hey everyone - just to let you know, i've just released a mammoth 3-and-a-half hour long video looking into the mythology behind Hades. please check it out! ruclips.net/video/2y4aGe0Y-K0/видео.html
This is an extremely high quality video. It takes a lot for me to watch a video this long, and I watched this whole thing with interest. You made great points and stayed as objective as you possible could have. Just wanted to tell you that.
I don't really know anything about xenoblade, but I did find this to be a really compelling watch, and I had a thing or two to say in support of some of your points, particularly in regards to what qualifies as a sexualized character design, how female characters are subjected to this in ways that male characters aren't, and how that can actually have significant far-reaching effects on how the characters are perceived based on gender. first of all, I think a main area where a design can show whether it is sexualized or not, is in how heavily it implies something tactile about the character's body. a lot of the women in this game have designs that invite not just the male gaze, but sexual fantasy. literally, this type of fantasizing is how these character designs were made... and I don't want to get "gatcha'd" about how a woman actually designed some character or another, that doesn't matter. the point is this: how readily and vividly does the design of a character let you imagine what they would look like naked, or what it would feel like to touch them. it's a bit of a subjective question, and one that a lot of people who "benefit" from these types of character designs don't want to admit is a factor, but to me... that's what makes a design sexualized. and women get hit with this a lot... it's why a lot of these outfits have parts just fully missing so you can see a lot of skin, or weird little cutouts and windows to show you breasts, and hips, and thighs. it's why boob jiggle and soft body physics are on display in full force for a lot of the women's designs, while they might not be relevant at all for the men. and it's why even some outfits that technically give a woman full clothing coverage can still be read as sexualized, if the fabric clearly clings in all the places it needs to, in order to reveal her form. and credit where credit is due, rendering all this is pretty impressive from a technical standpoint... I don't want to sound like I'm devaluing the work it takes to bring this kind of vision to life. that being said... in theory, all of these are value-neutral design techniques that could just as easily be applied to male bodies. and I think it's worth it, as sort of like, a thought experiment? to imagine what true, actual male sexualization and objectification would look like. it's the quickest proof I can think of to make the point that male sexualization doesn't actually exist in the game as it is currently presented. so... let's talk about that. first of all, the primary body type of men in jrpgs exists in a state of like... neutral attractiveness. their body types are definitely still idealized, like, a lot of men could consider this body type to be an unattainable standard of attractiveness, if we're treating it as a standard... but it's a body type that can be presented with true neutrality, without question. think Link at the very beginning of Breath of the Wild, when he's just running around in his underwear. he's... generic. and there really isn't a "mundane, generic base form" for women that can be viewed with that much neutrality. and I think this is especially true given the way that an averagely proportioned man is rendered, vs. an averagely proportioned woman. a lot of men are rendered with hard body physics as a standard... their muscles don't really have any flexibility to them, it feels like they're very rigid, even though that extent of rigidity isn't even reflective of real life in most cases. if there's anything soft about them in any of the areas that one might usually look to when trying to emphasize the sexual attractiveness of a character, that's not something that's usually exposed, focused on with shot composition, or emphasized with the rendering. if a man were treated with the same design sensibilities as the sexualized female designs in the game, you might expect him to wear an outfit that reveals his body in some way or another... whether he's minimally clothed, or has an outfit with a lot of strategic cutouts around the chest, hips, abs, butt, and thighs... or maybe the outfit is skin tight, or clings to his figure in ways that leave little to the imagination. you could also expect his body to be rendered in a more softened shading style, or with more softened forms, and for him to be more lithely toned in general. like the difference between a muscular man who would be on the cover of a men's health magazine, vs. a guy who might model underwear, or feature in "adult entertainment" which is literally made for the sole purpose of being sexually gratifying. there are male characters in the game that have a pretty face, and could be considered attractive... but they aren't styled in a sexualized manner with the rest of their design. and if what I'm describing sounds very over the top, or awkwardly lewd, just remember that the sexualization of women is just like that all the time. if one is uncomfortable while the other is normal to you, that's literally normalization. and I've kind of been dancing around this point a little bit, but this all ties back into like... the sex/violence dichotomy that so often defines how masculinity and femininity exist as stereotypes. within this dichotomy, women's presence in media is often leveraged for the sex half of the equation... and this is part of what proves the presence of the male gaze, because the sexualization of men is much less of a market trend, even though one would assume the level of interest in sexualizing men vs. women would be split about 50/50. if the kind of sexualized design choices I outlined above feels atypical to see applied to men, then it's safe to say that this isn't evenly distributed. meanwhile men tend to make up the "violence" half of the equation, though sometimes "violence" is worded more as "power fantasy" or simply "action/adventure genre protagonist" because all fulfill the same function for what I'm getting at. basically... this is also male gaze. and intuitively, it makes sense. the most indulgent thing that media for men can do, is give them an idealized protagonist to project onto, who does stuff that he wants to do. and if you're assuming your audience is men who are attracted to women, then putting sexualized women in the story is really an accessory to that goal. but given that this is the framework... what place would a sexualized man have in a story like this? ostensibly he could exist neutrally to the target audience, perhaps as a comic relief character or something. but more often than not, that kind of character would be uncomfortable for a heterosexual male audience to see. because like... when a character is portrayed as being sexually inviting or available, that kind of runs counter to the idea of a power fantasy. being sexualized is viewed as a type of vulnerability, and to men who see that in a character that they have their gender in common with, it feels demeaning, or threatening... like a form of degradation. so, what might this then say about the female characters who literally cannot escape sexualization in their designs? like yeah, she may be technically powerful, and capable of doing destructive things, but at the end of the day she's still something to leer at. whatever power she may have been given is constantly undercut by the fact that she's pulling double duty as the subject of the male audience's sexual fantasy. ideally, there should be nothing inherently demeaning about sex, but the way it is implemented in cases like these is weird, because it runs counter to the character's intentions for themselves. if a female character is trying to be powerful and imposing, but the male audience of the media she's in still has to find her attractive, then sacrifices are being made when it comes to her ability to appear threatening. her perception as being sexually inviting with her design, by passively leaving the male audience with a lot to look at, undercuts her ability to feel threatening in that power fantasy kind of way. and it literally can break a female character's characterization if she's constantly upset or surprised by men in the story expressing sexual attraction to her, when she is dressed in an almost comically provocative outfit. or if she's walking around in said outfit and doesn't seem to have any particular reasoning for it or feelings about it at all.
I never actually took my time to summon all the unique blades, so I actually had like 6 male blades and 8-9 female blades. I didn't know I actually had ALL the male blades in the game…
Yeah framing is vital, since it can establish mood in regards to character. It can be used to make someone look heroic and also to villify then, As well of both showing dominance or being eye gazing.
Yes. It's pretty clear when looking at games which ones are more sexist and which aren't. Take Xenoblade 2 and Code Vein, two games I think sexualize women, and compare them to Xenoblade 1 and Ys 8, which aren't bad. There are still skimpy females in Xenoblade 1 and Ys 8, BUT there are also males who are skimpy / have skimpy armor and the females don't all have massively unrealistic breasts (various body types!) plus the camera doesn't zoom in on their boobs. Big difference. (Not saying there isn't any in Ys 8 / XBC1, but it's a lot less common) Tomb Raider 1996 and Tomb Raider 2018 are also clearly different in terms of sexualization. 1996 makes Lara Croft out to be some big boobed sex object that lonely straight guys can jerk off to, while 2018 Lara Croft is an attractive but powerful and interesting female protagonist. Yes she's still hot, but so are the male counterparts to her (Nathan Drake, for instance). Anyone saying XBC2 isn't sexualized is either in denial or possibly sexist. The devs were catering to a specific type of lonely, horny young male audience who would buy the game because of that, which shows that sexism is still prevalent in certain demographics. I'm noticing JRPGs are starting to become more sexualized while Western games (from pretty much any western country) are going the opposite direction.
@@Wft-bu5zc As a guy who watched lots of Animes and across all genres and had played both games. Xb1 and Xb2.. Seeing it as "Game Devs are really doing fan service and catering to thirsty man that want big boobies" are the worst thing to look. This game never flaunt the big boobies. There's a couple of scene when they jokingly tease the girls but it's part of the presentation of the scene and no malicious intent there.. Nor they intentionally or suggestively make you think they want you to look at them errotically.. It's just the general design of the artists and such. If you're new to anime you'll find the boobs quite weird but if you're immersed in the culture then it's nothing to be sweat about.. I've been thru games that really flaunt their boobies and assets and this game is far from it. Maybe with the rise of graphics and 3d modelling becoming more and more realistic and immersive that people get so carried away by such things as Boobies and clothing designs in a Fantasy Game.. Where there are alot of games out there that delibirately asks for criticism.
Wft32540 The games are made for people that enjoy anime... 99% of JRPGs are for people that enjoy anime. If you never watched an anime and played XC2 I can understand the shock. While if you have watched anime it’s nothing new, really.
There is nothing remotely attractive about that thing. The fact someone can get called an SJW for pointing out bad character design is mind boggling. She looks freakish, the very opposite of attractive. Personally i have no problem with attractiveness in games, but there is such a thing as going overboard.
19:11 The idea that they removed the back of her outfit to symbolise "incompleteness" kind of falls flat when you consider Adenine, who literally had pieces of her body missing or "incomplete". They could have easily done the same thing with Pyra. What they did instead was conveniently remove her clothes only, leaving the back of her body bare.
I don't see an exposed back as really being sexual, personally. Doesn't excuse that they put her in futuristic lingerie when she's supposed to be a living weapon though.
It's like when DC tried to give a reason for Power Girl's massive boob window and what they came up with was that she wanted to put a symbol there like Superman but couldn't think of anything.
Well, Pyra is also one of the first people you meet, and if you take out literal parts of her body at the beginning, it's shocking, especially since you're still getting immersed into the world as a player. Also a naked back, male or female, generally symbolizes vulnerability. A lot of stories will include literal symbolism, including the saying "turning your back to me" or showing a back full of scars. In Pyra's case, its a lack of completeness, and yes, maybe it is sexual still, but generally when you think sexy, people don't immediately think, ooo bare backs . But like others have said, that doesn't excuse her booty shorts or her massive badonkers which the camera constantly pans to.
You can also show a female character being confident in their bodies without having the camera have an extreme close up of their bodies. Have it show in their actions.
@@kiriikitten8467 not 100% agreed on that. I love Bayo's design, and think it suits her. Having said that however, the constant shots of her crotch do seem to only exist for male gaze reasons.
To be fair, “harder to sexualize” does not mean hard to sexualize. It could just mean that a female blade is obviously sexy but an animalistic takes trivial but non-zero work to become sexy.
I'm really glad this video got made even though you probably got a lot of hate over it. I'm a bi woman growing up with games that were mainly targeted toward men and I'm usually not the first to complain about women being sexy. I think the problem most of us have is the lack of diversity with female characters. There is nothing wrong with having female characters with huge breasts but if you look at most games the majority of female characters are young and pretty while you still get plenty of middle aged men, it's hard to even find a woman over 30 in popular games, that's why a lot of girls are made to feel like they lose some of their worth once they leave their 20s. What makes me especially uncomfortable is this certain way most of these characters are sexualized, it's a mix between submissive and helpless/kinda stupid that makes me feel really uncomfortable because it's clear they're like this because it plays into mens egos. I loved xenoblade chronicles 2 I've put over 200 hours into this game and I'm very fond of the characters, poppi is my favorite by far, but pyra and mythras designs bothered the hell out of me. Pyra is deliberately designed to look like she's wearing a thong. Their physique just feels off and the zooms and camera angles focus everywhere but their faces and that's just sad. Dahlia to me is the absolute worst character design in the whole game, the way they made her look makes me nauseous and even though a lot of fans want to make you think the issue with her back was a glitch, it's not. I have a ton of screeshots where it just looks broken and I honestly don't know how anyone would find her design even a little bit sexy but tastes differ I guess. And the idea that buff male characters only exist because women are attracted to them is so weird to me because they're clearly a male power fantasy (not that women and others can't be attracted to buff men) but just look at comic books, primarily marketed toward men. Why are the male characters in there buff then? when they supposedly were mostly bought by men? It's a lazy excuse to avoid addressing the obvious female sexualization. Yet when there actually is a game that sexualizes male characters there usually follows an outcry from the male audience. I think my point is that games don't need to get rid of sexy female characters but introduce more diverse women into games, just like with the male characters.
I felt the most uncompfortable when Poppi was telling Pyra relative early on in the game how to please her master by being submissive and insecure. The looks of the characters I can accept as some kind of funny cultural thing (only exception being Dhalia who looks like an abomination tbh) - similar to the mostly relatively flat characters: in most conversations that you have in order to get a new sidequest, your party members nearly always use the same sentences. Tora accepts the quests and cheers himself, Rex needs to know more before being able to decide if he will take the mission (which he of course always does), Poppi is being sarcastic about Tora, etc.. But this way in which one women "teaches" another to purposefully play helpless in order to be attractive is not only a cringefest and the most sexist thing I have seen in a game for a long time, but also destroying some of the cute moments that happen for you as a spectator. Cuteness that is on purpose looses its charm imho.
@@aidendavid2680 That was actually a joke in the Japanese version and was trasnlated over extremley well. Both jokes at the time were talking about turtles and eye patches and somehow in both languages both also refered to a penis. Really good on the translation team for that one.
My mom walked in on me playing octo expansion for splatoon2 and then she said “what game are you playing where a girl is dressed like that” I can’t imagine what she would say if she saw me playing this 😂
Regarding Mòrag: I don't think her design is inherently masculine at all. The reason why we automatically view it as masculine is itself an example of gender performativity - objectively, her outfit is just a military uniform with no inherent gender. Her behaviour and personality isn't particularly masculine either, we've simply learned to associate being stoic, serious, and dutiful with being masculine. The problem lies with the other characters' reactions to her. Tora ironically serves as an example of how society views all these perfectly genderless attributes as being masculine: he simply cannot imagine that they could apply to a woman. Pandoria gives us another example: she mentions in a Heart-to-Heart that Mòrag "dressing like a guy" must mean she "knows how men think". Tora's and Pandoria's attitudes serve as a blueprint for how the player should view Mòrag: that her appearance makes her masculine. Like you said, this feeds the idea that there is some contradiction between Mòrag's femaleness and the strength and confidence she possesses. She is consequently devalued as a role model because the game has positioned her as an anomaly through the views of the other characters. I think this problem could be fixed by leaving Mòrag's design and personality exactly as they are, but not using them to alienate her. If the other characters react neutrally to her without reference to the perceived discrepancy between her appearance and her gender, then so will the player. Regarding Nia: I agree that the prettiness and delicateness of her blade form is necessary to contrast with her driver form for characterisation. However, the amount of hips and thighs she is showing isn't necessary for this purpose. She could easily be more covered without sacrificing characterisation, therefore the design is sexualised. But dude, this is an amazing video. It's well-structured and you have justified every point you made. It made me smile. I'll be Whatsapping it to my little sister (who absolutely loves the game) - it'll make a great talking point!
@NefalezI agree, I always thought Morag was just supposed to be at most pretty androgynous, I never thought her uniform was anything more than that - just a uniform. It also helps that I have a high opinion of her because she's my favourite character but whatever. That being said, I don't really understand the heart to heart between Pandy and Morag because I feel it's pretty much implied that she loves Brighid and vice versa
Thank you for your part on Mòrag, it’s basically exactly what I wanted to comment but you’ve done it for me. Although I do disagree that Nia sexualized, I’m glad someone else seemed to have the same views as me on his portion about Mòrag.
For me Morag's design have the reason behind it. If you look through her back story, you will see that when she was young, she was formed to be "empress" of the empire that had never have female leader since forever. But since her brother was born, she was no longer in the succession line but with all of the military training she had, she became the special inquisitor so that's why she always act "masculine". I think she just want to do "girly thing" but just don't know how because if you look to the Heart-to-Heart with Pandoria, you will see that Morag also take good care of her hands/skin and she took example from Brigid, the most feminine individual closest to her.
Gosh I love Morag's design and her general character. She just looks absolutely wonderful, and frankly I see shades of femininity in her design that to me actually already "does the job", in my opinion. For one, a military uniform is a military uniform, and the one she has already looks wonderful. The one thing that I feel drives in the "she's trying to be masculine" idea is that people are acting like this aesthetic is necessarily in contrast with being female in general; that she's wearing a "male" uniform and being mistaken for a man and that she "looks surprisingly nice up close", as if she cannot also be beautiful when she's taken in as her whole. Then there's the JP voice; that's not "androgynous", that's just trying to pass off as a man. That's not how deep-voiced women often sound. The entire "masquerading as male to be taken seriously" has a place in fiction, but the fact that so often there would be like some surprising reveal or the character admitting that they would rather be a girl etc etc adds more to the idea that they're not SIMPLY being a female character who just dresses up this way. Normalize people wearing their uniforms and comfortable clothes that fit their job. They're not trying to live double lives so you'll do a double take when you realize that "they're a woman all along?!" Sometimes I just think of Lana Skye from Ace Attorney when it comes to this. The fact that she's composed, calm, somewhat stoic and a bit cold doesn't somehow "detract" from her femininity, though all they did was keep her hair long and give her a nice scarf. She wears a skirt, but most of the time the sprites don't go that far down so as far as the player is aware, she could've been wearing pants. Furthermore, she is also allowed to be a loving, hardworking sister without it "detracting" from anything; ie. she is allowed to be a person with functioning emotions without it somehow being seen as a deviation on who she's supposed to be. One might comment that showing some skin on her nape would be something somewhat "female design" or however you would say it, but 1) she can exist as a female officer and 2) there is a photo of her graduation where she also wears a dress shirt and tie underneath and she looks gorgeous as always. Anyway that's been my Lana Skye fanpost
I just wish people would actually understand women who enjoy masculine clothing exist and that doesn't necessarily mean they're unhappy for it. I'd personally be a lot unhappier if I were forced to dress femininely for one.
You didn't "think" it "was" a very well made video essay. It IS a very well made video essay and while I loved the game two years ago, I couldn't help but notice all the little details he mentioned throughout the video
It is well thought out and well written, but I guess the main part about it not being as liked overall is because of the core audience of the game, and the core audience planned for the game was without a doubt, straight males.For example, you could tell me all about your inclusion of feminine realism etc. but i'll still opt for hot anime babes. Yes, it is pretty selfish as the GAMER GIRL consumer base is on the rise (though not enough for the companies behind big g4m3s to see their fantasy/realism be ideally represented). As the core audience people sees this is a redundant (they don't care about the fem market lulz), they'll disregard the well-backed arguments made here and dislike the vid. It's not a question of being right or wrong really.
And then again there's this "trade-off" I guess where to make the GAMER GIRL audience grow, you'll need to have more inclusion toward that sweet sweet rounded audience. So yea more girls doing the gaming ---> more inclusion--> more gurls doing the the epic gaming ritual. (Maybe toning off the archaic values (thought partially ingrained by our biology) like "sexy woman = the goal of man" could help too?? idk maybe people are more ok with sexy woman existing in general)
@dd nava and @man this is one of my favorite video essays on RUclips tbh. I’ve watched through it a couple times and he really has some great points sprinkled throughout in a well-organized manner. If anything, I’d attribute the sexualization of the female characters in XC2 to Japan’s different culture (but, as he details, that’s not all of it). They’re more sensitive to violence in media while we in the west are more sensitive to sex in media. Not to say that we (and them) don’t have those at all, just that we see them in different lights. This video lends itself to both sides of the argument (“Gamers” vs “SJW’s”, if you will) and is both reasonable and meaningful. It deserves more attention imo. Hope he makes more content like this in the future.
Completely sexist too lol. Dude's basically saying women are lesser for their opinion on the sexualization. My god the majority of men on that thread need to talk to real women if they feel such a strong need to defend their anime booba
The video makes me think about why I find the sexualization in this game offputting yet have no issue with the sexualization in Bayonetta. I've talked to it with my sister before and we've both just kind of come to the conclusion that Bayonetta is attractive not only because of her looks but also because of the sheer aura of self confidence and strength she presents while still being incredibly feminine and fully clothed (for the most part). I can't really say the same about the designs of a lot of the rare blades Xenoblade 2. I play games mostly in the living room, and it says a lot that I had no issues playing Bayonetta if anyone walked in and decided to sit and watch, whereas Xenoblade 2 had me really really hoping i wouldn't unlock Dahlia with anybody else around.
I think it comes down to quite a simple but crucial difference - which is that in Bayonetta the sexualisation is the point. It's supposed to be ridiculous and over the top and it's clearly self-aware about it. In Xenoblade 2 it's just kind of tacked-on, with it not serving any point towards the game's main goals (whereas in Bayo - it IS one of the main goals).
Bayonetta feels in control of her sexuality and sexualization. She doesn't pander to the men in the story either. If anything, she will humiliate people with her sexuality before she objectifies herself.
This is so obvious but many people overlook it, why doesn't Pyra use clothes? What about her personality shows that she should dress like that? Mai Shiranui is a character I like a lot, her clothing makes sense, she's a ninja and uses her body to distract her opponent, wich makes sense, but does Pyra do that? No, she's calm, closed, mother-like sometimes, caring, why does she show all her body all the time then?
I think one of the worst instances of pandering in Bayonetta is when Jeanne's soul gets dragged into hell. Portraying the scene like that really wasn't necessary, because usually the games do a good job with keeping the sex appeal out of serious scenes.
@@herebejamz This. Her sex appeal funnily enough is usually used towards the enemies, "Do you want to touch me?", and to tease Luka. lol She doesn't use it towards Rodin or Enzo I think was his name.
I think one of the problems with this game being as sexualized as it is is that it's a sequel to Xenoblade chronicles, a JRPG that in comparison had far less sexualization. So as a fan of XC1, I was very dissapointed with the art direction they took with the sequel. but if it was a stand alone game, I probably just wouldn't have given it a second glence and just judged it of as another generic anime game.
Fr, I dont even mind a little bit like Sharla is a sexualized character but she still just looks like a pretty realistic woman and fits in with everything. In xbc2 it was just so excessive and unrealistic that it got really annoying to me. After the unique but realistic xeno 1 designs, seeing the more generic oversexualized designs of xbc2 was really disappointing. Even ignoring the femenist critiques of oversexualized characters, it certainly made the game less immersive and interesting to me.
I have the same problem with Bayonetta, I personally don't mind it but it does get amoying when you're just trying to play and they are showing a close up of the prot ass every 5 minutes.
@@seorwhite3333 I get where you are coming from but at the same time its part of her character and personality to act like that you know? She intends to look sexy and has a lot of dirty talk in his games, which gives her somewhat of a pass for me
As much as I agree with this video, I have to disagree regarding Morag. I understand your point about her wearing a masculine outfit, but I think the view on what makes the costume masculine is misconstrued. A military outfit it made for the sake of being just that, fit for the military. It’s not a reflection of masculinity, but made to show professionalism and achievements in design. On the field, nearly all military outfits should look identical for efficiency and protection, and the more professional outfits are very standardized due to the nature of a military. I would argue the reason a military outfit is perceived as masculine is not because of the outfit itself, as it does no extra service in showing a man’s figure like say, a skirt would for a woman, but simply because there are much more men in the real world military to be associated with the outfit. Militaries are by nature standardized, and I really don’t personally see anything more masculine or less feminine about Morag wearing such an outfit, as I think it very much reflects her personality. Honestly, I find it more attractive than any of the other character designs just from a cursory glance at the characters’ personalities.
There's an interesting conversation to be had about how androgyny is viewed in a Male Centric Ecosystem, especially in the context of the Japanese Gender Ecosystem. Her being one of very few prominent female characters to not present with two massive watermelons hanging onto whats left of their shirts suggests something the developers feel about the roles of women and how they "Should" present by using her lack of Skin as a joke about what these characters expect of women. All of this while simultaneously showering male players with images of exactly what they want to see. While it could have been a Lot Worse, it's still a little jarring to me.
@@Kernando yo hum…. did you skip the part of the video where there's footage of Tora mistaking her for a man? If the game pokes fun at how masculine her design is then there is no doubt she was intentionally masculinized. The way Newt is design should also show how little this game cares about military standardization. Interesting counter but i think the point in the vid stands 1000%.
@@gravitymonkey9300 I've never played the game. But let me ask you this: If I were to show a picture of an ant, would you be able to tell if it's male or female? It is surmised that all worker ants we see in plain sight are female, so it is safe to assume that the ant in the picture is female. This is no different as to how Tora assumed that Morag was a male, which most soldiers are(?), because Tora is not human; he wouldn't be able to distinguish the gender of Morag at first glance like how you can't be certain that the shown ant is female or male, unless it's explicitly said that the ant shown is a worker ant or otherwise. Then again, I've never played the game, so there may be other underlying indications contradicting what I just said. I am just commenting based on the context given in the video.
@@azorailke6057 I'll start by saying that I'm in the same boat! I haven't played the game and am only working with the context of the video. The thing about soldier generalisation is fair! I have some problems with it tho. 1- Even if there's an explanation for Tora making assumption, it's still an example of the game poking fun at the fact that Morag looks like a man. This shows that there is an intention to make her at the very least androgynous and not "properly female" 2- The design doesn't exist in a vacuum. Even an androgynous design looks "manly" compared to the vast feminine/sexualized female cast. My example was Newt, who is ALSO a soldier. However, I don't think Tora would ever mistake her for a man. There is a clear dichotomy between the two of them, between a character treated as female and another one as male.
This was intensely watchable. You have a real skill at maintaining pace and clearly developing an argument that makes the runtime just melt away. Really good stuff.
I for one have started to subconsciously ignore semi-sexual content in anime and games because if I thought too much about it it started to affect my enjoyment. Almost a full playthrough in, I decided to show my then-new girlfriend the blades’ summoning sequences and only then realized how much I struggled to find a female blade without an inherently sexual design, or even that many male blades.
to be fair, I think that's more to do with Japan's continued sterotype of males and females. boys and men are probably seem as the main audience of video games, so they sexualize lots of girls because they assume mostly boys and men will be playing these certain types of video games rather then girls. girls and women seem to like other things and seem to only like games with hot men mostly in them (not saying all girls do, just think its a big sterotype in japan)
@@connorradcliffe1769 This just makes it worse. It basically assumes the worst of their base and completely ignores women as consumers of anime products and games
I generally don't get bothered by limited amounts of sexualization in games, but some of them take it way too far. I wasn't really concerned with it until I played XBC2 and Code Vein. It was just so ridiculous that it reduced my enjoyment / appreciation for both games. If Dahlia were the only giant boobed character, no problem. But good lord, when the VAST majority of female characters are like that... It's cringy and worrisome.
@@sir8513 he does have a point though. Most females that play video games tend to play puzzle games, and mobile games. While I agree it's wrong to exclude audience, you can't blame then for seeing that the majority of their customers are male.
This was a very fair and comprehensive video. It's a shame so many people probably disliked because of the title without actually listening. I felt you responded to every point very well.
Considering the sexual assault rates in Japan are way lower than several Western countries, too low to be chalked up to under reporting, I don’t think it’s a big deal or impacts reality much. It’s also lame to say that only butthurt fanboys hated the video (angry fans are a vocal minority of any fandom).
I've never thought the problem is big breasts, like big breasts exist in real life and I don't think many people would argue that every character should be a C-cup as a form of "realism" it always comes down to clothing, clothing should always reflect the personality of the character (with maybe exceptions for setting) it would make sense for character written to be sex-positive to wear clothing that draws "the male gaze" but it makes a lot less sense for characters that are otherwise written to be pretty conservative to have a costume with a boob window or similar, it's just a little jarring when those types of characters appear not that I can't get over it to enjoy a well written story but the fact remains that it is a little jarring.
I’d say the problem isn’t in the *ahem* proportions but, instead the lack of diverse body types. Those…sizes… are much rarer than anime and Japanese made games like to portray.
@@Hewasnumber1 Doesn't sound like a problem to me. It's a universe where people turn into weapons and vice versa, I couldn't give a damn about "diverse body types". It's a game ffs, what truly matters in the end is gameplay and writing. Maybe instead of what's on their chests, people should focus more on the writing of Xenoblade 2, which wasn't the best.
@@jase276 nah man, swords are for gameplay, boobs are for weird weebs that are horni on main, no matter the monologue you get if half your character is "shipping" with the bland isekai protagonist and (.)(.) jokes
@@jase276 diverse body types is one of the many tools to achieve varied and iconic character designs - if every female is slender, long legged, big boobed, and scantily clad, it only allows so much variety before designs blur together - and design in videogames is part of the interface: designs should as much as possible reflect the gameplay attributes of a character. Just the same way too similar menu icons are confusing and reduce enjoyment, too similar character designs reduce the usability and enjoyment of characters in a game.
lol good A healthy reminder, amidst the usual wave of *“new BEST CHARACTER in Ultimate CONFIRMED???”* videos, that the game these newcomers are from is a muddled mess. Anyone considering buying Xenoblade 2 should just pick up the Xenoblade 1: Definitive Edition re-release and play that instead. It’s got all of what Xenoblade 2 has going for it and then some, as far as story or music go. But with the benefit of looking better, forgoing the isekai-inspired weeb pandering for more natural, artistic character designs, reminiscent of classic JRPGs. Damn shame this game was Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade X wasn’t. A numbered sequel, yet it doesn’t stand anywhere near the two games that came before in terms of polish and quality, imo. X is the real Xenoblade 2, hand to god. Now if only it’d get the re-release it deserves; as of now it’s trapped on the Wii U exclusively...
Everyone, after years of research I have found it. The formula for the perfect sexualization of characters in a game. Get ready, I'm about to change the world of gaming as we know it. We make EVERYONE sexualized! I mean REALLY sexualized! I'm talking yaoi and hentai artists on the character design team, all working together to make the perfect bi icon of a game! Jokes aside great video, this is something that doesn't get brought up enough in discussion around this game and others like it.
