two characters! Absolutely love the art style, too. It only took me about 40 minutes to get through the whole thing, even with re-playing and picking other options.

You can get it for free on madhu's itch !




Ooe (大穢)

creator: ADELTA
genre: BL, Murder Mystery, Psychological Horror
year: 2011
status: ☑
time of reading: 05-05-25 -> 07-09-5
rating:

Oh man what can I say... I need to make a big, long blog post about this one I think. This was my first time playing one of Adelta's games (despite having Hashihime sitting on my desktop for 3 years... sorry Hashihime!) and there was so much hype coming up to its release, it did not disappoint!

I first got into visual novels in the late 2000s and early 2010s. My introduction to vns were games like Higurashi, Umineko, and 999; mysteries that slowly unravel the more you play through each route. So Ooe was right up my alley. I really, really enjoyed playing through each route and uncovering more of the mystery and learning more about each character. Amazing artwork, voice acting, and characters. I enjoyed some more than others, but I liked every single route!

Favourite route: My favourite route story-wise was definitely Ariake B. It was an incredible introduction to the story, and to the main character. In terms of romance, though, Shimbashi stole my heart. I'm always 100% absolutely weak to tsunderes. Not only a tsundere, but a crybaby tsundere. He's perfect. But I have to mention Takeshiba as well, another favourite route of mine. If it was any other game, Takeshiba would be my favourite character by miles, but the competition in Ooe is too fierce. But I adore him!!!



Malcatra's Maiden

creator: Nadia Nova
genre: GL, Drama
year: 2024
status: ☑
time of reading: November 2024
rating:

Some good indie transgender toxic yuri! I really enjoyed this! The sprites were super cute, I loved the animations and art style. This is an eroge, so it has some (really good!) ero scenes, too.

This vn is a short but heavy hitting depiction of grooming, manipulation, abuse, and trying to break the cycle. I really like when a visual novel leaves me with a gut wrenching sense of despair, and this didn't impact me as much as some other titles I've read, but I still felt that twisting sensation in my gut after completion. I don't want to say too much and spoil the ending; it's a short visual novel so I'd recommend checking it out yourself if interested!





soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA -

studio: milk+visual
genre: GL, Denpa, Horror
year: 2017
status: ☑
finished: 9-10-24
rating:

During the summer, I started work on my visual novel, and I began development in September as part of my final year uni project. When talking to a friend about my VN, they told me it reminded them of this, so I immediately read it. Luckily it is not so similar to Seraph Syndrome that it would make me paranoid lol. It's a fantastic visual novel, and completely free, which is crazy! It's a denpa visual novel about a young girl named Mercy, isolated and relentlessly bullied within her extremely religious village. I wish it had been a little bit more... idk, intense, extreme maybe is the word I'm looking for? I like to feel a pit in my stomach when reading vns like this, I love vns that make me feel dread and despair, and this didn't quiiite hit it as much as other vns within the genre. But overall it was very compelling and was a great read! It's very short (like 4 hours maybe?) and totally free so absolutely check it out!



Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ↺

author: Ryukishi07
genre: Psychological Horror, Mystery
year: 2002
status: ☑
time of completion: June 2024
rating:

I re-visited Higurashi this year. I hadn't read it since 2009/2010, and have read a lot of VNs since then, so I was curious to see if Higurashi and Umineko would still be my favourites, and decided to re-read them both. Now, over a decade later, it's still peak fiction. I cried so many times. I was very young when I first got into Higurashi, and Mion was my favourite character - and she still is even after coming back to it all these years later. I loved Rena before, but definitely have a greater appreciation for her now, too. Takano's story also made me cry this time around. Ryukishi's ability to make you feel for and empathise with characters who are the "villains" of the story, and who do terrible things, it's just incredible. I could talk and talk about his works for hours so I'll keep this short. But I think absolutely every visual novel fan needs to read Higurashi and Umineko.




Shingakkou -Noli me tangere-

studio: pil/slash
genre: BL, Horror, Mystery
year: 2024, 2025
status: ☑
time of reading: April-May 2024
rating:

Obsessed with this vn. I couldn't stop reading once I picked it up. My gf bought it while we were in Japan, and I decided to pick it up and play it one week while she was away. I just spent all day every day reading it forgetting to eat. I loved it! I loved the characters, even the side characters you couldn't romance were great. Great art, interesting plot, loved the setting. Neil and Leonid's romance routes were my favourite, but you get to the real meat of the story when you unlock Father August's route! It was devastating. I cried a few times playing this vn (Leonid's made me cry just because of how sweet and romantic it was...) but Father August made me cry the most. Also I really like Neil and have decided he is Irish.

One amazing thing about this visual novel: You can choose who tops/who bottoms! I really wish more vns would do this, I enjoyed seeing the H-scenes in two different ways for each character! And I LOVED making those older men bottom. Absolute genius.

Favourite route: Leonid. 100%. He's my princess and I adore him. I'm weak to a princely but flawed, kinda tsundere character like him. The romance between him and Michael was so, so sweet. But in terms of writing, I really loved Father August's route too!! An absolute punch in the gut. Loved it.





