#tookyo

[zeroescapeproblems]

Coochikoshi

[hopeymchope]

TooKyo Games' "Limit x Despair" is finally unveiled as "The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-"

Once again, TooKyo Games came out swinging during a Nintendo Direct.

The moment this trailer starts up, you can immediately recognize Rui Komatsuzaki's character designs.

Then the setup is described: 16 students are locked inside an academy alongside a weird living mascot character, fighting for their lives as their friends are forced to die right in front of them. Sounds familiar.

Yup: Hard as it is to believe, it is already time for Kazutaka Kodaka's next game. The game once known as "Limit x Despair" or "Extreme x Despair" is here, and it's... a tactical RPG!

...I can legitimately say that I did not expect that. But I am also definitely down for it!

The story seems to deal with the world (or at least the characters' hometown?) being invaded and attacked by some monsters that look like the "Spirit World" baddies from Magical Girl Spec-Ops. Our protagonist Takumi Sumino is forced to hole up and lock down in a school alongside 15 other students and... this thing.

....and from there, they must fight to defend the school in the aforementioned battles.

Aside from the tactical top-down combat and visual novel sequences, you'll also explore the titular "Last Defense Academy" from a perspective similar to how your traversed the island in Danganronpa 2.

Given that we're apparently dealing with a cast of characters that will be whittled down and lost as the narrative progresses, I think this is going to be tonally much closer to Danganronpa's storytelling style than Master Detective Archives: Rain Code was. What I mean is: Master Detective Archives (MDA) was basically the gameplay successor to Danganronpa, but The Hundred Line (THL?) looks more like it's the narrative successor to Danganronpa, if that makes any sense?

Suffice to say that I am once again extremely hyped/excited.

[krizeros]

Babe wake up new best girl just dropped

[austajunk]

Already got my fave picked out.

She looks like Ibuki did the fusion dance with Harley Quinn

Oh hell yeah! She looks so cool. I'm afraid of her... and attracted, but like... what if she's actually uber nice like Ibuki too? XD

[cochidinh]

I made a bingo card for me :D

[yakool-foolio]

Recorded the entirety of the song on Last Defense Academy's official website for your listening pleasure! And yes, this whole song without any loops is over six n a half minutes long. I really do enjoy the freestyle vibe to this track, it's all about that jazz!

However, there is one thing I can't quite shake when I first listened to this track... When that piano first kicked in, those beginning three notes immediately caught my attention. 'A Danganronpa motif?' you may ask. No, it can't be...

Dual Destinies' Apollo theme, is that you...?

[3am-cheerios]

so i will not be talking much the rest of the day as i definitely have strained myself watching the direct

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

In the past, I've talked about Kodaka's current (to be extra clear, at the time) body of work and its lack of representation of characters outside the gender binary, or characters who fucked with it.

Kodaka's relationship with writing gnc characters has been a hot topic for a while due to the inclusion of Chihiro Fujisaki in Danganronpa 1, a character who, according to any straightforward analysis, was simply written without consideration for the sheer existence of gender non-conformity. Not only is this lack of acknowledgement of queer experiences disappointing coming from an adult - yes, even in 2010, though yes, it being 2010 plays a role in the narrative - but many players felt a connection to elements of Chihiro's experience and felt that their own queer identity/experience had been actively disrespected. Beyond that, there's the Ultimate Imposter in Danganronpa 2 (and later 3), a character whose identity "and gender" are unknown, but it's made pretty clear with every part of his representation and writing that he's really just a guy, who only ever presents himself as a guy, and the inclusion of gender in this description was just to hammer down the fact that he was a complete mystery. (Unlike Genocider Shou from Danganronpa 1, for example, for whom the police had fairly accurate theories concerning her potential profile.)

