[Amnesia] I wanna talk about Ikki!
Ikki is the first and only route I’ve finished in this game so far. I’d read that Shin is the recommended LI to start with so I started with him, but I ended up pivoting to Ikki anyway because I’m a complete sucker for whitehaired playboy LIs.
Honestly, the best way to describe both him and his route is frustrating. His obsessive fan girls and his passive response to them really got on my nerves. I understand that a lot of it comes from his supernatural eyes, but the fan girls really did need to calm the hell down. Still there was something pitiful about how resigned he is to his situation, and how sincerely he keeps trying, even when those efforts seem ultimately futile, to make everyone happy.
He clearly blames himself for a lot of what happens, and even by the end, he still sees his fan girls as victims of his eyes rather than people he holds any real grudge against. At his core, he’s obviously a very kind person who constantly puts everyone else’s feelings before his own. Throughout his route, he’s always trying to walk that careful line between managing his fans so they don't go overboard on the bullying, and trying to be a good boyfriend to the MC during their three-month trial period. But in the end, no one really comes out of the situation fully happy or satisfied. I think that same kindness is also what makes him unintentionally cruel. He stretches himself so thin trying to please everyone that he ends up pleasing no one, least of all himself.
He also genuinely feels guilty whenever he has to turn the girls around him down, and it's clearly emotionally exhausting to comfort and reassure those girls afterward. I thought it was interesting that he admits it’s such a pain to console the people he rejects and that part of him just wants to leave, but then he feels guilty for even thinking that way.
It's clear just how limiting his condition really is. During the trip with the billiards club members, even something as simple as playing games becomes a hassle because his fan girls are too busy staring at him to actually participate. The people who are unaffected by his eyes just end up irritated that he’s causing a scene, even though it is never really intentional. I genuinely felt bad for him when he chose not to join the others when they were going to play card games because he knew no one would be able to play properly with him around. I’m glad he has Kent around as a friend, and also because their bromance was easily one of the most best parts of his route.
Although I didn’t care much for the conflict in his route, there were definitely a few scenes I really liked. The scene where the MC gets sick and Ikki shows up wearing that stupid mask just so he can visit her without causing a commotion made me laugh. The drunk scene was also adorable. One of my favorites though was his conversation with the MC’s father, which really showed off that cooler more mature side of him. It was sweet that he already had a whole plan prepared to help support the MC and the fact that he didn't get intimidated by him at all was cool.
I ended up really liking Ikki, even if the beginning was absolutely rough. His voice really did a lot of heavy lifting to make me keep going. At one point, I just picked that one dialogue option where I told him I hated him because I just got so annoyed.
On a side note, thank God for Orion and his commentary. Orion reacting to all the sus things Ikki says and reacting to the insane fan girls made the whole experience a lot more entertaining. I’d seen a lot of reviews a long time ago saying Orion was annoying, but I’m happy to say I loved our little spirit boy.
Anyway, what did you guys think of Ikki?
(Also this is a repost because the first one got removed)