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Variable Barricade/Sympathy Kiss

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Hi friends! Quick post today but this blog is going on temp hiatus! We should be back to otome posts in about a month, but depending on work and my con schedule during these next couple of months it might be july when posting goes back to normal. Inbox will still be open for those who want to ask questions or anything else! See you all in a little :)

[otome-mondays]

Sympathy Kiss First Impressions

Welcome to the third first impressions post! I tried to play this game simultaneously with the r/otomegames subreddit’s play along, but work got really busy for me. If you’d like to see my more in depth thoughts on my first impressions, please go check out the subreddit. I’m u/otome-mondays. Also, please look up trigger warnings for any potentially triggering content! As usual, this post is all over the place, contains spoilers, and is not overly formatted/proofread/etc.

I started playing this game on February 26, 2024 when the game’s English localization was released. I stopped this post at the end of the common route. For this post, my most anticipated route will be marked with ✨ and least with 💥.

General Thoughts

I’m not a fan of having an eyeless MC, but that’s never stopped me from playing an otome before. It’s just a little…off…to me. I really like Oe so far, she’s my favorite at the moment. I don’t like how quiet the main character is? Even when she’s supposed to be interacting with the characters, we don’t get much on actual spoken dialogue. Also she doesn’t have a name tag so I’m prone to forgetting her name way more than I should. Me being me, I constantly have to point out any connections I see. In this game they use the messaging app RiNG, which is also used in the Lover Pretend universe…I’m connecting these two as in the same universe thank you very much. Why are the girls in this game so stunning, it’s basically unfair they don’t have routes. That would be an interesting thing for Otomate to do, doubt they would, but I’d be all for it. It’s nice that we have an MC who isn’t a teenager, I feel like most otomes I’ve played lately have 16-18 year old protags.

Mitsuki

Wasn’t expecting his voice to be what it is, but it does fit I think. This tells me I need to actually look at the voice actors more often lol. He’s kinda annoying. He’s definitely a genki archetype, which I usually don’t gravitate towards. He’s at least comedic enough that I can start to enjoy him as a character.

Kohei

Well isn’t he a ball of rainbows and sunshine! I really hope I don’t end up mostly annoyed by most these characters but so far we’re 3/6 on the I’ve decided they’re annoying to some extent. Oh my god he’s so annoying. It’s like he’s a middle schooler who made not liking people their one personality trait. I’m begging this game to have pulled a Zafora-style tsundere with him at least because then I’ll at least enjoy his route.

Yoji

Oh my god he’s annoying. It was nice of him to buy her juice but wow I already hate him lol. Greatttt he’s gonna be her boss. Can’t wait to deal with his crap he’ll inevitably bring. His voice sounds familiar…is he voiced by the same guy who voiced Tsukuyomi from Olympia and Ankou from Virche? …oh my god he is ok maybe I can end up liking him. I’m going to take this time an actually look at the actors for the LIs. I’m really trying but I CANNOT stop hearing Ankou and thinking Ankou is here I’m so sorry Yoji. He’s actually growing on me.

Rokuro ✨

He seems way nicer AND not annoying compared to most the others I’ve seen so far! I also do recognize that his actor voiced Hugo from Virche, so bonus points there. Ok yeah definitely a pretty interesting character. He seems very nice so I’m excited for his route!

Nori

Oh no everybody it’s a pretty boy with piercings…and is that a tattoo? Well I have a good idea of who my fav might potentially be. Oh my god he’s adorable. I am in love with his design. He seems very nice! This is one of the weirdest and most irrelevant things for me to point out, but I think it’s kinda funny he has a beauty mark in the same general area that my own is in lol. He’s got the bare necessities of social interaction and I love him for that. Ngl, I am concerned for this dude. Ok…yeah now I’m getting some slight red flags lol.

Shuya 💥

He’s interesting enough, I currently can’t really see him in a “oh yeah that’s definitely a love interest” so we’ll see if that changes. He feels more like a side character I enjoy type of character. I can already understand the appeal to Shuya as a LI even though I know like 2 things about him, but he’s not typically the type of character I go for as far as I’m aware.

Warning: Theories on secret routes

So I’m trying to go in blind for the most part on who the secret characters are, but it’s obvious one is gonna be that one brunette guy the works in the same company as Rokuro (wow my remembering names is not working tonight) and I’m like 80% sure on the other one being YOFY? I’m not gonna go out of my way and confirm this so for those who have finished the game by the time this post goes up or are aware, be aware of that lol. Also, I’m assuming this post will be up after I discover who the secret routes are, but please refrain from telling me until you see that the game has left my currently playing or if you see me talk about it on reddit :)

[otome-mondays]

Variable Barricade First Impressions ♟️

Alright second time doing a First Impressions post! This time it’s for Variable Barricade. I’m not sure of any content warnings at the moment, so please look them up to be safe! There will be spoilers for this post as these are my unfiltered yet censored first reactions and thoughts! These posts are also a little all over the place, please keep that in mind while reading.

I started playing this game on February 15, 2024. For this post, I stopped after the interviews were conducted. I’ll be marking my most anticipated and least anticipated with ✨ and 💥 respectively!

General Thoughts

I am surprised we have a MC who has voice acting! It’ll be a change for me to get used to but I’m not opposed whatsoever! Less energy for my brain to make a voice for her. Currently, I think Hibari is a little bit of a spoiled princess, but let’s see if that changes. Ok after playing some more, I really like how Hibari already feels like her own character and not a semi-blank canvas for projecting so far. Those titles tend to be more of my favorites instead of the ones with blander MCs. This board game approach is very interesting, I am a little worried about missing events though.