Paradise

studio: pil/slash
genre: BL, thriller
year: 2017
status: ☑
time of reading: March 2024
rating:

This visual novel was interesting... Some of the routes were stronger than others. I wasn't suuuuper invested in the mystery and I predicted the twist pretty early on. Some of the bad ends weren't that enjoyable too. I love a good fucked up bad end in BL, but idk, these didn't hit it for me. Maybe cuz I didn't think the guys were particularly hot. But I enjoyed the ride! Mitsugi and Matsuda were definitely the best routes. Mitsugi is a tsundere so, of course, he was my fav. I loved Matsuda... At first. He was CRAZY hot at first, and his dirty talk....... omfg me and my gf were screaming reading it. But well. Spoilers: The way he just started like. Beating the shit out of Azuma. Who already has gone through a rough life and endured horrible abuse. It wasn't really fun to watch. It's be one thing if it was something more erotic, like slapping or biting. Or if it was something possessive, like leaving bruises to mark him as a possession or breaking a limb or injuring him so he couldn't escape/would have to rely on Matsuda. That's the kind of toxic abuse I can get behind. Or even if the fights were mutual and they beat each other up. But idk... Matsuda just like beating him up and punching Azuma, and him not fighting back. I wasn't really feeling it. The writing kinda fell off at places for me, but it was still a super fun read! Despite it all Matsuda is still my 2nd fav and I do really like him. Not my fav BLVN, but definitely worth the read!

Favourite route: Mitsugi, 100%. I love a good tsundere. Even though he was a dickhead to Azuma, his way of showing he cares was really sweet. I especially loved him when playing the fandisc! For starters, his ponytail was very cute and I didn't have to see his mfing forehead. It was cute seeing his POV and seeing him freaking out and instantly having a crush on Azuma and not knowing how to deal with it. And their life together is so domestic and he takes such good care of Azuma. Poor Azuma had such a rough life, it's what he deserves!





Gore Screaming Show

studio: Black Cyc
genre: Eroguro, Horror
year: 2006
status: ☑
time of reading: 2020-2024
rating:

So I read Kiika and Aoi's routes back in 2020, but didn't finish the game. But in November 2022, MangaGamer released an English translation, so I finally decided to re-visit and finish it! Really, really enjoyed this one! The scenario writer - Kusaka Matsuri - works a lot with BL games. Noteably, she was the scenario writer for Shingakkou, Masquerade, and Bara no Ki. But she also has worked a lot on Cyc and Black Cyc titles! I really enjoy her character writing. I absolutely love the main character for this vn, Kyouji. Usually, eroge main characters are.. Not bad, but lacking personality. Or they can be a little mean or apathetic, and often rapists lol. Which is fine, because honestly when I'm playing this kind of game, I'm not here for the guy - I'm here for the anime girls. And it's an eroge, it's just their nature, and isn't a bad thing. Kyouji, however, is a nice change of pace! He's kinda an edgy 2000s emo boy? But with a good heart. He genuinely cares for the girls and sticks up for them. He's a little metalhead who takes girls on dates to the heavy metal café, which for some reason exists in this small town, and collects kaiju figurines. I like him!

The story is great too! I loved the relationship between Aoi and Akane, it was a little more complex than one would expect from a game like this. Akane is an energetic, confident, tomboyish girl. Aoi is quiet, reserved, and has truble standing up for herself. While they seem like good friends at a glance, their relationship is a pretty realistic depiction of a more confident girl keeping around a more gloomy, quiet girl to feel better about herself. It was interesting to hear Aoi talk about her resentment of Akane and her gripes about their relationship.

I also really, really loved Yamiko!! I liked her story and her relationship with Yuka a lot. Also, bisexual queen? Wasn't expecting this story to be queer like that but it was a nice surprise! Spoilers but, I wish Yuka got to grow up and age normally alongside Yamiko so they could have gotten together. There is gore and poop and piss but also it's a rly great story about growing up, overcoming trauma, how destructive it is to yourself and those around you to spend your life dwelling on the pain of the past... game of the year

Favourite route: Maybe it's because of my catholic upbringing, but Kiika's route really resonated with me. I think Aoi is the best match for Kyouji romance wise, but Kiika's story was the best. Kiika is a girl who learns early in her life that she can masturbate, that sex feels good. Normal stuff for a kid exploring themself and their body. But she is made to feel a deep shame around her sexuality and her desires, has trauma surrounding sexual acts and masturbation from it, and her story is about her coming to terms with it. I really liked how the subject was tackled, for an eroguro game like this I was pleasantly surprised! Her sex scene with Kyouji was really sweet!



Go For A Punch! Saki Sanobashi

creator: Veratrum
genre: Horror
year: 2023
status: ☑
time of reading: 27-01-24
rating:

short vn (like 40 mins) based on the famous Saki Sanobashi 'lost media'. love the character designs especially for saki and sayuri. every time youd hear about the go for a punch lost media youre like "damn, i wish this was real". and now it is! creepy, atmospheric vn that doesn't take long to read. i liked it!!



template