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alias_sqbrMasterlist of links and Character Guide
AND HERE WE ARE AT THE (GOOD) END
Japanese history: 50%
Anime-esque fantasy nonsense: 20%
Yukina kicking ass: 20%
Romance: 10%
This is not a complaint. I loved it.
Content note: Violence.
---
Ieyasu asks Kazuya and Yukina to guard him as he escapes house arrest and heads to the capital Kyoto to take back control of the war. "This war must be won by human hands alone."
His dignity reminds Yukina of Princess Yase, something she never thought she'd think about a human.
Kazuya: You're remarkable too. When I'm with you, I...uh. Nothing >.>
It's September first! I am very fuzzy on what's happening war-wise, but at least I know the date.
Tsuki shows up and mutters grumpily about Yukina tying herself to these humans and Kazuya not keeping his distance from her.
Yukina: Would you like to meet Ieyasu?
Tsuki: Bah! He's just another human blinded by his lust for power and fortune. Once a human you trust has deceived you there is no way you will ever trust their kind again.
*suddenly ships it*
Yukina: I think trust is when you find someone who makes you think "I don't mind if they deceive me".
That's an interesting take.
In the dark, a large, inhumanly fast figure takes down the outer guards of Ieyasu's army one by one. It's...KAZUTAKE?!
Oh no :( But I mean, he IS the bodyguard of the other side's leader, Mitsunari.
Kazutake: I heard Ieyasu was using demons to do his dirty work, so I couldn't stand back and do nothing.
That's...fair. Ieyasu's going to look like a real jerk on the other paths, isn't he?
Yukina: It's not Ieyasu! It's Masonobu!
Kazuya: Quiet! Don't give the enemy information!
He was your friend, Kazuya ;_;
Tsuki: So you're here to kill Ieyasu? Do you really think Mitsunari can unite the country?
Kazutake: ...I don't know. But I do know Ieyasu can't offer a safe place for my clan.
Kazuya: Then we have no other choice.
They fight. Kazutake is using his BARE HANDS?? *wonders if he is related to Amigiri from Hakuoki* (meanwhile I suspect Chitose is related to Kazama, since they look vaguely similar, and SOMEONE has to be related to Kazama)
As Kazutake looks like he is about to land a killing blow, Yukina throws herself in front of Kazuya. Kazutake stops his swing a hairsbreadth from her face. And she can feel the cold steel of Kazuya's blades against her neck from his own barely halted attack.
(hot)
Kazuya's face has gone very white at the thought that he nearly killed Yukina.
Yukina briefly looks at Kazuya then explains everything to Kazutake. Good for you, Yukina.
There's a moment of bittersweet farewell as Kazutake goes back to guarding Ieyasu's enemy.
That night, Kazuya is up late. He suddenly turns to Yukina and apologises. His hands tremble as he touches the nape of her neck.
Yukina: You didn't do anything wrong. And it's healed now.
Oh boy, he actually cut her neck? No wonder he was spooked.
Kazuya: I promise I will never hurt you again. In return, will you promise that you won't do anything reckless?
She says yes, and he smiles. AWWW.
(Also, this is the most detailed image of Yukina I've seen in a CG. I like the hair)
An injured Kazuya gives Yukina a letter to deliver to Ieyasu.
I started using a walkthrough for this last part, and it says to ask for Tsuki to deliver it instead. So she tries that, but has to deliver it anyway. What's in this letter??
OH. When she's gone, Kazuya tries to slip away.
Tsuki: You're going to see that Masanobu aren't you?
Kazuya: You made me promise not to involve her with humans, but there should be no problem with me being involved with them.
Tsuki: (Yes, but I don't want to see her cry) I will help you...to learn more about these people who hurt the princess.
Kazuya: But if you get hurt it'll upset her.
Awww.
This game is flipping randomly between first and third person from all possible points of view. I'M ALREADY CONFUSED, GAME, DON'T MAKE IT WORSE.
Yukina delivers the letter and discovers that Kazuya is asking Ieyasu to take care of her.
Ieyasu: It seems he has prepared himself for death.
Yukina angrily thinks about how she's TOLD Kazuya not to make decisions without telling her, and to worry about those who care for him: think of his clan! And maybe...a little, of how she would feel.
Ieyasu: Men are clumsy creatures. They are only able to show affection to those dear to them by keeping them far from harm's reach. The greater their love, the greater the distance...
Yukina: Whether he's a man or woman doesn't have anything to do with it! Pushing away someone you care about to protect them...that isn't kindness!
ILU YUKINA
Ieyasu: Heh. The glory, honour and pride of men mean nothing to you...go make Kazuya see sense :)
We see Tsuki deftly take down waves of berserkers, while Kazuya and Shuten-doji square up one on one.
Kazuya: If it means I can defeat Shuten-doji, I would not hesitate to reveal my other, wicked form.
Me: You mean the demon form all demons have, where their hair goes white and they get cute little horns? Come on game, that is neither wicked nor much of a secret weapon.
Shuten-doji: *gasp*
Kazuya:
Me: WTF
He's a magical ice mage ELF??
:D!!
Will Chizuru be able to do that???
Kazuya: This is the true demon form
Me: It is? But I thought...
Kazuya: It is the form of the demons who drink the blood of humans, wreaking havok and garnering hatred.
Me: YOU DRANK HUMAN BLOOD????
Or does he just mean this is what humans imagine when they think "scary demon monster"?
Shuten-doji: I see the true demon form is as hideous as people say.
Wait is this just regular demon form, drawn more dramatically? But all the demons of this time just refuse to go into it because they think it's gross?
Kazuya beats the pants off Shuten-doji, who doesn't know how to handle being beaten. So he drinks the berserker potion, crying out in pain as his body transforms!
I guess he doesn't know how to attain true demon form? Not all demons do. Maybe Kazama etc were unusual in that respect. They definitely didn't seem self hating about it, though, and demons in Hakuoki who couldn't do it felt bad. Hmm!
