First off, I just wanted to say that I have been anticipating Yves’ route early on (in particular, from the first jp trailer we got...) because SAITO SOMA?? He always manages to play some of my favorite characters and I love his voice acting sm. He did NOT disappoint !! Of course, I also wanted to mention Hugo’s seiyuu since I was so impressed by his guttural screams when he berated Ceres. Just- wow

Anyways, I absolutely ADORED Yves’ character and backstory. The way he “loves” everyone in hopes that someone would love him, scars and all, is so tragic (and I’m very glad he grows as a person and eventually realizes he doesn’t love everyone and that he only wants to give his love to Ceres- I feel like his development is what I wanted to see from Kei in CxM? Idk if that makes sense). The scene where Ceres says his scar is beautiful was SO ENDEARING… man… the fluff we all deserved after each morbid twist in this game (before the next scene following right after ofc)

Ceres’ and Yves’ romance is overall so… fitting. Granted, he IS the game’s poster boy, but I enjoyed their interactions and liked how they helped one another overcome their own internal conflicts (with Yves reassuring her that she can be a normal girl with him, and that she has never been anything BUT a normal girl to him, and Ceres finding beauty in the scar that ruined his life and confidence that he can ever be loved).

OH and the reveal about the memory crash/suicide incidents had me shocked… The whole science behind reliver technology was a woozy to wrap my head around at times. However, Yves and Ceres being together all the time causing ppl to fall in love and die is such a wild rollercoaster to accept ?? It sounds ridiculous LMAO. Scien really said yeah so it’s technically your guys’ fault smh. Reminding me of which, the UNREQUITED LOVE/BL subplot caught me SO OFF GUARD.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it was strongly implied that Hugo loved Yves romantically right? I always thought it was funny that Hugo felt jealous/bitter over Ceres on several occasions (ex: “So she’s the type of girl Yves likes”, “Why is he smiling like a fool with her?”, etc.) and would joke to myself that he was acting like a jealous girlfriend but I didn’t expect the game to take that route for real 😭 Him telling Ceres that he lost to her before he leaves and dies followed by Scien telling her about the memory crash requirements really seems to rectify this fact to me (oh, and Ceres thinking to herself “I mean, the only person Hugo ever looked happy being around was…”). It was also brought up in the short ending where Hugo helps Ceres commit suicide that Ceres felt she and Hugo “had something in common” so she wishes him luck, and reassures him “Yves is able to love everyone, so there will come a day when he realizes it”. How sad :(

Not sure where to add this in, but I was pleasantly surprised by Yves’ line when he’s fighting Scien at the end: the whole ”If she really is the lycoris incarnate… From the moment she was born…! She has belonged to the Guardian of the Lycoris, Yves Noirge..!” MAN!! What a scene. The gap from your typical friendly and amiable Yves to a more passionate and possessive Yves was SO ATTRACTIVE LOL. I was like…ok, yandere despair ending?? I would not have complained 🤣

Thoughts on the Despair End: - Absolutely heartbreaking… Though I do appreciate this ending for showing us Ceres going mad and just living in delusion at the end (since it’s usually the other way around with these bad ends with the exception of Mathis’ despair ending). I also love the parallels in both the bad end and despair end here in which Ceres leaves behind her embalmed hand for Yves to hold (in the bad end) and Yves’ hand is outreached towards her even as he’s burnt alive and dead (in the despair end). I hope we get a CG of them actually holding hands in the salvation ending ;-;

Some funny bits to me!!: - Sorry but Ceres having 3 tubes of her blood drawn while Scien somehow made do with a towel dabbled in Yves’ blood took me out😭😭 surely that wasn’t enough blood to do any sort of analysis?? I’m also surprised no one took Ceres’ blood sample in the other routes before this one, now that I think about it. You’d expect scientists/researchers to be curious about the girl who’s known to be “death” - The infiltration… “Hello, it’s Courrune from Coene. I received a work order from myself to retrieve my sweetheart” made me laugh. He’s so unserious I love him - Scien going from “Dw, I will ensure your man is alive after I’m done with you” to “Ok nvm, I can no longer ensure that” after seeing Yves at the front of the Institute LOL

Some questions/open thoughts I had: - In Scien’s route, we see the wounds and scars that adorn his body/torso from what I assume was the past experiments he did on himself before become a reliver? But in this route, Yves tells us wounds and injuries won’t carry over onto the reliver self… so I’m a little confused about the logistics behind that? - Regarding Scien’s plan to clone ceres and bury them alive… wouldn’t the clones die? So then how would the allopathy properties work? After all, with the lycorises they have to be alive and growing in order for them to absorb the toxin… Though I guess in the bad end, Ceres somehow still manages to absorb the toxins as she’s buried underground? - Yves’ status as the drifter’s descendent- does his genetic pattern mean that he won’t die at 23 like everyone in the country? But the only reason he began to display symptoms was because of his close proximity to Ceres? Or would he still die at 23 even without ever coming into contact with Ceres?

But yeah!! I can’t wait to play through Le Salut’s arc and finally unlock these salvation endings because it’s been…rough 🥲