Katawa Shoujo

[NemZ]

It was an interesting experience, seeing so many unrefined ideas both good and horrible that never went anywhere. For the most part it's worth it.

[ONIAgent150]

Thanks for the beta summaries, NemZ! It seems like all of the routes got more depressing. Too bad. Glad that Hanako got better endings, but I guess I am alone when I say that I enjoyed Shizune's route as-is. (Full disclosure: favorite route.)

[Bagheera]

Thanks for the beta summaries, NemZ! It seems like all of the routes got more depressing. Too bad. Glad that Hanako got better endings, but I guess I am alone when I say that I enjoyed Shizune's route as-is. (Full disclosure: favorite route.)

No, you aren't. Though I dislike Shizune as a character her route easily had the best content in the game (the route itself was pants mechanically, but that's a separate matter from both Shizune herself and the quality of the route's content). Rin's route was the only one that matched it IMO.

(Oddly, or perhaps not, I find the fan-favorite characters, Hanako and Lilly, to have boring routes. In Lilly's case she's also an insipidly boring character, and Hanako . . . well, I liked her well enough at first, but upon reflection I really really dislike the way she handled events leading up to her H-scene, and that taints both the character and the route for me. That leaves Emi, a pleasant enough character with a functional if uninspired route -- my compromise character of choice! )

[NemZ]

NP guys, it was pretty good times. You should read them for yourselves though (as in the scripts... most stop being viewable around the middle of act 2)!

I'm a bit torn on comparing them to the finished game. There's some stuff in there I really wish had made it to the final such as Shizune being a little more cute/girly when away from campus and a lot more effort at developing the relationship, or Rin's more explicit concerns of self-doubt and suspecting people would pay her art no attention were it not for the novelty of her disability, as well as wondering if anyone would care about her at all if she didn't paint. On the hand there's a LOT of stuff that I'm very glad was cut out along the way, such as almost all of Lilly and Hanako's routes (not that I like them in the actual game either). Emi's is 98% same as the final though, so that's safely skipable unless you're a diehard Emibro.

Btw: Rin > Shizune > Emi > Hanako > Lilly

Edit: Why can't I use greater than signs? Did "implying" jackasses ruin it for everyone?

[Fireball]

That leaves Emi, a pleasant enough character with a functional if uninspired route -- my compromise character of choice! )

Bro Faust

Admittedly, Shizune's route has really grown on me over the time so I would almost agree with NemZ's rating but I haven't played Lili and Hanako yet.

Edit: Why can't I use greater than signs? Did "implying" jackasses ruin it for everyone?

Yup

[Mr. Tines]

Edit: Why can't I use greater than signs? Did "implying" jackasses ruin it for everyone?

We went through this in another thread a week or so ago; and it's a side effect of a proper HTML cleaning mod added to the forum to replace the regex based abomination that PHPBB uses by default.

Try « and » instead.

[NemZ]

What the hell are those, some alt# combo that almost nobody knows exists? Don't make me actually look up this shit up in my old html textbook.

Edit: I suppose just remembering alt174 and alt175 aren't too bad. The only other symbol combos I use regularly in my work are en and em dashes, alt150 and alt151.

[Mr. Tines]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillemets ... _computers

or just copy and paste from the ISO Latin-1 code page like I always do.

[ONIAgent150]

Well if we're ranking, let me go (in order of favorite to least favorite).

1.) Shizune (What can I say? I love women who take control and Misha is the best. At everything. Ever.)

2.) Emi (What a well-written route. Nothing especially shocking or new here, just high-quality.)

3.) Lilly (I really like Lilly, but her route has a terrible sense of pace and is filled with horrid cliches, like the multiple cliffhangers.)

4.) Hanako (I like her and her route, just less so than the others. She's a perfectly good character and I give major props to route writer Crud as an Evangelion fan.)

5.) Rin (Bitch. Terrible endings and not as deep as people say.)

[Bagheera]

Well if we're ranking, let me go (in order of favorite to least favorite).

I've found that I cannot come up with solid rankings, as I'm looking at at least three sets of criteria. These include the girls themselves, the structure of each girl's route, and the content of each route. My rankings based on those criteria would go something like this:

The Girls:

SPOILER: Show

Emi -- She never does anything to fuck with Hisao. That's it in a nutshell; as a person she's cool (she's not a prude, has a positive attitude about stuff, actively wants to improve the quality of Hisao's life, is reasonably straight-forward about what she wants and needs from a partner, etc), but her main appeal is that she doesn't lie about shit or send mixed messages.

