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R: 6 / I: 1

Masada

So… theory time. This one is based around the "Sexual relationship" of Masada and Mado.

Madotsuki is actually a really strange girl. SHe finds things that are creepy to others normal and she is confused with normal things. This cause her to only have one friend, her music instructor Masada (please note Mado is in early elementary).

Madotsuki's father was abusive, so she often found Masada to be a fatherly figure and Masada saw her as his daughter. Madotsuki spent and awful long time with him, causing him to spend less time with a certain person, Monoe.

Monoe was in love with Masada, and became angry with Madotsuki, and even Masada. Feeling envious, she wanted to do something horrible.

After a beating from her father, Madotsuki took refuge at Masada's. She sat there and cried and Masada couldn't do a thing about it. Giving up, he decided to take a nap.

Madotsuki soon becomes lonely, and being a small child, crawls in bed with him. Monoe finds this the perfect time to act and calls the police and accuses Masada of "a sexual relationship with a minor."

The cops arrived, and with Madotsuki sleeping beside Masada, and dried tears on her face, provided all of the evidence they needed. Masada was taken away (the sirens as the ship crashes) . Monoe was happy that this happened and finally felt like she could give up on this whole thing (her smile).

With Mado being accused by the court as autistic, they found that no matter what happened, she could not prove Masada innocent. Masada was then taken to jail, where he was harrased and beat up, for he would not fight back do to his sweet nature (the eyes meaning all the times he was beat up). Masada was then stuck in a room and was gassed for his execution (the fact you land on Mars… no oxegen) and was constantly trying to ask him to say goodbye to Madotsuki for them through the coughs and suffocation (his voice). Eventually, he died and Madotsuki was very upset at his funeral and cried for hours on end (Mars-san). This is about the time when Madotsuki didn't come out of her room at all and lost all hope in humanity.
R: 11 / I: 0

Themes and Imagery in Yume Nikki pt. 1

Here’s hoping that I convince people that this game does, in fact, have carefully planned-out imagery in order to communicate broader themes or reinforce the feelings of dread throughout the game.
In order to fully understand Yume Nikki, we should only look at the game itself, concentrating on the game’s most prevalent themes. Here’s the most obvious motif of the game—isolation. I’ll tie it all in to the dramatic conclusion of the game, so be warned… SPOILERS AHEAD.
Isolation, claustrophobia and hopelessness are the biggest aspects of the game communicates its themes through use of motifs and subliminal in a way that culminates with Madotsuki’s suicide at the end of the game. So, here’s some of the clever ways that these feelings are projected onto the player through the environments and characters.

We know Madotsuki can't leave her room. Her only escape from her repressive, inescapable, tiny room is her dreams. To emphasize that sleep is the only worthwhile aspect of her life, a game console is placed in her room while she’s awake. The game is incredibly tedious and boring, the imagery and music are incredibly dull. This game serves as a stark contrast between her waking limitations and her open possibilities of her dreams.
And so, as it would seem to a new player of Yume Nikki, her dreams serve as a quite literal doorway to another world in which she can do things she couldn’t do while awake (walking through her door is the most obvious example, and through this she is seemingly empowered because she can now make the decision to roam around where she wants). The dark twist is, her dreams are yet another closed-off trap like her bedroom is. We know this because, ultimately, all paths in the dream world lead to nowhere. All paths circle back on one another and many of those paths lead to areas where monsters such as the Toriningen or Uboa can take her away to a tiny place that she can’t escape… unless she wakes up again, bringing herself back to her prison bedroom. Seeing the pattern yet? To back this up, there is a place in the game in which Madotsuki comes across a cabinet. She opens the cabinet and sees herself crouched inside, not moving. This is the game’s way of telling the player that even Madotsuki sees herself as totally alone and trapped. It is symbolic of reality filtering into her dreams and making them seem far more ominous. More on that later.

Moving on to the suicide at the end.
Why does Madotsuki kill herself? All projecting and assumptions aside, anyone who looks at it from a pure game-play standpoint would say she killed herself because she had all the effects. What does that mean? Well, we know that the effects are placed in the game in such a way that one has to travel to pretty much every corner of the dream world to find them. This would mean that Madotsuki has seen everything there is to see, and has come to the conclusion that she can go no further, ever—her dreams are a dead end and there’s nothing left to accomplish. In other words, she’s trapped, just like she is in the bedroom. The game is very clever about subliminally letting us know that Madotsuki never leaves her bedroom during her dreams. The carpet on the floor of her room is one example. In many areas of the dream world, a peculiar image of a figure (let’s call them Aztec figures since that’s what they resemble to me) float past under Madotsuki’s feet, just as the carpet of her bedroom runs under her feet with a design similar in style to the Aztec figures of the dream (sharp angles, tessellation-like patterns, contrasting colours and bold lines). The constant presence of doors and beds and a running theme of areas that cannot be accessed is another thing that relates to Madotsuki’s room (the teleport maze with the red transport squares to me represents a bunch of simplified versions of Madotsuki’s bedroom, one after another). Also, when Madotsuki is awake, it is occasionally very dark and cloudy outside. This cloud layout is the exact same that we see reflected in the world with the puddles.
Madotsuki, after collecting everything in the game and realizing she can never go any further, sees that her escape world is a lie. She’s just as trapped as ever, tormented by her subconscious demons on top of being utterly alone. She realizes there is no way out and kills herself.
R: 11 / I: 3

Perspective on drug theory. With footnotes, because why not.

Theory: Magic mushrooms were to KIKIYAMA what alcohol was to ZUN.

I understand why this seems like such a wild theory to most people. I think I downloaded it back in 2006 or 2007 to see what the Uboa stuff was about, but I put it aside until recently at least, when I got into psychedelic drugs beyond just pot. If you haven't tried the stronger psychedelics (mushrooms, LSD primarily), then there is probably not going to be any way you will have any insight into this. I am glad Madotsuki-chan stayed a fixture on /jp/ through the reactionfaces, or else I might not have been reminded of the game.

I should preface this by saying I'm a responsible drug user, and it's about intellectual and personal pursuits for me. We are talking, like, Aldous Huxley drug use, not Charlie Sheen drug use. When I started using psilocybin, more commonly known as magic mushrooms, it very immediately became clear to me that this game was inspired by drugs. Not only that, but the biggest shocker I've discovered yet is that the game seems to be intuitive while under the influence of strong psychedelic drugs in a way that it is not when played in an ordinary state of consciousness. By intuitive, I mean, I seem to be able to figure out where to go and how to interact with the game world with the same sort of reasoning process that the game's creator had, or at least the process that he expected players to have. When I played the game without drugs circa 2007, I had no idea where to go and generally felt completely lost in the game world, and often bored. Now I feel very differently.

It seems clear to me that KIKIYAMA was influenced by either psilocybin (mushrooms), LSD, or both, and possibly other psychedelics as well. The kind of primal, archaic art style found in much of the game, is one that is commonly associated with the psychedelic experience.

Now, it's easy to just write the theory off, especially if you have never done drugs. But if you have done them, you may agree with me that the imagery in the game is so strongly representative of the kind of primal, archaic sights of the psychedelic experience that there is no question that this was their inspiration.

Magic mushrooms were not always illegal in Japan. They were only criminalized in 2002 due to the World Cup 2002 (soccer) being held in Japan that year [1]. They were common enough that you could buy them from vending machines near love hotels, and they were extremely cheap. Apparently everyone was eating them, even bored housewives [2]. So I think it's reasonable to believe that an indie game developer would have used them as well.

So, where does this theory leave us? Well, there are two theories I have to offer, and that was the first – that Yume Nikki was inspired by psychedelic drugs.

The second theory is that being in a psychedelic state yourself is the 'native state' to be able to play the game in. In other words, you will likely be playing the game not only as it was intended to be played, but also the way it was created. If psychedelic drugs are something you think is for you, and you are at liberty to safely use them, I think that you should try experiencing the game 'natively'. The difference may shock you.

If you have hang-ups about psychedelic drugs, I can offer you the following: KIKIYAMA probably used them. Steve Jobs dropped acid. Aldous Huxley used peyote and LSD. Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Super Mario Bros) took LSD. Too many mainstream, respected figures to name have used psychedelics, so if you feel they are for degenerates, that notion does not match up with the facts. That many actual degenerates and other unfortunate souls use them does not change what they are, and we tend to have an ingrained mindset about drugs here in Western civilization.

[1] http://kotaku.com/5912573/japanese-vending-machines-selling-you-hallucinogenic-herb-for-sexy-good-times

[2] http://www.stippy.com/only-in-japan/when-magic-mushrooms-were-legal-in-japan/
R: 12 / I: 0

Mars-san New Theory.

Before the comment, sorry about my poor english.


My theory about this chracter is:

As you surely know, to get to Mars-san place you must sleep three times in three different beds. We're gonna think of each bed as one different depth level of Madotsuki's subconscious.

As you might know, the level subconscious of the mind is that level where we "save" the different meanings that the things can recall to us (For example, blood could mean death or disease to Western people), and that influences in, for example, our dreams. Normally, these meanings are transmitted by the society which is around us.

Well, if we think of each bed as a different level of Madotsuki's subconscious, you will agree with me that we literally are going four levels down. So we are getting into a very, VERY deep part of Madotsuki's dream, and mind.

When we arrive to Mars, you can think we can't go deeper. But you're wrong. We can access to the Mars core to arrive Mars-san place.?

Then, the idea is simple. We are in the deepest dream we can reach, and that's why this level isn't a dream, or, at least, in my opinion, it doesn't work as a dream. It's a "message".

Mars-san is just the personification of Madotsuki's troubles. Don't worry. You'll understand soon.

Think of it: Mars-san is alone in a very remote area, (Madotsuki too); Mars-san is crying, (When you're awake in real world, if you sit down anywhere and let Madotsuki still in this way for a few seconds, she tilts her head as if she were crying); and the most important thing, Mars-san has survived to an accident and it seems that he needs help, (This could be the cause because of Madotsuki is an Hikkikomori: an accident, or just she has lost too many friends or family, or she was raped and no one has helped her to be fine again… Here you can apply the theory that you want to believe).

So we get that Mars-san is simply the bad mood that Madotsuki has, because of that accident I have mentioned. Also, if we think of beds (and the Mars core) as different levels of Madotsuki's subconscious we get this:

1st level: Madotsuki's Real Bed -> Examples of locations that can be found in this level: Nexus, Number World, Graffitti World, etc.?

2nd level: Madotsuki's Dream Beds -> Example of locations that can be found in this level: The hands staicase, Seccom-Masada Spaceship, etc.

3rd level: Seccom Masada Spaceship Bed -> Example of locations that can be found in this level: Mars.

4th level: Mars-san place -> The location that can be found in this level -> Mars-san place.

Yes, the deepest level is also the only map of the level. So, it's a dream and a dream world itself, but it doesn't work as a normal dream in my opinion.

Some of you might be thinking that when you pass through a door in a regular dream (example: Nexus -> Number World), is to go deeper in dream too. But, from my point of view, I think a door is a portal which are connecting two places whose level is the same. When you sleep in this beds you're literally "falling" asleep, and when you go downstairs, you're literally descending. That's actually go deeper in dreams.

