Kyousuke is back, yet again. He lies over the table of the school canteen, tired—more so than he has ever been. The Refrain route, the last one, is about to begin. It is the last chance: Life, death, friendship, the past, the future, love and treason are all going to play out now. If only he… Read More Kyousuke Natsume and Meeting the Crucified Christ (II)
Rail Romanesque is a short form period piece that is supposedly set in the 1980s. Supposedly. But this is in an alternate version of Japan where rail is the primary mode of transportation and all rail lines are controlled by Raillords that are living, female embodiments of the trains. The first episode introduces a group… Read More First Impression: Rail Romanesque
“Kyousuke is back!” a voice shouts. And then, everyone in the school dorm runs to goof around a senior year student. Kyousuke is the idea guy, the visionary leader, the creative force and the acting big brother of a group of five called the Little Busters, known and loved throughout the school. Soon to graduate,… Read More Kyousuke Natsume and Meeting the Crucified Christ (I)
Welcome to Doki Doki News, your source for updates in the world of anime, gaming, and otakudom, for the week of March 8th through 14th! Check out latest episode in our player below, or subscribe to us on SoundCloud, where you can also find breaking news episodes! Are you bummed about all the cancellations and… Read More Doki Doki News (Week of March 8 -14)
Crystalline, a visual novel available on Steam, is a fun isekai / romance / adventure story. Crystalline is the first visual novel I’ve ever tried, so I have nothing with which to compare it, but I found it charming. From what I can tell, it is typical of the visual novel genre, straddling the intersection… Read More Crystalline: A Visual Novel Review
It’s been a little while since I’ve talked about JRPGs, so with the new year upon us, it seems fitting to take a glance at the JRPGs of 2017 that I played. For all that it was a less than pleasant year in other respects, it also proved to be a pretty stellar year in… Read More 2017 JRPG Roundup
Hey everyone, Kaze here sneaking back onto this blog with a very special and exciting post! As some of you know, I’m a big fan of the Narcissu series and have written on the stories numerous times because of its inclusion of Christian faith in a very respectful, thoughtful, and accurate manner alongside serious, meaningful… Read More Interview with Tomo Kataoka
Hatoful Boyfriend is quite possibly my favorite visual novel, not that I’ve played/read enough for that statement to mean much. At first, it appears to be a dating sim featuring pigeon love interests, but it’s both a lot more ridiculous and a lot deeper than that. And darker. And bloodier. And sweeter. And… well, you… Read More 12 Days of Otaku Christmas, Day 2: Hatoful Boyfriend
One of our favorite yearly traditions at Beneath the Tangles is our “12 Days of Christmas Anime” series. In the past, our staff has put together twelve posts about Christmas anime episodes. This year, we’re doing things a little different: we’ve expanded our scope to include not only anime, but also manga, visual novels, JRPGs,… Read More 12 Days of Otaku Christmas
According to my admittedly rather fallible memory, few anime in the last few years have frustrated me as much as Girlish Number, but I can’t help but feel that this is a good sense of frustration. I’m not angry because the anime is terrible, or even because I wish the characters were written differently, but… Read More Letters from the Editor: I’m Part of the Problem