History VideoGame / TheTwentyFifthWard

* BloodFromEveryOrfice: Matchmaker "case" “02: quiet cradle introduces a suicide drug called Bloody High. Tsuki and Osato see its effects up-close when the guy they're tasked with assassinating, Shonai, injects himself with it, soon spurting blood from his nose, eyes, and mouth.

* AmbiguousSituation: #04: digital man does not clarify which [[spoiler:Sumio (Kodai or Mondo)]] we are playing as, at least at first. He's one of the few characters identified in dialogue labels by their first name, leaving this person's identity up to interpretation. [[spoiler:Kurumizawa refers to him as "Agent Kodai", which would make him the same detective--and member of the terrorist group the Mikumo Boys--from the first game, but having gone through the journey depicted in ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain''.]]

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:*6: YUKI brings back the setting of Hinashiro City to the Kill the Past series, which hadn't been mentioned since Human Entertainment's ''Moonlight Syndrome'' in 1997]].

** "Killing the past". Matchmaker protagonist Tsuki ends his storyline by [[spoiler:killing Shigino, quitting his job at the RA Bureau, and departs the 25th Ward...but first, he decides to get some Mont Blanc, his favorite dessert that he's decided to get back to again]]. Placebo ends with [[spoiler:Tokio leaving the 25th Ward before its destruction. *06: YUKI serves as a DistantEpilogue, showing that Tokio is still alive and kicking in Hinashiro City, where he gives the new protagonist, high schooler Yuki Shimohira, some much needed advice.]]

** [[spoiler:YUKI features one to ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'', of all things, in the form of Rina and Slash. Rina is a personality that Yuki Shimohira took into herself, and Slash is Tokio's hacker contact who died and was taken into Tokio's self. These cases are remarkably similar to Harman Smith's multiple personalities in ''[=killer7=]'', though how they manifest in YUKI is different.]]

* {{Expy}}: Engawa from "02: quiet cradle is one for Enzawa, the Kamui fanatic that Tokio spoke with in the original game. Both are people who admire and worship Kamui, both threaten to kill the protagonists who encounter them, and both are offed by assassins. Unlike Enzawa, Engawa is presumably the leader of the Kamui Fan Club (Pending)[[note]]Yes, [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer the (Pending) is actually in the group name]].[[/note]] that Tsuki and Osato are led to, pitting the two assassins against several people. [[DidNotThinkThisThrough Unfortunately for the fan club]], it turns out that threatening to offer two dead ''assassins'' to Kamui is not a good idea for a bunch of non-assassins to actually do. Tsuki and Osato respond by mocking the fan club, then killing all of them except for a [[OhCrap terrified]] Engawa. Maejima then arrives to take Engawa, extracting information from his brain before cutting him loose, [[FateWorseThanDeath having severely lost much brain function in the ordeal.]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Taken to an absurd level. [[spoiler:The reason why "Goddess" (the murder victim from #00/#01) was killed by the deliverymen, as Tokio finds after *01: NAGARE? Because ''she didn't separate her flammable and non-flammable trash correctly''. And she wasn't their first victim offed for such bizarre reasoning.]]

* ArcNumber: 25, naturally. The setting is Ward 25, various magazines and websites have "25" or "Quarter" in them, the 25-sided polyhedron in the lower-right corner of the screen [[spoiler:who is actually the BigBad's current [[LivingPolyhedron form]]]], etc.

Has a [[Characters/TheTwentyFifthWard Characters page]] in need of [[Administrivia/NeedsWikiMagicLove Wiki Magic Love]].

* AlienGeometries: The abandoned Thousand Hotel. It's described as the floors being alive and shifting, but in practice, it's more like this trope in that the exit can't be found physically but only through taking a certain path.
* AmbiguousSituation: #04: digital man does not clarify which [[spoiler:Sumio (Kodai or Mondo)]] we are playing as. He's one of the few characters identified in dialogue labels by their first name, leaving this person's identity up to interpretation.

ememberTheNewGuy: [[spoiler:Matchmaker protagonist Tsuki was actually a member of the Republic task force that appeared in [[VideoGame/TheSilverCase the original game]], recruited by Daigo Natsume after the former was arrested and his syndicate was officially cracked down upon. The reason Tsuki didn't appear in "lunatics" or "decoyman" was because he'd been injured during training, and was thus off Republic's active team at the time they were effectively destroyed.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: The HotBlooded Kuroyanagi (who also wears red lipstick) and her {{Foil}} partner Shiroyabu (who also wears a blue necktie). More obviously is Aoyama (lit. "blue mountain") and Akama (lit. "red gate")

* RememberTheNewGuy: [[spoiler:Matchmaker protagonist Tsuki was actually a member of the Republic task force that appeared in [[VideoGame/TheSilverCase the original game]], recruited by Daigo Natsume after the former was arrested and his syndicate was officially cracked down upon. The reason Tsuki didn't appear in "lunatics" or "decoyman" was because he'd been injured during training, and was thus off Republic's active team at the time they were effectively destroyed.]]

