Compared to the current story, this version of the game's plot was much darker in comparison, focusing more on what led to Aloe's graduation and the toll it's taken on her. Though it initially begins on the same note of Aloe preparing to re-enter the entertainment industry (albeit with her somewhat worse for wear mentally), things take a significantly different turn after Week 3, whereupon she and Shishiro Botan discover each others' pasts — and in turn, uncover a massive rabbit hole of death, destruction, and betrayal at the hands of Daddy Dearest and his many associates.
Story tropes exclusive to the earlier versions include:
- Adaptation Expansion: As the original Mano Aloe never establish too much about her interests or other traits for her short time in hololive, this game and supplementary material shares these elements about HoloFunk's Aloe, including a significant backstory that shape the lore of the mod.
- Adaptational Intelligence: The chief difference between Kenji and Boyfriend aside from the former being an angel and the latter now being fictional is that Boyfriend is a Fearless Fool and The Unintelligible to strangers; Kenji is not.
- Adaptational Nationality: The Dearests have no defined nationality in the base game and are generally assumed to be from an Anglo-centric country in fan material. Here, they're native Japanese. Lampshaded in that the Dearest mob is mostly The Irish Mob, but the recent Klingon Promotion has caused yakuza members to sign on as well.
- Adaptational Species Change: Pico's backstory isn't much different in this world except for Botan inadvertently creating the person he is now by teaching him to use firearms, but in keeping with the Urban Fantasy setting, he's been upgraded from a human to a Fallen Angel. The Nene from his continuity has similar treatment in addition to receiving a full name (N. Grounds) and becoming an obsessed fan of Nene Momosuzu.
- Adaptational Villainy: Even at his most heinous, Daddy Dearest's plans for his victims were never particularly elegant in the vanilla game or other mods, often opting to fire and forget as in the case of Salty's Sunday Night or even the Time Crash in Times & Tribulations—Vs. Omega. Here, he constantly plays an active role in making Aloe's backstory a living hell, and it's stated her being on the surface is the only reason it's taking so long for him to make an in-game appearance.
- All There in the Manual: The story was originally told through Twitter updates, mirrored Discord posts, and unplayable literature. 5.0.0 attempted to introduce cutscenes to tell the general story for the weeks, but the lore as a whole was still discussed in this manner until being Cut Short.
- Alternate Continuity: The game's universe is for all intents and purposes a version of the world in hololive's greater lore as interpreted by the Denser and Wackier tone of Friday Night Funkin'... except for when the Dearests are involved, which is surprisingly a lot. The extended universe additionally reveals the overall plot also contains the original stories of the Yakuza series, the original Friday Night Funkin', and Pico's School, modified ever so slightly to fit the Urban Fantasy setting, Kenji and Hana's more sensible personalities, and the presence of the Holomems. Moreover, it turns out the mod's story is influenced by and takes place after all of the events of those works.
- Anthropic Principle: One of the main reasons the crossover elements of 5.0 did not transfer to 6.0 is that the entire story hinged on the Dearests forcing Aloe to graduate; with that removed, there is no reason for any of the other lore characters to have narrative relevance outside of non-interacting novelty tidbits.
- Backstory Horror: The cutesy artstyle and lighthearted main story does wonders (aside from the lore being All There in the Manual) to hide the fact that Aloe's backstory is filled with enough trauma to give Benjamin a run for his money. In fact, her story could be described as an inversion of Ben's - rather than being forced to go into entertainment by abusive parents, Aloe eventually started getting forced out by someone who is little more than a third party to her, her friends and family being separated or killed each time they make another move.
- Canon Character All Along: Double subverted. The mod's version of Boyfriend was originally played up as the Boyfriend subject to Adaptation Species Change and the setting of his lore changed accordingly. Then it was revealed "Boyfriend" is just a video game character and the person in the real world with his attire is an entirely separate individual named Kenji that just so happened to fall into similar circumstances as Boyfriend, which he is aware of and dresses accordingly. Then it was revealed his world's version of FNF does not correspond to the events of the real game, but Kenji's own life does, making him the one true Boyfriend all along.
- Canon Foreigner: Though the Dearests (including Girlfriend, who is now known as Hana) and Pico remain largely unchanged from the base game, Boyfriend is replaced with a Sailor Earth archetype based on Kanata named Kenji. Though Kenji coincidentally shares many of Boyfriend's traits up to and including dating Hana against Daddy Dearest's approval, he is not the basis for the now-fictional Boyfriend unlike the mod's version of the Dearests. He dresses the part anyways because he knows about all of this, but changes back into his angel attire when it's time to get serious. Oh, and it's actually a subversion, since Pico and the Tankmen aren't a part of the fictional game.
