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Been following the thread quietly as it's been an absolutely fascinating and educational view on something I've only vaguely observed before. Bias is very real, even if you can admit you have some and it's been quite eye-opening to see some of the stuff written about by all the posters in the thread. edit: on second thought, Limited would probably be better overall. Evil Kit fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Jun 18, 2021 |
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Jun 18, 2021 23:00
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Clear. I'm sure you'll be able to keep things settled either way, and keep doing justice to the story here.
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Jun 18, 2021 23:00
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I think Limited would be fine enough for an LP. I'm more interested in the narrative importance than anything else, so a good summary without the guff would be nice. People can read the VN itself if they want the written specifics. Edit: OP, think you should chat with moderation about how to go forward. I honestly think straight up text won't really fly at all. Last thread that had this sort of the censoring conundrum was the "Fate/Staynight" LP and that went with heavy censoring of text for humor. That was years back so standards prolly shifted. DelilahFlowers fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Jun 18, 2021 |
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Jun 18, 2021 23:25
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Yo, Falconier can you hold the vote briefly and PM myself or one of the other mods to clarify what exactly is your intent with this vote and the next update?
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Jun 18, 2021 23:51
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oh no, its the cops
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Jun 18, 2021 23:54
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Limited or Clear, whatever you think best illustrates the points you're making
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Jun 19, 2021 00:13
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Clear (assuming that's OK for the mods), honestly the sex scenes were not horrible disturbing stuff (the most pervy parts of the stuff we're not showing anyway since the actual erotic art is obviously not going up), and one of the things I liked about them was they all were very much about the interactions between Hisao and the girl in question. I don't honestly remember any I would dismiss as pure fap fodder really, they generally all had something to say about the relationship. Limited might actually undersell that part really, or at least be a pain to cut and keep the interesting narrative aspects intact. EDIT: Removed one bit per request. MadDogMike fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Jun 21, 2021 |
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Jun 19, 2021 00:35
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Limited. I don't disagree that there's characterization, but sex is disgusting anyways.  Sally posted:Yo, Falconier can you hold the vote briefly and PM myself or one of the other mods to clarify what exactly is your intent with this vote and the next update? Seemed pretty straightforward, he wouldn't include any of the NSFW images but there would be NSFW text.
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Jun 19, 2021 02:42
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Clear The writing for those scenes can be pretty interesting, and has a better purpose to it than most VNs with that type of content. Not including it is the only black mark against a pretty darn great LP so far
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Jun 19, 2021 03:04
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DelilahFlowers posted:I think Limited would be fine enough for an LP. I'm more interested in the narrative importance than anything else, so a good summary without the guff would be nice. People can read the VN itself if they want the written specifics. I’m making LP history  But yeah, I’ve been in touch with the mods and things are chugging along. Fun fact: it turns out the h-scenes are formatted differently from what I thought. It’s going to be a lot easier to avoid CIA-style redactions than I feared.
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Jun 19, 2021 04:04
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I'd go for Clear - those scenes are part of the story/characterisation/etc - or Limited if Clear isn't possible for whatever reason. Also, thanks for the various  write-ups. They're interesting, and as much as I'd like to think that I'm not a jerk to disabled people... if subconsciously or unintentionally I am a jerk, hopefully this kind of extra detail/perspective will prompt me to think more about it.
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Jun 19, 2021 06:47
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Limited, if you do clear than anyone who doesn't want to read those scenes will miss out on any important characterization.
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Jun 19, 2021 13:34
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I'd vote for Clear because, at least in the routes I played, the text is meaningful for characterisation and plot and a summary would be missing some of that. Most of the sex scenes aren't actually... sexy. At least that I recall. Certainly not on the level of, say, the Tsukihime LP I remember reading years ago.
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Jun 19, 2021 14:09
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whitehelm posted:Limited, if you do clear than anyone who doesn't want to read those scenes will miss out on any important characterization. DelilahFlowers posted:Last thread that had this sort of the censoring conundrum was the "Fate/Staynight" LP and that went with heavy censoring of text for humor. That was years back so standards prolly shifted.
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Jun 19, 2021 14:19
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Clear. It's been years since I played through this game, and I didn't even finish all the routes, but I seem to remember the sex scenes being far from the "fap material" that is common in visual novels; rather, all of them are well written, and range from cute and heartwarming to absolutely hilarious.
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Jun 19, 2021 14:27
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Clear
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Jun 19, 2021 16:50
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Clear, I seem to remember them being a lot less genuinely explicit than one would expect from something that is ostensibly 18+
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Jun 19, 2021 17:30
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Clear, the point of an LP is to showcase everything the game (media? product?) has to offer.
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Jun 19, 2021 18:08
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Clear; most of the sex scenes have details important to plot/characterization (or just amusing), nothing gained by bowdlerizing it. That said, feel free to summarize any actual sexy text; I don't recall how explicit things got, but it's good to stay on the safe side of the mods. Overall, i think this treats sex with more respect and maturity than most "teen" media, although that's a low bar.
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Jun 19, 2021 19:46
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The vote’s still on, but Interviews with Monster Girls, Episode 1: "Tetsuo Takahashi Wants an Interview" (Pt. 1) Once upon a time, there was a series of porn comics that was turned into a proper manga, then an anime. Known as Everyday Life with Monster Girls, it took the world by storm, its mixture of likable characters and borderline softcore pornography making it one of the most profitable anime of its time. This is not that anime’s story. Demi-chan wa Kataritai (literally “Demi wants to talk”) was a completely unrelated manga released about the same time. It, too, focused on women who were also legendary supernatural creatures, but instead of a raucous sex comedy featuring members of human subspecies moving in on some guy’s house, it was cheerful, squeaky-clean, and focused on teenagers who just had traits of said creatures dealing with ordinary life. So when it came time to import it to the west, the translators looked at it, went “let’s capitalize on this completely unrelated work’s popularity”, and dubbed it Interviews with Monster Girls. The anime made a modest impact, getting positive reviews and nominations for a couple awards it lost out on, but it hit never hit big time. It still has a small but respectable fan base. None of whom seem to realize it’s a thinly veiled examination of what it’s like to live as a disabled teenager. So let’s fix that. This will be a livereview of the anime. I’ll be taking screenshots and describing the action while inserting commentary and drawing connections in the text; If you’ve ever seen someone liveblog or liveread something, this is basically that with a slightly different format. Please let me know what does and doesn’t work; I’m new to this and I can definitely improve.    We open a young woman humming to herself just outside a building at night.  A passerby on the sidewalk turns at the sound.  We see her face…  … And so does he.  She turns to face him…  … And we get the opening. I’ll go over it at a strategic point a few episodes ahead, but it’s basically an extended character introduction and I think it’s best we let the anime introduce them at its own pace. Also, the OP is aggressively anime and I don’t want to listen to it any longer than I have to. Back to the standoff.  Or not, we jump to the same building – a school – in the middle of the day. Apparently there’s a new teacher on the way, but she’s late on her first day. Whoever speaking (the principal?) starts sniping at her for that to the silent disinterest to the rest of the room.  The guy on the right is Takahashi Tetsuo (I’m using Japanese naming conventions, surname first), a high school biology teacher and our male protagonist. As the first guy drones on in the background, a generic coworker rolls his chair up next to him and asks him about “demi-humans”; apparently, Takahashi wanted to make them the topic of his college thesis, but his application got denied because he was just looking to be a biology teacher. The subject was too delicate and the people involved are too rare. He’s never even met one. Why’re you so interested, the other guy asks?  He says he wants to interview them, while making this face and cooing. Not a good start there, champ.  At that moment, a flustered young woman stumbles into the room and tries to apologize.  She’s a bit ranty. Apparently, the train she was going to take was too crowded, and that’s why she’s late. The guy who was insulting her behind her back completely changes his tune when he hears this, to Takahashi’s confusion. The other teacher explains that it makes sense as she introduces herself…  … Because Satou Sakie, a new math teacher, is also a demi-human, specifically a succubus. Gotta admit, I winced when I saw this. I winced because announcing that you’re disabled to a room full of new coworkers is almost never a good idea in the real world. Ableism is just too widespread; at best you’re asking to be pigeonholed and at worst you just got yourself fired. Many employers can and will get rid of you if they find that out, and the fact that firing someone for having a disability is illegal in most places doesn’t even factor in. Many people straight up don’t know that, or they know that the enforcement mechanisms in place are slow, inconsistent, and often expensive. And that’s not counting what coworkers might do, anything from gallantly protecting you from responsibilities to hazing you out of the office. I’ve seen it. It’s happened to me. But we’re dealing with a fluffy idealistic slice of life anime right now, and it appears, in this fictional world, that may not apply. Kinda stings, though.  Takahashi’s like   Infodump time! Apparently, some people possess traits or abilities that line up with depictions of mythological creatures. These “demi-humans” have been persecuted up until recently, but discriminations been on the decline for a while, with the help of an entire government office specifically for demi-human welfare. They offer support to demi-humans “who live with any sort of disadvantage” and help them live normal lives.  Goddamnit, you can tell I was taking screenshots on my phone  . I only noticed this while editing the update, so it’s too late to fix it. This won’t happen again, I promise.“Now, being a demi-human is seen as just another aspect of one’s identity.” So, folks whose bodies but them at a disadvantage in society are offered support and now simply embrace those differences as part of their identity? Yeah, sounds a lot like the end goal of many disability activist organizations. Hopefully the writers’ll follow through on that they deliberately examine it later.  The whole school’s busy preparing for some festival, a lot like in KS at the end of Act 1 (it’s a Japanese thing). Satou’s pondering her handiwork when Takahashi walks up behind her to ask her a question…   … And she gasps and slithers her way over to a wall. The animation is a lot better than you expect in a slice of life anime, but the facial expressions especially are reaction image-grade – and Satou provides at least 30% of the best ones. Takahashi introduces himself, offers her a handshake…  … And she’s so eager to make her escape she knocks over a stepladder, then picks it up to hold him off. She frantically starts to explain that she’s a succubus and that means he can’t come close to her…  …And he just apologizes, steps back, and resumes normal conversation while respecting her boundaries. That, kids, is how you deal with someone asking you to respect their needs and accommodations. A lot of people’s first instinct is to frantically apologize when they make this kind of mistake, and that just makes an awkward roadblock of a situation even more awkward; other people get offended and dig in, and of course that makes everything even worse. But no. Takahashi seamlessly accepts the role he played in the mixup, apologizes for it, and moves along. Either he’s just that nice a guy, or he’s literally done his homework on demi-humans. As for why she needs those accommodations, we’ll get into that later. But seriously, if someone asks you to respect reasonable accommodations like that, just do it. A lot of people will be like “but why should I do x” and that is rude at best, just assume a person minding their own business isn’t trying to punk you or screw you over for no reason and go about your day. Also worth noting: Satou’s seiyuu is superb. She could have played this scene pitiable or confrontational, but instead she went for over-the-top slapstick intensity – and it worked, it took something that could have been uncomfortable in any number of ways and made it silly enough not to cut too deep while not diminishing her character or weakening the scene’s impact.  