Kasumi route emotional rambling. Expect spoilers.

[Non Plus Ultra]

Now I get why it is such, I truly do, the Kasumi route (and her entire character) is somewhat unpopular. I beg to differ with this, however.

See, when I started reading this VN, to me she really caught on, and I was quite taken aback when the 'caduceus' revelation came. When the OST 'Walhalla' played in the background and they were having their moment, this dug deep.

And then comes this sack of♥♥♥♥♥♥Spinne. Who pretends to kidnap Kasumi (why he never actually did remains beyond me, being the sadistic♥♥♥♥♥♥♥the lot of them in the LDO) to attract Ren on the spot. Now, Ren realised in the spider web that Kasumi wasn't actually there. I however couldn't trace the dots, and thought Spinne had killed her off, again I'm emotionally charged.
Ren gloriously defeats Spinne (but not killing, at this point I figured you'd obtain their souls so i am perplexed) and returns home, only to see the lights on. Hope lives.
And is fulfilled. I was just as ecstatic as Ren to find this out. And just as he hugs Kasumi, the soundtrack Walhalla plays the blissful climaxing part of the track.

That's it. I am completely on board with Ren, I want to see him succeed, the chuuni fighting can suck ten bags of♥♥♥♥♥ this romance must happen.

Now it's an up-down struggle from here on out, but ultimately culminates in them kissing in the Bottomless Pit. I don't know what I was expecting, this was obviously coming, but I love every second of this surprise that should not have surprised me at all.

Before I get to the ending I'll say that as a character I don't find Kasumi at all annoying. Sure she's somewhat thick-skulled and simple, but IMO she's loveable and adorable, but not in a belittling way, and I find her values and actions generally good (aside from really taking her killings to heart)
To top it all off her character drawing is really pretty. I don't mean OTT beautiful-as-♥♥♥♥-can-we-bang, but a really sweet and cute one. This being up my alley of tastes anyway helps things.

Finally we get to the ending. Oh boy do we ever. I am on the edge of my seat as I'm sure Kasumi headed to the church to just get herself killed (indirectly true but not as bad as I imagined) and damn right holding my breath until she's safe.

WHAT AN EXCELLENT TURN OF EVENTS TO HAVE REN COMATOSE HERE.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS???

So her whole school is massacred, Rea is dead, Shirou is dead, Ren is in coma, do we have it all?

LET'S MAKE THE LITERALLY ONLY 'FRIEND' SHE HAS LEFT TRY TO BRUTALLY MURDER REN AND END UP KILLING HERSELF. MAGNIFICENT.

Right. Her story is ♥♥♥♥ing tragic, all my favorite characters are dead, and the bad guys are having a blast with all this. I might as well have thrown my heart into a hydraulic press.

Yet some people have the ♥♥♥♥ing temerity to go around saying the game has no bad endings, I spent a good while and a half teary-eyed watching this unfold, and♥♥♥♥♥♥hit the fan in such a manner I am left in a minor void from only a single character arc. This. Is. A. Bad. Ending.

Anyway. As is fated, I'll soldier on the rest of the grand Opera, forever wishing Ren will succeed and bring back the good days. I expect nothing back from this deal with the devil, but since the wish of me and the protagonist align, I have hope in plot armor. And this ending would be worth the hours passed in loads of gold if this is redeemed.

Until the next rampage about unfair treatment of fictional characters in an unfair setting.

[arcanusblaze]

Thought I'd post a few responses on some things you didn't seem entirely certain of.


>Who pretends to kidnap Kasumi (why he never actually did remains beyond me, being the sadistic♥♥♥♥♥♥♥the lot of them in the LDO) to attract Ren on the spot.

The reason Spinne didn't actually abduct Kasumi is because he and Trifa had discovered that Kasumi was the granddaughter of Johann, making her a potential Sonnenkind. Trifa's entire plan was to have Kasumi sacrificed as the Sonnenkind over Rea, so he ordered Spinne not to kidnap her.

>Ren gloriously defeats Spinne (but not killing, at this point I figured you'd obtain their souls so i am perplexed)

As Ren later realizes, Marie is the only soul his Ahnenerbe will ever possess, as he cannot take in any other souls, but he doesn't need them, seeing as how Mercurius declared Marie to be the strongest soul in existence.


>WHAT AN EXCELLENT TURN OF EVENTS TO HAVE REN COMATOSE HERE.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS???

This is not entirely the case. In the post-credits scene, Reinhard mentions that he will be returning Ren's soul to his body, meaning that Ren will soon wake from his coma. However, as Mercurius points out in his following monologue, this is far from a happy ending: Ren and Kasumi's children and grandchildren will inherit the role of Sonnenkind, meaning that one of them will end up in the same position as Rea. Furthermore, once Kasumi dies, rather than passing away to the afterlife, she will forever be a slave to Reinhard's castle- in other words, she's essentially been damned to hell. And to top it all off, the LDO will be returning stronger than ever in a couple of decades or so, but Ren and Kasumi will be blissfully unaware of this and thus have no countermeasures for them ready when they return.

So yeah, just because Ren will wake from his coma doesn't change the fact that both of them are basically screwed.

[Non Plus Ultra]

Damn, I should have seen the kidnap ordeal. Again, connecting the dots is harder than it should 😂

As for souls, basically all Ren would have to do is to unleash later forms to overpower the other LDO. Actually don't answer, just started Kei route this morning and wouldn't that kill the suspense. Though, protagonists are protaginists.

The finishing, though diligently I tried to read, I guess I missed that part. I can sleep in peace knowing at least for some time things could have sat well, Kasumi was pretty much convinced she'd go to hell anyway, and seemed to have dealt with it, but a fate in the castle would still be horrific.

But nevertheless, I'll go on from this downright brutal end, hoping for the better that may never come. Deeper in a sideplot than I should have gotten.

Thanks for the clarifications and peace of mind though, appreciate listening to my nonsense.