why does this video have a bit where the creator puts on Serious Disclaimer voice to talk about the artist for Valkyria Chronicles having drawn boobs before and then goes 'DONT WORRY GUYS HE WASN'T INVOLVED IN THE PLOT'? Thinking boobs are misogynist is only evidence of your own misogyny.
Why? Tone, which is in part the same concern of the entire premise. For some reason, the caveat that I'm aware that Raita is mostly a smut artist, has become a point of controversy for this video. To clarify: the issue isn't that Raita was involved or anything. In fact, the point is the same as the broader point of the video, about how there are a lot of "concerns" one might have when learning about the premise of this game, broadly. The reason to single him out is the same as the reason for singling out a beach episode, or other genre tropes: it's to point out the way this game seems primed to be a complete tonal mess that verges on outright trivializing the holocaust, or at the least, just being emotionally confusing. It's a tone issue.
@@Rosencreutzzz Anime can have multiple tones at multiple parts. Shouldn't it be seen as an advantage for animation that they can go for so many disparate emotions or vibes as easily as they can?
@@Greener221Keep in mind that video essays are to some extent an exercise in dialectics. When considering a dialectic juxtaposition, emphasis should fall upon the final conclusion rather than the preceding exposition. Consider also the artist in question, Raita; would they take issue with the conclusion? I can't imagine how they would, since A) they probably worked hard to produce authentic art that's suitable for the subject matter & B) their primary livelihood is not a secret.
love that political hentai addicts will see a video about an interesting depiction of the holocaust and only give a shit about whether or not their anime titties are portrayed properly treat your art seriously for fucks sake
Oh dear lort, as I write this, it’s plenty late in my day, I’m eating chili, and I suppose I’d better grab the bourbon before I hear this line. Just preordered the remastered edition off lrg this morning, at the last possible minute. Looks like I’m in for something heavy as hell disguised as something more innocent?
As a very, very, VERY mild defense of the camp being right after the beach episode, sometimes it's narratively useful to disarm the player emotionally before hitting them with really dark content. Or that's what I would say if I thought the camp mission had treated its subject matter with the right amount of gravitas
The other extremely mild defence of the beach episode placement is that it is prohibitively expensive… I would genuinely be impressed by someone actually unlocking that episode right before the camp without grinding skirmishes.
That level of third degree sick burn requires treatment at a specialist clinic but it's closed coz they sent all the specialists 'ome cuz they forregn innit
It's interesting that the idea of a foreign people creating a new homeland by expelling the old occupiers and mythologizing that event fits more Japanese history with the Ainu than as a generalized pseudo-European history. I'm far from knowledgeable enough to do anything with that idea though.
I sincerely believe that members of the dev team used European war crimes as a subtle criticism of Japan's own war crimes. See, even more so than in the west, as the aggressors, japan's population generally doesn't acknowledge those atrocities, so I've been told. So depicting those directly likely would have been seen as a bad idea, marketing wise. Otherwise, they'd be pointing fingers at Europe for the same things they did. Even if that were the case, boy did they really make a hard depiction that I so greatly appreciate.
Welcome to the like like two thousand new people between this video and the last one who joined because my Iraq war video and theosophy video took off and had no idea what the...dynamic range of my channel could be. Hope you enjoy overlong analyses of video games.
10:50 Witcher is actually a rather poor example since the racism of the setting is actually well built. It isn't just "elves have pointy ears" while it often boils down to it, the reasons behind the racial conflict is much more diverse than they look different. Neither the humans or the elves are native to the continent, but the elves arrived much earlier and on purpose, while the humans arrived later, but by accident. There are two distinct elvish cultures, the Aen Elle who live on another plane (The Wild Hunt and Avallac'h for example) and Aen Seidhe the elves of the continent. The elves of the setting were and are genuinely racist towards humans, seeing humans as lesser beings, viewing humans like animals rather than people. This stems generally from the fact that the elves are naturally magically aligned, longer lived, tall and fair while humans in general are dirty, brutish and short lived without any natural magical aptitude. The Aen Seidhe first saw humans in a sympathetic light and thought they could civilize men to some extent, they failed to do so and their civilization was turned to ash by said humans. Now they are the underdogs of the setting. The Aen Elle are genocidal imperialist elf-supremacist slavers, who seek to dominate everything they can. Most humans fail to see the difference and to most of them, the elves are one big group which would enslave and annihilate all humans given the chance, like the Wild Hunt tries to. In one of the books, there is an elven memorial site with statues, one of them is a mixed race couple, Ciri's ancestors. Although the human of the pair wasn't actually sculpted, but implied (which should be a huge enough honor to a human) to be there because it would have been a disgrace to spend such expensive materials on a mere human, and the elf is seen as a race traitor. Avallac'h also fabricates human historical evidence as a way to protect the hidden memorial site, and just because he thinks it's really funny. I'm obviously not doing the series enough justice here, but it does have genuinely good depiction of racial and cultural prejudice and oppression, and it isn't just black and white either. The series shows a a terrifying world where people live in constant fear, suspicion and superstition (Not too far off from reality). And at the heart of it, it shows that the cruelty is ultimately unnecessary and evil no matter who is the perpetrator, which I think is a good message.
“A native people with dark hair who were slaughtered by the now dominant race in the area and were forced into smaller and less useable territories.” Yeah, the Ainu, I’m familiar with them.
That comparison doesn't really work because the Japanese also have dark hair - other things signify Ainu culture (e.g. the epithet "shrimp barbarians" derives from their wearing long beards and moustaches). That said it's definitely true when it comes to depicting oppression in games the Japanese seem to have a substantial blind spot for their pre-20th-century history - Pokemon Legends: Arceus depicts the native peoples of Hisui (a counterpart for Hokkaido which we know is later renamed to Sinnoh much like Hokkaido was renamed from Ezo) as happy about the arrival of advanced people from the south, for example.
From my understanding they aren’t actually happy a major source of conflict in the game is essentially the two opposing clans coming into conflict that a third party which the player is apart of making things more tense it’s essentially your part of third party who is interfering with a pre established conflict
Somewhat a spoiler but there's an interesting implied bit with the desert ruins where the entire landscape and ruins are pockmarked with holes and looked melted in places. Which are consistent with the weaponry the Valkyria use and since the magic in setting is by blood and the Darcsens don't have magic powers. The implication is that the "Darcsen Calamity" was the devastation caused by the Valkyrur in their invasion who then did some revisionist history and blamed their victims for it to further legitimize their conquest.
@@czarkusa2018 Please elaborate how exactly the game alludes to and then justifies the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Korea and China. Because believing that dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime isn't mutually exclusive with acknowledging the horrors that happened in the Japanese occupied territories.
@@czarkusa2018How was the Darcsen calamity being a massacre of a people orchestrated by the Valkyrians then being covered up as the'Darcsen's evil deeds'an analogy on victimizing the atomic attacks but somehow making Japanese war crimes look good?
I have two criticisms of an otherwise pretty good look at the game A: The Beach Episode's placement The Beach Episode isn't part of the core story by default. It's a secondary mission that gets placed in that position after the player pays in-game money for. Plus it sets up an emotional gut punch if the player is psychotic enough to buy new missions as they are available, that you go from the bright cheerful beach to the absolute lowest point of the narrative showing the barbarity that the Empire is inflicting on Innocents. B: The reliability of ingame documents. Once the rug pull occurs and you learn that the Valkyria were the super-assholes rather than the Darcsen and they caused the Calamity, you can't take 33:41 as an objective fact any more. It's in-universe propaganda that was established by the Valkyria to make them look like Sensible Liberators and the Darcsen as Crazy Weirdoes.
The B part is already addressed in the story, also, he literally pointed out that the implications the game gave was if it's real, the centuries long persecution of the Darcseb is justified. It's only not justified because the Calamity narrative is false.
