Nightmare
I *finally* finished Nightmare's love route. With as much work as I put into it, he still reigns as my most favorite. Overall I liked his route a lot. It was deeply psychological, but unfortunately there's a lot that gets lost in translation. I can understand a modest amount of Japanese by ear; at least enough to understand what the horribly rough translation was giving me, but without Alice having a voice it makes the conversation much more difficult to understand. I hope someone with a better understanding of the language can translate it so the nuances between him and Alice can be properly understood. That being said, I'll give my thoughts on what I observed and could understand.
Honestly, I find Nightmare fascinating because of how everyone else responds to him. In Joker no kuni no Alice, he was compared to Joker a lot (I still haven't gotten Joker's route btw, so there could be something I'm missing.) But honestly, Joker seems like a totally different animal.
I have to wonder if there's more to Nightmare than what's in the first 3 games. Perhaps the writers are still hanging onto a key part of his personality that Alice hasn't seen. He tells her that she can get to know him slowly, because he obviously knows he's a scary and unusual individual, and the last person he wants to scare away is the one person who accepts that he can read their mind. Alice is really my favorite in this route too, because she realizes that just because he can read her mind doesn't mean he understands her any more than she understands him.
Perhaps it's the mother-side of me making me like him even more, but Alice being motherly to him is really sweet. The original scene of her kissing his closed eye when he was being paranoid as a good luck charm was what originally got my brain moving in that direction. When she's with Nightmare she becomes more of a woman, and more like her Mother and Sister, whom she idolizes. I don't know, but it seems like I always leave Nightmare's routes feeling really happy. (On a slightly dirty note, does anyone else think it would be SUPER HOT if Alice became queen of the Tower of Clover? I mean, Julius would be happy if she's there, no matter what, Gray relies on her heavily for support when dealing with Nightmare, she and Nightmare have a bond that is connected literally without speaking, and Ace...well Ace loves to be in the middle of anything fun, doesn't he? I think I see an OT4, or would that be an OT5? lol If there's a fan fic or dojin out there, someone point me in the right direction?
So back to Nightmare's route, there were a few events that made me squee like a school girl. 1.) When Nightmare tells her she should take a nap and turns into a Tapir for her to sleep on. I was all OMG... way too adorable. I giggled my @$$ off for like, 5 minutes. There was also a couple of teaparties. One with Blood and the other with the whole Hatter Family. I have no idea what the events for the Castle of Hearts and the Amusement Park have to bring. I did get a route with Julius at the tower a while back, and that was interesting. They're sitting there, doing nothing, when a phone starts ringing. All I could hear was, "Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring BANANA PHONE." But I digress, I'm happy just seeing Nightmare in a scene. Nothing special has to happen.
The best moment for me, was at the end, when she's on the verge of going back, but she's calling for him because he's hiding, watching her. He stands there, hesitant to do anything, probably scared to death she's about to leave him. When he does appear he seems braced for rejection. He's kind of far off, with a melancholy expression. When she tells him that she loves him, he practically tackles her in relief. It was so heart-warming. She realizes that he can't predict her actions, so he was incredibly nervous about what she would do. Many of the other routes are sweet and make my heart go pitter-pat but not like Nightmare's.
The actual ending I won't spoil but overall I was still pleased with everything. Nightmare's routes always seemed the most sweet. I still think I love him best in Joker, but I thought his relationship with Alice in Clover was really funny and cute too. They definitely made up for the fact that he had a crappy route in the original. I don't know what his normal route would be like, but when I'm done coming down from this high, I'll go back and do it.
In one more musing, I'm wondering if there are similarities between Sierra (I like her name being Sierra because of her hair color) and Michael Faust in the same was as Alice and Nightmare. It'd be awesome if all of the ladies from QuinRose were like that. I'm wondering about Wendy in the Peter Pan game. I'm willing to bet Peter Pan will be in a similar position to Nightmare and Michael... Ahh my fangirl mind won't shut off. Well, if anyone has thoughts to add or wants a discussion, I'm all ears! (or eyes.)
Honestly, I find Nightmare fascinating because of how everyone else responds to him. In Joker no kuni no Alice, he was compared to Joker a lot (I still haven't gotten Joker's route btw, so there could be something I'm missing.) But honestly, Joker seems like a totally different animal.
I have to wonder if there's more to Nightmare than what's in the first 3 games. Perhaps the writers are still hanging onto a key part of his personality that Alice hasn't seen. He tells her that she can get to know him slowly, because he obviously knows he's a scary and unusual individual, and the last person he wants to scare away is the one person who accepts that he can read their mind. Alice is really my favorite in this route too, because she realizes that just because he can read her mind doesn't mean he understands her any more than she understands him.
Perhaps it's the mother-side of me making me like him even more, but Alice being motherly to him is really sweet. The original scene of her kissing his closed eye when he was being paranoid as a good luck charm was what originally got my brain moving in that direction. When she's with Nightmare she becomes more of a woman, and more like her Mother and Sister, whom she idolizes. I don't know, but it seems like I always leave Nightmare's routes feeling really happy. (On a slightly dirty note, does anyone else think it would be SUPER HOT if Alice became queen of the Tower of Clover? I mean, Julius would be happy if she's there, no matter what, Gray relies on her heavily for support when dealing with Nightmare, she and Nightmare have a bond that is connected literally without speaking, and Ace...well Ace loves to be in the middle of anything fun, doesn't he? I think I see an OT4, or would that be an OT5? lol If there's a fan fic or dojin out there, someone point me in the right direction?
So back to Nightmare's route, there were a few events that made me squee like a school girl. 1.) When Nightmare tells her she should take a nap and turns into a Tapir for her to sleep on. I was all OMG... way too adorable. I giggled my @$$ off for like, 5 minutes. There was also a couple of teaparties. One with Blood and the other with the whole Hatter Family. I have no idea what the events for the Castle of Hearts and the Amusement Park have to bring. I did get a route with Julius at the tower a while back, and that was interesting. They're sitting there, doing nothing, when a phone starts ringing. All I could hear was, "Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring BANANA PHONE." But I digress, I'm happy just seeing Nightmare in a scene. Nothing special has to happen.
The best moment for me, was at the end, when she's on the verge of going back, but she's calling for him because he's hiding, watching her. He stands there, hesitant to do anything, probably scared to death she's about to leave him. When he does appear he seems braced for rejection. He's kind of far off, with a melancholy expression. When she tells him that she loves him, he practically tackles her in relief. It was so heart-warming. She realizes that he can't predict her actions, so he was incredibly nervous about what she would do. Many of the other routes are sweet and make my heart go pitter-pat but not like Nightmare's.
The actual ending I won't spoil but overall I was still pleased with everything. Nightmare's routes always seemed the most sweet. I still think I love him best in Joker, but I thought his relationship with Alice in Clover was really funny and cute too. They definitely made up for the fact that he had a crappy route in the original. I don't know what his normal route would be like, but when I'm done coming down from this high, I'll go back and do it.
In one more musing, I'm wondering if there are similarities between Sierra (I like her name being Sierra because of her hair color) and Michael Faust in the same was as Alice and Nightmare. It'd be awesome if all of the ladies from QuinRose were like that. I'm wondering about Wendy in the Peter Pan game. I'm willing to bet Peter Pan will be in a similar position to Nightmare and Michael... Ahh my fangirl mind won't shut off. Well, if anyone has thoughts to add or wants a discussion, I'm all ears! (or eyes.)