I have some random observations to make about the Japanese. They nearly always have excellent manners, and some possess the ability to sleep on any train, even while standing up. They also seem hard-wired to appreciate nostalgia more than most. Every Japanese child grows up watching whatever Super Sentai/Power Rangers or magical girl show that’s currently on TV, for example Interstellar Beast Gingaman and GoGo Five for my son, and Ojamajo Doremi for my daughter, and as they go forward in life they’ll feel the pull of nostalgia for the “era” of television they happened to grow up with. Food plays an important role in building this sense of nostalgia, too. Imagine if there was a magical candy shop that stocked all the forgotten treats of your youth, which for me would include the original Bubble Yum, Bottle Caps candies and those foot-long Marathon Bars from the 70s (sold as Curly Wurly in parts of Europe). Happily, the Japanese have the ability to visit such a place, thanks to the tradition of candy companies keeping dagashi classics like Morinaga milk caramels, Himo-Q super long gummy rope, Sakuma Drops and Ramune in production basically forever. This enables children to enjoy the same unchanging snack foods their parents ate growing up, forming a tighter bond between the past and the present.
One area of Japan-related fandom I love a lot is 百合 yuri, which refers to lily (the flower) but also to themes of lesbian love in pop culture. The word was coined by the literary magazine Ito Bungaku in the 1970s to describe the new wave of lesbian fiction that had started to surface in Tokyo around that time. While yuri anime has been around since the hallowed days of 1984’s Cream Lemon Escalation (our Yukkuri Panic Escalation game is a direct homage to this), it wasn’t until Sailor Moon and the very special “cousins with benefits” relationship of Sailor Uranus and Neptune that the genre really became a thing with fans. I personally love yuri because the dramatic and/or humorous tension that arises when girls are attracted to other girls is one of the few things that all fans — male or female — can get excited about on exactly the same level. Incidentally, if you love yuri stories, keep reading…
We’ve got great news for fans of yuri stories today: Flowers, one of the most beautiful games exploring lesbian relationship by girls, is coming out in English soon, and you can preorder the game now! We’ve prepared a wonderful limited edition set with acrylic figures and more. Read about it and order now! (A demo of this game will be available, too. Check back here soon.)