** The Moon arises as a recurring symbol in this game, per Grasshopper tradition. Matchmaker's protagonist is named Tsuki (meaning "moon"), the key appraiser Okamoto speaks through a round window with multiple round holes (visually similar to the Moon and its many craters), and every single chapter ends with a show of a colored glowing Moon.

* SuddenlyVoiced: A version that has no voice actors whatsoever. [[spoiler:Uehara begins talking in the true ending, and from what he says, it's either a pretty big deal or [[TrollingCreator the developers]] poking fun at the player for actually getting this far. He declares himself Kamui Uehara, plans to change the world (and knowing it is an expensive undertaking), and asks the player to...loan him [[CallBack 50,000 yen]]?]]

* ArcNumber: 25, naturally. The setting is Ward 25, various magazines and websites have "25" or "Quarter" in them, etc.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:electride reveals that the BigBad was disguised this whole time. What's the disguise, you ask? Well...he's ''that 25-sided 3D shape in the lower-right corner of the screen'', which doubles as the cursor you use to move around and solve puzzles. [[ParanoiaFuel He's been with you this whole time]].]]

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:In the ending of Placebo, Tokio Morishima rips out his silver eye and shoots it, giving up his immortality. When we see him again in *06: YUKI, he obviously looks much older, as one would expect in a 25-year gap.]]

''The 25th Ward'' has a complex release history; it was originally only released episodically on Japanese flip-phones in 2005, which means that very few people had a chance to play it before it went down. For this reason, it was long considered lost media and a "phantom game", until a full remake was released in 2018 on PC and [=PS4=], complete with four new chapters.

* ArcWords: In Correctness, "Kill the Life"; In Matchmaker, "Save the Life". In both cases, "the Life" (日常, ''nichijou'') refers to the seemingly-utopian way of life in the 25th Ward upheld by sinister government agencies.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Taken to an absurd level. [[spoiler:The reason why "Goddess" was killed by the deliverymen, as Tokio finds after *01: NAGARE? Because ''she didn't separate her flammable and non-flammable trash correctly''. And she wasn't their first victim offed for such bizarre reasoning.]]

** In #04: "digital man", [[spoiler:the eponymous Kurumizawa's depiction in reality changes every time we see him. In one shot, he appears cel-shaded whilst standing over a body. Another shot shows him as a PS1-era character model. When Sumio finds him, he appears to be a lifesize image that stepped off of a computer screen, complete with scanlines and unstable frames]].

* ArcNumber: 25, naturally.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Taken to an absurd level. [[spoiler:The reason why "Goddess" was killed by the deliverymen, as Tokio finds after *01: NAGARE? Because ''she didn't separate her trash correctly''. And she wasn't their first victim offed for such bizarre reasoning.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: In *06: YUKI, [[spoiler:for those who have completed the epilogue of [[VideoGame/TheSilverCase the original game's remake's]] Placebo thread. A character who looks a lot like Tokio around the time he's headed to Lospass Island cheerfully comments to Yuki about having matching frappacinos, which seems OutOfCharacter for a character like [[DeadpanSnarker Tokio]]. He even introduces himself as a freelance reporter, just like Tokio... Well, it's ''not'' Tokio; the immediate next line reveals that this is a different man, a journalist named Hiiragi. He just happens to look like post-''Silver'' Tokio down to the outfit and hairdo. The real Tokio appears later, having grown his hair our longer, among other things that have changed in the 12 years following his departure from the 25th Ward.]]

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:*6: YUKI brings back the setting of Hinashiro City to the Kill the Past series, which hadn't been mentioned since ''Moonlight Syndrome'' in 1997]].

* '''Correctness''' (written by Goichi Suda), which follows the 25th Ward Heinous Crimes Unit investigating the secrets of the 25th Ward's conspiracies.
* '''Matchmaker''' (written by Masahiro Yuki), which follows the Regional Adjustment Bureau, a team of glorified government hitmen who "adjust" undesirable residents of the city.
* '''Placebo''' (written by Masahi Ooka), which follows returning character Tokio Morishima, who has lost most of his memories.

