[Otome game] Suuran Digit - Meguru live playthrough
I played Meguru's route from Suuran Digit and fell head over heels for him, so here I am to shout out my love. When I was still on twt, I used to make livetwt threads, but since I'm not there anymore and loved Meguru so much, I wanted to gather my first live playthrough reactions from disc0rd in a long post here.
As usual, lots of spoilers (and simping) ahead for Meguru's route.
There's also a megane in this game but somehow I only have eyes for Meguru. Also, I like that to reach his route, you have to choose the suuken club (Meguru looks down upon) and not the student council (Meguru is part of). Maybe it means Hiroka will get his attention because she is different and willingly chooses to be part of the "lower caste" he feels so superior to.
It's been a while since I felt so excited about a route. Maybe it's just the art idk but Meguru is just (╯✧▽✧)╯Dude purifying (ie punishing) students daily according to what benefits him (and the only dude he is loyal to) whether the students are guilty or not |_・)
On another note, Morita is doing such a great job at voicing him. He really breathes life into his assholeness. I don't know how to explain it but his voice acting is so perfect and incredible. The intonation, the rhythm, the sudden tone changes, everything. His voice is part of his character, I can't imagine anyone else voicing him now.
I'm smiling and laughing so dumbly whenever Meguru appears on screen. Please give him a good background, please give him a good background. And good scenes with Hiroka pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.
Can I finally fall for a character after more than a year of playing mid stuff o(TヘTo) I guess I haven't been playing that much but still.
He is... holding her down with a cutter in his right hand........ Otomate are you alright???? This is the middle of the route. And like, they're supposed to fall for each other at the end. This isn't your usual way of doing this?? Is this Rejet in hiding or what.
While I was reading a review, I discovered there was a scene involving a Meguru CG at the beginning of Mitsu's route so of course, I had to interrupt my Meguru playthrough to read it and... when you have a dude call you over the student council room to help him with his work just for him to tell you to put the books on the bookshelf away, and when you argue that the bookshelf is pretty neat, he throws all the books on the floor so that it's messy and you can put them away gkdkdjfhfvfvrk That dude has a problem.
At this point, the being mean just to be mean honestly gives me Diabolik Lovers vibe.
Also the ぜ particle at the end of a sentence is just... it has a very special charm to me.
I literally burst out laughing. Really?? fsdlfskfjdks This is so great, omg. Whoever thought about doing this is a genius.
On that note, I didn't talk about it much but the game has been so funny so far. I don't often laugh with games but Meguru's route made me burst out laughing a lot.
I finished Meguru's good end. I think this is the most abrupt ending I ever played.
Thank God there are short stories because I sure hope I get some kind of epilogue in there. The last chapter was: shoving lots of action at the end for questionable reasons, they confessed, they kissed
THE END
I was so dumbfounded after the credits finished rolling. Like really? Not even a post credit scene?
Overall, the last chapter was decent, but it sure was weak compared to the previous ones. (Could still be saved if the after story ss is good.) Because the last scene of the route was literally: Hiroka going to see Meguru to the hospital after the big battle -> confession -> calling by first name -> kiss -> credits rolling
It felt like "wait they need to confess the feelings they barely realized to each other before the credits".
Well... the bad end was kinda dissappointing. The CG was beautiful and I really liked how we heard Ousuke, his grandpa and Hiroka's voices (or rather read Hiroka's line rather than heard). That part felt really emotional, especially with the grandpa line, but that was it.
Long story short story, I had to forceskip TWO whole routes + a few chapters of yet another 2 routes just to unlock all of Meguru's short stories (which were much needed after that goddamn abrupt ending). It frustrated me to no end :skull: That isn't fancy nor cool nor innovating nor any positive words you could think about, it's just frustrating and dumb. Was it too much to ask to read Meguru's after story after playing his route really ٩(╬ʘ益ʘ╬)۶ (╬￣皿￣)=○ (╯°益°)╯彡┻━┻
Meguru's short stories were too short T_T The after story brought some conclusion to the route, so it was nice, but still. I need more Meguru content and more Meguru and Hiroka content now that they are a couple. I love Meguru so much. It's been a while since I fell so far for an otome character T_T
I played the short story with Meguru and Ousuke's backstory and I loved it so much. It was one of the best things about Meguru hands down. I screenshotted everything. It showed so many things about Meguru's character. I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him.
I stumbled upon this manga because I've been very (and when I say very, it's VERY) into Ono Yuuki's voice for the past few months and he happened to voice Karino from Caste Heaven, so I just had to listen to the cd. Even reading all the reviews talking about how much abuse there was couldn't stop me from listening to it. As usual, these are my ramblings about the series and they contain spoilers.
I harbor very strange feelings towards Caste Heaven because while I wouldn't say I enjoyed even half of it (mainly because of all the gratuitious abuse going on), I couldn’t stop reading it. It was a really weird feeling seeing all that fucked up abuse happening for barely any reason and feel disgusted by it, but somehow still wanting to keep reading. Also, Karino is one of the hottest characters I’ve ever seen. That helped a lot. Please give me more smug megane dark haired bastard. Like
EXCUSE ME SIR PLEASE CAN I SEE MORE OF YOUR SMUG LOOKS *lies down* And I know I’m very much alone in that boat, but having that girl he didn’t even care about permanently stuck to his arm was so hot to me.
