History Trivia / DokiDokiLiteratureClub

* ActorAllusion: Dan Salvato, the director behind the game's team, was once known for his modding work in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' community, and contributed to the ''VideoGame/ProjectM'' mod before work on it had to be pulled. One of the messages the game can tell you is "Project M died for this."

** Additionally, considering his history as a competitive Smash Bros player (plus his involvement in Project M), he even confirmed "mains" for each of the characters if each of the [[https://imgur.com/3rqSMeQ girls were to ever play Melee]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A Skype conversation snippet shown in the art booklet for the game indicates that Dan [[spoiler:considered Sayori being "the crazy one" before they shifted that characterization to Monika]].

** Additionally, considering his history as a competitive Smash Bros player (plus his involvement in Project), he even confirmed "mains" for each of the characters if each of the [[https://imgur.com/3rqSMeQ girls were to ever play Melee]].

* LostInTranslation: The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work completely in English ''or'' Japanese. Due to how the Japanese language works, with characters assigned to syllables rather than individual letters, Monika's name would be written as モニカ (Mo-Ni-Ka) as opposed to もんいか (Mo-n-i-ka), which the pun is based off, since squid is written as いか (i-ka).

* LostInTranslation: The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work completely in English ''or'' Japanese. Due to how the Japanese language works, with characters assigned to syllables rather than individual letters, Monika's name would be written as モニカ as opposed to もんいか, which the pun is based off, since squid is written as いか.

* LostInTranslation: The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work completely in English or Japanese. Due to how the Japanese language works, with characters assigned to syllables rather than individual letters, Monika's name would be written as モニカ as opposed to もんいか, which the pun is based off, since squid is written as いか.

* LostInTranslation: The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work completely in English or Japanese. Due to how the Japanese language works, with characters assigned to syllables rather than individual letters, Monika's name would be written as モニカ as opposed to もんいか, which the pun is based off, since squid is written as いか.
* OlderThanTheyThink: The game has been Dan's rather secretive project for over two years, with [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/5tnfwo/dan_salvato_here_20xxte_developer_and_melee/ddntpf8/?context=10000 the single concrete idea of the game]] being (vaguely) teased only in February 2017, with the actual concept of the game being revealed when ''it was released'' in September of that year. This also veers into CrazyPrepared territory since [[https://twitter.com/lilmonix3 Monika's Twitter account]] was created at the same time, periodically tweeting to keep up the masquerade before the game was released, where [[spoiler: players would learn about it from Monika herself in Act 3.]]

* DevelopmentHell: The game has been Dan's rather secretive project for over two years, with [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/5tnfwo/dan_salvato_here_20xxte_developer_and_melee/ddntpf8/?context=10000 the single concrete idea of the game]] being (vaguely) teased only in February 2017, with the actual concept of the game being revealed when ''it was released'' in September of that year. This also veers into CrazyPrepared territory since [[https://twitter.com/lilmonix3 Monika's Twitter account]] was created at the same time, periodically tweeting to keep up the masquerade before the game was released, where [[spoiler: players would learn about it from Monika herself in Act 3.]]

* OlderThanTheyThink: The game has been Dan's rather secretive project for over two years, with [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/5tnfwo/dan_salvato_here_20xxte_developer_and_melee/ddntpf8/?context=10000 the single concrete idea of the game]] being (vaguely) teased only in February 2017, with the actual concept of the game being revealed when ''it was released'' in September of that year. This also veers into CrazyPrepared territory since [[https://twitter.com/lilmonix3 Monika's Twitter account]] was created at the same time, periodically tweeting to keep up the masquerade before the game was released, where [[spoiler: players would learn about it from Monika herself in Act 3.]]

* MeaningfulName: Monika is Latin for "advisor" and Greek for "unique".

* OlderThanTheyThink: The game has been Dan's rather secretive project for over two years, with [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/5tnfwo/dan_salvato_here_20xxte_developer_and_melee/ddntpf8/?context=10000 the single concrete idea of the gsme]] being (vaguely) teased only in February 2017, with the actual concept of the game being revealed when ''it was released'' in September of that year. This also veers into CrazyPrepared territory since [[https://twitter.com/lilmonix3 Monika's Twitter account]] was created at the same time, periodically tweeting to keep up the masquerade before the game was released, where [[spoiler: players would learn about it from Monika herself in Act 3.]]

* LostInTranslation: The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work in English but does work in Japanese. Japan is where the game was originally set, but was changed in updates so the setting is vague and could be anywhere. All the characters except Monika still have Japanese names, and considering that the girls seemed to understand the joke, it seems they have some knowledge of the language too. '''Mono''' in English refers to singular thing or output, but in Japanese according to TheOtherWiki mono or 物 means both "thing", and "aware" 哀れ, and was a Heian period expression of surprise (similar to "ah" or "oh"), translating roughly as "pathos", "poignancy", "deep feeling", "sensitivity", or "awareness". The word for squid in Japanese is '''Ika''' or いか and so...Monika which mixes the two words together = oh, feeling/sensitive/aware squid! hence the joke and Monika pointing out it made no sense in translation (since the game is only released in English).

