Not that I’ve ever reviewed anything by Rejet on Metanorn before. …This is probably the fastest I’ve ever fully completed an otome game. It came out May 28th and it arrived for me Monday, so I pretty much dropped absolutely everything I was doing and became a shut in to play this. Mind you though, it is pretty short. Anyways, I would have put this all into one single post, but with only 4/6 routes written, I was near 10,000 words. So to make this look less stupidly long, I’m splitting the game into 2 posts (plus I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about some routes). ヽ(´ー`)ノ So Kashu Rem, Nagihara Ryota and Tojo Kairi will be in part 2.
This was certainly a Rejet game, but it surprisingly wasn’t as dark as something like say, Black Wolves Saga or Diabolik Lovers.
Plot Summary
Kawana Hina is a transfer student to the super elite school, Saint Christopher, due to the family moving for her father’s promotion. When she first arrives though, there’s a teacher’s meeting going on. Though that has nothing to do with anything and is just a convenient plot excuse to have her meet all of her new (ikemen) teachers at once. The teachers all have some sort of dark side to their personality. But it’s not like Hina knows that yet. It’s not until she has to go for “special guidance lessons” for breaking school regualtions that she learns that her teachers are all ドS and have issues aren’t as nice as she thought they were. There are a ton of rules at Saint Christopher’s, so Hina inevitably breaks one.
So based on a choice right at the beginning of the game, Hina gets to date one of her bipolar teachers. Er, maybe “date” is stretching it a bit. There’s not a whole lot of actual romance, and it’s mostly just Hina sitting through the teacher’s various mental issues until they finally sort out their lives (if they ever do) and then maybe something happens in the ending.
…I’m using the drama CD covers for preview pictures, since this game has a pitiful amount of CG’s, minus the endings and I was really disappointed to find out that the covers appeared in the OP, but nowhere else like say, in the actual game. OTL
Shido Kaname
The “perfectionist”. Kaname is the English teacher and he went to some elite university in the US. He’s rather popular with students due to his kind personality and easy to understand explanations, but he’s just a liiiittle bit obsessed with following the rules. Or that’s what I thought his issue was at first, but that seems to apply to all of the teachers, so it’s probably best just to call him a sadist. …Though that also applies to all of the other teachers as well. Let’s just go with the “perfectionist” thing. His glasses are just for appearances (though, uh, I’m definitely not complaining that he wears them). Takahashi Hiroki is his seiyuu. …I’d explain who that is, but the last notable thing I’ve heard him in is Jooubachi no Oubou (a …not so good R-18 otome game ww).
On the first day, people in her class warn her about the strict rules of the school, since it turns out that she brought some forbidden items without knowing. In English class though, Kaname praises her for getting a question right. As a note that has nothing to do with anything, Rejet’s English usage is surprisingly pretty good, minus one occasion of “you’re well come”.
Anyways, Hina goes to the rooftop for lunch and when reading the handbook there, she learns that going on the roof without permission is yet another infraction of the rules. Kaname comes by at that moment and Hina has to explain that she wasn’t aware of the rules. She also shares that she brought a bunch of things that she wasn’t supposed to. Kaname points out that she should have been aware of the rules before she transferred since she signed some contract, so all she can do is apologize.
Aaaand about maybe 10 minutes in to the route, the game goes right in to ドS mode.
At home, Hina gets a letter that she needs to attend a special guidance class, and as soon as she goes into the creepy windowless underground special duty room, Kaname locks the door. Apparently his lack of glasses means serious business. He has Hina sit down and then acts extremely intimidating, saying that her apologies are just lies and excuses. Her breaking the rules was a direct betrayal of him, and Hina has to say exactly what she did wrong in extreme detail. I forget if this is where he says that people who break the rules are less than human, but needless to say, the entire ordeal frightens Hina.
At lunchtime, he sits next to Hina, and tells her that he doesn’t have a wife to make him lunch. Hina wants to get the hell out of there, but Kaname asks why she’s eating so quickly and to relax more, since she’s a transfer student. Though when he gets close and asks if it’s because she’s afraid of him, she accidentally spills tea on herself. So Kaname is back to kind teacher mode and dries her off while getting uncomfortably close. …Though really, everyone gets really close in almost every scene, since Rejet probably wanted to get the most out of the DHM recordings ww.
In the hallway, he approaches Hina and asks if she’s doing alright, since she seems off. …A lot of it is fear of the guy, but he acts like a good teacher. Hina gets red when he gets really close, so he checks to see if she has a fever or anything. She needs to take care of her health since she’s an important student of his. In class, Hina’s friends talk about how there’s recently been a suspicious guy following students from the school. Since it’s full of rich kids, they figure that it might be a kidnapper or something.
Hina spots Kaname in the hallway again, and sees that he’s helping out students with questions from class. After that’s done, he notices Hina and stops her. He’s concerned about the reported suspicious person and makes sure that she’s being careful going home. Kaname goes to leave, but then remembers something else that he wants to say. He tells Hina to come to some classroom on the third floor, leaving her to worry that she’s broken school regulations again. However, this time it’s to praise her for doing such a good job recently in following the rules.
In class, Hina notices how popular Kaname is, but then thinks to herself that she understands the other student’s feelings since he’s a nice guy. By this point, she just figures that his little episode at the beginning wasn’t the real him. When studying in the library, she comes across a student yearbook and finds some picture of Kaname and another student who was some sort of top exemplary student. Kaname comes in to the library and notices the book Hina was looking at, so they go over it together. Though when Hina asks if the person in the picture was a student of Kaname’s he gets rather cold and says that he needs to go.
