Okay. Which Of You Motherfuckers Taught My Vile Little Homunculus How To Put On Eyeliner

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! :)

fandom wiki simulator

top tier problem solving skills, Kata. surely these are the only two possible solutions

i love characters who do the “i worship the myth i make of you” and in turn dehumanize and get wrong the object of their devotion and love. yes project a thing that does not exist onto a pedestal and kneel at it like it is your altar. this will surely not blow up in both of your faces eventually. the higher you place them the greater the fall

me talking to any of my favs

Watchman of death my ass he’s French!

reblog to give your mutuals a djungelskog

Ace Attorney Deaths: They say the defendant bludgeoned the victim with a convenient flat object. The circumstances themselves aren't impossible. But the information about the motive is coming from a parrot on the witness stand. Danganronpa Deaths: I thought we were all friends here but it seems SOMEONE couldn't resist killing someone and then dramatically revealing the body in some crazy, dramatic fashion. No thanks to whoever probably tampered with the crime scene to make it more interesting. Zero Escape Deaths: It's all normal murder. The weird part is that the victim came back to life as a clone, or everyone's killing each other, or there's cross-timeline transportation and the destruction of humanity involved. AI The Somnium Files Deaths: Who is the killer, and why would they keep doing THAT to the corpses? And can people stop dying for five minutes, we're only one route in and I don't know what's going on! Buried Stars Deaths: The murders are all kinda normal but we're a small cast and we're not solving this ourselves. Time to call in the big guns... the toxic Twitter feed. Process of Elimination/Tantei Bokumetsu Deaths: You take your eyes off this group for five minutes and they've somehow Rube Goldberged each other into the cruelest and most unusual way a person can possibly die, all without anyone noticing. Gnosia Deaths: The two options are "vanished into thin air" and "chucked in the freezer", and the second one's democratically sanctioned. But there's a secret third option, which is "thrown out the airlock for misgendering someone", and a secret fourth which is "slime". Your Turn to Die Deaths: It's not the murders that are cruel, it's the player's participation in the murders. Ghost Trick Phantom Detective Deaths: The first step of trying to keep someone from dying is watching them die and going, "THAT'S how you died?!" before rolling up your sleeves and fixing the situation. Paranormasight Deaths: In any other game, deducing how someone drowned in the middle of a field while bone dry would be the subject of a huge Ace Attorney style courtroom segment. In this game it's just "probably this one specific curse stone", and the hard part is finding out what criteria they fulfilled on a technicality to activate it.

Happy Valentine's day ! ⁠♡ It seems that they came together to celebrate the day, don't make them wait too long outside !

I try to design new outfits for them, hope it's fine !

various vn characters / bustafellows edits.  

     ↳   ♡  Paraiso Garage / Paraiso Time!