Anyone else disgusted with feminine male characters in Japanese RPGs?

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TheCommander

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This does not go for ALL male characters but I'd say it is about the majority of them.

What the heck is up with some Japanese characters in video games. Some of the so-called men look like women.
Back from 1988, Simon Belmont from Castlevania looks somewhat normal here:
http://www.vgmastersclub.com/images/games/castlevania2.jpg

Here he is in the remake:
http://www.pspsps.tv/SimonBelmont.gif

What the heck were they thinking. I don't know of any other way to put it but the characters get gayer and gayer.

Same with some of the characters from Final Fantasy games and other Japanese RPGs. Some of the men look trannies or look like little kids. Whatever happened to manly male characters?
 
It's always been one of my main complaints about Japanese games.

It's the reason Solid Snake is 10000 times better than Raiden.

Manly heroes > feminine, boyish heroes.

It's not even unique to games, really, if you see male models from Japan most of them look half-female. I guess the Japanese just aren't big on manly men.
 
japanese like their men to be gender ambiguous ? they like girly men? umm, maybe relative to men they see regularly that second pic is manly?
 
there are many reasons for this, the main one being they are relating to their customer in Japan. Being a feminine male is very popular in japan and is gaining in popularity. Hell half the rock bands dress like women.

But out of all the crazy shit coming out of japan this doesn't bother me.
 
Not half as disgusted as I am with the New Brawny guy.

Old Manly "Lumberjack" Brawny (it even advertises thristy O's and big roll) on the product!
brawny-1.jpg



New "Hi There" Brawny guy
brawny1.jpg





.....I see your point though. I concur.
 
stevedave said:
there are many reasons for this, the main one being they are relating to their customer in Japan. Being a feminine male is very popular in japan and is gaining in popularity. Hell half the rock bands dress like women.

But out of all the crazy shit coming out of japan this doesn't bother me.
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I just can't get into a game when the character(s) I'm playing as looks like a crossdresser. I can't take it seriously at all. A lot of the time they act like boys as well, with constant whining and what not.

But I guess it's just how Japan is. Cuteness rules all, even as far as men go. Japanese men aren't really the burliest to begin with, anyway.
 
These games are made for a Japanese audience. They have a different culture than ours. You can't really expect them to conform their games to an American audience. That's why they're called Japanese RPGs.
 
Don't even get me started on enchanted arms. The thing is the most anime is not really that bad about it so its not everywhere.
 
RubbingAlcoholic said:
These games are made for a Japanese audience. They have a different culture than ours. You can't really expect them to conform their games to an American audience. That's why they're called Japanese RPGs.
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That is true they are made in Japan but the characters never used to look this way. You can't even tell what they are these days.
 
TheCommander said:
That is true they are made in Japan but the characters never used to look this way. You can't even tell what they are these days.
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Styles change and all aspects of popular culture adapt to the changes and if you've ever looked at the concept art for older JRPGs you'd notice most of them are pretty femine anyway. Some of Amano's sketches for older FF characters make them much more effeminate than what we see now.

If you seriously can't tell if they are men you women perhaps you need to go outside more.
 
Derangel said:
Styles change and all aspects of popular culture adapt to the changes and if you've ever looked at the concept art for older JRPGs you'd notice most of them are pretty femine anyway. Some of Amano's sketches for older FF characters make them much more effeminate than what we see now.

If you seriously can't tell if they are men you women perhaps you need to go outside more.
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http://www.pspsps.tv/SimonBelmont.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zidane_Tribal.png

And many more look like women at first sight. If I were not told that the first picture was supposed to be the new Simon Belmont, I would continue to think it is a woman. I am out enough to know that men don't look like that.
 
When the main character in the game is even remotely manly games don't sell well, see The Last Remnant. That's just their audience (without making any specifications) and they're catering to it. That's what businesses do.

TheCommander said:
http://www.pspsps.tv/SimonBelmont.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zidane_Tribal.png

And many more look like women at first sight. If I were not told that the first picture was supposed to be the new Simon Belmont, I would continue to think it is a woman. I am out enough to know that men don't look like that.
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The second is supposed to be a kid. Kids are supposed to look a little less manly than a man.
 
Starcrossed said:
Didn't hurt my feelings. You just can't accept your own homosexual feelings and contrasexual tendencies more than likely, because they don't fit into your ideal imagination of who you would like to be. Physical age and mental age aren't synonymous.
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oh GOD, here we go with the homophobic bullshit...

In the west, we tend to like manly, scruffy men. The Japanese like feminine/boyish/cutesy ... men.

Seeing as I'm not Japanese, I tend to prefer the manlier men, as I feel I can relate more to it. If I was Japanese, I'd probably prefer the more anime type dudes.

And for reference I do play a lot of Japanese games/watch anime, hell I've even played a few H games. I just wish they'd throw in a Western-looking guy in every once in a while.
 
catsby said:
I just can't get into a game when the character(s) I'm playing as looks like a crossdresser. I can't take it seriously at all. A lot of the time they act like boys as well, with constant whining and what not.

