#nu carnival meta

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

M/s relationships- real life vs Garu/Karu & Eiden

Alright buckle up fellow 18+ adults, I have a couple other meta and analysis-thingies up my sleeves but wanted to write about this first.

Disclaimer: I have not watched or read every event, etc etc the usual, if I have lore & information wrong, please lemme know. Also a good chunk of this is speaking of my personal BDSM experience and there is no One Twue Way so it is entirely possible this will differ from your BDSM experience.

It is natural that in Nu Carnival, a harem game, some ships will be deemed as more popular or more romantic. And some ships will be viewed as less. In some social circles, Garu/Karu/Eiden is often viewed as one of the "less romantic" relationships. I want to question this status quo though, due to my personal experience in the BDSM community.

This will be broken down in a couple things: my qualifications, how M/s works in my personal experience, a quick tangent about petplay in my personal experience, and what is going on with Garu/Karu/Eiden.

Qualifications:

I have been in my local kink community for a long time. I graduated from a leather education program, earned my boots & belt, participated in a BDSM mentorship program, taught a class, performed at multiple venues, and was in multiple porn shoots. So I think i have some experience. I'm not an expert in anything, but I do think I'm in intermediate or advanced level for some kinks that I specialize in. While I am not in a "romantic" relationship, I am in a kink family with my leather education group and most of us have all played with each other.

Most of what I will be talking about, though, is from personal experience of my own play and my friends/play partners, rather than what you'll find on wikipedia. So it is entirely possible, that my analysis will not match your kink experience or the kink experience of an instructor you watched online. It certainly won't match BL or fanfics. And that is ok! There is no One Twue Way when it comes to BDSM!

One last disclaimer: I am allosexual aromantic, so sometimes I really can't grasp the concept of romance so maybe I'm misunderstanding some things.

So about this M/s relationship thing:

On Fetlife and other online communities, there's a LOT of relationships styles and roles. Like a lot a lot a lot. It goes signficantly beyond "top, bottom, switch". On Fetlife/collarme/etc, though, there are certain "perceived" relationship commitment levels. If you have ever heard of "24/7 M/s relationship". That is what I'm talking about. Online and in most western erotica, Master/slave relationships are kind of viewed as the holy grail, ultimate, most dedicated BDSM relationship you have because a slave is offering their entire being and self to their Master. It goes far and beyond romance and marriage. It's viewed as super extra soul life partner relationship.

In real life, I have done M/s roleplay scenes and I do know many friends who are in actual M/s relationships. I'll be honest, of the people I know in real life, it never goes to that deep of a level for daily life and I don't know anyone who is in an actual 24/7 M/s relationship. Many slaves do wear collars as a sign of their commitment though. There are also many pro femdom "M/s" relationships, where a pro femdom will have a BUNCH of slaves serving them and their household. And sometimes relationships will overlap at the same time! You can be a slave and a puppy to 1 partner at the same time, while also being a dom or a master to someone else! Or to the same person if you're both switches!

And lastly, I also know many people who have broken off M/s relationships, so they are not as "life partner" permanent as you see them in media.

Now what does this have to do with Garu/Karu/Eiden?

Well, Garu calls Eiden Master and Karu calls Eiden slave. In Forgotten Fruit, specifically, Garu asks Eiden out a second time to be his commander, his Master. In Desert of Dusk, at one point Eiden also tells Garu that some people won't understand the type of relationship they have, which indicates its not a normal "boyfriends" relationship. Oh and this whole time, Karu has been attempting to treat Eiden as his slave, although that is clearly a comedic thing, rather than an actual M/s relationship.

And many Nu Carnival players view Garu/Karu/Eiden as less romantic. But as you can see from my personal experience, M/s relationships are viewed as The Ultimate BDSM Romantic Relationship. Can you see the disconnect there now? I would like to bring this perspective into the conversation about relationships in NU Carnival because I haven't seen this brought up yet.

I'm not saying that Garu/Karu/Eiden is More RomanticTM because they have a M/s relationship. I'm just saying that if you look at their relationship with a difference perspective, it can be perceived as just as RomanticTM as the others, or more.

And what about petplay?

In real life, petplay involves the partners getting into their preferred animal headspace and have a handler/owner. I have no idea if there's any expert research about this, but I do personally know several friends that are in a M/s relationships, but are also pet players in the same relationship. I have also done petplay scenes as both a handler and a cat.

When I personally see Eiden/Garu, they act more like a petplay relationship to me, than a M/s relationship. Garu acts like a puppy, Eiden acts like his owner, head pats, playing fetch, dog toys, rewards for good behavior, Garu literally looks like a puppy player, etc. Eiden as a handler/owner doesn't control Garu the way a Master would "command" a slave and while Garu definitely helps Eiden a lot, he doesn't "serve" Eiden the way a slave would. In fact, Eiden has actually stated he would be uncomfortable with Garu mindlessly obeying him (just rewatch chapter 7 or even Desert of Dusk). (Note that it gets real complex in M/s dynamics- a slave offering service is not mindlessly obeying). And I don't know what Eiden/Karu would be, but whatever it is, its kinda dysfunctional and doesn't fit into any clean boxes.

Even if the average vanilla player doesn't connect Garu/Karu/Eiden with petplay, I think those aspects of a petplay relationship is why people perceive them as "less romantic". Petplay often isn't perceived as a ~holy grail ultimate romantic BDSM relationship~ the same way M/s is. It's often viewed as just a kinky relationship/scene. Even though in my real life, I've seen the overlap. I'm also adding this again, to make the conversation even more complicated and nuanced.

In summary, Garu/Eiden and Karu/Eiden label themselves as a M/s relationship. In real life BDSM, M/s relationships are perceived as really freakin' committed romanticTM. BUT I can also see Garu/Eiden being perceived as a petplay couple, which real life people don't see as RomanticTM. And that is probably why it carries into the fandom when they don't perceive Garu/Karu/Eiden as romantic as the others.

And this whole conversation also isn't helpful, because goddammit this is a beautiful harem game and none of the guys are competing for Eiden's attention and in real life I know polycules that can get in 10+ partners ok! I have personally played with partners in said polycules!

And then Karu/Eiden is just complicated.

So I just wanted to give my 2 cents. Thoughts?

[tellmewhatyouc]

recent prompts on @nuflashfic reminded me i wrote some meta about Zaro a bit ago, which i never shared! there's some transcripts, story details, and speculation about this man we know like 2 things about. enjoy ✨

read on Notion

[nuflashfic]

Halloween Event?

Thinking about seasonal events! I used to participate in Simblreen, and while I'm not active in the Simblr community much nowadays, it was a super fun event and I'd love to do something like that again.

The gist of it is that people send some variation of 'trick or treat!' to each others' ask boxes within a certain time frame (around Halloween), and they receive a gift in return. In this case, gifts could be anything from drawings, fic, meta, playlists, icons, edits, memes, shitposts, whatever you want. Participants usually have 1 or more gifts they give out to everyone, and often post them to the public after the event is over. You don't have to give gifts out in order to trick or treat, it'd be open to anyone who wants to participate!

