All The Racy Stuff Changed For Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ Western Release

All The Racy Stuff Changed For Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ Western Release

All The Racy Stuff Changed For Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ Western Release

All The Racy Stuff Changed For Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ Western Release

We talked about this when the game was fully announced around this time last year.  It seems that thankfully they decided to go the opposite direction to Valkyria and added shadows, costumes, etc to tone down the fan service.

Naturally brodudes are taking this well… I’m just kidding.

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They’ve also been on Twitter harassing translators who do localizations (like they make creative decisions) and insisting they just want “word for word translation no matter what”

Of course, people not intent on misunderstanding the concept of localization or attacking people for doing their jobs can formulate a pretty simple theory on why this release may be slightly different.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a combination of Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei but based off the sales figures available (looking at just Japan), it only sold about 10% of what Fire Emblem Fates did (special edition literally sold out on day one) and about 12% of what Shin Megami Tensei IV did.

They’re not terrible sales, but it’s got to be a disappointing result based off the two brands involved here. It’s almost like all this over emphasis on fan service and hyper-sexualization of female characters at the expense of the rest of the product doesn’t go down well with mainstream audiences in Japan either.

So now they’re trying make into a game people won’t avoid for fear having to have an awkward talk if someone walks in while they’re playing it.

– wincenworks

@whereismywizardhat submitted:

From the just announced Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final

The one on the far right is Nozomi, a demon hunter who was a minor character in IV who the protagonists assist in a sidequest chain.  The new game’s artwork switches her leather motorcycle gear (seen below) for a boob hugging sweater, hot pants, and thigh highs.  The only positive I can think of is they let her keep her shotgun. 

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It’s really disappointing.  Nozomi was one of the more likeable characters within IV, with her hobby of photography and her struggle to get stronger like the protagonist forming a concrete arc.

A person with decision making power actually concluded that skin-tight leather with extra straps to accentuate curves was not sexy and should be swapped out for a mini-dress with visible garter belts and thigh highs?

– wincenworks

Genei Ibun Roku#FE

2goldensnitches submitted:

I’m sure more than a few of you have seen news regarding the crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. The concept is exciting and the characters seem likeable (and it’s always nice to see familiar faces from Fire Emblem), but if there’s one thing I’ve decided that not even the gameplay and writing can explain well enough, it’s the costumes. 

Here is Shiida/Caeda, best known as Marth’s comrade and wife as well as an accomplished pegasus knight:

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And here is her design for SMT x FE: 

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My biggest questions are why she has random cutouts on her outfit (especially on her crotch) and why her clothes have to be so tight they effectively create boobsocks. 

She is the Mirage Partner to Tsubasa Oribe: 

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It’s worth nothing that her school clothes are fine but her combat wardrobe is kinda baffling: 

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And, according to a post on serenesnet (a Fire Emblem forum), there’s also a scene where she apparently strips down to her skivvies in the middle of the street:

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Other characters include Eleonora Yumizuru, an archer whose clothing would actually be pretty cool if she wasn’t also part of that weird bare thighs clothing trope: 

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Kiria Kurono, a famous idol who shows her midriff and some amount of cleavage in almost all of her outfits: 

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Her name refers to the mage class and possibly dark magic – funny how sorceresses associated with dark magic almost always get skimpy clothes! Some speculation ties her to characters like Lyn, a swordswoman from the seventh Fire Emblem game, and Soren, a wind mage from the ninth and tenth games. 

Aversa, a character from the thirteenth Fire Emblem game, returns as an enemy mirage. As one of the most sexualised characters in Awakening, her design combines her class as a dark flier with her constantly exposed boobies:

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I think it’s an odd choice to have her return as a villain given that it’s possible for her to become redeemed of her actions in Awakening; by redeemed I mean that you can unlock her as a playable character and you learn that the antagonist brainwashed her into being loyal to him and massacring her village to keep anyone from learning this – she joins Chrom’s army to atone. I hope they haven’t retconned that aspect of her character just to keep her as a “dark femme fatale” (again). 

The male characters of the game, Toma Akagi (whose Mirage Partner is Cain) and Itsuki Aoi (whose Mirage Partner is Chrom), of course get much better costumes; Toma looks every inch a knight and Itsuki looks very princely and aristocratic, complete with a fancy rapier and cravat.

