Cupid Parasite 5th Anniversary - School Uniforms Style -

please god, take that man’s pain, double it, and put it on ao3

Omg i had no idea they were even considering making a second one, that's cool!! I'd love to see another similar story from the same writers. I loved how the character stories all connected too, it's a really well-formed narrative! And yeah, it's not super close to ZE in a lot of ways, but I think the main point of comparison for me was the way it uses the fact that it's a video game to creatively tell its narrative. Like, using the save & sound on/off buttons in the menu to get past certain parts and realizing at the end that you could do that because you, the player, are a ghost interfering with the story who has otherworldly powers?? Amazing!! So that part reminded me a lot of both the dual screens in 999 and the flowchart's story relevance in VLR.

hi i was checking your backloggd and you have excellent taste!!! 👀❤️ we have so many games in common, i followed you for otome only but you even played paranormasight, i didn't know there was anyone around me who played it!! fghkfhgk

Omg yes I loved Paranormasight!!!

I played it back in February and I could hardly put it down! The story was so interesting and I love love love when games get creative with how they mix the gameplay and narrative elements. It reminded me a lot of Zero Escape actually, so that could be part of why I like it so much lol. It's cool to see someone else who played it! :)

As much as I love otome, I've actually been a mystery game fan for a lot longer lol so I play a lot in that genre and I love to talk about those games too!

one of the funniest things about game 1 is that it's ridiculously easy to accidentally get into a love triangle over a guy who isn't the one you're pursuing so you're just like. okay, whatever, and then in year three the girl will be like "i've won, i've started dating him" but you just go I DIDNT WANT HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE

lmaooooo these girls are fighting battles that don't exist 😭

it would be cool if there was like a matchmaking/ally/wingman option or something where you could let her know you're not into him and kinda help her out or something instead of automatically competing by default lol.

Dear video essay creators. A video analysis is when you analyze a piece of media. No no look at me. A summary, no matter how thorough, is not an analysis. An analysis requires you to draw conclusions about the media such as authorial intent, real-world parallels, discussion about themes/worldbuilding/character motivation, and so much more. You have to stop summarizing something and saying that’s analysis. The Gaylors are doing more critical analysis than you. Is that who you want to lose to? The gaylors?

killer chat kickstarter happening soon!!!!

ooooh~ omg. I'm super excited to see the expanded edition, I'm sure it'll be amazing!! Especially since the current game is already so good?? super cool!! :))

Hello! Saw your post about the hamefura movie and how Sora is your favorite. I love Sora, would you say he is who you wish Catarina to end up with? I love their chemistry together

Any fav scenes of them in particular?

I really hope we get season 3 animated so we can see their movements together from the LN

HELLO GOOD ANON AND FELLOW SORA <3 FAN WHAT A FINE DAY TO YOU

Ok so I have a lot I could say about him and Catarina and who she would end up with so this is going to be a long post so I'll answer the second q first-

My fav scene of them together would probably be the side story in the manga anthology where he had a day off work and bumped into her and they spent the day on a not-date. It was super cute and nothing bad happened, they just had a good fun time and honestly that's all I want for them.

Close second would be during ln9 where she brought up the promise aka the brooch, and he said he didn't know where it was. (I was cackling because the manga had the mini interview where he said it was his most precious object ever. Yeah right he lost it.) THEN in his pov he's like yeah it's actually on him at all times. 💙💙💙 What a liar. I love him.

Ok time for my Catarina analysis.

There's two ways to look at who she would end up with, the first being compatibility, the second being likeliness. Compatibility feeds into likeliness, but high likeliness doesn't mean high compatibility.

Geordo is perhaps the most likely, because it would realistically be hard for him to let go of the engagement. In pirates of the disturbance he only lets go in half the routes, the other half the conversation either hadn't happened, or he was ""putting it off"". Therefore he is most likely to get married to Catarina simply through inertia. However he is far from most compatible, evidenced by how she runs away to the ministry from fear of having to marry him.

Maria is the most compatible for two reasons:

First is that Catarina clearly loves her the most, and says about three times a novel that she wants Maria to be her wife. This is because Maria can bake, is beautiful, kind, and all round pretty much perfect. As expected of the MC of an otome. They get along great and Maria never makes any odd moves, or waste time fighting the rivals. (Which generally causes Catarina to zone out.) Instead she actually talks to Catarina and maximises her use of their time together.

The second is social status. Catarina is still mentally a girl from Japan, and is not suited to high society. She still can't dance, and she breaks etiquette at every event. There's two "another ends" in pirates of the disturbance where she leads a commoners life in another country, and in both it's said that she found them fulfilling. Living a life with Maria would require less adjustment than living with Geordo, or Nicol, etc.

On top of this, Catarina isn't in line for inheriting the dukedom, and Maria is the famous light magic user, so their social statuses could work out. She herself would not mind lowering her status, (since she barely registers it,) her mother thinks her unsuitable for any high rank, and her father just wants her to be happy

This also makes Maria more likely than other options. (Excluding Geordo)

Aside from breaking her engagement, the biggest obstacle to Catarina ending up with anyone is her own feelings. She's in denial of the possibility of anyone having romantic feelings for her, and this is entirely because of her role as the "villainess". The only people she doesn't worry about getting killed by are Nicol, Sophia, Mary, and Maria herself.

Having grown up with the first three, she's put them safely in the friend zone. But Maria is 'new' and romantically available. As a commoner, Catarina feels a kinship, instead of reservation. I'm not really wording this very well, but basically there's less mental blocks against her; Catarina doesn't first have to get past the possibility of a 'doom end'. Maria is the easiest one to see Catarina realising romantic feelings for, and she's also the only one I would say that Catarina actually has those feelings for already.

Once Catarina has the feelings, has accepted the feelings, and spoken to Maria about the feelings, they can successfully convince Geordo to break up the engagement.

The rest of the main cast are not going to happen for a multitude of reasons.

Keith: he's her brother. No matter what he does, she isn't going to stop thinking that. I'm refusing to acknowledge his routes in pirates of the disturbance. They aren't canon anyway.

Alan: lack of chemistry. They are just friends. Also, he didn't even realise his own feelings until recently, and doesn't act on them. This is not going to help Catarina see him in romantic light.

Nicol: has a better chance than the others because of his smile, which is very effective. If he could get Catarina to stop compartmentalising it as a fictional character smile, he would have a chance. Unfortunately, he isn't proactive enough to do this.

Sophia: she wants Nicol to end up with Catarina more than herself.

Mary: too far friendzoned. She isn't feeding Catarina enough GL, and most of her tactics are obstructing the guys, and planning lives in other countries.

Raphael: she never really had any thoughts about how handsome he was, he never made her swoon, but most critically, he's too absent. Poor guy is too stuck in paperwork to be making any advances.

Now for the new cast.

The other two FL2 routes are shockingly in love with Maria instead of Catarina. This is perhaps more tragic. I'm not sure if they have a lower or higher chance of happiness this way. Oh well.

But Sora <33

Now, he is in love with Catarina. and I honestly think he has a higher likelihood than everyone bar Maria and Geordo.

Again, his lack of nobility is a point in his favour.

Second, his carefreeness. He's very chill and goes with the flow, which matches Catarina nicely.

He's knowledgeable in areas where she is dense, and can make up for her shortcomings nicely, but he doesn't admonish her for this (unlike Keith who sighs at her ten times a day).

He does lots of things without making a big deal of them, and is actually very committed to those he loves. (It takes a LOT of effort to learn an ancient language)

He's not overly obsessed with her as some others are. This is good because obsession is just not a good way to have a healthy relationship. It's honestly terrible. Trust me.

The lack of obsession + chillax personality mean Catarina feels very relaxed around him. She's able to have normal conversations without pausing to be like 'oh no have I said something faux pas'. It also means he can have normal conversations with her, without being all 'what can I say to get her to fall in love with me'.

It ALSO means he doesn't fight aggressively for her, which means the others view him lower down on the rival list. Always a good thing.

