What character route surprised you the most?

[nohman]

Common routes in visual novels usually give the reader some kind of expectation of what's to come, in some shape or form. Even without that, anyone who's watched or read enough stories probably has a decent grasp on storytelling tropes and cliches. So we all likely have some kind of expectation when we start on a new route in a visual novel. It could be a simple expectation of quality, an expectation of atmosphere and tone, or even an expectation of what's to come. So I wanted to ask, what character route in which visual novel surprised you the most? Maybe you had zero expectations for a route and it ended up being exceptional? Maybe the one you anticipated would be your favorite ended up being a disappointment? Perhaps the route took a sudden, dark turn you did not see coming or it even ended up being unexpectedly soul-crushing.

 

After thinking about it a little bit, I'm surprised to say Wanko's route in Majikoi best suits the question for me. Given the the kind of VN it is and the game's general tone,  I was surprised at how touching it ended up being and the extent of the character development that was shown. On top of that, she was the character I was least interested in reading a route for. So her route ending up being my favorite of the four translated ones came as a surprise to me.

 

Majikoi spoilers for Wanko's route:

Watching a comparatively average girl struggle to even partially measure up to the absurd, god-like strength of her sister made for an interesting story dynamic. Having her struggling to come to terms with failing at it made for a more human story than I expected out of Majikoi.

 

Anyway, what character route ended up surprising you the most? Since this is a general topic, please try to keep all spoilers within spoiler tags.

 

 

 

 

[Silvz]

Does Al Fine, from Symphonic Rain, count? I mean, more surprise than that? Even Phorni's didn't surprise me at all

 

Also, Lucia's route from Rewrite was not what I expected, since ii is too different from the rest of the girls. Ryukishi focused on romance in that, instead of all fighting for the world of the rest of the game.

[Nerathim]

Lucia's route in Rewrite for me too, it was my first Key game and a friend told me to read it, I wasn't expecting anything from it, I didn't even know that R07 and Romeo had written something. What a surprise it was...I don't think that I will ever revive a emotional rollercoaster on the same level.

Far Side routes from Tsukihime also surprised me, being thrown into such a claustrophobic atmosphere for hours was REALLY disturbing. (in a good way)

 

( Do I need to mention Amane's route in Grisaia ? )

[Clephas]

Probably the route that surprised me most was Kanata's route 1 in Devils Devel Concept... at the time, I had no idea that a VN could possibly take such a psychotic turn (makes Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku's paths seem tame). 

I mean, the idea of a heroine deciding to kill the protagonist wasn't alien, of course... it was the way she decided it. She honestly loved him but had decided that was how it would turn out from the beginning. Even better was that after that he rapes her into submission, overwriting her mind so that she can't forget that she loves him. He doesn't implant anything new, he just doesn't let her forget how she feels about him. This is the only rape scene I've ever seen that didn't disgust me, lol.

 

Edit:  Really, all of Devils Devel Concept's routes surprised me, because they were so... different.  There was no attempt to soften the nature of the characters or to exaggerate them either.  The writer took an 'in their natural setting' approach to the characters in that game that made their extreme actions all the more shocking at times.

[SieghartXx]

Common routes in visual novels usually give the reader some kind of expectation of what's to come, in some shape or form. Even without that, anyone who's watched or read enough stories probably has a decent grasp on storytelling tropes and cliches. So we all likely have some kind of expectation when we start on a new route in a visual novel. It could be a simple expectation of quality, an expectation of atmosphere and tone, or even an expectation of what's to come. So I wanted to ask, what character route in which visual novel surprised you the most? Maybe you had zero expectations for a route and it ended up being exceptional? Maybe the one you anticipated would be your favorite ended up being a disappointment? Perhaps the route took a sudden, dark turn you did not see coming or it even ended up being unexpectedly soul-crushing.

 

After thinking about it a little bit, I'm surprised to say Wanko's route in Majikoi best suits the question for me. Given the the kind of VN it is and the game's general tone,  I was surprised at how touching it ended up being and the extent of the character development that was shown. On top of that, she was the character I was least interested in reading a route for. So her route ending up being my favorite of the four translated ones came as a surprise to me.

 

Majikoi spoilers for Wanko's route:

Watching a comparatively average girl struggle to even partially measure up to the absurd, god-like strength of her sister made for an interesting story dynamic. Having her struggling to come to terms with failing at it made for a more human story than I expected out of Majikoi.

 

Anyway, what character route ended up surprising you the most? Since this is a general topic, please try to keep all spoilers within spoiler tags.

