Man, I suffered to get Yagisawa Yukihiro. Even after starting afresh, I didn’t take his timeline seriously enough, so I cut it really close with the event where you hold a concert for his mother. You should be careful not to date Ritsu on the same route, because Ritsu also has post-concert events that take precedence over Yukihiro’s. That’s what did me in last time.

Anyway, do I have to describe the whole route? I usually don’t because I don’t pay attention to the ups and downs of individual routes. In any otome game, not just La Corda d’Oro 4. It’s enough for me if the overall flow is enjoyable.

Let’s see, IIRC Yagisawa and co. come to support Kanade and co. during our first Seiso concert, then we rope them into joining our Weekend Concert Group by holding a concert in Sendai. If you hang out with him during the Seiso school festival, you get an event where he, Ritsu and… one other guy visit a dress-up cafe and Yagisawa dresses as a pirate. If you go to the Shiseikan academy festival, he shows you around and someone thinks you two are on a date, blushy blushy. They really don’t use his blushy-face image often enough, so unfair.

His big hang-up this time is that his family runs a traditional Japanese confectionery chain, and he’s scheduled to take over once he graduates from college. So initially he planned to go to college in Sendai so he could work there and learn more about the business. But later on he realizes that 1) If he went to college in Tokyo, he’d be closer to Kanade and 2) Everyone at his family business treats him differently, so he won’t learn as much if he sticks with them vs. going elsewhere and being treated normally.

Eventually you trigger the blasted event where you hold the blasted concert for his mother. I can’t warn you enough – raise his affection ASAP so you can trigger this and still organize a proper Silvester concert! After the concert he tells his mother his decision and she’s like “Yeah, okay, fine” and he’s like “Huh, that was easy.” End of drama.

THEN. The Silvester concert. I still left things a little late so I was only able to half-fill the Pacifico Yokohama center. Aww. Then the grand ending.

>>”Confess to Yagisawa?”
>>”Yes.”
>>”I’m sorry, I don’t feel the same way.”

Wait, what? …WHAAAAAAT?! YOU DON’T FEEL THE SAME WHAT???!!! My affection for you is at a full 500! We had all these events together! What were all those blushes for?! And now you’re telling me you don’t feel the same…WHAT?

You see how yanderes are made?

…Turns out, if your affection for a guy is high but his is lower, there’s a fixed chance for him to reject your confession. Actually he will 100% reject it if his affection is under 200, no matter how happy-snuggly you guys have been until then.

Luckily Yagisawa had 284 affection for me, so after the credits, I reloaded and reconfessed and got his happy ending. A rather awkward-looking CG where Kanade and her boy are at the train station together and he doesn’t want to say goodbye but he has to, but at least they will be in Tokyo together from spring onwards, yay.

I say it’s ‘awkward-looking’ because unlike La Corda d’Oro 3, this game went out of its way to not show Kanade’s face in romantic CGs. Thus you almost always get these strange angles or this huge mop of orange hair blocking her face. I don’t care too much whether I see the protagonist’s face or not, but if they wanted to hide it, they could have gone about it better.

So anyway, that’s Yagisawa’s ending, GET! I liked it because the drama wasn’t too much and the guy is super nice. Some would say boring, but in a game series with nutsos and mega jerks like Yunoki and Myoga, he’s a breath of fresh air. BTW, I know I said I was going to start Demon Gaze 2 last time, but I wanted to finish this route so much that I delayed it. DG2 sounds meh from preliminary readings anyway, but more on it once I actually play it.

Ritsu Kisaragi GET!

I jumped right into a fresh playthrough to get Ritsu because I was bothered by his story. Is everyone really going to sit around and let a super-talented violinist drop out of performing just because he injured his wrist once? No second opinions? No flying abroad to get checked out by a specialist? No surgery? He’s only 17, surely his body can take it. But nope, the matter is taken as a done deal, no hope and nothing to discuss.

Okay then, so Ritsu turns to plan B and decides to become a violin maker and repairer, just like Kanade’s grandfather. Thus you find him trying to sell him violins at a flea market, without much success. He’s bothered by how hard he finds it to talk to people and how tense and nervous they get around him. So his route is about contriving a series of events – an autograph signing after an event, a part-time job hawking cakes, a touch-the-violin session after a concert – to help him work on his people skills.

And shockingly enough there’s some real development this time. Ritsu is still Ritsu all the way to the end, somewhat stiff and formal, but he gets better at interacting with his fans and potential clients. He even makes a violin sale near the end. And he smiles a lot more, which I’m not used to so it’s a bit weird, but it definitely makes him more approachable. After that we were able to sell out the Pacifico Yokohama and SSS rank the Silvester concert, whee! No new events for doing so, though.

The grand confession scene… this time I was well-prepared and raised his feelings for me up to 384, so everything went smoothly. Very blunt and straight reply to the confession: “Yes I love you too, and not as just a friend.” And then… uh… wow, I can’t believe I forgot what CG I got for his ending…. Argh, will go look and update this later. I remember it being a nice CG though. Disadvantage of having a PSTV instead of a VITA, you can’t just carry it around wherever you go.

Who’s next?

I’m in a bit of a dilemma because I’m loving the tough gameplay in La Corda d’Oro 4 and I don’t want to quit until I have filled and SSS-ranked the Yokohama Arena. But! I have mixed-to-negative feelings about the other guys available.

Myoga: Out of the question. He’s even more chuunibyo and abrasive than he was before. Although… taking him down a peg might be… Nah, it would never work.
Amamiya: Seems even weirder and colder than ever before. The only reason I would date him is because Nia told me not to, and Nia is a female dog whose guts I hate, so anything she says not to do, I must do immediately.
Haruto: Annoying brat. Even ruder and more uptight than before, even though logic suggests he should have mellowed a bit once he realized that Kanade was actually talented and motivated.
Nanami: Another annoying kid. His whiny self-esteem issues stress me out.
Kyoya: Even angrier and whinier than ever before, if that were even possible. In a world of perfect, mature and disciplined high school kids, Kyoya comes closest to the strange mix of diffidence, laziness and faux-bravado I see in teenagers around me (they’re so cute, I can’t believe I was ever that age). But that doesn’t make his dramatics any easier to deal with. Pass.
Sakaki Daichi: Never liked him, and he’s even smugger and smarmier than before.
Arata: Another annoying kid. He wasn’t so bad in the last game, but I don’t wanna deal with his shtick any more.
Houzumi: Meh. Still don’t like him. And when I chose the wrong answer, I got an event where he got all pissy because Kanade is a talented violinist from a rich kid’s school who can’t possibly understand what he’s going through. *smash* Houzumi route blocked forever. At least he’s not so violent any more. Fans must have complained, I know I certainly did.
Togane: He gives a lot of good business and life advice when he makes guest appearances on other routes like Yagisawa’s and Ritsu’s. But I did a bit of his own route and MAN, he is full of himself. Like, how does he keep from exploding? So I dunno if I want to do this or not.
Housei: Another weirdo. And his slow speaking style and touchy-feely events give me the heebie jeebies. Do not want.

Am I missing any one? Dunno if there are any secret characters and don’t care to know. So final decision: will take a brief break for Demon Gaze II then do Togane’s route. Then Amamiya after that. Kyoya and Myoga would piss me off so I would have to do another route after theirs… Ughh. I’ll give it some thought. Either way you haven’t seen the last of this game!