Otome Game Review – Shinigami to Shoujo

Alternative Titles: 死神と少女, The death reaper and the girl

Company: TAKUYO

Release Date: 28.07.11

Platform: PSP

Genre: AVG, stories, death reaper, picture book, tales

Artist(s): すみ兵 – Sumihei (Chaos Head manga artist)

Official Site: http://www.takuyo.co.jp
/products/shinigami/index.html

Plot Summary: Toono Sayo (First-name name change possible) is a beautiful girl (the game says so, the site says so, the characters say so) who lives with her older brother, Toono Touya who is an author. Her brother tells her of his next story; one called ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’. He tells her of how it’s going to be about a lonely shinigami and a girl, and their search for the most beautiful word that exists.

One day, when she was looking up at a clock tower that has long ceased to move, she meets a man wearing strange white clothes. When she asks him, who he is and why he is wearing such weird clothes, he tells her that he has no memory of his identity or name and that the only thing he knows is that he is a shinigami. Sayo suggests that if he does not know his name, she’ll give him one and names him ‘Ao’ (blue) after how similar the man’s eyes are to the colour of the sky.

… … That’s the plot. The unique thing about this game is that each chapter has a plot centred around one of the characters. Ao, who is interested in books, becomes curious about the different ‘stories’ that each different person has and Sayo suggests that if he doesn’t mind, they’ll go and look for the most beautiful word that exists (don’t really see the relevance between these two parts but…). Like how this refers to her brothers book, ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’, each chapter has its own different story. Throughout the story you collect different words/phrases called ‘Koto no Ha’ (言の葉 – basically ‘words’) and by entering selected ones, you can see the ‘truth’ that was behind the chapter.

This is the second time I’m rewriting this post as its pretty confusing to explain it. I actually had a summary about each chapter coz the story is simply interesting but then realised I went over 8000 words without actually writing about all the routes. That’s why its taking longer than a week to complete this post T.T. I loved the game and wanted to explain it pretty well but guessed that that’s not really the best idea.

I guess I’ll make things a bit clear. Sayo is the only daughter of the rich Toono family. She hates her own appearance and blood which is later revealed to be because she is the daughter of a prostitute called Tsubaki and yea, best way to describe her would be a b*tch. Apart from that I guess Sayo doesn’t really care much about other people as she’s aware of the fact that she’s prettier than most people. That makes her sound pretty arrogant but at least in front of the majority she acts  pretty mature.

Oh. Another thing about her. … She has a pretty deep bro-con for Touya. And it doesn’t help that her brother is also all over her. I mean, turn the game on and a few minutes on they’re getting touchy. O.o For the other characters, Hinase (former student council president of her school) seems to like her a lot, Kirishima (kendo club master) doesn’t really seem to care and Chiyo (Kirishima’s friend) is the wanko type chara who admires her. Other than that, she only has one girlfriend Kaho who for being too straight with her feelings also only has Sayo as a friend (not that she cares though). Oh. And Natsume who sits next to her doesn’t like her much since Toono practically destroyed his family. Ah, must be nice to have such an interesting life. XD

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Hinase Mitsuru

(CV: Suzuki Tatsuhisa)

Hinase is also from a rich family (way richer than Toono) and I guess is the ideal Prince type. He seems to be pretty flirty with her as well, calling her Ojou. Sayo is aware of the fact that he most likely likes her but then keeps quiet as not only does she not like him that way but also doesn’t want to break the relationship that they have right now.

Hinase is pretty cute, making Kirishima and Kaho have a lunch competition just so he can get Sayo involved as well and so taste her cooking. Shame that Sayo (and her brother) are loyal followers of cup noodles to the point that that’s all they eat at home.

In one chapter, they need to go find Touya as there’s this mentally unstable guy who says that he’s the main character of Touya’s book and wants him to change the ending as he cannot accept it. (Well, considering that the main character gets killed in it, I’m not surprised =.=). Somehow this causes Hinase, Ao and Kirishima + Chiyo to help as well and they split in order to look for Touya. Hinase can’t really be bothered with looking for Touya so uses the opportunity to hang out with Sayo. He takes her to a hill where there is a grave with roses laid out in front of it. He explains that it belongs to his parents who died in an accident ages ago causing him to be brought up by his grandmother. Problem is that she’s way too strict with manners and rich people rules that he ran away from home for a couple of years. He only returned cause he realised that he belonged here. He bought a new bouquet of roses with him, (which caused him to pretty badly cut his hand) and so he tosses the old bouquet of roses away, in some awesome way.

Their relationship never actually crosses one of friends until Sayo catches Hinase with some random girl in an empty classroom. She’s pretty curious about what was going on but then pretends not to give a shit as she doesn’t want to be made fun of by Hinase. (who I’m sure would have been delighted at the jealousy). He assures her that there’s nothing going on and that it was the girl who was leading. lol. Well, he asks her to go on a date with him just because.

Sayo does go a date with him but keeps on getting reminded of the girl so is unsure what to do when Hinase offers to hold her hand. They go for lunch where Hinase asks her to tell him more about herself, such as what she likes for example. … Um. I’m quite sure it was the right choice but then Sayo says. … ‘My brother’. Even when Hinase points out that if the like is one of a woman, that might be considered as pretty shocking for society.

Sayo: I’m not sure what my feelings are for my brother but to me, he is my everything. If it meant that I would lose my brother, I wouldn’t think twice about going against the whole world.

(and I’m pretty sure its the same for Touya as well. Oh god these siblings. I LOVE sibling complexes to the point that I wouldn’t mind shouting it out to the whole world. And even I would go O.o at these two. ) Well, Hinase gets pretty pissed off that she’s talking about some other guy when she’s with him so says that he has a surprise for her.

Which is trip into the clocktower which Sayo seems to have an obsession over. Hinase obviously has the key using methods of the rich but at least Sayo is overjoyed. … Until, at the end of the date Hinase confesses to her and despite the fact that she has three days to think about it, it means that she has to make up her mind.

With Hinase and his confession on her mind, things get worse when her father calls her out to a cafe and says that he has arranged a marriage proposal for her with some guy who seems keen to marry her (must suck to have good looks, not that I myself am ugl- never mind XD). They get in a fight since Sayo is unwilling and when she says that she’s fine as she has Touya with her her father storms out. While she’s sulking thinking fml, seems like Hinase was sitting behind her and overheard the whole conversation. He offers to ‘take her away’ from everything but then Fushimachi (the guy who Ao’s staying with) cockblocks. Well, at least Sayo thanks Hinase for consoling her. Guess this is where she finally makes up her mind.

… So she accepts his confession saying that she’s not sure whether she likes him but is interested in getting to know him more.