I can't agree more with Wanko's route, which made her my favorite heroine from that visual novel.

 

I can't really remember any specific case of a route being that surprising in the visual novels I've played, but I'll try to shamble my memories and post my recollections afterwards.

Nevermind, before sending the post I remembered something:

G-Senjou no Maou

Was not an heroine, but from the main character himself. There were hints everywhere about him being Maou, and I was completely sure of it... Until the twin showed up. Eventhough it was kinda like "hey, he has a second personality, I swear" kind of writting, It really catched me by surprise.

[Eclipsed]

If My Heart Had Wings: Enjoyed all routes, but no route suprised me.

 

Little Busters!: Haruka's route surprised me. I was annoyed by her character during common route but after going through her route and learning about what she went through and all that I deemed her best girl 

 

Rewrite: Lucia's route was my favorite... But Shizuru's route surprised me the most in the shock aspect

I still can't believe that Salvation actually occurred and EVERYBODY was wiped out. That was a friggen' depressing ending. They even gave the characters some screentime expressing their regrets before they vanished

 

Steins;Gate: Obviously true route was very intriguing, but I'll give a special mention to a little something that suprised (or rather, disturbed) me in Suzuha's 'route'.

I swear the things going on in Okabe's head when he got stuck in his time loop was reminiscent of Takumi from Chaos;Head going through a red delusion and it really gave me chills.

 

I mean the guy was saying stuff like "I can kill/rape Suzuha and get away with it since I can just time travel back." It really felt out of character, but hey, they did emphasize that anyone would go mad from going through a time loop like that

 

Chaos;Head: N/A

 

Grisaia no Kajitsu: Amane. Angelic Howl is self-explanatory.

 

G-Senjou no Maou: all character's BAD endings.  

As much as I like Kyousuke, the bad heroine endings left a really, really bitter taste in my mouth. Kyousuke just goes F%^& everything, I'm turning evil 

Hoshizora no Memoria: Komomo             

#lolbias, but really, her route surprised me since it did away with the petty drama like in Asuho/Isuzu's route and was actually pretty informative regarding the lore of HoshiMemo. And the dynamics b/w her and You is just too damn adorable

[Roach]

Sachi's route in Grisaia no Kajitsu. Sachi was my least liked heroine in the common route (something about her just didn't click with me) so I read her route last. But what did I get? Her route unexpectedly touched a sensitive subject for me, and I have to say her route was the first route in any VN that made me hold back my tears.

Dat letter, man. Dat letter.

In the end, Sachi became my favorite heroine in Grisaia, along with Amane.

[Tawm]

The true route in Kara no Shōjo.

I expected some sort of salvation for Toko, but it ended up being the most twisted route of them all.

[suikashoujo]

Gonna jump on the Lucia bandwagon- I hate tsunderes, and I assumed that her route would be terrible, but it ended up being one of the best routes, and Lucia really grew on me.

More recently in Da Capo 2, Minatsu's route was the exact same way. Why do tsunderes get such good routes?

[TexasDice]

Kira*Kira, Kirari route.

That's the bittersweetest shit I've ever read. I can't hate the route, because it was sooo well written and does everything right. But on the other hand, I can't not hate it. It makes me depressive.

 

The bitterness feels even worse later on, because the true ending is really bad und lacks proper closure.

[Snowtsuku]

If we are talking of characters, Fal wins for me. If any route works, Al Fine is the winner.

[Life]

Ever 17's Kid routes. 

To begin with I completed both of Takeshi's but when I went through the Kid's common route and there was a lot of... stuff that referenced the former. The route itself didn't surprise me much but rather how similar yet so different the two were.

Also Symphonic Rain.

The plot twist in Al Fine.

[Flutterz]

Seconding all the Symphonic Rains and Lucias, I was not expecting them to be as good as they were.

 

Also Planetarian, I was hesitant to read it at first because it didn't look particularly good. Oh how wrong I was.

[Carronade]

Symphonic Rain.

I thought Phorni's route was gonna be sad as hell.

[Zenophilious]

I have two routes that completely surprised me: Amane's route from Kajitsu, and Haru's route from G-senjou.

 

Amane's route is pretty much self-explanatory, if you've read it.  Came right out of left field for me; I was expecting something, well, less intense than Angelic Howl.  Of course, after that I changed my expectations for Kajitsu accordingly (and wasn't that surprised again), but before Amane's route I didn't think it would touch on subjects that disturbing.

