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Just a reminder, and also something to note for anyone new - you guys can mention any observances or questions about Enstars' representation of different groups via asks! If I can't answer it, I can at least publish it here for someone else to pitch in.

You don't have to wait for me to show interest in a specific topic before mentioning it, especially because Enstars has so much meat to it that I often have a hard time deciding what to talk about when I post. Just remember to be respectful!

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Enstars' approach to Tatsumi and religion has been really interesting, especially in "Aspiring * Touch of Feather from Tiny Wings" where he offers a "unique" perspective about God. However, something that I want to note is how they explicitly connect Tatsumi to the history of the Kakure Kirishtan.

To summarize for people unfamiliar with the term, the Kakure Kirishtan, also called the hidden Christians, are a group of Christians in Japan who converted to Christianity after making contact with Portugese missionaries. Then, when Christianity was banned in the 17th century, they would practice it in secret.

Though, what I find most interesting is how much about this gets mentioned in Tatsumi's Idol Story 2. In this story, Tatsumi talks about a very important part of the Kakure Kirishtan faith (after identifying himself explicitly as a member of the community), which is the incorporation of Shintoism. The are three reasons for this: firstly, missionaries mixed Shintoist beliefs and Christianity in their preaching to make it more appealing to locals; secondly, during the time of the ban, hiding Christian rituals behind Shintoist (and Buddhist) imagery would help avoid detection; and lastly, because of the ban on Christianity, there were no external sources to consult with regarding Christianity, so the Kakure Kirishtan would defer to more familiar places like Shintoism to develop their religious understanding. As a result, the Kakure Kirishtan faith would become distinct from other Christian sects because of its relation with Shintoism. (Also, because of this integration of Shintoism, there has been some debate as to whether or not Kakure Kirishtans should be officially recognized as a Christian denomination). To be honest, I wasn't actually expecting Enstars to mention any of this at all, so it was an honest surprise to come across it when re-reading Tatsumi's Idol Story 2 - especially since this is one of the parts about Tatsumi's connection with religion that doesn't get discussed often.

Another thing addressed in this story is the specific development of Tatsumi's family's church. After the ban on Christianity was lifted and Japanese Christians resumed contact with the rest of the Christian world, there were two notable ways in which Kakure Kirishtans proceeded (for those who stuck to Christianity): some would join the Catholic denomination, while others would continue with their current practice (a practice that has been noted to slowly die out in recent times). In Idol Story 2, Tatsumi mentions that his family's church had previously been registered as a Shinto shrine, but was now an official church. That being said, Tatsumi does mention elsewhere that his family still prefers to hide themselves, so it doesn't seem like his community has completely done away with its past. (Though, given how Tatsumi made his grand entrance in the Main Story while quoting from the Bible (among other instances), it does seem like his education extends beyond the Kakure Kirishtan sect). This outlines an important part of Tatsumi's practice of religion, which is how he and his family in the present deal with the reintroduction of Christianity to Japan.

Lastly, a more well-known fact about Tatsumi mentioned in "Reminiscence * Iridescent Obbligato" is that his bedroom walls are stained with the blood of the persecuted. Enstars is not exaggerating the brutal experiences that the Kakure Kirishtans faced, as there are a number of stories of cruel punishments inflicted upon those identified as Christians during the time of the ban. In mentioning this, Enstars paints an explicit link between Tatsumi's feelings as a member of a historically persecuted minority, specifically his own desire to become an idol to make his community seem less unfamiliar and threatening to others, to the long history of Kakure Kirishtan suffering.

All in all, there's surprisingly a lot established about Tatsumi's faith. While not all of these details are strongly explored in his narrative, they show a good understanding of how the specific experiences of the Kakure Kirishtan community would play out in Tatsumi's life, which I'm quite happy that Enstars did since I don't think it's something most fans would consider.

(and if you'll allow me to be cheeky, the fact that the EN translation also maintains the information shared above makes it exceptionally clear that EN fans who consider Tatsumi a follower of European or American Catholicism are making assumptions on their own rather than following what's in the text. I get that Idol Story 2 specifically isn't something that most people have read, but surely you can understand where my pettiness stems from)

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Now that 2+ months have passed, it does seem like HappyElements is content with their decision.

As a lot of people have rightfully pointed out, even if HappyElements were to change its course on AKATSUKI (something that they have not shown interest in, to be fair), it certainly wouldn't happen immediately. Enstars stories are written well in advance, so from the company's side, this was a choice that they were committed to making for a while (something that was also noted since the beginning of this conundrum, as several days prior to the release of AKATSUKI's event, HappyElements revealed its social media policy of a) cracking down on "harsh" comments, which I put in quotes since concerns about imperialism that did not include any mentions of harassment or threat towards any individual were also affected by this crack down and b) being stricter on spoilers, all of which were protective measures to prevent criticism, at least on Twitter).

I wonder what really is the influencing factor for HappyElements' decisions when I look back at "Answer * Matrix of Stars Drawn Towards One Another". There's two things to note: 1) Matrix was one of Enstars most controversial stories, receiving mixed reception across fans (as in, critique from multiple fanbases - JP, KR, CN, EN - instead of just one) especially in its second half 2) In terms of money, it was one of Enstars' more successful events (I can't remember how much it earned, but what should be noted is that, if my memory is correct, it received more money than "Origin * Singing the Starry Sky Altered", which is a surprise given how popular the War and it's most influential characters are in the fandom.) The question is about whether or not feedback, both positive and negative, or profit is the most influential decision-making factor.

(Though I will say, given how Enstars completely outearns every other mobile joseimusuke, it does seem like the team might be getting a bit greedy if it turns out that they are trying to earn more only for the sake of earning more. Just my opinion though.)

Matrix, like KAGETSU, also had concerns of anti-Indigenous sentiments, which is why it's an apt comparison. However, it's also true that AKATSUKI is less popular than ALKALOID and Crazy:B, which could affect how HappyElements approaches these units. Since the boycott has largely targeted money-making expenditures (no in-app purchases, no merchandise unless second-hand/bought indirectly to list a few), I'm curious to see how that would play out in the long-run (since I do feel like 2 months is a bit early to make a conclusion for the boycott, which is intended to be much more long-running).

Nonetheless, even though current pressure from email and petitions have not yielded a response, I still think its early to accept that no change of any kind can occur in the future.

What concerns me most is how events like Matrix wound up in the writing room after passing through editing, proofreading, and revisions, and how the response to KAGETSU was dealt with by dividing and punishing fans rather than a proper investigation of the many perspectives related to this topic.

Additionally, I don't feel like we've seen enough from the original 3 members of AKATSUKI's perception of Ibuki thus far to truly, conclusively say that this integration lacks imperialistic connotations. Since the release of KAGETSU, Ibuki has made his motivations clear in other stories like his Idol Story 3. I'm trying to see if there are any mentions from the other AKATSUKI members (such as Scout and Event cards) that give more insight into the in-text angle and HappyElements' approach, because Ibuki's comments alone haven't given too much detail. Understandably, due to the nature of the gacha system, it may take months, maybe years, to get a proper picture - still, that doesn't mean that whatever has been established prior to this "proper picture" is exempt from critique.

And lastly, connecting to the previous point, it is absolutely necessary that HappyElements clarifies its direction. Words like "unity" and "harmony" have been used by the oppressor as often as the oppressed - this is because of subjective interpretations that promote specific notions of these concepts. The attempts to erase the Ryukyuan identity and the Meiji-era laws discriminating against the Ainu were both explained as acts to encourage unity, oneness, and equality by the Japanese government in the same vein as the abolishment of the samurai class. The idea of "one (ethnically homogeneous) Japan" is considered unity by some, and ethnic cleansing by others.

"Harmony" and "unity" mean only as much as HappyElements wants them to, and until their interpretation of these loaded terms with regards to Ibuki and AKATSUKI is made clear, fans are free to analyze the "harmony" presented in Enstars according to every possible definition.

haiii question,,,, sorry for being kinda dumb here but what would be the point of sending emails to hapiele? the story is written already and akatsuki redebuted (???) so what Will they do then? would they just take back the things that happened in the event? sorry again for the bother! i dont go to twt or social media that much so im lost,,,

Thank you for asking, and this isn't a dumb question at all. Of course, contacting HappyElements has been quite the undertaking, so it's only natural to want to know what we should expect. This is a bit lengthy since I wanted to put as much perspective as possible, and as always, I do not mind if others wish to add to this.

The most important thing to acknowledge is that this is an unprecedented scenario, so we're making estimates about how HappyElements will respond. At best, we hope that HappyElements complies with the requests made in the emails and nothing less, with these requests being a) the removal of Ibuki from AKATSUKI since this plays into the existing discrimination and Japanization of Ryukyuans and b) the careful consideration of how Indigenous characters are written going forward. Other additional goals may be added at individual discretion, but in relation to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, this is our main focus.

There is a chance that Enstars can edit or change the story. For example, in Izumi's event, "One Drop * A Specially Chosen Mad Party in UNDERLAND", fans raised concerns about how Izumi and Leo's backstory was mischaracterized in the story, and the line was later changed. However, when it comes to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, we should acknowledge that our concern is with the story as a whole, not a few lines, and so this is not likely. Should HappyElements decide to edit the story, they would likely be attempts to soften the blows that they dealt - but especially for a subject matter like this, it most certainly does not change the fact that the blow is still being dealt.

Another hope is that, even if it does not change AKATSUKI's event, it will push HappyElements to be more considerate in the future with regards to discrimination and characterization. We know that Enstars has been able to change its trajectory with how it approaches topics. For instance, Arashi's earliest stories contained both homophobic and transphobic stereotypes (specifically, she had many stereotypes associated with gay men, which is why the earliest translations of !-era stories tend to use he/him pronouns exclusively. At the time, her gender was not explained.) However, as years passed, the quality of her stories has noticeably improved, with a greater emphasis on her relationship with her gender. Hopefully, pressure from fans will encourage HappyElements to consider the racist, anti-Indigenous message that its pushing, and reevaluate how to approach Ibuki and other marginalized characters.

Some fans are also taking the angle of focusing on mischaracterization as a sort of "foot-in-the-door" technique. Again, as was the case with Izumi, if we can argue that certain things are out-of-character and that the continuous mischaracterization will be a threat to HappyElements' profits, then we might be able to use that momentum to target the racism in the story, since for AKATSUKI, the mischaracterization has been done to facilitate the discrimination that we see, and thus is not wholly separate from the issue. (Though on that note, fans have been asked to emphasize the treatment of Ibuki, since we must not treat occassional mischaracterization as comparable to active discrimination rooted in prejudices that continue to affect Ryukyuans in the present.)

At the same time, we must acknowledge that HappyElements has not made any efforts of note regarding other concerns raised by fans. Most relevantly, the event "Answer * Matrix of Stars Drawn Towards One Another" contains racist, anti-Indigenous sentiments in its depiction of the Amagi village. Instead of taking inspiration from Ainu culture as has been the case with the Amagis thus far, they made the Ainu village a sci-fi setting. Japanese imperialism has worked tirelessly to erase the culture of the Ainu in order to assimilate them. By making the Amagi village less culturally rooted and more fantastical, Enstars erases the presence of Ainu culture from their world - likely because it wasn't deemed interesting enough, since Enstars does value its shock factor - which is insensitive to the plight that the Ainu face to this day.

With all this in mind, we have to remind ourselves that this situation is still developing. The reaction to fans' emails has been mixed in the past, and the response to concerns of discrimination especially has been disappointing. Though, we also need to acknowledge that this is arguably the strongest, most concentrated reaction of the fans towards HappyElements, and we cannot allow them to intimidate us, nor can we allow them to forget that they are enabling dangerous anti-Ryukyuan sentiments that are not without real-life consequence.

Lastly, as I personally see it... even if "nothing" happens, I still ask that fans continue to pressure HappyElements. If HappyElements cannot treat marginalized people with respect, then at the minimum we should do the opposite and show marginalized fans that we stand with them. As I've mentioned time and time again, what we have seen in Enstars is reflective of real-life prejudices that are actively harming people. Even if HappyElements' mind does not change, other people observing the situation may reevaluate their own biases, and we can counteract whatever harms could occur as a result of HappyElements' lack of care.

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Another thing about the okama term being used against her, the characters that used it have either apologized for using it (Koga) or were warned against using it (Akiomi scolding/reprimanding Subaru). Both the characters even giving her a completely different nickname ("Ari" and "Rasshi")

I'll have to look for the exact stories, but there's textual evidence in canon that's its not a good word and she strongly dislikes it

Also it appears to be mostly the English server that doesn't give her pronouns, choosing to instead use her name (even if it makes the sentence clunky/awkward), since Japanese doesn't really have pronouns when referring to someone

Thank you, anon!

You focus on an important part that I didn't delve into re: "okama" as used in-text, which is that the slur is established in-text as having discriminatory connotations, and is known by characters in-universe to be used in a demeaning fashion (which as you've pointed out, is something that characters who do use "okama" in a discriminatory manner have worked against repeating). Arashi's discomfort doesn't come just from light teasing, but from actively experiencing prejudice from her classmates, which is entirely erased when people blindly call her an "okama".

Good clarification about pronouns, because I don't think I mentioned that the English pronouns I was talking about were in the third-person, whereas the Japanese pronouns I was talking about were in the first-person. Sure, they're both pronouns, but their usage wouldn't really be one-to-one. I'll see if this is something I need to clarify on that post based on how people react, but I'll keep it in mind if the topic ever arises again.

Also, regarding how Arashi has been treated across servers, it does seem like the English server is the one that's being the most unusual about it. In the Japanese server, means other than pronouns are used to establish Arashi's gender (the ones that come to my mind now are more indirect, but I would by no means call them insignificant). For the Chinese and Korean servers, I haven't seen anyone note instances of denial of her identity, though in the interests of integrity, that one would require a bit more investigation since the Chinese and Korean servers aren't as frequently discussed in the fandom space, especially since the English server came out. Though from my experience, I haven't heard any notice of discrimination against Arashi in these servers' translations.

The point about the English server translation is important because it demonstrates a specific area where Western views on gender (specifically conservative ones) are being applied to Arashi. In this specific case, we (English-speaking fans trying to familiarize themselves with Enstars, to be more exact) need to investigate views about transness in the West rather than views in Japan to understand why this decision about her pronouns is being made, which I hope I was able to convey in that post.

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When it comes to Arashi's gender identity, many have been hesitant about labelling Arashi a trans woman in fear of interpreting her identity according to their own biases rather than understanding it in her context. However in doing so, some people circle around to being racist and transphobic, showing an unawareness of queerness as it manifests outside of the West. Below, I'll address some of the ways in which refusing to call Arashi a trans woman can perpetuate unknown biases and prejudices.

(1) The Intersection Between Racism and Transmisogyny To simplify a long story: people in the West have a weird relationship with explorations of gender in other cultures. In particular, there is an obsession with thinking that transness doesn't "quite" exist in other cultures. As an example, the Hijra community of India has been consistently labelled a third gender, and the reasons for doing so has garnered a lot of backlash. Hijras are considered a third gender to some because when it comes to men's and women's spaces, rather than entering one or the other, they create their own space, and the story ends there for the West. Systemic reasons that encourage the Hijra to avoid women's spaces are ignored; the transphobia that makes it difficult for them to enter women's spaces and the threat and discomfort that prevents many from going to men's spaces is used against them to insist that they are neither. It would be the same as saying, "There is a third gender in America, understood to be such because they use neither women's nor men's bathrooms, called 'trans women'" - it completely obstructs any investigation into why a trans woman may not be willing or able to enter many gendered spaces.

As it relates to Arashi, we see a similar insistance from some Enstars fans that she simply cannot be a trans woman for these assumptions about cultural expressions of queerness. One argument is that the concept of trans women in the West simply doesn't exist in Japan. This is an extension of the infantilization of East Asians, which has been used to insist that East Asians "don't know what LGBT+ means", among other racist generalizations around sexuality in particular. This argument excludes Japanese people in general, not just characters, from being trans. Another argument is that Arashi's participation in the male idol industry, or her attendence in an all-boys course, are proofs that she is not a woman. This relies on environmental factors and systemic transphobia to explain Arashi's identity rather than her own feelings on the matter. Given the strictness of transitioning and fears of discrimination, Arashi's ability to go into women's spaces is limited. Also, this argument assumes that all people in all-x spaces identify as x. (As someone who went to an all-girls school, believe me when I say that I had classmates that weren't girls. Just as there are reasons for a trans person to leave a gender-segregated school (dysphoria, transphobia to list a few), there are also reasons for people to stay - friends, location, opportunities in education, etc.)

To talk about transmisogyny specifically as it links to racism, women of colour are held to a higher standard of femininity in general, which bodes poorly when paired with transphobia. We see this again with the Hijra and their gender expression. When a Hijra is feminine, it's often described as a "parody" or "mimicry", a farce to immitate a woman rather than just them being women. This unusual strictness with femininity is a common transmisogynistic argument, but what makes it so threatening when paired with racism is that even self-proclaimed progressives and allies will have no problem applying it when the target is a trans woman of colour.

In Arashi's case, that which is feminine is labelled an expression of gender non-conformity, while that which is masculine is taken as evidence of gender identity. Arashi sometimes acts according to gender norms - modelling is considered a "feminine" job, she's often styled according to feminine trends, her behaviour can be described as "girly", but this, obviously, isn't proof of gender identity. When it comes to masculinity… she has short hair and she wears pants, which is apparently enough for some people to write her off from being a woman in general (I'm simplifying for the sake of brevity, there are much more nuanced takes on her relationship with femininity and masculinity that I won't go into). Her masculine behaviours are seen as the "real" indicators of her identity, while her feminine behaviours are ignored or downplayed in order to deny any relation with femininity at all.

Of course, participation in femininity is not a prerequisite for being a woman, but it means absolutely nothing if one doesn't also acknowledge that participation is masculinity does not stop one from being a woman. Arashi not wearing a dress or skirt does not make her less of a woman, and her wearing a suit likewise does not make her less of a woman. No matter how Arashi presents herself, so long as she calls herself a woman, she is one - misconstructing expressions of femininity and masculinity and entangling them with racist views can only yield prejudiced results.

(1.5) Western Dominance In Gender Expression To extend from the above, the West has a false idea of what things are unique to certain cultures (like with homosexuality) and what things are universal (heterosexuality). Some of you may be familiar with the Western tendency to overestimate (ex. Assuming that everyone in foreign countries speaks English) - when it comes to culture, media, and queerness, we see the opposite. The West tends to underestimate how much it dominates in the cultural sphere, failing to acknowledge how far its values and ideals spread, especially through the media and in international debate platforms. This brings us to an awkward point when talking about queerness and gender non-conformity for two reasons. 1) Ideas of heterosexuality, monogamy, and gender expression considered characteristic of the West are actually the norm even in places outside of the West. For example, it's often brought up that in some East Asian cultures historically, a man with long hair would not be considered gender non-conforming, because this was once the norm. However, it is likewise true that this is not common in the present, which is to cut the hair short. As such, the traditional status quo and the modern status quo are entirely different, with the latter being influenced by the West depending on the period and area. When the status quo between the West and the East is linked, it stands to reason that deviations from the status quo may share links as well. 2) Western ideas of queerness genuinely do influence Eastern ideas of queerness. For some people, Western media is the first place where they get to grapple with different notions of gender and sexuality. It's not a matter of cultural notions of queerness, but cultural openness in discussing queerness. In places where topics like sexuality are a taboo, local queer communities are deliberately kept to the shadows in order to avoid engaging in the "mistake" of acknowledging them. Because of this restriction on local queer identities, Western ideas of queerness may be easier to see. For example, a number of queer terms in Japan are loan words from English - there's clearly some interaction going on.

It's more of an aside to be an honest, but there's quite a lot of oversimplification of West/East interactions in regards to gender expression that assumes that there is no influence whatsoever. Even if Arashi were "influenced by the West" or however people want to put it, she would still be a trans woman, much like others who share her experience.

(2) Pronouns i) Japanese pronouns: Japanese pronouns do not denote gender, though some generalizations and "media tropes" as you can call them exist. For example, a man who uses "ore" would be considered masculine, while a man who uses "boku" may be soft-spoken, polite, or casual. These are just some of many ways in which pronouns may be viewed, but most importantly, they are not restrained by gender - a woman can use "ore" and "boku" as well. That being said, sometimes people can be strict in applying pronouns on queer characters to force and reject certain identities. A similar discourse that comes to mind as an example is a discussion about Mizuki Akiyama from Project Sekai. I believe that at this time, Mizuki does not have an official label, and as far as English pronouns go from what I have seen, they have consistently been referred to with they/them, and I will be respecting this as I write. If there are some facts about Mizuki that I have gotten wrong, please feel free to correct me.

Regarding Mizuki, they use the Japanese pronoun "boku", and the common understanding of their gender is that they are transfeminine. However, their usage of "boku" has been used to deny that they are transfeminine, with some arguing that "although Japanese pronouns don't show gender, 'boku' isn't often used by girls, so Mizuki probably isn't a girl or transfeminine". Not only is that wrong culturally (there are plenty of girls who use "boku"), but it's trying to leverage the ambiguity of Japanese pronouns to be transphobic.

Arashi faces the same problem, but in the "oppposite direction" so to say. Arashi uses the pronoun "atashi", which is primarily associated with young-ish girls. In Arashi's case, the argument is that "although Arashi uses a pronoun associated with girls, Japanese pronouns don't show gender, so Arashi probably isn't a girl or transfeminine."

Both Mizuki and Arashi have their pronouns used against their identities when, long story short: if pronouns cannot determine gender identity, then they likewise cannot deny gender identity. If Mizuki's pronoun does not make her a girl or transfeminine, then by that interpretation, Arashi's pronoun would make her a girl; and if Arashi's pronoun cannot prove her identity, then Mizuki's pronoun cannot be used to disprove her identity. However, since people who deny Mizuki's gender are also people who deny Arashi's gender, the inconsistency in their arguments can be explained by the end result - to deny trans women and those with similar identities the ability to identify with their gender.

Lastly, when translating pronouns, trans characters are treated as a case separate than cis characters. For example, Marisa from the Touhou franchise and Suzie from Deltarune both use "ore" in Japanese. Nonetheless, they are both referred to with she/her, rather than with an uncommon English pronoun choice to reflect the uncommon Japanese pronoun choice. In contrast, when it comes to Arashi, fans are much more hesitant to use she/her, even though Arashi's Japanese pronoun choice represents a more common archetype than the previously mentioned usage of "ore" (as in, just as she/her is quite common in English, "atashi" is quite common in (casual) Japanese). Rather, it is only with Arashi that fans talk about how it is perfectly acceptable for her to use pronouns that are not she/her without ever applying that mindset to cis characters. To extend from that, as I mentioned earlier, there are tropes associated with pronouns. Continuing with the earlier example, Marisa and Suzie's usage of "ore" helps paint them as tomboys, or rowdy personalities (though not every girl who uses "ore" is necessarily characterized as such). When talking about pronouns, rather than assessing which "pronoun trope" would suit Arashi best in English to reflect her choice of "atashi", fans blindly apply Western ideas of pronouns to Japanese pronouns when it comes to gender, neglecting the other information that comes from Japanese pronoun usage. This misinterpretation of how Japanese pronouns function hides her identity, rather than elaborating upon it.

ii) English pronouns: Talking about the EN server specifically, the hesitation in using pronouns at all for Arashi has raised a lot of red flags, since this is a common form of misgendering that trans people face. Misgendering isn't only the use of a "wrong" pronoun (such as using he/him for someone who uses she/they) but also refusing to use pronouns at all, or forcibly using "neutral" pronouns like they/them for someone who has already established that their preferred pronouns are not they/them. This counts as misgendering because the target still does not have their identity acknowledged, just in ways that are less obvious to some.

Conversations around Arashi's pronouns illustrate a greater discourse surrounding trans women's pronouns - "if you use she/her, you're just following status quo assumptions about femininity (think back to that point about mimicry and parody), and if you use he/him, then it's your fault if people think that you are a man". Even when it comes to pronouns, what is or isn't "correct" is decided for the trans woman, not by the trans woman; to take it a step forward, everything that a trans woman does is deemed incorrect in order to dissuade them from finding any comfort in their identity.

When it comes to she/her pronouns specifically, these are gatekept strongly from trans women by TERFs and people with similar ideologies. Again, femininity is strictly held to a strong standard in order to keep it out of trans women's reach. With transphobia rising in many places, we see more and more how pronouns can be weaponized against people in general speech - for instance, because of the campaign launched against her, there are people to this day who continue to refer to Olympic boxer Imane Khelif and other athletes accused of being men with he/him pronouns.

Arashi being the only individual in Enstars to have her pronouns restricted in unnatural ways throughout the EN translation, when other characters have comfortably been referred to be he/him, has been seen as a sign that the translation team is trying to avoid using she/her pronouns.

(3) Two Birds, One Stone - Trans Women and Gender Non-Conforming Men An alternate headcanon to Arashi being a trans woman is calling her a gay man or a gender non-conforming man. For the record, I don't think there's anything ludicrous about playing around with canon, and I am not against the application of headcanons whatsoever - but it is not contradictory to say that headcanons can sometimes be based in stereotypes and prejudices that show off a person's own bigotry. A common form of discrimination against both trans women and gay and/or gender non-conforming men is conflating the two. Trans women are accused of being gay men or non-conforming men who "dress like women to get what they want", while gay and/or gender non-conforming men are called women because "no guy could possibly want to dress like that and/or be attracted to another guy". It's not that these sorts of bigots value one community over the other, it's that they want to be as demeaning as possible through the use of a) misgendering and b) comparison to a group frowned upon in society.

However, what makes this headcanon a bit perplexing when applied to Arashi is the claim that it's done for representation's sake, as Enstars already has gender non-conforming men. For Shu and Hajime, it's a strong focal point in their personal stories, while other characters like Hiyori, Tori, and Mayoi may have some gender non-conforming associations here and there. Even putting aside Arashi's own comments on her gender, she is treated in a way distinctive from the canonically gender non-conforming men in the franchise.

When it comes to fandom behaviour, people who headcanon Arashi to be gay or gender non-conforming are usually revolted when a gender non-conforming character is given a transfem headcanon, showing an inconsistency in how they approach headcanons. Those who use he/him for Arashi are usually offended by the use of she/her for Shu, for example (tying into my point earlier about trans people and cis people being held to different standards of pronoun usage, too). As such, it's clear that there is a problem with transfemininity specifically for these people, and not fanon interpretation or representation as a whole.

Gay and gender non-conforming men have undoubtedly been treated poorly by the media… but so have trans women, who share the same pains. The claim that Arashi cannot be a trans woman because it's "more progressive" for her to be a gender non-conforming man ignores the lack of representation that trans women likewise face (especially since many trans characters like Bridget from Guilty Gear initially began as "trap" characters, and became more authentic representation later in development), and pretends that trans people "have it better" - a form of transphobia intended to divide the queer community.

(3.5) About Slurs The conflation of trans women, gay men, and gender non-conforming men is reflected in more specific forms of discrimination. The word "okama" refers to effeminate men, and has been used as a slur against gay men, gender non-conforming men, and trans women. Some have taken to reclaiming this slur, using it casually as queer lingo.

But the specific thing I want to note is that just because some people have reclaimed it, doesn't mean that everyone has - the term "okama" is still used to demean trans women and gay and/or gender non-conforming men. Western attempts to call the slur totally reclaimed are misguided at best and risk objectifying and sexualizing the target at worst - "okama" can also refer to a recipient of anal penetration, and demeaning comments against queer people frequently reduce them to their (hypothetical) sexual encounters and "fetishistic nature" for the purpose of making them seem "immoral" and "impure". For the last 10-20 years, anime fandoms in particular have acted like "okama" is a totally neutral word, when it continues to be used against queer people in Japan. Additionally, some are under the impression that the term "okama" expresses a Japanese third gender, which is also false and can lead into the discussion above about the intersection between racism and transmisogyny re: the Hijra.

Firstly, for Arashi specifically, referring to her as an "okama" has always read as odd to me given that she clearly rejects the term in-text. When other characters call her an "okama", she frequently, consistently tells them that she does not want to be referred to in that way. She does this most often by telling them that "okama" "is not her name" and that she would like to be referred to by some other name. As such, saying that Arashi is canonically an "okama" goes against what we have seen time and time again in canon (back in 2016, that is). Secondly, given that Arashi is the only character in the game to have the word "okama" used against her, it suggests that there is clearly something to her identity that sets her apart from other characters that we have seen thus far.

I'm not blind to the fact that Arashi began as an okama stereotype - but Enstars has long since abandoned that angle with her and some fans out there really need to catch up.

Ultimately, these are some of the things that come to my mind at this time in discussions about Arashi. While I would like to focus more on canon than on fanon in this blog, I don't think it's possible to have a proper conversation about canon when so many people have such divided interpretations of it. I may add more to this as I remember, but for now, these are things that I hope people keep in mind as they talk about Arashi and transness across different cultures. As always, I encourage people to add their own comments, and I hope that this can help deepen the discussion around Arashi.

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The email account that I've used for this blog has been lost and cannot be verified, which is why I have removed the Forms and the Docs as I no longer have access to them. I'll see what I can do instead - I might remake them, or I may have to search for a non-email alternative for submissions and record keeping.

(This is also why I haven't been active at all recently, since it took a few weeks for Tumblr to verify my blog and reset my email).

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I'm grateful for all the media analysis there has been regarding Enstars and it's treatment of social issues, especially after AKATSUKI's event, but truthfully, acting as if Enstars is the only piece of media to ever have "problematic" aspects cheapens some of this analysis.

For many fans, Enstars passed the line - but the important thing to remember is that media which has not passed the line is not media that is "unproblematic", but media that has not reached a point where moments that are "tactless" or "poor in taste" follow specific and hostile ideologies.

Again, the way that people have been rethinking their engagement with Enstars is commendable since its not something that everybody is willing to consider; however, if this sort of thinking isn't applied to other spaces, then we risk running into the same problems over and over across time.

Enstars' problems aren't unique to it - and are likely being inherited from other media, so its definitely a system to be mindful of - which is why I hope that the lessons that we're picking up from Enstars are also applied elsewhere.

By applying this level of analysis and conscientiousness towards original works and fan spaces, hopefully we create respectful places of discussion where the ideologies that hurt people in real-life aren't also being used to hurt them in fiction and fandom.

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‼️‼️‼️ATTENTION ALL TUMBLR ENSTARIES!!!‼️‼️‼️

If you are upset about the recent changes made to AKATSUKI and the way they’re using Ibuki’s character—Then you should consider participating in the 3rd Official Enstars Boycott Blast! It is a mass emailing event where we send a ton of messages to Happy Elements K.K. More information about the event will be below!

(Much thanks and credit to @HAHIHUHEHO_dono on Twitter for he “How To” guide on sending in a support ticket!)

‼️‼️‼️Link to Ensemble Stars Support Webpage: https://ensemble-stars-music.zendesk.com/hc/ja/requests/new?ticket_form_id=39118306285209

Remember, your voice matters! We can make Happy Elements take accountability and bring change!!

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I don't wanna be that guy but I wanted to add to your post as an Adonis stan: Adonis is never treated as being Japanese within the text. He's mixed, his mother is Japanese, and took the decision to more or less raise her children in the culture of the country where they spent most of their time (not uncommon IRL). Neither he nor the other characters consider it. It's not about "internalized" racism, it's about racism on the part of the writers. Doylist explanation for a Watsonian question, I guess. Mixed kids have complex feelings on identity and if he decided not to consider himself such that'd be one thing, but it isn't even posed as a question

Thank you for adding on!

100% agree with that point about Adonis not being treated as Japanese. I wouldn't personally call it a "grey area" but I suppose he's... treated as Japanese when convenient? For example, with language, if my memory is correct, it's stated that he did learn a bit of Japanese before coming to Japan. The thing is, it's necessary for him to know Japanese in-text in order for him to interact with other characters, and also in order for HappyElements to explain hiring a native Japanese speaker to voice him without doing an accent. So if anything, it seems to be "fortunate" for him to be half-Japanese when it comes to his writing. Otherwise, it isn't kept in mind.

