Thread: What's on Haru-sama's Mind (Absense/Apologies/Writing Journal)

So I just Spent The Last 12 Hour.... ...cleaning up requests at here and at E!, Bluemoon's sister RP forum for more serious gamers and RPers. To say it hasn't felt like being slammed into a brick wall would be a lie, however, this may be for the better, for myself as a long-time RPer, and longer-time fan of anime and jRPGs. I'm actually not very surprised by the moves that these boards and surely soon, if not already many others based in the U.S. like BM and E! are, will begin to take. Japan, as it stands economically, is in a sinkhole ready to just let up and swallow that country's anime and to a lesser extent gaming industry whole eventually. Should that happen, it's going to have been a long time coming. It's an oddity of a place in the world, in that all the things that are allowed in their famous anime artstyle. Though it's getting to the point where things are getting quite out of hand and possibly dangerous, and as such....again, I'm not surprised by the initiatives taken by the diligent staffs of many RP communities. Being a U.S. citizen and only barely trying to study into Japan's pop culture and legalese in a passive manner....just enough to have a basic understanding of why things are what they are and why they've gotten to the point they have these days, I'm probably not meant to understand their motives, aside from the usual excuses of Well, the economy's crap, and this stuff sells like hotcakes...let's keep making more of it. Yeah, I'm getting squarely at the whole moe-loli and moe-shota gig that is completely wrecking that countrie's once-passable storytelling artforms of manga, anime and jRPGs. To be more specific.....character design. I can look at, for example, Rumiko Takahashi's excellent Maison Ikkoku . You could also use any example of those classic sci-fi, outer space and mecha shows we all grew up with from the 1970s and 1980s as well, but Ikkoku is what I know best. Google some screencaps or concept art, then find bios of the characters. I'll guarantee you, 9 times out of 10, if a character bio says that the character is in his early 20s, such as what Godai's of Ikkoku fame is at the start of the series....and for measure, throw in Kyoko, who starts at ...I believe, 23-24, they look pretty damn much like it. No oversized glassy eyes, no rounded soft faces, they look to be the appropriate heights. Really, it's all good. Hell, even in the 1990s, for the most part, characters looked their ages. The Gundam Wing rel 1995 boys all look appropriately midlate teenaged, as well as the ladies some even hitting their 20s, and while this is probably NOT a fair thing, at least the characters from Cardcaptor Sakura ...the bios of Sakura and Li don't say. 18-20....they are what they are and look it, and at least, that franchise screwed up as the romance angle is....frankly I paid no attention to much of it because I find such things in a series of that ilk rather inappropriate....they did NOT play it up for innocent leanings doesn't play up the fetish-factor that the nose-bleeding middle-aged salarymen 'hikkikomori' types literally 'oogle' over this day in age. I can say for sure, having been into the thick of this anime gig since mid-1996, things have really turned for the not-so-tasteful starting in the middle of last decade. It's turning a lot of longtime fans away completely and be assured, it's turned me off somewhat...at least to 99 of recent series from the last 5 years. I don't know if I can throw blame at stuff like AIR , Kanon , and Clannad ....the trifecta of Kyoto Animation series based off KEY's Japanese eroge game publisher romance-drama visual novel titles. They gained a small Internet-cult following, but otherwise were ignored, being somewhat slow, and with rather ho-hum characters. I don't know if I can pin it on a certain Haruhi Suzumiya ....I really can't. That show parodies and makes fun of all the things that are starting to go awry. Ouran even did this with greater success...and both are fun romps. It's crud like Kodomo no Jinkan ....I keep hearing about that title across various Internet anime forums and circles. Creepy doesn't cut it as a noun for fodder like that. For the record, between 2005-2010, the only anime I could even enjoy without a worry include aside from the aforementioned titles above Utawarerumono - 2006 Saiunkoku Monogatari Story of Saiunkoku - 2006-2007 Romeo x Juliet - 2007 Spice Wolf - 2009 2010 Eden of the East - 2009 I do plan on getting this one I do also have Baccano! , which aired in late 2008 in Japan and was released early this year to DVD. jRPGs aren't exempt from it either. Aside from Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei franchise and most SquareEnix titles namely, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, the few 'vanity' companies that remain really hit the bottom-barrel in terms of character design it seems. Gust's Atelier and Ar tonelico series come to mind right away. Let's be honest and frank folks. The reason lots of former JRPG players have retreated to WRPGs which are fine by the way...I DO own Oblivion and Morrowind, and should I do a PC upgrade soon, Dragon Age are not just because of the tired same turn-based battles and cliche Someone or other being the last hope for the world. plots. It's the character design. Some of it makes one go Ick! and is thus, hard to really mold ones'self into. jRPGs were quite better when imagery was limited to manga anime ie Breath of Fire or watercolor-style ie Amano's many great contributions to the FF series artworks. Forget finding any pretty anime cutscenes or FMVs in anything from the 'Golden era' of jRPGs, the 16-bit era. Even popular cult titles like the old Lunar series for the Sega Saturn platform.....while nodding to the younger looks for its characters, made them a joy to adventure with. All I can ask at this point, is that three-lettered Internet acronym. W T F, Japan!? Really though, as a long-time fan of this stuff, I just gotta say. They have to clean their damn act up and fast. Or maybe it's too late and a crash to the anime manga industry...and maybe even government intervention though let me be clear, I abhor censorship in any forms, so I wish for that to be an absolute last resort move by their government is what's needed to upright the ship. Instead of pandering to the lowest-common-denominators in our societies with jailbait entertainment just because they pay the damn bills for us. As a longtime fan, I'd love to see a return to form.....when anime and jRPGs were a means to tell stories with fun and interesting characters of MANY ages not just lolishota-fodder, and their character designers weren't all on crack or dope or whatever. Geeze, I think this is the most bitter I've gotten towards hobbies I've enjoyed for many years, but when it hits me in all areas, right down to RPing, I'm gonna squeal. In a way, it's rather sad, and I hope for the best, and I'm ready for the worst. At least, I have a large backlog of anime and games from the last 21-odd years to enjoy, most of which doesn't include barrel-scraping fodder. As for the RPing....as they say, 'back to the ol' drawing board.' Time to find new imagery or just add detail to things I already have down in the Kinks lists in terms of apparel. With the characters, it's more about the apparel they wear than overall looks half the time. Take care, and safe Trick-or-Treating. - Matt Haru