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Review Coverage: March 14 to March 20

Interesting stuff happens this week! We will see more references from Leaf’s other bishoujo games, Konomi sleeping over in Takaki’s residence, and finally the long-awaited appearance of Tamaki Kousaka, Yuji’s elder sister.

Things are really getting more and more interesting, and at the same time, it’s getting more and more challenging for me! Because of the extremely high level of Japanese conversations this time around, I was forced to find some tools that may help me understand them. I even ventured into “drawing Kanji” through Windows XP’s Japanese support tools. Well that’s practically useless and it’s a pain to draw.

March 14
With the thief event from before, Takaki checks the house for any damages or lost items. There seems to be no damage or property lost though. It was quite a relief that Takaki was around and awake that time. He then spent his whole day studying for the final exams.

March 15
Takaki joined Konomi again in the morning, walking her dog. She talked about how spring break is already coming for Takaki, she seems to be more excited with it than Takaki himself. At night, Takaki hears police sirens around the area. Maybe the police are on the lookout for the thief, or maybe they caught the thief.

March 16
Konomi, Takaki, and the dog again. After class, Takaki sees Konomi at the gate. He wonders why, because she has no more classes. Anyway, they talk about some stuff like her best friends moving away. Maybe they’ll prepare a farewell party. Takaki seems to suggest dancing.

March 17
This morning Takaki is with Yuji going to school. Takaki brings a pamphlet about Kurusugawa Maid Robot Collection. Apparently it’s about maid robots, and he think Yuji will like it because he’s all maniac about maid robots and stuff. Yuji declines that his hobbies are not like that. Kurusugawa, yes, the big and rich family from To Heart, with the Ayaka and Serika siblings. And, Kurusugawa maid robots would surely include the HMX series.

March 18
Takaki is with Yuji again going to school. Yuji talks about Rina Ogata’s new TV drama. Takaki didn’t watch it, and doesn’t seem to be interested. Rina Ogata is, yes, a character from White Album, one of Leaf’s earliest bishoujo games. She is a singing idol there, and here in To Heart 2, her career seems evolve to include acting as well.

At the shopping district, Takaki meets Konomi. She seems to be shopping for bathing products this time. I don’t know too much about this, but Japanese can be quite intricate in bathing. They seem to need ingredients in the bathtub aside from warm water, possibly to take care of their skin. Konomi talks about having milk baths and wine baths, and she wants to experience that kind as well.

March 19
Konomi’s mother seems to be going out on a trip, leaving Konomi behind, so Konomi would be sleeping over in Takaki’s house. After class, Takaki goes home. Konomi appears, and she seems to be quite excited in the sleep over. They buy groceries, then back at home, Konomi tries to cook beef curry.

It’s sleeping time, and now they share the same room (!). Konomi sleeps in Takaki’s bed, while Takaki on the floor. Konomi wants to stay awake to talk with Takaki, but Takaki seems to be sleepy. She shrugs Takaki to wake him up a couple of times, but eventually he dozes off. During the night, Takaki seems to be sleepwalking, and then Konomi tries to wake him up.

March 20
The phone rings in the morning. It’s Yuji (supposedly), and he asks Takaki to go to his house for something. Konomi is still sleepy so she’ll be left in the house. At Yuji’s house, Tamaki finally appears! Tamaki invited Takaki inside, and seems to be speaking in an extremely formal tone. She offers him tea, and talks about old times. Takaki is quite impressed with her maturity. While Tamaki is preparing breakfast, Takaki hears groaning noises in a closet. It’s Yuji, tied up! Yuji tries to convince Takaki that her elder sister did all this, and that he should be careful because she is devilish. Suddenly, Tamaki appears, same as long ago, and seeing that her plans to impress Takaki has failed, she catfights with Yuji. She hugs/strangles Takaki. She removes her formality-acting slowly and talks normally.

It will be interesting from now on. What kind of effect Tamaki would have on Konomi and Takaki’s relationship? Tamaki seems to be the Shiho (To Heart) of this series. Being an onee-san type of girl, I don’t dig her too much, but she’s quite okay I guess.

