VN Talk: My Sweet Bodyguard - Part 4: Subaru

Subaru, though seemingly the poster boy of My Sweet Bodyguard, actually pissed me off in the prologue for being rude and arrogant, so I wasn't inclined to like him, but he becomes a lot more tolerable later in Katsuragi and Kaiji's routes, which softened my impression of him. I especially liked seeing him discombobulated by Kaiji's sisters, which showed that he wasn't as put-together as he pretended to be. (And his freak out expression is a nice contrast to his usual smug one.)

It admittedly helps that the MC's internal commentary after choosing him is full of snark. She's impressed by his resume (Harvard grad, studied in Paris, professional accolades, etc.), but not his personality, which makes it a little weird when she starts falling for him about a third of the way in. There is the "there's only one bed" trope which results in them awkwardly sharing it, and unlike the other love interests, he passes himself off as the MC's boyfriend to cover for his need to shadow her 24/7. This produces some expected emotional confusion, but he doesn't act terribly boyfriend-like other than physical proximity.

I guess it's nice that he cleans her place and cooks for her (because those are always boyfriend points), but the way he does it suggests more that he thinks her standards are below what he can tolerate if he's going to be living with her. It's like no good deed he does comes without a put down, but the MC is attracted to him anyway. In universe multiple people comment on how attractive he is so I suppose it's possible the MC just can't get over how gorgeous he is, but as the player I think his character design is just "okay" and not obviously more attractive than the other love interests.

For Subaru's part, it's actually rather hard to tell when he starts liking her or why. Other characters comment, particularly a woman who seems to have been an ex. She tells the MC that he's never looked at anyone the same way before, but the thing is, this is a mobile title with a limited budget so we can't exactly see Subaru giving the MC longing looks or anything that this woman could have seen, and the MC is convinced Subaru only views her professionally. So we just have to take her word for it that something in Subaru has changed.

In fact, it's not until after this conversation happens that we see Subaru being unusually nice to the MC because she got completely drunk (though on accident) while trying to deal with the fact she likes Subaru and assumes the feeling isn't mutual. He takes her home, helps her to bed, and is not quite as much of a jerk as he usually is. While that could just be called "being a decent person" it's more compassionate than he usually behaves, so it's something at least.

When they get ambushed shortly thereafter in her apartment, the MC has a breakdown over all the awful things that have been happening to her lately and he finally comforts her over it. I swear it feels like pulling teeth with this guy.

To be fair to Subaru, he admits early on that he has no idea what being in love is like because he always knew he was going into an arranged marriage so he figured learning about it was pointless. He already has a fiancee. He doesn't know much about her, but assumes it will be fine. (In Japanese pop culture this is a common trope among upper class families like the one Subaru comes from, but I like that the MC actually comes out and says in her narration that she thinks this is old-fashioned.)

So I suppose it's possible that Subaru really has no idea when or why he fell in love with the MC, but it doesn't change the fact that the progression of their relationship feels unnatural when other characters notice what the player is unable to see.

As a love interest I found Subaru to be a mixed bag. Though he's a fair bit nicer once he tells the MC he knows she loves him (because she's a terrible liar) and the feeling is mutual, he's not really my type. He warns the MC that he likes being in charge, and judging from how he behaves around her, I suspect that what he likes is when she's dependent on him. Not necessarily because her life is in danger, but he likes nurturing her (cooking, cleaning, etc.). Fans of gap moe might enjoy that this overachiever also likes lacey handkerchiefs and cutting carrot flowers to improve the presentation of a meal. He clearly enjoys cute and frilly things, but rather die than admit it. He even has bubble bath soap at home!

I'm just not taken with his alpha male personality, and that may be more of a me thing than the game's fault since it's a personality type that some players like. I've seen him cited as an early favorite of budding otome fans when they were first getting into the genre.

As far as the non-romantic part of the story goes, it's markedly bland compared to Katsuragi and Kaiji's. The mooks this time around are just guys in dark suits and sunglasses, and I was actually hoping for something silly like the sunglasses are glued on and can't be removed, but the focus quickly shifts to a Chinese exchange student who recently joined the MC's drama club. Subaru doesn't trust him, and surprise, he's actually an enemy agent. It was disappointing since the setup was so obvious and they didn't even bother giving the guy a character portrait even though they gave him a name.

The main villain does get a portrait, but there's not much element of surprise and he's not on screen for very long. Literally only one scene. With everything going on and an assassination attempt against the prime minister, the MC's father tells the bodyguards that he suspects it's Hayashi, the previous prime minister, who had done a lot of corrupt things that had never come to light. This makes it easy for Hayashi to just show up in the penultimate chapter to try personally shooting the MC's dad (did he really think that was going to work with all the security around him?), only to fail and wrap everything up.

The MC did get her own moment of being cool, acting as bait to try catching a bomber that wanted to use her as a hostage against her dad, but for the most part I liked her the least on this route. She spends so much time moaning over how falling in love with Subaru is bad since he's engaged, and then after that part is over, the style of romance he offers is too constricting for me. I'm actually surprised he let her meet the bomber at all.

Normally when I play a Love 365 title I get the happy ending first and the good ending later, but Subaru was the first time I got the good ending first instead of the happy one, and that might be a sign of how much I just do not click with Subaru.

Oddly, I actually like his good ending better. In the main body of Subaru's route they decide not to tell the prime minister about their relationship and in both endings Subaru handles breaking up with his fiance. In the good ending, he does this all on his own, even telling his dad that if he won't accept them Subaru won't acknowledge him as his father. He and the MC eat at her apartment and her dad stops by, having heard about the break-up (since Subaru's father is the police superintendent and thus someone the prime minister talks to regularly). The prime minister approves of the relationship and tells Subaru that he's happy that Subaru was able to stand up to his family and to do what he himself was unable to do for the MC's mother, which I thought was a nice touch.

In the happy ending, the MC and Subaru go back to his place and some handcuff shenanigans ensue that are not actually someone's kink but get interpreted that way by the rest of the bodyguard team for laughs. The prime minister does not show up at all and I felt like I was missing something, since I find I've come to like him as a bit of a bumbling dad who happens to be the most powerful person in the country.

Overall I feel like this route was a bit of a whiff. Sometimes even if I don't gel with the character, I'll still enjoy the route or his dynamic with the MC, but the action part of his story was too mild and the romance didn't feel natural to me. I think I enjoyed him much more as a side character than a love interest.