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alias_sqbrMasterlist and guide
This includes an extra chapter, "Criminal", from the point of view of the villain.
These filled in some holes in the plot and worldbuilding! Unfortunately, they made it even more clear that the plot and worldbuilding DO NOT MAKE A LOT OF SENSE. I know, I know, don't overthink the terrorism dating sim.
Also they're all pretty depressing and not in a super interesting way.
Content note: Violence, death, suicide, stalking and sexual harassment, child harm, fantasy slavery
Tragic Love End:
Fail to disarm Saeki before he shoots Yanagi. Ichika is overcome and kills Saeki, who is very happy about it.
But Yanagi didn't die. Ichika vanished, and he's been searching for her for months.
Adonis has fallen apart without it's leader (great plan, Saeki) and Shinjuku is back to normal.
A miserable Yanagi mutters "But you're not here" and wonders if she's crying, whereever she is.
Once she had found him. So now he will find her.
THE END
Adonis Bad End: Follow Kazuki to the concert venue alone.
Huh. Isshiki calls Ichika "Onee-san" when he's just met her, so it's not a "you're my friend's older sister" thing. Maybe it's a cutesy affectation, given that he's older than her? Eh I don't understand honourifics etc, moving on.
Ichika gets a bit rigidly OOC about TEENS OUT LATE AT NIGHT and is all "As a police officer..." and Isshiki gets pissed off and kicks her out.
Hana sees this and stabs her.
THE END
Bad End 1: Accidentally saved over the save I made for this, had to replay so much ;_;
Ichika accidentally shoots the hostage. The man aims at Yanagi and he freezes up so Hoshino takes the bullet. Yanagi is very sad!
THE END
Bad End 2: Successfully shoot Saeki in the shoulder. He is VERY happy about it, and then knocks her out.
She wakes in the underground church, with a smiling Saeki...and the dead bodies of the detectives. They tried to save her, and failed.
Saeki talks about how they'd all hurt people but asides from Yanagi and Shiraishi it's all pretty weaksauce.
Ichika: Nobody is free of that kind of 'sin'. Do you want to turn the world into endless slaughter?!
Saeki: No. Normally their deaths might not have been deemed necessary. But it couldn't be helped. I had to kill them for your sake. Destruction is necessary for rebirth.
He talks about how first he will kill those who have malice in their hearts, then free everyone else from the ego that creates malice. Ichika wants to argue, but the sorrow in her own heart is so strong that the thought of anything that might remove it is appealing.
He reaches out his hand, and she takes it.
THE END
I can't deny his effectiveness at the murdering part of his plan but I'm still pretty hazy on the removing all human ego part.
Bad End 3: Screw up figuring out Saeki's motivations and end up failing to find him. Yanagi is always encouraging, saying not to give up. And then the clock ticks over to January 1. The giant screen over Shinjuku Station fills with static, and then images of people all over Japan dying in agony.
And as the days pass, more and more people are killed for increasingly minor slights. Ichika has locked herself in her house with Kazuki.
Yanagi arrives and Ichika freaks out that he could have died on the way here. He says he wants to stand up to Adonis and she says to leave it to the government. (Like...the police?)
Ichika: Stay here with us forever. I'll protect you even if you don't want me to.
She thinks about SHOOTING HIS ARMS AND LEGS but he hugs her and says he'll stay here forever if that what she wants. He says "I'm sorry I couldn't protect your heart", his voice shaking with sadness, and it sounds very far away.
THE END
(I don't think I mentioned it but Shiraishi said the same thing on the bad end where Ichika became a killer)
What are they...going...to eat? Ah, they'll figure something out. It'll be FINE.
Bad End 4: Don't tell Investigations the plan for arresting Saeki. Yanagi is a little troubled, but supportive. What a good boyfriend.
Things start out much the same, but then the police suddenly arrive and murder Saeki in a rain of bullets.
Saeki: So you can make ruthless decisions after all...I would have rather have been ended by you...
Ichika: Didn't you want me to stop you? Because you regret what you've done?
