Completion date: July 24, 2025

After finishing some older titles I decided it was time to try an anticipated new release this year. It exceeded expectations.

Translated Director Review

PROS:

• The dark routes are heaven for any fellow yandere enjoyer
• Art was gorgeous with vibrant colours and usage of different shades of lighting for high contrast
• Phenomenal cast
• Music
• Strong heroine
• Short and sweet common route
• Fantasy setting
• Interesting choice system making it playable without a guide, and increases immersion

CONS:

• Lack of “happy” content and romance? Even though each character has 4 endings, but there is really only one good ending and even then it is 糖度控えめ. This potentially sets up for an FD that I will discuss more in final thoughts. Personally the game was to my taste but I anticipate this to be a common complaint.
• Trigger warnings: gore, BDSM, human trafficking, torture, self-harm, not for the light of heart

My play order (hyperlinks to jump to each route also included):

Molly > Claude > Noil > Kaize > Dorothy

Recommended play order:

Molly/Claude/Noil in any order > Kaize > Dorothy

Kaize and Dorothy routes have world lore dumps with some scenes/comments in Kaize route foreshadowing things that can be explained after playing Dorothy route, so I recommend playing those two last.

I recommend playing the dark endings first and then the bittersweet fact ending (using a guide to figure out which one is bittersweet is worth it imo), leaving the happiest fact ending to conclude the route for the best experience. The caveat is that not all truths are revealed in the dark endings so may leave the reader in suspense/confusion until the fact endings are played. Each ending is characterized by a letter, with each character’s route summarized in a four-letter word when we put the pieces together.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

PREMISE: I don’t even need to dedicate a section for this because it was so succinct . Refreshing! Our protagonist Yuhiru got isekai’d from today’s Japan to the world of Wizard of Oz. She got captured and sentenced to death for “trespassing the royal palace”. People on death row in Oz travel to various “ruins” that appear to be random locations transported from Japan (e.g. shops, malls, subway stations) and hunt the monsters that roam these ruins. If they complete their hunt, they can walk away for free. Yuhiru embarks on her journey to the ruins with four other inmates along with Dorothy – who introduces himself as a “witch” (as “witch” in Oz does not carry implication of gender/sex and is a title) and will be watching the inmates so they don’t try to escape.

MOLLY WOODLAND (CV: Ishikawa Kaito)

“The tin man without a heart”

I did not expect starting on Molly would be such a thrilling introduction to the game and demonstration of how dark it can get, but Molly was by far my favourite character from the character introductions. His colour palette matches that of Yuhiru’s so they are meant to be! Right? His design, his voice, and in the end his story, only made me adore him so much more.

Molly was convicted of murdering traveling merchants to the west of the kingdom. He introduces himself as the owner of a funeral home. He not seem to have a way to defend himself, so he and Yuhiru hid behind the rest of the crew when monsters or trouble arose. The crew met a traveller who drugged the whole group with the intent to kidnap Yuhiru for trafficking. He comments that people with black hair and black eyes like Yuhiru are “possessed by the devil” and she, especially her eyeballs will sell for a good price… Yuhiru and Molly were the only ones awake. When Yuhiru finds him, he’s already “taken care of” this criminal, by brutally murdering him, suggesting he’s probably not as innocent as he claimed. He coerces Yuhiru into keep this a secret.

Molly and Yuhiru make a deal where he will guarantee Yuhiru’s safety, if she will share with him knowledge about the ruins. They then make an unexpected stop at a graveyard/funeral home, where Molly calls Osser – one of the four “witches” – “father”. Sometimes when the deceased are not in a presentable state, Osser makes life-sized dolls of these people and places them in the coffin instead.

Yuhiru meets an old woman at the graveyard who tells her… that Osser’s only son has died many years ago. Sensing that Yuhiru is off and hiding something, Molly intentionally leads her to the dungeon where she discovers several lifeless dolls that look just like him. Molly reveals that he is not “Molly Woodland”, but rather a travelling soul who lingered in this world after being unfairly murdered. Osser couldn’t accept the fact his son died, hence the numerous dolls made. When one of them started moving and talking, even though both of them knew this was not Molly, both decided to roll with it. Molly has no intention of killing Yuhiru, as he needs her help to reach the ruins to find “that special someone” – his murderer. He continues to threaten Yuhiru into doing his bidding and being a “good girl” for him.

The group reaches the ruins but finds no monster at all. They do not find anything productive and plan to make their return. Yuhiru notices a concealed entrance and only informs Molly as part of their pact. They venture into it and witness the biggest horror in their life. A room full of shelves. With these shelves stocked with bottles and bottles of preserved human eyeballs. This is the base of some criminal organization.

The route divides here as Yuhiru notes that they have been acting alone for long enough and perhaps should regroup before the rest worry.

MOLLY WOODLAND: DARK ENDINGS

Selecting to stay and explore longer pushes the two towards the dark endings, where they eventually find a pair of preserved eyeballs on the boss’ desk. Those belonged Molly – or the body that used to belong to him. This is the lair of “the king mouse” – nickname given as there their store for selling human parts is known as “the wild mice’s jewellery shop”. They get noticed and subdued by the gang.

Yuhiru meets the “king mouse” but we never get to see his face. The king mouse literally tortures Yuhiru including ripping one of her toenails out. He also drugs her, blindfolds her, and goes on a rant about how nobody appreciates his art, that he gets to preserve people forever and that living and breathing creatures disgust him. He calls Yuhiru his masterpiece and comments on what a privilege it would be to have her two obsidian eyeballs to decorate his halls forever. The torture continues until he finally decides to take her eyeballs – while she is alive. At the very last moment, “the king mouse” gets a dagger to his heart from Molly, who made his escape.

Yuhiru wakes up in a room with Molly telling her that he has assumed the identity of the king mouse to run his operations and dismantle the organization from the inside. He calls her “my little bird” and becomes more and more possessive. His backstory is revealed that “little birds” are actually abducted children who have rare eye colours and have their eyeballs harvested by criminals. In Molly’s previous life, he was also one of those “little birds” who survived and grew to own his own crime organization, where he bought as many as those children as possible and trained them to work for his gang as a way to protect them. However, one by one his little birds started to disappear. He failed to protect any of them. Now he has an unhealthy obsession with Yuhiru, because she is his final “little bird” and his last chance for salvation.

Because of the torture Yuhiru received, she has PTSD and goes into panic attacks often. Molly often has to be pulled from his duties to rush to her side and comfort her. However, it is implied that he is drugging her to “reset” her memory. This is not a sustainable solution as the cycles get shorter and shorter, until it was happening on a nearly daily basis.

During one of these episodes, Yuhiru manages to calm herself down to Molly’s surprise. She says she will be okay even if Molly is busy outside, because he left the bottle containing his eyes with her, and that looking at them calmed her down and made her feel he was with her all along. This comment will prove to be Molly’s downfall and by the time Yuhiru realizes and tries to make amends, it is far too late.