I'd argue the reason it doesn't come up a lot. Is the same reason this video is so long. It usually just falls off the deep end into ultimately opinion. The reality is woman exist in all shapes and sizes. An these people that dislike it usually end up taking on a form of body shaming girls that are shaped like that. Trying to tell them what is acceptable to wear. At the end pf it all i hope Japanese devs continue to design exactly how theyliked. Lord knows the landscape would be bland if all we had were games American devs make. Thank God for world culture and may it ever stay separate and do different things. So we can all continue to enjoy the things we like and didn't know we loked.
@@TheRealEnate I kinda agree but for diffrent reasons. I do think that the gross oversexualization is something that is an inherent part of many things and getting rid of them would be getting rid of an inherent part of its personality, and that discussion of these things often do turn into blatant harassment. But at the same time, to let the same culture that makes loli content run free would be irresponsible. I offer no solution that well preserves the culture and as well as morality, only the dilemma.
@@WalkInMyPawsteps wasn't the BL in PW games way better when they weren't doing it on purposes for the most part and just happened to make some great BL tease? After that I feel like it was kinda forced and didn't work as well. Nitpicking aside your point stands and I agree.
I hate that everytime a LGBTQ character shows up in a game lots of people get outraged and the common thing I hear is "why do they have to shove their sexuality down our throats?!", even though 90% of the time those characters aren't sexualized and simply are in a same sex relationship with maybe one or two overt displays of same-sex affection. Then there are games like Xenoblade 2. I liked this game a lot, I wanted to love it, but the over sexualized female characters made me feel legitimately creepy for playing this game. I got embarrassed playing it on the bus. The worst part for me wasnt the gratuitous butt and titty shots, it was that fact that many of the most sexualized characters looked like they were between the ages of 13-15. I understand that my opinion on this matter is entirely subjective as I am a gay man and not the intended audience for this game, but this game really bordered on soft core porn at some points. The only thing I've seen that made me feel similar was high school of the dead. I really, really hope they dont do this for the next one. By all means have sexy characters, but dont make them cringy. Hell, Sharla is one of the most memorable characters for me and she looks sexy as heck, but they dont go out of their way to pan across her chest and butt every scene. To me Pyra felt like nothing more than Rex's angsty sex fantasy. That being said. I still think XB2 is a great game, with a engaging story and interesting characters. Definitely a top shelf JRPG
It so funny that alot of this media can't make it go both ways , for fear that enough men out there won't be comfortable enough with their sexuality to be ok with it. Not that I think overtly sexualized characters should be common place by any means, but if you're gonna dip into that realm then why not dip on both sides? People who enjoy males will appreciate it.
I don't understand why some people get so defensive about this. No one is demonizing you for liking to look at what is presented here. That's WHY it is presented to you in that way. But it's pretty wild to try and deny that this does absolutely sexualize women. Maybe not in degrading ways, by making then weak or anything. But there is no denying it. And sure, the males in the game are depicted in a buff and, in some cases, revealing outfits. But the female characters are all designed in body proportions that are quite literally physically impossible and built ONLY to tantalize. Someone spent a lot of time making sure their breasts move in a certain way. Like it absolutely does exist. And it absolutely is one sided. Whether that is right or wrong in art, with completely made up characters, in a video game where the intended audience is mostly male... isn't what I'm discussing. But I'm just saying that it's hard to say that it doesn't exist. And context is important, in that this is something that has been happening since the beginning of time, whether right or wrong.
I agree. To make it equal, there should be male characters where the camera zooms in on their bulges as they wear skimpy tongs like male strippers do. As well as just caress their abs and stuff.
This and Japanese characters in general being sexualized is undeniable and obvious. The ludicrous thing here is the fact someone saw fit to make a 54-minute dissertation demonstrating it. He might as well as made the video to prove water is wet and the sky is blue.
This is coming from a female gamer and I really appreciate videos like this, over sexualisation in the media I consume really affects my self image and the way a lot of men can see women off the media they're raised on and consume. It's terribly sad seeing the high amount of dislikes and what makes me worse is that if you were a woman all these points would've been discredited due to being a 'feminzai' (aka you're still better off but getting a lot of unfounded criticism imo). This video was brilliantly done and i'm saving it for the hoards of people who argue that me and many others need to 'get over it' because it is fictional- fiction and media affects us in real life too! Thank you for this video :)
this!! i’m a female gamer as well, it’s really nice to see these videos because a lot of men fail to understand what it’s like to be a woman and constantly seeing sexualization in female characters
If you are affected by sexualization in video games than the problem is yours not them, stop blaming others for your lack of selfstem, because that depends solely on you
What about the sexualization of men in video games? How about a 6 ft muscle bound beefcake of a man. I’m the complete opposite of those characters, and would wish to look like that. But no, I’m 5 ft 7 in man who only weighs 180 lbs. So how do I feel about seeing these men? Honestly I feel nothing wrong, but actually feel like a heroic badass who is there to fight some monster. And what about media in general? What about the sexiest man alive stuff that Hollywood and newspapers shove down men’s throats? Well as a male in a mostly male family, has mostly male friends, and even doing some reflecting on the matter. We don’t care. It’s that simple. We watch it go by, and if it’s in our face, we’re proud to know that us men can look like that. So should I feel upset when I see a man who is considered sexy or handsome? No, because we did this to ourselves and only us can be the blame for what we hate the most. I know not all people are alike, and some people are also a bit more sensitive to something like this, but we need to think about how us, as an individual can change what happens. For example I haven’t had a girlfriend since elementary, I’m in high school. Do I as a person blame others out of self pity? Or do I fix the problem by eating more protein, and working out? So know I ask, how do you as a human being talking to another human feel about how sexualized both genders are? Should we end it, or keep it. Because for me if I lost the muscle bound characters that are in games, and saw a character that looks like me. I wouldn’t play because of how depressing it is to know that they think what I look like is what others should strive for. Ps. Don’t get me started on how movies, tv shows, and games try to make men look like complete morons and sex driven maniacs.
@@ThatDude000 Don't want to simply say Whataboutism, but woman here, and I *don't* find beefy characters attractive and neither do most women. The way most of them are drawn isn't to appeal to women or the female gaze, but to provide escapist fantasies for the guys playing them. Which is what you just described when you say "playing a heroic badass". Women just love to do that, too. Without having to be reminded that your breasts are your most important feature every other minute. On terms of sexualization, if anything, then Rhex' butt in his diver outfit could lean towards sexy, but he's a kid so... Just look at the characters girls fawn about, especially in JRPGs or Manga/Anime. Like, recent example, FF7R: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus, Reno. They are undeniably attractive, yet not sexualized at all.
I've got a problem with bits like the explanation on Nia's character development though- it seems that so often the excuse of "well she's confident/has developed her confidence" is the reason we get characters forced into super skimpy designs, whilst guys who up their mettle in the plot usually just... get either nothing or some sort of more armoured or stronger looking design. Especially with Nia, since a lot of her character interactions have her rejecting sexual/romantic advances and such, I don't think confidence would naturally lead her to wearing less. It just feels like that superhero comic where the female lead's boob window was justified with "oh I'm waiting to find a symbol I can call my own so for now there's a giant hole in my shirt"
I find this tough cause it almost appears to me as a sort of metaphor for accepting her sexualization, and despite that, being true to herself because it is how she naturally is; that is to say if she is a skimpily clad girl with a cold but fun personality that for some reason really had to confess her affections for the male lead and still become his tool after being rejected... Edit: it makes me especially uncomfortable because this is a lot like how I’ve dealt with myself. I have a very conventionally attractive body, and I find it decent so I like to wear modest stuff that accentuates that, but I always feel that wherever I go my body is the focus of who I interact with, no matter if it’s a tshirt and jeans worn normally. So I’ve coped over my life by accepting it as it is, but no matter what I do I feel a deep pain like it is all I’ll ever be known for, and it’s hard not to think that way when you’re reminded of it almost daily.
noot this hits the real core of the problem, the emotional cost. It’s invisible, but insidious, and the worst part from my male perspective is I know I’ve inflicted it upon others without meaning to.
himode it’s almost like there’s more than one woman in the world and differences in culture and upbringing can provide differences in wants and desires. Same goes for men. Same goes for literally everything.
himode and some men also do the same. Some people also realize how manipulative the fashion and weight loss industries are and how much money they’ve poured into making people think they have too look a certain way. Some people realize how important realistic and diverse representation is and fight for it, and some people want nothing to change because they’ve never had to experience extreme prejudice and are so lacking in empathy that they’re unable to realize that someone else might be feeling discriminated against. For a recent example, some people are so wrapped up in themselves that it takes someone dying from a police officer’s knee on his neck for them to realize that maybe racism isn’t as ‘solved’ as they thought. Empathy is important. Whenever you see someone angry or complaining, take a second to at least try to understand where they might be coming from. I don’t know what happened to you for you to think the way you do, but please, try to take a step back and consider if what you’re seeing is really just an entitled individual, or if they’re a it’s someone speaking out against an unjust system or culture.
@himode the comparison is fair here, because constantly oversexualising women in media and society in general leads to a WHOLE MESS of rapes and murders. I mean, look at Latin America- here we have so many killings because women reject men trying to treat them as sex objects that we had to invent a term for it ("femicide"). It's not like this is some sensitivity issue that has to do with people's "feelings" in an abstract way, it has results. Even in the USA, incels have been shooting women for it too. There is a body count.
I find myself especially prone to "second hand embarrassment", which can make some shows that rely on cringe comedy (where a character doing something obviously awkward is more or less the entire joke) borderline unwatchable. The fact that several of the included clips initiated the same reaction was pretty telling even before you had made your (extremely well written and communicated) points.
That Zeke scene... Holy hell... Even though Pandoria, Nia, Poppi and Móraq are amazing characters ( Both in design and story ) in my view, there's no way I'd buy a game with that kind of scene. At least Mythras scene was somehow watchable.
@@Dog.This_Identifier_Is_Shit. Tbf (If you're talking about the scene I think you are), I think it's moreso him just fucking with Morag, but yeah, out of context, it just sounds bad (Even in context it doesn't sound great). Honestly, it feels a bit out of character for Zeke (Or at least what I remember of his character).
Its funny that men are grinding over this, genuinely confused about what is wrong with it. Its not women with big boobs, it's not the clothes (pyra looks hella cute. I want a pair of those shorts with the suspenders). Its really about how they are treated. How they all just pose and boob jiggle and fawn over the playable male characters, all while the men criticize them and sexually harass them. I like Dahlia's design I draw some women with huge boobs. I have friends that I love who have big boobs and they wear clothes that show it off. It's just how they are treated. Dahlia isnt bad because of her design. It's the way she sexy poses literally every frame. It's so cringy. I've been playing these games forever. I'm female. It's just part of the genre at this point. I was most mad at how they treated Nia. Probably my most favorite character in any game. They built her up and then just used her to stroke Rex's ego. Having her confess this love (literally out of nowhere). Then they turned her into his blade, subservient to his whim for the rest of the game (if the player choses), no longer an independent party member with her own goals. She is Rex's property, even after he rejects her. Just one more blade in an anonymous pile. It made me so mad. I had to pretend it didnt happen, it was a game ruiner. Nia would never be rex's blade. That's her whole story arc! She's no one's blade, she belongs to herself. This is the character 80% of the female demographic uses, relates to, identifies with. And this is how the men want her treated. Very telling.
From what i can piece and put together, it seems more rational than you think. There are plenty of times when male characters are put in undesirable or devalued positions like property to be used in games and all shapes of media- and nobody really makes an out cry about it. People either laugh at it like intended or just dont care to even notice it. So when the roles are reversed and it's a female put in a similar position- thats when war starts and people wanna make a big fuss about something thats been done before which had no backlash but now due to gender its apparently bad. I can understand a sane man responding to this as "whats the big deal?" It seems as a society/culture we care more about the devaluation of women than men. Which also isnt good
@@AK46supr ... it's because historically and factually women were/are mistreated a lot more often than men. This is also why men's rights activism is historically younger than women's rights activism. Mistreatment of humans is unfortunately a common thing. But mistreatment of women just for being women has a larger number and deeper history than mistreatment of men just for being men.
Alex Ko um..historically everyone had it shitty... Men were sent off to die for battles they didn't want to fight..because they were men. Further back it was common to put little boys on battlefields to be experienced in the art of "battle" and be traumatized at early ages. In fact it was *way* more common to kill the men and boys than it was for women and girls in many situations like war or a pillage. In fact they would emasculate them by cutting off certain body parts. Back then even now male abuse isnt taken as seriously as males can never be seen as victims. Back then it was even harsher for a guy to express emotions let alone weakness as he would be treated as a weak male from men and *women* and that still trends today as we speak. Also men who were of lower class due to money or status were and are still treated as butts of the society, and the fact that alot of men cant get help for this is why males have the highest suicide rates to date. Also guys who were seen as "the bread winners" back then had to work tough and dangerous jobs for crazy hours to get by and to support their families since women didn't work and since gold digging isnt a new term for modern ppl- men would sacrifice for partners that may not have cared for them to begin with. Its sad Theres many more i could go about "factually" but this comments long enough. The reason why mens right activists existence is more recent is because men didn't and couldn't have a voice to complain because when they did they were shamed and belittled and punished for speaking out which *still* happens today. Its because times have changed and more people are becoming vocal about issues thats existed for a LONG time and the advancement of the internet. I dont hate you but *please* dont give me that feminism bs *edit:* also even if you still want side with bad female history and ignore everything else- that still doesn't excuse being ok with devaluing men in media. I just don't get that. Im a minority and even i hate it when ppl belittle white people and act as if they're the only ones capable of racism. The logic doesn't add up
Alex Ko that escalated quickly... interesting how a comment about a game turned into a history lesson. No one said men don’t experience issues due to gender, they absolutely do. Also, if people think feminism is all about women’s rights, how women are treated unfairly and so on, they really don’t know what feminism is all about. Most likely, because of the word itself. It’s about gender equality, which is a better term in my opinion, for both men and women... going back to the game though, which is the actual topic. I believe more women would enjoy the games if the female characters were slightly more relatable and were able to be strong without being over the top sexualized or lovesick puppies. I don’t really understand why that’s such a big issue... I have to ask, would you turn the game off and never play it again if the female characters were less sexualized. I’m not saying we should make them ugly, I’m just saying ease down on the jiggle physics and drop some of the sexualizing dialogues. It’s not necessary for the game’s story plot or the overall gameplay, but it would make it more attractive to more players. Including the males who have also commented in the video that they thought it went a little overboard with the portrayal of women.
himode I’m not able to tell you about America, as I am not American, I am on the other side of the Atlantic... but what we frequently see, is for instance if a couple divorce, the mother is likely to get the custody of the children, and father’ get visitation rights. Why not 50/50 responsibility right away, unless there are clear reasons to do it differently? I believe there are many fathers out there who would like to have the same right to their children as the children’s mother.
As someone who's familiar with ecchi anime I've seen quite a few shows who have character designs like these. I know what I'm getting into when I watch such a show and have no problem with them. I like my sexy anime girls, and the show is about exactly that. In XB2 I was annoyed by the sexualization of Pyra, who is a great character, but her skimpy outfit and humongous hoohaas just feel like a cheap marketing strategy. Pyra is never sexy, she plays the role of a sweet girl and the contrast is rather jarring. And none of these things are addressed in game. I'd love it if someone would ask Dahlia, "Doesn't your back hurt walking around with these things?", but it all is perceived as perfectly normal. What I want to say is: Sexualization has it's place in media. But in video games it's often used as just a selling point so obvious nobody can deny it even if it doesn't fit characters and that's a problem.
Pyra's design became a lot less grating when I understood that blades rarely ever actually fight themselves. Her design doesn't bother me as much as other blades, such as Dahlia or Kora. The deliberate camera angles and the sexual anime jokes _were_ annoying, though.
So pretty much sexy girls can't be sweet and companionate? Because if they have big breasts then they must only be sexy props and only act all seductive, right? Also, where the suspension of disbelief ends for you? When people are living in ginormous beings where civilization thrives in their backs but when a humanoid looking bunny girl have big breasts that sure is a inch too far.
@@monkey_blu If almost every single woman has massive chests, it kind of breaks some of the immersion. It doesn't help when the majority of them wear almost nothing. What if Zeke wore barely anything more than a thong?
The Like vs Dislike ratio in this video is disappointing, because I think it is not only well constructed, but also well researched and presented. You did an incredible job in my opinion, remaining open minded while also providing strong and valid critques to something you very obviously care about. Thank you for taking the time out to make this video, we need more videos like these.
this video is the worse thing I ever watch can't believe I wasted 53 minutes of my life watching it, also of his awful points was presented in the first 3 minutes
Because no one cares about this discussion, who cares? Does the game offer a great experience in terms of story, gameplay, and character development? Thats what is important, not whether or not a character is sexualized. These snowflakes are the reason why gaming and entertainment sucks, while Japan and other Asian countries are giving the fans what they want and profiting.
as an aspiring story teller/artist, this has done an excellent job at educating me on how I should sexualize my male characters. I thought I developed a good understanding for how to not sexualize female characters, but this video brought up a fair amount of points I didn't consider. I really though that for guys, being physically fit and revealing skin was enough to be sexualized. But damn, I'd love to write out a fashion squabble between two scantily dressed men lmao
Honestly for me as a female the guy being fit as hell is actually a huge fantasy aspect and a wet dream since usually irl dudes be sporting that dad bod so you can't really stop and enjoy the view at all. And rip if his face is unenjoyable as well XD
Same because I have a sexy buff vampire man who wear's thigh high boots and the tightest ass you'll ever see. But now I know I need to have some ass shots tity shots when he's swinging his weapon.
@@KrillWhisperer You can literally see that with any fighting anime and/or martial arts movie that isn't also comedy, though. Shirtless fit guys (with or without the clinging pants/tight jeans) are literally everywhere the second you seek it out. _Slutty_ men are a much harder find, the best example of that one is Dante from Devil May Cry, who was written specifically as erotic (and seeing how lovingly they animated his mouth and tongue in DMC3's intro when he looks like he's about to do something absolutely filthy to his slice of pizza I'd say: I would appreciate more of THAT and less boring fit guys being merely fit. Like damn, from a pan dude, raise your standards, demand the wet dream buffet material you deserve, don't settle for bare minimum martial arts eye candy aisles. (but no seriously, go look up the intro cutscene to Devil May Cry 3, and tell me that wasn't weirdly detailed for a PS2 game and weirdly sexual for a way to eat pizza. It even has bonus chiseled buff man fresh out of the shower in only leather pants, if you needed to be made more curious.)
Really love this video, pretty much captures everything I hated and loved about xenoblade 2's character design is addressed in a neat and proper manner. As both a woman and an avid lover of the xeno series I agreed with a lot of what you said, and the mature way in which the subject manner was handled surprised me, you don't see a lot of actually transparent looks at xenoblade's character designs like this. Keep up the great work.
I couldn't agree more. I've had a lot of difficulty learning to love this series because of the these issues but the way you handled discussing them was such a wonderful breath of fresh air. Thank you for being so mature and empathetic.
I must say as someone who is only a casual gamer, who is female, it always makes me feel uncomfortable having to see women basicaly naked when it has nothing to do with their characters and minors being sexualised.
@@SilverSlayer23 It's still wrong though because it's Japenese doesn't mean that the western market doesn't consume it and even so them being Japanese and not western doesn't excuse it.
@@zazagermond4111 No shit it's still wrong. Those who accept it in the west are minorities... and wrong. And no shit it's consumed/accepted by the super minority in the west... and is still wrong. It being a Japanese thing doesn't excuse it. That was **never** a position made. It's just a weird fucking phenomenon from Japan. That's it.
@@zazagermond4111 And it's still wrong. Not to say shows can't explore themes of sexual discovery as that does indeed happen during the teen years. That's not as uncommon in the west as we also use animated media as a tool to help teach kids about life challenges. Where it crosses the thin line is when that content is steered to sexually excite the audience... Which is wrong. Even more wrong is sexualizing adolescence and or adolescence' bodies for the enjoyment of the audience. Which is never done in western media and is super unacceptable.
@himode dude, seriously, i saw you in EVERY comment who tend to discuss the problem of double standard and how the ladies are often sexualised, take a deap breath and relax, "hunting" all the comment isn't good for the mind !
i cant imagine that they never thought of the concept that such designs, women in full armor, women having muscles, scars etc is miles sexier than giving them big boobs and whatnot. truly a shame
@@tildecorrera7697 I mean, the Kinsey Scale says that there are people out there who are homosexual with some instances of heterosexual feelings. I’d imagine that there are a lot of self-professed straight dudes that would eventually admit to being a little gay if you pressed them hard enough. I wouldn’t bother sweating over being attracted to a woman, because honestly, I don’t believe there is a purely gay man or a purely straight man out there...
The only female actually dressed for her job and her uniform actually fits her, it isn't even a male uniform, but because she doesn't have giant HHH boobs hanging out she's a man... It's honestly cringe beyond words.
@@ill_hex8103 If anything, Jojo treats the male characters exactly the same as OP says female characters are treated. There's no reason why any character needs to be super shredded in a world where magic does all the fighting for them.
@@grinko1222 tbh is not like hamond and stands are common knolege. allso have you see the damage thier body take. they are putting thier musle to good use
It is extremely hilarious when humans of a certain ethnicity tense their vocal chords and release air, causing vibrations in the atmosphere, causing a sound that has the properties that some may identify as the word "thicc"
Honestly, the first time I watched these cut scenes I pretty much ignored most of the sexual elements and I tried my best to only look at character development, but I can easily say dahlia could have way more praise if her design wasn't so sexual. (Summary: I am trying to say that I (a male) think that sexual designs sometime distracts people from the character themselves.)
This is what I kinda dislike about a lot of Xenoblade 2 conversations. So many people are just „this character looks so bad!“ but they never acknowledge how they are written. Pyra and Mythra are probably the best written characters in the Xenoblade series but they are disliked by many because of they‘re designs.
@@boredgoddesstori6635 I wouldn’t say Pyra/Mythra are the “best” written characters, but they certainly aren’t the worst. It’s a shame they don’t get a little more respect… in many ways.
@@boredgoddesstori6635 Well, the sexualization certainly is somewhat of a detriment. As someone who has played XC1, I know that the series is generally able to go quite deep with their characters. And as the video showed, there are at least some genuinely well written characters in XC2 as well. But for the love of me I just can't seem to get my teeth deep enough into it to play it for long enough with this amount of sexualization thrown around like it's candy on Halloween. I've tried it three different times now but each time the game ended up collecting dust again after two gaming sessions. That said, on a final meme: Riki > Tora
@@yetanotherkeyblader3572 I actually agree with your last point (I still enjoyed some stuff about Tora though). Also it‘s sad to see that designs can prevent so many people from enjoying some actually very good character writing (heard of many people not getting into the game because of the designs). I even think that 2 has more interesting characters than 1 but oh well. Not everyone is going to like everything.
@@boredgoddesstori6635 design is just as important as writing is for a character. you have to convey who they are through design. for example, a shy character wouldn't wear bold or revealing clothing or try wild/experimental hairstyles. a flirty/confident character probably would though. if Pyra was supposed to be a protector/mother figure for rex why doesn't she have more armor? maybe a robe/long cape (one that isn't cut into two pieces, mind you)? shield? her design makes no sense in contrast with her character. same with mythra. that's why it throws so many people off and makes them not wanna play the game. not every person who plays anime games is exposed to sexualization or things like hentai on a daily basis. some people just want to play a good game with good characters, of course this would put them off especially if they're XC1 fans which didn't have as many sexualized characters in it. just because a character is written well doesn't mean they're DESIGNED well.
It's weird seeing this video so long after it came out and the comments that are so clearly deliberately missing your point. Zenoblades sexualization of men is few and far between, and while I think characters like Zeke are sexy, the way that Zeke is sexy is very different from characters like Pyra and Mythra.
@DarthYuYevon I think you have never seen sexualized art from lesbians and just want to say that because it would be convenient in writing off the criticism in this video as "triggered hypocritical feminists"
@DarthYuYevon I've seen plenty of people criticize sexual and pornographic art wholesale and argue that porn as a whole is evil, and women participating in its creation are bad. I'm unsure of sakimichan's orientation, but she is very regularly criticized for making art where its sexual nature actively makes the art worse (bad proportions to make it sexier, same faces, etc.). I am not sure of her actual orientation, but the point is that the criticism is there. It's also worth noting the difference in context - xenoblade two is criticized very frequently for its sexualization because it's often very out of place and takes away from the rest of the game. Why can't Newt be both sexy and muscular without having grotesque extra arms? Why does Electra need her entire stomach exposed, that actively takes away from her insecure, demure personality. The artists you mentioned actively put effort into making the sexual nature of their work fit into their pieces.
Incredibly well-written video. As the son of an English professor that has probably looked over thousands of essays in her career, I can say with solidarity that this, although it might make her slightly uncomfortable, she would genuinely appreciate the time and effort that went into the script and timing of this video.
I don't think it's that well written. There's so much rambling I'm bored most of the time because he spends minutes saying something he could've done in a matter of seconds. And even with the insane length of the video there's still quite a few important things not even mentioned.
@@thenonexistinghero such as....? Not trying to start a war, just curious what other topics could've been discussed. I thought this video was okay, especially since it opens a platform to discuss this topic on XC2
@@LegamSSF Camera angles, the focus on specific areas that sexualize the women more, many of their personalities and how they compare to weeb tropes, etc.
This video is a heaven sent blessing. Finally some common decency on the internet. The messages i learn from this youtuber is amazing. I finally feel like i can adress the problems like this as a female. I hate how often I'm assumed, and cateragized by strangers and even occasionally loved ones.
@himode it's interesting how you've totally twisted her words and completely diminished her valid points down to nothing. Because it's just plain wrong. Sexualisation of women in media is a FAR larger problem than "anime titties", it spans over all forms of media and has been prevalent since probably around the 60s. Movie franchises like James Bond being some of the biggest culprits and making the practice a lot more mainstream. The issue doesnt come from "big tiddie anime gf" the issue stems from the inherent sexism in making "being sexualised" the entire personality of a female character, or diminishing a female character down to sexualisation and favouring that in terms of development all for the audiences pleasure. Denoting an issue that has been around for decades and decades to something as trivial as "yOu trIgGerEd oVeR aNimE tItTieS" is ignorant, utterly ridiculous and objectively wrong.
@@checkm8964 This guy (himode) has been going around the entire comment section trying to justify his sexual addiction to big-chested twelve year-old anime girls. The guy is an absolute neckbeard loser who has nothing better to do with his time, since no real girl wants to go out with him.
@@albedougnut yep, his argument is always 'this game is made for straight men get over it'. He has highjacked lots of comments to rant about how he thinks underaged anime girls are sexy. Not only that he consistently says men are just as sexualized but when asked he refuses to provide proof and just changes the topic. Hes even calling out women who think this game is over sexualized and calling them down. Just your typical sexist loser.
@@albedougnut yeah I just stopped paying attention to him from the moment he said "women chose to be sexualised. It's one of their jobs" obviously either a troll, or a very lonely incel. Either way he's 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
i don't really mind fanservice within games if its that type of game - lollipop chanisaw, mad world, etc. my biggest issue with it within xc2 is that the xenoblade series aren't those type of games and the sexualisation in this game just doesn't make sense for the series. Pyra would never wear her clothes given her personality, character, purpose, etc
finally somebody with a brain lol, Pyra is a motherly type, so it makes no sense for her to dress like this. It's like if Mai in Overwatch wore the same clothes that Widowmaker wears
@@itsasecrettoeverybody thats says a lot more about you than me. also the fan service between the XC1 and XC2 and not even comparable. XC1 provides SOME fan service in pretty excusable ways (e.g. an actual swimsuit) but XC2 shoves it down your face. (e.g. pyra’s “armour” is supposed to be battle ready god level armour)
i know this is an old video, but thank you for making it all the same. the original xenoblade chronicles is one of my favorite games of all time, and I put over 150 hours into it. recently, my friend let me borrow his copy of xenoblade 2, and i was excited to play it. however, i'm finding it really hard to trudge through the game because of the uncomfortable sexualization of its women, and the characters and story are not gripping enough for me to make up for it (and here I thought the original xenoblade had a substantial dose of sexualization, but this game blows it out of the water). the thing that really boils my blood though is how female characters in this game will vocally complain about the other characters objectifying them, but in a lighthearted, "this isn't a real problem, just a quirk that we have to live with" kind of way. tora's gross views on poppi are the most egregious example of this, it baffles me that his perversions could be used as a surface level source of comedy. i think these topics are important to talk about when a game ends up alienating a large chunk of its female audience. thank you for putting this essay out there and reassuring me that i'm not alone in thinking this way.
As a guy, I'm no fan of 'sexy' characters, live action or cartoon. I want to focus on the story and not let superficial things such as looks influence me (looking at the guy that makes every villain wear black)
I started playing PSO2 and I'm having a similar struggle. I really enjoy it and playing with my friends, but it's oftentimes uncomfortably oversexualized and not just the other players because of course they're making their "waifus" but the actual story characters. I have no personal problems with sex or sexualized characters but there's sexy (i.e. a character meant to have sex appeal as part of their character) and then there's just straight up objectification (i.e. a character intended to be innocent or normal who looks like a pornstar).
I was kind of surprised to see that no one even mentioned Tora's behavior towards Poppy. I don't want to be the typical "omg cancel him" but I do have to admite that that specific aspect of him made me uncomfortable while playing.
I don't think Tora should be attacked for his perversions. As you said it's only a way the game has to make comedy, and comedy is subjective, so there is a number of people who actually enjoy that aspect of him, me included.
