Genshin (源信) CV: Inoue Kazuhiko (井上和彦)
There’s been a gap between when I played through the common route and Genshin’s route in the second half of the game so the first half of this review may be a little vague and…iffy. Also, for the sake of not sounding too much like Gintama (LOL) ‘Odd Jobs’ will now be ‘Shigoryou’
After Sangou has joined Shigoryou is to help with the daily jobs they receive. With Genshin, the first job is to write a love poem for a client. Genshin, Ichigou and Sangou each write a poem and in the end they read it out loud, deciding which is the best to give to the client. Sangou is straightforward and says that Genshin’s is the best. He is a little flustered but thanks her. The second is to search for a rare book and to make a copy for the client. In the middle, Genshin tells Sangou to have a rest and he pours tea for her and Ichigou and Nigou. Yup, nothing too special there. The third is to play ‘kemari’ with the spirit of a young boy. Genshin mouths ‘Ganbatte kudasai’ to Sangou. Haha, she’s really happy about that. These are the day jobs.
At night, they go around purifying the evil spirits in the capitol and look for clues on the 3 treasures. They encounter the anger of multiple women who have been dumped by the men they love, a foreigner who was attacked because of his appearance. During these rounds, Sangou always feels sympathy for the spirits they have purified. Genshin tells here that it is rare and hopes she will never change. Of course, other than that the members of Shigoryou search for the 3 treasures.
Izumi gathers everyone (apart from Seimei) one night, informing them that one of the treasures, the dagger is enshrined at a noble’s house. They are to go and retrieve it. When they arrive at the place where the dagger is supposedly enshrined, they meet the members of Satashuu soon after. They are a group who are also looking for the 3 treasures in order to open the gates to the underworld. Genshin’s ‘opponent’ is this one hell of a big bad boy guy with this huge-arse axe. He opens the sealed door by smashing it and the Satashuu torment the guardian before killing it, only to find there is no treasure. They leave the scene without fixing the seal, which Genshin does.
Later, there is a report where spirits were gathering in large numbers at an abandoned mansion. Once again, the Shigoryou members (including Seimei) go to investigate and they find one of the treasures, the mirror. When Izumi reaches out for it, it resonates with another treasure, the dagger allowing Seimei to pinpoint the location. Seimei being Seimei, he obviously doesn’t tell anyone about that until they get back to Shigoryou. Izumi tells everyone to take the day off tomorrow morning as they are going to retrieve the dagger the next night.
Sangou wakes up the next day, not knowing what to do, she finds herself at the school where Genshin teaches children. Not wanting to disturb the lesson, she stands outside and looks in. Genshin notices this and invites her in. When he asks her why she is here on her day off, Sangou replies with “I wanted to see Genshin-san.” Genshin is extremely happy and the children notice this so they start asking who this ‘Onee-chan’ is.before Genshin can reply, one of them says that she is Genshin’s wife/person he loves (思い人, however you want to translate that). Sangou gets embarrassed (LOL) and Genshin introduces her as his very important friend and that she is a new teacher who will play with them today.
Time-skip and the children have gone home. Sangou is quite tired and Genshin tells here to rest while he tidies up the school. She falls asleep leaning against the wall and has a dream where she and Genshin are happily teaching children together. She wakes up only to find herself in Genshin’s lap. He explains how Sangou fell asleep and when he was going to cover her with an overcoat, she clung onto him and wouldn’t let go (haha, it was kind of cute). Sangou panics, and tries to get up but Genshin tells here to rest a little more.
He then tells her a story about an ‘ayakashi’ called Satori who could read people’s thoughts by looking at them straight in the eye. The ability was praised as God’s ability but the villagers had only wanted to use power for their own. After using the Satori, he was chased out of the village. Genshin asks Sangou whether she is scared of the Satori like everyone else. She replies by saying she’d hate to have her thoughts read but she isn’t scared of the Satori. Instead she feels sorry for him, since he could not control nor erase his ability.
