Traps: Masculine Ideals and Male Sexuality – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
Feminine Masculinity
What
is interesting about Trap characters is how titles featuring them
tend to be aimed at men with their appearances in female focused
games being rare. As such their role and presentation is shaped by
the male centric fantasies which such works are focused around and makes for an
interesting test case for what male sexuality means within visual novels. The most
common kind of Traps are those which can be classed as heroines in that they essentially fulfil the same romantic function as their female equivalents. Then there are the visual novels
where the Trap assumes the role of the protagonist and they are
surrounded by the normal assortment of female love interests. Mixing
in a Trap heroine into an otherwise female roster happens
infrequently but it results in some telling interactions between the
two genders. These three methods of utilising Traps share the
blending of masculine and feminine elements of identity in order to appeal to the male audience. Let’s be
overwhelmed by cuteness and find out what Traps can show us about
being a man.
Male ‘Heroines’
When
the Trap characters are the main focus of a visual novel they often
end up being placed into the same role as the female heroines of
similar titles and replacing them. This includes many of their cliche feminine traits are inherited, such as being clumsy or gentle, while also being dressed in female
clothing, or at least boyish clothing, and so pushing down any masculine elements. On top of this
such heroines are often voiced by the opposite gender so from
an auditory perspective they bring to mind their female equivalents
whenever they open their mouths. Yet this is not how the game wants
its male audience to view them and instead it in as a means to
blur the edges of the heroines' masculinity which is the part
where their attractiveness lies.
Rather than trying to explain this
allure in the abstract, going over a few examples would better
illustrate this point. No~Strike’s entire visual novel output is
focused around only Trap heroines in the form of the Josou
games. These frame their love interests through the male traits each
demonstrate and how their relationship with the protagonist comes
with some degree of masculine tension. Here is where the feminine
side takes the edge off the clashes between them and paints the heroines in the light of skirts, blouses and softer curves to draw
upon the idea of being conventionally attractive. It is this blending
of the familiar element of being a man with the alien ones of a woman
where these games find the allure to make each of their Traps
desirable targets for the male player’s sexuality. Something which
somewhat muddies this presentation of them as men is the fact most of
No~Strike’s games feature male pregnancy as part of their happy
ending which does push them physiologically closer to women. Yet even
this could be seen as merely an adherence to the standard outcome for
a heroine in this kind of visual novel just applied to this masculine
context for romantic effect.
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| Thanks for the reminder.... |
Pushing away from this more fantastical
style of work, let’s look at a grounded game in the form of
Girls! Girls! Girls!?. The heroines here lean much more into
the masculine side of their personalities then those of the Josou
titles and are generally more confident when dealing with the
protagonist. This is somewhat of a sliding scale with Nanase Nagisa
being violent and aggressive in a decidedly male confrontational
manner when interacting with the protagonist, while Hayasaka Kaede is
far more gentle with his masculine element coming in through the
confidence he presents. Visually they are a blend of straight lines
and curves showing their boyishness through the lens of them being
comfortable cross-dressing. What this constructs is an impression of
the heroines as fundamentally both masculine and feminine and
appeals to a somewhat tomboy idea with there even being a direct tomboy in the form of Ayase Yuzu. As such they share much of the
desirability and attractiveness of the tomboy in that they sit closer
to the male player than to a female identity due to the emphasis on
their masculine traits. Having this undeniable feminine presence
takes the male element and passes it through a sexuality which leans
into this mixture of known and unknown to provide an allure to their
every movement.
Feminine Protagonists
Masculinity
and the way it is defined increasingly comes to the forefront
when dealing with a Trap protagonist as their expected role in the
story rubs up against their feminine side. The kind of games they
appear in follow the standard structure of having a selection of female heroines to choose from which draws a comparisons between the Trap
protagonist and their more traditionally male equivalents in the genre. This is
further reinforced by the fact most of the stories involve the Trap
pretending to be a woman for one reason or another and passing for one convincingly to the rest of the cast. On top of this they
generally adhere to feminine traits, such as being domestically
orientated, and have trouble balancing this with their idea of themselves
as a man. It is this clash which defines their sexuality and how
their attempt to reconcile it through their relationships with women
leaning on their attempts to be what they see as a good boyfriend.
Yet it never brings in the more aggressive masculinity of a standard male
protagonist and the Trap ends up mixing in the feminine elements they have
internalised to create a gentler form of desire for the heroines. Presenting it like this informs the player how they should be
engaging with the romantic material and the idea of what a man can
be.
Otome * Domain has its protagonist, Asuka Minato, forced into an
all girls school and a female uniform which he has very conflicting
feelings about. Despite this he ends up being the most domestically
minded character with the girls all being completely unable to clean
up after themselves resulting in his role being a maternal
one in their dorm. As he grows closer to the heroines he has to
wrestle with his male sexuality and the way it does not match his
currently feminine presentation. When he assumes his role as
boyfriend, he tries to be more assertive as he imagines a desirable
man to be but it never quite works out and the pair’s interactions
end up being more mutual in who takes the lead. This is never
presented as a negative thing and instead something which shows the
strength of their bond and Minato coming to accept how he is and what
it means for their future together. Throughout the journey the player
is constantly remained of his masculinity with his embarrassment
around the girls at times when they treat him like one of them and
treads this line to make his blend of male traits an attractive one
for the player to see this world from.
