Maruto Fumiaki: The Herculean Journey of Love

What does it mean to love? That simple, yet complex, question is the foundation that constitutes the works written by Maruto Fumiaki. Love is such a complex emotion, its many facets being the driving motivator for many irrational intricacies found in human behaviour. Once entangled in the web of love, it is nigh impossible to escape from its unrelenting grip. Every bit of standard rationale is all but eviscerated, the body becoming a prisoner to a stronger force, as it toils in pain, not being able to control itself. Though part of us desires to stay in that web, another part will watch in horror, seeing the sins of love come into fruition. And it is through that paradoxically complex yet simple feeling that Maruto dares to ask: How far are you willing to go for love?

Maruto Fumiaki is a writer I have a lot of respect for within the VN medium. While I have only read three of his works, those being Parfait, Damekoi and White Album 2, each one has left a visceral impression on me. In the future, I have Konnyaku, Curio, Mama Love and Folklore Jam on my radar. The common throughline connecting Maruto’s works concerns the idea of love. The backbone that establishes the thematic core of each of his works revolves around the ruthlessness of love and the resulting sins that emerge from crossing that path. The turmoil, pain and emotional outbursts that follow are draining for not only the characters but also the reader, as Maruto is able to marry the multifaceted characters with poignant language to sell the emotional damage perfectly. Going through the chronological timeline of Maruto’s work, a clear evolution of his writing prowess can be easily mapped out. And through that map, the answer to his longstanding question can finally be surmised.

One key feature with Maruto’s writing style is how clear he builds everything up. Once the core themes for the VN are established, Maruto crafts characters that are able to work around the themes while still being fully realized. It all starts with the common route, the perfect introduction to everything that will happen later on. Here, the characters are first introduced and their dynamics with each other are constructed. Maurto manipulates his characters in a way to create a complex web of relations, and it is through that where things start to build up slowly. Behind the veil of the characters, the core themes are already set into stone, omnipresent throughout the whole VN, though never overbearing unless it has to be. It becomes apparent that Maruto builds up the main themes for his stories slowly but surely. Instead of constant bombardment or a lack of anything for the large majority of the script, important moments are sprinkled throughout, building them up carefully and letting them always be present as a constant reminder, but they never overstep their boundaries, allowing the characters some breathing room.

Maruto’s command of the Japanese language is nothing short of astonishing, being able to convey so much with so little. There are so many lines that are soaked with so much raw emotion that Maruto is able to sell his stories properly and deliver perfectly on the execution of each scene, making each one feel important. The typical Maruto sentence structure is able to give rise to so much emotion, drawing in the reader with each line. These scenes are impactful not because of what is happening because of how it’s happening, and that is how Maruto is able to win over the readers. Seeing the characters struggle and how they go through their emotions is heart wrenching at the bare minimum. For these important scenes, Maruto makes sure that each line ties back into the core themes of the work, reminding not only the characters but the readers about the various ideas they learned along the way. By tying the main themes and narrative focal points directly to the characters themselves, it makes everything that much more powerful and resonant. When the characters, they suffer for a logical reason that can be traced back. While these characters are flawed, they are consistently flawed as they grow and change over time with everything that’s happening around them. Every bit of pain the characters are due to their own faults and failures, as they clash with each other. It is up to the characters to pick up the pieces and navigate the maze they threw themselves into. Love is a selfish monster and those unprepared to deal with it have a bumpy road ahead of them.

The journey starts with Parfait. While Maruto was already an experienced writer by this point, here, Maruto would finally come into his own as a writer. While there are clear missteps in how certain routes and the common route are executed, Maruto shows his excellence in Ema and Rikako’s routes. At its core, Parfait is a story about how the sins of the past can affect relationships in the present. The ghost of their former workplace still haunts Hitoshi, Ema and Rikako, as they are unable to move on from the past. Hitoshi tries to honor the past, by building up Famille again, Ema is reluctant to move on but is willing to support Hitoshi and Rikako is putting her distance between them, but still willing to lend a hand when needed.

