If you went to high school in the late 2000s, you remember the smell. It was a mix of Axe Body Spray, burnt hair from ceramic straighteners, and the sheer, unfiltered toxicity of teenagers who hadn't yet learned that their words actually had consequences. SBN3’s Class of '09 captures that era with a precision that honestly feels like a personal attack. It’s a "rejection sim," a visual novel where the goal isn't necessarily to find love, but to navigate a minefield of sociopaths, creeps, and the deeply depressed.
The Class of 09 characters aren't your typical anime tropes. There’s no "tsundere" with a heart of gold here. Everyone is pretty much a terrible person, or at the very least, a victim of a terrible system. It’s refreshing. It’s also horrifying.
Nicole: The Relatable Sociopath
Nicole is the heart of the game, even if she’d probably spit on you for saying so. She’s the protagonist, and your window into this suburban hellscape. After her dad's suicide and a string of school transfers, she’s decided that the only way to survive is to be the biggest predator in the room. She’s nihilistic. She’s cruel. She’s also incredibly funny in a "I can't believe she just said that" kind of way.
Most visual novel protagonists are blank slates meant for self-insertion. Nicole is the opposite. She has a distinct, acidic personality. She doesn't want to be liked. In fact, most of the "good" endings in the game involve her successfully manipulating people to leave her alone or ruining the lives of those who deserve it. You aren't playing as a hero; you're playing as a survivalist in a mini-skirt.
The brilliance of her character lies in the voice acting by Elsie Lovelock. The delivery is bored, detached, and sharp. When Nicole insults a teacher or shuts down a "nice guy" classmate, it doesn't feel like a scripted line. It feels like a core memory for anyone who was ever bullied or did the bullying in 2008.
Jeannie: The Only Moral Compass (Sorta)
Then there’s Jeannie. If Nicole is the darkness, Jeannie is the... well, she’s not the light, but maybe a slightly less dim gray? She’s Nicole’s best friend and often the only person Nicole seems to genuinely care about, in her own twisted way. Jeannie is the "scene girl" archetype—think Converse, studded belts, and a desperate need for external validation.
Jeannie is vital because she humanizes the experience. While Nicole is often untouchable due to her lack of empathy, Jeannie feels the weight of the social hierarchy. She gets hurt. She gets embarrassed. She represents the part of the player that actually wants to fit in, even when the environment is toxic.
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Their dynamic is the backbone of the narrative. In a world where every male character is either a predator, a loser, or both, the friendship between these two girls is the only thing that feels remotely real. It’s a toxic friendship, sure, but it’s a bond forged in the trenches of a public school system that has completely given up on them.
The Men of Class of '09: A Rogue's Gallery of Red Flags
We need to talk about the male characters. Honestly, they’re the worst. And that’s the point. Whether it’s the pedophilic photography teacher, the "white knight" nerd, or the gym coach with boundary issues, the men in this game serve as the primary antagonists.
- Kylar: The quintessential 2000s jock. He’s aggressive, remarkably stupid, and obsessed with "alpha" behavior before that was even a mainstream term. He’s the guy who thinks a hate crime is just a "prank."
- Crispin: The "nice guy" who isn't nice at all. He’s the dude who thinks that because he listens to indie music and wears a cardigan, he’s entitled to Nicole’s time. He’s a perfect satire of the proto-hipster era.
- The Counselors and Teachers: These characters represent the systemic failure of the school. They don't see the students as people; they see them as problems to be managed or, in the darker routes, as prey.
The game doesn't pull punches with these portrayals. It’s uncomfortable because it’s familiar. Everyone knew a Kylar. Everyone had a teacher that made them feel slightly unsafe. By exaggerating these traits to an absurd degree, the game highlights the genuine trauma of that time period.
Why These Characters Resonate in 2026
You might wonder why a game set in the late 2000s is still gaining a massive cult following now. It’s because the Class of 09 characters tap into a very specific kind of millennial and Gen Z nostalgia that isn't about the toys or the music, but the vibe. It was a time of transition. The internet was becoming ubiquitous, but it wasn't "sanitized" yet.