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| Gentle and leading |
Another example is Otoboku
which presents a similar idea, cross-dressing to be at an all female
school, from a different angle. It protagonist, Kaburagi Mizuho, is
not domestically minded at all with some absolutely terrible cooking
skills and instead his feminine element stems from a kind and gentle
nature to compliment his female appearance. Unlike Otome * Domain,
Otoboku treats this aspect of his identity like a boyish trait and
this is reinforced by this youthful optimism bringing an innocence to his actions. Once he takes a step into romancing the
heroines his masculine traits start to become more prominent and
there is a general sense of growing from a boy into a man. Yet he
never entirely abandons the feminine parts of himself which have
defined his time at this school and instead they form the basis of
his future relationships with the heroines. Such a journey holds some
resonance to the male audience since their experiences relating to
their own boyhood will find comparisons in the story and they will feel support of Mizuho’s
struggles.
Divisions Of The Mind
Mixing
a Trap heroine in with female heroines occurs fairly infrequently in
visual novels due to a desire to focus titles on specific audiences
rather than trying to appeal to overlapping demographics. However,
when it does happen the treatment of these Trap characters is
interesting in how it pushes them further towards the female than
either of the previous types. Their masculine part occupies a
position of being core to their self-definition yet it is
almost entirely obscured by their feminine presentation both visually
and in terms of their personality. Often their affection for the
protagonist is stronger and more immediate than the female heroines they are alongside even if the protagonist fails to see that fact until
much later. By blending in with the other heroines the Trap gains an
attractiveness indistinguishable from them to the point it is easy to
forget they are in fact male. Yet once the protagonist in a
relationship with them this desirability becomes linked to their
masculinity since it forms an increasingly prominent part of their
identity as the feminine front is pulled back and merges with the
male and the sexuality the pair share.
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| Ruka's feelings run deep through who he is |
By far the most well known
title to have a singular Trap heroine is Steins:Gate in the form of
Urushibara Ruka. His presentation is highly feminine when he is
introduced to the player since he is shy, timid and effeminate in his
actions and speech. It is even part of a recurring gag where people
mistake him for a woman upon meeting him for the first time. As the
player spends more time watching him they will begin to notice aspect
of his masculinity in his relationship with Okabe and eventually
notice the feminine elements of his identity have an underlying
boyishness to them. His use of the microwave to change the past so he
is born a woman might seem on first glance to be a desire to be the
gender he appears to be but the truth ends up not being so simple.
The first clue to this is how his personality remains unchanged so he
is decidedly boyish even as a woman making this masculinity something
baked into his existence. Then later comes the big reveal that the
reason he wanted this change is because he is in love with Okabe and
felt Okabe would not look at her romantically unless he was a woman.
It is in this pure desire to change into something to please the
person he is love where Ruka’s attractiveness can be found.
Through his mix of masculine and feminine being consistent and true
regardless of his sex, this wish for Okabe comes across as more
sincere and committed than many of the women around him. The game as
a whole treats him as someone pure and true in a similar way to
Mayuri but she hold a far more feminine version of it while Ruka
holds closer to Okabe’s masculinity to draw a line between the
pair.
Tenioha! Girls Can Be Pervy Too! has a more lustful angle on
its solitary Trap heroine, Esaka Haruki, but there is a lot of
overlap in their his and Ruka’s motives. He end up dressing in a
female uniform at school to join the Intellectual and Cultural
Studies Club as an attempt to get the protagonist to notice his
feeling for them by blending in with the other heroines. Before this
point the protagonist does not take his affection seriously seeing it
as friendship and it is only when it passed through the lens of
a female aspect does it become clear to them what these feelings are.
Once more it is in this devotion and persistence in getting the
protagonist to recognise his love which makes Haruki attractive which
is helped by the purity of his affection when contrasted against the
far more lustful heroines surrounding him. This is not to say that
his desire for the protagonist does not have a sexual element to in,
and the same in reverse, but more that its presentation leans away
from it until their bond has more substance.
Conclusion
By
now you have likely realised the undertone of what male audience
would be interested in Traps, their framing in a feminine light and position in the narrative means they are mainly aimed at
heterosexual men with any other groups participating being an added
bonus. Trap heroines find their attractiveness in blending of
feminine in with their masculinity as they blur the lines between them
to create an alluring mixture of the familiar and the alien so crafting something desirable. If the Trap is part of a larger roster of female
heroines then they feminine side becomes even more pronounced as does
their devotion to the protagonist and the purity of their feelings
which is where they gain their attractiveness from. When the
protagonist is the Trap character things change to being a defining
of masculinity and its relation to the feminine part of the Trap
which often ends up as an exploration of this boyish element of
themselves. Does this mean all the men who play these games are
secretly gay or bi? No, the rigid idea of something having to neatly
fit into fixed definitions of sexuality has time and again proven to be
wrong and the boundaries porous. The ancient Greeks would engage in
relations with other men and then return home to love their wives and
found no contradiction in their sexuality because of it. Something as
specificity targeted as a Trap is designed to play on this ambiguous
boundary to create a unique experience which explores the idea of
where masculinity and the male begin and end.
