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soraritsuka · 3 months

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“Are you really shocked?”

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aseriesofunfortunatejan · 9 months

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In the past, I've talked about Kodaka's current (to be extra clear, at the time) body of work and its lack of representation of characters outside the gender binary, or characters who fucked with it.

Kodaka's relationship with writing gnc characters has been a hot topic for a while due to the inclusion of Chihiro Fujisaki in Danganronpa 1, a character who, according to any straightforward analysis, was simply written without consideration for the sheer existence of gender non-conformity. Not only is this lack of acknowledgement of queer experiences disappointing coming from an adult - yes, even in 2010, though yes, it being 2010 plays a role in the narrative - but many players felt a connection to elements of Chihiro's experience and felt that their own queer identity/experience had been actively disrespected. Beyond that, there's the Ultimate Imposter in Danganronpa 2 (and later 3), a character whose identity "and gender" are unknown, but it's made pretty clear with every part of his representation and writing that he's really just a guy, who only ever presents himself as a guy, and the inclusion of gender in this description was just to hammer down the fact that he was a complete mystery. (Unlike Genocider Shou from Danganronpa 1, for example, for whom the police had fairly accurate theories concerning her potential profile.)

Later on, after Kodaka left Spike Chunsoft to found Too Kyo Games and started working on multiple new projects, due to having Wiki brain and being a fan from the release of Episode 1, I was in the midst of a small controversy concerning Cutthroat's gender in Akudama Drive. As Funimation's subtitles had a character who had never seen Cutthroat's real face use the neutral pronoun "them" to refer to him, some viewers assumed Cutthroat may have been non-binary. Something else that played a role was the lack of an official translation for the characters' Japanese profiles, and the fact that a few viewers decided to use Google Translate, which mistakenly prompted up the word "gender". This was a mistake due to the machine translator not understanding a line break, and this word was in fact not mentioned in his profile at all. The final nail in the coffin: none of the characters' profiles mentioned their genders. I absolutely do not blame anyone for believing in this theory (and as a headcanon, I definitely respect it,) seeing as there were enough vague elements to make one consider it. Unfortunately, as it turned out, this was another case of not even taking the possibility of gender non-conformity into consideration. This time, the year was 2020. It's very likely that the characters' genders weren't mentioned because you were supposed to look at the characters and think "well obviously, that's a man" "well obviously, that's a woman". (Because Doctor's whole shtick is more of a mess, I won't delve into it for the purpose of this post, but as of very recently the manga artist indulged in a little bit of transphobia in how he referred to her and allegedly thought up her backstory himself - in a way that's honestly just confusing.) As for that aforementioned subtitle, just like the Ultimate Imposter's gender was unknown, this had to do with Cutthroat's anonymity.

It was only on February 25, 2023, that an official profile featuring Cutthroat's gender was released in the manga. No surprise here: he is listed as being male.

So from October 8, 2020, when Episode 1 released, to February 25, 2023, I was left to die on the hill that… no… he's not non-binary, guys… I'm sorry, it's a misunderstanding. Because not only did I receive some insults and was subject to rude reactions, but also because believe it or not, I would actually also have been overjoyed had he been non-binary, as time went, I explained why I believed he wasn't meant to be. This included the explanations above, that factually the idea that he was non-binary stemmed from a misunderstanding, but I also mentioned Kodaka's current known body of work - at the time.

Kodaka had never created a character who was actually gnc. His creations included characters who had clearly been written without gender non-conformity in mind. It's not like his only other work since he founded Too Kyo Games at the time (Death Come True) had non-binary characters either. It just wasn't a thing in his works. Best we had was… Kiibo, the robot from Danganronpa V3…? He has a throwaway line in which he mentions not being for a fact gendered. Because he is a robot. Nothing happens with that, and he is not human, but it did feel a little bit like real life was sort of in the room with us for once.

As such, and because none of us know Kodaka personally, there was no reason to infer that this Japanese man in his forties who had never even tried to imply he cared about trans and gnc identities… cared about trans and gnc identities. I was told it was a bit harsh to claim he didn't care, but I thought it important to present to young queer people who were at risk of being lied to the possibility that this stranger in his forties isn't in fact their friend. I thought it a concept important to take into consideration, when you know, queerbaiting exists. When parasocial relationships exist. And when there are also angrier consumers who assume the worst - that he is in fact actively transphobic - I wanted to clarify my stance that we just. Don't know. And that the information we had pointed towards him probably being an ignorant man who doesn't care about it.