So, my question for you all is...

[charismaofobedience]

"oh none of the new units on this banner for nu carnival are meta" SHUT UP those are 3 of my top 5

[matadorofheart]

Fannish Fest February, Day 3: a character who deserves more love

i've already said a lot about zaro from nu: carnival, including some meta i wrote that also covers (most) of his canon appearances i have to update it since i got more crumbs recently but i figured i'd give him a little love for today's prompt.

the TLDR, for the fandom blind: he's a long-dead minor character in a visual novel style game and has only shown up a few times in flashbacks, so he doesn't have any art or a canon Look. however, he was the best friend of one of the main characters, quincy, and his life and death seemed to have a huge impact on who quincy is now!

since his character tag has finally been canonized on ao3, here's a couple fics i've written about/involving him:

crow's feet - in which zaro finds out quincy is functionally immortal and will most definitely outlive him it takes a village - in which quincy and zaro talk about fatherhood and family i feel fine - this is a quinya modern AU fic but zaro is featured as quincy's best friend/cheerleader

[pseudonymphomania]

The Dialucidom, a perpetually dark yet populous place that sat atop the entirety of Hell, lived the hustle and bustle of demons who trawled the night in search of luxury and who were the favorites of opportunists who sold them their vices...

PSEUDONYMPHOMANIA FANWORKS

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ Contains Occasional NSFW 🔞 (tagged and almost always cropped and linked offsite) Please Enjoy Responsibly.

Coming Soon July 2024! [tentative] Etsy | Patreon (NSFW) | Kofi (SFW) | Cara

About: Hello! You may call me Yuki (he/they, bi-romantic ace), King of the Dialucidom. I'm a multifandom artist and writer of mostly men. I mainly cook up DiaLuci, but will serve up other shipping and meta-related specials. This sideblog is my headquarters and will contain everything I put on other social media and more, although I will crop and link off any nsfw. I also reblog meta about the concept of writing and trope analysis in general.

My Asks: OPEN for chats/thoughts/requests/random shenanigans (I will answer them all! Eventually)

My FAQs: Answers to common questions. If you don't see an answer, may I introduce you to My Asks?

FanWORKS by TYPE:

FanART - Divided into SFW and NSFW, then by date and project

FanFICTION - Divided into Pairings then Series, Fic Recs (Tumblr Exclusive)

FanTHINK - Divided into Analysis and Thinks for Story, Events and Cards

DiaLuci Wiki - COMING SOON!

PAST EVENTS:

PRIDE 2024: HAPPENING NOW ON REDDIT!

Current Fandoms: Obey Me, Nu: Carnival

Past Fandoms (that may still make an appearance): Ace Attorney, OHSHC, YuGiOh, Inuyasha

Common Tags: at the bottom of the pinned post for easy navigation

Common Reblogs: DiaLuci Reblogs, Obey Me Reblogs, Obey Me Screenshot, Nu Carnival Reblogs, Revisiting My Old Ships, Smutty Reblogs, Funny Ace Thoughts, Writing, Fanfiction, Fandom Culture, Tropes, Resources, Shipping, Random

Friend Codes: Obey Me ID: 4048947235, Nightbringer ID: 577352615, Nu Carnival: 40/40 FULL, Can delete/add By Request Only, Nu Carnival Invitation Code: FPG8EA

THANK YOU everyone who has liked, reblogged, and followed me! Special thanks to misc-obeyme for helping me structure this place.

Posted: 2024-Jan-23 | Last Updated: 2024-Jun-04

[alusina]

Did I soft reset multiple times to get ssr garu? Yes

Did I pass over a really good healer unit that would've helped me in future stages? Yes

Was it worth it? Absolutely

[artsvark]

Van der Merwe besprekings nou oop!

Die fliek, Van der Merwe, begin eerskomende Vrydag, 28 Julie 2017, in teaters landswyd draai. Besprekings is nou oop!

Suid-Afrikaners kan vanaf 26 Julie 2017 via Ster Kinekor en Nu Metro kaartjies bespreek VAN DER MERWE, wat vanaf Vrydag 28 Julie 2017, in fliekteaters landwyd te sien sal wees.

Besoek die volgende skakels om jou kaartjies nou te bespreek:

STER KINEKOR

NuMetro

Na afloop van die fliek se amptelike premiére op Maandag 24 Julie 2017 in Kaapstad, loop die opgewondenheid hoog en woord versprei vinnig oor die land se ikoniese karakter, VAN DER MERWE.

Die huishoudelike naam, vriend, en buurman, VAN DER MERWE, is eersdaags op die silwerskerm. Die rol van Van der Merwe word vertolk deur die welbekende en talentvolle Rob van Vuuren.

VAN DER MERWE se amptelike lokprent bekendgestel!

Rob sê hy het ‘n fantastiese tyd op stel gehad en dit was ‘n wonderlike ervaring. “Dit was ‘n onvergeetlike ervaring en geleentheid om so ‘n ikoniese karakter te vertolk. Ek dink mennse gaan lekker lag om te sien hoe Van lewe kry op die grootskerm en ek hoop hulle kan hulself in sekere situasies vereenslewig met die karakter. Ek het dit baie geniet om Van te speel en ek hoop die kykers geniet,” voeg Rob by.

LYS VAN TEATERS:

SterKinekor Theatres (32)

Northcape

Baywest

Tygervalley

Cape Gate

N1 City

Bayside

Blueroute

Somerset Mall

Eikestad

Promenade

Garden Route Mall

Maerua Mall

Mimosa

Gateway

Northgate

Matlosana

Wonderpark

Centurion City

Brooklyn Comm

Forest Hill

Kolonnade

Rustenburg

Irene Mall

Rosebank Zone

Sandton

Cresta

Mall at Carnival

East Rand Mall

Greenstone

Riversquare

Festival Mall

Northmead

NuMetro (10)

Canal Walk

Clearwater

Galleria

Key West

Loch Logan

Menlyn Park

Parkview

V&A Waterfront

Welkom

Worcester

Independents (8)

Atlanta Cinema

Epic Mall @ Reds

Epic Northridge

Maxi Cineplex

Movies @ Emnotweni

Movies @ Monte

Movies @ Silverstar

Movies @ The Ridge

Vervaardigers Craig Jones, Bruce Macdonald, Murray Macdonald en Bruce Lawley bring ’n splinternuwe, tong-in-die-kies familiekomedie na die grootskerm, ten volle toegerus met sy wanopvattings, vooroordele en kenmerkende onvermoë om suksesvol te wees. Die film speel af op ’n plaas in Suid-Afrika.

