was a Japanese

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

company (previously the software division of CoMixWave until April 2007). Their most successful game is '' Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two.'', which has had a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and two

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series based on it, and was ported to the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

in April 2010. They use Musica as their main engine. A few of their earlier games' opening movies were animated by

Makoto Shinkai , known as , is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, author, and manga artist. Shinkai began his career as a video game animator with Nihon Falcom in 1996, and gained recognition as a filmmaker with the release of the original video animation (OVA) ' ...

. Minori is known for its stance against fan-translations and

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

and has garnered some infamy for its actions against fan translation group No Name Losers and TLWiki, due to the controversy regarding the video game ''

Rapelay is a 3D eroge video game made by Illusion, released on April 21, 2006, in Japan. Compared to Illusion's previous games, the main story is shorter, it features an improved 3D engine and is mainly played through mouse control. The game centers on ...

'' by

Illusion Soft is a Japanese video game company based in Yokohama. It is notable for developing eroge video games with 3D graphics. Originally, its games were not allowed to be sold or used outside Japan, and official support was only given in Japanese and ...

. As a result, its main webpage is blocked for people outside Japan. In 2010, Minori,

MangaGamer MangaGamer is a video game publisher specializing in the English localization and distribution of Japanese eroge and visual novels. It is run by Japanese-based company Japan Animation Contents. History MangaGamer was originally envisioned as a c ...

, and No Name Losers announced a partnership to make commercial English versions of Minori's visual novels available. On February 28, 2019, Minori announced the cessation of operations.

Published games

*August 31, 2001: ''

Bittersweet Fools ''Bittersweet Fools'' is a visual novel eroge developed by Minori. It was ported to the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 with H-content removed as part of the ''Simple'' series line of " ren'ai adventure" games. It is vol.1 on the Dreamcast and vol ...

'' *April 19, 2002: '' Wind: A Breath of Heart'' **December 27, 2002: '' Soyokaze no Okurimono: Wind Pleasurable Box'' (fan disc) *July 23, 2004: ''

Haru no Ashioto is a Japanese adult visual novel by Minori released on July 23, 2004. A PlayStation 2 port, , was released on April 6, 2006, and a fandisc, , was released on March 31, 2006. The deluxe ''Step of Spring Paku Paku Pack'' comes with puppets of th ...

'' ** March 31, 2006: '' Sakura no Sakukoro: Haru no Ashioto Pleasurable Box'' (fan disc) *March 25, 2005: ''Angel Type'' *'' Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two'' **August 25, 2006: ''Ef: First Fan Disc'' **December 22, 2006: '' Ef: The First Tale.'' **May 30, 2008: '' Ef: The Latter Tale.'' **September 17, 2010: '' Tenshi no Nichiyōbi'' (fan disc) *September 18, 2009: ''

Eden* ''Eden*'' is a Japanese visual novel by Minori for Windows playable as a DVD and was released on September 18, 2009, with a rating for everyone. An updated adult patch of the game titled ''Eden* Plus+Mosaic'' was released on the same day. Ot ...

'' *December 29, 2011: ''Supipara Nice to Meet You!'' *December 21, 2012: ''Natsuzora no Perseus'' *January 31, 2014: ''12 no Tsuki no Eve'' *February 27, 2015: ''Soreyori no Prologue'' *February 26, 2016: ''Tsumi no Hikari Rendezvous'' *March 31, 2017: ''Trinoline'' **January 26, 2018: ''Trinoline: Genesis'' *2018: ''Sono Hi no Kemono ni wa,''

Core staff

* Nobukazu Sakai, aka nbkz (Producer, Director, Song Lyricist, Concept Planner) *

(Animation Movie Director, not attached to the company) *Mikage (Director, Planner, and Scenario Writer) * Yū Kagami (Scenario Writer) *

Tenmon is the ninja art of understanding and using meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back m ...

(Music Composer) * Tatsuya Yūki (Character Designer, Line Producer) * Mitsuishi Shōna (Character Designer) *Kimchee (Character Designer/core member of ''Haru no Ashioto'', not attached to the company) * 2C Galore (Character Designer/core member of ''Ef'', not attached to the company) *

Naru Nanao is the pseudonym of a female Japanese artist from Okinawa, Japan. Nanao's choice of her pseudonym stems from Circus' game ''Aries'', in which one of the characters was named . She is a free illustrator and thus is not affiliated with one single ...

(Character Designer/core member of ''Ef'', not attached to the company)

References

External links

* (blocked outside Japan) * * {{Authority control Defunct video game companies of Japan Hentai companies