Collar x Malice: Yuzuru Saeki (The best bad end)
*~*~*~*~* SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS ALL UP IN HURR LIKE NO OTHER! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!*~*~*~*~*
This bad end was quite possibly the best bad end ever, but most definitely was the best bad end of Collar x Malice. It was beautifully tragic and the CG that came along with it is stunning by its own right. Yuzuru Saeki was portrayed as the God, the savior that he has been for so many that have suffered, and the readers, if only for a brief moment, had an opportunity to witness it firsthand.
Saeki’s character and his dream of ‘absolute zero’ had such a Machiavellian (the end justifies the means) feel to it, that I couldn’t help but love him even more. He wanted to be the vessel to harbor all the guilt, the pain, the suffering, the despair and in the end take all the hatred in the world along with him upon his inevitable death. The ‘end’ would have been a world rid of malice, and the ‘means’ is the temporary yet necessary destruction facilitated by Adonis. Ultimately, what makes Saeki’s character so compelling is his willingness to sacrifice his whole physical and mental being to achieve this goal for what he thinks is for the greater good of humanity. I know he’s basically a psychopath but I just can’t help but have a special place for him in my heart.
During the common route, I already had my suspicions as to who was the culprit for collaring our lovely heroine. I narrowed down the main suspects to two, and once I got onto Yanagi’s route, my suspicions were sound. At the same time, however, there were many points where I was doubtful myself, and I could really relate to how Ichika felt once she finally acknowledged who the leader of Adonis really was. It was amazing how well that feeling of betrayal and disbelief was portrayed through the conversations and dialogue between characters where even the reader could feel the same sensation (or maybe it was just me because I love immersing myself into visual novels that way). I didn’t want to believe it myself because I absolutely love and adore Saeki so much. I mean just look at him when he’s wearing his Adonis outfit, I JUST CAN’T MY EYES CANNOT HANDLE THIS SEXY MAN ♥◡♥. But even if he was the leader of Adonis all along, I don’t particularly feel any contempt of less appeal for his character. In fact, it only makes me more curious to learn more about him and wonder what it would be like if you could pursue him as a romantic interest/route. His character is tremendously complex, as you see his quirks and personality in each route, but particularly in Enomoto’s route during Isshiki and Kazuki’s concert event. Every time I think about the event where he sacrificed himself to save another in Enomoto’s route, it really gets to me–after all, I’m secretly a twisted and sick person who always falls for the villains. In my weird fantasies I always imagine what it would be like for the leading protagonist to fall in love with the villain. In the end, just like Ichika, I can’t grow to hate him at all, but rather I think he is in his own right the tragic anti-hero who was doing the right things by the wrong means. My only gripe for his character development in the end was that I wasn’t convinced that Ichika and Saeki got a chance to have that meaningful dialogue regarding if their friendship was all just built upon lies from the very beginning. In my mind I like to think that their friendship was real and that Saeki may have even harbored a strange fascination for Ichika that may have eventually developed into love. Maybe in my deepest and darkest fantasies, Ichika and Saeki could have lived a happily ever after. A GIRL CAN DREAM (ಥ﹏ಥ).
For a full Collar x Malice Review: Click here!