(This diary entry has spoilers, but I will give a warning beforehand!)
I finally finished reading Konomi's route in ToHeart2! ...Well, kind of. Actually, I finished it a while ago, but completely forgot to play the short epilogue until today. Whoops.
Even before that, actually, it took me a LONG time to finish this game. I'm talking around 6 months for one route! And this is only a 6 HOUR long read! I know, I know, I'm ashamed of myself. Most of it was life stuff getting in the way, where I had to go months without my PC. I also waited for all of the voice lines to finish, and would frequently reload to see the results of different options, so I know that added to it.
Because of how long it took, you might assume I didn't like ToHeart2, when it's actually the opposite.
ToHeart2 was and is my first ever true moege. Which was intentional on my part, since I knew how influential it and it's predecessor was to the genre. It was fun to read through and see how tropey it was by modern day standards, but I think it actually helped cement a lot of these tropes.
ToHeart2 is a lovely slice of life game that always got me in a trance like headspace. I also purposefully paced myself, because the game helps me relax so much. It's really a game where nothing at all happens, and I really loved that. It's just wholesome fun, and I was shocked by how attached to the characters I got. Tama-nee, Yuuji, and Konomi really felt like a true friend group to me. I found myself laughing along with them, and really rooting for all of them to stay together.
Perhaps it's because ToHeart2 has a certain nostalgia to it. Both in the observable sense, as the art and UI is so wonderfully retro looking, but also, the game just oozes sentimentality to me. It's a lighthearted read, don't get me wrong, there was almost 0 drama in Konomi's route... but man, did it have me feeling bittersweet at times. I'm not too sure why.
I played both endings of Konomi's route, the Romance end and the Friendship end. Spoilers for the endings start here, but I feel like there's not a whole lot to spoil...
In the friendship end, the main character is hilariously shitty. He tells Konomi that he doesn't love her, but MIGHT in the future, and like, okay. Go to hell dude. But she completely falls for it. A recurring theme, I've noticed, is that the main character is incredibly dense. Normal main-character-dense, but still, it's enough for him to be unlikable to me sometimes. Also in this ending, Tama-nee confesses her love, and Konomi swears a friendly rivalry. I do think there's a layer of tragedy to how obvious it is that Tama-nee has a crush on the protagonist throughout all of Konomi's route, but tries to be the bigger person.
The romance ending was really sweet. There was a really nice confession scene, and if you know me, you know I love confession scenes. I would have liked more drama, but I understand that's like asking for Chinese at an Italian restaurant. I hear the other routes have more drama, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll read these faster, lol.
Spoilers end there, for the 3 people who cared.
I'm not sure if I'm going to read all of the routes yet, but the ones I KNOW I want to read are Komaki's, Lucy's, and Yuki's. I loved Komaki's personality, and while I haven't met the other two yet, they're really cute and my exact type when it comes to these things. I'm curious about Tama-nee's, the twin's, and Yuma's, but I'm undecided. Oh, I also definitely want to read through the bad end, since I'm morbidly curious and can't find anything online about it. ...Now that I think about it, isn't that almost every route anyway?
This game has two spinoffs, as well. ToHeart2 Another Days, a standard sequel with new routes and both new and returning characters, and ToHeart2 Dungeon Travelers, where they all get isekai'd into a dungeon crawler. Both really interest me. The Dungeon Travelers designs are so cute, and I'm so attached to these characters that I wanna see them put in a fun new situation like this. I also really wanna read through Another Days because I'm curious about Charu and Yocchi's routes, since I loved them, the Konomi/Tama-nee route because what the hell polyamory?? #lovewins, and Konomi's mom has a route that I'm morbidly curious about.
Anyway, to wrap up my thoughts, this was pretty great. It wasn't overly complex, but it was one hell of a comfort food. I listen to the soundtrack sometimes, and now the song Arigatou, which is the credits song, makes me emotional...
Perhaps it's because ToHeart2 has a certain nostalgia to it. Both in the observable sense, as the art and UI is so wonderfully retro looking, but also, the game just oozes sentimentality to me. It's a lighthearted read, don't get me wrong, there was almost 0 drama in Konomi's route... but man, did it have me feeling bittersweet at times. I'm not too sure why.
I played both endings of Konomi's route, the Romance end and the Friendship end. Spoilers for the endings start here, but I feel like there's not a whole lot to spoil...
In the friendship end, the main character is hilariously shitty. He tells Konomi that he doesn't love her, but MIGHT in the future, and like, okay. Go to hell dude. But she completely falls for it. A recurring theme, I've noticed, is that the main character is incredibly dense. Normal main-character-dense, but still, it's enough for him to be unlikable to me sometimes. Also in this ending, Tama-nee confesses her love, and Konomi swears a friendly rivalry. I do think there's a layer of tragedy to how obvious it is that Tama-nee has a crush on the protagonist throughout all of Konomi's route, but tries to be the bigger person.
The romance ending was really sweet. There was a really nice confession scene, and if you know me, you know I love confession scenes. I would have liked more drama, but I understand that's like asking for Chinese at an Italian restaurant. I hear the other routes have more drama, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll read these faster, lol.
Spoilers end there, for the 3 people who cared.
I'm not sure if I'm going to read all of the routes yet, but the ones I KNOW I want to read are Komaki's, Lucy's, and Yuki's. I loved Komaki's personality, and while I haven't met the other two yet, they're really cute and my exact type when it comes to these things. I'm curious about Tama-nee's, the twin's, and Yuma's, but I'm undecided. Oh, I also definitely want to read through the bad end, since I'm morbidly curious and can't find anything online about it. ...Now that I think about it, isn't that almost every route anyway?
This game has two spinoffs, as well. ToHeart2 Another Days, a standard sequel with new routes and both new and returning characters, and ToHeart2 Dungeon Travelers, where they all get isekai'd into a dungeon crawler. Both really interest me. The Dungeon Travelers designs are so cute, and I'm so attached to these characters that I wanna see them put in a fun new situation like this. I also really wanna read through Another Days because I'm curious about Charu and Yocchi's routes, since I loved them, the Konomi/Tama-nee route because what the hell polyamory?? #lovewins, and Konomi's mom has a route that I'm morbidly curious about.
Anyway, to wrap up my thoughts, this was pretty great. It wasn't overly complex, but it was one hell of a comfort food. I listen to the soundtrack sometimes, and now the song Arigatou, which is the credits song, makes me emotional...