Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (Green-Eyed Edition) -- No Spoiler Review
Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (Green-Eyed Edition Featuring: Hachiro Iba, Souji Okita, & Heisuke Toudou)
System: PC
Price: $9.99
Voice Acting: Yes (Japanese)
ESRB Rating: M (17+)
Overall Rating: Stole 9/10 ♥s
Pre-Game Perception: The conclusion of Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds in which you get to spend some time with the man you barely ended up romancing.
Morning-After Reflection: A heavily mythical story where MC finally finds where she belongs with her chosen bea.
Story: “This remastered telling of the beloved visual novel Hakuoki series is a continuation of the Hakuoki™: Kyoto Winds story and focuses on the story set in Edo, the second part in this two-part series. Fighting alongside the Shinsengumi, the young Chizuru will romance the famous warriors of Japan's Bakumatsu period through a series of engaging stories and dramatic events. Delve deeper into the hearts and secrets of each warrior bachelor as you explore the world of Hakuoki and navigate its intertwining, branching narratives to unlock multiple endings. Find true love in the journey to Edo – your choices decide your fate!”
Interest Rating: 9/10. After the nebulous way Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds left us, I was looking forward to getting an actual ending to the story. On top of that, I was so underwhelmed by the romance of Kyoto Winds that I needed this part to be better. Gimme that sweet, sweet lovin’. Please?
MC: Ah, Chizuru Yukimura, the MC everyone loves to hate-- wait… I said this before, didn’t I? Chizuru’s first name can be changed, but unlike the previous half of this game, if you leave it as is, you’ll actually get some dudes saying it this time around. Chizuru doesn’t have a full sized sprite, but she shows up in most of the CGs, if only just a part of her, she’s never the main focus of the CG. She is unvoiced, and because I don’t see her most of the game, I keep forgetting how unremarkable she is. I suppose that’s testament to just how much of an impression Chizuru has made on me.
We’re now four years later than the previous game, so everyone has aged up by four years. Of course, this doesn’t actually change anything in character sprites, or appearances, and Chizuru can still masquerade around as a young boy, despite being a 19-year old girl now. In fact, she’s still wearing the same clothes! Anyways, she’s still a shortie, and nothing has changed appearance-wise; brown hair, brown eyes, and still as young looking as ever.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that she also hasn’t changed much personality-wise. The game is about the Shinsengumi men, after all, so why would the MC need any character growth? Why should she be any different than she was four years ago? Because WE WANT IT! That’s why. I think there’s very little as boring as character stagnation. People naturally adapt and change based on their environment and experiences. Keeping that out of your writing makes them seem flat and fake.
I will say that Chizuru does have a few personality quirks that were not present beforehand, if you choose those options. And choose them I did. Life would be less interesting without a little new blood injected into the usual. But for the most part, she’s still only really capable of tea making, and there isn’t much of that in this part of the story.
Likability Rating: Ka. If you didn’t like Chizuru in the first half of the game, you’re still probably not going to like her. My feelings haven’t changed because she still barely has a story, and doesn’t have any development. Chizuru is only there for this war drama to be told.
Plot: Herein lies the conflict. The plot for this portion of Hakuoki is rather varied, or at least I happened to pick three guys that tackle three different plots. I suppose in my next review I’ll know if I got lucky or if there really are 12 different conflicts for this game. Besides wrapping up the story of the Shinsengumi, you also get to spend the entire time hanging with your dude, so that’s cool. But I can’t even give you a summary of what the game is about for Edo Blossoms except you learn the fate of the Shinsengumi which reflects history since this is historical fiction, so it isn’t a big surprise what goes down. Most of the other men who dominated the story in Kyoto Winds are largely absent in this portion of the game, so I’m serious, it’s you and your boo.
Replayability Rating: ★★★★★ Every path is unique, and though some of the same plot points are hit (because it is historical fiction), many liberties were taken to bring about a new and different ending to whomever you end up choosing. I’d do every route.
Love Interests: Since Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms is the second part to Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds, it’s no surprise that there are still a dozen delicious dudes to sink your teeth into. Today we will be going over three of those twelve, because I’ve only finished three of them - my green-eyed boys. The routes are unique in this portion of the game in that you can just choose who you want to romance from the get-go. No need to earn favor or get on a route, you already did that work in Kyoto Winds.