Best Visual Novel Releases – September 2026
Now
we have entered autumn and harvests are the theme of the day, it is
only natural the world of visual novels would spread out a wonderful
buffet of new titles. It has been a great month for releases with a
selection of engaging and thought provoking games which highlight all
amazing stories the medium is capable of making, from crime thrillers
to two varieties of philosophical romance to a musical dystopia.
Let’s dive in and see what titles are worth your time and which
will make you stop and think.
Official Releases
HimaNatsu: Of Churches, Sunflowers, and Long Summers
During
a long summer Yosuke Ashitaba returns to his seaside home town of
Oboshiro where he meets familiar girls from his past, sees a new face and
confront the crisis of the Oboshiro Church’s impeding demolition. A
slow burn narrative leaning heavily on the character interactions and
their thoughtful consideration of their lives which nicely
compliments its aesthetic and thematic focus on the slow pace of
summer time. The romance has a similarly lethargic
pacing with the cute and soft nature of the pair’s love gently
embracing the experience in a quiet warmth to contrast the blazing heat of
summer. It is a title which wants the player to sit next to it and
contemplate the character’s struggles and the mundanity of life as it all plays out. If you are willing to met it on its level then you are
in for a fun cruise down an emotional river.
even if TEMPEST
This
PC release of a previously Switch only otome title presents a
chance for new players to experience an excellent dark fantasy visual
novel. After having been burned to death, Anastasia Lynzel suddenly finds
herself alive and well long before the events which lead to her
demise. Given this second chance by a strange witch she must walk a
new path in order to avoid meet the same end and becomes intertwined
with fates of the game’s suitors. The story really pushes the dark
fantasy undertones of even if TEMPEST and makes them work as a major
source of unsettling tension where the fate of its protagonist seems
continually on a knife’s edge. Each suitor represents a constant danger Lynzel faces as they are both her greatest allies
while also having the potential to do the most harm. Overall, it is a
strong otome for those looking for a level of danger to their
romantic narratives.
In Falsus
Mixing
rhythm games with visual novels presents a series of challenges and
opportunities which In Falsus navigates to some interesting results.
Having five different perspectives to its narrative allows a broader
exploration of the world so it can fully express itself without being
bound to the bias of one set protagonist. The idea of Binds as this
public display which shows your emotions and enforces honesty is a
strong concept with an easy to see visual element which the game
makes the most of at every opportunity. This dystopia presents the
characters in a series of engaging conflicts where the newly formed
group of friends must withstand those plotting against them. Combine
this with an excellent musical score for the rhythm game sections and
it makes for an exciting twist on the genre for those looking to see
what it can achieve when it pushes itself.
Operation Eventide
Releasing
on Steam for the first time a year after its debut on itch.io, this
version contains new story arcs and other bonus content and brings
the twisted yuri title to a new audience. Definitely not a game for
the faint of heart with some very messed up things happening across
its play time. It is an utterly fascinating descent into madness where
the foundation of what seems obvious are undermined in spectacular
ways. Unfortunately this makes if difficult to properly express its positive qualities without going into spoilers so you will just have
to take it on faith and try the game for yourself.
Fuyukuru. - Winter winds, adieu?
Sit
down all for another of Watanabe Ryouichi’s weirdly horny
philosophy lessons this time featuring a plethora of very aggressive
lesbians. It is a strange fever dream of a game which wildly jumps
around in tone from whimsical to deadly serious sometime within the
same scene in a clear effort to throw the player off balance. Over the
course of its play time there are a number of engaging and thoughtful
issues dissected, these reflect onto the player’s own life in
a way which makes them reconsider the bigger picture. However,
Fuyukuru can be a bit clumsy in its execution with multiple instances of
major plot information being thrown out with no fanfare in a blink
and you miss it manner. Yet there is no denying this is a unique
visual novel pushing for an angle which will make it
stick in your head and for those up to the challenge it is something
worth experiencing.
Phantom PHANTOM OF INFERNO NITRO ARCHIVE
Talking
about this version of PHANTOM OF INFERNO is a bit odd since it is the
second English release of the game (the other being an ancient and
weird bastardisation) while also being a port of the Japanese only
Xbox 360 version. Rather than the older sprite work it chooses to
take visual elements from the anime and make these the baseline for
it overall aesthetic which is probably for the best given how time
has not been kind the original’s character portraits. It also adds
scenes and narrative beats from the anime into the visual novel’s
story leading to becoming a chimera of the two versions. Despite all
these changes the core identity of the game still remains and given
this is the only easily available release in English, this is the
best way to experience this classic visual novel and one of Nitro
Plus’ earliest works.
