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#japan’s cyberpunk is always gorgeous and cyberpunk is a pretty important genre for sovereignstuck as a whole
nekropsii · 2 years
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Hi just wanted to say that I really like the way you think about Damara.
Like I really like her, but I kinda of hate her character because of the way Hussie handles her.
There is also the japonese/Asian stereotype thing, I don't mind Damara being like Japonese or whatever, In fact I kinda of like it?(Im probably bias cause Im japonese, but still) but the way that it was written makes it look so insulting and kinda of fetishy an uh its just gross...
Also I have a thing againt her desing, its just-
Idk how to explain it, it just tickles me the wrong way. I guess it has to do with the fact that her clothes look far more chinese than japonese and the fact that she has those sticks coming out of her hair and it looks like chopsticks(thats not a thing people please stop drawing japones people with that, like draw her with an kushi or a kogai or like something..)
Idk man it just makes me so sad and grossed out…
So uh, thank you for the refreshing takes on Damara?
Hey, I’m glad you like my thoughts on Damara! It means a lot, really! She, like all of the Alpha Trolls, has fantastic potential, though it was mostly squandered by them being written by… Well, Hussie. Genuinely, I think if she wasn’t written with such heavy-handed Fetishism and Misogyny, she would have honestly been one of the best characters in that specific cast! Alas, we can’t all have nice things, I suppose…
Her design always struck me the wrong way, too. You can tell she was designed without any due respect or sensitivity in mind- Hussie wasn’t designing her with “Japanese Woman” in mind, he was designing her with “Generic Eastern Asian Woman” in mind. She’s a stereotype in aesthetic, basically, and it’s written plainly and shamelessly across the entirety of her character design.
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[DISCLAIMER: Take my discussion of this with a few grains of salt- I am a Westerner, and while I know a thing or two about some Chinese and Japanese history, I am not speaking from personal experience, nor am I an expert. I am guaranteed to get something wrong- these are just the thoughts I have on the matter from my own limited perspective. Feel free to correct anything I get wrong. Thank you.]
Hussie seemed to have been going for a “Pseudo-Traditional Oriental” Aesthetic for her, but it kind of just sucks, lol. Like, Racist execution aside, it’s incredibly plain, and nothing about it truly makes sense! Her shirt almost reads as Hussie halfheartedly making an attempt at drawing a Qipao, which could have been a very interesting display of her being a Time Player, considering those are essentially Flapper Dresses that are constantly evolving over time but… That doesn’t seem intentional. I am not about to give Hussie undue credit. Considering everything else about Damara, they probably just drew the most “Generic Eastern Asian” outfit they could think of and called it a day. It doesn’t even fold over the body- the neckline and the stripe going down the body aren’t folds, they kind of just look… Printed on. Even with all this aside, the Qipao is something that belongs more to Chinese culture than it does Japanese culture.
The hair hurts me in its level of stereotypicality, but it seems like a natural progression of whatever was going on with Aradia’s hair. I just wish the bastard didn’t complete the look with the Totally-Not-Chopsticks. Literally any other style of Kanzashi would have worked. Hell, it could’ve even been one hairpin that just splits off into prongs at the top to resemble the symbol for Aries, but… Nah, gotta have that chopsticks look! Painful, painful thing.
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