#ikemen prince analysis

[memoria-99]

Ikeseries LIs' 1st person pronoun and 2nd person pronoun calling MCs (JP)

Made purely out of curiosity but there might be errors.

Some guys frequently use nicknames to call MCs but didn't include that.

Sengoku

Nobunaga: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kisama(貴様)

Masamune: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Yukimura: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Ieyasu: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Hideyoshi: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Shingen: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Kenahin: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Mitsuhide: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Sasuke: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Mitsunari: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(貴女)/anata(あなた)

Kennyo: 1st watashi(私), 2nd omae(お前)

Motonari: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Keiji: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Yoshimoto: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Kanetsugu: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Kicho: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Ranmaru: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Revolution

Ray: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Lancelot: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Fenrir: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Jonah: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Sirius: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Loki: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Edgar: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anata(貴女)

Luka: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anata(あなた)

Kyle: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Zero: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Oliver: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Harr: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Seth: 1st atashi(アタシ)/ore(俺), 2nd anata(アナタ)

Dalim: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Dean: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Mousse: 1st boku(僕), 2nd kimi(君)

Blanc: 1st boku(僕), 2nd kimi(君)

Vampire

Napoleon: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Mozart: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Leonardo: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Arthur: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Vincent: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anata(あなた)

Issac: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Theodorus: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Jean: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Shakespeare: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(あなた)

Comte: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)/omae(お前)

Dazai: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anata(あなた)

Sebastian: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(あなた)

Vlad: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Faust: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(あなた)

Charles: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Drake: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Galileo: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Genjiden

Yoritomo: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Tamamo: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Benkei: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Yoshitsune: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anata(あなた)

Shigehira: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Yoichi: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Kurama: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Morinaga: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Kagetoki: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(あなた)

Yasuchika: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Akihito: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Ibuki: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Sueharu: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Rikka: 1st boku(僕), 2nd kimi(君)

Prince

Leon: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Chevalier: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kisama(貴様)

Yves: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Nokto: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Licht: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Jin: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae-san(お前さん)

Luke: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Clavis: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Sariel: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(貴女)

Rio: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(キミ)

Silvio: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Keith: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)/omae(お前)

Gilbert: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anata(あなた)

Azel: 1st boku(僕)/ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)/anta(あんた)

Matias: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Kagari: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Villains

William: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Harrison: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

Liam: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Elbert: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Alfons: 1st watashi(私), 2nd anata(貴女)

Ellis: 1st boku(僕), 2nd anata(あなた)

Roger: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Jude: 1st ore(俺), 2nd omae(お前)

Victor: 1st boku(僕), 2nd kimi(君)

Darius: 1st boku(僕), 2nd kimi(君)

Nica: 1st ore(俺), 2nd kimi(君)

Ring: 1st ore(俺), 2nd anta(あんた)

[chirp-a-chirp]

Oh, my high school self would scoff at me for asking but...

Tell me more about those Leon and Clavis character analyses 👀❤️💜

Oh the irony of WANTING to do full blown character analyzes as an adult but not having the time to do so. High school me would scoff as well. Massively.

Leon and Clavis are my favorite ikemen prince characters. They both have an outward persona/mask that is so strong that it’s easy to assume that’s all there is to them—Leon as the charismatic hero, Clavis the hedonistic trickster.

On the surface, Leon and Clavis are bold, confident, vibrant men, living recklessly and in the moment. But probe deeper and you see highly introspective men who are trapped in their heads—Leon with guilt for deceiving everyone, suffering a perpetual identity crisis forced upon him by others, Clavis burdened with insecurities and doubt, forever compared to Chevalier but not wanting to admit how it affects him.

Hope and love—these princes want and crave it but cannot bring themselves to admit it.

Leon never had hope/love as a slave, felt unworthy of them when living as the fourth prince because he was deceiving his brothers. In his interactions with others, Leon projects the love and hope he never had as a young child before he came to the palace. He sees himself as a vessel, a sacrifice for a cause, a tool for the real fourth prince. You can almost hear his heart breaking in his route when for the first time in his life he realizes he WANTS something for himself—to be with Emma and soak in her warmth, the same warmth he gives to others, only to realize clause 99 is in the way.

Clavis had among the most positive relationships with his mother. A firm foundation of love, hope, and joy. And then it’s ripped away from him. And he doesn’t think he can bear losing such a key person like that again. So he tests people; pushes their buttons; is purposely obnoxious and chaotic. He won’t let another person into his life that will crumble and break like his mother, so he breaks others instead even as he’s internally crying out for someone to truly love and fix him.

In short—these two bold outgoing princes hide a lot of pain, and they internalize so much of the negative feelings they actually have. I really wanna give these 2d boys a hug. 🫂

[dicenete]

Hey, I'm rambling about IkePri again

Okay, I just need to get these thoughts I have about Gilbert von Obsidian out because I enjoy predicting stuff and overthinking design and narrative choices even tho they might not be right. :P But there really isn't that much predicting other than me overthinking about narrative and design choices. This time there will be most likely spoilers of Gilbert's route so far, and route of Clavis and some thoughts I have just gathered while playing the game in general. I try to put these thoughts in cohesive order, but well... I don't know if I can really, because I just need to get these out of my head. These are my thoughts, ramblings and opinions. Feel free to form your own and certainly disagree with me! I apologize about the lack of art in this post. I'm busy with work currently so no fanart for a while. I'm also not native English speaker, so there might be grammatical errors and such. Sorry about that. Everything under the cut.

To start with Ikemen Prince is a romance visual novel first and foremost. That doesn't mean it can't be deep (and it certainly has been deeper than I initially expect, which left me positively surprised). I suppose there is somesort of thematic vibe that there is no prince whose ideals are the main thesis of the game itself. But that also kinda leaves that fact there is no huge catharsis regarding the world and it's state. Everything so far has been left quite open. And the more I have learned about lore of the world, I really feel like anti-monarchist here xd Clavis really sold me the idea for real. Or atleast throw away the absolute monarchy. That's where I think things should go, but that's my own belief. (really, the last king of Rhodolite... He umm... I have some opinions.) Chevalier and Gilbert First things first: I don't hate or dislike Chevalier as a character. There are just some things that give me Deus Ex Machina feels. But I know it is what they are going for with him. This genius that so far ahead of everyone that it is so alien concept to rest of the people. And well that is a very hard concept to pull off without being a genius yourself as a writer. Or that is what I feel like. But what I do love is what the writers are doing with him and Gilbert in thematic sense! (Hence why Chev x Gilbert sounds so juicy to me)

I really took steps to the deep end as I started to think about why I have enjoyed Gilbert's route or was interested in his story to begin with, but have little interest in trying Chev's one. Because they are so similar but they really aren't.

How I would describe it is that where as Clavis is the complementary to Chev, the purple to his yellow, the emotionality vs rationality, the heart vs the brain, Gilbert is more like right brain to Chev's left brain. If it makes sense like that xd Their color schemes are harmonious. Not opposite. Almost like how Nokto and Licht's color schemes are harmonious with each others.

(Nokto (Blue + white + gold) vs Licht (Blue + black + gold)) Not to mention that their names clearly are meant to mean light and dark. (Licht: variant for light, Nokto: comes form latin nox or noctis, meaning night = dark) But that is a rambling for another time.) Both their crests are tigers. White and black tiger. Chev's color scheme is White + gold and black. Whereas Gilbert's is Black + gold and white. But then the overall color that game devs use to signal about the characters baffles me a bit. Gold/Yellow vs Black/dark red. They don't seem to have too much connection or that of which comes to my mind quickly and without digging deeper. (because I believe that if you dig deep enough, you have digged yourself into a trap of overthinking about things. (Justifying things because you want to justify them, which I'm not big fan of. And sometimes things don't need meaning and we have to live with that. As much as it pains my overthinker brain.)) But here is my impressions about Gilbert so far. I'm at the point where MC has left the Clavis's party (I loved it btw). Gilbert really does give me toxic INFJ villain feels, but let's not get too hang up on terms such as that. But he is someone who is driven forth by his own ideals and desire to change the world better. He, like Clavis, seems to cloak himself in this idea that he is the villain and is okay, even happy, to take that role. He is the one who, like Chevalier, has thrown away emotional attachment out of the window (or so they say) unlike Clavis who makes his choices based more on emotion rather than rational thinking. Maybe that's why I like Clavis and Gilbert, they push MC out of their black and white thinking. That things are not so easy peezy as "choose a right king and everyone will be happy". There will always be someone who is mad about it. That's why I really loved the scene with Gilbert with the orphaned kids and the Clavis's party. He seems to enjoy the company of children (who are not morally corrupted or tainted) and he really empathically listens to those who are angry. He believes in the idea that "no one remembers what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel". (A quote with debatable origin, people say that it was coined by Maya Angelou. But I really love this quote, because I think it is the truth.) Gilbert isn't trying to rationalize against someone's choices with pure intellect. He uses empathy to guide him to the most rational outcome in that emotional scope. But he also uses this to manipulate people with fear. He uses fear extensively and he does it actively. Where as I feel like Chev just has that aura about him automatically. Hence my next thought: Action vs Stasis!

