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| Ever wanted to date real life history figures? Have I got a game for you. |
Stories of the Shinsengumi is a port of the original game (Demon of the Fleeting Blossom) along with a previously not localized fandisk (Zuisouroku) It also includes some Memory scenarios from the 3DS remake of Demon of the Fleeting Blossom but apparently most of that is DLC so LOL. Not only are you getting one game, you're getting two games and a shit ton of content. This PS3 game is an otome beast. Or at least... it would have been. Skip to final thoughts to avoid spoilers.
I had initially said I was going to include a DLC overview as a part of this review but upon getting to the part where I reviewed the DLC I started realizing there's a crap ton of DLC, im a poor NEET, and I needed to write a review by January or else I said I'd kick my own ass. So look forward to that DLC overview... some time this month or next month when I get more moolah.
One thing I will say is if all the other DLC's are like the "A Meeting With the Demons" one then all the DLCs are worthless money mooching ripoffs but what else is new, this is Otomate. All they care about is sucking their fans dry, giving them shitty short ass fandisks for expensive moolah and other bullshittery. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Otomate that told Aksys the AMWTD DLC had to be nearly have the price as the FULL TWO GAMES ARE on PSN. Like... ah.... I can just buy Date Warp with this money instead of this crap but okay, I'm taking it for the team, I'm buying all the DLC.... eventually.
Main Story
Chizuru Yukimura (Hey doesn't Chi mean blood? -shot-) is a young totally normal Edo girl living with her daddy at their happy home. One day her dad has to leave for doctor business cause he's a reknown doctor (their house is a clinic) and he says he's leaving for Kyoto (which is the land of the Ronin, Samurai with no master that kill and steal to survive) Obviously Chizuru is worried for her Daddy but he says he'll send her letters every day! After awhile his letters stop coming and Chizuru decides to dress like a boy (so she doesn't get felt up by hentais or forced into being someones waifu) and go to Kyoto and find her dad herself! (Or his doctor friend. A doctor friend is fine too.)
But of course Chizuru got shit luck and her first night in Kyoto she gets accosted by a bunch of ronin that want her family jewel, her sword(I know what you were just thinking perv!), and when Chizuru runs off from them so they dont steal it she witnesses them get murdered by a bunch of crazy guys in blue coats! And THEN those guys get killed by slightly saner guys in the same blue coats!
They kidnap her and introduce themselves as the Shinsengumi, samurai police of Kyoto that are pretty violent, and now because she saw stuff she shouldn't have seen is going to die but then Chizuru tells them she needs to find her daddy Yukimura and as luck would have it they're looking for him too! So they just put her under house arrest for like. Months and months. Thanks my bromancedachi-tachis.
Side story 1: Cat from Hell
Now here's where the story segways, if you're playing main story then all is good my wayward youth, but Stories takes place in various places of the main storyline. The first of them, Stories of the Shinsengumi 1, takes place shortly after her house arrest, and some kitty wrecks absolute hell on the Shinsengumi HQ and Chizuru can choose to help catch it, clean up, or rat the guys out to Hijikata. Doing so is supposed to represent her breaking out of being "that chick thats posing as a dude in our place to hide our secret." and actually, yknow, forming a relationship with them. Whoever you help out and be bros with you unlock their Memories of Love or their Days in the past stories. Some minor characters have no Stories section but they still have some lines of dialogue if you choose to help them.I didn't personally care much for this side story but yknow what that's okay. Saitos had a nice CG it's all good Otomate.
So Furies are these kinda demon guys but unlike demons they got red eyes and have an unsationable blood thirst and are also weak to the sun. I hear they're actually Rakshasta what they're based on and actually what the japanese name translates to but I always called them Vampire demons cause it sounded too much like they're vampires I mean at some point they even said it came from demons of the west and im like "YO THAT MUST BE VAMPIRES MY FRIEND." but apparently I was wrong all this time! That's life I suppose!
So like, soon afterwards is the Ikedaya indecent (or should I say Ikeda Inn?) Where they go to slash up some rebel scum up at two different Inns but the ones with the bad guys in it is the one with the lower amount of guys going. So Chizuru acts as bellboy, running to Hijikata or running in to tend the wounded which was actually for the most part stand in horror as your boy of choice gets beaten to a bloody pulp. Hotness. The guy that beats up yo man is terrifying "like a demon" and then the trio of bad guys leave into the night.
