Love...365

This post'll be used to keep track of the routes I've read on Love 365 from Voltage -- mostly the free ones, but also some paid ones too.

EDIT: This was getting too long, so I'm moving some of it (generally, the ones that I liked and that therefore have bigger write ups) to separate posts. Check the otome-ness table of contents for links.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Voltage. They have moments of brilliance (and I say this as a writer -- every now and then they come up with some really nice moments) and stuff that makes me want to scratch my eyes out either because the writing is just plain horrible, because it is so cliched and trite, or because I am squicked out. I started with some of their standalone apps and now have moved to their consolidated thing (Love 365). I do appreciate that they are moving to one app; it makes it a lot easier to keep track. And I don't mind paying for content...I just wish it wasn't so iffy. I'm close to 50% on my enjoyment though every now and then there's a route I like 100% (okay, maybe 90%).

Anyway, these aren't in any particular order...

Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

You're a lowly maid at a fancy hotel/casino full of rich people and celebrities. An accident happens and suddenly you find yourself literally in chains and up on the auction block. Someone buys you and the story continues...

Let's be honest. If one of these hadn't come up as a free option, I wouldn't have read it. Effing human trafficking. You really can't dress this up in a nice way. It's lipstick on a pig.

So, I did Eisuke's route when it was free awhile ago. He's actually the owner and basically the boss dude of the hotel/casino. He buys you and sort of (?) basically says you're going to work off your payment. He's tough and can't display affection and is basically stone-cold. You have to keep working as a maid while also pretending to be his girlfriend. Meanwhile, all kinds of crazy mob-ish yakuza-ish type of things are going on and the nice guy that was your boss before likes you, the other maids mostly hate you, you're working hard...

Erm. So I didn't hate this one as much as I thought I would. Eisuke turns out to have a bit of a heart, it's just pretty buried. There's some shmexy times. Dangerous stuff. The MC isn't completely useless...just mostly useless. All of the other guys that work for Eisuke provide some comic relief. But I wouldn't say that I loved it. I think that's partly the whole premise...it's hard for me to get behind the whole concept. And even when he loves her, he's still a bit of an ass.

I didn't read any of the free bits for any of the other characters and don't have any opinions on them, though I notice they've added a new one since I read it and it's the freaking Mad Hatter...from another universe...WTF?

Finally, in Love Again

In this story, you are a 34 year old pastry chef who hasn't been in a relationship for 10 years because you have been very focused on your career. In a short space of time, you quit your job and go to a single's event that your mother set up for you. Weirdly, a ton of younger guys appear to be hitting on you...

In general terms, I really liked that the MC is older. Didn't love the whole "younger man" angle thing that most of the routes have, but it was nice to have a mature MC.

I tried out Sosuke's route when it came up as a free option and I was surprised by how much I liked it. He's kind of a take on the childhood friend, except in this case, he was a friend of your younger brothers. He's 8 years younger and is a professional sailor/delivery guy (the part time job being the method you meet him & spend time with him in). Basically, he's loved you since he was, like, seven. It's always been you for him but you don't even remember him when you first meet again. A lot of the route is taken up with the MC dithering a bit about whether she's too old for him (especially after her brothers flat out tell her they disapprove). Sosuke himself is lovely -- he's a genuinely nice guy -- loyal, caring, etc. etc. ... a paragon of virtue, shall we say, but so nice that you actually don't mind how perfect he is.  I am actually considering whether I might want to spend next month's monthly passes on more of his story because he was really lovely and sweet.

There's also:

• Aki - owner of the bakery that you wind up working at. He's 26 and, at first glance, seems to be on the slightly obnoxious, thinks-a-lot-of-himself side. Not sure how I feel about him.
• Momoi or Momo - Age 25, head pastry chef under Aki and your new boss. He's noted as "confident and conceited" and that definitely seems to be the case. I didn't think I'd like him at all but I read the free bit of his POV and actually think he might turn out okay as he's a closet fan of Ghibli and a bit of a fanboy. And even in Sosuke's route, he might be tough, but he also gives the MC respect when she deserves it.
• Yoh - He's only 22 and is an ikebana flower arranger. Billed as "deceptively sweet" I tried the free chapters of his story and POV and am pretty sure I won't be playing through his route as he's definitely an opportunistic liar. At least Aki and Momo had a real reason they were chatting up the MC at the singles event...this guy is literally trying to play on her sympathies to find himself a place to live.
• Yuto - Another serious youngster clocking in at only 21, he's the only son of a sweets manufacturer and very rich. I read through the free chapters on his story and his POV and, again, another one that I'm not planning on reading because it's that trite old story where he and another friend of his made a bet where they have to get an "undateable" girl to fall in love with them. So, yeah, asshole. You can try and turn that around (hello, so many forgettable Hollywood movies) but I'm always leery of guys who put so little value on other people and think only of themselves. I don't even want to like him.
• Kazuki - this one is the ex-boyfriend and the only one that is a bit older than the MC. He seemed like a real jerk in the bit I read of his story, but then the POV free bits **almost** made me feel like he might be redeemable, but I doubt if I'll play his route. Move on, honey.
• Kanata - Another guy that's about her age (35). Didn't read anything of his free chapters, so no idea. He's a novelist.