Those guys insisting men in videogames are sexualized as much as female characters are probably the same guys that applauded SE for changing the design of that one really sexualized guy in Mobius Final Fantasy lmao
They are also the same guys who throw tantrums any time an LGBT character is ever introduced to a video game. Also the same guys who throw tantrums when a video game is released overseas, and to lower the rating, the company adds a couple of pieces of cloth to a character's outfit to make it more marketable to younger audiences. Also the same guys who complain when a character's redesign in a remake gives her short shorts instead of a short skirt.
@himode Or they are just taking advantage of the neckbeards with anime-girl addictions who spend all of their time doing nothing but jacking off to underage girls (with some of-age girls mixed in).
@himode Yeah, because I have dealt with harassment from those types of people. It is no surprise that I know about them, when they literally stalked me to my car and waited for me outside of the restroom on a daily basis. Or when they continued to flirt with me after I turned them down multiple times already, on the grounds of being asexual and a man with no interest in romantic relationships with anyone (much less straight men who do not even acknowledge me as a man because of my apperance). Also, they take advantage of the willing by juicing their wallets for their desperation. And I never said that guys liking anime girls is hurting anyone. However, when the entire industry sets a blaring double standard and even normalizes female sexual harassment in anime and video games, then it brings perverted individuals into these communities. That does hurt people, since it exposes women in the community to predators, and it creates an environment where those types of people think they are welcome and/or accepted. There is a difference between there being sexualized female characters and having nearly every single female character sexualized, and then proceeding to make light of them being sexually harassed or assaulted by other characters in the game.
@himode Mate, video games with gun violence do not sit there and normalize it by integrating it into everyday discussions and character development. Also, I am talking about an industry which lures in predators and perverted individuals by promoting this kind of behavior as normal and acceptable, regardless of whether or not it is intentional. By comparison, Japan itself has a massive problem with sexual assault and other predatory actions, including sexual advances on young school girls. Generally speaking, sexual predators tend to be pretty insidious, and proving that someone is a predator tends to be much, much more difficult than say an investigation proving that someone is a murderer or a shooter. So you really have it backwards. This is not about video games causing people to be sexual predators. It is about sexual predators being lured into communities surrounding video games which promote this type of behavior as acceptable. And you know why these men are desperate? Because they use anime girls as a replacement for real women. They are not guys who simply like anime girls. They are guys who cannot find a girl who actually wants them, so they turn to anime instead, since anime is the one thing in the universe that does want them around. The type of guy who treats women like garbage, sees them as nothing more than sexual objects, and usually proclaims his "superiority" over women. And in response to your last comment, I am literally talking about guys who developed an obsession with me because I was wearing anime merchandise -- a jacket or a pin of a character I like. They would literally stalk me, some guys would straight-up talk about incredibly lewd and inappropriate topics without being asked. That is how I know. Believe, the last thing I _want_ to know is what goes on in their bedroom, except when all they talk about is hypersexualized anime women, it is kind of hard not to get the point.
@himode You seem to think that everything is about you and that the world ought to revolve exclusively around your interests. So far, no one has suggested that people cannot like anime girls or that girls in anime cannot be sexualized, like I have said many times already. The problem here is, you keep going around in this comment section promoting your obession with anime girls by vilifying genuine criticisms that people have towards Japanese developers. People here are explaining why it is a problem, why it drives female fans away, why it brings unwanted people into the community, and why it makes many men and women alike very uncomfortable. The fact of the matter is, people want to be able to play their favorite games without half of the screen time being about a woman's breasts. You can introduce female characters who are sexually attractive without making all but one or two female characters in a game hypersexualized. Xenoblade 1 did an amazing job at this, and it even had arguably equal representation between the male and female characters. Some of the female characters in the first game, like Sharla, Vanea, and even Fiora to an extent had clothing that was more revealing, but the characters themselves were not sexualized. The game did not constantly talk about their bodies, objectify them as women, nor did it put the PoV in stupid lewd angles for literally no reason other than fan service. Characters did not make remarks towards them, as it was not part of the characters' personalities. The male and female characters in the game still had swimsuit models for any players who wanted to see a lot of skin, but that was not the focus of the game.
I thought about something when I read one of appabend's video's content. You see only the Blades are sexualized but not the Drivers, so... Blades are data created by a Driver resonated with it, and their appearance is influenced by the very first Driver's thoughts on them. Blades are made by various artists so in a real world sense, their image are drawn by the artists which made them the original "Driver", so that is why KOS-MOS and T-ELOS can become Blades, and later on another certain characters will become too. It suddenly made sense now.
I've honestly gotten so tired of the sexualization discussion simply because if someone doesn't understand the arguments at this point, they're just being obtuse. At this point, I just think sexualizing characters is just boring. It's boring from a design perspective, it's boring from a viewing perspective and I can't stand how almost every anime I watch or JRPG I play can't resist it in one way or another. Jiggle physics and scant outfits hasn't appealed to me since I turned 14.
the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
@@tomasavendanozacarias5205 I think boobah neutral. It ain't good or bad inherently. It's more that, from a design and viewer perspective, I think it's boring. It's relatively easy to make a mediocre character design more appealing by exposing boobah, but it's more interesting and more difficult to make an appealing character design without extreme boobah, you know?
@@MegaDeathRay10 Most "consumers" themselves are boring, so while it does satisfy them, I'd like my video games to be a little more hipster and not pumped-out CoDS, half-baked Battlefields, and far too sexual RPGs.
I think the over Sexualisation found in XC2 is more of an issue than Sexualisation itself. Like with your FF10 example, there's nothing inherently wrong with characters having sexual attributes. Interesting vid nonetheless!
I agree. I feel that its fine if female characters and blades have slightly sexual outfits that match their personality and character, because then you can see them being the type of person to wear that outfit. but giving sexual outfits to characters or blades that come off as too serious or shy don't really match. for example, why would a shy girl wear a outfit that showed off lots of skin and was bound to draw attention? why would a female soldier that's serious about war wear a skimpy outfit that made people not take them seriously?
@@connorradcliffe1769 yes this is the best take from this whole hell of a comment section. A level headed opinion that doesn't personally attack either side of the argument.
The reason it becomes a problem is when people go out of their way to make it a problem. Gamers are not thinking about sex while they are gaming unless they are literally playing a hentai game.
While I generally agree with a lot of what you have here, I would like to point out a problem with the arguement of one of the journalists you cited, Liana Kerzner. Specifically when she said that breast motion, and specifically the lack of it, can be indicative of an intent to portray a female character as having implants. I think this arguement is ridiculous because of the simple fact that correctly modeling real life breasts in a game would be a large waste of CPU resources and would likely impact performance. That's why a majority of games simply forgo breast physics or use highly simplified versions. Even then that is to ignore the very real (and generally justified) perception of many consumers that breast physics are only ever included to titillate the presumably heterosexual male audience, and as such most developers stay away from its inclusion.
If she knew anything about games she would know that no breast physics is the standard and adding breast physics is always intentional. Has nothing to do with implants or something lol
I agree with everything but you do understand that breast are like hair or articles of clothing, they have real life physics and move during action. If a character was falling and there was no moment to their hair, breasts, or scarfs that would be called out on for breaking immersion. Its not the fact putting breast physics is intentional it is a required addition to create immersion, just some devs make it too sexual. Example Perun was ruined for me she was a cool blade but her jiggle physics are insane, its like one bag of jelly instead of two sets of meat that move slightly.
Aurn Knight At this point I’m pretty sure Perun‘s breast jiggle is an accident because it’s way too ridiculous. But yeah body and clothes physics are great for immersion but they are really hard to pull off convincingly so many dev with less experience or resources just leave them out completely
Anyone else noticed that Torna: The Golden Country is way less sexualizated than the main game? Except for the design of Mythra and Brighid, I didn't see any sexualisation in the DLC...
Yeah and the Teams always had 1 male and 1 female blade. So woke. Jokes aside I liked the DLC a lot. I could only imagine how much more I'd like the main game's story if it didn't have as much distracting fanservice as it did.
@@GamerLord821 honeslty even without the fanservice i liked the story of the dlc more. Plotholes aside mythra's character arc was one of the saddest and best things i've seen in a videogame especially when milton died like holy shit i almost cried and that's saying a lot considering i usually don't do that
@@samuelbacon2756 My response is meant to imply that I took that part of the comment into consideration. Frog24 states that aside from Mythra and Brighid's designs, there was no sexualization in the game, meaning they're implying that besides those two characters existing, the game makes an improvement with not sexualizing females. First off, sexualization goes beyond just how characters look or how many they are: the gaze of the camera and how the people being sexualized are treated by others plays a huge role in the act. Secondly, passing of the statement "except for the design of Mythra and Brighid" as an argumentative clause for how Torna is an improvement in the sexualization department is a very lacking statement. That's like me giving a criticism on the stench of someone's defecation and being like: "except for the fact that i want to gag every time I inhale, there's nothing wrong about your shit's smell." Taking away the elements of the argument that determine what something is in the first place and then following it up with an inverse argument, is not conducive to a strong, comprehensive observation; hence my initial response. Point is, the golden country still has sexualization in it; there's just less characters to do it to because of 1. the characters the DLC chooses to focus on 2. No blade awakening mechanic to give the character designers an excuse to design even more sexy female blades
If the first person thinks big buff men are automatically sexy in the eyes of all straight women…then they don’t know what women actually like. Look at kpop boy groups and the outfits they put them in for stage performances to see what sexualization geared towards women typically looks like. Or if u want to see what a swoon-worthy male in this day and age looks like-look at Timothèe Chalamet. You don’t typically see anyone swooning over someone as buff and masculine as John Cena. I’m not saying no woman likes buff guys, but in general, that isn’t exactly the case. Bigger body parts doesn’t equal more sex appeal like it does for most guys when they see big boobed and big butt female characters. MEN are actually the ones who like big buff guys. The cool buff characters in these type of games are typically aimed to satisfy the male players. Not to bring in a female audience. Most guys see those type of characters as the “goal” and ultimate cool, tough, masculine standard. ..But it’s not necessarily what women find attractive in guys too. Anyways-late to finding this, but super interesting video. Nice job!
I do find it weird that when Final Fantasy Mobius gave a more sexualized outfit to it's male main character (there was a window to his side ass), they were forced to change it by the JP community(?) because it looked "too gay", as opposed to it being assumed for women, who like that type of design. Ironically, gay men have a huge audience for the big buff or thick guys lol, which is my perspective. Been playing through Lost Ark, and am mildly frustrated that as Sorcerers level up (gender locked female), they gradually wear less clothing, but I get close to zero parity for my gender locked male warriors. So far, my search yields a premium skin that reveals the upper torso.
@@MetalFrenchFries the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
@@exultantblade50 To be fair, that guy having an ass opening didn't even make sense for his character. This very video is against that gratuitous sexualization.
it's funny because when I first played xc2, i didn't even register how "sexualized" the character designs were until I read comments about it it's mainly because ive watched a fuckton of anime and japanese games where shit like that is normal, and I've been really desensitised to that sort of medium. I guess it's more of a culture shock to people who aren't used to it. Once you've seen enough, your brain doesn't even really think about it unless someone points it out. Regardless, I still consider xc2 my favourite game on the switch, so maybe I have a little bit of a bias.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of what he said is right but a lot of it is also culture shock. Japan is much more lax on this than America. That's why the idea of "lolis" is weird over here but over in Japan...well, I feel like it's still weird, just less so.
I must be fucking weird then because I've also watched a ton of anime and play a whole bunch of jrpgs and the mindless fan service still gets to me. Though I don't really mind it in XC2 because there is way worse examples.
@@professionalfangster1510 But isn’t the fact that things like loli’s are more normalized in Japan kind of unsettling in of itself? Something being more accepted somewhere does not excuse it
@@PLTgamer no? Because won't hurt anybody. Even then, from Japanese fellows, loli content is looked down upon there as well. I wouldn't call it "normalized" more "tolerated"
@@captainmega6310 You can't deny that it is normalized in anime culture though. Also, you're telling me that it doesn't matter what we put in the media we consume as long as it doesn't directly hurt anybody? Seems like a dangerous point of view. The media we consume ends up shaping a large part of our identities, Things like this do end up affecting how we look at the world around us and I don't think the effect is positive in this case
Until fairly recently, I fell into the camp of people who thought that most of the sexualization complaints were coming from a place were people just wanted sexy characters removed from the medium altogether, and replaced with characters more conforming to "SJW" types of inclusion. Needless to say, I wasn't hot on that idea, I enjoy sexy characters quite a bit. I'd just fall back on the idea that they could always just equalize the playing field whenever they felt like it and because it hadn't happened, it wasn't as big a deal as people made it out to be. But that's not at all what most are advocating for at all, and it's more nuanced than that. They want more nuanced representation, not to completely nix sexualized characters as a whole. Even if you make the argument of, "If you didn't like it, you're not the intended audience," that doesn't stop the fact that you can make a character sexy and not degrade them all the time by showing the audience that they are sexy. I mostly adore Pyra's design, I think they could have toned down the obvious horny in places but as I am, I still enjoy it. What I would have enjoyed even more would have been them showing me how much of a real person and character, rather than x amount of boob and butt shots all the time. You can achieve *everything* you would with hypersexualized character with a decent looking but well written character. More importantly having more nuanced and well written female characters opens the boundaries for different takes. Because I think that's one of the biggest problems in Gaming right now, trope stagnation.
Glad to hear that you've given the other side a chance! I like your takeaway that it's about wanting more of them to be a real character. Not only is sexy character is okay, but also that characters CAN dress up sexy without it having feeling like devs wanting to pander to certain audiences. But it's just off-putting that female characters whose characterizations don't even remotely fit the entire mostly naked designs are being put in them. When a shy and anxious female character, for example, is dressed up in skimpy clothing and is constantly being self-aware and ashamed of it, I just feel like shit; and this is me talking as someone who likes women more than men. When the character is also constantly put in cutscenes/shots where their breasts jiggling is more on the frame or the focus it's even worse; the developers ARE TELEGRAPHING what you should focus on about them: their bodies, not the words they're saying. And the fact that what they're saying (ie. part of their characterization) is somehow overshadowed by the camera's hyperfixation on tits really should tell you about what was really considered as important.
@himode sexualization is indeed a part of life, but it can be presented in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Unhealthy female sexualization can reinforce sexual objectification of women, can diminish women being seen as more than their physical traits, and can reinforce outdated concepts that womens role is primarily to titillate and be subservient to men. A world in which we perpetuate these attitudes is evidentially worse for all. Consider this. The most successful way to control overpopulation, build economic stability, and reduce poverty is to provide education opportunity to women. Sexualization is not going anywhere, but perhaps we should look to inspire by also prioritizing intellectualization of our fictional female characters too?
The first part of your comment is literally what happened to Sarah Ryder in Mass Effect Andromeda. SJWs on the dev team changed the original model because they didn’t like how attractive she was... And before you say, “Well, that’s just one time”, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t happen at all, and the last thing any of us want is to allow it to happen more
"Even this game has some brilliant lines and moments of characterization. Here's one of my favorite:" *Ad of half naked anime girl* ayup sounds like xenoblade 2
What's dumb is that there's an arguable throughline for Dahlia's design. Motherly figure figuratively -> motherly figure literally. It's just that that was the only avenue the character was taken; nothing else even remotely says anything about her character. Hell, the fact that she's a rabbit woman could be pushed further so that she looks more comforting and soft. You wouldn't even have to not sexualize her is the crazy part, just make the design more communicative.
“Who is this made for?” This is an important question we all need to ask ourselves when we see characters look a certain way, and is apparently a question too many people are uncomfortable with asking, if the comment section is anything to go by. Before any of you go off defending the concept of sexualization, ask yourself: “WHO IS THIS MADE FOR?”
Answering this question can also be used as a justification for these design decisions. You have a primary audience in mind, you consider what they want to see and then do it. It's not like it harms anyone.
@@dudejo Xeno2 got kicked out of my list after seeing how much they push the fanservice. It's too bad because the game looks fun if we make abstraction of that aspect. Sadly, I simply can't overlook that amount of tasteless exposition, it ruins the whole experience for me. Obviously I do buy other games that appeals to me and want to encourage their developpers. To each their own :)
Being recommended this now, it feels so weird to hear anyone talk about "SJWs". In a very short space of time the term has universally been replaced by "woke".
I’ve been waiting an absurd amount of time to watch this video so I can beat the game first but hey I’m finally here and while I know I’m late I really want to say this was an amazingly well made video, I obviously knew already that XC2 is a VERY sexualized game but this was a very well made analysis that helped me realize the games sexualization in ways I never realized before. The one thing I would disagree with is within number 5. For one, I’d say that I don’t believe Nia’s blade form is necessarily sexualized. Yes it is definitely a more revealing outfit then her “normal” outfit but I wouldn’t exactly say it’s a sexualized design. For one I think the overall way her blade form is treated kinda goes with my arguement. Unlike characters like Mythra, Pyra, etc, there really aren’t time where the game brings significant attention to the fact Nia shows less skin. The game never has camera angles taking great focus on things like her breast, legs, etc and to my knowledge none of the heart to heart conversations have those instances of calling attention to it like how other female blades do. That being said, I do admittedly have genuine curiosity if the reason Nia has more revealing clothes is actually intentional to show she’s a blade since so many female blades are very sexualized. If so that admittedly may put a dent in my argument. As for the discussion involving Morag, while there is that heart to heart talk where Zeke calls Morag’s clothing “men’s clothes” I don’t believe Morag was necessarily designed with the intent of purposefully wearing “men’s clothing” I obviously don’t know all that goes into the writing and overall development of Xenoblade but if I had to guess, I don’t necessarily believe that the people who write the heart to heart convos are the same team that would say, write the overall larger story of a character or give specific request to character designers. The fact the convo overall made it into the game does say that it was still able to be approval so it does overall hurt the idea of it not in some way being gender performity but I don’t believe Morag was made with the intent of being super masculine. I think it’s genuinely just that they were trying to make Morag truly look like someone in the military and I think the outfit overall fits that. I honestly never looked at Morag’s outfit and thought it was inherently masculine. I took notice of how it wasn’t sexualized compared to other women in the game of course but still thought it looked feminine enough considering it was clearly the uniform of a high ranking military woman. Anyway, that just my personal thoughts, overall though, amazing video with very good points. I especially appreciate you addressing a bit of the SJW “arguement”
This is a super long video and all and there’s probably a lot that could be said here but I’m just going to say this, the game makes characters so clearly fanservice that it makes me legitimately uncomfortable to admit that I’ve played the game.
I'm glad I played the game after they patched in the Aux Chip for Mythra. The tights and breastplate made her less sexualized. Plus, the black on white color combo looked way cooler.
@@GobaGNon that your skin is so thin that you are embarrassed by the character designs on a Japanese video game. You can dislike the character designs I dislike some myself but I'm not embarrassed to say I played the game. THAT is pathetic. Also as a side note you clearly haven't consumed very much hentai. If you said an ecchi anime I'd agree but hentai? Lol nah mate. The designs in hentai get much much worse than what's in XC2
Thank you for making this. You’ve put all of this so much better than I ever could. I'm not sure about Morag, though. She never really struck me as masculine. The Heart-to Heart where Tora reveals he's been mistaking her for a guy was honestly quite a surprise to me. I almost feel like without that dialogue, and without Zeke saying she "dresses like a guy," in other words without those dialogues that inform thep layer that she's supposed to be viewed as masculine, perhaps we wouldn't perceive her that way. The Japanese dub is a different story, though.
thank you for your opinion, woman. We are glad that the only woman in the world isn't bothered. Cancel feminist critique, guys! The WOMAN isn't bothered
@@TooFatTooFurious Nevermind that she in her own comment said "guess it's just me". Also it's very ignorant of you to assume that she's the only woman ok with the design.
Same, include butt and chest too lol Will be a good laugh for people who are tired of female fanservice and good to make people uncomfortable who think this oversaturation of female fanservice is okay/ not obnoxious
As much as I generally dislike sexual stuff in games, this would only be fair. Lol. (I would still probably not be a big fan despite being gay tho. Lmao)
I think Dahlia was purposely sexualized for part of her characterization though. Her focus is on beauty, and what really makes people beautiful. During her heart-to-heart she points out that, whilst extravagant beauty is great, true beauty is natural and comes from within. She even points out that there's a beauty in aging as it's a sign you've lived a long life full of experience. In other words- her own definition of beauty is very much supposed to contrast with the superficial view that people first see. Kora's design is also important to her character. She's very much a character for whom being dressed sexily is appropriate. She's not the deepest character, in fact, she's the sort of popular gossipy girl you see all over movies and TV. She's not exactly a positive role model, in fact, she's deeply flawed and ends up punished for her behavior at the end of her quest. But it still makes sense for her. Poppi's small bits of sexualization are mostly related to Tora being a perv. She's not supposed to be sexual to the audience. It's more to make Tora look bad in a sort-of comedic way. Also, Poppi was made to look young. The JS in her Japanese name just confirms that. I'm sure even the most scantily clad of women would have some protests about someone who seems to be in elementary school dressing sexily, and both Morag and Pyra are definitely more mature than Poppi. I do agree that Pyra and Mythra didn't need to be quite so sexy. It might've played up Pyra's motherly nature a little? But that's all I can think of as for why they'd need their figures. It's really kinda pointless. There are definitely female blades that look human but aren't really sexualized though. Electra and Ursula are basically kids and their quests and designs reflect their more innocent nature, so sexualizing them would have made them worse characters. Adenine is a weird one, being obviously an adult and yet not at all sexualized. There's a decent few in the middle ground where they're not overly sexualized, but they've still got things like breasts and things, like Agate. Unnecessarily sexy blades I'd say are- Pyra, Mythra, Brigid, Newt, Herald, Zenobia, Vale, Nim and especially Perun. Maybe Praxis too, though her breasts look more like the water bubbles she has elsewhere on her body. Kosmos and T-elos both were designed a decade before Xenoblade 2, so it's hard to blame the current designers, but they are sexualized a decent amount. I'd say, out of that list, it makes the most sense for Nim to be wearing what's she's wearing, since she's supposed to be more of an anthropomorphic animal blade, and animals don't really wear clothes. As for Vale and Perun, they need the jiggle physics turned down at least. Zenobia and Newt seriously could use more clothes too. You don't have to reveal skin to have a feminine form, and what they're wearing is just impractical for their interests. These, of course, are just my opinions. Honestly, after a while I just got used to the designs. And yes, some did bug me at first too. I didn't like Dahlia until I went through her heart-to-heart and quest. She ended up being one of the first non-story blades I finished the affinity chart for. It should be noted that only the Blades tend to be sexualized. All the human characters have more realistic proportions and don't have those lingering shots. The fact that they're literally weapons means that they're sometimes viewed more like objects by the people in universe, so perhaps it makes a bit of sense as to why they'd be somewhat designed in such a way. I'd love for the industry to get better in this regard, but I will still play games even with the sexualization, so long as they give me a good story with good characters, the actual appearance of said characters is secondary.
Poppi in the game has her three forms (Alpha, QT, and QT Pi [Tora we get it you like ladies]) that represent stages of human development (childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood), so it makes sense that she isn't remotely sexualized until QT Pi where she is lightly.
something else about the game that has another layer of sexualization is how the two darker skined women blades are designed. particularly Perun, who's jiggle physics are the most bouncy and like water out every other female blade. I never summoned Praxis, so I can't say what her jiggle physics are like, but she defintly has Titts in her hair. also the sexualization of the other Child blades as well :( well except for Ursula.
I know this is an old video, but I think it’s odd to point out Morag’s gender performativity as a bad or unique thing. I haven’t played the game myself (the terrible designs for female characters is what made me not want to buy it) but I really like her design. She has believable proportions for a woman and her face is pretty feminine, so she just looks like an average female character to me. She stands out in comparison to the ridiculously oversexualized female characters in this game but I doubt she would stand out in one that doesn’t sexualize their characters. Wearing a military outfit that actually looks like a military outfit doesn’t mean she’s performing masculinity in a harmful way. Everyone performs gender, and nothing of the clips you showed makes it seem like she tries to be perceived as a man. Rather, that one weird blob thing pushed that onto her. She doesn’t seem to look down on femininity-rather she pushes against others who try to force aspects of femininity upon her that she doesn’t feel suits her. I could be wrong without the context of the game but I really hate the idea that a masculine women must somehow hold something against and look down upon femininity. If she does that in a way that’s ignored by the game then yes I would have some problem with her character. I just find it odd that you point out her gender performance as a unique flaw rather than something that everyone does. Maybe it just hits close to home because my clothes and a lot of my interests are considered masculine and people assume that I have some sort of internalized misogyny because of it. Also, I don’t think a character needs to have some perfect mix of femininity and masculinity to not be sexualized or a disservice to gender equality or anything. A feminine presentation isn’t necessary for a female character to be well written, and the same goes for male characters and masculinity. I understand that’s not what you meant to imply but that’s how it comes across.
Just wanted to comment cause I think you missed the entire point of discussing Morag in relation to gender performativity. As I see it Ludiscere's main point is that 'Gender performativity is seeping into games and limiting the way that strong female characters can be written'. Morag is taken as an example of this and Ludiscere says that 'It's a shame that in order for Morag to be seen as a powerful and professional soldier she's masculinized in both character and design'. In regards to your points. Morag's gender performativity, imo, is only seen as a bad thing in so far as that she needs to be masculine in order to be seen as a 'powerful and professional soldier' (gender performativity limiting the way female characters can be written). And there is no point made that it's unique, quite on the contrary. The point isn't that a masculine women must look down upon feminitity (as is not even the case). Just that some women are written masculine to be seen as more professional and/or strong. I honestly don't get where you got the idea from that 'only a perfect mix of feminity and masculinity is not sexualized'. Morag is not a perfect mix of feminity and masculinity and is not sexualized (and there are many more examples in the video). Lastly I don't think Ludiscere was saying Morag being so masculinized made her a badly written character. Just as he would probably say that being sexualized doesn't make a character badly written, just you know sexualized.
@@mauriceraat2781 Yeah but I wouldn't say that morag is even masculine to begin with. I would say she dresses very formally, she is not wearing traditionally masculine clothes she's wearing a very formal military uniform, it's just that most of the times we see someone wearing a full army uniform he's a man. I think it's different from the skirt because although a skirt in a vacuum is neither masculine or feminine in a cultural context the skirt itself is feminine, while the uniform is neutral, it's just that the people that wear it are mostly men And regarding her character and personality, from what i have seen in the video I wouldn't say she has adopted masculine traits either, in the clips she's just formal and professional. Unless someone is willing to argue that being formal and professional is a male character trait I can't see how they can say that morag is more masculine in her behaviour. Although I must admit, I have not played the game I'm only speaking about what I've seen in this video
@@decoyoficial6011 i think it's more that the game treats her as though her attire makes her "unfeminine"; ergo, characters believing her to be a man (when she's obviously a woman), the aforementioned-comment ab her being attractive close-up (implying that she's only seen as feminine when her attire is removed from the equation) and her being played by a male (and given a very masculine voice) in the japanese-version
@@mauriceraat2781 My comment has some confusing wording but I think you aren’t getting my point either (though I think our interpretations can both work in different contexts). I don’t think Morag is masculine (in design), which why I think the point in the video is a bit off. I realize that she was intended to be in the Japanese version, but in the Western release (imo) she isn’t. An important point in the video is someone who is used to an over abundance of oversexualized female characters as is common in anime sees them as normal, but to the average Westerner the designs are really off-putting. Similarly, cultural context outside of Japan views Morag differently, as many other commenters agree with. Of course this brings up the argument of artistic intent vs. perception. I did get off-topic in the 2nd paragraph and worded it badly, but I never meant to imply that Morag is sexualized. I also think it’s incorrect to say gender performativity is seeping into video games as a point because it always has been a part of video games as a reflection of the real world. Chronicles seems to take femininity as synonymous with sexualization in terms of character design, so it seems odd to say this game only associates masculinity with power when most of the blades are sexualized women. I do agree though that there are many limitations on what a ‘strong female character’ is and that gender performativity limits what one can look and act like. I won’t make any comments on the quality of Morag’s character because I don’t have the background knowledge to have an opinion.
@@No-sw4xr Ah yes I misunderstood what you meant with "gender performativity as bad or unique thing'. I get now that that was just your way of saying that Morag wasn't dressing or behaving as a male to you. Though I'd still agree with Ludiscere that Morag was designed with more male gender performativity in mind.
Censoring the artists original vision is never an answer. But the influence people like this guy have in the industry scares developers from truly designing things how they want, in fear that they will offend some sect in the over-offended culture we live in. Sexualization ,whether for men or women .should be allowed without having "controversy" or hour long "this is problematic" videos always be the result.
You are not censoring art actually. You are censoring corporate business. Videogames are both things and sometimes you need to think in them as one or the other.