It turns out that Satou’s noticed Takahashi watching her from a distance and is understandably nervous that he’s there to gawk at the succubus – something which a lot of people with visible disabilities are unpleasantly familiar with. He tries to defend himself but just digs himself in deeper, and she slides away making a  face.After a “a few days later” title card…   He runs into her again at the sink outside the bathrooms (…why?), tries to apologize again, and she beat a hasty retreat again, dodging around another guy as he walks in the door. He’s kind of like  until… … The girl from the other day runs up behind him.   Apparently, that was the night before school started and she was basically scoping the place out before marching in the next day; when she saw him, she understandably bugged out. Now, though, she’s a lot friendlier…   … And more excitable…  … Very self-confident…  … And most of all, extremely expressive. This is Takanashi Hikari, the primary female protagonist and source of another 30% of the anime’s potential reaction images. She’s here to get help for a classmate. He tags along without question, asserting he “can judge a student’s health with one look at her face.”   Too bad that doesn’t apply. Hikari identifies her as a Dullahan, which Takahashi identifies as a demi-human whose head and body are naturally separate. Hikari already carried her head to the nurse’s office, but for her body, she needed somebody way bigger.  Takahashi immediately asks if he can touch her flame. Well, at least he ASKS, and when Hikari is kind of  , he decides not to. Respect her bodily autonomy, dude. Takahashi marvels that there are two demi-humans in school this year… … And in the most contrived incident in the anime, a THIRD demi-human rolls by at that exact moment: a yuki-onna who apparently overheated in gym class. The classmates carrying her stretcher roar straight by them to the nurse’s office, and Hikari’s like “oh, a snow woman too, neato”. When Takahashi asks her why she’s being so blasé about this, she responds…  … That she’s a vampire. Timeskip! Hikari comes out of the nurse’s office to tell Takahashi both the dullahan and yuki-onna have only minor health issues and will be okay. He confesses he’s surprised to meet so many demi-humans all at once.  Every piece of media about minority issues has to have this moment, the moment where any main characters who aren’t members of that minority make their starting position clear. Judging by Hikari’s reaction here (and notice how similar her facial expression is to Satou’s earlier in the episode), paean to increasing tolerance or not, she’s faced enough discrimination in the past to become familiar with the quiet, dismayed disappointment so many people feel when they discover someone they got along with is still prejudiced against them.  He quickly acts to counter that perception, making it clear he’s been interested in meeting demi-humans for years and is just kind of startled so many stumbled into his life like that.  She accepts this and expresses her relief in a suitably anime fashion. They go their separate ways, but before she leaves, she has one last thing to say.  “Demi-human”, while not actually offensive, is apparently out of date and unpopular with people her age; it’s too clinical and “not cute”.  Instead, they just use “demi”. And that’s where the “demi” in the title comes from. All right, we’re 10 minutes into the episode and we have six pages of text and 45 images already, so we should probably reel this one in for now. But now that we’ve hit a natural stopping point, let’s see what we’ve already run into in the first half of the first episode:
That was a lot more fun to do than I expected. I plan on continuing this review once in a while, when I have the time and energy, but I’d appreciate it if you had any input on length, picture size, picture density, whatever. Make the next round easier on me, that’s a lot of images to cut into a post.
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Jun 19, 2021 21:44
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you can't just entirely gloss over the OP, not when it has gems such as this: hikari~! 
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Jun 19, 2021 22:23
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Blaziken386 posted:you can't just entirely gloss over the OP Falconier111 posted:… And we get the opening. I’ll go over it at a strategic point a few episodes ahead, I’ll be going over the whole thing at the beginning of the episode where it changes, then covering the changes at the start of the next episode for contrast. C’mon, man, have more faith in me!
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Jun 19, 2021 23:01
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Falconier111 posted:And yet this went over so many people’s heads. Like, google “interviews with monster girls” and you’ll get thousands of results, all of them unambiguously talking about the anime. Add “disability” to the search, or any other version of the word, and you get three blog posts, one article in a small magazine, and a Reddit thread about one of the blog posts (where a third of the comments try to angrily debunk it) before the search dissolves into results about the anime more generally and then Sesame Street for some reason. I’ve talked before about how disability rights barely register on most people’s radars, and here’s how that looks in practice. This reminds me of an argument I saw on Tumblr once upon your time. It was about How to Train Your Dragon and its sequels. The plot of the movie is on Wikipedia, but to make a long story extremely short, it's about a young Viking-ish kid, Hiccup, who befriends a dragon that he names Toothless. Now, the relevant thing here is that, by the end of the movie, Hiccup is out his left leg below the knee, and Toothless is missing half a tail fin. Both use a prosthetic - Hiccup to walk, and Toothless, with Hiccup's help, to fly. This persists for the rest of the series. The argument was about whether Hiccup counted as disabled or not. One person in particular was favoring the 'not' point of view. Other people asked, "why's that?" He's-Not-Disabled commenter replied with something that stuck with me: quote:Because he doesn't struggle. The rest of the argument was everyone else tearing He's-Not-Disabled a new one, but it got me thinking. Perhaps the reason people don't recognize this anime in the context of disability is that it's portrayed as a thing that just, like, the characters have and roll with, and not, like, a primary impediment to the characters' well-being? Which, like, arguably dovetails right into what KS has been doing (the 'roll with' approach).
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Jun 19, 2021 23:56
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Falconier111 posted:I’ll be going over the whole thing at the beginning of the episode where it changes, then covering the changes at the start of the next episode for contrast. C’mon, man, have more faith in me!
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Jun 20, 2021 00:02
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...now I want to reread Centaur's Worries, from a disability perspective. It also focuses a lot on the slice of life and accommodation aspects, though everyone is an animal person in some way.
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Jun 20, 2021 00:33
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Falconier111 posted:“Demi-human”, while not actually offensive, is apparently out of date and unpopular with people her age; it’s too clinical and “not cute”. The word that is being rendered as "demi-human" is probably 亜人, ajin. The 人 means "human", while 亜 is a prefix that means "almost" or "next to" -- so Hikari is "almost human" (implication: but not quite). Hikari's preferred terminology, "demi," is literally that: デミ, a phonetic rendering of the first half of "demi-human". "Demi-" is an obscure synonym for "hemi-" or "semi-". I can only think of one other word that uses it: demiglace, which is a kind of sauce. You'd think being called "half" would be worse than "almost human," but for a typical Japanese speaker, デミ is just two syllables that don't intrinsically mean anything, whereas 亜人's meaning is clear from the characters it's written with. So it makes sense that demis would prefer that term.
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Jun 20, 2021 01:21
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Alien Arcana posted:"Demi-" is an obscure synonym for "hemi-" or "semi-". I can only think of one other word that uses it: demiglace, which is a kind of sauce. Demigod and demitasse are the only other two words I can think of that use demi, though I'm sure there are others that I'm not aware of.
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Jun 20, 2021 01:26
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senrath posted:Demigod and demitasse are the only other two words I can think of that use demi, though I'm sure there are others that I'm not aware of. Demigod is actually a really good equivalency showcase as to why demis wouldn't want to be preferred to as 'demi-human', because demigod describes what is theoretically a thinking being. I think it's fairly clever, myself. What comes to mind with the term demigod? Lesser god, weaker god, less important god. And in many stories, demigods come about because they're essentially 'half-gods', with one mortal and one god parent. The term demi-human puts the demis in opposition to humans as a lesser variant. Them choosing to call themselves demis is essentially a step to abstracting and separating from that definition. But it's still recognizable to casual laypeople who don't keep up on demi rights. So while it may look like a trivial difference to the casual observer, it's an important step to being recognized as fully valid people in their own right. Yet another parallel to disability rights and such...
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Jun 20, 2021 02:15
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"Demi" as a prefix is actually a French loanword, which is why many of the examples are fully French words we just happen to use. As to the use of "demihuman" in fiction, it really comes down to usage within the setting, as while it can refer to races and groups seen as "less than" human, there are also many fictional settings where it's a neutral term for those who are simply a mix of humans and something else, in other words just less human, literally. That said, even there, the term is (usually unintentionally) kind of human-centric, given that it places humans as the default within the setting. That's the tricky thing about terms that only exist to describe fictional concepts, is they're often a lot more fluid than terms that describe things that actually exist, due to the varying rules of fictional universes.
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Jun 20, 2021 02:31
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Alien Arcana posted:The word that is being rendered as "demi-human" is probably 亜人, ajin. Confirmed, they DO use ajin in the original Japanese. Blaziken386 posted:gomennasorry, im bad at reading and also paying attention Wouldn’t be the first gomennasorry you had to drop in one of my threads Quackles posted:Perhaps the reason people don't recognize this anime in the context of disability is that it's portrayed as a thing that just, like, the characters have and roll with, and not, like, a primary impediment to the characters' well-being? This is actually a really good point, one I hadn’t considered when doing my research. I’m planning on having a disability corner theme for the end summary of each route; this topic will probably show up in Lilly or Shizune’s.
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Jun 20, 2021 03:27
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senrath posted:Demigod and demitasse are the only other two words I can think of that use demi, though I'm sure there are others that I'm not aware of. This is completely irrelevant to the far more important discussion at hand, but as a musician I'm compelled to add "demisemiquaver" to the list - the British equivalent to what's better known as a thirty-second note on my own side of the pond. A quaver is an eighth note, half of that (16th) is a semiquaver, half again is demisemiquaver, and of course you can keep going with the hemidemisemiquaver (yes that is a real word) and semihemidemisemi and oh no I've gone cross-eyed.
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Jun 20, 2021 05:41
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I can't believe I forgot "demigod." I am the worst gamer.Keldulas posted:The term demi-human puts the demis in opposition to humans as a lesser variant. Them choosing to call themselves demis is essentially a step to abstracting and separating from that definition. But it's still recognizable to casual laypeople who don't keep up on demi rights. So while it may look like a trivial difference to the casual observer, it's an important step to being recognized as fully valid people in their own right. Yeah, this is what I was trying to get at. It's kinda like "trans" vs. "transgender," I think.
