| Shimako | |
|---|---|
 Shimako as she appears in Field of Cosmos. | |
| Basic Info | |
| Role | Recurring NPC, Swaps hats with or gives books to player in Reflecting Electron Zone |
| Collectibles | None None |
| Events | Shimako's Deluge |
| Location |
Pure White Lands |
| Other | |
| Size | Standard |
| Killable? | Yes, Temporary |
Shimako is a recurring NPC in qxy's work, particularly in the route starting from Home Within Nowhere.
Interaction
Shimako makes appearances in several of qxy's worlds, starting from Adabana Gardens, with her final appearance being in Rainy Apartments. She appears to be linked to the Telephone effect, as she will react to it in several instances.
Home Within Nowhere
Even though Shimako doesn't appear herself within the area, it is highly implied in the narrative of the route that the Home Within Nowhere is where Shimako had lived, as indicated by the bedroom of the area housing several of Shimako's belongings that are seen equipped by her later - a red schoolbag that is seen with her in Adabana Gardens and the striped shirts that she is wearing in most instances.
Pure White Lands
If the player has chainsawed the five red creatures found throughout Shimako's sector of worlds (Wooded Lakeside A, Wooded Lakeside B Boiler Room, Kaleidoscope World, Streetlight Docks, and Critter Village's Gray Hexagonal Pillar Passage), then Shimako will appear within the White Garden of the Pure White Lands. Here, she stands at the cliffside blowing bubbles.
Adabana Gardens
Shimako is first seen briefly in an unreachable area of Adabana Gardens as a child, carrying the red schoolbag as she slowly walks off-screen. If the player had encountered her here, she may be found again in the next area.
Field of Cosmos
Shimako is more elusive here but can be found near the two small temples in Field of Cosmos if she had been seen in Adabana Gardens. When present, she will not look at Urotsuki, and will only briefly look at her if the Telephone effect is used. She will vanish upon being touched.
Wooded Lakeside
In Wooded Lakeside A, a striped picnic blanket can be found here beside a lavender picnic blanket bearing Urotsuki's shirt pattern, implying a connection between the two characters.
Shimako makes a more explicit appearance in Wooded Lakeside B when entering the Boiler Room, and triggers the Shimako's Deluge event. Walking across the water will show Shimako standing near a Sierpinski triangle and some lilypads--she will look around fearfully if the Telephone effect is used. Walking just in front of the Sierpinski Triangle will cause Urotsuki to fall into the water. After drowning or waking up, Urotsuki will reappear in front of the bathroom of Home Within Nowhere.
Additionally, Shimako appears as a chaser in the Gnarled Tree Plaza sub-area within Wooded Lakeside B where she wears a black, wide-brimmed hat. If Shimako catches the player, they will pass the hat onto Urotsuki before running away. If the player has entered Red Sewers from Guts World, she will not appear here.
Marshmallow Shallows
Shimako can be found sitting unaccompanied and slouched over in one of the small cone-shaped structures, as Kamakurako is seen doing the same in an igloo of Snow World in the original Yume Nikki. If the player is wearing a hat, it may be given to Shimako, however doing so will cause her to vanish. If the player enters the white cone house found within this world's monochrome subarea, they will instantly be taken to the cone that Shimako inhabits.
Glitched Butterfly Sector
Shimako makes a brief appearance just over the Sierpinski Maze connection in this area when it fades to blue, appearing nude and looking around. If the player had entered Red Sewers from Guts World, Shimako will not be present in this area.
Critter Village
Shimako can be found in a short forested section at one of the ends of the boating section in Critter Village. Here, Shimako is initially invisible, holding a red umbrella resembling a Jellyfish from Yume Nikki, until the player uses the Crossing effect, which will reveal her silhouette in a brownish-red color. When she is approached she will disappear, and the umbrella will settle on the ground. Her being invisible except for her gadgets is similar to that of Mafurako, also from the original Yume Nikki.
Reflecting Electron Zone
In Reflecting Electron Zone, much like her appearance in Critter Village, Shimako is initially invisible until the Crossing effect is used, doing so revealing her physical appearance. She is seen with a stack of red, green, and blue books balanced on her head, which the player may take from her. If the player has taken a hat from Home Within Nowhere or any other prior area, they may swap it for her books.
Rainy Apartments
Shimako makes her final appearance on the balcony of Rainy Apartments as a translucent figure, seemingly brushing her teeth. Once the elevator doors have opened, she may be found in the bed and reacts to the Telephone effect by stirring slightly, if the player had not chainsawed her. If the player takes the stairs outside and descends 8 times, her corpse may be found on the ground; the top level has a stool or chair, implying that Shimako had jumped to her death. Using the Telephone effect will cause the body to writhe faintly.
Appearance
Shimako is an average-looking girl with long, dark hair, black eyes, and a fair complexion. She is usually seen wearing a black & white striped top, dark red shoes, and a black skirt with red detailing.
In Rainy Apartments, Shimako loses her original chibi art style and is seen with much more realistic proportions.
Theories
Spoilers:
The route starting from Home Within Nowhere could be seen as Shimako's narrative, starting from her childhood home, progressing through reimagined fragments of her childhood memories, and traversing through the more abstract spatial reinterpretations of her teenage years in subsequent worlds.
The route starts off bright, calm, and somewhat cheerful as seen in the initial areas of Home Within Nowhere, Pure White Lands, Lamplit Stones, Adabana Gardens, Field of Cosmos, and Bubble World. However, subsequent worlds start to get darker in both appearance, atmosphere, and possible underlying themes, with Red Sewers acting as a turning point.
Accompanied by daunting screeches and sparsely distributed gory visuals (a deformed figure shaped like a uterus and a faucet that grinds Urotsuki into blood when entered), Marshmallow Shallows is an obvious example. Shimako crouching in a narrow conical structure of Marshmallow Shallows may hint at isolation, a theme that is rather common in Yume Nikki games. Shimako's Deluge, where she seemingly drowns the approacher in the water reservoir of Wooded Lakeside may hint her disapproval or hostility towards external approach or help. Combined with the knowledge that Oblique Hell's orientation resembles an uncannily distorted human body, her sitting alone, naked, in an alien environment of the next world Glitched Butterfly Sector, could be viewed as symbolizing anxiety or trauma, possibly related to body image. She is later seen in Reflecting Electron Zone, stacking multiple thick books on her head, which could indicate her reaching college age and in advanced education despite all this. With the aforementioned Reflecting Electron Zone also being a dead-end world branched from Virtual City, alongside several other instances that may hint at themes of depressing isolation, this world may symbolize a more serious work-oriented side of Shimako compared to the exhilarating Virtual City, which appears to be filled with activities and symbolism that may intend to detract from pain (smoking, drinking, listening to music, or playing video games, the latter possibly evidenced by the Famicom seen in Home Within Nowhere).
Additionally, several small pieces of imagery within different worlds may hint at some form of loss, although it is unknown who in particular Shimako may have lost, or if the presence of these pieces of imagery is intended to only symbolize death or "being apart". Particularly, early in the route, several jizō can be found within the Field of Cosmos, which are Japanese gravestones belonging to children. Two side-by-side shrines can also be found in the area, with Shimako standing by one of them. Two similar jizō can be found next to each other on an inaccessible island in Wooded Lakeside A. Additionally, after chainsawing some of the red creatures within Shimako's sector, taking the train in Wooded Lakeside A sends Urotsuki to a hospital setting with a room containing a single hospital bed.
The narrative ends as a matured Shimako is seen on the veranda of Rainy Apartments, a sentimental area that evokes emotions of gloom and melancholy simultaneously via the area's overall color and chord choices and rainy setting. Her unexpected suicide in the area concludes her narrative. As she was seen continuing her ordinary life just moments ago brushing her teeth, the choice would be interpreted as impulsive, but themes of depression hinted from the posterior worlds would have foreshadowed this outcome, like the original Yume Nikki did with Madotsuki's dreams before the ending. However, despite this, it may appear that Shimako is peaceful in the afterlife, possibly symbolized by the Pure White Lands after chainsawing the five red creatures found within her worlds, which shows her peacefully blowing bubbles at the cliffside, a symbol associated with the last world before her route's thematic turning point.
Spoilers end here.Trivia
- There exists a full-bodied version of the graphic of Shimako seated in the chair on the balcony of Rainy Apartments. In-game, this graphic is semi-transparent and hard to see.
- Many of Shimako's worlds in the deeper part of her associated world sector make references to worlds and characters within the original Yume Nikki.
Directions
- The Nexus → Marijuana Goddess World → Color Cubes World → Home Within Nowhere → Pure White Lands → Lamplit Stones → Adabana Gardens
- The Nexus → Marijuana Goddess World → Color Cubes World → Home Within Nowhere → Pure White Lands → Lamplit Stones → Adabana Gardens/Field of Cosmos → Bubble World → Red Sewers → Wooded Lakeside A → Oblique Hell → Glitched Butterfly Sector → Sierpinski Maze → Virtual City → Reflecting Electron Zone
- The Nexus → Marijuana Goddess World → Color Cubes World → Home Within Nowhere → Pure White Lands → Lamplit Stones → Adabana Gardens/Field of Cosmos → Bubble World → Red Sewers → Wooded Lakeside A → Oblique Hell → Glitched Butterfly Sector → Sierpinski Maze → Virtual City → Rainy Apartments
Gallery
Shimako in Pure White Lands.
A young Shimako in Adabana Gardens.
Shimako in the Field of Cosmos.
Shimako hidden away in one of the conical structures in Marshmallow Shallows.
Shimako's appearance in Glitched Butterfly Sector.
Shimako made visible in Reflecting Electron Zone.
Shimako as an adult, sitting on the chair of the balcony in Rainy Apartments.
The full sprite of Shimako as she would appear on the balcony of the Rainy Apartments.
Shimako hugging Urotsuki in Wallpaper #597.
Shimako as seen in Wallpaper #608.
Shimako as seen in Wallpaper #649.
