Say my dear, can I bite you? Characters
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II (シ二ガミ: シビト マギレ Shinigami: Shibito Magire) is a supernatural horror visual novel developed by Experience, Inc. for the Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Steam. It is the third installment in the Spirit Hunter series and the direct sequel to Spirit Hunter: Death Mark, released in Japan in 2022 and worldwide in 2024.
The game returns to H City, Tokyo, this time at Konoehara Academy. Strange rumors circulate about "The Departed", who posts ominous notices announcing a student's death at the hands of a spirit. Not long after these notices appear, the student in question vanishes. The protagonist of the first game, Kazuo Yashiki, is called in to investigate these rumors and find the true culprit. But it will not be easy, for he will have to face off against several new spirits haunting the academy, and rumor has it that the Departed is hiding among the students, disguised as one of them - and they also seem have a particular fascination with Kazuo. Accompanying him will be old friends and new faces, including the two mysterious students Himeko Douryou and Michiho Kinukawa.
This game retains the Point-and-Click Adventure Game format of previous games, with a few new twists. Navigating the school is now done through Side View, allowing the player more freedom to move around and talk to NPC's. When examining points of interest, the game transfers to the familiar first-person perspective. Another new mechanic is the "Suspensive Acts", which combine the multiple-choice aspect of the first game's "Life or Death Choices" and the item combination aspect of climactic spirit confrontations. The player will need to choose who uses what to perform what action, with individual character stats influencing success rates on top of needing to choose the correct answer. Players can also invest in Yashiki's stats to help him during these "Suspensive Acts" by finding lost souls hidden in the school in each chapter beginning from 2, trading them with Moe Watanabe for sacred objects. As before, fully exorcising a spirit is needed to ensure everyone survives the night; if the spirit still holds a grudge, the Departed will kill one of your partners.
Warning: Due to its nature as a horror mystery, be wary of unmarked spoilers and gruesome descriptions.
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II contains examples of:
- The '90s: This game takes place four months after the first, so the current year is still 1994.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Yashiki finds himself the target of The Departed's affections, who has deemed him a worthy candidate to be her husband.
- Accidental Murder: In Chapter 6, Yashiki accidentally murders Michiho with a crowbar, who appeared to him as The Departed. Not only was this a direct manipulation from The Departed themselves, but a later investigation hints that Michiho may have been killed and taken over by the Departed back in August, so Michiho was Dead All Along.
- Adults Are Useless: While the investigators are mostly adults and are the competent heroes, the adult staff of Konoehara Academy don't even bother trying to investigate the disappearances of several students at the hands of spirits. While they don't believe in the existence of spirits, they don't even think of the reasonable possibility of a human Serial Killer being responsible, instead brushing the whole thing off as a big prank and putting a hold on club activities instead of shutting down the school (which Mashita points out would be the better option), showing only minimal concern for the safety of the students. It's implied that this is really an attempt to keep the story from getting out and reflecting badly on the academy.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Finding "lost souls" (which appear in the form of "eerie teeth") are required for leveling up Yashiki's stats and are hidden throughout the school. Checking at the infirmary will tell you how many lost souls you have yet to find in a chapter. The game will also give you an opportunity to look for lost souls near the end of each chapter, with advancing to the next chapter being a player decision.
- There's an option to immediately return to the infirmary while you're out exploring the school, saving a lot of time that would otherwise be spent backtracking. It also makes trading for Sacred Items or tracking lost souls easier. However, there are times when you don't want to use this. Thankfully, you can back out of the infirmary and tie up any loose ends, since any potential misfortune only happens after you choose to advance the story.
- Artifact Title: Only applies to the international title. While The Departed's Notices serve the same purpose as main curses in the previous games, and Douryou has a Mark of the Supernatural from the game's icon, there is no actual Death Mark to deal with here. In Japanese, the game is called Shibito Magire, which translates roughly to "Corpse Confusion/Panic".
- Asshole Victim: Once again, many of the victims of the spirits did something that had earned the ire of the spirit when they were still alive.
- Big Bad: The Departed is a mysterious and manipulative spirit hiding amongst the students and sending notices around that announce that a student will killed by a spirit in the future, and Kazuo’s mission is to find and stop this spirit’s rampage.
