Both of us didn’t have that high of expectations going into this route. Jon left us a rather bum impression that we decided to do this route after the utter candy that’s Jirard for a hard detox. Needless to say...well, let’s do the review.
...nope. Can’t do it. We need a mild spoiler warning on top of this review. I’ll try not to say specific story bits, but we’ll drop some plot points with no context.
Not really a Spoiler but I’ll consider it one: this is a mourning route.
It does work for a visual novel route for character development, but when it takes up the entire route, it’s hard to figure out how this works romantically. I mean, the other one’s we’ve done so far have at least some rational way to get romantic.
Jirard is a simple “notice me, senpai” route.
PBG is a “senpai wants to be noticed” route.
Hell, even Satch’s route, as FUCKED UP as it could get to emotional trauma, can serve as a romantic hook, as the man who you love is the only one who believes you.
Here, Jon is mourning the entire time. And Hana is helping him out...while somehow this is romantic. I’ll let sis talk about the romantic stuff.
It’s basically Jon being overworked with both his stage play and the tournament, while hiding his mourning phase. Everything is played rather realistically: from the five stages of grief to even how to handle someone undergoing a panic attack. Sis was pleasantly surprised, though given how realistic some other elements in other routes were, we really shouldn’t have been.
Even more amazing is how they played with the tournament and the stage play. The whole point of the route was that even with the magical powers of the main character, we can’t pull miracles out of thin air.
~~THIS IS SPOILER STUFF~~
No matter what happens, Jon is always going to lose his section in the gaming tournament. There was just no time for him to practice while he’s dealing with the stage play. Instead, in order to determine if you’re going to at least get the Good Ending, you have to see whether or not Hana accepts Jon’s proposal in the stage play. If she takes it, you’re reached the Good/Best End. If she hasn’t, back away now, you’re at the Bad Ending.
This was something I had to admit that I really appreciated that we’ve obtained. It would have been so easy for Jon to get both an amazing play and a win at the tournament, giving us all of the happy-feels that all routes deserved. But that’s not Jon. Jon is hardcore reality and honesty. Sometimes you don’t grab all that you want. If there is any good thing I would say about this route, this would be one of them.
~~THIS IS THE END OF THE SPOILER STUFF~~
I mean, in terms of interacting with other members of Normal Boots, the only other one we had at least one decent conversation with was PBG, and that’s obvious because roommate, duh.
Yeah, yeah, it’s the same complaint as Jirard’s route, but there’s one thing that he had that Jon didn’t: a Hidden Block plot. I mean, I guess they couldn’t fit one in with the sheer amount of text they needed for Jon, but seeing as how Hidden Block served some form of big purpose in the other routes, it would’ve made sense for one of them to at least show up. I mean, he’s even one of the founders of the club! Would it not be crazy for Hidden Block to show up to make sure their main enemy was ready for a fight?
In terms of what happens plot wise in Jon’s route, it made sense and it made rational sense. It’s a guy who’s in mourning trying to overwork himself so that it never really sinks in that he needs to mourn in the first place. See? It makes perfect sense. Jon’s route sounds rational on paper.
No, it wasn’t the plot that was the problem...
...okay, that too. But it’s not the main problem.
I won’t spoil the exact reason why we think this, but just know that when the beginning issue happened, me and sis were screaming what we assumed was the solution during the entire second chapter. So when the tournament ended and THE EXACT SAME SOLUTION ended up presenting itself, we had to stop playing for a minute to comprehend how stupid we all have been acting.
In her exact words: “my heart didn’t even dok.”
Yeah, that is the main problem that the both of us had. We spent the entire route not believing any hint of chemistry between Jon and Hana. In fact, this entire route would’ve been a bit more believable if this was the one platonic route out of the entire Normal Boots.
Heck, Satch had more believable chemistry than Jon did, and that was just as spontaneous of a romantic ending! It’s probably due to how the route was able to throw in some romantic hints between the constant feels bouncing off our face. Jon’s too busy having problems to start bringing up love!
For a route that doesn’t really have romantic chemistry, it’s also a route where an actual DATING PROCESS occurs. Like, we get asked out on a date, we actually talk about relationships, flowers, escorts, everything! Heck, it even shows that Jon doesn’t know how to romance at all, which might explain the lack of chemistry during the entire route. Maybe.
It’s a hearty attempt to be sure, and it probably would have worked. Probably.
...if it hadn’t been for this.
Yeah, as if sis didn’t fall deeper into the PBG fanclub, she’s clearly going now. Because throughout the entire route, PBG is working with Jon the same way Mai worked with Hana in Satch’s route. Which basically means that Hana and PBG are working behind everyone’s backs in order to take care of Jon, especially since as far as the Best Route is concerned, they’re the only two that know the truth besides Jon himself.
And the sheer amount of chemistry that they had between each other in the two or three scenes they had together was TRUCKLOADS more than the one the entire route obtained, and whatever effort they tried with Jon shattered whenever PBG was in the room.
At least, according to sis.
This is a dating sim visual novel after all, and chemistry is kind of needed in order for a dating sim to work. And Jon hasn’t really brought up the spark, even when the route tried to pick up the slack. Which sucks, because his honesty and bluntness actually do work well with Hana because it’s a route that doesn’t baby her, and we need a route like that.
It just...would’ve worked better platonically.
Total Attempts: 7
Final Review: Azama x Hinoka / 10
If you could consider the Jon route as a Support System, the C-A Supports were good to read. They built character and brought a general understanding of the two involved, and while the whole thing was rather cringe worthy, it was enough to give you a better appreciation. Until you reach the S-Rank, upon which the actual romance is forced, poorly written, and you kind of regret having done it.
Honestly, we don’t actually REGRET romancing Jon, that would be stupid. But the analogy works here. This route did wonders to Hana and Jon’s character developments. It showed just why Jon and Jacques were an amazing Asagao duo. It showed Hana being deeply affected by the tragedy, and why she connected with Jon so quickly after it happened. But just like Azama x Hinoka, the S-Support just felt tacked on and blech. 5/10 probably wouldn’t romance again. He’ll probably just end up being the least favorite route of Asagao.
We’re not quite sure which route we want to do next. I want to do Jared’s, sis wants to do Paul’s. We’ll figure out something later.
stormborns
dailybridgerton
snowghoul
gummygunk
