#blvn

Description A town enveloped by twilight. This place without morning and noon is permanently bustling with people engrossed in their own activities. The only thing they fear is the night, the moment when everything is engulfed in darkness. ‘When night falls, the demons will take us to Hell.’ The coming of the night heralds the arrival of the demons. Their purpose is unknown, they kidnap and kill people for no apparent reason. To fight these demons, the people established The Special Security Guard, also known as Yonomori. The protagonist, Mahora, also belongs to Yonomori and is on a mission to defeat the demons. However, he is currently living with Shuu, a demon he is supposed to defeat. On the recommendation of the current commander, he and a group of problematic members of the guard are transferred to Special Division 3, which is tasked with defeating dangerous demons. One day during a mission, he is attacked by another demon who orders Mahora to return Shuu to him. (by vndb)

(Gosh, I wish this was me)

Story

Consider how bad the reviews were I was sure the writing wouldn’t be so good but with every single route I've played I just wondered more and more why people didn’t like, because I enjoyed everything about this game; the good, the bad, the sad everything. The only thing I can imagine what maybe doesn’t resonate with a large portion of the blvn fandom is the slow-paced writing, the game doesn’t have a crazy climax that every route works towards to, it not very dark either, it set a high focus on characters and development and damn it does it well. The writing is very consistent, the plot well explained, the characters feel very human and the romance gets your heart beating faster, basically everything I want in a game. The question who the demons are and why they attack humans is the main heart of the game and only gets fully explained in the true route. I'm always looking forward to good twists in games and the game had plenty of them, even till the end I couldn’t guess what the deal with the demons was, so playing the whole reveal was so good. The last route also brings all the plots of the other route into one, giving every character its own conclusion. Even the bad ends are well integrated into the game, so it didn't feel like they’re thrown there randomly, the characters don’t suddenly become OOC in the bad end just to have more Hscene or whatever. Another thing I really liked is how all side characters are strongly woven into the story, so much lore you would not expect. Funny enough there is no main villain in the story, not to say every character is innocent but all characters have a force that drives them and a reason for them to act the way they do. Seriously strong writing, writer is a genius. The game has 4 LI; 3 of them have a good route and a normal route and around 4 bad end each (some with and some without a CGs), The last route only has a good route, one alternative end and two extras you unlock once you finish the game. And for the readers who want to know about the “service” part; every route has one H-scene; the classic sex scene in the end of the route, beside Haru who has two, with a shorter one in the middle and one in the end, Touka has no H-scenes in his normal end, the other two do; Hozumi has 2 H-scenes in his bad end but only one has a CG; Haru has no bad end H-scenes; Souma also has no, but if you replay his route you get extra content with another H-scene. Oh yeah, this game is a rare gem of not having a single LI be a rapist (we are not counting the bad ends here) you can play all route and avoid every single rape scene. The best way to play the routes is Hozumi<Touka=Haru<Souma (he is locked until the end anyway).

Sorry if the following summary is a bit confusing to read but in this game, you have to puzzle the plot together yourself, it’s not a game where you can just turn your head off and enjoy, you need to think.

Characters

Mahora: (See cover picture) Main baby boy of the game. When I first saw his sprite, he kinda looked like he would be an asshole but he turned out to be a sweet cinnamon bun. Since he is all-bottom I was scared he would take the tsundere uke turn, but luckily it wasn’t the case. When I played Hozumi’s route I thought he was pretty decent as a character. He is often lost in his thought, likes to overthink (same), isn’t the most social person and likes to avoid such situation (maybe I like him so much because I related to him lol), but what I really enjoyed about him was his stubborn side which you see more of in the other routes. He doesn’t take shit from anyone and makes it VERY clear if he dislikes something, even if it is his own LI lmao. He is also easily influenced by his party, which is kinda funny. Eating sweets is his big passion and he wanted to work as a confectioner when he was child. He take his love for sweets really seriously to the point of keeping a journal on all the sweets he tries. His relationship and romance with the LIs were pretty good and thank god he has no case of internal homophobia (maybe because the game takes place in Meiji era and they were mostly accepting with male/male relationship) so he basically doesn’t give a shit about the gender of his partner. I expected him to be shy, but he was surprisingly brave and even a bit lewd when it came to intimate moments. Despite killing demons as his job, he lives together with demon names Shu (I liked to call Shuu his “pet demon”). Shuu took care of Mahora since the death of his parents when he was around 10 years and has been with him ever since. He calls Mahora “Master” and acts a bit like his servant. What you need to know for the following summary about the demons, is that the demons who attack humans at night can’t speak and don’t have a reason, acting only on instincts. Only Shuu and Yae, the demon who attacks Mahora, can talk and behave more like humans would. Also, Hozumi and Ibu, Mahora’s supervisor know about Shuu’s existence. The night in this game only falls when demons attack, so basically it is always dusk.

Hozumi

My very first impression of Hozumi when I saw his sprite was “hot” and my second “he is going to be an asshole, isn’t he?” (I’m quite unlucky in regard to that). So, when I started the game, I decided to do him first because the walkthrough said so because I didn’t want to do Touka first, Souma was locked till the end, so it was either Hozumi or Haru and I went with Hozumi. And let me tell you I sure wasn’t expecting him to be such a green flag but let’s start at the beginning. Hozumi is a member of the Special Division 3 and Mahora‘s partner, because his former partner Suzuri got wounded and it now taking care of paperwork. Hozumi is very serious about killing demons just as serious as Eren was about killing titans in season 1 of attack on titan lol (don’t judge me I haven’t seen the anime since). He is not here to have fun, he is here to kill demons. When the game starts he and Mahora have been in a partnership (the not gay one, yet) only for a few weeks. Hozumi sees Mahora as weak and more of a burden than a good partner, he also mentions that he wouldn’t care if Mahora died. Hozumi’s route focused mostly on character development, and boy did they do it well. As Mahora and Hozumi continue to work together, Hozumi slowly starts to accept Mahora and even decides to train him. At some point Hozumi protect Mahora from a demon and gets hurt badly in the process, and with the help of Shuu he luckily doesn’t end up dying, but this incident causes him to think about his future. Till now his goal was to kill demons, he was even ready to give his life for it. Now for his dramatic backstory; When Hozumi was young, his sister and a group of kids were attacked by a demon, Hozumi was too young to protect them all and all he could do is to protect his little sister which led to the other kids being killed by the demons. This caused a serious protection instinct in his head, because he is actually a good boy and he doesn’t want to see anyone getting hurt by demons again, which is why he became like he is now. After the incident, he has to decided it he wants to stay in Yonomori or to leave, here the routes get split in two for the good and neutral end.

