It is easy to overlook that, earlier than the discharge of its first seaside volleyball spin-off, the Lifeless or Alive sequence have been taken pretty critically as combating video games. We could have joked concerning the ridiculous jiggle physics, however the unique was nonetheless thought-about a good successor to Virtua Fighter 2.
These days, in fact, the Lifeless or Alive sequence is a joke, promising that new entries will probably be much less jiggly, then turning round and flogging dozens of bikini, maid, and schoolgirl costumes as DLC. Which is why it is so absurd to learn Tomotoshi Nishimura, the chief in command of Koei Tecmo’s authorized affairs division, say they’d no selection however to take motion in opposition to fan artwork that may harm the picture of the Lifeless or Alive forged—as a result of their creators’ consider them “like daughters”.
The precise phrase used within the unique Japanese is musume, which might imply “younger woman” in addition to “daughter”, however not solely is that also creepy on this context, it is a dated and overly formal use of the phrase. Nishimura virtually definitely means “daughter” right here.
Nishimura was talking at a panel on mental property rights held at Tokyo Esports Festa, as reported by Recreation Watch. Whereas he defined the corporate was grateful to its followers, and even sponsored the doujinshi conference Comiket, he additionally stated between 200 and 300 Lifeless or Alive doujinshi obtainable on-line had been suspended following authorized motion—in a single case for utilizing artwork from a sport but to be launched. Nishimura additionally stated that Koei Tecmo takes motion in opposition to between 2,000 and three,000 works of fan artwork posted to social media and artist neighborhood Pixiv annually.
Additional explaining the corporate’s stance, Nishimura instructed that some grownup Lifeless or Alive fan artwork may harm the characters’ picture, and that picture wanted to be protected as a result of different corporations produced official merchandise of these characters. But in addition, , the daughter factor.
It isn’t the primary time we have heard of Koei Tecmo taking authorized motion to guard the virtuous girls of Lifeless or Alive. In 2021 it sued the producers of a DVD that used footage from nude mods. In the meantime, the following sport within the sequence will probably be Venus Trip Prism: Lifeless or Alive Xtreme, a courting sim with a pictures mode, which is able to solely be launched in choose Asian nations.
