Iji/WMG

Iji

Iji becomes immortal after the game.

Considering that the Nanomachines were powerful enough to restore her to life as well as making her incredibly resilient to normal injuries, they're probably also powerful enough to prevent her from aging or getting sick. The ending scenes seem to take place far in the future, and it would seem that Iji herself is seeing these scenes.

• Which would make it even more interesting once humanity develops space travel and encounters the Komato again. Sequel Hook?
• Awww crap, does that mean that Vamp strikes back, considering that his immortality also depended on nanomachines?
• Jossed by Word of God. On the GMC forums, Remar noted that he had plans for a sequel, and that it would feature "an older Iji."
  • Older doesn't mean more decrepit - it means having lived longer, and nothing more.
• Nope, Iosa had the most powerful nanofield ever, capable of surviving even Alpha Strike. yet, when you visit Tasen outpost in Sector X, one of the commanders(not elite) says that she will eventualy die from old age. If Iji can be killed by normal weaponry, her nanofield must be weaker than Iosa. Also, to fulle return to life she need Nanodrive, which are single use systems. So no, she will die from old age, propably disease free but will die eventualy. I don't think nanomachines can fix "natural" damage, aka biological decay.

Conversely, Iji will only live for as long as her nanomachines hold out.

When you crack low-level troopers and their nano-fields collapse, they die. Given the Komato and Tasen priorities, it's unlikely they created their tech to be indefinite lasting. They would have access to debugging and repair. There's no more access to fresh nanotech supplies with them gone.

• Also, didn't a scientist comment in the beginning that they had given her enough to last several months? Granted, she absorbs a lot more during the game; but whether this would extend their duration (or even shorten it) isn't known.
  • Then there's the hardest difficulty, where if Iji doesn't keep moving quickly enough, her nanomachine field implodes.
• Low-level troops dying is due to your cracking causing the nanofields to explode. If Iji's nanomachines run down, it'll probably just turn off, depowering her.
• This might be her motivation for working for the Komoto in Iji2. That and either not destroying Earth/Origin and/or assisting in reconstruction.
• Actually, This Troper emailed Remar about a sequel. Word of God states that no, he will not make a new Iji game. The email in question:

Hi Taco, there are some loose plans for a sequel to Iji, but it
won't happen. I won't spend this long on a game again, it was too
demanding. Sorry.

As for the children in the credits, one of them was made to look
vaguely like Iji, but wasn't really meant to imply anything for a
sequel.

Ansaksie becomes part of a reform movement in the Komato Empire.

Considering that if you take the Pacifist path, she acknowledges respect for you, fights alongside you to destroy Iosa (a war hero and someone Ansaksie explicitly calls "messed up"), and seems to have a prior grudge against the Army, it's not beyond possibility she becomes part of one of the alluded-to idealistic or reform movements trying to end her species's insane militarism.

Without the Tasen to slaughter, the Komato engage in a massive civil war that wipes out most of their planets.

All that aggression and need to blame others; without an outlet it's inevitable.

• This post, containing some early plot ideas for a possible sequel (which is "extremely unlikely to happen"), supports this.

Ansaksie is half-Tasen or even a Tasen masquerading as a Komato.

The Komato and Tasen are very similar when without the bulk of their armor; they're essentially evolutionary offshoots after all. The two civilizations also lived together for some time side-by-side, even though the Tasen were obviously the inferior partners. In many respects much of their differences appear cultural, so it's not inconceivable that a Tasen might hide among the Komato.

• Their body shapes are too different; Komato have long, three-jointed legs, while Tasen more closely resemble humans. Which is ironic, considering the Komato are more closely related to humans, hailing directly from Earth.
  • • In version 1.6, it's revealed that the Komato originally looked like the Tasen, but started genetically engineering themselves into perfect warriors after leaving Origin. Eventually, some Komato decided it was wrong and engineered themselves back into their original forms. Thus, the Tasen were born.
  • Also, sadly, the komato are also more human personality-wise.
    • Hardly. The Komato reflect some parts of the human mentality, but by no means all of it. And the Tasen are not innocent in the first place (yes, they may have been unjustly targeted for genocide and desperate to survive, but they are NOT innocent).
  • They're both from earth, seeing as it is stated that the Komato came from earth, and the Tasen are an offshoot of Komato.
• Would this make Ansaksie sort of a Komato Surprise?
• There's a logbook, at least in the latest version, that states that the Tasen are really what the aliens look like naturally and the Komato have genetically altered themselves into their velocirapor-like forms. Ansaksie could easily have been altered as part of a disguise.

There are Tasen hidden in other places of the Galaxy

Clearly the Komato scanners aren't that good, since they were in the vicinity of Earth (their freaking origin planet) and didn't even realize the Tasen were there until someone actually sent them the message. There could easily be small ships in far away places. The universe is a freaking big place. The only reason Tor knew they were there is that he had put a more complex code in the crashed search team that had happened about them than the Tasen were aware of. Their "fake distress call" is what made him aware, not any scans of the planet.

• According to Yukabaceras's News Page, the Tasen still had quite a population before the final extermination hunt, after which the fleet heading for Earth lost contact with the rest of their race. The status of their species is unknown. As for Tor, it's possible that he attempted to hinder the detection of any Tasen colonies as much as possible, sending only a single scout team to the surface of Earth. Otherwise it's a stretch to believe they had no better way to go about it.
  • Going on with the fact that a very low number of scanners was sent, it's also entirely possible they lowered their ranks because they know humans are there, and thus may assume they could be detected - less probes, less chance of being found.

Following on the above Theory, Krotera's forces were a diversion

Draw the Komato's attention to 'the last remnant' of the Tasen, and when they've been annihilated, the Komato will stop looking.

• And then they might start a civil war.

Nanotechnology was stolen from a conquered race

It seems a little odd that it's very easy to combine weapons to form new weapons by simply changing a few hex numbers according to the Crackers. A subversion of Possession Implies Mastery, the Komato don't fully understand it themselves and the Weapon companies create new versions the same way the crackers do.

• Case in point, the description of the V-2 Velocithor is that it was taken from an "extinct race" yet you create it by combining two "existing" Tasen and Komato weapons. Yes, logbooks claim that certain things were designed by Tasen or Komato, but they don't act like it.
  • Following this, the blueprints of all of the weapons in the game can eventually be found within any smaller part of the technology, hence why the human scientists who had 6 months to examine it were able to reverse-engineer Iji's "specialized Tasen-Replica yet Human Sized Komato General nanogun" despite only having stolen Tasen tech to work with. Actual programmers, not Script Kiddies, were able to get farther in six months than the two alien races have in millions of years. This also explains Iji's "special" abilities that mark her as the Anomaly, many Komato want her put to the knife to figure out the tech.
• While this seems to be almost certainly true, it asks the question of how on earth they managed to beat the original owners. After all, it's stated in Canon that wielders of nanoarmor are effectively immune to any non-nano weaponry, and it takes nanotech to even dent their armor. They probably had their own inferior nanotech which they developed themselves, which wasn't all that good but had the power to at least let them engage the enemy, and armed with that they simply beat the aliens who developed the good nanotech through superior numbers. Do note that some Komato text logs mention that they were snooping through the human weapons research and while the humans had something they were calling nanoweapons it wasn't even in the same league as their weakest weapons—yet.
  • If the Komato developed weapons like the Alpha Strike and the Phantom Hammer on their own (or took them from * another* race), that might have been the edge they needed to defeat another culture's nano-equipped armies. They could nuke their foes' worlds from orbit and sift through the ashes to reverse-engineer the technology. (Remember that Iosa's nanofield was the only one that withstood an Alpha Strike, and that planetary shields that resisted Alpha Striking were a Tasen technology.)
  • Developing their own nanotech from charred remains would go a long way toward explaining the weapon manufacturers' and cracker culture's methods, as well as the speed that the human scientists replicated and improved nanotech for Iji (since their work was based off working models, though heaven knows how they got their hands on it...)
    • Best guess would be sabotaged lifts (Tasen logbooks mention how dangerous they are!) and Ewok traps.
      • Why bother sabotaging the lifts? The logbooks indicate that all the scientists would just be able to wait a couple hours and someone would end up getting sent through the roof.
• Perhaps the Blits were probably either a last ditch effort to save themselves or revenge against the Komoto race.
• Perhaps it wasn't a conquered race at all, but one that exterminated themselves through war. Maybe even the same war that produced the machines in Hero and Hero Core...
  • It's confirmed that the race they got their tech off killed itself through it's own technology, something referred to as "Zentraidon". Any suggestion that the Komato race is headed for Zentraidon itself is met with swift execution.

