オランピアソワレ
Completion date: January 10, 2025
Overall rating: 9/10
All of my reviews contain spoilers.
With the announcement of the sequel, I picked up this game that I previously did not touch due to the overwhelmingly negative reviews in the Chinese Otome fandom (mainly criticism towards the main character and lack of self-insertability). Boy was I wrong. Another lesson to only believe what you see and not what you hear. This is the first review that I am writing as I play through each route, and will be taking time to explain the various references in this game, as that’s what made this game stand out for me, in addition to its other strengths.
For each character there is one good ending and two bad endings. This game is known for its well-written bad endings, so even if you’re a good-ending only collector I strongly encourage you play the bad endings. They’re quite short and memorable.
Given the length of this review, here are some page jumps:
LORE
The common route is extremely long for otome game standards but at no point was I bored. It lays the foundation of the story and introduces the main and supporting characters nicely. It also allows us to focus on the romance in the individual routes once the exposition is done in the common route.
This is a fictional immersive world with heavy influence from Japanese mythology. The world is mainly one island called Tenguu, where people are divided by [colour] of their hair/eyes. The most prestigious colours are the primary colours: red, blue, and yellow. Then there are some other pure colours in the spectrum. Finally, those who have multiple colours or are born of some colour that is not a primary or pure colour are the lesser citizens of the society and are banished to an underground world without sunlight called Yomi. [Black] is considered the worst colour. It is strictly forbidden to date/marry/procreate with someone from a vastly different class, and it is punishable by death – or a painful ritual where your spirit is ripped out of your body alive.
Tenguu island worships their God Hiruko (卑流呼). In legends, he arrived to this island after drifting for a long time in the sea. Some of you may know that there was an actual Japanese mythological deity called Hiruko (ヒルコ/水蛭子) yet not written in these characters who was the eldest child between Izanagi/Izanami (those two were siblings with Izanami being the sister). The mythological Hiruko was described to be so ugly that he was abandoned by his parents and left to drift in the sea. In the folklore of Tenguu island, Hiruko separated a piece of jade into half, and from it came the soul of man and woman. As such, the meaning of life is to find their other half of the soul, and only when they become one shall they be complete.
Our protagonist, Byakuya, is the only descendant of [white], which is considered the most holy colour and the highest class. She comes from the neighbouring Tennyo (Sky Goddess) Island where only women of [white] are allowed to live there. All women of [white] worship the Goddess Amaterasu (which is the actual sun goddess in Japanese mythology as well). Byakuya’s clan died in a calamity called [the disaster of the red whirlpool] many years ago. Byakuya resides within the yellow clan being an adoptive daughter of the clan leader Douma, and given the titular name “Olympia” by him.
Byakuya’s job on Tenguu island is to be the sun priestess and perform ritualistic dances, as there is no day/night cycle naturally in this world and only with dances performed by [white] women like Olympia with the use of crystals harnessed from the deceased people’s souls, will the sun come out. The soul crystals are harnessed by a ritual called [batsu] (抜, to pull) – which is exclusive to those of the [blue] clan.
Douma and Byakuya have a tense relationship because when Byakuya was ten years old, she permanently disabled his left hand when she was attempting to escape back to Tennyo island. Women of the [white] clan also have the ability to use [batsu] but only when they’re in danger.
Douma: This is a reference to the Heian period Onmyouji Ashiya Douman – who was also known as Douma Houshi. His rival, Abe no Seimei may be a more familiar name to some.
Olympia: This name pays homage to the short story The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann, in which Olympia is a beautiful automation/doll that the protagonist became infatuated with. Upon realizing she was not a real woman, he was driven insane and jumped off a tower committing suicide.
Olympia is in a peculiar position on the island. On the stage, she symbolizes the sun goddess, “not making eye contact with anyone, not speaking to anyone”, playing her role like the obedient doll she is – just like her given name. In private, she is usually isolated from the world and shut-in her room. When she goes outside, people view her as a monster due to her hair colour and their unfamiliarity with her people in general. This draws such parallel to real life, where people often have racist judgments towards those who appear “different” without even interacting with people from that group at all.
The time came when Olympia turned 18 – the legal age for marriage/finding a mate on Tenguu island. One day while being harassed by a fanatic, she was saved by the heir of the Red clan, Akaza, who also works as the head of the intelligence department. Akaza declared that Olympia is under his protection.
He takes her back to the intelligence department, where she meets the second-in-command Kuroba, which is surprising as he is from [black], a clan that isn’t even allowed outside of Yomi. Kuroba has special permission to roam the free world because of his skills as a physician. He is also a massive flirt and ladies man.
