SPOILERS AHEAD - You have been warned.

Before you read: There are 9 chapters of the manga series Yume Nikki, and then theres the game. My theory is mostly based off the game, but some stuff from the manga is included. if you haven't read the manga, a couple parts may be confusing. Also, Madotsuki's age is never told. Some people see her as a child, maybe 10 or 11, while other's see her as an adult. In my eyes, she a teenager-about 15 or 16. Oh, and you will need to know the character names as i do mention them so if you played the game and didn't bother looking anything up about it or anything- 1. that's fucking insane, how did you even beat the game?!and means you don't know the character names, so i suggest looking them up :3

I have read the main, more popular, theories of Yume Nikki that were listed in the Yume Nikki wikia. I can see where all of them come from and most of them make sense and i understand them. If you have a different theory, or think something different, feel free to share! im interested to see anyone else's ideas! Remember- these are theories. Please don't be mean to someone because they don't agree or something, these are just what you think happened and nothing is 100%. In the manga, Madotsuki is put into the dream world not having a clue why she's there. When she get's the frog effect and wakes and is told to "collect the effects" (as it said in her diary). She was confused on who wrote it, and tried to open her front door, which wouldn't open for some reason. It was somehow locked from the outside. She kept waking and dreaming, determined to get the effects. Poniko says at the end of book 9 that the Nexus and it's worlds were only created to make bad girls relive traumatic or upsetting experiences and collect the effects, so they can re-awaken as a good person. No girl had ever accomplished this. It is mention in the manga that Madotsuki is sixth girl to be there (Mars-san called her the Sixth). Masada-sensei mentions Poniko being one of the girls to enter- i am guessing she is the fifth. That makes 2 of the 6, so there are 4 more. As i read the manga, i didn't realize it at the time, but later i had realized that on one page in the manga they show the other 4. The other 4 girls are all girls that do appear in the game. Monoko, who im assuming was the first, was the girl who had lost her identity. By the way she looks, this might mean she went crazy bu- as it says in some of Madotsuki's theories- it could mean she might be transgender. She could have both, or maybe she's a woman in a man's body, or maybe she even had a sex change? who knows, but it could mean her identity was lost. Monoe is the girl who lost her thoughts. I could also bring up insanity in this girl as well, but she also could have been born with a disorder or something along that line that makes it hard for her to think. Maybe, and probably more likely, is that she had an overwhelming amount of stress and she had so much on her mind she went crazy from all of it. She looks very nice, so maybe she the type of person that can't say no so she took on too much next girl is Kamakurako, who "lost her tomorrow". Many people say that she is a younger version of Madotsuki, but if you read the manga and understand it, you'll see that she is a separate person and not Madotsuki. So very little can be told by her, and "lost her tomorrow"...i mean, to me, this just sounds like she died? But if she had died, she wouldn't have been in the dream world, so...for her, i have no idea what could have happened to her to make her one of the troubled is a mystery to girl who im guessing was before Madotsuki is Mafurako, "the girl who lost her home. She's seen wearing a scarf and hat. She's homeless. She has no home, and the scarf and hat are all she has to keep her warm. They say that non of the girls could accomplish their goal in getting the effects, and they went all Uboa like Madotsuki did in the manga. Then, they had to be isolated. Another thing that makes me think Monoko was first is because she is black and white, and looks deformed. Monoe is black and white. Im thinking that since they have been there longer, they are starting to turn white and black just as Uboa. Soon, they will all become deformed creatures, just as Monoko is doing.

These are my theories on those characters, but Monoko,Monoe,Mafurako,Kumakurako, and Poniko really have little actual importance to my theory for Madotsuki. I just wanted to share this theory as well, and make people aware of some of this stuff they may or may not had known. Don't get me wrong, some of this stuff does have importance to my main theory, just hold on to your hat.

Now, onto my theory about Madotsuki and some other things that are found through out the game. If Madotsuki is reliving her past experiences in the dream world then the rape theory seems very likely. There are constant hints all over the game that could be evidence of Madotsuki being raped- i think the thing that mainly catches my attention are the pictures in the mall and the Henkei Shita pictures in the mall definitely scream "HELP ME, SOME CRAZY PSYCHO GUY KIDNAPPED ME AND IS RAPPING ME HHAALLLPP" . And the Shita creatures very well do represent pregnancy. It was my very first thought on the creatures, even before reading the theories. The idea of the hands also go along with the rape theory, making you think of groping and maybe pulling her away and kidnapping her. Anyway, let's continue. I'm going to tell you something i haven't heard anyone else think of. In many theories, they say that Madotsuki is locked in her house, just as she is in the manga but...when you interact with the door in the game, Madotsuki just shakes her head...Wouldn't she at least TRY to open the door if she was locked in? You started the game and she refuses to go out, meaning theres a reason she doesn't want to leave. If she was locked in, she'd turn the handle and pull on the door and struggle to open it, and probably try to find a way to leave. I do not believe she is locked in, though the theory of her rapist locking her in a room to keep her from leaving is a good theory. She has a reason to not want to leave. Maybe she is scared that if she leaves, the rapist will show up again or maybe she's afraid of something bad happening in general since she's experienced many bad things. She's seen the bad of the world and she only sees that part now. Another thing i thought about is the creatures that follow you-such as the Namekuji and the Toriningen. She's reliving the event of her rapist stalking her, chasing after her. Another thing to think about is there are 2 types of namekuji, the drooling one who looks friendly, and the evil looking one who has a pool of drool. This might represent her rapist in some way, how he seemed friendly at first and in his mind he knew what he was going to do, but then he became not-so-friendly and crazy and was craving it after she tried to get away. That when he came after her.

