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Japanese Reading Report: 06 October 2024

日本語読書感想: ２０２４年１０月０６日

This report ended up being fairly experimental. I made an attempt to integrate an accessibility feature (full-English) text while also maintaining my personal desire to blog in mixed Japanese-English. I also set up the foundation for a Japanese-only structure, though that didn't end up developing this time.
Ultimately I realised that the amount of work it took to create this triangular language structure was just too much. While the report itself is only of a modest length, the time taken to include the special code to allow the mixed and English options to work together was just too much. I am currently working on a new solution that should be more elegant and less work for me, so be on the lookout for that next week.
In the meantime I may make a little writeup about this experiment and the learning process of coding this whole website since it has been quite a journey. Thank you.

This week I was quite busy working to finish University projects, however I still found time to fit in a standard amount of input. I finally finished Introduction to Erotic Gamesエロゲー文化研究概論 as well as White Album 2ホワイトアルバム２.
I also started Kimi ni Todoke君に届け, started a second run of Amagamiアマガミ and tried the demo of another erotic game -- this week it was an Alice Softアリスソフト game called doHna doHnaドーナドーナ. More below.

今週は、大学には忙しかったが、インプットは普通。
いよいよ、「エロゲー文化研究概論」を読み終わった！「ホワイトアルバム２」も終わった。
あとは、「君に届け」を観始めて、「アマガミ」の２周目をスタートして、アリスソフトの「ドーナドーナ いっしょにわるいことをしよう」というエロゲーをやってみた。

エロゲー文化研究概論 Introduction to Erotic Games

エロゲー文化研究概論

The final parts of this book touched on the time between 2014 and 2016. Crowdfunding was fairly popular at the time and the eroge Dies Irae had a campaign to fund an anime adaptation. The campaign secured over 300% of the original goal. 宮本直毅 Miyamoto Naoki celebrated the success and talked about how crowdfunding represented a new form of fan interaction. They no longer had to just buy products, they could now 支さえる・応援おうえんする make offerings unto their favourite productions. I think at the time of this book's publication there was a greater sense of trust in crowdfunding and these days I feel that trust has eroded somewhat, but perhaps in Japan things are different.

There was a fairly lengthy section detailing the revitalisation of the ロリゲーLolige subgenre. The ロリコンLolicon boom was a major contributor for Japanese popular culture in the 1980s, and it seems within eroge there was also a small boom in the mid 2010s. The author ended two synopses of different games in this subgenre with 業が深いですな。 [How sinful]"How sinful", which was amusing.

There was a brief mention of another book in a similar genre as this one. The other book, ぼくたちの美少女ゲームクロニクル by 前田尋之 Our Bishojo Games Chronicle by Maeda Hiroyuki, timelines the release of hundreds of games released between the 1980s and date of publication. As it turns out I actually already have a book by this author, ＰＣ－９８０１パーフェクトカタログ　下巻（美少女ゲーム編） PC-9801 Perfect Catalog 2: Bishojo Game Collection, which unsurprisingly covers a very similar topic (limited to the PC-98 system, though).

The final chapter of the book talked about an オフ会 IRL Meetup held by fans of エルフELF games (同級生Doukyuusei for example). As the author says, this meeting of fans to discuss and remember retro adult games demonstrates how the culture of adult games does not belong to the creators, it also belongs to the players, writers, reviewers, chroniclers, etc.
I think that's really nice.

感想

ホワイトアルバム２ White Album 2

ホワイトアルバム２

The story resumes from the concert in episode 1 from episode 7. During the concert the trio plays three songs; two classic songs from 森川由紀もりかわゆき Morikawa Yuki and 緒方理奈おがたりな Ogata Rina and then one original song of their own. We don't hear the final song until the very end of the anime, however it expresses the anime's theme of the struggle of true love triangles.
After the concert 小木曽雪菜おぎそせつな Ogiso Setsuna and 北原春希きたはらはるき Kitahara Haruki begin to date. 冬馬とうまかずさ Touma Kazusa is left to watch their happiness from the sidelines, but after a short time we discover that actually she always liked 春希Haruki. The flashback demonstrating this was pretty well done and caused me to change my vote for which girl was more "deserving" of 春希Haruki, so I'd say it was a well constructed pro-冬馬Touma campaign if nothing else.
However I found the show to be fairly forgettable in the end.

感想

君に届け Kimi ni Todoke

君に届け

I decided to watch this anime next after some suggestions from people in a shared language-learning community, and I have to say it's pretty good.
黒沼爽子くろぬまさわこ Kuronuma Sawako is gloomy and scary from afar, and she is often compared to リングThe Ring 's 貞子さだこ Sadako and many students even believe that さだこSadako is her name.

爽子Sawako admires 風早翔太かぜはやしょうた Kazehaya Shouta, and he returns her affection with a pure, unfiltered kindness. It's a very gentle friendship that is simultaneously blissful to watch and frustrating because "why won't they just confess to each other for real!?"
Some supporting characters are also fun or interesting for their own reasons. 胡桃沢梅くるみさわうめ Kurumisawa Ume (Kurumi) is like the first Shojo Anime boss fight. She is externally friendly towards 爽子Sawako but attempts to sabotage her growing relationship with 風早Kazehaya because she likes him as well. 爽子Sawako's unadulterated kindness defeats her in the end, though.

感想

ダンダダン Dandadan

ダンダダン

A semi-last-minute addition to my reading. I didn't expect this volume to come out, but I was glad it did considering I wanted something to read on Saturday after having finished my last book. I adore this series (and will very likely watch the anime soon).
This volume introduced a new character, ズマ Zuma, who has オカルン's second 金玉Okarun's second "ball". While trying to find him, 綾瀬あやせもも Ayase Momo ends up falling into a "gameboard" universe which removes her powers.

感想

アマガミ Amagami

アマガミ

My goal with this second playthrough was to experience a second character's romantic path. However, simply due to the way I managed my time attempting to befriend 梨穂子りほこ Rihoko and 森島もりしま はるかMorishima Haruka, I fell out of my connection with 中多紗江なかたさえ Nakata Sae and ended up on a 梨穂子Rihoko path again...

Look, I have simple needs.

感想

ドーナドーナ いっしょにわるいことをしよう 体験版 doHna doHna [let's be naughty together] (DEMO)

ドーナドーナ いっしょにわるいことをしよう 体験版

An eroge by Alice Soft アリスソフト which I had known about for a while but decided to try on a whim this week.
This game is one third visual novel, one third base management, one third turn-based rpg (think Darkest Dungeon), and horny all the way down. It's kind of amusing how many places they've managed to fit erotic themes into every element of the game.

The first gameplay mechanic they teach you about is the ハルウリ Haruuri system. In this part of the game you raise and "rent out" ジンザイ Jinzai who earn you money through a minigame where you attempt to match ジンザイ Jinzai to their best suitor.
In the second main gameplay mode you raid enemy bases in order to steal as much stuff as you can, including people who can be turned into additional ジンザイ Jinzai. I actually found the resource management quite tough in this part and ended up escaping my first base with negative MP.
Very early in the game I was brought into my first erotic scene with a character fittingly named ポルノ Porno. The scene took place outdoors at night and I liked that the narration put some focus on the artificial illumination of vending machines. The game has a bit of a cyberpunk or tech punk (?) vibe and the colours are really vibrant.

I think I would be willing to try this game out again, but the ～￥8000 $80 price point is a bit rich for now. Maybe one day.

感想