After school one day, Hina forgets something in the classroom, and going out, she runs in to Kaname. He apologizes for not paying attention, and the impact knocked his glasses off, so Hina gets distracted by the fact that Kaname looks totally different without them on. This is where he admits that he really doesn’t need them. Another day, Hina is stuck on cleaning duty alone, since there’s a cold going around. Kaname passes by and decides to help her. She feels kind of uncomfortable at first since it’s still awkward after what happened in the library, but he finally gets her to act like normal. …Though there’s also a line that her reactions to him being mean just make him want to do it more.
As an update to the suspicious man attacking students, apparently he wears black gloves. …Though this revelation never seems to go anywhere. Also, thankfully, nobody from the school has been harmed so far.
Hina is called out by “Friend A” (no really, that’s her name) for help. Relationships are forbidden, so she wants Hina to give a senpai a charm to wish him luck in a basketball game in her place. Hina doesn’t quite get why Friend A can’t give the charm herself, but after her own run in with breaking regulations, and figuring that “helping” isn’t against any rules, she agrees. Basketball Senpai accepts, and Friend A is extremely happy. …But then Kaname tells Hina to make sure that she checks her mail properly. So yeah, it’s another special guidance lesson.
However, this time, Hina tells Kaname that she did absolutely nothing against the rules. She helped her friend give a charm to a boy, but it’s not like her friend confessed. She was merely cheering the guy on in club activities. Hina says that she was just supporting healthy student life and she wanted to be true to her feelings anyways. Kaname has no choice but to agree that she didn’t really do anything wrong… though he adds at the end that he won’t be so lenient in the future.
After that, he regularly leaves the classroom earlier than usual after class, and Hina wonders if it’s her fault. They meet when Hina drops off papers in the staff room. Though before they can talk, Rem’s voice is heard looking for Hina. Kaname quickly grabs her and holds her by the stairs. Apparently this was to hide Hina, since Rem would probably just use her for human experimentation (ww oh his route seems like it will be interesting). After things are safe, Hina apologizes for her outburst in the guidance class. She thinks that she was just a little bit too defensive, when Kaname obviously wasn’t aware of the whole situation. He tells her not to worry about it, and tells her that it just seems like he’s avoiding her because he’s been busy dealing with the recent student attacks. …Though he mutters to himself after Hina leaves, so maybe he wasn’t as busy as he said he was.
Hina gets stuck alone on cleaning duty again, and Kaname helps out again. It’s some day summary thing, and basically Kaname just sits beside her and compliments her name, writing, etc. Once again, Hina makes the decision that Kaname is just a really kind teacher. When helping him in the library, she falls off a ladder while trying to reach a book. Kaname catches her, and she’s worried that she might have almost broken a rule again (by damaging books), but Kaname says that his concern is over her and not the books. His duty to her safety is more important. He pats her head, but she accuses him of treating her like a child. After the work is done though, he carries the papers back instead of Hina. Since she didn’t like him treating her like a child, he’ll escort her back like a lady.
One day after school, Kaname is waiting at the gates when Hina leaves, since he’s apparently on watch duty (though after she leaves, he comments how he waited there a while for her). He also has a flashback about a former student he once guided approached him when he was graduating. Though that thought is interrupted by an emergency teachers meeting.
It’s completely dark as Hina heads home, and she suddenly realizes that she’s being followed. The person catches up and asks if she knows Shido. When she recognizes the name, the guy attacks because he has some kind of grudge. He asks Hina if she’s become Kaname’s doll yet, and she recognizes him as the person who she asked Kaname about in the yearbook. Kaname arrives in time and saves her (but, uh, this isn’t necessarily a good thing).
Collapse Ending: Sometime later, Friend A talks to Kaname, since she’s really worried about Hina. She hasn’t come to school for multiple days and even her mother doesn’t know where she is. Kaname just tells her not to worry, though he does’t know where Hina is. …I assumed that this would have been one of those things where he kidnapped her, but it turns out that Hina had some sort of mental breakdown and did this herself. She’s waiting in the guidance room, and when Kaname finds her, she begs for him to guide her, because she’s such a bad student. To put it lightly, she’s become kind of obsessed. Though to that, Kaname informs her that he finds no point in even bothering with her anymore, because she’s already too far gone. He just kind of leaves tellings her that she’s an eyesore and he never wants to see her face again. So she just ends up stalking him. At the end, she throws herself in front of his car to have him properly “scold her”.
Doll Ending: On the car ride to Hina’s house, Kaname starts rambling about how his guidance wasn’t enough, and that the guy they just ran in to was a “failed project”. Though Hina doesn’t have to worry, because this time Kaname will double his efforts to make sure that she’s absolutely perfect.
Cut to a time skip and Hina has been chosen as the exemplary student of the school. It turns out that after the incident, Hina went to special guidance classes every day and was pretty much brainwashed into becoming an empty shell of a person a perfect student. Today though, she’s called down for a reward. Kaname tells her that she used to just be a stupid animal, but it’s okay now, because she’s become a great student. \(^o^)/ wwww He was worried about his method at first, but since Hina turned out so perfectly, he figures that he was right all along. As a reward, he pats her head while she remembers how she found it easily pretty quickly to just go with whatever Kaname said and become his doll. Though she doesn’t really care now. In class, she finds out about how people in a different class are dating. Asking more about it, she thinks in her head how she’ll let Kaname know. Breaking the rules is unforgivable (plus she’s kind of bitter about her own situation).
