Hyperdimension Neptunia - The Video Game Reference Paradise Pt.3

Where is part 2 you asked? There is no part 2, the post is so great that it skipped one number. Extra points if you get the reference.

But yeah, this is the next part of my first post, which you can read in here. No, really, go read it, reading this post without reading the one before is like watching the Kamen Rider Decade movie without watching the TV series, you won't understand jack.

So yeah, I didn't realized that I forgot two characters last time on the developers part until now.

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Mages. is not a name you get to hear until recently. It's the parent company that bought 5pb. a couple of years ago. The name of the company stands for "Music", "Anime", "Games", "Event" and "School". So the reason of 5pb. not appearing in the third game will most likely because she is replaced by Mages.

In the game, Mages is revealed to be a relative of 5pb., as well as having a very similar appearance. While she looks like a cool beauty outside, she is actually a very heavy chuunibyou, or eighth grade syndrome in English (look it up if you don't what that means, it takes time to explain), and like to call herself the "Mad Magician", as well as calling Noire "assistance". Clothing wise, she is having a white coat, a gear shaped button and a belt on her arm. All of these are references point toward the visual novel by 5pb., Steins;Gate, where the main character is a chuunibyou who called himself a "Mad Scientist", calling Kurisu (voiced by Imai Asami, Noire's VA) by weird names like Christina or Assistance.

Design wise, other than the fact that she is a mage, which referenced the name of the company, her clothing heavily borrowed Kurisu from Steins;Gate as well, such as the coat, tie, gear shaped button, laces and belt on her arm.

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Compile, also known as first-gen Compa in the third game. If you think she is the personification of Compile Heart, then I can confidently tell you that you are wrong. She is actually the personification of a company known as Compile, who's most famous game is the RPG series Madou Monogatari and it's puzzle game spinoff Puyo Puyo.

In the third game, she disappeared and was reincarnated into the Compa we knew in the first two game. This is, of course, a direct reference to what happened in real life as well. Here is some interesting fact about Compile Heart. Many people probably know them as that company who always make shitty moe games, but the truth is that Compile Heart was supposed to be the company that tries to revive Compile, who closed in 2003. Nitanii Masamitsu, the founder of Compile, is currently working in Compile Heart as well.

Design wise, the kanji printed on the paper on her forehead means "closed", the character on her belt is supposed to be a puyo from Puyo Puyo, and the rabbit ears are also a reference to Madou Monogatari as well.

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And I'm pretty sure I'm done with the developers this time. I hope.

For the Sister, I guess I will just go over them briefly, since that aren't much references around them, to be honest.

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Nepgear, as the name suggest, it's obviously Sega's Game Gear. However, I found nothing about her design seems to suggest so. Maybe I'm the one who is missing something here. But feel free to tell me if you notice something.

Uni in the other hand, has a rather obvious circle on her chest. This, of course, is the circle we see on the back of the PSP. Her goddess form though, it's indeed a bit risky. According to the game, unlike others, her goddess sacrifice her defense for better agility by stripping most of her clothing, and even shrinking her cup size. Interestingly, I actually managed to dig up an interview with the artist on Dengeki/4Gamer/Famitsu (forgot which one it is). The lighter clothing parts actually came from (according to the artist herself anyway) the fact that they are handhelds, which are lighter than home consoles. Well, I guess that make sense...

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Rom and Ram, the twin sisters who used a giant stylus as weapon. If that's not obvious enough, that's the Nintendo DS. I have seen quite a lot of people mistaken that one of them is representing the DS, while the other one is the 3DS. The truth is that one of them is the upper screen of the DS, and the other one is the touch screen. In other words, two of them are one console, like how Shotaro and Philip together are one Kamen Rider.

The second game introduced the Oracles, the leader of the goddesses' believer. Of course, they are also some sort reference as well. But unlike other character, they are not representing anything in the industry side, they are, believe it or not, actually referencing the console fanboys in Japan, and their names are actually originated from three insulting words people used on 2ch to call the fanboys.

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In the game, Compa was having a hard time to pronounced Jinguji Kei's name, so she decided to just call her JK. No, this is not referencing "joking', but the Gate Keeper, how 2ch called the employee working in Sony, which makes GK a nickname for diehard Sony fanboys.

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Nishizawa Mina's name comes from how people refer to Nintendo fanboy in 2ch, "Nintendo Shinsha" (Nintendo believer), "Ninshin" for short (which literally means pregnant).

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Hakozaki Chika's name actually has two origin. The first one is "Hako", which literally means "box", how Japanese people generally call the XBOX (like how we just simply call it 360 instead of saying "XBOX three-sixty"). Chika in the other hand, comes from the word "Chikan", which literally means "molester". This came from an interview on TV with a guy who lined up for the XBOX launch in Japan. When asked why he is there, he answered he was there for the adult game Ryoujoku Chikan Jigoku. Many people found it funny that he actually has the guts to say it out loud in front of the camera, which made "Chikan" a synonym of 360 fanboys in 2ch.

