Hakuouki: ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Review

Hakuouki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ is the english version of Hakuouki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~, a game about the historic Shinsengumi and stuff. It was originally on PS2 so I got interested and played it on my PSP. I finished this game ages ago but didn’t have the time to write a post about it. So here’s the review I guess. Overall, the storyline, system and gameplay were fine so I’m pretty happy.

Plotline: Yukimura Chizuru travelling to Kyoto to look for her father. One night, she saw a white-haired monster and because of the incident, and ends at the Shinsengumi. 

After the prologue scene happens you'll wake up in the Shinsemgumi headquarters an so the game starts. Afterwords they introduce the guys in the game, when they start interrogating you and blah blah blah. This game has 3 neutral Chapters and from Chapter 4 onwards you're with you guy. The first three chapters are all the incidents happening in the Shinsengumi to gain more affection with the guy you want.

Hijikata Toshizo (CV: Shinichiro Miki) 

He's the Vice-Captain of the Shinsengumi, and he's the commander Kondo's good friend I guess. Btw Shinichiro Miki sounds extremely good in this one =w= and I enjoyed it a lot. This route many plot points, and focuses a lot on the Japanese history. Basically, if you watched the anime it's probably the same. Welp i was a big idiot and I only played this one second. It's one of the better routes and shows the full story of the Shinsengumi, as well as the Ochimizu. Welp the ochimizu is some kind of random concoction which transforms the guys into monsters caught Rasetsu. It basically eats into your life span while giving you better strength and powers, like to heal fast. Welp that was made by Chizuru's dad so that explains that. Well, the parts where Yamazaki and Inoue died where the worst scenes ever T^T so get some tissues ready for Chapter 4 if you're gonna play it you're gonna cry A LOT. 

So after that Hijikata decides to protect Chizuru from then on forever, when he's actually kinda Tsun about it though. And he did turn into a Rasetsu in order to do so. And from then onward he survives on Chizuru's blood.  Well Rasetsu's need blood to live longer thats all.Well he gets to feed on Chizuru's blood from her neck since he's the main character and those were hot. And note: THEY KILLED EVERYONE IN THIS ROUTE.Continuing after Chapter 5 Hijikata starts wearing a military uniform and cuts his hair short that was really great. And still surviving on Chizuru's blood. However his condition starts worsening and he starts to suffer in the sun and has problems fighting Kazama. So there's the part where kondou dies, and he then gets hugged by Chizuru. They pretty much made Harada, Shinpachi, Okita and Saitou MIA and I probably think they all died in this route??? Koudou actually created so many Rasetsus in order to revive the Yukimura but oh well, Chizuru declines and says that she thinks what he dad's doing is wrong. Welp they killed Sannan and Heisuke due to them being Rasetsus for so long plus killing so many rasetsu, and Koudou died saving Chizuru. 

Then they went to Ezo and met Otori, and Hijikata actually wants Chizuru to stay on mainland Japan. Well obviously Otori sees a lot of romance in between them and becomes the wingman and made preparations for her to go to Ezo and get them back together. So they get back together and we get hot scenes of them kissing （　´∀｀）ケラケラ Afterwards they were retreating from the Battle of (whatever it was I don't remember) and Kazama appears out of nowhere, and challenges Hijikata to a fight. So somehow Hijikata finally manages to cut Kazama somehow and says, "I found a reason to live". =w= So the ending happens at the end of the war and the 2 of them spend the rest of their lives together forever. I really liked Hijikata from the beginning and his route just made me love him more from his route. Idk why but I found the kissing scene hot?? The blood sucking scenes were great too as well . Overall, his was good.

Okita Souji (CV: Morikubo Shoutaro)

He's the cute Yandere who respects Kondou a lot. By a lot, means he kills anyone who wants to kill/injure/whatever Kondou. And the line you'll hear most in this route is, "I'm gonna cut you". But anyways he ends up calling her Chizuru-chan and they get all cute.(*´∀｀*)ゞ I get really emotional on this one so bear with me. At first Okita keeps teasing her a lot and calling her a big baka for getting in his way at different points of time. When Kazama attacked the headquarters idk how that happened but Kondou attacked Kazama and Yamazaki manages to catch Chizuru and flings her into a room and she lands ON TOP OF OKITA. Then she gets all flustered and cute when Okita says "I didn't expect to be going to bed with you tonight" ﾜ━ヽ(*´Д｀*)ﾉ━ｨ!!!! So they get all cute and she stays with him until Kazama ceased the attack.

