When tactical RPG The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy was described by its directors Kazutaka Kodaka and Kotaro Uchikoshi as having one hundred different endings, I was skeptical. It’s the kind of hyperbolic claim that dares you to doubt it. Of course, one hundred endings later, I’m here to inform you that it was, for the most part, not hyperbole. While not every ending is equally interesting, Too Kyo Games have largely succeeded in their goal of making every ending meaningful enough to stand on its own.
With so much variety, it’s tempting to compare how all those endings stack up against each other. That’s too much of an ask for the endings themselves, but thankfully, ranking the many distinct routes they’re all grouped into is far more feasible. The nature of the branching routes necessitates a spoiler warning for the first route, though, so if you’re interested in a blind first playthrough, beware. If you haven’t played but are still interested in this ranking, some explanation is needed.
Context
The Hundred Line‘s story follows Takumi Sumino, an average high school student thrust alongside 14 other students into a war that sees them forced by a strange robot named Sirei to defend the titular academy as part of a Special Defense Unit from a series of “School Invaders.” The game starts out completely linear, with no branches or choices to speak of. By the end, multiple members of the SDU have perished, their mission sabotaged by one of their teammates, Eito Aotsuki. After killing Eito, Takumi finds that he’s gained the power to travel back in time and decides to go back and save his friends. What follows is basically a whole new game, compounded by the title screen now reading The Hundred Line 2. Starting with the decision of whether or not to kill Eito on the second day, Takumi is faced with several hard choices that splinter the story as he searches desperately for a no-strings-attached happy ending. The first scenario has enough strong character moments to make it a good time. However, it feels more like a protracted introduction to the setting and cast than a complete story. And while I appreciate that kind of ambition, the real meat is found elsewhere.
20. Comedy Route
On the topic of meat, the first choice after the Comedy Route begins is whether to eat meat or fish, framed with just as much gravitas as any of the big life-or-death decisions. Somehow, it only gets more farcical from there. Any sense of impending danger or tension is immediately discarded in favor of constant gags that abandon any attempt at justifying themselves as part of a greater diegesis. This is as much a failing of this route as it is its strength. Being comedic isn’t a pass for insubstantial writing, even if it isn’t enough to sink the route as a whole. The jokes are funny enough to bring it around to being passably good, but the lack of a developed plot remains a notable weakness. At least there are enough branching points to facilitate varied scenarios, and the sheer absurdity of all the endings makes it worth getting at least one of them. Whether it justifies getting all of them is less certain.
19. Cult of Takumi Route
Sometimes the dissonance between a text and its framing is so jarring that their combination hurts more than it helps. This route is a prime example of that. The Cult of Takumi route starts should the player choose to sacrifice Takemaru on Day 15 of the 2nd Scenario. The lack of his grounding presence leads to resident assassin and chemistry expert Yugamu offering Takumi pills that will increase his confidence and make him emit aphrodisiac pheromones. Things quickly get out of hand, especially when Sirei uses the party’s growing attraction to Takumi to motivate them. While the route’s writing spares no effort in showing how Takumi’s drug-induced manipulation of the party is wrong, it’s at odds with the constant sexualized imagery and lighthearted framing of several female characters throwing themselves at him while not in their right minds. There are interesting ideas at play, and I think that the way the plot shows Takemaru’s importance to the group through his absence and how it effects Takumi is genuinely strong writing. But writing is only one piece of the picture, and the aesthetic pieces don’t fit.
18. Box of Blessings Route
The Box of Blessings Route starts with an interesting hook. After the SDU kills Eva and pursues Kako following her subsequent disappearance, they discover the existence of a set of wish-granting boxes that they plan to use to end their conflict. From there, the rest of the route is comprised of forays into the exploration mode and not much else. The plot is remarkably thin, with little in the way of interesting characterization or themes. One branch almost seems like it’s going to give designated comic relief character Gaku some meaningful development, but no such luck. And what makes it even worse is that the differences between the route’s various branches feel superfluous rather than the result of carefully considered choices. The only thing holding this route up above some others in The Hundred Line is that one of the branches has a decently written focus on Shouma that comes out feeling like a complete story, and even ends up interacting with the greater conflict and prior choices in a satisfying way. Unfortunately, Shouma’s is one branch among a lot of repetition and boredom, and while it keeps the Box of Blessings route from being all bad, it can’t erase the route’s worst aspects.
