Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms

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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Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms is an emotionally driven otome visual novel that combines historical drama, supernatural fiction, romance, and tragedy into a story with considerable narrative depth. Developed by Idea Factory and Design Factory and published by Idea Factory International, it serves as the second part of the remastered Hakuoki storyline and directly continues the events of Kyoto Winds. Because of this structure, newcomers are strongly encouraged to experience the preceding installment first. Much of the emotional impact here depends on relationships, conflicts, and character development that have already been established. The story follows Chizuru Yukimura as her journey continues into Edo during the turbulent final years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Her fate remains closely connected to the Shinsengumi, whose members are struggling against political change, military conflict, and their own personal demons. The historical foundation gives the narrative a distinctive atmosphere, but the game freely incorporates supernatural elements involving demons and unusual powers. Rather than feeling completely disconnected from the historical setting, these fantasy elements become intertwi…

Played it in 2021, so... I'm afraid it's not fresh, but it's one of the first otome games I played and mixing this one with Kyoto Winds I threw into this games over 200h combined, so it has a soft spot in my book. I remember wondering why the bad guys sometimes looked even better than some of the LI's... I'm still kinda mad about it lol So, I personally played all routes in Kyoto Winds before moving onto this game, because I didn't want to spoil stuff from other routes (even though the events shouldn't be very susprising since it's based off real people and situations, but.... whatever), but some people prefer doing a route in both games, then move onto the next one. I also played this nonstop until I finished it, but since there are so many LI's and the routes are long, idk if I would recommend doing that. Besides all this, I really enjoyed the game, some routes more than others, but it is what it is, considering how many routes there are. My only actual complain is... why on earth do these games take so much space? I had to erase them and I'm pretty sure the save data won't be there anymore if I dare install it again, which is sad.

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.