We see Tsuki face off against Yachiyo, the main bad guy demon.
"Something invisible slices through the air and Elder Tsuki knocks it away with my sword."
WAIT. Have they been in first person this whole time, just using names instead of "I" a lot? Wait, no, the next line was definitely third person. They just...can't keep it straight sentence to sentence. Or within sentences. The translation is otherwise pretty smooth, what a weird thing to screw up.
Anyway. I hope Tsuki isn't going to have his head chopped off D:
Tsuki: What? This is a secret technique only known to those in Shin's clan!
OooOOooh
And then Kazuya shows up, looking badass and elfin!
...and then so does Shuten-Doji /o\
I love how the transformation just...magically makes them shirtless with long flowing locks of hair. Not that I'm complaining >.> Also, the red markings explain why the berserkers wear masks (but not why...none of the demons in Hakuoki had them...)
Shuten-Doji is clearly getting a massive kick out of beating up a member of the Ten Demon Alliance. Seeing that Kazuya is about to die, Tsuki rushes to help...
We see Yukina find Kazuya (what happened in the fight? Is Tsuki ok??) She recognises the demon form she has been told is so hideous that even demons despise it. "Yet when I look at Kazuya now, he doesn't seem hideous" Same, Yukina, same ;)
Kazuya: Yukina, I'm sorry...
AND THEN WE SEE A DETAILED CG OF TSUKI'S BLOODY, DYING BODY
THANKS, GAME
Tsuki: There is something...I...must apologise for...
Yukina, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding: We can discuss it when you're better!
Tsuki: I told Kazuya to stay away from you, so that you wouldn't become involved with humans and have them betray your trust...but you told me trust...is when you don't mind being betrayed. I just saw my own past in you...
And then he says he will teach her his special technique. Just as I'm thinking "He looks a little sick to teach sword-fighting" he says she has a special power and transmits his memories to her as he dies???
Tsuki: Use it wisely, I know you can.
;_; I predicted he'd die from the start but it's still sad.
Kazuya: Yukina, this is all my fault...
Yukina: What exactly are you apologising for? For going off to fight by yourself, and getting Tsuki killed? Am I not your comrade? Why do you always have to decide everything by yourself?
Kazuya: I should have made you return to Yase village sooner, then this never would have happened...
SHE SLAPS HIM. GOOD FOR YOU YUKINA.
...and then she bursts into tears. She wails like a child and he hesitantly puts his arms around her. She feels his warmth and affection and it only makes her sadder.
Yukina: If you trust me, talk to me! You're so important to me, and I...
He whispers into her ear that he's sorry, and she's important to him too. The hole in her heart fills a little.
Yukina dreams: a memory. A a young girl, Yukina got trapped on a cliff. Tsuki wrapped himself around her as she fell so she wouldn't get hurt, becoming injured himself.
Yukina: Waah! I'm sorry! You got hurt because of me!
Tsuki: If you truly feel sorry, do not get yourself into such situations. Crying will not solve anything.
Wow it turns out Shuten-Doji killed Yachiyo offscreen? He was set up as the main bad guy! He's probably more central on other routes.
Shu: So I'm a bit worried Shuten-Doji will kill me next...
Masonbu: Eh, leave if you want. Your plan is to kill those of Mitsunari's house, even without my orders. And that furthers my goal.
Shu: But don't you need us in your army to get House Tokugawa in charge of the country?
Masonobu: I never said that was my goal ;)
Huh!
Shu thinks about how he was bored so aligned with a local human called Chosokabe with aims of conquest. But then "this guy Hideoyoshi" (the previous ruler who just died) ruined everything and stole Shu's clan's land, so now he wants revenge on Hideoyoshi's underling Mitsunari? That...doesn't seem to make sense as motivation for everything Shu has done but...sure.
End of Chapter 10
Yukina has fallen into a deep depression and Kazuya is trying to get her to eat.
He tells her he's leaving to fight by Ieyasu's side. "I thought about leaving without saying anything, but didn't want to do that to you again." Character growth!
Yukina: Tell me, why have you let me stay with you up until now?
He hangs his head, trying to find the words.
Kazuya: It's been troubling me...I couldn't bring myself to send you away. You managed to persuade Ieyasu where I couldn't...your body's small, but you possess such power. So I took an interest in you. The only other person I've felt like that about before was Ieyasu. So that's why I wanted to keep you by my side. But...I can't bear to think about losing you., That's why we need to part ways here.
Yukina: I'm not going back. No matter how sad or painful things may get, I don't want us to be apart. I'm just as afraid of losing you as you are of losing me. So please, let me protect your back. Let me fight with you until the end.
He takes her hand and asks if she's sure, and when she says yes he smiles and says part of him is glad.
She eats the food he found for her. She will need her strength, to fulfil the task Tsuki left her. To save the humans from themselves.
Time for the FINAL BATTLE
Hee, this good ending choice involves shouting at Ieyasu again instead of telling him everything will be ok.
Kazuya and Yukina spy on the enemy army run by the human associated with Shin (...I think). The general says "We WOULD attack Ieyasu's army, but the men just sat down to lunch...". Yukina and Kazuya agree that somehow Shin is responsible lol.
Ooh. I have the choice to pray for Kazutake's safety (good end) or secretly contact him (bad end). Sounds like this bad end involves inadvertently letting the other side win...
We see Masonobu talk to Shuten-Doji, who is only sometimes lucid, but doesn't care as long as he gets to murder the Ten Demon Alliance. Masonobu orders him to give the elixir to one of the enemy armies and direct them towards another enemy army.
Against screams of carnage, Masonobu mutters to himself "Demons keep their promises more faithfully than any Buddhist or priest. Perhaps there is no God or Buddha in this world after all..."
Ieyasu is not judgemental towards this apparent betrayal amongst the enemy ranks, and Yukina thinks "in his heart there is no good or evil, only advantage and disadvantage".