So a lot of stuff after this is all history crap so read up on the Shinsengumi or something cause I'm only covering the more fictional parts. The Shinsengumi bring in some imperialist bros courtesy of Toudou Heisuke, one of the Shinsengumi's Captains, but everyone hates them and one night Sanan comes into your room and gets all creeper and stabs your arm and you scream and everyone comes running in and shit. So like, when someone becomes a Fury, they get marked down as dead, and imperial dude was the first one on the scene and he's like "why is Sanan here like a rabbid dog when he should be dead?"
Also Chizuru finds out that she has super fast healing powers cause a stab wound that deep should have taken her months to heal but it healed overnight so she has to pretend she's still hurt. More history junk happens and ye. The guys from Ikedaya come crashing a few partys and at one Chizuru finds out from the guy with the sexy deep voice that she's a demon and it makes sense cause her injury. Also the guy with the deep voice, Chikage Kazama, wants her as his wife because he too is a very big guy in the Demon world. The Yukimura's is a pure and strong demon clan is what he's saying and he wants Chizuru for strong bby's so he makes it a habit to crash the Shinsengumi HQ a lot to retrieve his waifu XD
You get allowed to go outside eventually over all these events and save two chicks from brutes and one reveals herself later as being a Princess of Demons and the other... wait until Okita's route XD So Princess Sen is a bro and always helping you out and is also considerate if you have feelings for a human because her lineage, had a demon and a human fall in love and she's a product of their love and stuff she's really great.
Side story 2: Memoires of a Geisha
In stories at some point you're having tea with Sen and you want to find your daddy fast and hear rumors of a guy that sounds like your daddy frequenting the Red Light District. So Sen's like "my friend, I got connections. I know some ppl in the prostitution ring, you can pose as a Geisha." So Chizuru tells the Shinsengumi and they're like ye excellent we got us some recon. Sen gets Chizuru all dolled up in Geisha garb and every guy in the room can't believe how such a beautiful angel was right beneath their chin this whole time because she's always dressing like a boy and the Commander even starts crying that he has been forcing a pretty woman to discard her womanhood to pose as a boy at the peak of her youth lmao.
The Geisha storys were great. They packed comedy and romance and each guys storyline was genuinely entertaining. My favorite was Hijikata the commander taking Chizuru away and everyone in the district thinking he kidnapped her to be his wife and rumors spread about him eloping with a Geisha. Also Saito beating up guys subconsciously while he looks at Chizuru and struggles to tell her his true feelings being totally love struck. It was genuinely hilarious and heartpounding for most of the guys in this one.
There's a free ???? (not sure if it was on disk or it was one of the free DLC's but either way) stories other than this that takes place after this and Kondou the Commander buys Chizuru a kimono to wear to a festival cause he wants to see her dressed as a girl again and madness ensues in a similar manner. THE CGS IN THIS WERE VERY MUCH FOR ROMANCE I TELL YA WHAT.
so check that out after doing the Geisha story.
Heisuke Toudou Route
So I did Heisuke's route because a friend on Twitter that played Hakuoki gave me some tips on the order to play. Another friend told me after I was well into Okita's route that it would've been better to play Hijikata first but idk I think it's about preferences. Hijikatas route is pretty long and seems the most canon so it's up to th player whether or not they wanna get that done first or last.
My recommendation is two play styles, if you like getting the long out of the way do Hijikata -> Saito -> Harada -> Okita ->Heisuke and do Normal or Chikage whenever the hell you feel like It, I did his last.
For those that like a gradual lengthening of storyline do it Heisuke -> Harada -> Okita -> Saito -> Hijikata. I did it for the most part in that way but I did Okita's second cause my body couldn't wait XD
Anyways, Heisuke is your genki bro, and one of the Captains of the Shinsengumi. The two of you hit it off immediately cause he's the youngest and energetic and doesn't give a crap over how you're essentially supposed to be their prisoner for awhile. He's best bros with Harada and Shinpachi, two other Captains. They're often together and getting drunk and Heisuke and Shinpachi often get in fights over stealing each others food while Harada just watches and laughs. That's a broship that will last, ladies. Heisukes a bit of an imperialist at heart and you find out theres the possibility that he's an illegitimate child of one of the imperials and he gets paid every month so that he shuts up about it but Chizuru is an exception.
He gets injured pretty badly at the Ikeda incident after getting in a fight with one of Chikages demon bros, Amagiri. And he swears to get back at Mr. Concrete Hands some day but Chizuru drags him away and Amagiri refuses to fight anymore cause he's too weak. He stays in the Shinsengumi HQ for awhile to recover along with Okita who is sick with a "cold" Chizuru stays at the HQ and takes care and visits Heisuke alot and he angsts over small stuff I forgot about.
