Completion date: October 3, 2026

Play time: 15 hours

Rating: 7/10

Not all endings mentioned. Only noteworthy bad endings (there are a few).

OP:

Pros:

• Dark fantasy with some truly twisted unredeemable bad characters
• Legendary voice actor cast
• Strong heroine
• Beautiful classical background music (one of the best of all time)

Cons:

• Lots of gore & SM elements & two unredeemable bad characters – which may be bad or good
• Suffers from short length & incomplete development
• Inconsistent art quality

All my reviews contain full spoilers. You have been warned!

Table of Contents:

1. Common Route
2. Branch: Cats
   1. Mejojo
   2. Auger
   3. Julian
3. Branch: Humans
   1. Nesso
   2. Zara
4. Branch: Wolves
   1. Rath
   2. Arles
   3. Gillan
5. Discussion: The spiritual predecessor of Diabolik Lovers & verdict

COMMON ROUTE

The game starts with Arles, Rath, and Gillan – three leaders of the Wolves clan – massacring a human village, vowing retribution against everyone including the ignorant inhabitants of the fictional country of Weblin, where our story takes place. A cutscene plays introducing the history of Weblin, a country comprised of many ethnicities but united under the rule of the Cats, who ruled in harmony with the Humans & the Wolves; until ten years ago, a Wolf knight unsheathed his blade against a member of the royal family (Cat). At the same time, a deadly disease called Zodiva started to fester in Weblin, that is said to be spread by the Wolves. As such, the Cats announced a new law, “Genocide of Wolves” and hunted every last Wolf in their borders.

In the royal palace, one of the Cat princes who also has a side job of being a court musician, Auger, catches some maids gossiping about drama about the current King von Garibaldi the VI and his two wives, as well as the “Witch in the forest”, and cruelly kills them for running their mouths.

In the forest stands an isolated tower, housing a beautiful but fragile lady by the name of our protagonist Fiona Galland who lives with her butler Zara & two puppies. Fiona’s father is a duke serving under the Cats. Fiona is born a “Lobeira” which is a breed that is extremely beautiful but live short lives due to their weak immune system. As such, the duke built and confines her in the tower, not allowing her to go outside at all. She also has a half-brother Nesso Galland who is the top knight of one of the knight orders in the country and spoils his little sister to death. Tomorrow is Fiona’s 16th birthday. She longs for the outside world that her loved ones disallow her to see.

To make her happy, her family announces that she will be allowed to hold a dinner party to celebrate her 16th and debut into the court. Fiona asks if the twin princes “Mejojo & Auger -sama” will come, souring her father & brother’s expressions. Mejojo has been pursuing for Fiona’s hand in marriage (which she doesn’t particularly mind) but her father & Nesso have been finding excuses to decline such as “she is a Lobeira and will quickly get sick if she leaves the tower”.

Nesso hears people approaching. An army of soldiers surround and storm up the tower, led by Auger, who cheerily says he is here to arrest Fiona because people have been accusing her of being the “witch in the forest” & spreading Zodiva. This is a blatant lie and plot to abduct her to the palace to Mejojo. However, in front of royalty Nesso, Zara, and the duke have no choice but to watch Fiona be taken away. Ten years ago, Mejojo had another fiancee by the name of Elvira Galland, who was Fiona’s cousin (the daughter of her father’s older brother) and also a Lobeira. Fiona is said to look exactly like her.

Fiona meets Mejojo once again who acts very gentlemanly towards her and places her in a secluded garden in the sky. He instructs the “Chu-chu knights” or CCK – a team of mouse knights – to watch over her. However, before he leaves, he tells Fiona, don’t forget, you are here as a witch, so if you try to leave this garden, I will kill you. Auger comes and plays the nice guy saying what Mejojo is doing is an act to protect Fiona from being lynched by the angry people.

Fiona’s birthday arrives. Mejojo sends her a beautiful dress asking her to wear it for the dinner party he holds for her at the palace tonight. She also meets Julian, a gardener who also has been confined to living in this garden for a long time. [You have the option to choose to dance with one of the LIs which will change affection.]

