Tamao Konno and the Brain Contest
Feb. 24th, 2025 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marchionessofmustacheSo, I can't remember if I had hard decided on this in the last post, but I'm going through the 4 Girl's Side games to romance all the 'brainy' guys and see who is the best.
I've done Morimura (1) long ago (in college, eep), and I had a failed run at getting Hikami (2)'s reversal ending recently... then I got Honda (4)'s true ending, which I talked about in the last post... so the only one I hadn't seen at all was Konno (3). In fact, I hadn't even played Girl's Side 3rd, so this was an entirely new experience for me.
Konno-senpai was... definitely the most disappointing of the brains. I was at first excited because he's appearance-wise the most handsome of the four, and he's an upperclassman so they gave him a more 'mature' air (compared to the others' more childish personalities). But that's entirely where his appeal stops.
This guy is So. Boring. Like, if you had an AI make a generic dating sim character, it would probably be more interesting than poor Konno-senpai. The dates went pretty much like "Fireworks are pretty huh?" "Yes they're pretty" "I think so too" and that's like the "perfect" outcome for the date. And they were ALL like this. He doesn't have any surprising, funny, or sad reactions to anything.
The only time any "character" really came out was how he responded to his family -- despite being the calm and collected type, he seemed just a TAD bit annoyed at his family for being "noisy." Though he still kept his cool when complaining about them. In his only shocking scene, he ran away from his big sister (Tamami-chan from Girl's Side 1st) because he didn't want her to see him in public. So we missed a chance for a cameo from one of my favorite characters, and instead just got a little shot of her in the background of a cg still :\
He did seem to open up into a more social butterfly type in college, but you only got to see that in one scene, and in the ending subending description thing where his friends call you wifey and stuff. Which is kinda cute -- his ending talked about how he actually used to be bored with his life (if I was him, I'd be bored with myself, too) and how you helped turn him around. So I guess that's kinda cool, but it was just a few lines in the ending and a possible ONE scene seeing him in college. Not really a lot of character development, there.
Not that tokimemo games really have much in the way of development of their characters, but still. It's like they tried to say there was some when there was barely any XD
Now, I've only gotten his normal ending and seen all his date scenes. But there's still more to discover with the game's throuple feature where you date a guy and his friend simultaneously. I didn't meet his other match, so there could be a whole dynamic there I'm missing out on. But for his regular playthrough, I can't say I enjoyed it much. I had more fun when other characters got a little screentime here and there. He has ELEVEN group stills (as opposed to his measly 7 date stills). So maybe there's a lot more to discover. And maybe he gets more development in his other endings. The paths are generally the same though so I'm not expecting too much additional content/development.
As for the game... it's suppsoed to be the best game in the series, but a lot of that opinion was solidified before the 4th game came out and the English-speaking fandom never latched onto 4th because unlike the first three, it doesn't have a fan translation, being on the Switch instead of the DS. After playing both 3rd and 4th, I feel like 3rd is more like a prototype of 4th, which improves on all its systems in every way. But that's just first impressions -- there's still some stuff I haven't gotten to play around with yet in 3rd. I did enter a triangle (the throuple system) in my first game with Kou-kun and Ruka-kun, but it didn't go much anywhere, and I didn't escalate it to PVP. So I have no idea what all that is like -- but the Marie Garden feature with friendship groups seems like more refined version of this system.
I do love the idea of poly relationships in games, but maybe it's some kind of internalized polyphobia or something, but it just feels so... awkward or unnatural for all these high school boys too all come up with the same idea of doubling up to date the same girl lol. I guess 3rd just takes place in a very poly-normative society...??? Hahahahaha.
I did accidentally get the triangle ending #1 for Kou-kun and Ruka-kun my first playthrough (I messed up my stats and had to replay to get Konno-senpai's proper ending T_T) and it was basically the three of us being besties and hanging out. But the triangle ending #2 is much harder to get -- you basically have to enter a triangle AND get both guys to fall for you, meeting their individual ending requirements. But stay in the triangle...? IDK lol.
