The thing is, if you are who I think you are, I already had muted. It's just that one day, I looked back on things, then my morbid curiosity suddenly caused me to have a realization, and I mused on it. Because if someone decides to just bother you one day but you don't know who, I doubt it's irrational to wonder who that someone could be, be it immediately or some time after it happened.

Given your rant, I highly doubt you were even following me in the first place, so jumping back to my askbox again is uncalled for, not to mention making all these accusations. Besides, don't we say what we like in our spaces? I have things I disagree with, so do you, and we voice that in our blogs every now and then.

Anyhow, you've said your peace. At the very least, I'm sure what your true intentions are now, in spite of your claim that you weren't originally malicious with them.

Slow Damage is the most grounded of N+C's (main) visual novels, so I'd say that the chances are, while not exactly zero, kind of unlikely especially since even in the tense moments, things aren't... frenetic or dynamic as in the other VNs. But then again, given that anything can be a stage play these days, we might just be surprised.

I actually think that Togainu no Chi may get a stage play in the future; the fact that it's got a lot of action sequences would work in stage play format, plus there's all the interpersonal drama between the characters (hence lots of acting for the cast). Given what they could get away with in the Sweet Pool stage play, while the stage play may understandably do away with the ickier scenes (and endings), they'll leave just enough that it won't feel robbed of its identity.

I apologize for replying a bit late, but thank you very much! Granted, the coding of the wikia (and the info about the places, settings and whatnot) are done by someone else. What I'm doing is pretty small in comparison, but I wished to spruce up the wikia however I can either way.

As for the sprites, half of those sprites can be found in N+C's official website (https://www.nitrochiral.com/game/slow-damage/), mainly for the main and supporting characters. For the other sprites (e.g. the more minor characters), they can be found by extracting the game files, which someone has done and created a link for; although you will need to have an account in the Aarinfantasy forum to access said link; it's a general rule there to not share links outside the server and I would rather not risk stepping on toes (also, sharing links to VN assets on Twitter can be rather risky and might attract trouble).

Though on the bright side, it's very easy to make an account in that forum and the search system is also pretty straightforward, so you can find the link in no time once you are able to log in there. ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ

And just as a tip: because of how Slow Damage has the characters blink and move their lips, the sprites are blank-faced by default, with the image files for the lips and eyes, respectively, being in a separate folder. To create those sprites, you would need to overlay them manually.

Nitro+CHiRAL's VNs aside, I did play, and finished, Animamundi: Dark Alchemist, two of Langmaor's games (Enzai and Absolute Obedience), and Lkyt.

I did play No, Thank You!!! but I didn't get far (only up to Hiroyuki's route) and I've more or less forgotten what I did manage to play through...

As for what I've disliked, I can't say that there was anything that left a bad taste on my mouth. I guess at worst, I found Paradise's pace to be a real drag that I didn't feel like playing any further (I may pick it up again, but not very soon yet), and I wasn't even close to getting any of the endings yet. That's how slow it felt for me...

And this is why I felt that talking about Madarame, or even mentioning him at all, has become a riskier thing for me to do... But anyway.

When it comes to those posts, I mainly meant that I find it to be some kind of confounding double standard with regards to how the fans readily label Taku as a groomer on the sole basis that he's 20 years older and knew Towa since childhood (which I can understand won't appeal to all fans although that's a separate matter) while not even doing something similar to Madarame when, and I emphasize when I say this, he'd fit the bill more, even if on paper. I've seen posts that hate on him, for sure, but not specifically involving this accusation - a fact that I soon noticed because of how it contrasts with the many, many posts of that same accusation surrounding Taku.

And as for why I expected Madarame to get decried by the fandom as a groomer more than Taku, or as much as Taku... Before I go on, let me stress, and really stress, that this isn't me trying to defame him. This is just me pointing out technicalities to why he would easily be regarded as a groomer as well; we know that Towa's mental state became fractured and he already slept with many other men before he and Madarame crossed paths, but that's besides the point.

