Friday, August 11, 2017

Utsusemi no Meguri - Review

Game: [Utsusemi no Meguri]
Genre: Otome Visual Novel.
Developer/publisher: Matatabi.
Platform: PS Vita.
Official Site: http://matatabi.tv/utsusemi/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v20326
Release date: 2017-07-27
-

Edo period, on a remote islands their exists two gates Higammon and Kogammon that lead to
 the land of the dead, they're guarded by humans and oni respectively.
One day a phenomenon is observed and the heroine Amane a human priestess
gets send to the oni-clan's village along with her human servant Yasuomi.
The secrets of the island will be revealed as the miko interacts with the oni-clan
and renews the bonds between humans and oni.

Oh boy who thought these guys would stick around for one more project?
This time their game centers on conflict between human and oni...
fate and forbidden--- ah you guessed it romance.
The whole synopsis sounds like we've seen it before but for some reason
I was intrigued at how'd they handle it and they seem to take their world setting
serious enough to carefully explain it so it can't be that bad right?
This otome game is very japanese with dark themes and by no means its not an easy read.
After being sent to the village of the oni the heroine Shizumiya Amane becomes
the target of youma who are like the living dead but what are they truly?
Moving on Amane is one of those good girl types taking the words of her grandma
to heart and tries hard to perform her duties as a miko, TL;DR she does as she's told
but doesn't value her own life and basically wouldn't mind jumping in front of someone.
Amane is an okay heroine and she's cute  but I don't feel attached to her at all
besides in some Kyouran/tragic route she got on my nerves.
As for length it took me maybe 10 hours till I reached my first end this includes
common route which was atleast 3-4 hours I think each route is 6 hours at least.
Said common route takes its time to introduce everyone in neutral manner and get the plot going
but the story while interesting was hard to follow maybe due to concepts I found it hard
to understand wtf was happening to the side characters or my japanese just sucked.

OP, well I like it but its a bit on the long side.

Pro's
- Interesting world view, pacing OK.
- Beautiful art.
- Decent length not too long or short.
- Character have Yin / Yan split route, one side is more happy the other is dark.

Con's
- Same-ish plot in all routes but a little different depend on guy yet only makes sense in the true route.
 - Minigame could be done without like you can even skip it at the press
of the button and still get the trophies related to it. -_-
- Gamebreaking crashes  among other bugs they're being worked on now but seriously...

~Art~
If you love ancient japanese aesthetics you'll love the backgrounds, seriously they're amazing.
As for CG's Puru did a great job its surprisingly consistent too but eh some angles are a bit...
strange but nothing to complain about! I made a selection of a few of my favorite scenery
How can I not share this? they're BREATHTAKINGly beautiful.


~System~
 You know the usual reading and choice selecting love catch etc.
The minigame this time is more simple its a purification ritual or whatever
and involves pressing buttons this may or may not save your life, or so they said.
Honestly this minigame could've done without... all it does is break the mold of only reading.
Atleast its just simply press this button in time rinse repeat untill its complete
and no rng bullcrap so it gets a pass even tho its sorta just there at the end of the day
 atleast add an automatic succeed/fail after one play so that's nice.
There are four endings, not all of them are happy and some are just painful.
I think that 4eds thing is similair to say Ken ga Kimi... because the one end you'll get
depends on choice and minigame success/failure there's a small change in route
scenario as well so yeah if you ask me its pretty similair.
~

Compared to rear pheles, Utsusemi no Meguri is a lot better, Matatabi seems to have
learned from mistakes and hired better devs, no more screentear in the movies
and the lips move and eyes blink, it even has its own save screen
plus the art no longer looks blurry on the ps vita screen, it is crisp now.
 I also love the general setting and atmosphere early on in this game
it had a great start to introduce everyone imo and it made me interesting
even tho the plot partly sounds generic. >_>
The pacing was good too like there's no long monologues\TL;DR that makes me bored
its just that some parts of the story are a little confusing to me.
-
However Matatabi's games still come with plenty of bugs like sprites may disappear
so only the eyes and hair show that's spooky right? but reloading fixes it...
granted that didn't happen to me but i've seen screenshots that it can happen.
You know I can turn a blind eye to that but the next...
There's a FATAL bug where the game crashes when you try and save I am just sigh. -_-
Mind you this only happened once... in common route so dunno if it was just a bad spot.
Matatabi definitely had budget for this... but could've worked a little on debugging
but maybe they ran out of time and had to release it as is, patch it later.
-
That aside I sorta like this otomege, the characters are all intriguing which may make you
want to do their routes because common route wise it won't get far.
I think the only one who was generic as is was Yasuomi... but Hiiragi definitely did not
 turn out the way I thought so yeah there's that! in fact he's my favorite character.
The story and relationship develops side by side... at times it may be stiff
but it'll get there, I found Hayate to be a slowburn but rewarding in the end.
This isn't a fun visual novel everyone seems to have a little darkness, some more than others.
Utsusemi has all the things that could make it decent but keep in mind its not for everyone
nor an easy visual novel language wise so with that in mind before you buy this...
As someone who do not like yandere... I am just happy Matatabi has most of that crap
reserved for kyouran/tragic ends much like rear pheles and their merry bad ends.
In most I prefer happiest and the only kyouran end I could stomach was Yasuomi's.
In short this game was rather average to me, it has a nice setting and cast
but if there was a revelation about a character I was usually ''oh'' about it.
In most routes it just doesn't try anything new... except the last route
where it hit me right in the feels and thus I only feel really attached to Hiiragi.
''Other than that nothing specifically wowed me nor made me say
 it just plain sucks, in the end its just fine.''

So I recommend this otome game to people who are:
A, Not tired of human x oni bullshit and old timey settings.
B, People who like a dark side to characters and yin/yang route split
as in one is more happy/natural yet the other is dark/sorta bad end-ish.
C, Do not have a backlog/read too many other otomege like this.
D, Like heart-wrenching true endings.

