#zettel #gaming #potentialessay sourced from: [[AI The Somnium Files]] # The Mizuki Route is a Found Family Story and it is Executed Incredibly Well Probably one of my favorite narrative routes in a video game with the themes between Date and Mizuki. I have a feeling that because we livedubbed in on stream where I was Date and a good friend of mine played Mizuki it made the scene all that more emotionally impactful, but I don't mind. The immersion into each scene as I played the game was really special and I'm so pleased to see that this route hits just as hard the second time, regardless of whatever additional media is presented. As I get older, I continue to see role models of people who I want to be as I get older and how I want to make sure my kids are raised, and while Date isn't a perfect parent, Shoko and Renju are excellent examples of what *NOT* to be. Overall, this route is one of the best found family stories i've encoutnered, and it's incredible that this is a SIDE STORY. Definitely one of [[Kotaro Uchikoshi]]'s best scenarios. It was initially somewhat difficult for me to put into words why I enjoyed the Mizuki Route of [[AI The Somnium Files]] so much. I think it has to do with the fact that on this route you spend time with a child who very obviously is the way she is because she has had to adapt to having very abusive or unhelpful parents. Compared to the other routes in this game that get a little more extreme (serial killers swapping bodies and hiring paramilitary squads to steal away the streamer idol girl), the Mizuki route is fairly grounded in what actually happens. You go around exploring crime scenes with Mizuki, who has lost both of her parents and feels like it's her fault. Ota's route is similar since it's a son learning to be a better son to his mother who is losing her health, but the Mizuki route resonates more with me now. Maybe the Ota route will in a couple years. ## The Use of Abusive Parents to Bring Mizuki and Date Together - Shoko and Renju in the bar talking with date is an explicit example of two very different, yet very real forms of parental neglect and abuse. Shoko is obviously the more vicious of the two with physical abuse, but Renju is just as bad for not taking the time to help his daughter in any capacity. Renju thinks it's easier to have someone else (Date) handle her than himself. They're also both dead at this point in the game, but still, one cannot feel help but to hold them in contempt. - But also So to Saito as Date, and how So vehemently dislikes Date because he is under the impression that he's talking to his son, whom he loathes. With this reveal that So is supposedly Date's father, we don't ffeel relief, only disgust. Which is how we're subtlely that much more inclined to see Date and Mizuki as equals despite the parental role Date is forced into with Mizuki ## Saving Date / Date's Somnium - the fact that you basically explore Date's memories of living with Mizuki as Mizuki makes it hit so incredibly hard. Mizuki is literally entering his mind - Date's wish "I wish Mizuki grows up happy and healthy" is such a great reveal since we the player also don't know what he wished for. - Doesn't it seem really out of character when Date says "I wish we could leave" at the shrine, despite the shrine being the place he goes to when he needs to relax and think through a case? - It's the little moments that make us the happiest, like Mizuki locking him out of the bathroom, or Date being bashful about Adorabbit, or how Date let Mizuki sleep in his bed. - These are the revelations that make us appreciate the care and small sacrifices that loving parental figures do for us as children. ==We are just as flawed as the people who raised us, but that's ok because we will learn how to navigate life together.== - Mizuki realizes just how much Date does for her that she might not have immediately noticed (and she's twelve, so cut her some slack), that she knows her parents didn't do for her. - Choosing Date at the end is also hard for Date's subconscious because Date doesn't see himself as a father figure because he has no idea what he's doing either - but through Mizuki's choice, it gives Date a reason to keep living beyond his simple work. Date's subconscious "chooses" to return to the world to take take of Mizuki.