Well, this is my theory. Yeah, it's so big to read it whole. Sorry about that. I hope you enjoyed and agree with me. If not, I would be glad to read your proposes. Be happy :)
R: 2 / I: 2
What if Mado is just Urotsuki? Think about it? How can there be a sequel if she just dies?

So I believe that Mado is in a dream inside of a dream. and when she dreams, it's a dream in a dream in a dream! and when she suicides, Urotsuki skips her first dream-self and just wakes up!

>Pic is somewhat related
R: 11 / I: 2
What does this represent?
R: 53 / I: 13
ITT: Things you think Kikiyama may have been inspired by when he made Yume Nikki.

1. Mother/EarthBound - The FC World is an obvious tribute.

2. LSD: Dream Emulator

3. Angel's Egg - Experimental 1985 anime film about a nameless little girl wandering a surreal dreamscape.
R: 4 / I: 0
what if monoe and monoko were the same person
R: 6 / I: 0

Very random - Mado is Peruvian

There is too much images in YN that resemble art from the Paracas culture, a people who lived in the territory of modern day Peru up to 100 BC.
Somehow, the soul of a woman from the Paracas culture possessed the body of Mado before the game, her dreams are in fact the reflection of her inability to understand the world around her, for she lived in a stone age society and suddenly found herself in a high-tech industrial society.
Think, she does not speak because nobody understands her language and she does not understand Japanese, the people in her dreams look deformed because this is the way she sees Japanese people, they look too different from the people she originally grew up with, the most bizarre beings are the way she sees anime and movie characters, they look nothing like anything she's ever seen, so she believes they are evil spirits.
Mado was locked in her house because nobody understands her bizarre behavior and speech and why she has panic attacks when she see's around technological devices or when she watches movies or games.
Her parents took her to psychiatrists, but nobody understood her odd behavior that only gets worse over time, then she was locked in her room because she was embarrasing her family.
I know this is too random, but I think it' a little interesting and never suggested before. Deal with it.
R: 9 / I: 5

Mado being afraid of Americans

This might sound silly, but what if Madotsuki is afraid of Americans? And that fear is put in the form of Poniko..?

When you see Americans in anime and the like, they're pretty much always have white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes- exactly like Poniko. Kikiyama even went out of his way to give her open eyes, even when Monoe- who clearly has open eyes herself- has her eyes closed on her sprite.

Furthermore, you need to travel through the Pink Sea to find her, and what's overseas from Japan? America! Then you need to bet on the rare chance of finding Uboa when you turn the lights off, maybe representing how even though Americans are a rare sight in Japan, they're potentially dangerous..?

I don't know. Maybe it's a silly theory, but it made sense in my head! I wasn't able to find the right words.
R: 8 / I: 2
This theory applies to the manga only, as it is it's own continuity and take on Yume Nikki. I've started to wonder if the manga Yume Nikki takes place in the Alien Nine universe. You can definitely tell that Hitoshi Tomizawa was inspired by his other works when adding his creative touches. Furthermore, it's been hinted in Alien Nine that it's really all just a weird experiment for children Madotsuki's age.
R: 1 / I: 0
Okay, sorry if it doesn't make sense, I'm uncomfortable with English but I want to share my own theory. It may have a lot of flaws but this is the one I believe the most.

For me, Madotsuki is a really young girl, not a teenager. There's a lot of chilidish imagery in her dreams and the character looks young in general.
Though there's also a strong, violent and sexual adult imagery in some locations: I think that Madotsuki's dream world is melting with the world of another girl who's older than her, and I think that girl is Poniko, because she looks more mature than Madostuki. So this cruel dream world confuses Madotsuki and leaded her to commit suicide.
R: 3 / I: 1

About the white flowers

So, before you enter the ghost world, there is this room you enter filled with alot of white flowers (I assume those are tulips), and white tulips are associated with the feeling of being sorry. Do you guys think Madotsuki had struggles at first before she did kill herself, because she would actually leave people behind on earth that she actually loved?
R: 32 / I: 14

Transgender theory & other ideas

I haven't really seen anyone doing so in the recent times, so I thought I'd share some ideas from my experience playing it. It's been a while since I've played YN at this stage, so my memory may be fuzzy, but I did a little research earlier today.

I don't think there's any one thing going on in YN I think in general it explores feelings of alienation and that possible transgender themes are a classic way of doing that. I think the game does have meaning, as shown in the other thread and Holo's knowledge on the Peruvian themes was really interesting. I might touch on other theories I have and how they relate to this.

I think I'll start off by dealing with my theory of what Number World represents.

I believe Numbers World is meant to be a hospital. The beds, the cold, clinical atmosphere, the scary looking cabinets, etc. I think numbers are a good way of expressing a kind of arbitrary, cold distance and I think people who are afraid of hospitals often associate them with such things; or of hospitals and asylums of old which were truly terrifying places. I'm reminded a bit of the Throbbing Gristle track "Hamburger Lady" based off a rather disturbing piece of mail art. Numbers World is one of the scariest areas, because hospitals can be scary.

But hospitals can also be a nice experience in some ways when you're young - the doctors are friendly to you, they have children's play areas and jelly & ice cream. I think this is where the apparent juxtaposition comes from here, and the design of Numbers World reminds me a bit of some children's wards I've seen. There's something friendly despite the frightening nature of a hospital, but there's something abstract and disturbing about that in of itself.

Going back to the Numbers themselves; I think their presence plays up the "mad science" element that may figure into some people's fear of hospitals - but there are so many numbers associated with hospitals, in dosages, bed numbers, codes, costs/bills etc. not to mention counting down the days until you're released; there's a prison like feel to Numbers World as well, with the "clang" background music.

Now, I want to address how Numbers World relates to the transgender theory, starting with this picture of the "stabbing room".
R: 13 / I: 1

Crossdressing

what if madotsuki is in truth a boy that loves crossdressing? :D
also, boys are most the time those ones who get raped, and maybe Mado thinked "she" gets pregrant and "she" got scared how it will be look like (those strange things in the footprint path and in the hell are headless women) and also maybe the "headless women" have also something to do where "she" lives?

oh well fail english fail
I hope u guys understand
R: 1 / I: 0
mado was vaped
R: 7 / I: 1

Is Madotsuki Pregnant?!

I found out that if you view the side Madotsuki's sprite,you may understand if she's pregnant by her large belly.She is not the only one,but since most fangame protagonists are originated from her sprite,they are also all pregnant to me o.O
R: 2 / I: 1
Sabitsuki was a radical environmentalist who used arson as a weapon. She was well-equipped for such an act (the gas mask) but somehow ended up getting hurt. She was clinically dead for a time, and suffered some kind of brain damage. She also probably suffers from a terminal illness (AIDS?), which is why she is willing to put herself in such danger to begin with.

Madotsuki is Asperger's and suffers from feelings of social isolation. There doesn't seem to be much more to it than that. I admit this is kind of a lazy theory.

Urotsuki is a totally normal girl who goes to an average high school and gets good grades. She is an artistic genius, and her dreams are full of the kind of whimsical things that are the subject of her paintings. However, they are also tinged with pain and fear because of the time she was [spoiler]sexually assaulted[/spoiler] near her home. Also bulemic.
R: 3 / I: 1

.Flow Theory; flow

So I haven't really rummaged through /flow/ much at all,so I'm not sure if anyone's proposed this before.

At some point or another I was reading something that brought up "flow."
Flow is where you focus so completely on one thing, nothing else registers on your radar. It's also called being in the "zone," and the concept isn't really a new one; it's existed in various religions and stuff, bla bla bla now I'm just writing an essay on this. Go look it up on wikipedia if you really need to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

You can probably see where I am going with this, now. Sabitsuki is so grossly enveloped by her activities on that computer, nothing else matters. She doesn't even see the outside world while she's on the computer. There is nothing beyond what is on the screen.
She gets so wrapped up in the world she's found or created on the computer she doesn't even realise how dark it's gotten, how much it's hurting her. At this point, it's more like hyperfocus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocus) in that she's not overjoyed or cheerful about it anymore; she's not happy, but she can't leave it be.

It's not anything groundbreaking or anything, but that's my theory.
R: 1 / I: 0

Ningen and Takofuusen

Cryptology connection - Ningen are humanoid giant ice creatures supposedly spotted by Japanese fishing ships in the antarctic. My theory is that Takofuusen could possibly represent one of these types of creatures. A desert could be seen to the human mind as the polar (hence the white color) opposite of the icy wastelands of the cold antarctic. Thereby confirming the theory that the dream world is related to the waking world on more than we might expect. it's all interconnected. And that smug look on the creatures face…did kikiyama know something?
R: 4 / I: 1
what if mado couldn't leave her room because she was under house arrest
R: 6 / I: 4

What Happened to Mado-chan?

Okay, now I know that this can be a very touchy subject on here, but I have to know…. Why does everyone get so angry about whether or not Mado-chan was raped? I understand debating on beliefs but the sheer rage in some of these comments is intense. Now, I'm asking politely. So please…hear me out. Could some of you more civilized people tell me your thoughts as to what happened (rape/notraped) and your supporting reason(s) why? Please.

Please don’t kill me.
R: 14 / I: 5

totally random theory

completely random theory incoming
pic unrelated

the effects symbolize madotsuki's life, and in order, too!

one day, madotsuki was outside, playing with a frog. it started raining, so she got inside to get an umbrella. then it started snowing, so she believed it to be the yuki-onna, and got a hat and scarf. she knew the yuki-onna was evil, so she took a knife to try and cut the yuki onna's hands off, then stab her eyes. she remembered how dangerous the yuki onna was, and maybe it could turn madotsuki fat, or into a midget. she tried using a flute, knowing she was terrible at it, so the yuki-onna could hear the horrible music and would be warded off. Yuki-onna was definitely not like a moth, and doesn't get attracted to light. madotsuki thought that yuki-onna didn't like light, so she brought out a neon sign. she remembered the yuki-onna was faceless, so she was scared, and wanted to kill herself by cutting her own head off. she was scared to do so, so she wrapped herself in a towel and played with a cat. she looked around her house, and all she saw was a lamp and her bike. she wanted to get help from her friends. maybe the long-haired one, monoe, the ugly-haired one, monoko, or the blonde-haired one, poniko. madotsuki had an idea as to how to kill herself. she wrapped a triangle-kerchief around her head, trying to summon a ghost, or a witch, maybe even a demon! it worked. her legs felt like jelly. she fell to the ground, and stopped like a stoplight would at red.
R: 0 / I: 0
what if madotsuki suffered from narcolepsy
because any time she lies in bed she falls asleep instantly
and she never wanted to go outside because she might fall asleep somewhere and something bad would happen
maybe she didn't mean to jump off her balcony but she was just standing on some stairs to enjoy the view and accidentally fell asleep and fell off
R: 36 / I: 10
I have a theory, but it's a bit of a long shot.

What if Madotsuki was actually starting to go blind?

I mean, it isn't like she's 100% in the dark right now, seeing as she can play NASU fine, but maybe her vision is faltering, and she's really afraid of going completely blind. There is, after all, a lot of eye-related themes in the game.

Even with the characters. Most of their eyes are in some way or form not normal, ie googly eyes, funny colored eyes, one eye, closed eyes, etc. Even Monoe seems to be squinting. The only one who doesn't really seem to be funny-eyed is Poniko.

