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Rewrite reaction [warning: this reaction contains several major spoilers, so it's best that you read it only after you have completed the game.]

Lucia:

First of all, I found the romance to be absolutely beautiful and touching. As someone who was never able to experience close relationships with anyone in her life, due to her abnormal physiological differences from a normal human, Lucia's love for Kotarou felt extremely convincing. He was (literally) the only man who could survive being anywhere near her, and he was the only person who has ever given her heart, warmth. It was honest of Kotarou to admit that he once only saw Lucia as someone he pitied, but after spending time with her on their date, he came to realize he truly loved her as a person. That confession scene was just beautiful, when complemented by the nightly city view background and that particular OST (Yuriha, if I remember correctly).

Lucia's belief about her existence being completely "unnecessary", is also understandable. After all, her body was tampered with by a group of mad scientists, for the entire purpose of surviving in a distant future thousands of years from the present time. She was made to carry out humanity's greatest mission: living on as the last human on earth, in a world of barrenness. The curse she has to carry with her, however, is a poison that is lethal to every living organism on the planet. She can't touch anything that is living, because her poison will kill it. For this reason, she can't pet a cat, hold flowers in her hands, or make friends with anyone in her class, even though she really wants to do these things! Out of all the tragic heroines I've seen, and believe me when I say I have seen a lot of them, Lucia easily takes the cake as the most tragic heroine I've seen yet. :(

When Lucia started doubting her reason for existence again, after she completed the mission of spreading her poison in the city for the purpose of eliminating the Key, it was hard watching her suffer alone. Thankfully, Kotarou eventually came to realize what it is that she was seeking from him. It was not hollow words that she will be saved eventually, when scientists come up with a new drug to suppress her poison. No, it was something much simpler than that. She only wanted Kotarou to tell her that he needs her in his life. That alone is enough to give her life meaning. At the very end, Kotarou and Lucia are required to live in isolation, switching from one shelter to the next, since there still isn't any drug that can suppress Lucia's poison and make her live the life of a normal girl. Yet, to both of them, having each other's company is more than enough to keep them going. It's a bittersweet ending, but given the circumstances, I'd say it was done masterfully. And that final scene, where Lucia was able to hold a sunflower again without making it wilt (because it's artificial), was definitely feel-inducing.

Overall, I absolutely loved this route, for being an absolute beauty from start to finish. It definitely ranks up there as one of the most satisfying romance stories ever told in any media, in my opinion. And this route totally made me appreciate Lucia's character in a way I never thought was possible, considering she was my least favorite girl in the common route. Now she's moved up all the way to my second favorite heroine, right behind Kotori. In addition, her route is my favorite one so far, and it would take something really special for any of the other heroine routes to take that spot away. Maybe Akane's will, hmm...

Akane:

Akane was one of my favorite heroines in the common route, as I really liked her cynical perspective on life. Upon entering her route, which I saved for last, I expected to be thoroughly impressed. So, did it meet my expectations? For the most part, I'd say yes, but there are a few things I didn't like about it. As an overall story, I'd say the writing was strong. The themes were mature as well, dealing with politics and philosophies. Do humans really deserve to live, when we are the ones who are jeopardizing the planet's well-being? Or should the planet's stability be prioritized over humanity? For Akane, who acts as the holy woman of the organization, Gaia, she decides on the latter approach -- choosing the planet over the people.

Now, I'm not one to criticize the rationality of her decision, since Gaia's teachings have been literally ingrained in her mind, but I was frankly disappointed with her decision. Killing people all over the world, passing judgment on them, who gave her the right to act as God? What she did is akin to what a cult leader would do. She hates the world and all the people living in it, so she decides that getting rid of them all is in the best interest of the planet. She fails to see that doing so would also mean that she'd be killing a massive number of innocent lives, who may even contribute to preserving the planet in the long run. She was overtaken by hatred and nihilism, and acted as a lifeless doll, carrying out what the former holy woman has planned out. Writing-wise, I think it makes for a very unique perspective, as we seldom ever see the heroine of any story intentionally resorting to genocide on a global scale, and believing it to be the correct thing to do. But subjectively, I really disliked the turn of events, and wanted Kotarou to beat some sense into her by the end of it.

A large portion of the story had Akane missing, and Kotarou trying to save the people from the destruction she's bringing about. Kotarou's development was superb here, I must say. His path to maturity was done extremely well, as he made up his mind to help Akane, despite knowing that he'll be hated by the world for it. And when he learned that Akane was no longer herself, he sought to correct her, and make her pay for her mistakes. The aftermath of Akane's genocide was devastating; countless lives were lost, disasters made the land uninhabitable for people to live in, and only a selected number of people in the world were safely evacuated in time. Akane, who had failed to carry out "salvation", no longer had any meaning to live. Yet, Kotarou still won't abandon her, or make her take the easy way out through death. He insists that she should continue to live, all the while shouldering her sins, and dedicate the rest of her life to help others. That's the only way she can repent for her crimes. And he's willing to spend the rest of his life by her side, protecting her. The ending was truly beautiful, for it doesn't try to sugarcoat things, but lays out reality the way it should be. Neither Kotarou nor Akane can ever live a normal life anymore, but they have accepted their punishment, and will struggle to keep on living, in a world where they only have each other to depend on.

Rewrite's ability to craft bittersweet endings is really praiseworthy. I have not cried a single time while reading the 5 heroine routes (though I came close a few times!), but almost every ending have made me feel both happiness and sadness at the same time. And although Rewrite incorporates more supernatural themes than every other Key work before it, the emotional impact still feels genuine and powerful, and strikes a cord with me. I liked all 5 heroine routes in Rewrite, some more than others, and really am looking forward to the true route, Moon + Terra, which I hope will wrap up the mysteries about the Key, and deliver a satisfying conclusion to all the build-up the series has accumulated up to this point.

Moon:

After completing all five heroine routes and getting accustomed to the world-building and mechanics, I was highly anticipating how the mystery surrounding Kagari will be presented in the true routes, Moon and Terra. Moon's purpose was to introduce the concept behind Kagari, while also showing the connection between her and Kotarou. In the heroine routes, we were shown that Kagari plays the role of the Key, who is a harbinger of destruction for humanity. Feared by the Superhumans in Guardian, and worshipped by the Summoners in Gaia, Kagari was hardly given any characterization outside of the role she was assigned. In Moon, we get to see her in closer inspection, including the reason why she doesn't talk much, why she has to destroy mankind, and the relationship between her and Kotarou. Moon was quite the mystic experience, as it doesn't have much dialogue to work with, but rather relies on the use of narratives (from Kotarou's perspective) to describe the lonely world Kagari resides in. As it turns out, Kagari lives on the Moon, a world where her only companion is Kotarou, and spends her entire time thinking about a solution to humanity's impending doom: the depletion of resources. Even as a lifeform whose intelligence is higher than any human's, Kagari struggles to come up with a solution to the core of the problem, because as long as humans require resources to survive, conflicts are inevitable. Kotarou, despite being unable to communicate with her, feels the obligation to protect and help Kagari in her research. Apparently, the Kotarou in this route has access to most of his memories from the different worlds wherein he became involved with the 5 heroines, and as such, he's privy to the knowledge that Kashima Sakura will come after Kagari, hoping to capture and use her to destroy mankind.

How does Kotarou counteract the mastermind with this knowledge in mind? Summoning his old friends to help him, of course! Keep in mind, the guy is pretty much an omnipotent being in Moon, thanks to the fact that he rewrote himself to the point where he knows almost everything there is to know. So after all the Occult Club members are reunited, they begin to fight against the swarm of familiars sent by Kashima. Eventually, his friends perished one by one during battle, and Kotarou himself was killed, too, after a long fight against the endless wave of familiars. But before he died, his memories of Kagari were sent from the Moon to the Earth, prompting his other human self to remember the girl he fell in love with. I found the story to be quite romantic, despite still believing Kagari to be less likable than the other heroines. All in all, Moon was a very nice setup for the serious stuff that happens in Terra.

Terra:

This right here, is the pinnacle of storytelling in Rewrite. Whether someone loves this route or not, ultimately boils down to his appreciation for Kotarou. For me, this route was great for its excellent characterization of Kotarou, fully capturing his emotions during the ordeals he had to go through to accomplish his goals. Kotarou, who was once a goofy, happy-go-lucky teenager in the common route, progressively becomes more mature in the heroine routes as he goes through difficult times with the girls he had chosen, at times even forced to commit terrible deeds in order to survive (e.g. Akane's route). In Terra, we see the serious side to Kotarou in even more detail, since with the world now at stake, our protagonist has no choice but to take things seriously, by actively trying to stop the world from ending. As we have seen previously from Shizuru's and Akane's routes, the Key has the power to destroy the world in what Gaians like to call, "salvation". "Salvation" happens when the Key decides that humanity has no future left, as they have done far too much damage to the planet, so the only course of action left available is to wipe out the entire Homo sapien species. Now, it's up to Kotarou to find a way to convince the Key, Kagari, that humanity still has the potential for re-evolution, and that "salvation" isn't needed.

The route starts off showing what Kotarou's life was like as a teenager. Surprisingly, he's actually quite a few years older than the 5 heroines! This was revealed when both Kotori and Akane are shown to be young children, while Kotarou's already in his teens. I found this reveal to be pretty cool, as there were a few hints early in the game that suggested Kotarou may be in fact older than what he appears to be (e.g. In Kotori's route, it was mentioned that he became her familiar when she was forced to bring him back from the dead a long time ago. And as it was mentioned before, familiars age much slower than humans do.), but it still came as a big surprise to me. Anyway, Kotarou had been keeping his superpowers a secret from everyone, including the fact that he had been hunting UMA's at night in the forest. That is, until he met Esaka and Guardian. Having been saved from a dangerous encounter with a medium-sized dinosaur familiar by Esaka and his group one night, Kotarou quickly befriended the man, and talked to him about various troubles that he had been unable to share with anyone else, with the exception of his superpowers. But it turns out that Esaka already knew about them, and one day asked him to join his organization, Guardian, because that's where Superhumans like him truly belong. After some thinking, Kotarou accepted his offer and joined.

Starting off as someone completely weak and incompetent compared to his peers-in-training, Kotarou quickly found himself stuck in the weakest team, which consists of Nagai, Imamiya, and Nishikujou. Feeling inferior to the rest of the Superhumans, he can't help but feel whether joining Guardian was the right decision. He still couldn't make friends in his new environment, as his poor performance made him a loser in the eyes of many, and even worse, many were jealous of the fact that Esaka, who was heralded as a legendary warrior in Guardian, gave him special treatment. The only person who was kind to him was Esaka, who insists that he doesn't need special talent to be a good soldier; he only needs to follow the tasks that he's given, and loyally carry out his duties. After a certain perilous mission that involved destroying the Key, Kotarou saw many Superhumans die in front of his eyes against the Earth Dragon, a huge familiar based on a T-Rex (it has one hell of an intense theme music, by the way!), and he also met the Key (Kagari) for the first time. It is here that we learn what really happened to Kotarou prior to the common route. If he had attacked the Key like he was ordered to, he would have been killed by her, and then revived by Kotori through her Druid powers. Had that been the case, Kotarou would have forgotten who he was, including his memories of wanting to see Kagari again, and all of that would have led to him living a peaceful life, and eventually, creating the Occult Club as we have seen in the common route. If he chose to disobey his orders, though, and actually protect the Key, then he will work together with Kagari to find a solution to world peace.

At this point in the story, Kotarou is now officially a full-fledged soldier working for Guardian. He has been travelling to many places in the world, carrying out missions that usually involve killing his enemies. However, when he finally returned to his hometown again, he met Kagari once more, and promised to help her save humanity. Since Guardian and Gaia have been at odds with each other throughout history, often resulting in war during their hunt for the Key, Kotarou believed that he could try to change both organizations from the inside. Thus begins his arduous life as a double-agent for both organizations. After managing to deceive the leader of Gaia, Suzuki, Kotarou quickly gained trust from Gaia, and officially became a part of Suzuki's faction. He then proceeds to work day-and-night in both organizations, twisting things in his favor when it comes to capturing the Key, and reports his progress to Kagari in their secret meetings. Unfortunately, Kagari isn't really the brightest kid on the block, despite her supposedly high intelligence, as she has almost no knowledge about how the human world works. This is played to some great comedic effects, when Kotarou asks for her input on what he could do to improve the situation, and she responds with some of the most ridiculous ideas ever heard (e.g. "If a tank is stronger than any Superhuman, why not procure one and wipe out Guardian with it?" -- quoted from the great philosopher, Kagarin), often earning her a pat on the head from Kotarou, out of sympathy for her ignorance.

