Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP) Review

I've loved this series ever since I've stalked the Shinsengumi Kitan anime for weekly updates back in 2010. It was my first exposure to otome and visual novel, and I was drawn in to the whole political, historical fiction mixed in with demons, violence (c'mon they're warriors, they can't prance in a field of flowers all day), twists, and dark aspects of it. The story is fantastic and it's more than just your typical "fall head over heels in fluffyland" otome game.

Besides, what better way than to learn your (albeit a bit inaccurate) history AND have great oto-men?
( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

//slapped

Anyway, this story is basically about the rise and fall of the Shinsengumi with a dating and demon twist. You might be going "EW HISTORY", but trust me, it's more interesting than it sounds. The anime helps in understanding, but as always, the game is much preferred. If you know your history then basically you know how 90% of this game will turn out... EVERYONE DIES  (≧∇≦)ノ彡｡.:*･゜☆ *throws confetti* Also, the only one surprised to find out Chizuru's a chick is Kondou because everyone else had already figured it out, as opposed to the anime where everyone is shocked and BL implications get thrown about. Multiple other people throughout the game see through her disguise as well: Kazama & his gang, Kaoru, Sei, Otori, and some random Imperial Army dudes. Even though they're trying to hide her true identity from all the other Shinsengumi members, they still make her run around serving tea, because that totally doesn't scream femininity LOL.

Before I start. . .

• What's really nice about this game is that if you're not familiar with Japanese history, there's an encyclopedia that'll give you info on words highlighted in red.
• Each character has about 3 endings: A Bad End, Good End w/ High Corruption, and Good End w/ Low Corruption. The "corruption" levels are determined by how often you choose blood or endure or give medicine
• To get all said endings, it's best to have multiple save files starting from chapter 5, or just remember where choices branch off. I use about 1-2 per dude
• Do remember that this game was originally on PS2 in 2008 before it was ported to PSP in 2009. And that was only Japan. The English version wasn't released until 2012. So yes, you'll have to wait a bit longer for it to save/load compared to more recent otomes.
• Although the English translation is "Fury", I'm used to "Rasetsu". However, the terms are interchangeable. Same with "Ochimizu" and "Water of Life"
• The original title is Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan. However, it was translated to Hakouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom *cough* Hijikata *cough*
• Artist is Kazuki Yone 8D

Because I'm lazy, I won't mention all the historical things, like the battles. Feel free to Wikipedia or whatever the Shinsengumi battles though. 8D Since the game's English, I can play a route in about one sitting or so, so I can breeze through this game rather than taking a million years like everything else I play. Therefore, I'll just shove all the guys on one page. \(^o^)/ (Keep in mind though, the game is a bit long) The review will be in the order I played in.

As always, spoiler and image heavy, so if you don't want any of that, jump to "Conclusion"

Hajime Saitou (CV: Toriumi Kousuke)

Well Saito is one of my biases, so I had to do him first. Saito is the leader of the Shinsengumi's Third Division and a left-handed samurai who specializes in the swordsman technique known as Iai (Iaijitsu). He's one of the best fighters of the Shinsengumi. As Chizuru stated, he'd probably jump into a bonfire without question if Hijikata Toshizou ordered him to. (｡´∀｀) The main antagonist in this route is Kazama.

Initially Saito comes off as cold, but he actually gets a bunch of sweet moments.Though sometimes it isn't always apparent because he's so strung-up on following his duty lol. For example, even though he becomes a Rasetsu, he still works in the daytime and even ignores his health to the point he pretty much collapses and still refuses to take breaks. (stubborn little samurai)

He has his adorable moments though. For example, when he has bloodlust urges, he doesn't want Chizuru to see him drink. So Chizuru makes a cut on her ear and he drinks from there. There was one time where even though the cut had healed, his lips were still there. Chizuru's all "Uhh what's wrong? Your lips are still there [way to be blunt], do you need more?" and Saitou just retreats all embarrassed lolol.

There were some times where I was questioning how the romance with Saitou is supposed to progress because he went AWOL for a while on me. But he was just following orders, serving as a spy against Itou (which were Hijikata's or Kondou's orders btw)

Anyway as we know, Saitou is extremely loyal to the Shinsengumi and follows Hijikata's orders without questions, so he's like the "blindly obedient lamb." One of his duties is to be Chizuru's bodyguard, so because he's getting his ass whipped by Kazama, he decides to take the ochimizu so that he can fulfill the duty of protecting her. If destroying his body for the sake of fulfilling his duty doesn't tell you how loyal he is to the Shinsengumi (and for good reason), then idk what will. (ﾟｰﾟ; )

This route also expands on Kodo, Chizuru's "father," the man who raised Chizuru and has her utmost trust. It delves a lot on how he's not her true father. But on top of that, he took her from her family and raised her to be Kazama's bride because she's a pure-blooded demon. Like dude, what the hell. ಠ_ಠ We also learn he's from a branch family of the Yukimura, but he has so little demon blood he might as well be human. Basically he wants to use the ochimizu (which is originally from the West and he modified it) to make an army of Rasetsu so that everyone will fear Japan.

It's interesting to see how in the end, Saitou is the one to take down Kazama, besides being a "fake." Saitou also learns on how to make decisions on his own, such as breaking away from Hijikata. This even surprises Hijikata a bit, but he's relieved to know that Saitou is choosing his own path, not just blindly following someone like he always had.

Towards the end, Saitou and Chizuru run into Nagakura Shinpachi and Harada Sanosuke (who had left a while back due to different views after Kondou became a daimyo). Shin asks if Saitou's finally found his own lord to follow. Sano in return glances at Chizuru with a smug look and says that perhaps it's not a lord he's looking to serve. *eyebrow wiggle* Saitou starts blushing and Shinpachi is bewildered, going "WOAH WOAH WOAH what happened to the real Saitou!?" Quickly Saitou recomposes himself, glares, and puts his hand on the hilt of his sword. Shin just backs up, saying he was joking. XD

Bad End:

So to get a bad end, you have to keep denying Saitou blood, increasing his corruption level. I actually kind of hated the bad end. Not because it's a "bad end" and I'm a romanticist per se, but because it just felt...copped-out. Saitou is fighting Kazama, but because his corruption level is so high, he loses his sanity and turns on Chizuru who's trying to protect him. The whole game is dramatized but then when Chizuru dies, there's little emphasis on it and hardly any tension. It didn't make her seem that important a character imo. Just bam, dead. There isn't a CG as well. I would've liked to see of what Saitou's life had become as well- if he lived to continue rampaging, or if he was killed by Amagiri or a Shinsengumi. But that's just me being a picky little turd. ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

Good End:

After everything's over, Chizuru, Saitou, and some other men travel up north where it's cleaner. One day, Chizuru is wondering where Saitou is, since he should've returned from work a while ago. Venturing outside, she finds him standing outside in the snow, and takes a while to respond to his name. Finally he turns around when she walks up to him and says he was waiting for her because he wanted to see this beautiful sight with her, LOL that dork. He's been outside a while since he's pretty cold, but the two still have a fluffy moment watching the snow fall.


 Harada Sanosuke (CV: Yusa Kouji)

Sano is another one of my favorite boys, and playing his route made me love him more. ヾ(*´∇`)ﾉ Not to mention his route is frickin' hilarious. Anyway, Sano is the leader of the Tenth Division and uses a spear rather than a sword. He can be quick to anger, seeing how he immediately punches Heisuke for beginning to tell too much information to Chizuru. But for the most part, he's actually a pretty cheerful guy and acts like a major dork around his besties- Heisuke and Shinpachi. There's one time where Sano takes everyone out (after guarding a bulletin board and apprehending people who were sabotaging it lol) and Shinpachi - who's roaring drunk - draws a face around the scar on his stomach XD (which is from Sano's seppuku attempt from when he was younger).

Even though Hijikata gets the canon pairing in the anime, Sano kinda seems like the more canon pairing of the game since he's a sweetheart and has zero bad endings which in turn means he doesn't become a Rasetsu. He also has this whole philosophy that "women are meant to be protected," which is why he just tells Chizuru to remain back when she wants to fight as well. I don't remember why exactly, but Chizuru was crying and Sano kissed her (wow, pretty early in the route for a kiss). Surprised, she stops crying and he says that the only way he knows to make a woman stop crying is to kiss her...which brings some questions LOL.

