#gotou

Happy for him have a little raidou and gotou :')

And bonus victor!!

Bocchi the Rock

Requirements:

-Ending 75

-Go back to day 2 of Slasher-Comedy

-There is a new choice to explain your reasoning to Shion more calmly or crash out. If you do the former you get this route.

Basic Idea

A Kill Eito route that doesn’t really involve the G’ie and is the natural fallout of killing Eito. It’s largely focused on Takumi having to regain the trust of his friends and protect them despite them not trusting him. Also, it focuses on Sirei largely going unchecked with Eito not being there to expose certain truths to them. In this route the SDU is staying completely loyal to the mission and rather oblivious.

The Big Major Shift

Without the G’ie messing with Takumi’s head he’s a lot more on the ball and focused on protecting the others. Sirei not dying during the night means that he can actually interact with Takumi more after the initial point. This has a massive effect on Takumi’s psychology because not only do things not immediately go wrong, but they actually go well for awhile. There is also the addition of Sirei giving Takumi positive reinforcement for his actions against Eito and even actually getting to show the video in this timeline.

While many are still wary of Takumi based on the principle that he killed a team member and to them seems like Sirei’s yes man they aren’t as wary as Slasher. It’s much more like a Retsnom situation where some are definitely much more with him while others really aren’t. In this case those who are and aren’t are basically the same as Retsnom (but not to the same extent with Nozomi). Nozomi is wary of Takumi, but doesn’t outright hate him like Retsnom. She’s about as wary of him as she was in Slasher.

A key thing triggered by Sirei’s positive reinforcement and grooming towards Takumi is him being more decisive. With his friends’ skepticism he’s particularly dedicated to proving them wrong by saving everyone. This is noticed by Yugamu who sees someone like Takumi as necessary. Hence, we have their KG relationship bloom with Yugamu being drawn to Takumi similarly and wanting to help him improve to get out of this situation. As we see in KG Yugamu’s influence on Takumi leads to him improving a lot.

This all is leading up to V’ehxness appearing after the end of one of their early battles. Hiruko is still very much working behind the scenes like she was in Slasher to deal with threats. So, the mostly full cast (minus Eito and Eva) fights a weaker V’ehxness with a stronger Takumi and Shion who isn’t inactive from bloodstream shenanigans. The biggest divergence here comes from these factors.

-Stronger Takumi

-Having almost a full cast

-Weaker V’ehxness

-Access to Shion

-Hiruko pre-planning

They actually kill V’ehxness here which I know might sound unlikely, but like…a V’ehxness with a decent amount of absorptions lost to half the cast and a DYING TAKUMI in SF. So, I don’t think this is too big of a stretch especially since V’ehxness just seems to be written as way weaker in these routes.

V’ehxness dying early is what causes this route to veer off with the factors to get there being set up by Kill Eito. This has the commanders absolutely panicking and scrambling to come up with something to defeat the SDU. Their efforts are made infinitely harder by a Hiruko who is feeling particularly bad after Slasher offering some insight to prepare certain weapons ahead of time. They defeat V’ehxness before Eva would have attacked which drastically changes their attack plans and Eva actually is never captured.

The Second Major Shift

Never capturing Eva aids in keeping the SDU in the dark about the true nature of the invaders along with Hiruko’s own meddling. Most of them having absolutely no idea besides the two time travelers that they even look human. This easily allows for the SDU to keep seeing the commanders as just monsters to kill. The spies that the Anti-Exodus faction has overhear how well things are going especially the strongest commander being dead and go into action. They can’t act through Nigou since he’s dead in this timeline. This leads to much more reckless scheme to sabotage the mission before it’s too late.

