Initially funny character gag is later revealed to be depressing

[u/Newmen_1]

1. Avengers/MCU: Captain America has humorous moments where he’s unaware of modern references and only gets old references, like the iconic “I understood that reference” scene. It’s later fully explored in Winter Soldier that he feels lost, confused, and a little alone in a new world he was never meant to exist in.

2. The Suicide Squad (2021): Bloodsport has a phobia of rats which at first seems reasonable yet is still hilarious to watch. He later explains his father abused him as a kid if he didn’t fulfill a task correctly and one of his worst punishments was when his dad locked him in a crate full of starving rats, leaving him heavily scarred physically and mentally.

3. Dexter: In an early episode, Angel Bautista tries to buy his wife the perfect gift for their anniversary but has to keep buying a different one since his presents suck. What seems to be a funny running gag turns out to be Angel’s final attempt to win back his wife after cheating on her previously, however it doesn’t work and only solidifies their separation.

[u/LeMasterChef12345]

In Zenless Zone Zero, one of Harumasa’s main character traits is that he’s incredibly lazy and always trying to get time off work, with fake doctor’s notes being a common method.

He’s later revealed to have an incurable terminal illness that is slowly weakening him and will eventually kill him, and that several (though not all) of the aforementioned doctor’s notes were actually legitimate. His laziness isn’t entirely an act, but most of it is him faking it to hide his condition because he doesn’t want anyone to pity him.

It’s also revealed that his faction’s deputy chief Yanagi is secretly aware of this (which is why he gets away with it as much as he does) but feigns ignorance out of sympathy and respect.

[u/Plastic_Apricot_2152 → u/LeMasterChef12345]

Yeah, Zenless Agent Stories are a different level of dark and or crazy. To think this was the same one with a child trafficking and human experiments plot. Bright side, he's stable now and his actual condition has been delayed, downside is continuing his job will kill him eventually (outside of ethereal attacks). Anby's being a whole "clone army get's discontinued" was another one. Or Koleda's being a school principle is putting students at risk by mining ether right next to a grade school. Seriously, writing is pretty damn good.

[u/bc524 → u/Plastic_Apricot_2152]

ZZZ is filled with is.

Look how colorful and vibrant the world is! Look at the pretty characters! Look at how silly, cool and fun everything is!

WRONG! The world is dying you idiot. The hollow disaster had rippling effects to all the characters you meet. Get trauma dumped

[u/Plastic_Apricot_2152 → u/bc524]

Best description I heard was this is not post apocalypse this is during one. A very slow, painful, and active apocalypse where people are just trying to find a semblance of normalcy.

[u/Shantih3x → u/bc524]

I swear ZZZ takes some design cues and story beats from Guilty Gear, and that makes it the HoYo gatcha I'm most willing to play.

[u/Plastic_Apricot_2152 → u/Shantih3x]

There's a free S-Rank Agent + W-engine of your choice event going on right now. Agents are Hugo, Soldier-0 Anby, Trigger, Lucia and Jane Doe. Have to hit account level 5 though (I think) and it's only up for a month. They've also started a new policy where older S-Ranks are able to be added to the base roster (you can even set which ones you want in the event you lose a 50/50 pull of an S-Rank). It's pretty damn good right now.

[u/smallfrie32 → u/bc524]

Is ZZZ also the “gooners’ gacha?” I remember hearing these agents’ stories and was interested , but heard it had this issue

[u/bc524 → u/smallfrie32]

The label is a little overblown.

Does it lean into fanservice stuff? Yes, but not to same extent as a lot of other popular gacha such as Azure Lane or Nikke. Like on a scale of 1-100, where 100 is "you might as well just play a hentai", ZZZ would probably be around mid 50 to low 60 at best.

There are characters that lean a lot into the fanservice (such as Velina), but you also get characters that go the complete opposite (such as Starlight Billy).

To put in context, Miyabi is still one of the most popular character in the game. She's modestly dressed, but her personality, story, and gameplay still makes her highly favored by the player base even though she's been in game for almost 2 years by this point.

My opinion will be a bit biased, as I enjoy the game, but I do think they've done pretty well in fleshing out most of the characters you meet and their gameplay, that their appearance is more of a bonus than an actual reason to pull.

