空蝉の廻

Completion date: July 4, 2026

I rarely find trigger warnings necessary, but this game is one of the exceptions: Non consent/rape, physical abuse.

This game is one that I’ve been eyeing for a while, before I could even playing games in Japanese. A bit of a cult favourite? After playing the game, I can certainly see why. This game serves a specific audience that deviates from the traditional Otomate enjoyers (of which I am also one of them).

I got my route order from Rurunikiri’s review: Hayate > Kai > Yasuomi > Yuzuru > Hiiragi. I liked this order & would endorse it also. Hiiragi is route-locked last regardless.

Each character has four endings: happy, forbidden, vs. insanity & sad love; with the exception of Hiiragi route which also serves as the truth route and only has happy & sad endings.

Final Remarks

Strengths:

• Traditional Japanese dark fantasy. I still believe OverReq took inspiration from this game as this game also has the “truth/dark” route mechanic and 4 endings – happy, bittersweet (forbidden), sad, insanity.
• Cast (honestly a staple of my games, I rarely play games that are not voiced). Voice acting was out of this world
• Gorgeous art with great attention to the contrast between light and shadow.. seriously who is this artist?!
• Reserved yet resilient & smart MC… this is how you write Yamato Nadeshiko MCs!!!
• I consider the mature theme a plus because most otome games are tame… YMMV.
• Natural flow of story: this game does not have explicit chapters to the player. The story is one large continuum. Before you know it, you are in an individual route.
• The “skip to next choice” option is a godsend. However, it does not discriminate whether you read the content in between so use with caution… might want to skip read for a bit to gauge. I missed a lot of Hayate’s “dark route” until I realized the options were new and not making sense at all & had to go back and catch up.

Weaknesses:

• Dark & tragic undertone. The literal opposite of a fluffy game so if this is a dealbreaker to you may not be your game.
• Very clunky UI with delay after you press continue the dialogue, forcing me to play a lot slower than I liked.
• That dumbass minigame – but fortunately you can skip after clearing first ending.
• Yasuomi route…

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

COMMON ROUTE

In this world that takes inspiration on Edo Japan, sinful spirits cannot go to the land of the dead; instead, they become yoma and roam the land of the living instead. Shizumiya Amane (“ama-nae”) is a miko/shrine maiden who lives on a fictional island of death. Two key gates, each guarded by human or oni, control the destination of spirits after death. Amane’s family of Shizumiya has guarded the human gate, where all spirits first enter after death; whereas, the oni Tamamiya clan gate-keeps the door to land of the dead. The humans and oni have bad blood for generations but begrudgingly work together so that the spirits can return to their rightful belonging.

Amane’s grandmother is becoming old and passes on her job to Amane, whose parents died at a young age. Becoming the new leader of Shizumiya, she and Tamamiya Kai – the current oni leader – both sense something amiss with the two gates. She sets for the oni village, accompanied by her childhood friend and overprotecting servant Sagara Yasuomi & medium (the type that does seances.. will come in handy soon) Shizukimaru.

On the way, she first meets the childish & whimsical oni Yuzuru who seems to be ostracized by the oni, but takes them to Tamamiya Kai & his second-in-command Hiiragi Tomokage. Kai is hostile and short-tempered with Amane and humans in general while Hiiragi appears to be the moderating gentle voice between them and shows more kindness. Finally, they meet Hayate, the strongest oni in the village and a warrior who swears his fealty to Kai and Kai only; and Keita, a wide-eyed young oni who looks up to Hayate assigned by Kai to be Amane’s guide and guard.

Kai is upset at the Shizumiya because the magatama that is infused with necessary spiritual power by the Shizumiya miko to help oni – who have put themselves at risk to protect the humans against yoma – have been declining in quality, because Amane’s grandmother is old and losing her powers. Amane apologizes & states that since she is here, while she works on the next batch of magatama, if she is present at the scene of battle, she can play her flute & imbue the oni with strength directly. (Let the mini-games begin…)

Amane shares her intuition about the gate with Kai. The both realize that they actually do not have records of how the gates can be resealed or repaired. There was only the original ceremony that created both gates that happened a looong time ago. They agree to search their respective archives for information on what the “repair” ceremony entails.

Yoma, who are usually mindless beings that only want to create chaos and killing, suddenly group together uniformly with one clear aim: Amane. Is there a hand behind all of this pushing forward the turn of events? We do not learn of it in the common route.

Instead, our attention gets turned to the characteristic of oni where they can go berserk with extreme emotion, after Keita almost goes berserk. As a medium, Shizukimaru offers to use his body as a vessel for a yoma – if one can be captured alive – so that they can get to the bottom of this conspiracy against the disturbances of the gates and targeting of Amane, whose blood is revealed to be crucial for the ceremony.

Unfortunately, the ceremony goes awry with Shizukimaru going berserk resulting in him to be sedated and detained. Yoma swarm the village. Keita suffers fatal injuries fighting the yoma and dies.

With Amane losing two friends, one old & one new, in rapid succession, we reach the conclusion of the common route. Now, Amane will decide who she wants to uncover the truth with; and whether she is ready for it.

HAYATE (CV: UCHIDA YUUMA)

Hayate is the strongest oni in the game, known for his fighting skills. He has a calm & almost emotionless demeanour, unfazed by anything and everything & always ready to protect Amane, on Kai’s orders. In fact, he repeatedly tells her to stop thanking him because he wouldn’t care about her at all if not for Kai’s order to keep her alive in order for the ceremony to fix the gates.

Some dumb villagers are upset that Amane is associating herself with an oni and go as far to make up rumours that they are having an affair, because Amane brought Hayate some onigiri as thanks. To everyone’s surprise, Hayate tells the villagers that he coerced Amane into bringing him food to get her off the villagers’ hook. He then tells Amane this is his reply to her food, that it doesn’t matter what the villagers think of him because they hate him anyway, so he might as well help her in his own, silent way.

Hayate shares with Amane that for reasons unknown he more easily goes berserk compared to the average oni, despite his strong powers. The outbursts are difficult to suppress. Instead, he trains himself to suppress his feelings and not be moved easily in general to decrease the chance of this happening. Amane tries to see the silver lining and suggests that maybe if he can cleverly use the berserk episodes to his advantage and gain even more power… only to be met with Hayate scolding her “you know nothing about me”.