When Destiny Comes Knocking

You've been in a dating slump. You're an office worker and you've moved into a new neighbourhood and you find there's a shrine right across the street run by a multi-talented dude who meddles in your love life. You also meet a bunch of regulars who go to the bar there, including a co-worker. Will you follow the bartender/shrine dude's advice and find love?

So. I tried out Rheo's route first, who's a rockstar/musician guy who thinks a lot of himself. I did his main story and the free bits of his POV and...ugh...well...I actually liked him less after doing part of the POV story, which normally doesn't happen to me. Sure, in his route, he's kind of a full-of-himself creative type who pushes boundaries. But then (spoilery bit) you find out that the whole reason he was paying attention to the MC is because she's got this super expressive face and he wants to capture all of her expressions on photo and use them in a music video WITHOUT HER PERMISSION or knowledge whereas meanwhile, she thinks he's spending time with her because he likes her and/or wants to. You kind of see it in the main route, but the POV really drives it home. So I went from feeling okay about it to feeling quite meh.

Then I tried the Seiya route (he's the dead silent robotics engineer) and oh dear god did it piss me off. He's not just the "silent type" -- he never effing says a word. He texts the MC everything. And she's useless as well...she likes him but she can't handle how he communicates so the whole route is one big ball of anxiety where, again, the love interest is using the MC because she's so expressive (he's trying to build a robot that could replace a romantic partner...that, probably, should have given me a clue as to how it might go). It's my least favourite Voltage route so far (well, other than ones I didn't even try, I suppose). There are "lusty nights" routes for this guy and all I can think is...how??

I don't think I'll be doing any more of the routes in this story. The Shintaro character that the MC works with might be okay but they have him talk in this very cringeworthy slang-y fashion that I can't stand. And then there's the childhood friend one who's a Kabuki actor but the MC was so useless in the two routes that I read that I don't think I can take any more of her.

Metro PD

You're a cop -- well, okay, you've been basically a community officer handling neighbourhood stuff. But then you get transferred to a serious crimes unit full of mostly hot guys. Can you succeed in this dangerous, testosterone-fueled world and maybe even find love?

I wasn't particularly interested in this, probably because I have to be in the mood to be reading anything police procedural (the year and a half I spent on the Hildie hit-woman book kind of killed me since I did so much research), so if it hadn't come up as a free route, I probably wouldn't have done it. But, along came Hiroshi Kirisawa, who is your new boss. I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would, even though I'm not super fond of the boss/subordinate romance plot. That bit was handled fairly well here, though and Kirisawa was a surprisingly decent guy. He's rough around the edges, but is always a gentleman and is encouraging and supportive (which isn't something I can say about the other guys that the MC works with). Plus, he cooks. He's like house mom for the guys under him. The crime/police work stuff is actually very light so there's not a huge amount of excitement there, though that actually worked for me (again, Hildie. She killed me, man...I OD'd on crime fiction and police manuals and Kray brothers history). The MC is actually fairly competent and brave, which is good. And there were a few nice moments of humour too. So, all in all, I liked it. I'm not sure I'd go on to read any of the other guys as they mostly come across as jerks, but if they added a POV for Kirisawa I would read it.

Our Two Bedroom Story

Your mom is getting re-married to a new dude and he offers you a place to live but conveniently for the plot of this story, doesn't tell you that he's also told his son that he can stay in it too. So you show up and, with no other place to stay because you apparently packed up all your things and moved without even going by to look at the new place...ahem...you find said son living there. And whoa! He happens to work at your company. Oh, what to do? 

Hmmm. Can you tell I found this situation to be incredibly contrived? I don't actually mind the whole "living together by some weird twist of fate" thing but I think it works better in My Forged Wedding than in this one. Also, the MC in that one has more of a backbone than the one in this one, though by Voltage standards, the one in Our Two Bedroom Story isn't too bad. The MC is the puppy in this story--she's kind of excitable and loud and not much gets her down for long. And she loves her job. She's determined and plucky and she gets embarrassed way too easily.

I did the Minato route when it was free. He's the confident, kind of cruel one who thinks he has a good sense of humour (er, not really) and is crap at housework. He's bossy. He makes inappropriate jokes. This is another one where I didn't absolutely love him, but reading his POV helped (the free bit of it, anyway) because then you see him from the beginning feeling kind of weird and protective about the whole thing. In the main route he's all kinds of arrogant awkward but it was nice to see the other side of him.

