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Charade Maniacs Review

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:32:40 GMT

This was getting too long for the previous post so here's a standalone review.

Charade Maniacs is a Japanese scifi romance Visual Novel. It's flawed but had enough parts I liked that I had a good time, especially with the non-binary-ish love interest.

It's only available for Switch.

Premise: A group of teens and twenty somethings from Future Japan find themselves trapped in a mysterious and potentially deadly reality tv-ish game. The protagonist has to figure out what's going on and who she can trust, and in the process falls in love.

It contains some violence and consent issues but it avoids anything really dark by otome standards.
( no spoilers )

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Games I have been playing lately

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 05:09:52 GMT

Been dealing with some real life stress I do Not currently feel like talking about, so instead have some reviews of games I've been distracting myself with.

Puzzle games:
Instant Farmer
Mythmatch
Piczle Cross Story of Seasons
Polimines 2
Librarian: Tidy Up The Arcane Library
LOK Digital

Farming/base building/survival:
Subnautica 2 early access
Fields of Mistria
Timberborn
My Time At Sandrock

Other:
House Flipper

( Read more... )

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Five songs I like

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 07:56:28 GMT

I was tagged by hmasfatty in a "five songs I've had on repeat" meme, except I don't listen to songs on repeat or even use playlists much. So instead I listened to the radio and took note of the first five songs I really liked. And then I added them to my youtube music playlist, which I basically never listen to but do sometimes use as inspiration for albums to buy (and then also never listen to but hey I'm supporting the artists).
( Read more... )

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Random Umineko Thoughts

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:16:20 GMT

I kept putting off posting this until I could make it more coherent but it really is just a collection of thoughts, so.

Before I get started, just yesterday I was reminded to check out goatsreadingseacats which I first saw linked before I finished the game and quickly backed away from because it is HELLA SPOILERY.

So far I've just read the parts summarised in these google docs: Episode 1 and Episode 2, while I didn't agree with all of their takes they brought up a bunch of thoughtful analysis I hadn't considered.

Chances are I will have EVEN MORE THOUGHTS later but I can always make another post.

Masterlist and content warnings.

( Read more... )

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Music: Angèle - What You Want (feat. Justice)

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:44:43 GMT

I'd never watched the music video before, just liked it off the radio, but all the same sex makeouts sure didn't make me less enthused about posting it.

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Umineko Episode 8: Twilight of the Golden Witch

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 05:47:32 GMT

THE END AT LAST OMG.

I had very mixed feelings about this episode, but did cry at the end.

Masterlist.

( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 05:20:24 GMT

This episode is great. For a start, it actually GIVE SOME ANSWERS. But also it introduces my favourite character in the game, with a very cute associated ship. And in general it's a satisfying culmination of a number of narrative threads.

Masterlist.

( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 04:02:27 GMT

Masterlist.

( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 5: End of the Golden Witch

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 03:38:00 GMT

Masterlist.

This marks the start of the "answers" arc. I was like "Do you really need 4 extra chapters to just fill in the blanks?" and I was NOT ready for what I got.
( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:17:03 GMT

Masterlist and content notes.

This marks the end of the "questions" arc. In theory, the reader now has all the clues required to figure out what happened, and why.

I didn't rewatch much of this one either, but because so much of it is emotionally devastating!

( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:22:37 GMT

Masterlist and content notes.

I found a bunch of this kinda boring, since a lot of it is similar to earlier episodes, and couldn't bring myself to rewatch much. But the end is banger.
( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:23:26 GMT

I'm working on a fic where Episode 2 plays a specific part, so went into it in more detail.

Masterlist and content notes.

( Read more... )

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Umineko Story: Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:06:00 GMT

Time to write a brand new set of summaries to try and form a single coherent narrative from this mess! I'm focussing on the stuff that matters to the parts of the story I find interesting/important.

I've been skimming through the version with Japanese voice acting and nicer art, it's a pretty good way to experience the story without commentary. Revisiting everything with more context, I noticed a bunch of things which went over my head the first time.

Masterlist and content notes
( Read more... )

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So I finished Umineko!

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 03:04:59 GMT

My initial review.

Overall, I really liked it!

It continued to be a sprawling, layered, long-winded but fascinating mess to the end. But some of my favourite characters and perspectives showed up quite late, and made me look back a more positively on some earlier sections of the story, so my opinion of it now is higher than it was in my last review, if still kinda mixed.

The ending made me cry in a cathartic way, and I am left with a bunch of fun chewy thoughts about stories in general and possible fanfic in particular.

Hella content warnings though, I had to stop at one point because it was skirting very close to triggering me, and then spoiled myself for the next little bit of plot to see if it was going to get Too Dark (which it didn't)

Content notes for the game, which are both possibly triggering themselves and also spoilery

Parental abuse, suicide, rape, incest, sympathetic portrayal of fascists, gore, torture, sexy immortal young girls (real young girls are not sexualised but do get joke flirted with), major character death, probably other things.

( No spoilers )

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Umineko Theorising

Mon, 25 May 2026 11:18:12 GMT

Masterlist.

Spoiler warning! I have watched up to partway through Episode 6, and also have some vague memories of discussion I encountered before playing.

Please do not spoil me for anything later in the game, including letting me know if any of my speculation or vaguely remembered spoilers are true.

In general this story is a lot more fun if you go in blind and come up with theories as you go, less to Solve the Puzzle and more to experience the planned out rollercoaster of interpretations and subversions. I have no idea if any of my theories are correct but feel like having worked them out will improve my enjoyment going forward either way.

Feels good to have my thoughts in order, and I came up with some more ideas while I was writing! For now I am going to just keep watching the LP but I might go back to writing summaries if it feels like that would be helpful.

CW: Incest theories
( Spoilers!! )

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Umineko Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch Part 1

Mon, 25 May 2026 02:27:53 GMT

Masterlist.

Some pretty intense scenes of children experiencing bullying and abuse in this Episode, it was well handled but distressing enough that I went through some sections at 2x speed.

This is only the a partial post because I very suddenly felt like stopping my summaries and working on my Theory instead, and want to post this part while it's fresh in my head.

( Read more... )

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Umineko Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch

Sat, 23 May 2026 13:48:01 GMT

Masterlist.

Ha, I have now started Episode 6 and once again all my theories are in disarray. Episode 5 was amazing though, a really clever deconstruction of the existing structure and the very concept of a murder mystery.

CW: Suicide. Domestic violence, kinda?

( Read more... )

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Umineko Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch

Thu, 21 May 2026 15:52:56 GMT

Masterlist.

My Episode 1 post is pretty dry and full of details, because I mostly engaged with it as a murder mystery puzzle and world setup. Episode 2 has more about characters and feelings, and is where I got more attached to those aspects. It's also where things start to get Surprisingly Weird.

Halfway through writing this post I had an EPIPHANY and now have a THEORY. I have written it upo in my Theory Post, which will come after I have written up Episodes 1-5 since it draws on all of them.

I just finished Episode 5, and kind of want to finish writing everything up before Episode 6 throws all my ideas out the window, but also I want to see what happens next!!

( Read more... )

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Umineko: Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch

Tue, 19 May 2026 07:23:14 GMT

Masterlist.

I started writing a "short summary" for people who haven't played and to get my thoughts in order, then realised it was (a) getting long and (b) would be easier if I looked up a plot summary to remind myself. So lets go episode by episode until I finish or get bored haha. You can also just read the wiki page I referenced yourself but mine is shorter, if you can believe it, and has a few extra thoughts.

I mostly go through the mystery stuff, there's a bunch of humour and character moments which aren't captured in this summary. I'll avoid anything that significantly spoils later Episodes until a later post, but will not be super strict when it feels more logical to mention things now, or if I have current speculation that I either did or could have come up with at the time.

Please do not leave any comments which spoil past episode 1! I have played up to partway through Episode 5 but some people reading might not have.
( Spoilers for Episode 1 )

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Umineko: Masterlist

Tue, 19 May 2026 06:51:51 GMT

Non-spoilery reviews: initial, final

Content notes for the game, which are both possibly triggering themselves and also spoilery

My original reaction posts while going through it:

Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch
Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch
Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch
Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch Part 1

Umineko Theorising as of Episode 6

Full Story Summary:

Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch
Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch
Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch
Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch
Episode 5: End of the Golden Witch
Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch
Episode 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch
Episode 8: Twilight of the Golden Witch

Random Umineko Thoughts

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Umineko: When they Cry

Mon, 18 May 2026 21:49:01 GMT

I've been watching a Let's Play of the classic, epic Japanese visual novel "Umineko: When they Cry" by Ryukishi07, and am currently up to Episode 5 of 8. I'm quite enjoying it but it's LONG. The LP is 168 episodes which are 30 minutes to two hours long.

I'll try and write a proper review when I'm finally done, since the story keeps reinventing itself, but so far it's a family drama and murder mystery with supernatural elements, which explores events from different angles in ways which cleverly play around with narrative, both from a storytelling perspective and as a way of exploring how people view the world and each other in different ways.

It's very much worth going into unspoiled if you are interested. But content warnings for violence and gore (mostly just text), suicide, child abuse (well written but harrowing), gender essentialism, male gazey character designs and and "joking" perviness (sometimes condoned by the narrative, though it's better about female characters than you might initially assume)

No unambiguous consent issues so far asides from some rape jokes but it feels like the kind of story where that could definitely be a Thing.

I'm watching Jokrono's let's play, which involves two young male gamers sometimes being thoughtlessly Unfortunate, especially about Japan. I'm sure there's others out there but this is the one I was recced and I'm overall enjoying it.

( Just cut for length, no spoilers )

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Steering the Craft Chapter 4: Repetition

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:07:39 GMT

Masterlist

I decided to poke my writers block by getting back to this and immediately hit a thick wall of Fear of Failure even though that makes no sense with writing exercises. But I persisted!

( Read more... )

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Big pile of Jack Jeanne fanworks

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:17:59 GMT

I feel SURE I made a post with most of these like a year ago but I can't find it!
( Read more... )

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Fanworks dump (not Jack Jeanne)

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:11:25 GMT

Fanworks dump (not Jack Jeanne)

I've been super creatively blocked lately but also haven't made one of these posts in like 18 months. Jack Jeanne gets its own post.

Fanart:
Gundam Witch from Mercury
Lady Eve's Last Con
Murderbot
The King's Avatar
Boruto
Naruto
Star Trek TOS
Welcome to Ghost Mansion
MDZS (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation)

Fanfic:
How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer
Samurai Love Ballad: Party
( Read more... )

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Two Jack Jeanne scanlations I worked on

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 13:26:42 GMT

I helped out with redrawing backgrounds for a couple of scanlations of Jack Jeanne spinoff manga, which was more fun than I expected!

Both are prequels set in the year before the game takes place. They're both high on slashiness but relatively low on trans vibes despite all the cross-dressing.

Parsley This is about two secondary characters (Sugachi and Kaido) and might actually be enjoyable out of context, as the story of a new student at an all boys acting school finding his place once he starts playing female characters.

Pecker Backstory for Neji and Chui, won't make much sense out of context.

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