Molly becomes the criminal that he once hated and starts collecting eyeballs, filling Yuhiru’s room with them thinking it will cure her. He becomes more and more desperate. When Yuhiru eventually has another panic attack, Molly concludes that she needs more eyes. Eventually, he orders Osser to gather not only the sellers of these eyes but also the buyers, which include prominent aristocrats of Oz at the western ruins. Osser willingly works for Molly because the real Molly Woodland was murdered by the mouse king so he wants to take down this organization as well. Molly stuffs everyone into the ruins of a movie theatre, kills everyone with poison, and asks if Yuhiru enjoys her “show” and tells her that all of their eyes will belong to her.

After the incident, Osser cannot cope with this level of insanity and cruelty anymore, so he decides to defect. Yuhiru also senses that Molly has become unstable and wants to notify the rest of her original traveling companions, that she found out do not know where she is (Molly lied to her). However, Molly sees through this and kills Osser. He then asks Yuhiru if she will stay with him forever, and never betray him again. Yuhiru’s response (agree to placate him vs. trying to reason with him) will decide her final fate.

Dark Ending – “Your Eyes”: Yuhiru thinks she made another escape, but wakes up to Molly who replaced his doll glass eyes with his original, own eyes.

Dark Ending – “Aches in the coffin”: Yuhiru gets preserved into a live doll and lives with Molly in the coffin until the end of time.

MOLLY WOODLAND: FACT ENDINGS

Choosing to regroup will lead to the fact endings. The mouse king’s gang still notices them and gives chase, but at least they didn’t end up in the dungeon. They escape to a tavern where the two settle down and camouflage as workers. The only complaint I have is that with how rare Yuhiru’s hair and eyes are, how can you just let her work in the open lol. I know the game gives justification but that’s like asking to have a target put on her back. Let her work in the back, or dye her hair/eyes or something (if such a technology existed)…

In this route, Molly tries to distance himself from Yuhiru. He tells her to not mistake his kindness for anything else, as he is simply carrying out his side of the bargain and protecting her, until she finds her way back home. They meet Osser again, who recounts his history with the mouse king’s gang, and asks Yuhiru to support Molly, as he deep down is a gentle person despite his cruel and tough exterior, and is very close to breaking.

At the same time, it is revealed that Molly does not want to be close to Yuhiru because he feels responsible for the death of all the other “little birds”, and does not want to grow close to only to lose Yuhiru as well. However, this mask slowly slips as the two become more and more attached.

The two continue to lay low while witnessing more children getting kidnapped to be “jewelry”. Yuhiru does not want to just sit and watch this injustice happen, but Molly states it’s too dangerous to take action, and that with only the two of them they’re powerless to change anything, especially with the crime organization being in bed with aristocracy. Yuhiru sends a crow with a letter detailing the crimes praying it would reach someone with a sense of justice. The letter reaches… Noil and Kaize who come to investigate and clean house. They also reunite with the pair and ask why they didn’t contact them. Molly replies that they “eloped for love” and takes off with Yuhiru, disappearing into the streets that he knows best.

Molly decides to face his demons and revisit the ruins and confront “his special someone”. While some reviewers said they saw this coming from a mile away, I absolutely did not expect this showdown. The only hint we got from the dark endings was that Molly commented that the previous king mouse had the same height and was similar to him in many ways, when assuming his identity.

The two get their butts kicked with Molly’s doll body becoming slow and rusty due to exposure to water from a flood. He wants to give up, but Yuhiru carries him on her shoulder and tells him to hold up his end of the bargain as a means of encouragement:

The gang catches up with the two with Molly being split, part by part, in front of Yuhiru’s eyes. Yuhiru is taken to the lair and awaits her inevitable death. However, just like in the dark ending Molly swoops in to save the day at the last minute. His spirit left the doll parts but still lingered because of his love for Yuhiru. Dorothy and co. happen to show up and freaked out by a talking doll’s head, who mocks himself for not being the most presentable, and asked them to take the parts to Osser who put him together as one again.

The king mouse dies. The day is saved. Everyone is happy, right?…

Fact Ending – “Pleasant Sleep”

Bittersweet ending. Yuhiru tells Molly that she wants to see him exact his revenge and finish what he set out to do. With the king mouse dead, Molly’s soul no longer has a reason to stay in this world, and he dies as the sun rises.

Fact Ending – “Repair the Heart”

The best ending where Yuhiru has to select the dialogue option “I want to be by your side”. The two leave the ruins and start a new life in Osser’s home. Molly tries to hide it from Yuhiru, but his soul starts to leave his doll body… until Yuhiru brings it back with true love’s kiss.

THOUGHTS: Especially in the dark routes, the entire storyline is eerie from beginning to end… and I love it! The background, art, music, and Ishikawa’s phenomenal voice acting all add to building the atmosphere for a breathlessly exciting route. Molly is a conflicted character with the dichotomy that he is certainly a criminal and murderer, but he has his own morals and carries his law out when the ruling class fails “little birds” like him. He detests betrayal and is loyal to those who stay by his side. He hides his love for Yuhiru deep inside, due to fear of not being capable of protecting her and failing her as well. However, Yuhiru is not a damsel in distress and is there to support him too when needed. She tells her in the fact ending too, “I am not one of your little birds. I can protect you too.” If there is a sequel, I want to see more about Molly’s past (we literally don’t even have a picture only the man’s eye colour), and if he will have his Pinocchio story where he becomes a real person of flesh, as he stays a soul trapped in a doll’s body in this ending.

Claude Grain (CV: Furukawa Makoto)

“The scarecrow without a brain”

Claude is a researcher who specializes in studying the biomes/plants from ruins. He was convicted of murdering his own village three years ago. Unlike Molly, he does not fight the sentence. At the beginning of the route, he is shown to have history with Nenohs – the witch of the east who captured and sentenced Yuhiru to death, with Nenohs mockingly referring to him as “teacher”.

After the group embarks to the ruins of the east, he proves to be a friendly, outgoing big brother figure who loves to teach Yuhiru and nerd out over various facts about plants, commenting he cannot resist the curious twinkle in her eyes. He is also scared of ghosts and danger, even though he hides it.

There’s a lot more comedic content compared to Molly’s route from the beginning. Other than times when he tries to convince others (and himself) that he is not afraid, it is implied that Claude is an ikemen who has the power to basically get any female NPC in the game to do his bidding, even though he is not aware of it (The Office meme anyone?). Claude also often teases Yuhiru including pretending to propose to her with his personal ring; as everyone from his village has their own ring that they take off once for proposal, then at their death. The trick is to let Yuhiru play along with it and flirt back, so it backfires on him and our cute boy doesn’t know how to react lolol.

The group makes a stop at an abandoned royal mansion. Claude and Yuhiru get to know each other through late night conversations by the fire. Yuhiru takes note of his scent – this will be important especially in the dark routes. At the mansion, they note there’s no living plants because of the invasion of a type of fungus, which Claude collects with the group asking him to not contaminate it with their food supply.

