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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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Google Forms for Submitting Instances of Discrimination in Enstars

Here is the form where people can submit responses as an alternative to this blog. If you have any issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I explain more about this situation here.

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How do you send a support thingy? I think I accidentally sent a blank one :(

you can contact support here! it then takes you to this vertical page with a faq and a submission section

for this, i chose the "suggestions" type of ticket

then it takes you to this form!

you write your id on the first box (that HOME - MENU - MY PROFILE thingy are the instructions on where to find it so you can copy and paste it, my profile is what shows up when you click on ur pfp on the top right corner)

then on the details box you explain the issue "on the first chapter of the recent scout story Polka Dots/Youth is the color of summer, Tetora refers to Arashi as "he" when she has already been established as a woman going as far back as the game's preregistration" and so on, with whatever else you feel worth mentioning! they also erased her identity in seven bridges, so it's worth mentioning too :(

you can also attach these in-game screenshots to show where the problem is!

later, it will take you to a screen like this one, showing the message you've sent and the status of your issue

you can check the support notices you've sent by clicking on the envelope icon!

so you should be able to see if you accidentally sent in something or not 👍

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This account will be going on an indefinite hiatus from Jan 8th 10PM JST onward.

After much deliberation, and seeing a boycott held by fellow AKATSUKI fans, I have made the decision to pause activity on this account.

All posts will remain up for archival purposes. If anyone wishes to make an account with similar functions to this one, I only ask you do so after Happy Elements has responded to our demands. I am happy to promote any accounts after the fact.

The pinned post has been updated to show resources that may help followers of this account who wish to partake in the boycott. Thank you for following ensemblewithsenpai.

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BOYCOTT GUIDELINES

WHY BOYCOTT?

SUPPORT MAIL TUTORIAL

SUPPORT MAIL TEMPLATE

(Last Update: Jan 8th, 2025)

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I see people talk about some Enstars outfits being culturally offensive a lot, I don't really understand though. What makes an outfit culturally offensive? Do you know any posts I can check out that explain?

Thank you for the ask, and I hope to explain this to the best of my ability.

I think that the first thing to acknowledge is what we mean by "offense", since it is prone to subjective interpretation. Most of the time, people interpret "offense" as "an individual being hurt, angered, or feeling attacked by someone or something." However, this does not work when talking about cultural offense because we are not talking about one individual's reaction to someone or something, but a greater look at the interactions between societies, cultures, and groups, and how one group may come to represent and characterize another group. As such, cultural offense is about a greater pattern of misrepresenting other cultures (whether accidentally or purposefully) or painting them as inferior, and the implications of doing so.

With regards to Enstars, when we talk about outfits (and cards for that matter) being culturally offensive, we often mean that they do some combination of stereotyping, sexualization, and outright false portrayals of a culture.

To illustrate this, I'll focus on Adonis' card, "Clad in Homeland Wind".

(The room outfit shows off his clothes better, but I cannot get a good image of it. You can get a good view of the 3D model here)

In the card above, Adonis is supposed to be wearing clothing from his homeland. However, what he wears is incomparable to cultural clothes found across the Middle East/SWANA region, and shows signs of sexualization and stereotyping. In this regard, Adonis specifically deals with concerns of orientalism - or how the East is viewed and studied according to the West - in his clothing as reflected in the misconceptions about Arab culture that I will get to.

With sexualization, the most obvious part is the skin. Adonis has odd cutouts on his shoulders, and there is no shirt under his open black jacket, which shows off his abs and torso.

The sexualization of Arab, black, and brown men has often been done to demean these groups, painting them as hypersexual, violent with regards to sex, and promiscuous. This ties into stereotypes of aggressiveness to portray these groups as threatening, sexually or otherwise, towards women - especially women belonging to the dominant social group of a respective society.

As such, the sexualization of Adonis isn't just a poor execution of idol-typical fanservice, it plays into his exoticization to show him off as a sort of "forbidden fruit" due to him being a foreigner*, as is often the case with marginalized people. Comparatively, no other character shows skin in this manner across their FS1 cards, and the few other times when Adonis - and some other characters - show this level of skin is in similar instances of cultural offense.

When it comes to stereotypes, as described above, there is the stereotype of hypersexualization. That being said, the skin cutouts also tie to misconceptions about Arab clothing. For example, people swear off all clothing in the SWANA region as being reflective of the current influences of Islam with regards to skinship, and explain that showing off skin (just like the cutouts that Adonis has) would be a better way to fend off the heat as opposed to the "stiffling" clothes that Arabs wear nowadays.

Examples of clothing across the SWANA region include the dishdasha/thobe/kandora/jubba (predominantly worn in Gulf states) and the djellaba and gandora (North Africa, Maghreb region).

The clothes mentioned above cover the body in order to prevent the skin from making direct contact with the sun, and the looseness helps with air flow. It would not make sense to make skin cutouts in these garments because that would be counterproductive to fending off the heat, contrary to what some would belief. I mention this because this is important when it comes to discussions about clothes from SWANA cultures and skin - the assumption that less clothes = better to deal with the heat is based off of Western climates and assumptions from people in the West, and completely ignores the knowledge and experience of people who actually wear these clothes and the geographical conditions that allow them to do so. Additionally, many people use the "less clothes, better for heat" line of reasoning to justify the sexualization of Arab characters.

Also, with stereotypes, there is a tendency to slap... unusual fabrics onto Arab clothing. The hood/scarf combo that Adonis wears is nonsensical, and the green sash and red belt are staples of stereotypical clothing (think of Disney's "Aladdin" as an example) that are not found in real life. The coin-like additions on his belt are a bit of a mixed bag. This is because while coins are used in some traditional clothes around the region (often used in headdresses, veils, and dresses across the region), fictional characters across media, not just in Enstars, do not wear them the way people from these cultures do, which makes the inclusion of coins a flag for inaccuracy.

(and before someone gets pedantic - no, I'm not saying that people from the SWANA region don't wear belts, but that most of what Adonis wears is not comparable with real life cultural clothing, and is ambiguous at best.)

These are just some things that spring to mind at first glance. And so, how to get back to your question...

Why is this outfit culturally offensive?

This outfit does not show any SWANA culture despite claming to (note: while we know that Adonis is wearing traditional clothing, we still have yet to know exactly where he is from, which is why the conversation focuses more on general cultures found across the SWANA region rather than any specific one. The fact that Adonis still doesn't have a home country is also not without its own criticisms). Moreover, the outfit specifically draws from fictional and stereotypical depictions of SWANA cultures, showing an unwillingness to explore the topic of Adonis' culture thoroughly by relying on pop media as its source rather than using factual resources as a base. Additionally, its sexual aspects play into specific stereotypes that are demeaning, and at their worst, dehumanizing and objectifying.

The outfit is not reflective of SWANA cultures as they are, but as Enstars (among others) want it to be - titillating and alien. It is also done consistently, as seen in Midori's "Encountering Wonders" card, and Sora's "Righteous Thief" card, thus we can conclusively say that this has to do with an overall perception of SWANA cultures by HappyElements. Through these outfits, Enstars upholds stereotypes and prejudices targeting the SWANA region and its people, thus making them culturally offensive.

*Adonis is specifically half-Japanese, half-Arab, but the point still applies.

If I find any other posts on the topic of cultural offense, I'll be sure to reblog them, though I cannot direct any specific ones to you at this time. Additionally, if Enstars fans have any other concerns of cultural offense among other things, I will respond to them to the best of my ability or publish them so that others can respond to them if I cannot. If anyone would like to add to this, please do.

Also, for people who have noticed other instances of cultural offense and other social issues in Enstars, please feel free to submit them to me so that I can account for them in my breakdown of discrimination in Enstars.

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Additional things to keep in mind for fans wondering why we should not watch the livestream:

The importance of numbers: Without the ability to differentiate between positive and negative attention online, all attention tends to be seen as positive unless proven otherwise. For this scenario in particular, it might be confused as interest, or at most, endorsement. As such, interaction with Enstars' official accounts should be avoided, since these numbers (subscribers, view counts, likes) are the easiest way to gauge the audience - and the easiest way for us to show disapproval.

Death threats and fandom reputation: The use of death threats from some Enstars fans in the past has been used to paint all fans as hysterical, violent, and misbehaved. To be clear, this behaviour is not being endorsed, and fans should not treat any individual - author or otherwise in this manner. However, the important thing to note is that because of this, valid concerns of fans expressed through legitimate means of communication have been repeatedly brushed off. We can expect there to be some hostility in the chat following AKATSUKI's event, but this is not the way to express feelings of hurt and concern. Please, remember to be respectful in your interactions with HappyElements should you contact them with concerns about the current situation, and note that this livestream is not the place to do so.