* AbortedArc: One of the big themes at the beginning - the chaotic introduction of Kamui into the Ward, and the order/chaos divide it symbolizes - is dropped around the chapter 3s, with the observers/[[spoiler:Kurumizawa]] plot taking the focus instead. In fact, in "digital man", [[spoiler: Sumio Kodai ends the chapter by metaphorically shooting Shiroyabu in the head (probably?) and stating that "Kamui can [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] off".]]

These three different stories together tell a labyrinthine and exceedingly bizarre tale about city infrastructure, murderous intent, big data, order and chaos, observation, and the nature of {{protagonist}}s.

** In #4: "digital man", [[spoiler:the eponymous Kurumizawa's depiction in reality changes every time we see him. In one shot, he appears cel-shaded whilst standing over a body. Another shot shows him as a PS1-era character model. When Sumio finds him, he appears to be a lifesize image that stepped off of a computer screen, complete with scanlines and unstable frames]].

* BaitAndSwitch: In *6: YUKI, [[spoiler:for those who have completed the epilogue of [[VideoGame/TheSilverCase the original game's remake's]] Placebo thread. A character who looks a lot like Tokio around the time he's headed to Lospass Island cheerfully comments to Yuki about having matching frappacinos, which seems OutOfCharacter for a character like [[DeadpanSnarker Tokio]]. He even introduces himself as a freelance reporter, just like Tokio... Well, it's ''not'' Tokio; the immediate next line reveals that this is a different man, a reporter/exorcist named Hiiragi, who just happens to look like post-''Silver'' Tokio down to the outfit and hairdo. The real Tokio appears later, having grown his hair our longer, among other things that have changed in the 12 years following his departure from the 25th Ward.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:electride reveals that the BigBad was disguised this whole time as...the 25-sided 3D shape in the lower-right corner of the screen, which doubles as the cursor you use to move around and solve puzzles. [[ParanoiaFuel He's been with you this whole time]].]]

* JigsawPuzzlePlot: As you might expect from a game played from three separate perspectives; even then, though, it's a particularly complex one, with some of the pieces being in previous games while others have yet to come.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Tokio is suffering from this. [[spoiler:{{Justified}}: this was a measure that Kipple took to protect Tokio from the forces at play in the 25th Ward from noticing him. The more it wears off, the more people in the government notice him, as is the case when Tsuki and Osato sneak into Tokio's boat.]].

** #03: boys don't cry has Shiroyabu show up at two different ATMs to fight the last two assassins...somehow [[spoiler:at the same time]].
** #06: white out ends with Big Dick and young!Shiroyabu [[spoiler:seeing Joker unmasked as...an older Shiroyabu.]]

* NoEnding: In the original mobile version of the game, Correctness ends extremely abruptly. The HD version's additional chapters give an at least somewhat smoother ending.

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: The chapter white out [[spoiler:stars protagonist Akira/Big Dick from ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'']].
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: Correctness, but especially boys don't cry, is this for [[spoiler:Shiroyabu. He starts off as a good-intentioned detective; trigger-happy and reckless, but not any more evil than the other trigger-happy cops in the game's world. In boys don't cry, he's left to his own devices for an investigation and ends up killing civilians, sexually assaulting one of the bad guys (or bad girl in this case) trying to kill him, and becomes a pawn of the villain. At the very end of electride he might have a HeelRealization, but the circumstances are unclear]].

* SixthRanger: Discussed by the characters, who compare Joker, the new member of the Kamui-emulating criminal group TRUMP, to one of these.
* SuddenlyVoiced: A version that has no voice actors whatsoever. [[spoiler:Uehara begins talking in the true ending, and from what he says, it's a pretty big deal. He declares himself Kamui Uehara, plans to change the world (and knowing it is an expensive undertaking), and asks the player to...loan him [[CallBack 50,000 yen]]?]]

* WhamShot: In white out, [[spoiler:when Big Dick and young!Shiroyabu get to Joker as his mask comes off, and the camera zooms in to reveal him to be...[[MindScrew Shiroyabu]] himself]].

''The 25th Ward'' is the sequel to ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' and ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain''. Like its predecessors, it is a visual novel/adventure game directed by Creator/Suda51 and Creator/GrasshopperManufacture with a complicated and surreal mystery story.

The story is divided into three different "story threads", which each take place from a different perspective and parallel each other. These are:

* AbortedArc: One of the big themes at the beginning - the chaotic introduction of Kamui into the Ward, and the order/chaos divide it symbolizes - is dropped around the chapter 3s, with the observers/[[spoiler:Kurumizawa]] plot taking the focus instead. In fact, in "digital man", [[spoiler: Sumio Kodai ends the chapter by metaphorically shooting Shiroyabu in the head (probably) and stating that "Kamui can [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] off".]]