In Rikako’s route, Hitoshi and Rikako rekindle their old relationship. However, stubborn as ever, Rikako refuses to open up to Hitoshi, afraid that the knowledge of the past will ruin their newfound bliss in the present day. Nontheless, Hitoshi persists and when the curtains come up, all the pent-up emotions come crashing down. Rikako suffered an injury to her arm during the Famille incident, causing her to be unable to move her left arm. Because of Hitoshi’s shortsightedness, he was never able to discern Rikako’s injury and because of Rikako’s jealousy and pessimism, she accepted that Hitoshi will not love her at all, and instead prioritizes Ema over her. Hitoshi realizes his sin. Will the weight of his sins crush Hitoshi? Will he succumb to his pain or come out with his head held out high? In the True End, Hitoshi atones for his sins every step of the way. The main conceit of route comes from the tension between the characters and how they learn from each other. Their stubborn natures clash with each other as they learn about each other and themselves in the process. Hitoshi does everything in his power to overcome his past mistakes and try to come out as a better person. Once Rikako notices all of this, she questions Hitoshi, but Hitoshi wins her over. Yes, the most important people to him are his family, so henceforth, he’ll make Rikako a part of his family too.

Hitsohi proves his love by going the distance and showing to Rikako that it is possible to love someone despite the mishaps of the past. Not once does Hitoshi waver, resolute to prove himself as someone better. Here, Maruto perfectly answers the question of what it means to love with all your heart in respect to a previous failed relationship. Atone for the past with actions and prove that you are worthy of love. Dedicate yourself and show the person you love your true worth. The pain in the beginning may be unbearable, but perseverance and acceptance are needed to take the meaningful forwards to produce a bountiful joyous love. Hitoshi bears through the pain of his past sins and powers forward, remaining dedicated to Rikako. Once he is able to overcome the beast that is love, Hitoshi is in full control of his destiny. And in the end, it pays off as that temporary sorrow turns to eternal happiness.

Though, there is an easy way out, an escape from the pain caused by the beast. Every Maruto work provides an easy outlet for the protagonist to avoid having to take accountability for his actions. In Ema’s routes, Hitoshi surrounds himself with the familiarity of his sister. Instead of facing his sins with Rikako, Hitoshi sidesteps the issue altogether and hides away in a place that is comfortable and familiar. While this is by no means a bad end, Maruto does like emphasizing and addressing the what-if scenario if the protagonist takes the easy way out. Things do end well, but things are off. On the surface, things are happy, but deep down there is something fundamentally wrong with how everyone is acting. Being unable to clear up all the tension, they instead cover everything up with happy lies and that is exactly what happens in Ema’s routes. Hitoshi comes crying back to Ema when things get tough with Rikako and just as Rikako mentions in her own route, it is his family that Hitoshi loves the most. Instead of rectifying that misconception, Hitoshi continues to perpetuate it, thus falling victim to the pain.

As shown by Parfait, Maruto is able to flawlessly encapsulate the ephemeral beauty of love in his work and that thematic throughline continues towards Damekoi as well. Here, Maruto still tackles the question of overcoming barriers for love, however Damekoi has a different focal point to tie itself back to the theme of love. Damekoi poses the question of how far you are willing to go for love in the face of external opposition. Instead of a holistically internal issue, Damekoi decides to factor in how external components affect the internal workings of a relationship. Even if both parties are in unison, how will everyone else look at them and are they alright with the consequences? Breaking down the barriers of what is considered acceptable, Maruto dares to ask how far people are willing to go for love. Will they waver in front of the pressure of others, or will they stand their ground, holding their heads proud? Is love something even worth fighting for? Will the characters be willing to take accountability for their actions or will they crumble in the face of it? And to what extent should one struggle before giving up? Damekoi brings this question to the forefront as Osamu and Mitoko struggle for each other as they face the wrath of the world before them.

