Peaceful School Life [Discussion]

[OriginalRen]

Is it seriously an otaku pleasure to always have every slice of life/moege anime/visual novel revolve around the male protagonist enjoying a peaceful and fun school life? Has anyone noticed that every description uses this exact same format and near identical wording every time? Also, why does every description always end with something along the lines of how his fun days are just beginning?

[Yuuko]

Well usually the fun days begin after getting together with girls \  /

 

I personally very much enjoy just playing/watching stuff where I can just relax and have fun with cute girls enjoying their school life. I even replay the cutest/fluffiest scenes in moeges.

So it doesn't really matter to me if they are similar or not. Just add some new cute girls and I'm in. Uguu, I have lot to say but can't explain it well.

[Nosebleed]

It gives the impression that maybe you will also be surrounded by 10 girls out of nowhere while living your peaceful and boring life.

[OriginalRen]

1 minute ago, Nosebleed said:

It gives the impression that maybe you will also be surrounded by 10 girls out of nowhere while living your peaceful and boring life.

Boring. That was the word I was looking for. Thank you.

[Yuuko]

Reading moeges makes my life more interesting because it allows me to discuss about them with Japanese guys~

[Zalor]

29 minutes ago, Kiriririri said:

Reading moeges makes my life more interesting because it allows me to discuss about them with Japanese guys~

In all honesty though. If you went to Japan and went around telling new people you met that you like playing moeges and eroge, they would treat you with the same disdain they do with regular Japanese who are obsessed with this stuff. In fact, they may even think you are weirder because you are a foreigner in to that stuff. I remember one of my Japanese friends giving me the advice when I go to Japan to say that I like "manga", but to avoid mentioning anime or games, because those still have negative connotations. So yeah... 

OP: If the point of this thread is to complain about how over used and boring the High School setting is in VNs. Well then I completely agree with you. I hate how over fucking used it is. And this is also coming from somebody who liked their high school days. I really don't see why VN content creators can't get more creative with their settings... I mean, a part of me knows why they continue to do this bullshit, but it still bothers me nonetheless. 

[Yuuko]

Just now, Zalor said:

In all honesty though. If you went to Japan and went around telling new people you met that you like playing moeges and eroge, they would treat you with the same disdain they do with regular Japanese who are obsessed with this stuff. In fact, they may even think you are weirder because you are a foreigner in to that stuff. I remember one of my Japanese friends giving me the advice when I go to Japan to say that I like "manga", but to avoid mentioning anime or games, because those still have negative connotations. So yeah... 

Like I'm ever going to do that. I mostly talk to Japanese guys on twitter who post 2D porn there all day long. 

And even if I did that and they would think I am weird, it wouldn't make my life more boring. Sharing same passion as someone else makes life more interesting even if it has negative connotations.

[Nosebleed]

I talk with people I recently met in college about the dakimakura I recently ordered and all of my weird 2D porn habits. *shrug*

In Japan there's people who are into anime and people who aren't, you just have to know when it's appropriate to bring stuff up, because there's probably Japanese people who wouldn't mind discussing eroge with you either.

[Zalor]

39 minutes ago, Nosebleed said:

I talk with people I recently met in college about the dakimakura I recently ordered and all of my weird 2D porn habits. *shrug*

I mean, it all depends on what crowds you are hanging around. I have one group of friends who I can talk about this stuff very comfortably with, but I also have other friends where I rarely bring up my interest in Japanese things. So yeah, its all about knowing when to bring stuff up. I just find it interesting how in Japan, reading manga is viewed as a completely normal hobby that won't raise any eyebrows. But there are still people who might judge you negatively for mentioning anime and games as hobbies, as those are still seen as very "Otaku" things.

And relating this back into the topic. A lot of the negative associations VNs and anime have in Japan, are due to this weird niche market that is obsessed with cute underage 2d school girls. This medium would have a much easier time growing out of the "Otaku" niche (like manga has), if it stopped catering so much to very niche interests. 

[ittaku]

This wasn't always the case as it has taken 3 decades for Japanese 2D art forms to slowly gravitate towards that one time in life. Nowadays the bulk of anime, manga, light novels, and of course visual novels start with a protagonist who's 16 years old and in 2nd year high school (year 11).

The reason it has happened is actually deep rooted in Japanese life and culture and multifactorial. In a nutshell, though, the main reason is that it is the one age of life they believe represents the greatest period of possibilities and potential. The bulk of people's working lives in Japan end up being in mundane office jobs with long hours and slave like conditions working for corporations with little regard for its workers as the so-called "salaryman". Once in employment, even if they have their own family and keep their circle of friends, they become largely faceless people in a sea of other faceless people and work with little scope for further change in their life. Pay is bad, hours are long, owning their own home is rarely affordable, conditions crowded, affording the time and money to have children and the thought of bringing children into a hard life prevents them having many kids etc. etc. etc. and basically it's pretty depressing really.

When people are 16 in Japan, they are at a point in their lives where nothing is set in stone and absolutely every opportunity is yet to be explored and available. You are at the age where IQ is the absolute highest (if not relatively so) so capable of digesting the most complex concepts even if you look at them through immature unwise perspectives. Thus it's the age to explore relationships and new emotions for the first time through adult eyes. To experience and understand love, happiness, sorry, etc.

