Visual Novel / Exile Election

Exile Election (Tsuihou Senkyo) is a Visual Novel by Nippon Ichi Software for the PlayStation 4 and Play Station Vita.

The game follows a group of 12 people (ranging from 11 to 25 years old) who get stuck in an amusement park called Aliceland when the outside world is destroyed by monsters. The group is forced to play a deadly game by the strange AI Alice, who says that, by the end of the game, there can be only 2 survivors, so the group shall vote on who should be killed. The sister of the protagonist falls the first victim, with nine people voting for her exile, so he decides to take revenge on these nine people by using the game in his favor.

Exile Election launched in Japan on April 27, 2017. No plans of localization have been mentioned yet.

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This Visual Novel contains examples of:

• Animal Jingoism: While most of the participants' avatars are randomized, the two candidates for each election are given the Blue Dog and Red Monkey, referencing an old Japanese idiom about 'fighting like dogs and monkeys'.
• Artificial Intelligence: In order to ensure that those eliminated from the game are still able to participate and keep the debates lively, 'snapshot' A.I.s based off of them take their place during the elections. This includes a 'snapshot' copy of Misa, as the Orange Cat.
• Believing Their Own Lies: This can throw off Kaname's Living Lie Detector sense; if somebody honestly believes what they're saying is the truth, it won't read as a falsehood to him.
• Brains and Brawn: Yuuri and Michimune, respectively, are considered the brains and the muscle of the team led by Miori.
• Chained by Fashion:
  • Ichika sports a long chain connected to her collar.
  • Izuki has a handcuff on one of his wrists.
• Chekhov's Gun: During each debate, Kaname can memorize various statements made by others, then use them as ammunition to counter his opponent's arguments. This includes using their own words against them by pointing out contradictions.

• Deal with the Devil: Alice actually supports Kaname's bid for revenge, agreeing not to take away his memories of Misa again and taking a generally 'hands-off' approach to the matter of his special senses... mainly because she finds his efforts curious and entertaining, and wants to see how far he'll go/how much he'll be able to succeed. This doesn't mean that she won't happily exile him if he fails, of course; nor does this stop her from Trolling him with the debate scenarios she crafts. Kaname doesn't trust her one bit.
• Deus Angst Machina: The various debate scenarios commonly use these as part of their setup. For instance, both of the Tadenomiya twins' scenarios open with them losing their lover, either to a drunk driver swerving wildly and crashing into him or to an incurable illness.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Michimune's debate forces Kaname to argue against the idea of everyone being able to sense lies the moment they're told — a skill he himself secretly possesses.
  • The scenario for Hakushuu's debate revolves around a bereaved brother wanting to take Revenge upon the one who got away with murdering his little sister. Hakushuu is the one arguing in favor of revenge, while Kaname, despite his own feelings on the matter, is forced to argue against it.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Yuuri is easily mistaken for a girl.
• Eaten Alive: The fate of those caught by the monsters outside Aliceland.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Aasha, who dresses in a dark european-style lolita fashion.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Almost all characters have this, but Izuku and the Tadenomiya sisters are the most blatant examples.
• Female Feline, Male Mutt: Kaname is always the Blue Dog during the debates, as he's always participating as one of the candidates/facing off against the Red Monkey. Meanwhile, while most of the other avatars are randomized to hide the identities of the participants from each other, the 'snapshot' of his sister Misa is always given the Orange Cat, supposedly as a 'favor' from Alice so that he always knows which one she is.
• Framing Device: Each election has a scenario to help set up its Driving Question, which the participants are called upon to act out before the debate proper begins.
• Graceful Loser: Much to Kaname's surprise, Kasha appears to be one after losing their debate, even accepting Alice's blunt refusal of their Last Request as reasonable, given how the group now knows that she wishes to go out in a Murder-Suicide with her beloved. They rationalize that their fate is simply to be remembered as beautiful and tragic by the others... until Kaname reveals to her that everyone's memories of her will be erased after her exile.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Miori's debate centers around the idea of whether or not it would be best to have a way of seeing one's abilities all laid out as raw stats like in a video game. Part of Kaname's counter-argument is that this would make it tougher for those without raw, 'natural talent', as they would struggle to establish themselves, while Miori insists that this would actually offer them more motivation to work harder.
• Ignored Epiphany: After learning that he's not that different from Hakushuu Isumi during their debate, Kaname reflects after exiling them that he could easily end up in the same position: condemned to die without the satisfaction of seeing his vengeance through to fruition. However, he quickly dismisses the idea, convincing himself that he'll succeed where they failed.
• It's a Wonderful Failure: If you lose a debate, Kaname has a short discussion with whomever his opponent was, with Alice cheerfully twisting the knife.
• It's All About Me: Both of the Tadenomiya twins are deeply self-absorbed, though in slightly different fashion: Aasha is convinced that she's so special, unique and beautiful that everything belongs to her by right, while Kasha is focused upon her romantic ideals to the exclusion of all other concerns — such as what her potential partner might want.
• Just Between You and Me: Alice likes to chat with Kaname one on one. She also gives him and his opponent a chance to speak privately after each election, before the loser gets exiled.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Alice inflicts this upon the survivors after every election and subsequent exile, making them forget what happened. Kaname wasn't meant to remember what happened to his sister, but has his memory jogged when he discovers her beloved teddy bear, and Alice agrees to let him keep those memories mainly because his drive for revenge is making the game more interesting.
• Last Request: Some of the participants make these before their exile.
  • If eliminated before the twins, Hakushuu specifically asks Kaname for confirmation that his vengeance includes both of them. Kaname claims that he intends to leave them alive, not wanting to offer Hakushuu the satisfaction of knowing that they're going to die.
  • Kasha wants to see Hakushuu one last time before she goes. Alice refuses, pointing out that her debate revealed her intention to Murder-Suicide with her loved one, regardless of their feelings on the matter. Kasha concedes the point without a fight.
• Living Lie Detector: One special advantage Kaname holds over others is his ability to detect when others lie, signified by a resounding heartbeat and the words in question being dyed red. This includes his own lies.
  • Michimune's debate has him arguing in favor of activating a machine that would give everyone this ability, with Kaname having to be careful to avoid exposing the fact he's already capable of doing so.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Yuri's debate centers upon a device that 'links hearts', allowing people to communiciate complicated ideas to each other without having to try and find the right words for them. Kaname takes this stance — that such a device would only complicate matters by forcing everything out into the open. If Yuri wins, Alice gives him a taste of what it would be like by revealing Kaname's motives to him, then blithely describing her read of his reaction to Kaname in turn.
• Near-Rape Experience: Figures into the backstory of Group A. The cutscenes before their respective exiles tell the story of how Miori was assaulted, but Michimune and Yuuri interrupted, with the culprit being killed and his body buried afterwards.
• No Party Like the Donner Party: Issei's debate scenario has thirteen people stranded by a snowstorm, with the only potential food available being a sentient alien. Issei argues in favor of eating the alien to stave off starvation, while Kaname argues against it.
• Original Position Fallacy: Crops up in several debates, such as Miori's: many of the supporters of a world where everyone's talents are known and quantified as stats believe that they're skilled enough that the numbers revealed this way would bear that out, meaning they'd simply be recognized as special. Ironically enough, Miori believes the exact opposite — that her stats would reveal that she's utterly worthless, convincing everyone to leave her alone because she's not worth their time.
