Fridge / Live A Live

Fridge Brilliance

• In Cube's scenario, the airlock room has two switches, each controlling the two doors that lead to the outside of the ship. You'd think there'd be a system implemented to prevent both doors from being open at the same time and sucking everyone in the room into space, right? There apparently isn't, since Rachel, irrational with grief, opens both doors and tries to die this way. Then you realize that it makes sense that both doors can be opened at the same time! The entire ship's system is trying to kill off all the humans who are disturbing the harmonic balance! No wonder it lets both doors be opened easily, it's such a quick and stress-free way of getting rid of them.
• Hong is the slowest of the three potential students, despite the reason that the Shifu taking him as a student was because Hong was so surprisingly fast and nimble while dash-and-dining despite his weight. Then you realize the reason Hong is so slow gameplay-wise is because he's being trained to actually stand and fight instead of putting all his effort into just running away.
• Odio's name, in Latin, literally means "Hatred", which is very fitting for Oersted's dilemma.
• It seems rather jarring (although not unexpected for RPG standards) for Oersted a.k.a. Odio, the friggin Lord of Dark, to be beatable. However, recall Uranus and Hasshe's words: "As long as there is someone who believes in you". The little kid does in fact still believe in him, even after his death. No wonder Odio is beatable. He wasn't being hated enough.
  • Another aspect is that unlike Oersted the seven heroes did not give into despair and hatred. They could have, given their own extreme circumstances, but found other ways to deal with their problems. Even when they didn't have anyone to believe in them, they never stopped believing in themselves. Oersted may have gone through plenty of hell, but in the end it was his own weak heart that led to him becoming Odio.
• The main theme is somewhat strange compared to most RPG themes, in that it starts out strong before it gets to the main melody, instead of building up to it. This is because the main theme is actually half of a song, starting roughly in the middle. The first half? "Wings that don't Reach," aka Oersted's Theme. Part of the latter song has the exact same notes as the first part of the former, as if they were meant to segue directly from one to the other.
• In the start of Oersted's chapter, Oersted was placed on the left side of the battle arena, and Streibough on the right side. Later, after Alethea is kidnapped, we get a short narration detailing the Demon in the east, and the hero destined to slay the Demon in the west. It's subtle, but it really seems like foreshadowing Streibough's betrayal.
  • That narration could also double as foreshadowing for the end of the chapter. When Oersted has to fight Streibough to the death, he starts that battle on the east side of the field, while Streibough is in the west side. Streibough may not be a real hero, but Oersted did become the new Lord of Dark after that…
• When Oersted and his party enter the demon's mountain for the first time, Hasshe opens the entrance with his sword, the Brion, while saying that the passage only opens for true demon slayers. This might be an early warning of Oersted turning into a demon by the end of the chapter, since he cannot open the passage by himself, signalling he is not a "true demon slayer".
• In all honesty, Alethea rejecting Oersted makes a lot of sense when you put the pieces together. Oersted and Alethea were newlyweds and didn't have enough time or chemistry to develop their feelings together. Oersted won her literally by winning the tournament, so Alethea would look like a 'prize woman' for him. When she's kidnapped, her psyche would be damaged and be in distress that she would want someone to rescue her and fast. She hoped it would be Oersted, but it was Streibough. In other words, Streibough has the advantage of actually pulling a Rescue Romance and it would be easier for Alethea to sympathize with Streibough more. Really, in the eyes of Alethea, Streibough was the one who risked his ass to 'save' her or actually give her a damn, while Oersted looked like he gave up on the first try… and he was supposed to be her husband. Who she just met and probably interacted with in about a day… Yeah.
• The Giant Space Flea from Nowhere that is Odie O'Bright, oddly enough. At first, it appears that his name being alliterative is just Added Alliterative Appeal and to be different from Ode Iou in that the last name doesn't form "Odio" phonetically. Look at that last name, though — O'Bright. As in, old-bright, something bright being old. What do people think when they hear that something is old? It's irrelevant or otherwise overshadowed by new developments, much like Oersted (and whatever brightness as a Knight in Shining Armor he may have had) has been 'overshadowed' by Odio.
• Unlike the other foes in the Present Day chapter, Masaru can't learn any attacks coming from Odie O'bright. He doesn't want to learn the attacks of a killer, and thus becoming no different from him.
• Why is Beru's Sing Hurt super effective against Odo? Beru is the Love Interest of Pogo and she clearly loved him, so she's also driven with The Power of Love. Love is basically the reverse of hatred, something that Odo and Odio represented, so The Power of Love is super effective against the embodiment of hatred. Moreover, unlike with Oersted and Alethea, both Pogo and Beru had more time to truly create a bond and, gameplay-wise, you have to patiently grind until she reaches Level 7 (6 in the remake) before she learns her ultimate spell. Love isn't an instantaneous thing; it needs trust, openness, a willingness to work together for both parties to develop. And most importantly: Time, for all those to blossom. Not to mention that, unlike Alethea, Beru actively participates in the fighting herself.
• Masaru's reason for joining Sundown without a fight is knowing he'd lose to a skilled gunslinger. This is considered true in reality (Bruce Lee admitting to such) and gameplay (assuming lv1) as Sundown would have a range advantage since Masaru would certainly take a hit or two closing in. And should Masaru use a charged attack, Sundown could use a number of options to counter or avoid said attack, especially since he has access to "Hollow Point" from the start, which has a high chance of shoving the target and interrupting any charged skills.
• Odo as the thematic antithesis for the prehistory chapter:
  • Odo being the Odio incarnation in the Prehistoric chapter might make you ask: Why a non-sentient T-Rex? What could one T-Rex think to deserve the title of the Prehistory Era's incarnation/servant of the Demon King? If you recall, animals and dinosaurs also have a sense of kinship towards each other, Odo might have its own family of T-Rexes as well. Then the meteorite hit the Earth, wiping out many dinosaurs. Odo lost their family and fellow dinosaurs. And the world got repopulated by humans, who hunted down other animals. Lowly humans that back then was worth nothing but being a ground paste on where dinosaurs like it walked. This could instill hatred for Odo to see their mighty race get overran by humans. And then there's the Kuu Chieftain, a despicable human being that it encountered and proceeded to sacrifice his fellow humans just to worship and get himself spared from being on Odo's menu, which then spread to the other Kuu Tribesmen. The extra meal was appreciated, but it also proves the point for Odio's philosophy that Humans Are the Real Monsters and makes him stick with Odo, a T-Rex that, if it was given the gift of humanlike knowledge, it would be filled with hatred considering its surroundings. In the remake, it's even confirmed that the dinosaur skeleton in the hunting grounds belonged to a dinosaur that was slain by the elder of Pogo's tribe long ago, so it's not hard to think that it could've been related to Odo.
