#otome selections

[neerons]

Kei’s Sacrificial Lover…

After some time after its release, I finally started and finished just now reading Kei’s Sacrificial Lover story… I am going through so many feelings, because of so many things. There’s so much to take in, and while this story is so cruel it might just be the hardest thing I’ve ever read, I love it so much. Don’t know if that’s the type of story I’d like to read twice though… It almost physically hurts to read it

Aside from my overwhelming emotions, Kei and MC’s relationship has somehow been shown to be back to square one (with their affection and trust remaining for now until they can finally be done with the antagonist). Yet, everything that happened is contributing to make their relationship evolve into a more ordinary, romantic and mutually conveyed love later on, right? I’m glad that Kei is finally facing his trauma, but I didn’t expect his trauma to be also linked to something like this, and I also didn’t expect this newly presented antagonist to have so much impact on the story in its entirety, on their relationship, and to dive into such taboo and horrible criminal acts. The writer really outdid himself with this story. You could say he… ate… (sorry)

[qelsanprincess]

You can't tell who my favourite is from a screenshot but...

You can definitely tell who ISN'T a favourite 👀

[annicaax]

I'm finally stuck at the end of chapter 8 with like 6k points needed to go further

I read two chapters today and pro'lly will read two more tomorrow... Zell's story is so good it's hard not to binge.

I have love passes I purchased from previous sales and the current sale and... yeah just about 50 left but the main problem is clearing the poise checkpoints... Looks like I have to shell out more cash on the stamina sets as well... Zell is worth it

[foxstens]

thanks to the wonders of emulation i can play so many more otome games on pc

[artdolliewishes]

Imagine female Yuu having to cross dress to avoid unnecessary trouble at NRC and Idia finds out through Ortho. Because I can see Ortho finding out if Yuu ever got a minor injury and he was around to play nurse, knowing him he’d do a quick full body scan and find a very high amount of estrogen in her system.

And he blabs to Idia because he’s a snitch who doesn’t keep anything from his brother; if you tell a secret to him, you’re basically telling it to them.

Once Idia finds out, his mind INSTANTLY goes to those otome games and fanfics and gacha life videos about a girl in all boys school. He always thought those were just fun fantasies, but upon seeing that exact scenario happening in real life he becomes curious.

Prior to this, Idia probably wouldn’t think much about Yuu. To him, she was just the odd magicless guy his brother would occasionally run into; the most interesting thing about her was her cat, in his eyes. But now that he knows about her secret, he becomes heavily invested in her school life, he wants to see how this is going to turn out.

He doesn’t exactly stalk Yuu, it’s not like he’s putting cameras in Ramshackle or listening devices in her bag, it’s more like he just pays extra close attention to her when he has the chance, such as during joint classes and lunch. And since Ortho and her are on amicable terms, he encourages Ortho to spill any gossip he learns when around her.

To Idia’s surprise and delight, things end up matching up almost perfectly with what he’s come to expect from these kinds of plots. The ones close to Yuu, who seem to be privy to her secret from what he’s gathered, are all either falling in love or have already been in love. They’re extra protective of her, they’re affectionate and soft with her, and they get jealous when she gives too much of her attention to any one of them.

Idia knows about the overblot incidents, so of course he’d see the pattern in who starts getting closer. Every time someone overblots, Yuu will be there to help and both the overblotter and some other select people in their dorm will begin to fall. It’s a classic pattern.

At this point, Idia would simply see himself as an observer peeking in on this story and, therefore, he can’t be affected by Yuu. He’s not a love target in her story, he’s a side character.

It doesn’t matter that he’s occasionally run in with Yuu and each time he has she’s been a true friend to an introvert like him by making his anxious ass feel comfortable. It doesn’t matter because he’s aware of what’s happening and thus he can’t be affected.

But then he also overblots, and just like before she was there to help pick up the pieces. After that they ended up talking and Idia gets to know more about Yuu, more than he could learn by just observing.

Before long, he’s actually looking forward to seeing her again, to nerding out about his favorite anime’s with her in person because she’s always such a good listener. He’s looking at his manga and game collections and thinking about what she would like.

Idia doesn’t even realize his hearts been skipping beats when she’s around until one day when he’s in class and she walks in. Like a dog hearing their owner walk through the front door, his gaze shoots up and instantly that class gets fifty times more bearable with her around.

…And then he looks around and every other “main character” has had the same reaction.

Which means that he’s also a captured love target, just like them…

Oh how the turn tables for a dating sim loving nerd like himself

[megapocalypse]

AU where Shen Yuan plays a PIDW otome spin-off game where you date all the male characters and he decides to give it a shot because he heard Luo Binghe's characterization was really good in it. He's a hardcore LBH fanboy and he can't pass this chance up, but it's one of those games in which you need to unlock guys by finishing the first few and because LBH is the protagonist he's not only locked behind another character but he's also paywalled and his route is extremely difficult.

Shen Yuan ends up spending 100+ hours into this game and trying to explore all the routes and side quests, he's gotten almost all the secret endings for every guy and he's maxed the dlc characters.

LQG - One of the first love interests. You meet him when you find him poisoned, you protect him from a three headed snake monster and he's deeply indebted to you.

MQF - Unlocked via LQG's route, you get him when your MC has to take LQG to get healed.

GYX - He helps you on a mission to Bailu Forest, only romancable once you unlock the Huan Hua area.

YQY - Unlocked after you complete the good routes of all the romancable peak lords of CQM. His good ending is extremely hard to get.

ZHL - Unlockable after you romance GYX, he's a dlc character.

TLJ - Also a dlc character, you can romance him once you've completed every character's route.

SJ - Arguably the hardest romance route, almost all options lead to the bad ending and you really have to be specific with which routes you choose for your New Game + playthrough. Not to mention he has a secret ending that's even harder to unlock.

Now Shen Yuan has FINALLY gotten to LBH, you meet him through SJ's route as a white lotus disciple, but you have to romance SJ and TLJ before you can romance him. In his bad ending he kills you for siding with CQM, the neutral ending you become part of the harem. You can only unlock the good ending by unlocking SJ's secret ending. The good ending you get an option to tell LBH your feelings, it's an experimental game mechanic where you can literally type out a response. Some people may shit post on this section, but SY puts down his real and genuine thoughts out towards LBH. LBH then asks SY to promise him that they would stay together forever, and SY chooses the yes option.

Okay so new game plus time, SY got through all the endings now he needs to replay to get the super uper duper ng+ secret endings, so he plays the game normally just speeding through with the first love interest, Liu Qingge; but as he's on the rank 7 love confession scene, the game suddenly crashes and he has to reboot the game. His save file got erased so he just plays again normally, but for some reason it keeps veering him towards Luo Binghe's route, when he meets him during Jinlan City...

Every time he tries to get the other routes his save file crashes, or it would just go right to Luo Binghe's route. He looks it up on the Internet to see how to fix the bug... Nobody else is having this problem.

So he just decides to keep going with the Luo Binghe route again since he liked it so much, and he gets back to the true ending where he promises Binghe he'll stay with him forever. But then, suddenly there's an error message on the screen saying "System Reboot: initializing" and when it fully loads it says "Welcome User 002, to Proud Immortal Demon Way". And then the power cuts out, Shen Yuan is a little startled and confused until he feels an electric jolt. He falls limply to the ground, and wakes up in a new world.

A pop up screen shows up in front of him

Select your Name

________ ________

It's the PIDW start up screen.

.

Okay my brain is fuzzed but basically SY gets doki doki fucked and transmigrates into the game. Luo Binghe is a yandere who keeps trying to mess with the system, maybe he kills a few guys just to be silly 😜. Yada yada that's all I got.

[schoenpepper]

Isekai'd Chronicles: The Ball

Intro: It's that one big party event thing that is absolutely vital to otome games.

Warnings: bad writing, awful grammar, proofread by quillbot

A/N: The beginning of the end(ings) is here! They're all written already, so I'll be scheduling two per day until the very last day, in which it'll just be Vil's ending (because I tripped and accidentally turned his ending into a full oneshot, you know how it goes). Happy reading!

Masterlist

It's the fourth years' graduation ball soon! You don't know many fourth years because they're all off campus and on internships, but the ball itself holds quite the significance to you. Or more specifically, the main characters (that, for the life of you, you still cannot find). They would choose a certain ornament that would prove they had chosen a specific ending, or all of the available ornaments if they were gunning for the reverse harem ending. Then, after tonight, you (the villain!) would perish in vastly different ways for even attempting to get in the way of their love. You don't think that'll still happen when the story's missing a few key components, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared, right? 

You and your first-year friend group are out on the town today, sipping on drinks and eating some pastries while chatting about random things. The topic turns tense when they ask you about something you've been hoping to avoid.

"Hey, Y/N? You got a bunch of accessories and stuff from the upperclassmen, right?"

Right.

You're allowed to have a 'date' to the graduation ball, and you and said date would match some items on your outfit so that you would complement each other. If someone wanted to ask someone else to be their 'date' (it can be very friendly companionship), they would send over a certain accessory as an invitation. Which is probably what those ornament thingies were in the original game. The problem you're facing now is that your upperclassman friends have all sent you a little something that would likely match their outfits on the night of the graduation ball.

"Can't I just come with you guys?" You ask sheepishly, and they all give you a disgruntled look.

"Yeah, no, we don't really want to be targeted by your friends." Ace shrugs.

Thus, as you prepare for the ball, you hide a few weapons on your body just in case disaster strikes (by disaster, you mean the bad endings) and stand pacing in front of the bed. Choices choices…

All fourteen of them.

They all look beautiful with differing kinds of charm, but you have to make a decision on which one to wear, and soon. The clock strikes five p.m., and you really need to get to the carriage as fast as possible. You can choose just one, or if you feel like it, you can even wear all of them! Or you can wear a select few, or just not wear any of them at all.

