Aika (Horror) Village is Probably the Best Animal Crossing Village I've Seen

Aika (Horror) Village is Probably One of the Best Animal Crossing Village
So last night, I was on an Animal Crossing fansite and there was some talk of a Dream Suite village known as Aika Village. For English speakers, the village is often known as Horror Village. Since New Leaf has only just been released internationally, English speakers are only just getting their Dream Suites and getting to visit Aika Village. So while Aika Village has been popular in Japan for a while, it has only become popular internationally recently.

Aika Village is essentially a horror town. It starts off peaceful and serene, but as you go along, the town gets creepier and creepier. As a note right now, this blog will have spoilers for Aika Village. The village is much creepier if you go through it without knowing anything (as I did). However, I think it’s still creepy even if you do know what to expect. But just be forewarned of that and don’t blame me for “spoiling” anything. You’ve been warned. Let’s continue on.

Aika Village is creepy. It holds the typical J-horror feel to it. It’s not like American horror where everything is spoon fed to you. You have to think in order to get it, and that is what makes it truly creepy. I’m a horror fan and there were a number of times where the village gave me chills. I am in awe of this village. It must have taken so much time to complete and so much dedication. It’s amazing. If you have New Leaf or ever get New Leaf, you should build the Dream Suite and give Aika Village a visit. It’s well worth it. Aika Village is the typical creepypasta in a child's game, but it's very well done. I absolutely adore it, I almost want to write a story based off of this village.

Now, one of the best things about Aika Village is how open ended it is. The creator hasn’t given a story for the village, it’s open to fan interpretation. Fans have different theories about. A lot of people have the theory that Aika’s doll is possessed and convinces her to kill people, or the doll kills itself. Personally though, I don’t agree with that theory. In my opinion, Aika Village is told from Aika’s point of view, it’s the inside of a troubled child’s head. So let me tell you what I think the story of Aika Village is. I will include screenshots of the town from Tumblr to give you a visual. They're not my own because I didn't take any.

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When you start off, there is a present right next to the bed you come in. When you open the present, it will be a Dolly. As you go through, you will notice this doll is reoccurring. As you move into the village, you will notice that the ground is covered in red and pink roses while the trees all contain perfect peaches. As you enter the first house, you’ll notice that it looks normal. You’ll notice that a birthday party is going on. There are three mannequins, representing Aika and her parents. On the table is a tea set, birthday cake, and a present which presumably holds the doll we received when we entered Aika Village. The backroom is blocked by a dresser, perhaps symbolizing that Aika was not allowed into her parents’ room. Going upstairs, we noticed that it looks like Aika’s room. There is the doll (maybe representing Aika?) as well as some paintings. One of her mother, one of her family, and one of her dog. A happy song is playing, a toy is spinning, and overall it just looks happy. Outside of the house, we can talk to Aika and she says I love my mom. Clearly, Aika loves her mom more than her dad.

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Leaving the house, we continue along the path. Here is where the roses change colors, they are now lavender in color. Lavender roses, I believe, are often associated with sadness. So this is our first hint that Aika’s life is taking a turn for the worst. However, we also see red roses still, which may symbolize Aika’s love for her family. Continuing along, we hit a maze. The maze is filled with candy, balloons, toys, pitfalls, money, and one single wetsuit (used for an important thing so make sure to get it). This maze most likely symbolizes the turmoil in Aika’s mind. Her childhood is falling apart, her innocence is being stolen from her. As children, we saw the world in black and white. Things were simple and as Aika’s world fell apart, she was forced to face the harsh reality. Her innocence shattered and she began her slow descent into insanity. This is what the maze symbolizes.

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Getting through the maze, we come to the second house. If we talk to Aika outside (or inside), she once again says I love my mom. Only, there’s something weird about it. Her speech mixes Hiragana and Katakana, two different Japanese alphabets. In Japanese, you don’t do that. That’s what makes it weird. Essentially, in English, it would say something like I lOvE mY mOm. Capitalized combined with uncapitalized lettering is often associated with insanity when writing online. So this is our second hint that Aika is falling into insanity.

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Going into the house, we instantly notice that the first floor is covered in run away signs and chairs. Going upstairs, it’s the scene of Adam and Eve. In front of the Eve statue is an apple and next to the apple is a snake. To me, I think this means that Aika’s mother cheated on her father and her father finds out about this as well as finding out he is not Aika’s biological father. Because of this, it leads her father to leaving them, which is what the running signs downstairs symbolizes. Going downstairs, we notice that it looks like a party. There are four tables connected with dolls sitting all around them and various foods on the table. This symbolizes the last of Aika’s child innocence. As we go around the table, we will notice that the red doll (Aika) is hiding an axe behind her back. This is the first time we will see it. It’s important.

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Going upstairs and making it through the maze (you must use the chairs to navigate), we come to a back room that has a bunch of toys. However, they all have their backs to turned us. Turning the camera, we notice that there are paintings of two sets of eyes on the wall. To me, this room symbolizes how everyone turned their back on Aika when she needed them. She was forced to watch as all her friends, family, and other villagers turned their back on Aika and didn’t help her.