Die film vertel die verhaal van Van se dogter, Marike, wat terugkeer na ’n oorbruggingsjaar in England. Maar sy is nie alleen nie. Haar verloofde, George, ’n Britse mediese student is aan haar sy. Dit skep die perfekte geleentheid vir talle probleme en uitdagings…

“VAN DER MERWE is ’n goedvoel-fliek. Ons wil hê dat mense die teater moet verlaat met ’n glimlag en die positiewe boodskap dat alles oukei sal wees, ongeag van jou omstandighede of tekortkominge. Maar dan moet jy vir jouself kan lag. Jy kan die lewe nie te ernstig opneem nie. Bly getrou aan wie jy is, moenie moed opgee nie en hou altyd aan met glimlag,” meen Lawley.

Behalwe vir van Vuuren se uitmuntende vertolking van Van, sluit die rolverdeling ‘n hele reeks bekende name in soos Ian Roberts, Chanelle de Jager, Reine Swart, Adrienne Pearce, André Jacobs, Rika Sennett, Erica Wessels, Louw Venter, Benedikt Sebastian, Matthew Baldwin, Neels van Jaarsveld en Melt Sieberhagen om maar net ’n paar te noem. Kurt Darren maak ook ’n gasvertoning as ’n sanger by die troue en Barry Hilton speel die rol van Freddie, die kroegman en Van se beste vriend.

VAN DER MERWE beloof om kykers te laat skaterlag met skreeusnaakse familie- en kultuurkonflik, ongemaklike situasies, en katastrofes wat die Van der Merwe-titel meer as gestand sal doen. Dié rolprent word versprei deur Ster-Kinekor Entertainment en word op 28 Julie 2017 vrygestel.

  Van der Merwe besprekings nou oop! was originally published on Artsvark

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

So You Want To Know Garu & Karu (Timeline Edition)

Very loosely inspired by Idololivine's Olivine post and Halfeti's Edmond post. Update: here's Phaerlax's post about WRITING Garu&Karu

Lore spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BSTEdunb5PwVkhcuoEkaFVXUIk02FCnsoYkhL8yB9pA/edit?gid=221633315#gid=221633315

This is also going to double as a directory of all my Garu/Karu analysis posts.

Note: I did not play every 2022/2023 event, so if Garu/Karu had a tiny cameo in other events, I might have missed it even when watching recordings of past events. Please let me know if I'm missing something or have something wrong.

Warning for many spoilers & also trauma!

This timeline was last updated when Ch 14 pt2 was released.

This is an attempt at a complete timeline of Garu & Karu's history, that we know of. I've written quite a few meta about Garu/Karu, and thought we also need a concrete "these are the canon facts of their history".

Pre-Eiden Arrival:

Assume all these dates are before from Eiden's arrival in Klein.

[25-30 years ago before Eiden arrived in Klein] Garu was born to a nomad wolf spirit pack with a gemstone in his throat (Misty Vale, Ch 14)

[20-25 years ago] Garu, still a cub (in Earth normal wolf years, that would mean 3.5~ months old, unsure about Klein wolf spirit years), is kidnapped by some humans that eventually brought him to the Council of Sorcery (Ch 14).

[20-25 years ago] Kolt and his research team force Garu to transform into a wolf yokai/human form. Karu is formed as a DID trauma protective response. (Ch 14)

[23 years ago] Huey disappears, Eiden is born

[20-23 years ago] Kolt & his team continue to torture Karu, while Garu is dormant during the experiments, Cashel takes care of their injuries. (Ch 14)

[20-23 years ago] Rei returns to Council of Sorcery, Cashel catches him up with what's going on. The church has some kind of plan for Kolt's experiment (aka Garu/Karu), so 2 scientists on Kolt's team remove Garu's gemstone, Karu kills them, Rei & Cashel escape with Karu. (Ch 14)

[10-20 years ago] Garu/Karu and Cashel/Gramps are hiding in a cabin in the Dead Zone, killing monsters, taking care of people who get lost in the Dead Zone. At one point, Cashel/Gramps nearly drowns and never recovers from the illness. (Ch 7)

[3-10 years ago] Gramps dies, leaving Garu/Karu to wander Dead Zone alone. They do also find a cave for their main hiding spot. They also meet Blade occasionally in the Dead Zone. (Ch 7, AxBxO)

[Year Eiden arrives] Eiden meets Karu 1st, then Garu in the Dead Zone. Eiden proposes the human slave plan & Karu accepts. (Ch 7)

At this point, I don't know where the timeline is, because we don't know when the events are taking place amongst the main chapters, so I'll split it into sections.

Main story timeline:

Ch 8: Garu/Karu meets the rest of the gang and moves into Aster's mansion.

Ch 13: Garu reunites with Rei & co, they travel to Wood territory to find Kuya & Quincy because the Wood territory is in danger.

Ch 14: Karu makes Rei promise not to tell Garu his history, in part 2, he does anyways.

Events/SSR timeline:

Master's Gift: revealed that Karu idolizes/occasionally visits Kuya

Mystic Banquet/Endless Banquet SSR: G/Karu are not invited to the yokai banquet because they're under 100 years old and not as powerful as Yakumo. Kuya takes them and Eiden along to be his attendants. Shenanigans happen. Note: In the lore document, it says that Garu produced purple flames during his performance. That was actually Kuya that created the flames.

Idol Fest: Karu is a fan of Blade's idol persona.

Klein Star: Karu and Dante hunt a wild animal as a birthday present for Eiden.

Eerie Escapade/Howling Cyclone: It is revealed that Yakumo reads adventure stories to them, Garu likes drawing pictures, and shenanigans happen.

Silver Miracle: Garu sticks up for Kuya when the rest of the clan assumes Kuya is endangering Eiden with Night Crane shenanigans.

AxBxO/Forgotten Fruit: Shenanigans happen inside a book AU. Garu officially asks out Eiden to be his commander/master. Karu admits that he doesn't hate Eiden in a very backhanded way.

Misty Vale/Ethereal Guardian: Garu finds how hints about his past, so we can assume this event happened before ch 14 for sure.

Frozen Echoes/Binary Starlight: Echo spirits shenanigans happen including Karu getting kidnapped for 2/3 of the event. Garu & Karu perform with Edmond & Quincy for the Festival, Aster sells merch with everyone's face. Karu is scouted and then auditions to be a model, shenanigans, he gets some fans, and then ends up being a model/promoter for one of the restaurants.

Garu/Karu make cameos in Journey to a Nu World and Fancy Capricio, but they're AU/dreamland events and therefore not happening in the real (Klein) world. The only thing that happens in the real (Klein) world is that they join the clan in the hot springs.

Desert of Dusk/Stampeding Adventurer: Garu goes with Eiden to a town outside of Solaria while Dante is investigating it. Shenanigans. We can assume this event happened before ch14 because Garu has another confusing flashback.

Dessert Island Knockout/Beguiling Windchaser: Garu wins round 1 of the sports competition, and then together with Dante & Quincy wins the final flag of the whole contest. Garu is fast enough to be able to dodge both Dante and Quincy's (paintball/fire) attacks. Karu is apparently afraid of ghosts now, and can be easily fooled by human scent tricks.