A berserker soldier very politely brings orders from Masonobu to attack. Ieyasu thanks him and then kills him with Kazuya's help, "freeing him from the drug".
Soldier: Did...you just behead that messenger? o.O
Ieyasu: He was disrespectful. Clean this up.
Soldier: YES SIR WHATEVER YOU SAY SIR
Yukina hears Ieyasu use Kazuya's family name.
Yukina: You really trust him.
Kazuya: He said he reminded me of his son...and he reminds me of what I remember of my father. My father was always slow to act...after he died, I resented him for leaving me with so much trouble to deal with.
Yukina: But perhaps he led you to Ieyasu.
Kazuya: Ha. Ieyasu does always say that life is an uphill struggle, and if you accept that you'll never be disappointed.
The fight their way through the battlefield to the front line.
Kazuya: When this battle is over...
Yukina: Let's go back to Yase village together. I'll plead with the elders to forgive you until they do.
Kazuya: Looks like I can't get myself killed then :)
They find Shuten-Doji on the front lines, cackling as the Tokugawa forces massacre the other side's soldiers.
Shuten-Doji: Don't you remember how our last battle went? And you don't have the old man to fight your battles for you now.
Kazuya: No, but I have her. *turning to Yukina* Don't listen to his voice, he can control you! Just concentrate on mine. I'll become your eyes, and you become mine.
Aw!
But then before they can put this plan into action, Shiten-doji's forearms split open and start spraying blood?? It turns out even demons have their limit when it comes to the elixir.
End of Chapter 11.
And now, hopefully, the good ending!!
For a moment, Yukina falters, wondering if it's right to kill Shuten-doji while he's weak. But Kazuya brings her back to her senses. This man killed Elder Tsuki. He has to be defeated.
And then she hears Elder Tsuki's voice in her head, saying NOW. It's like time slows down, Shuten-doji barely has a chance to move before her blade sinks into his body. He is on the verge of death, blood spraying everywhere.
Desperate, he drinks all of the elixir he has, and springs away, healed. Kazuya and Yukina are blocked by a wave of hundreds of berserkers.
Finally, weak and breathless, they are able to stop. Piles of corpses surround them. Yukina thinks about how people will mourn these men, as she mourned Elder Tsuki. War is so cruel...
(You think so now, Yukina, wait until you're dating a guy on the losing side)
Kazuya: I want to tell you not to let it get to you, but that's probably not possible.
And then they hear a chorus of voices shouting in triumph: The war is over. House Tokugawa is victorious.
But the demon's war is not yet over. Shuten-doji must be stopped.
Kazuya: I'll fight him alone. You go back to Yase village.
COME ON KAZUYA WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS
Yukina: No! I'm not going to lose you-
He kisses her.
Kazuya: That kiss was a symbol of my vow to you. I promise to never make you sad again. Trust me.
Yukina: Please, let me go with you.
Kazuya: Even if I said no you'd come anyway...I'll stay by your side until the last breath leaves my body. Even if I fall into the depths of hell, I'll never let you go.
Yukina is filled with a feeling of power and we fade to black.
They find Shuten-doji on the abandoned battlefield...throwing a canon at a boulder and screaming incoherently.
Kazuya turns into his true demon form and does magic with his swords! But Shuten-doji gains the upper hand with his incredible speed, saying he has the power to "slow all that I see".
Shuten-doji: Why don't you alliance demons gang up on me, isn't that your way?
Kazuya, on the verge of death: Yukina, stay back! I don't want you to take another demon life. Your hands were not meant to take lives...they were meant...to save them...
She readies her sword anyway but he shouts to trust him, and she stays back, even though he is covered with his own blood. But then she realises: if she can blind Shuten-Doji, he will be powerless. So she throws knives into his eyes!
Yukina: If you're going to fight for me, then let me fight for you! I swore to protect you, even if it means getting blood on my hands!
Kazuya smiles at her and nods.
"We bring our swords swinging down in unison, slicing off Shuten-doji's arms at the shoulder" :D ROMANCE
Yukina prays for Shuten-doji's soul as he dies, his body floating up into the air as specks of light. She decides that this "banished demons" thing needs to stop.
(Which...it does not. Sorry Yukina)
Masonobu is summoned to see Ieyasu. "Am I to be executed? If so, so be it. I have lived to a ripe age, and have no complaints. I am ready for anything."
Ieyasu: I doubt even the devil himself could make you understand the weight of your sins.
The who now?
(I mean I guess they do have lords of hell etc but come on)
Ieyasu: But I shall forgive you. There is no such thing as good and bad people in this world. Only those I can use, and those who will not succumb to me.
"It is as if he is the pure embodiment of this age of "warring states", absorbing all the good and evil of humanity and able to manipulate it at will."
Masonobu: Ha. In my youth, I was very devout, and was taught 'If a righteous man can reach paradise, then even more a wicked one.': those of us who realise how evil we are, are most likely to learn the truth.
Ieyasu: I have no interest in such mystic words.
Masonobu: It is thanks to faith and religion that we are able to see the weakness and ugliness of mankind.
"He is a monster. If sights this interesting still await me, I am not yet ready to stop living!"
This is amazing and I love it. I knew that Masonobu and Ieyasu stayed close until their death well after the war, and was wondering how that was going to play out.
Since Kazutake's side lost, he didn't get his ancestral lands back, but his clan have moved in with Chitose's, aww.
Yukina and Kazuya go to congratulate Ieyasu in his fancy castle now that he has become the effective ruler of Japan. Ieyasu is very grateful to them both, and says he will put someone from his own family in charge of the land Kazuya's village is in, to make sure his people are kept safe. And he promises to create a peaceful world, one where demons can live safely. Also he has destroyed all evidence and instructions about the elixir.
Ieyasu: Do you think I have become a man Nobuyasu would have been proud to call his father?
Kazuya: Absolutely :)
Yukina and Kazuya return to Yase village. She nurses the princess, and feels like she may wake any day now.
