Ren'Py Lessons in Love [v0.54.0] [Selebus]

[Fire Lord Zuko]

Okay, speaking of tinfoil hat theories, I have a doozy for y'all to ponder:

What if Pareidolia's true identity is actually Yuu Arakawa?

Spoiler

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This post has become too long, so here's a recap on the theory at hand:

- Yuu and Akira both have similar abilities and potential, relating to perception and manipulating the world as they see fit.
- Pareidolia's ability to cause hallucinations in people could very well be an example of what an unchained mind can accomplish once they're fully able to hone said abilities.
- Yuu as a character never appears in the game until Pareidolia's reset (Times New Roman) and once more in the midst of Pareidolia's season.
- In "Goodnight Moon", it's revealed that a figure in the corner of the room watches Akira, as Saki weeps into his shoulder mourning the loss of Yuu.
- While Yuu and Akira's relationship is currently unknown, we know that Saki didn't like him very much, especially after Yuu's death, since he reminded her of him.

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Well, there we have it! Feel free to rip this theory to shreds. Even so, I found it interesting to think about.

 

[Moonflare]

Okay, speaking of tinfoil hat theories, I have a doozy for y'all to ponder:

What if Pareidolia's true identity is actually Yuu Arakawa?

This portion of DeSkel's earlier post made my mind start racing:


Combine that with the fact that my second playthrough is still fresh in my mind, and I sort of had a 'eureka' moment.

Now you might be wondering, "How in the absolute fuck did you reach this possible conclusion?"

And to that I say, let me explain.

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It started when I thought back to an earlier conversation I had with a friend. Particularly about Sana's "Ad Infinitum" event. When we see this:

Spoiler: Ad Infinitum

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We see that Sana encounters "HOPE" during her blackout. And the entire time, you sense that something's just kinda... off about Him and His speech. It's very uncharacteristic for HOPE:

Spoiler: Ad Infinitum 2

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The entire conversation "HOPE" has with Sana is framed to scare her. To drive her away from Him.

And who is it that winds up being the savior?

Spoiler: Ad Infinitum 3

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I want to emphasize the 'it's all in your head' and the 'nothing is real' stuff, because it will be important to this theory later.

Now then... how does this relate in any way to Pareidolia being Yuu?

Well, take a look again at all the weird shit Sana experienced in said event:

Spoiler: Ad Infinitum 4

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Seem familiar?

Spoiler: Similarities

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Pareidolia actively changes one's perception. How things look. And causes what are essentially hallucinations.

We know that Akira has special abilities. Abilities he has yet to unchain that can actively change the world they reside in. Yasu specifically tried to teach him how to do exactly this:

Spoiler: Hand of God

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I want to pause there momentarily to emphasize Yasu's statement. "Everything you can imagine is real.". Quite the antithesis of Pareidolia's "Nothing is real. It's all in your head." comment, yeah? Let's continue:

Spoiler: Hand of God 2

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What Yasu is telling Akira? Is precisely what Yuu also experienced. It's what he had to go through as well.

In the middle of Yasu's teachings, she suddenly becomes possessed by something:

Spoiler

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You can tell it's Pareidolia possessing her due to her eyes. And the way the text seamlessly changes, something the Concerned has been known to do in the past and even in events after this.

I've done a lot of rambling, but now the time has come to get to the point. Why does any of what I've said matter?

Think about it. If Pareidolia's main gimmick is him causing hallucinations and actively changing one's perception... is it not at all possible that Yuu, a man who presumably completely unchained his mind, could do this?

Another interesting thing of note is we never even see Yuu as a character in the game until the Happy Event, "Rain King":

Spoiler: Rain King

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When do we see "Rain King" again? In Times New Roman. During Pareidolia's reset.

We even saw Yuu in the latest update once again, in Pareidolia's season, the Springtime:

Spoiler: Throne of Flesh

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We have no in game evidence to support what Yuu and Akira's relationship with each other was, and if they were on good or bad terms. But we do know how his mother felt about him:

Spoiler: The Cracking of the Egg

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Saki didn't like Akira because he reminded her too much of Yuu after he had passed away. And as we find out in "Goodnight Moon"... we get hints that Pareidolia had been watching over Akira for years and years now:

Spoiler: Goodnight Moon

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As Saki cried into young Akira's shoulder mourning over Yuu, who's to say that Akira wasn't thinking about him too? Who's to say he wasn't mourning in his own way by thinking of him, while at the same time, Yuu found a way to live on through his son from a different plane of existence?

