The first hidden in a wardrobe in the Checkered Tile Path and the second (a ghost of Madotsuki) in Mini Hell. Themes of identity- you can find two copies of Madotsuki in the game. Others say the falling man event is foreshadowing or even Madotsuki herself falling. Some say we're simply another layer deep in the dream world (this is shown to be something that occurs in the game). So what does it mean? There (once again) is speculation on this. Credits roll as two jellyfish swim across the screen. The end of the game is a sad one- after collecting all 25 effects and dropping them off in the Nexus (dream world) Madotsuki goes to her balcony and jumps off. There is also imagery of uteri on the 'Infinite Road'. A pregnancy would also link to the Waiting Rooms in the Mall. This links to the grabbing hands- it could be the baby grabbing or an indication of sex. Their big bellies have connotations of pregnancy. In the 'Footprint Path' there are multiple large looking creatures that appear to have been decapitated. Like I've mentioned multiple times throughout this thread, there is phallic imagery throughout the game- hinting at a much darker subplot- but it could also be connected to our protagonist's fear of pregnancy. Exploring the mall and the small 'waiting room' area, you meet many other NPCs who are all distorted- with red liquid pouring out of them, the sounds of a heart beating and being generally afraid of Madotsuki (without any effects equipped) could suggest they are the victims of this violent accident. This could be indicative of music therapy, or something our protagonist enjoyed before. In one of the worlds (called the 'Mall') you can enter a waiting room where you receive the flute effect. It could be that she was the one who died and that Madotsuki is dealing with the grief and trauma from that (survivor's guilt, if you will), or Monoko is a visual vessel for showing the player what Madotsuki went through. When the stoplight is used in the Monochrome Desert, one of the NPCs (Monoko) will change from a normal looking girl to a deformed one with wounds on her body and multiple arms bent backwards. It is here that you collect the 'stoplight' effect. In the Dense Woods B, you can find a dead man in the middle of the road. The connotations of FACE are widely debated, however my theory is that the flashing and pulsing nature suggests shock and the face inside the image could be the person who caused the accident, or the victim in the dense woods. There is also an 'event' in which Madotsuki has her head chopped off resulting in her head shuffling along the ground- there is also an official effect called 'severed'. There are multiple incidents of dismemberment and potentially phallic imagery (however that leads into a much darker theory which I won't get into here). There are many violent events such as Uboa's event and the FACE event. It can be used to kill and scare certain NPCs. One of the many effects you can collect in the game is the knife. Eyes often follow the character as they move across the screen. These body parts are completely harmless, but their reoccurrence is something to make note of. They eyes are often bloody and the arms are often making a gripping motion. PICTURES FOR VISUAL REFERENCE 1) Body partsД«ody parts such as eyes, lips, arms and legs appear regularly through the worlds in YN. This turned out to be way longer than I thought, but please read. My theory is that Madotsuki was impacted by a violent event in her past that led her to become afraid of the outside world. This theory is a well known one, but it's very vague and so I want to expand on the theory with evidence. I personally subscribe to the 'body horror' theory- this theory takes a look at the violence in Yume Nikki and how it affects our main character. In her dreams we see a whole number of interesting rooms, sprites and events. The only gameplay is going to sleep and exploring her dreams. Our main (and only) character is a girl called Madotsuki who is a social recluse. I love Yume Nikki- it got me into music design and pixel art but onto the theory:

Yume nikki madotsuki nendroid