History VideoGame / TheTwentyFifthWard

** 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 dead body. Another shot shows him as a UsefulNotes/PlayStation1-era video game 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]].

* {{GIRL}}: [[spoiler:The chat room manager Meru, AKA Goddess, is eventually revealed to be a trans woman on life support. By the time Tokio meets her, she's been dead for hours]].

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: [[spoiler:The fact that Meru/Goddess is actually trans doesn't bother Tokio that much. What ironically ''does'' is when he hears his pet turtle Red speak during a dream, having an old woman's voice.]]

* TheMilkmanConspiracy: [[spoiler:The Postal Federation is behind the government-contracted murders of undesirable inhabitants within the 25th Ward. They mainly use assassins posing as deliverymen to accomplish this.]]

** In the official soundtrack, the music for each story thread share naming conventions. Forexample, Matchmater's songs are named after essential oils (e.g. Lavender peppermint, Kakadu plum); while Placebo's tracks all have single-word titles in all-uppercase letters (e.g. ZERO, ORACLE, ROLLING, GRAVE, and WILL).

* KillEmAll: By the end of Matchmaker, [[spoiler:Tsuki and Maejima are the only RAB members left that are confirmed to be alive. The rest have either been killed off or vanished as a result of the machinations of Shigino and the Postal Federation]].

* 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 resolving 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.]]
* TheStinger: {{Exaggerated}}. Although the chapter order is up to you, proceeding in the most normal method (rotating between the storylines) means that there's as many as ''five whole chapters'' after the game's credits, besides the stinger to their own chapter. And ''then,'' after you play through all of the game's chapters, ''another'' chapter opens up which is itself a stinger to the rest of the game. [[spoiler:[[UpToEleven And then, even that chapter]] has a stinger in the form of the game's true ending, which won't play until after you play through that chapter no fewer than ''100 times.'']] Holy [[Creator/GrasshopperManufacture grasshoppers]], Batman.

''The 25th Ward'' (Japanese: シルバー事件25区) is the sequel to ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' and ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain''. Like its predecessors, it is a Creator/GrasshopperManufacture visual novel/adventure game directed and co-written by Creator/Suda51 with a complicated and surreal mystery story.

* ShoutOut: In #3: "boys don't cry", [[spoiler:Shiroyabu]] becomes completely bald as a result of being death-filed. This new appearance is one red necktie away from being a match for [[VideoGame/Hitman Agent 47's]].

* '''Matchmaker''' (written by Masahiro Yuki), which follows the Regional Adjustment Bureau, a team of glorified government hitmen who "adjust" undesirable residents of the city. Matchmaker "cases" are denoted with "s.

** [[spoiler:Ultimately PlayedWith: Kamui does bring about chaotic change in Ward 25, but not with him directly appearing for it; Kurumizawa, who exists within Kamui's power, becomes a former cog in the machine of Ward 25's society, while Mokutaro Shiroyabu--revealed afterward as Mokutaro Shimohira, making him the ''son'' of Kamui Uehara--ascends to Kurumizawa's level in order to go after him. By the time of black out, the story is effectively already over when Uehara becomes Kamui Uehara; his name serves more as a distraction to the characters, letting the real antagonists take them by surprise.]]

* 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]]; #6: white out to [[spoiler:Akira/Big Dick, the protagonist of the first game]]; and *6: YUKI to, well, [[spoiler:Yuki Shimohira]].

** [[spoiler:#04: digital man features Koshimizu from ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'', now a detective for the Ward 24 HCU after Lospass.]]

** "Killing the Life". [[spoiler:The 25th Ward ultimately kills off those who don't fit into the Life, on the word of mouth of its own citizens. Instead of being slaves to the Life, characters like Kurumizawa seek to bring it crashing down, while some like Tsuki leave it behind so that it does not decide their lives for them anymore.]]

* ContinuityNod:
** [[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.]]

* NostalgiaLevel: digital man and white out for ''The Silver Case''; YUKI for [[spoiler:''Twilight Syndrome'']].

* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:HC Unit member Sakaki gets killed off by a delivery man, in #01: new world order.]]

--> ''Yet another "perfect lifestyle" has been born, and the dreamlike life based on despair contaminates the people.''

* DarkerAndEdgier: The original ''Silver Case'' was dark, but ''The 25th Ward'' is filled with sociopaths; even Correctness protagonist Shiroyabu is blatantly guilty of police brutality [[spoiler:before diving off the deep end all together and getting death-filed]]. [[spoiler:Ironically, two main characters get endings far happier than the ones the protagonists of the previous game got.]]
* DenserAndWackier: Despite the characters and story being far darker than ''The Silver Case'', the scenarios are more overtly fantastical and over-the-top compared to the relatively grounded scenarios of its direct predecessor, which only occasionally dipped into [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane the more supernatural elements]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: The original ''Silver Case'' was dark, but ''The 25th Ward'' is filled with sociopaths; even Correctness protagonist Shiroyabu is blatantly guilty of police brutality.

!! Kill the tropes. Save the tropes. Believe in the tropes.

''The 25th Ward'' (Japanese: シルバー事件25区)is the sequel to ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' and ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain''. Like its predecessors, it is a Creator/GrasshopperManufacture visual novel/adventure game directed and co-written by Creator/Suda51 with a complicated and surreal mystery story.

''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 three new chapters (#06: white out, #07: black out, and *06: YUKI).

** [[Ultimately PlayedWith: Kamui does bring about chaotic change in Ward 25, but not with him directly appearing for it; Kurumizawa, who exists within Kamui's power, becomes a former cog in the machine of Ward 25's society, while Mokutaro Shiroyabu--revealed afterward as Mokutaro Shimohira, making him the ''son'' of Kamui Uehara--ascends to Kurumizawa's level in order to go after him. By the time of black out, the story is effectively already over when Uehara becomes Kamui Uehara; his name serves more as a distraction to the characters, letting the real antagonists take them by surprise.]]

** “03: about nighthawk features one after introducing the Translator's employer to Tsuki and Sasa: [[spoiler:[[{{Betrayal}} Sasa]], Yabukawa's partner aiming his gun at Tsuki, revealing himself as a mole in the RAB.]]

** “03: about nighthawk features one after introducing the Translator's employer to Tsuki and Sasa: [[spoiler:[[Betrayal Sasa]], Yabukawa's partner aiming his gun at Tsuki, revealing himself as a mole in the RAB.]]

* 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". Ultimately PlayedWith: Kamui does bring about chaotic change in Ward 25, but not with him directly appearing for it; Kurumizawa, who exists within Kamui's power, becomes a former cog in the machine of Ward 25's society, while Mokutaro Shiroyabu--revealed afterward as Mokutaro Shimohira, making him the ''son'' of Kamui Uehara--ascends to Kurumizawa's level in order to go after him. By the time of black out, the story is effectively already over when Uehara becomes Kamui Uehara.]]

* WhamShot: Two in white out:
## The [[NoEnding abrupt]] SequelHook of "Whiteout prologue" is followed up on: [[spoiler:The gunshot takes a chunk out of Officer Shiroyabu's ear before he can shoot and kill Big Dick. Who shot Shiroyabu? [[BigDamnHeroes Tetsugoro Kusabi]].]]
## [[spoiler:When Big Dick and Officer Shiroyabu get to Joker as his mask comes off, and the camera zooms in to reveal him to be...[[MindScrew Shiroyabu]] himself]].

** 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 shot of a colored glowing Moon.

* {{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.]]

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

* BloodOutOfEveryOrfice: 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.