Well, this was a marvelously average route!
And I don’t mean that in a bad way.
This route was fine. And while it didn’t really make an impact on me, there were things about the route that I really liked!
So, this is what I’m going to focus on in this article. I’m going to write about the things that stood out to me and what I enjoyed most about Kohei. With only a slight mention of the things that didn’t work for me.
We’re going to, overall, stay positive about this route!
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!
Kohei (VA: Yuuichirou Umehara) is a young man in a tough spot.
Forced to grow up quickly because of his father’s abandonment after some bad financial decisions, Kohei became the “man of the house” to help support his mother and two much younger siblings. In a desperate situation to pay off this father’s debt, Kohei accepts the assistance of Doi, a college buddy.
Now.
Doi is an ass. An absolutely terrible human being who, while got Kohei a job at Tempesty, pays Kohei to do the dirty work as Doi manipulates his way up the corporate ladder at the same company.
Kohei, believing he has no alternative and desperate for money, goes along with everything Doi asks him to do. And after increasingly shadier and shadier jobs, Kohei finds himself as a corporate spy at rival company Estario.
Now, by this point, Kohei knows he is in deep. If Doi came forward with everything Kohei has done (even though it was at the request of Doi) Kohei would be fired, lose what financial security he has and could possibly be prosecuted.
Our poor blackmailed Baby.
So, Kohei finds himself in a quandary because Akari has chosen to work with him in trying to revive the app Estarci. Akari is a diligent, conscientious worker, who always does her best. This makes Kohei’s corporate spy assignment harder, with a higher probability of being found out, because Akari is always going above and beyond to help the app. So, Kohei spends most of the first chapter being an unhelpful jerk, hoping his indifference will force Akari to ask to be partnered with someone else.
Well, inevitably, his plan fails. And, in spite of himself, Kohei finds himself warming up to Akari and her conscientious dedication to her work.
One thing I liked about this route was that Kohei’s assholery was largely contained to the first half of the First Chapter. And while he remained stoic, contemplative, and stubbornly cagey about his situation throughout the route, the more he fell in love with Akari, the more his innate kindness, thoughtfulness, and dedication showed through!
Kohei carries an injured Akari on his back in public. He goes shopping at the mall with Akari to buy a bunny sewing project (that he is going to sew) for his little sister’s birthday, and then he also buys the stuffed animal sewing kit for Akari that she had her eye on. He drags a hesitant Akari to his family’s apartment to dry off after they get soaked in the rain, so she doesn’t catch a cold. And I especially loved how he remembered Akari’s favorite foods from a short conversation they had shared a while back and ordered the food to surprise her.
This man is an adorably reluctant hero!
I loved the fairly prominent role Kohei’s family played in this route. Kohei’s mom, younger brother and sister were such fun, endearing additions! All three characters cared greatly about Kohei and it was nice to see Kohei open up a bit more around his family. My only complaint is that none of them had character sprites!
I genuinely liked how the writers handled the return of Kohei’s father (especially in the Perfect Ending) at the end of the route. After skipping town for years, Kohei’s father returns to his family, saying he has a new job that will pay off his business debts and he wants to make amends. Kohei’s mom and younger siblings are more than willing to bring their delinquent father back into the fold.
However, Kohei had serious problems accepting his father’s return. After all that Kohei had been through to clean up the mess his father left behind, it makes sense that Kohei was having a really hard time trusting his father again.
So, I appreciated the message that trust takes time, and in some cases, can never be regained…and that is okay. It is up to Kohei to decide how to move forward and it’s okay for him to not have the answers right away. And it’s beautiful that Akari chooses to support Kohei through the process instead of shaming or guilting him into forgiving his father immediately.
Overall, I just really liked the family dynamics in this route!
I also enjoyed the dynamics between the Estarci app group! I, especially, loved Mitsuki! He knows how to play Kohei to get the results he wants, like when it comes to convincing an introverted Kohei to join them all for lunch! And it was fun to see our stoic, self-assured Kohei kind of get humbled from time to time when dealing with the fast-talking Mitsuki!
