Hello. I’m the English translator of the patch, and just as I did with Game 1 of the series, I’ll write a review about what I think makes this game better than the first one, as well as personal thoughts about the general aspects that it covers of not only the story, but also character progression and other shit like BGM and yada yada.

*The game progression I categorize is as follows: Game 1 is obviously the first one, Game 2 is the fandisk, and Game 3 is Shuumatsuron, the direct sequel of Game 1.

Story

Welcome to the second game of the trilogy where… mostly nothing happens in terms of story development. 

The game is divided into 5 routes, which are the girl’s after stories (except Reika’s / Kyouka’s route) along with a secret route that is only unlocked after you complete the other 5 and their respective endings. 

Every after story route is basically an expansion of what you read of each girl in game 1, but, in my opinion, with better writing. This is mainly because the game, unlike the first one, isn’t taking itself seriously from the start (since this is for all intents and purposes a fandisk) and thus, Kinugasa is taking the piss with his writing from the beginning, instead of setting unrealistic expectations about a grand story. 

Game 2 is mostly centered on banter and fun character development, so do not expect a plot-filled story to unfold in the main routes, but rather a funny, stupid plotline to be developed along with a somewhat conclusive(ish) ending for each of the routes.

For reasons I fail to understand, they merged Reika’s route along with Kyouka’s, and in that one you start as Kaito right after the birthday party in game 1 ends, so basically before you enter into a relationship with Reika. This makes the romance with Kyouka possible, and I suppose Kinugasa simply wanted to take the piss, once more.

Out of all the after stories, my preference is:

Reika / Kyouka > Aya (Takanori xD) > Tae > Moe > Tsuki

Ironically enough, Tsuki’s route in this game is for me the weakest of them all. Basically, Kinugasa, in his infinite wisdom, develops the most traumatic aspect of Tsuki’s and Kaito’s relationship (which to me already stands in shaky and illogical grounds to begin with) and completely neglects the funny dynamic between the two by the later half of the route, which in my opinion becomes dull and boring due to how depressing all of it is. But hey, it has its charm too.

I still believe this game and routes in general outrank the ones of game 1 in terms of writing quality.

Anyways, as for the last, unlockable route, which is Anzu’s, that’s where the meat of the game is at. It’s a glimpse into Kaito’s past, a very interesting storyline from Kaito’s POV where you not only get to see how he trains and becomes a monster, but also how he meets many of the characters that will become both his allies and / or antagonists in game 3. It’s also a more serious-toned route, and it’s in my opinion the first highlight of how good Kinugasa’s writing is sometimes if he wants you to stay glued to the seat, waiting for the next thing to happen.

I appreciate the fact that, in usual Akatsuki fashion, the game contains multiple sets of choices that do not immediately seem obvious as in which outcome will be achieved by choosing them, and that there are multiple bad endings spanning from these choices. Though this concept is later expanded and better used in game 3, game 2’s Anzu route does it good enough for me to enjoy how unpredictable some of these choices can be sometimes.

Though the “story” from the other girls’ routes is not “great” from a plot development standpoint, I did find a lot of the plotlines funny and they kept me wanting to read more of it all, see what jokes would be used next, etc… In Anzu’s case, the story was quite interesting, and the constant fight between Kaito and the circumstances that he’s placed in makes it an engaging experience, one that makes me wanna keep reading, that makes me thirst for more, and immediately makes me wanna play game 3 again.

For these and many other things, I rate this game’s story higher than game 1, with a solid 7/10. The writing is just overall better, and I appreciate the game never takes itself seriously from the start.

PS: Important to mention that Takanori’s Extra Story (which is unlocked after you complete Reika’s route) is actually pretty decent when it comes to character progression, and even though it’s a 2000-line short story, it was charming. I wish Kinugasa did more of these, instead of just shitty H-scene after-stories with the girls in game 3. Like, come on dude.

PS2: Looking back, I also appreciate how in the trinity version some side characters are given new sprites, and even sprite changes within lines from time to time. Truly revolutionary (not). Why couldn’t they apply this to the whole trilogy remaster? I swear, Akabei is such a shitty company sometimes.

Characters / Character Progression

Lots of character progression in this game for very specific characters, those being:

• Kaito
• Kyouka
• Reika
• Takanori (funnily enough)
• Tsuki
• Anzu

Characters that were not mentioned here are either ones that we get to meet in this game for the first time (like Masaki) and those that do not change that much (like Aya, or Tae / Moe).

Kaito is obviously the first and most obvious pick. His past arc explains pretty well the shit he goes through to become who he is now, and I think it’s a good way to understand many of the short moments in both game 1 and 2 where he talks about his points of view about life itself, mostly tied to personal past experiences, and not exactly to “conventional wisdom” he has acquired over the years through academic study, but instead through pure suffering and getting screwed over and over again.

Kyouka actually has a lot of her character arc in her route, and we get to sort of understand why she acts the way she does. It’s so interesting to see that Kinugasa chose to give her a reason to act like a spoiled little brat, instead of just making her sound stereotypical and having the explanation simply being that “she was born like so,” which is cringe. A shame we don’t get to see Kyouka too much in game 3. She ended up quite high in the character popularity polls in Japan for a reason!

