- It was shown in the second light novel that Ayano and Takane were at the very least, acquaintances, and the Yuukei Yesterday pv portrays Shintaro, Ayano, Haruka, and Takane as hanging out like friends. Not to mention how Kenjirou, Ayano's father, was her homeroom teacher.
- Also, the scene where Ayano was crying in an empty classroom was implied to have happened when they were still in middle school (the seifuku gives it away, as the uniform for high school students — what she was wearing during the instrumental in the middle of the pv — is very different). We learn that she had committed suicide in her freshman year... This could imply that Shintaro suspected something for quite some time, and the guilt of not being able to do anything until Ayano took her own life was what pushed him into giving up on school.
- The anime and the fifth novel firmly confirms that Ayano and Shintaro attended at the very least the first semester of their freshman year together with Haruka and Takane.
- The PV for Ayano's Happiness Theory, has her finding the records of the experiments on Haruka and Takane and looking horrified, though how directly they relate to the suicide is unclear.
- By the Light Novels, she was attempting to contact the Heat Haze in order to get an eye power herself to save her family but didn't meet the requirement of dying in a pair
- Expanded upon and confirmed by the anime; she killed herself during a conversation between her and the snake possessing her father, to gain an eye power and purposely not come back, thereby ruining his plan - and reasoning that then there's no reason to harm Takane, Haruka or her siblings, since carrying out a plan that won't succeed is an exercise in futility.
The lyrics "There's something unique, unusual about me; | I've disguised it as common, but it's always troubled me" could refer to his history of abuse and "One day - feels like it's been ten years now - a "monster" spoke to me, | Gulped down my heart, and said "Keep on lying!"" could be referring to Azami's "help".
- The PV for Ayano's Happiness theory gives further evidence, when showing the pasts of the Orphan Trio, Kano is slumped against a wall, clearly beaten.
- Confirmed as per the MekakuCity Records booklet, which has details on their past. Kano was abused by his mentally unstable mother, and he wanted to hide the scars so no one would talk bad about her.
The repeating display of August 15 and Azami's presence suggest that Black is caught in the Kagerou Days time loop. All of the time loop imagery and lyrics have Black. Red says that she's gone, but he says he wishes he could go back to see her before she was gone. Most notably, however, he says "the days I hid out of shame" — past tense. Black says he'll "keep to yesterday's pace" and "embrace the hurt past" and "have a dream I won't wake up from." They're both obsessed with the past, but only Black is obsessed with reliving it. We know that Red will move past August 15th — that's the day he leaves home and meets the members of the Mekakushi Dan, so he can't be talking with everyone like that unless time is moving forward. Red has no reason to keep looping, because he's started to move past her death.
But with that in mind, the red Shintaro's death (or very likely death, since he was shot in the head) raises questions. If the black Shintaro dies, he can loop again, but the red Shintaro appears later in the song. If Ayano sees his eventual death before it happens, looking forward from her place in the past before her death, then the inconsistency is solved.
At the end, as the black Shintaro is sitting with Azami, ready to loop again, the red Shintaro walks past them. Note that, however, the imagery suggests that they are traveling back in time, suggesting that the red Shintaro is doing the same thing: he will some day use his own eye to look back in time. At this point, in the class room Ayano is shown with red eyes — she's using an eye power for something. Kisaragi Attention suggests that red eyes are a sign that a person is aware of and consciously activating their ability, not that red eyes are necessary for the ability to work. Marry, meanwhile, knows about her power as a Medusa descendant and believes it's always on, so her eyes are always red. The red Shintaro not having red eyes doesn't show that he's not using an ability.
So Ayano is looking forward just as the red Shintaro is looking backward, letting their eyes meet. Given that we know he'll die in the future, this is presumably an effort to save him before either of them die. If she was looking forward, she would know what he'll say and could react at the right times; if he was looking backward, he could react to what she said, because it's already happened. Ayano says "I died, I'm sorry," suggesting that she knows about her own future death. The black Shintaro, looking back at that time, is shown running away from her as the red Shintaro is shown moving toward her. The black Shintaro pleads her not to go but the red Shintaro smiles, showing that he's grown to accept her death. His eyes are red not because he's given a power, but because he's aware of it and accepted it, just like the end of Kisaragi Attention. Of course, she's also shown giving him her scarf. The red Shintaro might have *two* powers now; we don't know yet.
At the end, it cuts to black Shintaro, back on his bed on August 15th. He hasn't accepted her death yet himself, but he's seen a future or alternative version of himself do it. This might mark the end of the Kagerou Days time loop, when black Shintaro rejects the loop and starts to move forward in time again. The question, then, is where black Shintaro fits into the rest of the story. Is the Shintaro of the rest of the story this Shintaro, after he's learned that he'll one day leave the time loop and join the Mekakushi Dan and move past her death, or is black Shintaro in an entirely different timeline?