In Mitoko’s route, Osamu accepts the fact that their relationship will be looked down upon. He is willing to break the boundaries and carve his own path, taboos be damned. He can not lie to himself and he knows that Mitoko is the one that he loves, and she loves him back too. So what if society is judging them harshly? If they have each other, then everything will be fine. What drives them past all the harsh stares is their mutual love for each other. They are nothing apart and together, they are stronger, even if no one else thinks so. Maruto answers this question proudly, showing through Osamu and Mitoko’s action that giving up the precious things around them is acceptable as long as the most important thing is not lost. Sacrifices will be made: made to their pride, made to their dignity, made to their reputation, but they continue fighting on because both Osamu and Mitoko know what the right thing for them is, deep in their hearts. Their persistent love for each other helps them through the dark before they reach the light. And when that light is reached, nothing else can stop them.

But there is an easy way out. If Osamu does not have the bravery to overcome his circumstances, he can fall back to Asami, a place of familiarity and comfort. They reunite and reconcile their previous divorce. And while everything ends in a seemingly happy fashion, there is a foreboding sense of abnormality among the characters as all the built up tension has not been resolved to its completion. Osamu’s mind keeps on telling him to not cross the line, to not risk everything for love and instead resort back to a place of familiarity, and why not, that’s the best way to go about things logically. Why go out of your way to take a large risk when there’s an easier alternative option. That way, everything will say the same and nothing can ever go awry. And yet, since Osamu does not dare to cross the line here, his heart is out of place and while it is content, it is not satisfied. That single piece is missing, maybe he should have listened to his heart instead of his brain for love does not operate on logic. Maruto is able to perfectly encapsulate the easy way out in each of his works, showing how not risking yourself for love and instead being content with the status quo might not always be the best outcome. The best outcome may not always be the most logical ones.

In each of his works, Maruto highlights a hypothetical question to the audience through the characters on screen and their subsequent thoughts and actions. Appealing to the emotions perfectly, Maruto is able to create a sense of catharsis within the readers, causing the readers to look within themselves and question their own judgements and moralities regarding the ideals of love. With the Visual Novel medium, Maruto is able to showcase many different angles these problems and solutions can play out and in the end, it is up to the reader to decide what they should incorporate from the main themes. Nowhere else is Maruto’s ability more prominently on display than with White Album 2, an enriching thematic spectacle, a true feast for the emotions. Through his writing, the season of White Album does indeed materialize in our minds once again.

White Album 2 is the perfect storm for Maruto, his one prime chance to craft something truly complete and ethereal. White Album 2 takes everything that Maruto has done before and brings it to its very extremes. It goes full circle and truly tries to answer what it means to love and how one should go about sorting through these complex emotions. By combining elements from Parfait and Damekoi, expanding on them and adding its own twist, White Album 2 is able to surpass anything else Maruto has written and establish its own thematic groundwork in such a magnificent manner. The path of true love is that wrought in thorns, but there is always more than one path, more than option available to everyone, so which one will reap the best rewards, the most satisfaction? And so, the characters are forced to toil around, pondering this simple question, wondering if their actions were even worth all the effort in the first place.

The impetus of all things to come is from a simple sin, propelling the main trio, Haruki, Kazusa and Setsuna, into a lifetime of turmoil and agony. A seemingly benign set of circumstances is compounded with their mismatching personalities, and the premonition is set. No one and yet paradoxically, everyone is at fault. Their suffering is thoroughly ingrained into all three of them over time. Haruki’s indecisiveness, Kazusa’s stubbornness and Setsuna’s fragility, they all play a part in their mutual demise that would see their relationship burning to cinders and leaving nothing behind. Time passes and so do each of their own lives, as they continue on without each other, left to ponder their past circumstances: What could they have done differently? In the end, they are all left hurting, prisoners of their own sins, letting it consume them from the inside out. Haruki lacks any meaningful relationships, living life superficially, Setsuna is a shell of her former self, damaged by what has happened to her and Kazusa escapes to Europe to avoid having to face the two of them. After the suffering they faced in high school, they avoided their sins, biding their time. Seeing each other again would only aggravate their festering scars. All three of them ended up sinking themselves into a wretched stagnant familiarity for the next three years before the gears of love started moving again, propelling the past into their eyes yet again.

The hands of time move once again, thawed from the reluctant reunion of two of the original three. Nothing can bury the past forever, not even the powder snow. Haruki and Setsuna finally converse with each other since that fateful day three years ago. Realizing that living in constant denial and disregard of the past was eating both of them inside out, they reconcile and start dating again. All seems happy. They faced the sins of the past, purging themselves of years of regret and pain. As the spring comes again, not only does the snow start to melt away, but the sins within their hearts start to thaw, bringing in a new life. The path seems void of any thorns once they resolve things between each other. Their mutual love and need for redemption brought them back together again, seemingly stronger.

And yet the Season of White Album comes once again. The cycle will never break until all sins are resolved, until all the scars are healed. The road to happiness can not be attained until every single thorn is removed. There is no easy way out, and yet idling around in that purgatory of listlessness will only bring upon suffering for eternity. And so, on the fateful day, Haruki reunites with Kazusa on that snowy day in Strasbourg and all pieces are set into motion again. Haruki is faced with a dilemma, having to find a proper resolution to the problem the three of them never solved all those years ago: to what extent does it mean to love someone?

The easiest route for Haruki to take is to relapse and drown in those simple pleasures once again. History repeats itself as Haruki repeats the same sins as before. He continues his affair with Kazusa behind Setsuna’s back. Crushed by the weight of his sins, Haruki buckles under the pressure and tries to cover everything up, doing anything in his power to avoid having to address his past while still indulging in the same sins in the present. In the short term, things seem fine, but the facade starts to disintegrate as Haruki slowly loses himself. As he becomes more desperate, the change in his personality and behaviors become more readily palpable. Drowning himself in a fruitless love, Haruki loses sight of what means the most to him. Because of his drive to continue to enrapture himself in short term pleasure, it all but obliterates his chances of having any meaningful long term satisfaction. While both Kazusa and Setsuna mean so much to Haruki, he still clings onto both of them, trying to find a way out and trying to weasel his way out from making any tough decisions. When Haruki takes the easy way out and tries to cheat fate, the only thing left waiting for him is ruin. He does not learn from the past, repeating his indecisiveness from before that screwed them once before already. Realizing how wretched Haruki has become, Kazusa awakens to the fact that maybe Haruki in his current state is not the Haruki she loves after all. And when Kazusa formally leaves him, Haruki realizes how deep of a hole he dug himself into. All that is left is the reverberation of Kazusa’s parting words in Haruki’s mind. Maybe Setsuna is the way to go after all…

And so, Haruki dedicates himself to Setsuna. Haruki comes crying back to Setsuna, her soothing words and touch heal Haruki’s damaged soul. A hurting Haruki realizes the error of his ways, but he still finds himself too weak to take a stand for himself and refuses to attempt to resolve matters with his own two hands. Recognizing the sin itself is half the battle, but doing something about it takes just as much, if not more, effort. The mistakes that were primarily his fault still haunt him and he goes back to Setsuna, his one constant, the one unwavering figure in his life providing him stability and support. Instead of having the courage to stand up for himself and decide his own path, he leaves it up to Setsuna, as Setsuna talks things out with Kazusa as they reconcile with each other. No lines are crossed since everything is resolved peacefully as the three all make up with each other in a seemingly harmonious fashion. Setsuna and Haruki have their wedding, with Kazusa invited as a major guest. Everything does seem healed, everyone drunk on happiness. And yet, this result seems too happy to be true. As much as Setsuna is his net of security, Kazusa is the one that holds Haruki’s heart captive. The dream crumbles away once the dreamer is aroused from his slumber and Haruki awakes to the fact that his love for Setsuna is all but one long dream. A fictitious happiness built on borrowed words and another’s vision is just living a lie after all. Hiding behind others will only be effective for so long. There is no true happiness without doing things yourself. And so, Haruki fortifies his heart one more time, knowing what he has to do.

