So. I played my first ADELTA game, Ooe, and honestly? I went in pretty blind. I'd seen some gorgeous art floating around Twitter and the premise sounded interesting—something about beautiful black-haired men in suits, which is basically catnip for me. The character designs were absolutely stunning, and I'm a simple person: I see pretty art, I click.
Since I hadn't touched Hashihime or UuultraC yet, this was my very first dive into Kurosawa Rinko's work. And here's the thing—I was supposed to wait for the official English translation like a responsible person. But did I? Hell no. My patience lasted about five minutes before I was like "screw it all!!!!".
So there I was, during my break from uni, absolutely determined to power through this game. Two weeks of me hunched over my computer… But man, when I finally finished it... I just sat there staring at the screen for like an hour.
After Ooe left me emotionally destroyed in the best possible way, I knew I needed more. So I jumped straight into Hashihime of the Old Book Town, and Jesus Christ. I thought I was prepared after Ooe. I was not prepared. Not even close.
That ending—and I know they changed it later, but that original ending—absolutely destroyed me. Full-on questioning my life choices. I've read a lot of stuff that's tried to be shocking or subversive, but this wasn't trying to be anything. It just was. Brutal and beautiful and so perfectly constructed that even while I was emotionally devastated, part of my brain was going "holy shit, this is incredible writing."
Then came UuultraC, and I could immediately tell Kurosawa had improved her writing since Hashihime. The experimental stuff she was doing — honestly, for the first few hours I was completely lost. I kept thinking "am I missing something here? Is this supposed to make sense?" But then slowly, piece by piece, it started coming together. You know that feeling when you're doing a really complicated puzzle and suddenly you find the right piece that makes a whole section click into place? It was like that, but with my entire understanding of what the story was trying to do.
It took me a few days after finishing to really appreciate what she'd done. I kept thinking about it during random moments—in the shower, drawing stuff, trying to fall asleep. That's when you know something's gotten under your skin in the best way. It wasn't just entertainment anymore; it was living rent-free in my head. Especially Ooe.
I sound dramatic, but these games genuinely changed something in my brain chemistry. Kurosawa writes human relationships in this raw, unflinching way. She doesn't shy away from the ugly parts—the obsession, the manipulation, the way love can be beautiful and toxic at the same time. The different types of love in each route—some of them barely recognizable as love at all—felt authentic in a way that made me uncomfortable sometimes. Good art should make you uncomfortable, right?
And her sense of humor! God, I wasn't expecting to laugh as much as I did. She has this way of dropping these perfectly timed jokes that catch you completely off guard. One minute you're crying, the next you're cracking up, and somehow it all works together perfectly.
And now we get to the part where I become completely unhinged talking about Ariake. Fair warning: I'm about to sound absolutely insane, but I don't care anymore. This character has fundamentally altered my brain chemistry and I'm not even sorry about it.
I will never, EVER get over Ariake's B route. Ever. I've tried. It's been weeks and I still think about it constantly. The whole thing is this perfect storm of beautiful and tragic and absolutely devastating. Watching Oosaki fall for him—and watching myself fall for him right alongside—was like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know it's going to end badly, but you can't look away.
The way Kurosawa writes their relationship is pure poetry, the kind that hits you in the gut. Every interaction between them is loaded with longing and this sense of inevitable doom that somehow makes it even more beautiful. I've reread their scenes so many times I probably have them memorized, and they still give me chills.
Ooari has completely taken over my life. It's my beautiful, toxic, doomed yaoi and I regret nothing. These two idiots are going to destroy each other and I'm here for every second of it.
I fell in love with Ariake the second I finished his route, and honestly? It's been a problem. I keep comparing every other fictional character to him now, and they all come up short. Thanks a lot, Kurosawa.
He's this perfect contradiction—beautiful and dangerous, kind and manipulative, victim and perpetrator all at once. His twisted view of love and devotion should be terrifying (and it is), but it's also heartbreaking because you can see how his experiences shaped him. Despite everything he's been through, there's still genuine kindness in him, buried under layers of survival mechanisms and trauma.
I love that he's not cleanly good or evil—he's just human in the messiest possible way. The way he's learned to weaponize his own beauty, trauma, and everything around him, to get Oosaki all for himself. He's someone who's convinced himself that his manipulative, dangerous behavior is actually kindness. That's so much more unsettling than simple malice — it's brilliant character writing that makes me want to simultaneously hug him and hide from him (hug him more, for the most part LOL).
Kurosawa Rinko created something special with these games. They're not just stories; they're experiences that have stuck with me long after I’ve finished playing. They've made me think differently about love, about trauma, about the ways people hurt and heal each other.
And Ariake—Jesus Christ, Ariake. I should probably be mad about how much this fictional man occupies in my brain, but I'm not. If anything, I'm grateful. Kurosawa created this incredibly complex, morally ambiguous character who refuses to fit into neat categories, and now I can never go back to other characters. She's ruined me, and I'm genuinely thankful for it.
I'm already dreading and anticipating whatever ADELTA does next, because I know it's going to emotionally destroy me all over again. And I can't wait.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stare at Ariake fanart for the next three hours while questioning my life choices.
(Also, look at my Monitoring Ariake Fanart, This song is soooo him)
