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As someone who's played svs multiple times, at this point in the story, you're in for a ride. The events to follow really boosted maho/grey sister as a character. I love her arc in this game

shanghai alice is literally ZUN

Cool

Main scene gets unvoiced. Flashback of the same scene gets voiced makes perfect sense to me

4:36 I would forgive Higurashi but I would keep a watch on her 30:27 Don't remind me 37:16 Hold up, wait a minute, something ain't right That's not F2P, the F2P you fought was male and Anri still kept her voice after transforming 39:35 What's plot convience? QOTD I have a few problems Arbore hacking Planeptune security- It could've been an opportunity to introduce a new character since I doubt she can hack bots. I also expected her to say "I have no idea what you're talking about" when accused of taking the bots as well. Iffy chasing Arbore- I see how that makes no sense since Arbore can fly Anri finding out- It happened way too sudden and is a big plothole Unguarded Maho- It would've made more sense if Anri took out the guards if there were any

QOTD: I don’t have a problem with these events. It’s an interesting story to the plot and using references from ASIC from rebirth 2 or MK2. As for Maho’s backstory I knew she had a difficult past the whole amnesia thing was a give away.

QOTD: I had no problem with the reveal, though it took me by surprise (now whenever I hear the music I get ready). As for the EX, I don't want to spoil anything...🐉

Way back around the start of the series, I claimed my work in the analog horror community would come in handy for theory-crafting for this game. Now is the time to show you my progress. 1. *(Identities Revealed)* This episode might as well be a bombshell for what it contains, and unquestionably serves as a significant turning point for the whole game. I don't think many of us are too surprised by Maho being the Ashen Goddess. We got a pretty solid indication of that some time ago when she demonstrated her strength in her untransformed state during an earlier event. However, I think the reveal that Anri was F2P was a very unexpected development for most unless you were paying _very_ close attention to Anri throughout the game, something that I myself did not do well enough. We were so focused on Maho and the Ashen Goddess, we overlooked any relation Anri might have had to other characters _besides those two._ It's a rather clever way of consistently redirecting and diverting the player's attention away from considering other, less-than-obvious mysteries we wouldn't have nearly as many leads on until the big reveal for such mysteries is already upon us, all without detracting from our understanding of the larger plot up to this point. The bread trail _was_ there; it was just too bare to follow closely relative to everything going on around it. 2. *(Questionable Choices)* While I understand the decisions leading up to this point by Histoire seem quite absurd (even without context of previous games, why _wouldn't_ they be?), I think I can rationalize most of them. - A. Sending IF off on her own to chase down Arfoire was probably the best they could manage at that moment amidst the compromised security robots. The robots were made to go after and slow down Neptune and the CPU Candidates, probably to buy Arfoire time to handle Maho. Despite Histoire seeming to resolve the issue before the fight with Arfoire, identifying the root cause to prevent a repeat was just not doable in time, leading to Arfoire just starting it all over again once she was beaten _(or rather give the signal to do so...)._ If one assumes the security robots were just going after anyone who was a Goddess, then IF wouldn't have been directly targeted, making her the ideal choice to chase down Arfoire. It was risky and didn't pay off, but it was the most optimal course of action at the time, as any CPUs that tagged along probably would have gotten slowed down by yet more hacked security robots (Histoire may have force-stopped the security system but that doesn't mean it's _entirely_ offline and invulnerable to further manipulation). Better that the CPUs tank the robots' undivided attention than slow down the pursuit. - B. Maho being left unguarded had more to do with trust in Maho than anything else. Even in the appearance of the Ashen Goddess, Maho demonstrated something that the other one never has so far: an open willingness to cooperate and communicate. She _immediately_ directed the CPUs' focus toward helping her deal with Arfoire, had seemed to voluntarily submit to Histoire's questioning before this incident began without much fuss, and most importantly of all, did not even attempt to run away from the others in the midst of the chaos. For a suspected spy who would and _absolutely should_ be assuming their cover has been compromised in a situation like this, that last detail is critical above all else. Under those circumstances in the realm of espionage, *_you evacuate at any and all costs, even to yourself and your own subordinates._* (Ironically, considering what happened to Ziri, the other Ashen Goddess is actually fulfilling that rule to the letter and would fit the role as a spy far better.) Add in the friendships Maho has built up with the others up to this point, and once she transformed back into her normal form and passed out, she wouldn't be handled too differently compared to how she was before the incident happened in the first place. As for why she didn't have anyone keeping watch over her while she recovered, I'm quite confident she did. Unfortunately for her and the others, this most likely took the form of Anri, the one and only person she should not have been left alone with in that building. - C. Anri learned about everything for the simple reason she was one of the people closest to Maho. It should be easy to perceive Anri and Maho as having been close friends in one way or another since the start of the game, even if they don't often act like it (I can relate; I've had long-lasting friendships exactly like this before XD). It would only make sense for Anri to be kept up to date on matters such as this, and since everyone was likely quick to make the assumption that Maho was a spy (even if she was being cooperative), it cleared Anri of basically any possible suspicion in Histoire's eyes, for which there wasn't much in the first place (if we as the players didn't pick up on it, chances are neither did any of the characters), making Histoire think it would have been fine for her to know about the events of the incident. Of course, knowing now that she is F2P, she probably already knew most of the details before any of the CPUs even told her. We know this because _she was watching and listening the whole time._ At 29:58, Arfoire snaps her fingers and the security robots were suddenly hacked again. I think it's safe to say she didn't actually do that herself; the snap was simply a signal for Anri to do so. That's also how Arfoire would got into the Basilicom without anyone being the wiser in the first place. Once everything settled down, all Anri would have had to do was wait for the right moment when the CPUs would be preoccupied, and she would get the perfect opportunity to achieve her vengeance against the Ashen Goddess. On the surface, everything that has transpired seems very questionable, but once you dig into the details and start approaching the situation from all the different perspectives involved based on the information we know, it all starts to make _a lot_ more sense. _...Still_ would have gone with one more person on security detail for Maho, though. XD

You might be the first person that I know of that guess who Anri was.

QotD: Well, Maho was unconscious and probably wounded from the fight, so I *guess* they could put her in a treatment room, it would be stupid and I won't defend this, but suppose that their only room with this purpose had free access, in this case it would be just an excuse for the poor plot but, yea...... guess it's the only plausible thing to explain? Isn't it? Guess I'm just confused and talking nonsense, but I wanted to comment something and try to answer this, so that's it. Squad QotD: I agree with Uni "Sisters Squad" fits nicely

In regards to your problem with Anri: With all due respect, while I think you brought up decent points, I also can't help but feel that there is some slight bias at play since Anri is a new addition to the cast, which is understandable to an extent. It's true that her torturing Nepgear was a terrible thing to do, but I can also see that she felt remorseful in doing so (it was even shown that she was sorry in the clip you briefly provided); obviously, it doesn't make it okay, but I kinda felt like her remorse was swept under the rug in your discussion. I get where your coming from to an extent, but it's kinda hard for me to really side with your stance when I can't shake this feeling of lingering...well, bias. It's a bit hard for me to articulate this, but I guess I'm saying that, with what you know, I can't help but feel like, as decent as your points are, your feelings might be slightly overshadowing your reasoning on this part of the story. I do agree with a few of your criticisms (like, it might have benefited to have a short little scene of Anri seeing Maho transform; though, as one commenter stated, it may not exactly be necessary, in which I personally agree somewhat), but I think your stance is a tad harsh.

qotd: I personally don't have an issue with how things played out. However I know that the way I see the game is affected both from having beaten it and from considering it my second favourite in the franchise. In terms of the stuff you found questionable Considering there where robots up top as Neptune mentioned them being in her way, the characters would kind of have instant confromation if what Histoire did made them safe. so having IF run through the Basilacom wouldn't really be risky. plus sending IF is safer because they don't know what the transfromed Maho could/would do so keeping the CPU'S up top makes sense, they had no idea at that moment that she'd just pass out. When the game goes to the world map between cutscenes I tend to instantly assume some small time skip between scenes unless the scene has something that directly indicates its a instant continuation, because Maho has been put in a room to rest, it kind of confirms that some chunk of time past. Because Nepgear knew Anri was with Maho it's likely Nepgear informed Anri of the situation before heading back up top (likely when Maho was taken down to rest), she probably assumed Anri would let them know if something was happening (meaning they probably didn't have much concern for security as they'd assume Anri would handle it) and because of the rush of whats going on it probably took some time before Anri's past and thoughts about Maho transforming crossed Nepgears mind. However I also know that these are my thoughts on the scenes now after hearing your issues with them, as when I went through the game myself as I didn’t think anything questionable was going on. 48:00 Also I could be remembering wrong but didn't Kurome try to get the mind controlled CPUs to torture/kill the candidates but it got stopped by Big Nep before much could happen.

