Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani has been a surprise hit for me. Yes, this game is “smaller” in scale to say games like Code Realize or Piofiore, but the more laid-back, slice of life style isn’t a bad thing. This game is much more character focused, with very likeable characters that are brought to life with top-notch voice acting.
One of my favorite surprises in this game has been Tokitsugu Semi’s voice actor: Toshiyuki Toyonaga. I know his work from the Piofiore franchise, where he voices Orlok in a very soft, distinct way. And I’m not going to lie. At first it was weird hearing Orlok’s voice being confident and self-assured, but I couldn’t deny the charming and fun way Toyonaga decided to voice Semi. His voice acting is so unique, and I really enjoy it!
I went into Semi’s route very excited! I had liked him in the other three routes, and I just couldn’t wait to read his story. Unfortunately, I found that Semi had to share the spotlight of his route with another character, who made some really dumb decisions.
Why, writers? Why?
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!
On paper, Tokitsugu Semi is the kind of hero I adore. He’s kind, smart, observant, and strategic. He’s dependable, and one to handle everything on his own. Semi’s almost always right, and is a bit smug about it, but he is calm, level-headed, and picks his moments to be assertive. He loves to tease people, but rarely, is it ever mean-spirited.
Semi has grown into a man, who doesn’t ask for help from anyone. He’s accustomed to handling everything on his own, and because he’s been so successful that way, he doesn’t think there is anything he can’t handle. And part of his closed off attitude is due to the jealousy of the people around him. He knows how people view him, so he closed himself off and learned how to let their jealousy roll off his shoulders. He tells himself he doesn’t care what people think about him, and this attitude is the cornerstone of the controversy that surrounds him in his route.
Sakuratani is in trouble, and Semi has taken it upon himself to solve the problem. He spends nearly all his free time at work, trying to research how to stabilize this spirit world. He’s constantly reading ancient documents and trying to learn old spells. Now, the head of the archive department knows Semi is researching something important (possibly shady), but, overall, trusts Semi and doesn’t report Semi’s interest in ancient spells to the higher-ups. Semi knows his co-workers have a certain view of him, and he does nothing to correct it. Semi doesn’t care. He believes ultimately what people want from him is results, and if he successfully produces said results, people will accept and trust him.
Yet, even with this attitude, Semi does care for his team and his brother. Semi constantly looks out for Yakumo, Shino, and Tokitaka Semi, and wants what is best for them. And his team and brother reciprocate the feeling. They want to help Semi and they care about him. Tokitaka, especially, cares for his older brother and doesn’t want to burden him further. Which leads to one of the dumbest conflicts of the entire game.
Tokitaka sneaked into their family’s “secret basement” that holds all the ancient history of the prestigious Semi family. The only one to know these secrets is the head of the family, which someday will be Semi, but is currently their father.
Anyways, Tokitaka reads part of the ancient family history book and learns their ancestors were responsible for making Sakuratani unstable to begin with. Of course, he is found by his father before he is able to read anymore. So, with this juicy tidbit of information, that has no other context because Tokitaka’s father found him before he finished reading, Tokitaka decides to never tell his brother because he believes this will ruin Semi’s life. Tokitaka believes that his brother will feel responsible for the actions of their ancestors and likely quit his job as an ayakashimori.
Um…what?
First of all, Semi loves his job as an ayakashimori. Secondly, Semi is a “doer” and a problem solver. Does Tokitaka really think that this bad news would make Semi fold and quit? Semi didn’t get to where he is today because he is a quitter. And once the brothers’ father retires as head of the family, Semi was going to learn the family’s dirty little secrets anyways. So, Tokitaka was only delaying the bad news instead of being proactive and trying to find a solution faster.
The conflict between Semi and his brother was stupid. And it’s even worse, once you learn that Semi knew about their ancestors the ENTIRE TIME (because like, of course, he did. This is Semi, we are talking about!). Tokitaka was worried about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and caused problems for NO REASON AT ALL! What was the point of this conflict, besides to exist as conflict?
The entire conflict could have been solved with a simple conversation between Semi and Tokitaka. But because of unfounded fears on Tokitaka’s part and Semi’s desire to do everything on his own, this conflict drags on for the better part of two chapters and then becomes the backbone of a larger conflict at play.
Because of Tokitaka, a nasty rumor about Semi begins to circulate around the real world and Sakuratani. You see, Tokitaka can’t tell Semi how he feels, but it’s perfectly okay to mumble about the ancestor problem in the office. Well, of course, someone overhears what Tokitaka says and twists the rumor into Semi is actively searching for a way to destroy Sakuratani. Well, this rumor takes off. Semi’s (and the family’s) reputation is destroyed and all the ayakashi begin panicking and causing chaos in Sakuratani. The government higher-ups aren’t happy about the chaos and call Semi into a hearing, with the goal of firing him.