This isn't to say that Akira and Yuu's relationship was a positive one, though. We get some glimpses of Yuu's earlier life, but nothing towards the end of his life. Perhaps Nozomu was always the favored son.

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This post has become too long, so here's a recap on the theory at hand:

- Yuu and Akira both have similar abilities and potential, relating to perception and manipulating the world as they see fit.
- Pareidolia's ability to cause hallucinations in people could very well be an example of what an unchained mind can accomplish once they're fully able to hone said abilities.
- Yuu as a character never appears in the game until Pareidolia's reset (Times New Roman) and once more in the midst of Pareidolia's season.
- In "Goodnight Moon", it's revealed that a figure in the corner of the room watches Akira, as Saki weeps into his shoulder mourning the loss of Yuu.
- While Yuu and Akira's relationship is currently unknown, we know that Saki didn't like him very much, especially after Yuu's death, since he reminded her of him.

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Well, there we have it! Feel free to rip this theory to shreds. Even so, I found it interesting to think about.

Pareidolia talks about Yuu though, it's right after Maya's been factory reset. He tells Akira to start behaving in the way his mother taught him to, and that if he doesn't, he really will end up like his father.

Spoiler: The collector

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I don't see how or why he'd be talking about himself in third person, or how Akira is at risk of becoming another Pareidolia.

Edit: another issue is that if Yuu is Pareidolia, then it would follow that Wires, HOPE and USER 4 would also be Akira's relatives (because all gods are actually just one thing that is currently apart, and in that sense all of them together would be the "Arakawa Family Entity"). Likely Yuu, Saki, Nozomu and maybe himself as USER4. Which... also doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Fire Lord Zuko]

Pareidolia talks about Yuu though, it's right after Maya's been factory reset. He tells Akira to start behaving in the way his mother taught him too, and that if he doesn't, he really will end up like his father.

I don't see how or why he'd be talking about himself in third person, or how Akira is at risk of becoming another Pareidolia.

Edit: another issue is that if Yuu is Pareidolia, then it would follow that Wires, HOPE and USER 4 would also be Akira's relatives. Likely Yuu, Saki, Nozomu and maybe himself as USER4. Which... also doesn't make a lot of sense.

Saki wasn't a fan of the way Yuu lived his life and saw his blackouts as exactly what an outsider would see. Pure delusions.

Again, we don't know much about the end of Yuu's life, but the reason Pareidolia (assuming this is Yuu) refers to himself in the third person and says "listen to your mother or you really will end up like your father", is potentially because he did something that wound up getting him killed. Perhaps he ignored some kind of warning from Saki, and it was curtains.

It's just a theory, after all. Fun to speculate. Just wish we could get more background on Yuu, Saki and Nozomu.

 

[somedoodwhogames]

I think Sara is great, I have always enjoyed events with her and she is a awesome character. Cant find the right words but its Niki over her for me.

The words you are looking for are "side piece".

Sara is fine, but there is nothing at all to set her apart from every other girl vying for Sensei's seed. If you like the petite, green-eyed dark haired look, Sana's younger and cuter. Maki's a better mom, Haruka's more of a submissive and will enable the abuse of teenage girls with Sensei, Niki's a rich superstar...

Sara has...a bar. Sara is the 2am booty call when your superstar girlfriend is on tour and your niece is crashing at her friend's house.

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

It's just a theory

A PORN THEORY.
Sorry

 

[Comiies]

Saki wasn't a fan of the way Yuu lived his life and saw his blackouts as exactly what an outsider would see. Pure delusions.

Again, we don't know much about the end of Yuu's life, but the reason Pareidolia (assuming this is Yuu) refers to himself in the third person and says "listen to your mother or you really will end up like your father", is potentially because he did something that wound up getting him killed. Perhaps he ignored some kind of warning from Saki, and it was curtains.

It's just a theory, after all. Fun to speculate. Just wish we could get more background on Yuu, Saki and Nozomu.

Thats the biggest problem im facing rn.Like yea i would love to include NiB bits in my theorys but NiB is not only unfinished but WILL be rewritten in the future.So like bro what do i do

 

[Moonflare]

Saki wasn't a fan of the way Yuu lived his life and saw his blackouts as exactly what an outsider would see. Pure delusions.