Ah, yes. The time has come. Now I can say it: Anri is basically an evil Batman, going around clad in black, hiding her identity, but looking for vengeance rather than justice. QotD: well, Anri learning about what happened makes sense if there was a small timeskip there. And I think it was, they rushed the story a bit with those cutscenes. About Maho being unguarded in a random room, yeah, that was bad. By now, I'm wondering what Planeptune thinks security even is. And Nepgear coming at JUST the right moment to see Anri transform... yes, obviously made on purpose, but clearly there was no other choice for how that scene was going to unfold. Had Gearsy not come right then, Anri would have gone through with her revenge. You could say the writers wrote themselves into a corner there.

Now that work is out of the way... Edit I know it! ...Okay so is the other Gray Sister Maho's future self?

*1.* Happy belated 14th anniversary to the Neptunia series! 🥳 *2. (**3:36**)* So, an in-universe explanation as to why a maker character acts like the character she's parodying, that's actually tied into the main plot of the game? Interesting, don't think the writers have ever done that before. 🤔 *3. (**3:54**)* I may have heard something once about how being in an emotionally disturbed state can be used as a defense. Probably not enough to get you declared innocent, but it could at least be used as a mitigating factor to lessen the sentence. *4.* So, when I said that Grey Sister's VA was TBA, I _technically_ wasn't lying, although I didn't know it at the time. 😅 Lindsay Sheppard (Maho's VA) didn't officially announce that she was also Grey Sister's VA until the game had been out for almost a month. *5.* And speaking of VA's, for some reason, F2P's VA (the male voice) is still TBA. And I'm willing to bet that that won't change any time soon. *5. (**23:54**)* So, fun fact: there's a chapter of one of the official _Neptunia_ mangas that has stat pages for the CPUs, and not only is one of Rom's stats "secret sadist", but it's also _maxed out,_ at five out of five. Make of that what you will. *6. (**39:22**, "Have faith in the writers")* _[laughs]_ "Oh, wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder." _[laughs harder]_ - Bender, _Futurama_ *(QotD)* Two words: "Idiot Plot".

QOTD: I don't see any plot hole either. Is totally posible that they put guards but they let Anri in because She and Maho are friends and I'm pretty sure Everyone in planeptune know that and im pretty sure onlyNep.jr knowabout all the revenge stuff. Sure that the dint put the scene but pretty sure they didn't saw that necessary.

QOTD: I don't really see any plot holes in here. Like probably the fact that Maho transformed into Ashen Goddess would be the hot news, everyone and their cat would talk about this. Anri would get these news in no time. As to how she would be able to get into resting room - also it seems to me that even if there would be some guard, they could just let Anri in, because why not? Anri is trusted, and if some IF or someone like that would be guarding Maho, and Anri would say something like she wants to talk with Maho, to visit her.. Why not let her in? IF (or other guardian) could also say something like: "You were so close to each other, it's probably a shock to you, maybe you indeed have the right to visit her.. As well as maybe she'll be able to open with you, as you were friends." Sure, there is danger in such logic, but whoever would be the guardian, could get sentimental about it, and let Anri in. Sure, game could show all of this. Or some other possible things. But to me it feels like it's pretty obvious, and isn't really needed to be shown. Like everyone knows where it's going, you can show 5 seconds scene, where IF (or some other guardian) lets Anri in, after being asked by her, because she heard the news, which are all over the Planeptower, but I don't think it's needed. Could be nice, but so could be nice to show everything, how people wake up, dress up, brush their teeth, and whatever else. I don't think everything has to be shown, even if some of it would be nice, we have to fill in some stuff, like eating several times per day and stuff..

And let me just make a list real quick of questionable stuff this ep: 1. Histoire sends IF after Arfoire when they're at the top of the Basilicom. Meaning she'd either A. have to try and find a way to fly after her, or B. go through the tower where they just had all the robots taken over. (Histoire said she fixed it, but that's still really risky). This also risks Arfoire capturing IF... Again XD 2. Sends Maho, a potentially enemy GODDESS who they acknowledge could be a spy, and faking her memories to an unguarded room with not a single other goddess nearby in case thing went wrong. 3. Somehow, Anri got word of everything that happened and got as far as about to kill her. (Seriously, how much time passed between Maho fainting and that) Which is a shame, because everything before that was good stuff! T_T

Also, can we talk about the fact they were flashing back to scenes with NO VOICES?! Like come on, that's even more proof they should have been voiced T_T

This episode is a good reminder… What’s the fastest way to get on my enemy list in the Neptunia series? …You unjustly hurt any of the candidates! I can’t let that slide Anri!!!