Does "we're under one roof" mean she and Kazuya are living together?? He gently touches her cheek at one point and she goes red then denies it lol. He seems distracted, though, and says he will tell Yukina something when the Princess wakes.
And then she does!
Kazuya apologises deeply for his behaviour.
Princess: It's all in the past. There's no need for any more banished demons.
Kazuya: Exactly. Please assign me the task of tracking down the banished clans, so that they can be brought back into demon society. When I fought the demon Shuten-doji, I saw how much resentment he held towards the Ten Demon Alliance, and realised how many other demons live the same way.
Yukina: OH NO. *rushes out in tears*
Princess: But this will mean travelling away from the rest of us for years...can you do that to the one you love?
Kazuya: That is why I would also ask to be allowed to take Yukina Suzumori with me. I need her.
Princess: All right. But if you make her cry I'll never forgive you.
Yukina: So, when are you leaving?
Kazuya: Tomorrow. I need to start packing.
Yukina: I'll try and make something you like for dinner ;_;
Kazuya: But you need to be packing too.
Yukina: :D :D
Kazuya: You might be in danger though. And I won't be able to give you nice things, even though you're a girl. I don't pick up on people's feelings too well...so I might hurt you again, too. Despite all that, do you still want to come with me?
Yukina: As long as you're by my side, as long as I can see your smile...I don't need anything else.
THE END
Kazuya was still kind of a crappy boyfriend in the end but in a way I have a soft spot for so I'm ok with it. The romance was very understated but it mostly just played out like a really intense shonen m/m friendship between warriors plus a little kissing, which is a romance dynamic I enjoy in all gender combinations. I wouldn't mind some fic filling out the shmoopy romantic blanks a little, but I'm not sure any exists, and don't know if I can be bothered writing it myself.
Ieyasu totally failed to actually have the war won by human hands alone. I like how morally ambiguous he was in the end. And I am very curious to see the war from the POV of the losing side. Which afaict is all the other LIs with the possible exception of Senkimaru, who's role in the war I still don't know.
Also it turned out that following the bad guy demons to learn about the poison did nothing to help the princess, and what helped in the end really was Yukina just coming home and playing nurse. But she got to smooch Kazuya, so. I'm not complaining.
While I was all "They still have banished demons in the 19th century", thinking about it the Nagumo tribe, which was banished in this story, is not banished in the 19th century (they're still pretty evil though). So I guess the previously banished tribes get unbanished, but banishment as a concept is not removed from demon society. Or gets reintroduced.
I wish I could remember what they say in Hakuoki about how things end up falling apart for the Yukimura tribe. Was it Ieyasu's descendants who murdered them all? I think it was :( But they got a few hundred years of peace in the middle.
Thinking about it if Chitose -> Kazama and Kazuya -> Amigiri that explains why Amigiri is so subservient to Kazama: his clan are to some extent guests on Kazama's land. I wonder how much of this backstory had been worked out when they wrote the original version of Hakuoki, and how much extra detail was added after Demon's Bond was written.
There's a free thing on Kazuya's page called "Story highlights" that I didn't watch before because I was worried about spoilers.
Watching it now, it's basically a trailer: scattered moments from the route that are especially dramatic or shippy etc, with little text splashes in between saying things like "Humans- he goes to the future with them" and "He meets a woman he wants to protect". It's not massively spoilery so I might check out the others as I decide which route to play next.
And I think I will play another route, I enjoyed this a lot. I'm going to feel ripped off as I skip through the repeated scenes on the common route though.
I'll play the other ending at some point, since that's free, but I don't feel like it right now.
AND HERE WE ARE AT THE (GOOD) END
Japanese history: 50%
Anime-esque fantasy nonsense: 20%
Yukina kicking ass: 20%
Romance: 10%
This is not a complaint. I loved it.
Content note: Violence.
---
Ieyasu asks Kazuya and Yukina to guard him as he escapes house arrest and heads to the capital Kyoto to take back control of the war. "This war must be won by human hands alone."
His dignity reminds Yukina of Princess Yase, something she never thought she'd think about a human.
Kazuya: You're remarkable too. When I'm with you, I...uh. Nothing >.>
It's September first! I am very fuzzy on what's happening war-wise, but at least I know the date.
Tsuki shows up and mutters grumpily about Yukina tying herself to these humans and Kazuya not keeping his distance from her.
Yukina: Would you like to meet Ieyasu?
Tsuki: Bah! He's just another human blinded by his lust for power and fortune. Once a human you trust has deceived you there is no way you will ever trust their kind again.
*suddenly ships it*
Yukina: I think trust is when you find someone who makes you think "I don't mind if they deceive me".
That's an interesting take.
In the dark, a large, inhumanly fast figure takes down the outer guards of Ieyasu's army one by one. It's...KAZUTAKE?!
Oh no :( But I mean, he IS the bodyguard of the other side's leader, Mitsunari.
Kazutake: I heard Ieyasu was using demons to do his dirty work, so I couldn't stand back and do nothing.
That's...fair. Ieyasu's going to look like a real jerk on the other paths, isn't he?
Yukina: It's not Ieyasu! It's Masonobu!
Kazuya: Quiet! Don't give the enemy information!
He was your friend, Kazuya ;_;
Tsuki: So you're here to kill Ieyasu? Do you really think Mitsunari can unite the country?
Kazutake: ...I don't know. But I do know Ieyasu can't offer a safe place for my clan.
Kazuya: Then we have no other choice.
They fight. Kazutake is using his BARE HANDS?? *wonders if he is related to Amigiri from Hakuoki* (meanwhile I suspect Chitose is related to Kazama, since they look vaguely similar, and SOMEONE has to be related to Kazama)
As Kazutake looks like he is about to land a killing blow, Yukina throws herself in front of Kazuya. Kazutake stops his swing a hairsbreadth from her face. And she can feel the cold steel of Kazuya's blades against her neck from his own barely halted attack.
