Family Project

Tsukasa Sawamura does not like people. He believes people are meant to live on their own and forming attachments with others will only hurt him in the long run. Because of this he lives a quiet life on his own, working in a Chinese restaurant to make ends meet. One day he finds an illegal immigrant, Chunhua, collapsed in the alley behind his workplace and for some reason is unable to ignore her plight.

After he takes her in, events begin to spiral out of control and Tsukasa is forced to thrown in with an assorted band of misfits, each of whom has their own reasons for being alone. Together they form the Family Project, an alliance of convenience disguised as a typical Japanese family. Despite his doubts, he goes along with the idea and is caught in the middle of each member's respective problems and antagonism. Yet, as time goes by, he finds it harder and harder to rationalise the loner attitude that was once the cornerstone of his life.

Family Project was translated into English by G-Collections in 2009 and marketed as the crown jewel of D.O., a company perhaps better known for Kana: Little Sister. It is a slight departure for the writer as well, who is better known for his work on Kana as well as another Utsuge, Yume Miru Kusuri; Family Project has plenty of Tear Jerkers but the main focus is on challenging the traditional notion of "family" and working out what (or who) is really important in a person's life.


 * Abusive Parents: Matsuri, Tsukasa and Aoba. But Jun's really take the prize here as
 * Ambiguously Gay: Tsukasa's boss Lau and the manager of the host club where Tsukasa works occasionally, Mr. Welcome. Lau claims that he's bi but then again, Lau likes to joke a lot...
 * Apologises a Lot: Matsuri, much to the annoyance of both Aoba and Tsukasa.
 * Beneath the Mask: Most characters qualify somehow, but Matsuri is the most blatant..
 * Big Damn Heroes: The end of Aoba's route.
 * And, in Masumi's route, Masumi herself.
 * Babies Ever After:
 * Bleached Underpants: The PSP version. It also adds in new CGs, as well as routes for Kei and Fung.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Much of the humour comes from asides, mostly done by Hiroshi. Tsukasa also does it a lot, especially when he's angry.
 * Broken Bird: What Aoba is eventually revealed to be, instead of simply a Jerkass.
 * To press the point further, in her route
 * Bowdlerise: The English version localized by JAST censored a great deal of scenes involving Matsuri. This might not have been so bad if they hadn't advertised it as "fully uncensored."
 * http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/07/21/family-project-kazoku-keikaku-fully-uncensored-eroge/
 * Butt Monkey: Poor Tsukasa. It's mostly verbal abuse, but if something can ruin his image, the rest of the family will take the ball and run with it. Sometimes out of malice, sometimes out of confusion, mostly just to get a rise out of him.
 * Chinese Girl: Chunhua Haruka has the personality and Fung has the looks. Strictly speaking, BOTH are, of course.
 * Christmas Cake: Masumi, and it's Played for Laughs just as much as it's treated as a serious plot point.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: When the going gets tough, Hiroshi is truly something else.
 * And Lau, though in his case the "Crouching Moron" part is much milder.
 * Curtains Match the Window: All the female members of the Takayashiki 'Family', Kei Hisame, Sayoko, Lau's sister Fung, and
 * Darkest Hour:
 * There's another a bit after that
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Aoba in her route. It also happens in all the other routes, but while on her own route she goes completely Yamato Nadeshiko, in the others she just goes from "Spoiled Queen Bitch from the Bowels of Hell" to a pretty standard modern Tsundere, just very heavy on the tsuntsun side..
 * Depraved Bisexual: Lau is certainly viewed this way.
 * Determinator: One of the key points of the game seems to be that everyone is a Determinator when the subject is important enough for him/her. Case in point: Aoba digging in the backyard, Matsuri working on the house even after falling sick, Masumi sticking with Tsukasa until the very end...
 * Dojikko: Explored/deconstructed with Matsuri, who is plagued by feelings of worthlessness that drive her to work herself to the bone. She collapses from exhaustion, which in turn makes her feel even more worthless. The stress she feels makes her clumsier, which then makes her work harder, and then she's exhausted and collapses again. Stressing her out more. It's not played for laughs or for cute.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending:
 * Eat the Dog: Narrowly averted with poor Meat. Matsuri and Tsukasa prefer not thinking about it.
 * Eccentric Mentor: The only thing is, Hiroshi doesn't pretend to be insane. He is insane.
 * Emotionless Girl: Jun.
 * First-Name Basis: Used to represent a major shift in Tsukasa's relationship with both Masumi and Matsuri.
 * Fridge Horror: So, while you were too busy fooling with Matsuri/Aoba/Masumi or looking for Jun . Granted, by the endings, everything seems to have been sorted out, but Chunhua's route gives you a different insight on
