Kagepro Theory: The Moon is the Kagerou Daze's Eye

Hibiya looks to the moon in Otsukimi Recital

The Moon is the Kagerou Daze's Eye!

This is a theory I thought up of after rereading LN 3.

A big question in Kagepro, for a while, has been, "What is the significance of the moon?" It appears in various parts of the series as a key imagery. The moon is first seen in Children Record's PV, in a scene where it is red and actively wanes behind Marry. The fact that it is behind Marry, one of the most important characters in the series, signifies that the moon symbolizes something important that's related to her, in one way or another. As we know, as the holder of the Queen, Marry is the only one in the series who can possibly control the Kagerou Daze, though she does not know it.

The moon is also noticed in Tsukihiko's name, where "tsuki (月)" means moon. However, his name is notably only written in katakana, which is a trait he shares with Azami but also muddies the true meaning of his name. It is quite possible that "tsuki" in his name means "欅", which refers to the plant Zelkova serrata, as the Kozakura family and other Kagepro characters have names based off of flowers and plants. It is possible that his name was kept in katakana to allow his name to have a dual meaning between both the moon and the plant. (Reference: Jisho.org)

We know that the moon is always full on August 15th of the present day plot, thanks to Otsukimi Recital. Otsukimi Recital is the representative title of all scenes, across various Routes, where Momo works with Hibiya to encourage him from Hiyori's death and assure him to trust her as part of the Mekakushi Dan. Our introduction to Otsukimi Recital is, of course, its music video, but the third novel gives us a bigger perspective on what's actually occurring. In both the Music Route and Novel Route, Hibiya is extremely discouraged upon waking up because of Hiyori's disappearance. In the novels, he refuses to engage with the Mekakushi Dan, even after his conversation with Ayano while in the Daze, because his desire to save Hiyori overrides rational thought. Thus, the chapter LN 3, Chapter "Otsukimi Recital" is specifically about helping Hibiya locate Hiyori.

Hibiya refuses to leave the children's park until he locates Hiyori, and yet in chapter "Kaien Panzermast" they are leaving the park willingly. He is not depicted actually locating the Kagerou Daze, but he is compliant to leave. We can only assume that he actually succeeds in locating Hiyori, but how? We know that he can use Focusing Eyes to locate a person by looking at something that they own or have interacted with, and the chapter "Otsukimi Recital" ends with Momo using Drawing Eyes to bring as many eyes to her as possible so that Hibiya can possibly look at someone who has seen Hiyori (she also does this in the PV, but it is very unclear just why she does this in the music video, as the search for Hiyori is not nearly as explained there). The last line of the novel chapter "Otsukimi Recital" is about how Momo looks up at the moon, which is "staring wide-eyed" back at her.

So, whose gaze did Hibiya meet to find Hiyori? Who has last seen Hiyori besides him? Well, the Kagerou Daze, of course. We know that the Kagerou Daze is alive by how other describe it. Azami "commands" it, it listens to her orders and doesn't anymore when she loses the Queen snake, and the novels describe it having a giant "mouth" that swallows people whole when they die on August 15th. Its "mouth" is seen both in LN3's art and in Ayano no Koufuku Riron and is always in the sky; thus, we can theorize that the Kagerou Daze, which is a literal world as well as a living creature, is located in the sky. Finally, the Kagerou Daze shown visually as a literal giant black snake in episodes 5 and 9 of the anime. So, we can conclude that since the Kagerou Daze has a mouth and is also a snake, it must have eyes. (While blind snakes exist in the real world, seeing how Kagepro is about snakes with eye powers, we can assume that this is not the case).

The moon shaped as a snake's red eye in MCA Ep 11

In the Otsukimi Recital PV, Hibiya is seen staring directly at the moon with Focusing Eyes while declaring that he will "do it" aka save Hiyori. Furthermore, "Otsukimi" literally means "moon-viewing"; the name specifically refers to an autumnal holiday period, so it is possible that the word "recital" refers to the fact that they are viewing the moon in the summer rather than autumn. Regardless, it emphasizes looking directly at the moon, which Hibiya does at the end of the PV. With the idea that the moon is the Kagerou Daze's eye, and Hibiya can locate Hiyori within the Daze by looking at the moon with Focusing Eyes, the narrative purpose of Otsukimi Recital makes a lot more sense.

And, of course, the moon itself is shown as a snake's red eye in episode 11 of the anime, also titled "Otsukimi Recital".

Thanks for reading my essay in my blog post lol. Please don't steal without credit, I will curse you.