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61 Frames Per Second

Japan Scares Me: To Love-Ru - Exciting Outdoor School Version

Posted by John Constantine

It occurred to me earlier today that rarely a week goes by here at 61 Frames Per Second without at least a cursory mention of how damn weird Japanese cultural trends can be. It isn’t particularly insightful or original to reiterate the fact; saying Japan’s a weird place to western eyes is a bit like pointing at the moon. But sometimes you just get bowled over by the country’s output and, more often than not, it’s a videogame that’s doing the bowling. Japan Scares Me will serve as a home on 61FPS for those games that are simply too odd to have come from any other place on Earth.

Way back in 2006, SNK walked into the Tokyo Game Show and, with straight faces, announced Doki Doki Majo Shinpan. Shinpan is a game about flicking teenage girls’ breasts to find out if they are witches. Now, it’s well known that pornographic anime games are more than a cottage industry in Japan; they’re more like a skyscraper. It’s also recognized that, unlike North America where salacious images of Miley Cyrus are decried but obsessed over by many, Japan’s pretty open about their fixation with adolescent sexuality. So Shinpan’s existence was only shocking insofar as its actual gameplay turned less racy than expected. And also that the damn thing started a trend on the Nintendo DS.

Case in point is To Love-ru: Exciting Outdoor School Version. No, seriously, that’s what it’s called. This is a game based on a manga and anime series about a schlubby boy in high-school who takes a bath one night only to be confronted by a nude alien princess who wants to marry him. No, seriously. The DS game, as far as I can tell from this clip, is about furiously rubbing a be-skirted schoolgirl’s erogenous zones to achieve high score. No. Seriously. It comes out in two weeks. It is the fourth or fifth game that is solely about boob-flicking to come out on the DS.



Japan, you scare the ever loving shit out of me.

(Link: GoNintendo)

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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