Later on, after Kodaka left Spike Chunsoft to found Too Kyo Games and started working on multiple new projects, due to having Wiki brain and being a fan from the release of Episode 1, I was in the midst of a small controversy concerning Cutthroat's gender in Akudama Drive. As Funimation's subtitles had a character who had never seen Cutthroat's real face use the neutral pronoun "them" to refer to him, some viewers assumed Cutthroat may have been non-binary. Something else that played a role was the lack of an official translation for the characters' Japanese profiles, and the fact that a few viewers decided to use Google Translate, which mistakenly prompted up the word "gender". This was a mistake due to the machine translator not understanding a line break, and this word was in fact not mentioned in his profile at all. The final nail in the coffin: none of the characters' profiles mentioned their genders. I absolutely do not blame anyone for believing in this theory (and as a headcanon, I definitely respect it,) seeing as there were enough vague elements to make one consider it. Unfortunately, as it turned out, this was another case of not even taking the possibility of gender non-conformity into consideration. This time, the year was 2020. It's very likely that the characters' genders weren't mentioned because you were supposed to look at the characters and think "well obviously, that's a man" "well obviously, that's a woman". (Because Doctor's whole shtick is more of a mess, I won't delve into it for the purpose of this post, but as of very recently the manga artist indulged in a little bit of transphobia in how he referred to her and allegedly thought up her backstory himself - in a way that's honestly just confusing.) As for that aforementioned subtitle, just like the Ultimate Imposter's gender was unknown, this had to do with Cutthroat's anonymity.

It was only on February 25, 2023, that an official profile featuring Cutthroat's gender was released in the manga. No surprise here: he is listed as being male.

So from October 8, 2020, when Episode 1 released, to February 25, 2023, I was left to die on the hill that… no… he's not non-binary, guys… I'm sorry, it's a misunderstanding. Because not only did I receive some insults and was subject to rude reactions, but also because believe it or not, I would actually also have been overjoyed had he been non-binary, as time went, I explained why I believed he wasn't meant to be. This included the explanations above, that factually the idea that he was non-binary stemmed from a misunderstanding, but I also mentioned Kodaka's current known body of work - at the time.

Kodaka had never created a character who was actually gnc. His creations included characters who had clearly been written without gender non-conformity in mind. It's not like his only other work since he founded Too Kyo Games at the time (Death Come True) had non-binary characters either. It just wasn't a thing in his works. Best we had was… Kiibo, the robot from Danganronpa V3…? He has a throwaway line in which he mentions not being for a fact gendered. Because he is a robot. Nothing happens with that, and he is not human, but it did feel a little bit like real life was sort of in the room with us for once.

As such, and because none of us know Kodaka personally, there was no reason to infer that this Japanese man in his forties who had never even tried to imply he cared about trans and gnc identities… cared about trans and gnc identities. I was told it was a bit harsh to claim he didn't care, but I thought it important to present to young queer people who were at risk of being lied to the possibility that this stranger in his forties isn't in fact their friend. I thought it a concept important to take into consideration, when you know, queerbaiting exists. When parasocial relationships exist. And when there are also angrier consumers who assume the worst - that he is in fact actively transphobic - I wanted to clarify my stance that we just. Don't know. And that the information we had pointed towards him probably being an ignorant man who doesn't care about it.

Then comes RAIN CODE. At some point, maybe a few months before the game's release, official character profiles were written in English for the main cast. Although every other character's profile included their pronouns, Halara's, specifically, didn't, and instead very clearly repeated their name where there would have been a gendered pronoun. Despite my general stance, which I made clear in this post, I did have the belief that this meant Halara would use neutral pronouns.

There was no certainty, and I was extremely ready to be disappointed. That being said, there were multiple elements which made it a reasonable assumption; not only did this profile clearly stand out in this way, but I had other reasons to believe it a possibility - notably, Spike Chunsoft's involvement, and the promotional content that made it clear RAIN CODE was being made by the team behind Danganronpa. At this point in time (being 2023), with knowledge of Danganronpa's fanbase and a specific intent to cater to it, it was extremely reasonable to believe that Spike Chunsoft was going to want - or possibly accept, if the idea was Kodaka's in the first place, which I don't know - a token non-binary character. It's yet again a pretty crude way to put it, but by being so deeply involved in the Danganronpa fandom and by having dealt with Spike Chunsoft directly for a while, the time felt right. On top of that, Kodaka's work partner and fellow game creator, Uchikoshi, has demonstrated himself as a proper trans ally. With Uchikoshi having defended gnc identities, and his close relationship to Kodaka, there is a fair assumption to be made that Kodaka may have been influenced somewhat.

