Tear Jerker / Fuga: Melodies of Steel

Petals far too young, swept away by the black winds
Stranded on the shores of a sea of silence
For how much longer must we have to wait
For the storms to pass?

— First verse of "Elegy of Winds", sung by the FUKUOKA SCHOOL OF MUSIC & DANCE (Japanese) and Attention Chorale de Jeunes (French) youth choirs

Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a game where twelve lovable children are self-conscripted into enduring the despair of war, death and loss for days on end. While it's still a Little Tail Bronx installment and thus far from an endlessly cynical or bleak experience, its very premise is enough for a few to compare it to the likes of Bokurano.

This is a Moments page, so all spoilers are unmarked per wiki policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• The overall premise of the game: these poor kids have lost nearly everything to a horrible, horrible war, and even if they have a chance to survive and set things right, they have to trade any semblance of peace for fighting back the invading army on their own. It's rather awesome that with the Taranis, they can stand a chance against an army of foes, but ultimately all they want is their homes and their families back. They're scared, they're homesick, they have little-to-no certainty about what's going to happen next, they're horrified by the prospect of having to kill enemy soldiers, and they aren't always confident about whether they can make it through.

• Sacrificing a child to the Soul Cannon, obviously. For as granted a victory as you are in the short-term, not only will you run the risk making things harder for the surviving children down the line, but you'll have permanently lost a member of your crew and any chance to see them develop further throughout the story (until you can do a New Game Plus run, but still). Any potential upgrades to make them stronger in battle? Any interesting contributions or developments they could have within the story? Any new link attacks or events as they grow their relationships with the other characters? Gone. Dead. Just swept away like petals in the wind. It's a testament to how, even if it's by their own volition, the kids truly are Child Soldiers in every regard— up to and including losing their lives on the battlefield.
  • Let's say you've been endeared to one of the kids personality-wise, but either find them underwhelming in battle and/or haven't used their abilities a lot. And even if you probably don't like some of the other kids as much, you've still found them more crucial to your progression or style of fighting. And when you're stuck at a boss and have to pick a kid to use the Soul Cannon, you'll probably realize that in order for the kids who can fight on their own to survive, you might be forced to kill off one of your favorites. Alas, war doesn't play favorites, just who survives and who doesn't.
    • This may not be as uncommon an experience as it sounds; for North American players, Mei was the most sacrificed child, but probably not because these players hated her as a character, or even because they wanted to sacrifice her for the thrill of it. Instead, it's likely because she started off without a lot of offensive or even defensive abilities, indicating that her loss wouldn't affect the kids' overall fighting strength as much.^note Hiroshi Matsuyama himself has theorized as much in this Famitsu interview.
  • And to emphasize it further, any artwork featuring the deceased kids following their sacrifice will have them replaced with a moving black scribble, as if to say how utterly wrong it is for them to have gone so soon. Depending on how many times you sacrificed a child to the Soul Cannon in single playthrough, more empty silhouettes will appear, and the feeling will only get worse. Sean Chiplock in particular has half-jokingly described it as causing the game to come off less like Fuga and more like NieR.
  • Of course, the other characters will be depressed and disheartened depending on who you chose: Mei's death will depress Malt, Hack's will depress Chick, and so on. It's mitigated by how you can make them feel better during intermissions, but still.
  • During an intermission directly after a use of the Soul Cannon, a possession of the kid sacrificed (e.g. Malt's hat or Hack's helmet) will be placed in front of the door to the cannon's chamber. The kid that comes down to check on it will briefly reflect on their fallen comrade as a Due to the Dead, gaining a huge chunk of EXP as a reward.

