why does this video have a bit where the creator puts on Serious Disclaimer voice to talk about the artist for Valkyria Chronicles having drawn boobs before and then goes 'DONT WORRY GUYS HE WASN'T INVOLVED IN THE PLOT'? Thinking boobs are misogynist is only evidence of your own misogyny.
@Rosencreutzzz
7 ай бұрын
Why? Tone, which is in part the same concern of the entire premise. For some reason, the caveat that I'm aware that Raita is mostly a smut artist, has become a point of controversy for this video. To clarify: the issue isn't that Raita was involved or anything. In fact, the point is the same as the broader point of the video, about how there are a lot of "concerns" one might have when learning about the premise of this game, broadly. The reason to single him out is the same as the reason for singling out a beach episode, or other genre tropes: it's to point out the way this game seems primed to be a complete tonal mess that verges on outright trivializing the holocaust, or at the least, just being emotionally confusing. It's a tone issue.
@Greener221
7 ай бұрын
@@Rosencreutzzz Anime can have multiple tones at multiple parts. Shouldn't it be seen as an advantage for animation that they can go for so many disparate emotions or vibes as easily as they can?
@MasterChaoko
7 ай бұрын
@@Greener221Keep in mind that video essays are to some extent an exercise in dialectics. When considering a dialectic juxtaposition, emphasis should fall upon the final conclusion rather than the preceding exposition. Consider also the artist in question, Raita; would they take issue with the conclusion? I can't imagine how they would, since A) they probably worked hard to produce authentic art that's suitable for the subject matter & B) their primary livelihood is not a secret.
@Lynntempname
7 ай бұрын
love that political hentai addicts will see a video about an interesting depiction of the holocaust and only give a shit about whether or not their anime titties are portrayed properly treat your art seriously for fucks sake
@Greener221
7 ай бұрын
@@MasterChaoko Your post is total gibberish that makes no worthwhile points and attempts to hide that lack of point through verbosity.
@blakerobin2678
7 ай бұрын
"the human mind was not made to comprehend the uwuificatiln of dachu" has got to be the funniest collection of words ill hear all day
@Crazyfrog41
7 ай бұрын
That sentence made my whole week!!!
@runelessruneless9024
7 ай бұрын
...They originally planned a catgirl concentration camp. Huh. That's... that's just something I know, now.
@wrenromero6392
7 ай бұрын
Possibly scrapped for being too similar to the plot of the Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, which had a sequel coming out around the same time as VC
@Zesprit15
6 ай бұрын
“A native people with dark hair who were slaughtered by the now dominant race in the area and were forced into smaller and less useable territories.” Yeah, the Ainu, I’m familiar with them.
@thomaswinwood
4 ай бұрын
That comparison doesn't really work because the Japanese also have dark hair - other things signify Ainu culture (e.g. the epithet "shrimp barbarians" derives from their wearing long beards and moustaches). That said it's definitely true when it comes to depicting oppression in games the Japanese seem to have a substantial blind spot for their pre-20th-century history - Pokemon Legends: Arceus depicts the native peoples of Hisui (a counterpart for Hokkaido which we know is later renamed to Sinnoh much like Hokkaido was renamed from Ezo) as happy about the arrival of advanced people from the south, for example.
@tyronechillifoot5573
3 ай бұрын
From my understanding they aren’t actually happy a major source of conflict in the game is essentially the two opposing clans coming into conflict that a third party which the player is apart of making things more tense it’s essentially your part of third party who is interfering with a pre established conflict
@NinjaRodent
7 ай бұрын
"The human mind was not meant to comprehend the 'uwuification' of Dachau" My mind was not meant to comprehend that sentence.
@NoMoreCrumbs
7 ай бұрын
As a very, very, VERY mild defense of the camp being right after the beach episode, sometimes it's narratively useful to disarm the player emotionally before hitting them with really dark content. Or that's what I would say if I thought the camp mission had treated its subject matter with the right amount of gravitas
@thesquishedelf1301
7 ай бұрын
The other extremely mild defence of the beach episode placement is that it is prohibitively expensive… I would genuinely be impressed by someone actually unlocking that episode right before the camp without grinding skirmishes.
@diegoseba12
Ай бұрын
Yeah don't ask video-essayists to engage with media honestly.
@Rosencreutzzz
7 ай бұрын
Welcome to the like like two thousand new people between this video and the last one who joined because my Iraq war video and theosophy video took off and had no idea what the...dynamic range of my channel could be. Hope you enjoy overlong analyses of video games.
@jenaf4208
7 ай бұрын
Yes, yes I do.
@robertfaucher3750
7 ай бұрын
I'm wondering what you think of FFXIV Heavensward. I'll have to finish it before you (might) make a video on it.
@johnhop818
7 ай бұрын
Showed up wanting a goofy "racism as an rpg stat" video, instead got a way too well written review of real world conflicts adapted for games.
If Rosencreutz adds :smilecat: then SEGA will announce VC5 and it'll sell a Rosenbillion copies
@thomasmarais5008
7 ай бұрын
REAL
@romawar
7 ай бұрын
I beg for it
@halcyon_dot_exe
7 ай бұрын
The video was phenomenal as always, i assume, i don't know, i just heard the phrase 'persecuted catboys' and got so lightheaded i passed out.
@PrincessOzaline
7 ай бұрын
It's important to know when it comes to "Dark hair," "because we're short and have dark hair," was literally a reason that a Japanese general was given by a rabbi in WW2 for why the Nazis hated Jews... so though it's not a feature of all Jews by a long shot I think it fits into the Jewish themed coding. And I'm really glad you made this, this is a conversation I've been wanting to approach for a bit, you didn't hit all the angles that I want to see discussed on this, but this is a really great video, and I'm so glad you made it.
@madnessinanydirection6337
7 ай бұрын
Still manifesting ports of VC2 and VC3 after all these years
@romawar
7 ай бұрын
It's called PPSSPP
@madnessinanydirection6337
7 ай бұрын
@@romawar I was hoping that they'd port it before I'd have to learn japanese to play VC3 without having to apply a half-complete english patch
@romawar
7 ай бұрын
@@madnessinanydirection6337 i haven't even noticed the "half-completeness" of english patch, it has pretty much everything you need translated
@richadoruisuthegod3674
7 ай бұрын
you can play the main story and alot of side content with the english patch@@madnessinanydirection6337
@firefail105
5 ай бұрын
nah, i heard that in 2nd and 3rd, the grind is huge, compared to PC-available 1st and 4th
@nickbooze9766
7 ай бұрын
I'm glad we can hold our media to the uniquely high bar of not doing "catgirls in camps"
@leogazebo5290
7 ай бұрын
I really wish VC2 and VC3 gets a remaster or at least a port to modern systems. I love the series especially the colors.
@alishahellewaage6175
7 ай бұрын
I finally understand why Valkyria Chronicles is my favorite 8/10 game in terms of story.
@vazzaroth
7 ай бұрын
I'm that someone! Man, I've never been more happy about the 2nd video I've seen from a newly subbed creator. I was one of 2 ppl that pre-ordered this game at GameCrazy within Hollywood video. The other person was there with me when I picked it up, because it was my best friend who drove us there. The employees were so entertained by that, and it's one of my top games of all time. I see SO little discussion of this. Now do a Bumpy Trot one lol
@romawar
7 ай бұрын
Oh my god, i thought this video was like months old, but it's actually 2 days old. I am so surprised and happy, keep up the good work. I am a huge fan of Valkyria series, having 100%-ed parts 1 and 2, and I really love to see videos that research the topic of the game. Thank you for your video!
@onezerotwo
7 ай бұрын
hold on learning the guitar so I can start my new bad CATGIRL DEATHCAMP
@dmman33
7 ай бұрын
Thanks for this. Game criticism is VERY important, and you do some of the best work with games most critics ignore. Games, as an art form, are in a dialectic between narrative/context and systems/mechanics. IMHO, the best games are ones that play with both of these elements, which Valkyria Chronicles certainly does-though with debatable success. But said debatable success allows for further iterations-that’s what this art form is! TLDR more plz (Inc VC5 and bringing 2 and 3 off the PSP and to the US!) ALSO: Look, I’m Jewish and I tend to just avoid WW2 as a setting entirely, preferring the 17th Century “Pike and Shot” to 18th-19th Century Linear Warfare and the Age of Revolutions to WWI to post-World War I as those allow for a balance of interest and distance. Valkyria Chronicles does something interesting with Anime WW2 and I appreciate it. I appreciate the juxtaposition for its own sake. BUT having ripped off the WW2 band-aid, anime-style creators like SEGA-and hopefully more!-should look into other eras as well, being both more colorful in all senses and more distance allowing for harder narrative gut punches with less potential justified blowback.
@psyivy9169
7 ай бұрын
Great vid! Own it on steam, but i haven't thought about this game in a decade, so it was cool to be reminded of it. World war two with a beach scene, sure is one of the quotes of all time
@Ivyzord
7 ай бұрын
…isn’t Galia mostly like Poland? A little country stuck in between two empires? Location of the camps? Even some details like how the place looks, bread being a staple of food and the name Alicia being used in Poland. I love this game, btw
@CarrotConsumer
7 ай бұрын
Gallia is what the Romans called Gaul/France. It's an amalgamation of a bunch of places, Poland, Belgium, Finland, etc. The devs were Japanese and like most anime writers are far less concerned with the minutia of European culture and history than Europeans and their descendants are. You see a similar treatment of Asia by westerners.
@Skasaha_
7 ай бұрын
@@CarrotConsumer For bonus points all the Gallian tanks are pretty blatantly German.
@Ivyzord
7 ай бұрын
@@CarrotConsumer I meant the Galia from the game. I understand that it’s an amalgamation of different vaguely european traits. I still feel a close connection to Poland’s position, stuck between two huge nations ect.
@HoppouChan
2 ай бұрын
@@Ivyzord I can absolutely see how you can feel that. Personally, I got more Belgium/Netherlands vibes. Neutral nation that tried to stay out of the conflict but got invaded anyways (twice), taking some names from Dutch towns (also windmills). I also think it works more in terms of the camps, as Fouzen was very obviously not a Deathcamp, but a Slave Labour camp massacred by the retreating army
@Skasaha_
7 ай бұрын
There are characters with Japanese names from the setting's 'far east', so I don't think the idea of the black hair being a reference to Japanese people is particularly valid. I don't see many people talk about this series and it's one of my favourites, so thanks for diving into the first game's themes like this.
@bramweenink7697
7 ай бұрын
As a big fan of VC i always enjoy new vids about the series. But i have a small thing to say about the somewhat weird tone of the plot, which was mostly a result of the Translation/Localization team. Over the whole they made the Militia sound a lot less profession by removing much of the professional military lingo used in the cutscenes and such. There were also a lot of little personal growth and perspective that got lost in Translation. Alicia not wanting to fight in the Militia and keeping her bakers scarf as that is what she'd rather be doing. And Welkin being a lot more confident in his abilities, But not wanting to join the military to get away from his fathers legacy, And having complicated feelings about ending up as a tank commander just like his father. If anyone here wants to see someone break down all of these little details, the channel Japan Day Tripper is currently doing a stream series about the translation.
