Bakumatsu Shishi No Renai Jijou (mobile otome game) Review - Okita route

Hi people!
Classes are almost over and I'm gonna have to start on my final lab report by tomorrow...

Anyways.
I finished the Bakumatsu Renai Jijou (Bakuren for short) game's Okita Souji route yesterday.
Yeah, I liked it. I liked it pretty much.
But if you want something as grand-scaled as Hakuouki or Tsuyaga~ru, you'll be let down.

Each guy has three endings:
1. Hana (flower) - considered the best, though some people like Tsuki better
2. Tsuki (moon)
3. Kaze (wind) - most tragic

I only looked at the Hana end because I DON'T WANNA CRY MY EYES OUT LIKE I DID IN TSUYAGA~RU AND HAKUOUKI and also because in the Tsuki end I heard Okita and the main character move to the US to cure his disease. NVM, I wanna live in Japan.

So... In the Hana end, Okita decides to go to the future with the main character. He had once given up on any future because of his disease, but he decides he does not want to give into fate that easily.

Good points:
 - beautiful artwork
 - beautiful words
 - I liked all the events except for the puppy incident (too lazy to explain that). They really make your heart beat faster lol
 - nice voice acting (guess who plays Takasugi? MORITA MASAKAZU i.e. Ichigo's seiyuu from Bleach YAY)
 - I'm quite satisfied with all the character designs except for Izou-kun (he's an ASSASSIN, hello? not a wrestler). But the others are really nice. Okita-san looks a bit like a mix of Peacemaker Kurogane's Okita-san and Haku from Spirited Away. Hijikata was friggin' sexy. Seriously he's sooooooo hot. Sakamoto Ryoma's cute too, I like his smile. I also liked Takechi-sensei; he reminds me of Byakuya from Bleach. Katsura's not bad either. Nakaoka looks like Heisuke from Hakuouki.

Bad points:
 - too short (this may be because Okita and Hijikata only have 12 chapters while the other characters have 15)
 - I don't have anything against pets, I like cute animals. But PLZ don't put them in otome games will you, authors? It just makes that part of the story boring and silly.
 - same bad point as Urakata Hakuouki: too little history mixed in with the story.
 - needed more character development: Okita's Hana end was quite similar to Tsuyaga~ru's Tsuki end, but Tsuyaga~ru made more sense because it actually shows how (in his head/heart/whatever) Okita makes that final decision to go to the future. In Bakuren, his leaving the Shinsengumi was way too sudden.

Well, now the only game I have for now is Ikemen Bakumatsu haha


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Tsuyaga~ru (tsuyagaru) (艶が～る), a mobile otome game

Okay. So this is a mobile otome game...
SET IN THE BAKUMATSU PERIOD!!!

I've been SOOOO busy with school that the only comfort I get these days is playing mobile games while eating my meals and also during boring classes. End of semester sh*t.


And I'm sooooo sorry for not being able to upload the lyrics for OUTSIDER, I haven't even got the chance to listen to the CD because I can't find my external CD drive. I probably won't be able to until... I don't know. In one week or two weeks, depends on my schedule since I do have finals coming up.

But I just HAD to upload this post because I just finished the most wonderful heartrending romantic moving beautiful otome game ever. Gosh, I never knew that I'd find a game that I like as much as Hakuouki, let alone a MOBILE game.


So here's the thing. I've been downloading all the otome games set in the Bakumatsu period to my iPhone (except one of them that portrays Sakamoto Ryouma as an old ojisan and draws Okita way too girly).

I'm still playing "Ikemen Bakumatsu ~ Unmei no Koi" and "Bakumatsu Renai Jijou".
And needless to say, I am going for Okita-san in all of these games.


So...
"Tsuyaga~ru" is the first game I finished up. These are the guys you can go after:

• Hijikata Toshizou
• Okita Souji
• Yuuki Shouta (this is the guy who accidentally time slips with you to the past)
• Tokugawa Keiki
• Aiya Akinari (this is the owner of the sake shop where you work as an entertainer)
• Takasugi Shinsaku
• Sakamoto Ryouma
• Furutaka Shuntarou

Each guy has five endings: Yui (bonding), Tsuki (moon), Mizu (water), Hana (flower), Kagami (mirror). Kagami is the most tragic, while Yui and Tsuki are the happiest ones in general.
* To get to the Tsuki end, you need a special item (in Okita's case, it's a special medicine) that can be obtained from a random Oiran Bingo. I had to turn the bingo 18 times... Phew. That cost me $50. At least the game's free.
* To get to the Yui end, you need to have reached all four other ends.


NOW. Allow me to spoil you. *SPOILERS*

Okay. So basically you were on a school trip to Kyoto and were in a museum(?) where you found a weird camera. You and your childhood friend, Shota, were sent to the Bakumatsu period due to this camera.


Okita's character in the game:

• THIS IS SERIOUSLY the PUREST guy I've EVER, EEEEVER seen. He seriously seems to be a mix of Minamoto no Yoshitsune from GENROH and the Hakuouki version of Okita-san.
• He's still the troublemaker that annoys Hijikata, although they hate each other less than in Hakuouki (LOL)
• He's such a kid. He likes to play.. and he teases you. He's also slightly lazy. Like Hakuouki's Okita.
• He sometimes blushes like Hakuouki's Saitou-san. OMG so cuTE
• SOOOOOOOOOOOO gentle... almost like Kenshin. Let me just say that this Okita is Hakuouki's Okita without the sadisticness.
• AAAAAAAAARGH he manages to be so friggin' romantic without even MEANING TO
• BEWARE. He will make you cry at least 20 times a day.