If he's had "hindsight eyes" all along, though, this makes his two years as a hikkikomori worse than they first seemed. He doesn't have the red eyes yet, so he couldn't consciously control it, which suggests he's spent the last two years having random flashes of her before her death plus his own memories.
- Confirmed for the anime as he was able to see previous timelines.
- Jossed. Her eye power was derived from her family's emotional treatment of her, being the daughter of her rich father's mistress.
- Jossed. Jin has confirmed it to be Kuroha.
- "Haruka and Takene were creating a shooting video game for their school festival. When Haruka was designing the characters, he used Takene as a modeland created Headphone actor.... they tried to delete the game (thus the events in this song) but then Takene and Haruka's disease killed them, and then Her sensei transferred their consiousness to their Avatars from the game." - JinkoUTAU123
- Pretty much confirmed by the light novels and the manga.
- Expanded upon in the anime; Headphone Actor was indeed a video game designed by Takane and Haruka, but the events of the actual song itself are heavily implied to be Takane's experience inside the Daze, since it fits the description of being a self-tailored Ironic Hell, and during Episode 7, we see her standing over the destroyed city - as described by Headphone Actor - while the same music that played in Hibiya's version of the Daze plays, and Azami appears.
- All versions of the story imply that neither Haruka's nor Takane's deaths were due to their illnesses, but due to Kenjirou's snake.
- There are many theories involving Kano knowing about the time looping, and about him plotting something on his own, but what could he be planning? Maybe he resents Shintaro and blames him for Ayano's death. If he knows about the time looping, maybe he's trying to orchestrate a route where it's only Shintaro who dies.
- Jossed. The novels show that, while Kano was angry at Shintaro immediately after Ayano's death, he thinks Shintaro is a good person and doesn't actually hate him.
- In Yobanashi Deceive, we see a female Kano. The whole song is about how 'he' is always lying and at one point 'he' even says no one can see through 'him'.
- There is a likely chance Kenjiro is aware of Shintaro's existence either through Ayano or Takane and Haruka. Isn't it a weird coincidence that he happens to be teaching his sister. I'm sure Kenjirou has some idea that she is related to the Kagerou Daze incident.
- This is based on his character page's quote about his exhaustion despite how much sleep he gets. It might because he overworking unconsciously through his snake's actions. He possibly doesn't even remember what he did with Haruka and Takane.
- Confirmed. The snake said in both the anime and novels that Kenjirou is not aware of the snake's actions.
- It is mentioned somewhere that Kenjirou is possessed by his snake. Kuroha seems to be so far the only manifestation of a snake with individualistic thoughts/actions (other than possobly Kano's, if Yobanshi Deceive implies anything). He might have been using Kenijrio as a way to break away from his dependent form (possibly creating Konoha as another vessel) and use it to gather all Eye-power possessed users so he can kill them.
- Confirmed. Kuroha is the result of Kenjirou's snake taking control of Konoha's body, and using it to slaughter everyone else.
- At this point, we know that two people have die on August 15th in order to open the Haze. Therefore, both Hibiya and Hiyori had to have died to have been in the Haze together. We also know that Kenjirou killed Takane and Haruka in an effort to open the portal to the Haze 2 years ago. So, let's get this straight: Kenjiro knows how to open the portal, and has proven himself more than capable murder in the past. He failed in his goals last time; now two children literally arrive on his doorstep a few days before August 15th, and they also happen to die on that exact date. Coincidence?
- Kido is the (illegitimate) daughter of the head of a very rich, very traditional family; she has an older sister who was lost to the Heat Haze when her father committed Pater Familicide - which itself shows up in PMMM, and she has green hair. Also, the story is set 20 Minutes into the Future as well (in the anime, due to being made by SHAFT too). The reason why she has a different last name is because her 'family' called her by her mother's name, exacerbating the isolation she felt, leading to her receiving the Concealment Eye Ability.
- "Kido - if you want to stop Kuroha from killing everyone, you have the power to do so. Just form a contract with me!" /人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\
- In Children Record, she was the only one who didn't have red eyes, a key factor for those with eye powers. Is it because she is in a computer? Well, her eye power is that she is immortal through the internet (like how Shintaro received his email). Almost everything on the internet is immortal (no matter what you do, there is always a trace of it. ALWAYS.). I think Kenjirou had been using Takane to help complete the contract of "two people for heat haze" for Konoha to exist. Otherwise, Kenjirou would have her created in a stand alone computer (aka can't connect to the internet). I don't know why Azami had saved her but Takane might be a weird exception.
- Jossed. Ene's powers let her project her consciousness, and are the reason her mind is online. Azami showed a different version of it in the seventh novel.