One thing concept art classes have taught me is that when designing a character, you treat their design like a uniform that shows who they are as a person, what they do, what they represent, as much as you can to infer who they are to the audience just at a glance. When I look at designs like these, for film, games, animation, manga, whatever, all I can see is a vague showing of "They are a woman, look at how much of a woman they are, you can tell by the obvious biology, we dont want a male audience to forget how much of a woman they are" With Newts design as an example. I cant help but feel her oversexualisation of almost no clothing is to compensate for the Giant, Obviously Male, muscular arms that are apart of her design. In contrast to what you said, i personally really like the giant hypermasculine arms on her design, probably because its so rare to see woman with any kind of muscle in any form without being treated like a man like with Morag (Luisa from Encanto is a recent representation of this kind of design that I like alot, and even then I recall they had to fight for luisa to be muscular looking at all!). I say this as someone who has never seen these characters until watching this video). But my appreciation for the shilouette was soon followed by dissapointment at the rest of the design... A woman has weapons that are giant male arms, and to show to the audience that she is still valid and appealing as a female character they must be able to see almost the full entiery of her torso. Which with a Militant design, makes no sense. She would be smary and knowledgable enough to wear atleast *something* protective. The fact that she is female must be very obviously visual which feels insulting to the character and also insulting to the audience. Its almost as if designers were afraid the male audience would be so simple minded to be offputted by her entierly without some sexual gratification... and maybe when it comes to the audience of these sorts of games... they would be..? I dont think whoever designed the characters really matters all that much. A concept artist may be given free rein to make a design, probably many many designs, but over time input from the higher ups will be seen and their designs will change and be shepearded into what the bosses want the audience to *see* with that character. I see it alot with game art where old concept art for characters looked so much more visually interesting and representative of the character than the final result, unfortuntely mostly for females when it comes to a sexualisted final product compared to previous concept art. Ive personally have gradually lost interest in East asian or japanese visually inspired media themed like this as I grew up because after a while, alot of designs start to feel the same, with the same goal in mind.Not only did it get boring, but it also got dissapointing. I grew up female but no longer indentify with that but remained closeted for a long time appearing and being treated as female despite it. Even while closeted I was always looking for representation of female characters in anime and manga that was good, strong, positively feminine and positively masculine women, that wasnt soley just about their looks because even despite my gender, I still felt it represented how other people saw me externally as a person. And the Tranmasculines side of me thats wants representation was always excited to see, suprisingly, more men when it came to certain anime and manga. Im big on fantasy, and it feels alot of East RPGs and anime/manag with party members usually consisted of probably one male (the protagonist) and the other party members were usually female, Rising of the Shield Hero is one that I love and comes to mind where 3/4 party members are female. Genshin Impact is another example of this, where majority of the playable characters are female . This in theory wouldnt be bad, not at all, but its very very easy to tell what audience they are doing it for and why they have some many female characters in the first place. Not because they actually care about how women feel about representation within videogames, but because they care about pleasing the straight, cis male audience. Alot of female characters means alot more variety of women for men to stare at, and alot less male characters means alot less men than men have to stare at. (and then there is the whole marketing and how it encourages people to buy characters etc etc, but thats a whole nother topic) But thats just my two cents. Apologies to whoever decides to read this, it got alot longer than expected Showing skin, lacking clothing, having curves and muscles and sex organs and flaws all have a place in character design and in media. Its just so easy to tell what its purpose is for when it so obviously serves no way to enhance someones character in storytelling or plot.
the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
@@HienPham-ow5ky it wouldn’t even be so bad if the ratio of male to female blades and how sexualised they are was more aligned and even. I forget how many exactly is stated in the video, but the fact there are about 6 male blades in this game and OVER TWENTY female??! My jaw actually dropped when I heard that. I wish I could say they do it to make women more prominent in video games in a good way… but when looking at everything combined… it’s just to cater to their target male demographic and it’s so disappointing :(
@@phoenixx8963 i mean, what can i say ? "Sex sells" like all people say tbh, its sad, at least Morag is somewhat different from the rest of female casts
I wouldn't even mind it that much if the demographic of this degeneracy (and even more so creators who cater to it) would admit that their "priority" is fan service over literal storytelling but no, they feel entitled to it and frame it as if the oversaturation of it is the basic amount.
@@crazydragy4233 as someone who is in the crowd of enjoying the sexy character designs, you’re asking to me to admit something that isn’t true, it’s not that I value fan service over story, (in fact the opposite really as stroy is one of my prime focuses in games) but rather fan service does not actively harm or take away from the story in my opinion. I view pyra’s and mythra’s designs as a bonus to the enjoyable story and characters. I have no issue with people not liking as it’s all subjective at the end of the day. There’s nothing wrong with disliking it and criticizing it, In the same way there’s nothing wrong with liking it and praising it. I just don’t like that these discussions have so much animosity behind it. No reason for people to be rude or try to discount someone’s opinion by throwing out meaningless insults like “sjw” or “incel” I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad for not liking it, but I also don’t enjoy people trying to make me feel bad because I do enjoy it and find it adds to my experience in the game.
Literally just finished Dahlia’s blade quest last night for the first time and came back and watched this video all over again. I really feel like she might be based on Dolly Parton but idk how much Japanese people know about her lol
That would have been cool to go full campy glam cowgirl with her design! Seeing the clips, I feel like her design doesn't communicate her personality AT ALL. I don't play this game and when i saw her design i thought she would be more ethereal with a gentle but cold personality-- like an ice princess type Now I'm wondering what accent she must have had in Japanese lol
Pretty sure Dahlia is a reference to Dolly Parton in the English dub only. Her Japanese name is Tsuki and I don’t know if she spoke in the Kansai dialect, which is pretty much the Japanese equivalent to the American southern/country accent.
Watching some of the clips here got me wondering if they actually used those cartoon sound effects for the funny scenes or not. And if they didn't, then I have to clap for your absolutely genius idea in adding those lmao
30:12 This hits *worlds* harder after the Rushia thing that happened about a week ago Basically a hololive vtuber recieved a text from her boyfriend and uh, suffice to say audiences were *disappointed*. The company got involved, they lost money, *people were talking about suicide*.. Japan is just built different when it comes to female representation
You do know she might have leaked confidential information, thus breaking a Non-disclosure agreement, I can almost guarantee she signed. It probably said something along the lines "if we (hololive) find any reason to terminate the contract we will"
@@eriklagergren7124 oh yeah i only found out about that aspect of the sitch recently, sorry about that. Goes to show that not everything is one-sided huh. But I still think the people’s reaction to the boyfriend bit was beyond mind-boggling
What the FUCK does this have to do with Rushia? She plays the part of a committed and pure girlfriend, telling her fans not to watch other vtubers and how she's uncomfortable talking to other guys. She even sells wedding merchandise and sends secret videos to supporters. Of course it's going to blow up when it's discovered that she's getting intimate sounding private messages from a male vtuber (pulling a similar schtick) who's been speculated for years to be living together. But none of this is even why she got axed, she was even supported by the company in that matter. She immediately went to a drama channel in an attempt to drag everyone down with her, apparently had a history of doing shit like this for years all the while suicide baiting and pity mining. There's so much copium that I get muted from every thread for pointing out that she's a grown ass woman in her 30s who needs to abide by the parameters of her job and handle things responsibly. But no she should be protected from all criticism because she puts on a cute voice and hides as a helpless little anime girl.
@@zeeteepippi275 Yeah, in a way I understand that she needs to be made responsible for not only breaking her NDA (just as any grown adult should when working for a company) but also potentially hurting the company that in any other situation, would have gone waaay out of its way to help her, just as they did with Hachaama and Coco (they nuked and burned the bridge with China for those two). On the other hand I don't think I can say with extreme accuracy that she did all that with malicious intent. I can only believe she did all that (the whole "going to a drama channel" to clear my image) because she was getting desperate and she was not in the best of places, mentally speaking. Of course, I'm talking only out of assumptions and how her friends and colleagues talked about her and in no way we, as the average fan and viewers, know who exactly "Uruha Rushia" really when the camera turns off. Unless you have proof that can say otherwise, I'm willing to ear any argument that has proof.
I think this game has powerful female characters. Nia, Morag, and Lora are my favorite. I love the gameplay and story of this piece of art. But my big problem is the amount of woman in this game having revealing outfits. I am all for female power but this made me uncomfortable.
Regadless of u being a man or a woman, you shoudn't feel uncomfortable by the exposiotion of the human body, erotism and sex are part of human culture and should be embraced. The real thing you should be advocating for is for an equal amount of males being sexualized as well, unfortunately thats totally up for the artist, as man, i felt uncomfrotable as playing as Vaan back when XII released, but as time passed and i matured, i came to understand how ridiculous is to feel insecure about something as naturaland beautiful as the human body.
@@Dragerdeifrit You can't honestly believe these female characters are even remotely accurate representations of "the human body." I'm an artist myself, man. These character designs are honestly atrocious.
32:52 Brighit: "Tora. I think you have a little explaining to do here." Tora: *transforms into Ludiscere* Tora: "I don't need to explain this right?" 😂
Nia’s design choices reminds me of my issue with how things shake out in Persona 4 (and somewhat in 5) where the characters all struggle with being true to themself and the expectations of society and the end of their individual character growths being making the radical choice to...happily conform to those expectations. It’s wanting to score awareness points without making things TOO radical.
I'd actually love it if you would do a short addendum contrasting Nia's expression of breaking free with sexuality, to Ann in Persona 5. I always felt like she had a (Initially) sexualized design in order to demonstrate this idea done well. The first chapter of the game is largely about her appearance and how people make assumptions because of that. Her outfit and awakening scene always felt like a big "fuck you" to people who think women only dress attractively to get men's attention.
Exactly! Ann's thief outfit is one of my favorites because it demonstrates that Ann believes the best way to rebel against men trying to exploit and abuse her sexuality is to instead take control of her sexuality herself.
Honestly it reminds me of that one old ass meme of a guy saying, “ladies, men think you’re ugly when you wear more makeup.” And the response was a girl rushing to put more makeup on. Not everything a woman wears is an appeal to men. Sometimes they just want to express themselves and feel pretty.
Honestly, when some of the cutscenes featured these absurdly designed characters, I just skipped it. Trying to disregard it. I really like the story and especially the combat but it is unfortunately ruined by anime tropes. Xenoblade 1 was one of the first JRPGS that was different in that it didn’t have these tropes, and the story was able to have a much more serious tone.
I would argue Xenoblade 1 had some on these tropes, mainly talking about Meyneth, her vessel, Vanea, even Sharla is sexualised, it is nowhere near Xenoblade 2 but I think it’s important to point out
@@fieldkaiju But the two first are not even recurrent characters, and Sharla still look feminine without going to extremes like Mythra and others. The point is it's not sexualized in the same amount. Xenoblade 1 is much more reasonable.
@@fieldkaiju To be fair, in the case of Sharla, it is more that her outfit is revealing. I would not say that she is overtly sexualized, as the game does not place any actual emphasis on her body or appearance. It really makes no mention at all of what she wears, nor does the game try to give inappropriate angles. In fact, aside from outfits which are more form-fitting or reveal more skin, I would argue that the characters in Xenoblade 1 are not really sexualized in general. And at least when it comes to revealing outfits, both the males and females are given the option for more exposure.
@Orga777 It is the fact that those absurdly designed characters are hypersexualized for no reason other than fan service, and it is almost always exclusively the female characters who receive this treatment. The complaints are justified.
Very well thought out video. Unfortunately, the comment section suggests that few people understood (or simply ignored) what you were trying to say when you brought up the contextual differences between showing male flesh and showing female flesh. You can disagree with the author all you want; you can say that it is totally fine to have hyper-sexual females, but I feel like it is disingenuous to try and argue that there is equal amounts of sexualization of both males and females in Xenoblade Chonricles 2 or Japanese pop media.
I think something that shouldn't be understated is that personality wise, malos and mythra are completely different. Malos is a bringer of destruction and is supposed to be something of a battle hardened soldier. The copius amounts of armor shows this. Mythra, is a bratty teenager. Her having revealing cloths kinda fits into this, sort of a, "You're not going out in those cloths young lady!" kind of deal. I may be looking to far into this though.
I kind of agree, I feel like her smash bros redesign is a good compromise to keep the ‘mean girl’ persona while making her look comfortable in a fight. I have a harder time finding any of Pyra’s personality reflected in her design
Thank God for this yt recommendation. Personally, I just want more diversity in women designs in games. If the men can look their part for their personality and age, why can't the women not be designed as such either? I'm tired of the teen-20 something big boobed girl whose only "differentiated" by their quirks and personalities. GIVE ME MY 45 YEAR OLD WAIFU WHO CAN WEILD AN AXE OR 2 WITH A BUNCH OF SCARS AND A FIERY PERSONALITY, SHE CAN HAVE SOME BIG JIGGLY PUFFS IDGAF BUT PLS, I CRAVE FOR DESIGN VARIETY.
@himode buddy, yes i know they exist, but i'm literally not forcing anyone to find diverse girls in games attractive? man all i'm saying is there needs to be more diversity in design like how male characters are designed in games. breh.
@himode ???? that's not the point of my comment????? i own most of the games with great girl character designs??? but why do i have to search for them????? just say "i like my big tiddy girl designs" and go man lmfao
Yes agreed! And I don't want to seen any pretty bois in my games either! I'm tired of those K-pop singers wielding swords around and being all hairdressed like it's their wedding day...
@@albedougnut HAHA you fell into my trap! Now I release my trump card: FIRE EMBLEM! Where 100% of the males are K-pop singers with wonderful haircuts and ONLY 50% of the girls are over sexualised!....No sorry I was just joking BUT my point is that I think your opinion is just biased from the start. You are not even seeing that male characters are glamorised in RPGs, take xenoblade chronicles 2 the ONLY character that is not a pretty boi is Vandam, I have nothing against pretty boi but it's as unrealistic as a double D girl. Don't get me wrong I think XC2 is awful but not for the same reasons. I just think the oversexualisation is a consequence of the bad writing and not the cause. And the JRPG industry is not plagued by "Male gaze" or whatever. BAD JRPGs are, because they are bad...
I have to admit, I was SO SCARED to click this video when it showed on my recommended. I really did not want to have to sit through an hour of ranting about how the sexualization in this game is fine and if you don't like it you're probably gay and also zeke doesn't wear a shirt and it's really a fantasy and etc. However, I've actually been working on this topic myself, in preparation for my own video on the subject, so I thought I should see the arguments for why Pyra's bowling ball sized tits were fine, actually. I'm so pleased I did. Your video was well researched, and well argued. It's too bad the people who really need to see it either won't bother, or will dismiss it out of hand because you said feminism was a good thing.
@@albedougnut I'm still new to making videos and I've never made a longer form video like this, so it's gonna be a while. But it's definitely something I want to discuss.
I don't care either way but why aren't they fine? I think people on both sides of this topic can be part of the problem. The people who don't see the issue with female characters only being sex objects and the people who don't see that their "progressive" ideas are the same ideals 1950 America held. I mean demonizing female sexuality and wanting all female characters to act very neutral has lead to less diversity in female characters. We've basically made a lateral move when it comes to female characters. Which is kind of sad because so many think this has solved the problem.
@@CoopHawke The problem is, no one here is demonizing female sexuality, nor are we suggesting that female characters cannot be sexualized. We just want games to not sexualize basically every single female character in the game, and we want less double standards between male and female characters.
"Pyras design does her no justice" Me having fell in love with her design at first sight during her smash intro is planning on buying her DLC and giving this game a look. I think her design is damn good at doing exactly what it was supposed to do.
@@captainmega6310 We'll have to see her in-game model, though from the trailer it seems they have given Pyra full leg thigh highs and higher pants (which actually means, covered the exposed skin on those parts), and also given a more reasonable bust size. But it's true, Mythra original had her legs fully uncovered, so in her case is much more evident. Now, if only they would give this look to Pyra in XC2, like they did with the Massive Melee Aux Core for Mythra...
44:00 I know Clipping is kind of an inevitability, but did no one see "Hey her arms are clipping in to her badakadonks, maybe we should tweak the design or animation skeleton a bit?"
Thankyou! I have had the same beef with this for a long time. Men seem to think that a muscular man is what women want and think that a guy being buff is sexualization. Studies time and time again have proven that a lot of women do not think a super buff guy like you see in video games is sexy. Those men are to play a power fantasy for men, they don’t exist for women at all. It’s why the game Sims is hella popular with women and why MMORPG are next in line with 25% of the player base being female. Cause you can change their outfits and most of the time the armor isn’t sexualizing the females, unless you play an Asian MMORPG. But Asian MMORPGs sexualize both males and females soooooo. Yeah. League of Legends is another great example of over sexualizing 98% of their female characters. Even the ones that aren’t suppose to be human look more human and wear less than the male characters that aren’t suppose to be human. I get that if a character is suppose to be a hot sexy character then design her like that. But 98% of all female characters should not be over sexualized like they are. Now that companies are starting to make one female in a show not overly sexualized men are literally throwing fits over this and crying about how *all* women are being turned into men. And the argument of it’s just a video game holds no water. It has been proven that when something gets normalized through a medium that people expect that in the real world. Look at p*rn for example. The amount of men who think that all women like being ch*ked and deep thr*ated is insane and they don’t even ask. They just do it. That was made normal even though everyone knows that p*rn isn’t real. Same goes for sexualizing females. It is literally expected for most of the females to be sexualized and the instant one isn’t, the company is being “woke” or whatever blanket term they decide to use. The instant a male character is designed for women he is called gay and is belittled all because he was designed to appeal to women. Honesty, one of the many reasons why My Hero Academia has done so well is that most of the female cast is not sexualized. Midnight looks the way she does because she is a pervert and is a dominatrix female. Momo outfit is the way it is cause of her quirk. But then you have Jiro, the punk rock girl who isn’t sexualized at all and instead, looks like a punk rock girl. That is how designing a character should be and is a step in the right direction. But sadly, that just doesn’t happen that much and when it does, men throw fits over it. But, what do I expect when men literally think they have a right to have sex and to slap random women they don’t know on the ass and think that is acceptable behavior.
I just wanted to say that I really like your comment and that it brings up a really imortant point. The men that are against diversifying women/girls in character design just don't know what it is to not have options. In a game, there can be the funny guy, the attractive guy, the dangerous and serious guy, and so on, that have designs that absolutely match their personalities. But if you look at the funny, attractive, and the dangerous women they all look the same. And even if they are getting an important cutscene, like the ones you see in this video, the cutscene HAS to have a shot of their boobs or butt (presumably to entertain the male audience?). This is like being told that as a woman your sex appeal is as relevant to any situation as whatever important thing may be happening. You can't do anything without being reminded that people are looking at you sexually. Anyway, this was a longer comment than I expected but I hope sharing this might make people understand a bit more outside of their point of view.
The only time sexualization is equalized is in games like Street Fighter or Fate Grand Order where everyone is fair game for thirst. FGO in particular is great about it. It's a bi person's wet dream.
Commenting this 8 months later as was recommended this video not long after Pyra/Mythra's reveal in Super Smash Bros. As a girl myself, i picked up the game because i was watching a playthrough and decided that Id love it, and I certainly did! I screamed when the two were announced because my current favorite game gets representation and the characters look super fun. But when i tried to express my excitement to my friends who havent played the game, they were very uninterested. Which is why i think the game really backfires with its presentation. Not only is it difficult to get into due to the lack of care for the tutorials, but its difficult to even bother with at all because its only the big boob ladies in the spotlight. I will bet that after that trailer, a lot of people in the western audience were upset that these fanservice characters took the place of their most wanted fighter. Well, the smash community always gets upset, but this feels different than something like Byleth. But this also speaks to the cultural divide that plagues this game. In Japan, Xenolade 2 was selling at insane rates after the reveal. But in America, it was only met with backlash. And it really sucks because i really like this game, and a lot of people are going to miss out. I can ignore the blatant sexualization sometimes and appriciate everything else the game has to offer. There are male and female blades and characters that i absoloutly love, but not many of those are the over sextualized females. And I think it's bad to have oversexutualized characters in a game, I dont think it's a bad thing. But IF and only IF, it's used scarcely and reasonably. Mythra is manageable to me. She confident and strong and not afraid to be shameless. But with Pyra, it's very distracting to watch her kind face and meek movements but then look at her chest and that whole personality kinda wanes for me. Daliah is a no go for me. Luckily I have yet to summon her, but I wont ever use her. People are quick to dismiss furries, but she would look so much better if her face was more animal like to match her body. Her breasts turn into fluff and she would be ok if she was covered in fur. Like with Pyra, her personality takes a backseat when all i can focus on is her breasts. There can be subtle, but then theres overdoing it. I understand why people hate on it just from the designs alone. But the bad designs are a minority in the cast. Not a large minority, but I mean Finch exists and all my homies love Finch.
Could you elaborate on this thought? What would you call a correct representation of both genders? Also, could you explain your reasoning behind how sexualizing both genders equally would lessen the problem?
@@ChiliChoccy if it’s going to be fan service, it would be preferable if both genders had characters that are sexualized, though this should be balanced by more non sexualized characters. A few sexualized characters wouldn’t be problematic, but an entire game full of them would be.
@@cartoonkenj2209 Okay. That makes sense to me, and yeah, I would agree. It's not the sexualization if characters I have a problem with personally, it's the sheer amount of sexualization - usually of women - that I feel is problematic.
Exactly. The underlying argument against this sort of trope bs is usually aimed at the inequality of how much it happens but a certain demographic feels entitled to abundance of fan-service to arguably more important qualities in media, like writing.
Great video. I also played the game and loved it and was genuinely put off by the tacky fan service. Its a really bad sign when I would be playing on the train and have to hide my switch during certain scenes out of fear judgement from fellow passengers.
@@MrTalithan That could very well be true, I think for me the randomness with which it is applied makes it more awkward. If there was a scene that was explicitly dealing with romance in a serious way it would be fine. It just seems to be peppered throughout the game without much thought or reason.
meh, the fact that you trying to hide it while playing on public is simply due to society pressure/norm, you simply cannot handle that and that all on you, dont try to ask game developer to cater you by your standard
Really good video, and here is my opinion about it: To me, the sexualisation is not a problem is there is more in the characters than just the sexualisation itself, that´s why I like all the female characters in this game (and honestly I like all of the girls designs, they are not "tasteless" for putting it in words, but that is just my opinion) . Yeah you can see a lot of tropes and cliches on them (both male and female) but that is not neccesarily a bad thing, and there is a lot of good stuff about them, I like for example how Mythra and Pyra are not just the "damsels on distress" and both of them fight alongside Rex and care about him and their friends, giving us really good interactions between characters. What really bothers me is that a lot of people want to crucify this game and the people who made it because of the female designs, ignoring everything else, even if the character designers (a lot being women) were given the chance to create the characters however they want. A lot of them decided to design females, and when they where questioned about it, most of them just replied: "Well I find more interesting to create powerful cute girls compared to designing male characters". On a side note, I prefer the Japanese voice audio, I think it fits the characters more. And Morag´s seiyuu (voice actress) really likes to portray female characters that act as males, which makes me wonder if that was something the designers considered when creating her.
Zeke is definitely sexualized when Morag praises him. Brigid covers fan's eyes, remember? Also don't forget gramps! That's the horniest character in the entire game!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
hey everyone - just to let you know, i've just released a mammoth 3-and-a-half hour long video looking into the mythology behind Hades. please check it out! ruclips.net/video/2y4aGe0Y-K0/видео.html
Yo have you seen Appabend's video responding to this video
lmao yes like 3 years ago, not sure he fully got what i was trying to say
This is an extremely high quality video. It takes a lot for me to watch a video this long, and I watched this whole thing with interest. You made great points and stayed as objective as you possible could have. Just wanted to tell you that.
@@gabrielkrows488 >Appabend
>Good quality
Pick one.
I don't really know anything about xenoblade, but I did find this to be a really compelling watch, and I had a thing or two to say in support of some of your points, particularly in regards to what qualifies as a sexualized character design, how female characters are subjected to this in ways that male characters aren't, and how that can actually have significant far-reaching effects on how the characters are perceived based on gender.
first of all, I think a main area where a design can show whether it is sexualized or not, is in how heavily it implies something tactile about the character's body. a lot of the women in this game have designs that invite not just the male gaze, but sexual fantasy. literally, this type of fantasizing is how these character designs were made... and I don't want to get "gatcha'd" about how a woman actually designed some character or another, that doesn't matter. the point is this: how readily and vividly does the design of a character let you imagine what they would look like naked, or what it would feel like to touch them.
it's a bit of a subjective question, and one that a lot of people who "benefit" from these types of character designs don't want to admit is a factor, but to me... that's what makes a design sexualized. and women get hit with this a lot... it's why a lot of these outfits have parts just fully missing so you can see a lot of skin, or weird little cutouts and windows to show you breasts, and hips, and thighs. it's why boob jiggle and soft body physics are on display in full force for a lot of the women's designs, while they might not be relevant at all for the men. and it's why even some outfits that technically give a woman full clothing coverage can still be read as sexualized, if the fabric clearly clings in all the places it needs to, in order to reveal her form. and credit where credit is due, rendering all this is pretty impressive from a technical standpoint... I don't want to sound like I'm devaluing the work it takes to bring this kind of vision to life.
that being said... in theory, all of these are value-neutral design techniques that could just as easily be applied to male bodies. and I think it's worth it, as sort of like, a thought experiment? to imagine what true, actual male sexualization and objectification would look like. it's the quickest proof I can think of to make the point that male sexualization doesn't actually exist in the game as it is currently presented. so... let's talk about that.
first of all, the primary body type of men in jrpgs exists in a state of like... neutral attractiveness. their body types are definitely still idealized, like, a lot of men could consider this body type to be an unattainable standard of attractiveness, if we're treating it as a standard... but it's a body type that can be presented with true neutrality, without question. think Link at the very beginning of Breath of the Wild, when he's just running around in his underwear. he's... generic. and there really isn't a "mundane, generic base form" for women that can be viewed with that much neutrality. and I think this is especially true given the way that an averagely proportioned man is rendered, vs. an averagely proportioned woman. a lot of men are rendered with hard body physics as a standard... their muscles don't really have any flexibility to them, it feels like they're very rigid, even though that extent of rigidity isn't even reflective of real life in most cases. if there's anything soft about them in any of the areas that one might usually look to when trying to emphasize the sexual attractiveness of a character, that's not something that's usually exposed, focused on with shot composition, or emphasized with the rendering.
if a man were treated with the same design sensibilities as the sexualized female designs in the game, you might expect him to wear an outfit that reveals his body in some way or another... whether he's minimally clothed, or has an outfit with a lot of strategic cutouts around the chest, hips, abs, butt, and thighs... or maybe the outfit is skin tight, or clings to his figure in ways that leave little to the imagination. you could also expect his body to be rendered in a more softened shading style, or with more softened forms, and for him to be more lithely toned in general. like the difference between a muscular man who would be on the cover of a men's health magazine, vs. a guy who might model underwear, or feature in "adult entertainment" which is literally made for the sole purpose of being sexually gratifying. there are male characters in the game that have a pretty face, and could be considered attractive... but they aren't styled in a sexualized manner with the rest of their design. and if what I'm describing sounds very over the top, or awkwardly lewd, just remember that the sexualization of women is just like that all the time. if one is uncomfortable while the other is normal to you, that's literally normalization.
and I've kind of been dancing around this point a little bit, but this all ties back into like... the sex/violence dichotomy that so often defines how masculinity and femininity exist as stereotypes. within this dichotomy, women's presence in media is often leveraged for the sex half of the equation... and this is part of what proves the presence of the male gaze, because the sexualization of men is much less of a market trend, even though one would assume the level of interest in sexualizing men vs. women would be split about 50/50. if the kind of sexualized design choices I outlined above feels atypical to see applied to men, then it's safe to say that this isn't evenly distributed. meanwhile men tend to make up the "violence" half of the equation, though sometimes "violence" is worded more as "power fantasy" or simply "action/adventure genre protagonist" because all fulfill the same function for what I'm getting at. basically... this is also male gaze. and intuitively, it makes sense. the most indulgent thing that media for men can do, is give them an idealized protagonist to project onto, who does stuff that he wants to do. and if you're assuming your audience is men who are attracted to women, then putting sexualized women in the story is really an accessory to that goal.
but given that this is the framework... what place would a sexualized man have in a story like this? ostensibly he could exist neutrally to the target audience, perhaps as a comic relief character or something. but more often than not, that kind of character would be uncomfortable for a heterosexual male audience to see. because like... when a character is portrayed as being sexually inviting or available, that kind of runs counter to the idea of a power fantasy. being sexualized is viewed as a type of vulnerability, and to men who see that in a character that they have their gender in common with, it feels demeaning, or threatening... like a form of degradation.
so, what might this then say about the female characters who literally cannot escape sexualization in their designs? like yeah, she may be technically powerful, and capable of doing destructive things, but at the end of the day she's still something to leer at. whatever power she may have been given is constantly undercut by the fact that she's pulling double duty as the subject of the male audience's sexual fantasy. ideally, there should be nothing inherently demeaning about sex, but the way it is implemented in cases like these is weird, because it runs counter to the character's intentions for themselves. if a female character is trying to be powerful and imposing, but the male audience of the media she's in still has to find her attractive, then sacrifices are being made when it comes to her ability to appear threatening. her perception as being sexually inviting with her design, by passively leaving the male audience with a lot to look at, undercuts her ability to feel threatening in that power fantasy kind of way. and it literally can break a female character's characterization if she's constantly upset or surprised by men in the story expressing sexual attraction to her, when she is dressed in an almost comically provocative outfit. or if she's walking around in said outfit and doesn't seem to have any particular reasoning for it or feelings about it at all.
I never actually took my time to summon all the unique blades, so I actually had like 6 male blades and 8-9 female blades. I didn't know I actually had ALL the male blades in the game…
Lol
Shaman Xeed what....?
@@DefinitelyNotFort im guessing there was a deleted comment
@Shaman X What are you talking about?
@@Silver_Mage_2021 pretty sure there was a deleted comment
It's important to talk about the camera when talking sexualization. How the game looks at the characters is just as important as design imo
Yeah framing is vital, since it can establish mood in regards to character. It can be used to make someone look heroic and also to villify then, As well of both showing dominance or being eye gazing.
