Community Visual Novel Book Club - Wonderful Everyday Down the Rabbit-Hole

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Welcome to the 17th MetaCouncil visual novel book club!

This is an impromptu bookclub organized by Wibblewozzer, Knurek, Mutant Strawberry, and myself, in order to read Wonderful Everyday Down the Rabbit-Hole, also known as Subahibi. Anyone else interesting in reading Subahibi is course all welcome to join as well. However, reader discretion is advised, as there is no all-ages version of Subahibi and the game contains both sexually explicit content in addition to very disturbing content. Because of that, I also ask that you take care to keep the thread safe for work.

Subahibi is a 'Long' visual novel according to VNDB and is expected to take around 50 hours according to HLTB. Anyone interesting in participating can obtain Subahibi on Steam and uncut from JAST USA. See the Patches section below for the obligatory Steam content patch that restores about about 5/7th of the game, and more.

This is an informal book club, so there is no fixed schedule; you simply read a visual novel at your own pace, and share your thoughts along the way or when you are done reading. Just remember to use spoiler tags liberally. There are currently no other plans for future bookclubs, but information about past book clubs can be found in the main MetaCouncil Book Club thread.​


The Story


Subarashiki Hibi is a story told in seven chapters. The story follows a group of several Tokyo high school students mostly through July of 2012 and each chapter is told from the perspective of one of its five main characters. Because of the same timeframe coverage, certain events are overlapping from chapter to chapter but at the core of it all is a mystery revolving around the prophecy about the end of the world on July the 20th as well as the events that are following before the said date. The first part of the VN is used to make a setting for the said mysteries while the second part is about uncovering the truth behind them all.

[Taken from VNDB]​


Walkthroughs

A walkthrough can be found on Steam, but I am not sure it is needed: link


Patches

In addition to the official content patch needed to install most of the content to the Steam version of Subahibi (found here), there is also a fan-patch that adds additional voices and higher-resolution sprites to the game (found here). Should anyone own the Japanese HD edition, then there is also a patch that inserts the English translation into that version with some limitations (see here)​
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
I'm still reading Baldr Sky (Nanoha's route) at the moment so I can't join presently. I hope you folks will enjoy this. :dana_wink:
 
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ExistentialThought

Coffee Lover ♥☕
Feb 29, 2020
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I have had this in my backlog for ever, I should probably read it.

Stupid question, but the fan patch for the upgraded sprites, do you just drop it in the Steam folder?
 
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Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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I have had this in my backlog for ever, I should probably read it.

Stupid question, but the fan patch for the upgraded sprites, do you just drop it in the Steam folder?
Should be the case. I just checked mine and the contents were dumped right into the folder for the game.

Early impressions are fine so far. The very beginning I thought was really confusing determining who was talking and such but soon enough that was cleared up and I got into the groove of things. I do wish the font was different (how do VNs not give more customization of that?) but so far I'm enjoying the writing and characters well enough.

I didn't realize it was 50ish hours so I think I'll aim to do at least an hour a day with a goal of finishing at the latest by the end of the month.
 
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ExistentialThought

Coffee Lover ♥☕
Feb 29, 2020
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That is helpful to know! Thank you!

Wowzah, yeah I did not realize it is a 50+ hour. We shall see if I can get started soon :tightly-closed-eyes:
 

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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So far I'm mostly enjoying the writing. It gets a bit heavy in philosophical style bullshit nonsense that can really go for a long stretch but outside of that it's been a fun read. I finished the first chapter, or whatever each part is called, and now I'm even more confused on what's going on partway into the second chapter. I've got some broad ideas on what could be going on in the story but it's really tough to say so far.
 

Mutant Strawberry

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Jul 1, 2020
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Just got my first ending. Its reminding me of a certain anime, which I wont mention until more people have passed that point because total spoilers. I have no idea what's going on.

Update: Completed first episode now. I'm anxious to see what happens now.
 
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Exzyleph

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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Finished reading the first chapter :blobeyes:

No sanity-damage taken yet, but it was quite an interesting read.

It pretty quickly became apparent that the current world either wasn't real in some sense or that Yuki's perception of it was flawed in some way. But I didn't connect that with Zakuro either committing suicide or being thrown off the roof (Yuki's earlier statements about it looking like somebody struggling up there take a much darker light in hindsight) until the game spelled it out to me, despite it being made pretty clear that something did happen at that point.

