Akane in 999 was willing to kill people to save herself, Selfish, but not SUPER evil, Akane in VLR and ZTD was trying to SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Akane wasn't kept alive through 999 by some 'Deus Ex Machina'. She was literally Schrödinger's cat. Simultaneously both alive and dead, until Junpei either succeeds or fails the incinerator puzzle 9 years in the future. Young Akane didn't have a 'cunning' side. She wasn't deliberately acting cute to make Junpei drop his guard. She was _remembering_ what she had seen her future self do when she was watching through Junpei's eyes, and trying to repeat it. She couldn't be sure what dialogue was relevant to inspiring Junpei to save her, so she had to reproduce everything exactly how she remembered seeing it. Similarly, Akane didn't _choose_ to kill the Ninth Man. She had _seen_ the Ninth's Man's death through Junpei's eyes. She knew he had to die, at that moment, or she would die in the incinerator. Everything we see in 999 was a casual loop: Akane was not the source of any of the puzzles on the ship, she was merely recreating what she had seen Junpei solve, to create that experience for him.

Zero Time Dilemma is a huge mess, but the ending that leads into Virtue's Last Reward, where Akane realizes that she failed, and mid-breakdown she denies herself the time to grieve and immediately starts planning how to fix it, that ending broke me and single-handedly justified the game existing.

one of my favorite small things about akane is the fact that, given the circumstances in which it happens and what we know of her sense of humor, the Elevator Conversation in 999 was in retrospect _absolutely_ just her fucking with junpei for the hell of it

For all the people she had hand in killing, and for all the war crimes she has committed i still find myself rooting for her.

I think what made me love Akane so much is how completely and utterly she caught me off guard. Going into 999 blind, I fully believed she was going to be the sweet but ultimately forgettable love interest for Junpei, and I could NOT have been more wrong. I love her so much for that

I actually really liked seeing Akane in a non-puppet master role, and I ultimately appreciated how Zero Time Dilemma handled both her and Junpei. Seeing Akane in a setting where she had much less control than usual meant we got see her in a more vulnerable state, get behind the façade she had carefully crafted to both serve her aims and protect herself. It both revealed new things about her (like her religiosity) and brought both her simultaneously pure and innocent side AND her manipulative, ultra-pragmatic side out in full view. Though I will agree that her exaggerated rabbit-obsession was something of a case of Flanderization (ZTD sometimes really suffered from a lack of restraint, also seen with the overuse of the Blue Bird Lamentation song). On the other hand, while I've long viewed Zero III as a Discount Monokuma, your video did give me somewhat more appreciation for him, by bringing up the importance of his rabbit design.

As I once put it to a friend of mine, who I was trying to encourage to play through 999, on the surface Junpei and Akane seem like a typical set of anime romantic partners. But then... by the end of the game, it becomes apparent that neither one is quite that.

Akane did nothing wrong.

What I love about akane is how complex she is, she ostracised the entirety of 999 and put a lot of people in danger yet she never intended to harm junpei and the others because she never put a bomb inside them except ace and 9, she even makes an entire facility in space in order to save human kind with her life on the line, a lot of people give her flack for behaviour in ZTD but honestly imo she acts pretty tame for the most part considering how much trauma she went through

I think the Anthropic Principle chapter of Zero Time Dilemma perfectly showcases the tragedy of Akane's existence: She has to suffer through thousands of timelines (most of which probably from the dice game) just to get at one good ending at the end of ZTD. In the words of Delta: Life was simply unfair.

I sincerely hope that everyone gets therapy after they catch the mystery terrorist. Akane has been through so much that she began to blend into countless timelines. After the end of the world is FINALLY prevented, she needs to be able to just enjoy her one single timeline and just exist as a person for a bit. I just want her, Junpei, Aoi, and everyone else to have a great life after being forced by the omniverse to solve timeloop after timeloop. She deserves a comfortable life with Junpei where they can communicate through the morphogenetic field for casual conversation and wholesomeness, not defying death.

Akane is easily one of the most interesting video game characters IMO! Always glad to see more Zero escape content!

Say what you will about Zero Time Dilemma, but Akane using back to the future to explain time travel parallel dimension theories is burned into my brain

It's so rewarding to finally see Akane have a happy life in the end of ZTD. I played the other games right before ZTD released, so I get to see through the stories one after the other.

I remember reading something like a fanfiction or maybe AU back in the day about 999. It took place in an alternate ending where Junpei needed to die for his memories to go to another timeline, but it ended up going wrong, really wrong, and Akane ended up holding a Knife to Junpei, her hands trembling and reluctance on her face. She wouldn't explain why, but she told Junpei that he needed to die. Of course there was a back and forth where Junpei tryed to talk her out of it. But then Akane goes silent for a bit before screaming out that she wished more than anything in the world that she didn't have to, that she would rather take her own life than ever have to take anyone elses. She wished that they both lived in a world where they could live together without any worries, just a peaceful and happy life. But that no matter how much they both wanted to live in a world like that together, it wasn't the one they were in. And it was because that they were in this world, that they both didn't get to have a happy ending. Junpei though, walked forward to her unflinchingly. He said he refused to accept that, no matter what world they were in, as long as they were both together anything would be possible. Junpei has a touching speech that makes you think she'll give up as tears stream down her face. But right in the middle of Junpei's speech, as he talks about them leaving the death game together, Akane stabs him in the chest. Junpei slowly dies in Akane's arms, dumb founded, as she cries her heart out, paralleling the timeline where Junpei holds the dieing Akane in his arms. She keeps apologizing again and again for everything she has done, will do, and could have done to him, him barely understanding any of it. Finally saying how much Junpei must hate her, before stating how she hates herself more than anyone else in the world, or any world. Hate for all of the horrible twisted things she knows she's willing and capable of doing. She's seen all of it, every single unforgivable act. She hates herself more than anyone else ever possibly could, and how much she wishes she were someone else, anyone else. But it's because of who she is, the person she knows she is, that she has to do all this, there is no alternative for her, that's why she hates herself more than anyone else. But Junpei, as the light starts to leave his eyes, puts his bloodied and to Akane's face and tells her that he could never hate her, or any version of her. No matter what she ever did to him he would always... And Junpei's hand falls to his side as both he and Akane vanish from the world.

oooooh, the enneagram explains so much about character similarities, I've always looked at the characters and felt a lot of them fit the same archetypes as the other games, knowing that they actually did makes a lot of sense

i was just recently wanting to see more zero escape content and my wish was granted

Man 999’s artstyle is so good. Makes the characters pop.

Everything bad that happened in 999 is because this girl couldn't solve a fucking sudoku

Akane is definitely a favorite of mine as well, I just love how REAL she feels, if that makes sense. Absolutely incredible analysis!

Akane has been a rollercoaster character for me, but in the end I ended up loving her design and development

Thank you so much for this video!!! This is what I’ve been looking for since I marathoned all of zero escape earlier this year. She’s such a complex character

This video is fantastic! I hope to see more content like this from this series! Akane is my favorite character so thank you!

yessss love to see a new zero escape vid from you

in tears, this was an amazing video. Please, Please! Keep this fandom alive, and make more videos

This video did a great job of summarizing Akane. I love all of your Zero Escape videos and hope to see more in the future.

yes!!! i've been wanting more zero escape analysis from you, your past ze videos are SO good

wonderful video!!! akane is my fav character ever, and this video just made me so happy, you really did her justice! also i LOVE the music choices you used, they set the mood for each section really well!!

Absolutely love this video! I thoroughly recommend looking up the ztd art book and finding the scan of the pre-decision game story. It not only explains more of other's in the cast but akane as well! Thank you for making this brilliant video from a fellow akane fan.

fantastic video! i have so many thoughts on akane and this gave me even more to chew on. thanks for the vid!

I like how I just yesterday watched all your videos about ZE and now you releasing new video about it. What a timing. Great job on other videos, they were awesome!

I misread the title as “Creating the World’s Worst Headline” and thought, well today is a fitting day for this to be recommended to me.

I wasn’t expecting a zero escape video but I’m pleasantly surprised.

I just played the trilogy over the last 3 weeks after finding your video about 999. And then you upload this the weekend I finish. Great timing buddy

It's kinda nuts how I was just recently recommended your ZE videos and literally just finished watching all of them today, and now you upload a brand new ZE video. I wasn't expecting this at all!

Just found your channel and I love the personality you give the videos already, Good Job!

I clicked on this video expecting her to get grilled, only to find myself being pleasantly surprised it's a character analysis video. This series means a lot to me, and I'm happy I watched this. I even learned a few things that I didn't pick up on whilst I played it.

i needed this analysis. happy you did it when so many other people with their essays didn't

Thank you so much for this.

What a fantastic video. Thank you.

This was a cool and interesting video with great insight into Akane's character. It also confirms a theory I have regarding Uchikoshi's other work, Nirvana Initiative. The character of Tokiko Shigure is a parallel to Akane. In fact I feel like Tokiko is what Akane would be if Akane didn't have stable relationships with her brother or Junpei. In NI Tokiko is a manipulative and mysterious, random fact spewing, crazy person who has insane almost convoluted plans. Tokiko is also detached from the world and besides her ideology has little care for the world.

Great video essay honestly 👍

Another banger. Another banger from KayJulers KZfaq.

Amazing video, I’ve subbed ❤

See what I love about KayJulers as a KZfaqr is that I can see a video title and so wildly disagree in my head right away, but after 30 minutes of well thought, articulated points- I think about things in a way I hadn't previously. Good job.

I was genuinely convinced ZTD was some weird parallel universe and Akane looked and acted differently because it was a parallel universe timeline Akane along with Junpei. And all of this would be part of some big twist at the end. But then the game ended and color me surprised to learn that was not the case.

Love this video

I freaking love this series!!

Amazing video

She's not a heroine. She's closer to an antihero or maybe a villain. You can't judge her by heroine standards because (by the end) we know she isn't one.

Fantastic video! It's been a long time since Zero Escape finished, but this video did a wonderful job at reminding me just how amazing a character Akane is.. when the series was active (as active as it could be) I regularly thought she was one of the best characters I'd ever seen and yeah, this video gave me memories of those moments in 999 and VLR that still hit so hard. I miss her :') sometimes I still wish we could get a ZTD remake which is just a little more fleshed out, with the solid presentation of the Somnium Files games... oh well

Akane, through trying to save a single life, many timelines were ruined, many people died and were manipulated, she knew what she was doing, she took eveything in consideration, atleast mostly...and yet it doesnt matter, because she lived in the singular good timeline, until the sequels

Wow I thought there wasn't gonna be another zero escape video from you but you knocked it out of the park maybe do one on Junpei next?

Me, 999 firsts run: "Oh, look, the bland chick romantic interest of the MC who he has to rescue to have a happy ending"

I can't go past 999 for the sake of spoilers but man, that game was something else way back when I played it on the DS so being able to experience it again on the PS4 and play it was a great experience but to think about how deeply Akane's story runs is crazy to me. I gotta find the time to play the other two games.

so glad to see another zero escape video from you! this was a great analysis. also, have you played the somnium files games and/or plan to make any videos on them? they're amazing and i wish more people would talk about them

I seriously need to play these games again. I look back on them so fondly but I've forgotten a lot of the details

I know this is spesifically about Akane, but I just wanted to say having finished Zero Time Dilemma today just how wild these characters are to stop, often right in the middle of a life threatening situation to discuss philosophy or tangential theoretical dilemmas. I don't know if it happened more in Zero Time Dilemma or the presentation of that game caused it to stand out more than it did during the previous escape room exploration, but it's seriously wild that these characters are actually dying and yet need to give a lengthy explanation on all the different probability calculations going into what's happening. Okay, with that rant over, I've loved being able to binge your videos on the topic, some really amazing deep dives into this series who's narrative is really mindbending.

When I first played 999 ten years ago and understood the twist I decided to stop playing rather than complete the final puzzle. I didn't want to fulfill the time loop that would allow her to exist in the first place.

I didn't like how in the 3rd game they tried to waifu her and make her seem innocent. I adored how morally gray she was in the first game and how cruel she was in the second game. I don't think she is purely "evil" by the 2nd game and agree that she is complex. But is clearly in the wrong and needs to be stopped. I don't know, the 2nd game really felt like it was building up to going against her in some way, but the 3rd game really dropped the ball on it. I know it had to drop a lot of plot points due to development issues, but I just felt uneasy with how they handled her in the 3rd game while adoring her in the 1st and 2nd game.

Highly enjoyed the video even though I had zero previous knowledge 😅

A quick note, Aoi is actually pronounced Ow-ee. Great video all the same!

One of my favorite characters of all time

I know this video isn't going to do well because Zero Escape isn't a well-known franchise and you probably knew that too. But I am very grateful that despite that you have created this gem about one of the most underrated games in history

I see ZE and I have to click, very excited.

If you DO ever get that thesis published, I think it would be a fantastic read.

"Junpei.... did you know..... 9/11 was an inside job?"

another zero escape video, WE WIN!

The writer for this series (and others like Somnium) has a tendency to write the plot twist and the conclusion first, then write backwards from there. On many points it is enjoyable to follow, but some of the twists seem a little too fantastical and farfetched when you attempt to line it all up. When I played 999 so many years ago, I think that particular game was the easiest to follow out of its series. And I still get a mental pretzel trying to rationalize "multi-verse" branching supposedly affecting a single-branch (since typically the single branch would just be another of many and there shouldn't be any mind-shuffling), but it's fiction and we can just watch the show.

