
The only time she is seen with her eyes open are when she uses the Cat effect, revealing them to be red.See the Theories page for theories regarding Madotsuki and Yume Nikki in general. Since many dreams are disturbing when shared, Madotsuki may just be a typical lucid dreamer trying to find a release from her sadness by exploiting her dreams for fun and self-discovery. However, the player ultimately controls Madotsuki-it is unknown whether she would use the knife on her own or not, or if she feels remorse when killing creatures. The Knife, in particular, appears to hint at her misery or a more violent side of her. Some effects seem to show her unhappiness. Madotsuki's dreams and memories in the mangaĮlements in Madotsuki's dream world seem to hint at her mental or emotional state. She can go outside on the balcony, but the balcony itself must be rather high as her view always seems to be blocked by fog. Her television set doesn't receive any channels, so she can only use it to play a single Famicom game, NASU.

Madotsuki doesn't have much to do in her room. It has been noted that when you reverse her romaji name ( Madotuki in Kunrei-shiki romanization), it becomes Ikutodam: 行くと駄目 or 行くとダメ ("iku to dame"), a commonly used phrase that means "it is useless to go/leave." This may be a coincidence. It is similar to the colloquial Japanese term for 'windower', a person who spends a long time looking out the window that is, a daydreamer. It could also be a way to preserve the game's theme of loneliness by giving the character a functional, dehumanizing name, rather than a personal name. It could be thought of as being a metaphor more a description of the character as the 'player's window into the dream world' rather than a literal name.


"Madotsuki" is not a word used as a name in Japan-in fact, it may not even be her true name at all. The only other time kanji is used is for the message that appears when sitting in Madotsuki's desk chair in the dream world. Nearly all the text in the game-the game menus, instructions, the "menu has changed" notice, the menu for NASU, and even the title screen of the game-is written using the hiragana alphabet. The name appears in the menu as the name of the player character, and (in the Japanese original version) is one of the two instances of kanji writing in the game. The word "Madotsuki" means "windowed" (as in a box or envelope) or "aperture".