The Tasen survived on Earth

At least three of them can; the Tasen that proposes the truce if you go through with no kills follows the Tasen and her girlfriend just before the battle with Iosa, and they teleport out together before Iosa blows the last Tasen in the facility up. Follow them through the teleporter and you see a locked door and a log that says, "Hey, Anomaly! We're getting out of here. Bye!" in so many words. This happens whether you're violent or not, just so long you follow the Truce in stage 3 and don't kill the Tasen "guarding" Elite Krotera. The Tasen, it should be noted, landed all over the place on Earth, and near the end there, all Komato in the area were reassigned from hunting them to hunting you. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that more survived by similar means (that is, raw, blind luck). Which leads to my next thought...

• Yukabacera probably survived too, holed up where he was. More good news for the idea that the Tasen help rebuild, since he's a cracker and probably understands nanotech.
• Depending on whether Vateilika's a male, you may have a slightly reduced adam and eve scenario. Also, considering that nanofields keep track of the DNA of their user, it's entirely possible that Yuka could extrapolate the rest of the Tasen race back to life by creating whole new bodies "repairing" them, as it were, from small modified samples of tissue, something that even humans can do(maybe more, considering the implication that Iji takes place slightly in the future).
  • Vateilika's female - Krotera uses 'her' and 'she' while ranting about the truce being Vateilika's idea.
• Even if Yukabacera survived, Vateilika dumped him because he was annoying and the other two are lesbians, so an Adam and Eve plot is still out of the question.
  • If Vateilika didn't forgive him, she'd be very, very stupid. What's more important, not being annoyed, or the safety of your entire species?
    • I would like to take a moment to point out that it seems that you are implying that in such a scenario it would be her duty to have sex with and bear the children (I am assumeing human-like biology) of a guy she may not like. No matter the situation, the implications are a little unfortunate. If I am wrong here I apologise. Just saying if I was one of a few people left of my species my focus would be on... not dieing. not procreation. Especially not with someone I dislike.
    • And then there's a third option: with nanotechnology that advanced, how unlikely is two-egg parthenogenesis?
  • Jossed as of 1.6, now that more Tasen can survive.

The Tasen helped make Earth livable again

We don't see much of who's left on the planet in the ending credits, just three human children an unknown amount of time after the end. It's not totally unthinkable that, if some Tasen did survive, they would be completely unable to leave the planet, and while they had come to take whatever resources they could and then move along, they'd need to work harder for the long-term rebuilding now. Somehow, the earth was livable, and not all that long after the first bombardment nearly ruined the entire ecosystem, as humans, at least, were shown to manage to live it out, even though the attack would've left them with very, very little in reserves of anything. The Tasen, however, had nanotechnology that was shown to be quite potent, and humans had the capability to adapt it. Working together, they certainly could've come up with something to help till the soil and clean the water with nanotech. Yeah... this troper just can't bring himself to believe that the Tasen are extinct.

• I agree. We're supposed to believe that in a demoralized army of a few million, there were only three defectors? Suuuure.
  • Not so much that there were only three defectors, but that immediately after they make their escape you kill Iosa and reprioritize all of the Komato still on the surface from looking for surviving Tasen to hunting you down. Other Tasen might have tried to get away earlier, but the Komato just killed them all anyway.
    • Again, this makes incredible assumptions regarding Komato sensors. Since the Tasen visually resemble humans, how in the world can the Komato find every Tasen who hides in the woods, basements, caves, etc. Genocide on a personal level takes time. From what we read in the Komato logs, they were making a game of it anyways, and concentrating on the ones who were fighting back.
    • And again, as of version 1.6, if you uphold the truce in Sector 3 and remain pacifist till the end of Sector 9, the Tasen let you pass through their bunker and you get to fight Iosa before she razes it, so all the Tasen in the bunker survive.
• Also, mass-produced red nanofields. This Troper would personally think it pretty hilarious if they restore an entire planet with what amounts to health packs.

