Clochette: Activist VN-makers or just endless Oppai?
I'm currently playing Koko kara Natsu no Innocence, the latest VN by Clochette, a charage company specializing in busty heroines that tends to produce first-class character development and heroine stories. One aspect of Clochette that I've always thought was a bit funny was the obsession with 'shoushika', the current phenomenon in Japan where fewer and fewer young people are getting married and/or having kids. This is touched upon to one degree or another in a lot of VNs, because it is an issue that becomes bigger every year for the Japanese. Why? Because they are dying off faster than their kids are being born, and it has been that way for more than two decades. That in itself wouldn't be that big of a problem normally... falls in population are actually positive when you get to modern population levels. However, the drastic population fall in Japan is such that it is constricting them economically to a degree that scares many of their social scientists, making it into as big a scientific deal there as climate change is here.
Clochette has a tendency to insert subtle anti-shoushika propaganda into it throughout its length, actively encouraging the reader to go out and have kids. It is one of the funnier things about it, as most charage gloss over the kids aspect outside of the h-scenes (and then it is only get the perversion levels up). However, themes of continuation across generations, preparing for the next generation, thinking about a future for the kids, etc. are common to all of Clochette's games, to one degree or another. Ironically, it is this 'activist VN-writing' that is what makes their stories frequently so much fun to read, and the message itself is kind of amusing when you think about it (since we aren't Japanese). However, I do find it interesting how VN makers will sometimes use the platform for subtle activism (brainwashing through eroge, lol).
If you want another example of VN-activism, Semiramis no Tenbin is a bit more blatant about it, hitting on almost every major piece of 'dirty linen' in Japan's social closet. VNs in general, like all entertainment media, can be used in such ways... and frequently, the best VNs will be activist on one level or another, because passion plus skill tends to bring out much better results than just one or the other.
Edit: Namima no Kuni no Faust is another example of somewhat blatant 'VN-activism', and in its case, it is a combined statement, criticism, and speculation on capitalism as a religion. Yes, I say a religion, because to those who worship the mighty dollar, that is precisely what it is. The entire VN is a story about a true free market economic society taken to its logical conclusion. It was a fascinating exercise, and it left a lot of food for thought, without necessarily being completely negative about capitalism in general or even some of its more obvious flaws.
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