Go ahead! Make your choice.

The snake bracelet

The diamond encrusted bracelet

The shell earrings

The black pearl earrings

The mushroom earrings

The arrow ring

The rose brooch

The amethyst ring

The clover brooch

The blue opal necklace

The gold choker

The orange bead choker

The silver vine ring

The emerald ring and bracelet

One seashell earring and one mushroom earring

Wear all of them

Wear none of them

[otomehonyaku]

a reader's guide to otomehonyaku ☽ translation masterpost & request guidelines (updated 19 Nov. '24)

you can call me Ottie (she/her)! 20s, DiaLovers translator & writer

posting weekly, mostly on Saturdays or Sundays

ASK & DM OPEN ☽ REQUESTS CLOSED ☽ COMMISSIONS NEGOTIABLE THROUGH DM

Please DO NOT REUSE OR REPOST ANY OF MY TRANSLATIONS OR WRITING ELSEWHERE, in any form whatsoever, or RETRANSLATE MY WORK INTO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT PERMISSION. If you have any questions regarding retranslating or reposting, please DM me!

Currently working on...

Diabolik Lovers More,Blood Stellaworth Complete Tokuten Short Stories ☽ All 10 characters (Next up are Laito, Subaru, Shuu and Reiji!)

Upcoming translations

Diabolik Lovers More,Blood Character Popularity Poll Short Story ☽ Subaru ver.

Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage Drama CDs ☽ Vol. 3 (Orange, 4 tracks)

Diabolik Lovers Grand Edition Special Booklet ☽ Year-End Pandemonium (Sakamaki short story)

Diabolik Lovers Vandead Carnival Special Voice CD

Surprise long-form story from one of the tokuten booklets

Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage Special Booklet ☽ Short Story (Scarlet ver.)

Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage Special Booklet ☽ Short Story (Violet ver.)

Diabolik Lovers Official Anime Novelization ☽ Chapter 4

Note: Please be aware that list is subject to change. If something exciting pops up, I might alternate this list with other translations─in this case, please refer to the 'currently translating' section above to see what I'm working on!

Mainline Diabolik Lovers instalments

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: GRAND EDITION ☽ INCLUDING HAUNTED DARK BRIDAL & MORE,BLOOD

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: VANDEAD CARNIVAL ☽

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: LOST EDEN ☽

☽  DIABOLIK LOVERS: CHAOS LINEAGE ☽

Mainline drama CD series

☽  CLICK HERE FOR MY MAINLINE DRAMA CD MASTERPOST ☽

Books & other written materials

☽  CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS & OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ☽

My writing & miscellaneous translations

☽ CLICK HERE FOR MY WRITING & MY MISCELLANEOUS (NON-DIALOVERS) TRANSLATIONS ☽

Guidelines for requests & commissions

As a rule of thumb, Diabolik Lovers-related translations are always my priority and I sometimes write for fun. I do not take requests for writing (short stories, headcanons, reacts, scenarios and the like), though paid commissions are negotiable! Creative writing is quite a personal and subjective thing for me, so I tend to be selective as I want to ensure that I have enough inspiration and fun while writing in order to deliver a quality product. Please reach out through DM if you’d like to discuss a paid commission! Thank you for your understanding ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

When requesting/commissioning a translation, please be aware of the following: ☽ Please provide the source materials which you would like to have translated. I do not have the financial means nor the time to personally buy all of the drama CDs or tokuten for all 13 characters, for example, so if you want something translated: please include a link to the source materials. These could be links to audio files on SoundCloud and BiliBili, or links to Tumblr posts with scans of short stories or interviews and the like. ☽ In all cases, it is your own responsibility to ensure that the source materials—particularly fan-made artwork and scans—have been acquired with full permission from the original poster. If the original poster has NOT given you permission to repost or reuse/translate the materials in question, I will NOT translate them. ☽ This probably goes without saying, but I do these translations for fun—I enjoy doing them, but I am also busy in my daily life. I will try my best to finish and post the translation as soon as possible after your request, but I give no guarantees on how long they will take. I do work relatively quickly given my current language skills in Japanese, but the time I can spend on translating varies per week. ☽ If you would like me to translate Japanese-language materials from other otome franchises or pop culture related things, please consult with me and I’ll see what I can do! ☽ DO NOT REPOST ANY OF MY TRANSLATIONS ELSEWHERE, IN ANY FORM WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING VIDEO), OR TRANSLATE MY WORK TO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

[englishotomegames]

A campaign for a PC / console remake of Nochi Studios Somnium Eleven is now on Kickstarter!

Somnium Eleven - stat raising otome inspired by Hunger Games

"With no prior memories, Aria awakens to find herself in a mysterious colossal empire where magical technology thrives, and its citizens whisper legends of a patron god who watches over their world. To her surprise, she has already been selected as one of the candidates to compete to succeed Imperial Prince Soren of the mysterious empire of Strata.

As per the empire’s decree, the candidates must undergo three perilous trials to prove their wits and merits to ascend the throne should they survive. Competitors hail from all parts of the empire with aspirations of their own.