Poniko is the only human-like character in the game who both has their eyes open, and is in full color. Maybe Poniko is the Mado who can see. When Mado shuts off the lights, Poniko turns them on, so that she can see. But if Mado turns them off enough times, Poniko goes "blind" and turns into Uboa,the Mado who can't see.

Just a thought. I'm not 100% behind this yet.
R: 5 / I: 0

Lesbians

Alright I've been thinking. To put it briefly Uboa is fear of rejection and when Mado is rejected she is trapped with her dirty thoughts of Poniko (gropey land) who is Mado's love interest. Monoe and Monoke couldve been previous love interests who acted in different ways, Monoke being disgusted and acting horribly thus being seen as a monster and Monoe could've been accepting of Mado but didn't return her love.

Mado also dreams/remembers being in a closet, this could be a metaphor for wishing she hadn't come out of the closet.

The fact Uboa only appears when the lights are off in Ponikos bedroom supports the whole rejection thing. This was my first theory after playing the game, what do you think?
R: 10 / I: 5

Why doesn't Mado leave her room?

So we all know that Madotsuki doesn't leave her room in (what some assume as) the real world, yet she does so in her dreamworld. Why is this? While people have their own theories (hikikomori, wall of bricks, etc.), I have found a possible alternate explanation.

If you look at her door, you'll notice that the hinges are in Madotsuki's room. How is this important? In her realm of dreams, she opens the door away from the room, which, unless there's some odd science going on, or if it's a swing door (which I highly doubt would be in an apartment room), would be impossible in reality.

So why doesn't Madotsuki leave her room in the real world (assuming it is reality)? It's simple. She is stupid and tried many times to open the door, except in the wrong way, and finally gave up on ever leaving her room.

What are your thoughts, dreamers?
R: 14 / I: 4
Mado can't see because she can't open her eyes.
She walked off the balcony by accident.
R: 1 / I: 0
e-man and o-man are brothers and one of mados school friends or a nod to mario and luigi
R: 4 / I: 1
urotsuki is a sleepwalker, except instead of walking around, she draws on her computer while she's dreaming, which is why she wakes up and has new wallpapers
R: 0 / I: 0 (sticky)

Now Accepting Fangame Theories

The Theories board has become a little stagnant lately, hasn't it? Yume Nikki is just one game, after all. You can only examine it from so many angles.

The staff have decided to open this board for theories regarding all Yume Nikki fangames. Hopefully this will give /t/ new life. Tell us your suspicions about Yume 2kki, .flow, or your favorite fangame. You can even discuss theories about fangames from our own /fg/.

To this effect, the Theories board has also been moved from the Yume Nikki board category to the Meta board category.

Post away!
R: 14 / I: 2

I found out what Uboa is

IT ALL MAKES SENSE
R: 58 / I: 16
madowasraped
R: 1 / I: 0
But wat if mado was raper?
R: 1 / I: 1 (sticky)
Global rule 4 will be enforced more strictly from now on.

Please try to contain your shitposting to /ot/.
R: 14 / I: 2
mado wasn't raped
R: 6 / I: 1
First time poster.
I'm unfamiliar with this entire board, and I don't feel that /yn/ would be suited for this.
But did anyone notice that the entire map of FC World is kinda shaped like a bent fetus/newborn?

The 'skull' if bent back, neck exposed, body 'normalish' 'babyfat'-like.
The feet look a bit off, but it's also the only part of the map thats detailed specifically for playing though, so the creator might've had to design it slightly differently than the rest of the body, so it doesn't quite fit in.

If you want to go the extra mile, you could also say the baby is spitting/exhaling something, as seen from the dots of land seeming to 'lob' out from the mouth/noses direction.

With as much attention to detail as Kikiyama put into the game, I find it hard to believe he would just leave a huge landmass there unused.
So he might've left it there for someone to find. Though I'm not sure what to make of it, myself.

Just in case I actually need to post a theory; I don't believe in 'dreams inside of dreams' in reality, so I believe Mado simply uses beds to get around, not to necessarily go 'deeper'. That said, I believe she/he was sleeping from the beginning and 'reality' is never showed to us.
I also think Uboa is only there as a small fear of the dark. When dreaming, even if aware, you can still 'slightly' be frightened by something you used to be afraid of, yet mostly try to ignore it and stay with the current state of mind.
If you ever had a fear of the dark(Or still do), you know there is that inital fear whenever you flip off a lightswitch to a room with no other light. So for Mado, every time you flip the switch, it leaves her open to 'slipping up' with her 'control' and having something horrible happen to turn your dream into a nightmare.
R: 21 / I: 3

New Theories

A lot of theories here have been repeated or re-made into new theories connected to old theories, and things like that. So… this thread is basically for people with completely new theories, not connected to any old theories.
R: 85 / I: 31
What if the game is just
Weird for the sake of weird?
R: 3 / I: 0

Themes and Imagery in Yume Nikki pt. 3

Part three.
Another big foreshadow of the suicide is the flying part of the game, in which the player is able to fly off a rooftop on a broom. Once flying, the player is again trapped until the player chooses to disengage the witch effect and fall from the broom. If this is done, Madotsuki is woken up. Since there are only two places in the entire game where Mado is woken up by something that happens in the dream, I believe that these are extremely significant. Since we know from the end of the game that falling from great heights kills Madotsuki, we can assume that she is symbolically ‘killed’ in the dream and therefore wakes up, relating to the ending. In the witch scene specifically, the event that happens in the dream is totally “self-inflicted”, another indicator of suicide. The creator of Yume Nikki wants the players to know that the flying scene is incredibly significant. To draw a lot of attention to it, there is a broom on Madotsuki’s balcony, one of the last things to see in the game before the suicide. To drive this point even deeper, there are also a pair of slippers on the balcony as well, relating to the tradition in Japan to take off shoes before suicide. The music is quite uplifting in the flying scene. The skies are bright. You don’t randomly encounter really creepy imagery—it’s one of the few genuinely peaceful moment of the game, in which the player is flying farther and farther away from the troubles and horrors of the game. Since it’s obvious from the apartment room that Mado jumps off in the dream and the broom on her balcony that this scene is closely tied to her waking world, the suicide can be read as a sad sort of hopeful. Madotsuki didn’t care where her suicide took her as long as it was away from everything she knew previously. It was the only way out after exploring her dreams in search of something more and coming up empty.

Obviously even this lengthy piece of writing doesn’t answer everything about Yume Nikki. The most obvious unanswered question is, why was Madotsuki unable to leave her room in the first place? Is this her own choice or is she actually trapped in her bedroom physically? How much of the game’s imagery and scenery was meant to be ambiguous and open-ended and how much of it was carefully thought-out? I’d be happy to talk more about this to anyone interested. I can be slow to respond, though.

ctbotham@gmail.com

Okay, I guess I’m done.
Thoughts?
R: 4 / I: 1

Themes and Imagery in Yume Nikki pt. 2

Part two.
There are tons of things supporting this suicide theme in the game. I think this forest sections symbolize the suicide forest of Japan, and I have several reasons. Aside from the fact that the game ends in a suicide and everything in the game could therefore be interpreted as symbols of this fate, there are a bunch of parallels to the “Sea of Trees” suicide forest in Japan and the forest dream world that are very striking. The Japanese forest is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of other suicide victims, first of all (http://www.tofugu.com/2012/07/23/aokigahara-japans-haunted-forest-of-death/). These would tie in to the odd ghost totems that follow you around once you activate them. But more than that, they loudly reinforce Madotsuki’s suicidal thoughts, if we follow the theory that the forest world represents Japan’s Sea of Trees. In the Sea of Trees, people who are unsure about whether or not to go through with their suicide will leave markers behind them, such as bright strips of tape, so that they can find their way out if they need. Ghosts are also said to lead depressives back out of the forest to try and make them change their minds about suicide. Since the ghosts in the game’s forest can serve as markers, they once again tie in to the theory that the forest world is Japan’s Sea of Trees.

Some side characters are also symbolic of depression and suicide: Masada (the pale guy in the space ship), Monoko (deformed girl in the tunnel), and that girl who turns into Uboa. What do all of these characters have in common with Madotsuki? Their isolation (look at where they're located!).
Monoko stands alone in a tunnel in the Monochrome Desert, pacing around until she is hit with the stop light. When Madotsuki interacts with her after using stoplight, the infamous image of Monoko’s body, distorted and seeming to have extra limbs, fills the screen. There’s a key detail here that again ties in to Japanese culture—her feet. She isn’t wearing shoes, but seems to be wearing socks. In Japan, people remove their shoes before committing suicide http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2006/01/17/reference/suicide/ . The practice is so common that when a suicide victim does not remove their shoes, some people become suspicious that the person was murdered. With this cultural tradition so common in Japan, it’s safe to say that Monoko committed suicide. I also agree with the popular theory that she most likely did this by stepping in front of traffic or railway crossing (one of the most common suicide methods in Japan; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan#Methods_of_committing_suicide ). Because Madotsuki found the stop light by examining a corpse in a road in the forest (again tying into Japan’s suicide forest and methods of suicide), it seems almost certain that the game’s creator had this message in mind.

Masada, the spaceship piano guy, isn’t suicidal initially, because he has his own form of escapism, like Madotsuki does with her dreams. He travels in a space ship and plays music, probably able to explore the world as he wants to. However, his ship crashes when Madotsuki sleeps in his bed, leaving him on a desolate planet with nowhere to go. He is now in just the same situation as Madotsuki. He’s trapped and alone. Even Madotsuki is isolated by the crash and needs to pinch herself awake to escape the area. Since we know what happened to Madotsuki in her isolation, we can take a guess what might end up happening to Masada, trapped on a planet alone. The dread and depression of this scenario is emphasized by the presence of the great weeping creature hidden in a dark hole near the crashed space ship that can only be accessed with the midget effect. It too is alone, a symbolic echo of Masada and, by extension, Madotsuki. Even more ominous is that it is in the darkest little space around, at the end of the path at the dead end of the dream. Also interesting is the fact that Madotsuki’s sleeping in the spaceship is what leads to its crash and subsequent isolation, similar to the way Madotsuki’s sleeping and dreaming brought her to the conclusion that she was trapped. In both situations she wakes up and realizes she can’t go anywhere else and so desperately escapes through suicide.