Nayuta Yagami

He’s so energetic! I’m honestly the most ok with Nayuta before the introductions, but we will see as the common route progresses! Nayuta 🤝 Me: exercising to bubblegum pop. I’m also concerned that he would eat a tennis ball if offered. The poor guy is way too gullible. He’s like a puppy. He’s easily the most entertaining to me. He’s also very odd. He definitely gets carried away with his antics, which gets him in some awkward yet funny situations already.

Shion Mayuzumi ✨

Oh no here we go again…for those who don’t know (which would be most of you), my favs in media tend to be the mixed race characters. Maybe it’s because I’m mixed race myself. Honestly he’s not as passive as I thought he’d be, I was expecting him to be more like Paschalia right away. He’s more odd than I expected, which, if you’ve noticed a pattern in my favs they tend to be oddballs. Admittedly, usually with trauma in there, but oddballs nonetheless.

Taiga Isurugi

Oh boy this one…he’s an oddball and will probably end up being in my top fav characters by the end of the game. I tend to like most characters Nobuhiko Okamoto voices, so we’ll see. I’m not really a fan of his little quirk of calling Hibari “babe” this early on though. I love how he simply doesn’t care about optics and does whatever he wants. It’s funny to me. He still rubs me the wrong way and is also a bit annoying, but not as bad as Ichiya.

Ichiya Mitsumori 💥

Why…why is he 26. I just realized Hibari is still in high school. Unless she’s a senior, I’m kinda meh but iffy on the age gap between the other character and Hibari but this…this is a bit much. He annoys me the most rn admittedly. The fact he has alleged marriage fraud on his record is not helping the situation. After the interviews, all I can say is he’s very annoying to me and I agree with Hibari that he gives me a headache.

[otome-mondays]

Virche Evermore -ErroR:Salvation- Review 🥀

Hey folks, before we get started please note the massive amount of trigger warnings for this game. We have really dark topics here, including: suicide, murder, serial killing, cults, religion used as a weapon, brainwashing, drugging, body horror, human experimentation and torture, obsessions with a minor, and more. Please look up the triggers for this game fully if there is content that can be triggering to you. As always, please put your mental health first before a post on the internet :)

Welcome to the island of Arpéchéle, a country where death has cursed the citizens here. Due to a horrible curse, nobody can live past the age of 23 if they are from the island. We follow Ceres, a young woman who is rumored to be death incarnate. Ceres is severely depressed because most the residents of Arpéchéle torment her and harass her over supposedly being death. Ceres one day decides, after having some wild events happen, she’s going to help solve the mysterious of what’s happening in Arpéchéle. As always, this review will contain spoilers and I will go in the route order I took. For the first time, though, I have done a First Impressions post as well. Please take a look if you’re interested! Let’s get started on solving the mysterious curse of death!

Spoilers Ahead

Mathis Claude 📚

Following the recommended route order, I started with Mathis. Mathis is the only one left of the Claude family and is looking to avenge them by killing Bourreaux, who most likely killed his family. I say most likely because Mathis didn’t actually see him killing his family, but the bodies were left like Bourreau’s victims according to Mathis. Mathis becomes extremely depressed and isolated after the events of the common route, so Jean hires Ceres to work as a maid for the Claude family. His route is centered around him letting go of his vengeance and anxiety and the struggles that come with it. Mathis’s route also explores this new character, The Deliverer. There’s a rumor that if a woman makes a jar with The Deliverer’s favorite flowers in water and hold it up to the stars, she will be able to leave the island. Yeah, it’s as sketchy as it sounds. Since there is literally no way to get the good endings until you play the despair endings, we’re in for some rough endings. The first despair ending isn’t that true route ending thing, but it is really twisted. If I wasn’t making a minimal spoiler review, I’d go into so much detail. As for the actually proper despair ending, the second one, this one is just incredibly messed up. I saw on Blerdy Otome’s blog that is you like Orlok, you’ll love Mathis’s route and oh my god that is 100% correct. The amount of despair these poor boys face is ridiculous. Now the salvation ending, OH MY GOD GUYS. GUYS. THIS POOR GUY HAS BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH THIS ENDING WAS SO WORTH IT. I was a little worried they wouldn’t give this poor dude a break but it’s so cute and so worth it. 10/10.

Lucas Proust 🍎

Second up, Lucas. If you’ve seen my first impressions post, you’ll know his route was my most anticipated. Lucas is a teacher who goes around to various orphanages to teach the children. He’s one of the few people in Coene who treats Ceres like an actual person. While he didn’t teach her that much, he still refers to Ceres as his former student quite a bit. Throughout the common route, we see that he is really strong but is hiding it for some reason. The only person who witnesses his ridiculous strength is Adolphe, and nobody believes him. At first, I didn’t really understand why he was so invested in helping the group track down Bourreau, but after starting his route and having some theories confirmed it became quite obvious. This route focuses more on Bourreau, the anti-reliver cult, and Lucas’s family. Trying not to spoil too much, but Lucas’s family is important to his route and to some connections to other characters. I went very back and forth on my thoughts during this route, in a way akin to how I felt playing Shiraishi’s route from Collar x Malice. It may be a little surprising, but I ended up enjoying this route a lot. I feel like a lot of it made sense. The despair ending killed me though, and it’s really unsettling. The other despair ending and other ends were ok, but nothing was impactful as that first one. As for the salvation ending, oh boy this one is probably the most non-good good ending. I was genuinely tearing up reading this one. Lucas fans will not be catching any breaks here unfortunately. I’m giving it a 9/10.

