oopsies i held off on posting my shioB thoughts because i thought shioA would come right after. i did write it before starting the next route though so its a little time capsule
SHIODOME B:
shiodome continues to be my favorite. loved this route digging more into the group panic. it made me think a lot about how in the first route of the game everything scared me because i had no idea how the game was set up. the scratching, the visions, the shadow of a person on the second floor. now that i know this island and these people more i know when theyre freaking themselves out. this couldve been such a different feeling route if it came earlier. it was fun to return to a victim oosaki since i played this right after aomi’s route. the post-island stuff made my heart ache so bad (more under cut)
SHIODOME A:
really liked how this one felt a bit shorter but was a really really satisfying length. i got scared initially because of it showing oosaki as the silhouette since its been showing the partner every time before this point. the amount of shiodome and toyosu it was like this was MADE for me. i laughed really hard at toyosu trying to screw over oosakis lie in front of ariake about the fastenings. oosaki says things so confidently im still like “dude... is that true...? Ok man ill trust you”
the way this route went was not at all how i expected shiodome A to go! i really liked it though!! what a sweetie my heart hurt SO INSANELY BAD at the end in a good way i was wailing. i laughed a lot about shiodome slightly misremembering the title of And Then There Were None. its also like man... maybe i shouldve read it before this... sorry ooe sorry owen. But it did make that one reveal really good. i thought it was suspicious but i didnt have the knowledge to put it to words! (more under cut)
SHIODOME B:
its so enjoyable when ooe uses the visual novel medium well to cause anxiety. i control the rate of the text and the images onscreen are usually static. going through different routes with similar beats steels my expectations. so when i receive a moving shadow skittering across the screen towards me during a moment ive experienced before in which there WAS no shadow my heart drops to my ass. i knew oosaki was hallucinating but it was scary lol. i loved seeing mei on the ceiling! and the group hallucinations of funeno and the green sky!!
felt really really good that this route is the one in which the man oosaki is with is depicted as revolting and scary in oosakis eyes too. oosaki KNOWS hes killed funeno, he sees him distorted and terrifying, he thinks hes crazy but its too late to run away because shiodome is his safe haven and ariake is bleeding out beyond the walls of the kitchen. that scene and the choice to say shiodome is crazy was really fun. i liked having a choice that meant nothing. oosakis hair changing color is so stupid but i love it so its ok. AND I LOVE HIM SEEING HIMSELF THROUGH SHINKIBAS EYES... UGH!!
of course shinkiba and shinagawa hate shiodome. he ATE oosaki. but it crushed me to watch oosaki say hes inhuman and shiodome is inhuman too and they can never be with humanity. crushed me that oosaki hates his teacher because how could he teach shiodome about human love, human touch, human kindness, when this monster can never fully appreciate or experience it? you taught shiodome how to be lonely and the only person that can fix it and be fixed by it is oosaki. even SHIZUMA is like Wow i fucked up bad. i like shizuma trying to look out for him though. like, i really really really like it. everyone knows this is bad. and this is the first time oosaki and his partner have been so close. its sweet but terrifying. the whole post-island sequence is eating a bunch of sweets and going Damn yum but you know your tummy is gonna hurt sooo bad in 5 minutes
also this was another route where i felt the sex scene was really useful to the characterization. i loved them wanting to eat each other yes!!!!! and oosaki trying so hard to feel good/make shiodome feel good but he cant stop thinking about shinagawa trying to kill him UGH. PERFECT. CINEMA. shiodome talking a lot is good too also congrats shiodome youre the first man with visible pubic hair! yippee!
SHIODOME A:
it charmed me a lot how oosaki finally wanted to talk and vocalized that. even if it was to bait toyosu out. im so glad we got to finally confront toyosu about the phone MAN!!! its been a long time coming. hilarious juxtaposition to shijoumae route with shijoumae in this one being so stupid about the phones. hate him
ive been enjoying how funeno’s discussion of “no fires after lights out or itll Get You” has not come back tangibly but is evoked to cause fear briefly. same with the scratching oosaki hears the first night at the mikazuki. adelta really understands what the player is thinking very very well. ariake coming in with the candle made me SCREAM i thought we were gonna go into it because!! shiodome B was so supernatural through the mass hysteria!!! but nope
i adore toyosu. his voice acting is so incredibly good. ever since aomi first said his name was toyosu rouren i was like... “rouren is so close to lauren... thats weird. thats Weird” and then here comes LAURENCE!!! ugh fantastic. oosaki can only shoot the gun when toyosu tells him there are no more bullets. he shoots to prove he can, but all he actually does is reinforce that toyosu can play him EASILY. and of course he would try to shoot again. now im even more interested in why toyosu is doing all this, what his crime is... it must have to do with the death of children and the war. im also hoping he is in fact a doctor and was doing abortions
speaking of having very particular knowledge i didnt even think about komuse recognizing hinode thats so scary. because like, id just assume hed recognize shiodome. but then he recognized aomi too. toyosu knows aomis full name. he has to be super super connected to the organizer even higher than shizuma. maybe he IS the organizer like the game wants you to think but i do feel like he is working with hinode considering how close they are. but i bet adelta knows im thinking that. toyosu probably knows oosakis first name huh...
