Chaos;Head Noah Re-Read (Spoilers)

[Maypews]

I quite disliked Takuru in C;C tbh. He's just such an image-obsessed narcissist that it's hard to stomach. I get it plays into the overarching themes of the story (appreciating what you have before it's gone) but I found him so much more difficult to empathise with than someone like Takumi.

Takuru's "struggles" seem a lot more self-inflicted and almost pathological when compared to Takumi's where they seem more like natural after effects of growing up in a flawed environment. The fact that people seem to like him more than Takumi on aggregate kind of blows my mind. Especially when considering the extra context of how much of it he's responsible for that you mentioned yeah.

Ironically enough, that’s why I love Takuru so much. He’s focused and determined to achieve his dream, and he’s going to get it no matter what. His character arc is about him coming to the realization that he is not special nor the genius he thought he was, which resonates with me way too well. While Takumi is the product of overprotective parents, Takuru is the total opposite of that. Hell, he was so lonely that he had to create Serika. I'm sorry, I can't hate my redditor. He's so me... fr!!!!

Yeah, my post may have been a little too scathing in retrospect. He's alright, I don't hate him or anything but like I said, just a lot harder to empathise with than Okabe or Takumi (maybe my standards are too high, lol). But he does suit the narrative and the story that it's trying to tell. This is sort of what I mean when I mentioned separating personal dislike from saying they're the "WORST CHARACTER EVAR!!". For me at least even if I have mixed feelings on a character from a personal level, if they're well-written I can appreciate that and that applies in the case of Takuru (and in the case of the aforementioned Shinji).

[Parzival]

I was gonna say, I love Takuru just as much as Takumi, they're both tied for my favorite MCs of the series. They're both so flawed, so real, and therefore I love them so much for completely different reasons. I think the reason a lot more people like Takuru is precisely because they resonate with him so much, and I understand that because I do as well. In a way I consider the Takus to be the two halves of my fucked up coin. So, I get it, I just wish people could appreciate Takumi and see him for more than his flaws like they do with Takuru.

[Maypews]

Today's Quote of the Day

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Finished up another session, this one mainly followed Takumi in his quest to "Find the Sword" as FES put it. He first went looking online and eventually ended up buying some funky replica of a Di-Sword from a shop, before then having to walk through a populated city center carrying it, much to the scorn of the DQNs around him. He finds attempts to use the flimsy thing to defend himself against Nanami's verbal assault, but predictably it has no effect. Definitely the most notable scene in this section is his first meeting with Shogun; the streets of Shibuya becoming completely devoid of life is pretty harrowing, as is the ambient creaking of his wheelchair amidst the otherwise total silence. This game's sound design is just top notch.

After he finishes seeing what I assume was some sort of delusion being beamed into his head by Shogun, he comes to and is met by a concerned Rimi. We finally get to see them make the first steps towards their eventual partnership. I'd say this section is handled in a pretty realistic way and I'm glad that Taku doesn't just get completely wrapped around her fingers immediately after supposedly witnessing her at the scene of the crime. Oh speaking of that, during the crime briefing towards the end, the site of the Crucifixtion seems a lot less gory than the one Taku saw. Now this plot-point I already spoiled myself on by reading the Wiki prior to Noah ever being brought over, buttt it's still cool to see it hinted at in the narrative.

Also, @dokyun you had better watch your back.

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Imagine and it will become Real.

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[Maypews]

Aww yeah, we've finally reached the technobabble part of the game.

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Today our main man Taku got tailed by the cops. The way that scene is setup is so good! A delusion trigger happens right before it so you're not even really sure if it's real until he takes refuge with FES. That usage of his unreliability as a narrator to throw the player for a loop is one of the things that makes this game so memorable. In fact I'd argue the main underlying theme of the series of a whole is the line of separation from reality to delusion, but I don't think any entry has embodied it quite as well as the first one did.

Once he's situated with FES they discuss the Di-Sword. FES manifests hers right in front of him which makes for a striking scene. Unfortunately it seems that one's ability to manifest comes to them and them alone, with FES not being of much help when it comes to giving Taku advice on the matter.

Also as I said earlier, the science-y stuff finally starts coming into the narrative as well with Ban and Suwa discussing and explaining GE rates to the viewers. For future reference I've decided I'll leave most of the explanation here from the log so that it can easily be looked back on and understood, I really REALLY like the psuedoscience in the SciADV entries because it makes the narrative feel sooo much more grounded and plausible but they're also pretty easy details to forget due to how technical they are. I'll probably do this in future LPs as well.

Science Class is in Session!

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aaaaand we're done for now. Come back soon!

Mannn... it hurts me knowing what awaits Ban in the future. Honestly might be my 2nd fav character in this game. At least Suwa soon follows :D

After all of this happens Taku makes it home (I thought the coppas said they were going to stake out his home? Bit of an oversight there unless it's just a translation being shitty thing. But then again they'd also have no way of knowing his address unless Yua gave it to them). He receives an ominous e-mail from Grimm noting that a video of the Group Dive had been released. Taku watches it and.. guess what he hears behind the camera; that damn wheelchair creeking. Shogun did it?! Ohhh the suspense; seriously it's an awesome reveal, decided that was a great place to stop for the night.

Quote of the Session

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(I actually really like this quote; I think that something which holds people back from their true potential is an overemphasis on being humble. You cannot make it to the stars unless you first reach for them. As Taku goes on to describe; The Wright Brothers honestly believed that they could fly over 100 years ago, and Napoleon told people that the word "Impossible" was not in his dictionary.)

QOTS Honourable Mention:

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[Parzival]

In fact I'd argue the main underlying theme of the series of a whole is the line of separation from reality to delusion, but I don't think any entry has embodied it quite as well as the first one did.

This line has been the through line for the entire series since day one:

I really REALLY like the psuedoscience in the SciADV entries because it makes the narrative feel sooo much more grounded and plausible

What really helps is how interrelated the pseudoscientific mechanics of SciADV are. Steins;Gate literally shows us that Visual Rebuilding tech is foundational to Time Leaping, Elephant-Mouse Syndrome is clearly connected to both gigalomania by way of being a product of Noah experiments but also to the Spirit World temporal disjointedness in Occultic;Nine, and many of the abilities in Occultic;Nine are also clearly tied to the mechanics behind gigalomania and Beyond The Load Region/Spirit World/Dirac Sea.

Tangent, but this is why I dislike people who complain that Anonymous;Code was a "it's just a simulation bro" handwave. Not only has every entry in the series in some way hinted that SciADV's reality is a simulation going back to Chaos;Head, but if they paid attention they'd be able to tell just how connected the abilities and phenomenon of the series are and always have been. Yes, it's a simulation, but it's all working off an internal logic nonetheless. People took the mention of "expanded parameters" in the guide to mean that everything's just been observers dicking around, but I took that to mean that the parameters of the simulation were merely expanded to allow for physics and other dynamics that would not be possible in, say, our reality. At most, A;C is telling us that the particular abilities of the protagonists (Taku's uniquely powerful gigalomania, Okabe's uniquely potent Reading Steiner, Kai's luckily useful Slow-Mo as opposed to the shorter end of the Elephant-Mouse stick Aki drew, Gamon's Orphan Receptor, and of course: Pollon's Save and Load ability) are the only things observers are directly granting or overtly fiddling with.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[Maypews]

In fact I'd argue the main underlying theme of the series of a whole is the line of separation from reality to delusion, but I don't think any entry has embodied it quite as well as the first one did.

This line has been the through line for the entire series since day one:

I really REALLY like the psuedoscience in the SciADV entries because it makes the narrative feel sooo much more grounded and plausible

What really helps is how interrelated the pseudoscientific mechanics of SciADV are. Steins;Gate literally shows us that Visual Rebuilding tech is foundational to Time Leaping, Elephant-Mouse Syndrome is clearly connected to both gigalomania by way of being a product of Noah experiments but also to the Spirit World temporal disjointedness in Occultic;Nine, and many of the abilities in Occultic;Nine are also clearly tied to the mechanics behind gigalomania and Beyond The Load Region/Spirit World/Dirac Sea.

Tangent, but this is why I dislike people who complain that Anonymous;Code was a "it's just a simulation bro" handwave. Not only has every entry in the series in some way hinted that SciADV's reality is a simulation going back to Chaos;Head, but if they paid attention they'd be able to tell just how connected the abilities and phenomenon of the series are and always have been. Yes, it's a simulation, but it's all working off an internal logic nonetheless. People took the mention of "expanded parameters" in the guide to mean that everything's just been observers dicking around, but I took that to mean that the parameters of the simulation were merely expanded to allow for physics and other dynamics that would not be possible in, say, our reality. At most, A;C is telling us that the particular abilities of the protagonists (Taku's uniquely powerful gigalomania, Okabe's uniquely potent Reading Steiner, Kai's luckily useful Slow-Mo as opposed to the shorter end of the Elephant-Mouse stick Aki drew, Gamon's Orphan Receptor, and of course: Pollon's Save and Load ability) are the only things observers are directly granting or overtly fiddling with.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

If you want me to be honest, A;C I'll have to see about when I get there. I find that meta plot points usually tend to go over really well or really poorly without much in-between. I've really liked it in a handful of things but most of the time it ends up missing for me because it's inherently a massive gamble from a writing standpoint. If you do not do it VERY well, as in if you do not having something unique to say or bring to the table, it can end up retroactively making all the time you spent with the franchise feel like a waste and/or like a cop out as you mentioned.

