#but not like the music itself

[humornaut]

August/Water; or Who Listens to Sunny?

OMORI SPOILERS AHEAD - ANALYSIS OF BLACK SPACE AND BASIL AND SUNNY’S RELATIONSHIP

Hey all, I just had a bit of a theory/analysis of something that I noticed in Omori that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, and it has to do with Black Space, and a few rooms in particular.

It’s not the main room that I want to talk about, but we should start with the Watermelon Area.

It’s the first and only mandatory Black Space area that involves Headspace Basil. From here, we can see that the Headspace Basils that appear in Black Space have memories that they shouldn’t, which is why they have been banished to Black Space and now killed as they bring these memories up.

This HS Basil, referencing the theme of the area, brings up watermelons, and specifically, how the group used to eat watermelons at the beach. After interacting with the seventh watermelon in the second part of the area, Basil breaks down rather than the watermelon. I’m sure there’s some kind of symbolism there, but it isn’t important for what I’m talking about.

What is important is that this Basil bringing up the trip to the beach and eating watermelon leads to the next area of Black Space, the Beach Area.

First, I want to acknowledge the parts of this area that I don’t see as especially relevant to this analysis. To paraphrase, Stranger’s dialogue is focused around if Basil and Sunny can truly call the others their friends, and about if there is any hope still left for them. In addition, there are photos scattered around the area that get scribbled out when you interact with them, giving another piece of foreshadowing that Sunny was the one that scribbled out the pictures in Basil’s photo album.

But what I really want to talk about in this area starts with it’s background music. The track for this area is one entitled August/Water. What really brought it to my attention was the fact that it was 1 minute and 43 seconds long. If you aren’t aware, 143 refers to the phrase, “I Love You”. It appears throughout the game, and is mostly related to Mari/Something, but it does appear in other places as well, for instance, HS Basil in the Boss Rush has 143 Heart at level 25, while Aubrey’s birthday (on non leap years) is the 143rd day of the year. It will also crop up again in the soundtrack in one of the later Black Space areas.

(edit: I also want to note that “143″ is not something that exists in any tangible ways to the characters of the game or within headspace. Outside of a few instances, it is almost exclusively found within character stats, damage amounts, and within the soundtrack. Instead, you should consider it as a way that the game conveys information to you without the characters “hearing” or “being aware” of what’s being said.)

What makes its appearance here so interesting, though, is that there is seemingly no one that it is referring to in the Beach Area. Stranger isn’t saying anything of note that would indicate any kind of feelings (though he definitely does elsewhere), and the only other NPC that can be interacted with is “BLUEGIRL”, who only appears as a WTF event. We’ll talk about her in a little bit.

So it’s important to acknowledge, since this area is so connected to the Beach Memory, that the trip to the beach is the last time chronologically that Sunny’s crush on Aubrey is depicted in the real world, via the Lost Library entry for the drive home, in which Sunny pretends to be asleep on Aubrey’s shoulder, so it’s possible that this is an Aubrey 143.

There’s just one problem with that. The trip to the beach, at least the one that is most relevant to what happens in the game, happens in June, while the song is clearly labeled August/Water. Now, it’s possible that they went to the beach more than once, and HS Basil in the watermelon room outright says that they did, but I think there’s more to it than that.

See, the group had a very busy August in the year that the photo album was made. On 8/4, they went beetle catching. On 8/14, they finished building the treehouse, and they hung out there again on 8/16, where everyone in the group is wearing the exact same outfits they were wearing two days ago. I don’t think that’s important, I just thought it was funny. Finally, on 8/18, at least Basil, Mari, Aubrey, and Kel went to Hobbeez to read the latest edition of Captain Spaceboy. Notably, none of these activities really involve water in the slightest. However, there is one big event involving water that we never actually get a date for, but had to have happened at some point over that Summer...

