Well, my blog made it another year! To commemorate my two-year anniversary, I thought it would be fun to make a Top 5 favorite Love Interest ranking with all my “Final Thoughts” paragraphs for each guy! Mostly, this allowed me to go back and revisit my favorite heroes from this past year!
Every one of these Love Interests was either a “Great” or “Good” ranking! I omitted the two guys from Hakuouki; SSL. The game was so short and my love for them all was established in the games Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, which I did not play this year.
This is all meant in good fun, and obviously just my personal favorites!
Okay! Here we go!
Character and plot spoilers after the cut!
5) Tsukihiko Higa ~ Sympathy Kiss
In my article, I said:
“Higa was a good hero for me! As a widowed, single father, Higa had a lot on his plate which forced him to be in survival mode for a majority of the route. However, by the end, you could see how Akari being there helped take some of the burden off Higa’s shoulders. Higa was a very good man, simply doing his best with the situation. And it was great to see him come back to life in a way. Being able to trust Akari with Hinata allowed Higa to think about himself again and create more of a balance in his life. Which every parent needs!”
4) Shuya Usui ~ Sympathy Kiss
In my article, I said:
“I really liked Usui! He is a good hero for me! Usually with the I’m-not-the-right-one-for-you type heroes, I get really annoyed. Typically, the hero, who has flawless restraint, just continually pushes the heroine away. Where is the fun in that? Thankfully this wasn’t the case with Usui! This man means well, but he just can’t hold his emotions back, which means the reader gets sweet and passionate moments between him and Akari throughout the route! Usui doesn’t have flawless restraint and, for me, this made the route a hundred times more enjoyable! This man is incredibly charming and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about a mature hero who has his life together! More of this please!”
3) Hokuto Ichige ~ Him, the Smile & Bloom
In my article, I said:
“Yes, I know Hokuto’s faults, weaknesses, and that he avoided confessing and accepting the feelings of the girl he loved for TEN YEARS! But I can’t help it! I still adore this man! He’s a great hero for me! Even with all the problems he caused for himself and Fuuka, I still think he’s a good guy! And honestly, I LOVE that he is a good guy with faults and weaknesses! He’s not perfect and this is what makes him compelling!”
2) Mozu ~ Bustafellows
In my article, I said:
“Mozu is a great hero for me! I LOVED him! And I will say, that for me, he initially blended in to the background in the common route. So, I honestly had very little expectations for him going into his route. But I was blown away! Mozu is such a passionate, loving person and I loved how his relationship with Teuta drew that side out of him! He is logical to a fault but he doesn’t dismiss his feelings, even if he doesn’t understand them at the time! He is the one I would want with me in a myriad of life-threatening situations. He’s brilliant, logical, and trustworthy! And most importantly, Mozu values life and protecting the ones he cares about! A wonderful hero!”
1) Hugo ~ Genso Manege
In my article, I said:
“I LOVED Hugo! His character hit all the rights notes for me! I loved his mischievous sense of humor. I loved his earnest, sincere supportive, encouraging, caring nature! I loved his engineering background (I’ve got a soft spot for engineers!)! I even loved that this man was a bit of a pessimistic coward, who had to learn to trust and believe in the woman he loved! Honestly, my list could go on, but I’ll spare you! He is such a great character and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey with him through his route!”
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It has been one hell of a year for my family. From job anxiety to illness to the death of my husband’s father, it has just been one thing after another. And with this general sense of exhaustion hanging over my home, having the energy to read through an otome route and be engaged enough to collect my thoughts to write an article was something I just couldn’t muster. And since this blog is my hobby, I just decided to let it go, especially the last eight months.
While it’s impossible to predict what the next year will bring, I am hopeful our lives will slow down a bit. We’ve been through a lot. And I’ve learned how important giving ourselves compassion and grace truly is to our emotional wellbeing.
Thank you to all who have visited my blog in the past year! Hopefully in Year 3 of Otomes as Novels, I will be able to read new routes and find new stories and characters to fall in love with.
Otomes as Novels 