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alias_sqbrSo I do want to finish the Code Realize DLC, but keep putting it off. And thus instead...
From Cheritz, makers of Nameless (aka "The dating sim where a girl's dolls become cute boys") comes Dandelion (aka "The dating sim where a girl's pets become cute boys"). I have been reassured that this definitely isn't about bestiality.
And indeed, instead of "human dates non-sentient animals" it feels more like "loving female dom 'owns' cute furry boys". Which I am...ok with. In fact I'm really enjoying it so far asides from some issues with the stats raising.
Masterlist of Dandelion posts
CONTENT NOTE: Speculation on potential rape plots that don't actually happen
So all I really know going in is that the animals are actually sentient guys, the stat raising can be fiddly, and even the "good" the endings tend to be sad.
My worries going in:
-the animal or human forms would hit my bestiality/animal behaviour squick
-the dudes would be sexually creepy about being treated like non-sentient animals by an un-knowing girl
-I would be terrible at the stats raising
-the endings would break my heart
The first two were fine, the third has been mixed, and the fourth will be a FUN ADVENTURE FOR FUTURE ME.
So, let's get going!
Dandelion the first game Cheritz made, back in 2012, and while overall well made does look a bit cheaper than Nameless, with that distinctive "we used (the Korean equivalent of) Renpy and couldn't afford a fancy graphic designer" look.
It's also set in Busan, a city I know nothing about! (Nameless was deliberately vague about things like location and even surnames) I mean the only Korean city I know anything about is Seoul, and what I know is "it's the capital", so.
The heroine (whose name hasn't come up yet, but I didn't get to choose it) is a 21 year old business student, who moved to Busan from Seoul to get away from her mother after her parent's divorce. AN ADULT!! :D
She's still not sure what she wants to do with her life, but at least she has the company of those 5 wonderful animals...
Opening Credits!!
(WAIT. REWATCHING THAT ON MY EDITING PASS, WAS THAT A SECRET LI??? OOH)
And now she's talking about how lonely her house is, I guess this is set before the animals arrive?? Anyway she works very hard to get A+'s (and apparently even in college needs to attend a cram school to get her English scores high enough?), and goes to art club, but feels like she's still living the empty, meaningless life her mother pressured her into.
Ooh, this shitty mother gets a sprite!
A cheerful male voice says "I'm not interested in seeing you suffer so little. You should be hurt- so much that you'd want to cry. What expression will you wear when you see me? I'm dying to find out. Now, let the game begin..."
Uh.
Ok then!
The heroine is woken by the sound of meowing, and there on her floor is...
SHE'S VOICED???
It's a nice voice, a little on the deep side. Maybe I'm just used to anime.
She calls the police to report an intruder but since there's no sign of a break-in they're not fussed, though they do organise for people from an animal shelter to come tomorrow.
In the mean-time I get to look at the animals! Names added when I found them out later.
Brown spotted rabbit (Jiwoo): Stand-offish. "Doesn't look like a Korean breed". Ok I am pretty sure pet rabbits don't vary that much between countries, so I'm guessing this is a reference to the dude's ethnicity, which is a little on the nose.
White baby rabbit (Jieun): Acts like the big silver rabbit is it's mom?? Ah, Cheritz and your mommy issues, never change.
"Silver" rabbit (Jihae): "What an unusual colour!" IT'S GREY
Orange kitten (Jiyeon): "So cute!"
Black cat (Jisoo): "Looks like he has something to say..."
Black cat: I'm hungry
Heroine: Wait what
Black cat, sounding like a human man doing a cat impression: ...meow.
She feeds them...LETTUCE AND BREAD???
Black cat: Meow! (translation: I AM AN OBLIGATE CARNIVORE)
Heroine: Heehee these animals are so funny. It feels like ages since I laughed.
Flashback:
Heroine: Look daddy I made this doughnut! Maybe I should run a doughnut shop when I grow up!
Dad: Yes, you can do anything!
Mum: NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
A friendly but badly drawn guy in glasses greets the heroine as she enters art class: her name is Heejung! And his name is Heejae which is going to confuse me (also he's a polite underclassman so I am totally going to ship them unless he turns out to be a creepy stalker or something). Though if I'm reading the options screen correctly EVERY LOVE INTEREST has a name starting with Ji. I guess that's a reference to something?? Maybe they're brothers??
Heejung attempts to load off the animals onto Heejae so she can "get back to a normal life" but he has allergies. And hmm, he definitely has a thing for her...
Aw apparently cats are considered bad luck in Korea and nobody adopts rabbits from shelters.
Heejung: They'll be killed? What right have humans to decide that? There's no justice in this world!
(heh I was thinking "none of the Koreans I know have ever expressed an issue with cats" but they're mostly in-laws and thus meeting me surrounded by members of my aggressively cat-person family)
Heejung imagines what it would like to be an abandoned pet, your future decided by someone who won't listen when you try to talk... *mother sprite appears*
Heejung cancels the animal shelter pickup, saying "I am not my mother". *continues to suspect that someone at Cheritz deep down wants to be writing weird mommy kink yuri*
Ok Heejae definitely isn't saying "Heejung", but something like "sumbay". I wonder what it means, maybe "senior"/"senpai"? (EDIT: yep, seonbae=senior)
She says she'll be cutting down art club hours to take care of the animals, and Heejae says "But nothing will be done without you!". Wow, screw you Heejae.
Heejung: I have kids to feed. I'm not sure I'll have time for English cram school either.
Sorry, Heejung >.>
Heejae: But you need good English scores to get a job at a big company!
Heejung: Do I even want that? I had a dream job when I was young. But can I still dream like that? At this age?
Honey you are 21 not 71 :(
Heejung: I'm unhappy. But if I drop everything in my life, I feel like I won't remember how to live at all...
TIME FOR MY FIRST TIME MANAGEMENT CHOICE
A overworked, directionless, ahedonistic depressive is certainly A Choice for the protagonist of a time management sim. I just want to let the poor girl sleep.
Uh. TWO for gender stuff, TWO for stress, and none for academics?? OK THEN.
Weekend options: Stay home, go to work, go out (not available for the first two weeks)
I can also see the points score for each pet. WHICH IS KINDA WEIRD WHEN I THINK OF IT AS A DATING SIM POINTS THING, but hey.
I think I'm going to pursue cute lil baby bunny Jieun. And almost certainly screw it up, I've heard this game is kinda merciless, but that's ok.
But for now I'm going to go earn some money. Aw there was no introduction to her job/boss! But apparently she works at an art gallery (with some VERY LAZY photoshop filtered "art")
Huhhh. So for Sunday I chose to stay home, and went to the bedroom since that's where the map said Jieun is. But my only options now I'm in the room are to "rest", "study", or "sketch", with a bunch of others locked for now.
Since Heejung apparently HAS NO ACADEMICS STAT, I guess I'll sketch. Her art went up but also her...heart gauge?? I noticed that next to her sprite, is that...happiness? It also increased "pressure", maybe that's like...anti-academics?
Is this about a depressed business major learning to find love and become an artist?? I would be so here for that.
She has her first afternoon resting at home doing nothing in basically forever, surprised to find herself not feeling anxious about doing nothing. The animals come in to keep her company and she ponders how weirdly well behaved they are, even if it's a little weird how they're always following and watching her ahahaha.
Oh, the stats have info if you mouse over them. "Femininity reflects care for animals"??? "Beauty reflects inner and outer beauty" with no info on how to raise it, I am currently at zero lol. And yeah, pressure is relieved by doing study.
Huuh, I followed Jieun to the lounge today and once again have no option to hang out with him, but there's rest and study options here too. Maybe you raise the same stats in every room?
BUT WAIT I ENCOUNTERED JIYEON THE KITTEN WHEN I RESTED. So I just picked the wrong option to hang with Jieun?? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH ONE WAS RIGHT???
Yeah, I am super doomed. Oh well.
I don't get to choose what Heejung does during the day, which was school one day and art club the next. This is a very unintuitive management sim, I can see why Cheritz gave up the genre.
Jiyeon blushed when Heejung smiled at him, and then played with the tv remote in a way she found very cute. This is a very odd dating sim dynamic.
I did EXACTLY the same thing three days in a row when Jieun was on the balcony and got three different results?? Only one of which was a (very short, unvoiced) scene with him??
Stress dream! MUST GET GOOD GRADES MUST HAVE HOBBIES MUST MAINTAIN FRIENDSHIPS MUST BE THIN. MUST BE FIRST.
Heejung wakes, crying, and thinks about how alone she is. But then the "gentle silver rabbit", Jihae, shows up at her door.
*finds self wondering if the silver rabbit is a rapist, since gentle dudes generally are. OTOME*
For the first time in her life, Heejung feels like she can cry in front of someone else, and get comfort.
