Utsusemi no meguri

You probably know my awful tastes already, so I won’t lie: I bought Utsusemi no Meguri, despite the bad reviews, because I’m weak to sexy oni; I came here mostly for Cero D scenes, I wasn’t expecting much more.

I didn’t trust Matatabi, since Rear Pheles had various problems and Utsusemi seemed to have rage inducing bugs too, but the beautiful art made me fall into this trap.

Nothing new for me, it’s the story of my life.

My expectations were fulfilled, since it’s visually very pleasing, from the breathtaking backgrounds to the beautiful CGs; I enjoyed the BGM too, so I can’t complain at all about music and art.

I hoped the patch could get rid of every bug, but it wasn’t the case: at some point, I realized my save files disappeared and I had to restart a route; I forceskipped, so it didn’t take that much time, but still it was very annoying and it made me anxious every time I had to save and close the game.

Now, let’s talk about the boys.

I started with Kai’s route, since he seemed to be the main character.

At first he looked cold and arrogant, so I was afraid he would end up insulting or abusing the poor heroine, who is shy and fragile; but in the end he revealed himself to be a tsundere of the embarrassing kind, one of those who act awkward for the slightest thing.

Every time he tried to approach the heroine, but he was immediately cockblocked by Yasuomi, I couldn’t help but laugh and hope there were more funny scenes like that throughout the game (which was serious for the most part). His yandere ending was worth playing, as a lover of this trope I was curious and I admit his dark side was creepy enough.

Hayate was even more difficult to approach, since he barely spoke when necessary and he seemed to be lacking any kind of emotions.

Deep down he was obviously a sweet person, but his terrible past brought angst and pain for most of the route; there was always a vague sense of regret and pain in each action and world he said, so everything seemed bittersweet, even the happy endings.

I just wanted to hug him and tell him he’s loved anyway.

Somehow, I think he is that kind of tragic character who fits the most tragedies and bad endings, that’s why seeing him go yandere and kill everyone seemed more natural for him than being a sweet, kind lover. But maybe it’s just me and my love for disturbed minds.

Yuzuru was different from my expectations: he looked like a flirty and carefree young boy, but his true personality was lonely and sad, he desperately needed to be loved and comforted.

I admit I ended up caring about him more as a little brother than a boyfriend, but I still enjoyed spending time with him; I hoped for an happier ending, but I guess oni and humans can’t be together so easily after all.

Yasuomi fits one of my favorite tropes, the butler/bodyguard who devotes his life to protect the heroine since childhood; obviously, he has been in love with her since forever, but he knew they could never be a couple, since she was his master (kind of).

This route was my favorite, because there’s an unexpected plot twist at some point, which changes his attitude a bit and makes their relationship more interesting; I was also surprised to see the heroine confessing and kissing him first, it’s definitely something I wasn’t expecting from a pure and diligent girl like her. That was a smart move!

Tomokage’s route was locked for obvious reasons, so I won’t spoil.

It was well written, but I admit I was getting bored of the copy pasta at this point, so I couldn’t bring myself to cry for his bittersweet ending; the joy of completing this game overwhelmed my feelings of sadness and empathy towards him.

So, was it a waste of money as I expected?

I guess it wasn’t, I’ve been through a lot of worse games in my life and Utsusemi no Meguri doesn’t deserve all the backlash it got after the release; but maybe I was just smart and lucky enough to wait until the patch was released, so I didn’t have to rage whenever the game crashed for no reason.

I don’t get why everyone had a yandere ending, which was sometimes borderline r18: even if I usually appreciate this trope it was getting repetitive and overall frustrating, since the heroine had to take a lot of abuse; when it happens too often, instead of being fascinating (in a dark way, of course), it becomes annoying and I felt pity for her.

Anyway, overall it’s fairly decent and I don’t regret picking it up.

The plot isn’t that deep and it starts to make sense only in Tomokage’s route, while the others’ endings feel a bit rushed and without decent explanations.

The pacing is slow and the excessive amount of copy pasta makes it even more boring to sit trough, but the characters are interesting enough, the music fits the scenes and the art is amazing; the mini game wasn’t annoying as I expected it to be, so I can’t complain.

I don’t recommend this game, but I don’t even consider it a kusoge… if you like historical settings, filled with oni and blood, you’ll probably enjoy Utsusemi no Meguri enough, even if it’s not a masterpiece.