Title	The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling
Credit	Dramatic Create, Operetta
Media	Otome Game
Platform	PC
Genre	Romance, Adventure
Year	2023
Character Type	2 Yanderes and 4 Yandere (Minor)

Adopted into the royal family of Rus after she was orphaned at a young age, Naala was designated to marry the next king of Rus after death of the previous king. That all changed when their long rivaling country, Nasla, sent men to kidnap the Rus women to address their own shortage due to the disease called “The Rot” which specifically affects women. How will Naala survive in such foreign environment? Will she fall in love in the land of her captors?

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

*Note: This game features implied non-consensual acts, suicide and violence.

*Note: This game is a remake of the original game “Koezaru wa Akai Hana” released in 2012. As the original version contained adult content, the remake was edited to be suitable for a wider audience.

First off, I just want to express HOW HAPPY I AM that this game is finally translated into a language that I can read. I have heard of this game long long long ago and knew of its yandere potential. But I couldn’t play it due to the language barrier. After over a decade since its initial release, it is now finally translated!

What’s better is that this game did not disappoint! It is a yandere galore, up, down, left, right. Everywhere you look, they are there. Even the minor yanderes delivered. The yanderes were inserted along the story coherently, and not just for the sake of it. And despite having so many yandere characters, their styles were not repetitive (see Infatuation to see what I mean by this), and I could see the motivation of their actions.

Ahem, sorry I got too carried away. First, let’s talk about the other aspects of the game.

“The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling” follows Naala, a young lady from Rus, as she gets kidnapped and brought over to Nasla. There, she met different characters from different walks of life. And while originally wary of the country that had forcefully captured her, she slowly grew to understand their reasons and struggles. Depending on her actions and decisions, she can work towards establishing peace between both countries while seeking out a cure for the Rot, which was what started the whole animosity between the two countries in the first place. In this process, she can also find love with one of the bachelors from Nasla.

The game features a total of 7 love interests, 26 endings, and multiple CGs for each route. After completion of the dark and heavy main plot, you get to unlock their epilogues to recover from the emotional trauma. There are also extra contents like “special story”, “novel”, and “voice drama”. With my reading speed, I can complete everything in about 30 – 35 hours. With all these components, I do think that there is a good amount of content. Though, I do feel that the in-game choices can be quite few and restricted. In some cases, it is also hard to understand why certain choices led to bad endings, so I think some improvement can be made for this aspect.

In terms of the art style, I must say that I am not the biggest fan. In a sense, the characters do have diverse appearance, from long red-haired Touya, to sleek blonde-haired Nohl, and then there’s also tan skinned Suren, and even Cef who spots some beard. However, I can’t help but notice that all of the characters have the same lanky appearance, similar facial structures, and maybe even similar sprites. Suren is constantly described as buff and muscular, but all I see is a very lean, well-toned man at best. The art across different CGs can also be inconsistent. Still, I should acknowledge that the original game was released over a decade ago, so the art quality probably wouldn’t compete well with the current games.

It is hard to pick a favorite love interest in this game, as they all have their good and their flaws. Though surprisingly, I must say that the non-yanderes won me over rather than the yanderes, even though I played the game for the latter. Don’t get me wrong, the yandere scenes were as awesome as can be. But some of the non-yanderes were just so sweet and endearing, they ended up overshadowing the yanderes for me. But that just shows how good the game is, for I enjoyed most routes in the game.

One thing I am disappointed about though, is that all love interests are from Nasla (though some do have relations to other countries). Throughout the entire game, there is no story branches where Naala actually get to resist Nasla and return to Rus. If she did, the story quickly ends in a bad ending. I don’t get it. Why must Naala always have to fall for someone in the foreign nation and stay there for it to be a good ending? Why can’t she decide to prioritize her home country, return to Rus, and live happily ever after there?

And yes, I am also salty about the fact that there was no option to romance Auri at all. In the beginning of the story, Naala was meant to be married to Auri. Throughout the game, we can also see how Auri prioritize Naala and cherished her, despite his very few scenes. Auri is a well-developed character that has the qualities to be a love interest while simultaneously providing the game a more dynamic branch. It was shown that he is a wise, authoritative king that can make rational political decisions; he is an excellent warrior that can lead large armies into war; and he is also compassionate and humble enough to prioritize peace over pride. It was simply a waste to see that his potential went untouched.

On another note, I must also comment on how dumb Naala, our dear protagonist, can be. She got herself into this whole mess in the first place due to her rushing straight towards multiple soldiers by herself, thinking she can take on all of them. She couldn’t. That’s why she got kidnapped by the Nasla army. She did not consider her position as the adopted daughter of the previous king, and the would-be queen of Rus due to the arranged marriage with Auri. Many a times, she acted on things impulsively without considering the consequences of her actions. And somehow the others see her thoughtless, reckless actions as bravery and courage. They see that as her strength. I am like, WTH? Does no one think with their brains over there?

Now, I am actually a fan of Mary Sue characters if done right. If the Mary Sue character is portrayed so well that even I swoon over her, or at least understand her charms, then I am all for it. Throughout the various routes, you can see that Naala have her admirers left and right. Even if you are on one route, some love interests will still be in an unrequited love with her. Usually, I like this kind of reverse harem setting with jealousy and possessiveness at play. But in case, I am just baffled what these love interests actually see in Naala. She was just not doing it for me.

Aside from that, the story also features a lot of triggering content. I am guessing that the original version would be worse since the version I have is already heavily censored. But in this version, there is implied non-consensual acts, drugging, kidnapping, and violence. Most love interests have serious personality flaws that will not sit well with everyone. If you are fine with these type of sensitive content, then do proceed.

Despite the price tag, this visual novel is filled with loads of content, loads of interesting characters, and most importantly, LOADS OF YANDERE! I enjoyed most of the routes. Even with the characters that did not interest me at first, I ended up enjoying their route and their romance more than I thought. It’s hard for me to choose, but if I must say, my favorite character will either be Touya or Esta. Touya because he is a really complex and unique character. Esta because he is just soooo sweet.

If you are going for the steam version, they have sales relatively often and you can even get it at half price. For me, this is one of those “old but gold” otome, especially if you are a yandere lover. The build up and motivation actually made sense. I cannot stress enough how important this aspect is to me, because this can make or break the entire yandere setting. This game certainly got its yandere directions right. I definitely recommend you getting this if you are a yando fan like me.

CHARACTER SPOILERS