I expect that the next chapters will cast light on exactly why Zakuro fell from that rooftop in the first place and the answer probably isn't going to be pleasant. We do get some small hints, namely when Zakuro talks about the art club she was in stopped operating due to a "little accident".

Otonashi Ayana also seems likely to be involved, perhaps being another person who killed herself or perhaps being a perpetrator, considering that she seemed to have special knowledge of the illusionary world and of Zakuro, and considering Zakuro's negative reaction to learning that she is present.

As an aside, Yuki's bedroom doesn't make any sense in terms of the house it is in. Considering where this chapter took place, I am wondering if that is going to have some special significance or if it was just meant to be "cool".

It was fitting that the ending theme for non-true chapter ends was "On board Naglfar", Naglfar being a ship made from the nail-clippings of the dead in Norse mythology, piloted by those who didn't get into Valhalla when they died.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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Finished Episode 2, partway into episode 3. Really curious to see peoples' thoughts going from Episode 1 to 2.
 

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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And having completed Episode 3 and the alternate ending I would suggest getting both endings just because there's some good story stuff learned in the normal ending that you don't get in that episode's true ending.
 
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Exzyleph

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Finished reading chapter 2:

It pretty quickly becomes obvious that Yuki is still stuck in her internal world, though I suppose that is also made obvious by the title. The chapter wraps up pretty neatly, so I'll limit myself to considering what we learned that seems to have significance beyond this dream-world.

The main takeaway from this is probably what Ayana tells Yuki: That Yuki can only see what she already knows. Thus, events that we see here likely reflects things that Yuki had learned even before Zakuro's suicide, though it would probably be a mistake to conclude that she had necessarily witnessed these events firsthand or had accurate knowledge about them. There are a couple of notable points relating to that, such as the fact that Yuki must know everyone's names, despite overtly claiming to not remember, and that Yuki likely was involved with the Zakuro and Takuji in some capacity, in particular considering that Yuki must already have known about Takuji's little sister and mother.

However, the first thing I took note of is that Zakuro does not seem to be aware of Yuki's predicament this time around, even if her behavior is puzzling. We also learn that she was in fact being bullied and that this took place in Building C, as was alluded to in Rabbit Hole I. Instead it is Takuji who is aware of the nature of the dream-world, but unlike Zakuro he is antagonistic towards Yuki. It is unclear if he also manipulated Takuji and the two other girls in the real world, but all things considered that doesn't seem out of the question. The final lines suggest that Takuji was in love with Yuki, perhaps as a result of her trying to help him in the real world

In addition, the "prank" that Zakuro plays on her 158 friends when Yuki "first" meets her in Rabbit-Hole I turns out to be (Takuji?) emailing the photo of her death to the forum members, as confirmed by the exact date and time (July 12th, 2012. 10:44 PM). In addition, the time that Zakuro throws her doll off Building C (July 16th, 2012. 5:58 PM) lines up with the exact time that the teacher falls off the roof of Building C.

The last major actor, Ayana, is also rather enigmatic. Her soundtrack invokes "denpa" and this chapter makes it even more obvious that she too is something operating outside of the bounds of the dreamworld. However, I am not able to make head or tails of what she is, though I suspect that she is a construct created by and meant to help Yuki herself.

There are also a few other notable points, such as Yuki strongly stating that she hates men, and the fact that she was invited to a party as a "main attraction", as a replacement for Shiroyama who we learned fell to his death earlier (ie. likely committed suicide due to bullying). Both of these points to hints that Yuki herself may have become the new target of bullying at some point.

Because of all this I suspect that Yuki's dreamworld didn't actually start with Zakuro hitting her when she committed suicide (which would also explain how Yuki knew about the death of the three), but instead was triggered by later events, including bullying directed towards Yuki herself. If so, then the next chapters will likely peel away the events that happened closer and closer to the actual start of the dream world, and those events will likely be involve more and more bullying directed towards Yuki.


