Ten eroge conversions worth your time
With the likes of DCII adding to the vitriolic arsenal of anime fundamentalists, it's time that we harem moderates retaliate against the tyranny of bishoujo bigotry. There ARE worthy eroge conversions and series like Wind ~ A breath of heart or Green green are hardly the defining works of this genre. In a bid to induct the more open minded into the wonderful and rewarding world of eroge conversions, here's a recommended list you can start working on.
In ascending order of love.
Gift ~ Eternal Rainbow - Mild siscon. Would benefit from a stronger ending though.
Refrain Blue - By the legendary Pink Pineapple. Features a pink haired hottie and dark haired loli.
ef ~ A tale of memories - Set to move up this list once it's over.
Otome wa boku ni koishiteru - A scenario where a clueless lead is actually credible.
Canvas 2 - Judge only at the end.
AIR - Even the lesser ending could not nerf AIR girls' immense charms.
Kimi ga nozomu eien - Where the most winsome girl is not even in the race.
Kanon (2006) - No siscon but we have a lovely cousin.
SHUFFLE! - Where yandere all began.
Da Capo - Siscon at its finest.
Special mention to School Days which would have been on this list if I had stomached its completion. This is surely not exhaustive but still a decent list of what I believe to be some of the best of the genre. Free your mind, expand your anime horizons if you haven't already dabbled in the realm of eroge conversions and you'd be back for more.
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December 20th, 2007 - 10:32
canvas2? what is that? no anime by that name. never heard of it. never seen it. IT DOES NOT EXIST
December 20th, 2007 - 10:33
btw isn’t Myself; Yourself also a eroge conversions?
And where is Final Approach?
December 20th, 2007 - 10:58
nice list…
i’ve watched all but one of the titles from your list…
refrain blue is the only title from the list that i haven’t heard of before…
i’ll go check it out sometime…
while canvas and ef are in my backlog…
i can still say that the other titles are quite good eroge to anime conversion…
here’s some comments i have on the titles on the list…
Gift ~ Eternal Rainbow – would have wanted kirino to win though… i disliked riko, though she had a similar character design as kotori…
Da Capo – wanted kotori to win i disliked nemu… though she has the a similar character design as kirino…
Otome wa boku ni koishiteru – tsundere seitokaichou ftw
Kanon (2006)- likable cast… though a mai ending would have been nice…
AIR – i shed tears for this one… gao~
Kimi ga nozomu eien – haruka should have one though she’s gonna win in the retelling… i disliked mitsuki… and as i commented before… they should have a third retelling where akane wins…
SHUFFLE! – would have wanted yandere kaede to win or better yet rimu-chan should have won, mayumi would have been fine for me too… i disliked asa…
and btw, isn’t higurashi’s rena and shion the first yanderes? since onikashu-hen(game)and wataganashi-hen(game) was released before shuffle!(game) was…
though now rena is technically a yangire chara now according to wiki…
December 20th, 2007 - 11:29
@ Xellos
It exists, it was pretty crappy in my view, way too melodramatic and yeah the end was uh, wacked. And Myself;Yourself is not eroge, and the game didn’t come first, it’s one of those multi-media productions that within a year release novels, mangas, anime, games, etc. It’s a visual novel, but it’s not 18 .
As for the list, I agree with many of them except for a couple. I thought Da Capo was terrible and really unwatchable, Nemu was just a horrible, horrible bitch and deserved nothing (plus having a little sister myself I am very antagonistic toward siscon material). I think ef is pretty meh for many reasons which would take a long time to get into here (mostly the Chihiro/Renji story is unappealing and Shaft’s style destroys much of the show’s appeal for me). Canvas 2 I already mentioned. Otome wa boku, Shuffle, and Kanon I wholeheartedly agree with, Otome wa boku being one of my favorites.
December 20th, 2007 - 12:00
Utawarerumono wasn’t that bad of a conversion either for the most part.
December 20th, 2007 - 12:09
ef – a tale of memories and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien are the best of that list by far, in my opinion. But I liked AIR, Kanon, Otoboku, and Da Capo, too. I enjoyed Gift, but if it is on the list, we have a crisis. Canvas2 does not exist.
December 20th, 2007 - 12:10
Um excuse me, I think you meant to put Clannad in that list and take out Gift ~eternal dacapo ripoff~
December 20th, 2007 - 12:44
Ya I’d think Utawarerumono needs to be squeezed in there somehow. Judging from the list you’re not picking out more action or mystery opriented eroge-conversions, since neither Utaware or Higurashis are listed, I think they’re very credible. I couldn’t stomach Otoboku, theres something about the whole trap thing that I can’t stand. Da Capo was good, Shuffle was good..most of the times. Canvas was Mediocre I was about to quit halfway through but I decided to continue and was relatively surprised. Kimi nozo, AIR and Kanon were really really excellent. Gift was ok, and now I know I need to start watching ef ASAP, cause I only hear good things!
Isn’t refrain blue Hentai?
December 20th, 2007 - 13:25
Wow, so much Canvas2 hate. You guys suck, superior blonde cousin is superior.
Elis ftw.
December 20th, 2007 - 14:09
“There ARE worthy eroge conversions…”: FALSE.
You can make all the lists you want, but it’ll still be like picking the best food out of a restaurant’s trash can.
Have a nice day.
December 20th, 2007 - 14:42
December 20th, 2007 - 14:46
No CLANNAD? ;_;
December 20th, 2007 - 15:46
CLANNAD isn’t an eroge. There’s no ero content in the game, which is probably why it’s not here.
December 20th, 2007 - 15:59
No Lamune?
One of the better ones if you ask me.
As for the ones to watch, I feel no list of dating sims is complete without the two genre-defining shows: To Heart (the one that started it all) and School Days (you just watch).
December 20th, 2007 - 16:40
Lamune was pretty good, slice of life and a really sweet romance between the two main characters.
Still can’t stomach ef yet and it’s artsy style (which just seems too forced)…
Utawarerumono was pretty good, it didn’t suffer from the “choose your girl” problem like most eroge. The story was practically linear meaning that as long as the anime follow the story of the game completely, they can turn out a equal or superior story to the game.
The problem with most eroge games anime conversions is too include all the girls involved even though in the actual game most people just choose a girl and finish their story. How the writers integrate each of their stories makes all the difference I believe between a good eroge game conversion and a bad one.
December 20th, 2007 - 17:51
Hm, haven’t watched Gift past episode 1, but I plan to finish it some day. And I’m behind on ef.
I feel that Clannad is like a funnier Kanon. But I think we’ll need to wait till it ends to make final judgement. Besides, as someone already mentioned, it isn’t based on an eroge.
Ivy: Refrain Blue has only a short glimpse of a sex scene from what I recall. I think they only showed the guy fondling? Can’t remember.
Gilberto: Nanoha is not based on an eroge. At least not directly. It’s a spin-off of an OVA based on an eroge.
December 20th, 2007 - 18:57
Oh, my bad… didn’t pay much attention to the title of this post. I simply saw all these game adaptations, but didn’t realize Stripey was referring solely to 18 games, so I mentioned CLANNAD.
And I mostly agree with the list… I loved the Key adaptations more than both Da Capo and Shuffle!, though.
December 20th, 2007 - 20:01
Canvas2 should be No.1, in my opinion. ^^; Despite the years, it still ranks very high on my rewatchable list, and has consistently managed to entertain me. Have you read the Canvas2 thread on AnimeSuki, Stripey? There’s a lot of discussion in it about the story, the metaphors, the allegories, the foreshadowing, etc…
If 50 pages is too much for you to burn through, at least read the last 20 pages or so.
As I mentioned before, Canvas2 also holds distinction in that it actually develops the male protagonist instead of just making him an observer. I mean seriously, Hiroki’s in the damn OP. ;
December 20th, 2007 - 20:38
To Heart (original only, not the terrible other series) and Popotan should be here.
December 20th, 2007 - 21:23
THERE IS NO CANVAS2
NEVER EVER EXISTED
December 20th, 2007 - 21:27
Hey, you missed Lamune!
And as for the subjective quality of eroge turned anime…no comment. I’m not touching that subject with a 20 ft. pole.
December 20th, 2007 - 22:20
I’m a bit of an eroge->anime lover and I approve of this message.
To Heart (1999) is one of the first ones to come out of this genre but it remains to be the greatest for me. Sadly hardly anyone watches old shows anymore.
And I agree with your absolute favorite Da Capo, if you ask me it single-handedly defined what is an eroge conversion. It created the basic framework and formula, and even now it’s being followed by countless other copycats. At the same time, Kiminozo re-invented the genre even before it existed, which paved the way for challenging story concepts such as School Days. Air and Kanon upped the ante with ridiculously good animation quality, and this year we had some good runs…
…although still with crappy shortfalls. Da Capo II should BURN IN A NICE BOAT.
December 21st, 2007 - 02:09
While D.C. II was a disappointment (though I still ranked it above Myself; Yourself), there could be a season 2, so you might want to refrain judgment on that one. If there is a season 2, it will probably deal with the familiar D.C. concepts of siscon/sakura tree/magic.
As for this season’s shows, ef ~ a tale of memories seems to have a lot going for it; animation quality that even puts Kyoto Animation to shame and a score that can rival (surpass?) Hikaru Nanase’s best efforts. The writing and characters isn’t quite as strong but it is definitely worth watching.
December 21st, 2007 - 06:14
@Asrialys:
> Nanoha is not based on an eroge. At least not directly. It
December 21st, 2007 - 06:24
@Asrialys:
> Nanoha is not based on an eroge. At least not directly. It
December 21st, 2007 - 09:31
I didn’t watch Ef sadly, I heard that the game wasn’t that awesome and it was at times broken but at least it had a different male lead for every girl.
