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YUP

Constructing geographic edifices that challenge the boundaries of hilldom and devising exciting new dooms to meet upon them.

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Postfeminism, Choices and our OCs

Yesterday on DA day, I decided to hang out on a Discord VC. On this server, it is notably common practice to hangout on VC to celebrate and/or lament the lack of DA announcements and minimal DA content. As I hopped in on the VC, I noticed that the conversation went to the subject of: “why do we only have choice A & B, and are not given choice C?” “Why don’t we get option X on the character creator?” Some of these are fanfiction writers.

Such questions are not wrong. I myself am annoyed at some of the options the DA games have provided me with.

But those discourses around choices reminded me of a couple of things.

One: It reminded me of that thing that happened in 2012 over the Mass Effect 3 endings. While I was disliked the original endings too, I remembered the gamer outrage over the ending choices—the hashtags, the cupcakes and many others that came out of it. Because gamers were wronged and gamers vote with their money like some kind of pseudo-social movement borne out of neoliberal capitalism.

Two: Writers on postfeminism pointed links to capitalism on discourses of choice. Rosamond Gill (2007) describes postfeminism as a “sensibility” (p. 148). Noticeably, in referring to it as a sensibility, Gill hearkens to cultural studies traditions such as Williams’ “structure of feeling” (2014). These terms come from older studies about cultural hegemony especially on how “common sense” or dominant ways of thinking are almost always in the process of being formed (Williams 2014). As a sensibility, Gill defined characteristics such as:

“the notion that femininity is a bodily property; the shift from objectification to subjectification; an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a makeover paradigm; and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference” (p. 147).

There are of course, updates to this. In a more recent article, Gill (2017) also notes how postfeminism intersects with other intersectional issues such as racism, how postfeminism is not exclusively heterosexual, and how postfeminism implies increased self-monitoring and self-optimization.

Regardless, on the earlier piece, Gill (2007) writes:

“Notions of choice, of ‘being oneself’, and 'pleasing oneself’ are central to the postfeminist sensibility that suffuses contemporary Western media culture. They resonate powerfully with the emphasis upon empowerment and taking control that can be seen in talk shows, advertising and makeover shows. A grammar of individualism underpins all these notions – such that even experiences of racism or homophobia or domestic violence are framed in exclusively personal terms in a way that turns the idea of the personal as political on its head” (p. 153).

I bring this up because there is a pattern on the way many fanfiction writers and large parts of Dragon Age fandom talk about choice as if choice is the end all in discussions about agency.

There are, of course, several things that can spur one to write fanfiction. But it is common to hear someone say, “I wrote [insert title of fanfic] because the game did not give me X choice” or “I wrote this because I want to have Y representation that is not in the game.” Not that there is anything wrong with that. In some fanfiction spaces (Discord in particular), I’ve seen several spaces dedicated to OCs. I’ve seen particular admins deal with community problems with more spaces to talk about OCs as if the ability to talk about one’s OCs is the answer to everything. In some spaces, one of the worst sins one can commit is to imply something negative about another’s OC or represent another’s OC in ways the writer would not want.

When these happen, I try to resist the urge to virtually hurl a volume of Barthes on someone’s head. Regardless, in the world of fanfiction, authors do not seem to be dead.

Of course, in a world where social and cultural capital are easily convertible within our platforms (Postigo 2014), OCs are forms of cultural and social capital. While it may not be as easily monetized, it leads to certain promises of it.

But choices and OCs should not be the end all in discussions of agency and representation. I want to believe that agency is a lot more than that.

This is why I will always cringe at such conversations. Because my agency is a lot more than the choices I make. Because my agency goes beyond these neoliberal structures.

If there’s something I can wish for on Dragon Age Day, I hope that someday, the wider fandom would understand this.

References:

Gill, R. (2007). Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147-166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898

——–. (2017). The affective, cultural and psychic life of postfeminism: A postfeminist sensibility 10 years on. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(6), 606-626. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417733003

Postigo, H. (2014). The socio-technical architecture of digital labor: Converting play into YouTube money. New Media and Society, 18(3), 332-349. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814541527

Williams, R. (2014). From Preface to Film (UK, 1954). In S. MacKenzie (Ed.), Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures (pp. 607-613). Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520957411-171

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On White Fear & Creating Diverse Transformative Works

So whenever fandom tries to address the question “Why aren’t there more works featuring characters of color?” there are a myriad of (predictable) responses.  One of which is appearing with increasing frequency: “Because we (usually: white creators of transformative works) are afraid of getting it wrong.”

And like.  I’ve already addressed how ‘thinking you’ll get it wrong’ is a failure of both imagination and of craft/skill (and a symptom of the racial empathy gap, which I forgot had a proper name when I wrote that post).  Meanwhile, @stitchmediamix absolutely accurately pointed out that the ‘fear’ being discussed is fear of being called racist, not necessarily fear of failure.

Now, we could go into the whole absurdity of white fragility here, but google is a thing and “white fragility” is discussed all over the place and I trust ya’ll to do the work if you actually give a shit about this subject… which I assume you do, if you’re reading this – but if you’re just here to find a way to dismiss the issue at hand, I’m gonna save you some time and recommend you scroll past.

