Omori Spoilers - Tumblr Posts
i finally updated our main cast headcanons! just like before, i've included some general non-appearance info, such as the last names me and cat personally use for them. i've also added older versions of everyone as well!!
(you can find the original post here!)
Welcome to White Space.
Omori.
// Alternative versions under the cut, Warning for Spoilers and warnings related to this game "This game contains depictions of depression, anxiety, and suicide, and may not be suitable for all audiences"
reframing Omori, or are the endings really black and white?
MAJOR OMORI SPOILERS FOR EVERY SINGLE ENDING PLEASE PLAY THIS GAME I SWEAR ITS SUPER GOOD PLAY ALL THE ENDINGS (OR AT LEAST KNOW ABOUT THEM IF YOU'RE TOO SCARED TO PLAY THE NEUTRAL ENDING BECAUSE GOD KNOWS I WAS TOO)
TW: SUICIDE, GRIEF, LOSS, DEPRESSION, MENTAL ILLNESS, GAME-TYPICAL CONTENT
THIS IS ALSO REALLY LONG BECAUSE I'M INSANE. SORRY.
Right. This will be a big write-up of multiple interpretations of the different Omori endings. I feel like the game is quite black-and-white with how the endings should be interpreted, the achievements literally state what is good and bad for the player (and "other", which is also referred to as the neutral ending). But I don't think things are as good or as bad or as neutral as they seem.
Let's be explicit here - you're meant to get the good ending. The game does everything it can to ensure you get the good ending - even scrapping a daytime Hellmari jumpscare to ensure the player would keep opening the door for Kel. You're meant to save Basil. You're meant to defeat Omori. You're meant to uncover the Truth. You're meant to sit there and cry when Sunny and Mari play that Final Duet. And also, we like a story where there's the possibility for a happier ending! Don't you want these little babies you've follow around for 20 or 80 hours to get some closure and peace?
For these reasons, the good ending is usually considered canon, and I personally think the secret ending is also canon. I'll also be considering both canon for the sake of this post, although that isn't really relevant, since I'm going through all endings.
With this in mind, let's consider each ending.
THE "GOOD" AND SECRET ENDING.
This one is by far the easiest to flip the switch on. Since it's left ambiguous as to whether or not Sunny is forgiven by his friends, it could easily lead to a far worse ending where Hero throws Sunny down the stairs, or he is never forgiven, or other horrible events occur. Arguably, the point of the game is Sunny's personal acceptance, so whether or not his friends forgive him is so irrelevant that it's up for player speculation.
But that's all so simple, and all personal interpretation. I think considering the actual canon is far more interesting, particularly how it may affect Basil.
You could consider the secret ending to be an objective "good" ending - Sunny and Basil are smiling, and the Somethings fade away. But take a look where each Something goes.
Sunny's fades away entirely behind him, because his character arc surrounds finding and accepting the truth, and this means admitting to his friends what he has done. In this way, he also somewhat frees Basil from needing to obsessively hide the truth from the others, which is part of Basil's character arc, and quite crucial for the specific event that traumatised them both. This is healing specifically from Mari's death and the coverup.
But Basil's Something seems to... hide itself. It doesn't fade. It is still there.
Furthermore, the credits. Despite everything, Sunny does move from Faraway, the credits of a car rolling by definitely suggest this. I also don't think this fight would deter Sunny's Mom from wanting to start a new life - in fact, she'd probably want to do so more.
Basil's abandonment issues are unanswered.
I believe these issues have occurred for longer than the day of the recital - Basil takes photos of things he is "afraid to lose", we know Basil's parents are absent - and therefore they are a separate problem Basil needs to heal from. (omocat make an Omori 2 about basil pls it would be so good i swear i swear)
Basil means a lot to Sunny. We can see this in the numerous Basil-related things that appear in Headspace - all the little flower facts, the photo album's integrity to the group, Headspace's insistence they are best friends - and we juxtapose this to Basil's absolute state of panic over potential further abandonment, which is heartbreaking to witness, ending with his psychotic meltdown, furiously begging Sunny to stop leaving him. The abandonment of Basil had a massive affect on Sunny's mindscape, where his friend is constantly missing and tormented in Black Space, a forever reminder of the truth and the world he shut away. And from the way their Follow-Up Moves work, a hurt Basil is also hurt Sunny.
This comes to my final point - the Good ending is not objectively "Good" because of the implications it has for Basil, who has the ability to influence Sunny. Basil is missing a massive part of his healing, which is often why he is mischaracterised by the fandom as an insane yandere. Sure, the ending has the potential for future healing, but this ending also has the potential for further mental decline, and even points to the latter.
The ending is better than the others, yes. But it is far from a "good" ending.
Whether or not Sunny is aware of all this is up to you, which could be altered by whether or not you believe the two share dreams.
THE "BAD" ENDING.
Obviously the bad ending is bad. I am absolutely not encouraging the events of that ending, and I genuinely thought it was the worst possible ending - you did all that work to seek the truth and mend friendships and it leads to... that? - up until I watched this one amazing animation by _ysther. Please watch it for context.
Rolling Girl is about suicide, or severe mental illness, at least. Many people believe that the 'rolling' within the song is a metaphor for self-harm, but you may also consider that it is a metaphor for some half-baked existence - this feeling of being barely alive, surviving off the next hit of a potential future.
This animation frames the ending in a slightly different way, at least in my interpretation - that Sunny is exhaustedly trudging through Headspace, trying to see if there is something there for him, and there isn't. Omori and Sunny's hug at the end of the animation is notable - Sunny is in his hospital gown, and the headspace background fades through the air... this is implicit of the Bad Ending. This animation ends with the bad ending, and in the context of the song, Omori accepts Sunny's exhaustion, and sets him free.
Ultimately, the Truth is overwhelming. That's why Sunny repressed it for four years - it is so horrific that he cannot function in daily life without dissociation, and even with it, he's still a barely functional shut-in. He creates Omori and White/Black/Red Space, and daydreams to cope with his loneliness. At the end of the game, he faces Omori, who convinces him that death is the only option left in a seemingly sadistic way.
But Omori's purpose - just as any mind with suicidal intentions - is not to kill Sunny. His purpose is not only to repress the Truth, but to protect and support him. This is shown in Omori's final hug. When things get overwhelming, Omori convinces Sunny into suicide for their own freedom from suffering. It is a selfish act, which is why Omori spends time deeming Sunny worthy of committing it, but it is also a freeing act.
Furthermore, we know Headspace repeats over, and this repetitive cycle is innate to Sunny's (and many other people's) trauma. Repress, uncover, repress, uncover. Sunny's final fight with Omori was probably not the first, and if Sunny had survived the bad ending, it probably wouldn't have been the last. Omori is the absolute last line of defense, protecting Sunny and his friends from the Truth. This suggests that Sunny wasn't ready for healing, which lead to the bad ending.
The "bad" ending isn't explicitly bad - it is some twisted form of freedom. By killing him, Omori is freeing Sunny from the guilt and pain that has been destroying him for years. This suicide is the ultimate form of self-protection, Omori's final love note to Sunny.
But it is also a symbol of immaturity, though not necessarily a negative one. The bad ending is the implication that Headspace should have repeated, and the Truth needed further repression before Sunny could accept it. Sunny fell into Omori's trap because he simply wasn't ready, and this led to his death.
People always consider this ending in the context of what is best for the group and everyone outside of Sunny's mind, but they don't consider that, to himself and Omori, Sunny is a selfish person who is worthy of one final selfish act for peace.
THE "NEUTRAL" ENDINGS.
While the other segments were focused on greying out the black and white, demonstrating the more subtle implications of the endings, this will be proving that the word "neutral" should never be associated with these endings ever again.
Please note that I am only talking about the neutral endings that occur when you choose not to save Basil on the final night - we will discuss the implications of the Hikikomori route and its endings later.
