Estella 💫

!!!!! tell me!!

OKAY SO

i couldn't sleep until 1:30 am for unimportant reasons but . at 1:30 am, i was suddenly haunted by a question, right. there are these events in tokimeki memorial girls side 3 and 4 called ADV events, where you get to see a short story from the point of view of one of the main love interests. but like. why the hell was it called adv. is it an acronym for something? what does it mean

so at 1:30 in the morning, i went to look up what tokimeki memorial girls side adv means

i do not receive an answer from search engines

instead, somehow, google heard me ask "tokimeki memorial girls side adv meaning" and gave me THIS.

it's insane, right. it's really insane. this is a 27 page essay claiming that tokimeki memorial girls side (2002), beloved romance simulator, is responsible for teaching girls to view themselves in terms of real-life stats, that rejection from anime guys will give gamers self-esteem issues, and how to view yourself through the male gaze to win love.

i look at this 27 page paper and pass out for the next 5 hours, because it is 1:30 am.

BUT. when i wake up. i am READING. i liveblogged it all to my friend in discord dms (HI @nenestansunsthings) and here are. some INCREDIBLE highlights

"the game teaches you that men expect women to change their clothes from time to time"

the author has cited japanese 123 website, livejournal, and tumblr

"japanese players are more receptive to the series' lessons on femininity than overseas players because of the constant affirmations of the japanese cultural setting" the daily affirmations of being in japan

"players are encouraged to save before making choices and reload if they do not satisfy the object of their affections, teaching women to discard their desires and preferences to please men" HAVE YOU NOT PLAYED A VIDEO GAME BEFORE?!

the author can't make up their mind over whether the game has 7 or 9 love interests

they are basing their analysis on the first game specifically but they bring up the second and third game if it supports their point. but information from the second and third games is ignored if it undermines their point

example 1: they complain about rivals mode portraying women as jealous and willing to throw away their friendships for the sake of a man's love, ignoring that game 2 allows you to calmly talk things out with your friend and game 3 entirely does away with girls being rivals entirely, the game 3 girls are always on your side 100%

example 2: they bring up tumblr posts of fans talking about how they'd date the girls to point out how heteronormative the games are. they are talking about the first game. the tumblr posts are talking about a girl from the third game

weird racism

"this game MAY cause players to develop self-worth issues" "this game MIGHT cause players to see themselves in real-life stats" THESE WORDS ARE DOING A LOT OF HEAVY LIFTING.....

the author is WRONG???? ABOUT THE GAME MECHANICS????

they claim that a guy rejected their invitation for a date because they weren't smart enough but once they were smart enough they launched themselves into a monologue about how this is PROBABLY a guy wanting a girl who is smart enough not to embarrass him but not smart enough to surpass him

THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. IT'S RNG. THERE'S NO MINIMUM STAT REQUIREMENT TO ASK SOMEONE OUT HE JUST FLIPPED A COIN AND SAID NO

out of the four love interests they mention by name in this, THREE OF THEM HAVE THEIR NAME SPELLED WRONG

look at this fucking bibliography

they have cited, in order.

a shitpost

someone's entire blog

and all of tumblr's search results for tokimeki memorial girls side 3.

Tina Richards

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the Japanese dating simulator video game, Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side, the first female protagonist version in the Tokimeki Memorial series. Analysis of the game mechanics, characterisations, player options and their results demonstrate that the game assumes and reinforces a range of cultural norms and social…” the rest is cut off.

Finally, the last image contains three sources. They read as follows:

“Tehnazzy draws crap, Tumblrpage, crap.tumblr.com/post/90772537887/karens-the-best-husbando-waifu-sorry-sakurai

Tiffke, Tumblr page, http://tiffke.tumblr.com/

^^ what do you mean reloading saves is reminding people about and enforcing misogyny

^^ cannot stress enough that they failed this guys route and after that on the replay this is what they think he PROBABLY secretly means when he says he likes smart girls. there is no in game support for this. he likes "smart girls" because his interests are reading and gardening and shockingly enough sharing interests with him makes him like hanging out with you. fucking astounding

^^ theyre literally lying. "no option for game play" no dude theres fucking dialogue trees in the date where you talk to the guy. you are playing a fucking visual novel. thats what visual novel gameplay is. im sorry that talking to the person you are dating isnt scintillating gameplay to you. its such an endless betrayal of gamers everywhere that the dating sim tokimeki memorial didnt let you play fucking league of legends or watch the entirety of the avengers on your date

^^ it is not sexist to have shops in your video games or to have stat boosting items be sold in a shop

^^ ah yes the weird japanese cultural phenomenon of... certain brands catering to and mainly marketing certain styles

also citing livejournal instead of the actual magazines

^^ this is like the relationship equivalent of video games cause violence

^^ ... hey man why is it surprising that a lot of trends originated in japan. are you like. are you for real rn.

WE CAN’T STOP FIGHTING FOR A CEASEFIRE NOW... THIS IS THE MOST CRUCIAL TIME. GUYS, WE NEED TO KEEP FIGHTING... 𝙋𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙀! 𝙒𝙀 𝙉𝙀𝙀𝘿 𝙏𝙊 𝙎𝙋𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝘿." from Huda, 27/Mar/2024: