I believe the following type of posts will pop up rarely, but I think as a female I should at least speak up a little concerning this issue. For those not in the know, you might have to do a little research, but I will try and sum it up for you as best I can. Equality Now, a group that states outright their purpose is to protect human rights of woman, called for a ban previously on Japanese hentai/eroge games.

One sole game caused all this commotion entitled RapeLay. The game appeared on Amazon Japan, as well as the publishers site (as it should), and was ultimately back-lashed due to the fact that there is rape involved in the plot of the game. For a small while, all Japanese games that had sex in it at all were banned for about a month’s time due to this little rebellion from the group (and others who put their hands in the melting pot). As of now, the gaming industry has gone back to the way it was by using loopholes, and many publishers of these games have banned all foreign IP from their websites in an attempt to offend as little people as possible. It should also be noted that loli, which refers to as a girl with younger characteristics, was also banned to a degree before the ban itself was fully rejected.

Equality Now is not only attempting to ban all hentai in general at this time (whether animated or in the guise of a visual novel), but is also trying to do so in a deceitful way. Sankaku Complex, a popular anime blog, has been reporting what has been occurring between the ban, Equality Now, and the Japanese gaming industry. Their last article had a few troll-like comments which is quite common on sites of such fame, and Equality Now is listing said comments as actual bloggers of the gaming and anime community! This is a complete lie and falsehood, if you would like to learn more about this then please proceed here.

The fact that this whole thing actually started with RapeLay is rather amusing to me personally. As someone who has played the game, I am actually rather surprised of the notorious publicity it has received in comparison to some of the other games available. The game itself does have a bad premise as the idea of RapeLay is to rape a mother and her two daughters. The whole basis of the game is to get them to enjoy the actual sex part, which in a sense is rather demeaning; however, the only possible endings to the game are actually bad. This seems to be something constantly overlooked that the endings themselves might be a sort of justice against rape itself. RapeLay ends one of two ways: you are either stabbed by one of the daughters and killed, or you happen to get one of the women pregnant and they push you into a subway train.

Both of these endings actually give the main hero, which is the player, what they deserve per se. They have been faced with their just desserts, despite the fact there is no court involved. So why is this constantly over looked? Instead people are continuously examining the fact that there is actual rape, but has anyone even gazed at the American porn industry in the past ten minutes? The other face of the argument is that one of the daughters appears about fourteen or fifteen, but when one looks at the anime industry there is a lot of loli type characters. Is it so unnatural to find this type of character in a game that aims towards a specific fetish as is?

Honestly, RapeLay isn’t as bad as everyone has stated it was. While I wouldn’t recommend it, since the gameplay gets boring really quickly and it has a rather jumbled storyline, I would certainly say it’s not something that’s going to send you to hell considering all the terrible things people see on TV.

The only reason I actually care about this—is not just because I enjoy this genre myself—but because I feel like this is asking Japan to give up their freedom. The biggest thing that Equality Now can’t seem to grasp is the fact that many of these games have a wonderful story. Obviously, eroge games can be just porn that seek to satisfy a certain fetish. Though it should be noted a good deal of the time these games also seek to tell a story. Sex as an act is very powerful emotionally, but by disregarding sexual relations from any type of media is limiting. Video games such as Mass Effect faced such claims that it was a sex simulation, but instead such scenes strengthened the story, character development, and emotion felt while playing said game. Many classic stories, even myths of origin, involve sex and childbirth in their telling since they are a necessary part of what the author envisions. Sex is also referred to as love making, and many of these stories involve getting close to a girl that the main character loves. Why something like love is so terrible… is actually increasingly frightening.

Supposedly, Equality Now is worried that these games will make people act upon them and thus strengthen female stereotypes as well as sexual crimes. This is strange when one considers that many of these games involve falling in love, first crushes, dates, etc. Why is it so terrible to teach someone how to treat their significant other in a positive light? Many people are nervous, especially teenagers, and are curious as to what these real moments might be like. It is sort of practice in a way, and can actually be looked at as a valuable thing. For the older audience it can be reminiscing, comfort, and any other emotion out there. These stories are powerful. It’s the same argument that all video games do is turn children into crazed killers despite the fact that many video games are thought-provoking, improve hand-eye coordination, and allow the player a hobby that gets them to think.

Not only that, it is widely known that Japan itself has one of the lowest sexual crime rates. There has to be some sort of reason for this. In my personal opinion, I believe these games are like a safe escape of sorts, much akin to a journal someone writes in when they are sad. It’s very much like a fictional escape, that allows the player to sink into things they never thought possible, which fulfills any sudden urges they might have in public. All forms of media technically offer this, so there is no reason one huge batch of it should be banned. If this did occur, I’m going to bet that the crime rate will gradually go up in time.

One other thing I’d like to mention is how many females play these sort of games as well as girls who work on said games. There’s actually a genre specifically aimed at women called otome. Why has this also been something that Equality Now (and others) neglect to mention? Many of both genres, eroge and otome, can be wonderfully sweet and romantic. I’d actually like to point to my header picture which is from Nanatsuiro Drops. It’s an adorable story, that is actually filled with a magically aspect, hope, and love. There are many examples of this as well such as ef ~ A Tale Of Memories/ef ~ A Tale Of Melodies, Clannad, Kanon, etc. Some of these made me cry because I was so emotionally attached to the characters and seeing them get together as a couple. As to strengthen my argument concerning the actual innocence and purity found in some of these games, my entry is littered with other sweet pictures from said games.

I quite love these style of games, and I’m disappointed constantly how few make it to the States. If you are in support of keeping these sort of games available to the public, then I would suggest avoiding the Equality Now website, but instead make your own blog posts concerning the issue. Even if you don’t have a website, try on your Twitter, LiveJournal, whatever your little corner of the net is. If you’re feeling very brave, then you can attempt to message the group Equality Now, but I cannot promise that they won’t brand such e-mails as hate mail.

I would also like to note that there are other places also available widely on the net already attempting to support this cause, this is one for example and feel free to list the others you know in the comment section.

On a side note, sorry for the messiness of this post, it happens to be 3:00 AM in the morning.

There have recently been reports in the Japanese regions of another addition to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. BlazBlue is a excellent 2D fighting game, designed and developed by the creators of the Guilty Gear franchise. The addition isn’t a sequel, but is instead an upgraded version of the game entitled BlazBlue: Continuum Shift with a new playable character from the original storyline. Those who have played already are aware of the small appearance of Tsubaki Yayoi.

However, this reminds me of a previous news report that originally appeared back in August. Europeans have yet to receive BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, and it was previously reported that the region would get content not available anywhere else. This includes exclusive characters and moves, which sounds like much more of a value so far than BlazBlue: Continumm Shift. There is no word yet if the US is getting an update containing either of these updates, but fans of the series already predicted that the European release might make its way over as a downloadable extra. This would make the most sense as repackaged games generally don’t sell very well here unless ported to another system.

Considering all the rumors on how the content will be packaged to US audience, with no official word from Aksys Games, it is best to wait it out before importing either the Japanese or European versions.

• Kotaku – BlazBlue Expands With Continuum Shift
• Kotaku – BlazBlue Coming To Europe In 2010 With New Characters

Apparently the release window of February will not only be for Japanese, but also for North America and Europe as well. That means the International version will be released at the same time everywhere. This is probably a breath of relief for a few fans as well as an exciting way to make a truly International version. I’m impressed with this approach, and hope the title can do well considering the line-up next summer.