It's similar to how multiverse theory time travel can make the whole story feel devoid of stakes because "Why should I care about what's going on in this one timeline when there are 20 others where they have a good ending?"

Spoiler

(which is why it's so much better that S;G doesn't use that approach). There are some shows/games where I feel like it all being a simulation is explicitly foreshadowed by the setting from the jump and therefore silly to get upset about it, like in one anime I love where literally nobody remembers the past from episode 1. But if I'm honest I never felt like it was super overt in SciADV (at least not as overt as that example), at least outside of that one bit you're referring to in Noah which do note that Western fans didn't have access to until 2022.

Another thing about foreshadowing is that, while it's really cool, it doesn't inherently make whatever plot-point it's foreshadowing a well-executed one. But like I said in that post, for me apart of why I like these games because of the science stuff making it feel like something that could plausibly happen in reality. It's why I like Steins;Gate so much. Just a bunch of kids fucking around essentially like how tech pioneers got their start building computers in a garage, except they accidentally discover forbidden that drags them into a world they're not ready for. Sure it isn't actually real because they definitely take liberties somewhere in the details but most non-scientists won't be able to figure out where the leaps are without considerable research which is what creates the immersive atmosphere.

With that said, if A;C ends up putting an interesting perspective or spin on that plot point I could see myself liking it. I don't mean to disregard it before I play it and I do like the hacker theme it goes for. But it's hard to do well; the writers of this series have done well with hard-to-write plots before though, so here's hoping.

[Parzival]

If you want me to be honest, A;C I'll have to see about when I get there. I find that meta plot points usually tend to go over really well or really poorly without much in-between. I've really liked it in a handful of things but most of the time it ends up missing for me because it's inherently a massive gamble from a writing standpoint. If you do not do it VERY well, as in if you do not having something unique to say or bring to the table, it can end up retroactively making all the time you spent with the franchise feel like a waste and/or like a cop out as you mentioned.

It's similar to how multiverse theory time travel can make the whole story feel devoid of stakes because "Why should I care about what's going on in this one timeline when there are 20 others where they have a good ending?" (which is why it's so much better that S;G doesn't use that approach). There are some shows/games where I feel like it all being a simulation is explicitly foreshadowed by the setting from the jump and therefore silly to get upset about it, like in one anime I love where literally nobody remembers the past from episode 1. But if I'm honest I never felt like it was super overt in SciADV (at least not as overt as that example), at least outside of that one bit you're referring to in Noah which do note that Western fans didn't have access to until 2022.

Another thing about foreshadowing is that, while it's really cool, it doesn't inherently make whatever plot-point it's foreshadowing a well-executed one. But like I said in that post, for me apart of why I like these games because of the science stuff making it feel like something that could plausibly happen in reality. It's why I like Steins;Gate so much. Just a bunch of kids fucking around essentially like how tech pioneers got their start building computers in a garage, except they accidentally discover forbidden that drags them into a world they're not ready for. Sure it isn't actually real because they definitely take liberties somewhere in the details but most non-scientists won't be able to figure out where the leaps are without considerable research which is what creates the immersive atmosphere.

With that said, if A;C ends up putting an interesting perspective or spin on that plot point I could see myself liking it. I don't mean to disregard it before I play it and I do like the hacker theme it goes for. But it's hard to do well; the writers of this series have done well with hard-to-write plots before though, so here's hoping.