Writers can also be fragile, especially in transformative works communities, where “if you don’t have anything nice to say, hit the back button and keep your mouth shut” is the primary expectation wrt feedback, and anything that deviates from that is considered a mortal insult (do you vageublog about my fic, sir?).  But if we’re willing to deploy an array of tools to make our writing not-My-Immortal-bad, from spellcheck to wikipedia to in-depth historical research to betas and britpickers and so on, then we should be willing to employ equivalent tools to avoid writing racist stories.

Incidentally, writing stories that erase/ignore extant characters of color, especially if they’re prominent in the source text? is racist.  So avoiding writing characters of color altogether is not the solution to making your writing not-racist.

And, okay.  I feel it’s important to acknowledge here, as I have before, that the Fear of Fucking Up is a very real fear that genuinely does affect people’s enthusiasm for / likelihood to write, regardless of the validity or fairness of that Fear’s origins, and I’m going to be generous enough to assume that there are some people who are acting in good faith when they say “I want to, but I’m scared.”

So. This is for those who are acting in good faith, from the perspective of a white fan who has written fic about characters of color in several fandoms and never gotten pilloried for it, even when I know for a fact (in retrospect) that I’ve fucked up details.

(oh, side note: I know this is mostly tackling things from a writing perspective, but a lot of this can apply to creating transformative works overall with a few tweaks.)

First: realize that the likelihood of getting called out is actually pretty low.  And fans of color aren’t as Mean and Angry and Unfairly Sensitive as some people want us to believe.  (Do you vagueblog about That Dumpster Fire Meta, sir?  /  No, sir, I do not vagueblog about That Meta sir; but I do vagueblog, sir.)

This is not to say that there aren’t people out there who’re more than willing to make a (justified) stink about egregiously racist writing.  But it’s actually very rare to get targeted, especially publicly by a large number of unhappy fans.  Because you know what? most fans, including fans of color, want to just have fun in fandom as much as anyone else.

It’s just, y’know, a little harder for fans of color to ‘just have fun’ when us white fans are showing our asses with stories involving “Dragon Lady” Elektra or “Angry Black Woman” Sally Donovan or “Spicy Latin Lover” Poe Dameron.  And sometimes us white fans only listen to what fans of color are saying when they make a Big Deal out of it. 

That’s not a failure of their ability to stay calm.  That’s our failure to listen before they get loud and organized.  Because I’m willing to bet that people who get called out publicly? got a few polite, private messages about their screwup first, and they doubled down instead of listening. 

Also: there is a thing where, no matter how politely they word their critique, fans of color, especially black fans, are more likely to be unjustly perceived as ‘mean’ and ‘angry’ by white fans.  Again, that’s our failure, not theirs.  Plus, even if they are angry, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re wrong (see: Tone Argument).

Step Two is: pay attention to discussions about racist tropes in fiction.  Yes, even when it’s crit of our favorite shows/movies/characters/etc.  If you understand the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope and why it’s harmful, or you understand the Bechdel-Wallace test, or you can have a meaningful discussion about Mary Sues, or you can (justifiably) rail about how Bury Your Gays sucks, then you can develop a similar appreciation for racial biases and stereotypes.  And then you can find ways to avoid them.  

No, no one’s expecting you to memorize bell hooks so you can write a drabble about Iris West, or demanding you write a dissertation on media stereotypes wrt the simultaneous fetishization and desexualization of Asian women (who aren’t a monolith, either, but Hollywood doesn’t seem to know that) before you’re ‘allowed’ to write Melinda May in a story, but like.  Pay attention when people, especially fans of color, are talking about common tropes so that you don’t unthinkingly replicate or perpetuate them in your fic.

Yes, racist writing can involve more than just thoughtless parroting of harmful tropes, but my best guess is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, fanwork getting ‘called out’ in fandom involves those tropes.  So avoiding them takes your chances of getting criticized from ‘low’ to ‘almost nonexistent.’  Less to fear, see?

Step Three is: more research – basically, at least as much as you’d be willing to invest in any equivalent white character.  @writingwithcolor is a great blog, and has links to additional resources; .  If you’re the type to get a beta or a britpicker, find a sensitivity reader or a beta of the appropriate background.  Not all fans of color are willing to do this kind of unpaid labor, just as not all fans are willing to britpick/beta, but they’re out there.  Approach them respectfully, and listen to them if they say that something in your story looks off.

It’s worth noting here that writing about characters of color doesn’t need to involve - and in fact, some advice recommends avoiding - telling Special Stories About Racism.  Stories about characters of color don’t need to be about slavery or civil rights or the constant parade of microaggressions they have to deal with daily in order to be realistic or compelling (or angsty, for those who love writing angst, as I do).  Research can turn up useful information that can inform our choices as writers, but if we don’t share the oppression our characters face, it’s not our job to tell stories specifically about that oppression.

Step Four is: before posting, anticipate the worst.  What will you do if someone says you fucked up?  If your answer is “argue with them and talk over their concerns,” stop.  Remember that you’re not a victim of a ‘mean fan of color,’ but that you’ve probably written something that they consider harmful.  Being told that you wrote something racist isn’t an attack on your moral fiber.  You’re not an irredeemable monster if you fuck up, but your response to being told you fucked up is far more telling.  Acknowledge their concerns, fix the issue if you can, learn from your mistake, and fail better next time.

