Dumb brain won... Took it about five years, but it won. So here I am! I will now proceed to babble about Rockman.exe as I was always meant to XD What do you mean I am ten years late to the party?!
And here we go with another chapter of Makoto and Meijin regretting sticking their noses into whatever is going on with Rockman:
Getting an explanation about what led to Rockman showing up alone at Scilab proves to be more of a hassle than expected, the young navi being quite unsure of what happened to his operator himself. However, among the explanation and Mrs Hikari’s words, a strange pattern starts to appear before Makoto. Since navis are made to model themselves after the role they’re given, could a navi treated like a human child truly become akin to one? Or was Professor Hikari’s goal never to make a navi in the first place?
Makoto remembers thinking Rockman may not be a navi the first time she noticed those inconsistencies, but she is doubting she wants to be right—even more with this name she thought she misheard. Truly, who is Hikari Saito?
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
And chapter 2 is here:
Makoto is trying to make sense of what she and Meijin know so far, but pieces of the puzzle are still missing. However, when Roll’s copyroid is damaged without her being able to log out, a race against time starts to save her—for no backup can be used. Whatever questions Makoto has have to wait, for saving Roll takes precedence.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
First of all, I am not late. I post when I want ☝️ And I wanted to post this 4 days ago. Ah. I see it now.
Anyway, here “N/A” (yep, that’s the tittle)! It’s set after everything I’ve drawn/written so far, so after copyroids and dolls v1 are put on the market and while Makoto is working on v2.
Also, it’s only accessible if you’re logged in. Scrapping, you know.
As for the summary, I can’t be bothered to write another one for the whole fic so here’s AO3′s one:
With copyroids and dolls finally on the market, Makoto gleefully sees her dream slowly come true. However, despite this progress, some of the functions she wishes to implement still prove to be challenges she can’t seem to overcome. Irritated both by her repetitive failures and Rockman’s growing uncanny behavior during her tests, she confides in Meijin about her queries—hoping his hindsight can somehow guide her reflection and resolve the impasse she’s in. Unbeknownst to her, her dear friend didn’t wait for her to question Professor Hikari’s words about the one navi he programmed entirely on his own. Together, they can dig and try to find out a truth they may not want to hear, but should they? Or was Meijin’s reluctance to do so when he first noticed the hints of this truth justified?
The more they notice, the more they put together, the less sense it makes. What is Rockman? Why is Professor Hikari so secretive about a navi he never registered as a prototype? How come Roll is somehow entangled in all of this?
In the midst of unexpected events, a question eventually arises above others: what was the navi project from ten years ago really about?
First chapter summary:
Faced with yet another test whose result can’t be trusted, Makoto is getting more than irritated by a certain navi whose behavior defies her expectations. Voicing her complaints to Meijin, whom she trusts more than anyone, she brushes with a truth she can’t quite grasp. Could this idea born from her irritation, slowly imposing itself, be more than wishful thinking? Is rockman really a navi? What is Professor Hikari so adamant on hiding?
Being stuck in a train for 8 hours, I started to write a new OS even though "N/A" hasn't been posted yet (I can't draw and using my laptop, whose battery is in the limbo between death and a remnant of life, would be too much of a hassle). Just so you know, I'm having a lot of fun with Rock and Roll's relationship regarding what being a navi means. They both influenced each other a lot in Memory, with Roll learning to become more human by observing Rock while also teaching him to behave correctly as a navi. In the end, they achieved an average of being both perfectly deviant for navis albeit for different reasons, but at least Roll unwillingly managed to cover up the fact that Rock never was a true navi at all almost by herself XD
"N/A" is done! I still have to refine the text, especially since I wrote a lot on my phone, and spell check but the overall story is written.
I probably won't start publishing before next week, when I have my desktop computer and a reliable internet connection, but it should be up soon. It's a short story (18000 words divided in four chapters).
Because Makoto is narrating, I had to work out the whole timeline and... Wow, I knew the whole future part of Memory would happen roughly in the 2 years following the end of battle network (mostly because copyroid's research takes time), but actually seeing it is weird. There's 6 months between "N/A"'s first chapter and the ending!
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What I like about this scene is how it tricks you into thinking it's just here for a quick laugh when it's actually the beginning of a surprisingly deep look into part of Rockman's character - specifically, how he handles lying.
See, Rockman's never really... lied in this show before, I don't think. He doesn't usually have a reason to, but even then I would describe him as being honest to a fault.
But when put under the pressure to seem cool to Trill, a young child who idolizes him, he cracks and tells probably the most bold-faced lie of his life: that he was totally not scared by a monster movie. He's never been scared of anything! Hasn't even screamed once!
And it's. such a goofy lie to tell?? It works on Trill because he's like five years old, but to the viewer who knows him better than that, it just comes off as a funny, harmless thing to say.
Rockman does not see it as either of those things.
