lennoxmacbeth linked me to an interesting little CNN piece about an ad that got pulled from Japanese TV:


Actual ad here: EMobile Monkey Ad

It's a monkey in a suit at a podium at something a lot like an Obama rally with red 'Change' signs. The panel of what look to be American expats are mostly offended by how it's apparently calling Obama a monkey and dehumanizing blacks. But the company's mascot is a monkey and that animal has very different baggage on the far side of the Pacific. Oh, and the guy from Temple University at the end just sounds like a pompous prick.

I suppose this raises some questions about racism and cultural sensitivity, but to me it just looks like CNN groping for a story and a group of slightly culture-shocked expats. The history behind monkeys and Africans just isn't there in the Japanese consciousness. For that matter, it looks like the average Japanese citizen knows about as much about Barack Obama as the average American knows about Ma Ying-Jeou (the new Taiwanese President and one smarmy piece of work like most politicians) or perhaps Nicolas Sarkozy. To me (admittedly, I'm about as Japanese as dim sum), the ad's not so much calling Obama a monkey as trying to appropriate some of his success and charisma. And it doesn't look half as stupid as some American cell phone ads. Looking at you, Alltel and AT&T.

I'm not going to deny that the Japanese can be racist as a people, or that the ad would never be greenlit Stateside. It's what happens when a nation is insular and homogeneous enough that the politicians quite frankly don't have to give a damn about minorities. China can be about the same way (~90% are Han Chinese; no one ever remembers the other groups unless they're brought out for ceremonies or something). But demanding that they pay obeisance to American political correctness for ads that would never be seen by American audience? That just sounds arrogant. Besides, it's a cute monkey.


In other news, I've picked up Odin Sphere. The game where you run around and beat the crap out of wild critters (and some humans) with glowing crystals that gain power by sucking up dead enemies' souls. Oh, and you can grow fruits that serve as health potions...which are nourished by the souls of dead enemies. And there's an alchemy system that lets you make things like antidote potions, a painkiller potion that cuts damage in half (very very important for boss fights), and bombs. And your characters get magic...which is fueled by the souls of dead enemies. Strangely, chickens do not eat souls.

I'm playing this game with the English voices, which are no worse than most video game voice acting. Gameplay's not too bad once you get used to the control scheme except for the complete lack of enemy flinch animations. I'm whaling on an enemy and it just keeps right on swinging unless I hit it with a knockdown move. The two kinds of experience (Psypher or weapon; and HP) aren't too hard to manage since the Phozons (souls) that act as EXP for your weapon also power your magic and Health EXP comes from food that you'll be carrying anyway.

/>Inventory management is a bit of a pain since it works through bags. It looks like you can carry up to five or six, and the largest so far have eight slots and cost 75G (pricey at this stage of the game, but I'm grinding to replace my 5-slot bags; got a 6-slot, but that's ok for now). With seeds, potions, alchemy ingredients, and food, you'll want to max out on bags ASAP. Money is handled a bit differently from most games. Instead of a generic bag of Gil, GP, or bottle caps, you have a bag of actual coins of different value. And just like real life, you tend to wind up with a pile of the lowest value coins that aren't good for much.

The storytelling looks to be what TVTropes calls The Rashomon. It's told as a series of 'books,' interlinked storylines for the different player characters with a lot of overlap. The first one available is Gwendolyn, 'The Valkyrie,' a pretty effective lady with a spear and nice diving attack. I'm looking forward to seeing how the witch Velvet handles with her chains. For those who care about graphics, it's all sprites. And backgrounds that look more or less painted. Very much a 2D game, but it looks good and plays just fine.