My Letter to Key – Key 15th Anniversary Letter Project

Dear Key.

I write to you today to join many others around the world in expressing our love for your work. I first came into contact through your stories through the Clannad Anime, and have since experienced a broad number of your works. The Kanon 2006 Anime, the Air Anime, the Clannad Game and Anime, the Little Busters game and Anime, the Angel Beats Anime, Planetarian, and most recently Rewrite. When I first watched Clannad, I instantly fell in love with your stories. They offered something special to me that none of the other Anime or games I’d played have offered. Deep, emotional fulfilment, and characters you genuinely grow attached to. Your stories paint a picture of a very real world with very real issues through which the beauty of humanity can shine and overcome any hardship. The solutions may sometimes be fantastical, but they never disappoint in their delivery.

Your stories have impacted my life many times. Little Busters helped me understand the warmth and comfort of being a part of a genuine group of friends, while putting me through the turmoil of leaving the safety of that group to brave the painful reality. But even so, as many of your stories have taught me, having our friends and family supporting us, pushing us forward, will enable us to do extraordinary things we couldn’t do alone. Rewrite helped me analyse myself as an individual, finding my place in the world and the significance of my bonds with others, and what they mean to me. It helped me analyse the depth of human relationships which people often take for granted. These are just some of the profound messages I’ve gained from reading your stories.

I love your works so much, they hold a special place in my heart. I’m always recommending your works to my friends and family, and often they’ll fall in love with your characters and stories as well. I never play Key games for the erotic content – I actually go out of my way to avoid the 18+ games. I play for the emotional fulfilment. To borrow the words of Nishizono Mio, I read your stories to rebel against the fact that I only live once; to experience the lives of another and gain something from that experience. Not many stories can compare to the precious memories I’ve gained from the likes of Clannad, Little Busters and Rewrite. After finishing Little Busters, I cried harder than I’ve ever cried in my adult life. The tears just wouldn’t stop. It’s something special, and I want as many people to know of your masterpieces as I can. But often it’s very hard to purchase the games here in Australia, so usually we’re limited to the Anime adaptations. But I know there are so many people around the world who will love your games; they just need to find you.

You have no idea how happy I was when I found out that Planetarian was released on iOS in English. It was the first time one of your games had been released in English, and I immediately got to work in telling everybody I knew about it and that they should buy it. Hoping for an Android release for people like me someday too! This news revealed to me the possibility that maybe someday, I would be able to play Little Busters, Clannad or Rewrite in English in my own country. It’s a bit of a distant dream, but I’m sure if that happened, so many more people would come to love not only your works, but all the different and amazing Visual Novels that remain exclusive to the Japanese market. I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but merely to inform you that there is demand for English releases of your games all around the world, and that it could lead to great things for the industry. Who knows, maybe muscle really will take over the world!

I really hope at least someone out there in Key takes the time to read over this letter. I’ve put my heart and soul into these words in the hopes that one of you out there will hear us. We as your fans will continue to support you in the little ways we can, and perhaps with time, our numbers will grow even larger. We all anxiously await the next story you bring to the world; hopeful that it will find it’s place among the growing number of incredible stories you’ve released thus far. Thank you so much Key for the years worth of tears and smiles you’ve brought us all; our lives wouldn’t be the same without you.

Your fans exist all around the world – a daikazoku of Key fans across the globe – and we just want you to know it! Don’t forget us, because we will never, ever forget you.

Loyally yours,
Ben Hueppauff – Aspirety.

The Key 15th Anniversary Letter Project is a global effort to show Key that it has fans from all around the world. If you would like to submit a letter or piece of fanart, they are still accepting submissions for little bit longer! Visit http://key15th.com/ to find out more.

Rewrite ~ Shizuru Route Reflection

At first I had a bit of trouble blogging about this route. Maybe I just wasn’t absorbing as much as I could’ve been. I went back and skimmed through the route again, and I’ve come to feel I have a better understanding of the key messages Shizuru’s route has to offer. I think the biggest theme of this route is loss. This is probably the most ‘bad’ ending we’re gonna get, but I wouldn’t call it entirely bad. Lucia’s route had a lot of death, but not so much loss. Shizuru’s route brings together all the characters from other parts of the story together, and then taking them all away. It’s a ultimately a very sad route. There was a lot of info dropping in this one though. As a contrast to Chihaya’s route where the only option was to become stronger and fight, in this route Kotarou’s rewriting power only causes his harm, and he is told again and again that he shouldn’t fight. Sometimes choosing not to fight is the best option after all.

This route had quite a lengthy common route branch, which focuses on the development of Shizuru’s relationship with Kotarou. In quite a rare occurrence for a Key game, Shizuru is actually the one who actively pursues Kotarou, instead of the other way around. Shizuru finds herself seeking out Kotarou more and more often, and the rest of the occult club comment on it and try to have Kotarou respond to it. In the beginning he didn’t really mind forming a relationship, but the biggest thing holding him back was his history with Kotori. Shizuru’s route is only unlocked after Kotori’s route has been played, so you could sorta call it a sequel to Kotori’s route. Reflecting back on Kotori’s route, we had the tension between the two resulting from Kotori refusing to let herself get too close to Kotarou, fearing that he was her familiar. She didn’t want to fall in love with her own desires. A part of her desperately wished that Kotarou could fall in love with someone else so that she would be relieved of the burden, and in this instance he has. Despite this, she displays quite a few mixed emotions over this turn of events. Clearly still experiencing feelings for Kotarou, maybe she felt a little jealous or sad to see Kotarou gradually disappear from her life, but when asked about it she did her best to convince Kotarou (and herself) that it was all right. Even after forming a romantic relationship with Shizuru, Kotarou still couldn’t keep Kotori out of his mind, but that’s to be expected since they had been childhood friends for so long. I’ll get back to that point later.

After their feelings had begun to grow, Shizuru introduces Kotarou to her family, and reveals her past to him. Her memories of her father cooking her saury for dinner, the accident which awakened her latent superpowers, the trauma it caused her family, and how she unintentionally erased all of her parents’ memories of her. Kotarou of course felt powerless and unsure how to react to the knowledge, but Shizuru couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved that she had finally told someone about her past. As a result Kotarou’s feelings for her grew stronger, and a great desire to simply help her however he could took hold in his heart.

Not too soon after, the Leaf Dragon incident occurs again, and so begins Shizuru’s route. It actually starts out of chronological order in an interesting twist. We start the route one month after the incident, where Kotarou forces Gil and Pani to leave his home and he attends school to discover his absence. Trying to solve the mystery of where he’s been for the last month, he plays detective and follows a trail which eventually leads him to a comatose Shizuru who recently used her powers to erase his memories. At a complete loss of what to do, he spends all his time in her room exploring his thoughts and feelings to try and remember what exactly happened over the last month. The key to unlocking his memories lies in a feeling he remembers having, of wanting to make her happy. His last feelings before he died to the dinosaur familiar.

The story flashes back to just after the leaf dragon incident, waking up in his bed much the same as he did at the start of the route, only with some slight differences. For example, he doesn’t kick Gil and Pani out of his room, and he doesn’t crush his phone. Later in the day he encounters Shizuru who informs him of the danger he’s in, and promises to act as his bodyguard for the time being. Kotarou is worried about what happened to all of the occult club members, Kotori especially. It appears Guardian don’t yet know anything about her whereabouts, but Shizuru insists that it’s too dangerous for Kotarou to go searching on his own. The following scenes are a bit of fluff about Kotarou and Shizuru’s domestic life, which gets progressively more lovey-dovey. But it serves it’s purpose. Midway through this, Kotarou disobeys Shizuru and heads out at night to look for Kotori. During his search he encounters familiars all over the city and is forced to fight some, running into a few guardian agents along the way. During the home scenes, Kotarou is reminded again of how Shizuru’s father used to cook Saury for her, and feels a little frustrated that he’ll never live up to that memory with his cooking. Soon after Kotarou is invited out to meet someone. They go out to to find Lucia at the ramen stand; her last meal in the town. After discovering that Lucia is leaving, Kotarou tries to hold their own little graduation ceremony with his cellphone. Imamiya comes to pick up Lucia, and warns Kotarou that he’s better off not becoming a warrior. This was the first of many farewells.

