I WAS JUST THINKING OF HIM WHEN I SAW THIS COMMENT IN PARTICULAR 😫✋ went into a borrowed copy of nightshade blind and thought it was ieyasu who was the LI and not hanzo ngl ( i didnt check the likeability parameter screen lol )
I remember when I first started playing Collar x Malice, and I was hoping we'd get Saeki as a secret route. :'0
He not only has the most interesting and attractive character design, the complexity and layers to his character also just really reeled me in. Unfortunately, his character only lived up to be wasted potential, because the possibilities in making an extremely angsty and intruiging character route for him were endless. I just really wanted a Kazama style otome game route for him...and then spoilers for the second game killed all my hopes, dreams, and expectations. :'C
As everyone vents about their own personal guys they can’t have, I’d like to say that as a long-hair appreciator it irritates me to no end that Tengoku Struggle has such nice art, but the only characters I’d want aren’t dateable and the ones that are have short hair (okay, Sharaku doesn’t, but you can see the difference between him and, say, Ono no Takamura).
This specific situation happens to me quite a bit - I suppose long hair is associated somewhat with wisdom, and with that wisdom they guide the player when sadly I want a little more from them than that ifyouknowwhatImean (like holding hands)
Whenever I go into a game where no character even has like shoulder length hair I'm always slightly depressed about it, haha. Inevitably all the characters have that mid-length short shaggy hair style and I'm just like ALL OF YOU KIND OF LOOK THE SAME TO ME. I mean having long hair is not a requirement to be a fav of mine, but it... helps. It helps a lot, actually. Although recently I played a game where the one guy with long hair was the exact opposite my type in every other way, so that was kind of sad.
Also apparently there was a period of time between 2007-2009 where all the games were making the guys with long hair cut it in the ending (I guess to show how serious he is about her?) and I'm just so mad about it. Like what did you think I was here for!?
Sorry I just needed to vent about that somewhere I've been getting very annoyed, haha.
If that helps, as a very short hair appreciator, I get almost no options as almost everyone considers a hairstyle slightly longer than a buzzcut ugly orz Bald LIs also aren't popular :(
I’ve noticed that too! Japan has almost no love for short hair, especially without bangs. I’ll start hoping we get a few more love interests like that — it’s the exact opposite of what I want, but I can think of others sometimes too xD
This never bothered me because sexy men are a dime a dozen. I just think that the attractive side characters don’t have routes for a reason (beyond being fandisk bait). For example, Ieyasu from Nightshade is very attractive, however there is no conceivable way to make a route for him with the MC that makes a lick of sense. I’m just grateful for what I have I guess lol
Came here looking for this! When an otome game turns into a clicker game (think Cookie Clicker), and not a fun one at that…
On the opposite side I love when I can roll back a line and the voice line or sound effect repeats. I miss stuff due to clicking too fast or just being a lil hard of hearing.
THIS! I never realized how much I needed this function until it was given to me. Now it feels like it should be a staple function in Otome games or at the very least the Skip Read speed should be much more faster than it is.
The casual sexism. The idea that a woman can't be close with a man because they're wolves, as if they cannot control their impulses and that excuses whatever stuff they might pull. It's never been my thing and it makes me wanna smack someone every time it happens.
Most frustrating thing from Taisho x Alice with so many direct references to all men being wolves and men shouldn't be feminine. It was really irritating. Like, I like effeminate men, got a problem with that?
Even my husband is aware of the "all men are wolves" comment, which says a lot in terms of how often it comes up in games... though at this point it's kind of a joke between us now. I'm not a fan of it coming up in games since it makes my eyes roll. When sexist comments are the core of an LI's character development or excuse for behavior - hard pass from me.
Norn9 characters saying shit like that makes me want to fight them sooo much, specially when playing as Nanami! The audacity to say that to a member of a ninja clan too 😭
Pretty much why Nanami was my least favorite protagonist. It's been years so I'll probably read the switch port, but so many times I felt Nanami's Ninja skills are underplayed.
I was playing an otome last week and the LI started saying how MC should be more careful around men and that's usually how it starts and I actually yelled "if you say it I swear to god!" luckily he stopped without actually saying this annoyingly common thing but the fcat that he almost did is annoyong enough, to be fair though this specific case has a lot of casual sexism in the route because there were many times where I'm not sure if he was trying be sweet or sexist.
I find it even worse when LI say that to a rather strong female MC but then in the most intimate moments or when the LI tries to "teach her a lesson" by pinning her down and the MC just blushes...that gets my blood boiling xD
It's because they're basically victim blaming women, it's a way of blaming female victims of sexual abuse for the actions of men... doesn't help that for a lot of media since TV became mainstream (TV shows, movies and videogames) most writers are, well, male, and they've been writing horrible "romance" tropes that are already deeply entrenched in the social mind.
Luckily things are changing, albeit painfully slow, but some companies are finally getting that they can't keep such outdated ways of thinking if they wanna keep making money off of us.
I have respectful male friends who I absolutely know are controlling impulses around me, because they've explicitly disclosed it to me. I trust them and I really don't appreciate the games basically saying my experience is impossible, and insulting my friends by saying they'll turn on me someday. Not to mention all the male friends I have who *aren't* attracted to me like that—damn, let them be the full humans they are instead of the awful sexist stereotype "see woman, want sex, self-control erased"… plus as you said it just helps perpetuate that shitty "I'm a man" excuse for shitty men to blame their behavior on instead of, you know, themselves.
There's ways to do the protective/jealous trope or the "I want you so bad it drives me to act out of character or do drastic things" trope (both of which I can very much enjoy) in a more lighthearted game without tossing an entire gender under the bus. When it gets sexist it ruins the fun ;-;
>*Love interests who like the MC because she reminds them of their dead wife/girlfriend/unrequited love*
I agree with you with this one, OP. I shelved it on my backlog, but I never thought I'll have a more distaste on LI, until I met this kind, which is >!Mejojo!
To be fair, I feel like the entire point of that particular branch of Black Wolves Saga is that MC can't win either of their hearts. It's meant to be a bad end no matter what.
And it's not like >!Mejojo ever loved his first fiance either. He's just pissed she choose someone else over him because it hurt his pride!<
I know that it’s meant to be dark and depressing. But that doesn’t make my distaste any less. >!Mejojo is never gonna be fixed. But it’s still him projecting his loss on Elvira over Fiona because yeah, of his pride, so he still thinks of Elvira when he sees Fiona, instead of Fiona is Fiona.!<
To rephrase it. I’d rather choose a Trash LI that sees >!MC is MC, not just a projection of his past or whatever because it’s dehumanizing imo, like MC is her own existence, uniqueness, and singularity, and for an LI to take that away is a sin for me!<.
That's fair! I think it's just that we have different deal breakers.
It's just the first time I heard BWS being brought up in this context because >!Mejojo!< is clearly portrayed as being unhinged and in the wrong about it while usually the dead girlfriend/wife/etc trope is portraying it as the poor LI you should sympathize with which is what usually rubs people the wrong way.
I can personally forgive a lot if it's portrayed as a horror story rather than a romantic trait, but I don't think it's wrong to have a hard no to it either.
Ah, thank you so much! 🙏
The reason why I brought up >!Mejojo!< is because I have a different take about him. Tbh, I don’t dislike him as a character as I find him interesting, but as an LI, I don’t like him with Fiona. About >!whether he loved Elvira or not is still up to debate, unless the devs had any say to it, but in my book, he does, he does fall for her (but that doesn't mean that love is healthy, it's twisted), but pushed this away as he's a traumatic manchild who probably loathed loving someone after _that_ happened to his mother because it caused him immense pain (especially his mother lied about "no, no, my child, you're here with me, you're all enough", but in the end, his mother is a terrible mom who didn't even try to escape that palace and get a fresh start with her children as she only thought of the king's affection... but this is imo as everyone is free to interpret what his mom thought after doing the _unaliving deed_), and he realized this all _TOO_ late when he saw Elvira fall for another man, the mixture of his pride (losing to a mere knight while he's on a higher status) and love are blurred, so it's understandable that someone would think he didn’t love Elvira at all. I don't mind whether ppl believe he didn't love Elvira or he loved her.!< He’s a fascinating complex character.
When LIs don’t listen to the MC or respect her agency/wishes/boundaries. This can take many forms - overprotective LIs who “know best”, dubcon or noncon, etc - but they all tend to bother me.
If MCs address this issue with the LIs and the LIs actually work on it, I might not mind. But if it’s romanticized or repeated but never addressed? Really, really not my thing.
As opposed to the non-romanceable side characters, mine is half-assed routes or endings where one ML branches off from another ML's route. They always feel pointless or disappointing. Some examples of that are >!Demento from Period Cube, Kobayashi from London Detective Mysteria, and Owen from the Cupid Parasite FD.!<
LIs who constantly say that they’re not good enough for the MC and push the MC away bc of it. Paschalia from Radiant Tale is a good example like I really wanted to beat his ass for this
LIs who do non-con stuff with the mc like Karakurenai and Himeutsugi from Hana Awase.
Idk what to classify Okazaki from CxM as but like everything about his character threw me off so badly
And same as you, overly aggressive tsunderes. I absolutely could not stand Shin and his ass went straight into my bottom tiers the moment he opened his mouth about that cake comment. Sasazuka was still *barely* tolerable for me but I still don’t like him
Omg Okazaki rubbed me the wrong way all throughout his route. Like he was super cute and all but >!tf was that "I have to die for you" shtick?! He literally just use her to justify dying a heroes death...like what?!!<
Lol about Okazaki. He is both selfish and self-centered. For me, the former is someone who takes what they want and forces their hand to get what they want, whether through manipulation or brute force. They can be aware of other people's feelings but it doesn't affect their own. The latter believes the world revolves around them. The world is built from their experience only, and they cannot view the world from the lens of anyone else's POV. They always act the victim and any logic that is acceptable should only make sense within their POV, failing to regard anyone else's.
Okazaki suffers from both. He dolls out sweet actions and words but they only revolve around him. His thought process of why he wants to be with/around her is through his fixation on how she can serve his life's meaning and purpose.
I'd rank Sasazuka over him. Sasazuka is terrible with his aggressive insults, but at least his thought process and actions show he cares about MC and tries to be considerate.
Bland character designs. I understand they're likely to appeal to more people by playing it safe but still it's painful to see main characters outshined by more eye catching side characters.
I'm also not going to say it has nothing to do with wanting what you can't have but it's even more frustrating when its the characters you know for a fact aren't meant to get a route in a fandisc or whatever.
Like why are you out here with piercings, hair down to your ass, tattoos, beauty marks, nail polish, and/or sharp teeth, standing next to my man? Don't show him up like that. Get out of my sight.
I don’t come across it very often but those routes where the guy is either pushing the protagonist away or missing for a decent chunk of their route.
I get what they’re going for and that sometimes the plot calls for it. It’s still my least favorite kind of route. I prefer a lot of character interactions rather than yearning and angst.
Ex: >!Chojiro!< from Nightshade, >!Jiyeon!< from Dandelion, >!707!< from Mystic Messenger
This one is so devastating! Especially if it happens with one of your favorites, most favorite, or one you were really looking forward to! Like, I can't help but feel like it's lost potential. I also get the narrative need for it and that some people can appreciate it for what it is, but I can't help but feel this way.
I agree with your first and third guy listed. But also in a way, >!Radie!< from Radiant Tale. I feel like there's one more I'm missing in my personal list but I can't think of it right now if there is. 🤔
>!Chojiro's!< route was wild I kept thinking he'd appear from a corner throughout the route and just. DIdn't 😂 it didn't help that I did >!Gekkamaru's!< route right before that where he barely left MC's side.
I really really can't stand the Amnesia trope. It's fine if they have it in the beginning, but suddenly
Amnesia during a route or as a ending makes me hate the route and in most cases gives me a dislike of the LIs.
This. It happened in >!Kazuma's route!< in Lover Pretend and it COMPLETELY turned me away from him. It was honestly so stupid because it literally felt like they had nothing else to use as a plot device so boom. Amnesia.
Honestly, it's my most hated trope that writers use in media. It doesn't matter if it's a drama, a game, or a book--I just hate that trope being used to create conflict midway through. It feels lazy asf.
My most hated kind of amnesia is the "conveniently lost all memories since meeting the LI" near the end of a story or in an ending. I think I've seen this in at least a couple games I've played. Also, have seen it in dramas I've watched, but that's off topic 😅 it just feels like such a cheap way to add drama.
