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alias_sqbrMasterlist of links and Character Guide
The plot thickens!
***
Yukina spends a surprising amount of time doing chores like cooking and chopping firewood. Do they not have servants for that sort of thing?
The princess has been unconscious for six months and war looms ever closer.
Ah, I'd been wondering who's running the Elders' villages: Elder Shiomi left his son in charge. But who's running Yukina's village?
Shiomi talks about how Yukina is like a granddaughter to him and how it would be nice if she became his real granddaughter by marrying one of his grandsons.
Shiomi: But the important thing is how you feel, my dear.
Yukina: Do I really have to become someone's wife? I can't imagine it.
After pondering it some more he says she'd be wasted on one of his grandsons and deserves someone better, aww.
Man some of these plot points were very obviously originally written as multi-choice and then the writers just cut it down to the pro-Kazuya choice, making it flow very oddly.
...and then my cold got worse and I have no memory of what I read in my fever addled state. Uh...I vaguely recall Elder Shiomi and Yukina were investigating...something important??
THE TEXT HISTORY COVERS STUFF FROM BEFORE MY LAST SAVE. THANK GOODNESS.
So! Yukina and Elder Shiomi are in Fushimi, looking for Kazuya after he left with no word.
Yukina sees Kazuya and Ieyasu leaving Ieyasu's estate. She follows them to another mansion, where they find...Chitose! Meeting with a human bigwig from his home province!
OH, I SEE, CHITOSE. IT'S OK WHEN YOU DO IT.
Kazuya: So you're helping the Shimazu family.
Chitose: I'm not helping them! I just happen to know them, and was asking what their plans are...
Yukina: But you have been associating with humans. And then accusing any other demon who does so of being a traitor.
Chitose: >.>
Kazuya: You say you're just checking up on old friends? Well, the same could be said of me and Ieyasu.
Chitose: He MURDERED HIS OWN WIFE AND CHILD, you really want to be friends with this guy?
Kazuya: >:(
Yoshihiro Shimazu POV! NO, I DON'T KNOW WHO THAT IS EITHER.
(I mean, from context it's Chitose's human friend, but he was never actually introduced by name)
Yoshihiro and Ieyasu are discussing political stuff that kind of goes over my head. I'm glad I put off playing this again until I was mostly over my cold /o\
Yoshihiro: Lord Minister of the Interior, with all due respect...after seeing the way you've treated the other daimyos (lords), I cannot help but wonder...am I next?
Ieyasu: Let me ask you something instead: do you think the ruling council will last until his Highness comes of age?
Yoshihiro has to admit it seems unlikely.
Ieyasu: Someone has to take control in his Highness's place. And the only person capable of doing that is me. I am hoping to make this war the final war.
Yoshihiro is nominally onside, but lacks troops. Ieyasu tells him to be ready for any trouble while the rest of the troops are in Aizu, as if he expects something to happen.
It feels a little uncomfortable seeing the invasion of Korea just framed as this inconvenient thing that uses up troops, but it was four hundred years ago.
Kazuya: Someone's following us. You take Ieyasu home while I investigate.
Yukina: (Guard a human? Ew D:) Ok :/
Phew,deborah_judge warned me about some dizzying POV shifts and she was right. Anyway, it's time for Kazuya's POV !
Sadly the inside of his head is all business, focussed more on figuring out why he's being followed than pining after Yukina. SHE'S GUARDING YOUR ICKY HUMAN BUDDY FOR YOU, KAZUYA, APPRECIATE HER MORE.
Kazuya: Ha! Got you!
Masked man dressed like the unbeatably powerful bad guy: Please don't hurt me D:
The man claims to be a demon working for the Shimaza family "like Chitose", and says Kazuya should too. And then...vanishes in a burst of gunpowder?
Back to Yukina's POV!
Ieyasu: You demons are all so naive...you remind me of Kazuya.
Yukina: Better than being a gross human >:P
Ieyasu: It was that attitude that led to Masamune Date taking someone from Kazuya's village hostage.
Yukina: !!!
Ieyasu: Don't worry, his village is safe now. Thanks to me.
