Articles | Blerdy Otome

Holding Game Developers Accountable for Half-Hearted Representation: Thoughts on Ertal Games’s Apology & Reflexion

Published on January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Blerdy18 Comments

As a content creator I’m often approached by developers and publishers who want me to cover their game or product on my various social media platforms. They’ll send me a game with the understanding that I’ll play it and cover it as Blerdy Otome. Most of the time, these are publishers or developers that are familiar with me and my content, so they are approaching me because they feel that I am a good fit to promote their game or product.

Occasionally, I’ll get a publisher that has clearly not done their homework who will send me a game that is very much outside of my wheelhouse. Just last month I had a publisher reach out to me about promoting their porn game, and while I do play a lot of 18+ visual novels, something like PornStar Harem is just not something I’d cover on this site (or anywhere else for that matter). I’ll try just about anything once, but even I have my limits, because at the end of the day, Blerdy Otome is a space for uplifting creators and media that spotlight diversity and for me to talk about my interests.

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Fall in Love with these Cute Otome Animal Companions

Published on July 26, 2022July 26, 2022 by BlerdyLeave a comment

It’s tough wooing otome boys and sometimes a heroine just needs someone cute and fluffy to cuddle—that’s where cute otome sidekicks come in! They may not always add much to the plot, but these adorable animal companions add a dose of cuteness to our lives every time they’re on screen.

Just about every otome game has it’s own cute animal buddy, so today I’m spotlighting some of the most precious little beans~

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Publishers Please Do Better By Western Otome Gamers

Published on May 18, 2022May 24, 2022 by Blerdy4 Comments

In the year of our lord 2022, at a time when otome gamers have been blessed with more otome localizations than we can feasibly play, otome fans are still having to prove that there is a demand for otome games in the West. What’s worse is this new wave of frustration was brought about by Koei Tecmo, which many in the otome community know for their Ruby Party line of games, most notably the Angelique series. In a recent interview with the development team behind Touken Ranbu Warriors, the team remarked that the publisher would consider bringing Ruby Party otome games to the west “if there is a demand”. The issue further came to a head when Koei tweeted that “demand” would be determined by how well Touken Ranbu Warriors does in sales.

Demand is determined by sales. If #ToukenRanbuWarriors does well there is potential for more #RubyParty.#KTfamily #OtomeAlly
— KOEI TECMO AMERICA (@KoeiTecmoUS) May 18, 2022

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Confessions of an Otome Gamer: It’s Okay NOT to Play the Latest Game

Published on January 20, 2022 by Blerdy8 Comments

It’s been a while since my last Confession and that’s because I didn’t have anything I needed to get off my chest. But, it’s a new year and with it comes the promise of new game releases and the inevitable pull we as gamers feel to keep up with the latest trending game. FOMO is real and no one wants to be out of the loop. But it’s hard keeping up with new releases and it’s exhausting trying to keep up with everything.

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Polling the #OtomeArmada: Which Endings Do You Play Through First?

Published on September 7, 2021January 3, 2022 by Blerdy2 Comments

It’s no secret that otome games are still very niche genre within the broader gaming community. Even with an increase in English localizations of Japanese otome games here in the West, our community is fairly small–but, what we lack in size we more than make up for in voice! As a collective, the online otome fandom has been especially vocal when it comes to protecting our otome games–whether that is calling out localization companies on the quality of their releases or letting companies know what games we WANT to see released in the West– you can bet that the collective voice of the otome community will be heard.

As a blogger I use my platform to promote otome games (and indie romance visual novels), but I am just one of many voices in the otome games community and I don’t speak for everyone. So, I wanted to reach out to the #OtomeArmada and see where we stand on certain topics specific to our community. Nothing fancy, just a Twitter poll every now and again to spice things up. Last week I asked you guys ‘When playing otome games, which endings do you like to play through first?’–and the response was overwhelming with 410 of you all casting your vote.

But, I wanted to do something with this and actually list out some takeaways from the poll and kind of suss out some trends! So, let’s break down the results!

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Is This Otome? – Inclusivity in the Otome Games Fandom

Published on August 10, 2021January 3, 2022 by Blerdy5 Comments

So, apparently there has been some discourse in the otome games community—I mean, when is there not drama—concerning using the term “otome” for more inclusive titles. There have been some folks in the fandom who are upset that folks are using otome as a catch all term for any game that fits the otome mold, ie. a protagonist who romances pursuable characters. Some, use otome to encompass idol and card-raising mobile games, like A3!, and more recently Tears of Themis. While others feel that LGBT+ indie games to be otome.

This is not the first time this issue has cropped up over the years and it most definitely won’t be the last, but I think this new wave of discourse is just disheartening. Times have changed, games are becoming more inclusive and more people are seeing media that speaks to them and their truth, so it only makes since that the language we use should grow and change with the media. So, today I’m going to talk about what makes an otome an otome and where I stand on including LGBT+ games within that otome umbrella.

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Confessions of an Otome Gamer: Indie Otome are BETTER than Otome Games

Published on July 4, 2021January 3, 2022 by Blerdy8 Comments

I know, potentially polarizing opinion incoming–don’t @ me.

But, if you’ve been following me for awhile it shouldn’t be such a big shock that I prefer indie otome games over the more “traditional” Japanese otome games. I mean on a very basal level, indie otome games are much more accessible and available than Japanese otome games. Sure, we’ve been getting tons more otome games than we have in the past, but given the volume of otome games being released in Japan annually, what we get through localization is merely a drop in the bucket. Not to mention localization titles are selected and curated by companies that at the end of the day are protecting their bottom line. So the games that do make their way to the West are ones that are considered the most “financially viable” (read: safe).

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Fangirl Friday – Battle Brides, Roomies with Benefits, and Virgin Wizards

Published on May 28, 2021January 3, 2022 by Blerdy1 Comment

Hey Blerdy Tribe, how’s your week been? We finally made it to Friday and for those of us in the States, Monday is Memorial Day, so we get a THREE DAY WEEKEND!! Since I get every other Friday off during the Summer this marks my 2nd three day weekend in as many weeks and trust I’m loving it! This week starts the beginning of me officially starting some of the new tasks that came with my recent promotion so it’s been kinda hectic for me on the work front, but my supervisors have been really good about helping me out when I get stuck with something.

Last week I finally took the plunge and officially did my first Twitch stream and let me tell y’all it was terrifying—I get super nervous talking in front of people and even with my camera off (due to technical difficulties) I did still fumble a bit every now and then. But, everyone who came through was super nice and patient with me and I cannot thank you all enough for hanging with me through my first stream! I fucked up and forgot to turn on the save stream feature on Twitch so sadly there is no VOD there, but my inner Virgo had the forethought to record the stream on my end and I did upload my copy to YouTube, so you can see it there. I’m still working on a schedule, but I might try streaming this weekend (no promises though).

So, between the hustle and bustle of the week I managed to check out some neat shows and manga and I just need to get some fangirling out!

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Fangirl Friday – Heroes, Demon Daddies, and Manga Madness

Published on May 14, 2021January 3, 2022 by Blerdy2 Comments

Hey Blerdy Tribe, how’s your week been? We finally made it to Friday and let me tell you this has been one hell of a week, so ya girl is ready for the weekend! We have this big conference coming up at work next week, so there’s been a bit of an upswing in the amount of requests I’ve had to deal with at work and some of them range from the bizarre—like conspiracy theories about COVID-19 to the mundane—help logging into a member account. It’s a mixed bag, but it definitely makes the work day exciting! So, after a long day of adulting I like to spend my spare time doing things that help me de-stress… like fangirling~

Fangirl Friday isn’t a new feature, rather I’m taking an old segment and putting a bit of a spin on it! Instead of talking about just one topic, this’ll be a space for me to talk about all the stuff I’ve been getting into, ya know aside from playing games! And this week I’ve been catching up on some anime watching and buying manga to fill out my collection!

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Confessions of an Otome Gamer: How I Got My Hakuoki Kyoto Winds Art Book

Published on January 8, 2021January 3, 2022 by Blerdy7 Comments

I started this series as a way to get personal with you all and share my thoughts about things happening in the otome community or share fun stories and anecdotes about being an otome fan. So, for the new year I wanted to share a story that is definitely one of the more interesting experiences I’ve had over the years.

For my first confession of 2021, I thought I’d tell you all the harrowing tale of how I got my copy of the Hakuoki Kyoto Winds art book–and trust me it’s something… Now, because this story involves another person I have omitted their name for anonymity and even though it was over 3 years ago, I checked in with them to make sure it was okay to share and they gave the go ahead. So trust I covered my bases on this one….

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