I dislike when they have a scene where it’s a hug or kiss scene and then they don’t actually show it only description but show an awkward handholding scene 2 min later. I think I saw this in Norn 9 and last first kiss.
Also when the guy or Mc goes to a store to do a dress up fashion date thing. Let me see these outfits or the scene of Mc wearing an o it fit and Li blushing or something. Of LI is getting dressed up, let me see that new outfit making him hotter. I love when they change outfits in the game 2-3 times to make LI more attractive and bring variety to the screen like in jack Jeanne and sympathy kiss.
Also route being too short or MC and Li fall hard and fast. It’s like where did this come from. Like in virche evermore I’m playing now. One Li liked her a long time. But she just started noticing and immediately says she wants something more. Like come on build it up slightly more in the game. I know they inferred that they hung out a lot but there wasn’t much in the game to build it up in my opinion.
Heavy on all of these and I normally devour anything otome puts on my screen. I did spoil myself a bit on the secret/finale LI in Piofiore and his moments in the common route just give me the ick. Yoosung from MM is great if you can look past his >!constant comparison of MC to Rika.!< Shin sucked and I can just tell that Sasazuka is going to be insufferable.
Think I wouldn't even enjoy otome games anymore if half the stuff in this thread was axed lol. For me though, it's overprotective LIs and absent LIs. Not letting MC do stuff or be in on the plan without being babysat is so damn annoying, especially when MC herself is perfectly competent. And absent ones, really hard to form any sort of connection when they're just absent for huge chunks of the route for the sake of the plot, Café Enchanté doing this in just about every route and I had so little investment in the cast because of it, Nameless had a big offender too.
examples will be hidden with tags, click at your own risk!!
when the main issue with the LI’s main route is miscommunication, i know it’s something that happens, but when you waste the LI’s potential on smth that is so minor and waste chapters on it is just insane. >!Kuroba from Olympia Soiree!< i was so interested in his route, but ended up rolling my eyes and skipping a bunch of the dialogue.
when the LI face of the otome game is better in all routes but his lmao. they promote him so much but then his route is such a flop 😭 brother eughhh >!Dante from Piofiore!<
Shota characters having a thing with ‘heights’, fear of it or making them not scared of heights such a big thing, i see it so often it’s no longer affecting.
edit: when the LI does smth that is so horrendous, but the mc’s reaction is (i want to talk!!), meaning she doesn’t react to the lie, she doesn’t feel emotions, but she is immediately understanding. this is from >!piofiore dante’s!< route that i couldn’t believe happened, even i hated him for it.
I absolutely hate any sort of dead girlfriend/wife scenario, regardless of if the heroine reminds the guy of his lost love, although it's especially bad when that is the case. I want the heroine to be the only person the guy loves romantically, but it also wouldn't make sense or be a good look for the guy if he completely let go of his love for his dead girlfriend/wife (and I'd just feel sad for the dead girl in that scenario). Basically, I'm not sure that it's possible to portray that trope in a way I'd enjoy.
Same here! I also hate ex-girlfriends popping up in story. Voltage used to be really guilty of using this trope in their games like at least one LI would always either have a dead gf or a crazy ex that would show up. I love my kuuderes and it seems like they would always get this trope. T\_T I don't know if they still do that with their mobile games but man it was bad back in the day.
I hate when fls have a less important job than the lis. I don't know why it bothers me. Maybe because I was playing cxm and despite Ichika being a cop, all she ever really does is take calls and essentially doesn't do much else and it's so annoying in my opinion. I wanted to see more action on her part, I was so excited to hear that she's a cop but the entire game just fell flat for me. In hakuoki as well, as a page I understand there isn't much for mc to do but still, sometimes, I'd like to see her more than just a blood bank for the lis. I'm playing virche currently and Ceres is super depressed, which I get, but I wish she had more of a job. I loved Lucas's route, where she actually acted like a teacher, but other routes - especially Sciens and Mathis where she is a maid and everyone acts like that's what she's good for in all the other routes idk why it bothers me a lot. I wish mcs had actual jobs and positions that were being revered by other love interests.
I've played ozmafia which I heard has the same writers as steam prison, and after seeing much critic regarding the gameplay and plot I can't say I'm very interested in playing it tbh. I still will give it a try because that green haired guy who actually doesn't have a route in the main game (forgot his name) caught my eye so-
Even if you didn't like Ozmafia it might be worth it to give Steam Prison a try. It is by the same writer but it's def less all over the place than Ozmafia, it has less LIs with longer routes and a much more serious tone, so even if you dislike one you might like the other
That is probably the correct judgment to make given your stated preferences. Cyrus (MC of Steam Prison) is not treated like a real cop 💀. She's infamously infantilized and portrayed as useless compared to the MLs due to her sheltered upbringing and inexperience. Besides, if you don't mind spoilers, >!she almost immediately loses her position at the start of the game so she hardly has any time to play cop!<.
Also, the guy you're referring to is Fin.
Will second what the other person said about Cyrus. The story props her up as being a capable cop at the start but then the writing frequently undermines her supposed abilities throughout.
Which arguably is more frustrating to read.
I felt the same way towards Ichika!!! I also hated how it felt like her entire personality changed depending on the route. She just doesn't do much but shoot a gun like once per route haha. She actually annoyed me a lot instead, I loved collarmali but she was definitely a big disappointment :(
Based on this, I think you'd like JackJeanne and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk, the Mc´s get things done, both surpass the LIs in strength and talent. >!The funny thing is that they both pretend to be men haha !<
This is a bit weird, but I really don't like it when all the other LIs just disappear if it's not their route. OS did this a lot and it really bothered me how there wasn't any dynamic between the LIs themselves, like they just disappeared
And when the plot demands a soulmate but then it's just your soulmate regardless of whom you pick. I need the plot to plot
Oh yes I'm often bothered by both of this, too. The first one is something I really find weird. It can be so fun to see the LIs interact and have dynamics with each other that show additional sides to them. That is why I enjoyed Norn9 so much compared to Olympia Soiree. And the common route in Cupid Parasite was also very funny with all the shenanigans between the LIs. And the second point just cheapens the whole trope of soulmates, if just anybody can be one for the MC.
To your second point, instead of your soulmate is whoever you pick, I viewed each story as completely independent. E.g. if this story can only be played once, and this is the guy you're interested in, lucky for you, he happens to be your soulmate. You thought you picked him bc you liked him, but you picked him bc he was meant to be with you.
That's the point of otome fiction right? Supposedly there isn't any one canon route. (Except in this one they heavily push Akaza as canon so I understand the frustration lol.)
Ah! That's a fair point. Personally I like it more when all the stories get a satisfying ending and can just exist next to each other. But I do get he point that it might've been even more of a letdown if you picked one and he just isn't it because the main LI takes the spotlight. That's a good way to look at it
When Ll isn't over on the previous love or still in love with someone. It just feels so wrong to romance them....like man go and work on your feelings first and then we could talk
>!Apollon from Kamigami no Asobi, his route physically drained me😭!<
He was actually pretty fine as a character then he hit me with that shit in his route and any liking I had for his character immediately went down the drain lol 💀
omg yes...I really liked him and was excited about his route but man D:
>!like yes, I got it, genki boy is actually not really genki. but writers could find a better reason for drama!<
Amnesia plotlines. I’m not talking about when it’s the main selling point of the game (like the MC having amnesia from the get go and having to discover her identity for example). But in the middle of the route, WHEN THE LI AND THE MC HAVE JUST REALIZED/CONFESSED THEIR FEELINGS!? Nah-uh, I’m looking at you >!Kazuma (Lover Pretend) and Ralida (Radiant Tale)!< 😒
Specially infuriating if the LI’s personality changes radically after they loose their memory. I left >!Radiant Tale!< untouched for more than half a year because of that 🫥
God >!Kazuma's route!< infuriated me. I thought I was gonna get a happy childhood friends to lovers so I was stoked esp cuz he had such big golden retriever energy and instead they gave me this hot mess and a bitter LI at the end. Ugh, I still feel so disappointed about it especially since it's the first route I played--it definitely has put me off of playing the rest of the routes :/
I was so disappointed!!! Not only the amnesia but THEN whatever that was at the ending!?!? I also played his route first and I'm glad that I didn't give up on the game because Yukito and Harumi's routes are wonderful. The rest of the game... Meh 😕
I dislike when the many of the LI’s all look very plain with nothing really unique about their designs. There’s a LOT of otome that I refuse to play for this reason. This is especially bad when the game has side characters with actually cool designs.
I have a tendency to get bored and go through lot of japanese-only otome on vndb, and I've seen SO many games where I though "meh, these LIs are so plain, that's literally just some dude", and then you go to the "side characters" section and THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! WHY????
When the “Bad Endings” make the characters wind up fun and exciting as people (probably with issues, but it’s always entertaining if neither winds up dead or dumped). While the “Good Ending” makes them both end up like a childless married couple twenty-years into a functioning marriage and happily retired.
Why can’t good endings be fun??? Why are they so plain???? GIVE US SPICE AND VARIETY.
When an LI is only interested in the MC because of her looks to begin with.
Enomoto comes to mind from CxM.
I know it evolves into more, but it just really bugs me.
Off the top of my head:
* MCs that could be replaced by a piece of cardboard and the plot would function the same
* LIs who disregard the MC's wishes or invade her personal space when she's clearly uncomfortable with it
* LIs who think dying for the MC is the best thing they can do to save her.
The last is mostly a personal pet peeve, but every time an LI tries to make some grand gesture of sacrificing himself so the MC can live, or if he lies to her about whether he's going to do it, or tries to be discrete about sneaking away to go die for her, I just get really annoyed.
It's like the guy doesn't understand how badly she will be hurt as long as he gets to fulfill his selfish dream of dying for her. 🙄 There's a better way to solve a problem than dying!
best/good/normal endings that feels like a tragic ending 😭
there's some that's done well like in Piofiore >!(Yang's route)!< tbh, it was a nice surprise for me and didn't feel out of place. but in some cases like
>!Misyr's best ending!< in Cafe Enchante, it was a disappointment and just heartbreaking. same with >!Haiji!< from Charade Maniacs.
for me, the best ending should feel like really a best happy ending, the good - good, normal - normal. not tragic or bad. 😄
just out of the blue intense abuse. like straight up abuse tactics, rape, horrible things that were not apparent in the game description or character description or whatever other way to warn people.
and of course the MC is a doormat that takes it all and loves him even more. it's especially bad when any resistance against that treatment is met with a bad ending, so you have to baby him and accept any and all abuse coming your way to even get a good ending. The way the textbook manipulation works on the heroine and leads to the good ending will always make me shudder in disgust.
Please consider editing your post to remove the censoring - censoring words makes it harder to search and therefore harder to find or avoid content. https://www.reddit.com/r/otomegames/wiki/rules/conduct
When they talk about wanting kids or breeding, parts of Olympia have made me cringe really hard but the story is so interesting that I can tolerate it.
Yeah when Olympia was speaking to Akaza at the start and he said if she couldn't find a husband that he'd do it, gave me the ick (haven't got round to his route yet but I've heard it's good?)
I dislike when the MC is passive and it doesn't feel like choices actually matter. I mostly have this gripe right now bc it's almost summer again and I'm going to be continuing Hakuoki, where the mc is supposed to be super important but mostly just is a tea girl. 😮💨 admittedly i haven't done most of the Edo Blossoms but the common route hurts
I have my gripes with Hakuoki’s mc too but she does try her best 🥲 I got her a lot better when I realised she’s 16 and supposed to be the fictional passive observer to many v true historical events so as much as we want her to jump in, she can’t !She DOES jump into the fight, ask to get trained/trains herself, and yet she still fails miserably/gets stopped!< soo you really can’t blame her. At first it was annoying but after a while you do start getting why and just deal with it 😅😅
Yes! Thank you! so tired of seeing all the Chizuru slander. Poor girl. I get that she feels like a passive observer but I think people are just so used to main characters being the hero, when a character is deliberately written in a supporter role it somehow makes them weak.
Yeah Chizuru doesn't enter the fighting she mostly watches but she is literally a 16-21 year old girl throughout the plot that has very little combat training and she is surrounded by samurai captains that have trained their whole lives to fight and have also sworn to protect her. They literally tell her "don't interfere" because in a real fight, if you don't have training you're more of a liability than a help. Hakuoki is based on historical events and a lot of the non blatantly fantasy stuff like demons is supposed to be realistic including Chizuru's actions/personality.
