I don’t really like childhood friend stories at the best of times and Toma did not leave the best impression. There is just something off about Toma’s good guy act. Even in the other routes I just KNEW something twisted lurked beneath his big brother persona. But, the first indication that this Toma’s routes was going to be an experience was the maxed out Suspicion. None of the other love interests start their routes with 100% Suspicion. Not even Shin, and he was accused of pushing the MC off a cliff. Toma’s route is just one big red flag.
Amnesia Memories Otome Review
So I finally got around to finishing my first route in Amnesia: Memories! Yay! *throws confetti* As always, I’m a few months behind the rest of the otome community. But I can live with that. I took my time playing this one, and I’m kinda glad I did. There was a…
Amnesia Memories Toma Route Review
Nice Guy™Toma
Toma’s route starts off differently from the others in Amnesia: Memories. Tomain is the only love interest who isn’t the MC’s boyfriend in this world. After choosing the Diamond world, Orion attempts to return the MC to her location before their consciousnesses collided. But, something interrupts him and she ends up passed out in the middle of the street. While the MC is half conscious and confused Toma arrives to save the day. His appearance triggers a very important memory and causes the MC to lose the ability to see Orion.
But, before they can worry about that new development, Toma is drags the MC off to the hospital. Since she has no one to rely on, Toma offers to go to her home and retrieve some of her essentials. He even takes care of all of all the MC’s medical paperwork. Because of her condition, the MC is forced to stay in the hospital for 3 days. Without proper stimulation to help jog her memories, the MC’s condition starts to regress. The doctors run a battery of tests, but when they can’t find anything wrong they decide to release her into Toma’s care.
Toma is the typical big brother/childhood friend character. He’s protective, reliable, and sweet; at first. He takes care of the MC’s every need while she is in the hospital since her parents live far away. Toma even stays with her the day after she leaves the hospital, watching over her like a guardian angel. There’s a really sweet scene where he falls asleep at her bedside. Orion is even impressed by his dedication, gushing over how well he cares for the MC.
Something Doesn’t Seem Right About Toma
When the MC questions Toma about their relationship, he is quick to confirm that he is indeed her boyfriend. Orion is relieved that the MC is in good hands and encourages the MC to trust Toma. Hell, I found myself trusting Toma for a bit. That is until he let slip that he only sees the MC as a sister. Which is strange coming from someone who claims to be her boyfriend. But, naively I let it pass. Maybe Toma is just trying to reassure the MC that he wasn’t some type of sexual predator. He even explains the situation to her job so that the stress of working won’t interfere with her recovery.
When Toma realizes that the MC is being harassed he offers to let her stay at his place until the trouble dies down. He is a dream! If I didn’t know better Toma might have actually given Kent a run for his money as best boy. But, I did know better. The entire time Toma has been doting on the MC, I was sitting in my seat munching my popcorn, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And boy did Toma deliver!
The Ikki Fangirls Return with a Vengeance
In this route the MC has harbored an unrequited crush on Toma for over 19 years. But, big brother Toma has been too dense to notice. So the MC seeks the assistance of Ikki in winning the heart of her oblivious big bro. If you’ll think back with me for a moment to Ikki’s route. You’ll remember that Ikki has a murderous cult of fangirls following him around 24-7. So you can see where this is going. The MC’s secret meetings with her love guru senpai don’t go unnoticed by the fan club. Who begin harrassing her in retaliation for the MC getting too close to their man.
The antics of the fangirls in Toma’s route make the Ikki route fangirls look tame. Their harassment is turned up to eleven. At first they start in with threatening texts and emails. From there escalate to defacing the MC’s home and filling her mailbox with garbage and rotten food. But, their grandest prank by far is when they dox the MC and spread rumors about her online. Catching the attention perverts who follow her around and send her vulgar messages.
However, rather than calling the cops to report the abuse, the MC does nothing. She doesn’t tell anyone about the harassment. It isn’t until her accident that Toma even finds out about it. Which prompts him to assume his ultimate form: Super Protective Big Brother Toma. He then drags her to his house under the guise of monitoring her condition. But in reality he wants to keep her locked up until he can take care of the fangirl problem.
