Do you have any theories about this game to share? Email me. Thanks. ~Sparky
Besides these, there's also Yume Nikki on TVTropes.org.
Madotsuki
She may be dreaming in the 'real' world, as well. In other words, she may be dreaming inside of a dream. My reasoning behind this is that when I killed the green monster in Number World, entered the door, and continued to mow down all of the monsters within, I was getting money. However, after pinching myself and waking up, I realized that the money was still there. The money that Madotsuki had acquired in Number World while dreaming was still with her when she woke up. In other words, when she pinches herself, she may not be waking up. She may just be transporting herself to her own mental image of a real world. She still had the money before I took the leap at the ending, too.
This relieves me, as that would mean she was dreaming when she leaped to her death.
By Matthew
The Toriningen As Tormenters
I think the Toriningen are symbolic of whoever or whatever made Madotsuki the way she is now, seeing as how when they catch her, they trap her in a completely enclosed, secluded area-much like how she's completely shut off from everyone now. There are some non-hostile ones, though, which could mean whatever/whoever made her a shut-in was at one point friendly or something.
By Shadow Goo
Male-To-Female Transsexual Theory
If you think about her as a male to female transsexual (shemale) it would make perfect sense why she would be a hikikomori. After several mishaps and tragedies due to the lifestyle, she has gone partially insane and shut herself out of society. Many transsexuals are left with barely any supportive family and friends. I will now explain my theories.
Evidence #1: Wombs. Womb-like objects have occurred in her dream world at least once, which could mean the desire of a womb, or womb envy if you must. After following the trail of wombs a bit and going the other way, she finds a more sinister looking one followed by a dead male and a few strange parts of the monochrome world. The dead guy could be a trained masculine part of her she wants to kill off.
Evidence #3: Phallus + nightmarish image. After seeing the rubby thing, a phallus, she goes into a room with a rather disturbing face thingy. She then wakes up, possibly out of fear. She hates and fears her penis.
Evidence #2: Masada. Masada is a lonely looking male in a monochrome ship. He is trapped inside and seems aimlessly traveling through space. When the ship is about to land and the sirens go off, he acts panicked. Then, when the ship crashes, he sounds sadder. Masada could be parts of Madotsuki she wants to shove away to the furthest parts of her subconscious. This also makes one wonder if she was forced to play a piano for this matter and hates doing so.
By Amy S
When you're in the lamp world and you get teleported by the mini lamp, not the one you get the effect from, but just a mini lamp near the bottom of the map, you can find a tree and a wardrobe/closet. If you open the closet you see Madotsuki "sleeping" or maybe even hugging her knees and crying. Maybe she was bullied about being a she-male or maybe she was never a she-male and was bullied by Poniko. The other way to explain the whole closet thing could be that Madosuki never could find clothes that would hide her true self. (Going back to the whole she-male theory)
By Katie
The Falling Figure
The flying character [that you see on the long staircase] is Reimu Harukei from the Touhou game series, spinning around in air. In the game Touhou Perfect Cherry Blossom, the 5th stage have a big staircase in the background... The 6th and last stage, the boss, Yuyuko Saigyouji, wears a triangle kerchief. So this area of the game is a little homage to Touhou series, imo.
Also, Yuyuko's shots ressembles butterflies and in Y.N. there's a butterfly flying around near the house where you see the white flowers inside.
By Fabio
The Ending
I think that this was due to confusion in Madotsuki's mind. After experiencing what she had in her dreams, be it horrors or pleasures to her, collecting all the powers, she felt that she was still dreaming in the awake world. Seeing the stairwell simply proved that she was still asleep and jumped off it, hoping that when she hit the bottom she would wake up.
By Takazi Kisaragi
Monoe
I believe that Monoe was a friend of Madotsuki's, the fact that she's depicted in black and white could mean she's a flash back. If you interact with her, she just seems to disappear. This could mean that in Madotsuki's past, they were great friends though as time wore on, Monoe moved away/died/got kidnapped/etc.
By Takazi Kisaragi
Monoko
Just as everyone states, she's been in a car accident. The arms growing out of her elbow and shoulder are her broken bones. The one pulsating on her head might be a bump/skull fragments/brain matter.
By Takazi Kisaragi
A lot of people have pointed out that you can see the tops of Monoko's socks, even though she apparently has bare feet. I believe that A: she's wearing leggings, and (more importantly) B: she may have committed suicide by jumping into traffic, or off a building into a busy street, and maybe the stoplight was the last thing she saw. In Japan, it's common for people committing suicide to leave their shoes there.
By Madison
Uboa/Poniko
I think what most people say about Uboa being a symbol for hopelessness is somewhat true, but at the same time a bit misunderstood. Maybe Madotsuki and Poniko were friends since they were young. Eventually Poniko began to get into trouble, stealing things, doing drugs and trying to keep it all a secret, explaining the lights needing to be off when Uboa eventually came out. This caused Madotsuki to picture Poniko as a monster, in otherwords, Uboa. Madotsuki attmepted to stop her but instead ended up ruining there friendship, which explains what happens when you interact with Uboa.
By Takazi Kisaragi
Poniko and her room could possibly be a beta design of Madotsuki and her room. The layout is similar, with a desk, bed and bookshelf. However, the only thing different is Madotsuki's lack of a closet, but another closet that works better with Madotsuki's room does appear in the game, which could have been taken out in favor of the TV and game system.
Basically, Poniko and her room may be some very early designs of Madotsuki and her room, and the creator loved it enough to put a rather infamous secret in it.