I think everyone should get the point here, and I’ll leave the Uboa girl up for you to interpret. It isn’t too hard. The only complex aspect of this part of the game is the freakish sudden transformation that has become so iconic. But trust me, the answer’s there ;)
R: 14 / I: 7
Theory: Madotsuki is dead and is in purgatory, and is using her dreams to do what she needed to do while she was alive.
I'm not really religious, so my use of the word purgatory might be a bit off.
Pic unrelated.
R: 4 / I: 0
ITT: phobias you think madotsuki might have

social anxiety is basically a given, i think. scopophobia is one i think might be possible too

what do you think?
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What if Yume Nikki was just a cool game
That would be totally sweet wouldn't it
R: 6 / I: 3

MADOTSUKI NEVER WATCHES A CAR ACCIDENT

In fact i realized that all of those aztec and Shitai-san are not really something that Madotsuki witnessed, in case this could be true we could also start thinking in Madotsuki being the mother of Gyigas as a possible theory.
I think both of these events are more tribute like FC world was, sadly this game is so UNKNOWN by the people to really considerate my theory of tribute, Sanitarium a great psychological horror adventure that was released for the PC back in 1998. Here, players take on the role of an amnesiac who finds himself in a disturbing place with no memory. There are five worlds to explore with many puzzles to solve so Sanitarium is a fairly decent length game. Almost none of the characters that inhabit Sanitarium are sane so it provides some disturbing scenes. It's probably that KIKIYAMA played also this game and wanted to do another tribute on it with all that aztec references and the car accident
R: 3 / I: 0
What if Sabitsuki, Urotsuki, and Madotsuki were all involved in something like a murder, RHAPE, or some kind of robbery that they feel extremely guilty about. I believe Madotsuki was a child they dragged along with them and was totally innocent, but was plagued with this morbid curiousity of what actually happened. Sabitsuki actually committed the crime, which is why her dreams tend to be darker. Urotsuki was involved but not like Sabitsuki was, and is old enough to understand what she did. Chie is a friend that Madotsuki confided in who feels guilty because she promised not to tell anyone, but knows that she should.
What do you guys think?
Pic slightly related
R: 3 / I: 2
What if Yume Nikki was only put in this "Madotsuki" game so that she and Masada could have gay sex on mars and everything else is a filler describing how amazing their sex is and all the cool moves they can use and Madotsuki is a sperm and you're trying to get a girl pregnant and the Toriningen are condoms and that's why Yume Nikki switched to gay sex. So she wouldn't have to use toriningen?
R: 0 / I: 0
So I was thinking, and if someone had pushed Madotsuki to the ground?
pic unrelated
R: 2 / I: 0
hey guys

hey listen

what if, monoe is takofuusen

what if monoe wants to contact mado but could only appear as takofuusen

WHAT IF
R: 11 / I: 1
Where does Madotsuki poop/pee/menstrate? There's no bathroom and she never leaves her room.
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Hey, um, I found this theory on youtube, and I was wondering what you all thought about it:

I see Mars-san as a result of a broken family relationship.
I think Masada represents Mado's family, who always cares about her. But, when the spaceship crashed, the family was broken, leaving Mado all alone. Then, Mars-san, all alone, is somewhat a representation of Mado's sadness when her family was separated.

AND DONT YOU FUCKING DARE SAY SHE WAS RAPED, MOTHERFUCKER.
R: 1 / I: 1

What?

I just realized that Mado's room doesn't have a toilet. (Or the game doesn't show it to us.)
Assuming that it doesn't, there are two possiblities;
1)Madotsuki pees in her dreams.
2)The only exit in the room is a toilet, and she doesn't want to go in there because she doesn't need to pee.
Meaning Mado's room may not have an exit.
R: 11 / I: 1
Uboa is a lightbulb. When the bulb is blown, he spawns. This is because Uboa is sucked out while Poniko is sucked in. 8D
Also, h is behind it all. >.>
R: 4 / I: 0
Theory: Madotsuki has no soul.
Why? "The eyes are the window to the soul" her name means Window/Windowed, and she either has small, black eyes, no eyes, or closed eyes. The eyes in the game could be her having an obsession with gaining a soul/eyes, and so she starts drawing them everywhere.
Pic sort of related.
R: 2 / I: 1
This scary amoeba thing in the Graffiti World is the mix of e-Man & o-Man in the Mall.

That means Madotsuki already feels the fear from that two guys before entering the Mall, and wants to run away faster (so the bicycle is in the Graffiti World), getting the flute is such a terrible memory to Madotsuki, probably link to the theories of rape, bully, fear from doctor etc.
R: 2 / I: 1

Kyukyu-Kun represents Mado's fear of oily skinned men

fight me
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[]
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Meanings of "Madotsuki"

So we all know that "Mado" means window, but what does "tsuki" mean?

Well after checking a japanese dictionary, I have found a few meaning of the word "tsuki" that could relate to Madotsuki.

The first being "desk", which is understandable because you save your game at her desk. But then we have another meaning of "tsuki" which is "a thrust; a lunge; or a stab" which also makes a lot of sense seeing as how Madotsuki wields a knife.

And finally I found 2 other meaning to the same word. one of them being "attached to" and the other being "impression; or appearance" And seeing as how Yume Nikki has sort of a Melancholy mood, the idea of her loosing something she was attached to, would make sense. And "appearance" could relate to her effects and how they change her.

What does /t/ think?
R: 0 / I: 0

Madotsuki's apartments

Greetings, dreamers. I present to you another theory.

So an interest in finding what Mado's apartment in real life may look like lead me to an image, leading me to a blog: http://ablogofsean.blogspot.com/2010/09/urban-ghost-town-bewitching-ugliness-of.html

However, some information on here is… questionable. I don't know about you, but Chiyomachi doesn't seem close to Fukuoka. Or maybe I'm looking at some things wrong.

Anyways, that's not the point. A pic on there gives a good resemblance to our protagonist's building, does it not?

But why is this significant? It's not the same color, and the balconies not the same size. True, but this may just merely be an inspiration.

But this pic must be fake, or somewhere else, right? Well, no. I decided to look into it myself with Google Maps, and the building still exists. Just not in some inactive area of Chiyomachi, from what I can tell. I've recorded the coords used to view the building: 33°36'1.00"N, 130°24'59.77"E
I also took the time to take some pics of it. The one displayed here is one of them, but you can see more pics of the building here if you don't want to search it yourself: https://www.mediafire.com/?6y7idqy9sggma19

Now, does this prove completely that this is the building Mado's apartment building came from? Absolutely not! But the designs to both are rather odd and similar, so it seems plausible to me. Could it be the wrong building? Sure it can. Could I be overlooking it and Mado's apartment is just something Kiki thought of? Yeah, can be true, too. There seems to be little info about the building, as far as I know. But it's quite coincidental, isn't it?

What do you dreamers think?
R: 5 / I: 1

WTF

this is only thing i cant figure out. It definetly not penis so dnt even
R: 3 / I: 0
وأعتقد أن المريخ سان يمثل الحزن… : '-(
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ggf

madotsuki's mind is trying to protect her and that why some of the probabilities of getting certain events are so small. An event like the zipper or flying thingy.
R: 4 / I: 1
The face is often associated with KyuuKyuu-kun and used as evidence by some fans to support the theory that Madotsuki has some kind of trauma involving penises. The interpretation of FACE being a penis head further expresses this. This animation cannot be skipped and continues for approximately ten seconds before Madotsuki awakens abruptly.

What if Kikiyama was a rapist who couldn't deal with the damage he caused to his victim. He created this video-game of a little girl that has psychological problems and a fear of penises to the point of her suicide. But it also his suicide since after completing the game his took his own life.
R: 18 / I: 3
If uboa has a ponytail ,that minds uboa is female?
R: 3 / I: 1

Poniko

(I think this post suits here more than /uboa/ so…)
I think that Poniko is able to colect effects just like Madotsuki does, and Uboa is one of her effects. It's like when Madotsuki turnst into Yuki-onna. What if the reason Poniko doesnt't leave her room is that she is trapped in Madotsuki's dream world? Then Madotsuki may be trapped in someone's dream world,too,and that's why she doesn't want to go out. Dreamception!
R: 4 / I: 1
I have a theory on the Sky Garden/Ghost World. The Sky Garden could be what Madotsuki knew the world to be before she locked herself away, and the Ghost World could be how she imagines the world probably is like now. She probably imagine that the world is dull and has died.

It can be shown by the fact that they are both reach able from the same doorway, with the small interior being Mado's room.
R: 0 / I: 0
1935.32.0205
http://goo.gl/2RvQBe
R: 1 / I: 0
What if we are mistakenly confusing "end" with "goal"? And the cause with consequence.
Although the goal in the game is to collect all the effects, it doesn't say that Madotsuki has to die. By collecting all 24 effects, she (we) has the option to jump or not. She doesn't have to. She (we) has the option of not jumping and going back to dreaming (or to play NASU).
The ending doesn't mean everything happened to make her suicide. It simply shows the obvious consequence of jumping from a building. And, there, we must not confuse cause with consequence:
She doesn't die because the game ends. The game ends because she dies. While she lives, the game goes on. We are not forced to make her jump. We have the choice. And we have consequences to deal with.

It may sound sad and pessimistic to realize we can not "fix" her problems in order to allow her to leave the room and live a "normal" life. It makes us think that she'd rather die than leaving her room.
Maybe some people think this is a miserable life. But we enjoyed the time we spent with Madotsuki, even without leaving her room, and we feel sad with the idea of her death. Maybe we should get rid of our obsession on "fixing" things, and feel glad that Madotsuki can keep living in her closed room and her dreams (and NASU).
R: 2 / I: 0
When in the Dark world, have you guys ever noticed that the floor patterns are symmetrical, and resemble Rorschach Ink Blot tests?
Maybe Madotsuki saw a psychologist to resolve a case that dealt with rape. Since the knife is found in this world, it may be her only "weapon" in trying to solve this psychological mess.

It would also explain why KyuuKyuu-Kun rubs faster when you stab him. If she was hostile towards the aggressor, then, in turn, would be more violent. However, when the Cat effect is used, he rubs slower. The cat is representative of the Maneki Neko, which is for luck. When she would indulge her aggressor, she would "luck out" and he'd be more gentle.

Just a thought.

Pic related. It's a map of dark world. Now go look up Rorschach ink blots and tell me what you think. ^^
R: 3 / I: 2

Theory time!

I know this theory is probably nothing new, but I didn't find a similar one in the catalog, so my apologies if I made a mistake with this post.

Anyway, here goes my theory (that probably needs some tweaking).
Mado wasn't raped. She was bullied.
- Most of the effects can relate to this in some way, like the poop hair or the frog effect being things they called her.. or the witch effect representing how she wished she could use magic or fly away from everything.. or the hair changing effects showing her how she wishes she was prettier.
- All the sexual imagery might represent her bullies scaring her with threads of rape (pretty fresh addition to my theory, mainly thanks to the Mahou Shoujo Site manga)
- The Toriningen represent her bullies. Stabbing them is the way Mado tries to fight them back, but it does nothing but make them angrier and aggressive.
- I have a couple of theories for Poniko.
– 1st one is that she is "The Queen Bee", but that kind of drops off from the theory, since stabbing her does not do the same as it does to Toriningen.
– 2nd one is that maybe she is just a really popular girl at school, that actually hides a "dark secret", but then it doesn't really relate to Madotsuki.
– 3rd theory is my favourite and makes the most sense to me - Poniko was Madotsuki's best friend, but when Mado became the bullies' target, she did nothing to help her, hence why Mado sees her as a monster (Uboa).
- Monoko and Monoe are previous bully victims. They're black and white, since they're something "from the past" so to say.

that's pretty much all I have for now, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
R: 1 / I: 1
I think the Medamaude looks similar to a Hamsa. They're pretty known in middle east and prevent evil coming near to you and gives you good fortune. Since the effect teleports Madotsuki back to the nexus, the nexus is the border of Madotsukis safe room and to her dreams that she might consider as evil..
R: 2 / I: 0
Here's my theory.
Madotsuki wasn't really raped at all, she just had abusive parents. She didn't want to leave her room and refused to leave because she might run into her parents if she left her room. She was in fact sexually abused by a brother/uncle/father/friend some sort of male in her life in his room. (Masada's bed) and the ship crashing represents the rape somehow. The dude came inside her and got her pregnant but she got on abortion which was Mars-san.

