Replay completion date: June 21, 2026

Common route thoughts / Impey / Fran / Van Helsing / Saint Germain / Lupin / Second Playthrough Verdict in 2026

In character sections it follows the format of the story > my thoughts which is the majority of length. Unfortunately, it is not possible to discuss my thoughts without referencing plot points or dialogues, so it will contain spoilers. However, this is likely not my first review that you’re reading, so are you really surprised at this point?

***All my reviews contain spoilers.***

Common Route: Summary

My thoughts are included in the bordered text boxes.

Chapter 1: 1853. Cardia wakes up in a deserted house with only a fragmented of her father telling her that falling in love would bring forth doom. Her entire body is made of poison that instantly melts anyone or anything that comes into contact with her skin. A team of soldiers storm the abandoned mansion and orders Cardia to go with them. However, on the way they were interrupted by Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief, who declares his target tonight is the “lady” Cardia herself. Cardia shows Lupin the horologium that is embedded in her chest and the cause of her poisonous nature. Lupin tells Cardia that he is searching for her father, Isaac Beckford, and invites her to join his journey to steampunk London. Cardia also meets Impey Barbicane, an outgoing mechanic whose dream is to go to the moon. Next, Cardia almost gets kidnapped by some thugs in the street but is saved by the wanted alchemist Victor Frankenstein (“Fran”), who states he has been framed for terrorism. Finally, Cardia becomes acquainted with Saint Germain, a mysterious, wealthy, and soft-spoken duke who offers to shelter Cardia, Lupin, Impey, and Victor merely because they are interesting to him.

Chapter 2: Lupin takes Cardia to visit a doctor friend of his. However, she states she cannot help with Cardia’s poison, because she does not detect a pulse and is shocked at how the Horologium is keeping her alive. The group goes to the casino to relax, but is hunted by Abraham Van Helsing, a renowned veteran and hero from the human-vampire war. Van Helsing wants to abduct and use Cardia to make a deal with Twilight, the government organization that nests a special interest towards Cardia. He has unfinished business with the nameless leader of Twilight. Fran convinces Van Helsing to instead work together with them and track down Twilight’s leader together.

Chapter 3: A filler chapter where the crew teaches Cardia some skills to help her survive in the human world. You get different content depending on which LI you pick.

Chapter 4: Lupin obtains intel that the leader of Twilight will be boarding a certain train. He devises a bold plan to separate the entire car from the train in order to isolate the leader of Twilight. They meet “Herlock Sholmes” who almost succeeds in foiling the group’s plans. However, he yaps too much about his genius, giving Lupin the opportunity to escape. Cardia meets Finis, the leader behind Twilight, who addresses her as “older sister” and states he has been waiting to meet her all this time.

You might find it a bit weird or childish almost when Van Helsing is described to use “salt bullets”? that will not actually fatally wound the target. There is a reason to this and not because the game is like “oh killing bad”. Wait until you play his route!

Chapter 5: Fran announces that the group has run out of funds. To make money, they decide to hunt the bounty of an unnamed thief who has declared in London’s newspapers that he will take the Nosferatu’s Sable – the star of the underground auction. At the auction, a young vampire by the name of Delacroix II appears stating that the jewel originally belonged to the vampires. He becomes enraged at the sight of Van Helsing, who killed his father, the late vampire king, in the previous war. He threatens Van Helsing to meet him at the vampire palace, or else he will kill off all his friends. The group goes together. Van Helsing easily overpowers the young vampire but tells him he will not kill him. Instead, after he is finished with his business, he will come repent for his sins and allow Delacroix II to take his life. Cardia, feeling pity for Delacroix II’s loneliness, offers him to join them.

I am not impressed with the developments of this chapter at all. I think the act of Cardia walking outside and picking up everyone she sees like puppy adoption is over the top. Plus, it’s quite inconsiderate of her knowing there is history between Delacroix II and Van Helsing. Wouldn’t this just make it awkward for him, all because Cardia is feeling kind and generous? She doesn’t even own the house… Delacroix II is clearly tied to Van Helsing route but there are ways to incorporate him without him being a common factor in the common route.

