**Reminder: this review is not spoiler free.**
I’m not sure why I started with Miyabi, but I’m glad I did, because it can only get better from this point, right? His route set the bar pretty low by being incredibly cringy. The kitsune, after all, acts very much like a sexual predator, is emotionally stinted due to his past, and is definitely an egomaniac. He’s essentially the love interest with a fanclub, the one who never had to pursue a woman because he was always pursued, and is fully aware of his sexual and sensual competence- at least, he tries to be and projects that he is rather well.
Despite coming off like he’s got it made, Miyabi is the way he is because he had to work incredibly hard to become clan head. The major reveal of his story is that he isn’t a purebred ayakashi like the others. Because of that, he worked hard to prove to himself and his clan that being half-ayakashi didn’t make him any less than full ayakashi. When it comes to women, he entertains and has fleeting, physical relations with them, but doesn’t believe that any of them actually like him, but his power and position as the Kitsune Clan Head. That’s why any time you remark on him as an individual, it really strikes a chord with him, and is definitely at the root of his compulsion to measure himself against others.
One of the few aspects I did enjoy about starting with his route was how it made the differences between humans and ayakashis abundantly clear. Miyabi and some of the other clan heads lack what is considered basic courtesy and common sense to humans, so there are moments when Miyabi asks “why do I have to do ____ when I’m an ayakashi” that serve to remind you that they aren’t human at all. And, as pointed out before, he has a bit of a fixation on being an ayakashi and not a human due to his lineage.
In other routes, he is still very much a predatory prick, but he also manages to show a friendly and supportive side despite that. For the most part, he respects boundaries, but I think it’s more that he respects the other clan heads’ boundaries more than he does the MC’s, and considers her their property so he backs off in the end.