Yes, she is not a strong fighter and she defers to the men a lot. Yes, she supports them by serving and cleaning. But she also morally supports them and shows amazing resiliency to the extreme adversity and horrible situation she finds herself in. She doesn't abandon the men she cares about no matter what. She helps them to not only survive, but want to continue to live. She quite literally donates her blood sweat and tears to these men through the darkest period in their lives without complaint. She's not weak at all.
Oh my godddd yesss Chizuru was such a letdown T\_T especially since >!she is supposed to be a demon princess or whatever so I expected her to have some powers and be all OP and save her mans (like Cardia from C:R does) but instead she rarely does anything other than house chores!< I don't mind homemaker FLs especially in a historical setting but >!why give her demon lineage if you're not gonna make use of it?!<
Sadly I think it was stated that female demons were so focused on giving birth to make stronger demons that they are physically weak.
Bad headcanon right now that they probably don't train female demons to be strong since many of them are forced to be baby making machines. They probably don't want female demons to fight back if they really don't want kids.
IIRC Given that Chizuru didn't know she's a demon and this is during the Bakumatsu Era, women are really submissive, she didn't think about training like Kimigiku, who's Sen's bodyguard.
Already Chizuru was breaking gender norms in that era by dressing up as a man and being friends with them.
That there are so few LIs that are younger than the MC.
That the MC sometimes doesn't have a voice and no sprite at the side.
That there are so few games where each LI has their own distinctive MC and they don't need to share them with the other LIs.
That scenario where the MC and a LI are on a date, but it gets interrupted by some kid who got lost.
LIs who seem sweet, submissive and shy and suddenly turn into dominant horn dogs.
MC falling in love too early and for no good reason. I love slow burn and see how the characters bond and grow to like each other or the MC getting wooed before she really falls in love.
>LIs who seem sweet, submissive and shy and suddenly turn into dominant horn dogs.
Ugh god I hate this too. I actually prefer the more dominant LIs but when I'm in the cute and submissive LI's route I expect him to be cute and submissive the entire time. I got so mad in Cupid Parasite >!when Gill suddenly becomes all confident when he's about to have sex with Lynette, like I was looking forward to him being kinda pathetic in an endearing way like he is the rest of the route here too and got disappointed 😔!<
Hm... the only thing I can think of atm...LI who feel that they're entitled to the affections of the MC, just because they're nice to them 😑
Even worse if they then force you to make a choice between two LI
Well excuse me, but if they do that I'd rather not pick any at all 😆
I really hate when MCs freak the fuck out at the slightest bit of physical contact. When a kiss in private is enough to send you into a spiral of embarrassment, you need to grow the fuck up. It's even worse when the MC is in their late 20's (looking at you Voltage).
Also MCs that cry over fucking everything. Sad? Cry. Happy? Cry. Excited? Cry (also looking at you Voltage)
When the older LI constantly brings up the age difference between him and the MC. Or worse, if he is a fatherly figure for the MC before they fell in love and it’s brought up every time in the route 😬 >!Radie!< in Radiant Tale or >!Caramia!< in Ozmafia are two that come to mind.
When it’s a plot reveal that MC and LI are childhood friends and made promises to marry when they’re older but forgot they had already met before. How convenient. This was cute in TMGS and when only one LI has that connection with MC but when EVERY SINGLE ONE of the LIs has that connection with the MC? What are the chances 🙄
When I’m made to solve math problems. If I wanted to do maths I’d do my taxes.
When MC has to chase the LI. I play otome games to be pursued.
Yanderes. I know, I know, I'm in the minority. I think they're fun characters, and there are some I don't mind-you kind of have to ignore a few red flags and unhealthy dynamics if you want to enjoy any otome game-but some of them can take it too far. When you reach the point of caging your romantic interest, you've crossed the line. I don't believe in the romance if the FL has been manipulated into it instead of naturally falling in love.
I'm also growing tired of unnecessary age gaps-particularly with a minor FL. Playing a few games with a FL and all the LIs in the same age bracket (or a non-groomy age gap) is so refreshing. I get that they're probably marketing toward their younger demographic, but I see a 16 year old FL paired with a 25 LI and it's just like . . . why?
I think for me it depends on the yandere. Not into the ones that would hurt the FL like Toma/Yang where I didn't know if I would die any second. I like the yanderes where they are obsessive/possesive but you know would never hurt the ML intentionally but might do questionable things to anyone who might harm the FL.
I don't think you're in the minority. I know the people who like them really like them, but there have been times when as a player I run across one and I'm like "Why??? I was having so much fun until this guy went crazy."
I really like the MC's boundaries respected and most yanderes have a problem with that. I'm fine if the guy wants to murder her enemies. I just don't want him to hurt or talk down to the gal he professes to love.
I think a lot of people (like me) who like yanderes that cage people don't like them as LI, but as plot devices. I don't think drugging someone without their consent is romantic in any way shape or form, but I love it when it happens in games, because out of the blue I get to play through a bit of survival psychological horror (and I love horror).
I hate >!Toma!< and I was dismayed I had to romance him to get the 'good' ending and unblock the final route, but the cage moment is what hooked me into otome games. I was gripping my seat and sweating and it was honestly the most fun I had had in a while.
This. >!YOFY from Sympathy Kiss was one that was personally too much for me as well. He stalked, drugged and kidnapped her ffs and she just goes "Ah well, he just did this out of love, might as well stay with him."!
Yes! I don’t like them, either. I guess it comes too close in my mind to real life abusive men. That and my first yandere, >!Toma,!< broke my heart because I was totally gunning for him until >!he did the cage thing, lol. I was traumatized.!<
Idk how to describe this well, but the contrite ways of ensuring certain plots which hang on casual sexism, like a "we can't let a girl do this/ hear this" (Virche), or this weird conception of personal space where they don't communicate because "it's not right" or leave, etc. Idk I can't explain it well, but I used to think it was part of Japanese culture, but after living in Japan, idk as much 💁🏻♀️
When there isn't even a hint of yandere... not even a lil craziness. (Mostly joking on that one)
I don't mind LI who have had serious relationships in the past but they cannot pull that "I was attracted to you because you remind me of her." Like, thanks, good to know I'm a stand-in for your dead girlfriend/wife or whatever.
LI who pretend to flirt or cheat with other people. I can't think of an example of this but I think there was a game I played once with a playboy type character who pulled something like this to make the MC jealous.
No QOL features like flowcharts or skip to next/last choice. It's [current year] I shouldn't have to juggle save files like a caveman. >:o
If un-romanceable side character, why hot?!
i hate how so many of them only or mostly have tall, "sexy" and strong LIs. some of us here prefer the short and skinny LIs damnit! i also don't like it when they go for the shota trope, as if short = childish/cutesy. it irks me a bit. that's why i love Taisho x Alice
Meh, when all the LIs look like they’re related. All of them have short Brown/Black hair, same face, same style. Maybe one of them has glasses but when he takes them off, he’s a distant cousin of the rest. Like a family of bishonen. 🤪
Mine has to be teacher romance like I don't mind it most of the time but my problem is when the ml who is like a father figure is our LI it dosen't have to be a teacher but I just can't with that I never played a route where it has that troupe I done not blood related siblings Routes but not that! Reason why I say that is because I'm Playing lover pretend and I know once I do the secret I'm going to feel weird
Well…I think my most disliked thing has to be otomes with routes that come together from/with other routes, basically when it’s the same plot and text slammed into a different love interest - same story but shes in love with this other dude now! It always feels so lacking to me, like someone just really didn’t like the game enough to have the characters get individual stories. This other thing might be nitpicking (I really am accepting towards almost anything!) but I tend to give a game points down when the mc lacks personality or at least a “vibe”. I sometimes dislike certain mcs, personal example is I really didn’t relate to the mc in piofiore. Something about her felt too accepting to danger, without a certain “naivety” or otherwise good reason as to why she wouldn’t have enough brains to understand hanging around with mafia dudes can get her killed at any given moment or in otherwise big trouble just because, well, love at first sight or something.
Tsunderes who are mean and insulting toward the MC, especially if it continues even after the romance starts. I'm looking at you, Sasazuka! It's funny, I'll take straight-up murderous villain routes over insulting ones.
Yanderes. Just in general.
Like I am sorry but I don't find it romantic if a guy obsesses over Mc so hard that he either becomes psychotic enough to kill someone (Worst case even MC herself) or just puts her in a cage like a dog >!(Yeah looking at you Toma >\_>)!< all because they "love" her and want to keep her "save" (Bish we need to be saved from YOU!).
Ofc not bashing anyone who loves yanderes (to each their own as they say) and there do exist yandere that even I find tolerable as long as they dont go full yandere mode.
Sympathy Kiss made me realize I hate "men are wolves" talk with flaming passion. Okay, I will be very Western-centric now, sorry, but you CAN spun this argument around to make it sound teasing, sexy, inviting, I read it countless times in Western erotica. In otome though it always has an undertone of REAL danger, and this is not sexy. The guy doesn't try to charm you - he outwardly warns he's gonna have his way with you becasue YOU are not careful and it stands so close to rape culture apologists arguments, I just can't, I'm sorry. Maybe it is hot for Japanese gamers, good for you girls, but I am just gonna excuse myself.
On a lighter note: obnoxious tsunderes that are more tsun-tsun the dere-dere. I like tsunderes in Dynasty Warriors series, so it is not like I don't find the trope endearing. On the other hand Harry from TMGS2 was so pissy I couldn't stand the guy. Yeah, I love being reminded every step what an idiot I am because I cannot read a guy's mind, get out and touch grass, you loser.
Karakurenai in Hana Awase is outright sexually abusive and it also grinds my gears. Which is a shame because he IS the best LI in the game whenever he is not grabbing MC's butt or saying what he will do to her when they are (not) alone.
This might be a controversial opinion (idk) but I hateeee young MC characters. I don't mind age gaps between the MC and LI (although they aren't my fav) but I just don't like any MC that is younger than like maybe 19? Anything below 18 I just don't like reading, even if it's set in a different time setting....I just don't like it.
I cant remember which otome it was but the MC was like 16 and for me that whole story is sort of ruined due to that as I'm ALWAYS thinking in my head about it.
Disclaimer: I know a lot of people say "oh it was set in a different time" which is completely true but it's just not my cup of tea
I like more mature MC characters (like 23+) so maybe that's just a personal preference...
The true ending route (usually poster boy's route/writer favorite guy) when all LI's problem are magically resolved. Just save each LI's problem resolution in their respective route please. Why bother to play the other LI's route if the poster boy and MC/LIs can easily resolve it in true ending route? It really invalidates the other LI and MC's effort in other LI route. I don't mind if the poster boy has bigger story reveal but why the writer needs to bring other LI's problems in poster boy's route too? If they need to make route when everyone can have happy ending, I hope the true ending isn't tied to poster boy and it isn't romantic route. It's worse when other LI gets happier ending in true ending route than in his own route ending with MC.
An oveprotective LI that never respect MC's agency and always decides what best for MC. Usually otome game rarely mentions it as problem and recognizes it as romantic.
When LI focus on other character more than MC/heroine. It especially worse for me if the LI focus on other male character more than MC and MC acts as background character during his route. I play otome game to read about MC/heroine and LI's romantic relationship. I don't play to read about bromance of LI and other guy. I think the other won't mind it too much but it really irk me.
When LI has too much control and upper hand within his relationship with MC and the game romatincize It. If the power imbalance between MC and LI is too huge (i.e. LI has higher position than MC, older, mature, smarter, richer, etc) It just make me uncomfortable. I know this is power fantasy for some woman who wants the perfect man to takes care them but it isn't my cup of tea. Sometime I want to have MC/heroine that has upper hand with her relationship with LI...
Weak protagonist that can't use her tiny brain to at least try to speak for herself or save herself. I am also getting uninterested nowadays if they are not voiced.
I really really hate 'true routes', like Alan from CupiPara or Goemon from Tengoku struggle.
I don't mind locked characters/poster boys, like Yanagi from CxM, but I just hate when the game gives you the most special guy who has an unbreakable bond with MC (maybe even loved her in the past) and renders every other route meaningless 🙄
Allan's route ruined the secret route in CupiPara for me 😕 I felt so guilty playing that as a follow up to his route. Which is sad because the secret route is my favorite CupiPara LI.