Mr Shiodomes Voice Actor was really going all out this route. his desiccated voice acting after being stabbed was so funny. being angry at oosaki while in jail was so funny. and then my heart breaks when he gets out and launches himself at oosaki... how he wants to make lunch for him and shinagawa... how he wants shinagawa to have his straw hats and be a good wife even if he cant be a human or a good person
oosaki having a real house now and giving shiodome the childs room is so insanely sweet. UGHHHHHHHh my heart explodes. super happy shinagawa and shiodome are the same just that one was able to get help. LOVE AND PEACE!!! LOVE AND PEACE shinagawa please get along well with him. i wouldve loved shinkiba to meet him too i miss him a lot. havent read the shonan story yet so im really hoping its there
also its still making me laugh a lot that oosaki went "(i have to keep this conversation on track...) Your teacher could be a pedophile" he actually has rocks in his brain. Also x2 i like funeno and sukekiyo talking abt shizuma calling him funeno-kun oh thats why you hate shiodome huh. he killed your guy. the shizuma-sukekiyo stuff is still vague to me idk idk thats all i got
it's getting really hard to take screenshots without a cg involved that also has some text i really like
loved it. this one felt so bad. it got so bad im rooting for a rapist dude
(which was very interesting to go through as the reader. having to reflect on where my line in the sand is for what is worse and when is it worse, why i feel this way even though no person should go through it)
unlike shio B where i knew why things were happening and how it was impacting the characters i had no idea where we would go with shijoumae. it was a fantastic route for a horrible doctor though i was cheering. i swear i was cheering even though every cheer sounded like despair ok. more thoughts below
keeping oosaki drugged through most of it was so fun. i had no idea what i was going to think was worse while experiencing it: did everyone get picked up off the island and shijoumae stayed with oosaki? is everyone avoiding oosaki? did everyone get killed? and if they did, was it by shijoumae or was it mutual destruction? was it violent or was it another use of anesthesia?
speaking of, totally shocked me how late in the general/ariake B route it starts. props to shijoumae for reeling oosaki away from ariake somehow. also i loved how no one went to help oosaki and just stood there when he was trying to do CPR. and i love him taking the ravona. really says a lot about how suicidal he was at that moment
im aligned enough with oosaki that he started climbing down the well and i was like man of COURSE you have to climb down the well you have to check. i really liked the CG for it too because i was squinting at it before advancing the text thinking “okay, its green. theres a corpse or oosaki is hallucinating. i dont know which is happening and i cant parse whats down there” so for a bit i was thinking oosaki could be hallucinating the corpses
shijoumae is such a slimy little freak he is so HARD TO CATCH. it really does make you want oosaki to beat him over the head despite the fact that is ruining oosaki in the process. i am SO fascinated by shijoumae saying the “hinode-kun inside of him” made the paper crane. what an incredible little way to pull on me and make me think about his past, what made him the man he is today. And does that even matter because he has ruined so many lives beyond repair
broke my heart seeing oosaki reflect and think about the ariake B route he couldve had if he had just DONE something... the fact he thinks it would be a better life, the fact it really IS a better life, the fact he could have a life better than ariake B but he doesnt even think its possible. and it isnt anymore
i cheered so incredibly loud when shizuma saved him... i think its really interesting that oosaki wouldve committed suicide if it were shinkiba or shinagawa but he cant do it with shizuma. the little look we get into shizuma makes me even more excited for his route with how happy shizuma seemed and then how he claims he’ll die too if oosaki dies. i dont believe him. especially after talking to akiko and learning shizuma is sukekiyo which i 100% believe i just dont know the how or why of it. what a fascinating critter...
akiko is so funny. she is actually so awesome for trying to hook oosaki up with shijoumae again. very interested in the servants they have; it feels really really bad that they are so young. i had seen the art of shijoumae with his fam before and i thought they were his kids! i thought they were his kids when i saw them too but they... arent. which makes sense considering the relationship shijoumae and akiko have but it is a really bad look. Its a really really bad look shijoumae. especially after him offering oosaki anything he wants (even a PERSON) in this route and offering to adopt hinode in takeshibas. Massive yikes
its terrible that oosaki dies before shijoumae in this route. i love it because i know there are better worlds oosaki can live in so i feel like i can dive into this one and roll around in the mud. at the very end of his life he still couldnt get the world to see this war criminal for what he is and dies with that monster by his side
now i wanna discuss where my mind is with shizuma
so shizuma has discussed sukekiyo as someone he thought of all the time and felt that sukekiyo felt the same about him. he has hallucinations of sukekiyo and his son but rather than be rid of them he wants to not be grossed out by it. his father loved sukekiyo and not him. love comes into being once it is accepted by the other. he didnt Love sukekiyo, he just couldnt stop thinking about him and had to remove him for his own peace of mind and happiness. like sukekiyo was something in the way. his crime is that he killed his OLDER brother and son. sukekiyos wife apparently knows about this and is distant
i assume the letters are from an to sukekiyo and her jealousy of him and his wife
but shizuma is sukekiyo.