Gilbert and Clavis are action oriented. They shake the gameboard, they make the first moves. Gilbert probably more than Clavis. They both want change. Is it change for the better, we will see, I still haven't finished Gilbert's route but he really gives me this "I'm willing to become the greatest threat so that people unite to defeat me." or "I will conquer all so there will no longer be wars.". Chev, on the other hand, symbolizes stasis. His goal is to keep the kingdom of Rhodolite going. That's his duty and he is willing to take it. (even tho we can debate if that is something he really really believes in or even thinks about that much. I feel like it is out of obligation rather than of personal ideal. But alas, I have not played Chev's route yet.) Chev is reactive rather than proactive. He waits for the opponent to make the first move and reacts accordingly. (I'm not saying he is not reactive once game is on. More like "if there was not threat to deal with, he wouldn't create one".)

Chev doesn't care what you think about him. Gilbert does. He might seem like he doesn't but he is really there to prove a point. (I will pick up his dislike for lying later >.>) Chev is not. Chev knows that his way is the right way for him and that is enough for him. Chev also actively makes a "gettaway plan" for himself in Clavis. He knows that Clavis is the final thread that keeps him from going overboard because he understand that he has to be blind for "individual people" aspect to be a good ruler. Gilbert probably understands this about himself too, but he is trying to prove a point. So he needs to go overboard. Because masses of people need absolutes to react to. If it is something banal, it won't do. His evil actions need to shake the very foundation of ideas. The people have to face those things head on and see it for themselves. They cannot be sheltered. Gilbert gives me the vibes that he is willing to sacrifice himself not for the kingdom, but for the betterment of all mankind. He is happy to become the villain #1 if that means that other people will rise and take down the corrupted Obsidian or the corrupted idea. I would say that he is Lawful Good going on about things like Lawful Evil.

Gilbert asking questions means that he wants you to think, he wants to challenge your opinions and how you look at the world. Same as Clavis. They yearn for change. They want to change the world. Where as Chev wants to maintain things as they are. Chev "If it is not broken, we don't need to fix it" Michel. Where as Clavis and Gilbert want to improve the system. They are idealistic. Gilbert and lying

This is something very interesting. At first I thought that he was all "I dislike when people lie to me." but he really is "I dislike lying in all its forms." And he does say that he doesn't lie. And I'm starting to believe that is really the case. All the things he says are true. But because how other people see him, they are suspicious anyway. Like MC is. Like we all probably are when we start the route and think "So what is your trauma, baby girl?" When he is unsure or knows that he shouldn't say the thing he really thinks or that is true, he will deflect or give a very vague response. Which makes me quite happy to replay his route at somepoint with this in mind. In conclusion: Welcome to my TED talk, with no head or tail, just me overthinking about things about a otome gacha game. If you read this far, thank you for your time. Remember, if I ramble about it, it just means that I'm invested. Have a good day~

[scorchieart]

I sometimes wonder how the princes internally reacted to learning Leon's secret that day in the roundtable room. Particularly, do you think Chevalier was heartbroken?

*spoilers under the cut for Leon & Chevalier's routes*

[Note: Tread carefully in the comments section of this post as there are slight mentions of spoilers for flashback events and Clavis & Gilbert's routes.]

Because to Chevalier, what separates royalty from the commonfolk is duty. He makes it perfectly clear to Belle that the consequences of her decision of king lie entirely on the king himself, and that it is the job of the other princes and the nobility to upkeep the country should he fail. Add that on to the fact that Chevalier doesn't even fully consort with the idea of the Belle Selection. I wouldn't say this means Chevalier looks down on the commonfolk (he assigns value based on how useful a person is to him no matter their upbringing), but he definitely considers them in a separate world from his own.

And Chevalier's world is the palace and the nobles and his faction. He knows the work he and the princes do is a contract to the kingdom they are obliged to fulfill because of their positions. And remember, for much of his life Rhodolite was ruled by a "fallen beast", so who knows how early on the princes had to pick up the slack? [that's a theory for another day...] To Chevalier, nobles and ambassadors come and go, their preferences and alliances shifting over the littlest things, but the princes are honor-bound to stay on the side of Rhodolite; they are the only ones he can trust to act in favor of the kingdom every time. And we know this because even though Chevalier is aware the princes each lead their own double-lives (except Leon, of course...), he only chooses to intervene when their side-hustles actually start to pose a threat to the kingdom.

So when Leon is revealed to not only be a commoner but also not even Rhodolitian [edit: Leon's ancestry is still debatable], Chevalier's trust must have been shattered. The man he deemed worthy enough to lead the internal affairs of his kingdom, to act as his counterweight in politics, to be his rival was as far removed from his world as could be. And he was none the wiser for decades. Was it a bigger insult to the royal family or Chevalier's pride? Whatever the answer, it was enough for Chevalier to draw his sword on Leon the moment the truth was revealed, despite the clearly far more pressing threat from Obsidian on the table.

Chevalier has stated he doesn't care much about blood ties, a prince is a prince at the end of the day, but considering he and Leon were the heads of their factions and Chevalier respected the reputation Leon built upon it, he'd understandably be upset and betrayed. That's his bro, yo. I wonder how he truly felt about Leon ascending the throne here vs. when it happens in other routes.

Chevalier may always act in favor of Rhodolite, but I think it's more than coincidence that what's best to preserve the kingdom almost always aligns with what's best to preserve his worldview.

[This mini theory is brought to you by me staring at a blank wall and thinking about this card for 30 minutes straight.]

[rou-luxe]

the one thing grandpa silvio didn't pass down to jude was the misogyny ♡ we love to see it.

☝ hold that thought!! let me look at this objectively

analysis under the cut, spoilers for silvio's route

I like Silvio in general, but his condescending remarks can definitely be uncomfortable. Instead of the rest of the cast calling MC a "rabbit" or by name, he calls MC a "lady" (but not exactly in a polite way), in both English and Japanese. He rarely calls MC by name, if I remember correctly. It's been a while. I'm not sure what the devs had in mind, but from the surface, it would seem that he views MC more as a "lady", focusing on her gender, rather than seeing her as a person. Though I'm not sure what to say about "rabbit" 😭 I think "rabbit" and "robin" are cuter, though, they're more like endearing nicknames. (Alfons saying "robin" makes me melt)

Although arrogance is a key part of Silvio's character, it seems to be mainly towards MC only rather than the whole cast... he commands her to be his hostess despite her saying no, and the fact that Rio did it instead. Though this was mainly to punish Rio for what he did, did Silvio necessarily have to drag in MC? No. It was mainly for the plot... because MC wouldn't bear being around him otherwise.

Though Silvio does insult the other members of the cast to some degree, he doesn't force them to do anything. Sure, maybe some persuasion to get his plan in at the end of his route, but he's not as insistent on getting what he wants as he was with MC.

However... throughout his life, Silvio has never had a kindhearted woman around him. Despite being a prince, his upbringing had quite a few rough edges. His mother forced him to be hurtful towards Rio. Does that sound like a good mother to you? The main woman in his early life had a black heart, so he's always been skeptical of women. Silvio has had plenty of one-night stands (eg. waking up after one in the beginning scene of his path), but he's never had a deep relationship. It has been stated multiple times that the women who tried to seduce him were only after his money or his looks, not him as a person. Silvio didn't seem to really like his family either. He's always held disdain towards his parents, and his and Rio's relationship is more than complicated.

From his past relationships, I can at least conclude this: Silvio doesn't know how to love someone because he's never been loved. It has been stated multiple times that Silvio gets what he wants from money, that is the way he was raised and how his life had always worked. His wealth has always been the answer, and not knowing how to express himself, he showered MC with money. Silvio doesn't know how to show that he loves someone.

Though Silvio treats MC better near the end of his route, it still doesn't change the fact that he remains rather patronizing. They're an unexpected couple, and Silvio did have a few developments in the duration of his path.

That said, I like how Cybird always has a flaw or two in their characters. For example, Vincent, though seeming angelic and pure, cannot understand certain "humanly" emotional concepts (? I didn't finish his path). Clavis is not always the most cautious and will do the most reckless things to stick with what he believes.

TDLR; maybe Cybird went a bit too far with that one but I can't really hate Silvio for it because it can be explained

Jude though I am proud he's annoyed at everyone equally AGHGHGH 🗣🗣🔥

[ceruleanwhore]

So now I'm psychoanalyzing Jin, I guess

WARNINGS: Spoilers and also TW for mentions of violence, murder, and suicide.

