User:Anwyll/IV/Timeline

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This page is a personal attempt at a timeline.

Calibration

The opening of the game states:

このゲームはフィクションであり実在の人物・団体との関連性はありませんまた。時代背景は1980年代の日本を設定し当時の時代考証に則り。現在では一部使用されていない表現が含まれておりますのであらかじめご了承ください。 This game is a work of fiction and has no relevance to real people or groups. The setting is 1980s Japan and reflects the historical context of the time. Please note that this includes the use of kanji and phrases no longer used today.

In the fan patch, this was replaced by this message from the developer:

This game takes place in Japan, with native Japanese characters. There has been every effort to translate the game, but please be aware that not only will the characters be speaking in their native language, but the game will contain many cultural references. Please use Wikipedia to your advantage. - Tempus

It appears that at some point, someone assumed that 1980年代 meant "the year 1980" and not "during the 1980s," as most Fatal Frame IV timelines that I've seen are calibrated to assume the Kiraigou took place in 1970, not "during the 1970s." My timeline is instead calibrated around the kiraigou taking place "around 1978." This is a rough estimate and is not intended to be conclusive; there may be no definitive answer to be found at all. This decision was made based on three factors:

  • The only year in the 1970s during which a total lunar eclipse took place on September 16/17th was 1978
Note that the game uses the same date for the eclipse 2 years later, which is not accurate.
  • The later half of the decade makes more sense for aligning the plot, especially the resurrection of the Kaugra, with historical events in Japan, such as the Meiji Restoration, activity of Kunihiko Asou, and the World Wars (consider the note that says the kagura was opened to the general public 30 years prior to its last performance).
  • This in-game texture, which features a calendar for 1977/8 on the wall of Haibara Hospital.
Note that some might argue that it would make more sense for the date on the hospital wall to be the Day Without Suffering rather than the failed Kiraigou. I would argue that one might expect the daybooks to be from year era, too, but here we are.
Note also that this may just be a random calendar with no intentional meaning whatsoever.



Edo Period

Long before the visit of Dr. Kunihiko Asou, Rougetsu Island becomes "feared as the island nearest to the underworld" and gains a reputation for being an "insular place that shuns visitors".[1] The moon becomes an object of faith in the island's culture. As life in the physical world is primarily influenced by the sun, the moon becomes associated with spirituality and the Other World.[1] The culture develops an association between the moon and spirits, and traditions involving a great variety of masks and rituals which serve as connections to the moon and the dead.[1] The island later suffers a "great calamity" and begins to welcome outsiders as an opportunity to recover.[1]


Meiji Era[2]

Dr. Kunihiko Asou's Visit

After developing several prototypes of the Camera Obscura, Dr. Kunihiko Asou comes to Rougetsu Island with the goal of advancing its technology.[3] Once arriving on the island, Asou is surprised to find that the culture is very welcoming and treats him warmly, eager to share with him their local traditions and crafts.

In the end, the primary advancements made on the Camera Obscura are on the film it utilizes. By utilizing ingredients used to make paints for the island's cultural masks, Asou is able to demonstrate not just that he can capture shadows on film, but subject them to exorcism-like effects.[3] Just prior to leaving, Dr. Asou donates one of his most recent prototypes, seemingly developed on the island due to its casing, to the lodgings where he stayed.[3]

Dr. Asou's Legacy

After developing a prototype Camera Obscura which has the potential to capture lingering thoughts and emotions, Dr. Asou pens a document dedicating it to his descendants, memorializing it as the landmark "first great stride beyond his predecessors"[4]


About 1978

Approx. Spring

On April 6th, Kazuto Amaki becomes fixated on a mask from the Dining Room, believing it contains a part of his ego. He enters into a cycle of taking it back to his room, and having it taken from his room by the nursing staff.[5]

Souya and Sayaka Yomotsuki explain the concept of ancestry to Ruka, that she is the sum of all the connections which preceded her. They tease and laugh together as a happy family.[6]

Souya Yomotsuki shuts himself up in his workshop most of the day, ostensibly making masks for the upcoming Rougetsu Kagura. Ruka grows lonely.[7]

As Misaki begins to bud, she makes friends with an older patient, Sakuya. After a visit from Sakuya, Misaki writes a diary calling her "taisetsuna hito" (an important person), causing Madoka to tear up the entry in jealousy.[8]


Summer

Around mid-July, an investigation into You Haibara is opened by mainland police.[9]

Ruka is hospitalized at Rougetsu Hall and quickly makes friends. However, like her father, Shigeto Haibara continues to experiment on her using masks and, after You Haibara comes up with the idea, music therapy. The music brings back the frightening memory of seeing her father in a mask. Nurse Fukuyo Shiratsuki notes after one hospital-wide experiement that many of the patients' reactions to music therapy "could never be considered favorable."[10][11]

The girls repeatedly glean the unlock codes to the ward doors(implied to be using "intuition" from the "sixth sense" at least in the case of Misaki) and invent the "code game".[12]

At some point after his first entry, Kazuto Amaki's condition deteriorates. He panics about once again having the mask taken from him.[13]

