#willow takes center stage at univeil

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Me, yesterday: I know Sou is frustrated because he feels he isn’t performing as well as he was hoping, especially compared to Kisa and Suzu, but all he needs is the right role and I’m sure it’ll all click! I hope the Fall Performance gives him that! ☺️☺️☺️

Sou: *doesn’t get a named role in Mary Jane*

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Sou during the Final Performance arc of Suzu’s route is sooooooo done with Otori’s shit, it’s incredible 😂

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Newcomers Performance: Suzu fell asleep before his very first stage performance and had everyone scrambling to search for him unless he got replaced at the last second. Otori forgot his line after talking shit for weeks forcing Kisa to improv to save his ass.

Summer Performance: Kisa literally changed the characterization of Mukai the night before the performance with only Neji in the know. Suzu and Kai change the tone of their line without telling Kisa to help once again readjust her characterization of Mukai in the middle of the actual performance.

Fall Performance: Suzu is out thanks to injury resulting in Sou coming in as his replacement a couple weeks before the big day, and then Jean Jose is changed to Figaro and his personality and history and interactions with the cast all change. Neji changes the script and THEN also adds in the new character of Hachipochi just so Suzu wasn’t left out of the play. And then Kisa and Sou do the improv exercise of the year in the middle of the performance without telling anyone just to encourage Fumi to have fun and go all out.

Winter Performance: Literally EVERYONE struggling to properly characterize their roles until the last moment, I mean half the cast was in the middle of a crisis! Like we really went down to the wire to make this play any level of performance ready!

Univeil Performance (Suzu version): Suzu and Kisa both taking turns struggling with their roles until the last fucking minute because of romance and self esteem and acting and all that. The play having two rhythm game sections the player can’t practice for ahead of time because in universe the Quartz kids are constantly adjusting the two of them to the very last moment. Suzu getting his ankle hurt AGAIN and deciding to LIE about it being healed!!!! And perform with all that dancing and action in the role of a FUCKING SOMERSAULTING ACROBAT!!!!! With his ankle busted!!!! And while in excruciating pain the entire damn time!!!!! Also all of Quartz deciding THE DAY BEFORE THE PLAY to be like “yeah okay we’re having issues with this last climatic romantic scene between Chance and Sissia at the end of the play so you know what? Fuck it! Suzu and Kisa can wing it! Improv your hearts out you two 😄” Kisa, Suzu, and Fumi all having to scramble to cover for Suzu’s ankle. Suzu and Kisa having a whole ass genuinely moving ACTUAL FOR REALSIES love confession complete with a FOR REALSIES kiss while staying in character…and then fucking with everyone else by being like “what? we’re actors! So what if we smooch, we’re partners, the newly minted Jack Ace and Al Jeanne of Quartz. We’re built different 😤”

Who else does it like Quartz?! Where else will you get this level of entertainment?!?!?!

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Chance’s loser dad: If the woman you love is arguing with you, just kiss her! That’ll shut her up!

Certified Angel™️ Suzu Orimaki and the cool men of the Orimaki family: If the woman you love is arguing with you, just listen to what she has to say and communicate with her!

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In all the posts I’ve made for Jack Jeanne I know I haven’t spoken about Tsuki (Kisa’s currently MIA older brother who was the former big star at Univeil), and the game itself has surprisingly not given me much to work with yet. Maybe in another route or something? But I will say….there is one (stupid very stupid like holy shit this is crack territory and mostly a silly joke theory but also kinda sorta maybe makes some sense in a weird way?????) thought I have regarding Tsuki…

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Me: Wow, the Onyx and Rhodonite students are so refreshing as rivals in that they’re all so sweet and funny and helpful while also being competitive ☺️ I can’t wait to finally meet the Amber students too!

Utsuri and Kakuto to Kisa and Suzu, unprovoked: You’re ugly and stupid and we hate you 🖕🖕🖕

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Ahhhhhh….The scene between Suzu and Kisa before the credits…..

Suzu: The way you’re always working so hard to make your dream come true…How you’re so kind, how you’re so serious about what you do, and how happy you look when practice goes well…

Kisa: Wh-What are you talking about, Suzu?

Suzu: How you watch over everyone so closely, and how you watch over me…How you look me straight in the eye and listen to me when I talk to you…

Kisa, after realizing Suzu is listing what he loves about her like he said he would during the play: S-Suzu, um…

Suzu: What? I’m still not done yet. And I won’t get to hear mine if I don’t finish, right? Didn’t you say you would tell me, too? You know, your reasons…Hey. I’m sure already know. But I haven’t said it yet, so I’m gonna say what I’ve wanted to…all this time…Tachibana. I love you. I love you, Tachibana, so much. There are so many things I love about you…And there’s more and more with each and every day…I’m sure I can’t say all the reasons why. That’s how much I love you…What about you? What…do you think of me?

Kisa: I…I love you. I love you, Suzu…

Suzu: Whoa…I love you. From here on out, together…Let’s continue to make our dreams at Univeil come true.

And then they kissed again!!!!!!! These babies!!!!!!!!!!

And the end credit song!!!!! Kisa and Suzu sang it together!!!! I guess the ending song is sung by Kisa and whichever boy she pursued? So what happens for the song on Kisa’s route? Is it a solo?

Ahhhhh, and then we get to see second year Kisa and Suzu as the Al Jeanne and Jack Ace on audition day for the newbies!!!! And they’re so famous among the new kids!!!!!

And then, Kisa brings up how Suzu first thought Kisa was a girl when he saw her. Only for Suzu to reveal that WASN’T his first thought. The very first thing he thought when he saw Kisa for the first time? Despite not knowing her gender, her name, her personality or anything about her?

That she was cute.

Just like how Chance thought Sissia was cute at first sight.

I’m done, I’m dead….Suzu and Kisa have killed me. I am in love with their love 🥰🥰🥰

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Man morale is pretty low for these early rehearsals of Oh Rama Havenna….

Poor Suzu seems to have had his confidence shot after not being able to play Jean Jose for the Fall Performance and, while he is proud of Sou, I think he was more affected by the replacement than he lets on…I mean yeah, he’s the one who asked Sou to replace him then. But I think seeing how marvelously Sou did, and now hearing Sou get all this massive praise and talk about becoming a Jack Ace, hit Suzu hard. Because we know he wants to be a Jack Ace and we also know he enjoys acting alongside Kisa. And Suzu was the one getting that same praise prior to his injury relapse…And now, once again, he’s being asked to act as a character seemingly so unlike who he is as a person, which is affecting his performance and also bringing back Utsuri’s criticism from back then where he said Suzu has a narrow range.

Kai seems to be under the impression that he’s a failure of a Jack and him being delegated to a smaller role than normal probably isn’t helping matters.

And then there’s Mitsuki who is…honestly, I think he’s gonna break at this rate. Singing is his specialty and so far his roles haven’t been to big so he doesn’t do much in terms of dancing or acting. But now he’s an Al Jeanne alongside Kisa. And his stamina can’t keep up with the dancing and his acting is being constantly critiqued since he’s a lead, which in turn is affecting his singing…

Meanwhile Kisa has a problem I didn’t expect but am now surprised I didn’t see coming. In that she’s having trouble playing a female role. Which you think would be weird because Kisa you ARE a girl, what???? But yeah, she’s been pretending for several months now and her past two roles have been as Jacks where she had to further shove down her feminine qualities. So now that she’s being asked to be a Jeanne again, she’s out of habit and I think is having trouble bringing out something that’s no natural and a normal part of her after spending so long suppressing it.

So yeah, wow, this is probably the lowest Quartz’s mood has been during rehearsals to date…

Anyways as a semi side note, despite not even being done with my first route of the game the Jack Jeanne brain rot has struck hard. I already told you guys before that the music impressed me so much I ordered both the vocal collection and the mini shuffle album. Well…I also went and ordered the art book of the game as well as two light novels that were released for it as well!

“Wait, Willow, the novels are in Japanese. Can you read those???”

………………..No😅😅😅😅😅😅

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Okay folks I’m back from my vacation, so now I can go back to posting about my Jack Jeanne playthrough!!!! I finished the Fall Performance before my vacation but I didn’t have time to post my thoughts before I left, so let’s get to it then!