Playorder:
Hayate > Kai > Yasuomi  > Yuzuru > Hiiragi.
There's no official recommendations so just go with someone that strikes your interest, for me
that turned out to be Hayate.๐Ÿ˜Œ The order I went with flowed surprisingly well!
unlike the last game I played... so I can recommend it to other people as well.
Due to events in Hayate I wanted to do Kai and in Kai's Yasuomi got my interest
which lead me to Yuzuru! Yuzuru's filled in my suspicions about him and gaps in Yasuomi's route.
Hiiragi is locked till you do everyone else... so no choice with him.
I did Happiest/kindan ends... then Kyouran/tragic love ends, this is to save whatever
likeability the characters may have Kyouran/Tragic is just shit gone horrible wrong.
Unless you don't mind that but... i'll leave it up to you to decide the order of endings.

That concludes my non-spoiler thoughts, rambles/possible spoilers after the jump.

I'll try to write about routes/ends but i'm warning ya I don't have the time or energy
to take most of the routes that seriously... plus ACTUAL PLOT didn't make any sense till last so.
I'm sorry if there's anything written wrong.
 Just see it as a third party POV narration+sarcasm. ( ͡° ͜ส– ͡°)

SPOILERS? WELL YOU MAY WANT TO HOLD THAT SPACE BAR
OR THE BAR TO THE RIGHT AND IDK CLOSE YOUR EYES TO AVOID
A SHODDY MESS OF SPOILERS,
THANK YOU BERRY MUCH.








Hayate.
CV: Uchida Yuuma.
Seems like my type... I guess.
 A warrior with great talent, man of few words and avoids contant with others.
He's a captain and its his purpose to defeat the youma creatures that are like dead comeback to life.
Hayate is also on good terms with Keita... who's like a friend and he also looks up to Kai.
He's stoic, cold and distant... so romance wise I couldn't see it at first
but I could tell he cares as it went on, idk the usual I guess.
I found the beginning to be pretty boring but it was nice to see him get attached
and open up to tell of his past and he used to be a tsun towards his adoptive father
refusing to call him dad but master instead, the tsun disappeared a little when he grew up
due to what happened to his adoptive father, he had to kill him and then also his ''friend'' Keita. 
 Then they got this cute scene eating onigiri during a break and I just asdgfhjklnngl.
Other than that there's not much I could write about him... the situation with Keita
was complicated as is and I just gave up trying to write about it, what I got was
when oni's die they become youma but at this point it doesn't make much sense.
ใตใตใต...
Overall I liked the way their relationship in the normal route developed... even if
its slowburn it was so sweet and gentle, not sure if its because of his name but
the last character with the name Hayate I also liked whole lot. xD
Maybe gap moe too... but uh Hayate is pretty normal to me.
I think Amane and Hayate are a good match, they both have a sense of duty but found each other
even if they're of different race also the vow that he'll protect her... was another d'awww moment.
The story was a bit eh... the bit with Keita coming back and Hayate having trouble
facing him was -_- but the rest was ok he learned to trust Amane from it.
Other than that I knew certain someone was suspicious and Hayate notices so eventually
Hiiragi gaves in like you got me and ends up demanding the blood of a human girl for the ritual, ofc
Hayate can't do that cuz he really cares for her and bonded with her so he ends up killing him in the
happiest end after he gets a buff from Ayame, all the problems are immediately solved while the
antagonist is out of the picture and the rest felt like its a little too good to be true but i'll
take it because atleast its a situation where they're accepted/can be together.
Hayate is surprisingly sweet...
The kindan end, mostly the same as above but near the end Kai gets involved and things take a different turn.
I like it a lot more than the happiest end in terms of execution, as long as Amane is at his side he's
happy even if the conditions are not entirely desirable, Hayate pretty much broke the rules.
This whole ending is more of what I expected and there's a certain bittersweetness to it.
Even if our relationship is forbidden, if we have each other that is enough.
Now the following outsomes is where things aren't exactly ''happy'' anymore.

Kyouran end, after the deal with Keita things goes wrong as I somewhat expected because 
you chose different answers and failed a ceremony minigame, its like a darker turn of events
but I think for Hayate whatever happened here was horribly out of  character
like he becomes overly attached and filled with feelings of jealousy and rage.
Hayate can't stand it anymore how Amane talks to other men, be nice and about her days.
He starts to harbors jealousy, it really hurt to see him like this and become a possessive raging yandere.๐Ÿ˜ฑ
Hayate becomes extremely attached to Amane and frequently spouts ''่ฒดๅฅณใฏไฟบใฎใ‚‚ใฎใ ''.
he gets extremely triggered if someone even comes near her or she speaks to someone... -_-
Honestly its best not to fail any minigame cuz it only gets worse if you do.
Tho its nice to see another side develop... this really hurt after the other two ends.๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ
Oh sweet Hayate... how did it turn out like this? I want to pretend it doesn't exist, in the end
Hayate's so far gone that they need to lock him up Amane just accepts his rage yes he hurt her
 and they do the deed who knows what's after it, that's putting it nicely what is consent!
Diabolik lovers ain't got nothing on this... but honestly Hayate has been ruined here.
I can't blame the heroine I blame the writers, Hayate didn't deserve this.
Maybe that side was always there to begin with but maybe if you actually try you can avoid it.
Either way I don't want to think about what's after that horrid end imo this doesn't exist.๐Ÿ˜“
''Hayate is the type of yandere that would physically abuse you if you fail to understand 
his feelings and that you should stay in the kitched and only look at him, smile and agree''. -_-;
Sweet sweet Hayate...where did we go wrong?
The tragic love end... Hayate has enough of Kai intervening even if he means good
and so before they had the chance to detain Hayate, he ends up killing Amane
who jumped in before Hayate dealt the killing blow to Kai.
Hayate killed another person precious to him... as he holds Ayame in his arms he regrets everything.
As he regains his senses he begs Ayame not to depart him but alas he is left alone yet again.๐Ÿ˜ญ
TBH this was the best outcome to the general kyouran route...
-
All that aside... I like him, it just hurt to see him like that in the Kyouran end more like 
even if they are filled with ''anger'' or are ''incomprehensible''  do you still like them?
 Honestly it hurt and I prefer to take an alternative path because Kyouran  pretty much 
ruined almost all likeability Hayate had, the normal route is where its at if anything. ๐Ÿ˜ฅ
Other than that Hayate's issue felt hilariously self-contained and doesn't fit in with the general
plot well, its more like hey you can romance him and he has his own story/background
 which is fine but... yeah I just where does his issue come in again? but it probably
connects in some way... but on its on its like well that's that!
 Romance ★★★★☆ (Slowburn and he's cute.)
Plot ★★☆☆☆ (Plot was balls, Hayate's story is hilariously self-contained
but god those last two ends hurt so much and almost ruined his character.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆ (Atleast I liked the happiest/kindan ends...)
~

