RapeLay

RapeLay
RapeLay box cover
Developer(s)	Illusion Soft
Publisher(s)	Illusion Soft
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	April 21, 2006
Genre(s)	Eroge
Mode(s)	Single player

RapeLay (レイプレイ, Reipurei) is a 3D eroge video game made by Illusion, released on April 21, 2006 in Japan. Compared to Illusion's previous games, the main story is shorter, it features an improved 3D engine, and is mainly played through mouse control. The game centers on a male character who stalks and rapes a mother and her two daughters. Three years after its initial release, the game garnered international attention and controversy for its content.

Gameplay

RapeLay is played from the perspective of a chikan named Kimura Masaya, who stalks and subsequently rapes the Kiryuu family (a mother and her two young daughters).

The player can choose from a variety of sexual positions, and controls the action by making movements with the mouse or by scrolling the mouse wheel. It features a realistic sexual simulator which allows the player to grope and undress the characters on a crowded train. Later, the player may have forced intercourse with all three women at his leisure. The player has a variety of sexual positions to choose from such as woman on top, forced fellatio (irrumatio), and threesomes. RapeLay also has a "nakadashi" (internal ejaculation) counter, which carries a danger of pregnancy.

After completing the storyline and "breaking" the girls, there are six modes of gameplay.

• Nozoki mode, where the player watches the girl wait in the subway station, and upon saying a prayer, can blow their skirts up with the wind, exposing their underwear. After certain achievements have been made, the player has the option of removing the girl's clothing as well as inserting vibrators, but no touching is involved.
• Chikan mode is similar to Nozoki mode, except the player goes into the train with the girl and fondles them with the ability to remove their clothing.
• Two player or "2P" mode, in this option, the player can have sex with any one of the three girls. The main character is in danger of being killed under certain circumstances, but there are no level restrictions. There is also an option of different sex positions including oral sex.
• Five player or "5P" mode, where the player is restricted to one sex position, with three other males raping one girl during group sex. The level restrictions for this mode include locations with small space.
• Shippo, also known as "3P" or "4P" mode. In this mode, the main character is able to have sex with two or three of the girls at once.
• Neko-Kappa mode is not playable, and can be only viewed in the Botuplay Extra CD. But the original idea is that Neko-Kappa mode allows the player to have one or two girls tied up in bondage.

Characters

Masaya Kimura (鬼村将哉, Kimura Masaya)

Masaya is a chikan who stalks and subsequently rapes the Kiryū family.

Manaka Kiryū (桐生愛花, Kiryū Manaka)

Manaka is Aoi's younger sister; a girl with short black hair who wears a blue dress. The player can make her wear cat ears so she can meow and/or produce cat noises.

Seiyū: Natsumi Yanase

Aoi Kiryū (桐生蒼, Kiryū Aoi)

Aoi is Manaka's older sister; a brunette girl with long hair who wears a school girl uniform. The player may choose to have her hair in a ponytail or down and free-flowing.

Seiyū: Mao Enokizu

Yūko Kiryū (桐生夕子, Kiryū Yūko)

Yuuko is Manaka's and Aoi's mother; a brown-haired woman with short hair who wears a green shirt. Yuuko also has the largest breasts, and optionally can wear glasses to make her produce virgin/nerd sound effects.

Seiyū: Unknown, credited only as "Kaori"

Story

In story mode, the player rapes the three girls in the order of Manaka, Yuuko, and Aoi. The player starts off in the train station. Upon entering the train, the main character commits chikan on the female the main character is currently in the train with. After the main character finishes raping all three girls, the players has the option of free play scenes.

The story begins with Kimura being arrested for groping Aoi on a subway train. His father is an important politician, and manages to get his son released from jail. The next day, Kimura waits outside the Kiryuu family house and listens to their conversation. He follows Manaka, the youngest, to the subway and gropes her on the train. After getting off the train, he traps her in a public bathroom and rapes her, taking pictures of her semen-covered naked body with his cell phone. Kimura instructs Manaka to feign sickness the next day, and stay in her room.

Screenshot of Chikan mode, where the player gropes a female on the subway.

The next day he follows Yuuko, the mother, from her house to the train station where he fondles her on the train. Kimura follows her to the city park, when Manaka calls Yuuko on her cell phone. As per his plan, Manaka tells her that she is in the bushes at the park, and when Yuuko walks towards the bushes, Kimura ambushes her and ties her up. He then rapes her in the park, and takes pictures of her semen-covered naked body before handing her over to his gang of helpers on the side, who detain her for him.

The third day he follows Aoi, the oldest daughter, to the train station and shows her the photo of her tied up mother. Shocked, she can only follow his orders as he gropes her on the train. After getting off the train, she asks Kimura why he is doing this, at which point she remembers he is the chikan who was arrested for molesting her. Getting on a vehicle, he and his helpers take Aoi to a hotel which his family owns, and rapes her, again taking photos.

After having his way with Aoi, Yuuko and Manaka are taken into the room via a secret door. With all 3 captured, he reveals his plans to make them his sex slaves. Of course, Yuuko tries to cover for her daughters, but breaks down in the end, Manaka breaks next, and finally Aoi as well.

Endings

Despite being an open-ended game, there are two possible negative outcomes to the game. In the "Black ending" the main character impregnates one of the girls and decides to keep the child. The result is having the main character fall onto the train tracks after a certain number of days afterwards.

In the "Red ending" just before breaking Aoi, the character under cowgirl position will shift onto a scene, where Aoi would take a knife and stab the character many times. The scene will shift into black, where a voiceover of Aoi can be heard.

Controversy

Reviews by Something Awful and Honest Gamers express horror at the basis for the game. Critics of violent game imagery, such as British Member of Parliament Keith Vaz, have cited games involving rape as an example of why video game content needs to be more strictly regulated.

RapeLay in particular had come into Vaz's attention as being one of the rape games purchasable on Amazon.com, and he vowed to bring the issue into the British Parliament to prevent the game from being sold. Amazon subsequently removed the game from its website. Equality Now followed up on the game, urging activists to write to Illusion and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in protest, arguing the game breaches Japan's obligations under the 1985 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. These actions have culminated in the restriction of the sale and production of RapeLay by the Ethics Organization of Computer Software (EOCS), an independent Japanese ratings organization for adult games, making the purchase of the game impossible.

The download of RapeLay has been banned in Australia due to a campaign run by Women's Forum Australia, under the Directorship of Melinda Tankard Reist.

Articles in defence have also been written, many noting that rape is a lesser crime compared to murder, yet there are thousands of legal video games in which the goal is to kill enemies. Illusion's response to the controversy was one of bewilderment and a reiteration that the game passed Japanese laws and it is not sold outside Japan. Illusion later removed references to the game from their website and ceased distribution of the game, citing concerns over the impact on the industry.

See also

• Video game controversy