After the marvelously average reading of my first route in Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo, I put the game down for a bit. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of extra time, and I was kind of scared of wasting my time with another average (or worse) route.
Well, I’m glad I gave the game another chance! I really loved Kunitaka Tojo.
His route? Well. Hmmm.
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut! Also be prepared for theories that highly affect a main character in the game. This is your warning!
You know the kind of routes where the hero or heroine sees the worst side of every character and can’t catch a break?
Well, apparently, that is Kunitaka’s fate in Winter’s Wish. OR. Maybe, there is a criminal mastermind who is plotting every second of Kunitaka’s downfall…
Prepare your tin foil hats. I’m diving into the world of conspiracy theories…I really spend too much time thinking about this stuff…
Oh well.
Kunitaka is a pretty wonderful guy.
You know the type:
The young man that excels academically, while being: the captain of the baseball team; voted Student Body President; leads a Boy Scout Troop; regularly visits the elderly at the neighborhood nursing home; and finds time to help mom and dad around the house.
Moms love him because he’s dependable, honest, and responsible.
Dads approve of him because he’s respectful and will have their daughters home before curfew (with no hanky-panky in the backseat of the car).
Guys want to be around him because he’s athletic, a level-headed, calm leader, and will always have their back.
Girls crush on him because he’s gentle, compassionate, earnest, and sincere.
Here in the States, we have a name for this type of guy: the “All-American Boy Next Door.” And this describes Kunitaka perfectly.
Kunitaka is voiced by VA, Tomoaki Maeno. He voices some characters I really enjoy: Hak from Yona of the Dawn; Riku from Lover Pretend; Lupin from Code Realize; and Natsume from Brothers Conflict. And once I discovered Maeno did the voice dub for Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, I may have forced my English-speaking husband to watch the movie in Japanese for a bit. Thank you, Disney+. I have no regrets. To say I enjoy Maeno’s voice acting is an understatement. He is one of my favorites.
From the very beginning of the game, Kunitaka has his life together. He’s encouraging, supportive, compassionate, gentle, has people skills, thoughtful, observant of other’s emotions, and genuinely cares for those around him.
He cares for his samurai students, both boys and girls. He cares for his junior Tomonari. He cares for Komame, the little sparrow he saved, and is hurt when the little sparrow wants nothing to do with him. And he comes to quickly care for the welfare of Suzuno, as well.
Kunitaka cares so much, that I had to wonder about this whole heart “seal” business. Like where is the seal? From the beginning, Kunitaka is essentially a fully-functioning Formfolk with fantastic people skills and compassion and empathy galore. This man doesn’t come across as not having his heart or emotions.
It’s like on “Seal Designation Day” whoever was in charge of sealing Kunitaka’s heart completely goofed. This man obviously has emotions and cares about everyone around him. The seal that worked was the one placed on the memories of his time as an object, a well-loved tobacco pouch. And the difference of effectiveness between the two seals is obvious.
Yet, after reading a few chapters, I figured out the writer’s role of the heart seal in this story: it’s essentially a chastity belt for Kunitaka.
This boy is clueless about romance and the affect he has on girls.
Well, okay.
95% of romance media geared towards women, has us helping a man become aware of his already present emotions and learn how to process them.
And to a certain extent, this route is no different.
Kunitaka is an emotionally, well-rounded man, but he doesn’t even realize that about himself. This is the seal at work. He has been so mentally conditioned by the Oniwaban higher-ups that he doesn’t have a heart or emotions, that he doesn’t believe he has them. But like, he clearly does. So, to me, it seems the seal is hanging by a thread, or doesn’t even exist. The “seal” is actually the mental denial that Kunitaka has about having feelings in the first place.
And what is surprising is that no one in the Oniwaban seemed to care. Kunitaka is CLEARLY the most “human” of the vessels and it’s not a problem.
Until it is… later in the route, because of course…plot reasons.
Nothing demonstrates the difference more, than Kunitaka and his direct superior, Kyoshiro Kawamura. You see these two men working side by side, and you can’t help but see the difference in their outlook on life, how they treat people, and their hearts.
