A full line of Japanese dating-sim games for Microsoft Windows computers highlights a pack of Japan-related adult and other products now available from PCR Distributing, a San Diego-based startup.
"We have two very unique product lines," said wholesale operations manager Ron Edwards in an April 11 statement. "Most customers in their 20s are interested in Japan and Japanese animation, and our products allow retailers to target these people in interesting new ways."
The dating-sim games are described by PCR as "highly erotic sexual adventure game… which are especially popular on the Internet _ so popular that many fans find Japanese-language games and play them in Japanese, just to see the sexual game pictures." And, unlike the games sold in Japan, the PCR-distributed versions are one hundred percent uncensored, PCR said.
Called hentai games by American fans, they're a staple of the Japanese software market, PCR said _ with sex-simulation games holding about 25 percent of all Japanese software sales.
"The games we sell are welcomed by fans because they’re translated into English," Edwards continued. "The fact that they’re uncensored, allowing you to see all artwork details, is another reason why our games are perceived as something special by our customers. It’s not uncommon at all for fans to become so engrossed in our games that they find they have to own them all."
The characters in each game are 18 years old and above, with their ages stated clearly, Edwards added.
PCR is already handling "quite a bit" of adult anime as well, Edwards said, serving as the exclusive distributors for the Jlist.com and Peach Princess lines. "We handle a large variety of items there that are all primarily adult-targeted," he said. "We have a bunch of the Timaya games, the Himaya games, and a large number of uncensored DVD interactives. I'd say, right at this point, we have to probably just stand back and glance at the rack, and there's about thirty-five different adult-targeted games and DVDs we handle."
PCR also has a line of Japanese T-shirts with such racy slogans as, "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" "I’m Proud of my Sexual Power" and "Beware of Perverts on Trains." They're all cotton and printed in San Diego, coming with printed tags that explain the Japanese messages to buyers. They're wholesaled to various large and small resellers, PCR said, and they're also something of a hit at various conventions where fans of Japan's popular cartoon art, anime, gather regularly throughout the year.
The PCR products might seem new to adult retailers, but Edwards said they're staples known already to fans of Japanese online, animation, comic books, and other arts and hobbies. "On the one hand, our games and funny T-shirts are an established product that have attained cult status with many users," he said. "On the other hand, in retail shops they’re something fresh and new, which are perfect for customers looking for cool Japan-related products, and who tend to buy on impulse. We think the combination of factors has a lot of potential for growth."
And the American market for Japanese entertainment _ adult and otherwise _ is rapidly growing, even in the current testy economy, Edwards said. "I think a lot of it may just be increased public awareness" of Japanese and other world entertainments, he said. "Having people now being a little more worldly minded, globally minded, there's a lot of people learning more about world cultures, and along with that comes an interest in world (entertainments)."