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Unlike the first game in which you strictly played as two protagonists, ''The 25th Ward'' switches the player character a lot: #3 "boys don't cry" changes you to Shiroyabu[[note]]Granted, he was already a protagonist as far as the story is concerned, but not the player character[[/note]]; #4 "digital man"[[note]]which changes the story thread name from Correctness to Transmitter[[/note]] to [[spoiler:Sumio Kodai, as well as a brief segment with Sakura]]; white out to [[spoiler:Akira/Big Dick, the protagonist of the first game]]; and YUKI to, well, [[spoiler:Yuki Shimohira]].

* ArcWelding: Certain endings in black out cross over with other Suda works, and [[spoiler:YUKI returns to the setting and subject matter of the ''Twilight Syndrome'' series, compounded by a Hinashiro coffee shop named [[VideoGame/TravisStrikesAgainNoMoreHeroes Strike Again]] Coffee.]]

** In "digital man", [[spoiler:the eponymous Kurumizawa's depiction in reality changes every time we see him. In one shot, he appears cel-shaded whilst standing over a body. Another shot shows him as a PS1-era character model. When Sumio finds him, he appears to be a lifesize image that stepped off of a TV screen, complete with scanlines and unstable frames]].

* BaitAndSwitch: In YUKI, [[spoiler:for those who have completed the epilogue of [[VideoGame/TheSilverCase the original game's remake's]] Placebo thread. A character who looks a lot like Tokio around the time he's headed to Lospass Island cheerfully comments to Yuki about having matching frappacinos, which seems OutOfCharacter for a character like [[DeadpanSnarker Tokio]]. Well, it's ''not'' Tokio; it's a reporter/exorcist named Hiiragi, who just happens to look like post-''Silver'' Tokio down to the outfit and hairdo. The real Tokio appears later, having grown his hair our longer, among other things that have changed in the 12 years following his departure from the 25th Ward.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Kosuke Kurumizawa, although in true Suda fashion his role is very non-traditional. He is introduced as a murdered apartment manager in Correctness, brought up and dropped out of nowhere; but then he appears throughout the story threads appearing very much alive, and wherever he goes, [[BreakingTheFourthWall things start to come apart for the other characters]].]]

** Placebo: [[spoiler:Tokio regains his memories whilst fulfilling the mission he was given by an unknown party, throwing their offers of money and power in their faces. As he leaves the 25th Ward to its obliteration, he tears out the artificial Silver Eye out of his head and destroys it. Leaving his past behind--including a sibling who may or may not be real--Tokio instead becomes a mentor to people who share his abilities, resurfacing in the year 2017 in Hinashiro to help Yuki Kazura.]]

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:YUKI brings back the setting of Hinashiro City to the Kill the Past series, which hadn't been mentioned since ''Moonlight Syndrome'' in 1997]].
* CarnivalOfKillers: The Okiai hitmen in #3: boys don't cry.

** "Killing the past". Matchmaker protagonist Tsuki ends his storyline by [[spoiler:killing Shigino, quitting his job at the RA Bureau, and departs the 25th Ward...but first, he decides to get some Mont Blanc, his favorite dessert that he's decided to get back to again]]. Placebo ends with [[spoiler:Tokio leaving the 25th Ward before its destruction. *06: YUKI serves as an epilogue, showing that Tokio is still alive and kicking in Hinashiro City, where he gives protagonist Yuki Kazura, a member of the next generation of people, some much needed advice.]]

** Yagisawa, the random man who Tokio tricks early on [[spoiler:was actually not the man Tokio contacted online. This was somebody else who Meru was used as a body by proxy]].

** [[spoiler:YUKI features one to ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'', of all things, in the form of Rina and Slash. Rina is a personality that Yuki Kazura took into herself, and Slash is Tokio's hacker contact who died and was taken into Tokio's self. These cases are remarkably similar to Harman Smith's multiple personalities in ''[=killer7=]'', though how they manifest in YUKI is different.]]
* CreepyChild: Alice in "digital man".
* {{Cyberpunk}}: Even more so than in the previous game. Transhumanism is a more prevalent theme that is explored in both positive and negative ways, and the line is blurred even more between the city and a computer system.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:electride reveals that the BigBad was disguised this whole time as...the 25-sided 3D shape in the lower-right corner of the screen, which doubles as the cursor you use to move around and solve puzzles. He's been with you this whole time.]]

