Dragons Crown is a game being published by Vanillaware that has gotten a lot of controversy and hate because of it’s sorceress character which many find too sexual and as Kotaku puts it “designed by a 14-year-old boy“.

Very few of these people actually comment on the range of player choices which go from sexual busty woman to a burly muscular woman, to a burly muscular guy, to a long haired beautiful man.

What makes a sexual character bad? much like Penny Arcades depiction many people would say this male depiction is over sexualized or ridiculous but I would still play a game where that chracter existed.  Infact I have played some more adult games including one which had a male character whose penis and balls were so big they had to be carried in a wheel barrow.

But truth be told women don’t want that specifically.  Many women want effeminate men, men who have kissable lips, maybe a good smile.  Well women are “offended” by the sexuality of the sorceress character and being seen as sex object.  I am a male to female transgender, in mid transition, I am rejecting the male role in many ways including physically.  I personally am “offended” by characters like Kratos and manly men.  I am offended by the amount of guns and glorified violence in games, but I never once said that these companies shouldn’t make games like that.  The kotaku article mentioned being ashamed to be seen commuting or in public playing a game with a sexual character like the sorceress.  Well I would be more ashamed to be seen shooting people with a gun in a first person game like call of duty or halo then I would be playing a game like dragons crown.  There is a place for all art, for all sexuality not just the most PC appropriate ones.

I feel this comes dangerously close to Slut Shaming which is far worse problem in my opinion. We are judging a game, an artwork, a person on how they dress and their opinions on sex.  A woman should be able to dress any way she wants and not be ridiculed for it.  Baggy clothes, an evening dress, short shorts, what ever.  She should not be harrased or looked down on.  The same thing goes for art, a game should be able to express it self how it wants without being shamed for it., if you look past the one character you will see this game is full of Epic Homages, the amount of historical and pop culture references just in the first trailer are astounding.  There is a lot here to be appreciated that many people won’t see because they are not adult enough to look beyond an exaggerated character.

The point of the matter is the lead artist George Kamitani also happens to be the president of Vanillaware. This is self censorship, we are censoring our media and not letting an artist express him self. Maybe his vaguely gay jab at the Kotaku articles author was a bit much, but the truth is we should be able to have gay, lesbian, straight, sexy to women, sexy to men, all of that in our industry.

What we need is a better culture and society that isn’t childish about sex, porn, and the naked body.  We should be able to put out games that have beautiful kissable men, we should be able to put out games where the hero is a coward, a man who is not afraid to cry.  But the truth is that sex and violence sells.  I would love to see less games with guns on the cover when I go into a store, maybe I want that more then you want to see less games with sexy women on the cover.

Back to the Sorceress

Taken from a post on kotaku which you can see here

Do you want to know why the Sorceress has large breasts?

First, let’s take a look at previous Vanillaware game. In Odin Sphere, the Queen of the Underworld has very large breasts:

In Grim Grimoire, the professor of Necromancy Opalneria Rain and former Necromancy professor Lujie Piche (a ghost), are both the largest breasted women in the game:

… and in Dragon’s Crown, the skeleton summoning sorceress is also well endowed:

What they all have in common, along with their large breasts is their mastery ofNecromancy. All of these women of Vanillaware can raise the dead. Let me state the obvious, the functional purpose of breasts in mammals is to provide milk for offspring, they give life. George Kamitani uses this motif for his characters who give life to the dead.

George Kamitani is taking the traditional ‘Fertility Goddess’ motif of breasts, and applying it to necromancy. That is really cool. And to round that out, some images of ancient fertility goddesses:

Fertility goddess from the from the palace ofKnossos. Heraklion, 1000BCE

Artemis of Ephesus, a fertility goddess if you couldn’t tell, 100CE

Breasts are a reocurring motif of fertility goddesses, of life givers. In the world of Vanillaware, the power of Necromancy is the power to give life

But I just want to add. Take a look at that Sorceress picture with the skeleton. Look at how tenderly she is holding the skull, pressed to her bosom as the skeleton is infused with life once more. 

The Sorceress is making sure to support the skeleton’s head properly, which is actual advice on how to hold a newborn baby


Have you ever seen a more motherlydepiction of Necromancy? THAT is just part of the many things that make Dragon’s Crown amazing.

*look at how raising the dead is usually depicted in fantasy:

A man COMMANDING the dead to return to battle

Look at how Necromancers are usually depicted:

OLD MEN

George Kamitani has done something very interesting with a very classic trope of fantasy, one dominated by ancient dried up old men that command, and he’s turned it into the domain of young women whonurture!

At the end of the day, and the end of this post.  I feel the problem has more to do with society’s opinion on sex and on women.  I feel that a cosplayer who is dressed up in a skimpy out fit should not be harassed  a woman dressed in a provocative outfit should not be harassed, a man who is dressed like a woman should not be harassed, and a video game which depicts sexual characters or violent characters should have the same freedom from harassment.  That artists, games, media should be able to express them selves and cater to people who want sexy girls, people who want to shoot other people,  Art shouldn’t be restricted by society and games ARE art.  They are an expression.  If you don’t like a painting that is your opinion,  if you don’t like a game it is the same.  There should be more games for girls, don’t get me wrong, girls should be able to feel powerful and be a part of the industry.  But the right way to do that is by providing MORE games and MORE art, not by shaming things that aren’t PC into nonexistence.