Confidential Files
The Confidential Files are the source of most of the expanded universe of Girls' Frontline. The first one is included as a separate booklet in the Chinese edition of The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol.1 (it is not included in the English edition). The second one, titled G&K Field Commander Briefing Program: New and Emerging Forms of Threat, is included as a separate booklet in the Chinese edition of The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol.2, and included in the book of the Japanese edition.
The content of the first Confidential Files is based on an updated and enriched version of the Secret Documents unlocked in the game Codename: Bakery Girl, which are sometimes called “Bakery Girl's Confidential Files”.
The Gallery menu of Codename: Bakery Girl, with the Secret Documents list on the right side.
The cover of the first Confidential Files.
The cover of the second Confidential Files.
Considerations regarding canon
Both Confidential Files are considered canon due to their content being included into the main story of Girls' Frontline, but they still contain some inconsistencies and readers are advised to remain critical when referencing them. The same applies to English fan-translations due to added errors.
The first Confidential Files exist in two versions, with the revised version excising the first part of the files written by Gaoshan (高山) “Hannibal” after it was found in 2017 to contain ideas plagiarized from Charles Stross' 2000 novella A Colder War: the “Servitor/Shoggoth” constructs, the presence of an ancient gate in Lake Vostok and the names “Dresden Agreements”, “BOOJUM” and “Project Koschei”. Some of these ideas had been imported from Codename: Bakery Girl's Secret Documents, published in 2013 (the plagiarism had gone unnoticed at the time). Mica Team's lead Yuzhong made a public apology on Weibo the same day promising to remove the part containing plagiarism from reprints. The content of the excised part reappeared later under new names ("Servitors" became Pikes, the "Dresden Agreements" became the Relic Arms Limitation Treaty) so it is still considered canon except for the plagiarized names.
Prior to its content being used in the game, the status of the second Confidential Files was put in question due to rumors of former disgraced contractor Mei “Deadpapilio” (冥蝶军工) having participated in the writing. Mei's name doesn't appear in the artbook.