Faced with no other choice, Aria must now strive to train alongside other competitors, build her arsenal to gain support from the people, and use her wits to win the title as ruler - for the answers to your fate rest in surviving the trials."

"We are Nochi Studios, a female-founded and female-run studio that believes in making romance games you've never seen before! Coming right off of launching Plastic Trick and Stellifier, we now have the time to go back and revamp our most popular title that has only been on mobile and revamp the gameplay for PC! Don't like microtransactions/in-app purchases or hate creating mobile accounts just for a gaming app? No problem! The PC version of Somnium Eleven will be a one-time purchase on Steam - or you'll receive a Steam key as a backer for this campaign.

We’re excited to raise a campaign to revamp the game for players who prefer PC gaming. And this port will also laydown the groundwork for hopefully a console port in the future!"

You can support their campaign or try the demo here!

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hi Slug! If possible could you please translate the new updated timeline from the second guidebook? Thank you so much 🙏

I typically don't want to translate any sort of paid content, but I'll make an exception just this once so we can publicly shame Hypmic for its ludicrous timeline have this as a resource.

The guidebook's timeline is split into two halves corresponding to Chuuouku and the six Divisions featured in the storyline. For ease of reading, I've combined them into one and placed them in order (as much as possible).

The translation is as direct as possible. I do not translate word by word by the dictionary when there are more straightforward or natural-sounding equivalents available, and I do not incorporate features of the source grammar and punctuation that are nonsensical in English. Apart from that, this is super cut-and-dry. It's a timeline lol.

Finally, a note about the "H Age" (H歴) year system: While treated as its own calendar system similar to BCE and CE (or BC/AD), the H Age notation is otherwise similar to Japanese "eras." In real life, a new era corresponds to a new emperor taking the throne, so Otome's rise to power and the subsequent beginning of the H Age marks a paradigm shift. Eras can start in the middle of a calendar year, so Year 1 of the H Age isn't necessarily from January to December (in so much as Hypmic has months anyway). Let's arbitrarily say it started in June 2024. (Did it? No idea. I made this up for argument's sake.) That means Year 1 is June - December of 2024 while "one year prior" is January - May also of 2024. Therefore, "two years prior" is January - December of 2023. And so on and so forth.

Under a cut for length

19 years prior to the H Age

Rei joins a military R&D program.

Otome founds the Party of Words.

13 years prior to the H Age

World War III begins.

11 years prior to the H Age

World War III ends, but smaller violent conflicts continue.

Rei leaves the military and assembles an independent Hypnosis Mic development team.

4 years prior to the H Age

Rei creates a working Hypnosis Mic.

3 years prior to the H Age

Otome purchases the Hypnosis Mics from Rei.

The military creates a working Hypnosis Mic prototype.

Rei begins development of the Hypnosis Canceler.

2 years prior to the H Age

Rei creates a working True Hypnosis Mic.

1 year prior to the H Age

The Party of Words stages a coup d'tat.

Rei creates a working Hypnosis Canceler and gives the first Ramuda to Otome.

Year 1 of the H Age

The H Age begins, ending violent conflict with weapons.

The Party of Words overwhelms the preexisting government, thus subverting the state.

The Party of Words founds Chuuouku and distributes Hypnosis Mics to select candidates.

Ichirou and Kuukou form Naughty Busters.

Samatoki and Sasara form Mad Comic Dialogue.

Ramuda meets Jakurai and Yotsutsuji. The former two go on to form Kuujaku Posse.

Otome purchases the True Hypnosis Mic from Rei.

Ichirou and Kuukou begin working with Mad Comic Dialogue.

Year 2 of the H Age

Ramuda clones use the True Hypnosis Mic to brainwash Sasara and Kuukou. Kuukou tells Ichirou their friendship is over and leaves for Nagoya. Sasara does the same and returns to Osaka.

Ichirou, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai form The Dirty Dawg.

The Dirty Dawg gains supremacy over every Division in Japan. A Ramuda clone puts Yotsutsuji in a brainwashing-induced coma.

A Ramuda clone brainwashes Nemu. She goes on to join the Party of Words.

Ichirou and Samatoki battle one another in accordance with a Chuuouku plot. At the same time, Jakurai and Ramuda fight over the Yotsutsuji situation. This leads to The Dirty Dawg disbanding.

The Party of Words disables all preexisting Hypnosis Mics distributed [through their program in Year 1] and recalls the mics.

The Party of Words creates the Division Rap Battle program.

Year 3 of the H Age

Ichirou, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai receive mics from Chuuouku.

The Division Rap Battle program begins.

Ichirou forms the Buster Bros with Jirou and Saburou.

Samatoki forms Mad Trigger Crew with Juuto and Riou.

Jakurai forms Matenrou with Hifumi and Doppo.

Ramuda forms Fling Posse with Gentarou and Dice.

Preliminary matches begin within each Division. The Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, and Matenrou win their respective preliminaries, thus advancing to the finals.