(hot)
Kazuya's face has gone very white at the thought that he nearly killed Yukina.
Yukina briefly looks at Kazuya then explains everything to Kazutake. Good for you, Yukina.
There's a moment of bittersweet farewell as Kazutake goes back to guarding Ieyasu's enemy.
That night, Kazuya is up late. He suddenly turns to Yukina and apologises. His hands tremble as he touches the nape of her neck.
Yukina: You didn't do anything wrong. And it's healed now.
Oh boy, he actually cut her neck? No wonder he was spooked.
Kazuya: I promise I will never hurt you again. In return, will you promise that you won't do anything reckless?
She says yes, and he smiles. AWWW.
(Also, this is the most detailed image of Yukina I've seen in a CG. I like the hair)
An injured Kazuya gives Yukina a letter to deliver to Ieyasu.
I started using a walkthrough for this last part, and it says to ask for Tsuki to deliver it instead. So she tries that, but has to deliver it anyway. What's in this letter??
OH. When she's gone, Kazuya tries to slip away.
Tsuki: You're going to see that Masanobu aren't you?
Kazuya: You made me promise not to involve her with humans, but there should be no problem with me being involved with them.
Tsuki: (Yes, but I don't want to see her cry) I will help you...to learn more about these people who hurt the princess.
Kazuya: But if you get hurt it'll upset her.
Awww.
This game is flipping randomly between first and third person from all possible points of view. I'M ALREADY CONFUSED, GAME, DON'T MAKE IT WORSE.
Yukina delivers the letter and discovers that Kazuya is asking Ieyasu to take care of her.
Ieyasu: It seems he has prepared himself for death.
Yukina angrily thinks about how she's TOLD Kazuya not to make decisions without telling her, and to worry about those who care for him: think of his clan! And maybe...a little, of how she would feel.
Ieyasu: Men are clumsy creatures. They are only able to show affection to those dear to them by keeping them far from harm's reach. The greater their love, the greater the distance...
Yukina: Whether he's a man or woman doesn't have anything to do with it! Pushing away someone you care about to protect them...that isn't kindness!
ILU YUKINA
Ieyasu: Heh. The glory, honour and pride of men mean nothing to you...go make Kazuya see sense :)
We see Tsuki deftly take down waves of berserkers, while Kazuya and Shuten-doji square up one on one.
Kazuya: If it means I can defeat Shuten-doji, I would not hesitate to reveal my other, wicked form.
Me: You mean the demon form all demons have, where their hair goes white and they get cute little horns? Come on game, that is neither wicked nor much of a secret weapon.
Shuten-doji: *gasp*
Kazuya:
Me: WTF
He's a magical ice mage ELF??
:D!!
Will Chizuru be able to do that???
Kazuya: This is the true demon form
Me: It is? But I thought...
Kazuya: It is the form of the demons who drink the blood of humans, wreaking havok and garnering hatred.
Me: YOU DRANK HUMAN BLOOD????
Or does he just mean this is what humans imagine when they think "scary demon monster"?
Shuten-doji: I see the true demon form is as hideous as people say.
Wait is this just regular demon form, drawn more dramatically? But all the demons of this time just refuse to go into it because they think it's gross?
Kazuya beats the pants off Shuten-doji, who doesn't know how to handle being beaten. So he drinks the berserker potion, crying out in pain as his body transforms!
I guess he doesn't know how to attain true demon form? Not all demons do. Maybe Kazama etc were unusual in that respect. They definitely didn't seem self hating about it, though, and demons in Hakuoki who couldn't do it felt bad. Hmm!
We see Tsuki face off against Yachiyo, the main bad guy demon.
"Something invisible slices through the air and Elder Tsuki knocks it away with my sword."
WAIT. Have they been in first person this whole time, just using names instead of "I" a lot? Wait, no, the next line was definitely third person. They just...can't keep it straight sentence to sentence. Or within sentences. The translation is otherwise pretty smooth, what a weird thing to screw up.
Anyway. I hope Tsuki isn't going to have his head chopped off D:
Tsuki: What? This is a secret technique only known to those in Shin's clan!
OooOOooh
And then Kazuya shows up, looking badass and elfin!
...and then so does Shuten-Doji /o\
I love how the transformation just...magically makes them shirtless with long flowing locks of hair. Not that I'm complaining >.> Also, the red markings explain why the berserkers wear masks (but not why...none of the demons in Hakuoki had them...)
Shuten-Doji is clearly getting a massive kick out of beating up a member of the Ten Demon Alliance. Seeing that Kazuya is about to die, Tsuki rushes to help...
We see Yukina find Kazuya (what happened in the fight? Is Tsuki ok??) She recognises the demon form she has been told is so hideous that even demons despise it. "Yet when I look at Kazuya now, he doesn't seem hideous" Same, Yukina, same ;)
Kazuya: Yukina, I'm sorry...
AND THEN WE SEE A DETAILED CG OF TSUKI'S BLOODY, DYING BODY
THANKS, GAME
Tsuki: There is something...I...must apologise for...
Yukina, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding: We can discuss it when you're better!
Tsuki: I told Kazuya to stay away from you, so that you wouldn't become involved with humans and have them betray your trust...but you told me trust...is when you don't mind being betrayed. I just saw my own past in you...
And then he says he will teach her his special technique. Just as I'm thinking "He looks a little sick to teach sword-fighting" he says she has a special power and transmits his memories to her as he dies???
Tsuki: Use it wisely, I know you can.
;_; I predicted he'd die from the start but it's still sad.
Kazuya: Yukina, this is all my fault...
Yukina: What exactly are you apologising for? For going off to fight by yourself, and getting Tsuki killed? Am I not your comrade? Why do you always have to decide everything by yourself?
Kazuya: I should have made you return to Yase village sooner, then this never would have happened...
SHE SLAPS HIM. GOOD FOR YOU YUKINA.
...and then she bursts into tears. She wails like a child and he hesitantly puts his arms around her. She feels his warmth and affection and it only makes her sadder.
Yukina: If you trust me, talk to me! You're so important to me, and I...
He whispers into her ear that he's sorry, and she's important to him too. The hole in her heart fills a little.
Yukina dreams: a memory. A a young girl, Yukina got trapped on a cliff. Tsuki wrapped himself around her as she fell so she wouldn't get hurt, becoming injured himself.
Yukina: Waah! I'm sorry! You got hurt because of me!
Tsuki: If you truly feel sorry, do not get yourself into such situations. Crying will not solve anything.
Wow it turns out Shuten-Doji killed Yachiyo offscreen? He was set up as the main bad guy! He's probably more central on other routes.
Shu: So I'm a bit worried Shuten-Doji will kill me next...
Masonbu: Eh, leave if you want. Your plan is to kill those of Mitsunari's house, even without my orders. And that furthers my goal.
Shu: But don't you need us in your army to get House Tokugawa in charge of the country?
Masonobu: I never said that was my goal ;)
Huh!
Shu thinks about how he was bored so aligned with a local human called Chosokabe with aims of conquest. But then "this guy Hideoyoshi" (the previous ruler who just died) ruined everything and stole Shu's clan's land, so now he wants revenge on Hideoyoshi's underling Mitsunari? That...doesn't seem to make sense as motivation for everything Shu has done but...sure.
End of Chapter 10
Yukina has fallen into a deep depression and Kazuya is trying to get her to eat.
He tells her he's leaving to fight by Ieyasu's side. "I thought about leaving without saying anything, but didn't want to do that to you again." Character growth!
Yukina: Tell me, why have you let me stay with you up until now?
He hangs his head, trying to find the words.
Kazuya: It's been troubling me...I couldn't bring myself to send you away. You managed to persuade Ieyasu where I couldn't...your body's small, but you possess such power. So I took an interest in you. The only other person I've felt like that about before was Ieyasu. So that's why I wanted to keep you by my side. But...I can't bear to think about losing you., That's why we need to part ways here.
Yukina: I'm not going back. No matter how sad or painful things may get, I don't want us to be apart. I'm just as afraid of losing you as you are of losing me. So please, let me protect your back. Let me fight with you until the end.
He takes her hand and asks if she's sure, and when she says yes he smiles and says part of him is glad.
She eats the food he found for her. She will need her strength, to fulfil the task Tsuki left her. To save the humans from themselves.
Time for the FINAL BATTLE
Hee, this good ending choice involves shouting at Ieyasu again instead of telling him everything will be ok.
Kazuya and Yukina spy on the enemy army run by the human associated with Shin (...I think). The general says "We WOULD attack Ieyasu's army, but the men just sat down to lunch...". Yukina and Kazuya agree that somehow Shin is responsible lol.
Ooh. I have the choice to pray for Kazutake's safety (good end) or secretly contact him (bad end). Sounds like this bad end involves inadvertently letting the other side win...
We see Masonobu talk to Shuten-Doji, who is only sometimes lucid, but doesn't care as long as he gets to murder the Ten Demon Alliance. Masonobu orders him to give the elixir to one of the enemy armies and direct them towards another enemy army.
Against screams of carnage, Masonobu mutters to himself "Demons keep their promises more faithfully than any Buddhist or priest. Perhaps there is no God or Buddha in this world after all..."
Ieyasu is not judgemental towards this apparent betrayal amongst the enemy ranks, and Yukina thinks "in his heart there is no good or evil, only advantage and disadvantage".
A berserker soldier very politely brings orders from Masonobu to attack. Ieyasu thanks him and then kills him with Kazuya's help, "freeing him from the drug".
Soldier: Did...you just behead that messenger? o.O
Ieyasu: He was disrespectful. Clean this up.
Soldier: YES SIR WHATEVER YOU SAY SIR
Yukina hears Ieyasu use Kazuya's family name.
Yukina: You really trust him.
Kazuya: He said he reminded me of his son...and he reminds me of what I remember of my father. My father was always slow to act...after he died, I resented him for leaving me with so much trouble to deal with.
Yukina: But perhaps he led you to Ieyasu.
Kazuya: Ha. Ieyasu does always say that life is an uphill struggle, and if you accept that you'll never be disappointed.
The fight their way through the battlefield to the front line.
Kazuya: When this battle is over...
Yukina: Let's go back to Yase village together. I'll plead with the elders to forgive you until they do.
Kazuya: Looks like I can't get myself killed then :)
They find Shuten-Doji on the front lines, cackling as the Tokugawa forces massacre the other side's soldiers.
Shuten-Doji: Don't you remember how our last battle went? And you don't have the old man to fight your battles for you now.
Kazuya: No, but I have her. *turning to Yukina* Don't listen to his voice, he can control you! Just concentrate on mine. I'll become your eyes, and you become mine.
Aw!
But then before they can put this plan into action, Shiten-doji's forearms split open and start spraying blood?? It turns out even demons have their limit when it comes to the elixir.
End of Chapter 11.
And now, hopefully, the good ending!!
For a moment, Yukina falters, wondering if it's right to kill Shuten-doji while he's weak. But Kazuya brings her back to her senses. This man killed Elder Tsuki. He has to be defeated.
And then she hears Elder Tsuki's voice in her head, saying NOW. It's like time slows down, Shuten-doji barely has a chance to move before her blade sinks into his body. He is on the verge of death, blood spraying everywhere.
Desperate, he drinks all of the elixir he has, and springs away, healed. Kazuya and Yukina are blocked by a wave of hundreds of berserkers.
Finally, weak and breathless, they are able to stop. Piles of corpses surround them. Yukina thinks about how people will mourn these men, as she mourned Elder Tsuki. War is so cruel...
(You think so now, Yukina, wait until you're dating a guy on the losing side)
Kazuya: I want to tell you not to let it get to you, but that's probably not possible.
