Neptunia: “Plain Old Ugly Japanese Sexism” “20%”

The hatred of western reviewers for games with low advertising budgets and niche audiences continues to manifest itself in further slating of ero-RPG Hyper Dimension Neptunia, with yet another big-name reviewer, in this case Eurogamer, now apparently scoring the game on the basis of feminism and political correctness – it is said to be “plain old ugly Japanese sexism” and “sexist, senseless and ultimately stupid.”

Some extracts from the review – in this case conducted by a male reviewer with some familiarity with and appreciation for JRPGs, but with some evident cultural chauvinism of his own manifesting (in this and several other reviews) whenever he has to deal with the wicked misogynist ways of the Japanese:

The wearying effect of the witless writing is exacerbated by the plain sexism on show in almost every one of the garrulous cut-scenes.

The camera lingers longingly over stills of each girl’s crotch (and, as the cast of Hyperdimension Neptunia is exclusively female, that’s a lot of crotch), while characters make lewd comments with all the awkwardness of a children’s TV presenter telling a dirty joke.

Some will claim the game is playing on established anime conventions. True. It’s playing on conventions of plain old ugly Japanese sexism, and while the Carry On tone ensures the game stops short of titillation, the innuendo leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Not because its innuendo – we love a bit of innuendo, especially in your mum’s pretty mouth – but because it’s dull and stupid and essentially based around girls made to look and sound like schoolchildren.

In one of the earliest acts of the game, your character arrives at a busty barely-legal nurse’s home only to have her scratched, suddenly-naked body bandaged to a soundtrack of squeals of delight.

[…]

Even the most ardent JRPG fan will baulk at the roughshod simplicity of the game’s systems, restricting the game’s audience to Japanophile anime fans who can overlook the experiences shortcomings as a videogame and approach it as a cultural curio.

That is, a sexist, senseless and ultimately stupid cultural curio.

2/10

Apparently the reviewer saw the Gamespot review and decided condemning it for daring to include “disturbingly sexualised young girls” did not go far enough, and so penned his own feminist critique whilst giving it an even lower score for good measure.

Sexy heroines are presumably only permissible when they appear baying for blood alongside the muscle-bound psychopaths who pass for healthy depictions of masculinity in most western games…

Evil supporters of plain old ugly Japanese sexism can obtain the game now.