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!! AIKA ISLAND TOUR THREAD !! 
tw / cw for disturbing content and implied abusive situations! please read at your own discretion!
i'll be offering my theories on what the island's story is as i go about the thread!!
here we goooo!!
#アイカ島 #ACNH
sorry for the repost i wanted to actually shove the hashtags in there LMAO
okay! so right off the bat we've got a lot of clearly art-exhibition inspired imagery, alongside what appears to be a whole neighborhood. the island is solely inhabited by frog villagers, and it'll become clear later in the thread as to why. it also is pretty clear that there are
SECTIONS to each slab of the island, labeled as their own villages inside of the island's space. it's an interesting way to tell a story, that's for srue.
there's also this, and frankly even though i KNOW this is probably just here to look cool, it's still really eerie for some reason.
i'm going to try and solidify each individual location as their own set of posts to kind of.. make it clearer as to what's happening.
so! i'm gonna start off with the really strange post-apocalyptic area. it seems like it was staged to explain that, very obviously, something happened here and it's being investigated by a bunch of dudes in hazmat suits. represented by the space suit because lbr we don't have
the materials necessary for that kind of shit. nintendo said 'baby games.' anyway it's not entirely clear what the hell's going on here, but there are huge star fragments that i forgot to take pictures of and big bug models separating this area from the rest south. weird.
it should also be noted that these areas are actually like. straight up labelled i wasnt kidding about that in another portion later on into the thread there's a photo explaining which sections are which, but there's also a label posted outside of the 'villages' alongside a rank
i didn't get very many interesting photos here but i'm repeating one for reference's sake: there's a house at teh very top right hand section of the island that's covered in this one photo of this girl. the girl that the house belongs to, while i couldn't quite make her name out,
says something along the lines of 'no more singing.' it should also be noted that on the billboard, it mentions that you 'shouldn't sing around aika.' very strange.
repeating another photo for reference, but it looks like things labelled with this strange texture on the floor are part of another portion of the island that doesn't exactly have its own.. place. it's scattered, in a way. the labels refer to it as 'erase village.'
running clockwise, we've got THIS shady individual, whose name is actually some kind of credential number alongside a name. pretty sure he's a doctor or a scientist given the pictures to follow.
so. obviously he's a scientist. he's got some wack shit on his computer, but what's more interesting about this guy is that he's GROWING VILLAGERS. and not just frogs either. this shit is WEIIIIRD, TO SAY THE LEAST.
upstairs, there's more. there's just frogs. he's raising frogs to make into villagers. it's absolutely wacky. and downstairs. oh my god do not get me started on downstairs
DUDE'S ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT. i know that there's no sign inbetween the skull and the tadpole but SOMETHING's itching at me that he's trying to create Frog People. which is what villagers are, but.. also, he's got the cute keroppi + kapp'n poster in here, so that's nice i guess.
honorable mention: these on the beach just outside of his house. weird. terrifying. ok.
so. this bitch. okay, look, i'm not going to lie to you this scared the absolute fucking shit out of me to see the first time i just... what the fuck are the ODDS? i change my hairstyle and suddenly this bitch with BLUE ASS HAIR. SAME CROWN THAT I JUST DECIDED TO PICK. WEIRD.
so after getting the absolute fuck spooked out of me i said 'fuck it, let's check the house-' though i should note that the area surrounding here is also really fucking weird? she likes to steal aika's socks. uh.
so like. okay right off the bat i didn't understand this one at ALL. it's too abstract for my little rat brain. you walk in. it's an indoor greenhouse. okay, cool. you go upstairs. it's a dining hall filled with toilets. okay.. uh. you go back down, you go into the basement.
there's just some kind of 'aliens abduct cows' imagery here. you go back upstairs, you hit the room on the right. there are a bunch of thinker statues fishing for aika. it's just.. it's abstract. my brain can't handle it. i'm sure there's meaning here i'm just too dumb to get it.
forgot to mention, but as we're going clockwise, here's the tent belonging to the npc that's holed up in the post-apocalyptic region of the island! his name didn't translate right at all so i have no idea what to call him. spaceman. i'll call him spaceman. nice computer.
we've got the three houses at the top left. the first is the.. 'horror spot collector's house, as my.. google translate would tell me, which i'm pretty sure actually relates to the author's role in writing all this, bc i swear to god i saw that same translation on their blog iirc
this greeted me upon entering. the person's house is an absolute fuckin' trip.
monitors galore, alongside some old imagery of aika and a tv that's *not* actually playing static or colorbars, so that's a little weird. in the right-hand room you've just got a bunch of fax machines printing the word 'help' over and over so that's nice.
downstairs we have some kind of.. fucked up gross ass fleshy experiment alongside some trashbags and seaweed which i SUPPOSE is supposed to look like actual SHIT, but hey it's got some cat grass a toilet and a kibble bowl i think this sunfish looking fuck'll be fine
and upstairs we have, finally, an explanation for the villages. noisy is apparently applied to the pink girl's imagery in that one section, erase is obviously involved with both the laundry girl and the black and white checkermark sections, past is supposed to be the apocalyptic
scene... and very obviously, aika village is.. aika village. speaking of, let me just Hop Across These Doll Rocks Here,
so, we have three houses left. going along with them, we OBVIOUSLY have to hit them in chronological order; so let's start with the original aika house! i forgot to take a picture of it, but original aika's home is led up to by a set of cherry blossom petals!
