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otome-mondays · 5 months

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Review: Collar x Malice 🐈‍⬛

Ok yeah I’m very late to reviewing this game, but in my defense I didn’t have a blog where I felt ok posting otome reviews until now lol. Disclaimer: 1) it has been years since I last played this game. I have my thoughts written down but this is not going to be as polished as I hope my future reviews are. 2) This game has really rough themes and topics, please don’t read if topics such as terrorism, violence, suicide, and police are triggering to you. I’d recommend looking up a full list of triggers before deciding to add Collar x Malice to your list of games. 3) Like all my reviews, this will contain spoilers. This one has spoilers for some CGs and general route spoilers!

Onto the review!

Collar x Malice takes place in the city of Shinjuku, which is currently under lockdown due to terrorism attacks from a group called Adonis. You play as a girl name Ichika Hoshino, and while you can change her name I chose to keep the default. Ichika is a rookie officer assigned to the SCRPO department. Their goal is to help keep peace among the citizens, meaning there’s little crazy action happening in her specific department. Part of the SCRPO duties are doing patrols to look out for Adonis members and maintain as much peace as can be possible when you’re in such a situation. Unfortunately, thanks to plot bad luck, Ichika is targeted by the group and they try to convince her to join. How so? That’s where the collar comes in. So Ichika gets snatched by a member and a collar is placed on her neck. Not just any collar, a collar filled with poison. How wonderful! Now, there is a slight issue because she already got a small dose and can’t move and is stranded in a church of some sort in the middle of the night. A random group of men come in and save the heroine, being given a memo from Adonis. They introduce themselves to Ichika as a small ragtag detective group looking into X-Day outside the police force. There’s 4 members, but only 3 are present. These 3–Enomoto, Sasazuka, and Yanagi—are all former cops who quit for their own reasons and have all decided to do independent work looking into X-Day. Oh right, I should explain X-Day. X-Day is a day Adonis is counting down to with monthly attacks before basically purging Shinjuku from who they think are nasty lowlifes who deserve death. Adonis has the ability to fully monitor Ichika and those around her from the collar, and they want to ultimately recruit her and if possible the ragtag investigation group. Ichika also can’t tell anybody else outside the group or they’ll kill her. So now she has to hide this information from everybody close to her. Totally not stressful at all right? As she’s deciding to join an figure out what she wants to investigate, one more problem comes in. Okazaki Kei. He’s a SP officer who, along with his subordinate, are assigned to monitor Yanagi’s group. He also seems a bit persistent on monitoring her. Oh also not to mention the other oddball in the group, Shiraishi, who seems kind of suspicious. Ultimately, she decides to investigate a certain set of cases and put an end to Adonis with help from Yanagi and friends. And that’s where the route split is, depending on how you answered the questions in the common route determines which cases and ultimately which route you play. I played this game back in 2020-2021 when everybody was supposed to be inside and in lockdown as well, and it felt really fitting at the time. I’ll add some thoughts on each route next, but if you just wanted a general plot starter and to see if I recommend it, scroll past all the character sections for the end! I’m not going to make walkthroughs as there are already plenty out there, but I will mention I relied on Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs located on her website. I’m going to review the characters in the order I played:

Spoilers Ahead

Okazaki Kei 🏃‍♂️

So I decided to start with this route because honestly I was the most interested in Okazaki out of all the characters. I spent way too much time trying to see route order recommendations and I saw enough people say that his wasn’t big on lore so it’s ok if you do his route first. I also had the interesting challenge of otome being even more of a niche genre in the west than it is now so I struggled to find resources on the game. Now that could also be me struggling in general with technology sometimes lol. Okazaki here is kinda the odd guy out of the group. He isn’t investigating X-Day incidents with Yanagi and Co, but rather he’s keeping an eye on them with his junior partner Yoshinari Hideaki. The case we’re exploring in this route is the July case, and then we start investigating the November case. Nobody’s been investigating this specifically in Yanagi’s group, so Ichika is all on her own with understanding what happened. Okazaki decides he’s going to help for seemingly no reason, which does help her solve the incidents since she doesn’t have much experience. Without going into more details for spoiler reasons, Okazaki is a very sad character and honestly I love how well written he is. His route doesn’t go too much into the overarching story of the game and is also very isolated from the other characters. This is most likely due to how he’s not in the same group as the others and he’s not privy to how they are as people but rather their general actions and behaviors. This route is a really good starting out point! 9/10

Enomoto Mineo 🪭

Enomoto is highly recommend as a starting route by most people and I can totally see why! Even if you’re not a fan of genki style characters, he is a very enjoyable one. Enomoto is the youngest of the love interests and is a former Field Ops 2 officer. His mentor was a victim of one of the X-Day attacks, and because of that he ultimately left the force and joined up with Yanagi to investigate those specific incidents. On Enomoto’s route, we are investigating the April-May case, also the very first countdown to X-Day attack. Enomoto and Ichika really do start out kinda rocky as investigative partners, and slowly get to know and trust each other. I also think that Enomoto is a very well written character, and his route has some of the best writing for lots of side characters. I do have a couple gripes, such as his main tragic ending not being anywhere near tragic as…oh I don’t know…BAD ENDING NUMBER 4. That one actually caused me emotional pain. Anyways, his route can easily spoil who the leader of Adonis is to anybody who isn’t as clueless as I am (genuinely was focused on solving other mysteries to the universe). Like Okazaki, his route is very much an introductory route and is another great one to start with! Either play this one or Okazaki’s first and then play the other. 8/10