But I guess it's just how Japan is. Cuteness rules all, even as far as men go. Japanese men aren't really the burliest to begin with, anyway.
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1000000% with you! I really want to try some games (mainly Final Fantasy series) but... I just can't even get myself to think of renting it after looking at screenshots of character. It's ridiculous!!! No way I can play that, no matter how good the gameplay and story might be
 
Some games are definitely worse than others, though. I've played a lot of games where the MC isn't exactly Chuck Norris, but they don't look that ridiculous/whine too much.

Final Fantasy is one of the worst offenders, though. The men look like women and the women look like men. Sephiroth and Lightning have the same face with different hair and a few minor tweaks.

When it gets to that point, it ruins the game for me.
 
quixotic said:
When the main character in the game is even remotely manly games don't sell well, see The Last Remnant. That's just their audience (without making any specifications) and they're catering to it. That's what businesses do.



The second is supposed to be a kid. Kids are supposed to look a little less manly than a man.
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They do cater to the Japanese audience but they also have a large audience in the United States and Europe and have been losing market in those regions.

http://kotaku.com/393195/square-enix-lose-money-need-more-greenbacks

That news may be from last year but that is a lot that they lost. I'm not saying it's the characters that are causing it but it could be a combination of that and gameplay. Overall, their games don't seem be selling as well in the US and Europe anymore.
 
TheCommander said:
http://www.pspsps.tv/SimonBelmont.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zidane_Tribal.png

And many more look like women at first sight. If I were not told that the first picture was supposed to be the new Simon Belmont, I would continue to think it is a woman. I am out enough to know that men don't look like that.
Click to expand...

I have absolutely no problem telling that both of them are males. You need to open your mind and bit and stop being so judgmental about stuff. Stop and learn instead of making snap judgments.
 
TheCommander said:
They do cater to the Japanese audience but they also have a large audience in the United States and Europe and have been losing market in those regions.

http://kotaku.com/393195/square-enix-lose-money-need-more-greenbacks

That news may be from last year but that is a lot that they lost. I'm not saying it's the characters that are causing it but it could be a combination of that and gameplay. Overall, their games don't seem be selling as well in the US and Europe anymore.
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I doubt the "manliness" of the characters has anything to do with sales figures.

And let me just say, thank goodness you (probably) didn't live through glam rock... you'd have never made it. Oh and let me just say that I always found it peculiar how feminine the male characters are in most Japanese games. I will agree with you there. But that said, it has never offended me or put me off.
 
drako said:
I doubt the "manliness" of the characters has anything to do with sales figures.

And let me just say, thank goodness you (probably) didn't live through glam rock... you'd have never made it. Oh and let me just say that I always found it peculiar how feminine the male characters are in most Japanese games. I will agree with you there. But that said, it has never offended me or put me off.
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I still do play some of the older Japanese games and some of the newer ones but most have lost their appeal to me.
 
Anyone else disgusted with feminine male characters in Japanese RPGs?
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I never even thought it about it

...what a ridiculous thing to complain about. I don't see what the big deal is.
 
If anything, I'm disgusted with the stereotypes in JRPGs --- the 17 year old male hero, the love interest 16 y/o heroine, the big muscular monk, the scrawny wizard, etc etc.

I just find it interesting that guys in this thread find men that are less than brawny as "feminine".

If you are curious in a JRPG that defies all of these conventions, check out the Persona series. First RPG that has a gay male that isn't flamboyant. *win*
 
Its one of the reasons why characters like Marcus Fenix stand out. Every now and then you just need 1 good manly man, one lining son of a bitch to even the balance in games. Duke Nukem did it for awhile.. but sadly he's been off duty for awhile.

Marcus does a good job for the meantime.
 
This is one of the reasons why I can't get into any modern JRPGs. Too many girly men with flashy special effects. I think Cloud in FFVII was kinda at the crossroads of this style, strictly speaking of FF games. Then they made him look super girly for Advent Children. Hell, the new female hero for XIII (Lightning?) looks like the CG Cloud with long, pink hair and boobs.

Take a look at the new artwork of the male heroes in FF Dissidia. I personally felt that Cecil got lamer when going Dark Knight to Paladin, but he didn't need to gender change while he was at it. :D
 
theNoid said:
Duke Nukem did it for awhile.. but sadly he's been off duty for awhile.
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Duke Nukem is stupid. The obsession of "I must play a big manly man" in this thread is retarded.

Do you guys not play a video game if you have to play as a girl?
 
mga said:
Duke Nukem is stupid. The obsession of "I must play a big manly man" in this thread is retarded.

Do you guys not play a video game if you have to play as a girl?
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Not saying every male character has to be Duke Nukem. But when they go in the opposite direction and put a girl's head (complete with a chick doing the voice acting) on a dude's body, it gets silly.

And no, I'll play a game where the MC is a female, and have before. I just don't really like playing as someone that's half and half.
 
phide said:
To be fair, the new Brawny guy is more brawny than the old one, albeit less mustachey.
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He might be more brawny, but he's less manly imo. Looks like the difference between a hardass lumberjack and a guy that just goes to the gym a lot.
 
