black lycoris of love
Jan. 12th, 2024 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikogalateaI just finished Virche Evermore about a week ago, and because I loved it so much, I thought I'd do a personal ranking of the characters and throw down my thoughts on all of them.
To be honest, I'm partly inspired to do this because I heard Mathis is the least popular love interest to the point where he even got rated beneath a few side characters in the Japanese official popularity poll, which I think is absolutely criminal.
-
Mathis became an instant fave for me as soon as he was first properly introduced in the common route. He's so, so cute. I pretty much lost my mind from sheer cuteness at the CG of him being flustered when Ceres walked in on him writing his novel. His romance is sweet and I feel like he and Ceres go well together. His actual situation is tragic. Since he was my first route, I was so glad when I unlocked the salvation ends and could finally get a happy ending (by Virche standards) for him; he deserves a million times better than the death of personality he suffered in his main bad end, and his salvation end, while bittersweet, was beautiful.
Lucas is my poor little meowmeow. I feel so sorry for him, even when he's at his worst, not least because he's been dealt such a shitty hand in life. His route might be the biggest pain train of them all, especially given that even his salvation end is tragic as all hell; he and Nadia and Ceres deserve so much better. (It sure was a narrative choice to have the branching point for his endings be after Nadia's turned into a monster and he's been drugged into going on a murderous rampage, though...) I was a little bit skeeved by his romance at first when it was initially revealed that he'd been in love with Ceres for years, but it became more understandable when the circumstances behind it came out (guy was 15 at the time and in a very bad place) and by the time Ceres got to see the full truth of Lucas's situation I'd become way more invested in their relationship. The "goodnight kiss" CG in his salvation end absolutely broke me.
Yves is very cute and very sweet and has the best romance with Ceres and deserves so much better than he's gotten from shitty randos. The scene with Ceres kissing his facial scars while he's crying is my favourite romantic moment in the whole game. I like that he cries a lot, even if it puts me through the emotional wringer as much as he goes through it in his route. (This game's great for crying vulnerable long-haired pretty boys. I swear this isn't me being a sadist.)
Ankou is evidently the top husbando in this game's fandom, and besides his looks and voice, Le Salut certainly let me see why. He has one of the cutest blushing sprites, and after 600+ years of misery I really think he deserves way more happiness than he can get in any of the canon routes; he's a big reason why I'm hoping the fandisc will get licensed for an English release. His death in Le Salut's salvation end is the other most heartrending moment in the game for me.
Ceres isn't my favourite otome heroine ever, but I do like her quite a bit. It's easy to feel for her when everything she's been through has taken such a toll on her self-esteem, yet I love how her resolve to be less resigned and more proactive gets reflected in most of the right choices in the common route. She has nice moments of strength beyond that, too; I particularly enjoyed how indignant she could get at Capucine, and her defiance in the face of Jean hoping to capture her despair on camera was metal coming from someone like her.
Hugo is my favourite side character, regardless of how controversial he apparently was with the Japanese fanbase when the game originally came out there. (Heaven forbid that a gay character exists in an otome game, amirite? Especially one who happens to have feelings for one of the love interests...) The "Resemblence" bad ending with him is my favourite game-over, heartwrenching though it may be. I do wish his death on Yves's route didn't come immediately after my favourite romantic moment, though; that was a bit too on-the-nose for my comfort. I liked what Le Salut did with him towards the end, including him deciding to join Yves on his journey to Japan and the possibility being left open that maybe, just maybe, if Yves doesn't remain stuck on Ceres forever, Hugo's feelings for him could have a chance of eventually being reciprocated. (Yes, I ship this too even though I love Yves/Ceres. I feel like the part of the fandom Hugo was so controversial with might tear me apart for this, but I don't even care.)
Nadia is the sweetest little cinnamon roll who's too good for this world, too pure, and she deserves only good things and no bad things... which is a major reason why Lucas's route is such a pain train. Still, I'm glad that at least in Le Salut's salvation end she and her brother get to live and be happy. ;.;
Adolphe's okay; I like him well enough. In fact, I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense for an Ankou fan to dislike Adolphe too much, considering that Ankou is Adolphe from another timeline, even if Ankou has been through more than enough of his own experiences that he 100% qualifies as his own person. I don't think his angst over being "normal" is that hard to get behind in the context of this kind of story; he's the one "normal" person in a place like Arpéchéle, which from their point of view would make him the oddity if they knew, so I can't blame him for being afraid of what might happen if the truth about him got out (with Ankou's backstory being proof of the possible consequences).
Salome turned out to be a very interesting and complex character, and she looks so lovely without her habit, though I also can't help feeling like her writing was a little bit untidy in places. That said, the fact she got rated the second-least-popular character on the official poll, even below Jean of all people, is criminal.
Scien is my least favourite love interest by a big margin, and his route was also my least favourite by far. I realise that this is an extremely unpopular opinion, given that he's one of this fandom's biggest darlings, so I can't say I'm not wary of potentially getting some backlash for this. =/ I'm not opposed to asshole characters in the slightest, and Scien has his enjoyable moments, but he just doesn't do it for me on the whole. Furthermore, I tend to dislike characters who come across as "creator's pets", and Scien definitely feels like one to me between the favouritism he gets from the narrative and how his route acts like he can do no wrong to the point of bordering on double standards. I'll spare anyone reading this too much more crankiness from me, but I do want to add that it was super satisfying when he got called out for a change in Yves's route.
Dahut gave me very mixed feelings in the end. On one hand, he's a pretty good "final boss" and I have no issue with how he's written. On the other hand, his hypocrisy drove me up a bloody wall and I wish he was more sorry for his role in screwing up the Proust siblings' lives. Good character, but too frustrating as a person for me to really enjoy.
Jean is a scumbag, and as a Mathis fan I feel no remorse in hating him for the lies and abuse and other bullshit he put my boy through. Also as a Mathis fan, I felt enormously frustrated by how Le Salut was way too forgiving towards him and basically gave him a slap on the wrist for everything he did, even to the point where it felt like Mathis was being made to pander to his abuser; it's my one big complaint about that route, which I otherwise enjoyed. I was much more okay with how Jean was handled in Mathis's own salvation end; it wasn't perfect, but at least he wasn't a karma houdini there.
Capucine is an even bigger scumbag and thoroughly deserves his place as the most hated character. I lost count of how many times I went "fuck you" at him for his treatment of Lucas and Nadia. Every death he can get, whether it's being blown up offscreen or being butchered by Lucas offscreen or being mauled by Nadia onscreen, is cathartic and very well-deserved.
To be honest, I'm partly inspired to do this because I heard Mathis is the least popular love interest to the point where he even got rated beneath a few side characters in the Japanese official popularity poll, which I think is absolutely criminal.
-
Mathis became an instant fave for me as soon as he was first properly introduced in the common route. He's so, so cute. I pretty much lost my mind from sheer cuteness at the CG of him being flustered when Ceres walked in on him writing his novel. His romance is sweet and I feel like he and Ceres go well together. His actual situation is tragic. Since he was my first route, I was so glad when I unlocked the salvation ends and could finally get a happy ending (by Virche standards) for him; he deserves a million times better than the death of personality he suffered in his main bad end, and his salvation end, while bittersweet, was beautiful.
Lucas is my poor little meowmeow. I feel so sorry for him, even when he's at his worst, not least because he's been dealt such a shitty hand in life. His route might be the biggest pain train of them all, especially given that even his salvation end is tragic as all hell; he and Nadia and Ceres deserve so much better. (It sure was a narrative choice to have the branching point for his endings be after Nadia's turned into a monster and he's been drugged into going on a murderous rampage, though...) I was a little bit skeeved by his romance at first when it was initially revealed that he'd been in love with Ceres for years, but it became more understandable when the circumstances behind it came out (guy was 15 at the time and in a very bad place) and by the time Ceres got to see the full truth of Lucas's situation I'd become way more invested in their relationship. The "goodnight kiss" CG in his salvation end absolutely broke me.
Yves is very cute and very sweet and has the best romance with Ceres and deserves so much better than he's gotten from shitty randos. The scene with Ceres kissing his facial scars while he's crying is my favourite romantic moment in the whole game. I like that he cries a lot, even if it puts me through the emotional wringer as much as he goes through it in his route. (This game's great for crying vulnerable long-haired pretty boys. I swear this isn't me being a sadist.)
Ankou is evidently the top husbando in this game's fandom, and besides his looks and voice, Le Salut certainly let me see why. He has one of the cutest blushing sprites, and after 600+ years of misery I really think he deserves way more happiness than he can get in any of the canon routes; he's a big reason why I'm hoping the fandisc will get licensed for an English release. His death in Le Salut's salvation end is the other most heartrending moment in the game for me.
