Sunday, October 8, 2017

[18+] Koshotengai no Hashihime | Review/Summary

Guess who's back. It's me. To my 0 followers I've written this review of this game I couldn't bother waiting for when I heard it was getting an english release. I literally just ran through the game in a week, so it's all pretty fresh in my memory.

this game has more plot twists than any other BL I've played before
Title: Koshotengai no Hashihime (Hashihime of the old books town)
Creator: ADELTA

It's 1922 Tokyo and one young Tamamori finds himself trapped in a nightmare during this turbulent rainy season. What the fuck can he do!??? And who the fuck can he do!? ;)


Under the cut contains a SPOILER FREE review, followed by a spoiler-y summary!



SPOILER FREE REVIEW

This game is fucking wild. Absolutely fucking wild. Like there are so many twists by the time you're done you're just like who am I and you wish you could unread the whole thing to regain ur sanity.
There's 5 dudes you can fuck, but I won't tell you how it goes because the game actually chooses the boy order for you. You don't get a choice.

General Synopsis
Tamamori's a loser who couldn't make it into University when coming to Tokyo alongside his two childhood bffs. He gets kicked out of the residence he was staying at cuz he's an arrogant lazy shit, so he ends up living a languid lifestyle living in an old bookstore where he 'works' and writes his shitty novels all day. But what happens when one day.....DEATH happens!? How can his lazy shit ass find a resolution to this? How can he bring his life back to normal again!? Unravel this murder mystery story by playing the game.

This is just the fucking tip of the iceberg. You don't even want to know what waits ahead of you in this bizarro mystery. The story surprises you more often than not, and it's clear how much thought was put into the complex relationships between characters and Tama's chara development. You learn more and more dark secrets the more you read, and it's defs an engaging experience that totally immerses you in Tama's world.

Here's a sneak peak at what everyone looks like and some of my own opinions on them lol:
Tamamori: The delusional protag and a shitty self-absorbed person
Minakami: The nice friend and basic gay bro
Kawase: The SPICY friend 10/10 sexy
Hanazawa: The serious no fun allowed friend
Hakase: pervert who wishes he was your friend
Mystery boy

Okay sure everyone looks quite similar, but trust me you'll get used to it. There's other side characters, but you can get to know them on your own time. Anyways opinions on charas prbly differs, but for the most part they're all quite interesting. And definitely memorable! I could die happy if Kawase dumped his coffee on me.

Plot: A- |Honestly, a LOT of thought must've been put into this game. It is very engaging, although there are some points that I'd have to say could be better.
Dokis: D | if you want a romance that gets your heart thumping this is not the game for you. However, the story is interesting enough that I didn't mind the lacking romance.
Art: A | With 199 CGs how can you go wrong. The quantity is a delightful surprise for a visual novel, but my greedy heart was still left wishing for some more.
Characters: B | Half of the cast is pretty lovable and endearing, but even the better dudes still leave you wishing for something more.

OVERALL SATISFACTION: B+ | I don't regret investing my time and effort into playing, but there are points that I'm having trouble getting over.

Do I rec this game? Yes. Buy it. At the time of this post it's not out yet in English, but check it out here or whatever.  This game changed my life. Because it's really weird. Anyways just buy it just do it. More memorable than whatever other eng bl games are out there like uh idk dmmd fuck that buy this instead.

I've never heard of ADELTA before this game, but they've caught enough of my interest that I'd keep my eyes out if they make anything new.


WARNINGS OF ILLEGAL CONTENT IN THE GAME: This game does contain some mysterious elements, like a rape scene, some homophobia, implied sexual assault, implied child abuse, and sorta pseudo incest. Oh yea, and people die. The violence isn't grotesque at all though so most people should be fine. It helps that everyone has danganronpa blood.




THE MEAT OF THE GAME [spoiler zone]

To anyone who doesn't even wanna bother avoiding spoilers, here's some half-assed summaries of what happens.

MAIN ROUTE

The game works kinda funny, in that the first time you play, it plays the main full story and forces you into fucking your good friend Minakami. After that, you'll unlock one branch in the middle that can lead to fucking Kawase. After him you unlock another branch past the first one that lets you fuck Hanazawa. And so on. Unique huh.
Like this:

START-----v-----------v-----------v----------v-------->Minakami
                   |                |                |               |
             Kawase   Hanazawa  Hakase  Masked dude

I suffered a long journey to fuck the masked kid. And all of you reading this summary won't have to thanks to my efforts. Good job.

Anyways the main story is about how Tamamori is always quite delusional and lost in his own world. He's so obsessed with writing his fantastical stories, that he won't even listen to other people *cough kawase* telling him this is a problem. Luckily he has friends who enable him *cough minakami* to keep going at his business of ignoring his life problems and just writing all day! It doesn't help that Tama even spends most of his time talking to his imaginary friends, his OCs from his own stories, since he literally can't function without having someone to talk to 24/7.

one of tama's OCs, frog dude
The friendship triangle:
Kawase- disses and constantly makes fun of -> Tama
Minakami- supportive and 100% biased towards -> Tama
Kawase <- very dismissive towards -> Minakami

Tama thinks of both of them as his close friends so he's relatively unbiased.

Life is good! And he has two smart friends who are in university. And he'll totally (not) get into uni someday too, right? Minakami always reads all of Tama's manuscripts and never breaks a promise, so it comes as quite the shock when Tama gets stood up to their date at the theater. HOW the fuck dare he??? Well apparently Tama got stood up because Minakami died. He threw himself into the river and drowned basically. Nice going. Tama freaks out all like THIS MUST'VE BEEN A MURDER. Kawase meanwhile is like man this sucks. I guess he was suicidal or something. Good thing I never really liked him lmao.
Going to check if the body is really Minakami's

The main thing is that Kawase is facing reality and moving on with his life, and Tama obsesses over how Minakami COULDN'T have possibly killed himself! They need to find the killer! Kawase tells Tamamori to stop being a delusional idiot and face reality. Sadly, that will never happen. Tama's slightly in shock from the fact that he doesn't even shed a single tear upon seeing Minakami's cold lifeless body, but decides that what's most important is finding the killer.

Anyways his useless attempts to resolve the issue ends up with him getting to realize that Kawase had met with their OTHER childhood friend, Hanazawa, and had been keeping it a secret from everyone for 3 months. But we don't really care about him. What really matters is Tama also gets to know the peculiar regular at the bookstore he lives in. Kijyuurou or something idk but his nickname is Hakase (doctor/professor). He's a huge fan of Tama's works and is a convenient tool for buttering up his ego during this time of sadness.
Hakase: "I l-love ur works please be my f f ff -f-riend i'll give you 100k.. <:3c"
Getting buttered up puts Tama in a good mood for like 4 seconds, but Hakases really creepy so he wants nothing to do with him. Hakase also forces a goldfish mini watering can on Tama as a sign of their 'friendship'. He has like 98 left but that also means he only has two friends, one of which is now Tama. Hakase is extremely rich and intellectual, but none of that means anything to Tama, sadly enough.

Anyways Tama ends up getting chased down by the masked guy who appears in his house, and conveniently runs into Hanazawa who swears to protect him. They head into the bookstore basement where Tama guesses the masked dude went in, only to find DEATH.
masked boy coming home after a day's work
Tama starts running after Hanazawa gets sliced in half, and trips into a puddle in the rain, finding himself getting hurled back 3 days into the past. Time loop shenanigans.
And so begins Tama's wild life of suffering
Okay tl;dr Tama tries all sorts of progressively bizarre plans on how to stop Minakami's death, meeting several people in town and also letting people die/getting people killed in the process. Luckily he can redo these 3 days as many times as he wants as long as he jumps into rain water, so it should be fine, right? Wrong. Tama's mental state progressively drops as he starts to question more and more whether he even gives a shit if Minakami lives or dies. He just can't bear the thought that Minakami died without a care for reading the end of Tama's current manuscript. Is he worth only that much to Minakami? Tama can't live without constant approval from the people around him.
danganronpa

idr the context tbh but i just like this cg hes so cute
Okay a lotta shit happens. A lot. Play the game yourself and find out. But a lotta fucking shit happens. After like 10 loops and seeing many deaths, Tama tuckers himself out and finally realizes the mastermind behind Minakami's suicide: Himself. An adult Tama from the future had come back in time and handed Minakami the entire script of Tama's current unfinished novel, thus giving him nothing more to live for as that was all he really wanted in life. Minakami's always been borderline suicidal, looking for a place to die, so this was just the like trigger that helped him gather the courage. Gee wiz.
look me in the eye and try to guess the context
Apparently 20ish years from now, Japan's gonna go to shit and apparently it's all Tama's friends' fault. As long as Minakami, Kawase, and Hanazawa are alive, disaster will befall the country and kill everyone they know and love. I don't even fukkin know. Tama learns that his time travel power is caused by "Hashihime's Curse", which gives him his blue eyes. As long as his eyes are blue, he can go back in time using rain water from any certain date. Future Tama had some bottled rain water from the past, so he was able to ditch his shitty future life to come live back here in the past where he can try to kill all his old friends. Yeah. Sure. Also the masked guy is his son he adopted, who he brought with him from the future. His name is Kaoru. Good job! It's official: you can fuck your son in this game (i'll get to that later).