Scien Brofiise 🧬

Moving along to number three, Scien is the director of the Reliver Institute. Scien also happens to not only be the oldest reliver alive, but the man who created the technology. Scien is more focused on his own research and what he thinks is most efficient. He thinks emotions are useless and focuses on creating relivers to live longer instead of with more realistic emotions. Scien really annoyed me at first, but I was interested in seeing how his route played out. Truthfully, I was more interested in seeing how reliver technology worked. If you’re looking for a story that could work medically in the real world, this isn’t for you. I enjoy hearing ideas people come up with for things like this though, so I personally was not bothered by all the weird science. My views on Scien weren’t a back and forth rollercoaster, but more akin to how I played through most of Piofiore. I started off being neutral/general dislike towards Scien and grew to enjoy him as a character. I think Scien being upfront about what he’s like and that he doesn’t care whether people like him or not made me more chill with how awful he can be. I really liked the growth he had throughout his route because of this too. His despair ending was oddly the tamest one yet, which I absolutely did not expect after the harsh ones for Mathis and Lucas. Because of that, I was just more generally like “man that sucks sorry Scien” compared to absolutely horrified stares at the screen over what was going down. His salvation ending, though, was amazing! I enjoyed this ending so much. I’m genuinely surprised Scien has one of the more happier salvations. 10/10

Yves 🐡

We’ve made it to the first locked route! Yves is the deputy director of the Corps and the owner of Courrune, and he’s liked by pretty much everybody. He’s considered one of Ceres’s “victims” due to a huge burn scar on his face from him saving her during a fire as children. During the prologue, he basically becomes Ceres’s first friend outside Adolphe. In this route, he’s basically made it his mission to get her to break out of her shell and be seen as a normal girl. This route’s focused on Yves’s past, his relationships with others, and the Lycoris Noirge flowers. If you thought Scien’s route had a ton of pseudo-science going on, then prepare yourself for Yves’s! A lot happens and is explained in this route, so I’m glad it’s a locked route. This route, and especially the main despair ending, is basically the epitome of doomed lovers. It’s a very angst filled route, which is the entirety of this game admittedly. After how chill Scien’s route was in comparison to the other two, I had the false hopes this one would be a bit more tame. This despair ending kinda stuck out to me as the strangest and I have no clue why. As for the salvation ending, man was that adorable yet sad! It felt like a really fitting end though. 9.5/10.

Le Salut 🗡️

The final ending, a route shared between Ankou and Adolphe. This route was nothing like I thought it was. We have a mini rehashing of the common route, but things quickly change between the starting events of the common route and the events in this route. This route, being the final one, sets to reveal the last of the plot twists and tie up any loose threads. For anybody looking for slightly unhinged sci-fi, please up your unhinged tolerance for this route. Things get wild here quick. I guessed a lot of the twists before they happened, but some of them were wild even for me. I played through all the bad ends first before the main LI endings, and oh boy were these wild. I still think they were really interesting and enjoyable though, and things are explained fairly well at least for me. The Evermore ending…uh minor spoilers here for expectations but I’m sorry to the Ankou fans. That’s all I’ll say. I hope he’s treated better in the fandisc. As for the Salvation ending, I loved how we got to check in on all the characters and see conclusions for everybody! I also felt like it was a clichéd, yet tasteful happy ending! 9.5/10

Overall Thoughts 🥀

This game is incredibly painful to play through. I would say that for some people, some of these salvation endings will not be seen as true good endings. For the sake of not spoiling too much, I won’t be going into detail on my thoughts of what qualifies as a good ending here. I will be soon though, so keep an eye out for that post if you want more detailed thoughts. This game isn’t for the weak of heart, but if you can handle everything it truly is amazingly written and a wonderful story to have experienced. It has easily become my favorite otome even with all the pain and despair. It was so hard to rank routes and LIs due to how much I genuinely enjoyed all of them. My recommended route order is going to be the order I played the game in: Mathis->Lucas->Scien->Yves->Le Salut. I do recommend after finishing Le Salut to just tackle the salvation endings from least excited for to most. That’s what I did and I’m glad I did so. I’m going to guess that I have an unpopular opinion of the whack science in the story or the clichéd troupes and plot devices. I cried, I laughed, I felt despair, I felt love, and I truly enjoyed my time playing through Virche Evermore -ErroR:Salvation-.

Routes:

Le Salut->Scien->Mathis->Yves->Lucas

LIs:

Scien->Lucas->Adolphe->Mathis->Yves->Ankou

Resources 📝

I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs to get the endings, Blerdy Otome’s and Otome Kitten’s reviews to take note of any trigger warnings, and read through some posts here and on the r/otomegames subreddit to see other people’s thoughts!

[otome-mondays]

What are your in depth feelings about Okazaki's route?

Hi Anon, thanks for asking! Since you asked for in depth feelings, this post contains spoilers for all of Okazaki’s route in Collar x Malice and Collar x Malice Unlimited! There are also a ton of CG spoilers here too! I’ll keep this post under a read more because of said spoilers :)

Content warnings (for game and post): guns, police, terrorism, suicide, ptsd, depression, death. Please be mindful of your triggers and skip this post if you feel the need, your mental health is worth more than a silly analysis post :)

I am going to start this off with the huge disclaimer that I played Okazaki’s route in my senior year of high school and his route was the first proper Otomate route I played, so I probably have some huge nostalgia blinders on! Okazaki is also my favorite from CxM, so that, again, will make this post very biased.

I bought Collar x Malice not realizing it was an otome game, but after looking it up I was pretty excited! One of my friends can vouch that Okazaki was one of two characters I was most hyped for, and originally I only wanted to play his route first. This was also the first time I realized otome games can have route orders and some routes would be locked. Otome is a very niche genre, and back then it was even more niche with only like 10-15 Otomate titles officially localized and I generally only had access to the NTT Solmare, Voltage, and other mobile-focused company games. After trying to search for people saying I could confidently play Okazaki’s route first, I just went for it and I’m glad I did! Okazaki’s route is very introductory to the game, similarly to Mineo’s. Speaking of introductions, let’s start specifically with the common route.

