Second-clear date: February 21, 2026

In 2026, this hit game from 2018 remains one of the biggest IPs of otome gaming and does not need its own introduction. Back then, I played it with the atrocious traditional Chinese translation the first run. Given I am preoccupied studying for my board exam, I don’t really have the cognitive bandwidth to play, follow, record, and analyze a new game such as UN:LOGICAL (though will start next as I anticipate it will be post-exam when I finish this game). Hence, I am playing the comfort pick that is Piofiore, in Japanese this time. I could use a good refresher of the story. Of note, I have not played Episodio 1926 but do have the game and plan to get to it at some point ^{(one day)}.

Given the popularity of this game, there are more than plenty of CG collages & plot summaries available. As such, I want to try something new for this review which is to write a more analysis-focused post on the game’s characters, content, and comparing it to a spiritual successor by the same scenario writer and artist. More word-heavy (you’d think I can’t get any more wordy than my existing posts), less oolala pretty CG layering or CV fangirling.

Maybe the old dog that is me can be taught some new tricks. Let us see.

Table of contents:

– Nicola: the onion of otome LIs

– Yang: a Freudian analysis

– Dante: a tale of restrained love

– Orlok: the road to hell is paved with good intentions

– Gilbert: if charisma was one person

– Henri Lambert

– Liliana Adornato

– Piofiore vs. Uchronia

If you’re looking for a summary of the plot, this and this may be helpful.

**Spoilers ahead**

Nicola: the onion of otome LIs

I cleared Nicola route first in both playthroughs. This may be not the most popular opinion, but I still think starting the game on Nicola route is better than starting on Dante’s. There is something explosive, exciting, and emotional about Nicola’s route that Dante just doesn’t provide – I say this as an Dante stan – he will always be my favourite character out of Piofiore.

After you play 5-10 otome titles, one starts having their own compartmentalization of otome LI tropes and places characters in respective characterizations such as “the tsundere”, “the childhood friend”, “enemy to lovers”. Something that this game really shines at is that most of their characters (ironically, excluding Mr. poster boy) cannot be placed in a fixed trope where their actions are predictable. Usually, if the LI has a second face “gap moe” then we’d probably start applauding the writer. Well, Nicola has four layers. As the route progresses, we peel each layer off and see a more original version of him.

First layer: The perfect Italian mafia boyfriend in our imagination – handsome, courteous, friendly with a dash of flirting. From winking at Lili at their first encounter and striking a conversation, to rescuing her from Lao Shu to the Falzone headquarters, Nicola is a calming presence to Liliana. Even though they were not necessarily truths, Nicola would patiently explain to Lili the situation and why she needs to stay at Falzone. He would go the extra mile to make sure she is accommodated. After nearly losing her life and being assaulted and finding herself in a unfamiliar and scary environment that is the mafia, she naturally becomes attached to Nicola who introduces her to her new family.

Later we learn that Nicola has set his eyes on Lili a long time ago, knowing she is the key maiden who can be used as a bargaining chip to aid his plans for Dante and joining Visconti. He got close to her for a reason. However, in the beginning of the route we don’t know that. Two things he did particularly fooled not only Lili in game, but manipulated all of us in front of the screen that we were “special” to him:

1. He would “slip up” on instances where he gives Lili special treatment. He would eat a type of treat that he usually dislikes heavily, because Lili made it. He would share intimate details of his childhood with Lili, even though he has a reputation of being extremely secretive and to himself. He would take Lili to a bar with the bartender commenting it’s the first time he’s brought someone/a woman. He treats Lili like delicate china while he scolds his subordinates and tortures captives.
2. The bad boy classic: Don’t get too attached to me. You’re a good church going, god-loving girl. I’m a mafioso. We are too different. You’re too good and pure for me. All the while knowing that Lili would run to him like a moth to flame.

With some nice gestures and intentionally intimate actions, Lili caught feelings for Nicola easily. All according to plan.

Some people have disagreed with me that Nicola is faking his kindness to be close to Lili and argued that there was a degree of attraction. Interpretation of characters is an to each their own realm. However, I still believe that Nicola truly did not care about Lili until later on. Exhibit from Dante route:

Second layer: This starts from the moment Nicola defected from Dante and Falzone. Up to this point, despite all the sweet things Nicola did for Lili, he actually had zero affection for her. He would shoot her if she posed any threat to his grand project of “liberating Dante”.

This side of Nicola can also be seen in exhibit Yang route:

Nicola reveals a bit of his past to Lili, namely how his mother wanted him to be the next capo, how he witnessed a helpless little Dante holding back tears at his parent’s funeral because “a Falzone is not supposed to cry”. Many years later in adulthood, Nicola still holds onto his impression of Dante as a boy and almost arrogantly decides on Dante’s behalf that he shouldn’t live a life being burdened by his bloodline and duty as the Falzone capo.

Instead of stopping at “okay, this is just how the writer depicts him; this is just who he is”, I cannot help but wonder what shaped him to be this way. My theory is that most likely from his upbringing, Nicola likely had to constantly prove his worth to his parents for example, to earn their love. As such, he expresses his love through acts of service or sacrifice. To Nicola, being needed is fundamental. He finds the meaning of his existence by fixating on young Dante who needs a strong underboss who supports him and eventually frees him of what Nicola has determined to be the source of his troubles. He refuses to believe Dante has grown up to be a capable capo that can and wants to hold his own and serve as the inspiration of his family.

This is more evident in his own bad ending. After Dante dies, Nicola loses his direction and meaning of life. He quickly latches onto his next closest target: Lili. He forbids Lili from interacting with anyone else and anything, because Lili only needs to look at him and yearn for his affection. Otherwise, he would be extremely anxious and worry he will lose Lili to someone or something else.

Unlike Dante, Nicola is a cold and calculating pragmatist – similar to Gil which is why they struck their alliance, seeing similarities in each other. This is much more apparent in Dante route, where Nicola, while loving Dante as a brother, fundamentally disagreed with Dante’s priorities and approach to problems. Nicola never believed in the “key maiden” theory

I heard there was some controversy in how the English/Chinese localizations translated Nicola’s last words to Dante as he died prematurely in Orlok route. “Dante… You are… the capo of Falzone… You must… not… lose…” Maybe it’s because Nicola knew that with him dead, there would be no one to save Dante from his duties. The best outcome would be to maintain the status quo and for him to continue his path as the head of Falzone. Hence, ironically his last words pushed Dante further on his route of being ruled by his Falzone bloodline and fate, and eventually to his ruin in two of the three endings in Orlok routes.

Third layer: Because of the setup in layer one, Lili has fallen in love with the “warm, gentle” Nicola. As such, when he started distancing himself from her at Visconti, she starts relentlessly chasing him. Over and over, Lili tells Nicola that she is hurt that he’s not as close to her, that she wants things to go back to the good old days, that she is here for Nicola no matter what. Nicola, who treated all of this as a game with Lili, start realizing the gravity of the situation and become scared that Lili actually catches feelings for him.

Nicola runs away from feelings but deep down he realizes it is harder and harder to live without Lili, the girl who will always be waiting for him and cheering him on. This culminates in Lili blocking the bullet from Robert for Nicola and tells him that she instinctively moved because the bullet was aimed at Nicola.

Fourth layer: If the last layer was Nicola waking up to his reciprocated feeling for Lili (yes, I do believe Lili fell for him first), the final layer is Nicola learning to open his mind and himself up to the world from Lili’s advice. In the best ending, Lili encourages Nicola to confess to Gil about his innocence and ask for help, to place his trust in others, instead of assuming the best for other (Dante) and being cynical (thinking people will not trust him when Robert framed him). As a result, Gil and him form an alliance (Gil is such a bro and wingman in Nicola’s route for real).

As a result, in the end when Lili falls into Robert’s trap, and Nicola is faced with the excruciating choice of protecting Lili or Dante, he makes up his mind and says the most beautiful thing in the entire route:

He lets go of his obsessions of past Dante. He lets go of his insecurities that nobody trusts him and he should close his heart off to everyone else. Because, he has Lili. This time, he is going to respond to her love.

Yang: a Freudian analysis

While Yang is an unorthodox LI or even anti-LI in a sense for the average otome game, when I first played Yang route I didn’t find him that charming because I felt the writer made him too much of an edgelord. This is going to be an unpopular opinion: I still think he is overhyped. However, this is more of an issue of personal taste. There is still much to dissect about this character. I appreciate Yang as a character much more after my second playthrough.

Yang is a drug dealer. His drugs has circulated to Visconti and Falzone’s areas and caused their people to die painful deaths from withdrawal. Speaking of addiction, as someone who sees this population IRL as an occasional part of my line of work, I want to share this already popular video that explains what it is like.

