Theories? [Spoilers afoot]

I'd been meaning to make this thread for a while but now's a better time than never. I hope this is okay?

With Yousei right around the corner, does anyone want to throw around any thoughts or theories they might have so Ayu and the rest of the sakevisual crew can see how wrong we are? Serious theories with tons of references, crack theories you came up with at 2am in the morning, side comments you just need to say out loud, anything is allowed.

Obviously this thread will be littered with spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the full games, so I don't think spoiler tags/white texts are necessary unless you are referencing the Yousei beta. Some people might be waiting for the full game, so let's be courteous to them.

Though I do have one small sorta kinda spoiler question:

Spoiler:

Anyway, you are now entering spoiler territory in:


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Forgive me if I've got any facts wrong (but do correct me!), I broke my old computer a few months back so I don't have either of the games on my new one to check-- I'm just going off of memory :<

• Shen Guan is still alive.
  If I remember correctly, Sophia mentioned that Liam was under William Auten's care because his father passed away. But in the epilogue Liam says that "Father" likes to point out he's not like Chance, and I'm pretty sure he's not talking about William. From this theory, there's a lot of smaller theories that don't have any proper logic behind them, just feelings. For example, Chance and Liam could very well be related. They act like they know each other well enough too. And if Shen Guan really is alive, chances are that was Chance's "boyfriend" during Jisei.
  
  I remember when I first saw the Kansei opening, I thought the two guys we didn't know were Kangai's dad and a friend, but it makes much more sense if that picture is of William Auten and Shen Guan. I don't really know what he's after though, save for William's research, presumably the old sleep study notes. {He may also be related to the stolen research at the university, but I'll wait for Yousei rather than explore that one.}
  
  
• Li Mei was involved in some kind of shady business.
  It goes without saying, since obviously there has to be some kind of reason she's under Gurski's watch like Aki and Naoki are. Like she said, they're all "on parole for crimes past". Not to mention all the classified information surrounding her and how everyone (who knows what's up with her) seems to be on their toes around her even though she herself tries not to be a couse for alarm.
  
  ...Also the ending where she kills Kevin. That too.
  
  I don't have any clues as to what kind of shady business she was in, but she's trained to kill, or at the very least to attack based on reflexes alone. Think about it: she attacked Kevin as soon as he drew blood, {she sleeps in the closet with her bed made to look as if she was sleeping in it, Kangai is advised not to knock on her door too loudly, and she pretty much moves like a ninja if you've noticed Kangai's multiple and numerous descriptions to the way she moves}. I have ideas like chinese mafia or child assassin cult, but really, I have no evidence to support what kind of work she was in.
  
  And whatever Li Mei is capable of, she has shown it in front of Aki and co.. Like I said, everyone's on their toes around her. But the reason I say this is because of something she says when she offers to solve the puzzle box for Kangai: "I can be useful again." Either they didn't know or they just weren't aware of how serious her situation is, but there was a time when Li Mei was much more involved with their work (Alternatively she's talking about the people she was with before she met the Mizutani twins, but I think she really does care about them, so I still believe it's the former.). However, after an unknown incident, everyone suddenly became much more wary around her. They still try to include her in everything, but they don't have her do anything dangerous, because they know she can't control her instincts.
  
  
• If you follow the sakevisual tag on tumblr or read my beta review then you remember this, but I just really want there to be a purpose behind Kangai's eyebrow bandage. I have no idea why-- I just do. For example, a scar from the incident with his sister or something he got while on the run? (since he doesn't have it in any flashbacks)
  
  
• mdchan already mentioned this in the favorite character thread, but I believe in the possibility that Kangai may have shot his sister. I don't want to believe it because that would just break my heart but it's already in my head.
  Why? Think back to his speech to Ms. Bergstrom when she says that Sarah deserved her death: the guilt will stay with her for the rest of her life, no matter what her reasons were, no matter how much she tries to justify it. The way he says it, the expressions used, there's something behind those words that we don't know. Like he knows exactly what he's talking about. It's been implied that he tried to commit suicide, but that doesn't quite fit the feeling here, and I'd like to believe that's another kind of guilt entirely.
  
