WMG / COUNTER:SIDE

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Deleted accounts become Counterside layers.

The background image of the account deletion page happens to be the scene in the Administration Failure side story where Hilde abandons Na Yubin and an injured Lee Sooyeon. The confirm phrase is "SEE YOU AGAIN". In a sense, deleting your account makes you no different from Hilde in that moment, condemning a world to the Counterside.

A unit's Lifetime Contract shows the moment they were invited to the Administrator's "inner circle".

In joining the circle, they are expected to do whatever is necessary to fulfill the Admin's plans... even if they have to jump worlds with the Admin and deceive the unaware.

Every scene that would've been out of reasonable "earshot" of Shiyoon actually was heard by Shiyoon.

It's mentioned that he lost a lot of blood and was lying in the warehouse when he overheard both his parents' last words to Hilde, so there's a presumption of physical distance. If all the scenes that take place relative to his area were also within his "range", then he must've overheard quite a number of details that would narratively only be for the player's benefit, all while playing himself up as a slacker.

If Lone Lee had specified her soulmate to be male, she would've summoned Shiyoon instead of Shiyoung.

Shiyoung is a female Shiyoon, and "Fateful Summer" could've played out very differently if Shiyoon had been roped into the event.

The playable Lyudmila (but not Awakened Lyudmila) represents the original Lyudmila who never became a Shadow, hence the lack of the [C.O.] tag.

The story Lyudmila who joins Coffin Company is her near-identical Shadow, and her Kresnik form that she gained from her treatment with the CEO is her needing to cooperate with both the original laying dormant in her core (similar to how Rita and Dash were salvaged from Ministra and Spira in "Bottom of the Shade") and the Doppelganger she absorbed in "End of the Maze" (alongside possibly the Doppelganger Alex and Maze Division that D-Lyudmila absorbed earlier).

Alternatively, the playable Lyudmila lacking the [C.O.] tag represents the Administrator hiding Lyudmila's data from the current-day Administration.

It was subtle Foreshadowing for how the current-day Administration would react to the reveal of Awakened Lyudmila in "Administration Complete".

Gambler bonded with the real Cecilia.

Both were abandoned by their family, and Cecilia "disappeared" because Gambler took her in. However, that bond did not last because Cecilia turned into a weak C.O., one that could easily be killed by Gambler's meager Counter powers. Gambler wears Cecilia's face out of grief, to be able to see her every day in the mirror.

Orca is Eddie's daughter reincarnated.

The ending of Orca's side story has her seemingly recalling memories from the life of Eddie's daughter, who was put down after succumbing to Corruption syndrome. While her being Eddie's daughter seems unlikely in light of this, the side story also involves the Replacers, with a small appearance by the Replacer Queen establishing her interest in Orca. The significance of this is easily missed on the initial playthrough without knowledge of Queen's abilities, but on a rewatch, it brings up the possibility that Orca's amnesiac state is a result of being regenerated through the same procedures that Queen uses to revive other Replacers - likely as a test subject.

Yoo Mina is the Administrator's clone of Hilde's pupil in the Fenrir Division who broke away from Hilde during the Administration Failure.

Shiyoon couldn't find any trace of Mina's "parents" because she is just like the nine sisters of Eins. With the possibility of finally winning a Qliphoth Game in sight, the Admin let Tammiel raise ("cultivate", in agricultural terms) Mina for the future Qliphoth Game that would at long last be in his favor.

Yoo Mina is the Admin's "Coffin", and Tammiel that Coffin's "master".

In the end, Yoo Mina will kill Tammiel and the Administrator.

As the necessary final step of Mina's fate as the Cursed Wolf, she will have to kill "Odin"; as penance for his Omniscient Morality License, the Admin will join Tammiel in her Coffin.

Ironically, this will also fulfill his Lifetime Contracts with his inner circle since a lifetime has been spent: his own.

Hilde's pupil and the girl shown at the start of Episode 1 are the same person, and not Tammiel.

The despair-filled speech at the start of Episode 1 makes little sense coming from Tammiel, but makes alot more if it came from "Her" who is implied to be the one who committed Heroic Suicide against Tammiel in the flashback shown in Episode 10. It alo makes less sense for Tammiel to be the one wielding the Wolvesbane.

We may still be watching a record of the Administator's memory backed up in the Terrabrain.

We don't see the flashback shown in "Administration Failure" end, so it might be possible. There is also the lack of player dialogue.

Edit: I played the flashback at the start of "Administration Failure" in slow motion and noticed alot of scenes that Coffin Company experienced, like the Corruption event during Episode 1.

The CEO may not be the first Class 1 Administrator.

Just a theory I feel like doesn't have enough evidence to disprove yet.

Tapir is an Inhibitor that originally belonged to the research facility in "Bottom of the Shade".

When fighting the Inhibitor Raid Boss, we usually fight it in the facility shown in "Bottom of the Shade". But the facility does not have an Inhibitor. My theory is that Tapir was somehow pulled into Imaginary Space.

Tammiel is training us up to fight a bigger threat.

Just like the Sirens in Azur Lane, Tammiel may not be the Big Bad, but trying to find someone and make them strong enough to combat an Outside-Context Problem, perhaps the Eldritch Abominations mentioned by Edel in "Frozen Corridors".

Administration Sword Fighter is a non-powered clone of Shiyoung

If you put a visor and stockings on Shiyoung's Rearm, she becomes virtually indistinguishable from ASF. It wouldn't be too far fetched to have several Worldlines that have Shiyoung instead of just one.