Tamamiya Kai.
CV: Taniyama Kishou.
Now now, don't be rude to our guest of honor.
Kai is the leader of the oni-clan, apparently he harbors some hatred for humans yet in his
heart burns a fierce passion for who he deems friends or uncontrollable hatred towards enemies.
 Since I didn't know who to do next I decided on leader boi...
all things considered in the normalish route he turned out to be a really nice guy!
There's a little copy pasta of the same-ish events of going back to the human village when under
attack from youma just with different dude and overall flow felt same-ish but the content wasn't.
Atleast Kai was really cute when Ayame got some flowers when they helped a kid in the human village.
He's very serious because of his role but at times can be laid back when time allows.
Kai managed to be entertaining...  also Kai is a bad drunk, he gets  so sappy like
show me your smile more... psst let me lie on your lap and then he fell asleep.๐Ÿ˜‚
Hiiragi commented his sleeping face is like that of a kid... lol.
Oh my god I never expected Kai to be so serious yet adorable... in the normal route
I could see how he cared for Amane more quickly than Hayate, then that scene where
Kai and Amane held hands was just so asdfglkjhbvc.

Baka, its not like I want to hold your hand or anything! btw what are you nyanyaing about?!
Eventually Kai was like I can't hold it in me I want to tap dat pure maiden. ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿ’ฆ
The plot was pretty meh and same-ish but honestly Kai's story connects more to the overall
plot than Hayate's did, the romantic interaction Kai&Amane had saved it all.
Kai didn't want to kill Hiiragi who's behind everything since he's a friend but he had no choice...
personally this route made me find out what he is trying to achieve but we won't find out for awhile.
I never expected to like Kai this much so... I guess I am sorta satisfied with the happiest end.
Kindan end: Mostly the same as happiest but our dear antagonist manages to take Amane
with him and make the pure maiden shed some blood in both shrines. /sarcasm.
Some humans saw them on move and said humans got killed by the youma's under his control.
Kai eventually finds them but can't reason with his former friend and the antagonist dies by his hand.
The damage said friend has done is too much,when Yasuomi comes around to get Amane
Kai willingly sends her off to the human village. He promise to see her again some day, which
again felt really realistic, maybe they'll reunite when the time is right even if it may never happen.
 -
Sigh... time to see how much worse it can get!
Kyouran end: when you thought it couldn't get worse it obviously did.
Amane decides to stick around the oni village at Yasuomi's disapproval, lol.
Kai is pretty nice but the locals find it suspicious, the overall plot here wasn't annoying
like Hayate it brought up some valid points, Kai knew what's good/bad and respects her decisions
in facts its the villagers causing a hissy fit blaming the humans for their leaders sudden change.
 Amane ends up getting hurt by youma's when they're on the way back to the human village
and when they get there  Kai gets buttmad at some cranky humans but Amane is like don't
so he stops, like Kai really wants to believe in coexistance and Amane really cares for him.
(Is this really Kyouran?)
 Then Hiiragi comes in to fan the flames and tells Kai he should act more on his feelings
if he really wants her else she'll slip away. So now Kai becomes rather possessive and tells her
not to leave him to go back to her hometown, Amane is like its only for a little while
but Kai makes this sad face... of what if something happened, cue Youma's coming in
after that done he just tells her to get more rest and that it'll be fine.
Then Kai gets mad when she goes on about Yasuomi/humans etc
 I don't want to hear it... You want to part from me right? So eventually Kai  ties her arms with a
ribbon and he's like I want your all, I make you mine and we'll be together forever.
 
Then Yasuomi arrives later that night and it only gets worse from here.
Amane regains her senses as Yasuomi talks to her and he asks her to run away with him
of course Amane fails to see how broken her beloved has become and wants to stay
so Yasuomi takes her by force cuz he can't let her live in a lion's den.
Kai eventually catches up to save his princess, while Yasuomi's all like she doesn't belong to anyone!
Let's just say a real bitch fight unfolded... and it didn't end pretty, Kai takes Amane back
and locks her up in a cage because where else is safer?๐Ÿ˜… Kai keeps hurting Amane
so she doesn't have a reason to leave, all because Kai believes she's his and only his.๐Ÿ˜ข
''Kai is the type of yandere that would injure you to keep you from leaving him.''
Tragic Love end: During the bitch fight Yasuomi tells Amane to run for the hills
and so she does only to run into Hiiragi (I sorta figured this would be the case.)
Hiiragi tells Amane to join him on his nice boat but she's like lol.
She goes back to the human village and everyone basically shuns her for all the shit that happened
and hurt her when she tried to run away. Kai comes around but its too late.๐Ÿ˜ข
Meanwhile I am like wtf is this? getsuei no kusari?
I think Kai's route in general was okay but again Kyouran is just sorta... why?
 well atleast its obvious that Hiiragi was the cause of Kai's change in behavior in kyouran. ( ´_ใ‚`)
Dunno but the overall story in this route felt more consistent and understandable here.
 Romance ★★★★☆(Their interactions were cute, I was convinced in normal route.)
Plot ★★★☆☆ (This felt more connected to the main plot than the previous.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆ (Kai's such a sweetheart but... yeah.)

