From Maidens and Knights -Toxic Stereotypes in Otome Games?

In this video I want to discuss how stereotypes function and influence our way of thinking. In otome games there are a lot of gender stereotypes prevalent or our loved tropes and I've been wondering how these stereotypes influence or game and real-world experiences.

But I want to emphasise that I love all the games and characters I mentioned in this video and don't mean to say there are good or bad characters in general, but rather that characters have different stereotypes and that's something to be aware of.

Useful articles:

Games:
Olympia Soiree, Cupid Parasite, Nil Admirari, Piofiore, Killer and Strawberry, Cafe enchante, Shuuen no Virche, Cendrillon palikA, Jakou no Lyla, Hyperdimension Neptunia VII, Variable Barricade, Kissed by the baddest bidder, Amnesia, Nier Automata, Omori, FF XIII

Movies:
Cinderella, A beautiful mind, Zootopia, Wolf girl and black prince, Gokushufudo, Beyond the bounday, Buried, Matrix, Big Bang Theory, Aladdin, Kamisama Hajimemashita, My next life as a villainess

Music:
"Sappheiros - Memories" is under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY).
'Dystopia' by Neutrin05 is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0)

#otomegames

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[lumi]

An otome game i found that doesn’t portray the heroine as weak is Tears of Themis. the heroine is a lawyer and doesn’t need to rely on the men around her to get her job done. honestly i’d romance her if i could lol

[gilliantoh]

I usually boil it down to cultural differences most of the time, where players prefer heroines that are stereotypical nice, and also in turn what people expect in a fictional space(but obviously not so irl). It is a very societal market accessed assumption as well, and not many really question these things out loud. I personally don't care maybe because I'm used to it? But i also hated to see things like, people telling me that every character in amnesia was abusive.

[MeowMyselfandI]

I think stereotypes are mostly harmful when they're treated like they're normal and so get into our subconcious, if that makes sense. Like racist stereotypes, if that's all the exposure you get to that culture you might develop racist ideas without realizing it. Or like when 50 Shades of Gray is protrayed as romantic and not abusive so some girls genuinely think that's romance. Extreme example maybe lol but there's a lot of very toxic relationships shown as normal and romantic in western media, in my opinon, and often in a way that makes a lot of people think that really is normal and romantic and not super creepy/abusive/whatever.
I feel like this happens less with otome games, I've rarely met yandere fans who think that's okay behavior in real life lol most of us know otome games are fantasy and when picking which characters to play it's normal to have some stereotypes in there to help you get to know the character faster and spot the ones you will like/dislike. It's always fun when they subvert your ideas though and you end up loving someone you thought you wouldn't like (not so fun the other way around tho lol)

[AoiUsagiOtoko]

i tend to find passive heroines far more relatable, and the kind of male characters that usually come with that territory tend to be the tropes i love the most too...some of my favorite otome games are diabolik lovers and amnesia, and i seriously felt bad about that for a long time and pretended i was there to make fun of it like all the popular review blogs did (yui is a good heroine i love her god dammit)

then i realized life is short, i like what i like, there's no harm in a little taboo fantasy story every once in a while, and people who only focus on saying negative things about games i like aren't worth my time 💕

this discourse gets rehashed over and over in the fandom and it's just always left me...tired. the way some people talk as if NO ONE likes games or characters like this is such a strange and frustrating generalization

EDIT: dang i'm sorry this comment turned into a rant 😅 i just really love your videos and your passion for the otome genre is infectious!

[hisle]

I came to hate stereotype heroine mostly because of shoujo mangas. Majority of the heroine in the said genre including Josei are typical generic heroine that after consuming too much I became so sick of them. And ikerev as my first mobage didn't help me at all lolol. but after taking a break, thinkin about myself, the decisions I made, and the things I want to do in my life for months, I came to understand that the reason why I don't like them is because they reminds me of myself. For example if I played POBB before, I definitely will hate beniyuri like Alice (the Mc in ikerev) with passion so I'm really thankful for myself for giving myself a time to reflect. Heroine like Yurika is fine to me she's perfect that her only flaw is being inlove with a person with DID that even her love interest is jealous with her and tbh me too lmaoo. I like strong Heroine's but balancing between innocence and strong is what I love if they're done right. Like enju in nightshade. In all of the otomege I played so far she's my favorite Heroine specially The version of Enju in Hanzo Route. To summarize I don't hate streotype heroine anymore nor being biased to strong female heroine's. I love them both if they're done right.

And also HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 🎉💕

[cinnamonbai]

I really liked this video! I didn't grow up observing Japanese media, so when I first started watching anime and playing otome games, I found a lot of characters very off-putting with over-the-top traits. I didn't realize that a lot of these were -dere types to set up characters. I still find I have my guard up with some games and stereotypes, because I am nervous what direction they will take them, but I remember that these are normal stereotypes and these exist in the 2D-world.

I enjoyed that you added it's okay to like toxic character traits as long as we remember it is not real life. I really liked Piofiore and Cupid Parasite for not ridding the characters completely of their toxicity or questionable traits, but making it work with the story (which I didn't fully acknowledge until after I finished the games). Over time as I get used to the stereotypes, I am finding them more enjoyable, and it's lovely to be in a community that doesn't ridicule others for enjoying certain characters! We tease, but we don't hate! ❤

[narukokotawaru]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! also I hate flirt/playboys in otoges but since I'm a completionist i still play their route and am always pleasantly surprised that they are actually good, but still I don't like them, bad past experiences with those kinds of characters i guess (?)

[_mcschild_]

There is a really good otome that is called obey me, they try to make the main character neutral so any one could relate(i truly recommend)

[norae]

This was well made Lin! I liked your conclusion!

[badlilthang]

voltage had one of the first otome games ive ever played and looking at them now, i realize how toxic most of the relationships were :/

[mavera-]

Very interesting video! Those stereotypes definitely have real world consequences...

[maiadraconica]

Strong female character where? Wheres our power fantasy damn it?!

[wertywerrtyson]

Such amazing content you are making lately. While the reviews are good and useful I find these types of videos very interesting because I don’t know of any other creator making such videos. I think the weak MC who is swept away by strong men is a common stereotype in otome games because many have that fantasy even if they might want a more equal relationship in real life. After all it is just fantasy. Having a variety of games is best though so anyone can satisfy their fantasy be it feeling like a strong warrior woman or a weak one seduced by a dangerous man. I personally love playing strong females usually like in Mass Effect where my female Shepard was all about getting the job done and not being nice or romantic. Not sure if you have played Mass Effect since it is not a visual novel but if you have I’d like to know who you romanced in it or other BioWare games such as Dragon Age.

[TheDelikizzz]

what is t he anime being shown around 4:00 ?

[NotRegret]

You're taking this framework of western, liberal, progressive and putting it on art from another culture. It's not that you can't analyze Japanese stuff from a western, liberal, progressive viewpoint it's that none of it was made in that mindset. A lot of these are not steriotypes, they are artistic representations and fantasies. No one is a tsudendere in real life. Japanese have their own culture and perspective and you can't understand why they do this or that except by taking their viewpoint. Most of this stuff wasn't even made for the consideration of people outside Japan. If you personally find this stuff "harmful" you can choose not to consume it but what you are doing is bigoted. It doesn't matter if you think any of this hurts other people.

What happened to respect for other cultures and artistic freedom?