Celebrating One-Liners Day with the funniest otome game moments

It’s been a couple of months since I covered a lesser known national holiday — it’s a favourite subject of mine to explore. Today I’m back for the supposed One-Liners Day on January 21, and I’m dedicating it to my favourite joker characters and comedic moments within otome titles.

Let’s take a look at some of the funniest otome game moments — and feel free to add any favourite funny men of your own down in the comments and via our socials if you think I missed anyone. The world becomes a better place when laughter is shared!

The chatroom trolls of Blooming Panic and Mystic Messenger

Blooming Panic’s xyx and Mystic Messenger’s 707 are the resident trolls of their respective games. With both titles being held exclusively within chatrooms, their main appeal and purpose is in what they bring to the dynamics of a tightly knit community. Their humour and banter builds a sense of camaraderie with the other characters — ultimately it only ever emphasises their closeness and bonds.

xyx is constantly seen teasing the other chatroom members, be it by introducing himself to new members as “a god-like entity watching over ur fragile human life”, pinging the entire server for the most ludicrous and minor of reasons, and organising and running an unofficial fan test of the server’s shared interest in order to roleplay as a teacher to its participants. His antics never fail to put a smile on our faces!

707 is just as entertaining in terms of the things he comes out with — and with Mystic Messenger’s considerably longer playtime, there are too many gems to list them one by one. Let’s just say for now that him calling V, the head of the RFA, “daddy” left me wheezing and having to put my mobile down to catch my breath for a good few minutes. That’s only one of countless other examples that will leave you feeling grateful for playing the game.

I have previously covered what makes both xyx and 707 even more charming once their layers are unveiled; in both cases, their humour is a front to mask their depth and emotional cores. They are well conceptualised love interests who we will never stop loving, and their infectious humour is just an added bonus!

The heroines of Taisho x Alice and Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome

It’s always brilliant when an otome game heroine truly stands out, since it is unfortunately not necessarily something we can rely on in the genre. One of the best indicators of a main character being a positive factor in their own game is when she proves to have a funny bone of her own — it’s a defining characteristic we can appreciate in both love interests and main characters, after all!

Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome’s main character is one of the greatest examples of this. She’s balanced in terms of how relatable she is, and in how genuinely flawed she starts out as, with her learning to improve herself being a key point of the game as a whole. It all starts with plenty of social awkwardness, sass and misunderstandings about how romance works; her actions and words are overreactive and emphatic, but this just helps her not only align with the player, but also provide some entertainment at her own expense.

When it comes to Taisho x Alice, it is absolutely helped in the humour department by its stellar localisation, filled with meta jokes that target the player as an otome gamer and shoujo consumer — along with a main character who shares our own thoughts; she is most definitely reflective of the player’s attitude in both choices and even dialogue. Her personality is vocal, witty and sarcastic, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that enjoying her company is a major reason reason you should experience Taisho x Alice.

Oftentimes she will pull out a pop culture reference or two, or even give the “finger guns” towards the game’s love interests here and there. She’s a greatly entertaining heroine whose personality is uncommon for a localised otome, and she never fails to enrich the overall humour of the product.

The chaotic shenanigans in Collar x Malice

Collar x Malice may be a surprise pick for the list, but I’m sure that those who have played it can appreciate every bit of humour it manages to squeeze into its rather dramatic and tense plotline concerning gun violence, terrorism, police authority and numerous parallels to real-world issues. The breathing room these often unexpected yet pleasant moments provide by settling the tension and emotional strain of it all is very welcome — and there are plenty of standout scenes.

For example, across the game’s various routes, the main character’s brother is introduced to the love interests. While each encounter is greatly varied considering each of the love interests’ differing temperaments, Takeru really stands out due to his abrasiveness. He responds quite suggestively when queried about his relationship with the main character — that’s certainly one way to make an impression on your prospective partner’s family, and a scene that Collar x Malice players will not forget about anytime soon!

Additionally, the whole dynamic of the main character with the love interest Mineo deserves a separate article all of its own to celebrate. With the two being the closest in age out of all the possible pairings, their frequently butting heads and mutual sense of stubbornness serve to highlight their less-than-adult sensibilities and attitudes. They really do act as “rivals” to one another, and this is very endearing. It even results in a shouting contest where Mineo suggestively requests that our heroine become his partner — he means for police work only at this point, but we all know what their hearts really want!

