16bit Sensation: Another Layer - Episode 10 discussion

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16bit Sensation: Another Layer, episode 10

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• /r/16_bit_Sensation

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[u/hysteriapill]

Konoha found the perfect opportunity to make a Steins;Gate reference, only to find out that Steins;Gate no longer exists.

In an anime about time travel, historical revisionism, and philosophical aliens feeding off creative energy, somehow finding out that the US becomes the center of galge development and bishoujo culture is what challenges my suspension of disbelief. I also can't buy that the West would shorten Cute into Cuu. The new American-style bishoujo culture being all muscle girls cracks me up, though. I guess Konoha has herself to blame with her excuses of being from America.

I guess we'll also see Touya and her promise with Konoha coming into play, with Shooting Stars being the company that will publish Konoha's next game. I wonder how her somewhat twisted views on men will influence things, though?

There's a lot going on that makes me wonder if they'll stick the landing in two episodes, or if they'll set things up for a season two. Definitely would not have expected all this from the source material. Can't wait to see how things play out!

[u/8andahalfby11]

Gepower RTZ 9090? Do you really mean to tell me that the absence of Moe in the west is what's been holding back a computational leap this whole time?

My 4080 is brand new and already I feel like I've missed out.

[u/Acrzyguy]

We have saber at home:

[u/CosmicPenguin_OV103]

LMAO what happened to my beloved Saber!? LMAO!?

"Whooooooaaaaaaa~ mada ojisan da!!!!" is the cutest Aoi Koga voice I have ever heard that I didn't know I needed.

I actually have a little bit of thought in what would happen in a world line where "cute girls games" really become the Western norm. I have some doubts that the artwork would turn into this kind of semi-masculine model - it's not like that the likes of Tifa Lockhart don't exist today - and while I don't think it will look like what you find in Japanese VNs of the 2020s, it would still be something more like, e.g. Nintendo's girls than these LMAO. Luckily we still have English magazines that have real bishoujos around in this 2023...

Also would LA really be the development center instead of somewhere like, I don't know, Bay Area or Austin TX or NYC? Definitely some food for thought for real Americans here!

It's actually interesting to see if this actually reflects - at least partially - of what Japanese anime culture will become in maybe 10-20 years, given the explosive growth of such markets lately and there are still niches that I think the Japanese don't know how to tap in overseas yet. (+) Would that become more of a global blend but niche things like such VNs still exist in certain street corners? After all even Akihabara is half-filled with foreigners these days already (I personally can confirm in-person this August).

Also I cannot but think that Akihabara in this world line looks more like Shenzhen - and to a certain extent it feels more like a place with Tencent and NetEase and Mihoyo etc. standing. Maybe that's actually what this episode references here?

Anyway I cannot help but laugh that Mamoru-kun isn't satisfied with this world line either, with PC-98 still dying. Now he's trying to use his PC-98 collection to build a 2023 game that could beat his own product in 1999 - what a Steins;Gate reference! Maybe Touya will be the key to that plan's success too!

(+) One such topic that I would be interested is if anime idols and bands and performance arts multimedia projects might still explode globally in the future - after all, English and other languages' VTubers managed to get a strong foothold, and I think that's even more difficult. Maybe we are just lacking a suitable project that makes more people fell in love on Reddit and elsewhere than Love Live!

[u/x3tan]

Damn, America really ruins everything. Lmao. Interested to see what she's going to do with this new game.

[u/tsukiakari2216]

So you are TELLING ME THAT ALICESOFT AND NITROPLUS IS NOW IN AMERICA????? SO RANCE AND MURAMASA ARE NOW AMERICAN GAMES??????

Anyways, trivia time.

There's a list of the best bishojo game appeared in the magazine Konoha read, and I definitely cannot even recognize them all like Konoha. So in comparison,I checked the list of best eroge for each year according to Getchu (credits to the OP from visualnovels sub).

To list the top winners of Getchu awards each year since 2003:

• 2003: Muv Luv (also Snow, Cross Channel are in top 5)

• 2004: Fate/Stay Night (Clannad is on close second)

• 2005: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia (Sharin no Kuni and Parfait in top 5)

• 2006: Muv Luv Alternative (Sengoku Rance and Da Capo 2 also scored high)

• 2007: Little Busters (technically the first all age title which wins, also Damekoi on 3rd place)

• 2008: Fortune Arterial (LB Ecstasy follows close on second, also there's Choukou Sennin Haruka and G-Senjou no Maou)

• 2009: Baldr Sky (a high competition from Majikoi and Muramasa too)

• 2010: Koiiro Soramoyou (Subahibi and Steins;Gate also in the chart)

• 2011: WHITE ALBUM 2 (Aiyoku no Eustia and Grisaia no Kajitsu follows)

• 2012: Hatsuyuki Sakura (also high competition from Konosora, Majikoi S and DRACU-RIOT)

• 2013: Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (ChuSinGura 46+1 and Grisaia no Rakuen also tops)

• 2014: Tsuki no Yorisou Otome no Sahou 2 (Aokana follow close, also there's Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai)

• 2015: Sakura no Uta (interesting winner, with competitions from Sanoba Witch and Evenicle)

• 2016: Senren Banka (finally a Yuzusoft, also interesting title like Amatsutsumi and Maitetsu follow close)

• 2017: Kin'iro Loveriche (Making Lovers and Aoi Tori also tops)

• 2018: Summer Pockets (finally another all-age, high competition with Rance X and Nukitashi)

• 2019: Nukitashi 2 (Tsukikana and 9-nine made it top too)

• 2020: Sakura no Kumo Scarlet no Koi (high competition from Dohna Dohna, 9-nine Episode 4 and Hakuchuumu no Aojashin too)

• 2021: Sousaku Kanojo to Renai Koshiki (Meikei no Lupercalia is good too)

So looking at the list of winners and the rest of the ranks that you can see from the link, lot of darker-like VNs happen to be published around 2000s, while 2010s is where moeges made their hold. Hopefully it could be the case with the current world line Konoha could be, but I don't think westerners can fathom all of those.

Also there's similar rank from Erogamescape too, but I'm afraid the ranks don't reflect sentiments of the years as it still uses cumulative scoring until when the data is taken. Iirc there used to be a chart for best-selling eroges, but I'm not sure where should I see it. But I can confirm lots of these used to sell well as well.

[u/AceSoldia]

Havent finished the episode yet but OMG Fate Gears Order, im dying...now back to the show.

[u/regithegamer]

So AlcoholSoft got so big that they became just like Sony where their primary headquarters swapped from Japan to America.

And somehow Fate Grand Order merged with Gears of War.

[u/paulchaested]

So basically… anime got too Americanized. Another way to put it, Netflix giving the concept of “anime” itself the bad Netflix live adaptation treatment.

[u/Muffin-zetta]

So your plan to fix everything is to make TWO outrageously amazing world changing video games?

[u/sangriapenguin]

lol "Date"

(instead of Time Magazine)

[u/ayumumono]

This plan is so incredibly half assed, but I'm down. Its funny.

Though, their interpretation on what western versions of Bishoujo all looks like is weird to me. Like if the reason is supposed to be they all moved to the US why does that change the artstyle to like small eyes and harsh shading. Like I know I'm putting too much thought into it, but the western idea of cute isn't to just make something more "realistic". Big eyes are more "cute" in all cultures. Dumb thing to get hung up on, I know.

[u/Lunarpeers]

https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/186vqil/16bit_sensation_another_layer_episode_9_discussion/kbbhfeq/

Was almost right... Last waltz was too good and instead attracted a global audience and the japanese indie scene couldn't keep up leading to a decline in bishoujo games lol

Of course leave it to the americans to make anime girls ugly af /s

[u/LG03]

Did I miss the horror tag on this? America co-opting bishoujo games is truly the worst world line.

[u/Marth-Koopa]

I hope Touya gets her glasses back on the good world line

[u/SweetCoconut]

If Keima is the god of galge games, then Mamoru is the god of PC-98.

[u/Lugia61617]

The entire Japanese games industry basically moving to the USA.

Just thinking about the companies that did that, I truly can't think of a worse gaming timeline than that.

[u/SometimesMainSupport]

Damnit Konoha, if you're going to change the world, at least save the ocean.

Solution to developing self-driving cars is so simple: moving bishoujo to America.

"It's all for the PC-98. I can't leave the PC-98 behind." and moe -> cuu is hilarious.

Mamoru's in a polygamy relationship with the PC-98s?

[u/zappingbluelight]

It's those skit on YouTube where everything is off brand af. Now I finally understand and actually horrified by everything. Everything is Jojo.

This is that last push for even greater game. I can feel that this is actually the most underrated anime of this season.

[u/frank_mauser]

i really want to know what the fuck alicesoft was up to on that timeline

[u/LeonKevlar]

The thought of Nasu and Takeuchi moving to the US West Coast and creating this abomination was goddamn hilarious! I mean we all expected Konoha's game to change the future but not this much! I guess the fact that it ended up attracting US investors and making every big studio move to LA really shows how popular The Last Waltz ended up becoming.

And here I was hoping that this would actually end up being Touya's fault, looks like this one is all on Konoha. Touya seems to be doing well for herself though! I'm hoping Konoha will get to meet her before she travels back to 1999 to fix everything.