Poniko was a friend she had before she started hiding in her room. Poniko had a boyfriend or a brother (or girlfriend for the LGBT people) whom would always pick on Mado (Which is Uboa) Madotsuki would constantly flicker the lights just to annoy him.
R: 14 / I: 1

My personal theory

Alright I realize this is possibly maybe going to sound like its trololo, but I assure you, any trolling here is unintentional.

But what if; the meaning of Yume Nikki is very personal and very specific to the games creator? I.E. Something specific to the creator of the game which will never be known by an outside viewer because they lack the experiences and mental connections the creator of the game had?

Alternatively; what if the meaning is oneric and non-specific, thus, subjective to the viewpoint of the player, and changing from player to player? This would mean that all possible theories are possibly correct.

I like the game, but I strongly STRONGLY object to the games suicide ending which as far as I can tell is the only possible ending.
R: 5 / I: 1
i think toriningens represent Madotsuki's insecurities; she may see herself as dumb (the crossed eyes), crazy(they are pink also how they chase her when she stabs them maybe metaphorical for how she cant escape her problems no matter how hard she tries to get rid of them), and ugly (bird features; possibly insecure about her nose or face or something).

toriningens?
R: 3 / I: 0
My theory is happening in the past. Mado's dad died in car crash,and her mother went insane,so the social workers (toriningen) are in front of the door in Mado's room, that's why she doesn't want to go out. She dreams in hope she will find an escape in there.Mado was homeschooled, she wasn't allowed to leave her house at any time.
Poniko was Mado's vision of a friend, as she never had any.She was just a random person she saw outside, but her parents were ultra-proctective and told her how friends really are (uboa).
Seccom-Masada was her was her vision of a perfect man.Somebody who would do anything for her,be romantic and emotional.But her parents are there to ruin everything, telling her that she can only find a man like that in bed.
Monoe was Mado's memories when she was happy. Even when she was alone, she would find something to make her happy.
Kyuukyuu-kun and THE FACE, well, everybody will hear the story about the birds and the bees once in a while.
The Mall is her vision of school, as her parents told her so.
The Teleport maze always reminded me of a TV quiz,maybe her TV actually caught something?
R: 12 / I: 5

Sasebo Slashing

Madotsuki is Girl A.

The Sasebo Slashing refers to the murder of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl, Satomi Mitarai, by an 11-year-old female classmate, seen here.

The murder occurred on June 1, 2004, twety-three days before the release of Yume Nikki v0.00.
R: 4 / I: 1
Madotsuki was secretly the dreamer behind LSD Dream Emulator.
Look, Uboa!♥
It's even got the eye-love in there. ♥
R: 6 / I: 0
Mado didn't die on impact and is in coma, hence why jellyfishmen visited her blood splatter.
R: 10 / I: 2
Two theories related to Masada.

1. Masada is a tribute to Savage Garden, specifically Darren Hayes and the self titled Savage Garden album where Darren looks like Masada and also has a couple space/futuristic themed/sounding songs.

2. More likely (and probably brought up before) Masada is a tribute to Michael Jackson and has nothing to do with any emotional trauma Mado suffered from. His full name has Michael in in (Sentimental Komuro Michael Sekemoto Dada-Sensei.) Also, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4A1K4lXDo
R: 1 / I: 0
There was a fire in the next apartment, that's why she didn't want to leave her room but had to wait a few days before Fire Department comes and set ups a landing pad so she can evacuate the building
R: 1 / I: 0
So uh… my theory is kinda stupid.

and guys is has your favorite thing ever, rape!

So the whole spaceship thing, she goes into the bed and the spaceship crashing is her being raped by Massada. The ship crashing is the sperm going into the egg and Mars-San is her aborted fetus or love child since Massada was a family member. And Massada cowering from the knife effect is him actually being afraid of her and the whole rape was to show dominance.
R: 2 / I: 1
Kinda contain spoilers about the end.

What if yume nikki is not about making theories of Madotsukis past?
Better said, its about how the player influence madotsuki and the other way around?
Imagine, you would be Madotsukis friend. you live in a building infront of madotsukis one (You can see it always from your balcony).
Since she never leaves her room, you visit her and listen to her dreams and stories. You seem to misunderstand madotsuki, but madotsuki is still trusting you and keep telling you every detail.

Also if Madotsuki is telling everything very weird, you make theories what happened, but you don't know the past exactly. You try to help Madotsuki with confronting her fears wich she is the most afraid of. At times you will feel Madotsukis fear, hopes and dreams and you will feel emotional about them. and every morning you go out on the balcony to see if everything is alright. That madotsuki, your beloved friend is there.
And then comes the day where you feel uncomfortable and have a nightmare as well with Madotsuki placing the effects (eggs) in the nexus. You feel uncomfortable and go out to the balcony to take some air and then you see how your best friend commits suicide. And I bet the ending was the most heartbreaking scene in the game, because you grow up with madotsuki, you know everything she told you and you really wanted to see her someday again outside, to be happy and to be your best friend.

I personally think, Yume nikki is not about making theories, more like how you can influence her and could try to help her.
To show how it would feel like to loose a beloved friend, a person who gave you their whole trust and gone from your side anyways.

well I don't know if kikiyama wanted to do that, but yes I believe that it should show how it feels like to loose a beloved person and that you can do more than you actually think.

(sorry for the horrible english hhh)
R: 13 / I: 0
Theory: Torinigen are not bird people. Rather,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku_%28spirit%29

They are dream eaters. Unfortunately I wasn't able to work in a theory about Mado being raped in this one, sorry fellas.
R: 1 / I: 0

Headcanon

Does anyone have any specific headcanon for how the main 3 dreamers(Madotsuki, Urotsuki, Sabitsuki)are personality-wise, socially, etc.?

>.gif unrelated
R: 6 / I: 3
Is it just part of the Cat effect, or are Mado's eyes severely bloodshot?
R: 8 / I: 4
crossposting this from /seccom/, a thread there inspired me to make words.

There's something heartwarming about Masada's meaning in Madotsuki's dream. Most people seem to agree that if he represents a person from her waking life that he is a piano instructor or something of that nature.

His spaceship is serene and peaceful, one of the few happy places in the game. I'd figure this means that Madotsuki has fond memories of her piano lessons and instructor.

It makes me warm and fuzzy inside to think of Madotsuki and Masada practicing a few old tunes together. It was a happy time in her miserable life.
R: 2 / I: 1
I think that Poniko was Madotsuki's old babysitter (whom Mado would annoy by flickering the lights), they both were kidnapped by a strange man (uboa) and taken to an unfamiliar place until Madotsuki was found, but nobody knows to this day what happened to Poniko…
R: 4 / I: 2

The nature of the Toriningen

Something occurred to me regarding the beaked antagonists of Yume Nikki; they may not be antagonists at all. In fact, they may be the closest thing Madotsuki has to friends in the dream world.

Now the common theory regarding the Toriningen is that they are representations of the older, more stylish girls that picked on Madotsuki in school. Whilst it does make sense, I have my own theory.

The Toriningen, to me, are representations of Madotsuki's teachers. However, they go beyond mere mental reflections. The Toriningen, out of all the creatures in the dream world, are possibly the only truly benevolent entities.

Now I'm sure we all know what happens when Madotsuki finds all the effects. Now look at the Toriningen. In the places where they are already lunatic, they are usually guarding access to effects (or areas containing effects). Perhaps they know what will happen if Madotsuki finds all the effects, and are desperately trying to save her by stopping her from reaching them. The "lunatic" state is actually the Toriningen becoming hysterical with worry and trying to detain Madotsuki somewhere before she hurts herself or the other denizens of the dream world (hence why they go berserk when you stab them-they're thinking "Oh crap, she's gone nuts again! Quick, seal her away before someone gets hurt!).

Likewise, the Toriningen party. Whilst the common belief is that it represents social exclusion, my belief is that the Toriningen in the party are actually waiting for Madotsuki-they have no idea that she can't join them, and they can't see her behind the bush, and so are waiting forever.
R: 7 / I: 0
Came up with a theory that tries to include why the effects are what they are, as well as support for Mado's age, since those are two things that seem kind of up in the air. (Though, for the most part, it just expands on the whole hikkikomori thing.)

There's a show called Nurse Jackie, in which the main character, Jackie, has a daughter named Grace, who starts suffering from an apparent "anxiety disorder" as she grows up. She's ten years old when this dialogue happens between her and her husband Kevin:
Kevin - "I asked Grace what she wanted to watch, and instead of cartoons, she chose a documentary called "Viral Armageddon: Death for Mankind"
Jackie - "So? She's interested in science.
Kevin - "She's *constantly* stressed, it's not about *science*, it's about… I'm wondering if it's about something bigger than that."

Later on, while Grace anxiously watches television, Jackie tries to talk to her, and the first thing she says is "Mommy, could the bubonic plague ever happen again?", and even after her mother's reassurance, she continues on with "Could the flu kill forty million people like it did in 1918?" Throughout the series, Grace's anxiety manifests itself in a number of ways. She starts hiding in rooms from her parents and hair pulling; her school teachers find that all of her drawings are done in black and white; when she goes to school, she suffers a nervous breakdown and has trouble connecting with other kids.

Sound like anyone we know?

Ima spread my points out through a couple of posts so I don't get my text maxed out, but this is more or less the basis of my theory; Madotsuki is a hikkikomori because she suffers from an anxiety disorder, and due to being a young girl (Probably about ten, or younger.) her lack of knowledge of the real world gives her an intrinsic and irrational fear of the outside world. The Effects in the game reflect this, in that they're primarily paranoid superstition by Madotsuki, things that she's afraid of becoming/encountering in the outside world.
R: 4 / I: 2

What is Onsen-san?

Personally, I think he represents Madotsuki's r̶a̶p̶e̶ loneliness, which is kinda a major thing in her life, especially if she is indeed a hikikomori. Onsen-san is alone in his room (I guess it's his house if it's only one room but whatever), in the dark no less. The area around his house, the Wilderness is ENORMOUSLY empty. The only thing in the area that moves is the towel, which is more like a blanket, considering the way that Madotsuki looks when using the effect (she wraps it around herself and she sneezes as if she is ill). Children generally hold blankets when they're scared or cold, which is what Onsen-san probably is, seeing as he's alone, "crying", and sitting next to a hot spring. Plus, Onsen-san might be trapped in the house, despite the door being open; when you stab Onsen-san, his head turns blue and he stops sucking up the hot water. Looking at Onsen-san, his head/head-tube are a bright red. Then his body is a dark red/green. Then, his legs are blue. Maybe the reason he's sitting down next to the hot spring is because he needs the warmth to live, and the only way to keep warm is to keep supplying his brain with the warm water of the spring. He can't move because he couldn't supply his legs with the warmth they need and thus died, hence the blue color. His body and his heart are on the verge of dying, as he can barely keep it warm with the water from the spring. He might represent Madotsuki's need for "warmth" to keep herself from dying; warmth often being another word for kindness/love/etc. The spring/hot water represents the "friends" that Madotsuki has made for herself in her dreams, which are her only source of "warmth" in her room. Onsen-san's dead legs represent Madotsuki's own inability to leave her room. Onsen-san's nearly-dying body represents Madotsuki's want to end her imprisonment. The tube connecting Onsen-san's head to the hot, sustaining water represents Madotsuki's dreams connecting her brain to the mentally sustaining "friends" she meets in her subconscious.
Once the hot springs run out of water, Onsen-san will have no more source of warmth and will die. Once Madotsuki meets everyone in her dreams, she has no more source of friendship/love and dies.
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Theory?

