#social issues in Japan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lilyginnyblackv2 · 1 year

Text

Social Issues that Help with Understanding Buddy Daddies

Here are some political, social, and cultural aspects of Japanese culture that I think is important to keep in mind when watching Buddy Daddies. Please note: this is a super long post, with lots of pictures.

1. Human Trafficking - Slave Labor

In Episode One, we learn that Miri’s birth father was involved in labor based human trafficking involving Southeast Asian individuals. This is currently a very big issue in Japan, since Southeast Asian immigrants (among others) are viewed as a cheap labor option and usually experience slave labor like conditions.

From The United States Department of State website:

Men, women, and children from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa travel to Japan for employment or fraudulent marriage and are subjected to sex trafficking. Traffickers use fraudulent marriages between foreign women and Japanese men to facilitate the entry of women into Japan for sex trafficking in bars, clubs, brothels, and massage parlors. Traffickers keep victims in forced labor or commercial sex using debt-based coercion, threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, confiscation of passports and other documents, and other psychologically coercive methods.

2. Drugs in Japan

When I was living and working as an ALT in Japan, two ALTs (in a different district, but within the same company of my own), got caught with drugs. It was a big deal and ended up in the newspapers. The company I worked for had to do a lot of PR work with the elementary and junior high schools that they had contracts with, to ensure that the contracts would remain. As for me and the other ALTs? We had to sit through like five separate meetings within like two months about drugs and drug laws in Japan.

The barebones takeaway is that, in Japan, weed is viewed as being on the same level as hardcore drugs. Charges can be steep and strict. Even just knowing that someone has drugs, and you don’t say anything to law enforcement about it, can get you in trouble. There is a grey area with drugs, which is stuff like bath salts and the like. Since the selling of things like that cannot be prohibited, so they are easily accessible to the public.

Japan still has a very “90′s D.A.R.E.” approach to drugs. It’s catchphrase is 「ダメ。ゼッ��イ。」or “No! Never.”

(Image from a Web Magazine called Nagasaki Press.)

When celebrities are caught with (what’s usually) weed, it can basically be the end of their careers, since recreational drug use of any kind (excluding alcohol, of course), is still negatively looked down upon in Japanese society. This is why it is still heavily left in the hands of the yakuza and drug kingpins, etc. Though there has been a recent increase in protests and ideology surrounding the idea of legalizing weed. Still, not much acceptance for recreational use is likely to come yet. However...

There may soon be some revision to the laws, which will allow for medical use:

Legislation changes scheduled for 2023

In 2021, the MHLW established an expert committee to review the Cannabis Control Act, and it is expected revisions will be proposed in a bill to be submitted in 2023. This will most likely allow for the use of medical cannabis. 2022/12/02

From: Euromonitor

So, something to keep in mind when Kazuki talks about a drug kingpin here is that this drug kingpin is likely not just dealing with super, hardcore drugs, but also softer ones too, like weed.

3. Child Protection Squad

There is this misconception in Japan that really young kids, like Miri’s age, can just roam free all around Japan and no one will find it odd. In Episode 1, we do see Miri roaming around the city without anyone really taking notice, but she also wasn’t in an area where there would be people that are trained to take notice.

In the above image she is at a park, which is likely close to a school somewhere. The man that approaches her here has a band around his jacket sleeve that says こども見守り隊 (kodomo mimamori-tai), which gets translated to “Child Protection Squad.” Basically, these are like crossing guards, in a way, because they do play a similar role to that, but they also do more than that as well:

(Image from the Japanese website: Nice Senior).

This people basically ensure that kids stay on the right paths on their way to school. Most of the time, when elementary school children head off to school, they will go in groups (with the 5th or 6th graders being the leaders) and there will often be older people outside their houses on their way in, keeping an eye on the children to make sure they get to school okay.

And that’s talking about elementary school aged kids. For ones that are around Miri’s age, usually the parents (mostly mothers) will bring them by bike:

Or they will get picked up by a bus:

This one looks pretty boring in comparison to some others you might see though, like these:

(Image from the Hiyoshidai School Website)

Sometimes the daycare workers will also take them on little excursions outside using big strollers for the kids to travel around in:

(The image is obviously from a stock photo site called fotostock, but yeah, I’ve seen these before when I lived in Japan).