Lovers Ending: Hina starts crying on the car ride home since she thinks Kaname is angry with her since he isn’t talking. Though he pulls over and hugs her. He wasn’t angry, he just didn’t know what to do, since he was just glad she made it out alright. Hina apologizes over and over, but Kaname says that it’s entirely his fault that she went through so many scary things. After she’s calmed down, he decides to explain things to her.
Back when Kaname was a new teacher, he and the former graduate guy they met earlier got along really well. The guy was a problem child, but Kaname went out of his way to help him …Though Kaname wasn’t a super ドS to him or anything, these were just normal interactions. However, the student was overworked and got into a bit of crime. THEN Kaname became a hardass and that made things worse. …Which makes it questionable why he continued with this method, but whatever. Kaname obviously regrets how things ended, so Hina tries to comfort him by saying how he’s not really a bad person and that everyone likes him for being a good-natured teacher. He shows a real smile and Hina realizes that she’s definitely in love, but will wait for the right time to act on it.
After she graduates, Hina attends the same university in the States that Kaname went to (due to his recommendation). After reading a letter from him, she also runs into him on the street. He took a flight to the US to see her, and I guess he and Hina became lovers somewhere in the time skip. She confessed after graduation, Kaname obviously accepted, and Hina just wants to support him in the future.
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Uwah, this wasn’t nearly as traumatizing as I was expecting. Though Shido isn’t the one who carries handcuffs, a whip, or scissors in his character design ww. Anyways, this was short, but Hina’s feelings seems like they built up reasonably. …I don’t know how well this came across, but Kaname basically flirted with her the whole time by getting close and saying things like how important Hina is as his student, etc. Though, uh, there was never really explanation as to why Kaname just started hitting on Hina out of all of the other student body (really, he only singled her out). After they actually knew more about each other it made sense, but I guess she was just *special* at the beginning. Maybe it was because she was kind of like that other student. Oh well. …The gaps between his “dark” and “light” sides seemed a bit weird though. Outside of the guidance classes, he was totally a different person.
Nagihara Taiki
Saint Christopher’s math teacher. His thing is supposed to be “paranoia”, but uh, I would have never guessed without reading the site. I was also wondering what the hell the clicking noise was all the time during hisドS moments too, but I guess it’s him playing with his lighter (his other “black” thing is that he smokes). Other than that though, Taiki is level headed and approachable enough. CV=Terashima Takuma.
Like in the last route, Hina starts off by doing well in class, and Taiki is impressed with her work. One day, Friend A needs help on a class assignment, and they go to Taiki’s office to ask questions. Hina borrows a pen during this, and when she remembers that she has it and goes to return it, she finds Taiki smoking. He puts out the cigarette, and kindly tells her to keep the pen. Hina feels bad about it though, so she agrees to Taiki’s suggestion that she help him out with his class materials and such in the future.
She helps out regularly, and Taiki offers her coffee that she then proceeds to spill on herself. He makes sure that she’s not injured and around this time, Hina asks him why he became a math teacher in the first place. To this though, Taiki gets quiet all of a sudden an tells her that there’s no deep meaning to it. Later, she also sees Taiki on the phone obviously looking unhappy in the hallway, but decides to leave because she doesn’t want to eavesdrop.
When Taiki sees some reference math textbook Hina has borrowed, he gets really serious and asks her about her impression of it. He realizes that he’s acting odd though, and apologizes. When Hina looks at the book’s author, she sees that its written by “Taizo Nagihara” and wonders if they’re related to Taiki. Friend A also tells Hina that Taiki’s father is some genius mathematician. In the hallway, Kaname notices that Taiki smells like tobacco recently and seems more stressed. Taiki just (politely) asks Kaname to go the hell away stay out of his private affairs.
Hina does some research on Taiki’s family in the library, and learns that his older brother died in an accident a long time ago. Though Taiki appears behind her, and Hina worries that she might have angered him. …He does act fairly angry, though he explains basically what Hina learned on the internet/ from Friend A. He also asks why she was looking into “such useless things”. Though he also has a pretty high tolerance level (compared to some of the other routes), since he realizes that he might be a little harsh and that Hina just might have done this out of harmless curiosity. Apparently this is still enough to scare Hina though.
They run in to one another in the hallway by accident, causing Hina to fall. Taiki fixes her skirt (much to her embarrassment) and tells her not to overwork. She also misses class one day due to feeling ill and when she wakes up, Taiki is in the infirmary with her. At first he says he came to specifically visit her, but he’s just kidding and the school doctor was just having him watch the place in their absence.
Hina accidentally forgets to do her homework for Taiki’s class and she also admits that she left textbooks behind at school, which is against the rules. So she finds a letter telling her to go to the special duty room. Hina isn’t entirely sure why she was called there, but when she gets to the room, Taiki is waiting. However, he’s not happy. Acting extremely cold and calling Hina stupid for not remembering what happened earlier in the day. After realizing what all of this is about, Hina apologizes and says that she didn’t mean to break school regulations. However, Taiki just scoffs and states that Hina thinks that “garbage” like that makes what she did forgivable.
She has to write an apology letter, and pulls out the pen Taiki gave her. Hina has been treasuring it the whole time, but Taiki calls that mentality garbage as well. At that time, he didn’t want it back because Hina touching it made it unclean. Also, he accuses Hina of reading his fathers book on purpose. He denies hating his father when Hina asks, but there’s obviously something involving his father and dead sibling that’s bothering him. But instead of going into that, apparently Hina hasn’t written her apology properly. Taiki “helps” her though, and it ends up saying how Hina didn’t do her homework due to being a failure at life rebellious. …Er, it’s a lot harsher than I make it sound. Also, Hina loses her position as the Taiki’s assistant since she’s a “delinquent” student. By the end, Hina is traumatized into believing that everything was her fault.
She gets 100% on the next test, and her classmates note that its rare for Taiki to praise anyone. However, Hina still isn’t happy. Hina wants Taiki to give her another chance, so from then onwards, she has private spartan training math classes with him. Though this time, every time she doesn’t get something right away, Taiki insults her intelligence and accuses her of not paying attention in class. Hina really wants to impress him though, so she works extremely hard.
Cut to a flashback of Taiki’s childhood. He didn’t understand a question and his father acts like he’s the stupidest child ever because he can’t answer / doesn’t measure up to his elder brother. He also hit Taiki and said that god was cruel since it was his older brother that died and not him. Back to the present, Hina acts almost exactly like child Taiki did, since all she can do is cry and apologize.
Taiki keeps calling Hina stupid and tells her to give up because its “obvious that she just wasn’t born with intelligence”, but she still tries her best. There’s also an occasion where she goes for a walk outside and someone attempts to nanpa her. She’s troubled by this and the guy grabs her arm, but then Taiki coincidentally comes by and has him leave Hina alone. At first he gets angry and accuses her of breaking the rules and having a relationship, but he blushes when Hina smile and says that she was honestly happy when he helped her out. He escorts her home, since it’s his job as a teacher to look after his students… And it would be a problem if someone tried to hit on her again.
So the extra classes continue for a while and Hina cries a lot apparently, but she still hasn’t given up. Right before an exam, Hina arrives early to study and meets Taiki in the hallway. He goes over the formulas together. Surprisingly, when she remembers them correctly, he pats her head and tells her to try her best.
After the test though, Hina is severely disappointed at her results of 99%. Taiki’s mentality seems to have gotten to Hina, since she thinks the paper is worthless trash because it wasn’t perfect. She angsts for a while in the classroom over how stupid she is, and Taiki comes in. Hina gets really upset and apologizes for not meeting his expectations. When she goes to throw away her test though, Taiki forcibly stops her. Surprisingly, he explains that he’s concerned since Hina is acting like he used to in front of his father. He tells her to forget about it though, and leaves.
Collapse End: Hina becomes obsessed with getting 100%, but never seems to be able to achieve it, despite having the highest marks. Her classmates are kind of disturbed by her, and Hina freaks out when Friend A says that she should probably take a break. She starts hallucinating that people are laughing at her, that its after school already (it’s lunch time) and runs out of the classroom. Taiki stops her in the hallway, since her friend were concerned and talked to him, and Hina says that she only wanted Taiki to be proud of her. She’s given up on that though, so she pushes him away and runs home.
A couple years pass and Hina becomes a shut in because she believes that she’s too stupid for life. Though after remembering Taiki constantly putting her down, she comes to the conclusion that the people laughing at her (still in her head) is all his fault. So she finally goes to school and starts strangling Taiki in his office. He smiles though, and says that he hoped she would show up again some day. I guess Hina still kills him though, and then starts screaming because she doesn’t understand why he was being kind.
Doll End: Hina starts ignoring everybody and studies even harder, but she still can’t reach 100%. Taiki is pretty irritable as well, since his interactions with Hina constantly remind him of him and his father. However, Hina sits through all of his verbal/physical abuse because she’s totally become a masochist by now. To complete this, Taiki suggests that he should go buy her a collar, and starts strangling Hina (who’s overjoyed). He leaves to go wash his hands after touching her, and Hina is just thrilled that she’s getting attention.
Lovers End: Hina calls out to Taiki in the hallway after school because she wants to talk to him. She sincerely thanks him for still teaching her. Even though he can be a total asshat scary, he never completely abandoned her. She apologizes for not getting 100% and failing to meet his expectations. However, when she starts crying, Taiki tells her to raise her head.
Despite not getting 100, he knows that she worked harder than anyone else (plus really, 99 isn’t a bad mark at all). He also apologizes for being so irritated all the time. His father was always so harsh on him after his brother died, since Taiki wasn’t quite the genius that his brother was. He still liked math, but could never be as good as he wanted to be. However, watching Hina finally helped him forgive himself. They continue the extra lessons, but it’s no longer in the special affairs room and Taiki is waaaaay more supportive. In fact, he compliments Hina on her perseverance in the subject (and under his breath adds that he might become jealous of math ww). I guess it’s also important to point out that he has no problem using Hina’s pen either now.
Hina graduates and becomes a couple with Taiki. He’s had issues with people touching him all game (especially if his and Hina’s hands accidentally touched or something), but Hina is “special” and he’s definitely okay with touching her. He’s been working on some thesis for a while (he stopped being a teacher sometime after Hina graduated), but tells her to wait until the end of the month for a surprise. He refuses to tell her what it is, but hopes her answer will be “yes”.