  
• Gurski knows more than he lets on.
  Actually this one is horribly obvious but I still feel the need to say it. First of all, he knows about Kangai, something Aki and Naoki don't know about since they moved in to Edgewater a year after Kangai left. The two of them constantly have small conversations about it, but Kangai always tries to drop the subject before Gurski mentions anything specific. I remember when Jisei came out, people commented on how unrealistic it was for a police officer to allow a murder suspect to wander around the premises and ask other people questions in order to prove his innocence. In actuality, he had a reason for this: he knew about Kangai's detective days and recognized that Kangai had the skill to solve the murder case that just occurred. In Kansei, he says something along the lines that "I[Gurski] thought you[Kangai] had come back to do some good again".
  
  He's also in on Li Mei's story, but I've already talked your ear off about her. And as Aki's arresting officer, he knows a lot about the Mizutanis too. Enough to know that Aki had a cat she named 'Stubtail' at least.
  
  His timeline doesn't really add up to me though? He was around for Kangai and his sister's detective days but spoke to them, and later he somehow came across some of Auten's research and was supposed to be dismissed to cover it up. Instead, he was transferred to the Mizutani case and ended up being their parole officer. For someone that's meant to be out of the way, it's weird that he's allowed to stay in the same city instead of some far off middle of nowhere town. Alternatively, he's kept close to have an eye on him.
  
  OH. Speaking of that research, he may or may not know about the sleep study incident that Marissa told Kangai about. There's nothing to prove it, other than that the sleep study sounds like the most suspicious research Auten has and he went to Marissa to very Kangai's secondhand story, which doesn't really prove anything. I wish that we could have listened in on that conversation, or at the very least, had a follow up with Marissa about it, but alas, we didn't. Long story short, he knows something about Auten he isn't allowed to share.
  
  
• I assumed kanseis were a thing they had since birth, but apparently not.
  It may depend on the ability, for example, Naoki's eidetic memory could easily be something had since birth, while abilities like Aki's could be discovered and then developed. {Assuming Kangai's sister's lie detecting ability is a kansei, that flashback would prove that kansei can "awaken". This statement then raises a curious question: when did Kangai become aware of his kansei? The flashback makes it sound like his sister awakened to hers first, but it's also possible that he'd never touched a dead body before, because that's not really a common thing to do. And even if he did know about it, his monologue at the beginning of Jisei mentions that he's experienced death many times. It seems weird that a kid would go around touching dead bodies left and right, unless he awaked to his ability shortly before or after he and his sister started detective-ing. If that's the case, then he would go around reading bodies whenever they investigated a case. Another possibility is that the shock of his sister's death awakened his kansei, but I have less to back up this possibility.}

And now you know who I pay attention to. We need more theories about the Mizutanis because I don't have any oops.

Whoaaaa, a topic on theories. I'm not gonna lie, I was actually just about to create a minor list of theories for the series including some expectations for what will happen in Yousei pretty soon. I've been having a lot of thoughts on the series, and it's probably due to pre-game-release jitters. I can't call up that many theories for the moment since none of them have entirely been written down and I have the worst attention span/memory /ever/.

Although I do have a handful crack theories, and a couple of additional, serious ones that I can call up to mind for the moment. For one of the serious ones though, I'm going to use a bit of evidence from Yousei to back it up -kinda-. >____> Will gladly white-out that section, though. In regards of theories for the twins... well uh that's mostly who my serious theories surround. <:'D The other serious theories I've had has more or less been mentioned LOL. Anyways, continuing onto the theories.

Crack/Minor Theories/etc:

• One of the twins' arguments may or may not have involved one or the other stealing the last hair tie after so many disappeared to that little special place where socks and bobby pins go when they disappear.
  
• This one's more of a little wish but--- Aki and Gurski's blind date? Pure coincidence. Pure. Coincidence. I have reasons for wishing this.
  
• Naoki is incredibly clingy when half-asleep.
  
• Considering Naoki's ability to read/speak it, the twins (or at least Naoki) are bilingual--- Japanese, of course, being their other language.
  
• Li Mei perhaps completes puzzles or reads up on mythology for a pastime.
  
• Aki's skilled at many mmorpgs...
  
• ...To the point where even her activities on the game need to be observed by a government official.
  
• Gurski's horrible at such games, but is good at console games.
  /crack theory territory nearly crossing headcanon territory will stop there
  
• I imagine that Gurski would not use cologne, but would smell like aftershave perhaps... /random.
  