Now, Semi doesn’t help things by never explaining what he is doing with all his research, and by never setting the record straight with his co-workers. That is on him. He should have been more upfront with his superior, Etsuya Tokiwa (one of my favorite characters of the game!) about his research and family history. Semi should have set the rumors straight before it became the problem that it did. But we are only in this mess, because Tokitaka couldn’t keep his mouth shut at work.
I think what really bothered me about Semi’s route, was that so much time and effort was spent on the rumor storyline that we never solved the actual problem of Sakuratani’s instability. I’m guessing the instability problem is the center of the Finale route. But by including this problem in Semi’s route and not solving it, the route feels incomplete. We didn’t solve the REAL actual problem. Instead, we solved a rumor conflict that shouldn’t have been a problem to begin with.
Also, instead of letting Semi shine in his own route, the writers made it about him learning to lean on people and open his heart up to others. Which is a great lesson to learn, I just wish it hadn’t been at the expense of us getting to see Semi at his best. I’m not going to lie. I wanted to see Semi be a badass and save the world. And I didn’t get that.
Sigh.
And I also felt, that Shino was denied the chance to shine in this route as well. She just seemed less competent at her job. And she spent a good portion of the route constantly reassuring herself and the others that “she’ll get better at her job!”
Okay. So…?
I mean that’s fine at first, but eventually I found her lack of confidence annoying. I don’t know if it was because Semi was the hero, and since he’s Mr. Perfect, the writers wanted to give a sense of how inadequate Shino feels? But, I felt, she wasn’t this way in the other routes. She was much more confident about how she was growing as an ayakashimori. And now, I have to question, was her growth in other routes because she wasn’t constantly comparing herself to Semi? Also, Yakumo (her co-worker) is a good guy, but he’s hardly employee of the month material. She’s at least as competent at her job as Yakumo, and I didn’t see him constantly chastising himself for doing a “not good enough” job.
Of course, Semi is the one to reassure her that she is pulling her weight and doing a good job for Sakuratani. And maybe that was the point? Maybe the writers wanted to give our hero something constructive to do? Semi and Shino’s character arcs are extremely similar. They both have to learn how to rely on others and accept help from the people around them. Which okay. I wish they didn’t have the SAME type of growth, but fine. A couple coming together to support and encourage each other isn’t the worst thing.
I just found it strange how Shino seemed to find her own footing a lot faster in the other routes. And that’s not to say that Shino never doubts herself, in the other routes. She just seems to bounce back faster, and not constantly refer to her mistakes. She reflects and then she moves on. But in Semi’s route, she continues to focus on her inabilities and that allows Semi to swoop in and encourage her. Her character development moved from being internal to depending upon Semi. And I didn’t like that.
I thought Semi and Shino were good co-workers but I didn’t sense any romantic chemistry between them, until the VERY end. And even then, at the end, Shino seemed very confused about her relationship status with Semi. Semi gifts her a beautiful necklace (a family heirloom), and she has a hard time believing it was more than a “token of appreciation” gift. She doesn’t know what to say when Semi asks her where she would like to go on a date. She seems to have a difficult time processing that Semi has feelings for her. She doesn’t seem to catch on when Semi and Tamamo are discussing Semi and Shino’s future marriage (as if this marriage is set in stone to happen!). To me, Shino seemed denser about romantic feelings in this route compared to others, especially Akuroou’s route.
I think what also hampered Shino and Semi’s relationship development was that they didn’t spend a whole lot of time together. In other routes, I felt that Shino spent more time with the chosen hero in the route. In Semi’s route, we spent a lot of time with Tokitaka, listening to his irrational concerns and keeping secrets from Semi. In all honesty, Semi felt like a secondary character in his own route. So much focus was put on Tokitaka, that Semi’s role in the route was greatly diminished compared to the other heroes in their routes.
And, well…that’s kind of it. There’s not much more to this route.
And I found that sad.
-Final Thoughts-
Semi’s a good hero for me! I enjoy his type of character, and with the bonus of Toyonaga’s voice acting, I was ready to fall in love with Semi. Unfortunately, I felt like Semi wasn’t driving his own story, which was such a waste of this character’s potential. I never got to see Semi shine (like at the end of Akuroou’s route) and that was such a disappointment!
I didn’t like Shino in this route, which is crazy because I really enjoyed her in the other three routes I’ve played. She spent the first half of the route having to be constantly reassured that she was doing a good job in Sakuratani. Then she spent the second half of the route, chasing Semi around nagging him to depend on her and their co-workers. To me, it just felt like so much nagging. Like that was her job. Nag Semi to help him “learn” that he doesn’t have to do everything on his own. No thank you.
I thought this route had a lot of potential, but overall, everything fell flat for me (except the voice acting, which is still one of the strongest points of the game). I strongly disliked the execution of this route. Almost nothing worked for me. Which is a shame. I found myself annoyed. I wanted it to be better, because I knew it could have been a great route. All the pieces were there, they were just patched together with a poor plot and conflict devices. So, I’m sad to say that this route was annoying.
I’m so sorry, Semi. You deserved better.
Otomes as Novels 