Your thoughts on otome gaming blogs?

I just want to state for the record that this is NOT intended to be a bashing thread! Criticising where needed- in a CIVIL manner- yes, but no outright bashing, please!

To my understanding, the two most popular ones are [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Both are similar in style, I think. Rather than taking a "serious" approach, they're fairly light-hearted, as well as the majority of their regular readership. The rest tend to fall on the more conventional/serious side, such as [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (though she focuses more on eroge now), [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

My question is, which do you prefer? Do you like to read more light-hearted reviews, or prefer a serious review? Does anybody here follow any of the ones I've mentioned?

Honestly,I prefer a more serious approach when it comes to game reviewing,but I also enjoy the light-hearted reviews.

Thanks for answering! My motive behind asking this is ascertaining what sort of reviews people are reading right now, because I plan on becoming a reviewer, shortly. Not that I'm going to change styles according to what's hot or not, but I was just curious.

I prefer serious approaches too, but I find myself reading light-hearted ones every now and then. I find that I like to interact with other readers in the comments section... However, very few are interested in meaningful discussions. Maybe it's where I go.

Personally, for me, it depends on the game being reviewed. If it's something that is/intended to be fluffy and not-so-dark (i.e. Starry Sky, Koibana Days) then I would prefer a light-hearted review. Likewise, with darker, more mature games (i.e. Gekka Ryouran Romance, Diabolik Lovers, BWS, basically every game by Rejet) then I would wanna read something serious.

Ah, I love those blogs. x]

Back on topic: As much as I love to laugh and I love the lighthearted overviews of otome games, I like to have a serious, relatively objective review available.

That's probably really confusing, so I'll try to explain: I love to read people's thoughts and funny commentary about otome games. However, when looking up a review or summary of the game, sometimes the writer's biases get in way of me judging whether I'll enjoy the game/characters/story myself. So I like it when reviewers review the paths, then have their commentary and thoughts in a separate paragraph.

I enjoy both really, sandeian and hinano blog is hillarious and makes me laugh  
they make even depressing otome game looks funny,
but I tend to write text walls for review myself,
and I enjoy reading people text walls to because they provide so many information I missed in the game

I like Breadmasterlee's reviews because its like she's reviewing as she plays, and I do that a lot, voice my concerns and opinions as I play. 

It doesn't matter much I suppose, as someone said, I think it depends on the game and how you feel about it. Like you can take either approach and it'd be fine as long as your writing is captivating. I notice with Otome game reviews though, they really detail EVERYTHING that happens, that it feels like I've already played the game :/ 

So there's the spoiler tactics, but I don't mind that much either.

I read mostly Hinano's reviews. I don't have a strong preference, although I enjoy the humorous tone both hers and 4shiki's. But the actual reason is that she updates really often, and she plays livestreaming. That way I learn about games I'm curious about faster than I would otherwise.

I get jealous at the people who can buy the game and play them D:< So I get jealous at those hardcore otome game players :c

My absolute favourite otome gaming blog is definitely:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

She essentially translates the games, rather than review them, which someone like me absolutely loves. I really appreciate her hard work and effort and thanks to her, I have the opportunity to play more Japanese otome games fully understanding them. I play my games alongside her posts and understand everything without knowing how to read a single word in Japanese^^ She's honestly amazing and I wish I could hug her haha

My other favourite is: 
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
And that's just purely for the LOL factor xD 

But yeah, there are soo many otome gaming blogs out there that do reviews of games. They're nice, but I don't really tend to visit them ^^; As they're not what I'm looking for

Well, I don't have a favourite blog, but I find them pretty helpful. Thanks to those various blogs I found myself playing soooo many games that I wouldn't have found another way.

It's really helpful xD
Usually before I intend to play otome game I will check some reviews and decide to play it or not.
My favorite is Hinano-san (breadmasterlee) and Rin-san (koiiro) reviews.
I will check Hinano-san review first to know basic story of the game (I will skipping her review from game summary into after thought-- I didn't read character's section before finishing the game). Then I will play the game. After finishing some routes (because I rarely do all the routes) I checked Rin-san reviews to acknowledge the story more (because her reviews is neutral) and it's like a translation for a whole routes (very detail).

I like a mixture of light hearted and serious. Too much of one could be bad. XD It also depends on the game.

I like reading reviews on games I played or would love but can't play OTL

But only the funny ones makes me stay until the end.
Recently, I found this blog which has reviews on Shall we Date series. I couldn't stop laughing even though I still had not played all the games or route she reviews.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I also like how she added memes to her reviews which shows you more than a whole text block on her feelings !

I don't think I've ever been on a blog before

These blogs are really helpful. At least, to me.

I like the ones who actually describe what happens, so my favorite one is yumemirusekai, previously referred to in this thread by Aserett.

I'm not able to read japanese, so playing while reading these blogs allows me to grasp the game a lot better than just trying to decrypt what the characters are saying.

That said, it's just as enjoyable to laugh heartily at the more emotive and angry reviewers.

To be honest, I don't visit blogs often, and I'm depending more on my short knowledge of japanese to finish routes in games.
When I want to read more about a game, I usually visit it's wiki page (if there's one), where I can learn more about the backstories of the characters & their personalities.

Since I use my PSP for otome gaming, I don't have the computer turned on while I play. That's why I can't turn to the internet right away when I want to check something. And well... I'm lazy to turn on the computer. Haha.

If the blogs are for updating and news about otome games, then I'd love to read them and keep up with new things.
I never read reviews though, I mean I do read short and simple reviews to get the gist of things, but not spoilery ones. If I can't/haven't played the game, I still don't want to see it from someone's else POV before playing it myself