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Before I get into this I've been in a lot of geek fandoms for a while. I'm not going to say how old I am, but let's just say I'm starting to get gray hair, anyway as someone that's been a weab for 19 years, been a part of several geeky fandoms for decades, like been a trekkie for 23 years, been a furry for 25 years and etc I know a fair bit about how fandoms grow.

Before the widespread adoption of the internet the way geek fandoms came about and grew was that mass media would create a franchise which then people would latch onto and enjoy; a modern example of this is fandoms like my little pony, steven universe or such in which a fandom grew around a franchise. With the widespread adoption of the internet the exact opposite is happening simultaneously; franchises like monster musume grew out of a fandom about monster girls.

Generally with fandoms and mass media it's extremely obvious whenever something is becoming popular.
You know how? The best way to tell is by cringey deviantart journals by people complaining about thinks they don't like.
I'm being half facetious here, but what I mean by this is that often times the larger the backlash against something that genuinely doesn't deserve backlash you can tell how popular something is. Simply put: to illustrate what I mean the gta controversy by jack thompson was the point at which you could tell that video games as a whole were becoming a part of every day life.

"What does people being salty have to do with anime or visual novels?"
The exact same thing happening with visual novels and people wanting to ban sales on Japanese games, I shit you not that people are trying this, is the exact same thing that happened in early 2000's when anime became mainstream with how people tried to ban anime.

Incredibly short version:
2000's, "ban gta!" → gta becomes popular
2000's, "ban anime to stop it's popularity" → anime becomes popular
2017, "ban anime games to stop it's popularity" → pretty obvious where this is going

Wait for 2020 and we'll finally get rid of anime because america will pressure japan to censor it because of the olympics.

Don't even joke about this

Well, that's my prevision, Japan will be invaded by tourists and places like Akihabara will get some unwanted attention that will start months of moral debates on social medias.

Hopefully grorious nippon holds the tradition of saying 'no'

The thing about GTA and anime(at least some of them) – they are actually good.

Good visual novels? Haven't heard about them. I know a lot of visual novels focusing on nudity and sexual content(aka "plot"), but don't know a single one with real appeal.

Story? Read some book or play RPGs, like witcher, dragon age, mass effect, divinity or many others.

Sexual content? A lot of those for free in the internet, with much better quality.

Gameplay? There is none.

Those "visual novels" are easy to make and they appeal to the lust. Doubt anyone would miss them even if they will be banned.

That would probably backfire in the face of people trying to ban it. There's even a name for this, "Don't do this cool thing".

People reading twitter about the olympics, "Hey what's this 'anime' thing? Oh cool this show is about giant robots piledriving each other!"

Anime isn't quite mainstream but its pretty damn fucking popular in the west for a while now! Remember pokemon and DBZ? One of the highest grossing movies have been anime! Jojo is loved by the internet and a total meme! So I don't think visual novels are getting popular they have always been popular, japan cartoons in all forms have been accepted by all types of subcultures is just that people realize anime is far from perfect as well and has a stereotype of otakus.

The only one that comes to my mind that doesn't face your description is Ace Attorney, one of my favourite games. You basically solve cases and debate in a tribunal by making dialogue choices. Not even an ounce of porn content in there.

Zero Escape and Danganronpa series are far, very far from your description. Sure, the writers love to put some innuendos, mostly for comical purpose, but there is no real sexual content and the main interest of these games is clearly the story. They also have some decent gameplay – at least, Danganronpa tries to make you understand a case by yourself rather than directly handing you the solution, while Zero Escape requires you to solve puzzles which are always tied to concepts useful to the story.

However, I would not say VNs are getting popular. I would rather say they found their niche in the West, just like Monster Hunter did with the release of Freedom Unite on PSP then Tri on the Wii.

Higurashi, Umineko, Steins Gate and Katawa Shoujo are all great.

You forgot the Fate series started as a visual novel.

I mean who would pay for those so called "visual novels" with static images and little to none gameplay? Maybe there are visual novels without sexual appeal, but they still have pretty low production value.

24-36$ for static pictures without gameplay? Baldur's gate costs 20$, Banner saga costs 20$, 20$ for blackguards, 45$ for divinity 2, 40$ for divinity. What would you choose – actual game with gameplay, graphic, story and probably mods, OR overpriced static pictures with text and little to none animation? I think answer is obvious for anyone who is not ((very big anime lover)).

"Maybe there are visual novels without sexual appeal, but they still have pretty low production value."

I'm looking forward to the upcoming game "Harem Protagonist" by Starbeam.

From what I have seen till now, Doki Doki literature club is pretty good. Its not a masterpiece but really entertaining in how bizarre it is. The concept isn't that original but shows creativity in its execution never the less.