Saeki: Ha...no...the next version of me will rise up and replace me. I just wish that it would have been you...why are you crying when I had just stopped feeling sad...
He tells her to erase the sorrow in his place, and then there is a BOMB and Yanagi dies saving her.
And then...I guess she becomes a terrorist? Sure.
THE END
Kind of funny she only seems to end up choosing terrorism (without brainwashing) on the Yanagi path. Guess he's not such a good influence after all!
Bad End 5: Play Chapter 4 with low approval.
Yanagi is less supportive when Ichika makes lots of bad choices in a row, which is fair.
Oh no I'm looking at the upcoming bad choices and they all involve Akito D: D:
Kinda weird seeing an 18 year old tell a 21 year old "You adults are all the same".
And then everything progresses the same to the hostage situation. Turns out this didn't change things for Akito at all, he just happened to show up a bunch in the previous part of the chapter. The problem is Yanagi, who she has not inspired to feel strong the same way. He is paralysed with anxiety and unable to shoot at anyone even to disarm them.
And then Ichika gets shot protecting him and it's basically Bad End 1 again.
THE END
Damn, the walkthrough said I would unlock a new chapter but I didn't, have I missed an ending somewhere? *scrolls through ending list* Endings 3 and 37 of 37, apparently!
AHA the Yanagi bad end in the common route is different to the regular one, even though you use the same initial steps to get there.
Common Route Bad End: You have to actively alienate Yanagi now as well as everyone else, this time by making some VERY DUMB deductions. I guess Yanagi also loves her for her brain, or at least basic competence.
She notices how sad Yanagi looks but doesn't feel able to ask why.
When meeting with Sakuragawa, Ichika thinks about how it might be better to simply not give into Adonis's threats. They might not kill her, and if they do, the police would learn something. But if she does what they want she'd be a spy and a liability.
Just as she's about to tell Sakuragawa about the collar, everything goes fuzzy, and then black, and Ichika thinks "I'm a fool".
THE END
...that still didn't unlock it. I have definitely done all the Yanagi bad ends according to this walkthrough what did I miiiiissss /o\
*gives up and watches first 5 seconds of a Youtube video*
OH I DID UNLOCK IT IT'S JUST IN THE COMMON ROUTE CHAPTER SELECTION SCREEN!
Chapter: Criminal
Ugh is this about Ogata. He's not the worst person in this story by any means but I just find him painfully irritating.
UGH his sad wife and child are even more annoying. Yes, yes, his story is very sad.
Lol we see Saeki's computer screens with various windows containing data on Ogata in what appears to mostly be English in a tiny unreadable font, including vocal analysis, labelled images of his face and skeleton... and if I squint I can just make out that his age is apparently "asdfodkd".
Ohhh I see this is counting down from month to month as we watch Saeki recruit each executor/executioner. Each title screen has the words "Tetragramatton Labyrinth". I had a moment of "Is this evil world conquering religious conspiracy about the Jews after all D:" but they feel too Japanese and Japan-focussed, I think it's still a Christianity thing (which is also a foreign religion, obviously, but the vibe is different)
Hana does not appear to really have any hidden depths, asides from having the same age and skeleton as Ogata lol.
OH YAY AKITO'S SISTER. She attempts to connect and he brushes her off, indifferent and irritable and only caring about his music. Deep down, he'd already known she was depressed, he just hadn't cared enough to look into it.
Saeki: We are still hesitant. Your feelings of guilt outweigh your sadness. We seek hatred and sadness. If you still feel guilt you cannot move forward.
Akito: You're awfully sensitive for a terrorist. But don't worry, I do feel guilt...but I want them to suffer more.
Saeki: Very well. You are our comrade. Betrayal of the grand cause will not be tolerated. If you will not regret this swear an oath.
Akito: Yes. If you will grant me my wish, I will even take the hand of the devil.
Nnnnnnnggggg Sugawara being stalked D: She wants to kill all men and then herself. Saeki keeps trying to shift her to resenting humans then says she has a right to happiness and a future and bursts into tears?? Jesus what a bastard. He KNEW he was planning on abandoning her, erasing her memories of him, and getting her arrested.
