[PC] Ayakashi Gohan ~Oomori~ [Otome Game Review]!

Long Review : (spoiler warning ahead!)

Childhood Chapter

During the childhood chapter, it’s established that Rin’s father died and her mother worked in a bar (or as a prostitute) to make a living for them. Due to that, Rin is not in good terms with her classmates at school, and she often eats alone. Then on a long holiday, Rin’s grandmother, Sumi, invited Rin to play in the Momiji Village. Arriving in the village, Rin is introduced to Gin who’s living with Sumi. Little by little, Rin learned that “eating meals together with everyone will bring happiness” and the warmth that she has been looking for. You can pick the “obedient” choices in order for Rin to grow up to be Rin in the Ayakashi route, or pick the choices that don’t seem as friendly, so Rin will grow up as Rin in Human route. At some point, Rin got to know the existence of Ayakashi (at the cost of her being afraid to Gin, who revealed himself as an ayakashi).

Gin in his youko form.

Despite Rin’s attitude to him, since Gin cherishes Rin so much, he’s willing to use his treasured stones as replacement to Rin’s teddy bear (Kuu-tan)’s eyes. Depending on your choices, Rin will think that her memories in the village as fun and pleasant since she managed to get along with the other ayakashi, and apologize to Gin for being afraid to him who’s an ayakashi (Ayakashi!Rin) or as unpleasant since she is unable to properly make up and overcome her fear to Gin who’s an ayakashi (Human!Rin).

My thoughts : Actually, under her living circumstances, it’d be no wonder for her to turn out to be like Human!Rin, but her excuse of character development as Ayakashi!Rin also makes sense (that is, by spending the time in the village, she got to open herself more and then cooked food for her mother more, saw her mother smile more). What I want to know more is about why can’t she just live in the Momiji village from the beginning? She seems better off living with her grandmother. But then again, why won’t she and her mother just move in to the village with Sumi? I think Rin’s mother won’t have to resort to that kind of work had she done that. But well, it’s for the sake of plot, after all. Let’s say that (here is my speculation or the story I made up in my mind to cover my questions) her mother doesn’t like depending on Sumi and wants Rin to continue living in the city. And that Rin stays with her mother instead of being taken care by Sumi due to Rin’s wish and also Rin’s mother’s wish to be with her daughter, who is her only reason to keep going after her husband left her?

Once you have completed a route in either human/ayakashi route, you can pick which stage you want to start your new game : as a child, Human!Rin, or Ayakashi!Rin

Anyway, after growing up, the story starts off at August 20th if I’m not wrong, some days after Rin’s mother passed away, Gin would come to visit Rin and then asked her to come and live along with him in the village. Thinking that it was for the best or that she had no other choice, Rin decided to move in to the village. Also, there is a cherry blossom / sakura tree in the mountain of the village that blooms out of its season, and it has been blooming ever since August 20th.

Human Route

Common Route

Human!Rin thinks that she has no other choice but to move in with Gin in the village, despite her being reserved around him. At first she is surprised to know that she’ll be living with Uta and Yomi too, on top of living with Gin. In this route, Gin will give a matching Narabigami bells (bells that can warn the other side if the holder is in danger) to Uta who’s tasked to protect Rin. Rin dislikes eating food together with everyone. And due to her past conflict with Gin that hasn’t been resolved, she tends to avoid Gin more and cannot make herself eat the food that Gin always cooks to her as meal or as bento.

At school, Rin gets to know Haginosuke and Suou (her capturable targets!). She interacts the most with her capturable targets. Suou often comes to Rin’s room in the form of a cat (curiosity much?), Uta often calls her as a gloomy girl (and is concerned with how Rin decides not to speak up her mind and declines others’ kindness), while Haginosuke, who also likes to eat his lunch alone, coincidentally happens to be in the same place as Rin who’s eating her lunch alone, and then both of them eats together in silence.

One day though, Rin is drawn to the mountain and meets with an ayakashi named

Sagiri, the beautiful jorougumo.

Sagiri, who’s sealed there and unable to move. Rin decides to share her meal box with Sagiri and comes everyday to talk with her. She feels like Sagiri understands her so well compared to others, and she even begins to think that it’d be nice if Sagiri were her mother. The others (especially Uta) are getting suspicious on how Rin disappears during lunch everyday, how she is getting thinner even though her lunch boxes are always empty and how she doesn’t eat dinner as much as her lunch box portion. In the end, her relationship to Sagiri is found out and Rin is warned not to get close to Sagiri, as Sagiri is a jorougumo (spider ayakashi) who attracts people with her beautiful appearance, deceives them, and eats them in the end. Rin then will find herself speaking up her mind regarding what she feels with Sagiri and how she wants to speak with her one last time. Uta compliments her on finally being able to express herself and accompanies her to Sagiri. Long story short, Rin manages to tell Sagiri about her feelings to Sagiri and how she will still love Sagiri despite Sagiri tricking her or being jorougumo. Sagiri will then come to visit Rin while eating meals in Ponpokorin from time to time.

Due to this event, Rin manages to change as she learns to open herself up. She then manages to have a talk and resolve her past conflict with Gin, making up with him, and finally, she’s able to eat the food that Gin makes for her. She slowly begins to think that eating food with everyone is not that bad.

Kei, the firefly ayakashi.

Time goes on and she gets involved with her class’ drama performance for the festival, encountering two ayakashi named Zashikiwarashi and Hitotsume-kozou. There’s also a conflict with Okuri Inu in the process. During the end of the common route, she also encounters an ayakashi named Kei, and she helps Kei finding his first love, a human (which is quite a sad love story in this common route…).

Hana Suou

Suou’s story arc revolves around how Rin will manage to see that Suou is also lonely just like she was. The reason why Suou comes to school even if he dozes off and takes  a nap like a typical cat would, is because he doesn’t want to be alone. The main conflict here is when Rin gets close to a Senpai of hers, who also likes to read books as much as Rin. Rin often reads her books alone (with Suou sleeping besides her, actually, not showing any interest in the book Rin’s reading) in an empty classroom. Rin becomes happy since she manages to find someone who shares a same hobby and also the same taste of books. The two would often talk and trade books. Suou is jealous and will sulk more.

Anyway, at a point, Rin’s Senpai is attacked by an ayakashi and gets admitted to the hospital. Judging by the wound, the ayakashi who injured him is a cat ayakashi, and suspicion falls to Suou. Rin later will find out that Suou is not the one who injures him, and another cat ayakashi did that. The black cat ayakashi, Kagesumi has bad

Kagesumi, the black nekomata.

experience with humans in the past, how the humans treated him badly, and he begins to hate humans and loves attacking them, especially those who can see ayakashi (Rin’s senpai can see ayakashi!). Meanwhile Suou was a cat who was taken care well by his owner in the past, but after becoming nekomata, Suou’s owner got treated coldly by the villagers and he moved to live in the middle of the forest in the mountain. At some point, his owner treated Suou differently. Even so, Suou still loves his owner, and he continues to live in the owner’s old house in the middle of the forest.)

Bad end : When Kagesumi attacks Rin, Suou shows hostility and wants to kill Kagesumi. But Kagesumi’s power exceeds Suou and so, Suou gets gravely injured and dies, and Rin gets obviously depressed… In the end, Rin also gets killed by Kagesumi.

Good end : Suou will spend more time with Rin and then helps Rin to clean up along with other members of Ponpokorin, trying to learn the way human lives to be able to stay together with Rin.

Best end : This has one of my favorite CGs in the game, with Suou and Rin cuddling up in the bed. (｡’▽’｡)♡

Omake : The omake tells about how the two get teased by the townfolks and how Suou tries his best to awkwardly nod and stuffs XD. Suou says that he wants to be able to stay with Rin, so he’s trying his best to adapt to the humans’ way of life.

Inushima Uta

Uta’s route has hints here and there during the common route. I believe Uta and his twin, Yomi are the cover guys for this game? Anyhow, during Uta’s route, I always think that this is similar to typical shoujo manga plot XD But whatever, it’s sweet! (●♡∀♡) (or I just need some sweetness in my life)  Their development is also quite sweet! At first, Uta calls Rin as “gloomy girl”, but then he calls Rin with her first name, much to everyone’s surprise. And basically everyone EXCEPT Uta and Rin has realized that the two of them have feelings for each other, lol. Rin realizes her feeling when a female classmate who often gives her cakes and sweets, tells Rin that she likes Uta. Rin who becomes uneasy with her feelings will be sulky towards Uta, and then they kinda have fight. Rin consults this with Kei, who enlightens Rin about her own feelings.

I like their interaction with each other. But being a human and ayakashi, with their different lifespan especially, love between the two will be hard, and Gin warns Rin about this, but then notes that Rin should follow what her heart tells her to, and to spend time as much as possible with Uta before her time finally comes. Before Rin gets to convey her feelings to Uta, Uta gets attacked by a red oni in the woods. Yomi and Rin rush to Uta, and while Yomi acting as decoy, Rin dashes off to find Uta. But Rin falls from the cliff… but then she can meet Uta!

Bad end : Uta tells Rin to run away from the village and sacrifices himself to save Rin. Uta dies and Rin is nowhere to be found in the village anymore, and Yomi curses humans even more than before.

Good end : Uta transforms into his Komainu form and manages to beat the oni. The two would later confess to each other–with members of Ponpokorin eavesdropping on them XD In the ending, the two will be having sweet moments in Ponpokorin.

Uta in his komainu form, surging with power.

Best end : The difference from the good ending is that, the two of them later would come to Kami-sama and tells him that the two of them are dating. After finishing Asagi’s route, you’ll also get the scene where Rin kisses Uta(‘s cheek) and Uta gets all flustered.

Omake : Rin thanks Kei for his support and tells Kei about her relationship with Uta–and then Uta will be caught stalking Rin, and he will sulk as he is jealous XD Rin tries to convince Uta and kisses his cheek… Uta will later hold Rin’s hand and the two walk home together~

Ibuki Haginosuke

First of all, let me say this… YOOSUNG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! But… well, Ayakashi Gohan was released in 2014 X”D It seems there are plenty of characters designed similar to them. Iirc I played one more otome game with a similar character, but now I forget what… So anyway, Haginosuke comes off as the cheerful, genki classmate of Rin. But there’s hint of his sad background, as mentioned before that he dislikes eating together with others. In his route, during the New Year, Rin will be helping around in the Momiji Shrine which is owned by Haginosuke’s family, as a shrine maiden. It is during that time that Rin learns more about Haginosuke’s past.

So in the past, when his mother was still alive, Haginosuke was happily expecting a younger sister. Sadly enough, during a trip to a regular check up to the hospital, Haginosuke’s parents got an accident, the father survived… but his mother’s body disappeared, but presumed dead. Little Haginosuke didn’t understand what death meant, and went to look for his mother. He would later wake up after a break in his search… only to find his dead mother’s body some time after the expected date of his sister’s birthday (the same as Hagi’s birthday!). But his younger sister’s corpse is nowhere to be found. They then held another funeral, and ever since then, Hagi’s family was never the same. This caused Hagi to hate eating together with others, and Hagi’s obsession in finding ayakashi, believing his mother’s circumstances were ayakashi’s doing. Haginosuke had a dream about having seen his little sister, who was named Sakura.

A few days later, Rin finds an old bookstore and meets a younger girl who’s similar to Haginosuke, and her name is Sakura! She is the granddaughter of the grandpa who owns

Sakura, Haginosuke’s little sister.

the bookstore. But when Rin questions about Sakura’s background, the grandpa shuns her off coldly. Afterwards, Rin comes at daily basis to the old bookstore, and in the end she will come with Haginosuke to see Sakura. The grandpa finally reveals that Sakura is not really his granddaughter, and that in the past, an ayakashi named Mine took over Hagi’s mother’s dead body and decided to give birth to Sakura. Before Mine could return Sakura back to her older brother, Mine’s power which had weakened finally came to her limit, and she died. That explains how Hagi woke up next to his mother’s dead body. An ayakashi known as Nue would then take Sakura to the old bookstore’s grandpa, as he can see ayakashi. Afterwards, Rin would introduce Hagi to Sakura at their birthday, by holding a birthday party for both of them (mainly for Sakura, though). Hagi gives Sakura his mother’s hair clip. Sakura who has leftover ayakashi power from Mine, can see the memories inside the hair clip and asks the truth from Hagi. Sakura is at first happy, but then she is overcome by her sadness of knowing that grandpa isn’t her real family, and is influenced by the ayakashi power and goes berserk.

Bad end : Haginosuke dies in the middle of chasing Sakura and to cover for Rin. Rin is depressed and the game ends after Rin is shown speaking to Gin.