Again, we don't know much about the end of Yuu's life, but the reason Pareidolia (assuming this is Yuu) refers to himself in the third person and says "listen to your mother or you really will end up like your father", is potentially because he did something that wound up getting him killed. Perhaps he ignored some kind of warning from Saki, and it was curtains.

I mean, sure, but the biggest issue is: how does Akira's father end up becoming a fourth of a bigger being that's all the same thing? I think a less tinfoil hat theory would be that Pareidolia is Akira, and the "you'll end up like your father" means that he'll end up talking to a voice in his head. Plus, when Akira recovers his memory the first time, young Akira sees old Akira looking at himself as if that was a regular thing - and the one that observed young Akira was Pareidolia.

Still not a strong theory though.

 

[PhiloPhilo]

those lines from Rika make me think of Kaori - the brain trauma / derangement and being too young to have a kid. I could imagine a similar situation to Yuki, with Kaori getting involved in some bad shit and being taken advantage of / ending up broken as a result (or being broken and *then* being taken advantage of), until the organs from Sekai fixed her up? That last part makes me feel like this theory doesn't actually hold up.

Assuming that Rin's mother is one of the currently known characters, I don't know how you'd explain her pink eyes. Perhaps those come from the father. I also wonder whether Kaori's eyes are heterochromatic from birth or if that's a result of her surgery. And is Sensei's eye color actually black? Do we know what the "true" color is?

Kaori is 22 (I think, she may have turned 23 in this cycle and I forgot (Edit: she did turn 23,)) which would make her not only emotionally/financially too young to have a kid when Rin is born, but physiologically too young too. We're talking like ~5 years before even the earliest girls hit puberty and can become pregnant, typically. That's enough in the range of improbability for me to say it can't happen even if you say magic/extremely rare condition where a that-young Kaori hit puberty. Plus she'd have to survive not only her injuries but child birth and Yuki (+Yumi) not know about it which seems odd.

Bringing up the eyes is interesting though. Luckily Moonflare brought up Akira's silver eyes, because I forgot. Kaori's [as MF said again] were probably already heterochromatic, but I'm a little more up in the air about it. If they changed when she was that young, or even after an accident (eyeballs can get damaged and do weird things from my understanding, and in a game where people have fucking red and fushcia eyes, it fits) it wouldn't be too much of a logical gap. My eyes changed color when I was young and still change hue. As far as Akira's go, I've always seen his black swirly eyes as a stylistic choice. Most likely out-of-universe because he wouldn't "look right" with normal eyes. I'd photoshop it for the memes but I just woke up, and it's cursed enough in my mind. In-universe, his eyes might be darker, or he may have a more tired expression, or may look "aloof" or depressed, not really focusing on things, like when people just kinda stare past you.

Rin's pink eyes make me think her mother is just some random person, eyes are pretty color-coded in this game. I even looked at Yuki and Yumi's eyes for a good while and compared them to Kaori's before, and Kaori's one brown eye (lol) is lighter than theirs, more of an ambery/hazel gradient. It's close, but distinct enough that "cousin" makes sense. So I'd imagine that if Rin's eyes were a hint to anything, it'd be more likely that she's someone cousin or second-cousin or something

 

[PhiloPhilo]

Literal "who?"... just call her a pedo dude, no need to be 'extra' and throw random references in, but if you absolutely must, just add a note as to wtf the reference even is.

It's just some light-hearted jokes, man. I'm easily qualified for that sweet, sweet iHop 55+ menu by this point haha. I'm just trying to imitate how my son talks, I think I'm getting pretty good at this point :] (he hates it though LOL)

 

[Moonflare]

The words you are looking for are "side piece".

Sara is fine, but there is nothing at all to set her apart from every other girl vying for Sensei's seed. If you like the petite, green-eyed dark haired look, Sana's younger and cuter. Maki's a better mom, Haruka's more of a submissive and will enable the abuse of teenage girls with Sensei, Niki's a rich superstar...

Sara has...a bar. Sara is the 2am booty call when your superstar girlfriend is on tour and your niece is crashing at her friend's house.

Sana's not an adult, Maki has a very active sexual history, Haruka's unhinged and Niki can be overbearing/has way too much history. Every girl has downsides if we're to judge them ourselves. For Akira, pretty much everyone is a "side piece" to Sekai (or Maya rn) - because no girl can be a main to nothing until he resolves his issues with Sekai.

