Minorities in Comics and Other Media, etc

[godisawesome]

Regarding what i said earlier about Yasuke, a number of folks that actually know about samurai say he might have actually been a Samurai. Homie actually did engage in combat.

Knowing this kind of annoys me even more....

I guess DEI was a thing in ancient Japan.

He's one of the very few confirmed surviving "loyalist" combat veterans of the Betrayal at Honnoji, where Oda "The Demon King" Nobunaga, Japan's first of the "Three Unifiers," was ambushed by his own general.

And while Japan was very much as racist and classist as everyone else, Oda Nobunaga genuinely seemed to be open to a meritocracy and some cultural pluralism if it got him closer to becoming Shogun - while he and the other daimyos were already mass producing their own guns, he still maintained positive relationships with European missionaries and merchants, and his greatest general and de facto successor (the second of the Three Unifiers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi) had started off as a peasant.

Now, Oda was still a vicious bastard in his own right, and also more capricious and bullying as well in a way appropriate to the ignorance and violence of the times- he demanded Yasuke be washed repeatedly to see if his skin color would lighten up, and called his peasant-born general "Bald Rat"...

...But both men served him faithfully in life, and Yasuke even did so after Nobunaga's death; he was protecting one of Nobunaga's sons against multiple attackers after his lord's suicide, and had to be negotiated into surrendering rather than be killed or forced to run away.

[Username taken]

The AC controversy is just ridiculous. The mask off racism of the gaming community is off the charts.

You know it's bad when IGN (who are generally quiet about the culture war stuff) wade head first into it.

https://www.ign.com/articles/assassi...an-protagonist

Note, the writer of that article is actually Asian and not some online dork pretending to be Asian. To skyvolt's point earlier, some black creators have spoken up about this nonsense. Even FD Signifier had to speak out because this nonsense is over the top.

[Username taken]

He's one of the very few confirmed surviving "loyalist" combat veterans of the Betrayal at Honnoji, where Oda "The Demon King" Nobunaga, Japan's first of the "Three Unifiers," was ambushed by his own general.

And while Japan was very much as racist and classist as everyone else, Oda Nobunaga genuinely seemed to be open to a meritocracy and some cultural pluralism if it got him closer to becoming Shogun - while he and the other daimyos were already mass producing their own guns, he still maintained positive relationships with European missionaries and merchants, and his greatest general and de facto successor (the second of the Three Unifiers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi) had started off as a peasant.

Now, Oda was still a vicious bastard in his own right, and also more capricious and bullying as well in a way appropriate to the ignorance and violence of the times- he demanded Yasuke be washed repeatedly to see if his skin color would lighten up, and called his peasant-born general "Bald Rat"...

...But both men served him faithfully in life, and Yasuke even did so after Nobunaga's death; he was protecting one of Nobunaga's sons against multiple attackers after his lord's suicide, and had to be negotiated into surrendering rather than be killed or forced to run away.

Yasuke's story actually makes him the perfect protagonist for an AC game.

The people that have actually played the games and are familiar with the lore understand this.

[batnbreakfast]

Anybody else looking forward to Cross (Aldis Hodge)? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179481...2_nm_6_q_cross I was a huge fan of Kiss the Girls (Morgan Freeman) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119468...0the%2520girls

[80sbaby]

And video proof Diddy is an abusive POS smh

EDIT: TRIGGER WARNING PHYSICAL ABUSE

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7E_c...NpaGhhcTRnZHB6

[Username taken]

And video proof Diddy is an abusive POS smh

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7E_c...NpaGhhcTRnZHB6

Oh my God!

That should come with a trigger warning.

I don't I could hate Diddy more than I already did. The guy is a complete piece of trash.

[80sbaby]

I edited it to add a warning.

[Anthony Shaw]

And video proof Diddy is an abusive POS smh

EDIT: TRIGGER WARNING PHYSICAL ABUSE

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7E_c...NpaGhhcTRnZHB6

He's a monster.

[Surf]

Anybody else looking forward to Cross (Aldis Hodge)? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179481...2_nm_6_q_cross I was a huge fan of Kiss the Girls (Morgan Freeman) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119468...0the%2520girls

I'll check it out, hope it surprises. I like Aldis.

Back in the day I thought we'd get at least 2 Easy Rawlins movies, we got 1 good one, kinda good one, then Morgan Freeman took over the archetype and stretched it out across several movies, then came Lincoln Rhyme. :shrug: Is what it is. One day I hope it's studied how much Freeman ate out here in the 90's, post-Shawshank.

[Moon Ronin]

Yasuke's story actually makes him the perfect protagonist for an AC game.

The people that have actually played the games and are familiar with the lore understand this.

I totally agree, what little is known of Yasuke is a hand full of notes from Jesuits who worked in Japan and a few lines for the Nobunaga bio. Nothing is really known about his time before or after the time ( a little under 3 years) he spent with Oda, we don't even know his pace of birth or even his real name. Not gonna argue if he was given the title of Samurai or if he was Bushi there is evidence of both but the Japanese celebrate him as a Samurai so there is that. This will be the first time that a actual historical figure as a playable protagonist in AC which is cool. With all of the the mystery of who Yasuke was makes him perfect for AC.

