The Sleepy Hikikomori

UPDATE!

Hi hi, everyone! Theresa from Treehouse here. Hope you’re still having fun saving the world of Alefgard, and keeping it out of the Dragonlord’s clutches.

With all of these sconces and braziers, you could say I have a thing for fire…

The Dragon Quest series is a powerful force in the world of Japanese RPGs, and Square Enix has quite literally rebuilt the experience from the ground up, creating something exciting for fans and newcomers alike. As for me, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of working with them leading into the launch of Dragon Quest Builders on Nintendo Switch, and as a fan of the game myself, I took a moment to ask the game’s producer some burning questions…

Hi hi, everyone! Theresa from Treehouse here. Hope you’re still having fun saving the world of Alefgard, and keeping it out of the Dragonlord’s clutches.

With all of these sconces and braziers, you could say I have a thing for fire…

The Dragon Quest series is a powerful force in the world of Japanese RPGs, and Square Enix has quite literally rebuilt the experience from the ground up, creating something exciting for fans and newcomers alike. As for me, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of working with them leading into the launch of Dragon Quest Builders on Nintendo Switch, and as a fan of the game myself, I took a moment to ask the game’s producer some burning questions…

[GIVEAWAY] You can win a copy of my original BL comic Ambrosia! (if the winner already bought it, they can ask for a watercolor commission of their choice) End: March 25th. 

I am so so sorry I completely forgot to do a giveaway this Christmas ;A;  So much was going on the month of December, and it just slipped my mind.  It’s 3 months late, but here it is!

When: Tuesday March 13 through Monday March 26 at 9pm EST

Winners:  One winner will be chosen by random list generator

Prizes:  

$25 iTunes gift card (US store only)

$25 Google Play gift card (US store only)

Any otome game(s) from Steam up to $30*

Any otome game(s) from itch.io up to $30

iTunes Cards and itch.io games will require your email.  Steam games require you have a steam account and we friend each other before the game can be sent.

For Steam or itch.io, you can ask for multiple games as long as the combined price is $30 or less!

*Some Steam games are restricted by region and cannot be gifted

Rules:  

To enter, like and/or reblog ONCE this post.

You do not have to be following this blog to enter

The winner will be contacted on Tumblr through ask/messenger

The winner has 72 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen

Process of Await

I’m kicking of this year’s convention season with Desucon Frostbite next week. Will have my new artbook available there. See ya in Lahti!

Music was composed by video game and film composer Ryan Camus 

I always prefer to go by my own age, but historically, in 1582, the IkeSen guys are:

Yukimura: 15

Masamune: 15

Mitsunari: 22

Kojuro: 25

Ieyasu: 39

Kennyo: 39

Hideyoshi: 45

Nobunaga: 48

Kenshin: 52

Mitsuhide: 54

Shingen: 61

Motonari: 85

Sasuke: fictional character, but canonically around the same age as MC:

I’m assuming that Motonari was reborn as Ponce de León and then again as Dr. Heidegger, otherwise he’s a Bount or a vampire, or something.

Ol’ boy looks good for 85!:

The answer is…up to you! Generally. Each character has a little “resume” we all work off of, and the general “age” of the characters (note, “characters”, so not their actual historical selves) ranges from early twenties to early thirties. Here are the Warlords sorted in order of their imagined ages:

Ieyasu Mitsunari Masamune/Yukimura <–the Heroine is somewhere around here Hideyoshi/Mitsuhide/Sasuke Nobunaga Kenshin Kennyo Shingen

As you can see, Ieyasu is technically the ‘baby’ of the group, and Shingen is the sexy older man! Hee. In any case, none of their ages are actually stated in the story (their “ages” are more for our reference on how to present them to you), so it’s completely OK for you to go by what ages you want to imagine them being.

Hello, Precious!

Isn’t it funny how words change over time?

Ain’t (formerly “amn’t”) is a perfectly fine contraction of “am not,” “are not,” and “is not,” but we can thank Charles Dickens for giving it the reputation of being “incorrect” today (it’s not), by associating it with the lower classes in his books, and therefore taking it straight out of the speech patterns of educated society.

From what I understand, “kisama 貴様,” was not always used when being rude, as the “ki 貴” in “kisama” denotes “value,” “honor,” “precious,” etc. 

Appearing around the 16th century, kisama was used for respected individuals of high rank, typically among the warrior classes.

At the time, its usage was polite, so Nobunaga, who uses it often, would be applying the archaic intention of “you,” when he addresses his modern-day beloved. 

“Omae お前”  was the same way, once an honorific, and now downgraded to simply “you,” sometimes rudely.

Since we get to hear their voices in the game, we can discern the context by their tone, the same way as in English. 

For example:

“Can you help me?” hopeful/inquisitive

“Who knocked my cup over? Was it you, again!?” rude/sarcastic/angry/accusatory

It’s hard to imagine that as hopelessly, helplessly in love with Chatelaine as Nobunaga is, that he’s calling her “you bastard,” instead of a respectful “you.” unless she killed Kenny

I don’t remember seeing it, so I may have forgotten, but does Chatelaine ever say anything about being called “omae” or “kisama?” 

To her modern ears, it could potentially be an insult that could lead to a misunderstanding; but to Masamune, who calls her “omae,” and Nobunaga who uses “kisama,” they are both being polite to her, and using the correct terms of their time period.

For English speakers, imagine that you traveled to the 11th century and no one could understand your saying “you,” because that word wouldn’t really catch on for another several hundred years. 

To begin with: both of you are right! Kisama (貴様) was once an honorific way to refer to someone, and now it’s rude to the point that you could translate it to mean “bastard”, or other equally colorful ways to refer to “you”. And indeed, Nobunaga could be seen as simply using the term because of the time period.

However, one thing that you can’t forget is that you, the player, are not from the Sengoku period. And so, for most players (particularly Japanese players) “kisama” is going to sound extremely rude. This is intentional. Because Nobunaga is, to most people, extremely rude. He believes himself to be above everyone. And why shouldn’t he think that (stay with us here, we’re getting our point!)? Position-wise, he’s close to being the King of the World (“world”, being Japan, of course), and as far as he is aware, no one can match up to his power. Therefore, to Nobunaga, everyone is a “kisama”, regardless of how they feel about it. “Kisama” is a sign of his position at the top.

And that’s an important point–that EVERYONE is “kisama”. Part of what makes the modern usage of “kisama” so provacative is that in most cases when you see it used, the character would not normally refer to another person that way. The character usually has to be pretty angry to switch to that word, which adds to the insult. For Nobunaga, it’s just a statement of fact. He is Nobunaga, above all, therefore you, who are not Nobunaga, are “kisama”.

So while Nobunaga is in no way being respectful, he is also not being especially rude to you (relative to anyone else) either. His self-important nature is also a nice contrast to his ticklishness as well as his extreme fondness for sweets…and you :)

Masamune (and almost every other guy’s) use of “omae” is more them being casual with you than rude, as well. “Omae” is an interesting way to refer to a person, as it can either be a sign of closeness or dislike depending on the context. Here’s a list of what the warlords call you in Japanese! Note that Ieyasu is the only one who calls you “anta” (a kind of slangy way of saying “anata”), Sasuke is the only one who calls you “Heroine-san”, and Mitsunari, polite as ever, calls you “Heroine-sama” (due to our translation style, this unfortunately was lost in translation entirely)!

Nobunaga: Kisama (貴様), Heroine Masamune: Omae (お前), Heroine Hideyoshi: Omae (お前), Heroine Ieyasu: Anta (あんた), Heroine Mitsuhide: Omae (お前), Heroine Mitsunari: Anata (貴女), Heroine-sama Yukimura: Omae (お前), Heroine Shingen: Kimi (君), Heroine Kenshin: Anata (貴女), Heroine Sasuke: Kimi (君), Heroine-san Kennyo: Omae (お前), Heroine

(Note: “kisama” isn’t really a word people use in everyday modern life. You hear it a lot more in anime/games, and if someone used it seriously it’s more likely they’d be laughed out than taken at their word. “Temee” is more of the word you would hear in its place, incidentally another word that started off polite and became extremely insulting with time).

Hi, here is the first chapter of my new webcomic Ambrosia! You can also read it on SmackJeeves!

Alphor, a countryside apothecary comes to the capital city for work, and meets by chance his childhood friend Selfrid, who became a wizard. Childhood friend who confessed his love for him ten years ago, before they separated. They start again their friendship, like there was no confession, but such feelings can’t be forgotten this easily; they are torn between the bitterness of a crushed first love and the comfort of a friendship they don’t want to ruin again.

🎃Happy Halloween!🎃Here’s a treat for you: the beginning of OTUSUN LAND! We’re an indie group working together to localize niche Japanese games!