Saturday, January 21, 2017

Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6 Gentou Rondo of Deus Ex Machina - Review

遙かなる時空の中で6 幻燈ロンド
Game: [Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6 Gentou Rondo]
Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Ruby party, Koei Tecmo.
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2016-12-22

The sequel to Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6, given how I really enjoyed the original
I couldn't help but be surprised we got a sequel instead of a Fandisk because of that this game
takes place after the grand finale and now I have a sequel I never asked for but got anyway.
 Since this is a sequel, if you haven't played the prequel maybe skip this game
since it relies on past events and one can't begin to understand why there is this wall
between Darius and Azusa, sure they'll recap general knowledge and expect
you to be able to remember on your own.

Sadly this game hasn't had the greatest of receptions which made me scared...so after
I finished KgK momoyo tsuzuri I went into this right away because I had to know for myself
and in the end I sorta agree with the japanese impressions this is a very flawed sequel
an unnecessary one even, pretty sure they rushed some parts of it
in short; its just an average sequel to please fans but it wasn't at all a necessary one.

The game plays just like its prequel, you still have mission/goal from time to time
and you must balance the visits to the guy which end you're going for once again.
Also for those playing without a guide be careful with your choices
you could very well mess up and make it impossible to get the guys next event.
The battle system is improved but still easy, you're rewarded for finishing battles fast
and evolving talismans is a pain in the neck but once you're done with everyone said
 items to evolve talismans will be useless, also this time you get to choose which location to use
as a home base, like the demon-clans mansion or the cafe Haikara which Murasame frequently visits.
If you pick one that isn't tied to the character which route you're going for
 you can miss a few sub events during that playthrough.

Pro's
 - Arima/Shuhei route is better, tbh most if anything the indivual event/route is only worthwhile thing.
- Wan-chan is Totez Adorbs.

Con's
 - Story seems interesting at first but turns into a convoluted mess...
 - System, its like an rpg with a bit of time managment, So if you're not up for that avoid.
- Long common route not much individual, overall its a short game.
- Deus ex machina.
- Unvoiced sugar-content scenarios as paid DLC.  (눈_눈)

 There's also a demo available on JP PSN so if you have second thoughts
about the sequel please try it out, it contains the entire first chapter.

My play order:
Darius > Arima &> Shuhei > Tora &> Kohak > Ludo &> Kudan > Murasame > Man
 & Normal > Toudou & Grand end.
I mostly focus on two characters per playthrough making the total number of runs 6 or 7.
Because its easier to do than the prequel... and you have too much time on your hands anyway.
For a guide/walkthrough I recommend: http://neoromance.info/haruka/rondo or Half-adder.
I recommend going for only one character and the normal end first play, try viewing some
of Man's events till you hit a wall and don't forget to focus on upgrading your talismans.
If you were to only do one per play you just have more free time to focus on upgrading
and or capturing every onryou summon so its not bad either way.
There's no trophy for capturing pokedemons this time but I did it anyway.
You get some new scenes during the prologue on 2nd play from Man's point of view as a sign that his
route has unlocked, however I do not recommend doing it till you're done with everyone else.
Preferably do Man before the toudou/grand finale the order of the rest doesn't really matter
may as well get Darius out of the way early(no offense to mai husbando but it wasn't that great).

As for expectations for the routes themselves, I didn't have much of that and I'm glad
Arima and Shuhei got better routes than in the prequel because they deserved it
though I still think Darius had a more well rounded route back then than here. :(
The game is much shorter than its prequel and I went through the routes without
needing to say meh I don't feel like it now and go do something else.
Also
For those wondering if you need to do every character combination technique in one play no you don't.
The list resets, but rest assured you can get them all over multiple play so best to keep notes!
The most I got was 20... but I was glad to realize you don't need to go that far.

This wasn't that bad  but was it a necessary? Hmm... I honestly can't answer that.
Was saving Chiyo back then really such a good idea? maybe there was a consequence
somewhere someplace in a distant time that the two miko's and the hachiyou isn't aware of.
You'll find that answer in this sequel, warning that there are full spoilers further down below.
In short I give it a 5.2/10, I had a great time in most routes and most of them were enjoyable -event
wise- but it isn't all that great to sit through multiple times, the routes are essentially new versions, to
give us another opportunity, yeah some route brought up legit issues but I honestly wanted a continuation of the love ends but everything was reset to them being friends in this game, for some character it worked out for others it was a drag, you know I could put the prequel down
for a few weeks and continue later but since this is shorter and easier to play through
I couldn't and I am sorta glad for that. Also the plot wasn't engaging enough its like
they forcible created a problem when there was none which lead to one thing and the other.
The missions were less, too easy and not rewarding at all basically the first half
of the game is spend in the most boring ways like i said atleast the chara events made up for that.

The DLC controversy makes me roll my eyes and it makes me sad
Koei has taken such steps and one thing is for certain I won't support any of it.
This is a visual novel with some light simulation that shouldn't be the victim of addon content.
That aside I enjoyed most if not all the routes, except the grand finale as Kudan's end was much
better, it was pretty underwhelming this time yeah I am sure it worked out but it was a mess
I prefer Kudan's end over it which felt like it was the most complete ending in the whole game.
5.2/10
PS: Wan-chan is a maji tenshi.
---
more spoiler babbles after the jump








The prologue goes over the events of the first game to refresh our memory
everything's peaceful Azusa hasc ompleted her duty and might need to return home soon...
however fate had other plans which has her call upon her hachiyou once more.
Azusa, Kudan and Chiyo slowly rejoin with Arima and Shuhei when some onryou show up.
They visit the oni-clan too and let me just say that it was nice to see everyone back together again!
After all that the story also introduces a guy named Todou Naoya a rich guy
who holds a festival on october 17th at the site of the ryounkaku.
 There be suspicious drinks and automata who perform all shorts of things for the guests.
 Of course some onryou attack during the last events of chapter 1 and everyone gets called upon
 as the hachiyou once again by the dragon gods to protect the past and the future.
The hachiyou have their hands full dealing with onryou and now theres an automata on the loose...
that turns out to be Wan who eventually joins up after recognizing Azusa as his master, Murasame
is against it but eh what can he do after this Azusa and the hachiyou+Man work to save the world once again.
In short, mysterious boxes show up of which defilement comes forth... they try and get rid of them
but they couldn't get rid of them all since there are more than they were let to believe.
The government had some plan in which they do not need to rely on the miko's
and when the group ends up falling into a trap Chiyo ended up almost using up her powers
trying to purefy the defilement that came from one of those ''boxes''.
What's worse is that while they try their own thing the people end up doubting the black dragon priestess Azusa. Later the group ends up meeting Toudou-san who snatches Azusa away
while some brainwashed towns people show up to prevent the hachiyou from going after them.
The people now believe the black dragon priestess and her friends are behind everything...
This however is all the work of Toudou-san, I won't give full deets here though.
Some events afterwards differ from which characters route you're on but in most Darius
will always chase after Azusa and Shuhei will betray them by trying to catch the oni
as Shuhei is under Toudou-san's control since he drank too much of the syrup.
Toudou-san drags off the princess after toying with her knight for a bit and explains his reasons and
wants Azusa to give up and go along with his plans, but our heroine isn't so weak-willed!
He orders Wan to take Azusa away for a bit but Wan knows his true master too well and for the
normal end, since people precious to Azusa have died Wan sends her into the future to stop it from
happening by either killing Toudou or doing nothing, there was no CG for it so all you get is a trophy...
I remember thinking can I shoot him at one point since Toudou was hella annoying and welp... becareful what you wish, you just might get it but in the end I think he didn't deserve it.
I'm shocked that the heroine Azusa actually shot him though, in many games we wish 
the heroine would do something anything on her own and welp in this she does.
---


