#ainispoilers

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▶️ LOCK-IN ◀️

( Happy Masked Woman Day ! )

[qosic]

3D Printed AIBA. TAMA. THE OTHER ONE. BACK IN STOCK!

1/1 scale, you can swap between four expressions!

Eyebuddies! They function as keychains. 4 expressions and loads of colours!

Your very own A! assistant! This is the closest we’ll ever get to a nendoroid!

» https://qosic.bigcartel.com/ «

(spoiler character under the cut)

[bravadoting]

⚠️ Nirvana Initiative Spoilers under the cut ⚠️

Did you know that Nirvana Initiative contains scene direction within the game files? Pretty cool, right?

While most of the commentary concerns details that become apparent upon replay/the true order, it also clarifies scenes that don’t receive further elaboration. I’ll be focusing on the latter category here.

1) One thing I felt the game overlooked was Bibi going to Sekiba High after she was estranged from the Chiedas. I’m glad the devs thought of this scenario, even if it’s heartbreaking to see how Bibi distanced herself from Kizuna :[

(I wonder if Bibi skips school because of her health issues or just to avoid Kizuna when their history becomes too overwhelming.)

2) It’s very interesting to see that Date actually held a grudge against Ryuki for the Cathedral Incident. Granted, it was very short-lived as Date softened seeing how much Ryuki continues to beat himself up for hurting everyone. However, I’d still love to see them have proper reconciliation for that event.

3) In Mizuki CH1, Gen!Date slips up and describes the actions of both himself and the real Gen on the previous day. In Ryuki’s introduction, we see him making reference to two Gens, but Date tries to dismiss it as just an illusion with the Lewis Carroll reference.

4) Finally, the developers mentioned that Tokiko was projecting her feelings about Jin and Uru onto Gen and Shoma respectively.

It makes sense as Jin had to live a solitary life based on his facial abnormalities just as Gen similarly resigned himself. As for Shoma, it is very clear from his Somnium that both him and Uru resorted to using the simulation theory to cope with their pain. I know Shoma would hate the comparision though :’)

(I’m also curious to see how Shoma broke free from Naix ideology during the timeskip. It really deserves more explanation).

Here are the sources in case you want to see the developer commentary for yourself. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the English version available in its entirety. If anyone has a full compilation, I’d greatly appreciate it >:D

https://tcrf.net/AI:THE_SOMNIUM_FILES-_nirvanA_Initiative/Developer_Comments (up to Ryuki CH3 R2)

https://youtu.be/HzTaybohPx8

[postingkino]

@ryudateweek Day 3 Prompt: Death

[adelle-ein]

WAY more people read this than I thought, so I went through and did a massive edit/cleanup. Fixed up the grammar and writing from “hasty rant” to “actually kind of a reasonable essay” level, threw in a few more details, and added some screenshots to break up the text chunks. Sorry it was such a mess, I didn’t proofread too much bc I genuinely didn’t think anyone was gonna read it :’)

Nothing Supernatural Here: Lace’s not-very-nice AINI review/rant

ETA 01/04/23: WAY more people read this than I thought, so I went through and did a massive edit/cleanup. Fixed up the grammar and writing from “hasty rant” to “actually kind of a reasonable essay” level, threw in a few more details, and added some screenshots to break up the text chunks. Sorry it was such a mess, I didn’t proofread too much bc I genuinely didn’t think anyone was gonna read it :’)

When I finished watching AI: Nirvana Initiative on Youtube (because I could not afford to buy it, and I am happy every day that I did not dip into my grocery money to do so), I wrote a review. It was not a kind review. I hated the game and that very much shows. It seemed so harsh and mean when all the reviews were so glowing, when all my mutuals seemed to ADORE it, so I decided it was better to let this extremely mean review languish in the depths of my google drive forever.

I have now edited, added to, and completed this review, and decided to let it out. It is extremely long. Like, stupidly long. And I still left out a LOT of things I hated.

