History YMMV / Hakuouki

* EvilIsSexy: Creator/KenjiroTsuda gives Kazama a rich, deep voice, and plenty of fans appreciate it.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Happens several times with ''[[UpdatedReRelease Kyoto Winds]]'' and ''[[UpdatedRerelease Edo Blossoms]]'':
** In the original game, Kazama's route was criticized for being too short and not really featuring much interaction with Chizuru outside of "common route" scenes. In ''Kyoto Winds'' and ''Edo Blossoms'', his route is significantly longer, has more scenes of him and Chizuru, has more [=CGIs=], and adds depth to his character.
** Many felt that Chizuru's demonic heritage [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot is too underused]] and that the demon plot point as a whole is swept aside by the Shinsengumi. Kazama's and Iba's routes both touch on demon lore, and some of the content added to Kazama's deals with [[spoiler:Chizuru coming to terms with said heritage.]].
** The Record of Service lets you unlock a characters’ bad and normal ending after unlocking his good one, significantly saving time for those who are completionists.
** Most of the scenes from the ''Zuisōroku'' fandisc were woven into the main story, which adds more romance for the characters. The friendship routes for Yamazaki, Sannan, and Nagakura were also expanded into full routes.
** Chizuru is written as slightly bolder and smarter than she was in the original, and the story's dialogue has been overhauled in places to flow smoother.
** One of the criticisms aimed at Chizuru is that as a demon, she should be able to fight better than she can. The remake addresses this by stating that female demons lack the superhuman strength, speed, and stamina of their male counterparts; this doesn't prevent them from fighting if they want, but it does mean Chizuru has no natural advantage over humans other than her HealingFactor. This also explains Sen's DistressedDamsel situation in Heisuke's route.

** One of the criticisms aimed at Chizuru is that as a demon, she should be able to fight better than she can. The remake addresses this by stating that female demons lack the superhuman strength, speed, and stamina of their male counterparts; this doesn't prevent them from fighting if they want, but it does mean Chizuru has no natural advantage over humans other than her HealingFactor.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Kazama's an example that shows why TropesAreTools. Despite being the main antagonist in Hijikata and Saito's routes, a [[BabyFactory more personal]] antagonist for Chizuru, and the cause of several bad ends, he has his own route which does show other sides of him without losing the core of his character. Naturally, the 'other sides' have earned him a not-inconsiderable following.

** Many feel the Chizuru's demonic heritage [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot is too underused]] and that the demon plot point as a whole is swept aside by the Shinsengumi. Kazama's and Iba's routes both touch on demon lore, and some of the content added to Kazama's deals with [[spoiler:Chizuru coming to terms with said heritage.]].

** Here's a fun game: Ask how many fans wish Yamazaki had his own route. In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Hakuouki: Kyoto Winds]]'', he does.
** Play the same game with Nagakura. ''Kyoto Winds'' gave ''him'' his own route too.
** Sanan is no different, seeing as he now has his own route as well.

%%* IronWoobie: Hijikata, Okita, and Heisuke.
%%* {{Moe}}: Chizuru is this InUniverse, and for [[BaseBreakingCharacter some people]] in real life as well.

%%* StoicWoobie: Saitou.
* TheWoobie: Pretty much everyone in the show. This is a story about the [[TragicHero Shinsengumi]] we're talking about after all.

* RomanticPlotTumor: [[AvertedTrope Surprisingly averted]] in the anime, considering its RomanceGame origin. Hijikata and Chizuru don't become an OfficialCouple until the second-to-last episode, and the plot just marches right on after that and kicks the romance aside. As a troper said before, "It's a romance anime without romance, how cool is that!".

* DracoInLeatherPants: Kazama has a not-inconsiderable fangirl following, in spite of the looming threat of rape he represents in the common route and the fact that he's the main villain in Hijikata and Saito's routes and the cause of several bad ends in others.

*** Play the same game with Nagakura. ''Kyoto Winds'' gave ''him'' his own route too.

* IronWoobie: Hijikata, Okita, and Heisuke.
* {{Moe}}: Chizuru is this InUniverse, and for [[BaseBreakingCharacter some people]] in real life as well.

* StoicWoobie: Saitou.

* DamselScrappy: Chizuru, to many.

* TheScrappy: Poor [[TheChick Chizuru]] is this to quite a lot of people, bordering on FanDumb.