So Okazaki’s introduction as this more aloof, kinda silly guy made me even more invested in picking his route first. I usually play otome titles with guides, and this guide telling me I couldn’t pick the character but had to choose the correct options made me so relieved I looked up a guide first. Okazaki’s introduction of climbing through a window was so funny to me, I was instantly attached. I was kind of indifferent and even skeptical towards every other love interest at this point too. Okazaki, oddly enough, seemed the most normal and carefree of the options, which further solidified my stance on him being my favorite before the route even started. I liked that even though he doesn’t really know what’s going on and is obviously keeping tabs on Yanagi and Friends, he’s willing to be a friend to Ichika and help her look into these X-Day cases.

Before Okazaki discovers she’s stuck with the collar because of Adonis, he’s really kind and helpful. He’s looking out for her safety, helping her conduct investigations, and being a friend to her. But once it’s revealed that she has connections to Adonis, we start to see another side of Okazaki. Okazaki is somebody who is very dedicated to his job as as this route goes on we see and learn more about why he is the way he is. Okazaki’s route covers PTSD, depression, and suicidal ideation very well in my opinion. It’s very obvious that watching his first SP partner die by saving Okazaki from dying has effected him deeply, which is exactly what would happen in real life. Seeing Okazaki slowly change from wanting to die for the sake of somebody he deems a good person because he thinks so low of himself to being ok with the mistakes he’s made and learning to cope with his trauma and move on was a great experience for me. I was also in the depths of a depression episode around the time I played his route, so it was nice to be able to relate to a character who was going through similar problems. I think his character arc was really something amazing.

So his tragic ending was something that really hit me. I played all the bad endings before the good ending, and I was actually in tears over this ending. I understand why he was ready to end it all. It was really nice to see that he did grow and change enough to listen to the part of him that wanted to keep living for Ichika since that’s what she wanted, even if he was killed right after she was.

As for his good ending, I liked how cute it was and that they do get a happy ending together. I don’t really have much thoughts beyond that other than it was a suiting good ending lol.

After I finished playing his route, I realized Okazaki was a fairly polarizing character which I didn’t really expect but I can kinda see why. He’s got some toxic behaviors, but so do all of these characters. I can see why some people don’t like his flaws though because they can be considered more “clingy” than some others. I think this is ok for me though because it transforms from putting her on this perfect angel pedestal to more of oh people care for me perspective. He still definitely has more to work on through some therapy though, I’m not going to deny that.

Now for the fandisc…man I was disappointed with this. It’s a nice story, don’t get me wrong, but it basically has all his growth undone and we go through it all over again but shorter and now he’s more jealous than before (to me at least). This is the only fandisc I’ve played through as of writing, and I know not all after stories aren’t as disappointing as his but man I’m going to be sad if more of my favs get this treatment.

I think Okazaki still ends up being a very well written character overall, in both the CxM universe and otome games in general, but the fandisc definitely ruins some of his writing for me. His route is also always going to be one I treasure, considering it fully pushed me into enjoying more of these games and wanting to play more.

[otome-mondays]

Radiant Tale Review 🎪

We’re talking about Radiant Tale this week! This is another game that I have been incredibly excited about and was so happy when it released!

Spoilers Ahead

Radiant Tale follows Tifalia and her journey with CIRCUS. CIRCUS is a performance troupe formed by the government to bloom magical flowers called Flora to awaken the crown prince from his current frozen-in-time state. As they journey through the country of Escholtia, everybody learns more about their country and the friends they’re traveling with. This game is another one with an incredibly long common route, but the LI routes are actually shorter in chapters or the same depending on who. I feel like this game is more focused on fixing the problems at hand than romance, so if you’re not big on those types of games you might want to skip this one. As always, I’ll be reviewing in the route order I played!

Paschalia 💧

I started with Paschalia’s route and it was a really fun route! The last more lighthearted otome game I played didn’t take me too long, so I wasn’t expecting this route to be super long either. I was incredibly wrong about that. Paschalia is a water spirit contractor, and you can tell he’s contracted with a strong spirit because of the drastic change in his appearance. He’s a very soft-spoken, calm person who tries to dodge conflict as much as possible. Since each route goes into extreme spoiler territory in my opinion, I’m not going to go into much detail about what happens. What I will say is this route had a twist, that while I guessed while playing, I had no clue of at the start. I was getting a little frustrated with Paschalia near the end because he also ends up being a bit stubborn over something. This route also explores more about the city of Oriens and the spirits. Both the happy ending and normal ending were nice to see! Even if you don’t get the happy ending, it’s nice that you still get a good type of ending with Paschalia. It’ll be interesting to see the different endings with the rest of the LIs. I’d also like to note that at the end of the happy ending, there was a screen with a chibi Vilio and four blank red spaces behind him. One changed and revealed Paschalia. So this gives you a tracker to see how far away you are from Vilio’s route in a sense. 8/10.

Zafora 🤹‍♂️

Next route for me was Zafora, and I was honestly very excited going into this route. Zafora is the literal clown of the group, but he’s also an information broker and he is not the comedic relief. It’s interesting to see just how different he is in performances compared to the rest of the game. He’s definitely the tsundere route, so usually he’s very harsh with his words. He does open up more throughout the game and is a very likable character, at least to me. Zafora’s route focuses on the city of Cultura, which when you play through the common route isn’t too surprising. This route also covers the topic of fiends a bit. For the sake of not giving spoilers, I’m not going into too much detail. Zafora’s route was incredibly enjoyable though, and I didn’t have too many times where I would get frustrated with him unlike Paschalia’s route. I could understand a bit better where Zafora’s thoughts and feelings were coming from and why he did the things he did. Both the endings are really good too! After the happy ending, it unlocked Zafora’s part of the “path to Vilio route mural,” which is what I’m calling this from now on. I actually really enjoyed this route and I think it’s one of the better ones I’ve played in general, 9/10.

