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Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou 2


Clephas

1996 views

First, I should mention that my original review of the first Hataraku Otona didn’t really do it justice. Oh, I mentioned what I liked about it, but I was busy as hell that month, so it was what amounts to a short commentary. As such, I’m going to go into more detail this time around.

Hataraku Otona 2 is the second game in the series (if you exclude the spin-off Hataraku Otaku no Ren’ai Jijou). The characters from the original game return as side characters, several years older, and it isn’t made clear who Oga Itsuki ended up with (though there are hints that it might be a harem situation, lol). Similar to Itsuki, the new protagonist is a socially inept salaryman at the same company (one of Itsuki’s subordinates, actually), who receives advice from Itsuki almost identical to that Itsuki himself received from his immediate superior in the original game. As a result, he sets out to try to turn his life around, seeking more connections with others and actively seeking to find a girlfriend.

Like the original game, the protagonist holds several one-night stands in the common route that both help give him confidence and help him grow as a character (since he honestly liked each of the women as people, even if they weren’t in love). However, the same as the original, it is inevitable that some will bash this game because the protagonist isn’t a lily-pure ‘one woman, one lover’ man (seriously...pfft).

The common route is perhaps a bit shorter than the average charage common route (though not by much), and mostly serves as a very basic introduction to the heroines (extremely basic). Most of the character development for the heroines is done in their paths.

Asahi

Asahi was an odd choice for my first heroine in this game. Normally, I’m not interested in ‘genkikko’, and I almost headed for Suzune instead. However, in retrospect, I don’t regret choosing her for the first heroine.

Asahi is a part-timer at her father’s izakaya (Japanese-style restaurant/bar) and several other places who always has a smile on her face. She is well-liked by the customers and is generally about as good at customer service as it is possible to be.

What I was startled by in this path is the sheer sensitivity with which her true character is slowly brought forth during her relationship with the protagonist. I honestly cried with Asahi when her emotions finally came out into the open, and I watched through the protagonist’s eyes as he waited for her to rely on him. The end result was also immensely satisfying, and I was surprised not to regret a single moment of reading the ichaicha in this path.

Suzune

Suzune is the newbie bartender at ‘Tama’ (the bar that is the central location for many of the events in both games). Her manner is refined and her movements graceful, but, unfortunately for her, she is one of those people who can get drunk on the fumes.

Suzune’s path is significantly weaker than Asahi’s, and it is in some ways a rehashing of Miyu’s path from the first game… watered down. Like Miyu, Suzune has parental issues, and those issues, rather than her interactions with the protagonist, are the center of the path’s events. Unfortunately, the problem is solved quickly and with no real build up (this is the weak point, compared to Asahi’s path), and I honestly felt that this path was handled much less sensitively than Asahi’s, to my disappointment.

Sora

Sora is a hikikomori working at her grandfather’s old book store (old book store as in antique books). She has trouble talking or meeting other peoples’ eyes, and she is very psychologically weak.

Predictably, her path is all about breaking out of the vicious cycle of hikikomori-ism… and she does grow quite a bit during the path. However, the pacing in this path is… not very good. Up until right before the end, it feels fine, but the game all of the sudden cuts to the ending right after what should have been her ‘turning point’. As such, it felt like the story lacked a real climax and was just an excuse for six h-scenes, lol.

Rikako

Rikako is a cheery, strong-willed nurse the protagonist meets when visiting Itsuki (the protagonist from the first game) in the hospital. Easygoing and generous on the surface, she is actually very much a straight arrow, and being a nurse is not just a job to her but a calling.

She is the oldest of the heroines (the second oldest, to my surprise, being Sora), being almost thirty. Her route is, given her job, predictably focused around the difficulty of matching a nurse’s irregular schedule with that of a lover. While there is little in the way of extreme drama, it hits all the points you would expect when it comes to a romance between a salaryman and a nurse.

Manami

Manami is one of the protagonist’s coworkers, sitting at the desk next to his. She is a shy and serious young woman with a slight hesitation to her speech patterns that seems to be a product of a generalized low sense of self-esteem.

Her path is my second favorite in this VN. Like Asahi’s path, it is written very well, and the emotions of both characters are portrayed with the utmost effectiveness. Manami grows a lot as a character in this story, and by the end she is almost a completely different person, in some ways. She quickly became the type of heroine you just have to cheer on.

Bad Ending

Yes, there is a bad ending in this game, and I went through the trouble of getting it as my third path…

This path is essentially one long series of one-night stands, adultery, and the like… a path where the protagonist never finds love. It ends… in a rather startling manner, to say the least.

Conclusions

There are a few negative issues with this VN. The first is that the writer gave a lot more emphasis to Manami’s, Asahi’s, and Rikako’s paths than the remaining two (believe me, it is noticeable). The second is that certain parts of the dating portions are completely patternized (to be specific, there is a beach scene/beach h-scene at about the same relatively point in every path). This is a huge negative, as it pulls you out of your vicarious experience with the heroine you are pursuing at the time. The last point is that the protagonist is definitely a cipher, unlike Itsuki from the first game. Sadly, while his basic personality remains the same from path to path (sincere, persistently caring, mildly shy, high sex drive), I can honestly say he doesn’t really grow as a person in any of the paths… and you never really get to understand him as a whole, round character like you did Itsuki from the first game.

On the other hand, this game does exactly what it advertises it will do… provide you with slice of life romance in an adult setting. That is a rare benefit, and -despite the negatives – this game does it relatively well. I honestly enjoyed playing this game, but I also saw numerous points at which it could have been improved by avoiding the patternizing I mentioned above.


 

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