Japanese Erotic Games and me

[Murat, Esq.]

As some of you know, my major hobby is setting up anime-related events. In connection with this, I spent most of today working on a PowerPoint based multimedia presentation on anime adapted from erotic computer games for a seminar presentation I was asked to do.

This topic is actually a whole lot less racy than it sounds. See, the majority of Japanese "H-games" (games with pornographic content) have only a very tiny fraction of their content that is explicitly sexual, and that is usually presented at the very end of the game as a reward for "winning." Most of the most popular PC based H-games could be easily converted into something with a PG-13 rating with less than five minutes' of editing without hurting the story at all.

The last few years have seen the plots of dozens of these games converted into linear-narrative anime series, many of which were broadcast on network TV and are quite safe for children to watch. And you know what? They have some of the best stories out there.

I spent all day reviewing episodes and editing clips for this presentation without coming across anything more hardcore than a panty shot... and I had a total blast doing it.

If you are interested in my recommendations, check out these titles in this order of priority:

1) Kanon (2006 version): a teenage boy returns to his aunt's home in frozen Hokkaido for the first time in seven years. Dealing with the problems of each of a group of local girls helps him recall the forgotten memories of his childhood, and ultimately remember the promise he still needs to keep. A remake of an earlier anime adapted from the most successful H-game ever, and bar none the best romantic melodrama in the annals of anime.

2) ~sola~: A boy obsessed with photographing the daytime sky meets a beautiful girl who is an immortal that will melt if touched by sunlight. Their meeting sets in motion a string of events that reveals his existence wasn't what he thought it was, and will ultimately destroy and redeem them both.

3) Fate Stay/Night: Three times before seven Mages have been selected by fate, each to summon a single legendary Servant from the past and battle for the right to hold the Holy Grail and have their wishes granted. Now the Fourth Holy Grail War has started and a boy named Emiya has been chosen to fight, only he doesn't understand either the rules of the game or what its stakes are.

[Murat, Esq.]

Yeah, Kanon is being put out by ADV, which is the most stable of the anime distributors these days. I so plan on getting the whole series on DVD. By the way, some major plot points in the popular webcomic MegaTokyo are in-joke references to Kanon.

[Berin Kinsman]

And Kanon comes out on DVD this Tuesday.

[Murat, Esq.]

Oops... I thought ~sola~ had been licensed but it hasn't. Also, now that you mention it, Fate Stay/Night was licensed by Geneon, which has suspended production work on all anime before it completed the localization of F-S/N, so its unlikely the end of the series will be on Netflix in the foreseeable future.

[Berin Kinsman]

Netflix has Kanon and Fate Stay/Night (listed as Fate: Stay Night) but I can't find ~sola~ there under any spelling.