While I liked the ending it had, I agree. Overall I liked her route but it was lacking in some aspects compared to the others. Personally I have never been a fan of the non-blood related "incest" for various reasons. Mostly because they try to make their relationship as complex as a TRUE incest relationship; something that is stupid tbh. They are not related by blood, so why does it matter? They've only been living together. It's not as if they are going to have the problems blood-related children can have.

I'm very picky when it comes to incest relationships and while I wouldn't have minded the development this route had in a TRUE incest story, I can't say the same for this one.

Having just finished Making Lovers, Ako's route is hands down the absolute worst..

The problem is OP actually spends his time in almost all routes, most notably Karen & Reina's routes trying to better himself & not be a an absolute degenerate 24/7. You can see him in other routes trying to get a grip on his life & move forward past his earlier trauma & phase where he assumes he is undesirable, and thus falls down into the deep rabbit hole of Japanese Sub-Culture.

The problem with Ako's route is..


The MC basically gives into his degeneracy & it's a very hard to watch spiral imo; If you finish Ako's route last.

Ako is almost a mirror image of him, not literally 1:1, but they have both due to their own experiences have develop a curve towards degenerate behavior. Like how it's basically hinted that Ako will literally never have a BF unless it's Onii-Chan, she literally snuffs his underwear.. MC is aware that their both perverts & openly describes themselves as such to other in public.

Their Parents never approved of the relationship, they just acknowledged that it's pointless to even try to stop it at this point, with how deep this has gotten since grade school & won't go out of their way to make it a huge issue for 0-results. Hence, you never get the Dad's reaction about their relationship, he isn't glossed over as an Extra just because, the plot is actively holding his tongue.

They also spend 10yrs, (the longest time-skip ever in Making Lovers) doing absolutely nothing.. yeah they both got their jobs, but besides that all they do is maintain the Status Quo they've had since grade school.. Not married, No Kids, They've lived in a standard apartment for 10yrs. I also found the dialog between them to be strange that she's asking the same questions & using talking points, they don't talk like their bond has grown in that 10yrs.

It's really, really sad honestly...

MC not laying his hands on Ako was the thin line that left him potential to become a better person, potential he took in almost every other route, it showed in his dialog with Karen, the ending to Reina's route, etc.

Being with Ako is MC basically accepting that part of himself & becoming enveloped by it; They simply enable each other to not move forward & only sit(for 10 actual years) idly by.

When what MC needs is a relationship with a real person, as the greatest antidote to his inabilities & existing traumas, not falling back into behavior that hasn't gotten him far since Middle School.

I think Ako's route might be the worst Little Sister route I've ever read & I have no inherent biases towards those types routes overall, actually I was going into Ako's route expecting something wild, but now I've realized that the plot can go any which way in these stories to make something happen as apparent the bombshell that MC is adopted which is strange to never mention in any other route.

Ultimately I think I'm not a fan of Charage, but that didn't influence my opinion of Ako's route.