17. Serial Battles Route
Any piece of art choosing to be tedious inevitably runs the risk of overshooting the mark, and it’s tough to say how well Serial Battles Route avoids this pitfall. Yet another offshoot of the 2nd Scenario, here Takumi’s refusal to induct the unnamed boy powering the Academy’s Undying Flame barrier into the SDU comes back to bite him hard. An attack by Eito leads to the boy going so overboard in protecting the Unit that he weakens the barrier, which the Invaders are quick to take advantage of. Attacks on the Academy go from every week or two to an almost daily occurrence, and because these fights are unique to this route, the player isn’t able to skip them. By the end, you will likely be about as relieved as the cast is to finally be done with the whole ordeal, and in that regard, I have to praise the route for how it facilitates that headspace. There are even some reveals that foreshadow developments in other routes. But otherwise, the storytelling is thin and the combat not varied enough to carry dozens of battles. Approach with caution.
16. Romance Route
During the build-up to the superior S.F. Route, Takumi, probing his sadistic teammate Hiruko for info, calls one of her bluffs. This leads to a mishap that sees them both forget the last few days and to Takumi having a dream wherein he kisses three of the SDU’s female members. Come the next morning, he finds that they’ve all dreamt of kissing him, and are all strangely open to the idea in real life as well. From here, Takumi is pressured into a competition for his affections, where each girl in turn attempts to win his heart, all playing out at the same time as their war with the Invaders. While the setup is contrived and the plot minimal, enough effort is put into giving Takumi unique dynamics with each prospective partner that him accepting any of their feelings is understandable. It’s also one of the few routes to focus at all on Kyoshika, which is both refreshing and a bit sad. This path through The Hundred Line isn’t super thematically rich, but it gets the job done well enough to come out as a good time.
15. Rebellion Route
The Rebellion Route is the product of Ukyou Kodachi, the primary writer for the Box of Blessings Route, and Kyohei Oyama, the writer of the third highest route on this list. The Rebellion Route feels exactly like the kind of story this pairing would produce. Late into the 2nd Scenario, the SDU is met with shocking revelations that call their cause into question and are forced to decide if they should keep fighting for humanity or attempt to make peace with the Invaders’ species. Should they choose to make peace, it goes so well that it’s actually kind of disappointing, given how precarious and tense the situation is. It’s a rough start, but there are two major saving graces. The first is how the route comments on other endings where the SDU continues their fight undeterred. The ease of an alternate solution almost makes it feel like the writers are laughing at the SDU as they stumble in their struggle for survival. The second is the endings, which force Takumi into an interesting moral dilemma that has enough legitimate dramatic weight to make the route worthwhile. Shame that the journey to get to them is a bit simple by comparison.
14. Conspiracy Route
In this article’s introduction, I noted that not all of The Hundred Line‘s endings are equally interesting. This route is the perfect encapsulation of that. Should the player choose to save Kurara instead of Gaku in the middle of the 2nd Scenario, a scuffle in the aftermath gets Sirei’s second-in-command Nigou damaged in the crossfire and subsequently hacked by a group who are willing to help the SDU escape Last Defense Academy. At this point, most of the Unit is dead set on finishing the fight, and Takumi has to carefully consider how to convince them to abandon it, especially with Sirei watching over them. The main plot of this route is genuinely strong on its own, particularly in how the characters have to contend with the potential meaninglessness of their friends’ deaths. But what brings this route down are the seven alternate endings, which mostly consist of Takumi getting jumped by Sirei before a cut to credits. These are directly antithetical to the project’s intent of all 100 endings having substantive meaning. Even if the story is fundamentally solid (if a bit rushed), this much redundancy can’t help but weigh down the whole route.
