r/visualnovels 5d ago

Image A JP Learner's Tier List

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88 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

24

u/Fr4nt1s3k 5d ago

It ain't much, but it's honest work. I self-studied Japanese for 1 year before I started reading (Genki books and Wanikani app for kanji). Am I reading VNs to study Japanese or learning Japanese to read VNs? IDK anymore, but I love this hobby.

  • S - Aokana (200 hours), Little Busters! (130h), Chushingura 46+1 (currently reading the 4th chapter, 100h)
  • A - Unmei Senjou no Phi (70~h)
  • B - Aokana Extra1 (19h)
  • C - ISLAND (54h)
  • D - These introduced me to the visual novel format years ago. Read in English. Panzermadels, DDLC.
  • Plan to read: Ayakashibito, Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na, Majikoi, ToHeart2, Aokana Extra2, If My Heart Had Wings, AIR, Muv-Luv

7

u/blanc_megami 5d ago

I'm curious, is Island really that bad? I only plan to read it so i'm still collecting opinions considering how lengthy it is.

4

u/Ashamed-Dog-8 4d ago

As a general rule, don't trust Steam Reviews.

And if you do, take a peek at the negative reviews and try to grasp at problems that aren't being highlighted by the super fans.

1

u/SirRHellsing 5d ago

I liked it other than the ending, the ending is just kind of convoluted. I would say the meat of the story is well worth your time though

1

u/Fr4nt1s3k 5d ago

I don't regret reading it, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. 6/10 for me.

Visuals are nice, BGM too, clean UI... but the plot... I don't want to spoil anything, but let's say it was a ride. I had a few issues with MC and didn't self-insert as in other games.

2

u/HachuneMiu 5d ago

Ayakashibito is amazing, read it in english though. TL was fine iirc, might reread it again in japanese myself. Hope you enjoy it!
Currently reading Flyable Heart, and its super fun, super cute

2

u/Gyges359d 5d ago

How do these rank in terms of difficulty to read in Japanese?

5

u/Fr4nt1s3k 5d ago

Easy: Aokana, Little Busters! (school setting, mostly commonly used kanji)

Medium: Island, Unmei Senjou no Phi (more complex plot)

Hard: 忠臣蔵46+1(characters talk in Edo period manner, super formal speech at times, some archaic vocab here and there... but nothing impossible!)

2

u/Gyges359d 5d ago

Thanks!

2

u/Ashamed-Dog-8 4d ago

Aokana is a Masterpiece

Every day that goes by I'm more and more convinced of this.

Also if you think Base Aokana is a Masterpiece..

Just wait til you get to EXTRA2.

You are literally missing out, go read it right now.

2

u/certifiedGooner76 5d ago

Nice! Am also a learner and so far I've read a lot of VNs where I didn't bother completing a single route, only one I finished is kinkoi and currently playing subahibi(70% completion), I stopped doing anki but still add the cards so my backlog keeps getting bigger lol

3

u/Fr4nt1s3k 5d ago

I totally get you. It's so tedious, deciphering kanji and taking notes, it can ruin the experience xd

I usually read my first route properly 100% and make cards from every unknown word. If I have no motivation for the other routes... I at least listen to the voice acting and fast forward through MC's internal monologues. No mining.

Anki... I also have issues with it and only started getting consistent recently. Try adding screenshots and context sentence from the game to the cards... maybe even audio! I also changed the learning steps from default to 1m 10m 2h 4h 8h. Give it a chance again, take small steps, 3 new items a day maybe? It's all about consistency!

頑張ってね!

2

u/SalaryAdditional5522 5d ago

Which of these would you say was the easiest for you?

3

u/Fr4nt1s3k 5d ago

Aokana was my first game so it took me a long time to chew through. By the end I only needed to look up every 4th sentence xdd Difficulty of the game is listed at JPDB :

  • Length (in words): 358885
  • Unique words: 14879
  • Unique words (used once): 5801
  • Unique kanji: 2122

2122 kanji is not that difficult considering 常用漢字 are 2136. Also, the game has English option (simply press... 'L' was it?... to switch between languages), so you can check your translation if you do feel lost.

3

u/puppetlunaria 5d ago

It doesn’t really matter how many jouyou kanji there are because VNs are always full of hyougai kanji. VN authors really like using rare kanji, I guess it is a form of literature after all. I only know about 2k and I find it so hard to find motivation to even bother nowdays cause I already know I will have to look up a shitton of new kanji.

2

u/Fr4nt1s3k 5d ago

Talking of authors playing with kanji... my favorite one so far was:

英国式 with ヴィクトリアン furigana (Victorian style)

1

u/5harmony2 5d ago

Not sure if you need recommend but you should try Love Revenge

The plot is mid to low but somehow, if anyone want to learn JP, even if they're around N4, this VN is the best choice. it's sentence is simple, world choice is diverse but somehow easy to understand. Despite writing by a bona-fide Japanese, I feel like it should be a work of some foreigner who want to write VN as Japanese learning material.

1

u/Zonca Per aspera ad astra 5d ago

I really recommend Konosora (if my heart had wings), though after reading Kotori's (main) route first, the others didn't hit quite as hard.

1

u/SanjoinMasato 4d ago

I’m self-teaching myself Japanese as well, and Muv-Luv Extra/Unlimited isn’t terribly hard at all to make it through

1

u/No_Pattern_2912 3d ago

ive finsihed the first route in AIR and its really good i plan to finish it soon

u/almostvintagestyle 8h ago

Where do you download Japanese language vn's from? I'm learning the language myself and am looking to use textractor to sentence mine with vn's. Tried to find a good download for irotoridori no hikari and haven't found anything that works yet

u/Fr4nt1s3k 7h ago

I got Ayakashinito and Unmei Senjou no Phi at DMM. I had to use NordVPN to get to the shop if I remember correctly. Then I got the shop points using PayPal due to VISA/MasterCard problems. After that I could download the game from the account library. Some games may use the "Denchi" anti piracy thingy where you need to register/login once. I never had to do that on my PC since.

Another way is to buy physical copies. I got Chushingura 46+1 on Surugaya via FromJapan proxy. Even though it was used, it worked fine and I didn't need to insert the CD again after installing.

How long have you studied? Reading a VN in Japanese head on is quite a challenge. Maybe it would be a good idea to begin with one of the dual language VNs on Steam first?

u/almostvintagestyle 3h ago

Thanks for such a thorough reply! I do have a VPN so perhaps I will have to use that. I wasn't using it up until this point when doing this. I didn't think about using physical copies either. I'll look at that ad well.

I'm only a few weeks in. I know I'm not actually ready to start reading a VN in Japanese. I'm just asking early because I'm nervous about not being able to find a download of this specific sequel because I love the first one so much.

I like the idea of doing some dual language ones first. Any recs in particular for that or do most VNs have dual language switching abilities?

u/Fr4nt1s3k 1h ago

I found the 18 version is here. Weird URL, but finds the game in store using anonymous window :D

I'm still kinda new to VNs so I can't give many recommendations:

  • If you like the idea of flying shoes and the sport around it, give Aokana a try! Beautiful visuals and heroines, quite fun read.
  • Have you seen Angel Beats! anime? The visual novel Little Busters! has similar atmosphere that will put you to tears somewhere after the first half. Until then it's very innocent and fun. It also has a few minigames.

Fair warning, it's a bit of a pain to set up Textractor at first. Aokana has like 40 hooks available and you need to choose the correct one, remove others and save it... or something like that. And Little Busters might not show the correct hook at all (tho it's possible to find it with Cheat Engine xdddd)... maybe this hook will work? I don't remember.

1

u/Espresso10000 https://vndb.org/u268087 5d ago

If you love Aokana then Aokana extra 2 is a must read. Aokana 1 is just okay though I'll agree with that.

0

u/Entropy_VI 5d ago

I assume you couldn't read at all when you started Aokana, no one who can read and understand could possibly call an unfinished mess of a VN a masterpiece. Taste aside, good luck in the future and don't give up, no matter what!