Content Warning: The final paragraph of this review contains discussion of assault.
At the risk of generalization, erogē of the 1980s centered on the gendered power dynamics of sex. As such, we must always consider that the protagonists tended to be male and the romances were heterosexual. Female characters are not only presented as goals to be conquered but characters whose lack of autonomy becomes a recurring subject of these games. Given that narratives and character writing were rather sparse until Dōkyūsei (Elf, 1992), we are left with a troubling library of rather poorly written games whose only merit may be their technical artistry.1 These games then are about affirming masculinity through sexual conquest. It is with these points in mind that we arrive to JAST’s debut, The Afternoon of Angels (天使たちの午後, 1985). Released only two months after Enix’s own Tokyo Nanpa Street (Tokyo ナンパストリート , 1985), The Afternoon of Angels opts for a text-based command approach, one whose choice of words affirms the argument I have proposed here.
Players take on the role of an unnamed protagonist, a male high school student whose defining characteristics are being part of the computer club and being in love with the school’s tennis star, Yumiko Shiraishi (白石 由美子). One day, the protagonist stumbles onto a discarded note whose contents reveal that the Yumiko is supposedly in a strange relationship. Determined to uncover the truth, the protagonist sets out to solve the mystery surrounding Yumiko.
The Afternoon of Angels is a linear and simple. The game presents a list of commands that players can type, such as “move forward” (前に行く), “search” (探す), and “open” (あける). In reality, the majority of the presented commands will never be used. The game is confined to a handful of areas and progress is gated by a very specific set of actions. If players are lost, it is not so much an issue of where to go but more so what to do. Returning home from school, the protagonist sits in their bedroom where several objects sit in view, including a computer and desk. The computer must be turned on by typing, “use personal computer,” (まいこんつかう) yet the verb “use” (つかう) remains absent from the list of presented commands, meaning that players who forego the use of a guide will have to experiment with a list of possible actions to take. Progressing forward becomes a question of what JAST wants the player to do, what they expect the player to do, and how the game may accommodate for alternative approaches. As the above example perhaps illustrates, the solutions are typically straightforward.
At other times, they are frustrating enough that I had to play a different version of the game altogether. Initial releases for The Afternoon of Angels were for the PC-88, PC-98, MSX, and Sharp X1 computer systems. I had begun with the PC-98 version of the game but turned towards a guide for the PC-88 version when necessary. It was not until the very end of the game that I realized there might be an actual difference between both versions. The final encounter centers on having sex with Yumiko. In order to receive the “True End,” the player must bring Yumiko to orgasm in four commands:
1. Rub Breasts (むねもむ)
2. Rub Breasts
3. Touch Breasts (むねさわる)
4. Suck Breasts (むねなめる)
There is at least one other command available, “Kiss Yumiko” (ゆみこきすする) but this does not seem to affect progression. On the PC-98 version, “Touch Breasts” never worked, no matter the permutation. “Yumiko Touch” (さわるゆみこ), “Breasts Touch” (さわるむね), “Touch Yumiko” (ゆみこさわる). I repeatedly checked as to whether I was correctly spelling “Touch.” I turned to what scant playthroughs of the game exist online to see how players solved this puzzle only to repeatedly encounter the PC-88 version where the command seemed to work. Finally giving up, I switched to the PC-88 version where I was able to complete the game. Perhaps due to the game’s age and obscurity, I could find no additional information on the PC-98 version. It could very well be the case that the command needed to progress can be found in the game’s original manual, and on this point, it is worth mentioning that none of the commands used here are listed within the game itself. Ultimately, I remain open to there having been an alternative solution.
Like Tokyo Nanpa Street and the earlier work of Tadashi Makimura (better known under his penname, どろんぱ), The Afternoon of Angels emphasizes the process of animated drawing—stepping into a new area means slowly watching the scene unfold as details are sketched in. Furthermore, there is a slight cinematic quality to the usage of commands, one that differs from Tokyo Nanpa Street’s usage of montage. Taking the perspective of the protagonist, the camera in The Afternoon of Angels accentuates the expressions of its female cast. For example, on a hiking trip with a group of friends, the protagonist rides a boat with his classmate Yoko Ikeda (池田 洋子). Arriving to a dock, in order to proceed, players must first move forward. Once on board, the camera holds Yoko in the center of a medium shot. This is then followed by a “look” (見る) action which causes the camera to move in on Yoko’s face for a close-up. That close-up becomes an artistic opportunity to showcase the details of Yoko’s face—the shimmer of her eye, her open-part smile, and the gaps between her bangs. Later on, this same maneuver is repeated once more with another classmate, Naoko Honma (本間 直子). With regard for its use of the close-up then, The Afternoon of Angels may be to early erogē what Carl Theodor Dryer’s Joan of Arc (1920) was to cinema. Tokyo Nanpa Street may animate its characters facial expressions—an element absent here—but the camera positioning undoubtedly draws players to the characters. What we have then between Tokyo Nanpa Street and The Afternoon of Angels are some of the earliest attempts in eliciting the romantic affect in players that would come to define bishōjo games.
What ultimately remains troubling about The Afternoon of Angels is its command for sex: “okasu” (おかす). While the kanji spelling is absent from the game, it likely refers to “犯す” which is the verb for “rape.” As players progress through the game, they will come across the cast of female characters who can all be assaulted by typing in “okasu.” This is entirely optional and players can abstain from this action. That is until they meet Yumiko at the end of the game. The protagonist finds Yumiko nursing a drink at the disco and the two leave shortly thereafter. They briefly discuss Yumiko’s secret before ending up at a love hotel. There, players will have to first shower before they can attempt to bed Yumiko. It is all the more strange then that the narrative and the required actions frame this moment as consensual yet when it is time to have sex with Yumiko, it is only possible to proceed by typing “okasu.” Despite the atmosphere leaning towards what we would now understand as a “dating-sim,” The Afternoon of Angels fails to consider the perspective of its female characters and fails to consider sex as anything more than assault, an act of violence to be carried out against another body. The narrative passes moral judgement (and physical punishment) on one male character for their sexual transgressions but ultimately allows the protagonist the ability to skirt moral responsibility. This is less Sadeian and Bataillian than it is a third-rate pink film.
- Motonaga Masaki (元長柾木) has even gone as far as arguing that bishōjo games did not exist prior to Dōkyūsei. See “In Retrospect: The Festival Began and The End of an Era” (回想ー（祭りが始まり、時代が終わった）in The Critical Point of Bishōjo Games (美少女ゲームの臨界点). ↩︎