In terms of writing, Ebihime doesn’t seem to disappoint with intersting characters and storytelling that is just filled with twists and turns. Mireille and Lyon might be the only two characters within the game, but there is a lot of tension between them and just a lot going on in the background that makes a player very invested in learning what exactly is going on. While, it is hard to empathize with Mireille at first, getting small details about her past and coming to understand what she is going through during the game makes it a bit easier to sympathize with her current situation. However, the art adds a lot to the story and never fails to disappoint because it does a good in showing Mireille’s expressions and great fashion sense, while showing some wonderful CGs and backgrounds.

The story begins with Mireille being picked up by Lyon -- the family’s old chauffeur and her current escort from Italy to her uncle’s home in France. From their trip to Italy to her new home, the two of them make stops along the way in which Mireille is able to learn more about Lyon and his past, but that doesn’t ever stop her from being so sharp-tongued with him whenever he says something that she doesn’t like. However, in her own misunderstanding and limited knowledge of the emotion, Mireille comes to slowly realize that she might have feelings towards Lyon but with the inability of knowing his own emotions and his friendly attitude towards her, Mireille thinks that the older man only sees her as a child. Yet, before she can resolve any of her personal or familial problems, something happens that just stops everything.

First, I want to praise of writing quality of this because it has me feeling like this was a road trip where Mireille would just end up living a new life with her uncle in France or somehow end up eloping up Lyon. The ending was just so shocking to a story that I thought was already neatly set up in front of me. At the same time, I really ended up enjoying Mireille’s personality since at the beginning I just thought she was just some rich brat that had no direction in life and was just mean to everyone. However, she has a lot of uncertainty about her life and about herself because of her family’s past, which is touched upon several times through the story, especially with what happened to her mother. With both her parents dead and her estranged uncle’s sudden request that is moving her from everything that she has known, it is kind of understandable that she might cling to something that seems familiar, in this case Lyon but she pays a price for it in the end. However, in the second playthrough, it is great to see that she can make her own decisions and eventually grows in a taciturn but independent woman.

While, it is a bit harder to sympathize with Lyon, his motives are reasonable and it is slightly redeemable that he considers himself a “coward”. Going through his POV is a bit harder especially after what happens to Mireille, but it is good that somewhere he cared about the girl he had spent 10 years attending to and might have even realized that she had feelings for him, though his own feelings don’t seem to go into the land of romance at any point in the story. In the end, their relationship with its complex tension is what makes the story and it is great to see its different iterations through the multiple playthroughs needed to get the whole story and even the “what if” of it all.