Hakuouki – Hijikata’s Route

As promised, I present to you my long rant review on Hijikata’s route! Background on the game in my previous post here (Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, don’t proceed if you do not want to see the CGs and read rant on the storyline!).

About Hijikata

Hijikata is the deputy leader of Shinsengumi. Along with the leader (Kondou), they manage daily tasks, plan and execute battles and represent the interest of the whole of Shinsengumi. Since he is the one who makes the big decisions for the team, he is more calm, rational and mature than the rest of the Shinsengumi members. However, as the story progresses and Shinsengumi’s fall becomes imminent, Hijikata loses his cool. With the protagonist’s help, he manages to stay strong and maintain Shinsengumi to the best of his ability.

He is responsible, friendly and honest (maybe a little too honest at times): the perfect man to merry in my opinion! His prettiness exceeds all bishies in the game and he is often used in adverts to pull more fangirls into the franchise… ;;^^

Due to the fact that Hijikata is the main male lead, his route is the longest out of all: a total of nine chapters. It tracks the fate of Shinsengumi, whereas for the other routes, the bishie and the protagonist leave Shinsengumi at some point during the game. Also, Hijikata’s route solves a lot of questions revolving around the protagonist. Even if you don’t have interest in him (is that possible *gets kicked*?), I would still recommend you to go for him so that you would understand the main plot better.

Hijikata’s Route

Will go through the main scenes in Hijikata’s route and spam you with pretty CGs~

A typical otome game opening where the male lead threatened to kill the protagonist. The protagonist was walking about in Kyoto; some bad guys tried to cause her trouble and two blood-thirsty ‘Ratsetsu’ came along to kill everyone. Shinsengumi arrived at the scene just in time to save the day! Well ideally that should be the case but Hijikata held the protagonist hostage because she had witnessed the horror of ‘Ratsetsu’: an existence that Shinsengumi was trying to hide. The scene was a little too convenient and conventional. I just ignored the details and enjoyed Hijikata’s (aka the beauty) serious expression ;;XD!

Fatherly-like!

After the protagonist explained why she was in Kyoto all by herself, Shinsengumi warmed up to her and she was accepted into the team gradually. In one occasion, Shinsengumi went out to celebrate the successful completion of a big job. Everyone ordered yummy food, drank good sake and had fun. The protagonist wasn’t in a good mood due to suspicions around her that she might be the one who got in Shinsengumi’s way in one of their jobs (it was not the protagonist, in fact it was her twin brother Kaoru who interfered). She left the room and our beauty came to look for her!

He comforted her, then talked about the good old days while over-hearing everyone having fun. Since they were not living in peace anymore, he must had tried to take the scene in and enjoyed it while they still had the chance. He has such a gentle expression in this CG! Just like a father watching his children ;;XD!

Similar to Souji’s version, Shinsengumi was under attack by the blond bishie who wanted to steal the protagonist in order to have babies with her. Hijikata came at just the right moment to block the blond bishie’s attack, while embracing her gently and praising her for creating an opportunity for him to strike back! We have two beauties fighting both verbally and physically for the protagonist! In the end, the blond bishie decided to retreat and come back for her later. Hijikata released her immediately and concerned himself with the injured Shinsengumi members. He was probably too embarrassed to face the protagonist directly after that embrace!

"Father! Please forgive me!" XD;;

The protagonist began to take on more jobs for Shinsengumi, but she felt that she was not doing enough. In this scene, she begged Hijikata for her to help out more. Hijikata couldn’t help asking whether she was planning something cunning… I would think that if someone were to kneel in front of me asking for more work ;;@_@! I thought that the protagonist was too desperate here…

Nevertheless, I love this CG very much! There is a certain sense of sexiness and dominance in the way that Hijikata holds up her chin *_*! An alternative view of the CG is that of a daughter begging his father for forgiveness! Either view makes me toki doki… Ahhh I think I am turning weirder and weirder by the day…

During a tough battle, Hijikata had to leave Kondou with the protagonist. She was given an order by Shinsengumi’s deputy leader: to protect Kondou at all cost, but she was not allowed to die. Afterwards, Hijikata’s sword touched with the protagonist’s, which made a clear metallic sound. He wanted that action to be a testimony that he will definitely come back and they will meet again. The protagonist replied that she will protect Kondou and will not die (initially she wanted to use herself as a shield if Kondou were attacked by enemies). We can see Hijikata’s gentleness here! He must have known what the protagonist was planning to do, so he was trying to show that he cared while respecting the protagonist’s decision.

In the end, Kondou had to sacrifice himself to save everyone in Shinsengumi. Hijikata was in despair, turning himself away from the protagonist. He looked to be in pain… The person who he wanted to protect with his life had been used as a bait to lure the enemies away. The protagonist wanted to comfort him so she hugged him from the back, while explaining to him that Kondou had done this because he cared for Hijikata and he wanted him to live on… Since Hijikata lived his life to follow Kondou, he felt that he had lost his soul without Kondou’s presence. It was heart-breaking to see Hijikata losing it! With Miki’s amazing voice-acting, I could feel his pain and his anger in the hopelessness of the situation. I started to fall for him from this scene onwards…!