When he gets better him and Chizuru do rounds to find her dad but soon enough he gets sent to round up some ppl to join the Shinsengumi. He meets up with Itou who is an Imperialist like him and when Sanan attacks Chizuru, Itou eventually leaves and Heisuke follows cause he's an imperialist. But he comes back and saves Chizuru from Chikage and his waifu stuff because he likes you more and doesn't care anymore. Heisuke gets his ass wooped. It was so bad that Heisuke took the demonroids and becomes a Fury. Him and Sanan seem to be the only sane Furies so far, though saying Sanan is ever truly sane is really iffy.
And then Heisuke angsts more when they find out that Furys life span gets shorter the more you use it and that any day now he could turn to dust. But to him it doesn't matter whether he lives or dies cause no one would remember him and he's already marked down as dead anyway (because he's a Fury) Chizuru slaps the shit out of him and says she'd be sad if he died so he says from now on he will live for her or something. Chikage comes to do his regular waifu kidnap attempt but Sen tells him to leave Chizuru alone and that she'll have babies with him to shut him up but not marry him because hes a creeper and so Chikage leaves Chizuru and Heisuke alone.
War gets worse and Sanan takes his creeper powers up to the next level ands like constantly trying to get Chizuru to help in his Fury research and wants to make an army of Fury but Hijikatas like yo stop that crap so NOW Sanan goes into villain mode and works with the enemy and Chizurus father to form a country of Fury. Heisuke says it's his fault for not watching Sanan carefully and it's up to him to kill Sanan because of this and also because he is a Fury. Chizuru tags along and they kiss and also Chikage comes too because he hates fake Demons and wants to kill them all so he works with Heisuke to take down Sanan though he leaves Sanan to Heisuke to kill. Thanks my bro. Also Sanan kidnapped Chikages new waifu Sen (Karma) and turns her into a Fury, which muddles her blood and that made him hella pissed.
So yeah after Pedo-san gets kill Heisuke and Chizuru find out bout the water near where the Yukimuras used to live so they run off and live in secrecy together!
Heisukes route wasn't all that good to me. I thought I'd like it because of his character but i dunno something about it felt too bland to me. Also the CG's felt less romantic than the others cause it's usually Heisuke looking at the camera or like, part of Chizurus body in frame but not her face and idk I just dont care for those types of CGs, I don't play otome for self insertion obviously. Doesn't help his long hair looked gross and he still looked weird to me even after getting his hair cut near the end.
HOWEVER. His Memories of Love Stories were pretty good. The cat one was kinda crap, but I love'd him getting tsundere and jealous over other guys seeing Chizuru dressed up like a girlin the Geisha story and in the bonus festival story Chizuru shows up in a kimono just for him and hes like YESS JUST BE FEMININE FOR ME CHIZURU. IDK do girls hate that, I thought it was pretty cute that he wanted Chizuru to only look at him that way and being jealous but not in an aggressive way. ALSO looks like the hairpin you get for ordering the LE is the same one he gives Chizuru at the end of his MoL so.... canon pairing? Nah lol that's totes Hijikata but I was laughing when I saw him giving her it. Now if you get the LE you can truly self insert if you like Heisuke cause you got the pin he gives Chizuru!
Okita Souji Route
Okita is your resident available yandere and along with Saito, killed the Furys that were gonna kill Chizuru. He wanted to just kill Chizuru for witnessing it but Hijikata was all stfo. For a good part of the game he's threatening to kill Chizuru while also going full homo for the Commander Kondou. He even admits that the reason he styles his hair in his Memory of Love like that is because it looks like Kondou's lol.
In this route instead of Sanan being the crazy one you get more background on another character. Throughout the routes theres mention of this girl that came to tear down the Shinsengumis billboard or whatever and witnesses say the girl looked exactly like Chizuru! And one of the girls Chizuru saved other than Sen, due to Okita's observance, looked just like Chizuru. And what do you know? Apparently Kaoru is Chizuru's long lost twin brother! That's right! BROTHER. He dresses as a girl due to his deep routed hatred for being born a boy, because boy demons are less valuable than females cause they can't have babies and he was given away to some other family while Chizurus daddy and her live in piece. Because of this Kaoru "hates" her (though he's totally a siscon) And decides to make her suffer by causing Okita to suffer!
