Mod Commentary: Who are Zen and Rei? Theories abound!
The mods start to think that something fishy is going on with these new characters.
"We are... From Yasogami high school."
Temperance: YOU HESITATED. More than that-- She sounded like she was copying what Chie said.
Star: I've got ~*~suspicious feelings~*~ about these two. Though... if you want my opinion? I'm more suspicious about Rei than Zen. I know that sounds weird.
Temperance: I feel more suspicious about Rei, too
Star: I know it's too early to say... but part of me gets the feeling that Rei is... using Zen? I know that sounds ridiculous but...
Temperance: Hmmm... You mean maybe she's the villain? I guess we can't say anything for sure yet.
Rise: "Welcome back!" Rei: "H...Hello!!" Zen: "..." Rise: "Umm, right, you were... Rei-chan and Zen-kun, right? Oh, wait, would rather have me call you Rei-san and Zen-san?" Kanji: "Ah, well... How old're you guys? What grade you in?" Rei: "...What grade you in?" Kanji: "Eh? Me? Well, I'm a first year." Rei: "...Well, I'm a first year!" Kanji: "A first year? Hey, me too!"
Star: [SUSPICIOUS VIBES INTENSIFIES]
Temperance: Rei seems like she was just learning, too.
Hermit: Rei is obviously a bird...or a robot. MYSTERY SOLVED
Naoto: "...What were the two of you doing in that place?" Zen: "We wanted to leave this place, so we went to search an exit." Kanji: "Leave? If you wanna leave, just take the front gate. ...You guys bad with directions?" Zen: "There is no exit." Chie: "...Eh?" Zen: "There is. No. Exit." Yosuke: "So it's true..." Chie: "Ah? Ah? What do you mean?" Yosuke: "The main gate's still there, but... We can't go through."
Chie: "It's true... a clock tower. There's a clock tower!" Naoto: "Chie-senpai, Yukiko-senpai. The tower was supposed to have been torn down since before you ever even entered elementary school, correct?" Yukiko: "Well, I don't know what it exactly happened, but I think that's about right..." Yukiko: "But, you know... I think it wasn't even a real clock tower. Just a sort of memorial..." Yukiko: "It was pretty small... I don't think it was even big enough for people to enter, as it is right now..." Yosuke: "Size and all aside, you can't exactly enter this one either." Yukiko: "Huh? Even though it's this big?" Naoto: "Yes... It doesn't have a door. This way, we cannot investigate it. And I thought we might be able to find out something."
Star: Just a sort of memorial...This is gonna be a big plot point later. I'm calling it.
Hermit: Memorial... Can't Rei (玲) be written differently to mean spirit? WHAT IF THEY'RE DEAD? ...and I mean, the crying dead rabbit could be easily be a reference to a child dying as it is a Persona 2 reference. For right now this is where I'm placing my bets. Rei is some kind of spirit. Possibly Zen, too, since they neither of them have their memories and exist in some kind of parallel Yasogami that they can't leave.
Temperance: "Zenrei" together is also its own word.
ぜんれい (前例) zenrei - "Precedent"
ぜんれい (善霊) zenrei - "spirit of goodness"
ぜんれい (全霊) zenrei - "one's whole soul"
ぜんれいにならう (前例に倣う) zenreininarau - "to follow (copy after) a precedent"
Pick your poison
Star: So... spirit of goodness?
Hermit: They almost seem to have a yin/yang theme to their color scheme. What if they're two halves of one being? Zen / Rei ぜん | れい meaning one's whole soul, but in this case their names are the word split in half.
Hermit: Also, in light of ぜんれいにならう and Rei's behavior, I can only assume that they want the audience to notice her copying the other characters.
Temperance: It's quite obvious, yeah. Let's see where this goes
Margaret: "Until you have fulfilled your duty, you might not be able to reconnect with reality." Naoto: "In other words, we will not be able to leave?" Chie: "What? Really!?" Yosuke: "So that's what's going on? The other students here are kinda weird, too..." Yosuke: "They just keep repeating stuff, like 'Hey, the festival sure is fun' or 'Let's go and try our look at the shooting booth'." Yosuke: "There's nobody bickering or fighting, and I feel like they can't hear us either. Yet, I can still talk to the stand owners and buy stuff." Yosuke: "...And also. I don't recognize a single one of these people." Yosuke: "I mean, it's not like I knew every single student on our school, but I ought to recognize at least somebody, right?" Zen: "Those people merely repeat lines. They do not have a consciousness or awareness." Yosuke: "...Hm?" Margaret: "The people in this school are not human... They are merely illusions. For this reason, the Shadows will not harm them." Zen: "As far as I can tell, these monsters you call "Shadows" have never left the place from earlier." Zen: "I don't know the reason, but I believe it has always been that way." Yukiko: "Always... How long have you two been here?" Rei: "Emm... Just about always?" Yukiko: "And before that?" Zen: "When we came to, we were here. We cannot remember anything before that." Rei: "Our memory's been taken." Chie: "T-Taken!?" Yosuke: "B-By whom!?" Rei: "I dunno." Naoto: "But you remember that it was taken?" Rei: "Yes, I do remember that it was taken." Yukiko: "Their memories were stolen? But how..." Yukiko: "...Could it be that the culprit is still here?" Zen: "We don't know." Chie: "If he's still here... what if he takes our memories, too..." Zen: "We don't know." Yosuke: "I've got a horrible feeling about this..."
Temperance: The way the students are just illusions and won't be attacked by Shadows and only repeat lines reminds me of the fake students in Labrys' fake Yasogami High. Interestingly, the students here also appear as silhouettes during menus, just like the ones in Labrys' Fake Yaso-High do during battles.