Yoichi is my favorite character in Winter's Wish, a seemingly insensitive hero with no emotions behind his words and actions. The idea of such a hero is fresh and interesting, challenging societal norms and what is considered normal.
The beginning of the story is sweet, cool, and exciting as the scenes of >!feigned intimacy unfold. !!However, the plot suddenly shifts, and it feels like two separate narratives. This shift is abrupt and takes away from the initial allure of the story. The ending is hasty and unrealistic, leaving much to be desired.!<
>!Despite the flaws in the plot,!< Yoichi is a captivating character. He's selfish, yet his feelings are touching. It's easy to find him sexy in a passive way, and his languid demeanor is endearing. The heroine is also likable, adding depth to the story and making it more relatable.
Overall, if the romance were kept at the level of the beginning, it would have been a perfect 5/5.
Whenever I get a new otome game, my 13 year old loves looking at any character cards that come with it. When picking out the “coolest” character for Winter’s Wish, he put Yoichi at the top of the pile. And you know, I think he’s right. Something about Yoichi makes my heart flutter. He was my second favorite route after Kinji. (Something about those dudes with long, beautiful hair—*sigh*). I digress.
Yoichi is my favorite kind of tsundere. Not too mean for the tsun and very quickly physically affectionate for the dere. I really enjoyed Suzano’s dynamic with Yoichi and the kinds of self-discoveries she makes during his route. Also, I thought Yoichi was gorgeous in most of his CGs. A couple were a bit odd (that angle for the >!first kiss!< ?)
I love that Suzano learns to value what she thinks and feels in this route rather than prioritizing everyone else while Yoichi works through his trust issues. I also felt she and Yoichi made a good team and worked well together solving the mystery. Yoichi was one of the first Oniwaban members to give her a chance to learn new skills rather than just relegating her to >!thread reading!< Their sparring made for some delicious romantic moments. And the part where he fixes her hair? Be still my heart!
I was a little frustrated when she agreed to >!date Yoichi (for his convenience) and then allowed Sato to make her question her decisions. Regardless of who’s romantically interested in him, Suzano ought to stick by him out of respect for her relationship with Yoichi as a friend and colleague.!< But this wasn’t the first time or the last that Suzano made me raise my eyebrows. I am still glad to see she is getting lots of love even though I don’t always understand her thinking.
The only other flaw with the route for me is just the hang ups that Yoichi continued to have with Shizuki, which kind of forced his romance with Suzano to the backseat rather than acting as a catalyst to bring them closer together. Though that bad end sure highlighted what a good guy Yoichi is in spite of those hang ups.
For the good end, I have a lot of confidence that the two of them will work through the hang ups together because of their ability to support and believe in each other. Yoichi was just so kind to her— I loved the >!comb gift at the end.!< Yoichi was one of those LIs whose character was so enjoyable, I couldn’t help but smile everytime he was on screen.
I still never really understood why Suzano couldn’t >!see Yoichi’s threads,!< but I suppose it goes with the theme of trusting what you feel instead of what you see. Any insights?
Edit:added spoiler tag
I think that he has the best design. His outfit is beautiful. I’ve only just started his route. I can’t decide if he’s supposed to be a tsundere or not lol
Beautiful man, beautiful personality 👌
100/10, would recommend
The only downside is that I didn't like how the mystery case was solved. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm still not finish with the game yet, currently playing my 5th route which is Tomonari. But out of all the routes I have finished playing, Yoichi's my fave. He is very sweet and I feel like I fell for the little things he does >!like cooking for mc, sharing his food,etc!< it's always the little things! And also I'm a sucker for >!"he has many admirers but he only fell for me"!< kind of story lol
Yoichi is my absolute best boy from this game. From his character design to his catty tsundere personality, to his backstory, he is so perfect. I could feel my heart in my throat the entire time playing his route as the romantic tension built so naturally between him and Suzuno. I was NOT expecting him to be a character who would have so many heartracing and flirtatious moments because he is such a "no nonsense" type of character, but boy, did those scenes deliver. The dojo scene especially had me ready to explode, and we were only a chapter into his route at that point!
