[Da Capo] Shirakawa Kotori's Route Reflection

663 words. Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes, 18 Seconds.

tl;dr: I just finished Kotori’s Route in Da Capo I!

So, I just finished playing through Shirakawa Kotori’s route in Da Capo. I had a good time, and though I was able to play through the whole thing in a little more than a day, I found a lot of the moments to be very memorable. This isn’t a spoiler blog, though, so I won’t go into too many specifics.

A major theme which carries through her entire route is the theme of misunderstanding. Just about everyone, including You, misunderstands each other in this storyline… Even little things (Like talking on the telephone) are made into relatable and memorable events based on this motif. And dealing with that is a large part of the story, for better or for worse.

And, needless to say, there are a few ways to get the worser endings.

Another theme present throughout Kotori’s route is being true to Yourself. This is exemplified in Your character’s choices in regards to family, friends, and even his own education. There is a lot of growing up to do along this storyline, and experiencing that again without feeling like the game is out of touch with reality was a joy. All in all, a very good experience.

Kotori herself reminds me of a few people I used to know. Perhaps that is why I find her to be so relatable… It is a very realistic set of emotions that she carries throughout the story, and she is able to present them in such a way that, given the circumstances, I can completely believe that these emotions are genuine.

And hey, she is introduced at the beginning of the game as a very popular person… which (though that is not exactly my case now) I can say from experience builds up a lot of superficial relationships. Superficial relationships are (spoiler alert) not very gratifying IRL or to You or Kotori.

All in all, I had quite a good time with this. There were only a few Gotcha! moments in the choices, and because of this I can easily recommend Da Capo and Kotori’s route to those looking to do a “real life” playthrough of a Visual Novel. Anyone who had a middle or high school romance which survived (or died) due to communication and self discovery will enjoy this route. I certainly did. And in regard to how well is stacks up to Your expectations…

Let’s see.

• Christopher