Yoji was FANTASTIC in this route! Seriously! Route MVP!
If anything, Kohei’s route, again, makes me mourn what could have been in for Yoji in his route!
After chapters of keeping everything to himself, a terrified Kohei finally comes clean to Yoji about his position as a corporate spy for Tempesty and about his situation with his family.
At first, Yoji just listens and takes in all the information. After that, Yoji admonishes Kohei, telling Kohei he was acting like an idiot and chastises him for trying to handle this all on his own.
And then Yoji goes to bat for Kohei with Estario’s upper management and with Tempesty! Even after all Kohei confesses and admits to, Yoji has compassion for Kohei and does all that he can to help Kohei out of this situation. Yoji even apologizes to Kohei for not noticing sooner that Kohei had been struggling!
BEST BOSS EVER!
With Yoji’s support, Kohei was able to present his information about Doi to Rokuro and the Tempesty leadership. Doi was demoted and received a pay cut for his actions, which led him to later resign from working at Tempesty. Kohei was suspended from working at Estario for a period of time, but he did not lose his job.
To me, the best thing that happened was Rokuro introducing Kohei to a good lawyer, which would help Kohei get Doi off his back!
So.
What about this route, did I not find compelling?
What didn’t work for me?
Well…
Keeping-problems-a-secret-because-you-think-you-have-to-deal-with-it-yourself-when-in-reality-you-don’t-yet-nothing-will-change-your-mind-until-you-hit-rock-bottom troupe is one of my least favorite. Because the reader knows exactly how this internal character conflict will be resolved.
In most fiction, the exception being TV series that tend to have more time for twists and turns, the reader knows that at some point, the secret-keeping character will have to open up and seek help. Because this is almost always the character arc for the secret-keeping troupe…learning how to be more honest and asking for help. Most of the time, the character’s conflict won’t be resolved until they learn these lessons.
So, the only tension left for the reader with this type of conflict is how long it will take the secret-keeping character to hit rock bottom before they seek the help they need.
And I hate that.
I hate just narratively “sitting around” waiting for the character to hit rock bottom before they seek the help, they should have been asking for earlier in the story’s narrative.
To me, it’s just so boring and predictable.
It was five chapters of watching the cycle of Kohei pushing Akari away, and then in moments of weakness, reaching out to Akari and sharing bits and pieces of himself with her, only to push her away again later because he was scared of getting too close and involving her in his troubles.
Just tell her the truth, Dude!
It was five chapters of Kohei keeping secrets, lying, and pretending nothing was wrong, while Akari became increasingly more and more concerned because, you know…Akari isn’t stupid. She could tell something wasn’t quite right with Kohei, yet because of the troupe and character arc being used, Akari couldn’t do anything to help resolve Kohei’s problems. She just had to sit and watch Kohei hit rock bottom until Chapter Six, which was when the writers finally allowed Kohei to open up and tell Akari everything he had been going through.
And also, speaking of being predictable, after playing six routes with Yoji always being an awesome boss, I KNEW, in like Chapter 2, that Yoji was going to have a hand in solving Kohei’s work problems.
And, yeah…that totally happened.
The saving grace of this was that it was Kohei who came forward and told the truth about what was going on. Kohei’s coming clean and being honest did complete his character arc.
Which is good! Even though I hated his character troupe, I am glad he had a completed character arc! I’ll take that as a win!
So, okay.
I know the things I didn’t like about this route comes down to personal preference. So, I won’t beleaguer this any longer.
As a whole, Kohei’s route wasn’t my favorite…and that’s okay.
-Final Thoughts-
Kohei was an average hero for me. By the end of the route, you can definitely see how great he would be as a boyfriend. He’s kind, compassionate, dedicated, considerate…honestly the list could go on! He’s a really good man, who deserves a happy ending! But to get there, you have to sit through five chapters of lies, secrets, and sometimes asshole behavior, which, I felt, dragged on for far too long.
This route was average. There were parts of the route I loved, and parts I completely disliked. So, in the end, it’s a wash. Not the worst route in the world, but certainly not one of my favorites.
It was fine…and that’s okay!
Otomes as Novels 