Good end : Rin and Hagi manage to calm down Sakura, and Sakura no longer has any ayakashi power. Haginosuke sustains some damage and Rin comes to his house to nurse him. Sakura would later come with her grandpa and explain the situation to Hagi’s father. In the end, the two of them confess to each other in Ponpokorin and everyone else teases them. Hagi then feels something uneasy, and a flashback of something bad happening, but then shakes it off. In the end, the two of them plus Sakura go to the place where Mine died (guided by Nue) and builds a small grave for her.

Best end : Haginosuke and Rin will go by bicycle to the road along the cherry blossom trees when spring comes.

Omake : Haginosuke stays quite late in Ponpokorin and then Gin tells him to stay over for the night. Rin is nervous, thinking that she will be sleeping on the same roof as Hagi. She cannot sleep, so she goes outside to catch some breath and meets Hagi. Hagi will tease Rin by asking whether or not he can come to Rin’s room (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡, and then Rin gets flustered. Hagi finally kisses Rin and says that it’s enough for now, leaving Rin more embarrassed and cannot sleep for the night (lol XD)

To be honest, I really like the story in Haginosuke’s route~! He is my most favorite character for the Human route. I wonder how can Hagi find his sister during all the other routes and especially during Ayakashi route? I feel bad if the two siblings never get reunited, perhaps I’m really a sucker for stories like long, lost siblings or family members.

Ayakashi Route

Common Route

Ayakashi!Rin is really happy and excited to move in with Gin. She is surprised to meet Uta and Yomi, and upon knowing that Gin has a son, Tsuzuri. But she wants to get along with everyone. In this route, the Narabigami bells are given to Rin and Yomi. Rin will often be seen pinching Yomi’s cheek due to Yomi’s unfriendliness towards Rin, and due to Rin dislikes Yomi’s generalizing attitude towards all humans. In this route, Rin meets Asagi and gets to be friends with him, despite all the mysteriousness surrounding Asagi. The two interact a lot more than in Human route.

In this route, Rin meets a lot of ayakashi (in comparison to the Human route), for example Tsukihiko and Tsukihito, with both of them saying some remarks hinting to the village’s mystery in the end of their episodes. Later, Rin will get to know Tanukichi and Tanue, two tanuki ayakashi who ask Uta to help them train their transformation ability because they want to come to Suzukino High School’s festival and say thanks to their savior who helped them in the past. Turns out the human they’re looking for is Hagi, and then Hagi will be overjoyed when meeting his first (or first two) ayakashi in his life.

Afterwards, there is an episode where Gin attends a funeral of a certain grandpa, and

Momo, the flower ayakashi. Isn’t she lovely?

how he is worried about the ayakashi who lives with the grandpa since she is nowhere to be found. Later, a nurarihyon who goes by the name “Larry“, whose speech often includes English words, will come along with Momo, the ayakashi who is born from the flower given by the deceased grandpa’s wife. Momo loses her will to live and her appetite, and Larry asks Gin to help Momo to cheer up. If this keeps on, Momo will disappear forever. Rin wants to help, as well. So, Momo wants to eat the food that her grandpa used to cook for her, she remembers the taste but cannot figure out what is it. After asking for help here and there and after trials and errors, they find out the cooking and the secret recipe to it, but Momo is still sad, she wants to meet her grandpa. Asagi then helps by somehow letting Momo meet with her deceased grandpa under the out-of-season cherry blossom tree. After a tearful scenario between the two of them, Momo finally finds her will to live, as she doesn’t want to be hated by her grandpa.

The last story before moving on to characters arcs will be the story of a yukionna named Hisame, who’s waiting for her lover, who promised to come again when winter comes. But her lover is nowhere to be found, so Rin helps her to find her lover. Her lover turns out to be Manatsu’s friend, Saku. Saku says that it’s best for the two of them to stop seeing each other, as ayakashi and human live in different world. Hisame then decides to go somewhere far away from the village–but Yomi tells Saku and Rin that Hisame decides to disappear forever when spring melts the snow. Saku doesn’t want that to happen, and frantically calling Hisame to return. The two will then plan to get engaged. But during the night when there’s supposed to be an engagement party in the Ponpokorin, Saku is buried under the snow during his job. When they find him, Saku has really weakened. Hisame then gives her ayakashi power to save Saku, at the cost of her disappearing. After that, during a Christmas party at Ponpokorin, the route branching will start~

Inushima Yomi

Yomi comes off as a cold, calm, and collected person, but he’s actually kind at heart. In the past when he hasn’t become an ayakashi, he was a komainu statue that loved the humans. But then some events happened and he realized about the sadness to witness the humans he loved, one by one, they died before him, due to humans’ life spans. Also, there were children who played a prank and threw stones at Yomi and Uta, and the two komainu would later lose one of their eyes each, and Yomi came to hate the humans to the extreme.