Akaza pressures Olympia to find a mate within one year so that she can have children and keep the [white] line alive. Time is on the line because there is a mysterious disease [haku] (the word in Japanese is a verb, to peel) that is rampaging the island. Those inflicted with haku have their skin/organs/limbs rot and peeled away from them, then eventually die of a painful death. Very little is known about haku, and as the intelligence department who apparently also does population census, Akaza cannot afford to wait and risk Olympia getting haku and dying off without a [white] heir. In fact, he loves his job so much he declares if she cannot find a mate within one year:
Akaza: Well I love my job.
Olympia is obviously weirded out by Akaza and angrily exclaimed “I will marry anyone but you”. Thus, she embarks on the journey to find the other half of her soul and see the world.
She travels to the Yomi which is surprisingly a nicer place than the island where people don’t talk about her like she is some exotic animal. She meets Yosuga, who owns the largest bathhouse [Shikinjyou] in Yomi, who appears to be a gentle person and acts like a life/dating coach to Byakuya.
She also meets Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, a genki 17-year-old boy who is one of the five [marebito] (rare people) – people who are not originally from this world, but drifted from far away. He is from a faraway country called “Japan”.
She also meets Himuka, who is a very pretty boy who runs a funeral business in the underworld. For some reason he also has the ability to use [batsu] even if he does not have blue hair. Himuka is accosted by Riku, who is an elite soldier as well as the next leader of the [blue] clan. Riku clearly has no regard for people of the Yomi and tells Byakuya to stop associating with them, and return to the island.
Byakuya doe not agree with the discrimination based on colour. If anything, she finds Yomi much more like home compared to the island where people treat her like a monster. She eventually runs into Kaina, who was supposed to be the next [yellow] clan leader but sent to Yomi as a criminal because he fell in love with a commoner. Since he can never leave Yomi, he asks Byakuya to send his twin brother, Kanan, the current leader of the [orange] clan, a letter. Byakuya realizes there has been no connection between the island and Yomi, and that even if the law is the law, people miss their families. Hence, she started a mail delivery service to facilitate this connection.
Two final honourable mentions of important characters:
Master Jigen, who is the current leader of the [red] clan. He is also one of the [marebito] from Japan; asJigen Daishi is the posthumous title of Tenkai who was a Buddhist monk from the Edo period. Knowing this will explain why a lot of his teachings to Byakuya sound so spiritual and vague.
Tsukuyomi is Byakuya’s mentor. He also used to be the protector of Tennyo island before everyone died. He is one of the Marebito that resides in Yomi. In Japanese mythology, Tsukuyomi is the God of the moon and brother to Amaterasu and Susanoo, the God of sea and storms.
With that, we finally complete the common route and are ready to dive into Byakuya’s journey of finding her soul’s other half.
RIKU (CV: Shimazaki Nobunaga)
Riku is a very serious person, with his life planned out probably since his birth. His skill of using [batsu] is the strongest in his clan, and he is prepared to be the next leader. He often clashes with Byakuya because he believes all those lower class people are bad influence to her. He is also stationed in the connection point between the island and Yomi, but Byakuya would never listen to him and instead show him her pass. It’s hilarious seeing the evolution of his frustration and disappointment towards Byakuya in the script and his voice each time he says “please go ahead” because he has no other choice haha.
One day, Byakuya was delivering a letter to the [blue] district and accidentally ran into the current clan leader Shura. She was invited to stay to watch the [batsu] ceremony which is usually restricted to people within [blue] only. She was captivated by the ritualistic performance of the dancer. However, she was far and couldn’t see his face. She admires this dancer and wants to know and learn from him. Despite this, no matter who she asks, people seem to know this dancer’s identity but nobody is willing to tell her. Eventually they ask her to ask someone from [blue] clan.
Byakuya decides to ask Riku, who had a big reaction to this and forbid her from asking further. He is such a tsundere about this lol. The dancer was obviously himself, and later Akaza breaks the news to Byakuya.
Riku is also good with little animals. One day, Byakuya’s white mouse Daifuku (named after the food) ran out of her pocket because he smelled the hamburger (it really is an anachronistic world they’re in) that Riku was eating. He was so gentle with Daifuku it made me aww.
Riku is also good friends with Akaza given their similar status and being classmates in school. One day Akaza saved Byakuya from being running over by a horse carriage. However, this was misinterpreted by Riku that Byakuya was flirting with Akaza. Riku also heard some unfounded rumours about Byakuya so he ran over and called Byakuya a bunch of nasty names, such as she is a prostitute who sleeps with various men and toys with their feelings… Byakuya was rightfully upset and ran away crying, with Akaza getting angry at Riku for believing this nonsense and hurting Byakuya. Riku went to Douma’s house and apologized to Byakuya, with him noting that he should not just listen to what others say, but should only believe what he actually sees (@myself for believing this game was bad from some reviews). This inspired Riku to change, and by opening his mind and interacting with the people of the Yomi, he starts realizing how wrong his old ways were.
