This review contains spoilers
an otome classic in every way. but GOD i wish there was a senhime route
as for a personal ranking of routes, i'd say souma > the original love interests including kazama > yamazaki > the new routes which basically translates into "i think the original routes were better in general and the new routes definitely felt like a disjunct in quality but i just liked souma so much and i thought yamazaki was a lovely person"
i ended this with yukimura and while it was probably the best choice narratively, it made me very sad and i wish i got it out of the way earlier and did souma or like. kazama last or something. just so i could have something to smile about
terrible at writing reviews so here r brief thoughts on every route (romance only bc yukimura route was essentially a summary that ended in sadness)
hijikata - one of the few exceptions to my poster boy indifference (i liked him)
okita - WOW i love you
saito - I love him too
heisuke - objectively like the best. probably
harada - i love him but i hate the choices u make to get his good ending
nagakura - i think the hakuoki writers hated him
sanan - the hakuoki writers loved him. in this case, it was me who hated him
yamazaki - he is so nice and sweet and nice and just a swell guy
iba - i liked him when i was playing his route i guess but after it ended it felt like waking up from hypnosis. He's ok
souma - of course the one character i actually genunely wanted to pursue and loved from the beginning is the one with the route in which everyone fucking dies
sakamoto - i was bored until i realized the writers probably shipped him with his boy best friend (nakaoka) and probably could not bring themselves to write him real chemistry with chizuru. they should've just let him have his high stakes tragic love story with him and given chizuru a shiranui route instead ( i love shiranui)
kazama - i went in ready to be a hater but i genuinely liked his route soooo much i didn't rank the og routes but if i did he'd probably be at the top
senhime - there is no senhime route but for most of the other routes i was just sitting there consumed in a longing for senhime route she is to me what tomoda is to nozaki and mikorin in gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun SHE JUST MAKES SENSE SHE WAS AT CHIZURU'S SIDE THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!! SHE WAS DOING EVERYTHING FOR HER!!!!!!!!! Senhime you are seen and heard in my mind. And i love you. And i'm sorry
as for a personal ranking of routes, i'd say souma > the original love interests including kazama > yamazaki > the new routes which basically translates into "i think the original routes were better in general and the new routes definitely felt like a disjunct in quality but i just liked souma so much and i thought yamazaki was a lovely person"
i ended this with yukimura and while it was probably the best choice narratively, it made me very sad and i wish i got it out of the way earlier and did souma or like. kazama last or something. just so i could have something to smile about
terrible at writing reviews so here r brief thoughts on every route (romance only bc yukimura route was essentially a summary that ended in sadness)
hijikata - one of the few exceptions to my poster boy indifference (i liked him)
okita - WOW i love you
saito - I love him too
heisuke - objectively like the best. probably
harada - i love him but i hate the choices u make to get his good ending
nagakura - i think the hakuoki writers hated him
sanan - the hakuoki writers loved him. in this case, it was me who hated him
yamazaki - he is so nice and sweet and nice and just a swell guy
iba - i liked him when i was playing his route i guess but after it ended it felt like waking up from hypnosis. He's ok
souma - of course the one character i actually genunely wanted to pursue and loved from the beginning is the one with the route in which everyone fucking dies
sakamoto - i was bored until i realized the writers probably shipped him with his boy best friend (nakaoka) and probably could not bring themselves to write him real chemistry with chizuru. they should've just let him have his high stakes tragic love story with him and given chizuru a shiranui route instead ( i love shiranui)
kazama - i went in ready to be a hater but i genuinely liked his route soooo much i didn't rank the og routes but if i did he'd probably be at the top
senhime - there is no senhime route but for most of the other routes i was just sitting there consumed in a longing for senhime route she is to me what tomoda is to nozaki and mikorin in gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun SHE JUST MAKES SENSE SHE WAS AT CHIZURU'S SIDE THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!! SHE WAS DOING EVERYTHING FOR HER!!!!!!!!! Senhime you are seen and heard in my mind. And i love you. And i'm sorry