It's important to know when it comes to "Dark hair," "because we're short and have dark hair," was literally a reason that a Japanese general was given by a rabbi in WW2 for why the Nazis hated Jews... so though it's not a feature of all Jews by a long shot I think it fits into the Jewish themed coding. And I'm really glad you made this, this is a conversation I've been wanting to approach for a bit, you didn't hit all the angles that I want to see discussed on this, but this is a really great video, and I'm so glad you made it.
Listening to this video, Valkyria Chronicles seems to be much better at dealing with racism and bigotry then most other Japanese media, quite frankly most other media in general. Sure they stumble a lot but the attempt is appreciated. Largo as the fence sitter that makes it worse and actively enables bigotry is a depiction i don't see very often. As you mentioned Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, one of my core issues with them, is that the games should be about ableism and classism but they tried to make it about race, and failed at all of the above. I actually have wanted to write something about it because it's a long held frustration of mine (fun games tho)
The way it had Largo as someone who's not aggressively racist, but consistently goes along with it anyway dropped my jaw - so rare to get that in media like this.
What I also appreciated about Largo's portrayal is that he doesn't "outgrow the problem" in the same way. He doesn't have a huge apology moment with Isara nor dose he have some kind of epiphany, that portrayal is covered by Rosie. Instead his transition is gradual, becoming significantly less abrasive towards Isara with time. He's established to be an experienced soldier and thus he's smart enough to see for himself that Isara is far more competent than the Darcsen stereotype paints her to be. And we the audience can plainly see when he's cast all distrust for Isara aside, when the squad was ambushed and her brother Welkin was separated from them by a mortar blast. As Isara is about to run into that mortar's path after Welkin and leave the squad's only tank a sitting target, Largo steps up to remind her: "Who's gonna drive the tank, if you get hurt!?" Amidst the crisis he not only saves her but unconditionally trusts her to save the squad. And once the dust has settled and Isara throws herself into non-stop tank maintenance to resume searching for Welkin ASAP? Largo offers sympathy, appreciation for her good work, and a friendly reminder that overworking herself into the dirt won't help Welkin. Largo's choice of words and actions in these moments were as loud as any apology, while also allowing his and Rosie's character growth to be framed differently (and thus more interestingly than if they blatantly mirrored each other).
Being a smut artist really isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. Chris Sanders, for example, has put out quite a few very horny pinup drawings, and he's also one of the main creators of Lilo and Stitch.
As a smut artist myself, I thank you for being sane about this. The funny thing about this is even the "nonsmut" artists, if they went to art school, almost inevitably spend hundreds of hours drawing naked people, as part of their classes. Because you need to know anatomy to draw human good.
I'd give Ros a benefit of the doubt, as his other videos has been rather respectful and intentionally written to tackle topics sensitively, and UA-cam *really* is the quintessesial America's anti-booba pro-violence mindset.
Here from the Bret Devereaux Fireside that mentioned your videos! This was a really interesting look at the game, but god that line "the human mind was not made to comprehend the uwu-ification of dachau" made me wheeze and actively recommend the video to some friends. Excellent work here!
I remember VC2 having two Darcsen characters with very different reactions to the racism, despite both also being the smart glasses stereotype. One used his talent to prove them wrong with bold stance and direct words and action, while the other quietly accept it and avoid confrontation. And I thought that was neat. Edit: Typo
Oh and that girl that quietly accept and avoid confrontation was supposed to fall in love with the VC2 MC but it was cut, but remnants of that plot line remains in the game.
@@AlbusVacuus Mischlitt, my source is I made it the F- just joking my source is the VC2 artbook. In the interview they mentioned it, my guess is she falls for Avan after saving her family but doesn't realize what love is and become a psychologist.
Seriously for all the bloviating real "serious" WW2 games make whether that be your CoDs or your HoIs I honestly think Valkyria Chronicles is the only game I know of that actually attempts to tackle the Holocaust.
Oh my god, i thought this video was like months old, but it's actually 2 days old. I am so surprised and happy, keep up the good work. I am a huge fan of Valkyria series, having 100%-ed parts 1 and 2, and I really love to see videos that research the topic of the game. Thank you for your video!
The mention how Darksens bigotry and stereotypes being based on their environment and occupation reminded me of an article about the Buraku (untouchables) [look for the article BBC News: "Japan's hidden caste of untouchables"]. I wonder if they used this material as the basis to write about discrimination.
I'm that someone! Man, I've never been more happy about the 2nd video I've seen from a newly subbed creator. I was one of 2 ppl that pre-ordered this game at GameCrazy within Hollywood video. The other person was there with me when I picked it up, because it was my best friend who drove us there. The employees were so entertained by that, and it's one of my top games of all time. I see SO little discussion of this. Now do a Bumpy Trot one lol
It would be nice to see Vakyria Chronicle's reboot for a more fleshed out story. Also, it was pretty cool that it felt like a more medieval style of the Mobile Suit Gundam series
Fantastic video! Really appreciate the fair analysis of my guilty pleasure franchise! I was really dispoainted with how VC4 handled the Darcsens compared to VC1, this video made me appreciate the first game more for all of its flaws.
Ah yes... I still remeber playing vc2 blind thinking it was "ww2 fe", these games can go from typical anime tropes to direct allusions of real world tragedies and events Discovering one of my fav units had a "Darcsen hater" trait and hearing one of my companion talk about "Imperial con camps" only to later go to typical school anime plots was both incredibly hysterical and kinda funny
I remember finding it odd that the game suddenly introduces a rival character from other class and make such a big deal winning the tournament arc is for the class, despite already pushing back an actual army consisting of valkyrie-lites lmao.
@@Hell_O7 or the fact that Galia'sarmy is so stretched thin that they decide to send a bunch of cadets with only a few months of proper training (from the worst class in the only military academy in all of Galia might add) to protect THE ACTUAL HEAD OF STATE
this is the third time your channel has blindsided me in the best way possible with the choice of games to make videos about would not persecute ranulf though he's too cool
36:20 "I can point out how they put the chapter about a concentration camp right after the mandatory beach episode, but that's genuinely deranged" Contrary to Americans, whose head explode over any tonal shift, Japanese are more acustomed to it in media. The CC is right after the beach Episode to create a contrast. Black hair is a massive identifier of "Japaneseness". Kids with naturally non black hair get bullied and pressured by schools to dye their hair black. Add pazifismn, technophilia and being from the country where the thinly veiled nuke went off and any Japanese will feel called out.
Good video.Your argument was nuanced. I think the best thing I can say is that it seems that the makers of the game thought long and hard about what they wanted to say and how to say it about a very risky yet important topic. I think I can forgive slightly problematic execution in that context because it's clear the people involved felt the gravity of what they were doing.
"i hope at least someone has had thoughts like these stuck in their head for half a decade and enjoyed this one" it was me thank you now to finally get around to playing the 4th game
Thanks for this. Game criticism is VERY important, and you do some of the best work with games most critics ignore. Games, as an art form, are in a dialectic between narrative/context and systems/mechanics. IMHO, the best games are ones that play with both of these elements, which Valkyria Chronicles certainly does-though with debatable success. But said debatable success allows for further iterations-that’s what this art form is! TLDR more plz (Inc VC5 and bringing 2 and 3 off the PSP and to the US!) ALSO: Look, I’m Jewish and I tend to just avoid WW2 as a setting entirely, preferring the 17th Century “Pike and Shot” to 18th-19th Century Linear Warfare and the Age of Revolutions to WWI to post-World War I as those allow for a balance of interest and distance. Valkyria Chronicles does something interesting with Anime WW2 and I appreciate it. I appreciate the juxtaposition for its own sake. BUT having ripped off the WW2 band-aid, anime-style creators like SEGA-and hopefully more!-should look into other eras as well, being both more colorful in all senses and more distance allowing for harder narrative gut punches with less potential justified blowback.