Since only one version of you can exist at the same time, if two Tama's make contact, the older one will absorb the current one. Idk how this makes any sense, but Tama destroys old Tama by touching him, and all our problems are solved.
Tama finally gets his theater date with Minakami
The two finally talk about their feelings, and ofc it turns out Minakami has been harboring gay feelings for Tama this entire time, but had 0 hope of reciprocation. He also apparently was lying about having gotten into uni and was pretending to be a student, since he thought Tama wouldn't like him anymore if he wasn't smart. Also he apparently used to be possessed by Hashihime himself when he was a kid, and used the power to save Tama's life in exchange for killing Tama's mother. So basically he has a guilt complex and is also gay.

Anyways, Hakase is devastated upon hearing the two are planning to move back home 2gether, so he has his maids kidnap Tamamori to have one last talk with him. Hanazawa (who is apparently Hakase's bff) has other plans however, wanting Hashihime's power for himself even if it means killing Tama. Minakami gets in a sword fight with Hanazawa to protect tama, while Hakase's just kinda there awkwardly the whole time. He's pretty useless, though he does wish Hanazawa would stop trying to kill his crush.

Anyways, it ends badly. Tama goes back in time and elopes with Minakami, this time without telling anyone, so no kidnapping problems. They go back to their countryside hometown where they fuck (albeit clumsily) and Minakami confesses that he's had dreams in the womb that Tama is his reincarnated soulmate. Tama's like ok sure and they live happily ever after. Good end.
minakami keeps his eyes closed even at times like this

idk why minakami has one of the cutest cgs in the game. also its implied he absorbed tamas hashihime curse i guess wtvr who cares!
KAWASE BRANCH

At one point in the story, you have the choice to help some brats try to accuse Kawase of murdering the old rich guy who's house he lives in. Or you can tell them to fuck themselves and then murder the ringleader by baiting Kaoru to kill him. Ofc if you want to fuck Kawase...you can now have the choice of helping these kids frame him for murder!

It's fine though, since Kawase really did do it. He killed the old guy who was so kind to him and helped finance his Tokyo lifestyle. Just like how he killed his own father.

kawase giving the kids an example of how mr.ikeda took good care of him
The local kid group in town hates Kawase for killing Ikeda-san. Since old man Ikeda was super nice to one of them!!! They hold a whole play about how Kawase killed Ikeda in cold blood (written with help from Tama) and show it to Kawase. Ofc, Kawase laughs at them and then teases them a wee bit before leaving the room. Tama is appalled. He never knew Kawase sold his own body to pay his way into school! That's crazy! Wow.

More crazy shit happens this route like every other route, and you soon learn that Kawase hates himself. His own father abused him, so he persuaded Tama to help him drag his sleeping father off a bridge when they were kids. Tama has been his accomplice ever since, though he conveniently forgot about this murder for most of the game. Kawase hates being touched by other people, and he doesn't trust ANYBODY. Not even himself. But there's only one person who he's always felt okay with within his comfort zone.........TAMA. Because Tama's like...the only person he could ever be true with. How romantic. 

After multiple tries, Tama finally forces Kawase to have a heart to heart with him, and they come to terms with how Kawase has always had feelings for him. Also, remember in Minakami's route how Minakami mentioned he used Hashihime's power before to save Tama's life? Apparently that was because back when they were kids sometime after murdering Kawase's dad together, Kawase had planned to push Tama off the same spot because he'd grown to despise this living reminder of his crimes! That was just an emo phase, luckily, and as time passes he's thankful Tama never showed up to their bridge date that day. However, immediately after getting to know Kawase better, adult Tama comes in and murders Kawase using Kaoru.
please note how tall Kaoru is. he's a good boy
Tama never gets the Hashihime explanation in this route, so while fucking around he slips up and adult Tama ends up absorbing current timeline Tama, stealing Hashihime's favor. Tama manages to get it back to jump to another loop to revive Kawase, where he ends up collapsing from fever.
Kawase trying not to catch tama's stupid and disease