You cannot improve if you don’t try in the first place.  Failure to try is failure, so try your best, and improve incrementally – just as you already do as a writer with any story.

In conclusion: The 4 Steps to Getting Over Yourself as a White Fanfic Writer: (1) recognize that the likelihood of getting called out is pretty low; (2) educate yourself about the most common racist writing issues, so that likelihood will be even lower; (3) do your due diligence when writing; (4) in case of the worst: apologize, fix the issue, learn from the experience, fail better in the future.

(And again, google is your friend – there are a lot of people who’ve written about this subject, like Kayla Ancrum, Morgan Jenkins, the mods at Writing with Color, Thao Le, and Monica Zepeda, among many, many, others.  I’m merely sharing my own perspective from what I’ve learned from listening to a lot of smart people, in case it might help some of you – if it doesn’t, keep looking, a ton of great resources are out there.)

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Call for Participants: #Otome Armada

I am looking for more participants for my study on otome games released in English.

If you love otome games, and

a. Maintain a blog and write a lot about otome games b. Participated in a fan translation project c. Or Made or helped make an otome game / if you’re currently making your game that’s fine too

I would really love to have you in an interview about some of your favorite games, favorite characters, etc, and then talk about your blog, your fan translation project or your game usually on Skype or via email where I could sent the questions to you.

If you are interested, please email me at scvganzon@gmail.com or PM me here. I could tell you more about the project and explain the rest of the interview process to you. 

Also, please do share or reblog this if you know people who might be interested.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Cheers,

Sarah the Otome Doctoral Candidate

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7 Things I Like About 7’scarlet (Plus some stuff that I don’t like): A mini-review

Grad school life has been busy. Apart from interviews for my data chapters, there’s teaching, writing and other research, but the good thing about this week was that I had enough downtime to finish 7’scarlet.

I do not really have time to write a full review, so in exchange, I’ll just list seven things that I appreciate about this game. I’ve written this in the way that spoilers are kept to the minimum. I’m starting with the stuff I like:

1. Short well-paced, well-crafted mystery

This game is a reminds me so much of those young adult mysteries that one could marathon within a day or a few more days (but not more than a week). It’s very easy to pick up but not easy to put down, because the mystery is gripping.

These days, I’ve also grown to love short games. Especially on busy times, short games are so much easier to pick up and commit to. Many major otome game releases are long, such as the two-part version of Hakuoki, Norn9, Ikemen Sengoku, Mystic Messenger and many others. I’ve grown to love shorter games because the pacing usually tends to be better, and one could keep track of lore and game information more easily. It works really well for this game especially because this is a mystery where players would need to remember certain things to make some plot points work.

With the plot structure though is that it restricts route choices in the beginning, because many routes are locked to allow for things to be revealed gradually. It’s very obvious that the correct route order is pretty much Hino-->Isora-->Toa-->Sosuke-->Yuzuki-->True Route-->Secret Ending. But this is really something I don’t really mind, since I’m a completionist anyway. Each route ending reveals and teases enough to make one play the other routes.

2. Well-written characters

Good mysteries are all about entanglements. It’s about knowing characters and understanding that there are layers to people. Because it is a mystery, it is a given that people have secrets. This is why a bunch of good otome games are mysteries, because writing a good mystery usually involves writing complex characters.

While a bunch of the boys could still be categorized into types such as the yandere, kuudere, the childhood friend, etc, there are enough layers on them to make one genuinely interested in them. Moreover, a bunch of them are written well enough that one could ignore most of the character tropes used.

3. Small town setting

One of the things that I forgot to add in my Collar x Malice short review (here) is how I appreciated the use of a limited space to tell the story and build its world. Collar x Malice is set in a dystopian version of Shinjuku, and it posts interesting questions about corruption and how justice can or should be achieved. In good mysteries, the setting or the world itself tells a story, and this is why the best ones have small contained locations.

This game, by limiting the setting to one small town, does the exact same thing. It’s small enough to allow glimpses into the entanglements and connections of each character. The story that the small town setting tells here has a lot to do with traditions, superstition, death, and humanity.

4. The Supernatural and What it Means to Be Human

Something I appreciate about otome games with sci-fi and fantasy elements is how they ask questions of what makes humans human. In Code: Realize, we have a monster as a protagonist, and Cardia’s humanity shines through in the way she relates to people, and how other people are contrasted to her, showing how humanity can do awful things to others. Similarly, in Hakuoki, one could see something human in some of the Shinsengumi’s decision to become monsters or rasetsu, in their desire to strive and become more than what they are. It’s almost Faustian, and the game frames human striving as something admirable.

7’scarlet does not have the depth of Code: Realize or Hakuoki, but in its use of supernatural elements, it does ask the question of what it means to be human. One could see this a lot in Yuzuki’s route and the true route.

5. Showtaro Morikubo and Shinichiro Miki

The Shinsengumi boys are back and one could say that this is some of their best work right here. Showtaro Morikubo, who was Okita in Hakuoki and Impey in Code: Realize, plays a cat nerd who is a lot more than what he seems. Playing Toa, he has shown that he can be both funny and dramatic. Also, he sings one of the songs in the game, so wait for that. Shinichiro Miki sounds a lot like Hijikata at first, but Yuzuki has some surprisingly humourous moments. This game showed me that he can be good at sarcasm.