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Yeah, that made way more sense than Kaname’s route ever did. At least there was a good reason as to why Taiki started paying attention to Hina in the first place. I couldn’t get mad during the route either since really, Taiki just seemed like one of those harsh Asian parents who become that way due to being raised by an even harsher Asian parent. He learned his lesson watching Hina being pushed to her limit, and that felt like a good resolution. Romance was a just bit better introduced (as opposed to the last route) as well. It’s impressive how everyone seems to wait until Hina’s graduation to even start a relationship. …Though at the same time, after being so harsh with the rules when Hina broke them the first time, it would be kind of stupid if the teachers went against them.
Kuzuha Kakeru
Kakeru is the “playboy” who (kind of secretly) has a thing against women due to family issues. Female students seem to really like him though due to his looks and approachable personality. Surprisingly, he’s also the youngest of the routes at age 26 and his hobby is that he rides around on a motorcycle (because of course he has one). He’s also the world history teacher, and voiced by Takahashi Naozumi. …Again, that seiyuu is not really in the recent anime, so it’s hard to explain who he is. OTL Though if you’re better informed in otoge, he was Kano in Gekka Ryouran, and Cheshire in Alice=Alice.
The beginning is Hina and Friend A just in the hallway watching Kakeru’s fangirls ask if he has a girlfriend, what his hobbies are, and other such questions. After they leave, he notices Hina and remembers her as the new transfer student. After class, Kakeru tells Hina that he needs help with materials. However, the room is perfectly clean when she arrives and he says that he lied. What he really wanted to do was to check up on her since she’s new. Hina is a bit special, since she just transferred. Meanwhile, she’a surprised that he was concerned with her, and tells him not to worry since everyone is nice.
Hina has questions about the course material, so she goes to see Kakeru, and he helps her remember where places are by showing her pictures. He travelled a lot before he became a teacher, so he has a fair bit of knowledge about places. Hina finds some of Kakeru’s personal travel pictures mixed in, and is surprised at them (since I guess it had someone kissing him in it). Kakeru just tells her that kisses down’t have any deep meaning to them though, and that they’re more like greetings and whatnot. The conversation eventually wanders to Hina saying that she wants to travel some day, but Kakeru advises her not to go alone. It would be dangerous for her, since she’s female, so she should at least go with friends or someone. At lunch, he sits with Hina and then starts eating her bento/complimenting her cooking/hitting on her. After he leaves, Hina can’t help but think that Kakeru is bad for the heart.
Friend A tells Hina that its Kakeru’s birthday tomorrow, and Hina wants to do something to thank him. So she bakes him a cake. However, he can’t accept because its against school regulations. He says that he’ll keep it a secret from the other teachers. …Though of course, this means that Hina gets a letter for her to go to guidance lessons. Once there, he calls Hina a stupid woman for believing that she would get away with just what happened.
She has to write an apology letter, but is so upset over Kakeru’s sudden change, that she doesn’t know what to do. Kakeru accuses her of taking her time in order to stay with him longer, but tells her that he has much more important things to do than be with her. Hina just wants to get the hell out of there and writes down the apology quickly. However, when she attempts to leave, Kakeru gets even more irritated (…why). He brought her down there to play, so she should amuse him. Women are just manipulative, dirty creatures after all. She must have wanted something when she brought him the cake. So he starts… er, well, it’s kind of vague what he’s doing since it’s mostly sound effects, but he asks if this is the first time a male has touched her uniform and if her “pure act” is just for show. Hina pushes Kakeru away from her and runs away. How she got out is kind of a mystery, since in the other routes, the door is apparently unlocked by key. ww Anyways, she leaves, thinking about how she wants nothing to do with him ever again. …Yeah, lets see how long that lasts.
Not long apparently, since Kakeru pulls Hina aside after class and tells her that she should talk to him if she’s concerned about anything. Rem sees Hina in the hallway after this, and tells her that Kakeru has no friends, but seems interested in her. Er, he and Kakeru are kind of close, which is why he can tell. Also, he’s telling Hina this because he’s a “chemist” and he wants to see the “reaction” between her and Kakeru. …Which is just another way of saying “for fun” ww.
Friend A calls Hina to hang out on the weekend, but when Hina goes to the meeting spot, she can’t find Friend A. She pulls out her cellphone to make a phone call, but then Kakeru comes out of nowhere saying that cellphones in school are against regulations. Hina takes this extremely seriously (christ, who wouldn’t), but that turns out to be a joke. As Kakeru points out, they’re not even anywhere close to school. Then he sends Friend A a text saying Hina isn’t feeling well, hands her a helmet, and says that he’ll show her around town on his motorcycle. Obviously Hina is against this at first, but eventually she goes with him.
Half of the trip is spent at a game centre, where they take pictures together in a photo booth and Kakeru wins Hina some stuffed animal in a crane game. He asks for a kiss as payment, and Hina has no idea what to do, so she makes the stuffed animal kiss him on the cheek. This is extremely amusing to him though. The second half is at a park, where they find a lost child and help him look for his mother. Kakeru is pretty good with children (though not perfect), and the kid starts crying. So Kakeru lifts him up on his shoulders and says that real men shouldn’t cry. After the kid runs off to his mother, Kakeru explains that his father used to do that and say those exact words for him, when he was a child. This is also where Hina learns that Kakeru didn’t really have a mother.
On the way home, they meet Kakeru’s fiance and daughter of the director of some rival school, Tachibana Naoko, on the street. Hina is surprised that Kakeru is engaged, but as she watches the two interact, they don’t exactly give off the feeling that they’re a loving couple since they’re pretty cold. Naoko asks Kakaru if he’s having an affair, but adds on that she doesn’t care if he is. They leave, and Hina is curious about the two of them, so Kakeru explains the relationship and that he doesn’t really care about it.