- Connected to the above theory. Think about Takane, Azami, Haruka and Tsukihiko: harsh girl who is ostricised (mainly due to her appearance - specifically her eyes) meets genuine Nice Guy who is also isolated from everyone else, and sees through what everyone else hates about the girl - seeing the Hidden Heart of Gold beneath. They fall in love. Which pairing does that best describe? Both. The reason why Azami sent both of them back (bending her own rules in doing so) was because she saw a little bit of herself and her late husband, and it roused some genuine kindness.
- Kano has transformed into his mother by accident in the novels. I think it is very likely that Kano is actually a boy (though the PV states he doesn't know who he is). The only blond girl/woman that would resemble Kano would be his mother
- The female Kano in Yobanashi Deceive is meant to represent Kido, just as the Kano with hair clips is meant to represent Seto. He turns into versions of himself more similar to them as he reffers to each of them in the song.
- I had originally thought Seto's parents would be another unexplained case of Parental Abandonment. That is, until both the addition of Fantasy Forest and episode 10 in the anime. There is a boy who appears in both Imagination Forest and Fantasy forest (both are the same video) that looks remarkable like Seto though we couldn't see his eyes. Initially, I thought it was Seto but for the obvious lack of probability , I brushed it off as Only Six Faces. However, we have Azami's back-story adapted in the anime. There is a guy wearing a mask who is reluctant to attack the household. He is also the same guy that Azami removes the mask from and reads his mind. He looks almost exactly like Seto, gold eyes and gold clips. Again, it is high probability that it was not Seto, given the time period, but that doesn't rule out it possible being ancestors (though that doesn't explain the golden clip). Maybe Seto's parents have very special reasons of leaving Seto at the orphanage (like for his safety, etc)?
- ...Is because his character is simply too spoilerific to be in the spotlight for too long. This WMG will be very spoiler-heavy, so read at your own risk. His ability is to read minds, but what if this also extends to repressed or dormant memories from previous timeloops? There seems to be some evidence pointing to the fact that he knows a lot more than his cheery persona would imply:
- During the Shounen Brave PV, we are shown his Meet Cute with Marry from his perspective; when he reads her mind after entering the house, we are shown images to represent what information he's getting: first Shion's grave, which of course makes sense chronologically. But then we are shown the dead bodies of Kido and Kano, and then Seto's last. Given that Marry hasn't met any of them yet, and that the corpses are their older selves, these must be memories of previous time-loops.
- However, Marry doesn't seem to remember previous loops (at least at first) if the anime is anything to go by; she refers to Konoha as a 'friend', but surely if she remembered what happens when he's around, she wouldn't even talk to him, let alone befriend him. I suggest that Marry only regains her memories of past routes when the inevitable happens, Kuroha emerges and everyone dies - activating her dormant snake (the Combining Eyes/The Queen Snake) and causing her to reset everything.
- Yet, Seto still sees something to do with his and his siblings' deaths when they first meet, which would imply his powers are able to transcend time loops (much like the Retaining Eyes ability held by Shintaro) and recall things in people's minds that even they haven't remembered.
- Also, in the third episode of the anime, when Kido brings up his ability, his facial expression is unusually dark, and it is mentioned that he hates using it; perhaps the reason why is because of what he saw (his family and friends dying gruesomely) when he read Marry's mind, on top of the usual problems faced by mind-readers (which is also touched upon in Shounen Brave).
- Running on this theory, maybe the reason why Jin likes to keep Seto to the side so much despite his plot relevance (as one of the original trio and his importance to Marry) is because he is also manipulating things in the background, to try and achieve that happy ending from Summertime Record, and he wants the twist to be as shocking as possible.
- Confirmed: It's very heavily implied, if not confirmed in the light novel finale that Seto has known about his loved ones' expiring life spans for longer than Kano and even Ayano have known, and as if it couldn't have been even more wild, he in fact wanted to break out of the endless summer more than anyone.
- Plain and simple. Route XX Shintaro is never allowed to feel anything but misery again because he failed to move on after Ayano's death. Every day he wakes up, kills Ene, has a nervous breakdown, kills himself, and fails to reach Ayano.
- Other than her different outfits in Route XX and Route 01, Ene also has displayed noticeably more variation in the different timelines than many other characters. Several timelines seem to branch around certain decisions, e.g. the pranks she plays on Shintaro differ in different routes and Shintaro's decision not to go to the amusement park in the anime resulted from her prank on him in the Mekakushi base.
- Episode 11's opening scene provides a possible new interpretation for Shintaro's suicide in Routes where he never left the house: that is, after killing Ene (Episode 11 implies this by showing his phone with a broken screen), Shintaro finally triggers his Eye Power and his Snake emerges and talks to him. He remembers exactly what is going to happen to his sister and friends, and reasons that by making his death as painful and traumatic as possible, the next version of himself will get his memories back sooner. The fact that he only goes for the scissors after he realises it's too late for him to stop Kuroha, and his eyes glow red just as he pierces his neck with them seems to support this.