In the good end Hozumi decided he will continue to work in Yonomori and stops being a rule breaker (he always gotten his ass whooped because he never listened to anyone and acted like he wanted). Of course, this is the part where his sister gets kidnapped by the woman, who’s kid was one of the kids who died during the incident in the past. Now he can only rely on Mahora for help, since he promised to act like a good boy. Anyway let’s keep the story short: Mahora and him and end up finding and saving his sister with Shuu’s help yada yada. Let’s get to the real meat we’re all here for the boys love. The romance development was fantastic you could clearly tell which stage they were at on their way from stranger to lovers. At some point Hozumi even calls Mahora his friend and asks him to stop using polite language with him. After the kidnapping case Hozumi finally releases that he fell in love with Mahora and acts pretty obvious about it, even Mahora noticed his gaze. He end up confessing in the middle of work in the office, but first he ask him in the politest Japanese if he has plans to get married lmao and then tell Mahora in the CUTEST WAY possible “It seems my heart was stolen by you” awwwwww followed by saying he wants to kiss him. When Mahora doesn’t reject him he does kiss him (KISS CG KISS CG), since Mahora is more thoughts than words, he ends up thinking deeply about his feelings for Hozumi end comes to the conclusion that he is also falling for him so first he forces Hozumi to tell him “I like you” and then reverse confesses (hehe so cute) and then they end up fucking right there in the office lmao They spent quite some time together before, Hozumi even introduced him to his family and all, which is a reason why Mahora is a bit hesitant at first to start a relationship, since Hozumi is the oldest son in his family and is supposed to continue the family name, but Hozumi insures him he has no intention of getting married and that his family will respect his wishes, so in the end Mahora agrees after all. After this there is also a bit drama with Suzuri but it’s not really important to the relationship, in the end they are happily together and Hozumi is such an influence on Mahora that he himself becomes a bit naughty and a rulebreaker like Hozumi (influenced by the boyfriend lmao) I really liked this route, it was super cute and wholesome, even with no crazy action I had a good time.  

In the normal route he stops working for Yonomori and killing demons. Funny enough I thought there won’t be any romance in the normal route but there was, a bit different though. Hozumi start seeing Mahora as a part of his family and basically asks him to be with him forever, Idk what his thought process was but obviously Mahora takes this as a love confession and Hozumi says he doesn’t mind if thinks that, but for now Mahora doesn’t answers him and at some point they meet up again with Hozumi still waiting for his answers and to show how serious he is they end up fucking (yes very family indeed Hozumi lmao) Anyway in the end they agree they want to be together so still quite a good end. A bit less romantic and direct but I didn’t expect a second cake so I, certainly won’t complain. There are also two funny bad ends with Suzuri, one where Suzuri learns that the letters he had been sending to his family never arrived, meaning he was abounded and basically falls into a depression hole using Mahora as his comfort (kinda dubcon-ish but not really? No H-scene CG though Idk) and another with the same thing but this time it takes places after Hozumi confessed and Mahora not answer yet so he runs away and into Suzuri’s depressed self and with a bit of bl magic it ends in a threesome lmao (been a while since I was a threesome in a bl lol)

Touka

I don’t even remember what my first impression of Touka was, pretty sure I was just ignoring him, but my second impression in game was not good at all. He gave me Koujaku vibes (degenerately), very flirty, wanna be pretty man in a kimono and with all the women (and men) being into him, so I was not looking forward to him. Deciding to get him out of the way as fast as possible I played him second and I was pleasantly surprised. Like mention he is a popular, pretty (not, in my opinion) man who works at the inn. His route starts with him being VERY pushy to Mahora, inviting him for drink after he and his work colleagues had a meal at the inn. TBH I was scared he wants to lay his hand on Mahora but luckily nothing happened other than him giving Mahora too much alcohol (despite him mentioning he is bad with it; respect people when they say they can’t drink much please), Mahora getting drunk and crying about not receiving the cady Touka promised him, then passing out. A few days they meet again and Mahora apologizes for Touka having to take care of him. Like the previous character the route splits in two pretty early.

This time I thought the normal ending route was the more interesting one, despite providing no romance at all (Not that I wanted any to begin with lol; there was a kiss though if you can even count it as such?) In the normal end we learn that Touka secretly goes around at night, killing demon because according to him he is possessed by one which leads to this desire. Mahora even catches him one night and Touka then forces him to drink demon blood, by kissing him. I think he wanted to see if Mahora would also get the desire to kill, since this is how Touka developed it, but Mahora is just like??? (Nice try Touka) Killing demons is only allowed for Yonomori members so, he is doing illegal shit (tbh could be worst so whatever). One day Ibu, captain of the Special Division 3 and Mahora’s supervisor finds out about it and promises to keep a secret if Touka will help him with his plan. Now here is when the whole story gets wild, Ibu is looking for the cursed child. The cursed child in the story is Souma the true route’s LI, he is considered a cursed child because he is a twin. (idk what’s with Japan and their superstition about twins, this is already the third game I played with cursed twins. In Haru’s route we also find out that according to legends the younger twin is an unnecessary soul created to resemble the older brother and is partly a demon which is why he can communicate and see demons, this is why he must be killed. I mean Souma does indeed can communicate with demons, since he has Yae but his side, but that’s pretty much it, there was no prove that he himself casts disaster or anything, people are just stupid and discriminate against him.) Souma is not only the cursed child, but he is also Mahora’s childhood friend, so Ibu’s plan is to use Touka to get information out of Mahora about Souma and lure him out, which at some point Mahora agrees to. The plan works and they manage to get Souma out of hiding. This is when Ibu and Souma finally meet and we learn that Ibu is Souma’s twin brother. His whole plan is to kill his brother, because he is an idiot who believes in the superstition. When Souma and he were born, Souma was sent away to another family. Their parents then died at some point of an illness and Ibu thinks that’s it’s all because of Souma and wants revenge. So, they start fighting (hot CG alarm), oh and Yae is also there because he still wants Shuu. There are 2 (well 3 for the whole route) possible endings for this; In the normal ending, Shuu gets taken away by Yae, Ibu almost stabs Mahora but Touka protect him, then Souma and Ibu fight until both die. Ibu believed that killing Souma would stop the demons from appearing but obviously that doesn’t happen (what an idiot). Losing two people he cares about Mahora pretty much break mentally, he develops a grudge on Touka, because according to him he was supposed to die, then he forces Touka to stay with him until his life also comes to an end, and won’t allow Touka to die until then.

In the bad end Touka doesn’t protect Mahora from Ibu and he dies. Yae takes Shuu back to hell and Mahora’s soul also follows, here we also learn that the daylight return again, so apparently Mahora is responsible for the never-ending dusk? There is also a third bad end that takes plays a bit earlier, when Touka and Mahora talk about him helping Ibu. In this end Touka decides to kill Mahora, because (how do I even summarise that?) So Touka had an older brother who apparently committed double suicide with his lover and Touka wants to be loved as much as being able to die together or something. So, he tries to get Mahora to confess to him and rapes him because it confirms the love or something but fails to kill him so they continue to have this weird sex friend relationship.   In the good end route, we find out more about Touka’s past, his parents ran a pawn shop and his older brother was supposed to take over it, but their parents pressured him way too much into this so he vanished one day and according to rumours he committed double suicide with his lover. So, after his brother’s disappearance Touka was supposed to take over the shop, suffering the same kind of pressure he basically put on a fake personality trying to endure it but, in the end, ran away like his brother. Now the part with his desire to kill demons, he thinks he is possessed and this voice it telling him to kill, so whenever he sees a demon, he instantly attacks it. The route is similar to the normal end one, where he tried to get Mahora to work with them, but this time he grows closer with Mahora and ends up falling for him (or something). The main conflict is when Mahora visits him and they have this heart to heart with them almost confessing, but the Ibu busts in. Touka hides Mahora behind his umbrella and Ibu talks all about his plans finding Souma, which Mahora of course didn’t know prior. Unfortunately, he notices Mahora and then almost stabs him but Shuu shows up and stops his attack. Touka seeing a demon obviously goes into attack mode. Here the endings separate; In the good end Touka manages to calm down his murder instincts once he noticed he is not possessed, but the memories of his brother are the one haunting him and once he settles these the desire to kill stop. Ibu gets his ass arrested by the commissioner of the Yonomori, Mikage, thanks to one of Touka’s admires (which is another part of the story and has something to do with a young girl who works at the inn and Mahora befriend but I ignore this part because this is already way too long.) In the end Touka vanished for 2 years and comes back to Mahora and they confess and happy sexy times happen (funny enough the Hscene takes place after the credit roll so for a moment I thought there won’t be any lol) Now in the bad end Touka doesn’t calm down and tries to choke Mahora, but just after Mahora faints and is about to die Souma and Yae show up and take Mahora (and Shuu obviously) with them, Souma even says “you don’t deserve Mahora’s love” to Touka, like damn okay lmao. I really liked this end for some reason.