I always knew that Fire Emblem and Shin Megami almost always have iffy moments in its wardrobe choices for women (with a few games wonderfully ignoring that standard), but this is odd for both series, even if a major part of the game is music and the idol industry. That fact may justify the idol segments and costumes, but not the combat clothing. 

I hope this doesn’t mean that the game will turn out to be a dud, because this is one many fans have been anticipating for a while. However, I can’t say the same for all fans, since some of them have taken issue with more than just the costumes: 

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(Disclaimer for those of you already typing angry comments: We are aware that Hayao Miyazaki never actually said “Anime was a mistake.”, that doesn’t change that so much of the industry makes it believable he would say it)

Sadly this is pretty much what happens when Creepy Marketing Guys are left unsupervised and decide that the visual aspect of the game is the most important part (it’s the easiest to use in advertising) and so the “sex sells” angle is responsible for the success of the previous games.

Ironically, this tends to create more problems because as the Dead or Alive community has noticed – it makes it really hard to convince anyone that there’s actually anything else to the games.

– wincenworks

More on Fire Emblem | More on Shin Megami Tensei

Genei Ibun Roku#FE

2goldensnitches submitted:

I’m sure more than a few of you have seen news regarding the crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. The concept is exciting and the characters seem likeable (and it’s always nice to see familiar faces from Fire Emblem), but if there’s one thing I’ve decided that not even the gameplay and writing can explain well enough, it’s the costumes. 

Here is Shiida/Caeda, best known as Marth’s comrade and wife as well as an accomplished pegasus knight:

image

And here is her design for SMT x FE: 

image

My biggest questions are why she has random cutouts on her outfit (especially on her crotch) and why her clothes have to be so tight they effectively create boobsocks. 

She is the Mirage Partner to Tsubasa Oribe: 

image

It’s worth nothing that her school clothes are fine but her combat wardrobe is kinda baffling: 

image
image
image

And, according to a post on serenesnet (a Fire Emblem forum), there’s also a scene where she apparently strips down to her skivvies in the middle of the street:

image

Other characters include Eleonora Yumizuru, an archer whose clothing would actually be pretty cool if she wasn’t also part of that weird bare thighs clothing trope: 

image

Kiria Kurono, a famous idol who shows her midriff and some amount of cleavage in almost all of her outfits: 

image
image
image
image

Her name refers to the mage class and possibly dark magic – funny how sorceresses associated with dark magic almost always get skimpy clothes! Some speculation ties her to characters like Lyn, a swordswoman from the seventh Fire Emblem game, and Soren, a wind mage from the ninth and tenth games. 

Aversa, a character from the thirteenth Fire Emblem game, returns as an enemy mirage. As one of the most sexualised characters in Awakening, her design combines her class as a dark flier with her constantly exposed boobies:

image

I think it’s an odd choice to have her return as a villain given that it’s possible for her to become redeemed of her actions in Awakening; by redeemed I mean that you can unlock her as a playable character and you learn that the antagonist brainwashed her into being loyal to him and massacring her village to keep anyone from learning this – she joins Chrom’s army to atone. I hope they haven’t retconned that aspect of her character just to keep her as a “dark femme fatale” (again). 

The male characters of the game, Toma Akagi (whose Mirage Partner is Cain) and Itsuki Aoi (whose Mirage Partner is Chrom), of course get much better costumes; Toma looks every inch a knight and Itsuki looks very princely and aristocratic, complete with a fancy rapier and cravat.

I always knew that Fire Emblem and Shin Megami almost always have iffy moments in its wardrobe choices for women (with a few games wonderfully ignoring that standard), but this is odd for both series, even if a major part of the game is music and the idol industry. That fact may justify the idol segments and costumes, but not the combat clothing. 

I hope this doesn’t mean that the game will turn out to be a dud, because this is one many fans have been anticipating for a while. However, I can’t say the same for all fans, since some of them have taken issue with more than just the costumes: 

image

(Disclaimer for those of you already typing angry comments: We are aware that Hayao Miyazaki never actually said “Anime was a mistake.”, that doesn’t change that so much of the industry makes it believable he would say it)

Sadly this is pretty much what happens when Creepy Marketing Guys are left unsupervised and decide that the visual aspect of the game is the most important part (it’s the easiest to use in advertising) and so the “sex sells” angle is responsible for the success of the previous games.

Ironically, this tends to create more problems because as the Dead or Alive community has noticed – it makes it really hard to convince anyone that there’s actually anything else to the games.

– wincenworks

More on Fire Emblem | More on Shin Megami Tensei