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Nightmare City

Nightmare City (ナイトメアシティ) is the action-packed duology that notably borrows 2channel's AA characters. The two Flash animations had been authored by “Mi~ya” (み～や), under “Clairvoyance”, and was published for events that occurred on December 25, 2004 and October 29, 2005.1)

The animation was quite popular and received a lot of parodies, including “4chan City” by “NCHProductions”, but it also drew in a lot of criticism for alleged plagiarism at the time. For their 20th anniversary, it had a remaster that released on December 25, 2024.2)3)

Summary

“Destiny is calling you, 'Obey me or defy me'.”

Most of the original story can be inferred from the initial animation's bonus cutscene, where it's explained that the protagonists are stuck in cyberspace, where their 'dreams' or 'minds' are connected, but the machine malfunctions because the AIs started to rebel and nobody has been able to wake up, and we're left with a brief hint that one must realize they're dreaming from within a dream, but this part is obvious.

As the story goes, the protagonists are trying to escape a virtual 'city of lies',4) and most of the characters are implied to be humans using AA characters as mere avatars. However, Shii can't actually escape with “Giko” because she was an AI herself, the 'Monolith-C' (Monolith-Shii) machine.5) In the end, they defeat the machine, which does free everyone, yet it deletes Shii in the process.

“I don't mind that everything is a lie, as long as you love me forever.”

List of characters

Character(s) Color Appearance(s) Ability/Weapon
O C R
Protagonists
Giko Orange ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ No orz sign → Water sword → Light sword
Shii Pink ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Light bow-and-arrow
Fusagiko Brown ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Sword
Anija Green ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Handgun
Otoja Blue ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Handgun
Imoja Human ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Handgun
1-san Human ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ N/A
Onigiri White ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ N/A
Hikki White ⭕ ⭕ ⏪ N/A
Dokuo Purple ⭕ ⭕ ⏪ N/A
Neno Lime ⭕ ⭕ ⏪ Rocket launcher
Remona Human ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Close combat
Shobon Light Blue ⭕ ⭕ ⏪ N/A
Jisaku Jien White ⭕ ❌ ❌ N/A
Nida Salmon ❌ ⭕ ⭕ Close combat
Borujoa Teal ❌ ⭕ ⭕ Close combat
Antagonists
Morala Dark Blue ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Light sword
Mona White ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Light stick
Tsuu Red ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Light knife
Hattoushin ×3 White ⭕ ⭕ ⭕ Light whip

Key: O - Original, C - Catastrophe, R - Requiem. ⭕ - Does appear, ❌ - Does not appear, ⏪ - Flashback only.

Transcript and translation

Toggle transcript and literal translation.

Development

The original Nightmare City was submitted to the 'Third Red-White Flash Contest' on December 25, 2004 and won first place, netting him an iPod Mini and an interview in the 2channel Plus magazine.6) Months later, Miyasuke became a special guest for the 'FLASH★BOMB '05' event on October 29, 2005, which was when the second half and dramatic conclusion, Nightmare City: Catastrophe, was initially unveiled.

Almost two decades later, Miyasuke would post about a Nightmare City-inspired VR project for April Fools Day 2021, and most people assumed this was a joke.7) For the 20th anniversary, Miyasuke would upload a remaster called Nightmare City: Requiem on December 25, 2024, and the VRChat world shown earlier had actually became public for a brief period of time.8)

Music

The animations borrow music from the indie Japanese metal band, 403 (Yonmarusan), who initially released “Southern Cross” and “Northern Lights” into the public domain, but eventually organized these tracks in the 2007 album, N.E.W.S., and remastered them below. For the 20th anniversary remaster, the animation uses “Raise Your Souls!” from the 2021 album Heroes Part 2, which borrows the “Southern Cross” leitmotif.

Album Southern Cross (2003) Northern Lights (2002)
N.E.W.S. 2007 "Southern Cross" (MV, 2020)
"Southern Cross -Guitar arrange-" 		"Northern Lights" (MV, 2020)
Heart 2009 "Northern Lights (revisited)
"Northern Lights (revisited vocalless)"
Heroes Part 2 2021 "Southern Cross (revisited)"
"Raise your souls!" [3:26]

Controversy

In the past, the Nightmare City duology faced mild accusations of plagiarism over its references to Savior Cat, the Final Fantasy series,9) the Kingdom Hearts series, the famous Akira bike scene, etc. Despite the fact that most people would consider this a non-issue, Miyasuke would technically apologize for the commotion as he was being interviewed on an internet radio program in 2005.

Notes

  • The original Nightmare City takes heavy inspiration from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which caused some controversy amongst people who didn't think that it was deserving of first place.
  • In the past, the band name '403' was mistakenly written as '403 Forbiddena', due to the fact that the old website was named "Laboratory Room 403 -Forbiddena-" (研究室403号室 -Forbiddena-).
  • Giko's actual human name was planned to be 'Kōsuke Kusanagi' (草薙コウスケ, Kusanagi Kōsuke).10)
  • Miyasuke did “Monosugoi Ikioi de Keine ga Monosugoi Uta” (物凄い勢いでけーねが物凄いうた).11)12)

See also

,
1)
"【黒歴史】 10年進化録 【み～や】" (October 15, 2012). Pixiv.
2)
"【20周年記念作品】ナイトメアシティ・レクイエム / Nightmare City -Requiem-" (December 25, 2024). Niconico Douga.
3)
"【20周年記念作品】ナイトメアシティ・レクイエム / Nightmare City -Requiem-" (December 25, 2024). YouTube.
4)
The city is referred to as a 'city of lies' (イツワリの街, itsuwari no machi) in the first opening.
5)
"【Flashアニメ】ナイトメアシティ・カタストロフィ / Nightmare City -Catastrophe-" [2:12]. YouTube.
6)
"■□第３回紅白FLASH合戦■□" (January 9, 2005). CHBOX.
7)
"【PV】Nightmare City 新プロジェクト始動【FLASH黄金時代】" (March 31, 2021). YouTube.
8)
"『Nightmare City』20周年を記念してVRChatで記念ワールドを公開します！" (December 24, 2024). Twitter.
9)
The claim is that the action scenes was too similar by the trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which was packaged as a bonus video in Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission.
10)
"NightmareCity主人公" (May 6, 2009). Pixiv.
11)
"【東方PV】物凄い勢いでけーねが物凄いうた【Halozy】" (September 25, 2009). Niconico Douga.
12)
"[Halozy] 物凄い勢いでけーねが物凄いうた【PV】" (March 17, 2014). YouTube.
nightmare_city.txt · Last modified: 2025-06-04 12:36:30 by namelessrumia