#mini-essay

[centrally-unplanned]

Gonna transplant some discourse over from Twitter about this NYT article on Millennials & Harry Potter:

This is not a good article. It is describing an obviously true phenomenon - Gen Z kids aren't as gung ho about Harry Potter as Millennials are - but attributing that to the fact that the appeal of the series is steeped in the politics of 90's liberalism:

That’s why millennials like Harry Potter a whole lot more than younger generations do. The story captures a worldview that is no longer attractive to young people jaded by the experiences of economic decline, political polarization and spiraling identity politics. They have fallen out of love with Harry Potter because they have fallen out of love with the worldview the series represents. Which is to say that young people have fallen out of love with liberalism.

So this argument is pretty dumb because, well, I've read the books; obviously the politics are not the appeal? But to take this argument seriously, it is pretty dumb for two more objective reasons. One is that Harry Potter is still incredibly popular - something the article itself admits to, even it tries to couch it in riding on the coattails of its Millennial success. But that isn't really true, as Harry Potter is still one of the most read children's books in the Anglosphere. If you are going to say something like:

You don’t see this [decline] with fiction like “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Sales of those books may rise and fall in response to new film or TV adaptations, but those franchises aren’t bound to a particular generation in the way that Harry Potter is bound to the millennials.

You should probably prove that the Lord of the Rings books are selling much better than the Harry Potter books today! But you can't, because while sources disagree (this info isn't public) they are at least tied and Harry Potter is probably selling more. (Let alone the Chronicles of Narnia, lmao) The relative decline from the release-era peak requires no explanation; the same thing happened with Lord of the Rings, which absolutely was catapulted into new cultural relevance by the 2000's movie trilogy.

The other hole in the argument is that while a longer term generational decline is quite possible - maybe Harry Potter won't have the staying power of Lord of the Rings, it isn't as good of a book series after all! - the book's political themes are not going to be the cause of the decline because it had almost nothing to do with its success. After all, the book series was a global phenomenon well outside of the epicenter of 90's liberalism! As Tanner Greer outlines:

Look, I lived in China. I taught English literature there. An entire generation of Chinese kids was obsessed with these books. They were obsessed with them despite the fact that none of the things this essay says about '90s liberalism applied to them. Their political ideals were not, and are not, the political ideals of millennials in America and Britain. Their sense of good and evil is different. Their memory of WWII is different. And yet they loved these novels.

Another commenter in this discussion noted that the series was serialized in Urdu in newspapers in Pakistan! Pakistani readers in, uh, 2002 did not buy into "political liberalism", to put it lightly.

As Greer also comments on, the article is making a hash of both its timeline and its object of reference; it is confusing readers with fandom. The fandom for Harry Potter was a peak of intensity that Millennials experienced that, obviously, Gen Z never will. But fandom is always a pretty small slice of the readership of a book; it does not define its legacy. And in this case, it is a deeply unrepresentative slice, because Harry Potter has the unique honor of being the ur-fandom that shaped the newly-born internet of the 2000's. There are a lot of reasons why this happened that are outside our scope here; but the result was that being an online nerd in ~2005 meant Harry Potter was the foundational point of reference for anyone who was even adjacent to being a nerd. There are probably years where literally the majority of fanfiction being written online (in English) are Harry Potter fics. Gen Z is clearly incapable of experiencing that.

And more importantly, in this era it was a pretty apolitical point of reference. The 2005 internet definitely leaned liberal; but it was not the political battleground nerd spaces would become in the 2010's. The political memes of Harry Potter were generally backdated onto the series as time went on. This stuff:

We interpreted our politics through the lens of the wizarding world, comparing those we disagreed with to the books’ main villain, Lord Voldemort, and carrying signs with slogans like “Dumbledore’s Army” and “Hermione wouldn’t stand for this!” at Women’s Marches.

Is all Trump-era meme shit. They couldn't cause the success of the books unless they had a Time Turner (zing!).