• Some of the final thoughts a few children have before getting into the Soul Cannon hold saddening implications:
  • Kyle's final thoughts are that "[nobody] will miss [him]" after he dies. After all, the last time he had a group of "friends" back in Paresia, they were mocking him for his father's failures, so why would he fare any better as the Fish out of Water for the gang in Petit Mona? The further into the game you are, however, the more clear it is that Kyle knows deep down that he's wrong, and that the other kids do genuinely care about him despite his sour attitude— and they did before the war even forced them all to work together by necessity. It highlights how reluctant he really is to go through with sacrificing himself, coupled with his denial that he could truly find a place with the other kids.
  • Mei's final thoughts are a call for her mommy and daddy, seemingly first in the form of a question, and then in the form of crying out for them— which may be her calling out for them harder and harder as she gets increasingly scared, possibly hoping for them to save her like two guardian angels before she's forced to use the Soul Cannon.
    • As for an alternative— and far worse— explanation, note that it's shown throughout the game that Mei deeply wishes she could meet her and Malt's parents. She's four, and her understanding of death isn't that much deeper than "going to paradise and not coming back", believing that she could finally meet them if the Taranis just had the power to fly up into the sky. If she's applying that logic to the Soul Cannon, it could be possible her thoughts are instead her realizing that sacrificing herself means that she'll be reunited with her mommy and daddy. Yeesh.
  • While most of the kids' last thoughts before using the Soul Cannon are a sad reflection on how they're about to die (e.g. Kyle, Jin, Mei if the second interpretation is true) or expressing how they're willing to do what has to be done (e.g. Malt, Socks, Chick, Wappa), Hack's last thoughts are him wondering on whether he already did the best that he could. It highlights that for all he tries to push his mischief and bravado on the outside, Hack's still a very sensitive little boy harboring some strong insecurities regarding his usefulness as a member of the crew.
  • Sheena's final thoughts are her simply begging her mother and older sister Nili to forgive her for what she has to do. It hits worse if you decide to sacrifice her after freeing her family from Blutwurst in Chapter 7– after she assured her family that she'd come back to them after helping the others.
  • Jin's final thoughts are him calmly telling his dearly departed mother and father that he'll "see [them] soon"— indicating a wistful yet firm acceptance of what he has to do.
  • Britz's final thoughts when he becomes available for the Soul Cannon during the Final Boss are his regrets that he couldn't get to see his family again, despite all the lengths he already took under the belief it would ensure their safety. The sense of futility is already sad enough, but what makes it hit harder is that Britz's thoughts are similarly worded to the thoughts his father had when he realized the Berman Empire would execute him for treason:
    From Spritz Strudel's journal entry: "My beloved wife, Linza... My beloved children, Britz and Frita... I cannot ask for your forgiveness, but my only intention was to do the right thing. I wish I could have seen you again, just one more time..."
    Britz's last thoughts: Mother… Frita… I wanted to see you one more time…

• The opening of the game. Malt, Mei, Hanna, Boron, Kyle and Socks were just living their lives in the peaceful village of Petit Mona, until suddenly the Berman Army came in and ruined all of it. Their homes are gone, and their families have been taken away to who-knows-where for whatever purpose. All they can do now is go to the cave at the edge of the village and hope there's something that can help them. Thankfully, there is something— the Taranis. Even so, the tank only reactivates after Malt quietly begs and prays for it to move.
  • The "How It All Began" comic adapts this beginning to the game, and just so happens to be even more of a tear-jerker. You get to see the village chief and his wife being captured and tied up like mere animals, and as opposed to a mysterious voice on the radio, it's Hanna's mother that leads the kids to safety at the cost of her own freedom. The next morning after the kids activate the Taranis and make quick work of the Berman forces, they realize that they couldn't save their families, and Malt relents that they're still powerless to do anything about the situation just yet. Of particular note is Mei's crying for her and Malt's grandparents— Hina Kino's acting for her is absolutely heartbreaking.
    Mei: Grandpa… GRANDMA!