They haven't decided their future careers but have been presented with enough information to get ideas for what direction they might want to take. They still have a year before all important college entrance examinations if they wish to take that direction so they are relatively free from time-constraining commitments. They're able to take on public roles and stand out in the world in (apparently) exciting events such as the tropeworthy school festival. 

On the sexual side, it's the legal age of consent, and the age people can get married. It's also the age where hormones are raging from both sexes and even if it's not conveyed in each character's personality, it is implied that they're all ready to hump like dogs in heat underneath whatever exterior persona they put on. In addition, every culture has an obsession with barely legal, and that is portrayed in all sexualised media, so it's mainstream to create stories surrounding that age, and in 2D they can then get more and more underage depending on how far they want to deviate from the mainstream since their laws allow such flexibility in drawn work for the time being.

It's basically a clean slate for infinite possibilities in their eyes. That's not to say I think it's the only age they should portray myself, but I can at least see why they do it. The opening and ending you describe that is overused is basically starting the story defining that moment where all the possibilities are laid out and ending the story with choosing one happy direction to take it.

[OriginalRen]

1 hour ago, ittaku said:

This wasn't always the case as it has taken 3 decades for Japanese 2D art forms to slowly gravitate towards that one time in life. Nowadays the bulk of anime, manga, light novels, and of course visual novels start with a protagonist who's 16 years old and in 2nd year high school (year 11).

The reason it has happened is actually deep rooted in Japanese life and culture and multifactorial. In a nutshell, though, the main reason is that it is the one age of life they believe represents the greatest period of possibilities and potential. The bulk of people's working lives in Japan end up being in mundane office jobs with long hours and slave like conditions working for corporations with little regard for its workers as the so-called "salaryman". Once in employment, even if they have their own family and keep their circle of friends, they become largely faceless people in a sea of other faceless people and work with little scope for further change in their life. Pay is bad, hours are long, owning their own home is rarely affordable, conditions crowded, affording the time and money to have children and the thought of bringing children into a hard life prevents them having many kids etc. etc. etc. and basically it's pretty depressing really.

When people are 16 in Japan, they are at a point in their lives where nothing is set in stone and absolutely every opportunity is yet to be explored and available. You are at the age where IQ is the absolute highest (if not relatively so) so capable of digesting the most complex concepts even if you look at them through immature unwise perspectives. Thus it's the age to explore relationships and new emotions for the first time through adult eyes. To experience and understand love, happiness, sorry, etc.

They haven't decided their future careers but have been presented with enough information to get ideas for what direction they might want to take. They still have a year before all important college entrance examinations if they wish to take that direction so they are relatively free from time-constraining commitments. They're able to take on public roles and stand out in the world in (apparently) exciting events such as the tropeworthy school festival. 

On the sexual side, it's the legal age of consent, and the age people can get married. It's also the age where hormones are raging from both sexes and even if it's not conveyed in each character's personality, it is implied that they're all ready to hump like dogs in heat under whatever exterior persona they put on. In addition, every culture has an obsession with barely legal, and that is portrayed in all sexualised media, so it's mainstream to create stories surrounding that age, and in 2D they can then get more and more underage depending on how far they want to deviate from the mainstream since their laws allow such flexibility in drawn work for the time being.

It's basically a clean slate for infinite possibilities in their eyes. That's not to say I think it's the only age they should portray myself, but I can at least see why they do it. The opening and ending you describe that is overused is basically starting the story defining that moment where all the possibilities are laid out and ending the story with choosing one happy direction to take it.

Clean slate of a country that has the least amount of sexual activity in the entire world. I actually wonder how many girls lose their virginity in high school in Japan.

[ittaku]

1 minute ago, OriginalRen said:

Clean slate of a country that has the least amount of sexual activity in the entire world. I actually wonder how many girls lose their virginity in high school in Japan.

What has reality got to do with it?

[Flutterz]

Because otakus want to imagine what their high school life could have been.

[Chronopolis]

Well, try thinking of another setting and premise where you are surrounding by mostly school-aged bishoujo's? It's harder.

Quote

This wasn't always the case as it has taken 3 decades for Japanese 2D art forms to slowly gravitate towards that one time in life. Nowadays the bulk of anime, manga, light novels, and of course visual novels start with a protagonist who's 16 years old and in 2nd year high school (year 11).

Hmm, that kinda sounds true. It really might be the idea of infinite possibilities and much freedom.

[Forgetful Frank]

Maybe it's because I'm still fairly new to reading VN's, but this is exactly the thing that I look for in choosing a new VN read. It's probably because I'm almost 24, and I'm finding myself thinking back to my school days and really missing it.

I'm sure once I've read many more VN's and more with different themes etc, I'll be just as fed up with it as everyone else.

[Darklord Rooke]

7 hours ago, Forgetful Frank said:

I'm sure once I've read many more VN's and more with different themes etc, I'll be just as fed up with it as everyone else.

Uh-huh. It's like reading your first few Tolkien rip-offs (ooh, Brook's Shannara series, shiny! I don't mind a good derivative) and your 50th Tolkien rip off (ugh Eragon, could you make your sources of inspiration a tad less obvious, Paolini?)