Kyoshiro is the ideal vessel. He’s serious, efficient, no-nonsense, and bone-chillingly objective. And most importantly, his emotions are properly sealed. He is the leader who cannot be corrupted by a blightfall due to his “sealed heart and memories.” Now, Kyoshiro has a heart. He just doesn’t “feel” like he has, so he lives his life as a tool to fight blightfalls.
On a side note, I will say, I LOVED how cold, stoic Kyoshiro and passionate town civilian Formfolk Miharu interacted. I would totally read a story about how Miharu destroys our stoic man’s restraint with her positive and passionate view on life. Like, PLEASE, Miharu, drag this man into a closet and rip off that seal!
Alas. That does not happen in Kunitaka’s route. But maybe, Tomonari’s route? I can only hope.
Anyways, Kunitaka’s character made the first half of this route a breeze to read.
I LOVED the Samurai Town common route. Everything about it, hit the right notes for me. I loved Suzuno having to prove herself to the established samurai wives in town. Suzuno’s character sprite was lovely, and I adored her strength as she stepped into this new world of etiquette and social standing. I loved the “Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest” feeling of the villain of the common route. The meetings with Kaigyo Tenichibo in the woods made me laugh. And once I realized that Tenichibo was an air-headed idiot, and not a criminal mastermind, I enjoyed him thoroughly.
On another side note, I would love to see a route where Tomonari has to go up against a villain who claims Suzuno has his own. Tomonari would fight hell and highwater to protect Suzuno and I am here for it! Sadly, Tenichibo is not that villain. He’s being mentally controlled by a blightfall, and is not the man you’d bring home to your parents. But still. This goofball made me laugh.
I LOVED the first two chapters of Kunitaka’s route. Kunitaka and Suzuno wander around Samurai Town, looking for clues to who is running the blightfall syndicate and causing chaos. Well, of course, they make time to get to know each other better and build their relationship. And there is no way, you can convince me, that Kunitaka did not already have feelings for Suzuno. He jokes about marrying her (and what vessel would even joke about marriage?). He invites her to visit his school and spend time with his students (which he has never asked another girl to do). He’s happy when Suzuno smiles his way, and he loves the quiet moments he spends with her and his students at the school. He blushes when they have their first (accidental, mind you) kiss. He blushes whenever Suzuno compliments him. And when Suzuno is sick, he visits her and proceeds to brush her hair off her forehead, gaze gently into her eyes, and stroke her hair.
He is clearly different with her, than with anybody else.
And it’s not hard to see why Suzuno fell in love with Kunitaka. The boy is literally perfect. Kunitaka encourages and supports Suzuno all the time. This man was meant to be a teacher. He is so encouraging. And he loves his students. His students love and adore him, because he genuinely wants what is best for them.
Well, then Chapter 6 started, and so did the drama.
Suzuno decides to fish around for Kunitaka’s view on vessels having relationships. Kunitaka, being the perceptive man that he is, knows what Suzuno is doing and decides to emphatically shut down this topic. He firmly tells her that vessels have no emotions and can never truly be in a relationship.
Well, of course, Suzuno runs off broken-hearted. She knew he was a vessel, but because he was so “humanlike” she fell for him anyways. Suzuno knows she works with Kunitaka and she can’t let her emotions get in the way of her job. So, she decides to try to “forget” that she loves him.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
For Kunitaka’s part, he clearly didn’t like hurting Suzuno. And a bit later in the route, you get his perspective of how he had been constantly thinking of her, and it had upset him when he told her that he’d never fall in love.
IT HURT BECAUSE YOU ALREADY LOVE HER, KUNITAKA!
Well, the hunt for the mastermind behind the blightfall syndicate is not going well. Suzuno and Tomonari find a child from Kunitaka’s school. This child seems to have been controlling a blightfall that attacked a samurai’s home. While inspecting the house, a fire breaks out. Kunitaka sees the fire and it sparks Kunitaka’s memories. His memory seal is broken.
And this is where I had some trouble with this route.
Now there are two different things I have thoughts on:
1) Okay. So, Kunitaka’s memory seal is broken. I get that is a breach in Oniwaban protocol. And, while I believe that Kunitaka was always living his life with emotions, after seeing the fire, the Oniwaban leadership decides that Kunitaka’s memories and “new found” emotions are a problem.
