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The Parallel of Michiru Matsushima and Yumiko Sakaki


LemiusK

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There have often been times in the Grisaia series when Michiru and Yumiko were compared to one another by Yuuji, and this was not surprising. Both Michiru and Yumiko are tsunderes on some level - Michiru being the fake tsundere, and while Yumiko is more of a kuudere, there have been occasional tsun-tsun moments with her. Such superficial similarities aside, both individuals also suffer from the more textbook forms of social anxiety (Makina's anxiety is a bit more complex and special, hence why I'm leaving her out for the sake of this post), and both have compensated this anxiety with unhealthy methods. The difference between such methods, however, is where Yumiko excels in "The Labyrinth of Grisaia", whereas Michiru is still stuck in her old unhealthy ways.

Grisaia spoilers at this point:

Spoiler

In "Labyrinth", rather than pretending to be someone else like Michiru does with her tsundere act, Yumiko has learned to embrace her softer and more affectionate side, learning to just enjoy the present and the companionship of her friends. In comparison, Michiru is stuck to her old ways of acting like a goofball for her "tsundere" act, whether within her own route, or outside of it. This is a tremendous disappointment for me, as someone who was a fan of hers, because the ending to her route in "The Fruits of Grisaia" hinted that she might have broken past this facade and learned to appreciate herself more. Unfortunately, "Labyrinth" regresses her character for... comedic relief.

This is the reason why sometimes, I really dislike the comic relief, because they're essentially a sacrifice who won't grow beyond being an idiot. Sometimes, a story does fix this by claiming that the goofball's charm lies in him or her being an idiot. Grisaia does something similar (very seldomly), but for such a serious story dealing with mental health problems, I just couldn't accept such a disrespectful answer. It's not only disrespectful to the character and fans of the character wanting to see her grow as a person, but also disrespectful towards real life patients suffering from similar issues.

Now, as to whether Yumiko's After Story is better than Michiru's due to this important difference in character growth... it is, on some level. Yumiko's AS is still, as @Dreamysyu put it, kinda boring.

Spoiler

At times, the lessons she attend feel like instruction manuals for would-be housewives reading such a story. This is especially so for Sachi's lesson, which was very straight-laced and lacks in jokes. Compare this to Michiru's AS, which is full of jokes, at the sacrifice of character growth. What makes Yumiko's AS stand out from Michiru's, however, is that she does in fact grow as a person. Such growth is the beauty of her route, as she probably has the most distinctive character growth from her past self to her current self compared to the four other heroines. While Amane, Sachi, Makina, and Michiru have either retained some (or in Michiru's cast, all) aspects of their past character - be it sluttiness, having a forced father figure, or being subservient to Yuuji - Yumiko has chosen to grow beyond that and become a much more respectable and admirable person as a result.

Unfortunately, her character development being the strongest also means that her AS is also the most idealistic and, as some would say, boring. An idealistic ending isn't necessarily interesting. If anything, flaws make a character more interesting, so the discarding of her past flaws have now left Yumiko's AS in a rather predictable structure where she grows as a person and is happy with it. It's a nice feeling for Yumiko's fans, but as a story, it just isn't that interesting.

If I'm to rank the different AS, I'd say it goes something like this:

Sachi > Amane > Makina > Yumiko > Michiru

Yes, Michiru's AS is at the bottom. After seeing how much Yumiko grew, especially, I just couldn't tolerate how much Michiru has regressed. It's frustrating to see for a fan of hers like myself.

Having said that, with Michiru's weakness reminding myself of my own weakness as a person, I don't know if I could ever enjoy seeing her again in the same positive light when I read future stories. She's become something of an eyesore.

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Spoiler

This is a tremendous disappointment for me, as someone who was a fan of hers, because the ending to her route in "The Fruits of Grisaia" hinted that she might have broken past this facade and learned to appreciate herself more. Unfortunately, "Labyrinth" regresses her character for... comedic relief.

 

Actually, this reminded me that the biggest problem with Michiru's AS I personally had is that I felt as if it completely disregarded her development from the original route.

Spoiler

I mean, from what I recall, didn't it basically state in a plain text that Michiru got over her fake tsundere persona?

Now I'm interested in what your reaction on Rakuen is going to be. :yumiko:

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8 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Now I'm interested in what your reaction on Rakuen is going to be. :yumiko:

Something about your statement tells me Michiru's fate in Rakuen is a lot worse... :leecher:

 

8 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Actually, this reminded me that the biggest problem with Michiru's AS I personally had is that I felt as if it completely disregarded her development from the original route.

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I mean, from what I recall, didn't it basically state in a plain text that Michiru got over her fake tsundere persona?

 

Hopefully - and I'm saying this with desperate optimism -

Spoiler

that line of text suggesting that she got over her tsundere persona was indicating some time in the far future after her "Labyrinth" AS. Notice how events that occurred at the ending of certain routes in "The Fruit of Grisaia" only happen after the events shown in "The Labyrinth of Grisaia". For example, Amane and her daughter talking about Yuuji at the end of Angelic Howl in "Fruit of Grisaia". This couldn't have happened after Amane's "Labyrinth" AS, obviously, because she was still young, and Amane's daughter was still a baby by the end.