She tells Kakeru that he could work out his relationship if he just talked to Naoko about it, and explains how she thinks marriage is a wonderful thing. However, to this, Kakeru informs her that her view on marriage is a “child’s dream” and that she’ll feel differently in 10 years. This causes Hina to get angry though, and she tells Kakeru that he’s just running away from his issues. Kakeru doesn’t want to hear this though, and ends the conversation there.
For some reason it’s around now that the rest of the student body learns that Kakeru is getting married, and Rem pulls Hina aside again. He lets Hina know that Kakeru is actually going to be leaving the school once he marries, and this convinces Hina to go talk to him about this. (Again, Rem is just doing all of this for Hina because it’s an interesting experiment for him.)
However, when Hina goes to his office to ask, Kakeru just tells her to leave if her question isn’t about school. Eventually he does explain more about his personal issues though after Hina lectures him again about taking marriage seriously. His mother was always having affairs because she wasn’t satisfied with his father (his money OR his body, as the flashback specifies ww). …Also, the maid was also a shotacon. So she basically took advantage of poor Kakaeru while telling him things like he was special to her, thus effectively scarring him for life. Hina is saddened by the story, and Kakeru says that this proves his point that she has a dream-like view on marriage. If he just says the right words, then any woman will see him as “special”. Once again, things are awkward between them after that.
Hina feels sick during school and runs into Kakeru in the infirmary. At first she’s concerned about him, since he went there due to an injury, but then she feels dizzy, so he carries her to a bed and tells her to be more concerned about herself before others. Hina wonders why he’s even bothering to be so nice to her after him getting angry (though he answers it’s because she’s still his student). Then another time, Hina forgets her umbrella, and Kakeru walks her home under his.
Hine goes for a walk outside, where she runs into Naoko and Kakeru. They get along waaaay better now, and Naoko apologizes for her rudeness the last time she saw Hina. Though she still kind of seems suspicious that there might be something between Hina and Kakeru. Naoko suggests that everyone go to a cafe together, but on the way there, Hina collapses (she’s been having trouble sleeping lately). So Kakeru takes Hina home. She was feeling a pain in her chest earlier being with Naoko and Kakeru, but she congratulates him on working things out, and hopes that he’ll become happy in the future. When he leaves, she is aware that she likes him, but doesn’t want to say anything or acknowledge those feelings. Instead, she’ll just stay quiet and support his decisions.
The day before the marriage, Hina runs into Kakeru in the hallway. She’s still struggling with her feelings for him, but pushes them aside and congratulates him once again. She hopes that he’ll be happy in the future and whatnot (I forget the exact words, but she sincerely wishes him the best in the future). When she gets home though, she can’t help but cry.
Collapse End: Hina receives a phone call that night. It’s Kakeru, and it turns out that he’s decided against the wedding. He thought about what she said, and he doesn’t believe that this was the right path. Hina cries out of happiness. Things actually go even better from here, since Kakeru makes a promise to go travel with Hina in the future, and makes another promise that at graduation, they can finally be together. Kakeru being nice to Hina isn’t even an act. After graduation, he makes sure that Hina knows what she’s getting in to when agreeing to go to his place, and Hina is happy that her and Kakeru can be together. …Of course, things were going far to well for a bad ending, so Naoko shows up outside Kakeru’s house with a knife. She’s not exactly pleased (read: murderous) that Kakeru left her for Hina, so she stabs both of them.
Hina survives, and wakes up in the hospital. Kakeru survived too, and he’s in ICU. However, they still can’t be together. The event is a huge scandal, so he wants to keep Hina out of it, and tells her he’s going to leave. He tells Hina over and over again that none of this is her fault, and that he wishes for her happiness. So he leaves, and Hina can’t really do anything except wait and believe that he’ll be back some day.
Doll End: It’s been three months since Kakeru married and left the school. …But it’s okay, because apparently Hina has been having an affair with Kakeru. Hina seems to have turned into a female version of Kakeru. She has multiple guys she’s seeing, but she tells Kakeru that he’s the only one, and keeps thinking about how easy it is to manipulate him into the reactions she wants. So the two sit there exchanging perfect romantic dialogue while Hina sits there thinking how simple Kakeru is. …Considering how okay he is with the affair, he’s probably thinking the same thing about her. ww
Lovers End: The next day is the wedding, and Hina can’t help but feel a little sad, so she wanders around all day. She stops at the park where they went that day, and Kakeru shows up. He talks to her about how the wedding went, and Hina tells him again that she’s happy for him. Though when he asks if she really means it, she can’t stop herself from crying. Kakeru apologizes here and admits that he didn’t actually get married. He talked it out with Naoko in the morning, and they agreed to not go through with it. Hina asks if Naoko was really okay with this (which is totally a relevant question, considering the other ending), and she was extremely understanding. He goes on to say that honestly tried to understand his issues, and after saying that he wanted Hina to be the first to know about this, he confesses. Hina is worried about them being student and teacher, but Kakeru says that the time will pass in no time, and there’s nothing wrong with them hanging out outside of school and such. There’s also a kiss in here somewhere and they hold hands as he walks Hina home as their “first date”. (*´ω`*)
A couple years later at school, Kakeru is still surrounded by fangirls. Only this time, when asked if he has a girlfriend, he answers “of course” and adds on that he’s married. He comes home to Hina, and talks about the question. Answering it made him feel really warm inside and he thought that he’d never marry seriously after seeing his parents. However, he obviously is happy now, and it ends off with him deciding that he wants Hina before dinner. ww
—————————–
This route crossed more student/teacher lines than the first two did, but I guess that’s to be expected from the “playboy” character. Once again too, he seemed way worse during the guidance lesson than anywhere else in the route. …Actually, for a so-called playboy, he certainly was fixated on Hina for the majority of the route. The game never showed him with anyone outside of Naoko and Hina. Anyways, his Collapse End (that still doesn’t sound right in English, though the Japanese is undoubtedly 「崩壊」) was surprisingly depressing considering how the first two routes went. Nobody died, but it feels worse after having the beginning of the ending go so well ww. Though to round though out I guess, the happy end was surprisingly heartwarming.