so the organizer either, like akiko, is ignoring the fact that sukekiyo is pretending to be shizuma and placing that crime as if shizuma did it... OR doesnt know. the organizer knows so many things about everyone that i find it hard to believe he wouldnt know. surely the organizer is pretending
we could also assume the organizer himself is shizuma/sukekiyo, and i do think he is VERY close to the organizer, but i just dont think he is. i dont think he has the desire to place them on the island like that... either he is working with organizer or the organizer is taking advantage of the daiba family connections to do these things
also i wonder if shijoumaes grimace when oosaki says he is shizuma is related to this swap, considering his wife knows. but akiko seems to know more than shijoumae in general
and then, why desire for oosaki to be his younger brother? he doesnt want to be sukekiyo, but he wants to be an older brother still. does he just want to try again? maybe his love for shizuma was rejected but hes hoping oosaki will reciprocate it and make it real. HMM
anyways great route. absolutely loved it. it felt awesome and awful
PUREEEEE CINEMAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! i loved every moment with this. i still have a lot to do with getting perfects and doing better at beatspell but holy shit dude. it felt so good. Thank you freaks of the world
played multiplayer with some oomfs too and it was absolutely killing me its so good
super super super fun for a month and then i fell off... i think it just doesnt have enough slow burn or drama to keep me interested. i unlocked SO many things so insanely quickly. but i also understand that people just dont have the attention span for slow burn stuff anymore... too many things are vying for your attention
i had so much fun making all my little booboos in this and making them say stupid stuff i put a lot of time into it for that. Also very glad there is no censor
brother if youre even next door neighbors to sexual material and see any random chara looking like an oc nowadays its from this damn game
i tried it out ages ago because i thought it was interesting to be a free seemingly in-depth browser game but i just kept going into the sewers and losing my clothes. tried again with the + mod and it clicked i had a lot of fun grinding money out and 1tapping all the rapists while i tried to figure out who i even liked
whitney can suck my nuts i just beat the shit out of him any time he bothered me. fuck the great hawk FUCK ALL THE FOREST/MOOR GUYS MAN. this games crazy for having such taboo or specific kinks but there are so many simple things that arent there and you cant ever have a consensual encounter without you starting all of it even if youre like oh yeah sure!. relatedly it was so annoying trying to maneuver peoples dicks because you as the player cannot tell people what to do you just have to keep knockin their dick away. be so for real dude. anyways
robin was fine. i thought id really like kylar i dated him and was super chill with him until he kidnapped me and now i just beat him up if he tries any bullshit. we couldve had a life together dumbass. sydney is funny but i will complain about this in the next paragraph. averys great but only as a sugar daddy. alex is i guess the only decent one the farming is fine
My complaint is every character i went "oh yeah lets fuck him" about I COULDNT FUCK? or i could under EXTREMELY specific bad end circumstances. Are you kidding me im in the sex game and i cant sex up the guys i like what is this
anyway i made all my money edging guys at the spa and jerkin off into cups at the cafe. pretty funny but then i lost any reason to keep playing bc wtf even is there to do now. its impressive how much there is in the game though and how easily you can start to tune out all the constant reminders of your genitalia
tried years ago to play this and got insanely problematic rage gapped so i put it down. picked it up again and it clicked so hard. i love the rhythm deflect aspect and that it isnt as scary as dark souls bc im a COWARD! every time i got killed i thought "yep i hesitated". isshin youre the best you unshackled me from my anger. hesitation is defeat. love you peepaw
ive got nothing to say about the lore kuros my son sorry to do that to you i dont know the bullshit i gotta do for a special ending. What a fucking fun game dude. Wolf youre so sexy. i love the old fucks at the fountainhead palace also
game of strong as fuck old men and DING DING DING DING DING deflects
worlds smallest image for this cover. read it to understand a certain stupid surgeon better. i enjoyed it it was a fun read! reading it entirely for a better understanding of shijoumae WAS funny though he really bases his whole idea of what society should be like on kappa. lets just turn people who lose their jobs into MEAT. FUCK EM!
i wanted to practice serious translation w/ ooe so i did the shounan views stuff w takeshiba :P
vvv TL below vvv
It was a Sunday with not a cloud in the sky. The Katase winds blew against the large plaster walls of Aqua World. The aquarium, built earlier in the year, towered over the seaside, and the concrete still smelled freshly poured. It had been built around a circular atrium that housed a large pool in the center. The water was a deep blue, as if they had scooped out part of the ocean during construction.