Hanako -- She put Hisao through the ringer toward the end, but she meant well and was as honest as she could be about stuff. She's intent on becoming her own person, on getting over her problems, and it's plain that she's putting honest effort into fixing shit and moving forward.

Shizune -- She plays her cards too close to the vest, and holy shit did that first H-scene ever irk the fuck out of me. Also, it's not at all clear what she wants or needs from a partner, and I don't even think she has any idea herself. Her attitude plays as much of a role in impeding progress on these fronts as her actual disability.

Rin -- Don't stick it in the crazy! Okay, that's crass, but Rin has some serious problems; she doesn't know what she wants, doesn't know how to communicate effectively with others, and just generally sees the world differently than the rest of us do. That can be fine in moderation, but she lacks the basic grounding needed to keep these traits in check and interact productively with others. Any involvement with her is a disaster waiting to happen.

Lilly -- I'll admit, I really want to like Lilly. She has a great persona, and let's face it, she's hot as hell. There's just one problem -- she lied through her teeth to Hisao when she initiated their relationship, and she completely removed him from the decision-making process re: her trip even though she'd made him a significant part of her life. She is by no means obligated to give his opinions any weight when it comes to her important life decisions (true as an adult, and even moreso as a teen), but she can't have it both ways -- if she lets him in she should treat him with some basic respect, like actually telling him what was going on before taking him to her vacation home and fucking him (while her best friend, also in the dark about her plans, sits in the next room and twiddles her thumbs -- classy!).

Route Structure:

SPOILER: Show

Rin -- Rin's route has a lot of content, a lot of choices, and an awful lot of intricacies to it. It's hard to hit her route by chance, but if you make your way there there's an awful lot of food for thought. I don't think much of Rin as a partner, but her route's easily the most interesting to play.

Emi -- There are some interesting options in her route, and the whole saving throw bit is inspired. Even if you fuck things up royally you can still fix them -- that's pretty cool.

Hanako -- Not much to say, really; there's nothing distinctive about it, but you can do shit. You do get three endings, though, which is cool.

Lilly -- You get an epilogue, which is nice. If you overlook the enormous glaring flaw marring the route the basic structure of the route is pretty idyllic.

Shizune -- Er, yeah. You get one choice, that's it. Boring as hell.

Route Content:

SPOILER: Show

Shizune -- Her route design sucks, and I don't have much regard for her as a person, but her route's content hits it out of the park. Unrequited love really sucks, and being able to say "I don't see you like that but you're still important to me, and I want you in my life!" is, while perhaps selfish, still a very adult take on relationships. Stuff is complex, there's no getting around it. Kudos to Aura for recognizing that and treating the route with the respect the story deserves.

Rin -- I think Hisao is nuts for pursuing her, but her route is still interesting as fuck. We get a lot about the nature of human interaction here, some commentary on pedagogy and the victimization that can go along with, and just a lot of stuff that makes you think about people and how they work. Bad relationship material, yes, but still good content.

Emi -- It's not the most exciting or revolutionary stuff, but it still works. I find that I can neither celebrate nor damn the route -- I just enjoy it for what it is and don't try to justify it.

Hanako -- Somewhat pedestrian in a lot of ways, but generally harmless. The main problem was the H-scene -- Hanako made some spectacularly bad decisions there, and Hisao was left feeling like he had to either force her hand or reject her. That might or might not have been a valid assessment, but creating that situation in the first place was a bad move on her part (and not a very plausible one from where I sit; given Hanako's past I'd expect her to approach the issue in baby steps, giving Hisao room to maneuver so he could prove he really liked her. The all-or-nothing approach just didn't work for me at all).

Lilly -- If it worked as presented it would be vapid and saccharine. I mean really, it's every romantic stereotype you care to name all rolled into one. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as presented because of the problems mentioned above. At best it makes Lilly look condescending and insensitive; at worst she's a lying bitch who doesn't genuinely care for her friends' feelings at all. Either way it makes her look really, really bad once the fridge logic sets in.