Now, I really wonder about the other To Heart 2 characters. Because the walkthrough tells me where to go for the Konomi scenario (yup after class you pick up choices on what place to go to), I don’t go to any other place, which avoids me from meeting the other characters. I’m starting to guess that I won’t see the Himeyuri twins, and that mysterious white-haired girl Lucy Maria. I hope to still see Yuma, Manaka and Karin though.

I noticed there isn’t too much rapport between the girls. We only see that Yuma and Manaka are friends, and that Konomi will cling on to her onee-san Tamaki. Other than that (and the twins obviously), there isn’t too much relationship between the To Heart 2 girls, at least in this Konomi scenario. In both To Heart animes, the girls know each other and are quite friends and acquaintances.

While bishoujo games are interesting, I ask the game-players out there, don’t you get bored with these static pictures? Visual novels feature tons of text, lots of character CGs signifying their emotions, and the usual event CG. I guess I’m really not used to this. Besides, I don’t read novels. But if I do read novels, this is a wonderful step-up, because it is a ‘visual’ novel after all, and a “choose your own adventure” type also.

(Home)
Morning… someone is calling up.

It’s Yuji. He told me to go to his house. Well okay.

I told Konomi, who is still sleepy, I’m leaving.

(Yuji’s House)
Over at his house, I use the intercom to call Yuji.

Huh? Yuji doesn’t seem to remember calling me…

All of the sudden, I hear weird stuff over at the intercom, as if Yuji’s being wrestled!

Someone comes out of the house…

And… she finally appears! Tamaki Kousaka!

Guest Room
She seems to be speaking very formally to me. Yuji’s stories about her being a devil seems to be wrong.

She’s would even prepare tea for me…

Weird.

She’s speaking formally, very formally.

I drink the tea.

“Do you want a second serving?”

“You have grown up…”

“It’s been a while, Takaki-san”

I seem to be admiring her entirely formal, warm aura. A full-fledged adult… (heh, I can already sense this is a big joke from miles away)

We talk about old times and Konomi.

I seem to hear a certain someone groaning in pain…

“Is there something wrong?”

Must be my imagination…

She is going to make me some breakfast.

“So, please wait here for a while, I will prepare it immediately.”

The groans return again.

I try to find where those groans are…

(Room)
I see Yuji tied up in a closet!!!

“Do I look like playing around?”

I try to say that his onee-san isn’t as bad as he says, but obviously Yuji doesn’t believe so.

I untie him.

Yuji says that he wasn’t really the one who called, it was all Tamaki’s doing.

“Anyway, you are being fooled by aneki”

I still wasn’t convinced.

“Anyway we have to get out of here…”

Tamaki “Where are you trying to go?”

“!!!”

Here we go!

Tamaki “Yuji…”

Yuji “Wh-What?”

Tamaki laughs quite evil…

Tamaki “Tama-oneechan suki-suki dai-sakusen” (Tama-oneechan’s love-love mission)

Tamaki “… just a little more, I would have succeeded…”

Yuji’s starting to get goosebumps…

Tamaki “Yuji, be prepared.”

Yuji suddenly burst out like Bruce Lee, trying to defend himself.

They fight!

And the winner is…

“Where are you going, Taka-bou?”

I wanna go home.

“Not yet, I didn’t say my real greetings yet…”

She seems to be embracing me… or rather, strangling me…

“Hmmm… Taka-bou’s scent…”

I turned pale after that.

We converse a bit. Slowly she’s removing her extremely formal speaking from before.

Her true self isn’t too devilish as I thought, Yuji’s overexaggerating, but I guess that’s what a comically violent brother-elder sister relation is.

“Tadaima, Taka-bou…” (I’m back)

(Home)
Went to bed. I had a rough rough day…

(Park)

Konomi’s mother has some favor to ask.

She has to go somewhere tonight… so I think I have to be with Konomi.

“Thanks, so I leave Konomi to you…”

(Home)

Konomi seems to blabber about shopping for groceries, the food, the bath, the futons or sleeping pillows…

Konomi wants to cook for me.

“Mother taught me how to cook anyway”

I seem to want to decline and just eat cup ramen.

“But you always eat those”

(Supermarket)
“Hmm… memo memo…”

Talking about food ingredients…

“Beef Curry”

(Home)

Konomi is now “trying” to cook…

“Whoa!”

“That’s was close”

Clumsy…

I offered help, but she told me to just watch TV and wait.

Later she let me help anyway.

She starts crying? Chopping onions!

We start eating…

“Ittadakimasu”

Konomi starts comparing her cooking to her Mother’s.

After eating and taking baths…

Sleeping time?

(Room)
She went to my room… and slept at my bed!

“I’m gonna sleep here…”

Don’t get any weird ideas. I sleep at the floor with the futon…

Lights out.

(slowly speaking here…)
“Ne ne Taka-kun…” (Hey hey Taka-kun)
“Eto ne…” (Umm…)
“E~to… Samu~ku~nai? (Umm… are you cold?)
“eheeee~”

“Seems like it’s been a while since we slept together” (Don’t get any bad ideas, LOL!)

“Taka-kun?”
“Are you asleep already?”
“Taka-kun… wake up…”
“Wake up…”

Whoa, she shrugged me awake.

“Let’s talk, let’s talk some more…”

About what?

“Umm.. umm…”

“Let’s play Shiritori” (Shiritori is a Japanese word game in which the players are required to say a word which begins with the final kana of the previous word.)

“Um… I’ll start”

I fell asleep again.

“Don’t sleep!”
“Wake up! Let’s talk more!”

Shrugged me again.

“If you sleep, today will be over…”

Choice: Okay let’s talk…

And then I speak of… a GHOOOOST STORRRYYYYYY….

“I don’t like ghost stories…”

I finally slept.

The next thing I know… I was sleepwalking! Konomi wakes me up in the bathroom.

(Street)
I’m with boring Yuji again.

“Did you watch? Ogata Rina’s drama. (Rina Ogata is a character from one of Leaf’s earliest bishoujo games, White Album. She’s apparently a singing idol)

“What? You didn’t watch?”

“Someone who doesn’t watch Ogata Rina isn’t a human!”

“You are not really interested in girls, eh?”

“Anyway, you must see Ogata Rina, this is an order.”

“I want her autograph”

“Why isn’t my sister Ogata Rina herself? God is unfair…”

“Oof, keep that secret from Aneki.”

(Shopping District)
Saw Konomi.

Maybe I’m gonna help her shopping or something.

Shopping for bathwater ingredients apparently. (I don’t know too much about this but Japanese may be quite intricate with showers or bathing)

Konomi asked me if what kind of bathwater ingredient I like.

Choice: Something with iris leaves…

Konomi seems to like it too.

Talking about milk bath or wine bath… (Whoa, I know about milk baths… but wine? Expensive bathing…)

(Streets)
Yuk, now I just have Yuji to be together with when going to school.

“Something interesting?”

“Kurusugawa… Maid Robot Collection?” (remember the Kurusugawa sisters of To Heart?)

Apparently I gave Yuji a pamphlet about maid robots, thinking that he’s maniac over it.

“You’re wrong! While I may want a maid robot, I’m not weird like that.”

“You don’t know anything about maid robots!”

(Street)

Konomi with the dog… and dog food?

(Gate)
I asked why Konomi is here.

“Umm… I thought about what you are doing…”

“There’s nothing wrong in going here.”

She was walking Genjimaru.

(Streets)
She called Charu and Yochie, and they seem to be busy with something. Maybe packing up for their transfer/moving out.

She’s quite bored.

“It’s already spring break, and yet…”

Anyway I guess we will go home together… which means:

“YAY!”

She talks about Charu and Yochie.

Apparently her friends invited her to the other school they are supposed to transfer in (which seems to be a temple… Chie and Michiru are going to be priestesses?), but it seems it’s some private school and so money is needed.

Now it seems like Takaki is suggesting a dance party… farewell party?

Konomi can do folk dance…

“Something about that?”

(Outside)

Konomi walks the dog again. I go with her.

(Park)
My spring break is in March 25.

“It’s almost near isn’t it?”

(Home)
Police sirens… either they are on the lookout for that thief, or they have already arrested him.

(Home)
I seem to be checking out the house for any damages or lost items that thief person made.

It’s final exams, so obviously, I’ll be studying. I opened my bag and read some notes.

Maybe for a whole day.

Review Coverage: March 7 to March 13

This week seems to be composed of days where nothing much has happened, but towards the end some heartwarming stories are abound.

