The giant robot of justice we all made together: let’s talk about Robotics;Notes ELITE

Now, I knew a bit about Chaos;Head NOAH through hearsay, and Steins;Gate needs no introduction, but I have to admit that the first time I learned about Robotics;Notes’ existence was in the “sci;adv playing order” list. I didn’t really know what to expect going in–other than, perhaps, robots. Ok, that’s not entirely true. I had seen Geji-nee before, and thought she was some sort of alien princess (I was WAY off the mark). So maybe I expected aliens and robots.

The story is set in the near future of 2019, where AR, exoskeleton devices, bipedal robots, and fanny packs are all the rage (though only that last part was anything like the 2019 I experienced). Our protagonist is a fighting game-obsessed boy in his third year of high school, who I initially found rather boring compared to Takumi’s…memorable unpleasantness and Okabe’s over-the-top chuunibyou ways. The rest of the cast, however, is anything but boring. You’ve got his childhood friend, the mecha anime-obsessed Akiho, programming genius and pervert teenage girl Frau, an AR artificial intelligence little girl who loves weather forecasts—and her other self, who loves yaoi—Airi and the aforementioned Geji-nee, a seemingly-serious guy who dresses up as Char and says nyan when he’s flustered, and, well, I guess Junna doesn’t have that much going on compared to the others, but she’s a darling. They all live in the sleepy, rural landscape of Tanegashima, where Akiho is trying her best to save the robotics club founded by her older sister about a decade prior, and finish building the life-size giant robot the club has been trying to put together since its inception.

Instead of sprites, the VN uses these super cute 3d models, and you can pull out your PhoneDroid and look around for geotags using the AR function—I never did manage to get all of them, but I still think it was a very fun mechanic. In true sci;adv fashion, the route flags are set up in a rather weird manner—you’ve gotta pick specific replies to your friends’ tweets—ahem, I mean tweeps, on the famous social media Twipo, at specific times. Definitely follow a guide for this one. Sometimes you even get to do button inputs for combos in the fighting game, which are kind of humanly impossible to get wrong but very fun nonetheless.

The story felt to me way more “CHAOS;HEAD” than its predecessor in some ways, but it’s also the cheeriest, happiest game so far. The Committee of 300’s world-destroying, reality-bending conspiracies are back in full force, making a bit of a jarring contrast against the antics of the ragtag robotics club.The VN is jam-packed with references to a ton of mecha anime, and the writing really seems to understand the reasons why people love robots—or, at the very least, why I love robots. The whole thing just…put a big smile on my face by the end, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected.