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101-597: Masaki Tsuzuki adapted the series into a novel, which Megami Bunko published in August 2005. King Records has adapted several soundtracks and drama CDs from the series. A sequel to the anime series titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's produced by Seven Arcs premiered in Japan in October 2005, broadcast on Chiba TV . A film adaptation of the anime series, also by Seven Arcs, was released in theaters on January 23, 2010, accompanied by

202-469: A cult following . Following Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake , Kojima produced his next graphic adventure, Policenauts (1994), a point-and-click adventure notable for being an early example of extensive voice recording in video games. It also featured a hard science fiction setting, a theme revolving around space exploration, a plot inspired by the ancient Japanese tale of Urashima Taro , and some occasional full-motion video cut scenes. The gameplay

303-449: A day-night cycle with a time scheduling system that provides context and relevance to character interactions, allowing players to choose when and if to interact with certain characters, which in turn influences their responses during later conversations. It is not uncommon for visual novels to have morality systems. A well-known example is the 2005 title School Days , an animated visual novel that Kotaku describes as going well beyond

404-475: A hentai anime. Traditionally, PC-based visual novels have contained risque scenes even if the overall focus is not erotic (similar to the " obligatory sex scene " in Hollywood action films ). However, the vast majority of console ports do not contain adult material, and a number of recent PC games have also been targeted at the all-age market; for example, all of Key 's titles come in censored versions, although

505-599: A point-and-click interface for a console, like The Portopia Serial Murder Case , but making use of visual icons rather than text-based ones to represent various actions. Like the NES version of Portopia Serial Murder Case , it featured a cursor that could be moved around the screen using the D-pad to examine the scenery, though the cursor in Suishō no Dragon was also used to click on the action icons. Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame)

606-539: A post-apocalyptic science fiction setting, an amnesiac protagonist, and some light gun shooter segments. It was praised for its graphics, soundtrack, high quality writing comparable to a novel, voice acting comparable to a film or radio drama , and in-game computer database with optional documents that flesh out the game world. The Sega CD version of Snatcher was for a long time the only major visual novel game to be released in America, where it, despite low sales, gained

707-415: A real-time branching choice system where, during an event or conversation, the player must choose an action or dialogue choice within a time limit, or to not respond at all within that time. The player's choice, or lack thereof, affects the player character 's relationship with other characters and in turn the characters' performance in battle, the direction of the storyline, and the ending. Later games in

808-579: A Little Planet . There are role-playing video games that feature visual novel-style elements. A well-known example in the West is Mistwalker 's Lost Odyssey , an RPG that features a series of visual novel-style flashback sequences called "A Thousand Years of Dreams". These sequences were penned by an award-winning Japanese short story writer, Kiyoshi Shigematsu. Another title is the Arc System Works fighting game series BlazBlue , which plays off of

909-562: A bi-monthly to a monthly basis release starting in November, 2000. During this time the focus of the magazine was shifted from "gal games" to "anime" due to a surge in popularity with "moe" type characters. An after effect from the monthly switch led to the split off of the “Megami Magazine Special” from the main issue of “Animedia” starting in March 2003. The Gakken Group was reorganized in October 2009 which caused Megami Magazine to briefly come under

1010-435: A branching path structure, and allowing them to focus on complex stories with mature themes and consistent plots in a way which Choose Your Own Adventure books were unable to do due to their physical limitations. Many visual novels often revolve almost entirely around character interactions and dialogue choices usually featuring complex branching dialogues and often presenting the player's possible responses word-for-word as

1111-419: A common trend in visual novels, which frequently use multiple branching storylines to achieve multiple different endings , allowing non-linear freedom of choice along the way, similar to a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Decision points within a visual novel often present players with the option of altering the course of events during the game, leading to many different possible outcomes. An acclaimed example

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1212-503: A complex fantasy setting where a one-hundred-year period is reset indefinitely with many variables. The many branching storylines in Story Mode can serve as stand-alone stories, but players must consider them together along with Arcade Mode stories to be able to fully understand the universe. Another successful example is Sega 's Sakura Wars series, which combined tactical role-playing game combat with visual novel elements, introducing

1313-511: A distinction is often made between visual novels (NVL, from "novel"), which consist primarily of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (AVG or ADV, from "adventure"), which incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay. This distinction is normally lost outside Japan, as both visual novels and adventure games are commonly referred to as "visual novels" by international fans. Visual novels are rarely produced exclusively for dedicated video game consoles , but

1414-449: A fugitive from the inter-dimensional police known as Time-Space Administration Bureau (TSAB). Precia cloned Alicia to create Fate and implanted her with Alicia's memories; nevertheless, she cannot care for Fate as she did for Alicia and abuses her regularly. Despite this, Fate is extremely loyal to her due to Alicia's happy childhood memories, which she takes as her own. In the series, Precia uses Fate to collect Jewel Seeds to reach Al Hazard,

