Dead Patient: Deeper Meanings?

Dead Patient is the sequel to Blood Drive and a complete disaster of a Corpse Party game. One chapter is present despite the fact that it came out before Blood Drive, which bears ten chapters and loads of content. That doesn't quite add up.

[This post has spoilers for both Blood Drive and Dead Patient, so read at your own risk.]

This post is snippets of interesting information that I've pieced together in the descriptions of Dead Patient. Believe me, having to play this game again does not exactly cause me joy.

Heart Surgery (Naho's Notes)

Blood Covered's final chapter provides us with Naho's notes, collectable items that are required for a good outcome to escape Tenjin. These, alongside Kibiki's stories of the occult, can be obtained in order to learn more about their inner research and stories that were gained from this investigation.

I used Hysteric Birthday as a means of reading these notes in the extra information category that provides character dossiers and messages from the voice cast.

It seems that Naho was researching some sort of spiritual surgery...sound familiar? This is described, from this brief explanation, as a different space from the Nirvana. This is a new space on it's own, and was never fully analyzed due to Naho's death.

This is merely the first file, and it is said to be pending. Heavenly Host is the second file, implying that it is a different space entirely.

Next we have this heart surgery segment. Although there is a slim chance that this refers to the spiritual surgery that Satsuki underwent, I am almost certain that this refers to Dead Patient. The mention of a ward seems more like a hospital setting, and the terms "ghost therapy" and "spiritual surgery" seem to regard different topics. Satsuki was not given a heart transplant. She was given the supernatural strengths of her deceased classmate's demogorgon head thing.

Year Differences and Timelines

The information that follows this paragraph has been taken from multiple sources, including bonus timelines from Hysteric Birthday and the official Corpse Party website. I tried to find canon sources, and this is the result.

The cultural festival at Kisaragi Academy occurred on the twenty seventh of October, 2008. This is on the Hysteric Birthday timeline. In Blood Drive, however, Ayumi enters Makina Shinozaki's estate and says into her sister's tape recorder, clear as the words on the screen, that it is November tenth, 2008. On the official Corpse Party website, it is stated that the Sachiko blog post was posted on November nineteenth, 2005.

How does this correspond to Dead Patient, though?

We all know that the time process in Heavenly Host is berserk, but the real world ages normally. Although there are some very bad flaws in this timeline, including the fact that not even a month passed since the first Tenjin incident before Blood Drive and the Yoshie incident, Corpse Party isn't the most precise game out there. I doubt that Naho vanished YEARS before Blood Covered, but this is my only data.

Whether this is fact or fiction, we at least know that five years have passed since Blood Drive in Dead Patient, and perhaps even more since Naho's death. That means that this heart transplant case is years old, yet has never been elaborated on. Also, being a different "sacred space", it has different rules and different occurrences than the Nirvana we all know and hate. Amare Patriacha Crusis Hospital was seemingly normal for the years following Naho's death...until it wasn't.

Ayumi and Yoshiki's debuts

A shock to is all, Ayumi and Yoshiki make an appearance in the opening scene of this game. Since they have both been erased from existence, the only person who could possibly know Ayumi's last name, Shinozaki, is Yoshiki.

The scene is advertantly short and odd due to the fact that the dark haired male mentions the following.

Nods to the Netherworld, eh? Sounds like Naho's blog still exists due to the censoring of her four letter name that is completely unnecessary because we all know whose blog it is if we played precious games in the franchise.

Contact forms are exactly what they appear to be: forms that are filled out to access the owner or administrator of a webpage. Why is he recieving these emails? Has he altered the blog or taken possession of it in order to set aside Naho's wrongs?

After this he says something along the lines of "What do we do with all of these? We get so many of them." This implies that they are receiving the forms from the perspective of Naho, as if they are logged in on her email account. People are trying to contact her, but to no avail.

The camera then rests upon a vegetative Ayumi, who shows no signs of life besides breathing. It seems that she has been like this since Blood Drive. However, this game made its debut before Blood Drive, hence why Ayumi's medical eyepatch was previously absent.

How do these two correspond to Dead Patient? They don't seem to be in the hospital, but their scene conveys some sort of impact on the story. Anyways, let's move on.

Ayame Itou

This lovely lady is the protagonist of Dead Patient's first chapter, and, being such a vital character, will be [one of] the first topics of discussion.

