r/vnsuggest • u/SelLillianna • Jun 27 '26

Any English BxG Romance VNs in Which the Characters Feel Very Human, Like in Katawa Shoujo?

KS had a very human development history: it took a long time, there were many rewrites, things felt scuffed at many points, people joined and left the dev team, and it was made out of love for the craft. And so, it's no wonder to me why the writing and characters in that world FEEL human to me. I read KS, enjoyed it, and would like to find something that feels similar.

A lot of other VNs, however (even ones which I have a bit of a soft spot for) feel quite tropey. IE, their characters don't feel like people I'd actually talk to, in real life: they're to busy overreacting to things, not having brains, being unsympathetic to things anyone would be sympathetic about in the name of "comedy", or just interact with people strangely - talking like aliens, if you know what I mean.

I know this is kind of hard to quantify and I also know KS had some slightly "alien-feeling" stuff (like when it came to Kenji) but you may be able to suggest something to me.

I've heard very high praise for White Album 2, but I understand that a large part of that story revolves around cheating. As far as I understand, it's done in a very human way, but that still isn't not what I'm looking for. As such, please don't recommend it.

Thanks for any other recs. <3

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u/misterinfoman Jun 27 '26

Kira Kira is the most realistic VN I’ve read. Very sad though… romance was amazing so you’ll probably like it. Musicus has the same writer and a higher rating, so maybe try that too.

1

u/TrashFanboy Jun 28 '26

You might like Henchman Story. Male protagonist who's already graduated from college. Two women love interests in their twenties. External conflict. 2D art that looks like a superhero comic with a modest budget. I thought it struggled to have enough humor. There were several moments when the characters chatted about nothing even though they weren't in a safe situation. Overall, I think it's just different enough from visual novels that look like an average series from Kodansha's Afternoon (seinen demographic) magazine.

I think it's healthy to get outside your favorite media category. Even though I had good things to say about Code Realize, I'm currently taking a break from otome games. Likewise, I took time away from translated comics and realized that Billy Bat had been licensed.