#japan domestic market

[bitchgtr]

Drop a follow 🥀

[floatingonapaintedsky]

This isn't actually prevalent and ultimately a non-issue but I was looking through the comments of their older videos and I always feel like it's a bit silly when I see the occasional stray commenter say that &team would be significantly more successful if they were based primarily out of Korea and got int'l recognition when Japan is the world's second largest music industry.

Like any issues with how much more successful they could be has less to do with the country they're primarily based in and more to do with Hybe Japan being kind of incompetent.

[fatehbaz]

was thinking about this

To be in "public", you must be a consumer. Or a laborer.

About control of peoples' movement in space/place. Since the beginning.

"Vagrancy" of 1830s-onward Britain, people criminalized for being outside without being a laborer.

Breaking laws resulted in being sentenced to coerced debtor/convict labor. Coinciding with the 1830-ish climax of the Industrial Revolution and the land enclosure acts, the "Workhouse Act" aka "Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834" forced poor people to work for a minimum number of hours every day. The major expansion of the "Vagrancy Act" of 1838 made "joblessness" a crime and enhanced its punishment. (Coincidentally, the law's date of royal assent was 27 July 1838, just 5 days before the British government was scheduled to allow fuller emancipation of its technical legal abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean on 1 August 1838.)

---

"Vagrancy" of 1860s-onward United States, people criminalized for being outside while Black.

Widespread emancipation after slavery abolition in 1865 rapidly followed by the outlawing of loitering which de facto outlawed existing as Black in public. Inability to afford fines results in being sentenced to forced labor by working on chain gangs or prisons farms, some built atop plantations.

---

"Vagrancy" of 1870s-onward across empires, people criminalized for being outside while being "foreign" and also being poor generally.

Especially from 1880-ish to 1918-ish, this was an age of widespread mass movement of peoples due to mass poverty and famine induced by global colonial extraction and "market expansion", as agricultural "revolutions" of monoculture/cash crop extraction resulted in ecological degradation. This coincides with and is facilitated by new railroads and telegraphs, leading to imperial implementation or expansion of identity documents, strict work contracts, passports, immigration surveillance, and border checkpoints.

All of this in just a few short years: In 1877, British administrators in India develop what would become the Henry Classification System of taking and keeping fingerprints for use in binding colonial Indians to legal contracts. That same year during the 1877 Great Railroad Strike, and in response to white anxiety about Black residents coming to the city during Great Migration, Chicago's policing institutions exponentially expand surveillance and pioneer "intelligence card" registers for tracking labor union organizing and Black movement, as Chicago's experiments become adopted by US military and expanded nationwide, later used by US forces monitoring dissent in colonial Philippines and Cuba. Japan based its 1880 Penal Code anti-vagrancy statutes on French models, and introduced "koseki" register to track poor/vagrant domestic citizens as Tokyo's Governor Matsuda segregates classes, and the nation introduces "modern police forces". In 1882, the United States passes the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1884, the Ottoman government enacts major "Passport Nizamnamesi" legislation requiring passports. In 1885, during the "Tacoma riot" or "expulsion", a mob of hundreds of white residents rounded up all of the city's Chinese residents, marched them to the train station, kicked them out of the city, and burned down the Chinese neighborhood, introducing what is called "the Tacoma method".

Punished for being Chinese in San Francisco. Punished for being Korean in Japan. Punished for crossing Ottoman borders without correct paperwork. Arrested for whatever, then sent to do convict labor. A poor person in the Punjab, starving during a catastrophic famine, might be coerced into a work contract by British authorities. They will have to travel, shipped off to build a railroad in British Kenya. But now they have to work. Now they are bound. They will be punished for being Punjabi and trying to walk away from Britain's tea plantations in Assam or Britain's rubber plantations in Malaya.

---

"Vagrancy" amidst all of this, people also criminalized for being outside while "unsightly" and merely even superficially appearing to be poor. San Francisco introduced the notorious "ugly law" in 1867, making it illegal for "any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view". Today, if you walk into a building looking a little "weird" (poor, Black, ill, disabled, etc.) or carrying a small backpack, you are given seething spiteful glares and asked to leave.

"Vagrancy" everywhere in the United States, a combination of all of the above. De facto criminalized for simply going for a stroll without downloading the coffee shop's exclusive menu app. "Vagrancy", since at least early nineteenth century Europe. About the control of movement through and access to space/place. Concretizing and weaponizing caste, corralling people, anchoring them in place (de facto confinement), extracting their wealth/labor.

You are permitted to exist only as a paying customer or an employee.

[studentofetherium]

i have a point to make but i need to establish some things first:

Crunchyroll have a hand in producing anime. what this means is being on production committees, ie being the financier of anime and having a big part in planning the anime itself

Crunchyroll produces a lot of anime

a lot of what Crunchyroll produces are isekai anime

Crunchyroll's audience is strictly international. primarily the US, but it servers a global market

with all that said: the endemic overproduction of isekai anime is because of their international popularity. anime like SAO and Shield Hero were huge successes for Crunchyroll, which has led to them recreating their popularity time and time again. in the Japanese web novel subculture that originally spawned the modern isekai genre, people have been moving away from isekai for years, but anime has yet to reflect that because isekai is being prioritized for adaptation due to its international popularity

all this to say: isekai is not a domestic phenomena for Japan. it's plenty popular there, yes, but a foreign company is behind its overproduction, and with the goal of international release. thus, the topic of isekai is more complicated than people give it credit for, and can't be simplified into simply "Japanese people are perverts" like so many people want to do

[rlyehtaxidermist]

One thing I feel like is getting a bit missed in some of the WfM posting: the backlash is not a western thing, and it was not caving to the domestic market in general. Japanese Twitter is if anything angrier about the backtracking than the Western side is, and Bandai/Kadokawa's decision was not made in response to the Japanese fandom reaction in general - "SuleMio wedding" was trending on Japanese twitter.

