My Last First Kiss Let’s Play & Review — Ichiya Misono

Ah, the latest from Voltage Inc is out~

The title is a little confusing to me. I know it’s meant in the sense of “this is the last person I will date” but usually “first kiss” is used for your, well, first kiss.

 

I’m usually not one for the childhood friend turned lover stories, but I decided to give Ichiya’s route a try for one reason — the return of the stink-eye. The perfectly drawn look of disdain first appeared during In Your Arms Tonight’s Koichi Natsukawa’s route. And now it returns in the form of Ichiya.

 

Not even five minutes into the route we get this line:

 

uhhhhhhhhh

 

 

Thankfully, THANKFULLY, there’s a choice option that lets you tell him off. I don’t care if that’s not the right choice, I’m not going to pick any other, I’ll still get the best ending with one bad answer. 

I was about ready to put down the phone and walk away, that line incensed me so much. And then I would have kicked myself for paying for the route without giving the free chapter a try. But I trucked along, and he does get better as it goes along, but he gets worse before he gets better.

So, the main thing with him and MC is that she was terrified of him and he was a bit of a bully and by bit I mean he was a giant bully. Like, he insulted her, took her stuffed animal, locked her on the roof in the rain. He has this air of the boy that bullied the girl he likes, but that’s going too far into genuine bully territory. No wonder child MC would always hide when he was around.

In the beginning, he blackmails her into being his girlfriend in order to get an ex-girlfriend off his case. And he takes her out for the Cinderella treatment, and thankfully MC isn’t star struck enough to not banter back his insults.

 

The one thing I can admire about this MC is that she isn’t afraid to stand up for herself. And at least, Ichiya doesn’t seem to give an overtly negative response to her doing so. I took the opportunity to tell him off whenever it presented itself and I barely squeaked by with the happy ending in my first play through.

 

The ruse works after he forces himself on MC and his ex walks into his apartment. MC is really upset about this, as she should be, and starts crying. 

Later in the route he apologizes and admits his guilt. Well, that earned points back for me, at least. I hate it when the mean-types don’t admit they’re wrong in the later routes.

MC and Ichiya are working on a project together, so the air between them is a little awkward. To make things worse, MC is still in love with Hiro, her old crush from years ago. She and Hiro have a talk shortly afterwards, and she realizes she wasn’t in love with Hiro so much as she was in love with the image of Hiro she created. That’s actually something I think a lot of people struggle with in real life, and I always like to see it in romance novels. 

As they work on the project, they fall in love. The once malice-tinged banter is more playful now.

This entire scene is actually pretty damn adorable.
MC makes Ichiya lunch and he lies about liking it while eating it all, and they have a little playful joking thing going on that gave me a sensible chuckle.
As a plus, look at that genuine smile.

While visiting a place on an island for research, their phones die. Ichiya leaves and MC is left in the rain. She flashes back to that childhood incident and sits there shivering in the rain for two hours. Ichiya comes back with a car just in time for her to pass out. Well, part of me is upset that Ichiya left her in the rain, and the other part is upset MC just sat there without saying anything. So it’s a pass on this part.

 

He nurses her back to health…not before he throws in a couple of playful barbs.

 

And MC manages to make him blush.

From this point on, things change between them to the point MC is comfortable saying they’re dating to others and she even arranges a gathering between all the friends to include him more in their long-term friendship, unlike before where he was there, but usually an outcast. He opens up a lot more, both in private and in work, and changes from a cold-blooded dictator to a strict, but kind leader. MC and his ex even become professional friends. It’s a nice change from the “ex continually haunts MC’s relationship” or “contrived situation creates another gap between them just as they were getting close”.

The crisis before the climax comes a little out of left field, considering that character’s actions up to that point, so I’m a little miffed that it wasn’t telegraphed better, but Ichiya and MC work together to solve the problem.

That cafe though…. 

Like, what? 

This is their special project? 

This is what we’ve been working on? 

Well, it looks better at night, at least. But what about rain? That open ceiling, those expensive things… what kind of building codes…it’s not like Tokyo is ever not raining. 

Anyway, Ichiya does a completely Ichiya-like thing (buy it to see it, I don’t want to spoil it! 😉 and then he and MC share a special moment on the rooftop.

 

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s one of the better routes I’ve read lately from Voltage, but it’s also not very unique. I’m getting a distinct sense of “I’ve read this before” from a lot of routes I’ve played lately. I’m not sure if this means I’m burnt out on them, or if they always have been this way and I’m just now noticing..

Rating:

My heart scale is defined as follows – 5 hearts = a story everyone will fall in love with, regardless of preferences; 4 hearts = a well-done story that people who love the concept will adore, and people who don’t may end up liking it; 3 hearts = if you like this type of story or this type of hero, then you will enjoy this, but those who do not like either of those things will probably not; 2 hearts = it had potential, it squandered it; 1 heart = just a waste of time from the get-go; 0 hearts = why was this made?