Say It In Red

1. Say it in Red Episode 82: Urban Myth Dissolution Center

   October 30, 20261 h 36 minPlay next

   Girl.Did you see that thread? The one from the journalist who caught a ghost in their car? Oh shit was that fake??? omfg no whaaaaaat? Damn I really thought that was real... because like, you know... if ghosts …

   Show notes

   Girl.
   Did you see that thread? The one from the journalist who caught a ghost in their car? Oh shit was that fake??? omfg no whaaaaaat? Damn I really thought that was real... because like, you know... if ghosts don't exist, then how are you texting me back all these years after you died?
   
   This month, Runa and Sara seek out urban myths and bring each case to its inevitable dissolution in Urban Myth Dissolution Center (2025). The game opens strong with pixelated, highly dithered graphics of famous UFO and sasquatch photographs while asking the question, much as the old Animal Planet series Lost Tapes, 'Do these urban legends walk among us?' We follow Azami Fukurai, a college student who sees strange and unnerving red ghosts around her wherever she goes. Seeking a cure to her affliction, she responds to a flyer for the Urban Myth Dissolution Center - an occult organization that promises to uncover the truth behind any supernatural or paranormal happening. There, she meets center director Ayumu Meguriya, who greets her from his wheelchair while a terrifying red specter hovers in the air behind him. After a brief introduction to the game's mechanics by way of identifying and then dissolving the urban myth of The Chair That Kills You, Azami finds herself coerced into working for the UMDC as an investigator. By wearing a special pair of glasses, she's able to focus her power of Clairvoyance and witness the traces of people and events that linger in a space. Together with her investigation partner, Jasmine, Azami must work for the center until she can repay the director for breaking his cursed chair and uncover the truth behind the urban myths she encounters.

   Unrelated but, do you ever make a really nice soup and adjust the flavors so precisely, only to decide at the end to pour a bottle of bleach in for its bracing tartness?

   As always, if you enjoy our podcast please give us a rating and write a review wherever you listen, and if you'd like to hear even more Say it in Red, you can find our rich backlog of bonus episodes on patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred! Check it out now to hear our recent episode on volumes 5 and 6 of the Umineko stage plays! You could also go a bit further back to hear the episode in which Runa attempts to summarize the Baihe novel, Jing Wei Qing Shang, for Sara's amusement, and stay tuned for our upcoming bonus episode on the Umineko stage play's volume 7 performance.

2. Say it in Red Unlocked Bonus Episode - Dragon Age Veilguard & our Dragon Age experience

   October 22, 20262 h 3 minPlay next

   Dear Listeners, With the news of Bioware's closure earlier this week, we wanted to release this bonus episode, originally recorded in December of 2024, in which Sara tells Runa about her experience with …

   Show notes

   Dear Listeners,

   With the news of Bioware's closure earlier this week, we wanted to release this bonus episode, originally recorded in December of 2024, in which Sara tells Runa about her experience with DA: Veilguard and both hosts talk about the impact the Dragon Age games have had on them throughout their lives. While Bioware's games were often flawed, they also connected us and sparked incredible conversations about the potential of games as narratives. As the branching narratives and deep explorations of squadmate character arcs influenced game design on a broad scale, these individual games and romance routes provided a space for players to explore their own queerness and gender. As such, please accept this small token of our appreciation and affection for a studio whose work shaped the landscape of our youth and continues to inspire us still.

   ___

   From December 2024:

   In one of our timeliest bonus episodes yet, this month Sara tells Runa all about Dragon Age: Veilguard and the two of them reflect and reminisce on their history with the Dragon Age series. From its awkward early days to its experimental swings (and sometimes misses), now to its latest iteration, Sara explores the things that make Dragon Age compelling, the narrative stumbling blocks that keep coming back, and what she got out of her Veilguard experience.

   For those following along,

   Here is the article Sara mentions about Alistair and the experience of modding Dragon Age: Origins to enable gay romance: https://kotaku.com/dragon-age-origins-is-the-first-game-about-gay-marriag-5602427

   And here is the video we watched on air, if you'd like to watch along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw4RdsGoGlg&t=276s

3. Say it in Red Episode 81: Z.A.T.O. // I Love the World and Everything In It

   September 25, 20261 h 54 minPlay next

   -.. . .- .-. / .-.. .. ... - . -. . .-. ... --..-- / .... .- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / . ...- . .-. / .-- .- - -.-. .... . -.. / - .... . / -.-. .-.. --- ..- -.. ... / ... .... .. ..-. - / …

   Show notes

   -.. . .- .-. / .-.. .. ... - . -. . .-. ... --..-- / .... .- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / . ...- . .-. / .-- .- - -.-. .... . -.. / - .... . / -.-. .-.. --- ..- -.. ... / ... .... .. ..-. - / - .... .-. --- ..- --. .... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .-- .. -. -.. --- .-- / .- -. -.. / .-- --- -. -.. . .-. . -.. / .- -... --- ..- - / - .... . .. .-. / .-.. .. ...- . ... ..--..

   
   

   This month, Sara and Runa discuss the stylish, melancholic, and captivating tale of Russian teens in an isolated city in Z.A.T.O. // I Love the World and Everything In It (2025). We follow Asya Shubina, a withdrawn and isolated girl in the strange, isolated town of Vorkuta-5 as her mind wanders to the subject of The World. The world is so cute, because it would give even a moment of consideration to insignificant gnats like humans, and so cute to contain such multitudes each day! Asya's school life is largely rudimentary, apart from the momentary bursts of hope and joy that accompany the rare appearance of Ira. Ira is a delinquent, though, a girl who hardly ever comes to school and even when she does, she skips half of her classes to smoke in the bathroom. She also threw a chair at Vadim, the boy who always bullies Asya (though Asya insists he's just doing his part to remind her of the social order of things). When Ira is declared missing, however, Asya begins to wonder - Should she tell the teachers about what she saw? That she met Ira and might have been the last person to see her? Ah, but what if that's an insignificant detail that would only trouble the teachers and would in fact cause nothing but inconvenience for everyone? so then COUNTERPOINT! What if this information is exactly the detail that would help save Ira from a terrible fate? Doesn't that oblige her to reveal this information? And so, having successfully argued against herself, Asya heads to the staff room, and there she meets Marina.

   Please join us as we follow Asya on her quest to increase her own signal strength, growing powerful enough to send a message of pure love to the world that can pierce the atmosphere and resonate throughout the cosmos.

   As always, if you enjoy our podcast please give us a rating and write a review wherever you listen, and if you'd like to hear even more Say it in Red, you can find our rich backlog of bonus episodes on patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred! Check it out now to hear our recent episode in which Runa attempts to summarize the Baihe novel, Jing Wei Qing Shang, for Sara's amusement. You could also go a bit further back to hear the episode in whichSara tells Runa all about the lads of LADS (Love and Deepspace), and stay tuned for our upcoming bonus episode on the Umineko Stage Plays!

4. Say it in Red Episode 80: PARANORMASIGHT: The Mermaid's Curse

   August 28, 20262 h 7 minPlay next

   It's a beautiful day to go diving through the ocean. Come with me, embrace the salt air and the sea breeze before we plunge beneath the waves! Yes! Taste it... the thrill of adventure! The romance of the …

   Show notes

   It's a beautiful day to go diving through the ocean. Come with me, embrace the salt air and the sea breeze before we plunge beneath the waves! Yes! Taste it... the thrill of adventure! The romance of the waves! The thrill of scraping an abalone free from the rocks with only a small knife and your bare hands! Experience the majesty and wonder of the pelagic world! Meet a specter in your ghostly image and experience the Memory of your own imminent death! Truly, this is the peak of summer.

   This month, Sara and Runa discuss PARANORMASIGHT: The Mermaid's Curse (2026), released earlier this year in February as the follow-up to previous Say it in Red Subject, PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. Like its predecessor, The Mermaid's Curse uses a 360 degree camera to great effect and nicely utilizes the three-dimensional space around the player as you explore its world. We begin this horror mystery visual novel with a diving mini-game, and a dangerously enjoyable one at that, as we meet our protagonist - Yuza Minakuchi. Yuza has returned to the fictional island of Kameshima, off the coast of Ise, after a long absence away on the mainland. Five years ago, his parents died and he nearly drowned in a terrible accident out at sea. He was saved, or at least so he claims, by a Mermaid, and now he's enlisted the help of his best friend Azami to find a Mermaid no matter what. Meanwhile, a pair of investigators working with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in the Paranormal Affairs division arrives in the region to quell an ancient curse, right after they solve the mystery behind a string of mysterious skeletons that have washed up from the sea floor. At the same time, a fantasy author from abroad has enlisted the help of his distant relative, a young psychic, to search for clues about mermaids and the secrets of immortality on Kameshima. Their paths all tangle together around one strange girl, Sato, who arrived on Kameshima some months ago and seems to have an odd connection to Mermaids, the Curse of Raging Waves, and perhaps even the Tale of the Heike.

   A warning for listeners: While you don't need to listen to our previous Paranormasight episode to follow along here, we will drop a few spoilers for the first game throughout our discussion. Please be advised and plan accordingly.

   As always, if you enjoy our podcast please give us a rating and write a review wherever you listen, and if you'd like to hear even more Say it in Red, you can find our rich backlog of bonus episodes on patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred! Check it out now to hear our recent episode in which Sara tells Runa all about the lads of LADS (Love and Deepspace), or go back a bit further to hear Runa tell Sara about storytelling in trading card games like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic the Gathering!