It was specifically a call made by editors and executives. Not the people who worked on the show, and not the Japanese fans writ large.

"japan is homophobic" factoid actually statistical error. According to Pew Research Center, less than a quarter of Japanese people oppose same-sex marriage. LDP Georg, who lives in the National Diet & writes 10000 homophobic screeds each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted

[poomphuripan]

Producer 'Yuan' Wan Thabkrajang, CEO of YYDS Entertainment - iQIYI Exclusive Interview Transcript

[Why did you choose this novel to make into a TV series adaptation?]

First of all, I think it's the hardship presented in 2023, which is most Thai Y (BL) novels have already been chosen/bought by other production companies in Thailand. Moreover, after reviewing numerous novels from various publishers, none seemed intriguing or had a genre that was refreshing enough for me to buy the adaptation rights to make a series. So, I looked to neighboring countries like Japan, South Korea, or China. They've been rather successful with their Y/BL novels so there might have been some interesting plots. Additionally, China is a country with a flourishing novel industry and a platform, with many famous novels that have millions of readers. And "My Stand-In" is among one of the famous BL novels so I decided to adapt it into a series.

[How do you feel about this being the "first Chinese danmei novel" to be adapted into a Thai TV series?]

This marks the first time a Chinese danmei novel has been adapted into a Thai TV series. Besides, after selecting the project, there were extensive discussions with the director and scriptwriters on how to localize it effectively so that the audience can immerse themselves in the narrative. Because the original work is Chinese, the storytelling or even the storylines are all very based on Chinese culture. The key point of what we needed to do is to make Thai viewers immerse in the series, but still keep the intriguing and intense plots of the novel. This is the hardest thing. But after starting the execution, I felt like the story lines and plots of original Chinese novel can be kept in full, but we needed to choose which plot points to be the main storyline. And because there's only 12 episodes, we'd have to decide which plotlines we are going to cut/shortened. That was one of the things we have to do as well.

[What are the challenges of this series?]

The challenge is the original work, because the original novel has a lot of reader fans and has billions of views. The challenge is to make the book fans satisfied with the adapted plot while making it into a Thai version. At the same time, we needed to figure out how to make the TV series popular in Thailand. Because even though the original novel has a lot of views in China, it's still a relatively new work in Thailand. So we thought about how can we make this Thai drama popular around the globe?

[Why did you decide to work with Director Pepzi?]

It's rather a miracle, because like I had to do research first to see in the past year... So this project started around January 2023, first we started exploring over the last two years to see which BL series was kinda explosive on the market, like able to reach worldwide or international popularity. Because we aimed to create a Thai series with global appeal. And so Director Pepzi is one of the directors, who I felt, has an extensive portfolio of works, both domestically and internationally, so I tried calling P'Pepzi. And that day, that evening, we only discussed for one evening and in the morning the day after, P'Pep texted back 'Yeah Yuan, I'll take this drama" and it's decided right then.

[What are the difficulties in adapting this novel into a TV series?]

It was challenging, especially in discussions with Director Pepzi like "How do you feel about this?... how do you want this to be? like on how to portray certain scenes and characters. Or considering Joe's profession as a stuntman, which means that action scenes are a must. Because in the novel, the action scenes would be in the style of classic Chinese ancient times. However, replicating them in a Thai context proved difficult if we tried to doing them exactly like in the novel. We had to find a balance that resonated with Thai audiences while retaining the novel's essence, this is one of the hardest things. The producers also think, in this year, if we do it the ordinary or typical way, not up to certain standards or not having any challenges, then the series wouldn't meet the selection criteria of viewers. Because these days, viewers tend to select and has a demand for higher-quality content. So we collaborated with the production team to outline the requirements on how we can turn this series into a masterpiece in the industry.

I also disccused with P'Khom about the action scenes or about set designs, things like that. We also had our colleagues from the design department create new sets, for example like Joe's room, that room is originally a warehouse in which we constructed a brand new set (t/n: basically Yuan is trying to say that the design team built Joe's house from scratch because the originally the location is just an empty warehouse). I also felt that the producers were betting big on action scenes. Even though the proportion of action scenes didn't exceed 30%, they were all meticulously designed to look outstanding. This was to evoke excitement and showcase the excellent capabilities of Thailand's production team.

[Interesting facts about 'Up-Poom' and their characters 'Ming-Joe']

Regarding the casting process, it took us 8 to 9 months to finalize the entire cast. And Up-Poom is a pairing where I felt like they had very matching chemistry. Especially when they were paired up during auditions, they even switched roles, with Up playing both Joe and Ming and Poom playing both Ming and Joe. We tried switching the roles to test the chemistry between them. And we found that they were very natural and compatible together, making them suitable for the main roles. Hence, we decided we decided to cast Up and Poom.

As for Ming and Joe, you'll know after reading the novel. Ming is the most detestable character and so Up portrayed him excellently, making everyone itch with hatred during filming. We couldn't understand why Ming acted that way, feeling sorry for Poom's character, Joe, for being mistreated and have to endure to this extent. However, behind the scenes, Up and Poom were quite mischievous, often playing pranks on each other, which made us not feel as sorry for them. Nevertheless, both of them portrayed their roles excellently.

[Recommend 'My Stand-In' to everyone]

Everyone, please pay attention to Stand-in. This TV series has a fascinating plot with elements of drama, romance, and action. It's also the first Thai original series on iQIYI. Please follow it on iQIYI.

[sophistired18]

Timeskip Kryk!!