Chapter 6: We are shown a brief flashback of Fran where he kills and entire village and says it’s all his fault. Queen Victoria & Twilight increase their patrol to hunt him down, continuing to frame him for terrorism. Fran explains this is because the Queen is worried he will defect to other countries with his alchemical knowledge so wants to keep him behind closed bars, under her control. He doesn’t want to put the group under danger any longer and states the only way to end this is if he confronts the Queen herself and strikes a deal. After a grand stunt during a knighting ceremony with public attendance, Fran threatens the Queen that if she doesn’t grant him freedom, he will blow up the grounds and live up to his terrorist name. The Queen acquiesces and declares he is now innocent, having Fran’s word that he will remain loyal to England.

Chapter 7: The group learns that Isaac Beckford’s notes will be the grand prize for an airship (think steam-powered air balloons?) race organized by the mafia of London called the “black gathering”. Lupin steals an airship but Impey gets the race date wrong and nearly doesn’t complete the airship updates in time for registration. Before the race, they meet Nemo, a crazy scientist who views Fran as his rival. In the end, by literally launching Van Helsing onto Nemo’s airship to physically disable his aircrew, “Cardia and her servants” (yes that’s the ship’s simplified name lmao) win the race and Isaac Beckford’s notes.

I loved this chapter. Everyone works together to achieve their common goal (even when Van Helsing nullifies the cannonballs shot from Nemo’s airship with his gunshots… okay pal lol). No man or woman gets left behind. This is why Code Realize has one of the best “founded families” because instead of filler slice-of-life, despite the ultra long common route, the group has a variety of difficulties hurled their way and solve it with their brains and brawl – with Cardia as an active participant who brings her contributions to the table… more on her at the end of common route! The common route did not feel like a drag to me at all. This is a mini climax that pushes us into the final chapter before the story diverges.

Chapter 8: The night before the big adventure. Cardia tells St. Germain about a bit more of her awakened memories when she didn’t heed her father’s words and snuck outside to play. She was taken in by a village woman Elaine and her daughter. However, the church finds out that Elaine has been housing “the devil” and shuts Elaine & Cardia in a cave. Cardia realized the poison emanating her body in this finite space with no circulation is slowly killing Elaine. When she finally melted the rocks and exposed them to the sunlight, Elaine was already dead. Elaine’s daughter, angered by the loss, told Cardia that she was a monster and wished she died instead of Elaine.

The next day, Cardia finally goes to her maker’s underground lab to discover the untold truths about her father, and herself. Depending on who you have the highest affinity with you will be with that character. Regardless, you walk into Finis waiting in a room full of eerie creatures that he tells you are the previous failed works of “Cardia”. You are the 666th homunculus; this time, it worked thanks to horologium. Finis attempts to break your resolve but at the last moment, your LI will show up and aid in your escape.

What makes the escape much easier is that St. Germain who has been rather peripheral in the common route suddenly shows up and stabs Finis in the heart, killing him. St. Germain introduces himself as “the persecutor of fate, the guide of history, the identity of many names.. the most famous among those is likely the follower of ‘Idea’ [pronounced Edea in game]”.

The group returns home. Cardia silently packs her belongings and plans to quietly leave the house, feeling guilty the trouble and attention she has brought onto her friends. Before she leaves, she will be stopped by the LI & will then enter his route.

Cardia appreciation time!
This is how you write an otome MC. 10 years ago too. It would have been the path of least resistance to write Cardia as a demure delicate flower that needs to be protected especially with her not having memory and being a shut-in. However, the author gives her growth even dedicating a chapter to it, showcasing her quick learning, thinking, and attachment to the characters – by offering to help. She physically and mentally kicks some major ass (like 0.5 of Van Helsing) in the common and individual routes.

The cherry on top? She is not overly confident or stupid. None of that “oh no I will be overpowered by those bad soldiers but I have to save that poor little stray puppy and put my whole team in risk” kind of BS I have zero tolerance for. With the recent debates of whether otome MCs should be self-insertion friendly (less personality/identifying traits to help the player immerse) vs. having a specific setting, strengths/weaknesses to create the most uniquely tailored story as possible – the success of Code Realize even back in the day would suggest that at least, a well-defined and smart and CAPABLE MC is accepted and loved. None of that “oh the JP audience are all very submissive and they are all do-M and want to be pampered or possessed by their vampire boyfriends~ they can’t handle strong female MC~” You rock Cardia. We love you.

