2012-02-08, 00:00 | Link #41 | |
Eternal Silence
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Spoiler for My crackpot theory:
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2012-02-08, 01:57 | Link #42 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
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2012-02-08, 02:17 | Link #43 | ||
Eternal Silence
Join Date: Jul 2011
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2012-02-08, 10:02 | Link #44 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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Bear further in mind that she doesn't actually suggest that the "another" is the one who alters memories. It's just that, somehow, no one seems to remember when the extra appeared. It's as though it's always been there. In other words, it would feel more as though one plane of existence had suddenly shifted into another, to use a multiverse scenario. |
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2012-02-08, 17:18 | Link #45 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Somewhat blunt idea, but...
What if this curse kills people and alters their memory only to prevent the dead one from remembering that he/she is actually... well, dead? Doubt that something like that is actually there, but this at least is partly ironic. And has some bittersweet vibes aswell. |
2012-02-08, 20:30 | Link #46 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Let's give class 3-3 a hand. How would you go about finding out who's the dead one?
Personal memories and school records have been altered to make it look like the another has always been there, and the effect may even be more widespread than that. In addition, even the another's memories have been altered and they think they're still alive also. I think I would start by checking into the students' homes. Start with the ones that are said to be "living alone." If that comes up empty, then move on to the rest. |
2012-02-08, 21:53 | Link #47 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere at Earth
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2012-02-08, 22:01 | Link #48 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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It's more than likely that the "extra" would be living with family just as normally as everyone else. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be able to go through each day thinking it was still alive and "normal". The family members are either going to be just as oblivious to the extra's supernatural existence as everyone else, or are possibly just as dead. For example, if the curse isn't exorcised by the end of the year, Sakuragi could reappear in future classes, along with her mother, outside of school. Both of them wouldn't be aware that they are dead. For them, it would be as though they are living in the year that everyone else knows they've lost. Again, to use my multiverse analogy, it would be as though Sakuragi and her mother's alternate reality got spliced into the time-space that everyone else exists in. (Think of the resultant deaths as the conservation of energy in this time-space.) That being the case, I think it would be next to impossible to find out where the alterations occurred. It would require some extraordinary ability to deny one's physical senses, to completely ignore what one's brain thinks it perceives to spot the blurred boundaries between two different realities. (Maybe this is how Misaki's doll's eye would come into play.) The key then would be find out why the dead keep coming back, rather than to find out who the "extra" is. It started with the original invitation, the initial denial by the Class of '72. How would you undo that invitation, to uninvite the dead? |
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2012-02-08, 23:53 | Link #49 | |
Waiting for more taiyuki!
Join Date: Jan 2004
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2012-02-09, 00:15 | Link #50 |
Komrades of Kitamura Kou
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 39
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Anyway let's round up what we know for sure based on episode 5:
1. Mei is a real living person. 2. Sakakibara was supposed to follow the class rules and ignore Mei, he fucks it up. 3. A change in headcount is the assigned cause of the curse, and no one remembers who the new person is. 4. It's inherently tied to the students and not some physical room or something like that. Mei seems to suggest that one of them in the class now is either an immortal or a continuous reincarnation of previous students, thereby causing the class to always have 1 more student. When you consider point 4, it makes a bit of sense that if the curse is not limited to a physical place, then it exists as being tied to a factor shared by people that gives them a "Class 3 Quality." So as it stands, I'm inclined to think that the binding factor in the curse is that there is this "quality" that inherently makes you a Class 3 student. This quality is what ties them all to death and causes the curse to manifest. The one thing I wanted Mei to answer is why she was ostracized. If headcount is the source, and Sakakibara is the one that caused the excess, then I can only think of 2 logical reasons that Mei is ostracized: 1. Because Sakakibara will definitely be acknowledged, someone took the bullet and gets ignored for all their sakes. Mei was chosen for some reason. 2. Mei is involved in the curse further back, and has been ignored for a long time. __________________
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2012-02-09, 02:46 | Link #55 |
Seishu's Ace
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kobe, Japan
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To quibble with TRL, I don't think we know Mei is a "real, living" person. We know she's corporeal, and that the other students can see her but choose to pretend they can't. But if everyone's memories are altered, I see nothing precluding the possibility that Mei (or whoever is the designated "dead" person every year) could actually be the "another".
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2012-02-09, 03:19 | Link #56 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
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And as I said before, the actions of class 3-3 of '72 created a "space" for a student who should not have been there. For the dead to use this "space" they have to be a student. If the dead one was a teacher or staff, the curse should affect the whole school, not just a single class. |
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2012-02-09, 03:28 | Link #57 |
The Voice of Reason
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 47
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It seems people are overlooking some details:
1. In episode 5, Kou receives a note from Mochizuki (the art club kid), telling him to ask Mei for more details. Why has no one questioned this act yet? If merely speaking her name causes people to die, why hasn't any concern being raised over Mochizuki yet? It's possible that he will die next episode, but the mere fact that this doesn't seem to bother anyone seems odd to me. This looks to me like all the deaths so far are purely coincidental, and that Mei's story is either a lie, or a figure of speech. 2. A bit later, when Kou goes to visit her, Mei says that her silent treatment didn't start at the start of the school season, but since May 1st, a few days after the death of her cousin. That looks quite significant to me, but I don't see anyone here taking note of that. I think that, as well as the resemblance of her name to the Miskai of '72, is the reason why they're shunning her.
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2012-02-09, 05:45 | Link #58 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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2012-02-09, 06:02 | Link #59 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
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My two cents for now:
It's possible that Mei's cousin's death was caused by the curse. Remember the curse extends to relatives as well. That may be why Mei was selected to be ignored. My money is currently on that the protag is the "Another". Remember the countermeasures girl's comment that she seemed to have seen him somewhere before and how she tried to ascertain whether he had lived here before? He probably died in episode 1 and their memories all got altered. |
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