Be Still My Beating Heart

Doki Doki Majo Shinpan! isn't the be-all-end-all erotic underage witch-touching game, but there's something to be said for being the first. Brad Rice probes the gameplay of this not-so-obscure DS classic.

Read Full Article

lawl
Oh you creepy japanese men what WON'T you grope?

Reading that made me thing that the author liked that game way to much.

Interesting take on something that has recieved so much attention for its... ahem, 'innovation.'
I would say avoid throwing out simple and sterotypical comments, but I'm a little late to say that and I forgot that I'm smack in the middle of western-gamer-land.

i just read that and i really dont give a crap considering i havent heard of it till now so...... but if i had to care i would be pretty disturbed.. imagine walking into your living room your son is playing on a ds you ask "what are you playing" he replies "doki doki Majo Shinpan" you ask what it is you go over and see him using the stylus to prod a women in her... *ahem* Womanly areas

Japanese sexual culture has always been a bit "out there". The Japanese are much more open towards traditional western taboos than the we are. This is nothing new.

Yes, I still think it's dumb and a little sick, but this nothing new to those who are familiar with Japanese culture, stylus or not.

Now we just need a "Kodomo no Jikan" game, and we're officially, as a race, fucked. Oh, and Kodomo no Jikan (literally, "A Child's Time.") was created by a woman (which doesn't really justify it, so much as it's bloody hilarious). It's about a 9 year old girl who decides she is in love with her teacher, and goes to great lengths to sedce him. It gets somewhat graphic. And it's not a hentai, believe it or not.

And remember, 200 years ago, they had tentacle porn. "The dream of the fishermans wife." A wood painting in which a woman is shown having intercourse with the tentacles of an octopus. 200 years ago. That is all I have to say.

Novan Leon:
Japanese sexual culture has always been a bit "out there". The Japanese are much more open towards traditional western taboos than the we are. This is nothing new.

Yes, I still think it's dumb and a little sick, but this nothing new to those who are familiar with Japanese culture, stylus or not.

Agreed.
For a culture in which "tentacle rape" is widely accepted, this by no means anything big.

But I too think it's a tad on the perverted side.

Oh god i always wondered where te tencle thing came from... and now i wish i didnt find out.

I found the article hilarious especially the part about your workmates thinking you were going to play it one handed.

I don't think we will see these games released for a while, maybe around the time where we just download games but publishers probably won't want to market such a niche game in the meantime.

One thing I don't understand...

Consider it akin to the Phoenix Wright series

lol what?
every other game I play uses western archetypes but that doesn't mean COD 5 is akin to Gears of War 2.

Huh? What is with all the "prude" seemingly coming from other posters? The only thing that bothers me about this is the implication that the ladies in the game are in fact not fully physically mature ladies. Once you realize that in other cultures and genetic heritages, average height and other curves are not the same as other forms of media would have you accept as a beautiful mature woman. I've noticed this in little things, like my wife who is a native from the west coast of Vancouver Island gets carded all the time because she is mistaken for an age far younger than legal drinking limit and she is in her late 20s - heck, other ladies are jealous of her for it. The reason that bothers me is once you accept that is a girl rather than a lady, it turns the act from consensual and constructive to abusive and destructive. When you realize the fallacy, you realize there is nothing wrong going on here but a lack of depth to the gameplay.

We found a witch, may we burn her?

In fairness, the author's expertise regarding h-games seems more disturbing than the specific game reviewed.

what would make me laugh is if at the end of the game the cops pop up and bust your ass because one of the non witches you molested ratted you out. I find the authors degree of knowledge on the subject of ero-ge, a phrase I just learned from this article, to be a tad excessive. and in response to Canadian Wolverine, my understanding is that the games molestation doesn't involve women, it involves girls, you know, those people who are under the UN defined age of adulthoold, and female? Yeah, that bunch. Also, considering that in order for such a witch hunt to proceed in the real world, one would need chloroform, duct tape and a white van, when looking at it from a North American perspective it does bring back memories of CSI episodes, and we all know how THAT turned out.