Great vid! Own it on steam, but i haven't thought about this game in a decade, so it was cool to be reminded of it. World war two with a beach scene, sure is one of the quotes of all time
I think there's a point to be made about the concentration camp thing being put just after the mandatory beach episode not being that silly and deranged. I do think it's a specific trope of japanese narration to have the silliest of events being put just before the worst things ever. Arguably, the juxtaposition of joyful nonsense with undescribable horrors makes for an even stronger contrast and you can be even more shocked. Basically, concentration camp is a shocking imagery, but surrounded by images of bleeding soldiers dying on the ground, praying for the pain to stop and death to take them quickly, looking at people coming their way to finish off the survivors with bayonets is probably way less shocking than the juxtaposition of a beach party and a concentration camp. One of the associative laws specifically states that contrast is one of the ways to create a strong association, which is basically a strong memory.
There are characters with Japanese names from the setting's 'far east', so I don't think the idea of the black hair being a reference to Japanese people is particularly valid. I don't see many people talk about this series and it's one of my favourites, so thanks for diving into the first game's themes like this.
Excellent video. This summarizes and expands on many of the "stuck thoughts" I've had since playing it. Genuinely impressive what it manages to achieve. On a sidenote, VC2 and VC3 also offer some very interesting perspectives on this topic. The relationship between Zeri and Juliana in 2 is one thing, Zeri himself offers a new way of looking into the topic of resistance (like a much less concerning version of VC3's Dahau) and I found Valerie's (the resident historian) inputs in VC3 to be cool in regards to that question of individual actions having an impact on systemic issues, with her determination to uncover the real details of the Darcsen Calamity.
Little side note. The beach episode isn't mandatory. It's completely optional. In fact, most people probably won't even see it their first time playing because to access it you have to purchase the chapter in-game and it's one of if not the most expensive unlockable chapters.
…isn’t Galia mostly like Poland? A little country stuck in between two empires? Location of the camps? Even some details like how the place looks, bread being a staple of food and the name Alicia being used in Poland. I love this game, btw
Gallia is what the Romans called Gaul/France. It's an amalgamation of a bunch of places, Poland, Belgium, Finland, etc. The devs were Japanese and like most anime writers are far less concerned with the minutia of European culture and history than Europeans and their descendants are. You see a similar treatment of Asia by westerners.
@@CarrotConsumer I meant the Galia from the game. I understand that it’s an amalgamation of different vaguely european traits. I still feel a close connection to Poland’s position, stuck between two huge nations ect.
@@Ivyzord I can absolutely see how you can feel that. Personally, I got more Belgium/Netherlands vibes. Neutral nation that tried to stay out of the conflict but got invaded anyways (twice), taking some names from Dutch towns (also windmills). I also think it works more in terms of the camps, as Fouzen was very obviously not a Deathcamp, but a Slave Labour camp massacred by the retreating army
Following the other comments, I mostly got a Finland vibe from Gallia. Both for being a consistently neutral minor power stuck between competing superpowers / alliances, and for it's mandatory military training which makes nearly the entire civilian populace a competent conscriptable supplement for the military in times of crisis. But yeah, Gallia pulls from so many European countries that it has no objectively correct 'counterpart' in the real world.
Rosie's racism reminds me of the strange and frankly horrifying style of antisemitism that came out of some people eastern europe after ww2. This attitude of "we are the only real victims." If I recall correctly there was one late Soviet artist who made some abysmal art depicting the Nazis and Jews collaborating to kill Russians. There's, uh, something to say about twisted trauma in all that.
Well Rosie's feelings are a little more personal as the Darcsens her family had hidden from Imperial forces ended up killing her family when they thought that they were going to be betrayed. It's a blink and you miss it moment in the game. The anime series actually goes into it. One of many reasons that I find the anime's portrayal of the story to be more coherent then the game version.
3:49 I want to see you make a video on Kantai Collection/Azur Lane historiography so bad, now... ("And here we have Inazuma, a destroyer (personified as a little girl, of course) that is portrayed as a bleeding-heart softie who even wants to 'save the enemies' aww... because her captain was willing to follow the rules of war and not just machine-gun enemy survivors in the water like all the other waifus.")
Thanks for covering this game, youve made my day. Most of your problems come from implications that you make up though. Like the lore you cite isnt the actual history, thats the narrative that the people know. The calamity was made up by the valkyria in order to later justify their conquest. The game is not saying that the og inhabitants were evil, the conquerors were saying that to justify it to later generations. Also the whole racism as a quirk is a implication your making, the quirk rosie has is the hardass, and racism is a part of her character, but not in a way where every sentance she speaks has racism in it. The beath scene is to make us care for isara before stuff happens, and i see the whole incentiviced racism as a psychological flaw with the characters, its their own fault for being this way, and they act accordingly. The 4th game if you ever make a video on it does squad stories that can change these racist or bad traits into not racist ones, showing character growth. Anyways thats it, thanks for the great video, hope you make a video on 4 and how it backs out of its own questions about how nukes can be justified or not.
As a big fan of VC i always enjoy new vids about the series. But i have a small thing to say about the somewhat weird tone of the plot, which was mostly a result of the Translation/Localization team. Over the whole they made the Militia sound a lot less profession by removing much of the professional military lingo used in the cutscenes and such. There were also a lot of little personal growth and perspective that got lost in Translation. Alicia not wanting to fight in the Militia and keeping her bakers scarf as that is what she'd rather be doing. And Welkin being a lot more confident in his abilities, But not wanting to join the military to get away from his fathers legacy, And having complicated feelings about ending up as a tank commander just like his father. If anyone here wants to see someone break down all of these little details, the channel Japan Day Tripper is currently doing a stream series about the translation.
28:46 As a Spanish, I also have to mention that the conflict shown in Valkyria 2 is also heavily reminiscent of the First Carlist War in Spain: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Carlist_War The antagonists are inspired by the Carlists, which were (and still are) a faction supporting the "Ancient Regime", and pretending that every problem in society is the fault of the changes that have happened from the 17th century onwards. Their leader himself is modelled after Carlos María Isidro de Borbón, the Carlist leader: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Carlos_María_Isidro_of_Spain
VC2 is worth considering for trying to fit even more shonen anime tropes while still keeping its tone and focus… to mixed results. The end result is a game whose plot is, almost literally, JUST the plot of Yu-Gi-oh! GX… with marginally more ethnic cleansing.
Something that I find fascinating about Japanese media is how pretty much every character ever is "eastern" or "western" Take FE7, every character in the game is basically just generic European medieval person. Except for the Sacaens who are mostly just "generic steppe nomads" with a bit of "I study the way of the blade/bushido" tossed in. Or the Trails series, in which every nation is similarly just generic pre-war Euopean people except for Calvard who are a agglomeration of various aspects of Japanese, Chinese, and even Tibetan culture. The Darcsen seem to be a continuation of this. Vaguely eastern people but with this time, they have some of the traits of the victims of the Holocaust. But idk, Japanese/Eastern + Holocaust victims seems like a problematic pairing.
You are either one of them or an outsider. Doesnt matter if asian or western. Japanese racism is one of the pillars of their society. Its not typical murican black vs white nonsense. Its just nationalism. Few steps before turning into pre ww2 japan,
Listening to me made me realize I was all too okay with treating the Darcsen-related soldier traits as part of the world, quirks of gameplay. I would effectively segregate out Darcsen groups in the squad for more effective combat. The game made me simulate systemic racism
I actually quite liked the Darcsen being Indigenous to the lands they are being oppressed within. I think while the statelessness of the Jews and Roma was integral to their persecution, I often find myself ignoring things like that because I genuinely believe the atrocities would've happened to the same extent without such overarching "justifications" or preconceptions. Simply because there are just so many, that if one didn't exist, another one of the justifications would be propped up. Neo-Nazi's love to move the goal posts on everything. If an oppressed group is not indigenous, they say they were stateless. If they were indigenous, then those same Nazi's claim they were rightfully conquered by their superior forces. Pointless exercise to play with them, really.
