Warlord or Cinnamon Bun?

Haven't talked about it for a while, but I've continued on with Ikémen Sengoku. After I finished Hideyoshi (the big brother type--route was okay and sweet, but also not very memorable), I tried Shingen (the flirt), but didn't get very far as he had the most ridiculously cheesy cringeworthy lines. And also, he kidnapped the MC and she still immediately seemed to fall under his spell and I just...meh. I couldn't get behind it.

Then they released Kenshin, which wasn't, honestly, a route I'd been particularly interested in. He's on the "other" side (the MC is embedded in the Nobunaga Oda camp; Kenshin is the "enemy") and in all the other routes he is portrayed as kind of a very bloodthirsty asshole who insults the MC every chance he gets. He's called The God of War. Historically, he's a very interesting figure (though he looked nothing like he's portrayed in the app). You have to appreciate the poetry of the man:

Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake; A life of forty-nine years is passed in a dream; I know not what life is, nor death. Year in year out-all but a dream. Both Heaven and Hell are left behind; I stand in the moonlit dawn, Free from clouds of attachment.

That's from his death poem. He died (probably) of cancer, though some speculate he was helped along by an assassin. Anyway, back to the app Kenshin and not the real one.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this route as I'd fully expected him to be a complete jerk. He does, after all, kidnap the MC at one point (similar to in the Shingen route) but as in real life, he's an honourable man. So the romance that blossoms between them felt more plausible and likely. Sure, the MC is thirsty as all heck in this route too, but in a more believable way. They did shoehorn a past traumatic love incident that I could have done without (given his real story, they had enough there to work with but, eh, whatever). So, anyway, it was a good route. I liked it. It was well-written and the MC was good in this one--strong but supportive. Actually, I'd say it ranks as one of my favourite routes in the app.

Then I did the Nobunaga route, which I'd been worried would be too alpha male for me, but it wound up being okay. I can't say that I loved it, but it was pretty good. As always, the voice acting is a big bonus in this app. The voice actor (Tomokazu Sugita) that does Nobunaga has the most ridiculously deep voice. Weirdly, he also does the voice of Kabakura in Wotakoi, which is one of my new favourite manga/animes. Besides a billion other things. He might be the best thing about that route, honestly.

THEN they finally released one of the routes I've been waiting on since the beginning: Mitsunari. I'm not sure why Mitsunari has always appealed to me -- maybe because he was the one that was always nice and supportive, no matter what route you are in (he's also kind of set up as the competition in Kenshin's route) or maybe because he's the bookish one? Anyway, besides Mitsunari, I've also been looking forward to Sasuke (the guy who goes back in time with you, but arrived 4 years earlier and has become a badass ninja). Hopefully he'll be the next.

So. Mitsunari. I finished the Romantic route and am going through again now to do the Dramatic version. He's basically just as sweet and wholesome as I thought he'd be. He's one of the hopeless types that can't remember to feed himself if someone's not there to tell him. So the MC is a bit of a mothering figure in this, but thankfully it doesn't feel too motherly.

Historically, his temperament doesn't seem to match the app version very well. And his real story is quite tragic. But I'd have to say I quite enjoyed his route. It's a good one if you're looking for something quite light and sweet. This will be my first time completing both a Romantic and Dramatic route, so I'll come back and update this once I'm done to see how they compare. In the Romantic version, there was really very little conflict and the stakes, while high, never really felt like there was anything to fear. Like, it wouldn't have worked as a novel. Not enough to carry it. But it's fine for an otome where you just want the feels.