To him, it's not cute that Trill takes him at his word by virtue of being a young child who doesn't know any better. If anything, that's part of the problem; maybe if Trill didn't believe him and just teased him about it instead, he wouldn't have to worry about lying so much. But as it stands, Trill is believing a lie, and it eats at Rockman throughout the episode.
And at this point you kinda start to guess how the rest of it is going to go down. Rockman will eventually come clean to Trill, who's gonna say that Rockman is still cool even if he screams at scary movies, and they'll all have a big laugh and move on.
This is not what happens.
Instead, Rockman digs his heels into the lie further, stopping himself from screaming every time Trill tries to scare him (which is a realistic toddler thing to do if I've ever seen one), until he eventually loses his trademark patience and yells at him to cut it out.
And in a move that defies the usual expectation of setup and payoff, Rockman never actually. tells Trill that he lied. and there's a part of me that's bothered by that, but what we get in exchange is so interesting to me that I can't help but feel it makes up for it.
Something to note is that, throughout this episode, it's stated that Trill likely sees Rockman as an older brother, and so he's affectionately referred to as "big brother" by Roll a few times in a teasing sort of way.
It's all fun and sweet and par for the course; I think everyone knew that Trill was going to act as a younger brother to Rockman as soon as he was introduced, so having characters bring attention to it isn't unusual. And Rockman doesn't really comment on it either way... until Netto calls him that at the end of the episode.
This. this is the scene that really makes me go insane. just absolutely bonkers
Because like, okay. listen. this is only episode four of the season. it's not at all surprising that Rockman doesn't consider himself to be Trill's brother, because he's known him for all of three days and he's only been talking for one of them.
But that phrasing.
If he had just left it at "I'm not his big brother," we'd all have a nice chuckle and go "sure buddy, I'd like to see you say that by the end of this season." But he has a qualifier for WHY he's not Trill's brother, and it's because he lied to him. about not being scared of a movie.
And notice how matter-of-factly he says this, too. Remember how troubled he was earlier by the fact he had lied at all? Well it seems that, after perpetuating that lie for the rest of the episode, he's gotten past those doubts and reached acceptance in the idea that... he's lost his brother privileges.
Suddenly we've learned something very interesting about how Rockman handles lying, and it's that, while he's surprisingly capable of keeping a lie up, he finds that even one as innocent as this makes him disqualified from being Trill's family.
Which is Totally Normal and Not at All Concerning Behavior
But you know what. we can make it worse.
Imagine with me, for a moment, that all of the Saito Lore from the games remains true in the anime. If that was the case, then Netto still hasn't been told about it this many seasons in, making it a secret that Rockman keeps every day - a lie of omission.
What if the reason Netto hasn't been told about it for this long, the reason it seems so easy for Rockman to never bring it up, is because he's long since decided that he's not Netto's brother anymore.
"After all, I did lie to him."
And it just keeps going because if we decide to take that angle with it, then it suddenly becomes a lot more pointed that Yuuichiro is the one to assure Rockman that lying to your little brother is Sometimes Okay, Actually
Like of course he would say this, the guy who encouraged Rockman to lie to Netto in the first place in order to keep up the image of being a Reliable NetNavi
Don't get me wrong, it's a really interesting character trait for Rockman to have even without adding game context to it, but using Trill as a parallel to Netto in this scenario adds a special something to the whole thing that I'm never going to be able to stop thinking about
Years late to the party to add things, but I just rewatched the ep and more specifically that last part. I have no skills when it comes to Japanese, so I usually rely on subs but I think that last scene may be worse (actually, it would be way better but hear me out).
From what non-Japanese speaking little person get, Rockman is saying (transliteration probably not accurate at all, I don't really know the words, just the sounds, and even that is approximate) "Oni-chan nanka janaiyo. Boku Trill ni uso [itsumo nandai mono]." which I guess translates to "I'm no big brother or anything like that. After all, I still lied to Trill.", emphasizing on "no", rather than just "I'm not his brother. After all, I lied to him.". Which, considering he says that looking at Netto... Is worse. I'm pretty sure of what I hear for the first half, but I have trouble with the second so really I'm translating what I can.
Now, if someone who actually understand Japanese could check that, I'd be grateful because I can't figure out the second part and it's getting on my nerves <3
Wait... I knew "Roku" meant 6. I also just noticed months are basically called "X-th month" in Japanese ("X-gatsu"). So june is the sixth month, thus Rokugatsu (ろくがつ in Hiragana, 六月 in Kanji with ろく or 六 being 6).
Rock (as in rock music) is ロック "rokku" in katakana, since it's a foreign word, but it would be ろっく in hiragana had it been a Japanese word.
So while the pronunciation is slighly different, when it comes to names, it's basically like June and Jane or May and Maya or Avril and April (uh... yeah this one is technically still April and not even a different name).
The twins are born in June. They're the only ones whose birthday we know.
...
The game developpers knew what they were doing, weren't they?
