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.