It could have been a chance to point out how Adonis being treated as a foreigner and having his Japanese background unacknowledged is not unusual form of prejudice against mixed kids. In particular, those with appearances strongly leaning towards one ethnicity are forced to identify exclusively with that ethnicity rather than deciding for themselves. However, not only is that clearly not the direction taken with Adonis - it's been done in a better fashion with Aira.

For Adonis' upbringing, I wonder how strong his exposure to each culture is, since we do see that he was in the Middle East/SWANA in his youth, but he also has had some interaction with Japanese culture before coming to Japan. Like you've mentioned, it's by no means unusual for his mother to bring him to Japan and raise him with Japanese culture - it's just that there's the question of how strong his mother's influence would have been, how much he retained from SWANA, the exact things that he was taught... But again, definitely worth noting how him being raised in Japanese culture is both a) a fact and b) unacknowledged.

Then, with other characters not acknowledging that he's Japanese and treating him exclusively as a foreigner, my current theory is that it has something to do with his appeal being The Foreign One, and so if his Japanese heritage is acknowledged too often, it would "weaken his charm point" or something to that effect.

Since I never really posed it as a Watsonian question, I don't mind the application of a Doylist perspective. The reason why I don't tend to lead in with Doylist explanations myself is because fandom spaces can be remarkably hostile towards them, hence I try to ease my way into them. Additionally, while I do definitely have my own opinions on this matter, I want to make sure that I'm showing other interpretations, too. I'm thankful to see the application of a Doylist lens, and if you don't mind me elaborating more, this is why I want to go into the idea of internal racism with regards to choices made among the writing team.

Enstars explicitly condemns racism, but something that literature in sociology and psychology has started to elaborate on is that condemnation of racism alone isn't enough for someone to not be racist. One can condemn acts of racism while still holding racist views. Some theories that explore this are modern/symbolic racism (belief that discrimination doesn't really exist anymore, derogation of groups isn't based on their racial background but on their "inferior cultural values"), aversive racism (rather than feelings of hostility and aggression, one feels fear and discomfort around outgroups) and ambiguous racism (one holds both positive and negative stereotypes - assumes that the former cancels out the latter).

So, for Enstars, the condemnation of racism alone isn't a defense against racist values to some because that shows their external values, but it does not show their internal values. There are different ways of expressing racism, and just because someone discourages 1 way of expression doesn't mean that they themselves may never engage in the other 99.

From my memory, what little Enstars has had to say on Arab culture has been far from the best (but since my memory has been pretty weak on this point, I've been trying to read up more. By all means if anyone else wants to add, they're free to do so). That's why there have been very strong concerns of anti-Arab sentiments, which you may be interested in since I feel that this, in tandem with many other things said on this topic, may work with your point about racism in the writing team (which I certainly hope to address in the future). Additionally, that's a very important part of comparing Adonis' writing to Aira's, since it ties into concerns of racism that people have had for a while, which have only grown stronger with Aira's addition to the franchise.

He does state in his !!-era self-description that he's "born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father", which I personally took as him identifying with both to some extent - but of course, identity is more than just a sentence, and while Enstars has "said" that he identifies with both cultures, its up to them to "demonstrate" it. His identity really hasn't shaped any of his interactions, and for reasons that you mentioned yourself, I wouldn't be astonished if people who read a portion of his stories without reading his profile never came to the conclusion that he is mixed since it's truly an ignored part of his self conception and other characters' conception of him.

Thank you for mentioning this, since the lack of acknowledgement of his Japanese heritage is something that I've thought about, too. As I read more, I can only wish that this topic is elaborated upon and clarified, and hopefully my perspective above may have been of interest to you. I hope you have a nice day!

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A little whiteboard for Valentines for anyone who wants to hang out!

The board will be available for 24 hours, closing at 5:00AM UTC. I'll try my best to download it before then. Let me know if there's any difficulty in accessing it!

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I go into this a little at the end of the last post, but to elaborate on it a bit more:

To analyze Enstars properly, we need to acknowledge the difference between potential development and existing development.

There are a lot of directions that Enstars can go in - and we need to be comfortable with recognizing that some of them contain imperialism, racism, anti-Indigenous sentiments, and other forms of discrimination.

Additionally, we need to note that just as there are instances where Enstars is progressive, there are similarly instances where Enstars can be regressive. There is as much reason to assume that Enstars can get better as there is to assume that it can get worse.

Yes, Enstars has near limitless potential right now, but at the same time, the existing development has led much to be desired, and acknowledging one while discounting the other is an incomplete critique (unless you intend on focusing entirely on one domain, but even then, these two do tend to influence each other).

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Comparing Aira and Adonis on Internalized Racism

Enstars approaches internalized racism differently between these two characters - not in the content of their feelings, but their exploration of them. To explain that more:

When it comes to internalized racism, its a central component of Aira's character arc, as his experiences in the past have contributed strongly to his inferiority complex.

These experiences include a) feelings of inadequacy due to performing at a below-average level compared to everyone else around him (also leading to him being on the cutting block for the !!-era Main Story, which was an external blow to him), b) having an "unusual" interest in idols that others didn't share and saw as strange and c) being unable to fulfill his classmates' expectations of him based on his identity.

Specifically, while he was an object of interest due to his French heritage, his lack of connection to it meant that he couldn't fulfill the idea of a foreign or mixed-race student that his classmates had of him, thus they lost interest in him. Furthermore, his appearance would have made it different for others to take his claims of being Japanese seriously, and it has prompted Aira to try and figure out "more Japanese" ways of doing things (I believe this was mentioned in the story for Izumi's 5-star card, "Evening Glow Paddle").

Ultimately, identity is a very integral part of Aira's personal story. He faces the problem of being tied more to one identity than another, which often leads to him being misidentified since he has always considered himself Japanese, nothing more, nothing less.

(Unfortunately, I have not read his recent event, "Scent of Summer! Yellow Summer Sparkle", wherein he actually has the chance to go to Paris and visit his grandparents. As a result of that, there are undoubtedly parts of Aira's development that I'm missing. However, a very important thing to note is that Enstars has developed this aspect of Aira's character well up until this point since a) Aira's feelings are relatable to many people around the world, making it a relevant narrative that appeals both to people who relate to him and people that don't and b) the information is mostly revealed in a well-written manner, making Aira's circumstances clear without frequently being so explicit as to come off as lecturing or breaking the fourth wall, as Enstars tends to do.)

As for Adonis, his internalized racism is currently at the discretion of fan interpretation. By that, I mean that while there are certainly reasons supported by the text why fans may interpret Adonis as having internalized racism, there isn't a lot of meat to these interpretations - not because its impossible or nonsensical, but because there simply isn't enough elaboration on this point to give this interpretation a lot of confidence.

Adonis at times describes his own body as frightening (ex. Athletics, Prologue 1, "Anyhow, it's this body of mine - your heart would probably stop beating from just having me looming behind you." <- also, the catalyst for me writing this post) His comments are the same as those that others make around him, both NPCS and some other characters. Adonis' size and appearance has led to untrue assumptions being made about him, leading to people avoiding him or assuming the worst. (There's more nuance to this, but I won't get to it now.)

Again, it is by no means unusual for Adonis to have internalized racism - but the question is: at what point did these feelings emerge, and why?

Because while Aira's internalized racism, as explained above, has both a known source and known influences on Aira's self perception, the same cannot be said about Adonis. The comments that Adonis makes, like in the example from Athletics, begin and end at that. We don't know the history of these sentiments and where they emerged from, nor do we know what else it could say about Adonis' perception of either himself other than that he, much like everyone else, finds his body intimidating.

I'll explain a few fan theories to show how this has all been left in the air.

Theory 1 - Adonis first encounters prejudiced sentiments in Japan and integrates them into his perception of himself: Not impossible; however, because of Crossroad, we have some idea of how Adonis was back when he first came to Japan, which gives us a way to compare Adonis from his earliest appearance timeline-wise to his most recent appearances. Going off of memory, there's nothing at the moment that suggests that Adonis' self-perception in the domain of race has shifted since coming to Japan - meaning that his self-deprecating comments aren't a "new" emergence. They can't really be traced to a specific point in his arrival in Japan, nor do we get any internal (from Adonis himself) or external (from other characters) comments about changes in behaviour. As such, there's nothing to suggest that he is picking up norms from Japan since it could be argued that he already had these sentiments.

Theory 2 - Adonis picked up self-deprecating comments from back home: Another theory that isn't impossible. Talking about real-life specifically, anti-Arab sentiments have made it difficult for many Arabs to find pride in their heritage. Internalization of racist sentiments (such as the SWANA region being inherently violent or opposed to progressive values) has also influenced political and social cleavages. But... these sentiments don't arise randomly. A lot of people can tie their development of these sentiments to specific sources: foreign media - especially of media peddling racist sentiments - influences a lot of people in their youth, revisions and rewritings of history may lead to false perceptions of society and culture through exaggeration or erasure, and quite often elites tend to prefer the West since the West is seen as the pinnacle of civilization, thus, participating in Western practices differentiates them further from "the uneducated", to list a few examples.

As such, saying that Adonis picked up his self-deprecating comments from back home without giving more details isn't sufficient. If he picked it up through media, then what did he watch? Books, newspapers, movies? Was it foreign or domestic media? If he picked it up from history, then who is writing the books? What sort of education did he receive? If he picked it up from sentiments in the elite class, then what level of participation did he have? Was his father a nationalist, or an ally of the West? Who in the elite class is he picking this up from?

Theory 2.5 - Adonis picked up self-deprecating comments from his family: ... I'll be honest, I would be surprised if Enstars went with this one given how they've marketed Adonis' mother as the darling of the Otogari family. This would tie into the above when it comes to Adonis' father, by claiming that he does, indeed, have negative perceptions of Arab culture which he could have passed onto Adonis. This could also be a case of Adonis' mother harbouring anti-Arab sentiments that she could have accidentally shared with her children. However, this theory requires a great level of assumptions about Adonis' family unit (and the portrayal of Adonis' family in general has been of great concern, which is a point to be addressed in the analysis of "Romance * A SWING NIGHT to Sing Along to").

Theory 3 - Adonis' comments are not supposed to be a representation of himself, but are actually the implementation of a stereotype from the writers: The stereotype in question is the assumption that some Arabs (among other groups perceived to be "inferior") envy the Global North for their "sophistication, elegance, and industrial successes" and denounce their own "savagery and lack of innovation". This stereotype isn't an elaboration on Theory 2 but a distortion of it where supremacists in the Global North externalize their feelings of superiority towards Arabs to claim that this sentiment that "Whites are superior" is common around the world (or among the "educated", at least). As such, it erases all the factors that I discuss in Theory 2 that contribute to internalized racism, replacing them with age-old racist theories about superiority among races.