Ichijiku uses a Hypnosis Canceler for the first time.

In the first DRB tournament, Mad Trigger Crew wins round 1 against the Buster Bros.

In the first DRB tournament, Matenrou wins round 2 against Fling Posse.

In the first DRB tournament, Matenrou wins the final match against Mad Trigger Crew and takes the championship.

Hitaki Tsumabira, Vice Director General of the Criminal Bureau, and the Tobari brothers attempt to lay a trap for the Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, and Matenrou. Their plot fails.

Ichijiku has Tsumabira purged from the Party of Words for using the Tobari brothers to traffic the Grasshopper drug.

The Party of Words announces the second DRB.

Kuukou and Sasara receive mics from Chuuouku.

Rei meets Sasara and Roshou. The three go on to form Dotsuitare Hompo.

Hitoya introduces Juushi to Kuukou, who takes Juushi under his wing as an apprentice. The three go on to form Bad Ass Temple.

Ichirou notices Nemu's name on a list of missing persons and meets up with Sasara and Roshou to find out more. Rei meets with Jirou and Saburou. He reveals that he is their father and that Ichirou has been lying to them.

Nemu becomes the Vice Director General of the Administrative Inspection Bureau.

Nemu, still brainwashed, shows up in front of Samatoki with other Chuuouku members. Ramuda confesses to Samatoki that he brainwashed her.

Gentarou and Dice learn that Ramuda is a clone.

Chuuouku approaches Jakurai for his crucial assistance in improving the True Hypnosis Mic in order to bring Yotsutsuji out of his coma. Jakurai and Hitoya reunite. Meanwhile, Hifumi and Doppo meet Kuukou and Juushi.

Chuuouku decides to have Ramuda killed. Honobono enlists the Word Wreckers to join her in hunting him down. Gentarou and Dice come to his rescue and spirit him away to safety, but now all three are wanted as outlaws.

Dice performs a trade with Otome, giving her the Chuuouku expose left behind by Gentarou's older brother. Ramuda is allowed to go free, and Fling Posse is granted permission to participate in the second DRB.

Jakurai agrees to cooperate with Chuuouku under certain conditions. Honobono pays a visit to Hifumi's club.

Juuto arrests Sekirei Hanmyou, the man responsible for the drug that led to Juuto's friend and parents' deaths.

Nemu arrests Tsumabira, now escaped from prison, and her coconspirator in crime Misago Haebaru. Honobono rises to position of Vice Director General of the Criminal Bureau in Tsumabira's place.

Ichirou battles Jirou while Saburou battles Rei. The brothers make up afterward.

After receiving advice from Rei, Sasara and Roshou battle one another and come clean about their feelings. With that bad blood washed away, the team comes together stronger than ever.

Juushi comes face to face with the boy who bullied him and took his grandmother's life. Through his own fortitude, Juushi prevails through the mental distress. After talking with Kuukou, Hitoya lets go of the past in seeking revenge for the death of his brother. The team comes together stronger than ever.

The second DRB preliminaries come to an end. The Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, Matenrou, Dotsuitare Hompo, and Bad Ass Temple advance to the finals.

In the second DRB tournament, the Buster Bros win round 1 against Dotsuitare Hompo.

In the second DRB tournament, Matenrou wins round 2 against Bad Ass Temple.

In the second DRB tournament, Fling Posse wins round 3 against Mad Trigger Crew.

In the second DRB tournament, Fling Posse wins the final match against the Buster Bros and Matenrou, thus claiming the championship.

Sasara and Kuukou learn that they were brainwashed. Ramuda opens up to Jakurai and tells him the truth. Ichirou and Samatoki learn the truth as well, thereby resolving the feuds between the team leaders.

The Party of Words announces the third DRB.

The Party of Words locates and seizes control of Rei's laboratory. In an exchange of hostages, the Party gains control of the True Hypnosis Mic and Ramuda clones.

Otome announces plans for world domination before Rei attempts a coup d'tat. All Hypnosis Mics are disabled, and Otome and Ichijiku are sent to maximum security prison by the very Ramuda clones Rei created.

Public order breaks down following the disabling of the mics.

Ichirou discovers Rei's connection to the Hypnosis Mics due to Gentarou's brother's expose. The main cast, led by Jirou and Saburou, hold a music festival to bring courage to everyone struggling with the political turmoil.

Honobono frees the inmates of Chuuouku's maximum security prison. After staging an attack on the music festival, she disappears from the eye of Chuuouku.

Rei and Ichirou have a fistfight over their respective moral positions. Rei acknowledges his defeat, reconsiders his moral stance, and reactivates all Hypnosis Mics.

Armed with a working mic once more, Nemu takes command and restores order within Chuuouku. Otome decides to step down from her position in government.