Ever since I started thinking about how maybe Jin isn’t actually the worst, maybe he’s just badly written, I’ve ended up kind of diving into psychoanalyzing him and now I think I can honestly say that I feel bad enough for him that I don’t dislike him anymore — he’s firmly in ‘poor little meow meow’ territory and I like pathetic men. But I just wanted to share some of that psychoanalysis here because I think y’all might appreciate it.

So I started with kinda inventorying his trauma and thinking through from what’s in the text what he would have lurking in his brain and, of course, there’s quite a lot. Growing up in abject poverty is traumatizing in and of itself, but he also had to watch his mom get sick and had to provide for them as best he could at a very young age since he couldn’t and, in the end, it wasn’t enough and she died. Then there’s the matter of learning the truth of who he is and who his father is and returning to the palace where he’d then stay and live among the same people who so violently hated his mother that they basically killed her, and then there’s Bloodstained Rose Day.

The thing with his parents, though, is that it isn’t just how he had to sit there and watch his parents fall apart and eventually die because of their doomed relationship, it’s also that day in and day out he gets to hear about how his parents never should have been together in the first place. It’s a sentiment that he internalizes so much that he makes Clause 99, and yet by saying that they never should have fallen in love, everyone is also saying that Jin never should’ve been born. Clause 99 is actually fucking depressing because it’s basically Jin saying that, if he could go back in time and prevent his parents from ever falling in love, he would, even though that would mean he wouldn’t exist. We also see this suicidal streak in Luke’s route with how his answer to that whole conflict is to just stand there and tell his brother to kill him.

I think this is largely fueled by guit, both in the case of the stuff with his parents and, more obviously, in the case of Layla’s death. I imagine that Jin might have felt responsible for his mother’s death since they were so poor and just by existing he required resources and could’ve felt like that contributed to her illness and death. There’s also the part where the king wouldn’t have spiraled the way he did if he never learned of her death from Jin and, especially since his mother did tell him to never go to the palace and he was disobeying her final request of him or whatever when he told the king the bad news, he probably blames himself for the late king’s decline. 

So what I’m seeing in terms of mental health is a bunch of PTSD and depression with passive suicidal ideation, but he doesn’t have the support system or tools to actually heal so he relies on unhealthy coping mechanisms, mainly alcohol and sex. I think that some of his biggest motivation is proving his value to himself and the people around him, like everything he does is more or less in an effort to somehow prove that his existence is worth it. It would probably be a massive internal conflict of guilt and self hatred vs. the desire to feel like, in spite of how things went for his parents, it was worth it for him to be born. We see in the story how hard he works and how valuable that work is as well as how he’s built relationships with his brothers and also takes the time and puts in the effort to get the people of Rhodolite to like him as well, and even goes so far as to try and help people from Obsidian too. 

I think the biggest example, though, is what he does in his route right after Emma arrives in the palace of forcefully inserting himself into her daily schedule by insisting on being her tutor. This annoyed me when I read it because it felt contradictory for Jin to do that after going to such lengths to avoid catching feelings and specifically trying to prevent any future Belles from falling in love with any future princes, and forced proximity is definitely bad for trying not to catch feelings for someone. However, if we think of it in this framework and consider it as a way he seeks to gain validation of his existence and worth, it makes sense because the very first thing he does is create a situation where she needs him to do exactly what he does. She passes Sariel’s test because all the questions were about what she saw when he was dragging her around town and shit but, more importantly, she then goes back to Jin and thanks him for his help and I think she even apologizes for resisting his intrusions, which is exactly the sort of validation I’m talking about.

I also think this seeking of validation is one of multiple contributing factors to his casual relationships with women. I believe it’s a combination of this desire for validation, a fear of commitment, self-soothing for all the trauma, and trying to ignore the part of him that does want the deeper intimacy of a real relationship by engaging in more casual physical intimacy. I also think that the narrative of Jin’s story takes all of those things and puts some combination of them in every interaction he has with Emma. He flirts with her when she first arrives because he wants to literally conquer his biggest fear and just fuck and dump her before he can catch feelings, he seeks validation by helping her, he goes to absurd lengths to create situations to allow himself to be around her while also trying to maintain distance to prevent feelings from developing. It all culminates in him admitting that he does want that deeper intimacy, overcoming that fear of commitment, and letting her in because he knows she’s a safe person who can give him that validation and help heal his trauma.

Now, I want to talk about Luke, Layla, and Bloodstained Rose Day. I think they tried to set up a parallel between Layla and Jin but never fully got there and the most we really get with that is how Luke is with interpersonal relationships and the part where these two are the only people he’s ever been close to. However, I do think it goes deeper than that because I think, if it were written better, Layla would be like a physical manifestation of Jin’s inner child. Just like how Layla was mortally wounded from the building collapsing and begged him to kill her in order to stop her pain, Jin’s inner child is still bleeding out somewhere inside him, begging for death just like her. I think that, when he pulled her out of that rubble and she was then bleeding out and asking him to kill her, he saw himself in her and slit her throat without hesitation, doing for her exactly what his inner child wishes he would do for himself. In the moment, I think it was more suicide than murder but then, after he did it, he then would’ve had this moment of realization that he just killed a child and that would begin the years of inner conflict about it and would contribute to stuff like his decision to make those graves.

So yeah, going through all of that psychoanalysis really helped me reach this conclusion that Jin doesn’t suck, he just isn’t written well and now I don’t hate him anymore, which is great. I just wish that the Ikemen games were better at handling their own characters because it fucking sucks that all of this and more is hidden in the text and they do nothing with it so he ends up coming across as an unlikeable dick. Especially since he is the first prince, I think it’s a real shame they did him so dirty when they had all the makings for a deep, complex, empathetic character.

[keithsandwich]

About me...

☆ Myara ☆ 30+ ☆ she/her ☆ Brazil ☆ main: @itsmyara ☆

☆ Currently focused on Ikemen Prince and Keith Howell ☆

Welcome to my blog!

I make amigurumis, moodboards, astrology ramblings analysis, and some sketches. I used to try writing too.

I interact with/might post adult content. This blog is a +18 space. Minors DNI.

My ask box is always open for chatting!

No fandom drama, please.

English is not my first language, so be kind.

☆ Amigurumis (Crochet Plushies)

☆ Moodboards

☆ Astrology

☆ Fanarts

☆ Fanfics

☆ OC (Maeve)

☆ OCs (Next Gen.)

☆ TAGLIST

Dividers + Masterlist header by @saradika

[wistfulwanderingone]

Wist

Me

Introductions

Hello New friends!

You can call me Wistful.  I’m a she, and an 100% INFP and proud of it. Ask me if you want to know anything else.

I am obsessed with Ikemen Prince, Ikemen Vampire, Ikemen Villians, and Court of Darkness. 😍😍

Like to an extreme extent, so I’m really excited to jump in and be involved with the fandom. Send me any asks and I’ll happily answer if I can.

I’m game to talk about the game, story events (9/10 times I read ALL the routes because I can’t let one go by without reading it), or theories, or character analysis, or discuss their arcs (I’m obsessed with character arcs.) Pretty much anything related to them.

IkePri Faves: Clavis, Sariel, Silvio, Chevalier.

IkeVam Faves: Faust, Leonardo, Napoleon, Mozart, Arthur.

IkeVil Faves: Elbert, Victor....more TBD

Court of Darkness Favorites: Lance, Guy, Toa.

I'm in the mood to try my hand at some fanfics, so let me know if you have a request, I'll see what I can do ☺️

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If you want to send me requests, have at it. I love One-word prompts and Dialogue Prompts. They inspire me most.

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Ikemen Prince fanfics (so far):

Clavis X Cassandra (OC) - Landing Page (Slow Burn Romance Series) 

Chevalier x Riven (OC) - Landing Page (Series Coming Soon!)

Court of Darkness fanfics (so far): 

Whispers of the Heart (Toa x MC)

Crimson Waltz (Guy x MC)

Radiant Rebellion (Lance & MC)

The Art of Compliments (Princes, Guy, Lou, & MC)

Bound by Desire (Guy x MC)

Enjoy!

[shatcey]

𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 ℙ𝔸𝔾𝔼

In short… my blog is just for fun. Funny observations, silly jokes, comparisons and analysis just because I like it. And… to express emotions. Sometimes I write short stories, but nothing major, I make summaries to fill in the gaps in the translations. And since I am reading several games at the time, my posts change from game to game pretty randomly. Again… it's just for fun, mine and everyone else who wants to follow my example. About me is here (in case you wanna know). The meaning of the link colors is here. Currently working on is here.

I'm not a native speaker of either English or Japanese. I don't know Japanese at all, but I have my own ideas about how this language works, because I started learning Korean, and these languages have some similarities. Based on that, there may most likely be errors in my translations/posts. I use translation app (two actually) and rewrite the text to a readable state. Some phrases are not clear to begin with, and I use my gut feeling and some experience of reading such poorly translated texts that have taught me to see meaning in them. My summaries are always full of my comments and jokes. If you prefer a clean translation, then you definitely won't like it. So… you have every right not to trust my translations. I do them so that others can familiarize themselves with the events and main routes. Not in detail, but in general. I don't have enough knowledge for more.

