NUKITASHI 2 – Review

Did you enjoy Nukitashi and want more of its perverted comedy? Shiravune has released Nukitashi 2 which is somehow even more absurd than the original.

Whilst kept to a minimum and vague to reduce spoilers as much as possible, this review will contain mentions of events for the first Nukitashi.

Isekai Toy

Nukitashi 2 is a direct sequel and will only make sense to those who have read the original Nukitashi. The main story is more or less a sequel to the true route of Nukitashi, minus getting together with the heroine. It also includes short epilogues that follow each character’s route of the original and extra short scenarios.

In the main story, not everything is perfect, but the island is improving for everyone. They’re even getting along with the Big Three, Touka, Rei, and Ikuko, despite their conflict last time. This isn’t too much of a surprise though; we got to know them quite well and Junnosuke did start to understand their perspective throughout the previous story.

Unfortunately, they don’t get to relax. Junnosuke is testing out a new ‘toy’ on himself as the Big Three burst in and interrupt his alone time. Somehow, this toy ends up sending them all to a parallel universe where they take over the bodies of their counterparts.

In this universe, Junnosuke had joined the FS instead of fighting against the perverted sex law. His special abilities over women have been used to great effect and he’s known over the whole island as ‘Your Sexellency’. What caused such a change? Why did someone who valued his virginity so much turn out this way? The common route of Nukitashi 2 explores this, slowly revealing hints.

I enjoyed seeing how the alternate timeline played out. There weren’t any major surprises in what happened in the past of this dimension, but it works as an interesting ‘What If’ story based on an idea that was rejected in the first Nukitashi.

A New World

Seeing things from the other side is a rather interesting twist. Whilst Junnosuke’s old comrades don’t know he’s on their side, and make minimal appearances at first, we get to meet more members of the FS and experience a different type of comradery. There’s a lot of fun in working together with Touka, Rei, and Ikuko. Other characters are expanded too. We end up spending a lot of time with the cheeky Susuko and data-obsessed Schubert. The overly ambitious younger Hanamaru sister takes an adversarial role, making life challenging and adding a lot of opportunities for fun interactions. 

We soon find out that Junnosuke wasn’t the only one willing to step up and fight though. While NSLS doesn’t exist in this dimension, a similar organization called ‘Birds of a Feather’ does. A clue leads him to believe that finding out who their leader is will allow them to return home to their dimension. This sets Junnosuke directly against the alternate dimension version of his old team, while still working to secretly protect them.

There are a few action scenes in the common route as they come into conflict. Much like its predecessor, Nukitashi 2 does a brilliant job of creating a sense of excitement as these happen, though these types of scenes are not as common in the sequel. Junnosuke’s thoughts about fighting his old comrades and being hampered in a few ways add some interesting drama, as do the reveals around Birds of a Feather. I was also interested to see the occasional thoughts from his old comrades, which helped to give an insight into what was happening without him.

Story Thoughts

Whilst I enjoyed reading it, I would say that the story isn’t particularly strong. It does some things nicely, such as implementing the theme of discrimination in a way that makes it more key than the original Nukitashi, but it barely develops the background unique to this dimension, rushes the conclusion, and has some parts that are difficult to believe even in an absurd comedy like Nukitashi 2. It also almost completely sidelines the impending threat of sex, which was a major issue in the previous title, despite it not being resolved in this dimension.

On the topic of discrimination, I felt like it handled it in a very interesting way, but it touches on areas that readers more sensitive about gender issues may not appreciate. Overall though, as you’d expect, Junnosuke is very against discrimination and for protecting people from the island’s rules.

Rather than more serious elements though, Nukitashi 2’s strength is in its comedy and that’s what it focuses on. Beyond that, after you choose a character route, it does well at implementing scenes for them into the common route, before eventually splitting off onto a character route. These character routes feel very separate from the common route and drop most of the action and main plot to focus almost completely on the characters, which also makes the story feel shorter.

The heroines of the main story are Touka, Rei, and Ikuko. Each of these routes felt very different in tone to me. One common factor is that we already met them in Nukitashi, and their characters have been established to various degrees because of this.

Touka – A Genius Savant

Touka’s route felt like it was mostly about cute moments and wholesome interactions. We find that she’s absolutely useless at almost everything aside from her job, to comical levels. She even throws up if having to deal with things as minor as stairs.

Interestingly, whilst it wasn’t confirmed, it directly suggests that Touka might be on the autism spectrum which isn’t something often mentioned in anime media. Whilst it did spend more time on fluffy interactions, a core aspect of her character is how she wants to understand people and to be understood, but just can’t despite her genius in specific areas. This leads to a lot of interactions where Junnosuke gets sarcastic and makes biting comments that go over her head.

If there is any serious theme in her route, it’s about her trying to improve for her love. There’s not really much in the way of a story. I’d consider Touka to be a lovely character, but her route to be the weakest of the three in terms of story. Her failure at simple tasks can be repetitive to the point it’s no longer funny too. Despite this, spending time with her is worthwhile.

Rei – Redux

Rei’s route is the most serious of the three, exploring her past with the island and with Hinami.

You may recall from the first Nukitashi that Rei dislikes the law despite the fact that she enforces it. Her route expands on why this is the case and her feelings about this conflict.

Whilst it certainly adds more detail, it does feel like Rei’s story retreads a lot of the same ground as when we got to know her through Hinami’s route in the original. This is somewhat of a downside since it doesn’t feel particularly new. That said, exploring her feelings about her role as an enforcer of the law and how she got to this point is far more interesting. There’s some drama between the main character and her regarding her past too which I enjoyed, along with a particularly nice moment showing her relationship with Hinami.

I’d consider Rei to be both the best route and the most interesting heroine of the Big Three.

Ikuko – Blast Off

Ikuko’s route explores a surprisingly dark past, but it doesn’t go as into depth, or have it affect her story, as much as Rei. Instead, the highlights are the more comedic moments.

Whilst we know Ikuko as a rather forward character who doesn’t exactly care about consent, she’s a surprisingly perceptive and sensitive heroine. We see her tease Junnosuke and spend some sweeter moments with him. Whilst brief, getting to know some of her past helped to explain why sex is so integral to her character too, which I appreciated.

The finale of Ikuko’s route was perhaps the most offbeat and hilarious part of Nukitashi 2. I couldn’t believe how something that seemed so inconsequential actually turned out to be integral to resolving a sudden issue and how it all tied together perfectly.

NLNS Heroines

Outside of the main story, each of the NLNS members has their own mini-routes. These are set either after their own routes in the first Nukitashi or after the common route in Nukitashi 2. This even includes Junnosuke’s sister Asane, who wasn’t a heroine in the last game. On top of that, there’s the addition of another surprising character, though they only get an H-scene.

These mini-routes feel rather mixed in tone and quality. Some focus more on fanservice, whilst others are cute romances with low stakes. A couple even include a short story about a potential problem or two.

I felt that Fumino’s was the best among these. It fell into the cute romance category. Asane’s was interesting too, particularly as it had her spend time with Nanase early on and explored their relationship further. Despite the taboo relationship, there were some nice familial moments here too.

Hinami’s mini route was enjoyable, but I did feel it suffered a little from including Rei too much. Rei already had a lot of focus during Hinami’s route from the original and she had her own route in Nukitashi 2 as well.

Misaki’s and Nanase’s mini routes were more comedic. I thought it did a better job with the comedy in Misaki’s route, rather than Nanase’s where it kept going on about Junnosuke’s muscles. Nanase’s route had some good moments, but that got old quickly.

After all is done, it nicely wrapped things up with an epilogue. Some of these are locked with unusual unlock and access conditions, so our guide may be useful.

Between the isekai premise, all these mini-routes, and how the main heroine routes feel separate from the common route, Nukitashi 2 feels almost like it was intended to be a fandisc that got out of hand.

Localization

The localization of Nukitashi was somewhat controversial. Nukitashi 2 is done by a different team, so does it change the things that some dislike?

As always, I can’t comment much on translation accuracy. That said, the tone is very similar to the previous Nukitashi with plenty of jokes and references and this does make localization difficult.

I’ve looked into several examples of the obvious references in Nukitashi 2 and, for the most part, they make sense to me.

Some are said directly in English. Others are said in Japanese but seem to come from English language media. For example, “Oh my God, they killed Tachibana. Those bastards” is a clear reference to South Park. This is not a creation of the translator. The spoken lines for this are the same words as in the Japanese dub of South Park. There are quite a few references to Western media in the Japanese script.

Some other references are equivalents. One example is a Forest Gump reference (Mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates), which seems like it was originally a Kamen Rider reference (Obachan ga itte ita/Grandma said this). I can understand the similarity of this replacement and that most wouldn’t understand the Kamen Rider reference.

Some I’ve not been able to identify, such as one from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but from the ones I have been able to, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Either way, the references and jokes generally read well and fit the tone of Nukitashi 2.

With that said, it still has the odd pop culture term that seems out of place and other terms like ‘Nasty Woman’ that some specifically complained about pop up. I’ve not noticed anything overtly political though, or overuse of very modern slang. Typos and similar errors are minimal and it reads well.

Is It a Nukige This Time?

Nukitashi 2 is on Steam, but without the adult patch you can only read the opening. You’ll need to either buy the full version on a store such as JAST USA or download the patch to experience the story.

While sex is still in the background in Nukitashi 2, actual scenes don’t take place until quite far in. The protagonist is safe from non-consensual scenes this time around and there’s less of a focus on it than in the first Nukitashi.

There are some niche fetishes on display here over the 36 scenes, but most of it isn’t too unusual for a visual novel. I was surprised at an optional scenario, but to say why would spoil it. Another scene is somewhat legally dubious too, specifically having taken place in the past.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics and user interface are great and animation is used well for action scenes or just to underpin jokes with comedic timing. The music and voicing are high quality too. Not too much has changed since the first Nukitashi in this area.

Whilst Nukitashi 2 still leaves the most minor characters without a sprite, the more frequent appearances now have character designs on the screen.

Some CGs are reused from the original, but plenty of new ones have been added and most look great. As you may expect, the majority of these are 18+ CGs. I’m not much of a fan of the simpler deformed art style that some use though, despite often liking this type of CG.

Verdict

Nukitashi 2 doesn’t have the strongest plot, but it makes up for it with humor and high production values. Perhaps it won’t be a hit with everyone as comedy is subjective, but I certainly enjoyed the experience. That said, as a direct sequel I did feel that the change in direction had it fall short of the original.

NUKITASHI 2 IS RECOMMENDED

If you are looking for another more plot-heavy visual novel, you may enjoy Kunado Chronicles.

Many thanks go to Shiravune for a PC review code for this title.