He grows more attracted to Byakuya in the process, one day offering to practice dancing with her. She shows him her secret hideout and the two have a dokidoki practice scene together. It is probably at this point that Riku realizes he’s caught feelings for Byakuya. However, he breaks the news that his clan forbids him from dating until he is 30 years old, and until then he will marry a girl within his clan to ensure the purity of his bloodline, so that his children will also be [blue] with the ability to use [batsu]. He then tries to rationalize their relationship as good friends, thus it is okay for them to continue talking, that there’s nothing more “impure” going on… This is the first time I got friend zoned by a LI in an otome game, LOL.
Byakuya was heartbroken over this, as she also realized that she wants Riku to be her husband. Even the bystanders are getting anxious about the pair:
More and more people are being caught and sentenced to death for dating outside their class. Byakuya learns that Douma and Jigen are for the abolishment of this law, but Shura will not budge, stating it is important to have order and ensure purity of bloodlines. She also gave a threatening speech to Byakuya for her to mind her own business and not apply her “arrogance” to Tenguu island thinking she is better than everyone else.
The climax of the route comes when Byakuya one day nearly got kidnapped and was saved by Riku, who was so angry that he started using [batsu] on one of the kidnappers, which is a major crime as this is an extremely painful way to deliver death. Byakuya stopped him last minute, and he is taken for questioning by the three elders of the primary colour clans.
There, the two young people finally realize their feelings for each other and confess. Shura still does not want this marriage to happen as Byakuya can only give birth to [white] children and she needs [blue] heirs. However, to my surprise Douma out of all people speaks up saying Byakuya can also use [batsu] so this is not a problem; and that because there is only one [white] left, having [white] heir is the higher priority. In other words, he supported the marriage. Douma and Byakuya’s relationship is more than what meets the eye. He gave Byakuya a good education and comfortable life, despite him acting all mean around her.
The good ending then concludes in them finding the culprit behind the kidnapping who is Sakyou, who runs the island hospital and is desperate to have his hands on a [white] to find a cure for haku. He is arrested. The two lovers can finally be together and they share another romantic confession under the sakura blossoms and have a steamy moment (CERO D).
Bad ending 1: Riku couldn’t control his powers and actually killed the person with batsu. He is banished to the underworld and takes on the (not respected) job of executioner.
Bad ending 2: Riku and Sakyou became engulfed by the ocean. Byakuya is seen with Shura, who reveals her true love was Sakyou. This is surprising because Shura became the clan leader after her ex-husband died, and clearly he was not Sakyou lol.
TOKISADA (CV: Uemura Yuuto)
This is the cute boy who is one year Byakuya’s junior and chases her around calling her “neesama” (big sister). He is a marebito adopted under the [green] clan and the same Amakusa Shirou from Japanese history: a young Japanese Catholic who died at the age of 17 by beheading. Upon meeting Byakuya, he boldly asked her to consider him as her husband, and that he supports Byakuya in her ambition to change the island and get rid of the colour-based marriage laws.
Byakuya obviously will not just accept some stranger as her husband, so she proposed that they start dating as friends and get to know each other. The first half of the route is literally them going on cutesy dates, including one where they accidentally eat shaved ice off the same spoon, and realizing they just… kissed hahaha
On one of their dates, it suddenly started to pour, so Byakuya brought Tokisada to her secret hideout. The tension was palpable and Tokisada actually manned up and kabedoned Byakuya and they kissed wooow.
However, Tokisada was acting weirder and weirder around Byakuya. Eventually, one day he even showed up at the Douma resident wanting to assassinate him to “rectify the colour-class system”. He also goes off about needing to accomplish something big in this world, as all the other marebito are either clan leaders or literal gods like Hiruko, yet he is some nobody and feels inadequate to stand by Byakuya’s side. This was under the influence of Kanan who was briefly mentioned in the common route. Kanan also influenced the [green] leader to pressure Tokisada to achieve something great or get executed.
This route goes into depth about perhaps the most intriguing antagonist of the game which is Kanan. He and Kaina are twin brothers and born from [orange] parents. However, Kaina had yellow eyes and hair, and was adopted by Douma and on track to become the next leader of the [yellow] clan – which is one class above orange. When young Kanan and Kaina both wanted a toy, Kanan was beat severely for daring to want something that a higher-class person also wanted. Kanan later got haku. When he went for treatment, he was told that they only have availability to treat two people right now, and that there are two people from the primary colour clans who are more important than him and should be prioritized. Due to the delay in treatment, it is heavily implied that Kanan lost his penis and thus became infertile. Thus, he began to hate this entire world, the colour system, and his brother who had a more privileged life for him. Kaina also came to the realization that his lover got executed because none other than Kanan reported the two to the authorities.
Kanan is eventually confronted by the pair in a standoff. In the happy ending they overcome him and live happily ever after. Because of Tokisada’s Catholic background they do a western wedding-esque exchange of vows too that was romantic.
What I want to highlight is the two bad endings.
Bad ending 1: Byakuya got tricked by Kaina to his and Kanan’s secret hideout. Kanan that uses drugs to make the two have sex thinking each other is Kaina’s dead lover/Tokisada, so that he can have an “orange heir” and watch the world burn.
Bad ending 2: Tokisada accidentally kills someone due to wanting to achieve something. Realizing that he would be executed if he stays on Tenguu island, he and Byakuya both drift off the island in a boat with no supplies into their fate that is death.
Special shoutout to side character Sasara. She is a bright and outgoing girl who defended herself because of a marriage she had no say over, and did not want to lay with a man that disgusted her, and got sent to Yomi for it… Her mom talks just like her also. I cannot help but feel for her. Maybe in an alternate universe she and Kanan would find their happily ever after… Tokisada clearly was scarred by her, as every time they’re together he was worried that Byakuya would beat him up just like Sasara did to her husband on their wedding night lol.
YOSUGA (CV: Uchida Yuuma)
This character did not catch my eye in the common story, but he sure stole my heart in his own route!
Yosuga, also known as Jigoku Tayuu (Hell’s Courtesan, there is actual historical reference to this, linked), runs a bathhouse business as well acts as an unofficial boss of the Yomi. In the common route, he was already giving yasashii oniisan vibes to Byakuya, looking out for her and feeding her all kinds of snacks. Typically I’m not attracted to this trope because they usually pan out to be the ones who cannot face their feelings and drag the route out for a couple of chapters before they finally confess and say they want to be more… Not the case at all this route.
Yosuga continues to look out for Byakuya, including telling drunk customers who harass her off and showing that when you’re not on his good side, then you will be very afraid of him. However, he is also a protector of all of the people in Yomi, including women who are being accosted by men from above. Turns out, while having children between different classes are a crime punishable by death, due to the incest the survival rate of babies born is low. Hence, sometimes “high-class” men seek the “lower-class” women of Yomi so they can produce an heir, often against these women’s consent. Yosuga also has dirt on a lot of people from above, hence his warnings are effective.
Empowered by Yosuga, Byakuya also protects her peers:
Drawn to his gentle nature, Byakuya grew more and more intrigued by his backstory, as he is the only descendant of [purple] and sent to Yomi as a criminal, and being given a sentence to never produce an heir in his life. We go to Tsukuyomi who does some exposition. The disease haku originated from [purple] family 15 years ago, starting with his sister Ayame, then his parents, then the clan, then spread onto the island. As a result his family was burned down with him as the sole survivor. Note that Byakuya lost her clan 13 years ago so there’s a gap of 2 years. Tsukuyomi took in young Yosuga who was also 5 at the time when he lost his family and taught him many things he knew. All in all, while Byakuya could pick any man as her husband, Yosuga does not seem to be an option, much to her disappointment.
Despite this, she is still the moth drawn to his flame, wanting to know more about him, and be closer to him. Kudos to Katagiri and her outstanding writing, the way she hashes out their tension and feelings for each other is very delicate and romantic.
This pairing has garnered some supporters (honourable mention: Daifuku pretending to be asleep so she can have one-on-one time with Yosuga):
I love Byakuya for speaking her mind this route and not holding back, defending Yosuga everywhere she goes.
She not only defends his name but also tells Yosuga that she is his ride or die. Yosuga reveals the backstory of his family getting haku and Ayame’s death (that she was murdered by someone important from [blue] clan). This seems to be connected to two people: Sakyou, who has also taken an extremely unhealthy interest in Byakuya for his haku cure research, as well as the current [blue] leader Shura. He believes they are the murderer of his sister, and wants to pay blood with blood. He wants to leave Byakuya outside of this act that will “dirty her hands”, but Byakuya firmly tells him that they will protect each other and that she will not sit back while he puts himself in danger.
In the interim, the two have some steamy moments but don’t go all the way, either because Byakuya was not ready or once he saw Byakuya’s hair change colour and freaked out haha.
I am always a sucker for the “fated reunion” trope – where MC/LI have a meeting in their childhood that they remember and cherish in their hearts, become separated, only to cross paths again. Turns out, little Byakuya heard what happened to the [purple] clan from Tsukuyomi. She picked up a beautiful white shell from Tennyo island and asked Tsukoyomi to give this shell to little Yosuga to “cheer him up”. Yosuga has kept this shell all this time. Both of them remember this event, but they thought each other forgot smh.
In the good ending, they confront Shura and Sakyou together. They are siblings and clearly have feelings for each other above what normal siblings would – see also Riku bad ending. Shura got haku one year after marriage to her deceased ex-husband, as a result cannot bear children and had disfiguring marks all over her skin – this is also why Sakyou is so obsessed with his research, not to cure future people of haku but to regenerate Shura’s skin. Shura’s ex-husband raped Ayame, who was Shura’s servant, and set off her clan’s tragedy. Shura/Sakyou decided that her ex-husband does not deserve to live and let him contract haku and killed him. They were going to take this secret to their graves but Yosuga held Shura’s life on the line and Sakyou confessed.
What I was so impressed with Byakuya (like I wasn’t already) was after hearing that the culprit behind all this already met his demise, she calmly struck a bargain between her and the duo mainly consisting of:
- Byakuya will donate her blood periodically and help within reasonable limits with Sakyou’s research
- They are not to touch her future children (which was a huge part of Sakyou’s obsession)
- People from the Yomi will have the right to come to the world above again
Now comes the happily ever after. Byakuya lives with Yosuga in the Yomi but travel different places with him. He gives her an engagement ring as a “return gift” of her shell as children:
I also found this part very cute during their (many) confessions:
Asuha and Kameria finally get to go to the world above Yomi and see the ocean. This is really giving me mommy and daddy taking the kids to the beach on their day off vibes lol
Apparently, this route was considered controversial for some? Hence, I had some doubts going in. I am not sure what the controversy was, but I LOVED it and would recommend it to anyone. This is also the first otome game I played voiced by Uchida Yuuma – I’m a lot more familiar with his sister Uchida Maaya haha – and he has some a soothing and beautiful voice… looking forward to more of his works!
The bad ends are also exceptionally written:
- Yosuga acted on his own instead of discussing with/being a team with Byakuya and killed Sakyou (even though he wasn’t even the one who killed Ayame). He confessed to Byakuya as he will be executed if caught, and a tearful Byakuya kills him with batsu and is later seen returning to Tennyo island with his purple soul crystal and their unborn child.
- The famous Queen Bee ending: Sakyou uses Yosuga’s life to force Byakuya copulate with many different men and give birth to many children of [white] for his research.
KUROBA (CV: Sugita Tomozaku)
To preface, I share the same occupation with Kuroba. The general Reddit consensus from people who work in medicine/healthcare on this character is unfavourable. I see why after playing his route and will elaborate. If you treat it as some (R18) drama CD/role play fantasy then I can maybe see it working. However, all my red flags were going off while playing so it was pure s u f f e r i n g for me lol.
The first issue I encountered was that Kuroba doesn’t have as much face time compared to other LIs in the first half of his own route. He had some run-ins with Byakuya, including a cute scene showing how good he was kids and Byakuya musing that he would be good father material, but then was off doing his own thing with Byakuya sitting alone on the bench in the public square and getting accosted by men like Nagusa, and the narrator going “oh I cannot stop thinking about Kuroba his face his white coat just comes to mind whenever people ask me who my husband is going to be”. The whole thing was so forced to the point if I didn’t have knowledge of the entire game I would have actually rooted for Nagusa – at least he pretended to be a gentleman and properly courted her.
This route also forces us to directly examine the issue of colour discrimination that is rampant on Tenguu island, with inhabitants choosing to die from haku rather than be turned to [black] with the antidote. Even for the anomaly that is Kuroba – who is allowed to leave Yomi and work as a doctor/Kotowari employee – his self-deprecating humour still shows his insecurity due to his upbringing and people’s views of him and his colour. He would make comments about how he is “ugly” and how Byakuya is “pure” and “beautiful”. Byakuya being the kind soul she is reassures Kuroba that he is awesome the way he is.
The escalation in their relationship starts with their first beach date where Byakuya sees Kuroba with nothing but a pair of shorts on. Now, I don’t blame Kuroba for telling Byakuya that she can touch and study his body. As a doctor he is desensitized to seeing people’s bodies. Contrary to popular belief, male OBGYN and female Urologists do not go to work and go like “oooo I’m touching sexy parts!” to them it’s really all business. Kuroba later teased Byakuya a couple times for being shy about seeing his “naked body”. I note that at this point Byakuya is still not his patient, and they’re friends, so this is all justified. This changes later on.
This is also probably the route that most resembles slice-of-life games because a lot of it is so close to real life. No anachronistic bathhouses, no supernatural batsu powers, no fated connection or gods in people’s body, just a doctor dude and a young girl. Kuroba and her share a nice dinner date ending in him kissing her on the forehead. It’s cute but bland compared to the rest of the routes hence why I cannot do otome games based on real life settings.
