#coco neo

[voicefromthecorner]

Never ceases to amuse me that Coco has expressed all manner of emotions at various levels in the time that we’ve known her, many of them aggressive or curt, and Neku just has this warm unbothered smile every single goshdarn time. He must know her so well to just be completely used to her bratty behaviour and even making himself amenable to it without ever expressing even a hint of resentment about it. Their friendship is beyond interesting.

She literally killed him without his consent and he still apologises to her for asking for a favour. Being the bigger person has a ranking system and Neku Sakuraba is the high score.

[voicefromthecorner]

[Long, arduous and weathered inhale and exhale of breath] Darn it...

I have to admit it...

I really like Coco now.

From her voice acting, to her attitude here, to the nickname “Mini-moto”, to her reaction to his greeting and finally to her genuine and earnest hope in Neku... This whole scene was golden and either pulled me fully over the edge to liking her or possibly just made me fully aware that I already did.

It’s been a process, learning to actually like her character after she shot Neku (which I’ll still hold against her from time to time purely for my amusement), but seeing her here really woke me up to how fun of a character she is. I’m definitely down to see more of her in the future. And did I mention her voice acting!? That actress is so well cast!

I still have, like, a million questions about her and at least, like, five of those questions are about what the deal is with her and Sho. I’m guessing at least some of that stuff will be covered in the secret reports though.

I’ll be honest, I went to type in those numbers that Sho spouted in order to look them up and when I did, it was only then that I saw what he was doing.

Gosh. Flippin’. Darn it.

That was funny. Well flippin’ played, that was funny. Somehow I never expected him to do something like that even though it’s one of the most Sho things he could possibly do. Incredible.

Again, this whole scene was golden.

[voicefromthecorner]

Oh, okay! Just gonna casually drop that bomb on these two, huh Coco? No elaboration on that? No explanation for why you brought him back to life or what he’s been doing for the past three years? “Just brought him back to life, no big deal, you know how favours be. Sure hope he pays me back!”

There’s a slight implication here that Coco brought Sho back to life with the intention of making him do some dirty work for her, and yet, all this time later, he still hasn’t repaid her favour. Based on her labelling herself as his “master” it’s possible that he’s done some stuff for her but she intends to collect more on that debt before she considers them done. I wonder if they’re on the same page there.

Can we appreciate that Coco attempted to recruit two guys to help her out, one by killing him and the other by resurrecting him? She’s literally gone to opposite extremes of life and death to recruit two partners. And ironically, the one she shot is the one who’s incredibly pleasant, giving and friendly towards her while the one she brought back to life is the one who will apparently barely give her the time of day.

There’s definitely some relationship between those two, I doubt Sho’s earlier save and greeting to Coco would have been done to just anyone, plus Coco called him “Mini-moto” which I still adore. But the extent of that relationship isn’t known to us beyond that exact scene (and this one, to a lesser extent). That scene was, frankly, one of the best exchanges in the whole game and I feel almost robbed. What is their friendship like? Would it even be classed as a friendship? I want to see mooore!

[voicefromthecorner]

YO, THIS IS EPIC!!

We’ve assembled the flippin’ Avengers of Shibuya, including various former enemies from various eras of the series, all to combine our powers and save the city from doomsday!

And Rindo, our Rindo, is calling the shots on it! Absolute champion! Look how far he’s come!

Honestly, there’s a piece of me that feels a little sad seeing it. Because Ayano, Susukichi, Kanon, Fuya and even Motoi, they all likely would have loved to be here and wanted to help. Whether they were following the lead of Rindo or Shiba, they’d have contributed to a chance to save Shibuya, be reunited with their friends and, for the Players, finally go home. I think Kanon and Ayano especially would have been proud to see Fret and Shoka here, respectively.

This scene also has one heck of a bonus:

THAT’S THE THING!

HE’S DOING THE POSE!

HE SAID THE LINE!

THAT’S NEKU’S SCANNING POSE FROM THE FIRST GAME!! THE KING HAS RETAKEN THE THRONE!

Seeing him redo an exact portrait from the first game really highlights how much older he looks. Somehow, it looks cooler to me without the headphones! I’m also just noticing that he has two wrist-warmers. I’m pretty sure he only had one in the first game. That’s pretty cool!

[voicefromthecorner]

OG TWEWY fans and NEO-only TWEWY fans meeting Coco again, visualised.

I live for how much Beat doesn’t like Coco. His reactions to her give me a sense of wholeness.

[voicefromthecorner]

Once again, something I never quite thought I’d say, I love Coco! Hearing her voice-acted honestly improves the experience of her lines by a lot. Her actress just nails those lines!

Curious to see the pink-haired pair hanging out and casually chatting about body counts. I guess Coco is a Shibuya Reaper, though that’s something I still have many questions about. So they... Know each other...?

I like the contrast of their take on the work they put in. Coco wants time off for it, channeling Kariya’s energy, and Uzuki naturally wants a promotion for it. Honestly, they stood against a massive tide and saved the city! Uzuki did literally everything she possibly could for it! Make Uzuki Conductor already!

I’d give Coco props too, but she wants time off. Let her go on a holiday with Tsugumi or something! They’ve got three years to catch up on!

[voicefromthecorner]

SHE’S HERE! WE’RE MEETING HER AT LAST! SHE LOOKS SO COOL!

And that’s quite the line-up! Rhyme flanked by her Reaper bodyguards, standing in height order! The darkness of the city really makes our main characters pop against that background, huh? Our girl’s glowing, as she should be!

[voicefromthecorner]

I was going to go in chronological order through all the events but I got the impression that the game wanted me to do Coco next, so I decided to wing it and just see what her encounter was. And I can kind of see why the game wanted this one out the way. The general consensus from this whole meeting is that she was of absolutely no help whatsoever! I take a small amount of smug pride in that outcome.

It almost concerns me that Neku doesn’t really say anything but the game makes a point of showing him smiling at Coco having no stake or interest in Kubo being the main villain and just wishing us luck. It’s like he’s used to her being like this and actually enjoys witnessing it.

The most unique suggestion she had to share was this:

Imagine the very surprised surprise that my surprised face displayed surprisingly when Coco surprisingly surprised us all by suggesting maximum violence.

The only thing that was missing was “Have you tried shooting him?” Admittedly, I would have loved that.