… Yea right. =.= I mean honestly, the next scene is where they’re at his house and in bed together. O.o That was FAST. While the player is left half confused (and disgusted lol), Hinase and Sayo are just going icha-icha for practically the first half of his route. Same at school, they start calling each other’s name (to the dismay of Kaho) and practically don’t give a shit about the rest of the world. Not only that, Sayo’s been going daily over to Hinase’s house after school and enjoying herself. lol, I do not need to see the monologue ‘I could smell his shampoo. The same smell as me’. Wait what. Maybe it said soap and not shampoo but still….

This continues until Sayo meets Hinase’s strict grandma who obviously isn’t pleased over the fact that her heir is with some unknown woman. And of course the fact that she’s the ‘child of a prostitute’ from the Toono family doesn’t make anything better. Sayo’s depressed at the fact that Hinase now knows about her situation but then turns out he knew since he first met her. He tells her that he still loves her and that he doesn’t give a shit about bloodlines as long as he still has Sayo. He tells her that they’ll somehow convince his grandma so don’t worry.  Sayo meanwhile is overcome by happiness and starts crying and calls Hinase by his name, Mitsuru, for the first time.

Later she realizes that the marriage proposal that her dad forced her into was with Hinase (… and this was before she accepted his feelings. God how much in love are you Hinase?). She actually goes and asks her dad to make sure the proposal goes through. Wow, talk about letting go of your pride.

Anyway, on the day that she goes over to Hinase’s house in order to convince his grandma, she sees Hinase leaving the house but then is soon invited in by Hinase himself. … ? She successfully manages to get the grandma to understand but that still not enough for her to be accepted.

Sayo is obviously completely sure of her feelings and the whole school is aware that they are dating. Still, whenever she sees the girl around school she feels uneasy. So this time she calls Hinase to the same empty classroom and mimics the girl but this time she kisses him. Oh, and this is the first time she tells Hinase that she likes him. Took her long enough =.=

Sayo ‘stalks’ Hinase’s grandma, somehow manages to get on better with her to the point that she’s accepted. Seems like the grandma was simply lonely since her son died and then her grandson ran away from home. To top that, her marriage was also from some arrangement but that didn’t go well. Bad luck with men I guess.

One night Hinase visits Sayo in her house and enters from the window like a criminal. lol. Wait, change that to Romeo. Sayo x Hinase x Bed. Need for explaining |(－_－)|

And after this night Hinase disappears.

Sayo is called out by his grandma to their house where she finds her and Hinase. But then this Hinase starts talking about how in reality they were conned and the ‘Hinase’ that they know is simply some fraud who happened to look exactly like the original. I’ll call Hinase (real) – Mitsuru. Anyway, Mitsuru says that since running away from home years ago he only recently came back and found that his whole existence was taken over by Hinase (fake). Now Hinase (fake) has run off with money and items of value. When Mitsuru realized what was going on, he was planning to steal Sayo away from Hinase in order to get back at him. So the Hinase who offered to ‘take her away’ was actually Mitsuru. Shame they got interfered.

Weird thing with Sayo is that unlike the devastates Mitsuru and his grandma, she doesn’t really feel much. True, she was deceived but considering that she doesn’t even know the real ‘Hinase Mitsuru’ there’s not much of a problem. She decides to go look for the Hinase that she knows (and loves) and with the help of Hinase’s fraud friend (lol), she finds him at the pier.

Hinase admits that he had been lying to her about practically everything but then points that Sayo had always had something to do with liars since she was born. It’s no different that he lied to her. The best way for no-one to see through a lie is to simply keep on lying (i suggest you do not do this at home XD). That’s why there isn’t anyone who is completely aware of the truth. Sayo listens to what he says and when Hinase asks what she wants from him she says:

Ending A:

If she asks him to ‘continue lying’, Sayo follows Hinase when he escapes from town. The epilogue shows them together in some foreign country, far from Japan remaining as lovers. Interesting thing is that they don’t have names, not only Hinase (fake) but Sayo as well. Simply prince and princess. It was cute but then … the two are now criminals… =.=

Ending B:

In this case, Sayo tells him to ‘stop lying’ as she can’t stand not knowing what’s true and what isn’t. I guess Hinase is gone and that’s it with their relationship. In this case, the marriage proposal goes through and Sayo is marrying Mitsuru. He tells her that she may have loved Hinase first but then now he is sure that he wants to properly ‘take her away’ so she’ll be his. In other words this is ‘HINASE (REAL) ROUTE!’.

… … Okay, I would love to believe this is Mitsuru ending but there are two things that don’t make sense. This Hinase has a scar on his hand that he got from a rose thorn that Hinase (fake) had but then he knows the ‘take you away’ that only Mitsuru knows. So which is this? Hinase fake or real? Ah god. =.= I really like Mitsuru as well, almost as much as Hinase since he’s a pretty cool guy in the following chapters.

Other routes:

There are CG for normal route / non-Hinase routes so I’ll go through that as well.

Basically Sayo rejects Hinase’s confession saying she’s not interested in him that way. He accepts the response but says that since things might become awkward, he’ll stay away from her.

One day when Sayo’s on her way home, somebody grabs her and drags her into an alleyway. The guy pins her against the wall and she recognizes him as Hinase. He tells her that she shouldn’t trust ‘Hinase’ since he is a liar but then soon after he says this Kirishima (and Chiyo) come to her rescue. She explains to the two (and Ao later) about what Hinase told her but when they ask the person in question about it the next day he says that he has no idea what the hell they are talking about. They even go to his house to check his alibi but that brings up nothing.

From then on, Mitsuru (in other words Hinase real) meets up with Sayo, Kirishima and Ao everyday to work together to find proof that the current Hinase isn’t real. He doesn’t want to do a DNA test since it’s depressing that they have to go into such measures to find out who is real and who is not.

Sayo finds something out and they go together to Hinase’s house where Sayo pours tea for everyone. She tells them that she ‘poisoned’ the tea (to which Kirishima spits out what he was drinking) and that although its not fatal, it has the ability to tell if someone is lying. Actually all she did was put tabasco into Hinase’s cup and she reveals that the reason why he didn’t notice is because he has dysgeusia (not able to taste) which the real Hinase is not recorded of having. Hinase runs off and once again they meet at the pier.

This time Sayo cries over the fact that the Hinase she knows has to leave and that she doesn’t care whether or not he’s real or fake. Before he goes, he gives her a book and the key to the clocktower.

They head for the clocktower and at the top, they find Hinase (real) gagged and tied up. Turns out that similar to Hinase’s route, Mitsuru only met with Sayo once in the ‘take you away’ scene. Hinase (fake) knew that there was no way he can end up with Sayo once she rejected him so decided to make her suspicious of him just before he leaves. So. Hinase was playing the role of not only Hinase but Hinase (real) as well. Something like that.

