The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The “Are You Lost?” Award

The MoeGamer Awards are a series of “alternative” awards I’ve devised in collaboration with the community to celebrate the sorts of things that never get celebrated in end-of-year roundups! Find out more here — and feel free to leave a suggestion on that post if you have any good ideas!

The next award comes courtesy of frequent commenter ASD. They want to know the five characters (from games I played this year) that I’d take on my desert island survival team.

I didn’t write about it this year, but I rather enjoyed the short-form anime Are You Lost? (aka ソウナンですか? Sōnan desu ka?) from the summer anime season. It was one of a number of recent pieces of Japanese popular media that had a distinctly “educational” component, and I can’t help but think of it when contemplating this award.

Of course, it wasn’t a video game and thus is largely irrelevant to the discussion we’re about to have, but it was an entertaining anime that is worth checking out. Anyway. I digress.

And the winner is…

Well, all right, there’ll have to be five winners, won’t there? I should have thought of that before making such a grand proclamation. I could go back and edit it, but it’s more entertaining this way. To me, anyway. All right, let’s think hard about this.

Meruru (Atelier Meruru)

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I would be terrible in a desert island kind of situation, so it stands to reason that we’d need someone to take charge and oversee everything that’s going on as well as being able to contribute their own skills to the situation.

That’s why I pick Princess Merurulince Arls, who will probably be looking for something to do after her kingdom is folded into the Republic of Arland. By the time this has happened at Atelier Meruru’s conclusion, she has developed her alchemy skills considerably, meaning she’d be able to make use of all the crap lying around on the desert island to create a wide variety of helpful items for the rest of us. Those of us who are less practically minded — such as yours truly — could then go and gather those items.

Throughout her efforts, she also — assuming you played correctly, anyway — showed herself to be a capable leader, able to take on an overwhelming series of requests from her people, prioritise them accordingly and delegate where appropriate. This sort of rational thinking would be very helpful in a survival situation.

Maria Osawa (428 Shibuya Scramble)

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Maria would be handy to have around because, as her adventures over the course of 428 Shibuya Scramble demonstrate quite clearly, she’s mostly unflappable — even when she finds herself in a terrifying situation.

On top of that, she’s highly physically capable, too, able to defend herself from assailants using a variety of powerful techniques, thanks to her training alongside the mysterious “Canaan”. Her abilities in this regard have become so instinctive that even before she regains her memories fully, she is able to fend off thugs without breaking a sweat.

Maria keeps a cool head in a crisis — and I’d say being shipwrecked on a deserted island certainly qualifies as a crisis.

Athena (Psycho Soldier)

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Athena’s name is magic. Mystery is what you see. Her crystal has the answer: fighting fair, to keep us free. She’s just a little girl with power inside, burning bright; you’d better hide if you are bad, she’ll get you! She’ll read your mind and find if you believe in right or wrong.

Also she can shoot lightning from her fingertips, which would probably be useful for starting fires or something.

Clea Glaive (Death end re;Quest)

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Over the course of Death end re;Quest’s narrative, formidable ogress Clea undergoes considerable personal growth. Beginning as a seemingly selfish, untrustworthy merchant only out for herself, she gradually comes to be an important piece of glue that holds the whole cast together.

She’s able to distance herself from an emotionally charged situation and look at it rationally… well, except where money is involved, but if we’re stranded on a desert island that probably wouldn’t be too much of an issue. She’d be able to keep everyone calm and collected, and her physical strength would allow her to be a big help in anything that demanded hard work, such as building shelters or clearing debris.

She’s also a dab hand with a firearm, and we can probably assume that Meruru’s alchemy skills would be able to keep her suitably stocked with ammunition as required. There are monsters on this island, right?

Kira Torii (Gun Gun Pixies)

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Well, we’ve gotta eat, haven’t we? And if there’s one thing we learn about Kira over the course of Gun Gun Pixiesit’s that she loves food — both preparing it and especially eating it. I have absolute confidence that, should Meruru be tapped out of making alchemy pies after a long day slaving over a hot cauldron, she’d be able to whip up a suitable feast for us using the ingredients on and around the island.

Of course, that depends on us being able to find some suitable ingredients on and around the island, but I’m sure under Meruru’s capable leadership, the rest of us would be able to find something suitable to stuff our faces with. Probably.

I reckon with that lineup we’d have a good chance of survival for, ooh, at least a week or so. Well, they’d probably survive; I don’t fancy my own chances much. But that wasn’t the question, was it?


Get involved with The MoeGamer 2019 Awards here!

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5 thoughts on “The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The “Are You Lost?” Award”

  1. Great list. I’m not sure Meruru as she begins her game would last an hour on a desert island, so I’m glad to hear she’s more dependable by the end of it!

  2. They’re all very capable, yeah, but still — I would not have guessed that you’d have chosen five hot girls to take to that desert island. To be fair, though, I’d do exactly the same.

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