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Media and Power: Masterlist

2026-01-09T09:09:44Z

Going through the free university mini-course Media and Power from the University of Iowa.
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Steering the Craft Masterlist

2025-06-08T14:00:23Z

Steering the craft by Ursula K LeGuin is "A revised and updated guide to the essentials of a writer’s craft", and includes writing exercises in each chapter.
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Even if Tempest Masterlist

2024-11-25T07:07:55Z

Even if Tempest is a switch exclusive otome game.
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Jack Jeanne Masterpost

2024-09-10T13:26:09Z

Jack Jeanne is a thus far quite enjoyable and VERY GENDER otome game about a girl who disguises herself as a boy to attend an all-boys acting school with a tradition of dividing roles into 'Jacks' (male roles) and 'Jeannes' (female roles) She then gets to know and in some cases romance various male classmates, who are a mix of Jack and Jeanne (and in some cases both). Afaict the English version is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.

Here's the protagonist Kisa and all her potential boyfriends. From left to right: Kai, Fumi, Neji, Kisa the protagonist, Sou, Mitsuki, and Suzu.

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Vampire Dormitory: Masterlist

2024-05-19T23:15:39Z

Vampire m/f romance anime: After Mito loses her parents and is fired from her job, she must fend for herself on the streets disguised as a boy. She comes across a stranger named Ruka and learns his dark secret—he’s a vampire! Ruka invites Mito, still in disguise, to live in an all-boys dorm. Mito exchanges her blood for a place to stay, but a budding romance and her true identity threaten all that hangs in the balance.
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The Sword and the Brocade Reactions Masterlist

2024-05-03T15:44:18Z

I don't know how entertaining this will be, I just have Feelings and noone sufficiently interested in het cdramas for me to feel comfortable rambling to them in sufficient length.

I'm only up to episode 11/45 and already have enough rambling to fill multiple posts, so am just going to start with a masterlist and character guide and go on from there.

So!

The Sword and the Brocade is a Chinese m/f live action TV romantic drama.

I was inspired to watch it by this spoilery ffa thread where a couple of people agreed that it is far from the objectively best cdrama but somehow makes it's self indulgent wish fulfilment incredibly enjoyable.

The slightly less spoilery but long Viki summary starts with:

Born a concubine’s daughter, Shi Yi Niang (Tan Song Yun) was very well aware of her low status and lack of social connections. However, her low rank never once stopped her from speaking her mind or pursuing her dreams. Believing women should be free to pursue a life outside the home, Yi Niang hoped to someday use her embroidery skills to secure her freedom. But destiny had something else in store for her.

tl;dr And then she gets into an arranged marriage with an emotionally distant famous general and they Uncover Mysteries and Fall In Love.

Based on the first ten episodes I agree with the people at FFA: this is not the best cdrama in any objective sense but it is sure COMPELLING.

Also, every remotely complex plot point and important character dynamic is explained repeatedly. There are multiple characters whose main role is to ask dumb questions so someone has to explain everything to them. It's not very subtle but is great for my sleepy brain, which can otherwise find subtitled historical dramas a bit confusing.

Viki has the whole thing available for free if you make an account.

Content notes: Not involving the main characters: Terminal illness, miscarriage, sick children, violent spouse
Involving the main characters: Violent abuse from heroine's sort-of-parent. Love interest is sometimes kinda mean to those he has power over. Heroine is technically underage but the actress is in her 30s lol. People in arranged marriages being pressured to have sex they don't want, though in every onscreen interaction they say no and this is respected. Past rape.
( No major spoilers just a character guide and list of posts )

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The ABC Murders Masterlist

2024-03-18T08:37:35Z

Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders is a 2016 Unity puzzle game based on the 1936 murder mystery novel by Agatha Christie. From Wikipedia: The initial premise is that a serial killer is murdering people with alliterative names. The murders follow an alphabetical order, starting with a victim whose initials were A. A, and appear to lack a motive.

Content note: Sexism and iffy handling of domestic violence. A character is painfully dying of cancer. Characters express a lot of ableism though the story itself isn't too bad imo. Also, you know. Death.
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Baldur's Gate 3 masterpost

2023-08-14T02:26:50Z

Since I seem to be talking about it!
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My Vow To My Liege Masterlist and Guide

2021-12-26T10:24:13Z

The Chinese fantasy m/f romance visual novel My Vow To My Liege is historical RPF set in the 5th Century BC Kingdom of Ng/Wu about various real and mythical people. The protagonist is King Fuchai, now a woman cross-dressing for Reasons (to do with Evil Dragons)
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Collar x Malice Masterlist

2021-11-25T03:17:47Z

An Otomate dating sim about a Japanese policewoman who gets tangled up in a Strange Mystery about a Weird Terrorist Group.
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Seven Kingdoms: Masterlist

2021-09-18T13:26:38Z

Someone on a discord I'm on found out I'd backed the kickstarter for this game then never gotten around to actually playing the almost finished version currently available. She successfully encouraged me to do so, asking to hear my reactions, and I though some of the rest of you might be interested too.

So! Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem is a fantasy visual novel with stats building and romance. You play a customisable noblewoman sent to an international conference to form a political marriage.

The demo came out in 2015 and I had a lot of fun with it, the full game has been in development hell since then but apparently what exists is pretty satisfying.

Here's my non-spoilery review of the demo with more info about the game.

And here's a spoilery post I made as I aimed for various goals, much of which is entirely incomprehensible to me now haha.

I'm going to write up my reactions as I go, so expect spoilers! I'm going to assume you've read my non-spoilery review, but will try and explain everything else. Especially since I might need some notes, I vaguely recall failing at a bunch of things my first few times through >.>

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Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading

2021-07-17T05:45:06Z

For anyone who didn't see it on sqbr, I posted the notes while reading Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading; or, You're So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Introduction Is about You".