Despite accepting Imamiya’s warning, he felt a slight desire to prove him wrong and be more useful, and so tried strengthening his left arm, which only resulted in permanent scabs forming on both of his arms. He is scolded by Nishikujou for attempting to rewrite himself without a good reason. Kotarou is torn between two ways of living – to live a peaceful life as someone protected, or to protect someone as a warrior. He wants to be of use to Shizuru, but isn’t sure how to do that. He eventually reaches the conclusion that he wants to lead a peaceful life together with Shizuru as a couple, and sets out to learn how to cook the best saury he can for her. With his mission complete, he is on his way home to surprise her with the saury, a simple pleasure that he can share with her. But on the way home he catches a glimpse of Kotori on a bus and abruptly abandons his plans, trying to find out where she was going. The trail leads into the forest, and against Shizuru’s warnings, he heads in to find her. As he continues deeper, he finds himself attacked by more and more familiars. He ends up getting completely lost in the forest and panics, running around frantically with no idea where to go. At the end he encounters the dinosaur familiar, and he realizes his death is imminent. All he can think about is Shizuru, his future he planned to make with her, and how the familiar was about to take everything he had away in an instant. In the end he couldn’t accept a peaceful life, and he couldn’t stop worrying about Kotori – and he regretted all of it. And so it happens; Kotarou is attacked, and Shizuru comes to save him just a moment too late. Shizuru is unable to heal him because he is a familiar, but she vows to keep him alive, and something happens which saves his life. Shizuru sacrifices herself to save Kotarou, and erases his memories so he can’t be hurt by her decision. The story cuts back to Kotarou beside Shizuru’s bedside, having remembered everything.

Cursing the situation, Kotarou suddenly feels a heat in his chest, and a voice speaks directly into his mind. The entity hears Kotarou’s pleas, and after saying goodbye, uses it’s power to revive Shizuru. Now this was very confusing at first, but I’m gonna take a crack at explaining it. The voice was definitely Kotori. As Kotarou’s ‘summoner’, she is able to speak directly into his mind and has some control over him. What Shizuru did to save Kotarou was form a contract with him as summoner and familiar, or perhaps it was all Kotori’s doing. By forming the contract, Kotarou drained all her life force away in order to survive, leaving Shizuru comatose. But then something happened, Kotori did something to save Shizuru. I can’t say for certain, but by the way she said goodbye, perhaps she sacrificed herself to save Shizuru. It’s pretty sad to think about, but I think that’s the most likely explanation. She used her remaining life force to revive Shizuru so the two could be together, accepting Shizuru as Kotarou’s future. Though it’s possible that she’s still alive, I can’t say for sure what happened. But either way, Kotori lost this time. It’s at this point where Kotarou has finally let go of Kotori as well, so it really does feel like a parting. From this point on Shizuru and Kotarou share a life. They can understand each other’s thoughts, and Shizuru can even feel Kotarou’s pain, possibly other senses too. Shizuru also loses her hearing and ability to speak even after being revived, so perhaps she hadn’t fully recovered from the ‘death’ they shared. Also, it seems after dying twice, Kotarou is even more of a familiar than he was before. Gradually becoming less human, he fears what he has become, and might yet still become.

The next section of the story follows Kotarou getting to know the ins and outs of Guardian a bit better, with a little bit of fluff between him and Shizuru mixed in. Kotarou even ends up meeting Yoshino at the ramen stand, and says his farewells to another of his friends. Later, just as Kotarou’s discussing what he might be useful for as a member of Guardian with Esaka, the facility is attacked by Gaia. Despite the danger, Kotarou heads out to support Esaka and try reaching Shizuru in time. Since they’re taking time to alert her about the situation, it seems that guardian were aware of her deafness all along; Kotarou was the only one kept in the dark about it. And that’s not all. It’s implied that Imamiya is even aware of Kotarou’s first death. That was never really explained though. After reaching Shizuru, she storms out into the halls fighting off all the enemies one by one and healing whoever she can with her power. Eventually they encounter Sakuya facing off against Esaka. Esaka and most of Guardian seem convinced that Sakuya is a brutal monster, refusing to acknowledge his humanity. Shizuru is forced to fight Sakuya, while both sides lament the situation. In the middle of the battle though, Chihaya comes out and asks Sakuya to stop fighting. She announces her intention of quitting Gaia to everyone, in order to avoid having to fight Kotarou, Shizuru or Lucia. Before they leave, Sakuya warns Kotarou about his rewriting power, about how a man once used it to live forever. With that warning, the two leave the battlefield; yet another farewell. Not long after that they get in touch with Gen-san and find out that he had been mortally wounded saving a child. With his last moments, he asked how Kotarou’s relationship with Shizuru was going. He spoke of his wish to leave behind good memories for them, before hanging up. Kotarou and Shizuru are forced to say goodbye to someone again. Why all of these farewells in rapid succession?

The remaining Guardian forces mobilize in order to secure the Key. Kotarou has found his use as an ‘eye’, someone with the ability to see the Key. He and Shizuru head out into the forest on a motorbike, fighting off packs of hounds on the highway. There they encounter Nishikujou, where they group up and charge into the forest on foot. In the forest they encounter the Key, already activated, and Akane with it. It’s already too late. Akane explains how she just wants everything to end without any more suffering, and disappears into the forest. The three futilely try to prevent salvation from happening, but there’s nothing they can do. Nishikujou even uses all of her power to try to destroy the Key’s shell, sacrificing herself, and yet it still didn’t change anything. After a final farewell to Akane and Nishikujou, Salvation begins, swallowing up all people in the world in beams of light. The Key disappears, and Kotarou and Shizuru receive a call from Esaka telling them to escape to the ruins on his land if they want to survive Salvation. Everyone in the city continues living their lives completely unaware of the destruction happening around them. After having paid their farewells to everybody, the world has come to an end. Kotarou and Shizuru desperately hurry to try and save Shizuru’s family before they disappear, but in a cruel twist of fate they all disappear just as they arrive. They meet Esaka in the park, and he decides to stay with the city in it’s final moments, embracing his salvation. At the last moments, Kotarou makes a decision.

He is aware of the toll his life has had on Shizuru. He uses his rewriting power to restore Shizuru’s hearing and speech, but loses a lot of his own life as a result. And he realizes, if they continue to remain sharing a life, then they’ll both die very soon. In order to stay alive, Kotarou decided to stop running and do something only he could do. He decides to stay and rewrite himself into something which could survive salvation. By doing so he’ll be able to return Shizuru’s life force to her and continue living himself as something new. He promised he would remain here, and that he would wait for Shizuru to find him. It personally took me some time to accept this outcome, but in the end a longer life together is probably the best result. Kotarou knows he isn’t human any more, so perhaps he can change into something different so he can be with Shizuru forever, just like he wanted. They speak their love to each other and say goodbye; one last farewell. Shizuru escapes to the shelter while Kotarou walks into the distance, sobbing uncontrollably as he does. In his last moments, he hears the voices of Gil and Pani, who decide to stay by his side at the very end.

In the ruins, an old book was discovered and translated by a psychometer. It reveals the existence of an advanced intelligent species that existed before humanity, but was wiped out by a previous salvation. An interesting clue about the world. Next, we are shown a diary containing Shizuru’s experiences, thoughts and feelings in the shelter. 52 people survived to repopulate the new world. Imamiya is made their leader. Shizuru continues writing about life in the shelter, about friendships and conflicts, about people dying and being born, and about how much she misses Kotarou. She’s able to see the moon outside a window, I think that’s an interesting point. Rewrite is all focused on the Earth, but what about the moon, and other celestial bodies? Do they have a will, or life force? I wonder if I’m looking into it too much. Shizuru discovers Kotarou’s recording, and it brings back a deep longing to see him again. As the entries progress she seems to enter a negative spiral, and eventually stops writing altogether, before picking it up and starting again after an unknown length of time. She writes about her mixed feelings, not knowing whether to give up or believe that she’ll find Kotarou again. In the end she decides to believe in his power, and then we finally get to see her return to the surface. The city has become unrecognisable since salvation, being completely covered in greenery. And in the end, Shizuru finds a tree on a hill and, from the connection they still share, realizes it’s Kotarou.

Shizuru Route: Complete.

Result? Mixed feelings for sure. On the surface this is probably the worst ending possible. Everyone on the world except for a handful of people end up disappearing. Enormous losses. But all of the routes up until now have been very character-focused, and this is no exception. Kotarou had one wish: to live happily together with Shizuru forever. And he seemingly granted that wish with his power. It’s up to the reader’s interpretation to decide if this is a bad or good end. It seems like Kotarou maintained his consciousness despite being turned into a tree, so maybe it’s not so bad. They both found their happiness in the end. I do have to wonder how suitable a tree would be for a boyfriend though. This wasn’t the end; it was a beginning for them. Looking back on Chihaya’s route, maybe we can even assume that Kotarou will regain a humanoid form again, just like Sakuya did when he turned into a tree. But that’s up to the reader to decide. A very open-ended ending. Maybe many people will be unhappy with this kind of ending, but I can see it as a happy ending for Kotarou and Shizuru.

This route was the farthest thing from disconnected; it was littered with references to the other character routes. I think this route would make an excellent final route. All of the heroines got a moment in the spotlight, and even some lesser characters too. This was a route about saying goodbye to everyone before the end finally came and took it all away. It’s very sad, but also satisfying in how it treated the characters. Also, it seems like my previous theory about Salvation has been debunked. It doesn’t turn back time, it just consumes everything. I was thinking for a time that Kotarou might actually be Sakuya if my theory was right, but that didn’t end up being true either. They seem to share a very strong connection though, leading very similar lives. It’s probably just a quirk of fate than some deeper connection though. Kotarou was branded as Sakuya’s successor for a reason.

Not much else to say really. In many ways it was a pretty damn depressing route, but at the same time there’s happiness at the end of the road, but only if you’re willing to accept it. This route won’t be for everyone, but I think I understood what it was getting at. It’s about coping with loss, and finding happiness wherever you can.

Next is Akane’s route. Be prepared; it’s going to get intense.

Quick Meta: Recommended BGMs, yay or nay?

Alternative Title: How I learned to make polls.

Rewrite ~ Lucia Route Reflection

What a fantastic route this was, probably my favourite yet. It has some slight issues, but overall I thought it was an amazing experience. It’s a bit funny, in the common route Lucia was my least preferred character; she just seemed so bland. But after reading her route, I’ve been well and truly converted to Lucia-ism. Another A-grade performance by seiyuu Risa Asaki, who did a fantastic job portraying all of the different and varied emotions of this character. A great character, and an amazing route; probably one of the best Key routes I’ve read. And what do you know, this happens to be the one Ryukishi – maker of the When They Cry series – wrote. Admittedly I’m a huge fan of his work, but I’ll try not to gush too hard in this post, ahaha. He did a great job working with Key to deliver a great route – the quality of his writing shines here. And man, there’s a lot to talk about with this route.

The common route branch begins with Kotarou finding out about Lucia’s past – that she once had an incident which caused her to believe that her hands were toxic and caused things to die just by touching them. Chihaya and Lucia keep getting into fights over Lucia’s apparent obsession with cleanliness, and Kotarou keeps trying to help them make up, but the efforts continue to damage their relationship despite their mutual desire to make up. One of the characters (can’t remember who, maybe Kotori?) likened the situation to the hedgehog’s dilemma. Kotarou keeps making new attempts to bring them back together, but the results are often less than favourable.

Lucia’s route itself begins with an investigation into a new mystery for the occult club. Kotarou takes it up on his own, to investigate the curse of a girl named Haruka Asahi. The rumour is that Haruka drained the life away from anybody around her, and strange occurrences like windows cracking happened in her presence. If anyone tries to investigate the curse, they’ll incur her wrath. Noting this as suspicious, Kotarou begins to investigate the curse, starting with Yoshino who reveals there is truth to the rumours. But as he continues the investigation, various strange, supernatural things start happening around him as if to warn him. It begun with a sheet of paper being printed out with the words “Don’t wake me. Or else you’ll” written in a girl’s handwriting ending up in Kotarou’s hands. Shortly after, he notices a crack in the window and begins to grow concerned. It’s at this point that Lucia offers Kotarou her help to solve the mystery, as she feels empathy for this Haruka character, believing that she was just a victim of misfortune like she was, and had to deal with the label of being cursed all her life. Together they begin solving mysteries one by one, starting with the printer and later by calling the classmates of the boy who died. During this time however, Lucia encounters the girl by herself in the city, and grows very frightened. I feel Ryukishi’s presence in this story; an examination of supernatural and the horror aspect of the mystery that surrounds it. Is the curse real, or is it just an illusion? As with Ryukishi’s other works, nothing is ever as it appears. But damn, the horror is pretty heavy from this point on. All of the people Kotarou calls are freaking out about him awakening Haruka from her sleep, and Lucia starts pleading with him to stop. After Kotarou persists that he has to continue, Lucia is shown having an encounter with Haruka, in which she inherits Haruka’s curse and her hands become as filthy as her nightmares.

At this point I felt like this would’ve been a great first route to play. Lucia’s route is the only route that begins before the incident in the forest, before any supernatural stuff starts happening. With Ryukishi’s writing, we are gradually eased deeper and deeper into the world of the supernatural, trying to determine the truths behind it all. This route starts out as a horror mystery before delving deeper into the other side. It’s a great transition, less abrupt than the leaf monster battle, but still very impacting. Kotarou tracks down the last person to investigate Haruka’s curse, and learns of how it almost got him killed. As they continue talking, all the light bulbs in the restaurant start breaking, and everyone starts getting really panicked. Done investigating, he leaves the restaurant and soon encounters Haruka – possessing his friend Lucia’s body – outside the restaurant in the rain. As they talk, the streetlights around them start shattering one by one as Haruka insists that she doesn’t need anyone trying to help her, and that she really is cursed. Kotarou insists that, much like Lucia, a bunch of coincidences of things dying around her caused her to earn the title of ‘cursed’, regardless of the truth. Kotarou couldn’t stand for the injustice of being bullied like that, and continued to oppose the belief that she was cursed. Despite how many of these occurrences happen around him, he continues to dismiss them as coincidences, so he can fight to destroy the rumours and let her be at peace.

In retrospect, this whole ordeal is kind of tragic. Kotarou is fighting to deny the rumours of the curse, but in the end his attempts are all in vain. That night Lucia reveals how Haruka’s curse has been passed onto her, and she breaks down into a fit of crying, how she’ll never be close to anyone again. I guess it’s a pseudo-confession, revealing her true feelings to Kotarou while maintaining the façade. A last attempt to get him to stop pursuing a solution, to just let her be. It must’ve been at this time when he started suspecting what was really going on, as the next day he ended up leaving for the orphanage to confirm Haruka Asahi’s identity. Kotarou plays the role of detective, identifying the culprit and explaining his reasoning for this. Turns out the curse was real after all, or at least the part about killing anything she touches and causing glass to shatter.

Kotarou understand Lucia’s feelings now: her isolation and despair, her desire for human contact, and her wish to just be left alone. But Kotarou chooses to fight that fact, and uses his rewriting power to change into something which can withstand her poison. Unable to accept her power, Kotarou embraces her to prove it to her. Hesitant and panicked at first, Kotarou vows that he will be with her forever under the light streaming through the chapel, and Lucia submits to his embrace, letting tears of relief stream down her face.

Following that, Kotarou is abruptly introduced to the other side of the world, as he’s surrounded by Guardian agents examining his body to see the effect the poison has on him. After being taken to hospital, Kotarou is introduced to Guardian, and later the war they’re having with Gaia over the fate of the world. My first indoctrination to Guardian, and I’m definitely finding myself empathising with the Guardian side a lot more so far. In Chihaya’s route, even then Kotarou didn’t agree with Gaia’s ideology and methods, so it’s not like I have anything to suggest that Gaia are the good guys in all this. It’s unique of Key to provide different perspectives on something like a war through the different character routes, I like it. But I’m wondering if Akane’s route will end up changing my mind about Gaia? Time will tell. Soon Lucia’s past is revealed, how she was part of the Next Generation of Humanity Project, and her experiences being made into a Future Human. It’s here we enter the darker side of Rewrite again, portraying the end of the world and the atrocious experiments Lucia endured as a child. It’s quite horrible to read, definitely not for the weak of heart.

After that revelation though, the story goes into moe mode, to lighten things up a bit. The relationship between Kotarou and Lucia becomes the focus, and they organize a date together to begin their new relationship as lovers, following their confessions in the church. I’m not always a fan of this stuff, but it was executed incredibly well here. The whole date starts out ‘tsun’ but really deeply fleshes out the ‘dere’ of Lucia’s personality. Oh man Ryukishi, I didn’t know you had it in you. You created a date scene so incredibly adorable that even I had a hard time avoiding contracting diabetes. Man oh man, we’re talking category 6 cuteness here. It showed how naive and weak-hearted Lucia is deep down, and it just struck the right paternal nerves. It also helped flesh out her character a bit more, with explanations for her glass-shattering ability revealed, and her role in Guardian was given attention. The date ends with the scene overlooking the skyline, where they cement their feelings of love for each other. Kotarou reveals that his feelings of sympathy had become feelings of genuine love, and Lucia returns that love. So damn beautiful U_U Ryukishi you know how to write love stories, you magnificent bastard. This was probably the most convincing romance I’ve seen so far from the game.

But of course, all good things must come to an end. All of this is juxtaposed by the political trouble Guardian is in. Following the scene on the rooftop, some time after Shizuru finds herself once again infected by Lucia’s poison, and Lucia is taken in by Guardian to try and find out why her poison is affecting people again. She’s confined to an isolation chamber where it’s discovered that her poison is running out of control. She descends into despair, complaining to Kotarou that her life holds no purpose; that she only exists to cause others to die. When the Next Generation of Humanity Project existed, while it could be viewed as a horrible thing, it also gave her purpose in life. By going to the future and saving humanity, she might be able to see her poison as an honourable gift to humanity rather than such a burden. Guardian’s situation worsens as Gaia attacks, taking out a large number of their agents at once, and almost taking out Kotarou as well. Guardian’s options are running out, and they need to act to prevent the salvation. On the brink of madness, Lucia learns of her condition, and yearns to go to the future to spare her from the pain of living in the present. As if in answer to her prayer, Brenda McFarden, one of the researchers of the Next Generation Humanity Project, invaded the facility to proclaim that she had a job that only Lucia could complete. Lucia goes missing after this, and Nishikujou frantically tries to deal with the situation. Kotarou hangs around school in despair waiting for some news, until eventually he encounters Lucia outside of the school. He takes Lucia on a date to the curry restaurant, where she reveals more about herself to him, and they enjoy what Lucia would believe to be their last moments together. Meanwhile Guardian is storming Brenda’s base to find Lucia. Unfortunately, the Vatican has already made plans with Brenda and Lucia to eliminate the threat of salvation. They amplified Lucia’s powers to turn her into a weapon of mass destruction, and let loose her poison upon Kazamatsuri, unleashing devastation in it’s wake. The city of Kazamatsuri is now a graveyard, and not even Kotarou could stay conscious for the assault.

Lucia had found her purpose in being asked to destroy Kazamatsuri, in order to eliminate Gaia and the Key before they enact salvation. Kotarou awakens in the park, rewrites himself again to withstand the poison, and discovers the city is riddled with corpses. Here in the city, the greatest act of terrorism in human history has just been committed. I feel like the impact was underplayed a bit too much, but I understand that they had to focus on the story. Of course, Kotarou takes the news of the event very hard, but upon realizing that Lucia is responsible, he tries to push all the guilt and sadness to the back of his mind. He focuses solely on finding Lucia.

She has lost all hope for a cure to her poison, and instead is desperately searching for a reason to exist. She concludes that her purpose is either to fulfil the role as the Key and destroy the world, or be destroyed. When Kotarou finds her, she insists that Lucia is gone, and that she’s back to being Haruka Asahi now. Kotarou begs her to come along with him to find a cure for the poison, but she continues stating that it’s useless. She asks what purpose she has as long as she is producing poison, and Kotarou is unable to answer. Kotarou insists that he’ll do whatever he can to save her, but she doesn’t want any of that. Lucia has thrown away her own life, and accepted her fate. She has no choice but to continue to play the villain, and engages in battle with Shizuru. And my, what a battle it was.

Here’s to the best damn action scene so far. Ryukishi’s descriptions are so adrenaline-pumping, once again reminiscent of Umineko’s action scenes. I can’t really describe how epic it was to watch, but if you’ve seen it I’m sure you can relate. Rewrite couldn’t leave all the action to Chihaya’s route after all! Chihaya explains how Kotarou was forgetting something more important than the poison and finding a cure, and Kotarou racks his brain trying to figure out exactly what she means. It’s the most obvious answer, isn’t it? Unable to convince Lucia to stop, Lucia ends up seriously wounding Shizuru. Chihaya saves Lucia from a lethal fall, and ends up being infected with her poison as a result. Lucia is unable to accept it, and ends up deeply regretting her actions. Feelings incredibly conflicted, she flees to the rooftop where she is confronted by Kotarou. She believes herself to be the most miserable person in the world, and submits herself to either her death at Kotarou’s hands or the death of the world if she survives. Kotarou insists that she’s stupid for thinking she’s so miserable when she has so many friends trying to help her, and that resolve manifests into the aurora, protecting him from her blade. (This is the first time the aurora appears in this route, it would probably be a great introduction to it if this was the first playthrough!) Kotarou decides to be selfish, he realizes this encounter isn’t about what Lucia wants, it’s about what he wants. What matters is that he loves her.

Lucia completely loses her resolve after this confession. It’s the words she had been longing to hear. She wanted Kotarou to accept her as she is, not as she was. Accept her and her poison, knowing full well that she may never be cured. She was even afraid of being consumed by guilt over causing the deaths of over 200,000 people, but in the end it was an unavoidable outcome. She was not the one who brought destruction to Kazamatsuri, she was the tool the real villains used to enact it. And nothing she could do could change that. Kotarou promised that he’d share the burden of all those lost lives with Lucia, and use that as motivation to keep fighting, for their sakes. The group retreats to a shelter, and the city is nuked, preventing the spread of the poison.

After what appears to be months later, Kotarou arrives at a new shelter with Lucia. Together they are living a life hidden from the outside world, but safe and comfortable. Guardian have made arrangements to provide all their needs inside the shelters they live in, to live in relative comfort while researchers continue to try and find a cure for Lucia’s poison. They may never find it, but the outcome isn’t so bad any more. They’re still sad about what happened, but they’re able to live happily together for the rest of their lives regardless of whether or not a cure is found. I think that’s a pretty nice ending, despite all that happened along the way. A lot of bad happened, but in the end Kotarou and Lucia got their happy ending after all.

Lucia Route complete. Result: Good-ish End.

There was a lot of tragedy to this route. A lot of bloodshed. It was largely unavoidable bloodshed, but bloodshed nonetheless. The world was saved, but at what cost? After the episode ended, I couldn’t help but wonder about the fates of Akane and Yoshino. It was hinted that Kotori survived, so I won’t worry about her so much. But dammit, what about everyone else? Compared to the others, this route feels pretty self-contained and doesn’t concern itself with much of the story outside of it.

But, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. This route knew it’s focus and stuck to it. That is, Lucia, and her relationship with Kotarou. That single point was it’s greatest strength, and it focused on it very intently, creating a beautiful and amazing route. Ryukishi handled the task given to him with incredible finesse. I’ll be honest, when I first heard Ryukishi was working on Rewrite, I got really excited. Two of my favourite Visual Novel developers working together? It’s like a dream come true! And Lucia’s route didn’t fail to impress at all, if anything it exceeded my expectations. Wow, what a route. This is definitely my favourite so far. As I’ve mentioned, it has it’s failings, but overall it’s a very solid route. Maybe too solid, haha. If people did in fact read this as their first route, the bar might be set too high for future routes! Haha, time will tell if the other routes can match this bar or not. I really loved it.

Lucia’s route started as a horror mystery trying to establish the truths behind the veil of the supernatural, and later delved into a politically charged context surrounding a powerfully emotive love story. As Kotarou realised in the end, all that really mattered was that he loved Lucia. That love turned out to be the only thing that could save her. It is nice when the simple answer is the only answer. And despite the simplicity of this message, it was executed in a deeply satisfying way. Bravo, Ryukishi. You’ve done it again.

Coming up next: Shizuru route reflection!

Key Visual Novel Planetarian released in English for iOS!

This huge news came to my attention just now! As the title says, planetarian – Dream of a Little Star has been released in English for the iOS! This is the very first time an official localization for one of Key’s games has ever been released, and one of the very few times a Visual Novel has been officially localized. Hopefully for people like myself, it’ll be coming to Android as well, seeing as the game is currently available on Android in Japanese. Planetarian isn’t just any VN though, it’s a Kinetic Novel, which means that there are no choices to make in the game. You merely scroll through the text with minimal interaction required from the player; you can even set it to auto read for you. What it lacks in interactivity it makes up for in story. Planetarian is Key’s shortest Visual Novel, set in a post-apocalyptic world a lone scavenger happens upon a fully functional robot girl in the ruins of a deserted city, a relic of the old world. The game begins with their first meeting and the short story that unfolds from having met each other. It only lasts a few hours, but there’s a good chance you’ll cry by the end. It’s no exception to Key’s cry or your money back routine*. You can pick it up for under $5 from the app store. I highly recommend it to everyone with an interest in Visual Novels or just want a good read. It’s Key’s first foray into the English speaking market, and I want to do all I can to help it succeed. Give Planetarian a chance, I assure you you won’t regret it! And if you also think it deserves people’s time, share the news around! My hope is that this will pave the way for Key’s more famous Visual Novels like Clannad and Little Busters to finally receive English releases. Let’s help make that a reality!

Check it out here!

*You won’t actually get your money back.

Rewrite ~ Chihaya Route Reflection

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!

This sure was an enormous contrast to Kotori’s route. Where Kotori’s route had been about a hopeless resistance against forces beyond your comprehension, this route was about beating the shit out of everything that stood in your way. Oh it still had it’s own dilemmas and angst, but this route felt so much more empowering than Kotori’s. I guess this is the action-packed route then? Some of the bigger themes in this route included self-sacrifice, choosing not to kill, atonement and FIGHTING THE POWER. (I apologise in advance if that phrase gets uttered excessively throughout this post.)

One thing I noticed, this really seems to be more of a Sakuya route than a Chihaya one. From early on in the common route branch the concept of self-sacrifice is introduced with Sakuya protecting Chihaya from a falling pot with his body, and then lying about placing it there earlier. Sakuya asks Kotarou if he would be willing to risk his life to save another, and when given the choice you can only answer “No” or “I don’t know”. Kotarou really can’t come to terms with sacrifice that early, but I’m guessing No is a dead-end choice, because it eventually leads to him resolving to protect Chihaya with his life. It’s a bit ironic though, because early on we’re shown that Chihaya is probably the person least in need of protecting. Together with Sakuya, she’s one of the most powerful forces in the world. But this is illustrated a number of times when Kotarou feels like he’s a third wheel in his relationship with Chihaya, until he realizes that he feels for her differently than Sakuya does.

Kotarou gets wrapped up in the war between the two factions, and we get to learn a whole lot more about the politics of it all. The details are still skimmed over though, because Chihaya isn’t that involved, she kinda just does what she’s told. Following the path of her parents, she never questioned not being a summoner of Gaia. She never questioned why she fought, she was just a weapon for Gaia. In the beginning Kotarou believed she had a very free life, but it turns out to be the opposite. A strange lack of freedom where the imprisoned doesn’t even realize they’re imprisoned, and thus makes no attempts to break free. Now I’m wondering if that’s even really imprisonment at all… At any rate, Kotarou definitely questions it. When learning about Gaia’s plans and motivations, he can’t say he agrees with any of it, but chooses to join them anyway. Why does Kotarou fight? In the beginning, Kotarou just wanted to return to how things used to be, with everyone getting along in the Occult Club. He wanted to change the world, so that the Occult Club could come back together, to preserve their everyday life. But after a while, Kotarou wondered if this was okay. He was caught up in a war being fought to determine the fate of the world, and he just wanted to be with his friends. Are his actions too selfish? Chihaya may not really be one of them, but there are people like Akane, Shizuru and Lucia which are fighting over what they believe is best for the world, giving their life for it. All Kotarou wants is to be with his friends. After a while though, Kotarou does gain a secondary objective: to protect Chihaya. But he’s powerless, so he seeks power to protect these things. However, to accomplish these goals he insists that he doesn’t resort to killing anybody. Midou is a great plot device in serving to highlight everything Kotarou doesn’t want to be. Midou’s words to live by are “kill or be killed”, every aspect of his character screams this. He holds a deep resentment for the world, a world that supposedly broke him  to become the maniac he is now. To live, he is forced to kill, and he lets killing become his life, until he is eventually killed himself. Kotarou empathises with Midou, stating that he could’ve become the same person if things in his life went differently. Somehow, Midou seems driven to corrupt Kotarou into becoming like him. Perhaps he despises Kotarou for the life he has, a kind of jealousy. Even after committing suicide in front of Kotarou after their battle, he continues influencing him from beyond the grave. Not sure if that’s some kind of psychological scarring or if he was actually being haunted by Midou, but I won’t look into that too much.

Again and again, Kotarou is challenged with scenarios that pressure him to kill in order to get what he wants. Kill to survive, kill to protect. Midou’s presence keeps pushing Kotarou to make that choice, to become as he was. But that’s not the only problem. Killing is one problem he faces, but another is power itself. Throughout the story Kotarou keeps getting stronger and stronger, through the help of Sakuya’s training and his own rewriting. He really wants to be of use to Chihaya, to become strong enough that he can fight alongside her, and maybe even protect her. There was a LOT of rewriting in this route. I’m pretty convinced that if I chose to use my rewriting power at any point in the common route, I wouldn’t survive the rewriting in Chihaya’s route. Thankfully I didn’t, and by the end I managed to keep ‘that’ from happening.

There were so many amazing action scenes in this route, one of the most notable being the battle against Krivoy Rog. At each moment I really felt like I was an inch from death, and it presented me with quite a few life or death choices during the battle. Unfortunately I ended up choosing the wrong choice more often than not. But there was one choice toward the end of the battle that I knew wouldn’t end well, but I was too curious to see what would happen. Of course, I’m talking about the choice to strengthen Kotarou’s aurora. Making that choice, I finally saw those warnings confirmed as Kotarou, in the process of strengthening his aurora, rewrote his mind, and turned berserk. The screen goes dark, with Kotarou wondering what happened after that. It’s shown much more clearly in the scene in the chapel. Kotarou is powerless at the hands of his enemies, unable to protect Chihaya. Midou provokes him to rewrite himself and become strong enough to kill these people, and surrenders to his desire, going berserk. The perspective switches to Chihaya as Kotarou loses control and starts aggressively attacking everyone, motivated by the single emotion of wanting to protect Chihaya. Unable to distinguish friend from foe, he starts fighting Sakuya with all his strength. A part him that’s still conscious realizes that deep down he wants to fight Sakuya, because he wants to be the one to protect Chihaya. Jealous of Sakuya’s skill and power, he fights. Sakuya had already realized that he was Kotarou’s predecessor, but because of that, he had to win against Kotarou. Either through some kind of unexplained phenomena, or more likely perhaps through Sakuya’s own rewriting power, he was able to rewrite Kotarou back to his former self.

This is really where all of Kotarou’s challenges are highlighted. At this point his primary objective is to protect Chihaya because he loves her, but he doesn’t want to kill anybody and he doesn’t want to lose himself to his rewriting power. And even now he still can’t accept the meaning of sacrifice. Even now he still wants to bring the occult club back together, further strengthening his pacifism, not wanting to fight Lucia or Shizuru. Kotarou has a lot to deal with. After being rewritten back to his old self, he sees into Sakuya’s memories, about how Sakuya was once a human who fought in this same war a very long time ago, and failed to protect a girl and prevent salvation. He survived salvation and became a familiar which ended up forming a contract with Chihaya, vowing to protect her to atone for his failure. In the next battle against Akane’s familiars, Sakuya uses what power he has left to defeat them, sacrificing himself to protect Chihaya. And not long after Pani and Gil sacrifice themselves for Chihaya and Kotarou as well. Talking with Gil, Kotarou is confronted by his ideals. About not wanting to kill, and about fighting to keep everyone happy despite the odds, and about the meaning of sacrifice. He wonders if he should stop living this way and start being an adult. But despite everything, Gil still encourages Kotarou, saying that he should continue living as he has up until now, fighting for his crazy ideals. Kotarou is still angry and sad about people sacrificing themselves for him, but perhaps he has begun to accept it.

The final battle begins, and it looks as though the only options left are to wipe out most of humanity to save the world, or for Chihaya to keep injuring herself over and over until Sakuya’s energy depletes. Everyone sinks into despair, and Kotarou is unable to accept this ending. So, he decides to continue fighting for his ideals, despite the odds. In Shizuru’s words, “Kotarou fights for the simplest, most ideal solutions.” At this point the scene feels like something out of Toaru Majutsu no Index, with Kotarou mounting a sword flying toward the giant, chopping up it’s vines with his aurora. He is stopped by a bigger vine, which he then slices through with an aurora empowered with Fuego’s flames, and finished the battle with a lunge toward the heart of the giant, giving Sakuya a nice big punch. ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER. Sakuya’s final moments end with a battle with Kotarou, with Kotarou winning and fulfilling his role as Chihaya’s new guardian. And at the very end, Kotarou was able to bring at least half of the original Occult club back together, just like he’d been fighting for. And the final scene closes with the strong implication that Chihaya was able to bring Sakuya back.

Chihaya Route: Completed. Result: GOOD END

A very happy ending here. There was a fair share of drama in this route, but it never felt as intense or dark as Kotori’s route had been. In Kotori’s route, you were completely powerless about everything. In this route however, you may have felt powerless at times, but Kotarou got the power he needed. He kept on fighting for the best possible outcome,  and he pretty much got it. This route is comparatively fluffy compared to Kotori’s route. Not to say that’s a bad thing, it was refreshing to get such a different taste from the second route. They were just so different! This was the empowering route, with heaps of amazing action scenes that Kotarou just barely gets through each time. A bit of a thriller. Maybe it was a bit cheesy at times, but damn it was nice to watch. I’m not sure if the other routes can top this level of epic though, guess I’ll have to wait and see. If anything, from this I’ve come to expect that each route will offer something different. I still retain my opinion that Rewrite doesn’t feel like a Key game. Everything about it is so different from their other works. But I love it, oh I love it. I don’t know if I’d recommend this to people who love Key games, but I’d still recommend it on the grounds of it being an amazing visual novel. You came out of your shell to try something different Key, and so far it’s paid off brilliantly.

Before I go, I’m gonna end this post with a wild mass guess.

‘Salvation’ involves sending the world back in time, aka Rewriting it.

Until next route, voyagers.

Rewrite ~ Kotori Route Reflection

It’s been a long time coming, but the second Rewrite patch has finally been released. And with that, I’ve decided to continue my reflection on Rewrite with the route I just finished recently, Kotori. There’s a lot to talk about, so I’ll start at the beginning. Obvious spoiler warning.

Recommended BGM – Sorrowless

The route begins where the common route left off for me, continuing after the encounter with the Leaf Dragon. Kotarou returns to school the next day to find that all of the occult club members have disappeared. Left in absolute despair after losing everything he cared about, he isn’t sure what to do. His nameless classmates try to offer their support, but he rejects their kindness, much to the dismay of Yoshino. Trying to distract himself from his troubles, he tries learning a bit more about his Aurora ability, which goes into quite a surprising amount of detail in how it works. I feel like in the fantasy genre we take the mechanics of supernatural forces a bit for granted, but just like Rewrite has shown us many times, this is a world which can be examined quite objectively. It was refreshing. After some time he finds a letter from Akane telling him to avoid snooping around for answers if he wants to return to his ordinary every day life. Not a threat, but a concerned warning. Kotarou is relieved to hear from one of the occult members and know that she’s safe, helping him cope with the situation much better. He still struggles, but at least he doesn’t feel as isolated as he was previously.

Eventually though, Kotarou finds that Kotori has returned, and he confronts her with his feelings. “The second time” he confessed to her, she says. He keeps pressing her for answers, asking why she keeps rejecting him and distancing herself, but she is unable to answer. It’s clear that she feels something for him, but he’s unable to figure out why she refuses to stay close to him. It was frustrating to read, but the dynamic between the two was definitely one of the more compelling mysteries of the story. This route is all about their relationship, and the gradual unveiling of the truth behind Kotori’s actions was very satisfying. Following this confrontation, Kotori was very apologetic and made an effort to satisfy Kotarou, letting down her guard a bit. It was interesting to watch. After a while, Kotori has Kotarou to promise not to investigate anything occult any more, unknowingly restating what Akane warned about. Kotarou sees no reason to disagree, and complies with her request. However, after an encounter with the spirit girl, he almost breaks his promise, but instead confesses his situation to Kotori and has her construct a ward to protect him. At this point they’re doing a lot together, more than before, but she still puts up a barrier between them, not letting herself become intimate with Kotarou.