So at first he gets Okita to drink the Water of Life (Demon steroids) but Okita aint even mad cause, that "cold" he was suffering over after the Ikedaya incident? It was actually Tuberculosis and he was angsting over how because of his illness he'd never be able to use a sword again and fight for his dear Kondou-san. So in his opinion Kaoru was more helping him cause now he can help the Shinsengumi so Kaoru was a little pissed over that and eventually forces the steroids down Chizuru's throat and makes her a Fury too (He says it's ok though cause he loves his sister and he'll drink it and become a Fury too. Told you he's a siscon.) So now Okita isn't dealing with just the side effects of evil Oniichan making him a vampire Rakshasta, but now he's gotta take care of Chizuru who now suffers from bloodlust too and gets weak in the sunlight.
Once the war gets worse, Kondou gets sent off with three men and gets his shoulder shot and Okita goes into raging yandere mode at Hijikata for letting him go off alone like that. His feels get worse when while catching up to Hijikatas troops he discovers Kondou got taken away and beheaded so he decides when he sees Hijikata he'llask about Kondou and probably will wind up killing him but Chizuru asks him not too cause he'll wind up feeling sad in the end cause Hijikata is his friend too.
Apparently the death of Kondou dulls Okita's yan feels for Kondou and he starts getting more lovey with Chizuru and they kiss and stuff and decides he'll live for her. He admitted that fighting was easier and not so scary because he didn't need to think of the future cause he always had the feeling he'd die in battle, but I guess being out with Tuberculosis made him even more terrified of the future and it was thanks to Chizuru and her crazy ass bro for helping him find a reason and way to live again.
Kaoru is still raging at being a jealous brocon over Okita and pissing because Chizuru is happy but one day Chizuru actually remembers the day her village got burned and get's pissed off at humanity too. Kaorus like yay join me and dad and we'll make a new world of Furys and Okita can join the family too! (btw he's also got huge yandere feels for Okita not just you lol though I feel a big part of this is jealousy) Okitas like no wtf and if Chizuru joins he says he will not follow. Chizuru asks for more time and Kaoru aint even mad cause now his dead sister has suffered as much as he had and surely she'll be with him now!! But Chizuru loves Okita and thanks to that realizes making an army of furys is wrong so she and Okita arrive to kill them and in his last dying breath Chizuru's daddy tells them about the bloodthirst curing water so they can live peacefully.
I absolutely love Okita so I couldn't wait to play his route!! And boy I felt like his route was the best though thats probably cause he's my fave. Even his seiyuu is my favorite out of them all talk about favoritism. I really liked Okita and Chizuru's relationship because they worked to protect and save each other which I found really romantic. I also like how Chizuru got badass and helped kill soldiers with Okita. This was also the only route where Chizuru became a Fury and the bad end you get if you let her succumb to the bloodlust was hot. Kaoru is also one of my favorite characters and it's a bit of a shame that his backstory is only revealed in this route but at the same time I feel thats a huge contributing factor to why Okita's route is so good. It really felt like they were meant for each other and they work as each others foils and just man I sure do love that Chizuru x Okita!!!
His Memories of Love events are really good too and I was fanboying at the scene where Chizuru was feeding him porridge cause his damn expression looks so good OH BOY. Totally gay for this crazy Kondou obsessed fucker. The Festival scenario was really good too because Chizuru comes in dolled up in her kimono to give her watermelon from Kondou but Okita has Tuberculosis and was being emo so he told Chizuru to eat it instead and then he comes and eats the one she was eating. Indirect kiss sealer...! He also proposes to her in MoL but they're poor so he makes her a crown out of flowers instead and they labulabu it UP.
Harada Sanosuke Route
Harada is most definitely, hands down, the most romantic of the guys. He's not much of a drinker despite being with the baka duo all the time, and Chizuru finds out his one dream is to find a nice waifu and live in peace with her and have a ton of babies!! Also out of all the guys, Harada is the only one that never takes the demon steriods!! Just say no to demon drugs kids! You can do anything if you're badass and looking for a waifu! Hey, maybe that's why Chikage is so strong too lololol.
Harada and Shiranui are bro rivals in this route and they're always getting in playful dudebro fights. Haradas often made fun of because he did a Harakiri as a child (slit his gut open which is usually suicide lol) to prove his point to some men that hes a badass mofo shota that can make Luka from Monster Musume run with his tail between his legs. His friends draw faces on his belly scar one night when he's drunk and have a fun time. Also Shiranui makes fun of him cause there's no way a guy with a lance could beat a guy with a gun but he proves him wrong and they wind up with each others gun in the others FACE. I really liked his relationship with Shiranui cause they werent all "Imma kill you I hate you!!!" They're just bros that think the other is strong and fun to challenge/spar with. You also find out Shiranui had a human friend that died recently, and the reason he's helping the domains and Chikage is due to upholding a view his friend had before he died. I feel like he see's a lot of his friend in Harada and that's a big reason why they get along so well.
