![]() ![]() She makes me feel like her kind of life is maybe attainable, one day, somehow. In a world where I can speak to being harassed more frequently than I used to, Erica is comfort food for me. She “passes” perfectly, freely explores her sexuality on her own terms, and is respected as a woman by the world at large. In many ways, she’s actually the exact kind of trans character that the transgender community needs more of, with a lot of mainstream depictions (like Boys Don’t Cry, Dallas Buyer’s Club, Orange Is The New Black, Girl, and even Assassination Nation) offering little in the way of respite from our occasionally fraught and frequently frustrating existences.Įrica’s daily life seems barely affected by her existence as a trans woman. Her depiction is very adjacent to the titular trans character in 1981’s Stop, Hibari-kun! in that sense. Players aren’t privy to harassment she faces in her day-to-day life, nor do they see any form of intense suffering or bodily harm inflicted upon her, nor do they ever get a glimpse of what she was like “as a boy.” Instead, Erica is plainly presented as Erica – with one offhand mention of her birth name delivered by Toby near the end of the game. Fun! But it’s necessary for me to say this, because I feel the need to push back against the widespread vitriol surrounding Erica and her characterization, and to a lesser extent, Vincent’s deliberately flawed depiction.Įrica is a character who very much isn’t defined by any kind of trauma – other than her aforementioned breakup. Full disclosure – I’m a trans woman myself, which means I’m opening up a whole new avenue for harassment with this article. Yet something hasn’t ever sat right with me about any of this. The transgender antichrist was coming back, it seemed, and only the hottest of takes could stop it. When a remaster of the game was announced, critics were quick to draft up longwinded think pieces (like this one,) angry tweet threads, and in some cases, wild speculation regarding the remaster’s perceived worsening of its trans representation. Prominent peers in the industry often point to Erica as one of the most toxic portrayals of trans women to exist, period, full stop. ![]() In the end, not even the story was able to kept me hooked, I was playing in Japanese because there are SEVERAL voice actresses that you can pick to voice Catherine, I myself picked Mamiko Noto, but there are several other voices that give Catherine different vibes, which is really good, such a shame the English dub didn't do that.Now, before we go any further, it’s worth pointing out that Erica has been made out to be a pariah by much of the more progressive sphere of the internet. There are some NPCs that have stories of their own, but some of them are cringeworthy. Also the NPCs have some little importance, but it is annoying to listen to what they have to say because say an event X happens, most NPCs will talk about that event, so it is, once again, repetitive. Fella is open his heart and when his friends are asked about their lives they will try their best to avoid talking about it. However, what kept me hooked on was the story, but the thing is, I hate how Vincent overshares his life, when his friends are liptight. I found the puzzles quite boring and repetitive, each different night is the same things, the only difference is that you get a new type of block each night (a super heavy block, a block that crumbles, a trap block, a slippery block), in the end it doesn't even make that much different when doing the puzzles because it is just too simplistic. So, finally, I had the chance to play this game, not only that but in an upgraded version in Catherine: Full Body and I was disappointed. Until one day I have seen a gameplay and learnt it wasn't a visual novel, but a puzzle game that had only a few of its scenes as anime, the game is mostly CGI and the visual novel bit is quite secondary to the game, even though that is what will guide you to one of the several different endings the game has. When I first heard about Catherine I was very intrigued by the visual novel part of the game, it was the first time I saw anime as a video game, however I never had the opportunity to play it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |