#i guess i will do gekkamaru's route next after all lmao

[happyvalkyrieofdoom]

hooly shit

[atopearth]

Nightshade Part 1 - Ishikawa Goemon Route

I'm superrrr excited to play Nightshade! I've always been so curious about it so yayyy! Enju looks so cool and cute too. Toriumi Kousuke voices Chojiro? Okay, I love him already, and it seems like he's a big brother figure too, I love those🥲🥲 I have a soft spot for overprotective bodyguard types like Gekkamaru too though, he's so loyal! Maybe to the point of it being detrimental to the both of them though, since when Enju trains, he protects her lol, and he doesn't go out on a lot of missions because he wants to protect her. I guess the good thing about it is that this is of his own free will. I guess it's interesting that Enju is the symbol of peace between the Iga clan (that was mostly decimated by Oda Nobunaga) and the Koga clan (who was the Iga's rivals and ended up taking in the remnants of the Iga clan) due to being the daughter of the Koga clan master and the late Iga clan master's sister. Ohh Chojiro is Momochi Tanba's (late Iga clan master) son! I wonder how he feels.. Wow, Kando (Enju's father) looks so fierce and cool. I guess Gekkamaru protecting Enju isn't completelyyyy his free will, considering it was what Enju's deceased mother asked of him and he's kept his promise to this day. Awww Chojiro recommended Enju to come along for the mission! Exciting! I can't imagine having to go on a mission for 8 years, I wonder if Enju and them will even recognise Kuroyuki. I can't believe Kuroyuki was sent on the mission when he was 8 years old! That's just crazy.. Aww Kasumi is so cuteee, her crying at everyone leaving on a mission was so sweet. Lmao at Chojiro telling Enju and them that the mission will always come before their lives and Gekkamaru completely dismisses it later by saying it doesn't matter to him since Enju will always be his top priority.

Kuroyuki definitely seems like he has a lot of baggage with him, but I guess that's to be expected when he was dumped on a mission at such a young age, and if he's coming back alone, that means for all these years, he must have been really lonely. He never got the support of others like Enju and them did. For some reason, I really like Kyara's voice, I should check the VAs. Okay, omg no wonder why lol, I loveee Hayami Saori~ WHOA, I'm in for a ride, Tsuda Kenjiro voices Hanzo? I'm looking forward to that. Oh nooo, Midorikawa Hikaru voices Goemon?? I don't like Goemon's looks, but I guess I'll love his voice regardless😂 Right now, he kinda reminds me of Tamahome from Fushigi Yuugi lol. Even though Enju's naive, I really did like how she took back the girl's money bag from the thief and gave it back to her naturally. I'm kinda interested in "Goro" (Goemon), he looks sleazy (lol) but he seems to be quite mature? Oh, their mission is to find the next place Goemon will rob? I know Goemon is a "good" person because he only robs officials who are corrupt and don't treat the citizens properly, but that's about all I know haha. I guess it's understandable why Ishida Mitsunari needs to capture him if Tokugawa Ieyasu and other council guys are coming, it would be pretty embarrassing and shameful to not be able to catch a single notorious thief, and it doesn't help that Toyotomi Hideyoshi is getting older and the council elders have considerable influence. Btw, lmao at Kyara trying to cook with her weapon😂

Wow, Ieyasu is beautiful~ I love his looks🥺 I didn't realise that guy was Hattori Hanzo until I heard his voice a bit more though hahaha. Anyway, yeah, Enju throwing a shuriken to save Ieyasu (when he used himself as bait) was definitely reckless and silly as a shinobi, but I can't really dislike her for it, because she's not someone who can just ignore that. Considering that Hanzo is the strongest/top Iga ninja, and is tasked with protecting Ieyasu, is he a part of Koga now or is he independent? Honestly, I always took Kuroyuki as a flighty guy so when he stood up for Enju (when Hanzo called her a burden if they were to take her along to kill the guys after Ieyasu) against Hanzo, I was a bit touched. Ieyasu is really kind to think about the shinobi who died protecting him from the assassin, it is pretty saddening tbh. Enju catching Goemon was pretty cool, I think he really let his guard down and didn't want to hurt her though. I knew Hideyoshi was going to die and Enju would be accused as the killer, but it's kinda sad since Hideyoshi seemed genuinely happy and impressed with her. Anyway, considering how important Hideyoshi is, I'm surprised they even let him be alone with Enju with no guards at all?? Or any ninjas to protect him or anything?? I like the idea of Goemon "stealing" her away, so she's not escaping and causing more trouble for the Koga clan, but I wonder what will happen to the clan... I mean, Ishida's missions were what kept the clan going so... Anyway, I forgot that Goemon was an Iga ninja, that's certainly interesting, and he left before the Iga clan was basically destroyed so hm~