Anyways, especially because Harada doesn't become a demon on steroids in this route, Chizuru starts angsting big over how she's a demon and how she wishes she could be with the Shinsengumi and Harada but it's wrong of her cause they're humans and she feels like a burden and that she's putting them in danger thanks to waifu hunter Chikage. So yeah Yukimura decides to run away but Harada catches her and she starts crying to him about how her being there is a burden and so he kisses her to shut her up and tells her they love having here here and him especially so she stays.
That is until Kondou gets up in the ranks and promoted to a rank reminiscent of a Daimyo. I'm not sure if it was Daimyo or just really close to that but either way they're official warriors of the shogunate and he starts treating everyone like he's their vassals and gets obnoxious about fighting in the war and Nagakura gets fed up with it and decides to leave. At the same time creeper Sanan is getting more and more pushy about Chizuru becoming a Fury and Hijikata tells Harada that as the war carries on he's too busy to keep stopping Sanan from pursuing her so Harada takes that as his cue to leave with Chizuru to protect her and join Shinpachi.
So Chizuru sort of becomes Harada's secret waifu and her, Harada, and Shinpachi start living together and getting drunk and fun times. But there's still the nagging at her about her demon lineage and she hears word about her daddys plan to make a fury nation so she tells Harada she's leaving to face her dad and Harada insists to come with cause he loves her. They then have sex that night before leaving. YES! They frickle the frack!! How awkward would it have been if Shinpachi walked in and wasnt out at Shimabara getting drunk lol. So the next day Harada breaks up with Shinpachi to find Yukimuras dad and Shinpachi gets pissed that he's not putting bros before hoes and has a short fight and Harada wins but it's all cool and Shinpachi had a feeling that'd happen anyways cause he's a bro and lets them go.
So they go off to face daddy and live happily ever after!! The epilogue even showed that she had a kid after Harada knocked her up so I guess Harada got to live his peaceful life with his waifu all along. I'll be honest, I don't like Harada that much. He's romantic sure but I hate his mansplaining. "Woman have no place in the battlefield." "Men are supposed to protect women." That sort of bullshit. I'm like 100% sure if he was in the modern day he would be a total white knight and those guys are losers but I mean at least he's a romantic lol. I choose all the options for Chizuru to be a badass don't tell her what to do man.
His Memories of Love scenes were also pretty great like wow I thought for a second he was gonna kiss her in the Geisha story XDDD He stays there looking into her eyes and im sure if some enemys didn't come rushing in he would of done SOMETHING to her haha. In the festival event he shows her a field full of fireflys and angsts about dead people cause the Festival is to send off the spirits of the dead.. I really liked when Chizuru told him he was pregnant too and he was all "Is it my child?!" Of course it is dumbass, do you take Chizuru to be a hoe or something lmao. He then feels up her stomach and gets in daddy mode and says he wants to make even more babies if that's cool with Chizuru. Though they agree they'd like for the kid to be a boy. The CG for that was kinda boring though... Also apparently they moved out of Japan cause Chizuru asked if that's Japan across the ocean and he's like "Nah that's Korea"
Saito Hajime Route
Saito is very loyal to the Shinsengumi, he often does reconnaissance and spy work on enemys for the Shinsengumi and is especially faithful to the Commander Hijikata. He's a man of few words, so at first it's a bit hard for Chizuru to get close to Hajime. Eventually during her house arrest, the topic comes up to allow her to go outside and Saito says that he'll allow her to come with him after she draws her blade on him. She's afraid at first because she doesn't want to hurt Hajime and Okita who's there busts a gut over that.
She eventually draws and Saito pulls a surprise motherfucker with her sword and says she would have died if he was serious but her form is good enough to go out that she wouldn't be a huge burden. Hajimes sword skills are very focused on a quick draw, assassination like, Okita explains to her. Usually he makes it that his first draw will also be the last for the enemy. She also later discovers that he was a warrior, but killed a man after they had challenged him to a fight. All Saito wanted was to be a warrior, and if it weren't for the Shinsengumi he would never have been one again so he owes his life to them. He also got bullied a lot due to the fact that he's left handed and the way all samurai function such as the side of the rode they walk coincide with how easiest it is to draw their swords on the enemy.