I am not being nice, I am not pulling punches. I think AINI is the worst video game sequel I have ever had the displeasure of knowing exists as well as the worst VN overall I have ever viewed in full. I have really nothing nice to say about it at all. So please know that going in, and also know that if you try to convince me the game is good, I am probably just going to laugh at you because believe me: I cannot be convinced. I have tried so hard to like this game. I cannot, and it is one of my most hated pieces of media ever. This whole review is much more “hate” than “criticism.” Anyway. You have been warned.

Spoilers for AINI and AITSF, of course. Bear in mind: AINI, even if you have spoiler toggle off, inherently spoils AITSF. You cannot discuss AINI in depth without spoiling AITSF. The pre-release press releases were lying.

CWs: All AINI-typical content is discussed, including suicide, death, parental neglect and abuse, et cetera.

PROLOGUE

Nothing sums up my loathing of AINI better than the story of Tokiko’s body. When you find her corpse while playing as Mizuki, it’s a very clear suicide scene. Her wrists were slit, she’s part of a cult, she’s been discussing suicide and being sliced in half, the game makes it very clear she’s been suicidal in the past, et cetera. And yet Aiba immediately announces, with no further explanation, that she “does not believe this was self-inflicted” aka “this was not a suicide.” She provides no evidence whatsoever for this little conclusion (other than the would being “deep?”), but as the player, it would be logical to assume that this is meant to be a “I know what this looks like, and it isn’t it, assume this was murder” from the writers to the player.

And then, much later on when the Big Reveals are coming out, it is revealed that Tokiko did in fact kill herself in that very spot, in exactly the way it looks. She slit her wrists and cut herself in half using the Very Realistic Machine because of her cult beliefs and underlying depression. It was a suicide, exactly what it looked like, all along. No further explanation is given. Aiba does not even acknowledge her lie/error.

Great writing, guys.

A good mystery misleads its audience. But, uh…that’s not misleading the audience. That’s just straight up telling a lie to pretend there’s a mystery when there isn’t one. It was in fact the thing it immediately appeared to be. I looked at an apple, AINI told me it was an orange, and then later was like “it’s an apple.” Not even “it was actually an apple all along,” just “it’s an apple.” And isn’t that just straight up what AINI is about overall? Blatantly lying to the player to pretend it has any depth, mystery, or interesting content whatsoever?

Keep reading

[bennflynt]

Hand in Unloving Hand

[joyokosuka]

Re: I loved him...And I betrayed him...

I have seen some people say “Ryuki’s ‘I loved him’ quote is ambiguous” or “Ryuki doesn’t mean romantic love because he used ‘suki,’” so I wanted to clear things up a bit…Please excuse the wall of text, but I hope this helps.

Ryuki’s line in the explosion end is as follows:

あんなに好きだった。。。伊達さんのことを。。。裏切ったんだ

Anna ni suki datta…Date-san no koto o…Uragittanda.

I’ll break it down by each part.

Anna ni: adverb meaning “to that extent, so much, that much, etc.”  Ryuki uses this to contrast his love for Date against the fact that he betrayed him.

Suki: This is loaded, so it will take a bit more explanation.  The common three ways you’ll hear someone confess “I love you” are suki, daisuki, and ai suru/shiteru/etc.  There is a misconception in English-speaking fandom that they are translated strictly in the following ways:

Suki: I like you (platonic)

Daisuki: I like you a lot (strong platonic)

Aishiteru: I love you (romantic)

This is not accurate. It is true that aishiteru is stronger than suki or daisuki, but they all can be romantic.   Suki (or daisuki, literally just a stronger version of suki) is what you would use to describe hobbies, food, etc., but it functions fine as a romantic confession as well.  In fact, it is the most common word to use when confessing one’s love to another person.  You can use it in a platonic sense…But that is much more common when saying you like a person’s attributes, i.e. “I suki you as a person” or “I suki your personality.”  (Name) ga suki is a very common, albeit casual, way to declare romantic love.  If intended platonically, it will come off strong and off-putting to the recipient. (Name) no koto ga suki is less casual, and more overtly romantic, but I will get to the nuances later.  It should be noted that, though Ryuki is technically acknowledging his love for Date to himself, rather than confessing directly to Date, the same word conventions apply.