Anyway, next up is a revenge run of 2nd to try to get Hikami-kun's ending. I was going to try again to get the reversal ending, but it's super hard and I'm just trying to get through the 4 brains right now, so I think I'm just gonna do a normal run for him and go for all his stills.
I'm not sure if I should go for his normal ending or accidental kiss ending -- they're both the exact same requirements, just one of them you have to get his accidental kiss at the beginning of the game. So there's no save-scumming to get both easily, you have to do the exact same playthrough TWICE lmao.
Actually I think if you go for someone's reverse ending and DON'T dump the 'backup' guy, you'll get their normal (non-kiss) ending, so I should go for the kiss ending first, then I can use him as the 'secondary' for a reversal ending later and get that ending then. OK, it's settled! Accidental kiss with Hikami-kun and then aim for all his stills!!
Also, a ramble about nicknames:
So let's talk about the names you can give each brain. All the guys start with the common default of caling them family-name-kun, but you can change what you call them at certain opportunities in the game.
From the beginning you can change from Morimura-kun to Sakuya-kun or just Morimura. Morimura seems a bit rude IMO, especially for such a respectable young gentleman. Sakuya-kun seems a little too personal for how politely and distantly he treats you at first.
Once you get to know him (friends) you can call him just Sakuya which is way too rude sounding to me. It makes me feel like he's willing to accept being referred to so informally because he's too timid to say no. (Though he will always say no to Megane-kun lmfao). What's weird is that he already starts accepting cutesy pet names at this level, Saku-bo and Moririn. I feel like these are WAY too pet-name-ish for just being friends, and sound like things you'd call an idol or something??? But maybe once we reach 'like' level I could see calling him one...? Well, not personally, but...
Then finally when he does like you, you open up Sakuya-chan and Sa~Ku~Ya~♥. The second is hilarious and would be cute if you said it like, once, but to call him that as a NAME is a bit obnoxious.
Overall, I think calling him Sakuya-chan is probably my favorite option for when we get close. Until then I'll just keep calling him Morimura-kun, and maybe Sakuya-kun when we become friends...?
From the beginning you can call him Hikami-kun (the default), or just Hikami. For some reason I feel more comfortable just saying "Hikami" to Hikami-kun than I do saying "Morimura" to Sakuya-chan. Maybe because Hikami-kun isn't such a precious bean that needs protection. You can also call him "Chairman♡" as he's the head of the school disciplinary committee or whatever. I would actually maybe call him this (as he LOVES his title) if it didn't have the little ♡ after it. Because that sounds too flirty for someone you just met...?
Once you become friends, you open up Itaru-kun and Itaru-san. For some reason I think given-name-san is always awkward sounding, especially after you've ALREADY been calling him name-kun from the beginning. Itaru-kun is not bad for friends, but just the 'feel' of him, I feel like at friendship level I might drop the -kun and just call him Hikami, or switch over to Chairman♡ to tease him a little.
Once you like each other, you can start calling him Itaru, which feels intimate and not in a bad way, and Hikamitchi which sounds like a Tamagotchi name, which is really cute. In fact, I might have to start calling him that...
The "off-limits" names for him are Gariben-kun (which means like... a tryhard obsessive studier) and Taru-chan♡. Taru-chan is my nickname for my little brother with our Japanese names we chose when we were in high school (his was Wataru lol) so that would be a little awkward anyway hahaha.
Konno-senpai was an interesting one for me as you have very little opportunity to change his name as you're distant at first and then he graduates in your second year. He also seems to just jump suddenly from liking you to tokimeki, which gives you much less opportunity to change the name as you don't seem to get the 'noticing them to call out to them' events anymore.
You start out with Konno-senpai and sadly you can't get just Senpai, which would have been cute (as you can do with the teachers, just call them Sensei lol). You can also call him Tamao-senpai which sounds a bit too familiar to me, but not TOO crazy, and then Chairman (this time without the heart lol) as he's the head of the student council. I like Chairman in this case without the heart, but I kept missing my opportunities to change his name in the early-game because I was skipping stuff too fast (since I had to do a second run SOLELY to nab the ending).
Once you become friends, you can upgrade to Tamao-san, which is a nice little familiarity thing showing your friendship, I think. I wouldn't mind calling him that for a bit, but I wouldn't settle on calling him that forever.
Once you like each other, you can call him Tamao-kun which actually sounds pretty good for his college-student self, as well as Tama-chan which sounds kinda like a cat name to me and is a little too cutesy for him IMO.
I think for when you're in school together, Konno-senpai all the way. But Tamao-kun is a nice name for college life... sadly you can't change names once he goes off to college, so we're just stuck with Konno-senpai lmao. Since the majority of game takes place at the high school, I think Konno-senpai is the name I'll stick with calling him outside the game, too.
His no-no names are Tamao~, Otama-san, and Tama. None of those really appeal to me anyway so I'm not sad to miss them XD
Iku-kun, the cutest and best of the brains from my current standpoint, starts off with the name Honda-kun though you can already change it to Iku-kun from the start. You also get Ikkun which is like a super casual way of saying it, I guess, to sound more cute, and with his child-like personality (in a good way), it's not too crazy to imagine calling him that.
At friendship, you open the options of Iku by itself, which sounds fine, and Iku-sensei, a reference probably to his intelligence and love for inquisitive people, but also a reference to his dream of being an elementary school teacher. Very cute, but it's one of those names it would be cute to call him once or twice, not as a regular thing.
Once he likes you, you can start calling him Da-hon (Honda with the 'da' at the beginning lol) which is like his quizmaster nickname at the cultural events. Personally I think this one sounds kinda stupid, especially as a REGULAR name to call him.
His off-limits names are funny -- Onii-chan referring to his imoto complex, Hon-no-mushi (bookworm), and Ramen-kun, a callout to his passionate love for ramen soup.
I like calling him Honda-kun in general, and generally don't like to change to Iku-kun until we're closer. Honda-kun makes us sound like academic colleagues (which, I mean, we are), and then Iku-kun sounds the same but... more familiar. LOL. He's a very quickly-attached guy so I can see why he doesn't mind being called either right away.
I've done Morimura (1) long ago (in college, eep), and I had a failed run at getting Hikami (2)'s reversal ending recently... then I got Honda (4)'s true ending, which I talked about in the last post... so the only one I hadn't seen at all was Konno (3). In fact, I hadn't even played Girl's Side 3rd, so this was an entirely new experience for me.
Konno-senpai was... definitely the most disappointing of the brains. I was at first excited because he's appearance-wise the most handsome of the four, and he's an upperclassman so they gave him a more 'mature' air (compared to the others' more childish personalities). But that's entirely where his appeal stops.
This guy is So. Boring. Like, if you had an AI make a generic dating sim character, it would probably be more interesting than poor Konno-senpai. The dates went pretty much like "Fireworks are pretty huh?" "Yes they're pretty" "I think so too" and that's like the "perfect" outcome for the date. And they were ALL like this. He doesn't have any surprising, funny, or sad reactions to anything.
The only time any "character" really came out was how he responded to his family -- despite being the calm and collected type, he seemed just a TAD bit annoyed at his family for being "noisy." Though he still kept his cool when complaining about them. In his only shocking scene, he ran away from his big sister (Tamami-chan from Girl's Side 1st) because he didn't want her to see him in public. So we missed a chance for a cameo from one of my favorite characters, and instead just got a little shot of her in the background of a cg still :\
He did seem to open up into a more social butterfly type in college, but you only got to see that in one scene, and in the ending subending description thing where his friends call you wifey and stuff. Which is kinda cute -- his ending talked about how he actually used to be bored with his life (if I was him, I'd be bored with myself, too) and how you helped turn him around. So I guess that's kinda cool, but it was just a few lines in the ending and a possible ONE scene seeing him in college. Not really a lot of character development, there.
