Let's Play "In Your Arms Tonight"...because...you know...

C, not because of this silly thing your earthlings call "communication, mutual understanding & not-being-a-jerkface-to-each-other" but mostly because we're playing Koichi's path so we can hear his side of the story. C sounds like the best solution so... FOR SCIENCE !

Begrudgingly voting for C because if I have to sit through Koichi's shit then I better get a "happy" ending, dammit.

Sorry I'm still trying to learn.

Not a big deal, don't worry.

Thanks :), I'll try not to do it next time.

And then once the situation was resolved, everyone received many hugs!

I just realized something. Mother Gothel and Koichi are similar. They both use the main character for their own ends under the guise of love. Tangled was trying to prepare us for this. >.>

Anyway, voting for C. Might as well make him fall in love with us to destroy his very being get a happy ending.

C, Always use the guilt option for the first half of Koichi's route. Always.

C. Might as well.

Man, fuck spending time with Koichi!

Is what I would say, but Lysa is a much better person than I am, so C.
He'll probably just give her that disgruntled look, though. Yanno, the one he always uses.
seriously dude, what crawled up your butt and died?

Even though it looks like it's going to be C, I'll hold off on updating until tomorrow.
I'd say I'm waiting because I want to hear everyone's opinions, but it's really because Riki's route (Thief X) just popped up on my iPhone. asdfghlkashf

Priorities...I has them.

C. If we're going to do this route, we might as well go ALL IN. BRING IT, KOICHI, BRING IT.

His weakness is going to be so beautiful!

If Takuto's route is any indication, it will be used quite a bit in the route ❤❤❤

Chapter 5 reaction: Boss, why are you leaving me alone with this drunk cuddle-monster?!

Fetch me some water, COMMONER!

Also, Matsuru is kinda creepy in this route....

I think the best moment, though, was in one of the emails. Boss tells protag-chan that she's already a member of BF.
I know he meant Black Foxes but I keep reading it as broken forum :D

Well, EXCUSE me for having pillow-like thighs!

Mitsuru, bro, she's just not that into you.
Takkun is the best wingman.

EDIT: Aaaand now you are the WORST wingman, Takkun. Get back to your own route.

As much as I think Koichi is an ass... I kinda feel for him on wanting his own room and maybe kinda sorta asking (not demanding like he did mind you) her to knock. That's kinda the set up I'd want if I ever got married. Or neighboring apartments. Then again I have no plans to date or marry because of my intense need of personal space/time but I figure if I had family that were all up in my biz and pressuring marriage I'd shoot for an arrangement like that.

Koichi is still a jerkface though.

And I guess C... I guess. I'd rather D) What are you talking about I do tons of stuff on my own but you never bother yourself with asking about my awesome adventures!

You can play it on JPCSP with a few other programs to get the voices and soundtrack. It works mostly well. It's what I did because of my lack of PSP (and I still bought the game because if we don't throw money at these things I doubt they'll make more).

GODDAMNIT KOICHI!!

Sorry for the rant, but this bother me too much that she said fucking nothing to that.
And I'm not even touching the subject of his private time and space except this comment : Personal time and space is very good and healthy, completely shutting the other out is wrong, being an ass about it is worse.

He is such an ass to her that I doubt I will be able to like him no matter his reasons might be. We'll see how much efforts he does to redeem himself but I have not a single hope for him right now.

Voting C because EVERY CHANCE TO GUILT TRIP HIM IS A GO!* that's what I think she really want.
(* Even if he is more likely to give no fuck...)

C. I'm hoping his dipshittery will end soon...

Can we please be careful not to turn Koichi-bashing into bashing any relationship that doesn't completely match up with a particular culture's mainstream image? Relationships come in all shapes and sizes, and as long as everyone involved is happy, what's wrong with that?

Koichi is being cruel to Lysa because he is going against her expectations unilaterally. He is being awful to her.

But if you attack his individual actions rather than the context those actions are being performed in, it's highly likely that you're unknowingly criticising someone reading this thread who is in a happy relationship that just happens to be weird in some way.

I completely respect that, and I promise I will do my best to keep the Koichi bashing strictly to Koichi from now on!

Looks like we are going with guilt C!

Lysa: "Then I'd like to spend my time with you, Koichi."
You go, Lysa!




I hate you so much.

Koichi: "Well, I'm off."

Lysa: "Hey...!"

Koichi: "What? I'm in a hurry."

Lysa: "Mom and Dad say they're coming by next Sunday. Do you have any plans?"
This is the scene that kicks off the prologue.

Koichi agrees to keep that day open then exits the apartment, leaving Lysa alone and wondering what to do.

Lysa: (I know...I should organize the photos from our honeymoon. Mom will want to see them, I'm sure.)

Yeah, I think I remember her mentioning that in the prologue.
As Lysa looks through the photos, she realizes that almost all of them are of scenery and none of them show her and Koichi together.
Not a single one.

Lysa: (Koichi said he didn't like pictures, but...is that really all there is to it?)
Actually I don't like pictures of myself either, so this is somewhat excusable.



Wait, what?!



This is much less excusable.
That ass.



I'm going to just skip over this next part, because we covered it in the prologue already.
Really, the prologue just repeats itself:

Lysa get's promoted to the design team.

Congratulations from Aiba and friends.

Ebi-chan (squees!) looks down on Lysa for not studying up on design.

Aiba stands up for her.

Lysa feels insecure.

Oh wait this is new...
Aiba takes Lysa out to lunch to celebrate her promotion. They small talk for a bit (prologue stuff) but then we find out why Ebi-chan was so angry about the idea of a housewife working in his department.



Aiba: "So you'd better sure your husband knows that."

Lysa: "My husband?"

Then Aiba tells a story about a woman named Tonomura who got promoted to the design department and was doing well, but then she got married. The overtime caused so much friction between her and her husband that she quit.
Ahhh Ebi-chan, I understand now.

Aiba: "So you'd better talk it over with your husband too, Tappei."


Suuuuure he will.

Lysa decides to talk it over with Koichi after her high school reunion (which is that night).
Crap, it's almost time.

High school reunion happens.

Inappropriate flirtations from Genji which I wish Lysa could act on.
The only new thing is that Lysa actually feels her heart skip a beat when Genji asks her out.

Lysa tries to tell Koichi about her promotion/the overtime over the phone but he hangs up because of "work".

Then Lysa's narration lets us know that the time of horror is upon us.




Oh, you poor dear. Let me hug you!

Finally, Lysa dreams about the mystery man stroking her hair, aka Koichi.



Aaaaaaaand we are caught up to the present!
The horrible, rage-filled present.

Yay.

....

The above is an example of a descent into madness. Now then Class, for your homework, I want you to create a series of events that could possibly lead to the same result of the wife murdering her husband to be with her lover using common symptoms of --

He really wants his face smashed in doesn't he.

LOVE INTERESTS IN THY OTHER ROUTES, I SUMMON AND COMMAND THEE TO BAND TOGETHER AND SMASH THIS UNLOVING HUSBAND AND HIS WHORE.

...
...
So, uh, how many chapters did you say Koichi had? 17? Right, right, excuse me for a second.
You are truly the only way I can make it through this route without setting the computer ablaze.

deeply breathing and trying not to crumble into mush

Tell me, Koichi, is your lifestyle part of being a life-long member of the Douchebags Society?
Excuse me while I go drown the words I want to scream into your ear as I strangle you.



At least we're in the present now, where Koichi can find new and innovative ways to continue being an ass candle Lysa knows all about his scumbag cheating ways.

don't mind me just collecting evidence for my upcoming trial. I'm going to need proof of my 'probable cause' for killing Koichi.

I've scattered these legos just for you, Koichi. feel free to step on them T_T

Okay, I can kinda sorta excuse a lot of Koichi's distance and dislike of showing affection. I really really can. I can see how Lysa would be confused and figuring that maybe she just needs to figure out exactly how to make this relationship work (his dickishness in expressing a desire for distance and not a single wedding pic together are not excusable though). They didn't know each other super super well before getting married and clearly had differing ideas of what the marriage would be which were not cleared up due to not talking about stuff.

But you see him macking on someone else? All that maybe he just doesn't like physical contact/needs space goes out the window.

Lysa. I know this is the Koichi redemption route but guuuuurl. Aiba is a touch innocent and unaware but so are you. You'd match up great. Your old flame from high school, probably a bit of a dick (y u no wait for me lol 'cause it was 10 years bro) but somewhat sweeter and would at least pretend you don't have cooties. Ebi-chan is delightful though you're probably scared of him since he seems cold and harsh right now I bet. There is also not needing a relationship right this second and waiting for someone perfect though you seem like a relationship/marriage is a pretty high priority, it is an option though and one that can give you just as much happiness. You've got options girl and I've got a couch if you need some space from that lizard you call a husbando.

This route will be full of pain but I've got the entire list of drinks from Bartender that I need to get drunk before the end of 2013 so really this will probably work out well.

I haven't worn my wedding ring in ages because I can't afford to get it repaired, and I still get self-conscious about it sometimes. I don't fault Koichi for not wearing it, but I do fault him for just telling Lyssa that that's what he's doing instead of asking her how she feels about it.

That's a very valid point. He didn't even try to know how she felt about it (or how she feels about anything!) and just went ahead and "that's it". Right now he is such a douche that I'm sure, even if she talked to him about it, he would just says something like : "That's my lifestyle, deal with it" just like he did in the last bit of LP.

It's not so much that he doesn't wear it that pisses me off, it's really because he doesn't have any valid reason to do so, or if he has he didn't even care to explain and Lysa feels bad about it. If she didn't though much of it it would be alright, but it bothers her so that's not good. There are couples that don't wear rings at all and it's alright as long as both are ok with it.

Oh, and just like you, my husband didn't wear his ring for a long time (I can't remember precisely, but it was likely longer than two years) because we couldn't afford the repair cost.

The present time is upon us.
/prepares the tequila

Let's do this! (ﾉ◕︿◕)ﾉ

Lysa wakes up the morning after she saw Koichi with another woman.

Lysa: (Oh, geez! I can't believe I fell asleep without washing off my makeup...)

Lysa: (...And my head is pounding.)

She can't seem to get the image of Koichi and his whore out of her head.


Yes you should, directly and while holding a frying pan. Tangled proved them to be lovely weapons.
Lysa wills back her tears firmly.



Lysa: (I just got that book cafe assignment yesterday.)

So she's drowning her sorrows in work again. Let's just hope Koichi makes up for this later.









Lysa: "...Yeah, I guess."




The movie was called "Asshole Husband".

Akiko: "Dummy, you should see those on the weekend."





Oh thank goodness, we get some Ebi-chan to soothe our troubled hearts ❤

I WAS GONNA BE LIKE "OH EBI-CHAN TAKE ME AWAY IN YOUR ARMS"


BUT THEN I REALIZED THIS WAS THE FUCKING ASSHAT ROUTE sajdshadj sobbing

Akiko's eyes still freak me out, they just feel a liiiiittle too far apart.

Also I almost thought that in addition to a frying pan Lysa could use a little chameleon sidekick but then I remember she has us to be her revenge seeking tiny Greek Chorus.

You want us to make him cry like he's made you cry, Lysa-chief? We can do that. We're from the internet so trust, we can do that (I know a partridge who'd totes be down for helping).

Hiya! So, I'm new (if you couldn't tell) but I've been following this thread for a while... and I just wanted to bring up something that may be sorta lost in the transition from Japan to the west in this game? It's actually something I've been finding out about recently but it definitely made me understand Lysa a little bit more.

Well, Japan is sort of a 'bear it and grin' society. Like, if you have troubles or you're treated wrong or you have something bad happen to you or something along those lines, it's VERY frowned upon to express your frustration or vent your anger in any way, in Japan it's called 'kireru' and if you do it you'll likely gain the disapproval of everyone around you. The Japanese ideal is to "suffer in silence"- kinda like Lysa's been doing. It's also what's stopped many women in Japan from getting a divorce, because in Japan, where the motto is 'grin and bear it', getting a divorce isn't considered anywhere NEAR as 'good' as staying in the marriage without complaining. It is taught that even if a marriage is unhappy, the ideal woman will stick with it and still smile- in Japan doing that is commendable, a virtue. I think divorce rates have only been going up as Japan is becoming increasingly more "Westernized", as some people put it.

That's just my two cents. :) I really wanted to post it- I doubt I'll really be posting again, unless anyone has anything to ask or I've messed something up. v.v
And to Tome-chan - thank you so much for this LP! You don't know how much enjoyment it's brought me, and all the people who comment have given me tons of insight! I've thought about tons of things I've never really considered. Thanks, everyone. <3

I'm actually not completely surprised. This is actually how most women where I come from are raised and even now I know plenty of women in unhappy marriages who never say anything about how miserable they are to their husbands. Which is why I get so frustrated reading this route it just tears me apart Glad to know that my suspicions were correct though~ Thanks for the info.

Thank you for explaining that! I had always suspected that this was the case (given how most otome games are) but it's nice to have it confirmed.

Interesting. Thank you for delurking enough to state what I skimmed over.

It's a bit like that in the U.S. as well. For example, when people ask, "How are you?", unless they are close to you, the answer is always "Fine, and you?" or some variation. It's a polite question, but most people really don't want to know and get desperately uncomfortable if the question is answered honestly. The idea of keeping your personal problems at home or to yourself is alive and well. It's strange, considering how loud we tend to be about everything else.