ROSS’S GAME DUNGEON: YUPPIE PSYCHO

The scariest thing about this is that I need to get sleep and wait to see it until tonight.

Ross used clips from Monster as an example of overacting anime expressions.

It's Over

i could've sworn this game was in the 25 anticipated games video... what a weird thing to get mandela'd by

by the way that video is almost 10 years old.. christ

Congratulations on finishing the episode early!

Does that mean that you will be able to stream something tonight?

Pasternack in the Hell Lane

Lucas gaining super powers and becoming "superman-zombie-jesus" in Indigo Prophecy could be a comparison to use with the whole "fox-anime-girl" twist at the end. But on a second thought it's a completely unfair one because at least Yuppie Psycho starts as a horror-mystery and stays that way for the most part, while Indigo Prophecy just changes completely it's genre. (and is also indecisive of what genre it wants to be)

Also Ross, I think the anime clips you used to express your opinion about anime expressions are kind of a weak example because I've watched a lot of anime starting from the 90's (but stopped especially when "moe" started to become more prevalent), and while I didn't watched the anime you showed, I can say these expressions are completely "tame" and "mudane" compared to... I don't know... Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Sakura Cardcaptor, Saint Seiya, and list goes on... Actually, if you think that the "anime expressions" you showed rubs you the wrong way, I think you've have a heart attack if you try to watch One Piece. And this not a me taking a piss on those examples, it's just that I think you are overreacting a little.

But I have to admit that I have some grudge with some anime-inspired works in general, especially indie games since those tend to lack a dedicated writer. I can see most of them are a labor of love, but love can also be blind as they say. You can see they really love anime, but they seem to treat anime more like a "genre" rather than a medium, and a result they tend to copy a lot of anime tropes to the letter, and the end result is a paradox: It has creativity and heart, but it's also extremely derivative because the creators basically went with the mentality of "I want to create an anime" rather than "I want to create a story/game". And honestly, I find that to be disservice to anime in general, since most classics were heavily inspired by western media (also, Labyrinth and Stargate are proof that Japan didn't invent isekai), so it's okay to be inspired by anime in my opinion, but it's also not an excuse to branch out and think a little more out of the box.

That said, I would also give this game the "Accidental Genius" award. The creator really wanted to have a anime story involving a "cute-demon-fox-girl", but even they know that this cannot exist in a vaccum, so they created this whole "corporate horror" asthetic as a setting for that to happen. But the setting ended up more interesting for the eyes of non-weebs than the narrative they wanted to build, and would be even better in the hands of a writer that knows what they are doing.

I think it makes perfect sense that Ross picked Monster for an example, because for his tastes, it's probably something that he was recommended as a serious show, but he still took issue with the presentation anyway. Dragon Ball, One Piece and Sailor Moon, strength of their storytelling aside, are silly kids' cartoons. It actually is more fitting that they'd go over the top in their expressions, but Ross's whole point is that the entire medium has a tendency to push it past his personal limit. He just has a different level of tolerance for that stuff than a lot of us, and that's fine!

@Kaiosama honestly, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop right from the very beginning, at the notice of the obvious anime style. Kind of kept me from getting immersed into the Kafkaesque throughline the game was going for, though I did enjoy it. Probably would have a better effect on me if another approach was taken. I think it says a certain thing when you evoke a certain art style, and that of anime's has been pretty associated with often absurd, over the top, emotionally upfront works, as an escape of Japan's indirectness and politeness as a society at large. So those expectations were set by the art, and mostly I was held in free fall, mostly just getting stumped by the vibe the game was going for, until the nuttiness reared its head at the end. Then I retroactively understood the tone the game was going for. I mean, I like anime plenty,  but for this tone of story, the mostly cheery appearance of the main characters, besides the worn down workers like Sosa, it's not subversive for me, it's incongruous.