Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo (NSFW)

[Metaler]

Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo (or just Sono Hana) is a series of doujin yuri eroge by a circle named Fuguriya. The series has recently risen to popularity amongst yuri enthusiasts due to the creators' "pure" approach to the genre: the games are mostly written to invoke a warm and fuzzy feeling into the player, with much higher focus on romance and the girls' daily lives as couples, instead of the usual fetishism seen in most yuri works. (though some games still have their own... kinks...) (Yuuna, Runa, I'm looking at you)
That being said, the H-Scenes are also generally "pure", with no toys or things like BDSM present (again, unlike most yuri works).

The series' been around ever since 2006, and it currently has 10 games (plus an all-ages spin-off), an OVA, a web "anime", a web radio show hosted by one of the series' seiyuu, and a crapload of drama CDs and Light Novels.

Check the TvTropes page for more info on the games and their couples (which are a total of 5).

And more importantly, English patches for the 1st to the 5th games are available, as well as the 7th.

So umm... Anyone else interested?

[Bastion]

I'm not entirely interested, though that's mostly lack of interest in the 'game' genre of it. If it's done tastfully, I don't mind what the relationship is, I actually wouldn't mind having more input, since one of the couples in a fanfiction I'm writing is yuri (both have admitted to having tastes that lean that direction in canon).

When I was reading your introduction, I was thinking about Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flower), and wondering if the anime was part of it, since, although I haven't seen all of it, it seems to have the style you mentioned with the romances, as it seems to be very tastefully done.

[Metaler]

Indeed, while there are a high amount of H-scenes in the games (usually 8, which really is high for a game that can be finished in a few hours), they are tastefully done, and you can feel the passion the girls feel for each other. As I said, everything is made to give you the fuzzies... Though there is one little infamous scene which squicks a lot of people, but it's played for laughs, so it's cool.

Now, I'm not exactly familiar with Aoi Hana, though... To be honest, I'm not really familar with yuri myself. The most I ever got close to a major work was Shoujo Sect.

But yeah, I guess you could say it's like that. XD Though Sono Hana doesn't have as much drama as this anime seems to have (well, that's what I got from its description), as it mostly relies on the characters themselves to tell its stories.

If you want an idea, the first game seems to put heavier emphasis on its H, rather than the heroines, like an actual nukige. Not that it's a bad game, but it's very different from the second game onwards, which attempt to focus more on character develpment apart from simply H.

[Bastion]

I didn't end up getting very far into it myself, but Aoi Hana seemed to deal with the characters most before the relationships, especially since the main character starts to be troubled by her sister/cousin's marraige rather than the yuri relationships, and the main characters' isn't even the starting point, they don't even seem to have much of a relationship beyond old friends for the length I saw.

The only 'drama' was that one of the major girls had actually gotten turned down when she approached another girl with her confession. Oh, and the characters all seem to be part of their schools' theater clubs

[akumaxx]

One ep of that OVA, that's all.
Since totally no boys, it doesn't violate my resist line. And that's all.
Neither like or hate, as yuri is no good in real.

[RegalStar]

I did watch the OVA (since Kholdy put it in the 2011 PV), and I found that it was actually pretty good despite my apathy to yuri, but there are too many visual novels out there that would supercede this when I want to read one.

[Metaler]

Yeah, Sono Hana is not the kind of thing you're looking for if you want something epic like Sharin no Kuni or Cross Channel and whatnot. But it definetely stands out in the yuri scene. And let's be honest, there aren't many yuri eroge out there.

I thought the OVA was pretty good. My main problem with it is how the world surrounding Mai and Reo was rather empty. In the original games, they would often talk to some fellow classmates and whatnot, even if they didn't have sprites or names (they're all called Student A, Student B, and so forth), so I still had the sensation that they still interacted with the world for quite a bit. Then again, this might've been deliberate so as to place heavier emphasis on them. And if you take it from their perspective, you may come to the conclusion that they love each other so much, they just forget about the world as if they were the only ones in it.

Also, it probably has THE best animation in an ero-anime, period. Not even Princess Lover was that good.

[Metaler]

*bump*

Fuguriya has recently announced that they are going pro, and so will release all future Sonohana titles under the name Yurin Yurin.
With this, they have also announced the release of a new title named "Michael no Otometachi", "The Maidens of St. Michael", and more information will be revealed on July 21st.

And for even bigger news, JAST USA has recently expressed interest in releasing the Sonohana games overseas, and have been talking with Yurin Yurin about the possibility of a license. Needless to say, though, the developers have little to no interest in the foreign market so far (though the host of Reoppoi Radio did read some letters from foreign fans, and quite positively too), so it's unknown what the outcome of this will be.

In any case, best thing to do right now is to show our support on twitter using the official #その花 tag... I don't know if it'll help but uuuh yeah. Hell, I don't think many of you here even care. lol

On an unrelated note, I was watching Yuru Yuri yesterday, and I couldn't help but notice how similar Kyouko's voice is to Takako's. Very, very similar. I don't have any sound clips with me, but I swear to god they sound the same. I don't think they're the same voice actress, though, since Kyouko's VA was still a minor by the time Sonohana 7 was released... Unless eroge voice acting is just like what we see in Koe de Oshigoto.
Oh well, just an observation.

[Metaler]

Hey, folks. Been a while since I updated this thread, but there's been a fuckton of new info about the new game.

It's easier if I just link AXYPB's blog. You can find everything there.

Also, the game's official website. There are already some screenies to be seen, six of which are NSFW, so you've been warned. Also worth noting is the relationship chart in the characters page.

I must also mention that the game's been delayed to November 30th, though I'm not aware of the reason for this. Oh well.

Last but not least, they also revealed the sprite for Runa's older sister:

Spoiler:

http://petalsgarden.axypb.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/rena.png

...
...
...
...

Oh, I'm sorry, I had a nosebleed and couldn't focus there for a second.

So yeah. That's it. Looking forward to it.

P.S.: Is it just me or do some of the girls' boobs look noticeably bigger?

[xcrossfacekillahx]

It hit me. I suddenly got a little interested in this.

[Metaler]

haha glad to see you're interested. I'm sure you'll like the games, just keep in mind that they don't really have much of a story, though the relationship of some of the couples is slightly more complicated than it looks. It's a pretty fun experience, I'd say.

[Metaler]

*bump*

Michael no Otometachi was released today! Can't wait to see the cast in their new, redesigned glory.

[Metaler]

English patches for the 6th and 8th games will be released on December 17th and 19th respectivelly.

[epeldoll]

thanks to this i'm also interested..

[xcrossfacekillahx]

Ah patches are long up, didn't see this earlier.

[Desufire]

This has kinda of evolved into a general VN talk. Maybe I should make a general Visual Novel thread?

[DurianDude]

This has kinda of evolved into a general VN talk. Maybe I should make a general Visual Novel thread?

There already is one. It's in general chat somewhere.

[epeldoll]

This has kinda of evolved into a general VN talk. Maybe I should make a general Visual Novel thread?

There already is one. It's in general chat somewhere.

it's in here...