5. Say it in Red Episode 79: Black Lily's Tale

   July 31, 20262 h 8 minPlay next

   Oh Sweetie, did you have a nightmare?Don't worry, your family is here for you. Now, just tell me everything that happened... everything you thought, everything you felt...Hmmm, yes I see. I …

   Show notes

   Oh Sweetie, did you have a nightmare?

   Don't worry, your family is here for you. Now, just tell me everything that happened... everything you thought, everything you felt...

   Hmmm, yes I see. I see...

   Sweetheart, it seems that you're trapped in a time loop. Yes, I'm quite shocked as well but if you've been reliving the same day over and over, what other explanation is there? If you want to escape, you'll have to find out what's keeping you here. In fact, I've got an idea... Yes, I think this is exactly what will help you. It's time for you to grow out of this little homosexual phase of yours and think about contributing to the birth rate, darling.

   This month, Sara and Runa read through Black Lily's Tale (2023), a yuri visual novel about putting gay teens through literal nightmare scenarios in order to "correct" their homosexual tendencies. It's at times horrifying and often salient in its political commentary, and though romance isn't its core focus Black Lily's Tale grounds itself in the real social forces of homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality that weigh on Japanese youth. Set in a near future timeline after a new pandemic devastated the younger generations of Japan, we quickly see the shadow of nationalist anxieties fall over our cast. In particular, the persistent fears of declining birth rates are already at critical mass in Black Lily's Tale and almost immediately, we find examples of all the new social programs aggressively promoting Marriage and Procreation.

   We spend most of our time following Hana, a high school senior who is just weeks away from graduation, and her closest friends Itsuki and Aoi. While they've successfully completed their college entrance exams, Itsuki wants to make sure they all make the most out of their high school life. So, in between mandatory classes on the benefits of heterosexual marriage, the girls write out flash cards filled with things they want to do before they graduate – usually silly things like visiting pop-up shops or watching cheap shark horror movies. All of that changes when Itsuki falls into the street and gets killed by a speeding truck... and then Hana wakes up to find herself back in the previous day. Stuck in a seemingly endless loop, Hana struggles to figure out what could possibly save Itsuki from death and allow her to escape this endless nightmare. All the while, Hana's father and the nurse at her school are acting very strangely, and all of these dreams seem to suggest that Itsuki would be happier if she were dating a boy...

   As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent bonus episode in which Sara and Runa talk about their experience at Anime Conventions!

6. Say it in Red Episode 78: Indie Visual Novel Compilation Track vol.7

   June 26, 20262 h 4 minPlay next

   !WARNING! HEAT ADVISORYThe veil of summer has fallen across the Northern Hemisphere and with it, smothering warmth besieges us each day. With the sun casting its spectral disdain through our atmosphere, we can …

   Show notes

   !WARNING! HEAT ADVISORY
   The veil of summer has fallen across the Northern Hemisphere and with it, smothering warmth besieges us each day. With the sun casting its spectral disdain through our atmosphere, we can only caution you, dear listener, to seek shelter within the safety of indoor spaces during these sweltering days. Fortunately, the indoors have a great deal to offer us especially during Pride month and once again, we're here to tell you about Indie Visual Novels that you can, and should, play and enjoy while you sip a cool beverage and shelter yourself from the ultraviolent ultraviolets beaming down from space.

   In these Indie Game Compilation Track episodes we want to highlight some of the incredible indie VNs we've played recently and get people excited about the things happening in Indie Visual Novel development spaces. We want to not only showcase the amazing breadth of work coming from Indie developers but also talk about some of our favorite games, many of which touch on subjects, characters, and experiences we rarely get the chance to see in games from larger studios. You can find a list of each game we played below and we encourage you to play along with us, and go searching for other Indie visual novels as well!

   Most of these games are free and if not, fairly cheap (though please tip the creators if you are able), and you can read most of them inside of an hour or two. In fact, we want YOU, dear listener, to pick at least one of these games to play after you listen, and then tell us about it! You can also check our Patreon, where listeners and patrons can submit either a short audio clip or a few sentences telling us about an Indie VN you've played and enjoyed recently! We may even include your submission on our next Indie VN Compilation Track episode (only if you want, that is). We also mentioned the Power of Pride bundle in this episode, which contains a lot of the games we discuss here as well as dozens of other amazing indie games by queer creators! Check it out, grab some amazing indie games, support queer creators, and tell us about what you've played!

   Indie games featured in this episode

   • Speak Easy [00:04:50]: http://captainturnip.itch.io/speakeasy by captainturnip
   • Skate & Date [00:09:22]: https://gensuta.itch.io/skate-and-date by gensuta
   • Northanger Abbey Rewritten[00:14:40]: https://spiralatlas.itch.io/northanger-abbey-remastered Northanger by Spiral Atlas
   • Crushed[00:22:56]: https://hummingbird-games.itch.io/crushed by Hummingbird Games
   • it sucks to be us[00:31:48]: https://tofurocks.itch.io/it-sucks-to-be-us it sucks to be us by tofurocks
   • this game will end in 205 clicks[00:40:30]: https://insertdisc5.itch.io/this-game-will-end-in-205-clicks by insertdisc5
   • she danced in the wind like a holographic dream before the world died[00:44:55]: https://alienmelon.itch.io/flower by Nathalie Lawhead
   • Texting the Awkward Ace Guy You've Had a Crush on Since High School[00:51:23]: https://justacarrot.itch.io/texting-the-awkward-ace-guy-youve-had-a-crush-on-since-high-school by Carrot
   • My Vampire Boyfriend Smokes Lucky Strikes[00:57:03]: https://justacarrot.itch.io/my-vampire-boyfriend-smokes-lucky-strikes by Carrot
   • Bite the Hand[01:07:03]: https://superbiasedcat.itch.io/bite-the-hand by Cat
   • Olga Doesn't Die[01:20:15]: https://4noki.itch.io/olga-doesnt-die by Shino
   • Full Service Shop[01:36:42]: https://alexisroyce.itch.io/full-service-shop
   • There Will Be Beauty[01:47:41]: https://voidblob-coop.itch.io/there-will-be-beauty by Void Blob Co-Op

   And a special mention of likely future main episode subject, National Park Girls [at 01:53:50] published by Studio Elan.

7. Say it in Red Episode 77: Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni

   May 29, 20262 h 34 minPlay next

   A warm summer breeze ruffles the papers on your desk and nearly scatters them to the floor. They remain, however, and you slouch in relief... if you had to reach out and stop your notes from flying through that …

   Show notes

   A warm summer breeze ruffles the papers on your desk and nearly scatters them to the floor. They remain, however, and you slouch in relief... if you had to reach out and stop your notes from flying through that open window, you might pass out from the effort. The humid air and the faint buzz of insects withers your strength, though not so much as your teacher's repeated explanations of geometric proofs. Suddenly the teacher stops, slams their chalk against the wall, and announces a pop quiz – 'Since you all seem so bored with this material, I assume you must be experts already!' What a cruel thing to say to a class full of overheated, weary teenagers. Your savior arrives, however, as the Westminster chimes sound off and signal the end of class, the end of the school day, and the end of this nightmare you've had each and every night since you graduated.

   This month, Sara and Runa talk about both volumes of 07th Expansions Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni (2011). As an anthology of school horror and ghost stories, Higanbana doesn't follow a single narrative arc throughout each volume so much as it introduces us to characters and concepts that the game explores through each of its chapters. School bullying, the physical and sexual abuse of students, suicidal ideation, stalking, animal cruelty, and grief are among Higanbana's main concerns and in general, all of these subjects are treated with a great deal of care and nuance.

   In a truly massive school filled with ghost stories, gossip, and legends, a group of powerful youkai hold court and hunt the souls of the humans who pass through their halls. The game begins with the story of Marie Moriya and follows the brutal abuse she suffers at the hands of a teacher, leading to her eventual death and then rebirth as the new youkai, mesomeso-san. She soon encounters Higanbana, the youkai of the school's infirmary, and throughout the rest of the game the two of them clash with other youkai (as well as one another) and witness the struggles of the students around them. Sometimes a comedic ghost story, sometimes an anti-bullying PSA, and sometimes a supernatural battle action series, Higanbana is, above all else, a story about the existential uncertainty and turmoil of being a Teen.

   As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent bonus episode in which Sara and Runa talk about the Gnosia anime adaptation!

8. Say it in Red Episode 76: Gnosia

   April 30, 20262 h 21 minPlay next

   OMG it's like, incredible to see you here! Who would have thought we'd be stuck on the same spaceship fleeing that catastrophic infestation LOL like I know I always say it but that's like …

   Show notes

   OMG it's like, incredible to see you here! Who would have thought we'd be stuck on the same spaceship fleeing that catastrophic infestation LOL like I know I always say it but that's like. Literally? Literally a Cosmic coincidence? Astronomical even? Get it because, you know, like the stars lmao. Anyway, so, there's this 'Contamination Protocol' we're supposed to follow and I'm soooooo scared of everybody else here? They've been giving such rancid vibes, I'm really worried about what's gonna happen! But you've got my back, right? I can rely on you? Nice ^_^ That's such a relief. Hurry up and die for me, ok? <3

   This month, Sara and Runa pursue knowledge and make non-binary besties in Gnosia(2019). Often called "Anime Among Us", Gnosia plunges the player headfirst into the tense atmosphere of a Werewolf game, pitting the human passengers of a starship against Gnosia infectees. You very quickly enter both the central time loop and a recurring, sometimes deadly discussion with your fellow passengers. Who is infected with Gnosia? Who can we trust? Who do we put into Cold Sleep? As you loop through the game alongside Setsu, another passenger whose fate is tightly bound to your own, you learn about the other people on board this ship and the nature of Gnosia itself. You'll die a lot, and probably get thrown in the fridge even more, but after each failure you'll grow stronger and wiser. That last part in particular is vital – Knowledge will save us, after all.