- Body Horror: Victims of the spirits will usually be killed in a gruesome way that destroys their bodies, like being consumed by fungi or having things burst out of their bodies, with these usually being shown in graphic detail. People possessed by spirits tend to have their bodies distorted in some way, but they usually go back to normal once the possession ends.
- Bugs Herald Evil: When a spirit is near or active, its presence will usually bring bugs or indicators of bugs being around, like spider webs. The Departed itself has an association with bugs and can be seen with several insects crawling all over it.
- But Thou Must!: In Chapter 6, one of the choices concerns whether Kazuo should tell Himeko the truth about him apparently killing her best friend Michiho, but choosing to remain silent simply has her demand you tell the truth, and the choice is presented again until you confess.
- Character Select Forcing: Depending on who you choose as your partner, surviving certain "Suspensive Acts" can be made easier or harder. You'll want to bring someone with the best stats for the situation, though it's usually difficult to know who you need with you before the "Suspensive Act" starts. Even for more mundane puzzle-solving or gathering collectibles, certain events can only be accessed by certain characters. For example, neither Yashiki nor Daimon can fit their hands into a gap to get something, but Ai's hands are slender enough to reach.
- Clock Tower: The academy has one of these, but for years its clock has failed to work, so it's stood still for a long time. It becomes an important location to visit near the end of the story, due to being where The Departed resided before haunting the academy.
- Continuity Nod:
- Yashiki can comment on Ritsu Sakamoto's rabbit-themed accessories and how it makes him nostalgic about his late sister. Saya Kujou took the form of a black rabbit to help Yashiki during the first game.
- Saki Maruhashi mentions that her dad is a priest at Kintoki Shrine. The same shrine is the setting of Chapter 2 in Spirit Hunter: NG. Maruhashi's surname also indicates that she's Mitsuru Maruhashi's cousin.
- The "Princess Mach Rumors" bonus chapter is a Continuity Cavalcade. Not only are a few important locations from the first game revisited (H Elementary, the street with the underground bunker, Hanayome's phone booth), Kaoru Hazuki appears as an up-and-coming idol looking for inspiration for her occult theming. It also shows that her "doll in a mansion"-themed photoshoot from the beginning of NG really was based on Mary.
- Creepy Doll: Once again, an animated doll plays a major part in the game, this one wearing a red wedding dress and appearing broken. Unlike the previous games, this one is entirely benevolent, providing hints to survive the current spirit and eventually helping Yashiki survive against The Departed.
- Cutting Off the Branches:
- The first game had two endings: a good one for if all of the potential partners survive, and a bad one should even a single Mark Bearer die. With Yashiki and the majority of the prior Mark Bearers returning, the bad ending is solidified as non-canon.
- Yashiki was also given two possible reactions regarding the revelation that his former self, Masamune Kujoh, deliberately removed Mary's seal so that he could prevent it from completely breaking despite knowing that she would go on a killing spree in the meantime — either conclude that he did the flawed but necessary thing, or completely denounce himself for deliberately getting innocents killed. Here, it is shown that Yashiki wants nothing to do with Masamune anymore and refuses to go by his old name, heavily implying that he took the second option.
- Disney Death:
- In Chapter 6, Yashiki is tricked into killing Kinukawa. However, it's revealed that he hadn't really because a) Kinukawa was The Departed and b) the real Kinukawa was Dead All Along.
- In the last chapter, after an encounter with The Departed, Yashiki and Mashita split up while fleeing, and the Departed chooses to chase the latter. When Yashiki escapes, he attempts to both find and contact the latter but with no response, he assumes that they were killed by The Departed. It isn't until after The Departed is finally dealt with that Mashita calls Yashiki through a public phone to confirm their survival, having lost their phone in the chase.