The main antagonist this route is Nagusa, who initially acted like a gentleman, but showed his true colours when Byakuya continued to politely reject his advances. Threatening to report and have Kuroba executed, he was very close to getting his way with (read: rape) Byakuya before he coughed blood and contracted haku. Honestly I’ve never been as satisfied with karma for a long time as this scene, haha.
Byakuya visits Kuroba who is still at the Kotowari station (like the workaholic he is) and asks for a checkup because she wasn’t sure if she also got the haku germs. From this point the route fell apart for me.
Kuroba pushes her onto the examination bed and force kissed her.
I have high tolerance for non consent scenes, but hilariously I cannot tolerate him doing it there and then because this is one of the taboos in medicine and healthcare, that YOU DO NOT ENTER RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR PATIENTS. This is because patients are in a vulnerable position and there is a power imbalance between doctors/patients, and that it’s easy to coerce/manipulate patients into entering sexual relations. People lose licenses over this in real life. I think the possessiveness of Kuroba was a welcomed addition but the timing was wrong.
Similarly, when Kuroba later is faced with the dilemma of whether he should complete his haku cure in time to save his enemy Nagusa or pretend he doesn’t have it and kill his rival. As a doctor this should have never even been a question. I’ve treated my share of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, even if they are pieces of shit as a doctor you prioritize their health and leave your judgement out of the picture. This is basic professionalism. I don’t blame the scenario writer because she is not a doctor and probably didn’t have anyone working in the field proofread this script. However, I’ve lost all interest after these two scenes. Don’t even get me started on the bad ending where he commits double suicide with Byakuya; if he takes Nagusa with them I’ll at least respect it a bit more. As someone who is portrayed as this person who lived with discrimination his whole life instead of choosing death, who values life above all else, it was extremely OOC of him to kill Byakuya even with possessiveness being one of his traits. I liked the other bad ending though.
The good ending is Byakuya convinces him to still concoct the cure. She takes him to the last two ingredients, her blood and the fountain of life on Tennyo island. Kuroba was actually the son of the previous [yellow] leader but was the first person who be cured from the more potent haku medication and turned into [black] and banished to Yomi. Douma offered him to return as the [yellow] heir and take Byakuya’s hand in marriage, with the condition to kill Nagusa. While I don’t agree with him, I think all of us can tell at this point that Douma definitely loves Byakuya deep down in a fatherlike way, but he’s clumsy at expressing it. In the end, Kuroba did not take the offer and said he is proud of living as [black] and the two share some steamy scenes. The napkin scene becomes referenced again in the end but honestly I couldn’t care less at this point.
HIMUKA (CV: Horie Shun)
Himuka route cannot be evaluated as a traditional LI. His route to me serves as a plot device to introduce Akaza/truth route, or an if-end at most. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t care for the romance. With this preface, let’s review his route, as it includes lots of lore references.
Himuka works as the aloof funeral/batsu person for those who are not privileged and cannot afford the services of Riku. He shares a similarity to Olympia who “does not speak with anyone, does not look in anyone’s eyes.” However, he thinks extremely lowly of himself (if you think Kuroba was bad you’ve seen nothing yet) and keeps making statements that he is ugly/filthy and that Byakuya is beautiful/pure. Byakuya accepts him for the way he is, and introduces him to delicious food, new friends, and her secret hideout. She and Himuka also shared his love for animal bones – quirky girl. It was odd yet interesting to see the eventual revelation as Himuka clearly had his affection gauge at 100% at the beginning of game, and there was no “building” or “winning him over”. Himuka always wanted to be close to Byakuya but was worried she would not want him around. He’s also attended all her dances, and watched her from afar from a long time ago.
In the meantime, the class conflict deepens as Byakuya gets confronted by Hairi who appears to be this hateful kid who said mean and nasty things to Byakuya before, because she is privileged and he is not. Many reviewers hate him, but I sympathize with him. Anyway, there’s a mass murderer on a killing spree on Tenguu island and Yomi, likely using batsu to kill people. There are only four people who can use batsu effectively: Riku, Himuka, Byakuya, and the unknown executioner of the island who uses batsu on living people.
To prove his innocence Himuka reveals that he is Hiruko himself. I have so many questions about why he didn’t do anything about this colour system – sure he later explains Amaterasu likes rainbows, and in previous routes I’ve already gone through the plot hole that in-marriage between the same colour doesn’t even preserve the purity of the bloodline/colour. My theory is that either he was so aloof he had no idea this was going on at all, or the more likely explanation is that he didn’t care. He was a god after all whose priority was only for Amaterasu to return, before he met Byakuya anyway. He now wants change, and protects people Byakuya stands up for, because he wants Byakuya to be happy.
