No future?

The words: Bishojo and Eroge are familiar to many outside Japan.
Well, on account of recent media attention on regulation issues, or otherwise.
But one can barely get insight into the related industry, or a company thereof. LASS boss honestly shares his first hand experience. He covers many topics like the hardships of working in Japan, his worries of the future – and more.

:First we ask about LASS. You released your first game, – A calling from tears – in 2003 and have been expanding since. 11eyes is your fourth project for PC and 360, released this year. How did you start LASS, what was the first step of making a calling from tears?

Tsurugi Mana: I started up the company, took care of finances and recruited staff.
I loved to create games and rules when I was in elementary school. In junior high I made PC games.
I worked part time at a game producing company where I learnt a lot. At one stage I worked at a non-game company where unexpectedly made some extra money. Using those funds I set up LASS at the same time.
One member, LEGIOn ex-classmate works as scenario writer. The rest I recruited on the internet. I think the staff is quite a mish-mash. Everybody was new to this business. I still have this feeling every now and then.

:What was the hardest thing when you started?

TM: Just about everything (bitter smile)
It was like fumbling around. Personally, the hardest thing was how to handle people as I did it for the first time in my life. When suddenly you become the boss, it does not mean that your colleagues would lend an ear to your word.

:This question is a bit similar to the first. What made you join the game development community?

TM: Simply put: I love it, it was my dream to do so. I tried to quit once, however I could not let it go.

:What are the advantages and disadvantages of a small business? (How) do you plan to expand?

TM: Advantages: 1. low costs (personnel expenses etc). 2. easy to reach consensus 3. transparency
4. lower operational risk
Disadvantages: 1. our productivity is limited 2. lack of fresh input (similar ideas come up often)  3.
vulnerable to sudden changes (sick leave, resignation)
At present we have a staff of eight and can hire two or three more people tops as that is the max number of people I can manage. I would probably change my mind if I met a reliable person who is producer material. At the present stage we do not have such a person but me so I have to manage the company to the best of my abilities. I need to do a job that one hundred percent suits me for the long run.

:Your motto is “user friendly”. How do you do that in particular?

TM: For us user friendly means providing service that meets our clients’ needs.
We are very conscious of what we are producing for whom.

:LASS is based in Tokyo. What is the downside/upside of the location?

TM: The good: 1. Akihabara is there (research/business) 2. convenient to meet up with magazine people 3. it is a huge pool of useful information 4. recruiting staff is easy
The bad: high prices

:Let us continue with your games. Please talk about 11eyes (released in April in Japan) and introduce it to our non-Japanese readers.

TM: It is an adventure game (AVG), more precisely a visual novel. The protagonist after loosing his parents as a child is raised with the older sister and a childhood friend in an orphanage. For unknown reasons the sister commits suicide and he sees no longer reason to live. The friend has always been there for him so he can make it to the university. One day suddenly they find themselves in a world under a red sky and a black moon. It is hardly different from the world they have known, except for there are no other humans but black shadow-like monsters wandering around. A shadow draws closer and is about to attack when a beauty with a Japanese sword comes to the rescue and cuts the monster into two. She turns out to be their senior from the university. The three characters with special abilities each try to figure out why they got there and how could they escape. Action and romantic elements build up the game.
Of course, as it is a bishōjo game, the player must be on good terms with the ladies.

:11eyes features attractive females by nature of its genre (shōjo means young girls in Japanese). However, the reviews praise not only its visuals but the combat system and the scenario too. What part do you want to make different in your works? Or is it the whole package?

TM: Honestly, I have no idea. We fuse the clients’ expectations and our vision to the highest possible degree, that’s all. Better yet, I think it is our competitive spirit combined with scenario writer LEGIOn’s rebellious attitude towards me, the producer. That is our originality.

:Your games have SF setting (world sank into water, three day time loop, a parallel universe tainted with bloody skies etc.)…

TM: 80 percent of bishojo games are based on themes like school, love, cheerfulness, crush, sweetness but LEGIOn and I think that these are too fancy, too sweet “pastries”. That’s fine but the two of us prefer a bowl of noodles. So we are offering this dish. There are so many patisseries out there, do we need another one? (laughs)
All stories are by LEGIOn, I add my own ideas.

:11 eyes was released on 360 too. Did this influence somehow the production (for instance did Microsoft inflict any limitations)? And why did you choose this format, was it a technical decision?

TM: The specs of home consoles are lower so we had to omit a number of things of the PC version.
The difference in the aspect ratio meant that we had to change from 4:3 to 16:9.
The rating was changed from over 18 to over 15 so the sex and other disturbing scenes had to be cut out. Since we had to delete so much we wanted to make it up with introducing new characters and scenes. 360 seemed easy to develop for. The developing company had already had successful console ports.
PS2 is past generation, retailers expressed their non-interest in games for it and PS3 has been on the market anyways. Supposing that the PS2 market was shrinking we discussed the option of PS3. The developing partner had problems with the price of the SDK and its technology. Wii did not seem like a feasible option. LASS went for 360.

: Do you think in other formats?

TM: The PSP port due by the end of the year has been decided. It would be great to make a DS game with a touch pen in focus. A multiplayer mobile game seems to be interesting.

:Can you share behind the scene moment(s) with the fans?

TM: I think there was quite a lot but I forgot all. Sorry.
All I can recall is that it was tough from the get-go.

: Do you plan overseas releases of 11 eyes or other titles?

TM: We do not plan to localize the PC versions of our games.
Unlike in Japan, sensual images and bishojo games are looked down upon overseas on ethical considerations. Being a small company, we do not have the time to research the values, ways of thinking and the legal regulations of each country.
So based on all this, we are not able to focus on anything but the domestic regulations thus only the domestic market remains.

:It is a delicate matter. There has been a lot of criticism worldwide about Japanese eroge because of a certain software. Do you think it is a threat to LASS? Please let us know your opinion on the topic unrestrained, not minding the international audience. Let us suppose eroge would be generally prohibited. What kind of games would you like to make then?

TM: It is a serious threat.
At the moment, various industries’ fate is hanging in the balance as a result of foreign influence.
The international community points out that the Japanese domestic regulations are not prohibitive enough. In response, our government is considering to implement the strictest guidelines. This step would threaten to change the fundaments of industry, possibly the manga-anime culture could suffer its consequences of the worst case scenario. Should this happen, our company would have two options: A. being liquidation and B. accept the regulations and coming up with new kind of games. We’ll have to wait and see.

:Can you give practical advices to people considering enlisting to the industry?

TM: Maybe it is disappointing but don’t go to an interview with the sentiment “My dream is to make a game” written all over you. Because you will end up average joe.
I do not want people leave the industry with a bad taste in their mouths. As working here would mean that you have to face the less attractive side of making games and I want people to enjoy games all through their lives, no matter what.  These days the industry is tapering off little by little. At most of the bishojo companies the salaries are so low that people can hardly make ends meet. We have this class. In fact, companies are not able to carry such burden. How could we honestly say with open arms “Welcome!” when this industry is without guarantees and future? After all this, if there is anyone who can say that “Yes, I still want to make my game even though I have to face hardships and poverty” and this person is ready to pay the price of pleasing our audience then that person is very welcome. With such attitude you could save this industry from the brink of extinction. This is the most important.
Of course, I was only talking about Japan. I wonder what the situation is overseas….?

:Finally, do you have a message to our non-Japanese readers?

TM: Hello everyone, thanks for reading.
First, let me express our gratitude to fans of Japanese Anime, Manga and Bishojo games.
The love of games feels the same everywhere. I hope you could make use of my answers.
Now the situation is difficult, however I hope that one day our games would be enjoyed in many countries. And I would like to play bishojo games you make.
I wish that this industry and the love of the games would last forever.

:Thank you very much. We wish you the best.