Massive spoilers here. Akane

[iemander]

Just wondering, are they going to explain why they turned Akane in some goodie two shoes after being responsible for exploding people into goo and masterminding a massive death trap. At least Sigma is relatively collected and rational. I would expect Akane to be less emotional and more how she was in VLR.

[EnglishRosie]

I guess there's 45 years of difference between the Akane in ZTD and the one we see in VLR, so her age may have had a big impact.

Her constant innocent act did annoy me, though, it felt like they were trying to make her more like the fake self she presented in 999. She caused the deaths of several people and designed a trap that most likely traumatised most of the 9 participants (since being constantly threatened/locked into small spaces and watching people die in front of you in gruesome ways is hardly a nice thing to experience). Yet besides Junpei making a few cracks at her, it's almost treated like she never did anything to harm anyone.

[iemander]

Damn, that tonal inconsistency is very annoying. One of the things I've been waiting years for is the aftermath of 999 and how it affected the relationship. But it seems like it's being swept under a rug.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Yeah, I don't really understand why she's less like the cold mastermind we've seen in other games. Maybe we were just overexaggerating how cold she really was.

[Metadragon]

Well she did it out of nesseesity. All versions of herself would have died had she not set up the nonary game seen in 999. And Santa was just helping. Though she ended up tricking Junpei it was not out of some kind of malicious intent, but merely a survival one. And one has to remember, that only one guy actually died during that nonary game and it was not due to Akane.

[venkyru]

I was not THAT surprised by how she acted.
Everything she does is so she can live in a timeline happily with Junpei, it's literaly the only thing that matters to her.

In 999, she has to recreate everyrhing she saw to garantie her own existence in every single detail, even the most tiny detail so the timeline where she is alive exist. Hell, we don't even know if she actually was alive all these years, with her fevers and the body disappearing thing. The second thing is revenge against those who basically ruined her life and Aoi's (she does get pretty violent when she hates someone...I still can't believe she bashes someone to death with an extinctor O_O ). I would not be surprised if it was also a wait to weakening Free the Soul since Ace was a big contributor.

In VLR, it's more or less obvious that she considered the whole thing a "dead end" that she had to go through to create the timeline she wants, thus the cold act. Which also contrast with Tenmyouji and how he thinks you should appreciate what you have in the present moment.

The point is, in both of these games, she was in control of everything, even of it meant her death, because everything was "just as planned".

In ZTD, things are different. In her million years worth of existence, for the first time since her powers awakened, she is not in control and her powers are basically useless. She had no idea that the virus was not in Dcom, that Junpei would be there, that the bomb shelter existed, that they would be forced to play a decision game, that jumping between time would not help them (how each password is associated with a specific character that dies a specific way), etc. In a way, she kind of regress into the girl she was before the whole nonary game buisness.

Just because someone is ready to do anything, including cruel things, to get what they want do not means they are evils deep down.

It does explain why she gets... desperate... whenever Junpei dies before her.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

That.... Actually makes a lot of sense.

[iemander]

Yes but having her godlike powers would make you a touch different than the school girl act shes doing now.

Don't forget that her personality in 999 was entirely fabricated. You have to be pretty cold and calculating to fabricate an entire personality and manipulate everyone around you. Akane was never presented as a normal person. But as someone who sees much farther than anyone else, making her superhuman and think on an another level of existence.

The fact that she would care if people die is already out of character IMO. She should understand the multi verse and understand the consequences. She has already understood many times before

[FluffySquirrel]

Yeah, Akane has always been a good person is how I've seen it. She's just willing to do anything if it's out of necessity pretty much, to activate their powers there generally has to be a sense of danger, so generally that includes setting up life threatening situations.

The main goal however, when everything goes right, typically includes minimal loss of life, and indeed, trying to save the world.

I do agree that some of the shifters getting angry at people dying is a bit strange, they know the reasoning and have literally set these things up themselves

[Metadragon]

Originally posted by iemander:

You have to be pretty cold and calculating to fabricate an entire personality and manipulate everyone around you.

No, in fact you dont have to be a cold person at all to manipulate people. How does the expression go? You are what you think. You look into the abyss long enough and the abyss will stare into you. Well it works the other way was well.You put up a facade long enough and that facade becomes you.

Plus a person who is used to control and then having that control ripped away and left helplesss will sing their true song. Nopt only that but its apparently the first time in a LONG time since she has been helpess and the frustration and anger are justified. Lets also not forget she was doing her damnest to survive in the first one and is trying to prevent the extinction of mankind in VLR. You dont do that unless you care.

Lastly since she is no longer in control and DOESNT see the the way people dying affect the timeline she is literally going into it blind.

So lets recap, she is effectively blind, unable to manipulate the timeline, is under the realization that without her manipulations she is powerless, sees her friends die and is unable to leave the timeline she is in... She went from scientist to rat. Seems pretty scary to me. Which warrants her attitude and personality which has always been there. I think people are putting far too much emphasis on her betrayal of Junpei and not enough into WHY she betrayed him.

[EnglishRosie]

Originally posted by iemander:

Don't forget that her personality in 999 was entirely fabricated. You have to be pretty cold and calculating to fabricate an entire personality and manipulate everyone around you.

The fact that she would care if people die is already out of character IMO. She should understand the multi verse and understand the consequences. She has already understood many times before

I was actually really pleased with a lot of Junpei's behaviour in ZTD for the first reason- in 999, he is actually an incredibly manipulative person (forcing people into the doors he wants, the "I'm Santa" scene with Ace) and is fairly inherently selfish.

He cares about himself and about Akane well above everyone else, and that comes across in ZTD often as well (like the first AB choice ending where most people would choose ally expecting Junpei to too). I don't think either of them wouldn't be upset by other characters dying, especially considering Akane cares the most when Junpei is the one killed. Junpei just priorises Akane over everyone else, while Akane doesn't do the same which seems odd. Perhaps it is BECAUSE she is not in a position of power in the game that she doesn't want anyone to be harmed: there are only so many timelines they can SHIFT to, after all, and if they are killed in all of them it becomes impossible for them to progress.

I suppose the difference is that she believed the people she killed in 999 deserved it for what they did to her and her brother 10 years beforehand, while as far as she is aware none of the people in the three teams in ZTD have done anything awful (since she doesn't know about Mira's backstory). I think she certainly would have been affected in 999 when she saw people like Clover and Light killed, even if she would have rationalised it as being just a failed timeline.

I thought when we saw her behaviour in the trailers that she might be acting more emotional and compassionate and like her 999-self because it benefited her to act like that around Carlos to gain his trust more, but it turns out that isn't the case. It just feels like they were trying to fit the two characters in each team who weren't in control of choices into a devil/angel on your shoulder sort of role: Sigma and Phi also have the same "do this beneficial thing/do this kinder thing" sort of act going on, although they switch sides more than Akane and Junpei, who seem firmly stuck on the order/chaos sides each.

[Arale//Zero]

Sorry for the bump, but to me it really makes 999 fall flat in retrospect. The whole point of 999 was that Akane was not a submissive love interest and that Junpei didn't know anything about how she had changed. It was a very clever twist; the whole childhood friend, the suggestive jokes, it's all anime tropes that get harshly subverted. Come ZTD, turns out she is a submissive love interest and she didn't change at all. Even if Akane's actions can be semi-rationalized, it makes the THEMES fall apart.

[UnLuckyCat]

She's clearly acting super anime in order to woo Carlos and make Junpei mad jealous.