There are at least three instances where Sel has confirmed that:
The game has felt like a Purgatory at several points throughout its runtime, and that technically would be neither dream nor simulation. That's why the suicidal characters like Makoto and Rin repeatedly find themselves in situations where they're driven to that point - they can't move on until they are able to resolve their problems without taking the easy way out, Miku and Ami likely died in their respective accidents and cannot move on until they've worked through their trauma, etc.
This has been one of my more favoured theories since i started playing this game. It fits well and doesn't feel like a cop out, it also gives reason for so many of the components of the story, the whole who, where, what, why etc.
Isn't there a risk though of if this is handled and implemented badly it will go down like a lead balloon in the same way as the ending of LOST did?
LOST was somehow a purgatory with absolutely no hints that it was one until it's spoon-fed to the characters in the finale. Better foreshadowing would have prevented that, but I suspect that it was a hastily thrown together explanation for the what-the-fuckery of the show once they decided to wrap it up, and they didn't actually have that in mind early on.
If it were true, it would explain a lot of the really dumb excuses for the state of the city, him not remembering his name, etc... They are obviously not meant to be plausible. There could be other explanations of course, but I've always felt the "He's dead" or "He's dying" explanation made the most sense. Seems like a minority theory though, haha.
That is a cool idea, but I wonder if it will go to the extent of every character being dead or dying and having to come to terms with that. Though imo the one character that cannot be dead or die in the end is Maya, my hypothesis is that the True Ending will be about her continuing to live in the real world and shutting down the wishing well (or at least the Kumon Mi program running in it).
But the purgatory thing was just an addon after the story was done. It's not supposed to be the explanation for the whole story.
I can definitely see there being some "Can't move on"/"Can't be fixed" stuff going on.
My personal theory at the moment, is that Sensei found out that Maya had been taking advantage of his memory to control him, and he winds up killing himself because of it once he remembers his past. Maya then prays at her shrine for any god to bring him back, and the god there answers. This is the result.
If Kumon-mi is a purgatory, I don't think every single character is dead. I think some of the characters are specifically PART of it, they're there to test, tempt, or otherwise challenge those sentenced to it. Nodoka, in particular, feels like she'd be part of that world, rather than someone being subjected to it.
My theory is that it wasn't exactly suicide in the traditional terms; it was a bout of hallucinations during which Sensei just stepped off the roof believing he could fly.
I can definitely see this applying to Kirin. Ignoring how she was intended to be a side character originally, Yasu has more or less said she only exists when she needs to:
