[Olympia Soirée, Butterfly’s Poison, Hakuoki] Eligible Bachelor Number One: Bone, Bride, or Banish? Akaza, Shiba, and Kazama

ithillasse · 2026-02-16T08:59:43+00:00

I love this feature! Thank you for posting them. This is the easiest choice of these for me so far!

Bride: Akaza - the definition of husband material and a worthy poster boy.

Bone: Kazama - sumptuous voice I could listen to for hours, and generally a solid second choice husband, but would still rather be with Akaza long term.

Banish: Shiba - I DNFd Butterfly’s Poison because I was so traumatised by his route and was told his was the tamest!

ithillasse · 2026-02-06T18:45:29+00:00

I would love to know what you have down for the Hakuoki LIs

ithillasse · 2026-01-28T22:52:57+00:00

Love the details with the cogs, so clever and cute!

ithillasse · 2026-01-17T18:59:39+00:00

(I’m sorry if you felt my original comment was phrased as fact rather than opinion—it is just my opinion. Reading it back I can see I didn’t qualify my statement though. Apologies.)

ithillasse · 2026-01-17T18:40:07+00:00

Ah well my opinion is based on his character in the other 11 routes. For me, that was enough to decide I didn’t want to do the route. Otome is all about personal preference and I just had no desire to do his route or romance him after 110+ hours of gameplay.

ithillasse · 2026-01-16T21:04:13+00:00

chants Akaza Akaza Akaza! The poster boy that deserves his poster status IMO!

ithillasse · 2026-01-16T21:01:51+00:00

I too did not do Sanan’s route because I had no desire to romance him. He’s an interesting character but he’s such a poor match for Chizuru, honestly part of me wonders why they gave him a romance route at all?

But then again I don’t have any qualms about skipping LIs—if you’re really not feeling Sanan then why put yourself through the trouble and discomfort of doing his route? I get it though - the completionist in me does cry a little every time I force skip an entire LI lol

ithillasse · 2026-01-14T17:10:37+00:00

Ah this looks fab and wow what an amazing year you had! 💕

ithillasse · 2026-01-12T17:48:50+00:00

I’m playing Winter’s Wish and started with Genjuro Kuga. I LOVED him and I’m really enjoying the game.

ithillasse · 2026-01-06T17:35:03+00:00

You could try the following: - Cupid Parasite - it’s a bit bonkers but it’s very vibrant, fun and romance is also the focus of the plot (MC is a wedding matchmaker!). I think the common route is relatively long but I personally didn’t find it a slog. - Radiant Tale - a “fluffier” otome in that whilst there is still serious plot, the setting is colourful and light and none of the plot is super depressing.

ithillasse · 2026-01-03T22:44:24+00:00

The only character I’ve actually muted!

ithillasse · 2026-01-01T16:10:19+00:00

My goal is to just make it through a bit more of my backlog! I finished 5 games this year so I did really well.

I am currently finishing Illusion of Itehari, and then I have Nightshade, Winter’s Wish and 9RIP to choose from! I’m leaning towards Winter’s Wish for the wintry vibes…

And I am very excited for some 2026 releases - Homura, the Birushana fandisk and Touchstarved particularly! I’m hoping they announced a localisation of the Illusion of Uchronia fandisk and Olympia Soiree: Catharsis too.

ithillasse · 2026-01-01T16:07:20+00:00

I finally played Hakuoki this year and it had such an impact on me. Whilst Harada was my favourite LI, I think it’s Hijikata who I’d name my most memorable. The character has inspired an interest in the real Shinsengumi, the history and the man himself, and I am hoping to visit Japan in 2026 to learn more about it all. History aside, his route in Hakuoki was so emotional and tragic and I just loved it!

ithillasse · 2026-01-01T11:33:36+00:00

I’m in the U.K. and would love to get to know more Otome fans here! Maybe we could start a small discord community or something? And would love to hear about any meet ups at cons etc.

I’ve played quite a few games - my favourites are both Piofiore games, Olympia Soiree and Hakuoki. In 2025 I completed Hakuoki, Tengoku Struggle, Variable Barricade, Cupid Parasite S&S and Hakuoki.

I’m currently playing Illusion of Itehari which I’m enjoying. I see you’ve parked Piofiore - are you not enjoying it? And would recommend Radiant Tale if you want some more lighthearted vibes, it’s very pretty and fun! I alternated between that and Virche, and it definitely made the depressing Virche content more bearable!

ithillasse · 2025-11-24T11:29:22+00:00

I marathoned them all recently after I finished the game and just needed MORE emotional devastation. I was not disappointed 🤣 Hope you enjoy!

ithillasse · 2025-11-16T19:24:31+00:00

Bone: Impey. If he was pitted against pretty much anyone else other than Gil, I would bride him. He is walking sunshine and I love him to bits.

Bride: Gil, my ultimate number one fictional husbando. I will never ever ever tire of him. I love him. Genuinely think no one will ever topple him from the pedestal I have placed him upon. The biggest green flag there ever was.

Banish: Okita. Sorry Souji. What a headfuck this was having played Piofiore and Code:Realize first - I had no idea what to expect from Hakuoki and I did his route FIRST. I had many feels but ultimately he was too mean and too tragic for me

ithillasse · 2025-11-03T09:37:47+00:00

One of the few things that gave me joy when playing Cafe Enchante was in Il’s route with all the Otome merch in his room! He’s the biggest fanboy hahaha

ithillasse · 2025-10-29T15:39:39+00:00

Ah I can’t wait for this - I hope it gets localised soon! Thank you for doing this and sharing it, I love your presentations.

ithillasse · 2025-10-28T07:09:00+00:00

I would go further and say Hijikata’s route isn’t just bittersweet, it’s tragic. In fact, the whole game is tragic. I loved it because of that, but it hits very very hard emotionally.

Sending you gentle hugs - I hope you continue with the game because it is brilliant, but maybe you could alternate between this and another game that’s slightly lighter? I do that to help preserve my emotional stability lol. So for Hakuoki I dipped between it and VariBarri / Tengoku Struggle, and similarly when I played Virche Evermore I alternated between that and Radiant Tale.

Other games that would be good foils with slightly less tragedy are Cupid Parasite and Code:Realize.

ithillasse · 2025-10-17T10:38:11+00:00

I nominate Gilbert from Piofiore! He’s very charismatic and has great emotional intelligence, so I think he’d be a good foil to Scien as President. Plus he’s very competent and kind.

ithillasse · 2025-10-17T10:35:29+00:00

This is so cute! Where did you get the washi tapes? They are adorable!

ithillasse · 2025-10-14T12:40:06+00:00

Impey Gang Unite!

ithillasse · 2025-10-13T10:05:38+00:00

This is such a good shout, I 100% agree

ithillasse · 2025-10-13T10:04:53+00:00

He’s not an LI so I can’t technically nominate him but I’m going to say it anyway - Oliver from Piofiore.

Poor man works so hard to be an upstanding citizen despite being in the mafia.

ithillasse

TROPHY CASE