Where to begin with this game? Well let’s get the positive out of the way, because it all goes downhill from there.

The positives, the music isn’t bad and the art is actually pretty good.

The neutral, the sound effects are a bit repetitive however get the job done.

The negative… well there’s the story. The story is about as sexist and misogynistic as you can get. The author goes out of her way to hate on women and she doesn’t even realize it. Yes I checked, sexism to her is an opinion. I submit however most of the major sexist things.

First we start off in the usual school setting and it’s come to our attention that the main character is SO SMART that she is bored of class. We then go

into the hallway after she is carrying papers and meet Haruhi. Haruhi (name probably taken from a certain OTHER crossdresser of anime fandom that involves a host club) is a crossdressing boy that “Wants to feel like a girl” by dressing in women’s clothing. While I have nothing against crossdressing this kind of borders on not understanding trans* issues than just a boy that dresses up in girl’s clothing as made confusing by the description in the game. Later in the game Haruhi raises his shirt to “prove he’s a boy” and wants the main characters affections. So it’s a bit confusing when he’s saying he wants to be a girl. I can’t make a final declaration on it, however it did bother me that we are to read this person as a girl and then “I’m not girl, I’m a boy!” In the anime that most likely inspired this character, THAT Haruhi always IDs as a girl (except when IN the club) and makes no sayings about “I’m have a boy’s mind, but I’m a girl” kind of thing going on.

Then we hit the “It gets worse!” mode, with the nugget the main character’s mom drops. “You’ll never be a bride!” because she can’t cook. I passed this off as a “Japanese Trope”, but no, the author really believes that women
MUST learn how to cook and MUST be brides. I can pass this off in a Japanese game because the culture over there is KNOWN for being sexist, so it’s a “well duh it’s a Japanese game”. Seeing in a game that isn’t Japanese however, I question it. I’m not going to say the Amero-UKo cultures are any better, however most of these tropes are indeed identified by the anime community and laughed at, even getting TVTropes pages.

“So” you think, “that’s it?” No that’s NOT it. Depending on the guy your after depends on the sexism you get. I’ll admit to only getting through two out of the three, because the third one is “No Boundaries Guy”. You have “Douchebag With a Heart of Gold”, “No Boundaries Guy”, “Almost Decent Man”.

All these paths will take you to an attempted rape scene. YES, attempted rape. For you see this is the “White Knight” moment where you either get saved by the school principal or one of the guys. Both of them will tell you of course that “It’s all YOUR fault for not keeping up, talking to random men, and walking around after dark.” Yes.. they really do, and we have a LOT of the main character crying and saying it’s all her fault with the guys telling her to “Be more careful” and that they will have to protect her.

In “Douchebag With A Heart of Gold”‘s path, we find out the main character’s brain has turned to mush and she’s as dumb as a brick, so dumb she needs a MAN to help her do her math, then she needs a MAN to copy her homework from. Basically all that smart stuff we were told about her in the beginning was just pure crap. It also get’s worse when she BARELY scrapes her knee and now can’t walk. YES, thus prompting the guy to carry her like a helpless damsel. It is stated that it’s “barely scratched”. If you can’t walk, your leg is broken. Which isn’t the case. If your leg is sprained you can kind of hobble-limp. That’s what crutches are for. Can’t walk, call 911.
Anyways the deal with this guy is that he has a power so awesome he can trash people with it and he’s hurt people in the past, blah blah tropey blah and he likes to feed kittens.

In “Almost Decent” guy, we get more info on the “Bitch Posse” because you know, women are always jealous of each other and LOVE to fight over guys and are bitches and don’t deserve to be taken seriously amirite? Well, let’s just say he brainwashes these women into liking him accidentally and wants to reverse it, so I give him points on that. Where he takes the sexist turn in when they are talking about being an item and he is going on and on about protecting her. You know because women are fragile creatures that ALWAYS need men protecting them. She however is going on about how she has to STOP DOING THINGS because it would UPSET HIM and MAKE HIM WORRY.   FUCK!    YOU!

“No Boundaries Guy” doesn’t warrant a play through considering well, he doesn’t know the meaning of the word consent. Going on about how he kissed the main character against her will through a sandwich. Which is all kinds of fucked up. He steals her sandwich, she doesn’t want it however he leaves a bite which he forces into her mouth and says they had an “indirect kiss”. Yeah, don’t want to go near this guy with a ten thousand foot pole.

