It’s been a long time since an otome route hero triggered my “mom” instincts (I’m looking at you, Orlok), and it wasn’t too far into the common route for my heart to hurt for Kuroyuki. This route made me feel things. I cried, and I haven’t done that with an otome game since I finished Hakuouki. And maybe this is some of my own childhood peeking through, but all I could see was a young, hurting boy who needed someone to help him.
I didn’t come to adore Kuroyuki as a romantic “Love Interest.” I came to care for the young boy who had been put through so much crap that he never asked for. This is a hero I love as a son, and I want to help him figure out his life.
This boy needs a loving hug.
And a licensed therapist.
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut! There will also be plot a few spoilers for Goemon and Chojiro’s routes as well.
At the age of eight, Kuroyuki “volunteered” (he had NO CLUE what he was getting into, because…he was eight-years-old!) to join Shume Yotsui and the Kaga to expand his shinobi training. The leader of the Koga, Kando Ueno (Enju’s Dad) had made a deal with Yotsui to train a young shinobi in a ninjutsu called Kagehami, with the end goal of staging a shinobi rebellion and murdering the emperor, who had brought peace to Japan. I mean, you know, peace isn’t the preferred business market for mercenary shinobi assassins. Ueno and Yotsui wanted war, so their shinobi-based local economies wouldn’t be destroyed.
And what is the key to this planned assassination of the emperor? They needed a child to be “molded” into a person who could handle Kagehami. And this molding involved years of torture.
At the age of eight, Kuroyuki was put in a dark room where he couldn’t even see his hands. He didn’t know when it was day or night, and he never knew if he could find his next meal. Yotsui kept Kuroyuki in a room where light didn’t reach, so he could be “eaten by shadows.” His tormentors (Yotsui and Ueno) put Kuroyuki through “illusions” training all the time: when he was awake and asleep. There was no reprieve. He saw illusions that felt real to him: like being burned alive and cut up to pieces while he still maintained consciousness. Halfway through, Kuroyuki says he didn’t even know what was real or not anymore. It was through this process, his tormentors said, that Kuroyuki would take hold of the shadows for the ninjutsu.
Kuroyuki had to learn to live in a world where reality didn’t register to him, so he could see the shadows even in the dark. That’s why he was kept in darkness, so he could learn to see shadows even when there wasn’t light. And this poor boy didn’t even know how long he was in that room.
A CHILD!
I am a mom of a young child, and the thought of what the villains did to a poor eight-year-old boy makes me nauseous. No child should ever have to live through the torture that Kuroyuki endured.
This shadow torture ate away at Kuroyuki’s memories of his happy childhood with Enju and his friends. He didn’t remember anything, not even himself. Kuroyuki lost everything. This poor boy should have been hopeless. He remembered nothing except Enju. He defiantly held on to his memory of Enju, and this hatred toward his older brother Gekkamaru for being chosen as Enju’s bodyguard.
This is why Enju became Kuroyuki’s world. She was all he had memories of, so when he finds her again, he decides to figure out what she truly means to him. And if what he remembers about her is true.
Well, finally, Kuroyuki got his chance. He was sent by Ueno and Yotsui to finally complete the mission that these two wannabe criminal masterminds had been preparing for eight years. Kuroyuki was sent to murder the emperor. On the way to visit Koga for the first time in eight years, Kuroyuki runs into Enju and the other Koga Shinobi on the road to Kyo. And since he’s ultimately headed to Kyo anyways, he decides to join them immediately instead of going to Koga first.
The route starts with the Koga shinobi on their way to Kyo for Enju’s first mission. Enju is completely innocent and not emotionally and mentally ready to kill. She is compassionate, loving, pure and open hearted. She has all the practical shinobi skills, but she has not steeled her heart to the worst of what it means to be a shinobi…you kill at will for your master. Enju has been brought up to be a shinobi for Koga, and she wants to make everyone in her life proud. But, is Enju pursuing the shinobi lifestyle because she wants it for herself or to make everyone around her proud? And, this is the question that Enju has to answer. Does she really want to be a shinobi?
Now, I’ve detailed Enju’s character and emotional journey in Goemon and Chojiro articles. I’m not going to do that again here. If you want more of an in-depth view, please read the other articles.
Enju is thrilled to see Kuroyuki again after eight years!
Even after Kuroyuki announces his presence by throwing multiple small weapons at his “friends,” and making them defend themselves against the weapons. He does assure his friends that, of course, did not aim at Enju (haha…oh you jokester, sixteen-year-old boy…haha…*giving the side eye*… what is happening?). From the very beginning, I had to take a moment and process Kuroyuki’s way of greeting his friends. He also immediately becomes jokingly combative with his older brother Gekkamaru, who Kuroyuki hates because he got to stay with Enju and be her bodyguard, while Kuroyuki had to survive literal hell. There is little to no lost love for Kuroyuki towards his older brother. Kuroyuki essentially resents his brother for everything, and there’s no hiding it.
Kuroyuki wears the façade of the mischievous, bad boy with a good heart. He is very sharp and nothing gets past him. He knows how to talk his way into anything, and he can turn a conversation in any direction he wants it to go. He plays pranks on people, and will say things just to rile everybody up. And, yes, some of his personality is embedded deep into his heart. But mostly this façade hides his deep emotional trauma. He is lonely, lost, hurt, and feels unlovable. He is completely alone and craves human connection.
And much applause to Kuroyuki’s voice actor, Hiro Shimono. This is one of the BEST performances from a voice actor I have ever heard. Shimono is outstanding at conveying Kuroyuki’s complex personality. So, so good!
Throughout the common route, you quickly realize that Kuroyuki is all about Enju. He could leave everyone else. No one else matters to our young man. He is extremely handsy with Enju, which is partly sixteen-year-old hormones and partly that touching her gives Kuroyuki reassurance that he is actually with her and not hallucinating. Still. At times, he is far too bold, and doesn’t always take Enju’s feelings into consideration. However, Enju tries to take everything in stride and welcomes her long-time missing friend back into the Koga shinobi fold.
So, once again, Enju is framed for the murder of the emperor. Moments after she arrives in prison, Kuroyuki arrives to rescue her. Kuroyuki explains that her shinobi friends have all abandoned her, and her father disowned her. He tells Enju, he is all she has in the world. With no other options, they quickly escape into the countryside and begin traveling together.
Now, Kuroyuki manipulates and lies (many lies by omission) to Enju to keep her with him. He leads her away from situations that could be for her benefit, and he is content to keep running around with her, simply because he is with her. There is no excuse for this. He is terrified that if he asked her to go with him, she would reject him. He doesn’t believe that anyone would choose him. He wants to keep Enju all for himself, because he literally has nothing else. So, he acts completely selfishly and doesn’t think about Enju’s wants at all (except living. He knows Enju wants to live).
Kuroyuki even tells Enju that he is doing all this for her, because he loves her. And, while surprised, Enju admits that she has always loved him as a brother. Kuroyuki doesn’t let this bother him, and hopes that the more time she spends with him, the more she will romantically “fall in love” with him.
Now, I don’t think Kuroyuki truly loves Enju at this point in the story. He loves the memory of her. He loves the mental construct he’s made of her in his mind. It’s only through their journey together that he truly can see her for who she is in the present day. And the same goes for Enju. She has her memories of him that she is fond of. But she has to get to know the man that Kuroyuki is now. It’s only then, she can fall in love with him. You can’t live a love that is based on memories. They have to get to know each other again for who they truly are now. And that’s what Kuroyuki and Enju do.
And as time passes, Enju begins seeing through Kuroyuki’s carefully crafted façade. She notices how he doesn’t seem to remember anything from their childhood, and how at times Kuroyuki seems sad and lonely. First, she questions if he sleeps at all, and the one time she catches him sleeping, Kuroyuki is having a nightmare. Rightfully so, Enju begins to be concerned for her friend. She realizes that even with everything that happened to her, she is at a better place emotionally than Kuroyuki.
Emotionally and mentally, Enju begins all the routes in the same place. Yet compared to Goemon and Chojiro, Enju is seen as “young” and “immature.” Yet when you pair her with Kuroyki, you quickly realize she is the more stable and mature person in the relationship. This route did a complete flip with these dynamics, compared to Goemon and Chojiro’s routes. Now, Enju is having to be, the more emotionally sane and rational person, when she has none of the emotional tools, she had learned by the end of Goemon and Chojiro’s routes. That is crazy!
Was the relationship childish? Of course! It’s a severely emotionally damaged teenager, leading a severely inexperienced teenager around! They are both sixteen years old! There are going to be problems and unhealthy dynamics!
That said, I personally, felt Enju’s growth by the end of Kuroyki’s route was almost more impressive than her growth from the other two routes I played. She reached every one of her conclusions about what she wants to do moving forward, herself. She didn’t have anyone else to rely on. After Enju is separated from Kuroyuki by the Koga shinobi, all her friends were essentially calling her a wimp and gullible for having faith in and caring about Kuroyuki. Yet. Enju doesn’t let the “advice” of her friends cloud her own judgement of the situation.
Yes, at first, she was blindly following Kuroyuki around. The point wasn’t that she was being weak. The point of this time was that Enju was seeing all the different sides to Kuroyuki. She saw his confusion, when he couldn’t remember something. She saw his fear and pain of his nightmares. She saw his insecurities. She saw how lonely he was. She saw how afraid he was to lose her. She saw everything that NO OTHER CHARACTER in the story saw. This period of time, humanized Kuroyuki.
So, when she learned of his manipulation and lies, she couldn’t with integrity, call him “evil.” Enju is smart and intuitive. She knew that something was horribly wrong with Kuroyuki. She knew he had been traumatized. She didn’t know what it was, yet, but she knew that Kuroyuki was suffering. And this perspective, allowed Enju to have compassion for Kuroyuki. She wanted to help the person she cared about.
She wasn’t weak. She wasn’t a wimp. She wasn’t being gullible.
Enju offering Kuroyuki compassion was her acknowledging that he hurt her, but she believed that he was worth helping. She had seen his suffering. She had seen his pain. She also knew, he had done everything he could possibly do, to keep her safe.
It takes great strength to see past the failures of another person and allow yourself to see them as human. And this is what Enju does for Kuroyuki.
And at this point in the story, Enju wanting to understand Kuroyuki and hear what he has to say about what is going on, doesn’t mean she’s looking to be in a romantic relationship with him. She knows what he has done is wrong. She isn’t under any false illusions about him. She knows he isn’t a saint. She knows he is troubled. Her concern for him does come from a place of love, she admitted as much earlier in the route. But her love for him to this point, hasn’t been romantic. It’s been a familial love. Her compassion comes from a place of love for him as a person and family member.
Now, Enju offering her compassion to Kuroyuki DOESN’T MEAN THAT WHAT KUROYUKI DID WAS RIGHT OR ACCEPTABLE.
Should he have lied to her? NO!
Should he have manipulated her emotions? NO!
Should he have kept her to himself and avoided help that could have been good for her? NO!
Should he have smoke bombed the hideout, and essentially attacked the Koga shinobi? NO!
(These are not healthy behaviors in ANY type of relationship. Please seek help, if you are experiencing these types of actions in relationships.)
But is Kuroyuki completely irredeemable for these mistakes?
I would argue…NO.
It is later in the story when Kuroyuki admits what he did was wrong and apologizes. He admits he was selfish and that while he wanted to make Enju happy, he was not making decisions that would lead to her happiness. He was thinking of his own happiness of having her nearby.
*Now, in the real world, Kuroyuki would need a licensed therapist to help him sort out his emotional and mental trauma. I said a similar thing about Chojiro in his write-up. These murderous, mercenary shinobi men need therapy. Go figure.*
The point of compassion is to recognize another’s person distress and a want to help them alleviate it. It’s a form of mercy. Mercy is compassion one shows to someone who has hurt them.
Does Kuroyuki “deserve” Enju’s compassion and mercy, before he apologizes to Enju for his actions? No. That is the point! This is why mercy is hard. It is having compassion for someone who does not deserve it! And what Enju is offering to Kuroyuki is something he hasn’t experienced since he was sent to the Kaga as an eight-years-old child. Enju is offering Kuroyuki unconditional love.
Enju recognizes that Kuroyuki has done horrible things. But she cares about him too much to give up on him. If he is willing to recognize his mistakes, apologize for them and move forward in a healthy way, Enju is willing to walk side-by-side with him into the future.
