Karia from Atelier Karia would get fat from overeating, but Western Team cut the idea saying it would be “discrimination”

At the June Nintendo Direct, a new game in the Atelier series was announced, called Atelier Karia, which will be a sequel to Atelier Yumia (you can check our Atelier guide to start playing the series).

Recently, the Dengeki Online website interviewed the director and producer of Atelier Karia, and part of the interview shocked Japanese fans—and me as well!

Karia from Atelier Karia would get fat from overeating, but Western Team cut the idea saying it would be “discrimination”

First of all, the new protagonist Karia REALLY likes eating, and eating different things would affect her body, changing her appearance and granting abilities.

This is the reason why she is “exposed.” In fact, Hosoi said they initially wanted to show even more skin on Karia, but the illustrator said that if they showed too much, it would look like she was wearing a bikini. So they settled on the design below, which shows her shoulders, stomach, and thighs/legs:

Hosoi said there are up to 100 appearance variations of Karia in the game depending on what she eats. Since she eats a lot, the Dengeki interviewer asked if we would see changes in her belly size during gameplay, and Hosoi said:

“Our intention was to include very noticeable changes in the character’s body and silhouette in the game. However, due to the global release, our international team pointed out that ‘representing changes in body type may be interpreted as discrimination.’”

The interviewer then said they understand the challenges of releasing a game worldwide, but added that it would be interesting, and Hosoi agreed:

“We also think these physical changes would be fun, but we would like to hear players’ opinions on this matter.”

In reality, there is an official artwork of Karia shown during a livestream where she appears chubbier:

Do you know what is the saddest part? Seeing all the reactions at the time to this artwork and the idea of her getting chubbier during the game—players LOVED it. No one complained or thought about discrimination. Here are some reactions:

• So CUTE
• Congratulations to Gust if they really add something like this to the game
• That’s it, I’m pre-ordering
• Karia nom nom, so cute
• Yumia has a bike, Karia has an adorable belly
• Seeing all of her made me realize Karia will be a very cute protagonist

As you can see, I didn’t see anyone complaining. There might have been some, but I didn’t see it. Now let’s see how Japanese users reacted to the news above:

• Don’t mind discrimination, this is just nitpicking from people who wouldn’t buy it anyway.
• If I got fat from overeating, would I be called racist in the United States?
• I can’t even understand who or what all this consideration is for nowadays, I’m tired of it.
• People overseas seem to struggle living, everything is “consideration” all the time.
• Stop trying to please the overseas market.
• They should stop making games already.
• Huh? Getting fat from eating isn’t even more “realistic”?
• The game industry is really weak and lacks freedom of expression.
• Even if they try to please those people, they won’t pay. Who are they making games for anyway?
• Most Atelier sales are from Asia. They don’t need to listen to the West.
• Following this kind of thing is what makes games boring. What nonsense.
• “Politically correct” groups don’t even want to buy games, they just want to destroy them.

As a fan of the Atelier series… this is disappointing…

via Dengeki Online