While Mejojo is the crowned prince and set to be King von Garibaldi VII, his father – the current king – is ill and bedridden, manipulated, and tormented by the brothers. The brothers talk about their future when Mejojo ascends to the throne, framing his father as the one who unfairly started the genocide against the Wolves when it was their doing all along. They then reminisce the old times, when the queen – Julian’s mother – abused the twins who were born from the less favoured concubine – Elnora. Mejojo almost died from fever but the queen told all the doctors to stay at her palace claiming Julian was sick – when he wasn’t at all and puzzled at why his mother refused to help Mejojo. Elnora suffered greatly mentally, blaming herself for being a useless mother and not able to win the king’s favour, repeating to herself that the twins are all that she had.

Eventually, Elnora’s depression got worse and finally under the guise of a “game”, she lured the teenager twins to strangle her together (by asking them to help drag a bookcase with rope). When the twins found out, they were devastated and something broke within them. Mejojo continues to have nightmares about the day of Elnora’s death frequently. The two of them decide that in this palace, there is no one to trust but each other. And the game rule is kill your opponents or get killed first. If the queen (and by proxy Julian) & the king abused them, then they will take everything they had.

Compared to Mejojo who was gravely struck by his mother’s death, Auger appeared nonchalant & instead told his brother that he’s thought of a perfect plan to frame the current crown prince Julian and drag him down his throne. Judging by the fact Julian is now some random gardener in the palace, they have succeeded.

The camera pans to Nesso talking to his comrade Elza Clifford before leaving for the palace to ask the twins to release Fiona again. [Elza makes a cameo in Bloody Nightmare but only becomes an LI in Last Hope.] Nesso hates Mejojo for taking away Fiona from him, knowing he only views her as a replacement of Elvira. Nesso also holds onto the childhood promise that Fiona told him “when I grow older, I will be big brother’s bride.”

Fiona makes her first friend in the palace – Julian. Noting his manners were too good to be a commoner’s, he tells her that he is Julian von Garibaldi, or the late queen’s son. He no longer holds the right to succeed the throne and is banished to live in the garden for the rest of his life as a gardener. Julian views the twins fondly & says his mother tried too hard to chase them out and make Julian the successor, which ultimately backfired. Hence, even when he was framed for poisoning Mejojo, he didn’t blame his father.

Auger arrives at the palace to torment Fiona, telling her the angry commoners burnt the tower she lived in and blamed her family for hiding the witch, before attending a meeting with Mejojo/Nesso/Zara. Nesso presents the Galland family sword and demands a meeting with the King himself, only for Auger to throw the sword on the ground & step on it, laughing that the current “king” is no one but a dying old guy. The twins basically told the two: so what? We are evil. We hate our father for mistreating us. We orchestrated the genocide of the Wolves. And if you get in our way, we will have your heads come off for treason. Mejojo drives his rapier in Nesso’s shoulder while Auger detains Zara – the last of the Rabbits (the clan known for their knowledge in medicine, all killed by the twins because they don’t actually want the cure to be found) – to “help” find a cure for Zodiva in the royal lab.

The Wolves ransack another village before hearing about the news that the king has died, and about a “witch” that is said to control the Wolves to do her bidding. The twins pretend to be nice & take Fiona outside to a village that was just burnt to the ground by the Wolves, and shows her human remains. They tell a scared Fiona that this is what awaits her in the outside world, so she should be obedient and stay in the dollhouse they built for her, as Mejojo’s queen. They start a “wolf hunt” in front of her, killing many Wolves, and driving Rath to a corner. They order Fiona to kill him, but Fiona either chooses to turn her back or outright refuse. Rath is taken to an underground dungeon where wolves are tortured under the name of “science” by the twins. Zara is forced to take in all of this.

Another flashback plays of Elvira telling Mejojo that she had fallen in love with someone else – the lead knight that was a Wolf – Arles Vogart. Arles enjoyed a reputation so high it exceeded the princes’. Mejojo felt threatened by Arles & angered by the fact he took his fiancee – his “object”. What made him even angrier was that the king just accepted this fact and allowed Elvira to be “rebetrothed” to Arles. At the same time, Mejojo learned that Arles contracted a mysterious disease that no doctor could cure. [Not much information is given about Zodiva but so far in this game, Arles was patient zero.] Regardless, they eventually had a duel where Mejojo drew his rapier and accidentally drove through Elvira’s – who jumped in to block the strike – heart. Arles escaped heavily wounded, but not before leaving a disfiguring scar on Mejojo’s face forever.

The Wolves invade the capital and royal palace. A wolf-form Arles charges straight into Fiona & Julian’s garden and takes a large bite out of Fiona’s shoulder before leaving. The same night, Fiona falls into a dream where you can once again choose one of the LIs.

Regardless of who you choose, Fiona wakes up to Zara & Nesso who snuck in the palace and want to escape with her. Julian appears and says he knows an escape route through the sewers.

In the meantime, Mejojo finally kills the old king, also revealing they killed all but one Rabbit who knew the key to the curing Zodiva was the blood of a Lobeira.

Julian takes Fiona & co down the sewers only to find Auger there. Julian reveals himself to be a pawn of the twins all along. He appears mentally unstable and “broken” by the twins, desperate for their attention and love. However, as the strongest knight in the country, Nesso defeats Auger who runs away, leaving a zoned out Julian behind.

Auger reports to Mejojo that Fiona has gotten away. Mejojo is angry and doesn’t accept this failure. He carves out the same scar on Auger’s forehead, who thanks his brother for allowing him to bear the same wound as him.

Fiona & friends escape to the forest but starts a high fever. She may have contracted Zodiva from Arles’ bite. Zara is only able to develop concoctions that suppress but not cure the disease. He also knows that Lobeira’s blood can cure or at least suppress Zodiva in wolves. Fiona says she wants to meet the Wolves in hideout and see if they can work together.

Another flashback plays where Julian was confined in the same dungeons used to torture Wolves. He was tortured then left in isolation. When Auger visited him again weeks to months later, Julian was already mentally broken and basically became the twins’ toy and slave, doing anything they say so he doesn’t end up in the dungeon again. In the meantime, Mejojo becomes King von Garibaldi VII & vows to exterminate all wolves.

Fiona and her friends venture deeper into the forest. They’re almost killed by a bloodthirsty Gillan before being stopped by Arles & Rath, who appear intrigued at the crew’s knowledge of the twin princes’ plot. They invite them to Zanan – the hideout of the Wolves.

Zara explains that when other ethnicities contract Zodiva, they die rather quickly. However, this is not the case in Wolves, who can live with this affliction for much longer. Afflicted wolves crave Lobeira blood by instinct, hence will go to human villages & bite everyone they see, as even though Lobeiras are rare by pure chance they may be lucky and run into one. Zara wonders if some wolves have developed antibodies to Zodiva – such as Arles & his little brother Rath – and asks for their blood samples to aid in his search for a cure. However, Arles explains he is not interested in contributing to the welfare of the civilians of Weblin – who all abandoned the wolves and blindly trusted the twins. Fiona says that all her life she’s been confined in a tower and protected by everyone. If there was anything she could help even by virtue of being a Lobeira, she is willing because “for once, my life will have purpose.”

Arles recounts his final battle with Mejojo with the addition that he quite literally almost ate Elvira to death, who loved him and said if it eases his pain from Zodiva, she was willing to be torn into pieces physically by him. He then asks what Fiona truly wants to do with her life, as she has three paths in front of her:

• Follow Zara, Nesso, and Julian to escape out of Weblin, beyond the reach of the twins
• Return to the capital to convince the twins to stop their evil ways
• Stay with the Wolves and become their “cure”

CATS STORYLINE

Choosing to return to the capital continues the twins’ storyline & Julian’s true ending. Fiona tells Arles that while the chances are slim, as a sheltered, privileged aristocratic lady, she feels she owes it to the people to return to the capital and do what she can to stop the twins from continuing this massacre, as the antibodies in Wolves’ blood & her blood may be the key to curing Zodiva.

Julian also asks to come with. While Arles thinks Fiona is making a stupid decision, he respects it enough to carry her to a nearby village without Nesso or Zara’s knowledge. Fiona and Julian are quickly apprehended by CCK in the village and taken to the twins as criminals.

Fiona has a good heart & pleads her case in front of the twins, who laugh out loud at her naiveté in thinking that they actually care about Weblin’s citizens and curing Zodiva. They also kill Julian in front of her (unless in Julian’s true end you have an option to intervene) and throw her into the dungeon. You can pick one of the two twins to punish you and unlock your S/M scene I guess.

Regardless, by choosing the Cats route this means the Wolves (except Rath, who lives on to tell the saga of the wolves) die when they attack the palace (but not before Arles takes out Mejojo’s left eye), as do Nesso & Zara who arrive with the wolves attempting to rescue Fiona once again. Mejojo releases the cure for Zodiva that he’s been sitting on for a long time, earning himself the reputation of a benevolent king as the White Cat dynasty continues.

Mejojo von Garibaldi (CV: Sakurai Takahiro)

Perhaps the most famous character from the BWS franchise and one of Sakurai’s best roles in otome, Mejojo is an unredeemable bad character but also a product of his upbringing. He and Auger were abused by the queen and indirectly Julian (who didn’t have a say in what his mother did, but benefited from it at the expense of the twins) then forever scarred by their own mother who broke under the pressure and sought to die by their sons’ hands. [As to why she insisted on dying by her sons’ hands this will be left in the discussion section as Diabolik Lovers continues to use this trope. Can also see a bit of it in Auger’s route] While I can’t say Auger was born exactly right in the head, I believe Mejojo was born innocent and kind, only to have his kindness eaten away day by day by the people around him, until he looked at Auger in the eye and said our backs are against the wall, either we kill them all or we are going to get killed.

Mejojo has a massive inferior complex because growing up, he was always viewed as inferior to Julian. Hence, he is incapable of love but rather shows extreme possessiveness towards his achievements. Interestingly, even he admitted that he doesn’t love Elvira but she is supposed to love him, because “she belongs to me”. As such, he could not stand the thought of her choosing Arles over him, not because he loved her, but because this shows he was inferior to Arles.

As such, he and Fiona never have a true good ending. The best we get is an ending where Fiona brainwashes herself that she is living the best life with a husband who loves her [twins good end] and erases the existence of Nesso/Zara/the duke in her mind. In fact, Mejojo doesn’t outright say he “loves” or “likes” Fiona but instead keeps a heavy emphasis on how she “belongs” to him. He is scared and unaccepting of her leaving him instead of not loving him. Like Auger’s observation, Fiona is a representation of all the humiliation Mejojo has endured in the past, hence dominating over Fiona means he is now above his past & everyone who wronged him.

While Mejojo is a complicated character, he is surprisingly easy to read. His biggest fear is to be abandoned. He was abandoned by his father and later mother & Elvira. In the dream, Fiona is moved by his “sad, childlike” eyes that ask her: Are you going to leave me too? When he kisses her in the dream, Fiona asks silently: Mejojo, who are you see behind my skin? Who are you actually talking to?

This also explains why Mejojo becomes so enraged and starts strangling her upon seeing the bite mark left by Arles to the point even Auger has to calm his brother down, because what did he expect a defenceless Fiona to do against the ex-strongest knight in the kingdom?

Mejojo is the prototypical antagonist where “I’ve been betrayed by the world; hence, I will stop at nothing to achieve my goals and get back at those who wronged me.” In the final duel with Arles – who thought this was a one-on-one duel between men – he did not hesitate to play dirty at let CCK shoot him in the back knowing in a fair duel he would never win against the former strongest knight in the country. He isn’t ashamed of his tactics at all, instead saying “the history favours the survivor, no matter what method”.

In Mejojo good end, he treats Fiona kindly as if nothing has happened prior to Arles’ death, treatment befitting of a queen and wife. However, never has he said once that he loves her. Fiona also asks herself whether this love is real or obsession. No one has the answer, not even Mejojo. The truth is in between as Mejojo does hesitate to kill her in other endings even when she runs away and refuses to come back, giving her second and third chances, saying if she comes back now he will not kill her and how they can go back to the old times, etc. etc. How true those statements are we never know. Whether this soft spot for her is driven by his feelings for Fiona or Elvira, is also unknown. I like how the author intentionally kept this part vague without explaining and instead let us readers come to our conclusions.

Mejojo bad end: Mejojo’s wound from the battle gets infected & he dies of sepsis. Auger tells Fiona she can leave the palace and go wherever she wants because he has no use for her anymore. With her family escaping abroad and no one left in this world, Fiona leaps from the balcony thinking this is the only way she will be as free as the birds outside her tower growing up.

Auger end: Choosing Auger in the end will skip the time to one year later. Surprisingly, Auger had Mejojo killed because after Arles died, he lost his “spark” which made Auger bored. Auger becomes the new king and marries Fiona, even making her pregnant (though Fiona explicitly says the timeline was so vague she doesn’t know who this son belongs to). After Fiona gives birth to a son, he whispers sweet nothings into Fiona’s ear while stabbing her to death, saying he no longer has any use for her because she’s given him a heir – whether this child is his or Mejojo’s does not matter anymore.