Saito is, as Chizuru comes to find out, very shy and blushes easily when it comes to romance. He's terrible at hiding his feelings where romance is involves and often becomes a blumbering idiot like in the Geisha story where he sits there staring at Chizuru as if hed never met her before . So Saitos first VoTD is Amagiri which I saw coming a mile away because they're both pretty reserved and serious. They're evenly matched in their battle at Ikeda and they have a bit of an internal bro moment, though not as bro as Harada and Shiranui. Amagiri respects his power as a human. However Saito pisses off Chikage during one of his waifu exploits and beats Saito up so badly after Saito said he'd protect Chizuru and then he's like "Lol you have to become a filthy Fury if you want to beat me." So... Saito takes the Water of Life to survive. His issue is a lot like Okitas where he lives to serve the Shinsengumi and the Aizu clan and just like Okita he'd do anything as long as it meant he could still fight for his domain and his honor.
The main problem with Saitos route I found was that it had a very OOC development with Chikage. They made Chikage the main villain for him, and that's fine. It's the way they went about it. Chikage forms up with Chizurus dad to make a Fury army and her dad reveals he isn't her real dad, her parents died. He just raised her with the express interest of making her Chikages waifu and making a Fury army. Now in every route but this one Chikage shows an expressive hatred for Furies because they are fake imitations of Demons. Often in the other routes he kills Chizurus dad because of this! Hell, he kills Chizuru in one of Okitas Bad Ends because she's a Fury now. But okay whatever Otomate.
As the war carried on, Saito pushes himself to stay awake in the sun and help the Shinsengumi, because their ranks dwindle down to next to nothing. Harada and Shinpachi left, and a lot of the other Shinsengumi members wind up dying to protect Chizuru or the Shinsengumi's cause. Saito begins to feel dissonance over whether he should stay with the Aizu or fight a losing battle with the Shinsengumi. He wants to stay a warrior and feels he must stay with the Aizu due to how they need the Shinsengumis help against the other army. Chizuru teaches him that yknow, he has feelings and he should follow the path that he believes. Which turns into helping Chizuru overcome her crazy dad issue. Daddy wants Chizuru back but Chizuru also has a will and it's then Saito realizes he loves her. He has a showdown with Chikage and along with some other ex-Shinsengumi members manages to defeat the dad army and Saito manages to get a killing blow on Chikage....
Saitos route was very cold and historical which I guess fits his personality so lmao. Most of the lovey dovey stuff comes with the Memories of Love which was good shit I admit. His CG when wanting blood though was veryyyy nice. I wound up having to playthrough his route twice though cause I fucked up and missed a CG.
The Memories of Love parts were all very cute and showed the deredere side of Saito well.Like, Chizuru and Saito are admiring the snow (Snow seems to be a frequent theme with Saito, and it fits with how cold he is) but there isn't enough snow to have a snowball fight of a snowman (but also I don't think if they did Chizuru would ever want a snowball fight with Saito ha!) so Chizuru suggests they make snow bunnies. Saito says he'll be made fun of for doing a girly activity but Chizuru makes him one and he accepts it. It even says he kept it outside his room until it melted and Shinpachi made fun of him for it but I guess Saito didn't care much lol.
Then theres one scene where Chizuru gets sick and Saito tends to her, but the thing was that was when he was still with the Guardians of the Tomb and was the night he came back so Chizuru thought she was dreaming and asked him to hold his hand and was shocked to discover he came back that night so It wasn't a dream
In the last one I loved how Saito brought home sake for a wedding that his neighbors gave him and he kept asking Chizuru to drink with him to become husband and wife but Chizuru said she can't drink and Saito was too shy to say why it's so important that they need to drink together so they could get married. He keeps drinking to get up the courage because he says he's too embarrassed to say while sober but he doesn't get drunk so he finally tells her and he blushes like a tomato when she holds his hands. Apparently the village they live in ships it!
Hijikata Toshizo Route
Seeing as this is the longest route and the main or canon route, Hijikata had a TON of info dumping. His route was 9 chapters long and it got really depressing cause like EVERYONE dies except for Harada and Shinpachi who left. Hijikata was a farmer and his family was well known for making the Ishida Medicine. He was BFF's with Kondou, another bumpkin. Kondou wanted to be a warrior and set up a Dojo, Shiei Hall, which coincidentally is where most the Shinsengumi met up and practiced there. All Hijikata wants is to get his friend the recognition he deserves and to show the world you don't need to be born into a samurai family to be a samurai as long as you have that Bushido spirit.
