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Hataraku Otaku no Ren'ai Jijou


Clephas

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Hataraku%20Otaku.png

This is the second game in the Hataraku series by Akabei Soft3, the company made when most of Akabei Soft2's subsidiaries either went out of business or merged together.  This series is about adults and adult romance in the modern world, and could be categorized as a 'non-moe charage', as the heroines aren't moe heroines, really.

For my thoughts on the first game:

My thoughts on this VN don't differ terribly from the original, though I do have a number of additions I would like to make.  One thing I perhaps was not clear about in the Hataraku Otaku post was that I liked how both games dealt with adult lifestyles and adult characters, as opposed to the usual teenagers that plague the average charage like an ear infection that just won't go away.  Not only that, I thought the romantic aspects were handled really well in both games, despite the way the protagonist can (if you choose to let him) cheat on at least some of the heroines during their paths. 

This game, like the original, is not suited for everyone.  The issues involved differ somewhat from those people who love regular charage are accustomed to, and the relationships tend to occur almost in isolation due to the nature of an adult's life in a modern city.  In that sense, there is a lot less byplay (teasing from friends and relatives and the like) than is common to a standard charage. 

For we otakus, it is relatively easy to empathize with the main characters, as they are universally otakus dealing with the usual issues that come up when you obsessively follow your hobbies in the modern world.  The protagonist, for instance, gave up a really good job at a good company to become a taxi driver so he would have time to watch anime and play games.  Sound familiar to anyone here?  Did I hear a collective wince from a few of our members? (lol)  Anyway, this game is, in many ways, a bit of a fantasy for adult otakus... a group of heroines who are themselves adult otakus (still a rarity, though a growing demographic) and beautiful on top of that.

There are various types of otaku heroines in this VN, including the open-minded omnivore with a taste for niche titles (Amane), the wannabe mangaka with a fascination for hot-blooded shounen comics (Riko), the otomege-loving OL (Akira), the hot and trendy girl who obsessively hides her hobbies from everyone around her (Nanase), and the two-faced bar owner and cosplayer who acts a part in daily life, only occasionally showing her real face (Minori). 

In addition, the setting for many of the game's most important events and the place where the protagonist gains a new lease on his social life is the anisong bar, Blue Comet, where eroge openings (as seen in the pic above) are constantly showing in the background (Anything Akabei, though G-senjou and Inochi no Spare were the ones I remember seeing off the bat).  What a dream place for an adult otaku, lol.

Anyway, similarly to Hataraku Otaku, this is much about the protagonist choosing his new path in life, with romance as the object.  As such, it is heavy on romance, heavy on sex, and heavy on the short-on-time-so-let's-squeeze-as-much-out-as-possible ichaicha.  If I have a complaint about this game, it is that it perhaps shifts too quickly to actually seeking a particular heroine, as I would have liked to have formed a more solid impression of each of the heroines before entering their paths.  However, this is a relatively minor complaint, considering how much this game did right.

Overall, this is a game that will pick its readers... but the people that go in looking for a different sort of modern romance will probably go out feeling fairly satisfied, if not completely so. 

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I just don't understand why they had to change the art style. I feel like this new character design  fits better to a moe charage. 

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