Trigger Happy
But what is it about the deformed aesthetic that makes it so desirable? To most Western eyes, such characters look merely childlike and childish: “cutesy.” But remember that unrealism in videogames need not be a handicap; it can be a positive, deliberate pleasure. The Japanese preference for “deformed” physiques, in this case, is a logical extension of this idea to the human form itself. Unearthliness is part of the charm.
This idea in turn explains another peculiarly Japanese phenomenon: that of virtual “girlfriends” and “dating” videogames, in which the (almost always male) player tries to woo a deformed
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