We know that Sunny almost drowning in the lake is something that must have happened at some point during the year the photo album was made, but we annoyingly don’t have an exact date, since Basil didn’t document his best friend almost dying, for some reason. Kel discovered the Lake Hideout in March, and they had to have used it enough that it ended up becoming their hideout in the first place. The incident also likely happened after the month of June, as I don’t see Mari agreeing to a beach trip if neither Sunny or Basil could go in the water. Now we never actually see Sunny in the water in this memory, but when you interact with Mari during this scene in Memory Lane, she mentions the heat as the reason Sunny wouldn’t want to be there, and not any fear of drowning keeping him from fully enjoying himself.

I do want to mention that there does exist a film from 1995 called August in the Water, which does feature a scene where one of the main characters is in a diving competition, falls incorrectly, and goes comatose for a bit, but I don’t really think this is intentionally referencing that movie, because there is a lot of stuff that happens in that movie.

Finally, in much the same way that the room before this referenced the trip to the Beach, the area after this, the Spider Area, references the incident at the lake.

So there we have it, right? August/Water is referencing the Lake Incident, so the 1:43 is a Mari 143, since Mari is the one that saved Sunny, right? Well... I don’t actually think so.

See, there’s a curious NPC in the Beach Area that only appears if your WTF value is 6 or higher.

“BLUEGIRL” is a very interesting NPC. All she does is move around the southern part of the Beach Area, and if you try to talk with her, she just says, “Don’t talk to me.” As this conclusion is different from my own, I would like to acknowledge that the wiki entry for BLUEGIRL draws similarities between her and Mari. I do feel that this conclusion is incorrect, because to me, this NPC looks just like Aubrey. Specifically, as she appears in this image, from the Final Duet:

Also, look! Sunny’s wearing the same outfit that he was wearing when Mari pulled him out of the lake! Isn’t that neat?

Obviously, Sunny was very much traumatized by the incident at the lake. It’s where he got his fear of heights, spiders, and drowning. He straight up didn’t even try to save himself, believing he was too weak and waiting for Hero and Kel to do so, but those two weren’t even the ones that pulled him out. If Mari hadn’t dove in, Sunny would be dead. Even after Sunny has conquered all of his fears in-game, interacting with the lake reveals that Sunny still sometimes feels like he has water in his head.

So, what do we make of all this?

The player isn’t supposed to really know about how Sunny would take the time to listen to Aubrey’s problems when they were younger quite yet. It’s only implied that it happened during One Day Left, and only confirmed by the dream version of Aubrey that appears right after Memory Lane. Even BLUEGIRL only has like a 50% chance of appearing.

What I believe is trying to be said here is that Sunny wanted to talk to someone about what he went through at the lake, and felt that he couldn’t do that with Aubrey. I don’t think Aubrey ever would have dropped a blunt “Don’t talk to me”, especially to Sunny before the timeskip, but the conclusion is the same. I think the emphasis on this being “BLUEGIRL” is important, because Sunny’s mind uses the color blue to represent sadness. I think that Aubrey would already have been going through a lot, and Sunny would have felt uncomfortable putting any more on her. Or perhaps, he did try to talk to her about it, and the conversation just didn’t lead anywhere.

In addition, on a more meta level, after the intro of the Beach Memory during Memory Lane, you actually can’t talk to Aubrey, as she is too busy fighting with Kel.

There are many reasons that Aubrey could have been feeling sad in August of the photo album. It’s likely that her parents’ marriage was already falling apart at this point. Her dad is still around by the time the recital comes around, but we also know that the reason she was going to have to wait to dye her hair pink was because of her dad being strict about that kind of thing. The picture of her and Kim that both have next to their beds shows that it likely wasn’t long after the incident that she went through with this, considering she still looks quite young.

However, whether Aubrey was going through a lot at the time, or Sunny just didn’t feel comfortable talking about something like this with his crush, we don’t need BLUEGIRL to tell us who Sunny didn’t open up to about the incident. Aubrey, Kel, and Hero don’t seem to know that the reason that Sunny fell into the lake was due to a spider, with Hero saying:

“Kel and I used to do tricks jumping off that statue, but when we asked Sunny to try it... he froze up and fell into the lake.”