The main antagonist in this route is Shiranui Kyo, who of course fights with a gun. The two actually enjoy fighting each other and I'm just sitting here with my PSP going "BRO HE HAS A GUN WTF ARE YOU DOING (」ﾟﾛﾟ)｣" There's another time where Sano is defenseless and has a gun trained on his head, and I was hoping so bad it wouldn't be a bad end (which it wasn't thank gawd). Shiranui eventually joins forces with them, which is kinda interesting actually.

Shinpachi and Sano already had different ideas from Kondou, and they've finally had enough of his daimyo bragging, the Fury corps and all that jazz, so they decide to depart from the Shinsengumi. Again, I'm wondering how the romance is supposed to progress, since he's about to go AWOL on me too! XD But since this is Sano's route, Chizuru goes along with the two of them.

Sano reflects a bit on his time with the Shinsengumi and whatnot. He also reveals that it's his dream to just settle down, live a peaceful life, and get married, d'awww. He asks Chizuru not to mention anything since Shin would tease him for such a "girly" dream lol. Shin wants to keep fighting, but Sano tells him he wants to stop fighting and go with Chizuru. The two duke it out and Sano wins, and Shin can't understand why Sano would stop now when he's gotten better at fighting. But, he still gives them their regards and wishes for the best.

They decide to spend one last night. Shin goes out drinking, leaving Chizuru and Sano alone. Chizuru talks about wanting to finish off her father since it's her problem, but Sano says that he loves her and wants to protect her. The conversation turns into some pretty questionable stuff that got my head in the gutter and LO AND BEHOLD they go all the way~ (*ﾉωﾉ) No wimpy little kiss scene for him; Sano knows the way to claim a woman as his own is sex LOL.

Time to go kill Chizuru's wacked stepfather. She tries to fight, and I think she actually manages to sink her blade in Kodo's stomach? But he doesn't die and that's when she discovers "Well shit, he drank the Ochimizu as well." Sano is the one who delivers the final blow, and although he told her to look away so she wouldn't have to see her beloved father crumple to the ground, she still looks anyway lolol.

After all this is over, they move away to live on the Manchurian Plains (like mentioned in the epilogue routes of other dudes, 'cept Chizuru's with him this time). AND THEY HAVE A BABY. Sano's the only one who A) Doesn't take drugs, so he's gonna be living a long time and B) Has a frackin' baby. How is he not the canon of this game, or at least second choice canon? XD Anywoo, Chizuru hands the baby over to Sano and Sano's all "Why is he crying; real men don't cry. I wanted to make him a samurai too. (゜´Д｀゜)" (Sano you dork XD) Chizuru mentions that the world doesn't really need samurai anymore, but Sano just grins, saying maybe their son will be a samurai to someone that needs him, and some cheesy stuff like that haha.

Chikage Kazama (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou)

Well I did Kazama's route next, thinking I'd get screen time of a certain little turd biscuit (jump to Okita's for who I'm talking about) but lol, NOPE. His route was also really short.

Kazama is a pure-blooded oni from the strongest Western clan, and he wants Chizuru [in this route anyway] so they can make stronger pure-blooded oni babies. ≧(´▽｀)≦ Everyone makes Kazama out to be some sort of demon (no pun intended), especially in Saitou's route. But he's actually just some guy who has nothing better to do now that he's repayed a debt to the Satsuma Domain, so now he just gets enjoyment out of stirring up the Shinsengumi, watching them fall, and watching their pitiful rasetsu attempts.

When you get separated from the Shinsengumi, you basically run around in the forest trying to rendezvous with everyone when you run into Chikage. Off in the distance, you can see a fight with the... Imperial Army? Anyway, they have guns so the Shinsengumi's screwed lol, and Chikage and Chizuru watch the one-sided battle. Sei pops up and she's all "I hope you're not trying to force Chizuru because that goes against Demon Code and we'll all come bust your ass if you do." But to her - and everyone else's surprise - Chizuru actually asks to travel with Kazama since the place he's traveling to is where the Shinsengumi will probably retreat to. After some confusion from Sei, she decides to let Chizuru go, warning Chikage one last time lol.