But while the article itself is making a hash of things, there is a very oblique version of this argument around politics that is more fruitful. Why were Chinese and Pakistani kids reading Harry Potter in such droves, after all? Is it because the books were truly that universal in their appeal? To some degree, yes - JK Rowling is no literary savant but she absolutely knows how to spin a good yarn for a children's book. The series could never have maintained its momentum if she didn't. The books aren't good enough to achieve what they did alone though; no book is.

Instead they had the fortune to be published in the 1990's... the peak of the era of Pax Americana that defined modern liberalism. The United States - and therefore culturally the Anglosphere - was at a new height of economic & cultural dominance. The USSR was gone, Hollywood was running roughshod over global film, and the new technology of the internet was spreading across the globe but was primarily housed in the US - supplementing culture but not yet displacing the old centers of cultural power. The Harry Potter books became the most successful books in the Anglosphere, and that definitionally meant they were the most successful books in the world. People in China & Brazil wanted to read them as organic readers, for sure. But they also wanted to be "in the know" about the hot new thing. The thing everyone in this new era of mass media was talking about. You had to read it, because "the whole world" was - and the world had the liberal West at its core.

The world has moved past that now - megahits in China frequently outearn American hits and neither side notices, everyone is now in their own cultural microbubbles of K-dramas or 90's Indie music, and so on. The economics of culture in both within and between countries has changed dramatically. I think it is possible you will "never" have a success quite like Harry Potter again, because the world that enabled it is gone.

Harry Potter doesn't owe its success to the themes of 90's liberalism in the books. It owes its success to the politics of 90's liberalism in the world.

[swampjawn]

Mini-Essay time! Episode 3 of Dungeon Meshi was incredible. Studio Trigger took some really cool creative liberties with this one, and there are so many parts to talk about.

But there's one through line that I want to take a quick look at: This episode was so impressionistic, showing the world through Laios's eyes. The most obvious example is of course the childhood memory sequence where the wild camera movements, loose line work, and stylized color choices give you the impression that you're inside a fuzzy but pivotal childhood memory, but it's also there in more subtle ways throughout the whole episode.

Take for example, the way the living armor moves in the flashback vs modern day. Back when Laios was inexperienced and unprepared, the armor moved like a terminator - quick, robotic, inhuman. The lack of anticipation makes many of its movements startling and unpredictable.

But after skipping ahead to present time, the armor now moves more loosely and sloppily. It's still intimidating for sure, but more like a zombie than a killer robot. It lurches forward with uncoordinated movements and the arms swing clumsily after the rest of the body.

This could signify that the armor hasn't moved in a long time (or even just a different vision from a different key animator) but to me, it most importantly signifies a shift in perspective from Laios. Laios is now much more experienced, has a party that's got his back, and is armed with an insatiable curiosity. (and insatiable tummy rumblies) Where the living armor was previously an insurmountable threat, now it's a puzzle to be solved. How does it work? CAN I EAT IT?

There's so much more to talk about, like how after Laios's big epiphany, he's' suddenly bathed in bright sunlight throughout the entire rest of the episode! This post was adapted from a small piece of this video where I break down the whole episode (or as much of it as I can cram in 10 minutes) so if you enjoyed this, check it out! Thanks for reading.

[firedragon1321]

Everyone else on this planet:

Me: The Kalos region is the most queer-friendly region in the Pokemon World. This is supported by Beauty Nova- the only transfemme Pokemon character- hailing from this region. She canonically underwent an unspecified "transformation", which could be traditional gender reassignment or something aided by the powers of Pokemon. Also, there's Legends Z-A, in which players can wear any outfit regardless of gender, and there's also...whatever Canari and Gwynn have going on. Nobody bats an eye at either of these things. Assuming the Lebanne egg theory is true, Ivor- who I love but is dumb as shit- refers to her with the correct pronouns despite knowing her before she "became" Lebanne. Of course, there's also the fact clothes and hair are gender-locked in X and Y, and the Pokemon Showcases in the anime being girl-only. I know the real-world reasons for this discrepancy. But progress is slow in the Pokemon World, too. Gender-neutral fashion is still an emerging art, and components such as sewing are still seen as feminine-coded (see- Naveen). So Kalos is actually in the middle of a queer revolution that's making baby steps, but the progress is solid. As for the Showcases, they could be based on a much older ritual (I'm making this up- the anime never mentioned where they came from), and they are much less slower to progress due to the desire to embrace this tradition. If we pretend the X/Y anime was earlier than Z-A (assuming they exist in a blended game/anime world), then maybe things are improving with Showcases, too. This now requires me to think of a timeline that must be mapped between the games and anime to combine their worlds. In the beginning, there was Arceus

[introvert-traveler]

Can some people really have a talent for being loved?

I saw this quite of Tana French going around and it made me question it.

How can anyone have a talent for anything like that? Does it mean that they are more love-able for simply existing? Does it mean their personality makes them easier to be loved?

Does it also mean that some people aren’t good at it and never will? How can you really be love-able? Does it mean being carefree? Wearing your heart on your sleeve?

Is this a way to justify that some people are so hard to love, they basically shouldn’t expect it?

Or is it like when people say that “nobody will love you if you don’t love yourself first”? Or “you can’t really love others if you don’t love yourself”? Both are statements that people tend to say a lot.

I’d rather stand with Laura Snelling, Matt Joseph Diaz, Bethany Smith and others.

People shouldn’t have to love themselves to deserve love. If you have a mental illness, then it’s so much harder. If you went through dark shit, then it can be so difficult to even see yourself in a good light. If you see bullied, gaslighted, or treated in ways that weren’t okay. If you didn’t really experience love...

Does it make it easier? Probably. Mainly because If you think you deserve stuff, it’s easier to set boundaries; you can be firm and say no without feeling guilty.

But if you can’t truly and honestly love yourself, that shouldn’t mean you can’t be loved by anyone else, or that you can’t love.

That message is terribly harming, yet people keep repeating it all the time.

No one that has any kind of mental health issues choose to have them, and “getting over them” is hard and can be the work of a life time; so repeatedly telling them that they can’t be loved or love unless they love themselves first, it means that they should loose hope.

When you are at the bottom of the pool, you don’t really think one day you’ll be able to float.

And being told that you don’t deserve love until you manage to fix yourself ... it’s not true.

Everybody deserves love, right?

And can’t you learn to love yourself by being loved and by loving someone else?

[garrettsthings]

Why I’m on Team Pato: A Visual Mini-Essay

Let’s take a quick look at the ending scene of Lupinranger vs. Patranger again:

I love this scene for a lot of reasons, and not just because it’s hilarious. Throughout the episode, Tsukasa has tried desperately to hide the fact that she likes stuffed animals, only for Keiichiro to very casually reveal that he knew for almost as long as he’s known her. Cue the rest of the team nyucking it up and the episode ending on a happy note. But the real reason I love it is because it reveals more depth of Keiichiro’s character and also what a great friend he is.

I know what you’re thinking. “Great friend!? He just revealed Tsukasa’s secret!” Well just hold on a second. Look at that last picture just above. Does that look like a “Nyeh nyeh nyeh! This will go great in my blackmail folder!”-face? I don’t think it does. And now let’s look at Keiichiro’s face while the rest of the team teases Tsukasa.

This is not a “Haha! I got you!”-face. This is a “You know what I love to do? Chew.”-face. He doesn’t look smug or teasing because he doesn’t think he has anything to look smug or teasing about. He doesn’t see anything funny or earth-shattering in what he just said. Need more proof? Let’s go back to the beginning when Sakuya asked Keiichiro if he knew any of Tsukasa’s secrets (Sakuya, who asks that?).

And yet he did know her secret. So why did he say that? Was he lying? Well since it’s Keiichiro and his head didn’t explode from the exertion of doing something dishonest, I doubt it. Besides, his voice and facial expression in this scene don’t make it seem like he’s lying, so why did he say that despite knowing the fact that she likes to hug stuffed animals?

Because he didn’t think it was a secret. He didn’t think there was any reason for Tsukasa to hide it because he didn’t think there was any reason for her to be ashamed by it. Because he didn’t see anything wrong with it. He didn’t see her hugging a stuffed animal and think “God, how girly!”, he saw her and thought, “Oh, my friend likes stuffed animals. Neat. Welp! Off to go chew something!”