Ceres isn't my favourite otome heroine ever, but I do like her quite a bit. It's easy to feel for her when everything she's been through has taken such a toll on her self-esteem, yet I love how her resolve to be less resigned and more proactive gets reflected in most of the right choices in the common route. She has nice moments of strength beyond that, too; I particularly enjoyed how indignant she could get at Capucine, and her defiance in the face of Jean hoping to capture her despair on camera was metal coming from someone like her.
Hugo is my favourite side character, regardless of how controversial he apparently was with the Japanese fanbase when the game originally came out there. (Heaven forbid that a gay character exists in an otome game, amirite? Especially one who happens to have feelings for one of the love interests...) The "Resemblence" bad ending with him is my favourite game-over, heartwrenching though it may be. I do wish his death on Yves's route didn't come immediately after my favourite romantic moment, though; that was a bit too on-the-nose for my comfort. I liked what Le Salut did with him towards the end, including him deciding to join Yves on his journey to Japan and the possibility being left open that maybe, just maybe, if Yves doesn't remain stuck on Ceres forever, Hugo's feelings for him could have a chance of eventually being reciprocated. (Yes, I ship this too even though I love Yves/Ceres. I feel like the part of the fandom Hugo was so controversial with might tear me apart for this, but I don't even care.)
Nadia is the sweetest little cinnamon roll who's too good for this world, too pure, and she deserves only good things and no bad things... which is a major reason why Lucas's route is such a pain train. Still, I'm glad that at least in Le Salut's salvation end she and her brother get to live and be happy. ;.;
Adolphe's okay; I like him well enough. In fact, I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense for an Ankou fan to dislike Adolphe too much, considering that Ankou is Adolphe from another timeline, even if Ankou has been through more than enough of his own experiences that he 100% qualifies as his own person. I don't think his angst over being "normal" is that hard to get behind in the context of this kind of story; he's the one "normal" person in a place like Arpéchéle, which from their point of view would make him the oddity if they knew, so I can't blame him for being afraid of what might happen if the truth about him got out (with Ankou's backstory being proof of the possible consequences).
Salome turned out to be a very interesting and complex character, and she looks so lovely without her habit, though I also can't help feeling like her writing was a little bit untidy in places. That said, the fact she got rated the second-least-popular character on the official poll, even below Jean of all people, is criminal.
Scien is my least favourite love interest by a big margin, and his route was also my least favourite by far. I realise that this is an extremely unpopular opinion, given that he's one of this fandom's biggest darlings, so I can't say I'm not wary of potentially getting some backlash for this. =/ I'm not opposed to asshole characters in the slightest, and Scien has his enjoyable moments, but he just doesn't do it for me on the whole. Furthermore, I tend to dislike characters who come across as "creator's pets", and Scien definitely feels like one to me between the favouritism he gets from the narrative and how his route acts like he can do no wrong to the point of bordering on double standards. I'll spare anyone reading this too much more crankiness from me, but I do want to add that it was super satisfying when he got called out for a change in Yves's route.
Dahut gave me very mixed feelings in the end. On one hand, he's a pretty good "final boss" and I have no issue with how he's written. On the other hand, his hypocrisy drove me up a bloody wall and I wish he was more sorry for his role in screwing up the Proust siblings' lives. Good character, but too frustrating as a person for me to really enjoy.
Jean is a scumbag, and as a Mathis fan I feel no remorse in hating him for the lies and abuse and other bullshit he put my boy through. Also as a Mathis fan, I felt enormously frustrated by how Le Salut was way too forgiving towards him and basically gave him a slap on the wrist for everything he did, even to the point where it felt like Mathis was being made to pander to his abuser; it's my one big complaint about that route, which I otherwise enjoyed. I was much more okay with how Jean was handled in Mathis's own salvation end; it wasn't perfect, but at least he wasn't a karma houdini there.
Capucine is an even bigger scumbag and thoroughly deserves his place as the most hated character. I lost count of how many times I went "fuck you" at him for his treatment of Lucas and Nadia. Every death he can get, whether it's being blown up offscreen or being butchered by Lucas offscreen or being mauled by Nadia onscreen, is cathartic and very well-deserved.
