SweetieGames

I’ve been playing otome games since 2014, and including mobile releases have played close to 200 otome titles over the course of 11 years. A lot of the time I think I’ve seen it all, but then another route will come and surprise me!

In this article, I wanna talk about some of my all time favourite otome game routes. Some games overall may not be in my favourites list, but these routes really stood out to me because of the overarching plot, they made me laugh, they made me cry or I just really enjoyed the dynamic between the love interest and MC. Let’s take a look!

Warning for spoilers ahead!

Amnesia: Memories- Shin

I don’t usually like tsundere characters. In fact, the vast majority of the time I really dislike them. I’m not playing these games to have a load of abuse hurled at me! If I wanted people who I thought were my friends to be horrible, I’d just go and play Animal Crossing: Wild World. However, Shin really stood out to me, and not just because he’s voiced by the iconic Tetsuya Kakihara.

Amnesia is a great game because each route takes place in a different “world”, meaning all of the characters relationships are different every time and the plots can be completely separate from each other while still coming together in the finale. I loved the mystery aspect of Shin’s route; you have to prove his innocence after MC is involved in an accident, which is where everyone thinks her amnesia has stemmed from. Shin is also already her boyfriend in this route, which meant you could explore an already established relationship rather than what you usually get in otome games, which is the MC and love interest getting together at the end. Shin is a typical tsundere; prickly on the outside but it’s all to hide the fact that he’s deeply caring, and I think that personality works really well for the plot of this route.

Taisho x Alice- Kaguya

The fun part about playing Chapter 2 of Taisho x Alice is that I get to play my least favourite route and then my favourite route back to back. The premise of Kaguya’s route in particular is bizarre; Kaguya asks MC to be his girlfriend after having met for five minutes and having only just broken up with his previous girlfriend. In front of her. Even the other characters pull MC aside to check she’s alright when she says yes to his offer, and of course hilarity ensues.

Kaguya’s route in particular lulls you into a false sense of security. There’s plenty of silly and funny moments and wholesome moments between him and MC, but these are hiding something incredibly dark which comes to the surface towards the latter half of the route. TaiAli’s routes are based on fairy tales, and of course Kaguya is based on the Princess Kaguya fairy tale, where she returns to the moon at the end. Instead of the fairy tale being at face value, like how Cinderella’s route was previously, Kaguya’s desire to “return” to the moon is a metaphor for his suicidal ideation. This route broke me towards the end; I was literally sobbing for a lot of the latter half of his route and there’s plenty of ways for it to go wrong (I’m pretty sure he has fourteen bad endings, which is completely unheard of!) but I really ended up feeling for him. I just wanted him to have the happy life he deserved. I appreciate when an otome route doesn’t shy away from darker subject matter.

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ – Saint Germain

As I was coming up with this list, I came to the realisation that I love sad routes. I have no idea why! In Code Realize, you spend a lengthy amount of time in a common route, getting to know every character well before the official routes actually begin. Just before each route starts, the same event occurs; one of the love interests, Saint Germain, stabbing and seemingly killing the antagonist of the game. Before any route has started.

I had read that you’re meant to play Saint’s route last, but I couldn’t do it. The second I finished the first route I had chosen, I had to see what Saint Germain’s deal was. He was already mysterious and rather eccentric, avoiding talking about himself too much, but the scene towards the end of the common route was the last straw. And the route itself was a whole rollercoaster. From taking the otome cage trope to a whole new level to fighting against literal fate itself, this route hit me right in the feels. I love two characters fighting against the inevitable to make it work; this route solidified that fact for me. As always, Daisuke Hirakawa’s voice acting is top notch in this route and I was crying purely based on his voice performance alone. I thought I would hate the route when I started it out, but he skyrocketed to one of my otome favourites very quickly!

Café Enchante- Il Fado de Rie

I’ve spoken on this blog previously about how Café Enchante is an underrated otome gem. In that post, I talked briefly about Il, who is my all time favourite otome game character (and maybe one of my all time favourite fictional characters, full stop!)

Il is the only otome character I’ve found who I find deeply relatable as an autistic person. There are some eccentric or even implied autistic characters in otome (I’m specifically thinking of Mozu from BustaFellows) but Il is the only character who I could see a lot of myself in. His picky eating habits, his inability to read social cues and his seemingly special interest in otome games sometimes felt scarily accurate to my actual experience. Seeing Il find joy in becoming more human-like was heart-warming, but his route is definitely tough if you struggle with sad moments. Whenever I think about him, I feel sad that there’s no Cafe Enchante fandisk so I can continue his story! He definitely deserves more happy moments after everything he went through.

It took a lot to narrow down this list! I may end up making another one in the future as I have so many characters I love. I’d love to hear about some of your otome game favourites!