While Akane definetly can kill someone if she wants, i think that she uses killing just as a last resort kinda of situation. In 999 if think that the bombs was actually Santa's/Aoi's part of the plan, he feel's more "unhinged" and more likely to plan a murder for revenge. In VLR, while Akane had everybody infected, she also had the antidote available for everyone, and the killings came more from Dio anyway, so even if she knows that death is inevitable, she still tries to have a way out for everyone. And in ZTD, Akane killed Carlos with the chainsaw out of blind rage, considering her situation is easy to see that, she's not in control this time so she can't be fully herself, and she even deeply regrets right after she sees what she has done. It's evident in her character when in the mini AB game in ZTD, she immediately thinks of SHIFTING (again it's a last resort they have), Akane knows that in doing so she's actively throwing other versions to die. If she's was like Delta and couldn't SHIFT either and just have the ability to see the other timelines i would feel more bad for her, but i know she can, anyway the point is that she's still very conflicted because she's fine when it's her idea to sacrifice other versions of them (as a last resort), but right after that Junpei kinda has the same idea just executed differently, she gets all pissed off because she had to see him "die", and it just gets worse when they see it was pointless. So she's fine with death but only when it's a last option situation. The only bad part in all of this is that when SHIFTing, Akane doesn't mind much that she's essentially killing other versions of themselves, Imagine right before the room explodes the other Akane that was fine just arrives there, would she understand? I can totally see an "Akaneverse" all pissed at eachother if they could meet.

I think among ZTD's many problems, it was a huge mistake for Uchi to hand off C-team to another writer, and I'm still baffled that it shook out that way. Akane was his baby, and I don't think anyone else could envision her character like Uchi does

I find it funny that fan's assessments of the characters ennegram types are COMPLETELY different to the ones Uchi intended. Personality database says Seven is a 9 and Akane is a 5 (which IMO fits a lot better)

Hold on. That's the neighborhood song from Toy Story 2 for the PS1 at 8:58. I did not expect that lol

What are your thoughts on the 999 novelization? I know it's not quite Uchikoshi canon but it doee provide a new take on Akane and some other characters

In 999 June/Akane is a very good written heroine if you play on 3ds especially. Cause on PC they cut out scene June and Junpei on hill with doll and put this scene in the end. In 3ds I loved June character at the end and it was very sad ending. In PC version there wasn't any June story at all until the end.

Great character

She is one of my favorite female characters in video games

I wish I could watch this, but I have to finish VLR (nowhere close) and ZTD. Nonetheless, 999 is fantastic and I really enjoyed Akane. Very compelling.

"Who the f--? Oh, it's Kay. All right, let's hear this." XD

I kind-of want to read the paper you've written, honestly. Can I pay for & buy a copy in an official capacity?

Gonna be honest I hadn't heard the quote the title is based on so when I first saw this pop up in my recommended I thought it was a hate video. but instead good vid

Poor Man Rika Furude

0:59 7:53 Peacemaker becomes the observer 8:35 Guard down from a peacemaker 9:35 Fever 16:08 Mastermind pretend peacemaker 20:20 Akane Life 22:34 Fire 24:43 America 25:09 Puppetmaster

Have you played the Somnium Files series yet? They're both written by Kotaro Uchikoshi and they seem like something you'd do a video one

SHOOT. Wanna watch this video but I haven't played the Zero Escape games. Brb once I finish them

Misread the title and got scared

Best Girl!

Because she is the antagonist

3:06 Can someone explain me why every character (except Akane) is not in the same number of the eneagram as they were assigned to in the first nonary game? Till I saw that graph I was actually sure that their watchnumber made totally sense to their character😂

mmy braaiiinnnnn

I like to imagine her thoughts during the Payoff 2 of ZTD to be, "damn this old guy really just outdid me at everything I ever tried to do".

Shes willing to kill herself for own interest Gives me Yuno Gasai vibes❤

I can change her

Holy shit I didn't even know that about her fevers. 😮

She is such a chad

I just finished my first entry in the series, virtues last reward, and was so hooked that I instantly wanted to know what goes on in the other titles, but since I only really use Nintendo platforms it’s very hard to play the other two, so I’m using you’re videos as a substitute until I find another way to experience them.

After watching this video i need to go and bing threw the zero escape trillagy with how long between my play throughs of them worry and how long it took me to beat zdt I need to replay it to understand its full story maybe ill cone out with a better perseption of ztd wail i liked it i also after finishing it wrote a essay detailing my problems and dispointments with it

For some reason I thought this video would be about how bad akane is as a character when I saw it in my recommendations... I really didn't put enough attention to the wording of the title !

Kotaro: I wanted to create the worst heroine. Kratos: You succeeded