Okay, here’s when I discover that indeed, Konomi is in junior high. In Japan, this seems to be the precursor to high school. It’s quite different with our own educational system, so that left me a bit confused. Konomi is also graduating on March 12, that is a Friday.

March 7
An earthquake happened. If this were to be the Sunday when Takaki and Konomi were supposed to go to an amusement park, I guess it’s obviously cancelled now.

March 8
Konomi and Takaki were talking about the quake maybe. Konomi turned superstitious by giving him a lucky item, a blue keyholder. At lunch, Yuji talks about useless crap again, but this seems to be interesting this time… because he seems to be describing a certain “maid robot” that has graced the grounds of their school years ago. Apparently it’s due to research and data acquisition that this maid robot is placed in the school, and the data served as the basis for the new models of maid robots for today. Well what do you know? It sounds like an oh too familiar story of HMX-12 Multi!

Going home, Konomi caught up with Takaki by running wildly. Takaki seems to be stubborn and didn’t worry about Konomi’s health too much. Also, Konomi made some mistake I’m not sure of, which may make her mother angry. Takaki said that they’ll apologize together, and so they did. At Konomi’s home, her mother scolded her a bit, but for telling the truth, she forgives her. The mother she also invited Takaki to eat dinner together.

March 9
That morning, Konomi’s mother gave Takaki more food. She seems to be caring a lot more about Takaki than her own daughter, and it made Konomi a bit jealous. You may think that their relationship is a bit weird, but on the contrary, it’s very strong. That’s why the mother is teasing her daughter so many times.

March 10
Konomi seems to have a little cold, but it’s okay I guess.

March 11
Konomi woke up late again. She tries to catch up to Takaki. Anyway after class, they go home together. On the way, Konomi talks about her graduating junior high. Tomorrow is graduation day, and so she may be going home late. She’s saying this in a somewhat somber tone. Konomi asked Takaki if they could still go home together tomorrow. Takaki promised to wait for her even in late afternoon. Konomi was happy with this, to the point that she got dizzy a bit because she’s jumping around like crazy.

March 12
This is quite an important day for Konomi. It’s graduation time, so we know what that means… Anyway in the morning Konomi reminded Takaki of the promise. And so after class, Takaki went to the junior high school. He waited until late afternoon, when Konomi appeared. Yup, graduation is the time for goodbyes. A classmate greeted Konomi goodbye, in a seemingly crying tone. Konomi told Takaki about how much fun school is, and she’s can’t believe it’s over.

Chie and Michiru will be in another school after graduation. Apparently, Konomi won’t see her two friends anytime soon, and the fun times at school will be over, and so she starts to cry. I suggest you guys read the dialogue in the [March 12->To Heart 2: March 12] entry. If this were in anime form I would be definitely touched. This is IMO the best event in To Heart 2 so far.

March 13
While yesterday seemes sad we see Konomi now recovering. She walks around with her dog named Genjimaru. Takaki joined them for a bit before going to school. At school, Yuji talks about going home together (yuk). Outside, they seem to have a man-to-man talk about getting a girl. Takaki has no girlfriend yet, and Yuji doesn’t seem to like that (YUK!) Yuji also told some things about her elder sister again. Yuji really is quite annoyed at her elder sister.

At home, we seem to hear noises as if there is someone in Takaki’s house! A thief? Takaki quickly turned on the light, and the thief escaped and ran.

And so the second week of To Heart 2 has passed. The week may be quite short, but it comes with a heartwarming scene about graduation, friendships and goodbyes. This may seem like a relatively simple plot, but in real life, it’s really hard to say goodbye. This game really reflects about our real lives.

(My house)

Konomi greets me good morning.

She’s walking her dog (Genjimaru)

“I love walking my dog”.

(Streets)
I guess we’re walking together with the dog.

(Park)
“Let’s walk a bit more”

“What’s wrong Genjimaru?”

Genjimaru seems tired.

I have to go now. I say goodbye to them.

(After class)
Yuji will come home with me (yuk)

(Streets)
“Have you got a girl you like already?”

Obviously not yet.

“It’s troubling if you don’t find a girl anytime soon.”

Yea as if.

Some talk about his aneki again.

(Home)
(Hmm… I can’t read the text but it sounds like)

A thief? I hear noises…

I turned on the light and… the thief ran away I guess..