White Prince Vs. Dark Knight – Character and Cliche In Visual Novels
The Two Extremes Of Desirability
When
playing a wide range of otome visual novels there are a pair of
character archetypes which consistently appear in one form or
another. These are the White Prince and the Dark Knight. They sit at
opposite ends of the emotional spectrum and make for an interesting
contrast to show the range of what otome considers romantically
attractive. The White Prince is a man defined by his purity and
unquestioning adherence to an upstanding moral code. He treats the
heroine with earnestness and a committent to their love without
harbouring any hidden emotions towards her. On the other hand, the
Dark Knight is a compromised mess of a person who is willing to do
some questionable things to achieve his aims and is defined by
his trauma. His treatment of the heroine starts out dismissive with
an undertone of violence before he eventually becomes emotional
reliant on her to soothe his pain. These two kinds of suitors often
end up acting as an indirect framing device for the more well
adjusted romantic options also present and pushing what each of them
can get away with. Let’s get in touch with our innocent and broody
sides and look at how different titles handle this pair of archetypes.
Too Pure For This World
Upstanding
and morally conventional are the elements defining the starting baseline for a White Prince
and while they might later be forced to deviate from it, they will
always find their way back to the light. A
purity runs through their personality and how they interact with the
world around them which naturally extends to the heroine when they
become a major part of their life. This does not mean they are
without a traumatic past or darker side to them and instead they do
not let it rule them and shine with their inner light in all but
their lowest moments. When
put into a romantic context there is an attractiveness to their
uncompromised devotion to the heroine without the baggage often
brought in by both parties. Their love is a simple warm blanket of
affection to be wrapped in and they are often happy to indulge the
whims of their passionate other half.
Take
Monshiro, from Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, he is a timid,
kind and gentle soul who is constantly trying to help the other
characters even if his silent and awkward nature means he gets
misunderstood. Once
the heroine accepts him, he becomes extremely affectionate towards
her and, mixed with his already protective feelings, it creates
a sense of the purity of his love. In many ways he is like a small
animal in how he is framed, someone who is attached to the heroine
and almost unquestioningly looks up to her for his emotional support
and guidance with big eyes. On top of this there is also another
loose recurring element of the White Prince which can be seen in him
and this is the slight feminine streak running through his
personality. Timid, gentle and kind are traits otome generally pushes
into the heroine so when they are placed onto a suitor he ends up
associated with this in the player’s mind. It allows him to be
closer to the heroine’s level by straddling the gender line and
being someone she can have an easier time empathising with.
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| Innocent is their bond |
Another
kind of White Prince lean into the connection between purity and
being
a child
such as with Impey Barbicane, from Code: Realize ~Guardian of
Rebirth~. Despite
being a genius, he often lets his energetic and carefree nature get
the better of him leading to situations someone with common sense
would have avoided. Yet it is easy to like him since he remind the
player of an innocent and wide eyed passion which they have lost with
age. Being on the receiving end of this energy through his love often
throws the heroine off balance due to how upfront he can be with his
feelings and will always stand by those he cares about no matter what
happens. His attractiveness to the player stems from this desire to
recapture some element of lost innocence through him and the intense
affection he deliverers onto the heroine.
Putting
the White Prince in a situation where their kind nature clashes
against their desire to protect those they are about is a common
means to highlight
their purity. Junoru Kenriji, from
Dark Nights,
is a good example of this idea.
His polite and gentle personality is forced to compromise with his love
for his brother, Roya, when it becomes clear Roya are not able to
control his undead nature. On one level Junoru wants to stop Roya
from hurting people but he also wants to protect the family he cares
about. When
the heroine enters his life this muddies the water even more
as he is pulled between the two people he most cares for while both
head in different directions. Once
the romance with the heroine is in full swing, a softness runs
throughout his actions towards her and there is a general sense he is
just happy to be near her in these mundane moments. It
also makes him a good contrast to the heroine’s wilful personality
and sells the pair as a duo who are perfect for each other.
In Need Of Repair
When
thinking of a Dark Knight the first thing which comes to mind might
be a brooding anti-hero and, while this personality often appears, the archtype also covers a broader suite of identities
bound together by the common link of deep seated trauma. Any
aggression, silence or general anti-social personality traits are an
effort to hide their scars so other people will not see their
weakness nor will they be hurt in the same way again. Their moral
compass skews towards the compromised side with a willingness to
resort to killing, bribery and other questionable actions if it will
get the results they need. Yet when the chips are down they will more
often than not do the right thing and show themselves to be softer
than they initially present, especially when it comes to the heroine.
Upon first meeting their relationship with the heroine is dismissive
and they only tolerate her because other characters value her
presence. It is over the course of many interactions that the heroine
uses her emotional sensitivity to pull back their defences and reveal
the inner workings which define their world view. At this point they
become inseparable from the heroine and reliant on her for their
mental well-being with their affection being pushed her way whenever
they can find the space to do so.
