Line #35 VisualNovel/Cartagra


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9	''Cartagra: Affliction of the Soul'' is a 2005 erotic VisualNovel created by game company Innocent Grey.
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11	It is the 1950s, and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the American occupation of Japan]] has passed. The hero of this story is Shugo Takashiro, an ex-police detective who is now unemployed and freeloading at a brothel. From time to time, he takes on detective work from his former superior. As the story starts off, a missing persons case is dumped onto him. The person he is supposed to find is Yura Kozuki--a girl he had an intimate relationship with before being sent off to war. What's more, he's joined on the search by Kazuna Kozuki--Yura's twin sister, whom he'd never met. While all this is being played out, a series of brutal killings occur in the background. As they strike closer to home, Shugo is no longer able to turn a blind eye and is dragged into the spiraling web of events.
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13	''Cartagra'' is followed by another visual novel by the same company, ''VisualNovel/TheShell'', though there are very few plot connections between the games aside from returning characters and settings.
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15	Received a fan dub by the LetsPlay/LetsDubProject.
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17	----
18	!!Provides examples of:
19
20	%%* ACupAngst: Kazuna.
21	%%* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Tokiko Shigusa.
22	* AnyoneCanDie: By the end of the game, [[spoiler: Rin, Takako, Tokiko, Akao, and Arishima are all dead]]. [[spoiler:The fandisc-exclusive afterstory finally includes Yura in the death count.]]
23	%%* ApocalypseCult: Senri.
24	* AnArmAndALeg: The serial killer's general ''modus operandi''. [[spoiler:It's also in line with Senri's prophecies.]]
25	%%* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Sister Fukamizu, Ikuma Akao, Yura Kozuki...]]
26	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Needless to say, this is what ends up happening in the bad endings, where one of the villains ends up either capturing Shugo to inflict unspeakable horrors on him, or successfully silencing him because HeKnowsTooMuch. That aside, even the good endings other than the TrueEnding have shades of this:]]
27	** [[spoiler: In Hatsune's ending, Shugo willingly abandons his investigation, leaves everything to Toji, and never hears from her again. Since no news of the case's resolution ever comes about, it's entirely possible the culprits are a KarmaHoudini and still at large.]]
28	** [[spoiler: In Kazuna's normal ending, Akao Ikuma ''does'' get exposed and dies at the end. However, an arson incident at the Senri temple (which is what killed Ikuma) closes off any other possible leads (with the TrueEnding implying that it was Arishima who was behind it). Even as Arishima gets away scot-free, the final scene also shows that Yura has successfully tracked down Shugo, and with Kazuna no longer in her way due to moving abroad...]]
29	* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:The TrueEnding reveals that there were three characters responsible for the horrific crimes and atrocities committed throughout the story:]]
30	** [[spoiler:Akao Ikuma carried out the grisly murders in Ueno out of a sick obsession towards Kozuki Yura, determined to bring her so-called "prophecies" to life so that she'd eventually return his devotion. For a while, he manipulated Sister Fukimazu into doing his dirty work, before her capture forced him to get his own hands dirty. He's also the first main antagonist to be exposed, as early as Kazuna's normal ending.]]
31	** [[spoiler:Detective Arishima engineered the rise of Senri from the sleazy cult it originally was, turning it into a WretchedHive of corruption to further his own ends. He was also responsible for a lot of the torment Yura endured, having convinced her father to sell her off as a human test subject, and later recruiting her to serve as Senri's new figurehead, with Akao doing the actual administrative work. He was, however, [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic]] enough to disapprove of the increasingly unhinged serial murders that Akao and Yura masterminded, and his villainous actions in the TrueEnding are motivated by him trying to cover his own tracks.]]
32	** [[spoiler:And finally, we have Kozuki Yura herself. The TrueEnding makes it abundantly clear that the mistreatment she endured at the hands of her family, Arishima, and society in general irrevocably broke her, as she used her position as the leader of Senri to manipulate Akao into targeting the women Shugo got close to, in a twisted attempt to keep him all to herself. This culminates in an attempt to murder her own sister so that she can switch places with her and deceive Shugo into loving her again, which would have been successful had Nana not foiled her scheme.]]
33	* BigBrotherMentor: Shugo acts as one to Yukishiro worker Hatsune in the art of writing.
34	* BigSisterInstinct: Toji to Kazuna. [[spoiler:[[DefiedTrope Completely defied]] with Yura, who tries to kill Kazuna.]]
35	* BittersweetEnding:
36	** Even the TrueEnding will have this: [[spoiler:Rin, Takako, and Tokiko have been killed in some way thanks to Senri. People who are connected to the cult, such as Akao Ikuma and Detective Arishima, are also dead. The only living culprit left is Kozuki Yura, and she's currently in a coma. But despite all of this, Shugo, Kazuna, and Toji have all survived. Kazuna's father has turned over a new leaf, the Yukishiro is doing better, and Kazuna ultimately decides to study acting abroad, so that Yura will always have a sister to look up to.]]