• Liberally crossing back and forth into Nightmare Fuel territory, the most emotionally impactful moment for the entire game is widely agreed to be the tutorial where the Soul Cannon is both introduced and absolutely required to be used to progress (mercifully the only time in the game where this is the case, save for missing out on the Golden Ending). The starting six characters, having just begun their trek to save their families, are trapped in a battle with Colonel Pretzel after he's just launched a devastating strike on the Taranis, and the Radio Woman gives each of the kids no choice but to "give up [their] soul" so that everyone else has a chance to live. Yes, you've just known these kids for half an hour or so, and you're already being asked to kill one of them. And unlike later cases in the game where you use the Soul Cannon, a full-on cutscene will be dedicated to the child you choose to power it, all of which twist the knife:
  • Malt is easily motivated to save the others, and if he's chosen to power the cannon, he rushes off to its base without telling the others what he's doing, with Mei and Hanna worried sick. Before entering the chamber, he has one last proclamation that everything'll be worth it if he can save his friends, and enters, powering up the Soul Cannon and setting it to fire. Afterwards, Hanna and Kyle find his hat left behind. Hanna, upon learning what just happened, can't bring herself to tell Mei her big brother is gone forever.
  • If Hanna is chosen, a panicked Mei runs off and Hanna chases after. Malt soon finds Mei, but Hanna has meanwhile found herself at the base of the Soul Cannon. She doesn't seem to entirely understand what the chamber is, but nevertheless takes solace in the feeling that Malt found Mei, and hopes that entering the chamber will help the others. Afterwards, Malt can be heard breathing heavily when searching the Soul Cannon's base for any sign of Hanna, and Mei— who seems to understand that Hanna is indeed gone, unlike the scenarios with other characters— notes that the room still has Hanna's smell. Kyle takes her loss the hardest and angrily questions Malt on if what he feared is true, while Malt reflects on how he couldn't protect one of his oldest friends.
  • Kyle, despite his claim that nobody will miss him when he's gone, still chooses to protect Hanna and not "let anyone make her cry". Following the Soul Cannon blast and learning what happened, Hanna ends up being the first one to mourn him, and the kids aren't any less depressed as a result. Boron and Malt are similarly shown to be distressed by Kyle's loss.
  • Boron's case has a moment where he takes in how quiet the Soul Cannon's chamber is, which makes him hungry. As much as this sounds like Boron just being… well, Boron at first glance, it's not hard to interpret it as his way of lamenting that he's alone in this situation. Afterwards, Mei asks what happened to him, and Malt laments on how he couldn't prevent Boron from sacrificing himself.
    • Kyle's immediate assumptions just before and after Boron's sacrifice is that he was just hiding in the pantry and stuffing himself. Any player who's gotten attached to these kids in this short time may respond by cringing in discomfort.
  • Socks' motivations for sacrificing himself are more logical than instinctive: he understands that the chamber is a weapon, but is nevertheless brave enough to "test" it, viewing it as the only way. Afterwards, just like with Boron, Mei asks what happened to him, and Malt likewise laments on how he couldn't prevent Socks from sacrificing himself.
  • Predictably, little Mei isn't motivated to save the others by the whole ordeal; she's just crying for the loud and terrifying battle to stop. And that's just as well, since her death is by far the absolute worst that this tutorial can offer. Upon being selected, she runs to the cannon's base out of fear, not understanding what it is and getting a sudden feeling that she "won't be afraid anymore" if she hides in the Soul Cannon chamber, thinking everything will turn out okay by the time Malt comes looking for her… and then we get the Soul Cannon blast. Congratulations. You just tricked a four-year-old toddler into killing herself.
    • As shown by how, as mentioned above, North American players are stated to have sacrificed her the most frequently out of all the children, you can however rationalize that Mei was the best choice— perhaps she would be dead weight in terms of winning the war against the Berman, both with her lack of narrative agency and compared to the more powerful stats the other characters started with. Conversely, perhaps it wasn't merely a brutally pragmatic standpoint like the aforementioned that motivated you, but rather an idea that killing Mei early would spare her from all the horrors of war, especially since she didn't know she was going to her death and instead spent her last moments hopeful that Malt would save her. Doesn't make it any less sad, though.
    • Whatever your reasoning was, Malt's reaction to Mei's death will definitely make you feel horrible if you don't already. In the case of Hanna, Boron, Kyle or Socks' deaths, he laments a depressed "I couldn't protect him/her" over the loss of his friend, still expressing a small degree of collectedness despite being too depressed to fight on. But when learning that he's lost his baby sister, the one person he felt absolutely needed his protection the most? Malt audibly breaks down and cries out her name in vain.
      Malt: No, this can't be real… Mei… Mei!!!
      Hanna: Malt…
  • But regardless of who you pick, what makes this whole situation worse is that this initial tutorial gives vague and indirect answers on what the Soul Cannon exactly does, just that it's fueled by the "resolve" of one of the kids. It turns what would already be a harsh gameplay mechanic into a slower, more painfully suspenseful event, and it's not unexpected that some players going in blind are going to hope something along the lines of, "A game like this wouldn't actually let you kill off a main character, let alone a child, this early on, right? Surely, there's a twist where they'll… oh," as the realization hits. The narrator hammers in the final nail:
    The children couldn't comprehend everything the voice told them. But one thing was painfully clear… a precious friend was lost forever. Nothing else seemed to matter…
    • It's worth noting that some players who went in blind but were still savvy enough to realize what the Soul Cannon does have indeed attempted to back out of this tutorial through futilely spamming the "cancel" function over and over again. It's a fairly common sight you'll come across in Let's Play videos and streams of the game.
  • The song that plays following the kid's sacrifice and into the following Hopeless Boss Fight, "Elegy of Winds", is a melancholic choir piece and a tear-jerker in its own right. While it indicates that the children aren't entirely disheartened and will continue on despite their loss, it nevertheless stresses the despair of war and the utter annihilation of innocence.