It wouldn't be the first stereotype to be included in Adonis' writing. But at the same time, there is the objection that this stereotype - assuming that this is the angle that the writers are taking - is written to be countered, not to be endorsed. In the last 9 years though, Adonis' feelings on race have been the same, with some arguing that this point about racism has stagnated, and so this narrative - whether countered or endorsed - doesn't exactly... exist (which isn't without its implications).

The importance of comparing Aira and Adonis' internalized racism is to illustrate one way in which Enstars shows that it can handle discussing social issues with remarkable consideration via Aira, which makes it's lacklustre commentary with Adonis much more frustrating to readers (especially since Aira has not been in the game as long as Adonis has, yet on this matter, his internal feelings have been better explored).

(Another thing to note: as has been mentioned a few times in the past, since Enstars is an ongoing gacha game, we do have to consider how some of the comments can be either proven or disproven in the future since the story isn't over. That being said, that doesn't change the core of some criticisms raised above. One thing I want to draw attention to is the fact that at no point in Aira's writing re: internalized racism have fans ever felt the same frustrations that they have about Adonis. Yes, there are some things that we simply don't have the foresight for, but it's Enstars' responsibility to make sure that fans can feel that there will be some future benefit/relevance to whatever is being published in the present. We are reading in the present, not the future, so we cannot pretend to know more than what has been shown. The writing for Adonis in particular remains abstract in its potential directions in the future, as it has been for a long time, which is why its not unusual for fans to be pessimistic about his writing.)

It's not just important for considering how Adonis written, but the varying quality of Enstars' mentions of social issues in general - especially since this discrepancy in writing quality has led to concerns about colourism and internal racism <- not to be confused with internalized racism.

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✅️Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #329 )✅️

Please don’t skip 🍉🇵🇸

I am Ahmed from Gaza, 26 years old. I stand before you as a person trying to support my family of 7: me, my father, my mother and my sisters, in our miserable circumstances, which we live in after the occupation launched the war on Gaza. We were displaced from our home and it was completely destroyed. We are now living in shelters. Due to the circumstances and low income, we are unable to provide the necessary benefits such as food and drink due to the crazy increase in prices. Thus, my source of livelihood has been destroyed, but it has been completely destroyed, as we are no longer entitled to work; and we expect to live in miserable conditions in the shelters. It is difficult for me to find the words to describe what we face every day in the shelters; without food, medicine or clean drinking water; with the oppression, helplessness, psychological pressures, doubts and daily shocks caused by everything around us and the inability to care for our loved ones. The fear of danger, disease and death never leaves us.

Now, I find myself in this difficult situation, and I humbly ask for your help to save the lives of my family, especially my father and mother, by getting us out of Gaza to Egypt and building a new life outside Gaza or helping us get money to buy the necessities that we may be able to afford. Asking for help is not easy, but we had no choice because we want to survive and strive to rebuild our shattered lives. We are very grateful for any help you can offer, no matter how small, as your help will go a long way in alleviating our suffering. I hope you will share my story with your family and friends.”

Donation link⬇️⬇️

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Though Enstars often mentions systemic issues, it never really shows them from what I see.

That's not something that's surprising on its own - the visual format limits the sharing of information to text only, and the focus of Enstars has always been the characters (for most people, at least) so it makes sense to focus more on interpersonal conflicts or interpersonal aspects of certain issues rather than confronting the greater systemic questions.

But the thing is, when certain systemic issues are emphasized and condemned in the narrative, but not really addressed or elaborated upon, I feel like it weakens the message, if not outright works against it. A lot of this stemmed from thinking about Rinne and Aira, so I'll focus on them for now.

Rinne makes mention of systemic issues often, and is rather frank about addressing the issues of the Amagi - particularly their rejection from Japanese society and them being labelled inferior.

But while we're told that the Amagis face systemic issues, there isn't anything really to cement that. - meaning that we are facing a "tell, don't show" situation. But "tell, don't show" isn't without its own literary complications (and its especially hard to wrap one's head around when it comes to text-based media) so let me use a different framework.

The "theory" does not match the "execution".

"Theory" here is what the worldbuilding establishes (not to be confused for what the narrator establishes, as these can sometimes be in contradiction) - the Amagis are in an unfavourable position in society.

"Execution" is how this theory plays out - and its where our problem arises, because while there are certainly interpersonal squabbles that make it clear that some characters have prejudices, there's nothing explicitly systemic that we can really point at regarding the Amagis from what I can remember.

Interpersonal interactions - meaning interactions on an individual level - cannot always be used as a supplement for representations of systemic oppression. Sometimes, characters and NPCs can be used to represent the values and ideals of the system, acting as placeholders for a system that cannot always be shown. Other times, all it does is reveal the character's own feelings without indicating anything about the system, or the systemic feelings fail to be applied to the world at large since the system doesn't quite exist, resulting in some fourth-wall breaking and meta-commentary that can't actually comment on anything concrete in-text no matter how much it can be applied to the real world.

This isn't as much of a problem in !-era since all issues are being addressed in a school environment - meaning that the systemic issues mentioned are being filtered through the mouths of teenagers, and can tie into a greater conversation about how teenagers are affected by different sources (family, friends, cultural norms, preferences of the system, etc.). This isn't to say Doylist criticisms no longer apply to the !-era, but that the Watsonian perspective can be best applied here because of the convenient environment.

In !!-era however, we are now entering the industry, meaning that we're no longer interacting with only "other students". Agencies, idol norms, and greater societal and/or cultural norms have a more noticeable presence, especially as they come to hold greater decision-making influences on the characters. Essentially, we are moving one step closer to the system, and should expect to see it affect the characters more.

Except, we don't see these effects.

Analyzing this requires looking less at what we have, and more of what we don't have - essentially, we need to look at what is absent in the "execution" of Enstars' "theory".

With Rinne specifically, though he mentions that the Amagis are oppressed and we see nothing outright denying this, we likewise don't see any support for this. The presupposition is that Rinne and Hiiro should be treated differently from other characters by the system and by society because of their ethnic background, but that's not what happens.

Main Story !! has Rinne in an antagonistic role, and for the most part, sentiments about him are extended to the other members of Crazy:B - the negative reaction towards him is explicitly said to be for his actions, which is similarly applied to people outside of his ethnic group.

For Hiiro, Crazy:B's actions rub off on ALKALOID - but again, this is on the basis of their membership to a specific category (being newcomers in the idol industry with similarities to Crazy:B), not ethnicity. Further criticism of Hiiro is based on him being siblings with Rinne, which would still apply irrespective of his ethnic background.

This isn't to say that ethnicity cannot be compounded with the other negative reactions listed above, but that it is entirely fan interpretation that elaborates on this. As far as Enstars writes it, ethnic background has not been a grave concern for the Amagis as public figures - even though we're told that it should be a concern for them given that the issues that the Amagis as a group face are still persistent in the modern era.

Essentially, what I mean to say is that Rinne's complaints about being excluded from society fall short when there is nothing indicating that either he or Hiiro have been excluded from the idol industry. This isn't to say that I think Rinne is wrong in his observations, but that the writing fails to support it.

As time goes on, Crazy:B and ALKALOID's jobs are no longer influenced by their impressions from the MDM - even though we are told that these do still continue to have some impact on them. Crazy:B's stories in particular haven't focused on its appeal to outsiders for a while now. The system in regards to Crazy:B and ALKALOID (as representatives of deviant and/or marginalized groups) doesn't do anything - or at least, nothing out of the ordinary - which isn't what we are being told in our "theory".

This, when added to existing interpersonal interactions about the racism that the Amagis face, makes this narrative against racism even weaker.

To summarize, Aira's comments against the Amagi's don't amount to anything. For all that the fandom argues about whether or not these comments are out-of/in-character, at the end of the day, they have no impact. No matter what Aira says, Hiiro will still call him his closest friend and Rinne will still joke about him being his in-law. Mayoi and Tatsumi will scold him as much as they like - then, in the next chapter, they will sing and dance together as if nothing happened. Deleting instances of Aira's racism would only change so much (and while not to the same extent, some amount of this sentiment applies to Kaoru re: Adonis as well).

But... this doesn't make sense. The Amagis have been taught from their youth that the city is a place that oppresses them - and now, when faced with someone who makes prejudiced comments against them based on their ethnicity, their response is to do what, exactly...? No rethinking of what their family taught them? No concern that maybe - just maybe - there may be some truth to the fears of their family? No conflict between deciding where to go if neither the village nor the city is entirely accepting of them? No sitting Aira down, or fighting with him, or even just spending more than one line saying "Hey, can you not say that"?

Enstars cannot do so, because that would require a far more nuanced interpretation of the Amagi village: recognizing that the Amagis had an unfavourable response to a legitimate fear instead of them simply being overly paranoid for "far-fetched historical reasons". It would require understanding that in order for the "cult-like" environment that they've written for the Amagis to work, there must have been some motivation to cultivate that environment. However, Enstars' approach to the Amagi village is something that requires its own post.

If we are to take Aira as a representative of the system and Rinne as a representative of those against the system, then all of their interactions regarding racism fail to act on Enstars' "theory". In response to the system, the rebel's response should not be to ignore discrimination, but to confront it. This is not what happens, partly because Aira and Rinne are also supposed to be compliments to each other narratively because of their stances on idols (thus, this systemic point isn't the primary focus of their interactions), partly because Rinne never - either by chance or by choice - is the one to respond to Aira.

Additionally, even if Aira and Rinne aren't acting as representatives of opposing viewpoints, their interactions disprove Rinne's character as a disruptor of the system. I think its fair to assume that someone who condemns systemic oppression would likewise condemn expressions of prejudice in a casual context since these interpersonal interactions can be reflective of the system's influence. In fact, that last point is illustrated in Aira's narrative; though his interactions with his former classmates are classified as interpersonal (since they occur between individuals), they are representative of greater cultural views on foreigners and mixed-children and are meant to be taken as such.

Instead, there's nothing between Aira and Rinne - or any other character who either a) possesses biased or prejudiced views or b) condemns prejudice and discrimination - for all that there ought to be narratively.

But I might argue that the racism in Enstars isn't really a "narrative" but an "occasion". When it happens, its discussed, but once the moment is over, its over. These moments expressing racism are often forgotten and discarded up until they happen again - but even then, each expression of racism is a repeat of the previous with no development since or in between. With this sort of approach to racism, a grounded narrative discussing systemic issues cannot be sustained, and interpersonal squabbles can only be regurgitated.

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Something else that I forgot to add:

Ibuki's rejection of being EsuPuri's leader has to do with him not liking its "childish" direction from what I gather, and he generally doesn't really seem to see himself as a child. In one of his winter voicelines, when he sees EsuPuri making snowman, he makes a remark about how they're enjoying their childhood, which is something he doesn't include himself in.

If he's trying to aim for a sense of maturity, then it would make sense why he might gravitate towards AKATSUKI since its a more "sophisticated" unit compared to the other ones in Enstars, especially with all of its members on the older end. However... that's also one of the biggest flaws of Ibuki's inclusion.