Initially, people get euphoric off a small dose of the drug. Then, their threshold becomes higher and higher. Once they are off the drug for a while, they start experiencing withdrawal or horrible lows where they physically sweat, tremble, and hallucinate. Their receptors become more and more hungry for higher and higher doses of the drug. Eventually, they stop taking the drug for a high, but take it to avoid being in withdrawal. “Doctor, I don’t take it to get high. I don’t get highs anymore. I just don’t want to be in withdrawal. I hate being in withdrawal.”

Yang is similar in this sense. For him, his drug is adrenaline. The thrill. The blood. The vices. The ugliness of human nature. Again, little is revealed about his backstory other than he is from the famous Kowlong region in Hong Kong, which exists IRL and known for the highest population density in the world and poor living conditions. Growing up, he conceals his name and operates under the identity of “Yang”, walking a tight rope between life and death, learning from a young age that he cannot afford to be virtuous and kind, if he wants to survive.

As a result of Yang’s personality, Lili has to walk a tight rope. She has to keep him interested but not overshadow him. She has to push him away and talk back a little bit, but not fully push him away so he fully loses interest. This is evident in when Yang pushes her onto the bed, Lili has to initially reject him but then eventually accept him. Rejecting him twice takes her to the bad ending where Yang plays with her a little bit before getting bored and discarding her.

Lili and Yang’s relationship for the most part of the route can be described as “cat and mouse”. The cat toys with the mouse. The cat can eat the mouse anytime it wishes to, when it’s done having fun. As the mouse, Lili has to keep up with Yang and keep him intrigued, without forgetting that she belongs to the cat. Their relationship is highly dysfunctional and owner-pet/Stockholm-like and likely why it drives away certain players. I applaud the writer for being so bold because it would have been a much safer choice to write a “bad” guy who ends up having a soft heart (such as Tobari in this game’s spiritual successor, voiced by the same actor), but then it just does not hit the same and loses its charm.

I have to preface that I am not a psychologist/psychiatrist, but my basic understanding of Freud’s division of the human psyche consists of:

• Ego: Pragmatic, calculated decision-making. Balancing ideals with reality.

• Superego: Internalized rules and morality.

• Id: Primitive desires that are often not accepted by common society.

With this information, evidently Yang is walking with his psychological dick outside all the time because all this guy seems to do is listen to his desires/ id. He is unpredictable, moody, and does not play by the rules of society or etiquette.

He does not care about or seem to have a superego (morality) at all. In his route, Lili is forced to give up on convincing him to do the right thing or be the bigger person. When she sees innocent commoners suffering from the effects of drugs manufactured by Lao Shu, she cannot be delusional and expect to change Yang or convince him to “care”, because he simply doesn’t – likely because nobody ever cared about him when he was in the slums of Kowlong, so why would he now?

He’s seen and caused so much of humankind’s worst suffering, to the point he appreciates that sometimes, dying is a kind of release and a blessing compared to living in a constant state of pain. I totally understand where Lili is coming from as a religious woman who grew up protected by the church, but I gotta side with Yang on this one (they were discussing Elena – Lili’s friend who became Yang’s subordinate’s pet and helplessly addicted to drugs):

To me, Yang’s psyche can be divided into:

• Id: Predominant for him. Basically his thrill-chasing, and bloodlust.
• Ego: His coldness and nonchalance towards those who are deemed irrelevant to him, even when they are suffering, and suffering by his actions.
• Superego: His conscience which is being reminded of and retained by Lili. His remaining attachment to human virtues lies in and is manifested in his interactions with Lili.

Yang numbs himself in his vices. He continues to play with his newest toy, Lili. Lili finds breadcrumbs of him “caring” for her such as getting her the panda toy, and buying her nice dresses and becomes attached to him, because how else is she supposed to cope.

Yang’s three endings can be roughly divided into how much of his own psyche he manages to explore and accept.

1. Bad Ending: He remains to loyal to only his id. Lili in this route fails to understand and accept who Yang is. She relentlessly tries to convert Yang to her church values. She preaches to him about the importance of life, of being kind, and fantasizes that Yang will the Romeo to her Juliet, just like her story books. As such, Yang deems that she is yet another toy, like the many women before her. He has his fun with her, says some sweet nothings, even including that he “loves” her (which he never says in the best ending), and muses about how easily he can manipulate Lili to wait on him on hands and knees.

Hence, many people become blindsided by the ending because this is the “sweetest” Yang has been in the entire game, only to end with:

However, even after Lili dies, Yang cannot comprehend why he does not wipe her from his mind. He seeks out prostitutes like her, then realizes none of them are like her. In frustration, he strangles the escort to death.

