Slayers is a Japanese light novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. The novels have been serialized in Dragon Magazine since 1989, before being published into individual volumes. They follow the adventures of teenage sorceress Lina Inverse and her companions as they journey through their world. Using powerful magic and swordsmanship they battle overreaching wizards, demons seeking to destroy the world, and an occasional hapless gang of bandits.
Scanlation is the fan-made scanning, translation, and editing of comics from a language into another language. Scanlation is done as an amateur work performed by groups and is nearly always done without express permission from the copyright holder. The word "scanlation" is a portmanteau of the words scan and translation. The term is mainly used for Japanese manga, although it also exists for other languages, such as Korean manhwa and Chinese manhua. Scanlations may be viewed at websites or as sets of image files downloaded via the Internet.
A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity. The format is more rarely referred to as novel game, a retranscription of the wasei-eigo term noberu gēmu (ノベルゲーム), which is more often used in Japanese.
In Japanese popular culture, a bishōjo, also romanized as bishojo or bishoujo, is a cute girl character. Bishōjo characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computerized games, and also appear in advertising and as mascots, such as for maid cafés. An attraction towards bishōjo characters is a key concept in otaku subculture.
A bishōjo game or gal game is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive girls".
Clannad is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and released on April 28, 2004, for Windows. While both of Key's first two previous works, Kanon and Air, had been released first as adult games and then censored for the younger market, Clannad was specifically made for all ages. It was later ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch consoles. An English version for Windows was released on Steam by Sekai Project in 2015.
Air is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key, a brand of Visual Arts. It was released on September 8, 2000 for Windows as an adult game. Key later released versions of Air without the erotic content, and the game was ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch. The story follows the life of Yukito Kunisaki, a traveling showman searching for the "girl in the sky". He arrives in a quiet, seaside town where he meets three girls, one of whom is the key to the end of his journey.
Type-Moon is a Japanese video game company, best known for their visual novels, co-founded by author Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi. It is also known under the name Notes Co., Ltd. for its publishing and corporate operations, as it is the company official name, while Type-Moon is a brand name as a homage to the original doujin group. After creating the popular visual novel Tsukihime as a doujin soft circle, Type-Moon has since incorporated and produced the even more popular visual novel Fate/stay night, which became its most well-known title. Both series have also been adapted into anime and manga series that have amassed a global fanbase.
Minori was a Japanese visual novel company. Their most successful game is Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two., which has had a manga and two anime television series based on it, and was ported to the PlayStation 2 in April 2010. They use Musica as their main engine. A few of their earlier games' opening movies were animated by Makoto Shinkai. Minori is known for its stance against fan-translations and piracy and has garnered some infamy for its actions against fan translation group No Name Losers and TLWiki, due to the controversy regarding the video game Rapelay by Illusion Soft. As a result, its main webpage is blocked for people outside Japan. In 2010, Minori, MangaGamer, and No Name Losers announced a partnership to make commercial English versions of Minori's visual novels available. On February 28, 2019, Minori announced the cessation of operations.
The following is a glossary of terms that are specific to anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes graphic novels, drawings and related artwork.
Higurashi When They Cry is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion that comprises the first two entries of the When They Cry franchise. The series focuses on a group of young friends living in the fictional village of Hinamizawa and the strange events that occur there in 1983.
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin circle specialized in the creation of visual novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but are better known for creating the game series When They Cry. The remake games on additional consoles for Higurashi When They Cry were produced by Alchemist.
Little Busters! is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 for Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. An adult version of the game titled Little Busters! Ecstasy was released on July 25, 2008 for Windows, unlike Kanon and Air, which were first released with adult content and then had later versions with such content removed. Ecstasy was later ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Switch with the adult content removed under the title Little Busters! Converted Edition. An English version for Windows was released on Steam in 2017. The story follows a group of childhood friends now attending high school called the Little Busters, as they decide to form a baseball team. Riki, who is diagnosed with narcolepsy, is tasked to recruit more girls in preparation for a baseball game, and he bonds with each of them on account of their internal conflicts. Meanwhile, Rin gets mysterious letters from her cat Lennon to complete various tasks to learn the "secret to this world".
Umineko When They Cry is a Japanese dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. Its first episode debuted at Comiket 72 for Windows in August 2007. The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall them. Readers are challenged to discern whether the murders were committed by a human or some other, supernatural source, as well as the method and motive behind them. The eight main Umineko games are split into two sets of four, which are considered the third and fourth titles in the When They Cry series, preceded by the two sets of Higurashi When They Cry games and followed by Ciconia When They Cry.
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two is a Japanese two-part adult visual novel series by Minori for Windows PCs and PlayStation 2. The first game in the series, Ef: The First Tale, was released on December 22, 2006, and the second game, Ef: The Latter Tale, was released on May 30, 2008. The opening video for the game was animated by Makoto Shinkai, and a majority of the music was produced by Tenmon, who has worked in the past with Shinkai and Minori. Female character design was by Naru Nanao of Da Capo fame, while male character design was by 2C Galore.
Kud Wafter is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Key, released on June 25, 2010, for Windows. Kud Wafter is Key's eighth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. Key released a version of Kud Wafter without the erotic content, and the game was ported to the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. The story follows the lives of high school students Riki Naoe and his close friend Kudryavka Noumi as they start to see more of each other in a romantic relationship. The gameplay in Kud Wafter follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the title character Kudryavka, also known as "Kud" for short.
MangaGamer is a video game publisher specializing in the English localization and distribution of Japanese eroge and visual novels. It is run by Japanese-based company Japan Animation Contents.
Fantasia: Music Evolved is a 2014 motion-controlled rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One with Kinect. The game is the interactive successor to Walt Disney Animation Studios' 1940 animated film Fantasia and its 1999 sequel Fantasia 2000, both of which it is based upon.
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, known in Japan as Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata and the short form Saekano, is a Japanese romantic comedy light novel series written by Fumiaki Maruto, with illustrations by Kurehito Misaki. Fujimi Shobo published thirteen volumes between July 2012 and October 2017 under their Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint. The story follows high school student Tomoya Aki, who recruits a trio of beautiful girls to help him develop a visual novel to sell at the Comiket convention.
Imouto Paradise! Onii-chan to Go nin no Imouto no Ecchi Shimakuri na Mainichi is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed and published by Moonstone Cherry. Imouto Paradise! was first released on January 28, 2011, playable on Windows as a PC game. On July 29, 2011, M-Trix produced an Android version of Imouto Paradise!, and on September 29, 2011, the game was released as a DVDPG edition by Dennou Club. MangaGamer released an English language localization of the game on August 22, 2014. On May 31, 2013, Paradigm published a light novel and an adult manga for Imouto Paradise! serialized in the Comic Potpourri Club magazine. A hentai original video animation series was produced. Moonstone Cherry released a sequel to the first visual novel called Imouto Paradise 2.