- Downloadable Content: Since this game was funded for using Campfire (the Japanese equivalent to Kickstarter), there is a backer-exclusive bonus DLC called "Extra Chapter: Mary's Makeover", which deals with important plot events from the first game. So far, it seems that this DLC is inaccessible in international releases. Thankfully, someone has made an English fan translation
for those who're curious. - "Eureka!" Moment: In the Extra Case, Kaoru spends the plot unsure of what theme to go for in regards to her occult idol persona. She gets the idea for “Momo Kurusu”, a doll-themed idol, upon hearing Kazuo mention his doll-making tools, asking to see more, and then seeing the picture of Mary Kujou, the enigmatic yet adorable Elegant Gothic Lolita doll residing in the mansion.
- Fan Disservice: As with the first game, there are many CG's depicting female characters in states of undress or "flattering" positions... while they're being killed, after they're already dead, and/or are a spirit.
- Festering Fungus: The Departed is associated with mold, and inspecting various points of interest in Konoehara Academy mention the appearance of mold or moldy smells. Chapter 5 takes place within the fungus infested Fox Forest, with the Arc Villain Mister Kokkuri being associated with mushrooms himself, while the chapter's victim dies when his body spontaneously begins turning into fungus.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: The clock tower bell chimes throughout the story, usually as a Portent of Doom. Yashiki seems to be the only one able to hear it and later we learn that the clock tower hasn't been working for some time now. Also overlaps with Saved by the Church Bell, as a lighter, less ominous chime will sound when you complete an important action. Tying in with The Departed's Wedding/Death Juxtaposition, the chiming references a wedding bell and a funeral knell.
- Foreshadowing: There are quite a bit of clues as to which student the Departed is pretending to be:
- In just about every case, “Himeko” and “Michiho” are the ones to give Kazuo initial information on the spirits and the rumors surrounding them.
- ”Michiho” has a great love of bugs as one of her distinguishing characteristics; the Departed is also associated with bugs and uses them as a killing method.
- In Chapter 6 in particular, “Michiho” seems to know way too much about the Departed’s thought processes and goes into detail about them while claiming they're merely her “deductions”. She also gives Kazuo, as a thank-you-gift if he answers one of her questions at the notice board, a lost soul/eerie tooth - a supernatural object that can otherwise only be found hidden in various places in the school - and claims she “picked it up on the way” in the student council room, and that the teeth belong to the Departed.
- Also in Chapter 6, “Michiho” expresses a strong dislike of Ms. Sakamoto for always getting in Kazuo’s way and offers to throw mole crickets in the faculty room as revenge. Come the next chapter, and the Departed actually kills Sakamoto by having centipedes burst from her body.
- Every time a student is marked for death by The Departed, there's nothing Yashiki can do to save them, and the student in question is later revealed to be an Asshole Victim with a connection towards the spirit who kills them. Himiko and Michiho are marked to be killed by The Departed themselves, yet Yashiki is able to find and save them without further incident.
- The chapter in which Michiho and Himeko are attacked by The Departed in doesn't follow the standard formula established in the previous chapters, instead coming off as a mockery of the formula with lesser stakes: The notice doesn't name a specific ghost as the Arc Villain unlike the other notices, and targets two individuals at the same time instead of one at a time like the other antagonists. The encounter with the Pool Spirit doesn't require Yashiki to perform an extensive investigation or a purifying extra step, nor does he encounter The Departed before the confrontation to name a 'scapegoat'. The Departed doesn't even eat the Pool Spirit as she passes on easily just like the miniboss spirit in the gymnasium, and rescuing Michiho and Himeko doesn't trigger a boss encounter or Suspenseful Act sequence. This all suggests that the events were a ruse to throw off Yashiki's suspicions about "Michiho" and "Himeko", who were never in any danger.
- Mashita openly suspects Michiho and Himiko of being The Departed because of their close relationship with Yashiki and has Yashiki investigate Michiho's bedroom after her death. Yashiki finds evidence that implies that Michiho was replaced by The Departed two months ago, when the two girls explored the clock tower and "got cursed" together.
- Interquel: It is a direct sequel to the first Death Mark, but chronologically takes place before the events of Spirit Hunter: NG.
- Invisible to Normals: Yashiki is gifted with a significantly powerful spiritual sense and can detect things that others can't, including the resident Creepy Doll, Douryou's mark, Kinukawa's hair color, and the various specters attached to anyone on school grounds that manifest late-game. For some of these, other characters suggest that only he can see it because The Departed chose him as its potential husband. This hints at “Douryou” and “Kinukawa”’s true nature as the sisters who make up the Departed.