Anyhow, to start, Madarame himself also has an age gap with Towa of 13 years. He knew of Towa since the latter was a child (confirmed by Kabura in a stream) and started sleeping with him when Towa was still in high school (Kabura also said in a stream that he was 15 to 16 when they started sleeping together). And some of Madarame's lines, plus his actions in Fujieda's route, hinted that he already knew about what Towa went through (being prostituted) even before Maya died. Even if Madarame mainly does what he wants when he wants, he also proves to be sly when needed or if it benefits him, which means he can put two and two together regarding Towa's circumstances. This then points to the fact that he willingly enabled Towa's trauma-induced tendencies then, and may do so again if given the opportunity (like in his route). We can dig deeper into that particular matter, but even when taking into account both the aforementioned statement and what his route, his character niche or his dynamic with Towa is intended to be portrayed as, there's still how even with that knowledge, he opted (again, under certain conditions, of course, since we know he opts to just leave in other routes) to essentially condition Towa to regress to his younger, volatile self - which in of itself counts as one grooming another's mind, albeit in a completely different sense from the kind of groomer Taku is now often accused of.

And on a side note (just to be safe), I know some would rather disagree on the 'regression' part, but Madarame did say "If you go back (...)" and frankly, I've seen enough of said takes/rebuttals either on Twitter or in more private spaces, all of which seem to come from some desire to paint him as the healthiest or most stable LI (either in terms of himself or what he offers Towa) or as you said, a beacon of goodness, and they're takes that I have outwardly expressed my utter bemusement towards; though you did clarify that this isn't what you personally think. And this isn't even the point of this discussion, but I still mentioned it just to get it out there already.

Also, whenever I brought up Madarame in the metas I've posted, I never once tried to say he's a groomer. So my point is, the recent posts/comments I've made are because the groomer accusations about Taku drove me to make barbs - be they completely serious or in half-jest - on what I previously said was a double standard, or what would also be known as fandom myopia. It's mainly about that topic, and not me trying to spread any hate about Madarame. Heck, I know fans who either love or hate Madarame, or even stand in between (with some of those who love him even being biased towards him like I am with Taku) that readily acknowledge said double standard and have made similar statements themselves, with us essentially shaking hands in agreement. If anyone else is calling Madarame a groomer, even if that topic isn't as simple/straightforward as it sounds, at least I could see where that came from (like what you said to me with what you thought I was conveying). But again, it's the severe magnitude that the same claim - albeit with Taku - is being taken to that drove me nuts and made me vocal about the matter, which just so happened to include Madarame from time to time, which then caught your attention, and which is why here we are now.

Because of past experiences, I have a feeling that my explanation might invite another questioning, so let me try to add by saying that while I personally think Madarame's route has flaws (mainly in the pacing and I am not claiming the other routes are without flaws), his presence and his route overall (and everything that comes with both) are there for a reason and I understand and appreciate what the writer was going for with him. I can't say he's my favorite, but I enjoy him and I don't hate/dislike him (though I won't fault those who do and I generally don't have an issue with either his haters or his fans), so there's that regardless. Though whether a character is my favorite or not doesn't mean I have to talk about them seriously 100% of the time. Depending on the character and on my mood in general, I can also roast them and make jokes at their expense (which naturally means they aren't meant to be taken seriously) every once in a while, but that isn't automatically tantamount to me touting misconceptions about that character or encouraging others to hate them. And Madarame is one such example of that.

I pray that this answers your question and resolves this matter. I mean, at the end of the day, we all have our own opinions and you seemed to want a clarification on mine. I can't deny that this whole thing unnerved me, especially with the first question I sent, but I was nevertheless willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and answer as best as I can, and while I'd love to share or discuss my thoughts on this and that, there are times and situations when I feel at ease about it, or the opposite of that. Besides, it's fiction that we consume for leisure, not for a living; this kind of thing shouldn't get dragged out or should be discussed so intensively (especially when it started on what undoubtedly felt like an accusatory note), and I will be honest if I say that talking about this any further will just be exhausting for both of us (and especially me, I try my best to exercise civility but it's not like a switch that's permanently on). If, at this point, you still think that I'm too biased against Madarame to have an educated or semi-objective opinion about him or whatnot, then fine, that's how you perceive me and I can explain myself, but I have no intention to force you to come around to how I think, nor do I see the point in that. Even then, I've already said so much to try to explain where I stand, and I know what I think, and I also know when I've said enough or even more than necessary.

With that, I hope that this settles it, and that you acknowledge my answer without pressing the matter further so that we can both move on. (And just as a precaution, I will disable anon after this. Any further tension or what I fear may unwittingly escalate into outright negativity is something that I prefer to avoid, or at least keep to a manageable level.)

Considering the hate that's been spreading around lately regarding Taku and the timing of the message, it'd be easy to suspect that both are connected. Even putting that aside, the fact that I've been sent what seemed like a calling-out about how much I love Taku, which I never once attempted to deny let alone downplay since the day I got into Slow Damage, added to my bafflement and vexation.