Anyways, this and that happens, and adult Tama finds them and uses his delusion powers to send Kawase and Tama on a wild adventure segment, before Kawase asks if he can just borrow Hashihime's power so he can go back in time and kill himself himself. He hates himself so he might as well just do it on his own. Adult Tama is like lol okay and has Kawase cut him, which for whatever reason lets Kawase absorb Hashihime's favor.
Kawase with Hashihime's favor
Kawase ends up having a mini spat with Tama, and he decides to give into his life's desires and fuck Tama before making his way back in time to murder himself and cease his own existence. Tama begs him to rethink things afterwards, and allows Kawase to do him out of...friendship. Even though he isn't quite sure of what his feelings towards Kawase really are.
they fuck

Kawase is infinitely better than Minakami was at sex, and Tama ends up blacking out from pleasure overload. In the morning, he finds that Kawase intends to soon depart for their hometown where he'll time jump and kill himself. He waited to see Tama one more time before leaving because he's gay. Sadly, that gives Tama the chance to just chase him to the train. Tama does a trust fall off the train to prove that Kawase has something to live for! To stop Tama from doing more trust falls off trains in the future. They both fall off the train anyways and end up deciding to just be gay forever together. Some kid falls into the river, and Kawase saves the child in a manly way. He is so cool.
please don't try this at home

i wish kawase had cuter cgs, he really doesn't have that many cute ones

HANAZAWA BRANCH

For reference I'm gonna make another friendship triangle

Kawase respects Hanazawa deeply and thinks Hakase is manipulating Hanazawa. Hakase thinks Kawase is a nice lad and that Hanazawa is his good friend. Hanazawa doesn't give a shit about Kawase, and is using Hakase.


Okay, fuck this guy. At one point he asks Tama to just entrust himself to him, and allow Hanazawa the chance to try and find a way to take Tama's power. This sounds like a horrible fucking idea, but now you can do it! Nice! Not nice.
if theres anything other routes taught me, it's that this guy doesnt give a shit about tama
Tama allows himself to fall into the comfort of Hanazawa's warm protection, and ends up shacking up with him. Hanazawa seems nice and all, and he and Hakase go over all the methods they know of to transfer Hashihime's power to someone else. Red flags are going off when Hanazawa is totally okay with methods like "eye transplants" and "cutting the person" and "having intercourse with the person", while meanwhile Hakase's like WOAH NOW hold your horses bro we ain't gonna be pulling out poor Tama's eyeballs!! Hakase straight up lies that these methods don't work due to 'precedent' (There is no precedent he's making shit up) but luckily Hanazawa eats it up. Tama is protected. For now.

They end up trying a machine that will 'link their minds' together, and Tama perceives a dream of being on a tropical BC era island
Tama's first time abroad and it's in a dream
He reunites with an oddly friendly Hanazawa who he runs into in the BC era forest. Hanazawa is incredibly straight forward and friendly, and tells Tama that he still holds dear to his heart an old story that Tama wrote for him when they were young. In fact, this dream world is based on that story! Wow!

Upon waking up, it seems Kaoru had broken in and killed Hakase while they were mind linked, and the two end up running away and falling into a puddle where they both time travel together back in time. In the new loop, Hakase notices that Tama's eyes aren't blue anymore(Since he hasn't absorbed this loop's Tama yet)! Hanazawa upon seeing that Tama is now useless, immediately drops any sign of friendship and tells Tama to get lost basically. Tama is HEART-BROKEN. Hakase tries to comfort him, but his words fall on deaf ears. Tama goes home and regains Hashihime's powers after absorbing himself, but he doesn't even notice that cuz he's an idiot. He immediately goes to Kawase's house to get wasted on liquor, but they soon receive a call that Tama's bookstore burned down.

Of course, it must've been Hanazawa. Anyways this fire is implied to have killed adult Tama (who I think I forgot to mention was the owner of the bookstore all along) as we don't see him anymore after this point. Hanazawa gathers up the crew and murders all of them except Tama. Hakase is devastated to see Tama being emotionally tortured like this, but Hanazawa knocks Hakase out for trying to stop him. Hanazawa then tries the next options for taking Tama's powers, including raping him. During that, he confesses that he DOES like Tama, and that the story Tama gave him when they were young inspired him to pursue 'true freedom.' He feels like sacrificing everything he knows in life to try and help his country gives him freedom he never had before. Even if that sacrifice means killing all your friends and raping your crush. How does that make any fucking sense. Tama feels really guilty for having destroyed Hanazawa's personality like this by writing a shitty dinosaur adventure story, and almost gives in when Hanazawa tries to kill Tama in the hopes that Hashihime possesses him next after Tama perishes. Kaoru conveniently shows up to try and protect Tama tho, bless :')