Like Kunitaka has not changed. He is still the same person with the same emotional level. But NOW he’s too emotional and at risk to a blightfall taking over his mind and heart?
The only difference is that after these conversations with the Oniwaban leadership, Kunitaka’s “mental denial” seal is weakening. Everyone around him is saying that there is something wrong with him and he needs to be dealt with. It’s everyone else’s opinion that is swaying how Kunitaka thinks about himself. Kunitaka begins to feel concern about the existence of his emotions, when he had never even thought to feel that way about himself before. And because of the “mental denial” seal weakening, the threads around his neck are slowly becoming visible to Suzuno. And once, Kunitaka accepts his having feelings, his threads become completely visible.
Let me say this again: KUNITAKA HAS NOT CHANGED!
Except for regaining his memories as a tobacco pouch, he is still the same compassionate, gentle, sweet, reliable…I really could go on forever, but I will spare you. Yet, now this man who never believed that anything was wrong with him, begins questioning his worth.
AND THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM IS TO USE THE REIMPLEMENTANTION RITUAL?
Bascially, Kunitaka will revert back to an inanimate object and never be able again to regain his Formfolk spirit.
What the hell?
He can’t simply retire from being a Oniwaban and live out his life as a Formfolk? Like do the stakes really need to be this high?
What I find really frusturating about this turn of events, is that in Kuga’s route the Oniwaban leader Mitsushige Miyaji, takes Kuga to the theatre and shows him a play about his past. In Kuga’s route, Kuga learning about his memories wasn’t a problem with this high of stakes. Miyaji literally took him and the rest of the vessels to learn about Kuga’s past! But in this route, Miyaji agrees that now Kunitaka has his memories and no heart seal (like, Dude, he never had one), Kunitaka should have the reimplementation ritual.
But it behooves the Oniwaban to move fast with the reimplementation ritual because they believe that Kunitaka is the mastermind behind the blightfall syndicate. And they want to turn him back to an inanimate object, so they can see his past memories, save the children and the town, and wrap up the case.
Which leads to Problem #2:
The leaders are completely wrong.
For an organization that is supposed to be objective, they pin the blame on Kunitaka with EXTREMELY circumstantial evidence. Like dear heavens, the speed with which they condemn Kunitaka is scary. And a lot of the blame is based on the actions and history of Kunitaka’s previous owner. It has nothing to do with Kunitaka, himself.
Like you have been working with Kunitaka for YEARS, yet none of your time together bears any weight on your decisions? You know what kind of man Kunitaka is, yet you are willing to betray that trust within seconds. Even his friends co-workers in the field: Tomonari, Kuga, Yoichi, agree with the leadership. Kunitaka must be the blightfall mastermind and must go through the reimplementation ritual.
Now I played, Kuga’s route first. And I was surprised by the amount of camaraderie between men who were supposed to be emotionless. Like these guys seemed like friends, who had a genuine trust between them. These guys stood behind Kuga and helped him a few different times.
Well, I found the emotionless co-workers in this route. No one believes in Kunitaka’s innocence, except for Suzuno. And I found myself questioning, was Kuga and Kunitaka’s routes written by different people? Like the contrast is so stark. Are the writers trying to tell the story of the good guy, who loses everything and undeservedly goes through hell? Because that’s what it feels like.
OR
I have a theory that the Oniwaban are put under a spell by the blightfall mastermind to frame Kunitaka for the crimes. There are two other uses of “spells” later in this route that made me retroactively think about this scene. Now, my theory is complete conjecture, and is never outright stated in the route. So, I can’t say that this theory is canon, and I had to read in between the lines. But stay with me, and I’ll explain my theory and reasoning near the end.
For now, let’s just assume that Kunitaka is getting the worst out of everyone for plot reasons. Because that is CERTAINLY happening to our poor boy.
Besides the faulty (and flat-out wrong) critical reasoning, of the Oniwaban leaders, Kunitaka is literally abandoned for a crime he did not commit. And when our brave Suzuno, points out the flaws of their reasoning, the Oniwaban completely brush her off.
