Stranger Lore 4: Orpheus, Part 1

There's actually a lot to unpack with this guy. Let's start with a brief overview of Taisho era smuggling and the etymology of his name.

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Check out the rest of the Stranger Lore series here:
Makoto's Blue Eyes
Stranger Lore #1: How Makoto Daito Was Born in America (and Why He Left)
Stranger Lore #2: Jazz
Stranger Lore #3: Cafe Culture

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Recommended Additional Readings:
The History of Japan's Black Markets: From the Jomon Period to the Digital Age
Thomas Glover: The Scotsman Who Helped Meiji Japan Modernize
Looking back: The story of Orpheus
The Psychology of Orpheus: Why Do We Look Back?

#RGGStudio #SEGA #StrangerThanHeaven

That's right, kyodai: ya boi Makoto Daito was a maid cafe enjoyer. I have no words.

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Check out the rest of the Stranger Lore series here:
Makoto's Blue Eyes
Stranger Lore #1: How Makoto Daito Was Born in America (and Why He Left)
Stranger Lore #2: Jazz

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Additional Recommended Readings
The Oldest Coffee Shop in Tokyo
Cafe Culture and its Effects
The History Behind Maid Cafes

For a few days now, I've been doing a deep(ish) dive series of Stranger Than Heaven's lore, which you can check out here:

Makoto's Blue Eyes

Stranger Lore #1: How Makoto Daito Was Born in America (and Why He Left)

Stranger Lore #2: Jazz

However, someone called me out for allegedly making these infographics out of AI. Wrong.

Let me show you my process through these images.

1. I made the template in Canva. It's flexible enough for me to make only minor adjustments depending on how long/short the content could be. I just type directly into the text boxes.
2. I research about my chosen topic on the Internet and, when available, books/magazines in my school's library. I tend to pick around 5-7 sources to base my content on, but I only pick 2-3 recommended readings. I know most people would neither have the time nor the mental endurance to go through everything, so I just pick the most interesting ones that might encourage them to do their own research in the future.
3. I have more topics that I wanted to touch, many of which are just listed in a separate Notepad file in the meantime. But I have a Stranger Lore #3 in the works already!

Lemme know what else you want me to cover in future Stranger Lore installments!

EDIT: I revised the second image's content in the Facebook group to reflect the correct year and changed the closing line to instead surmise the thoughts inside Makoto's head during this year.

Let's skip a few decades and talk about one of the key themes of Stranger Than Heaven: music. Specifically, Japanese jazz and how it might figure into the 1943 storyline.

P.S. Yes, the Japanese learned about jazz from... Filipinos. Tangina?

>Additional Recommended Readings

>https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/12/how-japan-created-its-own-jazz

>https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2014/04/30/308275726/how-japan-came-to-love-jazz

Whatever snippet we heard from the trailer is awesome as hell, and it's all because of the singers involved in this collaboration. Lemme shine a spotlight on 'em.

Snoop. I think everyone knows this guy. Hip-hop legend, horticulture enthusiast, gamer, Uncle Tom... what has this man not done? And now he's a likeness character in a Japanese game and singing in its theme song, too. Man's just doing substories at this point.

Ado. Most anime fans outside of Japan know her for New Genesis, the theme song for One Piece: Red. RGG fans may also recognize her as the one singing Lost Judgment's theme, Rasen (a collab with jon-YAKITORY). However, she is more than that. Not only is she the youngest Japanese artist to reach 100 million plays (for her debut song, at that), she also holds the record for largest global tour by a Japanese artist. All that without fully revealing her face.

Tori Kelly. This Grammy-Award-winning artist is one of the early YouTuber musicians, uploading song covers and being known for 'em. Then she joined American Idol, and the ball started rolling from there. Her 2018 album Hiding Place won two Grammys for Best Gospel Album and Best Gospel Song. She holds two Billboard Music Awards, three Grammys, a BET Award and a GMA Dove Award.

Satoshi Fujihara. Frontman of Official HIGE DANdism, who did the opening songs for Tokyo Revengers (both Cry Baby and White Noise) and Spy x Family (Mixed Nuts.). If you think their band name sounds long, just call them Higedan or Manly Moustache. Yes. Also, I highly recommend listening to their song Pretender, which is also the theme song for The Confidence Man JP: the Movie.

All this to say that this collaboration is no joke: that trailer song sounds like an absolute banger for good reason.

I can't wait to hear the full version and add it to my daily playlist.