And so basically the whole time you're traveling with Chikage, always just missing the Shinsengumi and at the same time watching them fall one by one.（；へ：）

If you didn't play Kazama's route first, then it's probably hard to consider him caring. But he does deep down, and he consoles her in a Chikage sort of way when she's crying over Shinsengumi comrades. Like this.

But anyway long story short, because of where the two of them are traveling, Chizuru has to wear Western clothes as well to avoid suspicion. They go to the last battle site to find out that everyone else of the Shinsengumi died there. Chizuru sees the tattered flag and breaks down crying. I know this was supposed to be really sad but A) I'm slowly getting immune to all the deaths here and B) I was too distracted by her pretty Western clothes lol.

There's not much difference between the good and "bad" endings. Good ending you get a confession and a kiss. However, don't expect any serious raburabu lol. As if to make up for that though, his confession scene was rather sweet.




Okita Souji (CV: Morikubo Shoutaro)

Wtf so many bad ends

Okita has a lot of flirty-funny moments. For example, after Souji eventually cuts his hair and gets changed into Western clothes, he asks Chizuru how he looks and she's a bit embarrassed to look at him. Feeling cheeky, Okita asks if he's so handsome she's fallen in love, to which she denies, and now he looks really sad lolol. She relents saying he looks handsome, still not meeting his eyes, and the cheeky expression is back. XD

Also... Can't forget this scene with Yamazaki the Match-Maker:

*cough* I'm not sure what this route focused more on: Okita's almost Yandere spurring love for Chizuru or his ultimate fanboy mode for Kondou LOL.

Anyway, in Okita's route we meet the biggest douche of them all: Kaoru. Basically he's Chizuru's twin brother who always suffered due to his memories and the fact that the other family received the male twin instead of the female. He hates how she's always lived a carefree life and wants to make her suffer until she regains her memories and they can meet eye to eye. Oh, did I mention he experimented on her by shoving Ochimizu down her throat and turning her into a Rasetsu+? (；￣Д￣）

And as I mentioned earlier, Okita is super Kondo fanboy in this route lol. He especially looses his shit when he discovers Kondo's been beheaded, landing some hits on Hijikata and yelling why didn't he do this and why didn't he do that even though Toshi himself  is pretty pained.

Eventually Chizuru regains her memories of when her village was burned down, and yadda yadda. Kaoru's pleased that they can now see eye-to-eye, and offers her to live with him and Kodo as they rebuild the Yukimura clan through use of the Rasetsu. Or as Chizuru states it, "upon the corpses of others." Naturally she refuses and Kaoru gets all pissed, drawing his blade. Stuff happens, and Kodo uses himself as a shield so that Kaoru can't hurt Chizuru. Okita then finishes off Kaoru, and Kodo tells them how to weaken the Ochimizu before dying.



With all of this drama over, Chizuru and Okita share their sweet kiss moment. Imo this was one of the best kiss moment out of all the boys because it was really touching.

Bad End 1:

The bloodlust is too much for Okita, and Kaoru laughs at your foolishness for not following his advice. Okita's hair and eyes change, and he just kinda...stares at your soul. And soon enough, he leaps towards Chizuru, sword pointed towards her chest. Kaoru's just all "too bad I couldn't see him suffer more LOL" and meanwhile I'm wondering why Chizuru doesn't uh I don't know.. MOVE. And then game over, because his corruption level is completely maxed out.

Bad End 2:

Well after Chizuru's dick of a brother shoves Ochimizu down her throat, Chizuru begins to have bloodlust urges. The Ochimizu makes her demon features more prominent (I wonder though, are her eyes gold?) and the two drink each other's blood... which isn't doing Chizuru any favors since Okita's blood is neither pure-blooded nor "clean."