Darius.
CV: Suzumura Ken'ichi.
Draw me like one of your french girls. (atleast his skills are better than Kudan's)😂
Darius is still distant and more of an acquaintance in this game, the events from back then still leave a mark.
I mean he did try and use Azusa for his personal gain before eventually sending her off to the star clan.
One day Darius and Azusa watched Ludo handle a bunch of kids who were afraid of the demon teacher...
They soon realized what a nice teacher he is despite their parents saying that oni's are bad.
Later Darius offered to take Azusa to a place were Dahlia grow but since it is close
 to the mansion and she didn't fully trust him the date aborted halfway there. 😭
Yep trust issues, thats what over half of the route revolved around and also the whole mask thing...
Anyway Darius wanted to atone & be punished for wha the did, Azusa just pinched his cheek
which sorta made the two become a little closer but yeah they're still distant.
Darius just wants oni and humans to get along and works hard for it, Azusa often follows Darius
 to Yokohama, to see the fruits of his labor, he eventually invites her to a ball when shit bricks.
Some onryou show up afterwards but Darius takes care of them like its no problem, he people are a
bit afraid of Darius since he one hitted it... due to his strength as an oni and he formally i
ntroduces himself as one of the oni-clan which drastically changed the atmosphere.
Darius and Azusa warp out of there before it gets any worse.. Azusa thanks him for saving them humans.
After that he leaves her side he goes to a store room, Darius is extremely frustrated
He tears up one of his paintings... because the humans found out he's an oni.
 and now his image is ruined and his dream crumbles, all that work for nothing.
Darius tries hard because of Azusa giving him hope but is actually a mess inside.
Next time Azusa goes to talk to Darius because something seems to be on his mind, Tora points out
he's at the lake and even double checks if she knows the way ans says she should wait for him at the mansion.
Azusa doesn't wanna sit quietly and asks Tora the way to the lake, he somehow complies
 but somehow slips into the lake by accident, Darius made it in time... they warp back
to the mansion for a change of clothes since we can't have our heroine catch a cold!
Azusa wears one of Darius's shirts which are obviously way too big for her and almost walks into
his room but Darius is like what are you thinking going into a man's room wearing sth like that. 😂
 I actually really liked that scene... it was pretty hilarious.
Many days later while Azusa was helping Ludo out with cleaning, she accidently
breaks a barrier that guarded a particular room and since she wants to know more about ''him''.
she goes inside an its the room in which Darius stores his paintings and the mask...
Azusa ends up seeing a side of him she'd never thought she'd see and when she tried to leave
Darius comes in wanting an explanation... Azusa honestly says it wasn't her intention to break the
barrier but since she wanted to know more about Darius curiousity got the better of her.
Darius is pretty mad now... and Azusa trips trying to back away.
This scene was so tense...
Darius honestly tells her he went into the room after the ball and tells him using the mask calms him.
He tells her it would be better to run away right now from the terrifying monster that he calls himself
but Azusa just blames herself and Darius apologizes to her... for acting like that and says he's fillled with doubt.
The overall ongoing plot of the game doesn't make it any easier, no I'm not gonna summarize it.
On december 25th long after Arima and Shuhei have left on a mission, Azusa
ends up chasing Darius who wandered off on his own that day.
Azusa ends up saying the two of them should go to yokohama and clear up the misunderstanding
from before because she likes Darius true self and Darius decides to give it his ''dream'' another go
that dream is making Yokohama / tokyo in general a place oni and human get along.
Darius confesses to Azusa and he doesn't hold back... no turning back now I guess, w.
Azusa returns the feeling but Darius is unfair and wants to hear it again...he's actually kind of
grateful she found out about his secret back then since they can be honest with each other now.
Even if there is still darkness in his heart as long as Azusa is with him things may turn out alright.
The two go to yokohama the next day and take a walk hand in hand and Darius is sure he'll be okay from now on.
When plot happens and Azusa is snatched by Toudou-san Darius uses his mask to find Azusa...
 just like Toudou-san predicted but Darius is too slow in grabbing her hand
and orders his brainwashed henchmen to stop the oni before them.
Its going just like Toudou's plan and Shuhei show up to try and stop the oni rampaging before their eyes.
Azusa tries to ask Toudou-san to stop but it doesn't work and he just taunts meanwhile
 Darius knocks out Shuhei but its too late Toudou still drags off our dear heroine
who explains his reasons for everything to her he orders Wan to keep watch on her
but after hearing friends have died Azusa is makes a small time slip to the past
thanks to the black dragon to alter space time to save Shuhei and our damnel in distress Darius
 who Toudou-san locked up, sadly when Azusa and the others get there they realize
they can't remove the barrier and Darius asks them to leave him here
so he make Ludo the next head of the clan... all to stop Toudou-san.
Ludo and the others give Azusa and Darius moment alone to make this idiot realize something.
 Azusa is like hell you don't and pours her heart out and makes Darius rethink his stupid plan, also
the chains that bound him shatter(they were special and could hold a strong oni such as Darius).
Anyway all of them head out to end all this, which didn't go smoothly but eventually
stop the gentouki device and fight the final baws Azusa really is Darius's flower of hope.
Don't wanna say it but it was difficult to me since for there's this wall between them... 
I loved how Darius showed his true face to Azusa at that one point and his confession was precious...
(Due to the time slip it may not have happened my head hurts thinking about it /sadface.)
 In the beginning it was suffering to see him and Azusa so distant but after the pinch to the cheek things got better.
Felt more like this route focused on his dream of oni coexisting with humans and his own personal
troubles of trying hard to realize it  which shows what a mess he is deep down, sadly 
the route was lacking in sugar content and from my POV Darius never got to truly relax 
because there always was this tiny wall between Azusa and him but he still tried and move forward.
I enjoyed it for what it is, Darius route was already perfect back then imo nothing can top that
still sad the route was pretty meh this time and the whole thing with oni/humans gets old.
Sigh why do I think they ruined his character... I just wanted an after story with fluff
but got a sequel that reset things and more drama instead, way to go KOEI! -_-
Romance ★★☆☆☆
Plot ★★☆☆☆
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆
 ~
Arima Hajime.
CV: Terashima Takuma.
TFW Azusa is more social than Arima.
 While Darius got the shaft in this game, Arima got actually better!
 Captain of the imperial guard, he takes his job a bit too serious but can be surprisingly cute?
 In the beginning like Darius, the relationship between Asuza and Arima is just really close friends.
Some folks in the army plan up a social event  and well they'd like Arima to be there
so they have Azusa try and convince him it would be great if he came too.
Arima doesn't drink so he just has water but the others try and convince him now is a good time...!
Sadly seeing Shuhei act so uhm... unrestrained Arima decides not to. 😂
 Sometime later, Chiyo mentions the operetta and after saving some people from a wild onryou
Arima strikes up a conversation, Azusa finds it interesting and well Arima thinks its
a good idea for the two of them to go on a date next time which was super cute.
 After a little incident in which they both got dirt on their clothes, Arima starts to receive
harassment or slander in which are put on the walls of the city.
Arima expected it and Azusa wonders why he can stay so calm... and he's glad she's worried about it.
The other members in Arima's unit sort of play shipper on the deck... esp Tomoe.
 Azusa follows Arima  when he's visiting a shrine and she ends up praying for his future
since who knows where the army will take him, Arima ends up asking what Azusa's world is like
which is quite peaceful compared to the alternate world version of the taishou era.
 He tells her not to push herself in the decision to return, things get embarassing
 and Azusa runs away only for Arima to chase her when she almost falls.
 Some time later the topic of bride training comes up when a girl who admires Arima
gives him some croquettes and Azusa be like, I never thought about that before.
 Before we know it we're in the what if we got married business
you must learn how to cook something... decent right type of situation?
Azusa fantasizes over a potential future and well the ping back to reality situation was hilarious.
Some family issues come up about him and how he may have to leave his unit, marriage etc.
They end up having a misunderstanding and well he ends up making clear Azusa meansa lot to him
and Azusa ends up saying that she likes him which makes Arima cover his face in the usual manner.
Arima apologizes and takes a step back before embracing Azusa, before he can say anything more
he stops and says since people are coming they should split up for now but when they meet
again they make plan for a dining out, sadly the day has come that Arima is being send out
for a mission to a god forsaken battlefield, he's doing it for Azusa's sake.
She sees him of and wants him to come back soon... and before you know it the day came
that the villain shares his true motive and takes Azusa from the hachiyou.
The plot happens and Azusa gets taken, our villain tells her that Arima got into an unfortunate
accident, Wan let's our heroine do a time slip because he believe it is right before
the eyes of our villain, Azusa even aims her gun at him to defy him(more like to stall time).
Anyway she time slips before the day Arima left and she opens his present to find gloves...
Azusa goes to talk to him after that and Arima ends up confessing his feelings he couldn't do before.
  Arima's more likely sleep talking and brushes it off as a dream when he comes to
 Azusa runs into that one girl who always admires him and says that she's the reason why he may die.
Once the girl realizes Azusa is the person Arima loves more than anything she will go to talk with
her dad and make him reconsider sending Arima out to god knows where, when Azusa goes
to see Arima off, he realizes the talk that night wasn't a dream and covers his face as per usual.
After that Azusa informs the others of what's going on at the usual place and decide to handle things
differently and prepare a trap so Azusa can flee from her captor and knock out Shuhei too.
They have him cornered but he still has one trumpcard, that being Wan and he escapes.
Using the strength of the black dragon Azusa goes with Darius and Shuhei
to get to were Arima is since our villain is after his life.
Arima starts to realize something is off with his orders too and they all fight the last baws.
Afterwards Azusa has used up most of her power and gets send back to her own world
and her peaceful days continue, she even prays at that one shrine for Arima's happiness
untill one day he shows up when she's taking the train home from school.
He apologizes for being late, the black dragon let him travel to Azusa's world since thats her wish,
Shuhei took over his duties as captain and the two life happily ever after in the peaceful present time.
This muttsuri imperial soldier boya isn't so bad..
Why was Arima's route so good? all the romantic development oh my!
Its like they knew his route in the original was ''lacking'', especially his ending.
The plot wasn't that engaging though... but not bad or anything.
Arima isn't really my type though I mean he's just a normal average guy... with some family issues.
but atleast his route was good overall, I can't deny that.
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★★☆☆
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆
~
Katagiri Shuhei.
CV: Nobuhiko Okamoto.
Shuhei, a bit of a flirt + teases alot, loves hamlet and after the events of the previous game
the sin of his father still weighs heavy on his shoulders, why this? but atleast it makes sense.
He often goes to the park, it reminds him of his childhood when he used to go with his mom and dad.
The people blame his family for what happened athe ryounkaku and Shuhei tries hard everyday despite that.
One day he invites Azusa to his home and they discuss the possibility where his
father's soul has gone off too and maybe someday he will wake up.
This confirms his father is not exactly dead, however Kudan told him that his spirit left him.
Shuhei ends up playing his violin in the park to calm the hearts of the people.
Sometime later a woman bumps into Shuhei and faints because Shuhei reminds her of her own son
Souichi who passed away in that plan Katagiri Seishirou, Shuhei of course takes full responsibility.
Shuhei continues to carry the burden of his fathers since untill one day Tomobe tells him
 him to stop which even makes Arima realize what's been up and understands.
Souichi's mother doesn't blame Shuhei nor does Kohak and after this Shuhei seems to be more at ease.
Much later they go on a date at the park, Shuhei talked about his past how he was such a happy bo
when his mom was still alive, enough depressing stuff Shuhei ends up confessing that Azusa is very
dear to him and that he's like her knight, When Azusa helps some kid out whom's toy got stuck
she loses her balance and Shuhei catches her like the knight in shining armor that he is.
He tells her to leave such matters to him and that she should take more care of herself.
 A day later Shuhei ends up telling about his diseased mother again afterwards the two flip
 through the Katagiri memorial album and a some time later they help their butler carry some boxes.
The butler comments that the two of them are much like a young couple to the point it makes him cry.
 Yeah in case you hadn't noticed his CG events happen in the latter half of his events...
 Near the end of chapter 4, Shuhei  thinks now is the right time and confesses his feelings
 to Azusa in the garden and wants to make her happy but she's free
 to decline his marriage proposal or to return to her own world however in the next chapter
Shuhei starts to show erratic behavior now but still sees Arima off whom tells him
 that Azusa is worried about Shuhei since she did chase him here, sadly Shuhei
reply to Azusa's worry that he's acting strangely makes him act even colder...
Shuhei isn't Shuhei anymore he's already under his control, Azusa stalks him to find out why
but can't find out much and before we know it Azusa gets taking by Toudou-san and Shuhei
 shows up to capture Darius, Shuhei is defeated and thinks of himself as as a terrible person as he collapses.
 Wan lets her escape after Toudou-san is done explaning his reasons to only find out Shuhei has died.
When Azusa visits the room where he and his father lie, Seishirou starts to speak
 words of apology and asks for forgiveness, after this she goes back to the past to the day of his death
she also asks the black dragon for a favor about Seishirou and her wish is granted.
Azusa explains the situation to his father who didn't expect his son and the black dragon priestess
relationship but isn't against it, Azusa hurries to where the hachiyou are and asks where the hell Shuhei is.
Shuhei appears before Darius but for some reason this time he realizes who's behind everything
and tries his hardest to resist the mind control since he doesn't want to make anymore sins
but thankfully Azusa and his father shows up in time and he realizes all too quickly
what Toudou-san has done has done in his absence and tells the military to wake the hell up.
 They fight Wan who is Toudou-san's last resort... afterwards fight the final baws afterwards to end it all.
Azusa and Seishirou don't have much time left since she used up a lot of power to make this all
happen but Seishirou orders it to bring them back but Seishirou disappears completely.
Shuhei is heartbroken when he can't find his father but understands it was only his spirit that
appeared, Azusa notices a warm wind blow through the room at Shuhei's house, Azusa tells him
Seishirou loved his family more than anything and that she will be their for Shuhei forever.
The picture on the night stand has changed as well, His mom, dad and lil Shuhei are all on it
after seeing it Shuhei really needs a moment... and Azusa comforts him
before he eventually says its fine and kisses Azusa. (no CG as per usual)
 In the epilogue, Arima tells Shuhei he's such an idiot, late Shuhei mutters his parents
must surely be happy wherever they are and wants to create a family with Azusa...
he formally proposes to her while expressing his feelings for her once more and
 they end up marrying, everyone visits them on the big day.
The CG made me smile and the whole scene itself was just perfect.
I've always felt that Shuhei's ending in the original game was too convenient...
the sequel actually deals with major issues his father left on poor Shuhei's shoulders.
As for his character, he's flirty and has a way with words but I don't dislike him that much.
He's a little old fashioned which is fine for the time period but he's really kind and family means
a lot to him. the ending was also really nice, atleast someone got a wedding end.
 Also TFW Shuhei probably tries his hardest to resist in every route...  T_T
Overall this route was so good, added valid points and well got nothing more to say on that.
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★★★★
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆
 ~
Masatora.
CV: Takemoto Eiji.
 Rough looking guy, Tora's pretty laid back though...
As for his route/events in general, I had zero expectations because he already
 had such a well rounded route in the prequel so what could they possibly go into?
 Well they went into the topic of saving money and working... Tora's really strong and
 could easily do work that would take 3 people to do, he ends up helping some kid
who got stuck in s construction site, Tora tells him not to go play in this area.
Azusa thanks him, he says he won't do it all the time so when he's on break
and some other kid cries out he tells Azusa to go instead if she wants to.
Tora still comes after her and says she shouldn't run like that since people can look under her skirt...
Oh look Tora hasn't changed at all... still a letch as always eh.
 Sometime later when a fire breaks out near a park Tora and Azusa beat the Onryou at the source
but after Tora hears is still someone inside, Tora rushes inside like a true hero.
Some time later, Azusa asks Murasame since he seems to know more about Tora and well it turns out
Tora's fatherm did all sorts of jobs for money but lost his life in a fire while trying to save kids.
Then some ruckus breaks out where the fire was so Azusa aks Murasame to calm things down
Tora won't help Azusa for the bodyguard job if she's not willing to pay 300 yen.
Azusa's not gonna pay full price so she tells him she knows about his father
and now we get a situation where Tora can do anything to Azusa but anyway he takes the job.
Azusa and Tora talk about his father a bit later too... he thinks he was an idiot but somehow
the traits were passed downto him and doesn't really mean it like that.
Later Azusa ends up following some folks and gets mistaken as being with a guy
who ran away with money from them, thankfully Tora is around and while he trolls Azusa for a bit
 he won't take shit from them messing with ''his woman'', when things quiet down
Tora scolds Azusa for walking alone at night especially at a place like the hanamachi.
 The next day Tora gets into a scuffle with some guys and well knocks em out easily
Azusa confronts him about it and sees his hand is injured so she treats him...
She also says that she'll protect him which makes Tora twitch.
Later Tora messes with one of those cursed boxes and bullies Wan, Azusa
sees it and confronts them but it all was a misunderstanding. -_-;
They go out to some fancy place for a drink the next time they meet and well after talking
 for a while about stuff the letch grabs her leg, they get interrupted when some
guy wishes his girlfriend a happy birthday at the place, Tora just goes tsk and sighes.
When Azusa asks what's Tora's birthday which is 19 november, sadly the day has passed
but Azusa suggest the two still celebrate it with a date, Tora just brushes it off since he doesn't care
its just a normal day to him even though it coincides with his fathers... well you know.
Azusa still goes out of her way to buy him a present, since she wants to do that much.
She buys him and orgel with a clock build into it, Tora accepts the gift either way since he's not that
terrible to throw it away but does end up laughing at Azusa... who ran away before he could finish.
Later he tells her he appreciated the gift and tells how his father promised him one too
but then came his birthday and his father never came back since he died.
Anyway obligatory kabedon aside, Tora confesse, promises to change and live for her sake.
Before plotbricks the two get together one more time and Azusa promises to make him happy too.
Tora rushes to Azusa's side when Toudou-san snatches her but he's too late
and Wan is forced to fight Tora but actually let's Azusa and Tora run away since he knows his true master.
Tora will try and save Darius... but she hears from the others  that there was a huge explosion
 and that he died in the process which leads us to timeslip,  when that done Azusa tries explain
the whole situation that she from the future which makes his head hurt but he gets the message
and they get Ludo to help them come up with a plan to stop Wan from blowing himself up.
Hint the passcode was his birthday, when Wan hears the situation from them he understands and
helps them out in stopping the final baws but after beating that thing they STILL need a passcode
to stop the countdown of the Gentouki so they just casually ask Toudou-san for the code which is
actually birthday&name of someone precious to him ARISA, just before it hits zero its stops
and causes a minor explosion which causes Tora-san to get injured but all's well that ends well.
Tora keeps working hard despite his eye injury while he raises her up and kisses her.
Let's be honest, Tora is not my type at all but I got nothing against him or anything!
He's still likeable, cool yes and i'd go as far as calling him hot but thats it.
 Overall his route was fine since it went into his past which was interesting.
Some parts near the end was hilariously inconsistent, now they need passcodes? seriously?!
Why didn't that happen before? oh well story wise it actually turned out to be a hint.
After all I know for certain that I prefer the route in the previous game, the ending there 
was better even if convenient yeah its okay he's still not really my type.
Romance ★★★☆☆
Plot ★★★☆☆
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
 ~
Kohak.
CV: Abe Atsushi.
 The energetic youth from who due to unique circumstances joined the oni-clan back in the first game.
 Kohak apparently works at the cafe and one day he invites Azusa and serves her some treats
sadly someone from the army ends up noticing those marks he has on his body but Kohak
 manages to tell him otherwise, other than that he brings lunch to tomobe and the others.
Due to a misunderstanding we get the bit where he introduces himself as Zenjiro and his mother
gave birth to him in the hanamachi who passed away due to illness and the two visit her grave.
The next time the two are together they take aride in the ferris wheel.
Kohak is surprised he can see so many places and people from high up, its was cute.
Some folks end up ove hearing Wan and Kohak talk about MnK thing and they end up
finding one of those boxes after fighting an onryou too but other than that not worth mentioning.
She wants to find more of those boxes at a later time but Kohak stops her and the two take a break.
 Kohak notices she's still tired and carries her on his back while singing a song, www.
Overall the route like Arima's was nicely balanced with sweet/cute moments
while not forgetting about character development, sometime later Kohak thinks
he's getting friendzoned when he over hears Azusa and a storekeeper talk. 😅
 So the next time on a fine day he asks her out and ends up talking too much about couples stuff
so Azusa just says because of misunderstanding he's over thinking it.(almost every selection was harsh.😖)
So when they go out they get mistaken for a couple so now Kohak tells the guy he's mistaken.😭
Basically the two get into a classic misunderstanding each other situation, Kohaku is clearly
in love with Azusa but she isn't seeing it... and just wishes his wish comes true.
Sometime later Azusa realizes the mistake she made and apologizes, Kohak tells her not to worry tho.
 Kohak tells her that she hasn't noticed since she's too dense and musn't forget that Kohak is a man
so he tells her that has he been in love with her ever since they met and kisses her on the cheek
and asks her to think about it, he wants her to look at him more since he's always been watching her.
In the end Azusa decides to tell Kohak that he is not just a friend, that he's very special to her
and Kohak gives Azusa a letter which is also an apology for his sudden behavior, he explains
his feelings again. he'll slowly grow up into a real man Azusa can accept.
Sometime before plot bricks Kohak notices Wan and Toudou-san together...suspicious.
A day later Kohak invites Wan to the cafe and discuss stuff along with giving Wan some mental support. w
On 27th december Kohak follows Wan through the crowd of brainwashed people
and runs into Toudou-san, Toudou tells him to settle things which leads Wan to ask why he followed.
Kohak tells him he's worried since Wan always looks so sad.(Wakaru)
Meanwhile Toudou snatches our heroine while Wan points his gun at Kohak but he won't kill him
because Wan sees him as a friend and well he knows what's right and wrong.
When Toudou-san is done explaining his reasons, Wan arrives with Kohak whom knocks Toudou-san out.
Since people still died our heroine still goes back to fix it since we can't have that
sadly unlike most other routes we have to go back all the way to october 17th... the day of the festival.
Kohak can't come with her and all the memories she made with him will be undone. (Why)
Good thing is that Azusa can show him the letter... so for the sake of a happy future she will go.
Azusa tells everything that happened to Kohak and shows him the letter too
and they chase some folks who plant the curse boxes, murasame and Tora be like lol wut.
The two fight the soldiers and they get a map which shows where all the curse boxes are.
Everything continues to happen as it normally would but this time they had an advantage
no more hidden curse boxes but Wan ends up finding out something wrong
however Kohak brings reason to his view point and tells him it must have been Wan
 who made it all happen and it tells him he mustn't want to kill them deep down.
Wan explains everything that they came here through the black dragon in 2144 to start a war
since the actions of this era's hachiyou made it go to hell in the future, sadly Toudou will die
once his contract with the future black dragon is over, after hearing all this Kohak wants
 to save him because as long as someone is living in the future its not the end of the world.
Toudou creeps in and over heard everything and says saving his life is not that simple...
He summons the future kokuryuu in a desolate area but as expected its not in the mood
 to talk and its this routes final baws, Shuhei and Wan help fight it too.
After they win Kohak notes how it was pretty weak, Toudou explains its because the state of the
world so Kohak decides to lend it his strength no not his soul but the hachiyou and tsukiyami
power that dwell within him, the future Kokuryuu is honestly quite suprised by it but agrees.
Wan and Toudou go back to the future together and all is well that end well and exchange letters.
Anyway while I enjoyed this route, it was... how to put it? too sweet and really shows his kindness.
The plot took an interesting turn and  for the past four routes I was actually getting 
kinda tired of the same old stuff with the gentouki and otherwordly onryou last baws.
Kohak is still a cutie pie but I feel he got screwed over the most... all the memories.
Kohak's ending was too pure and conveniently open ended to the point i'd just prefer the first game
which actually wasn't much better? ah I don't know but I just feel sad about it.
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★☆☆☆
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆

~
Rudkhane (Ludo-kun).
CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke.
This was pretty much the best route in the whole game to me, the end made me so happy. ^_^
 For some reason, after the grand finale he still became a teacher like his own end
and for some reason Ludo-san has the best continuity because of that.
 Azusa ends up asking the oni-clan about food and what Ludo likes and we learn Darius is better off not cooking.😅
Azusa wants to learn how to cook so in the end Ludo helps her when he sees her in the kitchen
he wonders why she picked that recipe and its because she wanted to do something for him.
 Since Ludo is part of the oni-clan he also works hard to realize the dream of coexistance and well
thanks to saving the little girl when she was ill it sure helped the granpa to realize hey oni's aren't half bad!
 Ludo seemed troubled so Azusa decided to help him out more and one day Ludo invites her to his room.
They get on the topic of his sister too and Ludo helps Azusa put on a hair ornament.
At one point Ludo notices she's blushing in the mirror and he goes what am I even doing
but he wouldn't mind doing her hair again.
Sometime after this Darius after seeing how hard he works gives Ludo a telescope.
because Ludo has exceeded his expectations and well since Azusa always supports him
  Ludo invites Azusa to examine the stars at night and he gets nostalgic
Azusa also enlightens him that in her era they have reached the moon which amazes him
Ludo also ends up expressing some of his feelings for her while turning beet red.(not a confession)
Of course I remember that one day Azusa went with the oni-clan to watch the falling stars.
 Later when Ludo is alone after speaking with Darius at the mansion he notices that one room
with the barrier and starts to think Darius hiding something from him which leads Ludo
to suspect something happened at yokohama so he investigates and finds a picture.
Its related to that dance event in Darius route, it seems he lost his composure?
 Azusa tries to help him and well the two somehow get into the subject of the internet, yeah
because you can use it to contact people in a distant with ease, I don't even know
what Azusa was smoking to even start to mentioning it and I honestly don't care.
 In town Azusa asked if Ludo would like to go to school in her era but
of course Ludo declines since he has his duties as a member of the oni-clan to fulfill.
Hilarity ensues when Azusa pulls his hand but she ends up snatching his goggles
and runs away only for him to catch her, ahaha they're acting like kids. 😂😂😂
Some time after this the two get a moment to confess their true feelings and when they're
about to rejoice and hug Darius let's out a small laugh, ya he and Kohak heard it all.
Darius fully approves and a little bit later Ludo sees the chance to tell him of a plan that will benefit the oni-clan.
After a long scene of dialogue(sorry not gonna bother) they go back to Ludo's room
and talk about the future, in the end Ludo proposes in the sweetest way possible.
Then plot happens and Toudou-san snatches our heroine, Darius vows to bring her back to Ludo.
Shuhei tries to stop him but gets knocked out but they still get a hold of Darius.
Wan lets Azusa escape as per usual and she reunites with Ludo and they plan to rescue
 those who got captured, after they beat the soldiers they realize there is a barrier on Darius's chains
they try and get Kudan but Darius tells them its futile, he makes Ludo the leader of the clan
and apologizes for messing up the yokohama plan since he showed his power there
and wants all of them to leave him here since he'll only drag them down.
Ludo who got his hands on the mask, realizes it has a strong power and uses it
despite Darius's warning and Ludo tells Tora to grab Azusa and run, in the end Darius
 is saved but Ludo is death, the mask took his life, Nooooooooo! T_T
The black dragon calls Azusa and lets her go back to the past to 27th december.
Azusa cries when she reunites with Ludo and tries to explain everything, in the end
Ludo decides to speak with Toudou-san because they found out he's a member of the
 star clan from the distant future, Toudou-san realizes what Azusa has done
which is similair to what he himself did and in the end Toudou Azusa and Ludo to talk with him,.
In short Ludo helps Toudou realize a plan to fix his world, Toudou-san realizes he can make it happen
so he orders Wan to stop that gentouki thing since there is no need for it anymore.
Later when Toudou is alone with Azusa he tells her that he will be devoured by the future black
dragon when his contract ends and that she can save him by giving up her power to it.
So in the end they'll fight the future black dragon since due to circumstances its weak
and since Azusa wants everyone to live she gives her power to the defeated future black dragon
and returns to her own world, meanwhile the gang all go to watch the stars, Ludo's still sad.
 They all realize the situation and Ludo has done enough so they try and make it happen
for him to go to the Azusa's world by using the power of the white dragon.
Also dat megane Ludo... can't say no to that. 💕
Ludo's a cute, this route was mostly perfect and it left a better impression on me than 
his route in the prequel ever did which was fine in its on way also why is Ludo the only
guy whom some of his events in the prequel flowed over to this sequel so naturally?
Also they hinted how this would end throughout the route its not even funny...
Anyway I felt so happy when I finished this route, this rarely happens.
Ludo's route was great. OAO
Romance ★★★★★
Plot ★★★★☆
Enjoyment overall ★★★★★
Dunno but I think the writers put the most effort in Ludo's route...

