Most of the culture that’s popular in Japan right now, as I see it, is stuff China was already playing with centuries ago. Crossdressing boys go way back in Chinese opera — crowds of opera fans clapping and cheering for the cute boys on stage, striking poses no different from a bunch of otaku today wanking it to a girl with a dick on screen. Opera has scripts, staging, singing, acting. A pack of opera enthusiasts obsessed with one particular performer, addicted to his voice — isn’t that just the early ancestor of the CV fanatic? You pass an old man on the street holding a radio listening to opera — you gonna tell me he’s not listening to an audio drama? At the bottom of it all, the otaku type has always existed. It just keeps changing shape as history rolls on. I’m saying all this to make one point: China has its own style and culture, and in most respects there’s really no need to deliberately imitate someone else. Clumsy imitation only earns you a sigh and a “what the hell is this.” Which is exactly what I’m talking about with a visual novel called Akane印 (赤印)…