• Painting the Fourth Wall: When showing how the votes for each round of debate have panned out, the animal icons representing each person will move in ways that reflect their feelings on the matter. So somebody who voted decisively will zip right over to whichever side they chose, but somebody more conflicted will have their icon hesitate, tremble, or start to swing one direction before veering towards the other.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: How Kaname justifies targeting the nine who voted to exile his sister. Also naturally comes up during Hakushuu's debate, as it centers around a brother seeking to avenge his murdered sister by killing the one responsible.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Kaname's sister, Misa is the first casualty of the game. Her death is also the thing that makes Kaname decide to take advantage of the Deadly Game to take revenge on the nine people who voted for her.
• Psychotic Love Triangle: Both Aasha and Kasha wish for their beloved Hakushuu to be hers and hers alone, rather than having to share his attention and affection with anyone else, including their sister. Not only did this lead to them destroying his life before the deadly game began, he's not the first victim of their obsessive possessiveness.
• Rei Ayanami Expy: Noori, a young and quiet blue haired girl that is protected by Kaname and Ichika.
• Replacement Goldfish:
  • Noori effectively serves this purpose for Kaname, being a Mysterious Waif who appears to be the same age as Misa, but acts far younger and whom he quickly vows to protect.
  • If Hakushuu is exiled before them, the Tadenomiya twins quickly latch onto Kaname as a potential replacement. This isn't the first time that they switched targets after losing their original one, either.
• Ret-Gone: After somebody is exiled, Alice erases the survivors' memories of them, leaving them with Wistful Amnesia at best. Save for Kaname himself, who gets to keep his memories of them as a perk for 'volunteering' to be one of the candidates.
• Revenge: Kaname, the protagonist, decides to spend the entire game dedicating himself to kill the nine people who voted for his sister to be exiled.
• Rule of Three: Each Exile Election has three rounds of debate. The supporters start by voting for which side they favor, then vote again at the end of each round, giving the candidates a better idea of how well they're managing to sway the others in their favor. Kaname also has three Heart Points; losing all three by failing to counter his opponent correctly and Survive means that he loses the debate and gets exiled.
• Sadistic Choice: The Exile Elections naturally function this way, given the fact that the participants know that whomever loses the debate will be kicked out of Aliceland and sent out to face the monsters in the surrounding forest alone.
  • The first Exile Election is especially brutal, as Alice blithely informs the group that if they don't eject somebody, then everyone will end up dead. And she specifically points out the badly injured Misa as a 'logical' option.
  • Alice even tells Kaname that the reason why she opted to hold all of the other elections inside a VR chat room with animal avatars hiding everyone's identities is to help the participants be more 'honest' with their feelings. If they knew who the two candidates were, they'd naturally vote in favor of whomever they cared about more; the extra layers of obfuscation are meant to prevent that from happening.
• Saying Too Much: Serves as a Finishing Move in debates. In the climax of each debate, if Kaname correctly identifies what his opponent's driving motivation is, they'll proceed to blurt it out. This naturally tends to make them lose supporters, sealing their fate.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: In Hakushuu's debate scenario, a young man gets away with murder due to his father being a powerful politician. In response to this, Hakushuu's character — the griefstricken older brother of the girl he killed — plans to murder him himself.
• Secretly Selfish: Frequently, Kaname wins the debates by making out his opponent to be this, dragging their secret motivations out into the light to be judged harshly by the others.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Yuuri and Michimune also fit this role.
• Shout-Out: Kaname's official art has him in the signature "Objection" pose of Ace Attorney.
• Team Dad: Issei, the oldest member of the team who is also quite nice and seems interested in helping the others.
• Tempting Apple: Used in a lot of the game's official art, such as the Garden of Eden imagery with Noori and the black snake for the box art.
  • An apple with a bite taken out of it is used as the game's cursor. While the player is reading text, the cursor animates with the apple getting eaten up, bit by bit, even the leaf getting devoured.
• Timed Mission: You only have seconds to counter your opponent's points during debates, using phrases pulled from statements made during the discussion. Sometimes allowing the clock to run out is actually the right choice; in most cases, though, it's an Exact Time to Failure, and letting it run down means losing one of your Heart Points. Three failures means you lose the debate.
• Tragic Dream: In Miori's debate scenario, Kaname points out that in a world where everyone could see everyone's abilities and talents translated into statistics, that would include seeing who doesn't have the skills necessary to chase their dreams, leading to them being discouraged and pressured to stop trying, told that their efforts are completely pointless.
• Villain Protagonist: Kaname seems to operate in a very gray area, morally speaking. He dedicates his time in the game to guarantee the death of everyone who voted for his sister to be exiled, even though he is attempting to protect Noori in the process. The gameplay also allows him to be deceitful, manipulative and attack people's weak points.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Aasha's debate scenario casts the group as participants in a test study for nanomachines capable of keeping them alive forever, who have to decide whether or not they're going to take the dosages and become effectively immortal. Aasha argues that Living Forever Is Awesome, while Kaname must argue against it.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: The Tadenomiya sisters are described as having sharp minds for their age.
• Wistful Amnesia: While Alice Ret Gones the survivors' memories of anyone who gets exiled, those who were especially close to each other still have some sense of loss, even if they can't recall just who is missing.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Alice likes to praise Kaname for his successes, marveling at how coldly and cruelly he's playing her game. Kaname generally does his best to ignore her, inwardly seething.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Kashe's debate topic revolves around this: would it be better to know precisely how much time you have left to live, or go about your life unaware of how long you have?