Norn9: Heishi Otomaru Route Review

Review for the Otomaru Heishi route in Norn9 Var Commons for PS Vita

***Warning: Very Heavy Spoilers***

To any of us who have played Hakuoki, Heishi should seem somewhat familiar. Not only is his name and personality type similar to Heisuke's, they also happen to share the same voice actor, Hiroyuki Yoshino. I will admit, though, I preferred Heishi's voice over Heisuke's. They are similar no doubt, but Heishi's voice seemed to be a bit more calm and less loud (though still loud at times). 

On to what really matters. You'll play through Heishi's route as Nanami. I think these two are a good match since they're total opposites. Nanami is a very cool and collected person who keeps her emotions hidden while Heishi can be very hyper, loud, and downright lacks the ability to really hide his emotions because of his power. Heishi has the power of telepathy meaning that he can relay his thoughts directly into other people's minds. Since he can't really control his power too well, emotions he feels strongly will seep into other people. In other words, if he's feeling really sad, it'll make anyone around him feel just as sad. And while he can't read minds, his power gives him the ability to sense other people's emotions and intentions on a relatively deep level.

I felt his route was reasonably paced and pretty interesting throughout. While the overall plot remained stagnant as it has in the other routes, the development between Heishi and Nanami was actually good enough to make this an enjoyable story. As was the case in the other routes, due to the discovery of a traitor amongst them, everyone gets grouped into pairs. While everyone is really serious about trying to figure out who the traitor could be, Nanami believes Heishi is not taking this situation seriously enough and therefore, could be putting himself in danger by being too trusting of everyone else on the ship. The two get into a bit of an argument as Heishi stresses the fact that due to his telepathy, he can't outright distrust or be suspicious of anyone because they will be able to feel it. Nanami then begins to feel bad for not understanding this and thinking it was just because Heishi was being his normal, carefree self.

Heishi, Itsuki, and Nanami often play games of Old Maid that end up lasting all night long. Since Heishi never wins this game, he decides he wants to try playing a game that he can win. Needless to say, it takes a long time to find this kind of game, but after a while, he decides he wants to try doing a scary maze. Everyone on the ship takes part, they set up the maze, and then they play the game. This is really an irrelevant part of the story, but it takes up a bit chunk of it and is somewhat entertaining to go through.

Then we learn a little about Heishi. Apparently, the reason Heishi seems to be happy all the time is because as a child, he would act sad or angry in order to get what he wanted. After a while, his parents got sick of him doing this and began to punish him any time he showed emotions of sadness or anger. Due his continuing bratty behavior, they eventually disowned him, something he says he deserved. After they disowned him, Heishi then made a living by learning how to play the flute and playing during festivals and other events. I'm not exactly sure if this is right or not, but it seems like after his parents disowned him, he just kind of moseyed onto the ship. Akito and a few others were pretty suspicious of him since no one else just willingly chose to go on this journey. 

The big thing in Heishi's route is that we learn there is a way to combine powers. Nanami's power is the power to erase peoples memories while Heishi's is telepathy. Theoretically, if their powers were to be combined, they could be used to erase multiple people's memories at once. Due to the negative impact this could have, especially in the hands of the wrong people, Nanami decides she should stay away from Heishi. This of course hurts Heishi. Since neither of them can see a way they can either A) not have their powers combined and used inappropriately or B) guarantee that they won't have to become enemies once they get their orders from The World, they decide the only thing they can do is run away together, before they land to meet The World. Once they stop in the next city to stock up on stuff, the two plan on leaving and not getting back on the ship. 

The only two people aware of their plans are Itsuki and Mikoto, who have started a little relationship of their own. Itsuki hears Heishi plan and tries to talk some sense into him, asking him how he thinks he can escape something as big and powerful as The World, where the two of them could possibly run away to, how are they going to get money, etc., etc. Heishi doesn't want to hear this, gets upset, and the two end up getting in a physical skirmish. Heishi is really worked up at this point, thinking that Itsuki is telling him these things because he doubts his ability to protect you and make it so you won't ever have to use your powers. 

After this little showdown, in order to get the happy ending, you have to choose to not go with him. When you do this, he thinks it's because you also doubt he can really protect you and whatnot. What it really is is that you just want him to calm down and let you guys come up with some kind of plan first. You guys decide that the next time you stop for supplies, you guys are going to leave. While you're in the town, Mikoto goes clothes shopping so you don't have to wear The World uniform. Heishi also gets a change of clothes. When you two meet up again, Itsuki tells you look cute in your new clothes before Heishi gets a chance to, which upsets him a little bit. Itsuki tells him it doesn't matter who said it first, if he wants to tell you look cute, he should do it anyway. After a moment of nervous hesitation, he says you look really cute, very loudly. So loudly it gets the attention of passersby lol. Anyway, you and Mikoto then begin to say your goodbyes and you tell her that you wish you could've said a proper goodbye to Koharu. Mikoto tells you it can't be helped since the fewer people who know about you two running away together, the better and that she'll tell her what happened when the time is right (don't when that'll be since we're under the impression that they're going to reach their destination soon and may all be separated after that but whatever). Itsuki and Heishi say their goodbyes, which aren't very heartfelt, at least not openly. They don't say much, they really just kind of glare at each other, but they reach some kind of understanding. 

When you guys finally start on your way, you run into Masamune. Masamune of course doesn't approve of you two trying to run from The World and tells you that you two need to get back on the ship. The two of you can't do that so Heishi knocks him out and then you erase his memory of running to you guys. Itsuki then comes back, asks what you did to Masamune and then agrees to bring him back to the ship rather than leaving him in a heap in the middle of a back alleyway. Good looking out, Itsuki. NOW you guys finally catch the train and leave. 

After the credits roll, you get a kind of epilogue of sorts. Apparently some rich guy decides that getting pictures from the around the world is very important so he literally pays for you guys to travel and do just that. Heishi is very good with the camera and decides to take a selfie with you. You get upset saying he's wasting film, especially since the camera and stuff belongs to that rich guy. Heishi just kind of plays it off and says one photo won't hurt. In addition to traveling the world, the two of you get money from Heishi's flute playing. When you two reach a large city, he says that with you playing drums, you guys would be able to make a lot more money than just him on the flute alone. Due to your less than perfect drumming abilities, you decline and Heishi continues to push. You guys then stop at an inn and begin practicing the music together. And that is pretty much how the happy ending goes. I'll say I was kind of disappointed. I liked Heishi so this happy ending was okay, but it left a lot of stuff unsolved. I guess since they just jumped ship (pun intended), what happened afterward doesn't really effect them, but I still think it was lazy to not even touch on what was going with The World and all of that "important" stuff.

For the bad ending, choose to go with him. Personally, I felt the choices could've been worded a little more clearly since you end up going with him either way. I thought the second choice was like to completely decline and reject him, not just tell him to hold on for a moment. Either way, when you choose this option, you two leave right away. You guys run into a forest and begin staying in a small hut. Heishi comes back from the city with something that concerns you. He says he bought a gun so that he would be able to protect you since his power isn't strong enough. Since everyone thinks guns are some of the most dangerous weapons in the history of ever, you are very upset that he bought this. He insists that he needs it and as long as he's with you, he'll be able to protect you. Heishi then says he's feeling stressed and hopes that you'll help him de-stress. I thought this was some kind of cue for sexy times or something, but the two of you just lay down in the bed and Heishi puts his arms around your body and neck, hard. So hard it seems like he nearly started to strangle you, all this while he's muttering about how much he loves you and wants to protect you. I don't know where this yandere behavior came from since Heishi showed absolutely no signs of even the slightest tendency to act out like this, but the only conclusion I could come was maybe he was so obsessed with making you believe he could protect you even if he didn't truly think he could, it drove him to some sort of insanity. 

A couple of moments later, there's a knock on the door. It's Itsuki and Akito, and Heishi says something about how maybe you guys should've ran away a little further. I'm not sure what happens here. Heishi tells them to go away, they demand you let them him, Akito starts threatening to bust the door in, and then it seems Heishi was about to shoot them with the gun? Like I said, this ending was so out there it was more baffling than it was sad. After this, you get a hold of Heishi, erase his memories, and then all of you get back on the ship.

You guys are back on the ship and we learn that you erased all of Heishi's memories of you. This is the only sad part since all the stuff that happened between the two of you is like it pretty much never happened. You guys land on the island, meet with The World who turns out to be a computer who simply looks like a human named Aion. Aion explains the Reset and why their powers are needed to go through with it. From what I remember, in this ending, you guys actually did go through with The Reset and after it's done, Nanami then asks Aion to take her power away from her. She does and you never see Heishi again from what I can tell. Then it's back to the title screen. No game over, credits, nothing.

The bad ending I feel could've been more effective if Heishi's yandere stuff didn't just seem to come from nowhere. We get he cares about her a lot and just wants to protect her, but those things alone don't automatically equate to someone being obsessive and scary. 

So, overall feelings about Heishi's route. Like I said, I actually did enjoy it. More than I thought I would and more than any of the other routes I've played so far. His route was the only one I wasn't constantly pressing through text just to get through it faster. I also liked playing as Nanami better than I did Koharu and Mikoto, maybe because I felt she was the most similar to myself. His good ending though, suffered from what the entire game has: just poor writing and story cohesiveness. The bad ending, mainly the part where you two were staying in the hut temporarily, was simply too farfetched and just unbelievable. The fact that he lost all his memories of you was sad, so the big thing that happened in his bad ending was effective in and of itself. 

I also want to apologize if any of this is inaccurate. I think as a whole it should be relatively correct, but if any of the details are off, please let me know. Writing this is making me realize that for some of the other routes I've played, before I write about them, I may need to refresh my memory haha...