SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» Monster Hunter players finish their quest and earn the ultimate loot: a spouse

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Monster Hunter players finish their quest and earn the ultimate loot: a spouse

Casey Baseel Oct 22, 2013
Tweet

I think I speak for all men, and a good number of women as well, when I say we’d appreciate more direct communication in our romantic relationships. For most of us, there comes a point, usually sometime around when we finish school, where our tolerance for doubletalk and subterfuge from the person we’re dating drops off dramatically.

No one really enjoys playing mind games in their quest for love. Especially, as some people in Japan are showing, action video games like Capcom’s Monster Hunter can be a much better way of finding your soul mate.

We’ve talked before about the matchmaking parties in Japan known as gokon, wherein an equal number of single guys and girls and head out for dinner together at a nice restaurant to see if there are any compatible couples in the mix.

Ratcheting things up a notch are konkatsu events, a combination of the words kekkon/marriage and katsudo/operations. Konkatsu events cut even more quickly to the chase with the ostensible agreement that attendees are looking not just for a boyfriend or girlfriend, but for a spouse.

Konkatsu events are often held in rural areas where there are a dearth of prospective romantic partners. Recently, though, they’ve started popping up for another frequently lovelorn segment of the population: hardcore anime and video game fans. Recently, gokon and konkatsu connected to giant robot series Evangelion and Macross have been held.

▼ At first we were impressed by the gutsiness of a Macross gokon, given that one of the series’ trademarks is romantic triangles. Then we decided to be impressed by the gutsiness of the event’s tagline, “Who will you XX with?” instead.

In hope of helping out unattached gamers, there has also been a konkatsu gathering for fans of Capcom’s smash hit multiplayer action franchise Monster Hunter.

▼ Ah, young love.

Contrary to what the title may lead you to believe, Monster Hunter is not the poignant story of a young girl discovering how to break free from the shackles of traditional society. It is, instead, the poignant story of hitting giant monsters so hard pieces of their bodies literally break off, which you then use to craft weapons that let you do the same to even bigger, more powerful monsters.

▼ Essentially, it’s a metaphor for the circle of life, and like all good metaphors, it involves zweihander swords forged out of crystal.

Reporters recently spoke with a man in his early 30s who attended a Monster Hunter konkatsu event. “I sometimes meet up with people I met online playing the game, and there are even some cafes in Tokyo where people can get together and play games together. But almost all of the people you see there are guys,” he begins. “So when I heard about an event combing Monster Hunter with konkatsu, I thought it sounded interesting, so I checked it out with some of my friends.”

Given the ferocity of some of the game’s beasts, many players choose to form pairs or teams and support each other in combat. Attendees of the event all brought their PSP gaming handhelds with them, then naturally formed into groups of characters who complimented each other’s abilities and equipment.

“Some of the girls were really into the game, so the rest of us got really excited too, As a matter of fact, we were having such a good time that we didn’t end up talking with each other that much,” the man adds with a laugh. “To be honest, I’m not thinking that seriously about marriage right now anyway, but I still had a lot of fun.”

Of course, even without specially organized events, online games can still be a pathway to finding your ideal life partner. Reporters also heard from a woman in her early 20s who found her husband through Monster Hunter.

“I was playing, and I got attacked by Lau-Shan Lung,” she starts, referring to a fearsome dragon that menaces adventurers in the game. “I met my husband when his character helped me fight it off, and then we continued on the quest together.”

▼ Who knew Cupid was so scaly?

“Our play-styles really meshed together well, so we naturally hit it off. The way he handles his spear is so skillful,” she gushed, apparently in such awe of his prowess she didn’t notice how suggestive the compliment was. The two started chatting online, but once the woman’s parents peeked over her shoulder at the screen and found out about their daughter’s online, dragon-slaying boyfriend, she became worried they might try to put an end to the relationship.

Instead, after finally meeting her comrade in arms in real life, both daughter and parents were impressed by the young man’s character (which is to say, his personality, not his spear-wielding Monster Hunter avatar).

“We met face to face, and he was such a nice guy, so my parents said they had no problem with us being together,” she concludes. And after all, what parents could say no to the guy that saved their daughter’s (video game character’s) life?

Source: Doorblog
Insert images: Machicon