He can change himself to be better. After the whole him kidnapping Catarina thing, he doesn't pull any physical moves again, because he realised she doesn't reciprocate that. (Muzzing hair doesn't count.) Aside from this, he changes his morality a little, having been influenced by her. That makes them more compatible.

He does these because of her, but not necessarily for her. Again, good sign of a healthy relationship. And again, unlike some rivals (Geordo and Mary I'm looking at you.)

(also just completely as a side note but Rozy accompanies her gardening and makes stuff for her because he wants her to be happy but more than that because he enjoys those things as well. So I genuinely think he might be most compatible out of literally everyone, it's just a shame he's off in a non canon timeline. I could write a whole other post on him but that's for later.)

He is well travelled. Catarina wants to go to other countries, this is a very consistent fact. Not only for rice, but for fun. He knows how to act in these places, can safely accompany her, and bring her to the "authentic" sides. If she travelled with Geordo, they would only ever see the high end places, tailored for visiting nobility. Even Mary, who does extensive research, would still be out of place. Sora <333 doesn't have either of these shortcoming.

They both have weak magic, and they both have dark magic. That's gotta be something.

They're both blue. This doesn't really count but it's also my favourite colour so I thought I'd mention it.

Canonically the prettiest, so much so that even Catarina was wowed. Also canonically the strongest physically but this is mainly a point in his favour because I think it's cool.

But there are points against him.

He's old. She's either 16 or 17 when they meet. That's definitely a child, no matter the legal age in sorcier. Legally they would have no issues, but there's still a mental gap. Idr how old he is exactly but I feel like it was 23-27. You could argue that Catarina is older due to her past life, but I'm really not convinced.

He doesn't know how to relationship in a way that isn't physical. This is outright stated a few times, and also shown by his actions. Yeah he stops pulling moves on her, but he doesn't know what to do instead. All he's got are flirting skills, designed to get information out of people. Such artificial love isn't suited for actual courtship, and he knows this. That's why he ends up confused at what to do and feeling a vague sense of helplessness instead.

He doesn't get much time with her. Even though he walks with her to work every day, and the eat lunch together a lot, the scenes themselves are ENTIRELY SKIPPED OVER by the novel. Clearly, the author felt nothing substantial happens during these times. Which means nothing really develops. I'll be honest, I don't give a shit if these scenes fail to woo Catarina, I just want to see his name on the page a few more times. But if even the author doesn't want to mention him, that's not a good sign.

He's too chill to be making moves. He only pushed her on the bed/kissed her initially because he had great opportunity to. But he's not really interested in forcibly making opportunities to hang out. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but it's Catarina we are talking about. She needs to be told to her face at least three times that you have romantic feelings for her before she even considers herself as romancable. (Relatable)

He did kinda push her on the bed and would have done more if plot hadn't happened. Now this is explained as him, yk, only having experience in that matter and nothing else, but there's people who understandably cannot forgive him for this. This isn't mentioned in the novel at all, and idk how the author feels about it, but it's still not great.

So within the novel itself his likeliness is lower than both Maria and Geordo, and his compatibility is only lower than Maria.

Outside the novel, I think anyone except Maria has a 0% chance of bagging Catarina.

Its very unlikely that the author will go down the route of actually developing a relationship. Not only would he have to pick, it would drastically change the genre. Catarinas whole thing is that she refuses to acknowledge romance. (Fellow aro???) But more than that, writing recricated love is a different skillset to writing hamefura as it currently exists. And the whole fandom would be expecting something good, something worth the wait.

So the compatibility has to be good, and built up to, and it needs to make sense that whoever it is gets chosen above all others. In both cases Maria wins.

I've already spoken about chemistry, and compatibility. But of course it makes sense for the MC of FL to be picked above all the rest. Plus, villainess x Heroine is a great ship.

Meanwhile, Catarina choosing one of the original cast? Unfair to the rest. The fans would be demanding explanation. Also, I don't see it (for reasons stated earlier).