I also feel like Sara's great because she feels very real. She's a poor person that was physically abused at her home, so she ran away to another authority figure that took advantage of her. Said authority figure had two children with her, while at some point she started having psychotic episodes, and the dude wasn't there enough on account of having a different family. One day she was left alone with her children, and eventually had her son die. So the girl that was beaten at her home, and taken advantage/abandoned by her surrogate "father figure/lover", had to deal with her son's brutal death while taking care of her child daughter.

Fast-forward a couple of years and her source of income is failing, she can't get any man to stay with her (and thus never fulfills her dream of having an actual stable family that she never had at home), is falling deep into alcohol, and now fears that her daughter is also having psychotic episodes. The entire way she acts around Akira makes complete sense from her standpoint, and a well-written character is simply compelling beyond "she's small and has green eyes".

 

[Yarazin]

The words you are looking for are "side piece".

Sara is fine, but there is nothing at all to set her apart from every other girl vying for Sensei's seed. If you like the petite, green-eyed dark haired look, Sana's younger and cuter. Maki's a better mom, Haruka's more of a submissive and will enable the abuse of teenage girls with Sensei, Niki's a rich superstar...

Sara has...a bar. Sara is the 2am booty call when your superstar girlfriend is on tour and your niece is crashing at her friend's house.

I may get a lot of disagreement with this opinion but as far as for now, Id prefer Sara over Sana. Maybe I would choose Sana in her older version over Sara, not sure, but I like Sara very much. I get what you are saying though.

 

[Algorist]

I may get a lot of disagreement with this opinion but as far as for now, Id prefer Sara over Sana. Maybe I would choose Sana in her older version over Sara, not sure, but I like Sara very much. I get what you are saying though.

True story. I found myself looking forward to all Sana events that would take place at the bar since that meant a high chance of Sara making an appearance.

I like her personality, and I think she's funny/charming what have you. Her theme song is also very calming to me, and fits her perfectly.

Sara would make a much better wife than Haruka, for example.

 

[Moonflare]

Kaori is 22 (I think, she may have turned 23 in this timeline if I forgot,) [...]

Kaori's [as My dear and helpful friend said again] were probably already heterochromatic, but I'm a little more up in the air about it.

Kaori just turned 23, while residing in apartment 23, in TERMINAL 23, cause redundancy is a thing, we get it Selebus.

Spoiler: Miserably ever after

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And about Kaori's eyes: I feel Yuki would very much have said something about her niece getting a blue eye when she met her again:

Spoiler: Butterfly facts

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[Comiies]

Kaori just turned 23, while residing in apartment 23, in TERMINAL 23, cause redundancy is a thing, we get it Selebus.

Spoiler: Miserably ever after

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And about Kaori's eyes: I feel Yuki would very much have said something about her niece getting a blue eye when she met her again:

Spoiler: Butterfly facts

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>Kaori Aging
It may just be that Kaoris Birthday was always a cannon event.Something if the cycle progressed enough would always happen.The thing is,if that is true then why hasnt there been a mention of anything birthday related for literally ANY OTHER CHARACTER.So weird.

>Eye colour
I mean i would imagine Kaori grew up with heterochromia.Since in most cases its something you are born with(Plus since Yuki didnt comment on it im inclined to believe that that is true)

Although someone can develop heterochromia later in life due to an eye injury(cough cough the accident cough cough) so im not sure.You can maybe pass off Yuki not commenting on Kaoris heterochromia(if we suppose that she DIDNT grew up with it and aquired it later in life due to the accident) due to her shock at learning that her niece forgot everything but ehh we will see.

 

[PhiloPhilo]

Kaori just turned 23, while residing in apartment 23, in TERMINAL 23, cause redundancy is a thing, we get it Selebus.

Spoiler: Miserably ever after

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And about Kaori's eyes: I feel Yuki would very much have said something about her niece getting a blue eye when she met her again:

Spoiler: Butterfly facts

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So what you're saying is Kaori = the terminal = the world = Sekai, and also her apartment = the world = Sekai, therefore Kaori = Sekai inside Sekai

And yeah her eyes were probably always heterosexual, but to play devil's aviator, they could have been glossed over. Maybe her eyes were even blue and her one eye turned brown, who knows? (Probably not.) I'm not fully convinced that her (non-sekaori) eyes have a hidden meaning, but if they do, it might be different depending on if they're natural or not which is pretty cool. I prefer natural ones, but I can't be picky

>Kaori Aging
It may just be that Kaoris Birthday was always a cannon event.Something if the cycle progressed enough would always happen.The thing is,if that is true then why hasnt there been a mention of anything birthday related for literally ANY OTHER CHARACTER.So weird.