We were on the rooftop. Shinbashi-san was frantically looking through his binoculars.
“...And? Can you say with absolute certainty that he'll be here?”
“He will,” I replied.
A few days ago, a pearl ring used by Shinbashi-san’s theatre troupe went missing. The members of the troupe claimed they saw a hired cleaner running from the warehouse. I was entrusted with doing a background check on him, and I found a rumor with some merit much sooner than expected.
“It seems he goes around pilfering goods and pawning them off,” I said.
“A repeat offender made even more pathetic by stealing away with our play’s most crucial prop...”
“At the very least,” I offered, “he hasn’t sold it off yet.”
“You mean to say, he still...” Shinbashi-san trailed off.
“Correct. He was bragging at his usual bar about how he’d ‘give the ring to his new partner at the dolphin show this weekend’.”
And today was the day.
“There’s our man!” Shinbashi-san shouted after a moment. A man I recognized was on the other side of the building, standing at the edge of the crowd on the second floor.
“Aha, and that must be the partner next to him.”
“You see her?” I asked. I borrowed the binoculars from him, but I couldn’t see who he was talking about. “I only see a man next to him.”
“Then his partner is a man.”
The two happily linked their arms together.
The strong sunlight blinded me, and I put down the binoculars instinctively. “...That doesn’t surprise you?”
“Hm?”
“Two men being together, I mean...”
“On the contrary, I feel no particular way about it. It’s fairly common among actors, thus, I hold no parti pris.”
Shinbashi-san’s true self continued to surprise me.
“We have more pressing matters at hand! Such as how unfathomably, insufferably hot it is!”
“Try to bear with it. He’ll be caught red-handed once he takes the ring out.”
“Oh, how I yearn to tear into the fool right now, but... I suppose your logic is sound.”
“The only issue is...” I paused. “When he’ll pull it out.”
“Obviously, it shall be during the ring jump.”
Obviously, the ring jump...?
A ball and hoop were lined up on the stage by the pool. They were toys for the dolphins that glittered like jewels from the water’s reflection. The most radiant of all the toys was the hoop suspended above the pool.
“The highlight of this show is the dolphin jump,” he said. “He must be using the moment it flies through the hoop as his opportunity! ...W-Well, if... If it were me, I’d... I’d take the ring out at the most spectacular moment of the show!”
“Are you... getting excited about this?”
“What are you talking about? Does it look like I’m anything other than livid?”
Shinbashi-san must not have any self-awareness of his own feelings fighting within him. The expectations of a dreamer and the rage of a theatre manager. Still, he was as insightful as I expected from a playwright. He could read people’s feelings as if they were at his very fingertips.
Regardless, we couldn’t make our move until the show started.
Soon enough, lighthearted music filled the venue. The sound of the sea faded away, and the audience’s focus honed in on the stage. A mascot with a spring in its step appeared onstage. It had a white, crooked body, big black eyes, and feet that, I assumed, were supposed to be fins. It’s... whitebait, I guess?
“Ladiiies and gentlemeeen! Boys and girls!” the mascot yelled.
“...Takeshiba-san?”
“What?”
“That voice in the mascot suit is Takeshiba-san.”
“You must be hearing things,” Shinbashi-san replied as he huffed out a laugh. “You do have your wits about you enough to recognize we’re at Aqua World’s dolphin show, yes? A man like Takeshiba-san wouldn't be called upon for even the opening act.”
I saw no reason to defend myself. “I... suppose you’re right,” I said, but now my attention had been fixed on the performance, despite having more important things to do.
“Welcome to the Shounan Aqua World! I’m so happy you came to see Mr. Dolphin! I’m Mr. Dolphin’s best buddy, Mr. Whitebait! My dad’s an anchovy!”
There was distortion in the microphone and sometimes a shrill screech of microphone feedback. I felt bad thinking it, but the cheapness of it reminded me even more of Takeshiba-san.
“Before Mr. Dolphin visits, I have some promises to make with everyone! Are you ready, people?”
“I’m ready!” the children screamed.
“Thank you, thank you!” Mr. Whitebait responded. “Number 1! Mr. Dolphin loves shiny things! He’ll put anything in his mouth, mmkay? So don’t throw things into the pool, alright? Do we understand, people?”
“We understand!” the children shouted in unison.
“Thank you, thank you! Number 2! Mr. Dolphin loves pranks! He may splash all his friends on the first floor. Please put your cameras and toys away so they stay nice and dry, okay?”
The children responded with cheers while the adults clapped. Mr. Whitebait was great at handling the crowd. He moved with calm intention, responding to each spectator’s voice, and I could feel the crowd warming up. Other customers were being drawn in by his cheery demeanor.
“I think we’re about ready for Mr. Dolphin! Let’s count to three and call over Mr. Dolphin and his friend! Ah, I almost forgot! I say friend, but he’s actually a regular human pal of Mr. Dolphin’s! Ready? One, two, three, Mr. Do—”
“RUUUUN!!!”
A gruff man’s scream rang through the venue. I felt the blood rush from my face.
Behind the large pool was a smaller one for holding the dolphins, and the door underwater to connect them was still closed. There was a three meter wall that separated the stage from the pool. The dolphin cleared that wall and landed in the large pool.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
Everyone was stunned by the impressive jump. ...And that meant that the warning reached their brains too late.
The dolphin jumped to the stage and bit into Mr. Whitebait’s side.
“GWAAAAUUUUH!”
Keeping its momentum, it slid from the stage and pulled him underwater. The last thing the microphone picked up before failing was the sound of it sinking into the pool. With Mr. Whitebait still in its mouth, the dolphin swam around the pool, as if trying to stir the water.
It would surface at some points just to return to the depths.
...What in the world were they making us watch?
The dolphin keeper, covered in sweat, appeared from backstage. Like us, he stood dumbfounded at the sight before him. Then, his expression changed, and he shot a look offstage somewhere. Even more upbeat music started playing over the scene, and he began to speak.
“Hello, everyone! I’m the trainer, the friend Mr. Whitebait mentioned! Welcome to our special summer show, ‘Our Ocean Friends’! Actually, the show’s already started!”
A shocked noise escaped me.
“Mr. Dolphin here’s a carnivore! He loves squishy fish like squid and octopus! That’s why he’s so full of energy!”
“Wow,” Shinbashi-san said.
“This is bad, Shinbashi-san!” I yelled back. “There’s been an accident!”
“Certainly, the itinerary is ruined, but the spectators look pleased. Would you not consider this to be a successful show?”
“Wh—!?”
The audience had been frozen over in shock, but smiles were starting to show on a few of the faces. The keeper that had screamed was clapping to a beat and encouraging the crowd. They were poking fun at Mr. Whitebait at a breakneck pace.
This couldn’t be described as a show any longer.
It was hell.
That was it.
That had to be it.
The voice, the gestures, the nightmarish luck.
Mr. Whitebait must've been Takeshiba-san.
The show was over the moment Takeshiba-san was hired.
The dolphin suddenly sped up and flung Mr. Whitebait into the air. The centrifugal force spun him quickly and sprayed water everywhere. I was suddenly reminded of a conversation during one of our drinking parties.
“Oosaki-kun, didja hear? They’re sellin’ dolphin sashimi,” Takeshiba-san had said.
I had replied, “That’s unusual. Should we buy some?”
“Whoa, no! I was tryna chit-chat ‘bout how nasty it is to eat ‘em. They’re messengers of God in the West. Folks say they yank your soul away.”
Mr. Whitebait suddenly stopped. Luckily, he got caught in the suspended hoop. The dolphin was right underneath, laughing at him with its high-pitched squeaks.
I was just grateful he was safe...
My relief was short-lived, as Shinbashi-san pitched forward in a different direction.
“Detective! He’s on the move!” he yelled as he watched through his binoculars. “The thief’s countenance shifted just now!”
I wondered what he was talking about, and he continued.
“He has a deathly serious look...! Surely he’s planning to take action! Aah, there it is! There! A single knee upon the ground!!”
“What...?”
“No, that couldn’t be... a ring!? It’s a ring! He took out the pearl ring!!!”
“You must be seeing things,” I told him. “This is not the time or place for a proposal.”
“I’m going!” Shinbashi-san yelled. He descended the stairs so quickly it was like he slid down them.
When I looked back to the pool, Mr. Whitebait was being pulled sideways along with the hoop. A worried-looking employee was pulling on a rope with all his strength.
“Bye-bye, Mr. Whitebait! Next up—”
The show continued.
I offered my seat to someone nearby and distanced myself from the crowd. I waited for him by the back entrance to the building, and, soon enough, Takeshiba-san appeared, his shoulders slumped. Water still dripped from his hair. When he saw me, his eyes went wide.
“Ah—huh? Oosaki-kun...?”
“I knew it. You were Mr. Whitebait,” I said in reply.
“Wait, did... Didja catch alla that?”
We walked together without exchanging many words.
We went to Aqua Land, an offshoot of the main building. Once we were finally alone, we sat in front of the large jellyfish tank.
“Aw, crud. Why’d y’all have to see me like that...?” he said.
“I should be asking you why you were in the mascot costume.”
He should be in Asakusa doing magic tricks.
“Comic buddy’a mine asked for help after messin’ up his back. Poor fella needed a fill-in.”
“...I had a hunch that was the case.”
Takeshiba-san laughed. “Yup, yup. Like they’d give a big stage to lil’ ol’ me, amirite?”
I couldn’t hear the crowd at the show from here. The only thing that reached me was the sound of water flowing and the pump that moved it. In front of me, a jellyfish pulsated in a way that made me feel like it was sighing. My heart sank, faced with such a sad sight.
