Chihiro Himukai Always Walks Away is a workplace-themed pure love-oriented visual novel produced by SMILE. The game tells the story of Chihiro, who is not smooth on both sides of the workplace and life, when he is desperate and about to lose himself, he accidentally reunites with his high school classmates, and a wonderful love story that begins with more than friends, lovers are not enough, and begins with ambiguity begins.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > production group with puns</h1>
According to the news provided by the DLsite shangci-en author blog, the current SMILE originally was "すまいるふぉらんかんぱにぃ。 (SFC)" and "スミレ" two game makers, and then in May 2019, the two began to form a group to develop the game together. Previously had their own games, the new combination directly followed the original name "スミレ&すまいるふぉらんかんぱにぃ。 (In fact, it spells the two names together), and externally it is declared as SMILE (with a pun meaning, which will be discussed below, more complicated).
Players interested in literature can refer to it
Slightly off topic to talk about miscellaneous interesting talk, popular science about the content of language. Originally, I saw that the production group was named "SMILE", which the author subconsciously thought was the meaning of "smile", and later found on Twitter that the authors divided the syllables into three parts of "s_mi_le_", and the pseudonym was written as "スミレ". The original names of the two authors are "すまいる" and "スミレ", the former pronounced according to "su_mai_ru", which means "smile", and the latter is pronounced "s_mi_le_" meaning "堇", which is actually a clever play of a bilingual pun.
Strange to say, I just glanced at it and noticed it
Normal to say that this is the end, and when looking up the data, Google said that "スミレ" refers to "violet (violet)", but the actual violet and viola are not the same kind of plant, to be precise, the two are not even the same order, so where does this misunderstanding come from?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > the misunderstanding of "viola" and "violet"</h1>
I went to consult with my biology friends who studied in Japan, and after discussion, the general result was that "スミレ(堇\Viola mandshurica)" and "アラセイトウ(堇\Matthiola Aiton)" are two unrelated plants in biological classification, and the only feature between them is only the similarity in color (the difference in appearance is very obvious).
The picture on the left is viola and the picture on the right is violet
If you go back one level further, you can find that although the Kyo Ani animation "Violet Eternal Garden (ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン\Violet Evergarden) is translated as violet in China, the flowers that appear in the performance are actually 堇, that is to say, the "Kyo Purple" that the public thinks is actually "Jing Violet".
Scene at 21 minutes and 50 seconds in the fourth episode of Violet Eternal Garden
But in fact, neither English nor Japanese has a situation where two plants use their names interchangeably (after all, they are not the same thing, and the distinction is very clear), which means that it is particularly interesting in China. To put it simply, it can be concluded that it should be a problem with early academic translation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > historical reasons</h1>
Later, after investigation, it was found that there was a literary translator named Zhou Shuangjuan during the Republic of China period, who had founded a literary magazine publication with a far-reaching influence on future generations, "Violet (originally named Half Moon, later renamed)". One of the reasons why this magazine was founded was to commemorate his regrettable love affair (he himself is also a Mandarin Duck Butterfly Writer, and the content is mostly based on the love of talented women), that is, to break up his girlfriend (girlfriend's English name is Violet). The flowers depicted in the magazine are exactly "violet", and given his translation and the influence of this publication, later generations have invariably translated "Violet" as a benchmark.
"Violet" monthly, the first square magazine in China in the early years of the Republic of China, the accuracy of the origin of the name can be self-read through the historical materials to confirm
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > different versions & bonus content</h1>
As for this work, it is actually a work originally released in March 2021. The usual version is 2,800 yen (excluding tax) and the pillow bonus version is 14,800 yen (also excluding tax), and the difference between the two is that in addition to the pillow bonus version, there will be one more body throw pillow for Hyuga Chihiro, and there will also be a radio drama called "Hug き pillow カバーDLC bonus".
Radio drama CD
If the player has made an appointment in advance, they can also get a colored paper bonus and tapestry drawn by the "むうつき" teacher (different local specialties are different), and the game also specially invites someone to draw a manga for publicity.
Some of the content of the comic is still relatively restored
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > plot unfolding</h1>
In fact, the game plot itself does not have any ups and downs, mainly in the workplace theme to interpret a pure love of the sweet love story. In addition to the main story, the game reveals a lot of social phenomena, which may be more suitable for filming or Japanese dramas.