Both optios are great, sad that you went the coward route after so much talking about how you loved futaba, anyways this comment is irrelevant, great lets play overall

21:03 Rom is so cute! And this is the first time saying the line about cute anime. 27:29 She reminds me of Dimitri from Three Houses, except Dimitri didn't scare me twice. I like her delivery, though. Imagine if she was the main villan of Persona 4. QOTD I like the gague system in Mk 2 and Victory. Didn't like the combo input in the first original or the share draining mechanic in V2.

I’m surprised no one else can realize that Higurashi is clearly Rena Ryugu. Same VA in both neptunia and Higurashi Eng and Japanese, she could’ve been a Rena from another loop that got transported to this world

That's almost as scary as "I'm getting angry!" know Plutia was about to go full Mr hyde

Higurashi yelling "TRAITOR" give me some massive Kylo Ren flashbacks, won't lie. 😂

QotD: Favourite is Megadimension for keeping things simple but effective. Least favourite is... this one, because the gauge goes up really slowly and Goddess Form drains it so fast it just becomes impractical compared to using your special moves. It doesn't help that if a story battle makes you start transformed, it still drains the meter and wastes it if you had plans to save it.

I want her to cuddle me

QoTD: My favorite one is from VII (the same goes for Re;Birth 1 and 2, since it's the same system) And my least favorite is from Sisters vs Sisters, even though I love this game, gotta say that the HDD activating system is a sh*t

Higurashi is the other DLC character, probably because she's not exactly on your side here

God, as a fan of the actual Higurashi VNs, Higurashi might be one of my favorite new characters in the franchise.

Search "higurashi usoda" for references.

Neat

Higurashi being straight up Higurashi reference is funny

1. 21:08 The hilarious part is that's not too far out of the question anymore. Among the digital contents found on the devices and hard drives in the Bin Laden compound, they found a lot of _Tom and Jerry_ episodes. There were also anime video files listed in the publicly available file indexes, but no specific titles listed (or at least none whose titles translated over to English properly). Probably belonged to family members of his who lived in the compound, but still, it's amusing since the contents are were seemingly spread out across many of the devices that were there, not just on one or two. 2. *(The Disc)* The contents of the disc are quite interesting. It mentions solving a shortage of shares and "preventing the ruin of the PC Continent." This confirms the lab was definitely already here before the start of the game, but the exact time frame it was built remains unknown. Additionally, the disc indicates that the PC Continent was likely suffering a prolonged shortage of Share Energy leading up to its destruction. It seems quite possible the rPhones were created as part of a plan to siphon off Share Energy from Gamindustri to sustain the PC Continent, but the plan couldn't be initiated in time, enabling Arfoire and ASIC to come in and fully assume control of the rPhone factories for their own ends. There's still holes in our information, but we're getting closer to identifying what's really going on. 3. *(The Freezing of Lowee)* *!?* I did not see this coming whatsoever. For all intents and purposes, this is nothing short of an apocalypse scenario. Lowee was supposed to be the least impacted nation by the whole Trendi phenomena, and yet, the vast majority of their population instantly freezes just like that? Something must be going horribly wrong with the world on a _fundamental_ level for something like this to happen. Although it might not pan out, I may have a bit of a working theory regarding what's happening, and it is _haunting._ I'll share it when I feel the time is right but just be advised; discussion of the underlying theme and references to real-world analogues may amount to a memetic cognitohazard.

"That's a lie!" "Aren't you?!" Damn, Higurashi's voice actress, well done.. And how Higurashi is drawn here is well done too..

QOTD: My favorite transformation is the Rebirth series. Along with the lily rank with CPU’s working together👍

Ah, yes. It's here! The all famous "USO DA!" of Higurashi. The exact same line Rena (The Higurashi character she's based on) said on her visual novel, by the same voice actress! QotD: I liked the most the Rebirth trilogy and VII versions. It doesn't take much to fill the gauge and it drains slowly, meaning you can almost be in goddess form as much as you like. And the one I like the least is this game's and the next one's version. Takes a very, very long time to fill the gauge and it drains in HALF A MINUTE. And it would be EVEN LESS if you intend to use their EXE drive while transformed, since that requires having the same gauge at half or more. The end result is that you BARELY see the goddess forms in these games.

