straightforwardly | 203 | OZMAFIA!! — Robin Hood & Pashet's routes

► Media consumption/creation at-a-glance:

Reading: Currently at the beginning of Book Six in The Iliad.
Listening: I finished up TAZ Dust! Verdict: I mostly liked it, but wasn’t satisfied by the ending. Now I’m catching up with Buffering the Vampire Slayer — just finished episode 4.07.
Playing: OZMAFIA!!, of course!
Watching: Still in that same holding pattern with YGO DM.
Writing: Splitting my attention between potential Chocolate Box treats and the lingering remnants of the FFA Prompt Fest.

► The OZMAFIA!! update:

I finished the Robin Hood route a few days ago, and… well. I went into the route feeling fairly neutral about him as a character, and I left it— really, really disliking him, honestly. Maybe even hating him? Which— isn’t ideal, obviously.

Most of it is because of that scene where he finally sleeps with Fuka. I was pretty “meh” on the route as a whole before that, but him essentially giving her date-rape drugs before sleeping with her was very, very horrifying!!

It definitely colored my view of him forever. Sometime before that, there had been a scene where Dorian Gray presents himself to Fuka as one of Robin Hood’s friends, and at the time, my reaction boiled down to “lol yeah right”. I was pretty certain that he was just being his smugly manipulative self. Then that scene happened, and my first thought (after the internal, wordless shrieking) was, and I quote directly from my notes: “suddenly i can believe that he’s friends with dorian”.

That scene aside, I was also never really sold on the romance. For once, though, it wasn’t Fuka’s feelings that felt unclear to me! Even in my first playthrough (before we get all those extra scenes with just how devoted Robin Hood was to his devoted wife the whole time), I had so many moments where I went “....does he even like her or not?” And even when I finally believed that he liked her, I never could believe that he fell in love with her. What he tells Fuka in the bad route — that he just used her so that he could get revenge against Hamelin and never loved her at all — felt the most honest to me. I know it’s supposed to be different for the good ending — but that’s my read on the situation there too, and the pasted-on happy ending (after his wife conveniently chooses to die???) felt really awkward to me.

Honestly, I liked the bad ending better overall. Better plot reveals, better plot events, and it just felt much more emotionally honest. I wasn’t crazy about Robin Hood suddenly being released at the end — I actually thought they might go the route of making Fuka the new doctor, since it was foreshadowed earlier on that she had an interest in that — but other than that, it worked much better for me than the good ending.

On the bright side, I did love the plot reveals in this route. MY FACE WHEN I REALIZED THAT THE “CHURCH INCIDENT” HAPPENED AT ROBIN HOOD’S WEDDING, oh my god. I was really surprised, but it worked really well!

But more importantly! Here I was, gathering more evidence for my “they’re all immortals” theory throughout the route, and then Hamelin flat-out confirms it in the bad ending. Observe!

Though Robin Hood does seem pretty convinced that he can find a way to kill them, even if they don’t die on their own. Really, I’m so happy that this theory is confirmed — there’s so much (like how many bullets they can take!) that makes much more sense when taking this in consideration.

A few, smaller things that I liked:

FUKA THINKING THAT ROBIN HOOD’S MASK WAS HIS SEVERED HEAD
Hansel pushing Gretel to go to the doctor to take care of some injuries ♥
the reference to Fuka spending time with Oz even after getting together with Robin Hood in the good ending — I care about her relationship with them an awful lot.
Kyrie jumping to Caramia’s defense when Robin Hood snaps at him ♥ ♥ ♥
the reveal that Robin Hood poisoned Hamelin’s eye— it makes sense why it didn’t heal, then!

After that, I decided to play Pashet’s route next to wash the bad taste from my mouth. It mostly worked — with the exception of one subplot, I really loved Pashet’s route! Even if it was just a friendship route, sob.

The subplot in question was, of course, the Pashet/Axel one. At least it was unrequited, but still! It infuriated me for a number of reasons — first, it felt very “no homo”, especially since everything else about Pashet and Fuka’s relationship (and especially one particular scene at the end!!!) felt ambiguously romantic. (Which, if I can’t get a straight-out f/f route, is the next best thing!)

Second, it was completely unnecessary for the overall plot? So many different plotlines could have been slotted in there and it would have made just as much — and arguably much more — sense re: the overall plot. Its role in the overall plotline can basically be summed up as (if you ignore the “no homo” answer) “Pashet getting upset with Fuka and not talking to her in the weeks leading up to Hamelin’s attack”. Except — it doesn’t make sense why Pashet’s upset with Fuka? She had nothing to do with Pashet’s failed attempt at a confession! Pashet herself even lampshades this in one of the extra scenes, where she points out this exact problem. Writers: it doesn’t help.

Finally, I really, really hate the trope where professional, intelligent, and professional women forget themselves when they fall in love/get a crush? And Pashet forgetting about famiglia boundaries re: Axel felt very much like in line with that, and I hated it, I hated it, I hated it.

BUT ALL THAT ASIDE: THE PASHET/FUKA RELATIONSHIP ENDED UP BEING REALLY, REALLY HOT. Or, at least, it catered to tropes that I really enjoy, which ends up being just about the same thing for me. Especially at the end! Just. asdfghjkl;

Like. Okay. Pashet worrying about her in the beginning was very cute and all, as was Fuka’s inability to Not Hug Pashet whenever she wore that dress, and I probably would have still shipped them if that was all there was to the ship, but— that ending. The explicit knight/princess vibes WHERE PASHET SWEARS THAT SHE’LL PROTECT HER! The ALL BUT-A-LOVE-CONFESSION WHERE FUKA GIVES PASHET THE STRENGTH TO FIGHT ON. Fuka thinking that Pashet is dashing.

Just. I have to share these screenshots. LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL NOT-ACTUALLY-A-LOVE-CONFESSION:

Fuka inspiring her — ♥ ♥ ♥ And that CG and how they look like they’re about to kiss — ♥ ♥ ♥ And how determined Pashet’s voice sounded when she said that she wasn’t giving up! *_*

Also — the conversations following the “I want to go with you” (explicit knight/princess comparisons!!) and the “I’ll be waiting for you” choice at the end of the route were both absolutely delicious, but I just have to share the latter with all of you:

*_* So good!

~~Also, in the bad ending, Pashet makes a reference to how she can now follow some of her other desires, and my immediate reaction was “KISS HER PASHET. KISS HER.” Sadly, she did not hear me.~~

I have such a crush on Pashet now, ngl. She’s just so dashing — and a total paladin type, which, for some reason, I find terribly dull when said paladins are men, but utterly crush-worthy when they’re women. Idk. Also, in the beginning of the route, there was this reference to Famiglia Boots being filled with, and I quote, “armor-clad female knights”, and just: *_*

This route also sold me on: Pashet/Scarlet (similar types of devotion to the running of their famiglia!), Pashet/Caramia (they have such a good don-to-don relationship with one another!), and Pashet/Kyrie (which I was already intrigued by re: hate-sex potential, but now I am 100% sold on that dynamic).

In short, I am 100% on the Pashet/Fuka train.