Then comes RAIN CODE. At some point, maybe a few months before the game's release, official character profiles were written in English for the main cast. Although every other character's profile included their pronouns, Halara's, specifically, didn't, and instead very clearly repeated their name where there would have been a gendered pronoun. Despite my general stance, which I made clear in this post, I did have the belief that this meant Halara would use neutral pronouns.

There was no certainty, and I was extremely ready to be disappointed. That being said, there were multiple elements which made it a reasonable assumption; not only did this profile clearly stand out in this way, but I had other reasons to believe it a possibility - notably, Spike Chunsoft's involvement, and the promotional content that made it clear RAIN CODE was being made by the team behind Danganronpa. At this point in time (being 2023), with knowledge of Danganronpa's fanbase and a specific intent to cater to it, it was extremely reasonable to believe that Spike Chunsoft was going to want - or possibly accept, if the idea was Kodaka's in the first place, which I don't know - a token non-binary character. It's yet again a pretty crude way to put it, but by being so deeply involved in the Danganronpa fandom and by having dealt with Spike Chunsoft directly for a while, the time felt right. On top of that, Kodaka's work partner and fellow game creator, Uchikoshi, has demonstrated himself as a proper trans ally. With Uchikoshi having defended gnc identities, and his close relationship to Kodaka, there is a fair assumption to be made that Kodaka may have been influenced somewhat.

And not too long later, Halara's official profile was published on the official site, where one line was added - and this line used the neutral pronoun "they". At this point, it was clear that regardless of what their identity would turn out to be, Halara was going to be presented as a gnc character.

This post is already very long and I'm only now getting to what I wanted to say: I'm glad. I'm not sure I've said it before, but I'm glad.

I haven't played RAIN CODE, so I can't speak to how Halara's identity was presented, if it was good or not, but it's been confirmed to me that they are in fact neither a man or a woman. When I was in Wiki brain mode and taking note of the promotional content for the game, it was genuinely exciting, as someone who has had to look at a lot of Komatsuzaki's designs, to look at Halara as his first non-binary design. To consider the thought that was put into designing and presenting them the way they are. Finally!

This doesn't change the way Kodaka's previous works were written, but it is extremely reassuring to see that things are moving in the right direction. That gnc identities are being taken into account by someone who famously didn't before. That there is good will being extended to people with those identities, who want to see themselves on-screen. Now, here's to hoping that Halara won't be an outlier. That in Kodaka's future works, more gnc/non-binary/trans representation will be found, be it in main or surrounding casts, as a normal option for how a character can be.

That's all I wanted to say.

#long post #jan essay #too kyo games #tookyo games #kazutaka kodaka #spike chunsoft #rain code #master detective archives: rain code

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satoshi-mochida · 3 months

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Kazutaka Kodaka teases ‘Limit x Despair’ title announcement in ‘not-too-distant future’

Gematsu Source

Danganronpa series and Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE creator Kazutaka Kodaka will announce an “insane” new title in the “not-too-distant future,” he said in a tweet today.

“The game I’m working so hard on right now—the scenario is so insane and so enthralling that I end up working more than anything else,” Kodaka said. “Even when things get difficult or troublesome, I end up either working or writing scenarios rather than playing or resting. This may be the first time I’ve become so obsessed with a work. I wonder if I’ll burn myself out. In any case, the announcement as well as release are in the not-too-distant future, so I’d like everyone to look forward to it. And well, I’m tired, so I hope you can cheer me on. #Limit #Despair”

Back when Too Kyo Games announced its establishment in September 2018, it teased four projects in production with concept artworks. Of those four projects, only one has yet to be officially announced—“A Game with a [Kazutaka] Kodaka x [Kotaro] Uchikoshi Joint Scenario! ‘Limit’ x ‘Despair.'” Here is the artwork that was included with the project description:

In December 2023, during an end-of-year interview, Kodaka teased that he was working on an “insane” project that he hopes to announce in 2024.

Kodaka said, “[In 2023], we released Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE, and while in the past I would have been able to take some time off after a project launched, now that I’m the president of a young company, I don’t have any free time, for the sake of our finances, and am already at the critical phase of our next project. Additionally, the project after that is also nearing its critical phase, and new projects are starting up. The reason why I work so hard is because I want to release as many works as possible to the world. We’re not cutting corners with any—if anything we’re putting in more than 100 percent of our effort. When that happens, what’s the result? Naturally, it places a heavy burden on all of our staff. However, the ‘too kyo’ in our company name Too Kyo Games means ‘too crazy.’ We exist to go crazy making new works, and for that reason I will work even harder next year. I will make sure of it. Our next project is particularly befitting of the name ‘too kyo’ (too crazy), being a game that can only come off as insane, and I hope to be able to announce it next year. It’s a game that we’re all extremely passionate about, and are all vomiting blood while making, so please support us when the time comes.”

Zero Escape series and AI: The Somnium Files series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, who works at Too Kyo Games with Kodaka, also teased he was working on something “insane.”

“Sorry that I can’t officially announce it yet, but I hope to announce a crazy-insane title that will go down in video games history during [2024],” Uchikoshi said. “Stay tuned!”

#Kazutaka Kodaka #Kotaro Uchikoshi #Too Kyo Games #Gematsu

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shadowdemon-gd · 9 months

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What the fuck do I even say

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yomigaere · 8 months

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New key visual to go with the new teaser trailer for the Tribe Nine mobage.

Here we've got new looks for Enoki, Santaro and Saori as well as Kazuki, which makes me wonder if all the characters who appeared in the anime will be getting new looks...

#tribe nine #kazutaka kodaka #rui komatsuzaki #too kyo games #yo kuronaka #kazuki aoyama #enoki yukigaya #tsuki iroha #santaro mita #saori arisugawa

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rosenbergi · 11 months

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Ack, I finally finished my dang submission! It’s up on Instagram and Twitter but I’d like to share it here as well ^^

Happy RAINCODE hype!

#master detective archives: rain code #mda: rc #shinigami #yuma kokohead #spike chunsoft #too kyo games #SHINIGAMI TURNED OUT TO BE MY KRYPTONITE FR!#my art style is ALLERGIC to her design #Yuma was super quick but Shingami made this take so long

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ceyarma · 10 months

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Just finished Chapter 0 of MASTER DETECTIVE ARCHIVES: RAIN CODE - Review

(No Spoilers)

I've been a Danganronpa fan since mid to late 2021 to early 2022, I find genuine fun in the franchise and the first one and the series, despite all of its glaring flaws, has always been greatly meaningful to me and helped me through a particularly terrible time in my life.

It is why I decided to check out "RAIN CODE", and as of right now I do not regret it at ALL! It feels so refreshing and nice to have the Danganronpa aesthetics back in what is essentially a new one of these with a completely new setting, genre, characters and a new game engine.

Everything about it feels distinctly Kodaka/Danganronpa to the point where I'd call it a spiritual successor, while the soundtrack has not been anything to write much about as of right now, Masafumi Takada has composed a wonderful theme for the game and that motif plays consistently throughout the "Class Trial" equivalent of the game which is the Mystery Labyrinth as well as background tracks in the main dialogue sections as well.

The gameplay I'd describe to be literally Danganronpa but fully in 3D with more quick-time events, this might be divisive for some, but for me, a player with no real expectations, I was pleasantly surprised at how it was.

The game is quite lighthearted and fantastical in tone, but don't let that fool you, this is still Kodaka, barely into Chapter 1 into the game, this game hits you with a murder plan good enough to rival a V3 one with ease while being distinct enough to feel like it has its own cohesive identity that goes beyond Danganronpa, even under that franchise they were constrained, there's none of that here, they can go fantastical as they want. They are definitely not at all holding back and you'll be able to tell going in, I was definitely not prepared for them to throw the curveball they did it when the game had barely just begun.

Even with the Unreal Engine upgrade, it seems they have stuck to a good visual style that matches that of Danganronpa in both 2D and 3D aspects of it.