IMPEY BARBICANE (CV: MORIKUBO SHOUTAROU)

Impey is the flirt & comedian of the group. He prides himself as a “prodigy technician” but is the living testament of “60% of the time it works every time”. He is immediately attracted to the 一点紅 of the group and flamboyantly woos her and tries to get Cardia’s attention.

Given this is a replay of a popular game with probably hundreds of plot summaries and reviews out there. I’ll briefly summarize the story and focus on the actual thoughts/romance later.

The Story

The writer drops us many hints of Impey’s unusual physical capabilities despite minimal training including enhanced vision and superhuman power. The only other race that gets mentioned in this game conveniently have the same attributes. Impey is a vampire who was born an oddball. He enjoyed gazing the moon, and became enthralled at the sight of a human-built steam-engined train as a boy. He wanted to show everyone how amazing science is & change the world for the better. He and his teacher were shunned by the vampire community because they’re all flat earthers or something. Before his teacher died, he entrusted the dream of going to the moon to Impey, which succeeded his will.

In Isaac’s lab, Impey and Cardia read about Isaac Beckford mentioning Nemo’s name. They find Nemo, who is absolutely unhinged & initially asks them for help. However, we quickly learn that Nemo was in it with Twilight to capture Cardia and harvest her horologium. Nemo was a student of Isaac who was banished from the Royal Scientific Society. He vows revenge on Queen Victoria and the world by building the ultra large airship “Nautilus”, using an anti-gravity device that he stole from Impey a long time ago (this is the item Impey wanted to find in his personal mission) & a small piece chipped off from Cardia’s horologium.

The two narrowly escape but without the full horologium, Cardia gets sick. Nemo threatens terrorism against London and England unless the people of London can find and bring Cardia to him in three days. To retrieve the missing piece, Impey and Cardia return to the lion’s den, collaborating with the Queen and her army. By disabling the anti-gravity device, Impey crashes Nautilus into the Thames river and retrieves the horologium fragment with his bare hands, suffering injury in the process.

The two share a loving kiss as dawn arrives in London. In the epilogue, St. Germain leaves the house to the two of them while everyone else leaves (common theme in every route). Unfortunately, Cardia’s poison is not resolved this route. However, this doesn’t stop the two from living together as lovers. The two spend their days rebuilding the anti-gravity machine from scratch so they can land on the moon one day together.

My Thoughts

1. Nemo

Man, when we finally have a token dark-skinned character in the game… while he is indeed an intellectual, why does he have to have such an ugly-ass design & talk in the way Japanese people think Black rappers would talk like?! From other stories/games it is necessary for Nemo to be exotic, but doesn’t feel right as the only representation.

This is only my quiet thoughts. I am not cancelling a game over this. I wish it did better but this isn’t game-breaking for me. If anything, in 2026 we get more representation of dark-skinned people including LIs in mainstream otome games by Otomate and Voltage. I also don’t mind no representation since all of this is fiction so I do not need a real-life Disney adaptation of otome games. Just… don’t do this when this is the only representation. Very stereotyped.

I also found it amusing that Nemo was banished from the Royal Scientific Society for having too dangerous of ideas because the head of the British Empire clearly has the most dangerous ideas if you play Fran’s route. If anything, I think Nemo fits in quite well with that crowd. That being said, he is too much of an X-factor and difficult to control. The Queen can’t use him like that.

2. The lack of a satisfying solution

I feel so bad and unfair for the Impey girlies that he does NOT have a proper resolution to Cardia’s poison in the main game! Yes I know all the boys get their happily ever afters with Cardia in the FD but damn… talk about leaving us hanging lol. Some people would also rightfully be upset with the “why are you leaving this in an FD; you’re just baiting us to buy two games [as they were released separately and sequentially initially]”. This issue is not unique to Impey route as only Lupin & Fran get solutions (Fran’s is temporary but good enough) in the main game so will not make this a recurring complaint.

3. The back and forth romance: Why exactly does Impey love Cardia?

^ Yeah I didn’t get that. If Impey is bantering during a life-and-death situation he gets put in his place not Cardia having to play along with him. Impey has his heart of gold in the right place but he is not exactly the most reliable. This includes him attempting to flirt with Cardia when she’s literally thinking about how not to die or his inventions not working as intended at crucial times. He isn’t a “oh he’s a goof when the plot needs comedy but turns his seriousness up when he needs to be”.

