History NightmareFuel / Arcaea

* Vita's world brings upon imagery of the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe complete with an oppressive galactic government that's ''literally'' called the Imperium. It's obviously not as gorish as ''40k'', but there are multiple planetary forces fighting, Vita and some other children take control of a planet-destroying KillSat and the government can easily annihilate anyone who knew too much so long as they know about you, an all-too-familiar haunting sight for anyone who knows anything about that tabletop game.

*** Out of the side characters who chose to be encased, there are people heavily implied to be the likes of Mir or Shirahime. Even if they broke down briefly after experiencing an unpleasant revelation, they still pulled themselves together rather quickly, only to have all of their CharacterDevelopment in their side stories undone because of that one person who just can't. And Kou, Ayu and Vita [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse weren't even mentioned]]. Not even by title. '''[[NothingIsScarier Just where in the hell are they??]]'''

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by the world of Arcaea. To put short, it's just depressing and nightmarish. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the truth]]. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea. To put shortly, her world ended and she (presumably) is unable to or can't stop it, the Arcaea shards that flock her are nothing but people suffering and crying alone and she's bearing and reeling over the SurvivorGuilt from her world's end. In the end, all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes, cry and never think again; at least Tairitsu sees similar things and is still capable of fighting back. The way in-game script describes it is nothing short of torture.

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by the world of Arcaea. To put short, it's just depressing and nightmarish. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the truth]]. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea. To put shortly, her world ended for whatever reason, she sees nothing but darkness and unpleasant memories in a similar vein as what Tairitsu saw, and all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes, cry and never think again. The way in-game script describes it is nothing short of torture. Oh and she still has to bear the SurvivorGuilt over seemingly surviving what ended her world...

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by the world of Arcaea. To put short, it's just depressing and nightmarish. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the truth]]. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea. To put shortly, her world ended for whatever reason, she sees nothing but darkness and unpleasant memories in a similar vein as what Tairitsu saw, and all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes, cry and never think again. Oh and she still has to bear the SurvivorGuilt over seemingly surviving what ended her world...

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by Arcaea for whatever reason. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the truth]]. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea, and it's depressing and nightmarish. To put shortly, her world ended for whatever reason, she sees nothing but darkness and unpleasant memories in a similar vein as what Tairitsu saw, and all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes, cry and never think again. Oh and she still has to bear the SurvivorGuilt over seemingly surviving what ended her world...

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by Arcaea for whatever reason. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no GoMadFromTheRevelation. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea, and it's depressing and nightmarish. To put shortly, her world ended for whatever reason, she sees nothing but darkness and unpleasant memories in a similar vein as what Tairitsu saw, and all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes, cry and never think again. Oh and she still has to bear the SurvivorGuilt over seemingly surviving what ended her world...

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by Arcaea for whatever reason. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no GoMadFromTheRevelation. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea, and it's not a pleasant sight. To put shortly, her world ended for whatever reason, she sees nothing but darkness and unpleasant memories in a similar vein as what Tairitsu saw, and all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes, cry and never think again. Oh and she still has to bear the SurvivorGuilt over seemingly surviving what ended her world...

* Maya's story is a horrible portrayal of what happens if you get the short end of the stick by Arcaea for whatever reason. There's no lore drop, no conflict, no GoMadFromTheRevelation. It's just a girl who just happened to have a very bad time in Arcaea, and it's not a pleasant sight. To put shortly, her world ended for whatever reason, she sees nothing but darkness and unpleasant memories in a similar vein as what Tairitsu saw, and all she wanted to do is to run away, close her eyes and cry. Oh and she still has to bear the SurvivorGuilt over seemingly surviving what ended her world...

*** Lethe, Saya and Lagrange didn't choose to let themselves frozen, but Saya and Lagrange are left wandering for an eternity without any positive outcome or purpose (Meanwhile Lethe was still minding her own business.) It's a wonder how did they haven't became insane already...

* Hikari's Fatalis variant might seem innocent enough, but a close look reveals that something is very wrong. Unlike Tairitsu's Tempest variant, it's not a outright threatening DeathGlare, but her expression almost looks empty and soulless, as if she could kill someone without even batting an eye. And she makes ''well'' on that threat as seen above.

