Table of Contents
Nightmare City
Nightmare City (ナイトメアシティ) is an action-packed duology that borrows 2channel's AA characters. The two Flash animations were authored by “Mi~ya” (み~や), under “Clairvoyance”, who had initially published them in 2004 and 2005.1) In 2024, a remaster was released.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 inside a virtual world that could connect their 'dreams' or 'minds', 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 comes at the cost of deleting Shii.
“I don't mind that everything is a lie, as long as you love me forever.”
Transcript
List of Characters
Character(s) | Color | Appearance | Weapon(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Protagonists | ||||
(,,゚Д゚) | Giko ギコ | Orange | Both | Water Sword → Green Laser Blade |
ミ,,゚Д゚彡 | Fusagiko フサギコ | Brown | Both | Sword |
(*゚ー゚) | Shii しぃ | Pink | Both | Light Blue Laser Bow |
( ´_ゝ`) | Anija 兄者 | Green | Both | Gun |
(´<_` ) | Otoja 弟者 | Blue | Both | Gun |
〈 ノリ ))ヾ 从∀・从 | Imoja 妹者 | Human | Both | Gun |
((( ))) ( ´Д`) | >>1-san >>1さん | Human | Both | |
/ ■\ ( ´∀`) | Onigiri おにぎり | White | Both | |
(-_-) | Hikki ヒッキー | White | Both | |
('A`) | Dokuo ドクオ | Purple | Both | |
( `ー´) | Neno ネーノ | Lime | Both | Bazooka |
X ノ ハヘ X |゚ノ ^∀^) | Remona レモナ | Human | Both | Martial Arts |
(´・ω・`) | Shobon ショボーン | Light Blue | Both | |
(・∀・) | Jisaku Jien ジサクジエン | White | Original | Martial Arts |
<丶`∀´> | Nida ニダー | Red Orange | Catastrophe | Martial Arts |
( ・3・) | Borujoa ぼるじょあ | Teal | Catastrophe | Martial Arts |
Antagonists | ||||
( ・∀・) | Morala モララー | Dark Blue | Both | Red Laser Sword |
( ´∀`) | Mona モナー | White | Both | Green Laser Stick |
(*゚∀゚) | Tsuu つー | Red | Both | Red Laser Knife |
( ´Д`) | Hattoushin Mona 八頭身モナー | White | Both | Yellow Laser Whip |
Development
The original Nightmare City was submitted to the 'Third Red-White Flash Contest' on December 25, 2004 and subsequently won first place.6) In the following year, Miyasuke was a special guest for 'FLASH★BOMB '05', which is where he unveiled the sequel and conclusion, Nightmare City: Catastrophe, on October 29, 2005. For its 20th anniversary, a remake, Nightmare City: Requiem, was unveiled on December 25, 2024.
Music
All animations borrow music from the indie Japanese metal band, 403 (Yonmarusan), who originally 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 would instead use “Raise Your Souls!” from the 2021 album Heroes Part 2.
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)" |
|
"Southern Cross 2011" | |||
Heroes Part 2 | 2021 | "Southern Cross (revisited)" |
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 mistaken written as '403 Forbiddena', due to the fact that their 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).7)
External links
-
- miyasuke.net - The front page of Miya's website. Hasn't been updated in years. Mostly retired.
- @miyasuke1 on Twitter
- Laboratory 403 - The front page of 403's website.
- @kazuki403 on Twitter
- Nightmare City on Pixiv Encyclopedia
- Nightmare City on Niconico Encyclopedia