At night everyone heads to the forest in order to recover the dagger. No one apart from Izumi could pull it out of the sacred tree. This meant the treasure recognised Izumi as the rightful successor. After returning from the forest, Seimei asks Sangou for assistance in a ritual that could possibly be fatal. She agrees, saying that she is his shikigami. During the ritual, Sangou sees the Genshin and hears him say “I’m used to being alone.”
Not long after Sangou wakes up, she and Seimei hear an explosion. Seimei tells her to go to Izumi and co. and tell them that he will join them after some preparation in order to defeat the ‘Maou’. The maou that appears is no Masakado but ‘Akuro Ou’. Izumi allows Sangou to fight provided she promises not to push herself and that she retreat when she feels danger. During the battle, Sangou pushes Genshin to the ground in order to protect him. It was awkward fr here but man, Genshin didn’t even blink an eye. Then, it is Genshin’s turn to protect Sangou, along with Izumi. They somewhat are able to hold off Akuro Ou until Seimei appears with the third treasure, the blue magatama. Izumi accepts it but demands an explanation when it resonates with Sangou. Seimei says he will after they have defeated Akuro Ou, but we all know he won’t give straight answers. Better yet, he won’t answer at all. LOL That’s Seimei for you.
After the battle, Sangou is a little tired and is about to fall, but Genshin steadies her. Izumi interrupts their little lovey-dovey session (LOL-“いいところで邪魔しちゃってすみませんだけど”) Oh Izumi, don’t tease them. Back at Shigoryou, Seimei doesn’t explain anything at all, only saying that it was best for him to keep quiet about it until he thought the time was right. He then tells Izumi he won’t be able to help temporarily and leaves after giving something to Izumi.
This is not the end, oh no. The next day, the 3 treasures are found missing along with Raikou. Ichigou gets a message from Satashuu saying they know where Seimei is and he and Nigou go and find him, even though it is obviously a trap. Sangou and Genshin go out to look for the 3 treasures but they return in the afternoon, empty-handed.
Upon return, an arrow is suddenly shot, aiming for Sangou. Genshin protects her and discovers a note tied to the arrow. It says that his students have been taken as hostages and if he wants to save them, he must go to the school. Genshin is unsure what to do at first since he should remain to protect Izumi with everyone else gone. Izumi orders Genshin to go and save the children. Sangou also wants to follow and seeing that, Izumi also orders her to go. When she catches up with Genshin, he allows her to go with him as long as she stays behind him. When they arrive, Nanban is already there, ready and eager to fight with Genshin. Genshin doesn’t fight without a reason and so Nanban had taken hostages.
As they start to fight, Sangou notices how Genshin has his eyes closed. So does Nanban and he taunts Genshin, trying to get him to use his power. Soon, the carers of the children arrive at the school, worried about their children. They see the fight and now with more people to protect, Genshin is forced to use his power ‘Satori-me’, the mind-reading power. The adults become frightened of Genshin and call him a youkai. Nanban is amused at the reactions and being a bastard, stops the fight. He leaves Genshin saying he is curious as to how Genshin will deal with them.
Using the ‘Satori-me’ tires Genshin. The children are worried about him but the adults pull them away from him. They tell him they are grateful that he’s protected and taught the children up until now but he doesn’t need to anymore. They cannot leave their children in the care of a monster. Someone even threw a rock at Genshin. He doesn’t do anything but apologises before leaving. Sangou realises that his emotional wounds are deep but she is unable to do anything.
Sangou and Genshin find out that Satashuu had indeed attacked Izumi while they were out but managed to escape by using a shikigami. The three of them hide at Seimei’s mansion to keep Izumi safe. That same night, Genshin invites Sangou out for a walk. He tells her of his life story, how he was born with the power to read people’s mind by looking them in the eye. People were afraid of him but he still grew up there. He never once thought his ability was a bad thing until one day. Someone had stolen food from the storage and the villagers were blaming the newcomers. Genshin, unable to overlook this investigated. He found that a man had taken the food to feed his sick wife. Genshin promised the man that he would not tell anyone what he had done and asked him to stop stealing and blaming it on other people.