@lancerguy3667
2 ай бұрын
VC2 is worth considering for trying to fit even more shonen anime tropes while still keeping its tone and focus… to mixed results. The end result is a game whose plot is, almost literally, JUST the plot of Yu-Gi-oh! GX… with marginally more ethnic cleansing.
@ninjabunny9526
7 ай бұрын
8:46 i dont need to persecute Ranulf bc hes already persecuted enough by the game devs with how bad his stats and availability are in PoR and RD
@ДмитрийЮстратов
6 ай бұрын
30:36 You know, I awaited to see something from 3rd part and this reaction… yeah. Boy, Valkyria 3 is fun game. In all senses of the word.
@ciniapacifica8211
4 ай бұрын
So sad I hope there will be another Valkyria chronicles game..
@podemosurss8316
7 ай бұрын
Valkyria Chronicles is one of my favourite games, so thanks for this video.
@wfb.subtraktor311
7 ай бұрын
While I know that isn't what was meant, but saying that Racism stemming from Trauma is "justified" is wrong. It is "understandable" as in one being able to retrace the logical steps that led the person to have their racist beliefs, but it is not a just view. If I got mugged by someome with 9 fingers instead of 10 and I would start assuming all 9-fingered people are evil muggers you wouldn't call that justified.
@Rosencreutzzz
7 ай бұрын
Yeah, that's why I put justified in quotes, generally. It's "justified" within the game/in the view of the characters in it.
@c2HitsButtons
7 ай бұрын
"Justifications" are seldom just, in fact.
@Joe-lr9ou
7 ай бұрын
This trope is also pretty harmful as it creates and enforces a narrative that discrimination stems from individuals and not the systems which they live in.
@wfb.subtraktor311
7 ай бұрын
@@Rosencreutzzz I think you forgot that here then, no biggie, just wanted to point it out. Anyway, thanks for the vid, it was a very good backdrop to cleaning my kitchen and very insightful!
@smileyp4535
7 ай бұрын
@@wfb.subtraktor311 I think they got it, but I agree making it explicit that it's NOT justifiable even if the game seems to act like it is, is something worth being more specific about than not, but that was what he was saying Edit: plus not to mention the who part about how even if the Darcsen did somehow do something bad in the past it wouldn't make it ok now to persecute them, the game frames things like "if this *did* happen well that's definitely not ok, but oh wait it actually didn't" when the point is, "even if it DID and it WAS bad, that doesn't make genetic descendants responsable, or any less capebable of learning"
@cheesepuffsthings
7 ай бұрын
I played this game way back when it first came out, and didn't buy the DLC (because parents) so there wasn't any beach episode in my multiple playthroughs. I only experienced it years later, and by that time my impressions of the game had long set in so it didn't change anything for me. Though I can see how having it included at default could mess with the tone of the whole narrative. I had just paid it little mind since it wasn't part of *my* VC experience.
@koffyninja7
7 ай бұрын
"i hope at least someone has had thoughts like these stuck in their head for half a decade and enjoyed this one" it was me thank you now to finally get around to playing the 4th game
@Eltener123
7 ай бұрын
1:23 you mean the Belkan War from Ace Combat?
@BellePepprs
7 ай бұрын
Listening to me made me realize I was all too okay with treating the Darcsen-related soldier traits as part of the world, quirks of gameplay. I would effectively segregate out Darcsen groups in the squad for more effective combat. The game made me simulate systemic racism
@FippeFi
7 ай бұрын
Do you have passing thoughts on how Rosie could've been written better, or are the issues with her character more on the pacing than her story itself? Should the game have had a spotlight on a character who is racist *and* doesn't 'get better'? Great video overall, I'm interested to hear if you've got thoughts on this, or further reading recommendations, since writing on sensitive issues like this is quite difficult to find good guidance towards.
@nbkhnzzr
7 ай бұрын
I actually quite liked the Darcsen being Indigenous to the lands they are being oppressed within. I think while the statelessness of the Jews and Roma was integral to their persecution, I often find myself ignoring things like that because I genuinely believe the atrocities would've happened to the same extent without such overarching "justifications" or preconceptions. Simply because there are just so many, that if one didn't exist, another one of the justifications would be propped up. Neo-Nazi's love to move the goal posts on everything. If an oppressed group is not indigenous, they say they were stateless. If they were indigenous, then those same Nazi's claim they were rightfully conquered by their superior forces. Pointless exercise to play with them, really.
@jirojhasuo2ndgrandcompany745
7 ай бұрын
Since you discuss alot of things about Civ. I suggest you to take a look at CivIV mod: Realism Invictus and how it deviates alot in terms of progression and national identity but still keeps the spirit of Civ.
@Ralkern
7 ай бұрын
I liked this game as a kid because pew pew and anime action cutin silly one liners. I liked the game as a teen because hey look at all these cool characters. I likedthe game up until yesterday because its story was a unique experience. I like the game today because in an alternate timeline it features a seriously told catgirl holocaust. Thank you.
@lhfirex
7 ай бұрын
This is a game I got into cause I'd heard "it's fun to play if you like strategy RPGs, it's different from the usual Fire Emblem styled stuff" and expected a pretty simplistic story about anime WW2 that would ignore the atrocities of that war. It was good to see that they instead acknowledged historical persecution of Jews and Roma, and used it to be more self aware about (in particular) Japanese racism. I mean it's not perfect, but my experience living over in Japan is that the country is surprisingly racist in some ways, and a big part of that is systemic, but it enables individual racism to go unpunished at the same time. VC's story, at least in the first game, seems to have been written by people who genuinely believe in anti-racism, and that should definitely be applauded in any media, but especially media coming from a country with an ethnic supermajority that's rife with a lot of casual racism and discrimination.
