#collar x malice spoilers

[neyumiko]

RE: ichika | collar x malice

“What color are my eyes?”

“They’re green, Ichika.”

“Who is Kazuki?”

Shiraishi looks at me for a long time before he responds. “Kazuki is your younger brother.”

I furrow my brow at the puzzling statement. “Who is Kazuki?”

In a white chair across from me, Shiraishi sits with one leg over the other, notebook in hand. He jots down something and clicks his pen.

“He is your younger brother, Ichika.”

I knit my fingers together and rest them on the blanket across my lap. My brow furrows and I shake my head. There’s nothing familiar about his name. Not even a bell of familiarity rings out.

“Who is Kazuki?” I say again. “Where is my SRCPO badge? I’ll be late to work if I don’t leave on time.”

For some reason, I don’t really remember what “work” is. I know my job is to help people, but I don’t recall what my job specifically entails. While the more minute details blur together, the gaps in my memory do not scare me. Questions and information can fill empty pockets.

However, frustration occasionally bubbles to the surface.

Shiraishi places his hand over mine. I relax my grip on the blanket, unaware of the tension in my hands.

“Recovery is a process, and it isn’t always linear. You are a work in progress, Ichika. Don’t fret too much.”

He imparts a cool but gentle tone. I nod my head in agreement, allowing my frustrations to recede. Most days, I feel like I am floating. My body is there, but my mind often drifts to other places.

When I look into the mirror, I wonder who that woman is—Ichika Hoshino is her name—and the life she led before this point. Most of my memories slumber behind a thick fog, and I wander through it alone. But lately, there is a silhouette with a blond-haired man holding a lantern to disperse that fog with me.

Kageyuki Shirashi.

He is the man overseeing my care. When I first woke up, all I remember is his gentle expression.

“What color are my eyes?” I ask again while closing my eyes.

“They’re green, Ichika.”

“And who is Kazuki?”

Shiraishi lifts his hand from mine and answers in a calm, amused tone.

“He is your younger brother.”

“Who is Shiraishi?”

“I am the one overseeing your treatment.”

[koladelight]

My Personal Otome Game Route Rankings

This is mainly for my own entertainment to see if I notice any patterns with my favourite LIs.

Code: Realize

1. Count Saint-Germain

2. Arsene Lupin

3. Abraham Van Helsing

4. Victor Frankenstein

5. Impey Barbicane

It was extremely difficult to put numbers 2-4 in any sort of order and I could have easily favoured a different order. Saint-Germain was my absolute favourite from the minute he opened his eyes on his route and Impey's personality annoyed me greatly so these two found their places quickly. Lupin, Van Helsing and Fran all had a few things I didn't like but I enjoyed their routes from different points of views. This ranking is based on all three games.

Collar x Malice

1. Takeru Sasazuka

2. Aiji Yanagi

3. Kei Okazaki

4. Kageyuki Shiraishi

5. Mineo Enomoto

Again, Sasazuka was number one the minute I heard his voice and Enomoto annoyed me for the same reasons as Impey. Numbers 2-4 were very close competition and again, I could have put them in a different order. I loved Yanagi for the mature love and natural development, Okazaki for his yandere personality and Shiraishi for the plot. This ranking is based on the first game, Unlimited is on my list to play.

Piofiore

1. Yang

2. Henri Lambert

3. Dante Falzone

4. Nicola Francesca

5. Gilbert Redford

6. Orlok

I'm starting to notice a pattern of liking angst and trashy men. This ranking is based on both the first game and episodio 1926. Originally I didn't like Nicola much, but his 1926 is route was brilliant so he jumped up quite a bit. Orlok is a sweetie, but I guess I prefer my LIs a bit more mature. Yang and Henri were the crazy ones and I loved that, absolutely amazing characters. Yang's episodio 1926 route was brilliant. Also an honorary mention of Gilbert's, Oliver's and Orlok's potato conversation. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.

Cupid Parasite

1. Jupiter / Peter Flage

2. Raul Aconite

3. Ryuki F. Keisaiin

4. Shelby Snail

5. Allan Melville

6. Gill Lovecraft

This ranking is based on the first game (I believe there is a fandisc which hasn't been localised?). This game threw me for a loop because I ended up liking the guys I least expected to. When I started the game, I was interested in Allan and Shelby the most and hated Ryuki and Raul. But all went completely differently than I thought it would. Gill also made my list of most annoying LIs, I couldn't stand him.

