Topic: What if Aria of Sorrow had been set in America?

[The Puritan]

Topic. The Japanese setting always felt forced to me, whether or not that was intended to draw in Japanese players. Regardless, things kinda make more sense (or at least come off as much less forced) if you reimagine the game being set stateside:

-No need to make Soma a foreign exchange student. I know he never actually was to begin with, but US localization would've been saved the awkwardness.

-Alucard gets to be CIA with a Western cover name instead of stretching believability as Japanese intelligence with a Japanese cover name.

-While Mina would have to be rewritten as a Westerner (an actual Harker maybe?) and the Shrine of the White Horse would most likely be a church, it makes more sense to have Christians watching over the Demon Castle's seal than Shinto priests.

-Yoko wouldn't be Yoko.

Thoughts?

[Flame]

Would still feel somewhat forced.

But I suppose setting it in modern day Romania would have been too strange?

The Harker thing with Mina could have worked out I suppose. And with a name like Soma Cruz (isn't it, in japanese supposed to sound like cross?)

And given that the Morrises, the last folks to wield the whip were American it would have precedent.

Still. USA would have been just as forced as japan.

And TBH the japan setting doesnt bother me so much as the forced Shinto elements. Nothing against Shinto, but the series has been all about judeochristian warriors of the church who use holy powers to kill the undead, (basically the classic horror cliche) and suddenly

OH HI IM A SHINTO PRIEST AND I SEALED THE CASTLE IN AN ECLIPSE

it feels like fanfiction tier insertion...

[Nagumo]

I don't know about Castlevania being purely about Judeo-Christianity. The series incorporates monsters from all over the world and combines them together. The reason why the Shinto elements never felt odd to me is the same reason why I don't blink when I fight Medusa, a mummy, or Kali.     

[Shiroi Koumori]

I really did not like making Soma an exchange student. They could have just kept the romanized version of his Japanese name (Kurusu Souma).

I don't know if it can work with the US setting, the Japanese have a different view of America and I am not so sure if it would work as well as their inclusion of Shinto.

OH HI IM A SHINTO PRIEST AND I SEALED THE CASTLE IN AN ECLIPSE
it feels like fanfiction tier insertion...

I actually liked the Shinto inclusion. Hmm... thinking back on this, it looks like IGA's scriptwriting past from Tokimeki Memorial strikes again.

[chainsawmidget]

I don't know if it can work with the US setting, the Japanese have a different view of America and I am not so sure if it would work as well as their inclusion of Shinto.

I'm really not sure how it could be worse. 

[Shiroi Koumori]

I'm really not sure how it could be worse. 

While I was searching google....
They can set in in the US with a shinto shrine! There are actual shrines in the US.

If Drac's castle appeared in the US, couldn't the Americans just nuke it?

[GuyStarwind]

I think the ideas in the first post were pretty good and I think could work. However, they should just leave it in Europe. Just my two cents

[Chernabogue]

Soma would have been called Tom Cruz. 

[X]

If Drac's castle appeared in the US, couldn't the Americans just nuke it?

America I do believe has a policy regarding non-use of nuclear weapons within it's own borders. But then tell that to all the times Area 51 had tested them in the Nevada desert  John Wayne died because of most of his movies were filmed  in that very region.

Soma would have been called Tom Cruz. 

Yeah, and just to add insult to injury scientology would also have been mentioned. That would be very bad for Castlevania.

In terms of having AoS taking place within the US rather then Japan, I don't really know myself. I think if the game were to take place anywhere even Europe it would feel forced, one way or another. However if it did happen in the US then we'd all be spared Soma's fluffy-collared long coat    It would look far better on a woman then a man. No man in the US would get away with wearing that without having the shit beaten out of him.

[Lelygax]

What if instead of Castlevania being sealed in a eclipse it was been sealed in Bermuda Triangle? xD

[Munchy]

I think no matter where the game is set, there can always be wacky landmarks with questionable histories to fill with monsters. Winchester Mansion, anyone?

Dawn of Sorrow felt kind of empty plot-wise, and the idea of a high schooler being Dracula's reincarnation is still kind of dumb, but the post-Dracula setting has some promise still. Why not expand upon the cult? Why not make them an actual cult that does actual cult things, like kidnapping, brainwashing, and ritualistic sacrifice?

Also I want to see Soma being as old as Julius, possibly with a goatee.

[Shiroi Koumori]

However if it did happen in the US then we'd all be spared Soma's fluffy-collared long coat    It would look far better on a woman then a man. No man in the US would get away with wearing that without having the shit beaten out of him.

Oh... how about the drag queens? 

Also I want to see Soma being as old as Julius, possibly with a goatee.

Someone should create a fan drawing of this.

[X]

Oh... how about the drag queens? 

That would just make things even worse and more unbearable to the Castlevania name. I was however thinking more along the lines of black gangsters selling pimps. They do wear those types of coats but only because they can get away with it. That's mainly because of the type of business their in, and 2) they have a whole crew armed with guns following them. However Soma isn't any of the above and I feel his look would definitely be out of place for his character in the US.

[Intersection]

Hmm... Soma as a drag queen? That's definitely out of the question.

Yet Soma always looked so elegant with his white fur coat. If this American localization will end up costing him his sense of style, then it is out of the question for me.

In the end, AoS will feel just as forced (if not even more so) if it is set in the US.
After all, it'd be so much more difficult to fit some of the game's most endearing characters -- Mina Hakuba, that sweet, charming young girl; and Genya Arikado, simply because I like his name... Of course, Hammer and Graham make little sense in Japan as it is -- but the characters themselves are so incongruous that realism isn't in the equation here.

[Flame]

Soma's coat is a pimpcoat. That shit's fly, yo.