Dear Readers,
You may have glimpsed one of our many streams across 2023, whereupon most Tuesday evenings we were embroiled in the fantastical drama of kendo clubs and ancient curses as we played through Aoi Shiro. Well, we finally finished it at the end of December and now we're talking all about our experience with it on this bonus episode! Whether you've seen any of those streams or not, whether you know anything about 2008 renai games, Class S and yuri tropes, or Japanese Folklore, this episode will lay it all out for you in pristine and concise detail. In fact, Runa manages to summarize this 60+ hour visual novel in about five and a half minutes near the start!
Please enjoy our discussions around Aoi Shiro, the changing expectations of game design and VN narratives over the past 15 years, and the challenges of localization in this month's bonus episode!