Consider how much I wasn’t looking forward to his route(s) I enjoyed it a lot actually. Things I didn’t mention but I especially liked was Mahora’s attitude in the normal end. He really REALLY didn’t want Touka lmao, Mahora is a nice cinneman roll, but when he disliked something, he is pretty stubborn about it lol; he made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want Touka at ALL. Even Touka was like “I didn’t know you we’re so mean, Mahora”. Mahora can be pretty insane sometimes. I enjoyed seeing him like that. Which is also why I think the romance development was a bit weak because just like in the normal route, Mahora wasn’t fucking with Touka in the beginning in the good route either, but at some point, he started to have lewd thoughts about him (for some he was convinced Touka was a prostitute? Mahora wtf xD) and at some point, he went from being pissed to liking him? Idk it was kinda too sudden but okay I still aww-ed at the confession in the end so I let it pass. Touka isn’t a green flag like the other LI but he sure is not a toxic boy either, also writing good so I had a good time playing.  

Haru

Haru is a man, who lives outside the town in an abandoned shrine. He can control Tosenbou (who I haven’t mention yet, but they are some kind of mysterious, idle creature, the game never really shows them, but they are taller than humans Idk hard to describe), but important is that they have the power to protect you from demons and Haru borrows this power which give him the ability to heal and control the Tosenbou. He was also raised by them and calls one of the Tousenbo, that is shaped like a small bird his “mother”. Mahora first encounters Haru when, Haru saves him from being choked by Yae and heals his injuries. The first impression you get from Haru is that he is pretty arrogant and doesn’t hold back on speaking his mind. He also believes in taking and giving, meaning if he does you a favour he wants a favour back, so he shows up at Mahora’s house (man just walks right in, even when Mahora isn’t home) to collect it. Mahora just ends up giving him some sweets. At some point Haru starts thinking that he and Mahora should be friends, because as a friend you don’t own a favour. So, he basically starts coming to Mahora’s house every single day, waiting for him in the rain. Which kinda becomes a ritual with Haru waiting for him and Mahora giving him a towel to dry him up. Then one day when Haru doesn’t show up, Mahora gets worried and notices that he does in fact cares a lot about Haru. I don’t remember exactly if it was before or after but at some point (I think it was Haru who decides it) they decided that Haru should live with Mahora. Here we also learn more about Haru’s character, while being quite arrogant he also is quite childish (probably because he had no parents and grew up alone with only the Tosenbou), and lacks basic understanding of certain things. Mahora wants him to become more social which also involves dragging him to a public bath, which Haru is opposed to first because he is embarrassed, but not embarrassed to sleep in one futon with Mahora, ok? Anyway, at some point the get used to living together and they both enjoy it a lot. One day they decided to go back to the abandoned shrine because Haru needs more clothes and he has been keeping his stuff there. Things happened and Haru falls on Mahora which ends with Haru getting turned on (he had been reacting to Mahora a few times before that, so it isn’t just random) and Mahora having to “show” him how to do inappropriate stuff. (Haru is quite the loud moaner, despite being the top lol), the night (well technically it’s not night but you know what I mean) Mahora notices he has feeling for Haru. Sometimes later Haru and Mahora visit the confectionary shop together, this is where we learn that someone is looking for Haru because of his abilities and rumours are spreading in town, claiming they are fake. Here the route gets separated;

In the normal end route, the story focuses on these rumours. The rumours were started by a boy who asked Haru to heal his sick father, but Haru couldn’t help him much because he was already old and dying so now the child now thinks Haru is an imposter. He is also looking for Haru because he gave Haru a comb as a payment and now wants it back. So, when Mahora and Haru visit the abounded shrine the child follows them and sees Shuu, who is usually hiding (since he is a demon and all). He then tells his father that he saw a person appearing out of the air and his father understanding that this must have been a demon tells other people about it. So, the rumours about a cursed child who can speak to demons spread all over the city. When Hozumi, who obviously knows this is about Mahora and Shu hears about these, he gets this super great idea to kill them both (haven’t had any trust in Shuu from the beginning). Using the opportunity when he and Mahora are on a mission outside town he attacks Mahora. I don’t exactly remember how the fight played out but at some point Yae shows up and the focus shifts to Yae vs everyone else. (Haru also showed up at some point). Haru then uses the Tosenbou to corner Yae since they are basically toxic to demons, but before they can defeat him, Yae fucks off. Worried Yae goes out his way to kill people they go after him, but all Yae does is walk around talking to people, knowing they can hear them telling them that they are now cursed since they can hear demons lmaooo (he is so chaotic I love it). Then Haru “mother” leads her power to Shuu and together they can defeat Yae, but this takes so much power from Shuu that he also vanishes. After this the confession and sexy times take place (they hold hands during it <3) and after the credits we learn that Haru often goes travel to look for his “mother” because she also vanished together with Shuu. Mahora and Haru strongly believe that both will return: Haru actually manages to find his mother and in the very end we also hear Shuu’s voice calling out to Mahora. Surprisingly a very cute route and the end has a really pretty CG (generally all of Haru’s route Cgs were so cute and pretty, Haru himself is really pretty, he is smaller and a lot thinner than Mahora and has a more feminine look to him. So completely to my taste lol)

Now for the good end; It went completely not in the direction I was expecting. Haru gets taken away by the Yonomori people (Yes, I know Mahora works for them too, but it was a different division), but before that he tells Mahora goodbye, saying they can’t live together for now, Mahora is obviously very confused to why. Turns out Haru, who has no family and no memories of his life before the age of 10, is actually the Yonomori’s commissioner’s son, who vanished 10 years ago when a flood hit the city (the same flood also killed Mahora’s parents). Haru obviously has no memory of it and DNA tests weren’t a thing back then, but there is enough evidence to confirm it (he looks a lot like his mom, who died young and he has mementos of her). So, they keep Haru at Yonomori where he meets Mikage, his father. Mikage has no intention for Haru to take over Yonomori but they keep him for now because they want to know more about his power to control the Tosenbou. There is also this one scene where he and Mahora see each other at the Yonomori HQ and it’s very obvious how much Haru doesn’t want to be there and just wants to go back to Mahora. We also learn that Haru’s biggest desire in life was always to have a family who loves him, as a lost child he envied children who had parents, so when Mahora came into his life, he became a family to Haru and that’s why his desire to return to Mahora is so strong. He is just a lonely child who wants to be loved. At some point Haru is forced to join a battle against the demons to show his power, they basically push him into a battle with a demon who had already killed several of the Yonomori men. Haru himself is not a physically strong person and is better at defending, luckily Mahora shows up, which give Haru the motivation to fight the demon using his power (he also saves that child and father, who spread the rumours). Mikage then also shows up after hearing that his son was thrown into danger (it wasn’t his idea, his subordinates acted on their own because they thought he would make Haru his successor) He then lets Haru and Mahora go and these two run away happily holding hands. After that we get the confession and Hscene, and since Haru is pretty much unknowable in this topic Mahora takes initiative (the sex CG is so LEEEWWD). Haru is pretty much nothing like a classic top, that’s why their relationship also completely lacks the top/bottom dynamic (which is good I need more of that), and even if Mahora would top nothing would really change. In the end Haru talks with Mikage saying he can’t really see him as his father but agrees to join the Yonomori if Mikage will help to take care of abounded children, which he does and in the last scene you get to see how Haru is introduced as a new member in Mahora’s division. Characters like Haru who are more cute, feminine and childish are rare in BL epically as a top, so I really enjoyed playing this. Their relationship was just so sweet and pure and I really felt like mothering Haru, since he was just so lonely, so it was nice seeing how he finally got someone who loves him by his side.

Souma

Now for the real meat of the game, the true route and the secret behind the mystery of the demons. Souma is Mahora’s childhood friend. Thes used to play together by the abounded shrine before one day Souma pushed him away, they haven’t see each other since (well more like Mahora hasn’t seen Souma, Souma himself has been keeping an eye on him) Souma pushing him away because he is the cursed child and he didn’t want Mahora to be involved in it, despite Mahora being the most important person for him. The routes start in the common route when Mahora sees Souma again after geting attack by Yae. (Souma cuts Yae’s leg of for that after lmao, but since he and Yae are bonded together he also gets hurt when Yae gets hurt, which is why when Yae dies he also dies and viva versa) After this incident Shuu begins to act weird, he hides more often and doesn’t talk with Mahora, Mahora’s idea is that Shuu is just tired and needs to rest (Mahora, he is a demon that is not how it works). Obviously, that doesn’t work and Mahora goes to talk to Haru about it, since Shuu hasn’t shown himself in a while. After their meet up, Shuu shows himself again, but is still acting weird. The next day when Hozumi and Mahora are on patrol they encounter Yae, who came to take Mahora with him (he also completely destroys Hozumi pride as a demon hunter just by overpowering him in seconds lol) Mahora agrees to go with him if he let Hozumi live. Yae then knocks Mahora out and takes him into to a hiding spot in an old house in the forest. Yea is pretty hilarious as a character because he obviously doesn’t want to kill Mahora (If he dies Shuu also dies, since they are also bonded together), but he is not used dealing with living humans so he knocked out Mahora a bit too much and now Mahora doesn’t wake up lmao, so Yae put a cool towel on his head in hopes he wakes up finally. Which does the trick, and Mahora finally gain consciousness, Yae tell him that he wants to use Mahora to lure out Shuu which doesn’t really work. Since the Shuu incident the rain in the city (since its almost always raining, in case I never mentioned it) has stopped and demons began to attack more, so the Yonomori comes up with a plan to perform a rain dance at the abounded shrine. Yae and Mahora also show up there and see Shuu again, but he has changed. Shuu speaks in a different way, more like he is a god and grants them rain, and since Mahora is obviously familiar with Shuu the Yonomori now knows that he is somehow connected to Shuu, so he also has to hide from them now. The Souma and Ibu also show up and everything falls into chaos (Ibu is a magnet for chaos). Souma takes Mahora and they fuck off. Then Souma confronts Mahora, about why he showed up there knowing it would bring him only into danger (it’s the scene in the Cg above), they have a small argument and Souma straight up confesses to Mahora (My boy doesn’t hold back, he went straight for the “aishiteru”), he had no intention to confess or act on it but it accidently slipped out of him, Mahora is a bit stunned but says they will come back to this once this is all over, then they return back to their hide out.

After this there is basically a lot of lore drop while Mahora is with Souma (and Yae since he is connected to Souma you know), at some point Souma asks him if he remembers the promise they made as a child to see the sunrise together and Mahora does but the sunrise it only something that exists in books. In their world its always dusk but Souma says that it hasn’t been always like that, then he asks him if we would be ready to be separated from Shuu if it meant that there would be no more demon and the day would return. This is a hard question for Mahora since Shuu is a part of his family and he spent half his life him. Mahora says it would be difficult, but he would also like to keep the promise he made with Souma. Now for the real lore drop, when they ask Mahora if he remembers how he meets Shuu, in hopes to know how to solve their problem, Mahora does and we get a flashback to their first meeting. Mahora first meets Shuu during the flood, when he runs away to the abounded shrine he meets Shuu there, who is basically and entity dwelling in the empty shrine, wishing not to be alone Mahora give Shuu a part of his name (the second Kanji in Mahora’s name is read as “Shuu”) and in return Shuu stays by Mahora’s side, but wait there is more. Let’s summarise. Shuu is basically an Kami who was enshrined in that old shrine but with the passing time people forgot the shrine and the kami who lives there and even forgot his name, so when Mahora showed up and gave Shuu a name, he not only promised to stay with Mahora but basically “saved” the whole town. Remember the flood? Yes, it was supposed to kill EVERYONE in the town, so every character is supposed to be dead (oh and Shuu is the one who created the flood I kinda missed this part somehow), but thanks to Shuu’s power he created like a fake reality where everyone survives, and the town is not connected to the outside, meaning you cannot enter or leave the city (There is also a scene with Suzuri, you know Hozumi’s former partner who always sent his family letter but never got a reply? He finally gets a letter from his family but all it says is that Suzuri has long died and they are still looking for his corpse, so of course he couldn’t send them letter because he was fucking dead; There is also another question to this: where the hell did Touka and Haru go in their routes then?). Basically, everyone in town is dead and lives in an illusion of a town. Which is also why there is no daytime and always dusk. Now the demons? Yae is the one who explains the existence of the demons. Since the people in the city are all dead, they should have departed long ago, but this didn’t happen so this is why the demons appear. Demons are dead people, everyone who dies becomes a demon, and their job is it to guide the dead. Meaning they appear because they need to guide all the townspeople to where they belong, to death. Now the part that confused me a bit; Yea’s existence. Since he is a demon, he was also a human prior. It is also confirmed by him, but apparently, he kinda created Shuu, when he took him in or something, so I don’t get really what Yea is supposed to be. He is a demon different from the other ones because he is connected to Souma since his birth (since he is a cursed child and they can speak to demons; poor Souma having to listen to Yae’s shit since he was a child lmao) and is basically possessing Souma (that’s the only way he can exist in the world), but they also mention how Yea’s existence is because of Shuu and that he should have stop existing when Mahora gave Shuu a name @­_@ I don’t really get this part. What we know is that he is several hundred years old and that his goal is it to destroy the fake reality and force Shuu to hell so he can finally die (Since he is stuck with Souma and in this fake reality, he can’t do anything, man is just tired of life).