~
Kudan.
CV: Shitanda Michael.
  For better or for worse its still the same old Kudan we all know and love...
In one of his early events he ends up going into ruin-mode over the architecture of a church, lol.
Well he has lived a sheltered life and he takes his duty to protect the miko seriously so all is forgiven.
Later Kudan helps our heroine and Chiyo pick out a one piece dress for the festival.
Kudan is well how to put it, very devoted to his duty?
So.. when Wan accompanies them and sees him lead Azusa to a bench Kudan gets jealous
because it should be him to treat the miko like that! when Kudan realizes that acting like that is
wrong he takes a walk which prompts Azusa to give chase and well she hears him out and that's that.
Kudan feels very conflicted but wants to battle it himself so Chiyo decides
to lighten up the mood and suggests the two go someplace to relax.
Kudan was a bit indecisive on which treat but went for the parfait after and feeds it to Azusa.
Also Happiness is meant to be shared~
Later Kudan and Azusa are out in town and they meet Toudou-san whom invites our heroine for tea
after Toudou-san grabs her hand Kudan tells him politely to buzz off.
Thankfully Toudou-san reads the air and takes his leave... I mean like holy shit he ruined a perfectly good afternoon.
Sadly when Kudan asks what he is to Azusa she replies that he's just good friend
which makes him happy instead of being seen as just a guardian.
There was this cute scene where they debated good ways to fall asleep and well Kudan ended up
resting on Azusa's lap and she stroked his hair, leading to an extremely precious reaction.
In town Kudan ends up chasing after Toudou-san because he's on to something
and Azusa stalks them they talked about dreams and other stuff.
One day Azusa is talking to Chiyo who wants Kudan to be more free from his duties
and responsibilities is rooting for his relationship with Azusa, d'awww Chiyo so sweet.
When Chiyo leaves Azusa runs into Toudou-san... who almost forces her to come with her
right infront of Kudan who was nearby, he leaves them alone but Azusa decides
to turn him down and ditch Toudou-san since he's prolly up to no good anyway.
Anyway next time Kudan and Azusa decide to go on a date themselves...
I guess Toudou-san might have actually helped them with the idea of a walk around Tokyo. 😅
Azusa just suggest whereve Kudan wants to go is good which makes him scream internally.
When kudan is alone and rethinks the meaning of the word ''date'' his heart skips a beat.
Anyway some onryou show up near the christian church and Azusa deals with them herself
to save a kid but more show up so Kudan sends one of his Shiki's a bird and when Azusa wakes up
she's resting in his lap at the christian church, the date is ruined but there will be another time.
Sometime later Azusa stalks Kudan whom's talking with Toudou-san again
whom believe me is more than sick of it too, Kudan seems to realize things... and Toudou-sa
n is taken a back when he mention it, Kudan wants to help him but he's like no thanks and leaves.
Azusa starts to realize she loves Kudan more and more now that he sees him try so hard and crawls
from the bushes and Kudan notices she won't show her face to him and asks what's wrong.
 Azusa confesses her feelings to Kudan, he realizes his own feelings too, at first he's like
 no I musn't but kisses her anyway, he apologizes for his sudden actions too.
Later there's a flashback about how Toudou-san lost his brother Kyosuke and Arisa the miko in 2141.
How all his efforts trying to save them went in vain and how his dream crumbled, Toudou-san
couldn't handle Kyosuke's last words meanwhile Kudan starts to see the distant future
 in dreams and wants to do whatever he can to fix it, before plot happens Kudan expresses his
feelings now that Azusa feels the same, Chiyo finds out too and she's as supportive as ever.
Plot happens and you know most of it, there are some differences Kudan fights Wan
while Shuhei and Darius face off in the background, while Toudou-san explains himself.
Toudou realizes Wan won't kill Kudan and probably will lead them to him and well Kudan
 explains he saw the future of a ruined land, a black dragon, Wan and Toudou.
Kudan wants to save that world so they will go to his future, after a while Toudou-san gives in
 and summons the future black dragon and lets him hear Kudan's determination.
Azusa will also go to the distant future but they have to fight the mirai kokuryuu first.
In the future they find out they white dragon perished and figure they need to
 to cleanse a evil spirit by defeating it, after that's done they use the flower from the bracelet
Kudan gave Azusa to reinvigorate the land or whatever, Kudan will also summon six Shiki
in the form of their friends to take care of it, its just a small step but there's a new hope for the land.
After doing whatever they can, Toudou-san sends them back to the taishou period
because he has had enough of those two love birds and well all is well that ends well.
 I like Kudan. he's a cute cinnamon roll too good and too pure for this world.
 Its obvious his theme deals with jealousy and struggle with trying to find his own path.
Overall the route was too sweet and some of the plot was too good to be true
but its no doubt the best way to handle things compared to other routes... yep best conclusion.
There was no need to go back to the past like most other routes in this game because they just 
go deal with the source of it all, it was a unique solution and I am glad I didn't do this route too soon.
Overall good route, part of it felt like stuffing yourself with cotton candy only to realize its too sweet.🤔
Romance ★★★☆☆
Plot ★★★★★
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆
~