But a little toddler just sitting on her own at a mostly empty park with just a guy sitting at a park bench nearby watching her? That would raise attention and an eyebrow from someone who is essentially a crossing guard and whose job is to ensure the safety of kids as they travel to and from school.

The rest is under a Read More.

4. Police in Japan

I saw a comment somewhere (maybe it was over on Youtube) about how the cops are portrayed here in Buddy Daddies. The comment was basically that Japanese cops wouldn’t be that aggressive with a child. But, well, cops in Japan have issues like everywhere. Though, the main issue with cops recently has more so been with racial profiling:

(Excerpt is from a Japan Times article entitled: 60% of people with foreign roots questioned by Japanese police, survey finds).

Of course, this situation is different from the one we see happening with Miri, but the Japanese police have issues with corruption too. So this happening wouldn’t seem too out of the realm of possibilities to me. The anime Tiger & Bunny 2 Part 2 also recently had some moments in the season where there was some anti-cop (ACAB-type) sentiments expressed by a character (though that series is also meant to take place in a city based on NYC).

5. Issues Surrounding Reproductive Rights, Contraception, and Abortion

“Took advantage of me” is fairly vague wording, but considering the type of guy he was, and the fact that Miri’s mother is caught in another abusive relationship, it wouldn’t surprise me if Miri’s conception wasn’t fully consensual one. People like to talk about how safe Japan is, but Japan has a lot of sexual violence that goes unreported:

(From an article entitled: Many sexual violence victims in Japan do not report assaults to police, support groups: survey - The article was posted on November 24, 2020 over on The Mainichi news website).

There is a lot of societal pressure in Japan, that can cause a lot of judgement as well. Especially around issues of reproductive rights. From a Japan Times articles entitled: Pandemic provides an opportunity to improve access to contraception, posted on January 30th, 2022, we can get a little insight into the issues surrounding contraceptives:

The article also talked about the judgement that can come with contraceptives. The last line also talks about abortion, which comes with its own set of issues in Japan:

(From The Japan Times article: Abortion legal and apolitical in Japan, but cost and consent present barriers)

So abortion was likely an option that Miri’s mother didn’t think was really viable, especially in her situation.

7. Being a Single Mother in Japan, Adoption

In Ep.3 we hear Kazuki parroting a lot of the stuff you usually hear when it comes to women in children, like it is meant to be a natural and innate thing. There is a societal pressure for a woman to give birth and care for the child, even when they aren’t in the best situations to do so. Miri’s mother was, for all intents and purposes, a single mother. Since I doubt the abusive man she is currently with had any hand in helping Miri.

Being a single mother anywhere can be a big challenge, but especially so in Japan. Some issues that single mother’s face in Japan, according to the article “Why Most Families with Single Mothers in Japan are Living in Poverty” from a site called The Borgen Project:

From that same article, we learn that joint-custody and child support doesn’t exist in Japan. So Miri’s mother was likely under a lot of societal and financial stress, along with possible Post-Partum Depression, and (also probable) burnout. This doesn’t mean that her behavior or attitudes are okay, but that they are likely a result of a failed system.

I’ve seen some people bring up adoption, but adoption doesn’t automatically mean that a child will have a better life either. My grandfather’s mother was force to give her children up to the state, so my grandfather spent a good chunk of his life in an orphanage. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. And the probability that Miri would have been adopted had her mother gone through the actual system is, sadly, extremely low. From an article entitled: “The state of orphans in Japan and how to help” found on the site Zenbird.Media is this bit of information:

And even if Miri had been in an orphanage, Misaki (Miri’s mother) would still be her legal guardian.

So an option like that would be unappealing for Misaki, because she doesn’t want anything to do with Miri.

7. LGBT+ Individuals Being Viewed as “Not Productive”

Finally, we have the last thing I briefly want to talk about. The main backbone of Buddy Daddies, which is these two hitmen taking care of a child. Last year, a Japanese politician was in the news because she retracted some previous statements she made in 2016 and 2018. We are going to focus on her 2018 statements, which were:

Her comment received a lot of backlash and was big news. Her retracting her statements also brought a lot of news and talk too. The above information comes from The Japan Times article: “ Japanese lawmaker retracts past remarks on LGBTQ and other minorities.” Her other comments are awful too, but it should be noted that her one about sexual-minority couples stems from the issue of Japan’s declining birthrate. Even though many people in Japan are supportive of LGBT+ rights, there are people that hold a similar viewpoint as this.