Not much happens before the group reaches the ruins. The plot really unfolds after Yuhiru and Claude find an underground parking lot infested with a type of plant that eats people, and produces replicas of plant humans. The same plant humans that “welcomed” and attacked Claude three years ago at his village, forcing him to kill them all in self-defence, including replicas of his family. Obviously when Claude was found by the authorities, nobody was going to believe his story so he got thrown in jail. The duo meets Nenohs again, where it’s revealed Nenohs was a talented student of Claude’s. However, he does not seem to have any regard for human life and calls non-aristocrats “freshwater crustaceans” and wanted to “create humans from scratch” – the type without a brain who will listen to his orders. Claude does not support this project but Nenohs only strayed farther on his path, backed by some other aristocrats. In the end, he had no choice but to abandon Nenohs as a student, who took it personally. These plants in the ruins are Nenohs’ masterpiece. A furious Claude swings his scythe at Nenohs…

CLAUDE GRAIN: DARK ENDINGS

If Molly’s dark ending is creepy, then the keyword for Claude’s dark endings is despair. The route diverges to dark if Claude kills Nenohs on the spot at the ruins. He sets the plants on fire and tells Yuhiru to wait outside, with the intention of destroying Nenohs’ work permanently. However, as the plants burn they emanate a sickly sweet scent which causes Claude to hallucinate and see Nenohs in his brain. Nenohs manipulates Claude that he is the reason why his family died, that he only has Yuhiru left and will not want to lose her again. In the end, Nenohs/the plant convinces Claude to carry their roots with him to serve his own purposes.

The two return to the city and live with Dorothy. However, Claude continues to be depressed and tries to hang himself at one point, stating there is no hope to move forward. What was once a lively, hopeful person becomes a husk of human being. A desperate Yuhiru resorts to manipulating Claude that she only has him left to depend on, and wants him to help her find the way home, in order to give Claude a purpose to continue living, as Yuhiru notes “Claude cannot say no when others rely on him”.

Claude cheers up and even gets rehired at the royal academy to conduct experiments – though it is to continue Nenohs’ work. He accepted because this gives him access to the eastern ruins, which may contain the pathway for Yuhiru to return home. Yuhiru attracts many scholars’ eye due to her appearance – black hair, black eyes, “possessed by the devil” – so Claude tells her to stay in his lab and not venture outside.

One day, Claude goes on a trip to meet an aristocrat. This is a setup so he is not with Yuhiru. A scholar who is jealous of Claude kidnaps Yuhiru, and schemes with the aristocrat to do experiments on Yuhiru, as she is seen as some exotic creature. This breaks Claude, who kills both of them.

Yuhiru braces herself for the eventual capture but nobody seems to even notice these two prominent members of society are gone. She also starts to have weird dreams with Claude in them. She ventures outside, and finally realizes Claude has replaced the entire academy with plant humans controlled by his will. Hence, nobody even notices people are missing. He vows to replace everyone in the academy as they all want to take her away from him.

A desperate Yuhiru sneaks out and sends a letter to Dorothy begging him to return to help Claude, but this is also found out by him. He then tells the perfume he gave Yuhiru to use a long time ago was from that plant, and that her brain has literally rotted as a result of being exposed to this plant. Yuhiru cannot escape. She falls into another slumber, with the dreams and scenes with Claude becoming more and more explicit. It is becoming more and more difficult for her to wake up. In one of the dreams she stabs herself in order for both to break free from the dream.

I’m not going to include the last few CGs of Claude’s dark endings are they are very yabai and suggestive… I recommend you guys look them up or play the game for yourself. This game certainly lives up to its rating…

Eventually, Yuhiru escapes and bumps into Kaize in the streets. She begs Kaize to help her who agrees and takes her back to the palace. Yuhiru is saved, or not because even Kaize has become a plant human. Claude is furious that Yuhiru would depend on anyone except him and vows to turn this entire kingdom into plants so he and Yuhiru can finally peacefully be together with no one getting in the way…

Dark Ending – “Attractive Scent”

If Yuhiru gives up and agrees to stay with Claude then she will be trapped in a dungeon with a literal BDSM CG that I’m not going to include here because I don’t wanna get put on a watchlist lol.

Dark Ending – “Murderer’s Regret”

If Yuhiru tries to reason with Claude, she somehow convinces him and wakes him up from the plant’s manipulation. The two go to the ruins and a portal opens up for Yuhiru to go home. However, Claude has been poisoned by the plant as well and he starts to develop into a plant human. Yuhiru begs him to go back home with her. However, he hesitates, and the portal closes. He embraces Yuhiru with two arms that have now turned into branches. The two are trapped in the ruins forever.

CLAUDE GRAIN: FACT ENDINGS

If Claude takes a swing at Nenohs and misses, then the game deviates towards the fact endings. Nenohs jumps into and is eaten by the plant, only for a replica retaining his intellect and will to be created. Nenohs is now half plant, half human, and invincible to blades and fire. He laughs in everyone’s face and says he’s going to create his kingdom and army of plant people. Dorothy, Kaize, and Noil are incapacitated at the royal palace, so only Molly, Claude, and Yuhiru make it out and tries to find a way to defeat Nenohs. Yuhiru comes up with the idea of a “pesticide” as Nenohs is now half plant. Claude has an epiphany and remembers the fungus he collected before they reached the ruins. They just need to create a concoction from it.

And thus begins a long series of experiments, many sleepless nights and failures. However, Claude has sight of his own purpose. He has not lost hope. He encourages Yuhiru to not give up and join him in his pursuit. The two grow closer with Claude commenting that Yuhiru has the qualities of a good researcher.

The two finally find the perfect formula and create their pesticide. However, it was slightly too late because Nenohs’ army also found and captured them. The two defend themselves with their newly created pesticide, but do not have much supply. Claude tells Yuhiru to grab the last ampule before escaping to a cave and evading the soldiers.

The two are wanted in the whole country and cannot get close to Nenohs because he is heavily guarded and staying in the city. However, Kaize and co. break out of their captivity and chase Nenohs out of the city. Claude concludes that he will want to continue experimenting, and will hide out at the royal academy. With an invitation from Osser provided by Molly, the two arrive there for the final showdown. However, there were far too many plant soldiers there. In order to protect Claude, Yuhiru uses her ampule. Nenohs laughs at them and recreates Claude’s sister, forcing him to slash her down again. He then almost kills Claude after he declines to join his research once again. It is also revealed that Nenohs’ motive is to create plant replicas of his dead parents.

As Nenohs comes close to deliver the final blow, Claude spills the pesticide on him – a clever player never reveals all his cards; Nenohs forgot his sensei’s teachings…

Fact Ending – “Remember Me”

Bittersweet ending. The camera pans to Yuhiru and Claude returning to his village and meeting his family, as if no one has died and he was just bringing a girlfriend home. Yuhiru doesn’t realize she’s in a dream, but Claude does and takes her outside quietly. He tells her that she needs to move on, but his “journey ends here” as he is aware he is no longer living in the real world. He then makes a “selfish” request to Yuhiru that even if she finds another man that she loves and wants to spend her life with one day, to never forget about him. Yuhiru then wakes up to a worried Dorothy who tells her Claude did not make it out of the fire and she has been in a coma for a long time.

Fact Ending – “Our Destination”

Best ending where the two embark on a new journey as researcher and assistant, confessing their love for each other, and Yuhiru telling Dorothy that she no longer wants to return home, as she’s found her own here.

THOUGHTS:

If Molly’s route stands out for its atmosphere throughout the route, then Claude’s route should be known for its endings, especially both fact endings. I actually don’t know which one I prefer more. While the best ending is nice and sets up for an FD (Claude has been through so much that I just want him to be happy and start a new chapter with Yuhiru and not lose his light, you know?), the bittersweet ending was so tragically beautiful it drove me to tears, even though otome heroines going into a dream/illusion with their loved one is such an overused trope… this one just did it for me. I also love the art for this route. The artist uses high contrast of lighting to create some of the prettiest CGs in game. I initially doubted the decision of casting Furukawa into a supposedly goofy role, but his performance in the dark routes were more yabai than the CGs if you know what I mean… さすが sexiest voice in otome… A must play for fellow Furumako enjoyers… Enjoy the drama CD… 😉

NOIL BESTIA (CV: Suzuki Ryouta)

“The cowardly lion”

Noil is the muscle of the group and an ex-royal knight, until he was convicted of brutally murdering his comrades. He is the younger brother of Glinda, aka the “witch” of the south and the leader of royal knights. This is not revealed in other routes though. The two do not look alike or share a last name, as they were both orphans adopted to different families, but are related by blood. Noil has a bestial and rugged look which scares NPCs as well as makes him the target of mockery by Molly, who enjoys getting a reaction out of him. He holds Kaize in very high regard, obeying all his commands and does not allow anyone to insult him.

The destination is to the ruins in the south. This site is usually guarded by knights and rumoured to be a huge underground maze, with not only monsters but also a “leader of the abyss” that has haunted the kingdom for a thousand years with no one seeing their true face.

Yuhiru tags along with Noil and the two get into various situations. He is revealed to enjoy cooking and be an excellent cook, enjoying using various spices. Yuhiru also notes that he smells really nice and exotic. He protects Yuhiru from a gang of thugs and fends off all of them; he was a knight after all. He shares with her that he is afraid of heights. When the group tries to cross an old bridge, a swam of bees came for Yuhiru’s hood, so he jumps into the water protecting her in his arms.

The two get washed away and seek refuge. Noil tells Yuhiru his backstory: he woke up on a rainy night to find everyone brutally murdered with their faces not recognizable and inner organs exposed and eaten. His childhood friend and comrade Eugene did it but escaped, framing Noil as he was the only alive person present when authorities found him. He does not understand why Eugene would do such a thing. No one believes Noil. Glinda tried to find evidence to clear his name but failed. However, Yuhiru believes in Noil.

The group rests in a town. Yuhiru and Noil go shopping for cooking supplies, a bunch of soldiers later revealed to be thugs arrive. The two hide in a corner (lol that CG though iykyk). The thugs were not looking for them, but were robbing a defenceless old man. After the man gave up his money, they want to murder him. Noil jumps out and kicks everyone’s ass, while Yuhiru tries to help the old man who is afraid of her “devil possessed” appearance. (Yuhiru is so assertive and cool here! She basically yells at him to stfu and let her help, what a queen) Noil tries to swing his sword at the thug, but he paused and could not bring himself to, which is unusual for a knight.

In the aftermath, he tells Yuhiru for the same reason, he did not protect Kaize properly and got him wounded. However, Kaize made up a story to protect Noil. Hence, this is why he respects Kaize so much. They group up with Glinda. While everyone is resting, Glinda shares with Yuhiru that the reason she, Noil, and Eugene all had to be suddenly adopted was that the orphanage shut down; and the reason why it had to be shut down was that the orphanage owner was brutally killed, with Noil being the only one present. The true killer was never found. While she did not say Noil killed the owner, it is heavily implied that he was, and that this man has a beast residing within. Yuhiru asks Noil about this, but he replies he does not remember.

The rain started to pour. Noil suddenly sees Eugene standing outside the window laughing at him. With many questions and emotions, he gives chase along with Yuhiru after Eugene, into the ruins of the south. The place is an old subway station that Yuhiru is familiar with. Noil defeats a few hermit crab monsters, but those crabs appear afraid of some higher being. Eventually they come face-to-face with … Eugene, or “leader of the abyss”.

Eugene came here before and was attacked by the leader of the abyss. However, his will to survive was so strong the being chose him as his next host, as such they became one. Eugene has the power to shapeshift into anyone; the Glinda at the base camp was him. He comments that after acquiring these powers and becoming essentially a talking tentacle monster, he has grown to like slimy/humid conditions (hence only coming out on rainy days) and is extremely hungry all the time. He continues to mock Noil for murdering the owner of the orphanage, telling him that they are no different – they both are beasts who enjoy watching others suffer and break.

The route diverges here depending on if Yuhiru throws away their only light source or not at Eugene.

NOIL BESTIA: DARK ENDINGS

Throwing the torch at Eugene would prove to be a foolish decision as now they can’t see anything. Eugene takes Yuhiru to deeper parts of the ruins, and even takes a bite out of her arm, enjoying her screams of pain. Noil comes but is no match for Eugene, who has infinite regenerative properties. Eugene continues to mock Noil for being the same monster like him, that he was the one who murdered the orphanage owner, yet suppresses this bestial side within, that Yuhiru only trusts him because she doesn’t know this yet.

Noil breaks. He cannot lose Yuhiru, the only one who trusted him.

He cannot die here.

He needs to survive.

And thus, the leader of the abyss chooses their new, stronger host…

Yuhiru reunite with Noil, who is covered in wounds and blood, and looks a bit… beast-like. With Eugene dead, the group decide to return to the city and revisit the ruins at another time. Noil’s wounds heal at an unbelievable speed. He starts to like water and dislike fire. He is also hungry, all the time.

He starts making creepy comments that Yuhiru smells tasty. This looks like a sexy CG but it was anything but while playing the story, as he really wants to eat her literally! Yuhiru starts getting creeped out. She pushes Noil away, who returns to his senses.

In the evening, the group sit by the fire and start telling horror stories. Kaize shares a story where a murderer did not know where to hide his victim’s body, so he ate the corpse, and started to hear voices from within and his body started to act against his will. Yuhiru eventually decides to tell Dorothy about Noil acting weird, but Dorothy couldn’t pinpoint why and just told Yuhiru to stop bringing up the ruins to avoid triggering Noil.

The hunger. It consumes Noil. All his brain can think of is flesh, fresh organs, and the feeling of sinking his teeth into Yuhiru’s neck, watching it break and the blood spurting out… He even does so in one of his dreams. He starts seeing visions of Eugene who torments him further and tells him that Noil is now the leader of the abyss, they have become one, and to embrace his nature.

Noil gives in to his desire and hunts Yuhiru. He changes form in front of everyone. Despite them working together, they were no match for Noil. Even though Yuhiru temporarily subdues Noil with a drugged syringe, while in jail, Noil shape shifts into his child self and manipulates the guards to release him.

Noil chases Yuhiru into the ruins and toys with her. Yuhiru also breaks and begs Noil to just kill her swiftly. He regains sanity briefly and decides to absorb her into his embrace…

He then gives Yuhiru a dagger and asks her to kill him while his human mind has yet to be fully consumed by the abyss.

Dark Ending – “Lovely Scream“

Yuhiru tearfully drives the dagger into Noil’s chest, but he regenerates and punishes Yuhiru. He tears off her flesh but keeps her alive so that she does not get a swift death, but for how much longer though?

Dark Ending – “You’ll Be Okay“

Yuhiru could not bring herself to do it. She and Noil live together peacefully for a while, until Kaize comes and kills Noil for good, using Claude’s research (Claude died in dark route). Noil tells Yuhiru that he intentionally left clues in the ruins so that someone could find his “other body” and end his life for good. He dies in Yuhiru’s arms.

Yuhiru leaves the ruins and passes by the same lake she and Noil visited. She contemplates suicide by drowning herself. Noil’s voice rings in her head that he wants her to be safe and happy, so she decides to continue on her journey alone.

NOIL BESTIA: FACT ENDINGS

Yuhiru puts down her torch and accidentally starts a fire, which prove to be the one weapon they needed against Eugene. They retreat deeper into the ruins. Eugene searches for them, but leaves right before finding them muttering “no way! did they go for…” Noil tells Yuhiru he cannot make it but Yuhiru tells him to stop being stupid and the two escape the ruins.

Noil’s memory around the death of the orphanage owner continues to be hazy. However, Yuhiru tells him that no matter what happened, even if he has a beast within, she cannot bring herself to dislike him, because he has helped her so much and was so gentle along the way. This literally heals Noil’s inner child, whose worst fear is to be hated.

Yuhiru stays with Dorothy to help Noil recover. Claude and the real Glinda travel to the royal academy to read up on existing records of leader of the abyss. Claude returns with a heavy book and tells the group that the leader of the abyss has a second immobile and defenceless body (so basically a Horcrux lmao) that they hide. Without killing this second, immobile body, Eugene will just continue to regenerate. Yuhiru recalls his comment right before finding her in the ruins, and concludes Eugene must be hiding this second body deep within the ruins. A second visit is needed. The night before, Noil vows to Yuhiru to protect her, but also asks her to have his back as well.

Eugene disguises as Yuhiru, thinking she and Dorothy ran away to hide from danger, and approaches Noil. However, this was a trap set by Noil all along, as Yuhiru not only did not run away, but is already in the ruins searching for his second body. Noil, Glinda, and the knights do their best to hold Eugene at the base camp, but are not able to for long.

Eugene catches up with Dorothy and Yuhiru but Noil arrives as well, and buys enough time for Yuhiru to kill Eugene’s second body. Now he cannot regenerate anymore. Eugene shape shifts into the orphanage owner and says the exact same words she did before dying. But wait, how does Eugene know if Noil was the only witness?… To the reader it is obvious. Eugene did it. The reason was kind of meh but he is basically born twisted I guess, similar to the real Molly Woodland.

Fact Ending – “Radiant Moon”

Eugene dies but takes Noil with him. Noil says his final goodbye to Yuhiru in a dream, telling her that the moon is beautiful, and makes a deal with her that she cannot see him again until she is as old as the orphanage owner.

Fact ending – “Enjoy the Taste”

Noil kills Eugene and the leader of the abyss. Noil’s name is cleared. They live in a mansion in the city together. Noil proposes to Yuhiru who happily accepts. (Shoutout to Glinda who plays matchmaker for her little brother.) The two share a kiss, but they just ate a bunch of tomatoes… lmao

THOUGHTS: I did not expect this route to be so Lovecraftian. This is the only dark route where I truly feared for Yuhiru’s life as Noil did not really lust after her, but quite literally wants to eat her. Even in ending L where the CG is kind of yabai, I don’t think he was doing anything sexy to Yuhiru and could not help but think she is going to get torn to pieces soon. The fact route was in contrast, heartwarming; it not only healed Noil’s inner child but also my heart too after witnessing the literal cosmic horror of a dark route. I’m glad Noil has an ally like Yuhiru who stayed by his side and loves him for who he is, no matter what he is. There is some parallel to beauty and the beast, no? Finally, I was low-key hoping for a dark ending where Yuhiru becomes the new leader of abyss towards the finale of ending L, but that didn’t happen which is kind of a pity haha.

KAIZE OZMA (CV: Azakami Youhei)

“The wizard of Oz”

In the Kingdom of Oz, people believe that people with black hair and black eyes are possessed by the devil. They are a bad omen with bad things happening to people around them. Yuhiru is one of them; the other being the second prince Kaize Ozma. His crime is “regicide”, though the king’s death has been kept secret to the public thus far.

Upon meeting Yuhiru, Kaize has had a crush on her. He stammers around her and almost calls her “cute” to her face, but manages to change it to something completely different and pompous in the end to appear cool. What a 中二病 hehe. He’d also project and flirt/tease with Yuhiru on purpose to calm his nerves because he doesn’t know how to talk to her normally. Similar to Claude route if you pick options where Yuhiru just lets the whole thing go whoosh over her head, and accept his proposal/flirt back he wouldn’t know how to react.

He is a bit tsun, wanting to protect Yuhiru but always making up excuses or saying 中二 things when she wants to thank him properly. Kaize explains that he is not good at talking to people. He also shares the tale of the Kingdom of Oz:

One thousand years ago, a black-haired, black-eyed demon appeared before the first King. The demon possessed the king’s soul. The king’s body grew a pair of wings. A crack and then a portal appeared in the sky, from which red snow fell and created monsters on the ground. The only way to close the portal was to offer live human sacrifice…

The two eventually end up at a cave alone. They cuddle up to each other for warmth by the fire. Kaize shows her a necklace made of emerald that he prays to, as in his culture, emerald is the most royal stone; it is believed that souls reside within emerald, and turn into strength and power when the wearer prays to it.