Not that tokimemo games really have much in the way of development of their characters, but still. It's like they tried to say there was some when there was barely any XD
Now, I've only gotten his normal ending and seen all his date scenes. But there's still more to discover with the game's throuple feature where you date a guy and his friend simultaneously. I didn't meet his other match, so there could be a whole dynamic there I'm missing out on. But for his regular playthrough, I can't say I enjoyed it much. I had more fun when other characters got a little screentime here and there. He has ELEVEN group stills (as opposed to his measly 7 date stills). So maybe there's a lot more to discover. And maybe he gets more development in his other endings. The paths are generally the same though so I'm not expecting too much additional content/development.
As for the game... it's suppsoed to be the best game in the series, but a lot of that opinion was solidified before the 4th game came out and the English-speaking fandom never latched onto 4th because unlike the first three, it doesn't have a fan translation, being on the Switch instead of the DS. After playing both 3rd and 4th, I feel like 3rd is more like a prototype of 4th, which improves on all its systems in every way. But that's just first impressions -- there's still some stuff I haven't gotten to play around with yet in 3rd. I did enter a triangle (the throuple system) in my first game with Kou-kun and Ruka-kun, but it didn't go much anywhere, and I didn't escalate it to PVP. So I have no idea what all that is like -- but the Marie Garden feature with friendship groups seems like more refined version of this system.
I do love the idea of poly relationships in games, but maybe it's some kind of internalized polyphobia or something, but it just feels so... awkward or unnatural for all these high school boys too all come up with the same idea of doubling up to date the same girl lol. I guess 3rd just takes place in a very poly-normative society...??? Hahahahaha.
I did accidentally get the triangle ending #1 for Kou-kun and Ruka-kun my first playthrough (I messed up my stats and had to replay to get Konno-senpai's proper ending T_T) and it was basically the three of us being besties and hanging out. But the triangle ending #2 is much harder to get -- you basically have to enter a triangle AND get both guys to fall for you, meeting their individual ending requirements. But stay in the triangle...? IDK lol.
Anyway, next up is a revenge run of 2nd to try to get Hikami-kun's ending. I was going to try again to get the reversal ending, but it's super hard and I'm just trying to get through the 4 brains right now, so I think I'm just gonna do a normal run for him and go for all his stills.
I'm not sure if I should go for his normal ending or accidental kiss ending -- they're both the exact same requirements, just one of them you have to get his accidental kiss at the beginning of the game. So there's no save-scumming to get both easily, you have to do the exact same playthrough TWICE lmao.
Actually I think if you go for someone's reverse ending and DON'T dump the 'backup' guy, you'll get their normal (non-kiss) ending, so I should go for the kiss ending first, then I can use him as the 'secondary' for a reversal ending later and get that ending then. OK, it's settled! Accidental kiss with Hikami-kun and then aim for all his stills!!
Also, a ramble about nicknames:
So let's talk about the names you can give each brain. All the guys start with the common default of caling them family-name-kun, but you can change what you call them at certain opportunities in the game.
Sakuya Morimura
From the beginning you can change from Morimura-kun to Sakuya-kun or just Morimura. Morimura seems a bit rude IMO, especially for such a respectable young gentleman. Sakuya-kun seems a little too personal for how politely and distantly he treats you at first.
Once you get to know him (friends) you can call him just Sakuya which is way too rude sounding to me. It makes me feel like he's willing to accept being referred to so informally because he's too timid to say no. (Though he will always say no to Megane-kun lmfao). What's weird is that he already starts accepting cutesy pet names at this level, Saku-bo and Moririn. I feel like these are WAY too pet-name-ish for just being friends, and sound like things you'd call an idol or something??? But maybe once we reach 'like' level I could see calling him one...? Well, not personally, but...
Then finally when he does like you, you open up Sakuya-chan and Sa~Ku~Ya~♥. The second is hilarious and would be cute if you said it like, once, but to call him that as a NAME is a bit obnoxious.
Overall, I think calling him Sakuya-chan is probably my favorite option for when we get close. Until then I'll just keep calling him Morimura-kun, and maybe Sakuya-kun when we become friends...?