So in this route we get involved with Kaoru a lot as he gives Okita the Ochimizu and Okita drinks it to protect Chizuru, also thinking that it could cure his Tuberculosis. Then he runs out killing the people who injured Kondou and Chizuru desperately tries to stop him. Then, he runs out again trying to kill Kaoru and ends up getting shot by idk how many guns there to protect her, since she came looking for him again. So for the battle of Toba-Fushimi Chizuru stayed with Okita for him to recover.  Ok these parts just got me so emotional over him when he got injured and stuff. So loads of shit happened and they finally managed to get out of Edo because Okita recovered, and he found out Kondou got caught. Well sadly along the way they meet Kaoru who isn't in his female aka trap clothing and shoves the Ochimizu down Chizuru's throat. I thought he was a siscon at some point but at that point I pretty much thought he was a sadist. Well so Chizuru becomes a rasetsu and Kazama doesn't want her anymore. Actually Okita has been hiding the fact that he needs blood from Chizuru until he couldn't hold it anymore and she hand to offer him some. Well he gets it from her hand which I think is pretty cute and stuff.

So both of them go and find Hijikata and Okita gets extremely angry and be pulls Hijkata by the collar and stuff. Well, soon he found out from Hijikata that Kondou got caught for the Shinsengumi. He was pretty satisfied by that answer I guess. So we have more romantic scenes and they head to Chizuru's old home, where Koudou and Kaoru are waiting for them. So Okita cuts Kaoru and Koudou gets killed too saving Chizuru again, telling them that the water over at her village could reduce the effects of the Ochimizu. In the end the both of them drank the water and they lived together forever at Chizuru's village, despite the fact Okita's illness is eating into him. So we get them sleeping on the grass and that part made me cry okay <(T◇T)>わぁああああ！This was one of the route I got really emotional about and made me like Okita more. The CGs were hot too but the problem was they MIAed almost everyone I was confused about what happened to the rest of the Shinsengumi dudes I think they all died. 

Saitou Hajime (CV: Toriumi Kousuke)

He's the shy type which puts on a really serious look. Hajime is pretty much serious on the outside but he's really cute inside （⌒_⌒） ニコリ . He respects the commander a lot like Yamazaki and listens to every one of Hijikata's orders . He's the 2nd youngest, and I'm glad cuz the original guy was an ossan oh god. So he pretty much gets Chizuru out of many tight situations when she's very reckless and he had to save her from Kazama which got him bleeding very badly. Welp then Kazama throws him the Ochimizu and he decides to drink it in order to save her. Kazama's pretty much the bad guy in this cuz he's using the Ochimizu to create a Rasetsu army in order to rule the world (whatever it was). Also he wants Chizuru to ahev his baby since they are purebloods. Also, he throws Chizuru to Hajime and tells him to protect his future wife or sth I wasn't paying attention at that point cuz i was really fed up with Chikage there.

But too bad Hajime's like "I won't let you take my woman" and decides to become stronger to beat Kazama. And in his route, he ends up doing a lot of work during the day in Hijikata's place at times and it really hurts his body. Along the way we get a lot of Hajime scenes and one day he couldn't hold back the urge for blood. So he drinks from the place her earlobe and he stayed in that position sucking her ear or sth. Chizuru's like "uh...you done yet?" But he's like, " I want to stay in this position for a while." After some events, he kissed her like some really drunk dude and I was just ゎｰｨ♪ヽ(*´∀｀)ﾉ there. Too bad they zoomed in to their hands so we didn't see what exactly happened.

So their enemy is basically crazy Koudou and Kazama who wanna do some oni stuff to take over the world I think. I mean, even Amagiri asked them to kill Kazama and he really helped out a lot too in this one. Another point, Koudou was busy saying how he isn't her real father and he raised her to be Kazama's wife lolol.  Soon after they separated from the Shinsengumi they reached the castle where Kazama was and they crash into her father who was basically mad already they didn't even try to convince him. So somehow I think someone came to dispose of him while they go and cut Kazama. Then I think Kazama goes crazy and starts cursing and stuff I wasn't paying attention again because it was getting boring. In the end Hajime cuts him with his Iai stuffs over. The ending was that they retreated to somewhere in Ezo and they were living together. So Chizuru is waiting for Hajime in the snow, and he soon returns. They then stay togther outside in the snow for a while to see the snowfall. Welp this route was really weird ok there was a Sannan crazy for blood and everything's like rasetsus and stuff. Due to it being the weirdest, it was quite a bore to me and I was confused at the same time, with all the weird characters.
  

Toudou Heisuke (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki)

Actually I was looking forward to his route due to him voicing as Yoshino Hiroyuki with his great voice and cheerfulness but yeah, I was pretty disappointed. This route practically revolves around Heisuke getting depressed over many different things like turning into a rasetsu, and Sannan's bad guy job.Well I did feel bad for him when he said that he was left alone cuz he was some kid of hidden kid who was born somewhere else and no one would care about him (ToT). And he was pretty much getting sad over and over again throughout the route. Actually he pretty much did have feelings for Chizuru but he refused to admit till the 2nd part of the game. 