And then, when you walk into Hero and Kel’s bedroom and find the spider, no one seems to find it weird that Sunny isn’t also freezing up at the sight of it. No one ever questions him for jumping in after Basil either, nor acknowledge any fear of drowning/inability to swim post-incident. We also have the present day swing set conversation in which Aubrey says this:

“Sometimes I think I was the one that should have been there for you.”

This is actually the first indication that Sunny ever listened to Aubrey in the same way he did for Basil, and it makes it clear that this interaction was one-sided.

So who did Sunny talk to about what happened? That brings us to the next room in Black Space...

Among the appearances of HS Basil, this one is unique. It is the first Black Space area that is optional, so many players never even see it. More importantly, the memory that HS Basil invokes in this area is one that the man himself seemingly was not involved with. He says:

“I remember a while back... You told me that a big spider fell on your shoulder just as you were about to dive into the lake at our secret hangout spot!”

Now Basil is actually the only person that is not confirmed to be present during the Lake Incident. It is completely possible that he wasn’t even there, considering he can’t swim. But considering the group did everything together, and Mari and Aubrey were seemingly not swimming at the time, I find it likely that he was there.

HS Basil talking about this does not necessarily mean that a conversation actually happened, as Sunny is definitely an unreliable narrator, especially within his own mind. However, Basil doesn’t just reference the incident, he references Sunny telling him about the incident. The previous HS Basil referenced the beach trip, which did actually happen, so I feel comfortable in saying that this HS Basil is referencing an actual memory that Sunny has of opening up to Basil about the Lake Incident.

In fact, even the Basil follow-ups during Boss Rush imply that they both listened to each other. While they are initiated by Basil, I would argue that this is only due to Omori already having his own set of follow-ups. The description for VENT isn’t “BASIL vents his anger to OMORI!”, it’s “BASIL and OMORI vent their anger!”. This is carried over to the other two follow-ups, it’s something that they’re both doing. COMFORT is them comforting each other, not Omori comforting Basil, and MULL is them mulling over their sad thoughts together.

I personally think this is an important thing to note when discussing Basil and Sunny’s relationship. The game makes a big deal about how Sunny would always listen to Basil’s worries, fears, hopes, and dreams, and also tells us that Sunny did the same for Aubrey, but this is the first indication that that relationship went both ways for either of them. In fact, I’d hazard to say that this probably was the first time Sunny would’ve opened up like this to Basil. Aside from the group picnic vision in Faraway, the only Faraway visions that feature Sunny and another character are Sunny and Aubrey on the swings, and Basil and Sunny on the dock overlooking the lake.

Even before researching this, I’ve always felt that the Lake Incident is a really underrated event that helps explain Basil’s mindset regarding Sunny, especially the day of the recital. After all, a few months before Sunny ever pushed Mari down the stairs, Sunny almost died in a manner that Basil couldn’t protect him from, due to his inability to swim. Sunny then opens up about his frankly extreme fears of heights, spiders, and drowning that came from the event, and possibly about how he didn’t even try to save himself due to believing himself to be too weak, and Basil’s protective view of Sunny, especially when colored by the trauma of watching Mari die, becomes a lot more understandable.

So. Anyway. August/Water. 1:43. I love you.

If it isn’t clear what I’m trying to imply here, I believe the game, through the details of these rooms in Black Space, is trying to tell us that in August, following almost drowning at the lake and struggling to find someone to talk about it with, Sunny’s relationship and view of Basil began to change. But is there any other evidence of this?

Taking a look at the photo album, there are a couple of choice excerpts that stand out regarding Basil and Sunny.

This picture is from 3/9, but I wanted to point out that Sunny and Aubrey are sitting at the table that is later noted for being the table that Sunny and Basil always sit at in the version of Sunny’s house before memory lane, which is implied to be from after the treehouse was finished. Aubrey’s looking at Kel, instead, who has pulled up his own chair. This is also the same weekend that Basil showed Sunny the book that he was reading.

On 8/16, Sunny is shown to have started reading the book that Basil recommended to him five months prior. What could have possessed him to do that now, with the recital two months away and school about to start, rather than at the start of the summer, or back in March when Basil first showed it to him?

Then, on 9/6, we get the Treehouse Memory during Memory Lane, along with those pictures. There are quite a few details that I would like to draw your attention to:

1. During the Rainy Day Memory in April, Basil calls out Sunny’s crush on Aubrey due to Sunny specifically always asking to look at his photos of Aubrey. The Treehouse Memory shows that by September, Sunny was asking to look at his pictures that include everyone except Aubrey.

2. Basil is wearing a flower crown, despite saying in April that “just a flower is okay.” We know that HS Basil is always wearing a flower crown, telling us that either Sunny really likes it when Basil wears a full flower crown, or that Basil would like to wear a full flower crown, but is too embarrassed to do so, so Sunny allows him to do so in his dreams. Either way, Basil wearing a full flower crown five months after saying that they were too much for him definitely parallels Sunny deciding to read the book five months after Basil’s recommendation.

(edit: Something that I noticed after originally writing this is that despite giving up on learning how to make flower crowns when the group did it as a group, one of the group picnics in headspace, at the playground, being the group making flower crowns implies that Sunny did go back at some point to learn how to make them. Considering that Basil didn’t seem interested in wearing a flower crown in the real world, it is completely possible that the flower crown that he’s wearing in this memory is from Sunny going back and learning, but this is definitely something that is up to your own interpretation.)

3. Sunny is playing cards with the group, but Basil doesn’t seem to see him as an opponent in his photo album entry. I don’t think this actually implies anything, I just think it’s funny, since Basil probably discounted Sunny due to him blatantly looking at everyone’s hands.

4. This is the only memory in Memory Lane in which the player has control of Sunny that does not include a reference to Sunny’s crush on Aubrey. You of course have the Rainy Day memory, where Basil calls out Sunny’s crush on Aubrey, but you also have Basil referring to Aubrey as cute in the Beach memory along with the implied moment on the way home, and then you once again have Sunny calling a sleeping Aubrey cute in the picnic memory.

Finally, on 9/9, Basil writes that Mari has been away from home until late due to taking cram classes to prepare for college. Chiefly, this entry also tells us that Sunny has been choosing to hang out with Basil more in the absence of Mari, which seems to have been going on for awhile, due to the phrasing that Basil uses. We even see this in the fact that the next (and last) day in the photo album is once again just Basil, Mari, and Sunny, along with Basil being the only one present on the day of the Incident, despite the fact that everyone is busy getting ready and even Sunny’s parents are seemingly not home.

Now I’m not saying you have to buy into all of this, and I’m definitely not saying that Sunny fully understands his feelings for Basil, if any exist in the first place. The setting of the game being a small religious community in the late 90′s United States would definitely not be conducive to that kind of interpretation. But I do think a lot of this information is worth considering. At the very least, there is evidence that Sunny opened up about the incident to Basil and not the others, which I think makes the fact that years later, Sunny dives in after Basil whether he wants to or not all the sweeter.

(edit: took out a lot of irrelevant stuff from the conclusion that I felt didn’t need to be there.)

If you’ve taken the time to read this post, thanks! I don’t see myself posting all that much, to be honest, I just really wanted to get this analysis out there. I’d like to leave off this post with a detail from another Black Space Area that didn’t quite fit in the main analysis.

“Back then... I wanted to save what was left. But even after everything... you left me, Sunny... 

I waited so long for you to come back.

Even seeing you now... It’s hard to think straight. I can feel my heart hurting and I want to cover my face and hide.

There are so many things I want to say to you... but the words won’t come out.

I just... I waited so long for you to come back, Sunny... but... you never did.”

- Stranger, Fishbowl Area

BGM: 143 - White Pillars

[tapakah0]

Animation based on this gorgeous animatic that I kept rewatching for 2 months (and finally gave up) made by @wolfythewitch

[kathaynesart]

REPLICA PLAYLIST

MUSIC UNDER CUT

I have been receiving requests for any songs that inspired Replica, so here, have my personal playlist. Sorry it’s not Spotify/Soundcloud but they don’t have some of these songs available so uh… guess you’re stuck with YouTube vids. For fun I'll include my personal titles for them (which might give a few hints of what to expect in the future/end).