    • That's not to mention that more recent studies of its fossils proved that Tyrannosaurus rex had one of, if not, the largest brain-to-body ratio of the tyrannosauridae theropod lineage, with many of these sources claiming that T. rex had enough intelligence for at least a primitive form of cognitive skills^note It was no Troodon by any means, but that's still very impressive for what was essentially a 12ft tall and 40ft long prehistoric war machine. Given those odds and the fact that humanity were also like animals at the time, it's little wonder Odio decided to incarnate as a T. rex, as not only was it the most powerful and imposing predator at the time, but it also likely had the minimum cognitive faculties required to be on equal playing fields with humanity in terms of wits and strategy.
  • Odo's hatred for humans could also apply to mammals in general. Before mammals, dinosaurs were the dominant species on Earth, but everything changed when the asteroid hit the earth and bootstrapped the dinosaurs' judgement day. With pure dinosaurs now extinct, who would be there to carry on dinokind's legacy? Logically, it would be the birds that directly branched off from the dinosaur lineage to inherit the world, right? Wrong! It was the mammals that took over and achieved world domination faster than the birds could do the same! Perhaps Odo sees not just humans, but the entire Mammalia subphylum that humans branched off from as unworthy to inherit the (at least from their POV) now-ruined Earth and joined Odio's ranks to take revenge on all mammals and reclaim what was rightfully their kind's as well as what is also rightfully supposed to be inherited by the birds.
  • Alternatively, Odo just plain hated humans for hunting down foods that could've been its. While the human sacrifices were appreciated, other prehistoric creatures like mammoths could've provided better nourishment, but they got shorter in supply because humans hunted them down with their developing brain and hunting skills, Odo was left with either small critters or puny humans to eat; for a large carnivorous creature, that's not a good diet, but it'll have to make do due to lack of options. And it also explains why Pogo managed to beat it down, aside from The Power of Love: It's a little malnourished and not quite at optimal strength. If Odo had actually managed to eat many good, big foods and maintain a healthy carnivorous diet, Pogo would be in much bigger trouble.
  • Odo's name adds an element of legend to it in the sense that, given the name is meant to be read as each letter individually, it may be the first thing to be explicitly given a written name as a contrast to Pogo creating the first word of spoken language. Something so undescribably terrifying, strong, and seemingly spiteful, that prehistoric man needed to call it something entirely new just to get across what kind of thing it is. And given its effect on a world where there may be struggles for survival and slapstick reprisals, but no greater animosity, its fitting that Odo is the first thing to truly describe with its mere presence what it means to HATE something.
  • Odo fits in nicely with some of the themes surrounding the incarnations despite being a wild animal. Being the apex predator of the era, it strikes fear into pretty much everything, both herbivores and fellow carnivores. The Kuu Chieftain may have been the one offering sacrifices, but he was doing it out of dread of what that T-Rex would do to him and his clan if it got too hungry and so devoutly tried to keep the beast contained by sacrificing his men to Odo not out of any sense of dogmatic satisfaction, but out of pure fear, to keep it from destroying everything, and had Pogo not killed it, it would've destroyed both tribes during its rampage. This means that Odo was essentially ruling over the land and its people, i.e. a megalomaniac.
    • Also, the Kuu Chieftain immediately made a break for it as soon as he recognized the chamber. He didn't scream out to his god for help or try to fight the heroes himself. Literally the first thing he did when he got up was to try and run, knowing full well his "god" would eat him the moment it woke up.
• The default placements of Odio's incarnation statues in the statue room creates some interesting parallels if you pair one statue with the other right across it, skipping the middle statue (top left with bottom right, left with right, bottom left with top right):
  • OD-10 and Odo: Contrast between past and future, both were defeated by a child who just came of age (Cube was activated very recently and Pogo just went on his first hunt), both of their chapters involve the terror of a great beast and a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey with the hidden Monolith in the Prehistory chapter and a murderous AI due to poorly defined orders in the Distant Future chapter.
  • Ou Di Wan Lee and Odie O'Bright: Both are martial arts masters who claim to be the strongest, both had fellow martial artists killed who helped their chapter's protagonist get where they were, being the Challengers for Masaru by (unwittingly) teaching him their arts and the other two students who became friends with the survivor and eventual inheritor, and both their names extend beyond the "Odio" part. They're also the only actual human incarnations of Odio, as the others were either gods, demons, animals, or computer programs.
  • Ode Iou and O. Dio: Both of them involve some sort of transformation (Ode Iou to Gamahebi and the surviving horse to O. Dio), both stories take place in a well documented historical era that are only a few years apart, both chapters have the most gun usage (Ode Iou and Ryoma both use guns in their attacks, and of course the other chapter is a western), both take place during a short amount of time which features the sunrise (Oboromaru finishes his mission right before sunrise and watches it with Ryoma while Sundown and Mad Dog have to prepare Success before the Crazy Bunch arrive at dawn), and both involve real historical figures (Ryoma Sakamoto, Shiro Amakusa, and Miyamoto Musashi, and Comanche the lone surviving horse of Custer's 7th Cavalry, respectively).
  • This leaves Odeo without a real counterpart, at least in the statue room itself, because Odeo's counterpart is Odio himself. Both of them are god-like figures, both are fueled by humanity's hatred (Odeo from the liquefied humans and Odio from Lucrece's populace), and both are determined to destroy humanity (by more liquefication and destroying the world itself across time, respectively). If placed in the middle, the Odeo statue is cardinally below the Lord of Dark statues to the north in the next rooms as well.
• Crosses with fridge horror, but the Trial of Heart is where all of Lucrece's souls end up being trapped. The only way to access it in the first place is to accidentally teleport into said dungeon, and you get out the same way. All of the other dungeons are accessible from the surface one way or another. This means that Odio specifically put those souls in a place that nobody can access just to torment them further.
• Compared to the other protagonists, Akira is the least calm to Oersted and verbally beats him down with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Given how his Odio incarnation Odeo caused 2,000 innocent people to be essentially killed, inspiring one of its followers to turn Watanabe's father into a weapon whom Akira was forced to destroy, his home being invaded which nearly killed his little sister and caused his best friend to die while trying to stop it, it's understandable why he wouldn't have any patience for someone who was mostly responsible for such a large tragedy.
  • Furthermore, Akira blaming Oersted and telling him that he was the one who caused these tragedies and that he should not blame anyone else makes a lot of sense character-wise. When answering "No" to Akira's question at the start of the Near Future chapter of whether the player is happy with their lot in life, Akira tells the player that they are the only one who can fix that issue, since no one will show up to the rescue and that it is their life to live and change. Akira's first and last lines in the game (assuming he was chosen as the protagonist, that is) both talk about how if someone wants to change their lot in life, they will have to do it themselves without blaming anyone or expecting someone to show up and rescue them to solve their problems for them.
• For those replaying the Middle Ages chapter, one would probably assume that throwing the tournament match at the start of the chapter would save Oersted from his fate of becoming Odio… except that doing so would simply result in the game ending then and there. It's likely that Streibough has despised Oersted well before the chapter begins and it wouldn't be too unbelievable to say that he would "accidentally" kill Oersted then and there if he tried to throw the fight. Sadly, no matter what Oersted does, only an awful fate awaits him.
• Akira being considered the weakest protagonist by some makes a lot of sense when comparing him to the other protagonists. Unlike the other protagonists who either have a weapon or had a form of training, Akira is a teenager who had to figure out how his powers worked on his own with no one to guide him on how to utilise his powers to the fullest and is an amateur at street fighting.
  • Sundown is an experienced cowboy with a conventional weapon.
  • Oboro, Masaru and all three of the Earthern Heart Masters have had formal training.
  • Cube is a robot and has built-in weapons and analysis capabilities that only a machine can perform.
  • Pogo, while heavily implied to be a child, is a caveman who regularly hunts creatures much larger than him and uses heavy weapons, showing that he's a seasoned predator by heart.
• The Near Future chapter's Gainax Ending, where Akira, inside the Steel Titan being dragged into the liquefacted human lake, uses his Psychic Powers before it cuts to black and skips to him waking up on the bench in the park and running a taiyaki stand, makes more sense when you remember that one of Akira's powers is teleportation; it's more-than-likely that he teleported out of the sinking Steel Titan in the nick of time before the liquefacted human lake could consume him.
  • Then again, if it wasn't teleportation, remember how Tobei said that the Steel Titan could also be fuelled by liquefacted humans? Esper + Matango-ridden corpse + Gallons of mind fuel + said mind-powered mecha = Just how powerful he became to the point the story never shows it?
• During the Distant Future chapter as Cube is being patched into Captain Square to fight OD-10, they type 'DIE, CHILD, DIE_' before the fight. Then later once you meet Oersted aka Odio, he refers to the protagonists (including Cube) as children. And when Cube was just activated not too long before the boss fight, so OD-10 is referring to Cube as a child, referring to his age, and as a child because it's Odio's nickname for the protags.
• In the Dominion of Hate, the seven main heroes are scattered throughout the ruins of Lucrece, but their seemingly-random placement makes sense:
  • Pogo is found in a offshoot area of the Silent Wood where Balmgrass grows, as his chapter was focused on hunting and gathering food. It also resembles the flower fields in his dream sequences.
  • The Earthen Heart Master is found on the peak of The Last Hero's Grave, as a stand-in for Mount Aspiration, even including the grave of a mentor. Incidentally, their Trial is found at the foot of the mountain.
  • Oboromaru skulks around the entrance of the Archon's Roost. Befitting his ninja skills, he only appears to ambush anyone checking the sign in front, and is essentially found in front of another villain's fortress like Ode Castle.
  • Sundown's standoffish nature has him wander in several locations around Lucrece before he's willing to join the party. He also starts at Hasshe's hut, whose owner also deliberately exiled himself, before ending up at the castle, mirroring his journey in his own chapter.
  • Masaru is found in Castle Lucrece's dungeon happily working out, as Prisons Are Gymnasiums and he's likely preparing for anything in this new land. The prison cell he's in also resembles his apartment's gym.
  • Akira is found napping outside in Fugalia Village, since it's close to an "urban" area outside of Lucrece's main village and looks a lot like the park he likes to nap at.
  • Cube is found at the balcony of Castle Lucrece where Oersted watched the fake Lord of Dark kidnap Alethea. This might seem like an oddball location, but Cube fought who was chronologically the last Odio incarnation, and they're at where the "first" Odio incarnation's story began. Castle Lucrece is also a man-made structure, much like Cogito Ergo Sum.
• Each trial in the Dominion of Hate contains a boss, save for Trial of Heart and Trial of Keys. However, there are also two other extra bosses outside the trials, and it makes sense that each of them would correspond to the remaining trials:
  • Death Prophet is implied to be the grim reaper itself, can only be encountered after running away from 100 battles, and he has a weak spot on his back. The Trial of Heart belongs to Akira, contains the souls of Lucrece's dead, and the only way to access it is to be randomly teleported in there, which means you have to run away from battles. Not to mention, his weakness mirrors that of the LH Combat Unit W1 Akira fought in his own chapter. Thus, it's not too outlandish to think that he's meant to be the boss of the Trial of Heart.
  • Headhunter is encountered by running away after the player checks the Odio statue at Archon's Roost, and once you beat him, you are returned to where your selected protagonist starts off at the beginning of the Dominion of Hate, effectively forcing you to backtrack. The Trial of Keys belongs to Oboromaru, and it also involves a lot of backtracking. Not to mention, Oboromaru's starting location is the closest to the entrance of Archon's Roost, and most players are more likely to fight this boss last, so it makes sense that Headhunter is supposed to be the boss of the Trial of Keys, since it's meant to pair off with Oboromaru as the main protagonist.
• The name "Dominion of Hate". Since "odio" also means hate, it can be read as the "Dominion of Odio".
• The two characters who start in the castle are Masaru and Cube. As a result, they are placed in the highest-density area for equipment pickups — convenient, since neither has equipment or items when they enter the Dominion of Hate!
• The Prehistory and Distant Future chapters are foils to each other. Pogo and Cube are both silent protagonists motivated by a distinctly human force, Pogo driven by his love for Beru and Cube driven to keep harmony on the ship. Cube is also stated to have the heart of a human by the end of their chapter, and love is often symbolized as hearts, which is fully shown off in the Prehistory Chapter. The two are also the youngest of the protagonists, Pogo only recently coming of age and Cube having been activated only a little while ago. The Prehistory Chapter is bereft of dialogue and features a lot of fighting, but it still manages to get its story across, while the Distant Future Chapter lacks fighting and is mostly dialogue driven, but there's still plenty of strife to go through. Both show their sole instance of what they lack at the end, with Pogo speaking the only word after the credits (and still giving us the only text box in the remake, where he no longer says "Love") and Cube fighting OD-10 through the Captain Square game. Plus, both forms of Odio in these chapter have names made up of separate characters, those being Odo (whose name only fits if you say it as O D O) and OD-10.
• It's implied that Alethea was kept in the dark of what happened to Oersted, which doesn't help that she was cooped up in Archon's Rest that whole time. When giving the "Reason You Suck" Speech to Oersted, not once did she mention him being a demon or what happened to her father, despite overhearing Streibough's Motive Rant before his duel against Oersted, though knowing him, he most likely hid vital details. By the time the heroes reach her ghost, her words suggest that despite everything, not once did it come to her mind that Oersted is the Lord of Dark or a demon of any sort.
• In the Final Chapter, Masaru has the fastest growth rate out of all of the (human) protagonists. Since he's noted to be an Instant Expert in regards to learning fighting moves, he's also a fast learner when it comes to fighting monsters.
• While fighting OD-10 and using HP Lookup to turn it into its monstrous form, it starts using the powerful "Reformat Sector" attack which also creates electric tiles. However, OD-10 cannot heal from them and a viable strategy is to keep damaging it via them. This may seem extremely stupid, but it also makes complete sense; being that it's destroying key areas next to it just to try and kill Cube, resulting in self-inflicted damage in the process akin to a computer deleting core files just because an intrusive program happens to be there.
• The remake changes the healing items in the Wild West from cigars and booze to jerky and healing tonics. While this might seem like an odd case of Bowdlerization considering what else is featured in the game, it makes far more sense when one remembers that all items are now carried over to the Dominion of Hate, and it would be a problem if the old versions of the healing items were used on characters like the teenaged Akira or the vaguely-aged Pogo.
• Why does each chapter's normal battle theme play during the rematches with the respective Odio incarnations during the good ending? It could be Theme Music Power-Up… or it could be a statement that you've grown so much stronger, and faced so much worse, that the incarnations really aren't a big deal anymore.
• The suicide of Alethea is the last straw that results in Oersted forsaking his humanity. In medieval England (which Lucrece was based on), suicide was considered a sinful felony.
• Considering the timeline of real history, the Middle Ages chapter is chronologically the second or third (depending on exactly when the Imperial China chapter is supposed to happen). This makes it a lot easier to envision how most of Odio's incarnations could have gotten to their designated points in time. (It does make it harder to envision how most of the Odio statues could be built, but if the Lord of Dark himself can transcend time, he could probably view his future incarnations and instruct his demon architects on how to design their idols.)

Shadow Archetype & Foil

The Lord of Dark cast provide Shadow Archetype & Foil of many of the default chapter characters.

Seeing that the Lord of Dark chapter was the first to be designed, it makes sense that a lot of the characters from the normal chapters contained elements that contrast with the Lord of Dark characters. The characters serve as either 'playing the tropes straight' or 'gone normally right' as opposed to the Lord of Dark chapter being a Deconstructor Fleet. To wit:

• Oersted/Odio casts a shadow to The Main Heroes
  • Love: Pogo was able to gain love and it worked out well, while Oersted was screwed over by love, but in the bad ending, he still utters Alethea's name, signifying that deep down, he might've still loved her. In the end, Oersted recalls that like Pogo, he was looking for love, until it spat in his face. One major difference is that Pogo was rejected by his tribe, whom he grew up with until he befriended Beru, and won back the love of his people by ending the cause of the conflict, allowing peace and love to thrive again for all. Oersted, however, despaired either in selfishness or narrowmindedness over how he did not get his fairy tale ending, refused to face reality, and so tasked himself to win back the love of his people by showing them who the real culprit was; he even lacked love for himself by not admitting everyone makes mistakes and sometimes things don't always work out.
  • Ironically, the same issue (Love) can be applied to a non-Hero character: Kirk^note Additionally, with his personality, Kirk may be the type to think that he's the hero of the story when he's not.. Both Kirk and Oersted are the physically-fit men in their respective Love Triangle and earlier winner. They genuinely loved their love interest (Rachel and Alethea). Their chief difference is that Kirk bullies his love rival Huey, whereas Oersted considers his love rival Streibough to be his best friend. However, when push comes to shove, their differences shine: Kirk never had malicious intents even against Huey; he wouldn't even think of killing Huey out of annoyance. Kirk had everything that Streibough accused Oersted for, but he never intended to act on it deliberately. He is someone so confident with his position of Love Triangle that in a dark way, it is proven with how Rachel ended up suffering Sanity Slippage after his death, a dark proof of their mutual affection. On the other hand, Oersted instead proves himself to be very insecure: Throughout his second journey to Archon's Roost, he faces many monsters representing his insecurities about Alethea's reaction about him after what happens (such as accidentally killing her father). His insecurities are proven right that Alethea spits on him in the end and kills herself, making him lose the Love Triangle against Streibough. And in retaliation, he proceeds to kill everyone in Lucrece as the new Lord of Dark.
