A Special Girl
The main theme of the game is The Power of Friendship, period. However, there is a subtheme encapsulated within the main heroine Ao that is a mixture of Be Careful What You Wish For and maybe Accidental Aesop: namely, the price of heroism. Ao Hoshikazi was a girl who lived her life in complacency like the average high schooler. Being painfully self-aware, Ao wished to break out of her normal existence somehow and become someone special. This innermost desire is the source of her Chuunibyou tendencies and admiration of individuals with unique qualities, such as Hinako's skill at ballet and her (former) celebrity status. Although her spiriting-away into Oasis isn't an ideal situation by any definition, her dreams of being someone special do become realized. However, as the story progresses, this desire gets deconstructed almost as soon as it is built up:
Reflector
- Within Oasis, Ao awakens as a Reflector, an existence akin to a Magical Girl (a stock heroic figure in Japanese culture). Just by virtue of this newfound quality, not only is Ao already someone more special than 99.99% of the world population, she is living out her greatest fantasies being a scythe-wielding superhero like the protagonist of her favorite book series, "Death God Theory." However, the price for gaining this heroic power is that Ao must risk her life to fight demons in the Heartscapes. Then with every plunge into these memory dungeons, a warning is issued that each of their successes is wearing down the stability of their reality. Even as Ao grows stronger and more confident in her abilities, eventually the extent of her adversity becomes too grand in scale for her to handle just with her special powers alone. In short, becoming a Reflector fulfilled her wish, but the responsibility that comes with it genuinely threatens the lives of her and her friends. To top it all off, later revelations that humanity is annihilated means that the only people left in the world are Reflectors. In other words, the only world where Ao could become something special like a Reflector is where it is universally normal to be one.
Leader
- Once the group grows big enough, everyone decides to elect a leader to make sure things get done according to a particular vision and to have a figure of authority in times of crises. Ao Hoshizaki is unanimously voted as the leader of the Oasis Reflectors, due to her propensity to look after each of the girls' condition and rally them in times of great need. Although Ao accepts the position hesitantly and humbly, deep inside Ao is rejoicing that her wish to become special is being granted in even grander fashion than before: not only has she become friends with special Reflector people, she is now their leader. To her credit, Ao actually takes her position seriously and makes generally good decisions; even as more experienced and level-headed Reflectors join the group, they defer to Ao anyway due to her natural leadership skills. However, the pressure of being leader slowly but surely wears down Ao, who really is just a normal person who was never trained to lead a group of supernatural warriors. This all comes to a head once Ao decides to delve deeper into the Heartscapes despite the ever-increasing risks. As a result, a critical error occurs during Uta's heartscape and an Ash monster invades Oasis for the second time. If this happens a third time, Oasis—the only safe haven left in the world—will most likely be destroyed. Once the situation settles down, Ao has to own up to the fact that everything that happened, happened because of her call (though to be fair the group didn't have any other leads to go on). Every assurance she made that "everything will work out somehow" was as empty as it sounded, and Ao's desperation to be special and to forge ahead in an uncertain situation endangered everyone she loved and humanity's last chance for survival. Even as the others reassure her she's not at fault and Ao picks herself up soon afterward, the ramifications of her failure sticks with her until the end. In short, being leader sounds great on paper, but the actual responsibility is a very heavy burden, especially with people's lives on the line.
Sacrifice
- Everything that Oasis offers, in a twisted way, satiates all of Ao's innermost longings. In contrast to her old, boring life, Oasis is where Ao gained her powers, met her friends, and led them into dream-like adventures. More than once, Ao secretly wishes these summer days would never end, despite worrying about the state of the outside world and missing home to the point of tears. But as Ao grows into her role as Reflector and leader, Ao starts caring less about herself—about being a special girl—and more about her new friends. Ao may feel content in Oasis, but as her fellow Reflectors regain their memories, they become increasingly determined to escape into the outside world. Ironically, it was Ao's presence that stirred the Reflectors' memories in the first place. Once the truth of the Ash and the World System come to light, Ao is the one who spearheads a new goal for the team: rewrite the universe and meet again in the new world. After Ao leads the Reflectors into the heart of Origin, the tower in her Heartscape, she learns the truth from another version of herself: Ao is from the future rewritten, fated to travel back in time to Oasis and ensure a Stable Time Loop so that the universe could be renewed in the first place. When presented with the fact that Ao will never see her friends again and is doomed to be a sacrificial lamb for eternity, Ao does not hesitate to lay down everything for the sake of her loved ones. Thus, in the cruelest way possible, Ao's wish for an endless summer—and her lifelong desire to become a special girl—is fulfilled. However, her new dreams for a life beyond Oasis will never be.
Second Light
- However, if the Reflectors have proven anything, nothing is absolute. There is always a way, a loophole, a glitch in the system, they can take advantage of if they believe in themselves and each other. A dead girl (Yuki) can come back to life. A mole (again, Yuki) can be turned against the system. An empathy devoid girl (Uta) can find love rather than hatred. And though they will still have to face their issues in the rewritten world, they are determined to take full advantage of their second chance at life. And Ao was key to giving them that chance, making it thematically appropriate that she in turn should receive one. And so, the game offers a challenge to the player. Do they have the resolve to play through the game again and change fate? To dare Hope for a Reunion? When Ao meets herself again, she meets not one, but multiple versions of herself. Her once special life in Oasis has become boring and pedestrian, just like the life she once led. She have grown tired, but Ao knows well enough that she won't give up and end it all. And she also recognizes her aptitude at finding ways to break the rules and rewrite reality. So instead of testing her resolve to see how far she's willing to go for her friends, she challenges her to see if emotions are strong enough to find another way and break the cycle. That way is having a maxed out bond with another girl, thus fulfilling her wish to become special in a different light. And so, they will see each other again the new world. Before the ending, Ao stated that if she got her old life back, she'd finally learn to appreciate it. The true ending thus gives her a second chance to do so, the one she had given to everyone else.
