Let’s play master and servant: my introduction to the visual novel
The visual novel is strange creature. It’s a quintessentially Japanese medium so that alone makes it worth mentioning on this blog but this peculiar mix of ideas and storytelling is something that I’ve heard a lot about but only recently experienced for myself. Are these things video games in the style of books, or books in the style of video games? Both? Neither? It poses interesting questions in terms of semantics too…
“Don’t mind me. I’m just playing…I mean reading…that is I’m, um, oh sod it.”
Like the duck-billed platypus, which looks like less of a supporting argument for the theory of evolution and more a product of a supreme being with a wicked sense of humour, the visual novel is an unlikely mixture of varied components. It has the text and semi-static images you’d expect from a light or graphic novel, but has an interactive element that’s akin to a simplified version of a computer game. This blend of disparate media types in turn has some interesting effects on the way you experience its style of storytelling; the logic behind it is certainly easier to explain than that of a little furry bugger that still goes to the trouble of laying eggs.
There’s a similarity between VNs and those old Choose Your Own Adventure books that sent the reader to different pages depending on the choices they made. I personally couldn’t stand them because I quickly wound up eaten by bears or zapped by aliens; in VN-speak this is the typical Bad End. It does however offer a powerful aspect of the VN’s appeal: the branching narrative.
I wrote recently about how the gameplay of the original Chaos;Head VN allegedly offers frequent choices between a dark and gory plotline or a light and fluffy one in addition the default preset. I’d also like to play the Clannad VN at some point because the side-stories that get only a few episodes or less in the anime intrigued me; as a matter of fact the Tomoyo After chapter was my favourite moment of the series so far and is something I could quite happily sit through for longer. If you want to be cynical about it, giving a number of different endings in a romance show is catering for fanboys and fangirls of more than one or two characters, which makes pretty good marketing sense. In C;H’s case though it uses the branching narrative approach to give a split personality-type feel that fits in with the theme of the story itself.
As far as I know the VN format has yet to be put to eductional use, unless you count dating sims as demonstrations of social etiquette or something
I must admit that if I were able to have some sort of control over the tone and pacing of the C;H anime it would have been a more rewarding experience; another big plus with a VN is that if the viewer/reader/player isn’t a hardcore bookworm but is familiar with anime, manga and gaming they can basically have a novel-like experience, in the anime style AND guide the story how they see fit. This interactivity was the biggest surprise for me since I could immerse myself in the story thanks to the first-person perspective and actually *think* about the protagonist’s motivations and what the consequences of their actions would be. “What would [insert character name] do?”
I’m taking the Fate route of the Fate/Stay Night VN literally a day at a time to move along at a steady clip while working around my daily routine. An hour or so of light reading, with a bit of Einaudi or Depeche in the background is a great way to explore avenues of the story that the anime could not; perhaps I should’ve left the adaptation for afterwards but to be honest I prefer to discover new facets of the characters’ personalities and follow new events rather than lament on familiar material that appears to be missing. Either way it’s a prime example of a story that works marvellously in the VN format.
By day #7 or thereabouts we have a pretty firm handle on how the characters are fulfilling roles determined by past events or lineage, and how certain individuals are motivated by doing the right thing or rectifying (as yet unspecified) past actions. It’s ironic, really, that in a situation in which a character has been forced onto a course of action either by themselves or the influence of others it’s up to you to decide where their story goes. Is this approach a commentary on choosing your own path, or is it a more technically-determined result of interconnected storylines working better with the branching plotline?
There’s a new game we like to play, you see/a game with added reality
The reason why I’m asking is that the writer(s) of Minori, Type Moon or Key didn’t initially publish their stories in print or sell them to a television studio. They made them into interactive e-books where the plot can fly off into one of several directions, with Bad Ends keeping you on your toes about why the characters do what they do (the only hint about F/S N I can give at this stage is that selfish, cowardly and out-of-character behaviour on the part of the lead gives a Bad End that makes you glad you saved your progress first).
