Deep-Sea Prisoner (funamusea)

For the website, see funamusea.com.

“

I’m glad for the response from abroad. Thank you very much. I was surprised at first, given that I didn’t even think to see if access to it could come from overseas. To result in being kindly sent drawings, and able to receive thoughts and impressions… (When receiving something in a language I can’t read, I make good use of translation sites.) Things like this make me very, very happy. — Deep-Sea Prisoner, in an interview.

”

Deep-Sea Prisoner (funamusea)
Character Information
Japanese Name	海底囚人
Romaji Name	Kaitei Shuujin
Location	Kanagawa Prefecture
Status	Active
Biological Information
Species	Human
Gender	Unknown
Professional Status
Affiliation	Funamusea
Occupation	Artist Video Game Developer
Personal Status

Deep-Sea Prisoner (海底囚人), commonly shortened to DSP, is a Japanese artist and game developer formally known as Mogeko. They are well-known for creating games such as The Gray Garden and Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea. They are a talented person working to create various games, comics, and other stories through various forms of media. Their gender is unknown.

Deep-Sea Prisoner has an official website, a Twitter account and a YouTube account. They used to have a Tumblr blog, but have since deleted it due to certain circumstances.

Deep-Sea Prisoner has stated that they no longer wish to be called "Mogeko", as the name has developed a negative connotation and is associated with their fictional characters, "Mogeko", who are depicted as rapists.

Deep-Sea Prisoner has also stated that their site's name is 'Funamusea' whereas their alias is 'Deep-Sea Prisoner'; this is because website domains only accept English characters.

Creative process and environment

Deep-Sea Prisoner draws with a tablet pen. Most of the situations in their works - when they happen, and what feelings they’re meant to invoke - and materials are planned in a single notebook, or memos, that are used while working. The order is:

1. Decide on a rough timeline of events
2. Memos and materials
3. Start creating when almost finished (little details are made up while making it)

Upon creating a story, they particularly focus on the relationship between characters - who hates who and who likes who.

Deep-Sea Prisoner has said that, with the exceptions of humans and some other groups, everyone in their creations is bisexual and ideas such as gender and age are left as an afterthought in the creative process.

They have also said that several of their characters are "without gender, or somewhere in the middle, so it’s pointless to even think about it".

Future plans

Though some of their games, such as The Gray Garden and Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea, have strong romantic elements already, Deep-Sea Prisoner is planning to make an "even stronger love-colored work" in the future. They also want the characters from Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea to appear in other tales.

Deep-Sea Prisoner says that from now on they want to "make things that are even more extreme".

Reception

Deep-Sea Prisoner's creations, especially Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea, have received fairly positive reception overseas. Deep-Sea Prisoner says they're glad for the response from abroad and that they were surprised at first, but things like being kindly sent drawings and being able to receive thoughts and impressions make them very happy.

Drama

In the summer of 2014, Deep-Sea Prisoner was harassed horrendously by outraged members of Tumblr, in regards to a fan-commissioned drawing posted on their Tumblr depicting two of their characters, Wadanohara and Syakesan.

Deep-Sea Prisoner had been requested by a fan to draw the image in question. Once drawn, they posted it to their Tumblr blog: the drawing in question depicted Wadanohara being sexually assaulted by Syakesan, a scene already present in the game version of Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea.

Many "fans" were offended by the drawing, believing it to be supporting rape. Further aggravated by the appearance of Wadanohara, who, to any unfamiliar with Deep-Sea Prisoner's characters prior, assumed that the picture was simultaneously promoting pedophilia (It has been mentioned in passing by Deep-Sea Prisoner that the characters within Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea are over a century in age, save for one exception).

In response to the reaction by the people of Tumblr, Deep-Sea Prisoner deleted the drawing from their Tumblr and apologized profusely, citing that they were unaware of the offensive nature of the photo. However, the apology was not taken well, leading to continuous harassment of Deep-Sea Prisoner.

As the drama refused to simmer down Deep-Sea Prisoner deleted their Tumblr blog; this would lead to Deep-Sea Prisoner adopting new policies in regards to the sharing of their games, as well as the usage of their creative media.

Since then, Deep-Sea Prisoner has restricted the usage of their games to be for private usage, with livestreams and playthroughs of their games being forbidden, the only exception being translations in the form of live commentary.

Some issue also rose among Korean fans of Deep-Sea Prisoner, regarding Deep-Sea Prisoner's usage of the rising sun flag on their website. In some Asiatic countries (particularly Korea and China) the symbol is controversial and offensive, as it's viewed as a negative symbol of Japanese imperialism. Although Deep-Sea Prisoner has since apologized for their usage of the symbol, stating that they were unaware of the offensive connotation of the symbol; in Japan, the rising sun represents great fortune and is a common sight during New Year's time as a sign of good luck. Despite their apology, they continue to feature the symbol in their media. For unknown reasons, possibly related to this, Deep-Sea Prisoner has blocked Korean IP addresses.

Guidelines

The following are some guidelines in regards of usage of Deep-Sea Prisoner's creative media. These guidelines have been outlined by Deep-Sea Prisoner themselves.

1. Do not reprint nor translate their works without written permission.
2. Do not provide direct links to pictures on their website. Links to pages are fine.
3. Using their art for things like headers, profile pictures, sidebars, backgrounds, etc. is fine by them, no problem at all.
4. Screenshots of games are alright.
5. Don’t make transparent background images of their art and upload it. One or two is okay, but reprinting the whole cast of a game is not okay.
6. They’d prefer if you didn’t screenshot and post their emails because it makes them embarrassed.
7. For translated versions, while they prefer it to be on one platform only, as long as it’s posted by the translator themselves, they’re quite alright.
8. For translated versions of spoiler-y or rated artworks, they’d like for it to be under a Read More or something similar, with ample warnings.
9. If you have any special reason to want to reprint their works, ask them directly via email . They can answer in basic English if you keep it simple.
10. If you want to translate for them, you have to ask them directly.
11. At the very, very, veeeeery worst, providing a link to the original when reprinting is acceptable, but they really, really don’t want that. Their reason is that if you want to see their art, you can just access their site to begin with.
12. For merchandise, as long as you’re not doing it for profit or commercially, and doing it as a fan, they don’t have many issues whatsoever. But contact them just in case anyway.
13. If you claim their art as yours, they will punch you.

Contact

The best way to contact them is through email or their Twitter. They are very approachable and friendly to their fans. Deep-Sea Prisoner knows a minimal amount of English, so do not be afraid to attempt and approach them with simple English. Additionally, Deep Sea Prisoner says that when they receive something in a language they don't understand, they make good use of translation sites.