{"id":48716,"date":"2025-06-05T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48716"},"modified":"2025-06-04T16:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T07:09:46","slug":"rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/","title":{"rendered":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Rune Factory series\u2019 upcoming spin-off title Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma <\/strong>will, like past entries in the franchise, let you romance characters and start families when you\u2019re not off fighting monsters or minding your farm. In a recent interview with Famitsu<\/a>, the game\u2019s director Shirou Maekawa talked about how getting married and having children will work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following in the footsteps of Rune Factory 5, Guardians of Azuma allows you to court and marry both male and female love interests regardless of the gender of your protagonist. Marriage becomes available once you raise your Bond Level with a character to level 10. Once married, you can have up to two kids. According to Maekawa, the characteristics of your children will change depending on your partner \u2013 for example, they will inherit traits like animal ears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for children from same-sex marriages, Maekawa says they \u201cwill be born in a way that feels natural to any Japanese person.\u201d The team apparently drew from Japanese folk tales when choosing a way to depict this, in line with Guardians of Azuma\u2019s overall fantasy Japanese aesthetic. The director doesn\u2019t reveal the details, only asking players to\u00a0\u201cplease look forward to it,\u201d but the mention of Japanese folklore brings to mind stories like Momotaro, where a childless old couple is bestowed a baby boy by the gods through a giant peach. Another famous fantastical birth is that of Kaguya-hime in the Tale of The Bamboo Cutter, who is born from a glowing bamboo stalk.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the topic of marriage, Maekawa brings up \u201cRewoven Fates\u201d \u2013 an important addition introduced in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. This new parallel world-like system allows you to switch between timelines and pursue different romances within the same playthrough, i.e., without resetting any of your progress. This feature gets unlocked after you marry for the first time, and the development team decided to add it because of the Seasons of Love DLC. As this DLC adds two exclusive romanceable characters (Cuilang and Pilika) to the game, the devs didn\u2019t want people who buy it later to miss the opportunity to marry them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma<\/a> releases on June 5 for PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma director Shirou Maekawa talks about how raising Bond Levels, getting married and starting families works in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nRune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma director Shirou Maekawa talks about how raising Bond Levels, getting married and starting families works.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma director Shirou Maekawa talks about how raising Bond Levels, getting married and starting families works.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-04T15:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250604-48716-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1196\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma director Shirou Maekawa talks about how raising Bond Levels, getting married and starting families works.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma director Shirou Maekawa talks about how raising Bond Levels, getting married and starting families works.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-06-04T15:01:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1196,"height":672,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250604-48716-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-06-04T15:01:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/"},"wordCount":388,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250604-48716-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/","name":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250604-48716-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-04T15:01:00+00:00","description":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma director Shirou Maekawa talks about how raising Bond Levels, getting married and starting families works.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250604-48716-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250604-48716-header.jpg","width":1196,"height":672,"caption":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azumas-solution-for-same-sex-couples-having-kids-draws-from-japanese-folklore\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma\u2019s solution for same-sex couples having kids draws from Japanese folklore\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48722,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48716\/revisions\/48722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}