I was also slightly weirded out that they are technically step-siblings now. Sure, they aren't blood related, but it's still kind of weird. Like, how do they introduce each other later on, once they're actually together? Hey, meet my husband Minato...he's also my step-brother... And the dude's worried about what their co-workers will think if they even walk into work together...sheesh.

In Your Arms Tonight

You're married to a dude named Koichi. It was arranged by your parents. You think you're happy but it's been 3 months and your new husband hasn't touched you once and then you see him apparently having an affair. Will you find love...somehow?

I thought I'd read one of these routes, but maybe I just did the prologue and some sample chapters because now that I'm looking at it, I don't feel like I finished one when it was free and I definitely didn't buy one... Anyway, I think I was interested in this one because it was a different kind of set up for otome where you start off married. But I don't see how I'd want to play a route with the cheater husband...and some of the other guys look like real jerks too...and the bit I just re-read of the prologue makes me think the MC is really weak-willed. So. Just putting this up here to remind myself. Of course, that might be a cultural thing because I have a hard time imagining myself ever agreeing to an arranged marriage to begin with. In the prologue, she's just so happy that her friends are jealous because she's got this great catch -- a handsome guy with a good job -- but she doesn't know a thing about him. So I have a hard time mustering up any initial sympathy for her. I'm guessing if you choose the husband as your route you find some kind of sob story where he loved the other woman before and just married the MC because reasons.

After School Affairs

You're a teacher at a high school that has recently combined two schools together (one being a "richer" school and the other being a more normal one). Will you find love among the staff as you struggle to make things work in this new situation?

I did a free route on this one and pretty sure it was the Rikiya Mononobe one but obviously it wasn't something I absolutely adored since I had to page through all of the love interest options a few times and look for the motorcycle reference to even figure out which character it was for. I remember that he kinda played a "bad boy" type and was very strict. You earned his respect by doing your job well. There was kind of a weird sub plot thrown in with delinquent students and the bad boy teacher's past. Kinda convoluted. He was very blunt. But he liked cats, so there's that. It was a decent route. I did like that the MC developed more confidence along the way and wasn't afraid to put herself in danger to protect her students or her love interest.

My Sweet Bodyguard

You are a rather scatterbrained college student and out of nowhere, someone attacks you but you are saved by some mysterious but attractive (kind of) guys. Surprise! You're the new prime minister's illegitimate daughter that he's been searching for all your life apparently unsuccessfully but somehow, amazingly, everyone figures out who you are as soon as he takes office. Isn't that something? But, oh no, everyone wants to kill you and your dad...welp, bodyguards to the rescue!

Is Subaru surprised? In pain?
Channeling Gollum?

Hrm...can you tell I'm less than impressed with this one? The Subaru route came up as a free option so I thought I'd try it out. First, the problems...the MC is pretty staggeringly useless. Like, she can't do anything. She can't even walk across a room without falling on top of her bodyguard. I'm not kidding. She's in charge of costumes for her drama club and she can't sew (Subaru does it better -- in fact, he does everything better than she does...cooking, cleaning, school work...can I just be Subaru instead? Even if he is a bit of a smug asshole?).

Two, the artwork. All of the guys have kind of weird hair. One has eyes that are almost alien because they are so big and buggy. At least Subaru was one of the more attractive ones, but his "surprised/shocked" face was...comically weird. Actually, they all had sort of weird faces/expressions. It was like the artist on this one was submitting weird sprites to see if anyone would notice and no one at Voltage did. The CGs looked like they were done by someone else entirely in a different style (and were much better). But, seriously, it's hard to take them as legitimate love interests when mostly they looked weird. Or constipated.

Three...the whole love part. It was way too fast. Subaru is one of those guys that treats the MC like an idiot but in this case, she pretty much is. Okay, it's totally believable that some normal girl that falls into this extraordinary situation where people are trying to kill her all of a sudden would be freaking out. But...I dunno...she's just SO useless. And even though he's treating her like an idiot, she pretty much immediately falls for him. And even realises it, which that part is a bit of a departure for otome. And he, even though he HAS A FIANCE and is a cold bastard and has only ever dallied around with women before...he falls for her "sweet innocence" far too quickly too. It's just hard to picture this very well-educated (Harvard), multiple-language speaking, successful dude from a very posh upbringing would so quickly fall for this immature, useless, idiot of an MC.

Meh. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't absolutely horrible. But I just couldn't buy into it for all of the reasons above. And also this...

Hi, I'm Kosugi, one of the MCs drama friends. I'm one of the few side
characters in any Voltage route that actually has a sprite but I have the
world's weirdest eyebrows. Also, I like to dress up in monkey costumes.