I like to envision different scenarios on how timeskip kryk's relationship would go based on whether they were in an established relationship before yaku went abroad or if they were stuck at the pining stage, but for now I'm going to just ramble some established relationship hc's bc otherwise the list would go on forever! I hope you all enjoy!!

They definitely had it rough at first bc of the distance and time differences. They both agreed it'd be difficult, but they knew they could make it work. However, it was so much harder than either of them expected.

It was getting unbearable for kuroo, as it felt like a piece of a puzzle was missing from his everyday routine. He still hung out with his old teammates when he could, and he and Kai went to the same university, but they both knew it wasn't the same without yaku.

As for yaku, there were so many times he wanted to keel over and impulsively fly back to japan. He missed home so bad, and kuroo was home. Also the learning curve on speaking a new language and the culture shock in a foreign country was extremely rough. He stuck through it through pure perseverance. Yaku never thought he could doubt his own abilities, but being so isolated from everything he's ever known made him feel smaller than he's ever felt before.

It took a break down and a late midnight call (a morning one for kuroo) for yaku to be reassured that he's here because he's meant to be here and he earned it. From this point the two of them begin to really put in the effort to make sure they check up on each other and call more regularly (instead of trying to ignore how bad they miss each other)

They always call to say goodnight/good morning and just talk about their overall day

The day before Kuroo's college graduation, Yaku secretly flew down and surprised him on grad day. Kuroo just froze up bc he hasn't seen his bf in person in 4 years so he must be hallucinating. It took him a minute to realize he's not schizophrenic and then jump into his smaller (buffer???) Bf's arms. (He also cried alot, which yaku always teases him about to their friends)

The next time they see each other in person is a few months later when kuroo flies up to russia for a weekend to celebrate Yaku's belated birthday. At this point Yaku is practically fluent in russian and kuroo is astounded by how much Yaku's acclimated to his surroundings (it has been 5 years, but its still shocking nonetheless). They eat at one of Yaku's fav restaurants for lunch, which was amusing to Yaku since for the first time Kuroo didn't argue about the menu and took his recommendations bc he was so out of his element.

Later after exploring Moscow together, they decide not eat out for dinner and instead get groceries from an oriental market that yaku frequents often. Kuroo makes him some homemade tonkotsu ramen and yaku starts bawling his eyes out. They celebrate the first birthday Yaku's had with a loved one in 5 years

The next time they see each other, its for Kuroo's older sister's wedding. The whole night, Kuroo held Yaku's hand under the table and silently thumbed his ring finger. No words were spoken about the gesture when they got back to their hotel room, but they didn't need any to know what they wanted.

Yaku's finally back in japan for the 2020 Olympics and this time he decides to stay for a while. He moves in with Kuroo at his apartment and they act like a practically married couple (although they already acted like that before). They do a ton of wholesome domestic stuff that comes easier then you'd think for a couple that hasn't physically been with each other in years.

Now that they live together after all these years, the crave for physical affection is undeniably overwhelming for the both of them. They somehow always need to be touching, whether its watching a show on the couch with their legs intertwined, helping each other button up their shirts and get ready in the morning, or having their bodies bump each other lightly as they wash the dishes together.

Sometimes Kuroo spends late nights working on his laptop and Yaku always tries to remain on a strict schedule so he goes to bed earlier. But after some point he starts missing Kuroo sleeping in bed with him, so one night he asks Kuroo, "Hey Tetsu, you can work anywhere, right?" and Kuroo confused, simply says "Yes... I suppose?" So Yaku drags Kuroo to their bedroom, with Kuroo still holding his laptop and plops Kuroo onto the bed. "Okay, here's your new office" Yaku yawns and then climbs into bed and snuggles against Kuroo's side. Kuroo just sits there in awe for a bit until he sees that yaku actually fell asleep. He continues working with his laptop on his lap, his hand occasionally brushing through Yaku's hair. Eventually he has to get up to put his laptop away and change out of his suit that he's still currently wearing. But now this "office" has becomes a regular routine whenever Kuroo has to work late nights at home. (He makes sure to get ready for bed beforehand as well so that he can go straight to sleep after finishing work)

Kai always pokes at Kuroo and asks when he's gonna propose. Kenma tells him to hurry up and get on with it before another foreign pro team whisks Yaku away

Yaku used to be more reluctant to show affection or make the first move during highschool, but now he's almost always the one to initiate. It's not even that Kuroo is the one who's shy, its just that Yaku always seems to beat him to it.

Its their 10 year anniversary of their relationship (spanning from 3rd yr of hs to post Olympics) and they're spending it at a beach in okinawa (since the last anniversary they spent in the mountains per Yaku's request). It only takes a decade, but Kuroo finally takes his chance to propose as the sunset lies against the ocean waves. However, like most things, Yaku beats him to it and somehow Yaku is the one down on one knee with a ring (and here Kuroo is standing like an idiot still fumbling to grab the damn box out of his pocket). The trip ended with both of them wearing contrasting rings and a proposal story that ends up being another embarrassing one that Yaku always shares with their friends.

After playing a few seasons of pro league in japan, Yaku gets a call and an email from a recruiter in Poland for the team, orzeł warszawa. After discussing it for a while, they come to a decision and Kuroo wishes his husband a safe trip as he watches him wave farewell and enter the airport

[sorenblr]

on the off chance you like Dragon Quest, can you explain its appeal? Japanese people really like it from what I've read, but it seems to play second fiddle to FF in the West

I love Dragon Quest. I have a general JRPG brain illness that isn't confined to SMT. There's even a DQIII reference in Marsyas and the Vampyr...

