Relevent Infos
This is sort of an odds and ends post for Okita, to clarify some details for how I'm playing him and just to toss out how I'm handling some things for the time being. If anyone should have some relevant questions or critique to add, it is totally welcome and even invited.
So, in no particular order!
Historical Accuracy!
As may have been apparent from the fact I'm playing from an anime based on a dating sim, with oni and magical vampire medicine, Hakuouki isn't really a canon that prioritizes historical accuracy. It is historically accurate in a number of places, both detail and broad thrust, but at the end of the day, it's just not really a super historically accurate canon.
Now, this means I may find myself needing to do some research and making attempts to pass for reasonably historically accurate myself, from time to time. I'd say that already, Okita's had me doing more quick and dirty research on Google than any other single character I've ever had--mostly to do with Japanese history and tuberculosis. While I imagine that will decline as I end up learning this stuff, I still don't expect it to drop off entirely.
However, my general rule with playing and writing fan material is that I don't hold myself to a significantly higher standard of authenticity than the source does. This means that if it comes down to a conflict between being IC and being historically accurate, I'm going to choose IC. If it comes down to being fun or being historically accurate... well, in that case, which is more IC will probably be the deciding factor there too.
That doesn't mean I don't want to know if I'm making huge, egregious errors! It just means that, you know, yeah, I will be departing from history when and where it seems in keeping with canon, and I'm giving myself permission not to stress about that too much.
I mean. Mystical Dutch medicine.
Formality!
Related, I think. One departure that's just going to be there is going to deal with honorifics, I think. That's possibly not historical accuracy so much as linguistic accuracy, and probably not a huge deal considering how many anime and manga characters are ridiculously informal compared to real world situations.
I don't normally keep honorifics when I play. Neji and Ino, at this point, just lose them entirely in translation convention. "-sama" being the one exception, where Neji's family is concerned, because I feel that it adds something to his character. I don't speak Japanese myself--sorry, I opted for French instead--and generally speaking, I prefer not mess too much with things I don't feel confident in my ability to choose accurately.
However, contrary to most of my other characters, I feel like the honorifics add something to Okita's voice. I have a hard time picturing him speaking without them. So, in an attempt to stay in line with how I hear the character and prioritizing being IC, I'm going to try to play with them. I may, however, make mistakes. I also might seem to make mistakes because Okita's a tease and a bit of a troll, and one of the ways it feels natural to play with some characters is to be over-familiar with them. Again, that's a place I'm going to err toward what feels the most fun and IC over what might be the most correct usage.
Unfortunate Sexism (...As opposed to the fortunate type, I guess? So that's redundant.)
It's worth noting at this point, I think, that Okita might come off as a little condescending to some of the female characters he interacts with, particularly because they're somewhat more likely to be on the receiving end of a bit too much familiarity.
While Okita's not as bad as some of the other characters, and Japan at this period wasn't as totally and unrelievedly patriarchal as some people might imagine, when it comes down to it he's an 1) otome game character from 2) a patriarchal and less than gender-enlightened setting. While he was not, for example, totally shocked and scandalized that Raimei was a samurai considering her situation such as he'd know it from her and Saitou, he still wouldn't be inclined to take her as seriously as he might if she were male. That said, even were she male, he probably wouldn't take her super seriously. He's sort of an ass.
If his attitudes sometimes come off as a little out of date or biased, it's probably because they are. It doesn't really reflect my feeling. In the least. I just feel that this is probably the IC choice, rather than trying to sidestep his attitudes, both as they're shown in canon and as they can be inferred from his culture.
I may make exceptions from this should it put me in situations that get too overtly squicky. On the other hand, I've already sort of had to accept the fact that he doesn't see the problem with flirting with a fifteen year old girl. orz Dating sims character.
Because Death Threats are Funny!
I don't want the death threats to feel too gimmicky, so I'm trying not to use them ALL the time. Still, sometimes they seem appropriate. Sometimes they come up. Sometimes they come up more than once with the same character.
Okita's sense of humor tends to be bad, and tends to include saying some pretty callous or threatening things. He thinks it's funny, and it's also something of a coping mechanism for him. Things can only be so horrific if you can still joke about them, right?
I will try to mix this up, and adapt his humor in other ways.
He's a nice guy underneath it all, really, and not mean spirited. Just... mean.
And, yeah, he'd totally shank you if there's a reason for it, but not mean spirited.
Tragic and Beautiful TB Patient?
Y.
Okita has TB in camp. For the time being, I'm saying that between essentially being a vampire, even if kind of a fail version of one, and camp's tendency to put things in stasis will keep it from progressing too far, but it's still there, and times when he's not taking care of himself, it will get worse.
At some point before too long I'll probably start looking for a doctor for him, and my plan with that is that treatment will help mitigate the effects of his TB, but never cure him. All things considered, it would be strange for him not to have it. I think chances are that I'll end up playing him as relatively healthy in camp most of the time give or take some coughing/fatigue/sleepless nights/mild fever type symptoms periodically, with the occasional relapse possibly lurking in the wings for when I'm feeling my inner attention whore.