There are several people who do full translations, and I am very grateful to them for what they do. This is an incredibly difficult job that requires a lot of time and concentration. @/judesmoonbeauty @/kurishiri @/archiveikemen @/dear-mrs-otome @/dark-frosted-heart @/aishangotome @/otomehoneyybearr @/caffedrine @/aquagirl1978 @/mayu-otome @/reccyls @/myusuchaa @/sakura-samsara Most likely, there are even more of them, I just haven't found them yet.

Currently reading (update 31/10/24):

IkePri (En): Yves (skip) ; IkePri (JP): Silvio (skip) IkeVil (En): William ; IkeVil (JP): Elbert (skip) IkeSen (En): (on pause) IkeGen (JP): Yoshitsune

Ikemen Prince

Ikemen Villains (EN)

Ikemen Villains (JP)

Ikemen Sengoku

Ikemen Genjiden (JP)

Ikemen Vampire

Ikemen Revolution (archive)

Other games

Love and DeepSpace (archive)

VA jp (Zayne) VA kr (Xavier) VA kr (Rafayel) VA kr (Caleb) birthday Xavier (heart rate) Zayne loves me Rafy's story

Mystic Messenger and Ssum (archive)

Ray April Fool's DLC Seven Pencil

Mugenro (archive)

Voiced teasers Prostitutes?

Dead games (RIP)

Comparison games

Wolfs Pets My heart on 11/11/23 Aggressively defensive Faces of the games Birthday presents Familiar backgrounds Sirius and Ibuki My fav smiles The same VA (how could it be?) Purple eyes Villain's logic Drama Princess Height Voice Why I like them (part 1) Final credits Alfons and Sebastian

Lesson of Japanese

Familiar voices

Grumbling

bad written story (Faust) time zones No luck (cards) That's just not fair (Jude) I don't love you, Gilbert Weekend plans Forget-me-nots Double Forget-me-nots tea Overwhelming Gilbert's card Free diamonds Cleaning November

1st ann on Tumblr 1st day of improvements 2nd day of improvements I'm done with the attire gacha So angry

My scribblings

Alternative prologue IkeVamp: Prologue Picture

IkeVil: Bread Drawing lesson Innocent smile Lazy morning Vow The call of the moon The tail Don't cry, little Robin

IkePri: The brave one Innocent Rose

Mixed: Husbands

[helloescapist]

Hello, hello!

Requests are OPEN! 🌸

Welcome to the Request Guide! I’m happy to have you here. Before you go any further, please be sure to review the posted rules of my blog to ensure that your request is not dismissed.

Now that you have reviewed my rules, there are a few things to know about requests on my blog.

As mentioned in my rules, I do attempt to fulfill all requests (that follow my rules) that I receive. However, I retain the right to deny requests as I see necessary.

My requests are rarely ever closed, and because of this, I ask that you allow me time to fulfill my inbox. They are often completed in the order that they are receive, and added to my fic release schedule.

Some requests will take me longer than others to complete—it’s likely because I’m so attached to the concept that I want it to be perfect.

Request lengths will vary. Some will be shorter while others are longer. Please be understanding.

Unless otherwise stated in the request, I will most likely default reader to gn!reader.

Just as, unless otherwise requested, I will default all requests to SFW material.

Again, please note that this is a [insert character] x reader blog.

Without of the way, I understand that some inquiries are often unsure of what to add to their request, and as such, I set up this request guide to help ensure that your request is answered as individualized as the submitter (or at least as much as you would like it to be!).

Please indicate what kind of request you are making. Whether you wish for a headcanon prompt, short, au, fluff, character analysis, or even just a prompt/suggestion you want me to run with.

As mentioned, indicate if you are looking for SFW, or NSFW.

Be sure to express what character and fandom you are requesting. Example include: Shinobu Kocho [KNY], Amajiki Tamaki [MHA], etc. This is a multi fandom blog after all.

Add details you are comfortable with disposing such as personality, appearance, exceptionalities, interests, career/goals, etc, but please, be sure not to reveal any personal details. Your safety matters to me.

You will find my ask, 💌 at the top of my page. I look forward to seeing your request soon!

Some fandoms I am familiar with:

Bleach

Buddy Daddies

Demon Slayer

Fruits Basket (Furuba)

Guard Me, Sherlock!

Horimiya

Ikemen Prince

Inuyasha

Kamisama Kiss

Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Komi Can’t Communicate

My Hero Academia

Naruto

Obey Me

One Piece

Ouran High Host Club

Romantic Killer

Samurai Love Ballad Party (SLBP)

Soul Eater

Spy Family

Tears of Themis

I am now realizing why my mother was so concerned that I would die alone.

[scorchieart]

His Desire, His Fear, His Misbelief

A Character Study - Part II: Yves, Licht, Nokto, Luke

The continuation of the "Desire, Fear, Misbelief" Ikemen Prince character study. Jin, Chevalier, Clavis, and Leon are here. For a refresher:

Their desire, or the nonnegotiable goal they are trying to accomplish.

Their fear, or the person/thing/idea that’s preventing them from achieving their goal.

Their misbelief, or the “bubble” they crafted around their world for the purpose of achieving their goal while avoiding their fear at all costs.

The life-changing event that lined these three up, typically occurring in childhood.

Same setup, same content disclaimers, same spoiler warnings for all the routes. Hope you enjoy.

Yves Kloss

His Desire?

To bring honor to both his kingdoms and unite them as allies.

His Fear?

That his existence is a curse; abandoned by Obsidian and can only bring shame to Rhodolite.

His Misbelief?

In order to protect his people and the kingdom he loves, he must stay out of sight and work in the shadows.

His Life-changing Event?

The death of his wet nurse/nanny.

What does he do to achieve his goal while avoiding his fear?

Heavy expectations were set upon Yves before his birth in bridging the divide between the quarreling nations of Rhodolite and Obsidian, and while he understands it was impossible to alter the course of history, he still places blame on himself for every misfortune that followed his birth: his mother’s death, the break down of the peace negotiations, etc. Despite his best intentions, this and the Rhodolitians’ treatment lead him to truly believe he is a cursed prince undeserving of love, and Yves becomes the conventional prince who grew up watching his kingdoms from his room out of fear of ruining the happinesses of the citizens he loves but never met.

Licht Klein

His Desire?

To punish himself for his crime, and for Nokto to live a happy life. 

His Fear?

That he will never atone for his sin.

His Misbelief?

That he doesn't deserve kindness or empathy or light, and he must punish himself even if no one else will hold him accountable. 

His Life-changing Event?

His mother’s murder. 

What does he do to achieve his goal while avoiding his fear?

Licht’s personality shifted the most drastically of all the princes before and after his life-changing event to the point where his perceptions of reward and punishment swapped. He becomes incredibly uncomfortable when people praise him for his skills and his kindness, and he consciously puts himself in situations where he knows he will get hurt (mentally and physically). Even though his intentions the night his mother died were to save his broken family, he believes he failed everyone and is no longer worthy of living the innocent life he always dreamed of, least of all with Nokto, which developed into his solitary lifestyle and self-harming tendencies.

Nokto Klein

His Desire?

To provide value to the kingdom with pride as a prince, and for Licht to live a happy life.

His Fear?

That he is the weak link; a burden others always have to pick up the slack for.

His Misbelief?

To stay afloat he must take on more responsibility and keep up with the increasing demand, even if that means forfeiting his body and sanity.

His Life-changing Event?

His mother’s murder.

What does he do to achieve his goal while avoiding his fear?

Nokto and Licht grew up believing they perfectly completed one another; where one struggles the other lends a helping hand. Even through the trials their mother subjected them to, they never once questioned that one might be better than the other. However, watching Licht sacrifice his “humanity” to protect him the night of their mother’s death was the wakeup call that he is the inferior twin, and he pushes himself to never fall in a situation where he is so useless to the ones he loves ever again. He recognizes that he cannot match the other princes on the battlefield, so he focuses his efforts on battles of the mind. While this settles his political and bodily desires, it breeds loneliness and manifests a manipulated psyche where he can no longer communicate his true feelings even to himself.

Luke Randolph

His Desire?

To avenge his sister and bring down the Rhodolitian royal family.

His Fear?

That he’d grow to care for someone more than his sister, thus forsaking her death.

His Misbelief?

To live his life through apathy. He mustn’t grow attached to anything or anyone.

His Life-changing Event?

His sister’s death at the hands of his brother.

What does he do to achieve his goal while avoiding his fear?

Young Luke was plucked from the horrors of Bloodstained Rose Day with nothing except an inextinguishable craving to take revenge on his sister’s killer. This made him ripe for manipulation by Gilbert, charting the course for the next ten years of his life hellbent on destroying the Rhodolitian royal family. This included feeding him thoughts of mistrust in the government, his association with the anti-monarchy faction, and him joining the ranks as a low-level soldier at the capitol without a care for what happens after he fulfills his purpose. However, the years of exploitation finally crumbled at his discovery that the princes are not like his “friends” described (save for Chevalier), and it all comes to a head when he finds himself caring for Belle and discovering his target was Jin all along.

**Final notes: This batch was more difficult, and I think a large part of it was because Licht and Nokto's goals and fears are the only ones that are intertwined with one another, which was interesting to decipher, and because Luke's goal is very concrete with no clear ambition after he achieves it. Interesting to consider.

As always, you are free to agree/disagree. These are merely my interpretations of these characters and a lot of nuance is left out.

Many thanks to @batteryrose and @aquagirl1978 for helping me dissect the twins!

[xbalayage]

I have a whole book worth of information I'm writing for Silvio's Analysis in his character so if I were to decide on a route of creating a blog to roleplay his character and stay as true as I could to his character, thoughts, feelings, traumas, interests, experiences, terminologies and actions that I would be able to do so. And I've only studied Episode 0 being only 9 mins in. It's been years since I've tried picking up roleplaying when I used to roleplay variety personalities to have a range to feel and work with. I'm pretty sure I'm still rusty as fuck. And it sucks that I haven't much found other roleplay blogs for the Ikemen Series but I haven't dugged deep in seeing if there is so. If not, I'm open minded in letting this Benitoite prince explore. I miss roleplaying and writing as a whole, used to be a passion of mind and seeing all these amazing writers on Tumblr just inspires me to try and jump back on the wagon again. :)

[chirp-a-chirp]

I’ve read both Chev’s and Leon’s curse of love arc. And they have VERY different vibes and focuses.

Chevalier’s sequel is about change—how Emma/MC’s love has altered him, his approach to problems, how he deals with others. In the face of extreme antagonism and external push back (looking at YOU Gil), Chevalier goes out of his way to not kill others even while under constant attack. All because of Emma. He doggedly maintains his humanity for her sake, relies on others to assist him to maintain that humanity.

Even with Rhodolite, Emma, and himself under threat from Gilbert, Chevalier shows through words and actions that he will not revert back to a beast. His sequel is action packed, emotionally volatile due to constant external threats. Lots of dips and swings in mood and physical combat/danger. But Chevalier and Emma’s bond doesn’t break. Because the change Chevalier has undergone is permanent—he has found love with Emma, and he will preserve it at all costs.

Leon’s sequel is about acceptance. Acceptance of his past, his identity, the core values that make Leon who he is now. The first half of his story is a series of vignettes of encounters with people from his past, and the emotional trauma associated with them. Before Emma, Leon would have absorbed that trauma and internalized it, brooding alone, until it festered so much it scarred his heart. He would have tried to push down those encounters to the point of oblivion, but the scars would have remained. But with Emma, he has someone to shoulder the emotional burden, someone to voice or listen to the pain in his heart so that instead of scarring, his heart grows with understanding, and the encounters are used to fuel his vision for Rhodolite.

Leon’s route is highly introspective. Contemplative—ironic since Leon is described often as a man of action. Much more focused on Emma and Leon talking with one another, affirming each other, their love, and their hopes. And focused on them showing their idealistic approach to love and ruling is feasible. Especially to people hell-bent on proving them wrong. The second half of Leon’s route is people throwing shade at Leon and Emma and they respond to that darkness by shining light instead. Leading by idealized example, even as voices of discontent and cries to compromise and sacrifice others rise.

There’s definitely a vibe at the end of Leon’s sequel that he and Emma will ALWAYS have to prove to others their philosophy and love is enough. While constantly affirming each other. And that’s frankly exhausting to many folks. But they have their eyes open to that because they’re determined to lead by truly empathizing and understanding others. It’s Leon and Emma’s core value to be with the people, listen to them—even if that includes listening to those that disagree with them or unleash emotional trauma. And they can do that as long as they have each other to hold onto.

anyone else finish either of Leon’s sequel route endings? and are y’all are underwhelmed as I am?

like don’t get me wrong, the final chapter and epilogue were sweet and I enjoyed reading them. but the rest of the story just made me sad. the characters were so mean to MC… and yes, Leon was perfect and supportive as always. but idk it wasn’t a happy route for me, even with the ending(s) we got.

I enjoyed Chevs sequel a lot more despite liking both guys pretty equally as LI’s. the new art photos/CGs were great tho.

if you have finished his sequel, or have strong thoughts of it so far, let me know what you like/don’t like about it. I’m going to read the other ending later today but I don’t think it’ll sway my overall opinion on the sequel much.

[xinimartsy]

I just read your chevalier vs clavis route post and 100% agree. And I love both Chevalier and Clavis, but Clavis' route is so so much better than Chev's. Do you also feel like part of the reason it falls flat is that it's not just a starter route but they (cybird) were still kind of finding their footing with the story they were writing? This was one of their few otome's where it's not based on historical figures so they had a lot more creativity space. Space it felt like they were a little unsure how to expand upon at first. Like with each route release it's felt like the overall story is getting fleshed out far better and each route gets far more interesting.

Agreed!

While I do think it's a pity a route with SO MUCH potential like Chevalier's was so,,,, lacking, i do understand why that is, though

---

While we all love cybird games, and we do like to think the creators like them just as much as us, we gotta remember the Ikemen games are not a passion project. Cybird is a company and for projects to move forward they need to bring one thing: profit.

The cybird games very much work on a formula. I only caught Ikepri and Ikevamp on their English releases, so i can't really say for sure, but it seems to me that they do what works. The three starter routes:

The fun guy that befriends/protects the MC, that seems perfect in every way but got an angsty past (Leon/Napoleon)

The prickly tsunderes who just wants to be loved and has his own issues (Yves/Mozart)

The distant genius who sees MC as this bright existence in his "lack of humanity" (Chevalier/Leonardo)

And while they mix and have different personalities, of course, at least for me it's visible that cybird found something that works and is running with it.

These three personalities cater to their audience enough to make them keep playing the game. Even if someone doesn't particularly likes any of those, they're enough to make this person stick around and wait for a route that they think might interest them more, and it's playing the game that generates revenue.

---

Ikemen games are not exactly,,,, gameplay centered. There's no minigames or something we can actually PLAY. Sure, we have challenges that work as inconveniences while we're trying to read the story but that's hardly the same.

When I say "gameplay" in Otome games we can think of Obey Me! or Twisted Wonderland (even though it is not an Otome), or many other rhythm games that duo with dating Sims/narrative games. The Ikemen series is,,,,, not that.

We don't have to level up anything, or grind (just diamonds and in-game currency, but these come naturally). So i reckon that people might start to play these games for three reasons:

Narrative: they're interested in the story of the game.

Artwork: They're just here to appreciate pretty anime boys, and tbh, same.

Lighthearted mindless entertainment: they're not here for a wild ride, they're here for the romance and the cheese, it's their escapism after a long day of work/school, and they just wanna chill.

Taking that into consideration, the three starter routes are the ones that need to balance out all these three things so they can grab the attention of as many people possible, which, i theorize, explains why the starter routes are the way they are.

The three starter routes are always the cheesiest, blandest of them all, because they need to be simple enough to grab attention. No one downloads an Ikemen game to be mindblown, we just want to have fun, which,,,, it's hard, specially when the story involves politics.

I don't know if anyone else noticed or it's just me, but the deeper the plot gets, the more political it gets, and the more political, the less romantic.

If we compare the three starter routes, in which MC was way too busy being lost and fawning over whichever boy she chose to follow like a duckling, and the latest routes, more specifically, Clavis' (which is the most political by far) we can see that Clavis' route is way less romantic than any other route, because MC is way too busy figuring shit out herself, doing her duty as Belle and trying to keep up with Clavis to actually focus on romance. (I'm not saying it wasn't romantic or that it was lacking, but Clavis route had other focuses. It was even the route in which MC and the suitor took the longest to get together.)

So, the point of starter routes is to deliver just enough information to not let the the narrative-centered players down (some foreshadowing for future routes and characters, for example), but have enough romance and cheese/lightheartedness to deliver on the game's advertising (it's a LOVE STORY game, after all) for those that are only interested in that aspect of the game WITHOUT overwhelming them by pushing heavy plot down their throats.

They also gotta be all good looking and eye-catching enough for those interested in the graphics to stay interested (cue the starter character designs: a handsome more rough around the edges (Leon/Leonardo), a more lean delicate and stylish one (Yves/Mozart), one that is almost ethereal, perfectly balanced between handsome and pretty (Chevalier/Napoleon [a bit of a stretch, i reckon it]), all this, perfectly balanced to get all three kinds of people hooked on the game so they'd keep playing and awaiting for the next routes.

