Though I haven't gotten very far with all of the storylines, can I just say that threatening someone to marry you with blackmail material and threats of suicide
is the lowest thing someone can do? Can't say I was very pleased with Toma. I haven't gotten very far, so I can't really provide full judgement, but so far, I think Arima's the most sensible. I barely started Soji's so we'll see.
But yeah, so far I am cringing at Toma... e H e )|||||
So, I don't know about you, but I think that all those men who make otome games for us (because, come on, how could have women written so much.. crap) don't understand as at all und probably think we are huge idiots who are satisfied with the crappy tv soap opera niveau, but, COME ON.
First of all, the very beginning of the game.
Toma spoilers until Chapter 6~
Alright, having a huge debt is a pretty old plot device, I don't mind those as long as they are used well. But in this game? It's absolutely ridiculous. I reread the first few episodes because I somehow thought her parents were dead. No, they are not dead. Her father calls her and tells her they have a debt.
Uh, alright, sorry dad, that's really unfortunate but I'm gonna help you as much as I can. What? *I* am supposed to pay? The yakuza are gonna knock on my door? What the hell is wrong with you, exactly?
This would make somewhat sense if her parents are dead, but they are not. So what business do the bad guys have with her? Why is it her responsiblity to pay it back?
And wasn't she supposed to work at her parents shop? What's she doing working in a company? This confuses me.
Oh well, I guess, I can close my eyes for this one. There are more ridiculous premises for otome games.
But then.
She sees a man jump into the river. What does she do. She dives in. At night. With her clothes on. Without being ABSOLUTELY sure to save him. That's not even stupid, that's freaking suicidal. Helping others is nice and everything, but putting yourself into danger by doing so is something you should not do under any circumstances. 1 dead person is better than two.
So, she dives in and of course she can't handle it. Really. That surprised me a lot. What happens. He saves her. Alright, I guess I can accept that but, after that...
Since she saved him (which she did NOT do, on the contrary), it's HER responsibility to take care he doesn't kill himself again. That's the moment you call the police and tell them to put him into a hospital, girl. So of course he drags her all the way with him to a hotel, where both of them are alone. At this point I was pretty sure she really wanted to die. I mean, what the hell? Really? Sure, he is a man, you are only a weak, japanese woman, but he must be *really* strong to drag you all the way to a hotel. No excuses. That's fucking stupid.
And then, he blackmails her into marrying him. Sure, I was wondering how exactly they would explain her agreeing with this whole thing (because, I mean, she made it so far so she has a bit of common sense, right?) and they use blackmail. That does not make Toma more attractive. Quite on the contrary. Taking a nude picture of her and threatening her to show it to everybody? What the hell is wrong with you, bro? At that point I really wanted to stop playing because this is just a no go. (Like all the [attempted] harassment scenes... sigh... Dear Writer, women do not actually like to be molested. Sincerly, every woman on this planet.)
But I kept playing. I mean, it is only a game, right? I just shouldn't take everything so seriously. And Toma does look good (being a molesting creep is acceptable is the guy is attractive #otome game logic).
But I really, really, really, really hate what they did in Chapter 5.
So, Natsuki loves his brother. He knows his brother is in love with a girl. He knows his brother married someone else, but not why. He's worried about his brother getting hurt. Then he has some kind of unexplainable thought process and molests his brother's wife. What. Um? I seriously thought I missed something in there.
Where did THAT come from? That's just.. it is so completely out of character. Dear Writers, if your character does something out of character there needs to be a VERY good reason. Being worried about his brother is not sufficient.
And on top of that the whole is so extremely creepy. I don't mind romancing high school aged boys, not at all, I love tokimeki. That is as long as the protagonist is in the same age range. AND willing.
A 28 years old woman molested by a 16 years old boy? Come on, stop with the wish fulfillment crap, that's just, ugh. /shudder
Of course this scene creates a misunderstandment. Alright, those are the A and O of otome games (count how many otome games you know that could be resolved by simply talking about something immediately! Me, me! Oh, you! How many? Uhm, about almost everyone? Ding ding, we have a winner!) and I have accepted them. I do not like them but it seems like you can't escape them here. Fine.
