Last Escort: Club Katze – routes

Spoilers for the routes in Last Escort: Club Katze. Routes are also in the order I played them.

To put it simply, to me the most entertaining route was Hiiragi’s and not just because his seiyuu is Junichi Suwabe. While playing the game, I kept on wondering… for a game that’s rated CERO D, the game felt very… tame. The thought persisted during the first 5 playthroughs, got challenged by the 6th playthrough, and when Hiiragi’s route started I *understood* why the game was rated CERO D. …yeah, it’s that kind of route. I think Hiiragi alone pushed the rating to CERO D…

Tsubasa

寒空の下 - Tsubasa

Voice by Tachibana Shinnosuke (Saariya in Garnet Cradle), although I couldn’t hear any Saariya in his voice… understandable since they’re different characters, I guess. His route had the main character (Izumi) discovering that he was left by his fiancee for a host, so for revenge he joined a host club (honestly at this point I realised that I shouldn’t be expecting anything dramatic from the game…). At one point he even yelled at the main character saying that a woman who visited a host club wouldn’t understand him, etc.

Anyway, in his route he got injured during a dance practice and was sent to hospital, although his injury was not serious. But when Izumi visited him with Asato, while Tsubasa remembered Asato, he couldn’t remember Izumi (selective amnesia?). Later Tsubasa remembered her when he saw the birthday gift Izumi gave him.

There was a part where Tsubasa got an offer to go overseas to perform or something, and he threw a fit when he found out that he got the offer because Izumi recommended him, saying that it meant he didn’t get the offer due to his skill but due to sympathy, etc. …I really just wanted to yell at him to shut up, a golden offer wasn’t something that would come by everyday… anyway they made up and in the ending Izumi went along overseas as his manager. The bonus end just showed them overseas in New York. You can read more at Autumn Leaf’s LiveJournal entry.

Asato

シャンパンコールの練習で - Asato

Asato’s route was actually pretty innocent… he’s pretty cute when he’s being jealous of Izumi spending time with the other hosts though. And his confession scene was cute as well, with him asking Izumi if she had anyone she liked, and if not if she would fall for him.

In his route his indie band was trying to get contracted by a major label, and Asato realised that he needed to improve a lot before that could be achieved… for instance, he didn’t even know how to sing properly -__- Izumi told the other hosts, and they decided to help Asato… for example, Ryuusei taught Asato fashion sense, Tsubasa taught him dancing, Johan taught him melody/singing, etc.

He finally got the contract, but there was a scandal when they discovered that he had been working as a host. That issue was solved, and in the ending Club Katze got really popular because of Asato (he still worked as a host).

Johan

初めてのカッツェ - Johan

…I know people have been saying that his route was cute, but I personally disliked his route. Even if he’s a megane character, his personality reminded me too much of Sakuya. So Izumi met him through piano lessons, and when he mentioned about being a foreign student in need of more cash she brought him to Club Katze to as a piano player. His route was mostly misunderstanding + love triangle (with Tsubasa)… he thought Tsubasa and Izumi were an item and started avoiding Izumi etc. You can read a more detailed write-up on Johan’s route on Autumn Leaf’s LJ. I didn’t like him that much, and didn’t feel like writing more of his route…

The only thing I remembered was that when Johan’s grandma was ill (his only remaining relative) and he had no money to go back and visit her, Izumi offered to give Johan money for the flight fare. My thought was along this line: “Whoa, not even a confession scene yet and you’re already his SUGAMOMMAH?! @_@ ”

Ryuusei

メリークリスマス - Ryuusei

Ryuusei… just go to another one of Autumn Leaf’s LJ entry to read about his route. I tried to write something, but everytime I tried it just sounded flat (then again, as is everything else I wrote ~_~; ). That write-up I found was a lot better than what I could/would write… (Let me be lazy this time.) I quite liked the song he sang when he became the no. 1 host 😀 I think the most endearing qualities you see from Ryuusei’s route were how mature he was, and that he liked sweets and wasn’t afraid to admit it. Oh, not to forget how he kept on helping the newbie hosts and covered up for their mistakes ^^;

Kanade

突然の雨 - Kanade

Voiced by Saiga Mitsuki, which probably explained my bias. He and Johan were both the type of character who lacked confidence, and yet I liked Kanade but not Johan. So Kanade was the newest host, and being new he was always nervous about whether or not he was doing a good job etc. He really, really loved books, which probably explained my other bias for him. His dream was to save up money from the host work to open up his own book cafe.

Problem only arose when his oldest sister found out that he’s been working as a host and forced him to quit, even going as far as implementing curfew so that he had to go home straight after classes at uni. There was 1 scene that got me laughing since it’s a reverse Romeo & Juliet, with Kanade being the one on the balcony… too bad the “Romeo” was wearing a skirt, and so didn’t even consider the idea of climbing up. Anyway the issue was solved when he decided to tell his sisters that he couldn’t forever be their “little brother” (guy got 3 older sisters mothering him, no wonder…). The ending showed him studying overseas, while calling and sending letters regularly to Izumi to maintain their relationship. The bonus ending had him back and finally opening his book cafe with Izumi.