However, they get chased out by angry people who also live in the cave to escape heavy taxes waged on them by the kingdom. They blame everything on Kaize for being “demon possessed”. The queen committed suicide because of him. The oldest prince died of illness because of him. He brings nothing but misfortune to those around him. After the duo leaves the cave, Kaize explains that his mother and brother did die of the above reasons, and that he did kill the king. However, this was because the king was already possessed by the demon, and he saw with his own eyes a demon with wings climb out of the dead king’s body. Hence, he did not fight the sentence and wants to end the demon at the northern ruins.

They arrive at a town ruled by Kaize’s uncle, who does not want anything to do with him. Kaize gets drunk and hugs Yuhiru in his sleep. He says a lot of things in his dreams, including that he no longer wants to be alone. The group also at one point thought he and Yuhiru got kidnapped because they couldn’t read Kaize’s horrible handwritten note that Molly dubbed “earthworm art”. Finally, Yuhiru meets a mysterious white hair, red-eyed man who is not afraid of her appearance.

Yuhiru asks Kaize about his deceased older brother. Kaize tells her that his brother was the only one who supported him and told him to not harbour hatred in his heart, even if the world is unfair. His brother was the light in Kaize’s life. However, he was ill and before travelling to the north, he gave Kaize the emerald necklace, only to pass away there.

Yuhiru and Kaize get attacked by a mob of possessed children. The crew is forced to evacuate early and head towards the northern ruins, only for the white-haired person? demon? to show himself and reveal his identity to be the dead prince and Kaize’s brother Archray?!

Archray accuses Ozma of writing to him asking to meet at the northern ruins and murdering him, but Kaize never did such a thing. Archray says Kaize is a liar and that he should have never trusted a “demon” like him… He has been writing to the king, who never returned his letters, and eventually news travels to him that the king made Kaize the successor to the throne instead of him. Something must be missing here, but Archray is too obsessed with revenge and pierces Kaize’s heart. As everyone, myself included, thought Kaize would die there, he grows wings and his wounds start to heal?!…

KAIZE OZMA: DARK ENDINGS

The route diverges depending on if you choose to protect Kaize or stop Archray. Demons possess bodies when their will is the weakest. Archray possesses Kaize’s body as he transforms into a demon. Kaize’s soul has nowhere to go but inside Yuhiru’s mind; so now the two share one body.

The two can hear each other’s thoughts, sense each other’s feelings, and even share dreams. Yuhiru gets a glimpse into Kaize’s tragic and lonely upbringing – 20 entire years of isolation.

Archray is not going to give up his revenge. He possesses bystanders to murder Yuhiru. As Yuhiru thought she was going to die, Kaize takes over her body and kills one of the people in self-defence. Yuhiru/Kaize gets thrown in jail, and Archray/Kaize’s body comes to mock them. Kaize breaks and attributes all the misfortune to Archray, that he is the reason why Yuhiru is hurt. This is unforgivable. He then kills Archray in the dream realm and takes back his own body.

All he needs is Yuhiru. Even his brother did not believe him and was only playing nice. Only Yuhiru believed him and stayed by his side.

Yuhiru return to the royal palace to live with Kaize. However, she still intends to find a way home. Kaize does not like this answer and asks her why. Yuhiru replies that she literally got sentenced to death and had to run from people like Archray and random NPCs coming for her life and calling her “demon possessed”, why would she want to stay in this country (which is valid tbh). This gets Kaize thinking that if he could “fix all of this” as the next king, then Yuhiru “will choose to stay”…

Yuhiru is asked to not leave her room. She notices that every day it’s a new face delivering her food. She ventures outside anyway and hears a blood curdling scream, only for Kaize to quietly appear behind her and ask her to return to her room.

Yuhiru tells Kaize that she still needs more time to think about whether she wants to stay here or find a way to return to Japan. Kaize then blatantly brainwashes her with his demon powers… Yuhiru snaps out of it and attempts to escape, but she was no match for Kaize, who holds a pair of scissors to her throat…

Kaize leaves her one night to “meet with his subjects”. Certainly an odd time but any time is a good time for Yuhiru to make a run for it. She hears more screams coming from the dungeon, and sees Kaize has locked everyone up (including Nenohs; feel less bad for him) and is literally mentally torturing them with illusions and dreams. He didn’t kill them.

Yuhiru runs back to her room and pretends she never left. Kaize sees through it and confesses he enjoys toying with these people’s mentality, and enjoys making them break… because they were all unfair to Yuhiru. Yuhiru runs out of the room and hides in a closet, only for Kaize… to quietly appear behind her.

Kaize then chains Yuhiru and tells her that she needs to beg for forgiveness and promise to never leave him again.

Dark Ending: “Ruled Love”

Yuhiru gives in and resigns herself to stay in this world with Kaize forever.

Dark Ending – “No Exit”

Yuhiru pleads with Kaize who … comes to his senses? They go to the ruins and a portal opens up. However, Yuhiru chooses not to leave and stay with him a bit longer. Kaize vows to undo his wrongdoings as ruler of the kingdom. The two are off to a new start… until we realize this is a bad ending and that Yuhiru is in a dream.

KAIZE OZMA: FACT ENDINGS

Archray’s hatred for this world opens up an ominous red portal with red snow slowly falling. Harmless animals that touch the snow are turned into monsters in front of everyone’s eyes. The portal closes, but Archray also leaves. Kaize is not able to even cut off his wings, as they just regenerate. Kaize breaks down as he thought he was human even if he had black hair and black eyes; but he is actually a demon. He lets himself be captured by soldiers and tells Yuhiru he wants to end his own life.

Yuhiru of course will not let this happen. She tells she’s watched Kaize this journey, and will love him no matter who or what he is, that he is a gentle person, and he should not give up fighting for his own happiness.

Kaize regains his confidence and even uses his 中二 speech to scare away the guards for free. Yuhiru even jokes that this is his “best performance” thus far.

Kaize/Yuhiru regroup with Dorothy and travel to his uncle’s residence for answers. His uncle acts very shady, but tells Kaize that his mother got lost in the northern ruins, which is connected to the basement of this residence, when she was pregnant with Kaize. She touched the red snow but nothing happened to her because Kaize who was still a fetus absorbed the curse instead. In other words, Kaize protected his mother. (This weirdly has parallel to those calcified fetus cases IRL where the fetus encases themselves in calcium for decades and protects the mother).

Archray shows up and finds an entire box of letters that he thought were sent to the king, but were never delivered by their uncle’s orders. Yuhiru then has the epiphany that Kaize couldn’t have written the letter because his writing is so bad lmao.

The two princes’ uncle confesses that he wants the throne but needs both princes out of the way, and that he hired an assassin (who was Molly’s second-in-command) that had Kaize’s black hair, forged a letter to ask to meet Archray, and killed him at the ruins. Kaize’s name is cleared. Archray kills his uncle however, his hatred has grown to the point he has decided that this country is rotten and that he was going to kill them all.

