Visual Novel Update {1}

I've been playing Café Enchanté on and off for quite a while now, making it through the routes for Canus, Ignis and Rindo, and now I've also finished Il's. Funny enough, I ended up liking each route more than the last (and I don't know if I've just stopped noticing the typos I've complained about before, or if Il's route just got an extra bit of proofreading).

Like, I love the idea of Canus's character and route - he's the headless knight from a faerie world - but never really ended up buying into his and Kotone's relationship, thought there were too many plot holes and not enough done with the plot in the first place, and introducing a faerie side character with they/them pronouns, revealing that all faeries are genderless, and then deciding two lines of dialogue later to use he/him pronouns for that character from then on, is just mean. Can't have us thinking too hard about the fact that our love interest on this route is also a faerie and also included in that genderlessness, I guess. I still really like Canus as a character though; I'm just so weak to knights.

Ignis, meanwhile, isn't really my type, but his route worked better for me overall, and there was even a scene that was really amazingly atmospheric. Hmm, cannibalism... I thought for sure I had messed up somewhere and was on my way to a bad ending when he took a bite out of Kotone's arm but nope, that's just how the story goes. Oh, and it helps that he's voiced by Ono Yuki doing his best fighty boy. <3

I hadn't expected to like Kaoru's route nearly as much as I did, less because of the age difference and more because I was just really, really not getting a romantic vibe from these two. Conveniently enough, his route spends more time actually developing the romance, perhaps because it knows it needs to, and that led to some very sweet moments. It's also fitting that the route of the only human love interest also feels a bit more grounded than the rest. And there are actual Consequences here! I really liked the bit where Kotone realised that part of why he wasn't really taking care of himself was guilt, and got him to cook for himself (and her) again. Later on, while it was clear he wasn't actually going to die partway through his route, I still liked the surrounding scenes and how emotional they got. I think my favoutite scene from his route was actually one where Canus goes to talk to a distraught Kaoru and talks him through it. I adore the friendship between the love interests in this game.

And then there was Il's route, which was so genuinely moving it even made me cry at one point. :o I was a bit wary going in, because Il's helplessness and the dynamic that creates at times with the heroine in particular, but also with the other regulars, could've easily led into squick territory for me, but the more we learned about why he is the way he is, the more development he gets, and the more the plot comes in to say hello, the better the route worked for me, and I ended up loving pretty much every character in it. (Also, damn, Misyr. While I suspect he's in love with Kotone on every route, and always ends up helping his "rivals" in some way or another anyway, his relationship with Il is just the sweetest. He loves this clueless angel so much. <3) Who would have guessed I'd end up having so many feelings about an otome game-loving fallen angel? (... everyone?)

So now I only have the game's "true route" left - the demon king Misyr himself! I think I'm going to throw myself right in! Err, once I've skipped my way through the common route again for another half hour... This game really needs a timeline or skip-to-next-choice option.

(p.s.: I tried some black text on black background for spoilers this time around, so I can link to this post and still have people avoid spoilers if they want even though they don't get cuts. Did it work? Let's see...)