[神なる君と] 天津国星縁尊 (Mikoto) + Final thoughts
Finally!!!!!!! I sacrificed one night’s sleep to finish this route, but I did it! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و
I had originally planned to spread it out over a couple of days, but there was a lot of recap of stuff we already know here, so I got kind of impatient and rushed through some of it. So apologies if some of the minor details are off. I got all the important bits I think.
- Amatsu-kunihoshi-en-no-Mikoto -
Is it just me or does his silhouette give off a HAIR METAL / 1970s Alice Cooper vibe???
Mikoto is the former God of Kunihoshi Shrine who gave his position over to Sakuya for some reason. He is kind of a comedic/jokester character, but occasionally reveals a deeper and more serious side, much like Yakumo-nii-san.
His route happens if Sakuya chooses to help him grant his wish instead of investigating the school haunting rumours. Her first task is to time-skip slightly into the future, on hoshimatsuri night, to take a message for future-Mikoto.
After she arrives she sees her future self running along the river searching for Mikoto and crying. Yorihito stops her from talking to her future self, and tells her that Mikoto is under the tree in the shrine. She finds him and passes along the message, which is to ask him if his wish has been granted.
He replies yes, but he wishes he had done a better job and made ‘her’ understand his actions.
Back in the present, she asks Mikoto what that’s all about but he doesn’t want to tell her. The rest of the route is basically her process of figuring out his secrets.
The side arcs in the other routes are briefly recapped here, except each one now reveals something important about Mikoto’s worldview. Following the order that they appear in:
This time Mikoto tells them straightaway that Nisei has travelled here from the past through a time warp, and has to return. Sakuya accepts his views, and he tells her that every beautiful meeting has to eventually end in parting, and that the memories not only tie us to the future, but they also drive us forward... It’s kind of like his ‘going away speech’ in a way, but Sakuya doesn’t know that at this point.
‘YOU no DOGEZA = VERY BEAUTIFUL datta-ze!’ #yuri<3
The Sanshin tell Sakuya that they sympathise with Mikoto, because he has been on the receiving end of much hate and anger from people whose wishes he wasn’t able to grant.
Later Sakuya asks him if he hates people, and he turns the question back to her. She replies that people come in many different personalities, and he agrees. He thinks that it’s his misdeed that he wasn’t able to save everyone. But Sakuya feels that he has done nothing wrong - to which he thanks her and says that her kindness has saved him time and again.
‘You...! Be my grrrl.’ #kunugi<3
This ends in pretty much the same way as in Yakumo’s route. Aki tells Sakuya that things worked out for the best, because love between a human and a supernatural being is bound to end in tragedy. Sakuya realises that there are other alternative endings besides ‘happily ever after’. She ofc thinks of Mikoto,... and so she goes and asks him if he has ever been in love. He tells her that gods have to love everyone and everything equally (including Yorihito and miscroscopic bacteria lol).
Then he tells her that she is very important to him, and that he prays for her happiness.
After hearing rumours about evil spirit moaning in the old school building, Sakuya wonders if Rei is having stomachaches XD.
Anyway, here Fuu-san again confides in Sakuya about his friend Yuuya, and she wonders if there’s a way to ease his pain. Mikoto says it’s possible to erase his memories, but Fuu-san would refuse to do so. He believes that there are some painful histories that one just has to live with - and surprisingly Sakuya accepts his view. I feel like she is accepting too much in this route XD.
.: Going back to Mikoto’s backstory, we already know about the 1000-year-old love story between the miko and the Great Demon from the other routes, but we missed a few key points which are revealed here:
1. The sesshouseki itself is not the Demon’s remains. It’s a fragment of a star that was used to absorb the Demon’s curse/evil energy. And Mikoto is the living embodiment of this stone.
2. The Demon’s remains are actually buried under the *magical tree* in the yard of the shrine. And his spirit communicates to Sakuya and others through this tree.
3. The 1000-year promise: Before the Demon’s death, Mikoto promised to watch over his remains to prevent the curse from escaping. This would only work for 1000 years, so after that time, Mikoto promised to absorb all the curse energy himself and disappear from the face of the earth.
What actually happened is that 10 years ago on hoshimatsuri night, when Mikoto was supposed fulfil his promise and disappear, he hesitated and started crying under the tree, because he was afraid of death. Child Sakuya came over to comfort him, and ended up in the energy transfer danger zone.
So, to save her from dying from the curse, Mikoto decided to make her a Goddess 10 years later to build ‘immunity’, and then on hoshimatsuri night transfer all her curse energy back onto himself and disappear as promised. At first he didn’t want to tell her all this, but she’s super しつこい so eventually he told her everything.
Sakuya found herself falling for Mikoto and didn’t want him to disappear, so she asked Yorihito how to prevent his plan from working using her Goddess powers. On hoshimatsuri night, she successfully stops Mikoto from fulfilling his promise, and seals it with a kiss.
Because the curse energy remained in her body, she grew weaker and weaker and died three months later. THE END.
Good end: Mikoto can’t get over Sakuya’s death, so 1 year later on hoshimatsuri, he decides to use the same time-travel method (and the power of Sakuya’s amulet) to go back in time and stop her from thwarting his epic disappearance plan. Everyone supports him - except Yakumo, who thinks that Mikoto shouldn’t force his own plan against her will. He wants Mikoto to do what makes them both happy, even if it means defying Fate.
Sooo, Mikoto goes back in time... to 11 years ago, before hoshimatsuri night. He finds child Sakuya on the shrine grounds, and gives her an amulet and sends her away, telling her NOT TO COME HERE TONIGHT.
...With that taken care of, nighttime comes and he proceeds to fulfil his promise. But to his surprise, Sakuya shows up again - to give him back his amulet and tell him to stop being an #emosadface. He is all like #headpalm #Orz #omgthismustbeFATE.
In that moment he decides that, instead of letting the curse transfer take place this time, he will try to fight it so that no-one has to die. Basically the same thing that Yuzuru did for Yakumo in all his routes = Zzzzzzz (fight the curse while sleeping). At the last moment, he tells Sakuya that he’s going away for a while, but promises to meet again someday.
Loop back to the beginning of the game, except in this new alternative future, 17-year-old Sakuya has a more enlightened view on religion and shittier luck in omikuji. In the shrine, she meets Mikoto once again - and this time she remembers him from her childhood meeting, and he is willing to tell her the whole Kami Naru Kimi to story, with no secrets.
[Thoughts] Let me first take a moment to marvel at the coherence of the whole story......
Mikoto’s route wasn’t as much a tearjerker as I thought it would be. Or maybe I was just too tired/brain-dead to cry at 3am _(:3」∠)_. It also doesn’t feel much like a romance love story. I mean Mikoto was preparing for his *ultimate demise* and in no mood for a relationship for the most part lol. So a lot of Sakuya’s actions/thoughts felt very one-sided.
It was nice that the recaps of the four side story-arcs were kept short (I guess for the benefit of those who didn’t see all of them? not sure if possible to get to the hidden route without unlocking all four events, but anyway).
Piecing together the info from the other routes, I had some guesses as to what the ‘full picture’ was... but this route totally took it in a different direction than what I was expecting. I kind of figured from Sakuya’s surname (「神」 and 「木」) that she’s the descendant/reincarnate of the spirit who lives in the tree, who must be Mikoto’s old lover from 1000 years ago. Lolol was I wrong about that XDDD - although I think my version would’ve made a more romantic story. ^_~
Overall, I like how the route challenged/changed Mikoto’s views about the impenetrability of Fate. You come away with the feeling of understanding a lot more: why gods exist, the true purpose of prayer, why individual wishes are/aren’t fulfilled, the role of free will, etc.
‘I have come to show you the Truth... with my really nice hair’ ;)
(It does make me sad that in the good ending version of events, some of the characters probably never got a chance to meet - e.g. Narumi & Mikoto, Yuzuru/Rei and everyone else.)
As I feared, there was no clear explanation for Rei’s existence. In the ending it’s revealed that he is/was a 生霊 (a soul that got separated from a living body), and that after Narumi failed to send him off to the other world during hoshimatsuri, he ended up in hospital and was able to recover his body (and some temporary memory loss) with Aki’s help.
...Which STILL doesn’t explain who he is, and how he landed in this condition, AND in his own ending why he disappeared for 10 years and came back as a living human... Unless I missed something in my haste, but I doubt it. Otomate was probably counting on the fact that nobody would fall in love with Rei so nobody cares. But I want some answers damnit!!
Also, Yorihito makes a brief appearance here in his human form. #wtf O_o
...This is probably where Yakumo’s catchphrase ‘細かいことは気にしなくていい’ comes in handy. スルーしようと思います...
IN SUMMARY, ranking of routes from favourite to ...less favourite (there were no bad routes, I honestly enjoyed all of them and I thought all the characters were awesome in their own way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯):
Yuzuru > Yakumo > Mikoto >/≃ Narumi ≃ Rei
Ranking of side arcs from fav to less fav.:
Fuu-san > Aki/Kunugi > Sanshin > Yorihito/Nisei
[N.B.] I actually started KamiKimi as a break from Diabolik Lovers More Blood - I’m about 3/4 of the way through Mukami Ruki’s route, and can confirm that this guy has no redeeming features whatsoever. It’s doubtful whether I’ll be able to sit through the rest of his story to get to his (hopefully sweet) ending. At least KamiKimi was a nice world where Sakurai Takahiro’s character is actually ahem *NOT AN ASSHOLE*.
(Low bar, I know, but DLMB challenges my view of common decency every time I open it...)
(Also Mikoto cried/had many emotional outbursts towards the end of the route, which is a side of Sakurai-sensei that I have never heard before. Not sure how I feel tbh. Like Sakuya in the game, I actually prefer his funny/lighthearted persona more.)
Also I’ll probably be busy with exams + school stuff for most of this month, so it would be a good idea to go for more fun/relaxing games that are not so heavy and tragic.
One recent discovery is an old game by Broccoli called 「恋戦隊 LOVE& PEACE the P.S.P」 , which is based on the Power Rangers concept (all my childhood dreams are coming true...! *≧ω≦*) ... I previewed a chapter or so and it seems absolutely hilarious, although it’s not fully voiced so the reading part will be a P in the A but HIT ME UP YO.
And ofc, there will always be drama CDs to save the day...
