The Strange World According to Writer.

[Writers Bloque]

Disney -

Not a fan, but still wont poo poo on them just yet, because it is a little late in the game to start calling them out on their problems. No one said a word when Walt Disney sued a few animators almost to ruin because of a misplaced drawing pen stroke. Or when Disney opened his wallets to get his Florida park special tax rights and other things to make sure the park is safe from things most legit enterprises would not even fear because they operate safely within the law.

But I feel like its beating a dead horse at this point because lately they lost that "Disney Magic" that churned out hits, despite most of them being disgusting perversions of classic stories from hundreds of years ago. Yeah I am talking about The Little Mermaid, Snow White and The Beauty and the Beast. They even tinkered with Tarzan (John Clayton Greystoke II) and it pissed me off to no end. They shredded his origin story, cut out entirely his war with the African tribe that moved in, and taught himself to read English, but never hearing it before, he cant speak it yet.

I understand the themes of the book are a bit hard for kids to understand, but my mom used to read it to me when I was a young lad, along with Robin Hood and Don Quixote. Still, there were some aspects that could have been watered down a bit to make it more kid friendly, but Kala's death was a key scene in the story, to bring him into direct contact with humans. And that to me is the huge sin of Disney. Tell the story right or do not tell it at all. There was no easy way to do it. BUT RACISM WRITER! Nope. Not when Dumbo has racist images in the form of black crows, right down to the southern accent. But I digress, people for years have allowed Disney to do as it pleases, as long as they churn out hits to make money and keep the kids entertained for two hours.


Gaming -

Bleh. I might play one or two computer games at home on some down time, but recently, Steam has a winter sale going on, and I decided to give myself some games for Christmas. Now I play a lot of Eroge (Porno games, or porno visual novels.) For the plot, and story of course, and not the almost too perfect tits of the female cast. Am I getting too old to stop not liking stacked anime girls? Because if that is the only selling point of the game, then its trash to me. I like a good story, and then some good, well earned fucking. I did not sign up for a good fucking first, and a story I have to piece together, which by either some terrible writing or some deeply hidden meaning, leads to more fucking.

I know its weird to play those types of games, but some of them have great stories, and well others are thinly veiled cash grabs. My absolute favorite is one that was not made by a company, but got so much love when it was finished that it shocked people that the people behind it were just random anon's on 4chan. The game is called Katawa Shojo, or Disabled Girls. The story revolves around you joining a school for disabled people, where it teaches the students to find their own path, despite being disabled. You have a heart condition that will kill you eventually, but you get to form a relationship with one of the girls, and let me tell you, each girl's story is an emotional butcher. It rips your heart out, makes you cry, then puts you back together to be as happy as one in his situation could be.

But that game.

I think it had something in it that a lot of people could learn from.

But the best part is, despite some ecchi situations, the actual sex is saved for the end of the girls route, and getting there did not feel like a chore, but almost a natural conclusion to a storyline. If more games did that, then the market might lose its stigma for being only for lonely male gamers.

Just some thoughts on things, will post more later.

[Raceway]

My absolute favorite is one that was not made by a company, but got so much love when it was finished that it shocked people that the people behind it were just random anon's on 4chan. The game is called Katawa Shojo, or Disabled Girls. The story revolves around you joining a school for disabled people, where it teaches the students to find their own path, despite being disabled.

Thanks for the introduction to this game. I took a look at the Wikipedia entry, which provides information about the characters and the plot lines.

The entry doesn't say this explicitly but, judging by the development timeline, the game was written in English, then translated into other languages including Japanese. That struck me as unusual, but perhaps in the world of manga and anime it's common.

[Writers Bloque]

My absolute favorite is one that was not made by a company, but got so much love when it was finished that it shocked people that the people behind it were just random anon's on 4chan. The game is called Katawa Shojo, or Disabled Girls. The story revolves around you joining a school for disabled people, where it teaches the students to find their own path, despite being disabled.

Thanks for the introduction to this game. I took a look at the Wikipedia entry, which provides information about the characters and the plot lines.

The entry doesn't say this explicitly but, judging by the development timeline, the game was written in English, then translated into other languages including Japanese. That struck me as unusual, but perhaps in the world of manga and anime it's common.

It's not common. The big companies that make the mainstream Eroge, or the games that get super popular, are made in Japan/Korea. For the longest time Japan and Korea had a stranglehold on the industry, because the west really did not catch on, due to morals and how video games and pornography was considered. Back in the 90's you had to either bootleg a game, or actually travel there to get a copy, and there was no promise it would work on your pc when you got it home.