He didn’t judge her, tease her, insult her, or think anything less of her. He simply catalogued it away as just another fact about his friend. So yes, I think Keiichiro is a good friend. And yes, I am very firmly on Team Pato. Sorry Lupins.

[thetwelvecaesars]

Augustus Clearly Loved Livia [Commentary #4]

“On the first day of the Senate he allowed nothing to be discussed but the funeral of Augustus, whose will, which was brought in by the Vestal Virgins, named as his heirs Tiberius and Livia. The latter was to be admitted into the Julian family with the name of Augusta; next in expectation were the grand and great-grandchildren,” (Tactius, Book 1, Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb).

Funny thing, I opened my book today to read a few more lines before breakfast and I had already read this part, but thought nothing of it. It matched up to what Suetonius wrote and that’s cool. But as my eyes caught it this morning, I suddenly realised something very important.

Augustus clearly had love for his wife until the day he died. The not only helps prove Livia to be merely looked down upon by historians, but is possibly telling of a harmonious relationship.

While writing the will, Augustus could have easily exiled or executed Livia for ‘her crimes’. Not only this, but it is understood that he would not hesitate to do so given Augustus placed his own daughter Julia in exile. It is possible to think Augustus was older when he wrote his will, which is possible. However, being in a position of power, it would make far more sense if Augustus wrote his will far before his death. But this leaves one to believe that it is possible he was ‘unaware’ of Livia ‘being evil’. When one has a sense they are to die and it was clear to Augustus through many signs he was about to die, he would have most likely re-evaluated his will. Hence, if needed he may have rewritten it.

“Originally there were two modes of making wills; for people made their wills either at Calata Comitia, which were appointed twice a year for the making of wills; or they made wills in procinctu, that is, when they were going to battle; for an army in movement and under arms is Procinctus,” (Smith and Long).

It is important to note Augustus was the most powerful person in the empire, so this rule of twice a year may have not applied to him. Also, if Livia was ‘evil’ he would have realised that at some point before his death. He married and lived with her for a very long time. It would have been difficult for Livia to ‘hide’ the fact she was ‘evil’ for that long. It is not an impossible task, but doubtful when truly thought about.

So, given that Augustus did not exile or harm Livia (or Tiberius for that matter) upon his death, it is clear that Augustus loved her. If a minor scandal can cause him to exile his own daughter who he raised and loved, it would not seem far fetched that he would execute Livia if she was in fact ‘evil’. No, when he died, Augustus wanted her to be a part of his family for the rest of her life. He showered her with honours and clearly wanted to know she was loved, even though he was gone. 

Damn, I’m gonna cry now. Anyhow, essay over. See you all later and as for Tiberius, I think Livia may have still cared about him and Augustus didn’t want to make her sad.

Sources: http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.1.i.html (Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb)

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Testamentum.html (Smith and Long).

Commentary © 2018 owner of thetwelvecaesars.com

[mozillavulpix]

Goku’s Biggest Mistake

A video about me talking about the Cell Games. Giving you guys the script for those who don’t want to listen to my voice.

Son Goku, the protagonist of Dragon Ball, is not a perfect character. He makes a lot of mistakes and bad decisions throughout the series, although that’s also often part of what makes him interesting. Some of those mistakes often feel like side-effects of making sure the story continued on, (of course Goku cares enough about fighting the Androids he wouldn’t want to stop them from being built! Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a plot!) 

But there is at least one point in the series where he doesn’t get a free ride. Where not only does he make a major mistake, but the other characters explain to him why that was a mistake, and crucially, Goku actually realises why the mistake was the wrong choice in the first place and attempts to make up for it.

This moment happens during the Cell Games.

After Goku selects Gohan to fight Cell in his stead, Gohan initially struggles to get the motivation to fight Cell seriously. And as Cell starts beating up Gohan because of this hesitation, Piccolo attempts to intervene. When Goku explains that their best hope of winning is to believe that once Gohan gets angry, his true power will be unleashed, Piccolo yells at Goku that he’s mistaken. 