But now I'm starting to suspect the actual reason that you're asking me about this whole thing. Before I get to that, however...

Once again, it's no secret that Taku is my favorite character. I love him for his good traits and for his flaws and his role in the narrative, all of which combine to make him a complex character. So it's only a given I'm biased towards him. That, too, is no secret. Everyone is bound to have a bias towards their favorite character to some degree, just like everyone's likely to be biased against their most hated character. And one's favorite/hated character will always differ from person to person.

However. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm in denial about his flaws, be it in his personality or in his actions. If anything, I freely admit to them. When I do make an analysis, I always do my best to take into consideration a character's personality and motives, and/or the context/nuance of each situation. I make sure that if I say anything, however I personally feel about it, my discussions are substantiated by dialogue, clues, confirmations and the like, all of whihc I lift wholesale from the VN (even with its flawed localization) and all its supporting material. If I say something that is pure speculation or a mere headcanon, then I always preface my claims with that disclaimer.

I can't say I execute 100% fairness since I'm human, not a robot, but I still do my very best in exercising objectivity in my metas, and with that, ensuring that my metas are backed up by canon no matter what. Again, making metas are something I do for fun, not because it's my job or my obligation. Because Taku is my favorite, of course he's my strongest muse and is what inspired most of my metas/analyses.

Besides that, part of the reason why I'm driven to make metas about Taku more than the other LIs (who themselves I've seen get misread as well) is because he's the one who gets misunderstood the most. Severely misunderstood, even, since he even got the groomer allegations, and that's only one of the many harsh but baseless things I've seen get thrown around when it comes to him. You even seem to acknowledge this, based on your last sentence.

And generally speaking, while alternative interpretation will always come into play for any work, when a character/scene/story gets mischaracterized so severely, be it either out of sheer hate or blinding love that they poison the well or spread misconceptions, it does make me quirk a brow, wince or even bristle.

As for the whole "judging if someone is good or bad or right and wrong" out of a place of projection, generally speaking, whether you can personally relate to the character/narrative or not, I believe that one should always remember what the narrative itself intends to paint as right or wrong, good or evil, and the like. Like I said, we all perceive a work differently, but when it comes to viewpoints, there's always a boundary between the reasonble and the outright confusing and off-kilter ones. As a friend of mine said when it comes to discussing about a story and its characters, "If we can’t even reach a basic understanding or agreement of morals, ethics, and whatnot then any conversation is going to be a dead end." Fiction isn't reality; but saying that anything goes and is all good in fiction or that nothing of a work or its characters are A or B and et cetera wouldn't really make for a fruitful or even sensible discussion.

With regards to people having different biases, I won't hesitate to admit that I have seen takes (and it doesn't even have to be Taku being called the G-word) that baffle me and immediately give me the impression that striking a conversation with the person sharing those takes will only start something bad. Such is inevitable with any fandom. There are some people who you just won't "click", and something you can tell by instinct after seeing a few or enough posts from them. Of course, I'm open for discussion about this and that, but for how there's always a chance that me and the other party can come around and/or see where the other is coming from, there are other times when I know that our opinions are just irreconcilable, like oil and water. I do my best to be open-minded, but the latter case can happen, to which then I won't try to engage and risk a heated debate. While I do state my opinion on the takes that I can't wrap my head around (to put kindly), I don't nail those opinions to the front doors of the people whose opinions I don't jive with or outright disagree with.

Now as for the point I wished to get to, I remember the majority of the posts I've made, so from what you've said in your previous ask and in this one, I'm guessing that you might have been offended at what I've said about either Madarame or what others say about him, or at least how it came across to you. If that is the case, then I will again repeat what I've said in a few posts/replies: I like Madarame, but I can also see, understand, and accept why some are going to feel the opposite. I can dissect him and talk about his actions and motives and why they make him an effective foil/antagonist, though my awareness of how a fandom generally works nowadays has made me worry multiple times that it sounds like I'm reading him (whose route is definitively the farthest thing from sweet fluff) for filth when the two facts are not necessarily correlated. There's no doubt that I find certain claims about him to be rather perplexing because I can't comprehend how one could come to that conclusion even as I tried to look at it from every angle, which only ties to what I've said in the previous paragraph.

But really, even with all that I've said, if my posts still irk you or just don't sit right with you, whatever the actual reason for that is (if my guess is mistaken), like what I've stated in my previous answer: there is always the option to mute/block me. And I say this out of civility, not anger or spite.