IMO, I thought Shuffle and Kiminozo were the ones that trully defined good eroge turned animes. Shuffle had above average art but the link from story to story was almost flawless but it wouldn’t have been possible if the game’s main storyline was written in such a way that the focus was on the couple as a whole and not on the girl alone. For Kiminozo I didn’t really play the game but the anime itself was very good, it was simple yet effective.
December 21st, 2007 - 10:43
On Canvas2: Nothing’s going to change my love for you! Blonde lolicious cousin FTW! XD
On eroge conversions that didn’t make the list: Utawarerumono, Lamune and To Heart (only Season 1) follow my top 10 list closely. Tsukihime for all its disappointment as an adaptation stands pretty well on its own and would squeeze into my top 15, together with Popotan. Final Approach… is well unranked in spite of its Zexcs pedigree.
On eroge criteria: As long as I can’t find official H-content of the game the anime is based on, it wouldn’t be on the list.
That said, I wished Nanoha franchise and Clannad could have made the listWhich is why series like Yumeria, Tokimeki Memorial or KimiKiss didn’t make the list.On Refrain blue: Only casual nudity and an implied sex scene. Otherwise a short/sweet romance. Suitable for 15 and above
December 23rd, 2007 - 02:38
I start rolling my eyes when someone starts ranting their “favorite girl didn’t win” no matter how lame the story would have had to have been to get there.
Well, I was going to mention Lamune but got beat…. picked a path and stuck to it.
Canvas 2 had its moments though I still think the conversion to the end solution was rushed so it made less sense. I actually had more fun with all the secondary plots (i.e. Hagino and Tomoko).
Shuffle! gah…… it wasn’t the solution that sucked but it was the journey that trainwrecked. It required so much ripping and tearing of character design that I stopped even thinking of the characters as more than stick puppets just shoved hither and yon (never mind the animation was so uneven towards the end that it got hard to watch). At least the manga had some character continuity. Gah and I so loved all the character designs and the premise.
AIR and Kanon … both rate a *wow* even with the mild discontinuities.
ef … still processing that one, main problem was its ‘deux ex machina’ at the end.
Ero-conversions are a tough bracket, especially given the often completely irrational assertions of certain fanboy segments demanding certain outcomes. As a result, I often prefer romances based on manga source material especially if the manga is complete before the anime adaptation.
December 23rd, 2007 - 02:46
Hehe, any one who deny the existence of Canvas 2 has no life in this world. ;P Personally, I would put AIR on top of the list. It has a good yet sad ending (good & happy for Misuzu but sad & bad for most viewers anyway)which is pretty unique IMO. It’s a good tears-jerker too
December 23rd, 2007 - 20:09
vexx: I think the challenge with most eroge conversions is binding all the divergent tracks of the individual girls’ stories into a coherent plot. For that I applaud the likes of Shuffle and Kanon (2006) which did so with minimal story disruption. That’s also the issue of choosing the backbone of the series such that all the stories can be built upon it for a strong ending. Hence Ayu’s tale in Kanon was an obvious choice and Sakura/Nemu’s rivalry in Da Capo. Which is why it baffles me why DCII took the Minatsu/koko route (now that there’s hope for a 2nd cour I’m more forgiving) and why Tsukihime chose the Arceuid route instead of the all-illuminating Kohaku route. Same goes for F/SN with Heaven’s Feel. So yeah there are a lot more constraints in eroge conversions than manga conversion which probably explains why the latter adaptations (being linear and all) tends to be presented better.
rei: AIR ep 11 of Misuzu at the beach remains one of the most powerful anime moments for me. As for AIR as a series, i think I need to rewatch it to get the implications of the 2 kids on the beach at the end. Reincarnation of Misuzu/Yukito?
December 23rd, 2007 - 23:28
ef-a tale of memories is the best of the bunch.
December 24th, 2007 - 21:33
I like the Miyako/Kei closure. Still waiting for the Chihiro segment to wrap up before I push the series upward this list
January 3rd, 2009 - 07:09
TO ALL THOSE WHO SAY CANVAS 2 DOES NOT EXIST !
FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, IT DOES!!
January 4th, 2009 - 08:07
Heh, don’t mind them. They’re just being tsundere about Canvas2
August 11th, 2009 - 08:12
Watched most of the top 10 plus many mentioned in the reply posts. My GF and I watch them together and some of our favs are Shuffle!, Fate/Stay Night and especially School Days. Only watched School Days yesterday (did it in one sitting) and had to give it 9.5/10. I’m still feeling bad thinking about it.
(just had to post seeing as I bothered reading all the replies)
Thanks for the other anime ideas, I’ll be looking into them shortly…