Chapter lengths are a bit uneven, so anyone wishing to see how much they've read can refer to the following estimates based on script lengths. Numbers in parentheses give the total percentage you've read once you've finished a given chapter. Individual chapter lengths are spoilered in case anyone just wants to know about the current chapter they are reading:
  • Chapter 1: 10% (10% total)
  • Chapter 2: 10% (20% total)
  • Chapter 3: 34% (54% total)
  • Chapter 4: 18% (72% total)
  • Chapter 5: 16% (88% total)
  • Chapter 6: 04% (92% total)
  • Chapter 7: 08% (100% total)
 

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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Stopping for the night part of the way into Episode 5. It's starting to come together for me. Episode 4 was the first time I got the normal ending the first time and had to replay it for the true ending. Considering the prior events it makes sense the normal ending wasn't the right one to keep the story moving but it's a good ending worth checking out if you don't happen to do it naturally.

The choices in this game feel so barebones after playing through Kara no Shoujo right before. In this game each episode only has typically one or two choices it seems and it's just for the two branches of the story. Kind of nice it's easy to get the different paths but also it just makes it much more of a kinetic novel with how many hours you can read without a single choice. Not a complaint or anything, just an observation as I kept looking for the choices and even forgot an episode had a choice at one point.
 
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Mutant Strawberry

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Forgot to mention i finished Episode 2. Really didnt expect it to go in the direction it has. It almost makes me want to replay Episode 1 now but I'll surge forward. I'm excited but nervous for Episode 3.
 
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Wibblewozzer

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And all done.

Ultimately enjoyed a lot of it and the overall plot I thought was handled really well considering how confusing everything is and each episode does a great job giving you one more layer of explanation for everything that doesn't make sense without giving it all out immediately. The actual writing style wasn't exactly to my liking as loads of the dialogue was far too wordy and unnatural, not to mention every character seemed that they wanted to talk philosophy or something. Also long-winded monologues always had me approach boredom as I quickly read through them. But the majority really moved well enough.

I do look forward to seeing more impressions of the episodes and final write-ups because while I feel I got a fairly solid grasp of everything in the end there's a couple key things that even in the end I don't feel like I really have the best grasp of including the meaning of what I assume is meant to be the true ending. I take things far too much at face value and I'm real shit at symbology and metaphors and other things like that. So I'm sure it did enough to explain things but it flew right past me.

The disturbing content never really bugged me because I have a high tolerance for fictional violence and sex but something later in the game I just wish wasn't there was pedo shit with the sister. I wasn't surprised but I had hoped it wouldn't be in the game. Especially since it had the warning about all characters are 18 or over and obviously she's not.
 

Mutant Strawberry

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Jul 1, 2020
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Just finished Episode 3.
Like Wibblewozzer said, the alternate route does explain a lot. It's easy to miss so be aware.
Looking forward to see what others make of this Episode.
 
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Mutant Strawberry

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Midway through episode 4 and things are starting to make some kind of sense.

I've also found a list of literary references used in the game, from the now defunct TLWiki via Wayback Machine. Not sure how spoilery this is (I'm waiting until the end before reading myself) but might be interesting for some.

 

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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Midway through episode 4 and things are starting to make some kind of sense.

I've also found a list of literary references used in the game, from the now defunct TLWiki via Wayback Machine. Not sure how spoilery this is (I'm waiting until the end before reading myself) but might be interesting for some.

I took a look and I can't imagine anything on that page would really spoil any of the game's plot as it's more just a list of the specific quotes in the game and just listing the titles and things referenced and it doesn't analyze and talk about how it's used in game or anything. The only thing it does mention is notes like "This character and this character talked about this" on a handful of things. But yeah, no real spoilers at all. It is neat just to see what all is referenced. I knew there were ton but there was stuff I certainly didn't catch despite being familiar.
 

Mutant Strawberry

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Episode 4 kimika ending get

This was my favourite in my entire game so far and really enjoyable, and of course, everything ended on a suspiciously happy note. It was almost too good to be true. The trouble is there's 3 more chapters in the game and another route in chapter 4 too and I suspect they wont be anywhere near as lighthearted.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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Episode 4 ending get

The Kimika route was my favourite in my entire game so far and really enjoyable, and of course, everything ended on a suspiciously happy note. It was almost too good to be true. The trouble is there's 3 more chapters in the game and I suspect they wont be anywhere near as lighthearted.
Just to make sure, you did get both endings, right? I think you need the other ending to progress.
 

Mutant Strawberry

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Just to make sure, you did get both endings, right? I think you need the other ending to progress.
I' ll start the other route later. I'm expecting severe tone whiplash

Update! Finished the other Ep 4 route I was right to expect things to go into disturbing territory.

I think I need time to process what happened.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
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I sped through it so don't really gauge your progress off of me. It's just how I get through games and complete a ton every year.

Knurek isn't that much further than you and the rest are in the middlish portion. One or two long stretched of reading and you'll be in with the rest of the pack.
 

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
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Except you've only finished the first chapter that should take ~3 hours for everyone else that doesn't let all the voices play for everything said! So that's only 2.5 hours behind for them.
 
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Mutant Strawberry

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Reading some reviews and apparently, the first episode takes on greater significance once you've finished. Maybe something to bear in mind.
Just finished the 5th chapter. Things really picking up steam now.
 
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Mutant Strawberry

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All routes finished! overall, it was a weird but gripping Visual novel that gave me lots to think about. Some moments in this will stay with me for a long time.

So you may have noticed I edited my earlier post...That's because my theory turned out to be almost what happened., and I didn't want to spoil it for others that hadn't made the connection. From the outset, I had a feeling that many characters were aspects of a split personality. And from the start of the game, I found the existense of both a Yuki and a Yuuki incredibly sus.

Like Wibble said, I could have done without the creepy little sister stuff.

I love how Ekzyleph pointed out the weird shaped bedroom. I'd have never noticed that, and it made the reveal amazing.

I'm still sort of confused by the ending but the whole thing gave me Twin Peaks: The Return vibes, with all the multiple personalities fighting for dominance.

My theory is we're viewing this game from the persective of the main character/s on their death bed (hooked up to an IV drip), and memories of their previous life is flashing before their eyes. I'm still trying to process a lot of what went on.

Sorry for 3 posts in a row, and thanks to everyone for organising this!
 
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Exzyleph

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Finished chapter 3. Spoilers and ramblings ahead. Please forgive the length.

I should start by noting that I accidentally spoiled myself on Takuji being "plural" while reading this chapter, though it ended up being made extremely obvious by the end of chapter regardless of my being primed for it. And shout-out to Knurek who guessed this twist while reading Rabbit-Hole II and told me while I was writing this post. Nice catch!

In fact, this chapter suggests that a significant number of characters, including Takuji, Yuki, Yuuki, the Wakatsuki sisters, and of course Riruru, are inventions and/or alternate personalities of some central person, strongly implied to be Takuji himself. It also seems likely that Ayana is such a character, though her role is enigmatic.

The various effects employed in this chapter make it clear from the start that what we are seeing through Takuji's eyes is a greatly distorted reality: These include the buzzing sounds we hear, how certain words are omitted, and how people appear blurry to Takuji, presumably until his imagination fills them out, and the fact that Takuji constantly suffers from lost time. Moreover, he seems to have rewritten or repressed memories, believing his mother to be dead and seemingly not being aware that he has a little sister. And these delusions seems to have followed him for a long time, as we learn when he talk about his bullies at his previous school: Supposedly these not only stopped his train at one point, but also hid in his closet at night and watched him, neither of which seems remotely plausible.


I initially thought that Takuji's delusions merely involved people acting out of character, as appeared to be the case for Zakuro and the Wakatsuki sisters, the latter having at least one scene where it seemed that reality and delusion overlapped. However, events involving Yuuki, in particular his and Takuji's fight on the rooftop on the 14th, led me to consider if Yuuki was a delusion based on Yuki. That is to say that Yuuki might have been Takuji imagining himself being as strong as Yuki, considering how close Yuuki's name was to Yuki and considering how similar Yuuki and Takuji looks (everything but hair is the same).

It seems likely that Yuuki originated when Takuji was sexually assaulted by his bullies, at which point he (as Yuuki) fought back and somehow managed to subdue them. Though it could also be that he was never bullied by them in the first place, or to this extend, considering that at least some of his previously bullying was likely delusional.

And it was eventually revealed that the Wakatsuki sisters are unknown to everyone but Yuki and Takuji, which is also where I started cluing in on Yuki and Takuji being the same person, since they share that delusion. In fact, we get a lot of clues that Yuki is Takuji:

These include fact that Yuki witnessed Zakuro on the roof in Rabbit-Hole I, despite it being Takuji who saw that. There's the fact that Yuki is affected when Takuji's personality is dominant and vice versa. The fact that Yuki knew Takauji's little sister and her mother. The fact that both play the piano, and the fact that Takuji remembers information from the kind of books that Yuki reads, information that feels alien to Takuji. There is also Kimika teasingly asking Takuji if he wears stockings when she finds out that he has seemingly shaved his crotch, which may lampshade the fact that he does in fact do so as Yuki. And the fact that both experience lost time.

