I started out really invested in this route. Unfortunately, my excitement waned the longer the route went on.
For me, the miscommunication trope took over the route.
And while the miscommunication was rooted in the characters’ personalities and insecurities (so it does make perfect sense), for me, it just dragged on for too long.
This wasn’t a bad route. It just wasn’t for me.
And that’s okay.
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!
Dear heavens, Miku is a sweet girl, but her insecurities run deep.
She’s a hard worker, who always does her best. Yet, she’s so hard on herself and has such high expectations for herself that she can never give herself grace when she doesn’t meet her self-inflicted high standards.
And it was her work conflict that really made me roll my eyes.
Miku works at a botanical garden and she does a peer switch with a botanical garden in Canada. It was supposed to be a three-year experience. But the experience wasn’t for her and she found herself extremely unhappy in Canada. So, when she got the chance to come back to Japan early, she was relieved and accepted the transfer. Yet, when she got back to Japan, she was racked with guilt at being a failure at her job.
Okay…?
Sweet Miku, you are not a failure. You simply didn’t like the experience and that is okay!
I didn’t like law school or what I learned about being a lawyer and I quit after a semester. That doesn’t make me a failure. It makes me smart for not continuing something that made me unhappy.
And because Miku has communication difficulties, she never talked to anyone about how she felt. So, her feelings just continued to fester inside of her.
Maybe it’s my age (which I’m told gives me more perspective) or maybe it’s my own life experiences, but the turmoil Miku put herself under for leaving Canada early, just drove me nuts after a while.
So, when Tenya (VA: Atsushi Tamaru) comes back into her life and tells her she had a hugely positive influence in his life (which is soooooo sweet!), all Miku can think is that she is an imposter because she doesn’t feel like she’s the same girl from high school because of her Canada failure.
Miku, leaving Canada early, doesn’t make you a failure!
Tenya likes the woman that Miku has become in the present. AND he has positive memories of the girl she was in high school.
BOTH THESE THOUGHTS CAN COEXIST IN A PERSON!
At no point, does Tenya demand that Miku be the girl from high school. He wants to build a healthy relationship with her in the present. Yet, he also cherishes their memories from high school and wanted Miku to know the positive impact she had in his life.
Yet, Miku can’t seem to comprehend this concept!
In her mind, whenever Tenya talked glowingly about the past, her insecurities tormented her brain and made her think that’s the girl Tenya wanted.
WHICH IS NOT TRUE!
So, the main conflict of the route was two people who struggle to communicate, not communicating, because of their own misconceptions and anxieties.
And this drags on for twelve chapters!
Sigh.
Okay. I’m sure this conflict and route spoke to people. I’m just not that person. And, because this all comes down to personal taste, I won’t beleaguer this any longer.
What I will harp on is how the writers wrote Tenya and Miku’s first kiss.
Because this completely destroyed Miku’s character arc…and the kiss was non-consensual.
Seeing their character growth and the culmination of their “trial” period as a couple was what kept me going throughout this route.
And what does the reader get?
Thoughtful, kind, compassionate Tenya not being able to “hold himself back anymore” and continually kiss an extremely uncomfortable Miku, who didn’t want the kisses.
This is assault, y’all.
In my opinion, our good boy’s character was thrown under the bus to make this scene “work.” Tenya was thoughtful, kind, and compassionate towards Miku in EVERY OTHER SCENE of the route, yet when it came to this scene, all he could think about was himself.
Miku spends a majority of the route, unable to share how she feels or what she wants, because she doesn’t want to upset or disappoint people. A large part of her character arc is about finding her voice and speaking up about her insecurities and what she genuinely wants. She has to learn to communicate in a healthy way, if she wants her relationships to flourish.
And we spend fourteen chapters, cheering our sweet girl on as she grew into a healthier version of herself!
Then the writers threw this character development out the window for her first kiss with Tenya.
Miku was not ready to be kissed, she used her voice to say no, and Tenya, ignored what she wanted in order to satisfy himself, and kissed her.
