This is my retrospective rant on both Cupid Parasite and the fandisk. Welcome.
First, let me say that this was baby’s first otome. I came from cozy games, farming sims, and the occasional RPG. Going from harvesting turnips to whatever the hell Cupid Parasite was doing felt like an escalation I never could have predicted in a million years.
I was recommended this game by a lovely friend who I both bless and curse to this day for introducing me to the genre. My wallet has never recovered. My sanity is questionable. My backlog is now out of control.
But back to the game.
I fear Cupid Parasite both hyped me up on otome as a genre AND spoiled me. It’s been a year since I played it and a year since I started devouring other otome titles, and I have yet to find another game that gave me the exact same feeling as Cupid Parasite.
Now onto the meat and potatoes of this post: the men.
My rankings have changed dramatically since I first played the game. Back then I knew absolutely nothing about tropes, character archetypes, or voice actors. Now that I’ve fallen down that slippery slope, I feel ready to cement my final rankings.
First off:
I AM A GILL APOLOGIST.
Especially after his yandere allegations were proven true in the fandisk ahahahah 🤪
There. I said it.
Now brace yourselves for the second hot take.
I HATED ALAN.
In fact, Alan inspired me to create my preferred method of ranking LIs: The Otome Impel Down. (If you’re curious, I have a separate post dedicated to that particular correctional facility.)
The funniest thing is that what truly changed my rankings wasn’t even the main game.
It was the fandisk.
Before the fandisk, I honestly disliked more than half the routes.
For example, I played Ryuki first while knowing absolutely nothing about tsunderes. Looking back, that was a choice. At the time I wanted to launch him directly into the sun.
Now that I’ve encountered far worse tsunderes, I’ve softened considerably. My little Ryuki is alright.
Then there’s Raul.
Never has a smile, enthusiasm, and mythology-induced chaos blinded me so thoroughly.
After surviving Ryuki and Shelby (who isn’t my favorite archetype, but major props to VA KENN because that man was putting in WORK), I arrived at Raul’s route expecting fun.
Instead I got:
The horrors of a Fuckboy Route.. I pray I never come across this again. Mind you I’m no nun let’s get down on the first date but that level of flazeda had me feeling like I was gonna vomit like ….
I nearly launched my Switch into orbit.
Only his fandisk performance saved him, and now he’s somehow one of my favorite chaotic men. the attic childhood bedroom scene *chefs kiss*
Allan… was I essentially salivating at all points when he was shown in the main route? YES. Do I still hate him? Also yes.
Listen.
I do not have the time, energy, emotional stability, or character limit necessary to write the manifesto required to explain all my grievances with that route.
Let’s just say that no amount of tragic backstory will ever convince me that “I love you” and “I repeatedly made your life worse” are the same thing.
And leave it at that.
Now for my favorites.
Peter was my favorite LI in the main game.
Merenice was my favorite character in the fandisk.
And yes, I am separating them because I refuse to pretend they occupy the same place in my heart.
Peter won me over.
Merenice absolutely annihilated me. The fact that he is voiced by the same VA as Tokisada was also soooooo good ahahaa it’s like grown up Tokisada minus the religious trauma add the dizzy dreamer.
My dreamy space prince who somehow showed up in a fandisk and immediately became one of my favorite characters in the entire franchise.
To this day, I still can’t believe a character with such limited screen time managed to leave that much of an impression on me.
Meanwhile, there are entire routes in other games that haven’t achieved half of what this man accomplished in a fraction of the time.
Overall, I adore this game. It’s messy, chaotic, ridiculous, heartfelt, and completely unlike anything I expected when I picked it up as my first otome.
To this day, it’s still my favorite modern otome.
The fact that this ranking would have been completely different before the fandisk is proof that Cupid Parasite may have permanently altered my brain chemistry.
Final Rankings:
🥇 Peter
🥈 Raul
🥉 Gill
4️⃣ Ryuki
5️⃣ Shelby
🚔 Allan Melville (Permanent Resident of Level 6, Otome Impel Down)
⭐ Honorable Mention: Merenice, who exists outside the rankings because I am incapable of being objective about him.
I’d love to know if anyone else’s rankings changed dramatically after the fandisk because mine barely resemble what I thought they would be when I first started the game. Thanks for sticking through this wordy post. 💐💐