But then, instead of a big blown up conflict (that's the only thing I liked about this, no huge melodrama!) it's suddenly fine. Oh, Natsuki was worried. He had a reason. It's fine. Yeah, it totally is. Now I'm gonna cook food for the boy who molested me! What a good wife.
....
....
....
SERIOUSLY?
Ugh. This whole scene was just an incredibly poor method to get the protagonist and Toma to talk about Sayaka. Really? Was that really necessary? Why not use the protagonist's coworker instead? I mean, he did kiss her after all.
So I thought, okay, there is a specific reason why it had to be his brother. Toma loves him after all a lot and everything and this would probably create a huge conflict and so on. But nope. There is no excuse for doing this to poor Natsuki. Just let him be an innocent high school student, please. :(
Sigh.
I don't know. Maybe they are gonna talk about this again. Maybe they save the coworker for later, when Toma develops feelings for her too, I don't know.
[[Oh and, what are you getting all said for protag-chan, anyway? You don't like you. He molested you, blackmailed you and paid you. There is no emotional attachment between you to. Then why are you suddenly feeling sad when he embraces another girl? Jeez.]]
Phew, that god quite long... but I read a lot of stories today and it just makes me so angry that they are always using the same crap. And corrupt poor Natsuki just because they couldn't think of anything better.
I agree... some of these stories just scream out: "This is what I think women want/like" and/or "This is what I want women to want/like". By being spoon-fed this bullcrap for so long, it's no wonder you see women adopting this mentality in writing. We hardly get much variety in otome games, so people just go with the flow.
Judging from what I've seen of Toma's route so far, it's safe to say that the MC has no backbone at all. I understand that accepting the contract is the point of the game and is the premise of the whole thing, but... the execution of it left a sour taste in my mouth.
As for Soji, I barely started, but his demands were also a bit too high?! 500k is a large sum of money for sure, but is that really worth a lifetime of slavery? Granted, if there is a time limit to this, I haven't gotten to it yet. But yes, needless to say he also threatened to release her information and have her fired, so it wasn't really a choice. -sigh- Aaahh blackmail~ So yes, he also conveniently leaves out the important part about what kind of slave she'd be. What her duties would be, what he would "teach" her. Of course, MC probably won't find out until after she's signed~
So far, these two storylines spell Stockholm Syndrome~ Toma's for sure, Soji is still pending, depending on his demands.
Shinobu, however seems to be the most reasonable, and dare I say, perfect candidate. His terms are simple: act as his wife, make the world believe they are in love. Need I mention he won't do anything to her without her permission? Of course kissing and touching is excluded, but hey, an act's an act. No threats, no blackmailing...just the grim reality check that such a large sum would result in poor career choices for poor MC and that yes, it would indeed destroy her if she went down that path. Also, hello time limit! 3 months! Although it's a bit short for 500k, I would've taken the deal in a heartbeat. I haven't gotten past the step-mom intro with him, but so far...
Shinobu is the only decent male of the three.
e.e
I've not gotten too far with this yet.... I don't have much patience for this style game. And I've only experienced bits of Soji so far. And I think I'm definitely out of the norm, here... From the moment he started, I was like, "Yes. YES. JUST SAY YES. STOP BEING THAT WAY. YES PLZ." To be honest, I'm more than a little disappointed that things mellow out from the beginning, seemingly very, very quickly. For starters, she's not even a slave... she's a pet. There's a relatively huge difference there. And I'm alright with a master, falling in love with their slave and/or pet. I've RP'd this scenario, though it wasn't what we were aiming for in the RP, it's what happened... But IMO, Soji goes soft, way too fast.
. I look forward to the rest of his story, just because I hope it gets as juicy as it had been in the beginning, but I'm not holding my breath.
What really made me sad is
that Arima had more CG's than Soji.