  • Decisions at Prejudice: All of the Earthen Heart students suffered prejudices that could have darkened their hearts: Lei was alone all the time due to being a lone bandit, Hong was ostracized due to not only his dine-dashing thievery but also because of his fatness, and Yun was bullied into becoming a pickpocket despite his kind nature. But the Earthen Heart Shifu came along and taught them the way of good and facing their problems, persevering against the troubles ahead of them, choosing to not give in to hate and darkness until they finally stood above the prejudices; Yun kept his pure heart and became stronger, Lei became a kinder person, Hong became proud of his own body, and whoever survives became a respected person. Oersted attempted to survive the prejudices after being duped into killing the King, but ultimately decided to give up after the betrayal of Streibough and Alethea's suicide, forgetting the advice that Hasshe and Uranus gave him in his anger.
  • Revenge: The Earthen Heart Shifu and Oersted were both horribly wronged during their respective stories — both of them fell for an underhanded trick that exploited their beliefs and led to the loss of their loved ones; two of the Shifu's pupils were killed by the Indomitable Fist because he was distracted dealing with a gang before he could teach them self-defense, and Oersted was tricked into committing regicide and getting his life ruined by a man that he thought was his friend. Both also dealt with their pain by going after their tormentors and exacting bloody vengeance. However, the Shifu passes away in peace after Lee's demise and the surviving pupil was dedicated to passing down his teachings. Oersted, on the other hand, broke entirely in despair after killing Streibough, lashing out at the people of the kingdom and then all of reality, forcing the heroes to put him down in turn.
  • Trust: Oboromaru used to think that it's fine to kill people for the order, but realized the wrongness of killing people for the wrong reason, which is why he counted his kills and was able to go on a Pacifist Run if he wanted, and the world can change because of trust thanks to Ryoma instead of forcing one's mindset through like what Ode Iou was trying to do. Whatever path he took upon the success of his mission to save the nation of Japan, Oboromaru most of all trusted and believed within himself that he made the right decisions, whatever they might have been. In turn, Oersted used to believe As Long as There Is One Man that trusted him, he could fight on, at least that's what Uranus/Hasshe said; when he felt that nobody would believe in him anymore, he snapped and killed everyone for very wrong reasons, forcing his mindset onto others to change Lucrece to fit how he sees humans.
  • Companionship: Sundown Kid used to be a loner after an unfortunate accident that killed a lot of close people in his beloved hometown. But by helping good people again, he started to long for companionship and lose his Death Seeker status. Oersted wasn't a loner at first, but in trying to help people whom he barely knew and horribly failing to their unbeknownst standards, he ended up becoming one and hating everyone.
  • Strength: Both Masaru and Oersted sought strength, but Masaru also puts importance in the strength of heart, thus his heart remained strong and enabled him to gain strength over those who he defeated, not kill; he did not even kill Odie, just beating him down to the point he couldn't even stand to make a point of his no-kill policy and that he'll never stoop as low even at his worst. Oersted was weak-hearted enough that despite his strength, he eventually let himself snap and became the next Lord of Dark, and much like his incarnation in Masaru's timeline, proceeded to deliver a Fate Worse than Death to those that wronged him. As Masaru mentioned to that incarnation, that wasn't a show of true strength, but slaughter, therefore, proof that someone's heart is afflicted with weakness.
  • Destiny: Akira (pre-remake) was always a believer that he makes his own destiny and he'd Screw Destiny or any other crap that tried to direct his life. The government in his nation attempted to steer their people, Akira included, to become liquefied humans to fulfil a greater destiny... and Akira said "To hell with that" and stopped them. Oersted, unfortunately, always had his life directed by others: if other people say he's a hero, then a hero he would be. If other people say he's a demon, a demon he would be, forgetting that he used to be human and still letting himself be determined by the actions of others. This is something that Akira calls him out on and refers to him as a Hypocrite as a result.
  • Forgiveness: Akira (post-remake) has suffered losses of human lives thanks to several monsters in human skins (the Conspirators), but even so, he never lost faith in mankind's potential. Especially after he found out that his big brother figure, Matsu, was responsible of the death of his father. It could have been the time Akira lost faith in his closest friend, but instead, he chose to embrace Matsu's image of a good, inspiring figure that helped to raise him after his father's death; Akira chose to focus more on the positives despite the available excuse to lash out. Oersted, on the other hand, despite his more justified situation, chose to not forgive Streibough and everyone else, subjecting them to Fate Worse than Death after he became Odio. Even those who encouraged him or never demonized him, such as Hasshe, Uranus, the king of Lucrece, and the kid that adored him, were not spared. Oersted chose to Accentuate the Negative and lump them with the easiest target of blame: Humans. As Akira noted, Oersted's fault is that he, on his own accord, chose to forget about forgiveness and instead looking for excuses to rage without looking at the bigger picture.
  • Humanism: Cube, despite being a robot, was not at all a crapshoot, and tried hard to keep his fellow human companions safe. He was the one that managed to fight off the super computer going haywire, despite the computer's reasoning that Humans Are Bastards. He took Huey and Corporal Darthe's words to heart, striving to learn and learning never to hurt another human. Oersted also saw humans being ungrateful and bitter, but ultimately gave up on humanity in general when he was personally injured by their words. Oersted's words to him also paints another thing that makes Cube differ: As a newborn being, Cube still has a simplistic outlook like the values of humans, so he just continued to trust them despite their squabbling. Oersted, being a former human, already had complex feelings and many emotions around him and noted that maybe what he was really doing was over-thinking things when a much simpler answer was right in front of him: the advice of Hasshe and Uranus.
  • Responsibility: While every one of the protagonists suffered for circumstances that weren't their fault, none of them gave up trying to do the right thing even when they were at their lowest. What happened to Oersted was unfair and not his fault, but it didn't give him the right to inflict that same pain back on the innocent. Oersted chose to cast aside his humanity to become Odio and tried to put the blame on everyone else for it because it was easier and simpler to make humanity his scapegoat than being a good person. It's why in the best ending, when the heroes choose not to kill him, his entire philosophy is shattered and he's forced to admit that he was wrong, fading into dust.
• Streibough casts a shadow to The Main Allies
  • From "The First" chapter, with Gori. Despite being beaten to pulp by Pogo for comedy relief and sniggering at Pogo's misfortune, Gori remains a steadfast ally of Pogo until the end and against impossible odds, such as fighting a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Inversely, the only time Oersted beats up Streibough is just at the tournament, at other times, he treats Streibough well as a good ally. Streibough instead decides to screw Oersted so hard that Oersted turns into Odio.