In his route he's very much the angry rule upholder but he's always looking out to save Chizuru from Chikage. He even manages to cut Chikage which gets him pissed. How dare a human draw blood on a pure Oni like him eh? So Chikage makes it his personal vandetta to make Hijikata suffer and causes a lot of crap with his army, kills a ton of his men, etc. As the war draws on even more people drop like flies and Hijikata pushes himself to keep up with everything-- keep the Shinsengumi safe. He has a breakdown though. They get surrounded and Kondou says he will sacrifice himself and surrender to the army so that the rest of the Shinsengumi can escape. Hijikata angsts and would rather it be him but Chizuru pushes him to run with all of them.
More angst follows when he tells Chizuru that he was doing this all for Kondou and he feels like a failure. Like all he did was worthless. But Chizuru tells him the Shinsengumi NEED him now more than ever. And when Yamazaki dies he tells Hijikata that the Shinsengumi members are like limbs and he's the head. You can carry on without the limbs but you cannot without the head so Hijikata needs to live. Also Chikage nearly kills him in one encounter and like Saito he takes out that steroid bottle and becomes a Fury. He survives long enough to drag Chikage away and now doing so gave him a shit ton more problems: namely, now he has to juggle his bloodlust. It's especially terrible for him cause he's the leader of the shinsengumi and even made it through a battle drenched in blood and had to restrain himself so much and was in so much pain it really hurt to watch Hijikata suffer so much ;_;
On top of all this Sanans still there and acting suspicious and creepy. The only one that keeps him going it seems is Chizuru cause she's not only giving him blood during his bloodlust episodes but making sure he gets rest and shit. Hijikata sends Sanan out ahead of them to recruit in... Ezo was it idk look up the wikis. Heisuke comes with him but they never get back to him which is strange because he had a feeling Sanan wouldn't but Heisuke not reporting was super suspicious.
Anyways Chizuru and Hijikata wind up arriving there anyway and getting help but they find out theres been a string of murders in the town and so before they can aid the Shinsengumi Hijikata swears he'll solve the murders cause he already got a feeling he knows who's doing it cause Sanan was supposedly doing the same thing for his bloodlust back in Kyoto. So while Hijikatas out Heisuke shows up and is looking for Hijikata but only Chizuru's there and says Sanans working with his dad to make a Fury army again. As luck would have it her dad was actually following Heisuke so they capture the two and him and Sanan try to pursuade Chizuru to make a bangin army with her as the leader. Apparently her dads been doing this all for her so she can bring her familys honor back! but Hijikata comes in shortly and Sanan actually for the first time in any route is a huge bro and betrays her dad with Heisuke and because the whole Fury army is in the building gathered they kill every last Fury other than the three Shinsengumi members. However Sanan and Heisuke were one of the first Shinsengumi Furys and they used up all their time and turned to dust while each holding onto Hijikata, loyal to the end. Sanan said in order to fool the enemy first he must fool his friends what a bro ;) I WANTED TO CRY OVER THIS SO BAD MAN.
After that Hijikata tells Chizuru to stay behind as they go to their last stronghold because the wars so bad and he doesn't want her to get hurt anymore, and tells her to live a happy life. Chizuru says she doesn't need to be happy if she's with him but she follows his words after the naval captain dude tells her that once they get settled in he will call a boat for her. A few months later the boat comes for her and he tells her he didn't tell Hijikata yet so it's a huge surprise. The guy gives her a paper with orders for her to be his personal Page and hears that he hasn't been the same since Chizuru left. Chizuru comes in and Hijikata's like GTFO but he succumbs and says if she isn't with him he'll keep fainting and die or something pfft. They FINALLY KISS.
The war gets super bad and everyone knows in this new era swords are obsolete and everyone needs to be a gunner now. As Chizuru and Hijikata are riding a horse Hijikata gets shot and he suffers a long time from the wounds cause silver bullets are bad business. Eventually Hijikatas let off because he was recorded as dead so he can live with Chizuru who he realize and wishes he wants to live with her peacefully away from war. As he's bleeding in front of a cherry blossom tree Chikage shows up to kill him and they have a show down. But Chikages got mad respect for Hijikata and officially christens him as an official demon with the name "Hakuoki" YEP. HAKUOKI. It means Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and it fits cause he's a Fury and his life is draining about as short as a cherry blossom in bloom. But Hijikatas got the power of labu and he kills Chikage. Their epiloge has him and Chizuru labuing it up in front of the cherry blossom tree and they both say how they like sakura because they remind them of each other.