@FoxTrotPenguin
7 ай бұрын
Hey first time viewer of your channel, just gotta say starting out the actual discussion of the work by swapping to the Important Business voice to say "The artist has draw boobs before, but don't worry!!! He had nothing to do with the plot at all! Also all the designs are incredibly tame anyway" seems incredibly weird and pointless except to point out that they've drawn porn before, which....a lot of artists have especially people you see doing designs for rpgs like this. Just a strange thing to throw in at the start that feels incredibly dismissive of their work and didn't need to be there since nothing in the game has anything to do with that and your stated reason is to not have to deal with youtube getting mad about it but I don't think the robot running the surface level check is going to google and artists name you said in the video and find their works that aren't in the video you make (and also not in the game you're talking about). Bizarre shit, really.
@LeftyPlaat
7 ай бұрын
good use of the embassy theme form Mission Impossible for N64 and the rest of it of course; now to play some Hoi4!
@kamikazemelon787
Ай бұрын
KATAWA SHOUJO MENTIONED
@tiagghho
7 ай бұрын
Great video
@armelior4610
7 ай бұрын
Overall the darcsens could represent any number of persecuted group... but there is one specific plot point that narrows it down for me. The whole "this people did something bad hundreds of years ago" really reminds me of the old "justification" for the christian persecution of jews, even if Jesus was a jew himself which I never understood why it didn't matter. Maybe it's my own ignorance but I don't know other groups with an "historical original sin" that gives an excuse for hatred like this. But it has more to do with religion than strict racism at first and there was nothing about religion in the Valkyria setting so...
@slyseal2091
7 ай бұрын
I know this is a nuclear minefield of a topic, but as far as I've been taught, informed, however you might put it, the Holocaust had little to nothing to do with religion, other than that german christians were sufficiently big of a group that the evil moustache man appeased them to stop them being a rallying point for rebellion (i.e. "what if we're next?"). I haven't played Valkyria Chronicles and don't know how much of a focal point this is, but the Darcsen association of "mining monopoly" is the closest parallel for the main propaganda item of the evil red cross, "financial monopoly". With this video being my only context for the imperial goals, their McGuffinite mineral being the actual, """profane""" reason for invading Gallia can also be seen as a parallel in that the Axis leadership only really cared about expansion, with an ideology that just acts as a sockpuppet for whatever might be best at driving military expansion/support. I'd originally wanted to say that we should respect the idea that this isn't WW2 specific commentary on racism, but man is it hard when the parallels are so close to being name-swaps. So to compress my words into a response to your idea, it doesn't matter that Jesus was a Jew because Jesus doesn't matter in the first place. It should also be noted that I do not know: Do imperials care about ideology? Did their leadership drink their own kool-aid? Do these Valkyrie characters have agency beyond "help my nation"? Do these Valkyries characters drink the leadership koo-aid?
@giantflyinghog3550
7 ай бұрын
I feel like I need to actually finish the game before I watch this.
@justaworthlessman5945
6 ай бұрын
Well, i didn't though this game was so "deep?", I think I'll give it another try
@ethantaylor9613
7 ай бұрын
I wonder if you would like Ring of Red. Despite the poor translation, it’s got some pretty interesting cold war stuff going on in it.
@Unsei15
7 ай бұрын
Was not expecting to ever see a video talking the themes of oppression and rascism from one of my most favorites games but man am I happy for it.
@Overdoseplus
Ай бұрын
The part the dialog is off is really bad localization. A lot of scenes and lines JP is completely different from EN.
@ericweisseman
3 ай бұрын
Yeah, it does a serviceable job with the racism plot, but am I the only one dissatisfied with it and most everything else? It's almost like whoever they had writing it never picked up an actual book on any of these topics that wasn't shallow pop-his schlock. I've always heard people praising this series, so I might be guilty of high expectations. But the history and military aspect lose much of their appeal to a nerd like me when the war plays out like it does with the flimsiest justifications beyond "plot". Now the Groundless manga, that's VC if it were actually good. Relatively nuanced tones of prejudice and racism, grounded in an understanding of history and how the military actually works at the tactical and operational level. *Chef's kiss*
@jord.an6123
7 ай бұрын
Best video about the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians that purports to be about the anime holocaust.. That 35:02 text hit me like a tonne of bricks. Thinking of the 2 million people of gaza
@Madhattersinjeans
7 ай бұрын
People picking favourite ethnic groups in modern conflicts they know little about is a trend I am not a huge fan of.
@jord.an6123
7 ай бұрын
Me neither, man@@Madhattersinjeans edit: You're welcome to disagree with me and say I'm reading subtext where none is. But if your criticism is "why u no think of the people that are doing the genocide?" then no i'm not going to engage. Also its a horrific time right now. You got something to say, say it with your chest.
@black_thunder2159
3 ай бұрын
honestly, when someone love this game's lore & story, usually they're only used to westernized representation of heroic war stories, instead of actual histories... there's so much thing awful about this style of Japanese action worldbuilding, much like Ace Combat or CoD, noone else matters but mc, and that tickles me too much than it should to the point its annoying & sad. "Squad 7 broken through the line!" okay yeah sure buddy, completely ignoring other nameless Gallian efforts. Its less of a warstory but exagerating & glorifying the victories of Squad 7 (players), justifying their accomplishment through acts of 'heroic kindness' & patriotic act. do u remember Irene Ellet? the news lady who said she wants to write uncensored news, but if u read all of her texts, she just mentions victories of Squad 7 & Gallia governments in general, if that's isn't ironic censorship & Squad 7 sponsorship idk what. overall, world building wise, its crap. but gameplay is pretty cool.
@Kethploy
3 ай бұрын
There are a lot of battles in this game that make me go, "Huh, did we just win that ??"
@yeahbuthow2005
Ай бұрын
What the fuck are you even talking about 😭
@TheStilf
7 ай бұрын
While I get the argument about not making the jewish aligory a bunch of cat people I am reminded of Maus. Which depicted them as mice. So yeah, I dont think its bad depicting a group of people as cat people.
@ruthgeorgeholt5680
7 ай бұрын
Loving the HoI music
@lolailo2199
7 ай бұрын
It's a shame the latter games don't focus as much on this part of the lore
@t34tanker67
4 ай бұрын
Honestly i think catgirls would be more believable compared to those uniforms.
@joecrazy9896
5 ай бұрын
The Imperials have more of a Holy Roman Empire feel to them. Well, if the HRE survived into the World Wars.
@nickmargaritis3263
Ай бұрын
🎉
@sweracoon7931
7 ай бұрын
The UwU-fication of Dachau? What in the actual fuck have I stumbled into?
@artmanxp
7 ай бұрын
How do you feel about VC4 watering down if not show the Danson racism
@besacciaesteban
7 ай бұрын
The hate of Rosie is not misplaced, in some deeper level her mind recognized that he was powerless against her agressors so she turned to the ones she could excersice submission and power upon. With the added benefit of complying with social mandates and the benefits such compliances provide. Rosie of course can't see this, her subconvious defense mechanism hides her powerlessness and the injustice of it and only offers what it looks like justified hate. She needs therapy 😂
@nadiaromantini8836
7 ай бұрын
>her hate is not misplaced >explains exactly why it is misplaced
@besacciaesteban
7 ай бұрын
@@nadiaromantini8836 it's not misplaced because it goes exactly towards where her mind wants it to, even if she doesn't realize it.
@marcelinio9988
7 ай бұрын
Wihle, I get that the Implecation that the percecution aginstst the Darcen wound be justified if they wher actuly responsibel for the calematy is not a good one I would offer a different perspectiv on this. It is not uncommen that the an alredy persecuted group gets used as a scapegoat for when bad things are happening. Even or especially if the bad thing happening is actuly the fault of the ruling class. E.g. "the Jews are responsible for Germanys defeat in WW1". Has absolutely no basis in reality but that didn't stop the Nazis form poclamig it so. Heck some Jews thought that they would be spared the worst of it because they had an Iron Cross so surely they were not the traitors and tagets of the Nazis wrath* (on a side tangent it realy anoys me if WW1 Germany gets Nazi coded especially because of things like the fact that the German/Prussin military was more than happy to pinn an Iron Cross to the cest of a Jewish person. Because ther were many things worng with the upper eccilos of the Greman army back then there was a genneral practice in the prussin state to react to manpower shortages with less persecution of margelised people groups. With the first world war being the mother of all manpower shortages an concetet effort was made to eliminate the remaing notions of Jews as second calss citizens**) It of cose didn't. Given that the revelation of the real reson of the calamity coms after both the concentration camp and the desecration of the memorial service if I remember right I feel like enough of an effort was made to cast the racism as somting bad regardless of who is resposibel for somting nasd wich happend thouseds of years ago. In fact the highlighting of anoter kind of injustis through wrongful blame might be a good thing. Also I get spoilers and all but why did you not even metion the memorial desecration I feel like it would have bean a grate exampel of sever racisem diffret to Rosis how even at the start of the game would probably not have don something like that. * This is just somting I remembered form history class in school I am not sure I have ever seen a more reputabe sorce than I remember somebody making that anecdoat ** Agin I have no concret sorce here although the 1920s Germany was a pretty good place for Jews in comparison to e.g. Frace is a more well documetet fact and that tolerece had to come from somewhere. Also I remember at least 1 textbook drawing a parallel betwen prussian manpower and tolerance towards Jews (in matter of laws ) Additional context I went to school in Bradenburg Germany.
@philippobitz2592
7 ай бұрын
Okay, so some units in Valkyria Chronicles are racist and have a trait that gives them -40% defense if they are mixed in with units they are racist towards. Meaning the racist unit is much more likely to be killed in action. The unit being discriminated against suffers no penalties from being in the same group as said racists. So when do we get to the part where you are incentivized to segregate your units that you mentioned?
@Twisthle
7 ай бұрын
Usually, when someone plays videogames, they try their best to avoid having negative effects on their characters because they, well, affect things in a negative way.
@nobodysanything2330
7 ай бұрын
🎽-🔝
@benjaminlefkowitz9463
7 ай бұрын
That game should not have been made - approaching the Holocaust from a shallow anime plot was atrocious to play through.
@zaper2904
3 ай бұрын
This game had the balls to actually tackle the subject (and pulled it off acceptably imo) unlike all of the "serious" WW2 games I know of that never mention even so much as an allusion to the subject due to fear of backlash.
@edsturle
7 ай бұрын
Great video as always. Free Palestine!!
@serenedoge9920
7 ай бұрын
“UwUification of Dachau.” Bro, I just woke up and it’s still too early to drink. Why would you do this?
@PoolNoodleGundam
7 ай бұрын
Had to pause the video, break open the liquor cabinet, and down about 50ml of Shanky's after that line dropped
@bonehead5463
5 күн бұрын
Oh dear lort, as I write this, it’s plenty late in my day, I’m eating chili, and I suppose I’d better grab the bourbon before I hear this line. Just preordered the remastered edition off lrg this morning, at the last possible minute. Looks like I’m in for something heavy as hell disguised as something more innocent?
@bonehead5463
5 күн бұрын
Yep, I need to drink too after that. What have I done
@lucyrukentropft9385
7 ай бұрын
Catgirl concentration camps? What is this, UK healthcare system?
@ThePlayerOfGames
7 ай бұрын
That level of third degree sick burn requires treatment at a specialist clinic but it's closed coz they sent all the specialists 'ome cuz they forregn innit
@renatocpribeiro
7 ай бұрын
It's interesting that the idea of a foreign people creating a new homeland by expelling the old occupiers and mythologizing that event fits more Japanese history with the Ainu than as a generalized pseudo-European history. I'm far from knowledgeable enough to do anything with that idea though.
@cassidyarnold505
7 ай бұрын
settler colioislm
@thezipcreator
7 ай бұрын
@@cassidyarnold505 colonialism ❌ colioislm ✅
@chillinchum
7 ай бұрын
I sincerely believe that members of the dev team used European war crimes as a subtle criticism of Japan's own war crimes. See, even more so than in the west, as the aggressors, japan's population generally doesn't acknowledge those atrocities, so I've been told. So depicting those directly likely would have been seen as a bad idea, marketing wise. Otherwise, they'd be pointing fingers at Europe for the same things they did. Even if that were the case, boy did they really make a hard depiction that I so greatly appreciate.
@CarrotConsumer
7 ай бұрын
They just used a popular historical event as inspiration for an anime story. It's not an allegory for anything.
@VultureSkins
7 ай бұрын
@@CarrotConsumerdid they tell you that lol
@kingvan7872
7 ай бұрын
Somewhat a spoiler but there's an interesting implied bit with the desert ruins where the entire landscape and ruins are pockmarked with holes and looked melted in places. Which are consistent with the weaponry the Valkyria use and since the magic in setting is by blood and the Darcsens don't have magic powers. The implication is that the "Darcsen Calamity" was the devastation caused by the Valkyrur in their invasion who then did some revisionist history and blamed their victims for it to further legitimize their conquest.
@czarkusa2018
7 ай бұрын
It's an analogy for the nuclear attacks on Japan and how atrocities in China+Korea were fine but that's bad.
@jonathanmarth6426
7 ай бұрын
@@czarkusa2018 Please elaborate how exactly the game alludes to and then justifies the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Korea and China. Because believing that dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime isn't mutually exclusive with acknowledging the horrors that happened in the Japanese occupied territories.
@juhaniheinonen6132
7 ай бұрын
10:50 Witcher is actually a rather poor example since the racism of the setting is actually well built. It isn't just "elves have pointy ears" while it often boils down to it, the reasons behind the racial conflict is much more diverse than they look different. Neither the humans or the elves are native to the continent, but the elves arrived much earlier and on purpose, while the humans arrived later, but by accident. There are two distinct elvish cultures, the Aen Elle who live on another plane (The Wild Hunt and Avallac'h for example) and Aen Seidhe the elves of the continent. The elves of the setting were and are genuinely racist towards humans, seeing humans as lesser beings, viewing humans like animals rather than people. This stems generally from the fact that the elves are naturally magically aligned, longer lived, tall and fair while humans in general are dirty, brutish and short lived without any natural magical aptitude. The Aen Seidhe first saw humans in a sympathetic light and thought they could civilize men to some extent, they failed to do so and their civilization was turned to ash by said humans. Now they are the underdogs of the setting. The Aen Elle are genocidal imperialist elf-supremacist slavers, who seek to dominate everything they can. Most humans fail to see the difference and to most of them, the elves are one big group which would enslave and annihilate all humans given the chance, like the Wild Hunt tries to. In one of the books, there is an elven memorial site with statues, one of them is a mixed race couple, Ciri's ancestors. Although the human of the pair wasn't actually sculpted, but implied (which should be a huge enough honor to a human) to be there because it would have been a disgrace to spend such expensive materials on a mere human, and the elf is seen as a race traitor. Avallac'h also fabricates human historical evidence as a way to protect the hidden memorial site, and just because he thinks it's really funny. I'm obviously not doing the series enough justice here, but it does have genuinely good depiction of racial and cultural prejudice and oppression, and it isn't just black and white either. The series shows a a terrifying world where people live in constant fear, suspicion and superstition (Not too far off from reality). And at the heart of it, it shows that the cruelty is ultimately unnecessary and evil no matter who is the perpetrator, which I think is a good message.
@LordViruscide
7 ай бұрын
I have two criticisms of an otherwise pretty good look at the game A: The Beach Episode's placement The Beach Episode isn't part of the core story by default. It's a secondary mission that gets placed in that position after the player pays in-game money for. Plus it sets up an emotional gut punch if the player is psychotic enough to buy new missions as they are available, that you go from the bright cheerful beach to the absolute lowest point of the narrative showing the barbarity that the Empire is inflicting on Innocents. B: The reliability of ingame documents. Once the rug pull occurs and you learn that the Valkyria were the super-assholes rather than the Darcsen and they caused the Calamity, you can't take 33:41 as an objective fact any more. It's in-universe propaganda that was established by the Valkyria to make them look like Sensible Liberators and the Darcsen as Crazy Weirdoes.
@LilFeralGangrel
7 ай бұрын
Listening to this video, Valkyria Chronicles seems to be much better at dealing with racism and bigotry then most other Japanese media, quite frankly most other media in general. Sure they stumble a lot but the attempt is appreciated. Largo as the fence sitter that makes it worse and actively enables bigotry is a depiction i don't see very often. As you mentioned Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, one of my core issues with them, is that the games should be about ableism and classism but they tried to make it about race, and failed at all of the above. I actually have wanted to write something about it because it's a long held frustration of mine (fun games tho)
@joeldipops
Ай бұрын
The way it had Largo as someone who's not aggressively racist, but consistently goes along with it anyway dropped my jaw - so rare to get that in media like this.
@thesperglord3376
7 ай бұрын
This fills the Valkyriachronicles analysis shaped hole in my heart.
@orangelunacy
7 ай бұрын
Being a smut artist really isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. Chris Sanders, for example, has put out quite a few very horny pinup drawings, and he's also one of the main creators of Lilo and Stitch.
@yurisonovab3892
7 ай бұрын
Weird puritanical notions that make it bad to draw boobies, but acceptable to draw absurd violence.
@Nothing-1w3
7 ай бұрын
Yeah i don't really get what that bit was all about. Like the guy draws porn? Why try to make a big deal out of that?
@psyivy9169
7 ай бұрын
As a smut artist myself, I thank you for being sane about this. The funny thing about this is even the "nonsmut" artists, if they went to art school, almost inevitably spend hundreds of hours drawing naked people, as part of their classes. Because you need to know anatomy to draw human good.
@coobk
7 ай бұрын
its the same with the demonisation of people who 'sell their bodies' everyone sells their bodies when working... not just sexworkers
@sponge1234ify
7 ай бұрын
I'd give Ros a benefit of the doubt, as his other videos has been rather respectful and intentionally written to tackle topics sensitively, and KZitem *really* is the quintessesial America's anti-booba pro-violence mindset.
@Isvoor
7 ай бұрын
Wait, they were originally going to be cat people? So RWBY wasn't the only one with this idea...
@adambebb99
7 ай бұрын
well it is the only way to get weebs to care about racism
@legitplayin6977
6 ай бұрын
@@adambebb99fair point actually
@eveflash733
4 ай бұрын
What's RWBY?
@dead70
2 ай бұрын
@@eveflash733the most tragically incompetent animated series produced in recent memory, possibly ever
@thebravegallade731
22 күн бұрын
Hold the phone, FE got there first lol.
@instantimagination8163
7 ай бұрын
I think VC deserves a lot of credit for at least trying to tackle the Holocaust given that most actual WW2 games seem to try and avoid it.
@zaper2904
3 ай бұрын
Seriously for all the bloviating real "serious" WW2 games make whether that be your CoDs or your HoIs I honestly think Valkyria Chronicles is the only game I know of that actually attempts to tackle the Holocaust.
@veto_5762
7 ай бұрын
Ah yes... I still remeber playing vc2 blind thinking it was "ww2 fe", these games can go from typical anime tropes to direct allusions of real world tragedies and events Discovering one of my fav units had a "Darcsen hater" trait and hearing one of my companion talk about "Imperial con camps" only to later go to typical school anime plots was both incredibly hysterical and kinda funny
@Hell_O7
7 ай бұрын
I remember finding it odd that the game suddenly introduces a rival character from other class and make such a big deal winning the tournament arc is for the class, despite already pushing back an actual army consisting of valkyrie-lites lmao.
@humblemariner3522
7 ай бұрын
VC2 is something that can only be believed by seeing it
@veto_5762
7 ай бұрын
@@Hell_O7 or the fact that Galia'sarmy is so stretched thin that they decide to send a bunch of cadets with only a few months of proper training (from the worst class in the only military academy in all of Galia might add) to protect THE ACTUAL HEAD OF STATE
@Hell_O7
7 ай бұрын
@@veto_5762 Even more fun to know that the previous MC from the first game is just there in the background, not doing much to directly do anything.
@mutopis
7 ай бұрын
The mention how Darksens bigotry and stereotypes being based on their environment and occupation reminded me of an article about the Buraku (untouchables) [look for the article BBC News: "Japan's hidden caste of untouchables"]. I wonder if they used this material as the basis to write about discrimination.
@Felixicity
4 ай бұрын
Here from the Bret Devereaux Fireside that mentioned your videos! This was a really interesting look at the game, but god that line "the human mind was not made to comprehend the uwu-ification of dachau" made me wheeze and actively recommend the video to some friends. Excellent work here!
@WraithMagus
7 ай бұрын
3:49 I want to see you make a video on Kantai Collection/Azur Lane historiography so bad, now... ("And here we have Inazuma, a destroyer (personified as a little girl, of course) that is portrayed as a bleeding-heart softie who even wants to 'save the enemies' aww... because her captain was willing to follow the rules of war and not just machine-gun enemy survivors in the water like all the other waifus.")
@Hell_O7
7 ай бұрын
I remember VC2 having two Darcsen characters with very different reactions to the racism, despite both also being the smart glasses stereotype. One used his talent to prove them wrong with bold stance and direct words and action, while the other quietly accept it and avoid confrontation. And I thought that was neat. Edit: Typo
@leogazebo5290
7 ай бұрын
Oh and that girl that quietly accept and avoid confrontation was supposed to fall in love with the VC2 MC but it was cut, but remnants of that plot line remains in the game.
@AlbusVacuus
7 ай бұрын
@@leogazebo5290 which cast member had her love interest arc with Avan cut? Haven¡'t heard that before. Also been a while since I played the game..
@leogazebo5290
7 ай бұрын
@@AlbusVacuus Mischlitt, my source is I made it the F- just joking my source is the VC2 artbook. In the interview they mentioned it, my guess is she falls for Avan after saving her family but doesn't realize what love is and become a psychologist.