[vnui]

Game: Lovewood by LadyIcepaw

Genre(s): slice of life, romance, amare, otome, furry, 

UI Shown: Main menu, credits, textbox, preferences, route selection, chapter screen, choice box

Notes: 

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Divisa Masterlist

Divisa

//Latin and Italian for: Divided//

||adj.||

— split into parts; separated

— not united; in disagreement

Parings; LADS OT4 x reader (not mc)

Themes; reality hopping, slight angst, slowburn, AU but within the same universe

Warnings; excessive swearing and mature content (in the endings)

Upload schedule; sporadic (when I finish a chapter, I post it immediately– which means I'll get to it when I get to it 💜)

Summary;

« You were divided on how to feel. On one hand, you were inside your favourite otome game; you could see the world and the men that you were only able to view through your phone. But…on the other hand, you were trapped here with no way out…and you were not the main character. Well, you are but you're not at the same time, because you can see…another you standing in the distance next to a tall man. The other you was dressed in the Hunter's uniform with the default, long black hair, but her face– she had your face »

|| animus select ||

「animus is Latin for character」

☆ One ☆

☆ Two ☆

☆ Three ☆

☆ Four ☆

☆ Five ☆

☆ Six ☆

☆ Seven ☆

☆ Eight ☆

☆ Nine ☆

☆ Ten ☆

Let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist!

[aeipathcy]

Why did she feel even more offended by Vivian insisting she was cute? Reanne couldn't place it until she heard the girl compare her to some... fictional(?) character from some manga or anime or whatever. Her expression froze again as she tried to process which was worse. Really, was it worse being compared to stupid pixels or a living person she hated with every fiber of her being? If this were an anime scene, she could imagine the little black swirl effect thingy right by her head right now.

Struggling to understand Vivian's point thanks to the nerdy lingo, Reanne was even more lost in her conflicting emotions. Her acquaintance said to take it as a compliment, but she really couldn't do that.

❝ Ugh, fine! Use it—whatever! I can't even argue when I don't understand a word you're saying! ❞

Pressing her fingers to her temples, she rubbed them fiercely as she let out another stabilizing breath, letting her budding frustration subside as she calmed down again. At least these methods, like the deep breathing, her therapist recommended were good at curbing impulsive anger responses these days.

A smile graced her features as Vivian agreed to check out the clearance section, her hands clapped together as she beamed happily, ❝ Exactly! You don't even have to try anything if you don't want to. It's fun to window shop and dis fashion trends sometimes! ❞ Though, she really wanted Vivian to try an outfit or two on, at least for her sake so she didn't feel like she was hogging the whole spotlight (as much as she loved doing that), ❝ but at least let me coordinate something for you one time? It'd be a shame if you didn't get to try something on as well. ❞

❝ I mean, what's the harm in trying something new? Even I need to branch out with style—I stick to the same stuff all the time—and I've never seen you without a hoodie and an unflattering silhouette thanks to baggy pants. ❞

Practically shoving the girl's shoulders, she began to push her over to the clearance section filled with a messy array of tops, bottoms, and other random garments thanks to rude shoppers. She laughed as the dark-haired girl threw her another compliment, easily soaking up that praise like a sponge, Haha, thanks! But I bet some nice pants would do you well too—even if you kept the worn out hoodie. ❞

    As if unable to comprehend, perplexed blinks would soon roll off her eyelids. "Yet you are cute?" Vivian then voices aloud, making it rather apparent she clearly had no idea why Reanne managed to be offended by the word. "In fact, you look a lot like the 3D version of Izumi Akazawa from Another." Of course, it failed to dawn on her she probably had no idea who she was talking about, but regardless, she'll subsequently allow her gaze to wander towards her outfit from top to bottom before swivelling back up to focus onto her face.

    "'Dash of flirty and confident', huh? Not gonna lie, I'm not really a fashion person or someone who is a good judge when it comes to clothes, so I wouldn't know. Those shorts do seem to suit you, however," Vivian goes on to admit. Honestly, she wasn't lying either, because unlike most girls, she wasn't the type to really shop for clothes... hence why she showed up, wearing baggy pants and a hoodie. "Still, don't you think the gap moe of a cute name like 'Riri' and your cool-ness somehow complements each other?" came her next query, uttered so carefreely, one would conclude she simply marches to the beat of her own drum.

    Regardless, it doesn't take long for Vivian to gradually peer in the direction where Reanne was gesturing.

    "Oh... you sure you want me to come check it out with you? 'Cause I think I'd be more interested finding stuff for you than for me," she points out. Why, considering Vivian already had a friend that could sew high quality stuff, the need to buy more clothes for herself was never quite there, since she was so used to Hayate repairing the holes in her pants and making stuff that suited her petite frame; only, she was usually too lazy to coordinate a good outfit based on her own wardrobe, to the point where she would usually dress like a slob.

    "I mean, you're so much nicer on the eyes than I am, that I'd probably end up using you as a makeshift mannequin," she eventually adds. Given how casually Vivian states this, on the other hand, one would think she was stating a mere fact than a self deprecating opinion.