Anyway, I think the appeal is self-evident: the Toriyama designs, the meat-and-potatoes simplicity, the emphasis on individual vignettes that lends the series an easy, almost serialized narrative tone, the relentless charm of it all- even Sugiyama's classical inspirations stand apart from the prog-infused soundscape of the genre. The English releases also benefit from localization, injecting color and accent that conform so well to the original tone that it hardly scans as adaptation. There is a character and magnetism at play here that no other franchise dares emulate. The series is somehow totally archetypal but completely inimitable. It's a very tidy balancing act.

The individual design elements are unremarkable - the ascetic turn-based combat centered on simple buffs and damage control, rudimentary dungeon crawling, barely extant character building except where the vocation system is present- but tend to cohere under this satisfying sense of polish and planning. And while there's more mechanical experimentation across the series than is evident at a glance, DQ still has a fundamentally conservative design ethos that sets it apart from "modern" JRPGs while ensuring a consistent reception from the more settled-in demographics: liking one entry in the series is no guarantee that you'll love the rest, but you're unlikely to be disillusioned going from one game to another.

It's also difficult to overstate the domestic legacy status. In the Western imaginary, the generic JRPG probably resembles a sort of desacralized FFVII. In Japan that image has always belonged to DQ (and more specifically DQIII), where its status as the progenitor of the genre is less clouded by the decontextualization that Japanese games experience during export- less so in the globalized present, but especially pronounced during the crucial formative years for both series. The emphasis on rudiments is something that's more permissible as a result.

But that comparison relates back to FF's dominance in the West, which is mostly attributable to the series' output during the fifth console generation. More expansive allowances for 3D representation created a demand for games designed around the cutting edge. This is the moment that FF cemented its modern reputation, across three separate entries*, as a series of constantly re-inventive, systems innovative, graphical-showcase melodramas. Meanwhile, the mainline of DQ greeted the moment with a single entry: DQVII, an infamously long and plodding game that married simple polygonal backgrounds with 2D sprites in a fashion that too much resembled the rustic SNES titles of the previous generation to suit the tastes of the average PlayStation Magazine subscriber. Debuting several months after the launch of the PS2 inflamed the issue. Considering the technocratic lust for graphical bombast that informed consumer demand at the time, it's no surprise that Western markets imprinted on FF. There's more at play there- from a marketing perspective, the diminutive peasant-protagonist of DQVII was at a disadvantage against Nomura's millennial aesthetic- but that's the thrust of it.

By the time DQVIII released, FF was already dominant, enjoying a consistent stream of profit from their MMO sector even as the wait between FFX and FFXII spanned the entire lifespan of the new system. With DQIX crafted for the DS and DQX being passed over for localization, the mainline series essentially sat out the critical transition to HD, so FF maintained its edge in the West despite increasingly troubled development and exploding production costs. Things have dovetailed neatly, with DQXI charting a series-best performance in the West, filling a niche for console JRPG experiences of this scale that has been largely unoccupied since the PS2 era. FF is meanwhile occupied with recreating, in a fit of Byzantine decadence, the very title that established its grip on the Western imagination.

*It hasn't enjoyed the same critical longevity as FFVII, but it really can't be overstated how acclaimed FVIII was at release, and the move to less abstracted, more 'realistic' models was crucial to that reception.

[raini-day]

Fantasy manga reccs for folks that liked Freiren, Dungeon Meshi, and Witch Hat Atelier

1. Is what you liked about DM dwarves promoting good lifestyle habits and giving exposition about monsters? You might like Soara and the House of Monsters! A girl raised to be a monster hunter meets a group of dwarves who build houses for monsters and stars traveling with them.

2. Did you know Dungeon Meshi isn't Ryoko Kui's only series? The Dragon's School is on Top of the Mountian is a collection of oneshots all packed with the Ryoko Kui charm.

3. Do you enjoy fun magic item crafting and a relationship between a long-lived elf and a human? you might like Elf to Shuryoushi no Item Koubou! Magritte is a magic item craftsman who, along with her assistant and bodyguard Yura, fulfills all sorts of requests for magic items.

4. Do you like when series really delve into the how and why of logistics? You might like The Dragon, the Hero, and the Courier! It follows the daily life and trouble of Yoshida the half-elf, a dedicated postal worker who delivers all sorts of strange and mundane letters.

5. Did you know witch hat has a cooking manga spin off? now you do! Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen is extremely cute & domestic.

6. Shinozaki-kun no Mente Jijou is a modern fantasy about an ordinary office worker finding out there's a lot about himself he never knew about - turns out his body has been modified to hold all sorts of magical machinery. The thing with machinery though - it needs maintenance

7. Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro follows Kuro, a strange traveler who carries a coffin on her back, two shapeshifting twins she's adopted, and the talking bat who lives in her coffin as they wander the land looking for a certain witch. Whimsical & melancholy, this is one of my all time favs.

8. Akagami no Shirayukihime follows the life Shirayuki, a herbalist, and the people around her. It's kind of hard to sum it up with one thing because it's a pretty long series where a lot happens! It's got really lovely art, fun worldbuilding & extremely charming characters

9. Hakumei and Mikochi are two teeny women who live in a house nestled in the roots of a tree. Lots of them cooking, building, exploring and visiting friends in strange places. I really love the background designs and detailed art of objects! My fav chapters are the market visits. This one's another of my all time favs!

10. Otherwordly Izakaya Nobu! More food in fantasy because you can never really get enough of that. A bar in modern japan inexplicably opens its front door into a fantasy city. Each chapter different people come to the bar to talk about their lives and enjoy japanese food.

11. Radiant, a pretty classic fantasy shounen by a french artist - it's on this list primarily because I looooove the art, especially the backgrounds. It's got some fun magic item worldbuilding as well.

12. And to finish off these reccs, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina. This one's closest to Freiren in terms of who I think will like it. It's about a witch, her slow paced journey around the world, and the people she meets along the path.

[whencyclopedia]

Rationing in Wartime Britain

Rationing of food, clothing, petrol, and other essential items was introduced in Britain during the Second World War (1939-45) when the country's imports were severely threatened by German U-boat attacks on merchant shipping in the Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, and English Channel. Citizens were issued with ration books of coupons which they could spend at retailers to ensure that everyone had access to a minimum of essentials but nobody could buy in excess of restricted amounts.

While some staples like bread, fruit, and vegetables were never rationed, plenty of other necessities were so that meals became simpler and more monotonous. Rationed items included meat, sugar, butter, cheese, tea, and soap. The government also encouraged people to use cheap restaurants by exempting them and their customers from any rationing. Although a black market developed where people illegally bought goods that were otherwise rationed, the ration system worked largely thanks to everyone's self-regulation.

Short Supplies

Pre-war Britain was heavily dependent on many imported goods, which came by ship from around the British Empire, North and South America, and other trading nations. Now during the war, merchant shipping came under serious threat from German U-boats as they headed to and from Britain. Another threat to supplies came from the German bombing of major British ports and the East End docks in London. With Western and Central Europe occupied by the enemy, Britain's access to goods produced there was cut off. In 1941, Britain's exports were two-thirds lower than before the war. Another blow to supplies came when Japan occupied parts of the British Empire in the East from 1942. In addition to these limits, the government's approach to total war meant that many resources had to be diverted to the war effort such as weapons manufacturing and transportation, further limiting resources that might otherwise have been used to support the market for domestic goods.

In order to ensure certain essential items remained available to the widest number of citizens, rationing was introduced, a policy that had been used in the First World War (1914-18). Food prices were controlled from November 1939. Petrol was rationed from September 1939. From the first months of 1940, meat, butter, and sugar were rationed. From June 1941, clothes were rationed in response to a dramatic rise in prices. Soap was rationed from February 1942 and became one of the most popular presents for Christmas that year.

There "is ample evidence that such controls, to help win the war, were not resented" (Dear, 882), and there was the benefit that people felt rationing, applied to everyone, was helping make British society less unequal as everyone pulled together in times of trouble.

Continue reading...

[gacha-incels]

South Korea's 'Gaming Kingdom' Falling Apart Due to '쌀먹' and 'Gacha'

Economy insight

CULTURE AND BIZ

published October 4th 2024 this I thought was just an interesting opinion and analysis of the Korean gaming industry which heavily features critique on gacha. it is originally in Korean and has been mtl and edited into english so it’s not going to be a 1:1 but the very basic info should be there. If you see any discrepancies please lmk and I’ll edit it asap. Thanks for your help and understanding everyone

South Korea was once known as a gaming powerhouse; it was a term that frequently described the nation’s gaming industry. Even today, games are the leading export in South Korea’s content industry. As of 2022, South Korea’s game export revenue reached $8.9 billion (around 12 trillion KRW), which accounts for more than 67.8% of the country’s total content exports.

Globally, South Korea's status remains strong in the gaming industry, ranking 4th after the U.S., China, and Japan in a global market worth 282 trillion KRW. Though there have been fluctuations over the years, South Korea has maintained this position since the early 2000s. From a numbers perspective, South Korea still stands as a gaming giant.

However, if you listen to voices from within the industry, the phrase "gaming powerhouse" is hard to come by. A brief look at industry trends reveals concerns about a crisis: "The South Korean gaming industry is in trouble" or "There's no more innovation." Why is it that despite boasting a much larger export volume and market size than K-pop or K-drama, the core of South Korea's content industry, gaming, faces such grim assessments?

Broken growth caused by an incorrect business model (BM)

The key to South Korea's gaming industry growth was PC online games, which spread with the high-speed internet boom in the early 2000s. At a time when other countries were settling into arcade or home console markets, South Korea entered the PC online gaming sector—a move that turned out to be a masterstroke. With a fast market entry ahead of other nations, South Korea took the lead, pioneering its own paradigm. But today, the industry is struggling to even maintain its domestic market, losing ground to countries like China.

Everyone in the industry knows why. The unique business model (BM) of the South Korean gaming industry, particularly the trade of game items, is seen as a major obstacle to growth. The term “rice farming” (쌀먹- note I went thru a bunch of translations of this and this is the one that I thought made the most sense in context.. if you know the actual set in stone translation lmk)—a slang term meaning “making money by selling game items”—reflects how making money through games has become a major reason for gamers' choices. Currently, 60% of the South Korean gaming industry's revenue comes from in-game item trades, showing how central this model has become.

The core of "rice farming" is the sale of in-game currency or items that allow players to save time on gameplay. Game companies have capitalized on this psychology, introducing probability-based items, also known as "gacha." Gacha, a system similar to a lottery, can reward players with rare items but is also highly risky. The system is often regarded as being close to gambling.

The gaming industry has desperately tried to conceal the fact that probability-based item models have elements of gambling or promote a gambling mindset. If public opinion were to focus on the gambling-like nature of these models, it could literally lead to the downfall of the entire industry. Since this "goose that lays the golden eggs" brings in massive profits easily, no one has been willing to sacrifice it, even though everyone knows it's a problem, making it difficult to change.

The issue is that this culture has dominated the South Korean gaming industry for a long time, severely damaging the overall diversity and competitiveness of the industry. The current crisis stems from a decline in trust in the gaming industry as a whole, following multiple allegations of manipulated probability-based items, which has subsequently led to a decrease in revenue.

