List of Visual Novel Genres/Types/Terms?

[RedOwl]

Hi everyone!

[disclaimer] I searched for a topic addressing this question, but couldn't find anything. Sorry if this post is redundant! Please direct me to the right place. [/disclaimer]

I'm a long-time writer/artist, but I'm new to the visual novel scene (started my first VN this summer). It's been really fun discovering the visual novel community! I'm very impressed by all the awesome creativity happening here. However, something I've noticed while learning and researching lately is that there are many VN-specific terms that I am only mildly familiar with, or sometimes complete unfamiliar with.

So, I was hoping that those of you who have more experience could point me in the right direction. Is there a web page that has definitions for all these terms in one place? Do you folks want to make our own master list here in this topic? Has that already been done? I think this would also be useful for others who are new to the VN community.

Here are the terms I've encountered so far, and their definitions (as far as I understand them! Please correct me/expand if necessary):

UPDATE: edited the list - thanks trooper6, Caveat Lector, Taleweaver and SundownKid.

• Kinetic or KN (a VN without choices)
• Otome (female protagonist with male romance options)
• Bishoujo (male protagonist with female romance options)
• Eroge (18 + content)
• Yuri (GxG)
• BL/Yaoi (BxB romance aimed at a straight female audience)
• Bara (BxB romance aimed at a gay male audience)
• OELVN (original english language visual novel)
• EVN (english visual novel)
• Denpa (?? Insanity??)
• Utsuge (somber/depressing throughout)
• Nakige (sad but with a hopeful atmosphere or ending)
• Nukige (extreme focus on sex)
• ADV style (text at the bottom of the screen)
• NVL style (text overlapping the characters and BG)
• Hybrid VN (a VN with video game aspects like puzzles or RPG)
• Stat Raiser (VN with gameplay involving planning out day by day activities)

Are there other terms you would add to this list? Help inform a VN newbie!

[indoneko]

You could try browsing the VN tags here... https://vndb.org/g

[trooper6]

BL also Yaoi is BxB romance aimed at a straight female audience.
Bara is BxB romance aimed at a gay male audience.

[Caveat Lector]

Utsuge/Nakige (depressing/will make you cry? Are these 2 different things?)

Yes. They're similar, but the difference between the two is that an utsuge is more or less somber/depressing from beginning to end; a nakige (not to be confused with nukige) has sad events, but still a bright/hopeful atmosphere or ending.

[RedOwl]

Thanks for the suggestion and clarifications! ^_^

I edited the first post to reflect the clarifications.

[Taleweaver]

There's also the nukige, which is a sub-form of eroge with an extreme focus on the sex aspect. In an eroge, you'd be the only male teacher at a girls' academy. In a nukige, you'd be the only male teacher at a girls' academy for the study of different sexual positions.

[SundownKid]

ADV and NVL, refer to different types of textual display.

Most EVNs are ADV style, with the text at the bottom of the screen. NVL style have the text overlapping the characters and BG.

You are correct about the Otome and Bishoujo definitions.

I would also add "Hybrid VN" for a VN with video game aspects like puzzles or RPG aspects but that doesn't fall into the typical definition of one of those games due to the sheer size of the story.

There's also "stat raiser" to refer specifically to VNs with gameplay involving planning out day by day activities. Cherry Tree High School Comedy Club, for example.

[dfbreezy]

This Site helps alot in describing terminology.

[Zelan]

Something that can be confusing if you're not initially aware of it is the difference between BxG and GxB. The one that comes first is the gender of the player character (i.e. otomes are GxB). It's a little thing, but it makes a huge difference in terms of what some people will play.

Also - I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I tend to see BxG a lot more than Bishoujo on here, so it might not be as widely used as otome (which I still see pretty frequently).

If characters can be multiple genders, a slash is usually used. (For example, a game where you play as a female that has male and female romance options would be GxB/G or GxG/B.)

This may not be relevant for you, but for the few projects here that I've seen with agender protagonists/love interests, an X is usually used to represent the agender character. (For example, a game with an agender protagonist and male and female love interests would be XxG/B or XxB/G.) It's a little odd since X is already used in the notation, and an 'A' would probably work just as well, but there aren't many projects with agender love interests to begin with.