So I stopped Toma's route midway cuz I couldn't take the idiocy. I mean really, she falls in love with him for NO REASON at all. And so quickly. After he's done all of NOTHING to prove he's not such a shitty manipulative person.
Ugh. So I switched to Soji. And I must say I'm really enjoying his character. As much as Arima, even. But what I found annoying/exasperating was how the MC just keeps attracting rapists. Seriously, first a robber decides to try and have his way with her, and barely a chapter later, someone kidnaps her and tries the same. Both times, of course, Soji rescues her. But what really bothered me was that one of the (+5) answers in that situation was to "give up". Seriously. I literally FUMED at this and wanted to slap MC across the face for having no strengths whatsoever.
Those were my only qualms for Soji's route so far. I will finish Toma last because he's a deek. So far, in terms of personalities, Arima comes first with Soji a close second.
I managed to go through Toma's route, but it's probably the worst thing I ever read, I wanted MC to just do something, run away and not return, scream at Toma that she hates him, anything, but not that nonsense, there's no story behind it, she has no reason to fall in love with him. Playing his route made me think there should be an option for the ending to go with her co-worker.
Didn't play Soji's route, except for the event, but really? Give up in a situation like that? What's wrong with the makers? Even the weakest, dumbest MC wouldn't and shouldn't give up there.
I agree about Soji, she's more of a pet than a slave. What annoyed the hell out of me in the beginning was that he wanted to force her in to it. If it's volontary it's fine, but NOT like this! It mellowed out and he lost his bad edge and except from "punishments" he is really nice. What I really want to know is how it was with his first love! Depending on the age difference, was they even in school together?
What I do like is that the MC is 28 yo. =)
e.e
I've not gotten too far with this yet.... I don't have much patience for this style game. And I've only experienced bits of Soji so far. And I think I'm definitely out of the norm, here... From the moment he started, I was like, "Yes. YES. JUST SAY YES. STOP BEING THAT WAY. YES PLZ." To be honest, I'm more than a little disappointed that things mellow out from the beginning, seemingly very, very quickly. For starters, she's not even a slave... she's a pet. There's a relatively huge difference there. And I'm alright with a master, falling in love with their slave and/or pet. I've RP'd this scenario, though it wasn't what we were aiming for in the RP, it's what happened... But IMO, Soji goes soft, way too fast.
. I look forward to the rest of his story, just because I hope it gets as juicy as it had been in the beginning, but I'm not holding my breath.
:wry: Now I know that I'm good in picking wrong characters! I picked Toma cause I thought that he was a depressed actor who he had enough of whatever problems he has, but first he threaten MC to kill himself, then he taken a pic of her naked and blackmail her with it, and what's next? :worried:
My Invite Code;
My Contract Marriage; 5EmaKj
-- Wed May 14, 2014 10:56 am --
So, I don't know about you, but I think that all those men who make otome games for us (because, come on, how could have women written so much.. crap) don't understand as at all und probably think we are huge idiots who are satisfied with the crappy tv soap opera niveau, but, COME ON.
First of all, the very beginning of the game.
Toma spoilers until Chapter 6~
Alright, having a huge debt is a pretty old plot device, I don't mind those as long as they are used well. But in this game? It's absolutely ridiculous. I reread the first few episodes because I somehow thought her parents were dead. No, they are not dead. Her father calls her and tells her they have a debt.
Uh, alright, sorry dad, that's really unfortunate but I'm gonna help you as much as I can. What? *I* am supposed to pay? The yakuza are gonna knock on my door? What the hell is wrong with you, exactly?
This would make somewhat sense if her parents are dead, but they are not. So what business do the bad guys have with her? Why is it her responsiblity to pay it back?
And wasn't she supposed to work at her parents shop? What's she doing working in a company? This confuses me.
Oh well, I guess, I can close my eyes for this one. There are more ridiculous premises for otome games.
But then.
She sees a man jump into the river. What does she do. She dives in. At night. With her clothes on. Without being ABSOLUTELY sure to save him. That's not even stupid, that's freaking suicidal. Helping others is nice and everything, but putting yourself into danger by doing so is something you should not do under any circumstances. 1 dead person is better than two.
So, she dives in and of course she can't handle it. Really. That surprised me a lot. What happens. He saves her. Alright, I guess I can accept that but, after that...
Since she saved him (which she did NOT do, on the contrary), it's HER responsibility to take care he doesn't kill himself again. That's the moment you call the police and tell them to put him into a hospital, girl. So of course he drags her all the way with him to a hotel, where both of them are alone. At this point I was pretty sure she really wanted to die. I mean, what the hell? Really? Sure, he is a man, you are only a weak, japanese woman, but he must be *really* strong to drag you all the way to a hotel. No excuses. That's fucking stupid.
And then, he blackmails her into marrying him. Sure, I was wondering how exactly they would explain her agreeing with this whole thing (because, I mean, she made it so far so she has a bit of common sense, right?) and they use blackmail. That does not make Toma more attractive. Quite on the contrary. Taking a nude picture of her and threatening her to show it to everybody? What the hell is wrong with you, bro? At that point I really wanted to stop playing because this is just a no go. (Like all the [attempted] harassment scenes... sigh... Dear Writer, women do not actually like to be molested. Sincerly, every woman on this planet.)
But I kept playing. I mean, it is only a game, right? I just shouldn't take everything so seriously. And Toma does look good (being a molesting creep is acceptable is the guy is attractive #otome game logic).
But I really, really, really, really hate what they did in Chapter 5.
So, Natsuki loves his brother. He knows his brother is in love with a girl. He knows his brother married someone else, but not why. He's worried about his brother getting hurt. Then he has some kind of unexplainable thought process and molests his brother's wife. What. Um? I seriously thought I missed something in there.
Where did THAT come from? That's just.. it is so completely out of character. Dear Writers, if your character does something out of character there needs to be a VERY good reason. Being worried about his brother is not sufficient.
And on top of that the whole is so extremely creepy. I don't mind romancing high school aged boys, not at all, I love tokimeki. That is as long as the protagonist is in the same age range. AND willing.
A 28 years old woman molested by a 16 years old boy? Come on, stop with the wish fulfillment crap, that's just, ugh. /shudder
Of course this scene creates a misunderstandment. Alright, those are the A and O of otome games (count how many otome games you know that could be resolved by simply talking about something immediately! Me, me! Oh, you! How many? Uhm, about almost everyone? Ding ding, we have a winner!) and I have accepted them. I do not like them but it seems like you can't escape them here. Fine.
But then, instead of a big blown up conflict (that's the only thing I liked about this, no huge melodrama!) it's suddenly fine. Oh, Natsuki was worried. He had a reason. It's fine. Yeah, it totally is. Now I'm gonna cook food for the boy who molested me! What a good wife.
....
....
....
SERIOUSLY?
Ugh. This whole scene was just an incredibly poor method to get the protagonist and Toma to talk about Sayaka. Really? Was that really necessary? Why not use the protagonist's coworker instead? I mean, he did kiss her after all.
So I thought, okay, there is a specific reason why it had to be his brother. Toma loves him after all a lot and everything and this would probably create a huge conflict and so on. But nope. There is no excuse for doing this to poor Natsuki. Just let him be an innocent high school student, please. :(
Sigh.
I don't know. Maybe they are gonna talk about this again. Maybe they save the coworker for later, when Toma develops feelings for her too, I don't know.
[[Oh and, what are you getting all said for protag-chan, anyway? You don't like you. He molested you, blackmailed you and paid you. There is no emotional attachment between you to. Then why are you suddenly feeling sad when he embraces another girl? Jeez.]]
Phew, that god quite long... but I read a lot of stories today and it just makes me so angry that they are always using the same crap. And corrupt poor Natsuki just because they couldn't think of anything better.
AAARGH!! isn't good!! dear writer you made Toma as the worst character of the story!!! :wry:
and Natsuki's brother you mean Toma? Why Toma didn't do anything to avoid the thing? :shock2: