Catharsis is the thing that Kotori’s route never had for me. In hindsight, chasing off the wolves is the finale; however–while reading–I expected a conclusion, not an abrupt stop. (Hence why I jumped on Harvest Festa the second I learned that machine translators were a thing.) Rewrite has a rule about routes not being allowed a (too) happy ending, so Kotori’s route simply doesn’t give you an ending at all. Instead, they sold it to you in a separate box 1 year later.
It was one of the best routes I’d ever read, even from Key works.
The end is abrupt, and it takes its sweet time to start as well. But the despair I felt in the middle, especially during the final night…!!! I swear I rarely had such a hard time reading something. Kôtarou and Kotori stand absolutely no chance at all, they know that, you (as a reader) know that, yet the batte still happens and man, what a HUGE series of loss. First they lose Kotori’s Life source, then they lose their army of creatures, then they lose Chibimoth, then they realize they’re in the enemy’s trap, then they lose Kotori’s parents, … It’s a non-stop series of loss until that very end where Kôtarou is about to faint and Kotori desperately tries to bring him to the city.
I also loved the relatively short length. Rewrite, overall, is way too long for what it’s worth. I did like it a lot, but I think it could have been a masterpiece had they tried to make it more concise. Kotori’s route, however, is not that long to read, so it was easier for me to swallow.
The end is way too abrupt though. It deserved much, much better than that. I guess we can count Harvest Festa as the “real epilogue”, but still…
Anyway, in my opinion it’s the best route in this game (except maybe Moon and Terra).
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