Man, Mary Jane as a play was so creepy and wild and enjoyable! I loved how it managed to be both fucked up and lighthearted at the same time??? Also it just may have my favorite play related CGs so far because WOW there were some fantastic CGs for this play!!! Mary Jane herself is such a fun and sad character in how lonely she is and how warped she is by that loneliness, and yet how kind she also is. Fumi yet again did a wonderful job in this role! All the ghosts managed to be funny and sweet characters. Suzu, Neji, Mitsuki, and Otori did wonderfully (while also having the funniest costumes I let out such a dumb laugh when I saw Suzu’s)! Otori I think you’re meant for the weird roles, just embrace your fate…And man were Figaro and Charles just sooooo delightfully unhinged! Kisa, my girl, she truly did a masterful job in her second Jack role and that maniacal laugh of hers was fucking incredible. But Sou…fucking Soshiro Yonaga…holy fucking shit!!!! More on him later….But anyways the pair were also pitiful in that along with their hatred of ghosts, it’s understandable that they were so angry at Mary specifically for (albeit unknowingly) using their friends’ corpses to make Jacob and man Figaro going absolutely batshit after Charles died because that’s his brother, his twin…What absolutely fun villains! Well at least they can be together as ghosts, right?

Some more A+ music from the play! A Friend Without a Name was such a lovely tune, reminded me in many ways of a music box. Fumi and Kai had some wonderful choreography for this song. Hallelujah Shout the name of God, My Friends was my favorite of the three for sure! I loved how it shifted so much and the way Kisa, Sou, and Fumi’s voices all came together! Ghost Party is a very close second, it’s so damn catchy!!! Like I wasn’t really feeling it when I heard the instrumental during the practice but when I got to hear the actual performance I was bouncing along so much I fucked up the rhythm game 😂😂😂 Still got the SS rank though ✌️ Then again, I am playing the rhythm games on normal mode, which is SUPER forgiving regarding how much you can fuck up and still get the best rank.

And good GRIEF the drama going on with Quartz throughout all of this! I mentioned this earlier but the sheer shock I felt when the cast list first came out and Sou didn’t get a named role. I truly didn’t expect that to happen! I figured there’s no way that doesn’t change, it doesn’t seem right, but I was getting worried there as we got closer and closer to performance day! The buildup to what happened with Sou for the Fall Performance had been building up slowly, like I’ve said before he’s shown he’s getting frustrated with his performance on stage. Especially when compared to how Kisa and Suzu, his two closest friends in Univeil, have been performing in the last two plays…I said before that what he needed was the chance to prove himself in a role that truly clicked for him. But then he wasn’t given a named role for Mary Jane…And geez you see how badly that destroys him despite him trying to stay his polite and soft spoken self, to the point of even ignoring Kisa and Suzu. Which all comes to a head when Suzu and Sou have their big fight, which leads to Sou being the loudest I’ve ever heard him at that point in the game. While I was so uncomfortable in that fight because “nooo boys please you’re friends don’t do this 😭😭😭”, I liked that I could get both sides of the argument. Because on Suzu’s end one of his closest friends has suddenly started ignoring him and won’t explain anything and it’s also clearly hurting another one of their mutual friends (Kisa), while on Sou’s end his insecurities and frustration at how his own efforts aren’t matching up to what he wants and how his friends are seemingly getting where they want to be so easily and seemingly aren’t as gutted by disappointment made him reach his breaking point.

Coupled with Sou’s drama is Suzu’s own drama. Suzu struggling to play a villain role so unlike who he is, a cunning guy. Gosh when I heard Suzu was gonna okay a villain I was sooooooooo hyped!!! He struggled but that’s the thing about Suzu, he struggles but he gets there eventually because he doesn’t stop trying. I was so ready to see him as the cunning and arrogant Jean Jose!!! But then…his injury…You know I remembered a while back a random Suzu event I saw had him mention a scar on his ankle if I remember right, and I was like 👀 at that info but then it was never brought up again so I thought it was just a random fun fact or something. But then as the weeks went on for the Fall Performance, Suzu was shown occasionally struggling with his foot. I actually thought maybe he sprained it in that early practice scene but then I remembered that scar thing and was like “👀👀👀👀👀 oh????? is it related?!?!?!?!??!?!!?!!” And then BAM!!! My poor sweet boy’s ankle couldn’t hold out anymore…Gosh that reveal that he had to give up kendo because of how bad the injury was…And how acting, specifically Univeil performances, gave him a reason to keep going again and a new dream…But now his ankle gave out and now there’s that chance acting could be taken from him too. I wonder if we’ll get more info on his injury, specifically what caused it. Because I admit I’m not too familiar with kendo but I’ve seen some pictures and stuff of it, and I can’t figure out what on earth happened to Suzu that injured him THAT badly. Based on a convo with Neji earlier, I can guess either he or the person he was sparring with wasn’t careful enough but I’d like more details. But yeah seeing how much of a brave face he was putting on, especially when he was cleared to come back but no longer had a role in the play. That scene between him and Kisa when he admits how scared he is murdered me…My poor sweetheart….