[portsandstars]

Revisiting Red Spring Studio's Interview with Blerdy Otome - Select Quotes

It's been almost a year since RSS had this interview, but I think that many people have not listened to it, or recently revisited it. I thought I'd highlight some quotes from it, though the entire interview is worth watching! Some of these quotes I have lightly modified for clarity or succinctness but the majority are direct transcripts.

23:30: "Touchstarved is a horror romance visual novel where the entire cast is made up of characters where you're like, "I can fix them!" but you actually can't. I think that Touchstarved is a very complex and mature story with really really complex themes and interwoven routes and obviously it's very sexy at the same it's a romance - and I think it's one of those games that I've always wanted to see exist and I think that a lot of the team has always wanted to see this game exist as far as being this kind of like dark, broody, moody, but also very deep, right, and authentic and honest exploration - Monsters, and the feeling of being a monster - feeling of being an "other", right, whether you're queer or POC or anything like that… we've created a game that's not only really fun and action-packed and bloody and all that kind of stuff… but very heartfelt in a way that I hope readers can pick up on.

Imo, this line of reasoning ("you can't fix them", and the cast's monstrous nature and how it intrinsically ties to/is an analogy for being queer, or POC) - makes me think that even in the good endings for the game, your character won't be minimizing the character's monstrousness. For example, even if your character has the Power of True Love, it's not going to make Vere nonviolent or absolve Kuras's guilt.

25:35: "These themes are pretty complicated in a way that's messy and honestly bloody and I think for that reason is why we're looking at a mature rating - that said, when we set out to make the game our goal wasn't really to be explicit, it was much more to focus on sexiness . . ."

Just clarifying that there won't be explicit sex scenes in the game.

28:55: "What are some aspects of the story that you are most excited to showcase?" "I'm so excited that people get to die terribly, that just gets me so pumped up. Like in previous jobs I have not been allowed to brutally murder . . . main characters permanently and it's very important to me that I now have the power to write really just messed up awful endings…Don't worry, there's also good endings there too, they just get as much passion and all that stuff as the bad endings… but the bad endings, oh my gosh, those are some of my favorites."

This line makes me curious about whether the main characters are just MC, or if the other characters will brutally die as well!

30:50 "A little while ago we posted Kuras's character reveal and people really like the fact that he can't cook so for me it's really cute and innocent seeing people obsess over that fact and I really just want them to see the contrast between that version of Kuras in their head and what he's actually like in his route. Like I just really want to see them react to like the terrible things he's going to do. . . They're all awful in different ways that I'm really excited for people to see it - it's very funny to see everyone be like _Literally name any of the characters of the cast and be like "they're my little meow meow" and it's like, oh. good. I hope this continues once they learn more about the characters. Obviously they're all wonderful - right, the characters are all awful but they're also all wonderful".

32:26 : "the theme of monstrousness and how each character kind of approaches it differently . . . because they're all monsters, even if they're not literally monsters . . .it also plays into each character's brand of horror in their own way as well that ties into their monstrous nature."

This line especially (to me) hints at how Leander is likely not SPECIFICALLY a monster, but a human with a monstrous nature.

34:30: - Ais was the first character they made and each of the other characters build upon him, so they spent a lot of time getting him right. Vere was the easiest to create and they made him in a weekend. Kuras was the hardest to create (especially visually).

38:00 "This is a romance game and a big draw of the game is making a love connection with these characters - do you all plan on including platonic friendship routes in addition to romance routes, or is it strictly romance?" The way that we planned out this game is that we wanted to focus on the intimacy of these individual relationships between the main character and the love interest and the route that they're on, right, so this is the way we had planned the game from the beginning. We really like poly romances, for example, and friendships, but we think that it wouldn't have made much sense for the characters in the story that we had written for them because this entire story - with who the main character is and why they're having to turn to these mysterious monstrous strangers - there's a level of intimacy involved in the themes and stories that we really focused on for how we're writing…

It's almost like a narrative design intentionality we did early on because each route that you'll be able to play from the main five cast is very driven and each character is like a ticking time bomb in their own way. So if you choose to romance Vere, Kuras's route still continues and you can see the effects of what not choosing Kuras is in Vere's route when you're playing Vere's route. So the world is meant to be very interwoven and interconnected where you can see the ripples of everyone's choices even when you're not romancing them and in that way we've designed this cast that's woven together. So if we did want to do a poly route, we would probably have to do entirely new characters . ."

43:30: "One of the fundamental goals of this game was to have, as you've been saying, a living world - a world that's evolving, and one of the ways that we wanted to communicate that was with the idea that these characters are not doing great… um, they're all in very very bad situations, uh, they're all essentially doomed if you do not go with them and it's seeing that carried out in each route that I hope will be really interesting for people.. it will be very sad, in a good way".

ARGHHH this is the WORST. This means that if you choose a character, you're essentially dooming the others. Though this will undoubtedly manufacture delicious angst, I'm soooo sad at imagining each of the other characters faltering and ultimately failing on their paths because you didn't chose them. Though, I wonder if there are some routes where multiple characters turn out ok, or if the entire cast is doomed as soon as you don't select them (in different ways depending on the route)?