Learning where to engage and where to disengage: This event has been a terrible time for many fans, and especially for those who engage in Enstars content regularly. Though, now is as good a time as any as to see where we should engage in Enstars content and where we should not. Livestreams have been important for showing off new content, but with Enstars in its current state, we should expect future revealed game content to distract fans rather than to address issues that fans have - something that is disrespectful to fans and the many individuals who have been hurt by HappyElements over time. At the minimum, for those interested in trying to distance themselves from HappyElements, try to avoid using official sources (channels, social media accounts, etc) to seek out Enstars content, starting with this livestream.

psa from @ENSTBoycott on X

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hi enstars tumblr. due to recent events i have started archiving every official enstars mv posted on their youtube account! it’s still a work in progress, but if you want a way to watch mvs without directly supporting happy elements or downloading them all yourself, you can find them here

current progress: fine, switch, esupuri, cover songs, fusion unit songs, shuffle unit songs

as a disclaimer: this is for archival purposes. the inclusion of specific mvs don’t reflect my own views on them and this google drive merely serves as a place to archive official contents

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Adonis Otogari and Microaggressions in Ensemble Stars

So, I'm sure you've all seen the most recent Adonis card. It's very pretty, it's got frills and other cute things Don isn't usually seen in...

...However, I'm sure at least some of you also noticed he's a bit on the pale side here when compared to other cards.

Why is this? Why would he be drawn noticeably lighter here and not other times? Well, one could imagine it has something to do with colorism.

Like I said before, Adonis isn't usually seen like this. The one time he's not shirtless for no reason or wearing something culturally insensitive, he suddenly looks paler.

Adonis is portrayed as "exotic" and "sexy" a lot of the time (which, if it wasn't already weird to do that with your only brown character, he's also 17, so...) and all those times, he's noticeably brown.

It's been a long standing stereotype that brown skin doesn't fit "cute" or "pretty" aesthetics. That those are for light skinned people, and light skinned people only.

Within the story itself presents another issue. In the story, Adonis goes to a flea market with Hajime. Adonis wants to sell a doll from his childhood, and has no luck until a little girl shows up.

(I'd like to specify I'm not a translator so I'm not 100% sure myself on what is exactly said, but this is going off what I read in the TL I read) The little girl tugs on Hajime to get his attention, because she's afraid to approach someone "as big" as Adonis.

This is something present in multiple enstars stories that feature Adonis. They even use Aira as a mouthpiece for this, a character who is not only supposed to be a fan of Undead, but a character who should also know what it's like to be made fun of for being mixed, as Aira was made fun of for having a half french mom when he was younger. Adonis is spoken about and described as if he's this huge, hulking monster of a boy, and he's just terrifying to look at, but is he? No.

I said on my Twitter just the other day, that every so often enstars will try to make a point about how people like Adonis are treated, but they fail because the point always comes across more as "he might seem scary but he's a really nice guy, don't judge a book by it's cover!" rather than what it should be, which is "there's nothing particularly scary about Adonis, people just demonize brown/black people for the color of their skin."

Now, you'll notice there seems to be a bit of a focus on how "big" Adonis is. How tall is he? About 5'10", which is about as tall as the tallest Ensemble Stars characters are. Adonis is around the same height as Midori, Eichi, Keito, the other members of Undead, etc. If people being afraid of him was really all about his size, you think we'd hear about it more from characters other than him. But, it seems like a topic very focused on him.

Now this isn't just a cover for characters being frightened by him for the color of his skin, the focus on Adonis being "big" when he's the same height as all the other tall characters in enstars is reminiscent of another stereotype. The "big black man" stereotype. Stereotypes about brown and black men don't just portray them as threatening creatures, but as LARGE threatening creatures. This stereotype of black men being very "big" and tall is not just a stereotype used for portraying us as a threat, but it's also seen in the oversexualization of black men.

This isn't just present in the narrative or said by other characters, but it's said by Adonis himself. A moment that comes to mind is a time where he refers to Mitsuru (and the other members of Ra*bits), as small, and talks about "protecting small creatures". Now, Mitsuru is 5'6", and the height difference between Adonis and Mitsuru is actually quite minimal.

And yet, the enstars writers feel the need to not only make other characters react to Adonis as if he's a huge scary guy, but have Adonis think that way about himself.

Like I said before, any social commentary Ensemble Stars tries to have fails when they feed into it like this. It shouldn't be "Adonis is a really nice and sweet guy despite looking scary", it should be about how he doesn't look scary at all.

Enstars wants to make good points, that much I can tell, but it contradicts itself with things like this, and that's pretty disheartening.