The first thing I must address is her name: Ayame, which translates directly to "Iris." An iris is, quite ironically, a part of the eye that determines what color your eyes appear to others. Ayumi, for example, got poked in the iris during the events of Blood Drive. Coincidence? I think not. This is especially strange because Ayumi's eyepatch was not formerly present. How, then, was Ayame's name chosen so perfectly?

Ayame wakes up on a stretcher in a dimly lit room, washed of her memories. After losing her lunch from both ends, she must find a means of escaping this room. Examining objects adorning the room will cause dialogue boxes to appear. This is one of them.

They all seem to regard vitals and other medical records, yet for some reason they are going berserk. Some even have various warning messages as well, flashing red. This seems to foreshadow Ayame's true identity.

She was connected to a drip when she awoke, noticing the prickling sensation when she rolls off of her reins. She was being held down, and the equipment adorning the room seems to fit quite well with her lack of some vital internal organs. Someone was keeping her down forcefully, it seems.

What was in that drip seems to have done something to Ayame. She claims to have a horrendous headache and proceeds to vomit on the floor, barely conscious. She has previously collapsed at school due to what seemed to be anemia. She shows symptoms of this illness as well as amnesia, which she did not previously exhibit according to Chiyomi. Not knowing why she was in the hospital makes sense, as she may have hit her head on the floor or may have not even remembered fainting, but why did she not have any memories?

She does keep a single memory, however. This memory regards a little girl who, from my knowledge, doesn't yet have a name. She does have a wiki page, but I don't exactly know where the name provided came from, "Kurumi", but I will instead refer to her as the white haired girl, or simply the little girl. Ayame says that she feels the need to protect this little girl, which implies that she has some connection with her.

After asking if she is all right, the little girl flees the scene and the cutscene ends. When leaving the hall near the MRI room and the starting room, the same figure is seen by the second floor sign. She walks towards the edge of the screen and vanishes. Her white hair and blue eyes are similar to that of Ayame.

Ayame has no memories of her cherished friend Chiyomi nor of her own self, yet she seems to know who this mysterious girl is. She seems to be her kin from first glance, but her desperation to get away from Ayame in the flashback leads me to believe that perhaps their relations are dark.

Ayame also lacks the hospital gown that many of the dead patients sport, wearing a seemingly untouched school uniform and a bra underneath it. If her heart were to be removed while she was wearing this, the blood would soak through much more than it had and would be much more messy.

She also pays no notice and doesn't seem to feel ANY blood dripping down her chest during this chapter, which is odd considering the abundance of blood in her empty chest.

This, alongside the inability to control her bodily functions, may be an effect of whatever happened to her. She's somewhat numb in places that would spark curiosity, it seems. The fact that no blood has made it's way through Ayame's uniform is perplexing as well. Her white bra and the inner folds of her uniform are stained, though her front half seems quite clean.

The perfectly ovular hole in her chest seems to prove that this was a creation done in quite an intricate manner, not merely with a knife. A machine, or something along that matter, seems to be fitting, and the floor we've yet to see compliments that theory that this was done not directly by man, but by a man made object. The traces of stains are obsolete, as this process was done in secret. Something fishy has been occurring within this hospital for quite a while, and even Naho was aware of it.

After many attempts at trying, I have searched and attempted to find a deeper meaning about Ayame's patient number: F2855978, though typing it into any search bar leads to nowhere. This is only the surface of Ayame, though you'll have a better understanding after a few more passages.

White-haired girl

I have a couple of hypothesizes about this particular character, as her appearance seems important to the story as a whole. First, her appearance in general.

This girl has long white hair that goes down to her back, and her eyes seem to be slightly darker than Ayame's eyes. She wears a white gown, almost like a hospital gown, and is considerably short, perhaps implying that she is younger in age. Her panting during the cutscene is very high pitched, further supporting this.

She seems skittish around Ayame, running in fear when she is seen during the flashback. She may have had bad history with Ayame, or simply bad trust in all. On the other note, she walks quite gracefully to the left when our protagonist exits the MRI hall, almost as if guiding her. She almost appears to be a spirit, graceful and mysterious, sporting a gown almost like Sachiko.