Auger von Garibaldi (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki)

Auger is the most intriguing character in the entire game but also the most psychopathic by far. Initially, we are led to believe that he is obsessive over Mejojo & entirely loyal to him. However, seeing Mejojo bad end (and even his good end) we know this is not the case. If Mejojo is governed by his fear of abandonment, then Auger is dictated by his chase for the thrill of the game. He is arguably a more extreme version of Piofiore Yang where when the MC fails to keep him guessing or lose interest, that’s the time they are discarded.

He is such a spicy & spunky character who Yoshino did an absolutely delightful job of voicing him. I now know why Bustafellows casted Yoshino as Helvetica, my favourite by far in that game.

At the ball, after teasing her to his heart’s content, Auger takes her for a whirlwind of a Foxtrot on the floor attempting to throw her off balance and embarrass her. However, Fiona was determined to “match his pace” and barely manages to hold onto him for the entire dance, which makes him raise an eyebrow and start paying more attention to her.

Auger is also the most sadistic character of the game. He enjoys torturing & killing people both physically and psychologically. Even though both Mejojo & him were wronged by their father & the queen, while Mejojo was genuinely heartbroken (and continued to be haunted by nightmares of their childhood), Auger remained unfazed and acted as the coordinator of their ploys to throw Julian off the successor position & mentally break him.

He calls Fiona “ugly duckling” (ブチャイクちゃん) and wonders what is it in her that makes his brother so obsessed. However, like to Julian, as long as Fiona keeps him interested as one of his many “toys”, he will breadcrumb her some attention and love to gaslight her to keep going. The day his toys – be it Fiona, Julian, or even Mejojo – lose entertainment value, he will not hesitate to discard them, as he has in various endings.

Initially, when Mejojo carved a scar on Auger’s forehead, I interpreted Auger’s excitement & arousal at the thought of the closest person to him on earth hurting and even potentially killing him as extreme dedication and attachment to Mejojo. However, with him killing Mejojo in two endings, I think he was just turned on by how unexpected the events turned out and this was less about Mejojo.

Even though he acts as the second-in-command and appears obedient to Mejojo, letting him have the final say, scolding him etc. All this time Auger has been pulling the strings and manipulating Mejojo to doing his bidding. He is not loyal to Mejojo whatsoever; he is loyal to his instincts. In Fiona’s dream, upon seeing her he says he wonders what will happen when his brother learns that the woman he obsesses over is vying for his twin brother’s attention, and doesn’t reject her advances. He playfully tells Fiona that he “hates” her for taking Mejojo’s attention from him, but pulls her in for a kiss: “hey, I wonder… what will be Mejojo’s reaction when he finds out I took you away from him?”

Unfortunately, Fiona does lose brain cells in this route because her motive for returning to Weblin is thinking that Auger is the lesser evil out of the two, and that “Auger can change Mejojo” lmao 💀💀💀

In Auger’s “good” end, after the battle, Mejojo becomes increasingly mentally unstable & cruel after losing his eye, abusing Fiona in the dungeon every night. Out of the blue, Auger starts repenting for their sins saying “I don’t know where everything went wrong. I love Mejojo but what he is doing to you and this country is just incorrect.”

He starts tending to Fiona’s wounds every night after Mejojo leaves but conveniently gets caught by the latter in the act. Mejojo, enraged that Fiona now even chooses Auger over him draws his rapier and is ready to kill both, forcing Auger to kill Mejojo in self-defence. Moved by his kindness, Fiona tells a “shaken” Auger “don’t worry, I will never leave your side.”

Auger becomes the benevolent king that Mejojo never was in this route and treats Fiona like a queen and wife, telling her he loves her. That was an 180 but … everything is okay, right?

After the credits roll, as I am getting ready for the twin endings, mildly confused about what happened and why Auger became so out of character:

I love how the author doesn’t spend any effort in trying to justify Auger’s twisted psychopathy. They tried to justify Mejojo’s motives somewhat but Auger? He’s a piece of shit from beginning to end. He’s just so unhinged. If I still question a bit whether Mejojo loves Fiona or not, I do not have a doubt that he does not love Fiona. Or Mejojo. Or his mother. He will never love anyone because the only way to protect himself in this world is to stay loyal to his own desires. And this makes his route such an interesting & thrilling experience. He’s kind of like Hisoka from HxH and the reason why I’m so drawn to him is the same as why Hisoka is so popular..

