Japanese Reading Report: 22 September 2024

This week I've been... SICK. As such I've had a little more time to engage with Japanese than normal. I also started a bit of a social media purge, which also improved my daily averages.

One of my strategies -- which seems so obvious, so don't hold it against me -- was just to not have a YouTube tab open all day. If I wanted to watch something on YouTube I had to either know what it was and plan ahead or do something I considered more valuable instead. In this case it meant I was regularly watching more than my daily quota of anime ( 60 minutes) and even fit in some gaming that I otherwise wouldn't have done.

Describing it now, I feel like a supervisor might say, "You spent more time with this stuff!?" But I think we can all agree that 20 minutes spent with produced art with a purpose is more worthwhile than 20 minutes I'd otherwise spend with social media alternatives.

Without further ado, this is what I did this week:

エロゲー文化研究概論

This week covered the end of the 2000s and start of the 2010s.
The first notable section was the chapter on みさくら語. This is a topic that I've read about in a number of other books (エロマンガ・スタディーズ by 永山薫ながやまかおる and エロマンガ表現史 by 稀見理都きみりと both come to mind). The author had two insights that I connected with. The first was that みさくら語 could be seen as a「口に出す心の声」(p219) [the voice of one's heart expressed through words] - A kind of confession of love made at the peak of lust. Many of the expressions used make no sense to say realistically, but as an expression of a character's honest voice it serves an expressive purpose. The second purpose identified was to provide「心置きなくヌける」[being able to pleasure oneself without guilt, more or less] which follows from the first point because, if the speaker's inner-voice expresses a type of enthusiasm it permits some of the more taboo acts in eroge.
A example of the reverse (confession before lust, arguably the more socially acceptable order of events if not for the genre) was also raised. In Wind: A Breath of Heart (2002) 鳴風みなも expresses her deep love for the player for over ten minutes of in-game dialogue, erasing all doubt about her enthusiasm for the rest of the game.

Another notable chapter was the book's four-page article about Katawa Shoujo. After 30+ years of Japanese erotic games it's surprising that this was the first notable western production mentioned in this book since a brief mention of a 3D title in the early 90s. The book recognises western erotic game industry development parallel to the Japanese industry, but until Katawa Shoujo very few games were remarkable enough for this level of coverage. The history of Katawa Shoujo was interesting to me. The original writer, artist, and coder were an American, Australian, and German respectively, and the game's concept was derived from the end notes of a Japanese manga artist. Because of that there is a sense that this wasn't just the first western game of its kind, it's the first transnational collaboration of its kind.
Unfortunately a big caveat to celebrating the game is its title. As the author is quick to mention, "Katawa" is an extremely sensitive word in Japanese and that fact strongly soured the experience of the game when it finally arrived on Japanese shores. While it's an interesting project (and one I'd love to experience at some point) there is a sense that the game's concept was not fully developed and did not consider its the global context, especially the Japanese context, since the game draws so much inspiration from the development of Japanese culture until that point. Ultimately the author seems to see merit in the game and had a lot to say about how well developed the characters were. He sees the work as respectful to the subject matter, despite any communication failures.

とらドラ！

This series turned out to be a lot deeper than I first imagined, but... it kind of flubbed the ending. I knew from the beginning that 竜児りゅうじ and 大河たいが would get together. There was no surprise there, but the development of their relationship comes very naturally and the wrinkles throughout the story kept me engaged. Part of the show's initial premise is that 竜児 wants to enter a relationship with 実乃梨みのり. 実乃梨 is established as a hard-to-pin-down, quirky girl at the beginning, but she ends up being extremely nuanced -- her quirky behaviour is mostly just a wall she puts up to shield her from vulnerability.

The final set of episodes were good and I liked the awkwardness of 竜児 and 大河's elopement, but I felt like the matter was mostly settled after their mock wedding. The next night when 大河 disappeared it felt really unearned, and the final scene also felt a bit pointless.
I really liked the way 泰子やすこ (竜児's mum) was framed throughout the series. While it's not 100% clear what her life was like before the story begins it's clear that she works hard to support 竜児. The late-season drama of 竜児 not wanting to go to University so that he can return the favour was very relatable and tragic to me.

 I don't know why I always feel like there isn't much to say about the show I watch for the week, but it is what it is. I really enjoyed it but the ending was enough for me I guess.

