Reccomended Route Order or First Route?

[Sleepy Baby Yoda]

Just wondering, does anyone have opinions on which character you should play first/which you should save for last? The amount of characters in Hakuoki is awessome, but intimidating and I can't help but worry for the person who decides to pick Sanan's route first! So I thought for new players, it might be a good idea to discuss? But...

Honestly I have no idea. Maybe Toudou, or Harada? It feels impossible to put them in an order, yet it feels like there are some you shouldn't play first.

I heeded the 'play whoever jumps out at you' advice, and found that Saito was NOT a good first route. As a whole (incl. Edo Blossoms) it required a level of emotional attachment that I didn't already have on the first playthrough but would have had after seeing his honourable behaviour in other routes. If I had have played it after a few other routes, I think it would have totally destroyed me emotionally. (Just like Okita's did, oh my god, still haven't recovered).

Similarly, I was really glad I saved Sanan for after Toudou's and Souma's route for close-to-last (Sanan's because it explained his motivation really well, considering he was the villian in other routes and Souma's because it was so heartwrenching but also hopeful, but would not have had the impact if you hadn't played other's routes first.

Really, every Shinsengumi character shines so much throughout other character's routes, but some routes (Saito, Souma, Okita to an extent imo) seemed to have much more impact only after playing other routes! Did anyone else have a similar experience? And who do you think would be the best first route?

[Siloam]

I think I may be a lone voice in this, but I think Hijikata may be the best choice to start with. You get to see the whole story in his route, and then the others are more like break-offs from the main. They can feel a little sudden and confusing if you don't already know what's going on--especially when it comes to the blood scenes. I definitely don't suggest starting with any of the new expansion routes...because they're terrible.

I also started with Saitou and I kind of regret that. His romance was so sudden and unexpected. I didn't know the character well enough to understand and believe him. And more importantly, I hated Kazama after the route. It wasn't until several routes later that I was finally able to forgive him and realize that he is not the same character in every route.

[Asli_xx]

I didn't follow a guide and honestly was a bit confused cause I used to always play otome games where you had to pick a guy right from the start, after the prologue. So this was completely new to me and I didn't realise at first that my choices made a difference right from the start already. I haven't seen the anime and didn't know a thing about the story or the guys, so I just went with the flow and based my choices on what I thought was best for the storyline. In the end I never really got close to anyone and got the normal ending apparently. I was a bit confused because it was so sudden and so many things were left unanswered, but I guess thats also why there is a second game? But yeah I just finished with my first time playing, so I was left super confused and now I decided to actually follow a guide and go for Hijikata hahaha. Hopefully things will get a bit less confusing now?
I always thought that it was best to go without a guide the first time you play and just make your own choices and see what ending you get. But i'm not sure if that was a good idea with this game when you don't know a thing about it?