VAMPIRE >:E
Continuing with that vampire thing I mentioned before, Okita is technically what they're calling rasetsu in the anime/game. He isn't actually a demon, but no longer human. The deal is that, using Western Medicine, the Shogun was trying to create people with the strengths of oni. Particularly the healing factor. The experiment produced people who are significantly stronger and faster than human, and who heal exceptionally fast from wounds as long as they aren't made with silver. The process also creates a craving for blood. Rasetsu are weakened during the day, though they can go out in sunlight. They even turn to dust when they die, in the game. So, yeah, they're essentially vampires. I count them as vampires. They're openly called vampiric.
So.
In terms of power, they're far from the most badass vampires in camp though. Destroying any vital organ will kill them, plus that point I made before about silver. They can be, and are, killed by humans with relative ease when they go all bloodlust crazy, because there are (in fact) benefits to maintaining a certain degree of sanity.
Okita under control and able to channel his superior strength and speed into his exceptional sword skills? Fuckall dangerous to people with normal human capacities. But if he ever loses it, and his sword skills suffer, your standard issue badass normal should be able to handle taking him out.
If any of his powers and such should become particularly relevant, say for a fight or whatever, I can provide a more thorough explanation, but generally speaking, thinking of him as about half-vampire will give you a good idea of his strengths.
FAILPIRE DX
But that leaves his weaknesses. See, the rasetsu are sort of a failure. And a failure for reasons other than the obvious bloodlust debacle.
See, most vampires get to live forever at least. Rasetsu? Not so much. Indeed, being a vampire is very hard on an individual's body, and the more they use those powers (for instance, the extra healing), the more it shortens their life. So along with the TB, Okita's vampire healing fixing the TB is actually making his overall health worse.
Yeah.
Physically, he's in terrible shape, though again camp stepping in says this will only get so bad. I have yet to see how the anime will handle this, but my understanding from game summaries is that drinking Chizuru's blood helps with the TB thing to a degree, at least.
In camp, if he caves and drinks blood, it will help his heath to some degree. But his body will suffer for it, and I'll probably play out some negative consequences to these things if circumstances ever make it so he overuses that healing/strength/speed too much.
He does have a medicine that helps the blood cravings, though only in a limited supply in camp. This will also be something he will eventually have to consult a doctor about.
Aaaaand. I think that's it for now.
(Anyone want to be Okita's doctor?)
So, in no particular order!
Historical Accuracy!
As may have been apparent from the fact I'm playing from an anime based on a dating sim, with oni and magical vampire medicine, Hakuouki isn't really a canon that prioritizes historical accuracy. It is historically accurate in a number of places, both detail and broad thrust, but at the end of the day, it's just not really a super historically accurate canon.
Now, this means I may find myself needing to do some research and making attempts to pass for reasonably historically accurate myself, from time to time. I'd say that already, Okita's had me doing more quick and dirty research on Google than any other single character I've ever had--mostly to do with Japanese history and tuberculosis. While I imagine that will decline as I end up learning this stuff, I still don't expect it to drop off entirely.
However, my general rule with playing and writing fan material is that I don't hold myself to a significantly higher standard of authenticity than the source does. This means that if it comes down to a conflict between being IC and being historically accurate, I'm going to choose IC. If it comes down to being fun or being historically accurate... well, in that case, which is more IC will probably be the deciding factor there too.
That doesn't mean I don't want to know if I'm making huge, egregious errors! It just means that, you know, yeah, I will be departing from history when and where it seems in keeping with canon, and I'm giving myself permission not to stress about that too much.
I mean. Mystical Dutch medicine.
Formality!
Related, I think. One departure that's just going to be there is going to deal with honorifics, I think. That's possibly not historical accuracy so much as linguistic accuracy, and probably not a huge deal considering how many anime and manga characters are ridiculously informal compared to real world situations.
I don't normally keep honorifics when I play. Neji and Ino, at this point, just lose them entirely in translation convention. "-sama" being the one exception, where Neji's family is concerned, because I feel that it adds something to his character. I don't speak Japanese myself--sorry, I opted for French instead--and generally speaking, I prefer not mess too much with things I don't feel confident in my ability to choose accurately.
However, contrary to most of my other characters, I feel like the honorifics add something to Okita's voice. I have a hard time picturing him speaking without them. So, in an attempt to stay in line with how I hear the character and prioritizing being IC, I'm going to try to play with them. I may, however, make mistakes. I also might seem to make mistakes because Okita's a tease and a bit of a troll, and one of the ways it feels natural to play with some characters is to be over-familiar with them. Again, that's a place I'm going to err toward what feels the most fun and IC over what might be the most correct usage.
Unfortunate Sexism (...As opposed to the fortunate type, I guess? So that's redundant.)