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Jun 20, 2021 06:56
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I just read through this thread and it's extremely good, I somehow never heard of this game in spite of being Extremely Online around the time that it was being developed / released and it's interesting to see the characters.
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Jun 20, 2021 19:03
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Falconier111 posted:That was a lot more fun to do than I expected. I plan on continuing this review once in a while, when I have the time and energy, but I’d appreciate it if you had any input on length, picture size, picture density, whatever. Make the next round easier on me, that’s a lot of images to cut into a post. This is probably less than helpful, but I think the text/image ration in that update was quite good. Another telling example of the "it's not disability if there's no struggle" mindset: https://twitter.com/Ettin64/status/1405336857257283592
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Jun 20, 2021 23:21
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Vote is closed! It looks like we’ll be going with a modified version of Limited. We’re still at least a couple weeks from this coming into play, though.
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Jun 21, 2021 04:01
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Would a combination of limited and clear be possible, or is that too much work?
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Jun 21, 2021 06:45
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Dance Officer posted:Would a combination of limited and clear be possible, or is that too much work? Tbh it appeared that clear won the vote so it was probably mod oversight
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Jun 21, 2021 15:19
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Tbh it appeared that clear won the vote so it was probably mod oversight Yarp. There will be cuts, but they won't be overwhelming. What exactly that means has to wait until we get there. Update 18: Morning Run  We start Act 2 with a brief animation.Katawa Shoujo OST 2x400m Relay  Emi prepares her prosthetics, first putting her on liners…  … Then her sockets…  …and connecting them to her feet.  She gets in the ready position…  … And then shoots towards a distant figure on the track. Hisao’s gamely trying his best…  … But Emi screams by him. No wonder she’s on the track team, motherfucker can MOVE.  Hisao huffs and puffs trying to catch up, until he falls out of view and the camera pans back…  … To reveal him gasping on the ground.   He looks up.  Emi’s there, hand outstretched.   She pulls him up and supports him…  … Looks at him…  … And smiles.   They walk off together. The lighting changes, from the greens and blues of summer to the golds and browns of autumn.  A hand swings fruitlessly at a hanging apple until it finally makes contact…  … To Emi’s delight.   Hisao, holding her up, grins too.  Begin Act 2. There’s definitely stuff to criticize this in this animation: there’s some questionable anatomy, Emi’s hair doesn’t match with her sprite, sometimes the animation is jerky or awkward. But on the whole, it’s pleasant to watch and accurately and compellingly portrays the personalities. I wanted to draw attention to one part, though. Normally I listen to whatever music tracks show up in a scene while working screenshots into updates to keep me focused, but I couldn’t do that here. The audio cues for each story beat were so obvious and vivid it kept throwing me off. The music and animation are VERY well integrated here. It holds the section together and makes it a worthy start to Act 2. Except for the taint shot. But, you know, that IS what a starting position legitimately looks like. (Silence, Alarm Clock Beeping)  My alarm's beeping shatters the early morning quiet, and I find myself wondering where to find the motivation to rise. Class is still quite far off, but I agreed to run with Emi in the mornings. Really, I'm not that interested in running as a hobby, or even as a possible life-lengthening exercise. However, I feel obligated to follow through on my promise to Emi yesterday, which is why I find myself throwing on some running shorts and a light tee-shirt. The cool morning air caresses my face as the morning sunshine causes the dew on the grass to sparkle, nearly blinding me at first. As I make my way down to the track, an ugly thought strikes me. What if this is some sort of joke that Emi's playing on me? Would that surprise me, really? Hell, I'd probably do it to the new guy, too. At the very least, I'm sure Emi and Rin made a bet on whether or not I'd actually show up. I feel a sense of trepidation as the track comes into view. Katawa Shoujo OST - Standing Tall (Emi's Theme)   EMI: "You're late!" It would seem that Emi is already there. What a relief.  HISAO: "Not according to my watch. We both are early, in fact." EMI: "drat. You've got me there." Emi is sitting on the bleachers, decked out in her running gear, waiting somewhat patiently for me. HISAO: "I'm glad you're actually here. I was afraid that this was a joke or something." EMI: "Nah, I'd never make someone get up early for nothing.  