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The JRPG Blue Reflection Has Creepier than Average DLC: Underage Girls in Swimsuits

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Aizo

Aizo

Banned
I was just browsing the PSN store, and saw this featured. The game always struck me as a Sailor Moon-like, high school girl, friendship focused JRPG. I know games often have the swimsuit DLC, but c'mon. Isn't there enough sexualization of high school girls in Japan? You can debate all you want about the sexualization of women in media, but can we at least agree that turning underage girls into sex objects is obscene and unreasonable?
Code: 
[IMG]http://social.gust.co.jp/gakkou/img/dlc/dlc_01_zoom44.jpg[/IMG][img]http://social.gust.co.jp/gakkou/img/dlc/dlc_01_zoom29.jpg[/img]
What's extra sad is that people would be willing to pay 2700 yen for this (~21Euros/24USD).

Before anyone defends it by saying "It doesn't have to be sexual. They're just swimsuits," please scroll down on the official Gust page for the DLC to see what kind of poses they attempt to sell their costume DLC with: here.

Edit:
Sardonic posters saying it's just a cultural difference/it's not a problem in Japan/only Westerners care, I urge you to take a look at these articles. There are some serious problems, and I believe pop culture and media sure aren't doing any favors in how they depict minors.
Aljazeera: Sexual assault in Japan: 'Every girl was a victim'
Japan TimesTokyo’s new ‘JK’ ordinance takes aim at schoolgirl exploitation
NYT: In Tokyo, a Crackdown on Sexual Images of Minors
It's heartbreaking.
 
6

60EffPeeEss

Member
Age of consent is 13 in Japan. Its a vastly different culture from the West. I know you find it distasteful, but that's how the show goes there. Sure, there are localised laws detailing "corruption of minors" that only allows minor-on-minor action, to prevent adults firing into kids, but yeah, it can't stop sexualisation like this.

At least it isn't for sale on UK/US/EU etc PSN, where it'd definitely be an issue.
 
T

Timurse

Banned
It's Japan, where having a date with underage girl for money was prohibited only in 2016/17.

Different world, different mentality.

PS. Hope you all can direct your anger to Middle East countries where it's super common to "give away" your 12 yo daughter to be a wife of mature man without even a slightest consent from a girl.
 
M

mao2

Member
Aizo said:
Gust Offers Titillating Youth?

How is your comment helpful to this discussion? You didn't engage at all, but instead mocked a serious issue in Japan.
Click to expand...
Do the Japanese view this as an issue though? Do they need a Gaijin to solve this issue for them?
 
E

Eria

Member
Aizo said:
Gust Offers Titillating Youth?

How is your comment helpful to this discussion? You didn't engage at all, but instead mocked a serious issue in Japan.
Click to expand...

What do u want me to say? I agree with what you said, my comment was with sarcasm. Peace...
 
6

60EffPeeEss

Member
Aizo said:
Gust Offers Titillating Youth?

How is your comment helpful to this discussion? You didn't engage at all, but instead mocked a serious issue in Japan.
Click to expand...

Is it really a serious issue? Is it a raging political fire over there? I only ever hear criticism of it from places that are predominantly Western. I'm not into dumb swimsuit DLC, I think its stupid as fuck, but if Japan wants it, they can have it.
 
L

L.O.R.D

Member
Timurse said:
PS. Hope you all can direct your anger to Middle East countries where it's super common to "give away" your 12 yo daughter to be a wife of mature man without even a slightest consent from a girl.
Click to expand...
Super common? Giveaway?
Dude,where do you like?
Don't be that guy,those are very rare cases,also wrong place to discuss this.
 
M

Mass_Pincup

Banned
Yeah those swimsuit FLCs are really off putting, if I remember correctly some Atelier games also features them.

Timurse said:
It's Japan, where having a date with underage girl for money was prohibited only in 2016/17.

Different world, different mentality.

PS. Hope you all can direct your anger to Middle East countries where it's super common to "give away" your 12 yo daughter to be a wife of mature man without even a slightest consent from a girl.
Click to expand...

I guess since there's always worse somewhere we can't talk about that then?

That's a dumb way to think and act, not to mention the fact that it's a gaming topic, what happens in the Middle East is not relevant here.

Angel_DvA said:
Amir0x GOTY...
Click to expand...

Damn
 
S

Supermanisdead

Member
No real character designs. Just blushy moeblob anime in swimsuits. Somehow u would think people would eventually get sick of these ultra low budget, janky ass games, but these companies are still thriving lmao.
 
Aizo

Aizo

Banned
Timurse said:
It's Japan, where having a date with underage girl for money was prohibited only in 2016/17.
Click to expand...
Compensated dates with minors was essentially made illegal in 1999, at the peak of its popularity. It technically only outlawed anything sexual, but it declined drastically thereafter.
 
O

Opa-Pa

Member
Hmmm, I don't know what's sadder, that at this point something like this barely causes a reaction, let alone surprise in me, or that I kinda already know how this thread will turn out.

Aizo said:
but can we at least agree that turning underage girls into sex objects is obscene and unreasonable?
Click to expand...

I don't think that's possible.
 
T

Tyraniboah

Member
I'm not excusing this because it is in bad taste in my opinion, but isn't the age of consent in Japan much lower than ours? At least it doesn't seem to be coming west at all.
 
L

LordKano

Member
Lmao there's a DLC selling towels costumes for the characters. You can see that it's exactly the same towel and they just changed the color to match each characters, and they sell it for 20 bucks.
dlc_01_zoom29.jpg


They're selling one model for 20 bucks. These guys are geniuses.
 
J

JDB

Banned
Some people here sure are defensive over this creepy shit. Saying fucked up stuff is part of their culture as if that excuses it.
 
Aizo

Aizo

Banned
60EffPeeEss said:
Age of consent is 13 in Japan.
Click to expand...
Let's nip this in the bud. In actuality, it's hardly different from the United States when you factor in prefectural law in Japan...
Japan statutory rape law is violated when an individual has consensual sexual contact with a person under age 13. At 13, Japan's base age of consent is the lowest of any developed country. However, many prefectures also have local "corruption of minors" or "obscenity statutes" (淫行条例) which raise the de-facto age of consent to 16-18, unless they are in a "sincere romantic relationship", usually determined by parental consent. For example, the effective age of consent in Tokyo by local statute is 18. The age of marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys with parental permission, and 20 otherwise (as stated in " ﾅｽ邃｢窶慊ｶ窶｢ﾅｸﾅｽﾆ停?邸", the Child Welfare Act of Japan.
Click to expand...
...as well as marrying super young girls in America as a loophole for statutory rape.
Code: 
[img]http://i.imgur.com/jwL42DR.png?1[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/qpXjWws.png?1[/img]
Many countries have problems with low ages of consent.
 
Aizo

Aizo

Banned
60EffPeeEss said:
Is it really a serious issue? Is it a raging political fire over there? I only ever hear criticism of it from places that are predominantly Western. I'm not into dumb swimsuit DLC, I think its stupid as fuck, but if Japan wants it, they can have it.
Click to expand...
It's not just with anime girls/video game girls; Japan has a huge problem with this that recently led to the government getting involved to attempt to stop underage girls from getting into shady, secret child prostitution rings operating under the guise of "cutesy high school girl cafes." It's a problem here.

If you're asking if sexualizing youth in Japan is an issue? My answer would be yes.
Sexual assault in Japan: 'Every girl was a victim'
Tokyo's new ‘JK' ordinance takes aim at schoolgirl exploitation
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Aizo said:
This is common? I've never played Gust games, but they look innocent from an outsider's perspective. I wasn't aware that sexualization of their young girl characters was a regular occurrence.
Click to expand...

To be honest your concerns are pretty silly considering its like you have never been to the beach before and noticed that people of all ages / genders do indeed wear swimsuits.

If you are familiar with some top brands you would notice that they even make 2 piece swimsuits for kids. Why? Because the average person is not some sex starved lunatic and some people just wear or buy shit because they think it looks cute or in other cases its parents wanting to show off how they have money by kitting out their kid with brand stuff.

