LogFAQs > #928404618

#13: Kazuichi Soda

Man, this one is complicated. Kazuichi is, so far, this series' worst case of a character assassination.

The first time you see him in the airport, he seems like a chill and likable dude. Further appearances confirm that impression. He's not heroic or badass, not with that silly voice at least, but he is a nice, cheerful character who helps balance out the cast's natural pessisism. He has that scene where he tries to spy into the girl's beach party, but he seems embarassed enough about it that it didn't really bother me. His crush on Sonia was kind of cute, and I was rooting for them. He even devised a communication system in 2-3, which made him look cool and reliable.

Then 2-4 absolutely destroys his character.

He is now defined by his massive Sonia crush, and jealously of Gundham. He licks her feet, he fiercely attacks anyone who disagrees with her, he even turns into a masochist when she starts criticizing him. Later cases reduce the frequency of the Sonia-related dialogue, but it's always there, and when it's not, it's just him being a coward or a pointless skeptic. The chill dude is gone, all that is left is an awkward nerdy teenager. I've been that nerdy teenager before, but truth be told, it's a kind of sad thing to look at and after a while it just made me uncomfortable.

And fuck, after all his trouble, he doesn't even get the girl in the end. Danmit, Kazuichi.

He could have been another shot at this game's Hina, but at the end of the game, he's just unbearable. Meh.

But I gotta give it to him, Kazuichi has the best faces in this game. The fear ones and the crying ones are great. It made his 2-4 rejection arc funny, a bit of the time.