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  • Eva came out and was a Deconstruction to the Giant Robot genre. A few years later GaoGaiGar came out playing everything straight as a Reconstruction. Now Madoka came out as a Deconstruction to the Magical Girl Genre and a few years after that Vividred came out playing everything straight.
    • While an interesting theory, there is no way for viewers to prove this.

The Alone are constructs created by the Time Lords for the purpose of putting Humanity on Trial, with the events of the series being a Proxy War fought between the Doctor and the Master.
  • Despite the utopic state of the world due to the energy provided by the Manifestation Engine, the Time Lords are aware that humanity could use said energy to make huge leaps in technology, up to and including Time Travel and making weapons that could obliterate planets. Indeed, Kenjirou succeeded in using the Manifestation Engine to create the keys to the Vivid System. Realizing that this could be a threat to their position as Time Police and the stability of the universe as a whole, they decide to test the responsibility of humanity by covertly creating and sending the Alone to attack the Earth. This is so they can evaluate whether or not humanity destroys itself through the infighting caused by such a crisis, or actually bands together to deal with it on a united front. Since no one else knows that the Alone come from the Time Lords, the latter can therefore use the former as a convenient way to put Humanity on Trial whilst still maintaining their de jure position on not interfering with the affairs of other planets and races.
    • Within the context of the series and its backstory, Rei's world is therefore a parallel world to Earth with its own Manifestation Engine (or some equivalent of it) which failed the test and was obliterated by the Alone, leaving her as the only survivor. Taking pity on Rei and her plight, the Doctor proposed to the Time Lords to reverse their decision to destroy Rei's world, if it can be proven that there is at least one world which can pass the test. Knowing from personal experience, how capable humans on Earth are in banding together in times of crisis, the Doctor proposes to the Time Lords that Earth be the next world slated for such a test. Intrigued by the Doctor's confidence in Earth's people, the Time Lords agree to this proposition, and the Doctor sends the Crow as a messenger to both empower Rei and use her as a conduit to summon the Alone to Earth for the test. The Doctor also traveled in time to seven years before the series to given Kenjirou a message and warning that the Alone would come to Earth to test humanity. However, sensing that the Crow desired more than simply to be the Doctor's servant and messenger, the Master decides to tempt the Crow into seizing power for itself and may have given it the idea to devour Rei and absorb her arrows. The Master's influence therefore led to the Crow becoming Drunk on the Dark Side and an Omnicidal Maniac. For the Master, this is a way to Troll and spite the Doctor and deal a Kick the Dog to both Rei and the Earth, since if the Crow succeeds, Earth, the Doctor's precious planet, would be destroyed. And if the Master's ploy failed, s/he really couldn't care either way. Since Akane and Rei managed to destroy the Crow and end its threat despite the Master's interference making the test much tougher than it would normally be, the Time Lords deem that humanity passed the test and honor their deal with the Doctor by restoring Rei's world into existence, and may also have cleaned up the damage (and reversed any deaths) caused by the Alone to Earth's infrastructure off-screen. Noting Rei's role in averting Earth's destruction and feeling pity on her for the pain she experienced at the hands of the Crow due to the Master's influence (which he was indirectly responsible for), the Doctor may have decided to grant her a happy ending by providing her with a way to travel to Earth again from her world, allowing Akane to see her in the last episode.
      • The "supreme beings who rule over all of time and space in all dimensions" that the Crow mentioned in Episode 11 are therefore the Time Lords. As the Crow was Drunk On Power and decided to go renegade by acting on its own accord, independently from the directive of the "supreme beings", anything it says should be taken with a grain of salt, including its claims that it destroyed other worlds before the start of the series, that Rei has to avoid contact with other people, and that she would die if she exhausted all of her arrows.

Rei's actions are indirectly trying to help Akane and her friends
  • Rei's arrows may power up the Alones, but they also disrupt they're ability to regenerate. The Alone fought and destroyed in the beginning of episode 4 hadn't turned red and regenerated and was fought again later in the episode. When it was destroyed for good, Rei had used one of her arrows on it.
    • She's fully supporting the Alone.

Rei's actions are justified
  • The soul of Akane's mom (Isshiki Mashiro) is trapped inside the Manifestation Engine, and Rei is her agent who she tasked to set her free. Rei is a piece of Mashiro's soul that is manifested using the energy the engine provides, that's why she's able to empower the Alone— she's similar to Akane in having direct soul connection to the Engine.
    • Jossed.
  • Another possibility is that the Manifestation Engine is somehow incredibly harmful in ways that Earth's populace hasn't noticed yet. After all, a machine that's capable of generating vast amounts of what is effectively free energy with absolutely no drawbacks sounds way too good to be true.
    • While there is no proof it was intentional the incident when the Manifestation Engine overloaded did destroy where ever it was that Rei used to live.

The Alone (and maybe Rei) want to CONQUER EARTH!
When Kenjirou first gives Akane the red key he mentions that the Manifestation Engine was a byproduct of creating the Vivid System (it is hinted that the Vivid System requires a lot of power). Kenjirou also predicted that Alone would eventually attack and he created the Vivid System as a means of defeating/defending against them. If this is all true (as all this information is mentioned within the first 2 eps) that means the Alone are attacking the Manifestation Engine in order to render the Vivid System useless and thereby remove the only threat to whatever their plan is (conquer earth maybe?). Rei may be either working for or with the Alone depending on how their separate (if they are at all) goals relate. And the incident seven years ago was a previous attack by either Rei or an Alone (conclusion drawn from the red ribbon like object seen floating above the Engine) in an attempt to prevent the Engine from being completed.
  • Rei couldn't care less about conquering Earth. She helps the Alone because a shady being promised her that it would resurrect her dead parents if she did. We still don't know why the Alone want to destroy the Manifestation Engine, tho.

Energy upgrade
The Manifestation will be unable to fully support all four of the Vivid girls and the planet's energy usage. This will result in either:
  • a second Manifestation Engine being built.
  • the Manifestation Engine being upgraded.

It's all magic
The Manifestation Engine and the Vivid System are Magitek, based on the kind of powers that Rei has (hence her being 0 in the Numerical Theme Naming). Rei wants to destroy the engine because it's using up too much mana, or something like that.

There is no magic
Rei's bow seems to be two large pairs of (most likely crow) wings that can shoot energy arrows. The feathers are actually a form of armor to protect whatever advanced tech may be inside the bow allowing it to re-energize the Alone. The Alone themselves are just advanced war machines drawing energy from their own Manifestation Engine.
  • Turns out the alone actually draw their power from the Manifestation Engine.
    • Jossed for the crow (god?) that gave Rei her powers.

Rei has 10 arrows
In the second episode when she revives the Alone using her bow a flower appears on her scarf and one of the petals burns/fades away. A high enough quality image will show that there are 10 petals to begin with before the first one vanishes. This leads to the conclusion that she has the ability to revive 9 more Alone (excluding double reviving as that has not yet been shown possible).
  • Confirmed in episode five, Rei has seven arrows left.

The attacks on the manifestation engine are in self-defense
The manifestation engine siphons energy from the parallel dimension which is the home of the Alone. The Alone need this energy to survive. When the humans keep stealing their energy, they will all die. Their only hope is to destroy the manifestation engine and prevent the humans from rebuilding it. So their attacks on the manifestation engine are merely self-defense.
  • Jossed for the part where the parallel dimension is where the Alone live.
  • Jossed completely. The attacks on the Manifestation Engine are done to test mankind, not some form of self-defense.

The Alone want to fuse with the Manifestation Engine
They draw their power from the Engine (said so in episode 2) and plan on using the increased energy to avert some kind of tragedy that Rei (and who ever else is working with her) knows about.
  • Jossed, Crow and the Alone want the engine destroyed.

Akane isn't a normal human, having been changed by the accident seven years ago.
This is why she can go toe-to-toe with a kendo expert, or her Improbable Aiming Skills during the episode 2 flashback. It's also why she's the only one who can use the red ignition key. Whatever happened seven years ago led her to be Touched by Vorlons, or alternatively...

Akane died in the incident seven years ago and was revived or replaced by something which believes itself to be Akane.
She does grow tomatoes...
  • She's a Nanomachine colony. When someone docks with her, they are literally docking with her; her nanites surrounding them like a Bio Powered Armor and forming VividColor. Which would explain why VividColor speaks using Akane's voice.

Momo will become a Sixth Ranger
She's focused on a lot, and appears in lots of promotional material. Too much so to be just a side character.
  • She will be the one that makes VividRed possible.

Akane will have a Super Mode that involves fusing with Aoi, Wakaba and Himawari at the same time
This series has the spirit of a Magical Girl anime, and if there's something that is almost always obligatory in those shows, that is the Frilly Upgrade. Akane acts as the other three girls' upgrade by fusing with them, but what about Akane? The answer is clear: She will power up by having all of her three friends fuse with her at the same time, becoming a Vivid much more powerful than the mere sum of her parts in the process. The name of this Super Mode will be, of course, VividRed.

A possible variation for this guess would be that, if Rei does a Heel–Face Turn, she will also be part of VividRed.

