BioCrisis: Difference between revisions

The '''BioCrisis''' refers to a widespread environmental crisis prior to the events of Oni. At the time of Oni, the air supply in the cities is systematically filtered and decontaminated by [[ACC]]s. We learn from Dr. Hasegawa's diary that massive contaminated areas (called "[[Wilderness Preserve]]s") exist outside the cities. One of these contaminated zones is the reason for the death of Jamie [[Hasegawa]]. [[Hasegawa]] and [[Kerr]] subsequently developed the [[Daodan]] project to help humans survive the BioCrisis.

What exactly is the nature of the contamination of the outside world? Is all of it equally polluted? How did the the BioCrisis come about in the first place? These questions are not specifically answered in Oni. To tackle the last question first, the original pollution, for which the ACCs were developed, might have been merely the result of [[Pollution|mankind's current habit of polluting Earth]], progressed to a point that created a crisis in terms of unsafe air, water, etc. It remains to be seen in modern times whether we are winning or losing the battle against industrial pollution, but one could postulate that if at least some of our current habitual pollution was making things worse than we thought, it might be too late to reverse some damage after it were to be noticed in the future. This is one possible explanation for the BioCrisis.

 

 

In either case, once the ACCs were built, people would have settled around them in cities. A BioCrisis Subcommittee was dedicated to monitoring the status of the pollution and augmenting the efficiency of the ACCs. Hasegawa's diary makes it clear that ACCs did not cover the entire inhabited earth ("The world outside the Atmospheric Processors is poisonous"). Oddly, he calls the place he and Jamie go "one of the Contaminated Zones, the dirty secrets that the government made it easy to ignore." Wouldn't the general populace be well aware of the fact that the world outside the ACCs is polluted? Surely they are.

 

This means that Hasegawa had learned that either (a) there were specific zones that were much worse than people realized, or (b) the ''entire world'' outside the ACCs was worse than people realized. Hasegawa does not make it clear whether the Zones were isolated areas, or whether every area outside the reach of the ACCs was this way. He simply says that he and Jamie 'left the city' that was being cleansed by an ACC.

 

If "a" is the case, then it is possible that highly concentrated waste produced during the ACCs' decontamination process was being improperly disposed of. This would have resulted in a highly contaminated soil ("a poisonous world") wherever that waste was disposed of. (Hasegawa's description of a typical [[Wilderness Preserve]] (for what it's worth ^_^) is reminiscent of Miyazaki's Nausicaa.)

 

We also get the impression that the WCG is rather complacent about cleansing the rest of the earth outside the cities. Perhaps they have been telling people that they are doing so, when in fact things are pretty dangerous out there (possibility "b"). Why is the WCG not struggling to fix the planet? The reason could be as innocuous as the fact that such cleanup work is actually too costly for anyone to perform, even a world government; the reason might be more sinister, too, such as the fact that it is easier to monitor and control a population when they bunch up in cities than when they are spread throughout the countryside.

 

 

The entry that we hear from his diary is unfortunately not clear on ''why'' humanity is doomed. Did Dr. Hasegawa predict that the hostile wildlife of the Wilderness Preserves would take over the cities at some point? It's hard to find another explanation as to why people couldn't just keep living in the cities where the ACCs were keeping the air clean. Perhaps the WCG is not even doing a good job at containing the Contaminated Zones.

 

We still have not addressed the first question this section raised, about the ''nature'' of the pollution. There are three basic possibilities as to what this pollution is:

 

 

If Hasegawa says humanity is "doomed", one would imagine that basic toxins could not be the explanation. The spread of toxins is easily halted by erecting contained cities such as probably already exist. Poisons do not multiply themselves, so as long as things such as runoff from polluted soil are not allowed to enter the city, then the way of life in those cities is sustainable and not at all doomed.

 

 

The third option above may seem much more far-fetched, but there is a mention of extraterrestrial life in the [[Quotes/Weapons#scream|description]] of the Screaming Cell Cannon. Where are the Screaming Cells coming from? Is it possible they are are being harvested from the Contaminated Zones? The infection that kills Jamie could well be some lifeform that is not of this earth. Any further conclusions cannot be reached from the facts that Oni gives us, leaving the rest to our imaginations to fill in.