Also the way that before the fight was officially cleared up between Suzu and Sou the two of them were already friends again. Sou wanting to practice all the play lines to help Suzu and Kisa with rehearsals while Suzu told Neji to give the role to Sou if he couldn’t stand on stage himself. The way Suzu had no hard feelings towards Sou about being replaced. Sou at the end of the performance telling Suzu that HE is the one Sou doesn’t wanna lose to most 😭😭😭😭 I love all of Quartz so much but the first years are special to me because they really are the best friend trio.

And maaaan, Quartz really does have the best senpai in the world!!! Mitsuki, Fumi, and Kai all helping out Suzu, Kisa, and Sou respectively regarding the fight. Mitsuki and Fumi both standing up to Utsuri and Kakuto when they wanted to start shit with poor Kisa. The fact that Neji at the last moment added an entirely new character to the play just so that Suzu wouldn’t be left out! I mean when they changed the okay so that Sou would play Figaro and as Charles’ brother instead, Neji only needed to fix stuff related to that. But he also went and gave Suzu a new role that wouldn’t stress his ankle out because he knew that despite Suzu trying to be lighthearted about it he desperately wanted to stand on the stage too. For all that Neji thrives on chaos he’s much kinder than he lets on ☺️

Anyways, Sou’s acting in Mary Jane was nuts, absolutely bonkers. The way he kept such a calm tone for most of the play before starting to yell some lines once Figaro and Charles revealed their true purpose. And then…the masterpiece…Figaro’s screaming after Charles died….I truly thought Sou was gonna throw his voice out with how absolute batshit those screams were. How did his VA manage to NOT destroy his voice??? And the CG that accompanied that moment? Perfection. You know half of the audience went home and had nightmares after that. But yeah I was right, Sou got the role that clicked for him. He got to showcase what he’s made of and I can only hope he’ll improve from here! And he deserved that reward, I would’ve entered this game and fought all of Univeil if he didn’t get anything after that performance. Also I really loved Fumi finally getting a chance to be free and not be so tied down from being Quartz’s responsible senpai and getting to truly showcase his skill by competing with Kisa and Sou.

Final note, while I loved Mary Jane and think everything that went down in the Fall Performance arc was great, I’m sad we never got Jean Jose realized. I wanted to see my boy Suzu play a villain role 😞😞😞 Neji, babe, please come through for me and give me the gift of villain Suzu for the Winter Performance! Please do me this one solid, Neji 🙏

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I already gave out my big thoughts about the Final Performance arc of Suzu’s route in over a dozen different individual posts (sorry for spamming the Jack Jeanne tag 😞) so I won’t repeat myself too much on that.

Basically I am super duper wholeheartedly in love with Suzu’s route. It was incredibly well written, had great characterization of both Kisa and Suzu. I also think Suzu’s route flowed well from the common route, like a natural progression. I loved how the rest of Quartz was like on the route too, how supportive and loving they were. Once again, special shout-out to my boy Sou for being the funniest fucker during this arc. Boy really put the fear of God in poor Otori…Fumi and Kai were able to happily pass along their titles as Quartz’s Al Jeanne and Jack Ace to Kisa and Suzu with no regrets. Neji got to have fun with this last play and with how many references to the plays from over the year this one had, seems like he was feeling pretty sentimental. And Mitsuki really showed off how ready he is to be Quartz’s next leader, he knows his class so well! And yeah like I said before, Otori did end up growing on me, he’s such an entertaining gremlin!

Also all the people who tried saying Jack Jeanne isn’t romantic were definitely exaggerating. If you’re looking for spicy romantic contact or lots of physical affection, you probably won’t get it (at least that’s what I’m understanding after doing Suzu’s route). But to say it isn’t romantic at all??? LIES!!!! At the very least Suzu’s route is so incredibly deeply wonderfully romantic!!!!

I already mentioned this but Sissia of the Central Nation is my favorite of Quartz’s plays. Everything about it was beautiful, I felt like I was watching an anime, and like I said before if the developers wanna make a separate visual novel based on the play 👀👀👀👀👀 Though preferably with an ending that leans more towards the sweet side over the bittersweet (seriously you asshats you couldn’t wait for Sissia and Chance to get down first????)