 

Haru's route...

the ending completely contradicted the rest of her route. It felt happy and playful at the "end", you become sure you're going to see an ending screen pop up, buuuut nope, massive middle finger by Kyohei as he ruins Haru's and Kyousuke's future together. Incoming feels, they're super effective. And to think I had my doubts that her route would be any good...ha.

[Freestyle80]

True route in ever17 and chapter 5 of Sharin no Kuni

(where they revealed the protags past and that his sister has been shadowing him all along)

another route would be Amane's route (her past revealation) and also Yumiko's route(both from Grisaia)

[Zenophilious]

True route in ever17 and chapter 5 of Sharin no Kuni(where they revealed

the protags past and that his sister has been shadowing him all along)

another route would be Amane's route (her past revealation) and also Yumiko's route(both from Grisaia)

 

Slap a spoiler tag on that, bro.  Bend to peer pressure.

[Freestyle80]

sorry my bad i'm on my phone in a boring party lol

[Zenophilious]

sorry my bad i'm on my phone in a boring party lol

No harm, no foul.  Gotta say, though, that moment also blew my mind.  My head was full of wut for hours afterwards.  The writers for Sharin are such trolls.

[hydro]

The Grisaia common route surprised me more than anything. Heavy stuff I was expecting, amazing comedy I was not. But as far as character routes are concerned I guess the Amane route did surprise me a little too. It wouldn't have surprised me if I read it immediately after starting, as it vaguely fit into the "heavy" content I was expecting. But after reading the long common route my expectations were a little warped, and I wasn't quite expecting fun loving Amane's route to be

A long, painfully detailed traumatic flashback.

 

Gonna jump on the Lucia bandwagon- I hate tsunderes, and I assumed that her route would be terrible, but it ended up being one of the best routes, and Lucia really grew on me.

 

Huh. I also hate tsunderes and often skip their routes entirely, but I might give this one a go should I end up reading Rewrite.

[suikashoujo]

Oh yeah, forgot about Sharin.

Also, another one I forgot about was the final chapter of ef. The first half of that game wasn't very good, but once Yuuko's story came in... wow.

[melo4496]

Also, another one I forgot about was the final chapter of ef. The first half of that game wasn't very good, but once Yuuko's story came in... wow.

 

Exactly. 

I was really surprised when i found out that Yuuko is a

****

victim

(Fun way of using spoiler tag)

[Snowtsuku]

Oh yeah, forgot about Sharin.

Also, another one I forgot about was the final chapter of ef. The first half of that game wasn't very good, but once Yuuko's story came in... wow.

One of the things that the anime failed to deliver IMO

The anime gave Yuuko a ghost like feeling, unlike in the VN.

[bluethunder91]

So I went into Kira Kira to read a happy, feel-good romance story about a band. I did expect drama because all routes gotta have that, but I still thought it wouldn't be very sad.

And then 

Kirari died.

I was kind of speechless. Another thing that I definitely wasn't expecting was 

Shikanosuke's mental conflict on whether to let Kirari's father die.

I mean, wow. It's not often you see something like that.

 

As for others, Al Fine in Symphonic Rain, because WAT. That beginning totally screwed with my head.

And also Amane's route in Grisaia. Actually gave me nightmares for a while.

 

Also these aren't routes, but more twists that I didn't see coming:

The 

epilogue

in G-Senjou. Best part of the game.

 

And of course the master of trolls and not-quite-asspulls: Sharin no Kuni. 

When Ririko appeared, I was literally shouting at my screen in disbelief.

[Zenophilious]

And also Amane's route in Grisaia. Actually gave me nightmares for a while.

 

Also these aren't routes, but more twists that I didn't see coming:

The 

epilogue

in G-Senjou. Best part of the game.

 

And of course the master of trolls and not-quite-asspulls: Sharin no Kuni. 

When Ririko appeared, I was literally shouting at my screen in disbelief.

Totally agree with all of these.  G-senjou's

epilogue hit me like a ton of bricks, and I felt super depressed until I got to the very end, and then I started crying all over again.

  Amane's route didn't seriously give me nightmares; once you've read stories similar to that you kinda have to steel yourself mentally, or you just can't handle it.  That said, it did seriously affect me emotionally, and I felt pretty disturbed for a while afterwards.

 

Sharin:

All hail Ririko, Queen of the Trolls. Best Sharin heroine, hands down. When she came out of nowhere I thought I was hallucinating or something, or that I fell asleep and I was dreaming that. Not even joking.