Flip Flappers

Cocona's world feels empty and incomplete without Papika. All these different versions of Papika are projections created by Cocona as she's trying to understand what Papika means to her. She rejects all the individual characteristics of Papika turned into exaggerated archtypes as she is truly in love with the synthesis of all these aspects, Papika as a whole.

I think if we assume that the first-level PI is loosely correlated with a character (the setting in episode 2 being Uexkull's; the short bit in the painting world in episode 6 being Iroha's), I would make the argument that the PI in the most recent episode was Papika's, not Cocona's.

I think a world consisting of only Cocona and Papika is much more likely to be a depiction of Papika's worldview over Cocona's, who clearly has shown some level of care for both her grandmother and Iroha. I feel as though Cocona's PI would either represent this in some way or avoid the subject entirely.

On the other hand, we have Papika somewhat tongue-in-cheekly expressing her dislike of both Dr. Salt and Hidaka as well as claiming that she'll catch Cocona when she falls, which she does at the end of the episode. This seems much closer to Papika's illusory world over Cocona's.

That doesn't mean the episode didn't affect Cocona in a way that evolved her views on identity - but the most obvious theme here is that seeing the varying forms of Papika and questioning the differences between them has the most amount of implications for her unease with accidentally changing Iroha's identity (that are clued to quite heavily at the beginning of the episodes).

Both this PI and the first episode's PI are Cocona's.

Her perception of the world has changed since Papika came into her life. It's still empty, but Papika is there, it's no longer cold. Papika fills a variety of roles in Cocona's life, a friend, someone she admires, someone who spooks her a little, someone who she cares for and keeps in check, someone who cares for her, and maybe even a lover.

File: papikarecollections.jpg (832KB, 3840x2160px) Image search: [Google]

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Maybe she was just pondering who on earth is this suspicious girl, when something dangerous happened which ruined her happy adventure.

>>149965885
Sounds good actually.

>>149960588
Also keep in mind that it's hinted that Papika was experiencing the same thing as Cocona, possibly in a different PI.

>>149965885
Good theory here.

What would the huge mobile creatures diving into the frozen lake represent, then?

>>149968035
People moving/changing without her?

Impedance level got high. PI took advantage of it, probed Cocona's troubled mind, and trapped her inside. She's basically in a dating sim world, full of possibilities. But she came to the conclusion that all those possible changes are false. A false change, phantasm born from the desire of normalcy and preservation of her illusion. A controlled change, yet in turn the illusion trapped her mind from the inside. Notice the repeated routines that was shown in this episode.

When Papika rescued her, she came with the pipehouse that was full of their memories being together. A big memento reminding her of their first adventure. The first adventure that truly changed her as a person. Maybe because of the pipe's connection with PI, it can be summoned in other manifestation. If it's like that, I hope we see the monsters from Ep. 3 and the creepy schoolgirls from Ep. 5.

I might be talking shit out of my own's ass here, because I still can't relate the above with the theme of 'component', lots of disjointed parts of Papika. I don't know, man.

>>149966297
At least she can talk. Who is she?

>>149968078
>Notice the repeated routines that was shown in this episode.

This. There has to be a point behind that repeated sequence of Cocona adjusting her skirt, then leaving for school through the garden in the morning; it's been repeated several times, and is the only sequence that's been reused besides the one of her riding in the boat and meeting the optical illusion maiden/crone girl.

>>149968250
The optical illusion/crone girl is pretty much confirmed to be Mimi, which might be her mother. She has the same voice actress as previous episodes where she's credited as the girl in the white dress.

Cocona adjusts her skirt so often because she has a scar on her leg where her fragment is and she wants to cover it up. Leaving through the garden might be a way for her to remember to "think of me" (her lost parents).