- Joke and Receive: Hiroo at one point jokingly makes what turns out to be the correct assumption that Michiho (or rather, the spirit pretending to be her) is the Departed.
- Jump Scare: These happen as you're exploring, with the controller vibrating when one is going to happen. There are options for toggling their frequency, if the player prefers not to deal with them.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler:
- While this game tries to be vague about what happened in the first game, it does spoil a big reveal early on: that Kazuo Yashiki's true identity is Masamune Kujou.
- Mary Kujou’s absence from the game despite being a fairly significant ally to Kazuo in the first one, and the Extra Case mentioning that Mary is sealed in the mansion storehouse, hints at her actually being a malevolent spirit and the Big Bad of the first game.
- Luck-Based Mission: Options when confronting spirits now have a success rate, which depend on character's stats. This means any choice has a chance of failing and damage the player, with little indication if it was the right thing to do and should be tried again. The consequent attempts have a much higher success rate.
- Magic Mushroom: In Chapter 5, Yashiki has to eat a bit of fox laccata in order to see where Mister Kokkuri is hiding. Subverted in that, while the mushroom is a hallucinogen, it probably has no further supernatural properties. Yashiki's ability to see Mister Kokkuri after eating it is probably due to a combination of Yashiki's special spiritual sense and Mister Kokkuri's association with the mushroom.
- Marriage to a God: This is a central part of The Departed's origins since this is Played for Horror, since 100 years ago, the people of M Town performed this through a Human Sacrifice ritual disguised as a general wedding, involving the two "brides" who expected a conventional marriage instead were slowly killed via being infested with mold and bugs by force and even being fed them, in front of the heads of their supposed grooms, all to be married to two gods, Mushigami and Kabigami, in an attempt to end the town's famine.
- Mirror Scare:
- The CG that accompanies Michiho's explanation of the Hanako of the Toilet rumor shows a student washing her hands while the mirror reveals something ghastly rising from the stall behind her.
- After discovering Izumi's body, Yashiki finds himself getting strangled by water hoses. He turns toward the bathroom mirror and is startled by the reflection of Hanako's hanging body.
- Multiple Endings:
- Poor/Bad Ending: If you make the wrong conclusion about The Departed's true identity, it will decide Yashiki isn't its real husband. He will then get bitten, infested, and die, leading to a Non-Standard Game Over.
- Normal/Good Ending: Obtained by playing the game normally. The Departed finally moves on, loose ends in the school are resolved, and Yashiki repairs the Doll in Red, wondering if the lives lost during the game were able to find peace.
- A Last-Second Ending Choice variation of the normal ending can occur if you fulfill the requirements for the Golden Ending but don't return to the clock tower when it begins tolling. Yashiki will instead run into Abe, Maruhashi, and Sakamoto.
- True/Golden Ending: After obtaining the normal ending and ensuring that all partners survive, replay Chapter 6. A new option will be made available, which will allow Yashiki to convince Sakamoto not to write him up, thus saving her from The Departed's ire. Then, after defeating the final boss, go back into the clock tower when it starts tolling. Yashiki will find Douryou and Kinukawa alive and healthy, albeit with no memory of the past two months. Headmaster Konoe steps down, the Mark Bearers celebrate, and the two girls remember their time with Yashiki from The Departed's lingering love for him.
- No Body Left Behind: Anyone killed by a spirit disappears shortly after they're killed, with no evidence they were ever there, as the Departed does not want the police to get involved and cut their game with Kazuo short.
- Old School Building: The old part of Konoehara Academy, which is of course creepy and haunted.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": In Chapter 2, you need to figure out the code to open a locked diary. A clue refers to the owner's "promised day". The day in question is written of in Hanako's diary, that being when she and Horikoshi decided to make a new school song together.
- Point Build System: Like in the first game, there are four stats that every character has: Power, Intelligence, Spirit Power, and Dexterity. Unlike the first game, where the stats were mostly cosmetic or hints for perceptive players, Death Mark II uses these stats in gameplay for calculating success rates in "Suspensive Acts". As the Player Character, Yashiki is the only character you can invest points into to improve his stats, so he'll have a better chance surviving these situations.
- Police Are Useless: Yashiki specifically notes that the police will be of no help here, not just because of the supernatural nature of the problem but also because they'd write off the students' disappearances.
- Pun-Based Title: The Shinigami part of the Japanese title has a double reading. It can refer to the Shinigami but it's also written as 死噛, meaning "Death Bite", referring to the Departed and their obsession with biting their "husband".
- Put on a Bus: Mark Bearers Christie, Banshee, Suzu, and Tsukasa don't participate in the investigation of Konoehara Academy. Only Suzu and Christie have their status directly noted in the story, the former appearing in-person briefly, and the latter being mentioned to be working overseas during the story's events. Banshee is mentioned in the Mach Princess Rumors bonus chapter, still doing well.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A rare benevolent example with Seizou Konoe, the headmaster of Konoehara Academy, who manages to ensure the police and others don't get involved too quickly when students are reported to go missing due to being killed by spirits through his connections to important people. This works in your favor since the general public does not believe in spirits and neither would the general police, whose intervention would only make Yashiki's investigations much more difficult, if not impossible.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Near the end of Chapter 1, you can leave the school instead of confronting The Departed. Yashiki washes his hands of the case, despite the Headmaster's pleas, and what happens afterward is unknown, resulting in a Non-Standard Game Over.
- Slave to PR: The staff of Konoehara Academy are implied at one point during a conversation with Ritsu to be trying to cover up the vanishing of several students at the hands of the spirits, brushing the whole thing off as a prank, because they're more concerned with the school's reputation than keeping their students safe.
- Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Hanako Akai was bullied severely, eventually leading to her being Driven to Suicide. She got cornered in the old school building, force fed milk which she hated, had insulting graffiti written about her on the bathroom walls, had her clothes stolen, and was forced to wear the red overall dress so the bullies could mock her resemblance to Hanako of the Toilet. This is on top of other unspecified harassment, including being bullied due to associating with the more popular Naomi Horikoshi. The perpetrator, Izumi, also stole Hanako's diary and used the information in it to blackmail Horikoshi into staying quiet about the bullying, or else he'd tell everyone about her feelings for Hanako.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Destroying spirits can result in returning characters from the first game, Ai, Shou and Madoka, meeting their ends.
- Teacher/Student Romance:
- The main antagonist of Chapter 3, Rei Kashima, was a student who fell in love with her teacher, Mr. Hirose, after he gave her a pair of scissors to support her dream of becoming a hairdresser. Another student, Megumi Manabe, tried seducing the same teacher, and then threw Mr. Hirose under the bus when she had a friend take a photo of that incident in an attempt to force his hand.
- After Michiho's Accidental Murder, Douryou reveals to Yashiki that Michiho developed feelings for him. How aware Yashiki was of this depends on the player's response, though regardless of the dialogue picked, Yashiki will not reciprocate Michiho's feelings. This also happens to hint that Michiho is The Departed, due to harboring similar feelings of love towards him like The Departed does. Mashita also directly calls out Douryou's feelings and devotion toward Yashiki as a reason for her to be suspect as well. It turns out that Mashita is right on the money.
- In the true ending, the real Michiho reveals that she and Douryou have inherited The Departed's love for Yashiki even after the spirit was saved, much to his chagrin.
- Title Drop: In the Extra Chapter, Kaoru drops one:Kaoru Hazuki: So this is Konoehara Academy, huh? Ai told me about it. Doesn't a spirit called The Departed haunt this place?
Kazuo Yashiki: That's all in the past. Things have calmed down now.
Kaoru: I see, so you truly are a Spirit Hunter.
Kazuo: Please don't give me another strange nickname. Spirit Doctor is plenty for me. - Toilet Horror: Considering that the first case is based on the Urban Legend of Hanako of the Toilet, this is a given. Major events in Chapter 1 include finding a student's murdered body in a bathroom stall and getting attacked by Hanako soon after.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Once a student is marked for death by The Departed, there's nothing Yashiki can do to save them.
