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ahristed · 2 years

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dandelion, jiwoo

jiwoo, the spoiled spotted rabbit in dandelion, is one of the five potential love interests chosen for heejung, the heroine of the game, by the wizard. he’s a little proud but rather intelligent all the same and is also one of the three rabbit-based characters that the heroine can choose from, the other two being jihae and jieun. i spent a total of one hundred seventy-two hours on his route in order to obtain all the memories for both his good ending and his bad ending as well as all his bonus images in the special menu. i’m new to otome games and reviewing them, but i hope this post ends up being somewhat helpful nonetheless!

character voice

jiwoo is voiced by lee seongil, who stated in his free talk that while he was never the nicest person, he rarely uses harsh words and yells like jiwoo tends to, whose brash and sometimes callous comments often rub others the wrong way. he’s a character who was modeled after the classic tsundere trope, a japanese term used to refer to someone who seems hostile at first but gradually warms up to other people over time, and i can’t help but applaud the voice actor for the amount of effort he clearly put into playing his role. although seongil playfully complained about the fact that his throat hurt due to all the shouting he had to do and wished that some lines could have been said in a softer tone, i’m impressed that he still managed to convey jiwoo’s complicated feelings for heejung without coming off as exaggerated or overdone even when the dialogue was intended to be. i’m not the biggest fan of tsundere characters, but i found myself listening to some of jiwoo’s lines more than once because i loved how the voice actor delivered them; i couldn’t find a single shortcoming in his performance throughout my numerous playthroughs of his route.

personality

truth be told, there are merely a handful of instances i remember encountering jiwoo in jihae’s route, which i completed about two years ago and is the only other route that i’ve played in dandelion so far, but from what i can recall, he maintains his arrogant and at times downright rude persona even in the shortest interactions with heejung. similar to jihae, his loathing for the cats jiyeon and jisoo is as clear as day, but at this point, it would be reasonable to conclude that cats and rabbits just don’t get along in their world. however, he doesn’t seem to be all that fond of jihae and jieun either, often calling the two of them “snobbish,” which—now that i think about it—is a textbook example of the pot calling the kettle black. along with this, he tends to isolate himself from the other love interests but also tries to establish his social standing as higher than those of the heroine and the cats during group conversations, calling the aforementioned out on what he believes to be their inferior intelligence at any given opportunity. in addition, jiwoo is shown to be an avid fan of romance novels and soap operas, taking their excessively melodramatic scenarios as gospel truths that reflect the realities of real-life relationships in the human world. the misinformation acquired from these sources have led to more than a few quarrels with heejung.

be that as it may, his initial disposition toward acting all high and mighty shouldn’t dissuade players from choosing his route because the more his relationship with heejung progresses, the more jiwoo exhibits the trademark roundabout, easily embarrassed characteristics of a tsundere. notwithstanding the fact that he never quite gets rid of his bickering and name-calling habit, it’s obvious that this becomes something laced with affection and endearment the closer the two of them get. there’s a certain charm that comes with witnessing his interactions with the heroine go from aggressive and borderline insensitive remarks to caring and considerate words that reveal his true nature, one that had been buried beneath the scars left behind by his childhood. i won’t sugarcoat my opinion and say that everyone will enjoy his route, but for those who prefer an understated romance that leans more toward an extremely close friendship rather than a lovey-dovey couple, this love interest leaves little to be desired. what i adore about his relationship dynamic with heejung is that there’s no awkward transition from the non-dating to dating stage, which gave me a relaxed but honestly somewhat unrealistic depiction of the beloved friends-to-lovers trope. in true tsundere fashion, the heroine becomes the sole person jiwoo is willing to let his walls down for, and though he might push her away in the beginning due to his own insecurities and self-doubt, he soon grows into someone prepared to go to great lengths just to ensure her happiness and welfare.