Itaru Hikami
From the beginning you can call him Hikami-kun (the default), or just Hikami. For some reason I feel more comfortable just saying "Hikami" to Hikami-kun than I do saying "Morimura" to Sakuya-chan. Maybe because Hikami-kun isn't such a precious bean that needs protection. You can also call him "Chairman♡" as he's the head of the school disciplinary committee or whatever. I would actually maybe call him this (as he LOVES his title) if it didn't have the little ♡ after it. Because that sounds too flirty for someone you just met...?
Once you become friends, you open up Itaru-kun and Itaru-san. For some reason I think given-name-san is always awkward sounding, especially after you've ALREADY been calling him name-kun from the beginning. Itaru-kun is not bad for friends, but just the 'feel' of him, I feel like at friendship level I might drop the -kun and just call him Hikami, or switch over to Chairman♡ to tease him a little.
Once you like each other, you can start calling him Itaru, which feels intimate and not in a bad way, and Hikamitchi which sounds like a Tamagotchi name, which is really cute. In fact, I might have to start calling him that...
The "off-limits" names for him are Gariben-kun (which means like... a tryhard obsessive studier) and Taru-chan♡. Taru-chan is my nickname for my little brother with our Japanese names we chose when we were in high school (his was Wataru lol) so that would be a little awkward anyway hahaha.
Tamao Konno
Konno-senpai was an interesting one for me as you have very little opportunity to change his name as you're distant at first and then he graduates in your second year. He also seems to just jump suddenly from liking you to tokimeki, which gives you much less opportunity to change the name as you don't seem to get the 'noticing them to call out to them' events anymore.
You start out with Konno-senpai and sadly you can't get just Senpai, which would have been cute (as you can do with the teachers, just call them Sensei lol). You can also call him Tamao-senpai which sounds a bit too familiar to me, but not TOO crazy, and then Chairman (this time without the heart lol) as he's the head of the student council. I like Chairman in this case without the heart, but I kept missing my opportunities to change his name in the early-game because I was skipping stuff too fast (since I had to do a second run SOLELY to nab the ending).
Once you become friends, you can upgrade to Tamao-san, which is a nice little familiarity thing showing your friendship, I think. I wouldn't mind calling him that for a bit, but I wouldn't settle on calling him that forever.
Once you like each other, you can call him Tamao-kun which actually sounds pretty good for his college-student self, as well as Tama-chan which sounds kinda like a cat name to me and is a little too cutesy for him IMO.
I think for when you're in school together, Konno-senpai all the way. But Tamao-kun is a nice name for college life... sadly you can't change names once he goes off to college, so we're just stuck with Konno-senpai lmao. Since the majority of game takes place at the high school, I think Konno-senpai is the name I'll stick with calling him outside the game, too.
His no-no names are Tamao~, Otama-san, and Tama. None of those really appeal to me anyway so I'm not sad to miss them XD
Iku Honda
Iku-kun, the cutest and best of the brains from my current standpoint, starts off with the name Honda-kun though you can already change it to Iku-kun from the start. You also get Ikkun which is like a super casual way of saying it, I guess, to sound more cute, and with his child-like personality (in a good way), it's not too crazy to imagine calling him that.
At friendship, you open the options of Iku by itself, which sounds fine, and Iku-sensei, a reference probably to his intelligence and love for inquisitive people, but also a reference to his dream of being an elementary school teacher. Very cute, but it's one of those names it would be cute to call him once or twice, not as a regular thing.
Once he likes you, you can start calling him Da-hon (Honda with the 'da' at the beginning lol) which is like his quizmaster nickname at the cultural events. Personally I think this one sounds kinda stupid, especially as a REGULAR name to call him.
His off-limits names are funny -- Onii-chan referring to his imoto complex, Hon-no-mushi (bookworm), and Ramen-kun, a callout to his passionate love for ramen soup.
I like calling him Honda-kun in general, and generally don't like to change to Iku-kun until we're closer. Honda-kun makes us sound like academic colleagues (which, I mean, we are), and then Iku-kun sounds the same but... more familiar. LOL. He's a very quickly-attached guy so I can see why he doesn't mind being called either right away.
