Nene (2024)

"Now... How should I go about killing myself???"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

Nene (pronounced nay-nay)^[2] is the titular main character of Nene Interactive Suicide and a friend of Pico and Darnell. Created by Tom Fulp in 1999, she is a popular Asian girl with suicidal tendencies and signs of promiscuity.

General information[]

Physical appearance[]

Nene wears a fuchsia dress, pastel pink tights, undershirt and either pink sneakers or Mary Janes, and has slanted white eyes as a stylistic choice. Her hair is black and includes a pink headband. In Nene Interactive Suicide and Pico's School, she has herpes all over her mouth. In Pico Roulette, she is also shown with large buck teeth, much like a stereotypical depiction of an Asian. They are also present in her images for the old Newgrounds art vote section, albeit significantly scaled down.

Personality[]

Nene is a suicidal girl with an addiction to sharp melee weapons and promiscuous tendencies. Like Pico, she is very "popular" at school, claiming in Nene Interactive Suicide that she will be in the yearbook with Jordan Catalano as "Best Couple". Her sexual deviance is also well-known by her peers, being both a sad*st and a masoch*st, to the point that some believed she was even more depraved in that regard; however, this is all pure gossip, as she does appear to have some standards. Ironically, she is of Christian (not Buddhist) religion, as there is a bible on her nightstand, and she makes a prayer to God to end her life.

Alongside her convictions, she also believes in dying "with honor," notably when discovering she had contracted herpes. This leads to her committing (or at least attempting) suicide to avoid being humiliated by her peers.

Abilities[]

Initially, Nene did not display any significant skillset in her first few appearances. However, as time passed, she came to be portrayed with high proficiency in blades and other forms of sharp weapons in melee combat. In Newgrounds Rumble, Friday Night Funkin' and several promotional art, she has shown a preference for using kitchen knives as her weapon of choice. She is also depicted as a competent fighter (likely in martial arts) in these later adaptations. This became so synonymous with Nene as a character that Newgrounds advertisem*nts and banners often position her as an equal to Pico.

Relationships[]

The following is based solely on canonical information.
Characters unrelated to the Pico franchise are not included.

Pico[]

Pico and Nene have been confirmed to be friends. Despite this, their interactions are often unpleasant - in Pico's School, Nene begs Pico to kill her, and in Resident Pico, Nene coldly rejects his offer to protect her from the zombies because she prefers to "have [her] brains eaten". Though in the latter game, she does advise him to run, meaning that at the very least she doesn't want him to die.

However, a sneak peek of an upcoming update for Friday Night Funkin' shows Nene throwing knives at Pico as he runs away from her. Though the reasoning behind this is unclear, a promotional image reveals that alongside Pico, she and Darnell were being paid by Daddy Dearest to kill Boyfriend.

Darnell[]

Darnell and Nene have been confirmed to be friends, but they have never actually interacted on-screen, implying that they're not all that close.

History[]

Nene Interactive Suicide[]

In Nene Interactive Suicide, Nene wakes up with herpes after kissing "Jordan Katalano" the night before. Once she realizes her present situation, Nene decides to "die with honor" and kill herself by either drinking milk (as she is lactose intolerant), hanging herself on the ceiling fan, praying to the Lord and getting struck by a lightning bolt, jumping out of the window, shooting herself with a gun, or cutting her wrist open with a razorblade. Ultimately, the choice is left to the player. If the razorblade is chosen, Nene has a brief conversation with her mother as she bleeds out.

Pico's School[]

In Pico's School, Nene is found kneeling in the school hallway, praying. She begs Pico to end her life due to her not wanting to live through the blood and violence any longer. By the players' choice, he can either shoot her or spare her. Canonically, however, she ends up surviving the massacre.

Pico vs. Überkids[]

In Pico vs. Überkids, Nene is one of the few students left alive after the school shooting, along with Pico and Darnell. She is one of the three playable characters, facing off against Übersam in a game of Rock Paper Scissors Roulette.

Pico 2[]

In the demo for the cancelled Pico's School sequel Pico 2, the Ghettobots join Pico's class to replace the dead students one week after the school shooting, rather than six months later as previously stated in Pico's School. Nene makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the intro, and does not play a bigger role for the remainder of the demo.

Resident Pico[]

In Resident Pico, Nene appears at the beginning of the game to warn Pico about the incoming zombies. Although he insists that he will protect her, she rebukes this, expressing that she "can't wait to get [her] brains eaten" before running off.

Pico Roulette[]

In Pico Roulette, Nene is one of the playable characters.

Pico's School: Love Conquers All[]

In Pico's School: Love Conquers All, instead of begging Pico to end her life, Nene is happily walking on her way to the bathroom. She then has a brief, but pleasant conversation with Pico and Cassandra before continuing on.

