Well, I was wrong.
I was sure that the most cringey and problematic routes in Hakuouki: SSL were going to be Hijikata, Harada, Nagakura, and Sannan’s routes. You know…the teacher routes.
I stand corrected.
Somehow Kazama managed to make me cringe and shake my head more than any other character in SSL. And, honestly, I should have known better considering Kazama’s main goal from the historical game, Kyoto Winds.
Kyoto Winds Kazama is…well… Kyoto Winds Kazama. And in the case of SSL, it is definitely for the worse.
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut! There will also be a few spoilers for Hakuouki: Kyoto Winds and Hakuouki: Edo Blossoms and, well…essentially all other possible Hakuouki content in general.
SSL isn’t a traditional otome game. Otome elements are there but, if anything, this game is an addition or a supplement to the main historical games, like the remake update: Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms (though not all the characters featured in those games are in SSL, because SSL was created before the remake was made). This game makes the most sense, and has the most meaning, within the context of the world created by the historical games.
Now, I gave my general SSL game impressions in Okita’s route article. If you are interested in those thoughts, please read Okita’s article. I am not going to repeat them here. This article will be focused solely on Kazama’s character scenes and how Chizuru is written in Kazama’s route.
In Hakuouki SSL, Chizuru is a first-year high school student. She’s the first woman to go to Hakuo Academy, which has recently become co-ed. And Kazama is *technically* (more on this later) a third-year student who is the student council president.
So. Where to begin?
Okay. So, I know that SSL came out before Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms. However, I have not played the original historical game, so my only historical context is Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms. Now, I do not know what or how many changes the writers made between the original historical game and Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms. I am simply using the historical games I have played to draw the comparisons about Kazama’s characterizations in SSL and in the historical games.
In the historical games, Kazama (VA: Kenjiro Tsuda) starts off as a villain. In fact, for the entirety of Kyoto Winds, Kazama is doing nothing but causing problems for Chizuru and the Shinsengumi. Now, there are a few exceptions to this if you are reading the scenes from Kazama’s route but, other than that, in Kyoto Winds, Kazama and Chizuru’s relationship is antagonistic.
It isn’t until you reach Edo Blossoms that, in some routes, Kazama can become an ally to Chizuru and her chosen love interest (in the other routes he stays an adversary). And it’s only in his own route that Chizuru truly gets to know him to see past his haughty, arrogant personality. And this change of Chizuru’s perception of Kazama is helped by his character growth and maturity.
You see, Kazama changes for the better in his Edo Blossoms route and this change is what made him hero, and husband, material.
In Kyoto Winds, Kazama spends the game trying to abduct Chizuru from the Shinsengumi, so he can…without her consent…make her his wife and make pure-bred oni babies. He is dismissive of humans, confident in his oni superiority over humans, and generally looks down upon everyone else in the entire world, including the wants and opinions of Chizuru, the very woman he wants to marry.
But this characterization for Kazama in Kyoto Winds is fine because…HE IS THE VILLIAN! This is not the behavior of a hero, but at this point in the story that is not his role. Kazama is allowed to be horrible and do questionable, problematic things because this is expected from a villain.
It is not until his route in Edo Blossoms, that Kazama changes enough to earn the name of “hero.” He is honorable as he travels with Chizuru. He lets her mourn. He helps her process the world around her. He doesn’t rush her off to a marriage officiant the moment he is alone with her. He learns to respect Chizuru and the Shinsengumi, who is very important to Chizuru. Kazama learns to care for someone else’s needs at the expense of what he wants in that moment. He comes to care about what Chizuru wants and her opinions. He comes to love and respect Chizuru as a marriage equal, not a pure-bred oni baby maker. Now. Kazama keeps his haughty, arrogant personality, but he is softer and more understanding of the world around him.
Kazama matures into a hero. He matures into a good man.
The only characterization of Kazama that SSL and both the historical games (Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms) share is that Kazama is an entitled, haughty, arrogant rich boy from a powerful family. In all these games Kazama is used to being obeyed, respected, and in charge of those around him, and he has the ego and arrogance to match his position.
The problem with SSL is that the writers took all the problematic and villainous behavior from Kazama in Kyoto Winds and tried to play if off as affectionately ridiculous and *kind of* a joke in SSL.
I mean, yes, Kazama is no longer trying to abduct Chizuru in SSL, but he goes around calling her his wife, (without her consent), manhandling her, (without her consent), emotionally and mentally manipulating her, (without her consent), and planning a wedding (without her consent).
Multiple times, Kazama’s actions have Chizuru on the verge of tears. Multiple times, Chizuru admits to herself that Kazama acts coercive towards her. And multiple times, Chizuru’s wants, thoughts, and opinions are completely ignored by Kazama as he steam-rolls ahead with his own perspective.
These are NOT the actions of a hero!
And what is really gross, is when you realize that, yes, Chizuru is the age of a high-schooler, but Kazama has already graduated college and has “come back” to high school to win over Chizuru.
Yes, you read that right.
Kazama is actually in his mid to late 20s (I think it is inferred that he went to college with Hijikata), and he CAME BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE SINGULAR PURPOSE TO COERCE A MARRIAGE WITH A TEENAGER!
Heck, their first kiss, in the final chapter of the route, is sexual assault! Kazama pushes Chizuru down on the sofa in the student council room, and tells her coercively that since she’s already agreed to be his girlfriend, which basically means to him that she agreeing to be his wife (you’re skipping some steps there, Kazama…), she should be good now and let him kiss her. Chizuru, uncomfortable with this whole situation, lays underneath him not knowing what is happening as Kazama brushes his lips against hers!
Ya’ll. This is a crime!
And the SSL writers try to play all this off as: (1) humor. It’s like they are saying, “You know…rich, powerful boys will be rich, powerful boys…Kazama will be Kazama.” And (2) “it’s really okay, because, yes, we know that Kazama is domineering and coercive towards Chizuru, but he truly does have Chizuru’s best interests at heart…so he’s a good guy who can be trusted in the end.”
No.
This isn’t the behavior of a good man. This is the foundation of an abusive relationship.
This is the behavior of a villain.
Yes, Kazama was a villain in the Kyoto Winds portion of the historical story, and quite a few of the routes in Edo Blossoms. But, in his own Edo Blossoms route, Kazama doesn’t end up as a villain. His character arc is to mature into a hero and a good man.
So, why not keep the entitled rich boy attitude without all the domineering, coercive behavior that is 100% problematic when framed as hero behavior?
It is so disappointing the writers of SSL chose to romanticize coercive and abusive behavior. Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms DID NOT do that! Kazama had to grow and mature before he was seen as hero and husband material by the end of Edo Blossoms.
Since the writers of SSL decided to highlight Kazama’s domineering and coercive behavior, I really wish they had finished his character arc of maturing into a good man. Kazama’s character arc from Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms is emotional, interesting, and compelling. SSL Kazama is creepy and abusive.
All that is different about Kazama from Kyoto Winds and SSL is the context of what his character is to be for the story. His role in the story is not the same in Kyoto Winds and SSL. And in accordance to Kazama’s role in the first half of his character arc, Kyoto Winds labels his behavior as villainous, while SSL takes this same behavior and labels it as worthy of a hero.
Kyoto Winds has it right.
Otomes as Novels 