*1. (Higurashi snaps)* I'm going to assume that this is a specific reference to the _Higurashi_ series, since I'm pretty sure I once saw a video in my recommended feed titled something along the lines of _"Higurashi series 'USODA' compilation"._ *2. (Maho on the tape and the possibility of an impostor among us)* Yeah, reminds me of a point I once saw somone make about _Star Wars Episode II:_ now that both clones and perfect shapeshifters canonically exist in the _Star Wars_ universe, it has opened the door wide open for the writers to, at any time, pull the "it wasn't actually them, it was just a clone/shapeshifter impersonating them" card. And the exact same can be said about the _Neptunia_ universe. Shapeshifting villains and evil clones have been an established fact since at least _mk2_ and _Victory,_ respectively. *3. (**36:50** - **37:32**)* _Quit stalling and just_ out _with it, woman!_ 😅 *4. (**39:34**)* Okay, how 'bout this for a theory: since Compile Heart is still officially considering this game a spinoff (for _some_ reason), maybe what's actually happening here is that this game takes place in a dimension that is _similar_ to the mainline dimension, but not _identical,_ with some of the significant differences being that the Next Forms don't exist (maybe the CPUs lost access to them, or they never unlocked the Next Forms to begin with), and Uzume went the way of the Ascension Ending, explaining her absence. *5. (**41:15** - **41:27**)* Yeah, this is _big._ Like a fanfic I once read put it, when a nation is in such a bad state that the CPUs of other nations essentially have to bail them out, that reflects _really_ bad on you as a CPU; like it means you've essentially _failed_ as a CPU, completely and utterly. Not that I'm blaming Blanc for this; this seems like something _none_ of the CPUs could have done anything about. (Although, I _will_ point out that the writers' insistence on the four CPUs being so damn _weak_ isn't exactly helping. Hell, food for thought: not counting the Next Forms, the main four CPUs are the _weakest_ CPUs we've seen in this series so far. Change my mind.) *(QotD)* Yeah, my least favorites are definitely the ones where you have to spend a million years filling up some kind of gauge just to get the _privilege_ of transforming, like this game and... _mk2,_ which I _still_ maintain is the _actual_ game with the worst gameplay in the series. 😒 Seriously, each character has 150 max SP, HDD costs 100 SP just to activate _and_ drains the character's remaining SP each turn, _and_ each character's SP drops to _zero_ when you exit a dungeon, meaning you have to _grind_ it back up to 100+ each. And *_every. Single. Time_* you enter a new dungeon. What the f*ck were they thinking?! As for my favorite, I'll admit it: in retrospect, the gameplay formula used in _Victory_ and the _Re;Birth_ trilogy probably _was_ the best, for how simplistic it was. Each character has their own SP bar, and activating HDD is a one-time cost of 20% of the character's max SP, and nothing more. Simple, clean, and functional; you love to see it. 😘👌

It's one thing for villains to do it, but I can't think of another ally who has jump-scared me more than Higarashi XD

Gensokyo is the pocket dimension that is the setting of the touhou games. And the entire franchise in general. Things and people that get lost sometime can end in gensokyo.

Damn im late to this series 😅

QotD: The plot so far is sharp and precise. It provides all details required to assemble the big picture by the end of this chapter (if not right now), and it provides a lot of hints in sub events and chirper lines, but still leaves space for wild shortsighted theories like unreliable narrator or time travel. 1:15 A very subtle detail here: the usually calm Nepgear reacts specifically to ASIC mention. 1:45 Hyperdimension Histoire was never established as super wise, knowledgeable, remembering character. She is older than anyone else here (assuming Maho and Anri are Makers ofc, unknown CPUs might be ancient), but in terms of hardware old is just obsolete and low spec. I wouldn't be surprised if she already flushed her memories about Uzume back to archive tapes, let alone outsiders CPU. 4:05 I love the subtle contrast between Nepgear's and Higurashi's responses here. Higurashi clearly suspects Maho, clearly wants to come just to watch her, and doesn't want to bring her suspicious up openly. Nepgear does absolutely same thing and is even more transparent about it, but we still *can't* tell what is she thinking about. 5:10 Absolutely take Beam Buster from the shop once it gets available. And don't forget that equipping is also important~ 5:40 I don't really see a plot issue here. First, neither Histoire nor IF nor Planeptune as a whole is competent in terms of security and secrecy. Second, it's not even them who decide who to trust with the information. If Nepgear considers Maho, Anri, and Higurashi trustworthy; that's just it. Third, there might be additional reasons for strategic meetings to be like that, just untold yet. 7:25 Okay, but what did Nepgear learn from VII events? I mean, what would happen if she acted differently in Z arc? What would happen if she acted differently at the end of G arc? What would happen if she acted differently at the end of H arc? I'm sure Nepgear had a lot of time to analyze the VII plot from her own perspective and draw some conclusions. Which ultimately allowed her to already decide what to do and plan things ahead, and which she already tried to explain in Lowee to other CPU Candidates. At that time, Uni accused Maho and didn't trust her. In VII, Uni almost attacked Uzume's projection once they met in Zero Dimension. Did Nepgear make a right choice to stop her, or dreadfully wrong one? 8:20 Ashen Goddess appeared in Planeptune only recently. Histoire and IF have zero rights to tell any non-Planeptunian CPU what to do in their own continent. It's just the main four have right of passage and work as a team against worldwide threats, but remember how isolated Peashy's Eden was. 9:30 Maho and Anri supposedly lived in Planeptune as refugees for two years, and provided a lot of help in conquering Planeptower back. Not to mention that unlike Histoire and IF they actually worked on solution against Trendi Phenomenon. Telling them to leave just because they are originally from PC continent would be extremely strange. Not to mention how inclusive Planeptune CPUs are in general: for example, they had 5pb. in their team even when Leanbox became their enemy. 9:50 Neptune not having a single line during important strategic meeting is a nice gesture towards mk2. 12:12 Perhaps Uzume is in Gensokyo right now. 13:04 Histoire doesn't know anything about Gensokyo (pretty sure she doesn't know Hinamizawa nor Rokkenjima as well) despite having Alice and Higurashi around for a long time. How can she be expected to know about top secret CPUs from another continent? 14:12 I assumed you already knew about this but there is a bug with savefiles: after reaching certain number (32 iirc), it still has `New Save Data` option but it actually overwrites an existing savefile. It's better to move savefiles to another directory periodically if you plan to reload. 28:00 Perhaps Histy is the spy! 30:30 This looks like a server and a bunch of thin clients. 32:08 Capsules are definitely different. The CPU Candidates were trapped in completely transparent cylinders. The capsule Arfoire put Neptune into had metal shell and a small window. 35:53 Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. 37:13 Again, no matter how much Nepgear trusts in Maho, she is strict about not allowing her sharing info like this (in case she's a spy and tries to send signal outside). In fact, inviting Maho and Higurashi to top secret conversations and investigation team is the smartest thing Nepgear could do in case there is a spy. If the spy leaks the real top secret info, this would expose her immediately. We don't have completely random people wandering in Planeptower and eavesdropping, and nobody allows suspects to eavesdrop secretly. Nepgear binds them: if something happens, it would give an undeniable proof of their guilt.

Kind of endearing that Uni secretly supports her sister.. ;P Also I'm personally alright so far with how things are going. I get the point that someone could know how PC continent leaders could look like, but I think PC continent was pretty isolationist so far in the series. We didn't hear about it too much, they just probably do their own things, and don't interact much with outsiders, is what I think.

*(**1:25**, QotD)* Remember what Vert and Nitroplus said when they met for the first time. _"I'm the CPU of Leanbox."_ _"The CPU...?"_ _"Oh, that's right. Your continent doesn't have a CPU, does it?"_ But according to this game, there _is_ a PC Continent CPU. Now, as far as I figure, there are four possible explanations: Possibility one: Vert knew of the PC Continent CPU, but Nitroplus did not. _Extremely_ unlikely, as I'll elaborate on in possibility two. Possibility two: the PC Continent CPU's existence was a classified top secret, even to the citizens. Also unlikely, as a CPU with no followers would have no faith. Possibility three: the PC Continent gained its _first_ CPU and Candidate at some point between _VII_ and _SVS._ Possibility four: the PC Continent citizens knew of the CPU's existence, but her existence was a secret to _outsiders,_ to the point that Nitroplus was willing to lie to Vert directly to her face by pretending to not know what a CPU is. However, now that the CPUs of Gamindustri have _visited_ the PC Continent, you can't exactly keep it a secret anymore, which is why everyone knows about it now. Disregarding possibility one, these could _all_ explain why the heroes don't know the PC Continent CPU's identity or even appearance yet. It was classified information that they haven't been able to get their hands on yet. Granted, I'm fully aware that this is essentially just headcanon based on conjecture and assumption, and it's entirely possible that this game will prove me wrong.

