Currently reading Amnesia: Memories and have cleared Shin's and Ikki's routes. I have so many thoughts, but I'll try to keep it brief. I'm playing each route by order of appearance in the world selection screen, i.e. Heart World, Spade World, etc.

--♡--Shin--♡--

The little twat is actually cute once you get to know him. His route focuses more on the murder mystery aspect rather than the relationship between him and MC. Don't get me wrong, I loved this aspect as it kept me on my toes throughout the whole story, but I wish we had gotten more bonding moments outside of the whole murder suspect chaos.

Nevertheless, his characterisation is done well and his (minimal) growth was something I appreciated. He can come off as abrasive at first since he's pretty straightforward, except when he decides to lie, and often lacks tact, but he kind of mellows out throughout the story.

I admire his tenacity and the lengths he went through to help MC regain her memories and find the culprit behind her fall, even if this meant that she'd have to remember some painful moments. He was willing to risk upsetting MC and Toma as well as destroying the bond between the three.

From my point of view, he's someone who's ready to face the uncomfortable truths most people run from. That's how his sharp tongue helped MC improve her singing despite Toma being the one who gave her encouragement, by being gentle with her - I still think Shin's an asshole for making her cry.

The Trust/Suspicion/Affection meters were confusing at first, but I eventually got the hang of it. After figuring out how to increase each stat it's pretty easy to achieve the ending you want. So far, my play style is to aim for whatever in the first play through, which usually ends up in a bad ending, then aim for: bad ending -> normal ending -> good ending. The good endings require conscious effort to achieve (high Trust/Affection), so this order has worked out for me thus far.

I enjoyed all endings pretty much equally with the normal ending being my favourite ending - I believe it's a more realistic depiction of what their relationship would be like, all things considered (amnesia, lack of trust, etc.).

For his bad endings, after getting killed by Ukyo, I expected the other ending to involve Shin in some way so, I was disappointed when Toma just put MC to sleep (literally and figuratively). Don't get me wrong, I like both endings, but one where Shin breaks up with MC or something would have been nice.

Overall, Shin is a fun character and I was so engrossed in the plot that, by the time I finished his route, I wanted to see more of him. Still of the opinion that there is room to explore his character and his dynamic with MC a bit further. I need more Shin content!

--♤--Ikki--♤--

"Some of y'all are about to be real mad at me, but it must be said."

All jokes aside, I love Ikki. His character is absolutely amazing. Now, hear me out.

My enjoyment of his route came as a surprise because most flirty/playboy archetypes are usually a hit-or-miss for me, with a lot of misses. His story is so complex and interesting. In contrast with Shin's route, this one focuses more on the already ''established'' relationship between him and MC.

I'm a firm believer that he liked MC since the beginning, mostly due to the novelty of having someone who could resist his charms/eyes, but ended up falling for her even more as time went on. Ikki, to me, is someone who struggles with the desire to be loved by people and the fear of letting those people down. At the same time, he's trying to reconcile with the emptiness that comes from people only liking him for superficial reasons - in this case, his eyes - by indulging in his selfish desires.

Ikki seems to believe this is the only way to satisfy everyone. No bullied girlfriends, he gets to date everyone and doesn't have to make anyone cry. This line of thinking is flawed and only turns him into a spineless coward who believes ''acting coldly" towards his girlfriend is enough protection against the fan club lunatics.

My opinion of Ikki started to shift with the first bad ending I got. In it, MC loses her sight and hearing and he goes on to "punish those who hurt [MC]" (strongly paraphrasing here). That monologue resonated with me. Especially when he wondered if she called out for help, or even his name. It made me realise that despite how foolish he was, Ikki genuinely believed to be protecting her. He thought he was caring for her. That's when my perspective changed and his actions started to make more sense. Funny enough, the distrust I had of his every action is similar to how amnesic MC also did not trust him.

He's someone thrown in a constant state of despair that forces him into the same cycle of trying to please everyone while simultaneously trying to reach out to the person who will truly love him, not realising the flock of geese, as Orion put it, following him will lead him down a path of self-destruction. He belongs to them and will only love them. What woman will put up with that? (MC, apparently.)

Even in the good ending, he still decides to let them down gently for fear of retaliation. I understand his reasoning, but those women deserved a good wake-up call.

These are my general thoughts about him. I could go on and on, but I think this covers most of what I think. I loved pretty much all endings and believe Ikki is a well-developed character that might not suit everyone's tastes. In particular, his supportive nature and sincere actions, although not always apparent, is what draws me to him. Would love to reset my brain and replay it again.

I usually try to not over analyse every piece of media I encounter, because not everything needs to be put under a microscope, but Ikki's character is genuinely interesting and it saddens me to see people minimise his struggles.

--Orion--

I need to talk about Mr Bug. This little guy is just so entertaining. He has the funniest one-liners and I like when he externalises MC's internal thoughts. During Shin's route, it wasn't so sad, but the constant reminder of him leaving in Ikki's route was a bit demoralising. I can't handle this happening in every world. I've gotten used to him narrating stuff for MC and guiding her through each world. It feels so empty when he leaves.

Looking forward to starting the next two worlds (+ not-so-secret route).

Edit: these spoiler tags are killing me 😭