Hideyoshi Chika (Otome) "Changed"

I'll get it out of the way: yes, perception of Chika can change because she ends up being “smitten” with Dirk.

But I mean, how dare she be such a stoic character with quirks that meets someone, becomes friends with them, realizes she has feelings for them and feels threatened with jealousy, works through dating while discovering they share interests, enjoy sex, and makes her feel fuzzy? Why, it worked well when her even more stoic father meets Rosa, starts becoming friends with her, realizes she has feelings for her and feels threatened with jealousy when she might hook up with another, stumbles through dating because he doesn't have a whole lot of experience and is insecure, discovers they do share interests like video games, definitely enjoy sex, and she makes him feel like the most special man alive.

So yes, I apologize, that was bitchy sarcasm. I had to get it out of my system for proper discussion.

However, I can not really jump on the 'she's not like Chihaya at all' bandwagon. Her story is similar to her father's in many ways. There are the 'drunk scenes' and her enjoying partying, something Chihaya rarely dabbles in. However, you know who he will dabble in them with? His wife. Chika's just got some of her mother's immunity to alcohol and being around Georgia like Rosa was around Max brought out a kind of different social nature. If you've read Yume, remember in the Solar club scene before the big Mai blow out? Chihaya (like Dirk) is temporarily shocked by Rosa being so confident and dances with Max (Georgia in the future) in the situation but realizes it's not the end of the world where as Katie seems shocked by Rosa's behavior for a while (like her son, Kaoru). Kaoru is inflexible with the behavior, more remnant of Mai, but the whole scene is a mirror of the past in Yume...I never intended for Chika to be seen as 'changed too much' because she did things that her parents did.

As already mentioned in my first paragraph, there are very few differences with her father's love life and hers. Chihaya met Rosa on something of a whim, Katie and Mai requesting he hire her and then Nyoko, Cliff's sister and owner of the Yume chain, telling him to hire her to help Rosa out. He was unwilling. Chika is just minding her own business when she sees Dirk and she's pretty unwilling to help him initially herself. They both reluctantly aid Rosa and Dirk respectively and through it discover a relationship with them that leads to friendship. Chihaya and Rosa have a dinner with each other on 'burger night' and a few other miscellaneous activities before they even date much like Chika takes Dirk with her on Russell's dog dates and to do random things with. There is a turning point where Rosa shows her deep consideration for Chihaya even when she's upset and Chika begins to consider Dirk as early as him giving her a birthday present he deeply pondered over. I don't think I have to express the vast similarities of the confession scenes either.

Chika is normal with Dirk, in my writing opinion. Chika asks all her friends to go with her places and to different degrees they have fun. Is it different because her and Dirk go and he enjoys himself? Dirk is from an antiquated village, he is written as a curious character so I wasn't thinking he was being too “suck up perfect” because he both enjoyed seeing new things and being with Chika. Why date someone if you aren't going to enjoy their company? And yes, Dirk makes her kind of sheepish and embarrassed but again, Chihaya was always saying sappy things with Rosa and getting flustered. And is it impeccably wrong that yes, in her eyes, Dirk is attractive? Does Chihaya not still to this very fanfic day not call Rosa the prettiest sexiest woman ever? He's always verbally admiring her, just like Chika expresses simply about Dirk that 'he's sexy'.

Chika gets annoyed with Kaoru badmouthing and yelling about Dirk because yes, this is someone she likes and yes, I have had my best friend badmouth the guy I like over superficial things, you don't just think 'huh, maybe you're right!' automatically, you get a wee bit angry and defensive. It's not just the person they're insulting, it's someone that has grown on you enough that you like them and that friend doesn't even know them that well but chooses to talk about them. And this is also not to say they're wrong or I devalue what a good friend says because I like someone and that's all that matters. No. However, who is going to pleased with any friend not only micromanaging them like they're an idiot but saying the guy you like that they didn't even take the time to talk to is garbage? Remnant of her father? Well, he was none too pleased when Juro spoke about superficial matters with Rosa either, old super mean Juro calling her a 'slut' despite not having met her at all. Juro always spoke badly about Rosa to a point and like Chika he deflated it...until that point, and he blew up like Chika blew up on Kaoru despite trying to stay calm with him. Again, not that much of a stretch.

Well, what about poor Kaoru then? She doesn't see him, she starts disregarding him. Know whose son Kaoru is? Carl's. Carl, whom I wrote an entire chapter about being jealous that Chihaya was becoming more dedicated to Rosa and even making new friends which I will slightly point out sounds rather familiar, ay? Chihaya expresses some question of Carl's sexuality given his clinginess of him but writes it off as Carl just used to it being one way and one way only. This is not precisely an always endearing trait, readers. Yes, we want that friend forever and we're lucky when we find them. But that does not create the right for you to be sole possessor of that person and their ability to have other relationships. And ship or not, Chika (before this chapter) has feelings for Kaoru as her absolute best friend, not as potential guy she could date. She doesn't understand his jealousy because she sees him as always her best friend, just like Chihaya always saw Carl as his best friend even when he met other people. The only difference here is Chika's a woman and Kaoru has romantic and intimate feelings for her that she doesn't fathom. Nonetheless, Chika is no more disregarding Kaoru than Chihaya was disregarding Carl.

I'm not one to jump on conclusions. I make it a habit to balance and see from both sides and articulate multiple reasons why something occurs rather than instantly cling to the standby -ism's. I can understand if I've failed in keeping the story a slightly different rendition of Chihaya's a clear telling, that seems quite likely. But one of my readers I follow on tumblr posts about the female protagonist in actual otome games getting the brunt of blame for things ultimately beyond the story's control or just because she's the 'weak female'. I think characterization can play a lot into opinion and I can tell you characters I don't care for for 'x' reason. HOWEVER, given that Chika's life isn't wildly different than her fathers before her and she gets the 'I can't believe she changed so much' treatment, an actual plot point for her father in Yume that I can't recall anyone decrying him of, I really can't imagine why. I won't call gender comparisons but c'mon, cut my girl some slack here.

And as I said at the beginning, if there's any specific other reason you can say she's changed then I'd be interested in reading them. Additionally, this is still not meant to be a slight, just a author's confusion on the perception.