Replica Main Theme - “Die for You” by Grabbitz Like Father Like Son Like Brother (Omega and Shelldon) - "As Above So Below" by Alistair Lindsay Mikey's Theme / The 1st Vision - "Suzume no Tojimari" by Nanoka Hara Military (Mad) Dogs / Central Park Colony - "Imperium" by Madeon Shanghai - "Icarus" by Madeon Boom Goes the Donnie-mite (Mikey/Donnie vs the Sweeper) - "The Red Zone" by Mitsuoto Suzuki The Day the Sky Bled Red - "7 Seconds Till the End" by Nobuo Uematsu Going Out Like a Boss (Raph and Leo) - "Agape" by Nicholas Britell Remembering the Right Way (Mikey and Leo) - "The Souls of Many" - by Alistair Lindsay Mystic Hands / The 2nd Vision - "Am I Dreaming" by Metro Boomin x A$AP Book 2 Trailer - "Sea Dragon" by Covet 7 Years Later - "Iron" by Woodkid Leo's Theme / Attack on the Labor Camp - "Ego Death" by Polyphia Omega's Theme - "Touch" by Daft Punk Flat Lines (Omega Alone) - "Die Toteninsel Emptiness" by 1000 Eyes Spear - "Monsters" by Tommee Profitt Final Protocol - "The Kraken" by Katie Dey Rise / Epilogue - "Close in the Distance" by Masayoshi Soken & Tom Mills

I will admit, it's a little embarrassing since you can easily see the patterns of what I've been listening to for the past year or two. I swear I listen to more than just videogame OSTs, these songs just jive well with the story and I often find lyrics distracting when brainstorming scenes. Regardless, the music I listen to is such an important part of my creative process and some of these songs really defined the scenes I now have locked in my head. So I figured it was only fair to give them the credit they're due.

I will continue to add to this playlist, and will note in comic updates when one of these songs is applicable!

[tsunosagun]

i flew too high, please catch my fall

[raepliica]

Take to the skies

...and fly free

[mortellanarts]

You must absolutely hate me for what I did to you

[emderperq]

currently obsessing over this musical these two make me INSANE!!

[sunshines-child]

Goddess of Wisdom *music*

[kurikorso]

nostalgia slapped me upside the head a little while ago so i had to draw my favorite dudes ft. the gecko effect

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo

I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.

So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?

In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.

What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!

Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.

Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.

In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.

My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.

So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?

The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)

Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.

[turtleblogatlast]

“Haven’t You Noticed (I’m a Star)” from Steven Universe works so ridiculously well for Leo

[emergingghost]

some boygenius blinkies!

(made here & here)

[outletcrash]

BANG!

[skulls-and-snakes]

Lauryn Hill as Cyrus is such a good choice because like having a hip-hop legend and pioneer as the leader that everyone else looks up to and tries to model themselves after, it's just so thematically sound

[aashiyancha]

I wanted to make my own memory card so i scribbled a little skit leading up to the memory

And the card!

[shima-draws]

Watched the MLB movie and I just. I WANT to gush about it but the fact that Marinette’s regular voice actor and her singing voice actor sound SO different just took me out of it every time and left me feeling very disengaged;; At least Adrien’s singing voice kind of sounds like his speaking voice (and Gabriel’s is 👌 bc my king Keith Silverstein can actually sing and he can sing REALLY fucking well) but Marinette’s. The voices are COMPLETELY different and it threw me off every single time. Like obviously her singing voice is really good and I understand why they picked that person to do her songs but bro you could have at least TRIED to get someone that sounds similar to Cristina Vee. It drove me nuts every time she sang bc I was like “That is CLEARLY a different person entirely!!”

I’m realizing this might have been a dubbing issue but still 😭 I feel like I would have enjoyed the movie way more if it didn’t look like Marinette was lip syncing the entire time bc there was such a huge disconnect between her speaking and singing voice