  • From "The Successor" chapter, with the Earthen Heart successors. All successors received prejudice and lived a miserable life at first which would give them justifications to be envious of others, but they curbed their envy and became better people thanks to the Shifu. Streibough wasn't that miserable at first, what with being a powerful wizard and having a good friendship with Oersted, but he couldn't contend with his envy of Oersted due to being Always Second Best, and he turns into a worse man that inadvertently puts all timelines in danger.
  • From "The Wanderer" chapter, with Mad Dog. Mad Dog, too, is the rival of the hero, whom he always fails to defeat. The difference is that Mad Dog appreciates the dynamic between him and Sundown, despite being a bounty hunter and Sundown always scaring his horses away, leaving him stranded in the wilds as well as openly calling him a villain to the people of Success. On the other hand, despite outwardly being Oersted's friend, Streibough is bitter and resentful towards him, showing how little he appreciates their friendship, even though Oersted did nothing wrong. Furthermore, Mad Dog is able to (temporarily) set aside his differences with Sundown to stop a bigger evil, while Streibough lets his resentment consume him and (accidentally) creates an even bigger evil as a result. The remake even shows that if Mad Dog is spared, he's perfectly able to reconcile with Sundown and even travel together as friends.
  • From "The Strongest" chapter, to several challengers. But in particular:
    • Namkiat is prideful and powerful. He is also a high candidate of being Masaru's final opponent due to him being a Beef Gate. However, he knows how to temper his pride, especially in the remake, where despite getting his beautiful face bruised by Masaru, he still finds time to congratulate Masaru over his victory. Streibough is technically Oersted's final opponent in the tournament, but he's fought early in the scenario. And he really really did not take Oersted 'stomping on his pride' way too much.
    • Great Aja is openly a Jerkass Heel that assaults Watanabe's dad in the chapter. However, the fact that he has to be provoked first with a soda can on the head, and that Great Aja doesn't flat out murder the father, stopping right after Watanabe yells at him, imply that he may possess a Hidden Heart of Gold, enabling Masaru to respect him. On the other hand, Streibough initially presents himself as a pleasant man and rival. But even when Oersted spares his tournament opponent (Armstrong, who appears as a random encounter later), Streibough instead kills off his opponent, Watt of Nabe, without any second thoughts as an early hint that he might not be as pleasant as he presented himself; it is later proven that beneath his pleasant outer persona, he's an extremely envious and petty man, a reversal of Masaru's most outwardly unpleasant rivals.
    • In the original script or Japanese version of the remake, Max Morgan proudly declares himself NUMBER ONE in the ring, but when Masaru beats him, he congratulates Masaru for beating him, content with being just Number Two. Being Number Two, however, is something Streibough is thoroughly sick of and he'll do anything to (re)claim his position at number one. In the remake's English version, this is modified: Max Morgan might be a stranger to Masaru, but he's still friendly and calls him with the endearing term 'brother'. Oersted and Streibough were best friends and might be as close as brothers, but Streibough's 'bond' with him turns out to be incredibly fragile when his issues are touched.
    • Jackie Iaukea once dreamed to be a yokozuna, but failed. Due to his advancing age, he'll never be able to attain it anymore; Odie O'Bright mocks him as if he's dreaming a squandered youth. Rather than mull over it, Jackie decided to take it with a stride and became a mixed martial artist with some of his sumo skills. On the other hand, when his dream of marrying Alethea becomes unattainable due to losing against Oersted, Streibough refuses to let it go and will do anything, no matter how heinous, to achieve it, including plotting for Oersted's misery and gaslighting Alethea to love him.
  • From "The Outsider", to Matsu, keeping with the chapter's themes of forgiveness. Both men horribly wronged their respective main protagonists, with Matsu murdering Akira's father and Streibough emotionally manipulating Oersted's fiancée, tricking him into committing regicide, and framing him for being the Lord of Dark. However, after the murder, Matsu worked tirelessly to atone for his wrongdoings, so by the time Akira finds out the truth, he forgives him, while Streibough continues to torment and antagonize Oersted over his own selfish envy and thus earns a blade between the ribs. And even after being found and having his mind read like Akira, Streibough shows no signs of actually understanding that he messed up, in contrast to Matsu allowing Akira to read his mind to learn the truth of what happened to his father.
  • From "The Mechanical Heart" chapter, with Huey Trumbull. Streibough represents the dark side of 'losing in a Love Triangle' when compared with Huey. While Huey is on the losing side of the love relationship and continuously bullied by both Rachel and Kirk, he never even tries to think of killing either of them or sabotaging their relationship. He is content with still being able to love and support Rachel one-sidedly, even though she does not reciprocate. Meanwhile, after realizing that he lost Alethea to Oersted in their Love Triangle, Streibough instead plots to make Oersted’s life miserable and gaslight Alethea to make her love him, all while Oersted never antagonizes him, which eventually ends in utter disaster: Both Streibough and Alethea are dead while Oersted snaps and becomes Odio.
  • From "The Lord of Dark" and the final chapter, to Alethea. Both of them were pivotal figures in Oersted's downfall, with Streibough manipulating events to ruin Oersted's life and Alethea spitting on his sacrifices and committing suicide to spite him. However, Streibough acts with malice aforethought throughout the Middle Ages chapter, and in the end only offers token posthumous acknowledgement of his own responsibility for the mess he caused. Alethea, on the other hand, acts out of a combination of grief and general stupidity, and in the Dominion of Hate does everything within her power to help the heroes and undo the crisis she inadvertently caused.
• Uranus and Hasshe cast a shadow to The Mentor Figures
  • Cases of Uranus:
    • The Earthen Heart Shifu from "The Successor". Both are old men tutoring their next generation's warriors and sacrificed their lives for their successors. The Earthen Heart Shifu succeeded in imparting his kindness and improving the lives of his successors, but Uranus failed despite his kind encouragement.