13. Slasher Route
The Slasher Route is a bit deceptive because it’s functionally two routes. Both touch on similar details in the setting, but they go in such wildly divergent directions that the lack of division seems arbitrary. One is, as the name implies, about the SDU struggling against an anonymous saw-wielding killer; the other has Takumi seemingly stop that killer early, only for a horde of zombies to attack the Academy. In any case, both sides of this route share similar weaknesses and strengths. Namely, they’re strong when it comes to setting up intrigue, world-building, and rug-pull reveals, but are noticeably weak in character writing. The zombie branch is framed as Kyoshika’s time to shine, but since the majority of both branches consist of the SDU either running from or speculating about their assailants, there isn’t much time to develop her or anyone else. The main thing holding the Slasher Route up is the fact that it’s not meant to be a standalone story, instead it lends context to another, better route. And if I’m assessing it as a lead-in to that other route, it does its job quite well, especially in regards to its plot twists, but don’t expect much else.
12. Casual Route
After Eva is captured in the 2nd Scenario, it quickly becomes apparent that Sirei is keeping major secrets from the SDU, and will resort to drastic measures to keep them under wraps. The Casual Route brings this to new heights, as Takumi wakes up one day to find all his dead comrades are alive once more. But that’s not all that’s off: not only have the dead returned, but everyone acts like nothing of consequence has happened. By the climax however, the Casual Route ends up being anything but. Even as this route is attempting to distract Takumi with low-stakes shenanigans, a cloud of unease is always lurking. This does cause a small pacing problem where there’s so much mundanity that it ends up kind of boring, and this enfeebles the initial unease at how wrong the situation feels. Nevertheless, that tension always remains to some degree, and it culminates in one of the most sadistically difficult choices in the game. And being a bit on the slow end doesn’t take away from that.
11. Goodbye Eito Route
The Goodbye Eito Route only has one real flaw: it’s short. Aside from that, it gets points for being the only route that shifts perspective entirely to another character. Right before the climax of the 2nd Scenario, Takumi has to choose wether or not to welcome Eito back into the group after he makes a great personal sacrifice to prove his loyalty. Choosing to reject Eito leads to him voluntarily leaving Last Defense Academy, and the rest of the route is seen from his point of view rather than Takumi’s. As he wanders the wastelands outside the Academy, fruitlessly trying to survive, Eito muses about his actions, his difficulties accepting other people, and whether he could possibly deserve forgiveness. For spotlighting a character who’s rather contemptuous in most of The Hundred Line‘s routes, the Goodbye Eito Route does a commendable job at making him sympathetic without feeling forced. Short length or not, it’s impressive.
10. Mystery Route
Much like the Slasher Route, the Mystery Route’s main purpose is to lead into another route, and it has to be assessed in that context. This again sees the Last Defense Academy under attack by an unknown killer, but in this case, the killer carries out their work quietly, and it’s made clear that they’re one of the SDU right off the bat. This route does suffer from some of the problems of the Slasher Route, though with the slight advantage of being much faster paced and having more interesting character moments, particularly for Ima and Eva. What gives it its biggest leg up, however, are the divergent endings, which are varied and all play off the collective themes of mistrust and deceit without being redundant. There are even sections where the player has to deduce the mystery for themselves, though some of the solutions are quite obvious. Also, the reveal of the main killer is locked off until progress is made in the S.F. Route. Since that route requires playing up to said stopping point in the Mystery Route anyway, it’s best to save this route for right before playing the S.F. Route. Just make sure to clear the other required routes first.
9. Multiple Eitos Route
Before Takumi decides wether or not to welcome Eito back into the SDU fully, he’s faced with a choice between imprisoning the traitor after he escapes captivity or killing him outright. Killing him turns out to be a mistake, as Takumi absorbs Eito’s consciousness in the process, and the deceased begins messing with his perception of reality. Eito poses a challenge to Takumi: he has to find the location of a hallucinatory Eito somewhere in Last Defense Academy, the catch being that he has altered Takumi’s perception so that the entire SDU now look like him as well. Should Takumi fail, Eito’s lingering psyche will overwrite his own. While this is another short route, it sticks the landing through effective pacing and some chilling horror. As Takumi tries and fails to fight against Eito’s machinations, he grows increasingly desperate, and the various endings this leads to are some of the darkest in the game. Granted, none of them feel particularly definitive, but that’s mostly nitpicking. Particular praise is owed to voice actor Nezar Alderazi, whose performance as Eito is one of a kind in its sheer self-satisfied smugness. This is the point at which The Hundred Line‘s routes start going from good to great.