- Canon Welding: Pico's firearm expertise that allowed him to survive the events of Pico's School came from Botan, who taught him as a kid while babysitting as a joke. Likewise, her knowledge of Pico's songs from the original Friday Night Funkin' were taught by the man himself.
- Changing of the Guard: The main gimmick of the 5.0 story's treatment of Boyfriend, aka Kenji Tensei. He's made it big, Hana's run off to live with him, and they've successfully outran the Dearests, and as a result has no need for further adventures. With him befriending Aloe, she isn't striking out on her own so as much as she is taking up Kenji's previous role to resume the fight against the Dearests, while the former heroes of vanilla FNF take a backseat and occasionally watch the action.
- Chekhov's Gun: Aloe's heart necklace introduced prior to 5.0 turns out to be the thing connecting her route, Week 3, and The Adventures of Detective Fubuki together as the heirloom stolen from Daddy Dearest that sets in motion the latter two events.
- Clueless Aesop: Although one of the Central Themes is that you shouldn't bottle up your problems and be afraid to ask for help, the story is essentially an idealized version of a real-world controversy involving social stigmas. To put it lightly, those can make that first step to solving a problem much, much more complicated than what the in-game dialogue makes it out to be.
- Contrived Coincidence: Somehow, through dumb luck, this world's Daddy Dearest wound up with his daughter dating a blue-haired college dropout and aspiring singer, exactly the same way a game he shut down years ago depicted with their likenesses. Kenji's human disguise, which resembles an evolved version of Boyfriend's outfit, heavily lampshades this.
- Costume Evolution: Kenji's human disguise is a version of Boyfriend's outfit refreshed for the urban life of HoloFunk's Japan, showing how while he isn't literally the Boyfriend, he fits the title nicely.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Botan briefly mentions in Week 3 that Cover could've helped bail Aloe out of her family's conflict. The repeated implications that a lot of the talents' strengths and powers from their bios are played straight in this universe suggests this to be the Understatement of the century.
- Crapsaccharine World: Considering over half of the story-relevant characters were in hiding or outrunning some terrible fatenote , 5.0's universe must have been this given its attachment to the Sugar Bowl that is hololive proper.
- Crossover Relatives: Amane Kanata and Tokoyami Towa are revealed in sidestories and background details to be the first cousin and younger sister of Boyfriend and Girlfriend respectively. The sudden association is justified by both of the latter characters being rewritten into the street-smart Japanese angel and devil Kenji Tensei and Hana Kurayami, who publicly operate with false identities to hide themselves from Girlfriend/Hana's parents.
- Cut Short: Canceled abruptly in March 2022. This unfortunately leaves several plot threads unresolved, such as the overarching conflict, what Aloe's brother is doing with the Dearests, and the connection between the mod and the story of vanilla FNF.
- Dark Secret: Botan's past as a hitman is this, with the plot of Week 4 being Aloe's attempt to get Coco's help in preventing Daddy Dearest from revealing it as punishment for Botan refusing to kill Aloe.
- Deconstruction Fic: Because Kenji and Hana are smarter than the original Boyfriend and Girlfriend, references to vanilla are made in the context of how an actual person would react to its events in their places. The short answer: very poorly, and with a much stronger ambition to actually do something about it besides singing. As for the involvement of the hololive talents and adjacent characters, it doesn't hesitate to show off how something like the idol industry has a huge dark side littered with illegal activity and broken dreams, which no amount of fantasy can cover up.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Being a character who was originally the man himself, Kenji initially didn't have much setting him apart from Boyfriend besides being an angel. Then several details rolled in showing the former to be a cut above the latter as well as possessing a transformation characteristic of many Friday Night Funkin' modded characters that sheds almost all of Boyfriend's original design motifs in favor of an entirely new set of clothes.
- Duels Decide Everything: Averted and/or Justified for the most part, as most of the opponents are close associates related to hololive who would have less interest in having any sort of conflict with Aloe/Fubuki. Haachama and Rushia are more harmful than the others, but are fought in a rap battle regardless.
- In Week 1, Calli overheard Aloe practicing in the Tutorial Week and decided to challenge her to a rap battle.
- In Week 2, Gura and Ame are just passing the time while taking cover from the storm. Meanwhile Haachama is Haachama; she challenges Aloe to a rap battle to "prepare them" for the meal. She does try to forego the rules after losing, only stopping when interupted by Daddy Dearest.