Enju is the strongest of them all.
So, Enju is still with the Koga shinobi, listening to all of them as they tell her she is a gullible wimp. All the while, Enju continues to contemplate what she wants to do moving forward. Enju has even more to consider after she learns that Kuroyuki was the one who killed the emperor. She is now completely in the clear, and no one will continue to come after her. She tells Gekkamaru that she will think carefully about what to do, and figure everything out her own way!
Good for you, Enju! Taking personal responsibility for your life!
And can I take a minute to say, I wanted to punch Kyara in the nose. For a mercenary shinobi assassin, she sure has a lot to say about the morality of Kuroyuki. She is far from a paragon of morality herself (please play Chojiro’s route to see what I mean), yet she continues to lecture Enju about how awful Kuroyuki is. Yes, Kuroyuki has made some bad decisions and has done bad things, but he isn’t EVIL! It’s a joke that Kyara sees herself as morally superior to Kuroyuki. You are a mercenary shinobi assassin as well, Kyara, who would murder your friend if your master (Ueno) ordered you to. Enju doesn’t need a lecture from you.
Gekkamaru also feels the need to talk down to and lecture Enju. His lecture comes from a place of personal concern for her, so this didn’t bother me as much. He’s always cared more about Enju than being a shinobi for Koga. Still, Enju doesn’t need a lecture from him. It makes sense that he is concerned about what Kuroyuki did to Enju, and his lecture also plays into the brotherly rivalry between the two men. However, you can sense the general distrust and disdain Gekkamaru has towards his younger brother and how this influences how he thinks Kuroyuki deserves to be treated…with no compassion. It’s not a good look for you, Gekkamaru.
And I know, that Kuroyuki lied to Enju through omission and by straight-up falsifying facts. This is wrong. However, that doesn’t change the fact that he was right about her father disowning her. Her dad did actually do that. And if the reader has played Chojiro’s route first, the reader knows what the Koga shinobi are capable of, and it’s not too far off what Kuroyuki tells Enju they would do. This knowledge doesn’t change that what Kuroyuki did to Enju was wrong, but it does give perspective that he wasn’t too far off the truth. And for me, (I know this is debatable), this does lessen the “wrongness” of what Kuroyuki does. If he had been up front and honest with Enju about his concerns, we wouldn’t be having this conversation about his moral integrity. It’s his methods that were wrong. His concerns were valid. In the end, all these lies come from a place of concern for Enju, and I honestly think she is physically safer with Kuroyuki than with the rest of the Koga shinobi (except Gekkamaru, he always puts Enju first, too). To the rest of the Koga shinobi, Enju is a an expendable tool that they will murder if ordered to. How can she trust anyone but Kuroyuki and Gekkamaru to keep her safe? And Goemon.
She can ALWAYS trust Goemon (He’s the best!).
Well, the Koga shinobi get an order from Ueno, to hunt down Kuroyuki and kill him. Because, of course. Chojiro accepts the mission, and states that everyone will head out when they finish preparing.
Hmm…the Koga shinobi have accepted an order (from Ueno) to find a murder a former colleague. And earlier in the route, the same shinobi (Chojiro *cough*) obeyed the order (again from Ueno, the winner of the Worst Father of the Year Award) to put Gekkamaru in prison so he would not go try and help Enju. Yes. these are the same shinobi, because this is what shinobi are…they follow the orders of their master without question. Kuroyuki wasn’t wrong about them. They, honestly, can’t be trusted.
Well, Enju’s decision to move forward made me pump my fists with pride! She decided to embrace the fact her father disowned her, and the freedom she had now that she was no longer a Koga shinobi. Enju basically tells everyone that she can do whatever she wants. She is no longer required to do the bidding of her father (EMBRACE YOUR FREEDOM, ENJU!). And what she wants is to find the person responsible for ordering Kuroyuki to murder the emperor. And she will find the perpetrator before the Koga shinobi can murder Kuroyuki! HAHA!
So, Enju leaves the stunned Koga shinobi behind and heads to Kyo with Hanzo. There she meets with Ieyasu Tokugawa. He apologizes for everything she’s been through. And now that she is no longer the suspect and can live her life free of danger. Tokugawa admits that now Kuroyuki is the prime suspect, all the shinobi will hunt him down.