it tells the story of a girl on her birthday living in a happy home. her mom and dad are with her during her birthday party. things seem well.
upstairs, her room is tidy and colorful just as it should be. an excitable child paints pictures of her family together, pictures of her mother, and of their family pet. her doll is centerplace in the room: her favorite toy.
you go back downstairs and hang a left. there's this.. strange, almost adam and eve like subtext here, but the apples are all too telling. it almost seems as if the message conveyed here is that the father is cheating. not entirely sure, but that's what i read from it.
hit up the room to the right and you get this.. very strange setup of dolls, statues and toys that are facing away from the wall. and what are they looking away from?
i wish you hadn't asked. jesus christ.
i wish you hadn't asked. jesus christ.
years later these fucking eyeballs no longer look like they're in a socket, but rather like they're inbetween lips or something. it's fucking terrifying.
you go down to the basement and you find this. the painting by itself is a little jarring, i'll admit, but what the scarecrows are all facing away from is much creepier. i'm not sure what this imagery entails, but it's definitely fucking horrifying.
so the next house to hit is the aika that came after, obviously. this npc is named identical to the last, but that trend doesn't stay later on. anyway, it's trashed. this is definitively where that content warning comes in.
so i just want to fucking explain to you what happened when i entered this fucking house. the fucking ai scared the absolute piss out of me. i froze, dude. like. i had a fight or flight reaction and i froze. jesus christ.
anyway, the house is as trashed as it is outside. the home has become unstable and inhabitable. i don't know how the creator managed it, but aika is still in the house. it's not exactly a sight you'd like to see.
hitting the door on the left, you're hit with this disturbing queen bee symbolism alongside her handmade portrait of her mother. the implications of this are terrifying.
hit the room on the right, and there's.. this? i don't really understand the symbolism behind this being honest. blue's different.
upstairs is aika's room once again, but the portraits of her pet, her family, and her mom have been scribbled over. she clearly doesn't idolize her mother anymore, but she also doesn't like herself either. i have no idea what happened to the pet. i do not like where this is going
here's the back room, which.. is.. i again will state this is where the cw comes in but the fucking imagery here is terrifying. aika is clearly being abused and the story being told here is FUCKED.
we head downstairs and get fucking blinded by this. i.. again, i have a very small, smooth, rat brain. the abstract imagery here confuses me. i THINK it's trying to tell a story of 'buy our affection,' i'm pretty sure, but i have no idea what the nuts on the ground mean.
it could be some cultural symbolism that i don't understand because obviously i'm american so i'm probably missing out on a few things here.
quick note: aika, as far as i'm aware, means love song in japanese, and these are scattered around all of the checkermark ground locations on the island.
the last place on the island to visit is actually the house of aika.. to the power of two. the character is literally named this. it's. strange! i do not understand it. anyway, aika.
entering the house, it's just as messy as before but it's got a lot of.. drawings on the floor, sparkles, star pieces, cakes everywhere. it's almost as if it was spruced up to SOME extent by the child living here. there's also a bunch of bugs under cups. gross.
the back room gives us. this. it appears to be a shrine of some sort? or at least some kind of wishing well. there are drawings of grasshoppers all over the floor. there's gotta be some symbolism i'm missing here because i'm stupid and white.
upstairs is hell. i hate it. it's got a lot of shit going on here, the bones from the apocalyptic scene, space rocks, crab creatures, aika on the floor, star pieces, galaxy theming, and this weird drawing i saw on the ground outside a couple of times that i thought nothing of.
downstairs i hate even more. there's this fucking FULL library of digusting crab creatures. they've got an aesthetic going on, that's for sure. i just can't stand it.
an extra couple of pictures i took while i was exploring. it's all just very strange out there. also to note: in some sections of the island, like the frog village and noisy village, i straight up had FRAME ISSUES. there was so much going on that it was giving me NATIVE LAG.
anyways i didn't go in order and the very last thing i saw was the fucking scarecrow wall full of disfigured villager paintings and i wanted OUT i sprinted back to the square and hopped in bed
best nightmare of my life. 10/10 would visit again.
NOW THAT THAT'S DONE WITH!!
A BIG FAT SPECIAL THANKS TO @a67502529 FOR BEING AN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL STORYTELLER!! THE WAY THEY HANDLE VISUAL MEDIUM IS E X C E L L E N T !! PLEASE GO DROP THEM A FOLLOW THEY DEFINITELY DESERVE IT!
A BIG FAT SPECIAL THANKS TO @a67502529 FOR BEING AN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL STORYTELLER!! THE WAY THEY HANDLE VISUAL MEDIUM IS E X C E L L E N T !! PLEASE GO DROP THEM A FOLLOW THEY DEFINITELY DESERVE IT!
and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go explore aika island for yourself!! the dreamcode post is here!! let me know if there's anything i missed! https://twitter.com/a67502529/status/1288676420974030854
SO! what're your interpretations of the aika story? how have the additions across the entire island affected the story? do you like all the extra content? PLEASE LET ME KNOW I WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS
