I really, really enjoyed this route. Miyako has clearly been completely head over heels for Yamato since the start
of the game, so I came in not expecting a lot of emotional depth to the route, since Yamato didn't need to put in
a lot any work into growing to win her over, but boy was I glad to have been wrong.
(By the way, I mentioned the screenshot counter as a metric in my first log of this series. I'm currently at 516.)
Miyako
Miyako's route is about codependency and growing into your own person, which hit pretty close to home, personally.
Miyako's backstory with the bullying and the thing with her mom having been a prostitute was pretty sad and it definitely puts into perspective just how much the Kazama family, and especially Yamato, means to her.
she got it pretty bad
Other than Shiina-style archery, her friends and her romantic interest in Yamato were pretty much all she had, and she was comfortable with that, building up a wall to the rest of the world as a self defense mechanism, which was why she was reluctant to let Chris and Yukie into the family.
With Yamato finally returning her feelings, she had nothing left to "work" for, in a sense. She had even stopped paying attention to Shiina-style archery. With her life seemingly complete, all she had left to worry about was keeping her life the way it was -- with her friends and lover by her side. And worry she did.
The anxiety she felt about her friends eventually growing away from the group (and by extension, her) is something that I can relate to, and when people in the Kazama family stopped being able to come to their Friday meetings at their secret hideout, she panicked.
(I find it extremely hilarious that Shouichi just up and left to some ruins in Jordan and that it wasn't even out of left field. It was even more hilarious that the game just straight up tries to give you emotional whiplash by directly following up some genuinely heartfelt and/or heartwrenching Miyako scenes with scenes of Shouichi and his dad going on their goofy adventures)
cmon man
Miyako tries to emotionally manipulate the rest of the group by guilt tripping them for not coming to their meetings or by trying to belittle their personal goals and dreams -- and I greatly, greatly appreciate that none of them took her shit. I also greatly appreciate that Yamato drew the line there and put distance between him and her until she got her shit together.
And yet, in Miyako's struggle to regain a sense of identity, to tear down those walls that she built around the world, and ultimately grow as a person, even as her past and her family come back to haunt her in the form of rumors spreading and harassment from other people, the Kazama family, the friends she had deeply hurt, had her back the whole way, because they loved her.
Man, I love found family stories.
Miyako putting in genuine effort to grow not just for Yamato, but for herself, was genuinely heartwarming to see, and I'm glad I read through this route. What a great character hiding behind a pretty big kuudere-shaped mask.
...and by GOD is she hot.
Up next
I've decided I'll play Yukie's route next. No particular reason why, I just have a thing for pathetic socially awkward girls, I suppose. Also she's pretty cute.
Fun screenshots