Enju tells Tokugawa and Hanzo her plan of searching for the man who ordered Kuroyuki to kill the emperor. At first both men are hesitant. But Enju reasons that since she isn’t tied to any shinobi group, because her father disowned her (best thing that could have happened to her!), if she is caught no one will be inconvenienced.
While Tokugawa and Hanzo are coming around to the plan, Kuroyuki breaks in to “rescue” Enju. She chooses to flee with Kuroyuki.
After they escape into the woods, Enju questions all of Kuroyuki’s actions up until this point. She tells Kuroyuki how much he had hurt her and everyone else around them. She doesn’t spare any punches, and she doesn’t dance around his feelings. Enju tells Kuroyuki everything she was feeling, and she asks every question that she had, about why he did what he did.
Enju holds Kuroyuki accountable.
Kuroyuki is shocked Enju would choose to come with him, after everything he’s done. He didn’t believe someone would choose to care for him. This leads Kuroyuki to spill his guts about his past. He tells Enju everything about the shadow torture and his time spent in the dark. He tells her how he’s lost a majority of his memories, and the only person he remembered was her. He knows he has been selfish. He tells Enju how much he wants her (and, boy, she is all he cares about), and how happy he was simply to be with her. He apologizes for everything he has done to her.
At this point, Kuroyuki has seen Enju at her lowest and most stressed. He has experienced her compassion and loving care. He now knows the real woman behind his memories, and she is everything he wanted her to be. Kuroyuki has traveled the country with her and they built a real relationship.
And Enju has seen every part of him. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. She isn’t running away and hiding from the darkness in Kuroyuki. She chooses to embrace the pain of someone who means so much to her. But Enju does question whether Kuroyuki truly loves her or her memory. She tells him that she might just be a fixation for him.
Kuroyuki immediately becomes defensive and begins defending his love for her. And the feelings he describes sounds a lot like infatuation: dreaming about her all the time; his mind is filled with her; his heart throbs when he thinks of her; and he’s sad when she’s not around. At this point, Enju realizes she feels the same for Kuroyuki as he feels about her. So, she reasons that she’s in love with him as well.
Now is this a healthy love? I don’t know. They both know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They both accept each other. They both care about each other, and want to be together. I do believe that these two really care about each other. But have they really thought about what it takes to develop a healthy relationship? I think they both need time to figure out this relationship. But they ARE sixteen-year-olds and this IS an otome game. So, they “agree” they have feelings for each other and “accept” they are in love without digging any deeper into these feelings they have. Not exactly responsible, but hey they are sixteen-year-old teenagers, and given their emotional states, I think this was to be expected.
And, then, after confirming their mutual feelings, Kuroyuki lets her go.
Due to all this emotional and mental damage, Kuroyuki doesn’t believe that he can happily live with Enju. So, he decided to create a beautiful world for Enju to live on in by herself. He wants to create a world for her without fear. He wants her for himself, and to make her his, but he believes that isn’t enough. Because, ultimately, he believes, he can’t make her happy. So, he uses his ninjutsu (um, how?) to send Enju back to Hanzo.
Well, once Enju is back with Hanzo and Tokugawa, she’s like, “To hell with that! You’re not facing all this alone, Kuroyuki!” And she, with Hanzo in tow, set out to find Kuroyuki again.
Kuroyuki, in order to create a beautiful world for Enju, basically heads out on a revenge tour. He confronts his former “master” Yotsui. Kuroyuki taunts Yotsui with the blood contract Yotsui and Ueno agreed upon to murder the emperor. Kuroyuki says he will hand the contract over to the authorities. Well, then Yotsui (stupidly) said he would go after Enju.
Well, Sir, you signed your own death certificate.
Lo and behold, Kuroyuki murders Yotsui with the power he learned from him.
Then Kuroyuki goes after Ueno. Enju shows up, and with Kuroyuki’s support, confronts her dad about all his shady business dealings. This is where Ueno admits to his dreams of assassinating the emperor so a new war can start. Peace is bad for business. Of course, Enju is outraged at her dad, and tells him she will tell Tokugawa all that he said.