* OlderThanTheyThink: The game has been Dan's rather secretive project for over two years, with [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/5tnfwo/dan_salvato_here_20xxte_developer_and_melee/ddntpf8/?context=10000 the single concrete idea of the gsme]] being (vaguely) teased only in February 2017, with the actual concept of the game being revealed when ''it was released'' in September of that year. This also veers into CrazyPrepared territory since spoiler: [[https://twitter.com/lilmonix3 Monika's Twitter account]] was created at the same time, periodically tweeting to keep up the masquerade before the game was released, where [[spoiler: players would learn about it from Monika herself in Act 3.]]

!!Meta
* The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work in English but does work in Japanese. Japan is where the game was originally set, but was changed in updates so the setting is vague and could be anywhere. All the characters except Monika still have Japanese names, and considering that the girls seemed to understand the joke, it seems they have some knowledge of the language too. '''Mono''' in English refers to singular thing or output, but in Japanese according to TheOtherWiki mono or 物 means both "thing", and "aware" 哀れ, and was a Heian period expression of surprise (similar to "ah" or "oh"), translating roughly as "pathos", "poignancy", "deep feeling", "sensitivity", or "awareness". The word for squid in Japanese is '''Ika''' or いか and so...Monika which mixes the two words together = oh, feeling/sensitive/aware squid! hence the joke and Monika pointing out it made no sense in translation (since the game is only released in English).

* The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work in English but does work in Japanese. Japan is where the game was originally set, but was changed in updates so the setting is vague and could be anywhere. All the characters except Monika still have Japanese names, and considering that the girls seemed to understand the joke, it seems they have some knowledge of the language too. '''Mono''' in English refers to singular thing or output, but in Japanese according to TheOtherWiki mono or 物 means both "thing", and "aware" 哀れ, and was a Heian period expression of surprise (similar to "ah" or "oh"), translating roughly as "pathos", "poignancy", "deep feeling", "sensitivity", or "awareness". The word for squid in Japanese is '''Ika''' or いか and so...Monika which mixes the two words together = oh, feeling/sensitive/aware squid! hence the joke and Monika pointing out it made no sense in translation (since the game is only released in English)

* WordOfGod: The game's lead developer and writer, Dan Salvato, stated that [[https://kotaku.com/doki-doki-literature-clubs-horror-was-born-from-a-love-1819724999 it was born from his love-hate relationship with anime]]. In particular, he cited the [[{{Iyashikei}} "cute girls doing cute things"]] trope to be a double-edged sword.

* The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work in English but does work in Japanese. Japan is where the game was originally set, but was changed in updates so the setting is vague and could be anywhere. All the characters except Monika still have Japanese names, and considering that the girls seemed to understand the joke, it seems they have some knowledge of the language too. '''Mono''' in English refers to singular thing or output, but in Japanese according to TheOtherWiki mono or 物 means both "thing", and "aware" 哀れ, and was a Heian period expression of surprise (similar to "ah" or "oh"), translating roughly as "pathos", "poignancy", "deep feeling", "sensitivity", or "awareness". The word for squid in Japanese is '''Ika''' or いか and so...Monika = oh, feeling/sensitive/aware squid! hence the joke and Monika pointing out it made no sense in translation (since the game is only released in English)

* The joke about Monika's name and squid doesn't work in English but, from what I've looked up, does work in Japanese. Japan is where the game was originally set, but was changed in updates so the setting is vague and could be anywhere. All the characters except Monika still have Japanese names, and considering that the girls seemed to understand the joke, it seems they have some knowledge of the language too. '''Mono''' in English refers to singular thing or output, but in Japanese mono or 物 means both "thing", and "aware" 哀れ, and was a Heian period expression of surprise (similar to "ah" or "oh"), translating roughly as "pathos", "poignancy", "deep feeling", "sensitivity", or "awareness". The word for squid in Japanese is '''Ika''' or いか and so...Monika = oh, feeling/sensitive/aware squid! hence the joke and Monika pointing out it made no sense in translation (since the game is only released in English)

* WordOfGod: The game's lead developer and writer, Dan Salvato, stated that [[https://kotaku.com/doki-doki-literature-clubs-horror-was-born-from-a-love-1819724999 it was born from his love-hate relationship with anime]]. In particular, he cited the [[{{Iyashikei}} "cute girls doing cute things"]] trope to be a double-edged sword.

* WordOfGod: The game's lead developer and writer, Dan Salvato, stated that [[https://kotaku.com/doki-doki-literature-clubs-horror-was-born-from-a-love-1819724999 it was born from his love-hate relationship with anime]]. In particular, he cited the [[{{Iyashikei}} "cure girls doing cute things"]] trope to be a double-edged sword.