Saeki tells Souda they can protect the weak together :/
Hoo boy this Shion and Suzune stuff is depressing.
Saeki: Your heart is full of despair. But you must have a sincere wish.
Sanjou: To see the world wiped clean, so only good people will exist.
Saeki: Haha. That is a grand ideal.
Sanjou: It's a child's dream. I'm just a coward who is afraid to face all the dirty scary things in real life.
Saeki: ...
Sanjou: Aren't you guys about empowering the weak and enforcing your own justice? That's incompatible with my self-destructive wishes.
Saeki: Not at all. The ideal world you seek is extremely close to what we envision it to be.
Sanjou: Heh. Then show me. Show me something fun and I'll do whatever you want.
And the first executor is Mikuni.
"His father was a typical capitalist. In other words, he was an aggressive opportunist. He'd find a way to generate money from oppression. He believed the gap between the rich and the poor was necessary, and that cheap labour powered the nation."
We're doing socialist commentary now?? SURE.
Mikuni rejected the privileged path he was supposed to follow and said his father's empire was built on the blood of the working class.
Versus...brainwashed...slaves??
THEY'RE HALF BROTHERS
I KNEW THERE HAD TO BE A SECRET BROTHER SOMEWHERE IN THIS DAMN GAME
Or at least..."Yuzuru" is the illegitimate son of Mikuni's father, but I'm not sure that's who Saeki actually is or if he stole that identity somehow. (...OH. We have already seen one example of someone with a fake identity...)
He sees Mikuni as someone with no sorrow, only anger and conviction, who could become a revolutionary figure for the people. And he thinks "We will never understand each other".
Mikuni says he wants to take responsibility for his father's actions and Saeki bitterly says it's too late, his mother has already been torn to pieces.
Mikuni says "I will do anything in my power" with an arrogant light in his eyes unfitting for an executor...and Saeki decides he will use him.
They talk of their ideals and Mikuni says "Someone like you who sympathises with the weak and stays strong should lead Japan".
But that's not what Saeki wants. Mikuni is stronger than him, and that's why Saeki wants to erase him. He erases Mikuni's fears with platitudes, and Mikuni's voice loses it's strength, it's light.
And then Saeki tells him that to prove himself, he must kill his father.
The Zeroeth executor was a nameless child...
AWWWW I was hoping Saeki was a brainwashed slave but NO he just has no legal name. He is indeed Mikuni's half brother via a mistress. She went ~crazy and so the dad locked them both up to save face, but she never lost hope that he would return for his heir and love. Just before she died, she mistook him for his father and said she'd happily abandon her son to have the dad back.
Saeki, flatly: If that's what you want, I'll stay by your side.
A jealous mistreated illegitimate son is such a boring backstory for the villain of this kind of story! Boo!!
From that day on he felt suffocated by the sadness of others. Eventually he decides he is "no one", the vessel to take in others' sadness and then erase it.
The failed assassination attempt used up a lot of Adonis's resources. Ah, but the main goal was just to make sure the public remembered the name. And the "Adonis" that got disbanded back then was a fake.
Ahh and that's when he took up the identity "Yuzuru Saeki" to infiltrate the police, before then he had a different name.
"I thought I might find some sympathisers, those who uphold justice and fight evil. When those people organise, they become a troublesome menace that gives birth to malice, but I'm sure there were still some who were still pure, still normal."
Ahh ok, this is another one of Saeki's contradictions. He wants to change the world, but he also hates political organisers and politicians etc, because of his father and because they are inevitably 'tainted' by malice. And Mikuni is a perfect example of Saeki's problem: he genuinely wants to help people and fix injustice, but is super quick to be comfortable with murder, corruption, BRAINWASHED ORPHAN SLAVES etc 'for the greater good'.
That's fine in and of itself, but it would be nice if the game showed us anyone trying to change the world who isn't a straight up villain (even a sympathetic one) I guess Sasazuka is arguably a sort of activist in his own very limited way? Even if it's just to fix a single BLINDINGLY OBVIOUSLY BAD law because it triggers him personally.