And not too long later, Halara's official profile was published on the official site, where one line was added - and this line used the neutral pronoun "they". At this point, it was clear that regardless of what their identity would turn out to be, Halara was going to be presented as a gnc character.

This post is already very long and I'm only now getting to what I wanted to say: I'm glad. I'm not sure I've said it before, but I'm glad.

I haven't played RAIN CODE, so I can't speak to how Halara's identity was presented, if it was good or not, but it's been confirmed to me that they are in fact neither a man or a woman. When I was in Wiki brain mode and taking note of the promotional content for the game, it was genuinely exciting, as someone who has had to look at a lot of Komatsuzaki's designs, to look at Halara as his first non-binary design. To consider the thought that was put into designing and presenting them the way they are. Finally!

This doesn't change the way Kodaka's previous works were written, but it is extremely reassuring to see that things are moving in the right direction. That gnc identities are being taken into account by someone who famously didn't before. That there is good will being extended to people with those identities, who want to see themselves on-screen. Now, here's to hoping that Halara won't be an outlier. That in Kodaka's future works, more gnc/non-binary/trans representation will be found, be it in main or surrounding casts, as a normal option for how a character can be.

That's all I wanted to say.

[thehandwixard]

i have only preordered one game since acnh (which i regret. acnh that is) and it was raincode. the only games one should preorder are for the SINGLE AA-through-indie games company or developer you are ride or die for.

[soraritsuka]

I rushed to draw this in 2 days so I could enter the Spike Chunsoft contest lol. I'm not like... Incredibly happy with it... but considering I was on such a time crunch I think it came out pretty well. Either way I love this game and I'm happy I got a chance to draw it!

[hopeymchope]

Even more (wild) info on "The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-"

In a Famitsu interview, Kodaka has revealed many interesting things and general background details/info about The Hundred Line and its development.

Every playable character specializes in a "Special Subject" and a distinct weapon that are reflected in their clothing. This is the analog to the "Ultimate" student talents, essentially.

More clearly outlining the staff: The overall scenario is by Kodaka and Uchikoshi, who also shared script-writing duties. Komatsuzaki and Masafumi Takada return from Danganronpa and Master Detective Archives to once again handle character art/design and music, respectively. Nothing very surprising here.

The white ghost-like mascot is named "Sirei" in the original Japanese, and the tanukis seen in the 'Extreme x Despair' concept art are apparently the origin of the character.

He says that the team went into debt to create this game, ultimately taking out a loan to finance it.

"If the game doesn't sell, we can't pay off our debt. In that sense, this is a rare opportunity for players. You get to witness how the sales of a single title can affect the future of a company and its creators."

Apparently the game's lengthy development included a previous publishing deal falling through, which temporarily cancelled the game.

This is also a big reason why the original concept art doesn't much resemble the current product. In regards to the differences from the original concept art, Kodaka says, "The concept of the work has not been changed, but in order to make a proper restart, the character designs were renewed. Although these appearances changed, the setting was still inherited from the original work, so similar characters will appear."

MEANWHILE... per an article from RockPaperShotgun, The Hundred Line is reportedly promising "100 Extreme/Despair-Filled Endings." I can only guess that they're talking about variations in the ending depending on who falls in battle, kind of like Fire Emblem - maybe?

[aetheral666]

~Just look at her!~

Got her just 2 days ago, but I am already obsessed! I wanted a lipstick in that shade since forever, but lipsticks always dry my lips like hell! You can call this beauty a perfect solution for me because it is a pigmented lip balm! Cannot wait to wear it to school tommorrow!~♡

[guiltypart]

Thoughts on Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Chapter 1

So, thoughts on Chapter 1.