It's worth noting at this point, I think, that Okita might come off as a little condescending to some of the female characters he interacts with, particularly because they're somewhat more likely to be on the receiving end of a bit too much familiarity.
While Okita's not as bad as some of the other characters, and Japan at this period wasn't as totally and unrelievedly patriarchal as some people might imagine, when it comes down to it he's an 1) otome game character from 2) a patriarchal and less than gender-enlightened setting. While he was not, for example, totally shocked and scandalized that Raimei was a samurai considering her situation such as he'd know it from her and Saitou, he still wouldn't be inclined to take her as seriously as he might if she were male. That said, even were she male, he probably wouldn't take her super seriously. He's sort of an ass.
If his attitudes sometimes come off as a little out of date or biased, it's probably because they are. It doesn't really reflect my feeling. In the least. I just feel that this is probably the IC choice, rather than trying to sidestep his attitudes, both as they're shown in canon and as they can be inferred from his culture.
I may make exceptions from this should it put me in situations that get too overtly squicky. On the other hand, I've already sort of had to accept the fact that he doesn't see the problem with flirting with a fifteen year old girl. orz Dating sims character.
Because Death Threats are Funny!
I don't want the death threats to feel too gimmicky, so I'm trying not to use them ALL the time. Still, sometimes they seem appropriate. Sometimes they come up. Sometimes they come up more than once with the same character.
Okita's sense of humor tends to be bad, and tends to include saying some pretty callous or threatening things. He thinks it's funny, and it's also something of a coping mechanism for him. Things can only be so horrific if you can still joke about them, right?
I will try to mix this up, and adapt his humor in other ways.
He's a nice guy underneath it all, really, and not mean spirited. Just... mean.
And, yeah, he'd totally shank you if there's a reason for it, but not mean spirited.
Tragic and Beautiful TB Patient?
Y.
Okita has TB in camp. For the time being, I'm saying that between essentially being a vampire, even if kind of a fail version of one, and camp's tendency to put things in stasis will keep it from progressing too far, but it's still there, and times when he's not taking care of himself, it will get worse.
At some point before too long I'll probably start looking for a doctor for him, and my plan with that is that treatment will help mitigate the effects of his TB, but never cure him. All things considered, it would be strange for him not to have it. I think chances are that I'll end up playing him as relatively healthy in camp most of the time give or take some coughing/fatigue/sleepless nights/mild fever type symptoms periodically, with the occasional relapse possibly lurking in the wings for when I'm feeling my inner attention whore.
VAMPIRE >:E
Continuing with that vampire thing I mentioned before, Okita is technically what they're calling rasetsu in the anime/game. He isn't actually a demon, but no longer human. The deal is that, using Western Medicine, the Shogun was trying to create people with the strengths of oni. Particularly the healing factor. The experiment produced people who are significantly stronger and faster than human, and who heal exceptionally fast from wounds as long as they aren't made with silver. The process also creates a craving for blood. Rasetsu are weakened during the day, though they can go out in sunlight. They even turn to dust when they die, in the game. So, yeah, they're essentially vampires. I count them as vampires. They're openly called vampiric.
So.
In terms of power, they're far from the most badass vampires in camp though. Destroying any vital organ will kill them, plus that point I made before about silver. They can be, and are, killed by humans with relative ease when they go all bloodlust crazy, because there are (in fact) benefits to maintaining a certain degree of sanity.
Okita under control and able to channel his superior strength and speed into his exceptional sword skills? Fuckall dangerous to people with normal human capacities. But if he ever loses it, and his sword skills suffer, your standard issue badass normal should be able to handle taking him out.
If any of his powers and such should become particularly relevant, say for a fight or whatever, I can provide a more thorough explanation, but generally speaking, thinking of him as about half-vampire will give you a good idea of his strengths.
FAILPIRE DX
But that leaves his weaknesses. See, the rasetsu are sort of a failure. And a failure for reasons other than the obvious bloodlust debacle.
See, most vampires get to live forever at least. Rasetsu? Not so much. Indeed, being a vampire is very hard on an individual's body, and the more they use those powers (for instance, the extra healing), the more it shortens their life. So along with the TB, Okita's vampire healing fixing the TB is actually making his overall health worse.
Yeah.
Physically, he's in terrible shape, though again camp stepping in says this will only get so bad. I have yet to see how the anime will handle this, but my understanding from game summaries is that drinking Chizuru's blood helps with the TB thing to a degree, at least.
In camp, if he caves and drinks blood, it will help his heath to some degree. But his body will suffer for it, and I'll probably play out some negative consequences to these things if circumstances ever make it so he overuses that healing/strength/speed too much.
He does have a medicine that helps the blood cravings, though only in a limited supply in camp. This will also be something he will eventually have to consult a doctor about.
Aaaaand. I think that's it for now.
(Anyone want to be Okita's doctor?)