   As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent bonus episode in which Sara and Runa revisit the subject of our very first episode, Eliza!

   Fans of the show may also be interested in a recently released Victorian Murder Mystery Otome game, Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea: Amaranthine Moon. Runa was the lead writer on the project, and you can find it now on Steam and itch.io!

9. Say it in Red Episode 75: Tsukihime Original - Ciel Route

   March 27, 20261 h 18 minPlay next

   Polygonal shapes. Where do they come from? What do they want from us? Is there any way to escape their tyranny, the rigid strictures of those euclidean forms? I&apos;ve heard, though only in rumor, that you can …

   Show notes

   Polygonal shapes. Where do they come from? What do they want from us? Is there any way to escape their tyranny, the rigid strictures of those euclidean forms? I've heard, though only in rumor, that you can easily defeat some shapes by collapsing them in on themselves... I'm not sure exactly how to do that, but there is one thing I'm certain of: Arcueid and Ciel really should complete the final line of this love triangle and kiss each other.

   This month, Sara and Runa finish our journey through Tsukihime (for now) as they read through the Ciel route in the original version of the game. As with our Arcueid route coverage, this episode focuses on contrasting each version of Ciel's route, examining the character and plot changes between them, and considering each major choice in the adaptation and remake process. How different does the original Ciel route feel without Noel and the other characters added in the remake? Does Arcueid feel as compelling in the original Ciel route as she did in the remake Ciel route? How do Ciel's relationships and connections feel in the original compared to the remake? And also, perhaps most importantly, how many cool fight scenes does she get?

   This episode will feature extensive spoilers for both the Ciel route and Arcueid routes in both version of the game, so please take care when listening. If you haven't checked out our previous Tsukihime episodes yet, you should do that first so that you can follow along (and to hear us flail with joy as we read the remake Ciel route).

   As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent bonus episode in which Sara shows Runa the joys and struggles of the 90's PC adventure game, Mixed-up Fairy Tales!

10. Say it in Red Episode 74: Tsukihime Remake ~A Piece of Blue Glass Moon~ Ciel Route

    February 27, 20262 h 4 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners,Do you remember the start of this year? Remember the crisp winter air, the bustling feet of travelers, the smell of oil and electricity that greeted us as we stepped onto the train together? It …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,

    Do you remember the start of this year? Remember the crisp winter air, the bustling feet of travelers, the smell of oil and electricity that greeted us as we stepped onto the train together? It was such a great coincidence to see you there! Even though we've been classmates all this time, that morning on the train was the very first time you've ever spoken to me. That first conversation was such a tremendous, fate-defining moment for us both, it's hard to imagine that it was just a dream. We are still late for that test we didn't study for, though, so we'd better hurry.

    This month, Sara and Runa return to the Tsukihime Remake and discuss the Ciel Route, focusing on the game's other heroine and generally having a raucous good time. Unlike the Arcueid Route, which had a notable absence of Ciel through most of its runtime, the Ciel Route features both heroines prominently and also brings in more of the side characters we really enjoyed from the Arcueid Route as well. While this route diverges at the point after Shiki first kills Arcueid, the tone of the route shifts even earlier as the game has already primed readers to work through the Ciel Route and try different things this time around. The result is an incredible experience that makes some significant improvements on the Arcueid route's shortcomings while also delivering some exceptional character arcs and romance dynamics. As Shiki gets closer to Ciel, we learn just how tightly his own fate, Arcueid's old wounds, and Ciel's past trauma are all entertwined. Also, Arach rules.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent bonus episode in which Runa tells Sara all about Storytelling and Narrative design in Trading Card Games!

11. Say it in Red Episode 73: Tsukihime Original - Arcueid Route

    January 30, 20261 h 30 minPlay next

    Wake up! It&apos;s the year 2000 - you remember the year 2000, right? In those days, almost no one had a cell phone and the millennials that were in middle and high school at the time spent their days watching …

    Show notes

    Wake up! It's the year 2000 - you remember the year 2000, right? In those days, almost no one had a cell phone and the millennials that were in middle and high school at the time spent their days watching old CRT monitors, hanging out in arcades, wandering the mall after school, or murdering vampires with a pocket knife! Yeah, those were wild times back then... Kids just roamed freely, getting trapped in hotels full of zombified beasts and hanging around True Ancestors while their families wondered where they were at. In hindsight, perhaps it wasn't all so idyllic as we remember, given the grievous injuries and traumatic memory loss, but just thinking back on it fills you with nostalgia. Let's return, for just a little while, to that time...

    This month, Sara and Runa make good on their previous threats and read the Arcueid Route in the original version of Tsukihime (2000)! As one of the earliest VNs covered on the podcast, it's not only an excellent period piece in its own right but also shows just how much the VN development space, and Type-Moon as a studio, has changed in the last quarter century. From different minor antagonists to tonal shifts and drastic changes in scene and character dynamics, the original Tsukihime gives players a much different experience than the remake. Is that for better? For worse? Through playing the original Arcueid route, we compare the romance between Shiki and Arcueid, the plot beats and character arcs, and the overall feel of both versions of Tsukihime and discuss the challenges and benefits of remaking such a seminal classic of the genre.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent bonus episode in which Sara tells Runa all about gay hockey and the Heated Rivalry series!

12. Say it in Red Episode 72: Indie Visual Novel Compilation Track vol.6

    December 31, 20251 h 42 minPlay next

    2025 is Dying - Read Indie VN&apos;s to kill it faster!Happy New Year, Dear Listeners, and thank you for once again joining us on this delightful journey into the vast and delightful realm of Indie Visual …

    Show notes

    2025 is Dying - Read Indie VN's to kill it faster!

    Happy New Year, Dear Listeners, and thank you for once again joining us on this delightful journey into the vast and delightful realm of Indie Visual Novels. In our Indie VN Compilation episodes, Sara and Runa each read a handful of small visual novels produced by independent teams or sometimes even solo developers, many of which are free and if not are pretty cheap, and all of which offer their own unique and exquisite delights. From VNs made for game jams to delightful gay fluff to intense vampire melodramas to Isekai'd Dark Knights to the epic highs and lows of being trans in high school, we'll tell you about some games you might have missed but definitely need to check out!

    In these Indie Game Compilation Track episodes we want to highlight some of the incredible indie VNs we've played recently and get people excited about the things happening in Indie Visual Novel development spaces. We want to not only showcase the amazing breadth of work coming from Indie developers but also talk about some of our favorite games, many of which touch on subjects, characters, and experiences we rarely get the chance to see in games from larger studios. You can find a list of each game we played below and we encourage you to play along with us, and go searching for other Indie visual novels as well!

    Most of these games are free and if not, fairly cheap (though please tip the creators if you are able), and you can read most of them inside of an hour or two. In fact, we want YOU, dear listener, to pick at least one of these games to play after you listen, and then tell us about it! You can also check our Patreon, where listeners and patrons can submit either a short audio clip or a few sentences telling us about an Indie VN you've played and enjoyed recently! We may even include your submission on our next Indie VN Compilation Track episode (only if you want, that is).

    Games discussed in this episode:

    Char's Ennui

    The Mysterious Thief; Forget Me Not

    Dramatic Irony

    Devil's Liminal

    Homunculus Hotel

    Adult Life Yuri Bundle by Team ANPIM

    Parfum Nostalgique

    Taking my Dark Knight Girlfriend to the corner store

    Cycle

13. Say it in Red Episode 71: Tsukihime Remake ~A Piece of Blue Glass Moon~ Arcueid Route

    November 30, 20252 h 15 minPlay next

    Have you ever glimpsed the truly ephemeral? Is it in the melting of a snowflake upon a cool window pane? The falling petals of a flower in spring? The laughter of a child in summer? Is it the brief and fleeting …

    Show notes

    Have you ever glimpsed the truly ephemeral? Is it in the melting of a snowflake upon a cool window pane? The falling petals of a flower in spring? The laughter of a child in summer? Is it the brief and fleeting connection between lovers who might only meet once every thousand years? Is it the whim of the inscrutable and inhuman? Or is it, as so often is the case, the moment when a Type-Moon protagonist feels like he's got his whole life together and everything is really looking up for once?

