Table of Contents
Kaitei Shūjin
Kaitei Shūjin (海底囚人, lit. “Undersea Prisoner”), colloquially known as Deep-Sea Prisoner (DSP),1) Funamusea,2) Mogeko (藻毛子),3) or Okegom, is an independent Japanese creator who started her career on April 21, 2006 and has an oddly large following outside of Japan.
She is mostly known for her art, characters, and RPG Maker games that touches on controversial subjects.4) On the other hand, she obviously wouldn't be the most mentally sound person, which is compounded by the fact that her family is in massive debt.5)
List of works
I've kinda lost interest with this subject.
This is all just a very sad parasitic relationship, amongst other things, so don't expect any further updates, aside from minor tweaks.
and Flash Mogeko Castle (original) : milestone, 2012-04-01, 0d The Gray Garden (original): milestone, 2012-12-27, 0d Wadanohara (original) : milestone, 2013-12-12, 0d The Garden Gray : milestone, 2014-04-01, 0d Ice Scream (original) : milestone, 2014-07-01, 0d Wadanohara (reboot) : milestone, 2020-02-01, 0d section Newer engines Mogeko Castle (remake) : milestone, 2014-03-05, 0d Ice Scream (remake) : milestone, 2020-06-27, 0d section Publications Wadanohara (manga) : milestone, 2015-12-26, 0d Wadanohara (omnibus) : milestone, 2016-11-26, 0d
Released games
Mogeko Castle
Mogeko Castle6) is a subtle horror adventure game that initially released on April 1, 2012 as an RPG Maker 2000 game, then redone in RPG Maker VX Ace on March 5, 2014. The story follows Yonaka Kurai, a high school girl who dozes off on a train and ends up at Mogeko Castle, inhabited by the titular Mogeko, a Morala-like species that parody the maturity and libido of your typical anonymous user at first glance.
While her initial goal was to return home, the castle actually serves as a subconscious representation of the seven stages of grief,7)8) dealing with her brother's emerging familicide intentions. This means that when she escapes on the final floor, Yonaka is actually waking up in reality to deal with him.9) From here, she either dies, locks herself up and goes insane, or gets closure and truly leaves.10)
The Gray Garden
I'm probably not finishing this one.
Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea
Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea (
However, their efforts are for naught as the barrier shatters, then it's revealed that this was all a ruse by the Sea of Death's ambassador. After unlocking a traumatic memory, she wakes up at the Sea of Death, then heads back to the Sea Kingdom to find Sal with an injured Samekichi. In the true ending,11) Wadanohara gets stabbed and Samekichi goes on a long quest to return everything to normal.
The Garden Gray
The Garden Gray (園庭色灰, Entei Irohai) is a brief genderbend parody of The Gray Garden that released on April 1, 2014 as an RPG Maker 2000 game. It's mostly a silly story where Etihw and Kcalb have a minor scuffle because Etihw ate the chocolate cake that Wodahs had made for Kcalb, which causes her to storm out of the castle. As one would expect from this story, Etihw would eventually apologize to Kcalb.
Ice Scream
Ice Scream: Watching the Iceberg Isle (アイス・スクリーム) is an interactive game that released in July 2014, before it was partially redone in RPG Maker MV on June 27, 2020. As the name suggests, it mostly focuses on Iceberg Isle with the protagonist being Shirogane, a timid humanoid arctic wolf, but only the first round was recreated, opposed to the original which had three rounds.
Other projects
- Obsolete Dream (廃れ夢, Sutare Yume) - A digital manga following Kurotsuno, a demon girl living within the Land of Roots (Ne-no-Kuni), previously translated as the Pitch Black World.
- Poison Bugs (ポイゾン・バグズ) - A video series that follows Tsumuri, a humanoid earwig. It only has one episode, so there's really not much to infer here.
- The Sun's Curse (太陽の呪縛, Taiyou no Jubaku) - A storybook, originally a Flash animation, which tells the tale of Siralos, the Land of Sun, and his two servants, giving Ivlis a backstory.
- Seaside Dispatches (砂濱通信, Sunahama Tsūshin) - A manga that vaguely follows Ivlis and Satanick, except it appears that each volume is standalone.
- Dying Tomorrow (あしたしぬした, Ashita Shinu Shita) - A short mini-comic series with three humans named Tsubaki Utareduyoi, Toru Azemiti, and Alice Kisaragi.
Future ambitions
Future games
- A Paradise Submerged in Darkness (闇に沈む楽園, Yami ni Shizumu Rakuen) - The dark sequel to The Gray Garden (normal ending) after Ivlis succeeds in overthrowing the Gray Garden.
- Buri~ing (ぶり~んぐ) - A simulation game, featuring Ivlis and Satanick, that theoretically has abuse, gore, and sexual content. It would take place before Seaside Dispatches 1.
- Carnival Rhythm (カーニバル・リズム, Kānibaru Rizumu) - A game that follows Sachiko Ebihara, a high school girl that somehow finds herself in a world of demons that love human meat.
- Devil Girl Ivlin (魔王少女イヴリン, Maō Shōjo Ivurin) - A non-serious April Fools game following Ivlin, a female Ivlis, in a parody of the magical girl genre. Possibly very horny.
- General Hashasky's Great Adventure (ハスハスキー将軍の大冒険, Hasuhasukī Shōgun no Daibōken)12)13) - A sequel to Mogeko Castle (normal ending), where Moge-kov and the Hashasky try saving General Mogekov Hashasky after he was kidnapped by Moge-ko of Mogeko Castle.
- Oji-summer (おじ-summer) - A vague game idea that features Nagi and her uncle Idate, who are both humanoid orcas, in a summer setting. There isn't much else known.
- The End of Wonderland (理想郷の終着点, Risōkyō no Shūchakuten)14) - A vague game idea which follows Shinow Utsuda, a ghost, in what appears to be an Alice in Wonderland parody.
Future projects
- Decem -Anges et Demons- - A manga that would theoretically discuss more about the angels from the Land of Clouds (Kumo-no-Kuni) and demons from the Land of Roots (Ne-no-Kuni).
- Records of the Deep Sea - A manga series that would be a collection of stories, which would make a lot of the livestream-only information and trivia canon.
- Uyamuya (雨夜夢耶) - A vague manga idea that presumably involves Satanick in some way. Again.
Forgotten projects
In the past, Kaitei Shujin used to have a page for future project and ambitious ideas, but it was deleted in a redesign around 2017. Some of these projects, preserved below, have not been seen since then.
Directory | Original title | Translated title |
---|---|---|
kaiteikok | 晃々海帝国 Akiraakiraumi Teikoku | The Glorious Sea Kingdom |
chaos_sea | 海底物語 -星導の少年- Kaitei Monogatari -Hoshi Shirube no Shōnen- | Deep-Sea Story -The Star-Guided Boy- |
kaitsu | 海底通信 第一号 Kaitei Tsūshin: Dai-ichi Gō | Deep-Sea Correspondence: Volume 1 |
kaiteikaijou | 海の底の海の上 Umi no Soko no Umi no Ue | Above the Sea, Below the Sea (Old TL: On the Sea, Below the Sea) |
reficul | 魔王リフィカルと愉怪な仲魔たち Maō Rifikaru to Yūkai na Nakama-tachi | Devil King Reficul and Funny Demon Friends (Old TL: Reficul the Devil and Friends) |
Controversies
Tumblr R-18 controversy
In the past, she had a Tumblr blog at “okegom” and “okegom2”, then she drew Sal molesting Wadanohara, which was received very poorly and resulted in a hate mob. Despite her apologies, this situation evidently overwhelmed her, so she deleted her accounts around July 201415) with no plans to return. From an archivist perspective, this would be one of the first major archiving disasters.
Anti-Korean aggression
For further details, see Mogeko on Namu Wiki.
Starting in 2014, a Korean user had noticed the Rising Sun Flag in her January 2013 calendar drawing, which was controversial due to its imperialist connotations. When asked, she kinda went overboard and started drawing more of them, enacted a Korean translation ban on August 9, 2014, then this would reach a point of no return with the flag-inspired 2015 redesign and a site-wide ban on all Korean IPs.
This petty behavior lasted until 2017, with said pattern mostly being limited to New Year celebrations. Out of nowhere, she'd address the controversy in an outburst on August 17, 2023, but this was a non-apology as she largely played the victim, denying the flag's implications, by claiming that she did not draw it with political intentions16) when her handling of the situation says otherwise.
Unfinished commissions
On February 12, 2024, she tried to pitch herself to Dokibird,17) but many of her commissioners took offense to this18) and issued a “buyer beware” notice with 12 cases of unfulfilled Live2D commissions whose costs have totaled up to ¥3,588,500 JPY,19) almost $24,000 USD at the time. It also looks bad when her Skeb has a 29% completion rate, though it has since dropped down to 17% at the time of this writing.
She initially threatened suicide,20) then revealed that her family is in massive debt, supporting a mother and younger sister, while her credit cards have been suspended.21) After this, a goal of paying off her family's debt has been added to her Ko-fi page. The reception to this revelation has been mixed, especially when you consider that she had been blowing away money on Arknights.
Lesser criticisms
It's fine for a small, independent, content creator to go on a break or slow down, but it's a bit of a problem if they haven't provided much of sustenance, yet are constantly finding ways to overwhelm themselves. Her storytelling tends to change on a whim, favoritism is evident,22) and her works have gradually become sexual with sadistic elements. In addition, she is known to go egosurfing.
Notes
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- Most of her early content focused on 2channel's AA subculture, favoring genocide-related threads and the “Morala Plotting the World Uniform” story. The former shouldn't be that much of a surprise, given that she was a huge fan of Happy Tree Friends at one point.
- Prior to the “funamusea.com” move in 2015, she had three separate three FC2 websites:
- hokannko.web.fc2.com - “Urusai” (五月蝿い). The oldest website with AA illustrations, until focus had shifted towards Yume Nikki and, for a very brief time, Happy Tree Friends.
- uvoa.web.fc2.com - “Yokkora Secomu” (よっこらセコム) / “YOKOSEKO”. The oldest website that focused on her original characters. It didn't last long and actually closed in 2015.
- okegom.web.fc2.com - “Kaitei Shujin” (海底囚人). The final website that most people knew. The home of her original characters, aforementioned games, and much more.
- In the Chinese language, “Kaitei Shūjin” is read as “Hǎidǐ Qiúrén” (海底囚人), or “Haedii Chyouren”, but the Chinese-speaking community usually shortens this to “Hǎiqiú” (海囚, lit. “Sea Prisoner”).
- A couple of personal notes and thoughts on the author and their works.
- I personally find Mogeko Castle very interesting because it's a reflection of 2channel's culture from the perspective of a high school graduate (in 2012) who grew up with 2channel.
- At one point, I actually sent her a Skeb request asking 「もげ子クソデカおっぱい!!」 (Moge-ko with huge fucking boobs!!) around March 2021, but she actually declined the offer.
- If you call yourself a troll, most people are into The Gray Garden instead, not Mogeko Castle.
External links
- Kaitei Shujin - The official website for Kaitei Shujin's works.
- @funamusea on Misskey - Significantly more Japanese-language status updates.
- @funamusea_com on Instagram - Her two pets, among other things.
- @funamusea on Twitter - Occasionally updated, but not as often as Misskey.
- @funamusea.bsky.social on Bluesky
- @fumamuseacom on YouTube - Videos and members-only art streams.
Mogeko, Kaitei Shujin on Pixiv - Old accounts, likely abandoned.
- vgperson - The older English translations. No longer translating for since 2019.
- Deep-Sea Prisoner on Moegirl Encyclopedia [ZH]
- Mogeko on Namu Wiki [KO]
∧,,∧ (⌒) .( ^o^ ) /◎\ |\ ̄ ̄ ̄旦~ ̄ ̄ 旦~ ̄\ ./..\\ (<二:彡) . \ / ※\| ===================| \※ ※/ ※※※※※※※※※.\ \ ノ ___________ \  ̄ ̄  ̄
MogekoCastle
” tag on Pixiv anyways./utopia/
directory.