Yume Nikki Interpretations?

[The KGB]

I like this game. I have ideas about what the imagery could represent, but I don't even know where to start.
I have a background in fine art, and since Yume Nikki was the project of one person, I think of it as more of an interactive painting rather than a game with an objective. If at all possible, I'd like to hear other players' impressions and hypotheses of Yume Nikki, whether it's about the themes of isolation and depression, or something else entirely. There are no right or wrong interpretations. I know it's a tall order, but I really just want to talk about the game as it is, hopefully without the thread turning into a cluster ♥♥♥♥.
So. What resonated with you guys?

[DeRockProject (jongyon7192p)]

I think the chair represents madotsuki's wish to run away from everything.

Really though, I could never think of a reason for all the aztec theme, other than that madotsuki is just interested in that kinda stuff.

[The KGB]

I can see that! I noticed that she can also spin on the chair like shes just fidgeting absently.
And Yeah the mezoamerican style motif is pretty prominent. It's definitely something madotsuki would be interested in, since typically a lot of first nations cultures have heavy traditions of dream quests and spiritual journeys.

[Seelen]

The main character is an avatar (window) of a person with a fracture personality. all the girls inside (except the tall girls who appear to be imagery of bullies) are part of the original mind.
Each one of them represent a part of the original mind and the multiple was caused by sexual abuse (this is when little)
Once the original mind grew up there came a point in which the mind fractured and then that person is in a fugue state and someone is talking to that person trying to help they recover.
The 'window' in this case is the part of the personality at the front most.

Given then ending, either the person committed suicide or gave up and went into full fugue coma state.

[The KGB]

Originally posted by Seelen:

The main character is an avatar (window) of a person with a fracture personality. all the girls inside (except the tall girls who appear to be imagery of bullies) are part of the original mind.
Each one of them represent a part of the original mind and the multiple was caused by sexual abuse (this is when little)
Once the original mind grew up there came a point in which the mind fractured and then that person is in a fugue state and someone is talking to that person trying to help they recover.
The 'window' in this case is the part of the personality at the front most.

Given then ending, either the person committed suicide or gave up and went into full fugue coma state.

I like this take - concise and educated! I definitely agree on the dissociative disfunction - most npc's have adverse reactions when the player interacts with them and nothing looks particularly inviting and friendly except for objects and structures.
As for the original trauma that would have caused such a major psychological fracturing - it is entirely possible that it was a sexual trauma since there seems to be reccurring imagery of tangled and distorted bodies, oversized predatory looking creatures like the kyu kyu thing and wierd amorphous fetus looking things. In my mind there is also a plausible scenario of violence perhaps from an accident (corpsesan) or assault (uboa) or straight up long term patterns of abuse (the bird girls that put you in an inexcapable room when they catch you).

[Cocyx The Gay Skeleton]

where did the sexual abuse theory originate? i hear it all the time and it's real bad to me

[Yggdrasil Burnes]

There is a lot of subtle sexual imagery in the game, like the vaginal-like creature hallway, plus the repeated themes of injury and isolation (Go to Mars with a shrink effect), and the overall hikikomori character of Madotsuki all point to some kind of trauma or conflict.

Not that it's clear what that'd be, though.

[Cocyx The Gay Skeleton]

Originally posted by Amergin:

There is a lot of subtle sexual imagery in the game, like the vaginal-like creature hallway, plus the repeated themes of injury and isolation (Go to Mars with a shrink effect), and the overall hikikomori character of Madotsuki all point to some kind of trauma or conflict.

Not that it's clear what that'd be, though.

all i really see is social anxiety and bullying but no real definitive sexual abuse stuff. i think people are just kind of copy and pasting silent hill 2's sexual theories into this game for some reason

[Grey Dragon]

Originally posted by Cocyx The Gay Skeleton:

all i really see is social anxiety and bullying but no real definitive sexual abuse stuff. i think people are just kind of copy and pasting silent hill 2's sexual theories into this game for some reason

In the number world, there is a secret area which is accessible by stabbing a zipper tile which looks different from the others. The contents of this secret area and the event you can trigger here are the main source of the sexual abuse theories, as well as the fact that you have to pass through a zipper to get there.