Iji and her family are German, Austrian, or of Germanic descent.

Not that wild, but it works. Their last name is revealed to be Kataiser in the unlockable encyclopaedia, which sounds Germanic. We never are told where the game takes place, so it could very well be Germany or Austria. Granted, this doesn't explain Iji's decidedly non-Germanic first name (my guess is that it's short for "Isolde"), or her British accent (listen to some of her voice files, I swear) Also, the fact that all of the voice actors seem Nordic (look in the credits) might have something to do with it.

• The maker of the game (Daniel Remar) is Swedish, living in Sweden. Take what you want from that.
• This post clears it up slightly. Or makes it more complicated.
  • "Ron"? Damn, didn't know he had a name. Based on my theory, I assumed it was something like "Adolf". "Adolf Kataiser", doesn't that sound right?
    • Ronald isn't terribly common in the Germanic countries, but it isn't superrare either.

Iji is the distant prequel to Cave Story.

Think about it! The weapon-combining, the Schizo-Tech, the similar enemy designs... clearly the world was able to rebuild, but remnants of Tasen and Kamato technology shaped the human population's rebuilding. Under Ballos' influence, remaining nanotech eventually mutated into a more stable form, acting as a benign infection in most species, but had the effect of causing sentient creatures to become super-powered and insane when introduced into their systems.

Iji is the final boss of Iji 2

Now Remar has stated that it'd feature an older Iji. Pushing the Not So Different themes to the next level she will end up becoming the leader of the humans mostly due to the fact that she not only has alien technology and apparent knowledge from cracking, but also because she was responsible for saving the planet. Sometime later she will build an army from earth to eliminate the Komoto in revenge for destruction of her home planet, Mia, her dad, and potentially Dan. As the Komoto at this point will be vulnerable due to the collapse of their empire from a civil war.

• • Except Ultimortal says that you play as the older Iji. If you don't believe me, check out the post in the Komato Civil War topic.

Ultimortal: You would play as an older Iji in those plans, fighting for Imperial Research under General Kiron.

• • • Ah I didn't see that, thanks.
    • As much as this won't happen, I somehow like the idea of Iji becoming a Fallen Hero. Just read that trope description and tell me that doesn't sound like what could happen to Iji. The setup is all there.

The girl in Daniel Remar's concept art is a potential enemy in Iji 2

In one of the posts linked at in the Komato Civil War topic, Daniel Remar linked to a concept art he made for Iji 2, and says that it's not Iji. Here's the picture. One of the theories I have is that this girl was taken by the enemy Komato force, and engineered with nanotechnology like Iji was. They do this so that they have a "human anomaly" of their own to combat their enemies, especially Iji herself.

• He also asked if anyone recognized the tattoo on the woman's shoulder. I don't, but perhaps it'll hint at the answer here?
  • I found the symbol. It's on the some of the walls and on the background doors of the research facility. They're in this picture, circled in red. I guess this kind of debunks my theory of her being engineered by Komato (though there's still a slight possibility, provided some reasonable explanations). Also the symbol appears on the speakers that Dan talks to you through.

Angelica (The Woman in the concept art above) is...

• A clone of Iji designed by a new human military to lead the war against the Komato... the real Iji having decided to step out of the limelight, becoming a recluse, after the events of the first game due to the trauma of losing her father, sister and possibly her brother.

In Iji 2, Iji allies with some of the Komato (prepare for one fanfic-like epileptic tree)