Yes. It's pretty clear when looking at games which ones are more sexist and which aren't. Take Xenoblade 2 and Code Vein, two games I think sexualize women, and compare them to Xenoblade 1 and Ys 8, which aren't bad. There are still skimpy females in Xenoblade 1 and Ys 8, BUT there are also males who are skimpy / have skimpy armor and the females don't all have massively unrealistic breasts (various body types!) plus the camera doesn't zoom in on their boobs. Big difference. (Not saying there isn't any in Ys 8 / XBC1, but it's a lot less common)
Tomb Raider 1996 and Tomb Raider 2018 are also clearly different in terms of sexualization. 1996 makes Lara Croft out to be some big boobed sex object that lonely straight guys can jerk off to, while 2018 Lara Croft is an attractive but powerful and interesting female protagonist. Yes she's still hot, but so are the male counterparts to her (Nathan Drake, for instance).
Anyone saying XBC2 isn't sexualized is either in denial or possibly sexist. The devs were catering to a specific type of lonely, horny young male audience who would buy the game because of that, which shows that sexism is still prevalent in certain demographics.
I'm noticing JRPGs are starting to become more sexualized while Western games (from pretty much any western country) are going the opposite direction.
Wft32540 it really bogged down xb2 for me
@@Wft-bu5zc As a guy who watched lots of Animes and across all genres and had played both games. Xb1 and Xb2.. Seeing it as "Game Devs are really doing fan service and catering to thirsty man that want big boobies" are the worst thing to look. This game never flaunt the big boobies. There's a couple of scene when they jokingly tease the girls but it's part of the presentation of the scene and no malicious intent there.. Nor they intentionally or suggestively make you think they want you to look at them errotically..
It's just the general design of the artists and such. If you're new to anime you'll find the boobs quite weird but if you're immersed in the culture then it's nothing to be sweat about.. I've been thru games that really flaunt their boobies and assets and this game is far from it.
Maybe with the rise of graphics and 3d modelling becoming more and more realistic and immersive that people get so carried away by such things as Boobies and clothing designs in a Fantasy Game.. Where there are alot of games out there that delibirately asks for criticism.
Wft32540 The games are made for people that enjoy anime... 99% of JRPGs are for people that enjoy anime. If you never watched an anime and played XC2 I can understand the shock. While if you have watched anime it’s nothing new, really.
nothing about dahlia can excuse the fact that she’s built like yoshi
this is the funniest comment i have ever received hahaha it is uncanny
i spent a good 4 minutes laughing at this comment lmaoo
Ableists
There is nothing remotely attractive about that thing. The fact someone can get called an SJW for pointing out bad character design is mind boggling. She looks freakish, the very opposite of attractive. Personally i have no problem with attractiveness in games, but there is such a thing as going overboard.
Less tongue more frost
And 100% more booba
19:11 The idea that they removed the back of her outfit to symbolise "incompleteness" kind of falls flat when you consider Adenine, who literally had pieces of her body missing or "incomplete". They could have easily done the same thing with Pyra. What they did instead was conveniently remove her clothes only, leaving the back of her body bare.
I don't see an exposed back as really being sexual, personally. Doesn't excuse that they put her in futuristic lingerie when she's supposed to be a living weapon though.
It's like when DC tried to give a reason for Power Girl's massive boob window and what they came up with was that she wanted to put a symbol there like Superman but couldn't think of anything.
She's like the Silence! The authors wanted to make her design titillating and also maybe do something symbolic too, as an afterthought.
Well, Pyra is also one of the first people you meet, and if you take out literal parts of her body at the beginning, it's shocking, especially since you're still getting immersed into the world as a player.
Also a naked back, male or female, generally symbolizes vulnerability. A lot of stories will include literal symbolism, including the saying "turning your back to me" or showing a back full of scars. In Pyra's case, its a lack of completeness, and yes, maybe it is sexual still, but generally when you think sexy, people don't immediately think, ooo bare backs
. But like others have said, that doesn't excuse her booty shorts or her massive badonkers which the camera constantly pans to.
@@roosterboots4684 also Kojima's "She breathes through her skin"
7:14
"Zeke isn't sexualized... WHICH ISN'T TO SAY HE ISN'T SEXY"
He’s a walking JoJo reference what do you expect
I'm not gay but I'd go gay for Zeke
@@Alex-fj1ss he is a JoJo character, his Stand is Pandoria
XC1: Ryen, Dunban, Shulk all hella hot. XB2: Zeke, the aussie who dies in act 1, and the lil kid main character. yea no
@@amburprice8479 what about gorg? He's a water blade and he's pretty much fanservice for the ladies
It’s all just because the architect watched too damn much hentai.
Good video tho
The architect is a true man of culture
The Symbol of Peace no
When Klaus and Zanza split into two, Klaus clearly kept about 80% of their knowledge on anime.
Shulk seeing hentai, are you jocking me, he was allways fighting with monado, i doubt he had time for that
You can also show a female character being confident in their bodies without having the camera have an extreme close up of their bodies. Have it show in their actions.
True
Like with Wonder Woman, showing skin but still powerful and not sexualized
Bayonetta is a great example
@@kiriikitten8467 not 100% agreed on that. I love Bayo's design, and think it suits her. Having said that however, the constant shots of her crotch do seem to only exist for male gaze reasons.
@@kiriikitten8467 Bayonetta is the best example along with Lara Croft!
i love how you say that it's "harder" to sexualize non-anthro Blades because we all know what the internet is like lmao
Well it is harder. The problem there is that that doesn't mean it's impossible...
I can confirm that....somewhere I KNOW (don't ask how or why) it exists a doujin of the kid bird blade.
Rule34 definitely suggests it is not difficult at all.
To be fair, “harder to sexualize” does not mean hard to sexualize. It could just mean that a female blade is obviously sexy but an animalistic takes trivial but non-zero work to become sexy.
@@lucavalente6620not Finch! 😔
I'm really glad this video got made even though you probably got a lot of hate over it. I'm a bi woman growing up with games that were mainly targeted toward men and I'm usually not the first to complain about women being sexy. I think the problem most of us have is the lack of diversity with female characters. There is nothing wrong with having female characters with huge breasts but if you look at most games the majority of female characters are young and pretty while you still get plenty of middle aged men, it's hard to even find a woman over 30 in popular games, that's why a lot of girls are made to feel like they lose some of their worth once they leave their 20s.
What makes me especially uncomfortable is this certain way most of these characters are sexualized, it's a mix between submissive and helpless/kinda stupid that makes me feel really uncomfortable because it's clear they're like this because it plays into mens egos.
I loved xenoblade chronicles 2 I've put over 200 hours into this game and I'm very fond of the characters, poppi is my favorite by far, but pyra and mythras designs bothered the hell out of me. Pyra is deliberately designed to look like she's wearing a thong. Their physique just feels off and the zooms and camera angles focus everywhere but their faces and that's just sad. Dahlia to me is the absolute worst character design in the whole game, the way they made her look makes me nauseous and even though a lot of fans want to make you think the issue with her back was a glitch, it's not. I have a ton of screeshots where it just looks broken and I honestly don't know how anyone would find her design even a little bit sexy but tastes differ I guess. And the idea that buff male characters only exist because women are attracted to them is so weird to me because they're clearly a male power fantasy (not that women and others can't be attracted to buff men) but just look at comic books, primarily marketed toward men. Why are the male characters in there buff then? when they supposedly were mostly bought by men? It's a lazy excuse to avoid addressing the obvious female sexualization. Yet when there actually is a game that sexualizes male characters there usually follows an outcry from the male audience.
I think my point is that games don't need to get rid of sexy female characters but introduce more diverse women into games, just like with the male characters.
Over 30? In popular games? We all know the true video game waifu:
Impa
Heeeeeck yeah! Old granny da best!
@@HappyRogue1202 you joke but Skyward Sword Impa had a fantastic design and was legitimately a great character!
@@yoso378 Did it come off as a joke? Because it wasnt meant to. deadass
I felt the most uncompfortable when Poppi was telling Pyra relative early on in the game how to please her master by being submissive and insecure. The looks of the characters I can accept as some kind of funny cultural thing (only exception being Dhalia who looks like an abomination tbh) - similar to the mostly relatively flat characters: in most conversations that you have in order to get a new sidequest, your party members nearly always use the same sentences. Tora accepts the quests and cheers himself, Rex needs to know more before being able to decide if he will take the mission (which he of course always does), Poppi is being sarcastic about Tora, etc.. But this way in which one women "teaches" another to purposefully play helpless in order to be attractive is not only a cringefest and the most sexist thing I have seen in a game for a long time, but also destroying some of the cute moments that happen for you as a spectator. Cuteness that is on purpose looses its charm imho.
"Look at this scene! They had no intention of sexualising Zeke."
Zeke: "Come and taste my big sword."
Lol I thought so too 🤣 just funny
The one eyed monster
I mean its Zeke who wouldn't want him XD
"Touching a man's turtle"
@@aidendavid2680 That was actually a joke in the Japanese version and was trasnlated over extremley well. Both jokes at the time were talking about turtles and eye patches and somehow in both languages both also refered to a penis. Really good on the translation team for that one.
46:21
Forget Dahlia. That poor man just got Thanos'd, and no one so much as batted an eye.
holy shit i just saw that
T H A N O S
My mom walked in on me playing octo expansion for splatoon2 and then she said “what game are you playing where a girl is dressed like that” I can’t imagine what she would say if she saw me playing this 😂
"It's okay, mom, that's actually a squid wearing hotpants"
something bad would happen
Just don’t play xenoblade when she is home lol
Imagine being this insecure over a video game. lmao
I bet you're so secure you watch porn out in public with the volume up.
Regarding Mòrag: I don't think her design is inherently masculine at all. The reason why we automatically view it as masculine is itself an example of gender performativity - objectively, her outfit is just a military uniform with no inherent gender. Her behaviour and personality isn't particularly masculine either, we've simply learned to associate being stoic, serious, and dutiful with being masculine.
The problem lies with the other characters' reactions to her. Tora ironically serves as an example of how society views all these perfectly genderless attributes as being masculine: he simply cannot imagine that they could apply to a woman. Pandoria gives us another example: she mentions in a Heart-to-Heart that Mòrag "dressing like a guy" must mean she "knows how men think". Tora's and Pandoria's attitudes serve as a blueprint for how the player should view Mòrag: that her appearance makes her masculine. Like you said, this feeds the idea that there is some contradiction between Mòrag's femaleness and the strength and confidence she possesses. She is consequently devalued as a role model because the game has positioned her as an anomaly through the views of the other characters.
I think this problem could be fixed by leaving Mòrag's design and personality exactly as they are, but not using them to alienate her. If the other characters react neutrally to her without reference to the perceived discrepancy between her appearance and her gender, then so will the player.
Regarding Nia: I agree that the prettiness and delicateness of her blade form is necessary to contrast with her driver form for characterisation. However, the amount of hips and thighs she is showing isn't necessary for this purpose. She could easily be more covered without sacrificing characterisation, therefore the design is sexualised.
But dude, this is an amazing video. It's well-structured and you have justified every point you made. It made me smile. I'll be Whatsapping it to my little sister (who absolutely loves the game) - it'll make a great talking point!
Her original Japanese voice is specifically intended to sound androgynous. She's written and designed to be masculine.
@NefalezI agree, I always thought Morag was just supposed to be at most pretty androgynous, I never thought her uniform was anything more than that - just a uniform.
It also helps that I have a high opinion of her because she's my favourite character but whatever.
That being said, I don't really understand the heart to heart between Pandy and Morag because I feel it's pretty much implied that she loves Brighid and vice versa
Thank you for your part on Mòrag, it’s basically exactly what I wanted to comment but you’ve done it for me. Although I do disagree that Nia sexualized, I’m glad someone else seemed to have the same views as me on his portion about Mòrag.
For me Morag's design have the reason behind it. If you look through her back story, you will see that when she was young, she was formed to be "empress" of the empire that had never have female leader since forever. But since her brother was born, she was no longer in the succession line but with all of the military training she had, she became the special inquisitor so that's why she always act "masculine".
I think she just want to do "girly thing" but just don't know how because if you look to the Heart-to-Heart with Pandoria, you will see that Morag also take good care of her hands/skin and she took example from Brigid, the most feminine individual closest to her.
Then you unlock her swimsuit outfit 😜
Gosh I love Morag's design and her general character. She just looks absolutely wonderful, and frankly I see shades of femininity in her design that to me actually already "does the job", in my opinion. For one, a military uniform is a military uniform, and the one she has already looks wonderful. The one thing that I feel drives in the "she's trying to be masculine" idea is that people are acting like this aesthetic is necessarily in contrast with being female in general; that she's wearing a "male" uniform and being mistaken for a man and that she "looks surprisingly nice up close", as if she cannot also be beautiful when she's taken in as her whole. Then there's the JP voice; that's not "androgynous", that's just trying to pass off as a man. That's not how deep-voiced women often sound. The entire "masquerading as male to be taken seriously" has a place in fiction, but the fact that so often there would be like some surprising reveal or the character admitting that they would rather be a girl etc etc adds more to the idea that they're not SIMPLY being a female character who just dresses up this way. Normalize people wearing their uniforms and comfortable clothes that fit their job. They're not trying to live double lives so you'll do a double take when you realize that "they're a woman all along?!"
Sometimes I just think of Lana Skye from Ace Attorney when it comes to this. The fact that she's composed, calm, somewhat stoic and a bit cold doesn't somehow "detract" from her femininity, though all they did was keep her hair long and give her a nice scarf. She wears a skirt, but most of the time the sprites don't go that far down so as far as the player is aware, she could've been wearing pants. Furthermore, she is also allowed to be a loving, hardworking sister without it "detracting" from anything; ie. she is allowed to be a person with functioning emotions without it somehow being seen as a deviation on who she's supposed to be. One might comment that showing some skin on her nape would be something somewhat "female design" or however you would say it, but 1) she can exist as a female officer and 2) there is a photo of her graduation where she also wears a dress shirt and tie underneath and she looks gorgeous as always.
Anyway that's been my Lana Skye fanpost
Morag is best girl
Note; Morag herself hates being compared to men she actively gets upset when it happens
@Shin Shaman the Guy isnt crying dude, what are you on?
Different people have different preferences; liking more modest characters doesn’t make you better.
I just wish people would actually understand women who enjoy masculine clothing exist and that doesn't necessarily mean they're unhappy for it.
I'd personally be a lot unhappier if I were forced to dress femininely for one.
The likes to dislikes ratio on this is so sad. *I honestly thought this was a very well made video essay.* Great job!
You didn't "think" it "was" a very well made video essay. It IS a very well made video essay and while I loved the game two years ago, I couldn't help but notice all the little details he mentioned throughout the video
I doubt half of the dislikes watched the whole video
It is well thought out and well written, but I guess the main part about it not being as liked overall is because of the core audience of the game, and the core audience planned for the game was without a doubt, straight males.For example, you could tell me all about your inclusion of feminine realism etc. but i'll still opt for hot anime babes. Yes, it is pretty selfish as the GAMER GIRL consumer base is on the rise (though not enough for the companies behind big g4m3s to see their fantasy/realism be ideally represented). As the core audience people sees this is a redundant (they don't care about the fem market lulz), they'll disregard the well-backed arguments made here and dislike the vid. It's not a question of being right or wrong really.
And then again there's this "trade-off" I guess where to make the GAMER GIRL audience grow, you'll need to have more inclusion toward that sweet sweet rounded audience. So yea more girls doing the gaming ---> more inclusion--> more gurls doing the the epic gaming ritual. (Maybe toning off the archaic values (thought partially ingrained by our biology) like "sexy woman = the goal of man" could help too?? idk maybe people are more ok with sexy woman existing in general)
@dd nava and @man this is one of my favorite video essays on RUclips tbh. I’ve watched through it a couple times and he really has some great points sprinkled throughout in a well-organized manner. If anything, I’d attribute the sexualization of the female characters in XC2 to Japan’s different culture (but, as he details, that’s not all of it). They’re more sensitive to violence in media while we in the west are more sensitive to sex in media. Not to say that we (and them) don’t have those at all, just that we see them in different lights. This video lends itself to both sides of the argument (“Gamers” vs “SJW’s”, if you will) and is both reasonable and meaningful. It deserves more attention imo. Hope he makes more content like this in the future.
Definition of masculinity according to that one guy:
Bro there are boobs on screen. How could boobs be bad? You don't like boobs? Must not be a man.
I agree with this lol🤣
me, a lesbian: guess I'm a Man now
Seems legit
Laughs in _homosexual™_
Completely sexist too lol. Dude's basically saying women are lesser for their opinion on the sexualization.
My god the majority of men on that thread need to talk to real women if they feel such a strong need to defend their anime booba
The video makes me think about why I find the sexualization in this game offputting yet have no issue with the sexualization in Bayonetta. I've talked to it with my sister before and we've both just kind of come to the conclusion that Bayonetta is attractive not only because of her looks but also because of the sheer aura of self confidence and strength she presents while still being incredibly feminine and fully clothed (for the most part). I can't really say the same about the designs of a lot of the rare blades Xenoblade 2. I play games mostly in the living room, and it says a lot that I had no issues playing Bayonetta if anyone walked in and decided to sit and watch, whereas Xenoblade 2 had me really really hoping i wouldn't unlock Dahlia with anybody else around.
I think it comes down to quite a simple but crucial difference - which is that in Bayonetta the sexualisation is the point. It's supposed to be ridiculous and over the top and it's clearly self-aware about it. In Xenoblade 2 it's just kind of tacked-on, with it not serving any point towards the game's main goals (whereas in Bayo - it IS one of the main goals).
Bayonetta feels in control of her sexuality and sexualization. She doesn't pander to the men in the story either. If anything, she will humiliate people with her sexuality before she objectifies herself.
This is so obvious but many people overlook it, why doesn't Pyra use clothes? What about her personality shows that she should dress like that? Mai Shiranui is a character I like a lot, her clothing makes sense, she's a ninja and uses her body to distract her opponent, wich makes sense, but does Pyra do that? No, she's calm, closed, mother-like sometimes, caring, why does she show all her body all the time then?
I think one of the worst instances of pandering in Bayonetta is when Jeanne's soul gets dragged into hell. Portraying the scene like that really wasn't necessary, because usually the games do a good job with keeping the sex appeal out of serious scenes.
@@herebejamz This. Her sex appeal funnily enough is usually used towards the enemies, "Do you want to touch me?", and to tease Luka. lol She doesn't use it towards Rodin or Enzo I think was his name.
There is male sexualisation and his name is Tora.
Edit: Guys please don't think this is actual commentary on the game.
He is always dreaming of the Poppi-sized tasty sausages
oh god i was in a stream watching one of my most liked twitch streamers play this game, we all had a good laugh first time hearing tora say that :P
Nah man, it's in Rex, the camera zooms in onto his crotch occasionally when he executes Mythra's level 4 special.
Rex is basically the "Straight Shota" in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for people who like Shotacon. Which is (arguably) fairly creepy.
"whoops gotta switch my maid robot out of dog walking mode"
I think one of the problems with this game being as sexualized as it is is that it's a sequel to Xenoblade chronicles, a JRPG that in comparison had far less sexualization. So as a fan of XC1, I was very dissapointed with the art direction they took with the sequel. but if it was a stand alone game, I probably just wouldn't have given it a second glence and just judged it of as another generic anime game.
Fr, I dont even mind a little bit like Sharla is a sexualized character but she still just looks like a pretty realistic woman and fits in with everything. In xbc2 it was just so excessive and unrealistic that it got really annoying to me. After the unique but realistic xeno 1 designs, seeing the more generic oversexualized designs of xbc2 was really disappointing. Even ignoring the femenist critiques of oversexualized characters, it certainly made the game less immersive and interesting to me.
I have the same problem with Bayonetta, I personally don't mind it but it does get amoying when you're just trying to play and they are showing a close up of the prot ass every 5 minutes.
@@seorwhite3333 I get where you are coming from but at the same time its part of her character and personality to act like that you know? She intends to look sexy and has a lot of dirty talk in his games, which gives her somewhat of a pass for me
@@carlosoramasramos8911 I honestly think it's hilarious too.
I’ll give xc3 a chance but if they follow the designs of xc2 I’m out idc how good the story is
As much as I agree with this video, I have to disagree regarding Morag. I understand your point about her wearing a masculine outfit, but I think the view on what makes the costume masculine is misconstrued. A military outfit it made for the sake of being just that, fit for the military. It’s not a reflection of masculinity, but made to show professionalism and achievements in design. On the field, nearly all military outfits should look identical for efficiency and protection, and the more professional outfits are very standardized due to the nature of a military. I would argue the reason a military outfit is perceived as masculine is not because of the outfit itself, as it does no extra service in showing a man’s figure like say, a skirt would for a woman, but simply because there are much more men in the real world military to be associated with the outfit. Militaries are by nature standardized, and I really don’t personally see anything more masculine or less feminine about Morag wearing such an outfit, as I think it very much reflects her personality. Honestly, I find it more attractive than any of the other character designs just from a cursory glance at the characters’ personalities.
There's an interesting conversation to be had about how androgyny is viewed in a Male Centric Ecosystem, especially in the context of the Japanese Gender Ecosystem. Her being one of very few prominent female characters to not present with two massive watermelons hanging onto whats left of their shirts suggests something the developers feel about the roles of women and how they "Should" present by using her lack of Skin as a joke about what these characters expect of women. All of this while simultaneously showering male players with images of exactly what they want to see. While it could have been a Lot Worse, it's still a little jarring to me.
doesn't the game call her masculine, or something along those lines?
@@Kernando yo hum…. did you skip the part of the video where there's footage of Tora mistaking her for a man? If the game pokes fun at how masculine her design is then there is no doubt she was intentionally masculinized. The way Newt is design should also show how little this game cares about military standardization. Interesting counter but i think the point in the vid stands 1000%.
@@gravitymonkey9300 I've never played the game. But let me ask you this: If I were to show a picture of an ant, would you be able to tell if it's male or female? It is surmised that all worker ants we see in plain sight are female, so it is safe to assume that the ant in the picture is female. This is no different as to how Tora assumed that Morag was a male, which most soldiers are(?), because Tora is not human; he wouldn't be able to distinguish the gender of Morag at first glance like how you can't be certain that the shown ant is female or male, unless it's explicitly said that the ant shown is a worker ant or otherwise.
Then again, I've never played the game, so there may be other underlying indications contradicting what I just said. I am just commenting based on the context given in the video.
@@azorailke6057 I'll start by saying that I'm in the same boat! I haven't played the game and am only working with the context of the video.
The thing about soldier generalisation is fair! I have some problems with it tho. 1- Even if there's an explanation for Tora making assumption, it's still an example of the game poking fun at the fact that Morag looks like a man. This shows that there is an intention to make her at the very least androgynous and not "properly female"
2- The design doesn't exist in a vacuum. Even an androgynous design looks "manly" compared to the vast feminine/sexualized female cast. My example was Newt, who is ALSO a soldier. However, I don't think Tora would ever mistake her for a man. There is a clear dichotomy between the two of them, between a character treated as female and another one as male.
This was intensely watchable. You have a real skill at maintaining pace and clearly developing an argument that makes the runtime just melt away. Really good stuff.
@Shin Shaman get a hobby
Seriously i was thinking of clicking off halfway through but it somehow keeps ringing me in XD
@Shin Shaman usually I wouldn't use "virgin" as an insult but man you give off turbo virgin energy
@@neksnek2032 some people like being called that, so let's go with sad loner
I for one have started to subconsciously ignore semi-sexual content in anime and games because if I thought too much about it it started to affect my enjoyment. Almost a full playthrough in, I decided to show my then-new girlfriend the blades’ summoning sequences and only then realized how much I struggled to find a female blade without an inherently sexual design, or even that many male blades.
to be fair, I think that's more to do with Japan's continued sterotype of males and females. boys and men are probably seem as the main audience of video games, so they sexualize lots of girls because they assume mostly boys and men will be playing these certain types of video games rather then girls. girls and women seem to like other things and seem to only like games with hot men mostly in them (not saying all girls do, just think its a big sterotype in japan)
@@connorradcliffe1769 This just makes it worse. It basically assumes the worst of their base and completely ignores women as consumers of anime products and games
I generally don't get bothered by limited amounts of sexualization in games, but some of them take it way too far. I wasn't really concerned with it until I played XBC2 and Code Vein. It was just so ridiculous that it reduced my enjoyment / appreciation for both games. If Dahlia were the only giant boobed character, no problem. But good lord, when the VAST majority of female characters are like that... It's cringy and worrisome.
@Shaman X Lmao nobody said the world revolves around a certain type of people. We just want equity, that's all we ask.
@@sir8513 he does have a point though. Most females that play video games tend to play puzzle games, and mobile games. While I agree it's wrong to exclude audience, you can't blame then for seeing that the majority of their customers are male.
This was a very fair and comprehensive video. It's a shame so many people probably disliked because of the title without actually listening. I felt you responded to every point very well.
Considering the sexual assault rates in Japan are way lower than several Western countries, too low to be chalked up to under reporting, I don’t think it’s a big deal or impacts reality much.
It’s also lame to say that only butthurt fanboys hated the video (angry fans are a vocal minority of any fandom).
Agreed. A lot of thoughts and work was clearly put into that video, it's a shame people just went "meh, another SJW"
It isn't a surprise though
About those dislikes...
@@diamondminer5459 It's the same country that has women-only metro wagons during rush hour.
I listened to the whole video while drawing, in the end, I don't care about any of these points.
I've never thought the problem is big breasts, like big breasts exist in real life and I don't think many people would argue that every character should be a C-cup as a form of "realism" it always comes down to clothing, clothing should always reflect the personality of the character (with maybe exceptions for setting) it would make sense for character written to be sex-positive to wear clothing that draws "the male gaze" but it makes a lot less sense for characters that are otherwise written to be pretty conservative to have a costume with a boob window or similar, it's just a little jarring when those types of characters appear not that I can't get over it to enjoy a well written story but the fact remains that it is a little jarring.
I’d say the problem isn’t in the *ahem* proportions but, instead the lack of diverse body types. Those…sizes… are much rarer than anime and Japanese made games like to portray.
@@Hewasnumber1 Doesn't sound like a problem to me. It's a universe where people turn into weapons and vice versa, I couldn't give a damn about "diverse body types". It's a game ffs, what truly matters in the end is gameplay and writing. Maybe instead of what's on their chests, people should focus more on the writing of Xenoblade 2, which wasn't the best.
@@jase276 Isnt this the problem tho? The game clearly focuses on the sexualization-
@@jase276 nah man, swords are for gameplay, boobs are for weird weebs that are horni on main, no matter the monologue you get if half your character is "shipping" with the bland isekai protagonist and (.)(.) jokes
@@jase276 diverse body types is one of the many tools to achieve varied and iconic character designs - if every female is slender, long legged, big boobed, and scantily clad, it only allows so much variety before designs blur together - and design in videogames is part of the interface: designs should as much as possible reflect the gameplay attributes of a character. Just the same way too similar menu icons are confusing and reduce enjoyment, too similar character designs reduce the usability and enjoyment of characters in a game.
RECCOMENDED AFTER THE SMASH REVEAL LMAO
Same. Poor Smash kid players...they'll grow up so fast.
lol good
A healthy reminder, amidst the usual wave of *“new BEST CHARACTER in Ultimate CONFIRMED???”* videos, that the game these newcomers are from is a muddled mess.
Anyone considering buying Xenoblade 2 should just pick up the Xenoblade 1: Definitive Edition re-release and play that instead. It’s got all of what Xenoblade 2 has going for it and then some, as far as story or music go. But with the benefit of looking better, forgoing the isekai-inspired weeb pandering for more natural, artistic character designs, reminiscent of classic JRPGs.
Damn shame this game was Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade X wasn’t. A numbered sequel, yet it doesn’t stand anywhere near the two games that came before in terms of polish and quality, imo.
X is the real Xenoblade 2, hand to god. Now if only it’d get the re-release it deserves; as of now it’s trapped on the Wii U exclusively...
@@zeromythosver. Just beat xbde. Hope xbc2 isnt underwhelming like you said...
@@noahpokeemon6503 xbc2 is fun too dont worry just skip the cutscenes :)
@@PurpYoshii but then how do you even know what happens in the story?
Everyone, after years of research I have found it. The formula for the perfect sexualization of characters in a game. Get ready, I'm about to change the world of gaming as we know it.
We make EVERYONE sexualized! I mean REALLY sexualized! I'm talking yaoi and hentai artists on the character design team, all working together to make the perfect bi icon of a game!
Jokes aside great video, this is something that doesn't get brought up enough in discussion around this game and others like it.
I call that the Sengoku Basara approach.
I'd argue the reason it doesn't come up a lot. Is the same reason this video is so long. It usually just falls off the deep end into ultimately opinion. The reality is woman exist in all shapes and sizes. An these people that dislike it usually end up taking on a form of body shaming girls that are shaped like that. Trying to tell them what is acceptable to wear. At the end pf it all i hope Japanese devs continue to design exactly how theyliked.
Lord knows the landscape would be bland if all we had were games American devs make. Thank God for world culture and may it ever stay separate and do different things. So we can all continue to enjoy the things we like and didn't know we loked.
@@TheRealEnate I kinda agree but for diffrent reasons. I do think that the gross oversexualization is something that is an inherent part of many things and getting rid of them would be getting rid of an inherent part of its personality, and that discussion of these things often do turn into blatant harassment. But at the same time, to let the same culture that makes loli content run free would be irresponsible.
I offer no solution that well preserves the culture and as well as morality, only the dilemma.
Except this approach literally does work; the male leads of Pheonix Wright were designed by a BL artist and it has a huge and varied fanbase
@@WalkInMyPawsteps wasn't the BL in PW games way better when they weren't doing it on purposes for the most part and just happened to make some great BL tease? After that I feel like it was kinda forced and didn't work as well.
Nitpicking aside your point stands and I agree.