** The Terminal Song, "Testify". Its difficulty? '''''Beyond 12'''''. You read it right, and it's just as bad as it sounds. The screen will pulsate and become blurry on increasingly intense degrees, as if Hikari was deciding if she wants to kill Tairitsu in one final strike, and finally the lane itself breaks apart whether you cleared it, or not, then the screen fades. It's also not even called an Anomaly event, but a "Fatal Choice", and for good reason. Enter...
** The most shocking view in the entire game; '''Hikari impaling Tairitsu by the chest with a sword she wished upon''', the former staring at nowhere blankly and the latter just staring at it in shock. The implication is that Hikari was killing Tairitsu out of self defense and on reflexes alone. Unlike Saya's case above, only the picture itself is BloodlessCarnage, but the game itself goes out of its way to describe the murder Hikari committed.

*** Out of the side characters who chose to be encased, you have people like Mir or Shirahime. Even if they broke down briefly after experiencing an unpleasant revelation, they still pulled themselves together rather quickly, only to have all of their CharacterDevelopment in their side stories undone because of that one person who just can't. And then there's another whole group of characters such as Kou, Ayu and Vita that [[NothingIsScarier weren't even mentioned]]. '''Just where in the hell are they??'''

** The unlock song "Testify". Its difficulty? '''''Beyond 12'''''. You read it right, and it's just as bad as it sounds. The screen will pulsate and become blurry on increasingly intense degrees, as if Hikari was deciding if she wants to kill Tairitsu in one final strike, and finally the lane itself breaks apart whether you cleared it, or not, then the screen fades. It's also not even called an Anomaly event, but a "Fatal Choice", and for good reason. Enter...

*** Out of the side characters who chose to be encased, you have people like Kou or Eto and Luna. These characters are so hardy and carefree despite the insanity-inducing conditions of their surroundings, that even the idea of these characters breaking down and rendering themselves braindead are horrifying and virtually unimaginable. In a different vein, those like Mir or Shirahime break down briefly after experiencing an unpleasant revelation but they pull themselves together rather quickly, only to have all of their CharacterDevelopment in their side stories undone because of that one person who just can't.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[EmptyShell They]] chose to be frozen, and to [[FateWorseThanDeath stare eternally into this world of the lost]]. And if they are thinking at all... it is of a very distant past."]]

[[caption-width-right:350: "[[EmptyShell They]] chose to be frozen, and to
[[FateWorseThanDeath stare eternally into this world of the lost]]. And if they are thinking at all... it is of a very distant past."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[EmptyShell They]] chose to be frozen, and to

[[caption-width-right:350:At least [[EmptyShell Alice]] [[FateWorseThanDeath no longer needs to to worry about fruitlessly trying to make her way back to her brother, or anything for that matter]]...right?]]

** The ending proper - Hikari [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascends Into A Higher Plane Of Existence]], but leaves Tairitsu dead. Gone was the innocent and naive [[TheCutie sweetheart]], and in her place a nihilistic, empty goddess who finds no joy in her newfound state, remaining as broken as she is after the tragedy. As for the side characters? Most of them ''chose to be [[FateWorseThanDeath frozen alive in glass]] and rendering themselves [[EmptyShell empty husks of their former selves]]'' knowing that escape or liberation is impossible at this point as Hikari watches believing that she had granted them happiness, with Alice being shown as one of the victims with a massive shard going through her heart (pictured). What doesn't help is this has apparently been going on for '''1000 years''', all because a guilt-ridden Hikari can't get over becoming a murderer.

*** Out of the side characters who chose to be encased, you have people like ''Kou'', who never gets any sort of BreakTheCutie moments in her story and handles herself fairly well even in the insanity-inducing conditions of Arcaea. Even the idea of her breaking down and rendering herself braindead is horrifying and virtually unimaginable. In a different vein, those like Mir and Shirahime did break down after some breaking revelation, but at least they pull themselves together rather quickly, only to have all of their CharacterDevelopment in their side stories undone because of that one person who just can't.
*** Lethe, Saya and Lagrange didn't choose to let themselves frozen, but Saya and Lagrange are left wandering for an eternity without any positive outcome or purpose. It's a wonder how did they haven't became insane already...