1515-455: A generally open world , a branching dialogue conversation system where the story develops through entering commands and receiving responses from other characters, and making choices that determine the dialogues and order of events as well as alternate outcomes, though there is only one true culprit while the others are red herrings . It also features a phone that could be used to dial any number to contact several non-player characters . The game

1616-683: A half years after the announcement of the licensing. Many production credits for the English-language dubbed release were missing. The anime is now licensed by Discotek Media . All DVD volumes peaked at 70 to 22 and below on the Oricon Animation DVD ranking and remained on the chart for at least two weeks. The storyline follows Nanoha Takamachi , a nine-year-old Japanese girl attending elementary school , who lives with her parents and her older siblings. Nanoha's regular daily life ends when she rescues an injured ferret who reveals himself as

1717-425: A live-action television drama, but allowing players to explore multiple character perspectives and affect the outcomes. Another successful example is 428: Shibuya Scramble , which received a perfect score of 40 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine. The history of visual novels dates back to The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983). It featured non-linear elements, which include traveling between different areas in

1818-539: A manga series which was serialized in Megami Magazine between November 2009 and March 2011. Geneon Entertainment licensed the anime series for English-language dubbed release in North America at Anime Expo 2007 (June 29 to July 2). Due to Geneon switching distribution labels between September 2007 and July 2008, Funimation distributed the series (in a single DVD compilation-volume boxset) approximately one and

1919-619: A minor character in the eroge visual novel Triangle Heart 3 released on December 8, 2000. She first appeared, cast as a magical girl , on the merchandise CD Triangle Heart 3 ~Lyrical Toy Box~ released on June 29, 2001. It was written by Masaki Tsuzuki, the creator of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise. Nanoha's first appearance in animation was in the first episode of the Triangle Heart 3 OVA -adaptation series that released on July 24, 2003. Seven Arcs produced

2020-536: A mythical world where Alicia could be truly brought back to life. Nanoha and Fate repeatedly face off over each new Jewel Seed they find, and the TSAB soon interferes to prevent the collateral damage caused by their battles. Nanoha eventually manages to overpower Fate and brings her to the TSAB, prompting Precia to abandon her and attempt a dimensional jump to Al Hazard with the power of the few Jewel Seeds that Fate has managed to gather. Gathering her resolve, Fate decides to aid

2121-432: A page (many recent games offer "play" or "fast-forward" toggles that make this unnecessary), while making narrative choices along the way. Another main characteristic of visual novels is their strong emphasis on the prose, as the narration in visual novels is delivered through text. This characteristic makes playing visual novels similar to reading a book. Most visual novels have multiple storylines and more than one ending;

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2222-474: A portmanteau of ero tic ga me ( エロチックゲーム )). Many visual novels also qualify as eroge , an abbreviation of 'erotic game'. These games feature sexually explicit imagery that is accessed by completing certain routes in the game, most often depicting the game's protagonist having sex with one of the game's other characters. Like other pornographic media in Japan, scenes depicting genitalia are censored in their original Japanese releases, only becoming uncensored if

2323-675: A reference and analyzed them to try to determine why they were so popular. He decided that the secret was that the stories would start with ordinary, enjoyable days, but then a sudden event would occur leading the player to cry from shock. He used a similar model as the basis for Higurashi but instead of leading the player to cry, Ryukishi07 wanted to scare the player with the addition of horror elements. Other examples of horror-themed visual novels include: Animamundi: Dark Alchemist , Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni , Umineko no Naku Koro ni , Ookami Kakushi , Imabikisou , Saya no Uta , Doki Doki Literature Club! , and Corpse Party . Prior to

2424-1265: A resurgence in the adventure game genre outside Japan. GameSpot has credited Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in particular for revitalizing the adventure game genre. The success of the Ace Attorney series was followed soon after by the even greater success of Level-5 's Professor Layton in 2007. Both have since become some of the best selling adventure game franchises, with Ace Attorney selling over 3.9 million units worldwide and Professor Layton selling over 9.5 million units worldwide by 2010. Their success has led to an increase in Japanese visual novels being localized for release outside Japan, including: KID 's Ever 17: The Out of Infinity (2002), Cing's Another Code series (2005 onwards), Marvelous Entertainment 's Lux-Pain (2008), Chunsoft 's 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (2010), and Capcom's Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (2010). In more recent years, several modern Western narrative adventure games have drawn comparisons to visual novels, including Telltale Games titles such as The Walking Dead (2012), and Dontnod Entertainment 's Life Is Strange (2015);

2525-569: A save file of Konami's dating sim Tokimeki Memorial is present, a technique Kojima would also later use in Metal Gear Solid . From 1997 to 1999, Kojima developed the three Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series titles, which were adaptations of Tokimeki Memorial in a visual novel adventure game format. Other acclaimed examples of science fiction visual novels include ELF 's Yu-No (1996) and 5pb. 's Chaos;Head (2008) and Steins;Gate (2009). Popular subgenres of visual novels include

