Shitsuji no Kare - Kuro Route

執事の彼　黒ルート

Label: StellaWorth
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.09.23


This is StellaWorth their second original drama cd after Osananajimi no Kare. It follows the same pattern as the first one: there are two CDs, a white route and a black route. The white route is essentially the 'happy ending' where you get together with your guy. In the black route however you do something to upset him and things go wrong.

In this CD you are a wealthy young lady. Your parents are always abroad, but your butler (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) is always by your side. He comes to wake you up in the morning, serves you breakfast, basically takes care of everything that you need.

Both versions of the CD start in exactly the same way, so the beginning where he comes to wake you up and serves you breakfast is exactly the same as in the white CD. In the black route however, you decide to accept to meet the omiai (arranged marriage) partner. Your butler is visibly (audibly?) affected by this but he says it is nothing.

Instead of making a cake together, he says that he will prepare a dress for you to wear to the omiai tomorrow. Later that evening he comes into your room when you are trying on the dress. His compliments on how beautiful you look are bordering on sexual harassment. He starts to reminiscence about how he was mistaken for your father when you were younger, and wonders what people would think when you'd walk together now, whether they would think you are lovers. He kisses you, but immediately apologizes and leaves.

Later that night you speak to him again, and he confesses that he somehow always thought that he would be by your side forever, so he is worried about what will happen if you marry. You seem to be worried about the omiai as well, but when he tells you that he would take you somewhere with just the two of you if he could, you actually have the sense to run away xD

The story skips to the next night after the omiai. Apparently your omiai partner got a bit physical with you and left a kiss mark on your neck. Obviously your butler gets angry and loses his calm, saying that he won't hand you over to anyone. He more or less forces himself onto you, but you do share his feelings so you accept his actions. (You only accepted the omiai so that he might be able to give up on him)

So far this was much less extreme than the black route in the first CD, so I was kind of surprised. Ok, so it was less cutesy than the white route, but at this point I was wondering whether this was going to be it. And exactly that moment things took a rapid turn to the yandere side.

You wake up the next morning when your butler enters your room. You notice that the mansion is very silent this morning, and he says he sent all the other servants away because he "doesn't want them to see how he is scolded by your parents". But he messes up a few sentences later, saying that "your parents even told him to die" but he quickly changes this into "they would probably tell him to die". You notice that he has blood on his sleeves, but he assures you "that it is just from a paper-cut".

And if this hasn't raised enough alarm bells just yet, the final scene shows that he took you to a vacation home to keep you there, and even chained you up...

Like I said in the white route review, I didn't think Midorikawa-san his yandere is very convincing, although I have to admit that the scene were he comes into your room on the morning after was done brilliantly. But I think this is also partly my bias speaking, because sweet characters just seem to fit him better.


Conclusion:
This isn't as good as the black route in Osananajimi no Kare, but pretty decent none the less. With Ani to Osananajimi stellaworth switched the formula to have two black routes, but I actually like this whole white route - black route concept, so I hope that they will switch back if they decide to make another one.