This is a really lazily done theory, but what if Mado is just a very insecure, developing girl? The monster imagery in YN could be what she fears she will be looked at as.
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Monoe

do anyone know about Monoe? because all she do is disappearing when you interact with her :p
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About the Lilies in the Sky Garden

This is rather long, but please bear with me and tell me what you think! This was kind of hard to put into words.

First there are the purple pylons. And there is something amazing about them. Pylons are used to mark something “large” approaching, such as an entrance or a large, grand monument. YN’s purple pylons are deserted — there’s no one around them, yet they stand very tall, and to me this means two things: 1) something lovely is ahead, something very grand and tall 2) They have not fallen into disrepair despite standing alone so long: they are meant only for Madotsuki; no monsters, NPCs, or unwelcome guests. No need for panic. It seems that they are saying “Relief is ahead.”

Then there is the stairway itself. I can’t really say anything about it that hasn’t already been said. It’s long, tall, and even with the bicycle effect equipped, it takes forever to get up there. The sky is an acidic green descending into blue, marking a significant change in altitude. The desert is below, the desert containing the toriningen and pirori people, and you are getting farther and faaaaaarther away - no troubles ahead - it is a welcoming stairway into the sky.
R: 1 / I: 0

Uro Theory

Urotsuki was probably/is a murderer who is trying to escape her past and/or the police.

-Aoshiru, someone who was badly injured by Urotsuki and put in a special room so Urotsuki couldn't find him, this failed and he was killed.

-Falling figures in the Urban Street area and Stretch effect, Urotsuki pushing people off a building, since the Stretch Effect's action is crying she might have regretted pushing one of them off.

-The Baddies Bar, Urotsuki went in disguise to assassinate a certain person but failed and was put into prison for a period of time, she might have managed to escape.

-The ending when she leaves her room and is seen on her bike driving past certain NPC's might mean she manages to put almost everything behind her and is going to start a new life.
R: 1 / I: 1
Mado (まど), meaning window, both looks and sounds very similar to madou/madō (まどう), meaning magic or sorcery; generally of the dark variety.

The Japanese like puns, right? So what if her name is a pun? What if Madotsuki is a sorceress, most likely of the dark variety? And what if her "dreams" are voyages to other realms, most likely the land of the dead, or perhaps the Elemental Plane of Shadows?
R: 7 / I: 0
Hi everybody, I'm new here and this is my first post.
Okay so I think Mado is a writer. She sleeps all the time to find inspiration, and when she wakes up she simply writes what she saw in her dreams on the dream diary.
She don't want to go out because she is afraid of the outside world… I guess it can happens sometimes to writers (like in the book/movie Nim's Island xD)…
Maybe she writes horror or psychedelic (?) novels… At least, she kills herself because she had saw all her imagination can show to her, she can't have any inspiration so she can't write anymore…
Here what I think. I know it sucks but I wan't you to give me your opinion anyway. \o/
R: 2 / I: 2

Madotsuki Dream Intruder Theory

I was thinking other day,why Mado is trying to explore her dreams?Why she wants that 24 effects so much?Than,i watch an movie with Leonardo di Caprio,where he makes the same with other people dreams,so,i created this theory.
Madotsuki is an girl,who have the power to travel trough other people dreams,but how?Well,drugs,maybe she have some pills who make her do this,that would explain how she sleeps so fast (3 seconds) even if this doesn't count.

Some characters like Poniko,Masada or Mafurako,are just normal real world people,who are dreaming,sleeping,thats why they never actually speaks with Mado,because for them,nothing of that is real

The ONLY place who is actually from Mado dreams,is her dream version appartment,when she goes trought the door,she leaves his "mind",the drugs makes her go to the nexus,some type of "Central Station" where people dreams connect themselfs,thats why the doors,and why the worlds are so different from each other.

but WAIT…and Monoko and Monoe?

Well,thats an good one,maybe Monoe is the "dreamer" and Monoko is just fruit of her dreams,maybe Monoko was Monoe little sister,who died in a car accident or something,because of the crash,her bones fell out of her body,the scene maked Monoe guilt herself for the little sister dead,i have some facts who apoint this:

-She lives in a Black and White world,somethimes,black and white would represent past events,or something ideal.

-The only other color after black and white in Monochrome world,is red,who might represent blood,or something who needs the people attention

-The world have some faces and the "Nose Guys",who would represent paramedics or people who was close to the accident

-both Monoko and Monoe lives in caves,when the player try to interact with Monoe,she just smile and disappear,this "smile" would be an guilt smile,because she would be tryin hide her guilt and sadness

-This also SHUT THE HELL OUT of all that stuff about she being raped

The Toriningen (sorry if i wrote it wrong) are dream guardians,or,for the scientists,the reaction of the people's subconsious to invaders,they good state (non hostile) is when the people mind don't feel in danger,they try to stop Mado from do something wrong,by sending her to the Hell"

The effects,well,now you get me,i don't know how to explain them,but maybe they are just special artifacts from people dreams,who Mado was trying to capture
R: 3 / I: 0
Ok wait guys I just hatched an idea about .flow
Sabitsuki is a krokodil user. Krokodil is, essentially, the heroin version of what crack is to cocaine. You make it at home in about 30 minutes with over the counter ingredients, but because of the ingredients you use it causes a slew of ungainly side effects. This would explain the mysterious flesh eating "disease" she has - krokodil is mostly known for its horrific flesh eating abilities, ranging from losing fingertips to having your entire bone exposed with mucus-y flesh hanging off of it. Which could also explain the Tumbling Doll effect, the Machine effect, the Viscera effect, and the general rotting atmosphere of the game. Not to mention the ending with the chainsaw maid - that could possibly be Sabitsuki attacking a paramedic in a drug induced frenzy and having to be a quadruple amputee because of the damage??
Not only that, but she appears to live in a dumpy apartment in the middle of a dreary, cold place. Russia, the place where krokodil is easiest to manufacture and most prevelant, is pretty damn cold and dreary. And as I said before, krokodil is a pretty cheap ass drug, so we can assume the reason she's not using actual heroin is because she can't afford it.

This is a pretty discombobulated theory and doesn't explain a lot of her dreams, sorry, but I was really excited about it.

For more info on krokodil, check it out here: http://io9.com/5859291/krokodil-russias-designer-drug-that-will-eat-your-flesh
(WARNING! The link contains photos that are not for the faint of heart.)
R: 7 / I: 1

moo

>Jellyfish around mado death
Mado still dreaming


Alt. Mado landed on someone elses balcony and they fell to their doom
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Monoko

I have a theory that Monoko was is a ghost that was killed in a car crash. And she gets scared every time she see the red light because it reminds her of how she died.

Discuss?

Oh and Monoko thread.
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SPACESHIP

Not sure if it was posted yet or not, but I'm pretty sure the keyboard in the spaceship is a reference to the video game MYST. That's how you open one of the world portals, by playing the keyboard in the space ship. :P
R: 8 / I: 0
New Theory

What if Madotsuki died from hypothermia in the snow? That' swhy there's a Yukionna effect. (Basically a snow ghost.)
R: 9 / I: 2

Madotsuki Suicide Theory

Just some detail about the whole trying to fly instead of fall thing

The witch event has been known to be many people's favorites for its calm and peaceful feeling, which contrasts from the game's qrotesque/ambient/horror theme. Since many people reacted positively toward the witch event, maybe Madotsuki was much happier during that time? And perhaps when she fell off she was trying to reenact it ??? especially since the witch effect is a little hard to reach since the escalators are often closed down.
R: 5 / I: 1

MONOE IS EVIL

WHAT IF MONOE IS SMILING BEACUSE SHE IS HAPPY FROM MONOKO'S DEATH.
Or maybe she doesn't know about Monoko's death and is playing hide'n'seek with Madotsuki.

Also white desert is Old black'n'white cartoons.
R: 1 / I: 0

Apocalypse theory.

I have one theory that I kinda shitted out one day. I think Mado might have been the survivor of some sort of apocalypse- explaining all the disturbing images in her dreams. Maybe it was caused by radioactivity, possibly due to all the imagery of oddly-shaped creatures, such as kyukyu-kun and uboa. Possibly the melting or changing forms of people that she saw below her apartment. Poniko might have been one of her friends affected by it, along with Monoko and Monoe. Masada might have been someone hiding in a shelter, or in a plane crash at the time- explaining the crash on mars.

The disturbing imagery caused in her dreams might have been from radium poisoning.

She was most likely hopeless, explaining why she might have jumped in the end.
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Let's discuss the similarities between Yume Nikki and Plastic Girl
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Masada is Mado's dad. She's in love with him because he has always been kind to her. When her mother gets pregnant with Monoe, Mado snaps and stabs her mother in the neck. Her father tries to drive her mother to the hospital, but he ends up in a car crash.
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Hell as a model for part of Madotsuki's brain/neural pathways

Didn't want to post this in the other thread; but who things that "Hell" is meant to represent some kind of neural pathway? It's red to represent the brain's bloods vessels and the circular blobs remind me of blood cells. In the zoomed out map, it looks like that, only squarer since it's SNES RPG style.

To me this makes sense since it sort of links a bunch of seemingly random places together - without a more "symbolic" transition Madotsuki delves deeper into her brain to make these connections.

I think the "crossroads" and the ghost could mean that death is actually a particularly deep-seated fear she has, or perhaps you're actually meeting her "id" or something like that.
R: 4 / I: 1

Madotsuki dream infiltrator

I have an huge theory here everybody,my theory is Madotsuki is an dream infiltrator,think with me,at the beggining of the game,madotsuki sleeps (with no explaination) and wake up at her house,but ONLY when she passes trough the door,that she comes to the nexus,and the strange things starts to happen,my theory is simple,Madotsuki have an power,to infiltrate people dreams,and her apartment inside the dream,is the only part of her REAL dream,the nexus is like an central point,and the 12 doors are portals,to other people dreams,that explain why the dreams are so different from each others,and explain characters like Masada,Shitai or Poniko,they all are normal people,dreaming,that is the explaining for they never speak with madotsuki,only interacting with certain effects or even dont doing nothing,maybe the Toriningen are protectors from madotsuki Dream,and they-re trying to stop madotsuki from collect the 24 effects,because they know that when she do this,she will lose her consciousness and kill herself,and that explain the ending of the game too.
R: 1 / I: 0

Mars/Spaceship

So, if you do the spaceship event, and make Mado sit while it is crashing, You will be stuck. You cannot open the menu, can't wake up, and can't move or anything (Masada still turns about though.) And Madotsuki's head lowers, as though she is sleeping or crying on her arms.

So what do you think, is this just a glitch? Or is it meant to happen?

Is Mado crying because fo the crash? or did she die?
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Have you ever noticed that Mado's balcony kinda looks like a face, and the door kinda looks like a mouth? What if the balcony itself represents freedom, the room represents some sort of feeling of bondage or captivity, and re-entering the house from the balcony represents Mado symbolically being eaten — whether by her past, her condition, or just her inability to truly leave her home and join the outside world.
R: 8 / I: 0
After going to one of those bathrooms, and realizing there are no bathrooms when you're awake, I started thinking..