• The cherry on top following the infamous tutorial— once your sacrifice is done, you're forced to watch the rest of the poor kids give up and possibly die to a Non-Standard Game Over in the form of more Berman tanks, refusing to listen to the radio woman's push to fight and only motivated to defend themselves. Granted, this example of the Soul Cannon's use is reversed since it's the tutorial, but it perfectly threw the Player Punch that it was meant to— as the comments below this pre-release video can attest to, just watching one of the children sacrifice themselves was more than enough to scare off many, many players from being willing to use the Soul Cannon even once, no matter how many times they would lose progress with a Game Over. Hell, if the sequel's overview trailer is any indication, at least one person had to take a shower after playing through the whole tutorial.

• Following the Soul Cannon tutorial, even after time is reset to just before the last intermission, Malt still has a small amount of awareness regarding what happened beforehand, with Hanna noticing that he has tears on his face as if he woke up from a bad dream. Malt brushes it off for the others' sake (mostly when Mei asks him if he's sad), but internally, the feelings he carried over from the previous timeline are still lingering.

• It can be satisfying at first to beat Colonel Pretzel normally following the Soul Cannon tutorial, but immediately as the children begin celebrating, Hanna notices that Pretzel likely didn't survive their fight. Any confusion is promptly right cut through by this one line from Malt:
  Malt: Guys… We just… killed someone…
  • This is the moment where the kids realize the full gravity of their situation— in the midst of total war, either you die or your enemies do. And as stated by the Radio Woman, you need to make sure you do whatever it takes to ensure that you and the people you care about don't die. The narration, repeating some wording from the Soul Cannon tutorial, has this to say:
    The children couldn't comprehend everything the voice said, but this much was clear… If they hesitated, everyone would die. This horrifying reality fell heavily on their shoulders…

• On that note, Pretzel's last words aren't the horror he would've expressed towards the Soul Cannon's power, but rather imply a solemn respect for his opponents:
  Pretzel: What an incredible machine! Are those children really operating it? Haha… would you look at glorious colonel Pretzel, beaten by mere children… (tank finally explodes)
  • This is especially worse the further you play through the game: while Pretzel was ultimately loyal to the Berman Empire and perfectly willing to follow orders to invade Petit Mona despite his reservations about it, it's shown that he was the absolute least villainous of the Berman officers the children face, even more so than his own daughter Flam Kish. As stated in his journal entries, he aimed to be professional about his job as a soldier, being disturbed by how increasingly cruel Hax became in more recent years, along with how Baum and Stollen were complicit with treating war like a game and raining wanton destruction over defenseless Gasco civilians. Unlike any of the other soldiers we see in the game, Pretzel also cared about the post-war reconstruction of Gasco and possibly wanted to aid in it… and yet he's the first antagonist fated to die, regardless of if you used the Soul Cannon or not.

