Tomorrow will mark one year since Emiko Hosokawa’s underage ban on Discord expired. As a result, Emiko Hosokawa was returning to Discord after a five-month hiatus.
Although Emiko Hosokawa had her quinceanera last year, she wouldn’t officially return until the first week of June 2022. At that time, the Touhou 5: Mystic Square NES Demake had already released and the demo for Chuhou Joutai 3: Three Nights of Scarlet Abscess was nearing release on Steam.
Background
After the release of the Touhou 3: The Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dreams NES Demake in September 2021, Emiko Hosokawa, then known as Akira Akagi, began collaborating with Drillimation Systems with the soundtrack for her new game Touhou Tenkijou, whose songs in the end became repurposed for Chuhou Joutai 3 and Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria after being cancelled. After an intense discussion on the game’s official Reddit post, Drillimation offered Akagi an invitation to the official Drillimation Discord Server. The server was used for all main communications, and led to a larger amount of discussion that normal. It didn’t last long though…
Akagi Gets Hit With Underage Ban
Fegelein: Another successful antic well done.
Burgdorf: So you’re to blame for this. You’re an opportunist, and you just love causing trouble.
Akagi, who was over the legal age under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 to be using Discord, faced misfortune in late December 2021. Studio Emiko, then known as Akira Akagi Games, is a Vietnam-based studio. The age requirement for using Discord in her jurisdiction is 15. The reasons for such requirements are usually due to censorship laws or child privacy concerns. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is not a free and open society, and although their constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the Communist Party of Vietnam must take great care to prevent children and the public from being exposed to content the party considers immoral.
Doing business with Akira Akagi games also meant having to conform with the laws of her jurisdiction. This also motivated Drillimation to shift their views to an unbiased state and adopt their current philosophy at the start of 2023.
For the duration of the underage ban, which did not expire until May of last year, all communications were conducted via Reddit’s chat feature. The feature doesn’t include all of the same functions that Discord has.
Akira Akagi Rebrands as Studio Emiko
Right after Akagi’s quinceanera, the anticipation for her return to Discord ended up becoming a Downfall dinner rant at the start. I knew this was a nightmare for her, but she no longer had to suffer from this crappy madness. I promised her return would be epic. The night before her quinceanera, I sweat a lot from the anticipation as I was so excited. However, she did need some time for the church service and reception that would follow, and it did make Akagi a princess for a day.
That anticipation shattered when I received the news on her return. That idiot Himmler decided to extend her ban, being told that Akagi was rebranding as Studio Emiko, alongside other changes. The return wouldn’t take place until the first week in June. As a result:
“Himmler… HOW DARE YOU EXTEND HER BAN, HIMMLER! I wasn’t expecting this. NOW I’LL HAVE TO WAIT EVEN LONGER!”
Goring found it amusing, Speer said the same thing. I didn’t know if I could speed it up, and I was forced to wait until that time, or even the end of June. I told everyone to leave if they were impatient and wouldn’t wait until the Touhou 5: Mystic Square NES Demake released, and I also demanded to see the Fegelbutt about this.
Emiko Finally Returns
In the days before Emiko returned, Studio Emiko also set up a Twitter account for her studio. The day before the Mystic Square NES Demake released, I heard the Final Fantasy victory fanfare as Emiko finally returned to Discord. After five months of inactivity, the Drillimation Discord Server was active once again. This marked the end of a treacherous period and the server was met with a thunderous applause.
Drillimation Systems 