Otome Notes- Kissed By The Baddest Bidder: An Ota Kisaki Introspective, Part 1
Kissed By The Baddest Bidder is an otome game originally published on mobile by Voltage Inc, currently available in a condensed form on the Nintendo Switch, and in its entirety on the mobile app Love365.
The premise of the game is that you(the MC) are a maid working for the Ichinomiya Group's Tres Spades Hotel and Casino, a fancy hotel in Japan, the first ever to feature a casino.
Through a series of unfortunate events, you break something irreplaceable and find out the hard way that the popular celebrity event held monthly at your hotel is actually a cover for an underground black market auction.
When you're put up for auction without your consent, the CEO (and your boss)Eisuke, and his fellow VIP buddies quickly determine that the best course of action is to bid on you themselves, to cover their own asses and make sure you don't give away their secrets.
Along with Eisuke Ichinomiya, there are also 4 other men to choose from originally: Soryu Oh, a Hong Kong mobster, Mitsunari Baba, a self proclaimed thief, Mamoru Kishi, a detective, and finally, Ota Kisaki, the "Angelic Artist".
Ota is a 24 year old artistic prodigy who is known for his angelic looks and personality. When you meet him briefly before the auction, he strikes you as a really nice guy, so you decide to choose him as seemingly the safest option.
Yikes. Ota's 'reason' for buying you is that you remind him of his former dog, Koro. He insists on treating you like a pet, at least insofar as he addresses you as 'Koro', you stay in his room, you 'obey your master'(think 'come when you're called, sit, stay, shake' type things), and you give him love and affection, which he will then return to you, as any good 'owner' would.
Originally when I first played the game, I saw this as a creepy pet fetish and it weirded me out a lot. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is quite weird, no matter how you slice it.
I also want to note for the record, I myself do NOT have any kind of fetish nor do I indulge in pet play myself, so when I refer to this aspect of his character, I only have the limited information that I've searched out on the internet, and no personal knowledge or experience of my own to offer.
Like I mentioned above, this aspect of his character really put me off at first, but upon replaying it, and playing many other Voltage titles, I've realized more and more that I just can't bring myself to dislike Ota, even though he can be creepy and quite toxic.
So today I sat down and played the whole Season 1 Main Story in one sitting, and this is the culmination of what I've noticed about Ota as a character.
From the very beginning, I found this statement of Ota's very telling. This is what he loved about Koro and this is what he wants from 'someone', but since he sees Koro in you, it's you he intends to get it from.
When you first meet Ota, he's all smiles and kindness, but soon after meeting him, you discover he has a dark, nasty side to him.
He has a very high wall between himself and most others and doesn't hesitate to speak his mind regardless of how it comes across around people he trusts or knows well.
With you, though, Ota is different most of the time. Because to him, you're not (MC), you're 'Koro'. As long as you follow his orders, he is nothing but sweet to you.
He definitely doesn't care what you think about it though.
I looked into the idea of his fetish, which appears to be something known as 'pet play', where a couple role plays being a puppy or their 'handler' (aka owner), from a submissive/dominant perspective.
It seems by this definition to be something much more sexual than the situation that Ota puts the MC into, but it was the closest fit I could find that made sense to the story, so it's what I rolled with for the purpose of this article.
According to the information I've been able to find on this type of 'play', consent is EXTREMELY important between the sub and dom, and if there is no consent, it's abuse.
That's where the concept of Ota having a fetish in the truest sense of the word didn't sit right with me, because while there is no consent between Ota and MC here, I'd also argue that within the confines of the situation, there is also no abuse.
At the same time, I never sense anything sexual about the whole 'pet/owner' thing between the MC and Ota. When things get spicy between them, that is when he lets down his guard and acknowledges her as the human (and woman) she is.
There is no doubt he absolutely does treat her like a dog. That part does grate on a person's nerves quite a bit. I mean, obviously she doesn't want to be treated like a dog, and it's extremely rude of him to do so.
I just can't help but notice how sweet he is to her when he's in 'owner' mode, though.
Here he shows real concern for her when she's being bullied by Erika into doing all this mending by herself, and when she bursts into tears, he comforts her and then steps in to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The next couple of screenshots I will post are examples of the 'pet-like' behaviors he wants to see from her. Relatively harmless stuff, and I absolutely believe there's a deeper reason for it then even he realizes at this point.
Slowly but surely, he doesn't relinquish control over her, but he does start to dote on her much more, going out of his way to do things for her and make sure that she's having fun and enjoying herself.