Instead of focusing on enhancing gameplay or user services, companies have drawn in users solely with gambling elements, while users, motivated by the desire to make money, approach these games with a gambling mentality. This dangerous dynamic is the main reason why the gaming industry is in its current crisis. The fixation on a flawed business model has led to distorted growth, and the industry has so far stubbornly ignored the issue.

It’s not that there haven’t been calls for change. Many in the industry have been raising alarms, warning that continuing down this path will eventually lead to a collapse. However, market forces often silenced these voices. By 2023, the festering issues that had been ignored for so long have now grown into an irreversible cancer.

Today, Korean games are no longer judged by their content but by how well they incorporate gambling-like elements. One might wonder how this is any different from Japan's national gambling game, pachinko. This is the current state of South Korea’s gaming industry. What's even sadder is that all of this is a result of game developers knowingly turning a blind eye to the situation, blinded by short-term profits.

A Gaming Industry that Talents Ignore

Beyond the distorted growth caused by flawed business models, there are numerous warning signs for the Korean gaming industry. The most noticeable problem is the significant decline in competitiveness when it comes to developing new games. Recently, it has become increasingly difficult to find new Korean games making a mark in either the global or domestic markets. This issue has worsened since the gaming paradigm shifted to mobile platforms. In 2022, only one Korean game made it into the global top 10 for mobile game revenue. The domestic revenue rankings tell a similar story, with most of the top 10 games being either Chinese titles or mobile versions of games that have been in service for over 20 years. This clearly shows the lack of competitive new game releases.

Experts point to the distorted personnel structure of current game development companies, where decision-making is dominated by professional managers who often lack a deep understanding of games. They highlight that Korea's game development culture is plagued by rigid hierarchies and processes, rather than fostering individual developers' creativity.

Survey data shows that the average tenure of employees in the Korean gaming industry is only 2.8 years, and six out of ten game developers express dissatisfaction with their current working conditions. This stands in stark contrast to the foreign gaming industry, where passionate developers drive innovation with fresh ideas. The so-called "crunch culture," where overtime and late-night work are expected, is another major factor hindering the progress of Korean game development. The high workload, compared to other IT sectors, causes talented workers to gravitate toward other industries, leaving game development behind. This is not just a problem of individual developers' working conditions; it poses a structural threat to the future of the Korean gaming industry. Unless the industry escapes from its stagnant development culture, a resurgence for Korean games will be difficult.

The rapid pace of technological change surrounding games has also intensified the sense of crisis in Korea's gaming industry. When it comes to adopting and utilizing emerging technologies that drive next-generation gaming trends, such as the metaverse and blockchain, Korea has fallen significantly behind leading nations. The power that once positioned Korea at the forefront of game innovation seems to have all but vanished.

Industry insiders unanimously agree that the root cause lies in the complacency of game developers, who prefer to take the easy route and prioritize making quick money over embracing new challenges. This results in the industry circling back to its distorted business models. Looking at this trajectory, it's no surprise that concerns are growing over whether the Korean gaming industry can maintain its past glory in an increasingly competitive global market.

The Last Golden Time

For the South Korean gaming industry to recover, fundamental innovation is needed. The focus must shift from aggressive commercialization to delivering the intrinsic value of games—fun, emotion, and immersion. A drastic change in game design philosophy is required, prioritizing enjoyable experiences over pushing players toward in-game purchases.

Additionally, a flexible, autonomous development structure that values creativity must take root. Only in such an environment can future hit games emerge. Risky and innovative attempts should be encouraged, even at the cost of failure. More companies need to embrace new technologies and genres.

The road to reclaiming South Korea’s status as a gaming powerhouse will not be smooth, but if the industry collectively prioritizes the essence of gaming and takes one step at a time, the path to revival can open. Now is the last golden opportunity for the industry to unite for its future.

[rarepears]

Imagine if South America/Mexico got hit by an S rank gate, what would be the world wide repercussions of the avocado industry going down? Would people beg Sung Jinwoo to clear it? Would he already be on his way as soon as he hears about it?

I don't think avocado is big enough to result in people begging Sung Jinwoo to clear it per say. A polite invitation from the avocado cartel? Sure - but I think the Korean Hunter Association filters out such requests before it would even be sent to Jinwoo and his guild lol. Plus there's S ranked Hunters in South America too! I think people would look to their local hunters first for help - and for domestic pride too. It's kind of embarrassing to be needing to request foreign aid plus what kind of compensation can the countries really provide when they have already been decimated by such a gate? They can't afford it nor afford to own a favor. That's a pretty risky political position to be in, to say nothing else of the geopolitical implications and existing alliances they have to balance.

If this was a staple crop like a wheat, rice, or potato where it would be a catastrophic failure, sure. But the good news is that staple crops are far more diversified in where they are grown so while one region getting hit raises prices (cough see Ukraine war, wheat, and fertilizer), it's not going to result in massive shortages akin to the toilet paper crisis of 2020. Avocados are a large export item. The United States is the number one market for Mexico's avocado exports, with an 81 percent share, followed by Canada, Japan, and Spain, so I think the first foreign hunters called in to help would be the American guilds. (Plus they would be more personally motivated to keep their supply of guac going.) Koreans? I don't think they are as keen about avocados.

[satancopilotsmytardis]

okay I read a fic earlier where omegas are given courting jewelry and now I can't stop thinking about shigadabi.

dabi who never thought he'd receive any, with a box full of gifts from his alpha; body chains, necklaces, bracelets, anklets. not to mention all the jewelry for his piercings.

Ooohhh I can riff on this too:

Non-hero society, yes quirks

Depending on where you're at in the world, different governments have different rules based around presentations.

