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YMMV / The Black Heart

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  • Complete Monster:
    • Prince Janos of the Other World is an aspiring Evil Overlord who desires nothing but total domination over others. He launches gruesome wars of conquest against the peaceful wishes of his father the king, then kills him to usurp his throne and absorb the powers of his heart. When the guardian spirit Final steals the heart to protect it from Janos, he frames Final for the murder and manipulates his daughter Ananzi to earn her place as his lieutenant by destroying Final for him. When Ananzi discovers the truth after weakening Final, Janos kills her without remorse before destroying Final and acquiring ultimate power.
    • Peketo is an Enfant Terrible serial killer who went on a murderous spree during his lifetime just for the selfish desire to experience again the red of the Other World, ruining the lives of the families of his victims in the process. While is true that he was abused by his dad, the game pulls no punches that despite being abused, Peketo is still a selfish unreasonable brat who doesn't show any regrets for unjustly killing innocent people during his rampage and who feels entitled to have the Black Heart to himself, not caring about the true purpose and meaning of the powerful heart.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Peketo, he's one of the most popular characters of the game and commonly depicted in fan-art for his cutesy design and morbidly hilarious Enfant Terrible behavior.
    • And to a lesser extent, Noroko is also talked about frequently and has fan-art dedicated to her, for being one of the more tragic and sympathetic characters, alongside her moveset infamously loaded with Jump Scares that provided old-time M.U.G.E.N creators with ample fodder for Screamer Pranks.
  • Fridge Horror: Considering Peketo's backstory and his abusive father, one can only wonder what happened to his mother.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: While almost assuredly unintentional, Animus being a gender-ambiguous Death Seeker might hit a little close to home for some people now...
  • Narm: Peketo is undoubtedly a serial-killing Creepy Child, but one can't help but wonder how he and for that matter, the psychiatrist in Peketo's intro is able to decapitate people with that teeny tiny scalpel.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Hashi crosses it when he betrays Malen's cause and allows Final to have one of his seeds to be corrupted with enough power to cover the planet in vegetation and wipe out humanity. It doesn't end well for him, as Bako ultimately stops him before he can carry it out.
    • The cult leader crosses it when he kills Noroko (with it being heavily suggested that he raped her beforehand) and traps her soul inside a doll to make sure she couldn't go to the afterlife.
    • Peketo crossed it at the beginning of his story, going on a murder spree to fuel his red obsession.
    • Janos crosses it when it's revealed that he killed his father and successfully kills Ananzi when she learns the truth about her grandfather's demise.
  • Nausea Fuel: The Prison stage. What is that thing walking beneath the grated floor anyway?!?
  • Strawman Has a Point: Hashi's anti-human views might seem extreme at first, but if the human background characters in the other fighters' stories are an indication of what humanity is like in this setting, then he may very well have a right to feel the way he does.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: With the exception of Noroko (who's still pretty disturbing herself), pretty much all the characters are messed up villains and the game canonically ends with Janos, the resident Big Bad successfully gaining ultimate power without getting any comeuppance.
  • The Woobie: Noroko is the biggest one, as she was brutally killed and implied to have been raped by monks and her soul was trapped in a doll using her blood in an ancient ritual, only wanting the heart to use it to purge her soul. Fortunately for her, Final took pity of her and shared a portion so she could finally end her suffering.
    • Animus, being locked inside an iron maiden for 400 years and being unable to die really did a number on its sanity.

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