Tama begs Hakase to save Hanazawa's life, and help him create a method of sending them back in time a million years. Which they do. Since the world will be a better place without Hanazawa. And Tama's just gonna take responsibility for this mess and go with him. The end. This is shit.
Hanazawa: "Tama what the actual fuck have you done to us"

HAKASE BRANCH

After turning down Hanazawa, Tama jumps into a puddle to get away from the asshat, ending up in the same location (Hakase's front lawn) but back on day 1. Hakase's maids try to purge him, but he immediately explains himself to Hakase, upon being welcomed with open arms. Later on, Hakase looks for Tama at the bookstore, but Tama hadn't replaced his current self yet so current Tama's like "why are you talking like you know me?? what the fuck?? fuck off weirdo". You can pretend you didn't see anything, or catch Hakase before he leaves! Which leads to...his route.
Hakase: "P-pweez dont kill urself >_<" 
Tama becomes progressively depressed about how sick he is of Minakami, so he tries throwing himself off the place Minakami likes to jump. Luckily Hakase's here to stop him.
this happens twice. like 2 separate suicide attempts
Tama's upset by how much of a liar Minakami is, and Hakase tries to reason with him. Sometimes, there's people who feel that they just have no choice but to lie. It turns out Hakase's been keeping a big lie himself. His right eye holds Hashihime's favor! And he's never told Hanazawa, who's craved the power all this time! Because he thought it'd probably be for the best. That's why he can also see Tama's blue eyes (only people who have been or are possessed by Hashihime's curse can see the blue eyes btw). He's also been keeping Tama a secret from Hanazawa, because he loves him.

Hakase actually mentions like 400 times in the game that when he was a kid, he basically fell off a bridge and some older guy saved his life. The guy told him a story that is identical to the story Tama is currently trying to write. That's why he fell in love with Tama at first sight. Because he read some of Tama's manuscript and saw it was the same story!! Wow. Tama thinks this is utter bullshit but it means a lot to Hakase.

Anyways, Hakase's family story is actually kinda fucked up. I forget the details but I think like his mom wanted him dead or something and one of his maids is his real mother or something, something like that. Also his left eye i think got taken out by his mum or smthng so his aunt maid cut out her own eye to give it to him. I probably should've read this part more clearly but I was tired at this point. English release will clear things up.

Hakase goes thru a shit ton of trouble to help Tama, and Tama feels bad. He even ties Tama up and dangles him in a dangerous location to bait out adult Tama, whom Hakase had an idea was around this whole time!! Since adult Tama was the one who saved him as a kid...He murders adult Tama and brings Tama back to safety, since everything he does is for the current Tama. Tama cannot comprehend Hakase's loyalty to him, and tries to run away from him.
Hakase: "Don't weave me!! Pweez!! T^T"
Tama feels like shit, and conveniently runs into his grandma who had a dream that he'd need a bottle of old...water. Which he can use to conveniently go back in time to the moment Hakase got saved by adult Tama. Tama goes back in time to save Hakase first so that he can't have that meaningful moment with adult Tama, and then Tama ditches young Hakase immediately.
baby boi
Tama prepares to really kill himself this time as he's stuck a decade into the past anyhow, but this timeline's Hakase who grew up from the future comes back in time using a time machine he invented just to save Tama. He grew up indebted to this strange man who saved his life, and knew that Tama must have come through a time slip. So he has come back in time with his invention to help Tama return to the time he came from. How does this make any fucking sense. Don't ask me. Tama puts on a helmet which then transports his consciousness into the body of himself in his proper timeline.

And he wakes up. To this.
Hakase: "otsukaresamadeshita... >w<"
Apparently in this timeline, Hakase does not have Hashihime powers and he never modified his maids to have youthful skin and energy at their tender elderly ages like he did in the main storyline. Also, apparently after Tama got kicked out of his residence, Hakase fell in love with Tama at first sight and invited him to live at his mansion. They had been in some bizarro relationship where Hakase would give Tama whatever he pleased in exchange for signs of affection such as sharing a bed with him, or giving him a kiss, or whatever. 

Tama feels like shit and tells Hakase this kinda thing is over. And that they should try starting...a more proper relationship. By no means does Tama hold romantic feelings for Hakase or anything, but if it'll help repay Hakase for everything he's done for him...bedding him shouldn't be that big a deal, right?
this is the best day of hakase's life
after a rather kinky afternoon, hakase is overflowing with happiness
Also, Hakase literally designed and made a dildo with love in his lab cuz he thought it'd make Tama happy. If that's not a good bf idk what is.




