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I enjoy reading about old anime and manga, but I don't know too much about the
history of anime in the gaming industry. And I have been wondering what the
first visual novel from Japan was.

More specifically, one featuring anime-style characters (rather than a Visual
Novel in a different style). I've searched myself, but I haven't found any
reliable source that gives me an answer. Perhaps some japanese-based resources
would prove more useful.

**What was the first/earliest-known visual novel to feature anime-styled
characters?**


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-16T21:29:24.483
23315
2015-07-17T12:56:39.793
1530
question
game-history
What was the first anime-styled Visual Novel?


I spent a few hours diving. Here are the shiniest pearls I hence doth bequeath
thee:

  * **_Lolita_** was the first anime-styled visual novel, as asked.
  * **_The Portopia Serial Murder Case_** was the first visual novel, but I argue that its visual style deliberately mimicked US games of the era.
  * Taking the question a little differently for extra style points: **_Dragon Knight_** was the first VN game with an anime adaptation.

Juicy details follow:

# [**_Lolita (Yakyuken)_**](https://vndb.org/v9545) (orig. 「ロリイタ （野球拳）」)

This eroge from developer
[PSK](http://www.giantbomb.com/psk/3010-7401/developed/) was published in
[**1982**](http://www.giantbomb.com/lolita-yakyuken/3030-33792/) or
[**1983**](https://vndb.org/v9545) (sources disagree). It is the oldest game
tracked by [vndb](https://vndb.org/). The title screen art is distinctly in an
anime/manga style:

![Lolita title art](https://i.stack.imgur.com/la4Gd.jpg)

And so is the gameplay. Here's a screenshot
([thanks](http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc88/lolita-
yakyken/screenshots/gameShotId,593012/) user [Cor 13 at Moby
Games](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,6226/)):

![Lolita gameplay screenshot](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uH1Ho.png)

The game is basically a video-game version of [_yakyuken_ ; strip rock-paper-
scissors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakyuken), against the computer.
Winning reduces the girl's clothing until she's naked, at which point the
police arrive and arrest the player character. ([Yes,
seriously.](http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc88/lolita-
yakyken/screenshots/gameShotId,593016/))

[Here's a gameplay video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWkaMZdWB8k) The
video description credits it as the "first anime game", but does not explain
the reasons for that title.

The story is pretty thin, and so are the visuals (also literally), but I would
argue that there's still a story _there_ and that it's undeniably visual.

# [**_The Portopia Serial Murder
Case_**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Portopia_Serial_Murder_Case) (orig.
「ポートピア連続殺人事件」)

If the facts one day surface, and _Lolita_ actually was released later, this
game, developed by Yuji Horii in **June 1983** for the [NEC
PC-6001](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_PC-6001), would be next in line.
Though it is historically very important, its visual style may disqualify it
for the specific honour of being the first _anime-styled_ VN.

The game involves solving mysteries by interacting with items, characters and
the game world, and _Retro Gamer_ (in issue 85) [asserts
that](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kGAOBLrWIr4/TUgMtkSB28I/AAAAAAAACyk/oj3PBRY70HM/s1600/DSC01599.JPG)
it “defined the visual novel genre; it was the first from which all subsequent
titles followed”. Those are big words.

However, the cover clearly isn't in an anime style (ⓒ _Square Enix_ nowadays,
[from Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portopia_cover_art.jpg)):

![Portopia Serial Murder Case](https://i.stack.imgur.com/66WGR.jpg)

The in-game graphics were so limited it's hard to tell, but based on [a
gameplay video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRQIdK0lTO0) (thanks YouTube
user [cokescrew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRQIdK0lTO0)) the style isn't
obviously approximating anime either:

![Portopia Serial Murder Case; gameplay video
screenshot](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lzie4.png)

[_Retro Gamer_ magazine](http://www.retrogamer.net/) interviewed the game's
developer Yuji Horii in issue 35. I found a copy, and sure enough he explains
the game's origin story:

> I read an article in a PC magazine about a US genre called ‘adventure
> games’, which allowed players to read stories on their PCs. We still didn't
> have them in Japan, and I took it upon myself to make one. [...]

That scarcity is perhaps the reason I couldn't find other old Japanese VNs or
text-adventures. The quote does clearly point _Portopia_ 's intended genre
more at _text adventure_ than _visual novel_ though, and suggests its main
influence was western games, casting doubt on its eligibility for the specific
honour in question.

# [**_Dragon
Knight_**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Knight_\(video_game\))

If we take the question _extremely firmly_ , to mean that there _must be a
corresponding anime of that visual novel_ , then based on Wikipedia's [list of
anime based on video
games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anime_based_on_video_games), the
oldest is this **1989** eroge/RPG by developer [Elf](http://www.elf-
game.co.jp/) still in business! with [a 1991 hentai OVA adaptation of the same
name](http://myanimelist.net/anime/2479/Dragon_Knight).

Here's the game's cover art (ⓒ NEC Avenue Ltd. & Elf; [thanks
vndb](https://vndb.org/v2385)):

![Dragon Knight game cover art](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GrdcH.jpg)

* * *

Greetings from [Game Development SE](https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/)! ♥


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2015-07-17T00:25:53.603
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2015-07-17T12:56:39.793
2017-04-13T12:18:56.147
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answer