I didn't mention it because it's kind of well known, but now that you put it there they may have done the scheming autor thing when one (1) detail is actually there for a multitude of reasons. They could have gone with May or June for the zodiac (depending on when they decided to make them twins, since they weren't in the first drafts), and then pick June for the word play.
(Just made me laugh imagining Yuichiro, who has no control over the date of birth of his sons, bringing back Saito and going "You know what? He's born in June so I'm just gonna just rename him June with a twist. No one will ever guess!" and doing just that. And then adding "man" because that's often how navis are named. I mean, the music thing doesn't really exist in mmbn and it was late so my brain wandered in stupid place XD)
Now I don't have anything for why the 10th, though... And my internet is uncooperative today so I doubt my very slow digging will get me anything 😅
When I realized Lan and Hub were singing the Axess ed theme I just had to draw the cutest visual of the recording booth session. LOOK AT THEM, THEY DESERVE THE WORLD
Old art I'm reposting, do ignore Hub's elastic arm lol--
Wait... I knew "Roku" meant 6. I also just noticed months are basically called "X-th month" in Japanese ("X-gatsu"). So june is the sixth month, thus Rokugatsu (ろくがつ in Hiragana, 六月 in Kanji with ろく or 六 being 6).
Rock (as in rock music) is ロック "rokku" in katakana, since it's a foreign word, but it would be ろっく in hiragana had it been a Japanese word.
So while the pronunciation is slighly different, when it comes to names, it's basically like June and Jane or May and Maya or Avril and April (uh... yeah this one is technically still April and not even a different name).
The twins are born in June. They're the only ones whose birthday we know.
...
The game developpers knew what they were doing, weren't they?
I am on vacation with my nieces, one of whom is 10. Somehow, it never really registered that she was 10 now and not, like, 7. I got reality checked real bad while writing “N/A”’s last chapter… I would most definitely not entrust the fate of the world to a 10yo. That's a baby, you honor!
She catches conversation mid sentences and has no idea what's going on, she throws her sister under the bus first chance she gets but she doesn't even mean it, she will gleefully down adult portion meals at a restaurant and has space for dessert, it never occurred to her she could wash her face with a cloth instead of taking a shower. She is currently playing video games outside because no one will make her do her summer homework and I know it slipped her mind entirely. And she's tiny! I mean, she's by no means small but she hasn't hit a growth spurt yet. I definitely don't remember being this short at 10 (I was roughly 1m35, that I know for a fact, and she must be around that height too but it doesn't feel like it yet I'm not that much taller). She can't even reach the shower head!
And you want to tell me that, in universe, they had two 10yo going on saving the world? I mean, at this point it's no wonder those two managed to take down crime syndicates. If a literal child tried to stop my terroristic plan by battling me with another virtual literal child, both of them being stupidly good at being nuisances and at fighting, I wouldn't take them seriously enough to realize they could be actual threats. (And I surely wouldn't believe the nosy kid around to work for the Netpolice either, but that's yet another discussion)
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Since I've been working on happy comics this year (ok, there's 2 of them but ☝️ I'm really slow), I've decided to work on one that does NOT involve someone dying. So instead I'm planning the one where Meiru choses Roll's name as a treat to myself, and just so there's one actually happy comic here.
Which begs the question: where did I put my draft for the first panels? (And how many months will it take? XD)
(I mean, the comics may be depressing but the written stories aren't?The happy endings are somewhere??? I swear the overall plot [yes, I work on whatever part feels nice at the moment but there is a plot underneath] isn't depressing, I just keep drawing the sad parts lately...
(I was supposed to finish on the 10th, but really that would have been a shitty move... So, uhm, I thought "oh well, might as well wait" And then I forgot)
English version under the cut (Japanese lullabies sure are something, uh?)
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I finally decided to actually plan a scenario for the future part of Memory (and also because writing from Makoto's pov means I have to know what the ever loving hell is going on at Scilabs), so I had to think about why copyroids would be allowed and funded the way they are in the story. I do not like my options here.
I mean... Scilabs is part of the government (it's called "kagaku-sho" in Japanese, so the ministry of science, if I heard correctly). I trust any government about as much as my ability to find my keys when I'm late (though if it were my government, it would be the reason my keys are gone in the first place), so I can't exactly picture an altruistic reason behind funding copyroids. Don't get me wrong, I can list many reasons to fund them... But not one a government would pick—at least, not without having ulterior motives.
The scenario that comes to my mind would definitely explain why both navis and copyroids are gone 200 years later... One way or another. And besides, it's not like it wasn't already canon for the government to fund navi research for military use (*cough* Colonel *cough*). But that would happen after the end of Memory, so I guess I'm fine. I'll get the wonder team to be a little unhappy about this during Memory and focus on the Net police, that story isn't about war's misuse of otherwise lifesaving technologies (I guess it's more about being different? What am I doing???). There, problem solved!