After this there is basically a lot of lore drop while Mahora is with Souma (and Yae since he is connected to Souma you know), at some point Souma asks him if he remembers the promise they made as a child to see the sunrise together and Mahora does but the sunrise it only something that exists in books. In their world its always dusk but Souma says that it hasn’t been always like that, then he asks him if we would be ready to be separated from Shuu if it meant that there would be no more demon and the day would return. This is a hard question for Mahora since Shuu is a part of his family and he spent half his life him. Mahora says it would be difficult, but he would also like to keep the promise he made with Souma. Now for the real lore drop, when they ask Mahora if he remembers how he meets Shuu, in hopes to know how to solve their problem, Mahora does and we get a flashback to their first meeting. Mahora first meets Shuu during the flood, when he runs away to the abounded shrine he meets Shuu there, who is basically and entity dwelling in the empty shrine, wishing not to be alone Mahora give Shuu a part of his name (the second Kanji in Mahora’s name is read as “Shuu”) and in return Shuu stays by Mahora’s side, but wait there is more. Let’s summarise. Shuu is basically an Kami who was enshrined in that old shrine but with the passing time people forgot the shrine and the kami who lives there and even forgot his name, so when Mahora showed up and gave Shuu a name, he not only promised to stay with Mahora but basically “saved” the whole town. Remember the flood? Yes, it was supposed to kill EVERYONE in the town, so every character is supposed to be dead (oh and Shuu is the one who created the flood I kinda missed this part somehow), but thanks to Shuu’s power he created like a fake reality where everyone survives, and the town is not connected to the outside, meaning you cannot enter or leave the city (There is also a scene with Suzuri, you know Hozumi’s former partner who always sent his family letter but never got a reply? He finally gets a letter from his family but all it says is that Suzuri has long died and they are still looking for his corpse, so of course he couldn’t send them letter because he was fucking dead; There is also another question to this: where the hell did Touka and Haru go in their routes then?). Basically, everyone in town is dead and lives in an illusion of a town. Which is also why there is no daytime and always dusk. Now the demons? Yae is the one who explains the existence of the demons. Since the people in the city are all dead, they should have departed long ago, but this didn’t happen so this is why the demons appear. Demons are dead people, everyone who dies becomes a demon, and their job is it to guide the dead. Meaning they appear because they need to guide all the townspeople to where they belong, to death. Now the part that confused me a bit; Yea’s existence. Since he is a demon, he was also a human prior. It is also confirmed by him, but apparently, he kinda created Shuu, when he took him in or something, so I don’t get really what Yae is supposed to be. He is a demon different from the other ones because he is connected to Souma since his birth (since he is a cursed child and they can speak to demons; poor Souma having to listen to Yae’s shit since he was a child lmao) and is basically possessing Souma (that’s the only way he can exist in the world), but they also mention how Yae’s existence is because of Shuu and that he should have stop existing when Mahora gave Shuu a name @­_@ I don’t really get this part. What we know is that he is several hundred years old and that his goal is it to destroy the fake reality and force Shuu to hell so he can finally die (Since he is stuck with Souma and in this fake reality, he can’t do anything, man is just tired of life).

So, they decided they need to kill Shuu to bring this all to an end. Around the time Hozumi and Haru (who also had the background plot with his father in this route) showed up and asked them to come to Yonomori to have a chat about all what happened, which they agree to. At the entrance Mikage and the other members are already waiting for them, as well as Ibu (and since Souma is also there we all know what’s going to happened) he attacks Souma the moment he gets the chance (damn Ibu calm down your salty ass for real lmao), Yae then gets in the way and somehow Mahora also gets involved in it, which lead to Shuu showing up to protect him. Not wasting a single second Mahora catches Shuu, slams him on the ground and aims his sword at him. (The CG showing is like a parallel to the cover CG, very nice) Then we get Shuu’s side of the story and learn how he was really glad having received a name and how he made this fake reality so everyone could live happily. Luckily Mahora doesn’t have to kill him after all, because they decided they will let this illusion faint, they also tell the Yonomori members about it. In the end they decided to hold a festival for a few days and when it end Shuu will destroy the illusion, now what really interesting, since they were all supposed to die, no one knows what will happen, Shuu says they will likely survive it, but he isn’t sure, so once he lets it go they all could end up dying, because that what supposed to happened to them. Knowing that, they still agree that it’s for the best. So the coming days they just spend their last day days in peace (they didn’t tell the whole town about it so, so the others don’t know this is the end) Souma finally gets to experience being in town, being the cursed child and all people feared him but since the last 10 years were all about the demons, people basically forgot about him (oh yeah I didn’t mention it but after he was given away he was raised by Mikage you know the Yonomori chef dude, which is why he calls him  “father” and was actually supposed to be killed at some point (don’t get why they even keep him alive), but Mikage let him live). Now Souma gets to do stuff with Mahora and Mahora drags him along to all his favourite sweet shops and restaurants lol. Also Souma is sooooo shy it’s so cute, and he is jealous xD He got so annoyed with Touka being a bit flirty with Mahora. After that they return to Mahora’s place, and this is where Mahora wants to talk about Souma’s confession from the beginning: For some reason, Souma delulued himself into thinking that there is no way Mahora would like him back (in that way) but Mahora does like him (in that way) so he basically has to convince Souma and even has to almost force Souma to have sex with him and even then Souma chickens out by saying they should go to the bathhouse first pfffff. Once they come back, we get to the good stuff kinda, Souma needs like super extra consent from Mahora: to make sure it’s truly what he wants (I swear I reach retirement before these two fuck), he even goes so far to force Mahora to undress himself, that way it would confirm that Mahora also wants it. And EVEN THEN he has no plans to go through with it till the end. (Jesus Christ, Souma please, Mahora should have done it the way he did it in Haru’s route; no elaboration just pin him down and ride him.) Anway in the end they manage to fuck (Thank fucking god)

Next day they met at the abounded shrine with Shuu, and to end the illusion they need to cut a string, which they do once they get a signal, but nothing happens. One thing I let out, which is important for the scene is when Shuu created this word he used up all his power, which left him in a state of a demon (this is why he looks like demon, despite not being one) and all the other part of him, is what the Tosenbou are. With his memory, his power aka the Tosenbou also returned to him, and the only thing missing was Haru’s “mother”, the bird shaped Tosenbou, it returned to him in that scene and made Shuu remember that he hasn’t cut his long hair since meeting Mahora, which is also apparently the key to end the illusion. So Mahora together with Souma cut Shuu’s braid and that does the trick. It begins to rain heavily. In the last scene you see Mahora and Souma holding hand slowly leaving as the world around them slowly gets swallowed by the rain and begins to vanish.

Honestly, I was fine until this scene, but the end got me. Especially when Mahora looked back and began to cry, ouch my Kokoro. I was sitting there with tears in my eyes. Why do bl games keep hurting me like that, I came for fun and demons and not have my heart ripped out again *sigh* but oh well, the worst part is that THIS IS THE END there were no after-credits. Like???? DID THEY SURVIVE??

Thank fucking god I had a good walkthrough because it mentions there is an after-credit scene in the recollections. Played the end late at night and only could play the after-credit the next evening so I was suffering a lot lol. And I can happily say they did survive it. The after credit show all the main characters living a happy life, Hozumi is with his family, Touka is still working for the inn, Haru is with his father (it was nice to see him call him “father”) he now studies medicine and is still as ever, then the focus shifts to Mahora who meets up with Souma. Souma is not a cursed child in the real world, and he even has a good relationship with his brother (thank fucking good the salty Ibu ass arc is over), and he is also studying. Mahora and Souma are close as always though they aren’t dating, but it’s hinted that Souma wants to confess to him this evening and he even asks Mahora to stay over at his place, super cute! Oh, and Mahora is finally living his dream, working to have his own confectionary shop someday. (They also have no memory of the fake reality they lived in) And this is how the story ends~

If you get the alternative end, where Haru’s “mother” doesn’t return to him and Shuu won’t remember how to stop the illusion, then instead they decide to keep living in this fake town. Mahora and Souma then live together at Mahora’s place, but Mahora also decides he needs to invite Haru to live with them too and then Shuu and Yae also show up wanting to live with them lol. I lovingly call this the “Mahora’s harem end”.

