Initial concept

[Insert design images of Haru]

(Note: This article contains spoilers about Haru’s route.)

[Insert initial drawing proto-Haru]
For his design, I made sure to blur the tracks by giving him a color palette similar to Hana’s, but not exactly the same as a very subtle hint.

It’s a route that required a lot of rewriting and reflection because it’s a huge challenge to manage to make the “big brother” trope palatable. It had to stay psychologically credible and not make Haru look like a predator, especially because of their age gap which I reduced…

He is also the first character who was allowed to have 2 distinct branches in terms of scenario:

• I explored the easy way out with Kyoko’s character… and it turned into a strange adventure but one that forces intimacy between two entities that should never have crossed paths, my favorite branch of the game.
• Then I was able to focus on what would have been the original game, a taboo (but not too much) love story that focuses on this ghost character: Haru. This route also marks the end of Doki Doki 5’s secrets.

Along the way, I had hesitated a lot to remove Haru from the game to avoid controversy. But in the end, I insisted on telling his story because he deserves happiness like all the other love interests and it remains fiction above all!

(No, I do not defend incest in real life, never ever.
Japanese fiction, on the other hand, gives it a nice place and it must be admitted that these are the perfect ingredients for a juicy drama… in fiction only.)