There are so far two main schools of thought regarding Mari's identity
1, it's a real supernatural Gender bender body swap he's in her's she's in his.
2, Mari went a little crazy and now thinks she is Isao after a period of intense stalking
since this spawned from OSHIMI Shuzo's mind it's a razer fine line between the two
case for scenario 1
- the person in Mari's body seems to show no recollection of anything that Mari would actually know
- he knows stuff that Mari is very unlikely to know
- apparently totally different personalities
case for scenario 2
- Mari was apparently an EPIC stalker receipts, porn etc. etc.ch25 the drawing on the balcony
- she was rarely at home, so where was she?
- possibly somewhat traumatic home life as yet insufficient evidence but the father seems suspicious
other stuff that might become important in figuring out mari's identity
- Mari's relationship with her mother in ch22 and some of the early chapters raise some odd issues about her family and why they didn't notice a/the more striking personality change when the story began (can you really just drag and drop a personality with so little acknowledgement from her family?) [I may have this bit wrong I'm not sure whether she's referring to anytime after the "switch?" or just after the momoka split]
in either case the fact that the personality within Isao's body does not know her is a crucial detail, for scenario 1 is Mari's personality actually there but something happened that she'd rather not got back to her old life, for scenario 2 it's a defining detail that proves Mari's mental state has broken down
it also suggests the existence of a third scenario which I shall dub 1.5 where Isao's personality is now in both bodies and Mari has disappeared
what all cases seem to imply is that something traumatic happened just before the body swap either to cause her mental breakdown or dissuade her from returning to her old life
considering this story there is actually another case for mental breakdown that this entire scenario is being played out from within Isao's head, the structure of this story does give it some credence though it's unlikely i'll call it scenario 0.0
(note i haven't finished writing this post yet but i wanted to get it up here, need to flesh out the evidence for both arguments more)
as of ch23 Isao has now stated his existence however it's still doesn't change the discussion of whether he really is Isao or not.
(wonder how long I'll keep updating this with Cunchyroll's pickup, maybe I should just throw out some theories and see where that gets us)
ok crazy theory time
1, Hiroki doesn't care and starts kissing "Mari" again or the mum slaps her.
2, Other characters are revealed to have switched places.
3, The father is a secret mystical mastermind who planned and executed the whole body swap scenario.
4,...........errr.....ummmm we get some crazy fourth wall stuff??????
as of april 1st ch26
with the confrontation of isao we can now exclude option 1 at least, the other three are still viable. It could still go anywhere. 1, 2, 1.5, 0.0
Edited by subliminal, 01 April 2014 - 01:02 PM.