When the two fell outside of Nautilus for the first time, I really loved this sky scene:

This was such a romantic scene. I thought we have established that the two are lovers from Ch 10-11 here. However, immediately upon returning to everyone Cardia backtracks on this saying she was nervous and put under pressure, and cannot return Impey’s feelings. Everyone immediately starts making fun of Impey saying ah of course I thought so, how could she fall for you out of all people. I mean my man took it like a champ in front of everyone. However, I felt that was comedy gone too far and ruining what could have been something long lasting, genuine, & beautiful between the two. I don’t mind a comedic/lighthearted character but think the writer did not have a good grasp on when to dial up the humour and when to dial it down. This overall contributes to a less reliable image and probably the reason why many people didn’t vibe with his character in the end.

Another question that came up when discussing the game with a mutual who was also playing the game is: how exactly did Impey fall in love with Cardia but more importantly, why her? Based on what he said in game, Impey fell in love with Cardia at fight sight. He came initially for the beauty but stayed for her strong personality, never giving up on her goal and being extremely capable, getting him out of pinches at time. He also called Cardia かっこいい. As my mutual pointed out, the flirty/playboy type usually undergoes some kind of “purification” process where it is shown why he gave up the whole “garden” for this one “flower”. We don’t see that here. Cardia is a beautiful badass sure, but probably also has to do with the fact that she is literally the only woman (other than Queen Victoria…) that Impey & the boys interact with. While other boys may not need this extra justification and “proofing” process, it is helpful to have that here. Impey protests to Cardia in one of the scenes that he “cooks and will never cheat’ yet she still won’t be his girlfriend, but how do we know that (other than he is a LI?)???

So overall, I liked their story & Impey as a character, but there remain things to be improved.

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN (CV: KAKIHARA TETSUYA)

Fran was my favourite LI from first impressions because skinny tall nerdy cinnamon rolls are literally my exact type IRL… He is the gentlest towards Cardia in the crew, always tending to her needs & sharing cute little moments with her. Also my god his smile & expressions… I apologize for the number of screenshots because I am so, so biased.

The Story

Fran’s route revolves around the “Frankenstein” that he created as one of Isaac’s students: Zicterium, while in search of the philosopher’s stone. Zicterium ended up being a gas that was used as a mass-murder weapon in the second vampire war despite his protest. Zicterium is also the predecessor of horologium, hence the confusion for half the route where Fran wrote “I created Cardia” leading her to think he’s her daddy or something.

In Isaac’s lab, Finis uses a pendant on Cardia which activates her horologium putting a timer on her life before she becomes another massive killing weapon by releasing poison at high rates around her killing everyone like she did to Elaine. Jimmy A. Aleister (name apparently pays homage to British occultist Aleister Crowley; but the character is more based on someone else – more in Van Helsing’s route. Aleister has an appearance this route but his involvement can be neglected if we are only writing the synopsis.) or Finis’ right-hand man lures and kidnaps Cardia who is surprisingly rescued by Fran while he jumps into the Thames river with shots being fired behind the two and suffering injuries as a result.

In the same manner of forcing a meeting with the Queen in the common route, Fran & Cardia get captured by the royal guard & uses this to their advantage, meeting the Queen once again, who demands Fran’s loyalty and supply of Zicterium for “terror” purposes (yes they literally call it that… I can’t… at least make it palatable like “self-defence”. What kind of ruler goes around saying they’re a terrorist), “all for the glory of Britannia” lol okay lady. Fran refuses; the Queen pulls out a pocket watch saying because Finis used the pendant on Cardia, she basically is on a countdown of 30 hours before she turns into a real monster. The remainder of the route is closely tied to hourly activities in the countdown, which is a format I really enjoyed.

The Queen goes off the deep end and wants to start a world war because the best defence is offence. For this reason, she is willing to kill her own people in Whitechapel with Zicterium so that she could frame it on the enemy foreign powers. (More on how ridiculous the plot is in this route in thoughts). Eventually, all clues help the group find a large device underground left behind by Isaac to spread Zicterium across all of England. The Queen arrives with Leonhardt to claim the device, which cannot be accessed without Cardia or Finis’ pendant.