“...Takeshiba-san. I want you to promise me something.”
“Hm?”
“...I’d like for you to stop taking on these jobs without thinking them through first.”
Takeshiba-san squinted, like he was torn on the idea. “Mmh...”
If he were with someone else, he’d keep looking unbothered. He was only serious with me.
“This isn’t about being paid for your work,” I clarified. “I want you to be on a stage where you can be truly loved for your skill.”
“Mmmhh...”
“...There’s a place out there where you can be your real self.”
“Happy t’hear ya say that, really, but... I’m just dumb,” he said.
I knew I was getting upset despite having no say in the matter. I couldn’t bear the careless management or Takeshiba-san being okay with it. And yet...
The man himself got shy.
“Yanno, Oosaki-kun. I can’t stop. I gotta help folks in need when I see ‘em. Askin’ ‘em, ‘Hey, you good?’.”
I remained silent.
“Like a certain sooomeooone.”
Again, I remained silent.
“‘S youuur fauuult.”
“I do not take jobs I am not fit for. Failure means losing everything you put into it.”
“Urk... Ya think I screwed the pooch out there?”
“...Well, yes, very badly. Though, as an entertainer, you performed stunningly.”
At that, Takeshiba-san laughed.
We left the building once he dried off. The sloping sunbeams felt surprisingly cool. For some reason, Shinbashi-san was waiting for us.
“There’s the esteemed detective. Your payment for today.”
“My apologies for not giving chase.”
“No need. I retrieved the ring without any fuss. ...Of course it wouldn’t work out for them in these circumstances,” Shinbashi-san said. He pulled the ring out from his breast pocket and returned it just as quickly. Then, he cast his cold gaze to Takeshiba-san. “Why are you here?”
“Did... didja not realize I’ve been here...?”
“What?”
“Uh, um, well... How ‘bout we go get some dolphin!?”
“What???”
“I gotta get some payback on them fishes!”
“You aren’t making any sense! Dolphins are mammals, you know that, right?”
“They ain’t fish?” Takeshiba-san asked.
“How could they be!?”
“No wonder they’re such crafty lil' suckers. They got me whooped...”
“Wh—! Detective, do something about this man!”
Takeshiba-san twined his arm around Shinbashi-san. I followed at a relaxed pace behind them as they walked.
Humans were such complicated creatures. Some people treasured money, while other people treasured food. The thief’s partner must’ve been the latter.
I was neither.
Though I wanted to be, one day.
I wanted to be a person, one who treasured a seafood rice bowl over a jewel. That felt more like a creature to me.
I'd remember it every time I ate.
Mr. Dolphin’s smile as he nibbled at Mr. Whitebait.
holy shit why did adelta put so much sauce into this one. i came into it after shiodome B and what the fuck theres so MUCH. this one made me laugh SO much and felt like a great build up for the eventual shijoumae/hinode/toyosu routes. everyone felt so in-character-ly stupid and i loved hanging out with shinbashi as a friend(?) YIPPEE!! the sex in this route was even more important than the last ones it was fun. get fucked ariake seeya IDIOT im busy fuckin other guys that dont even care about my trauma!!! in all seriousness i think it held a really good balance of giving me a break from all the deep misery/violence while also keeping an undercurrent of sadness and loneliness. the ending felt so bittersweet... oosaki if you were my big stoic bully seme i would ask about you. call me
this route was also satisfying because of how many different concepts it was juggling around but kept roping back into the theme/current beats of the story. plus im really glad to get another characters feelings on religion before we get into toyosu. felt like a nice easy onboarding. more thoughts below cut
shijoumae sucks so bad i cannot wait until his route. im hoping oosaki just beats the hell out of him and they have a older+money power vs a bigger+stronger power dynamic. hinode getting flustered about oosaki was cracking me up because hes so real for that (Dont ever make that expression with the freaky eyes again kid) but someone needs to shoot ariake. it makes complete sense why hes acting that way but shinbashi give me the gun
toyosus death on the boat in ariake route is the most ??? incident to me so far in that idek WHAT happened so i was really glad to be on the boat again. takeshiba might be stupid for thinking he could take oosaki. Also when toyosu fell during the RPS game holyyyy shit i need him so bad but also i was crylaughing because i thought about his old bones shattering and oosaki was thinking the SAME thing. its so interesting that shijoumae has gone to a psych but is so cruel to people with mental health issues
i wonder how much i should believe shinbashis intuition that the organizer didnt include his own crime... to what extent are toyosu and hinode working together, or is toyosu using hinode as a shield? they definitely care for each other and that cant be faked through all these routes... toyosu and hinode must be related to an (and i LOVED getting more of an from takeshiba! YES!!!) somehow. If toyosu is a doctor im fuckin him until he turns into dust fyi
speaking of fuckin holy shit the takeshiba sex. wow i was hyped up about + laughed about 1) the seahorses 2) him asking if oosaki wanted a mom right before saying he has a kid 3) him talking about his erectile dysfunction and then you completely shatter me with all of these things by telling me he is like that because hes been the freakshow's (i wonder if theyll TL it like that, it felt appropriate with takeshibas disdain) sex toy ever since hes been alive. Holy shit dude. and how everyone always laughs at him. it was just enough to force you to fill in blanks yourself which i really appreciate. and oosaki isnt mature enough to feel comforted by takeshiba feeling safe with him ugh
takeshiba is used to being a stand-in (which he even was when he was first killed!), so he uses oosaki as one and cant believe that oosaki doesnt see him as one... i understand everyone saying takeshiba is so ero now though like, he swallows his own vomit and sweats everywhere and is an anal virgin and cant get hard and gets fucked so hard he pisses himself. he gets manhandled by his pubic hair and doesnt even realize hes squeezing dick dry and is a milfy guy in his 30s that wants you to play with his chest. His dick twitches when he gets scared????????? The eroticism is entirely because he is just some guy. i felt like i understood him so much better thru the sex and i pray he gets good sex where his family isnt watching him anymore. GOOD LUCK KING...! GET HARD AGAIN!
i also really enjoyed oosakis story about learning about his dick/being scared about his foreskin being nasty/being self conscious about how big he is. i want more of that!!! if no one else is asking about you oosaki I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!
the only negative about this route is i think it lingered on the rules of old maid for WAY too long. oosaki you dont need to tell me 5 times that the person with the joker wins. first time playing this that i was like "ok yall hurry it up" but its not like its hard to skim past on another read. thanks takeshiba youre awesome mwah
watched because i had heard about denji being an interesting character that dealt with grooming and brother they werent lying everyone loves to groom the fuck out of him. i couldnt stop thinking about how bad i wish he had a social worker... my poor booboo bear i will protect you. i honestly loved seeing him do anything. when denji smiles i smile ok. i also liked power a lot shes fuckin awesome
dont really have much to say about it plotwise but i love a story that is Hype Moments & Aura. it is saying stuff so theres some tasty things to chew on but i simply am not interested in doing that rn it didnt grab me that way. also felt no shock at any characters pain or death bc everyone survives so easily (and idgaf about those who dont) (ASIDE FROM BEAM I WAS WORRIED ABOUT HIM DURING THE MOVIE). the movie fucking rocked dude the end of the season was kind of mid but the movie made me wish the rest of the chainsaw man animation would be exclusively movie format because it felt SO good
my heart hurt insanely bad every time denji got betrayed by an adult or couldnt understand things... or the denji reze school situation. nothin like being 16 and being groomed + underschooled am i RIGHT LADS??
super fun gameplay. beautiful world and music. dogshit fuckin story holy shit i was disappointed the whole time but it was very enjoyable to pick apart WHAT i hated
i felt no attachment to the characters or the world. there felt like there was no depth and no real friction between party members or reason for them to be there. no reaction to the world around them. made the whole theme fall SOOO FLAT the final decision was SO easy to make and it was just so so so messy. it only got interesting in the last like 1/3 and by then it was far too late to build anything up meaningfully. i could talk in circles for ages but in short: DIDNT LIKE THIS MAN
really liked this route! this is the first one that made me really uncomfortable and made me think about where my limits are with character actions and why i feel this way. thinking about this as the ending of the “first half” of ooe is really interesting in how it shows off how terrible oosaki can be too... mustve been really interesting to finish what had released on that note and sit with it for a long time until the complete version released. first time i felt we had some reason to have sexual activity too HAHA and that there was change that happened through the sex. more thoughts below cut
obviously ariake’s route made me uncomfortable too but it didn’t feel nearly as intense because it was ariake’s actions towards oosaki. having oosaki rape aomi was really really good to chew on. that was really what i took with me outside of the route so let me cover other things first
the bucket stuff was evil and great. the corpse and oosakis despair. LOVE having more of shiodome ugh. i also really enjoyed oosaki having to stay in the shadows like aomi had to in the previous route and getting that POV. this go-around broke my heart with oosaki feeling like he was there to be punished. aomi is very endearing and scary. it was a little disappointing that aomi was in fact innocent but i think that further pushes the player to see oosaki in a negative light here which i liked for that. aomi’s cute... i hope we see him care for hinode more because as it stands he really doesnt. i know he has to pretend to be his father but...
also, i really enjoyed oosaki’s desperation to be accepted by aomi and redeem himself. and i REALLY liked aomi’s rejection of it (and his rejection of his own feelings) by questioning why oosaki’s love means anything. they are so alike that they cannot be together so quickly and intensely. felt good.