--

Why that doesn't work? I won't say it DOESN'T work, but i do think it was a mistake to have Chevalier as one of the starter route.

From an economical stand point? Great move. People ate it uP- Chevalier and Leon were the most popular routes, and even so Chevalier stans are gREAT numbers. From the people that want to be stepped on to the people who are convinced that "they can fix him", Chevalier is THE ikepri cash cow.

However, in my opinion, plot wise, if they really wanted to go feeding us little bits of lore, the starter routes should've been all from the domestic faction. I can easily see a world where, instead of Chevalier, the starter routes were Leon, Yves and Licht.

Why's that: as I said before, the easier to digest the route, the less political it is, and what makes a route political are the international relationships, which is what Chevalier's faction is all about.

So to make any of their routes (Chevalier, Nokto, Clavis or Luke) without making then political (heavy on the political drama, full baggage, full on war crimes) is a disservice to the plot, because that's what they DO. (Try to imagine Nokto's route, but take out all the international negotiating and diplomacy, take out the information gathering from the women he sleeps with, and only MENTION that oh yeah, Nokto's quite the savvy diplomat but he does use underhanded means. That's exactly what happened with Chevalier's route, but we didn't realize it until now because we didn't have anything to compare to,,,,, until Clavis)

While Leon's faction is all about internal affairs, which, in a scenario with the possibility of a war looming over the kingdom, could still be interesting while being lighthearted enough to not scare everyone off (plus, people loved Licht and it sealed with almost ZERO political drama aside from this madman trying to die on the battlefield)

In my opinion, Chevalier, as the LEADER of his faction, should have the MOST political route out of them all, on par with Gilbert's. So i do believe that Chevalier's route should have been one of the last ones, certainly after Clavis', which would've worked greatly to humanize him and show us a bit of a relationship between Chev and MC a bit before we get the full scope of who Chevalier is as a person and what made him who he is.

Thank you for coming to my TED TALK :D

.

.

Observation: Also, i dislike how calm and collected Chevalier is all the time. I wish his route was the most dramatic.

In a perfect world where I am Ikemen Prince's writing manager, his route would be released alongside Gilbert's, playing hard on the duality between them.

And in it we'd see this cold beast crumble. I'm saying full meltdown. All the emotions he "discarded" coming back full force as the man who's always ten steps ahead realizes he's met his match (resident Poor Little Meow Meow Gilbert) and he might be in over his head; something the impeccable genius can't do alone, and gotta rely on his brothers who he himself labels almost nuisances. But that's just me. It has nothing to do with this analysis.

[diab-l-o]

The Tragic story of Klein brothers

Disclaimer: There will be triggering themes in this post, so Trigger warning ⚠ , and big spoilers. These are just my thoughts/ theories, and analysis regarding two fictional characters that I wanted to share with others. If you have your own thoughts on this matter feel free to share. I will be using what I noticed from my playthrough, current part in the story (Nokto Klein, CH 16) and side stories for Nokto and Licht We will be taking everything we as the readers, know from ENG/ JPN trailers, ENG Main stories and side stories I acquired since I don't want to spoiled anything for myself.

Rules I will follow so it will align with the analysis;

Nokto is 2 years younger than Licht. Obviously twins are more common to be born only few minutes apart, but there are rare cases of twins being 1 or 2 years apart,

Each of the prince made their own crest, i.e. chose the animal and color.

With this all in mind we can start analyzing the Klein brothers,

1 Character analyses

Before we can fully start putting pieces of their story together, we need to sort said pieces to get the idea where each twin starts and ends. We will thoroughly analyze everything about the twins, from their design to the symbolism associated with them. I won't be mentioning anything that I think won't tell us more about the characters themselves.

The name

Side note: Children are given name based on their looks; do they look soft, are they small,.. , actions; are they loud or quite, active or calm, even what the parents hope the kid will become.

Licht; means, light, candle or sunshine. A big contrast to the over all personality of Licht as we know. This makes me think Licht was the outgoing twin. Happy, full of energy and curiosity, nice to both people, and animals. These traits didn't leave him; we learn that he cares dearly about his horse Marron, found cliff deep in a forest, a place as he said "No one knows about.". But his benevolent nature is more highlighted time and time in his side stories, and glimpses of this trait can be seen through out the Nokto's main story. His politeness on the other hand was taught. If we stick to the theory of him being more of a wild and mischievous kid, him being polite had to be taught in a more forceful way considering his straightforward nature, a trait look down upon in high class.

Nokto; means night or darkness. Also big contrast to his character. If we stick to my previous theory it would mean Nokto was the silent twin, or for better word, more observant and analytical. Always watching from the side lines and coming up with strategies for anything that made him feel anxious. As night is also associated with fear of unknown, danger and evil, I think he was more suspicious than Licht, and far more afraid to go venture into a woods. His skill to analyze made him perfect for events as he always knew what to say and how to look. Opposite to his older twin who said what come to his mind no matter the statue of the person. This could also be one of the things that made younger, and current Nokto admire Licht.

Klein; means, small. That doesn't give us much, but Klein could be also taken from the word Kline; it's not uncommon for writers to swipe letters, or use the pronunciation of a word to create name/surname. So, if we assume their surname originates from the word Kline; nickname from klin i.e. 'wedge'. Wedge is a piece of iron/wood shaped triangular, used for splitting wood. If that's the case, I think klin is associated with someone/ something splitting the close twins apart. From Licht's Birthdays side story we do learn that they were once very close, to the point of them huddling with each other for comfort, implying something, or someone, made them seek comfort from the latter.

.

The crest:

Side note: crests symbolizes the overall character of each prince, or i.e. their personality.

L/Wolf; as the wolf is a common symbol to see, it made it to be associated with many traits and symbolism. The most accurate are, loyalty, family, teamwork, wildness, instincts and playfulness. This shows that Licht is hiding his true self away to make himself look more cold, also explains why his troupe is the strongest; wolves hunts in packs, with everyone knowing what to do, where is their position, etc. But everything positive has it's counterpart of negative. Wolf can symbolize greed, danger and cruelty. Wolf is also associated with the Moon, a contrast to his name. Wolves howl at the moon; Licht can canonically sing as we learn this during one of his side stories (that was a nice detail). The moon represents death, emotions and enlightenment.

N/Fox; commonly known for deceive, independency, cleverness, mischievousness, logic and playfulness. The fox does not have any negative traits as their 'positive' ones are considered to be more neutral traits. It more depends on persons view on the traits. Fox is associated with the Sun. Again, similar to his brother it is contrast to Noktos name. The Sun represents life, power and happiness.

.

Titles:

L/6th prince; in western numerology the number 6 is heavily associated with love and caring for others, especially animals. The number is about love, relationships, responsibility. It also talks about sacrificing, caring, healing and protecting. Yet in the eastern Asia; more specifically Japan, since CYBIRD, the company who makes Ikemen games, is a Japanese one. There the number 6 is considered 'unlucky'. To be more specific the pronunciation as a counting number is muttsu; this can sound like the word for nothingness, 無 (mu).

N/7th prince; in western numerology the number 7 is associated with analytical, perceptive and introspective traits. It is symbol of perfection and humanity's deep inner need to find depth; Nokto feels emptiness, and less connected to his emotions than his brother. In eastern part; specifically in Japan, the number 7 is rather confusing here. It has good but also neutral, if not bad association. The neutral association is with the celebration of life and the mourning of death, while it's also linked to be universally lucky or holy number; not only in Japan but all over the world.

L/Older twin; older siblings in general are thought to be the ones who take care of their younger siblings; protected them, teach them and overall help them. As we already know, Licht is responsible person, so he definitely took the role seriously when he was informed he will be older brother to his younger twin. For Licht, safety of his closed loved ones is far more important than their feelings, as we know from his monolog in his Birthday side story. So thinking that he could done something in order to protect his younger brother isn't farfetched.

N/Younger twin; Mirroring isn't uncommon for roommates, close friends, family members or siblings who respect each other. But twins are known to mirror each other more, intensely, sometimes even without knowing. It isn't hard to figure out that Nokto is mimicking his brother; shared hate towards certain foods, shades from the same color, animals they represent belonging to the same family, similar cloths. Nokto mimicking Licht out of admiration is supported by his actions towards Licht during his main story.

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Appearance:

Eyes; we can't rule out the possibility of them being albino, but I like to think this isn't the case for their chosen hair nor eye color, and what it entitles. The color red is strongly associated with anger, passion and love, but that's only for superficial thinkers, we are digging way deeper. Historically the color red is associated with sacrifice, danger, and courage.

Hair; They are the only characters with "unnatural color scheme". To be more specific, the color white. White hair on people isn't unnatural, but more what is the cause of them. It is known that stress can give you gray hair no matter the age. Let us elaborate, Stress can cause hair to gray by affecting the stem cells that are responsible for regenerating hair pigment, and the key role in this is played by body's fight-or-flight response.