As you might have noticed this
description of the relationship arc is close to that of a
Kuudere and many Dark Knights do end up falling into this category.
Shu Lyn O'Keefe, from BUSTAFELLOWS, showcases this connection well
with his stoic and pragmatic exterior giving way to a deeply
affectionate interior. He, like most of the game’s cast, does not
have a normal moral compass, being an assassin set on getting revenge, which inherently clashes with the heroine’s more altruistic and
naive nature. This leads to some initial tension between the two
since they have such different backgrounds and it takes a while for
them to resolve this misalignment. Under the heroine’s intense
interest Shu’s eventually crumbles revealing the gentle and
affectionate man lying beneath which plays into the choices he makes
later about their future together. What is desirable to the player
here is this satisfaction of slowly peeling back a mask and receiving
the reward of affection for emotionally healing this damaged man.
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| Healing provides powerful emotional catharsis |
On
the opposite side of the Dark Knight spectrum sits Shiraishi
Kageyuki, from Collar X Malice, where the damage caused by trauma is
more of an immediate threat to the heroine. Even from their first
meeting the heroine knows he is bad news with his treatment of her
being more like that of a specimen on a dissection table than a human
being. Yet flashes on a gentler side increasingly shine through, such
as his love for cats, the more than the heroine spends with him
causing her to revaluate her initial view of him. This all builds up
to the reveal of just how deep his scars go and even he thinks that
he is beyond saving while being a danger to her. The appeal here is
in having the heroine prove him wrong and show him to be a
fundamentally good person at his core. At their core a Dark Knight is looking for some
kind of redemption and happiness and the heroine is all to happy to
provide it resulting in a swapping of the power dynamics with the
heroine being in charge of their relationship.
Playing Both Sides Of The Romantic Fantasy
The
White Prince and Dark Knight do not exist in a vacuum and many other
suitors are positioned around them to form the complete cast. In this
context they are often used to present the boundaries of what the
player can expect from the emotional range of the suitors as a whole.
The White Prince’s moral upstanding nature and pure heart shine
with a light which points out the flaws of the other characters even
when they are just operating on the level of a normal person. In
addition their presence generally sets up a lighter overall tone or
at least a hopeful one since their kind nature is more suited for a
tale with a happy ending where their behaviour is rewarded. For the
Dark Knight this is inverted with them casting a shadow over the
other suitors with their broken and compromised actions making the cast seem
virtuous and well adjusted but comparison. Naturally this extends
into the kinds of stories a Dark Knight is found in which lean
towards the serious end given his brooding would be quite out of
place in a bright and cheerful comedy. Sometimes the White Prince and
the Dark Knight can be utilised together to flank the other suitors
and they work to make each other appear as distinct and memorable
characters while pointing to the weakness they all try to hide.
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| Suitors are only as good as their whole |
As an
example of a White Prince Adel Nares, from Temirana: The Lucky
Princess and the Tragic Knights, is nothing special but it is in his
function within the game’s cast where something interesting can be
seen. In placing him among the knights who serve the heroine, the
game allows him to contrast and clash against the other suitors while
establishing himself as the one closest the narrative’s positive
vision of the kingdom’s future. The rest of the knights are
variations of this core direction and push against it to create a
well rounded cast who all hold some investment in the promise which
the heroine offers them. Without Adel this theming would be
completely reliant on the heroine to uphold it in the earlier section
of the title and it would have seemed to be something she alone believes has value. Adding in a White Prince lends positive ideas and
narrative direction such as this an addition supporting pillar which
can help the other suitors to grow in a natural
manner.
If the tone is decidedly more serious then a Dark Knight can
be brought in instead. This is what OVER REQUIEMZ does with Kaize
Ozma by initially placing him as the cold hearted prince and
establishing just how broken the player can expect the rest of the
cast to be. It also serves a secondary purpose of establishing an
expectation for answers as to why the suitors have ended up as
convicts so furthering the sense of danger and intrigue. By showing
what Kaize was willing to do when pushed to the edge it creates a
sense of the overall moral values set through the narrative which can
eventually explode with disastrous consequences depending on the
player’s action and make this change seem like the natural
conclusion to events. Without the Dark Knight it would be more
difficult to tread the line between the potential danger posed by the
suitors and the gentle soul which they hide beneath.
Conclusion
The
extremes of purity and sin offered by the White Prince and the Dark
Knight make them powerful character archetypes for otome to use.
White Princes uphold a high moral standard often with a layer of
innocence to it and find their attractiveness in an uncompromised
devotion to the heroine. By contrast a Dark Knight is defined by the
scars of his past which leads him to performing questionable
actions and his desirability stems from the satisfaction of pealing
back this mask to find the gentle core he tries to hide. As part of
the cast in general, they serve to establish the tone of the work and
provide an extreme for the other suitors to bounce off so they can
define themselves. Overall, this pair of archetypes are powerful and easy to
identify at a glance which is a blessing for those looking to attract
interest in certain characters while also working to showcase the
range of masculinity an otome is capable of depicting.
Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki In-Depth Analysis (Spoilers) – The Suffering Artist and Depictions of Creatives In Fiction
Idealisation And Ego
Sousaku
Kanojo is fascinating for how it steps on every rake in the shed of
rakes which is depicting creatives in fiction. It is such a
prime example of the issues inherent in dealing with this topic that I
cannot help but want to pick it apart in more detail. So here we are,
a long form look at the game where I can
showcase the many dangers awaiting developers when they stray into
these waters. In doing this I hope to understand why this kind of
story ends up being so hard to get right.
This
is not to say Sousaku Kanojo is a bad game since, as I covered in my
review here, it has some strong characters and great emotional
moments. However, there is a constant feeling of this being a title pulled in two directions, its love for creatives and the need
for romance. It makes no attempt to hide which half it actual cares
about. Spoilers will be constant and unfiltered so you have been
warned. Now let’s unveil this plague of geniuses and see what ails
them.
Toxic Love- Narrative Analysis
-Common Route-
The
problems with the game’s fixation on creatives are strangely absent
in the common route with its focus being on the struggles undergone by the cast to continue their craft. Many of my praises for the game
overall were aimed at this section and its long length cements it
within the memory. Yet in hindsight the overuse of major character
events in the common route should have been a clue to the eventual
weakness of the heroine routes. The use of Kiriha’s conflict with
her parents so early on was an odd choice give how central its
resolution is to her character arc. It is revisited during her route,
but the impact has been lost since this is the second time it has
been used and the player is familiar with the emotions involved.
Saving this conflict for her route would have made more sense since
it would have been a perfect compliment to the routes overall ideas
rather than relying on the contrived problems.
Yumemi has a similar issue in the use of her conflict with Yuina being spent really early rather than being slowly built towards a
climax in her route. Once again the game has to lean on a contrivance
to create conflict in her route rather than using the perfectly good
source it has pre-emptively utilised when it could have been saved.
Both of these sections are well put together and compliment the core
emotional direction of the common route and its wide character
spread. Yet if they where relocated to their respective routes it
could have provided a more concise experience while lending
believable narrative beats to a wider spread of the game.
-Kiriha Route-
Of
all the routes living in Aisa’s shadow, Kiriha’s route is one of
the only ones to mostly come out unscathed from the many issues which
plague the others. Part of this is the way the romance is handled
with Kiriha’s being pulled in two directions, one by her future
career prospects and another by her feelings for Toshiki. It is fun
to see her struggle with these emotions just as Toshiki is also doing and this leads to a suitably dramatic confession between a pair of
characters who cannot be honest with their own feelings.
Unfortunately since the narrative has already used the conflict with
Kiriha’s parents it is left with only one way to escalate the
stakes which is to have their relationship being discovered and this is a little too
predictable an event. This also extends to Toshiki getting attacked
by the rabid fan since it is signalled too well for it to have the
punch the game wanted it to have. Toshiki gets over being stabbed
really quickly and the game spends no time dealing with the effects and recovery from being stabbed so he just gets over it off
screen in a disappointing manner. Instead the focus is on Kiriha’s
lost voice which, given how much her life is centred around it, is
appropriate, but the whole situation feels a little contrived
(although nowhere near as much as some elements in other routes). Having
Toshiki write a story so person to him and Kiriha that it gets
through to her and breaks the trauma is a cute way to end things and
fits the nature of the pair’s relationship.
-Erena Route-
This
route suffers from the problem of the common route taking all the
major conflicts in a different way to the others. Rather than
choosing a weaker plot point for its arc, it instead repeats the arc
about Toshiki’s feelings of inferiority towards COLORLESS just
passed through the lens of their new romance. As a result there is a strong sense of deja-vu throughout this route since the pair’s
relationship adds just enough for story to feel different but still
feels like something the player has already witness. In addition, it
runs afoul of another recurring issue of Sousaku Kanojo, the player
barely gets to see any of the writers’ actual work. What this means
is that they are constantly told by the cast how amazing COLORLESS’
and Toshiki’s work is but are never shown so it all comes across as
very hollow. There is nothing to back up these compliments, like a
fighter telling you how powerful they are without showing anything,
so Toshiki’s feelings of inferiority feel misplaced from the
player’s perspective and it is difficult to empathise with his struggles against them. However, the vastly different views of Erena
and Toshiki’s about what is important creates some great emotional
moments where they are just talking passed each other with no common
ground. Seeing the pair slowly try and reconcile these difference is
a nice climax to their messy relationship while putting a bow on
their feelings.
-Yumemi Route-
Yumemi
has by far the most messy route with a wide range of issues.
Initially all seems fine, her struggles with her feelings for Toshiki
and the way she wildly bounces around between the methods she uses to
hide them are amusing to watch. It make the moment the pair become a
couple a point of meaningful catharsis for the player since her
internal conflict was so apparent. Then she just forgets how to draw,
not forgets how to draw well, just forgets how to draw full stop.
Somehow she has become completely incapable of drawing even on a
technical level which is just the most ridiculously forced conflict
in the entire game. Even a person suffering from a creative block can
still produce something regardless of whether it is good or not, but
just forgetting is absurd especially when she gets it all back later even
faster. This is a plot contrivance plain and simple, one so obvious
it is difficult to suspend your disbelief.
Yet it gets worse when
Toshiki’s obsession with creatives rears its ugly head and results
in the pairs continued relationship being predicated on Yumemi
remaining a creative since this is the version of her he is in love
with. Despite the game’s efforts to frame this as a positive, since
it allows Yumemi to get her drawing skills back, it is clearly a
toxic relationship which could collapse at any moment. The question
should be put to Toshiki if he is real in love with Yumemi or just
the idea of her as a creator with the latter being an unhealthy way
to build a romance. A small tangent, but why did the game bring up
the fact she dyes her hair blonde? It creates this weird issue with
her sister who appears to have naturally blonde hair since she is
shown to have it even from a young age in flashbacks. This means the
pair have different natural hair colours so they might have
different parents yet this is never brought up again nor explained
even with a dismissive comment. It feels like this was meant to be a
plot point in an earlier version of the script but it did not make
the cut so this weird fact is just left hanging there without
resolution.
-Aisa Route-
Now
we reach the main heroine and the person who casts a long shadow over
the entire of Sousaku Kanojo. It is a route characterised by good
ideas which end up botched in execution. First among these is Aisa’s
illness, it is a magical nonsense illness, we are never given any
specifics about it other than it is killing her and it otherwise does
not effect her life unless the plot demands it or she is off screen.
This immediately set the tone of contrivance which stays with the
story until its end since the illness is clearly a plot device rather
than something grounded in any form of reality. If it were not such a
central element to her character it could be brushed aside, but under
the condition it is constantly shoved in the player’s face to
try and buy sympathy. This attempt is undermined even more by the
existence of a treatment for her condition which she refuses to
undergo for no reason other than because the plot demands it. Why even
bring it up if you have no intent to use it as a get out clause? All
this achieves is undermining any idea of tragedy and presents the
characters as utterly stupid while lacking any form of self
preservation.
Yet there is still some power to this tragedy and a clear
spectre of death hangs over Aisa and Toshiki’s remaining time
together. The struggles of their love and the determination to be
together despite this promise of doom provide an emotional weight to
their actions and it has the player rooting for them. It is also the
route with the most broad character resolutions with all the heroines
getting their time to wrap up their feelings and even the secondary
cast gets their moments to shine. As the end approaches Aisa’s
gradual collapse heightens the tragedy and pushes the narrative
towards a natural climax as the pair rush to complete the story they
are writing together. However, the ending is so short and abrupt as
to completely take the player out of the experience since it lacks
the necessary sense of resolution and is extremely unclear at times.
It is almost as if the developers lost interest the moment Aisa died
and wanted to get the whole thing over with as fast as possible.
Then
there is the way her survival is framed as the ‘bad’ ending among
the route epilogues. Throughout this section it constantly pushes the
idea that her death in the main game was the best outcome possible.
However, it does not make a convincing argument when this surviving
version of Aisa, completed the game they were writing, survived the
operation and then found a new reason to create again. If anything it
seems like this is a completely perfect ending yet the player can
feel the game's constant dismissal of this fact. This is because the game
puts the ideal of the suffering artist on a pedestal and Aisa’s
death is the ultimate sacrifice for her art and it is lessened by her
survival. I should not have to point out how absolutely absurd this
notion is, but I will do so anyway later on in this article since it
plays into the game’s overall fixation of creatives. In many ways
Toshiki is the developer’s stand in during this route and it does not create a pretty
picture of them.
Suffering As Virtue – Stray Thoughts
-The Lie of Genius-
At
every turn the idea of geniuses is presented to the player and these
people are placed at a level unattainable by mere mortals with
abilities which just magically produce wonders. This is a fairly
standard narrative pushed by media and society with countless
examples of it to be found throughout our culture. However, it is a
complete farce. Point to any so called genius and you will find that
they had to work long and hard to achieve what they did. This
‘magical’ power they have is merely the result of an intense
human endeavour built upon the knowledge and skills of those who came
before. Certainly some people have a natural talent or spark for
certain areas which make this easier for them, yet they too much put
in the effort in order to achieve anything. Should they just lounge
around then they will not have the world handed to them on a platter,
just like everyone else.
It is this truth which Sousaku Kanojo
struggles to balance with its fascination with the myth of genius.
All the heroines to one extent or another fit into the game’s
interest in the genius. Aisa and Erena pull best selling stories out
of the aether with little to no effort and Yumemi creates
professional level artwork without much in the way of training. It is
with Kiriha where the game somewhat acknowledge the effort which goes
into her craft and the cut-throat world of the VA industry. This is
also why it makes an effort to segregate her from the other heroines
as much as possible to avoid comparisons between them. The narrative
uses Toshiki as the everyman stand in and makes it a point to
constantly highlight how inferior he is to the geniuses, in
particular COLORLESS, to the point it often comes across as funny
since he seems so desperate to compare himself to others just to feel
this inferiority. When the geniuses demonstrate their skills it is
done with an almost magical reverence where it pushes aside any
thought about the practical nature of the work being done and instead
wraps it in mysticism. Overall, it is just feels strange and
disconnected with reality in a story meant to be set in our present
day world.
-Creatives Writing About Creatives-
As
I mentioned in my review Sousaku Kanojo suffers from the standard set
of problems which appear when creatives create stories about
creators. These being a general self congratulatory tone and putting
their craft on a pedestal. In particular the value of the creative is
tied up with the idea of the game or book or artwork touching the
hearts of many people and presenting this as something of inherently
great worth. Part of this is just an inevitability born from how the
need for drama in a narrative pushes it to make sweeping statements
and attribute value so it can have stakes and make the cast appear to
be striving towards a worthwhile goal. This is mostly the case for
Sousaku Kanojo’s failings on this front, it is caught between the
developer’s own need for self value and the story’s need to be
engaging.
However, let us interrogate the notion accidentally put
forward by this game and see what we can extract from it. The assign
of importance to the number of people who feel something for a
cultural product is not without real world comparisons. Throughout
history there have been countless such works which has shaped the
cultural context of their times and even ours for certain extremely
special titles. As such it is easy to see the line of logic a
creative which might them to feeling their craft possesses a major role in the shaping
of the world. Yet how many works have been created over the course of
our life times? Far more than any one person will ever experience and
the majority of them will be forgotten if they are even remembered in the
first place. These form the majority of creative endeavours and do
not have an impact. It is into this camp which the works of Sousaku
Kanojo fit so the question must be asked if they have worth despite
the fact they will be washed away. Of course the answer is yes, but
what Sousaku Kanojo does not understand is that it a less grand value
and not something to be put on a pedestal. Instead it is a broader
enrichment of the lives of those the works touch in combination with the
rest of its medium rather than in isolation or competition. The real
world is a complex painting made of different strokes which come
together to form the value of this endeavour.
-The Main Heroine And The Suffering Artist-
Having
a main heroine is a common feature in visual novels and especially so
in more plot focused ones. Many end up with a similar problem of them overshadowing the rest of the cast as is found in Sousaku Kanojo, but few end up
with quite the same level of messy execution when trying to
capitalise on it. This stems from the game’s fixation on framing
Aisa through the idealised lens of the suffering artist. In a similar
vein to its interest in geniuses, it puts forwards this idea of those
who suffer for their craft as being able to produce uniquely powerful
works. However, when thought about in any depth or when bringing in
real world examples it starts to crumble given the people involved
would have much rather not have suffered and were capable of
producing excellent art even if they were not in constant misery.
Aisa is not a real person so can be contorted into the form of a
suffering artist without much effort due to the illness she has been
given by the developers. In this light it is understandable for
someone to strive to leave something of meaning behind in the face of
their own death. Yet as mentioned earlier, it constantly undermines
this seemly cut and dry outline first through the existence of a
possible cure and secondly through an epilogue where she survives.
Why do either of these exist? Both actively weaken the premise of her
as a suffering artist by pointing out how her continued suffering is
at her own hands or through placing her death on a twisted pedestal.
If they had merely made her death an inevitability and a final note
with any epilogue being focused on those who were left behind then
this would have been a fairly clean narrative. In both case of
undermining the clean story they push the suffering artist ideal by
having her choose the suffering to give her art meaning and being an
empty vessel without the suffering to drive her. There is also a
flippant attitude towards those who are either want her to survive or
are happy that she lived. It is treated as if they do not
understand the value of what Aisa is doing and her role as a
suffering artist rather than the people in her life who actually care
about her well-being. Ultimately by pushing this suffering artist
angle they miss the very human story of Aisa’s suffering and the
potential for a meaningful impact to be left on the player.
Conclusion
Despite
what I have said over the course of this analysis, my opinion of
Sousaku Kanojo is fairly neutral as shown in my review of it.
Realistically not many people outside of myself are going to
understand the nuances of the game’s presentation of creatives and
instead just view it as a fairly normal romance visual novel. I have
been withholding a small piece of information which is the reason I
am so interested in the issues with Sousaku Kanojo, it won multiple
awards as the best visual novel in 2021(Moe Award Grand Prize and
Getchu’s award). The reason for this may well be the way it frames
the creation of a visual novel as a special act and the many things I
have criticised might well be viewed in a better light if this is
want the player wants to hear from it. What is also interesting is
this was the same year as Lupercalia of the Silent Accord’s
release, another title about creatives (this time actors) I have
reviewed and it got third place in the Getchu’s award.
This game could not have a more different view about geniuses and
what it means to love your craft. It too suffers
from the challenge of trying to create an engaging story about creatives
without coming across as self congratulatory to varying degrees of
success. Both have their many flaws, yet in the end it is the one
closer to standard form of visual novel structure which ends up
having the broader appeal. Does this make one better than the other?
I’ll leave that for you to judge.
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