Satoya Murasame.
CV: Yasumoto Hiroki.
 Ah the ossan who values a good cup of coffee and works hard as a reporter and as seen
 in the prequel he as a charm that can unite the people to work together no matter the situation.
Murasame is also from the same time period as Azusa, he reconfirms that they've run into each other at the hospital.
In fact he saw her being warped away and well somehow got swept away into this world with her.
Azusa ends up buying a tie for Murasame as a gift and well now she also has
the responsibility of tying it since he forgot.(You go girl, I wouldn't know how to do that!)
It would be better if he didn't turn into this mopey ossan, Murasame used to be that badass
but it seems he lost some of that between the release of the games?
 Anyway onryou show up when Murasame is giving a speech and well he can't
help but rush to the miko's side who tried to fight them off alone.
The crowd saw how badass the ossan was who saved them all and they cheer
but one person threw a rock a him and it wasn't because he mistake him for an onryou.
Sadly some people aren't very happy with his speeches because it will trouble them...
Sometime later Azusa with Tora and another guy stalk Murasame into some inn and when
 he got ready to enter the bath some dude and woman were trying
 to snap a picture of him so Azusa goes after the woman and well... this happened. 😂😂😂
 Murasame is all like why won't you join me now that you're here? making Azusa all the more embarassed.
Some time later some reporter dude comes up to them and asks some questions regarding THAT.
They deny everything of course but the reporter be persistant so Murasame has to admit
the miko was there and  well ofc the reporter gets the wrong ideaand think they're already lovers.
He's not entirely wrong but not yet...! Murasame tells him otherwise tho.
At a later date when Azusa is about to bring some food to Murasame who is working upstairs
 she faints trying to pick the right moment to enter, when she wakes up its already night and...
No nothing happened, he simple fell asleep beside her.
A while later, Azusa decides to ask Murasame about his past because she wonders why a while back
 he said that here in this period he has something to fight for, he won't tell her till a bit later.
Murasame has lost someone in the past, a fellow reporter named Satsuki whom he had a crush on.
She always cheered him on and he wanted to see her happy but then that rainy day came... T~T
Murasame blamed himself from not seeing the truth and well then that day came
when he was wandering the town he saw Azusa at the hospital and well you know the rest.
Later at the restaurant the master shows Azusa what he's been working on, he called it
Ame no Yamai its a sad story, Azusa can't help but be a little jealous of Satsuki.
At night she runs into Murasame who just came back and it started raining too...
Murasame has an umbrella but Azusa started crying and says she likes him but that she is not Satsuki.
He says he promised himself to never be truly happy ever since that day but Azusa has
changed that and like to stay by her side so he thanks her while appreciating her feelings.
 Later the cafe some guy named Inami from way back comes up, he used to admire him and he's
the one who threw a rock at Murasame but now understands his sympathy(pun intended)
the folks don't trust him and suspect he's a spy but let him into the circle anyway, sigh.
One day Inami starts to show signs of change, not the typical one... he wants to start a revolution
but this is most likely because he had too much of that syrup.
Sometime later, after the two failed to chase Inami, Murasame and Azusa hold hands 
infront of a crowd... its progress but he's not truly happy yet. 😳
The other reporters were investigating too and well they found something strange too
and Murasame suspects their are still more of those curse boxes left.
One day, Murasame goes out and asks Azusa to wait for him at the restaurant
he even reassures her that he's not going to see some other woman.
Murasame finds Inami and the Gentoki device... which is further proof Toudou-san controls him and
Murasame wants to save him, yet Inami starts spouting things about justice and tells him to leave.
Azusa welcomes him home and they act like a married couple. 😂
Plot happens Toudou-san snatches our heroine and Murasame chases Inami to the gentoki device.
Murasame tries to talk sense into a brainwashed Inami but its not working and he tries to
commit suicide, Murasame stops him and knocks him out Wan appears and a ruckus happens.
Shuhei appears to stop the oni... Darius who is trying to save Azusa.
Wan explains Murasame has the power to change this situation, his words can reach them and he also
over hears Toudou-san is from the future, Murasame and Wan follow Toudou-san and Azusa.
Murasame hears Toudou-san's reason and well in short he has to say the following:
I am from the same period as Azusa, I understand were you're coming from however, we
aren't gods who can decide to change the past as we see fit to our own benefit.
Toudou-san doesn't like hearing the truth and orders Wan to kill him so Azusa puts her nails
 into Toudou's arm and pulls her gun to fight along side Murasame and defeat Wan.
 Toudou-san dumps the rest of his past on us because Murasame reached him
Azusa explains it to the rest and Toudou-san summons the future black dragon
they all fight it because its cranky as hell but as per usual it is weak.
After they beat it, Toudou-san asks Murasame to input the passcode into the Gentouki.
Murasame tells them that he thinks he has broken some sort of rule by meddling with the past
and this'll be his last action in this era, when he does everyone sees a certain person's memories
like they're watching a television or listening to a radio, to save the world, w.
In short everything returns to normal afterwards i'm not going to explain it in detail.
Sometime later Azusa and Murasame tell the others they're going home.
He promises to Azusa and the others that in their world he won't go on with anger and sadness
over what happened but with love and Azusa at his side he promises to make her happy.
Everyone sees this as a sappy marriage proposal... 😂😂😂
In the present, Azusa's friend can't believe she has such a handsome ikemen ossan
and she leaves the two alone on their date and Azusa takes a picture of them.
 Honestly though I wouldn't accept any ending other than Azusa and Murasame returning to the present~.
  This all made me slightly nostalgic of Uncho in Sangoku Rensenki... but just a little.
Together in the future where we belong~ oh and I love the design of Azusa's phone.
I've always liked Murasame and well his route had some hilarious moments in the beginning
but it actually turned out to be somewhat of a mature route? I liked it except that the plot
at the end was rather eh so I just gave up trying to write it out so it makes sense. 
Not sure how it even helped Toudou-san's case... but whatever they have a happy end so I won't
nit pick.
I say that but  Murasame is one of those guys who keeps shit bottled up inside and prolly partly
saw Azusa as a replacement for Satsuki, still Azusa made him see the truth so it all good?
(I still prefer the Murasame from the original for some reason they made him so emo now.) 
Again there was no need to go back to the past to fix things which made me happy
because after 6 routes I got tired of it and in some case like Kohak's it made things worse.
Usually I don't like older guys but Murasame is fine to me and this route gave more depth to him
which finishes his story the right way, not mad he doesn't get a kiss cg because he already has one. 😚
Anyway the ending just felt right to me except the age gap but just this once who effing cares.
16 year old girl x 36 year old guy... no one is gonna sleep less over it right? not me atleast.
I mean atleast Murasame doesn't have a kid unlike a certain guy in SA7 
nor was a teacher to Azusa like Momoji was to Hotaru for half of her life.
I know that in the taishou period shet like that would've been ok, i'm just sad that they always 
leave ends like this open I mean deep down I wonder is it really going to be daijoubu now? 
Romance wise it still might need an acquired taste or like a mature viewpoint....
because of the whole BS with his dead girlfriend and all and if you hate that trope
it could be a huuuge miss.
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★★☆☆
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
~