Guren, the annoying tengu.

I get the feeling that when Rin falls in love with him, Yomi also starts to love Rin as well, but he continues to deny his own feelings, as he still dislikes humans and he doesn’t want to experience the sadness of being left behind again. Anyway, the main antagonist in their love story is a meddling tengu, Guren. The custom for tengu is to kidnap a female human in order to have children with them, but since nowadays it’s rare to see humans who can see ayakashi, the custom has no longer been held for awhile. Guren is some kind of leader, or the prince of tengu and he has his eyes on Rin. Rin refuses but Guren likes that kind of woman instead, saying that there’s a feeling of satisfaction that he’ll get once Rin submits to him.

After not bearing any result, the tengu resorted to kidnapping the women of Momiji village one by one, in total of 7. This causes everyone, both humans and ayakashi, to be worried. Rin then confronts Guren and agrees to come to Guren after Guren finishes

Rin hugging Yomi the night before she’s off with Guren.

sending back all 7 women in 7 days, along with not hurting Yomi. The night before Rin is taken to Tengu village, Rin confesses her feelings once more to Yomi, and then saying that someday when Yomi finds someone he treasures, she hopes him happiness. And then Rin thanks Yomi for everything so far, much to Yomi’s confusion.

Bad End : Yomi dies in Guren’s hands, and Rin becomes Guren’s bride, but Rin refuses, so she commits suicide instead. And then… that… Guren… holds a wedding ceremony with her dead body which is like a doll… (seriously, are you a necrophilia?) (,,#ﾟДﾟ)

Good End : Yomi manages to fight in an equal power with Guren by transforming to his komainu form, and then Guren gives up his interest to Rin after seeing how Rin really loves Yomi and is willing to go so far for Yomi’s sake. Yomi and Rin will confess their feelings to each other. Afterwards, Guren is seen eating in Ponpokorin and everyone, especially Yomi, is agitated to see him. Yomi and Rin would then spend a lovey dovey time in Yomi’s room (wait, no innuendo intended, just a sweet moment and conversation between the two of them)

Best End : It’s March 9th and the two of them go to the out-of-season cherry blossom tree together. Yomi would then start blabbering strange things like how he’s already dead and that he is glad that Rin is still alive. Rin questions him, but Yomi only says that one day Rin will know and she should be able to accept the truth by then. This part is changed after you have finished Asagi’s route, the scenario is still the same, but now they’re in front of the bare tree and Yomi would show his tsundere side, and finally manages to call Rin by her first name! (Yomi calls Rin by her last name, Akane, throughout the route).

Omake : Yomi catches Uta and Rin who are fighting over a remote and fall down to the floor, with Uta on top of Rin. The jealous Yomi will be mad at Rin, and the two don’t speak for quite a while until Hagi offers his help to Rin, by bringing Yomi to Rin who’s waiting in the shrine. The two would make up later on, Yomi telling Rin about how he’s actually jealous of Rin who looks so friendly to Uta. Rin gives Yomi a kiss and reassures him that he will be the only one for her.

The one thing I really like from Yomi’s route is a lesson on how instead of being afraid to regret the things that haven’t happened (i.e. Rin that will leave Yomi first due to different life span of humans and ayakashi), we should just try and go for what our hearts yearn for,  and spend the time with our beloved ones so that we will have good memories should the time comes ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ. The one thing I kinda dislike from his route is the sudden appearance and involvement of Guren, as if forcing stuffs to develop… it’s like, out of nowhere, suddenly a tengu is introduced! And then, somehow he wants Rin! They should be able to go more slowly and take things more naturally… but it’s okay, I guess.

Serigano Manatsu

My first impression of him is the typical older male, with an onii-chan or big brother aura. I don’t think he stands out so much especially compared to Yomi and Uta, but boy, I was wrong thinking that his route will be as plain as them, if not more plain or the typical dating game with a big brother figure. Turns out his route is the second most revealing out of all, and if there’s no issue with the mystery surrounding Asagi and the Momiji Village, I’d believe that his ending is the true ending, and Manatsu is really destined to be with Rin. Also, this route has another CG that I really love, showing Manatsu, Tsuzuri (his nephew), and Rin walking home together! They look like a young family? Haha, anyway, I really love this CG so much!

Manatsu, Tsuzuri, and Rin walking home together.

Anyway, in this route, Rin would often catch a glimpse of an ayakashi, but Manatsu says it’s nothing important. Also, we clearly can see Manatsu loving Rin, as well. But somehow, when Rin asks Manatsu whether or not he likes sweets for Valentine, Manatsu says that if it’s giri choco (obligatory chocolate, given to friends and families), he can accept it, but if it’s honmei choco (love chocolate, given to love interest), he cannot accept it. Rin feels really torn, since if she gives him a chocolate, it has to be honmei chocolate. Rin cannot bring herself to give the chocolate to Manatsu, and then an ayakashi asks Rin for the chocolate–resulting in the chocolate being lost in the forest. Rin searches for it frantically and gets injured. By then, Manatsu manages to find her, and Rin confesses to Manatsu. Manatsu also says that he loves Rin!! But, they are not destined to be together. They will never be destined to be together!! They have reincarnated countless time in the past, all resulting in tragedies as the two lovers could not unite, and usually it resulted in Rin’s death (there were also past lifes where Manatsu died first). Rin is out cold for a long time due to this destiny–or should I say, curse.

In the dream, Rin encounters a dream eating ayakashi named Baku. Baku tells her that

Baku, the dream-eating tapir ayakashi.

Rin will be dead, and as a gift, Baku will show the truth between her and Manatsu–dating back to their previous lifes up until the first lifetime that started it all. In the past, Rin was a princess, Fujiwara-no-Manatsu’s relative. They first met under a sakura tree, when Rin was taken in by Manatsu after her mother’s death. The two had taken a liking to each other during that moment. Time went on and their bonds deepened, not as brother and sister, but as a man and a woman. Sadly, the emperor wanted Rin to be one of his concubines and the two were torn apart. At this time, Manatsu encountered a baby kitsune which he named Gin and often talked to him.

After awhile, Rin got sick–or cursed by the other jealous women and returned home. The two spent some time together with love, and Rin also got introduced to Gin. Later on, Rin died due to the curse. Manatsu was deep in regrets and blamed himself for not abandoning the other relatives and just ran away with Rin instead. Manatsu then gave his prized stones to Gin and said goodbye, as he finally committed suicide. （；へ：）

Bad End : Rin asks Baku to blow out the fire of her life, thus erasing her soul from the circle of reincarnation, so that she can put Manatsu out of misery, for the two of them reincarnating, reuniting, and then failed to be together would put Manatsu in huge sadness and resentment. Manatsu would then ask Baku to do the same, as he doesn’t want to live without Rin, too.

Good End : Rin-hime appeared in front of Rin to ask her to tell Manatsu to let himself go

Rin-hime and Fujiwara-no-Manatsu

and not to regret everything as she was happy. Rin wakes up and dashes off to find Manatsu who’s currently facing off Baku under the sakura tree. Baku turns out to be the ayakashi born from Fujiwara-no-Manatsu’s regrets and resentment for he believed Rin-hime’s death was his fault. Rin then comforted Baku and conveyed Rin-hime’s words. Baku then disappeared and their curse is lifted. After that, Manatsu and Rin begin dating and in the end, Manatsu indirectly proposes in advance to Rin!!

Best End : Rin gets sick and is nursed by Manatsu. In her dream, Rin sees Rin-hime and Fujiwara-no-Manatsu get married. After that, Rin and Manatsu go to see the sakura tree… and Rin finds Manatsu disappearing so suddenly from her side, leaving the game with a huge cliffhanger (WHAT. THE. HELL?! щ(゜ロ゜щ)) But then this is changed after you have finished Asagi’s route, as Rin sees Manatsu by her side and the two would hug and kiss under the tree.

Omake : Basically Manatsu losing control and wants to go more than lip kiss with Rin, causing the pure Rin to be afraid and pushes Manatsu away. After a while, the two will make up and Manatsu will apologize and say that they can follow Rin’s pace.