Reunite at an izakaya
The plot of this work can be said to be plain and plain, which is roughly about the male protagonist of the worker, 996 overtime in the workplace every day, because of a chance company cocktail party reunion with high school classmate Hyuga Chihiro who has been separated for three years. Chihiro works at an izakaya for some reason, while the male protagonist is attacked by colleagues on single dogs, and the distance between the two becomes closer and closer at Chihiro's invitation. In essence, it can be seen as a story of pure love, but it points out many serious Japanese social problems, such as workplace bullying, gender antagonism, stereotypes, etc.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="48" > character development</h1>
In terms of roles, Hyuga Chihiro herself is a person of integrity, gentleness, and kindness, but the world is always cruel, and society does not give tenderness to her kind people. Chihiro repeatedly encountered walls in the workplace, and each time she quarreled with her colleagues and superiors because of her dissatisfaction with the system, which eventually caused frequent departures. This has become a kind of self-doubt for her, whether she is too different to be able to live smoothly in the world, and the redemption she gets when she is lost is the affirmation of the male protagonist.
Gentle, kind, virtuous
Personally, I think chihiro is actually a weakened version of Yukino, a person who pursues "the real thing", but due to family factors, he has to compromise with real life. Because of various reasons, the accumulated worry (heart disease) has also become the reason for her to deliberately keep a distance from the male protagonist, maintaining an ambiguous state of "more than friends and not enough lovers". In the process of continuous contact with the male protagonist, she also began to find that love is not a pure "scalar", but a "vector" of double arrows, so the relationship between the two has also escalated, gradually changing from staying overnight to living together, and the mentality is becoming more and more optimistic, which is quite gratifying.
High school memories
The Steam version of this game wants to simplify the content of the original work, the plot is basically a route, but it also leads to some local plots can not be connected, as well as the problem of shorter content, according to the conventional reading speed in two hours can definitely pass the level.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="58" > social issues & screen content</h1>
The lack of plot has also caused many social problems in the game to be found simply. For example, after the male protagonist spends the night for the first time, Chihiro will get up in the morning to help him wash his clothes and prepare breakfast, the male protagonist said that the female life is more fulfilling, and he is more single. This actually slightly carries a kind of stereotype of "male and female protagonists", in reality, both men and women, after embarking on society, everyone's life is relatively busy, this portrayal actually exacerbates the pressure of women's survival to some extent (Chihiro does part-time work, and the quality of life is higher than that of the male protagonist).
The lines of the two can be seen
In addition, I think there is still a logical loophole, the male protagonist believes that the reason why Chihiro's work is always done soon is her excess self-awareness, and the individual believes that if a society is always rigid, inflexible, and tries to achieve the so-called smooth results of the world through the workplace bullying of the predecessors to the younger generations, then the problem itself should be this sick society. It is precisely because of the existence of oppression, so it is necessary to resist, do not communicate then there will never be a turnaround, so the game in the end also gave the players a satisfactory ending, the previous work of the izakaya manager learned a lesson, and the male protagonist also married Chihiro, it is gratifying.
married
As for the picture, this work is still relatively detailed in terms of character painting and CG, and the teacher who works as the painter must be an old acquaintance of some senior A-house.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="68" > the problem of cultural differences</h1>
Finally, there is a little bit of something I want to explore. In the middle of the game, the male protagonist and Chihiro went to the love hotel, but under the expression of the Chinese, it is said that "the motel", and the male protagonist also has a line that is "often stays when a person goes out", but if you look at the English version at this time, the subtitle is "Love hotel", that is, "love hotel", which makes me confused again, thinking that it will not be a cultural difference.
The game comes with a voice, but basically only Hyuga Chihiro is dubbed throughout, I know a little bit of trilingualism, according to the Japanese voice expression does say the word "Love hotel", but Chinese is translated as "motel". In theory, "motel" should use "Motel", but in North American culture, it actually implies the meaning of "love hotel", and I don't know if the wrong word here is this reason.
Note the comparison between Chinese and English here
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="73" > conclusion</h1>
Overall, "Hyuga Chihiro's Work Is Always Done Soon" is indeed a small-grade production with good looks, but the game is still missing in many details. However, it is surprising that the workplace themes selected by the game reflect some contemporary social problems on both sides, and also make the rhythm and development of the plot closer to real life, so this pure love development can be so sweet and precious. This game is recommended for players of the hi-workplace theme game and pure love God of War.