Buddy Daddies is pretty directly challenging this ideology, especially with how they have been handling things. So that’s pretty cool and revolutionary in its own way. It makes me interested in seeing how this continued topic as well as any future social issue topics will be handled or touched upon in Buddy Daddies.

If you read this all until the end: thank you so much! I put a lot of work into this write up and I hope it can help (I learned some things too while researching!).

#Buddy Daddies #Kazuki Kusuru #Rei Suwa #Miri Unasaka #Misaki Unasaka #social issues in Japan #long post #meta post #image heavy post

4K notes · View notes

seoz-seoz · 1 year

Text

Lmao is anyone else watching the buddy daddies anime and losing their fuckinh minds?? Ep 8 has me climbing the fucking walls. I was not expecting to get so obsessed with this show. But damn. It. is. so. good.

New hyperfixation acquired. Category 10 autism event.

If I wasn't literally too sick to get up, I'd be making sooo much fanart. Uhhhgghhh. SOON. soon I will be healthy enough and I WILL make art.

Sorry not sorry to my followers.

#seoz talks #buddy daddies #like i thought it was just gonna be a silly show #but no #its so heartfelt and emotional #it has actual good representation of what 4 year olds are like #its tackling serious social and ethical issues in japan #like trauma anc grief and really the whole show is about healing and learninh to love and aghhhdjdjdkaldhfks #plus the found family is *chefs kiss*#also....#kazurei <33333

123 notes · View notes

moonbeam-darling · 4 months

Text

I just heard about Yuzuru Hanyu's divorce, and I am beyond pissed at the media. For those who don't know, Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater who recently retired. He is extremely well known in the figure skating community since he's competed in the Olympics 3 times and has won so many competitions.

A few months ago, he announced that he got married. I was so excited for him to start another part of his life on top of his solo ice shows.

But, he just got divorced, and he, his family, his ex wife, and her family deserve so much better than what happened to them.

He announced that they divorced due to the outrageous actions of media. They harassed, stalked them, investigated both their families, and went so far as to go to their homes to scream at them and watch them. They reached the conclusion that to ensure her safety, they'd divorce.

This is beyond fucked up. No one should have to do this just to protect themselves from the media. They deserve to be happy together and not have to fear for their privacy and security.

I know it's not a surprise that media figures did this, but it should not be ignored. This is not the first time that such a thing has occurred and will not be the last. Media outlets need to be held accountable, and lines need to be drawn. Because stalking and invading people's privacy is very different from getting information for a story.

There are respectful media personnel out there who don't go this far.

It is incredibly fucking entitled of people to think that a famous person owes the world their private life.

#media #social media #news #reporter #papparazzi #fuck you papparazzi #yuzuru hanyu #yuzu #winnie the pooh #japan #japan media #this is an issue everywhere

9 notes · View notes

kyouka-supremacy · 1 year

Text

#Just read with my own two eyes the take that sskk dating would be illegal in Japan and like.#sorry if this sounds rude but can Twitter please start discourse over it I want to witness it so bad aksvdbksbdjsnsvsksvska #I've been giggling for the last five minutes this. unironically made my day this concept is so so funny I'm ecstatic #Like. I don't even know where to begin I can't stop laughing. But someone thinking that Akutagawa who's like.#a notorious mafioso and serial killer with a reasonably high body count. Would think twice about the legality of dating someone–#two (2) years younger than him???? Like THAT was the issue with dating Atsushi????????I'm hysterical #But even beyond that... I think it kinda speaks of what internet culture become–#that people started thinking dating someone two years younger than you is illegal. wtf.#It is... Guys nobody needs to hear this- except apparently someone does? But dating is never illegal. Having sex with a minor is.#There's like. quite a difference akdbfbskbdjsksbdksbdks #I'm trying so so hard to be polite about this but there's an inner beast inside me that can't help but laugh akdbdjsbsksbsk #I'm sorry there IS some kind of social commentary that could be done here but right now I'm just too busy laughing #And I mean this with no malice seriously!! Best thing I've read all week #Anyways to that person. I love you. Please learn the law. Never change #random rambles