The neutral endings are, hands down, the worst possible route you can take during the game. One of them is the only ending where three people explicitly die during the game. If you won't take this from a Basil lover, I'm going to prove objectively that this is the worst route for all members of the group, including Sunny.
Firstly, we have to talk about the dialogue that Aubrey, Kel and Hero say when Basil commit suicide.
Aubrey thinks it is her fault, for everything she did to Basil. Aubrey will forever blame herself for Basil's suicide, and this quote implies that. Looking at her expression, she's completely despondent. She isn't crying, she is feeling horrific guilt - not unlike the guilt Sunny feels for the truth. She might even slip into his habits of isolation and repression, or perhaps lash out further to cope.
Kel, on the other hand, is crying - which is incredibly notable for him, because his whole thing is ignorance and smiles - but he isn't blaming himself or the group or even Aubrey, but comparing this death to Mari's. Kel is such a complex character that I have difficulty analysing this particular line, but I personally think Kel is holding some of that childlike confusion, something similar to when he interacted with the depressed Hero. Why does this keep happening? Kel holds his own cycle of ignorance, and here it's broken. Perhaps he's questioning his own ability to "be happy" just as much as he is questioning the deaths.
idk. i'd love to here people's takes on this.
Hero's use of the second font is particularly notable. This font is associated with truth, and in particular, distortion. The most notable characters who use this distorted font are Basil during a breakdown and Omori - both characters associated with severe trauma and repression, trying to hide something. To me, this suggests that Hero is next.
Hero feels like he is the caretaker of the group - and he's failed, again. He thinks he hasn't been doing enough to protect everyone. He may experience another depressive episode, or that same repression followed by obsessively behaviour, trying to keep everyone alive safe. Whatever it may be, Hero is completely broken, as is the rest of the group. This is the end of any remaining functionality that they worked so hard to build up.
After this, viewing Basil's body leads to his door disappearing, as Sunny slips further into his repression. Something is yet again behind Sunny in the mirror, reminding him of the Truth.
I want to now draw your attention to something stated by the disembodied voice in the Map of Truth.
'They' is referring to both Basil and Mari, and at this point, Basil and Mari are dead. Sunny is the only person still alive who knows the Truth.
There is no way he can live with this, which is why the Knife Ending is readily accessible - but only if you explicitly seek it out. Within the knife ending, a dial-up rings forever for a call that will never be answered, as Sunny bleeds out on his bed. Sunny's Mom has lost both her children, and Kel, Aubrey and Hero have lost three of their friends, close enough to be family. This is in no way a "neutral" ending, this is the worst case scenario.
But even the Abandon Ending is unbearable. Sunny is the only one left who knows the truth of Mari's death. Implicitly, he has also killed Basil by the player's choice not to save him - which you could take as suggesting he somehow knew Basil was going to die.
The game shows to us that complete repression of the Truth is not possible. Even in the Hikikomori route, cracks of the Truth show in abstract ways - including Black Space 2 and the simulated Mari fight are good examples, as well as the horrific repeated jumpscares prevalent on the night in the real world before moving day. Even if Sunny moves away from the two ghosts he left behind, he will never be able to repress the Truth forever.
These endings are in no way neutral, and I think that's obvious to everyone. These are the worst endings you can receive, even the biggest Basil hater couldn't stomach all of this. I think.
THE HIKKIOMORI ROUTE.
If the good ending has elements of bad, and the bad ending has elements of good, and the neutral endings...
Well. Then the Hikikomori route is the perfect combination of both good and bad. It captures perfect game mechanics, and the peak of repression, but in some ways, it is the worst route you could consider taking.
On one hand, it's the perfect route for die-hard players. Peak exploration, unique information, the chance to level up and buff your characters, free access to the photo album, boss rush, and so much more. I personally love it, and I carefully plan out every aspect of what I'll do on that One Day Left. For Sunny, it is also a symbol that Omori has achieved his goal of "repression", or the façade of it, and will now sleep forever in peace. Dreamworld Basil is no longer a threat to Omori's perfect world (of which the meeting of the two literally felt like a wedding) and defeating the three Somethings achieves repression. Everything is okay, in Sunny's head.
On the other hand... it's the guiltiest route. The player is making an active decision to reject Kel and reality, which makes you feel guilty. It is incredibly difficult to take this route by pure accident, unless you were paralysed by the Hellmari jumpscare the night before. Unlike the other endings, Sunny never sees the truth in this route, only distorted fragments in Black Space and Black Space 2. Sunny never experiences the Something boss fight, but does still experience a Stranger fight, Headspace's final prayer to accept the truth, before Omori takes over forever.
And I don't know about you. But watching that piano fade away in the Lost Library... I felt shameful. It makes you want to apologise for the world you left behind.
It's quite easy to forget all this in the blur of Headspace, but Basil and Mari at the picnic blanket are a constant reminder. The blanket represents safety and protection, both for the party, but also the two left behind in it. Perhaps the fact he is present in the picnic blanket specifically suggests that Sunny is somewhat aware that Basil has committed suicide.
This route's endings are no more notable than the neutral endings, except Basil doesn't explicitly die in them, but it can be inferred he does from the results of the neutral endings. But the fact that we cannot confirm this just brings back that regret - Sunny has abandoned Basil and his old friends forever, for unrealistic Headspace reflections that Sunny made up. As I stated before, there is no way the Truth can be repressed forever, but it's pure speculation as to what happens after you abandon the group on the Hikikomori route.
thanks for reading, lol. i don't know how to conclusion. let me know your thoughts! this almost felt like stating the obvious half the time but i dunno, it felt cathartic to write.
i may write something about my journey with omori and i may not. this is a place for me to, idk, ruminate on things. i hope i don't become obsessed.
the nature of unrequited love, or personal headcanons on sunny and aubrey
SPOILER WARNING: MAJOR OMORI SPOILERS
CONTENT WARNING: GRIEF, LOSS, GAME-TYPICAL CONTENT
READING-THIS WARNING: I REALLY DON'T WANT A FIGHT, THIS IS MOSTLY ME BACKING UP MY PERSONAL HEADCANONS THANKS :) also i would like to clarify that i DO NOT support shipping the older members of the squad with younger ones. that's gross. it is literally not that hard to do better. (also i believe sunburn requires a lot less therapy than sunflower, and i can totally see it post-game, so i really don't wanna fight with sunburn fans. )
Alright. The goal of this post will be to attempt to prove that Sunny's childhood crush on Aubrey is one-sided, and due to the nature of Aubrey and Mari's relationship, that there is a possibility Aubrey had a slight crush on Mari as a kid. Alternatively, I'd at least like to highlight how much of Aubrey's life revolves around Mari still, even somewhat in secret.
Again, to clarify, I don't condone Mari x Aubrey (are there not three other kids for y'all to ship Aubrey with??) , but rather we should consider the fact that many kids get small crushes on older teens or adults they look up to. I'm sure Aubrey was confident it would never happen anyway - HeroMari is basically canon, and Aubrey is far from emotionally ignorant - but I still think there's a potential that she may have had some unrequited feelings for Mari.
I'll bring in all my evidence and speculation and you can think on it :)
SUNNY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH AUBREY - COMPARING HEADSPACE AND THE REAL WORLD
(If this segment seems similar to another analysis post on here, please let me know because I'd actually like to cite it here as inspiring me, but I can't find it and it annoys me that I can't. Look at me and my great citations, good work sentience.)
Within Headspace, Aubrey's crush on Omori is prevalent and obvious. She tries to get his attention, wants to go on adventures with him alone, and defends him from the Slime Girls. Conversely, Omori rarely reciprocates, likely because at this point, his emotions are so repressed that he can't express more than the simple emotion mechanics required to fight. Aubrey, Kel and Hero all express emotion in their conversations, but Omori remains numb, the effects of repression seeping into the character himself.