[The KGB]

Originally posted by Cocyx The Gay Skeleton:

where did the sexual abuse theory originate? i hear it all the time and it's real bad to me

Coming to specific conclusions about a work of speculative exploration in my experience says more about the viewer than the artist or the subject of the work.
I think people jump to the sexual abuse angle because that's the kind of culture we live in, sad as that is. I blame Sigmund Frued, but he's dead and it's honestly the fault of people who reinforce such antiquated formulas despite the passage of time.
I'm not dismissing the plausibility, I just would like people to elaborate on why they feel that way based on observable clues and be open to objective discussion. I think that's why the 'madotsuki was sexually abused end of story' bs is so annoying.

[The KGB]

Originally posted by Grey Dragon:

Originally posted by Cocyx The Gay Skeleton:

all i really see is social anxiety and bullying but no real definitive sexual abuse stuff. i think people are just kind of copy and pasting silent hill 2's sexual theories into this game for some reason

In the number world, there is a secret area which is accessible by stabbing a zipper tile which looks different from the others. The contents of this secret area and the event you can trigger here are the main source of the sexual abuse theories, as well as the fact that you have to pass through a zipper to get there.

Okay, now we're getting into asthetics which is what I was really excited to talk about!
Kikiyama could have chosen any media to get their expression out there, and they chose RPGmaker. This gives the work a more playful and abstract feel than more overtly dark and gruesome titles like Silent hill.
Silent hill's style is more 'realistic' (or naturalistic in its representations of tortured flesh and scenery) so as to envoke a really gutteral type of discomfort in the viewer. It's kind of like the Alien movies in the unsubtle way it bashes you over the head with grotesque rape themes.
Whereas Yume Nikki is intentionally abstract and colorful like a child's dream.
Now on to the even with the zipper door - it's not written in stone somewhere that zippers represent female openings. It could be a mouth with teeth, or literally just a zipper. Maybe a boy showed Madotsuki his nob at school one day and it just kind of wierded her out more than anything else? (TMI That happened to me a couple times) But I'm still on the fence because I think that if it were the artist's intention to convey genitalia they would have been more obvious. Kyuukyuu just looks like a monster more than a phallus.
And the even following doesn't make me think of rape specifically either. It put me under the impression of being yelled at suddenly by an 'adult' - one that you thought was cool with whatever until they suddenly got angry at something you're too young to understand?

[Cocyx The Gay Skeleton]

Originally posted by Grey Dragon:

Originally posted by Cocyx The Gay Skeleton:

all i really see is social anxiety and bullying but no real definitive sexual abuse stuff. i think people are just kind of copy and pasting silent hill 2's sexual theories into this game for some reason

In the number world, there is a secret area which is accessible by stabbing a zipper tile which looks different from the others. The contents of this secret area and the event you can trigger here are the main source of the sexual abuse theories, as well as the fact that you have to pass through a zipper to get there.

yah idk why people think that's about rape at all. i'm almost absolutely sure it's exclusively from people who played silent hill 2 (that games symbolism is much more clear cut and pronounced) and thought all games have this sort of logic

[The KGB]

Originally posted by Cocyx The Gay Skeleton:

Originally posted by Grey Dragon:

In the number world, there is a secret area which is accessible by stabbing a zipper tile which looks different from the others. The contents of this secret area and the event you can trigger here are the main source of the sexual abuse theories, as well as the fact that you have to pass through a zipper to get there.

yah idk why people think that's about rape at all. i'm almost absolutely sure it's exclusively from people who played silent hill 2 (that games symbolism is much more clear cut and pronounced) and thought all games have this sort of logic

^I forgot to take stuff like this into account.

[zombie sparkledog what!!!!]

Originally posted by The KGB:

Originally posted by Grey Dragon:

In the number world, there is a secret area which is accessible by stabbing a zipper tile which looks different from the others. The contents of this secret area and the event you can trigger here are the main source of the sexual abuse theories, as well as the fact that you have to pass through a zipper to get there.