23 notes · View notes

kneedeepincynade · 8 months

Text

And so they fucking did it,wish I could say I was surprised about it

The post is machine translated

Translation is at the bottom

The collective is on telegram

😡 日本是一个没有耻辱感的国家 🤧

😡 Alla fine, i criminali giapponesi hanno veramente iniziato a scaricare acqua contaminata radioattiva della Centrale Nucleare di Fukushima nell'Oceano Pacifico. Tutta l'Asia guarda con disprezzo e disgusto quest'azione dei criminali giapponesi 🤮

🇨🇳 L'Amministrazione Generale della Dogana della Repubblica Popolare Cinese ha rilasciato un avviso di sospensione IMMEDIATA dell'importazione di alimenti e altri prodotti acquatici originari del Giappone 🇯🇵

💬 «Al fine di prevenire in modo completo il rischio di inquinamento radioattivo causato dallo scarico di acqua in Giappone, e per proteggere la salute dei consumatori Cinesi, in conformità con la "Legge sulla Sicurezza Alimentare della Repubblica Popolare Cinese", l'Amministrazione Generale della Dogana ha deciso di sospendere completamente l'importazione di prodotti acquatici dal Giappone» 🤧

😡 Migliaia di tonnellate di acqua radioattiva. Il Giappone è la vergogna dell'Asia. Il Giappone è il peggior vicino possibile per un Paese Asiatico. Il Giappone vuole far pagare ai suoi vicini il prezzo delle sue trasgressioni. L'Asia guarda con gli occhi ben aperti le azioni dei criminali giapponesi e non dimenticherà 🤧

🤔 西方人被洗脑了，爱日本恨中国。只有西方人才能欣赏日本这样一个没有尊严、荣誉和正直的国家。所有亚洲人都知道日本的真实面目。中国人、韩国人、印度尼西亚人，每个人都是如此 🤧

🌸 Iscriviti 👉 @collettivoshaoshan 😘

😡 日本是一个没有耻辱感的国家 🤧

😡 Japanese criminals really started dumping radioactive contaminated water from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. All of Asia looks with contempt and disgust at this action of Japanese criminals 🤮

🇨🇳 The General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China has issued a notice of IMMEDIATE suspension of the import of food and other aquatic products originating in Japan 🇯🇵

💬 "In order to comprehensively prevent the risk of radioactive pollution caused by water discharge in Japan, and to protect the health of Chinese consumers, in accordance with the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", the General Administration della Dogana has decided to completely suspend the importation of aquatic products from Japan» 🤧

😡 Thousands of tons of radioactive water. Japan is Asia's shame. Japan is the worst possible neighbor for an Asian country. Japan wants to make its neighbors pay the price for its transgressions. Asia watches the actions of Japanese criminals with its eyes wide open and will not forget 🤧

🌸 Subscribe 👉 @collettivoshaoshan 😘

2 notes · View notes

aro-attorneys · 7 months

Text

After talking about this on the trip we concluded that Japan can be summarised as "A Country held together by Duct Tape"

#of course many places are. but japan is just special #everyone has to work 80 hours at their dead end job with no new prospects in sight #let's distract them with cheap meals with cutesy packaging #let's place a vending machine with cute bottles for cheap everywhere #oh harassment issues? umm.... compartments for women only on the trains!#i might as well be describing the USA but listen it's capitalism but slightly to the right #(not the political right)#also being a tourist here is easy because they all hate us here anyway #they're polite but I Know what you are #i hate going to tourist places where they constantly approach you to sell you something #here they wouldn't ever do that lmao #good. leave me alone i have social anxiety and autism #my weeb Japanese is good enough to get by as well yippee

1 note · View note

bootlickerhawks · 2 years

Note

Oh god, I literally forgot he lost his wings 💀💀💀 and I remembered when I peaced out, it was an interaction with Shoto that went along the lines 'you're a better person than me for forgiving your abusive parent(s?)'