I hate that everytime a LGBTQ character shows up in a game lots of people get outraged and the common thing I hear is "why do they have to shove their sexuality down our throats?!", even though 90% of the time those characters aren't sexualized and simply are in a same sex relationship with maybe one or two overt displays of same-sex affection. Then there are games like Xenoblade 2. I liked this game a lot, I wanted to love it, but the over sexualized female characters made me feel legitimately creepy for playing this game. I got embarrassed playing it on the bus. The worst part for me wasnt the gratuitous butt and titty shots, it was that fact that many of the most sexualized characters looked like they were between the ages of 13-15.
I understand that my opinion on this matter is entirely subjective as I am a gay man and not the intended audience for this game, but this game really bordered on soft core porn at some points. The only thing I've seen that made me feel similar was high school of the dead.
I really, really hope they dont do this for the next one. By all means have sexy characters, but dont make them cringy. Hell, Sharla is one of the most memorable characters for me and she looks sexy as heck, but they dont go out of their way to pan across her chest and butt every scene. To me Pyra felt like nothing more than Rex's angsty sex fantasy.
That being said. I still think XB2 is a great game, with a engaging story and interesting characters. Definitely a top shelf JRPG
It so funny that alot of this media can't make it go both ways , for fear that enough men out there won't be comfortable enough with their sexuality to be ok with it. Not that I think overtly sexualized characters should be common place by any means, but if you're gonna dip into that realm then why not dip on both sides? People who enjoy males will appreciate it.
@DarthYuYevon lol.
DarthYuYevon Lmao ok
@DarthYuYevon what THE FUCK
@DarthYuYevon oh yeah? How so?
I don't understand why some people get so defensive about this. No one is demonizing you for liking to look at what is presented here. That's WHY it is presented to you in that way. But it's pretty wild to try and deny that this does absolutely sexualize women. Maybe not in degrading ways, by making then weak or anything. But there is no denying it. And sure, the males in the game are depicted in a buff and, in some cases, revealing outfits. But the female characters are all designed in body proportions that are quite literally physically impossible and built ONLY to tantalize. Someone spent a lot of time making sure their breasts move in a certain way. Like it absolutely does exist. And it absolutely is one sided. Whether that is right or wrong in art, with completely made up characters, in a video game where the intended audience is mostly male... isn't what I'm discussing. But I'm just saying that it's hard to say that it doesn't exist. And context is important, in that this is something that has been happening since the beginning of time, whether right or wrong.
I agree. To make it equal, there should be male characters where the camera zooms in on their bulges as they wear skimpy tongs like male strippers do. As well as just caress their abs and stuff.
@@joemusashi7774 Xenoblade 1 had Reyn. The big bulky... You get the idea.
@@joemusashi7774 Or, we could stop putting deliberately sexualised characters of all genders in games rated suitable for thirteen year olds.
I agree with this 💯👍
This and Japanese characters in general being sexualized is undeniable and obvious. The ludicrous thing here is the fact someone saw fit to make a 54-minute dissertation demonstrating it. He might as well as made the video to prove water is wet and the sky is blue.
This is coming from a female gamer and I really appreciate videos like this, over sexualisation in the media I consume really affects my self image and the way a lot of men can see women off the media they're raised on and consume. It's terribly sad seeing the high amount of dislikes and what makes me worse is that if you were a woman all these points would've been discredited due to being a 'feminzai' (aka you're still better off but getting a lot of unfounded criticism imo). This video was brilliantly done and i'm saving it for the hoards of people who argue that me and many others need to 'get over it' because it is fictional- fiction and media affects us in real life too! Thank you for this video :)
what a lovely comment! thank you so much, i really appreciate that and i'm so glad that what i said resonated and rang true for you :)
this!! i’m a female gamer as well, it’s really nice to see these videos because a lot of men fail to understand what it’s like to be a woman and constantly seeing sexualization in female characters
If you are affected by sexualization in video games than the problem is yours not them, stop blaming others for your lack of selfstem, because that depends solely on you
What about the sexualization of men in video games? How about a 6 ft muscle bound beefcake of a man. I’m the complete opposite of those characters, and would wish to look like that. But no, I’m 5 ft 7 in man who only weighs 180 lbs. So how do I feel about seeing these men? Honestly I feel nothing wrong, but actually feel like a heroic badass who is there to fight some monster. And what about media in general? What about the sexiest man alive stuff that Hollywood and newspapers shove down men’s throats? Well as a male in a mostly male family, has mostly male friends, and even doing some reflecting on the matter. We don’t care. It’s that simple. We watch it go by, and if it’s in our face, we’re proud to know that us men can look like that. So should I feel upset when I see a man who is considered sexy or handsome? No, because we did this to ourselves and only us can be the blame for what we hate the most. I know not all people are alike, and some people are also a bit more sensitive to something like this, but we need to think about how us, as an individual can change what happens. For example I haven’t had a girlfriend since elementary, I’m in high school. Do I as a person blame others out of self pity? Or do I fix the problem by eating more protein, and working out?
So know I ask, how do you as a human being talking to another human feel about how sexualized both genders are? Should we end it, or keep it. Because for me if I lost the muscle bound characters that are in games, and saw a character that looks like me. I wouldn’t play because of how depressing it is to know that they think what I look like is what others should strive for.
Ps. Don’t get me started on how movies, tv shows, and games try to make men look like complete morons and sex driven maniacs.
@@ThatDude000 Don't want to simply say Whataboutism, but woman here, and I *don't* find beefy characters attractive and neither do most women. The way most of them are drawn isn't to appeal to women or the female gaze, but to provide escapist fantasies for the guys playing them. Which is what you just described when you say "playing a heroic badass". Women just love to do that, too. Without having to be reminded that your breasts are your most important feature every other minute.
On terms of sexualization, if anything, then Rhex' butt in his diver outfit could lean towards sexy, but he's a kid so...
Just look at the characters girls fawn about, especially in JRPGs or Manga/Anime. Like, recent example, FF7R: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus, Reno. They are undeniably attractive, yet not sexualized at all.
"Handling a man's turtle" Got me
I've got a problem with bits like the explanation on Nia's character development though- it seems that so often the excuse of "well she's confident/has developed her confidence" is the reason we get characters forced into super skimpy designs, whilst guys who up their mettle in the plot usually just... get either nothing or some sort of more armoured or stronger looking design. Especially with Nia, since a lot of her character interactions have her rejecting sexual/romantic advances and such, I don't think confidence would naturally lead her to wearing less. It just feels like that superhero comic where the female lead's boob window was justified with "oh I'm waiting to find a symbol I can call my own so for now there's a giant hole in my shirt"
I find this tough cause it almost appears to me as a sort of metaphor for accepting her sexualization, and despite that, being true to herself because it is how she naturally is; that is to say if she is a skimpily clad girl with a cold but fun personality that for some reason really had to confess her affections for the male lead and still become his tool after being rejected...
Edit: it makes me especially uncomfortable because this is a lot like how I’ve dealt with myself. I have a very conventionally attractive body, and I find it decent so I like to wear modest stuff that accentuates that, but I always feel that wherever I go my body is the focus of who I interact with, no matter if it’s a tshirt and jeans worn normally. So I’ve coped over my life by accepting it as it is, but no matter what I do I feel a deep pain like it is all I’ll ever be known for, and it’s hard not to think that way when you’re reminded of it almost daily.
noot this hits the real core of the problem, the emotional cost. It’s invisible, but insidious, and the worst part from my male perspective is I know I’ve inflicted it upon others without meaning to.
himode it’s almost like there’s more than one woman in the world and differences in culture and upbringing can provide differences in wants and desires. Same goes for men. Same goes for literally everything.
himode and some men also do the same. Some people also realize how manipulative the fashion and weight loss industries are and how much money they’ve poured into making people think they have too look a certain way. Some people realize how important realistic and diverse representation is and fight for it, and some people want nothing to change because they’ve never had to experience extreme prejudice and are so lacking in empathy that they’re unable to realize that someone else might be feeling discriminated against. For a recent example, some people are so wrapped up in themselves that it takes someone dying from a police officer’s knee on his neck for them to realize that maybe racism isn’t as ‘solved’ as they thought. Empathy is important. Whenever you see someone angry or complaining, take a second to at least try to understand where they might be coming from. I don’t know what happened to you for you to think the way you do, but please, try to take a step back and consider if what you’re seeing is really just an entitled individual, or if they’re a it’s someone speaking out against an unjust system or culture.
@himode the comparison is fair here, because constantly oversexualising women in media and society in general leads to a WHOLE MESS of rapes and murders. I mean, look at Latin America- here we have so many killings because women reject men trying to treat them as sex objects that we had to invent a term for it ("femicide"). It's not like this is some sensitivity issue that has to do with people's "feelings" in an abstract way, it has results. Even in the USA, incels have been shooting women for it too. There is a body count.
I find myself especially prone to "second hand embarrassment", which can make some shows that rely on cringe comedy (where a character doing something obviously awkward is more or less the entire joke) borderline unwatchable.
The fact that several of the included clips initiated the same reaction was pretty telling even before you had made your (extremely well written and communicated) points.
Same here
Same as well. It makes me unable to watch some of the more "traditional" anime for example but I'm not usually missing out much...
Same. I love this game, but it definitely has some moments that just make me instinctively cringe. :P
That Zeke scene... Holy hell... Even though Pandoria, Nia, Poppi and Móraq are amazing characters ( Both in design and story ) in my view, there's no way I'd buy a game with that kind of scene. At least Mythras scene was somehow watchable.
@@Dog.This_Identifier_Is_Shit. Tbf (If you're talking about the scene I think you are), I think it's moreso him just fucking with Morag, but yeah, out of context, it just sounds bad (Even in context it doesn't sound great). Honestly, it feels a bit out of character for Zeke (Or at least what I remember of his character).
Its funny that men are grinding over this, genuinely confused about what is wrong with it. Its not women with big boobs, it's not the clothes (pyra looks hella cute. I want a pair of those shorts with the suspenders). Its really about how they are treated. How they all just pose and boob jiggle and fawn over the playable male characters, all while the men criticize them and sexually harass them. I like Dahlia's design I draw some women with huge boobs. I have friends that I love who have big boobs and they wear clothes that show it off. It's just how they are treated. Dahlia isnt bad because of her design. It's the way she sexy poses literally every frame. It's so cringy. I've been playing these games forever. I'm female. It's just part of the genre at this point. I was most mad at how they treated Nia. Probably my most favorite character in any game. They built her up and then just used her to stroke Rex's ego. Having her confess this love (literally out of nowhere). Then they turned her into his blade, subservient to his whim for the rest of the game (if the player choses), no longer an independent party member with her own goals. She is Rex's property, even after he rejects her. Just one more blade in an anonymous pile. It made me so mad. I had to pretend it didnt happen, it was a game ruiner. Nia would never be rex's blade. That's her whole story arc! She's no one's blade, she belongs to herself. This is the character 80% of the female demographic uses, relates to, identifies with. And this is how the men want her treated. Very telling.
From what i can piece and put together, it seems more rational than you think. There are plenty of times when male characters are put in undesirable or devalued positions like property to be used in games and all shapes of media- and nobody really makes an out cry about it. People either laugh at it like intended or just dont care to even notice it.
So when the roles are reversed and it's a female put in a similar position- thats when war starts and people wanna make a big fuss about something thats been done before which had no backlash but now due to gender its apparently bad.
I can understand a sane man responding to this as "whats the big deal?"
It seems as a society/culture we care more about the devaluation of women than men. Which also isnt good
@@AK46supr ... it's because historically and factually women were/are mistreated a lot more often than men. This is also why men's rights activism is historically younger than women's rights activism. Mistreatment of humans is unfortunately a common thing. But mistreatment of women just for being women has a larger number and deeper history than mistreatment of men just for being men.
Alex Ko um..historically everyone had it shitty... Men were sent off to die for battles they didn't want to fight..because they were men. Further back it was common to put little boys on battlefields to be experienced in the art of "battle" and be traumatized at early ages. In fact it was *way* more common to kill the men and boys than it was for women and girls in many situations like war or a pillage. In fact they would emasculate them by cutting off certain body parts. Back then even now male abuse isnt taken as seriously as males can never be seen as victims. Back then it was even harsher for a guy to express emotions let alone weakness as he would be treated as a weak male from men and *women* and that still trends today as we speak. Also men who were of lower class due to money or status were and are still treated as butts of the society, and the fact that alot of men cant get help for this is why males have the highest suicide rates to date. Also guys who were seen as "the bread winners" back then had to work tough and dangerous jobs for crazy hours to get by and to support their families since women didn't work and since gold digging isnt a new term for modern ppl- men would sacrifice for partners that may not have cared for them to begin with. Its sad
Theres many more i could go about "factually" but this comments long enough. The reason why mens right activists existence is more recent is because men didn't and couldn't have a voice to complain because when they did they were shamed and belittled and punished for speaking out which *still* happens today. Its because times have changed and more people are becoming vocal about issues thats existed for a LONG time and the advancement of the internet.
I dont hate you but *please* dont give me that feminism bs
*edit:* also even if you still want side with bad female history and ignore everything else- that still doesn't excuse being ok with devaluing men in media. I just don't get that. Im a minority and even i hate it when ppl belittle white people and act as if they're the only ones capable of racism. The logic doesn't add up
Alex Ko that escalated quickly... interesting how a comment about a game turned into a history lesson. No one said men don’t experience issues due to gender, they absolutely do.
Also, if people think feminism is all about women’s rights, how women are treated unfairly and so on, they really don’t know what feminism is all about. Most likely, because of the word itself. It’s about gender equality, which is a better term in my opinion, for both men and women... going back to the game though, which is the actual topic. I believe more women would enjoy the games if the female characters were slightly more relatable and were able to be strong without being over the top sexualized or lovesick puppies. I don’t really understand why that’s such a big issue... I have to ask, would you turn the game off and never play it again if the female characters were less sexualized. I’m not saying we should make them ugly, I’m just saying ease down on the jiggle physics and drop some of the sexualizing dialogues. It’s not necessary for the game’s story plot or the overall gameplay, but it would make it more attractive to more players. Including the males who have also commented in the video that they thought it went a little overboard with the portrayal of women.
himode I’m not able to tell you about America, as I am not American, I am on the other side of the Atlantic... but what we frequently see, is for instance if a couple divorce, the mother is likely to get the custody of the children, and father’ get visitation rights. Why not 50/50 responsibility right away, unless there are clear reasons to do it differently? I believe there are many fathers out there who would like to have the same right to their children as the children’s mother.
As someone who's familiar with ecchi anime I've seen quite a few shows who have character designs like these. I know what I'm getting into when I watch such a show and have no problem with them. I like my sexy anime girls, and the show is about exactly that.
In XB2 I was annoyed by the sexualization of Pyra, who is a great character, but her skimpy outfit and humongous hoohaas just feel like a cheap marketing strategy. Pyra is never sexy, she plays the role of a sweet girl and the contrast is rather jarring. And none of these things are addressed in game. I'd love it if someone would ask Dahlia, "Doesn't your back hurt walking around with these things?", but it all is perceived as perfectly normal.
What I want to say is: Sexualization has it's place in media. But in video games it's often used as just a selling point so obvious nobody can deny it even if it doesn't fit characters and that's a problem.
Comments like these make me realize that the internet is truly something to behold.
Pyra's design became a lot less grating when I understood that blades rarely ever actually fight themselves. Her design doesn't bother me as much as other blades, such as Dahlia or Kora. The deliberate camera angles and the sexual anime jokes _were_ annoying, though.
Isnt video games also a media? Or do i just misunderstand what a media is,
So pretty much sexy girls can't be sweet and companionate? Because if they have big breasts then they must only be sexy props and only act all seductive, right? Also, where the suspension of disbelief ends for you? When people are living in ginormous beings where civilization thrives in their backs but when a humanoid looking bunny girl have big breasts that sure is a inch too far.
@@monkey_blu If almost every single woman has massive chests, it kind of breaks some of the immersion. It doesn't help when the majority of them wear almost nothing. What if Zeke wore barely anything more than a thong?
The Like vs Dislike ratio in this video is disappointing, because I think it is not only well constructed, but also well researched and presented. You did an incredible job in my opinion, remaining open minded while also providing strong and valid critques to something you very obviously care about. Thank you for taking the time out to make this video, we need more videos like these.
this video is the worse thing I ever watch can't believe I wasted 53 minutes of my life watching it, also of his awful points was presented in the first 3 minutes
Because no one cares about this discussion, who cares? Does the game offer a great experience in terms of story, gameplay, and character development? Thats what is important, not whether or not a character is sexualized. These snowflakes are the reason why gaming and entertainment sucks, while Japan and other Asian countries are giving the fans what they want and profiting.
@@JordiumZ Okay xenomid liker
They removed the dislike so you don’t have to worry about that 😅
@@JordiumZyet you don't have any arguments either
as an aspiring story teller/artist, this has done an excellent job at educating me on how I should sexualize my male characters. I thought I developed a good understanding for how to not sexualize female characters, but this video brought up a fair amount of points I didn't consider.
I really though that for guys, being physically fit and revealing skin was enough to be sexualized. But damn, I'd love to write out a fashion squabble between two scantily dressed men lmao
Honestly for me as a female the guy being fit as hell is actually a huge fantasy aspect and a wet dream since usually irl dudes be sporting that dad bod so you can't really stop and enjoy the view at all. And rip if his face is unenjoyable as well XD
Same because I have a sexy buff vampire man who wear's thigh high boots and the tightest ass you'll ever see. But now I know I need to have some ass shots tity shots when he's swinging his weapon.
You should really check out NU carnival
what is literally every fight scene in the game?
@@KrillWhisperer You can literally see that with any fighting anime and/or martial arts movie that isn't also comedy, though.
Shirtless fit guys (with or without the clinging pants/tight jeans) are literally everywhere the second you seek it out.
_Slutty_ men are a much harder find, the best example of that one is Dante from Devil May Cry, who was written specifically as erotic (and seeing how lovingly they animated his mouth and tongue in DMC3's intro when he looks like he's about to do something absolutely filthy to his slice of pizza I'd say: I would appreciate more of THAT and less boring fit guys being merely fit.
Like damn, from a pan dude, raise your standards, demand the wet dream buffet material you deserve, don't settle for bare minimum martial arts eye candy aisles.
(but no seriously, go look up the intro cutscene to Devil May Cry 3, and tell me that wasn't weirdly detailed for a PS2 game and weirdly sexual for a way to eat pizza. It even has bonus chiseled buff man fresh out of the shower in only leather pants, if you needed to be made more curious.)
Really love this video, pretty much captures everything I hated and loved about xenoblade 2's character design is addressed in a neat and proper manner. As both a woman and an avid lover of the xeno series I agreed with a lot of what you said, and the mature way in which the subject manner was handled surprised me, you don't see a lot of actually transparent looks at xenoblade's character designs like this. Keep up the great work.
I couldn't agree more. I've had a lot of difficulty learning to love this series because of the these issues but the way you handled discussing them was such a wonderful breath of fresh air. Thank you for being so mature and empathetic.
@Shaman Xeed shut up lol this comment was made years ago
@Shin Shaman Why are you so offended lol
@Shin Shaman cringe
I must say as someone who is only a casual gamer, who is female, it always makes me feel uncomfortable having to see women basicaly naked when it has nothing to do with their characters and minors being sexualised.
The minors thing always has to do with Japan. Don't think that's really acceptable or desirable artistically in the west.
@@SilverSlayer23 It's still wrong though because it's Japenese doesn't mean that the western market doesn't consume it and even so them being Japanese and not western doesn't excuse it.
@@zazagermond4111 No shit it's still wrong. Those who accept it in the west are minorities... and wrong.
And no shit it's consumed/accepted by the super minority in the west... and is still wrong.
It being a Japanese thing doesn't excuse it. That was **never** a position made. It's just a weird fucking phenomenon from Japan. That's it.
@@zazagermond4111 And it's still wrong.
Not to say shows can't explore themes of sexual discovery as that does indeed happen during the teen years. That's not as uncommon in the west as we also use animated media as a tool to help teach kids about life challenges.
Where it crosses the thin line is when that content is steered to sexually excite the audience... Which is wrong.
Even more wrong is sexualizing adolescence and or adolescence' bodies for the enjoyment of the audience. Which is never done in western media and is super unacceptable.
@himode dude, seriously, i saw you in EVERY comment who tend to discuss the problem of double standard and how the ladies are often sexualised, take a deap breath and relax, "hunting" all the comment isn't good for the mind !
I'm an extremely gay woman and Morag's design is the sexiest one I've seen come out of Xenoblade 2. Hrrrrrrrnnnnnnggg Strong Lady
i cant imagine that they never thought of the concept that such designs, women in full armor, women having muscles, scars etc is miles sexier than giving them big boobs and whatnot.
truly a shame
I'm a gay man and Morag makes me feel things i shouldn't feel 😔
Straight guy coming in with some input too. Yeah Morag is the sexiest character in the game by a country mile
@@tildecorrera7697
I mean, the Kinsey Scale says that there are people out there who are homosexual with some instances of heterosexual feelings. I’d imagine that there are a lot of self-professed straight dudes that would eventually admit to being a little gay if you pressed them hard enough. I wouldn’t bother sweating over being attracted to a woman, because honestly, I don’t believe there is a purely gay man or a purely straight man out there...
The only female actually dressed for her job and her uniform actually fits her, it isn't even a male uniform, but because she doesn't have giant HHH boobs hanging out she's a man... It's honestly cringe beyond words.
They’re right, we need more grotesque distortions of man bodies. Get me those jojo tire shoulders.
Proceeds to ignore the male characters past part 3 that are legit sexy without the overly muscular build.
@@ill_hex8103 If anything, Jojo treats the male characters exactly the same as OP says female characters are treated. There's no reason why any character needs to be super shredded in a world where magic does all the fighting for them.
@@grinko1222 tbh is not like hamond and stands are common knolege. allso have you see the damage thier body take. they are putting thier musle to good use
@@grinko1222Granted, it's not like Stands are common knowledge, for one thing, also, characters did indeed get a more slender frame after Part 4
Vandham is the thiccest boy
It is extremely hilarious when humans of a certain ethnicity tense their vocal chords and release air, causing vibrations in the atmosphere, causing a sound that has the properties that some may identify as the word "thicc"
Nino Brown and you assumed I was white?
It's so funny when someone assumes the race of another person when they can't even see their face.
Honestly, the first time I watched these cut scenes I pretty much ignored most of the sexual elements and I tried my best to only look at character development, but I can easily say dahlia could have way more praise if her design wasn't so sexual. (Summary: I am trying to say that I (a male) think that sexual designs sometime distracts people from the character themselves.)
This is what I kinda dislike about a lot of Xenoblade 2 conversations. So many people are just „this character looks so bad!“ but they never acknowledge how they are written. Pyra and Mythra are probably the best written characters in the Xenoblade series but they are disliked by many because of they‘re designs.
@@boredgoddesstori6635 I wouldn’t say Pyra/Mythra are the “best” written characters, but they certainly aren’t the worst. It’s a shame they don’t get a little more respect… in many ways.
@@boredgoddesstori6635 Well, the sexualization certainly is somewhat of a detriment. As someone who has played XC1, I know that the series is generally able to go quite deep with their characters. And as the video showed, there are at least some genuinely well written characters in XC2 as well. But for the love of me I just can't seem to get my teeth deep enough into it to play it for long enough with this amount of sexualization thrown around like it's candy on Halloween. I've tried it three different times now but each time the game ended up collecting dust again after two gaming sessions.
That said, on a final meme: Riki > Tora
@@yetanotherkeyblader3572 I actually agree with your last point (I still enjoyed some stuff about Tora though).
Also it‘s sad to see that designs can prevent so many people from enjoying some actually very good character writing (heard of many people not getting into the game because of the designs). I even think that 2 has more interesting characters than 1 but oh well. Not everyone is going to like everything.
@@boredgoddesstori6635
design is just as important as writing is for a character. you have to convey who they are through design. for example, a shy character wouldn't wear bold or revealing clothing or try wild/experimental hairstyles. a flirty/confident character probably would though.
if Pyra was supposed to be a protector/mother figure for rex why doesn't she have more armor? maybe a robe/long cape (one that isn't cut into two pieces, mind you)? shield? her design makes no sense in contrast with her character. same with mythra.
that's why it throws so many people off and makes them not wanna play the game. not every person who plays anime games is exposed to sexualization or things like hentai on a daily basis. some people just want to play a good game with good characters, of course this would put them off especially if they're XC1 fans which didn't have as many sexualized characters in it.
just because a character is written well doesn't mean they're DESIGNED well.
It's weird seeing this video so long after it came out and the comments that are so clearly deliberately missing your point. Zenoblades sexualization of men is few and far between, and while I think characters like Zeke are sexy, the way that Zeke is sexy is very different from characters like Pyra and Mythra.
I mean, come on, Electra is literally just a loli. That's it.
@DarthYuYevon That's just straight up untrue.
@DarthYuYevon I think you have never seen sexualized art from lesbians and just want to say that because it would be convenient in writing off the criticism in this video as "triggered hypocritical feminists"
@DarthYuYevon if that's true, name one lesbian feminist who makes sexualized art and hasnt been criticized for it.
@DarthYuYevon I've seen plenty of people criticize sexual and pornographic art wholesale and argue that porn as a whole is evil, and women participating in its creation are bad. I'm unsure of sakimichan's orientation, but she is very regularly criticized for making art where its sexual nature actively makes the art worse (bad proportions to make it sexier, same faces, etc.). I am not sure of her actual orientation, but the point is that the criticism is there. It's also worth noting the difference in context - xenoblade two is criticized very frequently for its sexualization because it's often very out of place and takes away from the rest of the game. Why can't Newt be both sexy and muscular without having grotesque extra arms? Why does Electra need her entire stomach exposed, that actively takes away from her insecure, demure personality.
The artists you mentioned actively put effort into making the sexual nature of their work fit into their pieces.
50:38 Bro actually stayed as accurate as possible and pronounced "rewteets" perfectly
Incredibly well-written video. As the son of an English professor that has probably looked over thousands of essays in her career, I can say with solidarity that this, although it might make her slightly uncomfortable, she would genuinely appreciate the time and effort that went into the script and timing of this video.
Ok...weird brag
I don't think it's that well written. There's so much rambling I'm bored most of the time because he spends minutes saying something he could've done in a matter of seconds. And even with the insane length of the video there's still quite a few important things not even mentioned.
@@thenonexistinghero such as....? Not trying to start a war, just curious what other topics could've been discussed. I thought this video was okay, especially since it opens a platform to discuss this topic on XC2
@@LegamSSF Camera angles, the focus on specific areas that sexualize the women more, many of their personalities and how they compare to weeb tropes, etc.
watches most of video: "eh hot women in video game can't be that bad"
*sees dalia* ok alright you win thats ridiculous
Hot women aren’t that bad, designs can be either bad or good.
@Shin Shaman literally no one said anything. is everything going ok at home kiddo?
This video is a heaven sent blessing. Finally some common decency on the internet. The messages i learn from this youtuber is amazing.
I finally feel like i can adress the problems like this as a female. I hate how often I'm assumed, and cateragized by strangers and even occasionally loved ones.
It's very sad the amount of negative and mocking comments on this..
@himode it's interesting how you've totally twisted her words and completely diminished her valid points down to nothing. Because it's just plain wrong. Sexualisation of women in media is a FAR larger problem than "anime titties", it spans over all forms of media and has been prevalent since probably around the 60s. Movie franchises like James Bond being some of the biggest culprits and making the practice a lot more mainstream. The issue doesnt come from "big tiddie anime gf" the issue stems from the inherent sexism in making "being sexualised" the entire personality of a female character, or diminishing a female character down to sexualisation and favouring that in terms of development all for the audiences pleasure. Denoting an issue that has been around for decades and decades to something as trivial as "yOu trIgGerEd oVeR aNimE tItTieS" is ignorant, utterly ridiculous and objectively wrong.
@@checkm8964 This guy (himode) has been going around the entire comment section trying to justify his sexual addiction to big-chested twelve year-old anime girls. The guy is an absolute neckbeard loser who has nothing better to do with his time, since no real girl wants to go out with him.
@@albedougnut yep, his argument is always 'this game is made for straight men get over it'. He has highjacked lots of comments to rant about how he thinks underaged anime girls are sexy. Not only that he consistently says men are just as sexualized but when asked he refuses to provide proof and just changes the topic. Hes even calling out women who think this game is over sexualized and calling them down. Just your typical sexist loser.
@@albedougnut yeah I just stopped paying attention to him from the moment he said "women chose to be sexualised. It's one of their jobs" obviously either a troll, or a very lonely incel. Either way he's 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
i don't really mind fanservice within games if its that type of game - lollipop chanisaw, mad world, etc. my biggest issue with it within xc2 is that the xenoblade series aren't those type of games and the sexualisation in this game just doesn't make sense for the series. Pyra would never wear her clothes given her personality, character, purpose, etc
finally somebody with a brain lol, Pyra is a motherly type, so it makes no sense for her to dress like this. It's like if Mai in Overwatch wore the same clothes that Widowmaker wears
Did you played the XC1? There are armors that are just a bikini. I played the entire game with Sharla basically nude.
@@itsasecrettoeverybody thats says a lot more about you than me. also the fan service between the XC1 and XC2 and not even comparable. XC1 provides SOME fan service in pretty excusable ways (e.g. an actual swimsuit) but XC2 shoves it down your face. (e.g. pyra’s “armour” is supposed to be battle ready god level armour)
@@Karaamjeet but it is in the game anyway. Why are you guys so puritan? I really don't get it, westerns are weird.