Okay, now we're getting into asthetics which is what I was really excited to talk about!
Kikiyama could have chosen any media to get their expression out there, and they chose RPGmaker. This gives the work a more playful and abstract feel than more overtly dark and gruesome titles like Silent hill.
Silent hill's style is more 'realistic' (or naturalistic in its representations of tortured flesh and scenery) so as to envoke a really gutteral type of discomfort in the viewer. It's kind of like the Alien movies in the unsubtle way it bashes you over the head with grotesque rape themes.
Whereas Yume Nikki is intentionally abstract and colorful like a child's dream.
Now on to the even with the zipper door - it's not written in stone somewhere that zippers represent female openings. It could be a mouth with teeth, or literally just a zipper. Maybe a boy showed Madotsuki his nob at school one day and it just kind of wierded her out more than anything else? (TMI That happened to me a couple times) But I'm still on the fence because I think that if it were the artist's intention to convey genitalia they would have been more obvious. Kyuukyuu just looks like a monster more than a phallus.
And the even following doesn't make me think of rape specifically either. It put me under the impression of being yelled at suddenly by an 'adult' - one that you thought was cool with whatever until they suddenly got angry at something you're too young to understand?

I think the most common interpretation is that the zipper is a literal zipper, not female genatilia. The idea that a boy merely showed it off to her is oddly specific compared to the idea that it's nodding towards male sexuality as a whole.
Also I think kyukyu-kun is definitely phallic. If not for the fact that it's deliberately long, taking up most of the vertical screen length (of course it's not going to resemble a phallus that closely), then for the fact that its rubbing of the pole changes based on the effect equipped (speeding up with the Knife effect and slowing down with the Cat effect. And then the face that you see afterwards + forcing Madotsuki awake gives a clear sense that whatever that area represents isn't something that merely weirded her out, but disturbed, terrified and/or scarred her.
Definitely abstract, but the creator had to spend time putting it in there. And of course, as you say, it's all up to interpretation.

[zombie sparkledog what!!!!]

I don't think it's players jumping to conclusions based on what happens in other games, I think it's from a clear conveying of tone. I'd never heard of Silent Hil when I learned of these events and I got a definite sense that it was hinting strongly at something world-rocking in the context of the rest of the game, not just the main character being a little weirded out. The music that plays during FACE alone is enough. Of course, that's just me.

[Cocyx The Gay Skeleton]

Originally posted by Floof Waffles:

Originally posted by The KGB:

Okay, now we're getting into asthetics which is what I was really excited to talk about!
Kikiyama could have chosen any media to get their expression out there, and they chose RPGmaker. This gives the work a more playful and abstract feel than more overtly dark and gruesome titles like Silent hill.
Silent hill's style is more 'realistic' (or naturalistic in its representations of tortured flesh and scenery) so as to envoke a really gutteral type of discomfort in the viewer. It's kind of like the Alien movies in the unsubtle way it bashes you over the head with grotesque rape themes.
Whereas Yume Nikki is intentionally abstract and colorful like a child's dream.
Now on to the even with the zipper door - it's not written in stone somewhere that zippers represent female openings. It could be a mouth with teeth, or literally just a zipper. Maybe a boy showed Madotsuki his nob at school one day and it just kind of wierded her out more than anything else? (TMI That happened to me a couple times) But I'm still on the fence because I think that if it were the artist's intention to convey genitalia they would have been more obvious. Kyuukyuu just looks like a monster more than a phallus.
And the even following doesn't make me think of rape specifically either. It put me under the impression of being yelled at suddenly by an 'adult' - one that you thought was cool with whatever until they suddenly got angry at something you're too young to understand?

I think the most common interpretation is that the zipper is a literal zipper, not female genatilia. The idea that a boy merely showed it off to her is oddly specific compared to the idea that it's nodding towards male sexuality as a whole.
Also I think kyukyu-kun is definitely phallic. If not for the fact that it's deliberately long, taking up most of the vertical screen length (of course it's not going to resemble a phallus that closely), then for the fact that its rubbing of the pole changes based on the effect equipped (speeding up with the Knife effect and slowing down with the Cat effect. And then the face that you see afterwards + forcing Madotsuki awake gives a clear sense that whatever that area represents isn't something that merely weirded her out, but disturbed, terrified and/or scarred her.
Definitely abstract, but the creator had to spend time putting it in there. And of course, as you say, it's all up to interpretation.

i don't think its a zipper at all. you're just stabbing the face on the wall, really (he screams and everything). the most sexual thing about any of it is the fact that the thing is rubbing the pole, but even that's a stretch. i'm pretty sure the monster is just supposed to be creepy in general and the knife gets him scared and the cat makes him calm (a lot of other monsters react this way). the face event at the end is a total nonsequitur, but an awesome one.