Hey uh. Dgs is a lot of things and it definitely *lacks* a lot of things but it definitely does not advocate for Japanese imperialism nor does it claim imperialism is good for any country. The whole game is about how imperialism is evil, regardless of who does it

DGS fails to (or more accurately is blocked from) discussing Japanese imperialist violence, but it doesn’t act like any part of imperialist politics are good. Most of the anti-imperialist themes in dgs are buried between the lines that can only be read by knowing the context

A character’s speech advocating power to the working class, the warning that Britain’s evils will be repeated by Japan, and even the example I cited earlier as being “not that great” of Imperial Japan sacrificing Japanese people to further itself are anti-imperialist commentary

Empower the working class = resist imperial militarization, Japan will repeat Britain’s evils = Japan is guilty of the same imperial violence as Britain, Japan will sacrifice its own = imperialist nations will turn on their own if doing so benefits the perpetuation of itself

If you play dgs and you think Shu Takumi wants you to think Japanese imperialism was fine, it means you missed everything he was trying to say. He couldn’t say these things out loud, so he had to hide them in a way that the intended audience would be able to catch on to

THAT is why the historical context of dgs is so critical to truly understanding dgs. Takumi had to bury his words, and left hints telling us where to dig. You can’t possibly know where to dig if you don’t know what the hints mean, and you can’t possibly know what he meant to say

Dgs can’t be called an anti-imperialist game because it doesn’t go far enough in discussing imperialism, but it is absolutely a game with anti-imperialist themes that specifically point at *Japanese* imperialism as it’s focus of criticism

I know, this is *breadcrumbs* level of criticism aimed at a country that has resisted owning up to its violence and atrocities every single step of the way and still refuses to do so. But the fact that dgs can’t say these things much more loudly should tell you something else too

SORRY KIDS I GOTTA MUTE THIS THREAD TOO NOW it’s destroying my notifs. Y’all know the drill, dm me if you want me to see your comment on it, thank you for spreading it!!