The Broadcast Club | A Visual Novel Podcast

Hey, folks! Back again after some delays due to real life shenanigans (I moved back to America!) but we're hoping to get back on a regular schedule very shortly here. Our guest this episode is noted Umineko enthusiast, ctom42. Despite the episode title, we strove to avoid explicit spoilers as much as possible, so that this episode would be safe to listen to for everyone! Also, we're looking for more shill segments! If you'd like to raise awareness about your favorite visual novel, just drop us a line on Reddit. Topics Covered 00:00 - Introductions and Topic 00:16 - ctom42 Guest Introduction 00:52 - Endings and Potential Impact on Enjoyment of VN as a whole 11:37 - Notably Exceptional or Terrible Endings in VNs 35:02 - Types of Endings We want to see in VNs 43:43 - News 1:03:24 - Shill 1:07:05 - Closing

Hey, folks! With a repeat guest for the first time, we bring back Cornetto Man to discuss Untranslated Visual Novels! Topics Covered 0:00 – Host and Topic Intro 0:16 – Guest Introduction and Interview 2:27 - Why read Untranslated VNs? Benefits you may not know about? 14:20 - Recommendations for starter/lesser known VNs to try out or ones to avoid starting out? 33:04 - Tips for getting into untranslated visual novels/learning Japanese? 46:27 - News 1:18:27 - Shill Segement w/Da_Techpriest 1:20:52 - Closing

Hey, folks! This time we invite the president of SolPress, Xeviax, to talk about Visual Novel Romance!  Topics Covered 0:00 – Host and Topic Intro 0:16 - Guest Introduction and Interview 1:45 - Romance Execution in Visual Novels vs Other Media 10:16 - Romance that sticks out in certain VNs or Genres 32:54 - Interesting Romance Concepts that are rarely or never done 45:58 - News 1:08:02 - Shill Segment ft. lvl_0 1:11:13 - Closing

Hey, folks! Holy shit, we're back again after a massive break due to RL business on all three of our ends. We're hoping to get back into a more regular schedule again so expect more frequent updates! This month we talk about music.  Topics Covered 0:00 – Host and Topic Intro 0:40 – Importance of Music in VNs 11:48 - Different kinds of music in VNs 18:57 - Fan favorite VN soundtracks 29:59 News (almost half a year worth, not including anything from the last 4 weeks) 1:09:42 Shill Segment ft. Bazett 1:12:30 Closing  

Hey, folks! Back for our (almost) one year anniversary! This month we talk about piracy in the visual novel community and how it has affected the medium to date.  Topics Covered 0:00 - Host and Topic Intro 0:54 - When/If should people Ever pirate visual novels? 18:50 - How much piracy affect the market? Positivley or Negatively? 31:52 - Ways VN Community/Companies could prevent piracy 42:18 - News 1:02:08 - Shill segment ft. Rallina v2 1:05:51 - Closing

Hey folks! We're really, really late this time. Sorry about that, the holidays and real life commitments and my loud breathing making this episode a pain to edit caused some delays here. We're back (at last) to talk about my personal favorite topic--Adult Content in Visual Novels. To make up for being so late, we have a half of an extra episode this time. Our guest this month is redditor Zonijo. May god have mercy on our souls. Topics Covered 0:00 - Host and Topic Introductions 0:25 - Guest Introduction and Interview 1:45 - Sex scenes in VNs: What are their purpose? Are they necessary? 26:40 - How Sex scenes are used in VNs 42:47 - 18+ vs. All Ages Releases 1:10:53 - News 1:27:50 - Shill Segment ft. ctom42 1:30:33 - Closing

Hi, folks! We're back again to talk about tropes and cliches in visual novels with our guest, rvnester.  Topics Covered 0:00 Host and Topic Introductions 0:18 Guest Introduction and Interview 2:11 - Most Frequent Tropes/Cliches? Are they Necessary? 6:45 Character Archetypes 9:15 Comedic Romance 11:08 H-Scenes 16:31 Tropes aren't inherently bad 22:12 True Routes 24:12 Comedy 25:40 Pacing, Padding, Use of Slice of Life Moments 35:07 VNs that Avoid Common Tropes 49:07 News 1:05:09 Shill Segment ft. OJ191 1:08:38 Outro