• Okay last one, Kangai's habit of falling asleep after drinking a triple shot mocha latte may or may not be a result of poor sleeping habits.
  

Actual Theories:

• Naoki's kansei isn't entirely his memory.
  I remember somebody mentioning on tvTropes that there was the possibility that Naoki doesn't possess a kansei because of the fact that his ability isn't really along the lines of what powers a kansei might give--- but I beg to differ. Sure, he is the twin brother of the girl who can communicate to other people with kansei abilities (albet one-sidedly), and that could play a role. But I get the feeling that the true purpose of his kansei isn't shown yet. We didn't see Aki's ability to share the thoughts of those who she touched unless we went through Kansei's Find The Killer ending. Considering her's is "double-sided", I'm willing to bet that the same goes for Naoki. I have no idea what it possibly could be, but perhaps something like editing someone's memories and replacing them with one of his own. Possibly the most unlogical theory of the bunch, but I'm sticking to it until proven otherwise.
  
  Last but not least is my most major theory for the series thus yet....
  
  
• The twins are the only "result" of the sleep study.
  Marissa said that one of the women who participated in the sleep study died due to complications while giving birth. Naoki stated that the twins' mother died giving birth to them. I have no idea how old the twins are exactly, but considering that both can pretend to be college students (Or Naoki at least, in Jisei; I assume the same goes for Aki) and that Kangai's 18, there's a possibility that they could've been the children of the woman who died. Considering the purpose of the experiment, and that it's possible that the woman's child(ren) actually survived the whole ordeal, it's possible that the twins also could've had their powers since birth--- just, I agree with Kurocha, Aki's probably developed later in comparison to Naoki's. { I remember that Kangai's little sis received a transfusion of some sort, and started being affected by her kansei. Presumably, Kangai got one too and his developed somewhere along the way. It doesn't help that the woman in charge of the program is the same person who is in charge of the Mizutani siblings and Li Mei's "redemption" program....}

That ends the theories that I have for the moment~ =u=
Oh but um one last question I have that I'll hide for obvious reasons um---
Is it just me or does anybody else get the feeling that someone major will die in Yousei? ;;

And I do actually have to add to the theory with Gurski--- I presumed that maybe Edgewater was at one point working with a few other cities on a few specific cases? Somewhere upon one case maybe, Kangai and his sister assisted in a case, solved it, and made news within the county. Mikolaj and Kangai never actually did speak to each other prior to Jisei--- but Miko did hear a lot about the two siblings. So more or less for the mentioned reasons, I actually think that the timeline does add up. o: Buuuuuuut, that's just me.

Yay, a topic on theories!
I remember making up a lot of crazy theories about Jisei, but I've already forgotten most of them by now (and some of them were proven wrong after Kansei came out).
Anyway, theories are fun, so I'm going to share some the ones I still remember. c:

• Chance's boyfriend is the Big Bad.
  (I'm not exactly sure if the term "Big Bad" is applicable to a story like this, but I'll stick to it anyway. )
  This one's simple. I believe that the person Chance is calling her "boyfriend" (or whoever she was talking to in Jisei's epilogue) is the story's main antagonist. At least, it's pretty obvious that he's involved in the game's events, and that he's after Kangai for some reason.
  In this case, Chance would probably be The Dragon.

Speaking of dragons...

• The Four Symbols of Chinese constellations (Dragon, Phoenix, Tiger, Tortoise) mentioned in Kansei are connected to Kangai and three other people.
  While discussing the Four Symbols with Li Mei, Kangai says that the Tiger stands out to him for some reason. Moreover, Chance calls our protagonist "Tiger" in Jisei's bad ending. I think that Kangai somehow represents the Tiger of the four animals, and that there are three more people that represent the other three animals. Maybe they are the twins and Li Mei. Though, seeing how much emphasis is put on the Tiger and the Dragon's mortal rivalry, I believe the Dragon is the game's Big Bad.
  And, connecting this with my previous theory, I believe that Chance could be the Phoenix, seeing as the Phoenix is sometimes depicted as the Dragon's spouse in Chinese mythology.
  ...I don't have any ideas on who could be the Tortoise, though. ^^;

• Kangai's sister is alive and is the Big Bad.
  Okay, I don't really believe in this, but I just find this thought entertaining.