Amane’s grandmother quickly fills in what Amane didn’t know because she is pissed at Hayate being the one chosen to protect her in the human village. Seven years ago, Hayate went berserk in the human village. Even though he didn’t kill any humans, one oni died by his hand – his foster father who was the previous strongest oni in the village, who tried to stop a berserk Hayate. Hayate simply refuses to return because Kai, whom he deeply respects because he told Hayate to live on when he sought to commit suicide after his father’s incident, told him to stay here and be Amane’s bodyguard.

Amane also speaks up for Hayate, stating he has fended her off from yoma time and time again, and reaffirms this to Hayate later in private when he asks her if she’s afraid of him. Despite being touched by Amane’s words, he tells Amane to stay away from him. Amane chases him and asks if he is going to live in isolation from everyone for the rest of his life. She realizes that she is starting fall in love with Hayate, the silent, reliable figure who is so gentle on the inside despite putting up a cold exterior. Before Hayate leaves, he tells Amane that he has always noticed and watched her, confirming his feelings.

Kai recalls Hayate and intends to send Hiiragi to replace him. Surprisingly, Hayate goes against Kai for the first time in his life & asks to continue staying with Amane. They encounter a yoma, who reveals himself to be Keita in yoma form without his memories or will?! Overcome by emotion, Hayate goes berserk…

Hayate: Happy End

Amane rushes to hug him and shouts in his ear which helps him come to his senses. Hayate tells a yoma Keita that he will end his misery and kills him. He then thanks Amane from the bottom of his heart & says instead of worrying about him, he is more concerned about if she is hurt. However, both of them grew suspicious of how Keita, who did not commit any sinful acts, became a yoma & was seemingly controlled by someone…?

Since that night, Hayate starts calling Amane by her name instead of “Amane-san”. People notice quickly, especially Yasuomi who becomes grumpy and jealous. However, Amane is happy that she and Hayate grew closer.

Hiiragi tells everyone that he discovered the ceremony only requires a tiny bit of Amane’s blood at the oni’s gate; Kai’s participation is not necessary. However, currently the oni gate is infested with yoma. Hayate is tasked with leading his team of oni to exterminate the yoma. Amane volunteers to go with him and help with her flute. When Hayate asks her why, she tells him that she wants to be by his side for as long as possible. He blushes and says “me too” then vows to protect her no matter what. Before he departs, he tells Amane that initially he thought she was nothing more than an annoying, privileged girl, but now he’s come to terms with the fact that “when you are around, I feel calm and happy.” He tells Amane that he also needs her by his side. He leans in for a kiss. This startles Amane who pulls back. Amane explains to a disappointed Hayate that she simply wasn’t expecting it coming, then tiptoes and kisses him on the lips.

Hayate, Hiiragi, and Amane go to the oni gate to fight yoma. Hiiragi constantly urges Amane to play her flute but Hayate stops her. Hiiragi says if Amane doesn’t play her flute, then Hayate will use too much strength and go berserk “again” like what happened at the battle with yoma Keita – only Hiiragi was never there nor did Hayate report the part where he almost went berserk to him…?

Hiiragi reveals himself as the traitor and the one controlling all the yoma to do his bidding before escaping. Hayate & Amane return to the oni village. I’m just going to leave some blushing sprites here thanks to Amane being super straightforward and telling him that she likes him and wants him to know. Hayate’s blush is the cutest in the entire game…

The same night, Hayate visits Amane in her room, to which she tells him “if it’s Hayate, then anything you do to me is ok… I love you, so I want to accept all of you”…

Amane wakes up the next morning without Hayate by his side. He simply disappeared from the oni village. She also receives a letter from Hiiragi telling her to go to the oni gate alone or bad things will happen to her beloved Hayate. Amane goes to the oni gate. Hayate cries out in despair seeing Amane come to the trap set for her anyway. Hiiragi also coerced Hayate to come because his foster father was turned into oni by Hiiragi. If Hayate comes & cuts Amane with his blade, Hiiragi will set Hayate’s father’s soul free.

Amane accepts this & says “I choose Hayate’s happiness”, saying she does not want to “cut Hayate’s heart” just like how he cannot kill his foster father, even in yoma form. As she braces herself and shuts her eyes, the blow never delivers.

Hayate cannot find the resolve to hurt the woman he loves, one who was willing to sacrifice her all for him: her life & mission. He has decided to move on from his past. Saying “I choose a future with Amane”, he delivers death for the second time to his foster father, and then Hiiragi, thwarting his plans.

In the epilogue, as the first step to the reconciliation effort between humans and oni, each party sends one personnel to the other side. Yasuomi gets sent to Tamamiya village while Hayate arrives to serve as Amane’s new bodyguard. Grandma is still not impressed about her granddaughter’s new boyfriend. However, Amane is hopeful that with time, Hayate will demonstrate that he will win her over with their combined efforts.

Hayate: Forbidden End

Realizing that it would take long, perhaps too long, before humans and oni can realistically reconcile and coexist, Hayate & Amane abandon their responsibilities to be with each other forever in the wilderness. Holding her in a tight embrace, Hayate tells Amane that as long as she’s by his side, he has all the happiness in the world.

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If we choose a lot of wrong choices & fail the ritual, when yoma Keita appears, Hayate will go fully berserk & kill yoma Keita in a grotesque manner, before passing out. Upon waking up lucid, Hayate breaks down & begs Amane to kill him. Having made a promise to Kai seven years ago when he killed his foster father, Hayate cannot and is too afraid of taking his own life. Amane of course cannot comply and begs Hayate to not hurt himself. Hayate states he is afraid of what he can become, when even the person whom he loves the most cannot reach or stop him in such situations.

Hayate disappears suddenly again. However, while staying in the village and interacting with Yasuomi, Hiiragi, and the rest, Amane always felt a pair of eyes on her. One night, Hayate returns and is very upset that Amane is acting close to other men, when she supposedly belongs to him. “Just watching you talk to all those men makes something in my chest burn…!” He asks Amane if she is his, to which she answers in fear that of course, she belongs to him…

Hayate officially returns to the oni village like nothing happened. He continues to lead his team of oni warriors to fight the yoma. However, every night he would go berserk and rape Amane, who finds herself in a desperate situation she is unable to get out of. She tells herself and Hayate that she doesn’t want him to suffer alone, so if this takes off any agony, then she is willing to suffer in hell with him… After sex, Hayate would come to his senses and start crying, but with Amane unable to find the resolve to kill him or escalate things, the same thing rinse repeats every single night.

Hayate: Insanity End

Hayate tells Amane that he already lost his foster father; all he has left in this world keeping him somewhat sane is her. Eventually, one day an oni from Hayate’s team goes randomly missing. When Kai demands to learn why from Hayate, he simply replies “because that oni dared to exchange gazes with Amane”. He attacks anyone who he deems is trying to steal Amane from him, even Hiiragi (whose cover is not blown). Kai, finally realizing that something is wrong, orders a “quarantine” of Amane from Hayate. However, Amane still chooses to stay by Hayate’s side. Despite this, he goes fully off the deep end and starts beating Amane in isolation because she once retreated out of fear of what he’s become… It is assumed that Amane dies in this route & Hiiragi likely goes through with his plans.

Hayate: Sad Love End

Amane has a little bit of common sense left so accepts Kai’s proposal and help. Kai fights Hayate with the resolve to kill the latter due to the damage he has caused the village. However, Amane blocks the fatal strike for Hayate and dies in a lucid Hayate’s arms.

Hayate: Thoughts

Hayate route was such a strong introduction for me to the game. I LOVED the romance between him and Amane, how they started from zero (or even negative) and cared for each other in their gentle ways. Hayate suppresses his feelings but deep down is a caring and considerate, and dare I say, soft individual. His blushes were so gorgeous. Kudos to the artist.

Even though he acts tough such as pushing Amane away initially for her safety or making a deal with Hiiragi in order to save his father (implying he chose to atone for his sins/his father over Amane) but love truly conquered all in this route. He would backtrack both times and stay by Amane’s side/choose her.

Hayate and Kai are the two most reliable figures in the entire game. The game also writes in a lot of detail about his “fighter’s hands” include those scenes ehehe. His insanity ending is very dark & gives you a taste of what’s about to come in this game… Not for the faint of heart! It was pure despair when I played to that point and cannot stop thinking to myself, just where did we go wrong for those two lovers to end up like this?! The sad love endings are all pretty mid this game tbh – always Amane dying then the LI waking up and being like oh noooo lol.

TAMAMIYA KAI (CV: TAYAMA KISHOU)

The respected and reliable “big bro” leader of the oni, Kai harbours deep resentment towards humans because of their equal hatred towards his kind, and the fact that he believed humans betrayed the oni during the initial gate ceremony between the Shizumiya/Tamamiya (while the humans believe the opposite). However, seeing Amane care for the oni warriors that became injured from fighting yoma and keeping an open mind towards the oni & apologizing for the wrongdoings of humans towards oni, he slowly warms up to her & cares for her in his own tsundere way. He also admires Amane’s resolve when she remains unfazed at Keita’s death & Shizukimaru’s transformation and vows to fulfill her duty to restores the gates no matter what.

The antagonists in this route are honestly the dumbass villagers & Amane’s own grandma, who act so rude and haughty toward Kai & other oni for literally saving their lives all the time. Meemaw go enjoy your retirement and gtfo here and stop cockblocking lol. Amane defends Kai in front of the villagers (right after he helps them smh) as well. However, a human girl who has yet to be instilled all this oni-hate runs up to the “oni oniichan” and offers him a flower. Amane giggles and tells Kai to accept this innocent gift.

Kai tells Amane that it is not her responsibility to bow her head to him for words she did not say or deeds she did not do. He also thanks her for speaking on his behalf even in front of her own grandmother. He asks Amane to formally give him a tour of the human village, because while he resents humans, he also wants to learn more about them. The humans all hide and act fearful towards Kai, unlike Amane who acts naturally. Amane half-jokingly tells Kai it’s because he has a resting bitch face & needs to smile more. (How refreshing is it to hear a woman telling a guy to smile more lol!) Kai protests but squeezes out a cringey smile then complains about how he can’t keep a face like that all day, making Amane laugh yet again.

At night, Amane sees Kai standing in the garden alone and asks what he’s doing. Kai replies that he’s watching the moon. He tells Amane that their ancestors together created the gates to the underworld for souls, yet humans and oni are now hateful of each other. Amane replies that if those two ancestors were alive today, they must regret to see this as the reality. Kai tells Amane that she is different from her clanspeople: she is brave, responsible, and does not discriminate against the oni at all, and smiles – from the bottom of his heart this time – while apologizing for treating her like crap in the beginning. Amane catches her heart skipping a beat. Amane goes back to her room and dreams of a distant memory of her ancestor who was about to marry the head of the Tamamiya, signifying the union of human and oni, before waking up in a sweat. In a later dreams, she learns of the first magatama made by her ancestor Tomoe her oni lover to help him in battle.

Meemaw continues to be a massive bitch in this route, refusing to work with Kai & even confines Amane to her room and doesn’t allow her to deliver magatama to the oni. Yasuomi is a real bro here because after Amane shows him the puppy eyes, he sighs and sneaks her out of the human village via an unusually large basket.

She makes it to the oni village and delivers her goods but Kai treats her extremely coldly as retribution to how meemaw treated him. Hiiragi hosts a party where Kai gets ridiculously drunk.

… before falling asleep in her lap like a child. While Hiiragi tells Amane that Kai gets really “honest” when he is drunk.

The next morning, Amane sees Kai going somewhere secluded and follows him. She gets seen right away. Kai doesn’t get angry. Instead, he tells Amane that he is visiting his parents’ grave. In Kai’s words, his parents were killed by humans – not directly, but because they refused to treat them after suffering grievous wounds from fighting oni and protecting humans. Amane acknowledges and empathizes with the unjust treatment that his parents went through. She asks if it’s possible for them to collaborate as “two individuals” instead of the two “families” or “races”, to which Kai concedes and admit that he would like to see him and Amane as “friends”. He then asks if it’s okay for him to just call her by name.

Some yoma appear so Kai can kick their ass and we can have this dokidoki CG:

Kai: Happy End

Amane decides to temporarily return to her village to reassure her people. Kai entrusts the village the Hiiragi and goes with her. Amane pleads the oni’s case with meemaw so she will work together with the Tamamiyas, recounting the time she’s spent at the oni village, how the oni lead similar lives to the humans and mourn for their dead just like how we expect humans would… Kai also lowers his head and apologizes to Amane’s grandmother for his rude behaviour earlier and begs her to reconsider. Meemaw continues to refuse. Outside, Kai tells Amane that he will not give up and will continue to work towards their common goal. Before Amane could get any more smitten with ~those eyes~, Yasuomi loudly interrupts the two.