This is a 1997 queer studies paper about the limits of 'paranoid'/fear-based readings which focus on finding the hidden, darker meanings of things, and how these can end up suppressing other sorts of readings. She suggests that paranoia has its place, but we would benefit from creating space for the full range of emotions, in criticism and life in general. I didn't like/agree with all of the paper (especially the way she blurs the line between mental health diagnosis and critical theory) but it was certainly interesting and got me thinking.

I'm sure I misunderstood some parts, the original paper is a better option for anyone who feels up to reading it, and I link to a few versions of it. But my notes might be helpful as a glossary and relatively accessible summary for anyone else who has trouble parsing humanities papers.

I'm cross-posting here since my interest in the topic relates to how I write reviews and meta.

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7scarlet masterlist

2021-02-21T13:13:22Z

7'scarlet(*) is a mystery m/f romance game written by Tomio Kanazawa, the producer of the Twin-Peaks-esque Deadly Premonition, for Otomate, makers of Hakuoki, Psychdelica of the Black Butterfly etc. The protagonist, Ichiko, is investigating the disappearance of her brother in a small country town.

(*)Note: the Steam trailer is a bit spoilery
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Cafe Enchante masterlist

2020-11-23T14:45:26Z

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Nightshade Masterlist post

2020-10-18T09:29:03Z

Review: a Japanese otome m/f dating sim about a sad ninja princess questioning whether her life has meaning. It's great! I haven't played all the routes but the ones I did were really well done. They're all ninja she has complicated quasi-incestuous relationships with and tend to involve a certain amount of Angst And Drama About Being A Murderer For Hire, and either you're into that or you're not. But the relationships are all also very sweet and romantic with plenty of light moments, and the stories fit together nicely.

Content note: suicide, emotional abuse.
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Animal crossing: reference post

2020-07-31T08:03:15Z

Since this info is scattered over a few posts.

Below the cut: my dream address, creator ID, and designs I use/like.
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Samurai Love Ballad: Party- Masterlist and Guide

2020-01-24T03:08:48Z

This is a stand-alone phone based dating sim by Voltage Japan. It's not part of the Love365 app, and has a different setup. It's set in late 16th century Japan and all the love interests are samurai/warlords/ninja etc.
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Voltage romance games: Lovestruck and Love 365

2020-01-05T14:38:56Z

So! Voltage Inc is a Japanese phone romance game company with an app called Love 365. There's a US off-shoot, Voltage USA, with it's own app Lovestruck which has different games and a slightly different pay structure.

I've been playing around with both of them and having a lot of fun! I'm compiling a list of all the games I try at the end of the post.

From what I can see, both always have female protagonists, and have "free" romance phone games that encourage you to spend money but you can genuinely have fun with for free by slowly accruing currency or playing free games. They all also have autoplay, so you don't have to click too much.

Voltage USA:
Mildly diverse, has some games with female or even non-binary love interests.
You mostly spend money to avoid inconvenience, and have to go through the same rigmarole to replay episodes.

Voltage Inc:
VERY tropey and heterosexual, like interactive illustrated Harlequin romances.
You generally pay for a route outright, and can replay it at will, but there's some with the "pay to avoid inconvenience" model. Has free games.

All my posts about love 365 games

No spoilers below, just talking in general about what games I tried and how it all works.
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XOXO Droplets: Masterlist

2019-09-23T15:04:03Z

All my posts on the dating sim XOXO Droplets.
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Shall We Date: Demon's Bond Masterpost and character guide

2019-06-20T03:24:48Z

A phone-based dating sim, this is a prequel to Hakuoki set 300 years earlier, but can be played as a stand alone game. It's set during the end of the Warring States/Sengoku period of Japan in the early 17th century.

The heroine, Yukina, is a ninja bodyguard to a demon princess, and chieftan of a demon clan in her own right. The princess has gathered the leaders of Japan's demons to ask them an important question, and Yukina finds herself drawn into human politics and also...possibly finding love with one of the other demon chieftans? This is part of the Shall We Date series of dating sims, so it feels like love is definitely on the cards ;)

The prologue is free but each love interest's route costs $5US (aprroximately ten million dollars Australian)
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Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly: Masterlist

2019-05-01T08:13:07Z

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly is a mystery visual novel about a young woman who wakes in a mysterious mansion with no memory.
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Mystic Messenger Masterlist post

2019-04-04T09:57:17Z

Mystic Messenger is a phone based dating and management sim that plays out in real time.
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Heaven Official's Blessing guide

2019-03-29T06:08:48Z

(Because if nothing else, I need a character guide I can do text search on)
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Ozmafia Masterpost

2019-03-20T09:15:46Z

Ozmafia is a silly, light Japanese dating sim about an amnesiac heroine waking up in a vaguely Italian town run by fairytale/book themed mafiosa.

No more spoilery than the site you buy the game from.
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Dandelion: Wishes Brought to You: Masterlist of Posts

2019-02-19T03:54:53Z

Dandelion: Wishes Brought to You is a dating sim about a depressed, lonely young woman who encounters five mysterious animals and gets to know them as pets...only for them to become human!

This is the first game made by Cheritz (Nameless, Mystic Messenger) and is a bit rough around the edges but still overall very enjoyable. The protagonist is a realistically drawn college student with anxiety caused by an abusive mother, and her arc of self discovery and healing is really well done. There's a lot of stats raising, which is sometimes cleverly integrated with the story and sometimes irritating. The love interests are varied and interesting as characters, and the romances vary from "good" to "I respect what they were going for but it didn't quite work for me". It's not full on furry but it probably helps if you think catboys and rabbitboys are cute ;)
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