It is in the genre of the 'erotic' that
Japan's video game industry most clearly distinguishes itself from
the West. Japanese adult gaming follows from the country's tradition
of open pornographic production, where the line between the ordinary
and the adult is not always clearly demarcated. The diversity of
productions in vast, with some titles boasting of a perversity that
would please the Marquis de Sade, and others whose sexuality is but an aside, albeit a significant one, before an emphasis on emotional and narrative depth.
Japan possesses the somewhat dubious
distinction of being the world's foremost producer of erotic video
games, referred to there as Eroge.
While similar games have been produced in the west, few have been
commercial successes, and none have approached the level of influence
attained by Japanese titles such as Fate/Stay Night
or Kanon. Some measure
of the difference is disclosed by retail patterns; while in the
United States, an adult AO rating (such as that applied to 'Hot
Coffee' editions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) often means the
extinction of said title from store shelves and major online
retailers, eroge in
Japan might be found in a storefront in Akibara.
Such
a relaxed approach to depictions of sexuality has a long history in
Japan. As far back as the 17th
century, during Japan's Edo period, sexually explicit woodcuts were
appearing, known as Shungai.
Unlike the nudes of European
art, Shunga was
created for explicitly pornographic purposesii,
with many examples offering frank depictions of intercourse.
Contemporary foreign observers in China, Korea and Europe, were
appalled by the Japanese tradition and sexual ethics, an indication
that shock and dismay over
Japanese pornography is hardly a new phenomenon. Similarly, some
trends in erotica have similarly ancient roots; the 19th
century work “Dream
of a Fisherman's Wife”, depicted
below, is often considered a progenitor to the lamentable modern
'tentacle' genre.
 |
| Dream of a Fisherman's Wife; Katsushika Hokusai, 1814 |
A
more recent precursor is found in the post-war film trend toward
Pinku
Eiga
- “Pink film”. As Japanese television ownership took off in the
late 1950's, Japanese film studios faced a crisis as admissions
decreased in proportion. The solution for filmmakers was to turn to
risque soft-core productionsiii,
which could draw large audiences despite their small budgets and
rapid shooting schedules. Although the basic concepts is effectively
equivalent to the American 'Exploitation' genre, certain Japanese
directors used
'pink films' to employ avant-garde cinematography and discuss serious
themes. The works of Kōji
Wakamatsu, for
instance, included an extremely eclectic blend of pornographic with
left-wing radicalism; his film Secrets
behind the Wall
was entered into the 1965 Berlin film festival, alongside works by
Goddard and Polanskiiv.
The consideration of adult works as being suitable for sedate
discussion – without diminishing their erotic appeal – appears to
be a trend that distinguishes the Japanese genre from its western
analogue.
Of
course, not all filmmakers possessed such lofty ambitions.
Especially as the genre became more popular and large studios began
to enter the arena – 40% of all productions were 'pink' by 1965v
- arthouse direction gave way to an appeal based upon steadily more
extreme subject matter. To a large degree, this trend was aided by
the structure of Japanese obscenity law, which
specifically prohibited depictions of genitalia or penetration. The
rules in Japan worked as a sort of reverse-Miller test; unlike the
American precedent, which established subjective criteria based on
'community standards', the Japanese system merely dictated a set of
rules. Thus, so long as they followed a few simple rules, studios
found they could depict anything not explicitly forbiddenvi.
The Romano
Porno of
the 1970's became renowned for their elements of rape, torture and
extreme sexual violence, with subgenres labelled 'Violent Pink' and
'Erotic Grotesque'vii.
Although
it may share the some of the excesses of Pinku
Eiga,
Eroge
can claim no similarly artistic beginnings. The first games arose
during the 1980's on NEC home computersviii
and
similar devices such as the MSX,
beginning
with Koei's Night
Lifeix,
and follwed by
titles such as Dragon
Knight
(ELF, 1989) and Rance
(Alice Soft, 1989). The
PC platform became a bastion for Eroge
gaming,
whose content was judged unsuitable for consolesx
- hardly surprising, considering for
example,
the family-centric approach of Nintendo.
Most
Eroge
titles stick to the conventions of the visual
novel, with majority of 'gameplay' consisting of static backgrounds
with superimposed character sprites and text. Just
as 'Pink film' was dominated by low-budget productions, the use of
the visual novel format allows these games to be produced with
limited budgets and small staffsxi.
However, a surprising number of titles also contain ancillary
gameplay modes, that add portions of high interactivity, while the
main plot as still communicated through the visual novel format. For
example, Tears
to Tiara
(Leaf,
2005) contains an isomorphic RPG element, while Princess
Waltz
(Pulltop, 2006, Trans. Peach Princess 2008) features a card-based
combat. Considering
that many of these gameplay structures are outmoded in comparison
with their mainstream equivalents, one may even be temped to ascribe
a 'retro' sensibility to such titles. The primitive nature of these
games, however, is probably better explained by a lack of resources,
which prevents direct competition with major releases, rather than
any artistic intentions;
thus,
eroge
is 'retro' by accident.
 |
| The 'faux-retro' in Eroge: Dragon Knight from 1989 (left) and Lightning Warrior Raidy from 2005 (right) |
The
type of eroge
most immediately recognizable to Western
audiences, however, had little relation to such diversions. Nukige
refers to the brand of eroge
given
over almost entirely to pornographyxii,
and Rapelay
would
become the most infamous Nukige
in
the west, despite the lack of an official translation. Released by
Illusion-soft in 2006, the game received little attention until 2009,
when it was discovered by Western mediaxiii.
The
title revolved around the violent rape of a mother and her two
daughters, with game elements including forced abortionsxiv.
Even the box art for the software is disturbing, with one victim
seemingly shielding another from aggressive outstretched hands. While
some commentators have argued that Rapelay
is not representative of the majority of eroge
titlesxv,
it is clearly not the only title to contain repugnant content.
Tsuki:Possession
is an earlier title who content centres around violence and sadism so
brutal as to shock even the most jaded observerxvi,
albeit
with the entirely unconvincing proviso that the actions are the
unwilling results of demonic possessionxvii.
Perhaps the most unsettling example is found in Idols
Galore
(Sekilala, Trans. G-Collections 2004), where rape is presented as the
first step in a long and happy relationshipxviii.
The
existence of such games does, to a certain extent, dismantle the
stereotype that Japan is less tolerant of violence than North
America. There is, however, still a distinction to be made.
Depictions of violence in Western titles such as Grand
Theft Auto
or Call
of Duty,
is even at its worst, generally anonymized. While a player might gun
down crowds of enemies, the victims of such violence are never
humanized; emotional depiction is absent and expressions of
suffering are often extremely limited. Rapelay
and similar games are nauseating precisely because the violence
they depict is so personalized. As one observer put it, the
most awful and despicable element of Rapelay
was “the tears that glisten and move in the little girl's eyes”xix.
Why
are these games, full of unpleasant and misogynistic content, made?
One might point to the existing video game semantics;
games generally have not treated the issue of consent. In mainstream
RPGs, players are frequently able to enter, occupy and pillage the
property of game characters, with little no consequences. Many
video games centre around themes of attack, invasion and competition;
if a player sees something they want, they take it. Concepts of
cooperation, respect, negotiation, or even altruism are rarely at the
fore, yet these are essential for proper depiction of sexuality.
More
specific to Japan, one may also point to the influence of prior
media. While it is not possible to say with existing sources whether
Pinku
Eiga
had a direct impact on developers, players would certainly have been
at least tangentially aware of the genre. The preexistence of similar
material may have desensitized many to violent and sadistic themes by
the time they appeared in eroge.
Additionally,
it could be suggested that this material is merely a reflection of
chauvinism in greater Japanese society. Such an argument must be
advanced cautiously, lest one plunge into well-worm Orientalist
accounts of sexuality. Indeed, Japan boasts of a rate of (reported)
sexual assault much lower than those in the west. Still, Japanese
attitude can be gleaned from such phenomena as the Chikan
– the molestation of women that occurs to such an extent that some
companies have introduced women-only subway trainsxx
– or the reference to women as “birth-giving
machines” by
the then-Minister
of Health, Hakuo Yanagisawa, in 2007xxi.
Perhaps
the simplest explanation is that such games are simply not all that
popular, appealing largely to niche audiences. Hiroki Azuma argued
that rape games are only a small presence in the Otaku
communityxxii,
and an
eroge
is
considered a smash hit if it sells 150,000 copies, with 2000-3000
being a regular figure for smaller productionsxxiii.
While this might do little for any sense of moral outrage, it may at
least soothe worries that extreme eroge
is having any broad impact on social perceptions of women.
 |
| Contrasting approaches to Adult material: A Nukige title (left) and a Nakige game (right) |
Indeed,
it is a surprising fact that the most successful and influential
eroge
are those that pay relatively little attention to sex. The opposite
of the pornographic Nukige
is the Nakige
or 'crying game'xxiv.
Titles in the Nakige
genre feature very little pornographic content
– although brief moments of explicit sexuality are still very
much
present – instead
focusing on cultivating immersive narratives that produce a sense of
pathos. The
move away from the purely pornographic title was already evident by
1992, with the release of Dōkyūsei
(ELF,
1992) the first 'dating sim' type titlexxv,
but the definitive shift was seen with the games ONE
~To the Radiant Season~
and
To
Heartxxvi.
In
One,
the protagonist faces a sort of metaphysical disintegration, in which
he fades out of the consciousness of everyone he knows, that can only
be avoided by forging a strong tie with one of the main female
characters; sexual content is relatively minor in comparison with the
overall
length of the title –
although the remaining scenes would still disqualify such games from
store shelves in the west,
and the violent themes of Nukige
are entirely absent.
In Azuma's Otaku:
Japan's Database Animals,
he classifies such titles as being little more than shallow appeals
to emotion, the
construct of assorted moe
elements without an overarching 'grand narrative' to provide greater
meaningxxvii.
Certainly, the trite, repetitive nature of many of these games,
almost overwhelmingly set in high school, adds a great deal of
credence to this argument. At the same time, while restricted by the
confines of genre, certain titles embody the discussion of serious
subject matter previously found in 'Pink film'. Kana:
Little Sister
(D.O, 1999, Trans. G-Collections, 2002) depicts the relationship of a
brother with his younger
sister,
who suffers from kidney disease; consideration of weighty topics such
as chronic illness is simply unheard of in Western adult titles, and
indeed, sees little serious attention even in mainstream games.
Echoing the combination of the dramatic and the perverse in Pinku
Eiga,
commentator Leigh Alexander wrote in The
Escapist
that the game reflected the “bleakness of mortality”, while
expressing discomfort with the eroticization of the junior
characterxxviii.
Once
again, a more cynical explanation can also be proposed for this turn
to emotional depth. With games costing 7000-10000 yen ($70-100
dollars)xxix,
there is a significant need to justify
such purchases, especially with the extremely limited (and often
reused) graphics of many games. The use of in-depth narratives is a
cost-effective way to increase the appeal of a game, without greatly
increasing budgets.
Whether
as Nakige
or with more pedestrian premises, a significant number of these games
featuring a concentration of narrative have found a second life in
other forms of media. The transmedia tendencies of Japanese adult
titles is another facet which distinguishes them from those of the
West. Fate/Stay
Night (Type-Moon,
2004) was
an extended action adventure title that, although not Nakige,
possessed few explicit
scenes throughout its extraordinary gameplay length. The title
subsequently saw an all-ages re-release on the Playstation 2,
television and film anime
adaptions and a manga
series. Tears
to Tiara
similarly had an adapted internet radio play. The reverse movement is
also possible; the all-ages visual novel Little
Busters!
(Key, 2007) saw a later adult re-release on the PC, followed by an
adult spin-off Kud
Wafter
(Key, 2010), which itself had an all-ages port for the PSP.
Unlike
the West, Japan has not ring-fenced its adult media with cordon of
moral and cultural prohibitions. Instead, there is a porous boundary
between the mainstream and the purely adult, where pornography and
narrative depth may exist exist side-by-side, and erotic titles can
be re-purposed for wider consumption. On the flipside, there is a
casual toleration of the callous, the violent and the hateful, a
refusal
to contain the perverse. Eroge
is a continuation of a long tradition of this open border.
***
A
final question was posed during class – where is the line to be
drawn? At what point does basic
decency demand that appeals
of
free speech be put aside? Certainly, the
recourse to censor is the natural reaction when confronted with
Rapelay
or Tsuki:Possession,
titles without a single redeeming virtue. Yet, the
issue is not necessarily so clear cut.
It
can be argued that
the censor's pen is inappropriate because it fails to reach the core
of the problem. It suppresses, without addressing a cause. It has
been argued that
in response to Rapelay,
the underlying culture that allows such a work to be produced and
enjoyed, should be the object of attention, rather than the title
that is merely its expressionxxx.
Furthermore,
local cultural standards of decency have proven problematic in a
globalized world. The Japanese developers of Rapelay
complained bitterly that their product had complied with existing
Japanese lawxxxi,
and the original release had been uncontroversial there. Whatever the
absolute moral transgressions of the title – of which there were
many – the outrage in the West flowed in large part from the game's
violation of Western norms and taboos regarding the depictions of
sexuality. It is worth adding that the situation had been reversed a
few years earlier, when the right of free speech had been rigorously
defended in the backlash against the Danish-origin cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad. Through
criticism of other value structures, it is possible that we open
ourselves to similar critique.
Ultimately,
there is a greater issue with discussions of censorship. The question
of whether or not to censor, and if so, how much, implicitly
suggests that the only relevant issue is the danger posed by certain
titles, and ignores the ability
of prospective game developers to confront the issues at stake with
content in response.
If an existing game glamorizes misogyny, it is at least foreseeable
that a differently minded designer could create another title that
condemns it.
Campaigns for restriction of video games have tended to exploit a
fear of new media, and remain ignorant to the positive possibilities
inherent within.
In
the realm of film, the virulent racism of Birth
of a Nation
(1916, USA)
or Der
ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) (1940,
Germany)
is still perfectly legal to own, but remain wholly irrelevant.
Their power has been robbed in large part because the creators of
cultural content, filmmakers amongst them, eventually produced a
countervailing message with their work.
If
the message of titles such as Rapelay
is
to be successfully overcome, then it is games themselves that offer
the surest path. A new generation of developers must produce games,
perhaps even eroge,
that convey an alternative message of respect and dignity for women.
Through confronting problematic content on its own terms, and
undermining its logic, it can be banished for good.
iTimon
Screech, Sex and the Floating World, (Reaktion
Books: London, 2009) 10
iiiColette
Balmain, “Pinku Eiga/Pink Films” in Directory of World
Cinema: Japan, ed. John Berra (Intellect Books: Chicago, 2010)
249
vIsolde
Standish, Politics, Porn and Protest: Japanes Avant-Garde
Cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, (Continuum: New York, 2011) 92
viiiSatoshi
Todome, “A History of Eroge”, Trans. 'kj1980', Accessed Nov 12,
2013.
http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=http%3a%2f%2fwww.shii.org%2fgeekstories%2feroge.html&d=5038496021743758&mkt=en-CA&setlang=en-CA&w=xasI1e8sNRXzPkphbzBBTwxfLU5DZL4q
ixJohn
Szczepaniak, “Part 3: Software” in Retro Japanese
Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/JPNcomputers/Japanesecomputers3.htm
xi
Hiroki Azuma, Otaku: Japan's Database Animals, Trans.
Johathan E. Abel and Shion Kono, (University of Minnesota Press:
London, 2009) Kindle Edition, Location 1014
xiiBrian
Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda, “How Erotic Games Learned To Cry”,
Kotaku, July 28, 2010
http://kotaku.com/5598491/how-erotic-games-learned-to-cry
xiiiBrian
Ashcraft, “Why Is CNN Talking About Rapelay?”, Kotaku,
March 31, 2010,
http://kotaku.com/5506016/why-is-cnn-talking-about-rapelay
xivMargaret
Hartmann, “Amazon Drops Rape Simulation Video Game”, Jezebel,
February 12, 2009,
http://jezebel.com/5152478/amazon-drops-rape-simulation-video-game
xvBrian
Ashcraft, “Years Later, Rapelay Making Waves In Japanese Press”,
Kotaku, May 11, 2009,
http://kotaku.com/5248715/years-later-rapelay-making-waves-in-japanese-press
xviZack
Parsons, who reviewed the title at SomethingAwful.com, reacted to
the game even more negatively than the later Rapelay,
Zack Parsons,
“Possession” review of
Tsuki:Possession,
Something Awful, May
14, 2003
http://www.somethingawful.com/hentai-game-reviews/possession/
xviiEmily Taylor, "Dating-Simulation Games: Leisure and Gaming of Japanese Youth Culture." Southeast Review of Asian Studies 29 (2007): 192-208. 196
xviiiZack
Parsons, “Idols Galore”
review of Idols Galore,
Something Awful, May
14, 2003
http://www.somethingawful.com/hentai-game-reviews/idols-galore/
xixZack
Parsons, “Rapelay”
review of Rapelay,
Something Awful, May
14, 2003, http://www.somethingawful.com/hentai-game-reviews/rapelay/
xx“Japan
Tries Women-Only Train Cars to Stop Groping”, ABC News,
June 10, 2005
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/International/story?id=803965&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
xxiJustin
McCurry, “Japanese minister wants 'birth-giving machines', aka
women, to have more babies”, The Guardian, Jan.
29, 2007,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/29/japan.justinmccurry
xxiiPatrick
W. Galbraith, “Love Bytes”,Metropolis,
Aug 27, 2009 http://metropolis.co.jp/features/feature/love-bytes/
Pg 3
xxviiiLeigh
Alexander, “Heart-wrenching
Hentai”, The Escapist,
July 31, 2007
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_108/1315-Heart-wrenching-Hentai
xxxKaty
Kelleher, “In Defense Of Hentai: Is Rapelay Really Dangerous?”,
Jezebel, April 5, 2010,
http://jezebel.com/5509660/in-defense-of-hentai-is-rapelay-really-dangerous
xxxi
Ashcraft, “Why Is CNN Talking About Rapelay?”
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(Please note that the above source was accessed through the Bing cache. The original appears to have disappeared from the web. A copy can be furnished upon reque
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