I love Keisuke Sannan!
Due to not being a member of the Original Six (Hijikata, Okita, Saito, Harada, Heisuke, and Kazama), Sannan never got his happily ever after with Chizuru in the original historical game. And while I don’t like the dynamic between Sannan and Chizuru in Hakuouki: SSL, I did enjoy seeing the foundation of their relationship that redeems Sannan in the historical game remakes: Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms.
I love me an intelligent, morally gray hero! And Sannan is as smart, and unpredictable, as they come!
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.
When you go into SSL with all the prerequisite knowledge, the game takes on a magic all its own. You can appreciate the modern adjustments made to the historical characters. You get all the references to the plot, characters, and internal relationships in the historical games. The fact that everyone is alive, healthy, and not fighting tooth and nail for survival warms your heart with happiness. Everything just means more, because you have the background knowledge from 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 Sannan’s character scenes and how Chizuru is written in Sannan’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 Sannan is the school nurse.
Sannan and Chizuru’s relationship in this route is, for the most part, a friendship. Sannan is clearly attracted to Chizuru about mid-way through the route. However, Chizuru starts developing romantic feelings for Sannan in the Epilogue, as she is about to graduate high school.
Because of this, Sannan’s route had the feeling of being a secret route for the reader. It’s like a bonus the reader can stumble upon as they make their different choice selections. You get small little conversations with him in Chapters 1-3 (which are fully developed CG scenarios for the Original Six). It is Chapter 4 where you get your first Sannan CG, which is a chibi CG (compare this to the Original Six who get a standard looking character CG scenario for Chapter 4). So, it isn’t until Chapter 4.5, that Sannan gets the full standard looking character CG scenario treatment that the Original Six get in every chapter.
Of all the Shinsengumi members I would say that Sannan is one of the hardest to understand. He’s brilliant and keeps his thoughts and emotions close to his chest. He is, also, aloof and prefers to spend time alone in his room working on his experiments. Yet, he is also kind, observant, and thoughtful. So, by the time you get to Edo Blossoms, Sannan is nearly impossible to predict.
What I really loved about SSL was that we got to see the full of kindness, happy, at-peace-with-the-world Sannan that we are deprived of in the historical games.
In the historical games, Sannan sustains a life-altering injury that, to his mind, ruins his life. From that point on, Chizuru tells the reader how kind Sannan used to be, but the reader never gets to witness it within the story. All we see is Sannan’s growing despair and bitterness. And then he drinks the Water of Life and all vestiges of Sannan’s humanity are essentially destroyed.
SSL gets around all this life-or-death drama by basically making Sannan the school’s brilliant, introvert recluse who works in the school’s infirmary all day. Seriously. Sannan had the feeling of the loner genius that nobody at the school knows what to do with. But instead of making Sannan creepy and weird (which is one direction loner characters can go), the writers let Sannan be the sharp, observant, and, I felt, a little socially unsure type of loner who is a sweetheart at his core.
I mean, Sannan does keep people on their toes and everyone at arm’s length. He can be hard to read and does enjoy using wordplay to mess with people. So, I can see how he can be unapproachable and misunderstood by many at the school. But the uneasiness that people feel towards Sannan comes from those things, not because of his inexplicable “dark” side.
Because Sannan doesn’t have his historical game “dark” side in SSL. He’s kind of like Okita: too smart for this world and keeps people at arm’s length. Which, when combined together, can be very intimidating for people to deal with.
So, all this makes it confusing when characters warn Chizuru of Sannan’s “dark” side.
It’s kind of whiplash to see Sannan and Harada amiably talking together at school and then see him leisurely at the water park with Hijikata in Chapter 2, yet by Chapter 5 Hijikata and Yamazaki are warning Chizuru off of giving Sannan Valentine’s Day chocolates. Hijikata and Yamazaki both try to make it clear to Chizuru that Sannan has his “dark, secretive” side that she should be wary of.