Most of the faction ends up dying in this desperate move, but Gotou is able to make it with his own little robot. With Sirei in the way, no easy way into the academy, and the SDU very firmly in Sirei’s grasp trying to make them turn is too risky to attempt. Considering Sirei is dead before Gotou can explodes the SDU in Conspiracy I think he needs Sirei dead to do so. But, there is a group of nine reserve students at a third academy. Normally they would be completely wiped out by day 20 in route 0, but that changed due to the real academy being found sooner. So, this cast is actually still alive but they’re way further away than 2LDA.

Third-To-Last Defense Academy

As for this group they have either not great or very flawed specialists skills. They are joined by an experimental hemoanima robot who rather than being scrapped was thrown in with them. The robot is less effective with Hemoanima than Nozomi and was very expensive not making it practical to mass produce or just scrap. In most timelines this cast is killed by Turatammi and Nyewgank on day 16, but V’ehxness dying shifts their focus completely onto LDA. It’s this group who is approached by Gotou after he gets rid of their own Nigou. He tells them the truth of the war and urges them to stop LDA. Because of Takumi’s hemoanima surge when he goes back they can understand the futurans.

They end up agreeing with Gotou after learning the truth of the war and approach the commanders. Naturally the commanders are wary of them, but very desperate for help. Eva is the first to accept them and becomes the unofficial mom of the group. The commanders also release Dahl’xia who helps train them to fight LDA.

Of course even with this 3LDA has a massive disadvantage. They can’t use revive-o-matics after Sirei deletes their data upon finding out that they defected while also having all of the weaknesses of the SDU. 3LDA acts as a new group of antagonists with Gotou being a returning antagonist. While they still aren’t as strong as LDA they join the commanders in battle to make the fights harder.

While they would normally be able to affect the LDA’s thoughts on the war Sirei discredits them by declaring them brainwashed. Considering the SDU knows very little about the war and Hiruko is actively helping at hide things too they end up mostly going along with this notion. Sirei uses this to make the others not question when they capture one or two members a fight to cage until Sirei “removes their brainwashing”. So, we get new characters finally! Also unlike Eva, Sirei doesn’t really have to change enough to set off any red flags.

The Conflict Between Two Teams

From LDA’s perspective they’re doing a good thing saving humanity and the brainwashed soldiers. From 3LDA’s perspective this is a fucking horror movie. Made worse by their first impression of LDA.

Takumi has a double dosage of Eito and V’ehxness in this timeline which is a frightening prospect. V’ehxness’ influence on him mentally makes him more confident and less doubtful about his own actions. This is perfect for Sirei who is grooming Takumi to be a perfect little leader. Takumi being much more confident and having the “it’s just work” mentality makes him really frightening from an outside perspective with how it affects the strength of his hemoanima.

3LDA looks at Takumi like he’s literally Satan. In their first meeting they try attacking the members while their on an exploration you know divide and conquer. Their leader Raidou yaps up a storm about how they’ll stop humanity and save the futurans while Takumi is just confused as hell about what they’re yapping about and thinks they’ve been brainwashed, Azure Blitzes them with that try to jump him only to get squashed like bugs.

Thankfully Takumi is nice and lets them go after swatting them, but this affected them psychologically so much. This especially affects their leader Raidou who progressively grows a massive hate boner for Takumi. Like this leaves them looking at LDA like actual monsters combined with the futuran propaganda that they’re demons.

My idea with 3LDA as antagonists is that they grow into their role. They start out moral and even lecturing LDA for doing things like absorbing their enemies and killing without remorse. But, over time they find themselves having to resort to less savory methods especially as they keep losing and having more members taken. This eventually leads to Raidou going a bit nuts to take down Takumi who is blissfully unaware that he lives so rent free in this man’s head.

This leads into some betrayal to try to get to Takumi’s level and tactics to take down as many people as possible. I think they’re an interesting way to show how both sides are pretty screwed up on this war by showing both of them are twisted by those using them.