EMI: “Plus, Rin owes me 500 yen now. She didn't think you'd actually show up." I knew it! Nice to know Emi was on my side, at least. Emi hops off of the bleachers and begins stretching out. She's remarkably lithe, almost like a dancer. I set out to stretch as well, but then realize that I don't exactly remember how to stretch properly. It's been ages since I stretched for anything, if you don't count my one stint at running last week. And even then, I don't think I actually stretched beforehand. The specter of my long hospital stay rises up again. I can't say I was all that active before the hospital stay, though, so maybe I'm just being morose. Emi giggles as she watches me stretch out. EMI: "No no no Hisao, you've got to hold it for longer than that!" HISAO: "I'm trying! It kinda hurts a little." EMI: "Ha! That's because you're out of shape. You've got to get some flexibility in you, like this." To demonstrate, Emi reaches down and puts her head through her legs. God bless you, Emi. HISAO: "I see. Is that the sort of thing I should strive for?" EMI: "Of course! Flexibility is important for any runner. You'll be able to go faster the more you stretch out." That makes no sense to me, but Emi seems to believe it's true. With Emi's help, I manage to stretch myself out properly. I can't help but notice that when she thinks about how to explain things to me, her mouth scrunches up in concentration. It's adorable. EMI: "Not bad, Hisao. Come on, we'd better start running. We'll start off with just a mile, okay? That's four laps around the track, got it?" HISAO: "That sounds fine to me." This shouldn't be too hard, right? A hazy memory of running a mile for gym class surfaces in my mind. Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Katawa Shoujo OST – Hokabi  Emi sets a pretty good pace, and I fall in behind her. EMI: "Try to keep up, okay Hisao?" HISAO: "Roger." We round the first curve without incident, though I can already feel my heart rate increasing slightly. By the second curve, I've started to breathe through my mouth. Emi doesn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. As if to punctuate her superiority, she turns around and starts running backwards. EMI: "Are you doing okay, Hisao?" HISAO: "Never... better." EMI: "Oh really? Maybe I should speed up then, hmm?" HISAO: "Oh... no, ...wouldn't want you... ...to... overex...ert yourself." My heavy panting and wheezing makes the statement less convincing than I had hoped. Emi simply smiles and turns around again. EMI: "You're the boss, Hisao. We'll stay at this pace." I get the feeling that I'm being mocked. If I weren't in such terrible shape, I'd probably feel offended. By the third lap, my breath is coming in ragged gasps. I'm also awash in my own sweat. Gross. We round the curve to start our fourth lap, and Emi looks back at me with a grin. EMI: "Here we go!" She takes off at blinding speed while I stubbornly stick to my slower pace. By the time I get to the first turn, she's already rounding the second. As I struggle across the back stretch, Emi continues running and catches up to me. EMI: "Come on, Hisao! You can do it!" I'd answer her, but I'm too focused on getting air into my lungs and ignoring the burning in my leg muscles. Part of me wants to say something like “Maybe you can, but I'm about to die here.” But again, I doubt I can actually form words right now. Emi keeps pace with me as I round the second turn and cross the finish line. (Silence) Her sprint seems to have gotten her sweating. It's actually caused her shirt to turn slightly translucent. It seems she wears a black sports bra. I feel a vague stab of guilt for being the sort of guy who stares at a girl's chest, but my legs and chest are burning so badly I can't bring myself to care that much.  EMI: "Not bad for a first effort, Hisao." HISAO: "Ki— ...kind of you... to say... so." Katawa Shoujo OST – Fripperies Emi seems to be, if not out of breath, at least breathing a little more heavily than she was before we started running. It must have been the sprint that did it. EMI: "Hey, I've got to get a few sprints in. You should walk around the track to cool down. Then we can stretch out, and we'll be all done, okay?" HISAO: "Sounds great." My legs are on fire, and my breathing is still heavy, but surprisingly my heart seems to be taking the strain well. Another triumph of medical science, I suppose. EMI: "You should put your hands behind your head. It makes it easier to catch your breath." Surprisingly, she's right. I begin to stroll around the track, happy to feel my breath coming back to me.  She goes blurring across the screen exactly once. It took me 15 tries to get this shot  There's a blur as Emi sprints by me. Watching her run is absolutely fascinating. It's not just because she's on prosthetics, though that is interesting.  The really interesting thing is the way her face changes. I can only catch glimpses of it as she runs by, but her eyes seem to come alive with a sort of fierce joy. It's as if there's nothing else in the world but her and the track. By the time I've gotten to the final stretch, Emi seems to have finished her sprinting. She's breathing heavily now, but she's wearing a satisfied grin on her face. She waves to me cheerily as I near her. EMI: "Feeling better, right?" HISAO: "Actually, yeah." EMI: "D'you want to take another lap around with me? I've got to cool down too, you know." Part of me would rather sit down, and not move, but something tells me that would be a bad idea. Besides, if I sit down, there may be no getting back up again. HISAO: "Sure, why not?" Emi's got her hands behind her head now as well, which makes her seem very relaxed. The positioning of her arms also pulls her shirt upwards ever-so-slightly so that I can see a small strip of her belly. I do my best to act the gentleman and not look, but the contrast of her skin against her red running shorts is rather arresting. EMI: "So how do you feel, Hisao?" HISAO: "Surprisingly good, actually. I'm sore and tired, but... surprisingly good." As soon as I say it, I realize that it's true. Sure, part of me wants to lay down and die, but I feel like I've accomplished something. It's almost like a glow throughout my body that persists despite the soreness. EMI: "Yeah, that's the runner's high." HISAO: "Runner's high?" EMI: "Yeah, it has something to do with... adrenaline?" Emi thinks for a moment as we walk, trying to remember. Then she shrugs and grins at me. EMI: "I don't actually remember. It's a good feeling though, isn't it?” (Sudden Silence)  EMI: “Better than sex, right?” I open my mouth to respond shortly before processing what she's just said. HISAO: "..." Emi watches my face for a few moments before bursting into laughter. Katawa Shoujo OST - Generic Happy Music EMI: "Sorry, sorry! I couldn't resist! You're just too easy!" HISAO: "Why did I agree to run with you again?" Emi just laughs harder. She takes a hold of my forearm and tilts it, allowing her to get a better view of my watch. Her face changes the moment she sees the time. EMI: "Oh no! We'd better get a move on, Hisao! Class is in an hour, and I need to shower!" HISAO: "I should probably do that as well..." EMI: "I need to see the nurse, too... maybe he'll write me a note for being late!" HISAO: "Why do you need to see the nurse?" Emi points to her prosthetics, as if that would explain everything.  