More seriously though, I know he was an abusive asshole throughout almost the whole manga, but I decided to conveniently forget most of it because why was abuse even happening at some point (￣ ￣|||)? What was that 3P….. 4P…...? — at this point, I don’t even know — that happened in volume 2? And that random, pointless r*pe in volume 7….... Karino, dude, please get a hold of yourself.
Fortunately, there were things I really enjoyed in the manga that kept me going and counterbalanced the abuse. I liked most of the dynamic between Azusa and Karino — I just wish we’d gotten more scenes (without abuse (￣_￣)) between them. I especially liked the scene where Karino tells Azusa’s mother that Azusa shouldn’t be pitied. The fact he was the first person ever to actually grant Azusa’s wish not to be pitied for the life he has was kind of wholesome? I also liked volume 5 overall.
My favorite chapter is hands down the one with Karino’s backstory, though. It was really well written. I love empty, emotionless characters who just go with the flow so much. And do I talk about that recurring dream with the lake? Because it was such a great metaphorical dream I'm still thinking about it every day.
Unfortunately, everything came crashing down during the festival with that goddamn dumb misunderstanding with Eno (≖､≖╬). I think I hated that misunderstanding more than the gratuitous abuse, because it was actually part of the story and I couldn’t forget it as conveniently. Azusa and Karino’s relationship was already fragile and damaged enough without laying it on so thick. Still, I loved how Karino got beat up at the end — even if the ending itself felt rushed as hell.
Actually, the ending felt so rushed I just found myself wanting more of Karino and Azusa’s interactions as a couple. Ideas even started to overflow and I ended up writing a fanfic for them. That was really surprising. At the time, I was in a big slump/writing block, so it felt pretty weird when lines/dialogue suddenly started flowing. I couldn’t write a single line for my novel, yet ideas kept hitting me one after another for Karino and Azusa. I simply wanted more of the specific parts I loved about them — but most of all, I wanted more of the empty doll Karino was. The empty shell he filled with whatever others expected from him.
All in all, I feel very grateful that Caste Heaven exists, because it allowed me to write a fanfiction I’m now very fond of and explore a dynamic I’d never written before.
I binge-read the three volumes of this series in two days and it blew me away, so now I have to ramble about it. As usual, my ramblings aren't a structured review and contain spoilers.
The first thing that caught my eye was the very beautiful man on the third volume’s cover, so I read the summary of the story and... ▓▒░(°◡°)░▒▓ At first, I thought it was too dark for me.
Indeed, Happy of the End is probably the darkest series I’ve read so far. (That comes from someone who doesn’t usually read super dark stuff, so maybe my words don’t carry that much weight. But it’s definitely a rough read.) Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I couldn’t stop reading, eyes wide, half horrified, half in shock, at whatever the hell was happening. What made it even rougher is that the dark stuff wasn’t there just because “it’s yaoi so let’s put fucked-up shit” — and the relationship isn’t really abusive in itself. It does start badly, and there is one scene that may be a bit uncomfortable to read, but I actually even liked that scene ☆⌒ﾐ((x_x)
Overall, everything felt super raw, and some scenes hit me like very few ever have. Everything is shown in such a simple — almost genuine — way. This is my favorite type of storytelling.
Like, the boat scene. PLEASE, THE BOAT SCENE. I didn’t see that “I want to die” coming at all, but it fit the mood so strangely well. I love it with all my soul, I could feel all of Haoren’s pain in my bones. God I want him to be happy.
Another scene that struck me pretty badly was when Chihiro comes back (after he and Haoren fought in volume 2) and Haoren says, with that broken smile and crazed eyes, that he knew he’d come back, that he had nowhere else to go —and Chihiro just sees how hurt and scared Haoren is and hugs him. *bangs head against walls then lies dead* This is probably my favorite scene in the whole manga.
Almost nothing felt overexaggerated (except maybe the part where Chihiro meets his brother on the very first day of his new job and immediately fights him — some flashbacks would’ve helped me feel more emotion, but that’s nitpicking). But well, there are the last chapters... I do think the issue there was more with the tone feeling off, but more about this later.
Now, let’s rather talk about the highlight of the series: Haoren. The way he's written is the most accurate depiction of trauma I’ve ever read. How he freezes when things are too much for him to handle (when his supposed mother died, when Chihiro told him he was leaving). How he refuses to be touched when he’s unstable. How he hears voices. How he snaps in a seemingly out-of-the-blue scene. How he cries at the temple for no apparent reason. And that scene when Haoren wakes up in the middle of the night so terrified of losing Chihiro that he hurriedly wakes him — only to realize what he’s done and pretend he was just sleepy, even though it makes no sense. The more you read, the more you see how bad his state really is, how broken he is. Honestly, one of the best depictions of a traumatized character I know.
The art is super pretty, and I loved how the mangaka drew the characters’ expressions. The manga conveys more through facial expressions (and sometimes the lack of them) than words, and I think that’s amazing. What struck me most is how Haoren can go from ruthless, cold, empty expressions to sincere, genuine, embarrassed, happy looks. *uncontrollable sobbing*
Believe me this is the same character.
Also, have I mentioned how much I love Haoren’s eyes? Because I sure do. Those full black eyes are so special. They’re what appealed to me most in his design. They make him look inhuman — almost ghostly. Aaaaaah I love unfeeling, empty eyes so much, but I love them even more when sometimes, a little light shines in them, and I can trace all the subtle changes in his gaze throughout the whole manga.
The mangaka really nailed the atmosphere too: anguish, instability, desperation… And despite everything, there’s still fluff here and there that doesn’t feel out of place.
Now, I do have one complaint about the manga, and that’s the last three chapters. To be completely honest, they feel quite cliché. If that’s the price to get a happy end, well, I’ll gladly take them (because I prefer a cliché development + happy end over a sad end), but I still think Haoren’s state of mind changed too quickly. Where did the trauma go? The guilt and fear that even caused auditory hallucinations? Because he sure doesn’t look that traumatized after he decides to go to prison. And I haven't even talked about the fact he tried to kill someone for the very first time. Even if it was his abuser, even if he doesn’t regret it, it surely affects him. But most of all, Haoren, who was super possessive and terrified of being abandoned, told Chihiro to forget him? How??? The hell??? That train scene is the only scene of the manga I dislike, but I really dislike it. What is it with Japanese romance and people separating as a train goes away? Can you get more cliché than that? And the tone felt so off compared to the rest of the manga. Up until then, everything was raw, simple, genuine. But here, it just felt like a contrived climax. It didn’t move me — it annoyed me.
That said, I did like that Haoren decided to turn himself in. It was the best thing to do, and it showed character development (even though I still think it came way too fast). But I would’ve much preferred if Chihiro visited him in prison and they got back together when he got out, and please, just get rid of that train scene. Maybe that would’ve been anticlimactic, but I would’ve appreciated it far more.
Anyway, I’m still happy they got back together in the end and wish them all the happiness in the world. I actually wanted to see them happy so much that I bought the digital version of both doujinshi the author drew. They were really nice to read, especially the short story where Chihiro asks Haoren to switch (but they don’t actually switch). Haoren flat-out telling Chihiro it doesn’t feel good is such a huge step up from the Haoren who once suggested, with a big smile, that Chihiro could try fucking him if he wanted. o(TヘTo) Haoren’s sexuality and relationship with sex is something I honestly wish the manga explored more deeply.
As for Maya, well... (ﾒ￣▽￣)︻┳═一
He’s a well-written character and genuinely scared me. Because — what do you mean he locked up people in suitcases? I’m still wondering if the author exaggerated or if that’s actually possible. How do you even fit in a suitcase? How do you breathe? Are there really people who do that — actually, I don’t think I want to know the answer.
On another note, I learned that two drama CDs were made from the story, with none other than TACHIBANA SHINNOSUKE as Haoren. Do you want me dead or what? He’s such a perfect choice. I want to hear all the scenes voiced by him — the broken ヒヒヒ laugh, the fear, the desperation, the pleasure, everything. So I will religiously buy them and expand my BLCD collection (*_ _)人
TL;DR: If you’re fine with the TWs (underage prostitution, prostitution in general, sexual abuse, child abuse, torture, suicide) and you like dark stories, read Happy of the End.
Somehow, I ended up re-watching this and became even more fond of it than the first time I saw it, so now, I need to ramble about it. My ramblings include anime, movie and manga spoilers.
If I had to say why I am so fond of this series, I actually wouldn't really know what to say. Deep down, I think it's just some dumb romantic comedy. A lot of its tropes are cliche and sometimes, the characters are almost stereotypes of themselves, but at the same time, it's just so funny and has that little thing to it that makes it super endearing, and I just love Takato (and Junta minus the forceful stuff). I do like some dark and deep stories, but sometimes, I just want a light and fun story, and dakaichi is a really good light cliche romantic comedy that doesn't take itself seriously.
Let's go back to Junta now. If it wasn't for his forcefulness being too much part of his character, he'd be the kind of character that'd stand among my favs (the prequel where he meets Takato is hands down the best part of the series, and I sure would've liked to see what the manga would've been like if it had started with this instead of that awful first chapter). Also I'm still thinking about that passage in the movie where he compares himself to a train diorama. It was just so good. There was like 10 lines, but they managed to hit my heart right where they should. Also, the whole analogy with the diorama, the glass, how Junta wasn't outside the glass, but inside. *chef's kiss* I love empty depressed unfeeling characters, that's all. And the whole haraguro personality never misses for me. Like please, when he pretended to be with Yurie just to crush that gossip journal was just (*♡∀♡) Takato probably would've minded, but I wouldn't have minded if Junta was just straight deceiving Yurie into being with him (to prevent the photo of him and Takato from being published) and kissed/banged her to seduce her. I would actually be very into that. In the end, I love Junta but his forcefulness is too much of a turn off for me, so I still love Takato more. He is so adorable and cool and (♡ε♡)
About the manga, now. This time, I finally dived into it and... I'm not going to talk about the first horrific chapter because that was the most awful start this could get. (I can accept some level of dub-con — I am even willing to accept that scene in the Spain arc when Takato tries to kick Junta — but non-con is too much for me.) Seriously Junta, couldn't you just woo Takato like a normal human being?? ٩(ఠ益ఠ)۶ But whatever, I'm just going to conveniently forget about this and convince myself the sole reason this dumpsterfire happened is because Dakaichi was initially planned as a oneshot, so they didn't have the time to develop anything and went straight to the D instead. At least, the anime did better on that part.
...Okay, I ended up talking a bit about it, so while I'm at it, I'm also going to talk about how they tried to address it in the 9th volume, because that was weird x) I don't know what was more awkward. The fact they seemed to suddenly remember it happened or the fact they thought just apologizing about it was enough. I know this manga isn't meant to be taken seriously, it's just a love comedy with kinky stuff. I still liked that scene in volume 9 overall, and I DID like the idea of re-doing their first time, so whatever, but it was just funny to think about why they suddenly tried to address the chapter 1 stuff in the 9th volume (⌒_⌒;)
About the H scenes now, I really enjoy some of them, but some others are... random at best and uncomfortable for me at worst. My favorite one is probably the one in the Spain arc when they are just panting in a random back alley (remember the Takato who didn't want to do it outside in Hawai? Looks like he is nowhere to be seen hehehe) because at this instant, they don't need words to communicate and just want to feel each other. It was very well drawn.
I haven't talked about the art yet, but this manga has to have one of my favorite arts ever. Takato and Junta are hot as hell, the drawings are beautiful, and I am no art expert, but I really love the panels layout, especially in the later volumes.
After hesitating a lot, I ended up ordering the first six volumes in Japanese. I didn't really like volumes 7 and 8. I did like the idea of Junta restraining himself with Takato to the point of annoying Takato himself (even if again, that was completely random), but all the plot that ended up involving the yakuza (???) was a bit too much for me. We are in a dumb romantic comedy, why are you bringing yakuza into the mix. What the heck. Also that whole scene with the aphrodisiac was so ridiculous I couldn't stop laughing. Still thinking about the lines
"Haaaa, compared to restraining myself in front of that person, this is nothing."
"What? It didn't work on you?" *insert shocked anime face*
Did we just get sent into some kind of p*rn shonen?
Anyway, I still bought the Japanese version of the 9th volume because I wanted to have their cute little date at the amusement park (❤ω❤) and the scene in the bathroom.
I'm actually quite sad that no chapter came out for almost a year. I hope it doesn't mean the series is over. I really wanted to see the 同棲 arc and the Midday Star second movie (T_T)
On another hand, I also bought a used set of drama cds featuring the manga volumes (because how come, Takahashi Hiroki and Ono Yuuki together in a drama cd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ☆:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:☆) I've been loving Takahashi's voice ever since I played Kobashi's route in Sweet Clown, and Dakaichi made me fall in love with Ono Yuuki's voice as well, so I couldn't resist (/ω＼) On that note, the voice acting of the anime is top-notch. They both did such a great job at portraying the characters. They were perfect for them.
NB: I love Takato's character song. It's been a while since I didn't enjoy a character song for being a character song. The lyrics are so funny. It's so him. Also, props to Takahashi for managing to sing it exactly as I think Takato would have.
Edit 09/2025: I AM SO HAPPY A NEW DAKAICHI CHAPTER GOT PUBLISHED IN THE BExBOY MAGAZINE!!!! Just as I got back into the series, the serialization starts again, it's too good to be true ･ﾟ･(｡>ω<｡)･ﾟ･ I couldn't find a lot of info about it, but it looks like it was just a short story that wasn't really the continuation of the 2 first chapters of the 同棲 arc, but I'm still happy a new chapter came out! Makes me hope the 10th Dakaichi volume would be for 2026 ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧
I'm at the end of writing my parenting fanfic, and I had to resign myself to remove a paragraph that I was especially fond of. Although I really loved it, it just wasn't the subject of the fic (even if I genuinely headcanon that Dazai would never want to have a biological child for this very reason), and I couldn't find a way to insert it into what the scene ended up talking about. I still don't want this paragraph to disappear tho, so I'll put it here.
"Dazai shouldn't take the decision to adopt a child lightly. He knew that. Especially he, who had always resented his parents for bringing him into the world. But here, the child would be adopted. He wouldn't inherit anything from him. For if there was one thing Dazai couldn’t bear, it would be passing down his cursed blood — giving life to another shell of a human being."
I may have bought a bunch of Dazai and Atsushi merch on a whim, and it might have arrived today, so here it is!
Some close up on the badges.
I'm especially happy with the little dazatsu keychain. I think it's a pretty rare item — at least I haven't seen it on any jp sites for quite a while — and I did pay too much for what it is but (￣ ￣|||) I'm so happy about it.
I also really love how Dazai looks on the ADA badge — also paid too much for it but I don't regret it, he looks so good (❤ω❤) And not to mention the really really really tiny Dazai badge. It's a shame it's so tiny because he looks so peaceful on it, such a rare expression for him... His eyes are so clear too ( ╥ω╥ )
On another note, the two stands are bigger than I imagined, which is pretty nice. I'm usually picky with stands, but these ones looked too good to pass on, especially since they were matched Dazai and Atsushi. The plush also ended up better than I imagined. I feel very lucky to have found it (♡‿♡) (It's the first time I ever bought an anime plush, I have fallen even deeper)
So yeah, just me doing my usual stuff, buying bsd merch because this
this
and this
wasn't enough. CLEARLY, I needed more (；^＿^)ッ☆( ゜o゜)
This isn't really a review, but more of a jumble of my impressions and thoughts over what I played of OverRequiemZ. This will be full of spoilers, so don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled about the game.
