kc_anathema

therightfangirl

It was a year of Hope -- at first in the sense of ``I feel hopeful!'' and later in the sense of ``I hope this year ends soon!''

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting ``business as usual,'' finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.

To be sure, it was a year that saw plenty of bad news. But in almost every instance, there was offsetting good news:

kc_anathema

An Amazon.com listing for RapeLay caused outrage back in February, leading to a boycott called by a New York Councilor (despite it not being actually released over here). Rape games were banned in Japan, then they weren't, then they were again, then some eroge makers stopped letting Western viewers view their web sites, while others got around the regulations by just not calling them "rape games" anymore. Phew, you still with me? Good!

Given the fallout and the controversy, it was only a matter of time before the game makers started poking fun at the whole kerfuffle in their games. The following text appears at the beginning of Shinobiryuu, an eroge released in Japan last Friday (as translated by Canned Dog):

Declaration

This is a declaration made with the consensus of all the characters that appear in this story.

All the characters appearing in this game have gone through special training and all actions carried out are done on the basis of mutual agreement.

Even if you're a inhuman person who believes that fictional characters in creative works do not have human rights, please do not ignore this.

We also thank all the kind people who see a character in the story saying phrases such as "help me" and take it as a real call for help.

However, even though you are worrying for the characters in the story, these are all lines spoken from a script.

They are not saying all this from the bottom of their hearts. We are sorry that they have put in so much effort into their acting that some people will confuse it as something that is really happening.

This game is a fictional story.

Surprised Suigen Ninja:
I've recently learnt something that surprised me

Listening Suigen Ninja:
What is it?

Surprised Suigen Ninja:
We, fictional characters, apparently have human rights.

Listening Suigen Ninja:
Huh?

Surprised Suigen Ninja:
There are apparently some special people that will get angry and show sympathy for us if we get raped. And they'll start lobbying for us too.

Listening Suigen Ninja:
Wow, we even can't do anything ourselves without a creator or a player but we have human rights

Surprised Suigen Ninja:
Surprising isn't it?

Listening Suigen Ninja:
Yeah. But since they acknowledge that we have human rights, I wonder if they'll acknowledge that we have the right to vote too. Our creators will work hard to do some political manipulation.

Surprised Suigen Ninja:
We can't be greedy. But well, since we have human rights we might as well suggest it.

Listening Suigen Ninja:
You're right

Surprised Suigen Ninja:
We're doing as we please. Please stop taking unneccessary actions.

amaronith

• 19:53 I ate too much and now my tummy hurts and I just want to sleep. augh. I am ready for everyone to leave. #
• 21:01 No, really, everyone needs to go home now. #

amaronith

• 16:43 I admit it, I ship Sean and Gus like burning. #