Extra 1 Lmao so when you finish the last route you unlock extra choices and judging by the walkthrough, I thought these would just add some extra content that wouldn’t take more than 1h to complete, oh how wrong I was. Let me just state it here, I may or may not have an unhealthy obsession with Yae. When they announced the game and they showed the CG of him choking Mahora? Mmmmh I was a goner (How can you even simp for someone with no face, you ask me? Idk he just looks extra hot to me), so when they gave information about the LI and I learned that he is not one of them I was devastated but had to accept the reality and hope there are at least some bad end crumbs with him. (Listen, listen I’m a simple person, I see hot demon man I simp). When I finished the last route, I was sad there was nothing with him (I didn’t do the extras yet and was still missing an end) but as I was going through the spoiler tags I saw he was listened having sexuality activities, so obviously I rushed back right to playing (I’m lying I had to work so it was like 6h later), hoping I still get my bad end crumbs, but what I got? So much better than everything I ever hopped for, even though the price I had to pay for it in the end was high. This is not just an extra, this is like a full smaller route with its own end. (I think it took me like over 3h to finish it?)

The route separated when Yae “kidnaps” Mahora. This time we get to spend more time with Yae and as always its hilarious, we already know from the last route that he isn’t a bad person, but he tries to act like it, Mahora on the other hand? Still stubborn as ever, having lived with a demon for so long he obviously shows no fear of demons like other people do. Yae is pretty bad at this whole “kidnapping” thing, so he doesn’t really tie Mahora up or anything, he even lets him walk around freely. At some point in the story Mahora gets hungry and complains about it. So Yae is all like “okay let me get you somewhere you can find some food (he doesn’t need to eat since he is a demo), then he just takes Mahora and carries him in his arms? (God, I wish this was me). He brings him to a place where the can forage some wild veggies and fruits, but Mahora is all demanding and complaining about not being able to eat his favourite sweets (even Yae was shocked about it lmao) So either Mahora is really aware of Yae not being a bad person or his love for sweets overshadows everything else. This scene was actually really sweet, Yae even helped him to collect some wild peaches and then even tried some himself when they return to their hide out (demons can eat they just don’t need to). Souma then also comes back and is shocked that Mahora is also there. After salty ass Ibu shows up for some reason (how did he even find them?) and attacks Souma. Which lead to a big fight involving Yae, who used his power; flames of hell and then he and Mahora manage to escape. Yae bring him to his secret hide out, which is a house deep into the mountains, that is actually pretty well taken care of. Mahora feels sick due to the flames and almost passes out, which leads to Yae having to give him water through his mouth (idc how cliché this was, I was eating this shit up!). The water improves Mahora’s situation and he starts feeling better. Then Yae starts acting like the little shit he is, being all like “why don’t you give me kiss or two as a thank you” and Mahora ACTUALLY DOES IT (God, I wish this was me) and for some reason (I don’t remember the exact details) they actually end up kissing for a bit more before Mahora passes out again lol. (I’m being fed so well with this, even Mahora can’t resist this hot demon daddy) Their little adventure led to Mahora starting to be more interested into Yae, wanting to know more about him and his past, and eventually developing feeling for him. All of this leads to Mahora getting Yae to have sex with him as a vow that he will protect Mahora until he can create the world he desires or something (damn if Souma would get wind of that he would probably try to cut Yae’s dick off lmao.) The whole scene is actually way better than I imagines it would be, I thought in the beginning that since Yae is more of an “antagonist” he would be really forceful and it would end it rape, but instead I get full consent from Mahora AND Yae being really gentle and careful with Mahora? (He has Mahora ride him 😏 hehehehe) They even kissed during it (*smashing the table* The bl gods were especially gracious with me on this day, what did I do to deserve this blessing?) Once this was over Mahora becomes really sad, because he is aware that it was only a one-moment thing. And obviously this can lead to nowhere since Yae is demon and demons are dead (I played enough games with dead people to know where this is going) but I still felt bad for Mahora because he seems to be really attached to Yae and he even wanted to see his face (we never got to see it in the end because demons can’t show their face to the living, which is fine with me because he is hotter with no face anway lol). What we got to see though, was a small flashback to Yae’s past what I assume is the moment of his death. It’s also hinted that the house they are staying at is where he lived in when he was still human.

The whole experience with Mahora made him feel human once again so he basically sets fire to the place to attract Shuu so he can finally archive his goal. When Shuu shows up for Mahora, Yae take Shuu and STABS HIMSELF AND SHUU WITH A SWORD, finally ending their life and leaving for hell, obviously this also destroys the fake reality which leads to all of them dying. In the end we get to see Mahora consciousness floating in a waterlike state and Yae is also there, but Mahora is suddenly all small or something? Listen these parts were confusing, okay? But it’s obviously the afterlife so wherever their souls are now, let them rest in peace. But yeah, damn the suicide scene was hard to take in, and it even came with a CG what a tragedy…. High price to pay for such godly fanservice. I feel like Yae did develop a certain attachment to Mahora (he even hugs him before the shit went down), but knowing how it would all end he tried to keep a distant to him, not letting him engage with him any more than necessary (though idk if the sex was necessary but I’m not complain lmao) to cause as little pain as possible for Mahora. Seeing a more human side of him and understanding him better as an individual was seriously the highlight of the route, that I was not expecting at all. It also shows how talented the writer is, being able to convince such strong emotion from a character who in the beginning is describe as an antagonist of the story. Yae himself doesn’t get much time to shine in the main route, so the route really helps to understand the core of his character, so I really appreciate that they decided to include this. The ending was painful and sent be straight back to depression hell but the godly fanservice? Sign me the fuck up, I was eating sooo well with this “extra” itadakimasu, thank you writer-san, artist-san🛐🛐.

Extra 2 This extra takes place a bit later than the first one, during the shrine scene with Shuu and the Yonomori people, Shuu give Mahora water or something to drink. Which makes Mahora go kinda insane(ly horny for Souma). So, after Souma’s confession he becomes extra flirty with him and tries to get him to sleep with him. And at first Souma rejects him because he obviously knows Mahora is acting weird but later gives into his desire. After they do the deed (not shown), Mahora brings him back to the abounded shrine and is all like “Lets die together, because there is no other place for us”. So, they decided to drown in the pond together, but in the end, Souma can’t die because he is bound to Yae. Mahora dies but then suddenly comes back to life. One thing is different though, he is now possessed by Shuu and Shuu doesn’t want to give Mahora back to Souma. Even if Souma dies he wouldn’t even meet Mahora in the afterlife. Souma and the others then slowly start to forget Mahora, to the point he can’t even remember his name and it ends with him completely forgetting Mahora. Veeery strange route and compared to the other extra I didn’t really get what point of it was? There weren’t any new information or some extra fanservice so I don’t really get it.