We have to remember that Headspace is an extension of Sunny's mind, and while it is heavily influenced by the real world, it's still unreliable. I personally don't like it when people use Headspace evidence to support Real World theories, or vice versa - we need to be clear that these are separate, and Headspace is heavily biased.
There are two pretty key pieces of evidence in Headspace that point toward Sunny's crush on Aubrey being one-sided, and those are the Aubrey School Event and the Rainy Day memory.
The Aubrey School Event is found in Lost Forest 2 (also known as Looping Forest) in Black Space 2, but it is also found when interacting with a TV in the Otherworld using the universal remote. It is a short sequence, oddly colourful in the dark realm of Black Space, where several Aubreys fight to the toast for Omori's love. Omori is asked to choose between the last two Aubreys standing, and the event abruptly ends and Omori returns to Black Space.
The ending is particularly interesting...
We know Sunny daydreams a lot from the Lost Library excerpts...
I personally think that this fantasy and its parallels to the way Aubrey acts in Headspace suggest that the Aubrey School event is one Sunny regularly fantasised about, now present in Black Space 2 as a small remnant of the world he left behind. I also think this points to Sunny's crush being one-sided - if Aubrey's Headspace reflection is similar to Sunny's fantasy of her, then it suggests that this isn't the real Aubrey, and the real-world Aubrey may not have reciprocated feelings or Sunny may have been too shy to own up to them.
We see a big difference between their relationship in the real world and Headspace with the Rainy Day memory. Unlike Aubrey's constant expression of love for Omori, in the Rainy Day memory, the roles are reversed - Sunny is instead the one who wants to see the picture of Aubrey, and Basil even teases him about it, to which Sunny doesn't try to deny it.
Not many of the real world photos feature Aubrey and Sunny alone or conversing together, and Aubrey was asleep when her head fell onto Sunny's shoulder during the Lost Library excerpts. Aubrey is usually arguing with Kel, or hanging out with Mari, or with the group as a whole; and Sunny tends to be with Basil, or typically with the group. Obviously these photos are missing a significant amount of background as to what life was like before Mari's death (which a surprising amount of people tend to forget - those photos are by no means a reflection of the reality!!), but they provide some insight into character and relationship dynamics.
In my opinion, Headspace and the Real World just don't add up for Aubrey pre-incident. Which is why we're going to discuss...
AUBREY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH MARI - PAST AND PRESENT
Past
I believe the actions of present-day Aubrey hold some more weight, so this segment is mostly speculation.
We know that Aubrey and Mari were very close before her death. Due to the dysfunctional nature of Aubrey's household, it's likely she saw the friendship group as her family.
In a lot of the Faraway photos, we see Aubrey and Mari together, whether that be Mari reading to her, the two licking popsicles, Aubrey falling asleep on her shoulder, or the two's promise to dye their hair together, it's clear they're very close.
While we don't have a lot of information other than the album about life before the recital day, Aubrey in Headspace is also very fond of Mari, rushing excitedly to see her. Despite it being heavily influenced by Sunny, there is no real reason for him to obscure other relationship dynamics as it means nothing to Omori's goal.
Which is why I'd like to propose that Aubrey had a little childhood crush on Mari, which she was probably aware would not be reciprocated. She's 12, so she somewhat understands what love is, although considering time context, Aubrey may not have understood lesbianism and might have just assumed she was really fond of Mari, or something.
Mari would never reciprocate, as most of the rest of the group seems relatively aware that Mari and Hero are an item, so Aubrey probably pushed it all down, and was devastated when Mari died. Her friend, but someone who truly cared about her, which Aubrey didn't get a lot of as a child.
She watched the friendship group fall apart, and felt so angry, how could they betray Mari like that? Hou could they betray Aubrey like that?
Present
This post explores how much of Aubrey's current identity revolves around Mari - Aubrey continues to dye her hair regularly (as is evident by the visual absence of any roots), Aubrey spends all her time at the church and the graveyard, and she clings onto the photos of Mari that were defaced.
I find the fact that Aubrey spends her time in the church incredibly interesting. For one, considering what Sunny and Kel have to do just to know where she's gone, it seems as though Aubrey keeps her visits to the church a secret from her friends, aside from the closest. We also know that Aubrey is relentlessly judged by those at the church,...
Aubrey is a complete outcast at this place, and there is no way she's unaware of this. Despite this, Aubrey's nature is to stay true to herself, and clearly Mari means so much to her that she's willing to undergo judgement and ostracization just to feel close to Mari again.
But we can also consider the way Aubrey acts after Mari's death holistically, instead of parts of a greater whole. If she truly just looked up to and wanted to be like Mari, wouldn't she tend toward mimicking Mari's behaviour after her death? Why does Aubrey instead feel vehement anger toward others for "betraying" Mari, and spend all her time near Mari's resting place?
It is possible that Aubrey felt she couldn't be Mari, and she gave up and instead sought for her protection; or that she tried to reconcile the group, but the sheer betrayal and ignorance of Kel, Sunny, Basil and Hero broke her, and she flipped. I'm not going to deny the possibility of these.
But I think there's also a possibility that Aubrey doesn't want to be like Mari, but instead mourns her death as the loss of someone she had a crush on. As a result of this, Aubrey's life centers around Mari, and she is incredibly focused on trying to understand why Mari did it, which is why she spends her time near Mari's resting place. She does these things so she can feel close to Mari again, not so she can follow in Mari's footsteps.
Aubrey misses Mari more than she wants to be Mari. Which is a perfectly normal response to loss.
My main concern with this headcanon is it makes it significantly harder for Aubrey to forgive Sunny and Basil. If she is still much closer to Mari than those two, then I can't see her forgiving them anytime soon. and i am a massive baby and really want her to forgive them
Thanks for reading! idk what else to say. reminder that aubrey x mari is disgusting and so is shipping hero or mari with anyone else in the gang, especially during the events of the game, as hero is LITERALLY TWENTY and everyone else is LITERALLY A MINOR. omfg.
Omori and its parallels with OCD, or my personal connection to this game
SPOILER WARNING: AS USUAL, MAJOR OMORI SPOILERS FOR MOST ENDINGS AND THINGS.
CONTENT WARNING: MENTIONS OF SELF-HARM, SUICIDE, SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS, DEATH, LOSS AND OMORI-TYPICAL CONTENT. I will also be referring to my own intrusive thoughts a lot, so please take caution if it might trigger you to spiral.
DISCLAIMER: I AM BY NO MEANS A MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. I am in the process of seeking a diagnosis (we're getting there :) ), but it has been otherwise confirmed by professionals that I experience OCD. This post is about my personal experience with OCD and trauma, and the way I believe these feeling manifest in the game. I don't believe Sunny or Basil experience OCD, but I want to compare my experiences with obsession, compulsions and trauma-related OCD. Other people may have completely different experiences, and those are valid!
You could call this catharsis, some form of healing. Really I'm doing this for myself, which was kind of why I started writing Omori analysis in the first place (???). and im a nerd for this game
Guilt
Guilt has always been one of my biggest hurdles, and it's also a very relevant theme in Omori.
For the longest time, my brain and I have been actively trying to develop compulsions to cope with guilt, and it seems to consistently fail. I've tried singing songs on repeat, extreme self-harm, distraction, avoidance ect, and nothing seems to work. Sure, I've never committed recital day, but even small things can make me feel horrifically guilty, as my intrusive thoughts tell me I'm a horrible person or a liar.
I see this in Sunny, too. For the longest time, his mind has been trying to cope with the guilt, and it chose to delve deep into repression. But no matter how much he represses, the truth is still there, and so that guilt is still there.
The Fear Polaroids in the Omori Route are also a representation of guilt, as is the mirror during the Truth segment, both depicting Sunny has a hideous demon. My intrusive thoughts depict me as a demon, too, doing horrific things to myself and others. The images of mutilated, demonic Sunny capture the... inhumanity that my mind makes me feel.
I get it, Sunny. I don't feel human either.