As usual, I'm not a completionist, so I didn't bother playing all the routes (especially since the ones I played were mostly pretty mid). Thus, I'll only talk about (and judge (¬ ¬ ) ) what I played.
Kaize Fact ✅ Dark ✅
Claude Fact ❌ Dark ❌
Molly Fact ❌ Dark ✅
Noil Fact ❌ Dark ± ✅
Dorothy Fact ❌ Dark ❌
First Kaize... Where do I even start lol. I won't say I'm disappointed since I wasn't really expecting anything, but... His route still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
Imo he was the most good-looking member of the cast by far (why aren't there more black-haired lis out there (≖︵≖) ). It was also my first encounter with his seiyuu Azakami Youhei (and I was so charmed by his voice that I'm now hesitating to buy Money Parasite just for him (*/_＼) ). Needless to say the voice acting was the best part of the route.
I played Kaize's fact route first, and it was just dumb reveals after dumb reveals + the plot desperately trying to make me cry about Kaize by showing 534682 randomass pnj charas calling him a monster.
Overall, Kaize was so emo. So so so emo. God I thought I would never reach the end of his fact route because of how utterly indifferent I felt towards his misery.
Usually, I don't like emo boys. (This might come across as surprising (?) given the way I write Dazai in my fanfics, but I don't consider the way I write Dazai to be emo. Or at least, it isn't meant to be an emo that very badly wants the reader to cry and pity the character.) What I usually dislike about emo characters is that most of the time, they're written as this super sad and pitiful chara who didn't deserve what happened to him and is completely defined by the fact he is A POOR BOY. Sigh.
And here, once again, the writing didn't do Kaize any favor. Like no, it's not because I ran into 17 random villagers, soldiers and children calling him a monster that I will feel sorry for him. It doesn't work like that. By the way, the number of times the word "monster" is used in this game is ridiculous. If you don't know the word 化け物, trust me, you will learn it with this game.
And the brother plot... I have no words to describe how much I despised the brother plot. "So hello, I'm the villain of the route. And I'm actually Kaize's dead brother, whom I cared very much about (despite everyone fearing him because of his black hair — and do I even go on about how stupid this whole black hair fear ordeal is, because hair dying techniques already existed in antiquity mind y— ), but since my hate for everything and everyone is so deep, I'm going to tell him I was afraid of him all this time and call him a monster. But in the end, I'll go back to my kind self and tell him I actually loved him because he is my little brother uwu" (눈_눈) No. Just no.
At some point, he was calling Kaize a demon when he had demon wings himself. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM (ノ°益°)ノ (And I know the whole point of this was to point at how ironic the situation was, but the way it was written just made the whole scene ridiculous.) Anyway, I'm barely scraching the surface of how badly written this character is because I could produce 10 other paragraphs about him, so I'll just stop here to keep this post from being a total rant lol.
Let's talk about things I liked instead. In Kaize's fact route, there were a total of 2 scenes I liked. The one where Yuhiru asks Kaize what he wants, and he answers he wanted to be loved by his mother, admired by his father, and appreciated by his brother. This was probably the only time when Kaize very simply said he just wanted to be loved without talking about all this monster bullshit.
The second one was the moment when Kaize said he didn't want to kill the demon who led his father to death because he wanted to avenge his father. It was because he wanted the recognition of his people, and the admiration of his father. Like omg, some character development, can you expand on that please. Don't let this be a random line thrown in the final battle for no reason, please don't brush it off, pl— It doesn't work well when I beg a game to be good.
So basically, I felt nothing while playing this route, and the plot trying to make me sob about poor little lonely Kaize made everything worse.
After dragging myself through Kaize's fact route, I went into his dark route with 0 expectation apart from good voice acting.
I have to admit it started well (at least, as well as it can do with an overall one-dimensional chara). I liked how Kaize started getting dependent on Yuhiru. Too bad Yuhiru didn't grow dependent on him as well. Instead, we got the standard yandere development. Which wasn't too bad I guess. I even liked the overall idea of the route (being Kaize doing everything he could to have Yuhiru by his side, but Yuhiru just staying because she's afraid of him, and in the end, Kaize was still this lonely being despite having Yuhiru next to him).
The "dream" end wasn't bad either. I guess I just like codependency plot better than yandere plot. I would've been really happy if that route had gone down the codependency path, but that's how it is.
Overall, my only real complaint about the dark route is that the game doesn't do great when trying to make you care about its characters, so I didn't feel anything while reading it.
Soooo about Molly's dark route. I actually enjoyed it for the most part. The quest chapters were fine — even though it failed (like every other ones) to make me attached to the character. I even really enjoyed the beginning of the dark route when they grew codependent on each other. That part with her fainting regularly was really well done, and I was actually surprised when I learned the truth.
I thought Yuhiru learning about her own trauma, then forgetting about it again, would've been a great spot to end the route, but of course they had to go further and make Molly even more yandere. Also, for some reason, when Yuhiru becomes aware of her own trauma, she doesn't get more traumatized but instead actually recovers some lucidity??? That was weird.