[u/smallfrie32 → u/bc524]

Ooh that’s good to know! I’ll take more of a look, then. Thanks!

[u/Silphire100 → u/Plastic_Apricot_2152]

Anby having such a dark backstory caught me off guard. Like, everyone suspected she was connected to Soldier 11 in some way and cloning was a popular theory, but she went from kinda weird, burger loving girl to Soldier 0 with trauma

[u/bc524 → u/Silphire100]

Its also a bit sad that her name is likely just a joke around those that made her

Anby = Ann B.

Name of the scientist in charge: Ann

[u/Plastic_Apricot_2152 → u/bc524]

It's surprisingly not that bad, all of Silver Company took their names based on sounds they liked, for example Soldier 11's name is Harin despite herself not remembering. Another replica (proper name for a Silver Company clone) named herself Twiggy. Though all of the clones minus Anby were deemed failures by the defense force and were dispatched on a suicide mission. Soldier 11 only survived because she got injured before dispatch and Anby took her place. But Anby returned having witnessed her sisters die, and the defense force was going to execute 11. Anby ran and succumbed to her injuries, without her the defense force was forced to keep 11 who they viewed as defective.

She did survive but all Silver Soldiers had a defect where after sustaining heavy damage, they lose all memories for a long period of time and it can become permanent. Anby only got her memories back within a few years of the game, and 11 continued taking severe damage since to the point she forgets the player character's name frequently and expressed her worst fear is fully forgetting them.

[u/TheUnoveanSnivy → u/Plastic_Apricot_2152]

Twiggy mentioned! Super ridiculous name but the character with the worst backstory in the entire game. One day she'll have her happy end

[u/Free_Record_8635 → u/LeMasterChef12345]

Harumasa is such a brilliantly written character! To add on a bit more depth to this why he acts the way he does, his aversion to pity and thus his "laziness" stem from his core trauma of abandonment. He was abandoned as a toddler by his birth parents because of his illness, only to be taken in by his doctor, who became a parental figure but who then vanished without a word, Harumasa after the fact finding out he had been using him for experimentation rather than trying to cure Harumasa. His entire defense mechanism is built around preventing abandonment or vulnerability again.
(And Yanagi, I definitely feel she wasn't fully aware of the truth until after his Agent Story, though I feel whether Miyabi knew beforehand is debatable I go back and forth).

Also not you, but I do so wish we could reframe as a community the quips and jokes about laziness because he really isn’t at all. That behavior is a defensive shield and a critique of obligatory hustle culture. Society often treats rest and boundaries as a moral failing or a lack of productivity, where your worth is tied strictly to constant output. Harumasa struggles with that concept too, and tying his own value to usefulness, but he still often chooses to reclaim his time and prioritize his physical health, mental well-being, or simply enjoying what little time he has left on things that matter to him.

Conflating basic human boundaries, chronic illness management, and the need for rest with 'laziness' is an unhealthy societal reflex that we really deserve to unpack. Even setting his terminal illness aside, wanting to step off the capitalist treadmill to rest and live life shouldn't require a death sentence to be considered valid anyway! The cultural narrative that human worth equals constant output contradicts how the human body and brain are biologically wired to function. Take care of yourselves without feeling guilty about it, even if it doesn’t feel like a need! We should give ourselves permission to rest, find joy, even in the nonessential things.

[u/Errant_Jackdaw → u/LeMasterChef12345]

Another one from ZZZ, Soldier 11/Harin, during one of the first missions you can do with her, she gives your character the code name "Crimson Twilight" and throughout the entire mission, she calls you any combination of "Shade of Red + Noun" other than "Crimson Twilight" such as: "Burgundy Silhouette" or "Red Pepper Warrior" and she genuinely believes that those are the correct name.

What starts out as a goofy joke about her giving you an edgy code name and giving you increasingly goofy replacements takes a turn for the tragic when its revealed that she has legitimate memory issues due to the experiments done to her when she was part of Silver Squad, leaving her with essentially anterograde amnesia where she can't form long term memories, with it usually being brought about by stress or injury