*1. (Shanghai Alice's events)* [Touhou _references intensify]_ I have to say, it feels like the writers are treating Shanghai Alice differently than makers from previous games. Rather than just referencing one or more games in a broad sense, Shanghai Alice is - as far as I can tell - what would happen if you just took _Touhou_ protagonist Hakurei Reimu and copypasted her into the _Neptunia_ series without changing a thing. She's not just a reference to Reimu, she essentially _is_ Reimu. Straight. Up. So then, references: Gensokyo (幻想郷 _Gensōkyō),_ roughly "Land of Illusions" or "Land of Fantasy", is the main setting of the _Touhou_ series. Essentially a small pocket dimension located somewhere in the Japanese mountains, Gensokyo is superficially similar to rural Japan a few centuries ago, with the exception that folklore creatures like youkai, demons, and gods openly coexist with Gensokyo's population of humans. It is the job of the _miko_ (shinto priestess) of Hakurei Shrine, of which series protagonist Hakurei Reimu is the latest one, to make sure these various types of beings are able to live in relative harmony with each other. An interesting aspect of Gensokyo is that it's considered "a land of that which is forgotten", meaning that objects and concepts that are lost or fade from the public consciousness tend to find their way into Gensokyo, which is why it is populated by youkai and monsters. Shanghai Alice's vampire friend and the latter's maid are a reference to Remilia Scarlet and IZAYOI Sakuya. Remilia served as the main antagonist of _Embodiment of Scarlet Devil,_ the sixth game in the _Touhou_ series, being the one to set plot of that game in motion, and Sakuya is the head maid of Remilia's Scarlet Devil Mansion, serving as the penultimate boss of the game before facing Remilia herself. *2. (**12:18**)* Correction: there _was._ The Gamindustri Graveyard was destroyed and sank into the sea at the end of _mk2/R;B2._ *3. (**15:33**)* Like the tobacco reference from a few episodes back, this might be the first alcohol reference in the series, unless I'm forgetting something. *4. (**27:25**)* There was also that one scene in _mk2/R;B2_ where Vert and Chika forced Nepgear to play a... naked butler dating simulator game, I think it was. *5. (**35:47**)* Yes, this is a reference to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, being part of a longer quote: "Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nfah Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!", which supposedly translates to "Hail! Hail! Cthulhu Dreams! In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." Also, this scene was voiced in the Japanese version. I did not expect I would get to hear Tanaka Rie speak the language of the Old Ones when I started this game. 😅 *6. (**36:27**)* _Harry Potter_ reference. *7. (**37:45**)* _Doraemon_ reference.

Oh, yes. The vampire is another Touhou reference, just like Gensokyou. Remilia Scarlet, final boss of the sixth game, and several other appearances afterwards. The peripheral may be a reference to the 32X, for the Mega Drive/Genesis. Yes, it flopped, since it was released when people (and game devs) already knew the Saturn was coming (or even after the Saturn's release, in Japan's case) The blue cat with a 4D pocket is a reference to Doraemon, a very famous anime in Japan (and Spain and Portugal), but I think it's pretty much unknown in the USA QotD: yeah, there're some moments in which the plot makes the characters abandon all security concerns to progress. I think it could have been handled better, but still the overall plot is very good.

16:08 Nepgyaaaaa! XD 22:04 I thought Noire had a bot give replies or replied to her messages herself. Never thought it was Uni. 36:02 XD Only Neptune can make things funny out of nothing QOTD I didn't like the reveal of Histoire not mentioning her knowledge of the ashen goddess

dw, believe in the writers!

Pudding!

The booster is most likely the 32x, which the real Sega Neptune was supposed to be a standalone version of. Gensokyo is the name of world the Touhou games take place in, with Shanghai Alice being a maker of Team Shanghai Alice (one guy) who makes the official Toigou games.