Heejung is "waiting to find the right person to adopt the pets" but in the meantime chooses the names. So she just made them nearly identical for no reason??
Heejun: Are the names too similar? Ah well, they're just animals.
HEEJUNG. WHY.
Also does this mean they didn't already have names, or they do, but will just stick with the ones she chose anyway???
She decides to take the animals on a picnic? And packs cabbages, carrots, and milk? PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE BEEN FEEDING THESE CATS MEAT, HEEJUNG. And it's a good thing they're magical sentient rabbits, pretty sure taking the regular sort on a picnic is a Bad Idea.
Heejung drank too much at a party and Heejae is walking her home. "It's not a good idea for a girl to drink too much" yeah screw you Heejae. Non-romanceable "nice" guys in het romance tend to be revealed as villains, so I hope he's not about to be super creepy D:
Haa he certainly looked like he was open to a drunken hookup but she just sleepily closed the door in his face, oblivious.
Dark Blue voice: Is she ok?
Red voice (Jisoo?): Who cares? She has the scent of strangers all over her.
Light blue voice (Jieun?): I don't like the smell of unfamiliar humans.
Orange voice (Jiyeon?): She forgot to feed us! I'm hungry!
Red voice: So am I!
Green voice (Jiwoo?): Look in the fridge then, lazy cat.
Which I guess makes Dark Blue Jihae.
Jieun: Put me to bed, Eddie.
me: Wait what
Jisoo: Urgh how much longer do we have to stay like this?? All I can say is "meow"!
WHOA I thought I was going well on art etc but I just hit level 2 and got set back to zero. How many levels are there? /o\
Oooh but I can go out on a date! With one of my pets! OK SURE.
I can choose from what looks like uni, a park, the beach, or the house. Jieun's neurotic so let's pick...park?
haaa and right then my irl pet came and tapped me on the arm with a piteous miaow. WHY ARE YOU GOING ON DATES WITH A RABBIT, HUMAN???
That was kind of cute in a going on a date with a baby rabbit sort of way, but it's nearly the end of June, when will she actually get to meet these guys as guys??
OH. THERE'S A STORE I CAN SPEND MONEY AT. I WAS WONDERING ABOUT THAT. *is so bad at this game* There's a regular shop and a bookshop, both with a combo of gifts and stat raising items.
Translator, "It's like eating leftover Thanksgiving food five days in a row" is maybe not the most culturally sensitive way to get across whatever she just said in Korean. (EDIT: turns out Americans call their autumn festival "Korean Thanksgiving" which...ehh...)
Jisoo passive aggressively bugs her to buy fancy cat food. I suspect I won't like him as a guy but the way he barely pretends to be a cat is amusing.
Purple voice (the wizard??): Fool yourself into thinking you've escaped your loneliness, and I will bring you back to reality. Sleep well, my heroine...
(The Wizard is a morally ambiguous background character from Nameless who vaguely referred to his past in Nameless in a way that made me suspect he showed up in Dandelion)
Wondering why Jiwoo is always so shy, Heejung hunts him down and forcibly cuddles him, coo-ing over his cute little pink paws until he PASSES OUT.
Jiwoo, muttering under his breath: I'm going to kill you...
That night he says if "the owner" tries it again he'll bite her.
Jisoo: Hurting the Foodgiver is against the rules.
Jieun: Eddie, the cats are too loud.
Jisoo: Don't discriminate against other species!
Jiyeon: That gloomy rabbit's hard to get attitude sure got him some lovin' from the owner lol
And then Jieun says "It's not time for her to make a choice yet. We shouldn't be impatient."
Jisoo: How were we supposed to know she's so busy. I thought she was some kind of recluse, since he likes her and all. I was expecting someone twisted but she's actually normal.
Jieun: She hides great sorrow.
Jiyeon: She seems too normal to be the game's target.
Jisoo: Maybe the wizard chose the wrong person by mistake.
I KNEW IT WAS THE WIZARD
Ooh is he going to offer her the same deal as in Nameless? ...I forget what that deal was. Memories to get a wish granted, maybe?
The choice screen says things like "Notice: Heejung is thinking about the glossiness of the pets' hair"
As my points go up with each LI, I have the option of more actions when I interact with them. Right now with Jieun I have "stare", "observe", "get close", and "pat". I took him to the beach, and Heejung thought she'd lost him but he'd just fallen asleep in her bag. Then I had a weird minigame gathering...dust?? With a magnet???
Aww and then the next day he brought her a dandelion.
Exams are over and I didn't have to do an exam! Except for the whole game being like one long test for a subject I don't understand...
Heejung goes to karaoke with the art club but is too shy to sing, and keeps thinking of things she should be doing. She wonders if it's even possible for her to be happy. She has flashbacks to her mother telling her she can have fun when she's done studying, and to stop wasting time with art.
Heejung comes home and relaxes with her pets and a can of beer. Now she is happy.
It is the 24th of July and Heejung just realised cats are carnivores, lol. WHAT IF THEY EAT THE RABBITS.
She rushes home and finds...Jiyeon licking something red off his lips? And Jiyeon lying bleeding on the floor???
And then...
Later...
Jisoo: Ha, I guess even a show-off noble like you can't resist a bath when you're in your animal form.
Jieun: Eddie, my skin is prickling
Jihae: You're the one who played with food, Young Master
IS JIHAE A RABBIT BUTLER
They speculate whether Heejung will kick them out when they go "back to their real selves". Jiyeon refers to Jiwoo as a "rich person", I guess there's some rabbit/cat class divide.
Jiwoo: What would you know about how the real world works?
Jisoo: Is that why fish imported from your country is so expensive?
...or they're from different countries???
A photographer rings up with a modelling job...for Jihae.
A rabbit modelling job. Sure.
Haha and then the photographer tries to persuade Heejung to get him a "rabbit girlfriend" to pass on his AMAZING SILVER COLOURING.
Heejung: Uh...WE'RE LEAVING NOW MY RABBIT ISN'T READY FOR THIS
(it's not clear how Jihae feels on the subject)
She takes him home and tells him he's pretty, glad she's the only one who gets to touch him. "Maybe the lady rabbits of this world are jealous of me". OK THEN, HEEJUNG.
...so I was telling a friend about the rabbit butler's side career as a rabbit model and she pointed out that silver rabbits are actually a thing. FINE. Though Jihae isn't drawn to resemble one. But I guess he's a MAGIC silver rabbit.
Aww so a "university" date meant taking Jieun to the art club and him watching while she painted a picture. And now the final action has unlocked: "interact"! It failed miserably and I think I lost points D:
Heejae gives Heejung some food "his mother bought too much of", not for the first time, and persuades her to feed the chestnut shells to her pets. So she makes up a salad bowl of vegetables, chestnut shells, yogurt, and aloe juice?? HEEJUNG. NO.
Jisoo and Jiwoo get sick (NO SHIT) and Jiwoo says "Oy vey! Stupid owner!" OK I AM SEEING HIM AS JEWISH NOW AND NOONE CAN STOP ME.
Jieun was fine cos he only ate apples.
Heejung takes them to the beach, and remembers the one time she went with her parents. Her dad promised to take her again, but then...she never spent time with him again.
She wonders what the pets would look like as humans, and how it would feel to talk to them. Would she feels as comfortable as she does now?
I just got the option to give Jiyeon an orange and he liked it? HAVE THESE WRITERS EVER ACTUALLY MET A CAT.
Oh god, we're reaching the end of August, I have had THREE SOLID MONTHS of DAILY STATS RAISING and DATES WITH ANIMALS. PLEASE let the common route be over soon...
Summer holidays are nearly over and the second semester of senior year is about to begin. But Heejung is planning on taking on insufficient credits to graduate, because she doesn't know what she wants to do and "college student" sounds better than "unemployed". She's afraid she'll be rejected by her mom, society, and eventually be left alone.
Wizard: You've made your decision. The climax of the game is about to begin...
AND THEN THE LOADING SCREEN IS HUMAN!JIEUN. THANK GOD
So yeah. Bits of that dragged but overall I'm enjoying it! As I edit this post I'm nearing the end of Jieun's route and it's good! A little weird, but...I'm playing catboy otome. Weird was a given.
From Cheritz, makers of Nameless (aka "The dating sim where a girl's dolls become cute boys") comes Dandelion (aka "The dating sim where a girl's pets become cute boys"). I have been reassured that this definitely isn't about bestiality.
And indeed, instead of "human dates non-sentient animals" it feels more like "loving female dom 'owns' cute furry boys". Which I am...ok with. In fact I'm really enjoying it so far asides from some issues with the stats raising.
Masterlist of Dandelion posts
CONTENT NOTE: Speculation on potential rape plots that don't actually happen
So all I really know going in is that the animals are actually sentient guys, the stat raising can be fiddly, and even the "good" the endings tend to be sad.
My worries going in:
-the animal or human forms would hit my bestiality/animal behaviour squick
-the dudes would be sexually creepy about being treated like non-sentient animals by an un-knowing girl
-I would be terrible at the stats raising
-the endings would break my heart
The first two were fine, the third has been mixed, and the fourth will be a FUN ADVENTURE FOR FUTURE ME.
So, let's get going!
Dandelion the first game Cheritz made, back in 2012, and while overall well made does look a bit cheaper than Nameless, with that distinctive "we used (the Korean equivalent of) Renpy and couldn't afford a fancy graphic designer" look.
It's also set in Busan, a city I know nothing about! (Nameless was deliberately vague about things like location and even surnames) I mean the only Korean city I know anything about is Seoul, and what I know is "it's the capital", so.
The heroine (whose name hasn't come up yet, but I didn't get to choose it) is a 21 year old business student, who moved to Busan from Seoul to get away from her mother after her parent's divorce. AN ADULT!! :D
She's still not sure what she wants to do with her life, but at least she has the company of those 5 wonderful animals...
Opening Credits!!
(WAIT. REWATCHING THAT ON MY EDITING PASS, WAS THAT A SECRET LI??? OOH)
And now she's talking about how lonely her house is, I guess this is set before the animals arrive?? Anyway she works very hard to get A+'s (and apparently even in college needs to attend a cram school to get her English scores high enough?), and goes to art club, but feels like she's still living the empty, meaningless life her mother pressured her into.
Ooh, this shitty mother gets a sprite!
A cheerful male voice says "I'm not interested in seeing you suffer so little. You should be hurt- so much that you'd want to cry. What expression will you wear when you see me? I'm dying to find out. Now, let the game begin..."
Uh.
Ok then!
The heroine is woken by the sound of meowing, and there on her floor is...
SHE'S VOICED???
It's a nice voice, a little on the deep side. Maybe I'm just used to anime.
She calls the police to report an intruder but since there's no sign of a break-in they're not fussed, though they do organise for people from an animal shelter to come tomorrow.
In the mean-time I get to look at the animals! Names added when I found them out later.
Brown spotted rabbit (Jiwoo): Stand-offish. "Doesn't look like a Korean breed". Ok I am pretty sure pet rabbits don't vary that much between countries, so I'm guessing this is a reference to the dude's ethnicity, which is a little on the nose.
White baby rabbit (Jieun): Acts like the big silver rabbit is it's mom?? Ah, Cheritz and your mommy issues, never change.
"Silver" rabbit (Jihae): "What an unusual colour!" IT'S GREY
Orange kitten (Jiyeon): "So cute!"
Black cat (Jisoo): "Looks like he has something to say..."
Black cat: I'm hungry
Heroine: Wait what
Black cat, sounding like a human man doing a cat impression: ...meow.
She feeds them...LETTUCE AND BREAD???
Black cat: Meow! (translation: I AM AN OBLIGATE CARNIVORE)
Heroine: Heehee these animals are so funny. It feels like ages since I laughed.
Flashback:
Heroine: Look daddy I made this doughnut! Maybe I should run a doughnut shop when I grow up!
Dad: Yes, you can do anything!
Mum: NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
A friendly but badly drawn guy in glasses greets the heroine as she enters art class: her name is Heejung! And his name is Heejae which is going to confuse me (also he's a polite underclassman so I am totally going to ship them unless he turns out to be a creepy stalker or something). Though if I'm reading the options screen correctly EVERY LOVE INTEREST has a name starting with Ji. I guess that's a reference to something?? Maybe they're brothers??
Heejung attempts to load off the animals onto Heejae so she can "get back to a normal life" but he has allergies. And hmm, he definitely has a thing for her...
Aw apparently cats are considered bad luck in Korea and nobody adopts rabbits from shelters.
Heejung: They'll be killed? What right have humans to decide that? There's no justice in this world!
(heh I was thinking "none of the Koreans I know have ever expressed an issue with cats" but they're mostly in-laws and thus meeting me surrounded by members of my aggressively cat-person family)
Heejung imagines what it would like to be an abandoned pet, your future decided by someone who won't listen when you try to talk... *mother sprite appears*
Heejung cancels the animal shelter pickup, saying "I am not my mother". *continues to suspect that someone at Cheritz deep down wants to be writing weird mommy kink yuri*
Ok Heejae definitely isn't saying "Heejung", but something like "sumbay". I wonder what it means, maybe "senior"/"senpai"? (EDIT: yep, seonbae=senior)
She says she'll be cutting down art club hours to take care of the animals, and Heejae says "But nothing will be done without you!". Wow, screw you Heejae.