Like one of the strengths of this game is the way it explores how normal people are also tainted with malice. Cops and criminals, children and teachers, underlings and those in charge, everyone is just a person who has hurt people and been hurt but needs to just keep moving forward, doing their best to help the people around them and not be overcome by negative feelings. And politicians and activists etc are exactly the same. It doesn't HAVE to all be terrorist murder cults vs the status quo. Ah well!
One day Ichika talks about how important it is to become someone who can shoot criminals, regardless of their reasons, if it saves someone.
Ohhh and once Saeki decided to do 'the experiment' on her, he found our about Akito and Isshiki and their connection to Ichika's brother, and used this as part of Ichika's test.
Saeki seems pretty unenthused about the whole religious worship angle, but Mikuni says it's part of their deal. So I guess Mikuni was always the kind of dude who jumps to "Let's run a secret cult" as a solution to everyone's problems, Saeki just made it a murder cult. Or perhaps just accelerated the inevitable murder cult progression.
But Mikuni is worried doing so much murder will make Saeki sad, aww. Yeah ok, Saeki, he is an idiot.
And then he gathers his 'normal' people to prove everyone can pass judgement blah blah.
THE END
You know, I really thought they were going to explain or at least explore the ethical implications of the whole brainwashed orphan slaves thing a little more, but more fool me.
I guess Mikuni looked at his father, corrupt capitalist, and his mother, SLAVE OWNING CULT LEADER and went "Welp, since those are my ONLY TWO OPTIONS I guess I pick mum!".
*belatedly realises I should have added a 'fantasy slavery' warning to all my posts before this* Sorry to anyone who was upset by it!
I'm glad the game never took Saeki/Ichika to an overtly romantic/sexual place. The game clearly knows a lot of players are going to find Saeki SUPER HOT and gives them a little fanservice here and there, and I guess I'd be ok with a fleshed out Villain Route for those people if Otomate felt up to trying to make that work, but I think "Deep affectionate obsession which could be read as romantic or platonic" works best for the game as it is now.
This includes an extra chapter, "Criminal", from the point of view of the villain.
These filled in some holes in the plot and worldbuilding! Unfortunately, they made it even more clear that the plot and worldbuilding DO NOT MAKE A LOT OF SENSE. I know, I know, don't overthink the terrorism dating sim.
Also they're all pretty depressing and not in a super interesting way.
Content note: Violence, death, suicide, stalking and sexual harassment, child harm, fantasy slavery
Tragic Love End:
Fail to disarm Saeki before he shoots Yanagi. Ichika is overcome and kills Saeki, who is very happy about it.
But Yanagi didn't die. Ichika vanished, and he's been searching for her for months.
Adonis has fallen apart without it's leader (great plan, Saeki) and Shinjuku is back to normal.
A miserable Yanagi mutters "But you're not here" and wonders if she's crying, whereever she is.
Once she had found him. So now he will find her.
THE END
Adonis Bad End: Follow Kazuki to the concert venue alone.
Huh. Isshiki calls Ichika "Onee-san" when he's just met her, so it's not a "you're my friend's older sister" thing. Maybe it's a cutesy affectation, given that he's older than her? Eh I don't understand honourifics etc, moving on.
Ichika gets a bit rigidly OOC about TEENS OUT LATE AT NIGHT and is all "As a police officer..." and Isshiki gets pissed off and kicks her out.
Hana sees this and stabs her.
THE END
Bad End 1: Accidentally saved over the save I made for this, had to replay so much ;_;
Ichika accidentally shoots the hostage. The man aims at Yanagi and he freezes up so Hoshino takes the bullet. Yanagi is very sad!
THE END
Bad End 2: Successfully shoot Saeki in the shoulder. He is VERY happy about it, and then knocks her out.
She wakes in the underground church, with a smiling Saeki...and the dead bodies of the detectives. They tried to save her, and failed.
Saeki talks about how they'd all hurt people but asides from Yanagi and Shiraishi it's all pretty weaksauce.
