Done with Rio's route in Dracu Riot, and I must admit the whole experience turned out better than I had expected. While I still think she comes off as the most bland of the heroines, her own route actually allowed other aspects of her personality (besides cluelesness about sex) to shine.
As far as romance went, this was certainly a motherload of sugary overdose. Though hardly surprising, Rio in love shot the fluff scale through the roof. Even Yuuto managed to present himself decently on the romance front, which was a welcome change for once. The plot had some interesting things in store as well, and I appreciate the fact that, unlike Miu's and Erina's routes, the drama wasn't nearly as overblown.
Spoiler for Rio's end:
Though Motoki suddenly deciding to become the villain did come a bit ... meh. Yeah, I had always been suspicious of the guy, but so far (Miu's and Erina's routes) he had been only helpful. I understand the prospect of a naturally born "vampire eater" stirred him up, but still ... didn't really seem in line with his personality as it had been displayed up to now. Ah well, at least it didn't last.
What really got my head spinning was how Rio and Yuuto turned back in to humans. I understand that the act of having one's blood sucked by a "vampire eater" destroys the vampire virus, but it's a bit boggling that they could mutually do so. Even if a vampire eater is still vulnerable to this effect from another vampire eater, shouldn't the fact they were sucking each others blood cancel this out ?
I mean, obviously the vampire eater factor doesn't destroy itself, only other vampire factors that are genetically different from it, so ... shouldn't Yuuto be immune to said effect from Rio while sucking her blood (and vice versa), because he now has her blood within herself, which obviously wouldn't be affected by her specific factor ? So even if Rio nibbling on Yuuto destroys "his" vampire virus, that doesn't change the fact he has just drank her blood, which should also contain the vampire virus, only one immune to her own vampire eater status. So in effect they should have "exchanged" the vampire virus factor, not mutually erased it
Ah well ... best probably not to think too deeply about it. At least Rio has now gained full access to Yuuto's knowledge, and thus won't be left out of the loop whenever Erina makes her ecchi jokes
That aside, overall it was a nice twist to have Rio as a vampire eater as well. Unexpected, and added a little bit of flair to her character that felt otherwise missing.
A decent route overall indeed, and I must say, some of the developments almost made it feel like the "true end", if this story actually had one. Unexpected, considering I didn't expect much when starting it. Always nice when a story does something above my expectations, so from that perspective, I rather liked Rio's story.
She still doesn't measure up to Erina or Miu character-wise, though her route has certainly helped her to close the gap somewhat. She was very much in need of some more exposition (she gets the short end of the stick in common / other character routes on that front), and this certainly helped. Story-wise I still consider Erina's the best one (and with the biggest emotional punch), but this one wasn't bad either.
Azusa left now ... here's hoping this one manages to surprise me as well, because character wise, while entertaining, Azusa isn't really my cup of tea.