2. Good/Normal Ending: Yang attempts to stay true to his ego but his body follows his superego in the end, defending Lili and dying for her. However, he does not realize his feelings for her. He ends up not confessing his love for her, only expressing confusion on why he would do such an “illogical” thing that he would have loved to “play” with Lili just a little longer… Romeo drinks the poison for Juliet, but does not understand why.

3. Best Ending: I never expected Yang to be the shit-test king but he really puts Lili through the ultimate shit-test, when he seemingly places Lili in danger only to go on a spree to not only killing Dante, Nicola, but also Gil and establishing his place in Burlone.

When Lili proves to Yang that she is the Bonnie to his Clyde, that she understands he is fundamentally not a kind person, but a survivalist, a pragmatist, and accepts & loves him for the way he is, he finally tells her that she has passed and earned the right to learn his real name.

We don’t get a full happy ending. I mean, do we ever? I haven’t played 1926 so… In a way, Yang is more appealing leaving the route as is? In the end of 1925, he tells Lili that they are moving to London for their next assignment. He doesn’t ask her. He informs her. Lili is his ride or die, and he is in the driver’s seat.

Romeo doesn’t drink the poison for Juliet, because that’s not how this Romeo is. Instead, he and Juliet run away from their families together to live their lives on their own terms.

Dante: a tale of restrained love

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But first, let us appreciate how gorgeous and perfect my best boy of Piofiore is!!

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Compared to the previous two characters, Dante’s route as the poster boy is rather linear. He’s noticed Liliana since the two were children, when his father brought him to the church to meet his key maiden. Over the years of Lili growing up at the church, Dante has quietly protected her from afar whenever she goes outside. However, most of the time, he keeps his feelings for her hidden deep inside including for the first half of his own route. In fact, we don’t even learn of this in his best ending.

Dante’s logic for not looping in Liliana is the assumption that ignorance is bliss; she would be safer without the knowledge. Similar to Nicola who assumes what is best for Dante. In the background, he does various things for Lili, trying to make her feel at home, without wanting her to know his affection.

Perhaps of my own cultural background, I am really weak for guys who do things behind the scene, who love the heroine so much that they are scared to disturb their peace – instead of the classic Western culture of “if you love her, then confess to her, show her your love”. There is just something about guys who are unconfident and not “knowing” their charm if that makes sense? It’s like how IRL, a handsome guy who doesn’t know his charm and acts shy is much more attractive than a cocky guy who knows he’s a 10/10?? Similarly, later on when Dante shows his vulnerability to Lili and talks about how difficult it has been for him to play the role of the young capo, living up to everyone’s expectations, and his own “fate”… To have a strong, powerful man confess his deepest fears is the sign of ultimate trust and Lili is sure one lucky girl…

Aside from showing insane amounts of restraint towards his feelings for Lili, Dante is also an empathetic and gentle person. After Lili gets herself into danger by attempting escape, because she is kept hostage in a mafioso’s home without knowing at all what’s going on or when she can return home, Dante is surprised by Lili’s courage in wanting to know the truth despite it being gnarly.

For someone who is at the top of the oldest crime organization in Burlone, Dante does something we don’t expect him to do: introspection. He apologizes to Lili, and is determined to not hide anything from her anymore.

Compared to Nicola, Dante is much more idealistic and faithful. Dante’s route theme is “fate” – fate between him and the key maiden, Lili. He is not thrilled at being capo, doing coldhearted things, but he pushes himself to because this is his “fated mission”. If bloodline wasn’t an issue, I do think Nicola would be a better capo as Dante’s priority isn’t even his men but the family tradition of the relic/key maiden. He martyrs himself for the cause, suppressing his own feelings, likes, or wants – to the point I start empathizing with Nicola on why he is so intent of liberating Dante. His tremendous sense of responsibility and love for Lili from afar are what ultimately made me fall for him and love him the most out of the cast.

A Chinese meme says that women nowadays are looking for a “daddy with a boyish charm”, often in the context of mocking women for having unrealistic dating standards. Ironically, this describes Dante perfectly. And hey we are in a game, so it’s okay to be unrealistic! He is established, responsible, reserved, traditional, protecting Lili from harm. However, this makes his outbursts of vulnerability and emotions, when he deems Lili as trustworthy, all the more intense.

Some people found Dante’s route boring as it was really him shielding Lili from the truth and harm in the first half, and then she kind of just cooked her way into his heart lmao, which is not untrue. However, this “slow and steady” romance captured my heart. Dante = husband material. So many of their interactions resembled husband and wife instead of passionate infatuation between young lovers. Maybe it’s just me getting old

Finally, for all the criticism Lili gets for being a “damsel in distress” and cooking as her only skill, I did not mind her at all in this route. Despite lacking fighting skills, she has so much participation in their relationship dynamic. She is not passive. She has a mind of her own. She stays curious and true to herself. She has a lot of leverage in this relationship. I love how in the best ending, after being protected and having her life planned by Dante all route, she grabs Dante in the face and tells him that she chooses to stay with him.

Bonus – angy baby Dante who hides his sweet tooth in front of people because he wants to be viewed as a big bad scary mafia boss:

Orlok: the road to hell is paved with good intentions

Well, for someone who isn’t into younger or kuudere LIs, I cried both times I played Orlok’s route. As the illegitimate son of a prominent bishop Josef von Rosberg, Orlok was raised in inhumane conditions for one purpose: to be the weapon of “the church” but really someone who did Josef’s dirty work. Poor boy didn’t even sleep in a bed he had been living like worse than a DOG before meeting Lili 😭 He is brainwashed to believe that Josef can hear God’s messages and thus, what he does – even if it’s killing – is in the will of God and just.

Orlok was given the mission to protect the “girl in the oracle”. To achieve his goal, Orlok crosses paths with various factions. He is the best fighter in the entire game. When placed into one vs. many situations, when others would think about how to get out or focus on the fights, Orlok would still have the ease to only disarm and not kill the enemy. After all, he is a God-loving man, and wouldn’t kill unless it is necessary.

Orlok shifts between two personas. On the one hand, he is the most faithful to (what he believes is) God and His will. On the other hand, if anyone comes between him and his mission given by “God”, then he will kill anyone and everyone without hesitation. Toshiyuki does a phenomenal job of portraying him, with clear contrasts in his voice when he is coldly carrying out his missions to kill vs. when his voice trembles from his beliefs crumbling in front of him in later events.

To Orlok, Lili starts out literally as his religion. She is someone like the Virgin Mary: holy, pure, and all-loving. No matter how vicious and cruel he is to his enemies, when he returns to Lili, he becomes a helpless puppy looking for warmth. Lili becomes Orlok’s missing mother figure from his life. She cooks delicious food for him, tucks him in bed, tells him it’s okay to be tired and rest, listens to him, and tells him that she cares and wishes Orlok took care of himself more… Nobody else has ever done this for him.

However, because Orlok has never been taught any emotions other than to obey Josef and the church, he does not know what love is. He becomes emotionally dependent on Lili, and even tells her he “loves” her, likely as a child to a mother, or boy to his older sister. In fact, we don’t get a kissing CG other than the bad route. Some complain about this given how spicy other routes had gotten. I actually think it’s befitting of Orlok’s personality. He is emotionally stunted; he retains a childlike purity and curiosity to the world and all those new feelings that Lili taught him. I do hope this progresses in the sequel but leaving it as such in 1925 is a great move by the author IMO.

Hence, both the reader and Lili both feel the intense clash of two coexisting yet opposite qualities within Orlok: heaven and hell, angel and devil. Also what makes him so unforgettable. Eventually, Josef’s plans for Lili has to be on hold because of Yang’s actions that tainted Lili’s reputation and almost his. He intends to sacrifice Lili to get the people to turn against the mafia so he can become the new owner of Burlone.

For the first time, Orlok questions his task at hand and his reason for existing. Shaken, he turns to his next biggest mentor in life, Lili herself, and asks if she would martyr herself for the greater good. If Lili replies yes she gets killed on the spot here. However, Lili – who has been trying to convince Orlok unsuccessfully all this time that she is not some “holy maiden” but an ordinary girl – replies that like anyone else, she is afraid to die. Lili also tells Orlok that she doesn’t believe in martyrdom or peace at the expense of others’ happiness and livelihood. This scene marks a crucial transition in Orlok and Lili’s relationship, as well as Orlok’s outlook of the values he has been taught. From now on, Lili is no longer a holy maiden but an ordinary girl that Orlok wants to protect as Orlok and not “the missionary from the church”.

From now on, Orlok starts living for himself, and those he cares about.

Lili and Orlok are both faithful people in this game. However, Lili’s view towards God is more gentle and probably what most people believe in: that God is a guiding light in her life, a voice that encourages them to be kind and do the just thing. Ultimately, it is up to humans not God to make things right. Orlok’s view of God is more absolute and focused: God is absolute. God will make everything right. Those who stand in God’s plans must die.