So Many Red Flags
From the moment the MC enters Toma’s home the red flags and alarms started going off. Something was just not right about him. Sure he is nice, but he’s almost too nice! Toma cooks all her meals, and even gives up his bed for her. He even secretly goes to her house everyday to clean up the damage the Ikki fan club creates. Toma buys her a new phone and hides her computer’s battery so that she doesn’t have to see all the nasty message and hate mail.
While he’s being super nice to her, Toma constantly lies to the MC and withholds information. He keeps her locked up in his house and doesn’t let her leave. His overbearing nature had me screaming at my screen for the MC to run for the hills. At one point, he catches the MC out of the house and each time he drags her back to his house. But, because she needed to gather information in order to regain her memories, she continues to escape. That is until Toma finally brings out The Cage.
First let me say that I was highly suspicious of Toma preparing all of the MC’s food. So, when she started passing out for hours at a time. I was almost positive that he was drugging her food. So when I finally saw the cage in all of it’s glory, I laughed to keep from crying at how utterly ridiculous the whole situation was. Toma gets a dog cage and assures her that the cage is for her protection and not meant as a punishment. He even promised to let her out for potty breaks and showers, because he’s not a complete jerk!
It’s for Your Protection
As if to make the situation better Toma brings her toys so she wouldn’t feel bored during her time in the cage. He gives her a jigsaw puzzle to occupy her time. To make matters worse, Toma constantly complains to the MC about the messes he has to clean up at her house! Then to add insult to injury, Orion, the MCs only companion in this hell hole blames her for being in the cage!
Toma belongs in a loony bin. He brings new meaning to the line “People do crazy things when they’re in love”. His love for the MC is so great that the thought of anyone else stealing her away pushes him over the edge. So he squashed his feelings down and contented himself with simply watching her from afar. But, when time came to act, Toma couldn’t suppress his feelings. He just couldn’t let his cute little sister get snatched away by someone else. Deep down, Toma just wants the object of his obsession affection to love him. Which I guess is sweet, but when he decided to put her in the cage, that’s when everything got out of hand!
Do I Recommend Toma’s Route?
Sometimes in life there is just no one way to react to something, this is one of those moments. Now I know why Toma is barely in any of the other routes other than Shin’s and his own. There is no way in hell any of the other routes would be possible with him around.
So the endings. The only redeeming ending in this route is the Normal ending. In that ending Shin bursts in like a Captain-Save-A-Hoe, punches Toma before he can assault the MC and drags her out of his apartment to safety. Toma disappears, never to be heard from again and Ikki and Shin take care of the fangirls. Life goes on for the MC, but she can’t help but pray that Toma is happy where ever he is. I sincerely hope that wherever he is he’s getting the help that he needs! In the Good Ending, the MC is about to get assaulted by an out of control Toma. In an act of desperation the MC calls out to the Big Brother inside of Toma to come and help her. Toma snaps out of it just and time, and backs away from her directly into his book shelf.
The MC’s bag falls from the shelf, and out pops her diary (which until this point was forgotten by everyone). Toma reads it and learns that the MC has been in love with him her entire life. They confess their love for one another, put the fangirls in their place and live happily ever after. I almost threw up when I read this! He kept her in a cage for Christ’s sake, you don’t start dating him after all of that. No, you run like hell in the opposite direction!
I actually got the Ukyo Bad Ending just to end it all! In it, after the MC escapes the cage, she runs into Ukyo. Instead of running away from the only person creepier than Toma. She decides to trust him and is rewarded by him pushing her down a well. In the other Bad Ending, the MC runs into Toma, who locks the MC back in the cage turning her into a living doll.
There is nothing more that I can say about Toma that hasn’t already been said. So my recommendation, if you haven’t already guessed it. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS ROUTE…I found myself treating this route as a joke just so I could get through the whole thing!