EMI: "It's important to check for irritation. You know, from sweat or friction, or anything. Normally I only go after practice, but if we're going to be doing these morning runs then I guess I'll see him twice a day." Wait, so Emi has only started doing these runs since I showed up? HISAO: "If it's more convenient for you to run with me at a later time..." EMI: "Don't be silly! I've been meaning to start running in the morning for a while now. But if I didn't have a partner to run with, I'd be less likely to keep up a routine. It's always harder to blow off a commitment if you're going to let someone else down, you know? So you'll be my running partner for the mornings! We both need the exercise, so it all works out, don't you think?" HISAO: "Yeah, perfect." Did it have to be me, though? Well, I guess I can't complain too much. Emi's pretty fun to hang out with. And she's right. I do need the exercise. Doctor's orders, even. Emi waves a quick goodbye to me. EMI: "Right, I'm off! Come have lunch with us, okay?" HISAO: "What?" EMI: "Lunch! You know, the meal? In the middle of the day? Come have it with us!" HISAO: "Where?" EMI: "The rooftop. Rin likes it up there." HISAO: "When?" EMI: "Lunchtime, when else? That was a silly question." HISAO: "Yeah, but I sort of felt the need to ask all three for completeness' sake." Emi laughs and grins. I don't think I've ever seen a girl smile so much before. EMI: "Not bad, Hisao. See ya!" With that, she takes off like a shot for the school building. I guess she's going to see the nurse first. I hurry back to my room and hop in the shower, only to find that the water takes a while to heat up. The shock of the cold water nearly kills me. I manage to warm the water a bit and spend some quality time feeling my muscles loosen. My heart, surprisingly, feels the least bothered by the run. I suppose that's a good thing, even if it does make me feel like a bit of a wuss. I mean at least I'd have an excuse beyond “I am out of shape” if my heart were bothering me. Guess I'll have to keep this running thing up, otherwise I'm sure Emi won't let me hear the end of it. It's only after I get out and dry myself off that I realize that I've only ten minutes left to put my clothes on and get to class. Crap. (Silence) The hands on the clock finally set me free from the tedium of yet another fun-filled class. Getting up from my seat proves to be more of a problem than I anticipated. My legs are killing me from the morning's run. Maybe doing these with Emi isn't such a hot idea after all. Still, the run's given me a hell of an appetite. I'm halfway down the hallway to the cafeteria when I remember that I've got my lunch with me. My parents saw fit to provide me with some prepackaged stuff when I moved in, and a good thing too. The hallway is packed with students headed for the cafeteria. Going back is like swimming upstream - but I've got an appointment to keep on the rooftop. It takes me a moment to find the staircase leading up to the rooftop, but I'm willing to bet that Emi and Rin aren't up there by now anyway. In fact, I think I saw Emi among the bodies in the hallway headed for the cafeteria. I step out of the door to the roof and take a deep breath. The fresh air blowing against my face and body almost makes my legs hurt less.  RIN: "Maybe if I'm upside down..." Katawa Shoujo OST - Parity (Rin's Theme)  Part of me wants to be surprised that Rin's already up here. HISAO: "What's that going to accomplish?" RIN: "Things in the clouds." HISAO: "Couldn't you just... look at them right-side up?" Rin rolls her eyes in something approaching exasperation. RIN: "Then I wouldn't get a new perspective." HISAO: "Is upside down really a new perspective?" Ah ha! That caught her off guard. Rin looks pensive. RIN: "You may have a point. Maybe sideways." Her sprite slides down out of the frame. As Rin lays down on the bench to look at the sky, I give up. Fortunately Emi chooses that moment to burst through the door carrying two bags. She nearly takes the door off the hinges. EMI: "Sorry it took me so long! There were a ton of people in line." She drops the first bag in front of Rin and takes a seat on the bench next to her. HISAO: "You buy Rin's lunch for her?" EMI: "Sometimes, yeah. I'd have Rin buy my lunch for me in return, but I'm not sure how she'd carry it." RIN: "Plus I'd never buy her lunch." If Rin's offended by Emi's comment, she doesn't show it. Emi sniffs. EMI: "How ungrateful of you." I'm not sure whether the two are joking with one another or if I'm witnessing the beginnings of a cat fight. The two girls stare at one another for a few tense moments before breaking into smiles. RIN: "Hey Emi, do you think being upside down is a new perspective on things?" Didn't I already have this conversation? Emi looks thoughtful, apparently giving the question some thought. After a deep and profound pause, she speaks. EMI: "I have no idea." Well, at least she's as lost as I am. (Silence)  EMI: "Hey Hisao, you're coming to the track meet, right?" The question comes out of the blue and catches me off guard. HISAO: "Um... I don't know yet?" EMI: "Honestly, Hisao, after I went through all the trouble of letting you run with me in the morning, you won't even show up at my track meet?" Wasn't she the one that asked me to run with her? Actually, she didn't even give me a choice in the matter. HISAO: "Wait, no, I didn't say that..." Katawa Shoujo OST – Ease She beams at me as