The Bakumatsu period, a gap between the past splendour of the Shogunate era and the modern glamor of the Meiji period, is one of the most violent and intriguing places to start a romance.
Chizuru Yukimura has set off for Kyoto to find her missing father, but accidentally gets herself wrapped up in the intrigues of the Shinsengumi, a group of warriors who defends the fading powers of the shogunate.
The men in Shinsengumi are not merely fighting Emperor Meiji’s forces and the strange demons, they are also hiding a terrible secret. They are hiding something among them.
From VNDB
Has a lot of problems. Dunno if it’s shoddy translation, which I don’t think so (though I did find the whole bark as laughter a bit grating after the 5th time <.<). I have mad respect for Aksys, they have gigantic balls, really, when it comes to localizing games, so I give them major props for localizing a true Visual Novel. The problem lies, entirely, on Chizuru.
I don’t care about her personality, like it didn’t bother me considering the setting. What pissed me the fuck off is, she spent 6 FUCKING MONTHS BORINGLY INSIDE THE BUILDING, WHEN ONE DAY SHE FINALLY DECIDES IT’S ENOUGH AND GOES OUTSIDE. Okay, I was like, it’s now really starting and she’s gonna go after the Dad and so on. Nope -.-
She goes, gets into some random trouble, goes back inside. 2 years later, she tries again. WAIT WHAT?! HOW CAN YOU COMPLETELY BE OBLIVIOUS AND BE ALL, OH YAY 2 YEARS I’VE BEEN HERE AND I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING. NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. Goddammit, it wasn’t her personality, it was the brainless of it all.
And to be honest, the game bored me. Nothing happened for a loooong time, then the war came and shit, and I was all “yay” and then it was all “whatevers”. Chizuru gets left behind, and Kazama, the villain so far, helps go after them to try to get back to them. Of course, this is the normal route, and I actually really got da feels when dat ending route started and you discovered all these things that happened to them. But, I was so let down by the non-logic of this whole thing, really :V
I mean, they’re hunks, and have nice voices, and I did finish the Heisuke route, I haven’t played since, I got a bit angry at it all, but even in the Heisuke route. She pins fo’ this man, forgets all about her father, and is all “drink mah blood”, and never does anything. I’m sure not all otome heroines are this senseless, since I’ve heard about a lot of strong heroines and stuff. But it was sheer idiocy of the whole “it’s been 6 months, now I’ll try to get away and search for Dad.” “Oh, it’s been 2 years now and nothing happened, so I’ll try again.” If it was me, there’d been no way in hell I’d sit on my haunches for 6 months to 2 years, just cause a hunk said it. I would’ve enticed them to take them with me, done anything.
The art is pretty nice, and when the plot really goes into the wars and stuff, it goes good. But it’s far and in between, it feels a lot like the waiting game where nothing is happening. And don’t even come at me saying it’s because it’s a visual novel, or some shit.
Sweet Fuse – At Your side, was amazing. Saki has an amazing personality, and she doesn’t stay in the back burner and wait for any hunk to lead her anywhere. I’m not saying Chizuru needed to be all gungho, I cut you open bitch, but at least have those fortitudes happen after a couple weeks, and not stop. Much less happen after 2 years.
Have you heard about this game before? Have you played it? If so, I’d love to know what you think of it!
Among the Deep 