LogFAQs > #972757376

If only I had the courage to take your hand. That would've been for the best.

Iori Fuyusaka
Things start off a little slow. These girls love their fast food! It's almost nostalgic seeing these early lighter scenes again, and I like the sly hints at other stories going on, like Juro mentioning that he's easily influenced by movies, or Tomi being extra kind to Miwako presumably after she has had her memory rewritten. Flashbacks/dreams of Morimura are always welcome, I did not expect Okino would be the one who coined the term 'UFO' for UC lol. Nice Natsuno shout-out from Iori there, too.

Another dream shows Ida looping back to 2089 to assist Morimura, I had completely forgotten about the accompanying scene for this until checking the event database afterwards oops. I'm not sure exactly how the loops work, as I think this is a different one to the time Morimura and Izumi warped back together, but she seems to be acting the same only without Juro this time. My mind is a little jumbled on this stuff! Later we get a long overdue (for my playthrough, that is) flashback of Izumi and Morimura on Sumire Bridge. He discusses their romantic relationship, and she reluctantly kills him. Juro+Chihiro is a relationship from multiple loops ago and does not seem to carry over to Kurabe+Iori at all, but it hangs over the whole narrative and I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't done with the couple. Honestly, I hope we aren't, they're too vital to the story not to get some satisfying closure to the doomed couple.

Iori's story shifts into gear when she accidentally activates the science room gate and runs into Ei in Sector 2. Her longing for the handsome stranger she knows nothing of is a little silly, but she is a teenager I suppose. Seeing Ei from an outside POV is interesting, the guy really does not have a high opinion of himself. Gouto and Morimura find Iori, and do what they do best: gaslight. Iori ignores them and open sesames her way back to the future, only to misread Ryoko and Ei's relationship. Then we get a bizarre interlude with a rapey Wajima and boring Good Cop Onishi, I don't think these scenes were necessary tbh.

Iori winds up confessing her love on Ei's motorcycle, and again this romance feels a bit underbaked. It's very cliche hollywood 'love at first sight', though I'll admit it can be cute. Ei doesn't openly reciprocate but he is clearly touched by her feelings, and rather bluntly states that he's not known love in his life since he was a child. I wish we'd seen more of Ryoko and Ei's relationship, it's very sad what happens there. At least Ei's not alone now, poor guy, but he and Iori know virtually nothing about each other >_>

At the park we meet Morimura, and she admits she was trying to rewrite her personality onto Iori's (and Tamao is mentioned multiple times, we're running out of options for her relevance so I have to assume she'll be major in Hijiyama's story). The big reveal of the day is that looping through Sector 0 isn't a real way to save yourself. UC reconstructs your data and duplicates you into a new body but you're a different being to before, and not a human one. This is what Morimura now is, an illusion, and that's another reason for her to insist on Operation Aegis. Another instance of the ambiguous nature of identity and self! Baby Chihiro overhears this conversation, perhaps this is when she decides to murder herself.

Iori is willing to take up the hero mantle but Ei thinks himself useless and leaves again. After thinking on it, he transfers ownership of #15 to her and tells her to believe in herself, and when Judgment Day comes she is the first to take up the call and fight. Having played Ei's story already, I like that he decides to join after seeing Iori and the others fight, it's a nice way of showing the impact she's had on him and makes the relationship a bit more two-sided. Overall I don't think this is the strongest story, it has some great flashbacks (and music!) and I always like Ei, but Iori herself is a little underwritten. I wish they'd done more to flesh her out as a person, she's decent, but there could've been more here to help layer the romance.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe
Megumi Yakushiji
Ei Sekigahara
Iori Fuyusaka- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

NEXT UP: Hijiyama fans rejoice, now is your time!