http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4783500/1/Angelic-Layer-Neogen
Revolutionary changes have been made to the layer, and of course enthusiasts have flocked to them like moths to a light. But not all is as it seems to some. And to some others, all they know, about themselves, and others.. may be a lie. R&R. LongHiatus.
This thing... ugh, this thing. There are quite a few canonical breaks here.
One: There are a bunch of new rules--for one, there's far more 'magical' abilities and weapons, which are completely contradictory. For those who don't know the canon, the Angelic Layer game was originally a way to develop prosthetics--one of the creators couldn't use her legs, and the dolls were originaly designed to prototype and test a way to control artificial limbs with your mind. Unfortunately, funding was cut off, but the inventors decided to market the dolls as a game--that way, they could get data from the people who piloted their dolls, getting a much larger test base, and get more funding.
Weapons break this logic. Before, Angelic Layer was fought almost entirely with 'martial arts', or with players exploiting glitches in the programming. With the physical combat, the researchers get more data on specific movements, but with a weapon like a cannon--that doesn't help. ANd special abilites don't help either. It makes no sense.
Point two: There's a character who, at seven, had her parents killed in front of her. She ran into the woods, and found an abandoned shrine. THis makes a bit of sense--a seven year old is probably not thinking straight. However, she quickly finds a ton of gold in the abandoned shrine, and the next day goes into town, and buys a bunch of volunteers to repair the shrine with the gold. At seven.
No one questions the fact that there's a little girl whose parents were just killed, with a ton of gold, asking to repair the shrine (probably doing more harm than good to a priceless historical treasure) and she just stays there for /years./ Child services? What's that?
Third thing: THe hospital system is terrible. One of the OCs gets the living daylights beaten out of her by the shrine girl (who apparently became the sole master existing of some martial art) and needs to go to the hospital. Apparently the injured OC had to get a personality chip implanted in her /brain/ afterwards. This does not fit in at ALL with the canon, and afterwards she just leaves the hospital. She even seems to have gotten a concussion, and we never see anyone running tests on her, but she feels fine so she can leave. No parents pick her up or anything, the hospital just gets her a cab to a hotel.
Point Four: Sentience. The dolls in Angelic Layer have no sentience--the characters sometimes treat them as such, but they don't. In this, the injured girl's Angel (that's what they call the dolls) gets a personality chip that gives her free will. And apparently this is something that happens. A lot. THis lets the doll move, and speak, and think, but there's no thought given to the larger philosophical ramifications. THey can give toys sentience in a chip, humanity in a bit of silicon. Toys that children use to fight each other. Here's a quote from the story.
Keishin chuckled a little, "Aren't we one to hold a grudge." By now he had adjusted to the whole free will thing.
No. How does this work? THe Angels now have free will, they can move about without being on a Layer. But players can still control them--how? Isn't that controlling a sentient being? What if Angels don't want to fight? Are there Angel activist groups? Can Angels vote? THe story NEVER goes into the huge problem of giving dolls designed to fight and be test subjects free will--are Angels without the chip considered oppressed? Is the desire to fight or personality traits programmed in? Do they truly HAVE free will? How does the economy react to suddenly having basically-immortal robots introduced? All these questions and more... are never answered.