I simply can’t deny this natural affinity I have for Otomate red-heads! Harada, Akaza, Impey, Gilbert Redford, Kazuma Kamikubo, Harumi Makino (pinkish hair…it’s still a part of the red family), and Ignis Carbunculus are all characters that I really enjoy!
So, well done, Otomate! You’ve crafted another red-haired hero that I just simply adore!
And while pacing of Mitsuki’s route wasn’t my favorite, I did enjoy his character’s development and growth towards emotional maturity.
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!
Honestly, I began this route with some trepidation. As a person who does not do well with overly critical people, I was nervous of how Mitsuki was going to make me feel as I read his route. I was scared that he was going to be overbearing and so awful towards Akari that I would skip read a majority of his lines until he learned to be kinder towards the end of his route.
So, you can understand how surprised I was when I finished Chapter 1 and found myself saying, “Huh? Is that it? That wasn’t bad at all.”
Yes, he is sharp tongued and needs to work on his “people skills.” Yes, he is laser focused on how to create the best work possible and that overrides his treating people with empathy. Yes, he can be unapologetically blunt and a perfectionist.
But, for me, all this was undercut by his clearly desperate desire for friends and emotional connection. This man can coldly cut your work down at the beginning of day, but by the end of it, he is cheerfully inviting you to have dinner with him.
There is this dichotomy to Mitsuki that I found endearing.
Mitsuki (VA: Gakuto Kajiwara – I really enjoyed his performance!) is a cheerful, extrovert, “people” person who also has a no-nonsense, laser-focused work ethic. And, at times, I felt Mitsuki had a difficult time balancing both sides of his personality. His “people person” side craves connection, but his work ethic drives people away. So, Mitsuki is stuck in the middle, struggling to try to find people who can appreciate both sides of his personality.
Mitsuki is stuck between a rock and a hard place…until he begins working with Akari.
I found it funny how the route started with Akari having the same view of Mitsuki as everybody else! She does find him overbearing, overly friendly, and just plain exhausting. In the common route she laments that she and Mitsuki have to work together on the same development team!
I felt this was a really honest writing decision by the writers. They could have had Akari see that special spark within Mitsuki from the very beginning, but they didn’t. Instead, Akari had to come to like Mitsuki as a co-worker by learning about him and trying to understand his work ethic. And, in turn, as he saw her earnestly trying to understand him, Mitsuki started opening up to Akari and being more accountable to their working partnership. This was an interesting dynamic!
Now, I do think that Mitsuki had a crush on, or was at least attracted to, Akari from the very beginning of the game, which played a small part in his changing behavior towards her. Mitsuki is friendly with everyone, but, at the beginning of the game, I don’t think he expressed the same level of concern towards others that he expressed towards Akari. The poor man just didn’t know how to talk with her in non-obnoxious ways!
Chapter 1 was spent developing Mitsuki and Akari’s working relationship. Chapter 2 continued developing and building upon their working relationship and moving towards a budding personal relationship. Then all this development stalled out in Chapter 3.
One evening, Akari innocently discusses work problems about Mitsuki with another colleague named Esaka (not the best idea, Akari). Soon after that night, all kinds of horrible rumors about Mitsuki and Akari are being spread around the office, with the office gossips not even bothering to figure out what really happened.
Later in the route the reader discovers Esaka wanted to drive Mitsuki out of Estario because he was jealous and felt inferior to Mitsuki. So, he used Akari’s complaints about Mitsuki to rationalize filing a harassment claim with Estario management. Now, Akari never asked Esaka to file the claim. He did that all on his own, thinking Mitsuki was treating Akari as bad as he felt Mitsuki had treated him.
Now, I can’t state this enough…I can’t stand rumor and gossip-based conflicts. I especially hate office gossip conflict, I mean, aren’t we all adults here? So, honestly, I was primed to dislike one of the main conflicts in this route.
But, for me, what truly stalled the route was that Mitsuki started avoiding Akari. All the momentum from the first two chapters of the developing the relationship between Mitsuki and Akari was thrown out the window.
I understand why Mitsuki began to avoid Akari. He thought avoiding her was a good way to protect her from the rumors. And, I understand, for a man who usually only thinks about himself, the fact he is considering what is best for another person is major personal growth.
