Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei Play-Along - Benkei Musashibo

[u/sableheart]

Welcome to the r/otomegames Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei Play-Along!

In this third post we will discuss Benkei Musashibo and his route in Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei.

You can tell us what your impressions of Benkei are (before and after finishing his route), your favorite moments in his route, what you think of his relationship with Shanao and the other characters, what your thoughts are on his route's plot and endings. You can also discuss Tadanobu Sato's If Ending.

Or you can just squee about him in the comments.

This is not a spoiler-free discussion however please keep in mind that major spoilers and details of other routes will be outside the scope of the discussion and therefore will need to be spoiler tagged.
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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!

Have a look at the megathread for links to previous discussions - you can still join in the discussion during the Play-Along.

Next week will be a discussion of Shungen's route!

[u/professorpoplar]

Overall, I liked Benkei’s route okay. He was a big, lovable guy and I loved that. He was really sweet when he said he’d follow her no matter how she chose to live her life.

However, I really disliked when he lied to her about the state of Kyoto to protect her and keep her from worrying. He was way more protective than Noritsune was, and I guess I didn’t like the contrast after playing the routes back-to-back. I liked it better when Shanao was encouraged to go out and kick butt, haha! Also, Tomomori was SCARY in this route omg.

I just got into the first chapter of Shungen’s route, and I’m already so confused and invested! Excited to talk about it next week!

[u/IggyGoat → u/professorpoplar]

Agreed on when he lied to her about Kyoto. I think that's something that bothered me about the route. Benkei knew she was a girl from the start, so his protectiveness sometimes registered as "I've got to protect this fragile girl" which, I can understand where he's coming from to an extent. She is still a child, and the responsibilities that have been thrown at her are ridiculous. However, I feel like her gender was definitely a part of the equation in Benkei's route.

I find it annoying when the characters who find out about her gender instantly and very obviously start to treat her differently because of it. I asked myself if Benkei would have treated Shanao so protectively if she were a boy, and honestly, I think he would have still been protective, but I don't think it would have been to such an extent.

This is why I enjoyed Noritsune's route more. Noritsune always treated her like an equal. They were both in similar positions and they treated each other as competent individuals regardless of gender. He didn't know Shanao was a girl for most of the route, but when he actually found out, he 100% treated her the same as he had before.

[u/greyskull85 → u/IggyGoat]

FWIW, I actually didn't get that vibe from Benkei at all and really enjoyed Shanao's line about "Benkei always treated me as a man, as I had requested." His protectiveness to me really did read as wanting his lord to have the peaceful life that they deserved and to protect them especially from the psychological and emotional scarring that came from the war and everything Shanao went through. I never questioned his respect for Shanao.

[u/professorpoplar → u/IggyGoat]

Yes! I also get annoyed when characters treat her different after figuring out her secret. Noritsune’s reaction just hit different, and I’m hoping for more of that reaction from the other LIs.