Video Game / K.O.U. Mod

The best education about space stuff comes from rapping!

"Ah- Guests! Welcome to the observatory! May I be of assistance?"

—K.O.U., Space Boy

Kepler Observation Unit, AKA the K.O.U. Mod for short, is a Friday Night Funkin' Game Mod that pits Boyfriend against the titular android Kepler Observation Unit (K.O.U.), a character made by mod creator Glitchdroid.

Boyfriend and Girlfriend sneak into K.O.U.'s observatory to get away from Girlfriend's parents. It doesn't take long for K.O.U. to meet them. He's rather friendly to the duo, and just wants to teach them about space and the stars - it's in his code, after all!

In March 12th, 2022, the second Week was released. It adds three new songs and a new character: G-SU.

Song List (sung by)

Week 1

1. "Space Boy" (K.O.U.)
2. "Cosmic" (K.O.U.)
3. "K.O.U." (K.O.U.)

Week 2

1. "Twinkle" (K.O.U.)
2. "Lockdown" (G-SU)
3. "Quasar" (G-SU vs. K.O.U.)

This mod provides examples of:

• A.I.-cronym:
  • K.O.U. stands for Kepler Observation Unit. He observes space.
  • G-SU stands for Government Surveillance/Security Unit. He arrests K.O.U. in the second week for breaching classified information, so we can assume he works for the government.
• Antagonist Title: "Antagonist" is stretching it, but the song "K.O.U." shares the same name with K.O.U. himself. Also, his week is titled "Kepler Observation Unit" - his full name.
• Canon Welding: K.O.U. is officially friends with Yukichi, Spacey, and A.C. Void. Together, they make up the Space Gang.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: As seen in this animatic, K.O.U. used to have a Dark and Troubled Past where his creator sent him into space to never return, not wanting the android boy to see him die to an illness. K.O.U. also used to have an Interspecies Romance with a Xyn named Erebus. In this mod, K.O.U. is G-SU’s love interest, and there is no implication that K.O.U. has a Dark and Troubled Past at all. Not only that, Erebus is not involved in K.O.U.'s story anymore. His name isn't even Erebus anymore.
• Educational Song: All of the songs in Week 1 are apparently this, but there aren't any official lyrics aside from Simlish. This eventually bites K.O.U. in the back as all of the information are supposed to be confidential, and thus, aren’t supposed to be taught in the first place.
• Gratuitous Japanese: During "Cosmic", K.O.U. says "1, 2, 3, woo!" in Japanese. Kou is also a common name in Japan.
• Keet: K.O.U, in contrast to G-SU. He is hyperactive, likes to talk about his discoveries despite it being confidential, and he's kind, if him reaching out to G-SU on the end of the second week is any indication.
• Musical Nod: "Quasar" from Week 2 has a few references to "Cosmic" and "K.O.U." from Week 1.
• Non-Standard Character Design: K.O.U. and G-SU are drawn in an Animesque style, while Boyfriend and Girlfriend are still in the normal cartoonish chibi-like art style. Due to both being androids in-universe, they are probably designed like that deliberately.
• Promoted to Playable: In Week 2, you get to play as K.O.U. during Quasar.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: The two units seen in the mod pass as humans, and even act like one too (although G-SU denies this, acting more cold and distant in contrast to K.O.U.). Boyfriend even mistook K.O.U. as a human at first.
• Rocket Boots: Not shown in the gameplay proper, but K.O.U. is shown with boosters on his feet in the original cover of the mod.
• Shout-Out: According to Word of God, K.O.U.'s jumpsuit is based on those from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: In Week 2, K.O.U. gets arrested for revealing classified information to Boyfriend and Girlfriend. What plays during the dialogue scenes? The rather jolly Breakfast, A.K.A. the music that plays in the pause menu of the vanilla game and this mod.
• The Stoic: G-SU, in contrast to K.O.U. According to Word of God, he was conditioned by humans to think that he and the other androids are unable to feel emotion.
• Technician Versus Performer: In this case, K.O.U.'s emotional way of working and Keet personality (performer) VS G-SU's stoic and practical personality (technician). This conflict can be seen best at the charting of the songs G-SU sings. The chart on G-SU's side has more jacks than your side, and that is because G-SU's side is charted based on how his mouth moves, not caring about how fun it is to play, because it’s practical. In contrast, Boyfriend and K.O.U.'s charts have more streams ^note While the notes are quick, they spread around the lanes, unlike jacks. In other words, the opposite of jacks stairs, etc. that are less taxing and robotic by design.