The next day while walking around the city is when Kotarou encounters an amnesiac Inoue, who after some confused dialogue finds herself giving Kotarou a USB drive she found whilst throwing up in hospital, and expresses her relief of a great burden after handing it over. Not wanting to break his promise with Kotori, he tries to resist the temptation of discovering it’s contents, but eventually caves in and checks it out.

Recommended BGM – Border of Illusion

The following scene was one of the most memorable for me, discovering what happened to Inoue through a series of journal entries. I guess what happened to her shouldn’t come as too much of a shock after the encounter with the Leaf Dragon, but it still impacted me. There really was no returning to the peaceful days, there’s something huge going on in Kazamatsuri, and Kotarou’s friend Inoue went diving head-first into it. Reading about how she kept struggling to survive in the wilderness, and eventually breaking down until she was ready to embrace death was really impacting. This ain’t your ordinary Key story, I was soon beginning to realize. By the end of the journal entries she discovered the grey city, and dropped a lot of hints about the world to help unravel the mystery. It was tough reading though, little did I know it was only the beginning.

Following this, Kotarou found himself losing focus and being drawn to the forest, betraying his promise to Kotori. Eventually he was able to locate the spirit girl, but before he could do anything he loses consciousness and flashes back to the last time he was there in the forest; trying to save a girl caught in a tree and nearly dying, only to be saved by Kotori with the aid of the spirit.

The plot takes an interesting turn as Kotarou wakes up in his room having forgotten his feelings for Kotori. He spends the next few days casually interacting with his classmates, unconcerned with Kotori’s sudden absence from school. He finds himself wandering the school feeling like he’s forgotten something. Yoshino watches on in complete bewilderment at his lack of concern, until he eventually snaps in a fit of rage.

I feel like the resulting scene, as with many scenes between Kotarou and Yoshino, was very psychological. It’s revealed that Kotori isn’t coming to school any more, and Kotarou doesn’t know how to react. He speaks of her like a distant classmate, sending her a card to wish her well, and Yoshino cracks. Yoshino was baffled and enraged that Kotarou was so nonchalant about the news that Kotori was gone forever, and he broke into screaming insults while violently holding him up against the wall. He confesses that he felt invested in Kotarou, and despite some of his reservations he still believed he was a good guy at heart. But after seeing him act how he is now, Yoshino concludes that Kotarou is as shallow as anyone can get. One of his lines really spoke to me, I’ll let it speak for itself.

“Was your bond all a lie? Have you never known the value of a human heart? Do you think this world is made of shallow relationships like that? If I’m the one who’s wrong about this… and you’re right… then fuck that. I’ll never accept a shitty world like that! I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting against it!”

From the beginning, Kotarou dismissed his relationships with people, and therefore himself, as shallow. He wished to change that, to develop meaningful relationships with others and find happiness. But instead he found himself in this scenario, where a person he wanted to be friends with ends up hating him. By this point Kotarou had forgotten everything, it was only after Yoshino’s assault that the fuzziness in his head began to fade, and he remembered what he once cherished. He blabbers out all of his remembered feelings in front of his classmates, crying as he does, and the teacher reveals the news to him that he is sick. He suffered a brain injury after the incident in the forest, and after recovering his memories and emotions were in disarray, some lost and others stronger than ever. Ever since then he had always been treated delicately by his peers who sympathised with him. Yet Yoshino never treated him any differently, and the teacher points out that that may have been the reason why Kotarou wanted to be friends with him. Suddenly Kotarou realizes he’s surrounded by a class of friends who have always been supporting him in the shadows, nameless faces who he never once came to appreciate until now. In a very touching scene, the entire class comes together to offer their support to Kotarou in finding Kotori and bringing her back. In the end he accepts their kindness, but decides to go find her alone. With the hands of his friends on his shoulders, he once again finds the strength to venture out and get his friend back. The route begins for real now.

Recommended BGM – Exploration

After searching through Kotori’s house, Kotarou stumbles upon some books in Kotori’s room which reveal to him that Chibimoth is in fact a mammoth. Of course that fact should’ve been obvious to the reader by now, but it’s later explained that a mystical force prevents people from realizing Chibimoth’s real identity. Better than a poor plot hole, haha. Along with this comes the revelation that Kotori can control monsters like the robed men that have been seen controlling the dogs. The plot thickens and Kotarou’s hunt leads him to the forest. He realizes he is developing thermal vision, and fears he is losing his humanity the more he wields the aurora and strengthens himself. And then as he progresses, he eventually stumbles upon a mass of fresh human corpses in the middle of the forest. This was one of the more unsettling scenes for me, even after Inoue’s journal entries. The story has been flirting with death a lot so far, but this is the first time it’s felt so real. The descriptions of the dead bodies are quite gorey too… At that place he encounters the spirit girl again, with the leaf dragon with not too far behind. Struggling to evade it’s attacks, Kotarou is saved by the spirit’s ribbons, and rescued by a familiar friend, Chibimoth.

Waking up in the warm part of the forest where he had his accident, he finally discovered Kotori safe and sound, and she begins telling Kotarou everything she’s doing there, including details about the summoners, familiars, Gaia and the Key. As Kotarou comments, Kotori’s work is a bit like playing god, but he refuses to let ethics interfere with the situation. It’s revealed that Chibimoth was created by Kotori using the body of her dead dog. Kotori insists that creating a familiar from a dead creature isn’t revival, but creating something new. The new creature may resemble the old one, but it is completely different, and devoid of anything like a soul.

So Kotarou decides to stay with Kotori and help her in any way he can, but in the end there isn’t much he can do but offer her company and support. He watches her work, realizing that she has been doing this for ten years all alone, dedicating her life to protecting the Key. The question on everyone’s lips is why? Is it really worth all the trouble Kotori’s gone though? It’s pretty dangerous work, and eventually people are going to come trying to kill the Key to prevent a tragedy from befalling humanity. Eventually Kotori confesses what she did to save Kotarou, that she borrowed the Key’s ribbons to save his life. The ribbons are life force in physical form, and using them she was able to prevent Kotarou’s death. Doing so imbued him with the ribbon’s power, explaining his aurora. It poses an interesting question, though. Does that mean Kotarou is a familiar?

Recommended BGM – Scattered Flowers

Soon danger starts to befall them as a war erupts in the forest around them. The Leaf Dragon is defeated by a group of men wielding superpowers, and the conflict escalates from there as more and more familiars and supermen are called into the forest to join the fight. Kotori fears that soon she’ll be exposed, and one night breaks down, crying on Kotarou’s back, questioning if her efforts are worth anything at all. This was an amazing performance from Chiwa Saito, her sobbing held so much emotion that it was hard to hold back the tears myself. It was the first time anyone had heard Kotori cry, and it was really powerful. Her strong façade had broken for that moment, and it was painful to watch. It was a moment when the reader and Kotarou both felt totally powerless. He was able to offer her his back, but he couldn’t do anything else. He knew Kotori had her reasons to distance herself from him, but there was still something else separating them that he hadn’t truly grasped yet.

The battle rages outside the confines of their sanctuary in the forest, and the Key disappears. Kotori is just about ready to give up, but Kotarou decides to head into the forest to save the Key for Kotori’s sake. With Chibimoth in toe, the head out into the wilderness, only to encounter a familiar in the shape of a T-rex leaving carnage in it’s wake. Finding the Key, they avoid the familiar completely and escape with their lives, only to run into more trouble in the form of Imamiya and his cohorts. Imamiya deals a fatal wound to Chibimoth and is about to kill Kotarou before Chibimoth jumps to his rescue and pulls him and the key away to the safety of the sanctuary.

