______Wing Of Tears______

Saturday, May 22, 2010

\\*Of Vocaloids, Teachers, Square Enix, Loli, and Hikikomori.*//

A day of band has just passed. Yay! Here's the news.
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Vocaloids: A Vocaloid album, Vocalogenesis, has hit the number one spot in Japan’s national album charts. The Oricon charts ending for the 18th of May listed the Vocaloid album “Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku” as the top selling album, either demonstrating that concentrated otaku buying habits are the stuff marketers dream of, or, more flatteringly, that Vocaloid music is earning mainstream appeal. The tunes in question will probably be familiar to Vocaloid fans.

A female teacher is alleging she was cowed into submission and then sexually enslaved by one of her students.

The teacher, in her forties and working at a Chiba prefecture high school, claims she was the victim of a male first year pupil.

It is alleged that for three months in 2009 she exchanged 657 emails with the boy, as well as giving him lifts in her car and taking him out to dinner.

She also reports late night meetings with the boy, in which he requested she kiss him – she obliged.

The boy withdrew from the school for unrelated reasons, and she was later to claim that he had enslaved her:

“I was controlled by my student, I didn’t know what he’d do to me if I didn’t go along with his demands. I’m the victim of indecent assault!”
The prefectural board of education disagreed and punished her for abuse of trust with a disciplinary pay cut, though only 10% for 6 months.

Just whether this is a genuine case of a schoolboy sexually enslaving his teacher or merely one of a teacher trying to get herself off the hook by claiming she was being raped is an interesting question.

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Square Enix:
Interviews with the developers of Square Enix’s new Nier franchise reveal a bizarre development saga in which arguments over whether western audiences could stomach a typical girly JRPG lead eventually lead to the company making two versions of the game.

Square Enix’s new “Nier” franchise launched with two games, Gestalt (PS3/360) and Replicant (PS3), each with radically differnet character designs for the hero; however only Gestalt was released in the west, as “Nier” – comparisons of the two attracted some attention.

The interview concerning this odd decision included publisher Square Enix’s Executive Producer Yosuke Saito, and developer Cavia’s Nier director Taro Yoko:

Saito: We were initially planning an Xbox 360 target, which we expanded to PS3 multiplatform afterwards. However, the production process turned out to be quite storied.

Yoko: At first we were just doing the youthful protagonist version (which became “Replicant”), but Square Enix started taking talking about international markets during development.

Yoko: In fact, an argument erupted at Square Enix’s Los Angeles studio, over whether a thin looking male character [hereafter translated as “girly”] was possible for the game. For the North American consumers, it was decided to provide a macho main.

Yoko: A heated discussion ensued once the American and European staff were gathered to discuss it. It was said that “A slender and girly protagonist like this couldn’t possibly swing a huge sword like that, it’s ridiculous.” Certainly, if you look at American games it’s always muscle bound mains who look like they play American football.

Saito: We thought that as it’s a new IP, it really must sell, and we were persuaded [by the Japanese staff’s desire to make a girly lead] – we opted to leave the Japanese version with the girly character, and instead make two different versions.

Saito: We did realize that not all international audiences are the same though – it was thought that Replicant [the girly version] might be suitable for the French, as they have a greater appreciation of Japanese culture.

Yoko: That meeting was pretty amazing. A lot of people were arguing for making only the macho old guy version for cost reasons, and we [the Japanese developers] were saying “But if we don’t make a girly version we’ll lose heart and it’ll take even longer.”

Saito: As a result, the Japanese PS3 version only became the girly version, and both PS3 and Xbox 360 international version were the macho old guy versions.
Curiously, the obvious choice of eschewing the entire “Epic vs Enix” problem by just making universally sexy Kainé the protagonist seems not to have occurred to them, although considering the approach they took to depicting her in the US comics this is perhaps for the best.

The obsession Japanese RPG publishers have with supplying western audiences with its crude interpretation of the muscle bound heroes they see as key to the success of American games seems almost pathological – Square Enix actually made two games rather than have to risk releasing an insufficiently masculine lead to supposedly testosterone loving American audiences.

Unfortunately for both supporters and detractors of macho protagonists, the Nier games have received mediocre reviews and would likely have sunk without trace were it not for the cunning inclusion of futanari Kainé – finally proving whether western audiences (apparently shorthand for “American audiences” amongst RPG publishers) really can’t stomach girly androgynous protagonists will have to wait.
Original

Western

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Loli:
Top loli manga anthology Comic LO has a stark message for its substantial online-only illegal readership, hammered home by a weeping loli – “When you illegally upload, you’re killing our lovers!”

More sinisterly, they tell fans that illegal uploads allow even dirty foreigners to get their hands on Japan’s arts, which could encourage more censorship, as ever missing the point that it is Japanese extremists pushing for a ban in pursuit of their own interests.

The rest of their missive to lolicon pirates runs thus:

Illegally uploading magazines or manga is an unforgivable betrayal of manga culture. To protect lovely 2D girls, you mustn’t do it!

Illegal uploads are really getting out of hand!

If you thoughtlessly spread Japanese ero-manga overseas, you may cause needless international friction due to the differences in expression. In the worst case, it might cause manga censorship. Minors might see them too.

Illegal uploads are akin to betraying your otaku brothers, and are practically robbery. Whether you have money or not, uploads bring a danger of causing others to forget the value and importance of manga.

By damaging sales of manga you decrease the morale of mangaka – won’t they just think “If I’m not going to be rewarded, why even bother?” Some creators have become so discouraged by the prevalence of illegal uploads they had to stop writing. The environment which allows the creation of 2D bishoujo is really under threat!
Just whether the magazine’s child fancying readership can be relied upon to maintain the ethical standards LO seems intent on encouraging remains to be seen, although sadly they probably can be relied upon to respond favourably to a call to xenophobia.

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Hikikomori:
The Japanese government has published research suggesting 80% of the nation’s hikikomori may be mentally ill, with two thirds of those diagnosed having such serious conditions as schizophrenia or mental retardation.

A research group from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare cooperated with psychiatrists working at 5 mental health treatment centres over several years. They examined hikikomori cases involving subjects aged 16-35 who approached the centre for assistance.

Approximately 80% of the cases resulted in a firm diagnosis, and of those a third involved mental conditions such as schizophrenia or anxiety disorder, all of which were considered to require medication.

A further third involved mental retardation and developmental disorders.

The remaining third were considered to have generic “personality defects” or “maladjustment,” and were prescribed treatment centred on counseling.

Researchers guess there may be as many as 260,000 child hikikomori in Japan, and are urging that they receive attention from mental health professionals lest they develop into lifetime hikikomori.

The wider implications of even conducting such research suggest the government may be interested in addressing its inconvenient hikikomori problem by redefining what has traditionally been seen as a social phenomenon as a medical condition, an approach which could perhaps eventually culminate in involuntary treatment for hikikomori.

Teared On|4:25 AM|