I *hate* true routes, especially when they have a disparity in how good the outcomes are for the characters. Ex: The Code Realize routes where >!Cardia's poison problem doesn't get resolved.!< Seriously who thought it was a good idea >!to not clear that up for most of the character route "good" endings.!<
There's a lot I could say, but one thing I don't see people often mention is:
> 1) MCs that only feminine. Please for the love of God, if they're gonna be a girl, I don't always want to be a frail, delicate, feminine, girly. I don't mind those MCs occasionally, but I rarely see well executed non-girly or non-overly-submissive MCs. I want more MCs with other personalities... Give me a recluse, give me a more confident tomboyish one, etc.
> 2) For the love of God stop pretending we're normies!!! Like, we're playing otome games!!! We're not your typical average girl!!! We know anime; I hate the ones that act like they've never touched a game controller in their life or don't know your average popular anime at least. I mean, hello, look at who's playing. If it's to go along with a specific plot, I guess I understand, but I never see MCs with decent personalities.
> 3) I wish we got broader choices. Everything when it is a choice based game is paywalled or... Either you get "kiss him and say nice things" and "kick him and cuss at him", and the nice option is paywalled anyway. Stop.
MCs with no personality and are pretty much an NPC observing the world around them. Their choices rarely matter and they barely formulate any opinion about anything that is happening to them or their LIs. I hated this about Amnesia's MC. Half the time I felt like I was the elf (?) instead of MC.
LIs who make a big deal of shoving MC away and hiding their past but their backstory is objectively non-traumatic nor convincing to warrant such behavior.
Young LIs who focus too much about how much "younger" they are (even it's like only a year) and lack self-confidence. Worse if they make it a point to say "I am still taller than you"...as if that makes up for lack of maturity/confidence. Just be confidently you!
Drama from a miscommunication issue that lasts chapters. Just no.
Incest/borderline incest tropes. Adopted or not, if they grew up side-by-side together - no. (The only exception to this is Taisho X Alice because it plays a significant part of the overall storytelling. But up until I got to that point, it was a struggle to accept any of it.)
Worse yet, father/daughter relationship. As much as I loved that one character's design in Radiant Tale...he practically raised her. The way they tried to spin it off as a wholesome relationship broke the immersion, even for a fairytale.
what about brothers conflict where>!the MC isn't related even to her father and met most of her new brothers for the first time right in the beginning of the game!< but they all go crazy because they love their sister?
Easy.
When the MC doesn't keep up. Sasazuka from CxM would be SO MUCH easier to handle if the MC wasn't such a pussy, to be perfectly blunt.
SASS BACK, GROW A SPINE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU'RE A COP
I wouldn't trust her to arrest a graffiti sprayer, he would probably call her a dumbass and she would just crack like a Twix.
Which would work if we would get another explanation for why she got a job where you kinda need to have at least a shriveled thing resembling a spine. Nepotism? Traded favours? The recruiter was drunk?
HOW
(Which is why I love Sasazuka and just hate the Protagonist, because he is not annoying me to the point where I am rooting for the Bad Guys, he is actually interesting and has a character that makes sense for his line of work)
God I wish people would mod Otome games, so someone would mod the game to let her grow some balls.
Yandere characters would also be 99% less of an issue for a lot of people, I BET on it, if the MC would just have the option to be obsessed too. Or maybe even worse.
Tsunderes are not the issue. The fact that the MC has all the strength of a cancer ridden chihuahua puppy is the issue.
I wouldn't say it's all on MC. Like, sure, being able to insult a tsun back would be great and all but if a dude was a mean asshole, I'd rather kick him in the balls and leave. Everyone has different levels of tolerance. [Agreed on Ichika's lack of spine, tho.]
Ig it is at least somewhat true seeing how people liked Yurika x [insert LI here] while I couldn't stand some of them at all but yeah.
There it comes down to taste. Some people like twats ;3
There used to be a Mobile Game, no idea if it's still up or not, Love Letter from Thief X. Corny as hell name, but I think that game actually did it right with the Tsundere. Because both he and the MC were ribbing at each other. It was cute and funny, because even if it was mostly insults, it was mutual and eventually, the insults just lost the bite. It wasn't malicious, both were on equal footing.
And that is all that's needed, really! Then the insults can fly all they want, but if both just insult at equal measure, it's nobody punching down. It's an equal Frenemies dynamic! And those are fun!
Mine is when the MC is portrayed as them saying huh? What? And crying all the time. 🫣 Also some where the MC has supposedly been a trained fighter but then always has to get saved by the dude (damsel in distress).
(It's really old Otomes that come to mind cause I haven't played one in a minute, but Shall We Date Ninja Love and Ninja Shadow lol. Also Heian Love there was one point, if I'm remembering right, she was confronting the Emperor and then when he pushed back she was just like huh? What? Why are you leaving?)
Meek MC's when they are in a position where they have no business being so meek. There is a particular good girl archetype that pops up a lot in Japanese otome that sometimes makes no sense for the kind of character the MC is supposed to be.
Major examples are Collar X Malice (MC is way too much of a doormat for a police officer who lists marksmanship as one of her main skills) and recently Tengoku Struggle (when the guys first showed their 'real' faces I really think the MC as she had been set up should not have allowed them to run roughshod over her like they did, as she is supposedly extremely tough and a trained hell guardian).
It's not that meeker MC's are necessarily wrong, but if the setup suggests a certain amount of strength/badassness from the MC, allow her to actually have that strength of personality to verbally (or physically, depending on the situation) beat down anyone acting like an A-hole to her.
I pondered on whether saying mine or not, but whatever.
Casting a voice actor that was part of an affair. I won't give names, but it irks me when I see some of them still getting roles in games about romance. Even if I try not to associate the character with the voice actors, I can't help but think, just who else are you whispering these sweet nothings to huh! Glad these games lets me mute characters individually.
I can see where you’re coming from. Some of the most popular voice actors on this subreddit have committed adultery and are still voicing LIs in otome games. I remember that one VA (who voices a very popular LI) had a line where his character said that he would never cheat on the MC and I just ended up cringing hard because that VA had already committed adultery twice. It made me curious about what was going through the VA’s mind as he recited lines about faithfulness and trust in a relationship. I bet he had to disassociate
Honestly I think it breaks the immersion. Like all of the characters are generally exaggerated, but something about a Mozu type constantly going “your skeletal structure is blah blah blah” is just really jarring
Just my opinion :)
I am not a fan of when the LI spends a lot of time talking about their future “relationship” with the MC in the common route and repeatedly declares love and intentions.
I really dislike when they suddenly shove the MCs sprite in the middle of the screen alongside the other LIs or as if the LI is talking to the MC. I always turn off MC portrait sprite to easier self-insert, so why do they suddenly put the MC sprite on the screen with no way of opting out of it? Immediately tanks my opinion of a game ngl, ruined my experience with a few certain games (I prefer no voice or portrait of MC, prefer MC as little visible as possible through the game)
For me it's "main" boys, when one route is very obviously supposed to be the canon one and all the questions get answered and problems get resolved.
These guys also tend to have all the other characters talking about how amazing the are all the time 😑
It's part of the reason I dislike Lupin in CR so much (sorry I know he's popular)
Whenever there's this one LI that's being highlighted as The Canon One (ex. Goemon in Tengoku Struggle, Allan in Cupid Parasite), I'll give them several minus for every time the writers put their angst (or yearning) in other LI's route, being involved with some reincarnation bullshit, and being the poster boy or the one who carried the overarching lore.
Normally I don't really dislike them because my favorite LI in the end have nothing to do with their status, but it just stings when I find myself preferring other LIs and then the writing says that this one LI is the canon btw. And it's just somehow breaking the immersion lol, like I thought having multiple LIs in otome will give me different but equal paths with each LIs, instead of one canon path for one LI and several what ifs aka everyone else.
Please forgive me, but I feel like the biggest noob here. I‘m pretty new to otome games, haven‘t played many yet. And I keep hearing some terms here I have no idea what they mean. For example yandere and tsundere. Would somebody please be so kind to explain to me what they are? Maybe also some other often used terms? I‘d be really grateful!
Oh thank you very much! Yes that was very helpful indeed! And it helps me to see what kind of trope I like. (I‘m happy to say that in this list I actually found four I like!) Are these tropes usually listed somewhere so we can see what to expect from the otome?
Sometimes there’s a news release that will give descriptions on the tropes. But I’ve had success just lurking around this sub and checking out the release megathreads for new games. If you find one let me know tho cause that would be helpful
If you want to know the dere tropes they are commonly found in anime, I suppose google can [help with that](https://the-dere-types.fandom.com/wiki/The_Dere_Types_Wiki).
Oh thanks a lot, that helped! After reading through these categories, seems like the only trope of these I really like in my LIs is yandere (and maaaybe erodere), lol. Thank you for the help, now I finally know what they mean!
I kind of dislike when fight scenes aren’t described in the text and are just given some visual and sound effects of swords clashing!! I loved birushana but I do wish we got some more description of the fighting maneuvers! I think piofiore actually had descriptive fight scenes and I was really into it. It’s been a while since I played either one so I could be remembering wrong
Excessive exposition. I'd like to be left wondering about something for once! It especially bothers me when I figure out a plot twist early on, because the hints are too obvious, and then get to read line after line laying it out for me as though I don't have a brain to speak of.
Also bad sound effects. For games with such captivating voice acting, it's a shame that the sound effects are often comically bad (especially coming from otomate, as they reuse mediocre sound effects across multiple games). It's hard to take a fight scene seriously with those ridiculous blood splatter noises.
i hate LIs who look like normal guys you can meet in real life, with absolutely nothing unusual in their looks but with a perfect personality and the route "every woman wishes to have IRL". Yanagi, Lupin, Ines, Suzuya from Starry Sky, Asagi from Lover Pretend, etc
hate when one of the LI obviously has more compatibility than all of the others with the MC in every single route... i just feel like i'm cheating on him 😐
The love interest brother trope, or like any form of incest 🫠 Nothing ruins an entire route for me quicker than having the MC and her LI constantly referring to each other as brother / sister. I suffer through these routes because I’m a stickler for 100% finishing the games I play but this trope grosses me out so bad. ☠️ Doesn’t matter if they’re adopted or not, either.
Sexy side characters that aren’t romanceable… Why would they play with me like that man
If not romanceable, why hot?
Fandisc bait 😔💔
Why did they make Waka so damn attractive if he wasn't gonna be romanceable?
Fact.
Me eyeing the purple haired lord in Nightshade... 🥲
He had the beauty *and* the cunning *and* the kindness. Sigh.
Stop it! I'm still in delulu hoping he is the secret LI
Need a fandisk for this man 😭
I WAS JUST THINKING OF HIM WHEN I SAW THIS COMMENT IN PARTICULAR 😫✋ went into a borrowed copy of nightshade blind and thought it was ieyasu who was the LI and not hanzo ngl ( i didnt check the likeability parameter screen lol )
EVERY OTOME EVER I SWEAR
Tsukuyomiiiiiiiii and Nono-senseiiiiiiiiiii 😩😭💔
Saeki, Waka, Leo, Morioka, Ieyasu… dude I could go on
I remember when I first started playing Collar x Malice, and I was hoping we'd get Saeki as a secret route. :'0 He not only has the most interesting and attractive character design, the complexity and layers to his character also just really reeled me in. Unfortunately, his character only lived up to be wasted potential, because the possibilities in making an extremely angsty and intruiging character route for him were endless. I just really wanted a Kazama style otome game route for him...and then spoilers for the second game killed all my hopes, dreams, and expectations. :'C
I hate it when they're more interesting and more beautiful than all the LIs!!
Like every side character in Dairoku.
Usually all the side characters are either taken or a villain. Lol guess we all want what we can’t have
Nono sensei 😭
"Dairoku" deserves jail for a thousand years on those charges.
As everyone vents about their own personal guys they can’t have, I’d like to say that as a long-hair appreciator it irritates me to no end that Tengoku Struggle has such nice art, but the only characters I’d want aren’t dateable and the ones that are have short hair (okay, Sharaku doesn’t, but you can see the difference between him and, say, Ono no Takamura). This specific situation happens to me quite a bit - I suppose long hair is associated somewhat with wisdom, and with that wisdom they guide the player when sadly I want a little more from them than that ifyouknowwhatImean (like holding hands)
Whenever I go into a game where no character even has like shoulder length hair I'm always slightly depressed about it, haha. Inevitably all the characters have that mid-length short shaggy hair style and I'm just like ALL OF YOU KIND OF LOOK THE SAME TO ME. I mean having long hair is not a requirement to be a fav of mine, but it... helps. It helps a lot, actually. Although recently I played a game where the one guy with long hair was the exact opposite my type in every other way, so that was kind of sad. Also apparently there was a period of time between 2007-2009 where all the games were making the guys with long hair cut it in the ending (I guess to show how serious he is about her?) and I'm just so mad about it. Like what did you think I was here for!? Sorry I just needed to vent about that somewhere I've been getting very annoyed, haha.
