Slow Damage may not be a tale of people kicking asses left and right, but one of the biggest payoffs that the player gets is the catharsis that they get from from the resolution of each plot.
Warning: Spoilers Off applies to these pages. Proceed at your own risk.
Taku's Route
- The second time a particular henchman of Toono attempts to attack him for talking to Lisa, Towa fights back and even gets to land a few hits on the hothead. Alas, it earns him a brutal beatdown and a broken arm from Toono shortly after, though Towa finally manages to even the score in the Euphoria ending by choking the aforementioned henchman into unconsciousness. Likewise, Towa also gets a bit of payback at Toono by stopping him from killing Taku at a decisive moment. If it weren't for Taku asking Towa to give him the gun or the fact that the mainland police needed Toono alive, there was a good chance that Towa would have actually killed Toono, or at least shot him where it would hurt like hell.
- Though Toono more than deserved a bullet in his head, it doesn't downplay the intensity and importance of the scene where Taku is given the opportunity to shoot the man dead... and opts not to. Partly because Taku decides to stick to his principles as a doctor, and partly because he's just done following Toono's orders, which explains his refusal to settle things Toono's way.
Rei's Route
- Towa doing what others in and out the game have been itching to do since the man first showed up: punch Rei's poor excuse of a father in his smarmy face. And without any prompting, he drags the guy and forces him to spectate Rei's final Moneymatch to make him witness the consequences of his actions first-hand.
Madarame's Route
- Whether you like Madarame or hate him, no one can deny that he is a legitimate One-Man Army, and there's a reason why many talk of him with fear. Even the Takasato-gumi, despite their disbelief that he could still be alive, do not talk of him as someone whose strength was exaggerated by hearsay. The rumors about him sending every guy who encounters him in District A getting sent to the hospital with terrible injuries? That's no exaggeration. Near the climax of his route, the player sees him square up against multiple members of the Takasato-gumi, and they're all armed in some way. He still pummels them all to the ground and isn't even exhausted at the end.
Fujieda's Route
- Taku deserves points for bravery when despite being beaten up so badly he has trouble standing on his own feet, he musters all the strength he has left to warn Madarame to leave Towa alone, and is all too ready to beat him up, even attempting to chase after him at one point. While it's obvious he wouldn't stand a chance, one still has to give it to him for guts alone.
- Likewise, Rei also gets some credit for managing to endure Madarame's beating without passing out. While it's obvious that he's only barely trying to hold on, many other men experienced in combat have gone against Madarame only to get knocked down the ground in literally a single punch. From the bruises on Rei's face and the other injuries not shown to the player, it becomes apparent that he had taken multiple hits, and yet he's still standing and conscious by the time Towa finds him.
- It's cathartic as it is symbolic that all of Maya's plans were undone by none other than a mere young girl who was everything that Maya wasn't: innocent and kind. While her attempts to help Towa escape tragically ended in her own death, it's Mei's influence that allowed Towa to finally stand up to Maya once he realized that his mother was responsible for the death of his one friend.
- Near the end of Fujieda's route, Towa distracts Sakaki from killing Fujieda by acting like Maya. The impersonation does lead to Towa's trauma threatening to break his mind, however. But in the Euphoria ending, Towa succeeds in reasserting his identity over Maya's influence, and manages to trick Sakaki for a little longer until he's open enough for Towa to land a solid hit on his gut. Then he takes Maya's pocket watch and dangles it over a desperate Sakaki, saying in a cold and resolute voice:Towa: I'm not going to become Maya.
- And as if to give one final middle finger to both Sakaki and Maya, he tosses the pocket watch — one of Maya's most prized possessions and the symbol of the business she ran — down below, to which Sakaki chases after it... and promptly falls to his death. With that, Towa (even if inadvertently) gets to fully avenge Mei's demise by killing the one who ordered for her death and the one who directly took her life... with both people meeting the same end.