By Amy S
Maybe Poniko was a friend that took advantage of Madotsuki in her past. When you try out the Uboa event, you see Poniko in her room. The only way you can interact with Poniko is to stab her with the knife effect. What I'm thinking is that if Poniko did abuse Madotsuki as a friend then it would make sense as to why you can stab Poniko. Maybe Madosuki wanted to kill Poniko for bulling her. When you switch off the lights and see Uboa in Poniko's room could be Poniko's "true" self as the violent and abusing friend.
By Katie
Effects
Knife, Blond/Long Hair Buyo Buyo and Fat Power: I think that these power represents Madotsuki's past. It could mean Madotsuki didn't fit in due to weight(fat and buyo buyo power) or the fact that she doesn't have long or blond hair(long and blond power). People would constantly make fun of her and she ended up wishing they would all die, whether she did it or not(knife power).
Snow Woman Power: I believe this could relate to someone in Madotsuki's life that died by freezing to death in the snow. This could be her mother, her sister(if she had any), or. hell, even Monoe which could relate to my previous theory on her.
Madotsuki's Powers: All of her powers could have something to do with Madotsuki's life. The fat and buyo buyo pertaining to weight, the frog pertaining to a beloved pet that died, the bicycle showing she tried losing weight and possibly succeeded by riding a bike, etc, etc. I could go on but I would probably fill up most of the page.
By Takazi Kisaragi
Kikiyama
Ah, the good ol' creator. How could he have come up with this stuff? Maybe he/she's experienced all this in their past? They could just have a sick, perverted mind and wanted to torment a video game character as a way to vent and not be liable for an arrest for murder or torture? The world may never know... But as long as the internet and Yume Nikki lives, so will the fact that Kikiyama is an internet god...
By Takazi Kisaragi
Aztec Imagery
Well, this is extremely far fetched but oh well. I'm guessing that Madotsuki was a decendant of an Aztec tribe member and is having dreams of her tribe.
By Takazi Kisaragi
Split Personalities
My theroy is that Madotsuki is not actually a hikkikomori at all, but in fact a sufferer of split personalities, due to some sort of tragic event in her past. She has since recovered mostly, however one extra personality remained, the player. This one comes out while she sleeps, and is the one who lives in Madotsuki's dreams, possibly created due to constant nightmares of the tragic event, AKA the disturbing images. As Madotsuki recovered, her other personalities actually slipped into her subconsious, becoming many of the creatures and possibly effects in the game. Monoko, for example could be the groutesque image she had of herself after the event. Poniko could be who Madotsuki was before the event, or in fact the true Madotsuki. And the Toriningen could be the various doctor's and psychitrists who "imprisoned" the other personalities within her dreams.
This also let's you take the ending differently, saying that this was the one thing that Madotsuki could have any power of her own in her life, her only chance to make any choice that would actually effect her. In addition, it means that maybe she finally became dominant, as she is now never able to wake up from the dream world.
By Alex Martin
Seccom Masada
Seccom Masada could have been based off of Madotsuki's music teacher. I thought that since he seems to be an alien, he was alienated for having a flaw in his appearance (which would have been a lazy eye). Maybe people did talk to him but didn't seem to bother to be his friend. Then Madotsuki reached out for him and they had an emotional connection (i think this because he allowed her to sleep in his bed).
The white background may mean how simple he is since he counts on his music for comfort and not much else. But he is very lonely and wants a friend, i think that is implied by the fact that there are two chairs at his table instead of just one.
By Shannon
In the fifties through to the nineties, there was an American jazz pianist called Sun Ra [link will play music]. His schtick was a mixture of Sci-Fi and Egyptian themes. Eventually he made a movie based on his persona, which saw him as a "man piloting his intergalactic spaceship" powered by music - specifically his piano keyboard. In America, Sun Ra remains virtually unknown, but in Japan he developed a huge cult following. Now, this isn't much of a theory, but it could be a possible inspiration Kikiyama took for creating Masada.
By Skullketon
Personally, I think one of the most scarring tragedies that befell Madotsuki is that she possibly saw Masada die when she was a little girl. That explains why you must use the Midget effect to get into the crust of Mars: Madotsuki was much smaller when she saw the train wreck that may have took Masada's life, so she must re-create her smallness when reliving the memory. I also think Mars-san may have been someone who was with Mado when the accident occurred. Someone who Mado saw as threatening at the time, yet at the same time, kind. That's why Mars-san appears as a monster, yet cannot be killed with the knife effect.
By Will P
The Flute Player, as some people call him. He is the guy that plays the music in the room where you get the flute. Well that place that they're in is a doctor's office, as the Toriningen as the doc. Well the theory I came up with. Maybe when Madotsuki went to the doctors'. She was frightened of the place, so the her mother played the song the Flute Player sings. To calm Madotsuki down, since she can't express well through communication, she explains and communicates with music. And so, her parents got her music teacher, Seccom Masada.
By DeeJayCannibal
Madotsuki's Family
If you enter the right side of the tunnel in the white dessert (the one one the loop road) you find one long, strait path. At the end is a small tunnel/room that leads to nowhere. When you enter, you see 1 of 2 different severed heads flying around in the background (one male, one female both seemingly mid-aged.) But as soon as you exit, they disappear. These could symbolized Madotsuki's dead parents and her unwillingness to face/accept their deaths.(Of course this is all just speculation.)
By UnderTheStairs
When you go to the area where you get the Triangle Kerchief effect after interacting with the flowers, the area has three NPCs in it if you explore it a bit. The three NPCs are a man, a woman, and a girl with pig tails. I believe that this was a memory of Madotsuki's childhood and the man and woman are her parents. The girl with the pig tails is no doubt Madosuki as a child, if my theory is correct.
My second theory is when you end the game and there's the two jelly fish creatures standing by the blood puddle. I suspect that the jelly fish creatures are Madotsuki's parents, or maybe some dead friends (Monoe and Monoko?)
By Katie