~
Sagara Yasuomi.
CV: Okitsu Kazuyuki
/Wags tail.
 A human and the protagonist loyal servant, overprotective and happy to be praised by Amane.
Yasuomi is literally like a puppy dog, he can't stand oni's but if Amane tells him to stand down
he will like a good boy. Either way this character seemed really generic to me...
I swear he's really like a dog... if he's sad/disappointed I can just imagine  a uwan sound
coming from him! plus I can see his non-existant dog ears and tail. I want to make it clear I have
nothing against him its just that its normal for them to like each other hench were generic comes
from. After seeing how devoted this watchdog is in Kai's route I was like now's the time...
Yasuomi's route starts with the usual youma attack the human village shit
so Yasuomi and Yuzuru come along with Amane to fend them off.
Later Yasuomi treats Amane's ankle because she misstepped and hurt herself.๐Ÿ˜Œ
Then Yasuomi's father comes around and slapped him because he was disappointed in him
Amane saw that so she comforts him, like aww don't let it get to you!
Either way if you don't want spoilers stop reading the next few cg's are ''different''.
 Well they've been together since childhood, Yasuomi never had anyone else.
Yasuomi devotes himself to Amane since he has that right or so he thinks.
So... Yasuomi is against her returning to the oni village but still accompanies her...
if she wants to that much cuz in the end its not his decision to make, spoken like a true servant.
Early on it focused on Shizukimaru self-sacrifice and them uguuing over the fact
he has rabbies now(pls let me be sarcastic).The plot development made room
for an interesting but sort of expected twist regarding uwan-chan err Yasuomi.
Everyone found out who Hiiragi is a traitor early so that was ''new'' and like I said everything
happened differently from usual, Yasuomi ends up covering for Amane at the shrine
and due to him losing blood or whatever everything around the shrine like the water/sky turns red.
Kai orders everyone to retreat but later Amane goes back cuz Yasuomi...
Somehow he has turned into a demon, well atleast something interesting ended up happened.
My actual reaction during most of the stuff in this route.
 Amane goes back to the human village and brings him along, Amane has to explain everything
to her grandma and Yasuomi's dad, her grandma never has seen sth like this happen before.
They eventually leave and return to the oni village, Yasuomi selfishly kisses her on the way back
because he just can't contain his feelings anymore and has to act on them.
After Yasuomi realizes what it is he has done he starts to wangst like oh no what have I done? oh no
we mustn't! He continues so Amane ends up slapping him because she can't stand him rite now
and honestly I can't either, so I appreciate Amane knocking some sense into him.
  Yasuomi just wants to be at her side as a servant but he doesn't understand himself
 anymore, i'd rather be dead! then Amane ends up lecturing him and forces a kiss on him
something along the lines of, if you won't love yourself I will. wow progress!
 They end up resting in some shack along the way and it gets embarrassing lol.
Things get randy and lots of french kissing, fade to black/out of context...pron scene.
All while the world could prolly end sometime soon, yeah priorities.
They eventually get a letter from Yasuomi's father and they go back to the human village
but he doesn't have reason to talk to his own son so Yasuomi begs him to let him be her servant again.
He's like lol so Amane also bows her head and asks him again but his father is still thick headed.
So Yasuomi is like I won't move till you accept him! which leads his father to call for help.
 Yuzuru's such a wing man he helped the two reunite, Yasuomi regains his confidence
when his mom comes around and goes to talk to his dad's bitchfest one more time.
Yasuomi doesn't mind how much he gets hit... as long as they get to talk and
get the point across that no matter what that he is still his son.
Just then some youma comes crawling from the bushes, Hiiragi also crawles from under a rock.
The two collide very violenty since Hiiragi wants him dead so he can continue his keikaku.
His dad managed to be convinced that Yasuomi is still his son when he sees
who's the last one standing and apologizes for being a dick, all's well that ends well. \o/
As soon as our antagonist was defeated the ritual thing ended and the color of sky returned...
we never really find out his reasoning in any of the routes, I guess its saved for elsewhere.
 The villagers may need time to adjust but the maids know what happened here
and in the epilogue, Amane gave birth to a child after all the fuckery from earlier
its like the perfect happy end... too perfect perhaps! but I like it so that should be enough right?
Kindan end: Well... not much different except that Yasuomi basically gives up.
Yuzuru whispers they could just runaway only to be seen by their father with his raging fist
but these youngsters be so fast they slip through, some youma and Hiiragi appear when they escape.
Yasuomi defeats them and they just skedaddle off into the mountains, in the epilogue Yasuomi does
everything he can to ease ''her pain'' that is the scar on her belly and he expresses his happiness as he
carries Amane down the mountain, when she comes to Yasuomi is nowhere to be seen... ( ´_ใ‚`)
 Honestly this may have been the worst kindan end and i'd prefer his happiest over it
something doesn't sit well with me, its his worst ending imo.
What about infections tho?
Honestly I looked forward to his Kyouran end and I wasn't disappointed.
Kyouran end: Amane can't make up her mind when Yasuomi wangst and would rather be dead
so he starts to cut himself... Amane tries to calm him and he eventually manages to listen.
To keep it short, he just continues being a puppy dog till one day some other oni folks
start talking shit so at first Yasuomi politely tells them to shut it. It doesn't work
so he almost just loses it when they blame her, Amane pulls his leash and they ignore them.
They don't know when to stop and keep blaming Amane... to the point they threaten her
but Yasuomi appears and he doesn't take kindly to them pointing a blade at his master.
Amane keeps him from doing anything rash... and when they're alone he licks her like the dog he is.
 Later Amane searches for Yasuomi only to find him covered in the blood
of those who dared to insult his master, bad dog! knowing what they did they can't stay
so they decide to return to the human village, leaving Kai and the others with that mess.
Some youma creep up on them but Yasuomi deals with them.
Yasuomi brims with confidence infront of his father and doesn't care what his opinion is
He brings Amane to her room and later she hears a maid screams and so Amane
finds out Yasuomi slaughtered everyone who didn't approve/is a threat.
Yasuomi makes this look like it can't be helped and Amane is like why?
Then he's like why you say? its to protect you... you don't need to be afraid of me i'll be with
you forever.
Later he is like you don't look well let me feel your waaaaaarmth and they ichaicha
all while there are a bunch of corpses next door, not like they're capable of watching. ( ´_ใ‚`)
''Yasuomi is the type of yandere that loves you sincerly they would do anything
even kill those that could hurt or insult you, this  automatically makes 
his kyouran route  my favorite even tho his actions are wrong.'' 
Tragic end: Amane waits for Yasuomi and he comes back covered in blood informing her that all
those a threat have passed away, Amane doesn't understand that he just wanted to protect her.
Realizing his mistakes he kisses her hand like a knight thanking her for everything
and tries to seppuku despite Amane's pleads, it doesn't end well, no more hope just punishment.
~
Let's just say it was awkward, they've been together since childhood so there was certain sweetness to it.
I wanted to see him happy after last route so here I am, like its obvious he likes her but its wrong to want.
Normally i'd be like Yasuomi is too good for this world, too pure but considering how it went i'm like lol.
That plot... dat plot, I just wtf?! well atleast it makes sense for something like this
to happen because how else will he fit in with the themes? his dad said it was cuz of his son's
emotions and his father blamed himself for saying shit sometimes, but its sad 
the demon relation will become clear in another's route which is fine.
Yasuomi is a great character, the relationship's sweet but in the end I am not sure 
what I liked out of this route part of me is nice! and the other is meh.
As for Kyouran... Yasuomi's yandereness is admirable and compared to the others so far me likey
but with this route as a whole I am like: Ayy lmao...
 
