Accidental Innuendo: Whenever Aoba uses Scrap on someone, he'll say "I'm going inside you." Although It Makes Sense in Context since Aoba is literally projecting himself into the depths of someone else's mind, it's understandable why players would do a double take whenever they see this line.
Alternative Character Interpretation: Does Mink deserve to be pushed off a cliff or is he a Jerkass Woobie who knows what he is doing is bad? One interpretation, of growing popularity, states that Mink's actions can be somewhat excused based on the fact that he wasn't aware he was doing these things to an actual human being. One can argue that Mink believes Aoba was a demon pretending to be human, which makes sense given Mink's main source of information was prisoners who were more familiar with Aoba's alternate persona, who was cruel, sadistic, and abuses his powersfor his own amusement. Mink's resulting actions could then be seen as him attempting to control the Necessary Evil he believes he'll need to fight Toue, and when Desire really does surface, he comes to believe Aoba is possessed rather then an actual demon in disguise, which is why he shifts to trying to be kinder to Aoba. This is backed up in Mink's bad ending in re:connect, where he outright states in his insane grief that he believes Aoba is possessed and that cutting off Aoba's head will save him.
Mink is the most controversial Nitro+CHiRAL love interest to date. Either he's the worst Fetishized Abuser ever, an irredeemable piece of shit and the worst love interest for Aoba out of all his prospect boyfriends, or he's a Jerkass Woobie who's deeply damaged due to his Dark and Troubled Past and his being more sympathetic in re:connect is enough to forgive his deeds, or at least understand where he came from.
Virus and Trip. Some adore them, others are downright disgusted by them.
It's also worth noting that the above examples being contenders for the trope are considered a double standard, even in the context of the game. Specifically, Mink is reviled by many fans for his rape and abuse of Aoba, but Virus and Trip not only get a pass, but are wildly popular and are many people's favorite characters. This might be because Virus and Trip are unapologetically evil and abusive (and catering to non-con related kinks without any excuses), while Mink is a Troubled Abuser and lots of players have (for very understandable reasons) problems with a trope that involves having sympathy for a character who treats his/her love interest badly, even if their Dark and Troubled Pastis a good one.
Just shortly after the trailers of the anime were released, many fans were excited to see the whole thing animated, but there are some who were afraid that it was going to turn out bad just like what happened with Togainu no Chi's Animated Adaptation. This has since died down, as the anime has turned out to be - even if still flawed - more or less decent and an improvement over what was done with Togainu no Chi. But everyone still agreed that the visual novel is far more superior.
The fan-made English translation patch. While the fans who aren't proficient in Japanese are pleased to be able to finally understand the game, many remain angry on how the translation was completely mangled (dialogue and context-wise) in Mink's route, and this applies for both games. To add, this was done deliberately to alter his characterization, his development, and how Aoba supposedly perceives him throughout the story, which would then affect how the players see Mink and his relationship with Aoba as a whole. Even some of the fans who don't like Mink aren't pleased since they wanted to form a proper opinion on Mink based on an unbiased translation, never mind the fact that it's unprofessional to alter a translation out of personal prejudice. These are someexamplesthat prove just how much the translation of his routes was messed up on purpose.
Crack Pairing: Mizuki/Sei is a pretty popular ship despite them never appearing in a scene together, not even in re:code, where Mizuki gets upgraded to a love interest for Aoba.
Crossover Ship: Aoba is sometimes paired with Super Sonico, probably due to both being characters of Cash Cow Franchises made by nitro+ and has anime adaptations being aired at the same year. Some part of the fandom likes to make crossovers of them due to their 'large assets' (see Memetic Mutation).
Mizuki, despite appearing in very few scenes and not having his own route (up until re:code), is one of the more popular Nitro+CHiRAL supporting characters.
Sei qualifies as well, given his very nature as a Walking Spoiler for the visual novel, and his connection to Aoba.
Takahashi, the handsome assistant of Toue is also loved by fans despite being an anime-only character.
Kou, the Bishounen member of Benishigure, has a lot of recognition from the fandom, despite his only known trait being that he loves dogs.
Theo, Noiz's younger brother who appears in Drama CD Vol. 4, exploded in popularity almost immediately after his official design was revealed.
Epileptic Trees: There is a popular fan theory that stated Aoba is a Composite Character of the previousNitro+CHiRALprotagonists. This can be seen from Aoba's traits, such as having Konoe's voice-related abilities, being sickly like Youji, and being a result of an experiment like Akira. Additionally, some fans even called out DMMD as a Composite Series to the other Nitro+CHiRAL games.
"Koujack" for Koujaku, based on his initial introduction (where Usui's voice announces it as 'KOU-JACK!').
Sometimes it's mutated into "Cow-jack" or even "Samurai Koujack".
On the topic of crossover nicknames, Aoba and/or Virus are sometimes called "Sonic'" for their spiky hair or in Aoba's case, his blue color scheme. It doesn't help that one of the zones in the first Sonic game have Scrap & Brain in their names.
Also, "Tarzan" for Mink in his good ending incarnation.
Similar to "Koujack" in the above example, "Mizook" for Mizuki.
Mink himself also gained the nickname "Cinnamon" due to the simple fact that the smell of cinnamon is his Signature Scent in-game.
"Moruba/Morphba", for the Aoba in Mizuki's route in re:code.
"Sly Blue" for Aoba's Superpowered Evil Side, although Aoba used the name when he was a Rhymer back in his teenage years. Sometimes, fans call him "Desire" instead, since he is referred as such in-game to set him (the Id) apart from "Reason" (Aoba's default personality, and the Ego of the three), and "Restraint" (Ren, who serves as the Superego).
"The Dicksquad" for the main characters as a group.
He Really Can Act: One of the visual novel's several high points is its voice acting, and for good reason.
Not many may be familiar with Atsushi Kisaichi and the only role they remember him for may be Meta Knight. However, it is in DRAMAtical Murder that he gets to show his range with how the way he speaks and sounds changes between Aoba's default personality and his alternate one, and he can successfully convey all kinds of emotions and moods with his voice. Fans are particularly wowed by how he's able to make the listener feel his terror, fear, and agony in the bad endings.
Before DRAMAtical Murder, and even before given, Masatomo Nakazawa is known mostly for his roles in R-18 works, which still allowed him to show his range; but it's undoubtedly his performance as Clear that endeared him to many fans and tugged at their heartstrings, what with a good chunk of Clear's route being filled with surprisingly emotional moments.
Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Everyone. While Aoba is the de factoFandom Bicycle of the cast, everyone else is also shipped with each other by the fans, particularly the Western fans.
Mizuki to an extent, due to not having a route in the original PC version in spite of his status as an Ensemble Dark Horse; although things changed for him after re:code was released.
Moral Event Horizon: Toue's plans to brainwash the entirety of Midorijima is already beyond detestable. But one surefire way to make it clear how far he was willing to go to accomplish that goal is when he committed genocide... by burning down Mink's homeland in an attempt to extract from them a secret about mind control that never even existed.
Ren is one cuddly and fluffy puppy that everyone both in and out-universe wholeheartedly adores.
Toddler Aoba is an innocent ball of sunshine who you just want to dote on.
Koujaku's Adorkable personality can fall into this trope, since despite having experience in dating and having slept with several other women in the past, he utterly stumbles and fumbles in an endearing way after he and Aoba become an item.
Many fans have pointed out when Toue says how he'd like to find a way to dramatically murder someone, it was in no way elaborated on. The thought-to-be Title Drop was so incongruous, fans have made fun of it.
All the Off-Model shots in the anime, especially in the third episode.
Everything about the English dub. Most of the lines are completely changed from the original dialogue. As a result, they end up sounding completely off and hilarious in scenes that are meant to be serious, with the utterly stilted voice acting contributing to this. The dialogue also sounds painfully awkward even in the comedic scenes. Overall, the dub is generally perceived to be either So Bad, It's Good, or just plain bad.
The official localization of the game takes some rather questionable liberties with the translation, especially where Koujaku's route is concerned, given that whenever their friendship is brought up, they would be referred to as "bros", even up to the point when they're about to consummate their newfound feelings... which just ends up completely killing the mood every time the term is brought up in the text.
Narm Charm: Ren's deep voice is unsettling and hilarious at first, but as one gets used to his voice, one might find that it helps him come across as even more adorable.
Never Live It Down: The fact that Aoba wears yellow socks will forever remain a running joke among the fandom from then to now due to how unfashionable it is and out of place it looks compared to the rest of his wardrobe.
Polished Port: The Playstation Vita port. The contents that replaced the sexual content and violence are really good. Aside from Mizuki finally getting his own route (in which is good and solid), some re:connect content got its way in this port, additionally, the gay contents got more and more Heartwarming.
Questionable Casting: In the English dub, while some of the voices of the cast are tolerable at best, everyone was nothing short of appalled at Aoba's voice. It doesn't help that he's the protagonist, and thus has most of the lines in the anime.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Mink is more of a Base-Breaking Character than The Scrappy, but nonetheless, both re:connect and the drama CD have improved some of the fans' opinion of him, since many had changed their opinion from hating him to loving him, or at the very least, understand and appreciate his character a bit more. He's still a controversial character, and a part of the fandom continues to outwardly show their hate towards him; however, it is not as vitriolic compared to when the first game was released.
So Okay, It's Average: The fandom's general consensus on the anime, since while it still has a lot of shortcomings and isn't what anyone would call an overall good adaptation, it still is a huge step forward from A-1 Pictures' adaptation of Togainu no Chi. Just don't mention the English dub. Ever.
Song Association: Expect to find one comment related to this visual novel on any GOATBED video.
Virus and Trip's respective sex scenes, in both the first game and the sequel, especially' in the sequel, simply for the fact that it features bestiality.
Most of the other bad endings can also be hard to sit through without wincing or grimacing at least once, what with the player witnessing numerous horrible things happening to Aoba, such as rape, torture, murder, and/or a combination of any the three.
The fan patch is generally well-liked and appreciated, though it still gets its fair share of criticism for how blatantly biased it is against Mink, especially in re:connect. In the later years, however, some of the player base have taken to cutting it a bit more slack since it still proves to be far more loyal to the source text than JAST's localization ever is.
WTH, Costuming Department?: A lot of the jokes within the fandom involve poking fun of the clothes that the characters are wearing, with Virus and Trip's outfits in a flashback of re:connect being the biggest targets. Considering how they're wearing a vest-like sweater with spiderweb-like holes at the chest area over a dress shirt and a hoodie, it's no wonder why.
The Woobie: It wouldn't be a Nitro+CHiRAL game without the main cast having their own share of emotional baggages.
Aoba is an Artificial Human created by Toue, but he was cast aside because he was still-born, albeit only temporarily. However, this was enough time for Tae, who was working for Toue then, to take him away and drop him off at a church, where he spent the next few years until he was adopted by Naine and Haruka. For some time, they were one happy family... until Aoba's adoptive parents suddenly disappeared one day without any explanation. This sent Aoba into a deep state of grief, and in time, it got bad enough that he went into an extremely destructive and rebellious phase in his teenage years... before a terrible accident stripped him of his memories.
Koujaku suffered plenty simply because he was the bastard child of a yakuza boss, who abused his mother and threatened her life to keep Koujaku in line when the latter refused to comply with his father's wishes. On top of this, due to tradition, he ends up getting tattooed... by Ryuuhou, who was helping Toue experiment with various ways to induce mind control, one of them being tattoos. The pain from the inking process made Koujaku temporarily lose his mind, which resulted in the entire yakuza household getting killed, including his own mother. The experience had him nearly Driven to Suicide, and although he ultimately didn't go through with it, the story shows that part of Koujaku's psyche is still left damaged from everything that happened.
Noiz was born without the capability of feeling pain, which made him have great difficulty adjusting to a normal social life or even understanding why others react badly to getting hurt. As a result, his parents locked him in a room where he had no other company and was given only the bare necessities. At one point, he even heard his parents say that it would have been better if their son had never been born, which spurred Noiz into fleeing to Japan. Even then, he still remains isolated from everyone else and believes that it's a dog-eat-dog world where kindness is never offered without an ulterior motive.
There are plenty of reasons why Mink is the most controversial character among the fandom, but none of them downplay how horrifying his past is. In the past, he and his people lived peacefully and kept to themselves... until one day, Toue slaughtered them all. Why? Because Toue believed that Mink's people know how to control people's minds via manipulation of a person's scent, and he never bothered to confirm whether it was true or not (to which it wasn't) before he either killed them or captured them and experimented on them until they died. Mink was the Sole Survivor of what was essentially a genocide, and he managed to escape and started plotting to kill Toue, with the intention of killing himself afterwards to join his family and clansmen in the afterlife.
Clear was one of the many Alpha units created by Toue to subdue people's consciousness via music, but he was thrown away due to being defective. The man who was in charge of disposal at the time decided to reprogram him and raised him as his own son, although he eventually passed away after a few years. To add to this, Clear was told to always cover his face so as to not get detected by Toue or his cronies. Because of both this and the fact that he's an android, Clear is left in doubt about his identity and his humanity.
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