I LOVED Suzuno here! She does not back down from her convictions. She KNOWS Kunitaka is innocent, because she KNOWS what kind of man she is. And she’s been with him for so long that she has seen how much he loves his students and how much the students love Kunitaka. He would never do anything to hurt them.
And for the first time, Kunitaka has someone willing to fight for his existence. Suzuno is not going to back down. And in a role reversal, Suzuno becomes the one to encourage Kunitaka. In Kunitaka’s lowest points, Suzuno is there to encourage and support him, just like how he encouraged and supported her when she first started her Oniwaban work.
Honestly, Suzuno annoyed me a bit at the beginning of the route with all her self-deprecating comments. I wanted her to accept and be proud of her role, because she’s a great person. And it was Kunitaka, who was always there to lift her spirits. I now understand what the writers were doing. They were setting up this role reversal between characters. In the second half of the route, Suzuno becomes the encourager, something that Kunitaka desperately needed.
Suzuno is finally able to negotiate a month delay in Kunitaka’s reimplementation ritual, so they can try to clear his name and solve the blightfall case. With absolutely no help from the Oniwaban who are CONVINECD that Kunitaka is the blightfall mastermind.
KUNITAKA IS NOT GUILTY! *Cue eye roll*
Kunitaka, being dense about romance, doesn’t understand why Suzuno is going to all this trouble to help him. But he’s glad she’s sticking by his side and helping him.
With the help of Tenichibo, who is chilling in prison for his actions in the common route, Kunitaka and Suzuno begin piecing together the scarce clues about what is going on. They finally pinpoint Yoshimune Tokugawa as the target. So, they get permission to search the castle.
They meet with Tokugawa, who gives them cryptic clues about how Kunitaka and Suzuno can get out of this mess. Like Tokugawa is great. He easily figures out that Suzuno is in love with Kunitaka, and tells the two of them to stick close together and that might be the key to Kunitaka’s survival.
Well, of course, things don’t go well for Kunitaka and a massive blightfall attacks Tokugawa while Suzuno and Kunitaka are in the throne room. Tokugawa is unconscious and can’t vouch for Kunitaka’s innocence. So, Kunitaka is incorrectly blamed and thrown into jail by his superior, Kyoshiro.
Because of course.
Now, our man is completely defeated. He is sending Suzuno away because he doesn’t want her to see him in this pathetic state. He talks about how he’s not good enough, and he doesn’t mean anything and how it would be a good thing for him to revert back to the tobacco pouch. He believes that once he returns to a tobacco pouch, that Suzuno will be safer and no longer under the watchful gaze of the Oniwaban for helping a “traitor.” She can go back to helping the Oniwaban with a clear conscious.
And our indominable heroine tells our down-in-the-dumps hero to PULL HIMSELF TOGETHER! Of course, our girl doesn’t want to live a life for the Oniwaban without Kunitaka by her side. He hasn’t done anything wrong, so he should stop putting himself down. Then Suzuno goes through a LOGICAL run down of the facts of the case (unlike the Oniwaban leaders), and says that nothing that happened was Kunitaka’s fault! YES, GIRL! SUPPORT YOUR MAN!
Through Suzuno’s unwavering encouragement and support (because she loves him), Kunitaka begins to climb out of his pit of despair. Kunitaka admits that he is in love with Suzuno, He fell in love with her positivity, her considerate nature, and how she was serious about everything. He admits that he has been blind to her affections the whole time, and how it was pathetic he never realized it until she told him.
And then the writers did something I absolutely hated!
Suzuno (who during her tough-love lecture to Kunitaka admits out loud that he is special to her and she likes him and admits to herself internally that she loves him) rejects his confession.
LIKE WHY?
Because after he rejected her the first time, she fell out of love with him and only saw him as a “special” co-worker…huh? I’m over here thinking: like how fickle was your love to begin with, if you got over your lovey-dovey feelings for him in a few days? Suzuno gives him the challenge to make her fall in love with him again. He made her fall in love before, and then made her give up on him. Now, it was his turn?
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?