However, his actions were rendered pointless because Akari was not protected from the gossips. In fact, women started saying that Akari was finding different male colleagues to pursue and fool around with. And for a smart man like Mitsuki, it’s mind boggling that he didn’t change course once he realized his actions were not having the positive impact he intended and he was making himself miserable in the process.
It really felt that Mitsuki was acting out of character, and I felt vindicated in my opinion when the writers gave us that very sentiment as a choice selection!
It wasn’t until Mitsuki started acting like himself and started facing the rumors head-on that our hero and heroine began to solve the rumor problem.
So, personal growth for Mitsuki aside (which could have happened in a myriad of ways), this whole conflict of Mitsuki avoiding Akari just felt unnecessary. Mitsuki wasn’t able to solve the rumor problem until he went back to being true to who he was and stopped avoiding Akari. I mean, what was gained narratively by the Mitsuki-avoiding-Akari conflict? It didn’t solve anything. It was just a plot point that generated conflict for conflict’s sake.
And worst of all, it killed the momentum of their developing romantic relationship. So, when they did reconcile in Chapter 4, Akari’s admission that she liked him felt kind of unearned. And, maybe, I felt that way since Akari spent Chapter 1, and a part of Chapter 2, learning to appreciate him as a work colleague. Then they weren’t together for all of Chapter 3, because Mitsuki was avoiding her. And since this narrative separation came at the infancy of their positive working relationship, there wasn’t much time for Akari to develop romantic emotional feelings towards Mitsuki. Just a few weeks earlier, she couldn’t stand him!
I really feel this was just poor plot sequencing.
Personally, I would have preferred not to have had this avoidance conflict at all. But since it exists, I wish the writers had given more time in the early chapters to the development of Mitsuki and Akari’s working and romantic relationship. So, when they admitted their feelings to each other after the conflict, it would have felt more organic because they had spent more time together before the rumors tried to tear them apart.
And, in a completely uneventful way (which honestly should be how all real-world work conflicts are solved), Mitsuki and Esaka apologize to each other and reconcile their relationship. They would never be best friends, but Esaka agreed to put an end to all the rumors and harassment claims and Mitsuki gave a heartfelt apology.
Mitsuki realized how, unintentionally, he had been hurting his co-workers’ feelings. He shouldn’t have to hold himself back from reaching his full potential but he also needed to value the autonomy of others.
By the end of the route, Mitsuki had the full support of the Estarci development team and Akari. He found a work partner in Akari that could keep up with him and embraced his work ethic. Which, honestly, I think is all he ever really wanted. He wanted to feel like he truly belonged, while being the creative mind that he is. And Yoji and company provided that acceptance.
Sadly, I thought all the endings were rather forgettable.
I got the Love Ending in my first playthrough. To me, it felt rather bittersweet. Mitsuki is headhunted by a company who runs their own internet search engine (Google *cough*) and he really wants to go. He asks Akari to come with him and after thinking it over, she agrees. I really felt that Akari seemed so un-excited about the move, that she should have just stayed in Japan. But this was the “Love” ending and love seemed to conquer all her doubts. Though I found this to be a bit impractical.
In the Perfect Ending, Mitsuki is once again headhunted by Google a company who runs their own internet search engine, but this time he wants to stay in Japan working at Estario. Mitsuki and Akari visit a dessert shop they helped get more publicity earlier in the route and then he takes Akari home to meet his parents. It was cute, but nothing really special. To be honest, I was a little “meh” about it.
-Final Thoughts-
Overall, I really loved Mitsuki! He’s a great hero for me! I thought Chapter 3 was a waste of his character, but I can understand the writers were trying to give him character development. I just wished they had chosen a different way to accomplish that. Mitsuki made me smile and laugh! And while I know he came on too strong or was just flat out rude at times, his underlying concern for people and doing his best work won me over! It helped that he never felt malicious to me. This sweet man just needed some help with his people skills and empathy. And, thankfully, by the end of the route he had learned his lesson!
Overall, the route was average. There were moments in the route I loved, and moments I completely disliked. So, in the end it was kind of a wash.
I really enjoy the world and characters of Sympathy Kiss! I’m so glad I gave this slice-of-life game a chance!
Otomes as Novels 