Oh. And the book that Hinase (fake) left for her is called ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’. It shouldn’t exist as Touya is supposed to be writing the book right now. But this book looks pretty tattered and old. O.o

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Kirishima Nanaki

(CV: Chiba Susumu)

The club master of the kendo club and doesn’t really have much to do with Sayo until Hinase drags Kirishima (whom he didn’t know either) into eating lunch with Sayo and Kaho (to which Kaho is unhappy since she doesn’t have Sayo to herself).

This route is more about Kirishima and Chiyo, his friend, rather than a typical otome game. Okay. … … Chiyo is actually something like a ghost (or illusion/fantasy as the game says). Kirishima has been able to see illusions since he was small and ever since he met Chiyo in his childhood, they’ve been hanging out together. Some reason Sayo (and Ao) has the ability to see Chiyo as well.

Time skip to after Hinase leaves. Mitsuru’s been taking his place… I mean, he’s returning to his original role and everyone else in the school act as if nothing has happened. She still hasn’t opened the shinigami to Shoujo book that Hinase gave her and its already autumn. Kirishima notices that she’s pretty down so since he’s the only one who she can talk to about Hinase (fake) they start to hang out together more.

Despite the fact that the three are good friends, Kirishima warns her not to go around talking to Chiyo in public as I guess, it makes you look pretty weird. Although Sayo says that she doesn’t give a shit about what other people think about her, he tells her that it was the same for him until he got old enough to understand that its safer to stay with the majority.

Kirishima tells her of how he met Chiyo ages ago. In fact when Chiyo didn’t have a name so it was Kirishima that named him. When he was a kid, his parents would tell him to shut up about being able to see illusions and that he should ignore them as well as something bad might happen. Still, as kids never do as their parents tell them to, when Kirishima saw Chiyo sitting on top of a hill doing nothing, he went up to talk to him. Chiyo was shocked that there was someone who had the ability to see him and since he had nothing else to do, he started hanging out with him.

Well, Mitsuru notices that the Kirishima and Sayo are pretty close and he tries to tease them about it. Sayo coolly responds so he decides to pick on Kirishima instead. Since he doesnt say whether or not he’s interested in Sayo, Mitsuru simply asks him what kind of person is his ideal girlfriend. … Kirishima puts it bluntly as a ‘yamato nadeshiko’ (google it XD) and that he wouldn’t be interested in someone who is ‘strong minded, selfish and pretty arrogant’. Sayo’s pretty disappointed at this in classic otome game heroine style.

Still when Sayo meets some guy from the kendo club who asks whether or not she’s dating Kirishima, he asks her to forget to what he said since it’s pretty obvious that Kirishima won’t date someone who is ‘mature and sensible’ (that’s what the majority thinks of Sayo). Seems like Kirishima’s only interested in ‘strong willed’ woman. XD

Then suddenly Kirishima gets into a fight with Chiyo. Sayo obviously tells them to make up since she knows Kirishima is feeling weird without Chiyo following him everywhere. Sayo helps him look but when she does find him, Kirishima questions her over who she’s talking to her. So Kirishima becomes unable to see and hear Chiyo. Chiyo is devastated and he calls out Kirishima’s name multiple times but when he finally understands what’s happening he runs off like an otome game heroine. Sayo could have chased after him but she decides to stand next to a speechless Kirishima instead.

She’s determined to not let this break the friendship between Kirishima and Chiyo so she acts as a messenger of some sort so that Kirishima can know what’s happening. Pretty odd way to hang out despite the fact that Sayo is simply scared that someone is going to leave her again.

The next week-end, the three go out and simply walk around town together. Chiyo tells her more about Kirishima’s childhood and Kirishima warns Chiyo not to say something retarded. Well, when Chiyo starts saying that Kirishima is like a dad, Sayo also joins in saying that she understands what he means by that. Aw, poor Kirishima.

I guess Chiyo is trying to get the two together as he’s been complitmenting Kirishima a lot since he can’t be heard. He manages to convince Sayo to attempt to call Kirishima by his name, Nanaki. Kirishima goes off to buy crepe and when he comes back, she thanks him and calls his name to which Kirishima is so startled he drops it. Sayo, who’s pretty satisfied, then suggests that the two also call her by her name but Chiyo says that he’ll just call her Sayo Ojousan. Kirishima remains quiet but he as he leaves to go buy another crepe he quietly calls her Sayo. (〃∇〃) I dunno. Damn, I found this scene really cute.

Sayo realises that the places that they’re going are where she went before with Chiyo and she understands that Chiyo is planning on leaving. She starts crying but then both guys hold her hand and they walk quietly to the hill where Chiyo met Kirishima where there are currently cosmos flowers growing.

Chiyo tells her that he wanted to bring her here as this is a place where he belongs. Kirishima explains to the confused Sayo that Chiyo isn’t a ghost, but the cosmos flowers that grow here. Chiyo’s surprised that Kirishima knew this but turns out that Kirishima couldn’t tell him despite knowing it for 5 years already as he was afraid that Chiyo would disappear. Sayo starts shouting that she doesn’t understand why he has to disappear but it’s actually pretty simple. Cosmos are autumn flowers. Now that autumn is over, of course he has to go. The only reason why he’s going despite managing to exist for the past years, is because he realised the significance of not being able to age. He realised that he’s too different to Kirishima and Sayo so he has to go.

Kirishima who was keeping quiet then starts explaining the meaning of Chiyo’s name. He had named him with the hope that he would be able to exist ‘from a thousand to eight thousand years’ (千代に八千代に・Chiyo ni Yachiyo ni). Chiyo tells him that even if he is disappearing now, they will still be able to meet as autumn will come no matter how much time passes.

Chiyo fades away while calling out Kirishima’s name (lol, poor Sayo) and laughing sadly that he it’s a shame that he couldn’t see Sayo and Kirishima live happily together. This causes the cosmos petals to spread in the sky and Sayo sees an image of the three together again but this time in the future. She asks Kirishima who’s just standing there whether she should leave him alone but he asks her to remain with him to which she replies that she will always be with him and she hugs him.

Nope that’s not the end. I guess Sayo’s practically a couple with Kirishima but then weirdly its not official. They still do call each other by the name but then that’s only afterschool. She asks him why he lied to her about his ideal type and then blushing, Kirishima awkwardly drags her off on a date.

In the epilogue, (yes there’s more), Sayo and Kirishima are happily married with two kids and they are having a picnic at the cosmos hill. The kids see this dream where they meet a white haired guy in a kimono. When they tell this to their parents, both of them start frantically searching around for someone and Kirishima shouts out that they are currently living happily together. And we hear Chiyo saying ‘I know’.

(oh yea, there are more CG’s for Kirishima in the next chapter so I’ll just post them in Touya’s route)

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Chiyo

(CV: Nojima Kenji)

The lovable puppy-like ghost/cosmos fairy (jk) who is practically in love with Sayo from the beginning calling her Ojou-san.

One day when Sayo is heading for the school with Natsume and Kaho in order to study for exams, she catches Chiyo looking at a sakura (cherry-blossom) tree. He says that it’s a shame that they never bloom in autumn and then Sayo promises him that together with Kirishima, they’ll go sakura viewing in the spring as a three. Chiyo compares Sayo as sakura and says that even if she disagrees with him, she will always be sakura in his eyes.

Natsume and Kaho asks her who she’s talking to and Chiyo feels pretty bad making her look like a mentally unstable person. Sayo however says that she doesn’t really care about what others think about her and holds his hand and jokes that this is like a date.

Chiyo tells Kirishima over how Sayo is such a nice person and I guess the latter realizes that Chiyo is seriously in love with Sayo. He tells him to give up on her because those two will never end up with a happy ending as Chiyo has practically an eternal time. Chiyo gets pretty hurt by all that Kirishima is saying and pushes him away.

Well, since Sayo has no idea that this happened I guess it doesn’t help that Sayo gives Chiyo a handmade bracelet with a sakura petal design. If it was me, it would just make me feel more miserable.

Not sure whether it’s because Chiyo shoved him but Kirishima becomes unable to see Chiyo. This time, Sayo suggests that Chiyo comes over to her place since that way he still has someone that he can talk to. Kirishima shouts at her that that’s just stupid since Chiyo isn’t human but she drags Chiyo away saying that she won’t let go of his hand no matter other people might think of her. But then Chiyo says that that’s not the problem. He says that he doesn’t want to see other people speak badly of her since he’s in love with her (ahh, he said it O.o). The confession catches Sayo by surprise that she goes red and lets go of Chiyo’s hand in shock.

It’s time for Chiyo to leave again and with the help of Kirishima, Sayo arrives to see Chiyo at the top of the hill. Chiyo tells her that what Kirishima said is true and that it is impossible for him to make her happy. For the cosmos flowers, sakura was an object of admiration as due to the season differences they would never be able to see them. Not only that, despite the fact that you write cosmos as ‘autumn sakura’ in kanji, they would never have been as loved as the spring sakura. For Chiyo, the sakura was Sayo. Chiyo was supposed to disappear long ago but his yearning to see sakura is what kept him ‘alive’ (?).

In last attempt to get him to stay, Sayo says that she has yet to respond to his confession. Sayo claims that her love might be different from Chiyo’s but even so, she wants to be next to him and that that will be impossible if Chiyo’s not there. She breaks down crying and Chiyo is unsure what to do as he’s ‘not human’ until Kirishima shouts that he should be a man and at least stop the woman he loves from crying. (in Hakuouki Sano style) he kisses her to stop her from crying and says that although this was supposed to be a way of greeting someone, in this situation it turned into one of farewell. As he disappears, he pledges that he will continue loving this world, one where his ‘friend’ Kirishima and his ‘sakura’ Sayo is and soon all that’s left is the bracelet that Sayo had made for him.

In the epilogue we get a guy, presumably Chiyo in human form commenting over how beautiful the sakura flowers to some woman. … Okay, true the voice of the woman sounded similar to Sayo but its short to be sure. It could either be Chiyo resurrecting to be human for Sayo in the future but then why do the clothes look old fashioned? Another thought is that it could be Sayo’s child/mother (as it is said that she lived in a house with sakura). Or. it could have something to do with the picture book for Chiyo’s chapter which is about a guy in love with a woman who has a sakura tree in her house .. Okay, I’m completely clueless.

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Toono Touya

(CV: Kawashima Tokuyoshi)

WOOHOOO!!! SIS-CON BROTHER COMING THROUGH!! XD *cough* I mean, here’s the author of the book ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ who loves his sister very much.

As I wrote in the beginning, these two are all over each other from the start that when Ao comes over he’s like, ‘you guys sure that’s sibling love?’. Well, considering that Touya doesn’t seem to like Ao and is pretty jealous to the point of cockblocking when the two are together, I’m not surprised that he thinks that.

Anyway Touya doesn’t have much of a role in before chapter 6 which is the normal route about Kirishima and Hinase. So. I’m going to summarize chapter 6 since its needed to explain Ao’s route as well but then as I wrote before, there will be CG’s for Kirishima.

Anyway, by now, Sayo has ‘lost’ Hinase and Chiyo so she’s pretty depressed. To make matters worse, Kaho is now making other friends instead of being tsun the whole time so that means she’s not solely dependent on her. She feels betrayed by Kaho and runs away from her one day while she’s left really confused.

Once in the corridor, a ball crashes into the window and just before the glass crashes onto her, she’s protected by Kirishima. She was about to thank him but when she see’s the shards of glass, she goes hysterical and faints.

Kirishima waits for her to wake up at the nurse’s room and Sayo explains that she hates seeing pieces of glass, especially if it was broken into shards. He asks her whether or not he can do anything for her ’cause I guess he knows her best by now and about the situation she is in with losing people. (and Ao is too busy reading books + Touya doesn’t really know about her school life). She pleads him not to be so nice to her as she doesn’t want to rely on him all the time. But then she says that she’ll be happy if he pats her head. (I kinda hoped she’d ask for more but then considering that it’s not even in his route… too bad for me).

Well, she goes home and practically falls into slumber for some reason. Touya is really worried, not letting Ao and Kirishima come into the house lol and kisses her hoping that she’ll wake up.

From here on we see a flashback of her childhood. Remember how she’s the daughter of a prostitute? Seems like her dad married a rich woman named Shirayuki (Snow White) but then there was no love and he made some random other woman, Tsubaki pregnant. Tsubaki then didn’t want Sayo anymore so she gave her to Shirayuki who brought Sayo up and whom Sayo treats as a real mother.

Problem was that Shirayuki wasn’t beautiful and no matter how much she loves Sayo, she just couldn’t stand how Sayo would grow up looking much more beautiful than herself. She would get frustrated over this to the point of ignoring Sayo even when she was coughing up blood in front of her room (Sayo had pretty bad health when she was young).

Shirayuki had a friend who would write books and Sayo would ask him why her mother doesn’t love her anymore. The friend says that it’s nothing and to cheer her up, he gives her some of books that he wrote. Out of them, her favorite was one about a Shinigami and a girl’s search for the worlds most beautiful word. Well, while she was being cheered up by the books, one day she attempts to go talk to her mother again. However Shirayuki had gone so crazy that she had cracked a mirror in her room and cut her wrists and she simply dies in front of Sayo.

This caused Sayo to become pretty mentally unstable and her illness just keeps getting worse until she’s practically in bed the whole time. Not only that but Tsubaki moves into her house =.=. She thinks that she’s going to die soon but one night she notices that someone came into her room, dressed in weird black clothes.

He introduces himself as shingami who’s here as she’s about to die. Sayo starts acting out the role of the girl in ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ and the shinigami does as well for some weird reason. Well, just like the story, Sayo manages to convince him to take her soul only after she finds out the most beautiful word and drags him into finding it as well. She asks that guy (?) for his name and when he says he doesn’t have one, she names him Touya.

Since the loss of her mother, she’s completely dependent on Touya despite the fact that it seems that he doesn’t have any emotions. The weird thing is that when people see her talking to Touya or even when she’s mentioning him in conversation, they look creeped out. Her father shouts at her to stop talking about him and Tsubaki makes things worse by saying that such a person doesn’t even exist. I guess that’s one of the reasons why when she’s old enough, she left the house to live ‘alone’ with Touya.

He has loli Sayo all over him but doesn't seem to care... XD

Anyway, Sayo wakes up from her dream and finds out that practically a week has happened. Touya is really worried for her but then she says that the only reason that she managed to wake up was because she could hear Touya calling out to her. True, considering that Touya hasn’t slept at all. He tells her that everyone at school were worried about her and Kirishima came everyday to bring different stuff her other friends wanted to give her.

Anyway, when Sayo comes back to school, Kaho apologizes to her over how she was hanging around other people and says that she didn’t really realize how much it was hurting her. The others are also pretty glad that they’re safe. Sayo now seems to be having a cold as she’s coughing half the time. Everythings fine with the people at school but whenever she meets Ao, Touya pops up and drags her away and even tells her to avoid him. She’s happy that she can go back to school and meet her friends but she tells Touya that she’s practically hates it as well coz he’s not there and tells him that:

「私は兄さんとずっと一緒にいたい。朝も昼も夜も、ずっと。」

One day when she’s just standing there gazing at the clocktower, Fushimachi explains to her that the time the clock handles had stopped, 11:45 is also called as the Shinigami’s time which symbolises the end. She talks to Touya about it saying that some reason she can’t bring herself to be afraid of shingami’s (considering that your brother is one I’m not surprised =.=). That night she has a really weird dream and when she wakes up in the morning she can see these weird things floating in the air.

Sayo asks Kirishima about the things that she sees and he’s surprised that she’s also able to see the illusions. He warns her not to do attempt to touch or communicate them as there’s no knowing what the hell might be wrong with them. Her illusions include seeing goldfish swimming in the sky, being underwater, talking cats (with voices as Kaho and Natsume ♥) Although I decided not to summarize the other chapters, from here on Sayo dreams about a chapter in the book ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ (which the chapters in the game are based on as well) and see’s different things everyday. Not only does she see weird illusions daily, but she becomes muddled up with her past and her present and now thinks that everything is a dream unless she’s with Touya.

As Sayo’s dreams get deeper into the book, the less energy she seems to have until soon she decides to stay at home for the whole time. Her coughing gets worse and worse as well similar to how it was when she was a child.

Kirishima is worried about her so he takes her home just in case but then they see some people raiding her house and taking all the furniture out. Seems like her father ordered her to be taken home as that is where she belongs but Sayo demands for them to stop as to her, she belongs with Touya. When her father’s men still don’t listen to her, she breaks a window and places a piece of glass to her wrist, threatening to kill herself if they don’t do as they’re told.

Touya comes and thanks Kirishima for bringing her home and sends him off while Sayo is just repeating Touya’s name as if she’s gone crazy. She’s like ‘I will never let them take you away from me Touya-niisan’ and becomes disgusted when she sees that their home has been ‘violated’. She’s like going ‘I don’t care whether this is painful or not. For me, not being able to be with you is even worse that.’ Touya tells her that he cares for her as well and that he loves her so he wants her to stop hurting herself.

From here Sayo become a hikkikomori, doesn’t go to school and simply spends the whole time in bed with Touya. Since time has now passed, she opens the book that Hinase (fake) gave her and finds that it is ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ and not only that, but that it was written 10 years ago. She’s not brave enough to ask Touya about it but then understands now that Hinase (fake) was actually aware of everything and that the liar he was talking about was herself.

Her coughing gets worse and worse but then Sayo becomes ashamed for making Touya look so worried. She tries to say something but her cough gets in the way so she kisses him instead. He apologises to her that he wasn’t able to protect her. Sayo suggests that they go out on a voyage in order to find out things around the world when in truth she just wants to find a place that will accept them as they are. Well so they leave to a place that ‘no-one can interrupt them’. XD

… which is the clocktower. Remember that Hinase (real) was captured there? Seems like Hinase (fake) put stuff there so that people can survive for a few days. Anyway, after saying her final greetings to Kaho and Kirishima, the two confine themselves into the clocktower and tell each other that about how much they love the other and start making out. Still, they ARE siblings (?) right? And Sayo is naked here. O.o

While Sayo’s sleeping Touya tells her that she is his everything; if she wished for it he would become her brother, her friend and her lover. Touya is simply an illusion created FOR Sayo who was suffering from loneliness as a child. He had stopped her time and followed her little game of acting out Shinigami to Shoujo. He’s basically a mirror of her emotions so Sayo was what created a personality in the emotionless Touya. Touya needs Sayo to survive and will die along with her. However Sayo doesn’t ‘need’ Touya if she finds someone else (so thats why Touya disappears in Kirishima and Hinase’s route).

Due to Sayo’s stress at childhood, she started thinking that Shinigami-Niisan = Touya Nii-san = her real brother. But since the shinigami was an illusion created for Sayo, others wouldn’t be able to see him so people would think she was mentally unstable. (her dad)

Ao appears at the clocktower as well and says that once the real shinigami dies, he can become one instead. And as I explained Touya’s life = Sayo’s life so he came to take away Sayo’s life. Touya threatens to kill him but then Ao states that it’s already too late since Shinigami’s time is coming. Touya had put an illusion on Sayo that keeps her alive as long as her story ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ is continueing. So Touya is the one who’s going to kill her basically as his final illusion is ending.

Sayo wakes up and while Touya’s apologising that he has to end her life, she says that she could have run away from their promise of the beautiful word search since she forgot all about it but then she couldn’t since she fell in love with him. He pleads her to keep living but then she simply smiles saying that as she now knows the world’s most beautiful world so either way she has to go. (and die. … never mind orz)

Sayo’s gone, Touya’s gone and THEN Kirishima arrives. He was asked by Touya to attempt to save her but still, too late. He finds naked Sayo and Ao whom he recognises as a Shinigami. Ao who was like the first Touya, doesn’t really have emotions but for some reason he finds himself crying. He tells Kirishima that the two had lived a happy life even if it ended like this. When asked why he knows this, he simply points to ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ and asks whether or not Kirishima knows how it ends.

Sayo wakes up in an odd world and finds Touya. They’re no longer a Shinigami and a Shoujo and as the two exchange vows, Touya tells her over how the world had been reborn and there will no longer be an end.

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Ao

(CV: Kanna Nobutoshi)

Finally! Last guy. He’s the amnesic guy that Sayo finds staring at the clocktower whom she call’s Ao. (must be weird to be given a name by a stranger whom he only met 5 minutes ago). Sayo wants to take him to hospital but since he wants to avoid that, somehow he ends up staying at a second hand bookstore owned by Fushimachi. Despite the fact that he has memory loss and doesn’t know who he is, he doesn’t really care so much about it and spends most of the time just reading books. Anyway, Sayo suggests that the two go on a search for the worlds most beautiful word.

He doesn’t get on well with Touya (since Touya is a pretty deep sis-con) but then admits that Touya’s books are pretty good. Half the time that Sayo goes over to Fushimachi’s shop, she finds him reading. So one time, she asks if she can sit next to him to read as well. Though she falls asleep soon and wakes up finding herself resting against Ao.

Anyway, Sayo becomes conscious of Ao which her brother obviously disapproves. When Ao asks her why she seems to be so afraid of ‘the end’ she tells him that she just is and that despite the fct that all things have to have an end, she wants to avoid it if it’s possible. She’s about to tug at Ao’s shirt but then stops halfway only to have Ao pull her closer to him saying that he’s already learned that she does that when she’s feeling usure. … So what does Sayo do? Kisses him asking whether he can save her. Sadly Ao shows no response and Touya comes in telling them to stop. lol

One day when she’s out in town with Touya, they meet Ao who tells them to go to Fushimachi. There, he gets changed into NORMAL clothes and says that he’s going to go along with them (Touya =！Σ（￣□￣;）). So Sayo asks whether Ao finds going along with them more productive than reading and is shocked when he replies yes. Though in the CG, it looks like Ao’s in the way. Anyway, the clothes that Ao’s wearing was given to him by Fushimachi who says that when in the street, its better to wear normal clothes. Sayo says that Ao looks nice in them so some reason from then on, Ao stays away from his weird robes.

Sayo goes into dream / past world again but this time she wakes up to find Ao standing over her, Kirishima looking shocked and Touya not looking pleased.

Whenever she hangs around Ao after this, her health seems to be getting worse and worse to the point that she faints when he is with her. Touya tells him not to touch her since he calls himself a shinigami and is practically pleading with him to not take Sayo away. He also tells him that Sayo is afraid of the end, so it’s pretty ridiculous for a shinigami, a symbol of death to be with her.

Ao later talks with Fushimachi over why he keeps on thinking about Sayo but then Fushimachi just says that it’s because that’s how much she means to him. He also tells Ao that Sayo is simply afraid of the end because her ‘time’ had been stopped by a shinigami and implies that he knows more about it.

Sayo starts questioning who Touya is after she opens the book that Hinase (fake) gave her. She realizes that Touya might not even exist but is too afraid of being alone again to admit it. She realizes that Touya is likely to disappear if she cares about someone more than him so decides to avoid Ao as it was him coming into her life that she became unsure of Touya. She goes as far as telling Ao that she is afraid of him to keep him away.

Touya however, is worried about how Sayo is forcing herself to stay away from Ao just for him. He decides to give Ao the ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ book that Hinase left for Sayo saying that once Ao reads it, he’ll regain his memories. He says he’s only doing this for Sayo and warns that if Ao harms her, he’ll kill him.

Somehow, Ao actually does get his memories back. When he was a kid, Ao was hated by people in his town for being so emotionless. When Ao’s parents died and Ao didn’t even shed a tear they went as far as calling him a shinigami. The only person who was nice to Ao was a friend of his parents, someone who he calls a magician from Japan. He was given the book called ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ and despite not being able to understand that language, he became obssessed with the idea of a Shinigami. He asked the magician over how to become one of them and the guy simply says that as there can only be one shinigami at a time, you have to kill the current on and take its place. … What the hell are you teaching kids O.o

Ao came to Japan when he was old enough and in the town of the magician, he sees Sayo and Touya in front of the clocktower. He knew that Touya was the shinigami and once Sayo goes off, it’s Touya that comes up to him. Ao says that he’s here to kill him in order to become a shinigami but since Touya is only an illusion, he realizes that he has to kill Sayo in order to do so. When Touya sees that Ao would harm Sayo, he uses some Shinigami magic to take Ao’s memories.

Anyway, now Ao has his memories back the first he does is go to meet Sayo. … And attempt to strangle her. Kirishima, who was here when this happened pushes him away and Touya appears as well saying that Ao didn’t change. Ao tells Touya to stop avoiding the fact that Sayo’s time has started moving again and when he points at her, she starts coughing up blood and eventually faints.

When she wakes up Touya explains that he’s a shinigami who stopped her time. He says he knows that in her love for Ao is greater than for him and the reason why he gave him the book was to see whether or not he can be trusted. Sayo shouts that Ao had put his fingers around her neck, but that he was never actually meaning to kill her and Touya says that he’ll believe anything that she says. I guess by now Sayo knows that although she was supposed to die 10 years ago,  Touya stopped her time and the problem now is that it has now started moving again.

Touya tells Sayo over how she should stop trying to keep him alive when he knows that she is in love with Ao. He continues saying that the only one who can save Sayo right now is Ao, and that Sayo is also the one to save Ao.

Few days past and Sayo finally understands her own feelings. She goes to Touya’s room and while hugging him confesses that she loves Ao. She loves him to the point that she wants to save him even if it means sacrificing her life. He explains to her that once he disappears, her time will start moving so that she will most likely die before it strikes 12. He gives her a small blade telling her that she should kill Ao with it if she decides that she wants to continue living.

And so she begins reciting words that reject his existence. She says that she has no brother, she met no shinigami 10 years ago, the Touya she knew was simply an illusion created by herself, Toono Touya never existed and that there is only one Shinigami for her and he simply wasn’t Touya. Once she says her final words of denial, Touya disappears and she’s left crying.