Ichika: Nobody is free of that kind of 'sin'. Do you want to turn the world into endless slaughter?!
Saeki: No. Normally their deaths might not have been deemed necessary. But it couldn't be helped. I had to kill them for your sake. Destruction is necessary for rebirth.
He talks about how first he will kill those who have malice in their hearts, then free everyone else from the ego that creates malice. Ichika wants to argue, but the sorrow in her own heart is so strong that the thought of anything that might remove it is appealing.
He reaches out his hand, and she takes it.
THE END
I can't deny his effectiveness at the murdering part of his plan but I'm still pretty hazy on the removing all human ego part.
Bad End 3: Screw up figuring out Saeki's motivations and end up failing to find him. Yanagi is always encouraging, saying not to give up. And then the clock ticks over to January 1. The giant screen over Shinjuku Station fills with static, and then images of people all over Japan dying in agony.
And as the days pass, more and more people are killed for increasingly minor slights. Ichika has locked herself in her house with Kazuki.
Yanagi arrives and Ichika freaks out that he could have died on the way here. He says he wants to stand up to Adonis and she says to leave it to the government. (Like...the police?)
Ichika: Stay here with us forever. I'll protect you even if you don't want me to.
She thinks about SHOOTING HIS ARMS AND LEGS but he hugs her and says he'll stay here forever if that what she wants. He says "I'm sorry I couldn't protect your heart", his voice shaking with sadness, and it sounds very far away.
THE END
(I don't think I mentioned it but Shiraishi said the same thing on the bad end where Ichika became a killer)
What are they...going...to eat? Ah, they'll figure something out. It'll be FINE.
Bad End 4: Don't tell Investigations the plan for arresting Saeki. Yanagi is a little troubled, but supportive. What a good boyfriend.
Things start out much the same, but then the police suddenly arrive and murder Saeki in a rain of bullets.
Saeki: So you can make ruthless decisions after all...I would have rather have been ended by you...
Ichika: Didn't you want me to stop you? Because you regret what you've done?
Saeki: Ha...no...the next version of me will rise up and replace me. I just wish that it would have been you...why are you crying when I had just stopped feeling sad...
He tells her to erase the sorrow in his place, and then there is a BOMB and Yanagi dies saving her.
And then...I guess she becomes a terrorist? Sure.
THE END
Kind of funny she only seems to end up choosing terrorism (without brainwashing) on the Yanagi path. Guess he's not such a good influence after all!
Bad End 5: Play Chapter 4 with low approval.
Yanagi is less supportive when Ichika makes lots of bad choices in a row, which is fair.
Oh no I'm looking at the upcoming bad choices and they all involve Akito D: D:
Kinda weird seeing an 18 year old tell a 21 year old "You adults are all the same".
And then everything progresses the same to the hostage situation. Turns out this didn't change things for Akito at all, he just happened to show up a bunch in the previous part of the chapter. The problem is Yanagi, who she has not inspired to feel strong the same way. He is paralysed with anxiety and unable to shoot at anyone even to disarm them.
And then Ichika gets shot protecting him and it's basically Bad End 1 again.
THE END
Damn, the walkthrough said I would unlock a new chapter but I didn't, have I missed an ending somewhere? *scrolls through ending list* Endings 3 and 37 of 37, apparently!
AHA the Yanagi bad end in the common route is different to the regular one, even though you use the same initial steps to get there.
Common Route Bad End: You have to actively alienate Yanagi now as well as everyone else, this time by making some VERY DUMB deductions. I guess Yanagi also loves her for her brain, or at least basic competence.
She notices how sad Yanagi looks but doesn't feel able to ask why.
When meeting with Sakuragawa, Ichika thinks about how it might be better to simply not give into Adonis's threats. They might not kill her, and if they do, the police would learn something. But if she does what they want she'd be a spy and a liability.
Just as she's about to tell Sakuragawa about the collar, everything goes fuzzy, and then black, and Ichika thinks "I'm a fool".
