Heart Work

A 1997 visual novel by Active.

Yuu Asakura is just a common high-school student. One day, he accidentally changes his school bag with one belonging to a hitman. Once he discovers that by opening the bag in his family's apartment, he also finds the man's gun. The weapon for some reason feels attractive to the boy, and he ends up firing it, thankfully without wounding anybody. Scared but still weirdly attached to the gun, and mildly afraid of the original owner, Yuu...Well, this is a visual novel, so it's up to the player,and by that we mean, Yuu, to decide what Asakura must do with the gun and the other items in the bag.

Translated to English by Kitty Media in 2009. The artist behind the character designs is Sei Shoujo, the same behind Bible Black and STARLESS. And the storyline is as dark as of these works.


 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: When Nakamoto sees Yuu initiating a robbery right in front of her in one of the game's routes, she don't gets scared or anything, but comments she never expected him to be so "manly".
 * Absurdly Youthful Father: Ending 3..
 * And the Adventure Continues...: Ending 5 and 6..
 * Asshole Victim: Angel defines Kengo as such while explaining her mission to Yuu(he is an arms dealer knowingly making deals with criminals), and what really makes the mission morally ambiguous is that Angel is also willing to assasinate his innocent daughter.
 * Babies Ever After: Ending 3..
 * Bolivian Army Ending: Ending 1..
 * Face Heel Turn: Yuu may go through this in several ways through the game's routes..
 * Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Masaki Ishihara is an hitman seemingly warped by the powers of the gun, and by what we see in game he likes to rape his female victims directly or indirectly. By what Morikawa explains, however, he was normal before finding the gun, what gives him shades of Tragic Villain.
 * Groin Attack: Ending 14..
 * Heel Realization: Ending 5..
 * Hero Antagonist: Morikawa becomes one to Yuu if.
 * Hope Spot: Ending 17..
 * Hot Mom: Misako, Yuu and Misami's mother, it's pretty good looking and curvaceous.
 * Hot Teacher: Mizutani is a teacher in Yuu's class and is also beautiful and curvaceous. However, despite her hotness, she is more feared than loved thanks to her strict attitude.
 * Living Weapon: The gun Yuu accidentally obtained from the hitman seems to be capable of changing the mind of its wielder into one of a psychotic violent killer, presumably so it can kept being used and obviously not destroyed. And its effects don't seem to wear off if the wielder loses contact with her, though depending on the player's choices Yuu may break out of its influence.
 * Moral Event Horizon:. In-universe, Ending 5..
 * Ms. Fanservice: It is a hentai VN but most female characters dress modestly. Morikawa's outfit however is filled from the bottom to the top with fanservice tropes.
 * Multiple Endings: There's 19 of them, though some are basically "mission failed" versions of others.
 * Mutual Kill: Ending 3..
 * Pet the Dog: If Yuu decides to be the backup of Angel in the assassination mission,.
 * Pragmatic Villainy: In Ending 5,.
 * Rescue Romance: Ending 4..
 * Stupidity Is the Only Option: Averted. Delivering the gun to the police like a normal person would is a choice. However,.
 * The Nineties: Made and set in this decade, and it shows. There is a VHS tape in the hitman's bag.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Ending 14..
 * Younger Sibling Fetishization: Averted, mostly because Yuu's little sister is a pretty minor character. In Ending 17, however,.