Friday Night Funkin'[]

A sneak peek of an upcoming update for Friday Night Funkin' confirms Nene as an opponent or major character, as she is seen attacking Pico with her knives.

The content below is not official to the Pico franchise.

Newgrounds Rumble[]

In Newgrounds Rumble, Nene appears as a playable character, wielding two knives to fight. She enters the battle to become "King of the Portal" in order to prove that she's more than just the group's token girl. At the end of her story mode, Nene commits suicide days after becoming ruler due to her not being able to handle the pressure. Convict then disguises himself as Nene and takes her place.

Quotes[]

"I must die with honor! HARI KARI!!!"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"Mom's gonna flip when she sees these walls!"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"Saranghamnida!"

―Nene

"What is wrong with my mouth?!"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"I'm gonna cut myself."

―Nene

"Dear Lord, who art in heaven... Please free my soul from this earth and welcome it in your holy kingdom. End my life, and I shall be eternally grateful."

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"Protect me? Protect yourself! I can't wait to have my brains eaten!"

―Nene, Resident Pico

"The day of reckoning has come."

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"Oh god! The blood! The violence! The tension! I don't want to live through another minute of this! Please end my life, and spare me this anxiety!"

―Nene, Pico's School

"What a pupu platter."

―Nene

"This looks so much easier on television..."

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"Goodbye, cruel world."

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"I never knew this took so long!"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"Hey, this is alright!"

―Nene

"HOLY sh*t!!!"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide
Nene after seeing her herpes

"Try harder, almost there!"

―Nene

"Did I mention I'm LACTOSE INTOLERANT?"

―Nene, Nene Interactive Suicide

"That's some hot wasabi!"

―Nene

"Oh, hi Pico! I was just on my way to the bathroom. Beautiful day today, isn't it?"

―Nene, Pico's School: Love Conquers All

Gallery[]

Main article: Nene/Gallery

Trivia[]

• She resembles a character from Fisher-Price's '90s revival of Little People.
• In Pico's World, an old Flash hub by Tom Fulp, many facts about Nene are listed:
  • Nene enjoys necrophilia and bestial*ty.
    • However, Tom Fulp later clarified that these facts were "nasty internet rumors" and not true.^[3] Though, it’s likely he either forgot or doesn’t remember writing said factoids.
  • Nene is lactose intolerant.
    • In Nene Interactive Suicide, one of the options Nene picks to kill herself is to drink milk.
  • Nene is neurodivergent, as she is diagnosed with ADD (ADHD-PI).
    • Girls display less obvious symptoms of ADD compared to boys. Notably, they may act ditzy or exhibit apparent silliness, which seems to align with Nene's personality.
  • Nene is a suicidal sadomasoch*st.
  • Nene has an IQ of 133, which is classified as "very superior."
  • She has herpes.
    • Judging by the blisters and sores around the mouth, it is most likely herpes labialis.
• In some fan animations, she is depicted as Pico's love interest, despite her and Pico sharing no romantic relationship history in canon.
• Luis' 2004 Flash animation The Perfect Murder would be the first time Nene was shown wielding sharp melee weapons. Canonically, she had shown no combat experience prior to this, but many fan animations created afterward would often depict her with some form of blade or knife.
• It could be implied that Nene is mixed-nationality (Korean-Japanese), as she says the words in two langauges: "腹切り" (Harakiri) in Nene Interactive Suicide, and "사랑합니다" (I love you!) in the old NG vote system.
• Tom Fulp has confirmed that Nene is not hom*ophobic.^[4]

  

• Nene has non-canonically died a total of 8 times throughout the Pico series:
  • Nene Interactive Suicide - Head explosion after drinking milk, shred to bits by her ceiling fan after hanging herself, hit by a lightning strike after praying to God, jumping from a window, or shot in the mouth.
    • It is debatable whether Nene died once she cut herself with the razor blade, as even when the ending options appear, she is still conscious.
  • Pico vs. Überkids - Can shoot herself.
  • Pico Roulette - Can shoot herself.
  • Pico's School - Can be shot by Pico.
• Tom Fulp has compared Nene to Kenny from the South Park series, in that they both continuously die, but are resurrected each time. However, he also stated that "[Nene] never quite dies - she is always saved somehow".^[5]
• Nene was named after the character Nene Romanova from the 1987 anime OVA Bubblegum Crisis. This factoid was mentioned by Pico while he was talking with Hanzou about anime in Pico's School: Love Conquers All.
• Tom Fulp has confirmed that some of Nene's favorite musical artists are Carly Rae Jepsen, Trans-X, Purity Ring, and Charli XCX.^[6]
• When asked about what subjects the Pico characters would major in if they entered college, Fulp replied that Nene would major in Psychology, because she "wants to sort out her issues and potentially help others."^[6]

References[]