if I'd just agreed to give her a million dollars. EMI: "So you will come after all! That's great!" I didn't say that either! RIN: "I'll be going too, so I'll make sure he comes, Emi." EMI: "Good idea, Rin! Maybe we can get some food or something after the meet's over?" I feel like I've just been conned, but not by these two. More like by some outside force, pushing me irrevocably toward my destiny. ...Or maybe I shouldn't read books that feature conspiracy theories so heavily. Otherwise I might wind up sounding like Kenji. Still, I suppose that I've got to show up now. I don't think that I could stand against both of them being disappointed. I'd never hear the end of it. HISAO: "When is it again?" EMI: "Next week, silly! I just told you a few days ago." HISAO: "No you didn't." EMI: "I forgot? Well, you won't forget to come though, will you?" HISAO: "Of course I won't! I'll even make a note on a calendar or something!" Rin nods sagely. RIN: "That's probably a good idea, you know. Unless time changes its course." EMI: "It can do that?" Rin gives a noncommittal shrug. RIN: "It hasn't yet, but you never know..." This time it's Emi who gives a shrug. EMI: "I suppose it can't be helped if it happens." RIN: "Not unless you're a time traveler or something." HISAO: "You don't actually think that could happen, do you?" EMI: "I don't think we do... do we?" Rin shrugs again. That seems to be her default response to everything. RIN: "I suppose not. But I reserve the right to change my opinion at a moment's notice." For Rin, this statement makes a disturbing amount of sense. The fact that I realize this now frightens me a bit. I wonder if Emi gets this feeling all the time. If she does she's not showing it, though. Emi merely nods. EMI: "As expected." RIN: "What's that supposed to mean?"  Literal  This time, it's Emi who shrugs. It's like she's using Rin's own weapons against her. EMI: "Your response is the sort of thing I'd expect from you, that's all." RIN: "Am I really that predictable?" Emi's smile seems to border on gloating. EMI: "Nah, it's just that your unpredictability is pretty predictable." RIN: "Well that's all right then." I don't get the chance to see whether Rin's being serious or not, as the bell rings. I didn't notice the lunch period slipping by at all. Hanging out with these two was far too interesting. Emi jumps up, a look of panic on her face. EMI: "Oh no! I needed to stop by my room to pick up my notebook for the next class!" RIN: "Don't you wish you had a time machine now?" Rin seems rather smug as she delivers this line; like she'd just won an argument. Emi ignores Rin's comment. EMI: "Sorry Hisao, but could you make sure our garbage gets thrown away? I usually clean up myself, but I've got to run!" HISAO: "Sure, no problem." Emi darts away with an urgency I'm starting to expect from her. I don't bother asking Rin why she couldn't help. She already seems to be preoccupied with something else entirely as she wanders off. She's probably used to Emi taking care of cleanup, and for some reason I doubt Emi's ever raised the issue with her. Cleaning up from lunch doesn't take long, so I have plenty of time to toss our garbage and get to class. Misha greets me with a wave and a devious grin as I walk through the door.   MISHA: "Didn't see you in the cafeteria, Hicchan." HISAO: "Yeah, I decided it was too crowded there." Misha's grin gets even wider. MISHA: "Oh really? Are you sure you weren't participating in an illicit ren—dez—vous?" HISAO: "W... what? What are you talking about?" MISHA: "You were on the roof, right? With both Rin and Emi, no less! You Casanova, you!" HISAO: "We... we just had lunch, that's all!" Misha bursts into laughter, drawing the attention of several of my classmates. MISHA: "Wahahaha! You're so adorable when you blush like that, Hicchan!" She gives me a conspiratorial wink. MISHA: "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." HISAO: "There's no secret!" MISHA: "Oh?" Misha seems disappointed and then brightens up again. MISHA: "Time will tell~!" I don't know what the hell she's talking about, but blessedly our teacher comes in, and the class starts. (Silence)  Another day of class has finally dragged itself to a close. Unexpectedly, I managed to stay awake for the whole day. I'm pretty sure that counts as a miracle. My legs seem unwilling to stand up for a moment. I guess the run took a lot out of me. I head down the hallway and make my way to my room. I sit down and half-heartedly chip away at my homework for a while, feeling like a vulture picking at a particularly unsavory carcass. It knows this is what it eats, but it's not sure that it shouldn't be ordering takeout instead. I don't think I can take this, but it's important to get my work done. HISAO: "Now let's see... what was I supposed to be looking over again?" I know it's a losing battle, but I fight it anyway. Halfway through my math homework, I put my pencil down. This isn't working. I need a distraction. Unfortunately, my options for distractions are rather slim. I'm not in the mood to read, right now. Kenji is, unusually, out of his room at the moment. If I go to the student council room, I'll just end up doing work for those two. And heaven only knows where everyone else is, except for... Well, I suppose that's an option. I grab my shoes and head for the track. Emi's probably down there. Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Sep 2, 2021 |
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Jun 21, 2021 19:54
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*nyoom*
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Jun 21, 2021 22:25
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| # ? May 6, 2024 14:09 |
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I think the animations Mike Inel did were based on earlier drafts. Some of them match the story, others not so much. And his style is a bit different.
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Jun 21, 2021 23:01
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