Aika Village/アイカ村

About

Aika Village (アイカ村) 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 Tobidase Aika Village” (とびだせどうぶつの森　アイカ村)^[3], which was then uploaded to Nico Nico Douga on 21 December^[4]. In it, 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 “AIKAVILLAGE (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), created by Shigesato Itoi, creator of the Earthbound series of videogames