2626-518: A story. Another improvement is having hidden decision points that are automatically determined based on the player's past decisions. In Fate/stay night , for example, the way the player character behaved towards non-player characters during the course of the game affects the way they react to the player character in later scenes, such as whether or not they choose to help in life-or-death situations. This would be far more difficult to track with physical books. More importantly, visual novels do not face

2727-516: A textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity . The format is more rarely referred to as novel game , a retranscription of the wasei-eigo term noberu gēmu ( ノベルゲーム ) , which is more often used in Japanese. Visual novels originated in and are especially prevalent in Japan , where they made up nearly 70% of the PC game titles released in 2006. In Japanese,

2828-676: A young shapeshifting mage named Yūno Scrya . An archaeologist from a parallel universe called Midchilda, Yūno came to Earth to collect a set of 21 dangerous ancient artifacts named the "Jewel Seeds" ( ジュエルシード , Jueru Shīdo ) that he first discovered in his own world. Jewel Seeds give living beings who come into contact with them unnatural powers, often turning them into monsters. Yūno, injured while trying to collect them, must now rely on Nanoha while he convalesces in ferret form. He gives Nanoha an "intelligent device" ( magical wand ) called "Raising Heart" ( レイジングハート , Reijingu Hāto ) , and she unexpectedly shows strong aptitude for magic. As

2929-897: Is Fate/stay night (2004). Many visual novels are centered on drama , particularly themes involving romance or family, but visual novels centered on science fiction , fantasy fiction , erotic fiction and horror fiction are not uncommon. Dōjinshi ( 同人誌 , often transliterated as doujinshi ) is the Japanese term for self-published (fan-made) works. This includes (but is not limited to) dōjin games ( 同人ゲーム ), also sometimes called dōjin soft ( 同人ソフト ). These visual novel-style games are created as fan-made works based on pre-existing fandoms (usually anime and manga , but also for TV shows or even other pre-existing games and visual novels). Dōjinshi games are often based on romance (or shipping ) between two characters, known as an otome game ( 乙女ゲーム ) or dating sim ; sometimes becoming sexual (or hentai ), known as an eroge ( エロゲ ,

3030-471: Is Symphonic Rain , where the player is required to play a musical instrument of some sort, and attain a good score in order to advance. Usually such an element is related as a plot device in the game. Fan-created novel games are reasonably popular; there are a number of free game engines and construction kits aimed at making them easy to construct, most notably NScripter , KiriKiri and Ren'Py . Many visual novels use voice actors to provide voices for

3131-538: Is Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward , where nearly every action and dialogue choice can lead to entirely new branching paths and endings. Each path only reveals certain aspects of the overall storyline and it is only after uncovering all the possible different paths and outcomes, through multiple playthroughs, that every component comes together to form a coherent, well-written story. The digital medium in visual novels allow for significant improvements, such as being able to fully explore multiple aspects and perspectives of

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha - Misplaced Pages Continue

3232-399: Is a Japanese monthly magazine which focuses on bishōjo characters from anime and Japanese computer and console games, edited by IID and published by Gakken Plus. It is known for having many posters, pinups and large pictures among the articles. Megami Magazine was originally released as an extra edition of the anime magazine " Animedia " by Gakken Kenkyusha (later Gakken Holdings). As

3333-412: Is also all-ages, its spinoff Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life is not. Often, the beginning of the eroge will be dedicated to introducing the characters and developing the protagonist's relationship with them, before the protagonist sexually interacts with other characters, for example, Lump of Sugar games such as Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity and Everlasting Summer do this. The effect it has on

3434-459: Is considered to be some of the best pixel art in the history of video games , with a popular example being Policenauts in 1994. There have also been visual novels that use live-action stills or video footage, such as several Sound Novel games by Chunsoft . The most successful example is Machi , one of the most celebrated games in Japan, where it was voted No. 5 in a 2006 Famitsu reader poll of top 100 games of all time. The game resembled

3535-478: Is small, though a number of anime based on visual novels are popular among anime fans in the Western world; examples include Clannad , Danganronpa , Steins;Gate , and Fate/stay night . Visual novels are distinguished from other game types by their generally minimal gameplay. Typically the majority of player interaction is limited to clicking to keep the text, graphics and sound moving as if they were turning

3636-593: The nakige ( 泣きゲー , crying game) , which still usually has a happy ending, and the utsuge ( 鬱ゲー , depressing game) , which may not. The genres are somewhat fluid and were largely pioneered in parallel during the late 1990s through the early 2000s by the works of Key co-founder, scenario writer, lyricist, and composer Jun Maeda ; and through the works of Hirohiko Yoshida  [ ja ] through his affiliated company Âge , particularly Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and its successors, notably Muv-Luv . The ultimate goal of nakige and utsuge are emotional connection with

3737-464: The Memories Off series (1999 onwards) by KID , D.C.: Da Capo (2002) by Circus , Wind: A Breath of Heart (2002) by Minori , and Snow (2003) by Studio Mebius (under Visual Art's ). One of the most acclaimed visual novels of this subgenre was Key's Clannad , written by Jun Maeda, Yūichi Suzumoto , and Kai and Tōya Okano. Released in 2004, its story revolved around the central theme of

3838-563: The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. Funimation began distributing the English release in a single Region 1 DVD compilation volume boxset on December 29, 2008. The release was dubbed by Geneon Entertainment in association with World Production Group. Discotek Media will release the anime on Blu-ray in 2024. King Records released two maxi singles and two albums in Japan: King Records has released three drama CD adaptations of

3939-541: The PSP version of Tactics Ogre (2010). Chunsoft sound novels such as Machi (1998) and 428: Shibuya Scramble (2008) developed the multiple-perspective concept further. They allow the player to alternate between the perspectives of several or more different characters, making choices with one character that have consequences for other characters. 428 in particular features up to 85 different possible endings. Another popular visual novel featuring multiple perspectives

4040-473: The anime television series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha with direction by Akiyuki Shinbo and screenplay by Masaki Tsuzuki. Broadcast across six stations of the Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations , it premiered on October 1, 2004, and aired weekly for 13 episodes until its conclusion on December 25, 2004. Hiroaki Sano produced the music. The series uses two pieces of theme music ;

4141-448: The non-player characters in the game. Often, the protagonist (that is, the player character ) is left unvoiced, even when the rest of the characters are fully voiced. This choice is meant to aid the player in identifying with the protagonist and to avoid having to record large amounts of dialogue, as the main character typically has the most speaking lines due to the branching nature of visual novels. Non-linear branching storylines are

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha - Misplaced Pages Continue

4242-408: The voice actors who contributed to the work. Anime News Network 's Carl Kimlinger described the anime series as one filled with typical magical-girl tropes and as one that takes otaku -targeted entertainment to "its logical extreme" — filled with what he described as a "neutron-star" of otaku obsessions. Although Tim Jones of THEM Anime Reviews noted that the series did contain aspects typical of

4343-548: The Condominium Wife ), which was an early adventure game with colour graphics, owing to the eight-color palette of the NEC PC-8001 computer. It became a hit, helping Koei become a major software company. Other now-famous companies such as Enix , Square and Nihon Falcom also produced similar erotic games in the early 1980s before they became famous for their role-playing video games . While some early erotic games integrate

4444-473: The English script for being excessively lip-synched , producing "weird sounding English". The film adaptation earned 380 million yen (approx. US$ 4.4 million) during its release. The Blu-ray Disc version of the movie sold 58,000 copies in its first week and has been in the top position of the Blu-ray charts for its first two weeks of sale. Megami Bunko Megami Magazine ( メガミマガジン , Megami Magajin )

4545-478: The PC-8801 and FM Towns computers in 1990; it featured a branching narrative, multiple endings, and audio CD music. A common feature used in visual novels is having multiple protagonists giving different perspectives on the story. EVE Burst Error (1995), developed by Hiroyuki Kanno and C's Ware, introduced a unique twist to the system by allowing the player to switch between both protagonists at any time during

4646-514: The TSAB and Nanoha in their fight to stop Precia. Although they minimize the destructive side-effects of using the Jewel Seeds, they fail to prevent Precia from finishing the spell, and her final whereabouts remains unknown. Fate and Nanoha decide to become friends, but Fate must first return to Midchilda to prove that she was an unwilling accessory in Precia's crimes. Nanoha Takamachi first appeared as

4747-638: The all-ages market in recent years, with titles such as Steins;Gate and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni respectively. In addition to official commercial translations, a vibrant fan translation scene exists, which has translated many free visual novels (such as Narcissu and True Remembrance ) and a few commercial works (such as Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Policenauts ) into English. Fan translations of Japanese visual novels into languages other than English such as Chinese, French, German, and Russian are commonplace as well. English translations of Japanese visual novels on video game consoles were rare until

4848-450: The anime magazine Anime V ( アニメV ) was discontinued, the publication began on July 28, 1999 for an independent Megami Magazine to fill the void with a focus on " gal games ". Megami Magazine was originally released every odd month on the 28th before it was changed to every even month starting with the February 28, 2000 issue. This did not last long as the magazine was finally switched from

4949-496: The anime series as too rushed, stating that it would have been "more engaging and fun" as a 26-episode series as opposed to its 13 episodes. Tim Jones lauded the last five episodes of the series as its highlight due to the dramatic change in style the series underwent introducing "intrigue and excitement" to the show, criticizing the first few episodes as "most forgettable, boring, and just plain uninteresting episodes of any show [he had] ever seen". Both Beveridge and Kimlinger criticized

5050-429: The anime television series was released in Japan on January 23, 2010. Aniplex displayed a trailer of the film as well as character-design sketches and original drawings at its booth at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2009. Although the film retells the same story as the anime television series, Masaki Tsuzuki emphasized that the movie is not necessarily the "true history" of the story, but a "new parallel history." The film

5151-484: The characters, through exploration of their personalities and evolving interrelationships through the drama of the game's storyline, and to emotionally resonate with the player; repeated playthroughs across a rich cast of characters offers a multi-layered narrative. Games from publisher Key often follow a similar formula: a comedic first half, with a heart-warming romantic middle, followed by a tragic separation, and finally (though not always) an emotional reunion. This formula

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5252-460: The conclusion of the anime series. Megami Bunko published a 180-page novelized adaptation titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ( 魔法少女リリカルなのは , Mahō Shōjo Ririkaru Nanoha ) ( ISBN   978-4-05-903506-0 ) on September 30, 2005. Masaki Tsuzuki wrote the text and Kōji Hasegawa did the illustrations. The plot follows the same story as the anime television series. An anime film titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st and adapted from

5353-484: The content might still not be appropriate for children, and three have never contained erotic content at all. Also, all of KID 's titles are made with general audiences in mind. However, some of these games are later re-released with the addition of erotic scenes, or have a sequel with such. For example, Little Busters! was first released as an all-ages visual novel, but a version with erotic scenes titled Little Busters! Ecstasy came out later, and though Clannad

5454-453: The direction. Smith praised the voice actors in the English dub for many of the main characters, stating that "here are several A rank performances that shine quite well"; however, Smith stated that "there is a noticeable drop off in the quality of the voices and the performances in the lesser and incidental characters." Smith noted that the subtitles and English dub diverged "sharply" in the way they name characters. Additionally, Smith criticized

5555-405: The distribution status of the series that Geneon had licensed - including Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha . A fan pointed out that the English-language dubbed DVD boxset did not contain the credits for the director, automated dialogue replacement script adapter, and some voice actors. Many English-language viewers, even the more knowledgeable, reported being largely unfamiliar with many of the names of

5656-411: The erotic content into a thoughtful and nuanced storylines, others often used it as a simplistic vehicle for fetishism, pleasure, an aid of the lightheaded themes that encourage stress relief or to portray nuances of sexuality. The Japanese game Pai Touch! involves the protagonist gaining the ability to change the size of girls' breasts, and the adventures that ensue in trying to choose which girl to use

5757-456: The focus in visual novels, including Spanish, French, Russian and Mandarin, which have seen increased success due to the popularity of the genre. Sales data for visual novels is frequently unavailable; the sales listed below can be significantly outdated as some of the sources are over a decade old, and series qualified for an entry could be missing. These lists should be referenced carefully. Free visual novels do not appear in these lists due to

5858-436: The game is licensed outside Japan with all art assets intact. Certain eroge titles receive re-releases which exclude explicit content in order to be sold to a younger audience, such as ports to consoles or handheld systems where sexually explicit content is not allowed, and storylines referring to aforementioned sex scenes are often omitted from adaptations into other media, unless that media is also pornographic in nature, such as

5959-435: The game), with character sprites ( 立ち絵 , tachi-e ) superimposed onto these; the perspective is usually first-person, with the protagonist remaining unseen. At certain key moments in the plot, special event CG computer graphics are displayed instead; these are more detailed images, drawn specially for that scene rather than being composed from predefined elements, which often use more cinematic camera angles and include

6060-450: The game, instead of finishing one protagonist's scenario before playing the other. EVE Burst Error often requires the player to have both protagonists co-operate with each other at various points during the game, with choices in one scenario affecting the other. An important milestone in the history of visual novels was YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World (1996), which

6161-410: The great opening song, the music, though good, is forgettable", but described the ending theme as "lame". Beveridge stated that the "solid" musical score helps convey the "action cleanly". Mania Entertainment's G. B. Smith criticized the English-language dubbed release by Geneon for having several inconsistencies in the performances, pronunciation of names and localization, but accredited these faults to

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6262-503: The latter's creative director cited visual novels such as Danganronpa (2010) as an influence. Additionally, there have been some visual novels developed mainly in English, and intended for an English-speaking audience; one of the earliest commercially-available examples on a mainstream platform is 2004's Sprung , and in more recent times, the availability of the genre has increased, with notable examples being Doki Doki Literature Club! and VA-11 HALL-A . Other languages have been

6363-532: The magazine under their name Gakken Plus . Until the April 2005 issue, there was a section introducing adult anime, which included scenes of female characters with their nipples exposed. Some works even had posters attached, however that section has been discontinued. Megami Magazine is unique because each issue is supplemented by more than 20 posters. "Girls Avenue" was a section in Megami Magazine where an artist

6464-461: The magazine's TV commercials aired in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and became a de facto mascot character of the magazine. Along with the main Megami Magazine line, Gakken also publishes several other titles using the same name or content. In commemoration of the 100th issue of the magazine in September 2008, the internet radio program “HAMIDASE! Megami Magazine RADIO!!” was broadcast in August

6565-432: The magical girl genre, he stated that the anime had several unique aspects such as featuring characters fighting "physically" instead at long-range with magic and targeting "an older male demographic". Davey C. Jones of Active Anime praised the series for building up to "intense double climax" with the revelation of Fate's backstory and the final battle on Precia's ship. However, Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge criticized

6666-417: The main protagonist does not advance towards the flow of the story. Kinetic novels are visual novels with non-branching plots, similar to a conventional novel or a graphic novel in multimedia form. Examples of kinetic novels include Higurashi When They Cry , Muv-Luv Alternative , and Digital: A Love Story . The term was first used by the publisher Key for their title Planetarian: The Reverie of

6767-578: The market thrived with the excitement and the risks that were being taken, and became a hotbed of creativity". The branching timeline system was influential, opening "the door for visual novels to become more elaborate and have a greater range of narrative arcs, without requiring the player to replay the game over and over again". According to Nintendo Life , "the modern visual novel genre would simply not exist without" YU-NO . Branching timeline systems similar to YU-NO also later appeared in role-playing video games such as Radiant Historia (2010) and

6868-612: The mechanic in these cases typically consists of intermittent multiple-choice decision points, where the player selects a direction in which to take the game. For example, in a dating simulator -themed visual novel, the player is prompted to pick different characters to date which, in turn, leads to a different ending. This style of gameplay is similar to story-driven interactive fiction , or the shorter and less detailed real-life gamebook books. Some visual novels do not limit themselves into merely interactive fictions, but also incorporate other elements into them. An example of this approach

6969-509: The more popular games have occasionally been ported from PC (or a hardware equivalent) to systems such as the Sega Saturn , Dreamcast , PlayStation Portable , or Xbox 360 . The more famous visual novels are also often adapted into light novels , manga , or anime , and are sometimes succeeded or complemented by video games such as role-playing games or action games set in the same universe. The market for visual novels outside of East Asia

7070-454: The movie, expanded with adaptations of other Nanoha material. In Japan, the first DVD compilation peaked at 38th on the Oricon DVD chart and remained on the chart for three weeks. The second through fifth DVD volumes each peaked at 39th, 29th, 72nd, and 49th respectively and remained on the chart for two weeks. Before Geneon Entertainment 's announcement of its acquisition of the license for

7171-399: The narrative style of literature , visual novels have evolved a style somewhat different from print novels. In general, visual novels are more likely to be narrated in the first person than the third, and typically present events from the point of view of only one character. In the typical visual novel, the graphics comprise a set of generic backgrounds (normally just one for each location in

7272-778: The opening theme is " Innocent Starter " performed by Nana Mizuki , and the ending theme is "Little Wish (Lyrical Step)" performed by Yukari Tamura . The series was released across five Region 2 DVD compilation volumes in Japan between January 26, 2005, and May 25, 2005. At Anime Expo 2007 (June 29 – July 2), Geneon Entertainment announced its acquisition of the English-language license of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and of its sequel, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's . However, Geneon cancelled its distribution agreement with ADV Films in September 2007. Funimation acquired rights for distribution of Geneon titles in July 2008, after which, Funimation announced that they would soon began distributing

7373-439: The player character would say them. Such titles revolving around relationship-building, including visual novels as well as dating simulations , such as Tokimeki Memorial , and some role-playing video games , such as Persona , often give choices that have a different number of associated "mood points" that influence a player character's relationship, and future conversations, with a non-player character. These games often feature

7474-458: The power on the most. Another subgenre is called "nukige" ( 抜きゲー ) , in which sexual gratification of the player is the main focus of the game. In 1986, Square released the science fiction adventure game Suishō no Dragon for the NES console . The game featured several innovations, including the use of animation in many of the scenes rather than still images, and an interface resembling that of

7575-492: The protagonist. These event CGs can usually be viewed at any time once they have been "unlocked" by finding them in-game; this provides a motivation to replay the game and try making different decisions, as it is normally impossible to view all special events on a single play-through. Up until the 1990s, the majority of visual novels utilized pixel art . This was particularly common on the NEC PC-9801 format, which showcased what

7676-504: The reader is the H-scenes (sex scenes) will have a stronger emotional impact for the two (or possibly more) characters. Some of Japan's earliest adventure games were erotic bishōjo games developed by Koei . In 1982, they released Night Life , the first commercial erotic computer game . It was a graphic adventure , with sexually explicit images. That same year, they released another erotic title, Danchi Tsuma no Yūwaku ( Seduction of