Kotarou can’t accept that Chibimoth isn’t living, that he doesn’t have a soul. Kotori retorts by revealing that her dog was never loyal or kind in it’s life, instead living fearful and aggressive toward her. He sees how Chibimoth fought until the end and the pain he’s experiencing at the end of his life, and starts shouting at Kotori to show some sympathy for him at the end of his life. Kotori resists, trying to remain cold and unattached, but eventually gives in and pets Chibimoth while praising his efforts. And at the last moments, Chibimoth barks with the same voice Kotori’s pet dog once had, calling it’s identity into question.

Recommended BGM – Philosophy of Yours

The despair continues as the battle begins to end. Kotori’s fortress is compromised and Kotarou even gets shot before they make their escape with the Key. They return to the city, where Kotarou encounters Yoshino, finishing up his business with him in a serious fight, where of course Kotarou wins without much trouble. It saddens Yoshino, but he accepts that Kotarou is able to take care of Kotori, the person he loves. From there they continue to escape the city. After taking refuge in a hut in the wheat field. It’s there that Kotori reveals how she became a summoner after a car accident which claimed the lives of her parents, and had them turned into familiars. She couldn’t love her parents any more because they were familiars, she couldn’t get attached to something she had created to resemble her living parents. The same of any of her familiars, they’re all tools to be used and thrown away she says. And then, the question comes to Kotarou’s lips, “Am I a familiar?”. Kotori is unable to form an answer. She doesn’t really know. Kotarou acts differently to her other familiars, but she can’t say for certain if he isn’t just something she created. The big reveal is that Kotarou changed after he had his accident, he went from being gloomy and unemotional to kind and invested in her. Kotori revealed that she was so afraid that she was falling in love with her own desires that she couldn’t let herself get close to Kotarou. It all became clear. If the Key dies, she’ll lose Kotarou. But even though Kotarou is here, she’s too afraid to get close to him, just like with any of her familiars. Neither can say for sure whether or not Kotarou is a familiar, but that uncertainty scares her too much.

The Key keeps singing a strange song that fill both of them with fear, and Kotori feels a great pressing need to kill the Key before salvation can happen. Before that can happen though, they discover that they’re surrounded by black dogs, and Kotori sacrifices her mother and father to fight for them while they make their escape. Just before they escape, they hear the mother and father speak as if they were human again, just for a moment, and Kotori doesn’t know what to think. Kotarou drags her and the key out, all while that unsettling music box melody keeps playing in the background to the sounds of a chainsaw revving and rifle being shot. The Key starts laughing for some unknown reason, and Kotori is screaming  out to her mother and father in pain and confusion with tears streaming down her face. “I feel like I’m going insane.” Kotarou narrates, mirroring my own feelings as I read. After some time running, they eventually find themselves back at the hut they escaped from. Kotarou shouts out to the heavens in pain and frustration. It’s painful to watch this kind of absurdity, it’s maddening. It made me feel deeply uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure if I should continue reading. By now the game had almost broken me, I was ready to accept the worst kind of ending. Kotarou lets out all of his anger toward the Key, and as it continues singing it begins to turn into a tree. The need to kill it fills Kotarou’s mind. Knowing that Kotarou will die if the Key dies, Kotori can’t find the resolve to kill it herself. But Kotarou, in an attempt to prove his identity, says that he’ll end it, putting to rest her internal conflict. The dinosaur re-emerges in the field, but Kotarou has lost all fear. He knows what he needs to do. But just before he can do it, he hears the sound of a rifle being shot, and sees that Shizuru with a large rifle having shot and killed the Key. The Key dies while speaking the words “Kotarou… Proof…”, and her existence disappears from the world, remaining a mystery. Having been shot, Kotori has lost her source of power, and Kotarou begins draining her energy. It’s not long now before they both die. But Kotarou asks Kotori to remove the part of him that’s a familiar in order to keep her alive. Doing so, Kotarou begins to revert to his state from before the accident, regaining all of his old wounds and moments from death. Kotori falls apart, panicking and crying. This was it, the bad ending I was almost waiting for now. But in one last final effort, Kotarou asks Kotori to continue struggling a bit longer and drag his body to a hospital, to keep him from dying. To survive with their own strength, without relying on magic and supernatural forces.

And here was the most emotional part of the story so far. I genuinely wasn’t sure what would happen. If Kotarou died right now, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. I’d been dragged down into the deepest, most maddening despair having read this far, I was ready to accept a horrible ending. But Kotori kept pushing on, babbling to Kotarou and herself to give her strength, shedding countless tears on the way. Kotarou almost seemed gone a few times, but he stayed barely alive during the trip. Step by agonising step back to the hospital, I kept silently wishing that they’d make it. I could barely hold back the tears myself, it was way too much to watch. With each line, I could really feel the pain in her voice.

And then, he awakens in hospital two days later. The music finally changes to something lighter, and I feel a huge burden finally disappear from my shoulders, an amazing amount of relief. It’s over, he even managed to survive after everything. There are still many questions left unexplained, and I can’t say for certain yet whether or not the death of the Key was the best possible outcome, but at the very least, our main characters got a happy ending this time.

Rewrite – Kotori Route: Completed.

Well it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was still amazing. It was intense. Very intense, enough to make me sick in my stomach. Almost unlike Key really, it’s got me expecting a very dark and intense story from Rewrite, unlike anything Key’s done before. In the end, our beloved hero and heroine got their happy ending, so I’ve been given enough support to continue onward. But what cost had to be suffered to get this ending? The Key is the biggest mystery here. The secret organizations hidden in Kazamatsuri’s shadow will surely be the topic of the routes to come, but I’m very interested in the Key’s role in everything. I think Kotarou is accurate in calling her an observer of humanity. But what about salvation, what will happen? Why was she always laughing? What’s that song, and why does everyone feel the need to kill her? Why was Kotori  seemingly the only one in the world who sought to protect her? Is she an enemy of humanity? Is there some intelligence behind her alien eyes? So many questions. I’m also curious about the purpose of the grey city too.

The big theme I got from this route was “Don’t play with fire without expecting to get burned”. This isn’t your standard stock fantasy where the main character has an awesome superpower he can use to fight off any enemy and save the world. This is a world where magic is a burden that comes at an immense cost. The hidden world is one nobody really wants to be involved in, it’s nothing but trouble, something to be avoided as much as possible. To get stuck in that world is to seal your doom. Magic and supernatural forces are something to be feared in this story. And even with supernatural powers, our hero is powerless against the greater forces at work. You’re just a helpless pawn thrown into a conflict that’s much greater than you. It’s a refreshing take on the genre.

I’m very interested to learn more about this conflict. I feel Shizuru and Lucia’s routes will shed a lot more light on that. Not sure what to expect from Chihaya’s route yet, there’s definitely a lot of secrets to her home life that I’m interested to learn about. I’ll be playing her route next. The order I’ve decided on is Kotori>Chihaya>Lucia>Shizuru>Akane. Saving Akane for last seems like the most logical option from what I’ve heard, and I greatly enjoyed her character in the common route, so I’ll be saving her for last.

Well, not sure what else to say really. It’s been a very long post, revisiting the route before heading into the next, reflecting on how it impacted me. It’s been a very impacting story so far, and I must be a glutton for punishment, because I find myself wanting more. First post in quite a while, sorry if my writing was a little rusty, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Rewrite is a very interesting story that is satisfying my craving for a fantasy mystery, and a very intense drama. A very eclectic work consisting of many different literary genres. It’s very different from Key’s other works, but I’m really enjoying it nonetheless. I look forward to what other twists and turns the story will take me on in the coming routes.

Until next time, voyagers.