I mean think about it, Ensemble Stars has characters who have possibly committed murder, attempted murder, threatened other characters, carry weapons openly, are trained assassins, etc but the scariest of them all is the blasian middle eastern boy who's hobby is literally watching small animals and plays the ocarina? I mean c'mon.

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hi! i hope you don’t mind me asking but what happened with Akatsuki? im very out of the enstars loop so i feel a bit lost in understanding what all is going on 😅 feel free to ignore me if you don’t want to explain!

No problem at all! I'll explain to the best of my ability.

Recently, Enstars added 5 new idols. One of the new idols is Taki Ibuki and he is from Okinawa and is Ryukyuan. When Japan colonized the Ryukyu Kingdom, they forced the people to assimilate into Japanese culture. This process is called Japanization.

So, when rumors came out about the Ryukyuan character Ibuki possibly joining Akatsuki, a unit focused on Traditional Japanese aesthetics, people who know that history immediately called out the implications of writing such a thing. The head writer is known to write indigenous characters disrespectfully, but surely he wouldn't go this far?

It's been stated in several Akatsuki stories that Keito, Kuro, and Souma want it to only be them. There is a heavy emphasis on them having a bond stronger than blood. This is gonna be a one-off collab that leads to something bigger maybe Ibuki will go solo! Literally anything else BUT this please.

What followed was a story that mischaracterized every Akatsuki member. It was like all character development was reversed, for Keito, it seemed like he was a completely different dude.

The Enstars official twitter released a message to "Please not spoil the last few chapters for at least 4 days 🥺" they've never done this to my knowledge. It was blatant damage control for the shitstorm they had created themselves. Ibuki was brought into Akatsuki. What followed the next few hours were QRTs in all different languages absolutely GOING IN on Happyele, as they should. I saw so many people mourning the future of the franchise, many more leaving altogether, so much sadness and anger.

People connected the dots of releasing a Rei along with the event, since he's very very popular, and also announcing the PJSK collab. These would build up hype so maybe people would overlook it or it would draw them back in or some shit.

If I'm to sum it up in one sentence I'd say that Akatsuki was blatantly mischaracterized so they could fit their racist narrative of Indigenous people being "primitive" or "fixable" and needing to assimilate into Japanese culture.

Hopefully I explained the gist of it, I have a hard time phrasing and I've been told I explain things a bit unorganized. Here's a link to a twitter thread that most certainly explains way better than I could and two Wikipedia links that helped me learn.

A thread by @/gitsunegal on twitter written Oct. 10th when the rumors started. The last tweet in the thread is after the announcement, Jan 3rd.

A Wikipedia article on Japanization, contains summaries of not only Okinawa but also other areas that experienced Japan's colonization.

A Wikipedia article on the History of the Ryukyu Islands, I'd like to specifically point out the section Okinawa Prefecture, 1879–1937. Starting at the section Battle of Okinawa, the article discusses heavy topics such as rape, violence, and death.

If I missed anything or if any information is inaccurate please feel free to correct me or add on.

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A Guide for Sending Emails to Happy Elements (In Regards to Akatsuki and Ibuki)

Hello everyone. A lot of us are upset over the current state of Enstars and their decision to put Ibuki in Akatsuki. The decision is very insensitive due to Ibuki’s ryukyuan heritage. I wanted to make a guide on tumblr about sending emails to Happy Elements about the issue.

This is the most direct way to make your criticisms be heard. First, visit Happy Element’s Support page for Ensemble Stars. This site is in Japanese, so make sure you have a translator available to help navigate it.

Next, you will want to click on the checkbox to agree to their Precautions. The first question is asking you to select a category for your email. You will select “Opinions, requests and impressions” (which is the final option from the dropdown menu) 

The second question is asking for your email address. The third one is asking if you would like to receive a reply to your email. Selecting the only option in the dropdown menu will indicate to Happy Elements that you do not want a reply. Happy Elements will only reply if your email is in Japanese

Now type in the content of your email. If you are typing your email in Japanese, remember to use 紅月 for Akatsuki and 維吹 for Ibuki

While the precautions do not indicate that the emails have to solely be in Japanese, I suggest writing in Japanese just to be safe.

@/AlienAlien0709 on Twitter has provided email templates in Japanese to send to Happyele. You can view the template here. There are instructions written in English to help you navigate the Google Spreadsheet

This guide has been inspired by @/Not_Francyxx’s thread on Twitter. Special thank you to her for teaching me how to send emails with her thread.

