Aksys Games – Otomes as Novels

Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani – Finale ~ Plot & Character Analysis

February 22, 2024July 14, 2024 novelotome

Well, I did it! After, I’m-not-sure-how-many-months, I finished Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani! I started this game last spring (maybe?), finishing Shiratsuki, Akuroou, and Hira’s routes long before I started doing write-ups for this blog (and maybe someday, I’ll get around to writing about these characters!).

I have to say, I genuinely enjoyed this game! It was such a pleasant surprise and I’m really glad I gave it a chance. The characters are delightful and the world of Sakuratani is interesting. I especially loved all the voice actors’ performances and I would recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a slice-of-life, Japanese mythology influenced otome game!

Dairoku ends with a “heroine-focused/friendship” finale route, where Shino doesn’t end up with any of the love interests. And while I can understand why this route exists, I can’t say it was my favorite.

As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!

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Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani – Shu ~ Plot & Character Analysis

February 17, 2024July 14, 2024 novelotome

Well, this route was a pleasant surprise!

I’ll be honest. Nothing about Shu struck me as “my” type. He’s a young-looking, bratty, immature hero, who arrogantly looks down on those around him for seemingly no good reason.

I had actually planned on never playing his route, but since I dropped a couple of English localized otome games, I’m down to very few options to play in English. And since I like the world of Dairoku, I decided to give this route a shot.

And I’m so glad I did!

As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!

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Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani – Tokitsugu Semi ~ Plot & Character Analysis

August 26, 2023July 14, 2024 novelotome

Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani has been a surprise hit for me. Yes, this game is “smaller” in scale to say games like Code Realize or Piofiore, but the more laid-back, slice of life style isn’t a bad thing. This game is much more character focused, with very likeable characters that are brought to life with top-notch voice acting.

One of my favorite surprises in this game has been Tokitsugu Semi’s voice actor: Toshiyuki Toyonaga. I know his work from the Piofiore franchise, where he voices Orlok in a very soft, distinct way. And I’m not going to lie. At first it was weird hearing Orlok’s voice being confident and self-assured, but I couldn’t deny the charming and fun way Toyonaga decided to voice Semi. His voice acting is so unique, and I really enjoy it!

I went into Semi’s route very excited! I had liked him in the other three routes, and I just couldn’t wait to read his story. Unfortunately, I found that Semi had to share the spotlight of his route with another character, who made some really dumb decisions.

Why, writers? Why?

As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!

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Radiant Tale – Paschalia ~ Plot & Character Analysis

August 2, 2023July 14, 2024 novelotome

So, Radiant Tale was my most anticipated otome release for 2023. I was very excited about this game, even with my bumpy history with Radiant Tale’s creative team and writers. This is the same team that created the Code Realize franchise and Café Enchante. And if you asked me to tell you what I thought of these games, it would take a while. There are things I love about Code Realize and Café Enchante and there are things I absolutely hated. There is no simple answer.

But, even with my measured expectations of Radiant Tale, I was still sorely disappointed with the common route. Not even sweet Paschalia (VA: Yuuichirou Umehara) could save the route for me.

My expectations for this game and the reality of what it is, just didn’t match up. It doesn’t make this a bad game. This just might not be the game for me.

And that’s okay.

As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!

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