6. Moving images

Most visual novels nowadays mostly have still images, so anything moving is a novelty. This game has a number of in-game movies and moving backgrounds that it is very refreshing.

7. Not all happy endings are happy

The game has decided to take the high road. It is a brave thing to break away from formula, but it fits well here. Some of the bittersweet endings are the ones that will stay with you.

As much as there are a lot of things I like about this game, there are also a bunch of things I didn’t like:

1. Major plot points rely on damseling the heroine. 2. Some of the lore could have been fleshed out more 3. Villain is a bit two-dimensional 4. The relationship in the secret ending route is creepy. It involves gaslighting and this is portrayed as something romantic. The closest comparison one could give is the true ending in Dandelion. It’s interesting and it logically ties everything together, but it has creepy implications.

I did not give much detail to that because explaining will give so many spoilers.

My route ranking is as follows from BEST to WORST: True route-->Toa-->Yuzuki-->Sosuke-->Hino-->Isora-->Secret route

It does not top CollarxMalice for me last year. I’m still finishing Psychedelika of the Black Butterfly, so I can’t compare it to that yet. But overall, I think it’s a good otome game to pick up for those who want some summer intrigue.

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Seriously, these anime Victorians! LOL

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When you start Bad Apple Wars, and some of the first teachers that you meet are the Shinsengumi: Hijikata (Mr. Bucket Head) and Sano (Mr. Gas Mask). This makes the afterlife like a pervy version of Hakuoki SSL.

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PC Otome Games that I Hope Would Get Localizations

Alongside Aksys’ releases of Period Cube, Collar x Malice, and Bad Apple Wars (alongside Idea Factory’s Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds), there have also been a lot of PC localizations this year, Nightshade, I think being the best of them so far.

Now, PC otome games don’t exactly have a good rep, because there are a bunch of terrible rapey games, a bunch of them feel rushed. But there are a bunch of really good ones too, and I hope they find localizations so non-Japanese players will be able to play them.

Most of the games I compiled on this list are games that I played on PC, with the exception of one.

1. Ayakashi Gohan

In this particular story, circumstances push our heroine to live in a town called Momiji filled with ayakashi. Of course, in this town, there are plenty of interesting people to fall in love with.

What I love most about this game is that the heroine has two paths—human and ayakashi. In one path, the heroine is introverted and in the other, she is much more outgoing. I must confess, while there is much more revelation about the town in the ayakashi routes, I did love her more in the human routes, because the games makes it clear introverted people also have their own strengths. This is also one of the games where we have a voiced heroine, something that is not too common in otome games, but I would love to see more of.

The characters are all lovely too. There’s a lot of dialogue where all the voice actors have time to shine.

Another thing that is wonderful about this game is its mystery and effective world building. Good world building in otome games is rare, and while takes a while to get the true route, going for the true route in the end is worth it. By the way, you may need tissues for the true ending, just saying.

2. Tsumikui Sen No Noroi, Sen No Inori

This game was released fairly recently, and since I noticed that most titles that tend to get released are considered to be fairy recent, this is a very good candidate for a localization if only someone would pick it up.

Basically, if you love reincarnation romances, this is the game for you. In this game, Kaoru, our heroine, discovers that she is a reincarnation of a princess of an ancient race called the kamiki, who is doomed to devour 1000 sinners in all her reincarnations. 

Like Ayakashi Gohan, I love the world building in this game. The player gets to gradually see the past in routes prior to the true ending.

Kaoru, I would say, is one of my favorite otome game heroines. Not only is she badass, but she is interesting as both Kaoru and Sera. There’s a lot of interior monologue here, but that is what I love about this game. The interior monologue helps us see who Kaoru is as a person, and one can fall in love with her alongside all the guys in this game. Oh, and she’s fully voiced too.

3. Steam Prison

This is the only game in this list that I haven’t played but it looks very cool.

Like Code: Realize, it is a steampunk otome game. The world in this game is split in two—the heavens, which is basically a city in the skies, and the earth, where all the criminals live. Cyrus, our heroine, is basically a police officer in the heavens with a strong sense of justice, not too different from Collar x Malice’s Ichika. Things happen when she gets assigned to patrol Earth.

While I don’t have this game, I hopefully I will get to amend that in case I get to go to Japan again next year.

4. Yoshiwara Higanbana

I have a two part review of this game, that you can read here.

Because we’ve already started getting r-18 otome games in English thanks to Manga Gamer, I thought that it would be great to recommend on of my favorite mature otome game titles.

Yoshiwara Higanbana is the story of an oiran living in Tokyo’s pleasure quarters. If you love historical otome games, this is one good otome game and all the male characters in this game are super interesting. One think I found refreshing in this game is how our heroine is not shy about sex. While that is a given especially since she’s in a sex trade, it is wonderful to see the heroine take the lead in this area for once. The tone of this game is rather serious though, and it mostly revolves around our heroine and Shigure, the head of the brothel where she lives in. I also loves how this game also utilizes the childhood friend character in the form of Souichirou and turns it on its head. I won’t spoil how, but that route, despite its problems remains one of my favorites in the game.

This is a game that made me cry a number of rivers, and consume like a gazillion tissue boxes.