    This month, Sara and Runa begin reading through Tsukihime ~ A Piece of Blue Glass Moon~ (2021), the remake of the vastly popular and influential game from Type-Moon, Tsukihime (2000). While the original game features more branching pathways and romance routes to explore, this installment of the remake focuses on Arcueid and Ciel's routes and for this episode, we'll be discussing Aruceid's route in particular. We begin following Shiki, a young boy who wakes in a hospital bed after a serious accident has left him near death. Throughout the world and across every surface he can see, there are pulsing, eerie red lines that cut through his vision. He discovers that, with very little effort, he can cut along these lines to utterly destroy anything with ease. Shiki Tohno, as it happens, can see Death - those lines represent the points at which anything be it human or monster or object can most easily fall to oblivion. After receiving a pair of glasses from a cool older lady who we don't meet again in this game (See Witch on the Holy Night for more info on her), Shiki strives to lead a normal, well-adjusted life with his new foster family. For the next seven years, at least, he is successful.

    After receiving word that his father, Makihisa, has died, Shiki is summoned away from his foster family and back to the Tohno mansion. There he meets Akiha, his younger sister who now acts as head of the family, and the maids Kohaku and Hisui who manage the household's domestic affairs. While he struggles to acclimate himself to this new environment, he suffers a bout of what is surely Normal Protagonist's Anemia and takes a moment to sit down on a park bench. That's when his life changes course entirely. That's when he sees the beautiful vampire with bewitching red eyes cross his path. That's when he decides that now, for the first time in memory, he wants to kill.

    Content Warnings

    Discussion of sexual assault - 01:51:20 - 01:55:45

    
    

14. Say it in Red Episode 70: Iwakura Aria

    October 31, 20252 h 53 minPlay next

    Yours is an old house, distinguished as much by its history as by its adamant defiance of decay and weathering. Its halls are lavish and narrow, its chambers dark and calm, and its rooms never quite feel large …

    Show notes

    Yours is an old house, distinguished as much by its history as by its adamant defiance of decay and weathering. Its halls are lavish and narrow, its chambers dark and calm, and its rooms never quite feel large enough to fill its frame. One evening, the lady of the house calls you to her side. She beckons you from within her canopy bed, the drapery down and her voice unusually coarse. She says 'Come here, dear listener,' as she crawls on all fours. She says 'A little nearer...' as you part the curtains. She says 'Be still, and do promise you will not scream?' as she draws you close with one hand, and then another, and then another, and then another still. 'It is time,' she says at last, 'to share ghost stories.'

    Happy Halloween!

    This month, Sara and Runa discuss Iwakura Aria (2025), a game which just arrived in English at the end of summer. This tale of gothic suspense sports lavish sprites created in the style of oil paintings, watercolor and charcoal cut-ins, and a lush sense of style and design that often leaves you wondering whether you're really in 1966, when the events of the story take place, or further back in a Victorian drama. The game follows protagonist Ichiko, a 16 year old orphan who has just returned to the orphanage where she grew up after leaving her previous job due to the sexual harassment she faced from the men there. A well-dressed gentleman finds her on the street one day as she tends to a market stall for the orphanage - among the wares on offer, the orphanage staff have placed one of Ichiko's own paintings of a bluebird in flight. This gentleman, Amane Iwakura, takes notice of this painting and offers Ichiko a job working as a maid in his estate. With few other prospects, Ichiko agrees and it is at that manor where she meets Amane's daughter, Aria. Immediately struck by Aria's beauty and poise, Ichiko is flustered and feels she is blessed to be not only in such a lovely house, but to be maid to a beautiful girl like Aria. The house, however, is not without its mysteries and secrets. The distant sound of a crying baby rings in Ichiko's ears on her first nights there, though no baby resides in the manor. An umbilical cord preserved in a box on a shelf, a missing volume of architectural plans, the strange parties Amane hosts in which Aria entertains his associates, and several other curious details give Ichiko some cause for concern. More than anything, however, she is concerned for Aria who sometimes wakes cold as a corpse, barely eats, and seems so pale that even the slightest sunlight might burn her. As Ichiko falls in love with Aria, the secrets of the house and Aria's past threaten to crush them both without mercy or hesitation.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our most recent episode in which our Umineko reading circle gathered to discuss the Umineko stage play adaptations!

    
    

    Content Warnings for this episode:

    • Grooming of infants and children
    • Religious abuse
    • Mutilations, particularly stabbing with sharp implements
    • Incest
    • Sexual harassment and assault

15. Say it in Red Episode 69: Stories From Sol: The Gun-Dog

    September 26, 20252 h 4 minPlay next

    [Ship&apos;s Log, 26th September, Stellar Year 892]Your transport ship, already late in its departure due to congestion around the ports on Ganymede, alerts you to yet another delay. It seems that a cargo ship …

    Show notes

    [Ship's Log, 26th September, Stellar Year 892]

    Your transport ship, already late in its departure due to congestion around the ports on Ganymede, alerts you to yet another delay. It seems that a cargo ship is emitting a distress signal and the captain of your transport will be diverting your vessel to provide assistance. The other passengers grumble and you feel your own jaw clench – you'll definitely be too late to check in to your hotel now. As the captain approaches the distressed vessel, you glance through the port windows and your stomach lurches. The cargo ship is now clearly in view, and also clearly derelict. Most of its heat shielding is peeling away, there's a terrible gash along the bow, and its airlocks are all conspicuously open. Your captain comes over the intercom to notify you that they'll be docking soon, and that's when the power goes out.

    At least nothing bad ever happens when you visit abandoned ships deep in outer space.

    This month, Sara and Runa read through Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog (2025), a game styled after classic PC-98 Adventure games and Visual Novels. You begin as most Adventure games of the era began, by entering your character's name and then selecting your pronouns. Then you're immediately dropped into the trauma of a high stakes interstellar battle, helpless as your comrades are all shot down around you while you can only hear their voices through your radio. The story cuts forward then to the present setting as your protagonist sets foot on their newly assigned vessel: The Jovian Fleet Ship Gun-Dog. Aboard the Gun-Dog you quickly meet your protagonist's girlfriend (as well as the ship's second-in-command), Cassie. Cassie is bright and bubbly and happy to see you as you make your rounds as the Gun-Dog's new security officer, meeting the other eccentric crew members and familiarizing yourself with the mission at hand. According to Captain Merys Bartermews, you'll be accompanying the JFS O'Brien in an investigation of a mysterious signal at the edges of known space. Despite clashing with the pilots of the ship's Armored Frames, you report a completely normal patrol to the captain and prepare for rendezvous with the O'Brien. That's when the power goes out, Cassie collapses, and your communications with the O'Brien are cut off entirely. From there you confront the protagonist's traumatic past, a terrifying mystery, possible mutiny, and your own girlfriend's secrets. Normal things, at least on the edge of known space.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our recent episode on ASMR and the different approaches ASMRtists take in creating their videos!

16. Say it in Red Episode 68: Life After Magic

    August 29, 20251 h 25 minPlay next

    It&apos;s late August and you&apos;ve just returned home. With a heaviness in your step, you open your front door, kick off your shoes, drop your backpack by your bedroom door, and flop onto the couch just in …

    Show notes

    It's late August and you've just returned home. With a heaviness in your step, you open your front door, kick off your shoes, drop your backpack by your bedroom door, and flop onto the couch just in time to catch the opening of your favorite show. Your parents, who won't be home for a little while, don't really get your taste in television these days but honestly, when have they ever? There's something spellbinding and exhilarating about this show and the way all the girls confront unspeakable evils alongside the daily struggles of school and romance. Something speaks to you, something you can't entirely name, but it's real and visceral and it's waiting for you there on the TV every day after school. It's late August, the year is 1999, and you're watching Sailor Moon.

    This month, Sara and Runa talk about Life After Magic (2022), a game packed to the brim with 90's style and overflowing with love and admiration for Magical Girl stories. While Sailor Moon is the most obvious point of reference here, this game weaves in so many different influences from late 90's and early 00's anime and manga from Tokyo Mew Mew to Yu-Gi-Oh and beyond. The game centers around Akiko, a 22 year old high school dropout who was once Sentinel Starlight, leader of a magical girl group and alien princess here on Earth. Unfortunately saving the world doesn't pay very well and also employers don't exactly consider it a transferable skill, so Akiko works at a makeup counter in the Glamour Pop cosmetics store. Dealing with customers every day is so draining she barely has time to do anything even remotely social – most workdays, she winds down by watching TV with Allistar, her talking cat and magical mascot character. Then, in a development that calls back loud and clear to the first episode of Sailor Moon that aired on the Toonami block in 1999, a gorgeous (and kinda mean) Girlboss CEO arrives to announce a new Sentimentality line of makeup based on the theme colors of the Sentinels. Shortly after, Akiko realizes that her magic is weakening and Allistar calls an emergency meeting... which also forces Akiko to admit that she hasn't been keeping in touch with the other sentinels and lost their numbers. Cell Phones wouldn't be common for a few more years, after all.

    This launches us into the core of Life After Magic as Akiko manages her time, the stress of her day job, and tries to both reconnect with her former teammates while solving the crisis of magic's disappearance. Each former sentinel has a different perspective on Magic and what their time as Magical Girls really meant (especially given the loaded gender of the term). It's great to see both the characters and narrative unpack 90's nostalgia and the impact magical girl shows and shoujo manga have had on so many of us especially in the queer community. There's also a lot of depth and tiny secrets to uncover in this game, including secret endings and a really great cast of romanceable characters. Also, Akiko's Ex is there and he's the best/the worst. You really have to play to understand.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider writing us a review on your podcast platform of choice! You can always support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where you will get access to all of our bonus episodes past and present, including our recent episode on Uma Musume and the legacy of Stat Builders & Raising Sims!