I hope that was helpful! I can't say that I know much about the other tags - I got into VNs from the Western side rather than the Japanese ones. Although, if these terms are confusing and/or irrelevant to your project, it would be okay to just use tags like [Mystery], [Psychological], [Horror], [Fantasy]; it's becoming more commonplace on LSF. c:

[Rossfellow]

BL also Yaoi is BxB romance aimed at a straight female audience.
Bara is BxB romance aimed at a gay male audience.

I'm curious- What's the difference?

[KittyWills]

BL also Yaoi is BxB romance aimed at a straight female audience.
Bara is BxB romance aimed at a gay male audience.

I'm curious- What's the difference?

TLDR; definition.

Yaio tends to have very feminine men. And your classic Uke/Seme stereotypes.

Bara tends to have very buff and muscular men and the uke/seme stereotypes are rare with both sides having similar body types.

Also switching top/bottom roles is pretty common with bara.

It's more complex then that, but I'm not the one to explain the cultural and minute details. lol

[trooper6]

BL also Yaoi is BxB romance aimed at a straight female audience.
Bara is BxB romance aimed at a gay male audience.

I'm curious- What's the difference?

As KittyWells said, it is complicated.

The wikipedia page on Yaoi has some information on the differences between Yaoi and Bara as well as some of the controversies and criticisms of BL:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi
This article on Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture also talks about some of the tensions around gay representations by women for women:
http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue3/mclelland2.html

[RedOwl]

Wow, thanks everyone, for all the information!! This is so interesting and helpful!

Something that can be confusing if you're not initially aware of it is the difference between BxG and GxB. The one that comes first is the gender of the player character (i.e. otomes are GxB). It's a little thing, but it makes a huge difference in terms of what some people will play.

Also - I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I tend to see BxG a lot more than Bishoujo on here, so it might not be as widely used as otome (which I still see pretty frequently).

If characters can be multiple genders, a slash is usually used. (For example, a game where you play as a female that has male and female romance options would be GxB/G or GxG/B.)

This may not be relevant for you, but for the few projects here that I've seen with agender protagonists/love interests, an X is usually used to represent the agender character. (For example, a game with an agender protagonist and male and female love interests would be XxG/B or XxB/G.) It's a little odd since X is already used in the notation, and an 'A' would probably work just as well, but there aren't many projects with agender love interests to begin with.

I hope that was helpful! I can't say that I know much about the other tags - I got into VNs from the Western side rather than the Japanese ones. Although, if these terms are confusing and/or irrelevant to your project, it would be okay to just use tags like [Mystery], [Psychological], [Horror], [Fantasy]; it's becoming more commonplace on LSF. c:

Thanks so much for these clarifications. I wasn't aware of most of these details. After reading your post, I realized I could actually update the tags on my game to GxB and BxG, although that seems a bit odd... however, there are two perspective characters in my game, one male and one female. And the player can choose to pursue romance from either perspective. So, I guess it's technically correct? Please advise, haha.

This Site helps alot in describing terminology.

Thank you! Definitely a useful page/website.

[SundownKid]

Thanks so much for these clarifications. I wasn't aware of most of these details. After reading your post, I realized I could actually update the tags on my game to GxB and BxG, although that seems a bit odd... however, there are two perspective characters in my game, one male and one female. And the player can choose to pursue romance from either perspective. So, I guess it's technically correct? Please advise, haha.

Yes, that would be correct. Though I think BxG or GxB implies some degree of non-optional romance for each route, where, say, a girl might be uncomfortable playing through it if it was BxG, and vice versa. I might be wrong though.

[Zelan]

Thanks so much for these clarifications. I wasn't aware of most of these details. After reading your post, I realized I could actually update the tags on my game to GxB and BxG, although that seems a bit odd... however, there are two perspective characters in my game, one male and one female. And the player can choose to pursue romance from either perspective. So, I guess it's technically correct? Please advise, haha.

Yep, you would use both tags for yours!

Yes, that would be correct. Though I think BxG or GxB implies some degree of non-optional romance for each route, where, say, a girl might be uncomfortable playing through it if it was BxG, and vice versa. I might be wrong though.

I feel like seeing one tag would probably be enough for most people to click on a project even if they aren't huge fans of playing as the reverse. I could be wrong about that, though, since I'll play pretty much anything regardless of the genders in romances as long as the story is interesting.