To Heart 2

To Heart 2 (トゥハート２) is a Japanese romance visual novel developed by Leaf and published by Aquaplus. To Heart 2 was first released for the PlayStation 2 on December 28, 2004 as an all-ages title, and was followed by Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Portable versions. The Windows port is an adult game entitled To Heart 2 XRATED and released on December 22, 2005. This derives from the game's predecessor, To Heart, as it was originally released with adult content. The gameplay in To Heart 2 follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters.

To Heart 2 has since received a sequel entitled To Heart 2: Another Days, which was released on February 29, 2008 for Windows, and has also made transitions to other media. There has been five anime adaptations of To Heart 2: a television anime adaptation produced by Oriental Light and Magic, which was first broadcast in Japan between October 3, 2005 and January 2, 2006; and four original video animation series produced by Aquaplus and Chaos Project. Three manga series, thirteen manga anthologies, three Internet radio shows, two drama CDs and one novel adaptation based on To Heart 2 have also been produced.

Gameplay
To Heart 2 is a "novel-type adventure game" in which the player assumes the role of Takaaki Kōno. Its gameplay requires little player interaction as much of the game's duration is spent on reading the text that superimposes the screen, which represents the story's narrative and dialogue. To Heart 2 follows a linear plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player make during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.

The game divides each school day of the storyline into four segments. These segments illustrate the events that occur during Takaaki's commute to school, during school, after school, and after he returns home at the end of each day. Depending on the time of the day and the player's actions, he or she may be presented one of three types of events: mandatory events, which occur automatically during certain points in the game's plot line; temporary events, which occur during certain periods of time only if specific conditions are met; or after school events, which occur at the end of each school day.

At the end of each school day, the player will be given the option to navigate to various locations within the game's setting. Each choosable location is accompanied by an image of a heroine in order to allow the choices to be easier to make. Every so often, the player will also come to a "decision point", where he or she is given the chance to choose from multiple options. Text progression pauses at these points, and depending on the choices that the player makes, the affection rate of the heroine associated with the event will either increase, decrease, or remain the same. This mechanism determines which direction the player will progress into, but influences the plot only during Konomi and Karin's plot line.

In the PlayStation 2 version, there are nine plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story except Sango and Ruri, who share the same plot line. This is expanded to ten plot lines in subsequent versions with the addition of Sasara's scenario. In order to view all of the plot lines, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different decisions to progress the plot in an alternate direction. In all versions, the game also contains a bad ending in which the player is unable to pursue the other scenarios. This ending serves as the basis of the Another Days scenario in To Heart 2: Another Days, which allows the player to pursue an additional seven heroines.

Release history
To Heart 2 was first released as an all-ages title for the PlayStation 2 on December 28, 2004 in three versions, a limited edition, a deluxe edition, and a regular edition. The limited edition release contained the game itself, an original soundtrack disc, a visual concept collection, and a calendar; the deluxe edition contained the extras included in the limited edition and a version of To Heart playable on the PS2; the regular edition does not contain the aforementioned extras. To Heart 2 is Leaf's fourteenth visual novel. In To Heart 2, there was a slight redesign in the lettering of the title To Heart from the original To Heart visual novel. The new logo has straight text instead of being slightly curved at the edges, and the positioning of the heart has been moved to the right. The color scheme has been tweaked slightly, but the rainbow gradient in the text remains unchanged. The school uniforms have been given a redesign, with a larger, fluffier bow and a triangular collar. An adult version entitled To Heart 2 XRATED was released on December 9, 2005 for Microsoft Windows PCs as a limited edition, and contained a visual concept collection. The regular edition was released on December 22, 2005. A patch was later released with several additions to the extras found in the game. An adult spin-off of To Heart 2 entitled To Heart 2: Another Days was released on February 29, 2008 for the PC. To Heart 2: Another Days features the sub-heroines of the original To Heart 2 visual novel.

Source code release
On December 12, 2005, Aquaplus announced that the source code for To Heart 2 XRATED, Aruruu to Asobo!!, Tears to Tiara, and Kusari will be released under the GNU General Public License which the Xvid video codec is distributed under, as the games have contained code derived from the codec. The source code for the codec and the four games was released to the public on December 22, 2005 as a CD-R.

Books and publications
A guidebook titled To Heart 2: Master Guide was released on January 15, 2005. The book contains poster artwork, the 'face patterns' of each character, selected CG scenes and a guide on how to play through each character's scenarios. Voice actress interviews are also included, as well as a brief guide on how to play through each scenario in To Heart. Another guidebook for the visual novel titled The Essence of To Heart 2: To Heart 2 Official Guidebook (「The Essence of ToHeart2]トゥハート2 オフィシャルガイドブック) was published by Enterbrain on March 4, 2005. The book contains a complete walk through to all the characters in the game, as well as detailed character descriptions. Every CG image and background is also included.

Manga
A manga adaptation based on the original To Heart 2 visual novel was illustrated by Haruka Gogyōya and serialized in MediaWorks' shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh between February 21, 2005 and January 21, 2007; the chapters were later compiled into three bound volumes published under MediaWorks' Dengeki Comics imprint. Another manga, this time illustrated by Tsuna Kitaumi, was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy between March 18, 2005 and March 18, 2008; four volumes were released under Gangan Comics. To Heart 2: Colorful Note is a retelling of the entire To Heart 2 story.

Anime
A thirteen-episode anime series adaptation produced by Oriental Light and Magic and directed by Norihiko Sudō aired in Japan between October 3, 2005 and January 2, 2006. The basic setting is the same as the original To Heart, except it is set two years later with a completely new set of characters. The school used is also the same as in To Heart. The same cast used in the visual novel was used in the anime. While the animation of the original To Heart anime was very soft and used a lot of watercolor-like images, To Heart 2 followed the path of To Heart: Remember My Memories and uses solid colors and well-defined edges. While the characters have retained their personalities from the game, the story is different. In the game, most of the characters never meet but they all know one another in the anime. The anime is not in chronological order as well; The first few episodes span a two-week period with his interactions with a different girl throughout those two-weeks per episode. Two pieces of theme music are used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Hello" by Haruna Ikeda, and the ending theme is "Tomoshibi" (トモシビ) by Suara. A single containing the theme songs was released on November 25, 2005.

A three-episode original video animation series with a new, original story was released between February 28, 2007 and September 28, 2007 all are available on DVD. The OVAs include all the original To Heart 2 cast, including Sasara Kusugawa, who was first featured in the To Heart 2 game; Marianne, another character who debuted in the ToHeart2 game, and Yūki Kusakabe, a character who only made a flashback appearance in the anime. A second OVA series titled To Heart 2 AD contained two episodes released between March 26 and August 8, 2008. Rena Uehara performed both the opening theme "Niji no Kakehashi" and the ending theme "Kimi ga Nokoshita Mono". A third OVA series titled To Heart 2 AD Plus consists of two episodes, the first released on April 24, 2009, and a second episode released on October 17, 2009.

Audio CDs
Two anthology drama CDs were released between February 24 and March 24, 2006. The visual novel's opening theme is "Heart To Heart" by Arisa Nakayama, and the ending theme is "Arigatō" (ありがとう) by Akko. The two-disc To Heart 2 Original Soundtrack for the visual novel was released on December 22, 2004. A character song album entitled To Heart 2 Character Songs was released on November 23, 2005. A music single, "Heart to Heart", containing the game's opening theme "Heart to Heart" by Arisa Nakayama and several other theme songs from other Leaf games was released on June 22, 2005.