5. Chou No Doku Hana No Kusari

Another adult PC otome game. While it is quite old, I think it deserves a localization, because this is one of the best adult otoges out there. As such, it is no surprise to me that it topped the list as the top rated adult otoge out there in this month’s Cool-B Sweet Princess.

Set in the Taisho period, our heroine Yuriko, is an impoverished heiress who loses her parents under mysterious circumstances. There’s definitely a huge mystery lurking around the house and the question as to why her father gets murder, and her mother going mad before dying. Basically, this game would be what Downtown Abbey would probably look like if the writers made it darker and incorporated a little incest.

Just a warning though—there is incest and rape in this game. In fact there is one route that pissed me off because while I loved the initial chemistry in those characters, one moment he just goes in and rapes the heroine, and she falls in love with him like Scarlett falls for Rhett after that deed. I will not spoil which one is the incest route, because that will ruin a significant part of the end game.

But what I loved most about this game is that we see how the heroine matures. In one route too, she gets to go at the mystery on her own, and forge her own path. Honestly, that route is my favorite. It is rare for a heroine to be given this opportunity and given her own closure, and I am glad they game this opportunity to Yuriko.

6. Ken Ga Kimi

I must say, this is I think what got me to love PC otome games.

This is another Edo period otoge filled with samurai and fantasy creatures. Not only do we have another weapon wielding heroine in Kayo, one thing this game had it going was the fact that you can make characters either choose the ken route, wherein he chooses to live for the sword and most likely die a tragic death, or the kimi route, wherein he chooses to live for you.

While the common route is long, it is worth it once one gets to the individual routes.

7. Taisho Alice

To say that a lot of people were disappointed in E2 Gaming’s localization of this series of games is an understatement. I do believe this game deserves a second chance at localization, if second chances are at all possible.

I have the original  games on PC, and I would say, playing through all the routes was wonderful because of how the game tries to rewrite these fairy tales. All of the routes are wonderful, and I feel like if one can rewrite Amnesia, it has to be the way this game does it. Our heroine is pretty spunky and she speaks a lot of Engrish. Part of what I would find interesting in an English localization would be to see how some of her quirks would be translated.

Like I said, there are a lot of wonderful PC otome games out there. If people can think of others, please do comment so other people would get to know about them.

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There should also be a gif when one becomes a scholar-fan or fan scholar.

Coming into a fandom late

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RE: Why Good MCs are Hard to Write

I am writing this to add some points to a blog post at Amino. Read it yourself here.

The title of that article pretty much sums up what the article is about, and the points are listed as follows:

1. Limitations of the Developers      a. Developers try to strike a balance

     b. MC needs to have her development moderated

     c. Otome games are meant to service female gamers

     d. Some MCs just aren’t meant to be

2. Why MCs just don’t appeal to you

    a. We just have different standards

    b. Nuances are lost in translation

These are all interesting points, but in writing this post, I hope to carry the criticism a little bit further.

A lot of the post comments about the writing process in otome games. It should be noted that writing otome games is a lot different from a lot of game writing. In a lot of game writing, writing the mechanics and the world usually come before characters. In otome game situation writing, however, situations and characters are usually decided before anything else. If you are interested in knowing more about the writing process and can read a bit of Japanese (with or without a dictionary), this book by the main scenario writer of Code: Realize can give a lot of context to this. 

Apart from the process, this style of writing also is meant to fit nicely to accommodate the anime media mix (which is basically the Japan’s transmedia infrastructure dominated mostly by Kadokawa), and to generate moe. Since the characters are meant to cater to straight females, the logic here is to make characters that are easily reproducible in various media including anime, manga, drama CDs, toys, accessories, etc.

Moreover, in situations wherein writers add “rape” scenes, one has to understand that the rape too in manga written for women, were utilized widely as a plot device to allow women forms of release from repressed sexualities. Gretchen Jones writes about it here. In this case, we are discussing rape as a fantasy. While that fantasy can be liberating for some, it becomes tricky when one takes representation into context, especially given the widespread discourses that rape culture utilizes to its own advantage (yes, even those that women create themselves).

Indeed, it is important to understand the writing process and the media contexts that otome games are produced in, but if we are to have any hope in changing representation in otome games, critiquing this process is also important.

Firstly, it is a common point that MCs are written as self-inserts, and decisions are made to allow certain game situations to happen. But that is a problem in itself because it does not take into account the complexity of the process of identification. In Adrienne Shaw’s Gaming at the Edge, she points out that individuals identify not through strict gender and race identifiers, but specific experiences. For example, While I am not exactly from a immigrant Muslim background, I identified so much with Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel’s struggles with her faith, family tensions, etc. I don’t think identification with otome game heroines are not that different from that. For instance, I find that it is easy to connect with Collar X Malice’s Ichika, not because I am a Japanese woman or a police officer, but one can understand her everyday struggles with family, her job, and even that desire to create a better just world for everyone around her without resorting to hurting innocent people. Same with Code: Realize’s Cardia, while we’re not exactly monsters who can literally melt everything we touch, we can relate for to desire of hers for human connection. That is identification. Relying too much on self-insert characters denies the complexity of identification, and how we relate to each other as humans.

Secondly, while indeed otome games are meant to service female gamers, we are forgetting that not all players who identify as female are straight, and even straight female players too can be made to feel for non-straight characters who have non-straight romances. I mean, how else would we have BL without a lot of straight women feeling for non-straight men.