IMO, I am a sucker for this kind of love story, the kind of love through reincarnations ;___; Poor Rin-hime and damn that emperor, what the hell was he doing?! Didn’t he like Rin the most? Seriously! (ﾉಥДಥ)ﾉ︵┻━┻･/

Kimura Asagi

Asagi has always been a mysterious figure in this game, and as I thought, he is the key to everything. After going through with Manatsu’s route which seems like the true ending and hence, the true main guy for Rin, my expectation of the romance between Asagi and Rin in his route is mixed, seeing as the backstory of Manatsu and Rin didn’t leave any room for argument. I was wondering whether I would choose Manatsu as the true end,or Asagi instead. And by the end of his route, I can say proudly that while I believe Manatsu and Rin should be destined to be together due to their past life background story, I feel myself loving Asagi so much! Asagi’s route is not fuwa fuwa or all about romance. Being the “true end” of this game, Asagi’s route is the most revealing and all the mysteries all wrapped up perfectly here, after a long foreshadowing, hinted by the conversations of Asagi, Gin, and the other ayakashi about how “this dream will keep on continuing”, or other things.

Asagi knows Gin and Kami-sama, and because of this, Rin is suspicious of Asagi being an ayakashi, and her guess is correct! But what kind of ayakashi is he? At first, I thought he was the sakura tree’s ayakashi who somehow had an involvement with the past Rin? Well, I was so close to the truth, but nah… In his route, Asagi would appear whenever Rin wishes him to be there! He never gives Rin any way to contact him (also, cellphone signals do not work in the village, Rin wondered how could the signal be this bad, but soon she would get used to live without her cellphone or TV shows), he only says that should Rin wants to meet him, she just needs to think or wish for it. And well, he does appear whenever Rin feels like she wants to see Asagi!

Asagi keeps mentioning about how there’s no time left, and he often collapses here. He is shown to be weakened day by day. When he first collapsed during the Christmas party in Ponpokorin, he is somehow brought to Rin’s room. When he comes to in the middle of the night, he sees Rin’s teddy bear, Kuu-tan, and says that it’s what he’s been looking for, the solution to everything!

There is also a filler story here about Mio, a shy girl who’s communicating with an ayakashi via voice, and how she wants to meet him. By the end of the day, the two finally meet with each other and confess their feelings! And then the story comes down to the revelation, as Rin has been getting the feelings that she is fleeting, or that she is just inside a dream.

Asagi then asks Rin to come under the sakura tree if she wants an explanation, and she has to bring Kuu-tan along with her. Afterwards, Asagi finally explains the truth to Rin. That Momiji Village has been long gone due to a landslide on August 20th, the same day when Gin came to Rin’s old apartment to invite her to live together with him. Upon returning, Gin saw the destroyed village with everyone dead–all except him and the other 12 ayakashi who barely survived. If you’re curious who are they, just scroll up and see the names that I formatted like this. Gin who has lost Mafuyu, his wife; and other precious people, only had Tsuzuri as his reason to continue living even after a thousand years, and now it’s all gone. Gin despaired, as his only wish was to see Tsuzuri grow up. Then, the twelve ayakashi and Gin used their power to restore Momiji village by using the memories accumulated in the sakura tree who has been there for a thousand years. So basically, everyone except Rin, Kami-sama, Gin, and the twelve ayakashi is dead. Asagi is an ayakashi born from those memories and serve as the one who controls the illusionary village. As the “loops” happen, Asagi is weakened. And soon, this illusion would come to an end. The loop’s time limit is set to March 9th, a day before Tsuzuri’s birthday. The time provided to continuously repeat the events was spent by looking for a solution to prevent the village’s destruction. And now, Asagi has come up with one way to do that, but there’s no more time.

Bad End : Rin cannot believe what Asagi is talking about, and when Gin comes, Gin also refuses to wake up from that “dream”. The two would later return to Ponpokorin and have a talk inside Rin’s room, but Uta, Yomi, and even Tsuzuri eavesdrop them and now they know the whole thing. Uta and Yomi blame themselves, as if they had both of their eyes and full power as the guardian dogs who protect Momiji Village, they can prevent the landslide from destroying the village. Meanwhile Tsuzuri cries and blames himself that Gin has weakened due to him. This scene is pretty heartbreaking for me… And then after discussing things, they decide to try the solution that Asagi’s talking about and rush off to the sakura tree at once. But alas, they’re too late. Asagi is now on the verge of dying and is unable to exert his power.