• A common complaint about the game is how the overall story doesn't change that much even as a result of using the Soul Cannon, just that some scenes are omitted or filled in with other characters. There are however a couple exceptions:
  • If you used the Soul Cannon to defeat Pretzel again after the tutorial (and thus rendering the chance you were given to try again pointless), one of the kids will wonder aloud about whether the figure of light is the ghost of their fallen comrade, with specific dialogue depending on who you've sacrificed. For example, if one of the Marizpan siblings died, the other will express how they miss them. If Hanna died, Kyle will express guilt for it. If Socks died, Boron will regret that he didn't take the chance to talk to him. The aftermaths of Kyle and Boron's deaths have a slightly more humorous twist to them (Malt guessing Kyle came back for Hanna; Kyle guessing Boron came back for the food), but even then it's undercut when you remember that these kids are still trying to find a way to rationalize the loss of their friend.
  • If you sacrificed Sheena before Chapter 7, you'll get two additional cutscenes:
    • In lieu of Sheena being around to inform the crew of how she remembers the Berman prisoner camp being somewhere in the area, the narrator will tell of how the children come across a different Felineko escapee, mortally wounded thanks to the Berman Army. On his dying breath, he wishes that the prisoners at the camp get to go free someday. The children, heartbroken, immediately set their sights on liberating the camp.
    • The newly-recruited Britz will be informed of her death by Malt and Hanna, and he'll wonder briefly if she'd be alive if he didn't help her escape… before realizing she'd be screwed either way given what Blutwurst had planned for her.

• At Chapter 11's end, you run into a single Berman tank. The tank in question is piloted by Britz himself, saying that he is given orders to stop the Taranis. The betrayal is such a big shock that the children are in a Depressed state throughout the fight, and even the Soul Cannon is disabled.
  • Despite his past suspicions, Jin doesn't make any sort of "I told you so" proclamation when seeing that Britz has returned to the Berman Army. He's just as confused and unhappy about having to fight him as all the other kids are:
    Jin: Why's it gotta be like this, dammit!?
  • Britz throughout the fight is constantly on the verge of a mental breakdown. His dialogue has him desperately trying to get the children— or rather, himself— to fight seriously, and his emotions are wildly swinging back and forth. Whenever he reaches his "Confusion" state, he passes his turn and starts screaming in despair over fighting his friends. He even heals the Taranis out of remorse a few times.
  • The fact that, as opposed to how the other enemies' special attacks are given unique names (e.g. "Bee Sting", "Red Order", "Persecution"), all of Britz's attacks are named purely after whatever emotion he's going through, and even his strongest attack is just called "Despair". That is how much pain he's going through during this fight.
  • The fight music itself is "Elegy of Winds" instead of the usual "Flower on the Trails" or even a fully original track like "Flames of Delusion". Given how its previous usage was for the aftermath of the Soul Cannon tutorial and Flam Kish's death scene, its use here gives a not-so-subtle warning about what might happen to Britz next…

