The Imperfect Candidates
I think what keeps me invested in Guardians of Azuma is the detail and conplexity of the characters. Each is one a journey of increasing self-awareness and empowerment.
Most are riddled with self-doubt and guilt for errors made, for weakness that affected others. Whether you play a male or female, your ability to show compassion, to ignore any defensive verbal attacks on yourself when you try to help one of these characters and your continuing detemination to save Azuma does act upon every one else to make them stronger and better.
Forgiveness comes fairly easily to the gods and mortals of Azuma for they too have faltered and committed errors that resulted in death to ruin or even death to others.
First encounters can be negative to some extent. For example Ikaruga outright declares he does not like children. As you experience his Bonding Events, you realise the statement was built upon self-hatred, believing he is responsible for the death of his Master. As a child, he was heedless and his childish curiosity about monsters led him into mortal danger. This is why he is harsh when he first encounters Kotaro.
It is Clarice who most strongly displays the philosophy of this game: Azuma forgives her and welcomes her as a refugee to become one of them. And yet, there is ongoing punishment for the deaths and destruction she caused but it is self-inflicted. Almost every day, she speaks of her need to atone. In the course of increasing your bond with her, you will try to tell her she needs to forgive herself, but the process is a long one. You come to realise this is a far worse punishment than summary execution of an enemy would be. Azuma shows friendship, affection, love and empathy... in time, she accepts the idea that even she can deserve happiness.
If you barter for Subaru with the Black Dragon, he too will be intensely self-aware of the damage he caused. He expects neither kindness, forgiveness nor acceptance, but he receives all of these from the moment he emerges from the Shrine.
Update on 2 November:
When I wrote this initially, I only had married Kai and had two children with him. The ability to experience multiple paths, however, is a part of this game. I resisted it, fearing it somehow would damage the life I had with Kai.
Ultimately, I did use the option given at the Fateweaver Shrine and married Subaru. It has not been the most positive experience. I wonder if I would be less critical if I did not compare Subaru with Kai constantly. Although I do not find Kai's endless references to hangovers particularly entertaining, there is so much more to him and he is NOT a coward. It is possible that his refusal to show himself without his masque is a form of cowardice, but he embraces life wholeheartedly and has a sort of optimism that is contagious. He is a brilliant husband and father.
Subaru is self-doubting and has not been at all reliable. Some days he gives me lunch. Some days he has prepared dinner. Other days he creeps out of bed and vanishes. One usually does find him at the Early Bird Boutique but he is more faithful to Tsubame than to me. I thought the birth of his son might keep him at the table for meals, but no such luck. I suppose it might be a glitch! I would have to choose to experience a third path to find out. Subaru only was my choice because your story and his stretch back to childhood. There are few references, however, to those shared memories
Before our marriage, he spoke of his dream to dance with me 'on the big stage' but now he refuses, saying he is not up to my level. He is afraid of spiders and kicked up a fuss when a tiny spider was found in the Shrine. I find myself almodt desperately counting the days until I can return to Kai. The little random dialogues with Kai all speak of his love for me, how beautiful he thinks I am, how happy he is to have been given a life with me. In contrast, Subaru's dialogues are rather self-involved.
I tried it and having set this in motion, will have a second child with Subaru. I do not know if I could move back now to Kai and return to Subaru later to have another child. With Kai, my first child was born on 10 Summer and my second on 20 Autumn.
My first choice, before Kai became an active character, was Murasame. His endless obsession with training can be annoying although I often wish I had been that dedicated myself as a martial artist. He is very poetic in expressing his devotion.
From October:
I had only have married Kai at that point but with 30 files, I thought I would prefer to keep that life intact and use the point where I was able to harvest the Sacred Plum Brach as a jumping off point to marry the others one by one.
This strategy is all very well and good but unless you completed all the Pure Azuma Quests as well, you will have to hunt for Frogs, catch remaining fish for the Pescapedia and so on. The beauty of the Orb is that you unlocked the Forest of Endings if you had a child in your first marriage. It remains unlocked.
You will have to do the Heart Shard Quest with each new timeline if you have children there, but other than that, every acvomplishment, including Friendship Levels remains intact. (It is Intimacy Levels that you lose. These are obtained only after you confess your love to an individual by experiwncing their romantic Bonding Events. You lose these in any event as soon as you marry some one. Friendship Levels now can increase now to 100.
I have seen how much Kai shows his best self as a husband and then as a father. I cannot believe this will not be the case with all the other candidates.
For those who have lived solitary lives without family, totally self-reliant, your proposal of marriage surely will give them secuirity and love they never had. As for those who came to Azuma, leaving loving families at home, it will be interesting to see the maturity of a son who becomes a father, or a girl who becomes a mother.
Acceptance of 'the Other' is another theme here.
Pilika hides her true identity and yet is accepted and loved when it is revealed.
The fact that you can find your soulmate and partner without bring limited to gender or even species is positive as well. In the distant past, experiences were limited by gender. If your character was a girl, your choices were the eligible bachelors. Likewise, if you were a boy, your choices were the females. To marry the Witch Princess or Harvest Goddess, you had to play as a boy.
Guardians of Azuma is very discreet where romance is concerned. Although a Kiss is included in interactions at a high bonding level, the actual kiss is not shown.
Yet personality differences show themselves again and again.
Whenever I win a contest, Kai tells me he cheered for me ev3n if he too participated. (He might say that next time he will crush me, but one knows he is generous beyond belief to the point of having given the keys to his kingdom essentially to Ura!
Fubuki remarks that Kai and Ulalaka had a drinking contest and he believes Kai allowed her to win.
In stark contrast, Subaru is fiercely competitive with you. He does need to prove himself I suppose, but I did not find it attractive.
Ikaruga will be supportive always im a quiet way, apart from his honesty that can be a little less than kind. I experienced that at the Fireworks Festival when he was too critical of my firework made specifically with him in mind.
