Recommended
When you read the synopsis of Love 2 Quad then actually go and watch the show, the only reaction you’ll have is “Huh?”. You will experience the purest, unadulterated form of confusion as you start the show, hoping for some sort of explanation halfway through but you keep marching forward and by the end you still have no idea what is going on. I was going to play the visual novel so I could provide the viewers of this hentai with some reprieve and quench that curiosity as to what the hell the story is actually about however I am sad to say that Icould not find an English translated version of the visual novel. However disregarding the absolute lack of story in the show, the pacing and visuals were still onpoint with some of the greatest voice acting I’ve ever witnessed from a hentai.
Story : 4
The synopsis provided on hanime.tv shapes this hentai out to be some wacky time travel mystery organization fighting an out of this world enemy adventure however we barely get any of that from the hentai. Even within the first episode, we are just thrust into the thick of it with two characters we are never formally introduced to with the “flashback introduction” creating even more confusion. By the second episode, you will definitely feel like you’re not supposed to be watching this, as if you had randomly clicked on the 14th episode of a 25 episode story-driven show with nods to characters and past situations that the show is expecting you to know. While this may work for the fans of the original visual novel, for the unfamiliar this all comes off as a hentai with just a trace of storytelling put into it jumping from character to character. So unless you actually played the visual novel, then this hentai will be just downright confusing.
Art and Animation : 8
Now as I mentioned in the introduction, while you may not understand what the hell is going on as you ferociously beat your meat, at least you’ll have a good time not understanding what the hell is going on. Visually this is definitely an above-average hentai and once again shows how older hentai was visually superior to what has come out in recent times. From the character expressions, backgrounds and animations nothing feels ‘budget’ and it never takes away from the experience which is what I believe visuals in hentai should aim for. It isn’t like I don’t want some ufotable UNLIMITED BUDGETWORKS type of hentai but if we’re being realistic the artstyle and animation should at least not detract from the hentai watching experience and Love 2 Quad’s art and animation do not disappoint.
Characters : 7.5
The characters along with the voice-acting were truly the highlight of the fap for me. While I often gush about a hentai being able to convey great character development efficiently given the nature of hentai running for few episodes where most of their screentime consists of fucking or being fucked, this show has some truly spectaculary VAs that brought the characters to life. While contextually I was lost, every moment with Honoka or Ermalit helped build a strong image of who these characters were, how they related to our MC. We were able to see, in Ermalit’s case, the struggle manifested within her psyche that our MC somehow saved her from which shows her true feelings towards him. We see towards the final act how this comes full circle as she expresses her deeper feelings towards MC-kun and lets down the walls she held up from some unknown past trauma. In Honoka’s case, much like Ermalit’s tsundere archetype, we are treated to a great incarnation of that beloved younger sister archetype we all know and love. In both girls' cases, there isn’t one outright thing that makes these things special but rather it is a slow burn build up where the characters aren’t special, rather we find value in the sum of the parts. Every little thing they do, from how they speak, how they act, how their inner monologues go slowly builds a beloved character in our mind that differentiates from the moulds these characters are initially cut from. All the silly things Honoka does, how she treats MC-kun with this feeling of unease and trepidation at losing him, how she fapped with his boxers over her head. In all that hilarity, we find something not quite relatable but still endearing in an imouto, so while he does fuck her and I wouldn’t do that in reality, you come out with this adoration for the smol imouto who is trying her absolute best and you can’t really fault her for that can you?
Voice Acting Performance : 10
(Ok I know they aren’t siblings but they give off a bro-sis dynamic so just go with it)
So while there was great character execution, I’m not quite ready to give it an amazingly high rating because much of that character comes through in the voice acting and boy is this one high class affair. Both main female character VAs poured their everything into this performance and you can just feel it as you get such a strong image of these characters from their very first line of dialogue. With Ermalit, you are introduced to her with a cold, masochistic line oozing with her very disgust for you yet you can feel it isn’t quite as harsh as it first appears. Layers and layers of the character are prevalent in each line of dialogue and as we unpackage that complex performance then does it become so brilliant. At no point does Ermalit sell some utter hatred of you, in fact you know that she does like you quite a great deal yet if you look at it from a surface level that is nowhere to be seen. Yet when she has a bad dream, in one line you sense her vulnerability and like a perfect embodiment of a tsundere, the VA is able to snap between those two sides seamlessly without it feeling unnatural.
While casually browsing the anime’s page this, the reason why she was voiced so well becomes all too apparent. There, like a rare gemstone, I saw it “Hiromi Igarashi”, an actual VA’s name. Such a rare sight to see a VA who has done other non-hentai works being in things as big as Overlord and Isekai Quartet to the legendary Oni Chichi franchise’s leading lady. Obviously she, unlike some voice actors (yes I’m looking at you Daisuke Hirakawa voice of epic gamer Kakyoin who voiced Tamotsu from Boku no Pico), actually isn’t ashamed to voice a hentai and thus she is able to put a great deal of passion into her voice acting performance no matter the medium.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have an uncredited VA who voiced little sister Honoka or better known as “The rapper Eminem is too afraid to diss” because she’s spitting out more words per minute than Twista (ok I don’t know anything about rap I googled “fastest rapper” and this is what came out). This is initially what inspired me to watch this hentai as I saw a clip of Rap God Imouto over here and I just had to watch it and for me it is pretty fucking funny but it also helps convey her timid nature and how she’s always trying to please her MC-kun. When she’s with him clearly her mind is going a mile a minute and all she can think about is to please the person she loves most in the world. These are probably two of the best voice acting performances I have ever encountered in my hentai journey.
Enjoyment : 8
I thoroughly enjoyed this show, it has great characters, great animation, great art and some top notch voice acting. All that’s holding it back is that I have no idea what the hell is going on and I wish I could help but I don’t speak a lick of Japanese and couldn’t find an English version of the VN. I’ve already gushed about the voice acting but that alone should get you to watch the show as it is also genuinely quite funny with some absurd scenes like MC-kun getting a girl off using the built-in bidet while Honoka just watches. This is a pretty solid watch if you don’t mind not knowing what is going on in the overarching story but it's a wholehearted recommendation from me.