It maintains enough style and flourish for me to like it even in the 3D Engine, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

To conclude, this is gonna be fun as hell and I'm truly kind of blown away by what they did here. It seems Dangan is back on the menu, bros.

BONUS: And of course, they reference it!

#rain code #raincode #master detective archives: rain code #yuma kokohead #danganronpa #dr1 trigger happy havoc #spike chunsoft #kazutaka kodaka #too kyo games

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hopeymchope · 3 months

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There is now a tease for Limit x Despair.

I assume you mean just Kodaka's "Xeets" about it. But yeah, I did read those teases from him and from Uchikoshi. I'm really glad it appears to be moving forward...

Kodaka's become quite the hype man, hasn't he? First with the way he hyped up Rain Code as his "masterpiece," and now he's already making a big deal about how enthralled/obsessed he is with his next work, providing his hype for whatever the "Limit x Despair" game is going to be.

#asks #anon #kazutaka kodaka #rain code #limit x despair #too kyo games

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the-ave · 7 months

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Man I really gotta find a time to buy and play rain code.

I really want to but I can’t AAAAGH

#uticahsaysstuff #rain code #too kyo games #I mean it’s from the Danganronpa creator ofc I would play it dangan is a special series for me #but I really want to know how rain code is cuz I hear people say it’s better than dangan #but I gotta learn how to save. I don’t spend a lot but I gotta save save save #don’t want to go too personal either but yea gonna shut up here lol

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verumleonhart · 2 years

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AI The Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative thoughts

Uchikoshi does it again! I liked the first game & this is better in every way. More "detective-y" cases, better puzzles, cooler twists, intrigue & villain, stronger cast, etc. Somnium 1 was amazing, but this title made me regain my faith for Team Zero Escape completely.

#ai the somnium files #mizuki date #AI The Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative #kotaro uchikoshi #team zero escape #mizuki okiura #Akira Okada #ryuki kuruto #tama #Too Kyo Games

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soraritsuka · 9 months

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I rushed to draw this in 2 days so I could enter the Spike Chunsoft contest lol. I'm not like... Incredibly happy with it... but considering I was on such a time crunch I think it came out pretty well. Either way I love this game and I'm happy I got a chance to draw it!

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aseriesofunfortunatejan · 9 months

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Since these all have small fandoms, please consider reblogging this poll so it can get as many votes as possible!

Due to having both the advantage of a recency bias and Spike Chunsoft's involvement, RAIN CODE is not included.

Bias acknowledgement: my followers are Akudama Drive fans. Make sure to reblog after voting so this doesn't put the other IPs at a disadvantage!

I remember World's End Club fans hanging around for a while, but haven't seem them much recently. Death Come True I think will lose, though I really enjoyed it. TRIBE NINE is the only one on the list I'm not a fan of.

#poll #too kyo games #tookyo games #death come true #akudama drive #world's end club #tribe nine

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satoshi-mochida · 10 months

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Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE DLC schedule announced

Gematsu Source

Publisher Spike Chunsoft and developer Too Kyo Games have released the downloadable content schedule for lucid-noir detective adventure game Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE, including details and a release date for the first substory, “Ch. Desuhiko: Charisma Killed the Cat.”

Each of the four upcoming downloadable contents with substories featuring Master Detectives will be available individually for $4.99, or as part of the Season Pass for $15.99. The Season Pass is also included as part of the $89.99 Digital Deluxe Edition.

Get the details below.

■ Downloadable Content #1: Ch. Desuhiko: Charisma Killed the Cat

Release Date: July 27, 2023

Price: $5.00

The first of four downloadable contents, “Ch. Desuhiko: Charisma Killed the Cat,” will be released on July 27, 2023. In this substory, players control protagonist Desuhiko Thunderbolt, a detective with the Forensic Forte of Disguise.

◆ Desuhiko Thunderbolt (voiced by Khoi Dao in English, KENN in Japanese)

A young man with a goofball nature who likes hitting on women under the guise of investigation. Desuhiko’s goal is to become famous as a mystery-solving superstar detective. He carries a huge backpack filled with tools necessary for his disguises.

Forensic Forte: Disguise

In addition to disguising his clothes and face, his voice, height, and weight can also be changed, allowing him to match the target of disguise visually and psychologically.

■ Downloadable Content Schedule

Downloadable Content #1: Ch. Desuhiko: Charisma Killed the Cat – July 27, 2023

Downloadable Content #2 – August 2023

Downloadable Content #3 – September 2023

Downloadable Content #4 – October 2023

■ Version 1.30 Update Patch Notes

There will be a Patch available at launch. The latest patch is 1.3.0. Please make sure you have this patch installed for the best experience.

Patch notes:

Minor text fixes

Adjusted voice and sound effects

Adjusted certain maps, characters, and graphics

Adjusted certain events and text overlaps

Various bug fixes

Launch to eShop functionality (note that this is required for downloadable content)

Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE launched today for Switch worldwide.

Watch the launch trailer below.

Launch Trailer

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

#Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE #RAIN CODE #Master Detective Archives #Spike Chunsoft #Too Kyo Games #Adventure Game #Gematsu

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shadowdemon-gd · 9 months

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I’m gonna fucking kill myself

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yomigaere · 9 months

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New teaser for the Tribe Nine mobage!

#tribe nine #kazutaka kodaka #too kyo games #yo kuronaka #tsuki iroha #kazuki aoyama #Youtube

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guiltypart · 10 months

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Thoughts on Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Chapter 2

For the record I'm writing this after finishing both Chapter 2 and 3. I am spacing these out a bit for the sake of having more posts organization, so not saying anything about Chapter 3 until another post.

So if it wasn't clear in Chapter 1, each of these chapters after 0 is focusing on Yuma teaming up with another Master Detective. Chapter 1 has the Halara chapter, and this Chapter is Desuhiko.

To be clear, Desuhiko is the stereotypical horny gremlin character in the cast, but he's actually a lot more subdued then what the trope usually is. He constantly hits on the female characters (of which there are many, since this chapter happens in a Girl's School), but he's not trying to peek up skirts or anything like that, and while Shinigami keeps calling Yuma a pervert for going into a girl's school, Desuhiko has he much more innocent belief that Yuma is just trying to impress a girl he thinks Yuma likes. It's...kind of nice, having his sort of character not being someone that should be on a watchlist.

Speaking of Shinigami...goddammit she makes it hard to like her sometimes. Yuma is clearly here for work (although he does seem to have some mutual like with client and on-the-website character Kurumi), but she spends all of the time before the Labyrinth insulting him and treating him like some sort of deviant, because she clearly feels entitled to all of Yuma's attention. If the genders were reversed, this would not be nearly as "funny".

Also, while I like the setup and the characters in this mystery...yeah this is the emotional chapter. I feel a little better that Yuma feels a lot worse about the resolution, given how the end of the labyrinths work, so I know that he's not a sociopath, but it's still hard to watch. And because Shinigami is an amoral being, she does not get why this ending is so depressing, which I actually don't hate. Although, I do hope that, if she doesn't change this view, she does eventually understand as respect that the humans she's around think differently.

The Labyrinth this time is different than the Chapter 1 Labyrinth. I did guess what was actually going on once the evidence from the last Disguise was all collected, and it was more obvious once I saw the mystery phantoms, but I don't want to get in more detail so as to keep this spoiler-free. I will say that Desuhiko is the butt-monkey of the Master Detectives, and is clearly not as good a detective as Halara or Yuma (although he does actually have a not-bad reason for it), so Yuma is leading this trek in a way that he didn't have to with Halara. Still Desuhiko can follow the thread of the investigation, and he's the one that figures out the breakthrough that solves the case. He's also emotionally supportive of Yuma in a way that Shinigami can't be.

After the case, however, is where the interesting information comes up. Again, I don't want to give any spoilers, but Kurumi is clearly more important to the world than originally thought, and the very end is an interesting shakeup. I will say one thing, though: in the Profiles section of the menu, characters hat have died are marked as such. Except for a certain character that should be dead after this chapter, that...hasn't happened. It could be because only the characters that Yuma knows have died are marked, but still I'm wondering if it means anything.

#Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE #Rain Code #Chapter 2 #thoughts #Impressions #hopefully spoiler-free #mystery games #video game #Spike Chunsoftt #Too Kyo Games

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