I played this game way back when it first came out, and didn't buy the DLC (because parents) so there wasn't any beach episode in my multiple playthroughs. I only experienced it years later, and by that time my impressions of the game had long set in so it didn't change anything for me. Though I can see how having it included at default could mess with the tone of the whole narrative. I had just paid it little mind since it wasn't part of *my* VC experience.
If anything, this video has convinced me that the newer generations don't seem to be able to process or handle serious themes in media if there is a tiny amount of fanservice in it.
I"m also going to throw in something from the fact that I to played this game Yes, there is a mandatory beach episode. ...But you have to unlock it in game as one of the most expensive in game unlockables, an "Ellet's Report" that essentially represents side content like Rosie talking about why she's racist or finding out Largo's ACTUAL character trait is liking veggies. Yes, I am aware it's fucked up to put those on the same standing, but the game does too and I"m entirely willing to chalk this up to it being ia Japanese game that released in 2008 initially and had an on-and-off development cycle going back to the first Sakura Wars. Your first playthrough, you will not play through the Beach Episode immediately before the concentration camp episode. In fact, it's probably one of the last pieces of content you'll unlock barring DLC (which is included with the PC release) and i guess the wallbanger of "Hang on, the beach episode is RIGHT BEFORE the concentration camp arc?" will only come up on a subsequent playthrough.
While I know that isn't what was meant, but saying that Racism stemming from Trauma is "justified" is wrong. It is "understandable" as in one being able to retrace the logical steps that led the person to have their racist beliefs, but it is not a just view. If I got mugged by someome with 9 fingers instead of 10 and I would start assuming all 9-fingered people are evil muggers you wouldn't call that justified.
This trope is also pretty harmful as it creates and enforces a narrative that discrimination stems from individuals and not the systems which they live in.
@@Rosencreutzzz I think you forgot that here then, no biggie, just wanted to point it out. Anyway, thanks for the vid, it was a very good backdrop to cleaning my kitchen and very insightful!
@@wfb.subtraktor311 I think they got it, but I agree making it explicit that it's NOT justifiable even if the game seems to act like it is, is something worth being more specific about than not, but that was what he was saying Edit: plus not to mention the who part about how even if the Darcsen did somehow do something bad in the past it wouldn't make it ok now to persecute them, the game frames things like "if this *did* happen well that's definitely not ok, but oh wait it actually didn't" when the point is, "even if it DID and it WAS bad, that doesn't make genetic descendants responsable, or any less capebable of learning"
Do you have passing thoughts on how Rosie could've been written better, or are the issues with her character more on the pacing than her story itself? Should the game have had a spotlight on a character who is racist *and* doesn't 'get better'? Great video overall, I'm interested to hear if you've got thoughts on this, or further reading recommendations, since writing on sensitive issues like this is quite difficult to find good guidance towards.
Regarding the placing of the holocaust mission immediately after the mandatory beach episode, deranged is a great choice of word and I can appreciate that flavor of deranged. Funny enough though, its common practice in the industry and is taught in school when writing narratives to place comedic relief near points of high emotion or tension. A transitory mission or cutscene would have benefited it in hindsight but you can't fault the intent - placing the beach scene AFTER the holocaust mission would have been thrice deranged.
I liked this game as a kid because pew pew and anime action cutin silly one liners. I liked the game as a teen because hey look at all these cool characters. I likedthe game up until yesterday because its story was a unique experience. I like the game today because in an alternate timeline it features a seriously told catgirl holocaust. Thank you.
You mentioned it briefly with bioshock, ff16, and the new deus ex games but I would honestly love an analysis of those games and other games who fall into the short sighted understandings of racism you bring up in passing.
I was expecting you to tackle this one for a while, yeah it's not perfect but it came as close to good representation of the horrible side of WW2 as one could unreasonably expect from an Anime game.
Best video about the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians that purports to be about the anime holocaust.. That 35:02 text hit me like a tonne of bricks. Thinking of the 2 million people of gaza
Me neither, man@@Madhattersinjeans edit: You're welcome to disagree with me and say I'm reading subtext where none is. But if your criticism is "why u no think of the people that are doing the genocide?" then no i'm not going to engage. Also its a horrific time right now. You got something to say, say it with your chest.
why does this video have a bit where the creator puts on Serious Disclaimer voice to talk about the artist for Valkyria Chronicles having drawn boobs before and then goes 'DONT WORRY GUYS HE WASN'T INVOLVED IN THE PLOT'? Thinking boobs are misogynist is only evidence of your own misogyny.
Why?
Tone, which is in part the same concern of the entire premise.
For some reason, the caveat that I'm aware that Raita is mostly a smut artist, has become a point of controversy for this video.
To clarify: the issue isn't that Raita was involved or anything. In fact, the point is the same as the broader point of the video, about how there are a lot of "concerns" one might have when learning about the premise of this game, broadly. The reason to single him out is the same as the reason for singling out a beach episode, or other genre tropes: it's to point out the way this game seems primed to be a complete tonal mess that verges on outright trivializing the holocaust, or at the least, just being emotionally confusing. It's a tone issue.
@@Rosencreutzzz Anime can have multiple tones at multiple parts. Shouldn't it be seen as an advantage for animation that they can go for so many disparate emotions or vibes as easily as they can?
@@Greener221Keep in mind that video essays are to some extent an exercise in dialectics. When considering a dialectic juxtaposition, emphasis should fall upon the final conclusion rather than the preceding exposition. Consider also the artist in question, Raita; would they take issue with the conclusion? I can't imagine how they would, since A) they probably worked hard to produce authentic art that's suitable for the subject matter & B) their primary livelihood is not a secret.
love that political hentai addicts will see a video about an interesting depiction of the holocaust and only give a shit about whether or not their anime titties are portrayed properly
treat your art seriously for fucks sake
@@MasterChaoko Your post is total gibberish that makes no worthwhile points and attempts to hide that lack of point through verbosity.
"the human mind was not made to comprehend the uwuificatiln of dachu" has got to be the funniest collection of words ill hear all day
That sentence made my whole week!!!
“UwUification of Dachau.” Bro, I just woke up and it’s still too early to drink. Why would you do this?
Had to pause the video, break open the liquor cabinet, and down about 50ml of Shanky's after that line dropped
Oh dear lort, as I write this, it’s plenty late in my day, I’m eating chili, and I suppose I’d better grab the bourbon before I hear this line.
Just preordered the remastered edition off lrg this morning, at the last possible minute. Looks like I’m in for something heavy as hell disguised as something more innocent?
Yep, I need to drink too after that. What have I done
As a very, very, VERY mild defense of the camp being right after the beach episode, sometimes it's narratively useful to disarm the player emotionally before hitting them with really dark content.
Or that's what I would say if I thought the camp mission had treated its subject matter with the right amount of gravitas
The other extremely mild defence of the beach episode placement is that it is prohibitively expensive… I would genuinely be impressed by someone actually unlocking that episode right before the camp without grinding skirmishes.
Yeah don't ask video-essayists to engage with media honestly.
...They originally planned a catgirl concentration camp. Huh. That's... that's just something I know, now.
Possibly scrapped for being too similar to the plot of the Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, which had a sequel coming out around the same time as VC
"The human mind was not meant to comprehend the 'uwuification' of Dachau"
My mind was not meant to comprehend that sentence.
Catgirl concentration camps? What is this, UK healthcare system?
That level of third degree sick burn requires treatment at a specialist clinic but it's closed coz they sent all the specialists 'ome cuz they forregn innit
It's interesting that the idea of a foreign people creating a new homeland by expelling the old occupiers and mythologizing that event fits more Japanese history with the Ainu than as a generalized pseudo-European history. I'm far from knowledgeable enough to do anything with that idea though.
settler colioislm
@@cassidyarnold505
colonialism ❌
colioislm ✅
I sincerely believe that members of the dev team used European war crimes as a subtle criticism of Japan's own war crimes.