Yukina" ??!
The name Masamune Date seems familiar...ok, he was some powerful lord. He had one eye, was sympathetic to Christianity, and seems to be in the same dating sims as Ieyasu and Nobunaga so you know he's important.
Kazuya arrives, and Ieyasu says the demons should return to their village. "This is a war between humans...you demons should not willingly involve yourselves."
Yukina asks Kazuya why he didn't ask the other demons for help when his clansman was kidnapped.
Kazuya: They'd have told us to just leave the land we worked so hard to find for ourselves. It wasn't other demons that saved us, it was Ieyasu's power.
And he leaves, saying that if he gets expelled from the Ten Demon Alliance, so be it.
Chitose and Kazutake are also off with their respective humans. Shin turns out to have one too, some human House his clan has ties to that I'm guessing get fleshed out if you pay any attention to him.
I'm guessing Senkimaru has one too but we will see.
HMMMM should I tell the other demons about Kazuya's motivations for working with Ieyasu? My gut says yes.
End of Chapter 5
With war on the horizon and half the council missing, the Elders decide to retreat behind the barrier until the fighting dies down.
Yukina wants to try one more time to try and bring the missing council members back. But she only has time to go after one of them. HMMMM LET ME THINK...haha and the game chose Kazuya for me.
End of Chapter 6
ALREADY? I wonder if this is the start of the Kazuya path proper.
Yukina looks for Kazuya in Edo, since Ieyasu is there.
Hey are these Hakuoki backgrounds?
Yukina's caught sneaking into Edo Castle, and attacked by multiple waves of guards who seem to have demonic strength and healing. And then, when all seems lost...
???: Oh storm that freezes even the stars in the sky, heed my word! I summon you here to unleash your fury! Blizzard!!
...she's being rescued by a Final Fantasy mage??
No, it's Kazuya! But there really was a cold spell! IS HE A MAGE
A COLD MAGE. BECAUSE. HE'S SO COLD.
Guards: Kill Kazuya and that girl!
Yukina: Why are they trying to kill you?
Kazuya: None of your business. Go back home.
Yukina: But I could help you!
I saw that tiny smile Kazuya, and so did Yukina.
Evil vizier Masanobu has ordered these mysterious guards to attack Kazuya on sight, and Kazuya doesn't know why.
Kazuya talks about how he met Ieyasu, about two years ago: He'd been sent to assassinate Ieyasu, with the alternative being the deaths of his clansmen held hostage.
Kazuya, hesitating in the shadows: ...
Ieyasu, not turning around: I would advise against killing me, it would plunge the nation into turmoil.
When Ieyasu sees Kazuya, he looks surprised and says "Nobuyasu?" Ahh...yep, that was the name of the son he killed for being a traitor /o\
Kazuya rants to Ieyasu about how much humans suck, but mostly blames himself for being too incompetent a clan leader to move the clan long ago.
Ieyasu: It could be argued that you saved my life. It's only natural I return the favour ;)
He offers to help the village, and when Kazuya is suspicious of his motives says "The world is full of deceitful men who will string along an honest man like you." Is he thinking of his son? That is very sad.
Kazuya watches Ieyasu train hawks, and thinks about how he distances himself from his remaining children, to avoid a repeat of what happened with his eldest son. But Ieyasu is determined to bring peace to Japan, and Kazuya believes he might actually do it.
End flashback!
Yukina offers to act as a distraction for the demon guards so that Kazuya can talk to Ieyasu and ask what's going on. Kazuya insists on being the distraction, presumably because he doesn't want Yukina being in danger, though of course he doesn't SAY that.
This is the point where I stopped and made a character guide. Compiling the list of demons has me wondering if the unnamed member of the Ten Demon Alliance who never showed up is the bad guy. He was from Shikoku, which is an island to the south and the location of the Evil Village That Raised The Hakuoki Protagonist's Evil Twin. HMM!
Also I saw this video and was reminded of the way I am drawn to emotionally unresponsive kuuderes like an emotionally constipated moth to a barely sputtering flame.
ANYWAY.
Evil grand vizier Masanobu visits Ieyasu with three of the cloaked and masked demons, who Ieyasu has seen around but doesn't know much about. Masanobu comes to Ieyasu with evidence that...ohgodsomanynames....(EDIT: Mitsunari Ishida and Yoshitsugu Otani) may be plotting Something while Ieyasu is busy in the north. But this won't be a problem if their soldiers are just a bit stronger...
Ieyasu: You don't mean...that drug? But everyone who uses it dies! The previous ruler banned it for good reason.
Masnobu: Every human dies. But what if we gave it to beings with more powerful bodies? ;) Anyway, bye!
Ieyasu: Wait!
Masked demons: Stand back. That's as far as you go, Lord Figurehead :)
Ieyasu: Don't you understand what he's planning?
Masked demons: You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. And we have some soft headed fools in our path...stuck in their old ways and only concerned with saving their own tails.
HMM! I'm back to thinking these guys might be from The Other Banished Tribe. Making me glad Senkimaru is around to prove Not All Banished Demons.
Yukina POV! She sneaks into Ieyasu's room and he tells her war is brewing: not the one he's waging in Aizu, but the one Mitsunari seems to be conspiring towards in Fushimi. He also tells her about "the drug": "sage's elixir", a Chinese drug discovered by the previous ruler while trying to extend his own life during the invasion of Korea. It was being used by Chinese reinforcements to the Korean army, even though it killed them.
(wait, China was involved? *googles* Ah, Japan was trying to conquer both of them, so they worked together to drive the Japanese out)
Ieyasu calmly ponders how it might work better on "beings with more powerful bodies" as if he hadn't been horrified at the idea in the previous scene. He's an interesting mix of cynical and honourable, I still haven't quite gotten him straight in my head, and neither has Yukina.
Yukina: So the soldiers in this castle are all drugged demons? D:
Ieyasu: They're what now? D:
I'm having trouble following this, but: Although Ieyuasu is head of House Tokugawa, retainers loyal to the House may not always follow his orders. I think his plan is to form a truce with the dude in charge of Aizu so they can work together to nip Mitsunari's rebellion in the bud.
Yukina isn't sure how she feels about this approach, when she's been inclined to think of people as either Always Warlike or Always Pacifist.
Just as Ieyasu is telling Yukina to get Kazuya to investigate what's going on in Fushimi, a voice mocks him for not taking the country offered to him on a silver platter: THE BAD GUY!
Bad guy: Your name is all that's of value to House Tokugawa. If you step out of line, you might end up like your poor little son, Nobuyasu.
Ieyasu tells Yukina to leave, though she wants to stay and protect him. But once again the bad guy attacks and restrains her without touching her...and she eventually realises he's using steel-strong threads! Just as she starts losing consciousness as the ones around her neck begin to tighten...
Kazuya arrives and casts blizzard, making the threads shatter! Yukina gets up to help him take down the bad guy...but they're both frozen in place by another masked demon! Let's call this one Horn Guy since he has horns on his mask.
Ooh and he calls the main bad guy Yachiyo!
Yachiyo: You two mice have a nice trip to the capital. It's too late to do anything anyway! Bwahaha! *runs away*
I feel like murdering them would have been a smarter call, but sure.
Yukina wants to go with Kazuya to Fushimi, and she can't explain why, even to herself. She's just worried about him. I like that they're both emotionally confused and focused on duty and honour.
But they arrive, it turns out Yachiyowas right: it's too late. Mitsunari's war has already begun. Ooh and Shin's human contact, Terumoto Mori, is on the side of the aggressors, that'll be a different POV on his route. OH. And Mitsunari is Kazutake's human contact! I knew I knew that name from somewhere >.>
And so members of the Ten Demon Alliance find themselves on opposite sides of a human war.
Kazuya tells Yukina she should go back to Yase village and lead a quiet, safe life. He talks about his loyalty to Ieyasu, how he taught Kazuya that war doesn't need to be run from, that it can be actively prevented by wise actions. "Hating a disease will not prevent you from catching it."
She says she wants to go with him. She is not abandoning her duty, since by learning more about Yachiro she may be able to save the princess.
End of Chapter 7
The plot thickens!
***
Yukina spends a surprising amount of time doing chores like cooking and chopping firewood. Do they not have servants for that sort of thing?
The princess has been unconscious for six months and war looms ever closer.
Ah, I'd been wondering who's running the Elders' villages: Elder Shiomi left his son in charge. But who's running Yukina's village?
Shiomi talks about how Yukina is like a granddaughter to him and how it would be nice if she became his real granddaughter by marrying one of his grandsons.
Shiomi: But the important thing is how you feel, my dear.
Yukina: Do I really have to become someone's wife? I can't imagine it.
After pondering it some more he says she'd be wasted on one of his grandsons and deserves someone better, aww.
Man some of these plot points were very obviously originally written as multi-choice and then the writers just cut it down to the pro-Kazuya choice, making it flow very oddly.
...and then my cold got worse and I have no memory of what I read in my fever addled state. Uh...I vaguely recall Elder Shiomi and Yukina were investigating...something important??
THE TEXT HISTORY COVERS STUFF FROM BEFORE MY LAST SAVE. THANK GOODNESS.
So! Yukina and Elder Shiomi are in Fushimi, looking for Kazuya after he left with no word.
Yukina sees Kazuya and Ieyasu leaving Ieyasu's estate. She follows them to another mansion, where they find...Chitose! Meeting with a human bigwig from his home province!
OH, I SEE, CHITOSE. IT'S OK WHEN YOU DO IT.
Kazuya: So you're helping the Shimazu family.
Chitose: I'm not helping them! I just happen to know them, and was asking what their plans are...
Yukina: But you have been associating with humans. And then accusing any other demon who does so of being a traitor.
Chitose: >.>
Kazuya: You say you're just checking up on old friends? Well, the same could be said of me and Ieyasu.
Chitose: He MURDERED HIS OWN WIFE AND CHILD, you really want to be friends with this guy?
Kazuya: >:(
Yoshihiro Shimazu POV! NO, I DON'T KNOW WHO THAT IS EITHER.
(I mean, from context it's Chitose's human friend, but he was never actually introduced by name)
Yoshihiro and Ieyasu are discussing political stuff that kind of goes over my head. I'm glad I put off playing this again until I was mostly over my cold /o\
Yoshihiro: Lord Minister of the Interior, with all due respect...after seeing the way you've treated the other daimyos (lords), I cannot help but wonder...am I next?
Ieyasu: Let me ask you something instead: do you think the ruling council will last until his Highness comes of age?
Yoshihiro has to admit it seems unlikely.
Ieyasu: Someone has to take control in his Highness's place. And the only person capable of doing that is me. I am hoping to make this war the final war.
Yoshihiro is nominally onside, but lacks troops. Ieyasu tells him to be ready for any trouble while the rest of the troops are in Aizu, as if he expects something to happen.
It feels a little uncomfortable seeing the invasion of Korea just framed as this inconvenient thing that uses up troops, but it was four hundred years ago.
Kazuya: Someone's following us. You take Ieyasu home while I investigate.
Yukina: (Guard a human? Ew D:) Ok :/
Phew,
deborah_judge warned me about some dizzying POV shifts and she was right. Anyway, it's time for Kazuya's POV ! Sadly the inside of his head is all business, focussed more on figuring out why he's being followed than pining after Yukina. SHE'S GUARDING YOUR ICKY HUMAN BUDDY FOR YOU, KAZUYA, APPRECIATE HER MORE.
Kazuya: Ha! Got you!
Masked man dressed like the unbeatably powerful bad guy: Please don't hurt me D:
The man claims to be a demon working for the Shimaza family "like Chitose", and says Kazuya should too. And then...vanishes in a burst of gunpowder?
Back to Yukina's POV!
Ieyasu: You demons are all so naive...you remind me of Kazuya.
Yukina: Better than being a gross human >:P
Ieyasu: It was that attitude that led to Masamune Date taking someone from Kazuya's village hostage.
Yukina: !!!
Ieyasu: Don't worry, his village is safe now. Thanks to me.
Yukina" ??!
The name Masamune Date seems familiar...ok, he was some powerful lord. He had one eye, was sympathetic to Christianity, and seems to be in the same dating sims as Ieyasu and Nobunaga so you know he's important.
Kazuya arrives, and Ieyasu says the demons should return to their village. "This is a war between humans...you demons should not willingly involve yourselves."
Yukina asks Kazuya why he didn't ask the other demons for help when his clansman was kidnapped.
Kazuya: They'd have told us to just leave the land we worked so hard to find for ourselves. It wasn't other demons that saved us, it was Ieyasu's power.
And he leaves, saying that if he gets expelled from the Ten Demon Alliance, so be it.
Chitose and Kazutake are also off with their respective humans. Shin turns out to have one too, some human House his clan has ties to that I'm guessing get fleshed out if you pay any attention to him.
I'm guessing Senkimaru has one too but we will see.
HMMMM should I tell the other demons about Kazuya's motivations for working with Ieyasu? My gut says yes.
End of Chapter 5
With war on the horizon and half the council missing, the Elders decide to retreat behind the barrier until the fighting dies down.
Yukina wants to try one more time to try and bring the missing council members back. But she only has time to go after one of them. HMMMM LET ME THINK...haha and the game chose Kazuya for me.
End of Chapter 6
ALREADY? I wonder if this is the start of the Kazuya path proper.
Yukina looks for Kazuya in Edo, since Ieyasu is there.
Hey are these Hakuoki backgrounds?
Yukina's caught sneaking into Edo Castle, and attacked by multiple waves of guards who seem to have demonic strength and healing. And then, when all seems lost...
???: Oh storm that freezes even the stars in the sky, heed my word! I summon you here to unleash your fury! Blizzard!!
...she's being rescued by a Final Fantasy mage??
No, it's Kazuya! But there really was a cold spell! IS HE A MAGE
A COLD MAGE. BECAUSE. HE'S SO COLD.
Guards: Kill Kazuya and that girl!
Yukina: Why are they trying to kill you?
Kazuya: None of your business. Go back home.
Yukina: But I could help you!
I saw that tiny smile Kazuya, and so did Yukina.
Evil vizier Masanobu has ordered these mysterious guards to attack Kazuya on sight, and Kazuya doesn't know why.
Kazuya talks about how he met Ieyasu, about two years ago: He'd been sent to assassinate Ieyasu, with the alternative being the deaths of his clansmen held hostage.
Kazuya, hesitating in the shadows: ...
Ieyasu, not turning around: I would advise against killing me, it would plunge the nation into turmoil.
When Ieyasu sees Kazuya, he looks surprised and says "Nobuyasu?" Ahh...yep, that was the name of the son he killed for being a traitor /o\
Kazuya rants to Ieyasu about how much humans suck, but mostly blames himself for being too incompetent a clan leader to move the clan long ago.
Ieyasu: It could be argued that you saved my life. It's only natural I return the favour ;)
He offers to help the village, and when Kazuya is suspicious of his motives says "The world is full of deceitful men who will string along an honest man like you." Is he thinking of his son? That is very sad.
Kazuya watches Ieyasu train hawks, and thinks about how he distances himself from his remaining children, to avoid a repeat of what happened with his eldest son. But Ieyasu is determined to bring peace to Japan, and Kazuya believes he might actually do it.
End flashback!
Yukina offers to act as a distraction for the demon guards so that Kazuya can talk to Ieyasu and ask what's going on. Kazuya insists on being the distraction, presumably because he doesn't want Yukina being in danger, though of course he doesn't SAY that.
This is the point where I stopped and made a character guide. Compiling the list of demons has me wondering if the unnamed member of the Ten Demon Alliance who never showed up is the bad guy. He was from Shikoku, which is an island to the south and the location of the Evil Village That Raised The Hakuoki Protagonist's Evil Twin. HMM!
Also I saw this video and was reminded of the way I am drawn to emotionally unresponsive kuuderes like an emotionally constipated moth to a barely sputtering flame.
ANYWAY.
Evil grand vizier Masanobu visits Ieyasu with three of the cloaked and masked demons, who Ieyasu has seen around but doesn't know much about. Masanobu comes to Ieyasu with evidence that...ohgodsomanynames....(EDIT: Mitsunari Ishida and Yoshitsugu Otani) may be plotting Something while Ieyasu is busy in the north. But this won't be a problem if their soldiers are just a bit stronger...
Ieyasu: You don't mean...that drug? But everyone who uses it dies! The previous ruler banned it for good reason.
Masnobu: Every human dies. But what if we gave it to beings with more powerful bodies? ;) Anyway, bye!
Ieyasu: Wait!
Masked demons: Stand back. That's as far as you go, Lord Figurehead :)
Ieyasu: Don't you understand what he's planning?
Masked demons: You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. And we have some soft headed fools in our path...stuck in their old ways and only concerned with saving their own tails.
HMM! I'm back to thinking these guys might be from The Other Banished Tribe. Making me glad Senkimaru is around to prove Not All Banished Demons.
Yukina POV! She sneaks into Ieyasu's room and he tells her war is brewing: not the one he's waging in Aizu, but the one Mitsunari seems to be conspiring towards in Fushimi. He also tells her about "the drug": "sage's elixir", a Chinese drug discovered by the previous ruler while trying to extend his own life during the invasion of Korea. It was being used by Chinese reinforcements to the Korean army, even though it killed them.
(wait, China was involved? *googles* Ah, Japan was trying to conquer both of them, so they worked together to drive the Japanese out)
Ieyasu calmly ponders how it might work better on "beings with more powerful bodies" as if he hadn't been horrified at the idea in the previous scene. He's an interesting mix of cynical and honourable, I still haven't quite gotten him straight in my head, and neither has Yukina.
Yukina: So the soldiers in this castle are all drugged demons? D:
Ieyasu: They're what now? D:
I'm having trouble following this, but: Although Ieyuasu is head of House Tokugawa, retainers loyal to the House may not always follow his orders. I think his plan is to form a truce with the dude in charge of Aizu so they can work together to nip Mitsunari's rebellion in the bud.
Yukina isn't sure how she feels about this approach, when she's been inclined to think of people as either Always Warlike or Always Pacifist.
Just as Ieyasu is telling Yukina to get Kazuya to investigate what's going on in Fushimi, a voice mocks him for not taking the country offered to him on a silver platter: THE BAD GUY!
Bad guy: Your name is all that's of value to House Tokugawa. If you step out of line, you might end up like your poor little son, Nobuyasu.
Ieyasu tells Yukina to leave, though she wants to stay and protect him. But once again the bad guy attacks and restrains her without touching her...and she eventually realises he's using steel-strong threads! Just as she starts losing consciousness as the ones around her neck begin to tighten...
Kazuya arrives and casts blizzard, making the threads shatter! Yukina gets up to help him take down the bad guy...but they're both frozen in place by another masked demon! Let's call this one Horn Guy since he has horns on his mask.
Ooh and he calls the main bad guy Yachiyo!
Yachiyo: You two mice have a nice trip to the capital. It's too late to do anything anyway! Bwahaha! *runs away*
I feel like murdering them would have been a smarter call, but sure.
Yukina wants to go with Kazuya to Fushimi, and she can't explain why, even to herself. She's just worried about him. I like that they're both emotionally confused and focused on duty and honour.
But they arrive, it turns out Yachiyowas right: it's too late. Mitsunari's war has already begun. Ooh and Shin's human contact, Terumoto Mori, is on the side of the aggressors, that'll be a different POV on his route. OH. And Mitsunari is Kazutake's human contact! I knew I knew that name from somewhere >.>
And so members of the Ten Demon Alliance find themselves on opposite sides of a human war.
Kazuya tells Yukina she should go back to Yase village and lead a quiet, safe life. He talks about his loyalty to Ieyasu, how he taught Kazuya that war doesn't need to be run from, that it can be actively prevented by wise actions. "Hating a disease will not prevent you from catching it."
She says she wants to go with him. She is not abandoning her duty, since by learning more about Yachiro she may be able to save the princess.
End of Chapter 7
no subject
Date: 2019-06-28 09:27 pm (UTC)...
"sage's elixir", a Chinese drug discovered by the previous ruler while trying to extend his own life during the invasion of Korea. It was being used by Chinese reinforcements to the Korean army, even though it killed them.
My read: the water of life in Hakuoki represents, well, a bunch of things, but one of them is the destructive and dehumanizing effects of hypermilitarization. I think a similar thing is going on here, but the drug is different and comes from a different place and acts differently because it's a different kind of hypermilitarization, with a different history. Instead of dealing with forces from the West that may or may not be about to conquer them, they are dealing with the fallout from their own warmongering overseas. At least I *think* that's what's going on here. I might have a better sense after I've done more than a route and a half.
And it's not exactly their own warmongering, because the point they keep making is that demon's didn't invade Korea and wouldn't *do* a thing like that, making war just for profit and glory. But they're still being impacted by it when they choose to ally with humans who did.
OH, I SEE, CHITOSE. IT'S OK WHEN YOU DO IT.
I am tempted to stick up for Chitose, since I just finished dating him and love him madly. But I will just say that it seems that the brilliance of this game is that people make sense on their own path and look at best misguided when you are on other paths. Which I think is a brilliant way of telling a story about a civil war.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 01:32 pm (UTC)Yes I am really looking forward to seeing how everything looks from a different point of view. Though it's not hard to imagine Ieyasu looking like a villain with only a slightly different perspective.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 12:55 pm (UTC)I am finding the constant reiteration that all Kazuya wants is stability and protection for his clan to be something of a long-term drawn-out gut punch, since we know that ultimately the Yukimura clan doesn't survive. I mean 300 years is a good run. But it's not that many demon generations. Ieyasu's approach gives Kazuya, and Yukina in this route so much hope. What if, through increased military strength, we could end war and make everyone safe forever? And I'm guessing that in the end of this route the answer is yes, we can. And it's only the reader who gets here post-Hakuoki who knows how much this isn't true.
Kazyua himself is definitely growing on me. He's so idealistic, and very much follows his own sense of right and wrong. Kind of like Saito that way too.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 01:16 pm (UTC)Yes, it's so sad, I'm glad I have that context. But looking at the established history, I think Ieyasu and Kazuya would be happily surprised to find out the peace lasts any time after Ieyasu's death, let alone 150 years. Though Kazuya would be very upset to find out how badly the eventual collapse of that peace affects the Yukimura clan.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 01:39 pm (UTC)...I'll just sit here feeling devastated for a bit. :(
And make myself feel *slightly* better by headcanoning that Saito is from a branch Yukimura family (that intermarried with humans) and that once he and Chizuru get settled in Aizu they're going to rebuild the clan on its old lands.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 01:46 pm (UTC)Oh no now I'm imagining it too :(
And yes, I was headcanoning them doing that anyway, since they're in the right area at the end of the Saito path, but now I am imagining it with more intensity. I always liked the idea of the village becoming a home for displaced and banished demons, and it turns out that would be continuing Kazuya and Yukina's work.
...you know, I was going to play something else, but now I kind of feeling like playing another Demon's Bond path...
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Date: 2019-07-11 01:57 pm (UTC)I mean if it helps, if Kazuya and Yukina were still alive they'd have of course used some of their stealth and fighting skills to hide some other Yukimura kids away, so there might be more survivors that Chizuru can discover after the epilogue.
I always liked the idea of the village becoming a home for displaced and banished demons, and it turns out that would be continuing Kazuya and Yukina's work.
Yes! Yes! That is a great idea. So glad you are playing this with me and can help me wring some sort of, well, if not happy at least liveable-with ending out of this epic gut punch mess.
now I kind of feeling like playing another Demon's Bond path..
:) :) :) :) I selfishly hope you do the Chitose route so we can talk about it. But I'm going to do all the routes eventually.