Also, what's with that oversized broom in the balcony?
And the void looking scenery around…

Given those strange details about the "real world" I think both real and dream worlds, are in fact dream worlds.

(I'm aware this has been discussed for ages, just pointing out the thing about the oversized broom, I'm likely to be just reading too much in it but who knows…)
R: 6 / I: 0
Coloboma is a congenital disease. It's a hole in the eye's structure that occurs when the eye stops growing.
This just made me think of Monoko. Specifically, her right eye. Any opinions? Do you think this is what was meant with the "melty eye"?
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Does anyone have any theories about Uboa's face after he goes all…. fucked up? After you transport yourself to the other world or whatever.
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Oh. I have a theory (…serious?)
I do think she didn't kill herself.
The dream was everything around her, even when she was dreaming.
There must be something that worried her so much that made her have those strange dreams.
When she accept a fact or changed it, she killed herself in her dreams.
It's like she changed, she isn't the same person.
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theory about those things

I guess i am not the only one who noticed it.
but those snake-like plants…
If you compare them with the eyes in the middle with the other looking likes around them (and those that look like being two of them actually)

I noticed that the pose look like two snakes tries to mate.
R: 7 / I: 1
This is my first post on here so don't hate me. ;n;

Anyway, I know, I know, this is really stupid and stuff but, has anyone ever wondered about the shoes on her balcony. o3o
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There are no culprits on the deaths of the Ushiromiya Family!

The whole island exploded due to the faulty underground submarine base.

TAKE THAT WITCHES!
R: 7 / I: 0
So, I wasn't the only one getting the feeling that the Demon Boy was in love with Mado?

inb4
he raped her
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Theories

This is a theory for all theories, Yume Nikki is so ambiguous that is impossible to explain it as a surreal painting or art masterpiece, so, this game is just a "surreal empty pot" wich all of you people put your own feelings thoughts and traumas, I haven`t read a single good theory for the game, when kikiyama release the final version of the game MAYBE we should be able to know the truth (put the "rapped" theory here if U want xD xD)
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What if Mado was having recurring nightmares out of guilt? Maybe she committed some travesty that cost her all of her friends, ruining her social life and pushed her into an introverted state? Maybe she keeps having the same nightmare due to the guilt she was feeling from some crime or violent act she had committed. Maybe the severed heads and corpses are images generated by her guilt in her nightmares? Maybe Poniko was a victim and won't forgive her or talk to her anymore?
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Seccom masada is the dj at a dance club on a night where mado goes out. He's a badass on the synths. She catches him when he's at the bar and they talk for a while. Mado falls for his derpy humor and surreal perspective on life. Masada is at least moderately interested in Mado. When the club closes, Masada drives Mado home in his white sports car, which he calls his "spaceship." Mado, a child at heart, relates to the world using imaginary constructs which sometimes exaggerate on reality. So, she imagines that she actually rode on masada's space ship. Similarly, other girls in the club which gave her jealous looks could be the torningen.

At the doorsteps of Mado's complex, Masada gets Mado's number, and tells her he's going to call her. Mado falls asleep, and watches the news the next morning.

BREAKING NEWS: DEADLY CARJACKING ON INTERSTATE I69
A popular local dj was found dead on the side of interstate I69 after stopping in at a convenience store. No words yet as of the carjacker, but police are looking for a white toyota supra with…

Mado turns off the TV, and eventually falls into nightmarish dreaming. She constantly tells herself that "he'll call today," to reinsure herself that it was not Masada who was killed on the interstate. She doesn't turn on any news, she doesn't leave the apartment, she doesn't eat, doesn't drink. Eventually, she breaks down both physically and mentally and finds an outlet of escape. She jumps, thereby entering her dreams where she can visit Masada and hang in his beautiful spaceship forever.

-END OF THEORY

Now, not to flaunt my own theory, but I think it has a number of attractive properties. It explains the strange numbers in some of the maps, it explains the neon world, it explains why you never see anything on Mado's tv, and elements of the game which which suggest "rape" could rather suggest Mado's sexual lust for masada that can never be fulfilled.

On a brighter note, kyu kyu kun would make a good bouncer, and we all know masada's a badass on the synths.
R: 5 / I: 1
What do you think about these severed heads we see near the white desert building rooftop (apart from symbolizing rape, of course)?

In my opinion, they could be somewhat more important than just random events. Think about it: they are used as the UFOs on Mars. One of them is used as the flying object near the edge of the Sky Garden. And they are visible up close in one of the most hidden and (in my opinion) most creepy place.

I've read a theory about them being Mado's parents. Are they "haunting" her in some way? Or who/what are these supposed to be?
R: 6 / I: 0
I don't know if this really counts as a theory, but…

The first thing most people notice about Yume Nikki is that there's a lot of empty space. Like the dark land, the puddle land, a lot of areas are just huge empty spaces with a few landmark features in them.

Since Yume Nikki is an unfinished game, could it be that those big empty spaces are just placeholders? People always say things like "the big empty areas are a metaphor for how lonely she is" but what if it gets updated one day, and the trademark open areas get filled with stuff?
R: 1 / I: 0
I think that the Toriningen may have been inspired by the Flying Men from Earthbound or Mother 2. These are half bird men that appear in Magicant in both Earthbound and Mother 1. Magicant is essentially a dream world. Yume Nikki looks visually similar to Mother 2, and even has a Mother 1 inspired area with the Famicom house.
R: 5 / I: 0

Yey, theories~

Okay, so I had an idea.
If the "Madotsuki is a transsexual" theory is correct, would it be possible for Poniko and Uboa to represent her gender confusion? Since Mado could have a fear of men, it makes sense that she would start fearing herself if she felt more male than female. Poniko could represent her female side, and the light switch represents her "turning off" her original gender and "turning on" masculinity. When Poniko turns into Uboa, it could be that Madotsuki imagines her "male self" to be horrific and monsterous due to her phobia.
So yeah. :'D
*Random drawing I made of knife nut Madotsuki because I'm on mobile and had nothing else suiting to post*
R: 3 / I: 0
Are fangame theories aloud here? Or just Yume Nikki?
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Hikikomori Madotsuki

K, so, while the Hikikomori theory has probably been exhausted beyond all belief, I wanted to try expanding it more. Cuz' a big problem I have with a lot of theories is that they don't include much of the game play in their reasoning. Why would one part have some kind of symbolic meaning but all the other parts are just there? So I think the hikikomori theory can tie everything together very well.

If Madotsuki *is* a hikikomori, she's clearly afraid to go outside. Everything of interest in the dream world takes place outside of her room. So I think that everything you see in the game, collectively, is what she thinks the outside world is like, and is therefor something negative that keeps her from wanting to go outside in the real world.(In a semi-figurative sense.) She only goes outside in her dream world because she knows that she can pinch herself and return home risk-free. One important distinction from many "real" hikikomoris is that she seems to be very bored in her room. She doesn't have a computer, her TV is broken, I think it can be assumed that she's been through all the books on her shelf, and her only video game she owns is obviously extremely tedious and uninteresting. Dreaming is the only think she can think of to do.

The Toriningen are personally my biggest interest. I think they represent a fear she has of other girls. With their "fashionable" hair styles and clothing, and their gaunt figures and peculiar faces, they're like an exaggerated view of what Madotsuki could see as "popular" girls. She either sees them as ignoring her and not caring about her (Such as when they're having a party, which Madotsuki can't join in on.) or coming after her to violently corner her, always with a creepy smile on their faces.

Poniko could represent her fear of social interaction, as while she appears to be Madotsuki's age and a possible friend of hers, she ignores Madotsuki. When Madotsuki does something seemingly harmless by just touching the lightswitch, everything in the room changes to a demented alternate form that Madotsuki sees as a threat. (Or maybe Madotsuki is just afraid of the dark.)

I strongly agree with someone else's theory that the eyes prominent throughout the game are relating to paranoia, that Madotsuki feels like whenever she's outside, someone will be watching and judging her.

Mars-San is a fear of being homeless. The people on the train could be a fear of strangers. Perhaps Face really is a fear of being raped. But going with her unusual amounts of paranoia, I think it's an important distinction that nothing she's seeing really happened to her. She's in her current state purely because she herself is irrationally paranoid and afraid of the many threats of the outside world.

Sorry if there's already a hikikomori thread I missed.
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This theory gets thrown around a lot, but maybe Mado is the last girl alive, and her dreams are a representation of her loneliness, memories, slow descent into madness, and perhaps libido? Maybe all those weird things we see in the dreams aren't things she dreamed up herself, but things she saw in the outside world and now has nightmares about? That could partially explain why in the end *spoilers*
when she jumped off her balcony those blobs surrounded her bloodsplat.
*end spoilers*
Maybe Earth was invaded by aliens?
Or maybe /she's/ an alien?
R: 2 / I: 0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfdEUdmgxR0&feature=colike

Best theory ever.

Aliens everywhere.

Seriously, that vid is badass and also full of alien mado

picture obviously not related, except that if you have a theory about madotsuki being actually a afroamerican boy wearing a riding coat.
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hi, /t/!! i have many theories here for you today, i hope you find them satisfactory.

i think madotsuki has paranoid personality disorder. i have the disorder myself and i always have this feeling people are watching me, which triggered dreams where there are nothing but eyeballs staring at me the entire time.

her not wanting to leave her house could also be proof, as she might be paranoid that someone might want to kill her. (knife effect, toriningen, ect.)

another theory i have is that poniko was a burn victim. her house burned down at night while she was asleep, and the flames were so hot that her face deformed, and dingratiated when the firemen uncovered her body. that is where uboa comes from. madotsuki blamed herself for everything, which is why poniko ignores her. it all happened on a snowy day, which is why her house is in the snow world.

my final theory is about monoko and monoe. they were twins who blacked themselves out from the world, making their own and letting nobody else in. however, madotsuki was determined to be in their world too. monoe was quite sadistic and found it funny when someone lost a limb or was killed. monoko.. she was such a fragile girl. she was too shy to make any friends. on their birthday madotsuki decided to pay them a visit to show them they weren't alone in the world, however she saw monoe exit their apartment with monoko and decided to investigate. monoe led monoko to the rooftop for a "special git" it sounded like. however, her gift was her demise. monoe pushed monoko off the building, and because it was so high, blood and bones were visibly out of her body when she crashed, killing her instantly, leaving a smirk on monoe's face.

what do you think, /t/?
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Not my theory, but interesting none the less.

Madotsuki's Dreams are her warped representation of School

Think of it this way. Madotsuki is a misbehaving child who steals things from other students, thus the effects. The Toriningen are teachers. Some teachers know that Madotsuki is a thief, and they try and stop her, these teachers are the lunatic Toriningen. When they catch Madotsuki, they send her to an inescapable place, detention. Other teachers don't know about Madotsuki being bad, but they can be made be realize this if they see her do something bad. These teachers are the nice Toriningen who will become hostile when stabbed. Poniko is the assistant principal or the office assistant. She doesn't bother Madotsuki because she doesn't have any say in it, or she doesn't belive that Madotsuki is really bad, or she simply doesn't care. Uboa is the prinicipal, and the trap is his office. Seccom Masada-sensei is, as mentioned before, is her music teacher. He doesn't know about Madotsuki's violent behavior, which is why he runs when she pulls out the knife. The many characters might be her representation of students or other teachers. It doesn't make much sense, but just think on it, it kind of makes sense.
R: 2 / I: 1
I think it's interesting that Sabi can "dream" without actually sleeping. I think maybe she's an online friend of Madotsuki. Madotsuki doesn't have a computer, but maybe she used to, and Sabi has embarked on a quest to find her the only way she knows how, by hacking into the WIRED.