Ion 🍳

Moving on, we have Ion next! I didn’t really know what to expect when starting his route. I took a bit longer on his route due to work starting up again for me and some personal stuff keeping me from fully immersing myself in the game. I also got fixated on Virche Evermore when playing his route. So, Ion is a former Public Security Forces officer who is now traveling with CIRCUS. Ion’s initially very distant and opposed to Tifalia and Radie joining the group, but warms up to them during their travels. He’s also surprisingly an amazing cook. During the common route, we learn he’s from Ferus and why he has an eyepatch he’s always wearing. Ion’s route is focused on Ferus and the missing Intaglio Ring. Now Radiant Tale in general has some slightly darker themes than it seems when you first start the game, but this one was a bit rougher than the other two routes so far. Just because it’s darker doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its romantic moments. Ion’s archetype isn’t normally one I tend to be ecstatic for, but I really did enjoy it this time. This was the first time the normal ending wasn’t really a slightly less happy ending. The happy ending was really well done and I truly enjoyed it! With this route done, we have another part of the path to Vilio’s route mural unlocked. 8.5/10.

Radie 🥂

We’re over halfway through the game, meaning it’s time for Radie’s route! This route contains a lot of in universe lore, and because of that I kinda of wish it was locked behind a couple routes. Radie is Tifalia’s best friend and they call each other family; he’s been with her for most of her life and the two are practically attached at the hip. Radie is a fey beast who sticks around and watches over Tifalia. He’s usually the one that’s pushing Tifalia to do things and explore more, and they have a very interesting relationship. Tifalia starts developing feelings for him, which kind of throws off the dynamic. I would go into more detail of what happens, but I really don’t want to spoil all the interesting parts of this route. Normally, I’m not the biggest fan of some of the tropes that are used throughout Radie’s route, but I really think they were executed well. The happy ending and normal ending are both technically happy endings, unlike Ion’s. I did enjoy the happy ending a lot and it was a nice way to wrap up Radie’s route! Radie’s route also mostly focuses on Celius, Tifalia’s parents and family, and sets up anticipation for Vilio’s route. 9/10.

Vilio 🐉

Alright we’ve finally made it to Vilio’s route! Vilio is a dragon who crashes into Tifalia when CIRCUS first meets up in Artheir. He’s incredibly energetic and excited to explore the world, so much so he nearly burns down the perfomance tent when Tifalia and Radie first check out CIRCUS’s show. This route is locked for a reason, and also happens to be the longest route. I got very unmotivated when starting his route because he has his own common route and you can’t skip what you’ve already read. I wanted to finish this game in January, but because of how bored I got during the first half it took longer. I would say it does end up being worth the slog of the first five chapters though. Vilio’s route focuses on dragons, the core items, great spirits, the king Artheir, fiends, and Ragules. It’s a route I kept drawing some parallels with to Paschalia’s route specifically, and that ended up being a little frustrating to me. I think Vilio’s route is better executed though, and it was the right choice to make his route locked and last. Vilio has a very cute happy ending, meanwhile his normal ending hurts like Ion’s but worse. 8.5/10

Overall Thoughts 🎪

After the last few otomes I’ve finished giving me a sense of relief that it’s finally over, I feel a little sad that I’m done with this game. Now, I know it won’t be for too long with the fandisc coming out this year, but I still really enjoyed playing this game. It was longer and more in-depth than I thought it would be. I’ve been waiting to play this game for a while too, so I’m very happy it got localized. My recommended route order is going to be Zafora/Paschalia -> Ion -> Radie -> Vilio. Ion could be tied with Zafora and Paschalia, but I feel like it’s best to wait on his a little bit. My rating is 9/10. Now onto rankings:

Route: Radie > Zafora > Vilio > Ion > Paschalia

LI: Radie > Zafora > Vilio > Ion > Paschalia

Resources 📝

I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs to help me get all the endings.

[asterparfait]

ehe! ★

[dragondusst]

[otome-mondays]

Virche Evermore -ErroR:Salvation- First Impressions 🥀

This will be my first time doing a first impressions post, since I started Radiant Tale before starting my blog, so quick rundown of how this works: I play through the prologue of a game (maybe part of the common route if a prologue is too short) and give my initial thoughts of the game and any love interests that appear. These posts are going to be relatively spoiler free for most the plot, but I won’t limit myself from spoilers of what I’ve seen for those who want to play a game completely blind. I am writing as I encounter things so if it seems all over the place then haha yeah it is!

Trigger/Content Warnings: violence, murder, suicide, body horror. Please be mindful of your triggers and don’t interact with this post if you’re not in the capacity to handle such topics! I’ve put a read more for those who would like to avoid these triggers. I am not aware of all the triggering content in this game yet, so please look up a full list if you feel the need!

For Virche Evermore, I played the prologue and Chapter 1 for this post. I am trying to do these posts before the first necessary dialogue choice, but because of how short the prologue was and how you only see 3 of the 6 LIs at that point I decided to wait until a bit later. I started playing January 15, 2024.

Also, I’ll note my most anticipated and least anticipated with the respective emojis: ✨ and 💥

General Thoughts

Oh my god this starts out so wild??? The prologue portion was INCREDIBLY short and I immediately saved after and it said Act 2 so was that Act 1? No clue. Anyways, this poor girl has gone through it. I feel so bad for Ceres. I don’t like that everybody but Salome ignores her essentially. Ok so I didn’t realize we’d be taking a Piofiore route of introducing religion but that’s fun. I struggle with games addressing religion sometimes because of some personal issues so I’m anticipating this game will take me a bit to get through like Piofiore: Fated Memories.

Mathis

He seems very nice! He’s definitely one of the pretty boy characters and I have a stellar track record of picking those ones as my favorite. I did think he was wearing a dress at first and then was sad for 0.3 seconds when I discovered he wasn’t.