THE END
...that still didn't unlock it. I have definitely done all the Yanagi bad ends according to this walkthrough what did I miiiiissss /o\
*gives up and watches first 5 seconds of a Youtube video*
OH I DID UNLOCK IT IT'S JUST IN THE COMMON ROUTE CHAPTER SELECTION SCREEN!
Chapter: Criminal
Ugh is this about Ogata. He's not the worst person in this story by any means but I just find him painfully irritating.
UGH his sad wife and child are even more annoying. Yes, yes, his story is very sad.
Lol we see Saeki's computer screens with various windows containing data on Ogata in what appears to mostly be English in a tiny unreadable font, including vocal analysis, labelled images of his face and skeleton... and if I squint I can just make out that his age is apparently "asdfodkd".
Ohhh I see this is counting down from month to month as we watch Saeki recruit each executor/executioner. Each title screen has the words "Tetragramatton Labyrinth". I had a moment of "Is this evil world conquering religious conspiracy about the Jews after all D:" but they feel too Japanese and Japan-focussed, I think it's still a Christianity thing (which is also a foreign religion, obviously, but the vibe is different)
Hana does not appear to really have any hidden depths, asides from having the same age and skeleton as Ogata lol.
OH YAY AKITO'S SISTER. She attempts to connect and he brushes her off, indifferent and irritable and only caring about his music. Deep down, he'd already known she was depressed, he just hadn't cared enough to look into it.
Saeki: We are still hesitant. Your feelings of guilt outweigh your sadness. We seek hatred and sadness. If you still feel guilt you cannot move forward.
Akito: You're awfully sensitive for a terrorist. But don't worry, I do feel guilt...but I want them to suffer more.
Saeki: Very well. You are our comrade. Betrayal of the grand cause will not be tolerated. If you will not regret this swear an oath.
Akito: Yes. If you will grant me my wish, I will even take the hand of the devil.
Nnnnnnnggggg Sugawara being stalked D: She wants to kill all men and then herself. Saeki keeps trying to shift her to resenting humans then says she has a right to happiness and a future and bursts into tears?? Jesus what a bastard. He KNEW he was planning on abandoning her, erasing her memories of him, and getting her arrested.
Saeki tells Souda they can protect the weak together :/
Hoo boy this Shion and Suzune stuff is depressing.
Saeki: Your heart is full of despair. But you must have a sincere wish.
Sanjou: To see the world wiped clean, so only good people will exist.
Saeki: Haha. That is a grand ideal.
Sanjou: It's a child's dream. I'm just a coward who is afraid to face all the dirty scary things in real life.
Saeki: ...
Sanjou: Aren't you guys about empowering the weak and enforcing your own justice? That's incompatible with my self-destructive wishes.
Saeki: Not at all. The ideal world you seek is extremely close to what we envision it to be.
Sanjou: Heh. Then show me. Show me something fun and I'll do whatever you want.
And the first executor is Mikuni.
"His father was a typical capitalist. In other words, he was an aggressive opportunist. He'd find a way to generate money from oppression. He believed the gap between the rich and the poor was necessary, and that cheap labour powered the nation."
We're doing socialist commentary now?? SURE.
Mikuni rejected the privileged path he was supposed to follow and said his father's empire was built on the blood of the working class.
Versus...brainwashed...slaves??
THEY'RE HALF BROTHERS
I KNEW THERE HAD TO BE A SECRET BROTHER SOMEWHERE IN THIS DAMN GAME
Or at least..."Yuzuru" is the illegitimate son of Mikuni's father, but I'm not sure that's who Saeki actually is or if he stole that identity somehow. (...OH. We have already seen one example of someone with a fake identity...)
He sees Mikuni as someone with no sorrow, only anger and conviction, who could become a revolutionary figure for the people. And he thinks "We will never understand each other".
Mikuni says he wants to take responsibility for his father's actions and Saeki bitterly says it's too late, his mother has already been torn to pieces.
Mikuni says "I will do anything in my power" with an arrogant light in his eyes unfitting for an executor...and Saeki decides he will use him.
They talk of their ideals and Mikuni says "Someone like you who sympathises with the weak and stays strong should lead Japan".