I’ve seen people look at this moment as a confirmation that Goku’s mistake was sending his son off to fight; that Gohan never should have been made to fight Cell in the first place, because he doesn’t like fighting. But I think that there’s actually a bit more behind the moment than just that. Goku definitely made a mistake during the Cell Games, but making Gohan fight Cell wasn’t the biggest one.

For one, if Piccolo really was saying Gohan never should have been made to fight because he doesn’t enjoy it, that’d be pretty rich coming from the guy who kidnapped Gohan back when he was 4 and literally forced him to learn how to fight. Piccolo didn’t seem to think that was the wrong choice back then. And even if he had changed since then, it’d be a very odd thing for him specifically call Goku out for. It’d be practically hypocritical.

But I think the true mistake that Goku makes, the thing Piccolo especially worries about and Goku realises, is what he says after that. “Does he know about your plan? Did you discuss it with him?”

Goku’s biggest mistake in the Cell Games was not that he sent Gohan off to fight Cell. It was that he sent Gohan off to fight Cell, hoping his hidden power would awaken, without explaining to Gohan what the plan was in the first place.

The reason why this was a mistake was because it meant that Gohan had to fight Cell and also attempt to awaken his hidden power without any proper forewarning or time to prepare. It does catch him completely by surprise, and that’s part of the reason as to why so much had to happen for him to get stronger and start fighting seriously. As in, his family and friends had to get brutally tortured in front of his eyes before he finally figured out what to do. But if he knew from the very start that he was their backup plan, and his hidden power was their backup-backup plan, he probably could have tried to prepare for it, so if it came down to him, he’d have a better idea over what to do. If he knew the plan, he’d also have to accept that he’d have to fight and potentially kill Cell, which might have stopped him from hesitating when the moment arose.

Goku didn’t necessarily need to keep the plan a secret, either. When he gets Karin to scout out Cell’s power to compare to his, and Karin says Cell is probably stronger, Goku isn’t phased at all, implying his plan from the very start of his preparation was that Gohan could take over if Goku couldn’t deal with Cell. But at no point does Goku tell Gohan that’s the plan.

We know this because when Future Trunks asks Gohan about what Goku’s plan is, Gohan responds by saying “all he told me is to look forward to it”. That’s all Goku told him. And later on, when Gohan is talking to Cell about his hidden power, he says that only at that point is he starting to understand why Goku chose him to fight in the first place. As in, Gohan only figures out why he got chosen to fight Cell after he starts fighting Cell. Those are not the words of someone who knew ahead of time.

Some people might want to defend Goku’s actions by saying that perhaps Goku didn’t tell Gohan from of a place of compassion - that he knew if Gohan knew he’d have to fight in the Cell Games, he’d get anxious about it and it’d stop him from being able to relax for those last few days. To which I have two responses:

First, Gohan’s words, that Goku told him to” look forward to it”. Are those the words of someone who’s intentionally keeping secrets because he wants to save his son from trauma? If Goku knew telling Gohan about the plan would cause him trauma, enough to want to hide it from him, why would he be telling Gohan to look forward to that fight? The moment where Gohan would potentially have to find out the truth!

And second, even if Goku did keep the truth from his son to save him from trauma, it wouldn’t necessarily help that situation. Because sending Gohan out to fight unprepared, as opposed to giving him 10 days to mentally prepare for it, would probably give him even more trauma. He’d have to deal with all that stress he would potentially get over those 10 days within one moment. That’s almost worse for his state of mind, in a way.

So, if he didn’t hide the truth to save his son from trauma, why did Goku not tell Gohan about the plan?

Honestly, I think it was because Goku didn’t realise that Gohan needed the plan explained to him. Goku assumed that Gohan would immediately understand what he needed to do the moment Goku called out his name. Because that’s how Goku would act. He was great at going into a battle situation where he didn’t necessarily know how to win and instantly adapting. He never had an issue with it, so he thought Gohan wouldn’t, either.

It’s why he gives Cell a Senzu. He doesn’t think Gohan needs any help. He thinks Gohan can do all this on his own, because he’s seen how strong he can get, not realising that Gohan’s very personality is so different to Goku that he might not even have the mental will to keep fighting like his father would.