I already was just sick of Endeavor's whole existence, and that was it for me, I lost all hope for Hawks's character since then

Yeah I can understand that frustration, especially since the previous scene with Hawks was him stating that he "needed to save Endeavor" 🙄

Personally I didn't interpret the scene between him and Shouto as him praising Shouto for forgiving his parents but as him praising Shouto for confronting his past/abuse head on. Hawks laments the fact that he hasn't done the same.

Personally, I don't think that turning your back on your abusive parents is wrong but in the context of Hawks' character, who had to give up his personhood, confronting his past/parents will be necessary for him to get closure I think.

(How much do you wanna bet that, if Hawks survives this arc, the final shot we see of him will be a direct parallel to the moment Shouto reunited with his mother in chapter 44)

Honestly I can't blame people for having a negative interpretation of this scene since Hori has shown a serious lack of nuance when it comes to characters reaction to Endeavor's abuse. We don't see anyone on the pro-hero side hesitate at all when it comes to supporting Endeavor. The closest we get is the press conference scene but that scene is such a joke because Hori has such an obvious bias against the press :/

#asks #bnha #hawks #shouto todoroki #the way the press is presented in bnha is really striking to me and it makes me wonder if it's another one of hori's attempts at social-#-commentary?#does japan have a similar issue with the press like the US? 🤔#like during the kamino arc the press was framed negatively but imo most of the questions the journalists were asking were fair #students were harmed and even kidnapped ofc there would cause for concern over UA's competence esp in the wake of the USJ attack #the framing of that scene always struck me as odd

8 notes · View notes

yaworldchallenge · 2 years

Text

🇯🇵 Japan

Region: East Asia

Harmony

Author: Project Itoh

252 pages, published 2010

Original language: Japanese

Native author? Yes

Age: Teen-Adult

Blurb:

In the future, Utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and a powerful ethic of social welfare and mutual consideration. This perfect world isn't that perfect though, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn't work, but one of the girls--Tuan Kirie--grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet...from itself.

Other reps:

Genres:#sci-fi #social issues #dystopian

My thoughts:

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, so I picked it over other, more fantasy-based books for Japan.

Review to come.

Bookshop.org link | Kindle link

#japan #ya world challenge #harmony #project itoh #light novel #sci-fi #social issues #dystopian #east asia

4 notes · View notes

lilyginnyblackv2 · 1 year

Text

Okay, okay. So someone posted the scene from Episode 11 of Buddy Daddies, when Kazuki goes to the park by himself out of habit, and then you see the mothers talking to themselves about how they find Kazuki suspicious.

The title of the post “This is why being a Adult Male sucks.” Plenty of the comments are what you would expect them to be. One dude blaming feminists and feminism, etc. There is a lot of good, interesting, and overall important discussions, especially from some fathers who have been called predators for bringing their kids to the park. I wrote a post too that is being generally well received, etc. etc.

It’s getting upvoted a lot too, which is great. But, there was one comment that made me just laugh. I’m sorry, but...

Text: This [the situation shown in the BD clip] is just a recent American phenomenon because of news and social media in the U.S., so I’m surprised this appeared in an anime unless it was pandering to American audiences.

Like...??? What? I’m sorry? You think women worrying about childless men sitting at park benches in a children’s park is an “American phenomenon” and not a general worry that mother’s might have all around the world? Especially in Japan, where there are train compartments made specifically for women to ride during rush hour because men groping women there is such a huge issue.

It’s Reddit, specifically r/anime, so there was bound to be one dude that’s like, “any and all social issues are American only, Japan is apolitical and doesn’t care about stuff like this,” etc. etc.

There is more I could say for sure too, but I have to go and get ready to get a vaccine soon (I need one for Whooping Cough before I start my new job). Anyway, feel free to add to this!