Mewo's Death as an Intrusive Thought
Cat Dissection is an interesting area of Black Space, in that its immediate relevance to the truth is less obvious. It's also one of the more horrifying ones - on my first playthrough, I was running blind, and I figured you'd have to kill Mewo for the key. You do not. my biggest regret
Mewo is obviously linked to Mari, but at the time, we'd only ever seen this slightly mentioned in the real world photo album. At that point in Black Space, Mewo was closely tied to Sunny and Omori, being an essential part of White Space.
The player can stab themselves to get out, or cut open Mewo and suffer the regret. This room feels very reminiscent of a gruesome intrusive thought that just won't go away, those days where you see yourself murdering all your friends, or violently injuring yourself. Much of Sunny's hallucinations, or creatures like Something, also mimic this kind of thing.
That room has far deeper analysis to dive into, but this is as far as I'll go for this segment.
Compulsive Behaviour - Repetition
Basil is probably the first character that comes to mind when I think of compulsive behaviour. His most iconic line...
This sort of repetitive action is the root of a compulsion - an attempt to relieve anxiety. Whether or not Basil fits the criteria of needing repeat those words otherwise something bad might happen is unknown, but this sort of behaviour is very relatable in my experience.
I have a tendency to not be consciously aware, but others notice that I'll mumble things to myself. Typically this is me trying to talk back to my intrusive thoughts, as far as I know, and trying to confirm to myself that they're wrong. This will often end in asking someone else or doing research to confirm.
By repeating these things, Basil is trying to ward off the reality, which is that everything isn't okay at all, and likely won't be. But the specific framing is future-oriented - he isn't saying that things are okay right now, he's saying that they will be. This could link to my later point about uncertainty.
Avoidance
Not many people talk about avoidance behaviours as a compulsion, which is probably why much of my OCD went unnoticed as a child. You don't really consider mental compulsions, and avoidance can be very easily hidden, especially if you the ability to force yourself through something if you have no other options.
While it's not exactly the same, Sunny's repression of rooms in his house and the shaking head that prevents you from going to particular areas are forms of avoidance. The sliding glass door that leads to the backyard and the piano room are the most notable - it's not repressed, it's there, but Sunny shakes his head every time you interact with it. He can't go in there. He just can't. There's no explanation for the player.
I relate to that. I have strange rules that mean I can't do things. I just can't. There's no real explanation for myself, either, and sometimes I don't even get intrusive thoughts of the consequences, just some insistence that I can't do it. Perhaps this was confusing or frustrating for the player, but I found it incredibly realistic.
Uncertainty and Abandonment Issues
I've heard somewhere that OCD is, ultimately, a fear of uncertainty. As a result of this disorder, combined with trauma, I also have abandonment issues the way Basil does.
Even before the recital day, Basil's abandonment issues are prevalent. He clings to the group with the photo album, preserving his memories. He took photos of the things he didn't want to lose. After the recital day, Basil really did lose everything, and he was broken as a result of that.
I imagine this sort of thing was one of his regular worries, everyone abandoning him, Sunny in particular. And I can relate to that - one of my more common intrusive thoughts is others leaving me after they find out I've done something horrible. It makes you want to shut off from relationships, just to be safe - what if everyone leaves?
I think that 'what if' is what made Basil so attached to Sunny in the present day of the game. He wants to save Sunny, he wants to make things back to the way they were before, but at the same time, there's this uncertainty - Sunny is moving? Sunny is leaving? What will happen? What if everything gets worse?
This wasn't the easiest to write, but thank you for reading.
posting tiny snippets of fanfic until someone finds it interesting and i am motivated to finish it, part 2
warning: major omori spoilers, mentions of death.
[KEL MULTIVERSE 1 - 332]
Kel pulled out a small glowing tulip bud from his backpack, white, clear and crystalline, made of glass. It reflected the glow of the blue fire, but it also flickered with its own blue colour. Kel could almost see the universe held inside it, a calm sunset, four friends; then a cold graveyard, a delusional child.
That one was a fucking disaster. Again.
At least he now knew ‘The Truth’ for that Kel. Although, really, the killing of someone else always seemed to set off the chain of death.
Murderers, that’s what we all are, Kel thought to himself, rotating the glass.
Resisting the urge to smash it into pieces, he sighed, tossing it into the river. After all, he might have to fish all these out again sometime, so it would be worth trying to keep the functional ones around, but out of sight. He watched the glow dim as the flower sank into the acidic waves, like a lost ship taking its final breaths.
As he drifted off to sleep, Kel wondered how many crystalline flowers he had left. How much time he had left. The world closed in around his fear, where he would sleep through nightmares in numbed horror.
In these nightmares, he watched everyone die over and over, dead bodies being dragged to hiding places and graves being dug, weeping parents. He saw an echo of his past self relive the worlds again and again, a naive child who thought positivity would solve everything, banging at closed doors and crying quietly in a bathroom, breakdowns in front of five corpses. He saw only failure and husks, shells of humanity.
Happiness doesn’t work. Happiness stopped working.
Tonight, yet again, there was a girl with dark brown hair, clutching a stuffed toy, happy and innocent… a girl with faded pink dye in her hair, clutching her hands, empty inside… a girl with bright pink hair and green coloured contacts, gripping a bat, furious… a boy with blue hair and a beanie,... many more, standing around him, enclosing him… but they all had the same golden eyes, the ones that bore into him.
My name’s Aubrey. Who are you?
Hey. Who are you?
New kid, huh? Who are you, then?
I’m Rei. Who are you?
They repeated the questions, but he had no answer. He couldn’t speak, words failed him, so they encircled him like sharks, bats looming over his head, sky darkening, vision darkening…
Who have you become?
Kel turned in his sleep, covering his head as if to block something out.
Outside his mind, feeble glows pulsed synchronically at the bottom of the river, distress calls for dead universes.
through the looking glass, or understanding windows and their relation to colour theory in OMORI
WARNING: MAJOR OMORI SPOILERS. PLEASE PLAY THE GAME FOR YOURSELF IT IS BEAUTIFUL
CONTENT WARNING: REFERENCES TO SUICIDE, DEATH, LOSS, AND GRIEF
READING-THIS WARNING: ITS VERY LONG IM SORRY I AM INCAPABLE OF SHUTTING UP AND I ALSO GO IN TANGENTS ALL THE TIME
I feel as though people miss the smaller symbols in this game.
Obviously it's easy to look at, say, flowers throughout the game, or what Something and Stranger demonstrate, or maybe even mirrors and our understanding of reflection, but there's plenty of symbols that people don't look at or write about, because they feel less relevant. Symbols are easy to overlook when you're no longer studying English Lit.
But I am your certified Wet Rat, and I spend hours overthinking this game, so I'm going to talk about what windows represent in Omori, and how this relates to colour theory.
There are several colours that are designed to remind players of the truth, or at least hint toward it, and these are bright red (light), saturated blue, and monochrome. These are all somewhat relevant here, so I'll go through them, and explain their connections with windows.
Windows as a Foreshadower of Truth, but also Repression
Before we discuss the relevance of red light shining through windows in foreshadowing Truth, we have to understand why they stand out among the rest of the house.
To do this, let's discuss saturated blue.
Saturated blue is a very deliberate choice - we know this from Omocat herself - it is the colour of the Phobias, and Sunny's house during Phobia sequences, as well as Basil's boss fight. The use of saturation conveys intensity and fear, and there is a sense of impending failure - we cannot "beat" any of these boss fights by normal means, but instead are doomed to lose or wait until Mari consoles us. This blue is also deliberately not black - this somewhat disconnects these segments from the Truth, because the ultimate purpose of the Phobia bosses is to provide a comparison between Mari saving Sunny's life and Sunny ending hers. Within the Basil boss fight, more features are monochrome, which ties it more closely with the Truth. (Saturated blue is also the colour of Hellmari, but she's more relevant when I talk about Spirit Mari later down the line.) It's prevalent in the Deeper Well, but notably absent from many Black Space rooms, who choose to use solid monochrome or other colours to convey emotion. It still exists within Black Space despite this.