Reika does get some character development in her route. Is it significant? Not really, because her whole shtick remains unchanged. Though she will be thoroughly explored in game 3 (introspectively and sexually) I think she mostly stays the same in game 2, but there’s a couple of moments where we see the more vulnerable side of her, which is cool.

Takanori is someone who gets a lot of development, especially in his extra small story (funnily enough). He has his reasons for being an asshole, his banter with Kaito is always absolutely hilarious, and he slowly but surely has this gradual change into the bro character he becomes in game 3. Keep it up, Son. You’re a gem.

Tsuki gets some character development in her route because Kinugasa decides to explore the more traumatic part of her life (which I guess it makes sense, but I still find depressing as fuck). The constant need for her to know what happens to her mother those days when the both of them get assaulted by Kaito and her father is the root of her fear of the dark (though not the entire reason) and I find it interesting how it all gets resolved. Though to be completely honest, the answer to that question was kind of obvious? She gets rid of her fear rather quickly, but I don’t find the closing of her arc completely illogical, at the very least.

Anzu is the last character we explore in this game. Though we get to meet her in game 1, we pretty much barely see her ass until her specific route comes into play. I actually found it amazing how well Kinugasa managed to reflect the psyche of a child who has recently lost its parents and how “fast and easily” she moves on, because, well, in the end she’s just a child. Her route explores a lot of concepts related to how humans deal with life, death, and relationships between parents and children. Anzu is someone who Kinugasa and her voice actress manage to wonderfully depict as an annoying brat at first, but quickly enough she becomes someone who can fend for herself, and logically gets attached to Kaito, who saves her life over and over again through very gruesome events. We understand the reasons behind her actions, and why she makes the choices she does in game 1. I think she’s probably the best character in this game in a way! Especially because she ain’t smart either. She’s a dumb bimbo from the prohibited zone, which makes sense because she didn’t really get an education, nor she cares too much about being cultured or think things through either.

The characters, interactions between them, and their progression throughout the story are all the best parts of the game, and for that I’ll give it a solid 9.5 / 10.

BGM

The BGM of the second game sucks ass almost all of the time. The base game 1 tracks feel cheap and elevator music-like. However, the new additions that unfortunately play only just a few times are insanely good and show what in my opinion should’ve been produced from the beginning in the OST department. It reminds me a lot of the Tsujidou soundtrack in a way.

I gave the music a 4/10 in game one, but considering the new tracks are pretty good, I’ll bump it up to a 5/10. If I judged exclusively on the quality of the new game 2 tracks, I’d give it a solid 8/10.

ART / CG Quality

Nothing really changes in comparison with game 1 in this regard. Tomose Shunsaku’s art is godlike, and I prefer his older character iterations over his new ones in CotE. It’s also the main reason I started to learn Japanese.

9.5/10

Engine Quality

Just as in game 1, the engine of the trilogy version is simple and goes straight to the point. It’s nothing spectacular, but does the job.

7/10

Personal commentary on the translation and style of writing (biased & based):

Yet another masterpiece translated by Bee.10/10

Okay, jokes aside. I’ll try to be as unbiased as I can.

While I think that I did a superior work compared to Game 1’s translation, Kinugasa’s problems continue to persist throughout the writing, which are:

• Random “funny” moments in the middle of conversations that break the reading flow and immersion.
• Sudden writing changes, where one train of thought / plot point is abruptly interrupted by another new one. It’s like Kinugasa doesn’t have a clear idea of what exactly he wants to pursue while he’s writing the whole thing. Basically, it’s like he’s trolling / taking the piss while he writes.
• This is awfully specific, but whenever he makes comparisons, Kinugasa uses the weirdest idioms and examples, even in Japanese.
• Obscure Japanese boomer nerd humor.
• Typos, typos, and more typos in the original Japanese script.

Changes I’ve been implementing compared to Game 1’s translation:

• Toned down Kaito’s abrasiveness. I received some complaints about Kaito being too aggressive in his speech and spamming insults a bit too much, which I ultimately agreed with. I think I toned down the intensity of that in this game (except in Anzu’s route, where I saw fit for him to remain more or less unchanged from Game 1 due to his circumstances in that particular route). 
• Tried to keep a “closer” version of the jokes and funny moments I encountered in the game.
• Was more liberal when it comes to text reorganization. Though I’d like to make a comprehensive list of these specific changes, I’d take ages to do so, and feel like not enough people would care to justify the effort.
• Spent more time revising text than Game 1’s.

Things I’m not particularly happy about this translation, or feel conflicted about:

• The mistranslations I may have made along the way. Though this is unavoidable in the grand scheme of things related to translating media.
• There’s probably better ways to handle the jokes, but I feel like what I did was the best I could.

That’s pretty much everything. Ultimately I am happy with how this second game turned out to be—way more than the previous things I translated—and I’m hoping everyone who reads it enjoys the experience. I’ll stay alert for constructive opinions and the like.

So yeah, that was the review. I think I went into some more length than in game 1. Thanks for reading if you did!