Aww Enju and Goemon traveling together, pretending to be husband and wife and holding hands is so cute~ I love how Goemon speaks his mind and tells her she's cute, because Enju is definitely super cuteee. Lmaoo when the innkeeper thought they were siblings. How heartbreaking to hear that Enju's father disowned her... It's probably what he needed to do to protect the rest of Koga, but yeah that would hurt. At least Gekkamaru is adhering to what he said before and is ready to discard everything to protect Enju. I agree with Goemon and his choice to leave the village though. I mean, it's respectable and crazy how dedicated and loyal shinobi are to their mission and to their villages, but shinobi literally live for all that and nothing else. It's admirable, but it's also such a saddening way to live? Especially since so many of them die so frequently for their missions. I'm personally glad Gekkamaru is doing this for Enju. I guess in a sense this journey is a blessing in disguise (as long as no one dies) because it will help Enju think about how she wants to live. She's always been stuck in her village "protected" by everyone just because she's the symbol of peace, so rather than appreciating her for who she is, people only look at her as a symbol that needs to exist, yet Enju feels like she needs to "repay" them for treating her so kindly when they basically imprison her in the village and bind her to it in a sense to make themselves feel better. Not saying they're not nice people but the whole ninja village thing isn't really great when it comes to anything about freedom and choice, so it's nice for Enju to now see things with a different perspective. It was cute how they both said to each other they would be a good wife/husband. As for Mokichi, I was suspicious when he insisted on going to the festival alone with Enju, but I do feel bad for her. I know Enju is very careless, too naive and kind for her own good, but I honestly wish to see her continue to see the world in a nice way because it's saddening otherwise I guess. I'm surprised Gekkamaru didn't follow them at all though, like it's still dangerous!!

I was wondering what Kuroyuki was doing this whole time considering he's just like his brother Gekkamaru in terms of how much he wants to protect Enju, but it seems like he was trying to look for her too! Oh.. Goemon wasn't even born into Iga, he was sold there and used as disposable pawns when needed and trained harshly to the point that if he couldn't take it, they would just dump him. Honestly, Goemon hasn't really made my heart flutter much haha, but when he got angry and asked Enju whether she wanted to live or die (when she thought maybe she should stop running so she wouldn't trouble the others anymore), and then when he told her that he would stay beside her until the end, I couldn't help but feel touched. He's not optimistic enough to think that they will definitely survive, but he's not willing to give up, and is willing to do whatever he can to stay alive alongside her and I think that's sweet. Goemon patting her head as she enjoyed the soothing view of cherry blossoms was nice. Enju has really gone through a lot these days so I'm glad Goemon is always trying to help her relax a bit. Whaaat?! Goemon was the Fuma leader?? Oh...Goemon escaped from Iga when he was 8 and somehow or another ended up at Fuma.. I guess Goemon hates killing because of the amount of people he's killed before, and knowing how "easy" it can be with the ninjutsu he learnt as the Fuma leader... It's nice how comfortable they've gotten with each other that they can even sleep side by side together now lol.

I honestly don't really trust Mitsunari, and really don't know if this "goodbye" with her friends will really be for the good. I mean, even on the off chance Mitsunari has good intentions, other people in the castle don't. Anyway, I really liked how forward Enju was in wanting Goemon to stroke her head, and he even kissed her on the forehead~ Goemon is a flirt but he's always so polite and careful with Enju, it's kinda cute. Honestly, the last bit with Goemon pretending to kill Chojiro and them etc was pretty... meh? Like, it was obvious what was going to happen, especially with the gold and him giving it to people lol. I guess something nice and interesting was that Enju will continue to hide from the public eye since she's supposed to be dead, so she'll be traveling with Goemon from now on. Kinda cute how Goemon is more open with his affections. The bad ending was quite nice, I liked how it was Enju who gave up on living because of everything that happened, and because of that, Goemon ended up using the ninjutsu he hated so much to kill the Elders for causing all this to happen, and forcing an innocent girl to lose the will to live and basically sacrifice herself.

Overall, while I do like Goemon's personality, I find his route very lacklustre. I think the biggest problem with Goemon's route is that it's very focused on Enju and her escape from the Elders and how Goemon helps her with that, supports her and that's how they end up bonding by both encouraging her and understanding the desire to live for oneself rather than romance. There were cute moments that I enjoyed between the two, but I don't feel like I learnt much about Goemon as a thief or even as the Fuma leader. They talk about his past and why he hates it all, but it doesn't expand on it which can be okay, but the story doesn't expand on the current him as Goemon either. All we ever learn about him is the superficial stuff like he's a good thief with a crappy past, and that he's a flirt lol. I just feel like since it was his route, I wanted to learn more about him, because other than his desire to live without being tied down to stuff like villages and stuff, and hoping that people like Enju wouldn't have to sacrifice their lives for stuff like that, I'm not sure anything much happened. Like, I wanted to see more of the ramifications of how it was for a shinobi clan to lose their master, how Goemon's "betrayal" towards the Fuma went etc. So yeah, kinda disappointing. The bonus scenarios and stuff were nice though, especially when they chatted about little Chojiro back in the day being cute hahaha.