[Major Spoilers] A Personal PostGame Re-introduction to Summer Pockets <Speculation zone>

[KrowSea (黑白羽未)]

Firstly, a warm welcome my fellow Key compatriots in our journey through Hairi's summer experience. I must first warn that if you have not completed the true route aka ALKA and Pocket and also formed some conjectures towards the game's plot holes, you should really not be here. Unless of course, you want to ruin your Key experience by having me force feed you information that would be much more enjoyable piecing by yourself.

I guess you can dwell past the first few lines if you truly felt that the Pocket Route was completely unsatisfactory as there is also a theory for that which I will of course provide some objectionable evidence to.








>>>>The point of no return<<<<<








Okay, now another welcome is in order for my fellow Key compatriots in our journey through Hairi's Umi's summer experience. I hoped you enjoyed that one very long summer vacation as much as I did. Now, I have stated most of my insights that I have relative confidence in being right (like around 50-90% for each reference) in a separate thread which I am too lazy to rewrite so I will just post the link below:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/897220/discussions/0/1747896717437082443/



Now this thread will be for the purpose of:
1.Sharing some references of Summer Pocket characters to other Key series (You can add more as I never really did play Little Busters, Rewrite, Harmonia and Planetarium). Keep in mind that even if there are various similarities that may look like a rip-off, each character in Summer Pockets is an original character on their own that may have been inspired from the best traits of other characters.

2. Explaining of some obvious extra details that you may have already picked up. Explaining of some inconspicuous details that you may never have ever picked up due to there only being subtle nudges, and are highly likely to be just overthinking things. I may also put some highly disputable stuff that is only some random theory I thought of.


I may add some stuff occasionally if I get some revelations which I still do get everyday, so do take note there may be edits from time to time. And of course feel free to debunk my theories since they are really just opinions I get from the silent story that is being told in the background with many implications which I may have not picked up. Now diving in....

1. Sharing references of Summer Pocket characters to other Key series

Okay, seriously speaking. Who here doesn't think this is actually like a version of Angel Beats After Story? With this over here, I don't know if they even plan on ever fully releasing the whole Angel Beats VN anymore. Well I will just hide them behind spoiler text if anyone doesn't really want to see them.

1.1. Hairi > Otonashi Yuzuru (Post Episode 13 of Angel Beats costume, looks and pose with Kanade + seriousness and heroic actions) and Tomoya (relation with Nagisa and Ushio)

1.2. Shiroha > Kanade (Post Episode 13 of Angel Beats costume, looks and pose with Yuzuru + detachedness/withdrawness) and Nagisa (kindness+humming songs and relation with Ushio)

1.3. Umi > Ushio (Relationship with Nagisa and Tomoya + looks), Yui (Hair + Uniform?), Yuri (Uniform + Beret + background of death as a ~10 y.o. child due to family trauma), Ayu from Kanon (Random disappearance, wing backpack? and slight regression) and Misuzu from Air (my favorite character whose theme was seagull/crow wings and how she tries to heal the protag while being injured herself, and dies at the end after a period of infant regression)

I have my ideas on the rest as well, but I think that some one else may have better opinions considering they played Little Busters, Rewrite and the other side series (at least in my opinion). Now onto part 2!