As Kotarou becomes ever so busy trying to control both organizations from the inside, Kagari frequently urges him to speed up his process because the Earth doesn't have much energy left, and "salvation" is growing ever closer. By then, Kotarou realized that he can't get anything more from staying in Gaia, so he used the opportunity to let Guardian capture Suzuki and assassinate him. Kotarou has fully resolved himself to betray everyone he knew, other than Kagari, to save humanity from destruction. Along the final struggle, he battled his mentor, Esaka, in a ferocious fight and came out as the victor. That scene was, in my opinion, the most hard-hitting scene in all of Terra, for the conversation between Kotarou and the dying Esaka was heartrending. His mentor, even after learning about his betrayal, still wished him to succeed in his mission (to save the Earth) from the bottom of his heart, and boy do I respect this man. Following that sad moment, Kotarou confronted his old teammates, Imamiya and Nishikujou, and told them the truth, while entrusting the future of mankind to them. Again, the drama in this scene was well-executed as his teammates were conflicted on what to think of him.

In the final act, Kotarou battles the Earth Dragon to stop the Summoners from bringing "salvation" with their song. He defeats the beast, only to find that almost all the Summoners have already perished due to over-expending their life energy. Soon after, just as he was on the verge of collapsing, Kotarou makes the decision to rewrite himself for the last time, and here he meets Sakuya again, who warns him that this is the final time he can use his power, and that he will turn into a familiar with this final use. Kotarou accepts the conditions and officially takes Sakuya's role as his successor. Finally, he meets Kagari one more time before he's forced to kill her to stop "salvation". Kagari tells him that his decision was correct, and that he really should have done this to begin with. To which Kotarou responds by admitting his love for her, to the girl's surprise, but she kisses him just before they both disappeared from the world. This scene was pretty emotional, but unfortunately I just wasn't invested in the Kotarou x Kagari relationship to really feel that much emotion, especially since it's mostly just a one-sided crush on Kotarou's part. Nonetheless, it was still a beautiful moment that fulfilled its purpose well in the story, even though the aftermath was a bittersweet one. Turns out later that the world is saved from destruction, because a hero named Kotarou granted humanity with possibilities for the future, and thus slowed down Judgment Day. The ending jumped to a time-skip, where all 5 heroines are in their teens, as they found Kotarou, who is now a living spirit residing in the tallest tree on the Earth, and summoned him. And finally, after some nostalgic banters between Kotarou and the 5 girls, he takes them to the Moon as proof of his superpowers.

It was a fantastic ending, really. Despite thinking that the final dramatic moments between Kotarou and Kagari could have been better, and the resolution to the whole conflict between Gaia and Guardian, more concrete, I still had one heck of an amazing experience with the route, and I would easily consider it the best-written route in the game. It may not have been quite as emotional of a ride as, say, Clannad: After Story, but it certainly did leave a very memorable impression on me, and that's what really counts at the end of the day!

Oppai Ending:

Frankly, completing all the quests was a chore to go through. But I still persevered because I wanted to get the ending on my own, and not have to watch it on Youtube. I was not disappointed, as this was absolutely a riot to experience! The very idea that world peace could be achieved from everyone's fondness of boobs is just incredible, and to think that it was actually implemented here is all the more hilarious! And as if that's not enough, Kagari had to be completely out-of-character with her playful attitude, while promoting her own [made-up] spinoff series! Yeah, I think it's safe to say that this is a masterpiece right here, folks. And it totally should have been the true ending instead of Terra~ If I had to give this a rating on a 10 point scale, it would no doubt break the scale and go over 9000. That's how godly it is~!
But yeah, seriously, it was 100% worth completing all the quests for.

Concluding Thoughts: Easily my second favorite Key work to date, right behind Clannad.

Ratings for the individual routes, with sub-categories included:

Kotori: 6.4/10 (Story: 6/10, Character: 6/10, Enjoyment: 7/10, Significance: 7/10)
Chihaya: 6.3/10 (Story: 5/10, Character: 6/10, Enjoyment: 8/10, Significance: 7/10)
Lucia: 8/10 (Story: 8/10, Character: 8/10, Enjoyment: 8/10, Significance: 8/10)
Shizuru: 6/10 (Story: 6/10, Character: 6/10, Enjoyment: 6/10, Significance: 6/10)
Akane: 7.6/10 (Story: 8/10, Character: 8/10, Enjoyment: 6/10, Significance: 8/10)
Moon: 7/10 (Story: 7/10, Character: 7/10, Enjoyment: 7/10, Significance: 7/10)
Terra: 8.7/10 (Story: 8/10, Character: 9/10, Enjoyment: 9/10, Significance: 9/10)

Overall: 8.4/10 (Story: 8/10, Character: 8/10, Enjoyment: 9/10, Significance: 9/10)