Reading Report: 22 March 2026

真田設子 from 恋する乙女と守護の楯

This week is probably best defined by a major shift in my priorities. As I finished my book last week, I decided that, rather than reading another book right away, I'd use the extra "book time" to play a second VN. Part of this decision was because I'm worried about being "locked" into a single long VN (formerly Fata Morgana, now Muv-Luv) and am testing how I feel with the flexibility to make progress with two VNs at once. So far it's going quite well.

Muv-Luv

マブラブ

In my first week playing Muv-Luv I had a very simple affection towards Ayamine Kei. This week involved a fairly lengthy lacrosse story arc that put a spotlight on Kei's bad relationship with Chizuru, and also highlighted some complications in her character, transforming my feelings about her from playful masochism to a bittersweet cocktail.

The lacrosse story arc sort of came out of nowhere, but once it arrived it became the most important thing in the story. One thing I am super curious about is how much my decisions influenced the overall storytelling of this arc. Kei's conflict with Chizuru was the biggest drama in the whole ordeal, which gave me plenty of opportunities to spend more time with her and encourage her to... play lacrosse. It all came to a head in a way that naturally transitioned into a storyline where the focus is almost exclusively on Kei, which then also transitioned into our relationship developing somewhat.

I have some reservations about the storytelling (mostly it falls into the typical VN patterns of forcing repetition to try to make the point clear, even though the story would be totally fine in a single, slightly longer scene), but I'm mostly just impressed with how the story never felt like it significantly broke to "change tracks" to a Kei route or anything. I find it hard to imagine any version of the lacrosse story that didn't go exactly like this, yet the story also felt so true to a Kei focus that I can't imagine another girl's route (except maybe Chizuru) would involve the same moments.

I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with Kei during the post-lacrosse arc when she refused to confront the doctor at the hospital, and I think her manner of conversing didn't help. I always felt like she was being evasive for no real reason, and her constant flipping between lies and the truth had both me and Takeru feeling like she was a lost cause, but one scene with Meiya did a great job at re-centring our focus.
Meiya has always been a very eccentric character. She's so frank about her feelings, but she's also extremely honest and fair. She can tell that Takeru has feelings for Kei and says she will fight for him, but she wants Takeru to choose her with both girls on a fair battlefield, so instead of taking advantage of Takeru and Kei fighting, she helps Takeru see Kei's side in this whole hospital ordeal, and helps Takeru advance his relationship with Kei to the next level. Takeru finally has the courage to confess to Kei, and she has the courage to (almost) kiss Takeru (pictured above). To be honest, I think the whole situation made me respect Meiya a lot more. It sort of makes me regret not giving her my affection from the start, though that would require me to already know the depth of her character from the start, so I'm sure it's all intended game/story design.

I feel like that's always the trouble with multi-route romance VNs... I want to experience my favourite route, but I also want to experience the "true" route, and having both can make it all feel a bit gamey to me. I feel like I'm getting close to the end of the Kei route. After it ends I'm not sure what I'll do... but so far I've had a good time.

あきそら

This manga came up on my radar because it was featured twice in The Book of Harmful Materials. Just saying "it's an erotic drama about incest" feels like underselling it. This manga is basically about exploring all kinds of taboos in our society, and highlights some women who take what they want and some women who still aren't sure how to be happy.

The story centres around one boy, Aoi Sora, who is basically the victim of all these women's desires. To be honest I feel a bit sorry for him, since he's basically dragged into a bunch of random relationships including exhibitionism and cuckoldry, when all he wants to do is sleep with his older sister.

I think the most interesting character is Aoi Nami, Sora's twin sister, who feels intense jealousy towards Sora because the girl that Nami crushes on, Sumiya Kana, has a crush on Sora and not Nami. Three volumes in, Nami still has not found a healthy way to deal with her frustration that she was born a girl and Sora was born a boy, and those scenes of frustration are really great.

GOLDEN BOY さすらいのお勉強野郎

The anime focus sort of dropped off this week so I only watched one episode of this. The episode I watched was about Kintarou working part time at a soba noodle family store. He protects the family, and the family's daughter in particular, from a predatory, young "business man" who had dastardly plans to take over the business.

kissxsis

This anime was brought up when I mentioned to someone I was going to read Akisora. I suppose the incest theme is also here. I watched episode 0 and 1 of the OVA and... I think it's pretty bad. So far it's lacking the depth I would like to see in my media. Like the incest isn't even very interesting... the two girls who fawn over the main character are not blood related to him. The storytelling has mostly taken place in the family home and the focus is solely on the girls falling over the boy (both figuratively and literally).

If I was to cherry pick one interesting point, I think the overall family dynamic being so sexually liberal (except for the main character) shows a potential way of being that is free of shame or judgement. The mother and father are only interested in real, physical, genetic, or other tangible harms and therefore see no problem with their daughters pursuing their son, because the only harm is social. I generally don't think media can do harm, but I do think it can highlight other ways of thinking and being, so kissxsis's vision of the family unit is sort of interesting for that reason.

恋する乙女と守護の楯

This is the second VN I've been playing. This promises to be about 1/3rd the length of Muv-Luv, so I expect it to be a breezy, fun story. The story is about a secret-service agent, Shuji, who is forced to crossdress and go undercover in an elite all-girls' academy. It's pretty contrived that the agency would have no capable young female staff, but once you're over that hump it's just about enjoying the hijinks.

Shuji's female persona is Yamada Takeo. Her* task is to protect two girls in the student council, Yukino and Ren. The game also reveals about 3-4 other interesting girls and then frequently gives the player options to spend time with the girls of their choosing. I've been mostly spending time with Setsuko, a kind girl who doesn't bully Takeo (most of the girls bully Takeo for being a newbie).

There have been a handful of cute moments, though I mostly feel like the story is still just starting. I'm sure that the main student council members will become more likeable as the story progresses, but for now I don't really feel a reason to hang out with them. Yukino has already started to warm up to me, but I think a lot of what makes her sympathetic right now is that she's visibly the victim of some stalking and abuse, and she's leaning on Takeo to give her support. Perhaps if I focused my attention on Ren I'd learn to like her more as well.

On saturday during my game session I thwarted a minor stalker and became a little bit famous for being so cool. In my fame I drew the attention of a first-year student, Sakurabai Yuu. She's very cute and clingy towards Taeko, but Taeko is not very kind towards her... it's truly a case of ludonarrative dissonance...

(*I find gender and pronouns tricky in stories like these. I recognise that Shuji is quite confident in his continued identity as a guy, but that doesn't suit my fantasy while playing as him, so I think I'll describe him as Shuji while he behaves publicly as his original male persona and her as Taeko when she behaves publicly as her undercover persona. It just makes the most sense to me, personally.)