Because I haven’t played enough of the guys to put together a cohesive story, I can’t say what would be best to do first, last, or in-between. So I just went along the same path that I did in Kyoto Winds, playing this section of the game right after I finished that section for that guy, in order to keep stories straight and fresh in my mind when I tackled them and begged them to do untoward things to me. Due to that, I’ll list the guys in the same order as my review on Kyoto Winds. There are approximately six endings to each guy, a Good Ending, an Unrequited Love Ending, and then four Bad Ends. Get a guide if you need help mopping up the endings, or just want to follow a walkthrough so you get the ending you’re aiming for. I was lost my first two playthroughs, but I think I can figure out how to get every ending now that I’ve done it a few times.
In that case, we’re back with Souji Okita. If you read the previous review, you’ll know I wasn’t a fan of Souji-boy. He gets better in this portion of the game, but it also gets weird. I still didn’t like the romance much, but it kept up the heart-pounding moments, if entirely for different reasons than the first. Okita doesn’t really give you much attention besides constant promises to kill you in Kyoto Winds, but in Edo Blossoms, Chizuru soon becomes more important than before. I thought the romance was a little forced, and I couldn’t get behind it, but Okita is a fan favorite, so I guess there’s something there that I’m not getting. I felt like I got whiplash more than any doki doki from his route, but he’s still worth the read, and I’m not unhappy I played it. He’s just the bottom rung of these boys, and I don’t see him making top tier out of all twelve for me.
If you haven’t figured out what a sweet boy Heisuke Toudou is, you’ll learn it in this route. If you pick the right answers, you get more than a few saccharine moments. If you pick the wrong ones, you get some bittersweet moments that made me like him all the more. What can I say? I like the drama that comes from taboo or star-crossed relationships. Gimme that pain, I’ll eat it up. The romantic theme we saw in Kyoto Winds continues into Edo Blossoms; there doesn’t seem to be much improvement, or any lessening of the love, which left me feeling like the peak we got in Kyoto Winds was where Heisuke and Chizuru were planning on staying. I could have used some more romance and less angst, but Heisuke has easily won my heart with his story.
Hachiro Iba was a strange route in Kyoto Winds because he wasn’t a part of the main group, the Shinsengumi. It only gets stranger as the plot continues into Edo Blossoms, but the lingering looks that Iba gives Chizuru certainly are smoldering with something. You get a taste of that “bone” I was missing in the first half of the game from his previous gentlemanly mannerisms. Something I’m rather glad for, because if four years of not really being courted proved anything to me, it’s that I wouldn’t survive in the Bakumatsu period. There are plot reasons for Iba and Chizuru’s relationship to progress to the next steps after tea and avoiding death, like physical contact and more opportunities to dance with death. Get you some of this good boy.
Boy Crazy Rating: 90%. Putting the husbando front and center, along with actually having some romance, brought these boys up on my list of bedding wedding material. It’s about goddamn time that they showed me who they really were.
Romance: Do you like romance? Do you like the build up to an established relationship? Are confession scenes your bread and butter of life? You’re going to get that here! This is what Kyoto Winds was sorely lacking. At the end of Kyoto Winds, Chizuru kinda, sorta, maybe likes a guy that you’ve earned some favor with. And he maybe, sorta, kinda likes Chizuru, but he can’t tell her that because it isn’t the time or place, or something equally dumb honorable. Edo Blossoms picks up right where Kyoto Winds lets off, giving you the start to the relationship even if they don’t confess until later in the route. Sure, the story is still about the Shinsengumi, and whatever conflict came about in his one chapter in Kyoto Winds. And sure, the focus is not on dating and making out, so it isn’t inundated with romance. But at least it is there! Some of it is cute, some of it is sexy, and some of it is almost instantaneous and weirded me out a bit. Like, oh! I guess… I guess this is a thing now. Yeah, you-- uh, you express your love... or something.
Heart Palpitation Rating: B-. After four years, you’d think there would be more to the couple in question beyond the beginnings of romance. Edo Blossoms has romance, but knowing this is the second half of the story, it’s just starting out at the beginning of the game and that means I’ve sat through waaaaaaaaay too much to start playing the guessing game on who likes who. Just f*ck already.
Spice: Speaking of f*cking! It’s not happening. At least not with these three. I hear there is a canonical route with the sechz, but I don’t know who it is because I try not to spoil myself. This title certainly is more spicy than the previous one, but the previous one was so bland that anything would be spicier. There are some kiss CGs, so at least you know it gets that far. And if mouths on body parts makes you hot, you’re going to get hot. I found one route to be particularly hot, while another to be very chilly, and the third simmered a bit, but didn’t make me weak. So, it’s all over the place for me.
Cold Shower Rating: Pass. Just barely. Get your heat on while the getting is good, because you never know which boy is going to make your loins warm, and which boy is going to leave you feeling a tit bit nippily. Adjust water temperature as needed for your current lover.
Angst: What makes Hakuoki a great game? Is it the way someone has idolized the Shinsengumi? Is it the romance between a young girl and a lucky guy from the group? Is it the fiction part of the historical fiction genre the game falls into? It’s probably a little of all of those, but being made up of 85% ANGST certainly helps the game stay in the lead. In my mind, Hakuoki is the angst title to beat all angst titles. It cares little about your friends, your family, or loves and your dreams, it will destroy them all-- ya’ know, ‘cause it can. Feeling cute today, might create some death and despair, idk lol. Kyoto Winds has some angst, but it gets good bad(?) complicated in Edo Blossoms. There wasn’t a part that was truly tugging on my heartstrings in Kyoto Winds, but you can bet your sweet ass that there was at least one part in Edo Blossoms, and I haven’t even played 75% of the game!
Now, y'all know I’m not the type to end up sobbing for a game. I don’t cry about games often, and that’s totally fine if that’s how you are. It’s also totally fine if you create a trail of tears when you experience heartache about a game. I’m just giving you some info so you understand the cold hearted person emotionally dead monster distance that tends to be between me and fiction. So, I didn’t cry for this title, yet. And I’m hoping that I’ll get there someday, because I’ve heard stories about how heart wrenching the game can be. But I’ve seen what I presume to be the worst of the worst Hakuoki has to offer, and I’m not sure I’m going to see that day come to pass. That being said, I did get a little misty once or twice. There were feelings felt.
I know I compared Hakuoki to Nightshade, and let me tell you, I didn’t get misty once with Nightshade. There were some “Oh f*ck…” moments, but nothing that got me right where it hurts. And that’s an angsty game. Hakuoki is all of that, and then some. There are very descriptive scenes of violence. There are bloody sprites, blood spatters, and some juicy sounds of… :cough: hacking/stabbing/slicing/whatever you want to call the sound of gore. No visible gore! Just blood. Lots of blood. So much blood. I hope blood doesn’t bother you. It’s only slightly more violent than Kyoto Winds, so if you’ve played that already then you know what to expect. But it sure as hell is angstier than Kyoto Winds. So prepare yourself for the draaaamaaaaas.
Drama Llama Rating: 10/10. This is it. This is the title to rule all titles when it comes to the angst. If you’ve played angsty games in the past, and I rated them lower, you have been warned that this game is the ultimate otome angst game. The drama llama's true form has been revealed. It’s a shame that all who bore witness broke completely before they were able to recount just what sort of madness they saw residing in the llama of ultimate dramas.
Voice Acting: For as nuanced as the emotion and inner turmoil is in Kyoto Winds, it is presented loud and clear in Edo Blossoms. It might be because it is intended to be the climax and conclusion of the story, so all the characters finally get some personal time to feel and just be themselves. Or maybe I just like to hear men get emotional. That’s totally likely. If they can convince me when we don’t speak the same language, then I think that’s convincing enough. The dudes and dudettes in Edo Blossom do just that. It still isn’t the best I’ve heard, but it is some good shit. The problem is that it was already good, so I can’t give it a higher rating. And we’re still faced with the fact that the cast is absolutely huge! I certainly can’t name everyone. So, suffice to say that Hakuoki will receive the highest rating I can give, with the most praise to all those that participated. Because, although I like tend to gush, I would literally never stop if I got started on this title. Do you want ten pages of seiyuu reviews? Because that’s how you get ten pages of seiyuu reviews.
Expression Rating: Shu. Hakuoki hits it out of the park with the talented men and women that bring emotion and feeling to the characters in this game. There are far too many to name individually, but if you like your voice acting to have some passion behind it, give this game a listen.
Art: Hakuoki has gorgeous sprites, where every character is unique and easily distinguishable from every other character introduced. All the primary cast (except the MC) gets a brand new outfit to go with their brand new outlook on life. Or the same old outlook, I can’t say for everyone yet. I really enjoy the new look, probably because it reflects my Western style, and I can’t help it, I think suits (or suit-like clothing) looks really good on anyone. Men. Women. Enbies. It’s sharp and sends all sorts of thoughts racing in my head. Anyways, there are still many poses and facial expressions, and there is literally nothing I can or will complain about when it comes to the art for this game. I love the textured visuals. I love the watercolor look where the ink is uneven and looks like it has pooled in the pores of the pages. I love the detail in the backgrounds. This rivals what I consider perfect art, and it gets the score deserving of such fine work. There’s also the added benefit of blinking and mouth movements when speaking; though I’m not a fan of the mouth flap, I can take it or leave it. It does bring some much needed life to VNs.
Still Picture Rating: ★★★★★ Many perfection. Such detail. Very texture.
CGs: Guys, I could talk about how great the CGs are for this game, but I think they tell you themselves. Just look at it. There are no anatomical issues, everyone is consistent in sizing and style. The moments they chose to depict are wonderful. The sprites are so good that you can almost switch from sprite to CG and back again without even realizing it-- except you will realize it, because the CGs are somehow better than the basic artwork for the game (which includes the sprites). If you like this style and these pictures, you’re going to like the full gallery, or at least the full gallery for these three guys.
My only complaint (this time around) is that there are a lot of repeat pictures, where the same scene is laid out with just a different background or minor alterations to the CG. And since each route is so short, it feels like you don’t get a lot of CGs due to this repeating CG feature. Trust me, though, you get enough for the $10 you paid for this portion of the game. 12 guys with about 8 unique CGs = more CGs than any $10 game will offer. Except Mystic Messenger, because that’s f2p and has more CGs than any game I’ve ever played.
Look at this Photograph Rating: 99%. Great art! Just wonderful! Perfect moments chosen in time to live in my headspace forever. This VN is the golden standard for many people, and the art and CGs are no exception.
UI/Mechanics: As I said in the first Hakuoki review, Hakuoki is a remake of the PlayStation game of the same name. It went through a few ports before coming to the PC, and that’s very clear when you log into the game. Yeah, the main menu is easy to navigate, despite having their own names for things for flavor reasons - a feature I honestly like. The problem is that I guess they expect you to use a Xbox controller? They have buttons like A, B, X, and Y listed out and flashing in some cases so you know how to navigate the game. But I use a keyboard and mouse. I mean, I have a controller, but I’m not breaking it out to read my VN. So, the button map is a bit wonky.
Once you keybind what you want and learn how to navigate the game without using a controller, it’s very streamlined, imo. They are the same controls from one Hakuoki PC game to the next, so if you learned them from the first, you’re set for the second. There are no special mechanics, it’s a basic “make decisions to progress” visual novel. The UI menu has many options, such as turning specific character voices on and off (there are nearly 30 characters in there). The gallery is broken down by dude, so you can easily find what you’re looking for. There’s a chapter list as well, so you can repeat a portion of the game that you’ve unlocked. It’s really a very decent system, if not for the weird controller controls it expects you to use.
I also wanted to mention again that the sprites blink and mouth flap when talking. And bonus points for when you start a chapter you’ve already completed, you can choose your romance level, so if you’re aiming for bad ends, it’s easier to get than ever. And there are many, many save slots, just like in the first game. When earning affection with a guy, there is a very noticeable affection catch. I can’t think of anything Hakuoki is missing besides the ability to have the MC on screen, and a “return to previous choice” or “advance to next choice” button. Both were likely made to save time and money, because, remember, this game is literally $10. That’s ridiculous!
What’s this button do? Rating: A+. It has everything and more. My personal preferences are not fully met, but when it comes down to options for a VN, I can’t say they forgot anything that most people would want. Wonderful layout.
Errors: I think it might be because Edo Blossoms is shorter than Kyoto Winds, but there seems to be fewer grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes in this game than the first. That’s not saying much, since the first game had very few to begin with. Basically, I found maybe a handful per route, but nothing that broke the game or really sticks out in my mind, so they were all extremely minor.
However, like my complaint from the previous review, the language choices slightly annoy me. I’m seriously not asking for ye olde time talk, but there were liberties taken with the dialogue to… possibly improve the expressions for a Western audience(?), and I don’t care for it. It doesn’t fit the setting for it to be so modernized. And it is obvious the same people didn’t work on both portions of the game because certain characters gain dialogue quirks that they didn’t have in the first game. So… take that how you will. I’m not a translation purist by any means, but I like for consistency of characters between games, and alterations and creative liberties to dialogue to make sense.
Here there be Bugs Rating: Pass. You’re not going to find anything out of the ordinary here when it comes to translation or errors. At least, I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary and I’ve sunk a considerable amount of time into the game. Get comfortable in your shiny new home with nothing to worry about.
Background Music: The BGM is pretty okay for Hakuoki. It’s much the same as the first portion with some scores that are good and some that are okay. But, it is what it is, and there’s not even a grading scale for the BGM in my reviews so what does it really matter? I did get the OST because it came with the Treasure Box or whatever bundle I got, but I don’t actually listen to any of it. A lot of it is just the same as what was put into the game, no lead-ins or outros to make it a smooth transition, just starting and stopping of music that lasts for roughly a minute before the next track starts, and they don’t transition nicely at all. I’d say skip it if you’re not looking for a looping track, but it comes with most bundles, so get it if you must have the bundle.
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