  • And now, the teasers show that Episode 6 is titled "The Story of How Kenjiro tries to intensify the friendship power of Akane and friends, which results in something unbelievable". Will that something unbelievable be Vividred? The answer...
    • ...Turns out not to be as expected.
      • If you didn't realize the long title was clearly a joke...
  • Well, the twelfth and final episode will be titled Vividred Operation. If this WMG is not confirmed at that time...
  • Jossed. It didn't happen.
    • Don't be that pessimistic. The end almost literally screams for a 2nd season.

There will be a VividBlack
Rei will ultimately perform a Heel–Face Turn and be replaced by another villain, then Akane will give her a key and they will get a fusion sequence just like with the other girls.
  • This is supported currently by Episode 5's preview narrated by Rei and the Episode is titled "Another Key".
    • Which turned out to be an entirely different key. Vividblack is till just as likely as it ever was.
  • Jossed. Turns out that the fusion between Akane and Rei is VividRed.

Rei can fuse with an Alone
She already has a system in place to powerup an alone and it would not be much of a stretch for her to have her own transformation. Her transformation plus her bow would let her fuse with an Alone.
  • Well, Rei herself cannot fuse with the Alone, it seems, but the Alone can definitely fuse with Rei, so... Confirmed?

About the Hoverbike
The reason it's not mass-produced is because only Akane can ride it. And the reason why only Akane can ride it is because she's a human-sized Manifestation Engine, the core of her being changed after the accident in the flashback.

Vividred Operation is set in the Far Future of Strike Witches
Having the same writer/director aside, one can assume that Professor Isshki read the notes of one professor Miyafuji, and therefore it's not too big a leap in logic to conclude that the Vivid-System is merely the next evolutionary step of the Striker Units, being both magical devices that empower scantily clad pubescent girls with flight and super strength...
  • They're not prepubescent, did you see their boobs?!

Rei is an alternate-universe Homura Akemi
Her line "Home run"/"homuran" in Episode 4 practically confirms it. Possibly she's trying to protect the Vivid team, in order to fufill her role in this world as Madoka's prophet.
  • Jossed.

Rei's Alone-empowering arrows are fueled with her own life force
The Episode 5 preview shows that the 'flower' on her chest are actually ten ethereal feathers nailed on her chest, on the area near her heart. Whenever she fires one of those arrows that makes the Alone power up, one of those feathers vanishes. My theory is that those feathers represent her life force, and should all of them vanish, Rei will die or something even worse will happen to her. At some point in the series, drama will ensue because they are about to vanish completely.
  • Neither confirmed nor jossed. The only penalty we are aware of is that Rei's parents will not be brought back to life if she runs out of arrows. No word yet on if she too will die.
  • Confirmed, somewhat, in episode 10. The crow reminds Rei that she'll disappear if she runs out of arrows.
  • Jossed for the bit about being powered by her life force. The arrows are actually from The Crow. The reason she would disappear is that because she ran out of arrows she would have failed to fulfill her end of the contract.

Fulling the contract
After Rei finally helps an Alone reach the Manifestation Engine one of a few things might happen:
  • The Alone will complete its end of the contract and rebuild Rei's world and bring back her parents
    • Akane and co. will then defeat the Alone before it destroys their world.
    • Rei will double cross the Alone and destroy it (with or without helping/help from Akane and co.) before it destroys their world and then befriend them.
  • The Alone will not follow through with the contract and instead tries to destroy this world too. Rei will begin fighting along side Akane and co. to defeat the Alone and become friends with them.
    • This theory is confirmed for the most part. The Alone never had any intention of following their part of the contract.
    • Jossed. Despite what the Crow says, the "supreme beings" it serves actually do restore Rei's world and leave Earth in peace, suggesting that the Crow went renegade and decided to destroy the Earth all on its own, against the will of the "supreme beings".

Rei is being manipulated by the Crow.
Since she is so desperate to revive her parents, Rei is the perfect candidate to dupe into destroying the world for a chance to get her parents back. However, the Crow and the Alones have no intention of fulfilling their end of the deal, and are just using Rei since she is the only one who can empower the Alones. Rei also does not seem to be aware that it was the Alones that caused the meltdown of the first Manifestation Engine, making them indirectly responsible for the death of her parents.
  • There is no proof that the Alone caused the first meltdown. We only have an unusual floating red ribbon of energy to suggest it was sabotage, and even that doesn't suggest it was an Alone.
    • Episode 10 pretty much confirmed that it was an Alone, and that it wanted to destroy the Manifestation Engine.
    • Kenjirou states that the red ribbon wished to test humanity to see if we are worthy of using the power the Manifestation Engine produces, which has the ability to control the universe.
    • However, the Crow reveals in Episode 11 that it was going to destroy their universe anyways, and straight up tells Rei that it never intended to restore her world.