And for the villains, oh the villains, I have to say they have some quite bizarre references. Remember what I said about something being lost in translations? Here is that part.

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If you have played the game, you will known that Arfoire, also known as Majekonnu in the Japanese version, is the personification of piracy. Her name comes from Majikon, the Japanese term that refers to machines that can copy and produce pirate games. Her name in the English version is probably even a better joke. Arfoire is actually a pun for R4, the DS cartridge that allows the player to play games that are downloaded to your flash disks.

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Pirachu, well, it sounds obvious. His name is Pirachu, and he is a mouse, so he must be a parody of Pikachu, right? Well you might know about him being a parody of Pikachu, but what you don't know is that his name is actually a double pun. His name in the Japanese version is Warechu, which, other than Pikachu, came from the word "Warechuu". Warechuu, originated from the English word "ware", is a word that is used to refer to people who download illegal software.

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There are four main villains in the second game, but the one I want to focus on is Brave, the only villain in the game who is doing bad things out of good intention, since the rest of the three don't have too much references.

Now take a look at this badass right here, you can already tell he is my favorite bro in the game simply because how he looks. Anyway, Brave was described as the embodiment of the emotion of kids who don't have enough money to buy video games. In order to let poor kids can have the chance to enjoy the wonder of video games, Brave start making illegal copies and distribute them freely to them. If you are a mech anime fan from 90s, you probably can already tell where is Brave's appearance from.

What's a better way to represent children's dream by borrowing the design of King of Brave GaoGaiGar himself?

FINAL FUSION!

What they see are nothing more than drills attached to a giant robot, but what I see are the ultimate form of courage and a man's romance!

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Kiseijou Rei, also known as Rei Ryghts in the English version, is the leader of the villains in the third game. It was later revealed that she was also a former goddess of a fallen nation Tari, the first nation in Gameindustri.

Now let's start with the name. Kiseijou Rei is a pun for "Kisei Jourei". The closest translation to it will be "local laws", which does make sense consider what her gang has been doing.

As for the former goddess part, the name Tari is indeed referencing Atari, and she is the personification of the Atari 2600. Just like the game, Atari was probably many people's first console they played, but at the end it was totally forgotten because of all the newer consoles that came afterward.

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Abnes will be one of those cultural references that can never be translated to English (as well as the most bizarre one to me). In the game, she is one of the villain who are there to protect and promote the right to young girls. Her name is actually a reference to the Hong Kong singer Agnes Chan.

In Hong Kong, she is known as nothing more than a singer, but in Japan, she is known as the ambassador of the Japan Commitee for UNICEF, an organization that help promote children rights. As the ambassador, she was also famous for actively help enforcing laws against child porn in Japan. Why is this reference in the game? I have no idea... Maybe even Compile Heart thought that pedophilia has became a huge problem in Japan?

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Copypaste, the name is pretty self explanatory. But what you don't know is that his name in the Japanese version is Copy Ace, not Copypaste. This is actually a reference to a machine know as the Family Ace, a machine that copy Famicom game into a blank cartridge.

Design wise, isn't it obvious? A reference to the bosses in Megaman/Rockman, one of the most popular Famicom/NES game ever in history. By the way, fuck you Capcom.

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Mr. Badd, also known as Akudaijiin in the Japanese version. Probably the most bizarre character in the whole game. I mean, what the hell is he? Why is he in a game with nothing but cute girls and giant robot?

Well from what I know, Akudaijiin is a parody of Akudaikan, a PS2 game series where you get to play as the government villain in Fedual Japan instead of the epic hero samurai.

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The reason for Akudaijiin's realistically drawn face in contrast with the rest of the cast is because his face is borrowed from the actor Senbonmatsu Kihei, who played the main character in the Akudaikan series.

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No, he is not dead. It just that the picture that resembles the character the most happens to be B&W.

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Anonydeath, the master hacker of the organization. Well both appearance and his name are quite obvious. Anonydeath will be the direct reference to Anonymous, the hacker organization who used the Guy Fawkes as their logo.

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Appearance wise, I still don't understand what it has to do with the character, but it seems to me that he is based on Jehuty from Zone of the Enders series.

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And that's all. By simply playing a weaboo anime game, you just learned about histories of some Japanese companies, how to insult console fanboys in Japan, as well as some useless information about the Japanese culture. And people say games these days aren't educational.

Well it's my habit to end a post with some pictures or video, so here is one.

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See them next time in the upcoming new anime adaption, I guess?