#Sousou (Jyuzaengi) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

i0990 · 8 years ago

Text

Hana Oboro - Route reviews

Hana Oboro is a game with a lot going on all the time meh. Overall the writing wasn’t top notch but I thought it wasn’t too bad. As with wartime games though there tends to be a lot of jumping from battle to battle, or having to read monologues describing what happens in this battle and that. Most of the place names flew over my head since I’m not familiar with sengoku period history lol.

Anyway I decided to write how I felt about each route in a separate post because it’s lengthy. I’ll still do a review of the game. There are some plot spoilers here and there, though I didn’t go into specifics. The various sections are sorted according to the order in which I played:

Nagamasa > Hanbei > Nobunaga > Shingen > Katsuie

*spoilers after the cut*

Azai Nagamasa

Nagamasa’s route is the one Otomate recommends for the first playthrough. After playing through everything I agree. Ichi was supposed to go to his territory as his bethrothed but they end up being married for real. Ichi’s not too happy since she wants to marry for love, but stays out of duty. So even though they are husband and wife in name their relationship is still that of friends at first. Nagamasa’s dad does not like Ichi, but good thing his mother is friendly.

Nagamasa’s affection for Ichi is apparent, even though he takes forever to spell it out. Ichi slowly develops romantic feelings for Nagamasa and this is where Ichi starts acting quite silly. Nagamasa doesn’t have a good relationship with his dad but he’s close to his mum. Because of this Ichi gets jealous OF THE MUM -_- In response Nagamasa is like ‘but you are also super close to Nobunaga!’. Sometimes Nagamasa and Ichi bicker like children meh.

Once Ichi’s oboro powers awaken she insists on following Nagamasa to the battlefield. But because she knows she can’t die as long as the sachimitama is intact Ichi starts being reckless. So Nagamasa has to be the one to convince her to value herself more since he loves her, oboro or not. There were moments I really wanted to bonk Ichi on the head since she’s causing problems for an already busy Nagamasa. Good thing Nagamasa is patient and nice. Well in the end they do make their feelings known and overall the romantic development wasn’t too bad.

Nobunaga’s a jerk in this route. Nagamasa is one of my favourites since he really is a considerate guy and I find his feelings for Ichi very sincere and unselfish.

Speaking of the sachimitama, it’s what acts as Ichi’s heart as an oboro. This is the only route where she gets it back. At some point Nagamasa actually lost it but found it again with help from Ichi. Makes me wonder what happens to the sachimitama in the other routes since Nagamasa dies...

Takenaka Hanbei

I played Hanbei next since I need to clear his route to unlock Nobunaga’s. Hanbei starts serving under Hideyoshi(therefore indirectly under Nobunaga) as a strategist. Hanbei starts off quite cool towards Ichi but she takes an interest and keeps pestering him. There were quite a few cute moments in his route and it was nice seeing Hanbei go from ‘Don’t bother me’ to ‘I don’t dislike you’ to ‘I love you’.

The route was quite fun and really felt more like a fantasy story than a historical romance. Hanbei is quite likeable and in the end turned out to be easily jealous type lol. Early in the route Katsuie kept trying to drag Hanbei off to go drinking but in a way that actually helped Ichi and Hanbei become closer when she went to help him. Gradually Hanbei warms up to her, even if he took way too long to admit it.

Hanbei has an oboro possessing him that won’t let him kill himself, so his wish was to have Ichi kill him since she’s also a powerful oboro. Ichi has to convince him to live on together with her. I liked Ichi better in this route. The romance in this route was sweet, and their happy end was hard fought. Nobunaga was a lot more rational in this route than in Nagamasa’s. That’s probably required by the story since he’s Hanbei’s boss. Hanbei’s backstory made me feel quite sorry for the guy. He’s also one of the ‘I’m sick and going to die’ characters. Not surprising given his historical lifespan.

I still don’t get what’s with the mark on his forehead. I thought it was because of the oboro possessing him, but it’s there even in flashbacks before that happened. Unless they didn’t bother to change the sprite accordingly... >_>

Alan plays a significant part in this route and also helped Ichi realize her feelings for Hanbei. Too bad Alan really suffers in this route and what happened to him in the end made me feel quite sad. Alan needs a fd where he gets to be happy.

Oda Nobunaga

The one I bought the game for. A few reviews have pointed out, and I agree with them on this: He gives off a similar feel to Sousou from Jyuzaengi. Nobunaga’s story is the only one aside from Nagamasa’s where his oboro powers awaken. This is due to him being the eldest son of the Oda line, descendants of an oboro called Kokuko. However, he is still human. This is pretty much the cause of all the drama in his route.

Once Nobunaga knows about Ichi’s powers he’s bent on using their powers for conquest and has Ichi go to the battlefield with him. Ichi on the other hand wants to convince him power isn’t everything so she agrees. Nobunaga is disappointed since Ichi is an oboro, whereas Nobunaga is in his own opinion neither human nor oboro, alone in the world.

Nobunaga starts becoming more ruthless and occasionally goes on rampages. This is due to the oboro blood he inherited along with a curse that eventually ends in the person growing fox ears and tails and dying. Whereas in Jyuzaengi it was Kanu lamenting that Sousou only likes her because of her blood, here it’s Nobunaga who distances himself from Ichi, thinking his affection towards her is only because she is the reborn Kokuko.

