Changes: Blank Dream

Revision as of 22:29, 12 January 2020

Mature Content Warning

This page Blank Dream contains mature content intended for audiences over 18 years old which may be disturbing to some. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Content Warnings: Not yet confirmed

Blank Dream (虚白の夢 Kouhaku no Yume) is a freeware horror-exploration game by Kanawo (of Teriyaki Tomato) made in RPG Maker VX Ace. It was first released on August 24, 2015.

Synopsis

A girl named Mishiro Usui commits suicide by drowning herself in a lake, wishing that she had never existed at all before she jumps in. This lands her in another realm known as the Mirror World, where people with a strong wish are sent after they die. Mishiro is told that in order to grant her wish, she must locate all the mirrors containing her reflection and break them.

Characters

Mishiro Usui

The protagonist of the game. After drowning herself in the Mirror Lake out of a wish to erase her existence, she awakens in the Mirror World and is told that she must break the Mirrors containing her memories to grant her wish.

Mishiro cannot remember exactly why she killed herself, or many of the details of her life. She must recover them by finding and breaking the mirrors.

Yuzu Hanasaki

A fellow soul that Mishiro encounters. She's cheerful and friendly, encouraging Mishiro to find the truth about herself. It's later revealed that she committed suicide to be with Utsuro, a classmate whom she had a crush on.

Ryotaro Sengoku

Another soul that Mishiro encounters. He's kind, polite, and protective towards Mishiro. It's later revealed he's Mishiro's uncle and died in a car accident together with her father when they were trying to claim the Usui inheritance that Tamaki refused to give away out of spite.

Ayato Hinohara

A boy that Mishiro got along with in life, who appears in several of Mishiro's memories. It's later revealed he's her cousin and Utsuro's younger brother. He died protecting Mishiro after his mother Tamaki (who resented Mishiro for being an Usui) tried to run over her with a car.

Utsuro Hinohara

The previous ruler of the Mirror World and the primary antagonist of the game. In life, she was Yuzu's friend and crush. She is the daughter of Rinzou and Tamaki, shaped by their abuse into a wicked spirit that wants to kill Mishiro and take back her world.

Endings

Ending 1: Blank Dream

Mishiro decides to help both Yuzu and Ryotaro to find their mirrors and memories. Turns out Ryotaro is Mishiro's uncle and Yuzu was Utsuro's only friend, who had a crush on her. Afterwards the three enter another large door and find Ayato, as well as Mishiro's spirit,. The red-eyed spirit enters as Mishiro's spirit explains the background of the Mirror World, and that it was formed by the red-eyed spirit, Ayato's sister, Utsuro.

To achieve her wish to die, Mishiro must kill Ayato. Mishiro instead chooses to help Utsuro regain her memory with the knowledge from Ayato and Yuzu. This restores Utsuro, who concedes her power to Mishiro. Mishiro chooses not to fulfill her wish, and because her body had been saved by a passerby, she is able to return to life. Back in the real world, she reconciles with her mother and has a talk with Seiichi (Ayato's father, who's now alone after the deaths of Ayato, Utsuro and Tamaki). At the very end, she visits Ayato's atelier and sees his last work, a painting of both Mishiro and Utsuro smiling. The title is "Blank Dream".

Ending 2: Mobius Strip

Mishiro decides to help Yuzu to find her mirror and memories. They find out that Yuzu was Utsuro's only friend who had a crush on her, captivated by how lonely and mysterious Utsuro was. Devastated by Utsuro's death, Yuzu commited suicide to be with her. As soon as Yuzu regains her memories, the red-eyed ghost appears and tries to kill Mishiro once again, but Yuzu protects her. She realizes that the red-eyed ghost is Utsuro and vanishes from the Mirror World, happy to see Utsuro one last time. Mishiro and Ryotaro enter the large door where Ayato is and she chooses to live.

Back in the real world, Mishiro awakes and can't remember her mother, causing her to be distraught and abandon Mishiro. Mishiro then goes to live with Ayato's father, Seiichi, who teaches her to paint.

Ending 3: Small Happiness

Mishiro decides to help Ryotaro to find his mirror and memories. They find out that Ryotaro is her uncle, who died in a car accident alongside Mishiro's father. Because he had been seeking to help his niece, his spirit attached to her and followed her into the Mirror World. He explains that Mishiro's parents were too busy to spend time with her because they wanted to reclaim Rinzou's inheritance (that Tamaki refused to give out of spite) and to give their daughter a more comfortable life. Having accomplishes his goal, Ryotaro vanishes. Mishiro and Yuzu enter the large door where Ayato is and she chooses to live.

Back in the real world, Mishiro awakes and can't remember most of her memories. However, because of Ryotaro's explanation of her family, she has a vague memory of her mother and feels comfortable continuing on with her.

Ending 4: Fullfilled

Mishiro does not help Ryotaro or Yuzu and enters the large door where Ayato is, together with Mishiro's spirit.

The spirit explains that the only way she can grant her wish to die is to destroy Ayato's soul. Even though Mishiro feels sorry for hurting her only friend, she concludes that she has suffered enough and she wants to end it all already. As she dies, she's greeted by a hollow void and she's happy with her decision.

Ending 5: Mistakes Repeated

If Mishiro is in the Realm of Blood and she decides to lash out at the bullies, she has the option to stay longer within the memory. She ends up brutally stabbing all the bullies.

This causes her to completely lose her grip on sanity, losing herself to the Mirror World forever, just like it happened to Utsuro before her.

Trivia

The title in Japanese is "Kouhaku no Yume" (虚白の夢), which uses a non-standard word to mean "blank", this word is made up of characters 虚 and白, which are the names of two of the characters, Utsuro (虚) and Mishiro (深白), giving the title a double meaning of both "Blank Dream" and "Utsuro and Mishiro's Dream".
A light novel version of the game was published on March 30, 2016.
There's a sequel named Blight Dream. Mishiro and Seiichi, Ayato's father, make small cameos there.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == Characters ==
+=== Mishiro Usui ===
+The protagonist of the game. After drowning herself in the Mirror Lake out of a wish to erase her existence, she awakens in the Mirror World and is told that she must break the Mirrors containing her memories to grant her wish.
+Mishiro cannot remember exactly why she killed herself, or many of the details of her life. She must recover them by finding and breaking the mirrors.
+=== Yuzu Hanasaki ===
+A fellow soul that Mishiro encounters. She's cheerful and friendly, encouraging Mishiro to find the truth about herself. It's later revealed that she committed suicide to be with Utsuro, a classmate whom she had a crush on.
+=== Ryotaro Sengoku ===
+Another soul that Mishiro encounters. He's kind, polite, and protective towards Mishiro. It's later revealed he's Mishiro's uncle and died in a car accident together with her father when they were trying to claim the Usui inheritance that Tamaki refused to give away out of spite.
+=== Ayato Hinohara ===
+A boy that Mishiro got along with in life, who appears in several of Mishiro's memories. It's later revealed he's her cousin and Utsuro's younger brother. He died protecting Mishiro after his mother Tamaki (who resented Mishiro for being an Usui) tried to run over her with a car.
+=== Utsuro Hinohara ===
+The previous ruler of the Mirror World and the primary antagonist of the game. In life, she was Yuzu's friend and crush. She is the daughter of Rinzou and Tamaki, shaped by their abuse into a wicked spirit that wants to kill Mishiro and take back her world.
 == Endings ==