37	** In the fandisc after story, [[spoiler:Kazuna returns to Japan as a famous actress, and reunites with Shugo and Toji again. She also visits Yura in her hospital bed. A happy reunion, right? It would have been, if Yura hadn't chosen this time to regain consciousness. Enraged that Kazuna is still alive, she gets out of bed, murders the staff at her hospital before storming into the theatre where Kazuna was performing, kills the male lead and appears on-stage ''in his clothes''. Before she can murder her sister, however, Toji pulls out her revolver and shoots Yura--this time, fatally.]] Holy shit...
38	* ButThouMust: If you refuse Detective Arishima's offer at the very beginning, Shugo will end up accepting it anyway.
39	** In the Koyuki and Seri route, [[spoiler: no matter which direction (left or right) Shugo takes to escape the Senri compound, he will witness the twins having sex with one of the cult's followers and then the killer will get him.]]
40	** When Madam Ujaku [[spoiler:asks Shugo to investigate the killings in the aftermath of Otoha's murder, Shugo has to choose between fully shifting his focus to the investigation, or trying to manage both the serial murders and the search for Yura concurrently. Whatever choice you make, Shugo initially convinces Kazuna to put the search on hold, and then resumes it after surviving the encounter with Sister Fukimazu.]]
41	* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:In the TrueEnding route, before searching the Senri complex, Toji hands Shugo a revolver to protect himself. He keeps it until the day he shoots Yura, having been unable to return the gun to Toji.]]
42	%%* CloudcuckooLander: Nana, Shugo's "[[SarcasmMode beloved]]" little sister.
43	%%* TheComicallySerious: Toji.
44	* CoolBigSis: Kazuna sees Toji as a cool figure--a slightly misguided notion, given the latter's position in the [[{{Yakuza}} criminal underworld]].
45	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Where do we even start?
46	** Like many of the other characters in ''Cartagra'', Shugo fought in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Before he did so, he ended up "betraying" Yura by leaving her and never returning to her, which has left him with guilt for over ten years.
47	** Yura [[spoiler:was treated as a cursed freak by her family (Kazuna had no idea about this), and was given over to people who "experimented" on her--all before meeting Shugo. And even he only had the vaguest inkling of just ''how'' troubled she really was when he was together with her]].
48	* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Somewhat averted. The scenes where Shugo is raped by either [[spoiler: Sister Fukamizu]] or [[spoiler: Nana]], during some bad endings, are intentionally disturbing. Those scenes even feature the same music that is played during the moments of tension or danger, although they still get registered in the H-Scenes gallery.
49	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Tokiko, in the TrueEnding route.]] [[spoiler:At least, that's what we're led to believe. In truth, Yura had snuck into Tokiko's location and killed her, [[NeverSuicide making it appear as a hanging]].]]
50	** Later on in the same route, [[spoiler: this is played straight with Detective Arishima.]]
51	* EmptyShell: Koyuki and Seri, two new prostitutes at the Yukishiro, definately give off this impression. Koyuki gives off a hostile aura when stopped by Shugo, but that's about it.
52	** [[spoiler: Shugo presumably becomes this in two of the bad endings, both due to psychological torture.]]
53	* EyeScream:
54	** One of the killer's victims has her eyes removed. With a knife. While she's dead. [[spoiler:The victim is Otoha, one of the prostitutes from the Yukishiro brothel.]]
55	** [[spoiler:The same is done with Koyuki and Seri, Otoha's apprentices and later Senri followers.]]
56	%%* FatBastard: [[spoiler:Tokiko's father Michio, as described by Detective Arishima.]]
57	* FauxAffablyEvil: Much like in ''The Shell'', the killers are introduced as unassuming people. [[spoiler:One of them even masquerades as someone Shugo knows.]]
58	* HappyEndingOverride: [[spoiler: The main game ends on a bittersweet but hopeful note where Yura is left in a coma and hope is given that she could get better. The fandisc after-story, however, definitively rules out any possibility of her redemption, and has her die a villain.]]
59	* HeroicNeutral: Shugo, being an ex-cop freeloading at a brothel. [[spoiler:He leaves the trope behind [[ItsPersonal when Otoha and Rin are brutally murdered]].]]
60	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Rin and Madam Ujaku of the Yukishiro. Strongly [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] with Otoha, who is irritated with Hatsune and Shugo for different reasons and is consistently rude and abrasive to them; but was good friends with Rin, and was remembered fondly by Ujaku. Averted all the way with her apprentices, Koyuki and Seri, though.
61	* HowClumsyOfMe: In the fandisc, [[spoiler:Nana "accidentally" leaves a knife on Yura's table, leading Yura to claim three more lives before Toji kills her for good.]]
62	%%* IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler:Detective Arishima.]]