ホワイトアルバム

The first thing I want to say is that I adore the aesthetic of this series. The direction places me directly into 藤井冬弥ふじいとうや's view of the world. First and most notably is his relationship to his girlfriend, 由綺ゆき. Since she's an idol and spends all of her time training, performing, and showing up to live and variety events, 冬弥 mostly experiences her life through TV and magazine clippings. The first episode also makes the disconnect particularly clear when he receives a phone call from 由綺 while watching her on TV. Her appearance was just a recording, after all.
The second choice is the use of watercolour. Women in 冬弥's life are often painted in watercolour whenever we see them from his point of view. The world in White Album is fairly drab, but whenever we see women from his perspective they're filled with life and movement.
The third choice is that 冬弥's internal monologue is entirely delivered through text. I don't have any wise observation about this except that White Album was originally an eroge and it's very common (as mentioned last week) for MCs to be voiceless, allowing players to enter the body of the protagonist more smoothly.
The story is set in 1986. Phones play a major role in the story (phones seem to be the pilotable mech of romance stories). Payphones and home phones are key points of interest and unanswered phone calls regularly express missed connections.
There is a dream-like feeling to the show that I think about when I'm not watching it.

With that all being said, the actual plot has left me wanting a little bit. Like many adaptations of romance games (that I've seen so far) the protagonist has his pick of many girls. Unlike many romance games, however, the protagonist is already in a committed relationship with someone. That makes for a unique story to start with, but episodes have consistently left me feeling like the other girls just don't have a chance. To be honest I also feel like 冬弥's relationship with 由綺 is doomed to fail and he should just focus on himself for a year. There are three more episodes in this season and then a second season. Hopefully it's noteworthy enough to comment deeply on next week.
I'll also be watching White Album 2 which I've heard is quite good.

アマガミ

Well, I finally confessed my love to 梨穂子りほこ. It probably goes without saying but the feeling was mutual, and while our status is still sort of weird (young love, am I right?) it has been nice to spend time with her more meaningful ways. When I wrote the draft for this report I said "I love that she sings without a care in the world."
As someone who also sings to herself and the people she loves, I really connect to this part of her. There is a shamelessness and comfort in her life that makes me feel seen and validated.
I can't help but compare my experience with this game with my experience with the next-closest game I've played with social events like this -- namely the Persona (3-5) series. Those games are enjoyable, but having only 10 levels for each Social Link characters feels somewhat underdeveloped. I feel like I know more about 梨穂子 than I ever got to know about 真まこと or 杏あん in Persona 5. Of course Persona games have plenty of other merits and I don't mean to compare the two games directly, but I wonder if Persona would be stronger if it cut the cast in half and really dove into your relationships with each person.

Another element of the game I've been enjoying is the post-ソエン stories for each character. ソエン (疎遠そえん), or "estrangement", being the point in a relationship with a girl where she is no longer interested in the MC. The first character who entered this state was 森島もりしま -- my first love! Her ソエン route starts with the MC listening in on a confession she receives by a shy younger boy, ロミオ. After the confession goes better than expected, the MC notes that 森島 was receptive to ロミオ's bravery, handing his love letter to her directly. The MC's reflection felt like a tip for future runs, and that pattern felt more accurate as I experienced more ソエン storylines. 七咲ななさき's, for example, taught me that she is very athletic, looks up to 塚原つかはら, and takes swimming seriously.
The second thing I noticed about ソエン storylines is so far (only 2-3 events into the ones I've pursued) is that the I genuinely feel like I'm interrupting the lives of these people now. 森島 simply does not care about me in the way she used to, 絢辻あやつじ has no time for me, and 七咲 sees me as a creep and a pest. While it's kind of hurtful, and it makes me feel like I'm wasting my time, I kind of like that there is a story for each person where they appear to be happy and thriving without my involvement. The thought that they are just waiting for my character to talk to them to progress in their lives couldn't be more dreadful.
Perhaps the weirdest thing is that I now feel bad for 梨穂子. There's a part of me looking forward to ignoring her in a future clear just so that I can experience what kind of life she gets to live without me.

Oh, and I'm still really bad at the conversation system for some reason. There is one section for 梨穂子 on Stage 3 where I think I've made every wrong conversation choice which has meant missing 2-3 optional story moments with her (it hurts, but I'm committed to not reverting the save no matter what happens).