In the final showdown, Fran tells Leonhardt that he will “fight in my own way to demonstrate my resolve”. By that he means not fighting back and letting Leonhardt just beat him over and over… And somehow this works because Leonhardt defects from Victoria stating he cannot condone her doing such an inhumane thing, despite condoning her for doing such an inhumane thing for years… So in the end, Fran stops the mass killing device & uses poison against poison – feeding Cardia the liquid form of Zicterium by mouth which suppresses her poison and transformation, giving us yet another kiss scene in the process. In the aftermath, Fran and Cardia live in St. Germain’s house with Fran having come up with a suppressant of Cardia’s poison which allows them to touch each other like real lovers.

My Thoughts

1. The Romance

Like I said earlier, the interactions between Cardia & Fran managed to capture my attention and interest. Every single one of them are so memorable and just gives me the warm fuzzy doki-doki… Cardia’s transformation from homunculus to human is also subtly displayed through these scenes, starting with her suddenly getting all conscious and flustered when Fran conducts yet another routine examination of her heart. This in turn, gets Fran self-conscious as well. It’s the blushing of both characters having secret feelings for each other but not voicing it that makes this scene & CG my favourite out of the route. The appeal of shy nerdy boys.. we found it all here ladies.

Given his guilt regarding creating Zicterium, he also treats Cardia as his responsibility & would literally sacrifice his life to save her. Call it 重い but for me this is それもまたよし

He holds Cardia in such high regard and is so insecure about himself on whether he has the “right” to love her or accept her love. It’s so adorable how much he cherishes Cardia. Fran is not someone who is possessive or wants “to be” with his love, but rather just want what’s best for her even if it means his sacrifice or loneliness. I just love how he is so careful around Cardia and wants her approval even if it’s to have emotions for her. Can we please have more LIs like this Otomate???

Fran ate good in the base game with multiple kiss scenes (Van Helsing fuming right now) which also adds to the fluff factor of this route. I will end on a line in the epilogue:

2. Frankenstein

The symbolism of Frankenstein is clear in this route where Zicterium is the monster that Fran, in his pursuit of the utmost form of alchemy, created and realized he is unable to control nor contain. Similarly, Fran did indirectly create Cardia as well (I really was not expecting the two having this layer of history!) and just barely managed to contain her poison in the good end.

With regard to real-life symbolism, Zicterium likely is an allusion to atomic bombs where there were reports of regret by its creators, that if they knew their research was used to create a product of mass destruction, they wish they never came up with it at all. Discussing whether these weapons are a “necessary evil” becomes a military trolley problem that is above the scope of this review or my capabilities but is interesting food for thought. I’ve also talked to mutuals who had clear discomfort in playing Fran’s route because of their own cultural experiences of being a victim of the axis powers in WWII. Anyways, this is as far as I will go because I do not want to get my humble review/diary site banned.

3. Second half of the plot: Are we sure this is not some shitty fanfiction?

Fran’s story was unfortunately very poorly written, IMO. I will start by talking about the Queen in this game. In the common route, she was someone who cared about the livelihood of her subjects; that’s how Fran was able to get her to meet his demand in the first place. However, in this route, she throws it all out of the window. The reasoning the game gave is that Victoria needed an excuse to start a war because all the other countries in Europe are teaming up against England. With Isaac gone it’s only a matter of time before England no longer has their edge in research and military. So her solution was to… blow up the most populous and developed city of her country? What is she going to wage war with said enemies after framing the attack on them with all of London gone? … If experimenting on human subjects and later waging war against the vampires (despite them being a harmless tribe) can be justified as a necessary evil to save the majority, the trolley problem doesn’t even exist here and it just feels self-destructive.

Even with the backstory provided in the end where Victoria was forced to become a warmonger and her father trying to kill her which forced her hand, causing her to go off the deep end because she’s finally killed for the first time, I just find the Queen so irrational in this route. It’s giving GOT Daenerys vibes where she was smart and benevolent for only so long before she became insane and had to be stopped. None of this will result in net gain of England & she was painted to be just pure evil without any redeeming qualities, which is too one-dimensional. If you couldn’t tell I also hated the GOT ending.

The final showdown between Fran and Leonhardt was also so unnecessary because who is Fran trying to win over by just subjecting himself to a beating? What is hilarious is that it worked, but logically speaking Leonhardt would have just killed Fran on the spot then it’s game over… So Fran really bet on Leonhardt’s conscience or knights’ code to defect his Queen in the last minute – I guess better now than never, but he’s been complicit in all those war crimes that the Queen already committed and not batted an eye because he is her loyal sword or whatever, so why the change of heart now? He afraid to die or something?