Sasazuka Takeru 🍩

Alright now for Sasazuka’s review. This was an interesting route, and honestly pretty good middle of the game route. I’m going to be honest and say I wasn’t super interesting in playing through his route, but I really came to love Sasazuka as a character while playing it. So let’s get into some details. Sasazuka is a former cyber crimes officer and he’s also our tsundere character. Now, he’s the type of tsundere that’s honestly very much verbally aggressive and it’s a very hard start for Ichika and Sasazuka. Like every other love interest and character in general it seems in this game, the man has severe trauma. His route has you exploring the June and August cases, starting with the August case. This route we learn a lot more about Adonis and why they’re doing what they are doing. Yet again, Collar x Malice is wining an award for great character writing in my brain. I really do like how Sasazuka is written and how he starts recovering and healing from his trauma. Now as for endings, like Enomoto he suffers from a mediocre tragic ending and also not great bad endings. His best ending is definitely the good ending, but who’s surprised about that. Definitely play this game 3rd though, it makes the most sense story wise. 8/10

Shiraishi Kageyuki 🐱

And here’s the controversial one. I cannot begin to explain how much I love this route. This is such a wild route and at first I totally hated Shiraishi but by the end he ended up being one of my favorite characters ever. I’d say Shiraishi’s route is like pseudo-yandere route? Or at least that was how it was described in some of the few posts I saw before playing and that immediately made me concerned. It honestly is a really good route and I wouldn’t personally classify it as a yandere route. This one goes over so much in universe lore and uncovers a lot of secrets, so please don’t play this before the other 3 routes above. Shiraishi’s route is also one of two that have to be unlocked, so even if you wanted to start with his you won’t be able to. To unlock Shiraishi’s route, all you have to do is finish one of the first three routes. I don’t think you have to get the good ending, but you do have to get either the good ending or tragic ending for it to count if that is the case. Now Shiraishi’s route goes over the September-October case. Out of all the cases you explore, I think this one was the saddest with the June case being a close second. Shiraishi is the only one in Yanagi’s group to still be working with the police as Director of the Field Ops department. Because of this, Ichika is very suspicious of him at first and thinks he’s potentially a double agent. I’d say he is easily the most traumatized one out of all the characters. He has a very intense love-hate relationship with Ichika even as colleagues, but they figure out how to communicate with each other. Now, a lot of people talk about how his good ending isn’t truly a good ending to them or a larger discussion of what makes an ending a good ending. This route has amazing writing, and the good ending is a part that proves it. Warning, it is very bittersweet but it is the best result based off of everything that happens. Now the tragic ending…I once again do not have words to express how I felt reading that. That ending is so twisted and I love those types of endings for bad endings. Honestly, this is probably the best route in the game even if he’s not my favorite LI. 9.5/10

Yanagi Aiji 🚬

Alright, final route time. Now, if you want to play Yanagi’s route and fully see the world of Collar x Malice and answers to all the questions, you’re going to have to wait a while. You will not only have to finish all the other routes, but you specifically have to have obtained all the good endings. If you’re like me, this will take a while because you want to see all the endings. If you’re not, congrats it will take you slightly less time! So Yanagi here is basically marketed as that “true route” but not really. He has his own prologue, he has the longest route, and he’s only unlocked after playing through the other routes. I hate to say this but Yanagi’s route was the most boring one to me. I love Yanagi as a character, but I do not really like him as a love interest…which is unfortunate because he is the most stable one. But, as with all the other routes and boys, he definitely is well written and has a well written story. His route definitely focuses more on solving X-Day and definitively ending Adonis and the terrorism attacks. Because of this, you’re not getting much romance. Sorry to all the Yanagi fans. Yanagi, as the little leader of the group, is investigating all of them. At this point, you already understand and have solved the cases in previous routes so now we just have to figure out who is behind X-Day and Adonis and why they are so freaking weird. As is the pattern, Yanagi is also a traumatized man. We love to see it. Anyways, he also has some growth and development from confronting his trauma in his route. Thankfully, unlike Enomoto and Sasazuka, he has both a great good ending and tragic ending. I’m not going into detail on either because major spoilers. 8.5/10

Overall Thoughts 🐈‍⬛

Collar x Malice is a great entry point into Otomate titles or otome as a genre. It has has some unique features like trigger mode, investigation mode, and then an occasional map mode for the station Ichika works at. I didn’t mention it above, but this game also has great side characters including Ichika’s little brother who does play a huge role in the story. If you’re looking for a recommended route order, mine is going to be Enomoto/Okazaki -> Sasazuka -> Shiraishi -> Yanagi. As for which route to play first, either pick who you’re more interested in OR pick whether you want to learn more about the characters or Adonis. If you want to experience the characters first, start with Enomoto. If you want to see more of an intro to Adonis first, pick Okazaki. My rating of this game is going to be a 9/10! It’s truly an enjoyable experience!