See, even more so than in the west, as the aggressors, japan's population generally doesn't acknowledge those atrocities, so I've been told. So depicting those directly likely would have been seen as a bad idea, marketing wise.
Otherwise, they'd be pointing fingers at Europe for the same things they did.
Even if that were the case, boy did they really make a hard depiction that I so greatly appreciate.
They just used a popular historical event as inspiration for an anime story. It's not an allegory for anything.
@@CarrotConsumerdid they tell you that lol
Welcome to the like like two thousand new people between this video and the last one who joined because my Iraq war video and theosophy video took off and had no idea what the...dynamic range of my channel could be. Hope you enjoy overlong analyses of video games.
Yes, yes I do.
I'm wondering what you think of FFXIV Heavensward. I'll have to finish it before you (might) make a video on it.
Showed up wanting a goofy "racism as an rpg stat" video, instead got a way too well written review of real world conflicts adapted for games.
@@johnhop818"Congratulations, you've reached -30 racism! You've got the passive skill 'Empathy'!"
10:50
Witcher is actually a rather poor example since the racism of the setting is actually well built. It isn't just "elves have pointy ears" while it often boils down to it, the reasons behind the racial conflict is much more diverse than they look different. Neither the humans or the elves are native to the continent, but the elves arrived much earlier and on purpose, while the humans arrived later, but by accident. There are two distinct elvish cultures, the Aen Elle who live on another plane (The Wild Hunt and Avallac'h for example) and Aen Seidhe the elves of the continent. The elves of the setting were and are genuinely racist towards humans, seeing humans as lesser beings, viewing humans like animals rather than people. This stems generally from the fact that the elves are naturally magically aligned, longer lived, tall and fair while humans in general are dirty, brutish and short lived without any natural magical aptitude.
The Aen Seidhe first saw humans in a sympathetic light and thought they could civilize men to some extent, they failed to do so and their civilization was turned to ash by said humans. Now they are the underdogs of the setting. The Aen Elle are genocidal imperialist elf-supremacist slavers, who seek to dominate everything they can. Most humans fail to see the difference and to most of them, the elves are one big group which would enslave and annihilate all humans given the chance, like the Wild Hunt tries to.
In one of the books, there is an elven memorial site with statues, one of them is a mixed race couple, Ciri's ancestors. Although the human of the pair wasn't actually sculpted, but implied (which should be a huge enough honor to a human) to be there because it would have been a disgrace to spend such expensive materials on a mere human, and the elf is seen as a race traitor. Avallac'h also fabricates human historical evidence as a way to protect the hidden memorial site, and just because he thinks it's really funny.
I'm obviously not doing the series enough justice here, but it does have genuinely good depiction of racial and cultural prejudice and oppression, and it isn't just black and white either. The series shows a a terrifying world where people live in constant fear, suspicion and superstition (Not too far off from reality). And at the heart of it, it shows that the cruelty is ultimately unnecessary and evil no matter who is the perpetrator, which I think is a good message.
“A native people with dark hair who were slaughtered by the now dominant race in the area and were forced into smaller and less useable territories.”
Yeah, the Ainu, I’m familiar with them.
That comparison doesn't really work because the Japanese also have dark hair - other things signify Ainu culture (e.g. the epithet "shrimp barbarians" derives from their wearing long beards and moustaches). That said it's definitely true when it comes to depicting oppression in games the Japanese seem to have a substantial blind spot for their pre-20th-century history - Pokemon Legends: Arceus depicts the native peoples of Hisui (a counterpart for Hokkaido which we know is later renamed to Sinnoh much like Hokkaido was renamed from Ezo) as happy about the arrival of advanced people from the south, for example.
From my understanding they aren’t actually happy a major source of conflict in the game is essentially the two opposing clans coming into conflict that a third party which the player is apart of making things more tense it’s essentially your part of third party who is interfering with a pre established conflict
Somewhat a spoiler but there's an interesting implied bit with the desert ruins where the entire landscape and ruins are pockmarked with holes and looked melted in places. Which are consistent with the weaponry the Valkyria use and since the magic in setting is by blood and the Darcsens don't have magic powers. The implication is that the "Darcsen Calamity" was the devastation caused by the Valkyrur in their invasion who then did some revisionist history and blamed their victims for it to further legitimize their conquest.
It's an analogy for the nuclear attacks on Japan and how atrocities in China+Korea were fine but that's bad.
@@czarkusa2018 Please elaborate how exactly the game alludes to and then justifies the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Korea and China.
Because believing that dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime isn't mutually exclusive with acknowledging the horrors that happened in the Japanese occupied territories.
@@czarkusa2018How was the Darcsen calamity being a massacre of a people orchestrated by the Valkyrians then being covered up as the'Darcsen's evil deeds'an analogy on victimizing the atomic attacks but somehow making Japanese war crimes look good?
I have two criticisms of an otherwise pretty good look at the game
A: The Beach Episode's placement
The Beach Episode isn't part of the core story by default. It's a secondary mission that gets placed in that position after the player pays in-game money for. Plus it sets up an emotional gut punch if the player is psychotic enough to buy new missions as they are available, that you go from the bright cheerful beach to the absolute lowest point of the narrative showing the barbarity that the Empire is inflicting on Innocents.
B: The reliability of ingame documents.
Once the rug pull occurs and you learn that the Valkyria were the super-assholes rather than the Darcsen and they caused the Calamity, you can't take 33:41 as an objective fact any more. It's in-universe propaganda that was established by the Valkyria to make them look like Sensible Liberators and the Darcsen as Crazy Weirdoes.
The B part is already addressed in the story, also, he literally pointed out that the implications the game gave was if it's real, the centuries long persecution of the Darcseb is justified. It's only not justified because the Calamity narrative is false.
It's important to know when it comes to "Dark hair," "because we're short and have dark hair," was literally a reason that a Japanese general was given by a rabbi in WW2 for why the Nazis hated Jews... so though it's not a feature of all Jews by a long shot I think it fits into the Jewish themed coding.
And I'm really glad you made this, this is a conversation I've been wanting to approach for a bit, you didn't hit all the angles that I want to see discussed on this, but this is a really great video, and I'm so glad you made it.
This fills the Valkyriachronicles analysis shaped hole in my heart.
Listening to this video, Valkyria Chronicles seems to be much better at dealing with racism and bigotry then most other Japanese media, quite frankly most other media in general. Sure they stumble a lot but the attempt is appreciated. Largo as the fence sitter that makes it worse and actively enables bigotry is a depiction i don't see very often.
As you mentioned Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, one of my core issues with them, is that the games should be about ableism and classism but they tried to make it about race, and failed at all of the above. I actually have wanted to write something about it because it's a long held frustration of mine (fun games tho)
The way it had Largo as someone who's not aggressively racist, but consistently goes along with it anyway dropped my jaw - so rare to get that in media like this.
What I also appreciated about Largo's portrayal is that he doesn't "outgrow the problem" in the same way.
He doesn't have a huge apology moment with Isara nor dose he have some kind of epiphany, that portrayal is covered by Rosie.
Instead his transition is gradual, becoming significantly less abrasive towards Isara with time. He's established to be an experienced soldier and thus he's smart enough to see for himself that Isara is far more competent than the Darcsen stereotype paints her to be.
And we the audience can plainly see when he's cast all distrust for Isara aside, when the squad was ambushed and her brother Welkin was separated from them by a mortar blast.
As Isara is about to run into that mortar's path after Welkin and leave the squad's only tank a sitting target, Largo steps up to remind her: "Who's gonna drive the tank, if you get hurt!?" Amidst the crisis he not only saves her but unconditionally trusts her to save the squad.