But that's not what Saeki wants. Mikuni is stronger than him, and that's why Saeki wants to erase him. He erases Mikuni's fears with platitudes, and Mikuni's voice loses it's strength, it's light.
And then Saeki tells him that to prove himself, he must kill his father.
The Zeroeth executor was a nameless child...
AWWWW I was hoping Saeki was a brainwashed slave but NO he just has no legal name. He is indeed Mikuni's half brother via a mistress. She went ~crazy and so the dad locked them both up to save face, but she never lost hope that he would return for his heir and love. Just before she died, she mistook him for his father and said she'd happily abandon her son to have the dad back.
Saeki, flatly: If that's what you want, I'll stay by your side.
A jealous mistreated illegitimate son is such a boring backstory for the villain of this kind of story! Boo!!
From that day on he felt suffocated by the sadness of others. Eventually he decides he is "no one", the vessel to take in others' sadness and then erase it.
The failed assassination attempt used up a lot of Adonis's resources. Ah, but the main goal was just to make sure the public remembered the name. And the "Adonis" that got disbanded back then was a fake.
Ahh and that's when he took up the identity "Yuzuru Saeki" to infiltrate the police, before then he had a different name.
"I thought I might find some sympathisers, those who uphold justice and fight evil. When those people organise, they become a troublesome menace that gives birth to malice, but I'm sure there were still some who were still pure, still normal."
Ahh ok, this is another one of Saeki's contradictions. He wants to change the world, but he also hates political organisers and politicians etc, because of his father and because they are inevitably 'tainted' by malice. And Mikuni is a perfect example of Saeki's problem: he genuinely wants to help people and fix injustice, but is super quick to be comfortable with murder, corruption, BRAINWASHED ORPHAN SLAVES etc 'for the greater good'.
That's fine in and of itself, but it would be nice if the game showed us anyone trying to change the world who isn't a straight up villain (even a sympathetic one) I guess Sasazuka is arguably a sort of activist in his own very limited way? Even if it's just to fix a single BLINDINGLY OBVIOUSLY BAD law because it triggers him personally.
Like one of the strengths of this game is the way it explores how normal people are also tainted with malice. Cops and criminals, children and teachers, underlings and those in charge, everyone is just a person who has hurt people and been hurt but needs to just keep moving forward, doing their best to help the people around them and not be overcome by negative feelings. And politicians and activists etc are exactly the same. It doesn't HAVE to all be terrorist murder cults vs the status quo. Ah well!
One day Ichika talks about how important it is to become someone who can shoot criminals, regardless of their reasons, if it saves someone.
Ohhh and once Saeki decided to do 'the experiment' on her, he found our about Akito and Isshiki and their connection to Ichika's brother, and used this as part of Ichika's test.
Saeki seems pretty unenthused about the whole religious worship angle, but Mikuni says it's part of their deal. So I guess Mikuni was always the kind of dude who jumps to "Let's run a secret cult" as a solution to everyone's problems, Saeki just made it a murder cult. Or perhaps just accelerated the inevitable murder cult progression.
But Mikuni is worried doing so much murder will make Saeki sad, aww. Yeah ok, Saeki, he is an idiot.
And then he gathers his 'normal' people to prove everyone can pass judgement blah blah.
THE END
You know, I really thought they were going to explain or at least explore the ethical implications of the whole brainwashed orphan slaves thing a little more, but more fool me.
I guess Mikuni looked at his father, corrupt capitalist, and his mother, SLAVE OWNING CULT LEADER and went "Welp, since those are my ONLY TWO OPTIONS I guess I pick mum!".
*belatedly realises I should have added a 'fantasy slavery' warning to all my posts before this* Sorry to anyone who was upset by it!
I'm glad the game never took Saeki/Ichika to an overtly romantic/sexual place. The game clearly knows a lot of players are going to find Saeki SUPER HOT and gives them a little fanservice here and there, and I guess I'd be ok with a fleshed out Villain Route for those people if Otomate felt up to trying to make that work, but I think "Deep affectionate obsession which could be read as romantic or platonic" works best for the game as it is now.
