The Visual Novel Revolution of the 2010s

For the longest time, Visual Novels were one of the most niche genres of Japanese media known, even by the standards of Japanese media itself, which is still rather niche despite a recent growth in population.

However, with the breakout popularity of the english made Katawa Shoujo, the rise of Kickstarters for english translations of visual novels and Steams ever increasing popularity as platform to put them on, more and more Visual Novels that would never see the light of day in the west are being translated more then ever. Thus, I dub it the Visual Novel revolution of the 2010s

Does anyone else think that the Visual Novel Revolution is a good thing? Do you think it is even a thing at all?

I remember English-speaking visual novel fandom during the 2000s. There were years when only two official localizations were released, and when both would be porn without plot. There was a time when the freeware community was so small that just one short visual novel would be finished during a month.

I believe that Katawa Shoujo caused a Newbie Boom in fandom. From what I can tell, people read the story even if they did not enjoy 2D drawings, slice of life romance, or stories focused on love polygons. It got the attention of both fans who liked and disliked explicit content.

I have noticed an increase in localized visual novels for various platforms and services. They're no longer just hidden in fandom-specific retailers' websites or fan convention booths. More are becoming available on Steam, iTunes, Itch.io, and PSN.

Where will visual novels in English go from here? I'm not sure. Specific stories and VNs in general could follow the Fandom Life Cycle. Perhaps some creator will write the next VN which attracts people who are currently outside the core of fandom. That person might be *you*. In other words, if you're reading this post, then there is a chance that you can write a compelling visual novel.

A few things I hope to see in the near future:

• More iOS and Android visual novels which don't rely on Allegedly Free Game content. In other words, they don't ask the reader to pay for story chapters.

• More VNs which tell stories through both words and pictures. I understand that it can be difficult to justify spending quite a bit of money on graphics. However, visual novel images don't need to be limited to a few event CGs, sprites, and backgrounds. "Quartett!" is a good start, since it tells its story through word bubbles and constantly changing images.

• An increase in different art styles, settings, genres, and so on. Relatively cute / semi-realistic 2D drawings do not need to be the norm. Likewise, visual novels should not be almost synonymous with school-based slice of life romance polygon stories. There are many, many other kinds of stories which can be told through VNs.

• Less issues with the "Blind Idiot" Translation problem. I expect that it will never completely go away. However, I hope that bugs and errors can continue to be addressed through patches.

I personally think it is a good thing. In a way, this a bit of a new experience when it comes to reading. It is like a mixture of an audio book, picture book and more all in one.

Get all of those things right and you are in for quite the experience, like Umineko is. Now that V Ns are gaining popularity as well as attention in the West, the higher the chances we are of seeing V Ns like Dies Irae (currently has a kickstarter going on along with having the official prologue TL'd and uploaded), Muramasa (basically the War & Peace of the genre) and many more getting the chances of receiving a translation.

Hell, we can now buy acclaimed works like Steins;Gate, Himawari and many. Umineko and Higurashi was released on Steam a while ago if memory serves So, yes, I would say it is a good thing.

Honestly, I don't see how it could be bad. It is an entirely new genre that people could experience. Just like with everything else, there is a good and bad side to things... Like the Sakura franchise. >.>

I'll defend the Sakura series till the day I die because its obviously not meant to be taken seriously, and the creators know it.

Not all visual novels have to.

Whos that in the avatar? She's cute.

Ace Attorney and Telltale games have been popular for a while.

She is from a VN called Teach Me Sensei or something. Not a hundred percent sure, though.

Well, in the US, maybe… In France, outside of the Ace Attorney games, there has been exactly one VN with an official French translation (Higurashi), and the translator had to do the editing, advertising and distribution himself because no editor wanted to publish it. It took him 4 years of work.

Steins;Gate got released here too, but in English only.

edited 28th Dec '16 3:04:55 PM by Lyendith

Actually, Katawa Shoujo was also translated in French. Really well, might I add.

Also, even though they're in English only, quite a few popular VN series have been catching attention among gamers, such as Zero Escape and Danganronpa. Even Ace Attorney is still pretty popular despite not being translated anymore...

I've noticed a lot of the more recent stuff being more available as English releases, rather then requiring imports and patches, which is good. I think a side effect of this though is that the content of V Ns is starting to moderate in an attempt to accommodate the content requirements of these distribution services.

I worry that this may make the medium kind of stale, long term.