Kogaru Diaries

Kogaru Diaries was a shared fictional universe created by Simon Kirby and the Cynosure Collective in 2007. Featuring a range of characters and storylines, the media was initially hosted on Yahoo and MSN, with some additional content on Geocities. Following contemporary visual trends of the period, the continuity was patterned after Japanese eroge and light novels.

Originally envisioned as a Dating Sim, the concept underwent a variety of permutations between 2007 and 2010. Although no actual game was ever completed, a number of settings and narratives were developed, resulting in two discussion boards hosted on Google sites and IB4Free. Both were eventually shut down by the service providers after online communities went out of fashion.

Gameplay and Characters
In theory, the KDU (Kogaru Diaries Universe) would have featured a range of primary and supporting characters, many corresponding to well-known anime archetypes. As a general rule, protagonists were usually depicted as young girls (reflecting the popularity of the shojo genre), while antagonists may be either male or female.

Primary Characters (PCs) may be divided into three main categories: Majokko (magic girls), Senshi (warrior girls), and Bishoujo (pretty girls). The three groups are not mutually exclusive; a majokko can be a senshi, a bishoujo can become a warrior, and both can acquire magic abilities under certain conditions. Within the main storyline, all PCs attend Miyamae Academy, with majokkos boarding at Shioki Geshuku guesthouse under the tutelage of the resident caregiver.

Supporting Characters (SCs), by contrast, fulfill a wide variety of functions within the continuity, frequently acting as friends or mentors for the PCs. Many are employed as administrative personnel within the local infrastructure, occupying such roles as doctors, teachers, librarians, guardians, etc. Aliens, demons and other antagonistic characters are often (though not exclusively) male, again reflecting the status quo of modern Japanese animation.

A third intermediate grouping, Transgendered (TG), is designed to interact as either male or female within the plotline (another common element of anime sitcom; cf Ranma, Pretty Face). While their sexual ambiguity may be the result of a supernatural transformation, TGs tend to have no unusual powers (although they might serve as senshis or bishoujos when necessary). At the moment, Kogaru Diaries features 8 Primary Characters and 12 Supporting Characters. New characters are introduced at regular intervals.

Themes and Settings
Kogaru Diaries features themes such as spanking, panchira, hypnosis and transgender.

The main action takes place in the fictional Japanese town of Miyamae, a semi-rural regional center populated by schoolgirls (joshi kosei), ghosts (kwaidan), evil spirits (oni) and shape-shifting aliens (eriyin).

Kogaru Diaries incorporates elements of Simon Kirby's's "faux 1960s" anime series Kagaya Hime Miho-Chan and Ikusa no Yukai (in the form of an underground comic book popular amongst Miyamae schoolgirls). Glory Bea is also featured as an exchange student.

Controversy
Kogaru Diaries became the focus of a major online controversy in August 2010, after a number of KDU images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Although the pictures violated no specific policies, Commons administrators opted to delete most of the files and permanently disabled all of the contributing accounts. Similar actions were taken on en.Wikipedia citing "scope" concerns.

A second conflict arose in March 2011, when several Wikipedia administrators attempted to have the remaining images permanently removed from Commons, claiming that they were copyright violations. In this instance, Commons rejected the deletion request, choosing to retain the files in a modified form.