As a side note - aishiteru is very rarely used in real-life relationships.  It is so strong to the point that, if used, it can raise alarm bells - “Why did you use aishiteru?  Are you okay?  Am I never going to see you again?”  You hear it more often in song and anime/manga, but that’s because it comes off as more “poetic,” and has a bit more potential for interlingual wordplay.

Datta: Literally “was.”  Suki functions as a noun in Japanese, although it is a verb in English.  Ryuki is using past tense here because:

He assumes Date is dead at this point

He is relating his feelings to a past event (his betrayal)

Date-san: Mr. Date.

No koto: This phrase doesn’t really exist in English, but the literal translation is “of a thing.”  That’s not super helpful, but it’s made clearer with the context.  No koto is used to refer to a person when you want to address all of their aspects.  In a simpler sense, you can view the nuance as (name) ga suki being “I love you” and (name) no koto ga suki being “I love everything about you,” though both can be appropriately translated as “I love you.”  The no koto generally makes the phrasing more romantic.

O: No real equivalent in English, but this just indicates that there is a verb (uragitanda) about to occur to a subject (Date-san).

Uragitanda: Betrayed.

So, to summarize…The sentence, at its most literal, could be something like “The person I loved so much, Mr. Date, I betrayed.”  However, it carries more of an implication of “How could I betray the person I love so much?”

I will be frank for clarity.  This is a blatantly and explicitly romantic line.  Suki datta Date-san already sounds fairly romantic, but the anna ni and no koto push it above plausible deniability.

This might be confusing to some English-speaking fans - if it is blatantly romantic, why hasn’t the team confirmed this?  The answer comes down to cultural differences in fandom.

I just want to put a quick note here that fandoms are not monoliths, and even a single country’s fandom will be extremely varied.  However, I did talk to several people raised in Japan/living in Japan to get their take on both the line and the following trends:

In English-speaking fandoms, there is a lot of talk about representation re: LGBT characters.  If characters are presented with coding, but aren’t explicitly LGBT, some may contact the creator directly to determine if they are interpreting a character correctly.  While some creators may offer direct confirmation, some may not.  Those that don’t can come across to LGBT fans as “not wanting to go all the way with LGBT characters” and like they are denying representation.  Thus, creators are often seen as the final say; the right interpretation for a character’s sexuality or gender.

In Japanese-speaking fandoms, there is less focus on using characters as a vehicle for LGBT representation.  More importantly, there is also a distinctly different creator-fan relationship.  There is much more focus to allow text to be text, and fans to have their own interpretations.  It can be seen as stifling and disrespectful to fans to overtly confirm a character’s sexuality or gender.  So any refusal to comment on a character’s status as LGBT is less of an inherent cop-out, and more of a sign of respect to fans.

In summary, yeah, this line is overtly romantic.  The text itself is enough to confirm it.

[ritoryb]

[ aini spoilers ]

yknow before i cancelled my xiv sub and before my friend made me binge both these games in two weeks i was going to go on and make an m miqo named kanyame date or catname date which i never did btw. and now i have to deal with needing to tag this as ainispoilers because,

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Ryudate - Memory

Naix!Ryuki AU where he joined Naix after his brother's death and not ABIS nor the police force

Was intended for Ryudate Week 2024 but couldn't finish it in time ;_; so very sorry! I hope it's still ok!

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"Don't Miss Out This TEAR-rific Show !"

( Happy Halloween! )

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Dispossessed

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🔷Happy Second AINIversary🔶

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[ Set Her Free ]

( Alt versions under the cut )

Wasn't sure which one I liked the most so I'm just gonna post all three

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🎉Belated Birthday Render to two beautiful sonboys who are totally not up to some nefarious plot this time (maybe)🎉 🥳

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✨Message From ███████

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(Belated) White Day render collection!

inspired by GBF's White Day CG artwork! I only did 9 of the guys this time around sorry, I didn't have good ideas for all of them (but if you have one you'd want to see with a dude I skipped, hmu and I will see what I can do?) Some legally distinct chocolate/treats this time *whistles*

3 spoiler characters from both AITSF and AINI under the cut!!

(Credit to Birdseyestock on DA for the gold foil texture on the chocolate Aiba because IDK what I would have done without it)