RaineDazeDays wrote:

Oh but um one last question I have that I'll hide for obvious reasons um---
Is it just me or does anybody else get the feeling that someone major will die in Yousei? ;;

{Well, since it looks like this game is going to be darker than the previous two, I can imagine this happening. Though I really hope it will not. *shivers*}

Kurocha wrote:

mdchan already mentioned this in the favorite character thread, but I believe in the possibility that Kangai may have shot his sister. I don't want to believe it because that would just break my heart but it's already in my head.
Why? Think back to his speech to Ms. Bergstrom when she says that Sarah deserved her death: the guilt will stay with her for the rest of her life, no matter what her reasons were, no matter how much she tries to justify it. The way he says it, the expressions used, there's something behind those words that we don't know. Like he knows exactly what he's talking about. It's been implied that he tried to commit suicide, but that doesn't quite fit the feeling here, and I'd like to believe that's another kind of guilt entirely.

Oh... dear...
This thought had never crossed my mind in two years, and now I'm seriously wondering why. It makes so much sense, it scares me. Q_Q

Kurocha wrote:

And whatever Li Mei is capable of, she has shown it in front of Aki and co.. Like I said, everyone's on their toes around her. However, after an unknown incident, everyone suddenly became much more wary around her. They still try to include her in everything, but they don't have her do anything dangerous, because they know she can't control her instincts.

As fun as it would be if Li Mei had gangsta connections etc, I'd be surprised if any group that high-powered would let her go without some sort of fight and Li Mei is not particularly protected or so difficult to get to for people who already know about her existence. That's not to say that such a theory couldn't be explained in Yousei though.I think there is also another possible interpretation of her behaviour during the Kevin incident. She certainly seems to have reflexes like Naoki and might be so graceful due to martial arts but lets not forget that her kansei dramatically alters her demeanor.

Kevin was desperate and about to kill Li Mei while he held her captive so all of his aggression and malicious intent probably flowed into her too. The instinct you refer to might not be Li Mei's own killer instinct so much as the fact that the more dangerous the people around her, the more dangerous she herself will inevitably become. I also thought hiding in the closet could've been force of habit since it's a defensive action and is like putting an extra barrier up between herself and other people's emotions, which may or may not be effective.

In general I agree with everyone's observations, especially about Chance's "sugardaddy" (lol) probably being Shaun Guan/the main antagonist. He certainly fits the sly image of the dragon and has a connection to the mental. I'm interested to see how Alex fits the Tiger image however because so far I think the physical and raw power attributes fit Gurski better (since he's a "badass norm"/one of the few main characters without a kansei). These attributes even fit Naoki quite well in comparison to Aki (who is more manipulative like the dragon). Maybe it's the way I've been playing but I think Alex is pretty sly too & of course he has connection to the mental with his kansei so hopefully Yousei will explore his tiger alignment more. Maybe it has something to do with the death of his sister and the possible part he played in it?

RaineDazeDays wrote:

[*] Aki's skilled at many mmorpgs...

This one is true. Originally it was canon before I decided to drop that arc because the theme was too similar to RE:A++. (Meeting people online, then finding them IRL.)

I've had this theory for some time now. Don't know if it's actually possible, but it would really be a cool twist if it were:

Marissa, Chance, and Kan's sister are the same person, and she works for a organization/person who created the main character's Jisei. Also, she is the Dragon.

(Yep, I know saying she being Kan's sister is also a stretch...meh, but I like to conspire hard. xD)

Proof

• Chance's and Marissa's fingernails are the same color, and they have similar skin tones and face shapes. Their personalities are both bubbly, yet smart and somewhat devious. In the flashback at the start of Kansei, Kan commends his sister for being smarter than he is.
  
• In the first game's epilogue, it is shown Chance talking to someone on the phone saying she wasn't able to get the USB. The USB contained information from Austen _____ (sorry; I have a bad memory). In Kansei, if you go to the basement and search the boxes, papers regarding human experimentation is seen. Marissa also questions Liam about his uncle's company. She may be under the disguise of a reporter, pretending to be one to get easier access to information.
  
• It just fits if you think about it: assuming Kan did shoot his sister, this would make them rivals. The twins could be the other two (the Dragon and Phoenix). Maybe Li Mei fits as the 'heart'?
  

Um. Yeah.
Not much to go on, but it's more of a gut feeling for me. I'll be really surprised if it actually happens