- In Week 3, Botan has no interest in harming Aloe despite being forced into a life-threatening blackmail to kill her. Instead, she just wants to have a friendly rap battle to pass the time and reconnect.
- In Week 4, Coco wants to help Aloe, but she isn't allowed to give away said help for free due to being the Chairman of the Kiryu Clan, so to work around the mandatory dept, she simply asks for Aloe to have a rap battle as the price.
- In Week 5, Calli wants vengeance against Santa Claus, who she mistakes Ina for, so Aloe tries to keep her from doing anything drastic by engaging her in a rap battle. Kiara, while also trying to convince Calli of her mistake, plays along to also have the excuse of being in close proximity of her.
- In the bonus song "Killer Scream", Rushia decides to play along singing with the protagonists under the belief it'd be more fun than thrashing them for intruding, while making it abundantly clear:Rushia: Screw up, and your done.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Daddy Dearest has to remind Haachama that she's a chef first, not a game hunter.
- Fallen Angel: Pico is now someone who got kicked out of heaven due to the events of Pico's School, although the Broad Strokes of his character remain unchanged.
- Fearless Fool: Subverted with Kenji and Hana. Unlike the original Boyfriend and Girlfriend, a point is made that while they may be slightly Book Dumb, they have average intelligence otherwise, with Kenji's bravado likely stemming from living in an Urban Fantasy more than anything else.
- Fusion Fic: An Alternate Continuity of hololive lore that rewrites the cast of Friday Night Funkin' to fit in as well, with other VTuber agencies and the Yakuza series sprinkled in for good measure (it's heavily implied Kiryu Kazuma taught "Hands" to Kiryu Coco, and later material states that he also taught her everything else there is to know about running a yakuza clan -- specifically, the original Kiryu Clan.)
- Glamour Failure: The telltale sign Kenji isn't the Boyfriend nor a human is his hair being naturally silver with royal blue accents, exactly how Kanata's hair is colored (though while the blue in Kanata's hair is underneath a layer of silver, Kenji's resembles frosted tips.)
- Hitman with a Heart:
- More-so than the character she's model-swapped with. Like Pico, Shishiro Botan took up Daddy Dearest's request to hunt down her target until she realized just who she's targeting and decides to end the deal and performing a rap battle with her instead.
- Aloe's adoptive father is a hitman that Daddy Dearest captured and manipulated into taking out the previous holder of the title. When he found out the mark left behind kids, he immediately tossed everything aside to escape with them and raise them as his own.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: According to the mod's lore, Fubuki decided to become a detective after playing some Persona 4, whose story is based in detective work. Subverted, however, in that it tends to be Mio that cracks the case despite the Oozora Police subsidizing the gig in the former's name.
- Kayfabe: Discussed in-universe, with Nene unable to confess to Aloe because she thinks her job would make her true emotions sound facetious.
- Klingon Promotion: The Daddy Dearest as we know him assumed the title in this universe after conning a captive hitman into killing the previous. Unfortunately for him, the guy left behind kids that the hitman simply couldn't afford to abandon. One of which is a certain pink-haired girl...
- Knight of Cerebus: Every mention of Daddy Dearest in the lore is never Played for Laughs, and is always associated with someone's life or aspirations being placed in immediate danger.
- Kudzu Plot: Relative to other FNF mods, the lore of HoloFunk is perhaps one of the most complex stories in the community (if not the most complex outright), with most characters directly connected to Aloe or the vanilla FNF cast having their fair share of loose ends looking to be resolved later. Fubuki's route exists largely in part to take a breather from it all, especially since the bulk of Aloe's story stops drawing on hololive for reference past names, personalities, and appearances below the surface of the main weeks. Moreover, all of the supplementary lore is written with the intent of not being required to understand anything actually mentioned in-game, though it remains helpful for worldbuilding and seeing character interactions.
- Legacy Character:
- The name "Daddy Dearest" is demoted to a title for current chairman of the Dearest yakuza gang. The one in the seat is still the one we know from Friday Night Funkin', though. It's the guy before him where things start getting messy for our heroes.
- Likewise, as Boyfriend is now a fictional character, Kenji is simply the self-styled inheritor of his legacy as the aspiring singer dating Daddy Dearest's daughter.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The 5.0 extended universe has the record for biggest interconnected crossover in the FNF community, clocking in at 11 different IPs and FNF mods (including vanilla FNF and hololive itself) having a part to play in the lore. Notes from before its dissolution also indicate the final draft was supposed to take that number even higher.
- Mundanger: With Haachama as the primary exception, all of the active threats in the mod's story that actually get away with causing harm involve realistic dangers such as traditional weaponry (e.g. guns, modern explosives), flawed government systems, and gang violence, despite the Urban Fantasy setting allowing supernatural abilities and characters to roam freely.
- Narrative Filigree: There's a lot, and we mean a lot of worldbuilding and character details that don't actually show up to gameplay or the plot that shipped with 5.0. Before being Cut Short, the amount of lore given to the mod would've made its story one of if not the most intricate universes in the FNF community.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- Downplayed with Aloe, who is a Dearest in this this timeline but not by blood. The previous Daddy Dearest (who the one we know killed to take the mantle) was her biological father, and the current Daddy Dearest finding out she's alive and kicking under a rival faction leads to the rest of her Backstory Horror.
- Kenji, the closest thing the mod's continuity gets to Boyfriend's replacement, is Kanata's cousin.
- Towa is front-and-center in a family photo featuring the Dearests, which suggests she's part of the Kurayami family, which was confirmed via Word of God.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Zig-zagged. While Aloe has left hololive in this universe like the original, the circumstances behind her graduation was change from a serious harrasment campaign and doxxing to a more out-there — but still dark and tragic — plotline where a yakuza-styled Dearest clan threatened her to leave, due to being one of the remaining Mano Kai they want gone from the music industry. That being said, there's still heavy elements of symbolism in the narrative that stick out like sore thumbs to those in the know, though how much of it is intentional is anyone's guess.
- Sad Clown: Underneath Aloe's smug grin is a person who has lost everything: her home, her familial figures, and her hopes and dreams, all because of Daddy Dearest trying to tie up a loose end. At the beginning of the story, Nene is the only person she has to rely on, and they reunite entirely though chance alone.
- Shared Universe: Week 5 confirms other VTuber agencies like Nijisanji and the VOMS Project along with their members as they are depicted in-universe exist in this world as well.
- Ship Sinking: The explicit reveal of Botan formerly being Pico's babysitter was an attempt to derail a ship between the two that at the time was gradually emerging from viewers unaware of hololive, by virtue of adding in an implicit age gap and leverage in-universe that would deter from a healthy relationshipnote . However, room for a platonic or cooperative work relationship remains, per Keaton's terms, and this is alluded to in 5.0's dialogue for Week 3 when Botan indirectly mentions a grown-up Pico is also one of her work partners from further back.
- Show Within a Show: The original Friday Night Funkin' is an old Playstation 1 game in this universe whose developers were quickly conned out of the industry after making the Dearests the game's antagonists. Kenji, while not Boyfriend himself, is a huge fan of him and spares no expense copying his looks after realizing they have the exact same backstories.
- Stealth Sequel: Context clues related to Kenji and Hana's background heavily imply HoloFunk is really a "new generation" fan sequel to vanilla FNF, just with the entire setting moved to an altered version of Japan. The extended universe is also this to Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Pico's School, mentioning what the heroes and villains of those works have been up to after their respective conclusions.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Boyfriend interacting with other characters in the mod's lore is in fact a completely different person named Kenji, with the original becoming a fictional character in-universe. Justified, as his attire deliberately plays into this as both tribute and to spite Daddy Dearest.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Kenji's halo is circular, compared to the pointed star that his cousin Kanata has. Incidentally, it also doubles as where Boyfriend's trademark prohibition symbol goes (by means of a crossbar in the inner ring) when Kenji's not using his human disguise.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Kenji has the appearance of a Sailor Earth character based on Kanata if not an outright Spear Counterpart to her, hinting that the two are actually related to each other. Despite the strong resemblance, however, they aren't siblings, but cousins, making it particularly uncanny.
- Urban Fantasy: Set in a version of modern Japan with a demonic underworld, an angelic heaven, and all the other fantastical elements of every hololive talent in between running around for real.
- Wham Shot: The picture in Week 3's dialogue showing Daddy Dearest's rogues gallery has two confidants that aren't the original henchmen: Cyclops and an unidentified hooded character. However, careful observation shows they are physically the inverse of Aloe's succubus traits: symmetrical horns instead of asymmetrical, and cream yellow hair with a hint of pink instead of pink with cream. Supplementary material reveals Aloe has a missing twin brother; from this, it's not very difficult to have some idea of where he went.