Twin Endings:

Julian (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa)

Julian’s appearance is gentle, well-spoken, and very insecure. He calls Fiona a beautiful flower – like the many he grows in their garden – treats her like a delicate piece of china, and often worries that he is not fit to serve her or dance with her under the stars while the music played inside during the ball as she sneaked outside to escape the crowds. However, we know from common route that he was mentally broken by the twins a long time ago and hence, desperate for their attention.

The only thing that seems to stop him from being “possessed” by his second personality is seeing Fiona’s tears. I do believe Julian truly fell in love with Fiona, starting with her appearance and later her strength and faith in him, as Fiona was the one who convinced Zara & Nesso to allow Julian to stay even after his betrayal in the sewers.

Julian good end: This requires you to follow the human path after the common route, where the crew heads for the country’s borders by trekking through the late fall forest. The two have some cute scenes where Fiona chooses Julian to help her cross the river and accidentally falls on him, and later Julian cuddling her for warmth near the campfire.

Despite Julian’s history and mental “weakness” and instability, Fiona always chooses to trust in and rely on him, awakening Julian’s conscience. Hence in the final chase by the cat knights and when he is almost manipulated by Auger to hand over Fiona, he snaps out of it

Julian True End: Choosing the Cats path will take you back to the cats storyline. However, when Auger reaches for his dagger to kill Julian in court Fiona has the option to warn him. Auger decides to spare Julian for now and instead takes both of them to the dungeon and tortures Fiona in front of Julian.

Another day, the twins continue to mock and torment the two in court by pouring tea on the carpet and asking the two to lick it off the floor clean. However, they quickly succumb to the poison that Julian placed in the tea. At some point Julian got in touch with Duke Galland – who owns a private army – and put on an act that he was still the twins “toy” to let down their guard.

Julian becomes the king of Weblin & sentences the twin to lifelong confinement. He tells Arles & the Wolves that he will treat the twins like “how they used to treat me”. Arles is satisfied with this answer and says the Wolves have no business being in the capital anymore or to wage war against Weblin with this new king. Julian turns to Fiona and proposes to her, asking her to stay with him in the palace instead of going home with her family, to which she happily agrees (and Nesso is sad lol).

Life returns to normal. Julian is a good king with Fiona waiting for him in the garden everyday (with the freedom to leave) as his queen. As they have afternoon tea together, Fiona notices blood stains on his sleeve. Putting this and rumours of the twins’ cries of agony coming from the depths of the dungeons, Fiona decides that she has not seen anything at all. Why would she find out something she doesn’t want to know?

I just love this true ending so much because the twins get what was coming for them & Fiona does not act like a typical Otomate heroine (I mean this game was written by Rejet and Last Hope by Otomate IIRC) being like noo you must turn the other cheek and be nice to everyone including your enemies! I can love the twins and accept this ending for them at the same time 😂

HUMANS STORYLINE

In this path, Fiona travels with Julian/Nesso/Zara to Weblin’s border to meet the duke who had already escaped abroad. There are three major choices for Fiona to make, two of those trigger a fluffy scene and the third decide the ending. Fiona needs to choose someone to help her cross the river, later someone she thinks of when shivering in the cold at night by the campfire (to trigger a cuddle scene), and a final companion to walk the steep mountain trail with as the cat knights start making chase behind them, at the border. The three men also throw her a late birthday party to make up for what she missed earlier in the game in the woods.

Nesso Galland (CV: Miki Shinichirou)

Nesso was my most anticipated character going into the game… However, it was a big disappointment. Not because it was a bad route, but because it hinted at a lot of forbidden/darker topics then never delivered on any of them?

So we know Nesso is Fiona’s half brother (they share the same father) and views her differently since childhood, holding onto a promise that Fiona made to be his bride (that Fiona didn’t even understand the meaning of). He even became a knight just so he could protect Fiona better. Hence, he had no problem “betraying his country” when the twins abducted Fiona.

So the first half of the game was hyping up at Nesso being a yandere big-bro to Fiona with him smirking and telling Elza “yes sure we are ‘siblings’” and kissing her on the lips in Fiona’s dream saying she’s his little princess & wants to keep her (to himself) forever in that tower. Especially after knowing how dark this game can be with the first three characters, I sat up and was ready for a CERO D ride……..