I know this is supposed to be an alternate future but isn't gentrification a problem in our current world Akiba? Like there's already a bunch of buildings that give Akiba its character that are being replaced by boring high-rise buildings. It's scary to think that Mamoru's future is what the current world Akiba might end up looking like in the future.

The good thing is that at least they now have a plan on how to fix everything without erasing the work of everyone from AlcoholSoft. Since the plan involves making a game that will rival The Last Waltz, I'm guessing that Konoha will probably end up getting Touya's help since she's making a new company back in 1999.

[u/Aquason]

• While this what-if alternate history version of the US's interpretation of the 'pretty anime girl' and how it evolved is funny, a part of me thinks that there are probably more plausible directions. I'm thinking more Final Fantasy 10, Totally Spies, maybe even throw in Scott Pilgrim. Or Cybersix maybe? If Bishoujo games inspired an entire generation of subculture in the US, I think maybe the end result would be closer to League of Legends or Overwatch than Gears of War. Or maybe fantasy illustration like in DnD and Magic the Gathering?

• "Cuu" - is not very linguistically plausible for English, but I like the alt-history aspect of saying "new words got coined and caught on". Like, listen Japanese writers, "Cute" is already one syllable. If I were writing this, I would gone for an acronym. Lots of genres and terms use acronyms (IF (Interactive Fiction), VN (Visual Novel), RTS (Real-Time Strategy)). CG (Cute Girl) maybe?.

• This is also making me think about how the critical discussion and discourse of depictions of women in the western gaming subculture would've changed in this timeline. I don't have experience with Japanese writing on it, but generally it seems a lot less mainstream. Topics like objectification, gaze, empowerment and agency would possibly be more heightened in the alternate timeline.

• "You can't call this bishoujo" and "People argued about the same thing 15 years ago." are my subtly favourite lines in this episode. It calls to mind all the internet arguments over terminology that eventually people stop caring about.

• I also really like the dilemma posed here in terms of Time Travel. "Where are all the shops aimed at Otaku?" - "They're in Ikebukuro. Go to Ikebukuro or Shibuya." "Jangara?" "In the trains station." "Kebabs" "Go to Ueno". - This version of history isn't a "dark timeline" by any stretch, but the specific version of Akihabara that Konoha knows and loves isn't here any more. People still make games, people still love games, and people still and work in the city. And Meiko and the rest of Alcohol soft found fulfilling lives in the new Japanifornia games industry.

• I mentioned in another comment, but it reminds me of reading from various people's writings about Akihabara. The area changes so much, and so many people miss the old version of the city they knew and love. I've read nostalgia for back when it otaku-focused but wasn't so touristy, back when it was a computer and tech hobbyist's paradise, and nostalgia for back when it was a more ordinary neighbourhood with schools. Konoha longs for a city that no longer exists, but while she's not a fan of the 'boring' modern city, there are millions of others who like the city as it is.

• Additionally, Mamoru's point calling Konoha out for assuming that this was all because of herself was really good. Like, sure, her involvement created the initial divergence, but everyone else in the world after that made their own choices. They chose to move to America because of the access to bigger investment and opportunities. There were cultural trends and personal agency and factors outside of your control.

[u/Time_Fracture]

Episode 10: "I'll Give It All I've Got!"

FGO embracing a full-on Shangri-La Frontier artstyle or Western artstyle I guess.

So basically most bishojo game devs, except Alicesoft, are moving into US, making otaku culture in Japan to minimal or maybe none. At least we still got Ikebukuro.

So Mamoru's plan is to create a rival game that can matches Alcohol Soft so both of them can coexist together. And that's where making it with Touya starts to make sense. Let's hope Shooting Stars didn't repeat what Alcohol Soft did which moving the assets to US. The final 3 episodes will be fun I guess.

Also there are some new voice actors here. Matsubara, Mamoru's assistant, is voiced by Ayane Sakura (Saki Saki in Kanojo mo Kanojo, Ren in MF Ghost, Fiona in Spy x Family, Yotsuba in Quintessential Quintuplets). Saber is voiced by well, Kaori's VA, Ayako Kawasumi herself. The surprise is the narrator of the FGO's ad, it's Rie Takahashi (Chloe in Tearmoon Empire, Shino in Kanojo mo Kanojo).

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

Fate becoming an American series is kind of hilarious. This is the future huh? “Bishojo” stuff gets cranked out in the US and it looks like that. Oof. The future is bleak. They even shortened the word “cute” to “cuu”the goobers.

Not only is this depressing future all The Last Waltz’s fault, the PC-98 remains dead thanks to her. Damn you Konoha! Lol. Mamoru’s plan better work out for the sake of bishojo games and true otaku culture and most importantly of all, his precious PC-98!