This post will be updated as future events/chapters occur!

All my Garu/Karu analysis posts:

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Kuya- Is character developmentTM necessary?

(NOTE: I have not played every event nor watched all intimacy rooms. If anyone has additional info, please let me know!)

Soooo idk if anyone in NU Carnival tumblr also follows fanartists on twitter, but there was a lil bit of drama over some character criticism amongst some midsized fanartists (I say midsized cause they're moderately known in the English-speaking fandom, but MUCH smaller than more popular anime or kpop fanartists). And 2 things- I really like all the fanartists that were involved so I hope it doesn't become a long lasting fight. I know big fandoms can get in a lot of fanwars (coff kpop), and would hate to see how relatively mature NU Carnival has handled things, turn into fanwars over small stuff. Get fights over the gacha system pricing, sure, but not over opinionsTM on fictional characters. Anyways, that's a twitter problem. Tumblr fandoms, although they can get into fights too, the NU Carnival tumblr analysis people seem more chill and I haven't seen any public fanwars yet. But also there's also fewer people active on tumblr.

AAAANYWAYS. The point of this is my response to their arguments. Basically the discussion was over whether or not Kuya had any character development. And I say- with a cast of 12 lead-ish characters and not everyone getting the spotlight all the time, there will be some screentime sacrifices made. But I would also like to propose- is it absolutely necessary for EEEVERY character to get "character development"? And is it necessary for every character to get the SAME kind of "character development"?

Let's take a side tangent at Avatar the Last Airbender. Zuko is infamous as the poster child for character development. And while that works for Zuko's character, it would not be right for EVERY character to follow his pattern. Specifically for some characters such as Uncle Iroh. Or they deserve to have smaller scale or slower character development, such as Aang or Toph. I'm not saying Aang or Toph don't have character development, but they don't have the massive 360 changes that Zuko does. And that's because they don't need it!

Now let's move over to NU: Carnival. I'll bring up Garu/Karu first. I'm not sure if everyone realizes this yet, but Karu is probably the best character who is starting at the beginning/bottom of his character development arc. He's got lots of issues and none of it is solved yet. Their role is also being a victim of the plot- stuff has happened to Garu/Karu and they've got no agency yet. We can also predict that Karu is going to eventually lower down his walls, accept or overcome his trauma, mature from his delusions of grandeur, become actually powerful, and experience ~character development~. Garu doesn't have as many problems with Eiden or the rest of the clan, but he also lacks empowerment and maturity that he's been slowly building up since Eerie Escapade. For them, because they are starting their story completely unsolved and at the bottom of the barrel, "character development" is necessary- especially now that we have hints on how much of a victim they are of the plot (essence/gemstone experiments) and how crucial they might be to solving things. And that can't happen if they've still got amnesia and blacking out from trauma.

But what about Kuya, whose the point of this whole discussion? The 2 sides of the twitter argument were- Kuya has stopped progressing and is boring and a bitch vs Kuya actually has a lot of character development. How about another perspective? Well, let's take a look at where Kuya is starting and what role he plays. Realistically, he starts out being a villain archetype, he's Huey's former right hand man and super close to the lore. Half the time Kuya is saving the day or creating the chaos, and the other half of the time, he already knows the answer and is providing the exposition or mystery/backstory reveals, or has personal experience/connections with whatever mystery they're encountering.

"Development"-wise, he's the oldest character whose gone through the most changes over time, except in the past. Yeah he's a total bitch and still emotionally constipated. But he's been like this for 200, maybe 300 or 400+ years. In fact, he was worse 100-200 years ago. So what does this mean for present-day Kuya with Eiden's clan?

a) Kuya is not at the start of his character development and he does not need major character development, like Garu/Karu or Dante or Yakumo or Edmond. He has already done the bulk of his character development in the past, and is now changing very very veeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly simply due to time and he will keep changing at his own much slower pace than everyone else.

c) Kuya's main role is also the extremely powerful being who has answers to almost all the lore. Yeah, there's still a LOOOOT of things he doesn't know or learns along the way, but 90% of the time, he's so experienced and smart, he figures it out (except for the playing cards, which kickstarts his interest in Eiden). For example, figuring out the night crane in Silver Miracle or the Tanuki in mystic banquet or the time shenanigans in Astral Duo and he already knows whats going on in Frozen Echoes. (Rusted Nations is a bit hard to compare since it's mostly flashbacks to past Kuya). He's just so bored of knowing the answers, or being able to easily figure out the answers that he fucks around with people. Heck, there's a small possibility that, if Journey to a NU World is canon, that means Kuya is so OP he's basically Jobu Tupaki from EEAAO or Monika from DDLC, and he knows the actual game developers.

If we think about it in terms of gaming, Kuya has maxed out and finished the game. He is super powerful and has nowhere upwards to go. The only thing he can do now is doing Lost Relics, filling out the pokedex, sidequests, and exploring after game content. Or playing the sequel, which would be equivalent of universe hopping to Eiden's world. Another example- you've solved over 200 puzzles and the difficulty level never changes. Your character development was in puzzles 0-150, and when you encounter puzzle 201 but it's STILL that easy, eventually most people will get bored. That's what Kuya is like.

I don't have a fancy conclusion or anything, but yeah that's my thoughts. If anyone has corrections or their own interpretation, I'd love to hear it!

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Headcanon time: Who might be on the aroace spectrum in a sex game?

I missed arospec week by... a few weeks lol. And hey look i'm making a Nukani headcanon post instead of a questionable theorizing analysis for once! If you have contributions for characters I don't have enough info on (especially Quincy), please add on!

Disclaimer: I'm aromantic but allosexual. For me, this means I experience sexual attraction, but not romantic attraction. In my local kink scene, I actually personally know several community members + friends who are asexual or aromantic or both, and some engage in sex while some don't. And lastly for demographic proof only, I'm in an unofficial discord server where some unspecified members are asexual, but they still play this porn game, so yes not everyone who plays this game are into romance or sex.

TLDR: someone can be asexual or aromantic or on the aroace spectrum and still have sex but that varies for everyone!

Now that that's out of the way, here are my headcanon times! None of this is true or ever will be true due to the marketing of a porn harem game, but I think it's fun to headcanon! Feel free to disagree cause I know how people reacted to that "Is Aster trans" reddit post.

Speaking of Aster. I think he's also aroacespec! In his SR room 5, we got text narration ONE time that he gushed or orgasmed or something with a vague hot rod behind Eiden's back. But we've never seen Aster naked nor involve his genitals with another body in the 5 H scenes we have with him. And unlike EVERY other character, he’s only described to have orgasmed once. He also constantly talks down on morvay’s sexual habits, and while it’s a running gag that’s played for laughs, isn’t it possible Aster actually thinks this way? But is still willing to engage in sexy times with Morvay because they're essence creatures so that's how you exchange essence, and they’re basically an old married couple & deep down they do care about each other. And remember what I said about aromantic or asexual people who still engage in kink or sex.