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Enstars Japanese Support Ticket - Walkthrough & Example Template

The recent AKATSUKI event has made many egregiously bad and offensive choices regarding the unit and Ibuki (long story short - he joined them, effectively destroying AKATSUKI's buildup & writing, AND japanizing a proudly Ryukyuan idol. Please check (but do not overwhelm) @/gitsunegal on twt for more threads and details regarding this), earning the justified ire of fans of all units and languages.

One way of effectively utilizing your anger productively is to send a support ticket to Happy Elements, explaining your dissatisfaction with these decisions and urging them to reconsider. This shows them that fans are not happy with this decision, and (more importantly, to most companies) that they stand to lose profits for this choice.

Therefore, I have created this guide for sending the support email to them, as well as provided a template email in Japanese & English that you can use, which was very graciously proofread by a kind fan on twt. You can also send them your own inquiry in English, or also send an inquiry through the English website (the more, the better!). They will read it, and it does hold weight, even if you may not get a reply from the Japanese side of things!

Walkthrough + Template under the cut!

Firstly, go to https://www.happyelements.co.jp/contact/form_guide/. The page should initially look like the one below (desktop).

This is the section of the official Happy Elements website where contact inquiry links are. In order to more easily navigate this page, I highly recommend that you use a built-in translator tool to translate the webpage in real time (example below).

Scroll down until you hit the Ensemble Stars section (below, translated).

You can choose either Basic or Music to send an inquiry to - the process is the same (I suggest one to both, if you can). That will then lead you to this screen (below, translated).

Click the little box next to "agree" at the bottom of the page. That will then cause a drop down menu to appear at the top of the virtual paper. Click the last drop-down menu option - Opinions, requests, and feeback (below, translated).

By selecting this option, you will automatically be directed to the actual inquiry form (below, translated).

From there, fill out the form. Put your email in the example box (I recommend using the same email as your JPstars account - if you don't have one, simply use whichever). Either keep the "-" in the optional reply box, or select "not desired", if you don't want a reply from support. In your inquiry box, you can either put your own inquiry fed through a translation machine (I recommend DeepL, and having a Japanese speaker look it over before sending if possible - be short, blunt, and professional!), or use the template inquiry I provide at the end of this post, which you can edit as you see fit! Creating your own inquiry in English is also an option, though you are more likely to get a reply through the English Happy Elements website (example inquiry below, translated page).

Make sure to click the box next to "agree" at the bottom of the page. Then, click send, and you're done!

Template Email:

こんにちは。

私は維吹が紅月に加入するという決定に同意できないことをお伝えします。私はこの決定に非常に憤慨しており、この決定が変更されない限り、あんさんぶるスターズを応援し続けるつもりはありません。紅月のファンを失望させている。沖縄の方々に対しても酷く無神経で失礼です。私はあんさんぶるスターズも紅月も維吹も大好きなので、この話には心を痛めました。運営側が私の意見を真剣に検討してくれることを願っています。

ありがとうございます。

Translation of Template Email:

"Hello.

I am writing to inform you that I disagree with the decision to have Ibuki join AKATSUKI. I am very upset that this choice was made, and will not continue to support Ensemble Stars unless it is changed. It is disappointing to fans of AKATSUKI. It is also very insensitive and disrespectful to the Okinawan people. I love Ensemble Stars, AKATSUKI, and Ibuki, and am heartbroken by this story. I hope the management will seriously consider my inquiry.

Thank you very much."

Other things you can mention:

Go into more detail about how offensive it is for Ibuki to join a Japanese unit, given his identity as an indigenous character.

Reiterate how much AKATSUKI's writing has emphasized that the unit is the three of them (I suspect this one won't receive much attention though, considering the story basically mocks the line of thinking :/)

Mention how much you spend on the game, and how much they would be losing. Especially effective if you spend a lot on an account linked to your inquiry email, and if you actually boycott (no playing or spending).

If you're a producer of Knights, Switch, Eden, or Valkyrie (units who have not had their center this rotation), you can say that you have decided not to tier or play for them now. Especially effective because three out of the four are big moneymakers (Knights being the biggest in the game), they're already on thin ice with Sora fans after VS GLADIATOR, and it's been several months since a lot of their producers have spent money tiering (17, in Valkyrie's face).

Really, anything you can do to get it through their heads is great, especially if you follow through and don't spend money or play the game for this time period.