As many fans have mentioned, his short height makes him stand out too much in AKATSUKI's lineup, his higher voice disrupts the signature, deep sound of AKATSUKI's vocals (and before anyone assumes - no, I hold no ill-will towards the voice actor), and his age puts him in a distinct position separating him from the other members' experiences. Either we have a story about him "growing up" - which begs the question of why he as one of the younger characters is being encouraged to do so when, while definitely youthful, he is far from immature (and also a question of whose definition of "grown up" we are following) - or we have a story where the other 3 members of AKATSUKi go back and forth between acting their age and trying to meet Ibuki's stride in between everything else that they have going on.

If AKATSUKI's story were anything else, this could have been a point of interest, but as it stands, it just feels like an unnecessary plot point that ignores the more established points about Ibuki and AKATSUKI by creating hijinks that detract from a more fruitful narrative (which has already been a problem for fans with some Enstars units).

In the end, the inclusion of Ibuki in AKATSUKI to separate him from his "childlike" peers does the opposite by emphasizing how much of a child he truly is when compared to other characters. That, to me, is also a sign of how HappyElements is going out of its way to put Ibuki in AKATSUKI.

On Ibuki, Identity, And Establishing A Character

With Ibuki being a new character, there’s a lot of potential for where he goes – but at the same time, Enstars has established quite a bit in the time since release. Below, I’ll jot down my feelings in regards to his identity.

When it comes to his identity, Enstars in-text and announcements (such as 4piece’s Final Ceremony) calls him half-American, half-Okinawan. This alone stands out, because he isn’t being associated with the entire country of Japan, but with a specific region. This is an unusual way for Enstars to refer to any of its characters, with the closest any character being to this sort of region-based identification character being Mika.

Mika is one of the few characters whose regional background is specified, with him being from Kansai – but even still, it doesn’t compare to Ibuki. Mika’s character description makes no mention of this, nor does he address himself as such. He is classified by his nation, not his specific city/region of origin, meaning that he is considered Japanese, not explicitly called Osakan.

When it comes to characters whose nationalities and/or ethnicities are mentioned, there is Adonis (“A young idol that came to Japan from the Middle East” <- !!-era character description; “I was born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father…” <- !!-era self description) and Aira (“He is a quarter French…” <- character description).

But with the characters above, who are each half-Japanese, the term Japanese or Japan is used. They don’t have a region specified the way that Ibuki does, so we can see that this isn’t something that Enstars is implementing on account of Ibuki being half-American.

From his description alone, he’s already distinct because he doesn’t mention Japan at all, but has no problem mentioning Okinawa, so we already see a distinct and unique relationship with Japan.

Then, there’s also how he addresses himself. In his Idol Story 1, he explicitly calls himself uchinaanchu (うちなぁんちゅ) (In the voiced video for the Idol Story on the Youtube channel, this would be around the 0:44 mark). This is a term used by Ryukyuans, or Indigenous Okinawans, meaning that his relation to Okinawa isn’t just a matter of him being born there.

To elaborate on this, what I mean is that the term “Okinawan” on its own isn’t just used to describe Indigenous Okinawans, but in general, anyone who is a resident of Okinawa, or has some history in Okinawa (such as spending their youth in Okinawa). In English-speaking spaces, I personally find that people use the term Okinawan and Ryukyuan interchangeably, but there are certainly also people who use the term “Okinawan” by the other descriptions that I provide above. With Ibuki though, we aren’t seeing that he calls himself Okinawan specifically because of the circumstances of his birth – his ethnic background plays a role in his self-identification as well.

To summarize: he isn’t a guy who happens to have ties to Okinawa – he is specifically Indigenous to the Okinawan region.

Most importantly, when it comes to his relationship with his identity, we see that he regards his identity positively.

In Idol Story 1, Ibuki makes a comment about being discriminated against on the basis of being half-American, half-Okinawan (where he specifically uses the term uchinaanchu). Without getting too far for now into how Enstars uses this as a joke which risks underplaying the discrimination that marginalized groups face, we do see that Ibuki is familiar with the way that the groups that he belongs to are perceived, and condemns this discrimination.

There’s a comment that Ibuki makes in Idol Story 2 towards Tetora – “You shouldn’t think of yourselves as the standard for everything~, Mr. Japanese.” He pokes at how cultural ideas change with eras and places and so there is no one standard in Japan – despite its reputation as a homogeneous society – given the diversity that it has. (This does risk getting undercutted by Ibuki’s antagonistic role in the story, depending on how Ibuki’s pokings at Japanese society are depicted in Enstars from here on out.)

Ibuki’s pride is directed to both his Okinawan and American roots – his experiences in both places are valuable to him (which is going to be very important to remember later). This is consistent throughout all of his experiences – he continuously refers to cuisine and practices from both cultures without downplaying them.

What makes this especially important is that its distinct. For comparison: Rinne has a complicated relationship with the Amagi hometown due to his upbringing; Hiiro is trying to get acclimated to city-life and unlearn some of the ideas that he was raised with (though there is a lot more to say about the Amagis that I won’t get into here); Adonis deals with internalized racism as seen in his negative self-image; and Aira hasn’t made a strong claim to his French heritage since he wasn’t raised with French culture.

This is big, genuinely. His identity is not ambiguous, and he actively engages in it, which is also being directly shown in-game. But that also ties into another concern related specifically to discussions about Ryukyuans.

In the present, Ryukyuans are not a recognized Indigenous group in Japan. Instead, they are considered a sister group to the Yamato ethnic group, which is the predominant ethnic group in Japan (90+% of Japan is stated to be Yamato, with some sources putting them as high as 99%).

As such, Ibuki’s inclusion in AKATSUKI, which presents itself as a traditional Japanese group, is currently at a crossroads – either they acknowledge the Ryukyuans as a distinct group, but not to be treated differently from the Yamato, or they consider Ryukyuans an extension of the Yamato.

The latter is a concerning road to take given the assimilation of the Ryukyuans. When talking about assimilation, we usually talk about ethnic cleansing, which involves the prohibition of cultural practices or harm done to practitioners prohibiting them from engaging in their cultures. However, a part of assimilation that isn’t often discussed is absorption – as in, the targeted culture’s practices are deemed the practice of the dominant culture, thus denouncing or downplaying their claims to certain cultural ideas, if not all of them.

We see this especially in discussions about the Ryukyuan languages, to give a real-world example. When it comes to the prohibition of practices, in the Meiji era, to promote the use of Japanese and dissuade the use of the Ryukyuan languages, the language of instruction in Okinawan schools was exclusively Japanese, and use of any other language would be punished, usually by making the offending student wear a humiliating tag around their neck.

Then, when it comes to the absorption of practices, in the 19th century, the Ryukyuan languages were deemed dialects of Japanese. This strips the Ryukyuans of the ability to use their practices as a point of distinction and proof of Indigeneity, since their practices are mislabelled to integrate them into the dominant group. In the present, most discourses I’ve seen about the dialect vs. language classification agree that the Japanese government’s use of “dialect” (方言) is derived from political, social, and cultural arguments, not linguistic ones.

And so, when it comes to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, we are running the risk of misattributing Ryukyuan culture to all of Japan. Instead of their culture being “the practice of Indigenous Okinawans”, Enstars might label it, “the practice of Japanese people living in Okinawa.”

These Japanese vs. Ryukyuan cultural comparisons continue to be of great concern in Ibuki’s writing. In Ibuki’s Idol Story 3, he mentions that he’s trying to learn about the “true Japanese style” (和風). Here, we run into concerns about what constitutes true Japanese style – and the fact that Ibuki is searching for it implies that it is something he currently lacks. Ibuki is well-versed in Okinawan culture as was mentioned above, so what exactly is the part of Japanese culture that he struggles with? I don’t think its surprising for him to have some interest in the cultures of mainland Japan, but why should that be labelled the “true Japanese style”? Additionally, he has as much reason to consider himself Japanese as he does to call himself Okinawan, but as we see above, only the latter gets used for him.

And that gets us back to the importance of “ibuki as half-Okinawan” vs “Ibuki as half-Japanese”.

(Note: I am not Indigenous. The classifications that I’m making below are not supposed to be representative of every Indigenous person ever, and are mixed between local conversations that I’ve had and global debates. Corrections and alternative perspectives are encouraged.)

The self-classification of Indigenous peoples around the world, but something that we have seen is that not everyone associates with the nation-state that they were born.

Nation + Indigenous identification (Ex. A person calls themself Japanese-Ryukyuan) comes from different feelings and experiences across domains. For example, on one hand, in the legal and international dominant, the nation-state identity is what one will be referred to. The nation-state's culture is the one that a lot of children are raised in, and depending on the demographics of their area, it might be common that a parent and/or other family members will be from the dominant group, so its not wholly correct from an ethnic standpoint to reject the dominant identity. However, in other domains, the Indigenous identity still prevails. Maybe their Indigenous identity is more relevant locally, or their upbringing meant that they were sufficiently exposed enough to their respective cultural practices to build a foundational association with them. Nonetheless, its not a matter of one or the other – both identities have their place and relation (and it’s a very complicated thing to manage for people personally, not as clear-cut as I’ve put in my examples above).

Solely Indigenous identification (Ex. A person calls themselves Ryukyuan) comes from the rejection of the imposed nation-state identity – in particular, it rejects the borders that one’s respective Indigenous group was forced into. Whatever interaction there is with the dominant group – whether it be upbringing, blood ties, or extended exposure – it does not change the fact that one does not associate with the dominant group. Ultimately, the nation-state, irrespective of its legal and/or international presence, is deemed an imposed identity, not an organically originating one for those who refuse to call themselves by it.

(There are also Indigenous people who refer to themselves by solely the nation identification – I do not include this perspective because it does not relate to Ibuki specifically, but I ask that people keep it in mind when it comes to greater discussions of Indigeneity.)

For Ibuki, this is relevant because his lack of association puts him in the second category – he has never made any claims to Japan as a whole, and this is reflected in his written profile, meaning that it is something that Enstars is attributing to him, not fan interpretations.

Additionally, as seen in his interaction with Tetora in Idol Story 2, he is willing to poke at the idea of what constitutes being “Japanese”. As it currently stands with Enstars characters, there is a scale to how heavily characters associate themselves with Japan. I would personally put Aira at one end, given that he consciously makes attempts to follow norms since his appearance leads people to assume that he isn’t Japanese, leading to his complex, and I would put Rinne at the other end because for all that he enjoys the city-life, that doesn’t change the fact that he criticizes the idea of a homogeneous Japan, and he repeatedly condemns the historical treatment of his people.

I don’t think I would shock anyone if I said that Ibuki’s outlook is far more similar to Rinne’s. I also don’t think it would be shocking if I suggested that, if Rinne were to be written as Ibuki is, then it would be easier for people to see the contradiction between ideology and action.