By this point, you might be thinking im just proving more of the rape theory but WAIT! i have WWAAYYY more to talk about, that maybe you don't know about, especially if you haven't read the manga!

Anyways, as i was saying- When the Lunatic Toriningen catch up to you, you are sent to an inescapable area. Just like how a rapist would. Another thing, is there is a closet and when you open it, inside you see Madotsuki curled up. This could also be a part of the theory of her being kidnapped. In the manga, Madotsuki finds Poniko and feels relieved she found a normal person but Poniko turns into Uboa and snatches Madotsuki's umbrella and starts to hit her with it. As it hits her, Madotsuki yells at Uboa to stop because it hurts, and she yells "Mom, Stop it!"...what does that sound like to you? Sounds to me like her mom was a child abuser...In the Guillotine world, the Guillotines look crazy and ready to kill, maybe i'm over thinking here but, i think this could be a representation of someone wanting to kill her. Many things in the game looked ready to kill also. If her mom abused her, a death threat seems very likely.

On to Masada-sensei! Masada-sensei is said to be her piano teacher, and his UFO crash resembles his overdose on backs away when you take out your knife, maybe meaning it makes him uncomfortable and scared. If he really was her Piano teacher, maybe he was close and he wouldn't be comfortable seeing her be hostile, as he has only seen her as a good person.

Shitai, who is the dead corpse in the road, is surrounded by traffic cones and you get the stoplight effect. Obviously, it was a car crash. Had Madotsuki witnessed a Car crash? or maybe someone she knows died in one? was she in one?

Depression is all over the game as well. From Mars-san, who is crying from being alone and trapped (maybe just as Madotsuki was) to the dark world(feeling as if darkness is closing in on you), depression is definitely something i don't want to cross off my mind for this theory. And the party in the Wilderness, she is shut out, almost as if she wasn't invited. As if she didn't fit in. Yume Nikki is dripping in Aztec culture as well.

AND NOW-FOR MY THEORY! *drum roll*

My Theory: Madotsuki lived with her Mother, who might has been a drug-user/alcoholic, who abused her. Madotsuki has very low self-confidence and has a hard time talking to people because of it. She has no friends. She tries hard to fit in, but just can't...She's social awkward and the only thing she seems to like is Aztec culture, which others find weird and geeky. The only source of happiness is from her Piano teacher. Everyday, she'd go to his class and she'd play piano, and share her troubles with him, and they'd joke and laugh and her troubles would leave and she'd be , Masada overdosed one day and died. When Madotsuki found out, she broke down in tears. He was her only friend, and the only person that cared about her. Her mother was easily annoyed, and started to beat her. She kept begging her to stop hitting her, but when her mother threatened to kill her, Madotsuki decided she had had enough. She got up and told her mother she was tired of being abused, and she took off on her she wondered what she was going to do now that she was off by herself, a man started to talk to her. He offered to give her a ride, and even maybe a place to stay. Feeling very threatened,uncomfortable, and afraid she refused and tried to hurry down the street. He started to follow behind her, trying to act friendly. As she got faster, so did he, and eventually she took off in a full sprint to get away from him. Not watching her surroundings, she stepped into the road, and the driver of the car she was in front of made a sharp turn in a panic and crashed into another was almost paralyzed in all the commotion, and her predator pulls her out of it all, acting as if her was her father or someone she knew. She was too paralyzed to react much. He kidnapped her, and raped her. When she got away, she got a small apartment. She didn't want to be near her mother, and her only option would be to live inside and shut herself away. She was too afraid to live homeless. She was now depressed, and she was afraid she might've been pregnant. As time went on, it was obvious she was, but in her mind she kept trying to deny it. She had very little money, and barely ate,and it caused her to miscarriage. All she did was sleep, play NASU, and write in her diary. She was poor, so she could barely pay for anything. That didn't matter though, she was now depressed and didn't feel like doing much anyway. She didn't see the point. She started to enter the dream world, and collecting the effects, thinking maybe it could help her out somehow. When she goes through her dreams, reliving the trauma, it only makes her feel worse. She tried her hardest to block most of the things out, but now they were all coming back and she didn't want to see them. But, she had to keep moving forwards. She goes through all the trouble, and even experiences more frightening and strange things, and in the end, nothing happens. Now, she's overwhelmingly depressed and she feels utterly hopeless. Her only way to make it stop is to commit suicide.

Other things i took into consideration: Maybe she didn't step into the road, maybe her father had died in a car crash. That could explain her Mother's drug/alcohol problem if she had one. And Masada-sensei might've had his wife die, which is why he was a drug user. Or possibly, maybe it was an accident. He took daily pills and accidentally overdosed on some of them. (like, he had multiple bottles and mistakes one for another and took more of that one than he was supposed to or something)

This is the theory i have come up with anyway, and some things i thought about. I hadn't seen anyone else talk about these things, and one day my brain really started to connect some dost XD If you agree on my theory, and think im super amazing and that im a genius then thanks, i know i am (-Justkidding-) and free feel to tell me. Naw, but really, Thank you for thinking over some of this, and i'd love to hear some stuff you thought about as well and your theory! It might make me realize something and re-create my theory! :3