She seems to have human senses, and although she may perhaps be a dead patient, she walks and runs in a normal manner, unlike the limp of the latter. She may even know what is going on in the hospital, perhaps even knowing that Ayame is a dead patient before she herself does. This girl bears resemblance to Sachiko in many ways, though she doesn't appear to be the mastermind behind it all.

The "dead patients"

This term is used to describe the various humanlike figures that loom through the hospital and chase down the innocent. They seem to act on impulse, their intentions merely to kill.

Although Ayame is a new model, she can feel pain as well as bodily functions, retaining this sense of mortality. She also seems quite human in contrast with the hunched backs of the other ones.

On the topic of the dead patients, however, they can look like deranged patients, sporting robes and mumbling nonsense, or they can look quite human and only show off these tendencies when conditions are met. The woman in the red dress, for example, looks a bit crazed but also has tan skin and seems to show physical signs of life. The zombie-like creatures that wander the halls are not, however.

The same can be said for the bosses as well, such as the spider baby and the pudgy zombie. These are experiments gone wrong, hence why the men in suits are guiding any means of escaping. The hospital was a test, and the incident regarding the mother/daughter suicide case is what eventually caused the public to realize these abnormalities.

The mother in this particular case seemed most definitely dead, though her child was able to stand from her resting spot and move around in her cluttered and bloody state. The patients within the hospital react in such a way that it seems they were not aware of these tests. Those who bore witness were quickly knocked out, it seems. This occurence was an accident that reveals the true nature of the hospital, putting the mastermind in distress.

Ayame, previously a patient, did not seem to have a parent present at the hospital. It is as if these experiments are at random, and these dead patients are chosen to blend in with society.

This image from the game proves that these patients were created for a purpose unbeknownst to us. This case has existed for quite a while, even, but the results were unpleasant, leading to the horrendous creatures hidden within the hospital catacombs. These patients were reanimated from death, it seems.

The little girl is acting mischievous and playful, speeding through the halls as she plays with her supposed mother. She seems like a normal, average child. After she is thrown from the second floor, however, she awakes from death and begins to relive as a "dead patient." She left a pile of internal fluids behind, so we at least know that these patients have blood of some sort. Some appear human as well. The hospital seems to be an experimental prison of sorts, though some sort of malice must have encouraged this.

[This is merely a theory. Take it with a grain of salt.]

Take the pharmacist, for example, who was mumbling nonsense before committing sewerslide via a noose. She seemed to be possessed by a force of sorts, as her voice was shallow and her words nonsensical, similar to Kokuhaku. Amare Patriarch Crusis seems to be a spiritual playground, almost like the Nirvana. These forces are influencing the living and undead alike, perhaps even reanimating them.

Ayame is a newer model of these patients. She has retained her humanity and seems fairly convincing as well. Hell, even her friends didn't quite realize this, seeing it as amnesia. She is a success, and Masami is prepared to quarantine her until he gets further results. His true intentions for this creation do not seem admirable, especially considering that the former dead patients are fond of cannibalism, homicide, and fatal chase scenes.

Ritsuko's Love

One of the other main characters, a somewhat ally to Ayame, is our pal Ritsuko. She's a pudgy journalist that is always eager to get a good scoop in order to further continue her research and keep her writing process upscale. She's also an adult, and she let's you know it.

I found her to go from kind to quite a nuisance as the game continued, often snapping at Ayame and Chiyomi for being spoiled children and assuring them that she, as an adult, should lead the way. She was equipped with a camera and a cell phone, which she constantly claims to contact her boyfriend with.

Her boyfriend, Masami, is a nurse at the hospital and seems to be the only reason she chose this particular facility to treat the mild illness she was facing when she came to Amare. She wanted to see Masami, and the sudden homicide and lockdown caused her immense stress. She believes that he can save her, though he actually does the opposite.

After escaping the hospital at last, Ritsuko is swiftly captured and taunted by her former boyfriend. Masami seems especially fond of toying with her, revealing that he thinks she is ugly and that she is no use to him, presumably implying that she was either a failed attempt at a dead patient or some sort of tool to manipulate.

Ayame and Ritsuko met and banded together after our protagonist was saved from the red dress woman by a light source pointed towards her. It is then stated that light bothers these patients for some unknown reason, which I presume to be due to either their adaption of the dimly lit hospital or something in their genetics. Masami sees this as a chance to retrieve Ayame and plays along, only revealing this to Ritsuko after it's too late.