 * Friends Rent Control: Almost, but not quite averted. It seems unlikely that an insane former businessman, a recently-abandoned housewife, a dispossessed artist, a troubleshooter-for-hire, an unemployed illegal immigrant, a child factory worker, and a part time waiter would be able to afford the rent on the Takayashiki house. Tsukasa keeps mentioning spending control, though, and no one really knows what Hiroshi's job is.
 * Gratuitous English: Courtesy of Hiroshi, Lau and Mr. Welcome, all for no discernable reason.
 * Hiroshi is Hiroshi, and that's a good enough reason! As for Lau and Mr. Welcome.... I got nuthin'.
 * Lau...has his reasons...
 * Hachimaki: Matsuri dons one after fainting at a..um...key moment...in the plot.
 * Honest John: For the right price, Jun will handle most jobs.
 * I'm Taking Her Home with Me: Kei with Matsuri
 * Younger Sibling Fetishization: Matsuri, informally. However, her route emphasizes much different issues.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Very few of the main characters could be considered well-adjusted.
 * Medium Awareness: At one point, Tsukasa demands to know why he gets no option other than to comfort Matsuri. Matsuri herself pokes fun at how the background budget ran out during a scene in her workplace when the lights are off.
 * Mr. Fixit: Hiroshi seems to possess a talent for repairing things and eventually it is revealed that he
 * Mysterious Waif: Chunhua.
 * Nonstandard Game Over:
 * Norio Wakamoto: Voices Hiroshi under a pseudonym. ALL HAIL THE FAMILY PROJECT!!!
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Chunhua plays the Funny Foreigner thing to the hilt, but on several occasions will show much more melancholy and serious side. Since her life sucks, being the ignorant foreigner who speaks funny and gets taken care of is likely much easier for her.
 * Official Couple: Discussed by Tsukasa and Matsuri, who comments that the most popular pairing is probably "Tsukasa-san x Chunhua-san".
 * Only a Flesh Wound: Subverted in the ending of route- Tsukasa gets slashed in the left arm and near one of his eyes, but is discharged quickly from the hospital. Ten years later, he finds that he has trouble moving his left arm properly and is losing sight in that eye.
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: Among other examples, Tsukasa yells at Hiroshi for using emoticons instead of speech because they're not supposed to be able to read that. And also at Masumi for reading his name from the text on the screen when he didn't want to tell her.
 * Parental Abandonment: Tsukasa's mother died early on and his father gave him up to his uncle and aunt, who treated him with indifference and in some cases abused him, causing his distrust of people.
 * Then you find out that
 * Aoba takes the cake in this one, though. Huge spoilers ahoy:
 * Pass the Popcorn: After a confrontation between Tsukasa and Soeda over Masumi. Jun reacts by taking the younger members of the family out of earshot, Hiroshi reacts with strong advice for Tsukasa, Tsukasa and Masumi have a mildly emotional moment, Aoba...watches impassively while eating snacks.
 * Rape as Drama: Present at the end of Chunhua's route.
 * Rich Bitch: Aoba is a dispossessed version without a cent to her name but all the personality. She shares many of Tsukasa's beliefs but is even more vicious than he is about them.
 * Runaway Fiance: The reason why Aoba was disinherited.
 * Secret Project Refugee Family: The whole premise of the game.
 * Sitting on the Roof: Tsukasa goes there because it's the coolest part of the house, barring Aoba's room (which has the only air conditioner). He is joined by all of the characters at one point or another, mostly by whichever character you have accumulated the most affection points for.
 * Social Services Does Not Exist: Just how was Matsuri allowed to wander the streets on her own? Especially when she goes to school.
 * Being able to pay school fees would imply she's not destitute even though she is. And Tsukasa's restaurant gives her leftover food, so she's not starving. And she shows no injuries or signs of abuse. She presumably fakes residency information.
 * Sour Supporter: Tsukasa, Jun and Aoba.
 * Stepford Smiler: Matsuri and Kei.
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Let's see...waist-length black hair? Check. Aloof and composed? Check. All Aoba needs is an unwanted, completely un-self-confident hanger on...oh, wait.
 * Too Long; Didn't Dub: JAST USA's initial localisation left in some pretty glaring editing mistakes, including lines that were simply replaced with . It got patched later.
 * The Triads and the Tongs: Chunhua Haruka is running from them.
 * Tsundere: Lookin' a little Type A there, Aoba...
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Tsukasa and Kei Hisami. It's even pointed out by him in one scene.
 * Unwinnable by Design: You've been playing for like 20 hours. You paid attention to your chosen sweetheart and the story has come to a climax! ... what is this, the Bad Ending...? Crap, where did I go wrong? (Protip: see the entry under Surprise Difficulty for details. The author seems very fond of this kind of difficulty.)
 * Yamato Nadeshiko:
 * Your Costume Needs Work:
 * In fact, the whole situation is a possible subversion.