Overall, the plot just didn’t make any sense and made it hard for me to take the route more seriously because I couldn’t help but burst out laughing when reading the in-game logic of characters.

4. In summary, Fran’s route has one of the best romance written in otome IMO but the plot was so all over the place and wild that unfortunately, I cannot call it a perfect route.

DISCLAIMER: As I did detailed writeups for first two routes, then am doing the final three routes after I finished, I will not be going into the story & just focus on my thoughts. Plot can be found on the Code Realize wiki which summarizes per chapter.

ABRAHAM VAN HELSING (CV: SUWABE JUNICHI)

Van Helsing is the best fighter in the entire game and quite literally a human weapon. I loved that in the skyship race he himself was the final solution and gets catapulted to Nemo’s ship hahaha.

However, if you are expecting a route of a suave daddy or mature functioning adult in his own route then you’re just going to be disappointed like me..

My Thoughts

1. The Lone Wolf, but overdone

I get Van Helsing is supposed to be this kuudere who acts aloof and is extremely capable and has trouble asking for and accepting help, but was not expecting him to do this for all 13 chapters… 💀 Even in Ch. 13 he was still telling Cardia, who was clearly not going to leave him to fend for himself, to leave him to fend for himself 💀💀 It is not tough to reject help and kindness when you end up inconveniencing the group anyway. I was turned off by this route so much because all Van reminded me was a stubborn immigrant father who would go his own way, yet still inconvenience everyone around him, and refuse help 💀💀💀 The fact he puts Cardia at gunpoint and threatens for her to die there to prove her resolve, and for Cardia to suffer all that crap in Ch. 13 is just… yeah no.

It’s an interesting shift of perspective because 5 years ago when I first played this game, I was annoyed at Cardia for some reason and thought she was annoying for “chasing” Van down?? However, this time around my views changed. Cardia is being perfectly reasonable and doing what a friend would do. It’s Van who got annoying in the end and was still refusing help until the last minute. JUST LET US HELP YOU GOD DAMNIT! Her read on Van was perfect too.

This route didn’t end up giving me what I wanted which was Van having his change of heart and learning to lean on Cardia. We didn’t really get that transformation even till the end. So while the relationship progressed in the end where they became official lovers, we didn’t get direct confirmation that Van will now also rely on Cardia for his difficulties.

2. Van Helsing & Dracula

As someone who has not read Dracula, I invite you to read this wiki page on Abraham Van Helsing as it included many intriguing details. In short, Van Helsing in fiction is the nemesis of Dracula which was Delacroix II’s original name. Like I said in the common route, I was not a fan of how the writer stuffed Dora-chan into the main cast and under the same roof with the guy that killed his father (even if he was coerced) but decided to hold my breath until I finish Van’s route in case there are new developments. Well, there were not.

Van Helsing and Delacroix II’s relationship is more nuanced in that when the former was infiltrating the vampire kingdom, he learned alongside vampires & became Dora-chan’s teacher, so there was an element of fondness.

However, I still am deeply unimpressed how this conflict was simplified to the classic cliche Otomate logic of “revenge bad”. I’m not saying Delacroix II has to never accept co-existing with humans but in my mind allowing him to retreat into a secluded region to reflect and regroup instead of suddenly caring for the future of humans and helping out Cardia’s mission (when he has so much fish to fry) would be a more acceptable solution. Delacroix II can always make his appearance in Van route alone to push forward the plot.

3. Jimmy A. Aleister/Professor Moriarty

Initially, I was not satisfied with this mind-control/body-modifying technique that transforms people into superhuman zombies that are overtaken by negative emotions. That being said, this reminds me of the Sherlock TV show. The mind-control portion is whimsical but does remind me of Moriarty or even Eurus in the finale season. I quite liked Aleister/Moriarty (as revealed in Lupin’s route) because some genius criminals are born different than others and have a different outlook of the world than the rest.. Aleister viewed Van as his highest work of art & expression of self, similar to how Isaac viewed Cordia/Finis as his.

4. How did he become a smooth criminal so fast?

The writer probably panicked in chapter 13 because there was so little fluff between the two like not even crumbs so after the dust settled she wrote Van as if he got possessed by Impey as to say, okay Van fans, don’t get mad at me, here’s your sweet scene, now go!