Thirdly, while understanding the writing processes and the infrastructure on how these games are created is important, it is also important to know that these systems may be problematic too. Apart from the fact that many game industries are not exempt from crunch culture (yes, even niche ones), it is an industry itself that mainly cares about generating money, so it asks for the easiest way to make money from its perceived audience. So in many cases, this system usually when diverse representation is convenient for it to make money, and it is this way that systems become oppressive, no matter the wonderful things it sometimes gives us.

I am not saying we go full on Daenaerys who’s like:

Sometimes, breaking the wheel may not be possible. At least not yet.

While we may not have the ability to break the wheel, we may be able to change the direction the wheel goes for now.

[pinayillustrada]

About the Most Recent Aksys Otome Game Localizations and Other Otoge-Related Things...

More than a year ago, I wrote a post about some of my predictions and some suggestions of what Aksys can localize. Among those on the list included, Collar x Malice, Bad Apple Wars and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly. When I wrote that, only expected to get one (or two if I’m lucky) of them right, and I never imagined that there would be this many localizations in so little time.

Also, so many things have happened: from Mystic Messenger becoming as popular as it is, THAT terrible Taisho Alice localization and ensuing boycott, and all the new otome game localizations cropping up from many other companies.

Those made me realize a few things:

1. Aksys does read our blog posts, and if you actually read that post, thank you so much (if not’s that’s okay too)! And it’s moments like this where individuals such as myself within participatory cultures feel special.

2. All of the titles are still mostly Otomate and they’re mostly the newer titles. I wonder if this is a copyright thing, or simply because newer titles also have reviews from people who played them in Japanese.

3. Most of otome game localizations by Aksys, apart from being otome games are marketable to other audiences (ie. Collar x Malice is also a mystery/thriller game) or reminiscent of other otaku related IPs (ie. Period: Cube may be reminiscent of Sword Art Online at least on paper).

4. While there are definitely some problems with those games’ gender representation wise, Ichika and the otome game heroines that Aksys brought to us are comparatively more progressive than the usually passive self-insert otome game heroine. Also, after finishing all the routes of Ichika, it will be super hard to return to playing Chizuru for that paper I’m writing about Hakuoki.

5. The titles that sell well domestically may be not as well received by global audiences (ie. Norn 9) in comparison, and this may be with the lack of the anime media mix infrastructure to support it.

6. Anime does help introduce games to global audiences, but with aggregations of fans gathering together, it is not the only way to introduce games to global audiences. Fan reviews, after all, one way that fan and player communities take control of their own consumption, and consumption is not a passive activity as many media critics think. I think about Code: Realize, and how much love it got even without an anime yet. Of course, I will definitely watch the anime when it comes out.

7. Fan and player communities tend to substitute with the lack of a media mix environment and infrastructure. Not all of us may be able to buy Dengeki Girl’s Style every month, but we do have Twitter, Tumblr and all our blogs within the #OtomeArmada. Thus the structure becomes more bottom-up than top-down, allowing for fan resistance to happen (remember those months with THAT Taisho Alice localization?).

8. From April to June, Dengeki Girl’s Style released a multi-issue article on the history of otome games in Japan from Angelique to the present. Most of these narratives are interviews with companies and subsidiaries such as Ruby Party, Otomate and HoneyBee. This month, I think there will be an article on adult otome games, in this month’s Sweet Princess. Companies assembling their own narratives in writing this history. While those stories are important, creating a history without fan perspectives may be sorely lacking. After all, without fan communities in the 90s, Angelique will not be what it is right now. So in this way, it is important for fans to also tell their own stories of the games that they love, and their stories too tell bits and prices of games’ histories.

9. While there is definitely a North American focus when it comes to marketing otome game global releases, a significant number of players do come from Europe, South East Asia, Australia and many other parts of the world.

10. I really need to look into the history of #OtomeArmada as a hashtag. I know it is being used for a while (heck, I use it too!), but I am curious about a number of things about it: who created the hastag? Who used it first? It’s so easy to use tools to look at current data, such as who use it the most these days, but it is a bit tricky to find histories on Twitter. Also, I need to get those Dengeki articles translated.

11. The ways in which we define and characterize otome games may vary depending on what games we play, how we are introduced to them, new games being created outside Japan, the ways in which search terms operate on Steam, etc.

12. Apart from Steam and the Vita, the mobile market can be another venue for some games to get localized, but this may come at the cost of voices, and other features as it the case with NTT Solmare’s localization of Princess Arthur. But hey, it’s playable. Here’s hope that they don’t cut out too much of the voices in the new Uta No Prince Sama Shining Live game.

13. I’ve mostly kept my distance from this blog for a while. Yes, I was busy but it is because a part of me thought that I needed to keep my distance from this to maintain some objectivity on my study. I now realize that not being that objective is not too much of a bad thing, because all scholars are affected by their own positions to begin with. Yes, I love this community, and am part of it, and maybe being part of it actually helps be see things that someone unfamiliar with otome games.

14. I really need to stop travelling, finish my thesis and do more interviews.

So there’s that. Gosh, that was a lot.

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On Code Realize’s second fan disk...

My B’s Log arrived with some wonderful new artwork and info about the “Cantarella” story! Most of the article has been posted already, but there’s a little more info.