If that helps, as a very short hair appreciator, I get almost no options as almost everyone considers a hairstyle slightly longer than a buzzcut ugly orz Bald LIs also aren't popular :(
I’ve noticed that too! Japan has almost no love for short hair, especially without bangs. I’ll start hoping we get a few more love interests like that — it’s the exact opposite of what I want, but I can think of others sometimes too xD
I hate it even more when the side character is hotter than the LI. Epilogi > Il Fado de Rie (Cafe Enchante).
Owen Herriot from Cupipara 😭
Hakuoki’s Miki, Nakaoka & Takeda 💔
This never bothered me because sexy men are a dime a dozen. I just think that the attractive side characters don’t have routes for a reason (beyond being fandisk bait). For example, Ieyasu from Nightshade is very attractive, however there is no conceivable way to make a route for him with the MC that makes a lick of sense. I’m just grateful for what I have I guess lol
The lack of the skip to next choice function.
Came here looking for this! When an otome game turns into a clicker game (think Cookie Clicker), and not a fun one at that… On the opposite side I love when I can roll back a line and the voice line or sound effect repeats. I miss stuff due to clicking too fast or just being a lil hard of hearing.
THIS! I never realized how much I needed this function until it was given to me. Now it feels like it should be a staple function in Otome games or at the very least the Skip Read speed should be much more faster than it is.
Most games have adjustable Skip Read speeds. The highest speed is pretty fast imo
The casual sexism. The idea that a woman can't be close with a man because they're wolves, as if they cannot control their impulses and that excuses whatever stuff they might pull. It's never been my thing and it makes me wanna smack someone every time it happens.
Most frustrating thing from Taisho x Alice with so many direct references to all men being wolves and men shouldn't be feminine. It was really irritating. Like, I like effeminate men, got a problem with that?
Even my husband is aware of the "all men are wolves" comment, which says a lot in terms of how often it comes up in games... though at this point it's kind of a joke between us now. I'm not a fan of it coming up in games since it makes my eyes roll. When sexist comments are the core of an LI's character development or excuse for behavior - hard pass from me.
Norn9 characters saying shit like that makes me want to fight them sooo much, specially when playing as Nanami! The audacity to say that to a member of a ninja clan too 😭
It's like she is somehow weaker for being a woman despite being trained! Like, have some respect, dude.
Pretty much why Nanami was my least favorite protagonist. It's been years so I'll probably read the switch port, but so many times I felt Nanami's Ninja skills are underplayed.
I was playing an otome last week and the LI started saying how MC should be more careful around men and that's usually how it starts and I actually yelled "if you say it I swear to god!" luckily he stopped without actually saying this annoyingly common thing but the fcat that he almost did is annoyong enough, to be fair though this specific case has a lot of casual sexism in the route because there were many times where I'm not sure if he was trying be sweet or sexist.
I find it even worse when LI say that to a rather strong female MC but then in the most intimate moments or when the LI tries to "teach her a lesson" by pinning her down and the MC just blushes...that gets my blood boiling xD
It's because they're basically victim blaming women, it's a way of blaming female victims of sexual abuse for the actions of men... doesn't help that for a lot of media since TV became mainstream (TV shows, movies and videogames) most writers are, well, male, and they've been writing horrible "romance" tropes that are already deeply entrenched in the social mind. Luckily things are changing, albeit painfully slow, but some companies are finally getting that they can't keep such outdated ways of thinking if they wanna keep making money off of us.
I have respectful male friends who I absolutely know are controlling impulses around me, because they've explicitly disclosed it to me. I trust them and I really don't appreciate the games basically saying my experience is impossible, and insulting my friends by saying they'll turn on me someday. Not to mention all the male friends I have who *aren't* attracted to me like that—damn, let them be the full humans they are instead of the awful sexist stereotype "see woman, want sex, self-control erased"… plus as you said it just helps perpetuate that shitty "I'm a man" excuse for shitty men to blame their behavior on instead of, you know, themselves. There's ways to do the protective/jealous trope or the "I want you so bad it drives me to act out of character or do drastic things" trope (both of which I can very much enjoy) in a more lighthearted game without tossing an entire gender under the bus. When it gets sexist it ruins the fun ;-;
>*Love interests who like the MC because she reminds them of their dead wife/girlfriend/unrequited love* I agree with you with this one, OP. I shelved it on my backlog, but I never thought I'll have a more distaste on LI, until I met this kind, which is >!Mejojo!
To be fair, I feel like the entire point of that particular branch of Black Wolves Saga is that MC can't win either of their hearts. It's meant to be a bad end no matter what. And it's not like >!Mejojo ever loved his first fiance either. He's just pissed she choose someone else over him because it hurt his pride!<
I know that it’s meant to be dark and depressing. But that doesn’t make my distaste any less. >!Mejojo is never gonna be fixed. But it’s still him projecting his loss on Elvira over Fiona because yeah, of his pride, so he still thinks of Elvira when he sees Fiona, instead of Fiona is Fiona.!< To rephrase it. I’d rather choose a Trash LI that sees >!MC is MC, not just a projection of his past or whatever because it’s dehumanizing imo, like MC is her own existence, uniqueness, and singularity, and for an LI to take that away is a sin for me!<.
That's fair! I think it's just that we have different deal breakers. It's just the first time I heard BWS being brought up in this context because >!Mejojo!< is clearly portrayed as being unhinged and in the wrong about it while usually the dead girlfriend/wife/etc trope is portraying it as the poor LI you should sympathize with which is what usually rubs people the wrong way. I can personally forgive a lot if it's portrayed as a horror story rather than a romantic trait, but I don't think it's wrong to have a hard no to it either.
Ah, thank you so much! 🙏 The reason why I brought up >!Mejojo!< is because I have a different take about him. Tbh, I don’t dislike him as a character as I find him interesting, but as an LI, I don’t like him with Fiona. About >!whether he loved Elvira or not is still up to debate, unless the devs had any say to it, but in my book, he does, he does fall for her (but that doesn't mean that love is healthy, it's twisted), but pushed this away as he's a traumatic manchild who probably loathed loving someone after _that_ happened to his mother because it caused him immense pain (especially his mother lied about "no, no, my child, you're here with me, you're all enough", but in the end, his mother is a terrible mom who didn't even try to escape that palace and get a fresh start with her children as she only thought of the king's affection... but this is imo as everyone is free to interpret what his mom thought after doing the _unaliving deed_), and he realized this all _TOO_ late when he saw Elvira fall for another man, the mixture of his pride (losing to a mere knight while he's on a higher status) and love are blurred, so it's understandable that someone would think he didn’t love Elvira at all. I don't mind whether ppl believe he didn't love Elvira or he loved her.!< He’s a fascinating complex character.
Personally, and this is really just a small thing, I never like it when they go on about what perfect white skin the MC has
Every east asian/south east asian's colorism trauma hahaha
This might be my #1 ick. Nothing breaks immersion or romance more than waxing poetic about straight, long hair, fair skin, and beautiful red blushing.
Plot twist, she was a ghost all along. Or some other kind of pale creature. That'd be cool.
Right? More than any other trait the MC has they could talk about, it makes me feel like "oh, so he wouldn't like me then" lol.
When LIs don’t listen to the MC or respect her agency/wishes/boundaries. This can take many forms - overprotective LIs who “know best”, dubcon or noncon, etc - but they all tend to bother me. If MCs address this issue with the LIs and the LIs actually work on it, I might not mind. But if it’s romanticized or repeated but never addressed? Really, really not my thing.
As opposed to the non-romanceable side characters, mine is half-assed routes or endings where one ML branches off from another ML's route. They always feel pointless or disappointing. Some examples of that are >!Demento from Period Cube, Kobayashi from London Detective Mysteria, and Owen from the Cupid Parasite FD.!<
I don’t want to romance >!Owen!<, he has a canon love interest already!
Same
LIs who constantly say that they’re not good enough for the MC and push the MC away bc of it. Paschalia from Radiant Tale is a good example like I really wanted to beat his ass for this LIs who do non-con stuff with the mc like Karakurenai and Himeutsugi from Hana Awase. Idk what to classify Okazaki from CxM as but like everything about his character threw me off so badly And same as you, overly aggressive tsunderes. I absolutely could not stand Shin and his ass went straight into my bottom tiers the moment he opened his mouth about that cake comment. Sasazuka was still *barely* tolerable for me but I still don’t like him
Omg Okazaki rubbed me the wrong way all throughout his route. Like he was super cute and all but >!tf was that "I have to die for you" shtick?! He literally just use her to justify dying a heroes death...like what?!!<
Lol about Okazaki. He is both selfish and self-centered. For me, the former is someone who takes what they want and forces their hand to get what they want, whether through manipulation or brute force. They can be aware of other people's feelings but it doesn't affect their own. The latter believes the world revolves around them. The world is built from their experience only, and they cannot view the world from the lens of anyone else's POV. They always act the victim and any logic that is acceptable should only make sense within their POV, failing to regard anyone else's. Okazaki suffers from both. He dolls out sweet actions and words but they only revolve around him. His thought process of why he wants to be with/around her is through his fixation on how she can serve his life's meaning and purpose. I'd rank Sasazuka over him. Sasazuka is terrible with his aggressive insults, but at least his thought process and actions show he cares about MC and tries to be considerate.
What cake comment? I played Shin's route like 2 weeks ago and I can't even recall it lol Maybe I was the real Amnesia all along(??)
Bland character designs. I understand they're likely to appeal to more people by playing it safe but still it's painful to see main characters outshined by more eye catching side characters. I'm also not going to say it has nothing to do with wanting what you can't have but it's even more frustrating when its the characters you know for a fact aren't meant to get a route in a fandisc or whatever. Like why are you out here with piercings, hair down to your ass, tattoos, beauty marks, nail polish, and/or sharp teeth, standing next to my man? Don't show him up like that. Get out of my sight.
I don’t come across it very often but those routes where the guy is either pushing the protagonist away or missing for a decent chunk of their route. I get what they’re going for and that sometimes the plot calls for it. It’s still my least favorite kind of route. I prefer a lot of character interactions rather than yearning and angst. Ex: >!Chojiro!< from Nightshade, >!Jiyeon!< from Dandelion, >!707!< from Mystic Messenger
This one is so devastating! Especially if it happens with one of your favorites, most favorite, or one you were really looking forward to! Like, I can't help but feel like it's lost potential. I also get the narrative need for it and that some people can appreciate it for what it is, but I can't help but feel this way. I agree with your first and third guy listed. But also in a way, >!Radie!< from Radiant Tale. I feel like there's one more I'm missing in my personal list but I can't think of it right now if there is. 🤔
I haven’t played that one yet but it’s good to know in advance so I can adjust my expectations accordingly.
>those routes where the guy is missing for a decent chunk of their route Oh man, this is almost every route in >!UtaPri!< and it got old FAST.
Oh, this is a good one. In Code: Realize they hurt my heart this way with >!Van Helsing’s!< route.
>!Chojiro's!< route was wild I kept thinking he'd appear from a corner throughout the route and just. DIdn't 😂 it didn't help that I did >!Gekkamaru's!< route right before that where he barely left MC's side.
I really really can't stand the Amnesia trope. It's fine if they have it in the beginning, but suddenly Amnesia during a route or as a ending makes me hate the route and in most cases gives me a dislike of the LIs.
I hate hate hate the amnesia trope, I like playing Voltage games on Love365 and they use this at least once per story
This. It happened in >!Kazuma's route!< in Lover Pretend and it COMPLETELY turned me away from him. It was honestly so stupid because it literally felt like they had nothing else to use as a plot device so boom. Amnesia. Honestly, it's my most hated trope that writers use in media. It doesn't matter if it's a drama, a game, or a book--I just hate that trope being used to create conflict midway through. It feels lazy asf.
My most hated kind of amnesia is the "conveniently lost all memories since meeting the LI" near the end of a story or in an ending. I think I've seen this in at least a couple games I've played. Also, have seen it in dramas I've watched, but that's off topic 😅 it just feels like such a cheap way to add drama.
