Tag Archives: characterisation

SeaBed: What You Leave Behind

I reviewed this visual novel over at Nintendo Life — please go support my work over there, then join me back here to delve into the narrative in more detail!


SeaBed from Paleontology Soft is a kinetic novel that first released in 2015. It was localised for PC two years later, much to the delight of Western yuri fans, and in early 2020, it got released on Nintendo Switch, too.

It is, not to put too fine a point on it, an absolutely masterful work of fiction. It’s peaceful and calming yet melancholy, and the evocative, descriptive writing gives the whole experience a pleasantly mature feeling that is a far cry from noisy, chaotic anime hijinks. Not that there’s anything wrong with noisy, chaotic anime hijinks, mind, but sometimes you just want a bit of quiet contemplation to mull over.

So let’s mull it over together, because there’s a lot to talk about. There are likely to be some spoilers ahead, but I’ll try and keep major ones to a minimum, because you should experience this for yourself!

Continue reading SeaBed: What You Leave Behind

Waifu Wednesday: Leila

The Final Fantasy series has, over the years, played host to some of the most well-known and beloved female characters of all time.

And this isn’t a recent thing, either; if you believe the fan theory that the White Mage in the original Final Fantasy is female (a theory which I can’t help but feel Square Enix leaned into somewhat with the sprite design in the remakes for PS1, GBA and PSP) they’ve been there since the very beginning.

And even if you don’t subscribe to that theory, Final Fantasy II certainly brought us some fine leading ladies, such as today’s spotlight character, Leila. Let’s take a closer look!

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Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana – Narrative, Themes and Characterisation

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Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is something of an outlier in the Atelier series as a whole, as we’ve already talked about.

Rather than adopting the established structure of “struggling alchemist works in a workshop to craft items, also there are adventures” it inverts this format to “struggling adventurer explores to discover mysteries of alchemy, also there is crafting”.

This change of structural focus gives the narrative scope to be a much more epic affair than many of the other games in the series — but at the same time it doesn’t abandon one of the series’ core principles. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana – Narrative, Themes and Characterisation

Waifu Wednesday: Veola

One of my favourite characters in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is Veola, the seemingly rather standoffish owner of the magic shop in Kavoc.

Veola’s sidequest is technically optional, but like most of the “shopkeeper quests” throughout Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, it’s hard not to get swept along in the soap opera of her life — and how she relates to the other people around her, including protagonist Klein, his party members, bartender Norman and numerous others.

So let’s take a closer look at this rather closed-off young woman and figure her out a bit. Some spoilers ahead!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Veola

Waifu Wednesday: Lita Blanchimont

With the Atelier MegaFeature well under way, it’s probably about time we took a look at some of the wonderful female characters in the series for Waifu Wednesday, isn’t it?

And where better to begin than with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana’s main female protagonist, Lita Blanchimont? While Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana eschews the series’ traditional focus on a playable female protagonist, Lita nonetheless plays a very important role in the game’s main narrative, and is one of several ways we come to understand some of the broader lore of the Atelier Iris series.

Let’s take a closer look, then. There may be some mild spoilers ahead!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Lita Blanchimont

LAMUNATION!: Keeping It In The Family

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Well, it’s been quite a journey so far, hasn’t it? Between Lamune’s dramatic reversal of fortunes and Iris and Rayla’s somewhat open, fluid views on sexuality, one certainly cannot call White Powder’s visual novel LAMUNATION! “boring”.

You haven’t seen anything yet, though, because we’re about to explore probably the strangest and most chaotic narrative path of all: that of protagonist Luna’s sister Corona.

We’ve got incest. We’ve got magic. We’ve got musings on the nature of visual novels as a medium. Grab a cold Red Bull, strap yourself in and hold on tight, ’cause we’re going in.

Some NSFW stuff ahead!

Continue reading LAMUNATION!: Keeping It In The Family

Waifu Wednesday: Honoka

It’s another Dead or Alive girl this week — and, like her friend Marie Rose, she’s a relatively recent addition to the overall cast, having first shown up in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.

And also like Marie Rose, she’s proven to be a popular character since her first appearance, often appearing in collaborative, crossover events with other games and series such as Senran Kagura — and, of course, Koei Tecmo’s own Warriors All-Stars.

If you’ve been following Dead or Alive’s Byzantine narrative over the years, you’ll also know that she’s quite important to the overall series lore, too…

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Honoka

LAMUNATION!: Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

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Central to LAMUNATION!, whichever narrative route you choose to explore, is the setting of the Cherry Crown Diner.

A diner inspired by 1950s Americana, the Cherry Crown serves as something of a social hub for the main cast — and, in pretty much all of the paths through the game, ends up becoming a successful landmark and tourist attraction in the unusual corporate-run city of Saint Aria.

There are a lot of interesting things about the Cherry Crown Diner — not least of which are the charismatic, chaotic twin sisters Iris and Rayla, who run it in their parents’ seemingly perpetual absence. That seems like as good a place as any to continue our exploration of this delightfully delirious visual novel!

Some NSFW stuff ahead!

Continue reading LAMUNATION!: Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

Waifu Wednesday: Marie Rose

First appearing in 2013 as part of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate’s arcade release, Marie Rose has gone on to be an incredibly popular part of Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s long-running series of fighters.

Marie Rose was presumably introduced in order to attract people to the arcade version of the game — the first time the series had hit arcades for 13 years — but subsequently found herself coming home in the form of downloadable content for Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Since then, she has been a regular fixture in the series — and popular enough to appear in several spin-offs and collaborations, including Warriors All-Stars and Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash. So let’s put everyone’s favourite wicked lil’ servant under the spotlight today!

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LAMUNATION!: Welcome to Youkoso Saint Aria

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LAMUNATION! is an absolute fever dream of a visual novel. It’s one of the most gleefully, joyfully chaotic narrative experiences I’ve ever sat through.

One thing I found particularly interesting about it was the fact that depending on the order in which you explore the three main narrative routes, you either start with material that is relatively easy to digest… or just throw yourself right in to the insanity.

The choices I made, as it happens, resulted in a gradual escalation of chaos — so that’s how we’ll take a look at things over the course of the next few articles.

Some NSFW content ahead.

Continue reading LAMUNATION!: Welcome to Youkoso Saint Aria