The Japanese are very familiar with the Anne of Green Gables story because Studio Ghibli made a popular animated TV series based on it.

One can view that anime TV series at Crunchyroll: “Akage no Anne” at Crunchyroll.

As for “The Secret Garden”, I’ve wondered whether that story has influenced Rule of Rose in regard to the high walls that partially encircle the rose garden. Why are those walls there, I wonder? It seems odd to me.

It didn’t seem to much odd to me as old fashioned. It appears (as in I think) that a lot of older buildings and estates had those walls between courtyard and gardens. I don’t know why… but I think that’s what I’ve seen. Gardens used to be a place of gathering and socializing, made pretty by the flowers and other such things you place in the garden, unlike today where the word “garden” is associated with “plants.” It is not really considered a place of socializing but is pretty much all about the plants.

“Greengables Annie”…Annie (a red-haired girl who is an orphan… orphan xDu I just noticed that, lolol)

There was a time, on Rule of Rose forums, when I put forward the hypothesis that the authors of Rule of Rose might have been influenced by “Anne of Green Gables”. We never see Anne when she is living in the orphanage (the story starts with her having just left the orphanage), but we know that Anne must have created elaborate fantasy worlds that she lived during her days at the orphanage, because she continues to do so after leaving, and I thought that perhaps Jennifer had done the same thing during her time in the Rose Garden orphanage… explaining why Jennifer’s memories were so distorted by fantasies.

The Japanese are very familiar with the Anne of Green Gables story because Studio Ghibli made a popular animated TV series based on it. What I’ve seen of that animated series closely followed the story in the novel. Anime sometimes have mentioned “red-haired Anne”, which is apparently one way that they refer to her… and is sufficient for people to know who is being spoken of.
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As for “The Secret Garden”, I’ve wondered whether that story has influenced Rule of Rose in regard to the high walls that partially encircle the rose garden. Why are those walls there, I wonder? It seems odd to me.

Martha is a maid in charge of the little heroine, Mary, who is an orphan from India. She then finds and unlocks a secret garden with more roses in it than she can shake a stick at.

In “A Little Princess,” Sarah comes to an all girl’s finishing school when her father is called to go to war for England. She too is from India.

I have thought often that maybe Rule of Rose had a few cues from these books.

so many names from stories… Clara, from the Nutcracker. Wendy and Peter from Peter Pan. Diana from Mythology. As the whole game IS an interactive storybook, I figured… there was some connection…

Diana… the only Diana I knew from a fairytale-storybook-whateveryoureadtokids is the Diana from “Greengables Annie”. She becomes the first real friend of Annie (a red-haired girl who is an orphan… orphan xDu I just noticed that, lolol) I have the storybook here, but it’s in spanish…

Other Clara I know is the one who appears on Heidi, the girl in the… ahm x_x how do you say… “wheel-chair”? x_x well, the chair that has wheels on it…

Also, in “the secret garden” there is a maid named Martha. And I can’t remember more names xD

And, although I myself proposed possible special significances (intended by the creators of the game) for the names Wendy, Peter, and Joshua, I think that I am probably more reluctant than is Masq to look for special significances in all of the names found in the game… but, in her defense, were it not for Masq pushing far into that topic, I’m sure that I would have overlooked the very possible special significance of the name Diana. So it is a good thing that we don’t all think alike.

…the reason I began looking was because in most Japanese modern pop culture; i.e: Manga, Anime, Stories, and Videogames; names often reflect something in the character or of it’s origin. With so many names… so many names from stories… Clara, from the Nutcracker. Wendy and Peter from Peter Pan. Diana from Mythology. As the whole game IS an interactive storybook, I figured… there was some connection…

:huggle: but thank you for your defence. ^_^-

I don’t fear looking deeper than is expected because not only does it entertain me, but I feel like when I touch on something that makes sense, I have found a very special thing, like a gem. It makes me that much happier to play the game and that much more reluctant to part with it or allow someone to say anything bad of it.

Naive? Yes… but that’s who I am.

Just thought you’d be interested, I’ve also begun delving into the symbolism of colors used in both Rule of Rose and Silent Hill. The first part of it is up if you’d like to see. I noticed you didn’t have anything up on such things so I got curious.

I strongly think that it was a persons entrails. Whatever it was it definetly wasnt peas.

I can see how you would take it for entrails, but most people see it as an item of clothing.

Here is a blog-post (and thread of comments) relating to that video: “The Pre-game Video and the So-Called ‘Unused Cutscene’“

PN i found a very interesting video concerning your theory about greg being a cannibal. It was a cutscene that never made it into the game. Unfortunately, it has no sound. the interesting part is what Greg was burying. I strongly think that it was a persons entrails. Whatever it was it definetly wasnt peas.

I kind of think that maybe the game designers intended for the fans of the game to do exactly what we have been doing, filling in the blanks in the story using the clues we are given. Does it really matter much if we go beyond what they intended? Is it really going to harm anything? No, I don’t think so unless you are such a purist that any deviation gives you a migraine.

The project that I am working on is an example of this mindset. To make things work I’ve had to make modifications that go beyond what we see in the game. Is this going to create problems? Only if someone decides to nitpick every small detail, I mean I’ve had to make changes in furniture because I can’t get exactly what we see in the game, but I don’t think that it will detract from the finished model.

The game is something different to every person who encounters it. We all see it differently and I don’t hink that the game designers would have issues with this.

i wonder if the creators of the game have looked into their story as deeply as you do…

I don’t want to go beyond what the creators of the game intended, but it is probably inevitable that I will at times considering that sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be much in the way of clues to help fill in some blanks.

I was very reluctant, for instance, for quite a while, to write about the time period between when Jennifer left Gregory’s cellar and when she arrived at the orphanage, because I was worried (and still worry) that the creators of the game may not have given that matter much thought.

And, although I myself proposed possible special significances (intended by the creators of the game) for the names Wendy, Peter, and Joshua, I think that I am probably more reluctant than is Masq to look for special significances in all of the names found in the game… but, in her defense, were it not for Masq pushing far into that topic, I’m sure that I would have overlooked the very possible special significance of the name Diana. So it is a good thing that we don’t all think alike.