But since Japan was going the "fair play" route, even small companies had a shot to produce quality games, the the market would either reject or adore. And with the internet, games could reach wider audiences. The reason Katawa Shojo was popular, was it did not feel like the MC was preying upon weak and vulnerable girls. You did not get the level of sleaze from him that you would get from some titles. Not that all MC in Eroge are hard core sex fiends, but there is among the titles a feeling that maybe he's there for more than what he says he is.

While not common, its not unusual, as there are western game makers that ware trying to lay roots down in the Japanese markets. But not this group, I do not know them personally, but I genuinely think their main goal was make a good game first. Check it out, you can download it for free.

[Raceway]

The reason Katawa Shojo was popular, was it did not feel like the MC was preying upon weak and vulnerable girls. You did not get the level of sleaze from him that you would get from some titles. Not that all MC in Eroge are hard core sex fiends, but there is among the titles a feeling that maybe he's there for more than what he says he is.

I appreciate the explanation and clarification. I don't do gaming but I am curious about anime and manga culture.

There's another thing I noticed when reading the descriptions of the Katawa Shojo characters. The website says that the story is set in the city of Sendai, yet some of the characters have blue, or green, or other-colour eyes that I don't associate with Japanese people. On the other hand, one thing that I do associate with Japanese people is the persistent belief that somehow blood groups define personalities.

What I'm trying to say is that setting a narrative in a Japanese school would, I think, require some familiarity with the school system, and if the team that created Katawa Shojo is multinational, then where did they pick up so much local information?

[Writers Bloque]

That query is an interesting one.

In Japan, kids can wear whatever their parents pick out to wear until middle school, where your first major purchase for your child will be a Uniform for that school, then a uniform for high school.

The dress code is strict so some students add or change little things to make it their own so to speak, as long as it does not majorly violate the rules, like long socks, or wearing their hair in a style.

But in Anime and Manga, the rules are made clear, but since its only fantasy based off of reality. So Eye color, and hair color can be whatever the artist wants, mostly a little dig at the strict totalitarian rules.

Also, some artists are not purely Japanese, so you will notice subtle hints at their nationality in their work.

But mostly the eye color being not natural to the area is mostly to "set apart" the character from the rest.

(Also Japanese schools will force you to go to the hospital and or doctor to get proof if you enroll with any hair color other than black, to prove that it is your natural hair color. Eye color can be changed with contacts.)

[Raceway]

But in Anime and Manga, the rules are made clear, but since its only fantasy based off of reality. So Eye color, and hair color can be whatever the artist wants, mostly a little dig at the strict totalitarian rules.

Also, some artists are not purely Japanese, so you will notice subtle hints at their nationality in their work.

That's fascinating. Almost every other US film or TV series features a school corridor or classroom, but I wouldn't dare write a story set in such a school, for fear of making mistakes that would be picked up immediately by American readers.
 
That's why I find it intriguing that non-Japanese artists can create a convincing Japanese school setting.

[Writers Bloque]

But in Anime and Manga, the rules are made clear, but since its only fantasy based off of reality. So Eye color, and hair color can be whatever the artist wants, mostly a little dig at the strict totalitarian rules.

Also, some artists are not purely Japanese, so you will notice subtle hints at their nationality in their work.

That's fascinating. Almost every other US film or TV series features a school corridor or classroom, but I wouldn't dare write a story set in such a school, for fear of making mistakes that would be picked up immediately by American readers.
 
That's why I find it intriguing that non-Japanese artists can create a convincing Japanese school setting.

Sadly, most schools are cookie cutter in anime. Unless the setting is a private school. The rules I was referring to was the draconian real life school rules on appearance. Like skirts must be a certain length and not any shorter, natural hair colors, no flashy accessories, etc. Anime and manga takes major digs at those rules because despite the Japanese school culture being based of of unity through uniforms and dampening any attempts at self expression through clothing, it has left a lot of people unhappy, especially anime artists.

It's not really hard to create that setting, the hardest part is drawing the uniforms so that they do not closely match any real life school's uniform. The sailor uniform is standard, but the colors would be different in both anime and real life. They do not want readers to think that a certain school was represented.

Here is a fun fact: Most private schools in Anime are Western Style, and almost always either Elite or a school for the Wealthy. This was another dig by some artists who want to poke fun at western style education, as it almost seems too lax compared to the long school days of Japan. In anime, the only resemblance to real life Japanese schools is the length of the school day, where it is common High school kids would be getting home after dark, as some real life schools over there make club activities mandatory.