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About the Goddesses: Neptune’s character makes sense, since personality wise, she shares a lot in common with SEGA’s mascot, Sonic The Hedgehog (at least when she’s not in her HDD form). However, when it comes to the others, would you really have imagined the Xbox 360 goddess as a sleepy slacker addicted to MMOs, the Wii goddess as a grouchy flat-chested girl who swears like a sailor, or the PlayStation 3 as a Tsundere who also happens to be a closet cosplayer?
This was the initial reception of the first game. Critics trashed the game for its clunky and broken gameplay that looks like it was still in Obvious Beta (e.g. enemies appearing out of nowhere, having to pay money in order to buy some items and DLC characters, etc.) and how overtly sexual the female playable characters (particularly Vert and Purple Heart) looked, with even fans of the series consider it the weakest of the series, namely its gameplay. In Japan, it was very well-received, to the point that the next game ended up being a Continuity Reboot after the first game endedwith the main CPUs giving up their powers and living their normal lives up until their deaths. Since then, however, many have considered it the best game of the franchise (at least in terms of story).
Out of the 4 CPUs, Vert is a far more controversial character in the anglosphere. While she isn't as popular in Japan (not helped by the system she represents selling poorly there), she still has a fanbase. In the West, she is disliked by some fans for her tendency to pursue the other Candidates (especially Nepgear) without their consent, and sometimes goes to far with it (such as showing Ram and Rom "raunchy" pictures and dressing them up in revealing clothing, all while thinking to herself of seeing "those immature, soft bodies wrapped in those naughty, adult costumes", in VII), boasting about her well-endowed figure in front of and mocking the self-conscious Blanc just to get a rage reaction out of her, and prioritizing her CPU duties in favor of playing her games.
RED. Neptunia fans either love her to the bones, or wish she could be erased from existence altogether. Specifically, fans are split on her Harem Seeker antics, some finding her endearing and playful while others find her annoying and obnoxious, especially in the English dub. It doesn't help that most fans' first impression of her came from Re;birth 2, where her only role is being a Replacement Scrappy for Nisa and she doesn't get any events to flesh her character out or endear her to the players. There are also those who feel that her more light-hearted personality doesn't fit the more serious story of Re;Birth2, especially when she pops up during otherwise serious or heartfelt moments and either keeps talking about "wifies" or is a Captain Obvious.
Vert, especially in the Western fandom. Her fans think she's funny and relatable and like how for being a Shameless Fanservice Girl, she has Hidden Depths, while her detractors think she's a shallow, vapid, self-centeredJerkass whose primary Running Gag, trying to claim the other CPUs' sisters as her own, has long since worn out its welcome and whose "teasing" of Blanc (specifically in regards to her chest size) veers too close into straight-up bullying territory to be funny, especially after The Reveal in VII that Blanc's A-Cup Angst isn't just a harmless joke; she actually suffers from legit body image issues.
Plutia is one of the most divisive characters in the entire series. Her fans like her human form for being cute, kind, friendly, and having several funny moments and her HDD form for being a combination of Good Is Not Soft and Ms. Fanservice (of the Dominatrix variety), while her detractors dislike her for being a lazy Idiot Hero who only became a CPU because the plot said so, a borderline sociopathicbully who abuses the fact that she's The Dreaded by both her enemies and her friends to get away with things that are considerably worse than what the actual villains do, such as sadistically torturing Noire and Nepgear, the former being her childhood friend, and a Fetishized Abuser who is heavily implied to have raped Nepgear (and in the "Good" Ending, also Uni and the twins). This is also the reason why her incarnation in the anime is far better received than in the games, due to actually caring about her friends and only going after the antagonists. The scene from episode 10 where she acts as a Warrior Therapist to get Neptune out of her Heroic BSoD is widely considered one of the best scenes in the anime, even among fans who otherwise dislike Plutia.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Most of the scenes that reference other video game series are this, often existing as quick gags or Event-exclusive conversations that are disconnected from the plot.
Neptunia fans will argue and fight over which of the main four CPUs is the best. Makes sense considering this is Console Wars as a video game after all.
The official translations for the games, mostly those made by Nick Doerr, are often discussed by the fans. Many fans hate how drastically different his translations are from the original script, while others simply don't care and just want to enjoy the memes Doerr brought in.
The localization of Re;birth 1 under IFI. Some liked how faithful the translation was, some thought it was a little TOO literal, and some thought it was bland and missed the rapidfire gag-a-second style of the NISA localizations. Later games tried to remedy this by striking a balance, with most of the rapidfire Woolseyisms applied to Neptune's dialog only.
Anime-adaptation can be differently assessed as a fun bonus for fans of the series, and generic Cliché Storm about magical girls, which will be difficult to understand for most people except for the fans of the original series. Nevertheless, the quality of animation and All-Star Cast still makes this work good enough.
Erica Mendez and Carrie Keranen's interpretations of Noire and Vert respectfully in the English dub. You've either grown to like them, see them as replacement scrappies and you just want Erin Fitzgerald and Tara Platt back in their respective roles, or you don't care because you prefer subs anyway. And while fans have gotten used to Keranen as Vert, Mendez as Noire remains controversial to this day.
Canon Fodder: Pretty much everything to do with the Chaos Forms from NepNep Connect: Chaos Chanpuru, due to its status as a dead game on a console with discontinued service. Fan interpretation of their exact effects on the characters' personalities especially tend to vary quite a lot, even if always veering towards either Darker and Edgier, Hotter and Sexier, or some combination of both.
Creator's Pet: Not too many fans enjoyed Warechu's obsessive crush on Compa (especially in Victory, where Ultradimension Compa was a little girl), yet he's gotten much more screen time than his more popular partner Linda.
Ram and Rom are popular among fanartists, to the point that their art greatly overshadows the other sisters, even Nepgear.
Among Makers, Broccoli and Falcom are popular. Broccoli for her Deadpan Snarker tendencies and refusing to take the cast's BS with a straight face wrapped in a Cat Girl package, and Falcom for her Action Girl qualities and coolness, combined with her resembling Adol or Estelle. Even fans outside of the company's target audience seem to like her.
Nepgya, the silly robotic version of Nepgear is very popular among English-speaking players. Her expressions work great with memes and fans have taken to her enthusiasm and Denser and Wackier take on Nepgear. Not bad for a character who gets less characterization than the DLC Makers.
When it comes to the villains, Linda/Underling is liked for her ineffectual plans, hilarious snark, the occasional Pet the Dog moments, and generally acting as the Only Sane Man of the ASIC. Fans have been baffled why she hasn't made any appearances after her debut while her generally disliked partner has. Speaking of the ASIC, Brave gets a lot of admiration for being by far the most likable and fleshed out of the group, combined as one of the rare male characters who isn't the butt of a joke with a sympathetic motive. His interactions with Uni are a highlight of his arc.
Friendly Fandoms: Due to being illustrated by Tsunako, it's common for fans of Date A Live, Fairy Fencer F, and Engage Kiss to get along with Neptunia fans due to their gorgeous art styles and having the same fantasy/sci-fi premises (though DAL and Engage also features some romance in their stories, with the former being a harem anime). It also helps that one of the characters from Neptunia, Anri, takes heavy inspiration from Origami Tobiichi.
Compa receives the least amount of fanart in Japan compared with the main cast, being met with a collective "meh". Western players, on the other hand, really like Compa for her bubbly personality, hilarious lines in the localization, the occasional hints that she's actually Obfuscating Stupidity, and her occasional Cute and Psycho tendencies. It helps she's voiced by Cristina Vee and drops the desu catchphrase in English. English-speaking players will be quick to displease if Compa doesn't have a presence in some of the spinoffs.
While she's still a controversial character in both sides of the pacific, Plutia is a lot more loved in the West compared to Japan, due to her being cute and friendly with her hint of sadism, while Iris Heart is considered an amusingly sadistic character who, despite her dominating personality, has an occasional soft spot.
Hype Backlash: Both mk2 and Victory, the second and third mainline games respectively, were once well-regarded when they first released, in part due to being Surprisingly Improved Sequels of the first game in terms of gameplay to the point that Victory was considered "the best game in the series", but have fallen out of favor in the fandom, with many instead preferring to play their remakes (Re;Birth2 and ReBirth3), Victory-II, and even the first game. While they still have their fans, the former is considered So Okay, It's Average at best while the latter gets criticized for its story, pacing, and characterization, especially the last part.
I Am Not Shazam: The main character is Neptune, not Neptunia. Ironically, in the Japanese version, her name Neptune is in every title.
Just Here for Godzilla: Many believe that most of the people who buy these games only play them for the yuri. Others that are less fond of the Fanservice instead look past it and play them for the colorful cast of characters and the humor.
Every playable character has some cuteness charm to them, and in Umio's case, it's Ugly Cute. The Candidates in particular get this reaction, thanks to their more childish personalities and insecurities compared to their older sisters.
One of the most prime examples is the kind, caring and of course adorable nurse, Compa. IF even uses that term on her in one game. Also, in one scene, Neptune glomps her from behind claiming she smells like "such a girly girl" and that she feels so cozy when she squeezes her. Later, Warechu (aka Mister Mouse) develops a huge crush on Compa once she's treated his injuries. Finally, there's her cute and gentle voice provided by Cristina Vee who's voiced other video game waifus such as Shantae.
In the Bad Ending of the second game, Nepgear gets a hold of a demonic sword and proceeds to kill all of the other protagonists to power it up (in order to kill the Big Bad), while they all react very seriously to her actions. For one reason or another, some people have taken Nepgear's actions in this ending seriously as well, and made Nepgear into a Scrappy solely because of it. Nowadays this has turned around into a somewhat hilarious example, often making Nepgear a Memetic Badass or a Memetic Psychopath with no shortage of memes about that one time she killed all her friends. Of course, these people often forget that Nepgear didn’t kill these people by herself and had the help of a dangerous evil magic sword that gave her a huge power boost, making her much more powerful than she really is. All of her sacrifices had also consented to it, feeling that it was the only way to stop the Deity of Sin.
Some fans refuse to forgive Plutia and Neptune for their actions in Victory, as the former was a Designated HeroKarma Houdini while the latter became more selfish and irresponsible, even after the anime (Plutia) and the Re;birth trilogy and VII (Neptune) had alleviated their behavior. Even those willing to forgive the former still have bad blood with the latter due to the callous way she treats her younger sister Nepgear (from letting Iris Heart straight-up torture her to leaving her in the Ultra Dimension for a whole decade), and outright enabling Plutia to transform in front of and proceeding to "punish" Uni, Rom and Ram, the latter two having the appearances and personalities of children, while Neptune does nothing about it in the Good Ending.
Portmanteau Ship Name: NepNowa for Neptune and Noire note More specifically, her Verbal TicNowa; UniGear for Uni and NepGear.
Quirky Work: The franchise as a whole is an Eastern RPG series in which moe girls are various video game consolesnote the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, and the scrapped Sega Neptune fighting the Console Wars, as envisioned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart. They get stronger the more market share they earn for the console they represent. The antagonists are based on concepts and internet social phenomena, including software piracy.
So Okay, It's Average: The franchise in general has its positives and flaws being equal to each other, while prioritizing spectacle over substance. While it has a cult following for its cute characters and homages to consoles, the quality-inconsistent gameplay and story aren’t much to write home about, aside from some moments of awesomeness. The character designs are likewise a mixed bag due to fanservice.
The Makers, apart from IF and Compa, are generally considered this. While they do have their fair share of fans, they don't appear outside from their debut games, and have more likely than not been erased from theNeptuniacanon, leaving fans wanting more of them. Many fans were especially disappointed with the removals of Gust and Nisa, as despite both of them being central characters of their debut game, they weren't seen or heard from again since mk2, which was a decade ago, with their only reappearance being in reVerse, and even then, they weren't relevant made to the story, only appearing in text boxes. The likely reasoning behind this is due to the licensing disagreements and issues from Idea Factory and Compile Heart as the rights to the characters are owned by their respective companies (like Gust Corporation and Nippon Ichi Software), leading to them to get Exiled from Continuity. Aside from IF and Compa themselves, the only reason The Gold Third managed to escape this fate was due to them being a central focus to the story as well as not having their names explicitly state the company their based on.
The Oracles minus Histoire get this as well. Despite serving as advisors to their respective nation CPUs (Kei for Noire, Mina for Blanc, and Chika for Vert), they were never seen again since mk2 and it's remake Re;Birth2. It was later revealed in Sisters that they were busy doing their jobs, which left fans disappointed in hopes of seeing Kei, Mina and Chika again only for them to get Demoted to Extra.
Despite being one of the main CPUs, Vert only gets a quarter half of screentime, with said screentime usually being dedicated to her recurring jokes (desire of wanting sisters of her own, having a huge ego regarding her breasts size, and being an MMO-obsessed Gamer Chick to the point of prioritizing her CPU duties just so she can play her games). As a result, some fans see her as a (metaphorical) Flat Character, and even fans of the character believed she would've been better if the games at least tried to flesh out her character rather than repeating the same gags over and over again. Many also believed that she would've been better off with Chika instead of Nepgear note Who she constantly pressures into becoming her sister, much to the latter's refusal or Blanc note Who she constantly enrages with jokes about her small chest had it not been for Chika's aforementioned removal, and even those who liked the idea of Vert's relationship between Blanc and Nepgear would reinterpret said relationships in a more healthier light.
Vindicated by History: After Victory and the Re;birth games were released, the first game quickly gained a reputation as "the worst game in the series". However, it regained some of its favor among fans who are willing to overlook the less than stellar gameplay for the interesting plot. Some even feel that it's a must-play.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Little Girls?: Clueless parents who overlook the Cleavage Windows and the T (M in the case of mk2) rating may think the Neptunia games are good presents for their daughters. The funny thing is the games DO have some messages that are good for girls growing up, like that you shouldn't let petty things and arguments keep you from being friends and that sometimes you have to work hard to achieve what you set out to do. But that doesn't really change the fact that the games are filled with skimpy outfits and a rather considerable amount of swearing and lewd jokes.
