Hi, I had the crazy idea for a mod that would completely overhaul the npcs of Stardew Valley, sprites, portraits, and names included, to make everything feel like an old fashioned country town in a Ghibli movie. I got the idea from the Japanese building mod, and felt Japanese npcs would make a good match for it. Now I'm the first person to admit that I'm a huge weeb, but I'm a respectful weeb, so I wouldn't want to do this if it made Japanese people (or Asian people in general) uncomfortable that a white person was trying to depict people of their culture. So I want to go over the concept and ask any Japanese people or those of Japanese descent how they feel about it. I know Japanese people aren't a hive mind and wont all have the same opinion, but It would be helpful to have a general idea. Here's some ideas that i had for the mod: -Anime style sprite and portrait overhaul. -Characters would have names changed. Names aren't set in stone, but I would research Japanese names to ensure they were authentic and not just "anime" and had similar meanings to their vanilla names. -Demetrius and Maru remain black, as black people do live in Japan, and I don't want to take away black representation. Maru wont need to have a name changed, since her name is already a Japanese one. They will still receive sprite and portrait overhauls to fit in with my art style. -All dialogue and festivals and such are otherwise unchanged. This wont be an actual "Everyone now lives in japan" mod, instead they're just a fantasy equivalent. -The bear becomes Totoro. -The Witch and Wizard would become a onibaba and shinto-esque priest (Idea is a wip and needs more thought). If you are Japanese or of Asian descent, or know someone who is, I would love to know your opinion on a mod like this, or how the concept could be improved. Feel free to comment and give me your thoughts!
i suppose my opinion is invalid since i am not japanese but maybe you should consider that not every japanese person should be represented through the lense of otaku culture? it feels a bit like having all americans be represented through country culture or the british represented through colonialism. sure there are some sorts who are comfortable with that but the greater majority are not represented at all and it's very reductionist and a bit much
That's very fair, but i must point out, I'm not changing the characters personalities in any way, only their appearances and names. And I am limited to only depicting a small number of people because of the small cast and small area that the game takes place in, it would be unreasonable to expect me to depict every different Japanese person ever.
