There are animations, but by no means does this make this an anime or a long movie. The story is within the text of the novel; the animations just enhance the words. For example, when a character feels mad or sad, you can see it on the screen, instead of just saying "she sighed" or "he smiled."
It might have to do with how the majority of the population equate visual novels with porn or the like. However this is far from the truth. While some novels have explicit scenes, the ones that do are always marked as 18+. There are visual novels that are meant for all ages, and even some are directed towards the female population.
It is weird, because I would have to say a lot of American gamers have played some sort of visual novel before. Games like Mass Effect - if you take out the FPS elements, then you have a 3D visual novel. Same with Catherine, if the puzzle pieces were taken out. It might also have to do with the culture in that we are so tend to pull the trigger finger so fast, and not take in the satisfaction of patience and "the path to the end."
However, for those interested, I recommend Clannad (for romance), the Higurashi no naku series (for a psychological, mystery, horror), or Steins;Gate (sci-fi, thriller). The art is usually well-drawn, the music is incredible, and the storylines are really immersive.
Song of Saya from the visual novel Saya no Uta (horror, mystery):
The opening song from the visual novel CHAOS;HEAD (Psychological, sci-fi, cyberpunk):
The opening song from the visual novel ReWrite (Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance):
The opening song from the visual novel Steins;Gate (sci-fi, thriller):
I would recommend watching some Animes to really spark people's interest. Before my introduction to any anime/manga, I really disliked how people could enjoy the japanese graphics. After attempting both forms of japanese arts, I realized Japanese manga/anime's story telling is very compelling. Within a few pages of drawing, the readers can become fully emerge into the story.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a fair share of Animes in my life, ranging from Evangelion to Elfen Lied to Azumanga Daioh to even Naruto (I have a wide range that I have seen, probably over 100).
DeleteHow would that spark people's interests though? Visual novels are amazing to me because they really do combine the best of both the novel form and the visuals, creating an interactive story that isn't quite like the "choose your own adventure" Goosebumps books and that isn't quite like a movie where everything is handed to you both through visuals and sounds.