    • Moribe Seishi from "The Strongest". While Moribe's characterization is a bit minimal, the skills he inherited to Masaru (Fleetfoot and Celestial Palm) proved to be Masaru's most useful assets to carry his days, particularly in beating Namkiat and Max Morgan, Odie O'Bright, and even Odio himself. Uranus gets more characterization and technically, his advice is incredibly noble and sound. However, fate makes it that his advice is only useful temporarily and even factors in how Oersted snaps and becomes Odio.
    • Doc Tobei from "The Outsider". Both are the intellectual mentors to the respective heroes, with Tobei handling science matters and Uranus handling spiritual matters. However, Tobei knows when to quit when things go out of control; he used to be a government-sponsored scientist until Matsu informs him about the nasty plan of the government. Rather than staying with his colleague, Doctor Livingstill, Tobei instead quit the government and becomes an underground eccentric scientist trying to figure out the figure that proves to be only way to stop the descent of the government's desired god Odeo, the Steel Titan. In his own eccentric ways, he guides Akira to eventually be able to pilot the Steel Titan and save the day, all because he refused to continue using his brain for an evil cause. Ironically, even after he's tortured, Uranus never loses faith in mankind and tries to impart that spirit to Oersted, sacrificing his life for it. Unfortunately, Uranus' advice ends for naught: Oersted loses faith in humanity and becomes Odio indirectly because he clung to the advice for life. As Uranus is trapped in the Dungeon of Heart, he laments that he probably shouldn't have been too overly trusting to those humans, which blinded him from the darkness festering in Oersted. The day ended up being doomed because Uranus refused to not turn a blind eye towards the darkness of mankind.
    • Yoshiyuki Kato from "The Mechanical Heart". Both are the most caring, nurturing only sane men in their respective chapters, who risk their lives to ensure the protagonists are safe and able to accomplish their goals. While Kato ends up making a full recovery from his wounds and gets to live a happy life with Cube on Earth at the end, Uranus' sacrifice was in vain, as with him dead, there was nobody left to stand up for Oersted and keep him from going off the deep end.
  • Cases of Hasshe:
    • Sakamoto Ryoma from "The Infiltrator". Both were older heroes that ended up tutoring people, but Ryoma continued to trust people despite the dark nature of the world and managed to instill his sense of trust in Oboromaru for good, while Hasshe was quick to lose his trust of others. He only regains it in his last breaths, but the trust passed down to Oersted turned into tragedy and ended up all for nothing.
    • Matsu/Lawless from "The Outsider". Both are older heroes who aren't the most idealistic people in the world who died heroic deaths to save the younger protagonists. While Matsu successfully managed to atone for his crimes and his death spurred Akira into being able to pilot the Steel Titan and defeat the conspirators, Hasshe's death was only the beginning of Oersted's downward spiral and ultimately served no purpose since the Lord of Dark he defeated was a fake the whole time.
    • Corporal Darthe from "The Mechanical Heart". Both are decorated veterans of conflicts long past, and both came out of it with a jaded and harsh outlook on life and on people (or robots, in Darthe's case), and both also managed to work through their cynicism and became allies to the protagonists. For Darthe, he managed to help Cube take down OD-10, kill the Behemoth with only a shotgun, and ultimately make peace with robotkind enough to resign from the military and pursue a career assisting medical robots on Earth. Hasshe, meanwhile, has his development cut short by the plague and later Oersted's breakdown, so despite slaying his chapter's giant monster boss, he and his friends didn't get their happy ending.
• Alethea casts a shadow to The Love Interests or The Leading Lady
  • Cases of love interests:
    • Beru from "The First". Both are the official Love Interests of their heroes who are in distress themselves, but Beru reciprocates with Pogo and their relationship continues harmoniously, willing to fight alongside Pogo and can even destroy Odo with her love, while Alethea at first presents herself as reciprocating but ends up rejecting Oersted, becoming the final catalyst that turns Oersted into Odio with her spiteful suicide.
    • Taeko from "The Outsider". Both are interested in their respective 'bad boys' (Matsu and Streibough). However, Taeko's feeling for Matsu is genuine, while Matsu himself is a decent man after quitting the gang. Alethea's feeling for Streibough is a result of manipulation or gaslighting, while Streibough turns out to be a petty and jealous man that fakes his kindness to get what he wants.
    • Rachel from "The Mechanical Heart". Both are the girls being sought for in the Love Triangle, but they handle their love to the winner differently. Darkly, Rachel going mad in grief can be counted as a proof that she truly loves Kirk and is very loyal to him, she has a hard time coping with his sudden death. On the other hand, Alethea's love for Oersted turns out to be weak that she can be easily manipulated by Streibough or easily disappointed in Oersted when he fails to save her in time. Both cases lead her to dump Oersted and accidentally turns him into Odio.
  • Cases of leading ladies:
    • Lei from "The Successor". Lei is particularly fierce and self-motivated, out to prove that she isn't just a pretty face, and is willing to train under the same man who she threw down with to prove she's a better fighter, compared with Alethea who was perceived to have sat back and let things happen, though more often than not it was out of her power to retaliate. As for how they affect those around them, while Lei does warm up to fellow disciples Hong and Yun after a bit of training, her dedication and spirit inspire them both, while Oersted and Streibough's conflict over the passive Alethea was made particularly toxic by the latter's influence, which led to their fight to the death. This also brings contrast to the ends of their tale; the determined and righteously furious Lei either becomes the successor or goes down swinging, while Alethea gives up on Oersted all too soon and kills herself to spite him, only to regret it dearly in death.
    • Annie from "The Wanderer". Annie is strong-willed and doesn't take crap from anyone, not even the Crazy Bunch. When she's harassed by Pike, she stays absolutely defiant. She also has enough guts to call out everyone from the Success Town as a bunch of cowards, willing to oppose the Crazy Bunch even if she's the last person to do so (until of course, Sundown comes in). Alethea, on the other hand, tends to be a bit passive and lets fate dictate whatever she does. She doesn't oppose her father in deciding whom she gets to marry regardless of her feelings, she easily falls for Streibough's manipulation (although she does have enough justifications that she's under extreme distress), and when Oersted comes to rescue her, she acts like every other Lucrece citizen instead of defying the crowd opinion: spiting on him and becoming the final nail of the coffin of Oersted's sanity with her suicide.