Ichi acts as an emotional support for Nobunaga as his powers start to go out of control even when he doesn’t use them often. Even so he spends most of the route being quite cold towards her despite her making it clear she’ll follow him no matter what. It was only towards the end part where he finally responds to her feelings. Because of this the route is seriously lacking in fluffy moments.

I found the route very dramatic, but one of the most touching moments in the game came not from Ichi and Nobunaga. Instead it’s Mitsuhide and Kichou in this route. In a way it’s like their romance suddenly was more prominent than that of Ichi and Nobunaga meh. There was also this CG where Nobunaga was supposed to be asleep, but his eyes were open lol.

As for his resemblance to Sousou, aside from his cocky and ambitious attitude, Nobunaga and Sousou both had a scene where their non-human side was revealed to their men. Nobunaga and Sousou are both also using conquest as a way to deal with their sense of being alone in this world. They are also both kinda crazy, albeit in different ways. I like them both, even if they are crazy.

Takeda Shingen

Shingen is pretty much the most soft spoken among the main guys. Due to some childhood trauma he speaks with a slight stutter and has trouble putting his thoughts across in words. Nevertheless he is a capable ruler and fighter. Too bad for him he is the other ‘I’m sick and going to die’ option in this route. Because of his illness he pretty much dies off screen in all the other routes, sometimes resulting in rather anti-climatic scenes.

In terms of romantic development I think SIngen’s route had the most fluffy moments. Shingen isn’t good with words but he still tries to cheer Ichi up or uses actions to put his thought across. Naturally Ichi and Shingen grow closer as she spends time in his domain as a ‘hostage’ due to the alliance between Oda and Takeda. Well the war is still raging so the alliance falls apart. Ichi chooses Shingen over Nobunaga. I didn’t like this part about Ichi, how she just up and cuts her ties with Oda just because she likes Shingen and because she isn’t blood related to Nobunaga and her mother. But at least she stuck to her choice til the end.

Well anyway if they just fall in love and end up together it’d be too drama free, so in this route the obstacle to them being together was that Shingen hates oboros. Naturally he started avoiding Ichi like the plague after learning she’s one. Ichi still wants to help him so she sticks around the Takeda camp and eventually wins Shingen over again. If there’s one thing about Ichi she tends to be very stubborn once she’s decided on something. Overall it was a rather good route. Shingen is a sweet guy and I never expected I’d like him this much.

Uesugi Kenshin shows up as something like an onee-chan character in this route but too bad we don’t get any scenes of her hanging out with Ichi. I like Kenshin and wish she had more screen time.

I recommend playing this route before Nobunaga’s since it explains in greater detail how Ichi was born of the sachimitama and therefore not blood related to Nobunaga.

Shibata Katsuie

Timeline wise this route is the one that spans the longest. This route delivered a major plot twist, which is why I’m glad I left it to the last. Katsuie is the more brash option in this game, teasing Ichi constantly and speaking whatever is on his mind. Katsuie’s route felt sad because by the end part, pretty much half of the characters are dead, including Nobunaga(who left a really touching note for Ichi why couldn’t he have been this touching in his own route -_-).

Early in the route Ichi goes off to marry Nagamasa but like in the other routes the Azai-Oda alliance crumbles and Nagamasa convinces her to return to Oda. Kinda weird because earlier on she admits she felt like she was making use of Nagamasa by marrying him, yet is reluctant to leave. Poor Nagamasa, there’s no winning for him in any route other than his own.

Ichi eventually gets fed up with Katsuie and tells him to stop treating her like a child. To which he responds by starting to undress her ._.? Anyway Nobunaga surprisingly gives Katsuie his blessing to be with Ichi if he’s serious. Onii-chan is strangely level headed in this route. I guess that’s another thing he shares with Sousou, who was also like this in Kakouton’s route. So with nobody to hinder them and no need to hide from Nobunaga, Katsuie and Ichi get closer.

As for the plot twist, it turns out Katsuie isn’t the real Katsuie, but Ishikawa Goemon, leader of some bandits. Years ago he injured the real Katsuie before assuming his identity. Real Katsuie was picked up by Mitsuhide, and now goes by the name of Katsumata. Katsumata isn’t happy with how Ichi and Nobunaga are both siding with fake Katsuie, so helped Mitsuhide out with the Honno-ji incident. Ichi is shocked but still loves Katsuie since he’s the one she fell in love with, whatever his name is.

The romance in this route isn’t too bad, with enough cute moments, but the route felt heavier than the others. It’s also the only one that deals with what happens post Honno-ji. Hideyoshi, while being perfectly amiable in the other routes, suddenly turns into some ambitious fella and a bit of a prick in this one. On one hand I like it since it references Hideyoshi and Katsuie’s rivalry in history, on the other hand it feels like Hideyoshi is suddenly a different person. The writing for this route was ok but I finished it with mixed feelings.

Yeah I’m done ranting about the routes. Proper review of the game to follow. ^^

#hana oboro #otome game #otomate #spoilers #hanaoboro spoilers #hanaoboro review #hanaoboro

41 notes · View notes