And then they hear a chorus of voices shouting in triumph: The war is over. House Tokugawa is victorious.
But the demon's war is not yet over. Shuten-doji must be stopped.
Kazuya: I'll fight him alone. You go back to Yase village.
COME ON KAZUYA WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS
Yukina: No! I'm not going to lose you-
He kisses her.
Kazuya: That kiss was a symbol of my vow to you. I promise to never make you sad again. Trust me.
Yukina: Please, let me go with you.
Kazuya: Even if I said no you'd come anyway...I'll stay by your side until the last breath leaves my body. Even if I fall into the depths of hell, I'll never let you go.
Yukina is filled with a feeling of power and we fade to black.
They find Shuten-doji on the abandoned battlefield...throwing a canon at a boulder and screaming incoherently.
Kazuya turns into his true demon form and does magic with his swords! But Shuten-doji gains the upper hand with his incredible speed, saying he has the power to "slow all that I see".
Shuten-doji: Why don't you alliance demons gang up on me, isn't that your way?
Kazuya, on the verge of death: Yukina, stay back! I don't want you to take another demon life. Your hands were not meant to take lives...they were meant...to save them...
She readies her sword anyway but he shouts to trust him, and she stays back, even though he is covered with his own blood. But then she realises: if she can blind Shuten-Doji, he will be powerless. So she throws knives into his eyes!
Yukina: If you're going to fight for me, then let me fight for you! I swore to protect you, even if it means getting blood on my hands!
Kazuya smiles at her and nods.
"We bring our swords swinging down in unison, slicing off Shuten-doji's arms at the shoulder" :D ROMANCE
Yukina prays for Shuten-doji's soul as he dies, his body floating up into the air as specks of light. She decides that this "banished demons" thing needs to stop.
(Which...it does not. Sorry Yukina)
Masonobu is summoned to see Ieyasu. "Am I to be executed? If so, so be it. I have lived to a ripe age, and have no complaints. I am ready for anything."
Ieyasu: I doubt even the devil himself could make you understand the weight of your sins.
The who now?
(I mean I guess they do have lords of hell etc but come on)
Ieyasu: But I shall forgive you. There is no such thing as good and bad people in this world. Only those I can use, and those who will not succumb to me.
"It is as if he is the pure embodiment of this age of "warring states", absorbing all the good and evil of humanity and able to manipulate it at will."
Masonobu: Ha. In my youth, I was very devout, and was taught 'If a righteous man can reach paradise, then even more a wicked one.': those of us who realise how evil we are, are most likely to learn the truth.
Ieyasu: I have no interest in such mystic words.
Masonobu: It is thanks to faith and religion that we are able to see the weakness and ugliness of mankind.
"He is a monster. If sights this interesting still await me, I am not yet ready to stop living!"
This is amazing and I love it. I knew that Masonobu and Ieyasu stayed close until their death well after the war, and was wondering how that was going to play out.
Since Kazutake's side lost, he didn't get his ancestral lands back, but his clan have moved in with Chitose's, aww.
Yukina and Kazuya go to congratulate Ieyasu in his fancy castle now that he has become the effective ruler of Japan. Ieyasu is very grateful to them both, and says he will put someone from his own family in charge of the land Kazuya's village is in, to make sure his people are kept safe. And he promises to create a peaceful world, one where demons can live safely. Also he has destroyed all evidence and instructions about the elixir.
Ieyasu: Do you think I have become a man Nobuyasu would have been proud to call his father?
Kazuya: Absolutely :)
Yukina and Kazuya return to Yase village. She nurses the princess, and feels like she may wake any day now.
Does "we're under one roof" mean she and Kazuya are living together?? He gently touches her cheek at one point and she goes red then denies it lol. He seems distracted, though, and says he will tell Yukina something when the Princess wakes.
And then she does!
Kazuya apologises deeply for his behaviour.
Princess: It's all in the past. There's no need for any more banished demons.
Kazuya: Exactly. Please assign me the task of tracking down the banished clans, so that they can be brought back into demon society. When I fought the demon Shuten-doji, I saw how much resentment he held towards the Ten Demon Alliance, and realised how many other demons live the same way.
Yukina: OH NO. *rushes out in tears*
Princess: But this will mean travelling away from the rest of us for years...can you do that to the one you love?
Kazuya: That is why I would also ask to be allowed to take Yukina Suzumori with me. I need her.
Princess: All right. But if you make her cry I'll never forgive you.
Yukina: So, when are you leaving?
Kazuya: Tomorrow. I need to start packing.
Yukina: I'll try and make something you like for dinner ;_;
Kazuya: But you need to be packing too.
Yukina: :D :D
Kazuya: You might be in danger though. And I won't be able to give you nice things, even though you're a girl. I don't pick up on people's feelings too well...so I might hurt you again, too. Despite all that, do you still want to come with me?
Yukina: As long as you're by my side, as long as I can see your smile...I don't need anything else.
THE END
Kazuya was still kind of a crappy boyfriend in the end but in a way I have a soft spot for so I'm ok with it. The romance was very understated but it mostly just played out like a really intense shonen m/m friendship between warriors plus a little kissing, which is a romance dynamic I enjoy in all gender combinations. I wouldn't mind some fic filling out the shmoopy romantic blanks a little, but I'm not sure any exists, and don't know if I can be bothered writing it myself.
Ieyasu totally failed to actually have the war won by human hands alone. I like how morally ambiguous he was in the end. And I am very curious to see the war from the POV of the losing side. Which afaict is all the other LIs with the possible exception of Senkimaru, who's role in the war I still don't know.
Also it turned out that following the bad guy demons to learn about the poison did nothing to help the princess, and what helped in the end really was Yukina just coming home and playing nurse. But she got to smooch Kazuya, so. I'm not complaining.
While I was all "They still have banished demons in the 19th century", thinking about it the Nagumo tribe, which was banished in this story, is not banished in the 19th century (they're still pretty evil though). So I guess the previously banished tribes get unbanished, but banishment as a concept is not removed from demon society. Or gets reintroduced.
I wish I could remember what they say in Hakuoki about how things end up falling apart for the Yukimura tribe. Was it Ieyasu's descendants who murdered them all? I think it was :( But they got a few hundred years of peace in the middle.
Thinking about it if Chitose -> Kazama and Kazuya -> Amigiri that explains why Amigiri is so subservient to Kazama: his clan are to some extent guests on Kazama's land. I wonder how much of this backstory had been worked out when they wrote the original version of Hakuoki, and how much extra detail was added after Demon's Bond was written.
There's a free thing on Kazuya's page called "Story highlights" that I didn't watch before because I was worried about spoilers.
Watching it now, it's basically a trailer: scattered moments from the route that are especially dramatic or shippy etc, with little text splashes in between saying things like "Humans- he goes to the future with them" and "He meets a woman he wants to protect". It's not massively spoilery so I might check out the others as I decide which route to play next.
And I think I will play another route, I enjoyed this a lot. I'm going to feel ripped off as I skip through the repeated scenes on the common route though.
I'll play the other ending at some point, since that's free, but I don't feel like it right now.
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Date: 2019-07-09 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 12:33 pm (UTC)nods I hope you enjoy it!
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Date: 2019-07-21 03:15 am (UTC)"He is a monster. If sights this interesting still await me, I am not yet ready to stop living!"
That was really an amazing scene!
Now I think I need to do the Kazutake route to see how they manage to write Mitsunari Ishida as anything other than a walking atrocity. I mean from the outside it looks like, fine, he's terrible, but Kazutake was tempted by promises of land. But I'm going to bet they make him look better once you get to know him.
But back to Kazuya:
Me: YOU DRANK HUMAN BLOOD????
Or does he just mean this is what humans imagine when they think "scary demon monster"?
I totally missed that...I assumed the latter?? I mean if Kazuya drank human blood you'd think it would have come up. But maybe not? ::worries::
I guess he doesn't know how to attain true demon form? Not all demons do. Maybe Kazama etc were unusual in that respect. They definitely didn't seem self hating about it, though, and demons in Hakuoki who couldn't do it felt bad. Hmm!
I have been thinking about this! The True Form in Demon's Bond seems a *lot* more powerful than the True Form in Hakuoki, and also a lot harder to achieve. So maybe by Hakuoki times they stopped being able to use that form at all, and instead had a less-powerful one that was easier to make happen but also less potentially destructive?
"We bring our swords swinging down in unison, slicing off Shuten-doji's arms at the shoulder" :D ROMANCE
They are very cute going into battle together.
I wouldn't mind some fic filling out the shmoopy romantic blanks a little, but I'm not sure any exists, and don't know if I can be bothered writing it myself.
Apparently there is an untranslated sequel that does this. Maybe one day it will be translated????
So what do you think...do Yukina and Kazuya end up becoming Chizuru's grandparents? The way things end it looks like they will be off adventuring maybe for the rest of their lives, so maybe they never make it back to the Yukimura clan. Which would mean that maybe they're not there when it is destroyed, which would be terrible because they'd feel responsible and like they could've saved everyone if they were there but also it would leave open the possibility that they could reappear at some point in Chizuru's life. And if they don't become Chizuru's grandparents because they are off traveling and away from the clan, maybe they become Saito's grandparents. Hm. On the other hand, maybe they travel around for a bit and then settle down and have Yukimura children. Or, since her clan is matrilineal, maybe they settle down and have Suzumori children and become Kimigiku's grandparents? What do you think?
Also interesting that after all the fuss about premarital handholding on Chitose's route, on this route no one seems to have anything to say about Yukina and Kazuya going off together unmarried other than 'aw, that's cute.' I have lots to say about that but maybe will wait until you get to Name Spoiler on the Chitose route.
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Date: 2019-08-10 01:52 pm (UTC)I'll be really curious to hear about it if you do!
I totally missed that...I assumed the latter?? I mean if Kazuya drank human blood you'd think it would have come up. But maybe not? ::worries:
Yeah I'm going to assume that if they meant blood drinking, they'd have said. Probably.
Apparently there is an untranslated sequel that does this. Maybe one day it will be translated????
!!!
Hmmmm...I am pretty attached to them being Chizuru's grandparents. It hadn't occured to me that they might be Kimigiku's grandparents, hmm... Ok, new headcanon, they travelled a bunch, had multiple kids at long intervals, left the eldest boy to run the Yukimura clan, when they were old they settled with the eldest daughter in the Suzumori clan. eg, they're both :)
I was putting off replying until I got back to the Chitose path but I seem to be on a TV kick at the moment. Still, I'll get there eventually, and am curious to hear your thoughts when I do.
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Date: 2019-08-12 04:49 pm (UTC)I like it! I also like the idea of Chizuru and Kimigiku being cousins and that Chizuru could find out that she's a Suzomori as much as she's a Yukimura.
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Date: 2019-09-16 01:48 pm (UTC)Yes! More family, and nice ones this time :)
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Date: 2019-08-26 10:32 pm (UTC)I found these fairly detailed summaries if you are considering one of the other routes and want spoilers:
https://taiyounokousen.wordpress.com/category/otome-games/toki-no-kizuna/
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Date: 2019-09-05 09:23 am (UTC)Oh, thank you! Yeah I'm already dreading the end of the Chitose route and putting off playing any of the sad endings, I may be too much of a sook for Kazutake. So that link could be very useful!
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Date: 2019-07-30 07:42 pm (UTC)Unfortunately the skip read function is a mess and doesn't stop for new dialogue. But you don't really get anything interesting after the 'bad' choices so you won't lose much if you just put it on skip from one choice to the next. There's a very short new interesting scene after the very last choice but that's the only one I'd pause the skip read for. The interesting new material is in chapter 12, which is completely new.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 01:46 pm (UTC)