It seems you've thought about something you weren't supposed to think about. You know what that means.

Spoiler

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Probably because that many teenage girl birthday parties would be a chore to write every cycle and get fucking annoying to read every update lol

 

[Yarazin]

Sana's not an adult, Maki has a very active sexual history, Haruka's unhinged and Niki can be overbearing/has way too much history. Every girl has downsides if we're to judge them ourselves. For Akira, pretty much everyone is a "side piece" to Sekai (or Maya rn) - because no girl can be a main to nothing until he resolves his issues with Sekai.

I also feel like Sara's great because she feels very real. She's a poor person that was physically abused at her home, so she ran away to another authority figure that took advantage of her. Said authority figure had two children with her, while at some point she started having psychotic episodes, and the dude wasn't there enough on account of having a different family. One day she was left alone with her children, and eventually had her son die. So the girl that was beaten at her home, and taken advantage/abandoned by her surrogate "father figure/lover", had to deal with her son's brutal death while taking care of her child daughter.

Fast-forward a couple of years and her source of income is failing, she can't get any man to stay with her (and thus never fulfills her dream of having an actual stable family that she never had at home), is falling deep into alcohol, and now fears that her daughter is also having psychotic episodes. The entire way she acts around Akira makes complete sense from her standpoint, and a well-written character is simply compelling beyond "she's small and has green eyes".

Well said, thanks for putting it way better than I could.

 

[Moonflare]

Maybe her eyes were even blue and her one eye turned brown, who knows? (Probably not.)

In the event "where the trees live", we see a flashback of wizard Kaori and the eye we can see is her brown/yellow one.

Also, since I'm not making another post just for this, let me just use this opportunity (which should be the last one, since it should end in the next update) to say something about Chika:

Spoiler: Imani's Dormwars/When you snap

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It has been a long road having to deal with her denial arc, and here's a reminder of one of her most pathetic moments of denial for those that need to be reminded (just jump to the post):

I wasn't ready for the full power that Ayane brings into this conversation in destroying Chika (and she doesn't even notice).

I am looking forward so much to the next update regarding Chika's downfall, for, in the words of Dexter Holland: "She may not have a clue, she may not have style, but everything she lacks, well, she makes up in denial."

Not a perfect fit since she has a kind of style I guess... But, seriously though, let the truth be revealed though the heaven's fall. Praise be. It's been a long time coming and it will finally be over.

 

[Comiies]

In the event "where the trees live", we see a flashback of wizard Kaori and the eye we can see is her brown/yellow one.

Also, since I'm not making another post just for this, let me just use this opportunity (which should be the last one, since it should end in the next update) to say something about Chika:

Spoiler: Imani's Dormwars/When you snap

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It has been a long road having to deal with her denial arc, and here's a reminder of one of her most pathetic moments of denial for those that need to be reminded (just jump to the post):


I am looking forward so much to the next update regarding Chika's downfall, for, in the words of Dexter Holland: "She may not have a clue, she may not have style, but everything she lacks, well, she makes up in denial."

Not a perfect fit since she has a kind of style I guess... But, seriously though, let the truth be revealed though the heaven's fall. Praise be. It's been a long time coming and it will finally be over.

I find it quite interesting how Chika is so timid when it comes to ayane.Like she threatened to brutalize Ami infornt of everyone for her love but when it comes to Ayane all that fire just dissapears.How interesting.You know what that means right?

Let the "Ayane cucks Chika" operation begin!(Name in progress)

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

The thing is,if that is true then why hasnt there been a mention of anything birthday related for literally ANY OTHER CHARACTER.So weird.

Yumi's birthday happens to be during every cycle, and she just hates her birthday or something. Sometimes, though, people like Chika bring it up.
Also Akira was on a date with Maya during her birthday.

Edit: Or naybe my non-English brain just didn't understand your phrase.

 

[Comiies]

Yumi's birthday happens to be during every cycle, and she just hates her birthday or something. Sometimes, though, people like Chika bring it up.
Also Akira was on a date with Maya during her birthday.

Edit: Or naybe my non-English brain just didn't understand your phrase.

Nah that was poor phrasing on my part.I meant that while yes birthdays are clearly a thing they are completely background stuff yet for some reason Kaoris was given the spotlight.