The two go off to finish Kaoru. Okita and Kaoru fight, but Kaoru lands a blow across Okita's chest. Disgusted by both Okita and his weak sister, he leaves. Chizuru cradles Okita on her lap, and he's all "You mean love me? Say it again..." Eventually the light fades from his eyes, and just... aww (;*△*;)

Bad End 3: 

Okita screams as madness consumes him, and he charges at Amagiri. Kazama then says he'll kill Chizuru now before she loses any honor she has, granting her a respectable death as a pure-blooded demon. So he pierces her heart and she's dead 8D

Good End:

Well because Kodo is pretty damn caring in this route (a nice foil to Kaoru), right before he dies he says that if they drink the pure water at the old Yukimura residence, it can probably cleanse most of the effects of the Ochimizu. Time passes and Okita and Chizuru are living together. They don't get bloodlust urges anymore and the sun doesn't hurt them either: it just makes them sleepy. So that means they cuddle outside in the sun a lot lolol.



Toudou Heisuke (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki)

Wow, I actually didn't expect much out of Heisuke's route, but I ended up enjoying it very much. o3o A large focus on his route is the worries of using up all his life as a Rasetsu, always questioning whether the decisions he made were the right ones and all that jazz, which makes perfect sense since he was one of the first Shinsengumi Furies. Also, none of the guys really touched on their insecurities, so this was a nice change. This also expands a lot on Sannan's crazy Rasetsu Army antics, so if you thought he was cray cray in other routes, then have fun. XD An interesting thing I never knew about Heisuke is that he doesn't go search for his father 'cause he always gets "hush money" not to, since he's a bastard child of some bigwig. There were also many blushies in Heisuke's route (/)u(\)

So yeah, this scene for example is when he almost went on a killing spree, were it not for Chizuru who stopped him. He then talks about a bunch of things he regrets, and how he feels a little less human each day (a big part in his route) which scares him to the core. Meanwhile I'm sitting here all "you poor thing (;A;)"

Again, he mulls over his decisions and talks about how he always doubts himself. For example, when he went with Itou, he was really lonely and missed everyone even though he thought he made the right decision. As always, Chizuru is able to cheer up her man~ They're kinda on the run atm, so they continue on their merry way... when Kazama and Amigiri pop up! \(^o^)/ Naturally he wants Chizuru as his baby maker and Heisuke doesn't stand a chance, but then Sen and Kimigiku appear. Sen makes a "contract" so to speak with Kazama that she'll bear Kazama's children if he ceases his attempts on Chizuru. But she won't become anyone's wife LOL. Chikage doesn't see why he should stop, but then Sen lays into him good, saying that as a descendent of Suzuka Gozen, she has a much superior lineage and how dare he impudently ask to seek other child-bearers. (Daaaaaamn) That effectively shuts him up. You go Sen! 8D

Anyway, one day while Toshi and everyone is away fighting, a bunch of Rasetsu are running amok. They're quickly taken care of by Heisuke and Chikage, and the two of them plus Chizuru go back to headquarters...where they find Sannan and Sen arguing before he kisses her and pours his blood into her mouth to attempt to make her a fury. Ewwwww @-o

Bad End:

Sen comes down under Sannan's control and Chikage wants to kill her to maintain the little pride of a demon she has left. Sannan also uses her as a shield like a coward. -__- Chizuru strongly disagrees and tries talking to Sen. Turns out a bit of Sen's still in there since she responds to Chizuru's name, but she stabs her anyway. 8D

If you didn't get a bad ending, Sannan runs off with his "Rasetsu Princess" to the North, where he'll be waiting for them in his "Rasetsu castle." Sometime later, Heisuke changes into Western clothes, and the thing that shocks her most is the hair change. She even calls it sexy. XDD Anyway, Heisuke's basically talking about how his life has no meaning anymore since he's "dead", and so Chizuru replies by slapping him. (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)

After getting some sense knocked back into him, they have a super fluffy confession moment, and Chizuru is actually the one to initiate the kiss LOL.

Kimigiku helps Heisuke and Chizuru infiltrate Sannan's castle in Sendai, where they also end up meeting Chikage. At this point, Sen's controlled by Sannan and attacks them. Chizuru tries talking to Sen but she's a bit uncontrollable and tries attacking Chizuru. However, after licking some of Kazama's blood, she's brought back to reality with her sword in Kimigiku's gut. (*._______.) Thankfully she doesn't die though.

Sannan and Heisuke fight "dead man to dead man" and uses the Rasetsu technique Sannan used by purposely keeping the sword lodged in his stomach and gaining the upper hand that way. Btw when Heisuke attacked Sannan, his sword sunk into Sannan's arm from wrist to elbow down to the bone. I guess if you're a Rasetsu, you can make the flesh heal around it so that it keeps the sword there until you let it go, which you gotta admit is pretty frackin' creepy. (ಠิωಠิ|||) Anyway, so Sannan dies and he has an interesting change of heart at the end.

Good End:

Chikage tells Chizuru that they can probably lessen the Ochimizu in Heisuke if he drinks the water at the old Yukimura residence. He also tries acting all tough, but Sen says he's still too prideful to admit how he truly feels lol. Chizuru and Heisuke live at the old Yukimura residence out in the country, and laze the days away. The sun often makes Heisuke sleepy, and so he naps Chizuru's lap. (｡･ω･) (But gee, where have I seen a similar ending hmmm Okita much?)


Hijikata Toshizou (CV: Shinichiro Miki)

Ughhhh Toshi, why must your route be so looong? (×_×;） Save the plot for last lol. I enjoyed him much more here than in the anime. XD It's a long route, but it's so good.

Hijikata isn't in much of a position to easily reveal his feelings. He can be cynical at times and sarcastically witty. However, he does have normal human emotions, even though he's the "Demon Commander" of the Shinsengumi lol. One example would be when he reminiscent about the fun early days of the Shinsengumi. Another is during a fight with Kazama: Hijikata's struggling to blink back tears because in a short span of time, two of his close comrades have fallen - Inoue and Yamazaki. (Well, Yamazaki didn't die right away but he was in poor condition)

Anywoo. I really liked this route for the amount of growth you see in Hijikata. Part of this growth is all of his touching moments as his subtle hints of caring get...less and less subtle lol. The first time is when Chizuru practically begs him to be "more use to the Shinsengumi." Toshi raises her head and basically says that if you want a goal badly, don't bend over. Instead, face it head on with assertion. (Good life lesson there!) Another time was when they touched swords, as a measure of good luck.

If you want more growth, he goes from this to this, and his personality becomes softer as well o3o

LOTS OF PEEPS DIE IN THIS ROUTE, GAHHH. There's a CG for the deaths of Sannan and Heisuke, who have finally used up all of their "life force" if you will. Which kinda makes sense since they were some of the first ratsetsu of the Shinsengumi. Toshi's silent, Chizuru wanted to cry- I wanted to cry. ;__;

There are more battles and things and Toshi orders Chizuru to stay behind. A few months later, Otori finds Chizuru and gives her a letter which appoints her as Toshi's assistant. Toshi initially refuses to accept it, but she's adamant and he gives in lolol. He consoles her when she's crying and admits that it was pretty lonely without her. He never realized how much she supported him.

> When everything's peaceful, Toshi and Otori are casually conversing (with Chizuru as the tea server). The conversation suddenly turns to Chizuru: Otori jokes he's a little envious of appointing such a pretty and hardworking girl like Chizuru to Toshi. Toshi jokes back that she's his and Otori will have to find his own wife. \^o^/ Basically they continue spewing stuff like that that makes Chizuru flush haha. Later on there's the formal confession scene, and it was really sweet, with Toshi asking her to stay and Chizuru crying of happiness and just stuff like that.

A MAJOR PLOT POINT was addressed near the end of Toshi's route. Backing up a little, Toshi and Chizuru are riding on horseback when Toshi gets shot. They fall, the horse gets spooked, and they decide to hide since Tosih's taking a long time to heal. The two make it to a swarm of sakura trees and then tralalaa! Kazama appears. 8D Despite Toshi being weak, he won't refuse the challenge of a man that threw away his family clan to protect his honor and so the fight of Oni vs Fake begins. Toshi wins and Kazama recognizes Toshi as a true oni and recalls all times he ever called him a fake. Ah, but since he's a demon, he needs a demon name. The sakura petals dance around them, and Kazama decides to name Toshi "Hakuouki" which means... Demon of the Fleeting Blossom! (ah well, technically it's Demon of the Withering Cherry Tree since cherry blossoms are his thing and his life force is withering away, but whatever XD)

Bad End 1:

Well, Kodo kidnaps Chizuru by punching her in the gut and whisking away with her lol. When she wakes up, Sannan is also there, and it seems like the two of them have been planning to do more Rasetsu. Kodo thinks they can get away scott-free, but then BA BAM, Heisuke and Toshi show up. Sannan then helps them in killing the Furies since they have no future. Heisuke thought Sannan switched sides, but Sannan says that to fool your enemies you must first fool your friends. But amidst all the fighting, a fury charges up to Chizuru. She's too slow and it drives a sword into her heart. The world goes black, she faintly hears a voice calling her, and then she dies LOL

Good End:

Well, everything's over now. The two take comfort in being with the company of the other and as promised, they see the sakura trees blossom. Then they get a super fluff moment, such as saying how the other suits the look of cherry blossoms flying over them lolol.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

• This is just me, but I'm a bit glad Sannan doesn't have a route. Halfway through the game he starts having a bit of crazy moments and just ughh. *shudders* If he did have one here, he'd probably pressure you the whole damn time about giving your blood to the Fury Corps or making you the Rasetsu Princess XD (Though if I'm not mistaken, he does get a route in Zuisouroku)
• I think Yamazaki's a pretty cool character. Can't wait to play his "route" in Zuisouroku XD
• I can see where Kaoru's coming from, seeing how he's suffered his whole life because he was the male twin and he's been plagued by the thoughts of his burning village while Chizuru's been living a carefree life. That still doesn't excuse his actions/experiments towards her. 
• Inoue is such a nice - and I'd assume often forgot - character. He's such a fatherly figure too, as evident especially in Toshi's route. It's too bad we didn't get more of him. I was really sad when he died. (*;_;)
• Yamazaki's death on the ship in this game is kinda...boring. They just talk about how he died in the little text box that happens when they give brief overviews of the game. In the anime, I was bawling. XD Speaking of death, there were plenty of times I thought he would've died. In Okita's for example, he gets shot as he helps Okita and Chizuru escape. He lies down to rest and closes his eyes and I'm just thinking "OH HELL NO DON'T YOU DIE HERE." In Hijikata's, he defends Hijikata when he's about to get impaled by Kazama saying that "If you lose an arm or a leg, you can always replace it. But if you lose the head, you lose everything. The chief and the commander... The two of you make a whole." So touching ;___; The way they presented Yamazaki's death in Toshi's route was slightly better.
• Why do their short hairstyles and Western outfits have to make them look so good hnnng. Speaking of which, why is Chizuru in Western clothes in only Kazama's and Toshi's route. Wouldn't it make sense for all the routes? XD

CONCLUSION

But in all seriousness, I enjoyed this game. A LOT ♪ (*>v<)

Music: I really loved the music of this game. Majority of it is depressing and/or dramatic, but very much fitting

Overall: This is a really nice game, and I had fun with it. 8D There was not a single pursueable route that I disliked; I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this game. The good endings are fluffy but not completely happy since other members have died lol. It's wartime, so expect lots of death. You'll be sad for a good portion of the game with all its angst, and then the heavenly light from above shines everytime there's icha icha lol. Bashful moments go to Saitou, dorkiness goes to Sano, learning to not judge a book by its cover goes to Chikage, that flirty teasing guy who loves you goes to Okita, accepting ones insecurities goes to Heisuke, and best growth goes to Toshi.

Also, I hope you like sasdistic little shit Traps, 'cause they'll be all over your ass in Okita's route. Obsessed men? Check out Sannan in Heisuke's route. \(^o^)/ One major gripe I had though... WHY ARE ALL THE BAD ENDS IN THIS GAME SO TERRIBLE!? Ughhhhh. There's so much they could've done with them and they just felt like cop-outs. However, Okita had 3 bad endings (dafuq) and the second one was the best out of the 3. ಥ‿ಥ Though the bad ending in Heisuke's wasn't that bad. If you think watching the anime (season 1 and 2) will help you understand, then by all means go ahead and watch. But you'll probably finish the game before said anime and there's a lot of less boring moments in the game lol.

But anyway. Beautiful game and I love it so much. The art and story are beautiful as well. ≖‿≖

Until next time~

Lol, Souji reading Toshi's book of bad poetry