The next time Kai looks at the moon, Amane shares him with the dreams she’s been having. Kai has seen those exact same dreams. Amane builds the courage to say that this must be a message from their ancestors that the oni and humans should work together, before Kai catches her fingers with his and smiles at her… only to look away and blush when Amane realizes what’s going on and smiles back at him.

Meemaw CONTINUES to be a bitch and refuse to work with the oni. Kai needs to return to his village & comes to say goodbye to Amane. He hugs her tightly. The writing here is just so good…

Anyways, right after Kai leaves, meemaw comes to her senses and agrees. I guess Amane runs to Kai’s village to tell him the news (didn’t save the screenshots here to recall what was going on)??? She stays over there and

I thought the two were going to get to it but mid act Amane blurts out that the ceremony is not yet done and they can’t be thinking about seggs. And Kai is like oh my bad sorry for jumping the gun. LOOOL

The next dream Amane has of her ancestor is where the two both offer their blood at the human gate, marking the completion of the first ceremony. Hiiragi continues to bait Amane to use her blood at the oni gate. However, with the dream, Amane calls his bluff. Kai kills Hiiragi and cries in front of his corpse because Hiiragi was like a brother to him.

And with that we abruptly arrive at the happy end! Kai & Amane have their wedding & the CG is of their first wedding night. The humans and oni just forget everything and make up I guess? 😅

Kai: Forbidden End

Probably the more realistic ending out of the happy endings. Unable to overcome their differences or betray their duties to their respective people, Kai & Amane continue their relationship in secret. But for how long can this last…?

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Amane chooses to stay in the oni village instead of returning to her own to reassure people. The oni villagers treat Amane the same way the humans treated Kai. Eventually, rumours break out that Kai is being used and manipulated by this human miko. Every day Amane stays at the oni village, more yoma approach with more oni casualties. Amane starts to feel guilt that she is bringing misfortune to Kai’s people. Kai apologizes to the family of the deceased oni, who demand Amane to be banished from the oni village instantly. Kai apologizes even more, because he cannot do that – be it his feelings for Amane or Amane’s actual role in the ceremony.

Eventually, Amane has enough and insists on returning to her village with Yasuomi much to Kai’s disappointment. He appoints two oni warriors to be her bodyguards, but they just laugh at Amane and refuse to protect her on the way, even when they encounter yoma who injure Amane. Kai, who is not reassured regardless and was following Amane home jumps out to save her. However, when he brings Amane to her village, no human is willing to help Amane, whom they deemed a “traitor” who has met her fitting end. Desperate and triggering some past PTSD, Kai carries Amane to the oni village and finally finds an oni doctor willing to treat her.

Kai orders the two oni soldiers who failed to protector to apologize to Amane. Scared for their lives, they get on their knees and beg for her forgiveness. Amane forgives them easily but Kai does not appear to be satisfied. Meanwhile, a sleepy Amane hears Kai telling Hiiragi that he cannot release her back to her human village because she is still wounded and needs to recover. Hiiragi instead encourages Kai to keep her here forever, alone with him, disappeared from this world, because after all, how could he return her to the people who refused to save her when she almost died?

In the morning, Amane asks about returning to her village. Kai takes this as a signal that she misses Yasuomi more than she cares about him and forcibly embraces her. The same night, some yoma make it into her room & injure her but only lightly – now her return is “prolonged” further. Amane asks when she can return again. This time, Kai ties her hands up and forces himself onto her…

Finally, one night, Yasuomi sneaks into the oni village and tells Amane that he is here to save her out of captivity. Yasuomi also tells her that Kai already killed the two oni soldiers for not protecting her properly, announced to the humans that she is “dead”, and declared a war on the humans. Yasuomi has prepared an escape route for Amane where she can escape this island all together and live as a regular citizen on the mainland…

Kai: Insanity End

Amane refuses but Yasuomi won’t let her. He forcibly carries her outside but is of course stopped by Kai. Yasuomi fights valiantly and actually almost kills Kai as a human with the element of surprise. However, Amane shouts for Yasuomi to spare his life. Kai, seizing this opportunity kills Yasuomi. The humans are mass massacred by the oni, while Amane is confined in a small cell where she is mentally broken by Kai to the point she cannot talk at all. Kai would visit her every day and inflict more wounds with his knife on her body, because then she is “wounded” and cannot be “released” outside and must stay here in this small cell to “recover”…

Kai: Sad Love End

Amane accepts Yasuomi’s offer but returns to her village to say goodbye to her people. Instead, she is beat to death by the angry villagers (Matsurika flashbacks) for “betraying” the village. When Kai arrives, it is already too late…

Tamamiya Kai: Thoughts

I really like Kai as a character but writing the plot out in the review made me realize how abrupt the writing was. He ended up ranking second last not because I dislike him now, but because he had to suffer for the writer’s mistakes…

First, the abrupt ending. The cockblock scene where Amane blurts out there is still the ceremony was so 😅 lol like y’all can’t spare one extra night to have sex AND do the ceremony? Also the ending came so suddenly. Kai just yelled and killed Hiiragi, realized what he did and sobbed, then the next scene was woohoo IT’S A LOVE STORY BABY JUST SAY YESSSS??? How did Amane’s grandmother agree to all of this when she was putting up much more resistance than Hayate route? What in the transition?

Second, while this is a cute route with actually funny and fluffy moments, stylistically Kai’s route just felt out of place with the overall vibes of the game, which is heavy, traditional, and tragic. I mean if they put some more thought and “padding” into the ending I wouldn’t have minded a “comedic relief” route given I still believe despite the gags, what Kai/Amane have is very real and developed.

It’s impossible to hate Kai in this route though. I jokingly said he is Sakamaki Ayato but oni form and actually dependable and reliable. However, he blindly trusts Hiiragi a little too much in other routes and constantly covers his ears & yells at Amane to “SHUT UP” which also tanked my rating a little bit 😅

SAGARA YASUOMI (CV: OKITSU KAZUYUKI)

Amane and Yasuomi return to their village with Hayate & Yuzuru. Despite this, Amane still gets wounded by yoma on their way back. We get yet another LI tends to MC’s leg/foot CG… Just who in the otome fandom is having those foot fetishes that keeps getting catered to? Anyways, they return home. Yasuomi immediately gets his ass handed to him literally by daddy Sagara who shouts that he is useless as a servant to the Shizumiya & if anything, the leader he can do is become a shield for his master to protect her from harm (this will not age well).

Amane feels horrible that Yasuomi got beaten indirectly because of her & tells him that she is very grateful for his presence in her life. Yasuomi recounts his family history to why his father is so strict towards him. He had an older brother who was Amane’s mother’s servant. However, this older brother eloped with an oni woman. One day, his corpse was found with the oni nowhere to be found, presumably killed in a grotesque manner by the female oni. Amane holds his hand and tells Yasuomi that she will be with him forever, to which he smiles and replies that little Amane said the same thing to a younger Yasuomi when he learned of his brother’s death, and was ostracized by the village.

Yasuomi is extremely protective of Amane to the point that he doesn’t want her to go to the library to look up information about the ceremony. Amane puts her foot down but even then, Yasuomi insists on one condition: that he brings all the books to her & she cannot leave her room (wtf?). At the same time, the oni send Shizukimaru as promised. Kai offers to leave Hiiragi here. Yasuomi protests but is humiliated by Kai because what right does he have the refuse when he failed miserably to protect Amane?

Hiiragi “finds” the book about the ceremony & gives them false information. He also kills Shizukimaru’s teacher who almost restores his sanity because he can’t have the evidence telling on him. However, he is caught in 4K by Amane. Shizukimaru snaps out of it last minute and uses the last moments of his life to protect Amane.

Amane gets abducted to the oni gate, where Kai/Hayate/Yuzuru/Yasuomi fight Hiiragi and his yoma. Yasuomi gets killed on the scene. Hiiragi escapes, but not before completing his ritual using Amane’s blood. The oni and Amane are forced to retreat as the “shouki” (diseased gas?? the game references “filth” released by sinful spirits that prevent them from entering the underworld) released from the evil ceremony are unknown territory and should not come into contact with the living, abandoning Yasuomi’s body.

Reflecting at home, Amane realizes that all this time she’s been in love with Yasuomi. The overprotective, clumsy, yet caring man that she grew up with. She begs Yuzuru who agrees to sneak her to the oni gate to at least retrieve his body. However, not only do they not find Yasuomi’s corpse, they run into Hiiragi and yoma. And a Yasuomi with horns on his head.

Hiiragi does not appear surprised, saying this confirms his theory that humans bathing in “shouki” turn into oni. Yasuomi initially refuses to return with Amane, as he’s turned into oni and not fit to be her servant anymore. However, he agrees to pay his old village one last visit at Amane’s behest. Yasuomi’s dad and Amane’s grandmother won’t have any of this and demand Yasuomi to be banished from the village immediately. However, Amane is a girl madly in love and goes “but daddy I love him!” going as far to declare that Yasuomi is the only servant she will ever recognize.

Remember that oni goes berserk? Yasuomi is an oni; so of course, he also goes berserk… by unable to suppress his feelings for Amane and kissing her. (… can we get more cliches? Men are beasts, boys will be boys or whatever people say on Tiktok?)

When Yasuomi recovers, he becomes very regretful and attempts to kill himself with a knife before Amane snatches it from his hand and starts crying.

Yasuomi: Happy End

Amane tells Yasuomi that if he kills himself, then she will do the same and follow him. She then kisses Yasuomi and confesses her love. They find an abandoned house in the woods to spend the night, but Yasuomi ends up sleeping outside because he is too shy to sleep in the same room as Amane.

I swear Yasuomi is the writer’s son or something because while they search for Hiiragi, they get ANOTHER kiss CG and a sex scene. Why Amane didn’t pull what she did in Kai route and say they need to focus on the task at hand I have no idea.

Amane & Yasuomi return to the village YET AGAIN. Yasuomi’s dad is like no get out. Yasuomi goes like NO so he gets grounded. How does an oni get grounded? He clearly is already disobeying his father so will fight. Humans don’t have a chance against him. Regardless he does. Yuzuru teaches Amane to vent like in Among Us and she meets with Yasuomi in secret. Yasuomi’s mother also brings food to Yasuomi and tells him that deep down his father still loves him & is just acting tough. Like idk what vision you are seeing lady I think his dad actually hates his ass and wants him gone from this village forever but okay.

The two confront Yasuomi’s father with Yasuomi goes like beat me daddy I will show you my resolve of loving Amane. Amane goes like beat me too daddy because Yasuomi is my man and I will stand by him. Yasuomi’s father runs out of the yard in a fit of rage and runs into Hiiragi who needs to be killed in order for the plot to progress. So Yasuomi kills Hiiragi with his new oni powers and shows his father that he is now capable of protecting Amane like he always wished. Yasuomi’s father apologizes to Yasuomi and does the 180 and accepts him wholeheartedly, giving a sob story about how he lost his first son and now lost a second, and how it’s his fault for being too strict to Yasuomi… yeah I don’t care.

Yuzuru also reveals that he is the child between Yasuomi’s brother & the unnamed oni woman, making Yasuomi his uncle. He is also quite irritated because the human village story that his mother killed his father is not true at all. But more in his own route.

The happy ending epilogue actually goes to 3 years after their marriage where they have a CHILD. They reside in the human village & talk about the challenges their child will face, but are determined to change the relations between human and oni & to provide a good life for this child.

Yasuomi: Forbidden End

Yasuomi & Amane are still not accepted by the village elders. They elope like what Yuzuru’s parents did. However, on the third day, Yasuomi puts Amane to sleep and returns her to the village, making up his mind that the village needs her more instead of him. Amane wakes up in the village and never sees Yasuomi again.

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If Amane gets super desperate for Yasuomi’s love (idk how she becomes more desperate than in the happy ending), going as far to tell Yasuomi I will do anything to make you stay, I will let you do anything to me to prove my love for you, then this pushes Yasuomi away even further (SMH this route is really full of modern dating stereotypes isn’t it… something something men chase not women dating tiktok crap) to the point he even cuts his wrist with his knife to tell Amane to leave him.

Instead of returning to the human village, they go to the oni’s. Yasuomi continues to loath his oni self & goes as far to say that any oni’s life is worthless & does not matter if they live or die. Their tension is broken by the event where some oni decided to take revenge on Amane (viewing her as the reason why their comrades died fighting yoma to protect her) by attempting to kill her. Yasuomi saves Amane & kills the oni. This makes him realize that while he hates himself so much he wants to die, he cannot die before he exterminates all things that can pose a threat to Amane – all oni. He then proceeds to make out with Amane in front of these oni’s corpses.

Eventually, Yasuomi kills off enough oni for Hayate/Kai to investigate so the two make a run from the oni village. Back home, Yasuomi’s father demands to know why they didn’t return to the village because he’s sent letters – letters that were confiscated by Yasuomi and not shown to Amane. The same night, Yasuomi decides that his father & Amane’s grandmother are also obstacles to their relationship so he kills them too.

Yasuomi: Insanity End

Yasuomi continues to show no regret towards his actions. Amane gaslights herself that this is all a horrible nightmare & she will wake up tomorrow and find her loved ones still alive. The two then proceed to make out in front of their parents’ corpses.

Yasuomi: Sad Love End

Yasuomi tells Amane that he’s committed far too many sins to be alive. He pushes Amane aside and commits suicide outside the room.

Sagara Yasuomi: Thoughts

If it’s not obvious enough I hated this route with a burning passion, despite the writer/artist giving him poster boy treatment with all those steamy CGs & Okitsu being his voice actor. This whole story can be renamed to “my servant is a fucking useless loser & I have no spine & stand by his side & harass everyone around us rolling on the ground until they accept”. He represents a type of person – a type of men more commonly – that is commonly seen IRL and the type I hate the most: the type that has excessive pride but doesn’t have the skill/attributes to back it up. The type that talks about “traditional gender roles”, about “being looked up to and needed by soft feminine women” yet cannot bring in the bread, do housework, or do anything frankly other than run their mouth.

Yasuomi initially rejects oni from protecting Amane but was unable to adequately protect her – aka do his job – himself. This leads to Amane getting hurt. Instead of accepting his limits, he doesn’t take his loss graciously. I enjoyed it when Kai mocked him in front of everyone.

He imposes rules on Amane – someone he SERVES – in the first half of the route. He tells Amane she is not allowed to go out. He vetoes and forbids her from doing her miko duties. I had to do a double take and make sure Amane wasn’t his servant! Even when Amane puts her foot down, he still says things like “I will only allow you do it on one condition”… lil bro you are in no position to negotiate, this is a statement not a request for permission. She is telling you not asking or begging you (I mean she does in the game, which again makes me lose my mind, why are you begging your servant who takes orders from YOU, why must women be so infantilized)

This rant may come as surprising as the few people I know who played the game mostly ranked him as their favourite. Without being actually capable, devotion really means nothing. I get it that he grew up with Amane & and is loyal but that doesn’t excuse him from doing anything above? Isn’t loyalty the most basic requirement in any LI? Like who else was not loyal and cheating on the MC in this game or any other otome game?? This is like defending a useless man “but he has a good heart”. Yea so does Amane & she has so much more and deserves so much more too.

I also hated when Shizukimaru’s dying words to Amane were to “please take care of Yasuomi (Literal translation is I entrust him to you)”. This route was full of toxic modern dating/gender stereotypes. The solution to a manchild is always to find a put together woman to “fix” him isn’t it. How is this Amane’s problem.

I also found it comical that Yasuomi’s dad just caved in the end more-so because the writer needs this route to finish. This whole route was basically two teenage puppy lovers begging their parents for acceptance of their relationship and throwing tantrums until they acquiesced thanks to Yasuomi’s plot armour.

By far my least favourite route in this game. But it’s okay because I get to play this gem next:

YUZURU (CV: TAMARU ATSUSHI)

Yuzuru is the youngish oni in the village who from the common route is: bright, easygoing, yet for some reason ostracized by the rest of the oni & has an unusual bloodlust towards hunting yoma. If you played Yasuomi route before his, you will also learn that he is Yasuomi’s nephew & half-human. As a result, his oni powers is weaker than the average oni, depleting his energy more quickly.

In his own route, Yuzuru insists on going with Amane to her village instead of Hiiragi – who was originally selected. This is not because he already has a crush on Amane, but because he already sensed something was fishy with Hiiragi and his tactics. Yuzuru is extremely smart. When they search for books, Yuzuru has a photographic memory & would tell Yasuomi the location of every single book he’s come across in the old dusty library, shocking Yasuomi so much that even he doesn’t have a rebuttal or passive-aggressive remark to this pure genius. He and Yasuomi are two polar opposites on the personality spectrum where Yasuomi is earnest & Yuzuru is a whimsical troll who gives us some hilarious scenes.

Unfortunately, Yuzuru continues to get bullied in the oni village. The truth of his parents’ death is that they were both killed by yoma. After some oni soldiers mock him for his birth & say they should “thank” the yoma who killed his parents, Yuzuru instead smiles and says they can say whatever they want because one day, he will find his revenge against that specific yoma and end their life. He then goes to describe in grotesque detail on how he will slowly torture and kill the yoma when he gets his hands on it. Amane senses that Yuzuru has been bottling up a lot of negative emotions that he tends to hide with a habitual smile & cheery exterior. She feels horrible for him and asks him to not “force himself to smile”.

Hiiragi lies to Amane about the ritual, when Yuzuru has seen the book and knows the discrepancy. Also what a coincidence that the night after Hiiragi learns of the library location he sends his yoma to attack it… Yuzuru meets the yoma that killed his parents. He immediately loses his cool & jumps to fight it.

The yoma wounds Yuzuru and escapes. Yuzuru, already showing signs of going berserk. Amane, worried for his safety, stays by him and dresses his wounds. Yuzuru sarcastically thanks her for “caring for someone as lowly as me”, as his revenge has been a lonely path until today.

Despite this, Yuzuru continues to push Amane away when she offers her assistance to his hunt of this yoma. Growing up, he has been discriminated against all his life. How would Amane, someone born with a silver spoon understand the struggles he goes through? Amane hugs him & says she doesn’t, but she cannot bear seeing Yuzuru face this tremendous burden alone. Yuzuru’s shoulder trembles. He begins to cry & return the embrace.

Yuzuru tests out his suspicion by leaking the wrong information to the oni village. The same night, the yoma appears.

Yuzuru: Happy End

After a hard fought battle, Yuzuru defeats the yoma.

Yuzuru & Amane grow closer after the battle. Yuzuru pranks on Amane, who is starting to realize her feelings for him, and teases her. Of coooourse Yasuomi has to cockblock lmao.

Hiiragi visits the oni village. Yuzuru clearly is up to something again & lies in his face and gives Amane “the look”. Amane being the smart girl she is, immediately understands the assignment and covers Yuzuru. He will explain everything to her soon, but not yet.