7777-722: The release of the Nintendo DS , though some games with visual novel elements had been published in the Western world before then, such as Hideo Kojima 's Snatcher . Following the success of mystery titles for the Nintendo DS such as Capcom 's Ace Attorney series (which began on the Game Boy Advance in 2001), Cing's Hotel Dusk series (beginning in 2006), and Level-5 's Professor Layton series (beginning in 2007), Japanese visual novels have been published in other countries more frequently. The success of these games has sparked

7878-448: The same length restrictions as a physical book. For example, the total word count of the English fan translation of Fate/stay night , taking all the branching paths into account, exceeds that of The Lord of the Rings by almost 80%. This significant increase in length allows visual novels to tell stories as long and complex as those often found in traditional novels, while still maintaining

7979-470: The same year. From October 2009, regular broadcasting started on Radio Kansai and Nippon Cultural Broadcasting's digital radio " Cho! A & G + ". The program was remastered to " Hamiraji!! " since April 2012, but it ended on October 4, 2015. Visual novel A visual novel ( VN ) is a form of digital interactive fiction . Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games , but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine

8080-422: The series added several variations, including an action gauge that can be raised up or down depending on the situation, and a gauge that the player can manipulate using the analog stick depending on the situation. The success of Sakura Wars led to a wave of games that combine role-playing and visual novel elements, including Thousand Arms , Riviera: The Promised Land , and Luminous Arc . Despite using

8181-425: The series at Anime Expo 2007, ICv2 reported that the series had gained a reputation among United States "hardcore" fans for its use of technology as a replacement for magic and being a magical girl series that uncharacteristically deals with more "real" and "intense" social problems. Geneon's lack of a distributor between September 2007 and July 2008 left many English-language fans wondering as to what would occur to

8282-440: The series for conveying a sense of maturity that is "out of place" in a storyline that follows third-grade characters at the age of nine. Beveridge described the anime series as having well-designed visuals with character designs produced with "strong, vibrant colors" that "all come across very well". Davey C. Jones praised the visual effects applied to the spells as making them "look extra spiffy and, well, magical". Kimlinger noted

8383-486: The series in Japan. The first, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Sound Stage 01 , appeared on November 26, 2004, and contained 16 tracks; its story takes place between episodes two and three of the anime television series. Sound Stage 02 followed on January 13, 2005, containing 19 tracks, and its story takes place between episodes five and six of the anime series. King Records released the final CD, Sound Stage 03 , on April 6, 2005; it has 16 tracks, and its story takes place after

8484-483: The story, featuring events not seen in the movie. The series is compiled into two tankōbon , the first was released on June 30, 2010, and the second was released on March 31, 2011. A second manga, ORIGINAL CHRONICLE Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The 1st , illustrated by Yukari Higa , was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten 's Nyantype from 2013 to 2016, and was compiled in seven volumes. It was a more faithful adaptation of

8585-686: The time they have used a Reflector stone. The game also implemented an original system called Automatic Diverge Mapping System (ADMS), which displays a screen that the player can check at any time to see the direction in which they are heading along the branching plot lines. YU-NO revolutionized the visual novel industry, particularly with its ADMS system. Audiences soon began demanding large-scope plotlines and musical scores of similar quality and ambition to that of YU-NO , and that responded by hiring talent. According to Gamasutra : "The genre became an all-new arena for young artists and musicians once again, with companies willing to take chances on fresh blood;

8686-469: The title after showing his work on the Dragon Quest role-playing video games to a girl he was dating. On finding she did not enjoy them, he was encouraged to make a video game that he described as "for people who haven't played games before." Influenced by the early survival horror game Sweet Home , he developed it into a horror-themed interactive story. Chunsoft's next release, Kamaitachi no Yoru ,

8787-461: The two gather the Jewel Seeds, Nanoha learns magic from Yūno while continuing with her ordinary everyday life. In retrieving her sixth Jewel Seed, Nanoha encounters another magical girl named Fate Testarossa and her familiar named Arf . More than a year before the story began, Fate's mother, Precia Testarossa, went insane when her daughter Alicia died, initiating "Project Fate", an illegal research program of cloning and resurrection , making her

8888-499: The umbrella of Gakken Publishing . This was further modified with the merging of Gakken Publishing with Gakken Marketing and others which led to Gakken Plus taking its place. Megami Magazine was converted into e-book format in April 2018 following the digital conversion of "Animedia" and "Voice Actor Animedia". On February 1, 2020 the editing and publishing business was transferred from Gakken Plus to IID along with "Animedia". The former of these two companies still officially releases

8989-451: The use of multiple animation directors who gave "each episode a distinct look" and allowed the series to "retain a level of stylistic continuity" that he described as resulting in an "uneven, but ... undeniably appealing" look. Although Tim Jones praised the character designs as "distinct enough to distinguish [between] the fairly large cast", he criticized the animation quality as ranging from "okay to downright lazy". He stated that "aside from