** Here's a fun game: Ask how many fans wish Yamazaki had his own route. In [[UpdatedRerelease ''Hakuouki Shinkai'']], he does.
*** Play the same game with Nagakura. ''Hakouki Shinkai'' gave ''him'' his own route too.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Here's a fun game: Ask how many fans wish Yamazaki had his own route. In [[UpdatedRerelease Hakuouki Shinkai]], he does.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Here's a fun game: Ask how many fans wish Yamazaki had his own route. In Shinkai, he does.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Here's a fun game: Ask how many fans wish Yamazaki had his own route.

* BaseBreaker: Chizuru is an ongoing source of disagreement and debate within the fandom. Many fans feel that she's too weak and passive a PlayerCharacter who spends too much of the game playing the role of DamselInDistress, and that her demon powers provide her character with potential which is criminally underused. Others feel that her serving as emotional support to the Shinsengumi is an equally valid form of strength, pointing out that she's a very proactive woman by the standards of the time period and that a couple of years of sword training would hardly make her equal to the villains, almost all of whom are themselves demons or furies with years of extensive combat training.

* {{Moe}}: Chizuru is this InUniverse, and for [[BaseBreaker some people]] in real life as well.

* FridgeBrilliance: For all the criticism Chizuru catches for having to be protected so much by the Shinsengumi, the captains' attitudes towards protecting her [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadow]] their attitudes toward the shogunate and the Boshin War - in both cases, having committed to the course of action, they refuse to be swayed from it even though they know it puts them at a disadvantage and may get them killed.
** In the game's prologue sequence, after Chizuru speaks up for the first time to thank the Shinsengumi for saving her, Saito is surprised, Okita is amused, and Hijikata looks suddenly awkward - reactions which make much more sense once you know that this is the moment all three of them realize she's a girl.

* RomanticPlotTumor: [[AvertedTrope Surprisingly averted]] in the anime, considering its RomanceGame origin. Hijikata and Chizuru don't become an OfficialCouple until the second-to-last episode, and the plot just marches right on after that and kicks the romance aside.
** As a troper said before, "It's a romance anime without romance, how cool is that!".

** IronWoobie: Hijikata, Okita, and Heisuke.
** StoicWoobie: Saitou.

* {{Moe}}: Chizuru is this InUniverse, and for {{BaseBreaker some people}} in real life as well.

* TheScrappy: Poor [[TheChick Chizuru]] is this to quite a lot of people.

* BaseBreaker: Chizuru is an ongoing source of disagreement and debate within the fandom. Many fans feel that she's too weak and passive a PlayerCharacter who spends too much of the game playing the role of DamselInDistress, and that her demon powers provide her character with potential which is criminally underused. Others feel that her serving as emotional support to the Shinsengumi is an equally valid form of strength, pointing out that she's a very proactive woman by the standards of the time period and that a couple of years of sword training would hardly make her equal to the villains, almost all of whom are themselves demons are furies with extensive combat training.

* BaseBreaker: Chizuru is an ongoing source of disagreement and debate within the fandom. Many fans feel that she's too weak and passive a PlayerCharacter who spends too much of the game playing the role of DamselInDistress, and that her demon powers provide her character with potential which is criminally underused; others feel that her serving as emotional support to the Shinsengumi is an equally valid form of strength, pointing out that dressing as a boy, striking out on her own in search of her father, and hanging out with the Shinsengumi make her a very proactive woman by the standards of the time period.

* ValuesDissonance: Poor Chizuru is called weak, stupid, slut and FauxActionGirl for not fighting... and the people who bash her "conveniently" forget that, well, this story is set in what would soon become ''ImperialJapan''. If gender roles have evolved slower in Japan than in other parts of the world, imagine how more rigid they were back then. Please make some contextualization before judging a girl who lives in an historical moment with ''completely different values'' from those we have now.
** Lampshaded and deconstructed in Chapter 4 of Sanosuke's route, when Shiranui starts shooting at Chizuru. She surprises herself by instinctively using superspeed to dodge a bullet, without realizing she had that power. Shiranui points out that as a demon, Chizuru doesn't have to abide by human cultural standards and could become a powerful fighter if she tried to train her demon superpowers. [[IgnoredEpiphany She never does.]]
*** In that very same route, Sanosuke kept telling her he wants to protect her and keep her from shedding blood. Likewise in the other routes, where most of the guys just tell her to keep back and let the [[MasterSwordsman professionals]] do their job. By the time she fully understands her demon powers, we only got a year left in the war, a war she doesn't want a part of, and you're expecting her to train in two weeks to reach the level of fighting efficiently in a war that not even the shogunate army was prepared for, and we have to consider Chizuru's character, since from the very beginning, [[TechnicalPacifist she doesn't like to hurt people]]. That's three valid reasons for her to not fight. Context is very important, when it comes to setting, plot, and character.