63	* IJustWantToBeYou: [[spoiler:Why Yura impersonated Kazuna at the end: because Kazuna has Shugo's love now, not Yura.]]
64	* InsufferableGenius: Yaginuma is a very intelligent man and a highly competent detective. He is also a complete and utter {{Jerkass}}.
65	* {{Jerkass}}:
66	** Yaginuma. [[spoiler:However, it's not revealed why he acts like that in this game. See ''VisualNovel/TheShell'', if you want to know.]]
67	** Keiichiro Kozuki, Kazuna and Yura's father, is selfish, sexist even by the standards of the time the game is set in, and aggressive.
68	%%* LadyOfWar: Toji is the closest thing to one that ''Cartagra'' sees.
69	* LoveInterests: Kazuna is the primary focus for ''Cartagra''.
70	* MadArtist: [[spoiler:Turns out that Akao Ikuma was responsible for the "horrifically beautiful" serial killings.]]
71	%%* MoralityPet: Kazuna serves as this to Shugo.
72	%%* MultipleEndings
73	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: The killers of ''Cartagra'' are unhinged enough to believe this. [[spoiler:The culmination is in the TrueEnding, which sees Yura trying to kill Kazuna, her own sister; but the incidents leading up to this--Akao Ikuma's "[[SarcasmMode artful]]" butcheries and Senri's handling of their own followers--are also quite disturbing.]]
74	* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Yura just wants Shugo to love her, and Kazuna dead. Not only does she impersonate Kazuna and order her sister buried alive, when those plans fail, Yura grabs Kazuna and presses a knife against her throat, [[SiblingMurder hellbent on making Kazuna suffer]]. It's only a hit from Shugo's gun that prevents Yura from carrying it out.]]
75	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: The morning after they make love [[spoiler:[[TrueEnding again]]]], Shugo stands up, completely naked. Kazuna, who is not, is understandably embarrassed. HilarityEnsues.
76	* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler:In the TrueEnding route, Shugo finds Tokiko Shigusa in his hideout, hanging from a noose. The likelihood of this being a murder is very low, because a Hand of Death member was standing guard, ordered only to allow Shugo and Kazuna to enter.]] [[spoiler:Yura had used her resemblance to her sister to sneak in and kill Tokiko, who [[HeKnowsTooMuch knows too much]] about Senri's movements to leave alive.]]
77	* NoSenseOfHumor: Toji can't seem to take a tease.
78	* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:As ''VisualNovel/TheShell'' confirms, Shugo and Kazuna get married between the events of ''Cartagra'' and ''The Shell''.]]
79	* PerspectiveFlip: Sometimes, the perspective with shift from Shugo to the killer.
80	* PinballProtagonist: Shugo. Regardless of what the player chooses, [[spoiler: Shugo can't prevent the deaths of characters such as Rin and Tokiko.]]
81	%%* PluckyGirl: Kazuna.
82	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Detective Arishima, Madam Ujaku. [[spoiler:[[FauxAffablyEvil It's an act]] in Arishima's case.]]
83	%%* RedLightDistrict: Where the Yukishiro brothel is based in Tokyo.
84	* RedRightHand: [[spoiler:An obscured version: Yura has silver eyes, which was rumored to be a curse.]]
85	* {{Sadist}}: [[spoiler:Nana. She figured out Sister Fukamizu's identity as the murderer early on, but did not turn her in because she enjoyed the murders. She only led Shugo to Fukamizu once the mad nun started targeting Shugo's close friends.]]
86	* SerialKiller: One of the game's core storylines revolves around them, just like with ''VisualNovel/TheShell''. Shugo's initial objective is to find Yura with Kazuna's help, but personally gets involved in the serial killings in Ueno [[spoiler:when one of the Yukishiro workers, Otoha, is brutally murdered]].
87	%%* ShellShockedVeteran: Shugo, [[spoiler:Detective Arishima, Akao Ikuma.]]
88	* ShrinkingViolet: Hatsune is very quiet and timid.
89	* SiblingMurder: [[spoiler:What almost happens in the TrueEnding, with an exposed Yura attempting to kill Kazuna.]]
90	* SuddenlySpeaking: In Kazuna's normal route, [[spoiler: Shugo appears during one of the perspective flips, thus he has his own sprite and is fully voiced.]]
91	%%* TheStoic: Toji. Unless [[NotSoStoic she's embarassed]].
92	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Kozuki Yura, due to a freak genetic mutation that gave her grey irises, was subject to hideous abuses and cruel experiments due to a family legend. In the present, she's become a DiabolicalMastermind {{Yandere}} that wants Shugo, revenge, and to kill Kazuna out of spite for being the lucky sister, in roughly that order.]]
93	* {{Yakuza}}: The Hand of Death, an underground syndicate of which Toji is a part.
94	* YamatoNadeshiko: A few female characters still wear kimonos in post-World War II Japan, such as Kazuna and the Yukishiro prostitutes.

Context VisualNovel / Cartagra