Ikemen Vampire is a hot-topic game for CYBIRD right now. The massively popular game is finally being translated into English, and the otome community has a new set of ikemen to drool over. The game is still very new on GooglePlay, with Leonardo Da Vinci having just been released back in June.
Please note that the game has a rating of 17+
Since the game isn’t fully translated/released, only three out of the possible twelve routes were available for play when I started. While I wanted to do Saint Germaine, he’s probably going to be the last route released, so I settled on Da Vinci instead.
Da Vinci was intriguing from the moment I first saw him. A charming, laid-back Italian who smelled of cigarillos (not cigarettes, there is a HUGE difference) and calls MC cara mia from the prologue on.
The basic story behind is route is that in order to put off the fifty-thousand marriage requests that come in for him, and to put in an additional fail-safe to ensure MC’s protection from the other vampires in the mansion, MC becomes Leonardo’s compagna provvisoria. Under the guise of being lovers, Leonardo and MC go about their lives as normally as possible. Then, with the magic of Otome, wind up becoming actual lovers.
Da Vinci’s route is full of humor and almost giggle-inducing to read. If he wants to take MC somewhere she doesn’t feel like going he calls her cara mia and just hoists her up and totes her there. If MC tries to hide from him, thus undermining their lover ruse, he finds her almost as quickly as she decides to hide.
Da Vinci stays one step ahead of MC almost the entire time, but manages to do it in a way that just leaves you shaking her head and saying “That’s a genius for you”
The “genius” trope in otome is sorely over-done and poorly executed the majority of the time.
The reason Da Vinci works under this trope is because everyone knows that this man was a real-life genius.
During the route there’s an endless stream of trivia relating back to the historical Leonardo Da Vinci. The fact that he’s a ambidextrous and writing notes in mirror-imaged Italian while taking apart a gramophone is perfectly acceptable because it’s all historical facts about Da Vinci (minus the gramophone part, Da Vinci would have never seen a gramophone).
All of the little tidbits are geared to remind you that he’s the real deal without another character, or even Leonardo himself, constantly chanting “He’s a genius” at MC.
MC stands up well under the pressure of being put next to someone as historically massive as Leonardo Da Vinci. She is really likable in this route; snappy and spirited without being a jerk. At one point, when Da Vinci mentions something about blood and leans a little too close to her neck for her liking, she bites him. Da Vinci thinks its hilarious that she chose to bite him and not just smack him specifically because he was a vampire but quickly reassures her that he was only joking about biting her. (This is not the only time Ikemen Vampire’s MC will bite the vampires before they can bite her, but I digress)
MC is also strong enough that she doesn’t just lay down and take all Da Vinci’s crap.
That said, she’s also aware that there’s only so much she can do to stop him.
In her own words; Da Vinci is like a storm and she’s just the poor bystander that got caught up in it.
Despite his title being “The Ingenious Deceiver”, his reassurance rings true. Where most vampires saying “I won’t eat you” leave you less than confident, this isn’t the case in this route for one very important reason.
Da Vinci is a stalwart defender of MC.
From the very first chapter he does his best to assuage her fears about being in a house full of vampires. He ensures that she’s safe and even gets her worked back down into a normal state of being after a brief fit of near hysteria. The only problem is that he’s also trying to protect himself from being hurt emotionally when she goes back home.
Obviously, you can’t fault the man for not wanting a broken heart, but it does make life harder for both of them.
Please note that there are some sexy times involved in Da Vinci’s route, particularly the ending. (Honestly, it would have been weird and OOC for his character to NOT have some sort of naughty section) Most of the explicit content is in the premium sections (or events) and can be somewhat avoided if that’s a problem for you.
Overall, Da Vinci’s route is solid and VERY good.
Four stars.
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