Still alive, have some recs

[waterscroll]

It's been an exhausting few months but I am still alive. In otome-playing I read the Kennyo's dramatic route in Ikemen Sengoku and I liked it a lot better than the romantic route. In it he time-travels to the future (our present) with MC. In the present he introduces himself as a monk from Honganji and people ask him calmly, oh, which one, east or west? So he sees that the Temple that he has torn himself apart with grief over eventually was rebuilt. But, our present isn't his future, because MC, by saving Oda Nobunaga, has changed the past. So he both knows that his Temple can be rebuilt and that in his own timeline it isn't inevitable. I liked that a lot as a way of finding hope for him.

In Samurai Love Ballad I finally read Saizo's route, which I liked a lot more than I expected I would. I didn't really enjoy his event routes and he's not my favorite as a character but his route holds together well as a story. Plus Kenshin and Shingen get to live happily ever after together. Now I'm on Sakuya's route and he reminds me a lot of Saito from Hakuouki with sense of duty and honor, plus they are doing fake dating, so I'm liking this a lot.

Two fic recs, both enemies-to-lovers, both long:

Third Time Pays for All. Guardian, Shen Wei/Ye Zun, Zhao Yunlan. Post-canon, the three of them work out their baggage.
Heavy in Your Arms. The Untamed, Jiang Cheng/Wen Zhuliu. After the destruction of Lotus Pier, Jiang Cheng and Wen Zhuliu learn that they are soulmates.

Both of these stories in different ways are about loving someone who has done truly horrible things, and not being able to ignore the horrible things but also not being able to stop loving the person. Both of these are long stores that take the time to work out in detail what it means to build a relationship with someone who has caused great harm. While the first one deals with the problem in more down to earth ways (they communicate, they solve problems) the second one deals with it in more magical/supernatural ways (soulbond, telepathy, demonic cultivation). I like both these takes on the trope and it was fun to read them together.

Comments

[scytale]

In it he time-travels to the future (our present) with MC. In the present he introduces himself as a monk from Honganji and people ask him calmly, oh, which one, east or west? So he sees that the Temple that he has torn himself apart with grief over eventually was rebuilt.

Oh, this is so great, and I really want to see him get to visit the temple.

And yeah, Saizo's event chapters were really repetitive, and I think they remove a lot of the nuance (partly for space, partly for fanservice). I imagine it plays a lot differently after Shingen and Kenshin's routes! I played Saizo's route before I got invested in Shingen and Kenshin, so I was just kind of like, "yeah...they're fine."

Those two fics both look very great, and I like your descriptions of what they're about and the different ways they deal with the same problems.

[waterscroll]

The second fic goes canon-divergence early enough that it shouldn't have any spoilers past where you are. But it is very long and also very violent, and really leans hard into the enemies who are also soulmates trope.

Yeah, the Kennyo dramatic route ended up being fun. I'm more or less taking a break from the app for now but I'll come back when they put out the Ranmaru route.

[alias_sqbr]

he reminds me a lot of Saito from Hakuouki with sense of duty and honor, plus they are doing fake dating

I lost my motivation for bothering with phone games once I started having to play them on an actual phone (so tiny!) but Saito with fake dating is making me reconsider...

[waterscroll]

I've only just started so I can't vouch for the route actually being any good, but the tropes are fun.

[alias_sqbr]

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts when you're done!

...and saying that reminds me you were curious to hear my thoughts on Kaede and I never posted them. Well then! pokes my drafts