In the comment that Daniel Remar made about playing Iji, he also said that she'll fight for Imperial Research under General Kiron, and that the Komato are trying to make amends with their past, along with falling into a civil war. It can be assumed that the war will be caused by Komato wanting to end their destructive ways and live a peaceful existence, fighting against Komato who want to continue living a violent and destructive life (and the conflict could quite possibly be sparked by Tor's decision not to Alpha Strike Origin). With High Command either assassinated or disbanded, the Komato on the side of peace, including half of Imperial Research, follow General Kiron, who was inspired by General Tor. While either looking for new planets to set up base, or running from the forces of hostile Komato, Kiron returns to Origin, either by chance or just wanting to see if it was still habitable since it wasn't Alpha Striked at full force. Realizing that there were still humans (and possibly even a small population of Tasen) surviving on the planet, the Komato under Kiron decide to begin their quest of a peaceful existence by trying to establish non-hostile contact with the survivors, and possibly help them rebuild. It's then that Kiron discovers that Iji (who he only knows as the Human Anomaly) is still alive, since she could possibly be acting as the protector of the surviving colony of humans in the area (depending on what stats she has upgraded, and if she kept her nanogun). When it's discovered that the violent Komato followed Kiron, Kiron tries to convince Iji to help their side. Iji is convinced when Kiron tells her of the now working Star Strike and other weapons, and that the enemy Komato will finish the job that General Tor started on Origin, if nothing is done. Thus Iji, with help of the revolutionary Komato under Kiron, fights the traditional, violent Komato under the the game's main antagonist, in order to save the Earth and humanity once again.

Turbo Mode is real time rate and normal time rate is adjusted for player benefit.

Normally it seems a bit odd that the reload times are long and that Iji never runs. However with the turbo rate we get to see everything as it should be.

Angelica (the girl in the concept art that was previously linked) was . . .

. . . another girl that they tried to engineer with nanotech during the time of the first Iji. I mean, there are 260 sectors, and it's obvious by the ending that there are other humans hiding. There could've been another group of scientists hiding somewhere in the facility, trying to engineer another unconscious victim with Tasen technology in order to fight (it doesn't matter if they knew about the attempts with Iji or not). However, unlike Iji, they either didn't complete the work in time for her to do anything, or she never wakes up from her coma. It's not until Iji 2 that she's able to do something.

The Komato are evolved dinosaurs.

Not really that far out there. They look fairly similar in their build (although more bipedal) and in their armor construction, and they left Earth at about the time the dinosaurs died out. Not to mention they could've caused the cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs themselves for whatever reason.

• Deceased Crab is apparently in the same boat - he mused this in one of his Lets Plays. (Link, please, anyone?)
• That would also imply that the Tasen are evolved dinosaurs too.
• Kind of Jossed by Word of God in this post.

Daniel Remar: But the idea was that the Komato came first from some ancient mammal, left Earth, and the Tasen evolved from them later once they had started colonizing planets. Other species of that ancient mammal left on Earth would remain primitive, go on to become the apes, and eventually humans.

• • Which makes no sense.
• Komato is a missing link between Potato and Tomato.

The Komato are survivors from when Frieza destroyed the saiyans.

It makes some kind of sense.

Asha is gay.

Camp Gay specifically. Not meaning to offend anyone here, but he's certainly effeminate, given his Gender Blender Name, and his Evil Laugh does not sound very masculine. Given the Tasen's relaxed attitude towards homosexuals, it's not too much of a stretch to say that the same applies to the Komato.

• If he's not, he's probably metrosexual anyway. He appears to be wearing pink armour and no shirt. I mean, seriously? Plus, metrosexual alien cyborgs.
• Gay or not, I have a hard time seeing Asha as camp. Maybe I just got killed by him on too many times... Wasn't his armor blue? Real Men Wear Pink, anyway.
  • Nope. Okay, it's more of magenta, but still. I asked this on the forum topic, in any case, and Remar stated that he didn't intend to hint at any relationships with him, gay or otherwise. Still, Fanon...
• Maybe he's shirtless because he's the Komato equivalent of Mr. Fanservice and intends to take advantage of it.

Iji is set in the District 9 universe.

Hear me out here. Iji is most possibly set in the future of District 9 (sort of obligatory since the movie was set in 1981, I believe). The Komato had sent a scout/research ship to Origin, but due to a malfunction, the ship ended up in Johannesburg. During their time there, the Komato get oppressed and watched over by the humans, exactly like how they treated the Tasen. The weapons don't actually depend as much on Komato DNA as it does on a Nanofield. Wikus was sprayed with an experimental Komato device (Nano-spray) but it possibly was contaminated by Komato DNA. The arc gun is a CFIS, and the reason it causes Ludicrous Gibs is because the victims that were hit either had a weak Nanofield or lacked one. The mech suit is possibly an experimental Berserker suit, with more mobility but less Resonance-spamming. When Cristopher escapes to his fleet, he needed 3 years because he needed to talk to High Command. When he did, High Command was worried they had another Tasen-like race, but left Origin alone for a while, and the army kept Christopher busy for many years. Then the Tasen landed on Origin. The scientists that modified Iji knew what to do since their military facility was researching Komato technology, so they knew how to reverse-engineer the Tasen gun quickly. The Komato scouts from District 9 were probably killed during the Tasen's Alpha Strike. Cristopher (or his kid) ended up as the empathic General Tor, leading the fleet to the planet where he was once held prisoner.