Kaize and co. return to the city and asks everyone to listen to his commands and defend against Archray. Glinda heeds his call as the commander of the royal knights, because Kaize was the one who backed her to be in the position she is in despite her gender and birth:

Kaize confesses to Yuhiru, but they didn’t have long before Archray came for them. The two have a final fight, but Archray definitely wanted Kaize to end his life…

The fact route arrives at its final crossroad after Kaize ends Archray’s life.

Fact Ending – “Beloved You”

Archray’s vengeful soul opens the portal and red snow falls, turning people in the city into monsters.

Kaize repeats the legend where live sacrifices are needed to close the portal. He kisses Yuhiru and tells her this is their goodbye, before walking into it.

After Kaize’s death, Dorothy shows her a letter written by Kaize. Despite his messy handwriting, Yuhiru manages to read it.

“I love you, more than anyone else. Hence my only wish is for you to find happiness. No matter where you are, I will forever watch over you from above. Kaize Ozma”

Fact Ending – “Over Requiems”

Archray is relieved that his life comes to an end. Kaize is at the brink of death. Yuhiru prays to his emerald necklace, which brings back Kaize using fragments of Archray’s soul. He returns to rule the kingdom and write a new chapter in the country’s history.

And thus our story ends.

The wise and benevolent King, Kaize Ozma. With his black-haired, black-eyed Queen by his side.

THOUGHTS: Wow what a ride from our poster boy. I was hoping for a wedding CG in the ending that is literally named after the game title, I guess one could hope in the FD? Kaize’s loneliness and trauma is unparalleled compared to the other three characters so far, as it started from his birth. He was constantly misunderstood and neglected, even by his parents. He finds Yuhiru who is like a mirror of him and the two become inseparable. This route should be played fourth imo because there are various references from previous routes as well as setups for Dorothy route. Which brings us to…

DOROTHY (CV: Horie Shun)

“Not Dorothy”

Buckle up for a feels trip because we are about to start the truth/canon route of the game.

Dorothy is the mysterious “witch” of the north and the first person that Yuhiru sees upon landing at the beginning of the game. He volunteered to supervise the criminals and help them with their hunt, this time again going to the north. In the previous four routes we can already catch a glimpse of how oddly protective he is of Yuhiru (I feel so bad for Horie Shun’s voice; he had to do so much yelling OJOUSAMA”, and how he always wishes Yuhiru to “live as long as possible” when she ends up with other LI and decide to stay at Oz. He is whimsical and would confess to Yuhiru, or bombshell statements like he is the one who teleported her here, only to add:

We are dropped right into action from chapter one, when Yuhiru falls out of a building and down a cliff. She thinks she is going to die… but wait, why does Dorothy have wings like a demon…? (even though those are angel wings)

Similar to Molly route, Dorothy coerces her into keeping this secret, including catching Yuhiru red-handed trying to tell on him to Kaize. Despite his threats to do all kinds of things to Yuhiru if she doesn’t keep her secret, Dorothy continues to be very gentle towards her, to the point Yuhiru asks him on two separate occasions why he is so nice to her, and why he treats her as someone so important.

Dorothy does not answer the question directly and finds excuses like Yuhiru is an important guest from a faraway country (even though she is supposedly on death row). He then says the following but does not add his typical “I’m lying” nor does he outright deny it when Yuhiru confirms.

He also echoes Archray’s statement in Kaize’s route. That demons are people who had died and have an exceptionally strong will to stay in this world. [Okay but that still doesn’t explain Kaize’s entire fact route. Or how Archray/Kaize dark route is able to control multiple people’s minds at a time, when one soul supposedly can only be in one body at the same time.]

Dorothy and crew run into Archray again, but his name/identity is not revealed throughout this route. He is simply labelled “the demon who killed the king”. Kaize does not awaken his inner demon this time so it ended up being a showdown between Dorothy who grew his wings, however, proved to be no match against Archray physically.

Archray asks Yuhiru to willingly give him her soul, in exchange for him to spare Dorothy and everyone.

DOROTHY: DARK ENDINGS

Yuhiru acquiesces. The deal with the literal devil does not go well. He takes control of Yuhiru’s body… and stabs Dorothy in the heart. Again and again and again and again. Dorothy may not be as good as Archray in battle, but he can regenerate like the leader of the abyss, so he wins in the end by a war of attrition. A bloody (that CG is pure nightmare fuel and sorry to those who played this route at night) Dorothy then turns to a traumatized Yuhiru who profusely begs for his forgiveness. Of course Dorothy does; she was literally possessed.

Everyone is free with the demon dead. Dorothy appears unstable after the incident, so Dorothy takes her in. The two live together. Dorothy continues to suffer from PTSD, and panicking when she holds a knife, or sees blood.

Dorothy seemingly goes yandere for no reason, as he appears thrilled and “satisfied” when Yuhiru relives her trauma. Because it reminds her of him.

He starts to purposely trigger Yuhiru so that she will say his name again and again and again and again. It is cruel. It is not right. But Yuhiru’s dependence is a sweet drug, and Dorothy can no longer remove himself from the temporary peaceful feeling having Yuhiru in his embrace, being the only one able to comfort her.

Eventually this repetitive psychological torture seems to awaken something in Yuhiru, and her memories one thousand years ago. Yuhiru starts to recall a city in the middle of a desert. Dorothy desperately asks her if she remembers someone, but Yuhiru cannot recall. At the same time, something has happened in the northern ruins. Dorothy tells Yuhiru he needs to check if another portal opened, and that he might need to be the “sacrifice” to close it. Yuhiru cannot live without Dorothy at this point, so she asks to follow him.

Dorothy and Yuhiru arrive at the ruins. They find Nenohs there too. Nenohs has been suspicious of the explanation and demon regicide theory and starts being pushy with Yuhiru about what exactly happened, forcing her to reenacting the scene, and holding a knife to her throat. A scared Yuhiru kicks Nenohs, who is so lightweight that he fell off the tower and died. Yuhiru breaks down despite Dorothy telling her that she did it in self-defence and tries to teach her how to lie in court to get away from another sentence.

After returning home, all Yuhiru can think about is Nenohs’ death. However, Dorothy interprets this as a betrayal as Yuhiru is only supposed to think about him; now he is replaced by Nenohs. Dorothy confronts Yuhiru, who retorts that “Nenohs is different” because he actually died while Dorothy can regenerate.

Dorothy does not take this well. Yuhiru apologizes profusely. Dorothy tells Yuhiru he has been protecting Yuhiru for a thousand years and that nobody should be more important than him to her. Memories flow into Yuhiru’s mind.

She recalls a man stabbing her and asking her why she would not love him back. She thinks she killed the man in self-defence.

She thinks that man was Dorothy.

Dorothy breaks completely. A large pink portal opens above Emerald city and red snow starts to fall, turning everyone they see into monsters. Dorothy abducts Yuhiru to his dungeon and tells her he changed his mind; he doesn’t care about the people anymore and does not want to be the sacrifice. He forces Yuhiru to recall pretty much every single interaction they had in their life. If Yuhiru cannot answer, he commits self-harm and forces Yuhiru to relive her PTSD again, until she remembers what happened one thousand years ago.

