Honestly, it was incredibly scary for me to draw the game’s love interests because I didn’t know how to properly draw a male character in 2016. Judge the result for yourself.

[Insert initial horrible drawing of the 4 love interests]

It was also the time to determine which tropes would be represented in the game: the best friend, the youngster, and the mysterious one. Then the narcissist was added.

[Insert initial drawing proto-Hana & proto-Haru]

And quickly I decided to add the heroine’s “big brother” (without specifying their real relationship) since it was a classic of Japanese otome games and because Kyoko’s character could turn the situation around.

[Insert initial drawing proto-Tetsuya]

Finally, I found myself also adding the geek because there are not enough men with glasses in otome games in my opinion! (Okay, for once, Kyoko inherited my love for glasses.)

I knew it was a bad idea to add extra boys because it was a common mistake to aim too big for a first game.
And really, don’t plan a game with 6 love interests for a first production, it’s the formula for giving up along the way because the amount of work is colossal! (… Don’t do like me. Really.)

I had reserved the right to delete one or two characters: the mysterious one and the narcissist were in my crosshairs:

  • Until the narcissist turned into Shinji, the type of character I don’t like but who is way too funny to animate in my head.
  • And the mysterious one turned into ???, a character I can reveal nothing about in this blog post but whose character design I love.

From simple tropes, they all matured in my brain and also became distinct people that I can’t wait for you to discover.

Their personal stories are not alike. Some will be soft comfort characters while others will be the embodiment of a roller coaster, but I hope they won’t leave you indifferent and that you will find your favorite story among these 6 love interests.

For an optimal experience, here is my recommendation:

  1. Tetsuya
  2. Hiromi
  3. Kou
  4. Shinji
  5. Haru
  6. ??? (only after playing the other 5 routes)

To go further

For those who have finished the game and are not afraid of spoilers, you can learn more about the design of each of them by clicking on the links below: