1.2 The Socio-Sexual Target of Brainporn
Intuitively, Japanese porn of all sorts is written by and targeted at those of low social and sexual
standing. Intuitively, because those who can get pasteriskssyvi are likely to do so in the first place,
not waste money on overexpensive fap material. As for the writers, even a quick examination of the
non-socio-sexual sort shows that these people have little to no experience in matters romantic and
sexual; the joke would be that the only relationship with a woman that they've ever known is the
one with their mother, but that joke will be a very dark one by the end of this book.
This may be fairly intuitive for Plain Porn, but the other two aren't far behind. In Emoporn, the
incessant appeal to emotion in the form of immersion screams low socio-sexual standing, as that's
the sort most vulnerable to it. In Brainporn, the game of Junior Greenhouse suggests the same but
with a somewhat higher intellectual profile. Someone who reads Brainporn as if it were truly
endowed with depth is as unlikely to understand how dumb what he's reading is as he's unlikely to
acknowledge how not very smart he is. After all, if he did either, the Real Game would be over.
Chest-thumping over a modest and over-rated intellect is a pretty widespread behavior of a specific
socio-sexual category, which will be the major focus of this socio-sexual examination: the gamma
male.
A gamma male is thus described:
Gamma: The introspective, the unusual, the unattractive, and all too often the bitter. Gammas are
often intelligent, usually unsuccessful with women, and not uncommonly all but invisible to them,
the gamma alternates between placing women on pedestals and hating the entire sex. This mostly
depends upon whether an attractive woman happened to notice his existence or not that day. Too
introspective for their own good, gammas are the men who obsess over individual women for
extended periods of time and supply the ranks of stalkers, psycho-jealous ex-boyfriends, and the
authors of excruciatingly romantic rhyming doggerel. In the unlikely event they are at the party,
they are probably in the corner muttering darkly about the behavior of everyone else there...
sometimes to themselves. Gammas tend to have have a worship/hate relationship with women, the
current direction of which is directly tied to their present situation. However, they are sexual rejects,
not social rejects.
Alpha Game / The Socio-Sexual Hierarchy
If the theory is correct, then the only people who'd care enough about Brainporn that they'd examine
it seriously would be the least likely to be capable of performing it. Gammas would rather reject the
existence of the socio-sexual hierarchy, or paint themselves as its secret kings, than actually analyze
things in those terms with any level of seriousness or thoroughness. Given they tend to take
Brainporn seriously, they would also be extremely unlikely to be capable of doing it in the first
place. It would then be little surprise that there's almost no study of all of this.
Fortunately, while Brainporn may not be well studied, gamma fiction in general is much more so. In
fact, there's even socio-sexual tests that, while of course unscientific, are reliable in their ability to
predict the typical developments and characteristics of gamma fiction.
And the typical Brainporn product easily passes two out of three of the Gamma Fiction tests: the
Gamma Protagonist Test and The Gift Test.
For the Gamma Protagonist Test:
• The typical Brainporn protagonist is intellectual, and much more intelligent than the writer
routinely proves himself to be.
• They're generally unathletic, though usually not overweight, until they need to be and then
they're better than anyone. The weight is likely a cultural thing, however, as an obesity trend
is observable even in Japan.
• Even through severe linguistic differences the snark is prone to happen, if only in imitation
of Western products and primarily towards the antagonists they're defeating. In local culture
terms, however, the protagonists are unfailingly the tsukkomi of the boke-and-tsukkomi
routine, grumbling introspectively about what others do, which is not only snark if internally
preserved as befitting honne vs. tatemae, it also fits that 'dark muttering' of the Gamma
description to a tee.
• It's not just pop culture, but also Deep And Important Cultural references. The behavior is
effectively the same as only the type of references is different at bestvii.
• Agnosticism isn't as pronounced in the protagonists, but that's from cultural differences due
to Japan not being as steeped in Christian culture, which this refers to; however, as we'll see
in the end of the book, things aren't as simple in the stories and settings themselves. In the
interest of caution, I would put a maybe on this point.
• As not all Brainporn is sci-fi, technical competence should be extended to hypercompetence
in something else from magic to logic. Regardless, whatever the world hinges on, our
protagonist will be capable of hypercompetence in it at some point.
• Is so romantically passive that a harem of girls pining for the one man is more common than
girls with purple hair.
• When the Protagonist uses his Local-Universe Prowess to save a girl, which will happen,
she will fall for him and become instantly part of her harem.
For the Gift Test:
• The Gift is all but an extreme of the Hypercompetence, so these stories tend to be All About
The Gift.
• From Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to Ludesia's Immanent Soul, it's to take a pick on
what Special Item or Special Power only our protagonist possesses.
• Some stories are all about the buildup, like most of the second route of Fate/Stay Night or, in
a sense, 999 and Ever17.
• There's not one but two trope pages on the subject. This is so common I'd argue it's more
tell-tale of poor and long-winded writing in general. Regardless, it's all there.
• Agonizing over the power and how So Sadly Not-Average it makes the protagonist is where
they spend most of the time, at least the one not spent putting typically Alpha-trending
villains in their place.
• In just the first of these stories we'll see a character being so generous as not to curb-stomp
an adversary with her Gift, simply to have more fun in the fight.
• Also in these stories, the full extent of e.g. Immanent Soul is as insanely ludicrous as it is
what the villains ultimately want.
Two out of three is impressive considering those tests are not just targeted at Western writing, but
specifically at science-fiction writing, while Brainporn is a type rather than a genre. If sociosexuality
could at the absolutely most ungenerous be said to have a grasp of something profoundly
human, then humans are gonna act human regardless of race or culture; or, in short, even in Japan
gammas gonna gamma.
Unfortunately for this analysis, Brainporn by and large fails The Woman Test. There's no
"corrupted", generally, unless it's a specific fetish subgenre; while the women are strong, they still
kind of expect the men to act chivalrously to them and while they do reward them with inexplicable
love, that's the norm in these harem-tendent genres; and the Strong Independent Woman is either
going to need rescuing eventually, or an ice queen to melt. Culturally, Japan doesn't really do Lone
Wolves.
