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How do self-insert players feel about childhood friend LIs?

h4kusa

h4kusa

New member
乙女
Mar 11, 2026
49
73
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I am a self-insert player and I actually love the childhood friend (osananajimi) trope, but I've seen some people say they can't get into them.

The main reason seems to be the "fake memories" thing—the character talks about all these shared memories that "we" have, but since I just started the game, I don't actually remember any of it. It can feel a bit awkward when they are acting so close to "me" but I feel like I just met them for the first time.

Does anyone else feel this way? Do you find it hard to connect with childhood friend types because of the "missing" history, or do you just go with the flow? I would love to hear how other self-insert players handle it!
 
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Im more "go with the flow" I think.

My type of "self-insert" is more of "transforming into the main character of that particular story"/ "immersing in the moment itself". So when the childhood friend tells me about a childhood event, usually Im trying to imagine the event actually happen, so I can kinda understand what he's talking about. So sometimes I ended up rly liking these sort of "childhood stories", like how it was done in Psychedelic of the black butterfly or Amnesia.
 
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woodypei said:
Im more "go with the flow" I think.

My type of "self-insert" is more of "transforming into the main character of that particular story"/ "immersing in the moment itself". So when the childhood friend tells me about a childhood event, usually Im trying to imagine the event actually happen, so I can kinda understand what he's talking about. So sometimes I ended up rly liking these sort of "childhood stories", like how it was done in Psychedelic of the black butterfly or Amnesia.
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That is similar to how I play! I find it easier to just immerse myself in the moment and imagine the childhood stories are real. I also loved Psychedelic of the Black Butterfly for that reason. I haven't tried Amnesia yet, but I've heard the childhood friend character route there is pretty famous, so I will probably check it out next!
 
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h4kusa said:
That is similar to how I play! I find it easier to just immerse myself in the moment and imagine the childhood stories are real. I also loved Psychedelic of the Black Butterfly for that reason. I haven't tried Amnesia yet, but I've heard the childhood friend character route there is pretty famous, so I will probably check it out next!
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Although Amnesia doesn't portray childhood friends as vividly as Psychedelic of the Black Butterfly, I feel like since the main heroine herself doesn't remember the childhood memories with her childhood friends, so how they go about it in the game also makes it easy for us to comprehend, since we are pretty much the same position as her anyways haha. There is also more than one childhood friend route in Amnesia! Both have very different vibes! Highly recommend it and playing it as blind as possible too.
 
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Yes, I feel the same way! The only time I have enjoyed the childhood friend trope is when the game actually shows the couple when they were children together, like Cove from Our Life. So when they talk about their memories together, I do remember!
 
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I'm a self-inserter too, and I love childhood friend dynamics! When I'm playing an otome game that has one I see it as just. Yeah that's my life in this world. I know how it can be a bit immersion breaking for some, but I don't have many problems with it? If anything comes up that bothers me, like a memory of something I'd never do in a million years, I just adjust it in my head. Sometimes I even write it down just for fun.
 
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I have pretty bad memory in reality so I don't even mind if they don't explicitly show us the childhood memories. The childhood friend LIs usually start with a boost for me—since I enjoy the trope. However, this can be detrimental if the LI bores me and/or that's the only thing he has going for him.

Although, I'm glad those that have replied so far also see self-inserting as more than simply putting yourself as the MC. It's so fun for me to think of it as playing a role. Especially if the games have voiced default names—that's my name for now! Of course, there are those times I go "I can't believe I did that…" in response to MC's actions, but I guess we can't be perfect all the time.
 
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I also like childhood friend characters. I'm not the type to completely project myself onto them, but I do play while imagining how I would feel in their shoes.
 
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I LOVE childhood friend plots, so I usually just go along with the storyline and fill in the missing parts with my own imagination. When an otome game does it well, I can always resonate with the emotions and the past events that were supposed to have happened, even if I didn't get to experience them myself. Having these kinds of LIs doesn't bother me at all.
 
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mhm, depends if the memory cap in the game is immersive or not. In TMGS 3, the playing hide and seek part was cute and I did move around when I was younger so yeah. That's fine but the ones that did not relate and not very immersive...ugh...I'd usually skip the childhood love interest.
 
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I totally see how the childhood friend trope can be hard to get into. Personally, I get hooked much faster when the game gives us actual flashbacks of their time together. If not, I guess I'm stuck relying on headcanons, which is a bit of a bummer.
 
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