Recently, AUTOMATON had a lengthy chat with game creator nyalra, who recently announced Sister Other Paranoia, a dark visual novel developed and published by his own new video game company HazeDenki. While both his past work on NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD and his current work depict otaku culture and other themes unique to Japan, nyalra has still found significant success among fans across the globe.
The reason behind such positive reception from overseas fans, as nyalra explains, is simply that “teenage angst” is something that transcends borders. And usually, the way that kind of frustration manifests in different communities is pretty similar, he suggests. “Ultimately, it’s about whether someone can fit into a community or not. I’ve come to understand firsthand that the situation of kids who can’t fit into society is basically the same no matter the country. If anything, it’s probably harder to make otaku friends overseas than in Japan. I imagine they’re hungrier for connection and have it even tougher,” nyalra says.
Being born and raised in Okinawa (which is somewhat geographically isolated), nyalra admits to understanding the struggle of making otaku friends in such a “lonely” environment. However, he says that, in places like the US where people you share the same interests with may not even live in the same state, “the loneliness must be even worse. I feel like I should be able to understand that loneliness, or at least, I want to understand it.”
Nyalra notes that what connects him with many overseas otaku is that they are “people who can’t fit into society.” But this isn’t an attitude that he reserves just for the fans of his work or those who regularly interact with him on social media. He believes that, compared to “normal people,” he can still get along better with those who are social misfits, even if they openly disapprove of him or what he does. “If you think about it, it’s not just fans – even haters are, in a sense, ‘people who can’t fit into society,’ so in a broad sense they’re part of my ‘kind’ too. Compared to people who can live normal lives just fine, I’d honestly rather talk to my haters.”
On a side note, nyalra says he enjoys learning about the cultural gaps between Japanese and English-speaking otaku, and has even created a Discord server to communicate with English speakers. While a part of the reason for setting up a server was to market his games to an overseas audience, nyalra adds that “interacting with [members of the Discord server] has become a source of purpose in my life.” Talking about games from the overseas otaku culture sphere that he particularly enjoys, nyalra cites OMORI and Doki Doki Literature club as two examples that are very close to the style of games he wants to make.
For the complete story, you can read our full interview with nyalra here.