So, is he your trusted friend or not, Hijikata? And if this guy is so dangerous, why is he working at the school? I mean, what exactly is this “dark” side that Chizuru is supposed to be wary of?
This dynamic just felt a bit off to me because this “dark” side to Sannan isn’t explored in SSL. The whole conflict feels misplaced.
All we witness is Sannan’s kind side, especially in his treatment of Chizuru throughout the route. Like Sannan is fantastically sweet, if not a bit mischievous. Unlike the historical games, Chizuru (and by extension, the reader) doesn’t see Sannan’s dark side, so having other characters warn her off was just kind of strange. And this could be totally confusing for a reader who doesn’t have the context for Sannan’s character from the historical games.
I mean… why can’t Sannan just be kind and at peace in SSL? Let him be that misunderstood, introverted, genius sweetheart who keeps to himself and not have to have the “dark” side prevalent in the historical games.
Oh well.
All this forced “darkness” conflict aside, I truly did enjoy Sannan in this route!
And a good part of this was due to voice actor, Nobuo Tobita. SSL allows Sannan to be hesitant and unsure when talking with Chizuru. He is a fabulous mixture of kind, thoughtful and observant, with a mischievous dose of sharp, witty humor. And Tobita voiced this side of Sannan to perfection!
The foundation of Sannan and Chizuru’s relationship is built on the fact that she sees him. When others count Sannan out or are put off by his demeanor, Chizuru is the one who pursues and reaffirms that he matters. Now, in the historical games his amounts to Chizuru being the one to remind Sannan of his value and his humanity after he drinks the Water of Life. In SSL, it’s the little things Chizuru does that make Sannan feel like he matters. When they talk about fountain pens to Chizuru being determined to get to know Sannan better, these little moments amount to a growing bond between the two.
I was a giggling, swooning mess over Sannan in Chapter 4.5 (New Years)! Sweet Sannan was so hesitant and shy when talking with Chizuru and I was there for it! From him bashfully inviting Chizuru to the shrine to his mumblings about what he wishes he could do to keep her warm, it was all simply adorable! I thought it was sweet that he wanted to show Chizuru the sunlight filtering through the trees at the shrine so that’s why he planned for them to meet so early in the morning to say their prayers. And with Tobita’s voice performance, I could not ask for more in this chapter! I mean, come on! Sannan was just so happy to be at the shrine with Chizuru, and the way this happiness was felt by the reader through Tobita’s voice was just so good! This is the side of Sannan we are missing in the historical games!
I thought it was cute how Sannan got jealous and insecure when Chizuru told him she had brought Valentine chocolates to school. This introvert reverted back to his stoic personality to hide his disappointment that Chizuru brought chocolates to school to give to a boy.
Because, you know, Sannan believed the chocolates couldn’t possibly be for him.
Well, I thought his surprise was adorable when Chizuru finally hands over her gratitude Valentine’s Day chocolates! She wanted to give him chocolates because he was the person who had been there for her the most during her first year of school. Once again, recognizing and affirming Sannan for his kindness towards her. And Sannan was so darn happy to receive the chocolates! The gentleness and the excitement in his voice as he accepted the chocolates and told Chizuru she could stay for tea was just so sweet! Once again, Tobita’s voice performance was marvelous!
I just wish that Sannan wasn’t the school nurse while Chizuru was the student. I still don’t like this authority dynamic and it’s a slog to have to read through all the forbidden relationship stuff.
That said, I really did love Sannan in SSL! This man deserves some happiness and I enjoyed this side of Sannan, even with him being in an authority position as the school nurse. I know I will revisit his New Years Chapter! I just loved Tobita’s voice performance!
And sometimes when reading the historical games, I will need to take a break from bitter Sannan and relive the at-peace-with-the-world Sannan!
Sannan deserves to be happy, too! And in the SSL universe, he is!
Otomes as Novels 