Freaking Out! (Mystery Skulls)

[Admiral Squish]

I'm freaking out!
See, a long time ago, there was a music video I found. At first glance, it was just fun and cartoony and really well-made, an obvious homage to scooby doo with a funky beat on top of it. Then it took a crazy twist, and it turned out beneath that simple, fun little animation, there were layers and layers of meaning. I've seen movies with less plot than that five-minute animation. Now, unfortunately, it seemed to end there. I was fine with that. It told a complete story, and all the loose ends tied up.
But then, this morning I wake up to find a brand-new animation continuing the story, and now I'm geeking out over Freaking Out!

To those unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, allow me to share the magic.
The first video, Ghost (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlEb3L1PIco)
The new video, Freaking Out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUYM5WNdNGc)

Let the rampant speculation begin!

[JNAProductions]

Thank you for sharing. That was awesome!

[Tiffanie Lirle]

I already knew about the original, but thanks for bringing part two to my attention. :smallbiggrin:

I'm on board with this theory from the comments about the first one, made a few edits.


Okay, so they're all staying in a van, investigating ruined and possibly haunted mansions.
Lewis (Skeleton-Ghost) Loved Vivi (Blue girl) but Arthur (Yellow guy) Also had feelings for Vivi.
Mystery (A Kitsune disguised as a dog) is Lewis' companion. Arthur was possessed by some entity (The green aura) at the crossroads.

Mystery, stayed at the intersection, Arthur and Lewis went one way, while Vivi went down a tunnel, both led the a room with spikes on the floor. Arthur, his arm being possessed, pushed Lewis of the cliff. (While Vivi, being just below, watched in horror.)
Mystery, being just behind Arthur then, saw what happened and bit Arthur's arm off, which is why he has a prosthetic. He then erased Vivi's memory of Lewis' existence completely, hence her black eyes in the mirror.

As for part 2

I don't believe Mushroom lady actually cares about Lewis. She was tracking Mystery for an unknown reason, but the trail turned cold at the cave hence the wilting flower. But she got a trace of Lewis there by coincidence and found his heart, using it's power to boost her own and track Mystery. She seems to have some success with this as evidenced by the Kitsune "hologram" that appears.

However in doing so, she glimpsed into Lewis' memories and woke him from the dead. He apparently doesn't appreciate the intrusion and in a fit of rage (probably not made better from the events of last video) literally punches her head off. He sees the blue flower on the ground and is reminded of his love for Vivi and then the orange flower reminding him of his grudge against Arthur. (He doesn't know that Arthur was possessed) and finds new strength to go after his old Group again in an effort to protect the person he loves from the man who killed him.

Presumably everyone is going to run into each other at once in the next video.

Edit - I just noticed you can see the ghost that possessed Arthur on the left at 0:10

[Admiral Squish]

Pretty much what I was thinking, but in my mind, Mystery isn't specifically bound to any one of them, he's just sort of watching over the group. He's a protective sort of spirit, and he's sort of taken on the gang as his charges. And I think the memory wipe was Lewis' doing more than Mystery's.
The blue lady's being called Shiromori in the comments, which is a translation of the symbols on her profile, (http://mysterybensmysteryblog.tumblr.com/CharacterProfiles) which I believe mean 'snow forest'.

My theory is that those flowers are drawn toward whatever spirit energy they're grown from. When she arrives at the cave, you can see she was following red petals, and when she's in the cave trying to find a trace of Mystery, his flower crumbles, but she picks up on some new energy, Lewis, and follows it hoping it'll lead her to Mystery's trail. The petals lead her to the heart, and once she's there, she tries to track whatever was there, and gets flowers of the main three. They're not what she's looking for, to she cuts them off and tries again this time trying to use the heart as a focus, and finds a very strong presence of Mystery, exactly what she was looking for. Lewis returns, punches her head off, and she's ready to go at him, but realized she can't or she'll risk losing the trail. She blows mystery's flower and burrows away. You can see the flowers sort of scoot along the ground, and later tug at Lewis' hand as he holds Vivi's flower, which says to me they don't just symbolize the three, they're actually linked deeply to them somehow and drawn to them. So when Lewis puts some of the petals in his heart, it actually makes it a sort of homing beacon to find her, though I'm not sure why it would heal its cracks.

Also, the van scene is important. That map's got me puzzling. Is Arthur looking for Lewis' ghost and doesn't think the mansion encounter was him? Why was Lewis' image fading out of the group picture? Why did Arthur get a glimpse of Mystery's true form? Then there's that shadow over Mystery when he touches the flower... Is it Shiro? It didn't have her crooked smile, or her tree, but who else could it be?

[Bulldog Psion]

Thank you for linking those -- those two short animations were as entertaining as many a full-length film I've seen, and more so than some! :smallsmile:

Really fun stuff.

[Admiral Squish]

...Well, at least the bots are telling jokes now.

[Bulldog Psion]

...Well, at least the bots are telling jokes now.

Weird, isn't it? :smallbiggrin:

[HandofShadows]

Also, the van scene is important. That map's got me puzzling. Is Arthur looking for Lewis' ghost and doesn't think the mansion encounter was him? Why was Lewis' image fading out of the group picture?

It seems Arthur does not remember what happened and that his possessed arm killed Lewis. They know something happened and that Lewis is missing, but they think he is still alive. Hence the map showing where they have been and where they think he might be.

[Benthesquid]

Upon repeat viewing- when they're falling past the mirrors, something is odd about each of their reflections. Vivi's eyes or glasses are black, Arthur's robot arm is missing (though his normal/possessed arm isn't there either) and Mystery's mirror just breaks.

Thoughts, theories, epileptic trees?

Edit: Possibly related- Lewis's eyes seem to be consistently in shadow when we see him alive- the only exception, AFAICT, being in the picture inside the heart locket.

[Admiral Squish]

I think that Vivi's black eyes in the mirror tie to the scene when Lewis dies. A flash of light goes out from Lewis' freed heart and blanks out Vivi's eyes, and I think it's meant to represent him erasing her memory, either of him entirely or just of the scene of his death. The black eyes represent her blindness to the incident.
Looking at that scene, the flash doesn't reach Arthur, so I don't think he's memory-wiped, which makes the map still weird. And if they thought Lewis was alive, how could they explain his disappearance?

Similarly, I think the missing arm in the mirror is meant to draw attention to the fact that he has a robot arm.

[Razade]

There's something that makes me think of Skull Girls with both the music videos honestly. Not a huge fan of the songs sadly, but the art is cool either way.

[HandofShadows]

Looking at that scene, the flash doesn't reach Arthur, so I don't think he's memory-wiped, which makes the map still weird. And if they thought Lewis was alive, how could they explain his disappearance?


Arthur was possessed at the time. Since it was another entity running the show at the time there is good reason for him not to remember. Arthur just wakes up missing and arm after Mystery drives out the entity.

[Yuki Akuma]

I am enjoying the flower symbolism at play here.

Arthur is represented by a daisy, Vivi by a lily, and Lewis by a camellia. And Mystery? His flower is a lotus.

[Forum Explorer]

I think that Vivi's black eyes in the mirror tie to the scene when Lewis dies. A flash of light goes out from Lewis' freed heart and blanks out Vivi's eyes, and I think it's meant to represent him erasing her memory, either of him entirely or just of the scene of his death. The black eyes represent her blindness to the incident.
Looking at that scene, the flash doesn't reach Arthur, so I don't think he's memory-wiped, which makes the map still weird. And if they thought Lewis was alive, how could they explain his disappearance?

Similarly, I think the missing arm in the mirror is meant to draw attention to the fact that he has a robot arm.

I think that's close, but I think Vivi doesn't know that Lewis is dead at all, but not due to any memory wipe. Simply because she went down a different path. And then Arthur simply didn't tell her. So now they are looking for him, but Arthur knows it's pointless (but also doesn't mind Lewis being gone).

[Admiral Squish]

If you look through the fog when the guys are on the upper ledge thing in the cave, you can see Vivi there down below. So, she basically got a front-row seat.
And if she just didn't see it, then how the heck would Athur have explained Lewis' disappearance? "He just disappeared! Don't bother looking for him in there, especially near those spikes, we gotta go look for him! Oh, my arm? Just a flesh wound..."
And if Arthur was just putting up the facade of looking for Lewis, why would he be studying the map while Vivi's asleep with bags under his eyes?

[Silver0929]

Am I the only one that saw that it looks like Arthur felt pain when Lewis steps on his flower. When I first watched the video and saw Lewis step on his flower then it cut to the scene of Arthur. The look on his face made me think that he was going to Die because of this.

[Coidzor]

I am enjoying the flower symbolism at play here.

Arthur is represented by a daisy, Vivi by a lily, and Lewis by a camellia. And Mystery? His flower is a lotus.

Because he's an Asian monster?

Because he makes people forget things?