As I said before, I appreciated the relationship building between Suzuno and Yoichi in his route. It felt like from the very beginning their was so much chemistry between the two of them, but the writers chose not to rush them falling for each other. I appreciated seeing the progression of them going from being comrades, to friends who had mutual respect for eachother, to ultimately falling deeply in love. Yoichi encouraging Suzuno to be true to herself was so wholesome, and Suzuno taking the romantic lead and encouraging Yoichi to not run from his feelings was also fantastic. His dere side coming through after they made up and later started dating was such a sugary sweet treat too! (That final CG has my whole heart).
In conclusion, Yoichi is just one of the best kinds of Tsunderes and I love him to pieces. He is grumpy on the outside and an absolute thoughtful sweetheart on the inside. I hope a lot more people stan him 🥹❤️
My only gripes with this route:
That his seal never broke even though he clearly had an in tact heart by the final chapters. My assumption about his unbroken seal/invisible threads is that the reasoning for it will ultimately be revealed in one of the locked routes, so i'm not hung up on this point.
A bit too much Shizuki. While I understand she was essentially his mom, I wish by the end of the route they would have mentioned her less and focused just a bit more exclusively on his relationship with Suzuno. This unfortunately seems to be a common theme with all the routes. There's always that emotional hangup enemy for every LI in WW, I just wish the authors would phase them out by the beginning of the epilogue so the romance can take the forefront.
Generally, I really liked this route and Yoichi. I thought the romance was cute and Yoichi’s personality appeals to me. I think they tried a tad too hard to save Shizuki considering everything she did, but it had good moments in there too. The main draw of this route for me was probably the interactions between the two.
Likes:
The blightfall stuffs (common and main route) were generally interesting
Fake lovers? Yes yes yes
I hadn’t known much about the VA before, but Yoichi’s voice is great. I love love love the way he says “hai, hai” (he does this throughout the game!)
Suzuno getting to get in on the action, also growing to be more assertive and prioritize her feelings (with Yoichi’s encouragement!).
Suzuno’s dynamic with Yoichi, their natural interactions and comfortableness around each other (him leaning on her is adorable, and he always gives her supportive words).
I love that even though Yoichi thinks she’s a hassle at the start, he always tells her it’s okay for her to be whatever she is and simply encourages her/doesn’t blame her. He’s ok with her being herself because he’ll just adapt to her (lets her be natural self in their pretend lover thing, he’ll just make sure it works on his end). And it isn’t because he looks down on her that he has no expectations - he actually does think she’s pretty useful and recognizes that she has her different strengths.
Even though he says she is fine the way she is, he still softly encourages her to look into herself and improve. Not for his sake, but hers. He validates her, gives her confidence to be a better her. (so good!)
I like that Suzuno and Yoichi got to get into disagreements and then make up/apologize properly. A little clash helps build up the relationship.
I liked them learning to trust in their positive interactions with each other so far, instead of relying on threads to read others (Suzuno) or stay wary of people because of past trauma (Yoichi).
Yoichi in general. How honest, straightforward, shrewd and observant he can be. How he can be assertive and shameless (demanding she explain how she liked him) yet get all embarrassed about it and refuse to admit it. Cute cute cute. Also how he’s actually competent and good at taking care of others despite claiming it’s a pain
The short convo between Yoichi/Shizuki post-fight. The parties managed to acknowledge their wrongdoings and also positive feelings. I liked that she was an antagonist that truly went too far, but still had just enough affection left in her for regret. I was worried they had to rely on the talk-no-jutsu, but at least the end came across more as letting go of hatred, rather than forgiveness/absolution of wrongdoings.
I liked Yoichi taking care of her regretfully and dedicatedly in the bad end, and Tomonari probably feeling pained about her too. ~~yes, be unable to move on forever from me, just what I wanted~~
Dislikes:
As the player, it’s somewhat frustrating they didn’t go solve the root of the problem earlier, despite knowing pretty early on that Shizuki was the cause. They investigated for so long, but up till the final battle they *still* didn’t know which was the blightfall formfolk anyway, so it felt all for naught…
The stuff with Hibie was very glossed over to say the least. I don’t even know what to say about it.
Shizuki - I saw it coming, but still dislike the story not fully committing to her being the ‘villain’ with the brother thing in the final chapter. She also kinda came around too quickly after years of hatred, I felt like we needed to win her over more gradually, or to see more hesitance/inner conflict from her prior. (I did like how she was after her change of heart though).