@@Karaamjeet all those complains and the game was censored in the west. Imagine if it wasn't.
i know this is an old video, but thank you for making it all the same. the original xenoblade chronicles is one of my favorite games of all time, and I put over 150 hours into it. recently, my friend let me borrow his copy of xenoblade 2, and i was excited to play it. however, i'm finding it really hard to trudge through the game because of the uncomfortable sexualization of its women, and the characters and story are not gripping enough for me to make up for it (and here I thought the original xenoblade had a substantial dose of sexualization, but this game blows it out of the water).
the thing that really boils my blood though is how female characters in this game will vocally complain about the other characters objectifying them, but in a lighthearted, "this isn't a real problem, just a quirk that we have to live with" kind of way. tora's gross views on poppi are the most egregious example of this, it baffles me that his perversions could be used as a surface level source of comedy. i think these topics are important to talk about when a game ends up alienating a large chunk of its female audience. thank you for putting this essay out there and reassuring me that i'm not alone in thinking this way.
As a guy, I'm no fan of 'sexy' characters, live action or cartoon. I want to focus on the story and not let superficial things such as looks influence me (looking at the guy that makes every villain wear black)
I started playing PSO2 and I'm having a similar struggle. I really enjoy it and playing with my friends, but it's oftentimes uncomfortably oversexualized and not just the other players because of course they're making their "waifus" but the actual story characters. I have no personal problems with sex or sexualized characters but there's sexy (i.e. a character meant to have sex appeal as part of their character) and then there's just straight up objectification (i.e. a character intended to be innocent or normal who looks like a pornstar).
I was kind of surprised to see that no one even mentioned Tora's behavior towards Poppy. I don't want to be the typical "omg cancel him" but I do have to admite that that specific aspect of him made me uncomfortable while playing.
@@ncampana6588 yeah it's just cuz in Japan the "funny perv" trope is very commonly used in all forms of media :/
I don't think Tora should be attacked for his perversions. As you said it's only a way the game has to make comedy, and comedy is subjective, so there is a number of people who actually enjoy that aspect of him, me included.
Those guys insisting men in videogames are sexualized as much as female characters are probably the same guys that applauded SE for changing the design of that one really sexualized guy in Mobius Final Fantasy lmao
They are also the same guys who throw tantrums any time an LGBT character is ever introduced to a video game. Also the same guys who throw tantrums when a video game is released overseas, and to lower the rating, the company adds a couple of pieces of cloth to a character's outfit to make it more marketable to younger audiences. Also the same guys who complain when a character's redesign in a remake gives her short shorts instead of a short skirt.
@himode Or they are just taking advantage of the neckbeards with anime-girl addictions who spend all of their time doing nothing but jacking off to underage girls (with some of-age girls mixed in).
@himode Yeah, because I have dealt with harassment from those types of people. It is no surprise that I know about them, when they literally stalked me to my car and waited for me outside of the restroom on a daily basis. Or when they continued to flirt with me after I turned them down multiple times already, on the grounds of being asexual and a man with no interest in romantic relationships with anyone (much less straight men who do not even acknowledge me as a man because of my apperance).
Also, they take advantage of the willing by juicing their wallets for their desperation. And I never said that guys liking anime girls is hurting anyone. However, when the entire industry sets a blaring double standard and even normalizes female sexual harassment in anime and video games, then it brings perverted individuals into these communities. That does hurt people, since it exposes women in the community to predators, and it creates an environment where those types of people think they are welcome and/or accepted. There is a difference between there being sexualized female characters and having nearly every single female character sexualized, and then proceeding to make light of them being sexually harassed or assaulted by other characters in the game.
@himode Mate, video games with gun violence do not sit there and normalize it by integrating it into everyday discussions and character development. Also, I am talking about an industry which lures in predators and perverted individuals by promoting this kind of behavior as normal and acceptable, regardless of whether or not it is intentional. By comparison, Japan itself has a massive problem with sexual assault and other predatory actions, including sexual advances on young school girls. Generally speaking, sexual predators tend to be pretty insidious, and proving that someone is a predator tends to be much, much more difficult than say an investigation proving that someone is a murderer or a shooter.
So you really have it backwards. This is not about video games causing people to be sexual predators. It is about sexual predators being lured into communities surrounding video games which promote this type of behavior as acceptable.
And you know why these men are desperate? Because they use anime girls as a replacement for real women. They are not guys who simply like anime girls. They are guys who cannot find a girl who actually wants them, so they turn to anime instead, since anime is the one thing in the universe that does want them around. The type of guy who treats women like garbage, sees them as nothing more than sexual objects, and usually proclaims his "superiority" over women.
And in response to your last comment, I am literally talking about guys who developed an obsession with me because I was wearing anime merchandise -- a jacket or a pin of a character I like. They would literally stalk me, some guys would straight-up talk about incredibly lewd and inappropriate topics without being asked. That is how I know. Believe, the last thing I _want_ to know is what goes on in their bedroom, except when all they talk about is hypersexualized anime women, it is kind of hard not to get the point.
@himode You seem to think that everything is about you and that the world ought to revolve exclusively around your interests. So far, no one has suggested that people cannot like anime girls or that girls in anime cannot be sexualized, like I have said many times already. The problem here is, you keep going around in this comment section promoting your obession with anime girls by vilifying genuine criticisms that people have towards Japanese developers. People here are explaining why it is a problem, why it drives female fans away, why it brings unwanted people into the community, and why it makes many men and women alike very uncomfortable.
The fact of the matter is, people want to be able to play their favorite games without half of the screen time being about a woman's breasts. You can introduce female characters who are sexually attractive without making all but one or two female characters in a game hypersexualized. Xenoblade 1 did an amazing job at this, and it even had arguably equal representation between the male and female characters. Some of the female characters in the first game, like Sharla, Vanea, and even Fiora to an extent had clothing that was more revealing, but the characters themselves were not sexualized. The game did not constantly talk about their bodies, objectify them as women, nor did it put the PoV in stupid lewd angles for literally no reason other than fan service. Characters did not make remarks towards them, as it was not part of the characters' personalities. The male and female characters in the game still had swimsuit models for any players who wanted to see a lot of skin, but that was not the focus of the game.
I thought about something when I read one of appabend's video's content. You see only the Blades are sexualized but not the Drivers, so... Blades are data created by a Driver resonated with it, and their appearance is influenced by the very first Driver's thoughts on them. Blades are made by various artists so in a real world sense, their image are drawn by the artists which made them the original "Driver", so that is why KOS-MOS and T-ELOS can become Blades, and later on another certain characters will become too. It suddenly made sense now.
I've honestly gotten so tired of the sexualization discussion simply because if someone doesn't understand the arguments at this point, they're just being obtuse. At this point, I just think sexualizing characters is just boring. It's boring from a design perspective, it's boring from a viewing perspective and I can't stand how almost every anime I watch or JRPG I play can't resist it in one way or another. Jiggle physics and scant outfits hasn't appealed to me since I turned 14.
the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
My opinion is: Boobah good
@@tomasavendanozacarias5205 I think boobah neutral. It ain't good or bad inherently. It's more that, from a design and viewer perspective, I think it's boring. It's relatively easy to make a mediocre character design more appealing by exposing boobah, but it's more interesting and more difficult to make an appealing character design without extreme boobah, you know?
Sales records might beg to differ
@@MegaDeathRay10 Most "consumers" themselves are boring, so while it does satisfy them, I'd like my video games to be a little more hipster and not pumped-out CoDS, half-baked Battlefields, and far too sexual RPGs.
I think the over Sexualisation found in XC2 is more of an issue than Sexualisation itself. Like with your FF10 example, there's nothing inherently wrong with characters having sexual attributes. Interesting vid nonetheless!
I agree. I feel that its fine if female characters and blades have slightly sexual outfits that match their personality and character, because then you can see them being the type of person to wear that outfit. but giving sexual outfits to characters or blades that come off as too serious or shy don't really match. for example, why would a shy girl wear a outfit that showed off lots of skin and was bound to draw attention? why would a female soldier that's serious about war wear a skimpy outfit that made people not take them seriously?
@@connorradcliffe1769 I know this is a week old But I agree with you.
@@connorradcliffe1769 yes this is the best take from this whole hell of a comment section.
A level headed opinion that doesn't personally attack either side of the argument.
Ironic
The reason it becomes a problem is when people go out of their way to make it a problem. Gamers are not thinking about sex while they are gaming unless they are literally playing a hentai game.
While I generally agree with a lot of what you have here, I would like to point out a problem with the arguement of one of the journalists you cited, Liana Kerzner. Specifically when she said that breast motion, and specifically the lack of it, can be indicative of an intent to portray a female character as having implants. I think this arguement is ridiculous because of the simple fact that correctly modeling real life breasts in a game would be a large waste of CPU resources and would likely impact performance. That's why a majority of games simply forgo breast physics or use highly simplified versions. Even then that is to ignore the very real (and generally justified) perception of many consumers that breast physics are only ever included to titillate the presumably heterosexual male audience, and as such most developers stay away from its inclusion.
It actually takes way more work to put those in in the first place so this is a stupid argument
While you have a point about it probably being a waste of CPU resources, some games put too much "wobble" on the female breasts, which is absurd
If she knew anything about games she would know that no breast physics is the standard and adding breast physics is always intentional. Has nothing to do with implants or something lol
I agree with everything but you do understand that breast are like hair or articles of clothing, they have real life physics and move during action. If a character was falling and there was no moment to their hair, breasts, or scarfs that would be called out on for breaking immersion. Its not the fact putting breast physics is intentional it is a required addition to create immersion, just some devs make it too sexual. Example Perun was ruined for me she was a cool blade but her jiggle physics are insane, its like one bag of jelly instead of two sets of meat that move slightly.
Aurn Knight
At this point I’m pretty sure Perun‘s breast jiggle is an accident because it’s way too ridiculous.
But yeah body and clothes physics are great for immersion but they are really hard to pull off convincingly so many dev with less experience or resources just leave them out completely
Anyone else noticed that Torna: The Golden Country is way less sexualizated than the main game? Except for the design of Mythra and Brighid, I didn't see any sexualisation in the DLC...
Yeah and the Teams always had 1 male and 1 female blade. So woke.
Jokes aside I liked the DLC a lot. I could only imagine how much more I'd like the main game's story if it didn't have as much distracting fanservice as it did.
@@GamerLord821 honeslty even without the fanservice i liked the story of the dlc more. Plotholes aside mythra's character arc was one of the saddest and best things i've seen in a videogame especially when milton died like holy shit i almost cried and that's saying a lot considering i usually don't do that
@Frog24 There was quite a bit of "sexualization" is Torna the golden country; don't know what you mean by, "there wasn't any."
@@MrMoises621 he literally said "except for the design of mythra and brighid" lmao
@@samuelbacon2756 My response is meant to imply that I took that part of the comment into consideration. Frog24 states that aside from Mythra and Brighid's designs, there was no sexualization in the game, meaning they're implying that besides those two characters existing, the game makes an improvement with not sexualizing females. First off, sexualization goes beyond just how characters look or how many they are: the gaze of the camera and how the people being sexualized are treated by others plays a huge role in the act. Secondly, passing of the statement "except for the design of Mythra and Brighid" as an argumentative clause for how Torna is an improvement in the sexualization department is a very lacking statement. That's like me giving a criticism on the stench of someone's defecation and being like: "except for the fact that i want to gag every time I inhale, there's nothing wrong about your shit's smell." Taking away the elements of the argument that determine what something is in the first place and then following it up with an inverse argument, is not conducive to a strong, comprehensive observation; hence my initial response. Point is, the golden country still has sexualization in it; there's just less characters to do it to because of 1. the characters the DLC chooses to focus on 2. No blade awakening mechanic to give the character designers an excuse to design even more sexy female blades
If the first person thinks big buff men are automatically sexy in the eyes of all straight women…then they don’t know what women actually like.
Look at kpop boy groups and the outfits they put them in for stage performances to see what sexualization geared towards women typically looks like. Or if u want to see what a swoon-worthy male in this day and age looks like-look at Timothèe Chalamet. You don’t typically see anyone swooning over someone as buff and masculine as John Cena.
I’m not saying no woman likes buff guys, but in general, that isn’t exactly the case. Bigger body parts doesn’t equal more sex appeal like it does for most guys when they see big boobed and big butt female characters.
MEN are actually the ones who like big buff guys.
The cool buff characters in these type of games are typically aimed to satisfy the male players. Not to bring in a female audience.
Most guys see those type of characters as the “goal” and ultimate cool, tough, masculine standard.
..But it’s not necessarily what women find attractive in guys too.
Anyways-late to finding this, but super interesting video. Nice job!
I do find it weird that when Final Fantasy Mobius gave a more sexualized outfit to it's male main character (there was a window to his side ass), they were forced to change it by the JP community(?) because it looked "too gay", as opposed to it being assumed for women, who like that type of design.
Ironically, gay men have a huge audience for the big buff or thick guys lol, which is my perspective. Been playing through Lost Ark, and am mildly frustrated that as Sorcerers level up (gender locked female), they gradually wear less clothing, but I get close to zero parity for my gender locked male warriors. So far, my search yields a premium skin that reveals the upper torso.
@@exultantblade50 i agree with this lol🤣
Thank you for pointing this out! It all boils down to the male gaze vs female gaze.
@@MetalFrenchFries the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
@@exultantblade50 To be fair, that guy having an ass opening didn't even make sense for his character. This very video is against that gratuitous sexualization.
it's funny because when I first played xc2, i didn't even register how "sexualized" the character designs were until I read comments about it
it's mainly because ive watched a fuckton of anime and japanese games where shit like that is normal, and I've been really desensitised to that sort of medium. I guess it's more of a culture shock to people who aren't used to it.
Once you've seen enough, your brain doesn't even really think about it unless someone points it out. Regardless, I still consider xc2 my favourite game on the switch, so maybe I have a little bit of a bias.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of what he said is right but a lot of it is also culture shock. Japan is much more lax on this than America. That's why the idea of "lolis" is weird over here but over in Japan...well, I feel like it's still weird, just less so.
I must be fucking weird then because I've also watched a ton of anime and play a whole bunch of jrpgs and the mindless fan service still gets to me.
Though I don't really mind it in XC2 because there is way worse examples.
@@professionalfangster1510 But isn’t the fact that things like loli’s are more normalized in Japan kind of unsettling in of itself? Something being more accepted somewhere does not excuse it
@@PLTgamer no? Because won't hurt anybody.
Even then, from Japanese fellows, loli content is looked down upon there as well. I wouldn't call it "normalized" more "tolerated"
@@captainmega6310 You can't deny that it is normalized in anime culture though. Also, you're telling me that it doesn't matter what we put in the media we consume as long as it doesn't directly hurt anybody? Seems like a dangerous point of view.
The media we consume ends up shaping a large part of our identities, Things like this do end up affecting how we look at the world around us and I don't think the effect is positive in this case
Until fairly recently, I fell into the camp of people who thought that most of the sexualization complaints were coming from a place were people just wanted sexy characters removed from the medium altogether, and replaced with characters more conforming to "SJW" types of inclusion. Needless to say, I wasn't hot on that idea, I enjoy sexy characters quite a bit. I'd just fall back on the idea that they could always just equalize the playing field whenever they felt like it and because it hadn't happened, it wasn't as big a deal as people made it out to be.
But that's not at all what most are advocating for at all, and it's more nuanced than that. They want more nuanced representation, not to completely nix sexualized characters as a whole. Even if you make the argument of, "If you didn't like it, you're not the intended audience," that doesn't stop the fact that you can make a character sexy and not degrade them all the time by showing the audience that they are sexy. I mostly adore Pyra's design, I think they could have toned down the obvious horny in places but as I am, I still enjoy it. What I would have enjoyed even more would have been them showing me how much of a real person and character, rather than x amount of boob and butt shots all the time. You can achieve *everything* you would with hypersexualized character with a decent looking but well written character. More importantly having more nuanced and well written female characters opens the boundaries for different takes. Because I think that's one of the biggest problems in Gaming right now, trope stagnation.
Glad to hear that you've given the other side a chance! I like your takeaway that it's about wanting more of them to be a real character. Not only is sexy character is okay, but also that characters CAN dress up sexy without it having feeling like devs wanting to pander to certain audiences. But it's just off-putting that female characters whose characterizations don't even remotely fit the entire mostly naked designs are being put in them. When a shy and anxious female character, for example, is dressed up in skimpy clothing and is constantly being self-aware and ashamed of it, I just feel like shit; and this is me talking as someone who likes women more than men. When the character is also constantly put in cutscenes/shots where their breasts jiggling is more on the frame or the focus it's even worse; the developers ARE TELEGRAPHING what you should focus on about them: their bodies, not the words they're saying. And the fact that what they're saying (ie. part of their characterization) is somehow overshadowed by the camera's hyperfixation on tits really should tell you about what was really considered as important.
@himode How is a woman wearing clothes hurting anyone?
@himode sexualization is indeed a part of life, but it can be presented in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Unhealthy female sexualization can reinforce sexual objectification of women, can diminish women being seen as more than their physical traits, and can reinforce outdated concepts that womens role is primarily to titillate and be subservient to men. A world in which we perpetuate these attitudes is evidentially worse for all. Consider this. The most successful way to control overpopulation, build economic stability, and reduce poverty is to provide education opportunity to women. Sexualization is not going anywhere, but perhaps we should look to inspire by also prioritizing intellectualization of our fictional female characters too?
The first part of your comment is literally what happened to Sarah Ryder in Mass Effect Andromeda. SJWs on the dev team changed the original model because they didn’t like how attractive she was... And before you say, “Well, that’s just one time”, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t happen at all, and the last thing any of us want is to allow it to happen more
Thank you! And hearing this really gives me hope! Most of us don't want to do away with fanservice completely, but we want balance and respect.
"Even this game has some brilliant lines and moments of characterization. Here's one of my favorite:" *Ad of half naked anime girl*
ayup sounds like xenoblade 2
What's dumb is that there's an arguable throughline for Dahlia's design. Motherly figure figuratively -> motherly figure literally. It's just that that was the only avenue the character was taken; nothing else even remotely says anything about her character. Hell, the fact that she's a rabbit woman could be pushed further so that she looks more comforting and soft. You wouldn't even have to not sexualize her is the crazy part, just make the design more communicative.
Sorry but the rebuttal "You gay bro?" At the start of the video is hilarious to me.
“Who is this made for?” This is an important question we all need to ask ourselves when we see characters look a certain way, and is apparently a question too many people are uncomfortable with asking, if the comment section is anything to go by. Before any of you go off defending the concept of sexualization, ask yourself: “WHO IS THIS MADE FOR?”
Answering this question can also be used as a justification for these design decisions.
You have a primary audience in mind, you consider what they want to see and then do it. It's not like it harms anyone.
It wasn't made for me :(
@@NekuraRei then find a product that was made for you and give THAT your money.
@@dudejo Xeno2 got kicked out of my list after seeing how much they push the fanservice. It's too bad because the game looks fun if we make abstraction of that aspect. Sadly, I simply can't overlook that amount of tasteless exposition, it ruins the whole experience for me.
Obviously I do buy other games that appeals to me and want to encourage their developpers.
To each their own :)
Horny weebs and Japanese people. This game was made in Japan.
Mórag's "How about you die in a fire" is, frankly, the correct response to a lot of the lines in this game, TBH. o.o
Being recommended this now, it feels so weird to hear anyone talk about "SJWs". In a very short space of time the term has universally been replaced by "woke".
it's usually the two combined for me
I prefer "woke". It's much easier to put that term in positive connotations.
And? Before them it was bible thumpers.
I’ve been waiting an absurd amount of time to watch this video so I can beat the game first but hey I’m finally here and while I know I’m late I really want to say this was an amazingly well made video, I obviously knew already that XC2 is a VERY sexualized game but this was a very well made analysis that helped me realize the games sexualization in ways I never realized before. The one thing I would disagree with is within number 5. For one, I’d say that I don’t believe Nia’s blade form is necessarily sexualized. Yes it is definitely a more revealing outfit then her “normal” outfit but I wouldn’t exactly say it’s a sexualized design. For one I think the overall way her blade form is treated kinda goes with my arguement. Unlike characters like Mythra, Pyra, etc, there really aren’t time where the game brings significant attention to the fact Nia shows less skin. The game never has camera angles taking great focus on things like her breast, legs, etc and to my knowledge none of the heart to heart conversations have those instances of calling attention to it like how other female blades do. That being said, I do admittedly have genuine curiosity if the reason Nia has more revealing clothes is actually intentional to show she’s a blade since so many female blades are very sexualized. If so that admittedly may put a dent in my argument. As for the discussion involving Morag, while there is that heart to heart talk where Zeke calls Morag’s clothing “men’s clothes” I don’t believe Morag was necessarily designed with the intent of purposefully wearing “men’s clothing” I obviously don’t know all that goes into the writing and overall development of Xenoblade but if I had to guess, I don’t necessarily believe that the people who write the heart to heart convos are the same team that would say, write the overall larger story of a character or give specific request to character designers. The fact the convo overall made it into the game does say that it was still able to be approval so it does overall hurt the idea of it not in some way being gender performity but I don’t believe Morag was made with the intent of being super masculine. I think it’s genuinely just that they were trying to make Morag truly look like someone in the military and I think the outfit overall fits that. I honestly never looked at Morag’s outfit and thought it was inherently masculine. I took notice of how it wasn’t sexualized compared to other women in the game of course but still thought it looked feminine enough considering it was clearly the uniform of a high ranking military woman.
Anyway, that just my personal thoughts, overall though, amazing video with very good points. I especially appreciate you addressing a bit of the SJW “arguement”
I think in the Japanese dub they actually say that she was raised as a boy in order to take the throne, until Niall was born.
This is a super long video and all and there’s probably a lot that could be said here but I’m just going to say this, the game makes characters so clearly fanservice that it makes me legitimately uncomfortable to admit that I’ve played the game.
I'm glad I played the game after they patched in the Aux Chip for Mythra. The tights and breastplate made her less sexualized. Plus, the black on white color combo looked way cooler.
That’s genuinely pathetic....
Swagruto Uzumaki why that I DONT like every character design to look as much at home in the game as in a hentai? Shut the hell up.
@@GobaGNon that your skin is so thin that you are embarrassed by the character designs on a Japanese video game. You can dislike the character designs I dislike some myself but I'm not embarrassed to say I played the game. THAT is pathetic. Also as a side note you clearly haven't consumed very much hentai. If you said an ecchi anime I'd agree but hentai? Lol nah mate. The designs in hentai get much much worse than what's in XC2
Swagruto Uzumaki this game is embarrassing tho
Thank you for making this. You’ve put all of this so much better than I ever could.
I'm not sure about Morag, though. She never really struck me as masculine. The Heart-to Heart where Tora reveals he's been mistaking her for a guy was honestly quite a surprise to me. I almost feel like without that dialogue, and without Zeke saying she "dresses like a guy," in other words without those dialogues that inform thep layer that she's supposed to be viewed as masculine, perhaps we wouldn't perceive her that way. The Japanese dub is a different story, though.
I actually happen to love Newt's massive, floating arms!! It's weird, but in a good kinda way. I just wish she didn't have the sexualized outfit.
Yeah! I find it really cool and it shows this really cool military exagerration in a special way
Her design gives me Guilty Gear vibes.
@@CrazyHand7894 Even Skullgirls a little
I'm a woman and I'm not bothered by sexualisation or unrealistic standards in games/media. Might just be me I guess.
big companies think you are bothered. because SJWs are loud and clear about it.
thank you for your opinion, woman. We are glad that the only woman in the world isn't bothered. Cancel feminist critique, guys! The WOMAN isn't bothered
@@TooFatTooFurious Nevermind that she in her own comment said "guess it's just me". Also it's very ignorant of you to assume that she's the only woman ok with the design.
Honestly, I'd love to see a JRPG that has shots in the cut-scenes that linger on the crotches of the anime boys. That would be funny I think.
Same, include butt and chest too lol Will be a good laugh for people who are tired of female fanservice and good to make people uncomfortable who think this oversaturation of female fanservice is okay/ not obnoxious
I WILL 100% FUND THIS IF I HAVE TOO
let's start a kickstarter
As much as I generally dislike sexual stuff in games, this would only be fair. Lol.
(I would still probably not be a big fan despite being gay tho. Lmao)
@@unionfire you realize no one would give a fuck right?
I think Dahlia was purposely sexualized for part of her characterization though. Her focus is on beauty, and what really makes people beautiful. During her heart-to-heart she points out that, whilst extravagant beauty is great, true beauty is natural and comes from within. She even points out that there's a beauty in aging as it's a sign you've lived a long life full of experience. In other words- her own definition of beauty is very much supposed to contrast with the superficial view that people first see.
Kora's design is also important to her character. She's very much a character for whom being dressed sexily is appropriate. She's not the deepest character, in fact, she's the sort of popular gossipy girl you see all over movies and TV. She's not exactly a positive role model, in fact, she's deeply flawed and ends up punished for her behavior at the end of her quest. But it still makes sense for her.
Poppi's small bits of sexualization are mostly related to Tora being a perv. She's not supposed to be sexual to the audience. It's more to make Tora look bad in a sort-of comedic way. Also, Poppi was made to look young. The JS in her Japanese name just confirms that. I'm sure even the most scantily clad of women would have some protests about someone who seems to be in elementary school dressing sexily, and both Morag and Pyra are definitely more mature than Poppi.
I do agree that Pyra and Mythra didn't need to be quite so sexy. It might've played up Pyra's motherly nature a little? But that's all I can think of as for why they'd need their figures. It's really kinda pointless.
There are definitely female blades that look human but aren't really sexualized though. Electra and Ursula are basically kids and their quests and designs reflect their more innocent nature, so sexualizing them would have made them worse characters. Adenine is a weird one, being obviously an adult and yet not at all sexualized. There's a decent few in the middle ground where they're not overly sexualized, but they've still got things like breasts and things, like Agate.
Unnecessarily sexy blades I'd say are-
Pyra, Mythra, Brigid, Newt, Herald, Zenobia, Vale, Nim and especially Perun.
Maybe Praxis too, though her breasts look more like the water bubbles she has elsewhere on her body.
Kosmos and T-elos both were designed a decade before Xenoblade 2, so it's hard to blame the current designers, but they are sexualized a decent amount.
I'd say, out of that list, it makes the most sense for Nim to be wearing what's she's wearing, since she's supposed to be more of an anthropomorphic animal blade, and animals don't really wear clothes. As for Vale and Perun, they need the jiggle physics turned down at least. Zenobia and Newt seriously could use more clothes too. You don't have to reveal skin to have a feminine form, and what they're wearing is just impractical for their interests.
These, of course, are just my opinions. Honestly, after a while I just got used to the designs. And yes, some did bug me at first too. I didn't like Dahlia until I went through her heart-to-heart and quest. She ended up being one of the first non-story blades I finished the affinity chart for.
It should be noted that only the Blades tend to be sexualized. All the human characters have more realistic proportions and don't have those lingering shots. The fact that they're literally weapons means that they're sometimes viewed more like objects by the people in universe, so perhaps it makes a bit of sense as to why they'd be somewhat designed in such a way.
I'd love for the industry to get better in this regard, but I will still play games even with the sexualization, so long as they give me a good story with good characters, the actual appearance of said characters is secondary.
Skystarry75 dahlia is based on a type of mythical milk bearing bunny. I forgot the name of it. But her having big boobs are part of her mythology.
Poppi in the game has her three forms (Alpha, QT, and QT Pi [Tora we get it you like ladies]) that represent stages of human development (childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood), so it makes sense that she isn't remotely sexualized until QT Pi where she is lightly.
please watch 'anime fans' by ProZD. This is how justification of these horrendous designs is
Sam T “lightly” bullshit
@@snackknight Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying their arguments are wrong, or are you saying they're wrong for arguing the point in the first place.
something else about the game that has another layer of sexualization is how the two darker skined women blades are designed. particularly Perun, who's jiggle physics are the most bouncy and like water out every other female blade. I never summoned Praxis, so I can't say what her jiggle physics are like, but she defintly has Titts in her hair. also the sexualization of the other Child blades as well :( well except for Ursula.
i looked up praxis and my jaw dropped 😭 boobs don't work like that how is her design possible
*handling a man's turtle*
Nice pfp
I know this is an old video, but I think it’s odd to point out Morag’s gender performativity as a bad or unique thing. I haven’t played the game myself (the terrible designs for female characters is what made me not want to buy it) but I really like her design. She has believable proportions for a woman and her face is pretty feminine, so she just looks like an average female character to me. She stands out in comparison to the ridiculously oversexualized female characters in this game but I doubt she would stand out in one that doesn’t sexualize their characters. Wearing a military outfit that actually looks like a military outfit doesn’t mean she’s performing masculinity in a harmful way. Everyone performs gender, and nothing of the clips you showed makes it seem like she tries to be perceived as a man. Rather, that one weird blob thing pushed that onto her. She doesn’t seem to look down on femininity-rather she pushes against others who try to force aspects of femininity upon her that she doesn’t feel suits her. I could be wrong without the context of the game but I really hate the idea that a masculine women must somehow hold something against and look down upon femininity. If she does that in a way that’s ignored by the game then yes I would have some problem with her character. I just find it odd that you point out her gender performance as a unique flaw rather than something that everyone does. Maybe it just hits close to home because my clothes and a lot of my interests are considered masculine and people assume that I have some sort of internalized misogyny because of it.
Also, I don’t think a character needs to have some perfect mix of femininity and masculinity to not be sexualized or a disservice to gender equality or anything. A feminine presentation isn’t necessary for a female character to be well written, and the same goes for male characters and masculinity. I understand that’s not what you meant to imply but that’s how it comes across.
Just wanted to comment cause I think you missed the entire point of discussing Morag in relation to gender performativity.
As I see it Ludiscere's main point is that 'Gender performativity is seeping into games and limiting the way that strong female characters can be written'. Morag is taken as an example of this and Ludiscere says that 'It's a shame that in order for Morag to be seen as a powerful and professional soldier she's masculinized in both character and design'.