There is also the Shiraishi hate club found within his own route, where the side characters of Kotoho and Eriko recruit the main character into their small, unofficial club devoted to hating their superior. This ultimately results in Shiraishi overhearing all the slander from across the table during a drunken night out, and the payoff is well and truly brilliant despite the characters’ anguish and embarrassment in the moment.

This leads me onto the many drunk shenanigans that are presented quite frequently in the game; they never fail to use many of the great supporting characters to up the fun factor. Yuzuru was a treat to behold, especially. You’ve got to play it to enjoy it!

The love interest group dynamics in multiple titles

An aspect of otome titles that is frequently appreciated by the audience is a willingness to explore the overall group dynamic between all the love interests. It not only adds depth to the love interests’ relationships beyond simply how they feel about the main character, but more often than not it provides plenty of opportunities for humour.

Great examples appear in titles like Code: Realize, BUSTAFELLOWS and Hakuoki. In many of these cases, the most comedic characters often end up being the butt of jokes within the group. For example, Van Helsing’s teasing of Impey in Code: Realize emphasises the latter’s tendency to react in a distinctly over-the-top manner — which only encourages Van to keep up the teasing.

Sequences like this highlight characters’ questionable behaviour in terms of being the group’s supposed “idiots”, but it is often a side-effect of them being a “genki” (energetic and happy-go-lucky) kind of character. It is very endearing, and helps to highlight how well the group bounce off one another.

Probably the very best example of group dynamics is seen relating to the character Crow in BUSTAFELLOWS, where he is teased by everyone including the main character for being such a vocally thirsty love interest; he’s well aware of what he’s doing, though, and joins in with the ongoing joke of the “respect jar”, even if the joke is mostly at his expense.

Both Hakuoki and Code: Realize also present many important and enjoyable friendships between the love interests. Code: Realize’s grouping of the love interests in its airship race event especially goes to show just how well the guys work together, even when the main character is not being a central part of the action for once. Their master plan to use Van as a “cannon ball” is one of the funniest moments found within a common route.

It’s arguably only challenged by Cupid Parasite’s countless amount of bonkers events, such as one involving the main character making her father, the God Mars, fall in love with a regular office vacuum.

There is also the iconic trio of Heisuke, Harada, and Shinpachi in Hakuoki, who truly do represent a closeness between bros that we can all aspire to. One of the game’s highlights comes from the CG seen above, where Shinpachi draws a face on Harada’s exposed chest when he is showing off a scar, fully breaking all the seriousness and heaviness of the scene. It’s so well-timed and executed.

On a final note in this regard, Steam Prison and Piofiore: Fated Memories both provide unexpectedly funny takes on relationships between the love interests — sometimes taking a turn for the suggestive. Of particular note is the way in which Eltcreed and Ulrik from Steam Prision seem to be a tighter unit with one another than when they are in a relationship with the main character — but this is trumped by perpetual pondering over whether or not Piofiore’s Nicola actually loves Dante more than the main character. He’s absolutely and wholeheartedly committed to being at his beck and call, after all — so it’s no surprise that the community has lingered on it, even going so far as to make memes about it.

Because yes, there is no denying that they are the true ship!

Unexpectedly hilarious “bad” endings

Let’s return to Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome for a moment just to reiterate how much it excels with its humour. This becomes clear almost immediately, since you can get a bad ending on your very first choice. By simply choosing to sleep through the day and not wake up to your alarm, you’ll be met with a bad ending; the main character ends up dying of old age, since none of the game’s events happen, leaving her to live an uneventful and dull life.

Cupid Parasite’s “bad” endings tend to play out as alternative conclusions or outright jokes. One of the earliest and easiest to discover is a sequence seen when you fail to settle on one love interest during the common route. You’ll find yourself met with a harem ending involving all five love interests “fighting” for the main character’s attention. It’s a pretty rewarding “bad” ending, all things considered — in bishoujo games, harem endings are often an ultimate goal, after all — so we doubt either the main character or Cupid Parasite’s players are complaining one bit.

It’s not uncommon for otome games not specifically labeled as “comedies” to spice things up with a bit of humour to encourage pursuit of their many endings. The first choice of Code: Realize, for example, quickly wraps up the story with a rather abrupt ending if you refuse the help of Lupin; it’s a little bleak if you think about the main character’s life of loneliness that will follow, but it plays somewhat on the humour of the situation. After all, what otome player would willingly turn their nose up at the game’s “poster boy”?

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As should be clear by now, there’s plenty of humour to be found in our favourite otome games. But what about you? What are some of your favourite funny moments from the otome titles you’ve played? Let’s hear ’em down in the comments or via the usual social channels!

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