Square Enix have finally given Japanese keen to brush up on their English the chance to do so in a suitably bishoujo-rich environment, in an English learning adventure game entitled “Summer Story.”
The title takes the form of an ¥800 iPhone/iPad app for learning English, designed as a bishoujo adventure game and bearing some rather fine artwork.
Players get the chance to converse with four pretty girls – the flower-maniac daughter of an English aristocrat, an Aussie lass wanting to work as a tour conductor, a Japanese English teacher keen to teach proper English to the protagonist, and, of course, an anime-obsessed American blonde.
The English parts are designed by a native speaker involved with NHK’s educational programming and so presumably possess some educational value.
Anyone else find it odd to have bishoujo with run of the mill English names, like ‘Turner’?
The only girl that looks remotely American is Allison.
This is actually a suprisingly good game, abet short.
Lisa’s my waifu.
I think it is a fascinating thing, how certain types of Asian American “civil rights activists”(see: ultra-racist Han Chinese and Filipinos, typically) attack anything and everything possibly considered nerdy, intellectual, and cultured instead of crass. And everything from video games to anime to classical music(Madam Butterfly), claiming that they fetishize Asian women and dangerously further tempt Western men into being attracted to their women.
But Japan, a clearly East Asian country and people, have been fetishizing our women for years. Look at this, they’re selling the English language through Bishoujo representations of “our” women. With an elegantly dressed, blonde haired, typical Anglo-American woman and Anglo-American cast. And we applaud it because indeed Western cuties like these are moe, too.
Because there’s nothing wrong with it, on either side. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Japanese person “fetishizing”(see: being reasonably attracted to) Western women like Beatrice in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, or Gosick, or this game, or a Western person “fetishizing”(see: being reasonably attracted to) Japanese women like Aya Hirano.
Why, why is it mostly Asian American civil rights activists though, doing this type of thing? I’m not saying we should do the same thing, but it’s stupid on both sides and nobody should be doing this stuff. Some of us say stupid stuff about things like this fetishizing Western women, but it’s a lot less common. About the closest thing to this, is how American Westerners are always calling Japanese people self hating White Supremacists for doing this. Which is stupid and annoying, too.
A Western person is attracted to an Asian woman and Asian culture, and he’s a white supremacist, a Japanese person is attracted to a Western woman and Western culture, and he’s a self hating white supremacist. WTF is wrong with this picture? This has to stop, for good. Let the East and the West be friends, and stop splitting them apart, world!
I for one, welcome each and ever new instances of these idealized Western women Japan creates. Though I want it to be reciprocal. I’m sorry for opening these wounds or whatever, but it has been on my mind for a second as I was reminded how Japan is doing exactly the same as we do to a lot of Asian women. Sigh.
I feel happy, I feel content that people around the world of all sort of national and ethnic origin will revel in the serene Occidental beauty of Allison Lloyd. I just wish it could be reciprocal and serene in the eyes of fans, citizens of the world, and not just fictional characters, who in comparison, don’t seem to like to break apart ethnicities as much.
So, theoretically, if you played in reverse, you’d break up with and forget about some girls you dated, while learning Japanese.