応援団 Ouendan

Anybody who has ever played iNiS's utterly fantastic Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan would have known how unique a title it is, both from a technical perspective (graphical and musical) and its bizarre storyline. The game evolves around a troupe of male cheerleaders, all dressed in black, who dances around trying to lift tragic people out of depression - all in glorious Japanese manga style comic panels and J-pop covers (check out the trailer). Neat eh? The literal translation means Go! Fight! Cheer Squad.

Anyway, thanks to a tipster at Eurogamer I Googled Image seach the word 'Ouendan' today and look at what I found. A galore of pictures of real life male Ouendans from Japan. Talk about shocking. In the US we have underaged female cheerleaders, in the UK we have none and in Japan we have adult male cheerleaders (see video).


image source

But you have to thank Japan for the wackiness. Without them we wouldn't be enjoying great titles like Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. Of course the news that it would be remade for the Western market as Elite Beat Agents has raised the profile of the rare title even more, so better get them before the price skyrockets.

Osu!

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