Introduction
Hello everyone. I'm OddHaberdasher, this is my first Let's Play, and this is...
Chaos;Head
OST: M.I.L.
Chaos;Head is a Visual Novel written/published by MAGES and developed by Nitroplus(N+). MAGES has a number of well regarded titles in their roster (mainly in the Visual Novel genre), including Corpse Party: Blood Covered, Muv Luv and the Ever 17 remake. However, the title they are most well known for is almost certainly Steins;Gate.
Steins;Gate (and its sequel Steins;Gate 0) are part of the Science Adventure series of Visual Novels, as are it's sister titles Chaos;Child (released in North America on PS4/PS Vita in late 2017, and on Steam in January 2019) and the duology of Robotics;Notes and Robotics;Notes DaSH (set to reach North America on October 13 2020). However, there is one title oft forgotten about. That title is Chaos;Head, the subject of this thread.
Despite being the very first Science Adventure title (being released in Japan in 2008, as opposed to Steins;Gate in 2009), Chaos;Head will likely never be localised for western audiences. Details are sketchy, but it seems the reason has to do with a dispute over proprietary rights (simply put, MAGES wrote the story and owns the story, but N+ used their engine and thus needs to give their permission for anything to be done with Chaos;Head. That's the going theory, anyway).
Couple that with a terrible anime adaptation (We do not mention the anime.), and Chaos;Head has been doomed to obscurity. Which is a pretty big problem, as elements from C;H continue to make their presence felt in later installments and Robotics;Notes (as the third in the series) assumes you are already aware of everything from the prior two games (Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate) and doesn't explain anything. Then you need Robotics;Notes to have proper context on anything that follows and it's kind of a mess. Not to mention the obvious problems of releasing a sequel (Chaos;Child) before the original.
Thus, I decided to try and fix this, in whatever way I could. But enough background, onto more practical matters.
Spoiler Policy
There are to be no Chaos;Head spoilers, no Chaos;Child spoilers and no Robotics;Notes spoilers. Steins;Gate discussion is allowed, but only in properly marked spoiler tags. This VN is relatively unknown, and if people can get through FF7 without advance knowledge about some of the most famous twists in videogame history, I'd like a similar experience for the readers here. This is an ideal jump-off point to Steins;Gate and the others in this series, so let's not spoil them, okay? On that note, I would also like to add that I will be linking to the officially released OST on Youtube at appropriate points in this thread. Thus far, I have seen no spoilers in the comments for these videos, but that could change at any time.
Trigger Warnings
The story of this VN will contain, in no particular order:
Murder
Blood and Gore
Body Horror
Autocannibalism
Regular Cannibalism
Public Humiliation
Cruel and Unusual death
Pregnancy
Childbirth
Improper usage of Medical Equipment/Drugs
Gross Otaku
Kidnapping
Self-Harm
Psychological Torture
Physical Torture
Psychological Trauma
Suicide
A Backdrop of Conspiracy
Intense feelings of Paranoia
If seeing any depiction of these would cause you any amount of mental or emotional distress, then don't read this thread. Just don't. I am absolutely serious about this.
What kind of LP will this be?
Mainly a screenshot based Let's Play, although I will be making and/or linking to videos at points which I feel cannot possibly be represented properly by screenshots (such as, for example, the Opening Video).
What's the problem with the anime?
Imagine two boxes. One is labeled '24 episode anime' and the other is labeled '12 episode anime'.
You put Steins;Gate, a VN with an average playthrough time of 35 hours, into the first box. It fits snugly inside, more or less. It's a tight fit and you might have to trim a few bits sticking out, but it works out.
You put Chaos;Head, a VN with a similar playthrough time, and shove it into the second box. Then you take a whole bunch of 'filler' and try and stuff that in too. Then you change an important plot point and make the ending completely unrecognisable.
That is the Chaos;Head anime in a nutshell. We will have no more discussion of it.
I was just looking at the Wikipedia page, and I saw that there's a re-release of this called Chaos;Head NoAH. Why aren't you doing that?