ONLY TO FIND OUT THIS ROUTE ISN’T AS ADVERTISED AT ALL. He basically just acts really nice towards her. There was no struggle or conflict in his route, external or internal. Fiona basically rolled over and accepted the idea pretty quickly, “yeah it’s kinda weird but we are not full siblings so this is okay (and I guess accepted in Weblin?)” Okay so why even bother creating a sibling character??? In what way is this route different than Zara’s which I am covering next???

Anyways, in Nesso’s good ending, they fall down the cliff together escaping Mejojo’s knights but somehow both survive, although Nesso becomes severely injured. Fiona takes care of him as his lover after assuming new lives in a new country. “If you kiss me, I will recover so much faster”. Like okay cool but we all know this is not what we came for right?!?!

Zara Skeens (CV: Ishida Akira)

Ishida Akira Zara is probably the most normal guy out of this game. He is the last surviving Rabbit in Weblin after the twins killed everyone else so that Zodiva won’t have a cure and they have a reason to frame the Wolves. He was found as an orphan of war by the duke & Nesso, but developed a mutual attachment with a young Fiona. Hence, when Fiona’s tower finished construction, even though Zara was asked to stay as Nesso’s butler, he asked to move in the tower with Fiona instead. Being a Rabbit & proficient in medicinal knowledge, Zara can better look after Fiona’s health.

I mean, that’s really all there was to this route. Zara sees a second home in the Gallands & feels a strong sense of duty to Fiona, but becomes attracted to her in the process. So when Fiona chooses him over and over, he made the natural move to be with her…

Like I don’t even know what else to write in this route. He developed a cure to Zodiva and cured Fiona and live happily ever after abroad as a pharmacist or something. 🫤 I was expecting more backstory on the Rabbits but it was just covered with a one-liner “so yeah we got fucked basically by the twins”. So while this route is super cute it severely lacked in depth compared to everyone else… and I felt it really had potential.

WOLVES STORYLINE

Choosing to stand up for Rath when the twins make Fiona kill him in the common route will earn progression in the wolves path. After going to Zanan and the conversation with Arles, he will allow Fiona to stay behind and help the Wolves by providing Lobeira blood (as if she was in for example the twins’ routes and choose staying with the Wolves, Arles will laugh at her and kick her out).

In order to be inducted into the Wolves clan, Arles tells Fiona that because she is not a wolf, she has to marry into the family and literally asks her to choose a husband?! XD ayo this writing is getting really sloppy. Not that choosing the husband changes much for the further plot, they still treat you like how they used to.

Hence, Fiona Galland becomes Komori Yui of Zanan and shares her blood with all the Wolves (and probably gets anemic in addition to Zodiva, man how does she even live) but depending on whose route you are in you get a few extra scenes, that’s it. And no, the Wolves do not win in all those endings except one, making this the game “White Cats Saga” instead of the title.

Rath Vogart (CV: Kaji Yuuki)

So Rath is supposedly one of the other poster boys of this game but the romance was so forced. From the common route we get repetitive descriptions of how Fiona is attracted to his “sad blue eye” (not even eyes because his other one is covered under a patch and turned grey from Zodiva), how “our gaze at each other felt like it lasted an eternity”, “why does he look so sad (emo)”. In the dream, Rath runs away from Fiona’s reach because “if you come close to me, you will die” (???? only if you kill her???)

If this was the author’s attempt at building up chemistry between the two, I couldn’t help but laugh because it only got funnier when Fiona supposedly fell in love with first sight with Rath, but then had no problem getting giddy over other LIs too… The author just left a bunch of cryptic “I’m 14 and this is deep” statements behind without actually expanding on his story, which left me very confused…

Rath runs away with Fiona during the final battle but Auger was not going to let them off easy. Chasing them to the same cliff, Rath tells Fiona to trust him and the two leap down the mountain.

And they just somehow live without any wounds… Rath then gives an emo speech of how they are the only ones remaining of the wolf clan and need to live on to tell the real story of the wolves’ saga. The end…?

Arles V. Felnoir (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki)

Arles was the lover of Elvira – accidentally stealing Mejojo’s girl in the process – and inadvertently becoming the reason why the Wolves were banished and started the butterfly effect of everything since ten years ago. He notes a striking resemblance between Elvira & Fiona, initially barging into the palace garden just for the latter’s Lobeira blood.