There is also Yuki's weird bedroom, which doesn't seem to fit in her house, but looks like something like a storage-room made into a makeshift bedroom. It could be one of those many hideouts that Takuji tells us he has been creating in secret places. And them being the same person also explains why Zakuro's phone was there and why Takuji's fingerprints were all over the place.


Eventually the fact that the three of them are the same person is straight up confirmed by Ayana, which raises the question of how can Yuki show up and witness (and seemingly survive) Takuji's suicide? Though everything does go to shit at that point. On the other hand, we also see the death of Yuuki, so perhaps the final scene of My Own Invention shows a metaphorical death of Takuji, the personality, leaving only Yuki.


And who are the sisters actually? We get a quite clear confirmation that Kagami is the rabbit doll, that we've seen a few times before, during the scene where Takuji "defiles" her. This also explains why Kagami constantly shows up from behind Tsukasa, who is probably carrying the doll in a backpack. Tsukasa, on the other hand, seems to represent Takuji's little sister, whose existence he has repressed all memories of. This is suggested in the scene where Tsukasa talks about getting a doll from her brother, a scene triggered by them seeing a rabbit-doll, which is apparently her dearest memory. It seems to be the same doll as Kagami and the same as the doll Zakuro throws off a building? It is also suggested by the fact that Tsukasa turns into a black hole in reality towards the Rabbit-Hole II, in line with how Takuji has repressed his memories of his sister. However, it is not clear what relationship the sisters have with Yuuki. Perhaps their final actions on the roof reflect something that happened between Takuji and his little sister, where he seemingly forgot to lock the door somewhere, allowing her to follow him.


There is also the question of the nature of Ayana. It seems pretty clear that she is also not real, though her relationship to the three personalities and her motives are all unclear. But considering the way she shows up and disappears, her knowledge of Takuji's personalities, and her intimate knowledge of what Takuji is thinking and intentionally forgetting, it seems likely that she is yet another personality.

However, she also says things like "In this setting, I am human" along with other statements that seem to imply that she is something other than a mere personality. I guess we'll see.

Interestingly, Ayana also tells Takuji that he will not be the one to reach the next world, perhaps suggesting that Takuji (the personality) does not survive this chapter, but that one of the other personalities do survive.


This all also made me wonder what the significance of the first chapter was, in which Zakuro seemingly saves Yuki from being in a coma. We are told then that Zakuro fell and hit Yuki, which killed Zakuro and hurt Yuki. Thus it may be that Zakuro fell and hit Takuji, not Yuki, who did note in My Own Invention that the girls fell right where he had stood moments before.

Moreover, Zakuro is aware that that Yuki is and is not the person she loves (paraphrasing: everything about this person has has changed and they are not in this world any more), and hints that the two of them visited an amusement park together. Neither Yuki nor Takuji did that as far as we know, but that leaves a third option who knew about Zakuro and whose whereabouts we know little about: Yuuki.

It seems possible that Yuuki was the one who took Zakuro to the amusement park, during some of all Takuji's lost time, and that he was the one she fell in love with. This may also explain why Zakuro kissed Yuki (goodbye?) at the start of Rabbit-Hole II. Though that might also imply that she was aware of Takuji's multiple personalities, since she recognized Yuki and yet did not act as if anything was out of the ordinary.

However, if Zakuro hit Takuji then that would imply that everything that happened after that was part of the dreamworld, which while not out of the question seems a bit extreme. A less extreme alternative is that Takuji survived his fall at the end of Rabbit-Hole II/My Own Invention, or that he never jumped in the first place, but instead collapsed due to his wound. In either case, I also suspect that the childishly drawn world Takuji sees, the End Sky, with power-lines and a sea, represents the view from their hospital bed.


There is also an interesting discrepancy that I noted, namely when Yuki talks to Kiyoshi. From her perspective, he asks her to attend a party as a "main attraction", which implied that something will be done to her. However, when we see the same scene from Takuji's perspective, Kiyoshi rather seems to want her as muscle in a fight. Not sure what to make of it, though.