I tried my best to summarise as much as possible of the game, There are also a lot of smaller thing that happened, which I didn’t include and also some things I forgot, because I have terrible memory but I still tried my best to write down everything important. Sorry if I couldn’t explain some parts well but reading this in Japanese and having to connect all the lore myself, is making some things difficult to understand, the Japanese writing used is also not the easiest in the world. This game also has an MTL patch so in case you want to play it yourself you can, might be not 100% accurate but better than nothing.

Art and Music

The art in this game was actually pretty good, even with the change in art style, while I would have preferred the first artist, I actually got used to the art now and can’t see it in any other way. There were many very pretty CGs, but it was also pretty obvious that they had more than one artist working on this game, some CGs were really wonky. Idk how many artist there were (I tried to find them in the credits but didn’t see anything?) but at I think there must have been  at least 3 artist (but probably more like 4-5), or 2 artist and one apprentice, because the hell was Hozumi’s last CG lmao. Most CGs were decent though, Haru’s route had the prettiest ones. The H-scene Cgs were also decent beside Haru’s good end one this one was extra lewd lol. The OST was pretty good, I enjoyed it, especially the tense music during the fights, it fit the atmosphere of the game really well. One thing I have to talk about are the voice lines; the game had a quite a noticeable amount of voice line bugs, some parts were repeated or the voice line didn’t match the text, especially in the earlier route. The sound quality in the beginning was also weird sometimes, you would either almost not hear the characters, or they would sound like they had their microphone in their mouth. It got better in the later routes, and I saw that they released a patch to fix these problems. I assume the game was rushed to release it on time, they were probably in a time crunch after their artist changed so maybe that’s why some Cgs were a bit wonky. In the end it wasn’t too bad. Overall, I really enjoyed the Art and Music of the game.

Finale verdict

After the madness of Ariake's route, Shinbanshi's felt surprisingly light and refreshing. Once Oosaki gained a bit of his trust by convincing him he really isn't Daiba Shizuma, everything went quite smoothly (most people died, but still). Shinbashi-san is the most cat-like character ever! Lots of moe, very tsundere, I enjoyed watching him gradually open up.

My respect for Shinbashi also increased a lot. My impression from Ariake's route is that he is smart, but a coward that cannot fire a gun to save his life, uncollaborative and someone you'd rather have on your side instead of having one of his schemes thrown at you. My impressions were confirmed right and without his animosity directed at Oosaki, he proved to be a great ally for him. Observant, a quick thinker, cautious and far-sighted, but also self-preserving and not as naive as Oosaki can be: they are indeed a very good match. However, while his providence and prudence constantly came in clutch, at the end of the day it's nothing but the positive side of the coin of his deep-rooted paranoia, which really was the cherry on top of this delicious cherry-filled cake. Without it, the insanity quota wouldn't have been met.

On the other hand, my boy Oosaki restored some aura points in this route. Without someone actively working to lead him astray (morally, I mean) he proved to be a competent detective after all. All he needs is someone to doubt in the goodness of others for him and he's set (yikes).

Rather than falling in love, it felt like these two tamed each other (Oosaki obeying Shinbashi's signals, Shinbashi trusting Oosaki enough to let him bind him and give his necklace to Hinode). When Oosaki confessed I had "mhm." reaction, because while it was "cute" and I do love their relationship, they never got close enough for me to believe they're in love and after Ariake's route in particular it's a comparatively shallow "romance" (Ariake did touch the depths of Oosaki's heart but he also did whatever he wanted with it, so there's that). And then! My goat! Kurosawa Rinko-sensei! Tied it all with a ribbon in the end! The fact that Oosaki can't trust Shinbashi enough to sleep by his side, how in Shinbashi's profile you unlock at the end is written that because of his grandmother's teaching he blew Oosaki's confession out of proportion in his own mind and the way Oosaki notes in his own mind that Shinbashi killed his brother in rainy day like this one. These pieces put together complete the picture beautifully. Oosaki did say something interesting about it too, but I'm not confident enough in my translation (or trust google translate enough) to report it here (I would be so embarrassed if I got it wrong).

EDIT: It's been a few days since when I wrote this post and I think I was the one being too skeptical when commenting on ooshin's relationship. My interpretation of Redon (see the random thoughts section) was so pessimistic, too. I blame the stress from work and exams as the reason I sounded so negative about it (I feel so doomed that everything else seems just as doomed to me, I'm going through it guys). I actually think they're just a step or two away from love. They chose to trust each other when their life depended on it, Oosaki captivated by Shinbashi to the point he tried to learn as much as possible about him and looked for him and when they finally met he made it clear he chose him even after all he learned, which I'm sure means a lot to Shinbashi. The fact he knows nothing about Oosaki and his paranoia definitely threaten the delicate balance between them, but if they manage to open up to each other and keep building up the trust between them I'm sure they'll be fine. If not, the dangerous "one wrong move and we're doomed" vibe I get from them is very interesting as well, but they already survived together once, so I am also hopeful they will be able to live together as well.

To be honest, I feel a bit insane about the way Shinbashi's behaviour flipped when they finally met again outside the island and then flipped again after Oosaki confessed to him. Even before that, it was really fun to watch Shinbashi dropping his defenses and showing more of his vulnerable side. The fact he ended up being a the clingy type of lover that constantly needs reassurance is very ironic but also kinda makes sense for someone so skeptical. In other words, I love my pathetic cat boy.

I also love the way Oosaki and Ariake's relationship developed this time around, even if it didn't take centre stage. Is this actually gonna be the evil version of Minakami and Tamamori in the sense that their relationship is gonna haunt every single route from now on? Because I'd love that. Oosaki did keep his promise to protect Ariake said they're "each other's beacon of light", while also seeing through his schemes. I loved their last scene together at the pier and that they're still seeing each other after escaping the island. I feel very content in this aspect. Whatever was going on with them during Ariake's route was more interesting, but I'm a soft-hearted gal and I genuinely felt heart-broken for Oosaki during Ariake's ending B. I wasn't unhappy with ending A, but it felt like suddenly receiving candy after being punched repeatedly in the face and that sentiment overtook any positive feeling that ending could have given me.

Good for you, Ariake. Good for you.

Now, time for some random thoughts!

There was barely a mystery about who there murderers were. Info from the previous route helped and Oosaki and Shinbashi were constantly exchanging information (which helped a lot, especially thanks to the cat boy's precautions), but even then no one pulled any big brain schemes this time around. The overarching mystery of who the client is is still the most interesting one and we did get some big hints and some answers as well!

My impression of Aomi turned out to be wrong! What is going on with him? I thought he might be a "detective" type of character, but he was the evil mastermind of this route! Despite being so sharp, he ended up dead again and this time by his own end... It reminded me of the stereotypical ending scene at the top of the cliff you see in Japanese detective dramas, where the villan ends up swallowed by the sea, leaving only questions and regrets behind. Looking forward to his route more than ever before! I cannot imagine how that might go at all honestly (especially since it's Kurosawa-sensei we're talking about)!

I expected Takeshiba to be a more cowardly killer and instead he really went for it! In front of everyone no less! And so violently! He did seem the kind to be impulsive and resentful, so I'm not surprised he was driven by anger when suddenly cornered. I just thought it would be something more underhanded, but there was probably no need since they were ready to dispose of everyone anyway.