So yeah, hopefully it's something like that... But... even if it is, that still doesn't change how mediocre Michiru's AS is. :leecher: If anything, this makes her AS feel even more like filler material now compared to the other AS.

Edited by LemiusK
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If you think that Front Wing (FW) did regressed Michiru at Meikyuu, perhaps this thread at Reddit could give you some reasons lol. Note that it talk about FW's almost broke situation while they already planned the trilogy for Grisaia, and so they decided to make Kajitsu as almost standalone VN (Remove some of Amane's route foreshadowing, and we can have Kajitsu as totally independent VN). Of course seeing that Kajitsu is stand alone VN to some people, any attempt to make the trilogy would be met up with some confusion in regard of the canon. Before you say that Muv Luv did that I would say that Muv Luv here still better as the trilogy because they managed to introduce the major plot hook at Unlimited that was sold together with Extra, while in here both of Kajitsu and Meikyuu did sold as separated VN so it would be fitting if we say that Meikyuu and Kajitsu here is separated to an extend, mostly because FW probably scrambling off to write the original plan that they have with the trilogy in both of Meikyuu and Rakuen.

As for Michiru's AS, well if you feel uncomfortable by that you can treat it as the fanservice for the fan who like idiot Michiru, and I'm sure that it make up most of the fans out there back at Meikyuu development in Japan with the current situation was back then FW probably need to sell Meikyuu as much as possible, possibly to cover the development cost back at Kajitsu. Other than that, we can also say that FW probably thought that Grisaia trilogy need some comedy relief, and poor Michiru was the one that FW chose lol. As for my opinion in regard of the trilogy, I think we can treat Kajitsu as the main entry of Grisaia while at the same time treat both of Meikyuu and Rakuen as the fandiscs, moreso because of the development situation of Kajitsu (Then again, FW did sell Meikyuu as Kajitsu's sequel though, so there's that).

PS - In case you afraid that Rakuen would be unkind to Michiru, feel free to ignore that FD because in there she's pretty much flanderized into the idiot one (And by the way I wouldn't treat Rakuen as the sequel even with FW did mentioned that Michiru got lost in my country Indonesia lol).

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19 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

If you think that Front Wing (FW) did regressed Michiru at Meikyuu, perhaps this thread at Reddit could give you some reasons lol. Note that it talk about FW's almost broke situation while they already planned the trilogy for Grisaia, and so they decided to make Kajitsu as almost standalone VN (Remove some of Amane's route foreshadowing, and we can have Kajitsu as totally independent VN). Of course seeing that Kajitsu is stand alone VN to some people, any attempt to make the trilogy would be met up with some confusion in regard of the canon. Before you say that Muv Luv did that I would say that Muv Luv here still better as the trilogy because they managed to introduce the major plot hook at Unlimited that was sold together with Extra, while in here both of Kajitsu and Meikyuu did sold as separated VN so it would be fitting if we say that Meikyuu and Kajitsu here is separated to an extend, mostly because FW probably scrambling off to write the original plan that they have with the trilogy in both of Meikyuu and Rakuen.

As for Michiru's AS, well if you feel uncomfortable by that you can treat it as the fanservice for the fan who like idiot Michiru, and I'm sure that it make up most of the fans out there back at Meikyuu development in Japan with the current situation was back then FW probably need to sell Meikyuu as much as possible, possibly to cover the development cost back at Kajitsu. Other than that, we can also say that FW probably thought that Grisaia trilogy need some comedy relief, and poor Michiru was the one that FW chose lol. As for my opinion in regard of the trilogy, I think we can treat Kajitsu as the main entry of Grisaia while at the same time treat both of Meikyuu and Rakuen as the fandiscs, moreso because of the development situation of Kajitsu (Then again, FW did sell Meikyuu as Kajitsu's sequel though, so there's that).

PS - In case you afraid that Rakuen would be unkind to Michiru, feel free to ignore that FD because in there she's pretty much flanderized into the idiot one (And by the way I wouldn't treat Rakuen as the sequel even with FW did mentioned that Michiru got lost in my country Indonesia lol).

Sigh, typical. This is one of those "I could understand your circumstances, but I can't condone it" scenario. I could sympathize with FW's financial situation, but it's kinda hard to accept that Muv-Luv does the same thing but much better. FW truly f***ed it up, and this will definitely affect my final rating for the latter two of the Grisaia trilogy.

Oh well. Enjoyment lost. DROP IT. DROP IT SO HARD LIKE IT'S MARS WITH GRAVITY HEAVIER THAN EARTH'S GRAVITY... ISH. Sigh.

Nah, not really. While I lament the fate of Michiru... and I'll definitely hate Rakuen for what it does to my precious twin-tail... there's still the fate of the four other heroines "worth" exploring. Well, I'm not putting much emphasis on the "worth" here because I don't feel as affectionate about any of them as I did towards Michiru, even Amane, but... it's a sequel to a story I've already experienced, and my curiosity just begs me to find out what happens next. What else am I supposed to do? Ignore it and tell myself I'm satisfied not knowing what happened to Yuuji and his family?

RIP, Michiru. You're still my favorite, in spite of what I said. :rubycry::rubycry: *cue Yumiko's quote in Michiru's route how "Nothing is alright anymore"*

Edited by LemiusK
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