I believe in you…

Oh to have been a fly on the wall when the news first broke out

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and in my opinion, this is exactly what toby fox does in ch5. there is no concrete reason for him to invoke japanese imagery, fashion, music styles, architecture, etc etc that is actually tied to the plot. none of the main characters of this chapter are explicitly japanese or even asian-coded in general. ch5 both fetishizes japanese aesthetics and fails to meaningfully engage with them. & regardless of intention, this message is communicated to the fans as well, reinforcing ideas they may already hold of asia as the "other". i really liked other parts of the chapter, but this aspect is orientalist, plain and simple.

i've been pondering for a while about how to respond to this ask and i think my problem with ch5 being based on japan boils down to it being the Only chapter that is based on a certain region. the dark worlds so far are card game, internet, TV, church, and now Place, Japan; fans are naturally going to wonder why that is! also, you're right that it can be hard to tell the difference between appreciation and appropriation, but we can't look for the answer in people's intentions. just because toby and the deltarune team made this chapter in good faith, that does not absolve them from ultimately creating something orientalist (even if by accident). the reason the dark world is based on japan of all places, the reason why toby "knows about" it and not other cultures, is because japan is fetishized in that way by the west. the jrpgs toby is supposedly drawing inspiration from don't even really have feudal aesthetics like the ones depicted in ch5. ultimately it is not my choice to decide what is or isn't orientalist but this has been a criticism i've seen from many people in my circles. when a game is basically using a culture as a cool prop i think it's only right to speak up about it.

Have a scrapped panel