About that... that's a terrifying way to die. I't might appear in my nightmares from now on. If Aomi had been meticulous enough to tie Shinbashi again or had taken notice of their alliance, they might have been done for. Oosaki trying to break free after realizing Shinkiba would have found his body after dying this way did make my eyes a bit moist.

My opinion on Toyosu and Shijomae did not change and neither did my suspicions about Hinode. Why did he not grab Oosaki at the end? It might have been the fact that it was all too much to bear and he'd rather die at this point, but I'm not convinced. He disappeared in both endings and I'm convinced it's on purpose.

Shinbashi telling Ariake "you're not acting, you simply can't control your emotion, huh?" was objectively a bit funny. Personally, I found it hilarious.

Shinagawa calling Shinbashi timid, lonely and with an inflated sense of pride based on vibes was also funny.

I hate any type of sheep-and-wolves puzzle because no matter how many times I encounter it I never remember the way to properly solve it without trial and error. Not that there was any puzzle to solve (and it's only 4 people so it's way easier), but the boat shenanigans at the end reminded me of it and I wanted to complain.

More 自分 shenanigans in this route, but this time I think it's way easier to localize.

Man, do I even like Ariake? I honestly don't know at this point. I feel I still don't understand him and the fact I can't read his profile despite completing two of his endings validates my feelings. I just know this motherfucker is going to haunt the following routes (and my braincells along with it).

Because of his design I expected Oosaki to be the cold, distant and rational type of detective and, while I was proved wrong from the start, he turned out to be way more emotional and fragile than he seemed by the end of the journey. Untangling the amount of trauma, self-loathing, suicidal behavior and many other feelings inside him is something that would be more appropriate to do in a serious character analysis rather than in this quick, thoughtless rant, so I'm not going to delve deep into his characterization or backstory at all, but I do have A LOT of thoughts about him. Seeing him struggle to be a good person no matter what (which is a slippery slope and recipe for disaster) and the guilt that goes along with that wish broke my heart as I was reading. Which is why it was so terrifying to watch Ariake purposely and gradually tangle Oosaki's feelings even further, how Oosaki continuously —both unconsciously and consciously— ignored any suspicions towards him, Oosaki's selective mutism being triggered more and more often, how Oosaki ended up disregarding or twisting his morals and principles for that little shit.

At some point I expected some kind of "moral redemption" for Ariake in the eyes of the reader, but that never really happened and my view of him as bad person was never challenged. I respect it, honestly. The worst thing is that beyond all the terrible, manipulative stuff he has done, there are many moments you can tell he's acting and talking genuinely and to me those are the moments that actually doomed our boy Oosaki and it's also what creeps me out most about him. He's not a straight-foward kind of evil, there's nuance to it (and by that I don't mean "oh, but he has trauma :(", we're at the mentally ill convention, everyone has trauma). I said I don't know if I like him, but I've been thinking about him the most.

At some point everyone saw through him and realized what he was scheming and he still got what he wanted, so props to him for that. Well played.

This is where I'm stuck. I don't know how to put down my full thoughts on him or his feelings for Oosaki. I'm missing something and that bothers me so much I don't know how to write about him. What I can tell you for sure is that I cheered when Oosaki said he was going to kill Ariake and then kill himself (I was surprised of my own feelings) and I was then disappointed when Ariake played him like a fiddle once again. I just felt like it would be a good ending for them, but what we got was a more coherent one. Still, remaining stuck in the limbo of their relationship is way scarier and more miserable than death to me so I considered a form of mercy for both of them. I wonder if there are epilogues like the ones that have been written for Hashihime. What could their future possibly look like?

Some other random thoughts:

Daiba Shizuma acts so obviously evil and malicious, my reasoning looped around and I started to think he cannot possibly be too bad. I was surprised that motherfucker did lie and actually sent Oosaki to die in his stead (or did he trust Oosaki to pull through?).

I love Shinkiba and Shinagawa!! The fact Oosaki trusts Shinkiba to come for him the whole time, the fact he doesn't want to make them sad by dying, how relieved he is to see them when he awakens, the blood transfusion and Shinkiba saying they now also share the same blood... It really warms my heart after all the horrors Oosaki went through. Also! Shinkiba is the parent of the year for doing all he can to protect Oosaki from coming into contact with Daiba and Ariake after he comes back. Didn't work, but still.

Shinbashi's arrogance makes me want to see him humbled. I also think that, while he seems to be smart, he has some clear weak points. I want to put him on a leash.

I want to learn more about Aomi. He didn't speak much but he was clearly observing everyone and he was shown to have great intuition. When Oosaki was thinking about "And Then There Were None" and asking himself which would be his role, my my instinct pointed to Aomi as the actual detective of the story, but I wouldn't bet any money on this theory.

Shiodome is so disturbing, I am NOT looking forward to his route AT ALL!! That thing CANNOT be a love interest!! LOOK AT HIM!!

Toyosu is soooo suspicious and for some reason he has creepy demon eyes. He might be the client, but I think he is a tool and acts on the client's behalf instead. Definitely not trustworthy.

Hinode is my main candidate as the client at the moment based on vibes only. Ok, not vibes only, but it's an option that requires you to suspend your disbelief quite a bit. It's just that he's in a position that allows him to pulls the strings relatively easily as long as he has an accomplice. I also don't think he just died in the fire. But tbh idk. I will be watching him closely.

Shijomae is a piece of shit and a coward. I will be surprised if he actually turns out to have any major role beyond that.

I wonder if war and the military is a major motif/theme/I-don't-know-what-to-call-it in other Adelta/Kurosawa works as well. It's inevitable to some extent because of the time period Ooe and Hashihime are set in, but it definitely feels like that's not all there is to it.

The soundtrack is on the minimalist side this time. The music that is there is good, but most of the time it's either silence, the sound of the rain or the waves. During the sex scenes you can hear the bed cracking or them going plap plap plap. Nice.

The art is beautiful! I love the red, green, black and white color scheme. I'm under the impression that CGs for scenes not strictly related to the events of the islands are slightly more colorful, but I didn't go back to actually check if it's true. Everyone having dark hair, red eyes, paper white skin and mourning clothes works very well. I like the CGs where you can see a lot of character together, they look great. They look cohesive but very different from each other at the same time. Not to mention the atmosphere the whole thing has. Unironically, these CGs have insane aura.

Everyone seems to be associated to an animal and at first I thought they had to be the animals from the Chinese Zodiac, but now I'm not sure. Some have already been mentioned by the narration already (Ariake-rabbit, Shinbashi-cat, Aomi-snake, Shijomae-tiger).

With so many Buddhist elements present, I am once again reminded to lock in for my History of Japanese Religion and Philosophy exam that is coming up very soon instead of reading blvns...

Man, I should read "And Then There Were None"! A lot of things I love are heavily inspired by it and it feels like mandatory reading for any mystery fun, but at this point there's an aria of mystique and sanctity around it in my mind and reading it will dissipate it (it's silly, I know).

Since the localization has been announced, I wonder what they're gonna do about the way Oosaki refers to himself? I thought it was peculiar how Oosaka referred to himself as 自分 the whole time, but it turned out it was important characterization and foreshadowing. What will happen to that scene in the English version? I'm very curious and looking forward to it.

Just finished Madarame's madness ending (was hot as fuck)

Going to go for his euphoria ending next but tbh I really have trouble imagining how good of an ending him and Towa could have, I feel all he does is enable his self-destructive nature.