I'm starting to fall out of love with Shinigami, not that I was ever really in love with her in the first place. I understand writing her as not having a traditional human morality, but having that on top of her literally dragging Yuma around on a whim and apparently not liking him associating with other people (aka Halara) like a jealous girlfriend while also being degrading to him is...not great. Hopefully this will turn around later.

Definetely seems like each of the next couple of chapters is going to focus on a specific Master Detective with them working with Yuma to solve the case. This chapter is Halara, who does the whole "I only work for for money but I'm not a bad person" bit, except they stick with the working for money thing to the point that Yuma basically will be in debt for life to them. Still, their Post-Cognition ability is fun to play around with in the investigations. I like them (and yes, it seems that they are a "them", not a "he" or "she", which is honestly pretty cool, I hope it stays that way), although they need to lighten up on the Sink-or-Swim mentality that leads to the Labyrinth this time.

I also don't love the end of the chapter, where the charater development that Yuma and Halara have together essentially gets reset at the end to a degree. Like, it's in service of maintaining The Secret with Shinigami, but this is a group of people with various supernatural powers and don't seem like they'd react badly, so there isn't a narrative reason for keeping Shinigami secret aside from an ill-described contract.

The chapter itself is good, though. I don't think it's a spoiler that it's a love letter to Locked Room mysteries, which results in you investigating several, some of which I figured out pretty quickly, and some that I needed the game to give me specific options to figure out. It isn't a bad thing that I'm solving things IN the Labyrinth with Yuma, rather than figuring it all out beforehand. The Labyrinth was also nicely different from last time and the mystery was successfully twisty.

I do wish that people reacted more to the deaths around them. Like, Yuma doesn't feel great about people he talks to dying (especially considering...specific circumstances), but then they seem to get forgotten soon afterwards. It makes some sense for Kanai Ward residents, but for all the Master Detectives from outside the Ward it's a little jarring.

Also, first official appearance of Yomi, who looks like a Big Bad but I suspect will get usurped near the end. I already want to punch his stupid face, but I know that's not going to happen for a while.

[cochidinh]

Anw I bought this clear file long time ago but still everytime I look at it I still think he is cute

[yakool-foolio]

Oh the Last Defense Academy game situation sounds a bit messy. They apparently restarted it and went into debt to finish it, and they’re doing 100 endings?

That's the general gist of what we know about the game's background. A lot of changes to the character's designs (and heck even gender if we wanna talk about the protag) were caused by the restart after the publishing deal fell through. I've been saying this on Discord with all the recent discussion about Last Defense Academy, but it bears repeating here that Tookyo Games seems to have spread themselves too thin with all these recent releases that have been overlapping in development for over six years. They're in a constant state of creation, which inevitably put a strain on their funds because they've poured so much into what they've been working on, but the projects that have already released (mostly Rain Code as of now) isn't giving them enough back in sales. I appreciate them making games that they're proud of, but god damn do they need to not load all their releases into one shotgun shell.

People are already getting tired of Tookyo Games, which is a shame, but it's understandable why. They're barraging us with all these upcoming games when it's barely been a year since Rain Code's release. I do genuinely want Tookyo Games to succeed in their endeavors cause I really do like and even love a lot of what Kodaka and Uchikoshi have made and I'd hate to see their company fall apart. I'm sure these two upcoming games, Tribe Nine and Last Defense Academy, will be fun romps that me n my buds will enjoy, but these could very well be the last projects we ever see from this company. It's not looking bright for them, but maybe a miracle will bonk them on the head one day, who knows. I just hope this doesn't leave our chances of more Rain Code content in tatters.

[owlstar97]

9 DAYS TO GO FOR RAIN CODE ! ! !

✨Character of the Day✨

- Seth Burroughs -

Voiced by Yuma Uchida (Japanese) and Landon McDonald (English)