So there ya go. As I said, Emi's my compromise choice because she's the only one who doesn't have glaring problems marring her character or her route. All of the others have some pretty spectacular failures of concept, execution, or both dragging them down. In the end bland and serviceable trumps "awesome except for HOLY SHIT WTF IS THAT???" Her hot mom doesn't hurt, either.

[NemZ]

Shizune -- She plays her cards too close to the vest, and holy shit did that first H-scene ever irk the fuck out of me. Also, it's not at all clear what she wants or needs from a partner, and I don't even think she has any idea herself. Her attitude plays as much of a role in impeding progress on these fronts as her actual disability.

Despite her aggressive attitude in tackling most issues she's probably very traditional in her inexperienced thoughts on romance (actually a good parallel for Asuka in some ways). She knows Hisao likes her, so why the hell won't he step up and make a move? Why won't he show that bolder, confident side that attracted her in the first place more often?

The relationship doesn't progress much because Hisao doesn't do anything to actively pursue her after Tanabata, and when he finally makes a move (on accident) but then runs away she... well, okay, her frustration leads her to more or less just snap for a while. I'm not saying the chair scene was a good idea, but I understand where she's coming from. And after that... he STILL doesn't ever pick up on her fairly obvious hints when she clearly wants to fool around on the roof. The good end H-scene is the first time in several acts that he shows any initiative whatsoever.

Kudos to Aura for recognizing that and treating [shizune's] route with the respect the story deserves.

Uh... last I checked Aura wrote Rin's route, not Shizune's. That would be A22 (and apparently someone else wrote the beta route).

Rin -- Don't stick it in the crazy! Okay, that's crass, but Rin has some serious problems; she doesn't know what she wants, doesn't know how to communicate effectively with others, and just generally sees the world differently than the rest of us do. That can be fine in moderation, but she lacks the basic grounding needed to keep these traits in check and interact productively with others. Any involvement with her is a disaster waiting to happen.

Now come on, she's not crazy, just... eccentric. She has a fiarly clear direction, she just lacks the confidence to pursue it and then goes overboard trying to fufill the expectations of others. She does have trouble expressing herself clearly in words but I never found it especially difficult to understand the message behind her attempts.

Maybe I'm just a weirdo too, but I felt like I really groked Rin, and it pissed me off to no end that Hisao didn't. He's at least half responsible for all their problems on account of his clingy validation seeking when she's asking for space and his general inability to see things outside his own self-interest most of the time.

Oh, and Oni? stop talking shit about my waifu! (jk... mostly)

given Hanako's past I'd expect her to approach the issue in baby steps, giving Hisao room to maneuver so he could prove he really liked her. The all-or-nothing approach just didn't work for me at all).

I suspect she felt (correctly) that her small steps were being ignored and was afraid she wouldn't have the courage to keep trying if she didn't put herself in a situation where there was no backing down. And it still would have worked just fine if they'd talked about the situation afterwards rather than stewing on it privately for a while.

Still, it does annoy me that she throws a fit in the bad end about treating her the way she's given every indication she needs to be treated.

Otherwise I completely agree with your assessments, and that's why they fall in the same order for me when Shizune and Rin are moved up.

[Bagheera]

Despite her aggressive attitude in tackling most issues she's probably very traditional in her inexperienced thoughts on romance (actually a good parallel for Asuka in some ways). She knows Hisao likes her, so why the hell won't he step up and make a move? Why won't he show that bolder, confident side that attracted her in the first place more often?

That's actually a good reason why she's such lousy relationship material. If she's so aggressive in all of their other interactions why the heck would Hisao even think of making a move on her? It's obvious she's in charge, and expecting your subordinates to take command when it suits you doesn't even make sense.

I don't think Asuka's all that great a parallel, really; unlike Shizune she's just aggressive, not commanding. It might be different if she actually displayed some of her vaunted college prowess, though. And of course, having that attitude at 13/14 is a lot different than having it at 18.

Uh... last I checked Aura wrote Rin's route, not Shizune's. That would be A22 (and apparently someone else wrote the beta route).

Right you are, my mistake.

Now come on, she's not crazy, just... eccentric.

Meh. If we wanna get technical "crazy" doesn't really mean anything these days, and even when it did it mostly applied to schizophrenics and other non-functional types. But even still Rin's . . . out there. She's erratic enough that I couldn't recommend her to anyone, despite her finer qualities.

