I donât think people have realized the absolute bombshell implication of the Dark World we see in Chapter 5.
Let me contextualise a bit.
Way back in Undertale, the only contact the monsters had with the surface world was from anything or anyone that fell through the one-way barrier under Mt Ebott, including any junk people threw away.
Alphys in particular was a huge fan of trashy human media that was literally found in the waterfall garbage area. Sheâs the one that drew up concept sketches for her friend in the human fan club who eventually ended up as Mettaton, and presenting him as a robot with a soul is what got her working for Asgore. Alphys didnât actually end up making an artificial soul, but Asgore was impressed enough to hire her as Royal scientist, or at least he was just looking for a replacement after the old one [DATA EXPUNGED]. This is the thing that lead to the creation of the amalgamates and Flowey, which means this bottleneck of musty old human media resulted in the events of Undertaleâs story happening as we know it.
But despite humans and monsters living alongside each other in Deltarune, the setting of Hometown still seems to be cut off from the rest of the world, including any humans other than Kris (which should include Japan considering Hometown seems to take place in the states, unless this is a fictional composite Japanifornia-style which I really donât think is the case)
Remember that Queen canât access the internet, Tenna can only play reruns, and weâve yet to see any contact from the outside world since the start of the story. Though we can hear it, judging from Onionsanâs story or Susie hearing the song from across the waters.
We know this outside world should exist thanks to the accounts of the characters, plus Carolâs katana, Asrielâs mspaint videogame ideas, Alphysâs anime reviews and Berdly being Berdly all suggest the same type of media exists in Deltaruneâs world. Though considering Alphys liked Mew Mew 2 enough to introduce it to Asgore, either the sequel series is far batter in this world. or something very very wrong has happened for Alphys to think that shit is cinema.
I joke of course, (remember the Bad Opinion Zone from Hotland?), but thereâs more.
Undyneâs perception of humans as member of the Royal Guard right up until we befriend her in the underground was shaped by Gersonâs old stories as well as Alphys showing her âhuman history documentariesâ aka shonen anime. And she was far more devastated at the idea anime wasnât real than anything else Alphys confessed on the route to True Pacifist.
And the NEO vessel, which greatly parallels Mettaton NEO from the No Mercy route, exists as it does in a world without Alphys being able to design a robotic body for her friend based on their shared interests of human media⊠only that canât be the case here unfortunately. If Alphys couldnât sketch a glamorous humanoid form for a friend who admired humanity, then who made NEO? I have my guesses, but nothingâs been confirmed yet.
As the citizens of the Underground were influenced by the ancient prophecy, memories of old, and modern-day shovelware, Hometown has its fair share of pop culture⊠only Alphys, the primary character responsible for sharing the so-called âawful cartoonsâ, doesnât have the same impact here. And Undyne and Mettaton lead very different lives, and arenât exactly better off because of it.
The one exception is Asgore, who actually seems to have enjoyed her recommendation, when it took until the end of True Pacifist for Alphys to tell him what can be defined as a cartoon with gunâs slash swords.
Thatâs right folks, the biggest link towards understanding the connections within the worlds of Undertale and Deltarune hinges on anime being real.