Keywords
modal realism
galgame narrative structure
romantic choice
Zeigarnik effect
How to Cite
Abstract
ACGN (anime, comics, games, and novels) culture has profoundly shaped the cognitive frameworks through which an entire generation perceives reality. Beginning with the core player impulse toward "full route completion" and "full collection" in galgame (romance adventure games), this essay draws on modal realism (Lewis, 1986), the psychology of counterfactual thinking (Gilovich & Medvec, 1995), and the Zeigarnik effect (Zeigarnik, 1927) to examine how ACGN narrative structures furnish us with a distinctive "parallel-world intuition"—a heightened awareness of the irreversibility of life choices. Focusing on choice and missed connection in romantic relationships, the essay argues that relationships which never materialized are harder to release than those which ended; that the act of breaking up simultaneously constitutes both avoidance and courage; and ultimately, that the ACGN audience's narrative intuition that "every possibility deserves to be honored" is at once a gift of emotional sensitivity and a cognitive burden unique to this generation.
References
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Gilovich, T., & Medvec, V. H. (1995). The experience of regret: What, when, and why. Psychological Review, 102(2), 379–395. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.2.379
Lewis, D. (1986). On the plurality of worlds. Blackwell.
Roese, N. J. (1997). Counterfactual thinking. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.133
Shi, W. (2022). Decision reversibility and satisfaction: The mediating role of counterfactual thinking and anticipated regret. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 15, 2193–2203. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S364548
Zeigarnik, B. (1927). Über das Behalten von erledigten und unerledigten Handlungen [On finished and unfinished tasks]. Psychologische Forschung, 9, 1–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02409755
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Copyright (c) 2026 Lejun Li (Author)