kanoa route thought dump
@ritsmiku
[ELEPHANT ASIDE/POSITIVITY HALF]
THE ENDINGGGG OH MY GODDDD that was fire. Hearing “you can’t play the happy ends first” had me worried about what kind of misery I’d be put through NO IT WAS ACTUALLY FIRE? It was good. Wow. Sucks that kanoa got frozen in time too, but it’s also the kind of thing you can fanfic-ify and headcanon that she unfreezes him sometimes… needless to say a true banger of an ending, the teasing was insane. crazyass protag-chan <3
Relationship-wise I’m really torn. Despite having a solid platonic relationship, I think it suddenly jumps to romance waaaay too early. They could’ve realized their feelings for each other in the last ten minutes and I probably would’ve been more satisfied. Maybe a replay could change my mind…? Though to immediately be a hypocrite, ohhhhhhhhhhh my god the first kiss scene sent me. “onee-san” ONEE-SAN??????????????????? FOR ME????????? IS THIS PART FOR ME?????????????? I was half annoyed that they had him clearly putting on an attractive voice for this scene but I UNFORTUNATELY DID ENJOY IT… sorry soldiers, voice acting-wise this was prob the best kanoa scene in the route. AND THEY HAVE HIM BE SMOOTH IN FRONT OF THE OTHERS IN THE NEXT SCENE HELLOOOOO????? Game punched toshishita enjoyers in the face yet also had him say onee-san DO YOU HATE US OR UNDERSTAND US????
Another part that stood out to me was when he got super upset at the protag for suggesting that he should be nicer. It was a really cool scene idk he sounded cool. It’s the kind of dialogue I enjoy. Chara is clearly super offended but isn’t yelling… I'll spare you the in-depth essay on how banger I thought this part was.
CG-wise I liked the one where they’re sitting on the couch together and having apples, it’s surprisingly qt…!
That early bad end from the dollhouse appraisal section… I can’t tell yet if my brain thinks it’s “out of nowhere crazyass” or “banger, replay."
I actually picked his route first bc amasaki tweeted smth like “choose kanoa if you’d like to be berated by him.” I had my doubts and sure enough yeah, didn’t feel like I got bitched at super hard. Didn’t give me the dokyuns (except the aforementioned kiss scene, that got me i folded). He’s clearly nice so most of his bitching doesn’t feel too mean-spirited, and he’s so easy to fluster that he can’t keep the bully position for long at all. Obviously some lines here and there got me, but I have very high bitching standards that he couldn’t consistently meet.
To be a bit more serious for a moment, his conflict regarding how he loses his memories and how he feels about it is super interesting btw. I think having someone with such an abrasive and standoffish personality while dealing with such a serious malode made for great contrast. It had a lot of layers, extending as far as outsiders seeing him as a weirdo for being so “forgetful.” When he and the protag were fighting early in the route and she made a jab at his memory issues, I really wonder if it stuck with him after she left or if he’s just used to that kind of treatment…
[ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM/NEGATIVITY HALF]
I cannot express in words how much I hate that he’s ~secretly the oldest~ and ~gets along with orsem bc he’s old~ and all the other garbage excuses they made. He acts so much like a teenager going through his rebellious phase, you CANNOT convince me otherwise.
The game even ACKNOWLEDGED how this change likely doesn’t appeal to kanoa fans… “you’re not into older men” YEAH OBVIOUSLY???? I DIDN’T CHOOSE ORSEM/EUGENE/HEATH???? literally what other demographic chooses kanoa.
In acknowledging this, they actually left him in his teenager form for the rest of the game post-reveal and only wasted one cg on his adult form. My anger is slightly mitigated. However I still want back the praise I gave the game for writing an underage chara who’s actually drank alcohol before, COWARDS!!!!
Sorry part of the problem is also the fact that in the one scene where we see him as his adult self, he does almost NOTHING that screams “kanoa.” Like the moment he’s back to his younger self, he’s bullying us and getting embarrassed, but older kanoa lacked all of that. Thank GOD they never brought him back.
They kinda saved things by the end imo. Especially grateful he gave up the glass to save maulo because that SHOULD mean kanoa will be staying as his younger self… at least in this ending. I’m still afraid we might fix his malodes at some other point in the game.
thank you for joining sorry for bitching so much. I’ll be denying the entire plot twist happened. GOD I HOPE THEY DON’T MAKE HIM ADULT FORM IN THE GOOD END. “kanoa isn’t cute anymore… sniff sniff”