In the Wolves path, Fiona walks into him sleeping in his room, while calling out Elvira’s name, while later changing this to Fiona’s. A big question we all have is whether Arles treats Fiona as a replacement for Elvira or as the writer attempts to put it, loves Fiona for herself. I think the truth again remains nuanced. It certainly started with him viewing her as a replacement for Elvira. However, when Fiona makes the decision to leave for the capital, Arles is seen respecting her decision and telling her he wishes she finds her happiness, even though it differs in definition from his or Nesso’s.

Arles explains to Fiona that he called out for her name in the dream because he dreamt that after Elvira, he lost Fiona to the Cats also – which is a fate he is doing his best to avoid. He’s already lost Elvira, he doesn’t want history to repeat again. Hence, in every branch of the Wolves’ route, he tells Fiona to run away first before the Cats arrive, though good endings often require her to stick around.

In his own good ending, Fiona turns around to a cornered Arles, who just gets a wife buff, overpowering and killing everyone lmao. The two then live a leisurely life in the woods/Zanan with him holding Fiona & telling her he loves her. I tend to believe this love is genuine as Arles is a much more proper guy than either of the twins. However, I have to admit the art & voice actor really elevated the experience of this route. The writing was really mediocre & would have benefitted from a longer route, but that’s a common criticism for all routes except the Cats’ at this point.

Guillan Guinor (CV: Taniyama Kishou)

I had no idea why Guillan enjoyed such popularity until I played his route. I also believe his route was the prototypical Diabolik Lovers standard LI route where there wasn’t as much backstory, straight into fanservice & possessiveness & action to create that dopamine hit.. and clearly it worked in the limited wordspace the route was given.

Guillan’s trope is not my type at all: the oresama but also tsundere type. Basically, the route is summed up to even though he acts rough towards Fiona, he actually has a crush on her and is extremely protective and possessive over her. He wouldn’t allow other Wolves to have her blood if Fiona chooses him in the wolves path.

He fully embraced the “mad dog” prototype and rolled with it. He is extremely bloodthirsty and once he sets his eyes on Fiona, no one else can come close to her. Just like how he yearns for Arles’ affection, once he got closer to Fiona he also asks Fiona to pet and praise him & his ear mechanic is very cute.

In Guillan’s good ending, the wolves still lost with Arles & Rath dead. However, Guillan finds Fiona in hiding and takes her to travel the world together.

Guillan bad end: The wolves lose & Guillan bites Fiona’s throat because if he cannot have her, then no one can.

Guillan True End: Arles & Rath die, a wounded Guillan finds Fiona & the remaining wolves in a cave. He bites a chunk off of Arles flesh (that he carried from his corpse) and gravely announces he will be the next leader of the wolves and lead the clan to survival, with Fiona by his side.

DISCUSSION

BWS BN released a few months before DL HDB. There are many elements that HDB succeeds in their series:

• Obsession over a magical type of blood that only the MC has (Lobeira blood vs. Yui’s blood because she has Cordelia’s heart)
• How blood is sought after by the LIs (mainly wolves route vs. all the vampires)
• Yandere elements with S/M & possessiveness & psychopathy (Mejojo, Auger, Guillan)
• How pain is equated to pleasure (Elvira vs. Yui in like every single route); aka masochistic elements
• Less aversion to gore
• The twisted idea that killing = love (Auger @ Mejojo, the twins’ mom; vs. Laito Sakamaki, and to some extent Reiji @ Beatrix)

DL also had 6 LIs each with longer stories because a major issue with this game is that other than Mejojo, Auger, and Julian routes… the others felt like sub-routes and not complete. DL came with longer stories, better art (thanks Satoi), and basically chucked the intricate common route with political intrigue (the highlight of BWS) out of the window and replaced it with Guillan route on steroids AKA fanservice.

Overall, I think you are missing out if you don’t play this game, but you won’t be really missing out after the twins & Julian. The game got as high as 7/10 purely for the Cats alone as the sloppiness of the rest of the routes may be overlooked in 2012 during its release but unforgivable in the year of 2026.

I wasn’t romantically attached to any character to be honest, which makes this game feel more like a visual novel than otome game (but it is undeniably one). I came here for the story, not the dokidoki if that makes sense?

My final ranking: Auger > Mejojo > Julian > Guillan > Arles > Zara > Nesso > Rath