Like “Lupin’s Gang,” it seems to be set during the main story before the split… though it is interesting that Saint’s eyes are open in the promo image…

Some translations of the article:

“What is the fate of the white diva-?”

“The story of the singing voice of a girl named “poison”

The scenario:

“The main characters went to the theater to see London’s best diva, Cantarella. On their way home, they witnessed Cantarella attacked by a masked man! She is helped by Lupin’s Gang, but she is sick. The worried protagonists decide to send Cantarella home. But, her house is surprisingly poor. It seems her father Miles is a gambler…..!?

Creator comment:

Cantarella:

Cantarella is a girl of the same age as the hero. I drew conscious contrast with the main character. It is a different feeling of distance from Shirley in Future Blessings, so please look forward to that exchange too!

Miles: Although it is a series with various parent child relationships, including the hero and Isaac, Miles and Cantarella are another father and daughter, is his uselessness part of his charm?

Aiguille: although he is the villain of this work, it is his charm that he is not completely hateful, huh? I am concerned about what is underneath the mask…..? Please keep in mind!

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Things I Love About Collar X Malice

The busy summer is over, and so are all my runs of Collar X Malice. I finished it yesterday. A few people have reviewed the game already and I don’t have that much time to write a full review (blame my dissertation and two RA jobs), so to keep this short, I’ll just list my favorite parts of this game, and the various ways this game could possible improve (or things that otome game writers can take note of if ever they are reading this).

Let’s start with the things I love:

1. Ichika

I did mention my preference for independent otome game heroines, with Code: Realize’s Cardia and Princess Arthur’s Alu, being some of my favorites despite some problems. Ichika too is not perfect.

She’s not exactly the most badass (but she’s an excellent shot though), or the most intelligent, but she is a girl who makes the most of the situation. While it is true that there are certain routes where she gets saved (a number of times in Okazaki’s route), she also does a fair amount of the saving.

She has a family and a life of her own. In the game, one does see her do normal stuff—cooking, her dayjob as a rookie cop, and has occasional spats with her tsundere brother.

Unlike many other otome game heroines, she is not too shy about being the first to admit her feelings to the guys she like. In most of the routes, she is the one who confesses first.

Above all, the story hinges on her unwavering conviction that she can uphold justice without causing malice or sorrow.

She’s a very unique otoge heroine and I wish there were more like her.

2. Datable characters are not easily reduceable to types

Sure, there is the recognizable tsundere in Sasazuka, but not everyone is can be summed up via a type. Mineo, for example, is also slightly tsundere and baka, but there is more to him than his love for history and theatrics. It’s the same with slightly yandere Shiraishi, but Shiraishi is not exactly the possessive yandere, as he actually does encourage Ichika to spend some time with her girlfriends. They all have interesting backstories that challenge one’s idea of “type” casting characters in the first place.

3. The ethics of the game are on the gray side

As one plays the game, one may find oneself sympathizing with the villains. That, I think, is the point of the game, because the villains themselves also suffer injustice. It makes one ask interesting questions: how does one deal with injustice?

4. Getting bad endings are not too bad

There are a lot of bad endings in this game, but one may find that getting a bad ending can clue one in to other plots of the game. In many ways, getting bad endings can also function as hints on future narrative choices. Getting bad endings too is can be a way of piecing together a larger narrative, that involves multiple characters with their own subplots.

5. It makes you question the nature of a “good” ending

*Spoilers in Shiraishi’s route*

A lot of people have noted how bittersweet the “good” ending of Shiraishi’s route is. But it can lead one to ask though: is a good ending about the heroine being happy with the guy she falls for, or is it about serving justice to its characters? This game definitely thinks it is the latter. And I agree.

True, Shiraishi and Ichika have to part in that ending, but it does prove that Shiraishi has truly moved beyond being just a pawn of Adonis, and has learned Ichika’s form of justice. Compare that to the tragic ending where they remain happy together, but Ichika is not aware of who Shiraishi really is because she loses her memory. So while the “good” ending does have a bitter aftertaste with not a lot of closure, it is the better ending of the two.

*End spoilers*

6. The yandere route leaves some room for the heroine to be badass

*Spoilers in Shiraishi’s route*

Yes, Shiraishi is the yandere. But unlike in other yandere routes, where the heroine has to comply to the other character’s yandere-ness (ie. MC with Jumin in Mystic Messenger or Toma in Amnesia), it is the opposite here. Ichika sees the signs of yandereness, and does what a reasonable heroine should do: GTFO. And other times when Shiraishi turns yandere, she snaps him right out it. The story makes it super clear that it is Ichika who really saves the day, even if she loses her memory at the end of it.

I usually hate yandere routes, but this is one is not bad.

*End spoilers*

7. It passes the Bechdel test

Okay, it barely passed it, but at least it did! Apart from Ichika, there are three other female police officers in the game Eriko and Kotoho. Sure, they are part of the Shiraishi Bashing Coalition, whose sole purpose it to shit talk about Shiraishi, but they sometimes talk about other things. After all, they do have cases to solve, and lunches to eat. Kotoho especially loves meat.

In addition to those, Ichika also discusses some other matters with other female suspects. Those contributed too.

8. Characters sleep together and are not too ashamed about it

Yes, Ichika does end up in bed with some characters, but the game does not cast her off as a slut. She is still very lovable as she is.

9. Getting the villain route does not involve the heroine getting into a creepy relationship

Yes, in a way, the villain has a route. And one gets to see the villian’s side of the story. But at least Ichika does not have to date said character in order to get that side of the story (ie. Sweet Fuse as much as I also love that game)

10. Your perfect husbando can do feminine things.

This game pretty much casts Yanagi as the almost-perfect husband type. While he used to be a delinquent and has his own dark backstory, you also see him do feminine things like cooking and cleaning. While everyone literally calls Yanagi the Dad of the group, in many ways, he is also their mom.

But of course, Collar x Malice is by no means perfect. Here are some ways the game can improve:

1. Ichika still does a fair bit of emotional labor

Emotional labor is the job of managing people’s feelings. It is highly gendered because women are often the ones expected to do this job. While Ichika is definitely a wonderful heroine, key parts of the game is still about her managing mens’ feelings. Sometimes, I think a heroine should not be made to deal with too much BS in order to be a wonderful.

Moreover, In many of the routes,there seems to be a lot of focus on Ichika’s domestic abilities in the form of her cooking and cleaning skills. While it is not wrong for a heroine to have these and be feminine, writers have to keep in mind that historically, women have been told again and again that they have to excel in these things too in addition to the other jobs that they do.

2. Trigger mode allows one to feel a bit badass for a few seconds, but they are super limited.

Trigger mode is a timed-mechanic, wherein Ichika has to shoot at the right time. They are found in key parts of the plot, but they are very limited. Usually once per route. While it is true that it drives the point that Ichika only uses her gun in times where it is really necessary, surely the game can think of other ways where Ichika can be proactive and a bit more badass than just that and narrative choices. Also, trigger mode preselects your target for the player. It would actually be interesting if one actually gets to decide who the target is.

3. Investigate mode does allow one to interact with some objects, but this is also limited.

One could get great deal of story via environments, case in point being Bloodbourne. I am not saying that an otome game has to be Bloodbourne, but more objects to interact with can allow for better world and character building

4. Map is also limited

There are moments where one can select areas in the police station to go to, but the problem here is that it only allows you to select where one is supposed to go to. Other places are locked. It would be nice to be able to explore other places other ones where one is supposed to go to. Being able to explore the station at least would have given the police station a sense of place.

5. All the characters are straight

There are many other genders and sexualities out there. There’s a problem if all the characters are all deemed to be cis-characters.

6. Stereotypical representation of gamers

One route features a gamer as a villain. Sure, otome games are not really that great with representations of gamers from Yoosung in Mystic Messenger to the MMO players of Period Cube. But it does not help if most gamers in otome games are addicts.

With that, I would say that this could easily be one of the best otome games of the year. That is, if Bad Apple Wars does not upstage it on October.

[pinayillustrada]

Watching #geekgirlsfilm with these awesome #geekgirls :) (at D. B. Clarke Theatre)

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On the train. #cgsa2017 here I come! Presentation will be on Mystic Messenger. #mysticmessenger

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Redecorating the office part 2: cats in coplay. #skyrim #dishonored #metalgearsolid #pokemon #deadpoolcosplay #tracercosplay #fallout #catzilla (at MLab)

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Been catching up to the tragedy that is the western localization of Taisho Alice. If you are just catching up to what happened, hopefully this will give some context. And if you really want to know how bad it is, Holly Williams writes about it here. From the way people are describing this localization, it is actually better to just get the games in Japanese and use machine translations in the Visual Novel Reader.

If only there was a way to tell Primula how much fans really wants to support Taisho Alice but can’t because of E2′s terrible practices.

DO NOT SUPPORT E2 GAMING

Everyone already knows that E2 Gaming did some really shady stuff with Taisho Alice, but their behavior only continues to get shadier. 

What I can only assume came from the horrible controversy on their facebook and the backlash they have received from fans, E2 Gaming has completely deleted their Facebook page. When I tried to pull it up from a Google search, this was what I found. 

However, the website for E2 Gaming is still up and running. 

It’s obvious now that their goal in deleting the page was to hide and quell the fan outcry in order to sell more of their abysmal localization attempts. They are trying to deceive their customers so they can continue to produce horrible content. They are disrespecting the Western otome audience, the otome audience as a whole and, more than anyone else, they are severely disrespecting Primula. 

At this point, it’s up to the fans on social media to expose them. Speak out against them at every turn. Reblog as many posts that have the truth and explain what is going on. If you see someone posting about wanting to buy the game or talking about it, make sure they know what they’re getting into. 

If you’re considering buying the game as I joke, I would sincerely reconsider. Giving money to this sham of a company is not a good idea and will only benefit them. If you want to benefit Primula and not E2, buy the Japanese version of Taisho Alice. You can find it on Amazon. If you want to support western releases, buy Aksys Games’ and Idea Factory International’s localizations as well as others like Nightshade that were grabbed from respectable indie companies. 

The person/people behind E2 are liars and scam artists. Do not touch Vol. 2 when it launches. Make sure they know we will not tolerate this kind of treatment. The western fans like myself have worked very hard to support the localization of otome games, and to see how people are trying to take advantage of our small market is disgusting. 

DO NOT SUPPORT E2 GAMING