This review was written by Blistered Thumbs user BookwormOtaku. Check out other posts from this user in the BT community blogs right here.

In the western visual novel community otome games garner quite a bit of curious attention, as, to my knowledge, only two have officially come out in English. An otome game is essentially a VN in which you play from the point-of-view of a heroine to romance any of the winnable heroes. Released on February 14th, 2012 by Aksys for the PSP, Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (original name Hakuouki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~ released first on PS2, then PSP, then DS, then PS3) makes for a good introduction to this sadly obscure genre.

Hakuoki is set in the last few years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and you play as Chizuru Yukimura (yes, you can give her a different first name, but this is considered the canon name), the daughter of a doctor who has recently gone missing. She travels to Kyoto to search for him only to be drawn into a string of mysterious events beginning with a fateful encounter with the Shinsengumi, a rising group of warriors in service to the shogunate, who are also looking for her father.

In the area of story, I must say that Hakuoki is pretty good. While the premise of the heroine being under the protection of a group of bishounen with mad martial arts skills has been done several times before in shoujo anime and manga, I will say that this is one case where the writer was able to pull it off really well. Chizuru’s initial place in the Shinsengumi isn’t exactly ideal since the general consensus then is that they only have her with them because they need her for their investigation, a few are even in favor of killing her if she becomes too much of a burden; a viewpoint that still maintains even after she starts getting closer to the group. This makes for an interesting story element in Chizuru actually having to work to establish a place in the Shinsengumi, and it also helps in having the development of the characters move along well with the plot.

Hakuoki’s story has a good length to it (it took me around 20-30 hours) and considering its historic base makes quite a few references that the average western gamer will likely be unfamiliar with, but its diverse plot and the glossary that updates every time a new term is brought up help to make the story an enjoyable experience. The plot diversity offered in this game surprised even me as even the common route has diverging paths throughout (which, trust me, is pretty rare in VNs these days), guaranteeing that you’ll see something new before your chosen route actually starts. It’s really interesting to see how what appear to be minor choices–such as where to go–can lead into a significant and (more importantly) unique story scene, and the little tidbit of Japanese historical information added to the glossary with each scene starts to feel almost like an achievement/trophy unlock.

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However, the story wouldn’t be very enjoyable without a good cast of characters to star in it and Hakuoki certainly provides that. To begin with, Chizuru herself is a likable main character. I’ll admit I wasn’t sure about her going in as I had heard a few people who either played an import of the game or watched the anime blast her as a character for coming off as annoyingly weak and helpless, but to my relief I didn’t see that. Yes, she is significantly weaker than the heroes and has to be protected by them, but I felt the writer did a good job in not making her come off as dead weight. The story shows Chizuru do the best she can as a supporter for the heroes of the game and the story actually does give her a more active role the further it moves along that shows how important she’s become to the hero of the route and in some cases even an important partner to him. I will admit that she does have an annoying tendency to cry almost as much as Ember Island Katara (and in some cases it’s almost as comically on cue), but other than that I found her to be an all around good character.

Moving on to the reverse harem, each winnable member of the Shinsengumi (plus Kazama) is different from the other in every way when it comes to looks, personality, style of fighting, and story. As Chizuru interacts with each member, you see how each hero has his own reason for being a part of the group and their own hopes and dreams that are tied to it. The game does a good job in revealing this over the course of many scenes of interaction between Chizuru and whichever hero you have her pursue as it helps to make the relationship that forms between the two believable. Speaking of which, my route ranking is as follows (also click here for character profiles):

1) Heisuke
2) Saitou
3) Hijikata
4) Sannosuke
5) Kazama
6) Okita

If you follow Aksys translators on Twitter you can watch the process as it unfolds.

The reason I like Heisuke’s route the best is primarily because I think he and Chizuru have the best relationship throughout the entire game. Aside from the fact that he’s the friendliest to Chizuru at the start, the game also shows how well the two relate to one another as not only do they have the best interactions but Chizuru’s role in Heisuke’s development starts at an earlier point than with the other heroes as the two are about the same age and can talk with one another easier. This ends up setting the ground for Chizuru’s role to be a bit more active than in the other routes as she and Heisuke end up working together so much that their relationship has them as pretty much equal partners. My other reason for liking this route so much is its story takes a radically different path from the other routes that I found quite enjoyable and gives some side characters some well-deserved plot importance.

Saitou’s route (and to any who want to ask, no he’s nothing like his Rurouni Kenshin portrayal, but I can say he’s just as cool) comes in at a very close second as the relationship between him Chizuru is well written with how we see her uncover more beneath the lone and distant personality he has on the surface, plus he’s arguably the most badass of the Shinsengumi. What keeps it from tying with Heisuke’s is mainly because I liked Chizuru’s role in that one better. Hijikata’s route is also really good as it does a good job in showing just difficult and emotionally trying his eventual role as leader of the Shinsengumi (and later the last fighting remnants of the Shogunate’s that we know is doomed) becomes and Chizuru’s role in this route does a good job in showing how much inner strength she develops as a non-combatant member of the Shinsengumi and Hijikata’s eventual only remaining pillar of support. The route’s weakness though is that it’s a little too long as it kind of lags in the third quarter of it, but fortunately manages to pick up for a very good finale. Sanosuke’s route has a good story that’s really helped by the fact that he’s the only one of the heroes that falls into the badass normal category. It’s a really good route, but I have to say its biggest flaw is its attempts at melodrama with Chizuru that just come off as annoying because of how easily it ends up dismissed soon after it comes up.