Welp, here I am and thank you so much for waiting, (I should have posted this 2 days earlier but in no way i'm gonna argue with my phone, my pc was in the hands of my teacher to install solidworks), anyways
With all due respect, this is kinda a nitpicky argument for the sake of disagreeing, relying on “it could be”, “it might be” which surely enjoys dancing on the line of semantics. While yeah, the statement in the manual might not explicitly spell out “universe in size” for you (I beg to differ but whatever), your attempt to diminish the significance of the phrase “wonders of the universe” is like saying a glimpse into someone’s luxurious house only qualifies as a peek into their guest bathroom, like seriously, if I’m being invited into a house and the owner shows me his entire house from the inside (such as rooms, mobility, etc), then he is showing me the “luxury of his home”. And so, if I’m in an actual space with stars and other celestial bodies and someone mentions the “wonders of the universe”, then this, indeed, is a universe, especially if we take into account this a future dream about the future, and time itself is a universal concept encompassing all space.
Other parallel dream world orbs in the Dream Depot are shown to hold multiple galaxies with space between the galaxies inside. It’s very odd to say this is a pocket dimension with a very specific size that contains all the wonders of the entire universe (this reliance on assumptions is ensnared by the fallacy of hasty generalization when you’re jumping to conclusions and trying to confine the dream within arbitrary limits), and yes, Earth is pretty remarkable, but don’t mistake a single room for the entirety of a mansion, “the wonders of the universe” implies a range that goes beyond the confines of a single planet or a galaxy. The manual explicitly mentioned "the wonders," not "some wonders," making it clear that it refers to the complete set rather than some, the attempts to contextualize it in an oddly specific range despite the use of "the" showcases a reaching on your part. Your insistence on confining it to a Multi-Solar System sized space is like saying you’ve seen the whole ocean by splashing around in a pool, because you’re committing a fallacy of equivocation by trying to downplay the significance of this phrase. Comparing it to Earth or the Milky Way is like comparing a backyard garden to the Amazon rainforest, because when people mention the wonders of the universe, they don't mean it as a specific zone but rather the entire universe, since there are sooo much more wonders in the universe than in a single solar system and perhaps the numbers of wonders in that implied range doesn't even scratch the surface of 1% of the wonders of the universe, it literally diminishes the depth of the expression.
Apologies for any bubble bursting, but
the eng ver also referred it as a dream of the universe, so no need to say stuff like that as if it helps. Plus your argument heavily relies on the fallacy of ambiguity, particularly when interpreting the terms "wonders of the universe" and "uchuu" by conveniently narrowing down the scope to a Multi-Solar System size and playing with vague interpretations to suit a certain narrative. Again, the name "Future Dream" and the cosmic setting suggests that the individual dreamer envisioned their future extending beyond Earth's horizons. This is seen in the Japanese translation
as a dream of the future. Commonly, the concept of the future pertains to a universal scale, considering time on a way larger canvas rather than being limited to a specific net of space-time, and by consistently calling dream worlds in Mario other worlds from his, I think this alludes to something bigger than a specific size of space.
How exactly does this decisively settle the matter? No seriously, I'm genuinely confused as it neither definitively proves nor disproves anything. Well, the fact that the universe countain outer space (
for most folks, the universe pretty much IS outer space) isn't exactly groundbreaking news. Not sure why you insist on using “death blow” and “explicitly”, what kanji a guide used doesn’t really define the kanji used in the game anyway. If anything uchuu is the most common word for universe, not space. Kuukan is the most common word for space, people are commonly using the terms "outer space" and “the universe" interchangeably in everyday usage (even discussions about the size of outer space often gravitate towards the universe's size instead). Outer Space is just a way to refer to the universe as a whole. That's literally what it means, basically the wider reaches of space beyond our atmosphere, but hey let's play with devil's advocate and try to argue with stricter definitions (based on multiple websites), "outer space" is everything that is beyond Earth's atmosphere emphasizing the physical expanse between celestial bodies, aka the near-vacuum that separates planets, stars and galaxies while the universe is comprising all galaxies, stars, planets, and other cosmic structures. It includes both observable and unobservable regions. The term outer space and the universe are roughly equivalent, except that outer space case by case refers only to the area between celestial bodies, while the universe encompasses planets as well. And when considering Future Dream, where celestial bodies and nebulae are observable, it implies that the outer-space in this case contains more than mere empty space. The existence of celestial bodies within Future Dream means a broader cosmic range that supports the definition of universe more, plus Future Dream cannot be confined just empty space between celestial bodies that is beyond earth, since it features in-Earth mini-games and
locales mirroring Mario's planet Earth.