EDIT: I am adding in my LI and route rankings! This one is really hard for me, because I genuinely liked them all.

Route: Shiraishi > Okazaki > Yanagi > Enomoto > Sasazuka

LI: Okazaki > Shiraishi > Enomoto > Sasazuka > Yanagi

Resources 📝

I obviously pulled my information about the game mostly from the game itself. The CGs are also from the game. Now for people’s thoughts on the game, I looked at the otomegames subreddit, Blerdy Otome, and Otome Kitten. I also followed Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs. I highly recommend looking into these places of the internet for otome content and also more perspectives on the game!

#otome mondays #collar x malice #minor spoilers #cg spoilers

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hellcatinnc · 3 months

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Collar x Malice (Kei & Mineo) Review

Will Include Spoilers

So I decided to go ahead and post my review of Kei & Mineo since the game is about alot of death I'm taking a break and will come back soon and play the other 3 routes for now though Kei is still my favorite even in Mineo's story Kei is still great.

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Kei Okazaki

The moment I first saw him climb through the window I thought he was cute. He originally was my second choice of guys then he started talking and seemed like a pure idiot I questioned if he would be so good after all. I am glad however I went with him because he grew on me fast. The longer I looked at him the more I could say he was drawn so damn pretty, I could look at him all day. He liked to show pda holding hands and that was so damn sweet. Then to find out he is against women being hurt and his loyalty to take care of a special person in his life that he would die for them this really caught my attention about him. His possessive streak was adorable and I loved every time he made comments like only let me in your house, or let me only walk you home, or don't make things for the other guys or when he snapped at Shiraishi told him not to pick on you as well as said he will never give permission to allow it.

He isn't the best with stuff like house work, cooking and such but he will bring flowers, hold hands, snuggle up and watch movies well horror movies with you. He is so sweet that even when you like him he is flirty a bit but the moment you tell him you want him to keep doing it dominant mode kicks in. This I wasn't expecting in him pinning you to the floor or when he makes it clear he wants to be super close to you he is definitely a naughty boy with his partner. He will always jump in front to protect you when anyone tries to harm you, he likes to send cute texts with emojis and call you cause he misses your voice. Honestly these are all the little things that made him such a great guy and my favorite so far.

Only downfall and I know people are wishy washy on is the fact as the mc you also find out he wanted to die all along but for a special person so it was a death worth dying for. I know people question if he ever really loved her until the very end because he was using her. I feel like Kei is naïve, and not the best with common sense at time however a great at his job anything else outside that he lacks. However that being said I think he was in love alot longer than the end he just didn't know what to call it. I mean come on you can't tell me all the times he got jealous as time went on where he didn't want to share his time or even little things like being the only guy in her apartment or snuggles with the movies. I mean even when he was very clear to Shiraishi when he told him to knock off picking at you unless he says its ok then he makes it clear he will never give his say so.

The pinky finger thing and the fact when it comes to crying when he hurts he shows his pain loud and clear. Yes he was just a hurting soul that needed someone to show he was valued and loved also that he deserved to live. He held a grudge in himself cause his partner died protecting him this made him a sad boy. I mean he didn't even understand why your mad at him until you truly have to show him what he is missing. Then the fact your willing to die for him and he almost loses you it bout kills him as he thought your last words was going to be I love you, it about breaks him. Sadly in the bad end it does break him and he wants to die but promised you he would live so he tried even though the bad guy kills you anyways. Honestly its not hard to love him if you love sad boys like me. If I had to compare him to someone I put compare him to piofiore a cross between Dante, Nicola and Leo together. This mans pain brought me to tears in the good and the bad ending his pain is deep and its hard not be suffering with him.

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Mineo Enomoto

At first I thought he would be cool but he was annoying pretty fast and even after about a chapter in his very presence annoyed me. However after I got to his route I really thought he ended up quiet sweet. The blushing idiot type haha but no seriously he is younger than Kei and you can tell it for sure. Like I love how he blushes and gets shy I'm a sucker for these men however Mineo blows it out of proportion at times its not the shy guy part its the annoying practically screaming at you if you call him out on it. Like most shy guys you tell them you know they are into you and they blush harder and get more quiet he is the opposite so after some time it does get to you. He is cute his mumbles as he goes along like when he was drunk and he practically proposes to you the next day, or tells you as you take rice off his face that its what he always wanted a lover to do. These things and the fact he will beat the shit out of someone who tries to hurt you. He shows that when he comes across the guys in the alleyway that are trying to make you strip.

He is a big brother type to his little sister and is absolutely adorable about how he dotes so much about her. Then he has that protective daddy feel to him when he talks about her making me think he would make a good daddy if you could even get this boys virginity in the first place. Its nice he works at trying to get your brother to stop being dick to you, which is so needed. I do like the outcome of your brother and you by the end of this route. I love Kei is still a sweetie even in this route and loves to bust Mineo's balls. He tells Aiji what he sees when Mineo's drunk and yet the way he says it makes it sound like more than what it is. Even to the point later in the game he asks if he was announcing marriage after that. When Mineo practically screams and denies everything, Kei's charm kicks in and tells you to call him Kei as he calls you by your name, this makes Mineo jealous and starts asking you to call him Mineo. Then this dynamic gets weird cause he tells you to call his name again and when you do he wants more I swear dude was getting off on this or at least excited lol.

I really would say he is a bean in the end just has alot of growing up to do. His story with his old mentor getting killed was sad but I'm glad as time went on he was able to heal from that. Also unlike Kei Mineo was not all nice in the beginning he was kind of a ass and when your walking home alone he tells you he won't walk you. That being said when he does care for you he will come back and get you and make sure your ok. He is like a walking contradiction I'm learning that if he loves you or is interested then you have his interest to care if not he doesn't give a rats ass about you. He is a romantic and will take a girl on a date and doesn't mind paying if she wants a nice place to go. I tried to play his route late at night in my house and I either had to wear a headset or mute it cause he was so loud in his route with his screams and freak outs. I would suggest you not play his route anywhere you need to be quiet.

There were moments he was serious like when he confesses his love to you there is no blushing guy no overly loud bullshit just sensitive sweet Mineo that you know is underneath. I do like him but I just can't deal with the constant screaming even when you tell him you love him he seems to think your lying or he is dreaming. I feel like the MC really could see herself falling for Kei I don't think she could see herself falling for Mineo I think she even second guessed herself alot. Even his bad endings weren't really sad per say like I cried nothing and really didn't even feel much the endings. They seemed to be worse endings for the MC not as much Mineo. I hate at one bad ending she loses her brother and goes on a killing the killer. Then the one that was the saddest was when she killed the bad guy but yet fled the town to leave Mineo yet he understood he did it to protect him and he forgave her yet she couldn't forgive herself I felt bad for him only then still no tears though.

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#collar x malice #mineo enomoto #yuzuru saeki #kei okazaki #reviews #review #otome #gaming

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crescencestudio · 11 months

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(shiraishi anon) SAME!!! he was really SO awful and evil-creepy-LI-coded at first and then? and then???? he must be protected at all costs!!!! everything abt the later parts of his route killed me but the part where he said he smiles so much bc smiling makes social interactions go more smoothly... something abt the fact that there's so much genuine naivete even behind some of his creepy mannerisms... bruh......

also how come he's the only one whose good end is like that! everyone else got an FD route that was like 90% fluff but his had all this plot and hes still in JAIL??? 😭 it's good but of all the guys he's the one who deserved the most tooth-rottingly sweet fluff content and he got the least... I'm so emo about this

YAAAAA NO SPOILERS BUT ALL OF HIS ROMANTIC SCENES WERE SO WHOLESOME AND CUTE 😭😭😭 hes so baby i love him

i also got so mad at his good ending in the main game. like i got tilted. it almost ruined his entire route for me bc i was so unhappy but i love him as a character so much that i got over it. ALSO I HAVENT FINISHED UNLIMITED SO SPOILERS LOL 😭

#asks #anon

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ur-mousey · 4 months

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Collar x Malice = Y'all Don't Understand

Plot Summary: Ichika Hoshino is a rookie cop in the Shinjuku, Tokyo precinct. While on her way home one day, she is attacked and collard by Adonis. They're a terrorist group responsible for 'X-Day', a string of unsolved murders. Can she figure out the truth or die trying? It's up to you.

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Thoughts on Hoshino Ichika:

My opinion on this character comes from the two routes I've played = Okazaki Kei and Shiraishi Kageyuki. Spoilers ahead!

Collar x Malice starts with a great premise. Shinjuku is in a state of panic due to the terrorist attacks brought on by the group Adonis. X-Day is their countdown to a rebirth of Japan, starting with the Roman numeral IX in April to the upcoming 0 in January. Adonis takes out the majority of their crimes against the police (despite first glance) due to a weak sense of justice. They commit crimes in retribution for individuals who were failed by the police's negligence. Adonis' main motive is to rid the world of malice.

Depending on whose affection you cultivate during the prologue will determine which X-Day case you follow. Okazaki Kei focused on the stalker case in July, while Shiraishi Kageyuki followed the disguised homicide that haunted September and October.

Frankly, I'm concerned about June's case. A bomb took out a class of pre-teens. What's that about? Do we have another case of the Glory?

Hoshino Ichika should be the definition of what Adonis loathes. She's a police officer of the 'corrupted' organization set on demolishing the X-Day murders. She is a part of a system that demonizes their cause. However, their intentions speak a different tune. The terrorist group intends to scout her for their cause because of her strong sense of ideals mirroring their own.

I give compliments to her because it's true. While you play the game, no matter which option you choose for her, her resolve leaks through. She's best played by being as authentically honest as possible.

If you fail to get a single affection point with any of the love targets, you'll follow Hoshino Ichika into a bad end where she tries investing Adonis with her innate strengths. And she fails because she doesn't have the investigation skills that the love targets have.

For example, Sasazuka Takeru is a hacker who has great benefits. I wouldn't know. I haven't played his route. But I can assume.

Most of the bad endings in Collar x Malice consist of Hoshino Ichika following her ideals into dangerous situations. Whether it be chasing after a criminal or sacrificing herself to protect others. The game set her up to be compassionate to a fault. While talking to her coworker, Saeki Yuzuru, at the bar, she displays her desire to become a cop in a childlike wonder. She simply wishes to help others. This trait of hers is seen in all the routes you take.

Hoshino Ichika is incredibly honest as well. She finds it hard to lie to others to gain knowledge or the upper hand. As Otome game MCs come, she is by far 'by the book' as you could get. As a player, you understand her fears and motivation for working with Yanagi Aiji and friends, which supersedes romance. I find her to be refreshing.

I believe there's solid groundwork to flesh out her character more if an anime adaptation were to come. It would be interesting to delve more into her inner conflict/connections with Adonis, and how they stifle her ability to do her job. She is a mole of the police and of the detective agency whether she likes it or not. Therefore, it would have been incredible to see how the information she learns affects Adonis' actions.

Plus, one slip of her shirt could poison her and affect the livelihood of the people she loves. Having more scenes of her anxiety mounting at the police station would give her the needed character to flush out.

Side note - I think I got spoiled about Zero's identity.

This makes me wonder more why he didn't get his route. Based on his design, I immediately thought he was cute, and I wish I could learn more in a dedicated route.

Thoughts on Kazuki:

Speaking of "flushing" things out...

There needs to be something done with Kazuki as a character. As of now he is the worst character in the game. I don't know what his deal is. Fuck angsty teen boys. If I had to give a negative to the Hoshino household, it would be these two interacting with each other. I have younger siblings. My brother sometimes acts similar to Kazuki, but goddamn! This character irks me. I felt sympathy for him twice! Both when he expressed fear of Ichika dying in the final chapter.

I am positive that there is a route that will cover Kazuki's actions. My theory is that he is a part of Adonis. He said some sympathizer shit, his friends are shady, and he is constantly out and about without our knowledge. There's an ending where Ichika can get SHANKED if she follows one of his friends to a venue. Shady as fuck!

Kazuki, in this present moment, is a sideline character who would've been better written out entirely. I expected him to show more face in Ichika's daily life because they live together whereas other characters can be excluded based on which route you play. For example:

Mukai Eriko is the founder of the SBC (Shiraishi Bashing Coalition). If you do not interact with Shiraishi Kageyuki, then she has no business approaching you to join the club.

On the other hand, Kazuki and Ichika are related. And I struggle to see how the two care for each other. Ichika is a damn policewoman who go mixed into the X-day events. We do not see how this affects her relationship with her brother. All we can assume is that they get more distant. However, that is a state that has been developing amongst each other before the collar incident.

If I were in her shoes, I would become more protective of my younger siblings.

Ichika solemnly thinks about how allowing Kazuki to roam wherever he wants could harm him AND her. He's defenseless. He can't own a gun because he's a minor. If Adonis wanted her desperately enough, they could easily kidnap or harm Kazuki to get to her. There's also the fact that she could die at any moment.

It makes you think that she would get to know Kazuki more. Which briefly happens at the end of Okazaki Kei's route. Or you would think that Ichika would consider alternative housing or anything to ensure Kazuki's future in the case of a bad ending.

The point = these siblings need more time together. They don't feel like siblings to an extent. I can see how a relationship can delve into what they have. However, nothing changes about the two based on the circumstances that Ichika found herself in. Which I believe would be realistic in light of their circumstances.

Overall Thoughts:

I'm obsessed with this game. I spent the last week delving into the world and uncovering the mysteries of the X-Day cases. I'm excited to finish all the routes and to get Collar x Malice Unlimited.

My brain has been in overdrive since I saw a photo of Okazaki Kei and Shiraishi Kageyuki interacting with one another. They are messy! But that will be revealed in the next post. I have plenty to say about both these characters and their route.

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Thank you for reading! This was my opinion about the protagonist in Collar x Malice. I was going to include the two routes I've played in this review but I had so much to say about Hoshino. Do you agree or disagree? Comment down below!

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Next Rant Post: Okazaki Kei + Shiraishi Kageyuki

#collar x malice #otome game #otome romance #ichika hoshino #shiraishi kageyuki #kei okazaki #aiji yanagi #mineo enomoto #takeru sasazuka #opinion #rant post #anime talk #otome

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lunas-otome-blog · 8 months

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Luna's Review: Collar x Malice

Official Summary:

A dangerous shadow organization launches a campaign of fear and violence in the city of Shinjuku, pushing society to the brink of chaos. As a young police officer tasked with restoring order, you become the target of an attack, and have a poisonous collar attached to your neck. With the situation spiraling out of control and time running out, five mysterious strangers appear to aid you in your quest for the truth.

(Spoiler Free) Luna's Thoughts:

This was the otome game that got me into otome games for the switch. Before CxM, I was pretty much exclusively playing indie vns on itch.io. Which are lovely and often well-written, but usually smaller productions and thus much shorter and done on a smaller budget. CxM was the first full-length otome I played and it made me think, incorrectly it turns out, that all professionally made otomes were as good as this one. As you'll note by my other review (and future ones to come), CxM imposed extremely high standards and it's perhaps unfair to compare other games to it.

It's tightly plotted, has an interesting cast of characters and features beautiful art. The limited color palettes and washed-out backgrounds and coloring style give the game an ominous feel that works very well with its dark murder mystery premise.

This game also does something I really enjoy, which is that it makes the "routes" make sense. Often in otome games, things happen in routes that should, by all means, happen whether you're on the character's route or not. For example, in Mystic Messenger, Zen sprains his ankle in three of the routes, but not in Jumin's route or 707's route. This doesn't really make sense, because why would you cozying up to those characters prevent Zen from spraining his ankle?

But in CxM, you choose the character you want to investigate with, providing a realistic explanation for why you are only dealing with that particular character. This is a small detail but I really appreciated it.

I did think it was a little silly to have numerous random dead ends, but I suppose that sort of thing isn't uncommon in these types of games. I did like that it gives you a chance to see the stars of other routes before you get to properly meet them. It adds to the intrigue.

While it has its flaws, including several editing errors, I ultimately really liked this game. It felt satisfying to solve the mystery and the game actually gives you an opportunity to guess the culprit, letter by letter, which felt nerve-wracking and awesome. The characters were fun and the darkness felt congruent with what I was expecting going in.

I'm looking forward to doing some art of these characters soon.

Please find below my thoughts on each route, in the order I played them.

(SPOILERS)

Takeru Sasazuka Route

Allow me to start by saying this is not my favorite character archetype. I just don't love characters who are openly hostile toward others and continue to be mean even after the MC has earned their affection.

That said, Sasazuka's love for donuts was the gap moe I needed to get on board, if only because he reminded me of L from Death Note.

Sasazuka's route kicks off a trend of largely reasonable decisions in this game. He has a simple but understandable motivation for wanting to solve the X Day incidents, simultaneously jabbing at American gun laws. (We deserve it.)

This route also sees Ichika getting drunk — cute!

I'd rate this route my second favorite out of the game.

(SPOILERS)

Kageyuki Shiraishi Route

This is another character archetype I don't love — the overconfident flirt. That's why I played him second, though I was recommended against it. Technically you should play him fourth, right before the true end route, but I didn't particularly mind the order because I didn't love this route.

I admit he's kind of a fun character, because he's hella suspicious right at the beginning, and kind of suggests he's the traitor, to the point where when he's revealed to, in fact, be the traitor, I was kinda surprised. He also has a cat theme going on, which is very cute.

His backstory is pretty straightforward, but relies on mind manipulation tropes, so it wasn't as convincing as some of the others. I would have been more satisfied with a split personality sort of thing, or even if he was a traitor by his own will. Instead, he seems fully aware of everything that's going on, including his own brainwashing, but doesn't act like he has any internal conflict except at strategic moments in the plot.

It would have been a lot more interesting have him either unaware of his own transgressions until later, or have him willingly be a member of Adonis who becomes conflicted as he grows closer to Ichika.

Maybe this is just a weird, roundabout way of saying I wanted him to suffer more lol.

Shiraishi does get the short end of the stick, as his good ending has him losing his memories. But you know our girl Ichika will set him straight again.

(SPOILERS)

Mineo Enomoto Route

I love me a tsundere, so it's no surprise this was my favorite route in the game. It was fairly lighthearted compared to the others because Mineo is such a goof, but it was a nice break in the darkness and I'm glad I played his route right in the middle.

This character is so cute, and a total idiot with no idea how to talk to girls. He's picked on so much by the other characters in the game and I just wanted to show him some love.

He sucks at thinking, but the best scenes are the ones in which he springs into action, showing his prowess in the field. Typically these meathead athletic characters are not my favorite, but Mineo was undeniably cool jumping off rooftops and such.

I love love love Mineo's relationship with Ichika's little brother. Their friendship was honestly so refreshing and adorable.

There is some silliness at the end where they set up a fake talk show, but ultimately it was done in good spirits with the idea of forgiveness. To top it off, this idiot actually proposes at the end of his route. It was a silly but sweet ending for a sweet character.

(SPOILERS)

Kei Okazaki Route

This was probably my least favorite route in the game, but only because I didn't think they went far enough with the theme.

Okazaki is a listless man who has witnessed tragedy and desires nothing more than a riteous way to die. Which is a horrifying premise, but I was never fully convinced by it. I didn't feel like his relationship with Ichika progressed naturally and I didn't come to care for him in the way I wanted to.

I think this route would have been more impactful if there was more of a disconnect between his goals and his personality. He was a little too bland to make his death wish truly a shock. I felt like he should have been more cheerful to create cognitive dissonance between his persona and his goals. He kind of feels like the outline of a character rather than a character itself.

Not to mention the game lacks a genki character archetype. Wouldn't it be more interesting to have a cheerful character who turns out to be utterly empty and suicidal?

I guess what I'm saying is I wish there was more to Okazaki. To me, he was the least developed character and the least interesting.

(SPOILERS)

Aiji Yanagi Route

I remember something telling me before I played Yanagi's route that it was boring, and they were kinda right lol.

Like, it was fine. There wasn't anything technically wrong with it. He just doesn't have the most interesting backstory. When he was a teen, he protected young Ichika by beating up her kidnapper, and he felt bad for it for the rest of his life and now spends his time trying to atone for it.

My least favorite part of this route was discovering that Ichika had a traumatic event in her past that was not even mentioned in the common or other routes. So it made Yanagi's connection to her seem really sudden.

Yanagi is a reasonable guy. But he lacks that wow factor that you hope for in a main character. There isn't any way to describe him that makes him sound interesting. He could have easily been improved any number of ways. The easiest would have been giving him some sort of anger management issues. Or at least a more extreme personality.

I did like his chats with Ichika on the roof of the police station, and I like that he has doubts about their age gap and gets embarassed calling her by her first name. He's a sweet guy. Just maybe not true end material.

Overall kind of a weak way to end the game, but I didn't hate it. I think he would have been better as a regular route. Shiraishi or Okazaki would have probably been the best choices for true end characters.

#collar x malice #otome game #otome review #review

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koladelight · 1 year

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Cafe Enchante and Collar x Malice spoilers ahead:

HELP! I have just started Misyr's route in Cafe Enchante and got accidentally partially spoiled of his good ending. And after finding out what happens, I'm now scared to play the rest!

Reminds me of seeing what happens to Shiraishi in his route in CxM. But at least we had Unlimited to help me heal afterwards. I love Misyr and want them to have a happy ending. I'm just so angry and now I don't want to play it at all. This was my first proper depression caused by an otome game and it huuuuuurts.

Should I finish the game? Is there any happiness in the end at all? Or is it all depressing?

#otome #otome game #cafe enchante #misyr rex #collar x malice #collar x malice spoilers #cafe enchante spoilers #kageyuki shiraishi

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kumaonna · 2 years

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no bc starting shiraishi’s route I saw this cg in the opening and was like YES❗️❗️I WANT TO SEE THIS MF BREAK❗️‼️

(cg spoilers for collar x malice and unlimited)

but then

you get to unlimited and

*ugly crying*

#NOT LIKE THIS GOD #THE FIRST TIME WAS FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT #NOW MY BOY IS JUST SUFFERING 😭#arguably also for character development but that does Not mean it doesn’t hurt my soul #rlly tho i was like WAITING for that cg in his first route bc it was truly the first time he ever Actually shows emotion to ichika #and then🤡 pain #collar x malice #collar x malice unlimited spoilers #collar x malice unlimited #spoilers #shiraishi #shiraishi kageyuki

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otometrashqueen · 7 months

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I wasn’t ready for all feels I felt at the end of Shiraishi’s route 😭 I am a sucker for LI that is secretly with the bad guys but risks it all for me. Also, the LI that will kill for me *chef’s kiss* I didn’t think Shiraishi would top Kei’s route, but prove me wrong again!

I also adored the tragic ending for Shiraishi, I love me a dystopian apocalypse. The master and pet dynamic for them is so tragic but also so delicious, that CG is a contender to be my favorite Tragic Love one, but I haven’t done all the tragic ends yet bc my heart is weak 😆

#I have so many ideas #his route may actually push me to finally write a fanfic #kageyuki shiraishi #collar x malice #looking forward to unlimited but I’m waiting til the price drops a bit #collar x malice spoilers

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hereliesotometrash · 3 years

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Shiraishi's route had so many ups and downs. And so many revelations. Definitely save his for fourth if you do his. And now some of my favorite CGs from his route. Including the Tragic Love End. Cause I thought the Good Ending was the TLE. Yeah. No. It's not.

#collar x malice #kageyuki shiraishi #collar x malice spoilers #shiraishi kageyuki spoilers #kageyuki shiraishi spoilers #route spoilers #cxm spoilers

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kyaruun · 3 years

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Ok so I’m done with Shiraishi’s route... wow.

Just. Wow. (No spoilers here, just me getting soft for him)

It’s been quite some time since I found a character so well written and so complex in a piece of media. The ammount of character development he goes through from “Kageyuki Shiraishi” as he is introduced in the original CxM game and “Kageyuki Shiraishi” as he talks to Ichika in the last lines of his route in CxM Unlimited has me truly baffled and sobbing the heck out of my eyes.

He undergoes such a beatiful and deep change as he tries to become a better person but instead of ignoring everything bad he has done before he actually bears the consequences of his acts and I’m just so amazed at his strenght? Like it’s incredible how someone who has gone through so much stuff can still find their will to improve as a person and do their best at all times.

#kuu.txt #what else do i have to say other than shiraishi has definitely become part of my top 5 #geez i've sobbed so much over his route you don't even know #also rather than being a sad route it's more like #it definitely plays with your feeling #you get like a constant sense of melancholy and wanting to root for him until things get better #he's such a sweet baby really #i won't talk more about this because spoilers but #it's been a while since i've got so emotional over a character #please play cxm and come talk to me about it ; v ;

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flying-cat · 3 years

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I'M PLAYING IL'S ROUTE IN CAFÉ ENCHANTÉ RN AND GOD. IT FEELS LIKE I'M PLAYING SHIRAISHI'S ROUTE AGAIN.

NOT IN TERMS OF THE CONTENT ITSELF BUT JUST BECAUSE IT'S SO FUCKING DEPRESSING.

#But also I loved Shiraishi's route so. I hope I like this one too.#I always seem to end up loving the second to last routes that I do #Like I loved Shiraishi's route in Collar x Malice and I loved Saint-Germain's route in Code:Realize #I say always but this is the third otome game I've played that isn't Mystic Messenger which I haven't played in a long ass time #But hsjshdkdhd whatever #spoilers #kateeee plays video games

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otome-mondays · 5 months

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Collar x Malice: Unlimited Review 🐈‍⬛

Ok I know I recently posted a Collar x Malice review, but I’m going in order I played these games. Who’s ready to jump back into the world of Collar x Malice! So some background info to start: this is the first fandisc I have ever played, and as of writing is the only one I’ve played. Because of this, I’m not generally sure what the standards are for fandiscs. I also played this back in 2021, so it has been a while. Please go back to my previous review on Collar x Malice for trigger warnings (use the otome mondays tag)

Spoilers Ahead

Prologue

So to start off this game, we have a separate prologue. You do have to play the prologue because it unlocks all the after stories. So let’s see how this game starts out! Well, for starters we have one of my least favorite things: retroactively adding characters and events that would’ve DEFINITELY been mentioned in the original if it happened. Yeah, needless to say I was not please at this start and quickly became frustrated having to unlock routes. Oh, right if you want to play anything else you have to unlock each boy’s route separately with their prologue choices. So fun! Let’s actually move on to what I bought the game for, 3/10.

Sasazuka Takeru 🍩

So for the after stories, I started with Sasazuka. I saw a recommendation to just pick one that you enjoyed but wasn’t your favorite or pick your favorite to start the game since there’s no need for a route order. I did originally place Sasazuka’s route as solid middle ground in terms of my favorite love interest and also route itself, so it seemed like a safe bet. And thank god it was! This one starts up after the events of his best ending and him rejoining the cyber crimes division. The main conflict here is that Sasazuka and Ichika are learning how to balance work and life and being in a relationship together. The pacing was pretty solid and even though it’s short, it’s enjoyable! If you liked Sasazuka’s route, you’ll enjoy this after story. 8/10.

Yanagi Aiji 🚬

I decided after Sasazuka’s route, I was going to get Yanagi’s out of the way. I do enjoy all the characters, but Yanagi is my least favorite out of the LIs here. After the events of Yanagi’s best ending, we have the start of the after story. Yanagi’s started his private detective agency and everybody’s getting back to normal life. That is until Yanagi’s older brother randomly shows up and threatens him to rejoin the police. So this story mostly focuses on that conflict. This is another cute and short story, so if you liked Yanagi’s route you will like his after story. 8/10.

Enomoto Mineo 🪭

I honestly picked this route next on a whim, and I’m glad I did! This story picks up after he’s been reinstated into Field Ops 2 and now the couple work in the same building. Enomoto’s route definitely focuses on him maturing and developing his relationship with Ichika, and it’s so refreshing to have a portrayal of a healthy relationship in a game (which is rich coming from me tbh). Thanks to his after story, he moved up spots on my favorite LIs list. Honestly I don’t see how anybody would dislike this route. 10/10.

Shiraishi Kageyuki 🐱

Shiraishi yet again stealing the show for some of the best writing…it’s a shame he has this weird extra character. I feel like it’s obvious, but this story has a lot of angst. Because of Shiraishi turning himself in and all of his crimes he committed, he’s under arrest and contained in a special cell. Unfortunately, random extra dude is the main issue in Shiraishi’s story. It is nice to see his growth though as a character. I feel like they did him dirty by making a third of his route flashbacks to the og game. 7/10, Shiraishi fans will probably enjoy but it could’ve been way better.

Okazaki Kei 🏃‍♂️

So I saved my favorite for last, and I’m glad I did! After the X-Day events have wrapped up, Okazaki returns to HQ and Ichika stays with SRCPO. This story also focuses on the two of them trying to navigate being in a relationship and work and life. I was a bit disappointed to see that Okazaki kind of regressed and goes through the same growth all over again but speed run edition. Even though it ends good, this story is kind of meaningless because of this. It isn’t a bad story, just disappointing. Sorry for all us Okazaki fans, 7.5/10.

Other Routes 🐈‍⬛

So let’s talk about the additional bonus routes. To play any of these extra stories, you do need to play through all the after stories. First, let’s go over the Adonis route. This takes place after Yanagi’s tragic end. Ichika joins Adonis after everybody she has cared for is murdered and Zero convinces her to join. It was nice to see Ichika interacting with the Adonis members and how they showed Ichika and Zero have a horridly toxic relationship. If you do want to see all this route has to offer, you do have to replay it a couple of times. Due to this, it’s a little more repetitive than enjoyable at points. Still nice additional content, 8/10. We also have some extended short stories, one from Kazuki’s perspective during X-Day, a semi-Minegishi route, and a semi-Yoshinari route. Kazuki gets an 8/10, Minegishi gets a 4/10, and Yoshinari gets a 7/10.

Overall Thoughts 🐈‍⬛

I like the idea of a fandisc and I think some elements were executed very nicely! Unfortunately, I do have a few issues with some of the content here (mainly the random dude being added and prologue entirely), but I still would recommend it for anybody who enjoyed Collar x Malice! 8/10

Since characters stay the same here, I’m not adding an LI ranking. I will add my route ranking though!

Route: Enomoto > Sasazuka > Yanagi > Adonis > Kazuki > Okazaki > Shiraishi > Yoshinari > Minegishi > Prologue

Resources 📝

I once again used CGs and screenshots from the game and I relied on Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs.

#otome mondays #collar x malice #minor spoilers #cg spoilers

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