Like after going through most of the routes in this game and thinking about it I don’t see it as quite black and white anymore. Especially, after BoB then going back through route 0. Like I think a lot of people in the fandom really forget that the futurans are just as screwed up as humanity like they brainwash people too, use imposters, and even human shields. Not to mention that one time Kamyuhn basically called Takumi bitch made for not wanting to kill a baby. Honestly both sides are awful and ultimately just trying to survive. I see this conflict like a lion vs a buffalo. Neither of them is morally better than the other they’re both just doing everything they can to survive. You wouldn’t shame a lion for eating the buffalo to sate itself neither would you blame the buffalo for killing the lion to defend itself. Neither side is really moral here (especially considering when the futurans had the opportunity to genocide humanity they did so they’re both genocidal). So, personally I see humanity and the futurans equally. That’s shown through the 3LDA cast becoming no better than the LDA cast.

Also new units and characters along with antagonists that you can get to know more besides Eito and V’ehxness mostly. I also felt like Gotou (and the Anti-Exodus faction) and Dahl’xia were underused. I like the idea of having the SDU face a parallel to themselves.

Notes on the 3LDA

Raidou Oyama (He’s the only one that I have a clear vision of what he looks like currently)

-Brass knuckles weapon

-Raging God: His attacks have a small chance to become critical when in the zone. For every ally lost his crit chance increases by 3%. In universe, this is a limited adaptation ability that allows him to adapt to abilities and attacks with extensive exposure. This never goes as far as complete negation, but it does allow him to resist abilities. It’s not quite as strong as a pierce, but he can expose weak points. The main weakness of his Specialist Skill is its slowness.

-Leader

-Rebellious and edgy

-dresses like an emo anime boy

-male

-his weapon has lightning as its element

-his special attack is a reference to Pegasus Meteor Fist

-has a generic edgy MC backstory and big MC energy

-cares a lot about his team but isn’t the kind to be open about it

-tall (I’m imagining that he has a similar height difference to Takumi as he does with Eito) and decently buff (about this buff for reference)

-has long messy mainly black hair (haven’t decided on the secondary color) and a red headband on his head like Bardock

-He’s not a really bad guy per se. My vision is that he’s a good man driven to extremes by his situation. Kinda like KG Takemaru, but less insufferable about it. He acts as a parallel to Takumi. Unfortunately for him I love Takumi so my boy is going to prevail over him.

Haruki Yuto

-Drill weapon

-Me Too: When an ally gains a boost he can temporarily mimic the boost for a turn

-male

-best friend character of the group

-is weak but trying to become stronger like the leader

-jealous of the leader

-struggles with loyalty

-desperate to be a part of something

Taiga Kazan

-Chainsaw weapon

-female

-Bloody Queen: Can pierce through shield but hurts herself when doing this and leaves herself very exposed

-crude to the Miyu extent

-butch

-really likes eating

-talented but complains about fighting

-extremely difficult to work with and isn’t good at following orders

Mirai

-Railgun weapon

-experimental robot with hemoanima

-the gun comes out of their stomach

-was reprogrammed and has a limited emotional range

-His weapon is known as the Megiddo

-can fly but not very high up

-focused on pure destructive power

-very slow

Rei Miko

-Shield weapon

-Reinforce Will: One of her stats increases at random when attacked

-female

-shy

-a complete doormat and nervous wreck

-has massive anxiety attacks when under pressure

Kasai Kabuto

-Jet weapon

-Last Stand: The closer to death he is the higher his attack

-male

-closed off, reckless

-most self sacrificing member

-desperate to prove his worth

-daddy issues

-struggles to live up to expectations placed upon him by his family

Amatsu Himo

-Chain weapon

-Heavenly Mandate: Can negate the Specialist Skills of those bound by her chain. It’s effectiveness at negation depend on the power difference between the user and target.

-female

-intelligent

-pragmatic

-avid reader

-some nerd energy

-becomes surprisingly passionate

-she’s rather friendly and eager to engage in banter

-more mellow than she looks

Shin Hideyoshi

-Spear weapon

-Gungnir: His attacks with his spear have a homing effect. This is an automatic thing that he cannot control.