Next, Karu my beloved chew toy. At the time I wrote Garu/Karu analysis part 1, I thought both of them were firmly allosexual but also presented some evidence someone could use to argue Karu might be demi or aroace or something else. But the more I think about it, the more I think yeah, he might be. Or he’s just a tsundere. I swear I'm not delusional and am a logical canon-based theory fan. (Btw, according to google searching, it is possible for different alters to have different sexualities, so this does not apply to Garu).

Quincy- I have never watched a Quincy intimacy room (including his SR & R cards that I have unlocked) but my vibes based off all the other story content with him makes me think he might be in the umbrella, so Grey-ace, Demi, etc. From what I’ve heard other people say, Quincy has had a lover in the past but currently only has sex if Eiden begs for it. This might fit into the definition of people who don't really care for sex themselves, but is interested in it for their partner. If anyone has Quincy cards and has more information, please let me know!

Huey: ok so we have almost no information on him. But he didn’t have sex with his clan members. He was definitely not romantically invested in any of his clan members nor do I recall him having hints of being sexually or romantically invested in anyone else, which does not equate aromantic or asexual but its still possible. And that’s all I got. Anyone got additional input?

Eiden: ah our beloved Eiden. Let’s ignore that in meta, he’s supposed to be the audience self insert (even though he’s the least self insert type MC ever) and therefore he is not going to “prioritize” one ship over another.

Anyways, so I am 100% sure he’s not asexual. BUUUUT he has not expressed romantic lovey dovey attraction to his clan members. More significantly, he does not seem to pick up MULTIPLE clan members’ romantic hints towards him. Yes in Fateful Aegis, Eiden says “I love you too” back to Yakumo, but it’s prefaced with something like Your grandparents love you and I love you too-ish, which to me indicates found family love. Kuya has said the Chinese/Japanese equivalent of “I love you” (“the moon is bright/the moonlight is beautiful tonight”) and that totally went over Eiden’s head. Dante & Edmond are also intensely crushing on Eiden… but they’re tsunderes so it’s probably gonna take forever to get across. The other members are different types of dedicated but open relationships rather than traditionally romantic relationships (except for Rei, who’s still getting there). And I think this is a great thing! All these varying relationship styles that are given the same weight & importance & Eiden has such appreciation & care for all of them, despite not providing traditionally romantic affection back.

Aromantic people can still love their friends & family! We’re not heartless emotionless creatures. We just may not experience or be able to comprehend romantic attraction. And i don’t think that’s a defect nor a bad thing.* And I think it’s especially cool when we compare Eiden’s bad hookup habits in the real world with how he has multiple regular partners that truly value him and a new found family in Klein. If he was aromantic this whole time, it’s kind of a positive perspective, isn’t it? Some aromantic people do experience “squishes”, which is a term for when we feel emotional desire for a platonic relationship. Obviously none of Eiden’s relationships are truly platonic due to the sexual element, but they all lack the romantic element from Eiden’s side.

(Anyways, Eiden won’t ever “reciprocate” romantic love because it’s a harem game, but shhhhh. Also to anyone who says it’s an Asian game and the characters aren’t going to say “I love you”…. Well in their newest intimacy rooms, both Kuya and Yakumo literally just did. Heck one of Forest Night Kuya’s sprite dialogues repeats that!)

So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this pointless headcanons!

*Speaking from my personal experience, I’ve have several sexual partners over time, but I never had the desire to date them or be romantically invested in them. And a weirdly telltale sign, that Jaidenanimation pointed out quite nicely, is that when she listened to romance songs she was like “wait that’s what people experience when they’re in love???” I’ve read a TON of romance and have heard a TON of love songs, but I cannot relate to any one of them. I literally have not felt any of those feelings. And when I have sexual partners, the horniness is definitely the forefront compared to any “falling in love” feelings. I did have what I now realize were several “squishes” in high school/college. What squishes feel like to me, are like “I wanna be your friend & you’re really cool & I cherish you! Like a lot! And also I don’t mind if you fucked me!” which emotionally feels different from “I’m in love with you!!!” (Which yeah i still don’t know what “in love” feels like, and I’m fine with not knowing!).

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

HOW MANY TOYS (🦊 vs 🦇EDITION )

Inspired by fisheito, idololivine, & phaerlax's posts

They both have the equivalent of sex dungeons, but who uses their toys more?

In one corner, is foxy grandpa

Kuya SR: ✅ magic dildo

Ch 6 H Scene: ✅ magic handcuffs

OG SSR room 2: ✅ magic handcuffs

OG SSR room 5: ❌️ but i gotta say, Eiden has a beautiful bubble butt. Seriously rivals Edmond's and Garu/Karu's.

Kitsune Dream 2: ❌️ fingers Eiden on his lap

Kitsune Dream 5: ❌️ just standing sex

Lakeside spark 2: ✅ blindfold (ft deepthroating!)

Lakeside spark 5: ❌️ riding Kuya's lap

Afternoon daze 2: ✅ foodplay (if that counts)

Afternoon daze 5: ❌️ kissing+vanilla sex

Aromatic exotica 2: ✅ ball gag & butt plug tail

Aromatic exotica 5: ❌️ bath house sex

Apathetic outsider 5: ✅ vibrator

Forest night 2: ✅ spreader bar, cock ring, & dildo

Forest night 5: ❌️ sideways sex (ft knotting!)

Flaming Trial room 2: ✅ rope bondage, sounding, wooden horse (bonus: hair pulling & crying)

Flaming Trial room 5: ❌️ missionary sex xD

RESULTS: 52.94%

In the other corner is the trans twink femboy vampire capitalist.

Prologue: ❌️ biting & nipple play

Aster SR: ❌️ footjob, biting, & nipple play

Galactic mist Eiden room 5: ✅ sounding

Scarlet Finesse room 2: ✅ nipple clamps

Scarlet Finesse room 5: ✅ if the tentacles count?

Mauve Mayhem room 5: ✅ strapon harness, cock ring, 1 of morvay's cum bottles xD, several dildos, and handcuffs (or spreader bar? it's a bit hard to see how morvay's hands are attached to his ankles). this room has a lot going on haha.

RESULTS: 66.67%

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

All of Garu/Karu's collars so far

Which one is your favorite?

Bonus: and how come they change? Are the outfit makers manufacturing a new collar and replacing his gemstone(gemstones?) each time? And especially for cowboy Garu (which by the way, he & Eiden got their outfits in a random shop, so it wasn't provided by Aster for once)... the gemstones changed to spikes too. Whats going on xD

Some interesting facts (and bonus theorizing):

Forgotten Fruit, Binary Starlight, and Stampeding adventurer are customized (although N & R are also different).

Ethereal Guardian, R, and N are the only ones without a leash/something dangling off the collar.

Much like Quincy, Edmond, and Olivine, it is a little unclear which gem was his actual gemstone and which are... decorative? However, that slightly contradicts with canon because Gramps found him with broken gemstone pieces. It is possible that Gramps fused the broken gem pieces back into one, but that doesn't explain the other blue gems that appear on the rest of the collar that sometimes are missing (Forgotten Fruit) or suddenly change shape (Stampeding adventurer). We can reasonably assume that at least the center-most gem that is always circular was the original or very close to the original.

It's also very interesting how people react to the collar.

No one is trying to steal Yakumo/Rei's ears or Edmond/Quincy's hands, which also look like accessories. Blade's "gemstone" blends in with his outfits if you don't look at it closely. And obviously no one is going to steal Dante or Kuya's eyes lol. In general, most people have not reacted to the other member's gemstones. But Olivine is interesting.

Actually, let's talk about Olivine & Garu's gems! Olivine can and has occasionally hid his piercings/gemstone. Most people's reactions are sexualizing Olivine and his gemstone blends in with the piercing setup. Garu's is off his body and hypothetically he could stash them anywhere, even a pocket or necklace. But nope, they're on this giant dangerous-looking collar that is difficult to hide and difficult to steal (which is why most people start out with trying to kidnap Garu himself). Most average/ordinary people don't seem to notice this insignificant-seeming wolf yokai displaying a bunch of bulky gems around his neck. But Kolt recognized right away what it actually was. Lone Wolf had a very negative reaction to the collar. And the townspeople in Desert of Dusk thought the collar was expensive jewelry that they could steal. Out of everyone, we're seeing more and more how much it makes G/Karu an unfortunate target. Whereas people's main reaction to Olivine's gemstone/piercing setup is lust. This is very fascinating!

(If any Yakumo fans read this far- did the other serpent yokai/villagers have reactions to Yakumo being born with a gemstone?)

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Dramatical Murder Battling NU Carnival

As a fan of both Dmmd & Nucarnival, yknow, I just had to.

If the 2 harems were to actually go into hand to hand combat.... Dmmd has only half as many people, Nukani has Kuya & Blade. And Eiden cannot fight period, so it'd be unfair. what i think might be more fair is paired off fights.

Clear vs Blade: Duh i had to do this. OG android vs new generation android. White-haired battle singing autism robot that calls their love interest a nickname vs white-haired battle singing autism robot that calls their love interest a nickname. 2012 sex robot learning human feelings vs 2022 sex robot learning human feelings. Cute service top with a depressing backstory vs cute service top with a depressing backstory. I think Blade would win by a landslide. Assassin Blade's biggest advantage is his durability combined with combat skills. In story (NOT game units) he can deal a shit ton of damage, take a shit ton of hits and instaheals super quickly. Meanwhile Clear also has great combat skills, but slower self healing and he is defective with a history of being damaged. So technically an unfair fight.

Koujaku vs Edmond: Both normal human swordfighters, ofc I also had to do this. I feel like their skills are matched for what they can, however Koujaku is a gang leader and is willing to get rough and Edmond... is a prim and proper(lol) knight for the most part. And if Koujaku went into Beast!jaku mode... well yeah Edmond's definitely lost.

Mink vs Quincy: the 2 big quiet traumatized depressed daddies whose communities died/were killed. I wanna say this would end up being a draw because Mink is a normal human that can be injured or killed, meanwhile Quincy is kind of immortal but has low motivation to fight unless he gets involved. if he had to, I'd imagine Quincy is supernaturally stronger though.

Rhyme Ren vs Garu/Karu: ok I'm just pitting them against each other cause they're the Dogs. However, although Garu/Karu is a survivalist, their stamina SUCKS & their fighting seems just passable. I love garu&karu, but Ren could 1HKO them. (Ren is also bigger, stronger, and more experienced than them so this is also an unfair fight.)

Noiz vs Dante: Originally I was gonna pair Noiz with Rei since they're both slightly apathetic special interest knowledge people, but Rei isn't really a melee hand to hand combat fighter. Dante can fight, and he has an advantage being bigger, more muscular, & having magic powers. (Interestingly, they're also both the youngest in their respective casts haha.)

Aoba vs Eiden...? The protagonists. However, this is also unfair fight cause um Eiden can't fight for shit and was recently a desk job worker lol. Whereas Aoba was a helluva punk, can still fight on his own, and has supernatural powers.

Ok now for fights that might be on even skill fighting levels and not just pairs.

Blade vs Scratch gang + the Alphas: Considering that Blade has been able to level entire battle fields and kill multiple sorcerers, I think this might give him a tough fight, even if he wins in the end. I will say, this also might depend on what weapons Scratch are carrying and how bulletproof Blade is. The "essence conductors"/guns got taken away before we can see how Blade reacts to them, but if Scratch had their guns, they might be able to take out Blade. (We don't usually see Dry Juice or Benishigure use guns, so I mention Scratch).

Kuya vs Aoba, Sei, Clear, & the Alphas: Technically, Kuya is also far too powerful, however I don't think Kuya is ever seen doing weapon or hand to hand combat fighting. So if Aoba & Sei can subdue his magic.... then Clear & the Alphas could pummel his old man body xD

Rhyme Ren vs Olivine: Nice smart guys with super powers and also very buff. I think people forgot that Olivine is Strongk as heck. Not sure who would win, but Ren is more offensive focused (although Ren has a pretty good hp/shield in Rhyme) whereas every time Olivine fights he's more defensive/support focused (but still seems to pack a punch). Let me know if you have thoughts.

Aoba vs Garu/Karu: Ok not just because they're both feisty ukes who are the shortest in the cast with fantasy DID, but they are also speedsters, rely on kicks a lot, frequently faint a lot, and have low stamina. So i feel like this fight is more evenly matched than against Eiden or Ren. It'll also be interesting cause both Reason!Aoba & Desire!Aoba would be willing to fight rough, whereas Garu is not & only Karu would be willing to fight rough. However Desire!Aoba would be willing to use Scrap on Garu/Karu whereas Reason!Aoba would not. Also, Aoba is 7cm taller than Garu/Karu, but Garu/Karu are significantly more muscular than Aoba everywhere. I feel like whoever runs out of stamina first will be the loser.

Clear vs Edmond or Dante: xD I just wanted Clear to be able to beat someone. And he was able to beat many cops & guards before and Edmond is basically a cop.

Eiden vs Ren in Sei's body: I also wanted Eiden to be able to win against someone haha. And Ren in Sei's body doesn't have Sei's powers, so they can probably do some comedic whacks at each other haha.

I know I've left out Yakumo, Rei, Aster, and Morvay. But i couldn't come up with anything for them, esp since they're more magical than melee combat (and not the same level as Kuya). Anyone have suggestions?

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Flaming trial kuya theories

Warning for spoilers! And death.

In FT room 1, Eiden is in an improv game and pretends to die via stabbing. Kuya witnesses this, and then there is a giant glitch sound + shaking screen while he has a shocked expression, before the reveal. This is a very similar reaction to when Garu gets his trauma flashbacks.

Some additional context:

Kuya has a breeding kink (Fallen Leaves) and has pretended Eiden is the mother to some random kits (Neon Carnival year 1)

Has a serious gripe about how short lived & dull or annoying humans are. Like he constantly repeats this.

For some reason, he has a lot of thirsty in-universe admirers (Tanuki, random bar patrons, Master of Elysium), he is heavily displeased by them and in the past would burn them (or kill them).

Used to serve Lord of Yokai and was Huey's right hand man, but now no longer likes being subservient to others

Has offered to keep Eiden at his home (Fallen Leaves) and in an illusion (Fancy Capricio/Forest Night) forever

Kuya & Huey were on a boat trip from Saia back to Klein. For some reason, Kuya transformed back into his yokai form, the ship burned down, and we have no information on Huey's wereabouts after that.

Not officially canon, but Quincy & Kuya have divorced vibes. Also, Quincy & Kuya are the only surviving biological OG clan members. I'm not counting Blade since he's manmade and does not have a lifespan/cannot die by biological means.

It's pretty established by now that Kuya is suicidal & depressed

Preexisting theories:

I forgot how it started, but its been a theory for a while that at some point when Kuya was a fox, he had a mate/family with kits, but they're no longer alive.

It's also been theorized Kuya (when human formed) also had (a) human lover(s), that also died.

Possible additional theories I haven't seen yet:

He had a mate/lover/family killed via stabbing, hence his reaction to Eiden's improv death and frequent displeasure towards human lifespans. And never got over that grief.

He had a mate/lover that he had a direct involvement with their death, though not necessarily via stabbing. Possible suicidal ideation & depression due to guilt and everything that comes with it.

He might have witnessed Huey's disappearance/death on that boat or been the one to cause his disappearance/death.

Other OG clan members that must have died or we wouldn't have several other generations of clan members, and we know some of them were humans since Dante, Olivine, Edmond are human (and Rei has human family). Huey didn't have sex with his clan members, so they all must have had sex with each other for essence regulation (including Quincy). Perhaps he was close with some of them and witnessed their deaths.

Great Serpent was an OG clan member and he did have a human lover that died. Perhaps Kuya witnessed that whole thing go down too.

Thoughts/anyone else got other ideas?

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

a BUNCH of Garu/Karu meta, part 2: eyes, Karu-fronting units, In Defense of Sexy Garu/Karu, Leroy & Garu conspiracy, Update to Rei/Gramps theory, general "character development"

So over here I wrote a bunch of Garu/Karu meta zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u.tumblr.com/post/737197419853398016/ and I knew that eventually I'd wanna write more, so here's part 2!

Once again, disclaimer that I have not played every event nor watched every intimacy rooms so I am definitely missing some lore. If anyone has additional info to my questions, lemme know! Also, spoilers everywhere!

A) Blue eyes or yellow eyes?

In a couple comments of phaerlax's fics, he suggested that Karu's eyes are actually blue and I thought I'd follow up with some ~canon~ evidence.

Ch7- every mention of their switching involves language, attitude, and mannerisms, nothing about eye color.

Ch13- Kolt is about to kidnap Garu when Karu takes over. It's very fast and happens all in 1 sentence so there isn't space to mention any eye colors, but Kolt doesn't realize they've switched until Karu has kicked him in the face

Master's Gift- when Karu is pretending to be Garu, Eiden realizes it with the language and voice again, not eyes.

Howling Cyclone- when Garu suddenly takes over with no one around, the text narration only says "the wolf yokai closes and opens his eyes before dashing..." No mention of eye color and this time its from the third person text narration, rather than Eiden or any other character's POV.

Misty Vale- when the young wolves encounter Karu, they don't realize that Garu has switched until Karu announces to call him that. At the very end of the MV event when Garu declines joining the wolves, Eiden pats his head only to realize that its Karu due to his reaction.

Binary Starlight- no mention of eye color, but the modeling people, store owners, and Karu's fans, only refer to him as Karu or Mr Wolf Yokai, including when it's Garu taking Karu's place during the competition announcements.

Desert of Dusk- no one realizes when its Garu and when it's Karu

Some people might have noticed this by now, but Garu's ally units all have blue eyes in their sprites. But when you're actually battling, OG SSR/SR/R/N are all Karu voice lines. HC & EG Garu seem to have more Garu battle voice lines than Karu voice lines. I don't have all of them, so if anyone is willing to help me look into EB and FF Garu, please do! In a cool meta way, the fact that the sprites have blue eyes yet its Karu's voice coming out, indicates to me that Karu's eyes are probably blue.

And lastly- have you noticed Garu's battle loading screen pose, OG loading homepage, Bliss promotional pic with everyone's OG poses + new Dante/Blade/Rei, and Garu's sprite in the opening animated sequence? He's manspreading and has an angry face. Yes, we've seen Garu angry a number of times, but in the new loading homepage with Rei and Dante, Garu is smiling and Garu's angry face is usually still quite cute. I think the OG version is Karu and he has blue eyes there.

B) Karu Fronting Units

Ok so slightly following up from that last bit. I had a idea once, where it would've been cool for Karu to front in the offensive/defensive units, such as strikers and guardians, and Garu to front in the supportive units, such as buffers and healers. Especially since the battle voice lines already do that (see point above). This would be extra cool cause it lines up with their lore/personalities and DID system. Karu is the protector alter, doing a lot of the Dead Zone surviving, and it'd make sense for him to do offensive/defensive battle units.

But also- Binary Starlight Garu should have totally been Karu fronting. Frozen Echoes, while Garu is onscreen more often, is about Karu wanting to sing and then getting kidnapped. But more importantly, the intimacy stories are about Karu's modeling competition. He's also a striker and, as mentioned, I thought it would be cool to have Karu being the strikers.

Endless Banquet Garu probably would have been nice to be a Karu unit because part of it is about Karu wanting to go to the yokai festival, but it was also Garu's 1st event SSR, so it makes sense that he wouldn't be.

So here's to me sending out into the universe that we get a future Karu main event SSR. He's still missing a saboteur and I can see a saboteur going either Garu or Karu.

C) In Defense of Sexy Garu/Karu

People's biggest problem with Garu is usually how young he looks and acts. You are not wrong if you are uncomfortable with Garu/Karu being sexualized! That is totally valid! This section is not for you. This section is for ignorant haters. (Garu/Karu are just fictional characters so I don't think too defensively on this so I won't be offended if you still do.)

First up- Garu/Karu is not a shota. Shotacon is defined as underage/prepubescent/pubescent boys in an erotic/sexualized manner. And yes there are muscle shotas. But Garu is not one of them. Depending on the lore, Garu is 19-33+ (possibly older, see that other post where I calculated his possible age) and he has a young adult proportioned body. However, he has a major babyface and acts puppylike/borderline childlike and does appear younger than the rest of the cast. So it's possible that he's shota-adjacent and I can see why people think he'd be the "1000 year old loli/shota" characters.