Hairi gets into another argument with Byakuya and co. and while shouting some hateful messages for everyone to die, an earthquake actually erupts. Himuka also saw his “mother” a.k.a. Izanami through Hairi’s aura. The main antagonist thus becomes Hairi + Kanan +/- Sakyou (who only appears in one bad end) who want the world to be destroyed, and thus worked with Izanami to allow the fountain of death to overflow and kill the entire island.
I want to make a special mention of a homage paid to Hagoromo – one of the most famous Japanese Noh plays. Having deduced that Hairi/Izanami are coming for Byakuya, Himuka hides her in his house, but not before running away with her clothes so she only has underwear on and can’t leave. This was supposed to be a really funny scene but the writer quoted the play where the fisherman took away the goddess’ clothes so that she can no longer return to the skies either.
In the good end, Himuka sacrifices himself to remove Izanami from this world he created. His body was revealed to be a doll just like Kanaria. Hiruko in-game, like the myth had no shape or form, and was the ugliest child of Izanami. He basically turns into dust and Byakuya is left crying alone thinking he’s left forever. Tsukuyomi then reveals his identity as a god as well, but did not go into his relationship with Amaterasu, and instructs Byakuya to go to Tennyo island with a fragment of Amaterasu’s mirror. Gods like Tsukuyomi/Hiruko do not have an inherent colour like the humans, hence Hiruko’s insistence that he cannot be Byakuya’s husband, for he has no body and no colour.
The other half of the mirror lies in the bottom of the fountain of life where Amaterasu dwells. We then have a brief meeting with the sun goddess herself (who looks exactly like Tsukuyomi’s doll) and Byakuya is faced with the choice of: having a real sun in this world and not needing soul crystals to maintain the sun, vs having Hiruko back. Amaterasu then states she and Byakuya is not one and will not use her as the goddess’ vessel. She states that in the original world, she never had a chance to talk to Hiruko, yet he tried to protect her, and this is her way of thanking him – by going back into slumber in exchange for his second life. Hiruko/Himuka is then brought back but with a real body and a colour. He returns to the island, revealing his identity, but comments the era of gods/Hiruko is over, so perhaps there will be change in the future – we will see more of that in the sequel.
My issue with viewing Himuka as a LI is that I cannot convince myself that he loves her as a person – for he is not human himself – instead of Amaterasu. I never got a clear answer from him in the route, and the two are one to him, even though he calls her Byakuya.
One of the bad ends were a pain in the ass to get (you basically have to start from near beginning and pick all the wrong options) and the result made me ??? lol, def was not worth the time.
The other one was much better where Hairi successfully commits batsu on Byakuya and turns her into a white crystal. The world is undertaken by darkness and destroyed. In a third small world with nothing but Hiruko and a soulless doll of Byakuya – or Olympia – they are seen together, with nobody to harm or bother them. The doll’s gaze was simply haunting in the CG.
Finally, Horie Shun went above and beyond and delivered a great voice acting piece. He did a great job portraying different sides of Himuka.
AKAZA (CV: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu)
Akaza is the son between Jigen and a woman of [white] from Byakuya’s island. Akaza is an anomaly and viewed as a bad omen by Tsukuyomi/Hiruko because in the legends of Tennyo island, Amaterasu’s little brother Susanoo killed her in a fit of rage after she rejected his advances. The same katana washed ashore and landed in the hands of Jigen’s wife; she threw it out, then died in childbirth and Akaza was born with a head of red hair and is said to look like two beans in a pod with Susanoo.
He continues to relentlessly pursue Byakuya, saying the most flirty things with a straight face and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Because this is a game and he is hot Byakuya lets him have his way with her. They have a few memorable dates, including visiting Tennyo island on their first one, sharing a necklace and confessing they are each others’ half, etc. The same katana returned to Akaza from the waves two years ago, and night after night he had nightmares of killing Byakuya with this. He started seeking her out in the crowd, observing the “doll” who would not make eye contact or speak with anyone, then had the chance of interacting with her outside of the ritual stage. The more he got to know this last girl of [white] the more he was drawn to her innocent and lively nature.
In every other route, Akaza was always touted as the best candidate to be Byakuya’s husband. However, in his own route the final boss turned out to be Tsukuyomi who do not want history to repeat itself. Despite this, the two persevere. Until one day the sun just went away and wouldn’t return. Kanan stirs the pot by starting a witch hunt on the island – that Byakuya actually cursed everyone and that’s why the sun is gone – the people were written to be comically gullible but whatever. Akaza unsheaths the katana and declares that he will protect Byakuya to the end.