9090-410: The usual "black and white choice systems" (referring to video games such as Mass Effect , Fallout 3 and BioShock ) where you "pick a side and stick with it" while leaving "the expansive middle area between unexplored". School Days instead encourages players to explore the grey, neutral middle-ground in order to view the more interesting, "bad" endings, e. g. an ending where a character dies or

9191-972: The value of having a family. It was voted the best bishōjo game of all time in a poll held by Dengeki G's Magazine . It served as the basis for a media franchise, with successful adaptations into a light novel , manga , animated film , and acclaimed anime series . In 2008, several of Key's visual novels were voted in the Dengeki poll of the ten most tear-inducing games of all time, including Clannad at No. 2, Kanon at No. 4, Air at No. 7, and Little Busters! at No. 10. In 2011, several visual novels were also voted in Famitsu ' s poll of 20 most tear-inducing games of all time, with Clannad at No. 4, Steins;Gate at No. 6, Air at No. 7, Little Busters! at No. 10, and 428: Shibuya Scramble at No. 14. After developing The Portopia Serial Murder Case , Chunsoft released Otogiriso in 1992. Koichi Nakamura conceived

9292-482: The year 2000, few Japanese visual novels were translated into other languages. As with the visual novel genre in general, a majority of titles released for the PC have been eroge , with Hirameki 's now-discontinued AnimePlay series a notable exception. As of 2014, JAST USA and MangaGamer are the two most prolific publishers of translated visual novels for the PC; both primarily release eroge, but have begun to diversify into

9393-574: Was "heavily hyped [and] had gamers impatient until its release. It was only one game released by Key so far, and yet [it] had already sent major shockwaves around the industry. And yet another game [ Air ], two years later, sent even more shockwaves. Air was equally hyped and well received." Key's "crying game" formula used successfully in One and Kanon was later adopted by other visual novel companies to create their own "crying games". Examples of this include: Kana: Little Sister (1999) by Digital Object,

9494-434: Was also a best seller and would prove to be highly influential. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ( When They Cry ) was a 2002 horror-themed visual novel by 07th Expansion , influenced by the "crying game" subgenre. Ryukishi07 of 07th Expansion mentioned in 2004 how he was influenced by Key 's works and Tsukihime during the planning of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni . He played their games, as well as other visual novels, as

9595-451: Was developed by Hiroyuki Kanno and is ELF 's most famous visual novel. It featured non-linear storytelling, with a science fiction plot revolving around time travel and parallel universes . The player travels between parallel worlds using a Reflector device, which employs a limited number of stones to mark a certain position as a returning location, so that if the player decides to retrace their steps, they can go to an alternate universe to

9696-406: Was featured and one of their illustrations was included as a pinup poster. As of Megami Magazine volume 150, the "Girls Avenue" section has been discontinued and is now released as a series of art books. Claire Froebel (Voice actor: Reiko Takagi / character design: Masa Shiranagi . The name was decided on by public readers) who is the navigator of the reader's corner "MegaTen!" had appeared in

9797-518: Was influenced primarily by Hiroyuki Kanno 's YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World (1996) and Leaf's To Heart (1997), and was further developed in One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e (1998) by Tactics . After One was complete, the development team quit Tactics to form Key where they developed their first title Kanon , also based upon this formula. According to Satoshi Todome in his book, A History of Adult Games , Kanon

9898-493: Was inspired by The Portopia Serial Murder Case to enter the video game industry, and later produced his own adventure games . After completing the stealth game Metal Gear , his first graphic adventure was released by Konami the following year: Snatcher (1988), an ambitious cyberpunk detective novel, graphic adventure, that was highly regarded at the time for pushing the boundaries of video game storytelling, cinematic cut scenes , and mature content. It also featured

9999-500: Was largely similar to Snatcher , but with the addition of a point-and-click interface and some first-person shooter segments. Policenauts also introduced summary screens, which act to refresh the player's memory of the plot upon reloading a saved game (save), an element Kojima would later use in Metal Gear Solid . The PlayStation version of Policenauts could also read the memory card and give some easter egg dialogues if

10100-463: Was released on DVD and Blu-ray-Disc November 26, 2010, and includes English subtitles and an audience participation track. A manga illustrated by Kōji Hasegawa based on the movie adaptation, titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st − The Comics was serialized in Gakken 's Megami Magazine between November 2009 and March 2011 issues. Like other THE COMICS series in the franchise, it expands upon

10201-406: Was well received in Japan for its well-told storyline and surprising twist ending , and for allowing multiple ways to achieve objectives. Shortly after, in 1988, Snatcher appeared, developed by Hideo Kojima and released for the PC-8801 and MSX2 in 1988, in which a cyberpunk detective hunts down a serial killer. Another more non-linear early example was Mirrors , released by Soft Studio Wing for

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