In the case of F/S N it’s all about inheriting something that the characters cannot escape due to inherited issues and the emotional ties they make for themselves, then presenting the story with frequent “So, what would you do here, smart arse?” when things get a bit tense. It also offers a more thorough and in-depth study of events, thoughts and feelings which enriches the world and brings the characters more to life. But my thoughts on that will have to come later.
“As far as I know the VN format has yet to be put to eductional use, unless you count dating sims as demonstrations of social etiquette or something.”
I don’t think affection points quite work out irl :(
I’d suggest Tsukihime, as well. That one, however, requires a bit of work as the better routes require completion of the game at least once.
On the untranslated side, December When There Is No Angel is absolutely delicious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_When_There_Is_No_Angel
Happy reading!
From what I hear from the VN expert at Nihonreview site, “Narcissu” is probably one of the best VN out there. I’m interested in trying out VN as well (lol I’ve only played this really bad Korean dating sims approx. 10 yrs ago), but probably not F/S Night or CLANNAD. Maybe Higurashi, that seemed like quite a game to play.
@Emo_Wandering_Bear: Tsukihime is next on my list when I’m done with F/S N since I’m one of the few who actually enjoyed the anime. That said I had a few issues with it that I’m sure the full original story will resolve. Plus it has vampires in it. o/ WTINA will have to wait for a translation patch though since my Japanese is still really limited!
@gaguri: I like detective fiction-type stuff so Hirugashi intrigues me. The premise of Narcissu sounds really poignant too so I’ll make a mental note of them. F/S N is proving to be a fantastic piece by the way (assuming a couple of hentai scenes don’t bother you). One of these days I might check out a dating sim, although I wouldn’t be able to take it altogether seriously; it might be better in that ‘having a drunken laugh friends’ setting!
@above:
It is worth noting that Narcissu is not a visual novel per se; it does not offer the reader any choices, so it is essentially a story with pictures. All the reader has to do is click through it.
It’s a fairly short read though, so you may as well go through it to see if you like the format.
And if you like it, I’ll also suggest Planetarian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetarian
It’s developed by Key, so expect a fair amount of angst and the usual level of finish you’d expect to see in other Key works. There IS a translation patch for this out there, somewhere, you just have to look for it.
Cheers.
I haven’t played too many VNs, but Ever 17 is far and away the best one I’ve ever played (read) all the way through. The first four arcs range from passable to ordinary, but the way the final arc ties the other arcs together and answers all the questions posed by the mystery is nothing short of genius. It’s one of these stories that’ll frustrate the hell out of you as you wade through it, but the finale is so special that it more than makes up for it.
As a medium, VNs are definitely something I’ve wanted to get more into, but the limited availability outside Japan has always been a big sticking point. Narcissu and Planetarian are also great, but as Emo_Wandering_Bear points out, there’s no choices in either. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have great stories to tell.
I believe the term for something with no choices like Narcissu is a ‘kinetic novel’? Either way, I quite liked it. Considering that it’s amateur work, it’s pretty impressive. Check out the two different translations available in the officially-sanctioned English version, too: they’re an interesting contrast. The other kinetic thingummy with an officially-sanctioned translation which is usually mentioned in the same breath as Narcissu is True Remembrance. I enjoyed that too, though I wouldn’t agree with some of the more extravagant claims made about its quality.
@Emo_Wandering_Bear: thanks, I’ll definitely check out Narcissu as some ‘light reading’; it sounds like I’d love it.
@Sorrow-kun: the lack of VN popularity outside of Japan puzzles me, because once people get over the stigma that comes from generalising (I’m assuming they’re not all eroges and dating sims!) I can see them being widely popular. I’ll add Ever 17 to the list then, purely because a sci-fi VN sounds fascinating.
@IKnight: ‘kinetic novel’? I like that term! I’m going to have to get onto Narcissu soonish by the looks of things, since you all hold it in such high regard. It’s interesting to learn that True Remembrance doesn’t have any voice acting though; I’m currently playing F/S N with my music player in the background since I forgot how to install the vocal patch!
One of the translations in Narcissu is attached to a voice track for one of the characters, and the other translation is silent. As the translators point out, this actually alters the reader’s focus considerably. I didn’t play F/sn with the voice patch myself – I preferred it without.