Game streaming comments are always interesting when it comes to those that have a quirky angle to them. And it usually isn’t that difficult to spot the trollers from those who actually take things a little too seriously.
In my initial overview of the game, I made a really brief comment about how the game doesn’t even try to take itself seriously. I mean, what Japanese game publisher would even have the nerve to actually push the concept of a game that takes place at a high school where the protagonist goes off into the creep zone factor by being able to actually take upskirt shots or even include a transvestite standing outside what is a gay bar in town? (yes, you can choose to take upskirt shots of this dude if you want to since he is wearing a dress).
D3 Publisher (the main Japanese one and not its US counterpart), that is who (the same folks behind OneeChanbara). They are the ones who come up with the more outlandish concepts and then work with various game developers (who had their original designs embellished with D3P’s) who do the actual coding. And they are an endless source of what would be considered the B-rated movie equivalent of games (like the first person shooter PS Vita game called Bullet Girls where outfit degradation and groping as a form of interrogation training is part of the deal). This game publisher has never shied away from controversial, erotic, and taboo subject matters. While the west and Japan may have some cultural differences, the things Natsuiro High School touches on aren’t meant to be taken seriously either (and anyone who thinks that performing this kind of ninja shotting in Japan is even remotely acceptable must have a few loose screws themselves). I mean even the choice of character style and the lack of detail should be a clue. It also often times pokes fun at the reality.
A perfect example is with their other popular franchise, Dream C Club (one of my gal pals who happens to be a big fan of the series, gave me a heads up about this title). The game is often times characterized as a “dating sim”. As a dating sim, the game play would be considered seriously lame. And that is by intent because it is not meant to be a good dating sim. The publishers are more or less poking fun at the entire hostess club industry though due to the ridiculousness of the costs as well as the fact that the chances of any type of client to hostess romance happening, is virtually zero. And the game plays on that with its dialog as well as the ability to get each host girl into a state of inebriation where they spill out secrets or even will perform drunken singing/dancing for you. And what happens if you don’t get any of the alternate good endings? You get songs normally performed by the girls, sung to (horribly mind you) by the male game designers. That is the kind of trolling humor we are talking about when it comes to D3 Publisher.
That same level of non-seriousness exists in Natsuiro High where it is poking fun at those guys who go through great lengths to secretly take upskirt photos, only to end up getting caught anyway since often times, their strange behavior gives their intentions away (might as well just do it out in the open like the protagonist does). Still, some folks may feel that a game that promotes taking upskirt photos of high school girls is pushing things a little too far. The operative word here is GAME.
Western games tend to focus on military style/thugs shooting and killing with a lot of blood and gore. And in the case of game franchises like The Witcher, also throws in a lot of sexual elements including nudity. Are there a lot of stereotypes and objectivism going on many of these games? Of course there is. Nothing is sacred. And for sure, due to the game industry still being male dominated, it isn’t surprising there is this tendency towards objectifying females. It doesn’t make it right (nor am I saying I’m okay with females being constantly objectified in this manner). But when it comes to games and films, one of their core elements is the ability to go beyond reality. And with games, there is also the fantasy role playing element that is often times not based in any reality. The fact that I can hijack a car, go on a killing spree, or also take perverted photos in GTA is just that. Someone could do it in real life, but most people know that doing so isn’t legal.
There are also some aspects in Japanese culture and society where it seems there is this tendency for the country to be a source of some of the weird and perverted. It’s why a comedian like Hard Gay (aka Masaki Sumitani) could be a thing in Japan whereas anyone trying this in the US, would be castigated. Without going full on into a discussion about social and cultural norms in Japan, lets just say political correctness and gender equality/diversity is still not at the level that it has reached in the west. Furthermore, while there are a lot of “black and white” issues in Japan, some are less so. It’s one reason why foreigners are often confounded by the country’s seemingly odd stance when it comes to the morality law (put in place by General Douglas MacArthur during the occupation of Japan after the Japanese surrendered in 1945) where it was strictly forbidden for genitalia (including pubic hair) to be displayed in any adult related media while nudity is often times common place not only on broadcast television, but in comic books and other readily available media. The laws have since been relaxed where pubic hair is allowed but genitals still need to be censored.
As a result, the sex industry trade in the country has this quirky side effect where the sex related aspect is just that. It is neither objectified or vilified in the moral sense. It’s just considered an act that is part of the trade. Which is why the industry often times has regular people who engage in the activity to make extra money because they are able to separate it from their normal every day lives. I’m not saying everyone in Japan sees it this way. What I am saying is there are topics like this in everyday life where Japanese people have this kind of neutral take on what is considered moral and ethical. From a western view, this would seem kind of wacked in the moral sense since for married people, this would be considered adultery. I’m not saying this isn’t the case in Japan (as there are many divorce cases resulting from infidelity). What I’m saying is there is an array of social and personal norms when it comes to morals and ethics that are dependent on the context.
And that aspect often times gets lost in translation because in the Japanese sense where context can be at times specific, and at other times very subtle, these things cannot be translated directly to a western equivalent since a written pictograph as in the case with Kanji, often times has multiple meanings (another aspect of Japanese society and culture that can drive foreigners crazy because they often times view this as vague indirect engagement when it comes to verbal communication). This attribute also extends to games which by their nature, have a lot of role playing fantasy attached to them. And Japanese content designers know this full well which is why lot of things including anime, manga, and games, tend to breach a broad range of subject matter that in reality, would be considered taboo. In those forms, they are considered acceptable because they are not based in reality. But westerners who tend to see only this oddball side of Japan, tend to form a skewed and incorrect view of Japanese culture.
D3 Publisher also has a female focused RPG game with all male characters (what is good for the goose, is good for the gander). But female players of these games tend to be less interested in the hentai aspect, and more about the romantic/love interest angle (and so that is the key angle that many female focused RPG’s have taken in Japan).
This same aspect applies to those particular creep level elements in Natsuiro High School including the before mentioned role playing/non-reality based context. It’s why even the average level headed Japanese female will see that part of the game for what it is; kind of stupid and humorous (from a juvenile angle) where even the small numbers who bought it have a kick at role playing the male protagonist. Why? Because they know this isn’t reality where they would take offense to when it does happen in real life. And this game makes it abundantly clear that it doesn’t even try to take anything seriously because there aren’t much stealth systems (except one of the magic orbs) used for that part of the game.
Whether or not this game gets localized depends on whether or not a company like XSEED picks it up (the European arm of Marvelous Gamings did tweet back in May they are going to keep an eye on it). They did it with AKIBA’S TRIP 2 (renamed to AKIBA’S TRIP: UNDEAD & UNDRESSED for the localized release), the soon to be released OneeChanbara Z2: Chaos, and are currently working on a winter US release of Senran Kagura Estival Versus. They actually did an incredible job on AKIBA’S TRIP with adding in the localization while allowing players the option to keep the original Japanese audio and text, Japanese voice acting but with english text, with the english voice acting and text, or with english voice acting and Japanese text. What may be the deciding factor in not localizing it isn’t the perverted angle but the actual game play issues that I’ve highlighted since those go beyond the language barrier (even Japanese players who don’t want to use guides have ended up calling it “kusoge” or literally shit game due to the conveyance issues I noted).
