"VERGE": Yankii, Sukeban, & Misc. Anime Delinquents Inquire Within for a Bōsōzoku Brawler

[pugbutter]

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[pugbutter]

1983. Anri and Junko Yagami serenade the nation through its affordable and high-quality cassette decks. Japanese exports (cars, electronics, anime, porn) have suddenly conquered an unsuspecting foreign market. The yen is high, and unemployment is low. For those with disposable income, life has never been more convenient, indulgent, or luxurious.

And for those without,—well—

By day they're cashiers and waitresses. Sons and daughters. Students. Earning and spending, earning and spending. Just like everyone else. But by night, the shadows shudder with the roar of their engines, and the din of battle floods their quiet, suburban streets. They don the colors and unfurl the flag.

And violence reigns.

Because empty consumerism is at an all-time high in Japan, so too is the natural backlash: a restless discontent and lack of belonging which Émile Durkheim called anomie. Where society has given them no purpose, over 45,000 teenagers of Japan have decided to create their own, wearing uniforms, shouting slogans, and waging wars all of their own design, each with its own meaning. Territory and conquest, loyalty and brotherhood, customization of a loud, fast machine into a piece of personal expression—these give them purpose where in plastic commodities and brainless pop music they find none.

You are one of the 45,000: a teenager between the ages of 14 and 19; probably working-class; a bully; a reject; in other words, perfect fodder for the bōsōzoku. You've worked hard to get where you are, appeasing bullshit initiation rites and the capricious wants and wishes of your gang seniors. Now you're finally one of them, and the world will suffer in your boredom. Vandalism, assault, theft; how else can you punish the suit-and-tie slaves, the other gangs, and the cops who all want to see you on your knees?

You will fight to claim new turf and defend your own. You will forge alliances and answer betrayal with blood. You'll escape the police, your teachers, your parents. You might attempt to keep your grades up or find a job and a girlfriend along the way. And maybe, maybe, for all your commitment and zeal, this little family will prove tighter than the ones you're so desperate to escape.

The world belongs to you, young-blood ... but only if you have the balls to take it. To fight for what you deserve. So grease your pompadours, roll your R's, stow your bokkens and baseball bats, and get ready to RIDE.

[pugbutter]

Hi, I'm pug. I've been GMing freeform RP for eight years, and motorcycling for three. (Current ride is a 2020 Royal Enfield INT650.) I've been tossing around the ideas for this RP for probably about two years now, but it just so happens the riding season is just coming to a close as the cold weather moves in. So my fellow bikers and I can motorcycle vicariously for a while.

Along the way we can also do slice-of-life stuff including turf wars, police chases, school hijinx, romance/relationships, and whatever you guys want.

Being a motorcyclist, or being interested in motorcycling and the bōsōzoku culture isn't necessary, but it'll help. I hope it might even inspire someone to take an MSF course and start riding for the first time.

This RP might also be for you if you like James Dean movies, Akira, Cool Hand Luke, Great Teacher Onizuka, or any other fiction which deals in disobedience and social estrangement as core motifs.

Content Warnings

• There will be scenes of graphic and explicit violence.
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• There will be graphic depictions of drug abuse.
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• There will be implied, off-screen sex between consenting minors. (I don't RP that stuff and I definitely don't want it in my game. You and your writing partner can take it to PM's if you really must.)
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• Most characters are from broken homes and "the wrong side of the tracks." Consequently there will be themes of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and trauma.
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• Some gangs wear fascist imagery and symbols to protest modern Japanese values, or simply to shock and offend others. (These symbols, slogans, salutes, etc. belong in-character (IC) only. We will not condone these symbols, or the ideologies they represent, out-of-character (OOC); and any player who espouses them OOC will be immediately booted. No warning, no second chances.)

Now, technically this is an historical game, as the goal of VERGE will be to tell a small, character-driven story about delinquency and belonging within the zeitgeist of boom-era Japan. However there will be some historical discrepancies, mostly to improve play by placing greater emphasis on things like character design and player agency. These are:

• IRL most bōsōzoku motorcycles were between 250cc and 400cc. In my version of the setting you can ride any make/model of bike you want, from the years (say) 1960 to 1982. Although anything foreign is rare, you can own a CBX1000, a Z1, or whatever domestic super-sport you fancy with relative ease.
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• Well over 90% of real bōsōzoku (and criminals in general) are male, but our cast will have roughly an even split between guys and girls.
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• Most gangs are gender-segregated, so to explain why we have girls and guys all riding together, our gang is actually an alliance (rengō) between an all-male gang, called Gekokujō ("Overthrow from Below"), and an all-female gang, called Akushitsuna Kīsu ("Vicious Kiss").
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• We're using a fictional version of the Tokyo metropolitan area, so we are not beholden to IRL geography; in fact you're encouraged to invent your own landmarks for the city, like an Ame-mura, favorite hangout spots for the gangs, reform schools and youth prisons, etc. However the geographic features of Hizuwa City's Yamashin Ward do broadly follow IRL: suburbs sandwiched between metropolis and snaking mountain roads. (If you need IRL reference, see the town of Niiza in Saitama.)
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• This setting's gangs have invented their own system for distinguishing friend from foe in the throes of battle: most of them (at least those from the same prefecture) should know which gang you're from simply by noting the secondary color of the lettering and symbolism, stitched onto the primary color of your tokkōfuku. This almost works like pre-Norman heraldry, in that your uniform's basic color scheme is exclusive to your "clan" and immediately belies your allegiances. (Gekokujō's colors are red on cream; Akushitsuna Kīsu's are pink on navy-black.)

That's mostly it, then. Here's to the scream of the engines, the taste of the exhaust, and the sting of the wind in our eyes. Hope to see you on the road.

[pugbutter]

Recommended Reading

"Bōsōzoku Girls of Japan" [video]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor by Mitsuo Yanagimachi [video]

"Life After the Bubble: How Japan Lost a Decade" by Jim Impoco (The New York Times)

"Revisiting the Glory Days with One of Japan's Most Violent Biker Gangs" by Vice [video]

"The History of Japan's Bōsōzoku Gangs" by Return of the Cafe Racer

"THE YANKĪ and BŌSŌZOKU: Origins and History" by Gaijin Rider

"Why Japan youth gangs don't use guns" by Annalisa Merelli

"Worn to be Wild: Tokkōfuku Combat Uniforms" by Tomohiro Osaki (Japan Times)

[Dead Cruiser]

Lmao I love bosozoku stuff, I tried to get an RP like this off the ground ages ago.

I think the original Godspeed You Black Emperor film is available for free on YouTube? Also good recommended watching.

[pugbutter]

@Dead Cruiser Sure is. Not as necessary as the Vice story or the Gaijin Rider articles for basic research, IMO, but it sets a tone, especially for those who want to see a slice of the scene's origins in the early 70s.

Good to see you. Thanks for posting.

[rocketrobie2]

Been lurking for a bit and I’m gonna throw in a tentative interest if only to give the thread a well deserving bump.

I don’t know jack about bosozoku but this still seems like a pretty slick RP.

[pugbutter]

@rocketrobie2 I could run this RP with a small cast of, say, four dedicated people. A combination of that many characters (two initiates/rookies and two upperclassmen, for example) would be enough to explore multiple personality dynamics within the group and make it feel alive despite being mostly populated with NPC's.

If @Dead Cruiser is in, and I'm willing to play a young, dumb DMPC, then we have enough to start, cuz a personal friend is already interested as well. But finding a fifth person would be ideal so I don't have to resort to a DMPC.