Humans are smarter than the Tasen and the Komoto.

Iji who was described by Dan as merely being "good with computers" can hack into any infantry, make all known combinatorial weapons, and only a few remote switched doors were unable to stop her and gets better at it simply by gathering nano probably to increase processing power. She outhacks Yukabacera by accomplishing in days what took him far longer and he's considered a genius amongst the Tasen. The human doctors and scientists were able to successfully reverse engineer the technology with limited equipment in a hostile environment and get it working with only a comatose girl as the test subject. The only reason why the Komoto and Tasen are more advanced is due to having a head start and more dubious ethics in experimentation.

• For the record, she doesn't create every known weapon, just all the ones which are standard issue and/or usable by infantry. She doesn't build her own Massacre or Laser Blade, for instance. However, you also missed a few points: Dan also created a Universal Translator more effective than Yukabacera (in fact it's apparently flawless), and the single soldier those scientists reverse-engineer utilizes the technology more effectively than any unit either side has developed. Ansaksie also claims that there's no way she could've taken out Iosa without Iji to handle the hacking; while I wouldn't expect every soldier to be good at hacking, surely Ansaksie knows a competent hacker or two (if nothing else to give her that custom error message). I can only imagine that the nanotechnology is actually absurdly user-friendly and intuitive but the Tasen and Komato are both so thick-headed that it can't compensate.
• They also show a disturbingly low amount of common sense relative to humans (* cough* elevators * cough* ).
• My theory is that the technology, though alien, has systems and rules and programs that are just easier to understand by humans, or at least scientists. What impossibly-hard equation that even the brightest Komato minds can't figure out is the key to making the ultimate Nuke? Iji says, "Oh, look; the code works in powers of 3. Simple enough." Leaving the Komato to fear Iji as an all-knowing god of war.

'Face to Face' (the boss battle music) is meant to be Iji's Theme Music Power-Up

Usually a boss theme means you're facing an enemy more powerful than yourself, that has to be brought down with perseverance and clever tactics. However, it's constantly stated Iji is significantly more powerful than any one opponent she comes across. Therefore, when a one-on-one fight calls for a suitably dramatic music change, it defaults to Iji's personal battle theme. The final boss is the only one who outdoes Iji in raw firepower, which is why he gets his own fight theme.

• Iosa the invincible isn't considered as powerful as Iji?
  • Considering the fact Iosa was beaten by Iji repeatedly kicking her in the face...
  • Iji has every weapon Iosa has, and more.
• Personally, I always thought Seven Four fit better as Iji's theme for two reasons. One, It only plays in the two sectors where she could easily be in a focused state of mind (sector 5 after losing contact with Dan, and sector X leading up to Tor). Two, it's incredibly similar to Tor's boss music, both to show that there's something alike between them, and just how determined Iji is to defeat him. However, Face To Face could indicate that she's under high amounts of mental duress (panic and/or rage).

The humans sabotaged the lifts

Vaguely mentioned above, but I just find it too damn funny so it deserves its own theory.

Yukabacera, along with the Komato hackers whose logs you kept finding, wasn't actually very smart at all.

Oh sure, hacking is fun for them, but they're not any good at it; it's just a hobby. Iji doesn't have any special training or prior experience with this technology, just earth computers, but is able to do what took them months in days; Dan builds a much better translator than Yuka as well. All the competent hackers are recruited to work in R&D, since there's still so much of the technology not yet deciphered. The ones who actually run around hacking stuff on their own are the guys who were too stupid to do the real work but still get some kind of high from it. Yuka may have enough hacking skill to best his friends who've never even tried their hand at it, just by knowing how it works, but anybody competent (read: Iji) can run circles around him. Same goes for those Komato. Of course, illegal weapons cracking is still illegal because who wants Joe citizen knowing how to supply his own private army with the same tech as the real one?

The scientists that worked on Iji were X-Com operatives.

Think about it: Got their hands on and reverse engineered advanced alien tech in a remarkably short amount of time? Check, Modified the design to the point that it could be used effectively by a human with little to no prior training? Check, working in a large military like research base that extends deep underground? Check, died horribly at the most inopportune time? Check. It all makes so much sense now.

Retribution is not entirely technological

It's noted that Iji is the only one who can use Retribution. This seems a bit suspicious as it is but the attack itself just doesn't seem technologically based. Perhaps Iji has some sort of latent supernatural powers or it's a result of the large amounts of spirits from humanity nearly getting wiped out lending their power to her?

• • It's her massive Spiral Energy overflowing through her weapons.

Iji isn't taken that seriously because of humans being neotonous compared to Tasen and Komoto

Iji is tall as far as humans are concerned but is shorter than all the Komoto Beasts (who are obviously longer than her). In addition all aliens have a voice deeper than her. In addition the helmets all suggest an element of a muzzle, one that is larger in the more dominant ones. Thus humans must look childlike with their flatter faces. The diary writer finding her cute adds a slight ring of truth to this. Thus she appears short, squeaky voiced, and childish in comparison. This works both for and against her. The Tasen are willing to make a truce if she's pacifistic. However she also never succeeds in her talks with leaders unless she bests them.

• Supported by her interactions with Tor (and possibly Vateilika as well but especially Tor), but most other characters don't seem to react in this manner. Of course, it may be that everyone else just realises that adult humans look like that.

The Tasen and Komoto have thin skin

Their skin color is a barely darker shade of the color of their blood. This exceptional physical weakness would explain why they're infused with nanomachines on top of wearing heavy armor, and sometimes even piloting exoskeletons. The Komoto's self destructive, merciless and audacious nature is just generations of fear that a small fall could cause internal bleeding being unleashed in a torrent of violence for fun and profit.

Tor let Iji win.

Okay, maybe not let her win, but he gave her a fighting chance. He thought that she would lose even if he was holding back, but still hoped that she would somehow win. Why else would he drop all that red nano, and keep using an attack that's just reflected back in his face?

• Tor let Iji win by staying there and fighting in the first place. He could have easily blasted off and let the Alpha Strike take care of Iji.

Iji has prior training, perhaps in a militia

Despite her reluctance towards violence she is a good marks-woman, having a smaller spread with the machine gun than all of the Tasen despite the fact that they should be better trained than her and better able to take the recoil. (Although it may be that they're just poorly trained or stupider than humans enough not to develop good techniques during long lasting wars.) She is able to credibly threaten Asha with a head shot with a shotgun while feeling comfortable that she won't hit Dan.

• How do we know she wasn't bluffing him?
  • Iji hasn't exactly proven that great at lying judging by her obvious tell when lying to Tor that the Tasen all are dead.
    • ...which he only caught because it used the wrong subcheck encryption. That probably wouldn't be much of an issue when talking face-to-face.
      • No, she has a REALLY obvious tell when she lies to him about the Tasen being dead if you save the bunker.

Assuming Identical Grandson, Iji is a descendant of Shanoa

They look rather similar, especially in their hairstyles.

Everyone hates Ron

It's already mentioned that Ron was a bigamist and both his wives left him when they found out. While Dan not referencing him can be because he was suppressing his emotions at that point and having more time to have dealt with it already, Iji only looks for him when waking up disoriented. While she mourns Mia frequently Ron never gets a single reference. Putting two and two together even his own children hate him so much that they don't even care that he's dead.

• Where is it mentioned that he was a bigamist? Dan Remar has said that he had two wives, but that doesn't necessarily mean at the same time.

The Komato are a Spiral Race

Seriously. Name another species with such an over-the-top attitude. The General's exoskeletons are Gunmen - note that they have a Cephalothorax-like build, only with a small head protruding from the chest, and they seem to be able to be summoned from nowhere (Spiral Energy can generate matter.) Tor was the equivalent of Rossiu.