17. Say it in Red Episode 67: uuultraC

    July 25, 20253 h 19 minPlay next

    A NEW ERA OF HEROES!A WORLD EMBATTLED!THE PASSION OF RIVALRY AND HEATED DRAMA BETWEEN MEN!The sirens sing like soft jazz pumped through shopping mall speakers. Children look on, their eyes gleaming with …

    Show notes

    A NEW ERA OF HEROES!

    A WORLD EMBATTLED!

    THE PASSION OF RIVALRY AND HEATED DRAMA BETWEEN MEN!

    The sirens sing like soft jazz pumped through shopping mall speakers. Children look on, their eyes gleaming with excitement to see a glimpse of the masked heroes who will defeat the evil, rampaging Kaiju. Every day, the heroes will kill parents, children, and lovers... perhaps even their own. The crowds always cheer when the siren plays, even when the heroes have no heart for cheering.

    This month, Sara and Runa rush into the world of superheroes, kaiju, and conquering aliens from beyond the stars in the tokusatsu-inspired BL, uuultraC! Set in 1969, uuultraC takes us to a world where humans can become Kaiju and heroes are tasked with killing them publicly and without mercy. Becoming a Kaiju is fairly simple - the infection can spread through contact with Kaiju blood or sex with a Kaiju, and then it's as simple as raising your heartrate high enough that your body twists and transforms into a gigantic, monstrous form. Sometimes it happens when a Kaiju is enraged and lashes out in fury. Sometimes it happens when a defenseless Kaiju is attacked by a wild animal. No matter the case, their sentence is death, to be carried out as soon as the hero Icarus arrives.

    Adelta's uuultraC(2022) takes us through the story of three different protagonists and their relationships to Superheroes, Kaiju, gender, sexuality, the expectations of society, and their own futures. Shoutarou has always longed to be an actor in superhero dramas, but is that even possible for him after he's splashed with Kaiju blood? His boyfriend, Kozuka, has also been disappearing more and more recently, leaving Shoutarou wondering where the two of them really stand. Choutsugai is haunted by the memory of a young girl he fell in love with on the set of a movie when they were both children. As an adult, however, he discovers that the Belle he loves so dearly is Suzu Isshiki, a drag queen and Kaiju who wages a brutal war against the heroes. Standing above them all is Juurou Sayashi, the current suit actor for Sun-mask Icarus and the star of the hero shows that inspire and entertain the nation. He has always been the perfect, stoic hero... even though his true wish is to live quietly with his childhood friend, Yomi. Yomi, however, is hiding a secret that sits at the core of the conflict between Kaiju and Superheroes. Each of their stories explores the ways in which stigmatization and marginalization, especially of queerness, resonates with the stylized and idealized conflicts that play out between Heroes and Kaiju.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider supporting us by leaving a 5 star review on whatever platform you use to listen. You can also support us on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where for just a few dollars a month you can gain access to our entire backlog of bonus episodes! These bonus episodes include a wide range of topics from deep dives into games outside of the Visual Novel space to fandom histories and much more!

    Content Warnings for this episode:

    Discussion of homophobia (internalized and otherwise), transphobia, sexual assault including child sexual abuse, and gore.

18. Say it in Red Episode 66: Indie VN Compilation Track - Vol.5

    June 27, 20252 h 11 minPlay next

    Locally produced, hand-crafted, small batch, non-GMO, organic (or maybe silicon-based?) foods are often touted as the pinnacle of health and nutrition. So, please enjoy this selection of small indie visual …

    Show notes

    Locally produced, hand-crafted, small batch, non-GMO, organic (or maybe silicon-based?) foods are often touted as the pinnacle of health and nutrition. So, please enjoy this selection of small indie visual novel we're bringing you today, freshly delivered for your consumption. You simply will not find this level of toxic yuri, this high a concentration of charm and potency, or a mouthfeel anywhere near as satisfying in those visual novels you get at the big box grocery stores. They do sell them at grocery stores, right? This metaphor falls apart completely otherwise.

    This month, Sara and Runa embark upon their fifth Indie Visual Novel Compilation Track episode! Every six months, our hosts select a heaping handful of Indie VNs that they've read and enjoyed to tell you, dear listener, about the joys and delights you can find in indie games. Many of our entries this time are also from very cool Game Jams, and looking through the catalog of a jam's entries can be a great way to find more games to satisfy your cravings.

    In these Indie Game Compilation Track episodes we want to highlight some of the incredible indie VNs we've played recently and get people excited about the things happening in Indie Visual Novel development spaces. We want to not only showcase the amazing breadth of work coming from Indie developers but also talk about some of our favorite games, many of which touch on subjects, characters, and experiences we rarely get the chance to see in games from larger studios. You can find a list of each game we played below and we encourage you to play along with us, and go searching for other Indie visual novels as well!

    Most of these games are free and if not, fairly cheap (though please tip the creators if you are able), and you can read most of them inside of an hour or two. In fact, we want YOU, dear listener, to pick at least one of these games to play after you listen, and then tell us about it! You can also check our Patreon, where listeners and patrons can submit either a short audio clip or a few sentences telling us about an Indie VN you've played and enjoyed recently! We may even include your submission on our next Indie VN Compilation Track episode (only if you want, that is).

    Games discussed in this episode:

    • Comme Tu Veux (00:06:23)
    • Our Bad Ending (00:18:33)
    • Spring in Her Step (00:22:41)
    • Threads of Magic (00:28:18)
    • her tears were my light (00:39:02)
    • A Circle of Charity (00:43:13)
    • Neurokino Retrograde (00:48:32)
    • Märchen Line (01:01:14)
    • A Date with Death (01:16:38)
    • The Final Prize is Soup (01:26:25)
    • Good Lord! Everyone at the Reunion for my Religious All-Girls School is a Trans Man... And they're Hot?! (01:40:11)

    And also, these two Listeners submissions!

    • Pinfeather - Submitted by Emrys (00:33:21)
    • Murders on the Yangtze River - Submitted by Raven (00:58:57)

19. Say it in Red Episode 65: Misericorde Vol. 1 & 2

    May 23, 20254 h 53 minPlay next

    And thus, I clothe my naked villainyWith odd old ends stol&apos;n out of holy writ;And seem a saint, when most I play the devil. - Shakespeare&apos;s Richard III, Act 1: Scene 3History is, in its mystery …

    Show notes

    And thus, I clothe my naked villainy
    With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;
    And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

    - Shakespeare's Richard III, Act 1: Scene 3

    History is, in its mystery, endless. No matter how much detail we might glean from contemporary accounts or archaeological digs, there will always be shadows beyond the reach of candlelight. Do you ever wonder, on a ruin's precipice, what sadness or joy might have filled its halls in days gone by? What secrets did they whisper, never recorded in anything but their own faded memory? Did they conspire? Fear for their lives? Resent their fate? Embrace the era? Have some hot gay sex in the Cloister? Truly, History is endless.

    This month, Sara and Runa bring you the longest episode of Say it in Red to date as they discuss Misericorde volumes 1 & 2! Set in Linbarrow Abbey during 1482 & 83, near the end of the Wars of the Roses, Misericorde centers around the murder of Sister Catherine, a Benedictine Nun. The Mother Superior, fearing that she cannot trust her congregation, opens the cell of the Anchoress. In Benedictine Abbeys, the Anchorite or Anchoress was someone who swore special oaths before being sealed away in a small cell, isolated from the world and spending their days studying scripture and illuminating manuscripts. Linbarrow's Anchoress, Hedwig, then becomes our unwilling Detective. Forced to investigate, unsure of her place in the abbey, unfamiliar with the social norms and practices of her fellow nuns, and completely out of her depth, Hedwig stumbles about through the dark chasing the specter of Catherine's influence. In volume 1, Hedwig familiarizes herself with the other residents of the abbey and frequently recoils in terror when she learns of how lax everyone's schedules are, how loosely they adhere to the strictures of the rules of St. Benedict, and whatever those two women were doing just before she barged into the room? Then, in volume 2, Hedwig discovers exactly what those two women were doing just before she barged into the room and this, along with some other developments, sends her into an existential crisis. Please join Sara and Runa as they discuss all the funky little nuns of Linbarrow, their theories about the mysteries afoot, and rank their favorite and most suspicious nuns.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider supporting us by leaving a 5 star review on whatever platform you use to listen. You can also support us on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where for just a few dollars a month you can gain access to our entire backlog of bonus episodes! These bonus episodes include a wide range of topics from deep dives into games outside of the Visual Novel space to fandom histories and much more!

    And please remember, all patrons can send us in your Indie VN recommendations or tell us about an Indie VN you've played and enjoyed recently - you might end up on our next episode! Our next Indie VN Compiliation Track episode is coming up in June, but if you miss that one then no worries - we'll have an other coming in December. Please tell us about an Indie VN you've played and enjoyed recently!

20. Say it in Red Episode 64: Fate/Stay Night Q&A!

    April 25, 20252 h 11 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners, Thank you for the abundance of questions you&apos;ve sent to us regarding our time with Fate/Stay Night. Please join us on the empty city streets beneath a flickering convenience store sign …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,

    Thank you for the abundance of questions you've sent to us regarding our time with Fate/Stay Night. Please join us on the empty city streets beneath a flickering convenience store sign tonight as we answer your queries, demonstrate our power, and drop a few hints about our upcoming schedule as well. Take care on your way home tonight, as well... I've heard that urban fantasy can be incredibly dangerous for a protagonist such as yourself.