 Romance ★★☆☆☆(Generic... also wangst but I appreciate Amane's proactiveness.)
Plot ★★☆☆☆ (Ayy, lmao.)
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆ (Overall just OK I guess...)
~

Yuzuru.
CV: Tamura Atsushi.
 The carefree and teasing one... doesn't seem to have attachment to anyone.
one of his sample voices was literally: ''Hey should you really trust me so easily?''
IDK why but somehow he ended up being second to last in order
he often just falls in the background but in Yasuomi's he's such a wingman
and for some reason I figure there's more to him than meets the eye.
The two end up traveling together to the human village after being seperated from the others
during a youma attack, after reuniting Yuzuru is like hmm towards Hiiragi.
Other than that Yasuomi was surprisingly cranky at Yuzuru's presence... ๐Ÿ˜…
 There's a string of fate that ties Yuzuru and Yasuomi together which relates to Yasuomi's brother
Izumi, who was killed by a youma other than that the route's surprisingly
self-contained to Yuzuru's issue and what he's doing.
If you thought Yuzuru's small horns weren't a sign he may indeed be something like a halfbreed
so his reasons for not feeling like he belongs anywhere are understandable.
Due to yuzuru sticking around in the human village he was the victim of  human/oni racism
he doesn't let it bother him but it was the most annoying in this route...
Yuzuru wants revenge against a youma who killed his parents he's really desperate
and has been searching for it all this time because it killed someone precious to him in the past.
Amane tends to Yuzuru's injuries when he failed the first time he found the youma even tho Yuzuru's like leave me.
 After seeing him so desperate Amane decides to be a pillar of strength for him.
Yuzuru can't believe how nice she is and cries in her arms.
Yuzuru,Amane and Yasuomi have a stakeout and Yuzuru manages to kill the youma after much
struggling, he's super grateful for Amane's help and the next day jumps at herthe moment she
appeared. Yuzuru starts to be more friendly and I general enjoyed the interactions with Yasuomi.
Boo~.
Yuzuru takes her out to the mountains, the view is gorgeous, one can see the two grew closer already
he watches over her sleep and gives her a wake up kiss when she wakes up in the afternoon.๐Ÿ’•
Yasuomi barks like a dog complaining they got back so late...๐Ÿ˜…
Yuzuru ends up telling Amane how suspicious Hiiragi is so he ends up talking to Kai about it.
but Kai's like go back the human village or sth...  then Amane decides to butt in, they still go back
but maybe Kai will think about it. On the way back the two seek shelter from the rain
and ichaicha like mad bunnies. ๐Ÿ˜ณ Back in town they try asking Yasuomi for help and he's more
than willing and believes what he's saying but not cuz of Yuzuru... its because Amane.๐Ÿ˜‰
They follow Hiiragi to the shrine for the ritual as it was supposed to be and he uses a bit of her blood.
So yay Hiiragi's up to no good so eventually even Kai and Hayate show up like wtf u doing?
 Yuzuru they tried to throw him off but Hiiragi wastes no time but Yuzuru catches up to him
and the youma he resummoned but Yuzuru's outnumbered so he still needs some back up.
Yuzuru deals with the youma's and Kai with Hiiragi... all's well that ends well. \o/
  Yasuomi gives Amane and Yuzuru some time alone now that its time to part
so Yuzuru confesses he wants to life in the human village at her side the rest of his life.
Sadly the rules prevent this.. but he'll come visit everyday, before he leaves
Yasuomi gives Yuzuru a trinket belonging to his brother Izumi.
Yuzuru finally tells him that Yasuomi's brother was his father and apologizes for keeping quiet.
In the epilogue Yasuomi sees Amane off when she's going to visit Yuzuru.
 Kindan end: Yuzuru catches up with Hiiragi and takes a moment to tell Amane to not interfere
but still get his ass kicked so Kai has to help, he even let's him Yuzuru get the last hit
before he collapses, Amane and Kai take him back to the oni-village.
Kai ends up accepting, Yuzuru which made him happy, in the epilogue he bids farewell
and thanks Amane, h tells her to go back to the humans, Yuzuru's sad but he found a place.
So uhm they basically have a one night stand before they'll seperate๐Ÿ˜ข, psst don't wake up Yasuomi.
 -
Do you know what time it is...? its Kyouran time!

