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 ;)