I won't talk very long about all the stuff going on with the eyeballs, because that ended up being quite ridiculous. You know, when you read that very very trashy idea that's just too trashy and gore to be taken seriously. (I mean, okay, there are probably very weird people out there who would decorate their room with eyeballs in bottles, but would there be that many that a freaking eyeballs traffic is born?) Well, whatever, that's probably just the game trying to be edgy and dark.
Onto Noil, now. I don't have a lot of things to say about him. His quest chapters were boring and dull. At this point, I was too bored to even pretend to care and took forever to get to his dark route. Also, I can't take a guy named Yuujin seriously. Like really, Yuujin? Like 友人? And he's his best friend? I sure didn't see this coming.
After I played dark 6, I got even more bored (especially since Otomate spoiled their own plot twist with a promo cg (○ ｀ｰ´)○☆)ﾟoﾟ)/ ) then, I fell sick and was dead beat for a week. Then... I didn't have the energy to pick the game back, so I just left Noil there lfskdfjsdk
Poor Noil, he probably didn't deserve that, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to care about anything in his route.
Imo, OverRequiemz is a very mid game. There is yandere and trash content, but it sure would've been better if I cared about the characters.
It had potential tho. I really liked the choice concept, with choices that don't matter, choices who give you a voice line in the menu, and only two choices that decide the path you get on. Unfortunately, the choices that were supposedly important didn't feel that meaningful. I thought I'd get a choice that would be difficult to make, that would make room for character development. Instead, I just got standard otome choices.
The soundtrack was pretty mid as well. The bgms sound pretty, but I don't feel any emotions from them. There were 2 soundtracks that I really liked tho.
廃墟の深層 was great, especially when used when that interdimensional crack opened and red snow fell. The atmosphere was very ethereal and mystic.
タイトル was a great menu music. Very soft and gentle.
On the bgm topic tho, that fucking 悲しみと許し violin music can go to hell. Aweful.
Overall, OverRequiemZ felt like a checklist game with no soul:
Chapter 1 : slice of life stuff ✓
Chapter 2 : slice of life stuff with some reveals about li's traumatic past with sad violin music ✓
Chapter 3 : slice of life stuff with a romantic scene ✓
Chapter 4 : more reveals about li's traumatic past with even more sad violin music ✓
Chapter 5 : action scene with a randomass choice at the end ✓
Chapter 6-9 fact : dumb reveals with even moooooore sad violin music ✓
Chapter 10 fact : final battle with cool battle cg ✓
Chapter 6-8 dark : mc and li growing kind of codependent on each other ✓
Chapter 9-10 dark : li getting yandere af because of mc suddenly isn't so dependent on him anymore for ??? reason ✓
If I had to summarize my opinion on OverRequiemZ, it would be "I DON'T CARE." Or, as we say in French:
To celebrate Dazai Osamu’s birthday here are his top three quotes from my blog:
Quote #3:
Grown-ups are lonely people. Even if we love each other, we must be careful not to show it publicly. And why all this caution? The answer is simple: because people are too often betrayed and put to public shame. The discovery that you cannot trust people is the first lesson young people learn as they grow up into adults. Adults are adolescents who have been betrayed.
- Dazai Osamu, Tsugaru
Quote #2:
It made me miserable that I was rapidly becoming an adult and that I was unable to do anything about it.
- Dazai Osamu, Schoolgirl
Quote #1:
I was a flower petal about to fall. I trembled and quivered at the slightest breeze; at the slightest insult, I writhed about and considered dying.
- Dazai Osamu, “Recollections” from The Saga of Dazai Osamu
Finished the first draft of my parenting dazatsu fic on my notebook, and I now remember why I stopped writing by hand, it's so goddamn messy fsldkfjsf
The scenes aren't in the right order, I had no place to add some stuff in between the lines, so I had to add words all over the place, I have arrows, (⚹) and (⚹⚹) everywhere to indicate the paragraphs order. That thing is a complete maze (×_×)
Maybe I'll go back to writing first drafts on computer if I can control myself and get over my instant correcting and no progress problem.
I've almost only been listening to Sawano Hiroyuki's music lately, and it once again confirms he's my favorite composer. I didn't have anything physical of him (usually I just buy music digitally since I don't have Spotify), but I wanted to have some, so I bought his blackblue cds — because yes, Japanese people are still very much into cds.
It's been a while since I bought cds without knowing the exact tracklists, but since I love most of what Sawano does, I did. I even bought the limited edition with the Blu-ray disc containing one of his lives, and I'm glad I did. 澤さんちょうかっこよかった (/▽＼*)｡o○♡
My favorite songs ended up being:
Trollz ♡
Avid ♡ ♡ ♡ (This song is so amazing, omg??? I listened to it on loop for days. I'm glad I discovered it, it's so beautiful. The singing, the piano, the drums, the depth of the sound, the reverb, everything. It really wraps you into its soft atmosphere.)
Level ♡ ♡ (I already knew that song from solo leveling, and I still love it. Such a cool opening.)
Aliez ♡ ♡ (I love this! It made me interested in Aldnoah Zero somehow, and I added it to my endless "to watch list" that I never watch.)
Dark Aria LV2 ♡ ♡ ♡ (I already knew this masterpiece of a song from the solo leveling ost, but truly, this is outstanding. I just needed one listening to know I would love it. It also enhanced the scene it was used in so much — I don't think that scene would've had as much impact as it did without it. Sawano is so skilled at composing these calm, slow musics.)