Nope.

Thanks for trying, but as far as I'm concerned that game's damn creepy in the "To Catch a Predator" sense.

-- Steve

CanadianWolverine:
Huh? What is with all the "prude" seemingly coming from other posters? The only thing that bothers me about this is the implication that the ladies in the game are in fact not fully physically mature ladies. Once you realize that in other cultures and genetic heritages, average height and other curves are not the same as other forms of media would have you accept as a beautiful mature woman. I've noticed this in little things, like my wife who is a native from the west coast of Vancouver Island gets carded all the time because she is mistaken for an age far younger than legal drinking limit and she is in her late 20s - heck, other ladies are jealous of her for it. The reason that bothers me is once you accept that is a girl rather than a lady, it turns the act from consensual and constructive to abusive and destructive. When you realize the fallacy, you realize there is nothing wrong going on here but a lack of depth to the gameplay.

Whether this is prudish or not depends on the society in which you live. In some societies a certain level of discomfort may actually represent a healthy social awareness and appropriate nod towards caution.

Cultural differences in perspective, the girls in the game resemble underage girls as they appear in the majority of American society. Put that together with the sexual fascination that the "groping simulator" attempts to draw on (presumably from virile young males), and it makes some people feel a little... uncomfortable.

GyroCaptain:
We found a witch, may we burn her?

That reminds me, wasn't there a very different way to determine whether someone was a witch or not? Hmm... :P

At least the Japanese are mature enough to realise that sex and eroticism are open to humour and not things that should be taboo. I guess we in the West have a long way to go. Personally I wouldn't mind doing a bit of witch touching. I mean it sounds like harmless fun and it can't be as bad as some of the games I've tried after reading an escapiust article.

Novan Leon:

GyroCaptain:
We found a witch, may we burn her?

That reminds me, wasn't there a very different way to determine whether someone was a witch or not? Hmm... :P

She has three breasts

Disturbing. People trying to convince us they play this game just because its fun are even more disturbing. If you want to FAP at this kind of thing, no problem, alright. But dont make an article about it please.

Feeling guilty much? Sharing this wont make it any better... nor trying to convince us everything is alright with playing such kind of game.

/facepalm

I don't think I'm going to try to get the game, but it is an interesting idea. We had to know something like that was coming eventually. I think the authors knowledge of ero-ge isnt a bad thing, if you are going to write on a topic, you should know some background info. Good article, but I'm still not really into that kind of game.

ElephantGuts:
It's always something with the Japanese. First they're trying to take over all of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, allying with Nazis, and attacking the USA, and now this. At this rate we may have to nuke them again.

Though I might get this game if I had a DS. Just for...er...laughs.

I've always believed that Japanese weirdness was because of the radiation. Let's get 'em some Rad-X and a few Baptist ministers, that'll clean 'em up.

SimuLord:
I've always believed that Japanese weirdness was because of the radiation. Let's get 'em some Rad-X and a few Baptist ministers, that'll clean 'em up.

Erogé as a symptom of ghoulification? Hmm...

Nah, won't work; the Japanese have been publishing risqué illustrated works since before Commodore Perry's little experiment in gunboat free-enterprise; we can't blame this on the Fat Man.

-- Steve

Anton P. Nym:

SimuLord:
I've always believed that Japanese weirdness was because of the radiation. Let's get 'em some Rad-X and a few Baptist ministers, that'll clean 'em up.

Erogé as a symptom of ghoulification? Hmm...

Nah, won't work; the Japanese have been publishing risqué illustrated works since before Commodore Perry's little experiment in gunboat free-enterprise; we can't blame this on the Fat Man.

-- Steve

Very well then, chankonabe for everyone to celebrate cultural diversity, then. After all, as weird as their culture is, they have given the world the greatest spectacle in sport, so they can have a pass on the porn.

