Visual Novels and serious literature?

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qtren
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Visual Novels and serious literature?

#1 Post by qtren »

What are some VNs that have broken the stereotypes of VNs (otaku/ero content etc. ) and stepped into the realm of serious literature?

When I first started reading VNs, I read many works like Yosuga no Sora, and of course I had fun with them. But, recently, I feel like I am growing out
of the otaku life, and prefer works like House in Fata Morgana, and maybe Raging Loop, which are more serious and closer to traditional literature.

What are some other works you guys can think of or recommend?

Higurashi and Umineko are great works with deep philosophical repercussions, but I would still say they intentionally target the "otaku" audience. I really
want to see more people get into those works, but unfortunately some of my friends wouldn't even consider those because they don't like "Japanese cuteness".

I believe that VNs offer a lot more depths than the traditional format of a novel, yet somehow the VN scene is much smaller than it deserves.

Any thoughts?

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Re: Visual Novels and serious literature?

#2 Post by Imperf3kt »

I always recommend Steins;Gate

While still very deeply rooted in Otaku culture, it has little to no erotic content and the story is an epic saga involving mystery, murder, science, time travel, conspiracy, internet memes and some other topics.

The story was written loosely based on reality and most of the more sciency stuff is real world accurate. Most of.

The story is still centered around romance, however, though not in the usual sense.
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Re: Visual Novels and serious literature?

#3 Post by inky-brigitte »

The Letter is closed to what you're looking for. Lovely artwork and voice acting. (Although they could do more on the plot. It was pretty vague for an horror VN.)

Another VN I'd recommend is The Root Letter. It breaks the otaku stereotype to some degree. There is no erotic contents. But the art style is still very much anime-isque.

I'd like to see more serious, slice-of-life VN as well.

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Re: Visual Novels and serious literature?

#4 Post by Phoenyx75 »

Personally, I really liked Cardinal Cross. I wish its author would do more games, but it tends to take her a long time to do one. It's on Steam.

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Re: Visual Novels and serious literature?

#5 Post by vorgbardo »

I always recommend Ever17 -The Out of Infinity-, it is one of the best sci-fi stories I've read in any medium. Unfortunately the studio behind it has long been defunct, so tricky to find.

Lucy - The Eternity She Wished For - was the first visual novel I ever read, and it originally convinced me that visual novels actually can tell well-composed, touching stories.

The already mentioned The Letter (horror) and Steins;Gate (sci-fi) are very good stories in their genre.

I've heard good things about Wonderful Everyday, but I have not yet read it myself.
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