(For those who aren't familiar with American cars, this is a Chevrolet Corvette. In other words … it's a Chevy. I am SO sorry. I could not resist the pun.)
I don't know if Chevalier will ever rise to a "favorite" of mine (if I had a nickel for every time he laughed dismissively, I'd be able to buy myself some fancy coffee), but I've come to the conclusion that it's actually his MC that drives me up the metaphorical wall. SPOILERRSSSS AHEAD if anyone still cares about that.
As a reader from North America, there's some amount of "otomeness" that I just accept, right? Oh, look, MC doesn't want to be affectionate in public, MC is innocent and adorable, MC is easy to read, etc. But when Chev's MC embraces that otome heroine stereotype hardcore, it gets way harder to handle.
I DESPERATELY wanted MC to challenge Chevalier far more than she does, whether that's in conversation or in action. The route would have been substantially stronger had she the ability to do so. Without being challenged either intellectually or situationally, Chevalier is both bored and boring. Since she can't mount an effective challenge to him, she's reduced to another plot mechanism to show him off - while simultaneously being incapable of doing just that. Because her understanding of him starts out at such a basic level ("It's a man … it's a beast … it's … a Chevalier!") and she rarely engages in challenging dialog with him beyond "DON'T KILL OMG", we have no means of learning about his character's depth. We just imagine it's there, because it must be. We get "I'll talk to them first because killing makes her sad", but we don't get any of the juicy thinking that underlies such changes.
She has some moments where she gets close (a.k.a. the ball and "aren't you being a little mean"), but when you're talking "love starved socially isolated man who has convinced himself that he is able to separate himself from his humanity and oh is also a killing machine", you've gotta be able to punch above your weight class. Calling him "mean" and holding onto his cloak ain't gonna cut it.
She also tends to nope herself out about everything under the sun. Nope, he's not a beast, he's a person. Nope, I was wrong, he's a beast. Nope, I don't want to see him, but nope again because actually, I do. I want to see him, but really nope, I don't. GIRL. Get it TOGETHER.
Because it's otome, we're supposed to assume that this is a fairytale "one true love" for them both and they'll be together forever. Honestly, the way she's written, I find this incredibly hard to believe. Maybe it's because I'm a jaded old fart, but it reads to me like he fell in love with her more because of a.) simple proximity, b.) emotional inexperience, and c.) lack of competition. Who else is he going to fall in love with, honestly? It's so otome, the guy never had a choice.
Though I wasn't a huge fan of the year of separation in the dramatic ending (thank you for stepping in and settling that BS, Clavis), I much preferred the dramatic ending overall. She got to run her own store, going so far as to establish a new booklending industry in Rhodolite. She got to be the source of her own success for once. The romantic ending, on the other hand, has Chevalier himself handing her an appointment for "palace librarian." She is the beneficiary of his gift rather than independently successful.
My first route was Clavis. He's actually the reason I started Ikepri, and I liked him much more than I thought I would - I tore through that storyline twice like nobody's business! In other words, he set a pretty dang high standard.
Next, there was Chevalier. Gotta understand Chevalier to understand Clavis, right? I got through both runs in decent time, though occasionally Chev's MC over-otomed me, and I would have to take a recovery break to handle my alarmingly berserk blood pressure.
I read one of Leon's routes after that, and he seemed like a cool dude. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do both, though, so I tried Yves. He is baby.
I next landed on Sariel's route. It had just been released, after all, plus he's purple and wears glasses for extra cool points. It didn't seem to be going much of anywhere for me at the start, but hey, you never know! It could ramp up!
Then I got to the first hint of romance, and ...
Oh. She fell off something (stairs? ladder? the floor?) because otome, but held onto her books also because otome because she treasures them greatly. He's kinda touched by the strength of her passions overcoming the instinctive fear of a fall, or something (i.e. she didn't catch herself). She thinks he's hot and possibly morally questionable. Yes, honey, he is both. He wouldn't wear a pant leg made of belts if he was just some normal guy.
I tried to go "aww" but found the impulse utterly missing. I wasn't even irritated, weirdly enough. Hello? Heart? You still in there?
... No response.
At that point, I stopped reading his route. I didn't change to another suitor, as I kept telling myself that I'd resume in a little bit. Of course, life happened, and there were days where I forgot to log in ... which is when the app started doing THIS:
The first time it happened: I guess that's kinda cute.
The secondish time: You already told me that.
The ??? time: Dammit Sariel, get over the punishment gag already. What are you, a minister or a one-trick pony??
The most recent time: YOU THINK YOU CAN PUNISH ME, DO YOU? FOOL. YOU HARDLY KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD. I'LL MAKE YOU TALK TO CLAVIS FOR 24 HOURS STRAI... hold up, am I getting dramatic at an app notification??
So I'm thinking that's a sign I probably should change routes now. :D (And block the notifications.) I just don't have a particular route I really want to start at the moment, so I must ponder. I am leaning towards avoiding Nokto, mostly because I Strongly. Dislike. Suitors. Getting all up in my MC's space, and I just have A Bad Feeling About This (TM) when it comes to him.
That still leaves:
Jin "I like the tiddies so much I got my own set" Grandet, either route
Leon, who is definitely a Good Guy but his armor looks too loose somehow, round 2
The actual Muffin Man, Yves*, round 2
Licht, who I understand has some Srs Probbems, either route
Luke "Eh" Randolph, who seems eh in turn?, either route
Or heck, I could just ride the roller coaster of bad decisions made with the best of intentions again. You do you in every route and event, Clavis, and I appreciate that. You do you.
*it is only thanks to this game that I know "Yves" is pronounced "eve." Not all "Yeh-ves" weird like I'd been saying it FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE. Thanks, otome! The more you know.
** I did not know anyone named Yves, so I never heard the name said out loud and just ... well, I'm gonna pronounce all the letters I see written unless someone tells me otherwise. That's how my brain rolls.
My feelings about Chevalier after playing Clavis' romantic route:
Me: Why do people love this guy? What am I missing? I guess I should read his route. It'll definitely portray him in a more sympathetic light since it's about him, so maybe I'll like him more.
Me after reading 15 or so parts of Chev's route: I think things got worse ...
It's not the carnage nor the coldness. I just can't stand it when people who are too intelligent for their own good will say what they mean in the worst possible way all the time because there's no WAY anyone who isn't an idiot could interpret it in a different manner, and the misinterpretation is obviously that other person's fault. (And usually, he - it's almost always a he - can't be assed to change or try harder, whether that's due to "efficiency" or because you should've been able to understand in the first place and therefore you are in the wrong.)
THIS IS BASICALLY CHEVALIER'S DEFAULT MODE.
But this is otome. So he's gotta be a little better than that by the end, right? ... right?
I haven't picked Romantic or Dramatic yet. I'm also dealing with a huge love/hate thing with his MC right now, so I just don't know which fork in the road to go with. I basically can't even with her angst mode anymore, so I dread her angsting even harder in one route or the other.
Rules: Tag 10 followers you want to get to know better.
I swear to fuck @21stcenturyinsomniac! You lived with me for four years. If you don’t know this shit by now we have some issues we’re gunna need to discuss, and by discuss I mean fight about. You wanna go you rotten tater tot?!
P.S. I’m stealing half you’re answers
Name: Kate
Birthday: October 5
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Mostly Straight
Relationship Status: Single Pringle
Zodiac Sign: libra
Siblings: Nope. There is all one of me. Makes sibing appreciation day slightly awkward....
Favorite color: black and silver and royal blue..... ok there are a lot of them but those are pretty much the main ones.
Pets: Two cats, one named Jezzabell (affectionately known as fat cat or butter ball) another named sky (semi-affectionately known as the spazz queen. Oh and a fish named Kev, but at 12:03 am his name switches to purple kush.... my friends named him for me
Favorite Artists: Black Veil Brides, Set it Off, Palaye Royale (the current new obsession), Demi Levato, Motley Crue, Sixx AM, honostly I like pretty much all music, but this is what is on my most recent playlist
Love or lust: Love.... most of the time
Lemonade or Iced Tea: Arnold Palmer!
Cats or Dogs: ummmmm both? Can I say that? Do we have a jury ruling on this one?
A Few Best Friends or Many Regular Friends: A few best friends, though I do like having a wide array of casual friends.
Television or Internet: Can I watch television on the internet?
Coke or Pepsi: (Diet) Coke
Wild Night Out or Romantic Night In: pretty even mix of both. depends on the night/day
Day or Night: Night. Definitly night. I think I sleep more during the day
Text or call: Call me bitches
Make up or au naturale: Ok so I like make up to some degree because I think it’s pretty nifty and generally makes my face look bammin slammin, however I don’t normally have the time or patience to do it.
Met a celebrity: Uh the guy who voices Phineas from Phineas and Ferb? The members of Set it Off. Juliet Simms. Random other people that I met at warped tour. Hal Holbrooke. Stephen Lang
Smile or eyes: So I love eyes. I definitely choose eyes. But if someones teeth are really weird it gets to me. Maybe cause of all the dental work I had to get done?
Light or Dark Hair: Dark
Intelligence or attraction: both. I need to be able to hold an intelligent conversation or debate with them but I need to also be attracted to them
Chapstick or Lipstick: Chapstick then you put on the lipstick and it stays on perfectly forevah!
City or Country: City with a pinch of country
Last song you listened to: technically the background music for the game Gangsters in Love (which you should all play). Actual song wise I think it was Hell and Back by Kid Ink (it’s my new theme song).
If you made it all the way to here then congrats! If you want to know more or have some lovely chit chat then send me something! I accept messages in the form of message, ask, carrier pigeon, smoke signals, morse code, yodeling, skywriting, pony express, and string can. So hit me up!
I guess I’ll tag some people now (you definitely don’t have to respond to this if you don’t want to, unless you’re Mia, then you have to do this....AGAIN).
@otomeproblems @thisdarkangel @nemovirum @ymas-bmth-ptv-and-more (you don’t follow me but I follow you and see your stuff all the time) @officialkoschei @ scarletshadow-posts @lovejoshuadun @bishler @anikinskywalkerslut @21stcenturyinsomniac (oh yeah I’m tagging you again bitch)
You know... I was just looking at that extensive list of apps that Voltage is asking us to choose to be revived... and suddenly i got really angry.
If Voltage overseas cannot afford to update that many apps, they should stop releasing new ones and focus their efforts on what is out there already. By releasing stories and stopping midway, they are losing the faith of their fans because we don’t know if we want to invest our time and money on something that will never reach a conclusion. I am definitely in that category.
But at the same time I understand how voltage overseas is also sort of “throwing baits” to see what app catches the crowd’s interest.
It’s really a chicken and egg situation isn’t it? Personally I am not going to bite any new bait if the old ones don’t keep coming.
I wished Voltage overseas would not give us, the fans, that kind of ultimatum: choose one app that would kill the hope for others. If you have the budget to update one story a month from these “dead” apps, then you should take turns, and give each app a chance. See it as “fan service”, if you want to keep your loyal following and our interest in your business.
But I don’t know, I am not running a business so I should not be giving what might be a stupid idea. But one thing is for certain, when Voltage overseas put up these kind of surveys, it makes me happy that one app will get a chance but it makes me thousand times sadder than the others won’t.
On the one hand, it’s good that my favorite otome guy is not as popular as others because he’s mine and mine alone~!
But on the other hand, liking a less popular guy means I don’t get to enjoy all the possible fanart, fanfiction, and headcanons that the fandom has to offer.