How do I figure Sabi knows Madotsuki? Well, she shares lots of effects with Mado. You get the witch effect from a character resembling Witch!Madotsuki, and (I admit this is really reaching) her house vaguely vaguely VAGUeLY resembles Madotsuki's room… Almost as if Sabi pieced it together from descriptions, or blurry webcam photos taken within the room.

Sabi is a computer hacker, hackers often enjoy exploring abandoned buildings (don't ask me why but those two seem to go together) which is why there's all these rusty, run down areas.

>tl;dr: Sabi is an online friend of Madotsuki, Madotsuki has disappeared from the internet, and Sabi is trying to find her. Thoughts?


Kaibutsu are trolls, determined to lead her astray on the search for her dearest Madotsuki.
Maybe the red demons represent a truth she wishes to deny.
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Um...

So who here's a dude and who here is a girl anyway? What about ages?

Sorry if that sounds personal, I'm just really curious. I don't want to feel like I'm the only 21 or so year old guy here…

Pic unrelated
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This is a thread specifically for Monoe theories.
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This explains everything.
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Numbers World

I couldn't find any theories/explanations for the individual worlds as such. Numbers World is the oddest/creepiest one and it's the one that most seems to signify something instead of just being lolcrazy or like a real place.

What significance do the numbers have?
R: 3 / I: 2
Where are Madotsuki's parents? What happened to them? Did she kill them? Are they in the other room that Madotsuki refuses to enter? Does she stay away from them because they're abusive?

Theories please.
R: 38 / I: 4

Holy shit....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDlsvIAw1AM
this…this is the best theory ever…

everyone else…just go home…Q__Q
R: 15 / I: 3

Madotsuki herself is a dream

One of the characters, likely Poniko, had a dream where she met a girl with brown hair and long braids. That girl was named Madotsuki. Madotsuki gained a soul during that dream, but, no physical body, and so is forced to live in Poniko's imagination. Poniko kept a dream diary, and, that is the only proof that Madotsuki actually exists somehow, and, it's also why she can't go outside. She can't leave Poniko's imagination, and so, continues to wander around Poniko's imagination. The ending is her getting bored, and breaking her existence/consciousness.
R: 3 / I: 0
A rather short theory on Poniko,

she has epilepsy,

fooling with the lightswitch causes her to have an epileptic seizure.
Madotsuki does not know what to do and is scared (door is locked, uboa). She tries to help her but she ends up vomiting (groping giant).
R: 4 / I: 0
Mado was forced to kill.
She was either one of those kids who is made into a private army, or maybe she is a hit man who tried to quit but couldn't, or maybe someone is black mailing her.
R: 33 / I: 3

The faceless ghost

Has anybody thought about the story of the Nopperabou ghost?

For me, it seems like it meant to represent the ghost of somebody who used to work in that place that looks like a sewage treatment plant. This person had a social stigma because of the extremely dirty and humiliating job it used to do, that's why the ghost is faceless, and that's why he decided to remain permanently in this underground plant, isolating himself from the rest of the world.

Also, the "art gallery" is located in this "factory" as well, which could mean that this person's only joy was painting (also, the sewers can be only accessed from the Mural World), and the distrubing pictures are meant to represent what he felt/how did he view the outside world.
R: 16 / I: 0

Madotsuki's socks

Is it weird that I think she's wearing either red socks or slippers instead of shoes? Because I know that it's a custom to take your shoes off indoors and I see white shoes outside in front of the balcony.
R: 3 / I: 0

Yume 2kki

This was just something i was thinking about a while ago, but does anyone else thing the items in the nexus of yume 2kki could represent a different part of her school life?

Like the geometry world=math class, garden world=garden, library=library, theatre world=drama class, heart wold=nurse's office(maybe)

i also think that Urotsuki was involved with drugs because of peer pressure, which is why marijuana is a recurring theme. Marijuana goddess world could be like, her smoking afterschool?

onyx tile world+red streetlight world=the walk home from school. These areas are dangerous so it might be showing how uro lived in a bad neighborhood.
Dream apartments=her house
toy world=nursery/daycare/her little sibling's bedroom? (idk)

i cant figure out graveyard or forest world though.

mrh this is just me rambling on.
R: 3 / I: 0
The truth.

Madotsuki is a fucking stoner, and she's having a bad acid trip.
R: 13 / I: 2

Crack Theories

So, post your crack theories here.
Pic unrelated.
R: 11 / I: 2

KIKIYAMA Theory

What if KIKIYAMA gave up on the game?

WAITDUDESHEREMEOUT.

What if he looked around the fandom, the crazy, sick-minded, mind-in-the-gutter fandom…and said to him self, "Fuck it. I don't even have the power to create canon anymore. If I say anything, it will be drowned it fluffy cuteness, pron, or some sick combination of the two.", and left it at that?

But so many of us love his game (Sometimes for the wrong reasons), and he didn't want to hurt our feelings/some other excuse.

Just sayin'. I have a feeling the pic was his reaction.
R: 12 / I: 1
Re-uploading to leave this open to discussion again
R: 9 / I: 3

Before Yume Nikki/Pre.

I was originally going to make this into a fanfiction, but nope.

Before Madotsuki started having all the dreams,
Madotsuki had a little sister who always grabbed everything [Monoko] and an older sister who was gentle and quiet[Momone].
Mado went to school with Poniko, who always ignored her when she was angry at her. Poniko always loved drawing monsters, and deformed things [uboa]. Even though Poniko was pretty, Mado and she were the outcasts of the school for being weird. Mado liked folklore, a lot.
Mado had a piano recital in 12 days [the 12 doors/worlds], and her teacher was Masada.
Mado had a crush on a boy named Shitai, who like Momone.
Mado asked Shitai to come to her piano recital, who accepted because she told him he could sit with Momone.

After 12 days, Mado's family is traveling to her recital in the snow.
While coming around the corner, the car the family is in swerves and hits Shitai and his little sister [Mufurako], and hits a tree, killing everyone inside.
After hearing about this, Mado stays with Masada because she has no relatives. Masada rapes Mado repeatedly, getting her pregnant. Mado steals his money and runs away, getting an apartment. She never leaves, because she can no longer pay the rent and will be evicted.

I dunno, ignore me. I just wanted to see what you guys would think.
This is my first post on here. \( ^ ^|||)
R: 0 / I: 0
What's everyone's personal interpretation of what happened in the game?

I'm really tired so here's what I think very simply. Madotsuki became pregnant with Masada. She was involved in a car accident that cost a young girl her life, and caused her to have a miscarriage. She became a social recluse.

I guess most of it is obvious, but the area you find uboa in has party balloons, a pink theme that would fit well with a girl's birthday party, and those cones look like those party things. Poniko does't exist, she's what Madotsuki imagines her child to be like if she didn't have a miscarriage.
R: 4 / I: 0
The story is all around us. In every song, movie and book, all along.

Now you have found the bus, there is no fuss. Squeeze that puss, learn not to crush and be like us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaKDUV14Wb4&feature=related

Read more: http://www.ashtarcommandcrew.net/forum/topics/encountering-angels-in-human-form-an-experience?commentId=2859786%3AComment%3A1439609&xg_source=msg_com_forum#ixzz1o6y361bV

Must have been out of his mind. Must have been…
He's coming, she's coming, it's coming, you're coming…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12dBCgAo-RA&ob=av2e
R: 4 / I: 0
New theory on Mado's damage!: Madotsuki is upset because she has terrible hair
1. So many hair themed effects
2. Uboa is symbolic of when she sleeps too long or too much, her hair gets all crazy and gross, and poniko is symbolic of how she can't get close to having such nice hair, how close she is to having nice hair, but yet so far
3. She feels ostracism about her hair from other people, especially the toriningen, showing that even ugly people with nice hair can shun you
4. Monoe represents how she feels people with nice hair sneer at her. Monoe's hair is nice and straight and frames her face well
5. Monoko represents how Mado thinks she looks, though she looks fine, once she stops and looks at herself, she feels she looks disgusting and mangled and has terrible hair.
6. The jinglebell jellyfish are the physical manifestation of her hair woes. They are kinda slimy and look like hair [spoiler] and when she dies, her hair is still terrible and the demons still stick around [/spoiler]
7. Kyuu Kyuu Kun represents that she lost her hairdryer and she misses stroking it, FACE is just what the part of the hairdryer that blows air out looks like when it's blowing air

pic related, her hair is totally weird in this pic.
R: 17 / I: 4
Guys Whats your theorie on… well the characters other then Madotsuki. Like Poniko and Monoe and Monoko and such. What do you think there back story is with her?
R: 15 / I: 1
The "jellyfish" look like doctors covered in blood looking down hopelessly ("I'm sorry, we did all we could") to me.
R: 0 / I: 0
Rather than two unrelated people, the same people, or anything like that, I feel like Uboa and Poniko are siblings. Thoughts?
R: 32 / I: 3
Characters' age speculation thread. How old is Madotsuki? What about the other protagonists?
R: 6 / I: 2
Here's a tiny bit of speculation.

I think the FACE event, and the bleeding milkshake guy near the flute effect, represent Madotsuki's experiences with psychiatrists. I think the blood milkshake guy represents her 'spilling of guts.' The rest of the building is the offices or waiting rooms.

Her psychiatrists may have been extremely Freudian. She may have 'spilled her guts' about all these weird penis shaped dreams, which the psychiatrists interpreted as penis and rape related issues. Also FACE represents some trauma, but also a Rorschach test she was given while being evaluated or tested. If you read about Rorshach tests, there's a lot of interpretations that make everything sexual in those.
R: 12 / I: 3
Nasu looks a lot like the Toriningen. Madotsuki probably played Nasu a hell of a lot, because it's her only NES game and it's always ready to be started. Playing that awful game so much must've had a pretty negative influence on her affect. The toriningen are the lingering effect of Nasu on her mind.
R: 7 / I: 0
Mafurako theory thread.
R: 8 / I: 2
You see the truth is Mado didn't kill herself because of some past trauma.
No.
She never had her eyes open and those stairs came out of freaking nowhere, she never had a chance…
R: 1 / I: 0

The Cell panorama in the Graffiti World

It looks like a sideways Takofuusen to me

What if the panorama is a picture of Madotsuki's uterus
R: 29 / I: 14

SRSLY GAIZ

Madotsuki is the Maid-O-Bot, coming to assert her place as the great shut-in of all time, and proving that not even Sabitsuki can take her place!
R: 11 / I: 2

Famicon world, anyone?

I have a theory about the Famicon world AND the weird stuff we see.
Well, the main theme for the world is named MOTHER World, right?
Well, MOTHER's villain, Gigyas resembles a fetus.
So that may be why Mado-chan has loads of critters that look like reproductive organs in her dreams.