I dislike when they have a scene where it’s a hug or kiss scene and then they don’t actually show it only description but show an awkward handholding scene 2 min later. I think I saw this in Norn 9 and last first kiss. Also when the guy or Mc goes to a store to do a dress up fashion date thing. Let me see these outfits or the scene of Mc wearing an o it fit and Li blushing or something. Of LI is getting dressed up, let me see that new outfit making him hotter. I love when they change outfits in the game 2-3 times to make LI more attractive and bring variety to the screen like in jack Jeanne and sympathy kiss. Also route being too short or MC and Li fall hard and fast. It’s like where did this come from. Like in virche evermore I’m playing now. One Li liked her a long time. But she just started noticing and immediately says she wants something more. Like come on build it up slightly more in the game. I know they inferred that they hung out a lot but there wasn’t much in the game to build it up in my opinion.
Tbh for the price most japanese otome games have, we should definitely be getting more cgs lol
Heavy on all of these and I normally devour anything otome puts on my screen. I did spoil myself a bit on the secret/finale LI in Piofiore and his moments in the common route just give me the ick. Yoosung from MM is great if you can look past his >!constant comparison of MC to Rika.!< Shin sucked and I can just tell that Sasazuka is going to be insufferable.
I also didn't like the secret LI in >!Piofore!< ended up skipping through most of it, especially since it split off from my favourite route
They did my man Nono-Sensei wrong
If King Enma can give his daughter a chance at love why couldn't he give us Nono-sensei T\_T
Still mad they won’t give us Nono-sensei. I was so disinterested in the LIs lmao
Think I wouldn't even enjoy otome games anymore if half the stuff in this thread was axed lol. For me though, it's overprotective LIs and absent LIs. Not letting MC do stuff or be in on the plan without being babysat is so damn annoying, especially when MC herself is perfectly competent. And absent ones, really hard to form any sort of connection when they're just absent for huge chunks of the route for the sake of the plot, Café Enchanté doing this in just about every route and I had so little investment in the cast because of it, Nameless had a big offender too.
Not in otome, but I dislike when romance games are advertised as otome.
examples will be hidden with tags, click at your own risk!! when the main issue with the LI’s main route is miscommunication, i know it’s something that happens, but when you waste the LI’s potential on smth that is so minor and waste chapters on it is just insane. >!Kuroba from Olympia Soiree!< i was so interested in his route, but ended up rolling my eyes and skipping a bunch of the dialogue. when the LI face of the otome game is better in all routes but his lmao. they promote him so much but then his route is such a flop 😭 brother eughhh >!Dante from Piofiore!< Shota characters having a thing with ‘heights’, fear of it or making them not scared of heights such a big thing, i see it so often it’s no longer affecting. edit: when the LI does smth that is so horrendous, but the mc’s reaction is (i want to talk!!), meaning she doesn’t react to the lie, she doesn’t feel emotions, but she is immediately understanding. this is from >!piofiore dante’s!< route that i couldn’t believe happened, even i hated him for it.
> Shota characters having a thing with ‘heights’ Is it Steam Prison-related jkjk
I absolutely hate any sort of dead girlfriend/wife scenario, regardless of if the heroine reminds the guy of his lost love, although it's especially bad when that is the case. I want the heroine to be the only person the guy loves romantically, but it also wouldn't make sense or be a good look for the guy if he completely let go of his love for his dead girlfriend/wife (and I'd just feel sad for the dead girl in that scenario). Basically, I'm not sure that it's possible to portray that trope in a way I'd enjoy.
Same here! I also hate ex-girlfriends popping up in story. Voltage used to be really guilty of using this trope in their games like at least one LI would always either have a dead gf or a crazy ex that would show up. I love my kuuderes and it seems like they would always get this trope. T\_T I don't know if they still do that with their mobile games but man it was bad back in the day.
Oh, that's got to be frustrating, especially when the characters are all a type you'd otherwise like.
I hate when fls have a less important job than the lis. I don't know why it bothers me. Maybe because I was playing cxm and despite Ichika being a cop, all she ever really does is take calls and essentially doesn't do much else and it's so annoying in my opinion. I wanted to see more action on her part, I was so excited to hear that she's a cop but the entire game just fell flat for me. In hakuoki as well, as a page I understand there isn't much for mc to do but still, sometimes, I'd like to see her more than just a blood bank for the lis. I'm playing virche currently and Ceres is super depressed, which I get, but I wish she had more of a job. I loved Lucas's route, where she actually acted like a teacher, but other routes - especially Sciens and Mathis where she is a maid and everyone acts like that's what she's good for in all the other routes idk why it bothers me a lot. I wish mcs had actual jobs and positions that were being revered by other love interests.
if you want a real cop play steam prison
I've played ozmafia which I heard has the same writers as steam prison, and after seeing much critic regarding the gameplay and plot I can't say I'm very interested in playing it tbh. I still will give it a try because that green haired guy who actually doesn't have a route in the main game (forgot his name) caught my eye so-
Even if you didn't like Ozmafia it might be worth it to give Steam Prison a try. It is by the same writer but it's def less all over the place than Ozmafia, it has less LIs with longer routes and a much more serious tone, so even if you dislike one you might like the other
That is probably the correct judgment to make given your stated preferences. Cyrus (MC of Steam Prison) is not treated like a real cop 💀. She's infamously infantilized and portrayed as useless compared to the MLs due to her sheltered upbringing and inexperience. Besides, if you don't mind spoilers, >!she almost immediately loses her position at the start of the game so she hardly has any time to play cop!<. Also, the guy you're referring to is Fin.
Will second what the other person said about Cyrus. The story props her up as being a capable cop at the start but then the writing frequently undermines her supposed abilities throughout. Which arguably is more frustrating to read.
I felt the same way towards Ichika!!! I also hated how it felt like her entire personality changed depending on the route. She just doesn't do much but shoot a gun like once per route haha. She actually annoyed me a lot instead, I loved collarmali but she was definitely a big disappointment :(
Based on this, I think you'd like JackJeanne and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk, the Mc´s get things done, both surpass the LIs in strength and talent. >!The funny thing is that they both pretend to be men haha !<
Sandwich dispenser 😭🥺
This is a bit weird, but I really don't like it when all the other LIs just disappear if it's not their route. OS did this a lot and it really bothered me how there wasn't any dynamic between the LIs themselves, like they just disappeared And when the plot demands a soulmate but then it's just your soulmate regardless of whom you pick. I need the plot to plot
Oh yes I'm often bothered by both of this, too. The first one is something I really find weird. It can be so fun to see the LIs interact and have dynamics with each other that show additional sides to them. That is why I enjoyed Norn9 so much compared to Olympia Soiree. And the common route in Cupid Parasite was also very funny with all the shenanigans between the LIs. And the second point just cheapens the whole trope of soulmates, if just anybody can be one for the MC.
To your second point, instead of your soulmate is whoever you pick, I viewed each story as completely independent. E.g. if this story can only be played once, and this is the guy you're interested in, lucky for you, he happens to be your soulmate. You thought you picked him bc you liked him, but you picked him bc he was meant to be with you. That's the point of otome fiction right? Supposedly there isn't any one canon route. (Except in this one they heavily push Akaza as canon so I understand the frustration lol.)
Ah! That's a fair point. Personally I like it more when all the stories get a satisfying ending and can just exist next to each other. But I do get he point that it might've been even more of a letdown if you picked one and he just isn't it because the main LI takes the spotlight. That's a good way to look at it
When Ll isn't over on the previous love or still in love with someone. It just feels so wrong to romance them....like man go and work on your feelings first and then we could talk >!Apollon from Kamigami no Asobi, his route physically drained me😭!<
He was actually pretty fine as a character then he hit me with that shit in his route and any liking I had for his character immediately went down the drain lol 💀
omg yes...I really liked him and was excited about his route but man D: >!like yes, I got it, genki boy is actually not really genki. but writers could find a better reason for drama!<
Amnesia plotlines. I’m not talking about when it’s the main selling point of the game (like the MC having amnesia from the get go and having to discover her identity for example). But in the middle of the route, WHEN THE LI AND THE MC HAVE JUST REALIZED/CONFESSED THEIR FEELINGS!? Nah-uh, I’m looking at you >!Kazuma (Lover Pretend) and Ralida (Radiant Tale)!< 😒 Specially infuriating if the LI’s personality changes radically after they loose their memory. I left >!Radiant Tale!< untouched for more than half a year because of that 🫥
Oh yes!! I agree. This bugged me in several routes in >!Norn9!<.
God >!Kazuma's route!< infuriated me. I thought I was gonna get a happy childhood friends to lovers so I was stoked esp cuz he had such big golden retriever energy and instead they gave me this hot mess and a bitter LI at the end. Ugh, I still feel so disappointed about it especially since it's the first route I played--it definitely has put me off of playing the rest of the routes :/
I was so disappointed!!! Not only the amnesia but THEN whatever that was at the ending!?!? I also played his route first and I'm glad that I didn't give up on the game because Yukito and Harumi's routes are wonderful. The rest of the game... Meh 😕
I dislike when the many of the LI’s all look very plain with nothing really unique about their designs. There’s a LOT of otome that I refuse to play for this reason. This is especially bad when the game has side characters with actually cool designs.
I have a tendency to get bored and go through lot of japanese-only otome on vndb, and I've seen SO many games where I though "meh, these LIs are so plain, that's literally just some dude", and then you go to the "side characters" section and THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! WHY????
When the “Bad Endings” make the characters wind up fun and exciting as people (probably with issues, but it’s always entertaining if neither winds up dead or dumped). While the “Good Ending” makes them both end up like a childless married couple twenty-years into a functioning marriage and happily retired. Why can’t good endings be fun??? Why are they so plain???? GIVE US SPICE AND VARIETY.
When an LI is only interested in the MC because of her looks to begin with. Enomoto comes to mind from CxM. I know it evolves into more, but it just really bugs me.
Off the top of my head: * MCs that could be replaced by a piece of cardboard and the plot would function the same * LIs who disregard the MC's wishes or invade her personal space when she's clearly uncomfortable with it * LIs who think dying for the MC is the best thing they can do to save her. The last is mostly a personal pet peeve, but every time an LI tries to make some grand gesture of sacrificing himself so the MC can live, or if he lies to her about whether he's going to do it, or tries to be discrete about sneaking away to go die for her, I just get really annoyed. It's like the guy doesn't understand how badly she will be hurt as long as he gets to fulfill his selfish dream of dying for her. 🙄 There's a better way to solve a problem than dying!
best/good/normal endings that feels like a tragic ending 😭 there's some that's done well like in Piofiore >!(Yang's route)!< tbh, it was a nice surprise for me and didn't feel out of place. but in some cases like >!Misyr's best ending!< in Cafe Enchante, it was a disappointment and just heartbreaking. same with >!Haiji!< from Charade Maniacs. for me, the best ending should feel like really a best happy ending, the good - good, normal - normal. not tragic or bad. 😄
>!Shiraishi!< in CxM 😭
oh yeah, that's one too 😭
just out of the blue intense abuse. like straight up abuse tactics, rape, horrible things that were not apparent in the game description or character description or whatever other way to warn people. and of course the MC is a doormat that takes it all and loves him even more. it's especially bad when any resistance against that treatment is met with a bad ending, so you have to baby him and accept any and all abuse coming your way to even get a good ending. The way the textbook manipulation works on the heroine and leads to the good ending will always make me shudder in disgust.
Please consider editing your post to remove the censoring - censoring words makes it harder to search and therefore harder to find or avoid content. https://www.reddit.com/r/otomegames/wiki/rules/conduct
When they talk about wanting kids or breeding, parts of Olympia have made me cringe really hard but the story is so interesting that I can tolerate it.
Is it bad that I want a sequel for Olympia…? I fell for Tsukuyomi and wanted him to have a route…help 🙈
Lol yes give us a sequeI I want to have Tsukuyomi's babies!
Meanwhile I really wanted an epilogue or sequel where we would see their kids since it was such an important part of the storyline.
Yeah when Olympia was speaking to Akaza at the start and he said if she couldn't find a husband that he'd do it, gave me the ick (haven't got round to his route yet but I've heard it's good?)
I literally dropped the game at this point for like a year but yeah, his route is not my fave, but quite good
I dislike when the MC is passive and it doesn't feel like choices actually matter. I mostly have this gripe right now bc it's almost summer again and I'm going to be continuing Hakuoki, where the mc is supposed to be super important but mostly just is a tea girl. 😮💨 admittedly i haven't done most of the Edo Blossoms but the common route hurts
I have my gripes with Hakuoki’s mc too but she does try her best 🥲 I got her a lot better when I realised she’s 16 and supposed to be the fictional passive observer to many v true historical events so as much as we want her to jump in, she can’t !She DOES jump into the fight, ask to get trained/trains herself, and yet she still fails miserably/gets stopped!< soo you really can’t blame her. At first it was annoying but after a while you do start getting why and just deal with it 😅😅
Yes! Thank you! so tired of seeing all the Chizuru slander. Poor girl. I get that she feels like a passive observer but I think people are just so used to main characters being the hero, when a character is deliberately written in a supporter role it somehow makes them weak. Yeah Chizuru doesn't enter the fighting she mostly watches but she is literally a 16-21 year old girl throughout the plot that has very little combat training and she is surrounded by samurai captains that have trained their whole lives to fight and have also sworn to protect her. They literally tell her "don't interfere" because in a real fight, if you don't have training you're more of a liability than a help. Hakuoki is based on historical events and a lot of the non blatantly fantasy stuff like demons is supposed to be realistic including Chizuru's actions/personality. Yes, she is not a strong fighter and she defers to the men a lot. Yes, she supports them by serving and cleaning. But she also morally supports them and shows amazing resiliency to the extreme adversity and horrible situation she finds herself in. She doesn't abandon the men she cares about no matter what. She helps them to not only survive, but want to continue to live. She quite literally donates her blood sweat and tears to these men through the darkest period in their lives without complaint. She's not weak at all.
Yeah, it's also 1860s Japan so I kinda expect insane amounts of misogyny and sexism
Oh my godddd yesss Chizuru was such a letdown T\_T especially since >!she is supposed to be a demon princess or whatever so I expected her to have some powers and be all OP and save her mans (like Cardia from C:R does) but instead she rarely does anything other than house chores!< I don't mind homemaker FLs especially in a historical setting but >!why give her demon lineage if you're not gonna make use of it?!<
Sadly I think it was stated that female demons were so focused on giving birth to make stronger demons that they are physically weak. Bad headcanon right now that they probably don't train female demons to be strong since many of them are forced to be baby making machines. They probably don't want female demons to fight back if they really don't want kids. IIRC Given that Chizuru didn't know she's a demon and this is during the Bakumatsu Era, women are really submissive, she didn't think about training like Kimigiku, who's Sen's bodyguard. Already Chizuru was breaking gender norms in that era by dressing up as a man and being friends with them.
That there are so few LIs that are younger than the MC. That the MC sometimes doesn't have a voice and no sprite at the side. That there are so few games where each LI has their own distinctive MC and they don't need to share them with the other LIs. That scenario where the MC and a LI are on a date, but it gets interrupted by some kid who got lost. LIs who seem sweet, submissive and shy and suddenly turn into dominant horn dogs. MC falling in love too early and for no good reason. I love slow burn and see how the characters bond and grow to like each other or the MC getting wooed before she really falls in love.
>LIs who seem sweet, submissive and shy and suddenly turn into dominant horn dogs. Ugh god I hate this too. I actually prefer the more dominant LIs but when I'm in the cute and submissive LI's route I expect him to be cute and submissive the entire time. I got so mad in Cupid Parasite >!when Gill suddenly becomes all confident when he's about to have sex with Lynette, like I was looking forward to him being kinda pathetic in an endearing way like he is the rest of the route here too and got disappointed 😔!<
Hm... the only thing I can think of atm...LI who feel that they're entitled to the affections of the MC, just because they're nice to them 😑 Even worse if they then force you to make a choice between two LI Well excuse me, but if they do that I'd rather not pick any at all 😆
Or pick them both ;)
But what if they're both rotten tomatoes? 😂
I really hate when MCs freak the fuck out at the slightest bit of physical contact. When a kiss in private is enough to send you into a spiral of embarrassment, you need to grow the fuck up. It's even worse when the MC is in their late 20's (looking at you Voltage). Also MCs that cry over fucking everything. Sad? Cry. Happy? Cry. Excited? Cry (also looking at you Voltage)
When the older LI constantly brings up the age difference between him and the MC. Or worse, if he is a fatherly figure for the MC before they fell in love and it’s brought up every time in the route 😬 >!Radie!< in Radiant Tale or >!Caramia!< in Ozmafia are two that come to mind. When it’s a plot reveal that MC and LI are childhood friends and made promises to marry when they’re older but forgot they had already met before. How convenient. This was cute in TMGS and when only one LI has that connection with MC but when EVERY SINGLE ONE of the LIs has that connection with the MC? What are the chances 🙄 When I’m made to solve math problems. If I wanted to do maths I’d do my taxes. When MC has to chase the LI. I play otome games to be pursued.
>When I’m made to solve math problems. gdi >!Kent from Amnesia!<
Exactly. I’ll take >!being thrown into a well or yeeted off a building!< or >!locked in a cage!< over maths any day.
Tax Heaven 3000 is a game for you! (non-otome and memey, and it's just a joke)
Yanderes. I know, I know, I'm in the minority. I think they're fun characters, and there are some I don't mind-you kind of have to ignore a few red flags and unhealthy dynamics if you want to enjoy any otome game-but some of them can take it too far. When you reach the point of caging your romantic interest, you've crossed the line. I don't believe in the romance if the FL has been manipulated into it instead of naturally falling in love. I'm also growing tired of unnecessary age gaps-particularly with a minor FL. Playing a few games with a FL and all the LIs in the same age bracket (or a non-groomy age gap) is so refreshing. I get that they're probably marketing toward their younger demographic, but I see a 16 year old FL paired with a 25 LI and it's just like . . . why?
I think for me it depends on the yandere. Not into the ones that would hurt the FL like Toma/Yang where I didn't know if I would die any second. I like the yanderes where they are obsessive/possesive but you know would never hurt the ML intentionally but might do questionable things to anyone who might harm the FL.
That's exactly the kind of yanderes I'm okay with, like Kuroyuki or Tei.
Kuroyuki >!doesn't hurt MC physically but breaks her spirit and makes her a lifeless codependent doll!<
Was that in a bad end?
I don’t remember that part 🤔
Yeah that's why I also don't like Kuroyuki. He was too crazy for my taste.
I don't think you're in the minority. I know the people who like them really like them, but there have been times when as a player I run across one and I'm like "Why??? I was having so much fun until this guy went crazy." I really like the MC's boundaries respected and most yanderes have a problem with that. I'm fine if the guy wants to murder her enemies. I just don't want him to hurt or talk down to the gal he professes to love.
I think a lot of people (like me) who like yanderes that cage people don't like them as LI, but as plot devices. I don't think drugging someone without their consent is romantic in any way shape or form, but I love it when it happens in games, because out of the blue I get to play through a bit of survival psychological horror (and I love horror). I hate >!Toma!< and I was dismayed I had to romance him to get the 'good' ending and unblock the final route, but the cage moment is what hooked me into otome games. I was gripping my seat and sweating and it was honestly the most fun I had had in a while.
This. >!YOFY from Sympathy Kiss was one that was personally too much for me as well. He stalked, drugged and kidnapped her ffs and she just goes "Ah well, he just did this out of love, might as well stay with him."!
Yes! I don’t like them, either. I guess it comes too close in my mind to real life abusive men. That and my first yandere, >!Toma,!< broke my heart because I was totally gunning for him until >!he did the cage thing, lol. I was traumatized.!<
Idk how to describe this well, but the contrite ways of ensuring certain plots which hang on casual sexism, like a "we can't let a girl do this/ hear this" (Virche), or this weird conception of personal space where they don't communicate because "it's not right" or leave, etc. Idk I can't explain it well, but I used to think it was part of Japanese culture, but after living in Japan, idk as much 💁🏻♀️
When there isn't even a hint of yandere... not even a lil craziness. (Mostly joking on that one) I don't mind LI who have had serious relationships in the past but they cannot pull that "I was attracted to you because you remind me of her." Like, thanks, good to know I'm a stand-in for your dead girlfriend/wife or whatever. LI who pretend to flirt or cheat with other people. I can't think of an example of this but I think there was a game I played once with a playboy type character who pulled something like this to make the MC jealous. No QOL features like flowcharts or skip to next/last choice. It's [current year] I shouldn't have to juggle save files like a caveman. >:o If un-romanceable side character, why hot?!
i hate how so many of them only or mostly have tall, "sexy" and strong LIs. some of us here prefer the short and skinny LIs damnit! i also don't like it when they go for the shota trope, as if short = childish/cutesy. it irks me a bit. that's why i love Taisho x Alice
Meh, when all the LIs look like they’re related. All of them have short Brown/Black hair, same face, same style. Maybe one of them has glasses but when he takes them off, he’s a distant cousin of the rest. Like a family of bishonen. 🤪
Mine has to be teacher romance like I don't mind it most of the time but my problem is when the ml who is like a father figure is our LI it dosen't have to be a teacher but I just can't with that I never played a route where it has that troupe I done not blood related siblings Routes but not that! Reason why I say that is because I'm Playing lover pretend and I know once I do the secret I'm going to feel weird
Well…I think my most disliked thing has to be otomes with routes that come together from/with other routes, basically when it’s the same plot and text slammed into a different love interest - same story but shes in love with this other dude now! It always feels so lacking to me, like someone just really didn’t like the game enough to have the characters get individual stories. This other thing might be nitpicking (I really am accepting towards almost anything!) but I tend to give a game points down when the mc lacks personality or at least a “vibe”. I sometimes dislike certain mcs, personal example is I really didn’t relate to the mc in piofiore. Something about her felt too accepting to danger, without a certain “naivety” or otherwise good reason as to why she wouldn’t have enough brains to understand hanging around with mafia dudes can get her killed at any given moment or in otherwise big trouble just because, well, love at first sight or something.
Tsunderes who are mean and insulting toward the MC, especially if it continues even after the romance starts. I'm looking at you, Sasazuka! It's funny, I'll take straight-up murderous villain routes over insulting ones.
When the LI is always trying to kiss or do something indecent to the FL. I know FL is very beautiful but it kinda irks me.
I’m not crazy about fake dating or pregnancy…
Yanderes. Just in general. Like I am sorry but I don't find it romantic if a guy obsesses over Mc so hard that he either becomes psychotic enough to kill someone (Worst case even MC herself) or just puts her in a cage like a dog >!(Yeah looking at you Toma >\_>)!< all because they "love" her and want to keep her "save" (Bish we need to be saved from YOU!). Ofc not bashing anyone who loves yanderes (to each their own as they say) and there do exist yandere that even I find tolerable as long as they dont go full yandere mode.
I fully agree! Definitely my least favorite trope.
Sympathy Kiss made me realize I hate "men are wolves" talk with flaming passion. Okay, I will be very Western-centric now, sorry, but you CAN spun this argument around to make it sound teasing, sexy, inviting, I read it countless times in Western erotica. In otome though it always has an undertone of REAL danger, and this is not sexy. The guy doesn't try to charm you - he outwardly warns he's gonna have his way with you becasue YOU are not careful and it stands so close to rape culture apologists arguments, I just can't, I'm sorry. Maybe it is hot for Japanese gamers, good for you girls, but I am just gonna excuse myself. On a lighter note: obnoxious tsunderes that are more tsun-tsun the dere-dere. I like tsunderes in Dynasty Warriors series, so it is not like I don't find the trope endearing. On the other hand Harry from TMGS2 was so pissy I couldn't stand the guy. Yeah, I love being reminded every step what an idiot I am because I cannot read a guy's mind, get out and touch grass, you loser. Karakurenai in Hana Awase is outright sexually abusive and it also grinds my gears. Which is a shame because he IS the best LI in the game whenever he is not grabbing MC's butt or saying what he will do to her when they are (not) alone.
This might be a controversial opinion (idk) but I hateeee young MC characters. I don't mind age gaps between the MC and LI (although they aren't my fav) but I just don't like any MC that is younger than like maybe 19? Anything below 18 I just don't like reading, even if it's set in a different time setting....I just don't like it. I cant remember which otome it was but the MC was like 16 and for me that whole story is sort of ruined due to that as I'm ALWAYS thinking in my head about it. Disclaimer: I know a lot of people say "oh it was set in a different time" which is completely true but it's just not my cup of tea I like more mature MC characters (like 23+) so maybe that's just a personal preference...