*** Out of the side characters who chose to be encased, you have people like ''Kou'', who never gets any sort of BreakTheCutie moments in her story and handles herself fairly well even in the insanity-inducing conditions of Arcaea. Even the idea of her breaking down and rendering herself braindead is horrifying and virtually unimaginable. In a different vein, those like Mir and Alice did break down after some breaking revelation, but at least they pull themselves together rather quickly, only to have all of their CharacterDevelopment in their side stories undone because of that one person who just can't.

* Generally, Arcaea is a ''very'' fucked-up setting that can easily drive someone insane. Imagine ending up in a world where you have no memories about what and who you are, all alone with the chance of finding company next to nil because of how expansive and empty it is. This alone is bad enough and can easily eat away your sanity, but god forbid if you ''really'' got to find out what you actually are. Chances are it's not pleasant and you're here because whatever happened to your previous life is something so awful that you don't want to think about it. And if you dug a little bit further and find out how meaningless and incoherent it is? You're going to ''break'', like what Lagrange experienced. It's an absolute marvel that some of the characters like Kou or Ayu can pull themselves together and never break down to begin with, despite the obviously hostile conditions.

* Generally, Arcaea is a ''very'' fucked-up setting that can easily drive someone insane. Imagine ending up in a world where you have no memories about what and who you are, all alone with the chance of finding company next to nil because of how expansive and empty it is. This alone is bad enough and can easily drive people into a breakdown, but god forbid if you ''really'' got to find out. Chances are it's not pleasant and you're here because whatever happened to your previous life is something so awful that you don't want to think about it. And if you dug a little bit further and find out how meaningless and incoherent it is? You're going to ''break'', like what Lagrange experienced. It's an absolute marvel that some of the characters like Kou or Ayu can pull themselves together and never break down to begin with, despite the obviously hostile conditions.

* Generally, Arcaea is a ''very'' fucked-up setting that can easily drive someone insane. Imagine ending up in a world where you have no memories about what and who you are, all alone with the chance of finding company next to nil because of how expansive and empty it is. This alone is bad enough and can easily drive people into a breakdown, but god forbid if you ''really'' got to find out. Chances are it's not pleasant and you're here because whatever happened to your previous life is something so awful that you don't want to think about it. And if you dug a little bit further and realize the sheer meaninglessness of this world? You're going to ''break'', like what Lagrange experienced. It's an absolute marvel that some of the characters like Kou or Ayu can pull themselves together and never break down to begin with, despite the obviously hostile conditions.

* Generally, Arcaea is a ''very'' fucked-up setting that can easily drive someone insane. Imagine ending up in a world where you have no memories about what and who you are, all alone with the chance of finding company next to nil because of how expansive and empty it is. This alone is bad enough and can easily drive even the most stoic of people into a breakdown (including people like Lagrange), but god forbid if you ''really'' got to find out. Chances are it's not pleasant and you're here because whatever happened to your previous life is something so awful that you don't want to think about it. It's an absolute marvel that some of the characters like Kou or Ayu can pull themselves together and never break down to begin with, despite the obviously hostile conditions.

* Generally, Arcaea is a ''very'' fucked-up setting that can easily drive someone insane. Imagine ending up in a world where you have no memories about what and who you are, all alone with the chance of finding company next to nil because of how expansive and empty it is. This alone is bad enough and can easily drive even the most stoic of people into a breakdown (including people like Lagrange), but god forbid if you ''really'' got to find out. Chances are it's not pleasant and you're here because whatever happened to your previous life is something so awful that you don't want to think about it. It's an absolute marvel that some of the characters can pull themselves together despite the obviously hostile conditions.

* Generally, Arcaea is a ''very'' fucked-up setting that can easily drive someone insane. Imagine ending up in a world where you have no memories about what and who you are, all alone with the chance of finding company next to nil because of how expansive and empty it is. This alone is bad enough and can easily drive even the most stoic of people into a breakdown (including people like Lagrange), but god forbid if you ''really'' got to find out. Chances are it's not pleasant and you're here because whatever happened to your previous life is something so awful that you don't want to think about it.