First of all, dream worlds are already realities, they don't need more dreams to continue existing, because this goes against the established narrative of the game. It would mean Bowser's plan and the cast's efforts and the star spirits' concern are pointless, as the dream world would still exist and go back to normal if everyone's dreams kept forming it, going by your logic. Seriously, the argument that dream worlds can suddenly disappear when there are no more dreams that somehow "feed it" is headcanon and no character ever refers to the dream worlds as temporal and such. MP5 ending further opposes this claim, since it shows dreams turning into orbs in the game and there is no visual representation of dreams feeding the dream world or something. This means that they don't rely on a continuous influx of dreams to persist. You may ask why they would show that, the answer is simple, by your logic, it's a very important plot point that the dreams of everyone submerge into a dream world and such a plot point needs support and this would fall under hitchen's razor and occam's razor. No offense, but some of the arguments heavily rely on the fallacy of ambiguity. Plus, if you have played or fully viewed Mario Party 5, you would notice a board being Koopa's Dream, created from Bowser's dream only, so the argument of a single dream world needing everyone in the universe's dreams in order to be created seems like a stretch and lacks evidence. Because if a single dream, like Bowser's, can manifest an entire dream world independently, it contradicts the notion that every dream in the universe collectively contributes to forming Future Dream. Eldstar's statement that everyone has a longing for the universe does not imply that this dream is made of everyone's desires for the universe. It's akin to presenting a drawing to someone and stating "everyone likes drawing," which doesn't imply that everyone contributed to that specific drawing. In short, The statement acknowledges similar desires for the universe but falls short of confirming the direct involvement in creating the dream world itself as just like not everyone who appreciates art contributes to a specific painting, not everyone's vision of the universe contributes directly to this dream world. Adding to this is SMB2 USA, where it said there is a Subcon for every single dream people see, which accentuates the flaw in the argument that the dream world necessitates the amalgamation of everyone's dreams. To conclude, applying "endless" to describe spatial size is reasonable really, especially when it comes after words like "within"/"inside," which mainly imply dimension or size, so suggests a boundless (which btw is another meaning for the "hatenai" term) expanse.
This is a bit nitpicky and honestly sounds like a forced argument, but it doesn’t matter when in the sequel of
M&L Dream Team,
Paper Jam, referred to a parallel universe as another dimension,
(plus there is a revision thread to make non universe sized space-time continuum tier 2 but it's paused until further notice and after they take care of tier1 )
It is necessarily the case, the fact you were trying to explain the meaning of words before but overlooked a crucial aspect of the Japanese language, it in fact doesn't inherently distinguish between singular and plural forms in its writing system. and yes, it means that both singular and plural interpretations are as valid as each other, it just now depends on the context to determine the intended meaning since jap is a heavy context dependent language. Oh and btw, the plural use of "dreams" automatically implies a collective of all dreams about the universe is not really true without linguistic support (arguably) and the lack of explicit statements and visuals supporting this claim weakens the argument, and it doesn’t help when we have dream world created from Bowser’s dream:
"Welcome to Bowser-Dream! What a place this is! It's a world born from Bowser’s dream'!"
Not only that, but I noticed something: “We'll have an exciting time within those unending dreams!", this doesn’t make sense at all, how can they have fun within multiple dreams if said dreams no longer exist independently because they’re merged into a singular dream world? It is akin to pointing at Gogeta, a fusion of two characters, and insisting on treating him as two separate individuals when, objectively, he is a singular entity and he himself points that out. By another analogy, consider a tube containing ester and water, and labeling it as an "alcohol and acid" tube, disregarding chemistry (assuming a total reaction). Moreover, Eldstar's use of the phrase "those dreams" while being situated within a consistent space implies a singular dream rather than a multitude, which makes something like “this dream” more believable. And even then, this would also raise multiple questions and loopholes, Dream Depot is supposed to store dreams and turn them into reality (thus why it's called Dream Depot), merging them into an amalgamation defeats the purpose. Some dreams are not the same, since they vary significantly, and merging them indiscriminately risks ruining the distinct elements that make each dream special (and their purpose in the game is to watch over dreams and protect them). What makes us think that the contents within dreams won't be screwed by another dream? Why assume everyone dreams about a space station when envisioning the universe? Why would Toy Dream contain a specific set of toys, that would be not logical considering many people have different tastes in toys (especially since there are uncountable types of toys), or Sweet Dream, which is supposed to be a combination of people's dreams about candy, only have gateau? Like, multiple dreams from multiple people and only gateau and in a garden? This kind of choice of a specific set of toys or a singular type of sweet, like gateau, seems oddly specific and might align more with the preferences of a particular dreamer rather than encompassing the varied dreams of a diverse universal population.
Bowser’s
wish about fighting a strong opponent had him
form his own dream world to fight the player’s chosen character out of the cast along with the
other dream world of his being visited prior to traveling there, with the notion that an
individual's wish can form a new dream world based on that desire or aspiration.
We have examples of universal sized
wishes, desires, aspirations in the series by singular characters that can form the size of a personal dream world, along with dreams being made via the dreamer’s depth of their personal
imagination:
Wait hold on, are you serious? You literally put "what's shown in the game isn't absolute due to my interpretation saying otherwise", is there evidence that dream world size depends on the number of the dreams? This is a misapplication of mathematics, Dreams are not quantifiable entities that adhere to mathematical principles like numerical values, and like you said, it's amalgamation, it combines things, which doesn't necessarily make it bigger or something anyways.
(ok after re-reading this sounds a bit rushed but eh)