You’d think the man would be grateful for the fact Genshin did not report him. But NO! What does he do? He tells everyone in the village that Genshin had used his ability to read everyone’s minds without them knowing. The villagers already pissed off at each other turned all their anger towards Genshin and chased him out of the village. Since then, Genshin has kept his eyes closed, or as closed as possible, trying not to use his ability unless necessary.
His eyes allow him to read everyone’s thoughts, including the darker thoughts, and so being around people, especially adults was straining. The children were his saviour with their pure hearts. Genshin opened a school hoping to protect the children. Through that, he met Izumi and Seimei and he joined Shigoryou, for it provided him with money and protection for the school. He uses his ability from time to time during jobs but he cannot use it for long.
This is not the first time Genshin had rocks thrown at him because he really is a monster. Sangou disagrees and thinks that he is very kind. She asks him to read her heart if he doesn’t believe her, only to find that Genshin cannot do it. The reason he was surprised when he first met her was because of this but he knew he could trust her. She has a pure aura. Genshin admits to having the same dream as Sangou, but believes it would be impossible to come true.
The next day, Izumi tells them that the 3 treasures are most likely to be used in the resurrection ceremony tonight. So rather than looking for it aimlessly, they should try to retrieve them before the ceremony starts. Izumi tell them to rest until evening when they’ll leave. Genshin walks out of the room and Sangou follows. Genshin tells her that he wants to be alone for now. At first, Sangou lets him go but after a while, she realises that Genshin is not being true to his own heart. He doesn’t want to be alone, and so she chases after him.
She arrives at the school, seeing Genshin looking at it. Realising Sangou is there with him, he tells her that the children don’t need him anymore. There are new teachers to look after him. He also tells her that he plans on leaving the capital after everything is over and that he’ll leave the children in her care. Sangou looks into the school herself. There are no smiles and no laughters. There is no way the children do not need Genshin.
Upon returning to the mansion, Sangou goes through the old texts in Seimei’s room, hoping to find an alternate ending to the story of ‘Satori’. She is about to give up when she finds one. After reading it, she realises it is time to meet with Izumi and rushes out of the room. There she finds out that another note had been sent by Satashuu, saying that the children are being held as hostages again. Upon reading the note, Genshin had rushed out of the mansion. Izumi tells Sangou to go and be Genshin’s moral support. He would be safe in the mansion since the barrier is strong.
When Sangou arrives at the school, she sees the adults again. They tell her that Genshin had gone to the mountains where the children are being held. They talk bad about Genshin and unable to hear anymore, Sangou tells them to remember how kind Genshin was and still is. This causes the adults to fall into an awkward silence as Sangou heads towards the mountains.
Sangou finds the children being ties against a tree in the dark while Genshin and Nanban are fighting. Nanban refuses to let the children go because he knows that Genshin would just give up and let himself be killed. Although reluctant to use his ability, Genshin open his eyes in order to attract Nanban’s attention, giving Sangou a chance to release the children. Nanban reads this and Genshin finds out that he has the same ability in his left eye. Nanban tells Genshin that he is weak because he is too kind. Nanban swings his axe down at Genshin but he is too shocked to react. Sangou jumps in front of him to take the blow.
While Genshin hold Sangou in his arms, he blames himself saying he is unable to protect Sangou or the children even though he swore he would. Sangou tells him about her research, saying that his eyes are for saving people, that there is a greater power still to be awoken. She tells him that he must not run away from his fate. Sangou suddenly glows and the light is absorbed by Genshin’s eyes, forming a new ability. Genshin is now able to see the future.
Although, he is only able to see Sangou at first, the ability expands and he is then able to see the children and Nanban. With this, he tells Nanban that he is unable to win this fight. Nanban is defeated but Genshin refuses to kill him. Nanban says he has no regrets and that Genshin must protect everyone he loves with his own hands. He then jumps off the cliff and his body dissolves into ashes.