TRUE END [ HUUUGE SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE GAME]

After pretending he didn't see Hakase, Tama continues his difficult life of suffering. But instead of the last leg of drama with Minakami, he instead just straight up asks Minakami. Why are you thinking abt dying lately? The answer is not what he expected.

Apparently he didn't really  want to die! They're all planning a skit that Tama wrote himself! And tomorrow they'll be having a photoshoot to help tell the story, of the mystery of the drowned victim! This is all a detective story that Tama wrote!!! No one's really gonna die!!! Wow! Tama asks Minakami to gather all those involved at Kawase's house, and it looks like all their friends are really in on it! The town kids! Kawase! Hanazawa and Hakase! Everyone's here!!! Haha, this whole nightmare was just Tama getting lost in his dream world again. Ofc it was all just an act haha. 

The power goes out and when it comes back, everyone's gone. Now standing here, is adult Tama and Kaoru. "Wake up", says adult Tama. wake the fuck up. face reality dipshit. 
wake up dipshit
 It turns out that this entire fucking game was a delusion. In reality, Kawase, Minakami, and Hanazawa had all died back when they were kids! After moving to Tokyo, Tama began to create imaginary versions of them out of hypothetical ideas what they'd be like if they were still alive today. This whole story was a fantasy story he'd become lost in in order to cure his own painful solitude. Tama has nothing. He's a genius storyteller, but he's lost in his own sloth. Since he has no one by his side he's too depressed to truly be productive.

The only character who's actual real, was Kaoru. This entire time. The only person who wasn't imaginary was Kaoru. Even adult Tama isn't real. It's all a delusion. Spending years in Tokyo depressed, Tama had picked up Kaoru off the street and looked after him. Soon enough, Kaoru became the only salvation he had from loneliness. After waking up from his long dream, Tama tries to throw himself into the water to die, but Kaoru needs him. Kaoru's existence saves him. His son, Kaoru... They're about 14 or so years apart, and Tama dedicates himself to being able to take care of him. He turns the tale of Hashihime into a novel which he'll have published, as he becomes a reputable novelist! In the end, Tama was the bookstore owner all this time. Adult Tama was Tama himself. Everything was imaginary. Tama actually lives in the bookstore alongside Kaoru. They even go on nice walks sometimes.
"...........this color...................is dad's fave.............."
Kaoru is so fucking cute. idc if he barely has a personality or a good backstory. he's cute. Anyways yea! As you might've guessed, Tama is in a relationship with his adopted son. At some point, the lines crossed and now they are.....very close. All they have is each other in this world. They're completely dependent on each other to stay sane.
This cg is my favorite
Kaoru's self conscious about his face. Though there like isn't even anything wrong with it. He just has rly big puppy eyes. He has a baby face. Yea. He's a big baby. Don't worry tho he is over 18. Anyways, this is the only end where Tama really comes to terms that what he feels is love. This is what true love is. After all his imaginary scenarios where he fucks all his dead friends and some random dude he saw one time and borrowed for his imagination (Hakase), in the end the real meaning of love is what he's had with his adopted son all this time.
this game betrayed me multiple times and idk what to think anymore
My life is a lie. The end.

Anyways, I may have very very very very mixed feelings at the end of all this, but I can't say it wasn't an Experience. Also, I heard MG's releasing an all ages version too and like...why would y'all go for that. Jk you wouldn't really be missing out on much, they're not really that intense or graphic. But never forget that Hakase is the absolute most kinkiest character in this game. Never forget about him...even if his entire character was just part of Tama's imagination...just like everyone else........................... I need to go lie down.

33 comments:

  1. Thank You for the summary..Finally, I finally understand the story even though I'm using visual novels... m(_ _)m the game is good and the plot is very interesting and makes me have an expression like this (OAO) when I play.. I hope ADELTA makes another great game like this in the future!! (^^)b

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    1. I'm happy you liked the summary! It's nice to know someone actually reads these haha... but yeah this game was quite the wild experience! If ADELTA makes another game I'm definitely gonna try to play it :)

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    2. Agree, sometimes we need to express the things we want to spend on others to feel the same with us (^^ ,,) like myself who always tells stories and invites my best friend who also likes BL to play BL game that I recommend and she always said funny things when playing game bl and make us both laugh out loud x"DDD, and I hope you can make another BL game review because by the way you tell the story make the review more interesting and can make me laugh when I read it. I love it !!!! d (^ u ^) b keep the good work !!!

