Cyberspace Rumours

[capstasher]

Have you guys heard any strange rumours around the cyberspace? Be them creepy tales, strange happenings, lost media, or supposed leaks, if you have 'em, share 'em with your fellow forum members! The Otaku Rumour Mill spins once more.

[capstasher]

I'll start us off! The following is entirely taken from Twipo user @melonc0la, so credit where credit is due!!!

Lets talk about the cruel version of AIR
This is a rumor/urban legend often discussed on japanese message boards in the early 2000s. A product referred to as “the cruel version of Air” was often discussed and investigated.

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The common story goes that there was an unidentified doujin group that made a disturbing version of Air, so much so that all copies were confiscated by KEY. It was said to be spotted in stores, one user recounts he had heard it was stocked in an Animate in Hakodate.

Some believe the game was made by anti-key fans who were prominent during the Leaf Key bubble era. Some believe that the game was made by staff related to KEY, and the game worked as a patch to the original. Plenty of alleged cgs are floating around

Names this game has said to go under are
「AIR Red」
∀ｉｒ
夏死（Summer Death）

(夏死)Summer Death by O.S.I. has been proven to exist, but is incredibly rare, those who have played it say its not the true cruel version, Footage of it exists on niconico.

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I think its uh. kinda got pretty obvious parallels to most game creepypasta as you can see, and most "cgs" are just edited AIR assets with more blood, this genuinely was a pretty hot topic on boards back in the day and really encapsulates that mystery of old internet culture

Even now you can find some Japanese twitter users still bring up how it scared them back in the day and how they got really into investigating it, even Kanon has a similar legend. looking into this was an interesting ride and reminded me a lot of those scary stories id read haha

One of the names the rumored "Cruel version of Air" goes under is ∀ｉr, this title actually comes from a cancelled itsumo no tokoro work, a group famous for Kanoso

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though definitely bloody, it would be primarily a comedic affair like most of the circle's titles, from what I heard it wasn't released because the scenario writer of kanoso ended up not being too fond of Air

In case I don’t make anything fast enough here are some quick updates/corrections/general info

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[Parzival]

I actually think I remember hearing about this a while back. The story must've come over to Western imageboards sometime in the late 00's, particularly among VN fans because "∀ｉｒ" is so familiar to me, just that weird upside down A spelling of the word, and I vaguely recall it being associated with some creepypasta type stuff, though I didn't think to put my faded memories of that and playing Air together