But, as seen in Idol Story 3, Ibuki does have an interest in mainland culture. However, Ibuki isn’t unique for this – Adonis and Hiiro have a similar interest in mainland culture, yet their treatment has been vastly different. Using a Doylist lens, I’ll talk about why this is stands out to me.

As a precursor, let me note: Ibuki is still a character being established, and will take time to develop given Enstars’ medium as a gacha game, and I genuinely hope from the bottom of my heart that Enstars takes the many nuances of this situation into account – but this is unlikely given how Enstars has written racial minorities from its inception, and I don’t think its an unfair thing to voice concerns about.

In light of AKATSUKI’s mischaracterization, I don’t think its unfair to say that Ibuki’s characterization is also being “adapted” to justify his inclusion in AKATSUKI. I’m not using the term mischaracterization off the bat because I’m aware that people are going to take it in ways that I don’t intend it to, so let me explain:

Rather than thinking of it as “mischaracterization”, it would be more accurate to say that his characterization is being set up to make certain choices easier for the writing team. This has been a similar concern with Adonis’ internalized racism, given that his comments towards himself have been used to legitimize other characters’ tendency to describe him as “scary” rather than to serve his narrative and development. As such, instead of telling us anything about Adonis as a person, his internalized racism softens the discussion around racism by making it seem like racialized groups, too, find their own bodies as scary as out-groups do - which plays into racist assumptions that all racialized people consider themselves inferior culturally.

In Idol Story 3, we have Ibuki mention that he wants to find the “true Japanese style”, which Esu sympathizes with. The purpose of this scene isn’t to establish Ibuki’s motives – its to defend Enstars’ writing choice. Esu expresses sympathy, which prompts Ibuki to say that most people haven’t been understanding of his choice – but the question is who are these people? The closest we get to criticism about his choice to join AKATSUKI is Kuro and Souma’s reluctance, but even that isn’t permanent. We get throwaway lines about “people”, but never any clarification on what type of person. It’s a breaking of the fourth wall – and if we’re breaking it, lets go all the way.

People are surprised about Ibuki’s choice for many reasons, but allow me to say this – its sudden and doesn’t match up with what we’ve seen of Ibuki.

Between Idol Story 2 and VS. Audience, interacting with Keito suddenly gets him from “don’t assume what is or isn’t common in Japan” to “I need to find out what true Japanese style is.” Idol Story 3 doesn’t elaborate on this, it just puts it into plain words.

Again, as I’ve mentioned, Ibuki isn’t the first character to be interested in mainland culture. Adonis, specifically, is a friend of Souma who uses him as a reference for what is true Japanese culture. But at no point in his attempts to learn about Japanese culture does Adonis ever consider joining AKATSUKI, nor does Hiiro do the same in his attempts to learn about the city. Ibuki, despite having similar motives, is being treated is exceptionally invested. And I really want to emphasize that last sentence – there isn’t anything particularly strong or spectacular about Ibuki’s desire to learn, he isn’t written to be more determined than any other character, but Enstars expects us to see it differently.

It also doesn’t work with his character as established thus far, specifically as it pertains to character conflicts. In 4piece, we already see that Esu and Fuyume have a complicated relationship worsened by the airplane crash that took Esu’s father’s life, Kanna is burdened by the label “genius” and is unsure of how to become human, and Raika is suddenly being introduced to a society that he doesn’t understand. Ibuki has had almost as much screen time as EsuPuri, but he’s the only one to suddenly introduce a new character motivation.

At first glance, his unconstrained nature seemed to be a source of conflict given his tendency to pick fights and his easy-going nature. His mind in particular is said to be prone to swaying, and yet his resoluteness in joining AKATSUKI is unquestioned narratively from what I’ve seen. Wouldn’t other characters who know ibuki for his go-with-the-flow nature be surprised to see him give his all to a group? Instead, its being treated as something obvious that “people” need to respect.

There is some well speculation that Ibuki’s inclusion is meant to play into the ongoing idol-colonization of Okinawa in Enstars… but to be frank, connecting Ibuki to this plot point doesn’t require him joining AKATSUKI. In fact, one could argue that if Ibuki’s narrative purpose were to address this, he would be better off going solo or joining RYUSEITAI since this would give him more opportunities to address this plotline since AKATSUKI isn’t as heavily involved.

In the end, what really makes me doubtful about Ibuki’s writing is 1) the inclusion of the Rising Sun flag in the 2025 ver of “Hyakka Ryouran, Akatsukiyo” (百花繚乱 紅月夜) and 2) concerns about his upcoming solo being about his identity – specifically a feeling of lack of identity.

Firstly… I truly don’t think that you can make a claim about respecting Ryukyuan culture if you’re doing so under an imperialistic image. Remember, the Ryukyuan’s problem is that they are being mislabelled as the Yamato’s sister group, so calling their practices “Japanese culture” from an ethnicity lens has problems. Also, using the Rising Sun flag to promote Ryukyuan culture risks associating their culture with the ideology that was used to ethnically cleanse them.

Secondly, Ibuki already has an identity. Its one of his most established traits, to be clear. If concerns of fans turn out to be true and it turns out that Ibuki is insecure in his identity, then we must ask: where is this coming from? Maybe its not his ethnicity specifically that he has problems with – don’t worry, I’ll allow nuance – but as I’ve said above, none of this is what we have seen with Ibuki thus far. It feels like they’re introducing this new insecurity to poke at fans who don’t like this decision to put him in AKATSUKI – “See, you’re the exact sort of person that makes Ibuki insecure! Aren’t you awful? Really, since this is Ibuki’s choice which absolutely isn’t being influenced by anything else, it shows that you don’t have any respect for people like Ibuki who follow their dreams (even if their dream is to follow the status quo against their own wishes)!”

But there’s another thing that Enstars risks saying with Ibuki, which is that yes, he may be Okinawan, but it’s not enough for him to just consider himself Okinawan – but if so, why? Why is it necessary that he call himself Japanese from an ethnic standpoint when he has not claimed that identity nor has been given a reason thus far to do so – an identity that has been used to erase his community?

[our-ensemble]

On Ibuki, Identity, And Establishing A Character

With Ibuki being a new character, there’s a lot of potential for where he goes – but at the same time, Enstars has established quite a bit in the time since release. Below, I’ll jot down my feelings in regards to his identity.

When it comes to his identity, Enstars in-text and announcements (such as 4piece’s Final Ceremony) calls him half-American, half-Okinawan. This alone stands out, because he isn’t being associated with the entire country of Japan, but with a specific region. This is an unusual way for Enstars to refer to any of its characters, with the closest any character being to this sort of region-based identification character being Mika.

Mika is one of the few characters whose regional background is specified, with him being from Kansai – but even still, it doesn’t compare to Ibuki. Mika’s character description makes no mention of this, nor does he address himself as such. He is classified by his nation, not his specific city/region of origin, meaning that he is considered Japanese, not explicitly called Osakan.

When it comes to characters whose nationalities and/or ethnicities are mentioned, there is Adonis (“A young idol that came to Japan from the Middle East” <- !!-era character description; “I was born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father…” <- !!-era self description) and Aira (“He is a quarter French…” <- character description).

But with the characters above, who are each half-Japanese, the term Japanese or Japan is used. They don’t have a region specified the way that Ibuki does, so we can see that this isn’t something that Enstars is implementing on account of Ibuki being half-American.

From his description alone, he’s already distinct because he doesn’t mention Japan at all, but has no problem mentioning Okinawa, so we already see a distinct and unique relationship with Japan.

Then, there’s also how he addresses himself. In his Idol Story 1, he explicitly calls himself uchinaanchu (うちなぁんちゅ) (In the voiced video for the Idol Story on the Youtube channel, this would be around the 0:44 mark). This is a term used by Ryukyuans, or Indigenous Okinawans, meaning that his relation to Okinawa isn’t just a matter of him being born there.

To elaborate on this, what I mean is that the term “Okinawan” on its own isn’t just used to describe Indigenous Okinawans, but in general, anyone who is a resident of Okinawa, or has some history in Okinawa (such as spending their youth in Okinawa). In English-speaking spaces, I personally find that people use the term Okinawan and Ryukyuan interchangeably, but there are certainly also people who use the term “Okinawan” by the other descriptions that I provide above. With Ibuki though, we aren’t seeing that he calls himself Okinawan specifically because of the circumstances of his birth – his ethnic background plays a role in his self-identification as well.

To summarize: he isn’t a guy who happens to have ties to Okinawa – he is specifically Indigenous to the Okinawan region.

Most importantly, when it comes to his relationship with his identity, we see that he regards his identity positively.

In Idol Story 1, Ibuki makes a comment about being discriminated against on the basis of being half-American, half-Okinawan (where he specifically uses the term uchinaanchu). Without getting too far for now into how Enstars uses this as a joke which risks underplaying the discrimination that marginalized groups face, we do see that Ibuki is familiar with the way that the groups that he belongs to are perceived, and condemns this discrimination.

There’s a comment that Ibuki makes in Idol Story 2 towards Tetora – “You shouldn’t think of yourselves as the standard for everything~, Mr. Japanese.” He pokes at how cultural ideas change with eras and places and so there is no one standard in Japan – despite its reputation as a homogeneous society – given the diversity that it has. (This does risk getting undercutted by Ibuki’s antagonistic role in the story, depending on how Ibuki’s pokings at Japanese society are depicted in Enstars from here on out.)

Ibuki’s pride is directed to both his Okinawan and American roots – his experiences in both places are valuable to him (which is going to be very important to remember later). This is consistent throughout all of his experiences – he continuously refers to cuisine and practices from both cultures without downplaying them.

What makes this especially important is that its distinct. For comparison: Rinne has a complicated relationship with the Amagi hometown due to his upbringing; Hiiro is trying to get acclimated to city-life and unlearn some of the ideas that he was raised with (though there is a lot more to say about the Amagis that I won’t get into here); Adonis deals with internalized racism as seen in his negative self-image; and Aira hasn’t made a strong claim to his French heritage since he wasn’t raised with French culture.

This is big, genuinely. His identity is not ambiguous, and he actively engages in it, which is also being directly shown in-game. But that also ties into another concern related specifically to discussions about Ryukyuans.

In the present, Ryukyuans are not a recognized Indigenous group in Japan. Instead, they are considered a sister group to the Yamato ethnic group, which is the predominant ethnic group in Japan (90+% of Japan is stated to be Yamato, with some sources putting them as high as 99%).

As such, Ibuki’s inclusion in AKATSUKI, which presents itself as a traditional Japanese group, is currently at a crossroads – either they acknowledge the Ryukyuans as a distinct group, but not to be treated differently from the Yamato, or they consider Ryukyuans an extension of the Yamato.

The latter is a concerning road to take given the assimilation of the Ryukyuans. When talking about assimilation, we usually talk about ethnic cleansing, which involves the prohibition of cultural practices or harm done to practitioners prohibiting them from engaging in their cultures. However, a part of assimilation that isn’t often discussed is absorption – as in, the targeted culture’s practices are deemed the practice of the dominant culture, thus denouncing or downplaying their claims to certain cultural ideas, if not all of them.

We see this especially in discussions about the Ryukyuan languages, to give a real-world example. When it comes to the prohibition of practices, in the Meiji era, to promote the use of Japanese and dissuade the use of the Ryukyuan languages, the language of instruction in Okinawan schools was exclusively Japanese, and use of any other language would be punished, usually by making the offending student wear a humiliating tag around their neck.

Then, when it comes to the absorption of practices, in the 19th century, the Ryukyuan languages were deemed dialects of Japanese. This strips the Ryukyuans of the ability to use their practices as a point of distinction and proof of Indigeneity, since their practices are mislabelled to integrate them into the dominant group. In the present, most discourses I’ve seen about the dialect vs. language classification agree that the Japanese government’s use of “dialect” (方言) is derived from political, social, and cultural arguments, not linguistic ones.

And so, when it comes to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, we are running the risk of misattributing Ryukyuan culture to all of Japan. Instead of their culture being “the practice of Indigenous Okinawans”, Enstars might label it, “the practice of Japanese people living in Okinawa.”

These Japanese vs. Ryukyuan cultural comparisons continue to be of great concern in Ibuki’s writing. In Ibuki’s Idol Story 3, he mentions that he’s trying to learn about the “true Japanese style” (和風). Here, we run into concerns about what constitutes true Japanese style – and the fact that Ibuki is searching for it implies that it is something he currently lacks. Ibuki is well-versed in Okinawan culture as was mentioned above, so what exactly is the part of Japanese culture that he struggles with? I don’t think its surprising for him to have some interest in the cultures of mainland Japan, but why should that be labelled the “true Japanese style”? Additionally, he has as much reason to consider himself Japanese as he does to call himself Okinawan, but as we see above, only the latter gets used for him.

And that gets us back to the importance of “ibuki as half-Okinawan” vs “Ibuki as half-Japanese”.

(Note: I am not Indigenous. The classifications that I’m making below are not supposed to be representative of every Indigenous person ever, and are mixed between local conversations that I’ve had and global debates. Corrections and alternative perspectives are encouraged.)

To explain this, its important to note how many Indigenous groups self-identify, especially in relation to their nation-state.

Nation + Indigenous identification (Ex. A person calls themself Japanese-Ryukyuan) comes from different feelings and experiences across domains. For example, on one hand, in the legal and international dominant, the nation-state identity is what one will be referred to. The nation-state's culture is the one that a lot of children are raised in, and depending on the demographics of their area, it might be common that a parent and/or other family members will be from the dominant group, so its not wholly correct from an ethnic standpoint to reject the dominant identity. However, in other domains, the Indigenous identity still prevails. Maybe their Indigenous identity is more relevant locally, or their upbringing meant that they were sufficiently exposed enough to their respective cultural practices to build a foundational association with them. Nonetheless, its not a matter of one or the other – both identities have their place and relation (and it’s a very complicated thing to manage for people personally, not as clear-cut as I’ve put in my examples above).

Solely Indigenous identification (Ex. A person calls themselves Ryukyuan) comes from the rejection of the imposed nation-state identity – in particular, it rejects the borders that one’s respective Indigenous group was forced into. Whatever interaction there is with the dominant group – whether it be upbringing, blood ties, or extended exposure – it does not change the fact that one does not associate with the dominant group. Ultimately, the nation-state, irrespective of its legal and/or international presence, is deemed an imposed identity, not an organically originating one for those who refuse to call themselves by it.

(There are also Indigenous people who refer to themselves by solely the nation identification – I do not include this perspective because it does not relate to Ibuki specifically, but I ask that people keep it in mind when it comes to greater discussions of Indigeneity.)

For Ibuki, this is relevant because his lack of association puts him in the second category – he has never made any claims to Japan as a whole, and this is reflected in his written profile, meaning that it is something that Enstars is attributing to him, not fan interpretations.

Additionally, as seen in his interaction with Tetora in Idol Story 2, he is willing to poke at the idea of what constitutes being “Japanese”. As it currently stands with Enstars characters, there is a scale to how heavily characters associate themselves with Japan. I would personally put Aira at one end, given that he consciously makes attempts to follow norms since his appearance leads people to assume that he isn’t Japanese, leading to his complex, and I would put Rinne at the other end because for all that he enjoys the city-life, that doesn’t change the fact that he criticizes the idea of a homogeneous Japan, and he repeatedly condemns the historical treatment of his people.

I don’t think I would shock anyone if I said that Ibuki’s outlook is far more similar to Rinne’s. I also don’t think it would be shocking if I suggested that, if Rinne were to be written as Ibuki is, then it would be easier for people to see the contradiction between ideology and action.

But, as seen in Idol Story 3, Ibuki does have an interest in mainland culture. However, Ibuki isn’t unique for this – Adonis and Hiiro have a similar interest in mainland culture, yet their treatment has been vastly different. Using a Doylist lens, I’ll talk about why this is stands out to me.

As a precursor, let me note: Ibuki is still a character being established, and will take time to develop given Enstars’ medium as a gacha game, and I genuinely hope from the bottom of my heart that Enstars takes the many nuances of this situation into account – but this is unlikely given how Enstars has written racial minorities from its inception, and I don’t think its an unfair thing to voice concerns about.

In light of AKATSUKI’s mischaracterization, I don’t think its unfair to say that Ibuki’s characterization is also being “adapted” to justify his inclusion in AKATSUKI. I’m not using the term mischaracterization off the bat because I’m aware that people are going to take it in ways that I don’t intend it to, so let me explain:

Rather than thinking of it as “mischaracterization”, it would be more accurate to say that his characterization is being set up to make certain choices easier for the writing team. This has been a similar concern with Adonis’ internalized racism, given that his comments towards himself have been used to legitimize other characters’ tendency to describe him as “scary” rather than to serve his narrative and development. As such, instead of telling us anything about Adonis as a person, his internalized racism softens the discussion around racism by making it seem like racialized groups, too, find their own bodies as scary as out-groups do - which plays into racist assumptions that all racialized people consider themselves inferior culturally.

In Idol Story 3, we have Ibuki mention that he wants to find the “true Japanese style”, which Esu sympathizes with. The purpose of this scene isn’t to establish Ibuki’s motives – its to defend Enstars’ writing choice. Esu expresses sympathy, which prompts Ibuki to say that most people haven’t been understanding of his choice – but the question is who are these people? The closest we get to criticism about his choice to join AKATSUKI is Kuro and Souma’s reluctance, but even that isn’t permanent. We get throwaway lines about “people”, but never any clarification on what type of person. It’s a breaking of the fourth wall – and if we’re breaking it, lets go all the way.

People are surprised about Ibuki’s choice for many reasons, but allow me to say this – its sudden and doesn’t match up with what we’ve seen of Ibuki.

Between Idol Story 2 and VS. Audience, interacting with Keito suddenly gets him from “don’t assume what is or isn’t common in Japan” to “I need to find out what true Japanese style is.” Idol Story 3 doesn’t elaborate on this, it just puts it into plain words.

Again, as I’ve mentioned, Ibuki isn’t the first character to be interested in mainland culture. Adonis, specifically, is a friend of Souma who uses him as a reference for what is true Japanese culture. But at no point in his attempts to learn about Japanese culture does Adonis ever consider joining AKATSUKI, nor does Hiiro do the same in his attempts to learn about the city. Ibuki, despite having similar motives, is being treated is exceptionally invested. And I really want to emphasize that last sentence – there isn’t anything particularly strong or spectacular about Ibuki’s desire to learn, he isn’t written to be more determined than any other character, but Enstars expects us to see it differently.

It also doesn’t work with his character as established thus far, specifically as it pertains to character conflicts. In 4piece, we already see that Esu and Fuyume have a complicated relationship worsened by the airplane crash that took Esu’s father’s life, Kanna is burdened by the label “genius” and is unsure of how to become human, and Raika is suddenly being introduced to a society that he doesn’t understand. Ibuki has had almost as much screen time as EsuPuri, but he’s the only one to suddenly introduce a new character motivation.

At first glance, his unconstrained nature seemed to be a source of conflict given his tendency to pick fights and his easy-going nature. His mind in particular is said to be prone to swaying, and yet his resoluteness in joining AKATSUKI is unquestioned narratively from what I’ve seen. Wouldn’t other characters who know ibuki for his go-with-the-flow nature be surprised to see him give his all to a group? Instead, its being treated as something obvious that “people” need to respect.

There is some well speculation that Ibuki’s inclusion is meant to play into the ongoing idol-colonization of Okinawa in Enstars… but to be frank, connecting Ibuki to this plot point doesn’t require him joining AKATSUKI. In fact, one could argue that if Ibuki’s narrative purpose were to address this, he would be better off going solo or joining RYUSEITAI since this would give him more opportunities to address this plotline since AKATSUKI isn’t as heavily involved.

In the end, what really makes me doubtful about Ibuki’s writing is 1) the inclusion of the Rising Sun flag in the 2025 ver of “Hyakka Ryouran, Akatsukiyo” (百花繚乱 紅月夜) and 2) concerns about his upcoming solo being about his identity – specifically a feeling of lack of identity.

Firstly… I truly don’t think that you can make a claim about respecting Ryukyuan culture if you’re doing so under an imperialistic image. Remember, the Ryukyuan’s problem is that they are being mislabelled as the Yamato’s sister group, so calling their practices “Japanese culture” from an ethnicity lens has problems. Also, using the Rising Sun flag to promote Ryukyuan culture risks associating their culture with the ideology that was used to ethnically cleanse them.

Secondly, Ibuki already has an identity. Its one of his most established traits, to be clear. If concerns of fans turn out to be true and it turns out that Ibuki is insecure in his identity, then we must ask: where is this coming from? Maybe its not his ethnicity specifically that he has problems with – don’t worry, I’ll allow nuance – but as I’ve said above, none of this is what we have seen with Ibuki thus far. It feels like they’re introducing this new insecurity to poke at fans who don’t like this decision to put him in AKATSUKI – “See, you’re the exact sort of person that makes Ibuki insecure! Aren’t you awful? Really, since this is Ibuki’s choice which absolutely isn’t being influenced by anything else, it shows that you don’t have any respect for people like Ibuki who follow their dreams (even if their dream is to follow the status quo against their own wishes)!”

But there’s another thing that Enstars risks saying with Ibuki, which is that yes, he may be Okinawan, but it’s not enough for him to just consider himself Okinawan – but if so, why? Why is it necessary that he call himself Japanese from an ethnic standpoint when he has not claimed that identity nor has been given a reason thus far to do so – an identity that has been used to erase his community?