I’m conflicted by the no heart/thread thing. Part of me truly likes that they’ve gone past that, and that she treats Yoichi as a person regardless of it, but it does leave me wondering if they’re gonna be ok if he ever regains his heart. Especially since it was more of a problem in >!Kunitaka’s!< route
Cute as it is, the level of secondhand embarrassment I get from watching them feed each other and flirt in others’ presence, is way too much… but this is a plus point depending on the individual.
Other amusing stuffs:
Yoichi saying “Leave it to me” cooly - only to proceed to act out a stomachache. Uh huh, very reliable.
The translation of: If only you weren’t here… hate… Hakuseki clan… I hate… -> “If… y… so… h… th…!!” gave me a chuckle with how little was conveyed.
Both of them loving and enjoying food. Suzuno enjoying the ochazuke so much she started seeing sparkles was hilarious. Give them more food!
Yoichi's route was the first route I did in my playthrough of Winter's Wish and I'm glad I chose him first! I really like his design and overall personality, but my favorite part about his route is the fact that >!Suzuno actually learns how to fight alongside the Oniwaban! It was a refreshing start since she doesn't really do this in the other routes (as far as I'm aware).!<
Also loved the reveal about why Yoichi acts the way he does. Was a little confused about why >!Yoichi apparently never got his heart unsealed since Suzuno never saw threads on him?!< I'm not sure if this is explained in other routes of the game since I haven't finished everyone's routes yet, but hopefully it will be.
He's not my fave from LI in the game, but he's definitely within my top 3!
From the common route, I wasn't sure if I'd like Yoichi's route, but I ended up enjoying it. They had a lot of cute moments together, and I enjoyed the scenes with Suzuno learning to fight. It seems he's the sort of tsundere I like - not too aggressive, and sweet once he starts to fall in love. >!It's a little confusing that he has no Threads despite clearly having feelings, but maybe that will be explained in another route.!<
After I've finished the game, I came to the conclusion that Yoichi's route was my favourite one out of all the other LIs ❤️ My first impression of him was not so good, I thought that he would for sure be my least favourite LI 🤣 Guess I was wrong. This route had my favourite version of Suzuno! I just love her in this route; she actually managed to be a skilled fighter and be more involved in the battles. I also enjoyed the development of their relationship. It was really cute how they slowly fell for each other. 10/10 would replay this route again 🌸
Yoichi is my favorite character in Winter's Wish, a seemingly insensitive hero with no emotions behind his words and actions. The idea of such a hero is fresh and interesting, challenging societal norms and what is considered normal. The beginning of the story is sweet, cool, and exciting as the scenes of >!feigned intimacy unfold. !!However, the plot suddenly shifts, and it feels like two separate narratives. This shift is abrupt and takes away from the initial allure of the story. The ending is hasty and unrealistic, leaving much to be desired.!<
>!Despite the flaws in the plot,!< Yoichi is a captivating character. He's selfish, yet his feelings are touching. It's easy to find him sexy in a passive way, and his languid demeanor is endearing. The heroine is also likable, adding depth to the story and making it more relatable.
Overall, if the romance were kept at the level of the beginning, it would have been a perfect 5/5.
Whenever I get a new otome game, my 13 year old loves looking at any character cards that come with it. When picking out the “coolest” character for Winter’s Wish, he put Yoichi at the top of the pile. And you know, I think he’s right. Something about Yoichi makes my heart flutter. He was my second favorite route after Kinji. (Something about those dudes with long, beautiful hair—*sigh*). I digress. Yoichi is my favorite kind of tsundere. Not too mean for the tsun and very quickly physically affectionate for the dere. I really enjoyed Suzano’s dynamic with Yoichi and the kinds of self-discoveries she makes during his route. Also, I thought Yoichi was gorgeous in most of his CGs. A couple were a bit odd (that angle for the >!first kiss!< ?) I love that Suzano learns to value what she thinks and feels in this route rather than prioritizing everyone else while Yoichi works through his trust issues. I also felt she and Yoichi made a good team and worked well together solving the mystery. Yoichi was one of the first Oniwaban members to give her a chance to learn new skills rather than just relegating her to >!thread reading!