Cafe Enchante

1. Kaoru Rindo

2. Misyr Rex

3. Ignis Carbunculus

4. Il Fado de Rie

5. Canus Espada

This was a difficult situation because I loved Misyr but hated the ending so much. I'm currently working on fixing it with a fanfic haha. Kaoru was a favourite with his mature personality and looks (might be because I turn 30 this year). Ignis had gore with a sweet ending and I loved it. I enjoyed Il's route but he was a bit too much of a cry baby for me. Canus had a lovely personality, but I couldn't quite warm up to him having no head.

Olympia Soiree

1. Yosuga

2. Riku

3. Akaza

4. Kuroba

5. Tokisada

6. Himuka

Seems like the crazy one is my favourite again. I love Yosuga and his route so much that I have played it at least five times. The dark themes of his route really appealed to me. I liked Riku for his character development and Akaza for the plot and his upstanding nature. Kuroba was interesting because of the social issues. I wasn't overly keen on Tokisada because of his cutesy demeanor, although it did get better towards the end of his route. Himuka just wasn't for me at all. He didn't really annoy me, but I couldn't form any connection.

[ryousangirl]

obey me!satan enjoyers please stay FAR AWAY from collar x malice shiraishi kageyuki. he is not good for our health

[otometrashqueen]

How I viscerally felt Shiraishi missing during the Christmas party during Yanagi’s route. It’s his whole birthday and he’s out there looking for Zero and all y’all are having a party without him. Nope my beautiful cat boi deserves way better. 😭

[wildflower-otome]

Collar x Malice | Shiraishi + Ichika CG's

[bloomstruck]

Made my first ever AI chat bot as a lil’ bday present for myself!! I’ve never made one before, so any feedback/advice is welcome 💖

Yuzuru Saeki

spoiler under the cut!!! The chatbot contains Adonis/True Route spoilers!

[otomeoutofcontext]

[kyojurouwu]

playing collar x malice and going through shiraishi's route and I have to take breaks, there are so many levels of emotional dmg 

were they just saving all that angst they couldn't fit into the other routes, I'm not built for this 😮‍💨

[otome-mondays]

What are your in depth feelings about Okazaki's route?

Hi Anon, thanks for asking! Since you asked for in depth feelings, this post contains spoilers for all of Okazaki’s route in Collar x Malice and Collar x Malice Unlimited! There are also a ton of CG spoilers here too! I’ll keep this post under a read more because of said spoilers :)

Content warnings (for game and post): guns, police, terrorism, suicide, ptsd, depression, death. Please be mindful of your triggers and skip this post if you feel the need, your mental health is worth more than a silly analysis post :)

I am going to start this off with the huge disclaimer that I played Okazaki’s route in my senior year of high school and his route was the first proper Otomate route I played, so I probably have some huge nostalgia blinders on! Okazaki is also my favorite from CxM, so that, again, will make this post very biased.

I bought Collar x Malice not realizing it was an otome game, but after looking it up I was pretty excited! One of my friends can vouch that Okazaki was one of two characters I was most hyped for, and originally I only wanted to play his route first. This was also the first time I realized otome games can have route orders and some routes would be locked. Otome is a very niche genre, and back then it was even more niche with only like 10-15 Otomate titles officially localized and I generally only had access to the NTT Solmare, Voltage, and other mobile-focused company games. After trying to search for people saying I could confidently play Okazaki’s route first, I just went for it and I’m glad I did! Okazaki’s route is very introductory to the game, similarly to Mineo’s. Speaking of introductions, let’s start specifically with the common route.

So Okazaki’s introduction as this more aloof, kinda silly guy made me even more invested in picking his route first. I usually play otome titles with guides, and this guide telling me I couldn’t pick the character but had to choose the correct options made me so relieved I looked up a guide first. Okazaki’s introduction of climbing through a window was so funny to me, I was instantly attached. I was kind of indifferent and even skeptical towards every other love interest at this point too. Okazaki, oddly enough, seemed the most normal and carefree of the options, which further solidified my stance on him being my favorite before the route even started. I liked that even though he doesn’t really know what’s going on and is obviously keeping tabs on Yanagi and Friends, he’s willing to be a friend to Ichika and help her look into these X-Day cases.

Before Okazaki discovers she’s stuck with the collar because of Adonis, he’s really kind and helpful. He’s looking out for her safety, helping her conduct investigations, and being a friend to her. But once it’s revealed that she has connections to Adonis, we start to see another side of Okazaki. Okazaki is somebody who is very dedicated to his job as as this route goes on we see and learn more about why he is the way he is. Okazaki’s route covers PTSD, depression, and suicidal ideation very well in my opinion. It’s very obvious that watching his first SP partner die by saving Okazaki from dying has effected him deeply, which is exactly what would happen in real life. Seeing Okazaki slowly change from wanting to die for the sake of somebody he deems a good person because he thinks so low of himself to being ok with the mistakes he’s made and learning to cope with his trauma and move on was a great experience for me. I was also in the depths of a depression episode around the time I played his route, so it was nice to be able to relate to a character who was going through similar problems. I think his character arc was really something amazing.