So what's next? The obvious answer would be seeing the story from the point of view of one of the remaining personalities or invented characters, my chief guess being that Looking Glass Insects will be from Yuuki's perspective.


As a final note, Kamika quickly became my favorite side-character in this story. I got her ending first and to be honest I kinda liked that better than the true end to My Own Invention. Oh well, at leat she won in either case.
 
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Knurek

OG old coot
Oct 16, 2018
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Going through chapter 3 and I think I need a hug.
First they had him make his own sandwich
:blobxorcism:
Then one of them got hungry and forced him to make him a sandwich
:notlikethisblob:
Then the other guy got hungry as well and there were two sandwiches to be made at the same time
:blobweary:

:steam_pigblanket:
 
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Exzyleph

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Finally finished

This was an interesting chapter and also a very unpleasant one. I really enjoyed seeing things form Zakuro's perspective, as it greatly fleshed out her character, but it was also hard to get through. I kinda wish I could have stopped after the Kimika ending, which is what I got first more or less by accident.

By an large, this chapter doesn't answer a whole lot of questions, though there are some surprising reveals. The biggest one was probably the fact that the Wakatsuki were in fact Takuji's little sister and her plushy, while I had sorta assumed that the two didn't actually exist even if they were based on the little sister.

This raises some unpleasant questions about what happened when Takuji had "Kagami" raped and murdered and why Tsukasa (Hasaki) turned into a black (memory?)hole at the end of Rabbit-Hole II. How much of that actually happened and what does it represent in terms of actual events that happened?

There is also a lot of confusion in my mind about what the personalities see/do, due to the fact that the personalities seemingly operate simultaneously at times, such as when Yuki attempts to return Kagami's corpse seemingly at the same time that Takuji is leading everyone to their death in the school.


Zakuro spends a lot of time with Yuki (I think!), including visiting important places that we saw in Rabbit-Hole I, namely the bar and the amusement park. It is also notable that the barkeeper almost addresses Takuji as Yuki or Yuuki ("Yu..."), suggesting that they are aware of what is going on. The ambiguity here made me wonder if this was actually the Yuuki personality, esp. since Yuki constantly forgets about Zakuro, and since this person calls the bar-owner a "fag", a term we've only seen Yuuki use before and something that seems out of character for Yuki. It could also explain why Yuuki is protective of Zakuro in the Kimika end.


It is unclear what happened to Kimika on the 8th, when Zakuro was drugged the first time, but it seems that she somehow managed to escape. The fact that she later describes herself as a virgin who has never even kissed somebody (in My Own Invention) at least suggest that she was not molested by the bullies.

Zakuro is, however, kidnapped, beaten, drugged and raped, and the aftermath is a complete mental breakdown and her losing her grip on reality. Interestingly, it is only at this point that Ayana shows up in front of Zakuro.

We also discover that it was in fact Zakuro who forced the two girls with her to commit suicide, not (as I thought) the other way around. I tried going back to the Riruru version of that scene that Takuji experiences, but could not tell the voices apart sufficiently, which was probably intentional.

Because of the hallucinations that Zakuro has been seeing up to this point, even before meeting the two girls, I very much suspect that her "vision" of what happened to Ayumi was a complete fabrication. And Usami seems to imply that her problem is that she is driven by jealousy, as opposed to anything as traumatic as what happened to Zakuro. That could also explain why two are that much more hesitant to go through with the ritual. There is also a strong implication that Ayumi is seeing things due to a receiving a traumatic head injury in a car accident.


My major questions at this point relate to the nature of the world itself and nature of Ayana. While I toyed with the idea that she could be another of Takuji's personalities, and that the world itself was a mental construct of Takuji, that seems unlikely at this point.

The fact that we are seeing things from Zakuro's perspective, seeing things that none of the personalities could know, and the fact that we see Ayana could suggest that both the world and Ayana are external to Takuji (I say could suggest since I know of a VN that is a counter example). However, even if the world is external to Takuji, the meta-knowledge exhibited by Ayana in this and in previous chapters strongly suggest that the world is not real in some sense, and that Ayane plays some role in its operation.

So who will we follow the next chapter? It could be Yuuki, but since we can also see the perspectives of non-Takuji-personalities, it could also be Kimika, Hasaki, or perhaps (though I find it unlikely) Ayumi, Usami, or even one of the bullies.
 
