Just as I enter Little China from Kabuki (1), this formerly expressionless kid breaks out into a big smile when I approach him while crossing the street. I can’t recall seeing that happen — at least to that degree — in all my now many months walking around this Night City of Cyberpunk 2077 game fame. About all NPCs there maintain an expressionless look on their face. Seemed to *mean something*.
Then a couple of minutes later in the same walk I pass Happy Juniors. Can’t recall that store before either. Get it? That junior back there unexpectedly turned happy and then this.
And we’ve met the guy posing next to the store before too in that above screen capture. I call him Sunamai T-Shirt Boy or STB for short, featured in no less that 8 posts now from 2 different photo-novels.
I have a suspicion this is connected to the idea of transitions, specifically here, the transition between two sub-districts of an imaginary city. It’s happened before with Kabuki, except here we’re going out instead of coming in.
https://bakerbloch.com/2024/07/10/00430413/
We’ll most likely revisit this whole “happy” subject soon.
(1) Elsewhere in the blog and attached photo-novels I call Little China *Small* China and turn Kabuki into Kabusie. Overarching Night City is also transformed into Nightsity. I have my reasons. 🙂
Sunklands 