Now for the endings:

• Kagami: On the verge of death by tuberculosis, Souji tells you that you were the love of his life and sends you back to the present with the camera. And the way these Japanese writers wrote it, you seriously cry your eyes out and you feel like your heart is being ripped apart. I'm in LOVE with this guy. This boy I hallucinate about once I return to the present... This boy whose face I barely remember as if it is from a dream... Playing with children on the streets of Kyoto... Let me tell you something. As soon as I saw this ending, I could NOT bear it and immediately paid 500yen so that I can get to another ending (you can only read one chapter a day for free).
• Hana: Shota finds the camera and brings it, but I stay with Souji until the end while Shota returns to the present by himself. Souji dies and I cry. I cry until I can't anymore (like, for real). Then I shoot the camera at myself and return to the present. The present is still at that moment when I was sent to the past... And then I see a group of boys from another school's trip..... One of them looks seriously like Souji, and then his friend calls him "Hey, Okita!" and as if drawn by the strings of fate you walk up to him... And you drop the gift that he made for you, one and a half centuries ago. He tells you 'you dropped sth!' and then, since your school's group has already walked far ahead, he says "I'll walk with you to over there. (^_^)" and you can't help STARING at his BEAUTIFUL face... He spoke those words to you, the very same words, back when you first met him in the past. And then he tells you... "for some reason, I feel like I've been searching for you all this time..."
• Mizu: Shota finds the camera and brings it to you but you have decided you will stay with Souji until the end and throw the camera away. Souji and the main character quietly get married. Some time later, Souji is on the verge of dying and you try to keep him... from slipping away... He says "I'm listening" while you try to keep him from closing his eyes. I cried a whole lot here. The screen goes black. And that's where the story ends.
• Tsuki: The main character is serving sake to one of the customers, who is supposed to be a famous inventor who probably made the time-turning camera thing. Apparently he hasn't made such a thing yet, but he says he will give a gift instead. I ask for medicine that would be helpful for tuberculosis and give that medicine to Souji. Time passes, and me and Souji are living together. He is on the verge of dying, when Shota comes by with the camera. I beg Souji to come with me to the future. I cried here, too. He doesn't want to leave me alone (BAKA! You only realized that NOW??? TT_TT) and agrees to come with me. Souji and Shota both come with me to the future, and here's the thing: each time you return to the future, time is turned back to when you were first sent back to the past. So Souji's disease is back to the early stages. I take him to the hospital real fast and he lives. HE LIVES. YAY. FINALLY, after THREE ENDINGS of me seeing him DIE. And he goes on a trip to Kyoto to see how it is now. When he returns, he asks: "Can I make you mine tonight?" *blush* why of course! BAKA!! (I'm becoming tsundere. Wow.)
• Yui: Souji is on the verge of dying and he shoots the camera at me just like in the Kagami ending. But this time, I pray and pray and pray and instead, I'm sent back to before the Ikedaya incident, when Souji's disease was still at its early stages. I tell Souji everything that has happened, and that I don't want to see him regret anymore (since he couldn't do anything in the end when the Shinsengumi was being defeated over and over again). He finally agrees to go on a break from the Shinsengumi. His first fight is the Ikedaya incident, but this time, thanks to having rested and having kept his immune system strong, he does not cough up blood or anything. Afterwards, Souji and I get married... and he says: "Whatever happens in the future from now on, don't go back in time again. I can now spend my whole life with you; I will have no regrets. And I will make sure that you don't have any regrets, either." And his words of love..... sooooo sweet........

So, if I were to rank the endings, I'd say I like Yui, Tsuki, and Hana equally. Mizu and Kagami are just WAAAAAAY TOO CRUEL to my heart. I mean, don't just make him die like that... I know that's history, but still... Look at the Hana ending!! *sniff*

• I like Yui because of the wedding and because of how the main character gets sent back once more... and the main character realizes that, by fate, destiny's telling me: "make Souji HAPPY." Only drawback is I want MORE. I want to see what eventually happened. Although I do think that they were able to be happy. I would suppose that since the end of the Shinsengumi was so fast, after it all ended, Okita and the main character resigned to a quiet life (and everyone thought Okita was dead) just like in Hakuouki.
• I like Tsuki because of how Okita came with me to the future, which is quite interesting in its own right. Reminds me of Shinobi Life. And it's like I have a secret all to myself..... I also like how Okita realizes he can't leave you and die... I do wonder what he got as a job in the future though. From my preference, I would say he became a PROFESSIONAL KENDO PLAYER!!!! He'd pwn EVERYONE. He'd become the best EVER.
• I like Hana because of the reincarnation theme. The red strings of fate. This time, I can be happy. I am the girl who stayed with Souji until the end in his past life. And now we can spend a whole lifetime together... Just like how I had wished... And it's just even better when he says the SAME WORDS that he said to you in his past life. Even better, you still have the gift he gave to you in his past life. So romantic. But like, I can't help thinking that the main character most likely met a reincarnated version of Souji in both the Kagami and Mizu endings LOL just my imagination.

Yeah. So that's my review on this game. The story itself was truly beautiful. You actually get pangs in your heart every time Souji pushes you away, saying that unhappiness doesn't suit you......... and then he comes over to save you during the great Kyoto fire and says that he can't stand it anymore, he wants to protect you with his own hands.


I just felt like I was reading this really touching historical romance novel all throughout the game. Only drawback is that there is NO MUSIC and NO VOICE. But on the other hand you can imagine the voice and turn on background music that you think will suit the scene (I had the Shinsengumi Wasurenagusa theme on a LOT). If you guys understand Japanese and you like games like Hakuouki, you should really try this one.



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