And once the dust has settled and Isara throws herself into non-stop tank maintenance to resume searching for Welkin ASAP? Largo offers sympathy, appreciation for her good work, and a friendly reminder that overworking herself into the dirt won't help Welkin.
Largo's choice of words and actions in these moments were as loud as any apology, while also allowing his and Rosie's character growth to be framed differently (and thus more interestingly than if they blatantly mirrored each other).
Being a smut artist really isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. Chris Sanders, for example, has put out quite a few very horny pinup drawings, and he's also one of the main creators of Lilo and Stitch.
Weird puritanical notions that make it bad to draw boobies, but acceptable to draw absurd violence.
Yeah i don't really get what that bit was all about. Like the guy draws porn? Why try to make a big deal out of that?
As a smut artist myself, I thank you for being sane about this. The funny thing about this is even the "nonsmut" artists, if they went to art school, almost inevitably spend hundreds of hours drawing naked people, as part of their classes. Because you need to know anatomy to draw human good.
its the same with the demonisation of people who 'sell their bodies'
everyone sells their bodies when working... not just sexworkers
I'd give Ros a benefit of the doubt, as his other videos has been rather respectful and intentionally written to tackle topics sensitively, and UA-cam *really* is the quintessesial America's anti-booba pro-violence mindset.
The video was phenomenal as always, i assume, i don't know, i just heard the phrase 'persecuted catboys' and got so lightheaded i passed out.
Here from the Bret Devereaux Fireside that mentioned your videos! This was a really interesting look at the game, but god that line "the human mind was not made to comprehend the uwu-ification of dachau" made me wheeze and actively recommend the video to some friends. Excellent work here!
I remember VC2 having two Darcsen characters with very different reactions to the racism, despite both also being the smart glasses stereotype.
One used his talent to prove them wrong with bold stance and direct words and action, while the other quietly accept it and avoid confrontation.
And I thought that was neat.
Edit: Typo
Oh and that girl that quietly accept and avoid confrontation was supposed to fall in love with the VC2 MC but it was cut, but remnants of that plot line remains in the game.
@@leogazebo5290 which cast member had her love interest arc with Avan cut? Haven¡'t heard that before. Also been a while since I played the game..
@@AlbusVacuus Mischlitt, my source is I made it the F- just joking my source is the VC2 artbook. In the interview they mentioned it, my guess is she falls for Avan after saving her family but doesn't realize what love is and become a psychologist.
@@leogazebo5290 oh cool thanks
@@AlbusVacuus don't mention it, I'm always happy to talk about VC2 to others. Cheers mate...
If Rosencreutz adds :smilecat: then SEGA will announce VC5 and it'll sell a Rosenbillion copies
REAL
I beg for it
I think VC deserves a lot of credit for at least trying to tackle the Holocaust given that most actual WW2 games seem to try and avoid it.
Seriously for all the bloviating real "serious" WW2 games make whether that be your CoDs or your HoIs I honestly think Valkyria Chronicles is the only game I know of that actually attempts to tackle the Holocaust.
I finally understand why Valkyria Chronicles is my favorite 8/10 game in terms of story.
Still manifesting ports of VC2 and VC3 after all these years
It's called PPSSPP
@@romawar I was hoping that they'd port it before I'd have to learn japanese to play VC3 without having to apply a half-complete english patch
@@madnessinanydirection6337 i haven't even noticed the "half-completeness" of english patch, it has pretty much everything you need translated
you can play the main story and alot of side content with the english patch@@madnessinanydirection6337
nah, i heard that in 2nd and 3rd, the grind is huge, compared to PC-available 1st and 4th
Oh my god, i thought this video was like months old, but it's actually 2 days old. I am so surprised and happy, keep up the good work. I am a huge fan of Valkyria series, having 100%-ed parts 1 and 2, and I really love to see videos that research the topic of the game. Thank you for your video!
Wahoo new Rosencreutz video!
The mention how Darksens bigotry and stereotypes being based on their environment and occupation reminded me of an article about the Buraku (untouchables) [look for the article BBC News: "Japan's hidden caste of untouchables"]. I wonder if they used this material as the basis to write about discrimination.
I'm that someone! Man, I've never been more happy about the 2nd video I've seen from a newly subbed creator. I was one of 2 ppl that pre-ordered this game at GameCrazy within Hollywood video. The other person was there with me when I picked it up, because it was my best friend who drove us there. The employees were so entertained by that, and it's one of my top games of all time. I see SO little discussion of this.
Now do a Bumpy Trot one lol
It would be nice to see Vakyria Chronicle's reboot for a more fleshed out story. Also, it was pretty cool that it felt like a more medieval style of the Mobile Suit Gundam series
I'm glad we can hold our media to the uniquely high bar of not doing "catgirls in camps"
Wait, they were originally going to be cat people?
So RWBY wasn't the only one with this idea...
well it is the only way to get weebs to care about racism
@@adambebb99fair point actually
What's RWBY?
@@eveflash733the most tragically incompetent animated series produced in recent memory, possibly ever
Hold the phone, FE got there first lol.
Fantastic video! Really appreciate the fair analysis of my guilty pleasure franchise! I was really dispoainted with how VC4 handled the Darcsens compared to VC1, this video made me appreciate the first game more for all of its flaws.
Ah yes... I still remeber playing vc2 blind thinking it was "ww2 fe", these games can go from typical anime tropes to direct allusions of real world tragedies and events
Discovering one of my fav units had a "Darcsen hater" trait and hearing one of my companion talk about "Imperial con camps" only to later go to typical school anime plots was both incredibly hysterical and kinda funny
I remember finding it odd that the game suddenly introduces a rival character from other class and make such a big deal winning the tournament arc is for the class, despite already pushing back an actual army consisting of valkyrie-lites lmao.
VC2 is something that can only be believed by seeing it
@@Hell_O7 or the fact that Galia'sarmy is so stretched thin that they decide to send a bunch of cadets with only a few months of proper training (from the worst class in the only military academy in all of Galia might add) to protect THE ACTUAL HEAD OF STATE
@@veto_5762 Even more fun to know that the previous MC from the first game is just there in the background, not doing much to directly do anything.
I really wish VC2 and VC3 gets a remaster or at least a port to modern systems. I love the series especially the colors.
this is the third time your channel has blindsided me in the best way possible with the choice of games to make videos about
would not persecute ranulf though he's too cool
36:20 "I can point out how they put the chapter about a concentration camp right after the mandatory beach episode, but that's genuinely deranged" Contrary to Americans, whose head explode over any tonal shift, Japanese are more acustomed to it in media. The CC is right after the beach Episode to create a contrast.
Black hair is a massive identifier of "Japaneseness". Kids with naturally non black hair get bullied and pressured by schools to dye their hair black. Add pazifismn, technophilia and being from the country where the thinly veiled nuke went off and any Japanese will feel called out.
Thanks for the context,
Hope more people see this
Good video.Your argument was nuanced.
I think the best thing I can say is that it seems that the makers of the game thought long and hard about what they wanted to say and how to say it about a very risky yet important topic.
I think I can forgive slightly problematic execution in that context because it's clear the people involved felt the gravity of what they were doing.
36:27 the beach episode was DLC originally.
What a blessed way to drive into work. Solid video
Hello yes it's me, the girl who had thoughts like these stuck in her head for the past 5 years, thank you so much for making this video!
Honestly i just want to hear you talk about the rest of the games in the series, this video convinced me to play them
"i hope at least someone has had thoughts like these stuck in their head for half a decade and enjoyed this one"
it was me thank you
now to finally get around to playing the 4th game
Thanks for this. Game criticism is VERY important, and you do some of the best work with games most critics ignore. Games, as an art form, are in a dialectic between narrative/context and systems/mechanics. IMHO, the best games are ones that play with both of these elements, which Valkyria Chronicles certainly does-though with debatable success. But said debatable success allows for further iterations-that’s what this art form is!