 Kyouran end: That night when they had a stakeout waiting for that one youma, Yuzuru fought
it but he's unable to win because Amane twisted her thumb during the minigame.
This drastically changes the tone of the route, Hiiragi ends up killing it for him but uh
Yuzuru ain't happy and has now marked Hiiragi as his target!
Kai is like this boi's losing it! let's make a special room for him, much like in Hayate's route I guess.
At this point the only one who can reach Yuzuru is Amane and he apologizes and asks not
to hate him, ofcourse she won't then he asks if she'd become his but starts to become really weird
and clingey to the point it's giving me chills, Yuzuru basically wants her for himself
let's be together forever and ever! Amane just goes along because who knows what he'll do.
Amane plays along with himand continues to visit him every day, bringing him food and stuff.
If Yuzuru wasn't a creeper here comes Hiiragi! but Yuzuru him trying to make a move
and crawls from the shadows like oh no you don't, Yuzuru realized parents come in pairs and
there's one more so then Hiiragi's like oh if you'll play with the 2nd youma and kill it i'll play with you.
Then Yuzuru moves close to Amane & whispers sth among the lines do as I say or else. ( ´_ใ‚`)๐Ÿ’ฆ
Yuzuru's doing fine but Hiiragi is a bit too much... so when Hiiragi's about to kill Yuzuru
 Aamane thinks its a great idea to stab Hiiragi in the back with a kitchen knife!
Honestly, I was like wow you go gurl yet at the same time wanting to facepalm
 for possible making it worse also really? dayum must've been a last minute decision.
I should be glad she's willing to kill to protect the one she cares about I guess.
 Yuzuru's like wait what don't do this i'm supposed to be the one to kill you! oi oi oi.
Yuzuru screamed till he passed out, Amane takes him back but when he comes too
he's scared to dead and has reverted to a child-like state asking for his parents.
Somehow Amane manages to calm him down... and he's just like a clingey kid.
Amane plays with him but he wants more... to be a part of each other till their dying breath
and she just goes along with him because she feels guilty for making him this way. 
''Yuzuru is the manipulative type of yandere who are really creepy yet nice, they'd want you all for
themselves forever and ever, they will do anything to make it happen and uh you're better off 
going along with him. Let's just say these type is really hard to see 
what they're thinking, it may be genuine it may be not.''
 Tragic end: After Amane brings him back after killing Hiiragi, she can't seem to reach Yuzuru.
He literally just sits there like a doll, Yasuomi doesn't understand why she keeps doing this.
Amane travels with Yuzuru away from the village they stop by an abandoned house
and continues to care for him then some Youma comes out of nowhere and attacks Amane.
Yuzuru sees her lying before him and he returns to his senses as he holds her in his arms.
-
You know what? I enjoyed Yuzuru's route and after doing all the ends his character makes sense to
me even his yandereness has its place in his personality but his kyouran made me uncomfortable
 and boy his kyouran/tragic end made me a little sad(I didn't baw but just sad), tragic was perhaps
the best outcome for the situation that aside I did enjoy seeing all sides to him so imo this route 
was good and in general more bearable than Yasuomi's ever was.
 Romance ★★★☆☆(You know everything is better than the cringe from before.)
Plot ★★★☆☆ (Consistent, fills in questions I had for both Yuzuru and Yasuomi.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆ (Its good but also self-contained)
~

Hiiragi Tomokage.
CV: Tachibana Shinosuke.
 This bad boy's route is locked till you've done everyone else...
So he's typical my-pace and is hard to read what his motive is but normally he's really nice
 perhaps too nice, honestly his design just screams yandere slasher so I became really wary
considering the shit he does in other routes I was just like oh boy BRING IT.
Ya'll know he's the antagonist behind the incidents but we never really get to hear his side of the story
cuz after he dies he usually says just a little more... I was almost there! all problems
end with him gone(or so it seems) so whatever his real goal is... is gone down the drain@
Honestly Hiiragi is the real victim here and no one understands what it is
he's trying to do, he firmly believes no one would believe him and/or shun him.
Anyway and well considering his tragic end its not far from the truth. >_>
Hiiragi also only has two endings, happiest and tragic but uh his normal route was like
a combination of forbidden and happiest and tragic had a little kyouran, I hope that made sense.
Part of me didn't want to watch Amane romance him but another was like why not?
also hnng tachibana nailed it!!! all I can say here is Hiiragi deserves all the happiness.
 Either way they all go back to the human village when its under attack by youma's
some liitle girl lost her mom and Amane notices how Hiiragi feels bad, so there's hope for him?
Hiiragi is surprisingly nice but tthen some youma shows up so they rush to deal with it...
as does Shizukimaru who is no longer himself but his fate was already sealed a long time ago
when he decided to be mr guinea pig, sadly Amane cared about him and uguu's over it for a bit.
Hiiragi tries to comfort Amane when he realized she may not be okay with what happened.
 Honestly the beginning was pretty boring... he climbed in a tree to save a kid
when his parents begged someone too, I figured he did it because he felt guilty from before.
 Hiiragi's just doing his thing most of the time and she finds some of his books
suspicious, also youma's! youma's everywhere so eventually Amane ends up being taken
and locked up in a cave with a youma... ewww! Amane decides its better to sit still.
Then Hiiragi crawls from the shadows and says good job! my cute little bug
has stayed quietly within my sticky spider web. \/\/( ͡°͡° ͜ส– ͡°͡°)\/\/ also yes i'm up to no good!
pssst this happened because you became too noisy, he just brings her food every now and then...
because a fat cow is better than a skinny one, while Amane has war flashbacks of Keita dying.
Later Amane has enough of being a cavewomen so she sneaks around trying to get out...
doesn't work, dem youma be nasty, so Hiiragi came back just in time cuz he had a bad feeling.
Amane watches as Hiiragi literally controls them but it got a little too much for him
since the one from before injured him, Hiiragi tells Amane not to touch him as he's impure.
Hiiragi has youma blood in him and that's why youma's obeying him.
Some sinny shit happened 300 years ago, yeah well it pretty obvious Hiiragi researched stuff
so he can fix that and get rid of the youma's and he needs the blood of a pure maiden
to do it using some ancient ritual but no one can understand him. Amane jokes
 that he's an old fart so Hiiragi's like pls i'm totally in my twenties *wink*.
 Either way he decides to let her go back when some youma approach, Hiiragi
disappears and Hayate and his troops show up to deal with the youma
then Hiiragi crawls from the bushes acting antagonistic.
Hayate figures out its Hiiragi who betray Kai, behind the village attack and kidnap Amane etc
Hiiragi does not deny... and eventually makes a run for it, Hayate finds Amane and brings her back.
Well uh Youma continue to run amock while we can only go figure what Hiiragi's doing. >_>
One night Amane has enough and ends up looking for him alone... howvery proactive of her!
She goes all the way back to his cavern and when Hiiragi finds her he's like wtf are you doing here?
The two end up taking a walk and Amane has a lucid dream of the past ... where she watch a man
at the shrine perform a ritual using someones blood...Hiiragi explains how
he's trying to set things right, there's stuff  he has to do and he can't talk with anyone
cuz it sinful and there's no reason for Amane to hold responsibility/care for him at all!
I hate to break it to Hiiragi but it wouldn't be an otome game if the heroine and/or us didn't care!
He wants to keep this all a secret from Kai... to purify demonic impurities because he's pretty
much youma himself, they also go gather herbs and at night after he went away for a little
they watch the fireflies and he's grateful for Amane sticking around and believing in him.
 Sadly Kai found out via Hayate... that something was ใŠใ‹ใ—ใ„. So Kai found them
and is furious at his brothers betrayel and that he laid a hand on the miko.(lol what?)
They fight but Hiiragi and Amane manage to run away.
They rest in some shack and Amane watches him sweat buckets in his sleep...
She feels bad so, he's not doing so hot she tries to ease his suffering.
He wakes up and goes outside for fresh air, she followed and Hiiragi ends up
thanking her for before, in an instant Amane makes a move on Hiiragi and they kiss.๐Ÿ’•
Things get more raunchy when they find their way inside but he thinks its no good.
Hiiragi's feelings are so PURE, he doesn't believe the happiness they had in this moment
and ends up swearing even if he disappears to cherish her feelings forever.
See I told you Hiiragi is P - U - R -E.
 The next day they arrive at Higanmon and he apologizes for hurting her to borrow some blood.
On the way to Higanmon they run into Kai... Hiiragi faces him and knocks him out, he prays he'll be
happy when he wakes up. They press on to Higanmon the ritual is in progress and Hiiragi apologizes
that after it is done the world will be free and youma's will be released of their suffering.
Sadly...  this also includes Hiiragi as he delivers this world an eternal calm, he begs Amane to not
stop her part even if it means his untimely death. Amane recalls his words of how he promised to
give her a bright future at risk of his own, Amane too will continue on for his sake only
to realize the person dear to her is right beside albeit not in human form.๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ
 In the epilogue, Amane has returned to the oni-village and everyone is glad to see she's safe but
someone is missing, the others can't exactly believe everything but they're like OK just
looking at that magatama. Yasuomi andAmane prepare to travel back to the human village
and he says something that this may be a good outcome, Aamane continues to live her life
 and one day... in the future Hiiragi called out Amane's name and he said
he wants to see her face... he missed her very much. Hiiragi thanks Amane for continueing
to have hope and that they can be together forever now that she joined him
beyond the gates in the land of the dead .๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ
OH MY GOD THEY CAN'T POSSIBLE BE DOING THIS AGAIN WTF MATATABI NO DON'T
DO THIS! THIS IS NOT OK. IN REAR PHELES THEY HAD A LEGIT GOOD EXCUSE... but
Hiiragi is so PURE and tried to FIX everything by himself. He deserves a happy end WTF, I AM
NOT OK WITH THIS, believe me that my eyes are very teary as I write this.
I am... not okay with this but if they're happy I am.
 Ahem... now let's go get to that tragic end.
Tragic end: This i s what you get for making bad decisions while twisting your thumbs.
Amane ends up making dinner for Hiiragi after she goes back to his hermit hideout, he laments how
kind she isnbefore slowly opening his eyes and giving her the look... that she shouldn't pity him
for doing what he does in his own way. He goes outside for a little... Amane cleans
up while he's out all while pretending to be a proper wife*snort*.
The next day they end up taking a walk... they stop by a place filled with kikyou flowers.
Hiiragi puts one in her hair and he starts telling Amane the truth of why he's hiding everything.
 He always thought his brother Kai's place should be to laugh and make merry
with his friends but one day he had a bad feeling so he ended up checking out koganmon
and found a youma, he was still young and inexperienced so due to a strong wind
he saw the face of the youma... someone he knew a shadow of a parent.
Just praying to let them enter the land of the dead doesn't work, Kai doesn't know this
 but oni's truly are cursed. Hiiragi doesn't want others to know what he knows...
especially Kai, that his friends could become his enemies. Hiiragi just wants to save
the youma's that's all he truly wants, the next day Amane goes out and runs into Kai.
After a long silence... Amane ends up trying to tell the truth to Kai but he doesn't believe her, really
sometimes the truth is better kept hidden. Kai tells her to shut up... and aims his blade
to her and it reaches her but Hiiragi shows up just in time with some youma's and they run.
When they rest in some shack, Amane decides its a good time to run away
when Hiiragi isn't looking... (WHY) to run into youmas who tried to kill her only
for Hiiragi to show up and get rid of them, Amane gets dragged back to the shack.
 Hiiragi tells her to stay put if she knows what's good for her, he doesn't understand why she went out
but just punishes her for thinking running a way with that wound would be a good idea while
getting real raunchy as he licks it, then he realizes he never wants to give her up anytime soon.
 Amane has to stay in the uguu shack of love while he goes out... do his things and returns
just for her cuz at this point he's totally infatuated with her but this doesn't really feel happy.
On a bright and sunny day Hiiragi takes her out, Amane has the opportunity to scream for help but
she doesn't. Hiiragi can't help but wonder why... but when he says he's put his plan in motion
 and Amane's gonna help if she wants to or not. So she tries to make a run for it... only to fail
so at Koganmon she made a drastic movement just when Kai shows up at the ritual
who totally misunderstands the situation and attacks an already injured Hiiragi.
In his dying breath, Hiiragi barely  even recognize where he is...
indicating he wasn't himself only to apologize for not being able to do a thing.
Amane tries to explain it again to Kai but he only gets mad and kills her as well.
The two die reaching out for each other, the end of a tragic love indeed.
No matatabi... once again I am not okay with this.
Obviously we're just supposed to fall for Hiiragi in the beginning... then he starts
to show his true colours and wow just wait a moment, then feel bad for him in everyroute
and trust me it worked a little atleast but I couldn't fully care till I got here. _(:3」∠)_
Hiiragi does everything by himself and does what he thinks is right
even if it means everyone thinks he's a traitor, le misguided villain.๐Ÿ˜ข
Well I can like these characters but it honestly depends on how well they're crafted
and they usually aren't in otome games, but I think they way they handled Hiiragi is okay.
I could never hate him I even cried for him... and he's definitely not the creeper
 I imagined him to be infact he's quite pure, I get that its hard to make Kai understand 
but he never truly tried, he's prepared for his hatred but I just... they do try to
use the themes to the fullest and it this truly is the main route. of the game, this story
 is made around/for Hiiragi but we can never truly have a true happy end.๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ
All things considered this is fine... this game is centered around themes of death
and sometimes there is just no other way without using some crappy deus ex machina.
Atleast there's something bittersweet in his epilogue scene though so its not like it will never be
its just so saddening even though its supposed to be happy. 
Also on another note, Hiiragi dies in all the other routes right? but it never truly solves 
the problem he desperately wants to fix... Yuzuru tragic end made it even more clear
so this route is about Hiiragi and what he tries to do...
Well other than that Hiiragi's route was good... but now I sorta don't care for the others anymore.๐Ÿ˜ญ
My precious cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure.
 Romance ★★★☆☆ (The romance felt really subtle... but its there and its good.)
Plot ★★★★☆(Thanks for clearing things up.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆ (I didn't really enjoy it... but its good so good it hurts.)
~







