Aika Village / アイカ村
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About
Aika Village (Japanese: アイカ村, Aika Mura) is a creepypasta, originating from a user made town within the videogame Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The creepypasta grew in popularity among both Japanese and Western fans of the series, spawning fanart and parodies.
Origin
The creepypasta first surfaced after the town was first posted to 2channel's /wifi/ (game consoles’ online features/services) board on December 12th, 2012[1], with the dream code 2600-0218-7298, which can be used to access the town by utilizing the in-game feature Dream Suite, which allows users to visit other player's towns by using codes provided by said players.
Spread
On 18 December, 2012, YouTuber tome0345[2] posted a video titled "Animal Crossing: New Leaf Aika Village" (とびだせ どうぶつの森 アイカ村)[3], and then Nico Nico Douga (NND) user Tatsu was posted a different video with the same title uploaded on 21 December[4]. In these videos, the user showcases Aika Village, touring around the town. As of February 2014, the video has over 700,000 views on YouTube. After this. many other users began to upload their own tours of the town, including popular YouTubers LinandKo[5] on 5 January, 2013[6]. The creepypasta first appeared on the English-speaking web after a thread titled "AIKA VILLAGE (Scariest village you will ever visit)" was posted to the popular Animal Crossing fansite BellTreeForums on 5 January, 2013[7], gaining over 200 replies. Afterwards, threads about the town were created on other gaming sites, such as GameFAQs[8], IGN[9] and Animal Crossing Community[10].
Creator's Response
In April, 2013, Japanese gaming magazine Nintendo Dream featured an interview with the creator of Aika Village[11], going under the name Garakku (ガラック), in which he discusses the backstory behind the town. Within the interview, Garakku cites his inspiration as fellow Animal Crossing town Niconicori Village (にこにこり村)[12], created by Shigesato Itoi, creator of the Earthbound series of videogames
Notable Examples
There are over one hundred fanarts for Aika Village on both illustrators communities pixiv[13] and deviantART.[14]
Search Interest
External References
[1] 2ch.net – 【3DS】とびだせ どうぶつの森 夢見の館スレ 2睡目
(Japanese)
[3] YouTube – とびだせ どうぶつの森 アイカ村 / Posted on 12-18-2013
[4] Nico Nico Douga – とびだせ どうぶつの森 アイカ村 / Posted on 12-21-2013
[6] YouTube – HORROR VILLAGE – Eng Voice Translation Animal Crossing : New Leaf Game Play Part 22 / Posted on 01-05-2013
[7] BellTreeForums – AIKA VILLAGE / Posted on 01-05-2013
[8] GameFAQs – Does anyone get the story of Aika village? / Posted on 06-26-2013
[9] IGN – Aika Village / Posted on 11-30-2013
[10] Animal Crossing Community – Aika Village -- Highly Customized Dream Town, a Must See!_ / Posted on 01-09-2013
[11] 絶対SIMPLE主義 – ニンドリ最新号にとびだせどうぶつの森の「アイカ村」作者インタビューが掲載 / Posted on 04-22-2013 (Japanese)
[12] ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞 – 樹の上の秘密基地 – どうぶつの森 遊んだ人と作った人 第3回 恐怖「にこにこり村」 / 04-14-2009 (Japanese)
[13] pixiv – Search resutls for the tag アイカ村
[14] deviantART – Search results for aika village