i really really really want to learn more about toyosu. the ONE time we know he got off the island and he’s nowhere to be found...!!! ugh what a good tease. how could anyone else be the organizer (hinode!?) yknow? but then... what happened the first route to lead to toyosu’s death. why does toyosu care so much about using an. whats the POINT of this man. TALK TO ME. oh my god im so excited for his route okay anyways
now to talk about the rape
there’s been so much murder and cruelty in ooe already so why is it the sexual abuse that got me going “whoa oosaki!”. it’s interesting that murder feels “distant” while rape feels “close” in people’s perceptions which makes murder feel less impactful (perhaps its also the fact the victim lives with the trauma and death is final). what a great route to highlight that anyone can do terrible things and i think it was a good idea to make it after ariake and shinbashi’s. my gut reaction to oosaki going for it was that he wouldn’t do that but... he would, that’s WHY he’s doing it. i was upset and shocked because i wouldn’t do that, and i had been in oosaki’s shoes long enough that i was meshing with him and in his role. when i talk about ooe i flip between saying “i” and “oosaki” when describing the actions the protagonist takes because this is a narrative game you put yourself into etc etc. oosaki is poised as a victim throughout so much of the material in the other routes leading up to this. even when he goes on that killing spree, a player can justify it by thinking “well, ariake is manipulating him”.
here oosaki has just... lost control of the situation. he uses rape to get control and because he is sexually attracted to aomi, obviously. i would really like to get a further dive into what oosaki feels about sex because even though hes having sex every route it feels like oosaki himself is trying to hide how he feels about it from me. ariake route was influenced by ariake’s own desires and because oosaki was frustrated. shinbashi’s was oosaki’s desire, but even oosaki’s kiss with shinbashi came from oosaki not understanding how to convey himself. and here with aomi it comes back to frustration leading to sex (and later desperation/not knowing how to convey himself at the end). i feel like oosaki uses sex as a vehicle to express either 1) anger or 2) desperation for companionship. ariake A was 2, the very end of ariake B was mostly 1 with some 2. shinbashi was 2, aomi was first 1 then 2. it’s never sex fueled by love but more fueled by loneliness...
anyways, i thought it was very interesting that aomi clocks immediately that oosaki is using sexual violence to gain control/power and... “”consents”” to it. made me feel like this has happened to aomi before but that never came up lol (in reality it was just aomi’s total lack of self-love huh). it did make it very clear though that yes this is the first time we’ve seen oosaki so helpless and he IS someone who will succumb to violence quickly. i really liked how contradictory oosaki is in this route!!! he does that to aomi, he says he should die for it but never takes an action towards death. he says he wont attack people and will put his faith in the Truth and VERY quickly backs down from that. it’s very human of him. he really tries to build himself up as “the cool and collected guy who can handle things and think objectively” but he never can and that is at the forefront here. even shiodome calls him on it asking why he treats everyone else like criminals
the rape in hashihime was one i thought was ridiculous because i already knew just how terrible the character was, but i really liked how this iteration of this kind of abuse in ooe wasn’t like... giving sexual views to the player or particularly erotic descriptions. it was fully oosaki being frustrated and violent and then even more frustrated when he didnt get what he wanted from it. even though i think i wouldve enjoyed a little more of a hint towards oosaki’s attraction to aomi before he assaulted him i think it was a good method to show oosaki’s flaws. and it was a good way to reinforce oosaki’s own thoughts that he is inhuman and his desperation to not be that way
cannot believe this got an anime release i got to hear everyone SPEAK? i really enjoyed it as a "yuri's experience" vs "player's experience", "show" vs "game". some characters really did not get the focus they deserved but it was like that in the game too imo. they shouldve made jonas weirder, sha-ming more annoying... etc etc. i need to replay the game to solidify my feelings on the gnos/bug stuff they did. i really enjoyed being in japan while this was airing and getting to see merch stores stock gnosia i got a cute gnosia round1 raqio!!!
i love raqio. i really liked yuri too. it did start to fall off to me towards the end but i think the game simply has too much going on to perfectly become an anime adaption so idk i liked what it was!! i liked having this experience and am glad it doesnt replace the game either. yum. final verdict of Pretty Good
pretty fun i dont know anything about tron aside from kh2 but i could pick up on all of it. soraya was correct comparing the characters to the xenosaga cast. Basically all i have to say abt it. it was fun
loved the first like 10 hours of this game and then hated it. its so boring. rufus was hot though and roche was fun. get this 80gb fuckin game off my hard drive
it still surprises me that ppl are finding and enjoying(?) my karafami review from when i caught up that i wrote for myself. i reread my fic last night and had dreams that i had to spend 30 minutes unpacking.
ive read the ending its good. it satisfies me. i dont think i can interface with any fan of it unless the first words out of their mouth to me are "kyouji was sexually abused" like how can i not read that from the text in front of me. that doesnt make him a good guy we all want him to explode obviously. but my fondness for him is 100% because he is also a victim. genuinely cannot read this text as anything other than "abused man abuses another man while thinking what he is doing is slightly less bad than what was done to him because its not sex". the kyouji satomi trauma olympics. what a nightmare. what a healing journey. i sang kurenai at karaoke it was fun