    This month, Sara and Runa join returning guest MK to conclude our coverage of Fate/Stay Night with a pile of listener letters and questions, alongside a decidedly nonlinear discussion of Fate/Zero. What historical or legendary figure would our hosts summon as a servant in the holy grail war? What has Nasu said about the process of writing Fate/Stay Night over the years? What possibility is there of hearing a Say it in Red episode on Tsukihime? And most of all, what did Sara think about Waver in Fate/Zero? These questions, and many more, are all answered in this episode. As a result, please consider this a blanket warning for spoilers of all Fate/Stay Night routes as well as for Fate/Zero.

    As we mention in the episode, please be on the lookout for our new schedule which we'll be releasing shortly after this episode. Patrons get to see our full schedule for the remainder of the year, while all listeners are able to see an abbreviated schedule covering the next few months. If you like the show and would like to support us, please consider leaving us a five-star review on your platform of choice, and if you can write a review please write in to tell us which servant YOU would summon in the holy grail war. You can also support us on Patreon at Patreon.com/sayitinred where you'll find all of our bonus episodes, including the spoilercast episodes mentioned here and our latest bonus episode in which Sara and Runa dive into the world of Fate figure collection!

    The interviews mentioned in the episode were originally in Japanese and fan translations are available at the following links:

    • https://jcrcomicarts.wordpress.com/2021/03/28/type-moon-ace-full-type-moon-ace-vol-13-interview-fully-translated/
    • https://www.reddit.com/r/Tsukihime/comments/pbhqg5/nasu_and_takeuchis_tsukihime_remake_launch/
    • https://www.reddit.com/r/Tsukihime/comments/pcei90/nasu_and_takeuchis_tsukihime_remake_launch/
    • https://www.reddit.com/r/Tsukihime/comments/pe56vw/nasu_and_takeuchis_tsukihime_remake_launch/

21. Say it in Red Episode 63: Fate/Stay Night - Heaven's Feel

    March 28, 20252 h 48 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners,I&apos;ve been having nightmares recently. Maybe I shouldn&apos;t call them nightmares, but it&apos;s hard to describe them in any other way. Each night, I fall asleep – or at least, I think …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,

    I've been having nightmares recently. Maybe I shouldn't call them nightmares, but it's hard to describe them in any other way. Each night, I fall asleep – or at least, I think I'm falling asleep – only to see the silhouette of a tall, beautiful woman open my door right before I lose consciousness. The next thing I remember is walking through my old high school and finding one of my classmates drinking another girl's blood. Terror seizes me, because I forgot to study for my blood drinking exam. I run from the room, mostly to give the girls their privacy, and fall right into a massive pit of worms. Dread arrests my limbs, because they're all sour gummy worms and now my clothes are covered in tart sugar and sticky goo. Also all of these gummy worms are dirty now and that's just adding to the stress. Around this time, a writhing shadow covers me and I awaken in a cold sweat, look up, and see the flowchart for Heaven's Feel open on the monitor in front of me.

    On this episode, Sara, Runa, and returning guest MK complete their reading of Fate/Stay Night with the Heaven's Feel route! This route immediately diverges from the others, but still remains close to the Fate route until a scene in the Matou family basement pulls us deeper into the literal pit of Sakura's trauma and despair. When Sakura confides in Shirou about the abuse she's suffered at her family home, he takes her to stay at his house to protect her from Shinji and their terrifying grandfather, Zouken. When a mysterious, eldritch Shadow begins stalking the city and defeating servants, Shirou and Saber start investigating only to cross paths with a new servant, True Assassin, at the Ryuudo Temple. While Shirou faces off against Zouken, the master of True Assassin, Saber fights his servant only to lose not to Assassin, but the mysterious Shadow. Meanwhile, Sakura has been suffering from sudden intense fevers and bouts of weakness and Shirou encourages her to remain at his home and rest. When Shinji attempts to take Sakura back to the Matou home, Rin and Shirou try to protect her only to end up facing Rider, now revealed to have been Sakura's servant all along. From there the Shadow continues its rampage, Zouken continues scheming, Shirou continues experiencing unnerving nightmares, and Sakura's condition continues to deteriorate. The final secrets of the Holy Grail War come to light in this final route, as Illya reveals her connection to Shirou, Rin and Sakura reconnect as sisters, and Angra Mainyu properly takes the stage at last.

    Fate/Stay Night Q&A Episode:

    Our April Episode will be a huge Q&A Episode about the whole of Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero questions are up for grabs as well! You can send us your Fate/Stay Night questions here and as long as you get them to us before our April Episode, we'll do our best to answer as many as possible!

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider supporting us by leaving a 5 star review on whatever platform you use to listen. You can also support us on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where for just a few dollars a month you can gain access to our entire backlog of bonus episodes! These bonus episodes include a wide range of topics from deep dives into games outside of the Visual Novel space to fandom histories and much more!

    Also, you can check out our guest, MK, experiencing even more Visual Novel excitement on the Moonshot Network where they're currently reading Virtue's Last Reward for the first time and will continue reading Visual Novels (and adjacent media) Saturdays on twitch.tv/moonshotnetwork!

    
    

    Content Warnings for this episode:

    Discussions of Sexual Assault
    Mentions of Child Sexual Abuse
    Insects, especially worms and body horror related to Worms, Insects, and Parasites

22. Say it in Red Episode 62: Fate/Stay Night - Unlimited Blade Works

    February 28, 20253 h 25 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners,Recently I witnessed a devastating battle in my dreams. On the floor of a figure collecting convention, an absurdly wealthy collector was completely annihilating everyone in a quiz competition …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,

    Recently I witnessed a devastating battle in my dreams. On the floor of a figure collecting convention, an absurdly wealthy collector was completely annihilating everyone in a quiz competition about rare and obscure scale figures. Talented sculptors, award-winning painters, and industry darlings all wept in lamentation as their knowledge proved insufficient to compete with the golden-haired man who owned not only the first Saber Lily Distant Avalon figure ever produced, but also prototypes of promotional figures including the solid gold Gundam RX-78-2 as well as every single Winter edition Hatsune Miku scale figure ever produced. Then a guy who does garage kits came in and absolutely bodied him in the last round, it was incredible.

    ...Wait, actually I think that might have happened for real.

    This month, Runa and Sara return to Fate/Stay Night with guest MK to read through the game's second route: Unlimited Blade Works. While the Fate route left them wanting more emotional resonance and less Shirou, the Unlimited Blade Works route delivers both in spades. Diverging from the Fate Route when Shirou uses a command seal to prevent Saber from attacking Archer and Rin, Unlimited Blade Works sees the two masters work much more closely together as they navigate their growing affections for one another while the Holy Grail War is going, admittedly, Pretty Bad for them. Not only do they suffer a devastating loss followed by an abrupt betrayal, the eighth servant Gilgamesh makes a much earlier entrance and quickly dominates the field. With Saber lost, Archer gone, and no command seals left, Rin and Shirou struggle to survive together as they piece together the mystery of Archer's identity, Shirou's future, and the magic that could help them win the Holy Grail War: Unlimited Blade Works.

    
    

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider supporting us by leaving a 5 star review on whatever platform you use to listen. You can also support us on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where for just a few dollars a month you can gain access to our entire backlog of bonus episodes! These bonus episodes include a wide range of topics from deep dives into games outside of the Visual Novel space to fandom histories and much more!

    Also, you can check out our guest, MK, experiencing even more Visual Novel excitement on the Moonshot Network where they're currently reading Virtue's Last Reward for the first time and will continue reading Visual Novels (and adjacent media) Saturdays on twitch.tv/moonshotnetwork!

23. Say it in Red Episode 61: Fate/Stay Night - Fate Route

    January 31, 20252 h 42 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners,It has been ten years since that calamity. Though you survived, the memory of flame-scorched rubble haunts your dreams each night. Closure slips away from you in the vagaries of time and, a …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,

    It has been ten years since that calamity. Though you survived, the memory of flame-scorched rubble haunts your dreams each night. Closure slips away from you in the vagaries of time and, a decade on, you settle back into a relatively peaceful daily routine. It would be truly terrible if you were to die multiple times in one night through no fault of your own. It would really suck if you got pulled into a death game that had an unnerving connection to the most traumatic moment of your childhood. If something that awful happened you'd probably at least want some kind of good fortune to balance it all out. Maybe getting to know a cool knight with a sick sword or something. Yeah, a cool sword could make this all alright.

    This week we begin our four episode series on Fate/Stay Night, a tremendously popular and influential Visual Novel from Type-Moon and the first main entry into the vast and sprawling Fate series. Sara and Runa are joined by friend, fellow podcaster, and Fate enjoyer MK as the three of them begin unpacking the massive warehouse of material that is Fate/Stay Night (2004). Reading along in the recent remaster (2024) which is based on Fate/Stay Night's Realta Nua release (2007), this episode focuses on the Fate route which is the standard first route players experience when booting up the game. In this route, we initially follow the prologue and Rin Tohsaka, a highschooler and mage who summons a Heroic Spirit, a Servant who occupies a special Class and will be her chess piece within the Holy Grail War. After a few hours with Rin though, we shift to our protagonist's perspective: Shirou Emiya is a fairly normal high school boy apart from how he was the sole survivor of a catastrophic fire 10 years ago, and the fact that he, too, is a mage. He can only use reinforcement or strengthening magic though, which he employs to repair broken space heaters and the like for his school. One night while Shirou is at school after dark, however, he's cornered by a man in blue spandex with a giant red spear who kills him dead. It's alright, Shirou gets better - unfortunately his assailant follows him to his home where Shirou staggers backwards and accidentally summons a Servant, Saber. Looking up at this majestic woman clad in a knight's silver armor in the moonlight, Shirou enters the Holy Grail War without fully understanding how, why, or what he's supposed to do in this situation.