In Japan, all Omegas are required to be on a national registry because they have the best chance of creating more Omegas in couplings, and the Alpha population is what the government cares to maintain for sexist/eugenics reasons (MHA already does eugenics see the entire Todoroki family I'm not adding anything new here). More Omegas means more Alphas that are satisfied the way they "need" to be and potentially the more powerful and stable the country will be.

Toya was sure he would be an alpha, but at 13, he went into his first heat. Seeing his mom with her platinum collar and "bracelets" and knowing how badly his father treats her, he got terrified when he was put onto the registry and started being shown to alphas as old as 17 (though he was aware he would be shown to even older ones too outside of the public eye)

Not wanting to be "courted" or sold off to the highest bidder, he chose to commit suicide by immolation.

He failed, but even near dead, badly burned, and infertile, he could still be someone's bargain bin fantasy, and omegas can't just be thrown away. So the registry took him off of Enji's hands, and when he came out of the coma, he took the name "Dabi" for himself.

Cut to current day, he has been "on the market" and being paraded out at galas for years to try and find someone who will look past his scars and the fact he has to wear a muzzle and suppression bracelets to each of these outings. He also is only brought out for alphas who have repeat offenses for omega abuse. (Domestic/sexual violence, neglect, straight up murder, etc.) Meaning he will be sold at some point and it will be to exactly the worst kind of alpha that he never wanted to be near.

But he does end up at a gala for white-collar criminals because someone requested anything "exotic" from appearance to quirks.

Dabi hates being there and hopes he didn't make an impression on anyone, and then he starts to receive courting jewelry

[s4misc00l]

Pink and brown

Nana x hachi 

tags:

Slow burn , hurts confort, w/w, healing, romantic fluff, Angst, use of au, childhood meeting,duo pov , time skip, pregnant hachi , bad relationship, dark topics, domestic abuse, good ending

 

Chapter 1

Japan ,Winter of 1990.

     “Now Nana your sisters and father are hungry would you be a dear and get some fish at the market.” “yes mama !” Nana beamed finally being of use made her proud. In the part of town they lived in it was considered more than safe for a child of her age to run errands for their parents. Though sometimes she would pout and ask why Nao couldent do it, she was older afterall.

     Sliping her big coat on after her little brown boots with small tufts of pink lining them which she so deeply adored. She made sure to zip her jacket up as far as she could and fixing hear beanie to cover her small pierced ears. “I'm leaving mama !” 

     With those words Nana was on her way; she had always had a kind demeanor and an identity that was kind and playful. Gripping her 2,000 yen bill, if she lost it she'd never hear the end of it. Nana walked to the same market vendor she always had, it was so often they knew her by name ‘Nana Komatsu’, they also knew that she was ten years old. Her favorite color was pink, and how she loved to bake strawberry cake and wished she had someone to share it with. She'd go on and on about everything she loved in those small moments with the market vendor she felt alive, for the first time in her life she felt like someone could care as much as she could. 

     This winter on the other hand was colder than the others had been. The snow made the pretty boots slide. ‘Hey, those boots are weird!” said what seemed to be the leader of a group of little boys. They seemed much older than nana towering over her and speaking foul profanities she couldn't even understand. The constant berating of their mean words lashing at her face caused a sting in her eyes. “haHAHA CRY BABY NANA!”, she would never admit it but she was . Nana had a big heart that at the mere touch leaked tears of sorrow most of it had been built up to overflow. “L leave m..mme alone.” , she muttered barely being able to get it out though gasps and the most heart wrenching cries. “No little baby with the ugly boots!!” The boys belched out mocking her tears and demeanor. “LEAVE HER ALONE UGLY” . The yell hit Nana's ears ringing deep within her . there she was, all nana could think was how cool she was, her hair to her shoulders, the ends of it resting just above her soft yellow scarf and a gritty looking beanie adorned her head . “Are you okay Girl ?” IN all her aw for this mysterious girl she had never met before her eyes cleared and tears evaporated on her rosy red cheeks. “Your weird girl.”, The remark ripped nana from her hase of this new girl's glory “WHAT… no im not” she grumbled cheeks puffing and eyebrows knitting together showing an obvious disappointment. “HAHAHA YOUr so funny “ her laugh was soft, it wasn't mocking like the boys. She was kind and oh so pretty too . “Ech girl your fish is gonna get weird if you don't go.” she pointed at the fish nana forgot she even had. The plastic handles had already left a deep red mark between her palm and fingers. Quickly bidding the raggedy girl farewell she dashed home as quickly as she could. Her mothers yells ring in her ears, preparing herself for what's to come.

Chapter 1/?

chapter one is writen in hachis pov as her nickname will be introduce later :D!!!

[lgcrp]

A NOTE ON IDOL ACTIVITIES

hi everyone ! as we approach our fifth anniversary, we're so grateful to still have muses around since (almost) the beginning, and since our initial opening, lgc has grown in a way none of us have ever imagined before. we think it's a testament to not only ours, but also our members' hard work that we've been able to ic-debut five idol groups (with a sixth on the way !) within the almost-five years we've been open as a roleplay, and we've always operated in a way to reward our members' commitment and dedication to their groups with new, fun ideas for activities and gigs that keeps the excitement for writing for your muses going, even after debuting. however, we at lgc also like to maintain a certain level of realism in our directory, while also being considerate that both admods and members alike all have real lives that take precedent to roleplaying. hence, we've made a conscious effort to diversify as much as possible for our idol groups in terms of ooc-missions and writing requirements that correlate with ic-career development. it's come to our attention, however, that there's speculation of favoritism amongst the idol groups in terms of what the admod team 'gives them'. to address it bluntly, we have never and will never 'play favorites', and to make that clear, we'd like to clarify as much as we've deemed necessary to finally put the topic to rest.

