[POST-GAME BOTH GENDER ROUTES DISCUSSION] Aki and Aki? SPOILERS

[Quincy Quinn]

This is what struck me as most interesting about the different playthroughs in Misao.

To see in the secret room in the lab was interesting enough, as it in a way confirmed them both in the same universe, but one is always sleeping.

And given what Misao went through, it wasn't too shocking to ask the male protagonist to be her boyfriend either.

What gets me is the difference in actions:

Fem!Aki hits the Mandrake bomb with a metal bat. M!Aki just touches it.
Fem!Aki snarks and laughs after Yoshino was killed. M!Aki laments not being able to save her.
Fem!Aki takes out the Misao clones attacking Yoshino with the metal bat. M!Aki uses salt.
Fem!Aki takes out who you choose as the sacrifice with the metal bat. M!Aki can't bring himself to do it, is contacted by the voice of Fem!Aki, and is forced into a choice of who to save instead of who to kill.

Now, for those who remember the freeware version where I believe you could only play as Fem!Aki, her actions seem to all be the same, and it wasn't a big stretch to talk about how, despite the good she was doing to bring the spirits to rest, is actually quite insane. And now there's an even fuller contrast with how nice the male Aki is.

What do you think is the point of this? I can think of a couple options.

One could simply play on the concept of duality, in that old cliche of the good and evil twin, only with the same person.

I also think Fem!Aki's crueler tendencies could also be a take on the perspective of the crueler girls, in particular when it comes to bullying in school. There's a reason why Misao's main harassers in schools were other girls, after all. Don't get me wrong, men wronged her in her life for sure as well, but most of it came to fruition thanks to organization between the girls. So perhaps Fem!Aki is a little more evil to reflect that?

What do you all think? Playing both routes definitely gave me more to chew on.

[LilyKat]

I believe in the old game there were hints as to the Female Aki being partially a demon? It's been a long time since i've played it, but I believe that was the original reason for the difference?

[Quincy Quinn]

Originally posted by Lamentai:

I believe in the old game there were hints as to the Female Aki being partially a demon? It's been a long time since i've played it, but I believe that was the original reason for the difference?

If that's true, my question is really... why isn't male Aki a demon?

[you are talking to a horse 🐴]

Originally posted by Lamentai:

I believe in the old game there were hints as to the Female Aki being partially a demon? It's been a long time since i've played it, but I believe that was the original reason for the difference?

Yupp. That's the reason. :)
(Sadly the Easter Egg Room is not in this Version of the game)

[Quincy Quinn]

I'm thinking maybe some people missed the point of this post... it's not a question of why Fem!Aki acted the way she did, even if I was unaware or forgotten the implied demon thing from the last version apparently... it was more so a question of why the male Aki didn't act the same way if they were supposed to be counterparts, only told apart by sex.

[purple&green2023]

To be honest, for me it's most likely to increase the re-playability factor. I mean, less people would be inclined to re-play the game with Male Aki if he had the exact same personality as Fem Aki.

[Quincy Quinn]

Originally posted by Green&purple2015:

To be honest, for me it's most likely to increase the re-playability factor. I mean, less people would be inclined to re-play the game with Male Aki if he had the exact same personality as Fem Aki.

Well yes, it does add replayability for sure, but I mean as an in-universe reason. I mean, Fem!Aki even communicates with male Aki in his run through.

[Quincy Quinn]

Originally posted by ninjacat43:

I noticed that, actually, and was super intrigued. Could there be a reason as to how exactly they are in the same universe? Misao is rather confusing at times.

I would say that they always both exist, but the other is just in suspended animation depending on who you picked. Their personality differences and how they got there are a real mystery.

[Oblic]

I think part of the answer is simply the F Aki is part demon. It's possible they both are, but she embraced it more than her male counterpart, or something along those lines.

