Special mention to Lucia for being INCREDIBLY annoying. Every time she gets mad at Kotarou for the most minor of reasons and scream his name, I want to rip her voice box out. Her route was one of the better ones though, especially since its the only route that heavily and explicitly focuses on a romantic atmosphere and does it well. Even then, she still manages to ruin a good chunk of her route by being annoying.
Akane is my favorite female by far. I always liked her the most since all of the girls were first introduced, and that never ended up changing for me. I disliked Lucia at first, but I ended up liking her quite a bit after playing her route. I think Kotori is pretty likeable as well.
I find Shizuru kind of meh and Chihaya unlikeable.
I don't really have much of an opinion on Kagari. She's just sort of there for me.
Shizuru >>> Akane > Chihaya = Kotori >>>>>>> Lucia
Based on how I like their characters.
Shizuru >>>>> Chihaya = Akane = Kotori >>> Lucia
Based on how I felt the quality of their routes was.
=>> Shizuru was the one that made me felt very emotional.
> Kotori ~ despair (no longer expect to live) //
> Lucia ~ despair (want to destroy all) //
(For Kotori & Lucia, the past is painful, although they are still trying to believe that ahead is hope, but after all they only see misery and darkness, life almost paralyzed.)
> Akane ~ absolutely despair (hate everything) //
> Chihaya ~ fear despair (do not want to endure misery, loneliness) //
> Shizuru ~ hope (always try our best to move forward.) //
Lucia with Akane being a close 2nd. Both were awesome, but Lucia's route really made the difference for me, due to her chemistry with Kotarou and the strong romantic emphasis in her route.
I also liked Kotori a lot during the common route but her route was the weakest for me, hence it affected my overall enjoyment of her. Still a great character...
Overall i would rank them like this:
Lucia > Akane >> Kotori >> Shizuru >>>> Chihaya > Kagari
Kitsu-nee said: I ultimately love Chihaya. She's dishonest with herself, clumsy tsundere, but her actions were super-cute, so she wasn't annoying me like other tsunderes. ]
Same here.
Kitsu-nee said: I
The only thing which bothers me is lack of her progress with Kotarou during her route... And Harvest Festa made it even worse ;_;
It wasn't that bad with Chihaya. I was pretty satisfied.
The worst ending was in Kotori route, I almost threw my tablet by the window. The whole route was super dramatic, and I really hoped for decent ending. It was one of the most not satisfying endings in VN which I've ever read.
Thanks God I read Chihaya's route as first, because after Kotori's ending it would be hard to me to start different route, knowing how bad Kotori's was.
And I disliked Lucia, her alone (rest girls were really nice). I hate tsunderes like her and it was pain to read it by the most of time.
And if I need to rate heroines (not routes) :
Chihaya > Kotori > Akane > Shizuru > Kagari >>>>>>>>>>> Lucia.
I'm a sucker when it comes to airheads so Chihaya wins the first impression ranks. I really hated Kotori because her voice didn't click with me at first. I hated Lucia because I'm tired of the typical violent tsundere.
Common route:
Shizuru > Kotori > Chihaya > Akane > Lucia
I really loved Shizuru on the common route especially her imagination. The dumb jokes, specifically the times when she imagines a very wrong image of something (example: Yoshino being a giraffe), just never fail to make me crack up. Kotori's voice grew with me and I like it before I knew it (I guess the method "Everyday until you like it" worked for me with Kotori). Chihaya is still Chihaya. Not a fan of Akane, and Lucia is still your typical violent tsundere.
Character Routes: Enjoyment
Kotori > Shizuru > Akane > Chihaya > Lucia
Kotori and Shizuru are at the top since they are the ones who managed to tug my heartstrings. They actually made me tear up a bit.
Kotori's route wins by a huge margin. It even made me feel bad for going for another girl after I finished her route because of what happened.
Shizuru's route is... bittersweet. Koibumi as an ending song amplified all the feels. Regardless of all the plot holes in this route, I still enjoyed it a lot compared to the others. Poor Shizuru. :(
Akane's route is very good at the start up to the middle, but the climax felt weird for me. I guess it's the same reason why I didn't like Terra's ending that much either.
Chihaya's... fun route with your typical shounen tropes. Sakuya best guy (next to Esaka-san).
Lucia... I like the romance part (really, dere Lucia killed me) and the thriller type beginning of the route. Not a fan of the ending though. Kotarou being a typical harem protagonist in the most important moment.
My vote goes to Kotori.
----------
Moon is superb.
Terra is great right before the final act. The ending felt very weak for me. They could've done it better.
Oppai ending best ending. Creamy☆Kagarin best girl lol.
Akane during the common route, with Kotori beeing a very close second.
After finishing the heroine routes, Kotori won however.
I love them all anyways.
While Rewrite is one of the few visual novels in which I can say I love the entire cast my favorite character is Shizuru; especially in her route. Even though it had a lot of plot holes and problems her character, backstory and route is very endearing to me. The feels are real and Koibumi still makes me want to cry.
Loved Shizuru and Chihaya route. I thought Lucia's love for Kotarou and the dating scene is adorable and the only real problem with her route is Kotarou being dense as hell. Kotori was good but the ending was kinda meh. Akane's route was ok the only real problem I had was how the Akane acted in her route sometimes. I understand why but I still wish there could have more common route Akane...
In the VN I see Kagari as more of a plot point than an actual character. Hopefully the anime can give her more life than in the VN.
Whoa, Akane actually beat Lucia. It can't be the anime only viewers causing a surge in her votes, because her screentime was literally half a minute in the first episode lol.
I guess the Akane fans came out of their shells when the first episode aired.