This brings us to the next segment of the game where Orlok questions and abandons his faith. It is absolutely genius of the writer to bring up Luka, the boy Lili helps in the prologue. When Luka has a high fever and cries that even though he had to steal to survive, he doesn’t want to go to hell. Orlok’s first reaction is to baptize him, but then recalls the sins he has committed, even if they were in the name of God, and whether he is even fit to bless someone else when he might go to hell himself.

Eventually, with Lili’s encouragement, Orlok completes Luka’s baptism. However, Luka still dies from illness. Orlok for the first time doubts whether God is real, and why He has abandoned and let down people like Luka.

Orlok lets go of his past and upbringing. However, his past won’t let go of him. Having killed Dante’s father as part of Josef’s scheming, Orlok and Dante can never coexist. There is no perfect resolution to this feud. Because we are in Orlok’s route, Orlok acknowledges that he has committed a large sin by taking Dante’s father’s life. However, he now has a new meaning to live and unfortunately, cannot repent with his life. Dante on the other hand, has every right to be furious that Orlok first killed his father, his “brother”, and now is going to take off with “his woman”…

In the best ending, Orlok kills Dante, and flees with Lili under the protection of Emilio to an orphanage. He loses his right arm signifying his debt towards the sins he’s committed in his past life. He embarks on a new, hopeful, and peaceful beginning with Lili. He’s lost an arm, his father, his faith, but he’s found his next reason to live.

Ultimately, this route showcases so much character growth. Orlok’s really been through it all. As Lili put it in game, “seeing him suffer makes my heart ache.” I believe she speaks for all of us. Hence, even though Dante is my favourite character in the franchise, this route remains my favourite in the base game because of how much of an emotional rollercoaster it was. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. After traversing through Hell, Lili and Orlok find their salvation and their Garden of Eden.

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Finally, it would never be complete without paying homage to the bad ending. I mean, sure, Dante goes off the deep end and there is implied NTR which got people excited. However, my attention remains on Orlok. The ending really reeks of despair and nothing else.

Perhaps the most powerful bad ending statement of all time:

Gilbert: if charisma was one person

Discounting the finale, Gil’s route is locked for last. From the previous routes, he has the reputation of being extremely well-liked by his people. He is not involved in the key maiden fiasco. His priorities stay with his mafia, his people. As such, even though he has a sunny exterior, he doesn’t show any extra caution for Liliana and remains calculating and wouldn’t hesitate to use her life to maximize Viscontis’ gain.

His relationship with the commoners prove to be his biggest resource. He is what brings Visconti together. This is evident in that whenever Gilbert dies in a route, Visconti virtually dissolves overnight. When God created Gilbert and was asked how much charisma he should be given, God simply said “yes”.

Hence, going into Gilbert route, where Liliana starts the game between the crossfire of Falzone and Lao Shu, gets rescued by Orlok and told to escape anywhere, she has only one choice remaining. She runs into the friendly and flamboyant leader of Visconti, who takes her in and showers her with gifts and affection. However, knowing what he’s said and done in previous routes, my guard remains high.

On the surface, he does feel bad for her having nowhere to run, and probably would die if he didn’t accept her. More importantly, if she is so sought after by both Falzone and Lao Shu to the point they ignore the treaty and invade the church – an area that is mutually agreed upon to be sacred – she will be worthy as a bargaining chip in future negotiations, and be of benefit to Visconti. He treats Lili with so much kindness so she willingly stays and views Gilbert as a friend. (Take notes Dante)

Precisely because of Visconti’s neutrality in this, we reach an eerie ceasefire where both parties agree to allow Lili to stay and Lili herself wants to stay. This route is the pseudo-harem ending as it also reveals the Henri/direttore storyline. I’m still salty that they made Nicola randomly die in the end but I suppose wouldn’t be fair to other routes if they just made his route the everyone-lives ending.

In fact, only someone as charismatic as Gilbert can pull the other two mafia heads who are enemies to temporarily work together, and even move Robert to help him as a policeman who has so much disdain against the mafia. As he investigates the counterfeit money case with Lili, she learns the Gilbert that not as many people know. He is a walking second amendment, is originally American Italian, grew up in a broken household. He has amblyopia so just covered his left eye up. However, he doesn’t feel dejected by this and finds that this helps him with aim when shooting, hence, his love for guns.

