Are sex-scenes important?
| I'm just asking, because I myself have started to skip through most sex scenes, because they have become so badly written and so randomly inserted that I've started to find them boring since quite some while. Yet, I often choose the 18+ option just to get the full experience and out of fear of having something missed, but there are more and more Ren'ai VNs that come out without sex scenes, first, where I have to ask myself whether the missing sex scenes are relevant for the story or at least recommended to read or whether I'm saving myself some more time by just going for the default option without the adult content. What about you? |
| It depends. You can have a all ages VN that was made and not have sex scenes and feel like they should and vice versa. Really what matters is the story and how I feel about the situation. Sex should be used as a tool to develop the characters but just that, a TOOL. It should not be THE tool used or the scale measuring how close people are but a tool used to show the reader the advancement in intimacy. For an adventure/war VN for instance, the character going off to war and could die or never seen again to have a developed relationship and not have sex (unless there is a developed reason why) brings me out of the experience. I'm left going, wait what? In that regard it depends on the writing. Steins;Gate would, imho, feel out of place with sex scenes because there is no need for them. On the other hand a route where a character ends up going to a hotel and the "Hug" would have me going "wait...what?" I think the main reason is the writing. VN's unless it's fap material, a VN shouldn't need to explicitly describe the H-Scenes. You can simply fade out and have the character wake up after the fact or skip it and still have the story acknowledge it...sadly that doesn't happen often. |
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TheUnknownMerc said: But wasn't it the allure of having Ren'ai Visual Novels over Nukige, Hentai and Romance Anime that it depicts the love relationship in more detail without focusing too much on the sex scenes or even turning it into just a story about friendship, just to not offend any fanboy (or fangirl)?I think the main reason is the writing. VN's unless it's fap material, a VN shouldn't need to explicitly describe the H-Scenes. You can simply fade out and have the character wake up after the fact or skip it and still have the story acknowledge it...sadly that doesn't happen often. Sure, I get that it's not everything. After all, first and foremost, the routes and especially the scenarios are the most important things imho. But if they go for a a love relationship in any route, it feels weird imho if there isn't even a kiss, since out of writer's convenience, those are often included in the 18+ scenes. Like why are they even including a love relationship in the first place if the focus is about something else, anyway? |
| That's a difficult question. Whether they are "necessary" for the plot is one thing, but plenty of great visual novels wouldn't even come out if not for adult content, like F/SN or some older Key titles. You could say that it's often a necessary evil just to get vns to sell more copies. When I start a new title, I always go for the first released version, no matter if it's 18+ or all ages, and later play the additional release, just to check out if it adds anything good to the original game. Personally I don't mind h-content, I can even enjoy it :3 So I never skip it, although of course writing is often (if not usually) far from perfect. Noboru said: But if they go for a a love relationship in any route, it feels weird imho if there isn't even a kiss, since out of writer's convenience, those are often included in the 18+ scenes. Yeah, that happens surprisingly often, but I guess because it's just a game, and we can read the plot from the protagonist's perspective, we know that he doesn't want to use this poor girl, they just love each other so much that we can accept it, I guess? |
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| When you have an action VN with combat scenes where characters get wounded, it probably should show some blood. When you have a romance VN where characters fall in love and get in relationships, it probably should show some sex. Without those, something will always feels a little off (unless you have a very damn good reason not to show those). And then realism, suspension of disbelief and immersion suddenly all fly out of the window. :P Some romantic stories can avoid sex - they can simply end at the beginning of the relationship, before characters make too much progress ,or use various other workarounds That might be fine in the realism department, but I often find if quite unsatisfying. That's one of the main reasons why I enjoy romance VNs (or seinen/josei manga) more than typical romance anime. As for explicit scenes in VNs - sure, you can make them implied, fade-to-black or whatever, but I don't like that approach. If you're using a medium that has visuals, you should make use of them. Otherwise just write a book or something. Sex is a very important part of characters' relationships in romance VNs, so it should be shown and described properly. Fade-to-black, narrated sex scene in such VN is about as silly as a fade-to-black, narrated combat scene in an action VN. Just writing "And then they had an epic duel. Protagoinst won. Yay!" over a blank screen would probably win "The Worst Fight Scene Ever" award. Well, there are cases where not showing things has more impact than showing them (Saya comes to mind ^^), but I don't think that could work for sex scenes in normal, renai VNs in any way. Rape or NTR - sure, but vanilla? Nah. :P |
| No, because they are just random????????????dude what H scenes? hell yes! |
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| Yes and No. Most VNs, especially the ones of the Romance and Pure Love variety can more often than not get by without them. However, If you want my opinion, I'd rather them be there than not unless they're extremely poorly executed because they're one of the factors that make the medium a unique experience compared to other forms. I think in western culture there is too much of a negative conoctation when it comes to the portrayal of sex in media, so being able to go into a story that doesn't tiptoe around it is refreshing. |
| Well, there is one Sonohana game that got neutered and it's worthless to read because it removed the scenes and it seems the tone of the story as well. I'm still worried about starting the new translation of my favorite game. I mean yeah, it is uncensored, but seems there is also uncensored version and it's not that simple as removing just removing the scenes, as it is a pretty big part of the relationship development and other scenes involving the characters talking about their experiences and worries about sex and it's not just some joke despite the lighthearted nature of the games. It was imo, also pretty important in for example Fate stay/night, especially the last route. I can only imagine it coming off as feeling very fake since it is a pretty big part of why certain characters are the way they are. Not everything can be explained away with spirit dragons. I suppose you could use "fade-out", but if the scenes actually get referenced in the story/character development part, it's going to end up being jarring and worst case leads to further content being cut or replaced by something much more ridiculous than sex. |
| Yes. |
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