Oh, and Oni? stop talking shit about my waifu! (jk... mostly)

I disagree with him re: her endings; her "bad" end was kinda meh, but her "neutral" end was griiiiiiiim and her good end was pretty damn good.

I suspect she felt (correctly) that her small steps were being ignored and was afraid she wouldn't have the courage to keep trying if she didn't put herself in a situation where there was no backing down. And it still would have worked just fine if they'd talked about the situation afterwards rather than stewing on it privately for a while.

It worked out fine anyway, but what I was getting at was that she could show him her scars in stages that clearly said "I'm trying to let you see all of me without making things too awkward." The idea is to literally expose herself in increments, something she hadn't been doing up to that point. Going all out like that was not only unwise, it was also (IMO) unbelievable; my shyness isn't anywhere nearly as bad as hers but I would still never dream of doing something like that.

Still, it does annoy me that she throws a fit in the bad end about treating her the way she's given every indication she needs to be treated.

I thought she was rather spot on about that, actually. Lilly and Hisao were being pretty damn patronizing, and while that's understandable it's neither what she wanted nor what she needed. She just wasn't in the right place emotionally to communicate that fact effectively (which, again, is why her actions in the good end bugged me; if she's that damn crippled stripping down in front of a guy is a ludicrous idea. Stranger things have happened in real life, of course, but still . . . ).

[Pandymint]

I've heard so much about this game it's ridiculous. But it makes me want to play it just to see what the fuss is all about. I'll admit, dating sim style games are a bit of a guilty pleasure in that I more often than not have to think about what I'm doing. Now I just need to get to good wifi so I can download it and try it out.

[NemZ]

That's actually a good reason why she's such lousy relationship material. If she's so aggressive in all of their other interactions why the heck would Hisao even think of making a move on her? It's obvious she's in charge, and expecting your subordinates to take command when it suits you doesn't even make sense.

Come on man... you have to see she's mostly bluster, trying to bury her insecurities by charging ahead and hoping to outrun them. Besides, the alpha in public, submissive in private stereotype exists for a reason.

But even still Rin's . . . out there.

No, she's right on the same plane you are, just with the axis labeled differently. Rin's not especially deep at all, she just doesn't bring the preconceptions most do to just about any situation... probably because she's been too lost in her own ponderings to absorb much of the common cultural baggage. Most of the time when people think she's speaking in riddles it's because they're reading things into her words that aren't intended and just end up confusing themselves.

I think we pretty much agree on Hanako, but are just pulling a Rin in looking at it from different sides or in different lighting.

[Dream]

It worked out fine anyway, but what I was getting at was that she could show him her scars in stages that clearly said "I'm trying to let you see all of me without making things too awkward." The idea is to literally expose herself in increments, something she hadn't been doing up to that point. Going all out like that was not only unwise, it was also (IMO) unbelievable; my shyness isn't anywhere nearly as bad as hers but I would still never dream of doing something like that.

Hanako believed the situation was way more grave than it actually was, and believed that Hisao was losing interest in her and if she didn't do something, he would just forget about her and get into a relationship with Yuuko (This line of thinking mostly influenced by her self-loathing and cynicism) It was pretty unwise indeed, but at least i found it pretty believable, if she didn't believe that the situation and Hisao were worse than they actually were, she likely would have tried exposing herself on increments, but again during the final moments of Act 4 she was kind of desperate (for lack of a better word)

Maybe I'm just a weirdo too, but I felt like I really groked Rin, and it pissed me off to no end that Hisao didn't. He's at least half responsible for all their problems on account of his clingy validation seeking when she's asking for space and his general inability to see things outside his own self-interest most of the time.

Just wanted to comment that this outlines pretty well the few things that bother me from Rin's route (which i still haven't finished actually) It's probably intentional but this Hisao can indeed be really irritating in his most self-centered moments or thoughts/comments. Rin never struck me as particularly hard to understand either, but i think i can see how she can be hard to understand for some people. If you don't keep in mind that Rin tends to use words in a different and jumbled way compared to normal people she can seem to just speak non-sense.

[ran1]

I had done a play-through of the VN a couple of weeks after it came out and started flooding /a/. There were a lot of elements I liked about, as I think I've mentioned before (I recall when they first started making threads detailing its development in '07 and '08 on /a/, and their pandering in the drawfag threads).