#Buddy Daddies #BD #Kazuki Kurusu #social issues in Japan #sexism #dudebros and weebs viewing Japan as an apolitical wonderland #the usual BS in that regard #lmao

32 notes · View notes

juniperandjustice · 1 month

Video

youtube

Japan VS Foreign Tourists: A Worsening Situation

#youtube #abroad in japan #chris broad #japan #tourist #tourism #manners #bad manners #respect #disrespect #culture #cultural sensitivity #cultural insensitivity #kyoto #japanese #video #social #social issue

0 notes

curejiraiya · 5 months

Text

I fell back asleep after writing that Kouji Hiro therapy headcanon post and I need you to know that in my mind I wrote a fucking huge Kouji and Ito's parents are two comp het LGBT couples in the 90s forced into settling down and having children because of societal standards and fear of AIDs post. I don't wanna rewrite it but it was glorious in my head. In the end I drew the conclusion that Kouji's mom, Ito's dad, and Ito's mom (what the fuck were any of their names? Was Gen Ito's dad or is Gen the dead one?) are all in a happy triad/throuple and that's a major reason why Kouji and Ito are bad together. Like legitimately the adults were so close even if you're not buying my they were a gay couple and a lesbian couple shit you can agree that now that everything settled Ito's parents wouldn't just leave Kouji's mom out to dry. Before everything they were close friends we see this in flashbacks. I think they adopt her into their family.

#also like added ramble for the tags #my parents are a local rockstar father and a party lover mother #both of them did NOT want kids but like it was the 90s #they had no choice #society told them to have kids all their friends had kids their parents said you're only valid if u settle down and have kids #I mean i wont get into my parents problems LMAO but like i imagine both of Kouji's and Ito's parents had the same issue #but compounded cuz japan #in the 90s it literally was not an acceptable choice to say “ill stay single” you'd be socially ostracized #every single person my dad hangs out with now at 50 is divorced with kids #i think in the modern age people are starting to be able to say “actually i dont want children”#but they couldn't then #both my parents at seperate points of their life told me this is why i exist too lol they both hard regreted it but had no choice #like thats why toddler ito and Kouji never met #because the two couples regreted their choice to have kids but they couldn't do ANYTHING but try to be good parents #so they became distant from their once as close as family like friends #why am i writing the theory in the tags lmfao #does anyone read tags #if u read tags lemme know youre the real one #king of prism #ramblings #pretty rhythm rainbow live

0 notes

neyatimes · 10 months

Text

India to become world's second largest economy by 2075: Goldman Sachs

India’s Taj Mahal At Sunrise. Wolfgang Kaehler | Lightrocket | Getty Images India is poised to become the world’s second-largest economy by 2075, leapfrogging not just Japan and Germany, but the U.S., too, says Goldman Sachs. Currently, India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, behind Germany, Japan, China and the U.S. On top of a burgeoning population, driving the forecast is the country’s…

View On WordPress

#Asia Economy #Breaking News: Economy #business news #Economic events #Economy #Germany #Goldman Sachs BDC Inc #Goldman Sachs Group Inc #India #japan #Personnel #Prices #Social issues #United States #World economy

0 notes

jayblanc · 3 months

Text

Chinese Censorship of the 2023 Hugo Award Nominations

Back before the 2023 Hugo Nominations were conducted, I noted that the Chengdu Worldcon Hugo committee had inserted a worrying clause indicating that local government officials could invalidate nominations for breaching the norms and standards of China. I suspected this would result in arbitrarily applied censorship to control the ballot. I am sad and unsurprised to discover I was correct.

The 2023 Hugo Nomination vote data has been published (https://www.thehugoawards.org/2024/01/2023-nominating-and-final-ballot-statistics-published/), and includes notation where nominations were excluded from the ballot. Those with normal reasons, such as being in the wrong category or not being published in 2022 are identified with their reasons for exclusion. This time there are a number of nominations that are merely marked at "Not eligible".

Here is the list of those nominations, that would otherwise have been placed on the final 2023 Hugo Award Ballot.