firstly, we want to address the culture of comparison that's been happening around lgc. as it stands right now, a person could have two muses in the idol career path, in two separate idol groups regardless of gender, and would have two completely different experiences ooc and ic. we intentionally operate this way because we think that one of lgc's charms is the variety we provide our members as writers here. we all know how monotonous and boring idol roleplays can get, which is why we've made a conscious effort to diversify as much as we can as we've expanded. however despite these efforts, it's disheartening, to say the least, to hear talks of comparison more than anything whenever we post new events. we understand that, to some extent, comparison is inevitable, especially when we ourselves simulate an environment of competition with future dreams, awards, and other marks of popularity. but it seems that lately, more often than not, these comparisons and even criticisms are done without the consideration that we purposely give our idol groups their own unique flair, and that what we write out in missions (and even sometimes what we don't write out in missions) is not done because we supposedly favor one group over the other.

we've never planned to release this information publicly, but to cease all debate on the topic, just in terms of music releases, we can break our idol groups down simply:

crystallis is the group with subunits and their own solo shows;

v&a is a self-producing group with their own reactions;

nova gets 6 songs constantly;

type zero gets prereleases; and

nknd releases often but mostly digitally, then will compile in physical releases.

everybody gets two korean comebacks + one other comeback in a targeted market in the original calendar we plan out at the beginning of the year:

crystallis and agito target the japanese market;

type zero targets the chinese market;

fabula and versus target the western market;

nova targets the domestic market; and

nknd currently just targets domestic but will likely also target japan.

these are just two factors that come into play when we plan out an idol group's activities for a quarter. not to mention that agito, crystallis and fabula all have members that regularly act for their notoriety tiers gigs, and as acting career gigs are the most time-consuming along with idol career gigs, we have to also take those into account when writing out missions.

and on the topic of notoriety tiers, we want to provide some context: the Great Revamp of 2021™ really solidified a lot of what we wanted to do for the idol groups early on here at lgc. as the years went on and muses gained more points and notoriety, though, we implemented our notoriety tiers system mainly as a way for our members to provide input into their career trajectories for the first time, but also as a great resource for us as admods to figure out the 'reputation' each group has.

needing to have all this information in place is partially why notoriety tiers gigs happened so frequently in the beginning, but as muses started reaching higher tier levels and claiming activities that required more time and effort for us to plan out, we've had to adapt the way members submit their notoriety tiers forms.

it's now explicitly denoted how busy muses actually are in the forms so that everyone has an idea of the amount of additional work they're putting on their muses through the notoriety tiers vs. the work they already have through their career missions. additionally, this change was done to better reflect just how much a muse's solo activities do impact their group activities, both ic and ooc.

as stated before, realism is important here at lgc, and it's not unrealistic to see idols miss out on comeback promotions because of their individual activities. for us as admods, the choice has either been between (1) planning comeback/group promotions for certain idol groups to accommodate their members' acting gigs or (2) to exclude certain members from comeback/group promotions if their schedules don't permit them. we haven't started the latter, and we don't intend to, but with growing complaints amidst all the comparison, we wonder if taking it to the extent of excluding certain members is necessary to reach a compromise.

for instance, it's unrealistic to give a 12-track full album to a group whose main vocalist is also an actor and busy with acting gigs, but right now, we could give the group a two-track single album instead and only let the main vocalist be on the title track with minimal promotions to still include them in the comeback if that's preferred.

from our perspective, though, it's always been more realistic that during that first seven-year period when an idol signs their contract and debuts, their priority is always the group first and foremost. there's always exception to the rule, and idols do typically have to make that big decision of solo vs. group career eventually. but our most senior muses are at-most three years into their careers, and in the fictional entertainment company that we run, it doesn't make sense for us to let an idol prioritize their solo career over their group's at this point in time.

relatedly, the notoriety tiers have also been a great way for us to see which muses actually aren't eligible for any notoriety tier gigs and as such, we're able to give additional gigs to certain muses as part of their career missions. this is part of our constant struggle of balancing older muses with newer muses, especially when it comes to our idol groups.

as is the natural course of things in roleplay, members and their muses come and go, and that unfortunately means that muses in idol groups do drop and throw a wrench in our plans. along with future dreams, that's part of why we've also introduced team unknown – we'll be honest and say that we had different plans for team unknown, but had to change said plans because of members leaving the roleplay.

again, that's just one of the many factors that we have to take into consideration as we keep the machine going that is lgc. we don't want to over-explain ourselves but at the same time, we hope people can start understanding our reasonings better through this post.

and that's not to say that we aren't open to any criticism nor suggestions. if anything, we always to strive to make ourselves as available as possible to our members either individually on our personal accounts or as a group through the main to consult with us about anything. we have no desires to close those lines of communication, but as much as we want to reiterate that we're always open to discussion as our roleplay continues to evolve, we also hope we won't have to make another statement on the matter.

lgc has always had a long-standing issue of being too events-focused, and we've tried as best as we can to alleviate the stress and dissatisfaction that comes with such a culture by taking in feedback, implementing new systems, and keeping things fresh and fun for everyone as k-pop fans.

however, it's only natural that most people focus on their own muses in idol roleplays and can view other muses getting certain things as missing out on something when, in reality, we hope people can start seeing that they also have things that no other muse (or group) has in lgc. no one has ever gotten less or more, just different, and different is okay.

at the end of the day, we hope everyone doesn't focus too much on the comparison or competition-side of things. lgc is what it is today partly because of what we've curated for you all as an admod team, but mostly because of the unique experiences our members have crafted for themselves as writers and roleplayers.

thank you all for your understanding. please like this post to indicate you've read this announcement.

– lgc admod team