There's a lot to like about the project. It does mirror the feel of a professionally done Nipponese VN in many respects. I'm not going to go on about how I've been around the block with VNs -- because for the most part, I do one route and never bother finishing them (Memoria, Kira Kira, F/SN, Saya No Uta, et cetera). That being said, it does kind of depart from those projects in production values. You can tell it's an indie production. Elements feel unrefined and the writing style has little consistency from route to route. Purple prose abounds, especially in Shizune's route, which is the worst of the lot. Given the production muck-ups that happened with it, however, it's almost excusable.

It's got a special place in my heart because the background art was done by a Brown University student who I know of (mutual friends, the whole deal) -- and the locations are ones that I grew up with. Most of the background art comes from Thayer Street, which was essentially the place where I spent most of my time during the summers of my youth. It's Brown's "college street" where they have all the eateries and hookah bars. It was a cool experience for me to read through some of the scenes "in town" -- because I've eaten at the Shanghai Cafe, and I bought my first pack of cigarettes from the Tadeschi convenience store that is used in Lilly's route. So yeah, plenty of nostalgia there.

As far as the routes go:

SPOILER: Show

Emi -- The second route I brought myself to read through after doing Lilly's. Her route was down to earth in many respects. There was an agressive sexual realism to it, and I loved that about it. Casual sex between horny adolescents isn't exactly the norm in VNs that I've played -- most H-scenes are usually after some sort of confession of TRU LOVE or have some rape backdrop. In terms of execution, it was probably the best route. Honestly, the shed scene got a lot of flak from people -- and I'm not at all sure why. We had a similar deal at my boarding school. My shotput-buddies did some anal adventuring with girls from my sister school. We didn't use our track shed -- I had actually copied the keys from the concession stand building, and that's where stuff would go down. It's not all that hard to believe that two kids are doing naughty things with each other's assholes in school. Moreover, everyone's "first time" with sex, whether's it's anal or vaginal is humorous in its own way. The sort of sexual satire in the piece was something I immediately gravitated to. I get the feeling that Emi's writer was probably the most well-adjusted of the bunch. That being said, it actively departed from most of the Japanese customs that I've seen/read/experienced. It wasn't as culturally aware as it probably could've been. After a while, you kind of lose sight that the story is taking place in Japan, and Japanese people just aren't as forward as EVERYONE seems to be in Emi's route.

Shizune -- What an awful, terrible piece of shit. It's like bad visual novel writing meets bad softcore smut fanfiction. In retrospect, A22 probably got the worst girl ever to write -- glasses girl, deaf, mute, domineering, terrible manners and socialization, et cetera -- but he did her no favors with his shitty prose and inability to realize that he just had way too many subplots going on to properly wrap them. The hilarious rushed ending of her good end evidence this. On my first play, I ended up cheating on her with Misha (my bad, "comforting") because I found her character shitty enough to not actually care if she was emotionally affected or not. It's probably what I would've done in real life. She was so much of an ice queen at that point where I honestly felt it wouldn't matter. In some respects, writing a terrible person can be a good way to undermine various stereotypes or tropes, but since she's kind-of-sort of your pigeonholed object of affection at this point, it just seems like sloppy writing. That's probably the best way I can sum up Shizune's character and route -- sloppy.

Hanako -- It's silly for me to actually write a review of Hanako -- because it was painfully obvious even without reading the proposals/beta scripts/etc -- that she reamins an unfinished character. It's notably shorter than the other routes because we're sort of left with a half-characterized Hanako. The route replaces any real progression with a magical "I LOVE YOU HISAO" out-of-nowhere ending where we don't see any genuine emotional progress out of her. It's a misognyst's wet dream -- fucking damaged goods, doing little to assuage her real pain, and then having her turn over a new leaf and become perfect wife material. Perhaps I'm projecting a bit here. I played Hanako's route after playing Lilly's. Hanako is an integral part of Lilly's route, obviously, and in Lilly's good end, you see that Hanako is making some real progress in coming out of her shell and interacting with the world at large -- she joins the newspaper club, starts engaging in conversation spontaneously. I mean, there's also the part where she's in love with you and is forced to live in the same house where you and Lilly are fucking like rabbits -- but that's just another part of why Hanako is literally a more fully realized character in other routes. I did like the writing in this route, however, it gravitated closer to the usual visual novel perspective with some well-placed refinements. Honestly, the writing just saved it from being a shit-show like Shizune's route. That, and the fact that it was short. Honestly, I much prefer the beta where you knock her up and, you know, there are genuine consequences for Hisao sticking his dick in things.

