Hakuouki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Review

Hakuouki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ is the english version of Hakuouki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~, a game about the historic Shinsengumi and stuff. It was originally on PS2 so I got interested and played it on my PSP. I finished this game ages ago but didn’t have the time to write a post about it. So here’s the review I guess. Overall, the storyline, system and gameplay were fine so I’m pretty happy. 

Well we have the dumb protagonist Yukimura Chizuru who was out on a trip to find her daddy when she meets some white-haired weirdos. She’s almost gonna get killed by them when the Shinsengumi show up, chop them up, and she gets caught by them. She finds out more about the Shinsengumi and learning some new secrets about them and ends up falling in love with one of the historical bishies. Thats it. Let’s just get down to the routes. Gosh, why am I even writing this when like, almost everyone played it????

Hijikata Toshizou (CV: Shinichiro Miki)

He’s the Vice-Captain of the Shinsengumi, and he’s the commander Kondo’s good friend I guess. Btw Shinichiro Miki sounds extremely good in this one =w= and I enjoyed it a lot.  This route had many plot points, and focuses a lot on the original events of Japanese history. Basically, if you watched the anime it’s probably the same. Eitherways this is one of the long routes so sit back get a coffee and tissues if you’re emotional you’re gonna cry.  I don’t even want to write on the indivdual events in the neutral chapters since I’m really getting lazy. It’s one of the better routes and shows the full story of the Shinsengumi, as well as the Ochimizu. Welp the ochimizu is some kind of random concoction which transforms the guys  into monsters called Rasetsu. It basically eats into your life span while giving you better strength and powers, like to heal fast. Welp that was made by Chizuru’s dad so that explains that. Btw they murdered like the nicest guys in the game (also according to history) and murdered almost the whole cast and MIAed others so basically…..cry all you want.

I don’t even want to get to the point where more whacked out things start to happen along with everyone dying so I felt that this route was more emotional than romantic. So after that Hijikata decides to protect Chizuru from then on forever, when he’s actually kinda tsun about it though. And he did turn into a Rasetsu in order to do so. From then onwards, he survives on Chizuru’s blood. Well Rasetsus need blood to live longer thats all. Well he gets to feed on Chizuru’s blood from her neck since he’s the main character and those were hot. Continuing after Chapter 5 Hijikata starts wearing a military uniform and cuts his hair short that was really great. And still surviving on Chizuru’s blood. However his condition starts worsening and he starts to suffer in the sun and has problems fighting Kazama. Koudou actually created so many Rasetsus in order to revive the Yukimura but oh well, Chizuru declines and says that she thinks what her dad’s doing is wrong. Welp they killed Sannan and Heisuke due to them being Rasetsus for so long plus killing so many rasetsu, and Koudou died saving Chizuru. Hey you know what? I felt that Chizuru didn’t deserve to be saved.

Then they went to Ezo and met Otori, and Hijikata actually wants Chizuru to stay on mainland Japan for his blahblahblah reasons like (It’s too dangerous!). Well obviously Otori sees a lot of romance in between them and becomes the wingman and made preparations for her to go to Ezo and get them back together. So they get back together and we get hot scenes of them kissing （　´∀｀） Afterwards they were retreating from the Battle of (whatever it was I don’t remember) and Kazama appears out of nowhere, and challenges Hijikata to a fight. So somehow Hijikata finally manages to stab Kazama somehow and says, “I found a reason to live”.  So the ending happens at the end of the war and the 2 of them spend the rest of their lives together forever. I really liked Hijikata from the beginning and his route just made me love him more from his route. Idk why but I found the kissing scene hot?? The blood sucking scenes were great too as well. Overall, his was good, romantic and sticking to history. Well I still felt that certain parts were missing out on things so yeah.

Okita Souji (CV: Morikubo Shoutaro)

He’s the cute Yandere who respects Kondou a lot. By a lot, means he kills anyone who wants to kill/injure/whatever Kondou. And the line you’ll hear most in this route is, “I’m gonna kill you”. But anyways he ends up calling her Chizuru-chan and they get all cute.(*´∀｀*)ゞ I get really emotional on this one so bear with me. At first Okita keeps teasing her a lot and calling her a big baka for getting in his way at different points of time. When Kazama attacked the headquarters idk how that happened but Kondou attacked Kazama and Yamazaki manages to catch Chizuru and flings her into a room and she lands ON TOP OF OKITA. Then she gets all flustered and cute when Okita says “I didn’t expect to be going to bed with you tonight” ﾜ━ヽ(*´Д｀*)ﾉ━ｨ!!!! So they get all cute and she stays with him until Kazama ceases his attack.

So in this route we get involved with Kaoru a lot as he gives Okita the Ochimizu and Okita drinks it to protect Chizuru, also thinking that it could cure his Tuberculosis. Then he runs out killing the people who injured Kondou and Chizuru desperately tries to stop him. Then, he runs out again trying to kill Kaoru and ends up getting shot by idk how many guns there to protect her, since she came looking for him again. So for the battle of Toba-Fushimi Chizuru stayed with Okita for him to recover. Ok these parts just got me so emotional over him when he got injured and stuff. So loads of shit happened and they finally managed to get out of Edo because Okita recovered, and he found out Kondou got caught. Well sadly along the way they meet Kaoru who isn’t in his female aka trap clothing and shoves the Ochimizu down Chizuru’s throat. I thought he was a siscon at some point but at that point I pretty much thought he was a sadist. Well so Chizuru becomes a rasetsu and Kazama doesn’t want her anymore. Actually Okita has been hiding the fact that he needs blood from Chizuru until he couldn’t hold it anymore and she hand to offer him some. Well he gets it from her hand which I think is pretty cute and stuff.

So both of them go and find Hijikata and Okita gets extremely angry and be pulls Hijkata by the collar and stuff. Well, soon he found out from Hijikata that Kondou got caught for the Shinsengumi. He was pretty satisfied by that answer I guess. So we have more romantic scenes and they head to Chizuru’s old home, where Koudou and Kaoru are waiting for them. So Okita cuts Kaoru and Koudou gets killed too saving Chizuru again, telling them that the water over at her village could reduce the effects of the Ochimizu. In the end the both of them drank the water and they lived together forever at Chizuru’s village, despite the fact Okita’s illness is eating into him. So we get them sleeping on the grass and that part made me cry okay <(T◇T)>わぁああああ！This was one of the routes I got really emotional about and made me like Okita more. The CGs were hot too but the problem was they MIAed almost everyone I was confused about what happened to the rest of the Shinsengumi dudes I think they all died.

Saitou Hajime (CV: Toriumi Kousuke)

He’s the shy type which puts on a really serious look. Hajime is pretty much serious on the outside but he’s really cute inside （⌒_⌒） . He respects the commander a lot like Yamazaki and listens to every one of Hijikata’s orders. He’s the 2nd youngest, and I’m glad cuz the original guy was an ossan oh god. So he pretty much gets Chizuru out of many tight situations when she’s very reckless and he had to save her from Kazama which got him bleeding very badly. Welp then Kazama throws him the Ochimizu and he decides to drink it in order to save her. Kazama’s pretty much the bad guy in this cuz he’s using the Ochimizu to create a Rasetsu army in order to rule the world (whatever it was). Also he wants Chizuru to have his baby since they are purebloods. Also, he throws Chizuru to Hajime and tells him to protect his future wife or sth I wasn’t paying attention at that point cuz I was really fed up with awful Kazama in the route.

But too bad Hajime’s like “I won’t let you take my woman” and decides to become stronger to beat Kazama. And in his route, he ends up doing a lot of work during the day in Hijikata’s place at times and it really hurts his body. Along the way we get a lot of Hajime scenes and one day he couldn’t hold back the urge for blood. So he drinks from the place her earlobe and he stayed in that position sucking her ear very gently. Is it me or is Hajime really ero at times? Chizuru’s like “uh…you done yet?” But he’s like, “I want to stay in this position for a while.” After some events, he kissed her like some really drunk dude and I was just ゎｰｨ♪ヽ(*´∀｀)ﾉ there. Too bad they zoomed in to their hands so we didn’t see what exactly happened.
So their enemy is basically crazy Koudou and Kazama who wanna do some oni stuff to take over the world I think. I mean, even Amagiri asked them to kill Kazama and he really helped out a lot too in this one. Another point, Koudou was busy saying how he isn’t her real father and he raised her to be Kazama’s wife lolol.  Soon after they separated from the Shinsengumi they reached the castle where Kazama was and they crash into her father who was basically crazy already they didn’t even try to convince him. So somehow I think someone came to dispose of him while they go and kill Kazama. Then I think Kazama goes crazy and starts cursing and stuff I wasn’t paying attention again because it was getting boring. In the end Hajime stabs him with his Iai and stuffs over. In the ending they retreat to somewhere in Ezo and they live together. So Chizuru is waiting for Hajime in the snow, and he soon returns. They then stay togther outside in the snow for a while to see the snowfall. Welp this route was really weird ok there was a Sannan crazy for blood and everything’s like rasetsus and stuff. Due to it being the weirdest, it was quite a bore to me and I was confused at the same time, with all the weird OOC characters.

Toudou Heisuke (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki)

Actually I was looking forward to his route due to him voiced by Yoshino Hiroyuki with his great voice and cheerfulness but yeah, I was pretty disappointed. Heisuke has a really deep personality inside the cheerfulness and he gets depressed very easily until his sudden manly growth spurt. This route practically revolves around Heisuke getting depressed over many different things like turning into a rasetsu, and Sannan’s bad guy job. Well I did feel bad for him when he said that he was left alone cuz he was some kind of hidden kid who was born somewhere else and no one cared about him (ToT). And he was pretty much getting sad over and over again throughout the route. Actually he pretty much did have feelings for Chizuru but he refused to admit till the 2nd part of the game.

Apparently Kazama agrees to marry Senhime!!! Okay somehow Kazama AGREES to marry Senhime as she volunteered to. (probably because the producers knew it was kinda impossible for Heisuke to actually beat Kazama) Well too bad Sannan goes and corrupts Senhime with the Ochimizu and he’s now OH NO YOU DONT DO THAT TO MY WIFE. I mean Sannan was gross enough to me but he forced the Ochimizu down he throat by KISSING HER. THAT WAS GROSS. Welp so Heisuke and Chizuru follow the Shinsengumi until and they found out Sannan turned against then. Obviously he already did by forcing that drink down Senhime. I was pretty much disgusted by this route already. Somewhere along those lines Heisuke goes into depressed moade and starts saying how he’s not gonna live any longer and welp, he gets slapped by Chizuru there, and she tells him that she’ll be with forever and he’ll not die. Well so Hijikata orders Heisuke to go kill Sannan and Chizuru follows him. They end up teaming up with Kazama to kill Sannan.

So loads of shit happened, I pretty much didn’t care anymore orz since I was pretty much done with this route and they killed Sannan somehow. And Kimigiku got stabbed by Senhime cuz she couldn’t control herself but she survived that stab??? So they separate so that Kazama can go ahead and make babies with Senhime. Well in the final chapter they leave the Shinsengumi and live somewhere else. Chizuru wakes up on Heisuke’s lap from a nap. Well I was pretty glad about the more useful Chizuru here, but my opinion on Heisuke really changed. He turned into really some pathetic guy who could get depressed any moment. This route rlly got me angry and bored at the same time so I’m glad I finished it (;´ρ`) ｸﾞｯﾀﾘ

Harada Sanosuke (CV: Yusa Kouji)

Well Sano was pretty much the one who didn’t give much of an impression when I was first introduced to Hakuouki through the anime I wasn’t really looking forward to anything on this route WELL I WAS WRONG. I know Yusa Kouji is famous for voicing pretty bad dudes but yeah, he’s pretty adorable and big-bro like in this one. He’s the only one apart from Kazama who doesn’t become a rasetsu so Chizuru doesn’t need to donate blood to him. Also, he’s the type where everyone relies on to solve problems with and a good listener, but he never has anyone to talk to about his problems so he’s actually quite lonely in a way. And the only thing about this route was that Chizuru was too weak. He hangs out (and gets drunk) with his good friend Shinpachi and Shinpachi actually draws faces on his scar which was the injury when he tried to seppuku when he was a kid. Sano practically protects Chizuru almost every time something bad happens and she gets extremely weak here.

Well Chizuru pretty gets depressed about herself in this one and gets creeped out by crazy Sannan who wants her to donate blood to him for “the sake of research”, and by Shiranui’s taunts. This caused her to overreact and think about how she’s holding back the people in the Shinsengumi and Sano. She tried to leave the Shinsengumi in the middle of the night but sadly, she gets caught by Sano. He convinces her to stay but she starts crying and saying she’s a monster and stuff and doesn’t deserve to be protected. Being the best guy ever, he just kisses her, saying that’s the only way he knows how to stop a woman from crying （　´∀｀）ケラケラ He soon admits that his dream is to life peacefully with his waifu. Well then Shinpachi and Sano decide that Kondou was fighting a losing battle and decides to leave the Shinsengumi, and Sano takes Chizuru with him in order to get away from crazy Sannan.

They both of them start getting upset over things like how Chizuru says she doesn’t deserve to be with him since she’s a demon and stuff and Sano gets all upset about the fact that he has to keep deciding between fighting and a peaceful life. They get all angsty and soon, they go and directly screw. WELL SCREW LITERALLY MEANS SCREW THANK YOU WOW SANO WHAT A GREAT GUY. Well after that they abandon Shinpachi and they go kill Koudou. Shiranui helped out there but I’m not gonna divulge anymore. The ending was that they had a baby boy and it was adorbs okay. This was probably the best route I played overall in this game, as it was all cute. I really enjoyed almost every part of and I got to know more about Sano *:゜☆ヽ(*’∀’*)/☆゜:。*。

Kazama Chikage (CV: Tsuda Kemjirou)

Actually I was pretty surprised by this route, since Kazama was supposed to be the badass antagonist who fights Hijikata. He was pretty mean in Saitou’s route but yeah, I didn’t know he was that laid back and he was only using Chizuru as an excuse to see the Shinsengumi. In this route, Chizuru gets separated from the Shinsengumi and is found by Kazama. Well the route revolves around them seeing the end of the Shinsengumi and them killing her father. Well for some reason Chizuru becomes tsun in this one??? She starts saying things like “I didn’t want to come with you” and stuff. So Kazama help to defeat her father since he goes crazy over rasetstus.I mean the choice about Koudou was that either Kazama kills him or he saves Chizuru’s weak ass again （￣へ￣）. So they reach Ezo and stuff Chizuru starts crying over the Shinsengumi, holding the flag in her arms, and then after that he kisses her and tells her to go to him when she has “prepared her feelings”, he’ll just come and get her. Overall it was normal and stuff and I understood Kazama a bit more. And it was really kinda cute =w=

~Final Thoughts~

Well my final thoughts for this was that it was quite a good game, but there was many confusing parts like how they MIAed /killed everyone and we dunno what happened to all of them. Certain endings were good like Sano’s and Hijikata’s ending but some routes were just plain. The game was good, but it just got me creeped out about certain characters even more.  *coughs at Sannan extremely hard* I got to know more about the characters and how cool they were. If you ask me about my favourite dudes in the game, it would be Sano, Kazama and Hijikata. Well they all the kawaii guys and I really felt that the other 3 were too plain. EItherways since it’s translated in english by AKSYS, first timers should all go try it out.