Apparently Kazama agrees to marry Senhime!!! Well too bad Sanna goes and corrupts Senhime with the Ochimizu and he's now OH NO YOU DONT DO THAT TO MY WIFE. I mean Sannan was gross enough to me but he forced the Ochimizu  down he throst by KISSING HER. THAT WAS GROSS. Welp so Heisuke and Chizuru follow the Shinsengumi until and they found out Sannan turned against then. Obviously he already did by forcing that drink down Senhime. I was pretty much disgusted by this route already. Somewhere along thsoe lines Heisuke goes into depressed moade and starts saying how he's not gonna live any longer welp he gets slapped by Chizuru there, and she tells him that she'll be with forever and he'll not die. Well so Hijikata orders Heisuke to go kill Sannan and Chizuru follows him. They end up teaming up with Kazama (I don't even know whether they were unwilling or not) to kill Sannan. 

So loads of shit happened, I pretty much didn't care anymore orz I was pretty much done with this route and they killed Sannan somehow. And Kimigiku got stabbed by Senhime cuz she couldn't control herself but she survived that stab??? So they separate so that Kazama can go ahead and make babies with Senhime. Well in the final chapter they leave the Shinsengumi and lives somewhere esle. Chizuru wakes up on Heisuke's lap from a nap. Well I was pretty glad about the more useful Chizuru here, but my opinion on Heisuke really changed. He turned into really some pathetic guy who could get depressed any moment. This route rlly got me angry and bored at the same time so I'm glad I finished it (;´ρ`) ｸﾞｯﾀﾘ

Harada Sanosuke (CV: Yusa Koji)

Well Sano was pretty much the one who didn't give much of an impression when I was first introduced to Hakuouki through the anime I wasn't really looking forward to anything on this route WELL I WAS WRONG. I know Yusa Kouji is famous for voicing rapists but yeah, he's pretty adorable and big-bro like in this one. He's the only one apart from Kazama who doesn't become a rasetsu so Chizuru doesn't need to donate blood to him. And the only thing about this route was that Chizuru was too weak. He hangs out (and gets drunk) with his good friend Shinpachi and Shinpachi actually draw faces on his scar which was the injury when he tried to seppuku when he was a kid. Sano practically protects Chizuru almost every time something bad happens and she has to fight back almost every time.

Well Chizuru pretty gets depressed about herself in this one and gets creeped out by crazy Sannan who wants her to donate blood to him for "the sake of research". So she keeps thinking about how shes's holding back the Shinsengumi and Sano. She tried to leave the Shinsengumi in the middle of the night but sadly, she gets caught by Sano. He convinces her to stay but she starts crying and saying she's a monster and stuff and doesn't deserve to be protected. Being the best guy ever, he just kisses her, saying that's the only way he knows how to stop a woman from crying （　´∀｀）ケラケラ He soon admits that his dream is to life peacefully with his waifu.Well then Shinpachi and Sano decide that Kondou was fighting a losing battle and decides to leave the Shinsengumi, and Sano takes Chizuru with him in order to get away from crazy Sannan.

They both of them start getting upset over things like how Chizuru says she doesn't deserve to be with him since she's a demon and stuff and Sano gets all upset about the fact that he has to keep deciding between fighting and a peaceful life. They get all angsty and soon, they go all out. WHAT I MEAN BY ALL OUT IS A PUNY KISS OR STUFF IT'S ALL OUT. Well after that they abandon Shinpachi and they go kill Koudou. Shiranui helped out there but I'm gonna divulge anymore. The ending was that they had a baby boy and it was adorbs okay. This was probably the best route I played overall in this game, as it was all cute and it was really OTP okay??I really enjoyed almost every part of and I got to know more about Sano *:゜☆ヽ(*’∀’*)/☆゜:。*。

Kazama Chikage (CV: Tsuda Kenjiro)

Actually I was pretty surprised by this route, since Kazama was supposed to be the badass antagonist who fights Hijikata. He was pretty mean in Saitou's route but yeah, I didn't know he was that laid back and he was only using Chizuru as an excuse to see the Shinsengumi. In this route, Chizuru gets separated from the Shinsengumi and is found by Kazama. Well the route revolves around them seeing the end of the Shinsengumi and them killing her father. Well for some reason Chizuru becomes tsun in this one??? She starts saying things like "I didn't want to come with you" and stuff. So Kazama help to defeat her father since he goes crazy over rasetstus.I mean the choice about Koudou was that either Kazama kills him or he saves Chizuru's weak ass again （￣へ￣）. So they reach Ezo and stuff Chizuru starts crying over the Shinsengumi, holding the flag in her arms, and then after that he kisses her and tells her to go to him when she has "prepared her feelings", he'll just come and get her. Overall it was normal and stuff and I understood Kazama a bit more. And it was really kinda cute =w=

~Final Thoughts~

Well my final thoughts for this was that it was quite a good game, but there was many confusing parts like how they MIAed /killed everyone and we dunno what happened to all of them. Certain endings were good like Sano's and Hijikata's ending but some routes were just plain. The game was good, but it just got me creeped out about certain characters even more.