Hijikata's definitely main dude and you can tell (if Hakuoki being the title didn't give it away then idk man.) His route was really depressing but also really good. I especially liked how Chizuru and him went on about how beautiful the sakuras are and Chizurus like "you said you thinkof me as the cherry blossoms so you think im that beautiful? /////" in the stories of the epilogue he says she reminds him of the moon in spring and says he always loved the moon and it was always comforting and beautiful just like her. He also tells her she never compliments him and she says he's handsome and he's like "That's it? You just like me for my looks?" lmao but Chizuru then says ye but she also loves everything about him and so she will be the moon and he will be the sakura :>
He gets some funny moments in the Memories of Love like when he gets drunk and bends over Chizuru and keeps demanding that he's totally sober shut up XD There was also a hot scene after he gets shot where he got that ol bloodlustz and won't accept Chizuru's blood but she cuts herself and gives it to him mouth to mouth. Another cool thing was they gave him a bleeding sprite during this. I kinda wish they had that for every time their sprite was obviously dying but at the same time that'd be terrible!!
Chikage Kazama/Normal Route
The Normal route and Chikage's route are pretty close together, the only thing different is choosing not to go with Chikage gets you a forever alone ending and if you do you get Chikage.
As Chizuru follows along the routes Chikage keeps ambushing them and Chizuru continues to feel helpless over this. Just like in Harada she considers leaving but see's the Shinsengumi as her family. Once the army attacks their HQ and it's lit on fire though she gets help by Itou, but then he vanishes, and she doesn't know her way to get caught up with the Shinsengumi. Chikage finds her and says the Shinsengumi has left her and that they don't need her but Chizuru doesn't believe him and wants to come back to where the Shinsengumi are. Chikage winds up helping her, and tells her he won't do anything to her until they are wed on Demon pride. He finds intell on where they're going and manages to get them a boat. If Chizuru wishes to go with him to see the Shinsengumis demize she will wind up with him, where she witnesses their Sincerity flag burned and he winds up kissing her and telling her that humanity is disgusting but the Shinsengumi deserve respect. It was the one group he could see as more than just trash and he admits the reason he chased after Chizuru was partly an excuse to come and play with the Shinsengumi. He still wants her to be his waifu though I mean cmon.
If Chizuru chooses not to go with him it ends with a backshot of the Shinsengumi moving forward without her ouch.
Final Thoughts
Hakuoki was one of the first otome games brought to the west. It's insanely popular so I decided, well, I had to play it. My problem is that I'm no good with games in a Traditional Japanese setting. When I was a kid I watched animes like Inuyasha, Ruroni Kenshin, etc and before middle school even I found myself sick of that sort of setting. Hakuoki is very historically inspired and you get learnin' out the wazoo. It felt really boring to play a lot of the time and some parts of my overview im not even sure are accurate because I kept spacing out while playing. Hell, most the time I'd be browsing 4chan or playing Devil Survivor 2 while it was in auto mode.
I think you really have to be a fan of these sorts of settings to enjoy it. It's a really long game and for me personally it felt like a long drudge to get through. There were some routes, like Okita's, that I really enjoyed. It also had a ton of bonus' like short SSL comic strips. But I can't see myself playing the Chronicles game. Maybe SSL since it's a modern setting but that's a bit it for me. It was a really polished game but it really really wasn't my style at all. And I definitely recommend it to otome fans but I just wanted to warn if you dont like traditional settings you'll probably get bored just like me. If you're a fan of old settings and the Bakamatsu period though then I say you definitely need to play!
One thing I must say is the main game isn't that much full of romance so I think if you're looking for a cute story or cute moments this really isn't the otome for you, but it is pretty deep in lore for people that prefer bit more complexity to their story this might be up your alley. Hell, I think a lot of other guys could enjoy this as simply a VN with badass guys once they get past you're playing as a girl that gets with them because the storys good enough to enjoy if you like Bakamatsu period storys in general.
Stories is a great deal seeing as it includes the main game, the fandisk, and some various other cool stuff with it. If you haven't gotten Hakuoki and own a PS3 I'd say its a good purchase. However if you owned the PSP or 3DS versions I'd think twice about it. Essentially yes there are two games. But the second game, the fandisk is pretty short and looking at it objectively, yes there were cute scenes, but it wasn't really satisfying to me. It's definitely for fanservice and doesn't expand much past the main storyline. So If you've played Hakuoki before I advise to only get it if you're a huge fan of the main game and am looking for some fanservice with your mens.
One funny thing I need to call out is the trophys. Those names are ridiculous and I found it funny that the Platinum Trophy name is Fujoshi. Yeah. I'm totally a Fujoshi. Ok I will admit I'm a fudanshi at least. Though where BL is concerned I've only played DramaticalMURDER XD
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