Rei

おうちでデート - Rei

Rei’s that character with hidden emotional issues. Izumi noticed that whenever Rei was around Ryuusei wouldn’t smoke, and one time she mentioned wanting to play tennis Rei replied that she should pick a different sport to try. Turned out he got major emotional issues with his father (his father smoked, thus Rei always got upset when he saw someone smoking) and had stopped talking to his mother (even though she’s not at fault). At one stage he had also been a pro tennis player, but quit due to injuries (and something to do with his Dad, I really didn’t get it). Anyway Izumi helped him to overcome his emotional issues, he started talking to his Mom and picked up tennis again.

3 things that won me over in Rei’s route… he mentioned that Izumi was his first love. Despite being the no. 2 host and not lacking in female attention, he said Izumi was the first one he ever felt anything for. The second one… during one of the Club events all the guests were given chocolate. Izumi ate the chocolate and said that it’s nice since it had liquor in it, and Rei asked if he could have some since he hadn’t actually tried the chocolate himself. When Izumi said go ahead, Rei then tasted the chocolate… from her mouth *LOL* While a flustered Izumi asked what the hell he was doing, he answered matter-of-fact that he was tasting the chocolate XD Thirdly, he really liked cats and dogs (he often visited Ryuusei to play with Ryuusei’s dog… and ignoring Ryuusei himself XD ), and at one point during the game even picked up a stray cat although in the end Izumi ended up caring for the it. …either he’s genuine, or really cunning because then he had an excuse to always visit Izumi ^^;

His ending was pretty funny… in the game, near the end he decided to resign from Club Katze since he’s dating Izumi, but Hiiragi persuaded him to stay until he got married XD and in the Bonus Ending, he’s married and working as a businessman… and one morning Hiiragi called to say “Hi, can I talk to your wife? Aah, Izumi, Club Katze is currently understaffed, can we borrow your husband until we get someone new?” XD

Hiiragi

遅刻のお詫び - Hiiragi

Voiced by Suwabe Junichi to perfection. His route can be described in 1 word: sekuhara. The CG of him *not* doing sekuhara is an exception to the rule. And yet it’s my favourite route. …okay I admit it’s the Suwabe bias (Suwabias?). You can read up his route on Autumn Leaf’s LJ entry, so instead I’ll just write about the things I found hillarious from his route.

At one point during the story, all of the Club Katze members would go on a holiday trip. The guy you’re aiming for would send you SMS with photo, telling you random stuff. While other guys sent Izumi photos of sunset, trees, lake etc, Hiiragi sent her a photo of a mushroom shaped like a p*nis, and asked her if it reminded her of anything. Words couldn’t quite describe the amusement+entertainment value I got from his route.

At one other time when they were meeting up outside of Club Katze, Izumi injured her leg on the way to meeting Hiiragi. When he found out he was quite upset that she didn’t tell him earlier, and took her to his place (it’s nearby) to get her leg treated. Conversation went like this:
Hiiragi: Here let me look at your leg.
Izumi: …Hiiragi-san, why are you touching my leg like that?
Hiiragi: Just extra treatment, massage, to help with the healing.
Izumi: …HIIRAGI-SAN WHY ARE YOU KISSING MY LEG.
Hiiragi: It’s such a beautiful leg. I couldn’t help myself *smiles*.

…his whole route had that sekuhara theme going through it, even in the ending XD To illustrate, I think the most common dialogue in his route was:
Izumi: “HIIRAGI-SAN WHERE ARE YOU TOUCHING.”
Hiiragi: “Hm? I wonder where *smiles*.”

Others

• Everyone in this game, and I mean everyone, stole a kiss from the main character. The only one who did it with enough style for me to remember was Rei.
• To me, the whole game was worth it just for Hiiragi’s route.
• Most of the endings had Izumi marrying the guy, but the only ones where you could see the wedding happening was Johan’s and Hiiragi’s.
• The songs the characters sang when they became the no. 1 host… the moment I heard Hiiragi’s song I really liked it, such that I’m thinking of buying the OST CD… my favourites: Hiiragi -> Tsubasa -> Ryuusei. The other characters’ songs weren’t that impressive to me.
• I’ve never paid much attention to seiyuus, but this… I found myself surfing the net for any info on what other characters Junichi Suwabe had voiced. I first noticed him in Daylight, but didn’t think much about it. This time though… it’s like I got addicted to his voice D:

Right. I think that’s enough all-ages games for now… should probably play eroge next .__.;

http://autumn-leaf16.livejournal.com/206250.html