TLDR more plz
(Inc VC5 and bringing 2 and 3 off the PSP and to the US!)
ALSO:
Look, I’m Jewish and I tend to just avoid WW2 as a setting entirely, preferring the 17th Century “Pike and Shot” to 18th-19th Century Linear Warfare and the Age of Revolutions to WWI to post-World War I as those allow for a balance of interest and distance. Valkyria Chronicles does something interesting with Anime WW2 and I appreciate it. I appreciate the juxtaposition for its own sake. BUT having ripped off the WW2 band-aid, anime-style creators like SEGA-and hopefully more!-should look into other eras as well, being both more colorful in all senses and more distance allowing for harder narrative gut punches with less potential justified blowback.
The "bad guy Magiot line" is the Siegfried line. A supposedly impenetrable line leading into the heart of Germany in WWII
Now that I hear it, HOI4 soundtrack really goes hand in hand with the VC series...then again I would not be shocked if there is a VC mod for HOI4
Great vid! Own it on steam, but i haven't thought about this game in a decade, so it was cool to be reminded of it. World war two with a beach scene, sure is one of the quotes of all time
hold on learning the guitar so I can start my new bad CATGIRL DEATHCAMP
I think there's a point to be made about the concentration camp thing being put just after the mandatory beach episode not being that silly and deranged. I do think it's a specific trope of japanese narration to have the silliest of events being put just before the worst things ever. Arguably, the juxtaposition of joyful nonsense with undescribable horrors makes for an even stronger contrast and you can be even more shocked. Basically, concentration camp is a shocking imagery, but surrounded by images of bleeding soldiers dying on the ground, praying for the pain to stop and death to take them quickly, looking at people coming their way to finish off the survivors with bayonets is probably way less shocking than the juxtaposition of a beach party and a concentration camp.
One of the associative laws specifically states that contrast is one of the ways to create a strong association, which is basically a strong memory.
There are characters with Japanese names from the setting's 'far east', so I don't think the idea of the black hair being a reference to Japanese people is particularly valid.
I don't see many people talk about this series and it's one of my favourites, so thanks for diving into the first game's themes like this.
kind of funny that an anime game is somehow one of the most tactful depictions of the holocaust
Excellent video. This summarizes and expands on many of the "stuck thoughts" I've had since playing it. Genuinely impressive what it manages to achieve. On a sidenote, VC2 and VC3 also offer some very interesting perspectives on this topic. The relationship between Zeri and Juliana in 2 is one thing, Zeri himself offers a new way of looking into the topic of resistance (like a much less concerning version of VC3's Dahau) and I found Valerie's (the resident historian) inputs in VC3 to be cool in regards to that question of individual actions having an impact on systemic issues, with her determination to uncover the real details of the Darcsen Calamity.
I've seen the Darcsen as at least partially a reference to Korea and the kind of shit Japan did to that country for centuries.
I cannot wait to send this to my friend!
8:00 tbf real life has wild juxtapositions like that all time
Man, your channel just keeps giving.
8:46 i dont need to persecute Ranulf bc hes already persecuted enough by the game devs with how bad his stats and availability are in PoR and RD
Little side note. The beach episode isn't mandatory. It's completely optional. In fact, most people probably won't even see it their first time playing because to access it you have to purchase the chapter in-game and it's one of if not the most expensive unlockable chapters.
…isn’t Galia mostly like Poland? A little country stuck in between two empires? Location of the camps? Even some details like how the place looks, bread being a staple of food and the name Alicia being used in Poland.
I love this game, btw
Gallia is what the Romans called Gaul/France. It's an amalgamation of a bunch of places, Poland, Belgium, Finland, etc. The devs were Japanese and like most anime writers are far less concerned with the minutia of European culture and history than Europeans and their descendants are.
You see a similar treatment of Asia by westerners.
@@CarrotConsumer For bonus points all the Gallian tanks are pretty blatantly German.
@@CarrotConsumer I meant the Galia from the game. I understand that it’s an amalgamation of different vaguely european traits. I still feel a close connection to Poland’s position, stuck between two huge nations ect.
@@Ivyzord I can absolutely see how you can feel that. Personally, I got more Belgium/Netherlands vibes. Neutral nation that tried to stay out of the conflict but got invaded anyways (twice), taking some names from Dutch towns (also windmills). I also think it works more in terms of the camps, as Fouzen was very obviously not a Deathcamp, but a Slave Labour camp massacred by the retreating army
Following the other comments, I mostly got a Finland vibe from Gallia.
Both for being a consistently neutral minor power stuck between competing superpowers / alliances, and for it's mandatory military training which makes nearly the entire civilian populace a competent conscriptable supplement for the military in times of crisis.
But yeah, Gallia pulls from so many European countries that it has no objectively correct 'counterpart' in the real world.
we making it into the anime video easy clud with this one 🗣🗣🔥🔥
lmao holy shit i forgot the part where they go in the camp barracks looking like...camp barracks at a concentration camp.
3:33 AAAAnd I though it's just another WW1 with WW2 aesthetic
Ok i didnt except a valkyria chronicles video.
“The human mind was not meant to comprehend the uwu-ification of Dachau”
Incredible sentence, 10/10, no notes.
Valkyria Chronicles is one of my favourite games, so thanks for this video.
Rosie's racism reminds me of the strange and frankly horrifying style of antisemitism that came out of some people eastern europe after ww2. This attitude of "we are the only real victims." If I recall correctly there was one late Soviet artist who made some abysmal art depicting the Nazis and Jews collaborating to kill Russians. There's, uh, something to say about twisted trauma in all that.
Well Rosie's feelings are a little more personal as the Darcsens her family had hidden from Imperial forces ended up killing her family when they thought that they were going to be betrayed. It's a blink and you miss it moment in the game. The anime series actually goes into it. One of many reasons that I find the anime's portrayal of the story to be more coherent then the game version.
3:49 I want to see you make a video on Kantai Collection/Azur Lane historiography so bad, now...
("And here we have Inazuma, a destroyer (personified as a little girl, of course) that is portrayed as a bleeding-heart softie who even wants to 'save the enemies' aww... because her captain was willing to follow the rules of war and not just machine-gun enemy survivors in the water like all the other waifus.")
Valkyria Chronicles is great
Thanks for covering this game, youve made my day.
Most of your problems come from implications that you make up though. Like the lore you cite isnt the actual history, thats the narrative that the people know. The calamity was made up by the valkyria in order to later justify their conquest. The game is not saying that the og inhabitants were evil, the conquerors were saying that to justify it to later generations. Also the whole racism as a quirk is a implication your making, the quirk rosie has is the hardass, and racism is a part of her character, but not in a way where every sentance she speaks has racism in it. The beath scene is to make us care for isara before stuff happens, and i see the whole incentiviced racism as a psychological flaw with the characters, its their own fault for being this way, and they act accordingly. The 4th game if you ever make a video on it does squad stories that can change these racist or bad traits into not racist ones, showing character growth. Anyways thats it, thanks for the great video, hope you make a video on 4 and how it backs out of its own questions about how nukes can be justified or not.
We eatin' good tonight...
As a big fan of VC i always enjoy new vids about the series. But i have a small thing to say about the somewhat weird tone of the plot, which was mostly a result of the Translation/Localization team. Over the whole they made the Militia sound a lot less profession by removing much of the professional military lingo used in the cutscenes and such. There were also a lot of little personal growth and perspective that got lost in Translation. Alicia not wanting to fight in the Militia and keeping her bakers scarf as that is what she'd rather be doing. And Welkin being a lot more confident in his abilities, But not wanting to join the military to get away from his fathers legacy, And having complicated feelings about ending up as a tank commander just like his father. If anyone here wants to see someone break down all of these little details, the channel Japan Day Tripper is currently doing a stream series about the translation.
28:46 As a Spanish, I also have to mention that the conflict shown in Valkyria 2 is also heavily reminiscent of the First Carlist War in Spain: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Carlist_War
The antagonists are inspired by the Carlists, which were (and still are) a faction supporting the "Ancient Regime", and pretending that every problem in society is the fault of the changes that have happened from the 17th century onwards. Their leader himself is modelled after Carlos María Isidro de Borbón, the Carlist leader: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Carlos_María_Isidro_of_Spain
VC2 is worth considering for trying to fit even more shonen anime tropes while still keeping its tone and focus… to mixed results.
The end result is a game whose plot is, almost literally, JUST the plot of Yu-Gi-oh! GX… with marginally more ethnic cleansing.
30:36 You know, I awaited to see something from 3rd part and this reaction… yeah.
Boy, Valkyria 3 is fun game. In all senses of the word.
Something that I find fascinating about Japanese media is how pretty much every character ever is "eastern" or "western"
Take FE7, every character in the game is basically just generic European medieval person. Except for the Sacaens who are mostly just "generic steppe nomads" with a bit of "I study the way of the blade/bushido" tossed in. Or the Trails series, in which every nation is similarly just generic pre-war Euopean people except for Calvard who are a agglomeration of various aspects of Japanese, Chinese, and even Tibetan culture.
The Darcsen seem to be a continuation of this. Vaguely eastern people but with this time, they have some of the traits of the victims of the Holocaust.
But idk, Japanese/Eastern + Holocaust victims seems like a problematic pairing.
man, now I want a Rosencreutz vid about trails
You are either one of them or an outsider. Doesnt matter if asian or western. Japanese racism is one of the pillars of their society. Its not typical murican black vs white nonsense. Its just nationalism. Few steps before turning into pre ww2 japan,
Listening to me made me realize I was all too okay with treating the Darcsen-related soldier traits as part of the world, quirks of gameplay. I would effectively segregate out Darcsen groups in the squad for more effective combat. The game made me simulate systemic racism
another banger oomfi
I actually quite liked the Darcsen being Indigenous to the lands they are being oppressed within. I think while the statelessness of the Jews and Roma was integral to their persecution, I often find myself ignoring things like that because I genuinely believe the atrocities would've happened to the same extent without such overarching "justifications" or preconceptions. Simply because there are just so many, that if one didn't exist, another one of the justifications would be propped up.
Neo-Nazi's love to move the goal posts on everything. If an oppressed group is not indigenous, they say they were stateless. If they were indigenous, then those same Nazi's claim they were rightfully conquered by their superior forces. Pointless exercise to play with them, really.
The Seigval line is the Siegfried line
Great video
I played this game way back when it first came out, and didn't buy the DLC (because parents) so there wasn't any beach episode in my multiple playthroughs. I only experienced it years later, and by that time my impressions of the game had long set in so it didn't change anything for me.
Though I can see how having it included at default could mess with the tone of the whole narrative. I had just paid it little mind since it wasn't part of *my* VC experience.
Only a few minutes into this video but I wanted to remark that this is kind of how I feel about the legendary manga Berserk and the 30 Years' War.
30:34
Where did you get that english translation of VC3 book?
Valkyria Chronicles holds e very special place in my heart, especialyl the first game.
I love it to bits tbh.
Man I love Valkyria Chronicles
So sad I hope there will be another Valkyria chronicles game..
If anything, this video has convinced me that the newer generations don't seem to be able to process or handle serious themes in media if there is a tiny amount of fanservice in it.
I"m also going to throw in something from the fact that I to played this game
Yes, there is a mandatory beach episode.
...But you have to unlock it in game as one of the most expensive in game unlockables, an "Ellet's Report" that essentially represents side content like Rosie talking about why she's racist or finding out Largo's ACTUAL character trait is liking veggies. Yes, I am aware it's fucked up to put those on the same standing, but the game does too and I"m entirely willing to chalk this up to it being ia Japanese game that released in 2008 initially and had an on-and-off development cycle going back to the first Sakura Wars.
Your first playthrough, you will not play through the Beach Episode immediately before the concentration camp episode. In fact, it's probably one of the last pieces of content you'll unlock barring DLC (which is included with the PC release) and i guess the wallbanger of "Hang on, the beach episode is RIGHT BEFORE the concentration camp arc?" will only come up on a subsequent playthrough.
Was not expecting to ever see a video talking the themes of oppression and rascism from one of my most favorites games but man am I happy for it.
1:23 you mean the Belkan War from Ace Combat?
Finally someone talk about this
While I know that isn't what was meant, but saying that Racism stemming from Trauma is "justified" is wrong. It is "understandable" as in one being able to retrace the logical steps that led the person to have their racist beliefs, but it is not a just view. If I got mugged by someome with 9 fingers instead of 10 and I would start assuming all 9-fingered people are evil muggers you wouldn't call that justified.
Yeah, that's why I put justified in quotes, generally. It's "justified" within the game/in the view of the characters in it.
"Justifications" are seldom just, in fact.
This trope is also pretty harmful as it creates and enforces a narrative that discrimination stems from individuals and not the systems which they live in.
@@Rosencreutzzz I think you forgot that here then, no biggie, just wanted to point it out. Anyway, thanks for the vid, it was a very good backdrop to cleaning my kitchen and very insightful!
@@wfb.subtraktor311 I think they got it, but I agree making it explicit that it's NOT justifiable even if the game seems to act like it is, is something worth being more specific about than not, but that was what he was saying
Edit: plus not to mention the who part about how even if the Darcsen did somehow do something bad in the past it wouldn't make it ok now to persecute them, the game frames things like "if this *did* happen well that's definitely not ok, but oh wait it actually didn't" when the point is, "even if it DID and it WAS bad, that doesn't make genetic descendants responsable, or any less capebable of learning"
Do you have passing thoughts on how Rosie could've been written better, or are the issues with her character more on the pacing than her story itself? Should the game have had a spotlight on a character who is racist *and* doesn't 'get better'? Great video overall, I'm interested to hear if you've got thoughts on this, or further reading recommendations, since writing on sensitive issues like this is quite difficult to find good guidance towards.
Regarding the placing of the holocaust mission immediately after the mandatory beach episode, deranged is a great choice of word and I can appreciate that flavor of deranged. Funny enough though, its common practice in the industry and is taught in school when writing narratives to place comedic relief near points of high emotion or tension. A transitory mission or cutscene would have benefited it in hindsight but you can't fault the intent - placing the beach scene AFTER the holocaust mission would have been thrice deranged.
I liked this game as a kid because pew pew and anime action cutin silly one liners.
I liked the game as a teen because hey look at all these cool characters.
I likedthe game up until yesterday because its story was a unique experience.
I like the game today because in an alternate timeline it features a seriously told catgirl holocaust.
Thank you.
You mentioned it briefly with bioshock, ff16, and the new deus ex games but I would honestly love an analysis of those games and other games who fall into the short sighted understandings of racism you bring up in passing.
They hearted on that iron
13:26 Yakub and his creation had a similar story to the Valkyria lmao
I was expecting you to tackle this one for a while, yeah it's not perfect but it came as close to good representation of the horrible side of WW2 as one could unreasonably expect from an Anime game.
good use of the embassy theme form Mission Impossible for N64 and the rest of it of course; now to play some Hoi4!
Best video about the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians that purports to be about the anime holocaust..
That 35:02 text hit me like a tonne of bricks.
Thinking of the 2 million people of gaza
People picking favourite ethnic groups in modern conflicts they know little about is a trend I am not a huge fan of.
Me neither, man@@Madhattersinjeans
edit: You're welcome to disagree with me and say I'm reading subtext where none is. But if your criticism is "why u no think of the people that are doing the genocide?" then no i'm not going to engage.
Also its a horrific time right now. You got something to say, say it with your chest.