/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Anime and the Visual Novel: Narrative Structure, Design and Play at the Crossroads of Animation and Computer Games

This study is the fruit of a deep-rooted dedication to the animated medium at large and to the art of anime in particular, progressively consolidated over time by the exploration of diverse studios and of their multifarious productions within that sector of the contemporary culture industry. Its goal is to delineate the thematic, structural and aesthetic traits of a relatively new-sprung and increasingly popular development within the real of anime: namely, animated series adapted from visual novels. In the real of anime, the term "visual novel" connotes a gaming event of an eminently participatory nature, consistently harnessing the player's own productivity to the generation of the narrative fabric and thus circumventing many of the constraints entailed by more author-centered videogames. The visual novel characteristically dramatizes alternate and interesting story arcs and its ending therefore varies depending on the choices made by the player at certain pivotal "decision points." For the player to experience of all the available--and always partial--solutions potentially entailed by a visual novel, it is necessary to replay the game several times, opting for different routes on each occasion. Relatedly, multiperspectivalism is accorded a cardinal status within the cumulative diegetic construct insofar as the game's take on the action alters according to the point of view from which it is tackled by different personae.

I strongly recommend the educational stylings of Ms Dani Cavallaro.

Here's an extract from "Anime and the Visual Novel: Narrative Structure, Design and Play at the Crossroads of Animation and Computer Games":

This study is the fruit of a deep-rooted dedication to the animated medium at large and to the art of anime in particular, progressively consolidated over time by the exploration of diverse studios and of their multifarious productions within that sector of the contemporary culture industry. Its goal is to delineate the thematic, structural and aesthetic traits of a relatively new-sprung and increasingly popular development within the real of anime: namely, animated series adapted from visual novels. In the real of anime, the term "visual novel" connotes a gaming event of an eminently participatory nature, consistently harnessing the player's own productivity to the generation of the narrative fabric and thus circumventing many of the constraints entailed by more author-centered videogames. The visual novel characteristically dramatizes alternate and interesting story arcs and its ending therefore varies depending on the choices made by the player at certain pivotal "decision points." For the player to experience of all the available--and always partial--solutions potentially entailed by a visual novel, it is necessary to replay the game several times, opting for different routes on each occasion. Relatedly, multiperspectivalism is accorded a cardinal status within the cumulative diegetic construct insofar as the game's take on the action alters according to the point of view from which it is tackled by different personae.