I think the problem is, as you mentioned, the lack of context in the Western sphere for so long and even still. Like you said, Noah didn't come to the West until over a decade after its original release. A lot of the more overt stuff is in side material that we largely still haven't gotten or that is ignored because of the lack of context for them specifically (Load Region of Deja Vu is the primary example I'm thinking of for this (and a lot of their context being from drama CDs we only have a few scattered fan translations of)). We don't have the Maniacs Guide TL'd (which included added lore on how CERN discovering microsingularities led them to uncover evidence of some kind of algorithm embedded in the universe that accounts for and corrects anomalies created as a result from them, and even that those kerr black holes only exist because they were ostensibly causing an information overflow error in the universe- hinting that reality is a simulation. Admittedly, that's something that Kurisu herself intuits and says, outright stating that time travel can only be possible if the universe is a simulation, but it's a brief interaction- and a statement that Okabe immediately shuts down because he doesn't like it, and it's only in the VN, and rather early in it before shit hits the fan and I bet most readers forget as convergence drives Okabe (and us, his Observers) near the event horizon of despair. But the Maniacs Guide just outright says it. You also have the ending of Variant Space Octet, which on top of being a cool meet-up between Takumi and Okabe, is another "yeah there's no other way to explain this besides simulation theory" moment that is hidden behind a spin-off game that is similar to the A Posteriori Existence drama CD in that its been passably fan tl'd but those TLs are hard to find and if you actually want to play through yourself it can be a pain in the ass because it's in the style of a classic text adventure game- including the moon logic puzzle answers. I don't know if any R;N side material is overt about the world being a simulation but we have entire mainline material that does so that has yet to be translated at all in Occultic;Nine's VN with one of the bad endings making it clear as the blue sky.

My problem basically is that, as a SciADV autist with friends who know JP and are as if not more obsessed with this series, I've been aware of just how overt and for how long the series has been about this for a long while now.

TL;DR: we need to get Nerenar to translate all this side material for the good of the Western SciADV fandom! lol

[Maypews]

I've been slacking a bit on the reading lately. No fault of the game, it's kept me pretty engrossed the entire time but more just that I've had my time a bit more divided than usual. Anyway, I plan to binge it a lot to make up for it but here's the rundown on my most recent session that I went through yesterday.

After finding out about Shogun being in the video of the first NewGen case, it by this time has become increasingly clear that the murders were indeed all committed by one person. Rimi promises to start looking after an increasingly paranoid Taku who melts down at school after being stared down by Yua. He returns to the Base with her in tow only to find that the 5th New Gen case has taken place in perhaps even more cruel of a fashion than usual. And to none other than Dr Takashima, the one man the protagonist had placed his faith in at the start of the story. By this point it's becoming increasingly apparent that the killer is outright taunting Takumi, and he absolutely loses it at this revelation before being comforted by Rimi.

Takumi surfs the internet for info on patents similar to the one Sena mentioned regarding VR technology and comes up with another one. The details of this seriously read like some nutty conspiracy theory, the fact that it's likely true in this world is pretty funny. Going for the full denpa shtick of claiming his brain was controlled by the US Government via electromagnetic waves, lol. Honestly it is something the CIA would do if they had the means, probably.


We see Sena destroy some sort of machine which had NOZOMI inscribed on it that seemed to be inflicting mind control on a large group of people at the park, all of whom were chanting "Sono me dare no me". We also find out what the source of Ban's interest in the GE rate is; from one Momose. She chastising Ban for openly investigating it, noting that Oota had been crucified shortly after announcing looking into it on TV.

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Overall, lots of nice plot beats in this 1 hour or so I read for. It's hard to offer much in the way of commentary or opinion on them since they're largely just small things leading up to much bigger ones, hence why this post ended up being more of a summary than anything. The narrative is definitely speeding up now; I must say this game was a lot slower than I remembered it being. Still enough to keep you very engrossed early on though, but it definitely had a more gradual and deliberate pace than I remember.

Quote of the Session, was very pleased to experience this ESPN Instant Classic line for a second time.

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[Maypews]

Got through Chapter 6 this session, an amazing ride as always.

Starting from the beginning... a magnitude 5 earthquake strikes Shibuya and kills way more people than an earthquake of it's modest intensity normally ever would. We also interestingly see GE rates mentioned on national television again, that guy had better watch his back. Furthermore it's noted that there was at one point discussion regarding the white light and other side effects being discussed by media channels, before then not being discussed in official capacities at all. We later see it cut to the Nozomi building where it's stated that they put pressure on the media. If they have the power to alter media reporting in such a way, you wonder why they didn't also just cover up the death toll? Happens all the time with natural disasters IRL.

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After that's settled and Taku sadly has to format his HDD in the aftermath we see him him browsing the internet before Shogun pops up into the chat room where he's waiting for Grimm. He states ominously that he's sending him a present, before then leaving lol. Gee I sure hope nothing absolutely horrifying follows this.

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So yeah, shortly after he receives an e-mail and the absolutely amazing hand scene plays out. Still made my skin crawl a bit even on re-read, you just can't stop looking away from it even though you know exactly what's about to happen. When he picks up the phone to call her and you hear the ringtone come in a genuine chill runs up your spine; one might call it the Gaze. I definitely need to add the Nanami ringtone to our Radio, will have to get that done tomorrow maybe. But anyway, after this Shogun also goes on to invite him over to the O-Front building for a so-called "quest". Fighting off the fear of Shogun killing him too in a stunning act of bravery for our misfit protagonist, he heads over to look for his little sister.