Ghost Therapy

A reference to Naho's segment above these many passages, it seems that the dead patient incident has been narrowed down to this brief description. The beginning of Naho's notes seem to have been written in the mortal realm before her sanity was gradually chipped away.

Heart surgery seems quite similar to Ayame's empty chest, as this term may be a twisted variation. Rather than surgery that removes a piece of the heart, this surgery removes the heart as a whole. This is to be expected, and I don't have much to elaborate on this aspect.

Ghost therapy, however, intrigues me. If what I've been fantasizing is correct, this surgery does not effect everyday life the way that it is intended. It actually seems to improve it, granting one immortality of sorts. If dead patients are able to function without hearts, then does that mean they're ghosts?

This brings me back to the spiritual surgery topic. What if the intention was not to create zombies, but rather to give someone a second chance? If a girl who fell to her death and split her head open on impact was able to rise from the dead, why not an old dead body as well? It seems like some sort of resurrection experiment, almost, though it may have decreased in reputation just as Tenjin did, the hospital known for their mistakes. Perhaps the grounds are sacred on their own, just as Kisaragi's former state was Tenjin.

Satoshi Mochida

To anyone who played the game, Satoshi's appearance may have caught you off guard. It seems that his mother was ill, and he was visiting her for company. I do not exactly remember much of this chapter, though I do recall many masked staff members roaming the halls in pursuit of dead patients or Ayame.

After choosing a hiding place, Satoshi makes a remark about how Naomi and Yuka are waiting for him at home, and Yuka is putting meatballs in food that doesn't need meatballs, appalling him. After quite a bit of chase scenes, he find his way to the outdoor segment in order to climb the stairs. A figure visible in the heavy rain identifies himself as Sakutaro Morishige's father, causing a gasp from Satoshi as remembrance floods him. The chapter then ends.

Although lacking in much content, this chapter gives us a general view of one of our cast members. Satoshi doesn't yet cross paths with Ayame, though he does appear to be trapped in the hospital alongside Ritsuko and the others. When this took time seems to perplex me, so I'm inferring that it is during Ayame's time in the parking lot or in the first floor. From what I've currently seen, closed spaces do not exist in this location.

However, due to the ability for objects to move or lock at will, some entity is indeed present here. Not only is this dimension chocked full with odd monsters, but its logic is yet to be discovered, drenching it in further mystery. Tenjin's identity has been exposed after many games (and their variants) that have given shape to its character and logic.

Amare Patriarch Crusis

Before I bring this post to a close, I first must address the hospital in general, or at least what I've learned from it.

Amare translates roughly to "love" in Italian, which is ironic due to Ritsuko and Masami's love relationship that causes Ayame to learn of her true identity. A patriarch, as defined from various sources, means to be ruled by men. Crusis, however, translates roughly to "path of suffering".

By merging the terms together, it seems to describe the relationship between these false lovebirds. Love that seems two sided, only to be broken and ruled by Masami, causing suffering for Ritsuko. Is this foreshadowing of sorts? Perhaps its meaning connects to something to come?

Conclusion

Aaaaah, that took quite a while. Please note that I was too lazy to replay the entire game, and the analysis goes downhill as soon as the Satoshi part begins.

The information cited has been confirmed by various sources, including:

• Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient, available on Steam (I played up to the little girl's murder scene, then got bored and never quite finished)

• PicShot Photo Editor (application used to create the cover image. If further proof is required, please let me know)

•YouTube footage (EricVanWilderman was my main source)

•Google translate (to an extent)

•Corpse Party wiki pages (used only for clarification)

•Corpse Party: Sachiko's Hysteric Birthday Bash, (source used as means of reading Naho's notes and the official timeline)

•Corpse Party: Blood Drive is used for background knowledge

•Official Corpse Party website (in order to receive the date of Naho's Sachiko~san blog post)

•Some background knowledge gained from my idol as well as my other idol (please give them some love! They are theorists, and we need more of them!)

Cover image:

Cover image without the snazzy effects:

Progress shot...?

Thank you for reading this post. It was much longer than intended, though I would lengthen it if it weren't for the fact that I need to scroll down for ages before reaching the bottom.

I hope these tidbits and mini theories intrigue you, and, as always, see you next post! ☆