VN - Others - Completed - Marina's Cuckolding Report 2 [v1] [Atelier Sakura]

7 / 10.
A very solid game for it's genre, but suffers in 2 particular departments:

1) A bane of the genre - netorase - the girl doesn't really have a reason to refuse sex, so there's no real tension, except for some fluff.
No reason to refuse - means when the girl makes decisions, they doesn't tell us anything about her character. We don't know if she even feels anything - means we don't feel anything ourselves.
Except some fluff.
And the author doesn't really do much to compensate for it, which usually - in such games - done with the 2-nd point:

2) Boring sex.
Art is great. Voice-acting - hot. Premise is not bad at all.
Sex is fucking boring.
The guy who fucks the wife is advertised as a former porn actor - and that's the main premise of the game: he's supposed to be The Beast at fucking. So we wonder how the wife would deal with it. We have tension.
But then you come to the actual fucking and it's just... normal. No interesting dirty-talk, no interesting positions, no tempo switches or mind-games or kinks or ANYTHING.
She just "feels different" because he's "hitting something in some way" that we'll never see.
Disappointing.

So why such a high score?
Well, simply put: everything else is rock solid and done at the very high level.
Also, the second problem somewhat masked by the fact that you simply don't see the sex-scenes before you finish your first playthrough. They're just a bonus. And the game itself structured around this fact.
It's about teasing, not the sex.

Which is not perfect, but it kinda sorta maybe works?
I liked the teasing. It's the only way we see the wife's actual character. And this character is cute.

So yeah. 7/10 for the solid flawed game.

Among the Sakura Atelier games I've read, I feel like this is the high water mark for the team and the Marina series in particular.

It feels like a natural, reasonable transition from the dynamic of the previous entry, and starts with some interesting tension with Marina's next lover, because of course the protagonist is a dumbass about his fetish. The art remains great, and Marina's design is still a top-tier MILF. Her vocal performance is wonderful, or at the very least suitably affecting through the sex scenes. What sets this entry apart from so many others is the playful sadism on Marina's part. Here she is mean in the most loving way. She knows her husband well, and they're both erotic and endearing together. Marina's new partner is also a solid, fun character who has good chemistry with both the husband and wife. He's also very entertaining as an experienced veteran in bed. It's great to see how Marina plays with him, each taking turns to lead their sessions.

The second ending really drives her playful sadism, but I like these scenes less than the story's main ones. They're just a nice bonus.

While it likely counts for less for many players/readers, the family dynamic really sells that we're watching a family, a fleshed out husband & wife going about a sexual adventure. In any eroge, seeing a kid is a red flag, but here their daughter is there for wholesome reasons. I like how she always keeps the dad on his back foot. It's cute. The husband gets pushed around by all the women in his life, at least the ones who love him.

4/5

Art -> Above average. Like its sequel and predecessor, the game excels in the "when to show, when to hide, and when to partially tease" side of netorare/netorase when conveying scenarios.

Writing -> Average, I feel there is a trade for more sexual content at the cost of development and more interesting scenarios, though this may not be a truly negative issue and more of a matter of preference.

Gameplay -> A VN, largely kinetic, with very few branching decisions. Perhaps the most simple within the series.

Content -> The second installation brings sexual compatibility and the role of physical intimacy to the forefront. Unlike its predecessor this entry is more focused on the actual sex and excels in its scenarios. It does feel, however, is that the writing takes a hit to compensate for this.

"Marina's Cuckolding Report 2" (MCR2) is the second part in the netorase-focused Marina trilogy. It observes the continuity established in the prequel, and starts about a year after the events portrayed therein. Marina and Kenji Azumas have been engaging in the cuckolding play with a student Hiroto, but lately Hiroto seems to have fallen for Marina and has been neglecting his studies, hence the couple decides that they have to cut Hiroto loose.

Kenji has an idea to find a new "bull"on the internet, and surprisingly it goes pretty smoothly. Soon the Azumas are entertaining an older gentleman by the name of Yamashita Kouichi. Kenji eagerly awaits for Marina's report on her "extracurricular" activities after landing her to Kouichi, but upon her return is hit with baffling news: Kouichi is just not that good at sex...

In a way, MCR2 follows the same formula established by the predecessor - meaning it's a completely wholesome netorase game with pretty much no drama or conflict. And just like the first game, this one also has a more or less open ending, where nothing of particular import happens.

That said, I see MCR2 as an improvement over the prequel in a few areas. The first and foremost is the degree of sexual content. MCR1 was so painfully vanilla, that it was frankly boring, and while MCR2 does not include anything too kinky, we finally get things like light BDSM, light erotic humiliation, sex while watching pornography, etc...

MCR2 has learned all it could from the predecessor, and retains the slow teasing pace, but at the same time slowly lifts the curtain on Marina's sexual activities. At first Kenji gets to listen to audio files recorded during her lovemaking with Kouichi, later he acquires filmed material, and finally his is invited to watch. This works really well, and the main game has a good pacing with some high quality sex scenes.

The first playthrough is completely linear. After you finish the game once, a choice appears and allows you to play a mini scenario from Hiroto's perspective. Just like the first game, MCR2 hides the scenes from Marina's POV as a bonus in the scene replay gallery. It's easy to see why those scenes are considered a bonus, and not included in the main game, as they're overly long and pretty boring.

All in all, I'd say MCR2 is an improvement over the predecessor, and a worthy addition to the netorase (wife-sharing) genre.

[Read the full review here]

Again, what you see in there depends on your ability to interpret the still images. Overall, the creator found the aspect of realism more important than the experience of lust, so it outlines the relationship better without going far into its actual, interesting ideas. As an example, the element of confusion rather exists to work out character traits than to use those traits for more erotism. I believe you can maintain the purity in this game but develop it better.
I like the first game more because it has a natural build-up, with questions like who those characters really are and how it affects their bond. After the first ending though, I feel the recovery and build-up of the second isn't enough and thus feels essenceless or, may I say it, boring.

The characters are there, living their lives but I don't see much reason to... stay interested in it.

Love the developer's work. This is no different. Waited what felt like ages for the translation!

Pros:
- No humiliation
- Attractive female MC
- Amazingly hot scenes
- Well written story

Cons:
- Text heavy with not many variations in CG but this is common in most Japanese Games and doesn't pull away from the story.

This VN is really good.
It is pretty much the best game in the Marina series and stays true to the netorase aspect while flirting with NTR and some femdom vibes. Art is top notch as well.

Theres essentially only one route with a side route after you finish the main one, their both short but still good tho. It plays essentially as a static vn, you play the husband's pov first and then you can watch Marina's pov scenes in the gallery.

So Atelier Sakura games at their best.

Thanks Capu2 for finishing translating the trilogy.