Reason: The color scheme they choose to give the twins hair:

E1E0DE, as the white hair, and CDC2C0, as their original hair color since this color is working as a sort of under color for the white. I'm also fully ever this may had been for simple artistic purposes, but that's a simple way of looking at it. I like to believe the cause of their white hair is because they experience high stress level, either in their young or teen age.

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Body:

L/Clothes; Licht is shown wearing too much clothes. Even other characters have less clothes than him. As a knight, he needs to be agile and have fast contortions when fighting multiple enemies. Even with the additional layers he still is, it just adds to the difficulty in moving in them. Him wearing gloves can mean that he has 'dirty hands', or for better word 'blooded hands' signifying that he has dirty secret i.e. the crime he committed. Gloves can also mean hiding hands in general, as they can reviled a lot a person, or the person can simple hide something under them. The main color is blue, or more specifically 'light blue'. Light blue can be associated with tranquility, understanding, softness, coldness, aloofness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.

Bare; Lich has bleeding wound on his wrist indicating self-harming wound.

His suicidal tendencies should not come as a surprise to those who read his birthday story or are already on the same CH in Nokto's main story as me. His reason is his past crime he have committed, and the heavy burden he needs to carry with it i.e he doesn't feel forth living for what he have done in the past, therefor the need to disappear and end this. His suicidal tendencies also had affected Nokto. As Nokto is his younger twin who admires him, it wouldn't be out of question for Nokto following in his brothers footsteps, or rather thinking "If he doesn't care, I shouldn't too". This thought process was evident in with the poison scene.

Leon also stated that:

Indicating Licht felt suicidal for some time, so the crime had to happened long ago, or at least closer to his teen years.

The scares on his hands, shoulder and most likely back can be explained as followed:

a) Self harm, minus back since there is no way he could done that himself. The scars on his elbows and shoulders could been self inflicted with the smaller dagger he caries around.

b) Battle scars, in Nokto's main story we learn how Licht is a strong fighter, and always fights to protect. It wouldn't be surprising if he was the first in the front lines fighting, as Leon said, recklessly.

c) Someone else inflicted them, either for misbehaving or disciplining.

All the options have one thing in comment, Licht didn't mind dying. With his Birthday side story we learn he was both mentally and emotionally effected by what he did. He stated that he has a better grasp on them; showing his emotionally awareness, by realizing how it will effect those around him, yet on his Birthday the urge to die ia stronger, making him think more on the lines of "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore."; i.e. sacrificing himself for the happiness of others.

N/Clothes; not much of a difference. The only thing different is how Licht has everything button up; closed off person, privet, while Nokto has his clothes more ruffled and open; extroverted person, who has less things to hide. The ruffled part indicates that he sleeps around with multiple people, or he doesn't know how to correctly button up his clothes; since royal clothing is hard to out on. Nokto's clothes also suggest that he is more open than his brother, or rather easier to approach. His main color, similar to Licht's, is blue, specifically Teal; restfulness and mental balance, as well as uneasiness, edgy, private. The edgy trait could be also linked to his painted nails on fingers that are visible when doing the fox pose, and his pierced ear.

Bare; His skin is smooth. Meaning no scars; he may rarely engage in fights or prefers to fight from the shadows i.e. attack on unsuspecting foe. That would also line up with the definition of his name. He takes good care of his body, and overall appearance; from clothes to body. This behavior isn't unusual if we consider his position as a prince. But not to the extant of him needing to know exactly what colors to match, what to wear at what event, etc. Something or someone had either taught him, or he is interested in fashion. Although the first is more likely since he doesn't show any passion towards said topic, and acts like he had to learn it, moreover he shows knowledge in choosing clothes for women rather than men. This is supported with CH 16 where MC needs to change her dress, and Nokto subconsciously goes to her dresser and starts to chose her new dress.

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2 Personality Now VS Then

Licht; he gone from wild and playful, to being distant and strict. Or to be more specific, he just chose to surpass his playful nature; we can see him being more playful w MC in few of his side stories, and openly sarcastic with Nokto. Since I think Licht is more emotional twin he can't really hide his true nature, and more so when he's with Nokto, that's why he does everything to stir away from Nokto. If we stick with this we would get 2 main points about Licht as a character; 1. He's more playful and outspoken than he lets on, 2. Something happened in his past that made him gone from active to passive, before the crime.

Nokto; on the other hand didn't changed much, or didn't changed drastically as Licht did. He is still more secretive and independent as he was as a kid, and still observing from outside to choose the best approach. The things that did changed was his playful nature and his playboy antics. Let's assume that in their younger years Licht was the one who provoked Nokto to get him to play with him. Now though Nokto is the one trying to provoke Licht to simply make him look at him. This makes me think that, the crime made Licht put walls between him and his twin, even thought Nokto never blamed him.

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3 The beginning of the end

Side note: If we stick with everything we analyzed so far, we can get one thing clear, the crime was committed by Licht who was also strongly effected; making him to be the emotional twin, and the crime seen by Nokto who didn't took it as hard; making him the logical twin.

The crime Licht committed was the murder of his own mother. There are 2 possible scenarios that lead to the murder:

1. Licht killed her accidently. As twins they were really close, but sometimes the provoking or them playing around cause more harm then good. Something happened between him and Nokto that made Licht storm out and run into the stables, most likely to tend to Marron or other horse to calm himself down. His mother come search for him while Nokto stayed in the bedroom. Now let it be known when a person calms down they tend to be more alert, so if Licht heard someone coming into the stables without the person announcing themselves he would reacted on his first instinct and that's attack. I think Lichts dagger was the first weapon he ever received and was also the weapon that he killed his mother with.

That would explain why Licht feels guilty and thinks over the lines of not wanting to hurt anyone anymore, but not so much Noktos playboy antics; besides him using it as an escapism from feeling nothing that can be explained by not having a mother figure anymore, and distant twin. it also can't explain his knowledge about only women fashion. As stated before he isn't passionate about it, more like he's doing it as a chores, a subconscious behavior. The fight, or argument also feels wrong since I think Licht being the more responsible one wouldn't get argument better of him nor start it, and Nokto who is observant wouldn't even start one, or he would simply come up with a solution.

2. Licht killed his mother intentionally. That would indicate their mother wasn't very kindhearted person, treated them badly and didn't give them much attention. Although, if we put the whole "Twins bring both good and bad fortune" saying, it can indicate that their mother treated Licht kindly, but after Noktos birth everything changed. The treatment made them rely on one another, and seek comfort from the latter. That would mean they slept in each other's bed, so as young Nokto wanted to go to his twins bedroom had to cross his mother's first, and may saw something he wasn't supposed to. Something, that also awoke his playboy, or more specifically his way of thinking, and acting on it after Licht puts wall between them. Nokto may think that sexual activity will make him feel something for a while; their mother felt unwanted and empty after she learned the king didn't loved her, needing to fill up the void she choose to indulge in sexual activities with other men. Interruption from Nokto lead to their mother lashing out on him, which alerted Licht next door. After Licht saw their mother about to strike his younger twin, he embraced Nokto, successfully shielding him . When everything calmed down, blinded by his anger, Licht stabbed their mother with his dagger that he brought with, after hearing the load voices.

This would explain why Nokto doesn't feel resentment towards Licht, but also why Licht feels guilty, if we stick with him feeling emotions more deeply. We can also explain his thoughts "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore" by assuming that he may had pushed Nokto who tried to stop him from commiting a murder. Noktos knowledge about women clothes could come from their mother who used him to match her clothing, after Licht took all their responsibilities in hopes of Nokto to have more free time before the murder took place.

Small theories:

1. Like other characters, Licht's and Nokto's background will be reviled as the story progresses. The difference is how it will be executed to us as the readers. The fact that their are twins, the only full blooded relatives, makes me think that both of them holds one part of the whole story not only of their but their twins, i.e. Nokto holds his but mostly Lichts, and vice versa with Licht.

2. Seeing as Nokto uses the nickname 'naughty' whenever he or MC are going to do something that's consider wrong, may be because of their mother. She may tend to call either both, or only Nokto a "Naughty boy" whenever he did something unruly, if we go with the second scenario.

That concludes my analysis and theories on the Klein twins! Sorry if it was inconsistent, I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts of the matter. Feel free to comment or post your own theories and analysis. I hope you have great day/night ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

[dear-mrs-otome]

Why Is He Like This - Silvio Ricci Edition - Part One

Let me preface this by saying I’m no expert on content, psychology, or translating. Just a gal behind a keyboard who spent a lot of her college life analyzing literature and nowadays enjoys picking apart otome boys to see if we can figure out what makes them tick.

That said, let’s begin this Silvio breakdown with the obvious part - the facts we know, some of which may be treading old ground but let’s lay them out again properly. And needless to say, this is going to be full of spoilers and conjecture, so READER BEWARE:

Silvio Ricci is the first/eldest prince of Benitoite, a seaside land based on strong ocean trade and a mercantile economy that values commerce above all else and is based on Italy (the particular region, if any, is perhaps up for debate). He has one full brother, the second prince Emidio, and one half-brother, the third prince Valerio (Rio).

He and Emidio share a mother, Adria, who was previously the queen and married to the king of Benitoite before her death. The king’s current wife and queen is Rio’s mother, who was his mistress prior to his first wife’s death. Adria was a wicked woman who was involved in the black market trading of illegal drugs, resented Rio and his mother intensely, and used both her own means and her own children to make Rio and Rio’s mother’s lives hellish. When her misdeeds were finally exposed by Rio she took her own life five years ago.

Random Benitoite fact: Apparently drinking is a big part of their culture as well, a prelude to most social events, and to refuse a drink offered by someone is considered an insult. 

So, base facts aside, let’s look at his personality. Boy howdy. It’s by now quite obvious that this man isn’t winning any congeniality contests any time soon. Silvio is loud (both literally and figuratively), brash, rude, blunt, arrogant, domineering, and frankly a bit of a bully. Just about everything he says and does is calculated to draw a maximum amount of attention to himself and to make himself appear superior, from the flashy expensive clothes and the ostentatious jewelry he wears to the way he refuses to use a goddamned doorknob like a civilized person and instead kicks every door in, down to the way he uses dismissive and insulting language with just about everyone.

(Yes, this is our cue to put a bingo marker on the ‘Low Self-Esteem’ square - we'll get to that later.)

Rio in particular bears the brunt of this but Silvio’s vitriol isn’t reserved for him alone - Gilbert, Notko, Emidio in particular, and others have been on the receiving end of Silvio insults before, while most everyone gets a general level of rudeness in attitude as well. I will note, however, that outside of referring to her as ‘woman’ and ‘rabbit’ (which is a term a number of the suitors use for Emma) and the occasional rude way of saying ‘you’ to her…I have yet to see Silvio directly insult Emma. Which is like scraping the barest bottom of the barrel here I know but, let’s hold tight to that.

How do we balance this? Does this man have a single good trait to counteract this rap sheet of offenses? I have a feeling we’ll get better answers to this in his own route, because Silvio’s a tough egg to crack, but we’ve gotten some glimpses of his better aspects and strengths so far at least. 

He’s a shrewd and observant man with an excellent business mind and keen eye for details - it’s stated many times how adept his negotiating is and how he’s a mercantile genius. In the amnesia event, Emma finds him nearly penniless and in the span of only a short while he’s turned over massive profits and become a successful businessman. He’s more than capable of keeping up with and perhaps even surpassing Nokto during their Bunny Stealing VS event, when they both fed off each other in negotiations with the rose farm. And in Rio’s route, he‘s quick to pick up when things about Emidio’s behavior don’t add up and moves swiftly, intercepting his brother’s insidious plans to minimize their impact.

He has a sense of honor and a code of ethics that he can be counted on to adhere to, even as he may try to initially finagle his way into a better position (as any seasoned merchant should). Rio provides Emma with the ultimate trump card for handling Silvio when he lets her in on some valuable business intel and give her a tip - that Silvio can basically always be counted on to negotiate. Offer him something and you’ll get something in return, quid pro quo. In this particular case she uses it to ‘talk’ him out of kidnapping her, offering him the trade knowledge passed on by Rio and her willingness to comply in exchange for concessions and information. And once he’s agreed upon terms, he can be relied on to uphold them. All of which makes sense when you come from a culture of mercantile and trade, where a man’s word and agreements is his bond and the damage of reneging on deals can be catastrophic to one’s standing in society.

Despite his volatility over some things, he’s capable of being objective and looking at the bigger picture without letting his emotions get in the way. When Silvio explains the story of his mother and her conflicts with Rio’s mother, he makes no excuses for his mother’s terrible behavior and in fact does not blame Rio or Rio’s mother for retaliating. If anything, he seems to agree that his mother most likely reaped what she sowed and deserved the end she met - unlike Emidio who is unable to let go of his anger towards Rio and blames him for their mother’s death.

While it’s easy to be cynical and say he’s only motivated by a desire to maintain relations between the two countries, I think Silvio genuinely shows concern for the general public and for others. He involves himself in the conflict between Rio and Emidio (ostensibly because the drama could be a wedge driven between Rhodolite and Benitoite), makes moves to save Emma’s life (again, he claims because more of the same) and when her house is set on fire he worries over the possibility of harm to the city and citizens as well. He expends money and manpower to clean up and contain the messes Emidio is responsible for, and agrees with little more than a vague promise of a favor to help Rio and Emma cover for a little girl’s mother who was the unwilling accomplice to Emidio’s crimes.

Even if this were merely fulfilling a duty, this ties back to his code of honor and ethics and feeling a sense of responsibility for what his family and country has done.

He expresses concern, albeit couched in terms of ‘what value she provides to Rio’, over Emma being involved with his family and its devious machinations - repeatedly trying to dissuade her from being involved with Rio because of how dangerous it is. At one point, when her house is set on fire by Emidio, he even tries to impress upon her how he can replace things with money but if Emidio takes his vendetta any further, his money can’t replace people - asking her once again to give up on Rio.

Again, you could argue he simply does all this to avoid rocking the boat and to maintain the status quo between their countries - but I believe there’s more to it than that, despite what the man himself says. Probably even more so, because we all know a tsun tells no truths unless they’re dragged out of them at damn near knife point.

SO.

We’ve got some negatives laid out, some positives (?), but how about the big elephant in the room so far, of course, which hasn’t been addressed yet - his achilles heel, if you will. Women.

As I have mused on elsewhere, the difficulty behind knowing why Silvio acts as flustered as he does whenever Emma instigates any contact is that we don’t know if it applies merely to her, to all women, or to anyone in general. Althought without evidence to the contrary, and with Emma specifically calling it out as being ‘bad with women’, I’m going to make the assumption that Silvio’s hangup is with regards to the ‘fairer sex’ as a whole. 

To know why he is this way isn’t possible yet, clearly this will be a SEKRIT kept for his own route, but there’s probably some theories we can suggest. 

I think the simplest is that he’s just generally terrible with interpersonal relationships. This is evidenced by his rude behavior as is, but Gilbert makes a point to refer to Silvio as having a shy side and it seems easy to imagine how that might be - under the aggressive shell of swagger and pomp is a very fragile uncertain underbelly. Most people who act that much ‘larger than life’ are often trying desperately to overcompensate for perceived faults and weaknesses, hoping that people will look no deeper than the confident abrasive exterior they project. 

Not to mention that when Silvio speaks praise of himself, the things he notes are externally rooted factors that he has little control over. His wealth, his status, and his good looks are generally the only things he points out repeatedly as reasons why Emma (or anyone else) should be falling at his feet. Things that seem to tick off boxes on a checklist of ‘Good Things’ that are superficial and broad and ultimately meaningless.

The question then is, does Silvio truly judge himself by these shallow standards or is that merely what he believes society wants of him? And if so, where would he get that idea?

Benitoite, with its high emphasis on wealth and trade and a court that sounds as if it is full of more intrigue than Rhodolite’s, certainly factors into this. Silvio asks Emma point blank what she brings to the table as Rio’s woman - claiming that Benitoite would never accept someone without some sort of value as a royal. Silvio having a generally transactional approach to even dealings between people (‘indebting’ Emma into playing the part of his fake lover, lording what Rio owes him over him and trying to always put a monetary value to favors, claiming that all hurts can be fixed with money) seems rooted in this.

But I also wonder if he wasn’t taught that love itself is transactional and must be bought or earned.

We’re told that the ring which belonged to his mother, Adria, is ostentatious and incredibly gaudy. That small detail alone tells us that she was probably the sort of person who valued wielding money and status as a weapon, but I think we could go further and suggest that if so, perhaps she withheld her love from her sons as a form of transaction as well. Hearing that she used them to bully Rio, bidding her sons to take from Rio the things he cared about, makes me wonder if she didn’t make a payment of sorts out of it. If they wanted her love and approval, they had to do as she asked or provide the things she asked of them.

This has been reinforced his entire life, as Silvio states that women tend to be gold diggers - even going so far as to delude himself into believing women who genuinely seem to like him are only after his money as well. Any point and time at which Emma does things for him without expecting compensation, or without strings attached, seems to leave him at a genuine loss. Utterly shocked and off-balance.

It all comes back to the age-old sentiment that all the money in the world can’t buy you love. And the cruelest irony of Silvio is that he doesn’t believe something that’s free can be of any value…even when I think it’s the one thing he deep-down truly wants the most.

I was going to go on, I have a bunch more notes about his relationship specifically as it pertains to Emma and what he values about her and more conjectures on the conflicts and issues that might arise in their route, but this is so long already I think I’ll save that for a part two! If you made it this far through this mess , you’re my new favorite person - thank you for reading. <3