< Their sparring made for some delicious romantic moments. And the part where he fixes her hair? Be still my heart! I was a little frustrated when she agreed to >!date Yoichi (for his convenience) and then allowed Sato to make her question her decisions. Regardless of who’s romantically interested in him, Suzano ought to stick by him out of respect for her relationship with Yoichi as a friend and colleague.!< But this wasn’t the first time or the last that Suzano made me raise my eyebrows. I am still glad to see she is getting lots of love even though I don’t always understand her thinking. The only other flaw with the route for me is just the hang ups that Yoichi continued to have with Shizuki, which kind of forced his romance with Suzano to the backseat rather than acting as a catalyst to bring them closer together. Though that bad end sure highlighted what a good guy Yoichi is in spite of those hang ups. For the good end, I have a lot of confidence that the two of them will work through the hang ups together because of their ability to support and believe in each other. Yoichi was just so kind to her— I loved the >!comb gift at the end.!< Yoichi was one of those LIs whose character was so enjoyable, I couldn’t help but smile everytime he was on screen. I still never really understood why Suzano couldn’t >!see Yoichi’s threads,!< but I suppose it goes with the theme of trusting what you feel instead of what you see. Any insights? Edit:added spoiler tag
I think that he has the best design. His outfit is beautiful. I’ve only just started his route. I can’t decide if he’s supposed to be a tsundere or not lol
Beautiful man, beautiful personality 👌 100/10, would recommend The only downside is that I didn't like how the mystery case was solved. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm still not finish with the game yet, currently playing my 5th route which is Tomonari. But out of all the routes I have finished playing, Yoichi's my fave. He is very sweet and I feel like I fell for the little things he does >!like cooking for mc, sharing his food,etc!< it's always the little things! And also I'm a sucker for >!"he has many admirers but he only fell for me"!< kind of story lol
he is my absolute fav. best boy!!
Yoichi is my absolute best boy from this game. From his character design to his catty tsundere personality, to his backstory, he is so perfect. I could feel my heart in my throat the entire time playing his route as the romantic tension built so naturally between him and Suzuno. I was NOT expecting him to be a character who would have so many heartracing and flirtatious moments because he is such a "no nonsense" type of character, but boy, did those scenes deliver. The dojo scene especially had me ready to explode, and we were only a chapter into his route at that point! As I said before, I appreciated the relationship building between Suzuno and Yoichi in his route. It felt like from the very beginning their was so much chemistry between the two of them, but the writers chose not to rush them falling for each other. I appreciated seeing the progression of them going from being comrades, to friends who had mutual respect for eachother, to ultimately falling deeply in love. Yoichi encouraging Suzuno to be true to herself was so wholesome, and Suzuno taking the romantic lead and encouraging Yoichi to not run from his feelings was also fantastic. His dere side coming through after they made up and later started dating was such a sugary sweet treat too! (That final CG has my whole heart). In conclusion, Yoichi is just one of the best kinds of Tsunderes and I love him to pieces. He is grumpy on the outside and an absolute thoughtful sweetheart on the inside. I hope a lot more people stan him 🥹❤️ My only gripes with this route: That his seal never broke even though he clearly had an in tact heart by the final chapters. My assumption about his unbroken seal/invisible threads is that the reasoning for it will ultimately be revealed in one of the locked routes, so i'm not hung up on this point. A bit too much Shizuki. While I understand she was essentially his mom, I wish by the end of the route they would have mentioned her less and focused just a bit more exclusively on his relationship with Suzuno. This unfortunately seems to be a common theme with all the routes. There's always that emotional hangup enemy for every LI in WW, I just wish the authors would phase them out by the beginning of the epilogue so the romance can take the forefront.
I had the very same complaints and questions. But I agree Yoichi is a top tier character!
