YMMV / Lonely Castle in the Mirror

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Does Sanada actually think Kokoro and later Moe are the ones who wronged her, or is she just throwing out excuses? The book has evidence towards both interpretations.
    • For that matter, was she really going to try to kill Kokoro, or was that hyperbole?
  • In the movie, just how much does Kitajima remember of the castle, if anything? The rules stated that everyone would lose their memories as a result of someone using a wish, and Kokoro and Rion having clearly forgotten, but Kitajima makes a gesture under the table towards Kokoro as if she was reaching out to take her hand. Which is a callback to Kokoro reaching for her own hand in the Wishing Room.
• Anvilicious: The anti-bullying themes are not subtle in the slightest. Many don’t mind, saying it’s an incredibly valid point, but others find it tiring. This is amped up in the film adaptation, where a common criticism was that the soundtrack seemed as if it were forcing the viewer to feel sad during certain scenes.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • One of the rules states that if you stay past five, you and everyone else who visited the castle that day will be eaten by a wolf, and there's nothing Wolf Queen can do about it, as it's a power greater than her own. And then in the climax, everyone but Kokoro suffers this fate, with the wolf looking like it's made of hellish fire. Special mention goes to it finding Aki hiding in the wardrobe, the other kids hearing her scream just before she's eaten.
  • The incident that led to Kokoro refusing to go to school. While she was home and preparing for her class, she heard a knock on the door. Initially thinking it was her mother having forgot her key, she began to approach the door, only to hear Sanada and her posse shouting at her to come out. Then Kokoro heard more voices and discovered it was all the girls in her class surrounding her house. Kokoro drew the curtains and turned off the lights to pretend she wasn't home, while Sanada began banging on the glass windows, threatening to break the door down if she had to and saying she'd strangle Kokoro. Kokoro spends hours hiding behind a chair in the living room, too afraid to move, until her mother comes home hours later that night. When she thinks back to the incident, she admits she truly does think Sanada would have killed her.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The mere premise of the novel, with the themes and scenes of bullying and abuse. Kokoro hiding in her house while it steadily grows darker, sobbing for her mother to save her while her classmates gather outside and threaten her, is especially harsh.
  • "Kokoro, you're battling every day, aren't you?"
  • Kokoro assuring Aki You Are Not Alone and forming a Chain of People with the other five kids to pull her to safety.