Instead of staying back as “boss’ woman”, Lili accompanies him to the casino and offers herself as the prize which ultimately helped Gilbert learn about their enemy’s identity and get closer to the truth. She also helped facilitate discussions in the church with Sister Sophia as the casino is clearly unsafe and being eavesdropped, and actively participated in the discussions and came up with smart ideas to move along with the investigation.

Hence, Gilbert’s route doesn’t have much angst which served as a really good refresher after Orlok’s route. Everything unfolds naturally. A charismatic man and a smart woman. Two smart people working together towards their common goal. Sharing details about their lives that they didn’t intend to and normally don’t share with others. However, for someone as confident at Gilbert, he chooses to give Lili time to allow her to realize her feelings for him. In a way, this is his consideration for her, as he knows she’s already fallen for him but can’t process the feelings yet.

Lili also does not disappoint and straight up just fesses to him LMAO we all have Gil’s expression here:

Me in front of the screen:

Gilbert route gave me the experience of a Hollywood movie. How different factions put down their grudges and work together under the dashing leadership of a certain man with a love for guns, a beautiful femme fatale by his side, culminating in him charging into the fire seemingly with no chance of return…

And of course the hero comes back victorious. I know the best ending is spicy (and the same pose gets reused in the infamous Yori Uchronia CG but from a different angle lol) but the good ending remains my favourite! The dust settles. Lili and Gilbert leisurely enjoy their afternoon tea and papers, while Gilbert tells her that he wants to return to Chicago – where he grew up and everything began, and Lili telling him that she will always follow no matter where her hero goes.

The bad ending is also so heartbreaking. Gilbert says “I love you” to Lili as a farewell, deciding that the cruelest thing is to give her false hope that one day he would be powerful enough to return, so he decides to kill all hope. Even Oliver felt so bad he allowed Lili to see Gilbert before he left alone for America. Lili also didn’t accept the circumstances and begged to go with him, accepting of the circumstances and a life of danger. However, Gilbert stopped her before she confessed her love to him, saying the decision is harder for him to make than for her to accept, that he always wanted Lili to remember him as a handsome and cool man who was capable of everything and anything, and left her in the end.

Henri Lambert

There isn’t much to analyze about Henri given his route is shorter than others. As the little brother of the last key maiden, Chloe, who fell madly in love with Dante’s father and eventually killed herself because Dante’s father chose to defy his fate and marry Dante’s mother instead (turns out Dante inherited his white hair from his mom too). Along with the abuse he received after Chloe (who tried to kill Dante’s mom and baby Dante, btw) died, Henri developed PTSD that brainwashed himself to believe Chloe was physically killed by the Falzone family, who murdered their parents in France in order to bring Chloe to their family – and why as this generation’s key maiden, Lili was not raised in the Falzone household but at the church.

His and Chloe’s life have been overturned and destroyed by an oracle that didn’t end up being true in the end. Hence, Henri has extreme disdain for religion and God.

Hence, Lili’s church has this interesting frequent visitor (as Chloe is buried here) who comes all the time but doesn’t enter the church, nor is he familiar with the religion’s customs. Initially out of sheer curiosity and sympathy for Lili – the next key maiden – he warns her to keep her distance from the mafia families, as he is planning to take down all of them and Burlone together to avenge Chloe.

Henri never liked Italy and missed France every day. He disliked being confined in the Falzone household, the hot milk that maid Julia brings him. Chloe learned to love her surroundings because she fell in love with Silvio Falzone. Hence, he assumed that Lili was kept in the church and now at Visconti against her will, and has a sort of saviour complex around her. However, Lili shows him that she and Chloe are different. She appreciates the church for raising her and instilling her good values. She appreciates the mafia families for protecting her. I will discuss this more in Lili’s own section, but to her, the mafia families are a necessary part of her life that she does not question, despite it conventionally being against her religion.

She tells Henri that she doesn’t need saving. She is not some damsel in distress who is wailing for someone to liberate her.

Henri starts regretting his plan but the die is cast. He is at a point of no return. However, he genuinely does not want her to get hurt. As someone who isn’t religious, who doesn’t need to beg anyone to forgive their sins, Henri turns to Lili and confesses his sins and asks her:

In Orlok’s route, Lili transformed from goddess to woman. However, in Henri’s route, she goes from human to deity after choosing to forgive him. Henri, regretful for his sins but having no choice but to go through in a self-destructive manner, gives into his “fate” and decides that the show must go on, and he must play his part, just like how everyone else at Burlone should play theirs.