Madoka's mother visits occasionally, giving her art supplies and a pet canary.[14] On July 19th, Ayako cuts the canary's head off with a pair of scissors. Fukuyo Shiratsuki laments not being able to take effective measures to curb Ayako's behavior due to interference by Dr. Haibara.[15]

[15]

On August 9th 7-year-old Madoka writes a diary entry saying her "face is messed up" and she "wishes Ayako would disappear."[16]

The day before the kaugra, Ruka is excited to go outside and see others, but nervous about wearing a mask.[17]

On September 16th, Kirishima arrives on Rougetsu Island in the search for You Haibara, acting on his intuition that he would not miss the Rougetsu Kagura.[9] Kirishima is in attendance at the Kagura, which lasts past midnight into the 17th, believing with the doors locked from the outside, Haibara will not be able to escape. He and witnesses the shrine maidens collapse, and cannot find Haibara. Later in the day, he visits the hospital morgue to view the body of Tsubaki Tono.[18]

On September 25h, Sayaka gets Kirishima into Rougetsu hall. He investigates the entire building, interviewing a boy (Kazuto Amako), but realizing many patients are in no state to provide coherent answers. He not meet Sakuya or find You Haibara, and calls his search there to an end.[19]

On September 29h, Kirishima receives an anonymous tip that leads him to the basement of Haibara Hospital, where he finds the missing girls.[20] They are taken into protective custody.

On October 9h, Kirishima learns that Sayaka plans on removing Ruka from the hospital and leaving the island.[21] They are taken into protective custody.

About 1980

Patient Yuukou Magaki's pantings become fixated on Sakuya Haibara. He begins to smile and laugh for seemingly no reason, and has unpredictable tantrums. Nurse Shie Sonosaki becomes concerned that these may be omens Sakuya will awaken.[22]

Kirishima returns to Rougetsu Island on September 17th, two years later, after receiving an anonymous tip that You Haibara was sighted there. The summer is intensely hot, and the island is quiet due to tourism drying up after the kagura. While standing in the courtyard of Rougetsu Hall, Sakuya ascends the staircase and ushers in the Day Without Suffering.[23]


Between 1980 and 1988

Madoka moves into Misaki's home. What happens to her parents is unknown.[24] At some point, Ruka plays Madoka a song on the piano, which tugs at her lost memories.[25]


About 1988

Madoka & Misaki

Misaki suddenly declares that she wants to return to Rougetsu Island, with her only explanation being that "something is there".[26] Misaki agrees to accompany her out of concern for her safety, not wanting to lose her after the deaths of Marie and Tomoe. On the approach to Rougetsu Island Madoka grows very tense.[26] After arriving on the island, Misaki experiences an oppressive sense of ominousness and familiarity that she describes as "almost like pain", but still cannot remember anything. They press on towards Rougetsu Hall without waiting for Ruka.[25]

After being assailed by spirits in the Kunihiko Asou Museum, Madoka (either prior to dying or after becoming a fuyuurei) begins to write notes to herself, trying to prevent her ego from "dissolving."[27] Her condition rapidly deteriorates, and she becomes unable to recognize her own face, realizing that it's the same thing that happened to Marie and Tomoe before their deaths.[28] Madoka becomes increasingly confused, but gradually recovers fragments of memory; Ayako's abuse, being chosen, being led away by the arm, a mask being put on her, the music over the PA system, a blurred face. She feels drawn to the moon, but fears it, retreating to darkness of her room.[29] In a final moment of clarity, Madoka pens her goodbyes to Misaki, admitting that she always felt like a "replacement" for Misaki's "important person" and letting go of her jealousy of Miya.[24] She returns to her room, pens her goodbyes to Ruka, and (if not already dead) dies,[30] later becoming an onryou.


Files (Chronological)

The Year of the Kagura

The Year of the Kagura

2 Years After the Kagura

10 Years After the Kagura


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dr. Asou's Note 2
  2. ↑ Fragment of Unsent Letter
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dr. Asou's Note 1
  4. ↑ Dr. Asou's Note 3
  5. ↑ Boy's Diary 1
  6. ↑ Ruka's Diary 4
  7. ↑ Ruka's Diary 2
  8. ↑ Torn Diary
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kirishima's Investigation Record 1
  10. ↑ Ruka's Diary 1
  11. ↑ 2nd Floor Nurse's Log 3
  12. ↑ 2nd Floor Nurse's Log 1
  13. ↑ Boy's Diary 2
  14. ↑ Letter to Madoka
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 2nd Floor Nurse's Log 2
  16. ↑ Madoka's Diary
  17. ↑ Ruka's Diary 3
  18. ↑ Kirishima's Investigation Record 2
  19. ↑ Kirishima's Investigation Record 3
  20. ↑ Kirishima's Investigation Record 4
  21. ↑ Kirishima's Investigation Record 5
  22. ↑ 3rd Floor Nurse's Log
  23. ↑ Kirishima's Investigation Record 6
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Madoka's Note 6
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Madoka's Note 2
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Madoka's Note 1
  27. ↑ Madoka's Note 3
  28. ↑ Madoka's Note 4
  29. ↑ Madoka's Note 5
  30. ↑ Madoka's Notebook


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