Heejung: I have kids to feed. I'm not sure I'll have time for English cram school either.
Sorry, Heejung >.>
Heejae: But you need good English scores to get a job at a big company!
Heejung: Do I even want that? I had a dream job when I was young. But can I still dream like that? At this age?
Honey you are 21 not 71 :(
Heejung: I'm unhappy. But if I drop everything in my life, I feel like I won't remember how to live at all...
TIME FOR MY FIRST TIME MANAGEMENT CHOICE
A overworked, directionless, ahedonistic depressive is certainly A Choice for the protagonist of a time management sim. I just want to let the poor girl sleep.
Uh. TWO for gender stuff, TWO for stress, and none for academics?? OK THEN.
Weekend options: Stay home, go to work, go out (not available for the first two weeks)
I can also see the points score for each pet. WHICH IS KINDA WEIRD WHEN I THINK OF IT AS A DATING SIM POINTS THING, but hey.
I think I'm going to pursue cute lil baby bunny Jieun. And almost certainly screw it up, I've heard this game is kinda merciless, but that's ok.
But for now I'm going to go earn some money. Aw there was no introduction to her job/boss! But apparently she works at an art gallery (with some VERY LAZY photoshop filtered "art")
Huhhh. So for Sunday I chose to stay home, and went to the bedroom since that's where the map said Jieun is. But my only options now I'm in the room are to "rest", "study", or "sketch", with a bunch of others locked for now.
Since Heejung apparently HAS NO ACADEMICS STAT, I guess I'll sketch. Her art went up but also her...heart gauge?? I noticed that next to her sprite, is that...happiness? It also increased "pressure", maybe that's like...anti-academics?
Is this about a depressed business major learning to find love and become an artist?? I would be so here for that.
She has her first afternoon resting at home doing nothing in basically forever, surprised to find herself not feeling anxious about doing nothing. The animals come in to keep her company and she ponders how weirdly well behaved they are, even if it's a little weird how they're always following and watching her ahahaha.
Oh, the stats have info if you mouse over them. "Femininity reflects care for animals"??? "Beauty reflects inner and outer beauty" with no info on how to raise it, I am currently at zero lol. And yeah, pressure is relieved by doing study.
Huuh, I followed Jieun to the lounge today and once again have no option to hang out with him, but there's rest and study options here too. Maybe you raise the same stats in every room?
BUT WAIT I ENCOUNTERED JIYEON THE KITTEN WHEN I RESTED. So I just picked the wrong option to hang with Jieun?? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH ONE WAS RIGHT???
Yeah, I am super doomed. Oh well.
I don't get to choose what Heejung does during the day, which was school one day and art club the next. This is a very unintuitive management sim, I can see why Cheritz gave up the genre.
Jiyeon blushed when Heejung smiled at him, and then played with the tv remote in a way she found very cute. This is a very odd dating sim dynamic.
I did EXACTLY the same thing three days in a row when Jieun was on the balcony and got three different results?? Only one of which was a (very short, unvoiced) scene with him??
Stress dream! MUST GET GOOD GRADES MUST HAVE HOBBIES MUST MAINTAIN FRIENDSHIPS MUST BE THIN. MUST BE FIRST.
Heejung wakes, crying, and thinks about how alone she is. But then the "gentle silver rabbit", Jihae, shows up at her door.
*finds self wondering if the silver rabbit is a rapist, since gentle dudes generally are. OTOME*
For the first time in her life, Heejung feels like she can cry in front of someone else, and get comfort.
Heejung is "waiting to find the right person to adopt the pets" but in the meantime chooses the names. So she just made them nearly identical for no reason??
Heejun: Are the names too similar? Ah well, they're just animals.
HEEJUNG. WHY.
Also does this mean they didn't already have names, or they do, but will just stick with the ones she chose anyway???
She decides to take the animals on a picnic? And packs cabbages, carrots, and milk? PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE BEEN FEEDING THESE CATS MEAT, HEEJUNG. And it's a good thing they're magical sentient rabbits, pretty sure taking the regular sort on a picnic is a Bad Idea.
Heejung drank too much at a party and Heejae is walking her home. "It's not a good idea for a girl to drink too much" yeah screw you Heejae. Non-romanceable "nice" guys in het romance tend to be revealed as villains, so I hope he's not about to be super creepy D:
Haa he certainly looked like he was open to a drunken hookup but she just sleepily closed the door in his face, oblivious.
Dark Blue voice: Is she ok?
Red voice (Jisoo?): Who cares? She has the scent of strangers all over her.
Light blue voice (Jieun?): I don't like the smell of unfamiliar humans.
Orange voice (Jiyeon?): She forgot to feed us! I'm hungry!
Red voice: So am I!
Green voice (Jiwoo?): Look in the fridge then, lazy cat.
Which I guess makes Dark Blue Jihae.
Jieun: Put me to bed, Eddie.
me: Wait what
Jisoo: Urgh how much longer do we have to stay like this?? All I can say is "meow"!
WHOA I thought I was going well on art etc but I just hit level 2 and got set back to zero. How many levels are there? /o\
Oooh but I can go out on a date! With one of my pets! OK SURE.
I can choose from what looks like uni, a park, the beach, or the house. Jieun's neurotic so let's pick...park?
haaa and right then my irl pet came and tapped me on the arm with a piteous miaow. WHY ARE YOU GOING ON DATES WITH A RABBIT, HUMAN???
That was kind of cute in a going on a date with a baby rabbit sort of way, but it's nearly the end of June, when will she actually get to meet these guys as guys??
OH. THERE'S A STORE I CAN SPEND MONEY AT. I WAS WONDERING ABOUT THAT. *is so bad at this game* There's a regular shop and a bookshop, both with a combo of gifts and stat raising items.
Translator, "It's like eating leftover Thanksgiving food five days in a row" is maybe not the most culturally sensitive way to get across whatever she just said in Korean. (EDIT: turns out Americans call their autumn festival "Korean Thanksgiving" which...ehh...)
Jisoo passive aggressively bugs her to buy fancy cat food. I suspect I won't like him as a guy but the way he barely pretends to be a cat is amusing.
Purple voice (the wizard??): Fool yourself into thinking you've escaped your loneliness, and I will bring you back to reality. Sleep well, my heroine...
(The Wizard is a morally ambiguous background character from Nameless who vaguely referred to his past in Nameless in a way that made me suspect he showed up in Dandelion)
Wondering why Jiwoo is always so shy, Heejung hunts him down and forcibly cuddles him, coo-ing over his cute little pink paws until he PASSES OUT.
Jiwoo, muttering under his breath: I'm going to kill you...
That night he says if "the owner" tries it again he'll bite her.
Jisoo: Hurting the Foodgiver is against the rules.
Jieun: Eddie, the cats are too loud.
Jisoo: Don't discriminate against other species!
Jiyeon: That gloomy rabbit's hard to get attitude sure got him some lovin' from the owner lol
And then Jieun says "It's not time for her to make a choice yet. We shouldn't be impatient."
Jisoo: How were we supposed to know she's so busy. I thought she was some kind of recluse, since he likes her and all. I was expecting someone twisted but she's actually normal.
Jieun: She hides great sorrow.
Jiyeon: She seems too normal to be the game's target.
Jisoo: Maybe the wizard chose the wrong person by mistake.
I KNEW IT WAS THE WIZARD
Ooh is he going to offer her the same deal as in Nameless? ...I forget what that deal was. Memories to get a wish granted, maybe?
The choice screen says things like "Notice: Heejung is thinking about the glossiness of the pets' hair"
As my points go up with each LI, I have the option of more actions when I interact with them. Right now with Jieun I have "stare", "observe", "get close", and "pat". I took him to the beach, and Heejung thought she'd lost him but he'd just fallen asleep in her bag. Then I had a weird minigame gathering...dust?? With a magnet???
Aww and then the next day he brought her a dandelion.
Exams are over and I didn't have to do an exam! Except for the whole game being like one long test for a subject I don't understand...
Heejung goes to karaoke with the art club but is too shy to sing, and keeps thinking of things she should be doing. She wonders if it's even possible for her to be happy. She has flashbacks to her mother telling her she can have fun when she's done studying, and to stop wasting time with art.
Heejung comes home and relaxes with her pets and a can of beer. Now she is happy.
It is the 24th of July and Heejung just realised cats are carnivores, lol. WHAT IF THEY EAT THE RABBITS.
She rushes home and finds...Jiyeon licking something red off his lips? And Jiyeon lying bleeding on the floor???
And then...
Later...
Jisoo: Ha, I guess even a show-off noble like you can't resist a bath when you're in your animal form.
