the following theory was written by "amedaishouri":

"So there are quite a few theories for Amane going around, and a lot of it is scattered information, but I wanted to post something with what I’ve interpreted from the music video and lyrics as well as pose my own theory.

The one that came to mind immediately was the fixation on the cult aspect because that’s all I had seen before the official MV and song’s release. I still believe that the cult plays a large role in this, for reasons I will disclose below, but after watching the music video I’m starting to think that the magical girl aesthetic plays a larger role than simply being a metaphor for how Amane feels about the cult.

In short, I believe that Amane is acting as the poster child for the cult and they’re even televising their “teachings” under the guise of a children’s show. There seem to be a lot of elements to me that indicate that everything is staged (for one, the stage light that “accidentally” falls at 1:34) as well as the fact that there is an intro and an outro that are reminiscent of children shows I used to watch when I was younger (the first one that came to mind being Yo Gabba Gabba).

The video continues onto a character introduction sequence--the first one is Gachata, the Strict Robot. Gachata seems to be a teacher of sorts that teaches kids how to behave “properly,” which wouldn’t be too out of place in a kid’s show. He seems to place a heavy emphasis on waking up early, attending to one’s studies diligently, and also keeping things tidy.

The next character to be introduced is Yuri, the Compassionate Big Bro, who seems to be playing the role of a beggar asking for donations--and as seen in the music video he receives quite a few donations. This represents the underhanded methods that the cult may employ to get money from unsuspecting individuals, but it also could represent the donations that come from others who have been indoctrinated. (It’s important to take note of the animals that appear in this sequence).

The sequence after Yuri’s intro is a scene that appears to be reminiscent of a Japanese game show where they are asking Amane for the “right answer,” and she evidently gets it wrong and she is then punished by Gachata who flicks her forehead and causes her to fall over comically. This means that Amane continuously minimizes the punishments she receives by seeing them as nothing more than light admonishments even though they likely went beyond what is normal when scolding a child. She is then helped up by who I assume to be Yuri (based on the white glove and five fingers), which seems like the fifth stage of cult indoctrination. They’re giving Amane “tough love” by punishing her and then being kind to her afterward once she learns to “be a good girl.”

If that’s the case, then it means that Amane wasn’t fully indoctrinated into the cult, but I’ll cover its relevance later.

After this, Gozake, the Strange Monk, is introduced and his role appears to be as the spiritual leader--the one who spreads the teachings and ideology within the cult. I hope you remembered the animals from Yuri’s sequence because if you’re paying close attention another animal seems to have joined--one who hasn’t donated to the cult--an orange cat.

Then, Riyome, the Energetic Tomboy, gets an intro card, but no role afterward (although based on her bandaid design we could be led to believe that she’s a healer of sorts). However, instead of her helping those who are injured the next sequence that plays is the stage light falling on top of the orange cat. Here, I believe that Riyome’s role is much more sinister than the previous characters. After all, the cult has to spread their teachings, and what could possibly be more convincing than a live demonstration of their teachings?

Just in case you didn't know, stage lights are pretty darn secure. They don’t suddenly fall like that unless they’re simply that old, but they’re often checked and tested before anyone gets near them which means that the stage light was likely sabotaged, by who? Of course, you’ve probably guessed it by now, but it was likely Riyome. This is further evidenced by the fact that she conveniently manages to bring up one of the cult’s teachings--that spiritual medicine and guidance are all that is required to heal physical afflictions.

This is where Amane not being fully indoctrinated comes into play. For the first time (that we see), Amane seems to doubt their words. She watched as the cat suffered and wondered if this was really something that could be solved by praying and wishing for better health (1:52).

The next scene that plays is absolutely heart-wrenching. Amane heals the cat using actual medicine, you know, science and not some spiritual prayer. The four characters from before catch Amane just as she seems to be trying to convince the cat to keep what she did a secret which is why both of them are so shocked to be found. Some look disappointed, others (looking at you Riyome & Gachata) are downright terrifying. Then, we see a sequence of Amane receiving different punishments from each of the characters--a majority of them corporal punishments.

First is Riyome, who appears to be electrocuting Amane, which, when considering her role in the cult (setting up “accidents” where people get hurt so that they can be magically healed through prayer and if they don’t get healed then they just didn’t believe hard enough) isn’t too surprising. Next, is Gozake which reminds me of the old tradition where monks would meditate under ice-cold waterfalls, he may have repeatedly poured ice-cold water on Amane to replicate this. Next, is Yuri, the supposed “Compassionate Big Bro” who seems to have no problem raising his hand against Amane and physically hitting her (extended arm and comic book effects often used when striking). Finally, we see Gachata who seems to be ringing the alarm that is too loud for Amane, representative of the fact that he verbally scolds her for her actions. I imagine that while this happens they try to push the blame onto Amane, that the reason she’s suffering is because she broke a promise and wasn’t a good girl.

And as the sequence would have us believe...they don’t punish her just once, they repeat until she’s been completely brainwashed and accepting of the cult’s teachings. This is evidenced in the following scene where Amane picks herself up and clasps her hands together in prayer before undergoing a “magical girl” transformation. There are rings around her eyes that weren’t there before, she gets a “magic wand,” her bowtie changes to a brooch of sorts with the cult’s symbol (a cloud with what appear to be smiling faces on it), and wings in the shape of a cloud appear behind her.

Then, we see Amane’s crime take place--but only for a second (2:47). She raises the “magic wand” and administers divine punishment on the non-believer (the cat she helped from earlier) while the four characters watch and cheer her on. As we can see from Undercover, Amane appears to be beating her victim with a rod, and her voice line when committing her crime is, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for breaking the rules!”

The next sequence that plays is Amane fully accepting her role and spreading the cult’s teachings while saying things like, “I won’t say ‘I’ve had enough [of this cult].’ Will you laugh with me and forgive me?” And behind her singing, you can hear Amane practically begging them to forgive her (2:56-3:03).

And then the outro plays and we can see the credits roll--evidently, Amane’s title is “Happiness Support Sister.” So, overall, the video is a happy fun time where nothing goes wrong! /s (this little bit is hilarious thank you commenter)

With the information we have, I can’t see Amane as anything but innocent, if anything she’s a victim as well. However, I can’t help but worry that if we vote her innocent it would only solidify her belief that what the cult had her do was the “right” thing to do."

 

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