2. Explaining of some obvious/inconspicuous extra details that you may have already picked up and some theories(in some relative order of the VN)
2.1 Heja Pu (Yes, it is a deja vu to the player and perhaps Umi considering Hairi redoes his summer each time)
2.2 Bath and Bed (I would say that either Umi was avoiding Hairi while taking care of Hairi by setting the bath and bed or she was just learning to cook fried rice from Shiroha [from the extra stories linked in another thread thanks to wetzucchini])
2.3 Shiroha in pool (Already seen herself drowning aka Tragedy which you do not see in Pocket, I feel dosukoi may be a short form of 'Do Hentai, Shistukoi!' haha) <that is a purpose typo btw
2.4 Ao Sleeping by tree (Has still been searching for Ai which you do not see in Pocket)
2.5 Tsumugyu (Still finding herself and her purpose in life which was probably to be by Hairi's side in her end, and to be by each others' side in Pocket thus Tsumugi herself returns as well and may be an additional heroine in Pocket. Maybe she returned to Hairi as a talking teddy bear? Ruins end though imho)
2.6 Kamome (Alone by herself as she has already 'partially spirited away' in her sleep and cannot be seen by her mother which you see both in Pocket. Or is it?)
2.7 Kyouko (Introduces Umi as a second cousin but actually knows Umi is Hairi's daughter from Hitomi, though I reasoned it out before reading already but it is also written on the extra stories as well)
2.8 The order which you meet the heroines is also the same as in the Opening Movie, which may be Key subtly telling you to try playing that way to get Umi's POV (though I feel Kamome's route is way harder to digest and accept compared Tsumugi's, so i prefer Shiroha>Ao>Kamome>Tsumugi)
2.9 Opening Movie (Works perfectly to settle the player in, but do you realise the footsteps that disappear every summer by the sea(Umi), the key banner with the relative theme of Umi's at the bottom right and how some scenes were only seen by you and not Hairi like Tsumugyu+Tsumugi reflection, the multiple photos across each summer etc. Not to mention the title of the song. The only inconsistency with this is that there is an Umi inside which I assume is either Onii-chan or ALKA Umi, so is this VN a story made for Hairi or Umi really?)
2.10 Fried Rice (Umi's fried rice degrades over time due to her regression as seen from the butterfly losing its light in the storybook in ALKA, you can no longer get superb fried rice as Islamon Bait once you complete 2 heroine routes for the same reason)
2.11 Dad pass the Soy Sauce (This can be just a plot inconsistency, but Umi repeats the sentence in all heroine route except in Onii-chan mode and ALKA. This may be her testing to see if Hairi has his memory each run and her regressing thus forgetting to ask later)
2.12 Ingredient Gathering (Umi has a looooot of rice as she practises to make fried rice with Shiroha for Hairi as seen in extra stories)
2.12 Umi's panties (Obtained from Shrine by only donating, quite effective in catching most of the 4 sacred beasts and based on the extra story of Kobato)
2.13 Shiroha's ability to cook fried rice/cook in general (learnt some from her father then I would assume the rest is self taught along with fried rice recipe in Pocket)
2.14 Fishing (Shiroha did not inherit Hitomi's fishing skills, but Umi sure did inherit Hairi's and is even better than him in ALKA)
2.15 Gulls discussion (Shiroha talks about the injured birds only meeting because they are injured, referring to themselves but may also apply to any other heroine TBH)
2.16 Shiroha's withdrawness (obviously due to the curse, and this is across all the heroine routes you interact with her which is only explained in detail in Pocket)
2.17 Hairi's POV (Shiroha's power was meant to fight the curse and isn't the curse itself, which he may have doubted himself when Shiroha and Umi dies in ALKA. However, Umi and Hitomi proves the point in Pocket)
2.18 Kobato's view on the family (Wife passed away (potential spirited away), daughter spirited away, son in law dies and thus everyone related to the Naruse experiences tragedy but refuses to believe in the curse as that is what prevents him from breaking down like Hairi until Umi dies in ALKA)
2.19 Underwater Sumo (Umi could be seen shouting to Hairi here underwater in ALKA, showing that might be part of her powers. Hairi also overcomes his first trauma of water, which may also be the implication that he broke out of his initial fate as well as a wounded gull)
2.20 Little girl's interactions with Hairi (cold at first and warms up eventually, with mother who recently passed away, later goes onto the portable shrine in sea and ends up in the water...this is a direct reflection of Umi's scenario if you haven't picked up yet)
2.21 Underwater Voice (Weavers of time may reference the Fate Sisters who predetermines the fate of people, thus they are telling Shiroha/Hairi/Umi/Hitomi/the player that resisting is pointless as Shiroha will still die in the end and that is when giving birth)
2.22 Photograph (The only memory Umi brings with her as seen in ALKA, this brings me to wonder if there is more than one photograph considering the route is replayed. Or was this a paradox of reentering the same timeline in the same plane with a single/two photographs?)
2.23 Ao is sleeping everywhere (This is something like narcolepsy where she can't choose where to stay awake, but mainly due to her detoxing memories of the dead and this increases throughout summer as her brain is unable to take anymore memories which is fixed earlier in Pocket)
2.24 Ao's perverted dreams and behaviour (Ao may naturally be ditzy and perhaps perverse, but this can be largely due to the influence of the butterflies she take in being mostly perverted regrets, like finding magazines in ALKA lol)
2.25 Inari (Ao's companion, go read her extra story for more details on why she likes Ao. Yes she)
2.26 Hairi's butterfly on Ao August 9/17 (Presumably thought to be the 1st summer Hairi's regrets on letting both Umi and Shiroha die due to the curse. Shows his shaken faith in their powers to help them have a happy ending. He guides Hairi off the cliff but is stopped by Ao, but does this mean 1st summer Hairi jumped off the cliff as well?)
2.27 Butterfly in the storehouse (Ao says that it is just a random species due to it being slightly different and losing light, but could it possibly be Hitomi who talks to Kyouko? This may be why Kyouko hangs out in the storehouse so often and also her extra story tells her relation to Hitomi quite clearly)
2.28 Ao's role (To guide the spirit butterflies to the tree where the flowers will wither at the end of summer. Thus, can be seen as returning to the origin where the flower dies and becomes nutrients for the tree. Gives the concept of butterflies being memories of either the dead, comatose or inanimate)
2.29 Ai's appearance (Ao only seen Ai's butterfly once when she was helped by Little Ai, so maybe you could only remain partially spirited away for 1 summer and completely spirited away for the rest until they remember that summer. Thus Hairi could still see her as he hasn't seen her memories yet? Slightly contradicts Tsumugyu's POV as Tsumugyu could be seen again in her non-teddy bear body meaning the butterfly is still in effect. But she of course can return because she is still 'alive' like Ai and perhaps original Tsumugi and not dead like 1st summer's Hairi and Shiroha who gave birth to Umi)
2.30 Ao's awakening end (So she finally wakes up after detoxing all the memories, but Umi/Nanami will fix this problem so that she doesn't need to sleep on dates after Pocket if Hairi decides to go out with her again. Or was it all just a dream?)
2.31 Kamome's suitcase (Something her father used to travel around the world, which signifies her wish of being unchained by her illness and to sail around the world as well. Can be also seen in the extra stories. Wait, why is there noises from the suitcase?)
2.32 Kamome's adventure and keys (was needlessly complicated and partially illusory as it closely relates to the storybook and by each character's personality. This was crafted by her and her mom who is hot like Kyouko, just saying. I mean the heroines are great haha)
2.33 Kamome knowing Hairi's name from the start (Kamome replied to most of her fan letters including Hairi's so she may have known it is him)
2.34 Kamome's ship and storybook (represents her desire to be free from her disease and explore the world just like her father, which is interestingly found hidden in her father's suitcase)
2.35 Kamome's disappearance (would represent how Hairi has not found her true self that exists on the island which I would assume is the storybook, like remember how Tsumugyu can be a representation of Tsumugi? The storybook may have been the representation of Kamome considering how she doesn't remember that she was the one who set everything. And most of the memories of the adventures were children were written in her and not actualized by Kamome yet. That is why Hairi keeps having recollections of being there before)
2.36 Kamome and Mom ... and? (Kamome's Pocket end has the suitcase still so I assume the storybook is inside as well, all is well)
2.37 Hairi's penpals (which Hairi does bring to the island through sending them invitations. Strangely resembles the characters in the storybook but Key magic it is)
2.38 Hairi sailing out (sound rather far fetched, and something written into a children storybook where the hero meets the sleeping princess. Yes the storybook may have chose to write this ending, but of course Key magic can make Hairi sail to Finland as well so ships ahoy!)
2.39 Tsumugyu's humming (vague recollection of Tsumugi's song from the past which may indicate she is not Tsumugi)
2.40 Tsumugyu and Oppai's starting relationship (it is mentioned in the extra stories, go read it from there)
2.41 The golden goddess of the lighthouse (represent Tsumugyu imitating Tsumugi in front of each of her friends probably in one summer per person that is why she is like a goddess who appears and disappears afterwards. Grandma Kouto may have known that Tsumugyu was a teddy bear that is why she could 'talk' to her again. Maybe it was hinted by either Hitomi or Shiroha's grandmother)
2.42 Tsumugi's disappearance (being unable to choose between her love or her friends, does this not sound familiar to Tsumugyu's situation between choosing Tsumugi or Hairi which Tsumugi tells her to go to Hairi in the end? In the pocket end, Umi/Nanami somehow makes Tsumugi accept herself as well so she appears with Tsumugyu)
2.43 Tsumugyu's ditzyness (Tsumugyu lacks some common sense and is fluffy because she is a teddy bear, mugyuu~!(sound which a squeaky teddy bear with air makes when squished))
2.44 Tsumugyu's favorite food (Ao's favorite food is just similar to her hair and Shiroha's is watermelon pops. Tsumugyu eats the flesh of other toys, cotton candy! What do books eat I wonder....knowledge or worms?)
2.45 Tsumugyu's obsession on prangles (IDK, maybe she just likes the dandy man with a moustache and prangle cans are pretty awesome tbh. Makes wonderful candle holder/molds indeed)
2.46 Tsumugyu's desire to find herself (Correlates to the likelihood she would not spirit away like Tsumugi. Plus she has been acting as Tsumugi for so long, she has no desires for herself)
2.47 Tsumugyu's stuffed toys (May be Tsumugi's other friends, but Tsumugyu sold them out to buy 2 friends for herself. Well I guess it is better than for cotton consumption)
2.48 Celebrating days with Tsumugyu (Tsumugyu only has 1 summer to live her life and find who she is and where she wishes to belong, though 5 repetitions of every event in a year is highly unlikely in the last 7 days, not to mention 70 years. Well it is Key magic!)
2.49 Tsumugyu's wet clothes (What dirty thing are you thinking of! They are 100% cotton!)
2.50 Tsumugyu's continuous affirmation of love (Ao and Shiroha's are more direct, Hairi loves to read storybooks, but Tsumugyu wants to know if she is loved by Hairi like Tsumugi likes her. This is sort of to tell whether she should stay or completely spirit away. DarkWing!)

So these are some of the reference you may pick up in your future playthroughs. There are probably more that I have missed, including those subtle references to other anime series which I cannot be bothered to point out. Maybe I will add more things along with Umi, Hairi and Hitomi POV as well. Try and read the extra stories that was linked by wetzucchini and I hope you enjoyed some of my interpretations of the story.

I hope I didn't break everyone's dreams that there was never any parting ends. I am just a mere seeker of the truth or a just an over speculator.

[KrowSea (黑白羽未)]

I will just write this extra bit on what I believe Jun Maeda's idea on creating Summer Pockets was (he did say he had one). To be honest, you may not be able to enjoy Summer Pockets as well as me if you haven't played/watched previous Key games/animes. Now let us look at it from his perspective:

1. Every protagonist and main heroine is a son/daughter to an author (this holds true to most book authors I would assume, the amount of thoughts placed into character development attaches you to them)

2. A story that can untie past knots (Key has a very good reputation as a tragedy/parting styled VN storyteller with deep themes, but this also means they have a notorious track record of abusing almost all of their heroines and particularly their main heroines)

3.This brings me to the point of how much love Jun Maeda may have given to Umi. Like if every main heroine like Misuzu, Ayu, Nagisa, Ushio, Yuri, Kanade, Nao, Shiroha and Umi were to be each Jun Maeda's daughters, Umi would be the youngest and the most treasured in my opinion as well as redemption towards past heroines (By giving Umi a happy ending is like redeeming the summer with Misuzu in Air, the winter with Ayu in Kanon, the spring with Ushio in Clannad and the family who could never have been saved with Yuri in Angel Beats due to her having their traits) <<Makes you question if this qualifies as family abuse, subjecting most of your daughters to tragedy routes>>

So where is Autumn you ask? How about Kotomi with her accepting her teddy bear in Clannad. Umi looks like Yui but doesn't have her scenario of being sickly and unable to play? Look at Kamome then.

4. Of course, this is a story that has to be made to be enjoyed by people who has never played Key's previous works before. Therefore, the story has been layered to be Hairi (your regular VN players who just want simple happy heroine ends), Umi (your avid Key fan who understands the references to each heroine in the series placed subtly) and Hitomi (the standard narrator or hidden hand behind the scenes like the voice in Clannad, the 'god' in Angel Beats and the brother of Yuu in Charlotte who dives back in time).

Personally I feel that Kyouko and Shiroha also may fit in this 'Protagonist/Hidden Hand' category, but these 3 are the most obvious ones. Umi serves as a clear protagonist which acts like a hidden hand that I believe you actually play as, this is due to the Naruse powers that allow them to travel back into time like how you the player resets the game each route. Like you can really imagine yourself playing as Umi from her birth to the first summer she met Shiroha, the subsequent summers with other heroines and the last summer where she saves all the side heroines and Shiroha before becoming the rainbow plane.

The opening movie also named 'ALKA Tale' seemed to imply this story was more focused on Umi throughout the game than Hairi in the very first place. And the side stories show how Umi actually learns to fry rice from Shiroha which I assume she repeats every summer besides stalking Hairi as you the player to meet other heroines.

5. Abusing of side heroines to add more extra depth like foster daughters (another thing Key is pretty famous for). But this time also providing proper resolutions to their arcs with a post game happy end that you will never see or maybe that is the theme of reflection Blue. (In pocket, Umi would resolve all the heroines traumas as previously stated so that you as Hairi can go back to the island to be with Heroines that no longer have traumas once you jump off the boat. That is the point you get to choose which heroine you want to be with after that summer, not Shiroha as per say. But for Umi to be truly happy and perhaps be reborn but not as this version's Umi, Hairi has to choose Shiroha)

6. Of course to appeal to non-tragedy Key fans/ new Key players, they layered this as well so that you can actually get 'happy' endings from all side heroine routes. With the hints actually pointing to Tsumugi being the most obvious as a teddy bear, Kamome as the storybook in the luggage with the real one in coma elsewhere and Ao is in an eternal dream that is assumed to have awoken. If you do not read too deeply, you get happy endings and parting endings if you form such conjectures. I mean there has to be a reason why Jun Maeda structured the VN like this, do not just say, "What you are saying is just conjectures, it may not have meant that way." But then why would he have wanted the story to be written in that way to begin with? Of course I could just be overthinking things as well so.

7. Jun Maeda probably notices the lack of breadth (aka variety or side character/heroine development) in the story so there are the extra stories to give insight on what the heroines do in school or how they interacted with each other and side characters written on their website just for this purpose.

8. Lastly, I am sure Jun Maeda realised that we have been waiting for a proper full blown Angel Beats VN which he may have difficulty delivering. So, he may at least he threw a happy? after story to Otonashi, Kanade and Yuri in the form of Summer Pockets. Well, at least that is what i think he did.


I can completely understand if you are confused or doubt whatever I say, really. Normal people are not used to having layered sentences so often. I mean take for example the sentence I put in before:

2.49 Tsumugyu's wet clothes (What dirty thing are you thinking of! They are 100% cotton!)

Most people would think like Hairi: Duh, the clothes are cotton and thus see through. Why do you even bother telling me this?

Some people would think like Ao: So, uh the undergarments are cotton? Ehehe~

Then you have Jun Maeda and those who sees the whole story like Umi: Yeah, Tsumugi is actually a teddy bear. So it is indeed completely cotton, why isn't she wet as well as a stuffed toy?

So is Hairi, Ao or Umi wrong? Technically no, as their opinions does not contradict the statement. But, are they actually seeing the same thing? Now let us change from this scenario to the entire VN, the whole thing is all layered from the moment you were on the boat as a Heja Pu. And there is different degrees of layering where you may pick some up and some you don't.

This will affect how you will see Pocket as an ending, Pocket was never meant for Hairi players since Hairi never regresses back in time nor plays any major role in Pocket to start with and they all already have the idea that the heroines are 'happy' in their routes.

[Yuichi]

Thanks for posting this man. I have been looking for info about the weaver of time and if Kyouko got some sort of mystical abilities myself. I thought I missed something while playing the game. Good thing I decided to check out here. This looks like it took quite the effort to build up. Keep up the good work man .

[Tamamo-no-Bae]

Really good read, I just finished the VN. Thanks for posting this ^^