8. Eva Route
Eva is a difficult character to discuss. In most routes, she’s forced into the party under dubious circumstances, and has very little agency. Sometimes, like in the 2nd Scenario, this is the point, but in the Eva Route, which requires Takumi to spare her life at a late critical juncture, the game flips the script. Here, Eva reclaims her agency, forcing Takumi to realize the cruelty of how he and his allies have treated her. What follows plays out like a more developed variant on the Rebellion Route, with more tension, stakes, and an equally interesting set of endings to round things off. The only real negative things to say about this route are that Takumi and Eva are the only truly developed characters and that it properly begins a bit late in the story. Thankfully, it makes the most of that short time even if the developing relationship between the two leads might seem rushed. Make no mistake though, the amount of justice this route does for Eva is reason enough to warrant a playthrough.
7. 2nd Scenario+Reset Route
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy‘s creators have made it quite clear that all routes are supposed to be equally legitimate, though given how many extra presentational flourishes are attached to the 2nd Scenario, it feels like it’s meant to be the “main” route. In any case, this still ends up being one of the strongest routes in the game in spite of how utterly bleak it is. Here, Takumi persists so hard in questioning Sirei that he unravels all the biggest mysteries of the setting. These revelations shake the SDU so badly that they must reevaluate whether or not they should continue their war. Surprisingly, the 2nd Scenario doesn’t see them take the high road. Instead, they compromise their morality quite drastically, and the narrative aggressively refuses to let them off the hook for this. It’s taken even further in the Reset Route, an offshoot so short and so last-minute that it can’t warrant an individual assessment. In any case, it still makes for a worthy alternate ending greatly to the 2nd Scenario, a route that’s as fascinating as it is depressing.
6. Box of Calamity Route
After coming off the Box of Blessings Route, I had nothing but skepticism for its calamitous counterpart. This is also the third route which must be played to access the S.F. Route, and the other two either suffer from thin plotting or thin characterization. Bizarrely, the Box of Calamity Route is the exact opposite of what I’d been primed to expect. Like the Box of Blessings Route, Calamity spins off from the decision to kill Eva upon first meeting her, but instead of pursuing Kako, Takumi chases what he believes to be Eva’s ghost in the aftermath. Subsequent choices lead to two major branches, where Takumi either investigates Eva’s ghost or a “curse” killing his teammates. The ghost branch features Takumi seriously wrestling with his guilt from killing Eva, while the curse branch features the setup for the S.F. Route. Both branches are far more engaging and better structured than the Slasher and Mystery routes, with stronger characters to boot. Overall, the ghost branch ends up being the more interesting branch in isolation if only because it’s more self-contained, but the curse branch deserves more credit than just being considered setup. Even ignoring the S.F. Route, this is well worth your time.
5. S.F. Route
The S.F. Route is director Kotaro Uchikoshi in his comfort zone, crafting a complicated narrative around classic sci-fi tropes and sticking the landing for a conclusive, satisfying climax. Regrettably, discussing it in detail is complicated because its basic plot can only be described with reference to spoilers from other routes. I would generally recommend against even playing it up to the point it locks until the you’ve gone through the Slasher, Mystery, and Box of Calamity Routes because what’s revealed in that tiny morsel of plot gives a bit too much of the plot away. What I can say, however, is that seeing the ways in which the S.F. Route recontextualizes several previous routes is incredibly rewarding given the investment necessary to see it. It helps that the central relationship between Takumi and Hiruko is strong enough to offset the relative passivity of the rest of the cast, and the ways in which it uses its sci-fi tropes to offer new angles on guilt and regret in a game that already has several takes on those themes are masterful. Even the odd hanging plot thread isn’t enough to obscure how much this route works.
4. Coming-of-Age Route
The Coming-of-Age route is kind of miraculous with what it pulls off. It combines some of the most bombastic spectacle in the game with a satisfying variant of the story that has meaningful development for multiple core characters. Oddly enough, despite how much it wears its heart on its sleeve, describing its exact appeal is a bit difficult. The plot doesn’t veer into an easily explicable high-concept; instead, its distinguishing features are tonal, becoming more meaningfully character-driven in tandem with an exaggerated, explosive catharsis. It’s also the most romantically charged route outside of the designated Romance Route, and the characters are strong enough to carry it. Takumi, Nozomi, Kurara, and the unnamed boy are all fleshed out with meaningful arcs that build on their portrayals in other routes. Takumi especially exemplifies the route’s “Coming-of-Age” title, coming to terms with his position as leader and learning to accept his choices, both good and bad, no matter how fraught they are. Even when the themes cover territory from other stories about war and time travel, they’re presented here with enough sincerity to make that a non-issue. Sincerity and spectacle rarely mesh, but here it feels like an obvious combination.
3. Killing Game Route
Considering that The Hundred Line shares a director, character designer, and composer with Danganronpa, a dedicated Killing Game Route sounds like a flagrant attempt at pandering. But lo and behold, it’s amazing. Developing from Takumi killing Eito on the second day, the SDU is taunted by threatening messages in the classrooms, one of which challenges them to a Killing Game. Accepting it forces them into competition with each other by an anonymous “Sponsor” who tasks them with hunting Invaders outside school grounds for points, with the Sponsor killing whoever scores the lowest. This is the only route where the Last Defense Academy is splintered this badly, which makes for some delightfully unique drama found nowhere else in The Hundred Line. But what really elevates it is how the cast develops. Takumi, Tsubasa, Nozomi, Eva, Yugamu, Hiruko, Takemaru, and Darumi are all given more nuance individually in this route than some characters get across every route. There’s so much to praise that I’m frustrated I only have so many words to convey that praise, so I hope what I’ve said is sufficient. Please, please, please play this route.
2. V’ehxness Route
Although the Special Defense Unit have enough going on by themselves to carry most of the game, I can’t help but wish that The Hundred Line had more story content for the Invaders. Maybe that’s because the V’ehxness Route, the only route to focus on them, is fantastic. Should the player choose to sacrifice Tsubasa early into the 2nd Scenario, she will quickly back out, leading to the SDU’s defeat. They’re taken captive within their own Academy, and Takumi is interrogated by the Invaders’ Supreme Commander, V’ehxness, over the course of several days. Even as all hope seems lost though, V’ehxness’ unpopularity among her own army simmers in the background, and it isn’t long before it comes to a boil. But Takumi is intent on reaching an understanding with V’ehxness despite the fact that she’s adamantly resisting such an outcome. The conversations between the two are nuanced and interesting, offering great insight into a character who would otherwise serve no role beyond a stock evil overlord. And it all leads to two of the best endings in the whole package. While it is another short route, it is so perfectly paced that its length barely registers. It’s just too good to care.
1. Retsnom Route
Full disclosure: I hated Darumi for most of my time with The Hundred Line. Even the Killing Game Route didn’t fully bring me around to her. I didn’t fault the game for it, as it seemed aware of just how annoying and maladjusted she was; but then the Retsnom Route made her one of my favorite characters. It doesn’t take that long for it to show off why. Very early into the 2nd Scenario, Takumi has to choose whether or not to save the SDU members stationed at a second base or back at the main Academy. Choosing to help the main academy leads to Takumi manipulating Nozomi with his knowledge of the future, abandoning her friends to die, and saving Darumi in the process. Stricken with guilt and distrusted by his allies, Takumi becomes obsessed with bringing his fallen comrades back to life, helped along by a grateful Darumi, who eases up on her manic persona the more she interacts with him. The two soon discover a strange creature called Retsnom, allegedly capable of reviving the dead, and its bizarre biology quickly takes the plot in a haunting direction. What makes the Retsnom Route so uniquely great even compared to all the other great routes is that it is totally self-contained, with no loose ends to be tied up. It also sees a shift in Darumi, addressing her erratic behavior and exploring it through her relationship with Retsnom and Takumi. As mentioned, it was good enough to make me reevaluate her entirely. It even stakes out possibly the most unique angle on the recurring theme of guilt out of all the routes, and that is no small feat given that it centers around such an outwardly goofy character. Truth be told, I think every route in The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is worth at least a look, but if you only have time for one full route, Retsnom should be at the top of your list as it is with mine.