This was deeply unsatisfactory to me because the scenario spent so much time building Van as someone who keeps his turmoil to himself, who is bad at expressing emotions, and suddenly he becomes a smooth talker as if some switch just turned on inside him. Obviously I’m not saying he’s not allowed to be romantic with Cardia, but maybe awkward/silent gestures of affection instead of the “ooo let’s dance m’lady”?

ST. GERMAIN (CV: HIRAKAWA DAISUKE)

1. Count of St. Germain

In history, there was an enigmatic gentleman who took the same name with his upbringing and true age unknown, with some claiming he had lived for centuries. All we knew is that he was well-educated, a philosopher, and likely rich. In the game, even without the partial reveal of his identity in Ch. 8 we were always foreshadowed that St. Germain is much more than an eccentric count with too much money & time on his hands, with his own motives.

2. How the observer of history became part of someone else’s observation

A famous modern Chinese poem in 1935 said: “你站在桥上看风景，看风景的人在楼上看你。明月装饰了你的窗子，你装饰了别人的梦.” You are standing on the bridge enjoying the view, the people in your view is standing inside the building and observing you. The bright moon decorates your window, while you become an addition entering someone’s dream tonight.

While St. Germain has lived for thousands of years and witnessed dynasties rise and fall, populations die and rebuild, for once he is witnessed and cared for by ironically a supposedly lifeless doll that he is sent to kill. Through their time together at the mansion then the secret hideout, to St. Germain’s own hesitation and fond recollection, Cardia finds herself falling in love.

What is more ironic is that St. Germain suppresses his own emotions and wants in order to “serve the righteous path” as dictated by Omnibus & Idea, while the doll Cardia listens to her heart and willingly sacrifices herself for (what she thinks is) her loved one’s happy ending. So really, who is the human and who is the doll here?

3. St. Germain’s love for Cardia

I don’t really need to write a long paragraph about this. St. Germain is possessive and a soft yandere (as much as this game’s rating allows lol). Cardia is literally his world. He has betrayed literally the entire world (and possibly God) for her, so he wants her to only have his reflection in her eyes. The almost self-destructive scene where he cries and declares his love for Cardia. He is willing to sacrifice himself, and the world, for her.

4. Omnibus & Idea

Latin “for all”, Omnibus is the commander of Idea – her monologue hints that she was possible Eve with references to eating the forbidden fruit and thus beginning the cycle of sin of humankind. Omnibus is quite commonly hated and sometimes referred to as one of the most-hated otome antagonists.

However, I definitely understood where she/Idea came from. Cardia vs. her poison becomes a trolley problem for Omnibus who is the closest figure to “god” in the game to make an appearance. Based on Omnibus’ calculations, it is safer to eliminate some”thing” that can possibly wipe out all of humankind (especially given Isaac’s known motivations and track record) than giving her (who has proven herself to be more than a doll) a chance and live her own story. It logistically makes sense, even if emotionally it doesn’t. Cardia is too much of a wild card and too high of a risk for Omnibus to turn a blind eye to. Hence, I found the hate for her a bit unwarranted, not that I don’t want Cardia to win…

ARSÈNE LUPIN (CV: MAENO TOMOAKI)

1. The gentleman thief

Boasting a failure rate of “zero”, the moment Lupin made an entrance, it felt as if this game was a stage set solely for him. He is gentlemanly, never seen to be desperate (until his own route), always has a plan, and looks out for his friends. He seems to have all the good qualities in an LI and human being in general.

He is warm towards Cardia with the two sharing an amicable relationship. In other routes, he may be a concerned but not overbearing older brother. At first glance he seems like the stereotypical French gentleman: effortlessly stylish and flirty but also like a British knight, valiantly defending his lady & saving her from troubles.

2. Love, but not flashy

This was my favourite and most memorable scene out of the route. Surprisingly, Lupin’s route doesn’t just progress with Lupin loudly declaring his love for Cardia & her accepting.

Right after Finis tells Cardia that her use is to be Isaac’s “heart” and energy source, Cardia reflects on this and tells Lupin that every time she thinks of him, her heart aches but cannot tell why. Instead of explaining, Lupin quietly plants a kiss on her cap. The scene ends with lots of room to ruminate.