She runs off to the clocktower where she see’s Ao dressed in his weird normal clothes. She tells him that she’s about to die so she offers him the blade Touya gave her and asks him to kill her. Well, I guess she would rather be killed swiftly by Ao than die painfully. Ao questions her but she simply hastens him saying that there’s no more time so he pushes her to the ground.

Ao doesn’t seem to be moving so she asks him why he wants to be a Shinigami. He explains that the reason is that people were treating like a Shinigami. However, he noticed that that was just a comparison and that he still had nothing. So he decided  to at least have an existence as a shinigami. (man, this is confusing).

Sayo understands now why the two are similar, because they both don’t have anything. She disagrees with Ao having nothing and holds his hand saying, ‘How about this. You are holding me. Now you can’t say that you have nothing can you?’. The two had both been having dreams (?) about this conversation, but now they realize that they actually know each other from the past.

Anyway, Ao asks once more why Sayo isn’t afraid of her. This time she says that it’s because she loves her and kisses him once more. From here, her coughing gets worse to the point that she can barely talk. She says that she’s relieved that she could tell him her feelings and then Ao drops the sword and begins crying. He doesn’t get why this is happening to him and she simply says that it’s because he can’t kill her. She feels her conscious fading while Ao is now telling her to not die. She points out that she promised to have her life taken away when she knows the world’s most beautiful word and says that she’s fulfilled it.

In the book, the shinigami meets the girl and while gradually falling in love as they go around the world, in the last country, the girl dies causing the shinigami to cry and find out the most beautiful word. The reason why Ao was obsessed with shinigami’s was because he wanted to be like ‘him’. Now that Sayo’s dead, this was fulfilled. As he’s carrying Sayo, he tells her that he now understands why he is crying. He says that he loves her and kisses her.

Remember how the two thought that they knew each other from the past? The magician guy actually took Ao to japan and they visited Sayo’s mother as the magician was her friend. There he meets Sayo who despite not being able to communicate through language differences, suggests that the two read her book ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ together. When they were about to finish the book, the bell rings for lunch and Sayo leaves Ao with the book which he takes back to his country.

In the epilogue, Ao still lives in Fushimachi’s house (the guy offered to adopt him) and is loved by the town people. By some miracle, Sayo resurrected in a way that it was impossible to believe that she was even ill. She’s forgotten about Touya’s existence but feels like illusions mean something special to her. Ao says that being with Sayo told him the meaning of life (42) and that she changed him from a shinigami to a human.

(Oh yea, Ao’s real name is Ilya Nikolaevich Mushkin. He’s most likely Russian. Shit thing is that when Sayo calls him Ilya, he’s like ‘call me Ao’.

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Miyazawa Kaho

(CV: Nonaka Ai)

Kaho is Sayo’s only friend since most other people think that she’s a b*tch but then Sayo finds Kaho’s true-to-herself nature cute. Since I love this games side characters, I’ll talk about Natsume (the guy who doesn’t like Sayo) as well.

In the beginning, Kaho didn’t really give a damn about Sayo when school started since she was just a girl who was talked about for her looks and despite the fact that they sit close together, they didn’t really talk. However, she noticed that sometimes Sayo would be staring at her during class but then just ignored the fact.

Kaho, similar to Sayo, knows that she’s good looking and because of that got into trouble with a girl who’s crush got taken away by her. The girl starts complaining and Kaho simply says that it’s not her fault that guys like her so much. Obviously this pisses the girl off and she then goes to insult Kaho’s family which then makes Kaho heated up as well. The whole class is just watching when some reason Sayo comes up and says that Kaho’s family has nothing to do with anything and that the argument is ridiculous. Then she just silently sits down. lol.

Well, the next day the girl apologizes to Kaho and Kaho thanks Sayo for standing up to her. Since then Kaho is just in love with her.

Anyway, Kaho loves her to the point that when there is a cooking competition between Kirishima (who’s for healthiness), Kaho (who’s for looks), Hinase (fake) (who just wants to eat Sayo’s cooking) and Sayo, she offers to help Sayo cook considering that all Sayo can do is ‘cook’ cup noodles and she’s even failed at that before. In the end, the contest is won by Sayo simply because the judge, Natsume (who was unwillingly forced into it to make the judging fair) liked teriyaki chicken which is what Sayo cooked.

So! Onto Natsume. He’s the guy who doesn’t like Sayo because of the fact that: She’s rich. Her family brought his family into ruins. And that she apologizes when it’s obvious that she doesn’t give a damn. This chapter (chapter 4) is about Wilhelm, some weird guy in a cat costume who stalks looks out for Natsume saying that he’s his friend. He’s a stalker in a way as not only does he come to school to watch Natsume during lessons but he sneaks into Natsume’s house when’s he’s out working to clean up and cook. O.o

Natsume knows about the fact that Sayo’s mother is actually and prostitute and Sayo goes frantic about it so that they’re kinda in a fight. This happens out of school so the next day she attempts to get things over with and apologizes for anything she did when Natsume doesn’t let it go at that. Sayo feels herself attempting to slap him when before she can do anything, it’s Kaho who does who tells Natsume to think about Sayo’s feelings. But then as this just got the fight bigger, Sayo tells Kaho to apologize for getting physical. =.=

Everyone, despite helping Wilhelm is suspicious of him since yea, he is some unknown guy in cat costume that could be a stalker. Kaho however doesn’t really care since she says that its normal for a someone to care about a friend and that it doesn’t matter who they may actually be.

It turns out that Wilhelm is actually the human form of Natsume’s cat plushie who was stressed over the fact that he was a friend but couldn’t actually help him in any way despite the situation he is in. Natsume doesn’t know this and thinks that Wilhelm is criminal who broke into his house, stole his cat plushie and now stalks him. … … true. ANYWAY, when Natsume says that a friend doesn’t have to help one physically, just being there is good enough. Wilhelm’s happy that his existance was actually helping Natsume so runs off cheering him on. (with Natsume still confused over who the hell the Wilhelm was)

NATSUMEEEEEEE~~~~ (〃ー〃)

From this happening, I guess Sayo understands how important Kaho actually is to her (and kinda similar to Kirishima and Chiyo lol though Kirishima fails to accept it). I’m going to go off topic (slightly) but in Touya + Ao’s route where she feels betrayed that Kaho has other friends, Sayo actually says that she thought Kaho was some sort of precious doll that she had that she wanted to show off but not give to others. Wow, possessive. =.=

In the epilogue, they switched hair styles and god, they look adorable. XD Uhh, um. … … Kaho basically narrates that while the majority may think that Sayo is a calm, mature girl, Kaho knows that she’s in fact simply someone who can’t actually voice her opinions out loud. Kaho says that she won’t force anything out of her and that she’ll just wait for her to talk to her instead. Despite the fact that they now eat with the others: Hinase, Kirishima and Natsume (and Chiyo), she doesn’t care since she knows that they’ll always be friends.