Red (light, specifically in windows) is symbolic of distortion, but it also foreshadows the Truth creeping into Sunny's life. I am talking about red light in particular - while red is carefully used in the final boss fight, Red Space, several areas of further Black Space and in the Red Hands, red has more complex meanings in this game, where it depends entirely on the other colours around it (red and black represents malicious intention, red and white is more closely tied to repression, and red standing out against the Dreamworld is tied to Truth).
It is designed to feel wrong, the same way the encroaching fog across vast forest feels wrong, and the deeper well's atmosphere feels wrong. This discomfort is very well-captured throughout the game, and the careful use of red contributes to this.
In several segments, red light streaming through a window is shown to represent repression of Truth. We know that the sky was not red when Mari was killed - it was late afternoon, with some light streaming through the trees - so, in some ways, the Truth has already been distorted, being shown as worse and more horrific than the actual events. This is likely a result of Sunny's repression.
There is one particular moment where this glowing red light represents repression. This occurs in the Hikikomori Route, if you wake Sunny up during the night. You see several horror sequences relevant to the truth, and the piano room lit with a red glow. Entering it reveals this...
I'll talk more about the symbolism of that particular window later, but we know that the piano is being repressed here. Instead of the pure red light, we see the combination of black and red - which we know represents malicious intent - showing how Sunny's repression of the Truth has become more powerful than Sunny himself, and Omori is now taking over his mind.
Windows as a Door to the Truth
During the Truth sequence, there are red windows in almost every room, aside from backstage-like areas. We know from the previous section that this foreshadows the Truth, and the increasing number of these windows brings it to the player's attention, standing out more than it did previously. The same glow is also found coming from the TV in the first room. Sunny is notably drawn to this glow, as is the player, and you are also required to interact with (which implies potentially entering) the window in the Hospital sequence to proceed.
To understand windows acting as doors, we need to talk about the sliding glass door.
The sliding glass door in Omori is both a window and a door - letting in the eerie red light, but also letting the player (and Sunny) access it and understand it for the first time. This makes it the ultimate foreshadower of Truth, and we must enter it in order to view the entirety of the Truth photo album.
Sunny never represses the sliding glass door, but will refuse to go outside until forced by his friends in Faraway visiting the Treehouse. In the real world, it is shaded over, making it impossible for the player to see through (save for a short Stranger encounter). This opaque nature is present in the Truth segment as well, except it is glowing red.
You can't see through it, but you can finally enter it.
This door leads us to the peak combination of our colour theory.
To the eyes, this first looks like a fade between red and purple, but the only possible relevance purple would have is its association with Mari.
This colour scheme is actually the result of a fade between red and saturated blue. Combining the colours of the Phobias, fear, as well as Mari's support and safety, and the day of the Phobias' creation; and the Truth, repression, and the fateful day of the recital. Although subtle, this is the game's big comparison, and the main purpose of mentioning the creation of the Phobias at all.
These two days are designed to compare Mari and Sunny, increasing his guilt as he remembers the way his sister generously saved his life, and remembers what he did to kill her.
Windows as a Symbol of Ascension
Monochrome is a key colour associated with Truth in Omori, and it does so in a relatively obviously. It is the colour of White Space, Black Space, Something, Stranger, and, notably, the colours of the photos that show the player the Truth. In this way, monochrome simultaneously represents repression of the Truth and the past; but also the desire to uncover it. Areas and characters that contain more black than they do white tend to represent truth, whereas the opposite tend to represent repression, save for portions of the Final Duet and the Hospital, where white represents acceptance. White also symbolises Sunny, shown in the pinwheels, and it has further meaning in the multiple flowers associated with it.
Spirit Mari is also associated with monochrome, her sprites existing in this colour. We contrast this to Hellmari, who is coloured in the saturated blue beforehand, and we can start to understand the mechanics of Headspace as a whole.
Despite Stranger's quote, Sunny, Basil and Mari are all split in halves, each half with different goals. Sunny, although he doesn't always know it, wants to seek the Truth; but Omori wants to repress it. Stranger wants to free the real world's Basil; but Headspace Basil is a representation of desire, the idea that everything is okay. In a similar way, Spirit Mari wants Sunny to seek forgiveness, and Hellmari is a hallucination of a Mari who would never forgive him.
I personally do not believe that Spirit Mari is Mari's actual spirit trying to communicate with Sunny - as much as that is a nice thought, and even though it is backed up with meaning of the White Egret Orchid, I choose to believe that Spirit Mari is Sunny's own desire for acceptance. As much as Sunny hates himself, the game is about seeking and forgiving yourself for what happened that day, and that requires this hidden desire, which is channeled through Mari.
The window above the piano room is found in several locations in Headspace. It is found in the first Black Space room, just above the first ever key you collect, and Mari is found hallucinated in front of it several times in the Real World. It is an important reminder of the real world, everything Sunny is leaving behind.
Spirit Mari also ascends through the this window during the North Lake sequence, and again during the Final Duet.
The whiteness of the area is highlighted with a light, pastel blue. Unlike the horror of saturation, pastel in-game represents peace and purity, being directly contrasted with each other. Pastel isn't symbolic of repression, although it is the main theme during the happier segments of Headspace. These particular colours - white and pastel blue - are also found in the Hospital, and in the final scene of the good ending. Pastel means acceptance, and it means there is no need to "saturate" the events of the recital day.
Here, the colour gradient, and Mari ascending through the window, are symbols of freedom. Sunny has accepted the Truth, and can now properly grieve his lost sister in peace. Simultaneously, you could argue Mari's spirit is finally free - she isn't tied down by Sunny's repression, and her ascending through the window is symbolic of finally entering the afterlife.
sorry for going so off-topic. as with most of my analyses, the idea came to me at 5am when i was half-asleep and i just had to write it out. lmaooooo.
posting tiny snippets of fanfic until people find it interesting but remember this is just a segment of a wider multiverse, part 6
content warning: description designed to remind reader of an in-game jumpscare
[MARI - 25]
“I’m going out,” Mari’s mother yelled from the living room. Mari made no effort to reply.
Her mother leaving meant the knocking would start up again, like someone was watching her house just to target Mari.
It scared her.
The Puppeteer whispered things that the person might do.
It didn’t help.
Mari sighed, and leaned back on her bed. The knocking started up again.
“Open the door.”
It was Sunny’s voice. He looked at her forcefully. She turned away from him, staring at the wall.
He is with Basil.
“Open the door,” he repeated.
Mari lay down. Maybe she could will the knocking away.
He isn’t supposed to be here.
“Open the door.”
She covered her head with a pillow. She knew what was going to happen.
Sunny angrily threw his halo on the ground.
Suddenly, Sunny’s voice distorted, and he let out a piercing shriek. Mari froze, burying herself more, squeezing her eyes shut. Sunny kept shrieking, screaming, like he was a child throwing a tantrum, he wouldn’t shut up, he wouldn’t shut up, he wouldn’t shut up. Mari could see his snapped neck and twisted features, mouth gaping open to eat her, eyes empty, empty, empty, begging, wailing…
Sunny went dead silent.
Mari opened her eyes. She was in front of the door, and it was open.
I didn’t do that.
“Oh-oh-oh my gosh! M-Mari! It’s me! Aubrey? Do you remember me?”
A short, brown-haired girl beamed. She was wearing a pink shirt and a long, beige skirt, clutching her fingers together. Her eyes were shining, like she’d seen a present or a shiny toy. She looked simple.
This isn’t Aubrey, Mari thought. Aubrey was shorter, and carried a stuffed toy. Aubrey…
Aubrey’s real features had escaped her mind. But this wasn’t Aubrey.
“I didn’t expect you to open the door!”