-male

-larps as a noble crusader

-actually a spoiled rich kid who’s way too into old history

-has a lot of historical details mixed up

-showboats a lot

-often leaves himself open due to arrogance

Kaida Takeshi

-Nunchuck weapon

-Waking the Dragon: Becomes stronger when outnumbered

-male

-very skilled and disciplined

-martial artist

-the coolest headed person in the group

-the go to warrior of the group

-extremely competitive to a toxic extent

-the kind of competitor that would break your leg to win

-extremely brutal out of what he deems to be necessary rather than taking enjoyment out of it

-believes in preemptive strikes

Main Ship

Okay, all of that stuff is well and good but…ships! I’m a Takuzomi stan so this route is Takuzomi. Nozomi is the moral anchor preventing Takumi from going too far with the bad influences in his blood and the external grooming.

I’m not entirely decided on the specifics, but I was thinking that Kako-G does exist in this route but is killed before she can cause too much damage. She sees a timeline going too well and decides to hate. Her plan involves trying to kill the cast, but this goes horribly. She’s a bit overconfident in the leap suit. She had killed and planned to replace the Kako of this timeline to slowly kill everyone. Before completing that she decided to hate because apparently the G’ie besides Nozomi-G are just absolute Takumi haters if their interactions in SF is anything to go off.

Right now she’s absolutely high off getting Takumi killed in one of the KG early bad endings and decides “why not? I’ll kill him again”. While she doesn’t normally like killing directly she does certainly make exceptions especially for Takumi and Hiruko. This leads to a similar situation to Slasher when Takumi and Nozomi jump Yugamu. However…Kako-G is not Yugamu. She lost to Hiruko in base and a dying Takumi. Takumi and Nozomi jump her when she’s chasing them. For a moment the situation feels familiar to Takumi and he realizes that normal weapons will work (this feeling coming from the fact that he’s experienced Slasher-Zombie but doesn’t remember it he just has those vague feelings like SF). While hemoanima strikes are cancelled out this is a normal weapon (a chair in this case) hitting her with superhuman strength.

So while jumping Kako-G they accidentally kill her. Kako’s body was already hid so most people thinks that Takumi killed Kako. Nozomi due to being with him and defends him, but most think she’s mistaken or had been threatened. Takumi’s relationship with Ima is permanently destroyed and many of the cast is more fearful of him. I’m also still deciding if she kills more people than Kako. I’m thinking maybe one more person. However, this brings Nozomi closer to his side which helps those two finally start to get close in this route. Nozomi helps keep Takumi grounded and is a bit more trusted than Takumi.

Without any Takumi from another timeline to attempt to murder him and no known truth to talk about with Hiruko he actually gets to tell Nozomi everything in this route. I’m imagining their relationship in this route as a combination of Slasher (if it never got interrupted) and Second Scenario (with her being the moral anchor).

Takumi Himself

It’s pretty complicated with the influencing factors mentioned previously. It’s all resulted in him becoming extremely locked in and similar to his characterization in KG albeit he never goes nearly as far as his KG self. I’d say that it’s somewhere between KG and CoA or (Non-Takumi-G) Slasher. Like he’s pretty ruthless towards enemies specifically, but he’s very kind and compassionate towards the SDU. Takumi is just focused on keeping all of his friends safe and happy mostly which is a struggle. Him being oblivious to the truth in this timeline just allows him to completely devote himself to this.

As mentioned he does have a side effect from absorbing V’ehxness’ hemoanima for a second time. This leads to him not questioning himself as much. This could certainly lead him to potentially doing horrible things, but Nozomi is there to stop him from going too far. He’s pretty depressed at the beginning with having Nozomi and Yugamu’s companionship helping him feel better. His mood improves over time as he repairs his relationships with the others which takes some time.