After a hard battle with the blond bishie, Hijikata had injured himself severely. They retreated from the battlefield so that he could recover and regain his strength. Even in his fragile condition, he got up and began writing. The protagonist nagged him to rest but of course he refused (now who is the child ;;^^)! She put a coat on him to keep him warm. Hijikata thanked her without any sarcastic comments which shocked the protagonist. She was surprised at how gentle he was! Afterwards, Otori was telling him off for rushing off into the battlefield when he should had stayed behind and controlled the situation at the back-end. Hijikata apologised and asked for his forgiveness. This was again very strange: it was unlike him to retaliate without fighting back! It seemed that he was becoming more gentle and started to appreciate what he had more…

Near the end of the game, Hijikata watched his comrades Sannan and Heisuke turned into dust before his eyes. They had turned into ‘Ratsetsu’ and used their power too much, which ate their lives away. Hijikata didn’t say anything but held their hands as they gave their last words about how proud they were to belong to Shinsengumi. Hijikata tried to act like nothing had happened and scowled  them for what they had said. Before they disappeared, Sannon directed them to head north. By drinking the water there, it should lessen the effect of being ‘Ratsetsu’ (by then both Hijikata and the protagonist have turned into ‘Ratsetsu’). Heisuke urged Hijikata to not lose the opportunity to live. After they were gone, Hijikata just sat there silently without shredding a tear. Probably he was crying inside. As usual, the protagonist cried his share of the tear as they left the place…

Hijikata headed north to lead the resistance there. He left the protagonist for two months, but she managed to make her way back to his side. He was shocked to see her! Later that evening, he embraced her suddenly while declaring how much he had missed her.

“I know exactly how long you have left me…” (Awwww he must had counted the days!)

“I have always been supported by you. Without you by my side, I realised how hard it was to go on by myself.”

“I must have been saved by you somehow…”

The protagonist expressed that she wanted to take away some of the burden from him. Hijikata’s reply made me blushed!

“I just want you to be by my side.”

He doesn’t sweet-talk like Souji. However, I like the fact that he relied on the protagonist so much! It is as though they both clung onto each other in order to survive. In Saito’s and Souji’s routes, the ties between them and the protagonist were strong, but not to the extent that they wouldn’t be able to live without the protagonist. Even though Souji is my favourite, I support Hijikata x protagonist pairing the most! Souji is mine after all so I can’t give him away XD;;!

The night before the final battle with the blond bishie, Hijikata wanted to tell the protagonist to not leave him ever again, but she beat him to it ;;^^. Then he started to confess his feelings for her.

“You are the one who I want to protect the most…”

“After I have done all that I could for Shinsengumi, I thought that I wouldn’t care if I die.”

“It’s not like I wanted to die. It’s more like I have lost the will to keep going.”

“But now I have found it again. If you were with me, I believe that I would want to continue to live.”

The protagonist began to cry again…! Hijikata hugged her tightly and kissed her, which confirmed both of their feelings for each other.

“From now on you have to stay by my side whether you like it or not!”

I really really like the strong, honest and caring Hijikata! In the beginning, he seemed cold and uncaring. His character had developed so much that you couldn’t help but admire his strength as he dealt with the most difficult situations!

Final battle! Our beauty managed to kill the blond bishie! It was at this scene that we found out where the title ‘Hakuouki’ came from: it was the name that the blond bishie gave to Hijikata.

I hope it will be happily ever after for them!

In Hijikata’s good ending, the war was over! Hijikata and the protagonist went out to see the beautiful Sakura. The protagonist commented on how beautiful the flowers were and how much she liked them because they were so similar to him (Our beauty is as stunning or perhaps even more stunning than Sakura *_*). We had another lovey dovey confession again.

“I like Sakura too, because they are similar to you.”

“Recently, I have became a little afraid of the end.”

“I love being with you. I have thought about how good it would be to be with you forever.”

“If I were to leave you you would cry straight away, so I will try my best to not leave you.”

The protagonist started to cry again because she feared that their remaining days together would come to an end soon.

“… You belong to me right?”

“Therefore it is my job to stop you crying.”

The protagonist smiled at his gentle comment and replied that he belonged to her too, so she had to support him no matter what! He laughed and admitted his defeat. Isn’t that such a sweet ending? I really want to believe that they live happily ever after, until they are old and all winkle-ly. It is probably not possible due to the fact that Hijikata had used up so much of his life to unleash the power of ‘Ratsetsu’… Nevertheless there is definitely more hope here than in Souji’s ending!

Going to finish off with another fan-made video! Hope that you have enjoyed it ^^!

Saito’ route next if you guys are not bored of Hakuouki’s reviews already? Hope that you guys don’t mind me talking about it so much ;;^^!

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