An evangelist.
I’ve found what I’m supposed to do.
People are fulfilled when they occupy a place only they can occupy—when they have a role. We’re creatures that drown, almost tragically, in the need to prove we matter. That’s what survival is.
Right now, I’m translating my old articles into English and reposting them on the blog. And overseas readers have been loving it—it gives me energy. Reactions and support have an incredible kind of power.
It reaches visual novel fans properly, and they come talk to me—wanting to hear more about this niche genre. They’re following the faint underground scent of eroge culture that I tucked into NEEDY and into our new visual novel, too.
This year, I’m planning to release a pure visual novel. “Pure” is the only word for it. We’re going to win with story and visuals alone: basically, you click, and the text keeps flowing until it covers the screen. That’s why I want to pack it with every refined technique of modern direction, sharpening it until it stands like an art object—but as a “game,” it will be minimal.
Why don’t works like that get made anymore? Because they don’t sell.
That’s exactly why I’m making a visual novel now. Because I love them. If no one else will do it, then I have to keep the flame from going out. Like keeping the dim fire of text-site culture alive—barely—by writing a diary every day. A journey to search for the kind of light only visual novels can offer.
And so, I wanted to make it known to the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking worlds: we’re coming from Japan—the place you’ve loved—and we’re doing this. Soon, we’ll be translating into Chinese too, and preparing to expand our SNS and blog presence in mainland communities. In this era, Japan is releasing a pure visual novel—wouldn’t it be fun to gather up the eccentrics who survived, or who’ve newly fallen in love with these “ancient OOParts” of the past, and make some noise together? I can feel the first real foothold forming.
My game passed 10,000 wishlists on the first day we announced it. Now it’s nearly 20,000 a week. It’s an incredibly strong start. Publishers, voice-actor agencies—people have even already reached out about merch and collab café ideas, and it shocked me. It’s too early!
Even so, it feels like a dream to be able to get excited again with people who trusted what I did with NEEDY. But it’s real. It’s happening.
Sometimes I also write about English-speaking culture—about things even Japanese fans haven’t really dug into yet. And they’re happy about that too. I’ve looked around, but while they have a big, lively forum community in Reddit… in the modern world, even if you search globally, it’s rare to find people who keep talking about culture as a whole with real passion. Rarer still to find someone like that who’s also making games and anime themselves. In other words: it’s a kind of value—an existence.
The history of otaku culture in the English-speaking world is too fragmented; even in Japan, almost none of it is recorded. The broad explanations you find with a quick search feel like textbooks—too clean, too missing in detail. Next I’m going to step into Chinese communities too, and I realize: this is the strange fate I’ve ended up carrying.。
Every time I translate an old piece and send it out into the English-speaking world, I’m struck by it—how deeply I once obsessed over bishoujo games and underground culture. And because of that, even just “recycling” it into English now creates more than enough value, and it’s being welcomed this much. I never thought the day would come when I’d feel grateful to my past self.
Right now, I’m living off your inheritance.
Xavier brought Christianity to Japan. There was a great love in that.
I can see what I’m meant to do.
A clean, bright start to the new year.
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