Otomedetective - Local Aro Otome Lover

nights at the hushed honeybee 🐝

Am I the only one who thought Rozy was a girl based on the trailer? People were like "oh Rozy has a secret identity" and I was like yeah I bet he's secretly a girl called Rosie and is pretending to be a boy because sexism. Then I find out that no, Rozy is not a girl, and not only that but there are no Yuri routes at all.

OH yeah i forgot . if u want to pick up tmgs then you have to check with the info character to know the love interests + friends' birthdays and phone numbers. my first playthrough i didn't know so i just stumbled into a guy being the one pursuing my heroine lmaooo

oh cool thank you! i really appreciate the tips!! :) I'm super curious now lol, so i downloaded a rom of the first game today and I'm gonna try to play a little of it! :)

she lets me hit because i *remembers i have nothing and no one* actually lets just stop talking for a little while

name a more iconic thing to happen for the fictional qpr community than Donna Noble quite literally meeting her soulmate and being like hmm. there's no one I've ever wanted to fuck less

oooh hm~

This. probably isn't the vibe you're going for, but this kinda reminded me of Twelfth Night? Where Viola & her twin brother Sebastian both survive a shipwreck, but neither knows the other is alive. And because Viola is disguised as a man, everyone on the island where they end up keeps mistaking them for each other in various comedic situations. Not to bring up Shakespeare randomly lol...

Not saying that's what you should go for unless you like the idea, but there could be like, a hidden in plain sight element maybe? Like maybe he escaped and is still investigating and he and Rosie keep just barely missing each other or something? And depending on how/if you want to involve Silva, he could be helping the brother?

OR the finding him imprisoned somewhere and trying to get him out would work too I think. That feels very Hamefura. I can easily picture a cute post-rescue scene where he notices Katarina & Rosie's relationship and teases his sister about it.

If you wanted to leave it more open-ended, it could be a "he escaped, but we still couldn't find him" ending where she still has to go looking for him, but now she has a girlfriend with her. A sort-of "adventure ending" or something.

I'm sure whatever you pick will be great! (I 100% sympathize on the actually having to write it aspect though 😭😭😭)

Am I the only one who thought Rozy was a girl based on the trailer? People were like "oh Rozy has a secret identity" and I was like yeah I bet he's secretly a girl called Rosie and is pretending to be a boy because sexism. Then I find out that no, Rozy is not a girl, and not only that but there are no Yuri routes at all.

tmgs is responsible for me thinking too hard about "wouldn't it be fun to make a game where you experience what it's like to be a video game character as another character is the protagonist trying to date you" but it's entirely because i assumed the love interests would give you their phone numbers at high enough affection so i just worked on my stats until one guy started asking my heroine out and i realized he was the protagonist to my heroine's love interest

lol that's really funny, but a totally reasonable assumption? like, it's way more normal (though significantly less fun) to get a phone number from the actual person than like, your weird little brother who stalks high school guys as a hobby or something lol.

but it's a really cute little info mechanic and i kinda love it just because it's funny~

it's cool to imagine turning the tables and not playing as the pursuer character! the concept kinda reminds me of this project:

store.steampowered.com

I Just Want to be Single!! Season One on Steam

The anti-dating sim where you make friends instead of girlfriends! Balance between heartbreak and heartache! Will you graduate without a sin

which is on my to-play list, but it's a genre twist where the mc doesn't want to date, so it's one of those "not quite dating sim" twist games.

personally, i like seeing variety in characters and in different games, so having a game where you're the one pursued sounds like a neat change of pace! (it kinda also reminds me of Hamefura lol since Kata is so unaware and all the active flirting is done by the harem 😭~ now that i think about it, that's kind of a trope i adore. loving harem pursues oblivious or uninterested girl lol)

i also love genre subversions and unique twists (especially when they're made by someone who truly loves the genre), so your idea sounds super cool!! that would be such a cute story!!! i'd love to hear more about it or play the game if you make it someday!

If this wasn’t your experience with akechi were u really playing royal correctly?

Reblog and put in the tags if you can remember where you got the shirt you're currently wearing.

Aromanticism and Otome Games

I am an aromantic who loves otome games. It may seem incredibly contradictory, especially since a common perception of otome is that it's solely wish-fulfillment games for people to insert themselves into a story where they date attractive men. There's definitely nothing wrong with playing them in that way, and many people get a lot of enjoyment out of them, but that isn't the only way to play an otome game. In fact, many otome game players prefer not to self-insert at all and I’m one of them!

My personal experience being aromantic means I do not feel romantic attraction to anyone, and I do not desire or need a romantic relationship to feel fulfilled in life. I’m perfectly happy with my platonic bonds and my perpetual singleness! That’s how I experience it, but there are many different ways to be aromantic, and there’s no one universal experience that defines how all aromantic people live their lives. Some are repulsed by romance and its overbearing presence in nearly all forms of media, and others are comfortable seeing other people experience romance despite not experiencing it themselves (though these, of course, are not the only two groups). I personally lean more towards the latter category. I love romance stories! 

For me, playing an otome game is like watching a romance movie where I get to decide who the heroine ends up with. It's like a shipper's dream! I don’t self-insert because I am not comfortable putting myself in romantic situations, but by observing a fictional couple, I can explore the romantic plots and experiences that pique my curiosity. And let me tell you, I love a good romance plot. Especially one with drama.

A comparison I like to make when people don’t seem to get it is that I also really, really love murder mysteries and tragedies, but I do NOT want to actually experience them myself. What I want for a character and what I want for myself are two completely separate things, so there’s really no contradiction! 

In fact, playing otome games was a big part of my aromantic journey in the first place. I never had crushes as a kid that weren’t forced or peer pressured. When people talk about the characters in their childhood shows that they had crushes on, I can never relate. To me, there were only interesting characters and stories. I’ve never really wanted anything more than that. 

So when my second-ever relationship ended and I was wondering whether I really felt romantic attraction at all, I decided to try otome games. 

I chose Collar x Malice as my first game because, as I mentioned earlier, I am a huge fan of mysteries and tragedies, and the premise intrigued me. Then, throughout my exploration of various otome games (and as I quickly became hooked on them) I tried some games with less developed heroines, specifically made for self-inserting, and found that I couldn’t handle them. Separating myself from the heroine helped me enjoy the games more as I realized that I didn’t actually want to be in these romantic situations myself, but only wanted to enjoy the story.

So what was the point of this whole post? I guess just to share my own personal experiences as an aromantic otome-lover and address the contradiction. Otome games aren’t necessarily mainstream-popular, but they certainly have their dedicated fans, and I’ve really enjoyed the interactions I’ve had so far with these fandom spaces. 

Sure, the primary focus of the games may be pretty boys who you can date, but otome games can also be so much more than that! It’s a genre I’m glad I decided to try. 

I’m happy to be an aro along for the ride to read some good stories, puzzle out the right route choices, and look at some aesthetically pleasing character designs along the way! :)