This is a great summary and review! Your notes on keigo and how readings differ between cultural contexts are interesting as well. And I had a lot of fun reading and reminiscing about the game. :)
If you're interested in more reactions, Nightshade was game of the month at otome-games for April;; there are some more thoughts there: https://otome-games.dreamwidth.org/18402.html
Hanzou Hattori - Kenjiro Tsuda (Kazama from Hakuouki and Yuan from Piofiore no Banshou -Episodio 1926-)
.:O I love both Kazama's and Hanzou's voices so much, so I'm ready to have Liliana run away with Yuan now. >_>
But this does not make him a coward. In fact, he is quite the opposite. He is a smart, crafty, and intelligent guy who never backs down from his principles even in the face of danger. But he despises seeing people give up on life due to societal demands.[...]For me, the clash between the paradoxical nature of Goemon’s past and his personality made him a highly intriguing character.
This is such an apt description of Goemon, I love it. I think a lot of what works for me about him is the way he questions, as a character, the importance of strength.
One of my favorite CGs in this game is when Goemon and Enju are quietly sitting underneath the cherry blossom tree and viewing the flowers bloom
This was one of my favorites as well. :D They are so lovely and happy together.
When I think back on it, I feel as though he would have been my favorite ultimate character if I played his route first. In this route, it’s not only Enju who morphs, but it’s also Hanzou who dramatically transforms. And this, for me, might make Hanzou’s route one of the best in the entire game.
This is very apt as well! It's interesting to me, because reading your descriptions of how Enju's perpective on the guy changes, I think this is an aspect the game handles very well.
Thus, when the plot thickens, [Chojirou] is not there for half of the “adventure”, and I think this serves as a huge letdown when compared to the other routes.
I've definitely also seen that Chojirou is less popular as well. I've seen this as a complaint about Chojirou's route as well, but this was actually one of my favorite aspects of his route -- it felt like a very bold decision on the writers' part, and it made sense for his character.
As such, I think Kuroyuki’s route suffers greatly because of this. While I highly enjoyed the heart wrenching details and greatly empathized with Kuroyuki, I think this factor weighed his route down by a lot.
Agreed. :(
Is he protecting her because of his duty as a bodyguard or because of his romantic feelings for her?
:DDD This is one of my favorite romance tropes ever, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the route. I think one interesting thing to me about this route is how much both following his heart and his duty cost him -- he has a different kind of arc than Hanzou, I think. He doesn't waver in his convictions or his devotion to Enju, but his convictions cost him so much throughout the route, and there are consequences and implications that he cannot guess.
And the Big Spoiler for his route was very fascinating to me.
I feel like the relationship between them managed to grow through the small moments they underwent.
I love the tickling scene and the one where she feeds him. :D And all the angsty scenes.
On another note -- do you think you will ever write up Hakuouki? I would be very interested in your take on it.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2020-11-24 05:35 am (UTC)If you're interested in more reactions, Nightshade was game of the month at otome-games for April;; there are some more thoughts there: https://otome-games.dreamwidth.org/18402.html
Hanzou Hattori - Kenjiro Tsuda (Kazama from Hakuouki and Yuan from Piofiore no Banshou -Episodio 1926-)
.:O I love both Kazama's and Hanzou's voices so much, so I'm ready to have Liliana run away with Yuan now. >_>
But this does not make him a coward. In fact, he is quite the opposite. He is a smart, crafty, and intelligent guy who never backs down from his principles even in the face of danger. But he despises seeing people give up on life due to societal demands.[...]For me, the clash between the paradoxical nature of Goemon’s past and his personality made him a highly intriguing character.
This is such an apt description of Goemon, I love it. I think a lot of what works for me about him is the way he questions, as a character, the importance of strength.
One of my favorite CGs in this game is when Goemon and Enju are quietly sitting underneath the cherry blossom tree and viewing the flowers bloom
This was one of my favorites as well. :D They are so lovely and happy together.
When I think back on it, I feel as though he would have been my favorite ultimate character if I played his route first. In this route, it’s not only Enju who morphs, but it’s also Hanzou who dramatically transforms. And this, for me, might make Hanzou’s route one of the best in the entire game.
This is very apt as well! It's interesting to me, because reading your descriptions of how Enju's perpective on the guy changes, I think this is an aspect the game handles very well.
Thus, when the plot thickens, [Chojirou] is not there for half of the “adventure”, and I think this serves as a huge letdown when compared to the other routes.
I've definitely also seen that Chojirou is less popular as well. I've seen this as a complaint about Chojirou's route as well, but this was actually one of my favorite aspects of his route -- it felt like a very bold decision on the writers' part, and it made sense for his character.
As such, I think Kuroyuki’s route suffers greatly because of this. While I highly enjoyed the heart wrenching details and greatly empathized with Kuroyuki, I think this factor weighed his route down by a lot.
Agreed. :(
Is he protecting her because of his duty as a bodyguard or because of his romantic feelings for her?
:DDD This is one of my favorite romance tropes ever, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the route. I think one interesting thing to me about this route is how much both following his heart and his duty cost him -- he has a different kind of arc than Hanzou, I think. He doesn't waver in his convictions or his devotion to Enju, but his convictions cost him so much throughout the route, and there are consequences and implications that he cannot guess.
And the Big Spoiler for his route was very fascinating to me.
I feel like the relationship between them managed to grow through the small moments they underwent.
I love the tickling scene and the one where she feeds him. :D And all the angsty scenes.
On another note -- do you think you will ever write up Hakuouki? I would be very interested in your take on it.