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  2. I just spoiled the entire game for myself and feel more satisfied than ever. That was one wild ride. Can't believe that, after so many routes where men wanted to fuck him, turns out Tama was the one that wanted to fucked so much that he dreams about it.

    Thank you for the comprehensive summary. I'm definitely getting this game.

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  3. Hi! According to the official website, Kaoru's route is different from 1st to 4th routes, so it's not that everything is Tamamori's delusion. They are very much all alive in their own routes ^^

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    1. Hello! Sorry for one year late reply.. but anyways, I was just talking to a friend about this game when the English version came out and she discovered this fact as well. It's such a relief to know though! :')

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    2. Ok now I’m confused. It made sense to me when it was revealed they were all delusions. But they were alive during their routes?

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    3. Hello, the author was just saying you can treat it like parallel universes. Even though the last route states the first ones are all works of fiction, there's room to imagine that in an alternate universe where they were all still alive, it would actually turn out something like that.

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  4. Al inicio dije, mhe voy a saltarme a la mejor parte, pero entre mas leía mas viciada quedaba, a lo que termine leyendo literalmente todo, pese a que casi no he dormido XD, con esto quiero decir 10/10 besto resumen <3

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  5. Thank you for to summary! I have finished all the route and confused due to information overload and your review helps a lot, its clear and fun to read

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  6. I just finish Hanazawa route and I enjoy your review a lot! (Though I only read them until Hanazawa part to avoid spoiler). Im so confused and I dont think I like his ending... but that's that, I cant wait to see Hakase and Kaoru ending. Kaoru is the reason why I keep playing anyway.

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    1. Thank you for enjoying my review! Haha, I don't like Hanazawa route either.. he's not fun at all.. anyways if you've finished the game by now I hope you enjoyed the rest :D

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    2. AFTER LONG DELAY FINALLY I FINISH IT... and I dont know what should I think about it except I dont like the last route that much. But Kaoru is super cute so I have big conflicted feelings about it. But whatever. He is cute so I forgive it. Again, thanks for the review! I enjoyed it a lot.

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    3. Ya the game leaves a lot to think about... I also wish we could have gotten more with Kaoru as his route felt shorter and is mostly about Tamamori and not Kaoru TuT Oh well the game is still interesting overall~ I'm glad you enjoyed ^^

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  7. okay this is the best summary i almost died laughing by reading the notes under the cg pics and again thx

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    1. thanks for the comment! I'm glad you enjoyed ^w^

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  8. Thank you for the summary! Your image captions are always pretty funny, and the summary does a good job of explaining stuff with a humourous tone.

    I didn't like Hanazawa's ending, instead of properly solving their problems they just nuked the story and literally ran away from their problems into an ancient dinasaur world ;-;

    I liked Minakami's route the most, I wouldve liked Kaoru's if it was longer...

    Hakase is really cute, after that is Kawase.

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it :D Minakami's route was definitely the most tender one for sure... and I don't think anyone liked Hanazawa's lolol

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  9. I finished all the routes and came to this page! Kawase's route is my personal favorite, I loved him since Kawase implied some words when the Minakami's route starts that Kawase does have feelings for Tama (like lying it was a joke he could only touch Tama or repeatingly asking will you (Tama) be this sad if I died.) I was so curious about Kawase's story although his attitude toward Tama during Minakami's route made me so confused and I almost fell for it to think Kawase is just a simmple bastard who has no conscience. But I also admit that Minakami's route is so beautiful. I love the part when the bgm changes into piano and Minakami starts to talk about reincarnation and the picture shows hallucinations of blue river in the background. That was really visually, aurally and by Minakami's words, beautiful. That's when I start loving this game. I saved the game particularly that part so I could repeat it again and again XD. I really hate Hanazawa's route too, I think I didn't find a single reviewer who like him lol

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    1. Yaaaa Kawase is the best!!!!!!!! I love him so much!!! He does love Tama but he doesn't show it as honestly.. that's just so charming of him.. I agree Minakami's route was also quite nice, but of course Kawase's is superior xDDDDDDdd And ya Hanazawa sucks man... can't imagine anyone liking him...

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  10. I think it's sooo cruel that after getting attached to minakami, kawase and hakase etc. (except hanazawa lol) Kaoru's route would reveal that everything is nothing but HIS OWN ILLUSION!?!?! i think i've gone crazy at that part and i just cried, and cried, and cried, and cried..... then i thought about tamamori and i just wanna do everything for him....