Rei's arrows can empower the Vivids too.
At some point, either accidentally or intentionally, Rei's arrow will hit Akane instead of the Alone. The result will be a temporary power to her boost and the creation of VividRed.

The crow was directly involved in the death of Rei's parents.
She did it because she wanted to break Rei's heart in order to make her emotionally weak and gullible enough to accept working for her. When Rei fulfills her mission, she will have outlived her usefulness.

Rei is an Alone.
Actually based on the "Akane = Nanomachine Colony" WMG above. Rei is ostensibly the 'support' Alone with the ability to put other Alone into 'overdrive' and increase their powers. However, in the accident several years ago, Rei was split from the main body of the Alone before it perished (leading to the Parental Abandonment memory and her limited empowering ability). The crow is actually either another fragment of her main body as a whole Alone or a representative of the other Alones, sent to urge Rei to continue her duties.
  • Jossed. Rei is a human girl from a universe that was destroyed by Manifestation Energy.

There is an Evangelion Plot in there somewhere.
Alones can be seen as are equivalent to Neon Genesis Evangelion's Angels, and the Manifestation Engine either has something they want to initiate their agenda or a trapped Alone they wanted to fuse with/liberate. The crow is just playing with Rei.
  • Episode 8. Strong Parallels to Eva? Check. Injured character? Check. Vague psychoanalysis? Check!

The Alone are actually good.
One of the conditions of Rei's contract with them is that she must attend school (she even lampshades on it). The reason she must attend school is because after destroying Akane's world the Alone will rebuild Rei's world AND Akane's world and connect them making traveling between them (and therefore making friends with each other) possible.
  • Possibly Jossed. The Alones most likely wanted to keep Rei in school because she was acting as beacon, meaning as long as she stayed near the Manifestation Engine they could find it.
  • Jossed. In Episode 11, the crow, which represents the Alone, outright states that only the Alone deserve possessing Manifestation Energy and never had any intention of restoring Rei's world. The Alone are a bunch of arrogant jerkasses.
  • Still possible as Akane and co were the first to ever pass the test. The Crow wants to destroy the world anyways, regardless of their passing, how the Alone, The Crow's boss, feels on the matter has yet to be soon.
  • Confirmed. The Alone do in fact rebuild Rei's world.

Another Alone Chrysalis like the one in Episode 8 will appear around the end.
And this one will actually reach the end of its development before hatching. The resulting Alone will be even more powerful than the normal ones, but it will still not make a bit of difference because The Power of Friendship always saves the day.

The Crow has over stepped her role and will be punished
Having just eaten Rei and started on her plan to destroy the world regardless of Akane and co. having passed the test an Alone (maybe the one that appeared 7 years ago?) will show up just as The Crow utterly defeats the vivid team and destroy The Crow.

Akane comes from the same alternate universe as Rei.
This is more or less an updated followup to the "Akane isn't a normal human" WMGs above with The Reveal from EP 11 in mind.

Defeating the Crow is the REAL last part of the test.
Two words: Unreliable Expositor.

The character seen at the end of The Stinger...

...is not Rei.

It's her Alternate Universe counterpart (with a different name, which is why the authorities didn't know about her when they captured Rei). To keep with the Homura Expy theme, not!Rei will be shown to wear glasses.

Season 2 will also have Akane's counterpart from Rei's universe. She's...bitter.

Akane is genuinely a magical girl
During the accident at the Incarnate Engine, Akane fell into the incarnate energy and was changed. By the time of the series, her speed and strength and coordination are super-human. Her ability to throw newspapers into slots is one example. And there's no reason to believe that Akane has any formal training in Kendo, yet she was able to fight Wakaba to a draw. She was relying on her inhumanly-fast reaction time and her extraordinary coordination, and was making it up as she went. Finally, there's Vividred.

Kenjiro didn't design Vividred, and he was just as surprised as anyone else when it appeared. Also, according to the Crow, Vividred was using an entirely new energy source, different from and superior to the one used by the Incarnation engine or the Crow herself. Akane took advantage of some of Kenjiro's technology in docking to create Vividred, but Rei had no key, and much of what happened transcended his technology. It can only be because Akane truly is a magical girl.

  • So why not Rei being the magical girl, instead? Rei never shows any transcendant abilities in the show, whereas Akane transcends human norms constantly.

Akane is a distant relative of Boris
She puts mayonnaise on everything, wears a tracksuit, and is somewhat of a Cloudcuckoolander. All else we need to see is her chopping up some potato with a surplus Kalashnikox bayonet.

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