Say it in Red | Episode 36: AI: Nirvana Initiative (Part 1 of 2)

What secrets lie in the corners of our dreams? What shape would our pain and trauma take if someone were to peer inside our most vulnerable thoughts and nightmares? How do you feel about cops doing magical girl poses in order to read your mind and judge you for it?

This week, Sara and Runa set off on the pulse-pounding adventure of AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiatives (2022) and reunite with some of their favorite, and less favorite, characters from the original AI game. The sequel opens 6 years after the events of the first game, following an 18-year-old Mizuki with Aiba embedded in her left eye as she investigates a mysterious corpse... the right half of a victim's body, laid out cleanly across a stadium green. Not only is this freshly dead corpse alarming, it triggers a memory in Mizuki of another incident - six years ago, when the left half of this same victim appeared before her in a studio while filming a quiz show. Both halves of the same victim were cut cleanly at the molecular level, and both halves, despite being found over six years apart, were given a time of death less than a few days before their discovery. To find the culprit behind these Half Body Serial Murders, and perhaps to find the missing Kaname Date in the process, Mizuki tracks down the ABIS investigator who took charge of the original HB case investigation 6 years ago - Ryuki. A fresh recruit to ABIS who voluntarily gave up his left eye to make space for his AI-ball companion, Tama, Ryuki then recounts the details of his investigation to Mizuki and tells her everything he found, learned, and went through six years ago...

Although AI: Nirvana Initiative is a sequel to AI: The Somnium Files, the game is designed to give new players an easy entry into the series and you don't necessarily need to have played the first game in order to keep up with Nirvana Initiative. That being said, as we've covered the first game previously on our show, this episode will contain multiple spoilers for AI: The Somnium Files including some mentions of the true culprit of that game and several key plot points there. Please be advised and definitely go check out our AI:tSF episode before listening to this one if you're curious about that game as well!

Thank you for your support of Say it in Red and as always, you can find both more information about the show as well as bonus content at patreon.com/sayitinred. You can also follow the hosts at dollsncrafts on twitter and youtube, cacklemancy on twitter and cohost, and find games made by Runa at runa-liore.itch.io as well as on steam.

Content Warnings for this Episode:
General content warning for Dismemberment, mutilation, and body horror
02:24:00 to 02:25:20 - Discussion of Eye Trauma and injury