Sangou is confused and Genshin explains how Nanban was resurrected. He had seen some of his past. Nanban was like another him, he was feared and was even rejected by his family. That is why he had such deep hatred. But Genshin has Sangou and his students that are worried about him so he wouldn’t become like Nanban. He asks Sangou to let him protect her from now on.
The children cling to Genshin as they all return to the capital. They refuse to let go saying that the adults would bully Genshin if they left. The adults are embarrassed saying that they wouldn’t do that. They had discussed while Genshin was gone, how he had never done any harm to them. They ask him not to leave and keep teaching the children. Genshin being Genshin is extremely kind-hearted feels happy that they are asking him to stay.
As they walk back to the mansion, Genshin notices Sangou worrying about the other members of Shigoryou. He tells here that they are all right and that in time, they will return. It is best for them to stay here and protect the capital until they return. He asks Sangou to stay by his side forever and then kisses her.
In the epilogue, Sangou is at the school teaching the children as a ‘new teacher’. She is shocked that the children know more Kanji than her and is quite troubled. But of course, Genshin is there to rescue her. He tells the children not to tease her so much since it would be quite troubling if she doesn’t come back. One of the children teases him saying that Genshin would be the one troubled without anyone to cook and clean for him. Sangou is lost in her thoughts about Genshin until he gets her back to earth. She tells him that she likes his eye colour. He responds saying he loves her…and then tries to cover it up rambling about how it’s her hair, her face and everything LOL. When they sit down to drink tea during late afternoon, Genshin calls he Sayuki. He tells her to call her by her name when they are alone. Sayuki is extremely happy and thus their peaceful life with the children beings. Just like the dream they had.
I’m done…OMG I’M THROUGH THE OSSAN Genshin’s route and finished the game~! Honestly, there’s a reason why I left him to last. Mainly because of his character design. The hair…I GET that he’s supposed to be a monk but seriously?! You didn’t have to make him LOOK like one. I mean bloody hell, Kaname from Brother’s Conflict doesn’t! (Well technically he and his club of bishies aren’t monks but whatever) You’re telling me he’s in his twenties yet he looks like he’s in his thirties. As much as I love Inoue’s voice, that combination makes him seem even older. Forget the ‘Older brother’ character; Raikou’s more suited to that role. Genshin’s route made me feel like I was chasing after an ossan, a fatherly figure.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I face-palmed and head-desked literally quite a few times through this play-through. Like with the first battle with Nanban I thought ” WHY YOU NO LET ME HELP THE KIDS?!” Well, there was that option but to get the good route you had to support him first… At least the second battle I could DO something.
I liked his back-story how he was hated and people were scared of him, but sadly (?) his route didn’t make me cry. I might have teared up here and there when Genshin was all “I’m alright alone, I’m used to it…” Or” There is no need for you to be worried about someone like me.” Yeah, my thoughts “馬鹿なのか？”
I didn’t feel much when he ‘confessed’. I was smiling like crazy after the final battle with Nanban, how he thanks Sangou for being there and making him realise what his eyes were for. Other than that I think I just kept smashing the enter key. Yup, not my favourite route but I guess the story and the character relations development live up to the other routes. The children in the routes make it cute, though. xD
As for the CGs, I liked the battle ones the most. I’m sorry but the kidding scene and face-cradle scenes make him look so old! (´；ω；｀) I kind of like the head-on-lap CG but that’s about it… yeah.
Oh Sanctuary, why didn’t you let me multi-task through this route? Why do you freeze when I click out of your window?! Anyhow~ With Genshin’s route done, I’ve officially finished the entire game. ただし！I’m going to go through the other routes again! Friggen Douman’s route…I have 3 situations to fill in and they’re in that long arse Chapter 9 or something. That aside, I’m doing Izumi’s route next. Yeah, I need some bitter-sweetness here!! I need some Namikawa Daisuke here or I’m going to die of lack of fangirling!! ARGH!! I would go through Seimei or Ichigou but I don’t feel like going through those routes just yet.
THEREFORE NEXT UP IS IZUMI! AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! /shot Happy gaming~
Moonlight Osmanthus 