Initially I made a comment on X saying this mode of relationship of “not being eager to define what they are [unlike modern dating in NA where if you don’t explicitly ask every step, you could very well be in a one-sided open relationship and apparently they are not at fault because you never asked to go “exclusive” 🤦‍♀️] and just enjoy what they have in the moment” – kind of like you ask someone what are we and they say things like そういうもの. A French mutual commented that this is actually what French romances are typically like, so in this sense Lupin is actually culturally accurate? XD

While they had their big confession eventually, I like how the two fell in love through these little silent interactions as well as acts of service.

3. Isaac’s motivation

Isaac is the mastermind and largest antagonist of this entire series. He wants to make himself a deity by immortalizing him through brain and heart: Finis who retains his sentience & Cardia who has an ever-beating heart.

However, Isaac’s motivation was really lame… Of course it’s some dumb fuck villagers who get mad at and blame him for no reason (despite him doing so many deeds for them then lynch his family including Cardia (who was his daughter IRL) while he was away. Even though Finis & Cardia were originally twins and both his children, he was only preoccupied and obsessed with Cardia, not his son Finis or his deceased wife??

Villagers who irrationally get mad need to stop being convenient plot devices for “evil characters” in Otomate games. It screams lazy. I would have rather seen an Isaac who is similar to Moriarty and is just born twisted and evil than this… come on…

4. Finis

Again, for reasons unknown Isaac was obsessed with Cardia (at least on the surface; what he actually puts her through is still cruel) and didn’t give a flying fuck about his son. Finis becomes obsessed as a result for winning his father’s affection. He embraces his role as a “vessel”, “machine”, and not a person with his own free will or agenda. As someone whose first animes was Rozen Maiden the themes are similar. Dolls battle to the death, sometimes taking down the world with them all so “father” can look at them.

I heard Finis gets better with his story hashed out more in the FDs but right now I feel meh about him. The fact Cardia rushes back to save him and putting herself and Lupin at risk (as they were still aboard Nautilus) made me cringe.

5. One of the best posterboys of all time. However, this route ended up feeling too crowded.

Lupin’s story cleverly ties all the antagonists from the previous 4 routes together into one coherent story. Even though it would be a lie to say there wasn’t any or enough romance, I cannot help but feel his presence in his own route got overshadowed by Finis/Isaac’s plot.

Such is the dilemma of plot vs. romance: put the finale in the LI ending and we risk problems like this. Put a separate truth ending and people will complain as well because there are people who do not care about non-romance routes. Can’t win either way.

POST SECOND PLAYTHROUGH THOUGHTS IN 2026

Despite having more scrutiny for the game in my second playthrough through a more aged and cynical lens, I would still wholeheartedly recommend Code: Realize to any newcomer to otome. The founded family aspect, how historical/famous fictional characters were chosen and written with a clever twist, all coming together in Lupin’s finale… very few other games can compare. There are small indelicacies that can be picked apart/not suit my personal taste but do not change my overall impression. Fran route’s antagonist (their motivation & story) and Van’s romance frustrated me deeply but not worth dropping the game over.

Cardia is a very well-written main character. She starts with a blank slate but there was SO MUCH development. She learns and applies the skills she is taught instead of hiding behind her very capable LIs. She makes reasonable decisions and actively helps her friends. She has a heart of gold – maybe sometimes too much. I love her so so much. She deserves all the happiness in this world.

The title of this game is called 創世の姫君 – the princess of birth of the world – literally translated. Who exactly is being birthed or reborn? Is it Isaac with his ambition, or the world being saved from destruction under the watch of Idea, or Cardia’s personal identity and soul emerging from her homunculus body? All of the above? Certainly interesting to think about.

Fran remains my character bias purely because of personal taste. Skinny, tall, glasses, nerd, cute… need I say more? However, St. Germain’s route ended up being my undisputed favourite with his deep love for Cardia & maturity in handling the challenges thrown their way. St. Germain route ended up being what I wanted Van’s route to be like. I have nothing bad to say about Lupin; he and Cardia are meant to be but his route failed to convince me with how crowded it was with other antagonists & I just felt too cynical accepting his route to be true?? Impey is a great guy that crept up on me as the route progressed but his competition was way too strong.

Final ranking: St. Germain > Fran > Lupin > Impey > Van Helsing

Final score: 9/10