When things get heavy and a rival of Ota's tries to interfere with his career, both the MC and Ota let their guards down, and MC doubles down on her 'pet' role, telling Ota that a pet's role is to 'comfort their master, right?'
This is where things get dicey. I keep coming back to this part of the story again and again, because things just don't fit into place in a way that I'm satisfied with.
I didn't think anything of it originally, but on an episode of a podcast I watched specifically ABOUT Kissed By The Baddest Bidder, they mentioned that the ensuing sexual encounter between MC and Ota was not consensual.
I had to go back and watch the episode again, where I absolutely saw where the ladies were coming from. But, it still didn't feel right. So I played through it again, and again. There are 3 crucial statements that she makes here that to me, illuminate her state of mind.
When he makes it clear that it's headed in a sexual direction, MC panics, and this is what she thinks.
The next thought that she forms insinuates that she's on board, or at least, not actively objecting anymore.
I don't exactly recall what happens next between them, but then she says this:
When I read that, I thought to myself that maybe I was wrong, because even though she was nervous at first, at this point both her body and her mind seem to be into it. At least when I hear the phrase 'fills my heart with warmth' I think of deep affection, if not love.
So after reading that, I didn't feel nearly as grossed out when she strokes his head and thinks about how she might be in love with him. It definitely started out uncomfortable for her, but I think in the end it was a consensual meeting of bodies, if nothing else.
I don't think that their intentions necessarily aligned here, which might be where it feels more icky that it might otherwise.
All Ota seems to have realized at this point is that he 'needs' her and that she makes him feel good.
Once they return to the hotel, however, Ota's treatment of the MC changes. He's much more possessive of her, he's less patronizing, and he shows more interest in her as a person than he seemed to prior.
Yes, he still refers to her as Koro and leans on the comfort of being her 'owner', but there are many moments where the walls come down and Ota speaks to her as an equal and a woman without even realizing it, like when he goes out for karaoke with her, or when he tells her he'll draw her one day.
In his POV of Season 1, he thinks some telling things in those moments. Like when they're at karaoke:
The owner thing only comes into play at that point when she oversteps his internal boundaries and pushes his comfort zone, like when she worries out loud about the situation with Rin and that douchey reporter.
He pushes her away, and it hurts her, but when he's away from her, he realizes that not only does he miss her, but he thinks of her as more than a pet.
When she runs away to prevent the auctions from being exposed and making things harder on Ota, he finally acknowledges her as human to him.
The thing about Ota is, he has a tendency to tell the truth and then cover it up with an arrogant, cocky tangent, so you don't necessary catch it.
It's such a heartfelt, loving moment. But then...
I believe Ota has a psychological condition known as Reactive Attachment Disorder.
Reactive Attachment Disorder is, in a nutshell, a condition which inhibits a person's ability to form healthy connections/relationships with people.
This is a list of symptoms attributed to the condition:
Withdrawal from connections
Inability to develop and maintain significant relationships, romantic or otherwise
Inability to show affection
Resistance to giving and receiving love despite craving it
Inability to fully grasp emotions
Feelings of loneliness and emptiness
Lack of a sense of belonging
I feel like you see many of these behaviors out of Ota during this storyline, and not so much of the more toxic, overtly sexual aspects of the implied pet fetish. (Not that the fetish itself is toxic, but due to the blatant disregard for consent, Ota's version would definitely be)
So to me, Ota's whole 'Koro' thing simply comes from a place of wanting connection and feeling like the only place he ever got that and ever will get it, is from a loving pet.
When you think of it that way, it's really sad, honestly.
And just like any person/partner struggling with childhood trauma, Ota backslides into toxic behavior throughout the rest of his story. He also definitely keeps that mask firmly on his face for the rest of the world.
As you continue on into more of Ota's story, you learn more about his background, why he struggles to trust, and his distant familial relationships growing up.
Perhaps it's easier for me to come to this conclusion having more of that background than some people who've played Ota's Season 1 story and then put it down due to the ick factor. That's more than fair.
That's why I decided to break this up into parts, and I'm going to play through the rest of the Switch content and add more to this as I go.
Kissed By The Baddest Bidder actually has some really interesting storylines and well fleshed out characters, but unfortunately, in some cases you have to dig a bit deeper to get the full nuance of it all.
I 100% intend to purchase the rest of his content via the DLC on the Switch and then the other stories on Love365 as well, so I can get the full picture.
I just really felt the urge to put pen to paper as it were and give Ota the benefit of the doubt a little, cause I just think this guy needs a big hug.
Please comment either here or on my Twitter @DanganWhatNow and let me know what you think, I'm interested to hear other people's thoughts and opinions also!