54:30: "I also want to clarify too that even though we've been talking about blood a lot and all that kind of stuff and death and we love those parts of the story, um, if you get those endings there's a reason why, you know what I'm saying - you have to actively try to get those endings - poke the bear with a stick."

Definitely referencing Vere's bad ending in the demo. Personally I am too curious to avoid them, but it's encouraging that some of the MC deaths appear to be because you deliberately make dangerous choices, rather than simply "tricking" the player and surprising them.

Let me know what you think of these quotes, and the whole interview is definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it!

[satoshi-mochida]

Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling coming west in 2024

Gematsu Source

Idea Factory International will release otome visual novel Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling for Switch in 2024 in the west, the publisher announced.

Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling will launch first in Japan on November 30.

Here is an overview of the game, via Idea Factory International:

About

While working for a major marriage agency named Cupid Corporation, Cupid the goddess of love herself, strived to become the top bridal advisor. She was assigned five hopeless clients known as the Parasite 5! Even after guiding them through mock dates, matchmaking seminars, and the reality show “Parasite House,” all five abruptly canceled their memberships! Yet their departures brought all their personal challenges to the surface. As she confronted these issues with them, they overcame many unexpected obstacles… And she fell in love with “him.” This is the continued love story of the goddess of love, Cupid, experiencing love firsthand. It’s the tale of when she becomes a goddess “only” for him. Marriage wasn’t the end goal, but the start of a new chapter. Whether they began dating or got married, the only thing awaiting them is a series of unexpected challenges! A mysterious new creature has appeared in Los York! Could it be a divine message or evidence of an unknown civilization? A love story so sweet, it’ll make your heart melt! The whirlwind of feelings taking the world by storm is far from over! An endearing, joyful, and chaotic tale that’s richer and more exhilarating than ever! This romance featuring a former goddess is so sweet and spicy, it’ll make your teeth ache and set your soul ablaze! And in Merenice Levin’s route, her days as Cupid are far from over! A romantic and comedic story in the world of matchmaking is set to unfold!

Key Features

Sweeter and Spicier! – Return to Los York with the original cast of Cupid Parasite, plus an all new-character Merenice Levin. Rendezvous with seven of the sweetest and spiciest bachelors in up to three game modes and unlock over 80 CGs, including some that may be too hot to handle!

All Different Flavors to Choose From – Pick from three different modes that can satiate anyone with a sweet tooth. Select “After Drama” mode to follow-up with the original Parasite 6 and pick up from where you last left off. Go with “New Parasite” mode for a chance to experience Merenice Levin’s perspective of the events that take place after the common route of Cupid Parasite. You can also explore routes you unlocked in “Bonus Episode” mode for six bonus episodes with their own unlockable CGs!

In Sweetness and In Spiciness?! – You must choose the flavor of the next course. Will you go with the sweet? Or will you go with the spicy? When prompted with the choice during gameplay, select between sweet or spicy to impact the ending of your selected route. Manage to balance the flavors for a chance at something really appetizing.

Rich, Decadent Visuals and Savory Scenarios – The original scenario writer and illustrator of Cupid Parasite return! Ririka Yoshimura (scenario writer) and Yuuya (illustrator) join forces once again to bring fans a delectable addition to the Cupid Parasite universe.

Watch a teaser trailer below. View a set of screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here.

Teaser Trailer

[hananoami]

Hi hi I have a question I’ve never played an otome game before l&d and I was wondering how they usually end with resolving the story between the multiple love interests also I see your post about Caleb being added do you have a guess on how many more love interests we are getting? Thanks for answering!

Hi hi @kindlerofstars! Welcome to the world of otomes games, hehe~

As far as I know all of the character storylines are separated. Meaning their individual plots should not affect any of the other love interest's storyline. You can see this message at the bottom of the "Who You Want To Meet" section when selecting a LI.

This is probably to avoid discord within the community and also a way to prevent boycotts from those die hard individual stans (they can be kinda wild, yanno?).

From what we've learned from the Opposing Visions Live Stream back in July we're also expected to see Main Story Branches start from September to December. Right now the Main Story doesn't really have on any romantic scenes between MC and the guys. However, these separate branches will serve as a way to focus on a romantic route with your love interest of choice, or whatever is available on release.

Unlike your traditional otome game where there is an End Game we probably wont be seeing that any time soon in Love and Deepspace. This is to ensure the longevity of the gacha game. After all it is a business at the end of the day.

As for Caleb there have been so many subtle hints that we will be seeing him again, and most likely as another love interest. I'm not here to stir up drama nor do I want any part of it, but whether you like or dislike him you cannot deny the fact that:

He has his own Text Message/Moments/Call history in MC's phone.

The devs even said in their Q&A back in January that he's waiting to meet us again in future updates...🥺🥺🥺 I'll attach the screenshot below.

To be honest I think Caleb will be the last love interest they will add for a while. I also saw the theory floating around of there potentially being up to 6 love interest, but that's way too far into the future for me to make any kind of speculation.