Lucas ✨

Oh boy another pretty guy. We’re off to an amazing start people. I was not expecting his voice but it fits, they almost always do. OH HE’S A TEACHER COOL! I am begging for at least one of these guys to have a full on dress at some point please they’d all pull it off flawlessly. Especially Lucas or Mathis. Oh he’s coughing that’s not good…I wanna fix this fictional country’s problems just to save this dude from dying he’s too pretty.

Scien

I have seen this man for 10 seconds and he is already getting on my nerves omg. Now to be fair, he is another pretty boy character…they probably all are now that I think about it. I was not expecting that voice from him though.

Yves

Ok this is the cover art guy…immediate first thought is he’s a little strange. I’m 99% sure he’s that kid who saved her in the fire. Yeah he basically instantly confirmed that, cool. Oh sweet the game confirmed it quickly on too, makes my life a lot easier. Somebody with braincells yay!

Adolphe 💥

Ok so I started my thoughts here at the first official time he makes an appearance. Interesting, I like him more than I thought I would when I was just seeing his sprite. He’s got some braincells unlike most these people so that’s a win. What’s not a win is the older brother-little sister dynamic we have here! Cute for anybody that’s not a love interest! Something from seeing his sprite enough now, does the dude wear a shirt because it doesn’t look like it?

Ankou

Oh my god he’s wild and not in a good way to start off! Ok he’s scaring me genuinely wow. But he is pretty…ok what is he even talking about. Oh and that’s it there’s the op. Well let’s see how this game goes!

[otome-mondays]

Virche Evermore -ErroR:Salvation- First Impressions 🥀

This will be my first time doing a first impressions post, since I started Radiant Tale before starting my blog, so quick rundown of how this works: I play through the prologue of a game (maybe part of the common route if a prologue is too short) and give my initial thoughts of the game and any love interests that appear. These posts are going to be relatively spoiler free for most the plot, but I won’t limit myself from spoilers of what I’ve seen for those who want to play a game completely blind. I am writing as I encounter things so if it seems all over the place then haha yeah it is!

Trigger/Content Warnings: violence, murder, suicide, body horror. Please be mindful of your triggers and don’t interact with this post if you’re not in the capacity to handle such topics! I’ve put a read more for those who would like to avoid these triggers. I am not aware of all the triggering content in this game yet, so please look up a full list if you feel the need!

For Virche Evermore, I played the prologue and Chapter 1 for this post. I am trying to do these posts before the first necessary dialogue choice, but because of how short the prologue was and how you only see 3 of the 6 LIs at that point I decided to wait until a bit later. I started playing January 15, 2024.

Also, I’ll note my most anticipated and least anticipated with the respective emojis: ✨ and 💥

General Thoughts

Oh my god this starts out so wild??? The prologue portion was INCREDIBLY short and I immediately saved after and it said Act 2 so was that Act 1? No clue. Anyways, this poor girl has gone through it. I feel so bad for Ceres. I don’t like that everybody but Salome ignores her essentially. Ok so I didn’t realize we’d be taking a Piofiore route of introducing religion but that’s fun. I struggle with games addressing religion sometimes because of some personal issues so I’m anticipating this game will take me a bit to get through like Piofiore: Fated Memories.

Mathis

He seems very nice! He’s definitely one of the pretty boy characters and I have a stellar track record of picking those ones as my favorite. I did think he was wearing a dress at first and then was sad for 0.3 seconds when I discovered he wasn’t.

Lucas ✨

Oh boy another pretty guy. We’re off to an amazing start people. I was not expecting his voice but it fits, they almost always do. OH HE’S A TEACHER COOL! I am begging for at least one of these guys to have a full on dress at some point please they’d all pull it off flawlessly. Especially Lucas or Mathis. Oh he’s coughing that’s not good…I wanna fix this fictional country’s problems just to save this dude from dying he’s too pretty.

Scien

I have seen this man for 10 seconds and he is already getting on my nerves omg. Now to be fair, he is another pretty boy character…they probably all are now that I think about it. I was not expecting that voice from him though.

Yves

Ok this is the cover art guy…immediate first thought is he’s a little strange. I’m 99% sure he’s that kid who saved her in the fire. Yeah he basically instantly confirmed that, cool. Oh sweet the game confirmed it quickly on too, makes my life a lot easier. Somebody with braincells yay!

Adolphe 💥

Ok so I started my thoughts here at the first official time he makes an appearance. Interesting, I like him more than I thought I would when I was just seeing his sprite. He’s got some braincells unlike most these people so that’s a win. What’s not a win is the older brother-little sister dynamic we have here! Cute for anybody that’s not a love interest! Something from seeing his sprite enough now, does the dude wear a shirt because it doesn’t look like it?

Ankou

Oh my god he’s wild and not in a good way to start off! Ok he’s scaring me genuinely wow. But he is pretty…ok what is he even talking about. Oh and that’s it there’s the op. Well let’s see how this game goes!

[otome-mondays]

Lover Pretend Review 💖

Another game I was very excited for! I don’t believe there are many trigger warnings asides from technical incest, but please look up a list in case there are!

Lover Pretend is focused on Chiyuki Ueda, a college student going to school to be a screenwriter. She is an orphan and is trying to search for her dad, as he wasn’t in her life. She works under her professor and mentor on a new movie, makes some friends, and then the story depends on the plot. One thing the main four routes have in common is that there is always a fake dating plot. As always, review order is how I played through the game!

Spoilers Ahead

Sena Yukito 📸

Since there didn’t seem to be much important on whether I started with Yukito, Harumi, or Kazuma, I gladly started with Yukito. Yukito here is a model with a rough reputation. He’s trying to transition over to being an actor, but to get a gig in the movie Chiyuki’s helping with he has to avoid scandals. Unfortunately, another model is kinda obsessed with him and wants to date him. This is where Chiyuki steps in and they have a fake relationship. It’s a cute route and I enjoyed it a lot! 8.5/10.