The issue I have though is that again Ubisoft again will not go all in with a soul female protagonist. It looks as though they are going back to the Syndicate model with it switching back and forth between the two. There was a class of Shinobi women called the Kunoichi that were spies and such for by the Shogunate during civil war era .For one to be the main protagonist would also be cool too.

[Username taken]

I totally agree, what little is known of Yasuke is a hand full of notes from Jesuits who worked in Japan and a few lines for the Nobunaga bio. Nothing is really known about his time before or after the time ( a little under 3 years) he spent with Oda, we don't even know his pace of birth or even his real name. Not gonna argue if he was given the title of Samurai or if he was Bushi there is evidence of both but the Japanese celebrate him as a Samurai so there is that. This will be the first time that a actual historical figure as a playable protagonist in AC which is cool. With all of the the mystery of who Yasuke was makes him perfect for AC.

The issue I have though is that again Ubisoft again will not go all in with a soul female protagonist. It looks as though they are going back to the Syndicate model with it switching back and forth between the two. There was a class of Shinobi women called the Kunoichi that were spies and such for by the Shogunate during civil war era .For one to be the main protagonist would also be cool too.

Yeah, despite the recent controversy Ubisoft is still a shit company.

I remember some years back, they said the newer games had male and female protagonists because the execs (or one exec) didn't want to have a sole female protagonist, I'm not sure if those guys are still at Ubisoft but there was a whole lot of talk about how generally terrible their management was.

That not even considering their business practices (a level in AC: Shadows is locked behind a pay-wall and the Ultimate Edition is $130!).

[Agent Z]

An Asian-American IGN writer's perspective on the Assassin's Creed Shadows backlash.

While it’s a known issue that Asian representation in Western games is severely lacking, I find it hypocritical and laughable that we’re only talking about the need for an Asian protagonist now that it’s been revealed Assassin’s Creed Shadows will star a Black samurai. This misses the forest for the trees. While I am always advocating for more Asian men in AAA games, I’ll be the first to say that better representation isn’t going to be found in yet another samurai hero.

Ubisoft deciding to focus on Yasuke — a known historical figure — is a smart move. An Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan that otherwise would have been, frankly, hard to distinguish from some other recent open-world samurai games. And if I wanted to see an Asian samurai protagonist I don’t have to look very hard.

Asian samurai protagonists are a path already well-trodden. There’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Katana Zero, Like A Dragon: Ishin!, Samurai Warriors, Rise of the Ronin, Onimusha, Way of the Samurai, Way of the Samurai 2, Ghost of Tsushima… There’s also my personal favorite, Muramasa: The Demon Blade. I can go on and on. So it’s difficult to come to any other conclusion than that the limited imagination of AAA game development can only envision Asian heroes when they wield katanas or ninja stars.

Worse still, the complex characters that were so wonderfully brought to life in shows like Shogun are often distilled into their simplest forms in games, especially those created by Western studios. While Japanese developer-led titles like Sekiro and Like a Dragon: Ishin utilize their samurai protagonists to tell nuanced stories about overcoming fantastical challenges, or provide a glimpse of street-level heroics in Edo Japan, the Western-developed games fail to hit a similar level of complexity, often falling back on tired tropes of honor and stoicism.

And that’s only accounting for games that try to tell a story using their samurai protagonist. More often than not the samurai archetype is a vehicle for combat first, eschewing any kind of narrative flavor for a cool sword and top-knot. Consider hero games like Overwatch that feature two kinds of samurai, and a ninja, for their Japanese cast. And all flowers to Ghost of Tsushima for its beautifully rendered open world and combat, but Jin Sakai has about as much charisma as a wet piece of cloth.

[Nate Grey]

Is he still in the game? I'm noticing subsequent trailers are focusing on other characters.

[Username taken]

Is he still in the game? I'm noticing subsequent trailers are focusing on other characters.

Is it Yasuke? He's still in the game.

[Username taken]

An Asian-American IGN writer's perspective on the Assassin's Creed Shadows backlash.

The controversy is all manner of weird. The chuds have completely ignored that the game will have an Asian female protagonist but I guess she doesn't count because she's female.

Interestingly, it appears the Japanese aren't even the ones actually bothered (my understanding is that it's pre-sales are topping Amazon's sales charts in Japan), it's some dorks pretending to be Japanese. It was so serious that they tried to edit Yasuke's Wikipedia page and the guys had to lock the page. The giveaway was how the guys LARPIng as Japanese guys wrote out the language, it was clearly Google translate. Some of the sentences read like "my name is John and I'm of Nebraska descent" because the idiots writing this stuff were clearly not from Japan. Throw in the fact that Ubisoft actually worked with a Japanese historian who's actually from Japan (and is getting racially abused mind you), then you realize this is some ugly stuff.

Beyond that, it was the Japanese that wrote about Yasuke and not some dorks on the internet. He's also been featured in a number of Japanese games and they have depicted him as a Samurai numerous times. This particular controversy just exposed a lot of chuds as just being racist. Like I said earlier, IGN US rarely make forceful statements like this, the controversy is too blatantly racist and misogynistic.

The annoying thing is that all this is making a lot of people (myself included) that had given up on the AC franchise defend them. Ubisoft games are micotransaction ridden bloat that take hours and hours to finish. I'd told myself I won't buy another Ubisoft game after Far Cry 6 but he we are.