There’s been game-based anime (such as Fate/Stay Night, Devil May Cry and even *shudder* Pokemon) floating around for quite a few years now, in what seems to be a bit of a reversal to Western media, where games and such are normally a spin-off from a successful film or TV series.
However, in the last couple of seasons in particular, a plethora of these have hit the screens – especially those based on what are called “visual novels”. I’m not going to go into the reasons why, a friend has already pondered that point quite eloquently here. Visual novels are – to use the simplest description – stories you read on your PC screen, with occasional graphics and a storyline that can follow various paths, depending on how the player responds to various questions. Although there are exceptions to the norm, like the popular (and gory) “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” murder/mystery series, the majority of those being animated lately are based on what is known as dating sims – where a boy, or boys, meets lots of girls and invariably ends up in the sack with one (or more) of them.
Posted by psygremlin 