Instead, Yuzuru takes Amane to a secret spot where the higanbana are the most beautiful – this patch of flowers was left by his father. He tells Amane that he enjoys her company and wants to share his secrets with her. He confesses & kisses her. When they return to an angry Yasuomi holding a piece of paper left by Yuzuru “I’m going to borrow your miko-san for a day”, Amane stops him and says she had a really good and meaningful time with Yuzuru. That’s right Yasuomi hold this fat L

After confirming their feelings, Yuzuru decides to truly not keep any secrets from Amane anymore and tells her about his suspicions that Hiiragi is the culprit. They go to Kai who of course defends Hiiragi and yells at the two to shut up. Yuzuru cries in the rain feeling he has failed miserably and let Amane down. She tells him that it’s alright & that if the oni village is not willing to accept him, she would love if Yuzuru can live with her in the human village..

Hiiragi holds the “ceremony” but Yuzuru/Amane/Yasuomi trick him by dripping Yuzuru’s instead of Amane’s blood (given her long sleeves). Kai appears & defeats Hiiragi.

In the aftermath, Yuzuru tells Amane that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life so moves into the human village. Initially, Yasuomi doesn’t accept this. Yuzuru gives him the omamori from his brother & Yasuomi goes understandably, have a nice life lmao. He even helps onboard Yuzuru as Amane’s second servant and supports their relationship. And they live happily ever after~

Yuzuru: Forbidden End

Yuzuru tells Amane that the difference between oni & human is too large to overcome and bids her farewell, but not before quite literally leaving his seed in her as a forever memory so she can be a single mom? Lmao

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If Yuzuru is unable to defeat the yoma, Hiiragi will “intervene” and kill the yoma instead. This enrages Yuzuru who believes only he should be the one to kill the yoma that killed his parents & that Hiiragi deprived him of the opportunity of revenge, his whole reason for living. This leads to Yuzuru being physically restrained in a room at the Tamamiya estate. Amane attempts to talk sense into him, but he is so preoccupied with getting revenge and identifying Hiiragi as his new target.

Yuzuru asks Amane if she still accepts and loves him even as is. He then coerces her into having sex with him by posturing to harm himself and killing anyone close to Amane…

Amane for reasons unknown runs outside to find Hiiragi without a plan to fight back (???). As Hiiragi and the resurrected yoma are about to abduct Amane, Yuzuru jumps out and kills the yoma in a grotesque manner. However, because he is not a full oni he does not have enough strength to fight Hiiragi even with Amane’s ritual. As Hiiragi smirks and approaches to kill Yuzuru, OUR GIRL DRIVES A DAGGER INTO HIS HEART FROM BEHIND. OH MY GOD AMANE MVP SHUT DOWN I NEVER IMAGED THIS ENDING IN 1000 YEARS THIS IS SO PEAK

Yuzuru: Insanity End

Even though Amane did the right and heroic thing, by killing Hiiragi she again “deprived” Yuzuru of his opportunity of revenge. However, with Amane being “the next target” and “the woman I love” this mentally breaks Yuzuru, who reverts back to a childlike state and only speaks in childish language and seemingly lost all his memory.

Amane finds a secluded place for the two of them to live. She raises Yuzuru like a child by day, but at night, Yuzuru notes that she will do anything that he says and the two… yep…

Yuzuru: Sad Love End

Yuzuru becomes catatonic and refuses to interact with anyone including Amane, who has decided to be responsible for him. The two live a quiet life in the woods until a yoma comes and kills Amane which awakens everything in Yuzuru, but a bit too late.

Yuzuru: Thoughts

I can’t believe I am favouriting the “boku” genki type but there’s a first time for everything I suppose! What’s there for me not to love about this route? A smart & capable LI who is hot on the outside and cold on the inside, carrying his burdens until Amane came along to share his pain with him. His interactions – voiced by the one and only Tamaru Atsushi – were so devilishly cute. He knew exactly what he was doing – even though he seems like the younger and innocent one, he was leading the relationship and guiding Amane every step in the way. I would have LOVED to see them have a cute mixed baby but only Yasuomi got that treatment plus the happy ending CG was B-U-T-FUL so I will let it slide. The dark route took a direction that I never imagined. A proactive heroine KILLING someone? Wow… I applaud the writer for being so bold and writing all sorts of dark endings this game. This needs to be more commonplace in otoge.

HIIRAGI TOMOKAGE (CV: TACHIBANA SHINNOSUKE)

I gotta give it to Hiiragi (yes I know his name is Tomokage, but literally only Kai calls him that) as an otome antagonist for actually not babbling about his evil plan in any other route including the first 2/3 of his own. I respect it. He’s got his own plans & really planned to see to its end by himself until his own route.

We already know he is “evil” because he is route locked until the very end. So despite the scenes where he mourns the dead oni warriors with Amane & helps out the human child, we were all waiting for him to show his “true colours”. Eventually, Hiiragi kills Shizukimaru before his teacher could restore him & abducts Amane after she finds the original book that recorded the ceremony.

I’m going to save you some time because Hiiragi and Amane do this back-and-forth dance where he refuses to elaborate & Amane would keep pushing until he eventually gives in. Hiiragi’s deal is:

1. He is the descendant of a third person, a human, who was present at the very first ceremony, & the one who killed both Tamamiya & Shizumiya ancestors.
2. His ancestor had the ability to alter people’s memories. Hence, he rewrote different versions of how the story played out in humans and oni so they hate each other & don’t put two and two together.
3. The very first books never talk about yoma because yoma did not exist. Humans absorb shouki and become oni. When oni absorb even more shouki they become yoma.
4. Hiiragi’s ancestor was sent from the mainland by “people of power” (literally 権力者 and the game refused to provide any more details) who cast a curse where they can see everything his ancestor & descendants’ (including Hiiragi) sees to solve the shouki problem before it destroys the world. Hiiragi’s ancestor discovered that oni’s souls are capable of absorbing shouki and becoming yoma – but as a result these souls can never find peace or go to the underworld. By disrupting the first ceremony they ensure this will continue to happen and complete their task in this manner.
5. Hiiragi’s lineage stayed close to the Tamamiya as their servants (just like Yasuomi’s to Amane’s) after their ancestor turned into oni. Hiiragi has the ability to retrieve memory of items (e.g. what they were used in the past). He touched a dagger that was used to kill the ancestors by his ancestor and awakened all this memory which induced tremendous guilt because:
6. In other routes it has been set up that Hiiragi & Kai grew up like brothers with each other’s interest at heart, and trusted each other deeply. Hiiragi sees how deeply Kai mourns his parents’ deaths. Yet Kai’s parents turned into yoma and never even has a chance to find peace.
7. For Kai’s sake and to repent for his ancestor’s sins, Hiiragi decided to martyr himself by reverting this change by commencing his own ceremony – where oni will no longer turn into yoma but Hiiragi will absorb all of the shouki and die.
8. Hiiragi has been feeding his blood to yoma to control him. This is also described to be a painful process and reduces his lifespan. In fact, his blood has become so filthy that even Amane touching it would inflict pain.

Eventually, Hayate finds the cave by tracking down the yoma. Hiiragi continues to play the “bad guy” and leaves Amane with them. Back home, Kai has trouble processing and accepting the fact that the oni he regarded as his own brother betrayed his entire clan and vows to kill him to avenge the dead oni warriors. At this point, Amane still doesn’t know Hiiragi’s full plan but felt he isn’t as “pure evil” as he portrays himself to be, so sneaks out of the oni village to meet him alone. Hiiragi is moved by this & shows Amane the memory that was kept inside the dagger because he regards Amane of deserving to know his side of the story, after taking his side despite the circumstances. He tells Amane that this is his battle alone & not to tell Kai because the latter would just interfere. Returning to their cave, Amane tends to Hiiragi’s wounds even when his blood burns her skin. She tells Hiiragi that she wants to support his path & make his wish come true.

The next few days the two gather the necessary items for the ceremony. At night, Hiiragi takes Amane to a spot where he views the fireflies. He tells Amane that he comes here to see fireflies every year, but this year’s by far are the most beautiful because he saw them with her. Amane becomes sad because she knows if all goes according to plan, she will not be able to see them again here with Hiiragi, or ever.

On the way back, they are confronted and chased by Kai. They run away & confess their feelings for each other. Everything is in place; the ceremony will take place tomorrow.

The ceremony commences. Amane cries but continues to play the flute because Hiiragi tells her this is the only way the now liberated oni souls will be guided to the human gate and eventually into the underworld to find eternal peace.

He bids Amane one last goodbye before disappearing into the wind. Amane grasps at the air but nothing is there anymore.

In the epilogue, Amane lived a fulfilling life as a miko and became a grandmother herself. She passed her role onto the next Shizumiya miko. She continued to deliver magatama to the oni, even though there is not a need for it anymore – because yoma no longer exist. Despite this, she and Kai continue to use this as an excuse to meet and improve the relationship between human and oni.

Eventually, Amane passes away of old age and has soul guided to the underworld. There, she finds Hiiragi. This time, they are together forever.

Hiiragi: Sad End

The biggest difference here is that Amane doesn’t want Hiiragi to die or sacrifice himself so she doesn’t fully support his plan. She sneaks out one night because wandering around aimlessly will surely help her find a solution where Hiiragi doesn’t need to die & he can save the yoma, right? Hiiragi who is already at a mental breaking point, interprets this as a message that Amane wants to run away from him.

The ceremony begins but is interrupted by Kai who wounds Hiiragi who loses all memory when he wakes up. Amane attempts to explain Hiiragi’s true motives to Kai, though feeling relieved that Hiiragi no longer needs to die because the ceremony did not go to completion. However, Kai kills Amane in a fit of rage instead, blaming everything on her.

Hiiragi: Thoughts

I was NOT expecting this tragically beautiful ending as the happy ending because if this were an Otomate game, there would have been some happy way to conclude everything. However, this ending was so much better – the reunion in the underworld in the ending – brought me to tears. I know I am a basic bitch when it comes to otome games and stick to mainstream titles so I haven’t quite seen anything like this in otome, maybe in CN romance novels maybe… but this is a first for me…

Did this route suffer from true route syndrome (as one of my moots pointed out)? Perhaps. Hiiragi definitely got the Akaza-treatment where his conflict was on a different level compared to everyone else’s. He is one of the lone-wolf characters that I actually managed to enjoy because 1. He doesn’t refuse help 2. He doesn’t run his mouth about his plans (then refuse help) 3. There was a good share of delicate, soft moments between him and Amane to make him more lovable as a character.

The VA. Can we please talk about the VA? If they got anyone but Tachibana to voice him, I would have ranked him behind Hayate. This IS his role. Please Otomate stop giving Tachibana shit roles in shit games.. (looking at Matsurika & Fuyuzono) Some of these lines could have come straight out of some drama CDs:

FINAL REMARKS

I LOVED this game, despite its flaws which are lacking transitions at times & Yasuomi route (L writing).

This is a very dark game. I am curious if OverRequiemz took inspiration from this game, as they also have the four endings system with two diverging routes and having darkish developments. However, this game’s insanity endings are unhinged to another level. If you think DiaLovers is bad and will never get localized, this game is DiaLovers on steroids with more reasoning and transition on why the characters go off the deep end (not just they are deranged vampire hotties with bad mothers).

The transitions of some plot points (mainly how people initially opposing MC/LI relationship suddenly just accept them in the end) need work, but writing of details was extremely good. The writer is much more creative than just writing generic stuff like I like you, I want to know more about you, they actually manage to personalize it to the situation and find poetic ways to confess love without using the word like/love. Also, they write about sex in a nonR18 game in very creative yet overt ways… hence the many “not translating this” slides. Leaving them out there for my fellow JP-reading girlies to appreciate.

Amane is a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko MC but she is very likeable because she manages to take initiative despite being reserved, rule-abiding, and responsible. She is not delusional or naive. Growing up, she was raised to be a dependable figure and the person that her whole village places their faith on. She is also quite smart & rarely makes silly decisions.

The game actually only makes reference to semi or cicada once and it was somewhere quite trivial. So why did it choose the title “the cycle of the cicada shell”? The term is used in Tales of Genji when a lady leaves her clothes behind with the person nowhere to be found. In the second half of the article, it says utsusemi is also used to describe living flesh of humans as opposed to the invisible gods. Flesh will deteriorate; humans will die. These shells of cicada will eventually fade with the wind. The author using this term means to carry a sad feeling that life is fleeting yet reincarnation/cycle of life is eternal – just like the relationship of humans, oni, yoma, and the underworld in the game. Life is often left without a perfect ending, just like how the moon is not always round, but because of its incompleteness just like the statue of Venus de Milo, often more beautiful this way.

Ranking: Yuzuru > Hiiragi > Hayate > Kai >>> Yasuomi

Rating: 9/10