In the meantime, Tsukuyomi stole half of Amaterasu’s mirror that’s being kept in the palace, much to Hiruko’s anger because in this route he does not care about Byakuya one bit as a person and only wants Amaterasu and the true sun to return. Tsukuyomi states by preventing the mirror from being one again, Byakuya can forever be Byakuya instead of his sister’s vessel. He was also seen talking to his mother Izanami and appears to want to bring on the end to this world – in one of the bad endings he basically goes full yandere and destroys the second world, and has a similar bad ending like Himuka/doll Byakuya with him whispering that only he is left to love Byakuya, and she only has him left to give her love.
The two halves of the mirrors are in the respective fountains on the two islands. Byakuya got the fountain of life half – and heard a conversation between her parents before she was born. The other half was thrown in the fountain of death by Tsukuyomi. Regardless, Byakuya jumped into it to retrieve it with success. However, she awakened Izanami’s soul and her face started rotting off from haku when she came out of the water. Akaza and Daifuku jumped in after her but were not affected at all, okay. In the Japanese myths & this story, Izanami vows to destroy the world because after she died giving birth to the fire god, her husband Izanagi travelled to the underworld to find her, however, broke the promise of not turning back and looking at her before returning to the human world and saw her rotten and disfigured appearance and fled in disgust.
Izanami calls out to “Susanoo” and asks him to repeat history once again, and kill Byakuya who “is turning to the next goddess of death” with the same katana. The other bad end is Akaza believing this and actually killing Byakuya, effectively bringing the end to this world.
In the good end, he holds Byakuya and states she is his other half no matter what and will love her no matter what she looks like. Izanami is defeated. Byakuya’s father was Douma all along but he’s a bigger tsundere than Riku so he does not know how to properly talk to his daughter. The “it’s not like I want grandkids or anything” in the end made me laugh out loud.
Tsukuyomi despite stirring all of this chaos, is a god, so he stays in Yomi and minds his own business like usual.
Matsuoka’s performance in this route was unreal and there are many scenes where he spoke in a soft breathy tone that made me dokidoki. Like the islanders tell Byakuya, Akaza is the best choice for her as he is perfect in every aspect. This is like a shoujo manga or teen romance story where the perfect prince swoops in and saves the day, then reveals he has loved the princess all along and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Blessed by everyone, they two take each other’s hand in their happily ever after.
However, while this was a very satisfying finale, this was not my favourite route because how unreal it felt. 2020 me would have been an Akaza oshi but the issues I have with this route are:
- Even though later on he says he will not touch Byakuya unless she consents, his earlier actions by relentlessly asking her on a date, and saying she hasn’t thought her rejection through only work because this is an otome game and he is the poster boy. I’m surprised some people disliked Yosuga’s route for this reason but barely anyone mentions this about Akaza.
- While Byakuya had an active role in the route such as retrieving the missing pieces of the mirror, jumping into the fountain of death, she had a very passive role in the romance/relationship itself. The whole route was basically Akaza doing all the chasing and declaring his love for her and that he will protect her. I saw little reciprocation from her end other than disagreeing with Tsukuyomi (who was never going to lay a finger on Byakuya anyway, and both of them know it). Again, maybe it’s because I’m old and cynical but I’m past the age of favouriting girls getting princess treatment and accepting everything. I am more of a 両思い person.
- I guess this is a task for the sequel but literally no change to the island/laws was made by this power couple.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This is not a quick pick-up game. This is a game that requires you to sit down with a coffee/tea/drink of your choice and take the time to immerse into their world, but the reward is a great story and romance in different flavours. I resonated with most of the routes. The antagonists all have depth. The game comes with fully voiced after-stories and character diaries including side characters’. The game ends on a satisfying finale but also leaves enough blank for a sequel five years later and the readers’ imagination.
Overall my character ranking would be Yosuga > Akaza > Riku > Tokisada > Himuka > Kuroba. Yosuga may be one of my all time favourites – read his after story if you haven’t yet.
Downsides would include plot holes littered throughout the game, overuse of flashbacks (if I hear Hakua one more time…), and a minority of CGs that are not on par with the majority of CGs (because it is satoi we all have high standards) – RIP Riku’s chin in that kissing CG iykyk. Then there are the criticisms that come against how the MC can appear as insensitive and naive. She has good intentions but is not ready to give up her privilege or make meaningful change happen, and is instead more focused on “mating” despite having received all the education that other women don’t have access to. I think those criticisms are valid, which makes this game a good game, but not genre-breaking. That being said, I cannot deny how this game made me feel, from the world-building, the voice acting, the CG. Ultimately my priority when playing otome games is how it makes me feel, not how much virtue-signalling to the audience it includes. It is a form of escapism not social justice education.
otome hitorigoto 