Paginated, scroll or visual novel (VN): what's the difference between Fushi's reading modes, and which should I use?

Fushi's novel reader has three ways of presenting a book: Paginated, Scroll and Visual novel. They read the same EPUB with the same progress, and lookups and mining work identically; the only difference is how the text is laid out on screen and how you move forward. This article explains what each mode looks like, its own settings, and when to use it.

Where to switch ​

Two entry points change the same setting:

• While reading, open Reader settings → Layout → Frequently used → Page / scroll; the three options are "Paginated", "Scroll" and "Visual novel";
• Outside a book, Settings → Reading → Mode & orientation → Page / scroll.

It's a global reader setting shared by all books. After switching, the current chapter is re-laid out in the new mode and your reading position stays on the same character — it doesn't jump back to the start of the chapter. Writing direction (vertical / horizontal) is a separate option, and any of the three modes can be combined with either direction.

Paginated: turn page by page like a paper book ​

Paginated is the default. The text is cut into pages that fit the screen; each turn replaces the whole screen, page boundaries stay fixed, and you always know where a page ends.

• How to turn: swipe left / right (on desktop, dragging horizontally with the mouse works too), the mouse wheel, the arrow keys or PageUp / PageDown; on Android you can enable "Volume button page turning". If the direction feels backwards, Reader settings → Turning & gestures → Page-turn direction has "Invert swipe page turn direction" and "Reverse keyboard left/right page-turn direction". If the wheel flips pages too fast, raise "Mouse wheel page-turn interval"; if your phone turns pages by accident, adjust "Swipe page-turn sensitivity".
• Columns per page: paginated mode only. The default is "Auto"; on wide screens (a landscape tablet, a full-screen desktop window) you can set 2 or more columns to show two pages side by side like an open book. The option hides itself in scroll and visual-novel modes, because those modes don't use columns at all.
• Spread mode: for illustration pages. When on (or "Auto"), two adjacent full-page illustrations that belong together are shown side by side as one spread; "Spread direction" can be right to left (Japanese books) or left to right.

Best for: vertical Japanese light novels and bunkobon. Paginated is closest to the rhythm of a printed book and gives you the clearest sense of "which page I'm on".

Scroll: one long continuous strip ​

Scroll mode lays a chapter out as one continuous strip with no pages; push with a finger and it flows past.

• Horizontal text scrolls up and down; vertical text scrolls sideways — vertical scrolling is a horizontal strip you push from right to left.
• There's some blank space at the end of each chapter, so the last few lines can be scrolled to a comfortable spot instead of sitting against the screen edge; keep scrolling to enter the next chapter.
• When you go on scrolling after a lookup, the popup closes by itself ("Close popup when scrolling" under Reader settings → Lookup → Closing the popup, works for both horizontal and vertical text), so you don't have to dismiss it every time.

Best for: horizontal web novels (especially the long-chapter, no-frills books you download through LNReader plugins), one-handed phone reading, and anyone who likes to inch forward with a touchpad or mouse wheel.

Visual novel: one block per screen, revealed character by character ​

Visual-novel (VN) mode imitates a galgame text box: only a small chunk of text is on screen at a time, and you advance to the next screen when you've read it. Your attention stays on the few sentences in front of you, which makes it great for intensive reading, shadowing, or following along with an audiobook.

It has a set of settings that only appear in this mode, under Reader settings → Layout → Visual novel settings:

• Screen content: "One block" (default, one paragraph per screen) or "Sentences".
• Sentences per screen: appears when you choose "Sentences"; 1–12, default 1 sentence per screen.
• Keep dialogue together: when splitting by sentence, a whole line of dialogue inside 「」 or 『』 counts as one sentence — even if it contains several full stops, it's not cut in the middle.
• Text reveal speed: each new screen's text appears character by character like in a game; the default is 45 characters per second, and 0 means "Instant".
• Blank tap advances: off by default. When on, tapping an empty spot advances to the next screen; if the control bars are hidden at that moment, the first tap brings them back, and only a tap while they're showing advances — so you can never end up unable to reach the menu. With this option off, advance by swiping, the keyboard or a gamepad.
• Keep spoken sentence on one screen (on the "Audiobook" page): with an audiobook, prevents one narrated sentence from being split across two screens, so you always see the whole sentence you're hearing.

Tap-to-look-up and the plus button for mining work in VN mode just as in the others, and the book's furigana is shown as usual.

Best for: chewing through text sentence by sentence, shadowing practice with an audiobook, and players used to the galgame rhythm. Not great when you want to skim fast or flip back and forth through earlier text — to go back, jumping via Navigation → Contents / Search is quicker.

So which one? ​

When you're just starting on native Japanese books, VN mode is the least intimidating: one or two sentences per screen, look up those few words and move on, so the sense of progress comes quickly. Once reading feels smoother, switch back to paginated or scroll for speed. Switching back and forth loses nothing, so pick whatever suits you that day.

Related settings and articles ​

• Font size, line height, fonts, vertical / horizontal text, furigana and more: Reader typography settings.
• Reader basics, tap-to-look-up and mining: How do I read EPUB light novels in Fushi?.
• Listening while reading with audiobooks: How do I use audiobooks?.