Genius!MC. Intelligence isn’t just for the LIs! No, I am not a genius. But when I was younger, I was quite the academic overachiever, which left me wanting to see someone like that—whether an academic overachiever or just anyone who would be conventionally considered “smart”—as the main character in more media than just Sherlock Holmes and Death Note. The desire to see an MC like that that would have pleased little!me still has not gone away. So far, the closest I have seen to this is that in Tokimeki Memorial, you can raise your stats enough that you’ll have higher grades than any other student character.
This is kind of cheating because I have seen this, but not in a Japanese otome, funnily enough. I can empathize with and relate to MCs who do not look like me at all, but it was really nice seeing an MC with super long, straight black hair worn down in Talents, as that is basically my one defining physical feature. And as I was scrolling around itch.io looking for this (I ended up finding it via search engine) I passed by a lot more otome that might fit that description. Meanwhile I cannot name any Japanese ones I know with an MC who looks like that… am I just dumb/don’t know enough Japanese games?
Genius!MC. Intelligence isn’t just for the LIs! No, I am not a genius. But when I was younger, I was quite the academic overachiever, which left me wanting to see someone like that—whether an academic overachiever or just anyone who would be conventionally considered “smart”—as the main character in more media than just Sherlock Holmes and Death Note. The desire to see an MC like that that would have pleased little!me still has not gone away. So far, the closest I have seen to this is that in Tokimeki Memorial, you can raise your stats enough that you’ll have higher grades than any other student character.
This is kind of cheating because I have seen this, but not in a Japanese otome, funnily enough. I can empathize with and relate to MCs who do not look like me at all, but it was really nice seeing an MC with super long, straight black hair worn down in Talents, as that is basically my one defining physical feature. And as I was scrolling around itch.io looking for this (I ended up finding it via search engine) I passed by a lot more otome that might fit that description. Meanwhile I cannot name any Japanese ones I know with an MC who looks like that… am I just dumb/don’t know enough Japanese games?