Tales of Arise is poised to be a big breakout for the Tales series. It's reviewing well, scoring well, all that.
With this rise in acclaim, it stands to reason that the series should, in turn, evolve and become its best self
Unfortunately, Tales of Arise holds itself back in one regard: the game still indulges in the tradition of the hot springs scene, a comedy trope mired in sexism and objectification.
You can watch them here, there's two, one where the male party members are bathing and one where the female party members are the bathers.
To TL;DR anyone who doesn't want to subject themselves to it, the first scene features the men of the party bathing when the protagonist, Alphen, leaves to ask Shionne, one of the women, for an item that will heat up the bath more. He accidentally leaves his towel behind and exposes himself to the women. In the second scene, the women are bathing and two of the men, Law and Dohalim, are trying to peek on them. Alphen objects, and the all three of them get zapped by a magic spell. Both Law and Dohalim portray peeping as "a rite of manhood" and such.
I shouldn't have to explain why either of these scenes are unfunny and gross but there's a number of things with these scene that particularly stand out to me.
The first is some of the character ages here. Rinwell, the mage girl, is 14, the youngest in the party. Dohalim, the red headed man, is the oldest member of the party, is a 28 year old man. While "perverted older party member" isn't a new trope, it's still certainly an unwelcome one, and one that needs to be called out and moved past.
Furthermore, one of the game's ideas of a joke is Rinwell, who I have to emphasize is 14 year old, a literal child, being exposed to a grown man's genitals. Even accidentally, this is a traumatic experience for a child and can be pretty damaging for people in real life. As unfortunate as it is, I do have a friend that was triggered by the scene, as it forcibly dredged up a memory of her being sexually harassed at 13 by a flasher. Other women in my sphere of acquaintances have said that the scene had a similar effect for them as well, forcibly reminding them of unpleasant situations in which they were harassed.
(the following convo screen is being posted with permission)
Similarly, the game goes out of its way to show you Rinwell's shock and confusion at this unsolicited pair of dick and balls that she was made to witness.
This sort of humor is not only worn-out, gross, and tasteless, it is genuinely harmful and I do think that Bandai Namco ought to be called out for their carelessness.
Furthermore, the sexism at play in the second scene epitomizes the sort of toxic masculinity that is, has been, and will continue to be a massive problem that women face, and it does nothing but reflect poorly on the game, its writers, and their characters. Why would we want to like a pair of men who view sexual harassment as a man's right?
With these issues being relevant now more than ever, in all parts of the world, this sort of writing is simply indefensible and cannot stand for a series that seeks to become more prolific than its ever been.
If you plan on buying Tales of Arise, please don't turn a blind eye to these sorts of things. The Tales games are known for being Very Anime and tropey as hell, but this kind of tired, harmful writing cannot be tolerated. Please make your voices heard that this is not content that should be in the series, and that Bandai Namco and those working on the series need to do better.
With this rise in acclaim, it stands to reason that the series should, in turn, evolve and become its best self
Unfortunately, Tales of Arise holds itself back in one regard: the game still indulges in the tradition of the hot springs scene, a comedy trope mired in sexism and objectification.
You can watch them here, there's two, one where the male party members are bathing and one where the female party members are the bathers.
To TL;DR anyone who doesn't want to subject themselves to it, the first scene features the men of the party bathing when the protagonist, Alphen, leaves to ask Shionne, one of the women, for an item that will heat up the bath more. He accidentally leaves his towel behind and exposes himself to the women. In the second scene, the women are bathing and two of the men, Law and Dohalim, are trying to peek on them. Alphen objects, and the all three of them get zapped by a magic spell. Both Law and Dohalim portray peeping as "a rite of manhood" and such.
I shouldn't have to explain why either of these scenes are unfunny and gross but there's a number of things with these scene that particularly stand out to me.
The first is some of the character ages here. Rinwell, the mage girl, is 14, the youngest in the party. Dohalim, the red headed man, is the oldest member of the party, is a 28 year old man. While "perverted older party member" isn't a new trope, it's still certainly an unwelcome one, and one that needs to be called out and moved past.
Furthermore, one of the game's ideas of a joke is Rinwell, who I have to emphasize is 14 year old, a literal child, being exposed to a grown man's genitals. Even accidentally, this is a traumatic experience for a child and can be pretty damaging for people in real life. As unfortunate as it is, I do have a friend that was triggered by the scene, as it forcibly dredged up a memory of her being sexually harassed at 13 by a flasher. Other women in my sphere of acquaintances have said that the scene had a similar effect for them as well, forcibly reminding them of unpleasant situations in which they were harassed.
(the following convo screen is being posted with permission)
Similarly, the game goes out of its way to show you Rinwell's shock and confusion at this unsolicited pair of dick and balls that she was made to witness.
This sort of humor is not only worn-out, gross, and tasteless, it is genuinely harmful and I do think that Bandai Namco ought to be called out for their carelessness.
Furthermore, the sexism at play in the second scene epitomizes the sort of toxic masculinity that is, has been, and will continue to be a massive problem that women face, and it does nothing but reflect poorly on the game, its writers, and their characters. Why would we want to like a pair of men who view sexual harassment as a man's right?
With these issues being relevant now more than ever, in all parts of the world, this sort of writing is simply indefensible and cannot stand for a series that seeks to become more prolific than its ever been.
If you plan on buying Tales of Arise, please don't turn a blind eye to these sorts of things. The Tales games are known for being Very Anime and tropey as hell, but this kind of tired, harmful writing cannot be tolerated. Please make your voices heard that this is not content that should be in the series, and that Bandai Namco and those working on the series need to do better.