It's just a trend in Japan, their culture is odd to us and vice versa I'm sure. If you were born in Japan you'd think it's perfectly normal.

Do you guys not play a video game if you have to play as a girl?
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I actually prefer to play as a female character (I'm male) where I think the character looks better as a woman I will usually chose a female, females make better rogue/assasins/infiltrators/stealth/Archer in my opinion anything that requires agility mainly, males make better Warriors/Tamers/Wokers(resource gathering and smithing etc) anything that requires strength. Mages/inteligence i tend to go both ways, I had a female mage in Dragon Age and WoW but had a male warlock in WoW.

You can tell from my name I dont really care about the whole male/female thing on the internet or in games. But I don't especially think it looks "correct" for men to be/act femenine, I still loosely hold to the older traditions that women should look womanly (long hair, wide hips, hourglass figure, curvy) and men should look manly, short hair, tall, broad shoulders, strong handshake etc.
 
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PrincessFrosty said:
It's just a trend in Japan, their culture is odd to us and vice versa I'm sure. If you were born in Japan you'd think it's perfectly normal.
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I don't see how crossing men and women into one is all that normal, by anyone's standards...

and no, i don't mean hermaphrodites.
 
TheCommander said:
This does not go for ALL male characters but I'd say it is about the majority of them.

What the heck is up with some Japanese characters in video games. Some of the so-called men look like women.
Back from 1988, Simon Belmont from Castlevania looks somewhat normal here:
http://www.vgmastersclub.com/images/games/castlevania2.jpg

Here he is in the remake:
http://www.pspsps.tv/SimonBelmont.gif

What the heck were they thinking. I don't know of any other way to put it but the characters get gayer and gayer.

Same with some of the characters from Final Fantasy games and other Japanese RPGs. Some of the men look trannies or look like little kids. Whatever happened to manly male characters?
Click to expand...


STFU you bellend.

This has been the case for years in JRPG's and Anime/Manga, it's the style they use. Don't like it then feck off and don't play them.
 
catsby said:
I don't see how crossing men and women into one is all that normal, by anyone's standards...

and no, i don't mean hermaphrodites.
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And that proves you're nothing but another close minded fool unwilling to accept anything that doesn't fit into your tight definition of normality and assume that that normality should apply to all people and cultures.
 
While I never thought of the jap style as offensive or irritating in the "manly vs crossgender" sense, I do find it too repetitive as the years pass by. Maybe they should try change it a bit, because all the characters seem to be too much alike.

Now... regarding the specific mister Belmont case though... the way he is pictured is tragic. And I mean literally, tragic.

I can't even count how many furry pieces of cloth and leather they've managed to dress him in, but that's not even the worst part of his appearance.

Seriously, and I mean, SERIOUSLY... what the f**k is up with the heels ????? He runs and jumps, WTF does he need heels for ? o_O
 
Stardusted said:
While I never thought of the jap style as offensive or irritating in the "manly vs crossgender" sense, I do find it too repetitive as the years pass by. Maybe they should try change it a bit, because all the characters seem to be too much alike.

Now... regarding the specific mister Belmont case though... the way he is pictured is tragic. And I mean literally, tragic.

I can't even count how many furry pieces of cloth and leather they've managed to dress him in, but that's not even the worst part of his appearance.

Seriously, and I mean, SERIOUSLY... what the f**k is up with the heels ????? He runs and jumps, WTF does he need heels for ? o_O
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It will go away when Japan finds a new popular look. Kind of like how every wanna-be "gansta" in the US dresses like a way that makes every single one of them look incredibly stupid and ridiculous. All forms of popular culture conform to what is "hip" with the majority of the people they're targeting.
 
Your first problem is characterizing them as feminine men, when the audience for those games wouldn't view them as such.

Then there's the Japanese culture, which isn't as polemic with genders as westerners tend to be (Christianity and all).

Complain as you want, or accept the fact that the idea of "manly man" is ridiculously tied to culture and not some transcendental description. And games that showcase these men aren't showing "feminine men" but men that live in a different culture and shouldn't be thrown into your worldview.
 
One of the reasons why I couldn't get into Aion. Its not only the femanine characters, but the whole art genre all together.
 
Dreaz said:
Your first problem is characterizing them as feminine men, when the audience for those games wouldn't view them as such.

Then there's the Japanese culture, which isn't as polemic with genders as westerners tend to be (Christianity and all).

Complain as you want, or accept the fact that the idea of "manly man" is ridiculously tied to culture and not some transcendental description. And games that showcase these men aren't showing "feminine men" but men that live in a different culture and shouldn't be thrown into your worldview.
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Those type of men like in that second picture are not showcasing Japanese culture or anything remotely close to what males generally wear over there.
 
Isn't it strange in a world expanded, where communication is so easy, and I from Greece or others from Canada, France, USA etc etc can post in a forum like [H], that people feel the need to blend in so much ? To follow trends ?

Being generic and repetitive is what should be putting you off, not the feminine part of it. (I state this in a my oppinion way, of course you can be put off by whatever you like, including this post :p).
 
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