On a more serious note, I think there might be something to do with a stronger sense of empathy. I'm not saying men can't be sexually assaulted or harassed, but I think F Aki can more easily empathize with Misao simply do to the fact that they are both girls. This empathy can extend as far as F Aki feeling the same rage and anger that Misao feels, allowing her to far more grotesque things without as much remorse. I may be over psychoanalyzing things here, but it's a thought.

The last thing (and probably the most likely thing) I would suggest is that the whole thing is meant to be just another mystery. There are so many unanswered questions in both this game and Mad Father (which is a not-so-spiritual predecessor to Misao). Are Library and Aya the same person? Who is Onigawara and why does he seem to find these awful places? What really happened to the resurrected kids? All of them just add to the mystique a bit, and I think the relationship between the two different Akis plays into that. It's clear that they both exist at the same time (a la the Secret Lab), but is there more to it than that? Are they twins? Clones? Or something else? I think the "canonical" answer will likely never be revealed, and, ultimately, it will be up to the player to decide.

[Quincy Quinn]

Originally posted by Oblic:

On a more serious note, I think there might be something to do with a stronger sense of empathy. I'm not saying men can't be sexually assaulted or harassed, but I think F Aki can more easily empathize with Misao simply do to the fact that they are both girls. This empathy can extend as far as F Aki feeling the same rage and anger that Misao feels, allowing her to far more grotesque things without as much remorse. I may be over psychoanalyzing things here, but it's a thought.

I honestly would protest this point. Not only do I still see it as bit of a slap in the face to make it a more gendered issue, but also F Aki is the one I always read as the one lacking empathy. Some things can't be explained with simple rage, and that would be how she responds to these situations so coldly, and iirc sometimes humorously. I honestly think your demon theory is closer to the mark.

[foxsushi]

Originally posted by Quincy Quinn:

Originally posted by Oblic:

On a more serious note, I think there might be something to do with a stronger sense of empathy. I'm not saying men can't be sexually assaulted or harassed, but I think F Aki can more easily empathize with Misao simply do to the fact that they are both girls. This empathy can extend as far as F Aki feeling the same rage and anger that Misao feels, allowing her to far more grotesque things without as much remorse. I may be over psychoanalyzing things here, but it's a thought.

I honestly would protest this point. Not only do I still see it as bit of a slap in the face to make it a more gendered issue, but also F Aki is the one I always read as the one lacking empathy. Some things can't be explained with simple rage, and that would be how she responds to these situations so coldly, and iirc sometimes humorously. I honestly think your demon theory is closer to the mark.

According to the wiki, Narukami Aki (Aki F), was the canon character in the original version. She is rumored to be part demon, her true eye color is red and Library mentions she lacks a human smell (in one of the versions).

[Quincy Quinn]

Originally posted by Drain-O:

Originally posted by Quincy Quinn:

I honestly would protest this point. Not only do I still see it as bit of a slap in the face to make it a more gendered issue, but also F Aki is the one I always read as the one lacking empathy. Some things can't be explained with simple rage, and that would be how she responds to these situations so coldly, and iirc sometimes humorously. I honestly think your demon theory is closer to the mark.

According to the wiki, Narukami Aki (Aki F), was the canon character in the original version. She is rumored to be part demon, her true eye color is red and Library mentions she lacks a human smell (in one of the versions).

I recall something like that too, though the issue being what could be considered canon lore and what could be considered canon "rumor" because of her appearance and the way she behaves, like you just mentioned. The "human smell" being lacking is an interesting thing to note, though. Could be more literal than I was anticipating.

[Houyo]

Something that nobody yet has mentioned is that in the gender select screen both Guy/Girl Aki have red eyes even though they don't have red eyes in the game...

BUUUUUUUT!!!

In the starting cutscene for girl Aki's truth mode, she's lost a contact lens that Misao helps her find. If you pay attention during this scene you'll notice on of Aki's eyes is red, just like on the character select screen. She actually has red eyes, and wears contacts to hide them! Again, more connections to demons that only FAki has. There's no proof that MAki is different, but we have proof that FAki does indeed have red eyes. And one of the gallery pictures is titled something like Demon Eyes... And it's just the picture of the two Aki's from the gender select screen again. This leads me to believe that both versions of Aki are half-demon.

And now, onto something completely based on guess work, so much less 'proof' and more theory crafting.

Female Aki is said to have been bullied by Yoshino too at some point, though this may have been in removed dialogue from an older version. Which may help explain why she's... like that when Yoshino dies. Teehee~! It also may be why she's a bit more violent as we see pretty much every other bullied person in the game one way or another ends up doing... Bad things. Yoshino also tends to bully mostly other girl's because she has a crush on Tohma herself, and both Ayaka and Misao both imply that FAki has a crush on Tohma too (before it becomes obvious he's a jackass). She doesn't bully Saotome because she's too popular to be able to get away with bullying.

Meanwhile, MAki doesn't have to deal with being a target of bullies... Or anything, really. It's a bit odd, as both Aki are best friends with Ayaka for who knows what reason. Since FAki and Ayaka are both girl's it makes a bit more sense, but MAki is a bit more unusual. This is most likely just due to the game originally being built for FAki and MAki added as an after thought. Meaning we can assume that FAki is the 'canon' story and that means MAki is canonically really in that test tube in the lab in the demon world...

But wait, if MAki is in Chainsawman's lab, what does that mean? We know that Chainsawman is implied to be Mad Dad from the other game who experiments on people to make life like dolls. And it's implied that Library is his daughter that we saw him create at the end of Mad Father's secret ending. Meaning MAki may in fact have been created by Mad Dad all along!? In fact, maybe BOTH Aki may have been created by Angry Dad as Aki lives alone off campus with no parents. And while MAki never does anything in FAki's story, FAki actually tries to possess him at one point. Meaning we can assume that FAki may have more power than MAki...

And the Dark world is the same place in both Mad Father and Misao, they look exactly alike with the same sprites. Which also makes me think of how in the Truth mode Onigawara says something about who Aki is is the reason why only they can save the other's souls. This could be implied from their personality... But since both Aki have different personalities we could also assume that it's because Aki has a connection to the Dark World through their bloodlines... Or their creations. Maybe Aki is a creation of Mad Father? Or maybe only MAki is. Also of note is that we don't actually see Chainsawman kill Aki if he finds them, the only time doing so is when their face is hidden (so he may not know it's Aki), or when he turns them into a mandrake. He may not have killed Aki because he recognizes them as one of his experiments...

Or I could just be looking too deep into this stuff lmao

[Soundless1997]

Originally posted by Houyo:

Meanwhile, MAki doesn't have to deal with being a target of bullies... Or anything, really. It's a bit odd, as both Aki are best friends with Ayaka for who knows what reason. Since FAki and Ayaka are both girl's it makes a bit more sense, but MAki is a bit more unusual. This is most likely just due to the game originally being built for FAki and MAki added as an after thought. Meaning we can assume that FAki is the 'canon' story and that means MAki is canonically really in that test tube in the lab in the demon world...

Aside from the theory about being targeted by bullies, I can confirm that the contents of this paragraph is true. When the original 2011 version of Misao was first released, Female Aki was the only protagonist you can play as initially and Male Aki was added in an update.

However, when Male Aki was first added, he had to be unlocked by clearing the game as Female Aki first. Eventually, another update came and did away with that unlock criteria letting players choose which gender to play as right from the get-go.

[NEK0 PRINCESS]

I was just replaying to get all achievements and I noticed this, didn't realize it was any different for MAki (played as FAki to start) and just skipped through the dialogue till I realized some speech was different. Hopefully someone makes a thread of all the differences in game between FAki and MAki. But I agree it was weird how they have different occurrences. I think FAki acted this way because as stated above, she can sympathize with Misao, and because she knows what the students did to Misao, doesn't care when Yoshino dies because she felt as though she deserved it for what she did to Misao.