Now if you have clothing with "BITCH" written on it that is very revealing and has a bunch of hearts all over (which actually does exist hilariously) now that is a totally different story. You want simple examples just go hang out near the shitty seedy clubs around Roppongi. While legally most clubs are not supposed to let in minors and such it still happens more often than you would think just nobody reports it unless something goes wrong. Its no different in any country really in that aspect, but thats a whole different topic and not related to gaming.

Also your Sailor Moon example is not exactly the best one considering
Bx6wGG5CYAAHmBm.jpg
Click to expand...
SWIMSUITS THE HORROR

Along with how the original show had a lot of various scenes which could be considered questionable depending on your moral standpoint.

Honestly your point would make a lot more sense if you were picking a bone with something like Senran Kagura instead. As that is far more obvious blatant sexualization. While looking at the example you are trying to give here is no different than the standard type of events that occur when it comes to the beach / swimsuit "trope" .

***
Edit

Now the Towel stuff as a user posted later on that would have made for a far stronger case with this particular example. Perhaps you should redo the thread to represent that. Since honestly the swimsuit stuff is tame in comparison since posing + swimsuits go hand in hand. While just bathing towels wrapped around the body not quite sure how you would get the developer to explain that one away.
 
F

FlutterPuffs

Member
Timurse said:
It's Japan, where having a date with underage girl for money was prohibited only in 2016/17.

Different world, different mentality.

PS. Hope you all can direct your anger to Middle East countries where it's super common to "give away" your 12 yo daughter to be a wife of mature man without even a slightest consent from a girl.
Click to expand...
It's not super common.
 
C

Chev

Member
You americans and your skin phobia will never cease to amuse me. Those are just cute swimsuits. Given the "creepier than average" I'd have at least thought it'd be the towels from the get go. Most jrpgs including the ones in highschool settings already have swimsuit DLC, so this is not a departure from the average.

Beyond that, that's a game that sports wet shirt shaders and nude bath scenes so I don't know what you were expecting.
 
A

Angel_DvA

Member
Aizo said:
It's not just with anime girls/video game girls; Japan has a huge problem with this that recently led to the government getting involved to attempt to stop underage girls from getting into shady, secret child prostitution rings operating under the guise of "cutesy high school girl cafes." It's a problem here.

If you're asking if sexualizing youth in Japan is an issue? My answer would be yes.
Sexual assault in Japan: 'Every girl was a victim'
Tokyo’s new ‘JK’ ordinance takes aim at schoolgirl exploitation
Click to expand...

Sickening...
 
D

Dragner

Member
I mean the bikinis are quite simplistic. You can see little girls wearing bikinis on any beach and I dont think is anything wrong with that. So it just depends on the eyes you use to look at this. Ofc I dont know anything about this game if this is a romantic game then yeah...is fucked up. If you buy this to see little girls bodies then you are a borderline pedophile but the costume by itself isnt bad.

You could say that theres no point on having little girls wearing bikinis but thats just another question that could be applied to most dlc costumes.
 
M

mao2

Member
Aizo said:
It's not just with anime girls/video game girls; Japan has a huge problem with this that recently led to the government getting involved to attempt to stop underage girls from getting into shady, secret child prostitution rings operating under the guise of "cutesy high school girl cafes." It's a problem here.

If you're asking if sexualizing youth in Japan is an issue? My answer would be yes.
Sexual assault in Japan: 'Every girl was a victim'
Tokyo’s new ‘JK’ ordinance takes aim at schoolgirl exploitation
Click to expand...
That's like saying the cause of violent crimes is due to violent video games.
 
2

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
Almost every Japanese game with girls involved has swimsuit dlcs, and usually girls in Japanese games are underage, so you are very late to the party OP.
 
R

RoboGeorgeForeman

Banned
They seem fine with me. Some of the designs are kinda cute. I can't imagine using costumes like that in game though unless there's some beach town/scene or something as I don't like using costumes that look out of place (unless it's something like Dead Rising). Then again I wouldn't pay for costume DLC in the first place.
 
Riposte

Riposte

Member
This seems like yuri-flavored persona. I wonder if they keep most of the pandering to the DLC; that would be a convenient arrangement.
 
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