Her dad sends some of his shinobi to kill Kuroyuki and Enju. Kuroyuki plans to use the full power of his ninjutsu, that would most likely kill him in the process, to rid the world of Ueno and his shinobi. Enju stops him and uses her flower petal ninjutsu to help the two of them escape. She refuses to let Kuroyuki carry his burden all by himself. She loves him and that means supporting him through everything and working together to solve their problems.
So, Yotsui is dead and Ueno is arrested by the authorities for the murder of the emperor. Kuroyuki is exonerated from his crimes, on the condition that he works for the Tokugawa shinobi and Hanzo keeps an eye on him.
Now, I’m not really sure what Enju’s role is after this. She tags along with Kuroyuki to the Tokugawa, but it’s not really clear if she plans on being a shinobi or just a civilian. I think she joins the Tokugawa, but I’m not 100% sure.
Personally, I wish the two of them had walked away completely from the shinobi lifestyle, but I understand this ending. Kuroyuki is one of the most dangerous assassins in the country, and given his history it makes sense that Tokugawa and Hanzo want to keep an eye on him. Plus, Kuroyuki’s only skill is assassinations. The boy needs to learn another trade, so he can have another life outside of murder. In this ending, I don’t think, Enju is cut out to be a shinobi. I think she would be happier walking away from the lifestyle, but ultimately, she wanted to be with Kuroyuki and this was her only option. Though considering how physical Kuroyuki was with Enju during the route, it’s probably only a matter of time (a short amount of time) until she’s pregnant. Kuroyuki is certainly not known for his restraint, and his attraction to her was overwhelming to him at times. Enju is probably not going to be a shinobi for long.
But, even with this, it’s a lovely ending.
-Final Thoughts-
I loved Kuroyuki. He is a great hero for me, not as a “Love Interest,” but as a character I genuinely enjoyed reading about! In some ways, he reminds me of the Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera. An emotionally damaged man who, in the end lets the woman he loves go. Now, Kuroyuki has a happier ending then the Phantom, but both men were extremely selfish, thinking only about what they wanted, until they both experienced compassion from the women they loved. This boy is a work in progress, and in reality, it would take years of therapy with a licensed therapist to help him get to a healthy state of mind. But once again, this is an otome game. I loved how in the end, Kuroyuki let her go when all he wanted was to keep her for himself. He put her needs before his own, and that was good. Also, I must praise VA, Hiro Shimono! He breathed such life into this character! It was so, so, so good!
I loved Enju. She is the Queen of Compassion, and I love her inner strength. I was so proud of her for defending her thoughts and life choices to the Koga shinobi, and her dedication to discovering the truth about Kuroyuki was admirable. She never quits in this route, and when the people around her won’t investigate the truth behind the emperor’s murder, she is willing to strike out on her own and figure it out herself! She helped to save Kuroyuki, when no one else was willing to understand and help this lost, hurt boy. Such a strong heroine!
I loved this route. Honestly, this route is great for me, though I will say that I liked the ending of Goemon’s route better. I understand where the writers left Kuroyuki and Enju’s relationship, but I do wish we had left it in a healthier state. I know why it is the way it is, but I couldn’t help but wish for a little bit more. I also wish they had left the shinobi world behind, especially after all the damage it had done to Kuroyuki. But, once again, I understand why the ending worked the way it did. Hopefully in the meantime, Kuroyuki will learn another skill and use that to support himself, Enju, and their future family. Also, I still don’t know what the hell ninjutsu is. I’m leaning towards magic as this point, but I still don’t know for certain. Overall, these are minor complaints to a route I enjoyed thoroughly.
I loved the time Kuroyuki and Enju spent together on the run. I loved watching their relationship grow and change. I loved seeing Hanzo, Chojiro, and Goemon all working together! They have a fun dynamic, and I would have loved to see more of it! Goemon was, of course, once again fantastic in the route! I love him so much! He’s such a great guy, no matter if Enju falls in love with him or not. I could go on and on, but I’ll just say, this route hit the right notes for me!
This is a route I would definitely replay in the future. In those moments, when I’m looking for a heavy story, that will make me cry and feel things, this will be one of the routes I go to. I really enjoyed it.
Otomes as Novels 