And that’s what Goku realises when Piccolo confronts him. It’s in those precise words that Goku realises that he didn’t discuss the plan with Gohan. And Gohan might not know what his plan was. And if that was true, it would cause him a lot of pain…and also explain why he wasn’t fighting back at full force. As in, the exact thing that Goku was now seeing in front of him. That’s why, after those words exit Piccolo’s mouth, Goku’s expression changes from confidence to realisation and horror. The horror that he unintentionally sent his son into a situation which he wasn’t prepared for, and he’s getting hurt because of it.

In fact, the situation leads to not only Gohan, but Goku and all his friends getting hurt, when Cell sends out the Cell Juniors to attack them. It’s in that moment, where all his friends are getting tortured by these creatures, that Goku apologises, saying that this wasn’t how his plan was supposed to go. His original plan never involved other people getting hurt to trigger Gohan’s power. Because he assumed Gohan could trigger it easily, without that kind of motivation.

Although the funniest thing about the entire situation was that…even though Goku unarguably made a mistake, and Piccolo was justified in calling him out for it, Piccolo was also kind of...wrong.

Piccolo thought that Gohan didn’t realise that Goku’s plan was for him to get angry to get stronger. But the thing is…Gohan does realise the plan. He explains to Cell that Goku was probably counting on his hidden power that was released when he gets angry to defeat him, and that’s exactly why Cell starts attempting to hurt Gohan in the first place. But Piccolo doesn’t know this because, when that conversation happens, Gohan is speaking so softly that Krillin specifically says that he can’t make out what they’re saying. And you can assume that applies to Goku and Piccolo as well, even with Piccolo’s better hearing. After all, if Piccolo knew Gohan said he needed to get angry, he wouldn’t be so shocked to hear Goku explain that’s what the plan was.

But even though everything up until Gohan’s transformation generally worked out just how Goku wanted it to, with only the destruction of Android 16 an extra sacrifice, that doesn’t mean that Goku was right. Or that he didn’t make a mistake by not understanding that his son was fundamentally different to him both power and personality-wise. If he was in the right, he wouldn’t be shocked. He wouldn’t suddenly want to get a Senzu to jump in and help his son. He realises his mistake at that point, and does everything he can to make up for it. Including sacrificing his own life.

Perhaps that’s partially why the anime added an extra line in the speech Goku makes before he dies.

Because Goku’s lack of understanding other people did lead to the situation that caused him to have to die in the first place.

There aren’t many other moments where Goku does acknowledge this. Or, at least, acknowledges it enough he actually wants to take responsibility for his actions. Perhaps that’s part of why I find him and this moment so interesting in terms of a turning point of his character. A turning point that was kind of fitting for his eventual retirement from the story, even if that didn’t end up lasting.

It wasn’t the first mistake he made, with the largest consequences, and it wouldn’t be last, but it was certainly one worth talking about.

[centrally-unplanned]

I was going through some archived scans of 90's otaku magazines, as is my sacred duty, and I stumbled on this ad for a Sega Saturn game I did not know:

The pitch of Roommate (as seen here) is that of a "real time" romance simulation:

What makes it real-time is that the game progresses in sync with the Saturn's internal clock. In that way [main girl] Ryoko is just like a real girl; she has her own daily habits and lives her life accordingly. So if you start the game in the afternoon, you might not be able to meet her because she's at school [...] The purpose is to enjoy living together with Ryoko in real time and communicating with her.

And this is exactly the kind of way-too-convoluted gimmick that sacrifices gameplay functionality on the altar of conceptual novelty based on random technology add-ons present in new-gen consoles of the era that I just love. Obviously the concept of starting a game and having the main girl not be present so you cannot play is completely asinine - but think of the realism!

Between that and the discount-Sadamoto 90's character designs, I wanted to see it for myself; so I spent way, way too long setting up a Sega Saturn emulator. In my experience early CD-ROM-based consoles often require much more bespoke set-ups to get working, in this case custom BIOS files in the emulator firmware directories, and JPN-language ones at that for this game. But I got it to work and oh yeah, this is some early "digital" console era crust:

Playing this game is just painful. The clock of course means that you essentially can't play it at all - looking at YouTube comments on the very few Let's Plays and such that exist, people are reminiscing about how they could never find Ryoko because their schedules didn't align. One person even comments:

This game is for NEETs and shut-ins

Which is a valid demo I guess! But it doesn't really stop there - your house is a "fully realized" 3D environment of bare walls which you navigate with clunky controls. Let me log in and take some screenshots...