Overall I really didn’t like playing the game and I really didn’t like the attitude of the creator when confronted with these issues. It’s a mark that the otome genre will constantly be filled with misogynistic crap like this if creators don’t take time to analyze what they are promoting when they copy paste Japanese culture.

I was over at “The Mary Sue” reading about the new Liara statue that Bioware has deemed proper for healing gender relations *COUGH*. A comment by KirbyBits caught my attention as to why it was improper to put up FemShep to a vote. Then it clicked, the reason why I hate Final Fantasy X-2, Ar Tonelico and a few other games.

The fact that these bodies don’t belong to the characters, the fact that they are up to be objects of public consumption, or the consumption of the male character/s in the game and the presumed male gamer. Again women’s bodies are simply there for men to dress and undress to their desires.

FF X-2 is all about playing dress up with the three women, and the fact that the content of the game I’ve heard has been deemed “not that serious” in tone more or less proves that it’s just a fanservice game for men to live out their desires of dressing and undressing the women of the game.

Same goes with Ar Tonelico, the CORE of that game is putting the women in costumes that they even state IN GAME they are uncomfortable with and are being harassed about. Yet the man in game which is an extension of the male gamer presumably controlling the character.
Those character’s bodies are not their own, they are up to be consumed by the men. Even the concept of the Reyvateil is to be consumed by the men “Sing for me! Wear this! Let me get into your mind!” The simple fact that some ask nicely and some don’t is irrelevant. The creators have decided it’s a necessity for the women just to simply LIVE. Their bodies HAVE to be consumed in some way.

Now many are going to point out all the other “dress up games” on the market. However those games are targeted at girls/women and the women in them are not presented as “goods”. The characters themselves are either an extension of the female player or a character that has come to the character for advice/tips on what to wear. The difference is that in FFX-2 and Ar Tonelico, the characters don’t get a choice, they aren’t an extension of the female player in a setting that calls for dressing up, nor do they get a choice on what to wear.
As the PC/Player the character IS YOU and you choose what YOU are wearing. In a fashion game for girls, it’s not about dressing up to please a main male character or the male player. The other women that ask for fashion tips or come to the fashion store are not displaying themselves for any man, they do it for themselves.
The other games are set up to please a man in some way. With FF X-2 there is no “main” female character since they all are in the party and the player can do what they want with the women to gain some form of combat advantage.
This is also where Ar Tonelico III fails horribly. Not only are the women’s bodies not considered their own (as well as their spirit/soul, you can change their personality too) you get to UNDRESS them against their will. Most will say consent has been given, however considering they have no real CHOICE in the matter they MUST consent, which is not valid consent. For you see, they get undressed to get an attack/magic boost and if you don’t undress them you don’t get that boost and thus storywise they can be seen as “selfish” and not wanting to help the party. Out of game you probably lose a HUGE bonus to the damage and it’d be like not using songs in the first game. (I also have a feeling that one of the Reyvateils DOESN’T want to get stripped and there’s a whole story arc to convince her to take her clothes off in some way “FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF AR CIEL!” or some bullshit like that.)

This episode was created in the first batch of 4 episodes like #2. Once again the video and commentary is under a cut for those with slow browsers.

Rrha ki ra tie yor ini en nha
Wee ki ra parge yor ar ciel
Was yea ra chs mea yor en fwal
Ma ki ga ks maya yor syec

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This episode was created in the first batch of 4 episodes. Once again the video is under a cut for those with slow browsers.

Rrha ki ra tie yor ini en nha
Wee ki ra parge yor ar ciel
Was yea ra chs mea yor en fwal
Ma ki ga ks maya yor syec

Continue–>

Finally starting the LET’S HATE!!! Episodes will appear on no set schedule and may stop at any time. I’ll give a final episode though if I quit.

Rrha ki ra tie yor ini en nha
Wee ki ra parge yor ar ciel
Was yea ra chs mea yor en fwal
Ma ki ga ks maya yor syec

Those with the Hymmnos font installed will see it correctly. ;)

And without further ado, the videos!

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