Tag Archives: sexuality

Interspecies Reviewers, Vol. 3: Sweaty Horseplay

With its third volume, Amahara and Masha’s breakout hit Interspecies Reviewers really feels like it’s hitting its stride.

While the first two volumes (see Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) were highly entertaining, erotic and, at times, surprisingly thought-provoking, Volume 3 feels like a noticeable step up with regard to a sense of developing narrative and overall worldbuilding.

And, with the trouble the TV anime adaptation has had getting broadcast even in late-night time slots in its native Japan… the manga may well end up being the definitive way to experience this delightfully bawdy series. Let’s take a closer look at this third volume.

Some NSFW content ahead! Like, right ahead. Immediately after the jump. I warned you.

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Interspecies Reviewers, Vol. 2: Falling Well Within Our Standards

With the third volume of the Interspecies Reviewers (aka Ishuzoku Reviewers) manga just around the corner, I figured it was high time I cracked open the shrink wrap on Volume 2 and checked it out.

Can we expect a harrowing tale of life on the wrong side of the tracks, exploring the things that might drive young women to sex work and causing the reader to question the very morality of their own libido while confronting them with increasingly erotic scenes?

Can we fuck. This series is a light-hearted romp in the hay that takes in the joy of sexual freedom, open-mindedness and a willingness to explore new things. And, having firmly established the tone, setting and characters in the first volume, the second amps things up quite a bit!

Some NSFW content ahead!

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Waifu Wednesday: Haruka

Out of all the members of Senran Kagura’s core cast, Haruka initially seems like the one who has it most together — or, perhaps more accurately, is most at peace with the person she is.

Combining a sense of genuinely warm, sisterly affection for her friends and comrades with an overtly sexual interest in both sadism and masochism, Haruka is, in many ways, one of the most “grown up” cast members.

That’s not to say she had an easy life, mind you. Far from it.

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Waifu Wednesday: Rin Takato

Before we leave The Expression: Amrilato behind, I wanted to show a particular bit of appreciation for its protagonist Rin.

Rin is the player’s eyes and ears over the course of the narrative, and as the game progresses you develop something of a mutually beneficial relationship with her as a player; she, more often than not, acts as the face of the game’s “study sessions” and as such becomes someone you associate with the act of learning the language of Esperanto… sorry, “Juliamo”.

But she’s a pretty great character in her own right, too. Let’s take a closer look at why she’s such a great central character.

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Project Zero 5: The Difference a Little Warmth Can Make

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And so we come to what is, at the time of writing, the grand finale to the Project Zero series: Maiden of Black Water on Wii U.

While the nature of the series means that it’s entirely possible we’ll see some more games in the future — and indeed unverified “my uncle works at Nintendo” rumours circulated earlier this year that a Switch installment was in development — Maiden of Black Water is an interesting game that acts as a suitable swansong for the series if, indeed, that is truly “it”.

But then Mio and Mayu from Deep Crimson Butterfly and Yuri from this game are putting in cameo appearances in the impending Super Smash Bros. Ultimateso you never know what might happen… Ahem. Anyway. Let’s look at Maiden of Black Water in detail.

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Waifu Wednesday: Gurigura

Between the ten different waifus in Evenicle, there’s someone who will appeal to everyone.

Hell, there’s pretty much someone who will appeal to everyone even within the core playable cast of four. And even if someone isn’t your “type”, there are still plenty of interesting and compelling things to discover about them.

As a loud, noisy loli, Gurigura isn’t the type of girl who usually pushes my buttons. But she definitely grew on me over the course of the game, and I came to regard her with a great deal of affection.

NSFW images after the jump!

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Gal*Gun 2: A Strange and Sexy Little World

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A game where you blast cute girls to quasi-orgasmic ecstasy while attempting to fend off the mischief of a cheeky young demon might not sound like the sort of experience that would have good worldbuilding, but the Gal*Gun series as a whole is full of surprises.

It’s clear that developer Inti Creates has taken a great amount of care over the course of the Japan-only Gal*Gun, its sequel Double Peace and Gal*Gun 2 to make the series something more than a throwaway joke game. Yes, it’s amusing; yes, it’s silly; yes, it’s cheeky, fun and sexy; but none of those things mean that it can’t have some depth or be well-crafted.

So today, then, we’re going to take a closer look at how the series as a whole builds that sense of a coherent world, and where Gal*Gun 2 fits in with all that.

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Nekopara: Honesty is the Best Policy

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Honesty is the best policy, as the idiom has it. And the further you delve into the Nekopara series, the more it becomes clear that this enjoyable series of visual novels is designed with this philosophy at their core.

Several of the Minaduki catgirls describe themselves as inherently honest (albeit whimsical) creatures, preferring to rely on their natural instincts and desires rather than indulging the distinctly human tendency to say one thing and mean another… though it comes more easily to some than others.

The rather deadpan Vanilla, who is explored in detail in the first volume of the series in particular, finds it very easy both to be honest — to an abrasive fault at times — and to encourage her peers to be honest with themselves.

Others such as Azuki and Coconut have a tougher time, however, and it’s this latter pair’s struggles with this concept that forms the backdrop to Nekopara vol. 2.

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Puzzler Essentials: HuniePop

HuniePop from Ryan Koons’ studio HuniePot was partly developed as a sort of “protest” game: an attempt to fight back against the growing trend of political correctness that was starting to take root in the games industry.

There was clearly demand for such a game, even back in late 2013; a successful Kickstarter campaign allowed those who were similarly frustrated with the situation to put their money where their mouth was and show their support for the kind of thing they wanted to see more of: something lewd, crude and rude — and unashamed of being any of those things.

The remarkable thing about HuniePop was that it ended up being a damn good game as well as a resounding middle finger to the “everything is problematic” crowd. Not only that, it also demonstrated that independent Western developers were more than capable of putting interesting new twists on Japanese-style aesthetics by combining anime-style artwork with a hilariously abrasive and distinctively modern, American script.

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From the Archives: Embracing the “H”

Sex.

Yes, that was entirely a cheap trick to get your attention, but it’s also the subject of today’s column.

There are some interesting and varied thoughts about sex in games out there, but it’s a subject that still remains largely taboo for many developers, publishers and even critics. It’s also a subject in which Eastern and Western approaches and philosophies differ greatly, and it makes for some fascinating discussions.

So let’s talk about sex, specifically with regard to visual novels.

This article was originally published on Games Are Evil in 2013 as part of the site’s regular READ.ME column on visual novels. It has been edited and republished here due to Games Are Evil no longer existing in its original form.

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