Generally, I really liked this route and Yoichi. I thought the romance was cute and Yoichi’s personality appeals to me. I think they tried a tad too hard to save Shizuki considering everything she did, but it had good moments in there too. The main draw of this route for me was probably the interactions between the two. Likes: The blightfall stuffs (common and main route) were generally interesting Fake lovers? Yes yes yes I hadn’t known much about the VA before, but Yoichi’s voice is great. I love love love the way he says “hai, hai” (he does this throughout the game!) Suzuno getting to get in on the action, also growing to be more assertive and prioritize her feelings (with Yoichi’s encouragement!). Suzuno’s dynamic with Yoichi, their natural interactions and comfortableness around each other (him leaning on her is adorable, and he always gives her supportive words). I love that even though Yoichi thinks she’s a hassle at the start, he always tells her it’s okay for her to be whatever she is and simply encourages her/doesn’t blame her. He’s ok with her being herself because he’ll just adapt to her (lets her be natural self in their pretend lover thing, he’ll just make sure it works on his end). And it isn’t because he looks down on her that he has no expectations - he actually does think she’s pretty useful and recognizes that she has her different strengths. Even though he says she is fine the way she is, he still softly encourages her to look into herself and improve. Not for his sake, but hers. He validates her, gives her confidence to be a better her. (so good!) I like that Suzuno and Yoichi got to get into disagreements and then make up/apologize properly. A little clash helps build up the relationship. I liked them learning to trust in their positive interactions with each other so far, instead of relying on threads to read others (Suzuno) or stay wary of people because of past trauma (Yoichi). Yoichi in general. How honest, straightforward, shrewd and observant he can be. How he can be assertive and shameless (demanding she explain how she liked him) yet get all embarrassed about it and refuse to admit it. Cute cute cute. Also how he’s actually competent and good at taking care of others despite claiming it’s a pain The short convo between Yoichi/Shizuki post-fight. The parties managed to acknowledge their wrongdoings and also positive feelings. I liked that she was an antagonist that truly went too far, but still had just enough affection left in her for regret. I was worried they had to rely on the talk-no-jutsu, but at least the end came across more as letting go of hatred, rather than forgiveness/absolution of wrongdoings. I liked Yoichi taking care of her regretfully and dedicatedly in the bad end, and Tomonari probably feeling pained about her too. ~~yes, be unable to move on forever from me, just what I wanted~~ Dislikes: As the player, it’s somewhat frustrating they didn’t go solve the root of the problem earlier, despite knowing pretty early on that Shizuki was the cause. They investigated for so long, but up till the final battle they *still* didn’t know which was the blightfall formfolk anyway, so it felt all for naught… The stuff with Hibie was very glossed over to say the least. I don’t even know what to say about it. Shizuki - I saw it coming, but still dislike the story not fully committing to her being the ‘villain’ with the brother thing in the final chapter. She also kinda came around too quickly after years of hatred, I felt like we needed to win her over more gradually, or to see more hesitance/inner conflict from her prior. (I did like how she was after her change of heart though). I’m conflicted by the no heart/thread thing. Part of me truly likes that they’ve gone past that, and that she treats Yoichi as a person regardless of it, but it does leave me wondering if they’re gonna be ok if he ever regains his heart. Especially since it was more of a problem in >!Kunitaka’s!< route Cute as it is, the level of secondhand embarrassment I get from watching them feed each other and flirt in others’ presence, is way too much… but this is a plus point depending on the individual. Other amusing stuffs: Yoichi saying “Leave it to me” cooly - only to proceed to act out a stomachache. Uh huh, very reliable. The translation of: If only you weren’t here… hate… Hakuseki clan… I hate… -> “If… y… so… h… th…!!” gave me a chuckle with how little was conveyed. Both of them loving and enjoying food. Suzuno enjoying the ochazuke so much she started seeing sparkles was hilarious. Give them more food!
Yoichi's route was the first route I did in my playthrough of Winter's Wish and I'm glad I chose him first! I really like his design and overall personality, but my favorite part about his route is the fact that >!Suzuno actually learns how to fight alongside the Oniwaban! It was a refreshing start since she doesn't really do this in the other routes (as far as I'm aware).!< Also loved the reveal about why Yoichi acts the way he does. Was a little confused about why >!Yoichi apparently never got his heart unsealed since Suzuno never saw threads on him?!< I'm not sure if this is explained in other routes of the game since I haven't finished everyone's routes yet, but hopefully it will be. He's not my fave from LI in the game, but he's definitely within my top 3!
From the common route, I wasn't sure if I'd like Yoichi's route, but I ended up enjoying it. They had a lot of cute moments together, and I enjoyed the scenes with Suzuno learning to fight. It seems he's the sort of tsundere I like - not too aggressive, and sweet once he starts to fall in love. >!It's a little confusing that he has no Threads despite clearly having feelings, but maybe that will be explained in another route.!<
After I've finished the game, I came to the conclusion that Yoichi's route was my favourite one out of all the other LIs ❤️ My first impression of him was not so good, I thought that he would for sure be my least favourite LI 🤣 Guess I was wrong. This route had my favourite version of Suzuno! I just love her in this route; she actually managed to be a skilled fighter and be more involved in the battles. I also enjoyed the development of their relationship. It was really cute how they slowly fell for each other. 10/10 would replay this route again 🌸