#i would like to apologize for my english too alkjfdkld

[shigetsugu]

hi i'm just curious! what flaws do you think kojuro has? i'm doing his ms noww but as far as i can tell his only flaw is being bad at cleaning ): but he's so attractive lmaooo i can't decide whether i like him or not

Hi there, anon! Glad you are doing his Main Story, even though I’m certainly biased, Kojuro’s is one of my favorite and one of the reason why I fell for him! Anyway, it is quite a tough question, isn’t it? I mean, he is seen as a flawless person much by players but also by in-game characters, so, does Kojuro have any flaw? Yes, of course he does, and I’m not just talking about his bad cleaning behavior either. I played all Kojuro’s events so far so I think I do know enough about the man but maybe I’ll miss some informations and I know there are new stuff that got introduced in KoiRan. I’ll try to explain everything the best I can, it’s certainly a bit longer than I intended to write first but I thought that context is always an important part on how I see things. I might have forgotten some informations and apologize in advance if so but I think it should show pretty much that Kojuro has flaws, like anyone else.

To begin with, Kojuro is one of the “oldest” main love interest in the game and he’s written to be seen as the wise older man type. It’s true at first that Kojuro gives off the vibes that he is perfect because that’s how he wants to be seen. I mean, he is thoughtful, loyal and caring, it’s true but he says so himself: it’s a facade he build up. In reality, he is more than the man you see at work, serious and hardworking and he worked himself hard to be the one called the “Dragon’s Claw”. This was explained (in Passionate Devotion event) that when he started working for the Date clan as a teenager, all the other retainers weren’t taking him seriously because of his age and appearance (remember everyone say that Kojuro looks younger than he is supposed to be and so started wearing his hair up) but also because of his background (he isn’t from a samurai family; he comes from a family of priests). 

It has been mentioned as well but Kojuro wasn’t the man we know today when he was still a young adult; Shigezane and Masamune said that he was hardly holding himself back and was able to throw savage tantrum and he could be even more terrifying since he is the kind to dig in and find some juicy stuff to get back at you and literally destroy you. (Mentionned and proved in Our Sultry Night of Passion event and also shown in Noble Heart Exposed event). Kita even said once that Kojuro was a “rebel” and didn’t actually wanted to work for the Date clan (and Kojuro low key confirmed it actually happened).

Kojuro explained himself that he basically compartmentalizing with his private and public persona. I don’t know if we can say that he is really a lazy person, or depends on what I suppose, but it’s certain that he sucks at tidying up his room, he tends to buy more than one copy of a book, barely fold his own clothes, is really clumsy when it comes to cooking (he even asked for Shigezane to bring him so food once since he was too lazy to even try) and don’t bother to eat sometimes because of that or he isn’t a morning person and can sleep in his study without sleeping in his bedding… He is actually ashamed of these (which he label them as things that aren’t his “strong points”) but can’t help himself; it’s part of him whatever happens, even though he tries his best to change.

It’s interesting as well because in the AU events in KoiRan where Kojuro is there being younger, Kojuro was really the kind not to care much for people, giving him the attitude of a very detached and not very altruistic person. (I can’t give much examples but if I’m not saying something wrong, in one event, Kojuro was asked by Shigetsugu to help the MC find where she was supposed to be working at the new place she was assigned in the city but he didn’t even bothered to do it correctly.)

I’m going to talk about how he behave with his closest relationships because it’s really interesting. When he started serving Masamune, it was “Kojuro’s mistake” that Masamune’s eyesight got worse (it is still unconfirmed but that’s what Kojuro believes) because he failed to found out about the poisoned manju (as told in Claim Me at Last event). Although at first it says that it’s because of this guilt that Kojuro became even more loyal to Masamune (and thus making sure he wouldn’t allow himself to make anymore grave mistake), but Kojuro explains that it isn’t really why it made him even more protective of Masamune (I’m sure it was during one of Masamune’s event but I can’t remember which one but I don’t remember his exact reason, I’m sorry). Kojuro, as much as he loves Masamune, still puts a barrier between the two of them and don’t even dare to call him a friend (I wonder if it was during Masamune’s Unspoken Ties event but I don’t have it so I can’t be sure) which bother Masamune a lot since not only he sees him as his most loyal retainer, but also a dear friend and big brother figure. Kojuro has always put some distance with his peers even though he is very friendly and easy to talk to and I’m going to explain why I think he does that now. 

We hardly talk about it but it’s important to remember that Kojuro, even though got taken care of by Kita and he himself says that he sees her as a motherly figure, still lost his parents at a young age and even waited for them to return (it’s never been mentionned how they died though). It’s implied that he missed some of this parental love and he wishes for his children not to know the same fate as he had with his own. He had actually a difficulut childhood (mentionned in the special ending of his second Main Story in KoiRan) and felt very lonely, I believe he lacked love for a long time so that’s why I’m going to talk about the way he was behaving with his preivous romatic relationships now.

Kojuro said that he had numerous lovers before the MC (The Bonds of Love Kojuro’s epilogue and Blossoming Lies events) but he never really fell in love with them. I believe that, since Kojuro always had a hole in his heart, he tried to fill this gap but never found someone to fit there (until the MC came in his life of course, he changed a lot after realizing his genuine love for her). He was going out with them for a while until they broke up (it’s not really told but it’s implied that he is the one who decided to) and I believe it was only because he never truly loved them and just wanted to feel some kind of strong affection even though it wasn’t shared (and certainly because he just wanted to relieved himself of his own earthly desire as he said so himself).

The latest event shows another side of him I would love to talk about because it could be confirming even more about the fact that Kojuro might have some kind of trust issues. Kojuro always took upon himself to serve not only Masamune personally but the Date clan and Oshu itself and thus, taking care for the problems was a normal thing to do. So when he realized that some of his retainers had difficulties to solve some problems in Shiroishi, he wanted to care of them himself like he always did. I think that the reason that it’s difficult Kojuro to let people do their job is only because he was in this position before and is probably to used to solve them but also because he has perfectionist tendencies. But not only this, it’s been shown that Kojuro can very stubborn, like REALLY when he wants to but can also thing that bothering for himself. We’re all used to have a Kojuro being able to commune his thoughts and feeling pretty easily and yet, sometimes he keeps stuff for himself even thought he knows he should be talking about them for different reasons and been mostly seen again in his second Main Story in KoiRan. It can be even more frustrating coming from someone you know that can, and more importantly want to make sure he is listened and understood.

All of these might not really be seen as evident flaws like it’d be with Saizo’s uncommunicativeness or Ieyasu’s trust issues but they really are stuff that are overlooked and overshadowed by his qualities and it’s actually normal. It doesn’t make him any less human; Kojuro is just working his butt to better himself in the eyes of other but more importantly in his own. He is just a perfecionnist and really don’t like to be seen as someone who can’t control his own emotions (he said a couple times that he always make sure to control his anger or even his lust, for example) and trust me, that’s the behavior of someone who don’t allow themselves to make any mistake or accepting failure and are even harder on themseleves than on others (such as the exemple of his lastest event, Diary of a Samurai Wife); he wants everything to be done nicely and quickly and so want to do it himself but realize that it was wrong to do this in the end.