 SPOILERS? WELL THEY'RE PRETTY 
MUCH SOMEWHERE ABOVE HERE
SO PLEASE DO NOT SCROLL UP IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SHODDY SPOILERS
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.
 
Route enjoyment:
Hiiragi > Yuzuru > Kai > Hayate >Yasuomi.
This is based on their normal-like routes, I never thought that I'd like Kai as much as I did.
Yasuomi's route was just errm okay... his character while likeable was just so generic.
As for the twist it was more or less oh yeah considering the themes it makes sense
but honestly Yuzuru's was much much better in explaining some stuff which Yasuomi hinted
and not to mention Yuzuru's story was bitter-sweet and miles better after that cringe that's Yasuomi.
Well Hayate is such a sweet heart but I am willing to one eye the shit in kyouran
and so I decided kyouran doesn't count in terms of enjoyment because
its basically yandere A, B, C, D... and almost destroys what I liked about them.
for Hayate it hurt me to see him become so incomprehensible.๐Ÿ˜ญ
Overall Hiiragi's route was the best... but its also sad how its the only one that made sense
or has them use the setting to its full potential, its also the only route I was wowed by
even if the best ending isn't truly happy there's happiness.

Incase you really want me to rank the kyouran ends:
Yasuomi > Yuzuru > Kai / Hayate.
 I can only stand yanderes that do not hurt the protagonist... and there's a certain
sweetness to those willing to kill to protect you even if wrong which is why
Yasuomi's kyouran route is the best by far, oh look there's something good that came
out of Yasuomi's route! anyway enough about that.

Fav character:
Hiiragi > Kai > Hayate > Yuzuru > Yasuomi.
I don't got anything against anyone so its almost not necessary but I think Kai and Hiiragi
are my surprising favorite... Kai's tsun is cute ๐Ÿ˜‚ sadly Hiiragi's the only character
I feel strongly attached to because he's a precious angel who did nothing wrong
the rest just follow after that.

Final Thoughts
 Its... OK the settings/story in most route doesn't really stand out in what it tried to do.
Honestly in most route I found the story hilarious...and only truly made sense in the locked route.
The art is amazing, decent length and pacing, the seiyuus did a good job, music was ok
but in each route the main plot is mostly the same, it does have their own focus
depending on character but it did have a similair flow to it so it just gets predictable at times.
This level of copy pasta is more of the normal kind... so it gets a pass but I don't think there was
much in each route that surprised me, at most I was like oh except for the last one.
Also why are there no female oni's, there's Amane's granny but she's human plus some kids.
No wonder all the dudes are horny and want to tap dat kawaii sheltered miko
when she as much gets along and/or interested with them. ๐Ÿ˜‚
Minigame was unnecessary but after one play you can fail/succeed with press of one button
after one route and even skipping it gets you the trophy, well after the trainwreck thats
rear pheles's escape minigame I  honestly deserve this because somehow I did platinum that crap.
Hmm happiest end for some felt lacklustre but okay... Kyouran/tragic is literally ใ‚„ใฃใฑใ‚Šใ‚„ใ‚ใ‚.
Like the guy changes, if you like to live dangerously the kyouran route may appeal to you.
For me it just hurt to see certain characters like that after I got their more normal ends
maybe this is intended but I could like Kyouran ends except Yasuomi's but in the end happiest is best.
Amane was ok as a heroine but I realize I start to dislike the pure/sheltered miko types...
honestly she was annoying in Kyouran route because she failed to see how broken her
loved one had become and basically develops stockholm syndrome trying to help/understand him.
I guess its good I can care about characters emotionally, even if I hate how the plot
makes me despise them. Honestly I didn't exactly baw like a child but it still hurt so much, so
there was sadness. This otome game isn't for everyone but its no kusoge
I think its on a fine line of in between to the point its just okay in what it tries.
Also you will never find out everything just by doing one route... certain routes hint at others.
I think the best playorder is Hayate > Kai > Yasuomi > Yuzuru > Hiiragi.
Hayate's felt like least relevant, Kai is more well rounded and Yasuomi hints stuff about Yuzuru
you ain't got choice but to do Hiiragi last because spoilers.
Matatabi has this thing... to show what if this and that happened and give it a dark spin
which makes a likeable character show a side that makes you think maybe he always
was capable of that and if you make a mistake somewhere could turn out a whole lot different.
Atleast they make it possible to have a good outcome but some become too OOC.
Of course I can't gaurantee you'll feel the same way but imo this otomege is just okay/so-so
feels like I could've done without and there's not much that stood out to me except the truth route.

Characters ★★★★☆ (Everyone had their own story to tell...)
Art  ★★★★★
Scenario/plot. ★★☆☆☆(Actual plot only truly makes sense in the locked route.)
Music★★★★☆ (Fits the scenarios.)
System  ★★★☆☆(Except the game crashing once trying to save I had no issues,.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
''I'll say it again but I can't say this otome game was like wow amazing 
or man this sucked...  its just in between.''

What's next? well not much... I intent to save himehibi for later so i'll
prolly finish S.Y.K my backburner game(2route left) or start reviceD.
There's a lot of FD in september-october so actual new/original games? ahaha no.

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