Jieun: Eddie, my skin is prickling
Jihae: You're the one who played with food, Young Master
IS JIHAE A RABBIT BUTLER
They speculate whether Heejung will kick them out when they go "back to their real selves". Jiyeon refers to Jiwoo as a "rich person", I guess there's some rabbit/cat class divide.
Jiwoo: What would you know about how the real world works?
Jisoo: Is that why fish imported from your country is so expensive?
...or they're from different countries???
A photographer rings up with a modelling job...for Jihae.
A rabbit modelling job. Sure.
Haha and then the photographer tries to persuade Heejung to get him a "rabbit girlfriend" to pass on his AMAZING SILVER COLOURING.
Heejung: Uh...WE'RE LEAVING NOW MY RABBIT ISN'T READY FOR THIS
(it's not clear how Jihae feels on the subject)
She takes him home and tells him he's pretty, glad she's the only one who gets to touch him. "Maybe the lady rabbits of this world are jealous of me". OK THEN, HEEJUNG.
...so I was telling a friend about the rabbit butler's side career as a rabbit model and she pointed out that silver rabbits are actually a thing. FINE. Though Jihae isn't drawn to resemble one. But I guess he's a MAGIC silver rabbit.
Aww so a "university" date meant taking Jieun to the art club and him watching while she painted a picture. And now the final action has unlocked: "interact"! It failed miserably and I think I lost points D:
Heejae gives Heejung some food "his mother bought too much of", not for the first time, and persuades her to feed the chestnut shells to her pets. So she makes up a salad bowl of vegetables, chestnut shells, yogurt, and aloe juice?? HEEJUNG. NO.
Jisoo and Jiwoo get sick (NO SHIT) and Jiwoo says "Oy vey! Stupid owner!" OK I AM SEEING HIM AS JEWISH NOW AND NOONE CAN STOP ME.
Jieun was fine cos he only ate apples.
Heejung takes them to the beach, and remembers the one time she went with her parents. Her dad promised to take her again, but then...she never spent time with him again.
She wonders what the pets would look like as humans, and how it would feel to talk to them. Would she feels as comfortable as she does now?
I just got the option to give Jiyeon an orange and he liked it? HAVE THESE WRITERS EVER ACTUALLY MET A CAT.
Oh god, we're reaching the end of August, I have had THREE SOLID MONTHS of DAILY STATS RAISING and DATES WITH ANIMALS. PLEASE let the common route be over soon...
Summer holidays are nearly over and the second semester of senior year is about to begin. But Heejung is planning on taking on insufficient credits to graduate, because she doesn't know what she wants to do and "college student" sounds better than "unemployed". She's afraid she'll be rejected by her mom, society, and eventually be left alone.
Wizard: You've made your decision. The climax of the game is about to begin...
AND THEN THE LOADING SCREEN IS HUMAN!JIEUN. THANK GOD
So yeah. Bits of that dragged but overall I'm enjoying it! As I edit this post I'm nearing the end of Jieun's route and it's good! A little weird, but...I'm playing catboy otome. Weird was a given.
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Date: 2019-02-19 07:48 am (UTC)The stat-raising is pretty much a chore ... otoh, the pressure stat speaks to me, like, a lot. Poor Heejung. She starts off so down ;;
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Date: 2019-02-21 02:20 pm (UTC)I AM. AND IT'S GREAT.
Yeah, the way academics is just a drain she has to manage with no benefit is certainly...something.
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Date: 2021-09-01 11:03 pm (UTC)Korean families tend to have generational names as part of their first name, so that siblings of the same gender tend to share a syllable of their names
More info here
so basically she'd named them as if they were all siblings.
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Date: 2021-09-03 07:35 am (UTC)Thank you, if I ever knew that I'd forgotten! I did find out that 'Ji' means 'grass'.
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Date: 2021-09-03 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-06 06:31 am (UTC)Earth as in the planet? That would make sense in context. Also it's funny, I didn't know what hana were then had a long conversation about them, and their place in translation (in this case of Chinese novels into Korean), shortly before I got your comment. I guess these things happen all at once :)
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Date: 2021-09-07 12:15 pm (UTC)Okay so I looked it up and between here and here, looks like it's the same one, but "Jigu" translates to "ground ball".
Btw have a bunch of other hanja that can also be pronounced "Ji".
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Date: 2021-09-20 01:31 pm (UTC)Thanks, that's interesting!
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Date: 2021-09-20 07:07 pm (UTC)