Samu-tan said: Whoa, Akane actually beat Lucia. It can't be the anime only viewers causing a surge in her votes, because her screentime was literally half a minute in the first episode lol.
I guess the Akane fans came out of their shells when the first episode aired.
Well Akane is pretty good waifu material afterall, and even though I like Lucia more, can't deny Akane's has a quite great/lovely personality and story to back her up.
Samu-tan said: Whoa, Akane actually beat Lucia. It can't be the anime only viewers causing a surge in her votes, because her screentime was literally half a minute in the first episode lol.
I guess the Akane fans came out of their shells when the first episode aired.
I considered Akane to be the best girl during the common route, though her character route felt quite boring to me... not because it was bad, but becaue it felt like it dragged on for too long and got tedious.
Samu-tan said: Whoa, Akane actually beat Lucia. It can't be the anime only viewers causing a surge in her votes, because her screentime was literally half a minute in the first episode lol.
I guess the Akane fans came out of their shells when the first episode aired.
Well I myself find nothing weird in it (Akane fan also :P). She won japanese poll in first place. Nice to see she is also liked outside Japan.
Quote from some guy regarding poll:
"YESSSSSSSS AKANE WON FIRST!!! Awesomesauce senpai that actually had a good route, what more do you need?
And so I will be looking forward to the day I can change wallpapers.
Shizuru ended up in second place, which isn’t unexpected since she is a loli-chara. Her route was weak so that’s probably why she didn’t win despite being loli with TWINTAILS."
1. Kotori : I usually like the characters the writers put the most effort and screentime in. Kotori is just that. One outside nitpick is i wish i had not known the fact that it's the same voice as Senjougahara (Bakemonogatari). I absolutely despised every single line that character spoke. >_>
2. Shizuru : I have a HUGE soft-spot for Key's blonde girls. Story setting aside, she would instantly be my top favorite. Also, best BGM theme hands down. I love the retro-Key vibes.
3. Akane : Interesting background and solid character overall.
4. Chihaya : Tied with YO-SHI-NO for fulfilling the support role. It's a pitiful job and someone has to do it.
5. Lucia : Key's Kurokami-type girls never really appealed to me. They usually have little relevance to the main story. Nevertheless, i respect their existence.
6. Kagari : Speaking of hair colors, Key really loves to up-play their white-haired girls with some likable aspect (...think Tomoyo from Clannad, Tenshi from Angel beats, Tomori from Charlotte, Kud from LB) Personally i think it's getting stale.
Shizuru, made me laugh a lot, her interactions with Kotarou
Where, for some obscure reason, all the bullshit he was putting as her words just reading her face was actually right, to the point that even Kotarou got super surprised that killed me.
Also, her route, I get that people say it was plain dumb he becoming a tree, but to me it was emotional, he was dying after erasing his contract with Shizuru, because his life-force was depleting, so he made the sensible choice of sending his girlfriend to safety while he was doing a last stand to somehow survive, even though he thought that it would probably be impossible, Kotarou braking down, crying because he just wanted to be lovey-dovy with his girl and not die a miserable death and those damn little fairies supporting his heart, come on it was emotional.
Also, Shizuru's diary, where she slowly succumbs to loneliness, to the point she almost got crazy half destroyed the book, I can still imagine her murmuring "Kotarou, Kotarou, Kotarou" while holding the Ipod, and at the end, Kotarou did survive and she was able to recognize him and she finally got a peaceful sleep besides her beloved, that's emotional not dumb! Damn best heroine, KotaroxShizuru, they should be a couple in canon!
Well, my next favorite would be
Creamy Kagamin
Her appearance was so random that I liked her.
Then, Akane=Kotori>Chihaya, both Akane's and Kotori's interaction with Kotarou showed how well they matched together, Akane and Kotarou fooling around with stupid plays
Like eating out in fancy places, playing ouija, solving the 7/8 mysteries of the school (with the power of money!!!), they had way too much fun messing around together sadly in her route, she was a little crazy and it seemed that she enjoyed a lot her" secretary boy"
And Kotori being able to match his jokes and well, her route also showed how much messed up is this whole world making me wanting her to be with Kotarou, even though I always shipped him with Shizuru.
And about Chihaya, I kinda liked her character, but not to the point to wanting to pair her with Kotarou, heck, she didn't even had a route to give me reasons to like her.
And Kagari, well
I liked the Moon version, especially that dancing and made me really sad when she needed to send her beloved to die a dogs dead while she will end up alone in the Moon for who knows how long (at least, after humanity appeared and Kotarou cleaned the whole mess he went to meet her, but she must have been alone for eons.
The Earth Kagami, I sincerely didn't understood her very much, she still didn't developed a strong personality (damn Guardian and Gaia! leave her alone! I wanted to see in what type of character she would have become with normal interaction with other humans!!!)
Well in summary, my ranking is:
A little girl that appears on Akane's route > Shizuru > Joke ending character > Kotori = Akane > Chihaya > Kagari.
The Moon version Kagari is near Shizuku and Creamy Kagarin
Tennouji's sacrifice including killing people for his Love for Akane in Akane's common route is probably the Best in the VN for me.
I understand what you are talking about the spoiler, well it wasn't the best for me (The decision in Shizuru's ending was the best for me) , but it was the second best and that's because I can relate to it,
I would obviously kill a lot of strangers and people who are yet to be my friends for my friends and family
Chihaya because I love her personality and how caring she is in her own route and Shizuru's and Lucia's route. Every route she's in she's always the one I pay most attention to. Her route is also my favourite route.
Chihaya> Lucia> Kotori> Shizuru> Akane> Kagari (except Kagari they're all really close to each other)