Brothers Conflict – 09-10
foreveralone
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Well, I managed to complete all of Sweet Fuse in less than 48 hours, but I haven’t made any progress at all on Brothers Conflict from when I last posted the game review. …Which is really sad, considering I only have half a route left. I should really hurry though, since Brilliant Blue comes out this month. |
Episode 9-
It was a straight out “no” to Futo, but Ema chooses to spend the night with Natsume after he confesses. Hmm… Though after her not pushing away Tsubaki during the couch incident and Natsume not being too pushy (which I imagine was Ema’s problem with Futo), her actions here loose some credibility. Even more so with her being okay with Juli and Rui’s actions later in the episode (plus Juli’s was in a dream). She’s openly blushing around Natsume, so there is that. …I can’t say that Natsume’s confession was good timing on any part though. Ema just told him that she didn’t like how they were all fighting over her. However, I guess his words about how she was just that important calmed her down. I knew that Ema’s feelings about her position in the Asahina family was coming, but it’s still interesting to see her struggle with how she’s causing fights to break out.
Ema’s actions towards being adopted here was actually way less annoying than what happened in the game. Here, she felt lost, but it definitely wasn’t as ridiculous as yelling at Rintarou and not listening to a word he said, as if the fact that she was adopted was somehow his fault. Plus her feelings were about how her real parents didn’t want her, Rintarou seemed like he didn’t want her, and how she’s just causing problems for the Asahina family are all pretty relatable. It totally brought in the fact that Rintarou has just kind of left Ema to fend for herself. I liked that they pointed that part out, when normally it would just be a plot convenience thing to make the romance around the house less awkward. …Now if only Rintarou and Ema had a heart to heart that wasn’t over text message. I realize that he’s out of the country, but really, he could have called or something when he heard that Ema went missing. I was under the impression that Rintarou had money since he’s (apparently) famous, and if Miwa has enough money to raise 10+ kids, she should have enough for a long distance call. Really, he feels even more distant from Ema, since the truth about Ema’s past came from Juli (instead of Rintarou, like the games).
The Asahina family became significantly less QUALITY as time progressed.
Rui definitely family-zoned himself there (or maybe not, with that kiss?), but maybe it was the kind of comfort that Ema needed. Yep, he’s the adopted one of the family, making Miwa’s number of kids slightly (but not really) less ridiculous. …Though why she’d want to adopt another kid after giving birth to so many already is beyond me. At least him being adopted gave him some experience to make Ema feel less depressed. And even if Rui didn’t entirely family-zone himself, Masaomi seems like he did with his “I need to be like her father” comment.
…And then this happened.
…What the hell is going on here? I have no comments for the fact that Juli is apparently a butler in disguise (well, this was kind of hinted at in the games, but not really), but at least my theory that there will be a Juli route in Brilliant Blue is pretty much confirmed, if they bothered to give him a full design as a human. …And if they somehow don’t give him a route, then I will be severely disappointed. Kamiya doesn’t do enough otome game roles. OTL
Episode 10-
Go, Ukyou!
Hmm, let’s keep things short and to the point. I wasn’t impressed with Futo this episode. He did stop and rethink his approach before anything happened, but dear lord, what was he thinking? Don’t answer that. Hindsight is 20/20, but Juli was totally right when he was worried about Ema living with “wolves” at the beginning of the series. At least Kaname seems to have gotten the message about Ema emphasizing that she wants to be family. …Or at least he says he has. That kiss on the cheek kind of felt more ‘family-like’ as opposed to his previous antics. If only he had some brotherly advice to give at the time, though that coworker of his had some pretty monk-ish advice for Ema this episode. Kaname’s job is kind of shady, but hopefully this showed that they can be professional on occasion. Also, hopefully that conversation helps Ema finally tell the other brothers that she just wants to be their sister. She seemed to have finally realized that she’s just running away, and that’s not solving anything.
Natsume’s reactions to Hikaru’s questions during the car ride was pretty funny. Hikaru was right on the money with his questions though, not that any of the characters would let him know it. Hikaru’s a nice break from all of the other brothers right now, since he sees Ema’s appeal (or at least, he did in the novels; I don’t know about here), but he’s having way too much fun being an observer to his brothers acting like morons as opposed to participant. He even has a spreadsheet going on with the brother’s ‘statistics’, if you didn’t catch that from the end of the episode. …Have they bothered explaining why he cross dresses yet? I can’t remember if they have or not. I guess if they don’t, people can just assume that it’s just him just being the weird brother again.
…I can’t tell if these characters really want to be Ema’s family or not. However, I am enjoying these episodes more than the previous ones (though that just might be my current mood as opposed to the story actually getting better). For sure though, that episode with Ema worrying about her real family was good. Maybe not Natsume rushing things with really horrible timing, but the points Ema brought up for running away were pretty valid. They didn’t go into details much about the whole adoption thing, but Rui’s message about how it’s the heart that’s important opposed to blood relations seemed like good advice.
Now all of the characters have had some sort of exposition aside from Iori, who seems to have vanished from the anime. …Er, I guess Masaomi has kind of been non-existent too, but he seems to be safely in the ‘family’ side of things with Ema. Unless they plan on completely ignoring his personality altogether, I’d say it’s safe to say that Iori will be one of the family members after Ema. Since he’s kind of a
…I don’t have anything witty to say about the preview, so have a picture of Kaname.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I’ve got it as Masaomi, Ukyo, Hikaru, Wataru, Kaname, and Rui are family-zoned. Hikaru is just a big troll, isn’t he? His questions were almost like the Teen Girl Squad getting “ARROWED!” And no, the show hasn’t explained why he cross-dresses. I would have thought it’s because otherwise he wouldn’t stand out, kind of like Iori (the forgotten brother). Iori: Show ▼
What the hell was Futo doing? What, you get turned down so now you’re gonna rape her? WTF? I think his teen idolness has gone to his head. I’d love for Yusuke or Subaru to just punch him out. I’m still rooting for Yusuke and Subaru in this show. They’re the only ones of the non-obviously-family-zoned to deal with Ema in a ‘normal’ way, I think.
Dream Juli was just another WTF. I liked Rui’s talk about what’s important, and if Ema didn’t make as big a deal out of being adopted as in the game, that must have been horrible to deal with. She wasn’t atrocious here, but it was close to being too much. I mean, “My dead parents didn’t want me…”?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
It’s funny because Hikaru’s route isn’t really like that at all.
Show ▼
…Yeah, I don’t know about dream Juli. I’m just praying for a route in the upcoming game so I can hear Kamiya outside of a BL game for once. OTL I didn’t think Ema was too bad. I thought she didn’t know about her parents being dead until Juli told her, and by then she was over it.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Wow, didn’t know that about Iori. Actually I don’t know ANYTHING about Iori other than that he’s around Ema’s age, goes to a different school where ever girl thinks he’s dreamy, and he does the gardening. That IT. The guy barely says anything this entire series. He’s worse than Masaomi and Ukyo, who though not seen much, have at least made their presence known.
However, if he’s really like that, than he can get crossed of the list of potentials along with Futo. Both of them need some real help. One needs to grow up, and the other needs to see a professional.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Also, which one was Rui again?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Hairdresser. The one on the boat in episode 10. Also known as Louis.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Oh yes, I just know him as Louis. Perhaps he’s the only one known by a Western name since he was adopted and his original parents were Western as well? His parents had to have named him considering how old he was when adopted.
Also, now that I think about it, it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t like the rest of the family, in not just his name, but that he is the only one that can understand animals (perhaps showing his European origin 😛 ), and he’s one of the few who seem to simply love her as a sister.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I was guessing that “Louis” was an affectation of Rui given that he’s a hair stylist, and doesn’t everyone want a French stylist?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
His name is comprised of the kanji “琉生”, so I don’t know if it’s western… Though I don’t know if “Louis” is really how you normally pronounce those two kanji. I can read it for the most part, and I can understand spoken Japanese, but hell if I can tell you which kanji make which sounds aside from a few of them.
Those are interesting points though. I’ll have to pay attention when I do his route.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I would say that “Louis” is a perfectly cromulent westernization of るい read in a French style. Other direction too: Louis would be るい. And that’s certainly how that kanji name is pronounced (it actually comes up on my name dictionary, where a lot of kanji names don’t).
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
You know, thinking about it more, I think that the way that the triplets pursue Ema wouldn’t bother me as much if she was more of a personality. But every interaction with them seems to be her being completely hesitant and them pushing too much. If she showed either active assent or dissent, it would be better, but it always seems like she’s just completely surprised and speechless at the whole idea, which they all seem to take as various levels of “ok”.
Here’s hoping that Subaru or Yuusuke don’t blow it by using their methods (it felt to me that Subaru didn’t quite go that far).
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’ll tell you now, I don’t think Subaru has that great of a chance. He’s going off to pursue basketball, remember. Yusuke is the bigger contender.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I don’t think he’s got much chance either, but he wasn’t skeevy about it. So he’s still ahead of everyone else in my eyes.
Personally, I’m rooting for Yuusuke.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Unless they decide to magically turn Juli human permanently, I’ll stick with Yusuke too. Everyone else is either too old, too young, have other aspirations, or just too aggressive when it comes to being a believable match.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Just curious, is there a Juli route in the VN?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Not in Passion Pink. I’ll be able to let you know about Brilliant Blue around the end of September/early October when my game ships here. …Assuming I get around to playing it then.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
So, Iori is a yandere… he’s kinda.. not very likeable, as opposed to most brothers.
Yay, Juli as a human ^_^ It was so nice to hear Kamiya’s voice sound relaxed and natural. Waaah~ =w=
The scene in the car was my favorite part of the episode. Idk why, but I really felt that the scene portrayed the fact that they’re indeed brothers, and really know each other from head to toe. And it was funny. He plainly made fun of everyone in the car 😀
Eerrr…. Futo? o-o Why are you so pathetically tsundere? That was a little bit of a mess there, if you ask me. First, he’s like I’LL FUCKING RAPE YOU, EMA! and then THAT happened. Wth? o-o
Ukyo is the cutest of all brothers, hands down. He’s so likeable, I’m just…. HNGGGG~ 😀 After him, I would put the triplets(despite their stupidly terrible approaching), next, it would be Yuusuke and Subaru. And then the rest.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Maybe yandere was a poor choice of words, but he’s certainly… broken.
Uwah, yes! Kamiya!!! I am REALLY hoping for a Juli route. …Which is funny because at the beginning of playing the game, I was like “oh lord, I hope that there isn’t a squirrel route. That would be awkward.” xD
Ahaha… Futo was never like that in the game, I swear. I don’t know why, but a lot of the brothers act way worse/dislikable here than they did in the games. OTL
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Is there much competition between brothers in the games? Or is it more that you have one route and you have another route, and the brother that you’re focusing on is the only one with a chance (and maybe I asked this before)? If that’s the case, then having it be a harem in the anime is a different metaphor, where they’re actually trying to outdo the others. Of course, that makes their unlikeability even worse, although it stems from possessiveness.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh hell no. The only time they were particularly competitive was if you were dating 2 at once and even then, there were 0 negative effects aside from if you missed a route event because you weren’t paying attention. And even then, it was never THIS bad. Hell, the brothers played wingman for each other at some points (Futo was really helpful in getting Yusuke and Ema together, for instance)
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Fuuto? O_O whoa. Why did they make such a poor excuse of a tsudere out of him then? o-o
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
This adaptation seems upside down. First, Ema’s personality basically disintegrates, which is strange, because if she acted like a normal human being in the game, there was no reason to turn her into a brick in the anime. And then, as you said, the brothers act very differently. I feel like they took whatever you may have liked about this anime/game and threw it away 😀 But I still like it a lot <3
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…Yeah, that’s a pretty accurate statement there. All of the adorableness that I loved it just… gone. This is okay too, but it feels like a completely different series.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Screw all the brother, I’ll take Juli. He’s cute, non-related by law or blood, and he really cares for her. If they somehow find some magical way to turn him human a la fairy tale, I’d be pretty happy.
Natsume was my last hope, but even he has fallen into the vat of guys who should have lives and girlfriends of their own by now, but somehow find themselves getting hot and bothered over a 17 year-old teen.
If not Juli, than I’d go with Yusuke as he seems to be the only one here who decided to do things normally and not just kiss the girl out of the blue or try to force themselves on her. Other than that all the others are too hot-blooded, forceful, or are just mature enough not to be into her.
And I’m sorry, I couldn’t stand Futo before, but the boy crossed the line this time. That kid needs some forceful discipline or something, because if he thinks that being an idol will get him whatever he wants, and he’s only 15, he’s in for a world of hurt later in life. I don’t take rape lightly, and what Futo attempted to do, made him permanently lose all favor in my eyes.
As for Ema, they have finally mentioned that Chi is a nickname, however that means that throughout this entire show, they have never mentioned her by her real name. Ever. Interesting. Yet, at least the presence of a nickname gives her a step above Heroine in Amnesia.
As for the big reveal about what was in the registry, I’m actually glad that it was quite a big reveal for our girl, and it was something that would drastically affect anybody. I call bullcrap on her adopted father supposedly “taking care of her” since he would leave her alone for months at a time even when she was pretty much a toddler. However, I’m glad Ema got some great consoling from Louis, who knows exactly what she’s going through, and from Juli, who’s always been looking after her. Though, do squirrels even have that long of a life span? Maybe he is magical after all? 😀
I give episode 9 a 8/10, and 10 I give a 7.3/10.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Apparently squirrels in captivity can live over 20 years. So Juli could have been around that long.
Louis Bro-Zoned himself for a good cause, yet that might be a favored position as far as attention.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Best Bro-zone spot “attention-wise” is held by Wataru. He’s only a kid and the baby of the family, so of course girls will gravitate towards him.
Of the 13, Louis, Masaomi, Hikaru, Ukyo, and of course, Wataru, have all stayed in the brother zone. All the others have fallen for our heroine for some reason or other. Well, except for Iori, who has had the most non-presence all season. The guy barely has any scenes, and no character development. Weird.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…He’s secretly a butler. I’d say that Juli is magical
plus he talks, that should be a huge giveaway xD. It’s weird that Juli was present during her real parents though here. From the games, I was under the impression that Juli was given to her by her adopted father. Also, her real father was a senpai to Rintarou, thus why he was the one who adopted her around when she was age 2.Eh, artistic licence, I guess.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
There is nothing that can convince me that that non-presence of a character (I think that that Rintarou has only had a two lines of dialogue thus far?) was a responsible parent, despite anything Ema or Juli say, but I can at least give him props for adopting the girl.
And if they make Juli human and flesh him out some more, he could be this series’ wildcard, like Ukyo in Amnesia. I’ll always go for the wildcards. 😉
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Considering the fact that he talks, he probably is 😀 And plus, that dream… mahou doubutsu! 😀