Pretenders eO1 ♡
Among what I've been listening to from Sawano lately, there's also his Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn suite that is one of the most beautiful things I've ever listened to. So of course, I had to buy the Gundam Unicorn ost. I can't believe it took me so long to buy it.
Overall, the suites he composed for his Projet [emu] are my fav thing from him — I just love orchestral music with drums/electric guitar. I hope one day, he makes one for Solo Leveling (so many amazing ost to adapt), but I think I can keep dreaming (╯_╰)
Whenever I think of would Bsd Dazai ever agree with Beast Dazai’s methods I always disagree.
Not so much him keeping Beast Oda alive but what came after because it comes at the expense of Beast Atsushi.
To Dazai, Atsushi as one of the most important people in his life. He knows Atsushi trusts him and he cherishes that so deeply.
He was going to tell Atsushi why he seemingly allied with Fyodor and Shibusawa, because he didn’t want him to think he’d betray him.
Atsushi knows about Odasuku and while he can’t recall the answer (55 minutes) Dazai told him why he keeps trying to die.
Simply because Atsushi asked.
Barely a week after knowing Atsushi, Dazai let himself be captured by the Port Mafia with enough black mail to destroy the organisation from the inside out.
All so he could find out who was hunting Atsushi.
Dazai who gave Atsushi a home simply because he needed one. Dazai who revealed his past and set up a meeting with the Port Mafia because Atsushi proposed it.
He had another plan but listened to Atsushi and went with his idea.
When people are looking for Dazai they send Atsushi to find him.
Dazai beams with pride whenever he sees Atsushi succeed. He sat outside waiting for him to fall from the Moby Dick and carried him to safety.
Dazai thinks the world of Atsushi and it kills him that Atsushi can’t see how much he’s worth.
So for him to see Beast Atsushi who looks at him in fear, whose trust in his counterpart was twisted against him.
That all the secrets Atsushi told him, all the things Dazai holds so carefully in his hands, be used to hurt another version of him.
Dazai who would never dream of hurting Atsushi beyond snapping him out of a self deprecating spiral. To see Beast Atsushi collared like a dog and tortured for his ability.
And made to suffer in an endless spiral of fear and self destruction. The very thing Dazai hopes to bring his Atsushi out of.
He would be devastated.
And go ballistic against Beast Dazai.
He wouldn’t hear any excuses because they both knows he’s smart enough to have constructed a plan that kept all his precious people safe.
Odasuku would never have wanted his life to come at thus kind of cost.
But it seems only one of them truly listened to him.
“…But everybody says you’re so nice.” That’s because I deceived them. I was aware that everybody in the apartment house was friendly to me, but it was extremely difficult for me to explain to Shigeko how much I feared them all, and how I was cursed by the unhappy peculiarity that the more I feared people the more I was liked, and the more I was liked the more I feared them—a process which eventually compelled me to run away from everybody.
Somehow I've been back in a dazatsu mood and want to write for them again, especially Dazai (of course lol I do not have a problem). But I've already written so much for them in the canon timeline that each time I imagine them, I end up being like "wait, i already wrote this (￣_￣)・・・ "
Dazai fooling around in the office ✅
Dazai being his depressive self alone in his apartment ✅
Atsushi (almost and not almost) dying in front of Dazai ✅
Kind of philosophical discussion about human beings, evil and good, life and death and stuff ✅
Dazai killing in front of Atsushi ✅
100% fluffy fic ✅
An agency member uncovering their relationship ✅✅
Dazai unwrapping his bandages before Atsushi ✅✅
Dazai being drunk and Atsushi finding him ✅✅✅ (I sure do like this trope for some reason, because why tf did I write 3 times about this dlskjfsdkf)
Atsushi seeing through Dazai and setting him straight ✅ x 1000000
(Look, I just love Dazai being this depressive, empty, self-disgusted ass, whom Atsushi still acknowledge because he saved him, and because in the end, Dazai chose the agency's side and does his best to do good, and how Atsushi has a completely different perspective on Dazai than he himself has, and I JUST LOVE THEM OKAY? (/ω＼) )
Anyway (⌒_⌒;) Last year, I thought I'd never write for them again because I was starting to go around in circles. (I guess I could write AUs, but I don't really want to. Each time I try to think about an AU, my brain goes "Oh yeah, maybe I could do this, or this, but they'd have to be like this, and like this, just like in the canon setting, because that's what I love the most about them, and... I'm just going back to the relationship they have in canon, right?" And then I give up (/▽＼) )
The only AU I've ever wanted to write was Atsushi x Mafia Dazai but even there, my conclusion ends up being "it works better in canon" kgjfjdvd I just love Dazai's past with Odasaku, and Atsushi being saved by this Dazai who is trying to do good, and Atsushi seeing through him, and surprising him with his innocence, and aaaaaaah I am a hopeless case.
Actually, I think I'd have a lot of things to say and write about their BEAST counterparts relationship (not a romantic relationship tho), but for that, I'd have to read the beast novel, and my heart still isn't ready to see Dazai dying. It would crush me too bad o(TヘTo)
So yeah, I thought long and hard about it, and tried to think of themes I hadn't written about. In the end, I came with two :
✧ Parenting
I remember some time ago, I answered an ask about Dazai and Atsushi having a child. At the time, I said something about how I couldn't see Dazai as a dad, and that it wasn't really something I was interested in writing. Well... as one says in French, only fools never change their minds ( ◡‿◡ *)
After thinking about it for a few days, I somehow started having random dialogs and sentences coming to mind. I also think this theme would allow me to delve into subjects I've never delved into before — namely Dazai's past before Mori when he still most likely had parents or something. I never really thought about what Dazai's life was before he met Mori, but him having a child would be the opportunity to go into his own childhood — and it's super interesting to think about what kind of child Dazai was. Also, I already know how I'd like to end the fic.
✧ Amnesia
This may be tropey/cliche, but it's actually been a while I've been thinking about writing an amnesia fic. I just couldn't decide what I exactly wanted it to be about, so I left it pending and thought I'd never get to it. But now, I'm thinking about it again.
I still can't really decide what I'd like it to be about tho. I thought about making Atsushi amnesiac and show how he would interact with Dazai if he didn't remember Dazai was the one who saved him. Like, showing he would maybe be afraid of Dazai and implying he's a bit "blinded" by the fact Dazai saved him, but in the end, after spending time with Dazai, he still ends up acting the same with him, or something like that. But I'm not super fond of it, nor super inspired for it.
I thought about making Dazai amnesiac, and that already sounded better. I've always wanted to write something about Atsushi meeting "past Dazai" and I think amnesia actually would be a way to write it in the canon setting. I'd need to read the Fifteen novel before thinking about it more tho. But yeah, sounds kinda promising in my mind. I just need to read the novel and see if it gives me inspiration to understand where I actually want this to go LOL I also need to gather info about how amnesia works, maybe this will help me having more ideas.
I've been having a hard time with writing since last year, and as a way to go back to it (and hopefully, get more confident in my writing), I decided to compile all of my dazatsu fanfics into a printed book.
Of course, things couldn't go as smoothly as me just copy pasting them into Word and doing some page layout — no, I obviously had to freaking edit everything for weeks (/ω＼) It was kinda funny to realize that a lof of the paragraphs I edited were the exact same ones I struggled with back when I wrote the thing tho. Even after giving up on editing these years ago, I still wanted to edit them. I swear I am cursed.
More seriously tho, for once, I felt a bit proud of myself, because I felt like I understood better what was "wrong" in my sentences, and managed to pinpoint more precisely what made me feel like the paragraph didn't flow well. Also, I corrected less and less things as I progressed through my fanfics (which hopefully means my writing has been improving with time and not that I was getting tired of editing things). I was pretty surprised of actually enjoying my latest fanfics, even though I still have a long way to go to accept my writing.
After writing for so many years, I finally feel like I "reached" my own writing style. Still, I find myself wishing it was closer to the one of that one person, or that one other person. I've always wanted to have this complex style with beautiful descriptions, beautiful choices of words — kind of like poetry — and things flowing nicely. And even though I know this has been hindering me for years — and still is now — it's a very hard thing for me to let go of. I'd probably feel better (and write more) if I just accepted my style as it is: simple, direct, concise, and with basic/standard descriptions and words. Not a perfect style, but not a bad one either. Just my own style.
Writing is a way to express myself. It should be something I enjoy. Yet, sometimes it's just eating at me. Because I want to write better things, things that people will like better, that I will like better.
I really want to get rid of this desire. I want to write more freely, without editing things constantly because that paragraph can be better. I want to let my mind speak through stories that aren't mine, without caring about anything.
Maybe one way to achieve that is learning how to stop myself from correcting things when I don't want to anymore. After all, if I really want, I can always correct things later. I can even look at them years later with another perspective. That's what I did these last few weeks with my years old dazatsu fanfics, and what I "should" correct was clearer to me than when I wrote it.
Maybe another thing that would help me is going back to my old "writing technique". That is, writing the first draft on paper by hand, then type and edit it on my computer. That's what I used to do until I decided to just write everything on pc directly because it was more practical. Now though, I feel like it'd be easier for words to come when I'm in front of paper with a pen in hand. On the computer, there are too many possibilities, and it's too easy to edit things, so I'd probably just endlessly correct stuff and not progress in my draft (when deep down, I know my first drafts are meant to be ugly things). On paper, I feel like it'd be easier to just go with the flow and write everything that comes to mind. Then, when I have a full layout, I could go into editing and refine the scenes until I don't want to anymore.
TLDR Re-reading all my dazatsu fanfics put me back in a dazatsu mood (I LOVE THEM SO MUCH YOUR HONOR) and made me want to write for them again, especially Dazai ♡
I feel like I'm very late to the party, but here I am, creating a tumblr account.
I ended up leaving twitter because I didn't like what the platform had become. Also, I often found myself wanting to post longer things (and sometimes made ugly long threads), so I thought tumblr was the best option for me.
I wanted a space where I could talk about random things I like, as well as writing in general. I'm not here to make critical analyses or anything. I just want to say what I want about the anime/manga/games/novels I'm enjoying (or not enjoying ¬‿¬) at the moment. Anything that comes to mind and that I want to talk about.
Also, feel free to ask me anything you want!
JustMeRambling @iaka-linksar - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
janainaart
areudirty
andulkaphoto
kianamaiart
pixelskylines
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
romaincrisis