@AlbusVacuus
7 ай бұрын
@@leogazebo5290 oh cool thanks
@leogazebo5290
7 ай бұрын
@@AlbusVacuus don't mention it, I'm always happy to talk about VC2 to others. Cheers mate...
@b.e.654
7 ай бұрын
36:27 the beach episode was DLC originally.
@blueman013
7 ай бұрын
Wahoo new Rosencreutz video!
@congquypham8718
7 ай бұрын
3:33 AAAAnd I though it's just another WW1 with WW2 aesthetic
@HairTrigger223
7 ай бұрын
I've seen the Darcsen as at least partially a reference to Korea and the kind of shit Japan did to that country for centuries.
@thequickrundown721
7 ай бұрын
kind of funny that an anime game is somehow one of the most tactful depictions of the holocaust
@BrorealeK
7 ай бұрын
Rosie's racism reminds me of the strange and frankly horrifying style of antisemitism that came out of some people eastern europe after ww2. This attitude of "we are the only real victims." If I recall correctly there was one late Soviet artist who made some abysmal art depicting the Nazis and Jews collaborating to kill Russians. There's, uh, something to say about twisted trauma in all that.
@tennoryu2794
3 ай бұрын
Well Rosie's feelings are a little more personal as the Darcsens her family had hidden from Imperial forces ended up killing her family when they thought that they were going to be betrayed. It's a blink and you miss it moment in the game. The anime series actually goes into it. One of many reasons that I find the anime's portrayal of the story to be more coherent then the game version.
@nathanielzarny1176
7 ай бұрын
Thanks for covering this game, youve made my day. Most of your problems come from implications that you make up though. Like the lore you cite isnt the actual history, thats the narrative that the people know. The calamity was made up by the valkyria in order to later justify their conquest. The game is not saying that the og inhabitants were evil, the conquerors were saying that to justify it to later generations. Also the whole racism as a quirk is a implication your making, the quirk rosie has is the hardass, and racism is a part of her character, but not in a way where every sentance she speaks has racism in it. The beath scene is to make us care for isara before stuff happens, and i see the whole incentiviced racism as a psychological flaw with the characters, its their own fault for being this way, and they act accordingly. The 4th game if you ever make a video on it does squad stories that can change these racist or bad traits into not racist ones, showing character growth. Anyways thats it, thanks for the great video, hope you make a video on 4 and how it backs out of its own questions about how nukes can be justified or not.
@antitroller101
7 ай бұрын
Now that I hear it, HOI4 soundtrack really goes hand in hand with the VC series...then again I would not be shocked if there is a VC mod for HOI4
@former_user
7 ай бұрын
this is the third time your channel has blindsided me in the best way possible with the choice of games to make videos about would not persecute ranulf though he's too cool
@dabrickshaw651
7 ай бұрын
Ok i didnt except a valkyria chronicles video.
@chrisdiokno5600
7 ай бұрын
Valkyria Chronicles is great
@jimanyon8143
7 ай бұрын
36:20 "I can point out how they put the chapter about a concentration camp right after the mandatory beach episode, but that's genuinely deranged" Contrary to Americans, whose head explode over any tonal shift, Japanese are more acustomed to it in media. The CC is right after the beach Episode to create a contrast. Black hair is a massive identifier of "Japaneseness". Kids with naturally non black hair get bullied and pressured by schools to dye their hair black. Add pazifismn, technophilia and being from the country where the thinly veiled nuke went off and any Japanese will feel called out.
@st2udent_650
6 ай бұрын
Thanks for the context, Hope more people see this
@MongoIndyleo
7 ай бұрын
Something that I find fascinating about Japanese media is how pretty much every character ever is "eastern" or "western" Take FE7, every character in the game is basically just generic European medieval person. Except for the Sacaens who are mostly just "generic steppe nomads" with a bit of "I study the way of the blade/bushido" tossed in. Or the Trails series, in which every nation is similarly just generic pre-war Euopean people except for Calvard who are a agglomeration of various aspects of Japanese, Chinese, and even Tibetan culture. The Darcsen seem to be a continuation of this. Vaguely eastern people but with this time, they have some of the traits of the victims of the Holocaust. But idk, Japanese/Eastern + Holocaust victims seems like a problematic pairing.
@adambebb99
7 ай бұрын
man, now I want a Rosencreutz vid about trails
@robertnomok9750
7 ай бұрын
You are either one of them or an outsider. Doesnt matter if asian or western. Japanese racism is one of the pillars of their society. Its not typical murican black vs white nonsense. Its just nationalism. Few steps before turning into pre ww2 japan,
@Kasigil0
7 ай бұрын
8:00 tbf real life has wild juxtapositions like that all time
@gilgatomega7249
Ай бұрын
It would be nice to see Vakyria Chronicle's reboot for a more fleshed out story. Also, it was pretty cool that it felt like a more medieval style of the Mobile Suit Gundam series
@PakBallandSami
7 ай бұрын
we making it into the anime video easy clud with this one 🗣🗣🔥🔥
@TNickGuyPerson
2 ай бұрын
The "bad guy Magiot line" is the Siegfried line. A supposedly impenetrable line leading into the heart of Germany in WWII
@tyrakodyrg2511
7 ай бұрын
We eatin' good tonight...
@drsuchomimus
7 ай бұрын
Fantastic video! Really appreciate the fair analysis of my guilty pleasure franchise! I was really dispoainted with how VC4 handled the Darcsens compared to VC1, this video made me appreciate the first game more for all of its flaws.
@MarkusCorvenus
7 ай бұрын
What a blessed way to drive into work. Solid video
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