Plastic14407:
i just read that and i really dont give a crap considering i havent heard of it till now so...... but if i had to care i would be pretty disturbed.. imagine walking into your living room your son is playing on a ds you ask "what are you playing" he replies "doki doki Majo Shinpan" you ask what it is you go over and see him using the stylus to prod a women in her... *ahem* Womanly areas

Or even better; imagine you walk into your living room and there's your son, playing his XBOX. You ask him what he's playing and he responds, "Fallout 3" and blows some poor bastard into 12 pieces with a minigun.

But HONOES NOT TEH SECKS! QUICK CALL DATELINE!

Edit: To clarify, I don't care what Japanese (or anyone else) people do with their time.

I got stuck on the second witch, although to be honest I'm shocked I made it that far, considering I can't read a word of Japanese.

It's a pretty tedious game all in all, that's only made (culturally) interesting by the more-than-slightly creepy touch-'em-up sections - and even those are fairly tame apart from the admittedly disturbing moans of protestation from your targets. It's not like there's any nudity, and doesn't appear to be any genuine sexual content aside from what the player might project upon their character (which is really, at the end of the day, what these games are all about).

I finally found a reason for me to get a DS.

I wish stuff like this could still get to me. A younger, more innocent me would be shocked and apalled at this kind of game. Now I say, "meh"

Well, I'd rather see men groping suspected witches than burning them alive, so I consider this game an improvement.

so japanese people like playing games where the objet is to grope underage girls.....wtf?!

Of course, I can't help but point out that tracking sales numbers isn't as reliable as most people think... especially for this kind of game, and especially in America. Americans are often much more determined to hide their little pleasures (more cultural taboo), so they come up with some pretty inventive ways to conceal their purchases, and quite a few of them slip under the radar of sales tracking.

It occurs to me, at least in part, why I find this game so disturbing; it's been in the news more than once that the Tokyo subway system has a big problem with men groping women on the trains, to the point that women are buying self-help products to ward off unwanted hands.

If it was just fantasy, then I'd write it off like I write of the Gor novels or slashfic, but my problem with Doki is that too many weirdos are living out the actions of the game.

-- Steve

Anton P. Nym:
It occurs to me, at least in part, why I find this game so disturbing; it's been in the news more than once that the Tokyo subway system has a big problem with men groping women on the trains, to the point that women are buying self-help products to ward off unwanted hands.

If it was just fantasy, then I'd write it off like I write of the Gor novels or slashfic, but my problem with Doki is that too many weirdos are living out the actions of the game.

-- Steve

A very good point, but don't write off the Gor novels either...

Sylocat:

Anton P. Nym:
If it was just fantasy, then I'd write it off like I write of the Gor novels or slashfic, but my problem with Doki is that too many weirdos are living out the actions of the game.

A very good point, but don't write off the Gor novels either...

I'd heard of those guys (mainly guys, for obvious reasons...) but most of that ends up between consenting adults and is thus not my concern. Subway groping, though, doesn't bother with consent, let alone adulthood.

-- Steve

I won't say I'm surprised of the reactions. Two totally different cultures, and both try to measure the other with their own moral system....which is quite impossible and results in reactions like these.

Rather than being creeped out or disgusted by Japanese culture, I'm more fascinated and interested. It's entirely different from what I got used to, and it's quite the experience to learn about other cultures. If you really want to enjoy something from another part of the world, you have to turn off your moral compass and social boundaries. If you see Doki Doki Majo Shinpan! for what it is, a game, you may actually have some fun. (and I don't mean that in a pejorative way)

Don't condemn other cultures just because they don't measure up to your "standards". For you, it may be okay to play Dead Space with a grin on your face, blowing and stomping grotesque monsters to bloody chunks, spraying guts all over the place. For somebody else, it may be okay to grope teenage-looking girls. It's not that different if you think about it.