Because NoAH has never been released in the West, has never been released on PC and the fan translators are still working on it. I'm no Orenronen, so we're stuck with the original PC version. The only thing missing is some extra endings that have no bearing on future titles. EDIT: I will summarize these extra routes/endings at the appropriate time.
Is there anything we should keep in mind as we read?
What you should keep in mind is this:
"Plain text such as this line indicates a character is speaking"
Italics like these are indicative of narration or a character's thoughts
Bold is for when I feel interjection or clarification is needed
All that said, let us begin....
Table of Contents
Part 1 - In Media Res
Part 2 - Eyes in Eyes
Part 3 - The New Generation of Madness
Part 4 - Delusion Trigger
Part 5 - Jamais Vu
Part 6 - Strike the Stake
Part 7 - Survival Confirmation
Part 8 - Gero Froggy
Part 9 - Girl A
Part 10 - Shared Interest
Part 11 - A Promise
Part 12 - An Outing
Part 13 - Grim Advice
Part 14 - Lost Things, Found Things
Part 15 - A One-Man Play
Part 16 - Click Me
Part 17 - Making An Appointment
Part 18 - Taking A Test
Part 19 - New Gen Wiki
Part 20 - Research And Investigation
Part 21 - The Prophet They Call FES
Part 22 - Black Mass
Part 23 - A Generous Donation
Part 24 - Shogun
Part 25 - The Girl From Class D
Part 26 - Police Procedural
Part 27 - Girl D
Part 28 - Design By Committee
Part 29 - New Classmate
Part 30 - Tōryanse (Let Me Pass)
Part 31 - Re-evaluations
Part 32 - Di-Sword
Part 33 - Following The Trail
Part 34 - Visual Rebuilding
Part 35 - Escape
Part 36 - On The Run
Part 37 - Gravitational Attraction
Part 38 - The Group Dive
Part 39 - Delusion
Part 40 - A New Chance
Part 41 - Remote Neural Monitoring
Part 42 - Raising A Flag?
Part 43 - Brainless
Part 44 - Infinitum Nihil
Part 45 - Freesia Investigations
Part 46 - Noah
Part 47 - Sacrifices
Part 48 - Nanami-chan
Part 49 - Hand Wrapped Gift
Part 50 - Rescue Quest
Part 51 - New Perspective
Part 52 - Bad End
Part 53 - Cut It Out
Part 54 - Quest Failed
Part 55 - Psychopath
Part 56 - Regrets
Part 57 - Fame
Part 58 - Value
Part 59 - Dream
Part 60 - Kozu-pii
Part 61 - Scholar
Part 62 - Heartbreak
Part 63 - Ir2
Part 64 - Gladioul
Part 65 - A Break In The Case?
Part 66 - Ghost Stories
Part 67 - Doomsayer
Part 68 - A Family Matter
Part 69 - The Eighth Millennium Problem
Part 70 - Nowhere To Go Home
Part 71 - Gigalomaniac
Part 72 - Cracking The Case
Part 73 - A Delusion-Drenched Game
Part 74 - Dead On Arrival
Part 75 - Equal Yet Opposite
Part 76 - Guest Of Honour
Part 77 - Self Reflection
Part 78 - Birth of the New Generation of Madness
Part 79 - Blue Sky
Part 80 - Family Reunion
Part 81 - Stakeout
Part 82 - Choose Your Destroyer
Part 83 - Prayer
Part 84 - Silent Sky
Part 85 - Desire Blue Sky
Part 86 - Chapter 1 Delusion Recap
Part 87 - Yua Route Summary
Part 88 - Nanami Route Summary
Part 89 - Chapter 2 Delusion Recap
Part 90 - Ayase Route Summary
Part 91 - Chapter 3 Delusion Recap
Part 92 - Sena Route Summary
Part 93 - Chapter 4 Delusion Recap
Part 94 - Chapter 5 Delusion Recap
Part 95 - Kozue Route Summary
Part 96 - Chapter 6 Delusion Recap
Part 97 - Chapter 7 Delusion Recap
Part 98 - Chapter 8 Delusion Recap
Part 99 - Rimi Route Summary
Part 100 - Chapter 9 Delusion Recap
Part 101 - The Little Death
Part 102 - A Peaceful World
Part 103 - Crying Sky
Part 104 - Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu Summary
Table of Contents
- Part 1 - In Media Res
- Part 2 - Eyes in Eyes
- Part 3 - The New Generation of Madness
- Part 4 - Delusion Trigger
- Part 5 - Jamais Vu
- Part 6 - Strike the Stake
- Part 7 - Survival Confirmation
- Part 8 - Gero Froggy
- Part 9 - Girl A
- Part 10 - Shared Interest
- Part 11 - A Promise
- Part 12 - An Outing
- Part 13 - Grim Advice
- Part 14 - Lost Things, Found Things
- Part 15 - A One-Man Play
- Part 16 - Click Me
- Part 17 - Making An Appointment
- Part 18 - Taking A Test
- Part 19 - New Gen Wiki
- Part 20 - Research And Investigation
- Part 21 - The Prophet They Call FES
- Part 22 - Black Mass
- Part 23 - A Generous Donation
- Part 24 - Shogun
- Part 25 - The Girl From Class D
- Part 26 - Police Procedural
- Part 27 - Girl D
- Part 28 - Design By Committee
- Part 29 - New Classmate
- Part 30 - Tōryanse (Let Me Pass)
- Part 31 - Re-evaluations
- Part 32 - Di-Sword
- Part 33 - Following The Trail
- Part 34 - Visual Rebuilding
- Part 35 - Escape
- Part 36 - On The Run
- Part 37 - Gravitational Attraction
- Part 38 - The Group Dive
- Part 39 - Delusion
- Part 40 - A New Chance
- Part 41 - Remote Neural Monitoring
- Part 42 - Raising A Flag?
- Part 43 - Brainless
- Part 44 - Infinitum Nihil
- Part 45 - Freesia Investigations
- Part 46 - Noah
- Part 47 - Sacrifices
- Part 48 - Nanami-chan
- Part 49 - Hand Wrapped Gift
- Part 50 - Rescue Quest
- Part 51 - New Perspective
- Part 52 - Bad End
- Part 53 - Cut It Out
- Part 54 - Quest Failed
- Part 55 - Psychopath
- Part 56 - Regrets
- Part 57 - Fame
- Part 58 - Value
- Part 59 - Dream
- Part 60 - Kozu-pii
- Part 61 - Scholar
- Part 62 - Heartbreak
- Part 63 - Ir2
- Part 64 - Gladioul
- Part 65 - A Break In The Case?
- Part 66 - Ghost Stories
- Part 67 - Doomsayer
- Part 68 - A Family Matter
- Part 69 - The Eighth Millennium Problem
- Part 70 - Nowhere To Go Home
- Part 71 - Gigalomaniac
- Part 72 - Cracking The Case
- Part 73 - A Delusion-Drenched Game
- Part 74 - Dead On Arrival
- Part 75 - Equal Yet Opposite
- Part 76 - Guest Of Honour
- Part 77 - Self Reflection
- Part 78 - Birth of the New Generation of Madness
- Part 79 - Blue Sky
- Part 80 - Family Reunion
- Part 81 - Stakeout
- Part 82 - Choose Your Destroyer
- Part 83 - Prayer
- Part 84 - Silent Sky
- Part 85 - Desire Blue Sky
- Part 86 - Chapter 1 Delusion Recap
- Part 87 - Yua Route Summary
- Part 88 - Nanami Route Summary
- Part 89 - Chapter 2 Delusion Recap
- Part 90 - Ayase Route Summary
- Part 91 - Chapter 3 Delusion Recap
- Part 92 - Sena Route Summary
- Part 93 - Chapter 4 Delusion Recap
- Part 94 - Chapter 5 Delusion Recap
- Part 95 - Kozue Route Summary
- Part 96 - Chapter 6 Delusion Recap
- Part 97 - Chapter 7 Delusion Recap
- Part 98 - Chapter 8 Delusion Recap
- Part 99 - Rimi Route Summary
- Part 100 - Chapter 9 Delusion Recap
- Part 101 - The Little Death
- Part 102 - A Peaceful World
- Part 103 - Crying Sky
- Part 104 - Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu Summary