• After beating him, Britz reveals that the Berman message he found in the previous chapter said that his mother and sister are under their imprisonment. The ultimatum given is that he is to return to active service along with intel on the Taranis or his family's lives are forfeit. Depending on whether or not your connection with Britz was high enough for him to reveal what was in his pendant, two different outcomes will occur once you defeat him:
  • If you didn't get through to Britz in time, he becomes certain that his family is going to be executed for his failure to defeat the Taranis. He opens the hatch of his tank to take one last look at the Taranis, takes out a bomb from his bag, closes his eyes, and tells his friends that he's meant to stop them… while asking for his mother to forgive him. Just as the other kids realize in horror what he's about to do, and as Hanna and Boron beg for him to stop, the bomb is detonated, and Britz and his tank are no more. The kids are shocked and horrified, Malt screams Britz's name in despair, and Sheena blames herself for not being able to help him:
    Sheena: I'm so sorry, Britz… I wanted to save you…
    • It's incredibly likely that Britz knew he didn't stand a chance against the Taranis and its crew, and believed that they wouldn't hesitate to take him out for being a traitor. And especially considering how he'd have to live with the guilt that he couldn't protect his mother and sister, he went to the battle knowing full well that he would die, and wanted to make sure of it.
    • His warning to Flam in Chapter 9 was that the cruelty of the Berman Army would eventually lead her life to ruin just as it did his. It comes full circle here, as their manipulations and trickery are what led him to his death.
    • The worst part? His family had already been saved alongside the parents of the other children. His family was safe all along and he wasn't aware of it— and if you didn't get through to him by Chapter 10, you weren't, either. Damn you, Hax!
    • The tragedy becomes even worse when you find out that his survival is one of the two requirements for the Golden Ending. Even if you played well enough to avoid using the Soul Cannon once, another child now has to sacrifice his or her own life to stop the Final Boss.
  • If you do get through to him and tell him his family is safe, however, he expresses grief towards being tricked, slams his hand on his tank in frustration, and thinks that his betrayal doesn't merit his return to the Taranis. He tells the others to go on without him, all while clutching a bleeding arm. Thankfully, the kids are more than happy to forgive him.

• The more you think about it, Jeanne's story is in itself kind of sad. Per the archives revealed in New Game Plus, she was created thousands of years before to help humanity fight back against how the Juno information system and Titano-Machina war machines had a stranglehold on their civilization's fate. She and the Taranis were able to successfully defeat the Vanargand and show that there was indeed a slight chance of humanity retaking the reins of their destiny… but then she was sealed away by Juno, and woke up to find that Juno had outright erased humanity, making all their efforts to save their species completely amount to nothing. It's no wonder that Jeanne's "Radio" half has so adamantly wanted to fight the Vanargand again as a way to strike back at Juno by proxy— she has literally nothing left to look forward to. She was created to give humanity a choice again, and yet from her perspective she likely feels she has no choice at all.
  • For added clarity, there's this exchange from just before her two halves recombine into one:
    Girl of Light ("White Jeanne"): You will soon disappear… Once the Vanargand is defeated, you… No, the humans we wanted to show our strength to are already gone from this world…
    The Radio Woman ("Black Jeanne"): (sighs in realization)
  • What the above exchange shows is that not only does Jeanne accept that she'll either be dead or left with nothing after the Taranis defeats the Vanargand again, but that in doing so, she wants to symbolically impress her human creators with her strength. It's an easy read that she's distraught and possibly even hates herself over her previous failure to end Juno's "domination" over humanity, even if there truly was no way for her to do so on her own.
  • It's possible that Jeanne also outright misses humanity— as she was discovering the Caninu and Felineko, her initial hope was that the original humans had returned from outer space. It's clear that a part of her hoped that humanity was still saved from being slaves to the power of Juno, even if she was somewhat impressed by how their two successor species were able to prosper in their own way.
  • Despite how Jeanne indirectly proposes that the incident that split her in two happened as a side-effect of the Taranis being sealed away, it can also be surmised that it wasn't purely due to any technical mishaps, but rather due to Jeanne's own regret and frustration consuming her, especially since she would have been left alone with those feelings for centuries prior to the game's events. By the time the Taranis gained a new crew and the Girl of Light manifested, she was already too engulfed in her desire for vengeance for them to simply return to their original form.
  • To a lesser extent, it's clear that the completed Jeanne regrets her "Radio" half's incessant preying on the kids' fears, as shown by this line when fighting the Final Boss:
    Jeanne: You mustn't use the Soul Cannon… Anything but that accursed flame!

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Car c'est la que nous chantons depuis des âges^note For this is the song we've been singing for ages
Ignorant l'hiver et la foudre des armes^note Ignoring the winter and thunder of arms
Dorés souvenirs de nos innoncences^note The golden memories of our innocence
Aujourd'hui envolées si loin^note Today have been flown so far

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