The explosion happens again at the casino. This time, Lili and Henri elope through a hidden entrance and start a new life together under the discretion of Emilio – who is probably some deity/angel who watches over the church/key maiden/Falzone – but we don’t get much info from the base game. The after story ends with Henri finally finding the courage to touch Liliana’s hand and start trying to view her as a woman again. At this point, like Orlok he still hasn’t touched Lili. So we will have to see further developments in 1926.

Liliana Adornato

In the Western otome sphere Liliana is somewhat of a controversial MC. To me, after getting past the excessive descriptions of her cooking for every single male character, she is a successful. Her 6 routes have a good mix of supportive (Dante/Nicola) and more active participation (Henri/Gilbert) to driving the plot (Orlok/Yang), so there is a little something for everybody. She surprises the LIs often with her quick thinking and is intelligent. I liked her a lot more in the second playthrough likely because I braced myself for the cooking scenes lmao the writer needs to chill on those.

Another criticism is from the more religious audience such as why is Lili this church-raised woman accepting what the mafia does (only condemning it in her words not action) and sleeping with men before marriage? Why is she such a hypocrite and a pick-me girl (yes some people called her that)? My views are:

1. I am not religious so I do not have a good expectation of what she was supposed to be like
2. Pretty sure if she condemned the mafia with her actions she’d be shot
3. I’ve mentioned this more in Orlok route, but Lili and likely the general public view religion as a guiding voice. Not everything in the Bible/whatever scripture you subscribe to is to be followed to the tee. To Lili, being religious is being a “generally good person” and I think she has achieved that.
4. Necessary evils. If Lili didn’t let the LIs do the killing, they were going to get killed.

Piofiore vs. Uchronia

As the spiritual successor of Piofiore, Uchronia directs the setting into a future utopia instead of the past. Ultimately, I think Uchronia failed to capture the charm of Piofiore for the following reasons:

1. Lack of character complexity and internal conflict. This is what ultimately led me to viewing Piofiore as one of the greatest otome games of all time. Hence, my replay and dedicated review. In Uchronia, the characters are more stereotypical: the overbearing butler, the shy childhood friend, the surprisingly soft rebellion leader. Yori was my favourite out of the game because of his originality. Yashiro was not typical for an LI but I found his flirting a bit weird with all the himesama and “memory loss” which killed the vibe… just a weird combination.
2. Hinagiku was a lot more annoying than Liliana. Lili’s critics can call her a mafia housewife (why is being domestic bad especially if that’s her only skillset?), hypocrite, and passive, but they can never call her annoying. Hinagiku tried to girlboss too hard and put her men in danger and needed them to clean up her mess. Hard pass. I’ll take someone who knows when to stay back any day.
3. Lack of “consequences”. Piofiore intentionally shows us violence, vices, and does not sugarcoat the protagonists. The main characters of Uchronia, partially bound by Itehari’s settings, are often unrealistically optimistic and has this happy-go-lucky nonchalance that “everyone will live! everyone will be happy!” attitude that irks me. I mean, I say this as a Tsuwabuki hater and appreciated Yori the most because of his cynicism. So I really enjoyed Piofiore’s tone but didn’t find Uchronia’s to be on my wavelength. Some may feel the opposite.
4. The thoughtfulness of Piofiore’s bad endings – how often crucial information was often embedded in the bad endings making them a must play and just as good as the other endings – was not seen in Uchronia’s bad endings.
5. Long and draggy prologue in Uchronia probably made a lot of people quit. I was certainly bored. I preferred Piofiore’s short and sweet prologue and “show, not tell” way of demonstrating the characters’ agendas and personalities.
6. CG quality is not as good in Uchronia compared to Piofiore. Weird body proportions (alien eyes) and whatnot were more of a problem in Uchronia. Rumours had it that Otomate had other artists editing RiRi’s work a bit but proofing process was no longer present after they went to Broccoli. And it shows.
7. Overall, don’t get me wrong, Uchronia is worth playing. I gave it a 7/10. However, it did not tug on my heartstrings or get me reflecting on the characters or story as it did with Piofiore.

I am surprised by what I am about to say. However, after two playthroughs, I would give Piofiore a 10/10 wholeheartedly and invite anyone who is venturing into otome games and have not played this game, to check this off their bucket list. It’s a dark game, but manages to make you look forward what will occur next.

With this, I would like to end this monologue with words from the game’s good ending screen: Dum spiro spero – While I breathe, I hope.