I Don't Care If Its Unfinished Clara's Route Is So Fucking Fun. Beautifully Unhinged. The Opening Cutscene

I don't care if its unfinished Clara's route is so fucking fun. Beautifully unhinged. The opening cutscene is absolutely immaculate, one of my favourite things in the game. The untextured hut, rats skittering everywhere, wonderful. I love piloting a very short child with guns for hands. The rat prophet!! He's back! Wonderful lore like the very important fact that Mark Immortell fucks, and himbo artemy being fully ready to jump in that hole. daniil and artemy are exploring each others bodies in the ring of suok, and apparently are both too stupid to realize that always hanging out in infected houses is a bad idea. You're just a reverse jesus, born anew from the grave and sacrificing the sinners for themselves, 10/10, high camp.

“I could fix her” well actually I like evil women and I’ll let her commit crimes in the name of love

all I need is a forge, and you know, Mother, that forge is me

Here's my full page from @morphogenzine, which is running leftover sales now!

there's 2 fun facts you can infer about AITSF and AINI that isn't spoken about in game if you know enough about japan (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR AITSF)

1. mayumi started her diner likely in the 1980's, before an economic crash happened

when you first meet her (iirc), one of the things she says about her diner is that it was opened 30 years ago, and quote,

this line seems weird if you know nothing about it, but there was a major economic crash in the 1990s that still has lingering effects to this day.

in short, the banks were so over leveraged into the stratosphere that loan interests were crazy low, and everyone was wealthy and partying until the bubble popped. when it did, it was catastrophic, resulting in the 1990s being known as 'the lost decade'. new graduates couldnt find jobs and people struggled a lot. corporations suddenly stopped hiring fresh graduates. the perception of the 'safe salaryman life' began to see its death in this decade, it was painful.

anyway, mayumi pulling through this era really does mean the diner was doing GOOD. like, CRAZY GOOD.

spoilers: and this also means date was likely part of the lost decade. born 1977, it would've been 1995 when he reached 18. he would've graduated into a landscape of poor job opportunities, so being a civil servant (a cop) would've been a safe choice aside from his own possible motivations at the time.

speaking of.

2. date's car is stupid expensive. like, stupid, fucking, shouldn't-even-be-driven expensive. (potentially over 3k usd every 2 years minimum*)

so. in japan, cars are allowed to be on the road after passing an inspection. 車検 shaken, as it is commonly called, occurs every 2 to 3 years depending on the type of car it is. since the Ford Falcon is a common car, it would have to be inspected every 2 years.

all this system is in place to ensure the integrity of the car. in another way, shaken incentivizes people to renew their old cars for newer, more efficient models. the avg lifespan of a car in japan seems to be 12 years, and also, most people living in tokyo actually don't own a personal vehicle.

now, due to how shaken works, it would cost between ¥100,000 (US$747 rn) and ¥200,000 (US$1495) to renew... for newer cars. for older cars, it's more. plus, each time a car inspection fails, it'll cost even more time and money to get that shaken approved.

i've found someone claiming that driving a 1992 Porsche 911 964 RS meant paying ¥400,000 (US$2990 rn). (link) (EDIT: this was written in 2014)

now, best case scenario for Date's car being a '89, his shaken would cost maybe slightly more than ¥400,000 (US$ 2990 at time of writing) every 2 years. also again, this does not take into effect whether his car would actually fail inspection and require a fix or replacement to its parts, leading to even more costs. so yeah, potentially far more than ¥400,000.

but! one thing about his car is that it seems to be modified, seeing as how a certain someone's (plural) vehicle in AINI is also modified. it's probably safe to assume that there's some degree of tinkering going on under ABIS'/MPD rules bending.

so, this means date's vehicle is either bleeding him dry, or is being paid with taxpayer's money, or shaken isn't a thing in uchikoshi's mind. i'd like to believe in the former, because this means date has

been blowing ¥400,000 every 2 years on his stupid fucking car

been blowing ¥¥¥ on cabaret club

blew ¥1,000,000 (US$7,473 rn) on his stupid fucking audio system

his mountain of porno mags???

feel free to draw your own conclusions about the economy of AITSF, the pay of ABIS agents, and his residence:

victor week is the only time i’m alive and boy am i living