    The Fate Route of Fate/Stay Night focuses on establishing the core ideas of the game and its world, particularly surrounding Servants, Mages, and the Holy Grail War. A real, powerful magical artifact manifests within Fuyuki City and provides the power to summon Heroic Spirits of past Kings, Champions, Gods, Demons, or even Fictional characters from the past, present, or even future. These Heroic Spirits conceal their identity and use the moniker of their summoned Class as a pseudonym - Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. Only a Servant may touch the Holy Grail, and only one Master & Servant pair may use its power to grant their deepest wish. In the Fate Route, we also see the game's first romance play out between Shirou and Saber with mixed results. In spite of its shortcomings, Fate introduces a wealth of information and details which we'll be carrying forward into our next episodes on the remaining routes of the game.

    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider supporting us by leaving a 5 star review on whatever platform you use to listen. You can also support us on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where for just a few dollars a month you can gain access to our entire backlog of bonus episodes! These bonus episodes include a wide range of topics from deep dives into games outside of the Visual Novel space to fandom histories and much more!

    Also, you can check out our guest, MK, experiencing even more Visual Novel excitement on the Moonshot Network where they're

24. Say it in Red Episode 60: Indie VN Compilation Track Volume 4

    December 27, 20241 h 48 minPlay next

    Video Games. For years, we have wondered: What are they? Where do they come from? And what do they want from us? Today, we have answers for you... answers that would delight even that strictest of industry …

    Show notes

    Video Games. For years, we have wondered: What are they? Where do they come from? And what do they want from us? Today, we have answers for you... answers that would delight even that strictest of industry philosophers: Sonic the Hedgehog. These are shorter games, far less hardware intensive than the latest AAA titles, and made by passionate developers. In fact, the only thing that might not satisfy Sonic's demands is that indie developers aren't always paid more to work less, but maybe by telling you about these Indie Visual Novels we played, we can encourage more people to send some money toward these incredible games.
    
    This month, as is our semi-annual tradition, Sara and Runa each talk about a handful of indie visual novels they've played recently, each with its own incredible style, story, and impact. Some of these games are too short to warrant a full episode of the show, but honestly it's a struggle to keep ourselves from talking about each one for a full hour because they're just that good.
    
    In these Indie Game Compilation Track episodes, which we do at least twice each year, we want to highlight some of the incredible indie VNs we've played recently and get people excited about the things happening in Indie Visual Novel development spaces. We want to not only showcase the amazing breadth of work coming from Indie developers but also talk about some of our favorite games, many of which touch on subjects, characters, and experiences we rarely get the chance to see in games from larger studios. You can find a list of each game we played below and we encourage you to play along with us, and go searching for other Indie visual novels as well!
    
    Most of these games are free and if not, fairly cheap (though please tip the creators if you are able), and you can read most of them inside of an hour or two. In fact, we want YOU, dear listener, to pick at least one of these games to play after you listen, and then tell us about it!
    
    Games included in this episode:

    • Stillwater by Studio Clump (00:04:30)
    • May I take Your Order by Alexis Royce (00:10:27)
    • Someone Stole MY LUNCH by Studio Clump (00:17:35)
    • Mushroom Musume by Mortally Moonstruck Games (00:24:05)
    • Penultima by Zetareishi (00:34:43)
    • Doomsday Dreamgirl by Nadia Nova (00:46:35)
    • Sink Your Teeth by SuperBiasedGary (00:54:36)
    • He Fucked The Girl Out Of Me by Taylor McCue (01:01:10)
    • Bad Faith by Mado (01:14:07)
    • Dahlia by Crystal Game Works (01:23:06)

    And we also mentioned...

    • Rituals in the Dark by ebi-hime (01:30:20)
    • Life after Magic by Chiraishi Games (01:29:21)

25. Say it in Red | Unlocked Bonus Episode: An Umineko fan reads Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None"

    November 29, 20241 h 36 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners,Have you ever felt, particularly in late November when the rain picks up and keeps you housebound, that you are trapped in a strange house full of people you don&apos;t entirely know? In many …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,
    
    Have you ever felt, particularly in late November when the rain picks up and keeps you housebound, that you are trapped in a strange house full of people you don't entirely know? In many ways, the distance between holiday revelry and horrifying mystery is smaller than we like to think. What would happen if all of our Thanksgiving reunions took place on an isolated, stormbound island? Would everyone in attendance keep a level head if a gramophone announced the most sordid sins of their past? If nothing else, you could take solace in knowing that it would be difficult for your own holiday gatherings to turn out as badly as those on Soldier Island in Agatha Christie's influential closed circle mystery, And Then There Were None.
    
    And what better way to experience this book, the practical foundation and inspiration for so many mysteries and visual novels, than to force one unwitting Umineko fan to read it, stop before the final culprit reveal, and then deliver all of her thoughts and theories on the air for everyone to enjoy. That's exactly what happened in this episode - Sara, along with Umineko reading guests KT Kelly and Raven, found out that Runa had never read And Then There Were None (despite having read about a dozen other Christie novels even as early as middle school). So really, there was nothing else to do but to give Runa her assignment, listen to her theories, and then see how she reacts to the final culprit reveal live on the air.
    
    You can even read all of Runa's Culprit Theories, including some truly wild things that didn't make it onto the episode!
    
    As we mentioned here, you can also Submit a short audio clip telling us about an Indie VN you've played, and we'll be including as many of those clips as possible in our upcoming Indie VN compilation track episode coming out in December!
    
    This is a public release of a previous Patreon-exclusive episode! You can, and we hope that you will, support us on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred where for as little as $3 a month you can get access to over four years of bonus content, along with advance schedules to let you know what we're reading in the future! And as always, if you enjoy our show please tell your friends and give us a rating and review wherever you listen.

    Clip (0:31)

26. Say it in Red | Episode 58: The Elevator Game with Catgirls

    October 25, 20241 h 21 minPlay next

    1-4-2-6-2-10-5-1Please remember this combination. When you enter the elevator (FIRST FLOOR! Don&apos;t enter from the ground level or garage!) press the play button on this podcast. You should do this alone …

    Show notes

    1-4-2-6-2-10-5-1
    Please remember this combination. When you enter the elevator (FIRST FLOOR! Don't enter from the ground level or garage!) press the play button on this podcast. You should do this alone, ideally late at night or in the early morning when no one else will try to ride the elevator with you. Make sure the building you're in has at least 10 floors. Once you arrive on the fourth floor, wait 10 minutes while you listen to the podcast and then press the button for floor 2. Repeat this for each step: 10 minutes of podcast, elevator button, wait for the doors to open and close, and then listen in the solitary, sealed room of the elevator for another 10 minutes. By the end of this, you will have heard our entire podcast, giving you a full overview of why you absolutely should not play the elevator game (unless you are a catgirl searching for your cat girlfriend).
    
    For the height of the spooky season, Runa and Sara are discussing The Elevator Game with Catgirls(2022), in which catgirls Asahi and Kirin decide to play the fabled Elevator Game of urban legends lore. According to this game, if you enter an elevator, alone, and press the floor buttons in a particular sequence, you can travel to a strange and eerie Otherworld. You'll know when you reach that place because it will be entirely empty and devoid of life, and in the deep red sky you'll see a glowing cross. To return, you simply have to find the elevator you arrived in and complete the elevator game again... provided the elevator comes when you call it. After waiting outside in the snow for her girlfriend, Kirin, Asahi gets nervous and decides to rush in and try to find her. She quickly discovers that she, too, is now trapped within the Otherworld of the elevator game as well, which she wouldn't believe so readily had she not also had the paranormal experience of growing kitty ears and a tail months earlier. Through the process of solving puzzles scattered through the building's lobby and within the Otherworld, Asahi finds scattered notes that seem to reveal the inner thoughts and memories of the other people trapped there... including some from Kirin.
    
    As always, if you like our show and want to support us, please give us a rating and review on wherever you listen! You can also support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred. We don't advertise, so listener recommendations and word of mouth are the best way for new listeners to find us!

27. Say it in Red | Episode 57: Milk Inside and Milk Outside of a Bag of Milk

    September 27, 20241 h 56 minPlay next

    How do I get to the convenience store from here? How does anyone get to a convenience store from anywhere? Where are you right now, and can I follow you for a while? I don&apos;t think I&apos;m catching up even …

    Show notes

    How do I get to the convenience store from here? How does anyone get to a convenience store from anywhere? Where are you right now, and can I follow you for a while? I don't think I'm catching up even though I told you I was right behind you - I just didn't want you to worry or feel inconvenienced by my indecision. Hey, is it alright if we just sit here for a while? I think... yeah, even this much has worn me down this morning. Let me tell you about a game I played recently. A couple games, in fact.
    