So his tragic ending was something that really hit me. I played all the bad endings before the good ending, and I was actually in tears over this ending. I understand why he was ready to end it all. It was really nice to see that he did grow and change enough to listen to the part of him that wanted to keep living for Ichika since that’s what she wanted, even if he was killed right after she was.

As for his good ending, I liked how cute it was and that they do get a happy ending together. I don’t really have much thoughts beyond that other than it was a suiting good ending lol.

After I finished playing his route, I realized Okazaki was a fairly polarizing character which I didn’t really expect but I can kinda see why. He’s got some toxic behaviors, but so do all of these characters. I can see why some people don’t like his flaws though because they can be considered more “clingy” than some others. I think this is ok for me though because it transforms from putting her on this perfect angel pedestal to more of oh people care for me perspective. He still definitely has more to work on through some therapy though, I’m not going to deny that.

Now for the fandisc…man I was disappointed with this. It’s a nice story, don’t get me wrong, but it basically has all his growth undone and we go through it all over again but shorter and now he’s more jealous than before (to me at least). This is the only fandisc I’ve played through as of writing, and I know not all after stories aren’t as disappointing as his but man I’m going to be sad if more of my favs get this treatment.

I think Okazaki still ends up being a very well written character overall, in both the CxM universe and otome games in general, but the fandisc definitely ruins some of his writing for me. His route is also always going to be one I treasure, considering it fully pushed me into enjoying more of these games and wanting to play more.

[onyourowndaisymae]

if there's one thing that okazaki's gonna do every route, it's start shit

[koladelight]

Cafe Enchante and Collar x Malice spoilers ahead:

HELP! I have just started Misyr's route in Cafe Enchante and got accidentally partially spoiled of his good ending. And after finding out what happens, I'm now scared to play the rest!

Reminds me of seeing what happens to Shiraishi in his route in CxM. But at least we had Unlimited to help me heal afterwards. I love Misyr and want them to have a happy ending. I'm just so angry and now I don't want to play it at all. This was my first proper depression caused by an otome game and it huuuuuurts.

Should I finish the game? Is there any happiness in the end at all? Or is it all depressing?

[ryousangirl]

ok if i can be #real for a moment...

why is aiji's route literally boring? T_T how is it ch.5 and barely anything has happened yet...

if he wasn't the dev-designated True Route i feel like he would have 0% organic interest from players. i know nothing about him and, after 5 chapters of gameplay, i know that we share one memory together... hello?

this is what he gets for being the route that has to follow shiraishi's lol

[otometrashqueen]

How I was emotionally shook by Kageyuki’s short story AND his voice recording messages were the best, he really is best boi and no one can tell me nothing 😭

[wildflower-otome]

Collar x Malice Unlimited | Mineo Enomoto Route

[lafiaso]

"I will change your despair into hope"

[mikia87]

I also started Collar x Malice. The story is really interesting.😄

I don’t know what to think about the LIs at the moment. Saeki is the one that interests me the most, but sadly he’s not dateable!😞 Shiraishi looks promising, mostly because he has Nicola’s voice.😏 But Sasazuka annoys me so damn much! Urgh😫 Now I started with Enomoto.

I finished Mineo Enomoto’s route. It was interesting. The story of this game is so cool!😁 Mineo is really kind and cute. I like him.

But the part that made me cry in his story was when Ichika and Mineo went to see Saeki at the hospital. Knowing that he was in a coma, that he needed a kidney transplant and that his family donated an organ to him, it made me cry.🥺😭 Sorry Mineo, but my heart belongs to Saeki.

Kei Okazaki’s route is done. I really like the story and also Kei.😉 And I found out more about Adonis! I can’t wait to know what happens next!😁

Takeru Sasazuka's route is finally over! The story was good. But I can't stand him. He's soooooo annoying!!!😩 I hate characters when they constantly insult others & act like they're better & smarter than everyone else. Ugh.😖

I just finished Kageyuki Shiraishi’s story. I didn't expect that at all...😱😨 And I'm still crying...😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I wasn't sure I liked him when I started his route, but the more I played, the more I loved him. He's my favorite so far.💖 But now, I’m still in shock from the ending...😰

Aiji Yanagi’s story was great! When I learned the truth, it really hurt.😭😭😭😭😭 I already knew who was Zero (because of spoilers all over the internet😓), but it still hurt.😰

I like Yanagi, but I’m surprised I don’t like him more than that.🤔