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Leaving the house, we will find a graveyard filled with doghouses. It’s a dog graveyard. When her father left, Aika felt like she wasn’t getting enough attention from her beloved mother anymore. Struggling with this, Aika begins killing her pets in attempts to get the attention she feels she is no longer getting. Moving past the graveyard, we come to the third house. In the third house, we instantly notice a maze of bookcases.

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Before we go on, let's talk to Aika again. This time Aika mixes three alphabets. Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji (English). What she is trying to say is I love my mom. But, you'll notice that at the end, all the characters are the same. What she's trying to say is "daisuki", which means "I love you". But it's just okaasan daidaidaidaidai. Because the creator used some Romaji letters, perhaps we can interpret this as Aika really saying "mother die die die die", meaning her mother is dead at this point in the story. Of course, that could be totally wrong.

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As you step into the house, you will hear a creaking noise. This terrified me. It sent chills up my spine. It does this because you have no idea what is making the creaking noise. As you walk further into a house, you will hear a high pitched noise begin to get higher and higher. This just adds to the creepy effect. When you walk into the house, you will instantly notice a doll with an axe. This symbolizes Aika again, the doll always symbolizes her. To me, this means Aika is getting more violent, with herself and those around her. She’s beginning to hurt herself as well as killing her pets, slowly moving towards murdering others.

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Going into the backroom, we notice the ground is littered with stationary. There are two glass cases, one with a four leaf clover and one with a book. Now go press A on the book. This room confuses me a bit. Perhaps it means Aika was keeping a diary and all the stationary are the scattered pages of her diary. Going to the room on the right, we find a piano with a bunch of eggs in front of this. This room confuses a lot of people. My best idea is that the eggs represent Aika’s hatred. It’s still developing and hasn’t yet erupted with its full force. You will also find eggs within the bookcase maze, another symbol of Aika’s hatred.

Going downstairs, we notice a room with letters and a telescope. The bed has a human outline on it. Aika is sitting in the corner on her own. This symbolizes the mother desperately looking for her husband. The hourglass in the room represents the time wasted looking for him. The caged bird with the music sheet in front of it represents a lack of freedom for both Aika and her mother. Going upstairs now, we notice it is a bedroom. However, all of the furniture has the mother’s picture on it. This is Aika’s room and it symbolizes her growing obsession with having her mother’s attention.

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As we leave the house, note that it is rundown. This is because her father, assumingly the primary breadwinner, has left and her family is sinking into poverty. From here, I want you guys to head to the beach. Run along the water and you will soon find a pair of shoes. This is important. In Japan, people who commit suicide will often take their shoes off first. Since the position is close to the third house, this leads me to believe that Aika’s mother committed suicide, leaving Aika on her own. Losing her mother, it deepens her descent into insanity. From here, I want you to go over to the waterfall. Remember that wet suit? Put it on and swim over to the little beach. You'll notice a grave and something buried about it. Dig up that item. That sent chills down my spine. It is so perfect. Oh my gosh. You have to go there. It's a must.

As we go along past the third house, we notice the village is wrecked. The trees are burnt down, there are weeds everywhere, the bamboo is dead, and there are rotted turnips everywhere. From here, I believe that Aika went insane by the loss of her mother, killing the villagers and leaving Aika all on her own, further sending her into madness. As we get to the third house, we will notice it looks exactly like the first one.

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Let's talk to Aika. This time, it's all gibberish, symbolizing that Aika has gone insane. Going in, the room is exactly like the first house, except it is trashed. Trash litters the floor. The cupboards are opened. Clothing is everywhere and the room is pitch black.

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We going upstairs and it is identical to the first house as well. Except, the lights are off and the toy isn’t playing anymore. The paintings are scratched out. Her mother’s painting is scratched out, she is scratched out of the family painting, and the painting of her dog is scratched out. Going into the back room, we notice a mannequin dressed as Aika and a doll barricaded in as statues watch them. I think this symbolizes Aika being trapped in her mind, finishing her descent into insanity as everyone watches her. So, maybe she didn’t kill the villagers but rather, they’re watching her as she goes insane. I don’t know. Both are possible.

So basically, the town tells the story of a young girl who once had the perfect life. Soon enough, her father abandons his family and his mother commits suicide. Through it all, Aika takes up self-harm and starts killing her pets, possibly later killing the other villagers. In the end, Aika is all alone and has gone insane. But again, this is just my interpretation of Aika Village.

It’s a creepy and sad story.
It’s amazing. This village is amazing. The amount of work that went into this had to be so much. This has to be one of the best AC villages ever, and I’ve been playing since AC was first released.

Anyway, feel free to comment with your thoughts! Do you have a different theory on Aika Village? For now, I’m going to play some more New Leaf and attempt to visit the LSD village as well as the supposed Korean horror village, if my Internet allows it of course. I may write blogs on those two if they're interesting enough. Give me any themed Dream Suite addresses if you’ve got them.

Bye, Mibba. I hope you enjoyed our little theorizing here.
June 23rd, 2013 at 11:29pm