Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms

I want every CG of Hijikata burned permanently into my eyeballs

PLEASE PLEASE AND PLEASE PLAY THIS OTOME VISUAL NOVEL. I can say with my full chest that Hakuoki is one of the best written otome visual novel that I have ever played. I dived into this series just to reminisce the high school-me watching the anime series, and I was a bit curious why this series is so popular in otome community despite being an almost 2 decades old otome game. I said the same thing in my review in Kyoto Wind, but the ANIME DID NOT DO JUSTICE of the VISUAL NOVEL at all. Even more so in Edo Blossoms. I am going to gush out of how outstanding the writing is; not only towards the plot itself, but also to the world building, characters building and individuality, and characters dynamic. While I generally said the same thing in the Kyoto Wind review, but Edo Blossoms really exceed my expectation. Like I did not expect it to be this incredible. Kyoto Wind is already up there, and Edo Bloom just blown my mind, Im not even exaggerating. The writers did a wonderful job conveying Hakuoki’s gripping story while building each characters’ individuality, given their significant relationship with the heroine, Chizuru. Furthermore. in Edo Blossoms does not contain a long repetiti…

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First of all, this is a sequel, so play a route in Kyoto Winds before picking this up. I have only played the continuation of Hijikata's route in this game, but I was glued to it for hours. The romance of these two games is definitely a slow burn, but feels pretty realistic. I think it's well worth the time to see the pay off. Plus, the non-romantic plot and themes are pretty engaging, too.

I binged playing this & I still cry my eyes out for Okita 😢😢😢 JUST PLAY THIS GAME!!!

This was such a wonderful experience, I came here expecting just a simple and enjoyable experience for a visual novel, which would have left me happy, but this was much more than I had anticipated. Upon writing this review, I have only completed Souma's route, but I can't wait to go through the rest of the Shinsengumi. The art, music, Edo period, and characters were all done incredibly well. Even as a guy, it's fun reading about the cool characters and charming romance.