Wan(Man).
CV. Shimono Hiro.
Regarding his name, the kanji can either be read as Wan or Man, but I'll refer to him
as Wan-chan since  its cute and at first it sorta fits his character.
 An automata, everything else about him is shrouded in mystery after being chosen
by the black dragon god he's extremely devoted to the one who is his master that being Azusa.
His mission is first priority and he is apparently from the year 2144 in the future...
Wan was given a soul by the black dragon god, he also sees himself as a special existence and not a
human being, Wan-chan would easily sacrifice himself for the greater good or harm humans who are in his way or threaten his master but Azusa teaches him all the important bits.
Wan-chan also frequently keeps making these sad poses... he's struggling so much. :(
Anyway at one point Wan-chan and Azusa take a walk past a bookstore and Azusa wants to do
something for him, he actually noticed a picture book which leads Wan to tell us his birthday.
He's a christmas boy but never got any presents since he's an automata. T~T
Later some onryou show up and he decides to save a kitty in a pinch almost
 at the cost of his own life, Wan has grown so much already!
Azusa, Arima and Shuhei deal with the onryou first before before heading over to his unmoving body.
Azusa touches the black jewel he carries and Wan regains conciousness. /yokatta.
Later a girl asks Wan a name for the cat he saved... and well its gonna be Nya...
On the way back Wan and Azusa hold hands... Wan says her hand is small like a cat
which leads Azusa to say she's a girl not a cat and well now we get to the point where
Wan realizes he's a guy and Azusa is a girl... Wan just starts blushing afterwards too. 😳
Some time later Wan gives Azusa a gift, it seems like a black stone but it has this cat shape too it.
He also says he likes Azusa-sama and that she's his only master... which
makes sense how in like every route he helps her out no matter what.
Later Toudou-san shows up to test Wan and guess what? he forgot all about Toudou-san lmao.
Wan retaliates but he cannot hurt Toudou-san because he still holds some sort of control over him.
Wan regains his memories of his former master, Toudou-san can't believe his doll fell in love with a girl
So he uses that to his advantage and tells him its impossible to continue like that because Wan is just a doll.
Wan just runs off because he's had enough of Toudou-san's way of talking down to him
and for the first time Wan experiences tons of negative feelings, thanks to Toudou-san.
Yep Wan turned out to be Toudou-san's loyal dog...
 Wan loves Azusa so much he wants to stay with her forever... then something twitches
 inside of him and starts to see himself as just a doll who will kill anyone to protect her future just
like what he used to be to Toudou-san, later Azusa has enough of him wallowing in negativity
So the two decide to go out for a walk, then some bird came too close to Azusa
and he covered her while scaring it away in a single swing of his arm.
Still the boy now sees himself as nothing but a weapon but he tries so hard and
start crying because his heart can't take it anymore and believe me I can't either! T~T
Asuza just embraces him since there's not much she can do... but try and cheer him up because he's suffering.
Sadly he can't disobey Toudou-san ever and Wan is still his eyes and ears because
if Wan disagrees he'll have the black dragon take his life force/soul.
We also learn that Toudou-san is pretty much a father to Wan... even Toudou-san
wondered what will happen to Wan if he dies... since he'll no longer have a master.
It goes deeper into Wan's memory the part he has hidden away, in short its all his fault
the two ended up here and that Toudou-san has a contract with the dragon, now
more than ever he wants to do what is right and save him.
The reason he acted like a child is because he has sealed part of his memory
that his existance was made possible by sharing a tiny bit of the future black dragons life force.
So technically yes, he is the black dragon and Toudou-san is his creator/father.
Wan now tells Toudou what Azusa is doing to save Chiyo as promised since he's eyes and ears, Toudou-san also jokingly suggests Wan to confess his feelings to Azusa
since that's what people who love each other do, lol now Toudou's on his side? really.
Though he does ask if Wan won't betray him, which leads to him saying if he did they wouldn't be talking now, lol.
Sometime later Azusa follows Wan, Toudou and a third wheel woman to some party
to prepare the syrup, Toudou lies out of his ass to explain what's the meaning of this, of course
 the third wheel woman is quite fond of Wan who's sighing because he's tired of this shit.
Azusa just gets sad at this was kept secret from her and leaves.
Wan knows all about za plan but nothing happens till 23th dec, Azusa realizes its his birthday soon.
She decides to hold a party for him on that day, since the poor boy deserves to celebrate it atleast once.
The third wheel realizes Wan and ''that girl''(Azusa) are into each other and
before she sends him off she gives him lipstick to give to Azusa.
After Wan sees a couple and how they're going to an amusement park he goes over all
 that has happened again, he realizes how much Azusa means to him and how
 they've made so many wonderful memories  plus how he still struggles etc.
Come christmas they all celebrate it especially since its Wan's birthday
and later the two get together and Wan gives Azusa the lipstick, after that
Wan invites her to come with him to an amusement park, Azusa appreciates the thought
and turns beet red which leads Wan to want to feel it.. just as he's about to confess he stops
but atleast they wish each other a merry christmas, after this Azusa has a dream
about how Wan wanted to stay a bit longer, he confesses to her and wanted to do so much more. 💕

萬 お誕生日 おめでとう
 Everything goes keikaku doori for Toudou-san he tells our princess his reasons for all this
 and Wan apologizes for betraying her but does nothing to help her escape and so four days pass.
Since this is the last day before it all goes to hell, that night Wan decides to take action
The two of them sneak out without Toudou's knowledge and fight the black dragon to end it all
because its not Toudou who is behind it, its the anger of the future black dragon and show him
 there is still hope left with their resolve, Wan whom's soul is a small part of the black dragon
hench why he's acted like a dog/child in the beginning since Wan had no real will of his own
but by being with Azusa and the others he start to develop etc.
Either way will do anything for the sake of the future and so Toudou-san will live too.
He's going to use his soul to balance the Yin and Yang no Ki and save the future...
Wan urges Azusa to use the lipstick after Azusa has made a deal with the black dragon of this period
since he'll be sure it'll protect her, Wan forces a kiss on her too which is a way for him to drug
Azusa with the so she'll enter a deep sleep, while Wan  will do what he must
 without her intervering and so they can be together... or so it seemed.
While sleeping has a dream where she meets Wan in a beautiful place that he saved...
When she wakes up she finds herself in a laboratory and the first thing she sees is Toudou, lol.
Its now the year 2149... OI WAN YOU GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO.
Apparently she's been sleeping in a stasis pod for 5 years...
Wan apparently isn't hear anymore... and that kiss was a farewell.
When Toudou-san came after them he found Azusa but Wan was nowhere to be found whom
presumably blew himself up, so Todou just took her with him to his time period and placed her in a pod.
Her friends were all alive and no one else died and continued their lives
and the future was saved except that Wan isn't there anymore.
Toudou has Azusa fight the future black dragon their alone SOLO YOLO style as an experiment.
Toudou had hoped she'd lose, after more of his trolling he gives in and says there is hope
so he let's her go back just before the point the two escaped together, she explains everything
and tells Wan she will save him and won't let him sacrifice himself for the greater good.
They end up fighting onryou and a Tsukumogami like in Kudan's route
whom after all said and done fixes the Yin no Ki and all's well that ends well.
Also Wan finds out she's been asleep for 5 years in the future since Toudou found her in the past
after Wan drugged her, Wan can't believe what he's done and regrets the actions of his past self.
Azusa gives Wan a device that replays Toudou's voice in which he says he will let his wish for love come true.
Wan frets about having betrayed Azusa but she's like it fine boya and he promises
 he'll never do it again with a kiss to love and treasure Azusa for as long as possible.
Azusa returns to her own time period and after one long year Wan shows up too, don't know if I mention it or not but Arisu and Toudou's future was saved as well... its the perfect ending?
This route was okay but too sad and at times it was difficult!
 I just wanted to pat Wan in the beginning and tell him its Daijoubu many times and it hurt
 to see him be so sad trying to figure things out, then plot happened... and oh man why?
Pls protect Wan! he's a maji tenshi... who isn't some killing machine and needs to value 
his own life more but sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would but it wasn't bad.
 His character sort of reminds me of Cardia from Code:Realize, I mean he starts out as a puppy lost
without meaning or master but grows into a fine young man. Shimono-san did a 
splendid job voicing Wan, this is the type of voice I like hearing of him.
I do not mind the genki or shota type he also does but I prefer the quiet and kind types. 💕
Wan had an great route... OAO
Romance ★★★★★
Plot ★★★★☆
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆
~
Todo Naoya.
CV : Kondo Takashi.
Some mysterious rich dude, who invests in the rebuild of area surrounding the Ryōunkaku.
He tries to build amusement district at the site but it seems there's an ulterior motive?
His first event can be viewed on 2nd play, but the rest is locked till you finish all routes
including the normal end.
BTW this guy doesn't have much of an actual route its like a hidden one tied to the grand finale
and by making certain choice during it you just get his ending... which resolves nothing but they try.
 Toudou-san is quite the ladies man but this is mostly a facade... while hiding his true motive that
being to lead this era for the sake of the future, let's get to his events in which Azusa had to line up
just to see him but when she gave up and walked away he showed up, uuugh the nerve!
Oh well he just plays around with her before his playthings call out to him. -_-
Now for the ultra spoilerific info dump on this guy and his reasons for shitting all over the
 taishou period, he has nothing against the era in particular but muh future.
This guy is a member of the star clan in the distant future of 2144, Wan an Automata he created
is from there too and they crossed space time because the reason his world is in ruins is because
 of what Azusa and the Hachiyou did at the end of the previous game or so they believe.
Arisa was the Miko there and his brother Kyosuke one of the hachiyou but they died before they
could get married, the white dragon perished and his entire world shattered into a wasteland due to an
explosion. Toudou fell to despair and somehow made it to Taishou era by making a deal with the
 black dragon on his side via Wan whom's existance is related to it and well he planned everything
from there and worked himself into the government by brainwashing them with rondo the syrup, all
to make sure the current white dragon priestess Chiyo dies from trying to stop the defilement
he planted in those boxes. In most route after he finishes explaining, he asks Azusa to not resist
he'd even take her to his era when he's done, the reason for not harming her is because Arisa
was also a priestess, since Toudou's was a hachiyou he just has to protect them.
In four of the routes after they stop the Gentouki device they beat up some super onryou but
Toudou-san gets devoured by the future black dragon because it has had enough of his shit
since the contract expired and in the other 5 routes has the character solve the issue at hand
and give Toudou and the future black dragon hope for the future, okay onwards with his events.
In the second event, Azusa ends up going with him into his fancy car and go on a quality tea time date.
 In short the reason Toudou fools around with women is because life is short and he too wants to
experience love, Arisa(is the miko in the future)whom Toudou had a one sided crush on passed away
along side Toudou's brother Kyosuke(Hachiyou) before they could get married, Toudou
 genuinely wanted them to be happy though and misses them a lot.
That all made him very sad but for some reason he can never get serious, ofc Azusa calls bullshit
and tells Toudou she'll love him which makes him want to change the topic, lol.
At the third event, Azusa can't stop being reminded of Toudou's words that day
and has a cup of coffee at Haikaraya before heading out and stumbling onto Toudou-san lying
on a boat in a river, which leads him to tell her about the tale of king arthur.
He found the death beautiful so he wanted to try it out... by resting there.Toudou is grateful
Azusa was worried about him he hugs her, this guy really is ready to accept dead...
  Later Toudou realizes he let his guard down and starts to have second thoughts about his plan
he actually doesn't want to kill anyone but how else will he save his future? sigh.
Skipskipskip to the part where he captures Azusa, she decides to try and help him out and is she is
even willing to kick his ass to make him listen when he tells her to just go with him to the future.
Wan made sure Shuhei and others didn't die, since he knows that's not what Toudou wants
in fact Wan informed Shuhei of what was going on, Wan's such a good boy! T_T
Anyway Wan gets Toudou to the point where he accepts that he won't ever see Arisa nor his brother
again and put out a plan to set things right in the future, Azusa also promises
to not let Toudou-san die, Toudou notes how weird of a girl Azusa is, she is cute yet badass
for standing up to someone who could kill her and asks if he can kiss her
but he'll save the rest of the kiss for the future... >///<
Oi... you better not go back on your word.
 ...and so the three of them travel to the future, Toudou says that he once thought of it as hell
because Arisa nor his brother was around and everything is in ruins but then a light appeared.
They'll work to save the land... surely it will work out right? no we won't see how this will work out
its too open ended once again making me sigh because I'm tired and I do not want to use my imagination.

 Kondo Takashi characters these days... this is the second time one I partially dislike one
but after going through all routes Toudou-san isn't a bad person and doesn't deserve death
atleast the writer did one thing right in getting me to like his lovely ass if even a little.
I want to see him happy... so i'm glad he doesn't always die in every route since thats just cruel.
Though I partly feel conflicted towards him since at many times during routes he annoyed me.
(Esp Wan's route I mean come on... I almost thought it was a bad end.)
Yeah he's a misunderstood villain and isn't necessarily wrong but his methods are!
The ending was good in a sense that this man can be saved... but it was so open ended
 with no real conclusion that I just couldn't care much about it, sorry.
I'd still take this ending over the grand finale though...  but if I had to be honest
I don't see how Azusa fell for him nor a good future for the two.
Romance ★★☆☆☆ (Not convincing nor did I like him that much.)
Plot ★★☆☆☆ (Better than what's up next which is almost the same but without romance.)
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆ (Still meh...)
~
Grand Finale.
In this Azusa begs Toudou to help her friends but still sorta follows his own route
up untill the point he is about to fight her with Wan, Wan decides to rebel and the
other guys show up to save Azusa and to stop Toudou and so they fight both Wan and Toudou.
Well we already know that Wan informed Shuhei and that he can't fight his true master 
cuz he's programmed not to do so and well he knew Toudou didn't want to kill anyone.
As per usual Arima wasn't there in the final fight with Toudou & Wan but b4 they went to the future
he shows up like hey wassup, miss me? thus missing all the action due to his circumstances. 😂
Anyway they all end up traveling to the distant future and try and save it, theres no more boss
or new surprise villain or anything its just everyone coming together to do what must be done.
No I didn't leave anything out... but i'm tired there really wasn't anything else worth mentioning
I hope you do understand why I partly think this was underwhelming to the point i'd prefer Kudan's version. 
Yeeeah everyone coming together like that is great but what about after? why end it like that...
seems like they were stressed for time, it really shows.
Romance ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot ★☆☆☆☆
Enjoyment overall ★☆☆☆☆
~

Route/Event enjoyment + spoiler free thoughts:
Ludo  > Murasame > Arima & Shuhei > Wan / Kudan >  Kohak / Darius > Tora > Toudou > Grand finale / Normal end.
It seems some of the routes I enjoyed the least in the prequel ended up being better in its sequel. 😅
This may come as a surprise but I enjoyed most of Arima's route more than Darius
though Ludo tops it all, I dunno have you ever felt so satisfied when finishing a route
that you could cry? I didn't really cry but I was so happy with it as a whole.
Still I wish they could give my darling Darius a more well rounded route, poor dude never got to truly relax.
Shuhei's route was fine since it brought up some legit issues, Tora had an okay route
but this type of guy... not really my type that's for sure.
 Kohak? great route but he got screwed over in more ways than one which is not even funny
but the early events was fine, just the ending was too pure and  なかよし.
Kudan was 2sweet but it wasn't half bad! probably best solution to the events and
well Wan's route was fine with lots of feels... not quite what I expected.
Grand finale? do not care about it this time same with normal end, its nice everyone
comes together but compared to the prequel it was lacking in more ways than one.

Fav character:
The order doesn't matter that much, I just like some more than others.
Ludo > Murasame > Darius > Wan > Kudan > Kohak > Arima / Shuhei > Tora > Toudou.
Wan-chan sorta worked his way into my kokoro, this boy he's so precious no doubt about it. T~T
Maybe its because he's like a child for over half of his route...  there's a good reason for that though.
Oh well my other fav's haven't changed much other than some characters going up and down
 in the rankings mostly thanks to them having a much better route, Ludo ended up being my fav.
Toudou isn't that terrible, the ends doesn't justify the means and so he's last on my list. :/
He only had 3 CG's well 4 if you count the hug... everyone else had 6.

Final Thoughts
I'm sorry but I didn't ask for any of this...
 Well I wasn't sure what to expect to begin with, its not that bad but its not exactly good either
its shorter than the prequel and goes deeper into some characters but some are treated unfairly.
To me some of the plot was predictable, I just knew that one new chara couldn't be trusted.
Also some parts of the plot reminded me of Clock Zero(ruined future) and Code:Realize(Man). >_>
The overall story was interesting but not as good as the prequel, the first half of the story
was pretty boring and not much happened at all, chara events make up for it but that's no excuse.
The goal is too easy to fulfill and all you do is fight or gather materials for upgrading
 talismans while doing 1 or maybe 2 romanceable guys flag events cuz what else!
Some hints are dropped but yeah I wasn't excited since I figured who was behind it... who else?!
Plot only got good when they walked into a trap and later when the antagonist started to explain
 how and why to Azusa but by then it was already the end of the game didn't make
any sense till you get to Kudan or Man's route though. -_-
The time travel thing is inconsistent too, the one time slip in Darius route was
 the most inconsistent and made my head hurt trying to make sense of it .
Some routes do it better but me thinks the whole thing is a reference to haruka 3
in which the heroine did the same to save characters, I watched that OVA ages ago.
I still love how like in the prequel the route has their own unique solution or take on the situation, this
makes it all the more worthwhile sadly the grand finale was pretty meh, am I supposed to use my
imagination that these brave men can work miracles? more like deus ex machina failure.
Atleast the prequel's grand finale had something meaningful happen also some of the actual route
in this game was more worthwhile than what we got in the grand finale, how to put it?
Why is it that sequel to otomege always end up worse than original? is it because expectations
 to be as good or perhaps better? this just ruined the previous installment thanks. 
The grand finale was completely uninspiring to me for some reason me thinks
 it was a bland way to end it all and maybe so that they could write something more but
after this excuse for a travesty ending I think I do not want any more sequels out of this. 😓
Also what's up with the DLC sugar-content?
I mean what, at this grand finale Azusa doesn't end up with anyone mark 2,  also there was no proper
epilogue to it like in the prequel were they all had a party to celebrate.. the actual routes are miles better and in the end it just made me depressing all while Kudan's end did it better.
Koei/Ruby Party, son I am disappoint also i'm sorry for shit posting but somethimes I need to get
it off my chest.

Most of the kiss CG's were garbo its the lips almost touching shet, other time its just shown text.
Like I said in the actual post now the only characters that got actual Kiss CG's in Haruka 6
are Ludo, Murasame in the prequel and Tora in this game, sigh I guess I shouldn't complain but
would it kill koei to be more consistent? they want to keep that pure feeling in most route
but after playing so many otomege KOEI is like god forbid should the lips touch! 😒
Maybe otomate just spoils us... but imo every character deserves that treatment idc about
wedding end or not but I guess they wanted to keep CG count consistent.(everyone got 6)

Despite shitposting and complaints I don't think I wasted my money that much, partially yes
but I had a great time in a lot of the routes except the grand finale I mean
I just expected a better conclusion and was let down by a rushed end.
I'm still glad Arima's route is better (I mean dat moe content) in this game since i'm one of those
who felt that in the prequel it was lacking so rest assured there's plenty of that here.
Sadly Arima is always missing the action of fighting the last baws in any route but his own...
Sasuga poster boy... yeah yeah story reasons but lol who even cares. -_-
Anyway Shuhei route is also good! also in their respective routes its explained why Arima
is being send away and why Shuhei does THAT in more detail.
Sadly I was disappointed with mai husbando Darius's route but it wasn't half bad and since
 he had such an amazing route in the prequel I can forgive some of its short comings but
I am pissed that they hid events behind a DLC pay wall, they're not even voiced
and to add fuel to the fire, the other routes had more sugar content than Darius. ( ಠ益ಠ)
I still think Ludo and maybe Wan-chan had the most well rounded route out of all of them
whoops what is bias? but honestly Kudan had the best ending storywise.
5.2/10
I enjoyed most routes and they did give more depth to characters and in some cases better endings
but some guys got shafted and the story is a hot mess not knowing what it wants to do
to actually solve it but tries to take one small step in different ways, yeah thank you berry much. 
Koei shouldn't rush just to give us a sequel we never asked for... I just couldn't
care about the grand finale this time because it was lackluster compared to individual route
and a waste because Azusa doesn't end up with anyone when there are so many great guys...
which is just depressing tbh.

 I can see why this game has mixed reviews, I feel like it could have been so much more!
but they were probably trying to rush things and ran out of budget for some of the scenario's
and had to give them to us via unvoiced paid DLC...? ok whatever think what you want.
Which sadly I cannot be bothered to buy and that's probably a good decision.
 The overall story shot itself in the foot with the whole ruined future... 
also all that deus ex machine/open endedness not sure what the writer was thinking.
Also I'll try to stop wishing for FD/sequels of games I like, if it gets one good!
but developers shouldn't have to push themselves to put a halfbaked product on the market.
I think my Haruka 6 adventures end with this game... unless they convince me
and want to clean up the mistakes of this one, lol good luck with that one
i'm not buying another Haruka game unless it is a completely new game.

Characters ★★★★☆ ( I still like everyone...)
Scenario ★★☆☆☆
Music★★★☆☆(Eh its okay...)
System  ★★★☆☆ (I see improvements... but there's not much use for them.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
Do I recommend it? only of you loved Harukanaru 6 in general and do not mind
getting a sequel shoved into your hands you probably didn't ask for.
If not avoid, ideally try the demo and decide from there to either get it or wait till its on a sale.

1 comment:

  1. Ouch well thats a shame, I honestly think that most grand finale or similair
    stuff in these type of games can be safely ignored then especially if
    the actual character route/ending are better in terms of satisfaction.

    ReplyDelete