I didn’t open it.
i posted like a tiny bit to ao3
considering that the majority of this fic isn't anywhere near done i can't promise regular updates but i hope this... interests people??
next update will be when i finish the mari au
if i had a dollar for every time there was an older sister of a brother, of whom one of his names has 'Ori' in it, called Mari in an RPGmaker indie horror game where Mari is dead, I would have two dollars.
which is actually really weird. really really weird????
I think an Omori 2 staring Basil would fall into the same trap as Subnautica (2) below zero.
Subnautica Below Zero is an awesome game! IF it would have been the first. It is literally smaller in map size and less scarier in nearly every way.
An Omori 2 might find itself in the shadow of the Original, in many aspects.
Omori 2, if it even comes to exist (hope not), might honestly ruin the franchise as a whole. Although the team seems to be milking what they can, with merch and the manga, so it's still relatively popular.
I can see, what, a few functional (?) possibilies:
Your Basil idea could work. I wouldn't trust it unless all assets were completely rewritten, and everything was entirely changed, because if not, it demonstrates a very poor understanding of trauma. I can't really stand people who try to give Basil or anyone else a White Space, it just misses the point of representing dissociation and repression. Different characters value different things, and their trauma manifests differently. Even as minor things as people assuming Basil can actually see Sunny's Something and isn't viewing a different hallucination are incredibly and dangerously damaging.
A potential Mari AU might work, but it would have the same problem. It would also need to have better twists or other convoluted, since the original game's twist was so central to its current fandom.
I really hope that Omori 2 never exists, genuinely. As much as I love the original game, its irreplaceability is key to its charm.
trans dreamscape sunny (PtA), or discussing how to properly change a protagonist to an antagonist
SPOILER WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS SPOILS ALL OF DREAMSCAPE UP TO CHAPTER 15!!! YES THERES A NEW CHAPTER!! GO READ IT!! NOW
I also spoil Omori, Danganronpa 2/Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc and the School for Good and Evil in my discussions. If you haven't read/seen these, I've tried to explain them enough so that they are understandable without needing to.
CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSIONS OF ABUSE AND IMPLIED SUICIDE
Strap in, this one is long.
Throughout Dreamscape, we can slowly see Sunny morph from the protagonist to the antagonist. Perhaps this is most prevalent in the latest Chapter - but really, it's been happening all along, and we just didn't notice it.
This isn't the most common trope, and when it does exist, it often isn't written well. Naturally, an author wants a reader to sympathise when their protagonist, follow them on their goals, and feel their emotions, which means they slip into writing a naïve antagonist, or some similar trait that downplays the villainous one.
While this seems obviously good from a reader standpoint - you get to suffer just a bit less - it makes for relatively repetitive writing. Every good guy has to remain good, regardless of the events that occur, even in potentially illogical situations, they remain chained to an obsessive moral compass.
A proper transition from a protagonist to an antagonist, regardless of whether their goals remain relatively the same or completely change, is a wholehearted switch in mindset and understanding of self.
I personally love this trope, I have an entire anime planned around manipulating the reader (as usual, it sits in my brain and I do nothing with it), and I think Dreamscape is maybe one of the best examples of this trope I've seen yet.
First, some slight historical backstory that I feel is relevant. There are several theories as to why the concept of Good vs Evil exists, and it's a big discussion within philosophy. Are human morals innate, or taught? Some speculate religion started this, but some believe morals were taught within society, and some think they were innate to humanity, logically formed from evolutionary group survival.
In classic Greek tragedies, the "hero" exists as a tragic hero with a fatal flaw, often existing as the antagonist to their own story. These acted as moral warnings for their audience, an understanding of how a single villainous trait can cause mass death and destruction. Here we can see the existence of a protagonist and antagonist within the same character, greying out their moral compass.
As time goes on, we begin to understand that humanity itself is morally grey, artists will continue to write this into story. Good works can make us question morality itself, tackling loopholes in our understanding of the world.
why do characters make that transition?
There are several understandings a protagonist can make in order to transition to an antagonist, and typically it's a change in their understanding of self. Whereas protagonists are often fighting against a major power or the world around them, to become an antagonist means to discover something about yourself that likens you to evil.
For example, in The School for Good and Evil, we see Sophie, who's demonstrated to us that she is 'Good' over the opening chapters, immediately reject her set role as "Evil". With the status as "protagonist and antagonist" being known to the characters, it allows them to react to their own true nature and respond accordingly.
In the second book, Sophie attempts to reject her status as antagonist yet again, only to be abused into embracing it and setting out (with her shitty wimp husband) to destroy morality itself. Here, Sophie comes to a realisation about her own existence - her mother was never truly a good person, but rather, a horrible woman who abused magic to have a child with her father. Sophie learns she was an unwanted child from the beginning, and her mother was never the idol Sophie needed her to be.
In the Despair Arc of Danganronpa, Hajime Hinata is talentless in a world where talent means everything. He hates this about himself, and chooses to undergo human experimentation in order to feel good enough about himself. During this, he completely loses his personality, and becomes a weapon of a human who is used to completely destroy the world - Izuru Kamukura.
Unfortunately, Danganronpa 2 falls Hajime into the naïve antagonist trope at the end, where he is unknowing of everything his alter ego did to the world. As is the nature of these tropes, the ending implies him and the group attempting to fix everything they broke with the second chance at life they were given.
As an antagonist mutates, a protagonist must also develop to move the plot forward. In the School for Good and Evil, this is Agatha, who must learn to embrace her "set" role as princess; and as a doomed narrative, the Despair Arc has no true protagonist, since no-one was ever going to win. Instead, Hajime himself redeems his character in the second game, going against Izuru Kamukura.
In both of these examples, the characters discover or inherently have a self-loathing trait, which is the trait that they embrace when they become "evil". They try to change this, but either get more than what they ask for, or the truth comes out eventually.
why is Sunny a good character to abuse this for?
Perhaps the main reason why Sunny is a good character to use the protagonist to antagonist transition is because this exists in the original game, where Omori morphs into the ultimate antagonist, from the original "good guy" he was at the beginning.
Being in a game format, Omori has the ability to win, which differs it from the previous examples. SGE has no player choice in the events, and you can't really "lose" Danganronpa 2, at least not in the way where the protagonist-to-antagonist wins the scenario.
However, Omori's goals can be completely understood and also succeed. I wrote about this in my analysis of the game endings, Omori is acting as any brain does under that amount of pressure - despite being counter-intuitive, it is a self-protective measure. You can understand why he has become the final boss, why he does the things he does, because he's a reflection of severe trauma and guilt.
Like the previous examples, Omori is not only inherently self-loathing, but the personification of self-hate. He isn't the manifestation of everything Sunny hates about himself, but rather, the manifestation of what Sunny could be, who loathes the real Sunny for everything he did.
Sunny himself, however, is the protagonist who takes Omori's place, as the player loses touch with Omori's goals. This leaves him open for further destruction of mental state. I've always liked the concept of headspace "coming back", or existing in a different form that allows Sunny to make that antagonist transition.
Well, here we are.
why does Dreamscape do this well?
Within Dreamscape, Sunny's goals were made somewhat known to the reader, but the extent of them isn't until the most recent chapter - where we also discover a major player into why he wants this, which is his father's physical and emotional abuse, all because he isn't Mari, and isn't perfect.
It's true that the existence of "reviving Mari" has been known to the reader since about the beginning. You can read between the lines in the first chapter and understand what he wants from there, but the narrative tricks you into believing Sunny simply wants to apologise to Mari, when in reality, that wasn't his goal at all.
Over time, we have seen a slow shift in the way narrative perspective is used in the fic, which subtly foreshadowed Sunny's transition. As the reader became less and less able to empathise with Sunny's goals, we lost the ability to see the world from his perspective, and understand his thoughts and feelings. Sunny is unreachable - both by the other character perspectives, but also the reader themself.