    This month, Sara and Runa discuss the Milk series of games, covering both Milk Inside a Bag of Milk (2020) and Milk outside a bag of Milk (2021) and the surreal horror of mundane daily struggles with mental health, common chores, and our attempts to form connections. The first game focuses on you, the player, entering your name just before an unnamed girl entreats you to help her go to the store and buy a bag of milk. You have dialogue options, sometimes ranging from soft comfort to abject cruelty and often landing in sarcastic needling territory. As you accompany this girl, she reveals some small details about her daily struggles with life, chores, and the way she sees the world. "I'll try being a visual novel protagonist!" she says, and thus her thoughts appear as narration for us to read, even if she can't necessarily give them coherent voice. Once you've successfully helped her buy a bag of milk, she returns home to see her mother, represented as a blank, hollow-eyed mask, who tells her to go directly to bed. The second game picks up right here, immediately upon the girl's return to home as we now see her mother as a massive, formless being with sprawling arms and tendrils who injects a thin, needle-like finger into our protagonist's arm. From there, we help our protagonist, now trying out her life as an Adventure Game protagonist, search for her stray thoughts which have turned into fireflies. She longs for sleep and dreaming, and at the end of the night your choices will determine the vision she sees when she closes her eyes.
    
    This is, above all else, a game about plumbing the depths of your own mind, the ways we navigate society and life as we struggle with mental illness, the way we make sense of our pain and treatment, and the dreams we see when we can finally sleep.
    
    
    As always, if you like our show and want to support us, please give us a rating and review on wherever you listen! You can also support us directly on Patreon at patreon.com/sayitinred. We don't advertise, so listener recommendations and word of mouth are the best way for new listeners to find us!
    
    Content Warnings for this episode:
    Our episode contains mentions and discussions of suicide, self-harm, online harassment, and forced injection.
    
    

28. Say it in Red | Episode 56: Dōkyūsei: Bangin' Summer

    August 30, 20242 h 34 minPlay next

    August is not merely a month — it is an emotion. For some, the final month of Summer rings in its hottest days and the looming dread of a new school term. For others, it&apos;s a time steeped in nostalgia and …

    Show notes

    August is not merely a month — it is an emotion. For some, the final month of Summer rings in its hottest days and the looming dread of a new school term. For others, it's a time steeped in nostalgia and the memories of summers' past. Perhaps your August is the feeling of bittersweet romance and the distant promise of your future. Perhaps, even, as the seasons turn you feel, more strongly than anything, a longing for 1992.
    
    This month, Sara and Runa discuss Dōkyūsei: Bangin' Summer, a 2022 remake of a game from thirty years prior and one of the very first dating sims to gain widespread popularity and acclaim. Playing as Takurou, an extremely horny high school senior in the final weeks of his last summer break, you find yourself wandering the city to find girls, talk to girls, flirt with girls, take girls on dates, and answer quiz questions about their outfits in exchange for cash prizes. There are no fewer than 14 girls for Takurou to pursue, five of whom are his classmates as the game's title suggests while the other nine are adult women Takurou meets around town. Even in this early entry to the genre, you can see dozens of themes, mechanics, tropes, innovations, and gags that are still common thirty years later. In fact, if you ever feel that you may have a new, fresh, and never-before-seen idea to inject into a dating sim... play Dōkyūsei first. There's a high chance that one of the original entries into the genre has already beat you to the punch.
    
    As a heads up for listeners, Dōkyūsei: Bangin' Summer is an adult game and some routes feature explicit depictions of sexual assault and violence. We've included timestamps below for the sections where we discuss these events.
    You can also play the game without the 18+ patch which excises a lot of this content, though we found that playing without the 18+ patch skips large sections of certain scenes, even those which are not H scenes along with some potential graphical bugs that are solved by applying the 18+ patch.
    
    Content Warnings for this episode
    Teacher/Student route discussion - 1:36:45 to 1:45:15
    Discussion of Sexual Assault - 1:46:30 to 2:06:20

29. Say it in Red | Episode 55: SeaBed

    July 26, 20242 h 9 minPlay next

    "The small coastal town where you&apos;ll be staying this weekend bears the cool sea air like a mantle. Your suite, the luxurious Victorian era Revival room in a traditional Western style hotel, overlooks the …

    Show notes

    "The small coastal town where you'll be staying this weekend bears the cool sea air like a mantle. Your suite, the luxurious Victorian era Revival room in a traditional Western style hotel, overlooks the harbor and the steep, switchback mountain trails that flow into town like a ruddy stream. Breakfast is served an hour past dawn and free ornithology classes are held each afternoon with the proprietress. When you leave here, you will forget some things. Don't be afraid - this is what we wanted for you. It's not the end of something. It's the start of your next journey.
    
    Everything has a Reason.
    
    9.5/10 stars
    minus 0.5 stars because the manager got drunk and proposed marriage to me?"
    - Customer review of a certain mountaintop hotel.
    
    This month, Runa and Sara join returning guest Raven to discuss SeaBed (2016), a richly woven tapestry of memory, grief, kindness, and healing. The story begins as the lively and spontaneous Takako enjoys a seaside vacation with her long-time girlfriend, serious and grounded Sachiko. Or perhaps it begins in elementary school, when Takako and Sachiko first meet. Or... did it start when Takako disappeared? Was that four years ago? Two years ago? SeaBed quickly immerses you in the world of these two women, joined quickly by Narasaki, a childhood friend of Sachiko's who studies disorders and conditions of the brain and memory. As Sachiko struggles to recall exactly what happened, Narasaki guides her through the landscape of her past with Takako and into the strange pathways of Sachiko's own perception and memory. Soon, Sachiko recalls that Takako didn't just go missing - she died. That's when the story shifts, and we begin to see things from Takako's perspective where she's recovering from a memory condition in a seaside sanatorium.
    
    For listeners who haven't played SeaBed, we avoid talking about major spoilers up until 00:56:00 minutes, so if you want to listen that far and see what you think, we encourage you to listen along up to that point and then check out SeaBed for yourself!
    
    As always, if you enjoy our show please consider rating us and leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts! Our patreon (at patreon.com/sayitinred) also hosts a growing number of bonus episodes, released around the second week of each month. Our most recent episodes include some deep dives into The Executioner and Her Way of Life light novel series and you can find today's guest, Raven, on bonus episodes for Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, a Umineko volume 1 restrospective, and an in-depth explainer about Riverdale.

    Clip (0:47)

30. Say it in Red | Episode 54: Indie VN Compilation Track Vol.3

    June 28, 20241 h 33 minPlay next

    Dear Listeners,Like the inevitable woe of an ancient curse, Summer is upon us once more. We&apos;re awash in refreshing recipes for strawberry rhubarb shrub, homemade swamp coolers, and the perfect …

    Show notes

    Dear Listeners,
    Like the inevitable woe of an ancient curse, Summer is upon us once more. We're awash in refreshing recipes for strawberry rhubarb shrub, homemade swamp coolers, and the perfect accompaniment for a day indoors during a rainstorm: Indie Visual Novels. With huge bundles such as the annual Queer Games Bundle on itch, you're bound to find something that speaks to the most particular desires of your heart. Today, we're once again inviting you to explore the delightful space of Indie Visual Novels, and we've even brought some of our dear Patrons along to help us tell you about no fewer than Thirteen Indie VNs today!
    
    This episode is the third in our Indie Game Compilation Track series, in which Sara and Runa explore the depth and breadth of indie visual novels, covering games that might be too short for a full episode but still warrant our full attention and praise.
    We want to not only showcase the amazing breadth of work coming from Indie developers but also talk about some of our favorite games, many of which touch on subjects, characters, and experiences we rarely get the chance to see in games from larger studios. You can find a list of each game we played below and we encourage you to play along with us, and go searching for other Indie visual novels as well!
    
    In these Indie Game Compilation Track episodes, which we do at least twice each year, we want to highlight some of the incredible indie VNs we've played recently and get people excited about the things happening in Indie Visual Novel development spaces. You should check out all the games mentioned here, but more than that you should go look around, find and follow creators, and discover small indie games that you can love with all your heart.
    
    Most of these games are free and if not, fairly cheap (though please tip the creators if you are able), and you can read most of them inside of an hour or two. In fact, we want YOU, dear listener, to pick at least one of these games to play after you listen, and then tell us about it!
    
    Here's the full list of games we played, and games our Patrons told us about, along with more information on where you can find them:
    
    Runa and Sara played...

    • Blood & Play: 00:01:49
    • Co-Pilot: 00:11:01
    • Gender-Wrecked: 00:30:49
    • Airtime Media: 00:16:37
    • Bloom into Frost: 00:39:53
    • Saint Spell's Love Guide to the Magical Student's Spellbook: 00:51:50
    • 31st March, Midnight: 1:08:44

    Patron Submissions

    • Cel by Date: 00:08:27 (Sent in by Ioyful Knight)
    • Reckless Sympathy: 00:14:05 (Sent in by Emrys)
    • My Father's Long Long Legs: 00:23:54 (Sent in by Meowgon)
    • Love and Dehumanization: 00:35:06 (Sent in by Case Deerly)
    • Needy Streamer Overload: 00:46:45 (Sent in by KT Kelly)
    • Misericorde, volume 1: 1:00:20 (Sent in by SuperBiasedGary)

These are the latest 40 of 83 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.