So I've never posted in general before, and will probably mostly avoid it because, well, I'm old enough to know you don't ever cross into general discussion forums in an election year...
But this is a special case. You all need to play Kindred Spirits on the Roof
I'm like half way through it now, maybe less, but this has catapulted to my second favorite VN of all time. I'm like 13 hours in, no NSFW yet, its building up its drama, characters, backstories, etc and I love it. It has the honor of being basically the first NSFW VN to be released uncensored on steam, which should give you an idea that its pretty special - this isn't no damn Hunie Pop dating sim trash, this is some actual storyline drama, struggling with queer identity, and the game goes so far to take a political stance that homosexuality is not improper which is actually a HUGE step for Japanese media in general. This game is a milestone in what it is trying to do, because as someone who loves and despises the Yuri genre... the whole genre, and japanese media in general treat homosexuality like absolute trash. This VN really tries to explain where that comes from, but also is trying in it a small way to make a real difference by presenting open, honest, and i think realistic depictions of lesbian couples. Not yuri couples. Lesbian couples. They say the Japanese words for lesbian and homosexual - as someone who has been waiting for this for over 10 years since I became yuri garbage I cannot stress enough how big a smile this puts on my face.
Is it still an anime visual novel? Yes. Does it still have some problematic tropes? Yes. But it is really trying, and I respect that. I am like 13 hours in and almost none of the couples have moved past the initial coming out phase and some are dealing with the fact they don't know if the girl they just admitted to liking is straight or not. It is all simple, but in the dearth of good LGBT media out there, especially in Japan, this is a glass of water that is delicious after crawling through a horrid desert of feel bad lesbian/yuri media worldwide.
It is on Steam for $35 America, and I can tell you it is WELL worth it. I know that feels like a lot for what is essentially a really pretty book, but the voice acting is good, I personally like the simplistic art, the music is nice if you turn it down to like 20%, and it just feels... good. After a long, horrid 10 weeks of taking 6 college level art classes and dealing with a lot of depression and general "nobody really likes me" self hate, this VN in its own small way makes me feel better about everything. When I'm finally done with finals, I'm blowing through the rest of this.
If you're interested, do not look up any pictures. Do not even google image search it. If you get it, skip the opening flashy cinematic before the main menu - it spoils some of the game and half the fun is figuring out the couples in the early game. I want to spread this around because this is SO rare and I want to support titles like these in the future - in a genre as niche as this, every single cent makes a difference.
So if you want some good ol lesbian drama with a heap of anime, look into Kindred Spirits on the Roof.
Merged here. The DAMNed
So I was pretty much break-even at that point. I also got another booster, for playing all three tournaments, but that one was boring.
