회전초밥집

Something I developed a strange taste for at some point during my more boring days of working for a medical transcription company was watching videos of various Japanese RPG Maker horror games.  It was great, really.  A lot of visual distraction, but since I didn’t really have the language to read them, it allowed me to concentrate on my work while still having something narratively interesting going on in the background.  I knew about a lot of the more prominent titles before other people did as a result; stuff like Ao Oni, or MIsao, or The Crooked Man.  I can even tell you what the two games VGPerson has on an upcoming list are.  (Hint:  They both feature female protagonists.  SO DESCRIPTIVE.)

As a result of this, however, I discovered an oddball, very Nico Nico Douga and 2chan specific sort of phenomena primarily through the “Free Game” and “Horror” tags: a little something called VIPRPGs.  They remain something of a guilty pleasure of mine, for reasons I’ll explain in a bit.  I suspect they’ll remain obscure to Westerners, and probably rightfully so.  Still, I have a weird urge to discuss them, even though I recognize they have a lot of very problematic elements.  So here’s a little overview of the concept; I might go into detail on some of the main characters later.  Bear in mind I’m going into these almost entirely based on my personal perception, since I can only barely read some of the characters; I may actually be completely off!  Which may or may not be a bad thing, honestly.

What IS a VIPRPG?

Holy shit that’s a lot of characters.

It’s a little hard to explain, honestly, especially for someone like me who can only sort of guess at what’s going on.  The main gist is that they’re a series of RPGs which originate primarily from 2chan.  They primarily use a combination of the built-in characters from RPG Maker as well as a ludicrously massive cast of original side characters they’ve developed over the years.  Whether there’s more connecting elements than that I’m uncertain, I’m afraid.  (And yes, I know it’s weird writing about something I barely understand.  That hasn’t stopped SOME people.)

The most emblematic of the VIPRPGs, at least on Nico Nico Douga, is the “Mosimo Series,” or “What If Series."  The original ones started with a basic concept:  Take the most generic, "hero gets quest from a king and goes to fight the demon king” plotline you can get.  Then come up with odd variations on the same; for example, “What if this character was the hero instead,” etc. etc.  It eventually blossomed out into less a proper game series and more a series of RPG Maker vignettes.  Some of them focus on the heroes, yes, but just as many (if not more) focus on the Demon King’s Army, or other characters.  The playthroughs are rarely talked over, and instead almost treated like an ongoing anime of sorts, or at least they are on NND.  The result is an almost endearing, ongoing sort of world, where you begin to recognize certain characters and character groups.  Much like the OS Girls, 2chan managed to take very odd, characterless characters and give them, well, character.

Okay, So Why Are They a GUILTY Pleasure?

This isn’t what it look – actually, no, it’s exactly what it looks like.

Yes.  Well.

The main thing to note is the source of these things: 2chan.  Which means the whole series, particularly the Mosimo titles, have a very strong 2chan sense of humor.  In other words, expect terrible no-homo jokes, uncomfortable sexual (and, ugh, rape) humor, and way too many characters with little girl representations.  Needless to say, they’re not exactly the sort of things you show to civilized company no matter how seemingly innocent the storyline otherwise is, especially since they have a bad habit of springing said tasteless humor on you without warning.

Ew.  Why the Hell Are You Watching These Things?

Adorable.

Because God help me, I’m attached to the characters.

Something weird happens when you see essentially the same characters doing silly little slice of life stuff or little adventures over and over: you start identifying with them as actual characters and not just sprites.  It really is almost like following a manga or anime, albeit one made in a janky old game making engine and written by probably far too many different writers.  You start going, “How will Alex’s journey go THIS time?” or “Oh damnit, what’s Dark Elf doing NOW?"  Furthermore, some of the entries actually exhibit some absolutely astounding uses of the engine, to the point where you marvel that the thing was even created in RPG Maker to begin with.  Some of the entries are almost more proofs of concept than anything.

So yeah, that’s my guilty pleasure.  I wouldn’t exactly encourage anybody to run out and watch any themselves, lest they worry about my lack of lefty or feminist cred.  But I DID say they’re "guilty” pleasures, right?

WONDERFUL! *kaboom*