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Afterward:

Basically an explanations of the background to the story:

*NOTHING TO DO WITH OTOME GAMING! JUST IN CASE! JUST A SUMMARY FOR THE REAL MEANING BEHIND SHINGAMI TO SHOUJO *

Okay, Kirishima goes to visit Fushimachi for some explanations.

At first he questions who the hell Fushimachi was. He’s basically the ‘author’ of the whole story involving Sayo. He was a psychiatrist who was a friend of Sayo’s mother and Ao’s parents. He’s the ‘magician’ that appears in Ao’s route and the author of the ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ book. Since Touya is an illusion created by Sayo, obviously he can’t publish any books. So the books that Sayo thinks are written by Touya were actually all written by Fushimachi.

What I mean by Fushimachi being the author of ‘Sayo’s story’ is that he wrote different futures that Sayo could have in hopes of giving Sayo happiness in the end. Hinase (fake), Hinase (real), Chiyo, Touya and Ao were all possibilities of Sayo being happy. The only reason why he took Ao to Sayo’s house when they were small, gave him the idea of becoming a shinigami, inviting him over to come to Japan was because he thought that way, something could possibly happen to make Sayo have a happy ending.

Notice how Kirishima was left out? … Kirishima was an irregular. He wasn’t ‘planned’ by Fushimachi to even exist in Sayo’s world. He became the unbiased reader of Sayo’s story (which is why he has sort of a role in everyone’s route). That’s mainly why Kirishima had the ability to see weird things. So yea, Kirishima is someone from another dimension. Alien?

… … Hmm, anyway. Onto other things. In reality, Sayo’s illness when she was small would never had killed her. It was simply coz she thought that she’s going to die as well since watching her mother die which made her have such a serious health.

Oh. And not only was loli Sayo perfectly healthy (she just made herself really bad from thinking she was going to die), the whole Shinigami thing was fantasy. There wasn’t ever anyone who was a shinigami. True, i’ve been saying that Touya is an illusion that normal people can’t see. The truth is that the whole idea that Touya is a illusionary shinigami is completely fiction. Something like saying that Shinigami’s don’t exist. Problem is that thinking that way is pretty nasty when you consider Touya’s route. I mean, what WAS she doing being naked? O.o

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Overall Thoughts:

… … … I LOVE THIS GAME!!

I love all the characters (which is pretty rare for me). Obviously for the main guys, but the side characters too. I mean, Hinase (real) was awesome to the point I truly wish that he get’s a proper ending instead of a ambiguous one, Natsume was just awesome especially when goes dere after his chapter to the point I want a fandisk to go for him, Kaho was adorable even if i seem to have a tendency to hate the girl-friends in otome games. Wilhelm, the guy in a cat costume was adorable, wish that he had a CG and considering this, I feel like I might as well confess my love to Hinase’s grandma O.o

So. To the main guys. Having 4 guys to go for (+ 1 hidden route) is pretty small for games nowadays but each route was long, different, and interesting enough for me to keep playing. In my opinion, my ranking would be: Kirishima, and the rest all in second place. I knew that Kirishima was voiced by Kondou from Gintama and the fact that it was more bromance between him and Chiyo in his route didn’t really help. Still, I think he was awesome in other routes and had really cute scenes in his own. Just wished that were more otome game-like scenarios. The voices were awesome. Apart from Hinase and Chiyo, the rest weren’t really used for any otome games but I think that was a pretty good choice on Takuyo’s part. Better that hearing the same voice in all the games I play. Yea, I repeat. I see Kondou’s / Kirishima’s seiyuu in a new light. (Okay the picture is pretty unfair but…)

I have to confess that when I played in the order that the official site recommended (Hinase, Kirishima, Touya + Ao) and I got to Hinase’s confession, I was so put off them having sex the next scene that I closed the psp and was planning to wait for Amnesia or Storm lover fandisk instead. Still, I successfully got myself to continue playing (man was i shocked at the Hinase fake real thing when I had no idea about it). I finished the game pretty quickly after that and only had to face blogging it =.=

I was following the 2chan thread for it once I finished and realised how hard people found to like Sayo. True, she’s whiny, strong-willed and you could say slightly stuck up. So I thought she was adorable in a different way from how Chizuru is cute. True, wouldn’t like to know her in real life but then it’s a game. I think it had to be someone like Sayo for this game to work. Also, I thought that they should have kept Sayo’s voice for the whole game. It was cute but then there was only voices for the epilogues, introduction and Ao + Touya’s route. I think it was because of Sayo’s seiyuu’s voice acting that I actually cried in the scene where Touya disappears in Ao’s route. I mean, its really hard not to cry when Sayo’s crying so emotionally. 。・°°・(>_<)・°°・。

I loved the character designs. The art was good for Takuyo style (google other Takuyo games) and I hope this guy will be used again. Touya’s shinigami clothes are awesome and he also uses a katana. So that’s why Ao’s robes look pretty weird. Guess it was to make Touya and Ao opposites.

Art = Awesome. (art is wonderful except wished there were more kiss CG)
Music = Awesome. (felt like I was watching a movie or something)
Opening = Awesome. (music wasn’t even jap. that’s how good it is)
Story = Awesome.
Voice Acting = Awesome.
Otome Game = … Could have been better. 

You see, this is more like a novel than a otome game. It’s not ‘ｘotome game’ like Mother Goose, this had otome game added in naturally but then I kinda enjoyed it as a novel with couplings rather than a dating simulation. There’s way too much deep meanings in the story for it to be simply an otome game. It matched my taste but I can’t say for sure about others who simply like things such as …. … … tokimeki memorial (?)

…

So. What was the world’s most beautiful word? In the picture book ‘Shinigami to Shoujo’ it ends simply with the shoujo and the Shinigami in love so that when the shoujo dies, the Shinigami cries which creates a miracle allowing the two to be together as normal humans. I re-read the story and didn’t understand so went online looking for help.

Answer: 名前. Name. That is the word that is unique, definite, lasts forever and accepted and used by the entire world. O.o

Oh, the following comic is pretty hilarious when you consider name:

Sayo: Hey… Would you tell me your name?

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Ao + Touya: A shinigami is a shinigami. I have no name.

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Hinase: Who knows? I don’t even know my self.

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Kirishima: … I’m not someone from Kirishima family. I don’t remember anything about before I came here.

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Chiyo: I was named by Nanaki-kun~

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Sayo: HOW COULD EVERYBODY BE LIKE THIS!!

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And I was trusting you

Nanaki-sempaiiiii!!!

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XD. I love this blogger. Shame she’s japanese.