route

jiwoo’s stat requirements are a lot less demanding compared to jihae’s route, so as long as players devote their time and attention to raising relationship points with him and no other love interest, it shouldn’t be all too difficult to obtain his good ending. nevertheless, it can be a chore early on in the game to raise heejung’s beauty and femininity stats while still interacting with him since his primary activities involve raising her art skill and relief ability alone, but things do get much easier later on after using the filled heart gauge to purchase “dress up,” “read harlequin novels,” and “watch soap operas.” it’s also leagues less challenging to go on dates with him and encounter him while accomplishing activities at home because he almost never goes out. since he’s a homebody, he’s available whenever players need to raise their relationship points with him. and as for selecting favorable responses on the aforementioned weekend dates, the right answers are a lot more obvious compared to jihae because contrary to the tsundere archetype that he’s modeled after, jiwoo’s rather vocal about his likes and dislikes.

heroine

oh gosh, the real question is: what’s there not to love about heejung in jiwoo’s route? from her demure personality as jihae’s heroine, she does a full one-eighty and goes from sheepish and tender to animated and bright, creating an adorable case of “opposites attract.” not only does she become the sole person who can brush off his blatant attempts to distance himself from others, but she’s someone who encourages him to be more cheerful and optimistic as well, reining him in when his temper gets the better of him at times. although it’s mentioned more than once that she’s supposed to be the noona in the relationship, she has a child-like innocence about her that brings out his more mature and reliable side. their conversations are filled with good-natured banter that attest to their similarities and shared interests, with her coaxing him to have fun and lighten up no matter how sour his mood is. another trait i admire about heejung in this route is that she’s aware of his boundaries and knows never to push him to the point of him feeling uncomfortable, being quick to apologize and comfort him when this does happen. it’s plain to see that the heroine is someone who has a positive influence on jiwoo, who said so himself that he wants to be a better man for her, and he, in turn, gives her all the support she needs to live a life that’s for herself instead of her mother.

rating

considering as well how much closure both the good ending and the bad ending provided, i give jiwoo’s route from dandelion a 4.5 out of 5. i would’ve given it a perfect score had it not been for his endings’ lack of closure, which shrouded his future with heejung in ambiguity. to be honest, i preferred jihae’s endings because there were no “what ifs” left behind from the heroine’s final confrontation with the wizard; that being said, i do understand the need for him to mature into a proper adult before meeting heejung again when they’re both older, so i didn’t have the heart to deduct a full point from my rating.

i’ll be doing jiyeon’s route next!

#🍑.ahri’s peaches #🍑.ahri’s reviews #dandelion #wishes brought to you #dandelion wishes brought to you #cheritz #dandelion jiwoo #otome game

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ahristed · 2 years

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dandelion, jihae

jihae, the beautiful silver rabbit in dandelion, is one of the five potential love interests chosen for heejung, the heroine of the game, by the wizard. he’s self-controlled but gentle and is also one of the three rabbit-based characters that the heroine can choose from, the other two being jiwoo and jieun. i spent a total of one hundred fifty hours on his route in order to obtain all the memories for both his good ending and his bad ending as well as all his bonus images in the special menu. i’m new to otome games and reviewing them, but i hope this post ends up being somewhat helpful nonetheless!

character voice

jihae is voiced by choi nakyoon, and i find it amusing how the voice actor’s easygoing personality somewhat clashes with jihae’s rather uptight persona. this character was meant to follow the gentleman or older brother type who’s often the most mature among all the love interests, and what with nakyoon’s voice being as low and smooth as it is, i definitely enjoyed listening to the different dialogues he had with heejung. even during scenes wherein he’d lose his cool or his composed demeanor would slip, it wasn’t unpleasant to have to listen to him raise his voice. however, i find it rather unfortunate that due to jihae being a character whose circumstances molded him into a rather repressed individual, there were certain scenes in his route that i feel could’ve used more angst or emotion, but i attribute this more to the fact that it’s part of jihae’s nature to practice restraint and self-control at all times rather than an actual shortcoming of the voice actor.

personality

jihae is the only route that i’ve played in dandelion so far, so i don’t know how this rabbit acts around heejung when he’s not being romanced. however, it does seem to remain a constant that he maintains a calm and reserved persona and is wholly dedicated to serving jieun and ensuring that his health and safety are secured. while i do find it admirable that he goes to such great lengths in order to secure his young master’s holistic well-being, there were times when i found it a tad too excessive and rather obsessive in a sense. during his route, i often felt as if there was a third person in our relationship, and i’m not going to lie—it got extremely irritating at times. jihae often mentions jieun during his interactions with the heroine, and while this does start to die down toward the end of his route, having to listen to him tell heejung that he’s worried about his young master three times in a row did not sit well with me as a player. nevertheless, i was able to somewhat see past it after my second playthrough and started viewing their relationship as something more endearing than infuriating.

when romanced, this considerate and sensitive rabbit is a proper gentleman who acts more timid around heejung since he seems to develop feelings for her rather early on in their relationship, as seen when he becomes a flustered and nervous mess during his second major memory with her. as his route progresses, a rather uncharacteristic jealous and protective side starts rearing its head, a side that’s most evident around jisoo, someone who can be considered a rival for the heroine’s affection. however, this can also be due to the fact that jisoo is a cat, a species that jihae harbors an obvious disdain for. still, i can’t help but adore this rare side of him because while he’s willing to do everything—and i mean everything—for heejung, he’s protective without being considered possessive, which is more than i can say for a certain black cat. he doesn’t pursue her with ulterior motives—something that the wizard’s game was supposed to have the love interests do by default—but rather, is so averse to burdening her with his feelings that he’s willing sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of hers. not wanting to use the heroine in order to have his wish fulfilled is something that jihae’s route emphasizes on often, and i believe that this sort of innocent and selfless love is plain beautiful.

route

as i said, i’m new to otome games and dandelion is the first one i’ve played, but there was definitely something strange about the fact that i had to raise relationship points with both jihae and jieun, and i was right. research tells me that jihae’s route is the only one in the game that requires raising affection with more than one love interest in order to get his good ending; the rest are extremely against gaining hearts with other characters, and doing so will even result in a bad ending with other love interests. going on dates with him was also a bit of a chore for the sole reason that he’s. too. polite. what do i mean? choosing either answer prompts responses that both seem positive. from all possible angles of the dialogue. the number of times i’ve had to save the game before choosing an answer just to see if i gained relationship points or not was a nightmare. when he’s still a rabbit, choosing the proper responses is definitely a lot easier, but after he turns human, he can be more difficult to appease on dates because of his unwavering tact.

heroine

from reviews of other otome games that i’ve read in the past, there are probably a lot of people who won’t be all too fond of how heejung acts in jihae’s route. because of his unrivaled beauty as well as the fact that his composed exterior rarely ever falters, the heroine tends to get bashful and tongue-tied whenever she’s around him, but in my humble opinion, it’s not to the point of being annoying. rather, despite often getting flustered, she maintains a gentle firmness in both the common route and jihae’s route that i personally aspire to have and adore that heejung does. she’s selfless to the point that it becomes frustrating at times and has a habit of putting others before herself. however, does this mean that she’s a doormat by default? absolutely not. what i love about the heroine in this route is that her morals aren’t clouded by attraction, so when she can sense that something’s wrong, despite it involving her love interest, she’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right, both in her thoughts and in her words and all the while maintaining a dignified and somewhat motherly demeanor that renders me incapable of not loving her.

rating

considering as well how much closure both the good ending and the bad ending provided, i give jihae’s route from dandelion a 4.5 out of 5. i just didn’t see the importance of emphasizing on jihae and jieun’s relationship as much as the route did—to the point that heejung needed to raise affection with the two of them instead of just her chosen love interest alone—especially since jihae’s backstory only seemed to uncover the reason why he was serving under jieun in the first place and not so much the actual bond the two of them seem to share. however, this might be revealed later on in jieun’s route, and if the game does give me more to go on regarding their history, this shouldn’t affect my final and overall rating of dandelion as a whole.

i’ll be doing jiwoo’s route next!

#🍑.ahri’s peaches #🍑.ahri’s reviews #dandelion #wishes brought to you #dandelion wishes brought to you #cheritz #dandelion jihae #otome game

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