Jesus Christ it's 10 pm and you are cooking dinner?! The one time I don't want this ghost popping out of the cracks in the floorboards, I swear...

Okay, got rid of her (She broke a plate -_- you moved in yesterday, girl):

You walk, in real time (step by step) through this pixel museum just...hoping that one of the rooms will contain Ryoko and proc a dialogue event based on the time of day. There is a little more to it than that but that is essentially the gameplay. This would, very obviously, be simply better as a straightforward visual novel.

But you see how that just isn't as cool in 1997, right? This is the era where the fidelity of graphics and the technology for simulation is progressing at a rapid clip, and everyone wants to see the boundaries pushed. Roommate isn't the first "real time simulation" game, but it is the most pure, the one fully committed to the bit. Your house is completely mapped out, the girl has her routine, you walk step by painful step through the rooms because this is "real", you are living it. They even use a live photo for the outside of the house to sell the aesthetic (and also save money):

Ryoko is waiting in the kitchen of that house when you come home from work, putting on an apron, ready to cook dinner. For you.

Assuming you get home at whatever fucking 30 minute window the game decided to gatekeep its gameplay behind! But of course I exaggerate - it wasn't that bad (there are little mechanics you can use to set some schedule times in the game for example), player tolerance for bullshit was way higher then, and you were expected to buy strategy guides for these things. So even though it was panned by critics on release...it was a sleeper hit with a devoted fanbase.

Which means it got a ton of sequels and ports! We don't have to go through them all, though I will share my favorite factoid about the first sequel - "ROOMMATE ~Ryoko in Summer Vacation~" from the wiki:

The character designs are significantly different from the previous game (especially Ryoko's brown hair and large breasts).

Priorities, baby. But some of the ports are interesting because of the changing tech. A version was ported to the PlayStation, which does not have the internal clock a Sega Saturn had. But coincidentally it did have the PocketStation, a handheld GameBoy/Tamagotchi hybrid expansion tool that did have an internal clock and could sync with the game. It also let you track Ryoko's schedule and play mini-games, with some very adorable animations as you can see in this ad for the product that featured Roommate:

This device absolutely reminds me of the Disc Fax system discussed in my Miho Nakayama essay - a very niche product biting off more than it can chew making games overly complex to play but allowing things that would otherwise be impossible (and this one was a good deal more successful at least). Here it allowed Roommate's central gimmick to function - and is super cute, honestly I would buy a standalone tamagotchi version of this game.

The PS1 also couldn't quite handle how the game was built for the Sega Saturn graphics-wise, and as such a bunch of the 3D elements were sanded off into 2D simulacrums - most notably the house:

Which, despite this being a technological downgrade, is way better! It looks adorable, you can actually see what is going on and where Ryoko is, and you can navigate it way more cleanly. God, did...hold on let me tab back to the game...yeah, is there no clock in the original game on screen. That is insane. Anyway the PS1 version had a lot of these cute little graphical additions, even right on the title screen:

It is definitely the better looking version, which is a classic tale - in 1997 the "bleeding edge" of 3D graphics were impressive to players, even through their roughness. Now they just aren't, and so the retro charm of designs that are optimized what the mediums of the time could reliably handle have a lot more appeal.

There was also a PC port in 1998, which did exactly what I suggested and added an "adventure" mode where you could ignore the clock system. They definitely learned over time what worked and what didn't; but the appeal of the gimmick is what first sold it to players in the end.

All of this is to say, don't play Roommate, and if you do just emulate the PS1 game instead of torturing yourself with the Sega Saturn version. Oh...you weren't gonna play a Japanese-only abandonware 90's not-even-eroge dating sim to begin with? Ah, well, yeah, I guess that makes sense.

Man I should translate it shouldn't I? So people can play it...