It took a post or two, but finally we're back for our second Science class! Here's a dump of all the juicy details below.

Science Class is in Session!

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aaaaand we're done for now. Come back soon! Nice to see the Sena scene from earlier explained here too; she encountered a porter and a group that it had taken control of.

One great scene leads into another, from the hand to the O-Zone confrontation. Shogun informs him that Nanami is alive but says that if he wants her to stay way, he will need to do exactly as told. Shogun seems to have set him up as some sort of psychic for the crowd below. His interest seems to be in his realbooting ability, not yet named by this point in the story; he asks him to reach out and find his Di-Sword. Which he half succeeds at; he's able to see it, but not reach it just yet.

Funnily enough, I actually answered the questionnaire incorrectly the first time and got the bad ending where he's pushed off the edge for failing the test. But that kind of confused me, because we later find out that Shogun is just a voice box. How the hell was Takumi pushed off in the bad ending? Was someone else there? Seems like a bit of an oversight. Tbh so far the story has been tightly written for the most part but this is probably one of the bigger issues I've noticed with it to so far, though it's in a pretty side/non-canon ending so not a huge deal.

Now for the real reason I rushed to my computer to make this post (I had planned to go to bed after cutting my console off). I had an interesting thought about his conversations with Seira and what they entail. During the whole sequence I found myself being increasingly annoyed by Seira and her constant intrusions, and not entirely because of the annoying over the top VA; the interaction below is a really good example of her trying to convince him to make the worst decision possible.

Shogun pretty much reminds him that he had already materialised a flower bed to save FES with earlier that same day, and that if push came to shove he could likely do the same for himself if he did end up falling off the (very tall) building trying to grasp his sword. But Seira immediately intervenes and tries to plant seeds of doubt in him, which ultimately contributes to Taku just running away from the scene instead of reaching further for his Di-Sword and potentially obtaining it right then and there.

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But then it occurred to me that Takumi's attachment to Seira is likely meant to be a way of symbolising his deep-rooted insecurities. In any situation, and at any moment, Seira will try to convince him to run away from the world. Seira herself is just a stand in for his psyche; it's essentially the part of himself that fuels his hikki and highly anti-social tendencies trying to convince him to retreat into his comfortable place, into the realm of his own delusions and ESO, instead of facing the cruel realities of the world. Furthermore his battle against the horde of Seira's later in the story is meant to symbolise him overcoming his countless fears and self-doubts.

Maybe I'm a retard for not noticing this on my first playthrough or maybe it's a super original take, I don't know. But I do feel pretty confident that this was a subtext they were going for deliberately, and it's a really nice touch!

Today's Quote of the Session

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[Parzival]

Funnily enough, I actually answered the questionnaire incorrectly the first time and got the bad ending where he's pushed off the edge for failing the test. But that kind of confused me, because we later find out that Shogun is just a voice box. How the hell was Takumi pushed off in the bad ending? Was someone else there? Seems like a bit of an oversight. Tbh so far the story has been tightly written for the most part but this is probably one of the bigger issues I've noticed with it to so far, though it's in a pretty side/non-canon ending so not a huge deal.

I always figured someone actually had been there to place and move the wheelchair the voice box and mask were on, especially since Taku hears it move himself, and that person just leaves before Taku can spot them. Alternatively, if this is all the doing of a porter to begin with, that same porter could also just real-boot a force pushing Taku in the bad ending.

But then it occurred to me that Takumi's attachment to Seira is likely meant to be a way of symbolising his deep-rooted insecurities. In any situation, and at any moment, Seira will try to convince him to run away from the world. Seira herself is just a stand in for his psyche; it's essentially the part of himself that fuels his hikki and highly anti-social tendencies trying to convince him to retreat into his comfortable place, into the realm of his own delusions and ESO, instead of facing the cruel realities of the world. Furthermore his battle against the horde of Seira's later in the story is meant to symbolise him overcoming his countless fears and self-doubts.

Maybe I'm a retard for not noticing this on my first playthrough or maybe it's a super original take, I don't know. But I do feel pretty confident that this was a subtext they were going for deliberately, and it's a really nice touch!

I don't recall ever seeing anyone in the fandom actually say this but yeah I do think it might be because it is pretty obvious. She clearly represents the part of his psyche holding him back and keeping him from growing as a person

Spoiler

similar to another pink haired delusion