There is only one answer. After all, his heart will always be with Kazusa. And so, with the twinkle snow glistening in the night sky, Haruki vows to put a closing onto all of this heartache and sorrow. And so, Haruki meets up with Kazusa and swears a covenant with her: Haruki will dedicate his life to her. In his heart, Haruki knows this is the right choice. And in his brain, Haruki realizes the weight of his actions. He can not let his sins go unacknowledged. Instead, Haruki needs to own up to everything he has done and grow from it, not letting it consume him. The only way to atone for his previous sins is by putting an end to everything himself. His indecisiveness and the way he ignores the biggest problems, his only atonement is by finally making a decision and swearing fealty to the one that means the most to him. His oath to Kazusa is but the first step to Haruki’s path to a complete love.

Haruki can not let himself become complacent, hiding behind the veil of familiarity and letting someone else make the decisions for him. Haruki’s love is his own decision alone to make and no matter what the consequences are, he will follow through with it. Haruki must stand his ground, not letting others influence how he should think or act. The first step is Setsuna herself. Setsuna tries to convince Haruki that the three of them can still be together. But Haruki knows that will never work. Setsuna begs and pleads, but Haruki does not falter, knowing what he will do will destroy her. But he keeps on persisting, doing what is best for his future. And when his friends question him, Haruki continues to withstand the judgment. They are all perplexed by Haruki’s decision to ditch Setsuna, his faithful partner for years now, in favour of Kazusa, who only just reunited with Haruki. They are unable to comprehend his logic, but love needs no logic. Haruki already made up his mind and stands his ground when his friends confront him. There is no way to reconcile them anymore. And so, Haruki moves on. Finally, facing Setsuna’s family, Haruki does not falter and remains steadfast despite all the distraught. Her family is in complete and utter shock, hearing that Haruki will abandon their daughter for someone else. Takahiro, Setsuna’s brother, becomes physical with Haruki, taking out his frustrations on him, but Haruki still does not falter. He will not let other people make decisions for him. The veil of comfort is forever broken and Haruki takes the brunt of the damage, but for Kazusa, it is worth it, every single last drop.

Facing both internal and external agony, Haruki’s journey is a long one, where he has to search within himself for the proper answer. And in the end, there is only one answer: Kazusa. Like with the other Maruto protagonists before him, Haruki makes the necessary sacrifices for love and love alone. Just like Hitoshi, Haruki resolves himself, not letting the past cripple him from making the hard decision of owning up to everything. He realizes his indecisiveness and vows to make amends and form a proper resolution to this tangled mess. And just like Osamu, Haruki stands his ground, not letting others influence his decision. He will stand his ground and he will fight in order to make his love a fruitful one. Only when the inner and external demons are both conquered will the door finally open and reveal the true meaning of love. And at the end of the path, Maruto finally reveals everything to the reader, why the characters went through all the suffering in the first place.

The path to a true love is one wrought with suffering, but the pain is only temporary, as what awaits at the end is where all the pain will finally be rewarded, bearing the fruits of all the strenuous labour. Maruto finally arrives at the answer to that single question: What does it mean to love? After all the turmoil and agony, the answer is finally in Haruki’s grasp. To love is to not shy away from what means most to you and to dedicate yourself towards that ideal. A listless love is a meaningless one. His willingness to fight for himself for the sake of his love for Kazusa is a telltale sign of Haruki’s drive and desire for true love. At last, Haruki finds his answer. And thus, Maruto finally gives a proper resolution to the themes of his story, the reason for all the strife is because what comes after is what makes it all worth it. At the end of that long hard-fought road, Haruki and Kazusa finally marry, signifying the start of a new journey, one that will bring them closer as lovers and as human beings.

The willingness of how far someone will go for love is a measure of how fruitful it will become, that is Maruto’s final answer. In each one of his works, Maruto lays out the thematic groundwork, putting his characters through these situations. Whether it be Hitoshi overcoming his past demons, Osamu overcoming the judgement of others or Haruki with both, what lies at the end for all is the reward for all their pain: someone that will stick with them through the thin and thick of times. Loving, as illogical as it may be, is an important part of human existence and our reason to be. As we live, we grow and learn and through those experiences, we mature ourselves to the ideals of love. To love is to live and to live is to love, there is nothing more to that.