Her choosing Sora? Now I would in a heartbeat, but for his role in the novel it wouldn't make sense. He arrived late, and we barely see their interactions. I'll forever have ln9 in the center of my hamefura shrine, but that doesn't mean they actually have romantic scenes. If she really ended up with someone who is relegated to background character in half the frames he actually appears in, that just wouldn't make any sense. It would be so incredibly out of nowhere.

So yeah, I think sadly it's not happening, and neither is anyone else.

Selfishly I would want him to end up with Catarina, because it means more scenes with him.

Realistically (within the novel) I want Catarina to end up with Maria, because I think they the best fit. I think he loses out to Maria just a tiny bit due to age. If he was like 19 or smth then they would be tied. Very tragic. Alas, the writers of FL2 wanted a large age range in their romancables.

various vn characters / bustafellows edits.  

     ↳   ♡  Paraiso Garage / Paraiso Time!

genre subversions of dating sims by people who don't understand dating sims are just like. "wow isn't it so pathetic that you're playing this instead of getting a real relationship?" (i don't know where "dating sim that becomes a horror game" goes on the subversion scale)

meanwhile i haven't seen one that is made by someone who loves the genre. i am worried that my "what if the love interests hated being in the game but it's because the script is too restrictive" is too mean to dating sims. i swear using a dating sim script as a metaphor for being forced into certain kinds of femininity is NOT reflective of my views of dating sims it's FINE to play dating sims--

Yeah, I agree~ I would say that the "secretly a horror game" twist kinda depends on the game and how it treats its characters. Like, Hatoful Boyfriend has a neat twist to it while still feeling like it treats its characters and story with love, so I was honestly a little surprised to find out its creator doesn't play otome at all. I haven't play DDLC personally, but I've heard a similar sort of story about its creator I think? I feel like so many people set out to subvert the dating sim genre specifically because they think of it as a joke or because they think it's so easy to replicate without any experience.

I love genre subversions, so I would love to see a good one in the otome genre. BUT~ In response to your other point, I also think that being critical of a genre you like and/or using that genre to make a critique of something like societal standards for femininity & such doesn't necessarily come across as hateful to the genre. In fact, I think that really good genre subversions DO use the genre conventions to make a critique of something (whether it's a critique of society or of the genre itself) because that's what makes the subversion interesting.

I'm gonna use one of my favorite genre subversions as an example real quick: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is a great twist on the genre conventions that exist in musical theatre as a medium, and it uses its subversion to make a critique about conformity through its main metaphor (ie: an alien hivemind makes people sing and dance and the show's hero is the one guy who hates musicals). It's a great horror-comedy that's clearly made by people who love musicals, even if its protagonist hates them and there are important plot reasons for why you really don't want your favorite characters to be singing.

BUT!! The important thing is that while it subverts expectations for what you'd expect from a musical and uses the songs & hivemind as a metaphor for enforced conformity, the show never makes the audience feel stupid for liking the genre. It's campy, and it's silly, and the main character is the voice of dissent, but it doesn't leave you with a feeling that the genre as a whole is stupid or bad, or that you're stupid for liking it. Because it's made out of love for the genre. Which is the main thing I think.

It's really important for these types of stories to critique the right things. There has to be more thought put into it than just "look at this genre, isn't it weird/stupid/bad? well we're gonna change things and be Not-Like-Those-Other-Things because we're the Cool/Edgy/Ironic Take on this genre!!" (ie: don't critique the audience or make them feel bad for enjoying the genre you chose. or do, but do it consciously and know that your audience is primarily going to be other people who dislike the genre -- which is probably why so many gag dating sims are popular since it's pretty common to look down on the genre). What I mean is, if the whole point of the critique is that the original genre is stupid, it's probably a bad and thoughtless critique.

But anywho, I think your critique is totally fine and really cool actually. It's okay to be mean to a genre you like as a form of critique, and I think it's really good actually to think deeper about the stories you love and consider them critically. The problems with genre subversion come up when people who don't really know or like the genre decide to subvert it just because they think poorly of it, y'know?

this is how tiktokers talk about otome games

She nerdy on my prudes 'till i DIE??