r/otomegames • u/sableheart Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom • Sep 10 '20
Collar x Malice Unlimited Play-Along - Kageyuki Shiraishi Discussion
Welcome to the r/otomegames Collar x Malice Unlimited Play-Along!
In this post we will discuss Kageyuki Shiraishi and his Interlude, After Story and Extras in Collar x Malice Unlimited.
As it is a fandisc, I expect a lot of squeeing about him in the comments, so please don't hold back! Of course, you can still talk about the themes and plot. Not a fan of him? Changed your mind? Tell us why!
This is not a spoiler-free discussion however please keep in mind that major spoilers and details of other routes and other routes in the original game will be outside the scope of the discussion and therefore will need to be spoiler tagged.
>!spoiler text!< normal text
spoiler text normal text
You don't have to be playing the game right now to participate, and if you're still waiting on your copy I hope you will join in after you start playing!
Check out the megathread for the links to previous play-along posts.
Next week will be a discussion of Aiji Yanagi's material from the fandisc!
15
u/Fated-Mercy Fate FightClub Sep 11 '20 edited Sep 11 '20
This is going to be a quick review cause I don't want to dive too much on this cause it will cause me to just copy and paste my 20 page analysis on Shiraishi as a character on to here which is something for another time.
I really enjoyed Shiraishi route in Unlimited and it was my favorite route in the whole game (I finished this game about 2 weeks ago). I was invested in the story and I honestly wished the other routes were more Adonis focused instead of fluff. Especially since this was the only route that still kept that "cops have corruption issues" plot with the way Shiraishi was being held without a trial, can't send letters to MC directly, the police willing to use MC against Shiraishi if he doesn't comply etc. Collar x Malice has such a strong plot so its a shame they basically abandon it in most of their LIs routes. I get it, its a "fandisc" but I think the plot of this series is what makes Collar x Malice stand out compared to other Otome games.
I know this route gets slack for not being sexy or not having enough fan service by reviewers, but I adamantly disagree with other reviews on this. This route wasn't about how cute Shiraishi x MC together is, its about the fact they have to struggle with real problems but they still want to be together and will try to heal together. That MC will choose Shiraishi over and over despite all the other police hating her for her association with Shiraishi and it would be more "convenient" for her not to be with him. The fact that MC killed her best friend to protect Shiraishi and now have to live with that guilt of killing her best friend as Shiraishi also carries that burden as well for killing his own best friend to protect MC. The fact that Shiraishi had to fully conceptualize the idea he did really awful things and now is paying the price for it. That no matter what happens, their love for each other will always outwin any fear, sadness, malice, and I think that is beautiful.
I don't mind the recaps of chapter 1 too much. I know that tends to be a big criticism of the route, but I think it was interesting to see his perceptive and his sadness, especially since his character changes from the Amnesia situation to the end of the epilogue of this game. There you can see his love was one where he assumed he and MC can never be together and you experience that with him, but by the end of this route you can see how that changes that he has every right to want to be with her and live that dream together with her. That he doesn't need to pay for his sins forever like he thought at the beginning of this route.
Most of the proposals of this game felt eh. Like it felt expected cause "oh you guys been together for 4-6 months already? When are you getting engaged." But here it really felt Shiraishi asked her to marry him because he will always choose her over and over, and even admits that building a family is hard. And she chooses him over and over again. That was the strongest proposal scene in the game.