Babel - R.F. Kuang - Best Novel: Very likely excluded for referencing student revolution, and the use of language and translation as coercive tools of oppression. Color the World - Congyun "Mu Ming" Hu - Best Novellette : A story about perception of, aid of, and discrimination against disability. Congyun Hu has left China and now lives in New York. Fogong Temple Padoga - Hai Ya - Best Story : Either there is something in the original Chinese that was not translated, there's a taboo subject that elides my reading, or this otherwise innocent looking near future tale of cultural building restoration was written by the wrong person. The Art of Ghost of Tsushima: Dark Horse and Sucker Punch Games - Best Related Work : The video game Ghost of Tsushima was subject to directed social exclusion for it's depiction of the Mongol invasion of Japan. Sandman, Amazon Studios: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long and Short) - A diverse and divergent cast, includes subject matter and social issues that are currently taboo in China. Paul Weimer - Fan Writer: Publicly Critical of holding a Worldcon in China. Xiran Jay Zhao - Astounding Award: Qualifying work "Iron Widow" is reimagined story of Chinese Empress Wu during a fantasy/mechanical alien invasion.

This raises a lot of questions as to if this basically taints the process, and what can be done about it.

#hugo awards #babel #r.f. kuang #color the world #mu ming #congyun hu #fogon temple padoga #hai ya #Ghost of Tshuima #Sandman #neil gaiman #paul weimer #xiran jay zhao #iron widdow #censorship #china #chengdu 2023 #worldcon

5K notes · View notes

mejomonster · 2 years

Text

Yakuza like a dragon is SO good it is Such a well designed turn based rpg I'm kinda losing it

Now I get why some ppls reviews were like it made them fucking love video games again

It's got the enjoyment of Yakuza 0 with mini games with stories u find fun, side stories u enjoy getting lost in, so all ur non main story play time is enjoyable and decided by you, then you have even mini games now adding to ur personality which affects ur sidestories and jobs and therefore skills u can get which Makes My Goofing Off at minigames actually Valueable! Besides for my own fun I'm changing who Ichiban IS. (Which yakuza always played with, the implication the protagonist could be whoever u made him by your personal things you had him do or not do, but now that is literally reflected in the protagonist Ichibans traits which actually effect his sidestories and fighting system!! which is SO cool and reminds me of Persona even More which Yakuza games always danced lightly similarly too in the social slice of life sidestory aspect).

And your minigames you can bring party members, and no one ruin this for me if dating is eventually written bad lol I don't wanna know, but for NOW as I'm 20 hours in the bond system works the same with All party members and gives similar rewards to when you'd bond with hostesses/coworkers in prior games. You get your party members mini story as you deepen the bond, and get to make decisions. And the party system works WELL in this game because Ichiban isn't kiryu, ichiban is a warm friendly supportive guy and is the type to make a found family of his friends (something Saeko needed and appreciates, something nanba gravitated to him no doubt partly for, something adachi is warm to, something Eki values). With kiryu it would feel odd to get so buddy buddy and reliant with such a huge group, just cause he works alone or with maybe one other at a time. But ichiban is talkative, loud, social, and it's shown from his first scenes as he already has a close friend in yakuza. As he already sees his boss as a dad, his boss's kid as almost a brother. He's built to like being close to people he values, and so a party in his game feels natural and works well!

And the jobs system, how its introduced! How it's cause 3 of your characters are jobless and constantly going to Hello Work, how Saeko is trying to get extra work too, and so it feels like a very fitting in game reason to allow you to job switch. I loved FFVII when it came out, and in some respects I love the remake, and the remake did good at updating the combat and materia to be turn based and feel good. But ffvii remake tried to make a big long game with a thin plot it padded, and dungeons it expanded which didn't need that. Which gave you busy mindless work, and I hate when games waste my time by trying to pad with mindless stuff to make the run time longer. I would've preferred a shorter tighter game. And yakuza like a dragon is long, I can tell its gonna be huge ToT, but the world is small with no time padded dungeons (yet), the time I spend is doing all things I like and chose to. I'm never grinding through 10 hours of dungeon just cause they made a section long to make me fight that long (sorry ffvii remake but). I loved original ffvii but a lot of it was designed For its time, to be a perfectly great turn based rpg For Its Time - for its size it had great quests, minigames, fighting, and never felt time wasting or padding and always felt fun and like it was designed well to do what it planned. The remake had some good polished bits, but it also expanded to Try and not just update the combat, but also try to make itself into the modern huge world games with their long hours and I think a lot of those expansions (the time in the reactors for like 15 hours, the time by the orphanage) flopped for me because like. Ffvii wasn't designed for that. (The new changes sephiroth wise and even maybe jessie wise worked okay because the new remake game felt it always had that in mind, not like it was add on or padding primarily). Ffvii remake is a game that was designed perfectly well originally, transported to 2020s and with stuff tacked on to Try and make it feel modern. But instead of feeling well planned out like Nier Automata, it feels like it's got pointless bits like Dragon Age Inquisition (which I felt so frustrated with for wasting 80 hours of my life for what was actually a 20 hour story with lots of busy boring padding work and no real ending). I don't want boring padding tasks, I want story and elements designed to be part of the whole.

Yakuza like a dragon is designed so well. They combined the well Mashup of almost persona like slice of life side quest with typical yakuza angst crime drama movie like serious narrative on the other half (as usual) with its snappy combat to tie them together. A formula yakuza games have used for years, put together in possibly the smoothest version yet at that time. Then yakuza like a dragon takes the drastic shift of going turn based rpg instead of snappy action combat. But instead of a 1 to 1 replacement (which would've also been fun! And would still work well with ichiban!) the game actually decided to interweave the turn based job class combat system into how the sidestories work (effecting his bonds which affect combat, his traits which effect combat), into how the main story works (the party members of friends, the way ichiban sees things from his pov in a very help people/accomplish quests manner). This interweaving makes the whole game design feel So fucking good. So well thought out and balanced and natural. (In fact thinking back Nier Automata is the most recently made game that I played that felt this good as far as all game design elements coming together into a cohesive well planned whole that compliments - but its action rpg and I can't think of any other ps3 or later game that's turn based that felt this well planned out I'd played). This game is what a modern turn based rpg with job classes and skill levels can Feel Like. Yakuza Like A Dragon is the route modern turn based rpgs can work really well in the medium. (I haven't played persona 5 but I would assume similarly it complimented its combat and skills with its social link gameplay into a well designed whole, since usually persona is fairly good at that).

It just feels. So good to play. So much the Opposite of a chore. I never feel like I'm level grinding or doing anything I don't happily excitedly want to do. And just as I feared enemy level grinding might become necessary to level up enough to handle the next areas? The Part Time Hero quests opened up. Giving me incentive to go explore, to fight enemies for actual rewards, and any fear of annoying level grinding disappeared. Like yakuza 0, this game seems like I can do whatever the fuck I want, not even aiming for near 100% (I only finished 37% of yakuza 0 lol ToT) and just by exploring a little ill definitely be prepared enough to handle the main story. So any extra stuff I dig deep into is by my choice, and if I do wanna streamline through the main story I can just go do that whenever. (And like all yakuza it seems there's new game plus to go back in if I ever zoom thru and want to go enjoy certain parts I didn't explore yet).

Just. It feels so good. I'm happy to say at minimum it's as good as yakua 0 enjoyment wise. And gameplay/design wise I think it's the best modern turn based game I've seen post ps2 (I only play ps tho as I'm sure good switch and ds ones came out ToT). I'm really floored it's as thoroughly enjoyable a turn based game as it is. And it has so much customization! I think rpg fans who love specially changing job classes and crafting and building perfect parties would love the amount they can dig into the system, and at the same time for a person who like me enjoys exploring but doesn't plan too much I can still get by fine and enjoy myself without feeling I need to learn perfect planning.

I imagine it's going to at some point have some flaws that tend to make it into yakuza games just cause that tends to happen, qnd I'll see if it does. But as of now I'm very over the moon. And as long as the flaws aren't worse than yakuza 0 it's still going to be a fairly wonderful ride. I'd say if it has Any flaw so far, it's mainly that the cutscenes are so long! But I normally enjoy that in games lol (I like kingdom hearts after all) and yakuza games are prone to hour long opening and endings at times, 5-15 minute big scenes at times, so it's not any more than your usual yakuza game. It'd normally be a plus for me but my ability to focus has been shot lately and so I pause a lot to do multiple things, making the scenes way longer than intended for myself lol.

#rant #lb #yakuza like a dragon #basically. love the game so far #it took a minute to get goojng #but ichiban is great for this story #i love that i have multiple girl party members and girls in a main yakuza plot active in scenes #i love the writing too bleach japan is suxh an obvious commentary on a few big social issues

0 notes