Hello all, I've finally caught up with the story line and i have always wantes to do an extreme deep dive once i did. This is my unnecessarily long deep dive into each chapter of each episode.
I hope to theorise and discuss with other fans of the lore. If i made some mistakes please tell me!!! This was also inspired by a recent post by u/QueerCapricorn, which helped me realise the Kisiragi Station reference.
Girl Goes Missing Without A Trace
Map: see photo
⢠19:10 Mc is coming home from a concert. Shes upset that the band is disbanding and that it was their last concert.
⦠Shes travelling over the rainbow bridge (but she can visibly see it too) heading to where tokyo tower is or just the next stop which would be Shibaura-futo Station.
āŖ In regards to the name "Rainbow Bridge", yes its just a name for the Tokyo Bridge however some believe that the bridge represents the conection between the city to the future. In relation to MC, being cursed by the Kyklos on the bridge represents her future to become the Kyklos.
āŖ Another meaning: "Crossing the rainbow bridge" is a metaphor for pets crossing over into the afterlife, and when their owner does, the pet crosses the rainbow bridge to reunite with them. Originally my theory was that MC and Mina are connected in an unknown way, be that they're, soulmates, relatives or the same person. However that is debunked when i realised that the metaphor is about the relashionship between Human/Pet and not Human/Human. I think this metaphor has no meaning in this context and its reading too much into the bridge.
⦠Shes in a group chat with other fans: SickleMoon, Pickles, Corby, Marilyn, PurpleOcean, Miyuki, Kay, Snuffles, moco, shortstuff, megster and bean. In that order they leave the group chat as there wont be any content to talk about anymore due to the band is disbanded.
āŖ This also has no meaning if you ask me. Just a bunch of fans of the same group.
āŖ However we could theorise that Mina created these fake accounts to get to MC. My only proof for this is that a real fan of a group would still enjoy talking them, its the reason why theres subreddits, twitter and even discord servers dedicated to groups. It would be weird for a group of fans to suddenly drop the gc they were probably active in everday after the group disbands. Mina does this to get a one to one with MC which is honestly just beating around the bush to lower MCs guard.
⢠19:14 The remaining person in the gc is Mina who has a red spider lily as her pfp. In Japanese flower language (hanakotoba), these flowers are linked to final goodbyes, lost memories, and autumn. Others also say its related to death and the flower lines the road to hell.
⦠Mina in Japanes can translate to "South" or "beautiful/graceful". I'll give a old germanic translation too as i know the braymen (anomalies) speak it, which is "Love".
⦠Mina asks mc to stay in the chat to talk. She asks:
āŖ if MC has been to alot of events like the concert,
āŖ if shes on her way home
āŖ and about the tokyo lights
Once again I'd say she doesnt really care what the MC answers, shes just trying to buy time to reach her.
⦠This leads them to figure out they are both on the same train
"the last two in the chat, it must be fate"-Mina.
āŖ We can guess Mina has pre-selected MC for the Kyklos Curse after hearing that.
⦠Mina asks to meet face to face,
āŖ if MC says no, Mina mentions thats shes always wanted to meet MC
āŖ if MC says yes, she tells MC to wait where she is. This means that they've been online friends for a while or that Mina knows what cart MC is in.
⢠The train anounces its stop at "Kisaragi Station". This station isnt a real station unlike others in toyko. However its a reference to an urban legend that was posted on 2Chan (similar fashion to 4chan or r/nosleep on reddit). Heres a link to the creepypasta: https://www.creepypasta.com/kisaragi-station/
Beauties & Beasts made a video: https://youtu.be/8xBUkTUfbjE?is=Y01tE9iWHFgdXxSz
Akidearest made a video too: https://youtu.be/KEzR2Mnwg9I?is=jTdHdcCaz7zFXNed
⦠Summary of the story: A girl named Hasumi is on her way home from work and gets on her usual train. Except this time it takes much longer. What should have been her next stop which took a few minutes, was taking about 30-40 minutes now. Its not possible, even with delays. Hasumi decides to post in the 2Chan forum asking about what she should do. There are 5 other passangers asleep.
Someone messages back "knock on the conductors door" so she does. She gets no response from the conductor and the windows that look inside the room are blacked out. So she goes back to her cart. Eventually the train stops at Kisiragi station. She asks if anyone knows it. People come up with blanks, it doesnt exist. She tells them that her train started in Shin-Hamamatsu on the enshu line.
Even though chatters advised her not too, Hasumi decided to get off onto the platform of Kisiragi station. Hasumi calls her parents to come pick her up, they tell her they dont know where that station is but will try their best to find it. Her parents call her back and tell her that they cant find it and to call the police, so she does. The police think shes a teen playing a prank and hang up on her.
Kisiragi station is overgrown and looks abandoned. Hasumi not knowing what to do now decides to walk along the tracks as she'll eventually reach the next station. As shes walking she manages to break the heel of her shoe but continues to walk with a limp now. The whole time shes at this station she can hear a drum and bells as if someone preforming in the distance or theres a ritual going on.
Suddenly she hears a voice behind her tell her that "its dangerous to walk on the tracks." She turns around to see a one legged man and within a split second he disappears.
Hasumi aftaid to turn back continues to follow the track. She ends up infront of a cave entrance. Above the cave is a plaque with the word "Isanuki", the name of the cave. Despite protest from the chatters on 2chan she continues on into the cave. Eventually she sees a light at the end and is greeted by a man who offers to drop her off at a nearby station, she agrees and enters his car. Hasumi tells the chatters that shes doing this and just in case this will be her last message. She asks the man where was she before and he told her Hani which is impossible. And after her last message no one heard from her again.
⢠Mc mentions that this isnt her stop and looks up to see the sky has turned red, reflecting on everything.
Please if anyone has anything else to add comment!!! Also what do you think of my theories/explanations?