Rin -- oh god what are you doing stop hisao just stop hisao HISAO WHAT THE FUCK. It's probably one of the "better" routes in the work, but I just can't stand it. Getting through Rin's route was just as much of a chore as getting through Shizune's. Where Shizune's route struggles with subplots, Rin's route struggles with the mandatory self-introspection scene. On the whole, it's got an adolescent feel to it -- if I could compare it with anything, it was like reading "Perks of Being a Wallflower". The constant hyper-analysis of Rin is only interesting if you find Rin interesting. Constant self-introspection is only interesting if there's any sort of substance to the self that the writer has created. For better or for worse -- I found Rin's autism particularly un-endearing, and Hisao in this route to be vapid and boring, mindlessly chasing after the retard-girl with no real sense of, well, anything. The route is working at some pretty lofty themes, I just neither had the time or patience to put up with the poorly written characters.

Lilly -- my first route and favorite girl. It's also the only route where I've felt compelled to play it multiple times. I think it's working at something really clever, which is why I laugh when the piece and Lilly's character is dismissed as a "Mary Sue". First of all, I'd hesitate to characterize any of the KS girls as Mary Sues -- if only because they're so obviously broken -- physically, emotionally what have you -- but Lilly's presentation is so clever. Yes she comes off as the typical ~Ara~Ara girl, but it's all a facade. It's a case of the blind girl having no foresight (excuse the forced pun). She's supposedly incredibly intelligent, pretty, tall, well-adjusted -- but has no real way of communicating with people past the "oh, hello's" or "my, my's". She's lying to Hisao throughout the novel, and there's a sense of dismissal of any talk about her future in Japan, in Scotland, with Akira, and so on. Her desire to keep the fragile status quo is something that's very much in touch with the sort of elegy that is Japanese culture. She wants to progress without any real progression. The route itself isn't really about Hisao choosing Lilly -- it's about Lilly choosing Hisao -- or rather, Lilly being forced to make a choice. I'm reminded of the "paddling against the current" ending of the Great Gatsby, in the fact that the whole ending hinges not on Hisao making the choice to stay with Lilly, but to work against "the current" of bodies in the airport, forcing Lilly to make a choice about Hisao. The brilliance of the route is that it's quite literally Lilly's route.

Even the neutral route's true to life in that if you're not going to invest emotion and effort into a real relationship, it's not going to blow up in anger like Hanako's or turn into a emotional bitchfest like with Shizune/Misha -- it's just going to end before you really have a chance to asess it.

[Xard]

F/SN

Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel are far superior to Fate though so you kinda missed the best stuff entirely

[Bagheera]

Ran: regarding Lilly, Emi did it better. Lilly doesn't actually do anything in her route unless you literally try to kill yourself to get her attention. She's trash, pure and simple. It's a pity you can't chase Akira instead, since she's far better relationship material.

I'm mostly with you on the rest.

[ran1]

Well, I mean that's the magic of it -- in a medium where most women lust after MC's dick for no apparent reason -- the very action of having to "chase" probably provides the most realistic romantic experience in the novel. Unless girls are very desperate, they just don't fall into men's laps. Social cues being what they are, you kind of have to work. I think that's probably why Lilly hate is as strong as it is -- and why most of the well-adjusted fans seem to like her or Emi the most.

[Bagheera]

Well, I mean that's the magic of it -- in a medium where most women lust after MC's dick for no apparent reason -- the very action of having to "chase" probably provides the most realistic romantic experience in the novel. Unless girls are very desperate, they just don't fall into men's laps. Social cues being what they are, you kind of have to work. I think that's probably why Lilly hate is as strong as it is -- and why most of the well-adjusted fans seem to like her or Emi the most.

I can see your point, but in Lilly's case I think that appear doesn't extend past the surface. There's nothing worth working for there -- she doesn't treat Hisao with the slightest consideration when it comes to shit that matters, so why bother?

I get the relative novelty of the idea given the medium, but IMO all it's doing is trading a boring Eastern trope for an equally boring Western one. That's just a lateral, not a trade up.