Fridge Horror

• In the Distant Future Chapter, the text between the second and third part of the credits says what happened to the crew. The dead crewmembers' bodies have been buried, Kato is still injured but in medical treatment, and Corporal Darthe has retired from the military and begun to focus on the development of medical robots. Then they mention that a worker robot by the name of Cube has been found as well. The horror steps in, when the credits continue with the background music that played when something horrible was going on during the scenario. Is the game likely implying that the worker robot found was the 'Cube' robot that had been controlled by OD-10... and was back to working?
• On Oersted's second visit to the Archon's Roost, the enemies are all named after various phobias, making it seem like a rather literal form of facing your fears. However, quite a few of these enemies take the form of scantily-clad beautiful women. If Oersted is facing his fears in this dungeon, then maybe the reason so many of those monsters look like women is because he's slowly starting to have doubts over whether Alethea will really forgive him for accidentally murdering her father and is slowly succumbing to his hatred. Then he runs into Streibough and Alethea, and pretty much all his worst fears are confirmed in the span of a few minutes. It gets even worse in the Final Chapter, after Oersted becomes the next incarnation of Odio. In the Dominion of Hate, all of the phobia monster girls and Scotophobia are completely changed, having their suffixes changed from "-phobia" to "-philia", the latter of which is an abnormal love for something. It seems to foreshadow Oersted's fall from grace and embracing his inner demons. For a Heroic Mime, Oersted sure has issues…
• The availability of the command Armageddon to the player and its effect, as well as the knowledge of how it becomes available for the player to use, makes you wonder: what if Odio's incarnations could've used it at any time when they were losing then, too?
• Speaking of Oersted and his issues, that may have been what ultimately saved all creation from Armageddon: his heart was weak, and he was so consumed by his own hatred that he wanted to make mankind suffer across all ages; annihilating everything would be against the idea, as the suffering would end too soon. He was so conflicted between his desired ideal and the hatred within that he ultimately could not commit to one or the other. It also explains why he said what he did to the others as he died — not only did he not want them creating a worse evil in his place, but it wasn't his hatred that birthed Odio the Lord of Dark in the first place, either. Streibough himself was consumed by envy towards Oersted for being his foil, and who's to say that it wasn't his hatred that was the true origin for Odio? All that envy, all that hatred, all pointed towards one man... if Streibough had become the Lord of Dark instead after trying, and failing, to get one up on Oersted, would he have hesitated to pull the trigger on Armageddon?
• Unlike the other spirits in Akira's Dungeon of Mind, Alethea appears different: She's not represented with a candle. She just pops up suddenly once you pick up the Gutsy Glove, which signifies her difference. Then you look at the Saint Alethea attack and realize the implications: Oersted reserved a special place of torture for Alethea for being the final nail of the coffin of his sanity: He literally yanks Alethea's soul to be used to fuel the Saint Alethea attack for eternity (restoring her soul to repeat the process all over again since he doesn't run out of resources), delivering the same gigantic damage she caused to him onto heroes that has nothing to do with her. Alethea was basically escaping Oersted's clutches to deliver the message to the heroes and deliver them from the Dungeon of Mind, before Oersted caught her soul again and resumed her daily activities of being used to inflict damage onto others. Those trapped in the Dungeon of Mind seem to have it easier than Alethea...
• Oersted seems to hold fast to his belief that Humans Are the Real Monsters fervently after his ill-fated quest to rescue Alethea, more than likely to the bitter end. As such, his (or perhaps Odio's?) request to the heroes to finish him off could be seen as one last-ditch attempt to get the heroes to give in to their hatred and prove his point… and in doing so, condemn themselves to wander forever in the ruins of Lucrece. If the option to kill Oersted is chosen, then the final line in the remake, "The Cycle Continues...", appears to line up with this, which may imply that Odio is still around in spite of Oersted's death... and with the seven heroes seemingly trapped in Lucrece for good, the implications are less than pleasant.
• Akira losing a battle in his chapter can take a darker tone if you consider that the Big Bad Ensemble may consider liquefying him and stuffing him into a robot like the Liquid Human W-1, on top of him already having powerful psychic prowess...
• It is a really good thing that all of the souls stuck in Akira's Dungeon are incapable of moving or speaking, because if they ever find out that it's all Streibough's fault for this mess, he'd never get any peace. Better yet, what would've happened if Alethea learned that it's Streibough at fault for Oersted killing her father and thus her "love" for Streibough was for nothing? Do the people of Lucrece put all the blame on Alethea herself for being the final straw?
• The King Mammoth in Pogo's chapter is one tough nut to crack, but there isn't much horror associated with him apart from the hellish endeavor that is finding it in the first place, especially without a guide. But once one gets to the end of the game, suddenly some more disturbing questions might pop-in: If Odio, the incarnation of hatred within humanity, comes across as weaker or even more timid than the King Mammoth, both within the Prehistoric chapter and, arguably, in his final boss form, them what the hell is the King Mammoth? How did a seemingly normal animal become stronger than the very personification of hatred itself? Given the lack of information on it besides the directions to find it in the first place, we might never know...
• In the remake, the ending of the Ninja Chapter changes depending on how many people you killed. If you go full pacifist, without killing anyone in the castle, the ending plays out like the original, with the sun rising over a new dawn under a completely clear sky. If you kill some or even most but not all people in the castle, some clouds start forming, their amount depending on the number of people Oboro killed.If you went full genocide (100 kills), the sky suddenly darkens and a strong storm rises with lightning striking through the clouds. The game not so subtly tells you that all those deaths are on Oboro's conscience, and killing all those people will have dark consequences for the future of Japan. So even when his incarnation was destroyed, it could easily be interpreted that Odio still won the fight, albeit by Pyrrhic Victory on Oboro's part.
  • Still better than a demonic child lunging at you with a melting face, though.
• It's mentioned in the remake's Tips that Doc Tobei had basically turned half of himself into a robot, which is scaring the customers. When you later learn that he was a former co-worker of Livingstill who ran away with Matsu's help, his reason to run is heavily implied to be that he found out about Livingstill liquefying his co-workers, and his decision to become a Cyborg may have been an attempt to try and remove any organic parts of his body from being liquefied the moment he gets discovered from his hiding spot.