Suzuno’s actions feel so contrived and forced. She tells him to survive first and then “maybe” one day she’ll return his feelings. Like this is stupid. Don’t use your love as bait or a reward for the kind of behavior you want from your man.
The only reason this didn’t completely turn me off to this route is that I didn’t believe for one minute that Suzuno fell out of love with Kunitaka. Suzuno clearly loves Kunitaka. She has done everything she can to save him, protect him, and encourage him. Even Tokugawa could see the love motivating Suzuno’s actions in helping Kunitaka. Suzuno never stopped loving Kunitaka.
Yet the writers chose to give our lovers another obstacle to overcome. And they do it by making Suzuno use her love as bait to give Kunitaka something to live for. Like she didn’t have to do this. Why not use the dream of living together be the motivation to not give up? Something they can both share together. No. Suzuno chooses to withhold the love she’s had for this man for a very long time. This is so damn childish!
Words can’t express how much this bothered me. But anyways.
With the help of Suzuno, Tenichibo and Tomonari (who decides to trust Suzuno and not Kunitaka), Kunitaka escapes the prison and goes back to Samurai Town to look for clues.
Now, with the heart seal chastity belt destroyed, our boy turns on the charm! He doesn’t let the life-or-death situation get in the way of flirting with and teasing Suzuno. This man is wasting no time in trying to win Suzuno over! Gotta love his priorities! HAHA!
Suzuno gets all flustered and chastises herself for “falling for him again” so quickly.
LIKE GIRL! YOU NEVER STOPPED LOVING HIM! But I won’t get into that again.
They run into one of parents (Chie) of Kunintaka’s students who has disappeared as a part of the blightfall syndicate. Chie takes them back to the school, and shows them where a door should be that Kunitaka, Tomonari and Suzuno had completely forgotten about.
This is the instance of Spell #1: the door seems to be nothing but a wall and Kunitaka has completely forgotten about it. Well, Suzuno begins to remember the door and when they hit the wall, the spell is destroyed and everyone sees and remembers the door. Then at that moment, the blightfall appears and the group has to retreat.
That night, Kunitaka and Suzuno spend the night cuddling together and discussing the future. Suzuno is going to fight for their future together. And sweet Kunitaka is so happy to hear that, he blushes! These two love each other and are going to fight together for the future they want.
I really feel this is the consensus they should have reached during the prison conversation, but, once again, I won’t get into that.
Look at my restraint.
Spell #2 happens the following day, when Kunitaka and Tomonari are taking on the blightfall together and hoping the rest of the Oniwaban will show up and back them up. Well, the blightfall erects a barrier around the school, and the trick is that nobody can see inside. So, when the Oniwaban members show up, they 1) can’t see the school and 2) forget the school is even there. Another spell from the blightfall.
And if it wasn’t for Komame (Route MVP), using her little sparrow body as a battering ram and breaking the barrier, the Oniwaban members would never have been able to help Kunitaka and Tomonari.
Once the barrier is broken and the members of the Oniwaban see Kunitaka fighting the blightfall, they FINALLY accept that he is not the mastermind and apologize for doubting him.
Better late than never, I guess.
They take down the blightfall, and rescue the students (who were being hidden at the school behind the “false” wall). Blightfalls essentially disappear and everyone is living in peace. The only negative is the mastermind is never found.
Everything is back to normal.
Except.
Ohtaro has disappeared.
And here is where my theory about the spells comes into play.
Ohtaro is never present to help fight the blighfalls. And he just skips town after the battle is over, with no word to anyone, apparently “enjoying his freedom.” After he leaves, the number of blightfalls decreases significantly.
He works in the Entertainment District, where Tenichibo bought the magatama that caused all the problems in the Samurai Town common route. Tenichibo had no memory of who sold him the magatama, and the seller of the magatama was never heard of or found again.
Ohtaro knew about Kunitaka’s school and his students. And as a member of the Oniwaban it is possible that he would know Kunitaka’s history and be able to create all the “coincidences” that the Oniwaban used against Kunitaka. As well as, having access to the Oniwaban to use a spell to make them forget everything that Kunitaka has done for the organization and ignore the kind of man he was.