Makino Harumi 🖥️

Besides Yukito, I was interested in Harumi’s route as well. Because of that, I decided to go with him next. Harumi is the son and assistant of the director Chiyuki is helping with. Harumi is a secret anime and manga lover, and his dad disapproves of this. He’s also worried about being bullied, so he hides this fact from most people. When people from his college start catching on, he blames it on his girlfriend liking that stuff. What girlfriend? Well that’s going to be Chiyuki. This is where the fake dating plot kicks in. This route was another cute one, 8.5/10!

Kamikubo Kazuma 💇‍♂️

Being the last of the recommended ones before Riku, I moved on to Kazuma’s route next. Kazuma is Chiyuki’s best friend and is currently trying to get into Hair and Makeup for movies and shows. He’s an assistant to the hair and makeup crew for the movie Chiyuki is working on. Kazuma’s fake dating comes from Chiyuki going exploring on a set when she shouldn’t and him saving her from getting in trouble. Kazuma’s route was going smoothly until chapter 6, then it was unfortunately ruined for me. Wasted potential, Kazuma deserved so much better. 6/10.

Nishijima Riku 🎟️

Honestly I wasn’t really excited for his route and stalled a bit. I also got fixated on other things and left this game alone for longer than intended. Riku’s an actor who is trying to quit the industry. His fake dating comes from him trying to convince Chiyuki to pretend to be his fiancée to convince his dad to let him quit. He opens up to Chiyuki as the route progresses, and it’s a nice route after the disappointment of Kazuma’s route. 7.5/10.

Asagi Eiichirou 🖊️

The not so secret “secret” route. Asagi’s route is less focused on romance and more so on solving who Chiyuki’s dad is. Spoilers, but unfortunately this route is technically an incest route with a questionable age gap. The one good thing is it’s extremely short. 0/10.

Final Thoughts 💖

This is genuinely a very cute and lighthearted otome! This one was a lot shorter of a game too. Usually I easily put over 50 hours into a title listening to all the voices lines, but I didn’t make it past 35 with this one. I did skip most of Asagi’s route lines, but even then it’s not enough to where it would have that much of an effect I think. I liked the pretend time feature, but it could get a bit stressful at times. As for a route order, I recommend Kazuma/Harumi/Yukito -> Riku -> Asagi. Start with whoever of the first three you like the most, then move on to the other two, then Riku, and finish with Asagi’s route. If they didn’t fumble Kazuma’s route or have Asagi’s route, I’d rank it higher. 7.5/10.

Route: Yukito > Harumi > Riku > Kazuma > Asagi

LI: Yukito > Harumi > Kazuma > Riku > Asagi

Resources 📝

I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs and looked at the reviews from Otome Kitten and Blerdy Otome.

[otome-mondays]

Lover Pretend Review 💖

Another game I was very excited for! I don’t believe there are many trigger warnings asides from technical incest, but please look up a list in case there are!

Lover Pretend is focused on Chiyuki Ueda, a college student going to school to be a screenwriter. She is an orphan and is trying to search for her dad, as he wasn’t in her life. She works under her professor and mentor on a new movie, makes some friends, and then the story depends on the plot. One thing the main four routes have in common is that there is always a fake dating plot. As always, review order is how I played through the game!

Spoilers Ahead

Sena Yukito 📸

Since there didn’t seem to be much important on whether I started with Yukito, Harumi, or Kazuma, I gladly started with Yukito. Yukito here is a model with a rough reputation. He’s trying to transition over to being an actor, but to get a gig in the movie Chiyuki’s helping with he has to avoid scandals. Unfortunately, another model is kinda obsessed with him and wants to date him. This is where Chiyuki steps in and they have a fake relationship. It’s a cute route and I enjoyed it a lot! 8.5/10.

Makino Harumi 🖥️

Besides Yukito, I was interested in Harumi’s route as well. Because of that, I decided to go with him next. Harumi is the son and assistant of the director Chiyuki is helping with. Harumi is a secret anime and manga lover, and his dad disapproves of this. He’s also worried about being bullied, so he hides this fact from most people. When people from his college start catching on, he blames it on his girlfriend liking that stuff. What girlfriend? Well that’s going to be Chiyuki. This is where the fake dating plot kicks in. This route was another cute one, 8.5/10!

Kamikubo Kazuma 💇‍♂️

Being the last of the recommended ones before Riku, I moved on to Kazuma’s route next. Kazuma is Chiyuki’s best friend and is currently trying to get into Hair and Makeup for movies and shows. He’s an assistant to the hair and makeup crew for the movie Chiyuki is working on. Kazuma’s fake dating comes from Chiyuki going exploring on a set when she shouldn’t and him saving her from getting in trouble. Kazuma’s route was going smoothly until chapter 6, then it was unfortunately ruined for me. Wasted potential, Kazuma deserved so much better. 6/10.

Nishijima Riku 🎟️

Honestly I wasn’t really excited for his route and stalled a bit. I also got fixated on other things and left this game alone for longer than intended. Riku’s an actor who is trying to quit the industry. His fake dating comes from him trying to convince Chiyuki to pretend to be his fiancée to convince his dad to let him quit. He opens up to Chiyuki as the route progresses, and it’s a nice route after the disappointment of Kazuma’s route. 7.5/10.

Asagi Eiichirou 🖊️

The not so secret “secret” route. Asagi’s route is less focused on romance and more so on solving who Chiyuki’s dad is. Spoilers, but unfortunately this route is technically an incest route with a questionable age gap. The one good thing is it’s extremely short. 0/10.

Final Thoughts 💖

This is genuinely a very cute and lighthearted otome! This one was a lot shorter of a game too. Usually I easily put over 50 hours into a title listening to all the voices lines, but I didn’t make it past 35 with this one. I did skip most of Asagi’s route lines, but even then it’s not enough to where it would have that much of an effect I think. I liked the pretend time feature, but it could get a bit stressful at times. As for a route order, I recommend Kazuma/Harumi/Yukito -> Riku -> Asagi. Start with whoever of the first three you like the most, then move on to the other two, then Riku, and finish with Asagi’s route. If they didn’t fumble Kazuma’s route or have Asagi’s route, I’d rank it higher. 7.5/10.

Route: Yukito > Harumi > Riku > Kazuma > Asagi

LI: Yukito > Harumi > Kazuma > Riku > Asagi

Resources 📝

I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs and looked at the reviews from Otome Kitten and Blerdy Otome.

[otome-mondays]

Lover Pretend Review 💖

Another game I was very excited for! I don’t believe there are many trigger warnings asides from technical incest, but please look up a list in case there are!

Lover Pretend is focused on Chiyuki Ueda, a college student going to school to be a screenwriter. She is an orphan and is trying to search for her dad, as he wasn’t in her life. She works under her professor and mentor on a new movie, makes some friends, and then the story depends on the plot. One thing the main four routes have in common is that there is always a fake dating plot. As always, review order is how I played through the game!

Spoilers Ahead

Sena Yukito 📸

Since there didn’t seem to be much important on whether I started with Yukito, Harumi, or Kazuma, I gladly started with Yukito. Yukito here is a model with a rough reputation. He’s trying to transition over to being an actor, but to get a gig in the movie Chiyuki’s helping with he has to avoid scandals. Unfortunately, another model is kinda obsessed with him and wants to date him. This is where Chiyuki steps in and they have a fake relationship. It’s a cute route and I enjoyed it a lot! 8.5/10.

Makino Harumi 🖥️

Besides Yukito, I was interested in Harumi’s route as well. Because of that, I decided to go with him next. Harumi is the son and assistant of the director Chiyuki is helping with. Harumi is a secret anime and manga lover, and his dad disapproves of this. He’s also worried about being bullied, so he hides this fact from most people. When people from his college start catching on, he blames it on his girlfriend liking that stuff. What girlfriend? Well that’s going to be Chiyuki. This is where the fake dating plot kicks in. This route was another cute one, 8.5/10!

Kamikubo Kazuma 💇‍♂️

Being the last of the recommended ones before Riku, I moved on to Kazuma’s route next. Kazuma is Chiyuki’s best friend and is currently trying to get into Hair and Makeup for movies and shows. He’s an assistant to the hair and makeup crew for the movie Chiyuki is working on. Kazuma’s fake dating comes from Chiyuki going exploring on a set when she shouldn’t and him saving her from getting in trouble. Kazuma’s route was going smoothly until chapter 6, then it was unfortunately ruined for me. Wasted potential, Kazuma deserved so much better. 6/10.

Nishijima Riku 🎟️

Honestly I wasn’t really excited for his route and stalled a bit. I also got fixated on other things and left this game alone for longer than intended. Riku’s an actor who is trying to quit the industry. His fake dating comes from him trying to convince Chiyuki to pretend to be his fiancée to convince his dad to let him quit. He opens up to Chiyuki as the route progresses, and it’s a nice route after the disappointment of Kazuma’s route. 7.5/10.

Asagi Eiichirou 🖊️

The not so secret “secret” route. Asagi’s route is less focused on romance and more so on solving who Chiyuki’s dad is. Spoilers, but unfortunately this route is technically an incest route with a questionable age gap. The one good thing is it’s extremely short. 0/10.

Final Thoughts 💖

This is genuinely a very cute and lighthearted otome! This one was a lot shorter of a game too. Usually I easily put over 50 hours into a title listening to all the voices lines, but I didn’t make it past 35 with this one. I did skip most of Asagi’s route lines, but even then it’s not enough to where it would have that much of an effect I think. I liked the pretend time feature, but it could get a bit stressful at times. As for a route order, I recommend Kazuma/Harumi/Yukito -> Riku -> Asagi. Start with whoever of the first three you like the most, then move on to the other two, then Riku, and finish with Asagi’s route. If they didn’t fumble Kazuma’s route or have Asagi’s route, I’d rank it higher. 7.5/10.

Route: Yukito > Harumi > Riku > Kazuma > Asagi

LI: Yukito > Harumi > Kazuma > Riku > Asagi

Resources 📝

I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs and looked at the reviews from Otome Kitten and Blerdy Otome.

[blupengu]

[otome-mondays]

Blog Guidelines 📢

If you’d like to send in an ask or dm please do! All I ask is that you be respectful! As for a DNI, just the pretty standard lists you see out there. If you want more specifics, just send an ask or dm. 🇵🇸 I support Palestine. I do not want any minors following and interacting with me since I play otome of all ratings and won’t be censoring much.

[otome-mondays]

Blog Intro ⭐️

Welcome to my blog! I felt like making a space dedicated to talking about otome because I love the genre and only talk about it with a few people who aren’t as big on it as I am. Occasionally, I will talk about some other games as I love playing all sorts of games. I’ll be making posts on Mondays almost exclusively! I’m also mobile only so bear with any formatting issues! Please reblog and like! Reblogs help spread my content around to those who may be interested, so reblogs are preferred :)

About Me 🪷

Marigold, I’m in my 20s, mixed (native-white), and I’ve been playing otome titles for almost a decade now. I don’t have any plans of listing all my favs on this post but totally open to making a list/discussing my favs. I’ll try and keep my description of my blog the game I’m currently playing. I’m always open to asks or dms about progress updates on what I’m working on in case my blog is not up to date :)