Oh, interesting, as I recall I read them as a bittersweet symbol of change in both routes. It was just that which change they were (ostensibly) sad about was different, since the civil war was basically one form of conservatism versus another, in the face of external forces they both didn't like, but couldn't agree on how to deal with.
His political cover story aside, Saito's route is all about coming to terms with the end of the ideal of the samurai, and Hijikata's with the end of...well, everything he's aligned with (samurai, the Shinsengumi, the shogunate etc)
I played Saito then Hijikata, and after that was inclined to see the blossoms in the opening credits as a symbol of the Shinsengumi in general: beautiful in their short lived intensity. And the white and red colours match those of a Fury, which is an especially intense and short lived state of being. I don't remember them being especially significant in any of the other routes, unless they came up in Kazama's as part of the general Tragedy Of The Shinsengumi arc.
I feel like there was also something about the loss of Japanese culture as it existed before European contact, too, but am too tired to untangle it. Also like...spring turns into summer, and blossoms fall as the herald of fruit. Or something.
That said, it's been a while since I played, and I am currently awake at 5am with insomnia, so I am not sure my reading was neccesarily the best supported by the text. But that's how it felt to me.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-11-21 08:56 pm (UTC)His political cover story aside, Saito's route is all about coming to terms with the end of the ideal of the samurai, and Hijikata's with the end of...well, everything he's aligned with (samurai, the Shinsengumi, the shogunate etc)
I played Saito then Hijikata, and after that was inclined to see the blossoms in the opening credits as a symbol of the Shinsengumi in general: beautiful in their short lived intensity. And the white and red colours match those of a Fury, which is an especially intense and short lived state of being. I don't remember them being especially significant in any of the other routes, unless they came up in Kazama's as part of the general Tragedy Of The Shinsengumi arc.
I feel like there was also something about the loss of Japanese culture as it existed before European contact, too, but am too tired to untangle it. Also like...spring turns into summer, and blossoms fall as the herald of fruit. Or something.
That said, it's been a while since I played, and I am currently awake at 5am with insomnia, so I am not sure my reading was neccesarily the best supported by the text. But that's how it felt to me.