@BestGirlGrace okay yeah that makes sense

since yeah, it's just. the most japanese los angeles imaginable

why didn't the localisation just not change the setting,

@00dani @BestGirlGrace because it wasn't clear in aa1 how big of a deal it would be

@monorail @00dani yeah, they had to choose a time zone for the first game, and didn't realize that things would get Even More Japanese

@monorail @00dani you know this ancient matrilineal channeling tradition? well, their village is a three-hour train ride from LA. anyways, about the popular seinen series and masked wrestling tradition-

@monorail @BestGirlGrace wait, how did they not realise though

by the time they started localising the games, aa2 and aa3 already existed in japanese too? ​

@00dani @monorail I don't think they planned on the series taking off, honestly

japanese visual novels weren't quite as popular in the states in 2005

@BestGirlGrace @00dani @monorail los japangeles

@BestGirlGrace @00dani yeah i wouldn't be surprised if the localization team didn't even get to look at aa2 and 3

@BestGirlGrace @00dani in fact i'd be pretty surprised if they d id

@monorail @00dani honestly, even if they did, I'm not sure setting it in Japan would have been an option

@monorail @00dani like, they localized Maya's preferred food to hamburgers for a reason

@BestGirlGrace @monorail wait, what was the reason

it's always struck me as weird and incongruous

@00dani @monorail they figured american audiences in 2005 wouldn't know what ramen is and so on

@BestGirlGrace @monorail jeepers

wtf was going on in 2005

@BestGirlGrace @monorail also why not just localise them to "noodles", like basically happened in the fourth game

@00dani @monorail i guess they wanted to paint Maya differently

they were already rewriting large chunks of the dialog, might as well give her a taste for hamburgers, because she's an american teenager

@00dani @BestGirlGrace because it doesn't really matter for the plot and americans can easily relate to people who love burgers

@00dani @BestGirlGrace @monorail in 2005, literally every single american child had ramen as a regular snack,,, that’s what was going on 😐

(…okay, Celiac Georg didn’t, but they’re an outlier)

@monorail @BestGirlGrace @00dani i do know 2 was released in japan w its english translation already within the game (thats how i played!) And as i recall they threw in a fresh prince of bel air ref so i guess whoever was lead was a 4chan weeb living in japan

@hi_cial @monorail @BestGirlGrace wait really? i thought they released the first three games in japanese only at first, for the game boy advance?

and then they made ds ports and localised the games at the same time, right?

@hi_cial @monorail @00dani yeah, they sure do keep throwing in extremely topical references

I know for 1, they did two english translations: one for Japanese audience as an English learning aid, and one, later, localization that got released in the States

@BestGirlGrace @monorail @00dani i guess thats how 2 was too? Its hard for me to remember localization hitches when my wonderful hero gumshoe is making his peepo mascot knockoff

@BestGirlGrace @hi_cial @00dani there's a "this is sparta!" joke in one of them

@monorail @BestGirlGrace @hi_cial case 3-3 and i hate it so much

@00dani @BestGirlGrace @hi_cial hmmmm no it's good

@monorail @BestGirlGrace @hi_cial holly no

@00dani @monorail @hi_cial https://social.illegalpornography.com/@BestGirlGrace/105235886270121514

@BestGirlGrace @monorail @hi_cial i literally didn't understand that reference

@00dani @monorail @hi_cial yeah, because it was a hot thing for, like, two months in 2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Shake_(meme)#/media/File:Worldwide_Web_Search_Interest_for_Harlem_Shake_February-April_2013.png

@BestGirlGrace @00dani @hi_cial and then it came back as a meme at right around the right time for that to be a reference someone makes in-universe, it was perfect

@BestGirlGrace @monorail @hi_cial i kinda assumed the point is that grossberg is an old stuffy dude who doesn't keep up with the latest memes

@00dani @monorail @hi_cial i mean, yes, it makes sense for Grossberg to try to relate to Mia with this

but Mia also says, like, "I see whose milkshake brings all the boys to the yard", so

@BestGirlGrace @monorail @hi_cial mia liked the actual song i reckon

@00dani @BestGirlGrace @hi_cial i actually like the alternative implication that grossberg is up on the current memes and mia still thinks the milkshake song is funny

@monorail @00dani @hi_cial

Trials and Tribulations localization: 2007
Harlem Shake (Meme): 2013
Milkshake: 2003

Wait a minute

@monorail @BestGirlGrace @00dani .... i had students shout that every time we did numbers & "900" came up so i guess it was v popular in japan

@hi_cial @BestGirlGrace @00dani that's wild because in america the movie was called 300

@monorail @BestGirlGrace @00dani oh whatever number it was, i have dyscalculia so numbers just become a hazy mess to me

@hi_cial @BestGirlGrace @00dani oh i'm sorry i didn't know

@monorail @BestGirlGrace @00dani no worries lol