Monday, 14 December 2009
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This Sexualized Anime Obsession in Video Games Needs to Stop
Edit: Video may be NSFW.
Just a few months back, head of Capcom R&D Keiji Inafune was heard saying "Japan is over. We're done. Our game industry is finished."Inafune was referring to, of course, the fact that too many Japanese games are made for the not-so-niche anime market in Japan. Because honestly, when this year did Japan release something like Arkham Asylum? Brutal Legend? Uncharted 2? From dating sims to RPGs to most anything else, bright colors and saucer eyes and other vaguely lolita complex trends pepper the majority of Japanese titles, and I can't think of anything from Japan (and not from Nintendo) since Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents that's managed success without relying on moe. Oh wait, then again there were the cheerleaders...
The indie games scene is big in Japan, bigger than in the West. But this only makes it more prone to the same gaming dispositions as its brother market. We don't get Braid or Castle Crashers or Flow and Flower from them. Oh no. This summer, I once saw this random visual novel-looking thing on my 360's indie games store for like 500 yen (About $5 US). I downloaded it for a quick laugh. I got this:
Microsoft promptly removed "Soredemo, Watashi wa Aisteiru" from the store for its supposed depiction of attempted underage rape. I understand enough Japanese and have seen enough anime to know that wasn't the case here. Because the 'game' (not even 10 minutes long!) was meant for such a cheap momentary thrill, I feel a bit... ashamed I put down money that could have gone toward something more meaningful.
Some of you may be wondering why I'm so concerned about this when I'm not Japanese and don't even live in Japan. But I play Japanese games. Hell, I play FIGHTING GAMES, which are predominantly Japanese and anime stylized. While I appreciate the cutesy aesthetic and storytelling conventions from time to time, it's sad when an industry is stagnated because they refuse to expand. Suddenly I can see where Gundam creator Tomino was coming from about video games being evil, he was most likely looking at it from Japanese eyes.
Well, all I know is I can't wait for The Last Guardian, another fine game from the Japanese folks responsible for Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Final Fantasy XIII and its Bible Black/Akihabara-clothed Serah can go wallow in otaku limbo for all I care.
Don't you, like me, appreciate a helping of animu in your video games from time to time but hate it when that's all there is? Do you think that there's an oversaturation of this sort of thing in Japanese video games? Do you think Japan is doomed for this?
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Comments (47)
I think those sexualized games(rape simulations) are stooping too low and a perversion of mankind or the video game industry
the dead or alive bikini anime girls who play volleyball or other sports are okay but rape games are crossing the line. if they are making more of those games, then they are in popular demand and profit is what video game makers are after and sex sells. another way for perverts to get their fix. ugh.
Doomed how?
I won't go as far as say disappear from video games industry, but at this rate Japanese games will ended up stay on Japan only.
Mmmmm... hentai.
those people need to get lives or relationships just ew
I like a fair amount of moe in my games. I know it's not for everyone, but it works for me. Japan's studios are going to be in trouble though if that's all that they're making; they'll end up selling less games to the US that way, as localizing companies aren't really interested in translated niche moe games.
*shrug* sex sells. but some of those characters they just OD on
It's a very odd thing about America and Japan. Japan is a very sexually represent culture so they have porn for any fetish. (some I didn't even know existed) and they also aren't very concerned with things like video games or hentai anime when they have smaller characters cuz they know they aren't real. However with America being so "sexually open" we are many double standerds about sex in many things. i.e too much sex in commericals, getting pissed about sex or nudity in video games, or too much sex in a tv show. That among other reasons is why america doesn't import very many japanese games.
sexy
I wouldn't say that it'll destroy itself. If it's what people want then people are going to buy it, and the industry will continue. Now that's not to say it'll continue in a fashion that is necessarily favorable, or continue in a way that has it evolve instead of sticking with the same old quick pleasures that people enjoy. If enough people get sick of these types of games, then the industry shall change to reflect that, all there is to it.
I like them, actually. Although, I like a wide variety of different kinds of games, these are one particular type I'd be sad to see get left by the wayside, either partially or completely.
In the long run, yes I think Japan's developers are doomed, though this is just a symptom, and, yes, I do not like it when it's everywhere. If they're going to have the cute (better cute than overtly sexy) women, then they could at least spread them out a little more. It's easy on the eyes, but it gets ridiculous.
But I don't want to spend hours upon hours staring at an ugly character. ):
As long as it's the male character that's attractive. :D
But it doesn't bother me. I think it's cute, the way they look. At least it's not shitty graphics, right?
@methodElevated@xanga - I second that.
As a gamer, I like a little anime styled game, but I'm sure they can do with out it all the time. Some of their pretty successful games come from there without the anime style (Resident Evil, Silent Hill, I'm sorry if I can only think of horror games).
I can enjoy the anime style, but I feel/think that Japan is limited to the anime style because most animation or creation is based on anime. So, I think Japan can still pull games off, even if they all have to be based on the anime style.
I think it's not just video games, but many animation nowadays are sexualized.
But those sexualized animation and games are not age limited.
Wth, did this merge with Mancouch or something?
There is a line where on the one side making a character attractive and the other it's sexualization is blatant, and it's an easy line to cross. I don't expect it to stop because appealing characters is something that makes a game sell, even if it is sex appeal. And with gamers the world over buying what panders to them, would one really expect it to stop?
Game makers are in absolutely no control over what objectionable content enters your home. You are. If you see something you don't like, just stay away from it. No one is forcing it upon you.
Also, all anime is not pr0n, regardless of what you've been exposed to. Virtually all genres are represented in this art form.
DOOMED morally anyways =] but the trend won't stop making money for awhile, just like the porn industry isn't making any less money xD In my opinion
suggestive content > the actual porn/hentai
it's everywhere now. cant run from it.
Jesus christ.. Do you even KNOW any female gamewrs and have you ASKED them how they feel about it? This is basically how it goes; if its fun to play, challenging, beautiful to look at -- people will play it. Regardless of how scantily clad/sexualized the characters are.
Period. I mean as far as Capcom goes they DROPPED Street Fighter.. they dont even own the property anymore, so signs of the giants moving on to different titles has been apparent for years. I mean DOA is a solid fighting game.. but I'd be lying if I said I DIDNT start playing it because of the antigravity breasts on the female characters and the tongue-in-cheek extras on the game of the girls washing the cars. Its a gross fucking game in that way.. but its hilarious. And female "get it" too.
It's a style of marketing that works, this argument could be compared to/used in many instances concerning the US.
I wouldn't go as far to say that Japan's gaming industry is doomed, I think it's just a matter of having more control over one's Joystick (so-to-speak) and limiting how much time and money you spend on pleasure.
Just so everyone is clear, I'm not saying that anime is a bad thing, not even its racier aspects.
What's bad is when most everything out of the Japanese gaming industry uses it as a crutch to make sales. That's what I'm complaining about. I could ignore it and just have fun (as I do with anime itself) but like I pointed out, I couldn't think of ANYTHING stellar this year from Japan short of RE5 and things Nintendo. And even those aren't even all that creative, like my examples Brutal Legend or Arkham. Gaming shouldn't just be a commodity, it's art too, you know? Well American games can be guilty of this in other ways (*COUGH* Halo *COUGH* WoW *COUGH COUGH*), but that's for another post.
@erahslover@xanga - NOT saying I don't enjoy games that cater to those baser impulses. I'm saying that Japanese games rely on it way too much in a way that's often trite and recycled.
Capcom DOES own the Street Fighter property, btw, and they are milking as much as they can out of it. Why do you think SFIV came out? Do you mean how they handed it over to Capcom USA? It's STILL a subsidiary of Capcom, not to mention Capcom of Japan (along with Dimps) had a huge hand in SFIV and SSFIV's development. What's your point in telling me this anyway, that fighting games are no longer being affected by Japan in a way that makes them prone to sexualized moe? VF5 introduced Eileen and this, when it never used to resort to it for crying out loud. Tekken introduced first Xiaoyu and then threw in Alisa. The women look cuter in SCIV and have went up cup sizes. Do I need to mention Cassandra's Critical Finish too? I'm not as uppity about this as me arguing my case would have people believe, but I'd be able to outright ignore all of this and just have fun with these games as you point out only if it didn't happen at such an alarming rate.
@FracturedOne@xanga - I do make the choice to play what I want to play, especially with Japanese games in this case. As I said in my post "all I know is that I can't wait for The Last Guardian, another fine game from the Japanese folks responsible for Ico and Shadow of the Colossus." According to what you point out, it's horribly telling about Japanese gamers if this is what they demand though, isn't it?
@Your_City_To_Burn@xanga - Yeah, definitely re: the American industry. That'll be for another post, though... =D
@Banana_Knight - Yeah, that's probably the truth at the end of the day. But man, when are we get more Parappas and Taiko:Drum Masters and Katamaris at this rate...?
I don't think Japan's gaming industry is doomed because these anime-styled games appeal much more to the American fanbase than games not anime-styled and from Japan.
When it comes down to it, when I play a Japanese RPG, you're damn right I want cute anime girls and badass anime dudes. And all my friends are the same way: I don't think we even look for Japanese games without anime in them. And so when I don't want that, I don't even bother looking at Japanese games. That's when I bust out Oblivion or Dragon Age for my RPGs. So I think while they shrink their market in Japan, it's one that's only growing here.