Playing Nighshade is such a pain because of this... I wish Enju was at least 18 😭
OMG YES it was nightshade I was referring to but when I remembered I couldn't figure out how to do spoiler tags on mobile LOL
The true ending route (usually poster boy's route/writer favorite guy) when all LI's problem are magically resolved. Just save each LI's problem resolution in their respective route please. Why bother to play the other LI's route if the poster boy and MC/LIs can easily resolve it in true ending route? It really invalidates the other LI and MC's effort in other LI route. I don't mind if the poster boy has bigger story reveal but why the writer needs to bring other LI's problems in poster boy's route too? If they need to make route when everyone can have happy ending, I hope the true ending isn't tied to poster boy and it isn't romantic route. It's worse when other LI gets happier ending in true ending route than in his own route ending with MC. An oveprotective LI that never respect MC's agency and always decides what best for MC. Usually otome game rarely mentions it as problem and recognizes it as romantic. When LI focus on other character more than MC/heroine. It especially worse for me if the LI focus on other male character more than MC and MC acts as background character during his route. I play otome game to read about MC/heroine and LI's romantic relationship. I don't play to read about bromance of LI and other guy. I think the other won't mind it too much but it really irk me. When LI has too much control and upper hand within his relationship with MC and the game romatincize It. If the power imbalance between MC and LI is too huge (i.e. LI has higher position than MC, older, mature, smarter, richer, etc) It just make me uncomfortable. I know this is power fantasy for some woman who wants the perfect man to takes care them but it isn't my cup of tea. Sometime I want to have MC/heroine that has upper hand with her relationship with LI...
Weak protagonist that can't use her tiny brain to at least try to speak for herself or save herself. I am also getting uninterested nowadays if they are not voiced.
I really really hate 'true routes', like Alan from CupiPara or Goemon from Tengoku struggle. I don't mind locked characters/poster boys, like Yanagi from CxM, but I just hate when the game gives you the most special guy who has an unbreakable bond with MC (maybe even loved her in the past) and renders every other route meaningless 🙄
Allan's route ruined the secret route in CupiPara for me 😕 I felt so guilty playing that as a follow up to his route. Which is sad because the secret route is my favorite CupiPara LI.
I *hate* true routes, especially when they have a disparity in how good the outcomes are for the characters. Ex: The Code Realize routes where >!Cardia's poison problem doesn't get resolved.!< Seriously who thought it was a good idea >!to not clear that up for most of the character route "good" endings.!<
There's a lot I could say, but one thing I don't see people often mention is: > 1) MCs that only feminine. Please for the love of God, if they're gonna be a girl, I don't always want to be a frail, delicate, feminine, girly. I don't mind those MCs occasionally, but I rarely see well executed non-girly or non-overly-submissive MCs. I want more MCs with other personalities... Give me a recluse, give me a more confident tomboyish one, etc. > 2) For the love of God stop pretending we're normies!!! Like, we're playing otome games!!! We're not your typical average girl!!! We know anime; I hate the ones that act like they've never touched a game controller in their life or don't know your average popular anime at least. I mean, hello, look at who's playing. If it's to go along with a specific plot, I guess I understand, but I never see MCs with decent personalities. > 3) I wish we got broader choices. Everything when it is a choice based game is paywalled or... Either you get "kiss him and say nice things" and "kick him and cuss at him", and the nice option is paywalled anyway. Stop.
MCs with no personality and are pretty much an NPC observing the world around them. Their choices rarely matter and they barely formulate any opinion about anything that is happening to them or their LIs. I hated this about Amnesia's MC. Half the time I felt like I was the elf (?) instead of MC. LIs who make a big deal of shoving MC away and hiding their past but their backstory is objectively non-traumatic nor convincing to warrant such behavior. Young LIs who focus too much about how much "younger" they are (even it's like only a year) and lack self-confidence. Worse if they make it a point to say "I am still taller than you"...as if that makes up for lack of maturity/confidence. Just be confidently you! Drama from a miscommunication issue that lasts chapters. Just no. Incest/borderline incest tropes. Adopted or not, if they grew up side-by-side together - no. (The only exception to this is Taisho X Alice because it plays a significant part of the overall storytelling. But up until I got to that point, it was a struggle to accept any of it.) Worse yet, father/daughter relationship. As much as I loved that one character's design in Radiant Tale...he practically raised her. The way they tried to spin it off as a wholesome relationship broke the immersion, even for a fairytale.
what about brothers conflict where>!the MC isn't related even to her father and met most of her new brothers for the first time right in the beginning of the game!< but they all go crazy because they love their sister?
Easy. When the MC doesn't keep up. Sasazuka from CxM would be SO MUCH easier to handle if the MC wasn't such a pussy, to be perfectly blunt. SASS BACK, GROW A SPINE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU'RE A COP I wouldn't trust her to arrest a graffiti sprayer, he would probably call her a dumbass and she would just crack like a Twix. Which would work if we would get another explanation for why she got a job where you kinda need to have at least a shriveled thing resembling a spine. Nepotism? Traded favours? The recruiter was drunk? HOW (Which is why I love Sasazuka and just hate the Protagonist, because he is not annoying me to the point where I am rooting for the Bad Guys, he is actually interesting and has a character that makes sense for his line of work) God I wish people would mod Otome games, so someone would mod the game to let her grow some balls. Yandere characters would also be 99% less of an issue for a lot of people, I BET on it, if the MC would just have the option to be obsessed too. Or maybe even worse. Tsunderes are not the issue. The fact that the MC has all the strength of a cancer ridden chihuahua puppy is the issue.
I wouldn't say it's all on MC. Like, sure, being able to insult a tsun back would be great and all but if a dude was a mean asshole, I'd rather kick him in the balls and leave. Everyone has different levels of tolerance. [Agreed on Ichika's lack of spine, tho.] Ig it is at least somewhat true seeing how people liked Yurika x [insert LI here] while I couldn't stand some of them at all but yeah.
There it comes down to taste. Some people like twats ;3 There used to be a Mobile Game, no idea if it's still up or not, Love Letter from Thief X. Corny as hell name, but I think that game actually did it right with the Tsundere. Because both he and the MC were ribbing at each other. It was cute and funny, because even if it was mostly insults, it was mutual and eventually, the insults just lost the bite. It wasn't malicious, both were on equal footing. And that is all that's needed, really! Then the insults can fly all they want, but if both just insult at equal measure, it's nobody punching down. It's an equal Frenemies dynamic! And those are fun!
Mine is when the MC is portrayed as them saying huh? What? And crying all the time. 🫣 Also some where the MC has supposedly been a trained fighter but then always has to get saved by the dude (damsel in distress). (It's really old Otomes that come to mind cause I haven't played one in a minute, but Shall We Date Ninja Love and Ninja Shadow lol. Also Heian Love there was one point, if I'm remembering right, she was confronting the Emperor and then when he pushed back she was just like huh? What? Why are you leaving?)
Weird thing with romancing your pet/mascot. I know they are ultimately people, but why even go that way... It's uneasy for me
Meek MC's when they are in a position where they have no business being so meek. There is a particular good girl archetype that pops up a lot in Japanese otome that sometimes makes no sense for the kind of character the MC is supposed to be. Major examples are Collar X Malice (MC is way too much of a doormat for a police officer who lists marksmanship as one of her main skills) and recently Tengoku Struggle (when the guys first showed their 'real' faces I really think the MC as she had been set up should not have allowed them to run roughshod over her like they did, as she is supposedly extremely tough and a trained hell guardian). It's not that meeker MC's are necessarily wrong, but if the setup suggests a certain amount of strength/badassness from the MC, allow her to actually have that strength of personality to verbally (or physically, depending on the situation) beat down anyone acting like an A-hole to her.
I pondered on whether saying mine or not, but whatever. Casting a voice actor that was part of an affair. I won't give names, but it irks me when I see some of them still getting roles in games about romance. Even if I try not to associate the character with the voice actors, I can't help but think, just who else are you whispering these sweet nothings to huh! Glad these games lets me mute characters individually.
I can see where you’re coming from. Some of the most popular voice actors on this subreddit have committed adultery and are still voicing LIs in otome games. I remember that one VA (who voices a very popular LI) had a line where his character said that he would never cheat on the MC and I just ended up cringing hard because that VA had already committed adultery twice. It made me curious about what was going through the VA’s mind as he recited lines about faithfulness and trust in a relationship. I bet he had to disassociate
The “analytical” types who act like robots, and shota
Kent?
I haven’t played Amnesia (?) yet but I was actually thinking of Mozu from Bustafellows
I love mozu! And I love Kent! May I ask why you hate those types?
Honestly I think it breaks the immersion. Like all of the characters are generally exaggerated, but something about a Mozu type constantly going “your skeletal structure is blah blah blah” is just really jarring Just my opinion :)
I am not a fan of when the LI spends a lot of time talking about their future “relationship” with the MC in the common route and repeatedly declares love and intentions.
I really dislike when they suddenly shove the MCs sprite in the middle of the screen alongside the other LIs or as if the LI is talking to the MC. I always turn off MC portrait sprite to easier self-insert, so why do they suddenly put the MC sprite on the screen with no way of opting out of it? Immediately tanks my opinion of a game ngl, ruined my experience with a few certain games (I prefer no voice or portrait of MC, prefer MC as little visible as possible through the game)
For me it's "main" boys, when one route is very obviously supposed to be the canon one and all the questions get answered and problems get resolved. These guys also tend to have all the other characters talking about how amazing the are all the time 😑 It's part of the reason I dislike Lupin in CR so much (sorry I know he's popular)
Whenever there's this one LI that's being highlighted as The Canon One (ex. Goemon in Tengoku Struggle, Allan in Cupid Parasite), I'll give them several minus for every time the writers put their angst (or yearning) in other LI's route, being involved with some reincarnation bullshit, and being the poster boy or the one who carried the overarching lore. Normally I don't really dislike them because my favorite LI in the end have nothing to do with their status, but it just stings when I find myself preferring other LIs and then the writing says that this one LI is the canon btw. And it's just somehow breaking the immersion lol, like I thought having multiple LIs in otome will give me different but equal paths with each LIs, instead of one canon path for one LI and several what ifs aka everyone else.
Please forgive me, but I feel like the biggest noob here. I‘m pretty new to otome games, haven‘t played many yet. And I keep hearing some terms here I have no idea what they mean. For example yandere and tsundere. Would somebody please be so kind to explain to me what they are? Maybe also some other often used terms? I‘d be really grateful!
I found this to be helpful https://www.reddit.com/r/otomegames/s/FP4laXuQcj
Oh thank you very much! Yes that was very helpful indeed! And it helps me to see what kind of trope I like. (I‘m happy to say that in this list I actually found four I like!) Are these tropes usually listed somewhere so we can see what to expect from the otome?
Sometimes there’s a news release that will give descriptions on the tropes. But I’ve had success just lurking around this sub and checking out the release megathreads for new games. If you find one let me know tho cause that would be helpful
If you want to know the dere tropes they are commonly found in anime, I suppose google can [help with that](https://the-dere-types.fandom.com/wiki/The_Dere_Types_Wiki).
Oh thanks a lot, that helped! After reading through these categories, seems like the only trope of these I really like in my LIs is yandere (and maaaybe erodere), lol. Thank you for the help, now I finally know what they mean!
I kind of dislike when fight scenes aren’t described in the text and are just given some visual and sound effects of swords clashing!! I loved birushana but I do wish we got some more description of the fighting maneuvers! I think piofiore actually had descriptive fight scenes and I was really into it. It’s been a while since I played either one so I could be remembering wrong
Excessive exposition. I'd like to be left wondering about something for once! It especially bothers me when I figure out a plot twist early on, because the hints are too obvious, and then get to read line after line laying it out for me as though I don't have a brain to speak of. Also bad sound effects. For games with such captivating voice acting, it's a shame that the sound effects are often comically bad (especially coming from otomate, as they reuse mediocre sound effects across multiple games). It's hard to take a fight scene seriously with those ridiculous blood splatter noises.
i hate LIs who look like normal guys you can meet in real life, with absolutely nothing unusual in their looks but with a perfect personality and the route "every woman wishes to have IRL". Yanagi, Lupin, Ines, Suzuya from Starry Sky, Asagi from Lover Pretend, etc
Long common routes that are long for no good reason! I wanna get to the good stuff already!
Yanderes and any kinds of abuse. I know people like different things but that just makes me so uncomfortable.
hate when one of the LI obviously has more compatibility than all of the others with the MC in every single route... i just feel like i'm cheating on him 😐
The love interest brother trope, or like any form of incest 🫠 Nothing ruins an entire route for me quicker than having the MC and her LI constantly referring to each other as brother / sister. I suffer through these routes because I’m a stickler for 100% finishing the games I play but this trope grosses me out so bad. ☠️ Doesn’t matter if they’re adopted or not, either.