Hi, folks! We missed a month there with hectic schedules all around but episode seven is finally ready. This time, we talked about popular visual novels and what makes them popular with our guest, Cornetto Man.  Topics Covered 0:00 Host and Topic Introductions 0:30 Guest Introduction and Interview 3:35 Ways Visual Novels get Popular with Majority of Readers 25:57 Ways Visual Novels get Popular with Hardcore Readers 33:06 Why certain Visual Novels aren't more popular 50:53 News 1:05:36 Shill Segment feat. jis33785 1:07:48 Outro

Hi, folks! Our apologies for being a little late this month but the next episode is here at last! This month we try not having a guest to see how the format works with just us three. The topic is the effect of Kickstarter on the visual novel industry! Topics Covered 0:00 Host and Episode Intros 0:25 Concept of Using Kickstarter for VNs 5:27 Kickstarting Previously TLd VNs vs non-TLd ones 13:30 Kickstarters just for Physical Releases/Merch 20:52 Execution of Well Known Localization Kickstarters 44:36 Use of Kickstarter for EVNs (English Visual Novels) 58:17 News 1:11:17 Shill Segment w/Karifean 1:14:04 Closing  

Hi, folks! We're back again to discuss genres in visual novels with our guest, Veleon. Topics Covered 0:00 - Host and Topic Introductions 0:17 - Guest Introduction and questions 1:22 - Genres that will be discussed 1:35 - Why certain genres are over/underrepresented in the market 9:57 Horror genre discussion 14:51 Mystery genre discussion 18:04 The most popular/highest rated VNs on vndb 21:45 Connection of Genres and Length of a VN 23:18 Multiple Route Mystery Discussion 34:30 Fantasy genre discussion 40:28 Science Fiction genre discussion 4 42:09 Example VNs from Major Genres 1:00:15 VN News 1:05:28 Shill a VN feat. fuwante0 1:07:17 Outro

Hi, folks! This month our topic is all about translation quality with our guest, John Hooper (also known as GundamAce) of Lemnisca!  Regrettably, technical issues irrecoverably destroyed a great talk we had about honorifics, and we were unable to reconstruct it in time, so if you notice that we don't talk about those, we're sad about it too! Topics Covered 0:00 - Host and Topic Introductions 0:37 - Guest Introduction and questions 8:36 - What makes a good English translation? 10:36 - Adapting jokes and puns 18:44 - Preserving intent and style 25:45 - Translators as writers 31:00 - Literal vs. Liberal 36:00 - Advice for the aspiring translator 43:00 - Official Translations vs. fan translations 52:40 - Japanese companies and the West 56:44 - VN News 1:03:18 - Shill segment feat. Zonijo 1:08:01 - Outro

Hi, folks! This month our topic is visual novels with gameplay with our guest, InvertMouse, developer of the Unhack series and the upcoming visual novel, “The Last Birdling.” Topics Covered 0:00 - Introductions: Hosts, Topic, and Guest 0:49 - The line between VNs and games 14:14 - Where does gameplay begin? 23:34 - Why have gameplay in VNs in the first place, and what makes gameplay good or bad? 48:53 - Can gameplay attract gamers to VNs? 59:41 - VNs News 1:04:01 - Shill a VN feat. Nakenashi 1:06:25 - Future of the shill segment, and giveaway info 1:08:16 - Outro 

Hi, folks! This month our topic is kinetic visual novels vs. visual novels with choices with our guest, Avebone. Topics Covered 0:00 - Host Introductions 1:18 - Topic Introduction w/ guest Avebone 1:44 - The Presence of Choices in VNs 15:40 - Kinetic VNs 29:01 - True Routes 39:17 - Unique Choice Systems 52:37 - VNs News 1:01:29 - Shill a VN feat. AngeTime 1:04:27 - Outro Fact Check Maeda Jun wrote the common route scenes with the Natsume siblings, Masato, and Kengo; Rin's route; Saya's route; and also Refrain in Little Busters!  (According to VNDB)

Hi, folks! This month we talk about English Visual Novels with our guest, Nai, who is developing the English Visual Novel, "When The Shutter Stops."   Topics Covered 0:07 - Intro and brief description of the podcast 0:46 - Nai - "When the Shutter Stops" 8:27 - Stigma surrounding English VNs 32:05 - Steam Direct and what it means for English VNs 46:26 - Nai's growing devtalk community on the Discord server 51:11 - Survey of some VNs news topics 1:03:35 - "Shill a VN" segment 1:05:04 - Outro