Clephas' VN home

The genre doesn't offer any meaningful statement about what it would be like to go to a certain historical period where the important people were women and not men. And the two I've played (Koihime Musou and Eiyuu Senki) have mainly used the 'they're all women' thing as an excuse for a harem and lots of sex, so it's very superficial in that regard.

But they're still enjoyable if you like historic worlds or history (I thought Eiyuu Senki was fab because I like turn based strategy games.)

In terms of fun, it is great... but most  of them don't really create an appreciation for differences caused by this.  Of course, there are exceptions, such as Bakumatsu's utilization of the power of the stones to explain why women warriors were holding more status than most men (in exchange for losing their fertility and some other disadvantages).  In the case of Koihime and Sengoku Musou, though... the difference is never really commented on except by the protagonist. 

Generally speaking, in VNs like this, the attitude towards women in combat is flat, as if it were common sense, with no explanation given.  In this sense, the stories don't even make an attempt at realism, lol. 

I have enjoyed the Dynasty Warriors games for years now, which led to a major interest in The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, coupled with the fact that a large portion of my movie watching is based in historical/modern day China, these games (namely Koihime) have a lot of appeal to me. Reading through the Koihime TL'd by MangaGamer (I think it was) for the first time and finding myself having a lot of fun. 

Since I can't really say Dynasty Warriors was ever based in realism, I can't say I have a problem with Koihime not doing so either. 

I actually prefer it if VN's with an all girls (warrior) cast in a historical setting are more light-hearted moeges like Kohime Musou instead of serious dramas.

If a serious VN presents me such a cast, it already lost a lot of its credibility in my eyes. Because in a serious VN I somehow expect a certain amount of authenticity of the setting and scenario in order to accept the story. But if a writer first introduces an unbelievable cast and then tries to go super serious, he runs the risk to ridicule himself. Since for me, not only the writing itself defines the quality of a story, but also the selection of the cast and scenario for it.

For that reason, if I want a 'serious' historical story, I'd pick something like Hakuoki with an actual believable cast over something like ChuSinGura 46 + 1 anyday. But if I want moe I really love those ridiculous harem casts.

28 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

I actually prefer it if VN's with an all girls (warrior) cast in a historical setting are more light-hearted moeges like Kohime Musou instead of serious dramas.

If a serious VN presents me such a cast, it already lost a lot of its credibility in my eyes. Because in a serious VN I somehow expect a certain amount of authenticity of the setting and scenario in order to accept the story. But if a writer first introduces an unbelievable cast and then tries to go super serious, he runs the risk to ridicule himself. Since for me, not only the writing itself defines the quality of a story, but also the selection of the cast and scenario for it.

For that reason, if I want a 'serious' historical story, I'd pick something like Hakuoki with an actual believable cast over something like ChuSinGura 46 + 1 anyday. But if I want moe I really love those ridiculous harem casts.

Mmm... to be honest, I don't really demand historical consistency, but when there are bits that match the actual history, I usually can delight over them.  As for Hakuoki's cast being believable *snickers*.  There is no such thing as a believable set of otomege heroes.

Actually, the attitude toward women was most realistic in Bakumatsu...there, a lot of the men feel humiliated by the fact that the women warriors are more powerful than them, and the attitude toward women who don't have power is pretty standard.  Bakumatsu doesn't really pull any punches...

ChuSinGura is closer to Koihime in the sense that the attitude toward women is unrealistic considering the era, but in terms of what actually went on other than that, it is pretty realistic (well, except the mystical stuff). 

Shin Koihime strikes a much better balance between realism and moe than the original... and if you want serious moe, the fandisc serves that purpose.

2 hours ago, Clephas said:

Mmm... to be honest, I don't really demand historical consistency, but when there are bits that match the actual history, I usually can delight over them.  As for Hakuoki's cast being believable *snickers*.  There is no such thing as a believable set of otomege heroes.

There's still a vast difference between just idealizing historical characters (all stories do that to a certain degree) and not even getting the gender right.

If the female gender is suddenly the dominant fighting force this implies that they are physical more powerful than men. So are men now staying at home and caring for the children while the girls are doing the hard physical labor, working in mines and working the fields?! It simply has major consequences on how the world would be supposed to work.

But naturally, you could just say they are a selected group of super heroines, but that immediately turns it to fantasy instead of 'historical'. However, there ARE guys who have outstanding strength in real life so I can believe that, but I can't exactly say the same for girls. Take the Klitschko brothers for example, they simply fight (or fought) in their own league for almost a decade now. But even a very strong woman would have a hard time beating just a man with average strength.

Edit: Granted, your blog post is titled 'historical fantasy', but I still find it easier to believe scenarios and stories if they follow the rules of real life.