What happens when you mix Midnight Cinderella, an otome based off one of the most famous fairy tales of all time, with even more fairy tales? The answer: a shocking amount of foreign policy. I’m starting to suspect that each country in this universe is one city…
If I tell you Byron’s theme is Rapunzel, it shouldn’t surprise you to know that this story features a kidnapping. MC and Byron are on their way to a summit with a third country, when MC is grabbed and placed in a tower. Turns out the third country doesn’t want Wysteria involved. Conveniently, Byron had given MC a bird whistle earlier, which she uses to notify his (magical?) pet owl of her location. He arrives, and ends up walking her through the process of climbing partway down with bedsheets – and jumping the rest of the way into his arms (“I’ve got you, MC”). Swoon. 🙂 Overall, I enjoyed how proactive (relative to usual) MC was in Byron’s route. And Byron himself…who needs a knight in shining armor when you’ve got a king!? 💕
Personal enjoyment: 8/10. It’d be a 9 but there was no fallout for the third country from the kidnapping??
Little Red Riding Hood. Rayvis’ route features a bit of political corruption: they’re visiting a hospital that Rayvis suspects has been behind a rise in wolf attacks nearby (to up the patient count). So right after promising Rayvis not to do anything idiotic, MC stalks the shady hospital director into the woods… Turns out he’s been training/feeding the wolves. MC almost becomes a victim, but unsurprisingly, Rayvis swoops in to save the day, and then – for once – gets on MC’s case about running off to danger by herself when she doesn’t even have the fighting skills to take on a baby rabbit (“Why did you go after him by yourself? …You leave the danger to me. Understood?”). So yeah. MC was mind-bogglingly stupid in this route, and it was off-putting. But the route is responsible for one of the best/cheesiest lines ever: “Wild wolves aren’t the only danger around here, so be careful.” “Are you talking about Rook?” “No, I’m talking about me.” God bless whoever came up with Rayvis’ character. ❤
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
In this Beauty and the Beast-themed story, Leo accompanies MC as her security to the party of a foreign duke, who wants to marry MC. Said duke drugs MC and Leo with some extremely potent sleeping powder (seriously…they take one sip), and then tries to coerce MC into agreeing to marrying him, to spare Leo’s life (some hilarious intimidation via rose petals is involved). But at the last moment, Leo bursts in, having used rose thorns (of course) from the greenhouse in which he’d been locked to stay awake, and saves the day (“I’ll always be with you, no matter what”). So…MC’s security detail sucks, considering she’s a princess. And I don’t quite get the duke’s evil plot. After all, based off MidCin’s MS’s, I’ve been led to believe that marriage arrangements can be made and broken at a moment’s notice…!
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
The Snow Queen is the fairy tale for the icy Louis – it’s only fitting. Here, MC’s invited to visit a cold northern country with her bae. For once, there’s no political intrigue – but when MC chases after a report she’s written that a cat stole (yep, you read that right), she accidentally ends up stepping on a plant that gives her selective amnesia. Of her most precious memories…aka everything featuring Louis, because I guess MC never had a family or anything like that? L is amazingly nice about it (“It’s okay. Even if you never remember…I’ll do my best to make you fall in love with me again”). But in any case, true love’s kiss saves the day. So… this route was a total cheese fest, but I appreciated the lack of shitty political intrigue. Also, damn, Louis is smooth af.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Hansel and Gretel is MC’s fairy tale of choice for Nico, which imho is a very good choice, given how…unconvincing… I find him to be, as a romantic prospect. Anyways, N and MC hear rumors about a witch in a foreign country who’s been kidnapping children to cook/eat them, and what would you know, they come across an old lady and scared little girl in a forest not too long afterwards. MC and Nico pulls the he’s-my-brother trick to convince the woman to let them stay the night, and the totally platonic pair manage to get the drop on the old woman…right before the local vigilante crew storms her home, anyways.
This route was a mess of contradictions. MC says “I don’t like being the one who always gets protected, Nico” – and then two chapters later, thanks N for protecting her anyways. Nico manages to subdue the old woman – and then acts all relieved when the vigilantes arrive. I just don’t get it. 😦
Personal enjoyment: 3/10
I whine a lot about the flaws here, but the truth is, as far as MidCin events go, this was one of the better ones! The usage of fairy tales as a framing device was pretty clever, and I liked that each route was wildly different. If for some reason you haven’t gotten started yet, def. go with Byron’s or Louis’ first. Both their routes are super solid!
Otome Reviews 