Japanese invasion

[Mercutio]

Also, Mike Inel, the guy who drew this shimmie art (and did the "draw with me" animation on youtube) mentions KS in this interview as something he'd like to animate.

...whoa. considering how effing awesome that piece of art is, this guy gets my approval for any and all KS animation he wants to do.

not that my approval means much, but hey.

[Bara]

There's a list of Japanese comments on KS here (with links to the original blog entries). Here is a google mistranslation.

I burst out laughing when I saw this characterization of Misha in a synopsis of the girls in one of the translated links...

The following ... So we meet girls with disabilities.

- Quiet ... <deaf>
- Misha ... mild <mental retardation>
- Lily ... <Blind>
- Hanako ... <Burn>
- 笑美... <missing leg>
- Lin ... <short arm>

I tell you, Misha gets no respect...

[DESU]

- Quiet ... <deaf>

>shizune translates to quiet

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Google translate mangles "Hakamichi Shizune" into "Additional road noise wing" (sometimes feathers instead of wing).

My take on Misha is some genetic ear disorder with one or both parents deaf, which would explain how she knows sign language, her loudness issues, and her dizziness when climbing stairs (inner ear balance problems).

Trivia: Lon Chaney's parents were both deaf, which is one reason why he was good at pantomime.

[Scarlet Fox]

Also, Mike Inel, the guy who drew this shimmie art (and did the "draw with me" animation on youtube) mentions KS in this interview as something he'd like to animate.

I love that video. I actually watched it again earlier today. I'm surprised, the guy seems to know a pretty decent amount of stuff (niche games for example) that you wouldn't expect people to know. And I just found out about that joke trailer with Invader Zim (my favorite cartoon as a kid) and TMoHS (one of the first animes I liked), and the guy just went up so high in respect points.

And that Google translation gives me a headache...

[Warwick]

Yeah, I've poked around Mike Inel's work. Very respectable stuff, in there, and the animations are pretty well done, too.

[a3d]

What can you do, sometimes it seems Misha really does suffer from mild mental retardation. But that's what makes her so likable.

But although even the number of Japs interested in this game has increased, I doubt this game will get ANY sort of real attention within their land filled with VN's.

[G3n0c1de]

What can you do, sometimes it seems Misha really does suffer from mild mental retardation. But that's what makes her so likable.

But although even the number of Japs interested in this game has increased, I doubt this game will get ANY sort of real attention within their land filled with VN's.

If what the other thread says is accurate, then perhaps our quaint little project is of a greater quality than a lot of the stuff already in VN land. If the Japanese realize that, then this may gain a following over there. The biggest problem I see is the stigma over this being made by the gaijins. But if KS has overcome its stigma with 4chan, then perhaps there is hope, after all.

[ElisaMasah]

The biggest problem I see is the stigma over this being made by the gaijins. But if KS has overcome its stigma with 4chan, then perhaps there is hope, after all.

Actually the more big trouble of all is that all and all Katawa Shojou is still a Demo, tasty and promising but yet still a Demo. My Significance Tingling Sense is telling me that once the Completed Game is out ... will be more easy to forget is born on the Image Board that Must Be not Named or that is Gaijin Inside.

[a3d]

Yeah it seems to me that the biggest problem with the popularity in moon land is that the game is not even completed yet. I think the Japs care less that it has something to do with 4chan or that it was made by a baka Gaijin.

[Member22]

Hmm... I didn't notice this gajin issue until now as I have seen that word used a lot in their posts... is this gajin stigama only taken seriously by older japanese? Do the younger generations of japanese ppl play along with this or are they a but more tolerable to outsiders?

[Bara]

Hmm... I didn't notice this gajin issue until now as I have seen that word used a lot in their posts... is this gajin stigama only taken seriously by older japanese? Do the younger generations of japanese ppl play along with this or are they a but more tolerable to outsiders?

I think being open and accepting of the world around them is more a property of being young and an effect of aging is a tendency to become more insular and resist changes to the comfortable status quo.

[Csihar]

Hmm... I didn't notice this gajin issue until now as I have seen that word used a lot in their posts... is this gajin stigama only taken seriously by older japanese? Do the younger generations of japanese ppl play along with this or are they a but more tolerable to outsiders?

I think being open and accepting of the world around them is more a property of being young and an effect of aging is a tendency to become more insular and resist changes to the comfortable status quo.

I think you were getting at this, but it's worth mentioning that this is universal. Think of older Americans (or wherever you may be from) and their stereotypical feelings towards anime, or any number of new/weird/foreign things. Actually, in America it's not as bad now because the notoriously open-minded hippie generation is actually starting the take over the older demographic, but it definitely still applies.

Also, just as some trivia that may or may not be significant here, the word "gaijin" is self-censored by much of the Japanese media due to its pejorative undertones.

[Juno]

It's incredible how a word that basically means "outside person" can be deemed pejorative. The media is full of prissies around the globe it seems.

[Bara]

It's incredible how a word that basically means "outside person" can be deemed pejorative. The media is full of prissies around the globe it seems.

It isn't the exact words that make an insult. I can stand in front of a guy and call him a "fine, upstanding person" with a sneer on my lips, venom in my voice and hate in my eyes and be in a brawl one second after I speak the words. The emotional loading that a society gives certain words is something that only members, or long term residents, of that society really feel and understand.