Rewrite [Kotori Route]

The feels on the bus go round and round~

Title: Rewrite (Kotori)
Developer: Key, Visual Arts, Amaterasu Translations
Release Date: June 24, 2011
Genres: Action, Fantasy, Romance, Tragedy
Rating: All Ages
*WARNING: SPOILERS*

Kotori Route

The feels truck hit pretty hard with Kotori’s route. I chose to go with her first because she was the childhood friend character – and everyone chooses the childhood friend first, right? Because the childhood friend is the softest. But I could tell that it’s meant to be the “beginner’s route”, in which the plot line is revealed without overwhelming you too much – the vast majority of Kotori’s route was carried out in the druid encampment, away from the major battles in the forest that were presumably over Kagari. I’m sure the other girls were embroiled in it too, but we didn’t see any of them at all except for Shizuru at the very end – much of the infodumping came from Kotori herself, who sadly didn’t know as much as I’d have liked. So Kotarou was introduced to the conflict without being a major player on either side – and things only turned out as they did because Kotori happened to have Kagari with her, who did pretty much nothing until she was killed by Shizuru.

Of all the heroines, Kotori was the girl I least expected to be involved in the fight over Kagari, and to an extent she was very much someone on the sidelines. Even so, I think she would have had a happier lifestyle if she’d decided to join either Gaia or Guardian, because at least she wouldn’t be alone that way. It’s amazing how she can still manage to maintain a happy façade at school and with the Occult Club even while having endured a fuckton of suffering over the last ten years – the mental stress brought on by recreating her dead parents as familiars must have been horrible to endure. And then there’s her worry that Kotarou himself might just be her familiar, and that her subconscious desire to be loved was what manifested in Kotarou instead of real feelings – as Kotarou, I was pretty dejected when Kotori kept rejecting all those confessions, but inside she’s had a lot to deal with on her end too. Worst of all, she doesn’t even know what it’s all for, or what exactly the “salvation” brought by Kagari is. Is it supposed to be a good thing? Is Kagari herself even a positive existence? I don’t know why she was laughing when Kotori’s parents were sacrificed, but I’m willing to bet there’s a reason behind everything.

There was a range of emotions in Kotori’s route, and all of them added to the feels. On the other side of despair, there was a little bit of hope, which was quickly crushed and replaced by even more despair. And when things became too much, they attempted running away from it all, in a manner not unlike how Riki and Rin tried to escape in one of Rin’s routes. I don’t know why they ended up looping back to the small house after successfully escaping it the first time, but I have a feeling they were being prevented from leaving Kazamatsuri – whether it was because Kagari was with them or because Kotori tried to abandon her duties, I don’t know. Saito Chiwa did a wonderful job with Kotori on the whole, and I hope that will continue in the other routes too. I wonder what kind of role she’ll play? I can’t even begin to imagine leaving her alone to suffer in the forest with only her dead dog and dead parents for company. I’d like to think the souls of Pero and her parents were there at the end, but in a way that makes everything even harsher for her. All that suffering ;_; Maybe she’ll go wherever Kagari goes, so she may be involved with things as a supporting character in other routes. I hope she will be.

I mentioned above that I wasn’t sure whether salvation was a good thing, but for Kotarou, it definitely isn’t. If Kagari’s death results in the closing of the power spot, and turns both Kotori and Kotarou back into normal human beings, Kotarou will almost certainly die – if he isn’t killed before Kagari is anyway. The route emphasized just how weak Kotarou was in comparison to members of Gaia, Guardian and even druids like Kotori – like other main characters in various series, he has a special power, but it just so happens that everyone else also has special powers and is stronger than he is. Even Chibimoth can beat him, and Chibimoth ended up being killed by a human. So the route involved more running than actual fighting – the Leaf Dragon was killed by someone else, and the dinosaur was far too strong for Kotarou. I do think there’s a lot of scope for his Aurora to be developed though, especially as the Rewrite dial never went full circle in Kotori’s route. Hopefully that will happen in some other character routes when he’s forced to fight a bit more.

I’m pretty sure I reached the good ending, where both Kotarou and Kotori survive and are returned to their normal lives without any supernatural powers – but on the whole it was really unsatisfying considering all the pain they both went through. Kotori didn’t even visit Kotarou in hospital, and everything about their relationship was left uncertain. Actually, there was hardly even any romance in the first place! While it was made evident that Kotori cared for him a lot, and only distanced herself due to her fear of him a familiar, I’d have liked something… more. Not a full-blown H-scene or anything, but a kiss or some sort of resolution would have been nice. In the end, I never did manage to plant all the seeds Kotori wanted me to…

I think I’ll do Lucia next. Time for some class rep goodness.