Next- puppy play! Have you heard of animal roleplay and specifically leather puppies? Have you met someone whose done puppyplay? Seems an awful lot like Garu right? You'd be right! I'm more of a handler, but a lot (though not all) of the (western) puppy players I know go into a (dumbed down) puppy headspace, act hyper, head scratches, play fetch, bark, treats, and "treats". (Naturally, IA studio is writing from the Asian perspective so the scene might be different there & they probably didn't consult any puppy players anyways, but there's no set "rules".) Sound familiar?

I'm like 99% sure Garu/Karu is supposed to represent puppy play, not shotas. There's a reason the most common imagery of a leather puppy is a pup hood, some kind of gag, collar, chest harness, jockstrap, butt plug tail, and leather boots. Also sound familiar? It's very close to OG SSR and SR Garu, and when the devs gave BS Garu a jockstrap, that sealed the deal. Same with when they made Garu/Karu an omega in the A/B/O event.

Now that we agreed that Garu/Karu is puppy play and not shotacon, one common factor amongst puppyplayers is the sexycute factor. As in, the puppy could be acting cute and affectionate and puppylike while getting fucked. Head scratches while doing a blowjob. And so on. NU Carnival characters fill a variety of sexy roles and while we have 2 other yokai, Garu is the one that fills the puppy play role. He's not a furry, but he's the closest thing for those who are into it. And of course, he (and Kuya) are the token kemonomimi. I'd argue that Garu is actually more human that most puppies I've seen/played with since he is primarily bipedal and talks fully in a human language.

So yeah its fine to sexualize them because of the sexy archetype they fulfill!

D) Leroy and Garu Conspiracy

So this is a wild and possibly impossible conspiracy theory. At the end of Gambler's Paradise, we get a scene between Aster and Rei talking about a mysterious "that group". In ch 13, Rei tells us that Council of Sorcery is trying to replace the need for Huey's essence. Throughout Gambler's Paradise, we find out that Leroy is a recent imperfect familiar that was a result of experiments with Huey's essence. Throughout Misty Vale and Ch 13, we get hints that Garu might have been experimented on by the Council long ago.

So my conspiracy theory is that both Leroy and Garu were experimented on by the same Council of Sorcery, even if they were from different departments. Garu was possibly more than a decade or several decades ago and Leroy was within the past couple months or year cause he didn't start causing chaos in Aster's casinos until recently. This means that either there are different departments focusing on different experiments, but also totally possible that back then, they were experimenting on removing Huey's essence and now they're working on replicating Huey's essence.

Bonus weird similarity between Garu, Leroy, and Morvay- they all really REALLY like eating their choice of preferred food, and get hungry very easily. (Ok Garu technically might be super hungry cause he had very little food for many many years, but still)

HMMMMMM LORE MIC DROP.

E) Update to Rei is Gramps/Garu/Karu backstory

Here I theorized that Rei might be Gramps and other people have theorized or drawn fanart of this too. HOWEVER, Howling Cyclone does have a major problem in that we see Gramp's ghost.

What i propose to fix this: we don't know when ch13 or Eerie Escapade happened and realistically it's probably because Rei wasn't created as a character yet. But I can explain this lore away with saying even if Rei died "long ago", we dont know when he was reborn. And hey, maybe for all we know, the Gramps ghost was actually Father, realizing that even if Garu has Eiden, Karu could use some more support and decided to go revive Rei. :shrug: Or maybe they'll retcon the Howling Cyclone ghost like they retconned Aster's dick.

F) Garu/Karu's ~Character Development~ (not H scene specific)

(Warning for rambling!) So in my post about whether or not Kuya has character development and if it's even necessary, I mentioned that Garu & Karu needed character development. In various replies (but not my post), one comparison I've brought up between Kuya and Garu/Karu(+Zuko) is the difference between slow gradual changes and the heroes journey. And I thought I'd elaborate on that some more.

To clarify on Kuya- he's over 200 years old and has been changing slowly over time since forever. He started the story already having changed over time and will probably not stop going through this kind of slow gradual change, simply due to the fact that time passes and he's immortal. And while Eiden plays a part in present day, overall Kuya is not having major story beats causing massive changes.

The cool thing about Nu Carnival's cast, as evidenced by Kuya, is that everyone is on different points of their ~character development~ and Garu/Karu is starting from their very beginning. Yakumo is also starting from the very beginning. Whereas someone like Dante, Olivine, and Edmond are already somewhere further down the adventure. Or they have a different kind of character development path like Kuya, Rei, and Blade.

Now for Garu/Karu. So the classic heroes journey is a story template where the protagonist gets a call to adventure, meets various character archetypes, endures many trials, and returns changed in some way. Obviously it's not a 1:1 matchup with Garu/Karu's story, but he does get a call to adventure (joining the clan), meets a mentor(the clan members), and is currently still enduring many trials. This is what I mean by he has a big "heroes journey development". And using this pattern, we can predict that Garu/Karu will continue enduring more tests, before encountering a major ordeal, conquering it, returning back a changed man.

Now why is Garu, or more specifically, Karu's character development important or necessary? Much like how Yakumo started out his heroes journey as a "newbie", Garu and especially Karu start out as "newbies", with limited empowerment, not that many skills yet, MANY basic things to learn (and amnesia, or at least Garu has amnesia. Karu is debatable). Karu has big dreams, really big dreams, and while they're played for laughs, he absolutely sucks at those big dreams. He's either going to achieve those big dreams, change those big dreams, or lose his delusions of grandeur and that will be character development. His current stage in life, lack of power (and stamina lol), trauma, and unfortunate circumstances are preventing him from achieving those big dreams. Garu is more chill and mostly just wants to have Fun with his Master and help people where he can (including helping Karu). However, he also lacks power, is a newbie to things, and got that traumaTM that just causes him problems. Garu also kind of represents the coming of age plot- they may have gained basic survival skills in the Dead Zone & had no social skills, but have also started dabbling in learning and leadership in Forgotten Fruit, Eerie Escapade, and Misty Vale. He's slowly becoming braver. They also didn't know how to read before meeting Yakumo & Olivine, but now they can sort of write sentences!

As for their role in the story & how it ties in with character development. He's the cutesy comic relief like Blade or Topper, but also, as mentioned in my Kuya post, that they're a victim of the Gemstone plotTM. SPOILER TERRITORY. One major conflict that the plot is coming against in the main storyline is altars going haywire and the Council of Sorcery and Garu (and possibly Leroy) might be the key to solving this mystery. However, with his amnesia and limited empowerment, they can't really progress with it. Therefore, it is crucial for Garu/Karu to experience ~character development~ to move forward.

If you got this far, thanks for indulging in this longass analysis post on my favorite wolfboys to roll around in thinky thoughts. Possibly more to come as more ~lore~ is revealed.

Once again, I haven't played every event or intimacy room, so if you've got answers to my questions or additional contributions, please lemme know!