Then, she thinks that nothing is more embarrassing than what is happening to her and she wanted him to release her. Notice she doesn’t say this out loud. Her voice has already been ignored by Tenya.
Tenya comes up for air, and says he needs more.
Miku tells him to wait.
Tenya completely ignores Miku’s voice, and kisses her again.
She feels a shiver go down her spine, yet Tenya still doesn’t stop.
Miku says it will hurt to breath if they go any longer.
Tenya says he can’t stop now.
She starts tearing up and then her body collapses.
Tenya finally shows concern for Miku’s needs and stops.
Now.
Tenya does apologize for “going too hard” and asks if she was scared.
And, instead of being honest about how she felt while he was kissing her, Miku absolves Tenya of everything he just did. Yet, this absolution doesn’t change the fact, that Tenya repeatedly ignored Miku’s voice and what she was ready to do with her body.
She was uncomfortable the entire time Tenya was kissing her, yet in the end, she affirms what he did and says she loves him. She completely ignores how she felt and invalidates her own feelings and experiences.
I mean this is exactly how Miku ended up going to Canada for the work transfer at the beginning of the route! Miku knew her coworker didn’t want to go, so to “help” her, Miku told her coworker she would volunteer for the transfer. Miku didn’t want to go, but she didn’t want to disappoint her coworker. So, she ignored and suppressed what she wanted for herself to please others.
And, fourteen chapters later, while Miku says she has grown as a person, she’s still struggling with the same problems she began the route with!
So, what was the point of Miku’s character arc?
Ugh!
This whole damn route focused on Miku finding her voice and speaking up about what she is thinking, her wants, and her needs, yet this whole scene destroys what she’s been working towards the entire route.
There was no mutuality in this kiss. It was all about what Tenya wanted, with no regard to Miku’s wants and needs.
And can I just say…WRITERS, WHEN WRITING A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP, CAN YOU PLEASE STOP DEMONSTRATING A CHARACTER’S DESIRE FOR THEIR PARTNER THROUGH NON-CONSENSUAL ACTS?
Caring about how their partners feel and what they want is sexy! I don’t need an unhinged manly sex beast, pawing at the heroine non-consensually to understand how much he wants her. There are so many sexy, consensual ways to show and describe uninhibited passion and desire!
In this story, Tenya knows how hard communicating is to Miku. He’s been one of the people encouraging her to grow and use her voice in a positive way. So, it’s whiplash, that he’s the one ignoring her, when he knows how hard it’s been for her to use her voice! You’d think, out of everyone, he’d be the most sensitive to listening to her!
If the writers wanted to make this scene work, Miku should have been ready for the kiss. That would have demonstrated how she had grown in her ability to be close to Tenya. It would have been a mutual step forward that she was ready for. And she could have positively used her voice to confidently say, “YES!”
OR
The writers could have had Miku tell Tenya how she had felt when he was kissing her. Personally, my favorite option, I would have loved for Miku to speak up and tell Tenya that while the kissing had been fun and pleasurable to him, she hadn’t been ready. She could have called him out and held him accountable for ignoring her “no.”
THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CHARACTER GROWTH FOR MIKU!
And Tenya being Tenya, would have apologized and said that he never meant to hurt her or violate her trust. And that he would never kiss her without her expressed consent again.
Instead, we get unaddressed assault.
In the way this scene was written, this kiss was a failure, in every aspect, in regards to Miku’s character development and threw Tenya’s character under the bus.
And, I just found it so disappointing.
-Final Thoughts-
Tenya is difficult for me to categorize. I loved him for a majority of the route, but that kiss scene just made me feel icky. He’s so kind, compassionate, diligent, sweet, and he has a mischievous sense of humor! He’s a good man! So, I’ve decided to pin the blame for Tenya’s out-of-character actions during the kiss on the writers. Which means, he’s a good hero for me.
For me, this route started out really strong, but the longer it went on, the more disinterested I became. For me, this route balances out to average. I loved some things, I was “meh” on others, and some things I down right hated. I think this route could have been better, especially the empowering message of what Miku’s character arc could have been.
Sadly, I have to say that Miku deserved better.
Otomes as Novels 