-

I hope that this guide was informative, and that you are able to send a support ticket to Happy Elements regarding these events! For me, the one good thing to come out of this disaster was the support and solidarity I saw within the fandom, and while I may personally be stepping back from Enstars, I hope to encourage that energy how I can on my end.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns in the comments, reblogs, my Neospring (Frostedonut6297) or my email (letempsdesacanthe@gmail.com)! Sending love and support to everyone <3

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In light of the recent Akatsuki story remember that none of the seiyuus/voice actors nor the characters are at fault. Also remember to take some time off from the game and/or leave it entirely if it becomes too stressful for you, and voice your concerns to Happy Elements via email if you can. Here’s a helpful guide to do so.

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Making An Extensive Look At Discrimination in Ensemble Stars.

Due to recent events in Ensemble Stars (Enstars), there has been an extensive look into how the franchise deals with racism and other forms of discrimination. However, this is a long effort that requires looking at 9 years of content to fully understand how Enstars has approached multiple social issues across time, and how this has culminated in the event "Uncertain Skies＊The Legend of KAGETSU's Illuminating Attire of Ascension", along with some very necessary cultural context.

In response to this, I have created this blog with the hopes of being able to receive other people's input as I try to put together a full overview of how Enstars deals with discrimination. I am a lurker in the fandom, so unfortunately I am not familiar with how most social media works; however, I find that Tumblr is pretty easy to access compared to most places, and I prefer sticking to one platform rather than managing multiple accounts, which I hope everyone will understand.

You can send your submissions to this blog, or to this Google Form.

As it currently stands, I feel that I will make a video on the situation, but I do not have a channel at the moment. Once things have been set up on my end, I would like to share more information.

In the read more below, I'll elaborate more on what I hope to do with this blog.

So, how is this going to work?

As I have stated before, I want to be able to have input from various places due to my own limited perspective. Again, it is not feasible for one person to look at the entirety of Enstars to find every instance of discrimination (and I do very much want to cover as much as possible - both the big and the small). Additionally, I do not speak Japanese, which means that I have very limited access to information compared to people who do. I'm not asking for extensive analysis, but just for people to mention things that they have noticed in general. Examples of this include: colourism + racism in card art, usage of slurs and other demeaning labels, and handling of specific issues within stories.

Not all incidents have to be negative, though. There are instances where Enstars can be progressive, and these are also important to note since they help with comparing Enstars at its best with Enstars at its worst.

For submissions...

I would like as much evidence as possible- so screenshots wherever possible. Since I understand that HappyElement's social media policy have made doing so risky, I will not publish these publicly unless the individual explicitly confirms that they are comfortable with it. If you do not wish to/cannot submit a screenshot, you can give the Event name + Chapter number/ Idol Story Chapter/ However other way the story is called.

For translations specifically I would prefer it if the person who made the translation recommend themselves to me, or is tagged in the ask so that they can reply easily. I will give full credit to the translator(s) however they desire. Because of HappyElement's policy, I understand that translators may not want to put their names out, so if they want to be referred to by some other manner, such as a nickname, it is totally acceptable. Multiple translations for one section are perfectly acceptable.

Cultural context is very important! That's why, even if you don't have information for Enstars specifically, I would appreciate any information on other contextual cues that are important when discussing these social issues. Although I am familiar with a number of issues addressed in Enstars, it is safer for you to assume that I am not. Unfortunately, I am using classroom rules and will not accept Wikipedia links. Information that may seem obvious to one person may be new to someone else - providing additional information will be more useful than you think.

What are you looking for? Anything. Although there will be a great mention of racism and anti-Indigenous sentiments, I want to also address other concerns like disability and gender, which have been dealt with in various degrees in Enstars. Characters like Adonis, Hiiro, Rinne, Aira, and Ibuki are understandably at the forefront, but please do not feel afraid to submit anything related to other characters.

That being said, lets keep personal interpretation to a minimum. For example, there has been a great debate on whether or not Aira's racism is in-character or out-of-character. This is prone to personal beliefs that detract from the focus, which should be how Aira's racism - irrespective of its canonicality - is dealt with in-text.

Is there a Discord?

I understand that a Discord server would be easy to collaborate on however, simply put: no. I know for a fact that I would not be able to host one, and feel that the lack of professionality might result in conflicts between members as has often been the case with my personal experience.

Will we get updates?

Yes! I am hoping to make a publically accessible Google Doc which will contain the links, screenshots, and credits that you all provide. This helps ensure that everyone is on the same page, which should help with managing the share of information.

Are there other ways to help?

At this time, not really. I would like to manage this blog on my own, and I do not feel a need to look for editors, screenwriters, proofreaders, or any other role. This can be set to change, but for now, I just need submissions.

If you have any other concerns, please send them my way!