I think Ohtaro was the mastermind who was genuinely trying to destroy Edo, and he tried to frame Kunitaka for all the chaos and destruction. And with the Oniwaban incorrectly focused on Kunitaka (that Ohtaro forced with his spells), the organization did not pursue any other forms of investigation. So, that means that no one would come after Ohtaro. Kunitaka was the red herring. And by attacking Tokugawa when he did, Ohtaro got the one person trying to figure out the mystery put behind bars. The only things Ohtaro did not control was: Suzuno and her dedication to Kunitaka; Tenichibo believing in Kunitaka and helping him escape prison; and Tomonari’s weakness to Suzuno and helping Kunitaka because Suzuno believed in him. And this is what cost Ohtaro in the end.
Now, this is complete conjecture on my part. This is never stated in the route.
So, who knows?
Kunitaka and Suzuno are invited back to see a healed Tokugawa. He asks if Kunitaka feels any different and what happened to his heart seal “tattoo” (at least, that’s what I think it was). Kunitaka proceeds to strip off half his clothes in a rush to see, and finds that the heart seal tattoo branding him as a vessel as disappeared! Imagine Kunitaka’s surprise when Tokugawa (this man knows a suspicious amount about things) says Kunitaka is now a real human! Yay!
And this goes back to the cryptic advice Tokugawa gave the two lovebirds earlier in the route. Apparently, Suzuno contained the power to perform the Coupling Covenant, and it was highly effective on vessels who’d broken the seals on their hearts and memories.
Convenient? Yes. Am I happy for Kunitaka and Suzuno? Yes.
I won’t complain.
The most human of the vessels becomes a human in his own right.
A lovely ending.
-Final Thoughts-
Kunitaka was a great hero for me! I love the “All-American Boy Next Door” characterization and I was cheering him on throughout the story. He was a great guy in the beginning and a great guy at the end. His journey was from not realizing he had emotions to accepting his emotions and that his emotions are a good thing. Other than that, he didn’t really change or grow much. I feel the drama in this route, was not centered around the character’s emotional journey, but rather from the outside forces around them. And I enjoy both kinds of journeys, so the lack of “growth” in Kunitaka didn’t bother me very much. I love stable, reliable heroes that you can simply enjoy the journey with. And Kunitaka fit that bill for me!
I, overall, liked Suzuno in this route. There were moments when she got on my nerves. Like when she kept criticizing herself in the first have of the route, or when she used her love as bait to motivate Kunitaka’s behavior. (Like, please don’t do that) But I loved when she stuck with her convictions in front of the Oniwaban leadership and how she never let the stress of the situation cloud her grasp of the facts. She was emotionally strong in this route. She never gave up hope and kept fighting for herself and Kunitaka. And in the end, her tenacity and persistence paid off! And I was happy for her!
The route was good for me! I LOVED the Samurai Town common route, and the first and last chapters of Kunitaka’s route. I loved how Kunitaka and Suzuno worked together at the school, and thought the interactions with the students was wonderful. I loved Komame and how she came to not hate Kunitaka so much by the end! HAHA! I liked Tenichibo. What can I say? The man made me laugh. And I’m glad he didn’t disappear once Kunitaka’s route started in earnest. I liked Tokugawa! The man obviously knows more than he lets on, and I appreciated his calm, level-headed control of the different situations.
I didn’t like how everyone in the Oniwaban seemed to have a stick-up-their-butt in this route. Like everyone was blinded to the facts and blamed Kunitaka with nothing but circumstantial evidence. They didn’t even launch a proper investigation to the blightfall syndicate, and forced Kunitaka to search (with no help from them, mind you) for clues to “prove his innocence.” Like he wasn’t the mastermind to begin with. Now, if my Ohtaro theory is correct, that explains some of the strange behavior from the Oniwaban, But, since, it’s never explicitly stated, I kind of have to assume that everyone is just a jerk. Oh well. I also hated Suzuno’s challenge to Kunitaka to ‘make her fall in love again.” But I won’t get into that again.
It’s a good route for me! I will definitely replay the Samurai Town common route again, and a few chapters of Kunitaka’s route.
Otomes as Novels 