Kareshi Igai 2 ~Joushi to ayamachi~

彼氏以外2 ～上司との過ち～

Company: Cineria
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.12.24
Official site: http://www.ike-men.net


Kareshi Igai is a series that gives you the strange experience of... cheating. With a drama CD. Yeah. The concept here is that you already have a boyfriend, but that there is also someone else in your life. This second CD has you cheating on your boyfriend with your direct superior at work.

At work you are just a temporary worker and her boss, however no-one knows that you have the key to his apartment and occasionally go there after work. Makabe Hikari (CV: Yusa Kouji) seems to be cold and all about work, and well, that is actually just how he is.

Of course, there are reasons for that, and you will discover those in the course of this drama. The first is that his family situation was... less than fortunate. His mother was abusive, making him distrust women in general, and thanks to his parents unhappy marriage his doesn't believe in love to begin with. And the fact that a rich business partner () took enough interest in him to give him his apartment probably didn't help.

Each track in this CD is a (short) scene from your moments together. The first few ones establish your current situation, and after that you gradually discover more of Makabe his situation. You don't seem to be entirely naive though. Not just that you are cheating on your own boyfriend, but you seem to know full well that you are not his only girl.

There are two things that I noticed about this drama: the fact that there is no background music, and that what you hear is really only one side of the conversation. Makabe almost never repeats what you have supposedly said, a tactic that is commonly used in situation CDs. Personally, I think it is pretty amazing that they managed to write it in such a way that the entire story is completely understandable and the conversation seems natural.

That there is no background music is kind of logical. This is supposed to be a 'simulation' that lets you experience how it feels to cheat. Real life doesn't have background music, so there no background music here either. And this actually makes some scenes more intense. When Makabe has sort of broken down and his telling his story, that voice alone is enough to give me goosebumps. In the beginning I thought Yusa sounded kind of flat, but in later scenes there is so much emotion.

Something else I liked was the addition of another character, Asahi (CV: Kibe Shouta). Asahi is a subordinate of Makabe and a bit of an idiot, but he livens up the CD. The track which is written one of his diary entries is hilarious. It is part of the ending (sort of) and it made me laugh so much.

Speaking of the ending, this time the default ending is a happy one. If you listen to the extra track, there is also a 'bad' ending. Although, in the case of cheating one could wonder what a good or bad ending is.


Conclusion:
Despite me disliking the idea of 'cheating', I really enjoyed this CD. This is not your normal happy fluffy love situation, and a really emotive work. At least I became fully engrossed in it. Ah well, enjoy your cheating experience, and like I said the last time: let's keep the cheating to this CD (*ﾟ∇^*)