Hmm, where to begin. I’ve finished the entire game at this point, so I might as well talk about it as a whole. On the plus side, the concept was super interesting, the teachers were all actually adult aged in late 20’s to early 30’s (unlike those otoge where someone went to university at age 16 and whatever), and the voice acting was great (of course). On the down side though, the game was really short. That’s not a bad thing by itself, but it feels like a lot more could have been done if this was longer. The guidance lessons just felt so disjointed from whatever the rest of the route was doing. I’m not saying that I wanted the characters to act like even bigger assholes all the time to Hina, but they would be super ドS there for just a tiny portion of the game, and then half the time pretend that it never happened. What was the point? …Though I don’t really think I really fully understood the guidance lessons in the first place. It just seemed like a convenient plot device to show off the worst of whatever route you were on and then things continued like normal. The route that worked the best (it will be in part 2 of the review) was actually the one where the character was blatantly always an asshole, and his “nice teacher” side was just something he did for the job. But I guess I’ll expand on that when it’s relevant in the next post.
Though with the shortness, the system was thankfully SO easy to figure out. There were only about 8 choices per route, and it was so easy to get on whatever route you were aiming for since the “bad” choices made the dialogue box slightly darker. I didn’t encounter any bugs either, though I hardly ever use anything except the “skip” and “jump” options. Those worked fine. The DHM recording was used okay. I still love the concept and the way it sounds in absolutely any game, but I dunno, it just didn’t work in Bad Medicine as well as it did in something like Diabolik Lovers. Maybe because there was a pretty big lack of anything remotely romantic going on. There were scenarios where you got the feeling that the characters were maybe crossing the student/teacher line, but they never seemed to go too far over it.
The art was great, but the number and placement of CGs was kind of sad. There were maybe 2 CGs during the route and then 4 for the endings (2 for the Lovers, one each for the Collapse and Doll Ends). Half of them, Hina wasn’t even there. Hell, for Taiki’s route they spent an entire CG on the scene with Kaname and Taiki talking. …Because screw romance, apparently. It’s more important to show two characters standing there not doing anything remotely interesting.
Hina was a pretty typical heroine. She certainly studied a lot, but she performed pretty much every clumsy cliche ever. ww Kaname’s route as a whole was kind of disappointing compared to everyone else, but luckily, the character I was looking forward to the most (again, I’ll cover this in part 2) didn’t let me down. I’ll talk about the characters as a whole in the next post too, I guess.
So yeah, part 2 will be out whenever I finish writing out the routes.
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.
18 Responses to “Otome Game Review: Bad Medicine -Infectious Teachers- (pt. 1)”
This looks very interesting and as I do like Terashima Takuma, I can only wonder how his smoky visage worked out for his character. Though, the whole strict Asian parents got me chuckling, we sure know how that works. xD
The artist seems the same as DiaLovers? I’d definitely look forward to part II.
I’m pretty sure that the artist for this was Futaba Hazuki or something help, I can’t Japanese. DiaLovers’s artist is Satoi (though not anymore since she seems to have stopped working for Otomate). The company who made the games is the same. Kind of. Diabolik Lovers was a collab between Rejet and Otomate. Bad Medicine is all Rejet.
In every place that have “moral police” I go, it seems like Rejet and their otomes is one of their favorite target for “that creepy and sexist otome” bait. Not to mention the bashing on ppl who enjoyed stuff like this *shakes head* Personally, while I’m not fond/uncomfortable with some of Rejet themes, I still do not bash the fan base of it for enjoying their products.
As for Bad Medicine….. Well, the art style is good like most Rejet games but the previews is ady setting off my NOPE radar XD Though going by Kaname route it does seem to be tamer when compare to DiaLovers. The endings are still very NOOOOPPPPPE though.
– At first I thought the pic with happy Hina is just some ranom SOL scene but it was just her imitating Deer-chan (Yui) instead after some Shiki style text spamming.
PS Which reminds me of Origami breakdown in DAL 10 that has her screaming for an entire page
– Dat logic though. Sure Kaname might be attempting to brainwash me, but he just reaally misunderstood and a good person at heart!
I will put my thoughts in after I read the rest of the routes….. I think.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I pretty much try to avoid those parts of the internet as much as I can. I like Rejet for their darker themes, so this is all within my comfort level. DiaLovers was the only one that really pushed it so far. xD
The whole game was so much tamer than DiaLovers. Er, minus some of the bad ends in the ones I haven’t talked about yet.
Yeah, I’m not even 100% why Hina lost it in that ending (the screencap was after he told her to get lost). Something about disappointing Kaname. DAL 10? Date A Live?
Pffft ahahaha I kind of want to read those now. Those full page screams are amusing.
Yeah, pretty much. xD All of the Collapse Ends are way tamer than I thought they would be. …It’s the half I haven’t talked about yet where they decided to stop holding back.
Uhh, I dunno. Friend A (…there wasn’t even “Friend B”, so I don’t know why they didn’t name her “Friend”) was just kind of a convenient plot device, I guess. I wish we could have heard more about her and Basketball Senpai, but I guess not.
Don’t listen to her! It’s plenty hard! You have to keep at it. But you could do it. I’ve only been going at about an hour a day for 2 3/4 years (not counting anime watching time).
…Same here, man. Though Hina’s actions were a lot of foreign concepts to me (talking to the teacher about course material, answering in class, …studying in general ww).
Lol yeah, that might be my favourite bad ending (go Hina).
OMG thanks a lot for this review
I was kinda looking forward to this ond, its reallyyyy sad that there are sooooo few CGs T^T
But I think that I’ll play it anyway ^___^
Thanks again, you’re the only person who wrote this review in english I think
I bought it off of amiami, but I just checked and it appears it is sold out there now. Maybe try the Japanese Amazon? Depending on the seller, they sometimes ship overseas.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
The pun is… what infectious disease these bad sensei are spreading among the girls…
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
This looks very interesting and as I do like Terashima Takuma, I can only wonder how his smoky visage worked out for his character. Though, the whole strict Asian parents got me chuckling, we sure know how that works. xD
The artist seems the same as DiaLovers? I’d definitely look forward to part II.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’m pretty sure that the artist for this was Futaba Hazuki or something
help, I can’t Japanese. DiaLovers’s artist is Satoi (though not anymore since she seems to have stopped working for Otomate). The company who made the games is the same. Kind of. Diabolik Lovers was a collab between Rejet and Otomate. Bad Medicine is all Rejet.POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
In every place that have “moral police” I go, it seems like Rejet and their otomes is one of their favorite target for “that creepy and sexist otome” bait. Not to mention the bashing on ppl who enjoyed stuff like this *shakes head* Personally, while I’m not fond/uncomfortable with some of Rejet themes, I still do not bash the fan base of it for enjoying their products.
As for Bad Medicine….. Well, the art style is good like most Rejet games but the previews is ady setting off my NOPE radar XD Though going by Kaname route it does seem to be tamer when compare to DiaLovers. The endings are still very NOOOOPPPPPE though.
– At first I thought the pic with happy Hina is just some ranom SOL scene but it was just her imitating Deer-chan (Yui) instead after some Shiki style text spamming.
PS Which reminds me of Origami breakdown in DAL 10 that has her screaming for an entire page
– Dat logic though. Sure Kaname might be attempting to brainwash me, but he just reaally misunderstood and a good person at heart!
I will put my thoughts in after I read the rest of the routes….. I think.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, I know what you mean. I pretty much try to avoid those parts of the internet as much as I can. I like Rejet for their darker themes, so this is all within my comfort level. DiaLovers was the only one that really pushed it so far. xD
The whole game was so much tamer than DiaLovers. Er, minus some of the bad ends in the ones I haven’t talked about yet.
Yeah, I’m not even 100% why Hina lost it in that ending (the screencap was after he told her to get lost). Something about disappointing Kaname. DAL 10? Date A Live?
Yep otoge logic!
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Yep, Date A Live. Specifically, this.
Man, these games are so fun in a “MUST SEE HOW FAR CAN THEY GO” way. Kakeru Collapse end is way more tame than what I expected though XD
Also I noticed Friend A seems to be the indirect cause of a lot of things in the 3 routes. Is she a walking jinx or something?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Pffft ahahaha I kind of want to read those now. Those full page screams are amusing.
Yeah, pretty much. xD All of the Collapse Ends are way tamer than I thought they would be. …It’s the half I haven’t talked about yet where they decided to stop holding back.
Uhh, I dunno. Friend A (…there wasn’t even “Friend B”, so I don’t know why they didn’t name her “Friend”) was just kind of a convenient plot device, I guess. I wish we could have heard more about her and Basketball Senpai, but I guess not.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
*sulks*
This looks so interesting ;_;
*continues to sulk*
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Aww, study hard! Japanese wasn’t too hard to learn.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Don’t listen to her! It’s plenty hard! You have to keep at it. But you could do it. I’ve only been going at about an hour a day for 2 3/4 years (not counting anime watching time).
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Jesus Christ, I want to attend a school like that. I am willing to repeat high school just to get teachers like that.
And lol that slut ending. Reminds me of that slutty Akira in Togainu no Chi
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…Same here, man. Though Hina’s actions were a lot of foreign concepts to me (talking to the teacher about course material, answering in class, …studying in general ww).
Lol yeah, that might be my favourite bad ending (go Hina).
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
OMG thanks a lot for this review
I was kinda looking forward to this ond, its reallyyyy sad that there are sooooo few CGs T^T
But I think that I’ll play it anyway ^___^
Thanks again, you’re the only person who wrote this review in english I think
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
You’re welcome! And yeah… I really wish Rejet would have more CGs in their games! (Or even more interesting ones…)
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
Where can you buy this game?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I bought it off of amiami, but I just checked and it appears it is sold out there now. Maybe try the Japanese Amazon? Depending on the seller, they sometimes ship overseas.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
mainmovs.com
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
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