It was possible to see the signs that Mari would take over Sunny's body, but I falsely believed that this would be from Mari's control alone, not considering the idea that Sunny might have wanted this all along. The reveal about Sunny's father was a jaw-drop - but it made sense within the context of the narrative.
Hero exists as the current "protagonist", at least to some extent, but Aubrey-Kel-Basil also exist as a hero, when composite. Both parties have different purposes for wanting to save/destroy Sunny - Hero has to hold up his deal with Candace (although I believe his goals are changing, to what I'm not sure), whereas the Sunny Simp Squad just want their friend back, regretting their neglect of him.
Now, where is this going to lead us? Sunny/Mari is likely going to become a "main boss" of some sort, and the Sunny Simp Squad are in the process of trying to shut down the virus from inside the game. However, considering the fact that we are barely halfway through the fic, the chances of the goals of the characters changing are incredibly high.
There's been some implication that Basil is the focus of Arc 3, which possibly changes where Arc 2 is going to end. Hero is in an incredibly unstable state at the moment, and due to his attachment to Mari, he might genuinely slip into a supporting antagonist - it comes down to whether or not his morals and care for Sunny outweigh his love for Mari, and I'm starting to think they don't.
didya like my trans joke in the title?
omori dreamscape au by @omoriboii, tis very good.
anyyyywayyy, song i wrote this to: villain by Teniwoha
"XとかYとか~", such an iconic gender song. i felt the title and trans themes were fitting for this analysis.
I wrote something about my experiences with OCD from Mari's lens because I need that in my life apparently.
Right, now that's finished, I can finally get onto schoolwork and shit.
oh right i forgot i wrote a chapter 2 to this
negative focuses on more personal experiences of OCD
i think that the possibility of a Mari with OCD isn't too far-fetched. lots of people only ever write or portray her as perfect, which isn't true, but Sunny doesn't provide enough perspective on what Mari was actually like and apparently half the fandom can't look past his idea of her.
i was interested in writing an analysis exploring the way Mari is portrayed but i think i sorta explained what i wanted to say in this analysis exploring angry dead women. it's just fascinating to me that the fandom falls into the same trap that Sunny fell into, some weird desire for the perfect older sister.
I wrote something about my experiences with OCD from Mari's lens because I need that in my life apparently.
Right, now that's finished, I can finally get onto schoolwork and shit.
I was really interested in this perspective on the Final Duet and wanted to talk about it a little. I haven't seen a lot of critical takes on this scene, since I (like many people) were too busy crying to critique it, but I think this is well-written.
I agree with some things, but I also have some criticisms of your criticisms (lol). Hopefully my points come together in a way that makes sense to everyone.
While I agree the visuals are relatively bland and non-sequential, leaving gaps in our understanding of the formation of friendship group (which is frankly pathetic and absolutely should've been explored at least in the game's Headspace), I also don't think it's appropriate to dissociate and analyse these slides without talking about the significance of the Final Duet piece. The PowerPoint slides are not and should not be made the focus of this portion of the game, even though many people in the fanbase do ostensibly shower said slides in gold stars.
Music sheets have been a symbol in this game since the barn in Cattail Field. I do think that the duet itself has its criticisms (although its simplicity is hopefully intentional?), and the way that music as a symbol is handled in Omori is very abrupt and not well intertwined with the narrative; but I can't agree with the choice to criticise only the visuals of the game without mentioning the audio. It not only doesn't properly capture the scene, but also limits your ability to analyse it.
With regards to your discussions of Sunny being a "blank slate"- we have to recognise that a lot of this game is designed for audience projection. Inherently speaking, the audience isn't going to forgive Sunny if they don't project onto him to some extent, so like a lot of recent media protagonists, Sunny acts as a player stand-in. Omocat takes this way too far, and Sunny's character does become entirely inferential, forcing us to understand him from Headspace and the way characters speak around him. While the idea of exploring personality from a character's dreams can be done very interestingly (Yume Nikki and subsequent fangames are a good example), this idea clashes with Omori itself - Omori, to some extent, cannot be an exploration of friendships and relationships when one character is a void waiting for player insertion.
Mari is absolutely nothing but a blank slate, and now the fandom also thinks she's Jesus. She's criminally underexplored in, like, a physically painful way.
I believe you've misinterpreted the images of Mari and Sunny hugging, and the change to Sunny alone (although I recognise that I could entirely be looking into it too much). These scenes aren't supposed to contrast when Mari was dead and when Mari was alive, rather, to contrast the act of Mari saving Sunny's life and him ending hers. This juxtaposition is not highlighted enough in the game (merely referenced in the Lost Library), but it's a contrast that I think should be at the forefront of the game's Truth sequence, instead of floating vaguely in the background. For some godforsaken reason, references to the Phobias and the day of their creation are basically absent from the ending of the game, which means major themes of guilt and regret are wasted. It makes the Phobias feel so irrelevant, which is frustrating.
Omori isn't really a representation of severe depression, he's moreso a manifestation of the idea that repression is the only solution. I actually don't think the ending of the game suggests Sunny is cured at all, but he's realised that he does deserve to live, despite everything he's done. It's not a representation of healing from trauma, it's like taking a feeble first step back from the ledge.
I really do give Omocat a lot of slack, here - personally I think a lot of the game's complexity is inferred entirely by the fanbase, an accident on the team's part. I definitely fall into that rabbithole when I write about it, because I want to believe things have meaning. So does everyone, I think.
this got waayyyy too long i'm sorry
I'm gonna be honest - along with OMORI pressuring the player into choosing the good ending lest Sunny kills himself, the whole DUET cutscene doesn't strike me as anything but very blatant emotional manipulation either. Every mention of it I saw was followed by fans talking at length about how thoroughly devastated they were left by that moment, but if you look past the Feels and focus on the Reals, what is there to be devastated about, really?
The (supposed) purpose of the cutscene is to show Sunny placating his depression by recalling the good times he had with Mari and his friends... except that is exactly what he's been doing via Basil's photo album throughout the entire game. That's what Memory Lane, which you have to go through right before the final boss, was there for. And just like the aforementioned two, the good times showcased in DUET are glurgy, meaningless fluff. They don't tell you anything new about the characters and they don't show them helping each other through thick and thin as people you could call "real" friends are supposed to. The fact that the cutscene itself looks like a PowerPoint slideshow or something you could theoretically cook up in Windows Movie Maker doesn't help, especially if you remove the music track altogether.
I think one of my "favorite" moments is Sunny and Mari meeting Kel and Hero, which is represented by the latter two literally popping out of thin air
You'd think that as a story with the power of friendship as one of its central themes, the game would show how the characters became friends in the first place and what makes them gel together, but no. This is all you get.
It's the same thing with Aubrey and Basil. The gang meets Aubrey for the first time while she's crying on the sidewalk before the game cuts to her introducing Basil to them. Was them comforting Aubrey over her lost shoe enough for her to befriend them? How exactly did she and Basil meet? I dunno, you tell me! Think about the plot so the writer won't have to!
So emotional. So peak. Two hundred thousand dollars was spent on this.
Speaking of Sunny and Mari, the cutscene's Peakest™ moment is the smash cut from a bright shot of Mari embracing a younger Sunny to a gloomier shot of the older Sunny sitting there all alone and morose, which delivers the message with all the subtlety of a nuclear bomb explosion
she passed on The Emo to him. truely devastating. also why do they both look malnourished. what the hell is this artstyle
Yes, game. I get it. The grass was greener when Mari was alive. That's roughly her gravestone's epitaph. What is the point of this? What am I supposed to cry about?
That brings me to what I believe is the main problem with DUET, and a problem with the game itself as well - the story doesn't put in any real effort to flesh out the characters you're supposed to feel bad for, yet expects you to feel bad for them anyway. Even after playing the entire 25 hours of this game, I don't know anything about Sunny, nor can I recall anything noteworthy about him except from him calling lemons "oragnes". I don't know anything about who Mari really was except that she's treated by the narrative as if she was Jesus in the flesh. They're not characters - they're effectively cardboard cutouts, and I have no idea why the game's imploring me to shed tears over two cardboard cutouts.