    Then I saw the comment saying they are alive in their own routes..!!!!!!

    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OKAY THATS ALL I GAVE TO SAY HAHAHAHAHAHA

    I ENJOYED READING YOUR REVIEW/SUMMARY <3 ~~~

    My #1 favorite would probably be Minakami and Kawase cant choose between them tbh lololol

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  11. Ok i take it back I put Kaoru, Minakami and Kawase on my top 1 list have a great day everyone HAHAHAHAHAH

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  12. Ah, nice Review!
    I think every Route was legit, I personally loved Kawase the most (because they had in my opinion the most healthy and processing dynamic), although Minakami and Tama are soulmates. I even liked Hanazawa, he acted wrong but he knew it and fair enough, from all of these characters he loved Tamamoris stories the most and actually lived them (fleed into them!), that's why I liked his ending as well. Life is not always about problem-solving and being too weak to continue to fight is just as alright.
    So originally the game intended to have Karous Route as its true end (it was also the only ending with the original title compared to all other routes). But it's nice how the producer made all routes valid somehow, so anyone can choose the one they liked. It's one of the best visual novels for sure, I loved and lived it so much!

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    1. Ya kawase was the BEST!!! BEST BOY!! I LOVE HIM!! He and Tama have a very good dynamic I feel.. yeah.. and their relationship was just very good.. lol you make some fair points about Hanazawa too, I can definitely see the appeal in how underneath all his cruel actions he still harbored deep feelings for Tama.. Ya overall this is such a good game! I always feel happy reminiscing about it ^^ Thanks for reading the review!

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  13. I just completed this game and love Kawase’s Route so much. I am so fascinated by the contradiction between his appearance and soul. He’s the character whose happiness I wish for the most. Besides his sufferings in his life, he had to struggle with the heavy memories taken from store owner. Therefore, he felt that he owned Minakami and Tama a lot and pushed Tama away from him over and over again. I love Tama in this route too. He’s so 男前and therefore he’s able to save his boy. I love the battle between Tama and Store owner when Tama protected Kawase behind him. And he jumped off the train to make Kawase realize he cared for him and take the Hashihime power back from Kawase. I like the complex feeling of Kawase. It’s a mix of jealousy, hate and helpless love.
    A lot of scenes in this game are beautiful. The scene when they were on boat and Kawase revealed his feeling for Tama is breath-taking. What’s more, the cast of Kawase has a good performance and even adds to him charm.
    Also, they after stories and short stories are really cute.

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    1. Yaaa I love Kawase so much!! He's definitely my favorite!! He's so complicated and that contradictory personality of his just makes me like him more... He's harsh towards Tama because he likes him... And likes him because he hates him!? Really love it. I agree that Tama is more interesting in Kawase's route too. I think since Kawase is so difficult, it pushes Tama to become more proactive which I found very cute. I was going to buy the switch port so I'm excited to experience his route again xD

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    2. I am gonna buy the switch port too. I played it in advance cuz I want to decide which bundle to buy. Now is definitely Kawase's. Yet I doubt whether I can stand the pain of playing the first route again. It makes me heartbroken to image Kawase's feeling when Tama exposed Kawase's crime to public in order to get Minakami's stuff. I will probably skip it and go directly into Kawase's.

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    3. Yea any time Kawase's hurt I'll be hurt too T_T I don't want anything bad happening to him... Haha honestly I don't care much about Minakami so I will probably skip through his route too xD

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  14. Hello from 2023 ! Thank you for the complete review of all routes. I stopped playing after finishing Kawase's route because he's THE GUY for me and I don't want to face the true end where he doesn't even exist *sobs* (and also bc I hate Hanazawa so I really wish I can skip him tbh). I'm still looking for his VA's other work because daym how can a man have that much sassiness in a voice?

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    1. Thanks for reading and commenting! Ya Hanazawa do kinda suck.. his route was the most boring iirc tho it's been a while so I've forgotten much. But one thing I will never forget... KAWASE BEST BOY!!! KAWASE SUPREMACY!!!!! KAWASE !!!!!!!!!11 He is defs the best

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  15. I'm so glad i came across this. I just finished hashihime and ngl i was pretty confused while playing but didn't want to replay it so this incredibly detailed summary helps a lot. Thank you for writing this!! My favs are minakami and kawase

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    1. Thanks for reading and leaving a comment! Ya it was a pretty confusing game... nice picks of faves though, I feel those two did have the more interesting dynamics with Tama since they were his childhood besties!

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