There’s a raw honesty in how these characters interact. They say things that would get you cancelled in a heartbeat today. Not because the game is trying to be "edgy" for the sake of it, but because that’s how people actually talked back then. It’s a time capsule of a pre-social-media-consequence world.
Also, the game addresses mental health in a way that feels surprisingly modern despite the setting. Nicole’s depression isn't romanticized. It isn't a "quirk." It’s a heavy, oppressive force that dictates every bad decision she makes. When she pushes people away or engages in self-destructive behavior, it’s not for drama—it’s a coping mechanism.
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The Impact of "The Flip Side" and Expanding the Cast
With the release of Class of '09: The Flip Side, the character dynamics shifted. We got to see more of Jeannie’s perspective, which recontextualized a lot of Nicole’s actions. Seeing the same events through a different lens showed that while Nicole thinks she’s the main character of a dark comedy, Jeannie is often living in a tragedy.
The expansion of the cast, including characters like Karen (the overachiever who is constantly on the verge of a breakdown) and Megan (the popular girl who is arguably just as mean as Nicole but with better social standing), rounds out the ecosystem. It stops being a game about one girl and starts being a study of a failing community.
Breaking Down the "Mean Girl" Trope
Nicole is often compared to characters from Mean Girls or Heathers, but that’s a bit of a lazy comparison. Regina George wanted power. Nicole just wants to be left alone so she can do drugs and wait for the world to end.
There is a specific nihilism in the Class of 09 characters that distinguishes them from 80s or 90s teen archetypes. They aren't rebels without a cause. They have a cause: they know the economy is going to collapse (it’s 2008/2009, after all), they know their futures are bleak, and they know the adults in their lives are incompetent.
Their meanness is a defense. If you make yourself unlovable, nobody can hurt you when they inevitably leave. It’s a defense mechanism that many players find uncomfortably relatable, even if they’d never admit to being as cruel as Nicole.
Fact-Checking the Subculture
One thing the game gets incredibly right is the fashion and subculture. The layering of shirts, the specific brand of flip phones, the MySpace references—it’s all there. But it’s the dialogue that acts as the real "character." The slang isn't just "2000s slang"; it’s the specific way suburban American teenagers used language to alienate others.
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Real-world studies on "relational aggression" in schools during this era often point to the exact behaviors Nicole exhibits. According to researchers like Dr. Nicki Crick, who pioneered work on this subject, this type of "social sabotage" is a distinct form of bullying that was rampant in the mid-to-late 2000s. The game effectively gamifies this psychological concept.
How to Navigate the Different Routes
If you're jumping into the game to experience these characters yourself, you need to understand that your choices matter, but not in the way you think. You aren't "fixing" anyone.
- Lean into the chaos: Trying to be the "good guy" usually leads to Nicole getting exploited or worse. The game rewards you for being as cynical as she is.
- Pay attention to the background: The flavor text and the side comments from characters like the Principal provide a lot of the world-building that explains why the kids are the way they are.
- The "Suicide Ending": This is one of the most famous and controversial parts of the game. It’s a sharp reminder that beneath the comedy, there is a very real, very dark core to these characters. It’s not for the faint of heart.
The Class of 09 characters work because they are unapologetic. They don't ask for your forgiveness or your pity. They just exist in a specific moment in time, reflecting back the worst parts of a culture that many of us lived through and are still trying to process.
If you want to understand the game's impact, stop looking for "likable" characters. Start looking for the ones that make you cringe because they remind you of someone you used to know—or someone you used to be. That’s where the real value of the writing lies. It’s a mirror held up to a very ugly, very specific American era.
To get the most out of the story, play through the "rejection" paths first. They offer the most insight into Nicole’s psyche and set the stage for the more dramatic, life-altering decisions found in the later acts of the game. Focus on the dialogue cues rather than trying to find a "winning" strategy; in this school, simply making it to graduation in one piece is the only real victory.