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Exzyleph

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Another very interesting chapter, though we already knew the end at this point.

There are several reveals that stand out, among them the fact that there were two Yuki's: The original, that Zakuro befriended, and the new Yuki that Takuji is creating to replace her. This neatly explains the discrepancies that I've been harping about, and explains the nature of the Wakatsuki sisters.

Not surprisingly, it is also confirmed that it was Hasaki that showed up during Takuji and Tomo's last fight, though it is still unclear what Tsukasa turning into a black blob represents. My best guess is that this reflect Takuji's denial of Hasaki's existence and the illusion breaking down for (the new) Yuki.


I also finally noticed that correspondence between roof of Takuji's (and Yuki's), which clearly matches the weird interior. In other words, that was a complete red herring that I had gotten myself into. However, it is actually also pretty obvious (in hindsight at least) that Yuki's room and Takuji's room is the same room, if you pay attention the walls and such.


Interestingly we also see Tomo wearing glasses, suggesting that what Takuji told Zakuro, that he had stopped wearing them since they kept getting broken by his bullies, was merely another act of self-denial.


We also get a lot of hints regarding the origin of the personality split; why Takuji is going through this. The biggest hint is on the 13th, the day after Zakuro died. We briefly see a distorted CG seemingly showing somebody (a woman?) swinging something? Later we see a CG that seems to show two people struggling, but more importantly we here fragments of an event.

Notably, this and later flashbacks suggests that Tomo, Yuki, Takuji, and Hasaki were real people who at one point interacted, and that Takuji did something (involving a knife in at least one instance) to hurt Yuki (who was bleeding out on the ground) and Hasaki (who we know was hospitalized and scarred). It is also strongly suggested that Takuji wanted to kill Hasaki, return her to the sky, so that he could become the Savior.

In other words, Takuji being "too competent", the thing that was mentioned as being the cause of his his, Hasaki's and his mother's trauma, may have been him usurping power in the cult, with the ultimate result that some number of people killed themselves or were killed by his hands or at the hands of his followers.

Another takeaway from this is that Yuki and Tomo likely represented other members of the White Lotus, likely friends of Takuji and Hasaki, and that the ritualistic Return to the Sky that we see Takuji perform in the present was something he attempted before.


If so, if both Yuki and Tomo were real people, then it is likely that the Tomo and Yuki we know were based on these people (or are these people, see below). This may also explain Hasaki's affection for Tomo, whom may have been the person she was closest to back then. Notably, we know from Rabbit-Hole II (and from Hasaki no less) that Takuji had a brother who died in an accident, which may refer to Tomo, along with a brother who doesn't visit (Takuji?).

(Edit: As an aside, I could have made do without the "romantic" subplot between Tomo and Hasaki)


There is also some suggestion that Takuji might not be the original personality, considering that he is just as much subject to the "rules" as the other personalities. Potentially each of the three (Tomo, Yuki, and Takuji) are fragments of an original personality. And there is the suggestion that these might not be mere personalities, based on Yuki's consistent talk about them as "souls", a term that Ayana also uses, and which could imply that the people that likely died at the hands of Takuji survived as souls in his body. Assuming that this is in fact Takuji's body, something that I've merely taken for granted.

This could also explain how Zakuro was able to be present in Rabbit-Hole I and could explain why Yuki seems to hint that she and Tomo might survive Takuji erasing them, along with the comments that Tomo hasn't changed that Yuki makes. These comments could refer to Tomo before his death. But that could all be a big red herring that I've talked myself into, and I'd actually be a bit surprised if this VN ends up having supernatural elements.


Ayana's identity and nature is still a mystery, though the possibility that she is another soul in contact with Takuji opens some interesting possibilities. On the other hand, her mentioning that she was "playing on the water tank" gave me a silly idea: Namely that Ayana is the black cat that we saw in the end of Looking Glass Insects. This could explain why we pretty much only ever see on the rooftop and why (up until Zakuro saw her) nobody else seems to be aware of Ayana. This is a pretty wild-ass-guess, though, so who knows.


Finally, to return to the original question of what this all represents. Considering that these events seem to be fixed (outside of Wonderful Everyday endings), it seems likely that Takuji did stab himself on the roof, and additional it seems likely to me that he never actually jumped in the real world. As I mentioned before, this could explain the hospital scene/stay hinted at in Rabbit-Hole I.
 
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Exzyleph

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93
Finished up the last two chapters yesterday, so here are my final thoughts:

Rub a dub dub, I'm in a tub.


The sixth chapter, Which Dreamt It, largely just spelled out thing that had already been hinted at. The biggest reveal obviously being that Tomo was the true personality, something that I had only considered in passing. We also learn the origin of the name of the Wakatsuki sisters, namely the shop that sold the bunny doll, which explains it well.

There are also more suggestions in Which Dreamt It and Jabberwocky II that supernatural elements are at play, but the game is exceptionally cagey about whether or not this was real or imagined. And while Yuki does show up as a ghost in Hills of Sunflowers, the entire thing could plausibly be read as Hasaki imagining the presence of the Yuki and Tomo, after the latter fell to his death. However, there is also a suggestion that this is not the case, since we witness Yuki and Tomo continuing a previous conversation from when Hasaki was not present, namely them talking about the sky and smoking, during the first day of Jabberwocky.


Disappointingly Ayana was not a cat, but rather (based on a straightforward reading of the final ending) the person imagining of the events we saw in the previous chapters. While not really the kind of reveal I was hoping for, it seems largely consistent with her role in previous chapters, where see always seems to possess meta-knowledge about events that have happened and would happen. Her statement that "in this setting, I am human" was particular telling, since it suggests that this is one of many stories in which she plays a role. This also fits with her repeated insistence that she is "Otonashi Ayana" when people question her; she is merely herself in this setting, the author. And her playing around on the water tank was merely her sitting around and having these fantasies.

However, there are also hints that this might not be the full picture. In particular, Zakuro seems to have meta-knowledge of Ayana in Rabbit-Hole I, and talks about her as if she doesn't belong, and in Looking Glass Insects Ayana herself claims that there's nothing she can do to change Zakuro's fate after Zakuro met with the two other girls. And finally, there's the way our view shuts down in the final scene, in a manner that seems reminiscent of what happened to Tomo in Jabberwocky I, just after Ayana made the enigmatic statement that they should "go to that point where it all begins". Though obviously that could easily be explained as the whims of the author.

So what of the two other endings? On their face they seem merely to be what-ifs, similar to the other alternative endings we've seen throughout the game, and only add a few scraps of information. Ayana absence was notable in both.

One possibility to consider is that Rabbit Hole II is actually the last chapter, taking place after Tomo and Hasaki fall from the roof. Interestingly, that would also imply that the new Yuki survived this, which fits with her seemingly observing Takuji's final moments on the roof.


The shocking material in this VN ended up being less unpleasant than I expected, though I am not in a hurry to re-read this VN. Parts also came off as pandering and/or gratuitous, the scene with Asumi (the incestuous teacher) being the prime example. Apparently that sequence was also written by an assistant, which explains why it was (thankfully) forgotten about by the next chapter.

There are also a few unanswered questions, I think, such as who exactly sent the original email with the photo of Zakuro's corpse, and what happened when Takuji dragged Asumi away and showed her "the demon". Supposedly Takuji also took her cellphone from her at that point, despite her seemingly being without any possessions at that point. It is also not clear exactly why or when Kotomi became catatonic, since it must have happened some time after Tomo became Takuji, judging by how that sequence of events is described (she is said to have brought him to Tokyo, to have forged the family and school records, and to have raised him as Takuji). I am also not sure if we ever got an explanation of "Takuji's" housing situation, which seems a bit odd in hindsight (who's paying rent, etc?). Finally, there is the question as to why the newest Yuki hates men, something that doesn't seem a straightforward explanation in the real Yuki's history, but which could perhaps be explained through the events that caused Tomo to re-awaken. And what of the scenes that that Takuji see included, among other things, power-lines beyond the sea? Were they merely a red herring?

Overall Subahibi was a very enjoyable read, despite the issues I mentioned above, as is probably also obvious from the amount of time I spent thinking and writing about it. It was interesting to go back over my notes and see how many inexplicable events in earlier chapters suddenly have a simple explanation.

As a final note, I'd recommend anyone who enjoyed Subahibi take a look at Spoiler, Seabed, End Spoiler. It touches on similar themes as Subahibi, while being a lot more family friendly. The recommendation is unfortunately itself a bit of a spoiler, though that VN is also more upfront about its themes, but that is just how it is.