The music was sheer perfection. Departure was a beautiful solo from Kisa, like no wonder Sissia was immediately picked to join Kielce. Kielce the Nation at the Center was without a doubt my favorite, it was such a catchy hype song for the circus troupe! Quartz Anima was a VERY close second, like it so narrowly missed out on being my favorite, it’s beautiful and has so many callbacks to Quartz’s past plays and I found out it also apparently references all the Quartz members’ names in the lyrics too!!! And Over the Wall was another gorgeous solo from Kisa!

The ending song, I think it’s called Where the Wind Blows, was absolutely beautiful and I loved that for me it was a duet between Kisa and Suzu 🥰🥰🥰

So yeah, Jack Jeanne is such a good game and deserves way more attention. I have only played the one route so far but I can confidently call it my favorite otome game and one of my favorite video games in general!

Before I get to the other routes I wanna take a break to play Radiant Tale! There’s another red haired genki sweetheart voiced by Yuma Uchida in that game but I can’t access his route until I woo all the other boys first 😡 So I need to get to work on that!!! When I come back to Jack Jeanne I likely won’t liveblog as extensively as I did Suzu’s route. I probably will give general thoughts at the end or make note of anything major.

But yeah, thanks everyone for reading my thoughts! And sorry again for spamming the Jack Jeanne tag so much! 😅😅😅

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Chance!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 I expected something to happen but I was still shocked when he was shot! And he was hurt saving Sissia yet again!!!!!

But….listen…..I need to put down this scene of Kisa and Suzu improvising down…Because these two babies are making me cry from how much they love each other….For context, Sissia is holding a dying Chance but Kisa isn’t saying her next line because she’s connecting how Suzu saved her and how even though he’s hurt he’s hiding it to protect Kisa and to keep the Univeil Performance going. And she thinks how in the situation with Chance and Sissia it wouldn’t feel right for Sissia to deny hers and Chance’s dream even though he’s hurt so badly, even though they love each other so much…

Suzu: …What are you thinking, Sissia? I want to hear it. Tell me…

Kisa: Chance…When that soldier knocked me over…You saved me. The truth is that…you were injured from that, weren’t you? If not, you’d never have wavered in your dance. Even now…If you hadn’t had that injury, this may not have happened. You hid it from me, didn’t you? For the sake of the Border Performance…For my sake…You were hiding it…

Suzu: I’ll save you in a much better way next time.

Kisa: That’s not what I mean…!

Suzu: But my body just moved on its own back then. It’s because you’re so precious to me. Because I’m always watching you. Hey, you know already, don’t you? …I love you. I’m madly in love with you. There are so many parts about you…that I love. When you start talking, the night turns suddenly into day, the sun rises straight to its highest point, and before I know it, it’s tinted in red…And night comes again, then is knocked back again by the morning sun…I love you in so many ways that this happens over and over again. That’s why…Can you go ahead and sing without me…? Make the Border Performance a success…Make our dream come true…And then…let the other Kielce members give you the praise you deserve…And after that, come listen to just how much I’m in love with you…Until my very last breath…Though it’d be disappointing if you didn’t want to hear any of that…

Kisa: Chance… (Suzu…I’ll…) I’ll make our wish come true. That’s why we’re standing on this stage now. To inspire dreams in people, just like the day we were inspired. All right…I’ll be going now.

Suzu: Yeah…Hey.

Kisa: Yeah?

Suzu: I love you.

Kisa: …Yeah.

And then!!!! And then!!!! Everyone else from Quartz behind the scenes being supportive of Kisa and Suzu!!!!!! Having complete faith in the two and saying they’ll definitely be the new Jack Ace and Al Jeanne of Quartz. And Fumi and Kai recalling first seeing the pair during the auditions and thinking it’d be fun if they joined Quartz, and how right they were about that 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

And then Kasai and Mare being so hyped and excited for what Kisa is about to pull off. While Utsuri is over in the corner SEETHING 😂😂😂

And then, as Kisa is hyping herself up……….

Suzu: Wow, you look so dazzling from here…The figure of the person I love the most…

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SUZU!!!!!!!!

SUZU ORIMAKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You lied?!?!?!?!?!????!??!!!! You lied about your ankle being better?????????

Suzu!!!!!!

Chance is an ACROBAT!!!!!! He does SOMERSAULTS!!!!!! You have a bunch of dances too!!!!!

And you’re keeping it a secret?!?!?!!!?!?!! You’re gonna lie to the rest of Quartz about still being injured????

SUZU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Actually now that I’m at the Winter Performance arc, why don’t I try to guess at who among the boys might be aware of Kisa’s secret?

Suzu: You know what? I think he might know! At least subconsciously, if nothing else…Suzu really keyed into how feminine Kisa is during the early stage of the game. And some stuff from his affection events adds to this. I think Suzu knows but is trying not to acknowledge it for the sake of not messing up when acting with Kisa/not wanting to ruin his friendship with her.

Sou: I mean…Yeah…

Mitsuki: Hmm…I think he may have suspicions Kisa is hiding something, especially with how much trouble she’s been having acting as Chicchi. But I don’t know if he has any suspicions regarding Kisa’s gender.

Fumi: He knows. I’ve gotten far enough where he and Kisa have that talk where he talks about “Chicchi” hiding her true self. And that conversation made it super clear that he knows Kisa is hiding something, and I’m certain he knows specifically she’s hiding her gender.

Kai: I don’t think so. Or if he does, he doesn’t care one bit. Because nothing even resembling suspicion has popped up yet.

Neji: You know with Neji if you told me he knows I’d agree with you, but if you then told me he doesn’t know I’d also agree with that too. It’s such a gamble with him. But honestly? I don’t think so if only because while Neji is chaotic and likes making his actors uncomfortable for the sake of growing, he’s not cruel. I don’t see Neji as someone who would make Kisa suffer through what she is as she’s trying to be Chicchi while knowing Kisa is secretly a girl.

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What on earth are the other routes of Jack Jeanne like??? Because I had seen so many comments and reviews say this game is super light on the romance and all that…

But I’m going through Suzu’s route and it’s literally so fucking romantic??????????

I’m over here acting like a damn blushing maiden watching Kisa and Suzu interact over the course of the whole game, and that’s only ramped up now that I’m out of the common route and into Suzu’s specific route!

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Suzu, to Kisa: "I'm going to stop hiding it. I'll show you everything......Tachibana. I'm going to give it everything I've got!!!"

Me: Ahh, so he's accepted how much he likes Kisa and is not gonna make such an effort to hide it, thus messing up his acting! I wonder what his scenes with Kisa are gonna be like now?

Suzu: *acts like he did when he first met Kisa to act as Chance first meeting Sissia*

Me: Oh?

Suzu: *accidentally calls Tachibana by name before the kiss scene*

Me: 👀

Neji: "Chance is truly in love with Sissia from the bottom of his heart."

Suzu: "Yeah."

Me and Kisa: 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Suzu: "He loves her so much."

Me: 😳

Kisa: *beginning to suspect what the thing Suzu mentioned he was hiding was*

Suzu (as Chance) to Kisa (as Sissia): "It's just because...I like you..."

Me: 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

Suzu: *is basically all but flat out stating in explicit terms that he's in love with Kisa*

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Winter Performance completed!!!!! And....WOW......Oh Rama Havenna might be my favorite play yet! For something that was supposed to be a throwaway play, it really turned out soooo beautiful!

Chicchi is such an interesting character and man when her secret came out and her life fell apart around her it broke my heart! Kisa did such a beautiful job with the emotions of that character, especially in the crying scenes. Rukiora was also incredibly endearing in how sympathetic I was to all she was going through, really Mitsuki's best work in a Jeanne role to date! Miguel was a perfect cool guy, I knew Fumi could pull off a Jack role well, I wanna see him do more!!! Fugio was such a fascinating character in how I swerved back and forth on finding him genuine or sketchy, Sou really and truly has grown as an actor. Neji was exactly as enjoyably detestable as I wanted in his evil role as Domina, like wow Domina is such a piece of shit I wanted to strangle her myself for what she's putting everyone, especially Chicchi and Rukiora, through. The priest may not have many lines but he certainly made an impression, I'm glad Kai didn't give up and made the role his own. And then...Suzu as Jire....Good grief Jire is such a pitiable man. It's so clear he loves Chicchi so much but it doesn't change the fact that he decided what was best for Chicchi FOR her and hurt her so badly. Chicchi is well within her rights not to forgive him, and I'm glad at Jire seems to accept that. But yeah, Suzu did a wonderful job with this role, I am so so SO proud of him for being able to get Jire to work at last. Also, while I didn't fully get the villain Suzu role I wanted, I got some version of that and a hot CG of Jire with a weapon, so I'll take what I can get!!! 😍😍😍 The play itself was so emotional and I was soooo wrapped up in Chicchi and Rukiora's relationship and so utterly happy when they became close again at the end. You know when Neji brought up a scene between the priest and Chicchi at the end I was like "??? what's with everyone's reactions? what kind of scene could it be???" Then I get to the end of Oh Rama Havenna and "....ohhhh...Chicchi and the priest are gonna do the do now...now I get the earlier reactions..."

For the music this time around, it was so damn hard for me to pick which one was my favorite! All three songs were simply spectacular! Oh Rama Havenna, Oh Beloved Havenna was so jazzy and had such a great tune to it, I couldn't help but shimmy while playing the rhythm game. Faded Color was an absolutely beautiful duet between Kisa and Mitsuki and truly wrapped up all the emotions and love of Chicchi and Rukiora's relationship in wonderful fashion. But Intense Confessions at the Confessional...was sheer perfection from start to finish for me...Seeing everyone's outfits was perfect, Kai and Neji's singing was perfect, the freaking choreography was perfect!!! The song just gets wrapped around your brain so tight and refuses to let go, it was so good and catchy and while it was hard to pick between the three at first, I am satisfied naming it my favorite from the Winter Performance!

I came out of the Winter Performance arc feeling so damn proud of Mitsuki. Because when he was suddenly assigned the Al Jeanne role, I understood what Neji was trying to do. Neji, Fumi, and Kai were all gonna graduate. Mitsuki is a second year, the only prominent one of Quartz in the story. So he would naturally become the next leader after the current third years are gone. So Neji basically threw Mitsuki into training for the position by putting him a lead role so suddenly. And of course Mitsuki couldn't take the pressure at first...But he broke through, and acted like such a damn good leader throughout the training. Helping Kisa with her struggle for her role and talking things out with her, helping Suzu realize why Jire is such a tough role for him and what he needs to do to perform, helping Sou get more comfortable with the parts in the play where Kisa and Sou's characters are more physically intimate. And not just the underclassmen, Mitsuki managed to be such a help to the upperclassmen too! Helping Neji realize he could take Domina more seriously as a character and helping Kai realize he still has so much more to give as a Jack Ace and not to give up. And the way he comforted Kisa during the play by telling her that it doesn't matter to him what her secret is, he accepts her and forgives her. And man, the sheer relief in Kisa's voice when that happens....She nearly drove me to tears! I loved Mitsuki's growth from someone who was just going through the motions to someone who is genuinely invested in the class performances! I'm sure he'll be a wonderful leader for Quartz next year!

Suzu's own development regarding acting was wonderful too. Seeing him having to face his frustration at falling behind Kisa and Sou as a result of his injury in the Fall Performance and also acknowledging his trouble with acting in roles so unlike who he is. For Suzu, he has trouble acting as those he can't connect with. And Suzu himself is someone who tends to be straightforward, so more complicated ones like Jire who feels such conflicting thoughts and Jean Jose who is manipulative and cunning are difficult for him. But I liked that Suzu didn't wallow in his frustration and sadness over not performing at the level he wanted. He accepted the fact that who he currently is cannot give such roles the true life they deserve, but he'll use the skills he DOES have to still make such roles shine until he is able to fully develop into the type of actor who can perform outside of the range he is stuck in. And I truly believe he's not so far off from such a dream anyways! I mean the king from The Sleepless King wasn't too much like Suzu as a person and yet my boy KILLED it! I think so long as Suzu can find that one part of the role that he connects with, he'll be able to do anything. He just needs to grow as a performer and reach that point, and sine he's still a first year he has plenty of time to make that growth happen!

So yeah, now I am officially done with the common route of Jack Jeanne! Christmas in the game is the start of the route splits. So I can finally have Kisa go after Suzu!!!! 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 My sweet earnest puppy of a boy, I cannot WAIT to see what your route has in store! I hope I can at least start it today...If not I gotta wait for tomorrow...

....Also, semi aside, how on earth did the costuming department manage to make Neji's chest look like that for Domina? 😂😂😂