In regards to your points. Morag's gender performativity, imo, is only seen as a bad thing in so far as that she needs to be masculine in order to be seen as a 'powerful and professional soldier' (gender performativity limiting the way female characters can be written). And there is no point made that it's unique, quite on the contrary.
The point isn't that a masculine women must look down upon feminitity (as is not even the case).
Just that some women are written masculine to be seen as more professional and/or strong.
I honestly don't get where you got the idea from that 'only a perfect mix of feminity and masculinity is not sexualized'.
Morag is not a perfect mix of feminity and masculinity and is not sexualized (and there are many more examples in the video). Lastly I don't think Ludiscere was saying Morag being so masculinized made her a badly written character.
Just as he would probably say that being sexualized doesn't make a character badly written, just you know sexualized.
@@mauriceraat2781 Yeah but I wouldn't say that morag is even masculine to begin with. I would say she dresses very formally, she is not wearing traditionally masculine clothes she's wearing a very formal military uniform, it's just that most of the times we see someone wearing a full army uniform he's a man. I think it's different from the skirt because although a skirt in a vacuum is neither masculine or feminine in a cultural context the skirt itself is feminine, while the uniform is neutral, it's just that the people that wear it are mostly men
And regarding her character and personality, from what i have seen in the video I wouldn't say she has adopted masculine traits either, in the clips she's just formal and professional. Unless someone is willing to argue that being formal and professional is a male character trait I can't see how they can say that morag is more masculine in her behaviour. Although I must admit, I have not played the game I'm only speaking about what I've seen in this video
@@decoyoficial6011 i think it's more that the game treats her as though her attire makes her "unfeminine"; ergo, characters believing her to be a man (when she's obviously a woman), the aforementioned-comment ab her being attractive close-up (implying that she's only seen as feminine when her attire is removed from the equation) and her being played by a male (and given a very masculine voice) in the japanese-version
@@mauriceraat2781 My comment has some confusing wording but I think you aren’t getting my point either (though I think our interpretations can both work in different contexts). I don’t think Morag is masculine (in design), which why I think the point in the video is a bit off. I realize that she was intended to be in the Japanese version, but in the Western release (imo) she isn’t. An important point in the video is someone who is used to an over abundance of oversexualized female characters as is common in anime sees them as normal, but to the average Westerner the designs are really off-putting. Similarly, cultural context outside of Japan views Morag differently, as many other commenters agree with. Of course this brings up the argument of artistic intent vs. perception. I did get off-topic in the 2nd paragraph and worded it badly, but I never meant to imply that Morag is sexualized. I also think it’s incorrect to say gender performativity is seeping into video games as a point because it always has been a part of video games as a reflection of the real world.
Chronicles seems to take femininity as synonymous with sexualization in terms of character design, so it seems odd to say this game only associates masculinity with power when most of the blades are sexualized women. I do agree though that there are many limitations on what a ‘strong female character’ is and that gender performativity limits what one can look and act like. I won’t make any comments on the quality of Morag’s character because I don’t have the background knowledge to have an opinion.
@@No-sw4xr Ah yes I misunderstood what you meant with "gender performativity as bad or unique thing'.
I get now that that was just your way of saying that Morag wasn't dressing or behaving as a male to you.
Though I'd still agree with Ludiscere that Morag was designed with more male gender performativity in mind.
While i'm not a big fan of sexualization, I don't think that censoring someones art is the correct "solution."
Censoring the artists original vision is never an answer. But the influence people like this guy have in the industry scares developers from truly designing things how they want, in fear that they will offend some sect in the over-offended culture we live in. Sexualization ,whether for men or women .should be allowed without having "controversy" or hour long "this is problematic" videos always be the result.
@@galadriel5570 Sexy =/= sexualized.
You are not censoring art actually. You are censoring corporate business. Videogames are both things and sometimes you need to think in them as one or the other.
One thing concept art classes have taught me is that when designing a character, you treat their design like a uniform that shows who they are as a person, what they do, what they represent, as much as you can to infer who they are to the audience just at a glance.
When I look at designs like these, for film, games, animation, manga, whatever, all I can see is a vague showing of "They are a woman, look at how much of a woman they are, you can tell by the obvious biology, we dont want a male audience to forget how much of a woman they are"
With Newts design as an example. I cant help but feel her oversexualisation of almost no clothing is to compensate for the Giant, Obviously Male, muscular arms that are apart of her design.
In contrast to what you said, i personally really like the giant hypermasculine arms on her design, probably because its so rare to see woman with any kind of muscle in any form without being treated like a man like with Morag (Luisa from Encanto is a recent representation of this kind of design that I like alot, and even then I recall they had to fight for luisa to be muscular looking at all!).
I say this as someone who has never seen these characters until watching this video). But my appreciation for the shilouette was soon followed by dissapointment at the rest of the design...
A woman has weapons that are giant male arms, and to show to the audience that she is still valid and appealing as a female character they must be able to see almost the full entiery of her torso. Which with a Militant design, makes no sense. She would be smary and knowledgable enough to wear atleast *something* protective.
The fact that she is female must be very obviously visual which feels insulting to the character and also insulting to the audience. Its almost as if designers were afraid the male audience would be so simple minded to be offputted by her entierly without some sexual gratification... and maybe when it comes to the audience of these sorts of games... they would be..?
I dont think whoever designed the characters really matters all that much. A concept artist may be given free rein to make a design, probably many many designs, but over time input from the higher ups will be seen and their designs will change and be shepearded into what the bosses want the audience to *see* with that character.
I see it alot with game art where old concept art for characters looked so much more visually interesting and representative of the character than the final result, unfortuntely mostly for females when it comes to a sexualisted final product compared to previous concept art.
Ive personally have gradually lost interest in East asian or japanese visually inspired media themed like this as I grew up because after a while, alot of designs start to feel the same, with the same goal in mind.Not only did it get boring, but it also got dissapointing. I grew up female but no longer indentify with that but remained closeted for a long time appearing and being treated as female despite it. Even while closeted I was always looking for representation of female characters in anime and manga that was good, strong, positively feminine and positively masculine women, that wasnt soley just about their looks because even despite my gender, I still felt it represented how other people saw me externally as a person.
And the Tranmasculines side of me thats wants representation was always excited to see, suprisingly, more men when it came to certain anime and manga. Im big on fantasy, and it feels alot of East RPGs and anime/manag with party members usually consisted of probably one male (the protagonist) and the other party members were usually female, Rising of the Shield Hero is one that I love and comes to mind where 3/4 party members are female. Genshin Impact is another example of this, where majority of the playable characters are female . This in theory wouldnt be bad, not at all, but its very very easy to tell what audience they are doing it for and why they have some many female characters in the first place. Not because they actually care about how women feel about representation within videogames, but because they care about pleasing the straight, cis male audience. Alot of female characters means alot more variety of women for men to stare at, and alot less male characters means alot less men than men have to stare at. (and then there is the whole marketing and how it encourages people to buy characters etc etc, but thats a whole nother topic)
But thats just my two cents. Apologies to whoever decides to read this, it got alot longer than expected
Showing skin, lacking clothing, having curves and muscles and sex organs and flaws all have a place in character design and in media. Its just so easy to tell what its purpose is for when it so obviously serves no way to enhance someones character in storytelling or plot.
the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
@@HienPham-ow5ky it wouldn’t even be so bad if the ratio of male to female blades and how sexualised they are was more aligned and even.
I forget how many exactly is stated in the video, but the fact there are about 6 male blades in this game and OVER TWENTY female??!
My jaw actually dropped when I heard that.
I wish I could say they do it to make women more prominent in video games in a good way… but when looking at everything combined… it’s just to cater to their target male demographic and it’s so disappointing :(
@@phoenixx8963 i mean, what can i say ? "Sex sells" like all people say tbh, its sad, at least Morag is somewhat different from the rest of female casts
I wouldn't even mind it that much if the demographic of this degeneracy (and even more so creators who cater to it) would admit that their "priority" is fan service over literal storytelling but no, they feel entitled to it and frame it as if the oversaturation of it is the basic amount.
@@crazydragy4233 as someone who is in the crowd of enjoying the sexy character designs, you’re asking to me to admit something that isn’t true, it’s not that I value fan service over story, (in fact the opposite really as stroy is one of my prime focuses in games) but rather fan service does not actively harm or take away from the story in my opinion. I view pyra’s and mythra’s designs as a bonus to the enjoyable story and characters.
I have no issue with people not liking as it’s all subjective at the end of the day. There’s nothing wrong with disliking it and criticizing it, In the same way there’s nothing wrong with liking it and praising it.
I just don’t like that these discussions have so much animosity behind it. No reason for people to be rude or try to discount someone’s opinion by throwing out meaningless insults like “sjw” or “incel”
I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad for not liking it, but I also don’t enjoy people trying to make me feel bad because I do enjoy it and find it adds to my experience in the game.
any character design can be sexualized with enough effort from fan artists
Sypha Belnades comes to mind...
Literally just finished Dahlia’s blade quest last night for the first time and came back and watched this video all over again. I really feel like she might be based on Dolly Parton but idk how much Japanese people know about her lol
That would have been cool to go full campy glam cowgirl with her design! Seeing the clips, I feel like her design doesn't communicate her personality AT ALL. I don't play this game and when i saw her design i thought she would be more ethereal with a gentle but cold personality-- like an ice princess type Now I'm wondering what accent she must have had in Japanese lol
Pretty sure Dahlia is a reference to Dolly Parton in the English dub only. Her Japanese name is Tsuki and I don’t know if she spoke in the Kansai dialect, which is pretty much the Japanese equivalent to the American southern/country accent.
Watching some of the clips here got me wondering if they actually used those cartoon sound effects for the funny scenes or not. And if they didn't, then I have to clap for your absolutely genius idea in adding those lmao
I'm pretty sure they're in game lol. The game itself is anime as fuck
Sadly they're in the game
30:12 This hits *worlds* harder after the Rushia thing that happened about a week ago
Basically a hololive vtuber recieved a text from her boyfriend and uh, suffice to say audiences were *disappointed*. The company got involved, they lost money, *people were talking about suicide*.. Japan is just built different when it comes to female representation
You do know she might have leaked confidential information, thus breaking a Non-disclosure agreement, I can almost guarantee she signed. It probably said something along the lines "if we (hololive) find any reason to terminate the contract we will"
@@eriklagergren7124 oh yeah i only found out about that aspect of the sitch recently, sorry about that. Goes to show that not everything is one-sided huh. But I still think the people’s reaction to the boyfriend bit was beyond mind-boggling
@@allmensland2106 no worries. But yeah, that reaction is beyond stupid, like yeah, she has a life. Unlike you (people complaining about her bf)
What the FUCK does this have to do with Rushia? She plays the part of a committed and pure girlfriend, telling her fans not to watch other vtubers and how she's uncomfortable talking to other guys. She even sells wedding merchandise and sends secret videos to supporters. Of course it's going to blow up when it's discovered that she's getting intimate sounding private messages from a male vtuber (pulling a similar schtick) who's been speculated for years to be living together. But none of this is even why she got axed, she was even supported by the company in that matter.
She immediately went to a drama channel in an attempt to drag everyone down with her, apparently had a history of doing shit like this for years all the while suicide baiting and pity mining. There's so much copium that I get muted from every thread for pointing out that she's a grown ass woman in her 30s who needs to abide by the parameters of her job and handle things responsibly. But no she should be protected from all criticism because she puts on a cute voice and hides as a helpless little anime girl.
@@zeeteepippi275 Yeah, in a way I understand that she needs to be made responsible for not only breaking her NDA (just as any grown adult should when working for a company) but also potentially hurting the company that in any other situation, would have gone waaay out of its way to help her, just as they did with Hachaama and Coco (they nuked and burned the bridge with China for those two).
On the other hand I don't think I can say with extreme accuracy that she did all that with malicious intent. I can only believe she did all that (the whole "going to a drama channel" to clear my image) because she was getting desperate and she was not in the best of places, mentally speaking.
Of course, I'm talking only out of assumptions and how her friends and colleagues talked about her and in no way we, as the average fan and viewers, know who exactly "Uruha Rushia" really when the camera turns off. Unless you have proof that can say otherwise, I'm willing to ear any argument that has proof.
I think this game has powerful female characters. Nia, Morag, and Lora are my favorite. I love the gameplay and story of this piece of art. But my big problem is the amount of woman in this game having revealing outfits. I am all for female power but this made me uncomfortable.
Regadless of u being a man or a woman, you shoudn't feel uncomfortable by the exposiotion of the human body, erotism and sex are part of human culture and should be embraced. The real thing you should be advocating for is for an equal amount of males being sexualized as well, unfortunately thats totally up for the artist, as man, i felt uncomfrotable as playing as Vaan back when XII released, but as time passed and i matured, i came to understand how ridiculous is to feel insecure about something as naturaland beautiful as the human body.
jorge montiel the thing is that I shouldn’t be uncomfortable in front of a REAL HUMAN not a video game character.
@@Dragerdeifrit You can't honestly believe these female characters are even remotely accurate representations of "the human body." I'm an artist myself, man. These character designs are honestly atrocious.
Fern Cano it has a cartoony erotic style. There’s no expectation of them being realistic representations.
himode no i’m just not a pervert.
"Smash Bros is for good boys and girls" - Masahiro Sakurai
haha
For his neutral weapon he wields a gun
Not to mention looking at the smash community also pedophiles, sexual assaulters, rapists, and groomers.
32:52
Brighit: "Tora. I think you have a little explaining to do here."
Tora: *transforms into Ludiscere*
Tora: "I don't need to explain this right?"
😂
haha, i somehow never noticed that!
Nia’s design choices reminds me of my issue with how things shake out in Persona 4 (and somewhat in 5) where the characters all struggle with being true to themself and the expectations of society and the end of their individual character growths being making the radical choice to...happily conform to those expectations.
It’s wanting to score awareness points without making things TOO radical.
I'd actually love it if you would do a short addendum contrasting Nia's expression of breaking free with sexuality, to Ann in Persona 5. I always felt like she had a (Initially) sexualized design in order to demonstrate this idea done well. The first chapter of the game is largely about her appearance and how people make assumptions because of that. Her outfit and awakening scene always felt like a big "fuck you" to people who think women only dress attractively to get men's attention.
Exactly! Ann's thief outfit is one of my favorites because it demonstrates that Ann believes the best way to rebel against men trying to exploit and abuse her sexuality is to instead take control of her sexuality herself.
And her persona was fucking CARMEN???? 10/10
Honestly it reminds me of that one old ass meme of a guy saying, “ladies, men think you’re ugly when you wear more makeup.” And the response was a girl rushing to put more makeup on.
Not everything a woman wears is an appeal to men. Sometimes they just want to express themselves and feel pretty.
@@twinkbootygiegTbh, that's a neat concept, but Ann often puts out a negative comment on her PT outfit that the concept just kinda loses its teeth
Honestly, when some of the cutscenes featured these absurdly designed characters, I just skipped it. Trying to disregard it. I really like the story and especially the combat but it is unfortunately ruined by anime tropes. Xenoblade 1 was one of the first JRPGS that was different in that it didn’t have these tropes, and the story was able to have a much more serious tone.
I would argue Xenoblade 1 had some on these tropes, mainly talking about Meyneth, her vessel, Vanea, even Sharla is sexualised, it is nowhere near Xenoblade 2 but I think it’s important to point out
Xeno 1 had some and i didn't like it but when i played xeno 2 oh Boy i wasn't expecting that many
@@fieldkaiju But the two first are not even recurrent characters, and Sharla still look feminine without going to extremes like Mythra and others. The point is it's not sexualized in the same amount. Xenoblade 1 is much more reasonable.
@@fieldkaiju To be fair, in the case of Sharla, it is more that her outfit is revealing. I would not say that she is overtly sexualized, as the game does not place any actual emphasis on her body or appearance. It really makes no mention at all of what she wears, nor does the game try to give inappropriate angles. In fact, aside from outfits which are more form-fitting or reveal more skin, I would argue that the characters in Xenoblade 1 are not really sexualized in general. And at least when it comes to revealing outfits, both the males and females are given the option for more exposure.
@Orga777 It is the fact that those absurdly designed characters are hypersexualized for no reason other than fan service, and it is almost always exclusively the female characters who receive this treatment. The complaints are justified.
Very well thought out video. Unfortunately, the comment section suggests that few people understood (or simply ignored) what you were trying to say when you brought up the contextual differences between showing male flesh and showing female flesh. You can disagree with the author all you want; you can say that it is totally fine to have hyper-sexual females, but I feel like it is disingenuous to try and argue that there is equal amounts of sexualization of both males and females in Xenoblade Chonricles 2 or Japanese pop media.
I think something that shouldn't be understated is that personality wise, malos and mythra are completely different. Malos is a bringer of destruction and is supposed to be something of a battle hardened soldier. The copius amounts of armor shows this. Mythra, is a bratty teenager. Her having revealing cloths kinda fits into this, sort of a, "You're not going out in those cloths young lady!" kind of deal. I may be looking to far into this though.
I kind of agree, I feel like her smash bros redesign is a good compromise to keep the ‘mean girl’ persona while making her look comfortable in a fight. I have a harder time finding any of Pyra’s personality reflected in her design
Thank God for this yt recommendation. Personally, I just want more diversity in women designs in games. If the men can look their part for their personality and age, why can't the women not be designed as such either? I'm tired of the teen-20 something big boobed girl whose only "differentiated" by their quirks and personalities. GIVE ME MY 45 YEAR OLD WAIFU WHO CAN WEILD AN AXE OR 2 WITH A BUNCH OF SCARS AND A FIERY PERSONALITY, SHE CAN HAVE SOME BIG JIGGLY PUFFS IDGAF BUT PLS, I CRAVE FOR DESIGN VARIETY.
@himode buddy, yes i know they exist, but i'm literally not forcing anyone to find diverse girls in games attractive? man all i'm saying is there needs to be more diversity in design like how male characters are designed in games. breh.
@himode ???? that's not the point of my comment????? i own most of the games with great girl character designs??? but why do i have to search for them????? just say "i like my big tiddy girl designs" and go man lmfao
Yes agreed! And I don't want to seen any pretty bois in my games either! I'm tired of those K-pop singers wielding swords around and being all hairdressed like it's their wedding day...
@himode dude, tf r u on lmfao pack up ya shit and go home man, you're unhinged as all hell and i actually feel bad for you.
@@albedougnut HAHA you fell into my trap! Now I release my trump card: FIRE EMBLEM! Where 100% of the males are K-pop singers with wonderful haircuts and ONLY 50% of the girls are over sexualised!....No sorry I was just joking BUT my point is that I think your opinion is just biased from the start. You are not even seeing that male characters are glamorised in RPGs, take xenoblade chronicles 2 the ONLY character that is not a pretty boi is Vandam, I have nothing against pretty boi but it's as unrealistic as a double D girl. Don't get me wrong I think XC2 is awful but not for the same reasons. I just think the oversexualisation is a consequence of the bad writing and not the cause. And the JRPG industry is not plagued by "Male gaze" or whatever. BAD JRPGs are, because they are bad...
I have to admit, I was SO SCARED to click this video when it showed on my recommended. I really did not want to have to sit through an hour of ranting about how the sexualization in this game is fine and if you don't like it you're probably gay and also zeke doesn't wear a shirt and it's really a fantasy and etc. However, I've actually been working on this topic myself, in preparation for my own video on the subject, so I thought I should see the arguments for why Pyra's bowling ball sized tits were fine, actually.
I'm so pleased I did. Your video was well researched, and well argued. It's too bad the people who really need to see it either won't bother, or will dismiss it out of hand because you said feminism was a good thing.
Sounds like a neat video. You know when you will release it?
@@albedougnut I'm still new to making videos and I've never made a longer form video like this, so it's gonna be a while. But it's definitely something I want to discuss.
My take away add more fanservicy dudes... (what that looks like still is a mystery to me...)
I don't care either way but why aren't they fine?
I think people on both sides of this topic can be part of the problem. The people who don't see the issue with female characters only being sex objects and the people who don't see that their "progressive" ideas are the same ideals 1950 America held. I mean demonizing female sexuality and wanting all female characters to act very neutral has lead to less diversity in female characters. We've basically made a lateral move when it comes to female characters. Which is kind of sad because so many think this has solved the problem.
@@CoopHawke The problem is, no one here is demonizing female sexuality, nor are we suggesting that female characters cannot be sexualized. We just want games to not sexualize basically every single female character in the game, and we want less double standards between male and female characters.
"Pyras design does her no justice"
Me having fell in love with her design at first sight during her smash intro is planning on buying her DLC and giving this game a look.
I think her design is damn good at doing exactly what it was supposed to do.
Yeah...but the Smash version was a bit "readjusted" compared to the original one. Same for Mythra.
@@Starsoul_ it's very minor for Pyra, tho Mythra looks more changed
@@captainmega6310 We'll have to see her in-game model, though from the trailer it seems they have given Pyra full leg thigh highs and higher pants (which actually means, covered the exposed skin on those parts), and also given a more reasonable bust size. But it's true, Mythra original had her legs fully uncovered, so in her case is much more evident. Now, if only they would give this look to Pyra in XC2, like they did with the Massive Melee Aux Core for Mythra...
I recommend playing it (as well as XC:DE). Both are my favorite games.
Creep.
44:00 I know Clipping is kind of an inevitability, but did no one see "Hey her arms are clipping in to her badakadonks, maybe we should tweak the design or animation skeleton a bit?"
Thankyou! I have had the same beef with this for a long time. Men seem to think that a muscular man is what women want and think that a guy being buff is sexualization. Studies time and time again have proven that a lot of women do not think a super buff guy like you see in video games is sexy. Those men are to play a power fantasy for men, they don’t exist for women at all. It’s why the game Sims is hella popular with women and why MMORPG are next in line with 25% of the player base being female. Cause you can change their outfits and most of the time the armor isn’t sexualizing the females, unless you play an Asian MMORPG. But Asian MMORPGs sexualize both males and females soooooo. Yeah. League of Legends is another great example of over sexualizing 98% of their female characters. Even the ones that aren’t suppose to be human look more human and wear less than the male characters that aren’t suppose to be human. I get that if a character is suppose to be a hot sexy character then design her like that. But 98% of all female characters should not be over sexualized like they are. Now that companies are starting to make one female in a show not overly sexualized men are literally throwing fits over this and crying about how *all* women are being turned into men. And the argument of it’s just a video game holds no water. It has been proven that when something gets normalized through a medium that people expect that in the real world. Look at p*rn for example. The amount of men who think that all women like being ch*ked and deep thr*ated is insane and they don’t even ask. They just do it. That was made normal even though everyone knows that p*rn isn’t real. Same goes for sexualizing females. It is literally expected for most of the females to be sexualized and the instant one isn’t, the company is being “woke” or whatever blanket term they decide to use. The instant a male character is designed for women he is called gay and is belittled all because he was designed to appeal to women. Honesty, one of the many reasons why My Hero Academia has done so well is that most of the female cast is not sexualized. Midnight looks the way she does because she is a pervert and is a dominatrix female. Momo outfit is the way it is cause of her quirk. But then you have Jiro, the punk rock girl who isn’t sexualized at all and instead, looks like a punk rock girl. That is how designing a character should be and is a step in the right direction. But sadly, that just doesn’t happen that much and when it does, men throw fits over it. But, what do I expect when men literally think they have a right to have sex and to slap random women they don’t know on the ass and think that is acceptable behavior.
I just wanted to say that I really like your comment and that it brings up a really imortant point. The men that are against diversifying women/girls in character design just don't know what it is to not have options.
In a game, there can be the funny guy, the attractive guy, the dangerous and serious guy, and so on, that have designs that absolutely match their personalities. But if you look at the funny, attractive, and the dangerous women they all look the same. And even if they are getting an important cutscene, like the ones you see in this video, the cutscene HAS to have a shot of their boobs or butt (presumably to entertain the male audience?).
This is like being told that as a woman your sex appeal is as relevant to any situation as whatever important thing may be happening. You can't do anything without being reminded that people are looking at you sexually.
Anyway, this was a longer comment than I expected but I hope sharing this might make people understand a bit more outside of their point of view.
those 'men' you made up in your head sure suck. same as those women you made up that dont like fit, muscular bodies.
Deranged comments. Touch some grass.
@@juli5945I call bs. Women can't have their cake and eat it when otome games have the same fit designs for male characters.
The only time sexualization is equalized is in games like Street Fighter or Fate Grand Order where everyone is fair game for thirst. FGO in particular is great about it. It's a bi person's wet dream.
No one in the fgc gives a damn about the character design... we are too busy trying not to lose to pay attention to things like jiggle physics.
I'd disagree with Street Fighter, as there's no real thin pretty boys. There's buff boys, pretty boys, and thin boys, but no pretty thin boys.
@@shelbyherring92 KoF would be a much better example. Hot guys and gals everywhere you look, without running into SF's big limbs and muscles problem.
Commenting this 8 months later as was recommended this video not long after Pyra/Mythra's reveal in Super Smash Bros. As a girl myself, i picked up the game because i was watching a playthrough and decided that Id love it, and I certainly did! I screamed when the two were announced because my current favorite game gets representation and the characters look super fun. But when i tried to express my excitement to my friends who havent played the game, they were very uninterested. Which is why i think the game really backfires with its presentation.
Not only is it difficult to get into due to the lack of care for the tutorials, but its difficult to even bother with at all because its only the big boob ladies in the spotlight. I will bet that after that trailer, a lot of people in the western audience were upset that these fanservice characters took the place of their most wanted fighter. Well, the smash community always gets upset, but this feels different than something like Byleth.
But this also speaks to the cultural divide that plagues this game. In Japan, Xenolade 2 was selling at insane rates after the reveal. But in America, it was only met with backlash.
And it really sucks because i really like this game, and a lot of people are going to miss out. I can ignore the blatant sexualization sometimes and appriciate everything else the game has to offer. There are male and female blades and characters that i absoloutly love, but not many of those are the over sextualized females.
And I think it's bad to have oversexutualized characters in a game, I dont think it's a bad thing. But IF and only IF, it's used scarcely and reasonably. Mythra is manageable to me. She confident and strong and not afraid to be shameless. But with Pyra, it's very distracting to watch her kind face and meek movements but then look at her chest and that whole personality kinda wanes for me.
Daliah is a no go for me. Luckily I have yet to summon her, but I wont ever use her. People are quick to dismiss furries, but she would look so much better if her face was more animal like to match her body. Her breasts turn into fluff and she would be ok if she was covered in fur. Like with Pyra, her personality takes a backseat when all i can focus on is her breasts.
There can be subtle, but then theres overdoing it. I understand why people hate on it just from the designs alone. But the bad designs are a minority in the cast. Not a large minority, but I mean Finch exists and all my homies love Finch.
This problem wouldn’t be as bad if both genders were represented correctly, or at least sexualized equally.
Could you elaborate on this thought? What would you call a correct representation of both genders? Also, could you explain your reasoning behind how sexualizing both genders equally would lessen the problem?
Nah, this was made for weebs, why would they alienate their target audience?
@@ChiliChoccy if it’s going to be fan service, it would be preferable if both genders had characters that are sexualized, though this should be balanced by more non sexualized characters. A few sexualized characters wouldn’t be problematic, but an entire game full of them would be.
@@cartoonkenj2209 Okay. That makes sense to me, and yeah, I would agree. It's not the sexualization if characters I have a problem with personally, it's the sheer amount of sexualization - usually of women - that I feel is problematic.
Exactly. The underlying argument against this sort of trope bs is usually aimed at the inequality of how much it happens but a certain demographic feels entitled to abundance of fan-service to arguably more important qualities in media, like writing.
Great video. I also played the game and loved it and was genuinely put off by the tacky fan service. Its a really bad sign when I would be playing on the train and have to hide my switch during certain scenes out of fear judgement from fellow passengers.
I think that more or less says something more about society then the game.
@@MrTalithan That could very well be true, I think for me the randomness with which it is applied makes it more awkward. If there was a scene that was explicitly dealing with romance in a serious way it would be fine. It just seems to be peppered throughout the game without much thought or reason.
meh, the fact that you trying to hide it while playing on public is simply due to society pressure/norm, you simply cannot handle that and that all on you, dont try to ask game developer to cater you by your standard
I just remember I played this game in front of my parents lol
@@maxinehell1394 huh, what nonsense. good god
Really good video, and here is my opinion about it:
To me, the sexualisation is not a problem is there is more in the characters than just the sexualisation itself, that´s why I like all the female characters in this game (and honestly I like all of the girls designs, they are not "tasteless" for putting it in words, but that is just my opinion) . Yeah you can see a lot of tropes and cliches on them (both male and female) but that is not neccesarily a bad thing, and there is a lot of good stuff about them, I like for example how Mythra and Pyra are not just the "damsels on distress" and both of them fight alongside Rex and care about him and their friends, giving us really good interactions between characters.
What really bothers me is that a lot of people want to crucify this game and the people who made it because of the female designs, ignoring everything else, even if the character designers (a lot being women) were given the chance to create the characters however they want. A lot of them decided to design females, and when they where questioned about it, most of them just replied: "Well I find more interesting to create powerful cute girls compared to designing male characters".
On a side note, I prefer the Japanese voice audio, I think it fits the characters more. And Morag´s seiyuu (voice actress) really likes to portray female characters that act as males, which makes me wonder if that was something the designers considered when creating her.
Yeah, a lot of people just despise Pyra's design only cause she has big personaities.
Same I'm a bit confused as well why it's an issue.
Zeke is definitely sexualized when Morag praises him.
Brigid covers fan's eyes, remember?
Also don't forget gramps! That's the horniest character in the entire game!