After a talk among all of them, it’s decided that they will use the remaining power to send Rin back to the reality, so that she can survive. Gin and the 12 ayakashi agree, Uta and Yomi, too. Somehow, Suou, Haginosuke, and Manatsu also gather at the sakura tree and even if Hagi has no clue, he somehow has the feeling that it’s an “ending” to something, and that he will also participate to help Rin. Everyone says their own goodbyes to Rin, with “Okaeri. Tadaima” song as the BGM and damn, I must admit I cried a little… it’s unfair how they made me become emotionally attached to all the characters there and then gave me this kind of bad ending…  (;﹏;)

Rin gets transported back to reality, during August 31st when she is on the train to Momiji Village. Much heartbreaking thing happens when Rin feels like she had a long dream but could not remember what exactly it is. Upon arriving at the Momiji Village’s train station, Rin is surprised to hear that the village has been destroyed in the landslide and that there is no survivor from it. And that’s the bad ending…

True End : Rin is determined to help whatever she can do, so that everyone can be saved. Gin appears and wants to interfere, but somehow they manage to convince Gin to try out the solution that Asagi suggests. It turns out that the solution is to send Rin back to the past and put the stones that have become Kuu-tan’s eyes as replacement for both Uta and Yomi’s eyes. Only Rin is able to accomplish this role, since she’s the only one coming outside of the village (and incidentally, she’s the catalyst that increases the rate of the illusion’s power to weaken). Rin is then transported back to the past using Asagi’s remaining power, and she bumps into her younger self who’s crying. She then encounters Kami-sama, who is that time’s Kami-sama, who says that he knows what Rin is here for, as he and the Kami-sama of Rin’s time has some sort of connection or the likes of it. They are headed to the Momiji Shrine, and there are two komainu statues. Kami-sama says that there’s still some time before their transformation into ayakashi. Rin then puts the stones to be their replacement eyes and goes back to the “present” which has been changed, of course.

During this time, Rin has a talk with Asagi, wondering what will happen to Asagi since the time will be altered. After all, Asagi is an ayakashi born from the memories of the sakura tree that’s turned into the illusion after the tragedy. He then says that he won’t be there in the modified future since the village won’t be destroyed any more and the illusion won’t be needed. He then says that the true future that will be present for Rin will be the future that she really wishes for. Asagi then says goodbye, and also states that he feels like that he is in love with Rin. Rin returns to the new future, and then she wakes up in front of the now bare sakura tree, seeing Yomi and Uta with both their eyes intact (they no longer use their eyepatches). Unfortunately, Rin doesn’t remember anything about the events happening, meaning she won’t even remember Asagi, but somehow she starts crying. (´•ω•̥`)

Omake : It’s a new semester in the Suzukino High School and there’s a new transfer student! Guess who? Kimura Asagi! I don’t know the reason why he’s there, but he meets Rin and Rin feels a sense of nostalgia towards Asagi. I do hope the fandisc will explain what’s happening. And I guess that means it’ll be quite a while for me to learn what’s happening and what will be of all the characters in the fandisc, as I have little to no time to play…

Anyway, Asagi’s route breaks my heart in both its bad and true end… In the bad end, the fact that Rin is the only one who survives and how Gin just wants to give up life and be dead like Tsuzuri and the others breaks my heart… For the true end, I never expected it… How come the male lead in that route has to die? Asagi, my baby, you need to be happy too… And for this reason, I am torn towards thinking which one of Asagi and Manatsu is really the “true” one for the canon Rin–or the ayakashi route’s Rin. But note that I really love all the characters in this game and thus leaving me undecided as to which one is my most favorite or canon male lead.

Conclusion or Final Verdict

PLAY IT ALREADY!! XD

Despite my complaints and the minuses it has, I really enjoy this game. I think it’s worth it! So if someone has any recommendation similar to Ayakashi Gohan, please do tell me!!

I guess I need to play its fandisc to get more of Ayakashi Gohan later on… that is, if I have the time to play it T___T

Okay, thanks for reading through my wall of text, the review written full of love for Ayakashi Gohan ~Oomori~! It’s mostly my rambling about the game, but I do hope it can be an enjoyable read. Will I be reviewing more games or other things in the future? Who knows, but it’s in my consideration  XD

Shopping Links [Play-Asia]

Ayakashi Gohan Oomori! [Limited Edition]

The language is in its original Japanese. The limited edition includes the game (…of course), booklet, and drama CD.

Ayakashi Gohan Kakyoku Shu
It contains the opening and ending theme of Ayakashi Gohan plus their instrumental version.

Ayakashi Gohan Ongaku Shu

It contains the whole soundtrack of the game!