MGNQ CAT#1

#MGNQ, a Critical Analysis

So, having @RootofWoot's rather nice Ebook version of @Deculture's MGNQ, I've decided to take a critical and in depth look at this (at time of this post) _800+_ page work in progress. It should be interesting, though perhaps stream-of-conciousnessy Lets start with Thread/Chapter 1, shall we?

Of the entire game so far, I would put my money down on this being the STILL the most mysterious thread. There is a lot here, most of it that still has yet to be fully explained as things come to a boil later on in the story. Is it because it's something of a rough first post, as they always are, by @Deculture for a game that he didn't think was going anywhere? Or is there extremely important things that happen here that we're suppose to have forgotten was foreshadowed?

I'm leaning toward the latter.

First, Chiaki. Or Murderface. But most definitely NOT Homura. Maybe? Though most evidence points us, at best, being some sort of horrible bizzaro shadow version, there are two characters that have referred to us as such. This first is the curious witch in this chapter, whom I'll discuss in a bit, and the second is Pinky, whom I'm sure we can all agree is unimportant. But, we DO rather resemble Homura, in both appearance and fighting style. Except... what happened? Our shield is busted, our mind shattered, and our relations very different then the original. Surely a wholly unconnected AltCont setting, right? And yet the jury still doesn't seem to want to rule it our entirely.

This brings us to our next mystery, our cellphone. A cute and completely out-of-character pink one, it contains a surprising number of still unanswered questions. Our contacts list contains Mami, Kyoko, and QB, all not surprising, but also Kaname Madoka and a certain ???. Madoka is something of a HUGE red herring, considering her complete lack of being in the setting (well, almost, as we'll see in some 60 threads), and despite a few attempts later in the quest, never picks up her phone. The bigger question is the unregistered number, who tells us to 'Let it go. Seriously. It's time to move on.' What... does this MEAN? What should we let go? As far as I can think, this has never come up, but it seems SO IMPORTANT. It's also worth nothing that there might actually be a difference between the CONTACT ??? and the unregistered number who sent us our text. Full Shadowrun paranoia ho!

Moving on, we get to our first, and only drawing as far as I can recall, by Chiaki herself. And also a pic of Mami with a slashed neck. Uh... wait. What? I remember the Mami flashback. We didn't know it this early, but it's fairly obvious that Mami did NOT get the same ending as the show. Early drawing by @Deculture, with a wink to the show and still unsure of the direction of the plot? Maybe. I'm a little more willing to let this one slide, somehow. :/

Then we do a brief, but utterly calm, call with Mami. Note, no witch yet. Hm.

Moving to our shield, it still works, even with a tortured clanking, and has even given us a bolter in the past! Well, we know that much with Tiny Pete, but hey, it's nice for the early heads up.

Entering the apartment, clearly things have gone to pot quickly, and... somehow... there's Incubator gook everywhere. I still can't puzzle this out to a satisfactory conclusion. Mami is hurt, yes, but I can only conclude that the thing was after KYUBEI, of all things. Why else would it require mass numbers of replacement bodies? I know not a fuck is given by the cat, but... that's decidedly odd.

This also marks Sayaka's entrance to the show. It's clear there is no love between her and Murderface, and we'll go into that more later. Oddly, she's shown using a knife, of all things. Likely a typo, but that still stands out.

Then onto the witch herself. Hoo boy, is this interesting. Two pistols, but the girl inside has blond pigtails. There was some early speculation that this was a future Chiaki/Homura, due to the pistols, but maybe also Mami with the hair, I guess? In addition, it's clearly noted that this is not a fallen meguca; instead, it has a Witch Mark, confirming that someone set this whole thing up forcibly (which is indirectly confirmed later in Siberia). Who has access to both meguca and witchcraft? Seems like another Incubator is gunning for QB... or not, as it calls us Homura. Only this singular witch and Pinky calls us that.

Just how much does QB and Pinky know about each other, anyway?