Welcome to day two of the Twelve Days of Visual Novels! Today’s subject, our very first BL game: No, Thank You!!!
It’s been almost a year since the English version was released and close to two-and-a-half since the original Japanese release. I’m really grateful to everyone who supported the release and especially to those who took a chance on the game even though they weren’t sure it’d be to their taste. If I’m remembering the numbers correctly, NTY!!! would have been our top non-Steam seller if it’d been released last year (not sure exactly where it would land in the ranking this year––I’m pretty sure a couple of this year’s other titles have out-done it already––but that just tells you how far we’ve come this year), and it wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for your support, so thank you all!
The reaction to the English release was pretty interesting on a couple of levels. For one, it caught the attention of some of the Japanese fans––I saw a lot of them on Twitter saying they’d wished they’d studied English harder so they could talk to the new English-speaking NTY!!! fans. It was really cool to see them reaching out to new fans despite the language barrier.
The other sort of surprising thing was how divisive the reactions were to Haru among English-speakers. I’d been following discussions of the game since it came out in Japan and while there were pretty varied opinions about which route was the best and whatnot, Haru was pretty universally liked among Japanese fans. So it kind of caught me off guard when some of the English-speaking players reacted very negatively to him. I guess some of it is probably just a difference of expectations (maybe he doesn’t seem so special if you haven’t read a lot of Japanese BL) or maybe the idea of an amoral protagonist just doesn’t sit well with people on this side of the pacific. Nothing wrong with not liking him, of course, but I guess I would like to caution that Haru is definitely not meant to be presented as some kind of role model or romantic ideal––I don’t even know if I’d call him a “good” person, but I think characterizing him as “evil” is pretty off-base too.
Anyway, I hope you’ll consider giving the game (and Haru) a chance if you haven’t already. Hopefully the crew at parade will find the time to make another game some day.
If you missed it when we first ran them, be sure to check out some of the features we ran on NTY!!! on our blog:
- Creator Q&A (contains some spoilers) –– A selection of questions from the Setting Sourcebook with the game’s director, Amemiya, and artist, Hamashima (under the name Sanpei Shima here).
- Bonus Short Story –– We couldn’t fit it into the hardcopy’s mini-artbook, so here it is!
- Women’s History Month Interview with Hamashima Shigeo –– Not 100% about NTY!!!, but the game’s artist, Hamashima, is a pretty interesting person.
Also! If you’re looking for merchandise or artbooks, most of it is sold out but parade’s online shop will ship overseas (check the tab on the side “For Overseas Customers”).
What did you think about No, Thank You!!!? Let us know in the comments or using the hashtag #12daysofVNs! Check back tomorrow for our next installment of the 12 Days of Visual Novels! (And don’t forget about our winter sale either!)
12 Days of Visual Novels Campaign
Pick up No, Thank You!!! (in digital or hardcopy) or any of our other major 2015 releases and earn triple MangaGamer points! 1 MG point = $0.01 that you can use to apply to future purchases (you can even pay for entire games in points!).
No, Thank You!!! (Limited Edition Hardcopy)
249pt –> 747pt!
Princess Evangile (Adult Ver.)
224pt –> 672pt!
Includes complimentary all-ages ver. Steam key
Higurashi Ch. 1: Onikakushi
29pt –> 87pt!
Higurashi Ch. 2: Watanagashi
74pt –> 117pt!
Includes complimentary Steam key
Free Friends
124pt –> 372pt!
Sweet Sweat in Summer
74pt –> 222pt!
A Kiss For The Petals: Remembering How We Met
39pt –> 117pt!
Includes complimentary Steam key
The Innocent Grey Bundle (Cartagra + Kara no Shojo)
299pt –> 897pt!
Just wanna say thanks for putting this VN out in English! I bought it and it was great! Please put out more, I would love to support the BL VN industry which I only recently found out about! And I’m really dying for a new VN…..something with sci fi? 😀 Thanks! p.s. for the record I loved Haru!
No Thank You!!! Is my favorite title I’ve played in quite a few years, and I can’t thank you and the translation team enough for bringing it to English speakers such as myself. I was SUPER psyched before the release – following all the pre-release information I could find and running a fan blog, and then once I actually got my hands on the game it did not dissapoint, being even better than I had anticipated.
No Thank You!!! is a great story, action packed, with complex and heart rending characters. It doesn’t hurt that the sex scenes are pretty freaking fantastic, too.
This game is actually the first time I had heard of Mangagamer, and the only reason I ended up becoming a loyal and reoccuring customer (for VNs outside of the BL genre, too).
Thank you for bringing us NTY!!!, and I look forward to your future BL releases!
Hey! Just wanted to leave my two cents about the game. I can’t thank you all enough for translating NTY!!!, it’s by far my favourite BL visual novel- the art is amazing, the voice actors are great (and I couldn’t stop laughing after listening to the cast commentary), the music is catchy and goes incredibly well with the game, and the story and characters are both entertaining, 10/10. I honestly don’t understand the hate Haru got, I found him refreshing after playing so many games with hollow and stereotyped main characters I didn’t care about; he’s funny and we even get to see different developments depending on the route you play. And the fact that the target audience was thought for both female and male audiences alike just makes the whole experience more enjoyable, I can’t tell you how tired I am of gay media thought for female or male audiences only- these characters felt more real to me.
Thank you so much for all your hard work, I really hope we get to see more from Parade in the future!
Great game. I still don’t like Haru (and I’m not surprised he has so many detractors) but the game overall is excellent. The artwork is beautiful and and translation was stellar. All the characters felt like fully fleshed out people, even the side characters that only appear briefly. I hope to see some more BL games from your company soon, particularly of the bara variety.
Yeah, it doesn’t surprise me that a bunch of people would dislike Haru. It doesn’t apply to everyone, of course, but I imagine that generally speaking he’d be more likely to be offensive to western sensibilities due to his lax attitude towards consent, among other reasons. Personally, while I’d be annoyed by him IRL I found him likable and amusing as a protagonist. Things are not always black and white and while his morals are questionable he does care about people.
No, Thank You!!! is my favorite BL game, and Haru is definitely my favorite protagonist. He isn’t a good person, and he’s not an evil person. He’s not a psycho or a sociopath, he does things he knows are bad and even regrets them, but will still continue to do bad things, and attempts to enjoy life as much as he can. Haru is so very human, and I really hope to see his story continue!
I will continue to support the game as much as I can!