So, my husband gifted me the Sympathy Kiss Limited Edition for Mother’s Day. And let me just say, as someone who’s never really been into limited editions before, I absolutely LOVED everything included! Like really…the tumbler is fantastic and kept my coffee hot for hours!
The office setting of Sympathy Kiss never really excited me, but I was intrigued by the fact that there are no bad endings in the game. I honestly loved the idea of being able to select whatever choices or emotions I wanted and not be penalized by a bad ending.
So, while playing Sympathy Kiss, I did something for the very first time. I played without a walkthrough and made whatever choice or emotion selections I wanted. And I found I LOVED this no “bad” ending experience!
Now, by sheer chance, I got the Perfect Ending on my first playthrough. However, in another first, I played the “Work” and “Love” Endings. And I found I actually preferred the Love Ending to the Perfect Ending, though all three endings are perfectly good!
So long story, short…I loved Rokuro! I loved his route! And I loved this game!
Be prepared for unbridled gushing after the cut!
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!
Okay, so, I actually played this route before Scarecrow’s route from Bustafellows, but since I loved EVERYTHING (okay…maybe I didn’t love the sheer number of narrative flashbacks…) about Rokuro’s route, I was at a loss about how to write and structure this article. There was just so much that I could write about, I was kind of frozen about what I should do. So, instead of writing, I started reading Scarecrow’s route and finished his article before I decided to come back and write about Rokuro.
And, in some ways, that time of avoidance plan worked out! I decided to write about what I loved most about the route, with the understanding that, in all actuality, I loved it all!
I really enjoyed the work of voice actor, Seiichiro Yamashita! Yamashita breathed life into the princely personality of Rokuro, and what can I say? I was completely charmed! Everything about this voice performance was relaxing, even the moments when Rokuro had to speak sternly to his dad (I may have cheered a bit at those parts!). Yamashita was just a joy to listen to and such a good fit for Rokuro’s character.
My number one favorite thing about this route is Rokuro standing up to his family and actively pursuing the future he wants for himself.
Rokuro is the heir of an extremely wealthy family that owns the tech company Tempesty. His father, Kotaro, rules the company, and the family, with a well-attired iron fist and expects Rokuro to fall in line with every directive he gives. And for years, Rokuro meekly obeyed his father’s directives. However, all that changed when Rokuro found Akari after years of being apart.
When Rokuro was a child, he was sent to stay with an uncle because his younger brother had severe health problems and required a stay in a hospital. Rokuro’s parents, not considering the emotional and mental damage they were doing to their older son by sending him away with little to no communication, believed Rokuro would be better off away from his younger brother’s health problems. Well, his parents were wrong, and Rokuro had a really hard time understanding what was happening.
He felt abandoned.
Rokuro met Akari at a local playground and, in a wonderful moment of compassion, Akari approached Rokuro and spoke to him. And be still my heart! Akari listened to Rokuro and affirmed his feelings and emotions. She told him it was okay for a “prince” to cry and then she asked him to play with her!
THIS SCENE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!
So, of course for Rokuro, being emotionally neglected by his parents, Akari became very special to him. A sense of belonging and acceptance was the focal point of their summer together.
Well, eventually, Rokuro was recalled by his parents and had to leave his uncle’s house. Before he left, Rokuro made a promise to come find Akari again, but they lost contact.
Fast forward to the present day and Rokuro and Akari met again when her company Estario was working on an app with Tempesty. And after some of the most wholesome and respectful dates ever written in an otome game, Rokuro and Akari realized they were each other’s first loves from that special summer. So, they begin dating in earnest, with Rokuro becoming very serious about the direction of their relationship.
What I really loved about Rokuro was his dedication to pursue what made him feel whole and emotionally and mentally healthy. His goals for the future were never made to spite his parents, though his father may have felt that way. Rokuro knew that Akari was offering something that was missing in his life and he refused to give that up, no matter what his parents wanted.
And while Rokuro loved his parents, he also recognized the unhealthy level of control his dad had over his life, which was exacerbated by his father not listening or valuing Rokuro’s right to run his own life.
And I know this route had some over the top hijinks! I mean, are excruciatingly wealthy parents really placing their twenty-eight-year-old son under house arrest on their family estates with no access to phone, internet, or computer in order to bend him to their will? I did thoroughly love the Estario team working together to break Rokuro out of house arrest! Yes, I think this is all patently ridiculous, but I can’t say I wasn’t entertained!
I really loved when Rokuro and Akari recognized that his parents and their business partners did not understand what Rokuro was doing because they couldn’t comprehend the life that Rokuro wanted. I literally cheered when Akari realized that Bitou’s family’s idea of marriage was fundamentally different than her own.
Like, YES, Akari, and no matter how many times you try to explain, they will not understand until they allow themselves to see the world differently!
So, wisely, instead of trying to force things with Rokuro’s father and his business partners, Rokuro and Akari recognized they simply had to live their own lives without the understanding and acceptance of Rokuro’s parents.
AND THAT IS OKAY.
It’s okay to live the life that is healthy and makes you whole, and not live for what your parents want, especially when your parents are stuck in unhealthy communication and relationship dynamics. And I was so happy that Rokuro and Akari found that peace in their lives!
The Perfect Ending was the ideal world, pie-in-the-sky ending. In my experience, people with unhealthy views of relationships and how families should be run, rarely “change their hearts and minds” that quickly. I mean, it was nice to read Kotaro and Bitou (the girl who wanted to marry Rokuro) come around and genuinely apologize to Rokuro and Akari for the underhanded and wrong things they did. It was nice to read Kotaro recognize that Rokuro was his own person who was responsible for running his own life.
But in the real world? Not likely.
That’s why I actually preferred the Love Ending. I felt the state of relationship between Rokuro and his parents was much more realistic. Rokuro realized that if he wanted to make changes in his life, he’d have to take the initiative and put some distance between him and his family because they weren’t going to change their minds and hearts anytime soon.
I loved how Rokuro had the goal to move overseas to build his own company with his own values, and he asked Akari to come with him and HELP him build this new company! And after the Bitou family and his own family had thoroughly insulted Akari, it was wonderful to see Rokuro put Akari first and decide that to build a healthy life and marriage with her, he’d have to separate from his family because they did not value Akari for who she was. I LOVED their plan to build their lives and future together!
Being teammates with your spouse is the best!
On a side note: everyone on the Estario team was great! With a special emphasis on Yoji and Mitsuki. They were route MVPs! Yoji is the perfect boss! He cares about his team and, when appropriate, takes full responsibility for their hijinks. Mitsuki has the reputation of being brash and rude, but man! Did his personality come in handy in this route! Was he harsh? Yes. Did Bitou deserve it? Yes! I just loved Yoji and Mitsuki!
-Final Thoughts-
I LOVED ROKURO! He is such a great hero that, to me, he is right there with Sanosuke Harada from Hakuouki as my #2 favorite otome hero of all time! He is a gentleman with a slightly mischievous sense of humor. He is so earnest, sincere and genuine and he wants the best for everyone around him. He knows when to insert himself in certain situations and helps diffuse conflict. He’s honest, trustworthy, dependable, loyal, smart…okay, I’ll stop. He made me smile. He made me cackle with happiness. I just really enjoyed the journey with this character!
I also really loved Akari! She was so level-headed and calm in situations that I would have wilted under. She approached every situation with a clear head and never let Bitou get the better of her. Akari was just so classy about the ridiculously trying situation with Bitou and Rokuro’s parents, without ever giving in to their outrageous demands. I loved the trust she showed in Rokuro and never let their separations negatively impact their relationship. Honestly, this girl is fantastic!
As you can already tell, I loved this route! It was top-tier great for me! I genuinely enjoyed the pacing and laid-back vibe of Sympathy Kiss. As I get older, I’m finding more and more that I enjoy slice-of-life otome games. These games tend to never take themselves too seriously and I enjoy that the narrative focuses more on character development and interactions and less on epic worldbuilding and swashbuckling adventures (not that I don’t enjoy epic worldbuilding and swashbuckling adventures, too).
When my life gets hectic and I have a million things demanding my attention, I appreciate reading an otome game that I can relax into and enjoy without feeling the high-stakes of having to save the world. And with Sympathy Kiss’s self-contained routes that don’t really build on each other (another plus for me!), I can play this game at my leisure and not feel I’ve forgotten something crucial to the plot.
I’m not saying I’m going to love every hero or route (cause when do I ever?). But I will say that Sympathy Kiss is a winner for me!
Otomes as Novels 