This series of blogs is intended to document my journey as a new comer to the world of Visual Novels. Now that I have finished the first four routes, here is my take on what I think might be happening. Enjoy!

If this is your first time reading this series of blogs, be sure to start from day one: https://synian.wordpress.com/2012/12/25/ever-17-beauty-in-the-eyes-of-a-nonbeliever-day-1/

Day 4: Sara’s Route + Final Review

Note: This post contains spoilers

Time spent playing: about 10 hours

When I was playing You’s route, I was treating the whole thing as one big puzzle. I was taking notes, comparing timelines, making screen shots etc etc…. This was the way I started Sara’s route as well, but things soon changed.

I became deeply involved. Maybe it’s because my expectation has been lowered in the last few days, but I found Sara’s route to be immensely powerful. Part way through the route, I stopped taking notes and had to force myself just to jot down a few dialogues. nearly 40 hours after first meeting the Boy, I finally learnt who he really is and where he had come from.

The tragic past of the Kid and Sara also allowed me another glimpse into the world they are in, the world I’m in. With every route, the facade of LeMU has been removed a little. Now at the end, I stand staring into a sinister darkness. This is perhaps the one thing that later convinced me of my Leiblich conspiracy theory.

With that said, I never fully grasped the relationship between Sara and Coco. I remember the time when Coco mentioned how she dreamt of riding a space whale with the Kid. I also remember the time when Coco woke up and called Takeshi “Brother”, before saying mysteriously “That is the role we are playing as, right?”. What did she mean that’s the role they are playing? Is Coco aware that the whole thing is a setup? Now that I know Sara’s background, I can’t simply claim that Sara and Coco is the same person any more. Maybe they are twin sisters? Maybe they are the equivalent of each other from a parallel universe? Or the ghost of a former self? I don’t know, I am not sure…

I am not sure what the tone of the story is anymore. Is Ever 17 a Sci-Fi with time travel and worm hole, or a fantasy about a curse that imprisoned me in an infinite loop, or some crime fiction about large corporations experimenting on live human? Or all of the above?

I am confused, but I’ve not given up. Piecing everything together, I came up with a theory. For a start, I am going to assume that everything is a setup by Leiblich corporation. I can only base my deduction on everything being manmade, otherwise the story becomes open for fairy god mothers, aliens, or ancient artefacts to do their wonders; the possibility becomes endless. For the next thousand words, I will probably sound like a lunatic. This is especially so if i’m completely off, but for your amusement here goes my take on the truth.

To start things off, I believe the sinking of LeMU seem to have happened twice. Once 17 years ago, on 2017, and once now in 2034. The author obviously wanted to highlight the relationship between 17 and 34 hence the countdown Takeshi did before turning on the generator. In the first two routes, the generator was turned on when Takeshi counted to 17 and lights came on at 0. In the last two routes, the generator was turned on when Takeshi counted to 34 and lights came on at 17.

When the event happened in 2017, the player was playing as Takeshi. The You there was Yubiseiharukana Tanaka, who later became the “mother” of Youbiseiakikana Tanaka. This would explain why the timeline of the first two routes are consistent, while the timeline of the last two routes are different to the first two, while being consistent in themselves.

In 2034, the sinking is setup so that people involved still think it’s still 2017. Since only Tsugumi cannot die nor age, it is likely that apart from her, everyone else is a clone of their previous self. Takeshi may be another exception. Because Tsugumi kissed Takeshi while her lips was bleeding. In one route, Takeshi even nibbled on Tsugumi’s bleeding finger. If Chami who drank Tsugumi’s blood could not die, then it is then reasonable to assume the same thing could happened to Takeshi.

Then a thought hit me. They tried to create antibody from Tsugumi’s blood didn’t they? What if they all got Cure? What if there weren’t any cloning going on apart from You? The difference is that everyone else was infected with TB before they were infected with Cure, while Tsugumi was infected with Cure first. Could this explain why Tsugumi’s the only one who remembers what happened in 2017? Is this why that everyone seem to only intuitively have some knowledge about what happened 17 years ago. but Tsugumi’s the only one with explicit knowledge?

Additionally, since it’s a set up, it also explains why when things happen, for example, Takeshi was punched by Myumyun, or when the Kid faints, all the other visitors do is look. They may well just be RSD images that doesn’t really exist.

The behavior of Sora also seem inlilne with my theory. In the first two routes, Sora was able to factor chance into her judgement. She knew it was impossible for Tsugumi to be a man, possible for Tsugumi to be over 20 and unlkely Takeshi had a sex change 3 years ago. This is very different to the Sora of the last two routes who quickly accepted that Takeshi had turned into a frozen fish. Maybe whoever programmed Sora decided that for her to be too human like, with the ability to fall in love, so they made her much more computer like.

Furthermore, the Sora in the last two routes actually had a physical body on the floating island. It was mentioned in all four routes that for Sora to exist only while people can see her was considered a flaw. So the presence of a body seem to imply advancement in technology.

Maybe this whole thing was never about the Kid, or Takeshi, or anyone else? Is it possible that the whole thing is really just about the player? and the third eye? The third eye was never about some magical power that brings you wisdom which transcends reality. The third eye is only about being able to see the truth, being able to look at things from different perspectives and know what goes on in every perspective. I recall at the end of You’s route, there was a brief exclamation from a man in sunglasses “Blickwinkel is here!” Blickwinkel is german for “perspective” or “point of view”. Maybe they were talking about the player? You’s mother had an incredible interest in the third eye. If You’s mother is really Yubiseiharukana then maybe everything is just an experiment.

If that was the case, then that would explain why the Kid felt a sense of familiarity with Takeshi. After all, Takeshi was once “me” and the Kid is now “me”. It would also help explaining why the Kid constantly state that there seem to be someone else who is controlling him, making decisions for him. That person is the player.

There are also things I noticed which I could not fit into my theory though. For example when Sora asked Coco if it’s the first time she’ve been to LeMU, Coco answers, I’ve been here “one…two..three…four…five…. this is my first time!”. Is this a coincidence? or is Coco implying that she’ve been to every single route?

Coco’s carved pictures on the fourth statue from the left during the first route, first statue from the left during the second route, and third statue from the left during the last two routes she carved on the. I expected Coco to be carving on the one left out during the last route, but she didn’t.

I can probably write and write without end, proposing speculations one after another. In fact, I am quite certain half of what I wrote are completely off. But the Third Eye is opening, and Coco is waiting to be found. I am going to take a few days break first, reorganize my notes and thoughts. Maybe I will even replay parts of the first four routes, especially Tsugumi’s, since I didn’t pay much attention when I first played it. Then next week, I will dive into the grand finale.

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For Day 7′s post click here