* TheFourGods: One puzzle to reach a convenience store's "WC"[[note]]for "white chair" the toilet of a restroom[[/note]] involves inputting their names on the right directions.

* GambitPileup: It's much less possible to sort out than Suda's other pileups due to us missing several pieces of the puzzle regarding who's aligned with who.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Tokio is suffering from this. [[spoiler:{{Justified}}, in that peoples' minds being treated like data ends up being a major theme to his story, and sure enough, his memories really are stored like data in the mayor's office]].

* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler:{{Parodied}} in the final chapter, black out, which features a full 100 of them, chosen arbitrarily from a menu. They range from completely ridiculous to ominous and sinister to crossovers with other Suda and Grasshopper properties. There ''is'' a "true ending", but the only way to see it is by going through all 100 endings, each of which requires you to play through black out again to see]]. Also doubles as an extreme example of LastSecondEndingChoice.
* NostalgiaLevel: digital man for ''The Silver Case''; YUKI for [[spoiler:''Twilight Syndrome'']].

* RememberTheNewGuy: [[spoiler:Matchmaker protagonist Tsuki was actually a member of the Republic task force that appeared in [[VideoGame/TheSilverCase the original game]], recruited by Daigo Natsume after the former was arrested and his syndicate was officially cracked down upon. The reason Tsuki didn't appear in "lunatics" or "decoyman" was because he'd been injured during training, and was thus off Republic's active team at the time.]]

* SequelHook: {{Subverted}}. [[spoiler:Every single one of black out's 100 endings ends with a "TO BE CONTINUED..." If the player doesn't bother to go back through the chapter 99 more times to get every single ending, he/she will think this is a sequel hook. It's not. It's actually a hint that the player needs to get all the 100 endings because the game isn't quite over yet. Once you finally get the 100th ending, after it plays, a brand new ending will play. This is the game's true ending, finishing up on the word "END."]]. Other elements of the final few chapters definitely do imply multiple continuing plot threads in future works, though.

* SuddenlyVoiced: A version that has no voice actors whatsoever. [[spoiler:Uehara begins talking in the true ending, and from what he says, it's a pretty big deal. He declares himself Kamui Uehara]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Correctness' protagonist "Uehara" is so similar to Akira from the first game that it's very easy to assume they ''are'' the same person; only one easily-forgettable line early on (implicitly comparing Uehara to Akira) indicates that they aren't.
* TakeThat: #07: black out is very much a Take That to critics of Suda's previous visual novels [[spoiler: as well as to the idea that visual novels ''have'' to have choices, branching stories, and MultipleEndings. For once in the entire series, you are given true freedom to affect the story in any way you choose...as in, actually choose from a list of a hundred, while being told [[TakeThatCritics "this is what you wanted."]] The endings are only barebones sentences in sequence, with absolutely no expounding on any of it. Only a small number of them have anything to do with the MexicanStandoff that led up to this; the rest involve things like walking away from it, NonSequitur answers involving things like [[Manga/MobileSuitGundam Mobile Suits to pilot]] or spontaneously exploding for no reason... And to top it all off, you literally cannot get the game's true ending unless you painstakingly replay the final chapter [[UpToEleven a full 100 times through and choose every single ending one by one.]] And yes...it's as painful and time-consuming as it sounds.]]

* TrashTheSet: [[spoiler:Tokio destroys the 25th Ward at the end of *05: MISOGI.]]

* VillainProtagonist: Matchmaker's protagonists are part of the 25th Ward's conspiracy.

** *06: YUKI offers some insight into Yuki, the protagonist of this chapter. [[spoiler:At the shoeboxes at school, checking Yuki's Student ID identifies her as Yuki ''Shimohira'', which would likely make her the child of a 24 Wards Shelter Kid.]]

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Unlike the first game in which you strictly played as two protagonists, ''The 25th Ward'' switches the player character a lot: #3 "boys don't cry" changes you to Shiroyabu[[note]]Granted, he was already a protagonist as far as the story is concerned, but not the player character[[/note]]; #4 "digital man"[[note]]which changes the story thread name from Correctness to Transmitter[[/note]] to [[spoiler:Sumio Kodai, as well as a brief segment with Sakura]]; white out to [[spoiler:Akira/Big Dick, the protagonist of the first game]]; and YUKI to, well, [[spoiler:Yuki Kazura]].

** In moon over 25, Tsuki says, [[spoiler:"The fact that Osato was an illegitimate child of Sundance..."]]. But only if [[spoiler:you've played ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'']].