Dark Ending – “Helpless Happiness”

Yuhiru gives up and begs Dorothy to just end her life. Instead, he takes her for a walk outside just to show her how literally everyone in the kingdom has died. No one will be able to help her. All she has left is Dorothy.

Dorothy faints. When she wakes up, she no longer recognizes the man in front of her. All she remembers is that her name is Dorothy…

The two live a “new” life together, with Yuhiru/Dorothy calling the man Toto, which is a foreshadowing of the fact route…

Dark Ending – Shut Out the World

Yuhiru realizes she triggered Dorothy because there’s something wrong with her recollection of the events, but she really could not remember. She and Dorothy enter the portal together and embrace their end.

The ending credits voice line breaks the fourth wall with Dorothy asking the reader “why are you on the other side of the screen?”

DOROTHY TOTO: FACT ENDINGS

“Where Dorothy goes, Toto follows”

If Yuhiru refuses to offer her soul, Archray will try to kill Yuhiru with Dorothy jumping in the way to block. Dorothy helplessly prays that Dorothy survives – and the pink portal opens by her will. Dorothy kills a distracted Archray, whose host body dies but part of his soul escapes into a butterfly – without anyone noticing.

The sight of Dorothy jumping in front of her awakens a repressed memory in Yuhiru’s heart. Dorothy decides to tell her the truth.

Remember the news channel at the beginning of the game? There was a storm, and two people missing.

Touto and Yuhiru embarked to a desert city that did not have a name at the time. They met the first king of what would later be Oz. I haven’t confirmed this officially but I’m pretty sure he is voiced by Azakami/Kaize CV), hence my 転生 theory that the king reincarnated into Kaize after one thousand years [and the fact they like the exact same cheesy omelette, and Kaize’s confession to Yuhiru that he liked her “from a long time ago” in his route…]

The king was infatuated with Yuhiru at first sight, despite their language differences, and mispronounced Touto as Toto, which became his name in this new world.

Yuhiru’s previous shoes did not fit her feet well, so Toto gifted her a pair of silver slippers, telling her all she needed to do is put them on, and they would take her to all kinds of fantastic places.

Yuhiru had actually watched the movie when she was still in Japan, so she shares that the slippers, Toto’s name all resemble the movie The Wizard of Oz. Toto joked if that’s the case, Yuhiru would be Dorothy. The king who had no idea what they were talking about, liked the name Oz and decided to name his kingdom that.

The two tried to find their way home, and did eventually by opening up a portal. But they went to Japan one thousand years in the future, and it was a country no more…

Yuhiru and Toto had no home to return to. Toto asked Yuhiru if she will live with him together in Oz, so that they have another purpose to look forward to tomorrow every day.

The voice asking Dorothy at the beginning of the game what choice she would make to change her life, was Toto all along:

The two actually never formally confessed to each other, but the king noticed Toto is his rival and the reason why Yuhiru will not marry him. So he did what a tyrant does and stabbed Toto in the chest. He then threatened Yuhiru to marry him or face death. Yuhiru rejected him. The king then held up a knife to kill Yuhiru… [but this was not Toto or modern day Dorothy, Yuhiru could not recall in the dark ending]

Toto’s soul possessed the first king’s body. The king’s soul cursed Toto in his dying breath that he will reincarnate and haunt Toto/Yuhiru in future generations to come. When the guards arrived, all they saw was a black haired, black eyed person possessing their king, and that the king grew a huge pair of black wings… hence the legend of “devil possessed” people with that specific appearance.

Toto changed his name to Dorothy to commemorate Yuhiru; the girl who reminds him of Dorothy from the movie. He tells Yuhiru that to protect her from being witch-hunted by angry mobs, he let her sink into a thousand-year slumber. Unfortunately, the legend still persists; people still judge others based on their appearances.

Similar to the dark ending, Yuhiru/Dorothy return to the latter’s residence. Dorothy even repairs Yuhiru’s slippers.

In the meantime, fragments of Archray’s soul possesses Nenohs to target Yuhiru’s life.

Archray curses to haunt Dorothy in the afterlife, history really repeats itself:

Archray dies, but opens up the giant pink portal again. Dorothy decides to sacrifice himself. He then tells Yuhiru that he lied about hiding and protecting her for one thousand years. This pink portal has appeared one thousand years ago after the king’s death, and Yuhiru was the one who sacrificed herself, hence the “sacrifice” part of the legend.

Even though this CG appears after making the final selection, both fact endings have the same scene where Yuhiru eventually opens the portal again and finds Dorothy, who tells her he will be happy as long as Yuhiru continues to live:

Fact Ending – “White Dream”

Yuhiru and Toto talk to king Kaize Ozma, who asks them to bring three travel companions with them on their next ruins expedition. Toto protests that he wanted to spend time alone with Yuhiru, and the camera pans to the old crew bantering and having a good time.

This is just a dream in the white realm of nothingness. After all, like Toto says, “all we have is time…”

Fact Ending – “Infinite Brick Road”

Yuhiru and Dorothy manage to make it back to the world of Oz. Dorothy sacrifices his immortality and can grow old with Dorothy as they go on various expeditions of ruins together as a couple.

THOUGHTS: I can’t be the only one who finds so much parallel between Dorothy and Horie’s other famous otome role, Himuka from Olympia Soiree. Both feature a “deity” of the world who has history with the heroine eons ago. Both even feature a doll ending. Horie was phenomenal in both of them so why not! Playing the dark route first may leave the reader confused until they reach the revelation of what exactly happened between Yuhiru, Toto, and the first king of Oz. However, imo it’s still worth it because it would be so depressing to end on a bad ending. Think of it similar to Even if Tempest, you have to play through the bad endings for the good endings to taste sweeter! This is undoubtedly the “fact ending” of the entire game and canon. A love that lasted one thousand years beyond time… However, to me personally it was too heavy. It is a satisfying finale to the game though. Finally, if I had to pick the canon ending I would pick Ending W. I don’t really buy Ending I – too good to be true.

FINAL THOUGHTS

12,000+ words later and 3AM local time, I sit in front of my computer experiencing post-game depression. This is likely my game of 2025. The story for the most part holds together and has enough lore for me to dig. It is one of if not the most mature work by Otomate. I like this direction they are going and hope they release more.

Will there be an FD? I’m hopeful. The game seems to have done well, at least topping the Switch game sales chart first week after release in Japan. I want to see Yuhiru living with each LI as a couple, and IF endings if they go back to Japan (while it existed), and the other “witches”.

What’s my character ranking? I loved all five of them and feel doing a full ranking is cruel even if they’re all at least 8/10 for me.

Who do I want to be with if I self-insert/find the most attractive? Claude.

Who do I think will make Yuhiru the happiest? Molly.

So those are my top two.

My score: 10/10