The cherry on top is Omori straight-up vanishing after the cutscene ends. One could argue that Sunny's victory was temporary, but that's not indicated - Omori seems to actually vanish once and for all after the game's events, and the main menu even features Sunny himself as opposed to Omori to mark the change. Because we all know that severe depression can be treated by thinking happy thoughts, right? tfw the powerpoint slideshow was so cringe that even the depression decided to peace out
Maybe I wouldn't have been as harsh if the story had Mari kill herself instead of it being a cover-up for manslaughter. Maybe then I'd have been able to see the tragedy. But given the context of the plot twist, all I can see is a coward and a liar soothing his well-earned guilt over committing a serious crime and lying about it in the most laughably melodramatic fashion possible.
tossing around the idea of a heromari spiderverse au...
mostly because you could very easily make hero miles and make mari gwen and keep most things the same, lmao.
and i'm a heromari guy and i love them so much please kiss heromari.
(spiderverse and omori spoilers, under the cut, obviously)
because i'm not an artist, but rather, a nerd, i want to explore things based on what will better enhance or explore character development/arcs.
the addition of siblings would really change the spiderverse series, i think. imagine the implications of gwen's choice to leave her father in the second film if she had a younger brother who admires and loves her waiting for her at home. sunny could even be (overtly or secretly) obsessed with spiderwoman, increasing tension in the home.
in a similar way, it'd be interesting to see the conflict caused in sunny's family if sunny's mom died. we know the family becomes completely shaken after mari's death, and if we take their father's choice to abandon the family as a habit, watching him struggle to pull the strings together after the loss of their mom would pressure his character more. this could even trap him further into his "duty" to catch spiderwoman.
figuring out who gwen's peter parker would be is difficult, but i've decided on hero. in fact, it would be interesting to explore how a gwen-esque character would cope with the having miles in his position in her universe, and needing to reconcile with this idea that he is alive, but he is not the same. giving mari restraint despite the desire to see "her hero" again would also be very interesting to explore.
also MAYBE i just wanna see mari drawn in the gwen watercolour style. i wanna kiss her. leave me alone.
miles honestly feels like the kel sibling, so i'd prefer to just have him be hero with kel characteristics. however, there is more to it than just that - hero's character would inhibit the story of spiderverse at multiple points, because of his maturity, so he needs kel's immaturity to choose to take particular actions. if you need an example, miles' choice to enter the portal after gwen was an impulsive, emotional decision, which simply doesn't fit hero's character.
this scene was absolutely gorgeous btw. i can't believe people don't talk about it, the upside down scene was amazing but THIS. THIS. and sorry for awful quality
there are several aspects to miles' character that mimic hero's personality. the pining for gwen and miles' surprise when he sees her again could easily fit into hero's character. although implied in the original movie, having hero as a character could bring miles' acceptance that he might never see his friends again to the forefront. (although the desire to study physics could replace hero's desire to be a chef in the original game, to smoothen out the story.)
i'm not sure how to input kel or basil, but aubrey would make a good peni parker, i think.
Foreshadowing in Omori and its manga: a critique
I'm back again, although it's been a while since I've written anything. I'm waiting on more Dreamscape chapters to formulate an analysis on Mari.
Omori Spoilers and Omori Manga Spoilers under the cut
Omori has poor foreshadowing, in the manga and the game, but for different reasons. And I can tell from one chapter.
Firstly, a rundown on the narrative device itself - foreshadowing provides an advance hint toward the events of the story. It's a very common device, but it's actually relatively difficult to do well. There's a very fine line between too obvious and too subtle, especially with the expectation of twists.
Foreshadowing in these types of psychological horror games tends to be very subtle, take Doki Doki as an example, and further foreshadowing in games like Yume Nikki is so subtle that the reality of the world isn't even evident at all. While this can be frustrating for the players, it's actually incredibly important, allowing you to theorise and discuss.
In the original Omori game, foreshadowing was often too abstract and subtle to be properly understood by a player - and this was fundamentally because there foreshadowing was so widespread, it overwhelms the player as they attempt to discover the truth.
Let me cite an example. Daddy Long-Legs belongs to a group I'll call the "Truth creatures" - characters like Stranger, the various Somethings, Hellmari, Phobias etc. He exists in a portion of Pyrefly Forest which foreshadows the truth of Headspace. But he's purposeless as a character otherwise, he only appears in a corner of Black Space 2 that is practically inaccessible to those on the Truth route. Why would you introduce a new character, one who becomes irrelevant, to foreshadow a part of the game that would be far better foreshadowed by Stranger? Someone who is actually relevant? This convoluted choice feels unnecessary, adding characters for the sake of subtlety.
In a similar way, the Somethings, Phobia bosses and Hellmari are loosely linked, and it's not quite explicit where each comes from and the relevance of each to the truth. Where's the distinction between the Mari Something and the others? Where does the game show me an explicit difference between the formation of Something and the formation of the Phobias? Why aren't Hellmari and Something more related, considering the events that formed them? A better foreshadower would be able to accurately make these distinctions, leading to overall better contrast between the recital day and the formation of the Phobias.
This is also incredibly obvious in Black Space, where the foreshadowing and symbolism ramps up. I will say it here, there is no way anyone will ever understand the purpose and analysis of every single area, object and NPC in Black Space. As a result, while it feels magnificent, there's so much that feels pointless, as well. This worked in Yume Nikki because it is very focused on this premise of "no real truth", but since Omori has a real truth and a real reason for Black Space's existence, it makes so many objects and areas feel pointless to analyse and overthink. Again, it's this insistence on adding things upon things to make foreshadowing far too abstract and impossible to understand.
Music and its importance to the truth was also very poorly foreshadowed. While I can understand, from a repression perspective, why Mari playing the piano or Sunny playing the violin was only very very subtly foreshadowed in the music itself, there is a point where you do need to make it obvious to the players, otherwise it feels like this idea of Sunny playing the violin is just thrown onto the players with no real interrelation. Similarly, Mari's character was far too hidden, where it isn't evident at all that Mari is a human with emotions - she's portrayed as a God the entire game. Again, too much subtlety has led to story beats feeling out-of-place and underrepresented.
However, in the manga, foreshadowing makes events very obvious to the reader, making me question the goals of this manga at all - are you really going to introduce Omori to new audiences in such a rushed and evident way? Making everything obvious and clear, when foreshadowing was such a key element to the original game? The whole point of the twist was it was completely unexpected!!
Immediately as we get into the manga, it's already obvious that Mari and violins are relevant to the truth. I wouldn't be surprised if the dialogue that Mari speaks during the Hellmari sequence is related to the argument between Mari and Sunny on the recital day, and I would be so disappointed if they chose to immediately out key dialogue that was not present in the original game.
Furthermore, why on Earth would you immediately reveal the hidden part of Mari's character in the first chapter? Mari is supposed to be perfect, at least in Sunny's mind. The game absolutely goes too far with this - it was a fundamental failure to have no dialogue in the Truth segment, as it led to so many misinterpretations of Mari as a character - but you choose to reveal her anger and humanity now???? NOT LATER??? NOT LIKE A BIT LATER?? SO WE CAN PERCIEVE HER AS PERFECT??
I'm not even going to get into the mischaracterisation of Aubrey, portraying her as evil and horrible without the very necessary exploration of how her relationship with Kel influences her actions.
I want to have faith in the manga. I want to enjoy it, but, just, the pacing and foreshadowing is already off. I'm worried. At least the horror art is gorgeous.
a summary of this analysis. HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MESS UP FORESHADOWING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS??
song i listened to while writing
i've been obsessed with the beef recently, it's so funny.