The Second Reproduction (also known as Queen of Darkness ~The Second Reproduction~) is an otome game created by doujin circle Heterodoxy in 2008, set in the same universe as Queen of Darkness, the circle's first game, as well as serving as a sort of sequel. The Second Reproduction received a Fan Translation by Ate the Moon translations in 2012, but its prequel has yet to be translated.
This game follows Princess Christina, the third princess of Almenan. She holds a strong military position and is feared by the demon race for her countless victories against them. Not what comes to mind when you think of your typical princess.
She and her knight, Lezette, are sent by the queen to kill the demon king, Gardis, who welcomes them with open arms. He and his prime minister, Jin, even go so far as to allow them to stay in the castle and try to kill him as many times as they'd like. Now living together, the humans learn that there's far more to the demons then they were ever taught.
The Second Reproduction contains examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Those close to Christina call her Chris.
- All Love Is Unrequited: It's painfully obvious that both Lezette and Gardis are in love with Christina, even if she doesn't pursue them.
- Brains and Bondage: Very much Jin. He's an extremely powerful and intelligent demon who's the prime minister of Gardis and his kingdrom. He also loves bondage, and it plays a big role in his romance route.
- Companion Cube: An extremely tragic example with Gardis, in his bad ending. After being forced to watch her die, he uses magic to create a life-sized doll that looks exactly like Christina, and treats it as if it really is her.
- Continuity Nod: Gardis shows Christina a portrait of Risty (the protagonist of Queen of Darkness), his grandmother, and tells Christina that she looks just like her.
- Curious Qualms of Conscience: Christina and Lezette both start having this after spending time with the demon population.
- Despair Event Horizon: Gardis, in his bad ending. After watching Christina, who was also carrying his unborn child, be brutally murdered by her own mother, he goes utterly insane with grief. He becomes intent on destroying all humans, not at all caring that the world will eventually be destroyed as well.
- Did They or Didn't They?: Averted. All of the routes feature CGs or dialogue where it's shown that they did do it. This is very surprising considering the genre, where most of the time there's rape or they don't do it at all.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title both means that it's the second story set in the demons vs. humans universe (after Queen of Darkness), but also references how Christina must prevent the Bad Future in the second part of the game.
- Eternal Love: Humans can sign a Life Bonding Contract with a demon, allowing two souls to live the same lifespan. Applied to Christina in Gardis' good ending and Jin's ending.
- Fantastic Racism: Most humans have this toward demons. Blame the Corrupt Church for this one.
- Friend to All Children: Lezette seems to get along quite well even with demon children.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: After The Reveal that the Big Bad is Christina's mother.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: In the good endings, Christina calls for help from the rulers of other kingdoms she has helped over the course of the game in order to defeat her mother.
- Important Haircut: In Lezette's bad ending, Christina cuts Gardis' hair so she can take it with her as a sort of memento, and cuts her own so a part of her can still be with him.
- Important Hair Accessory: In Jin's ending, he and Christina tie their hands with his hair ribbon to represent that they'll be together forever.
- Ineffectual Death Threats: Christina makes these to Gardis throughout the first half of the game.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Regardless of which one she pursues, Christina's other two possible love interests will be supportive of the relationship, in spite of their own feelings for her.
- Ladykiller in Love: Gardis, even if Christina doesn't romance him.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The queen erased Christina's memories of being forced to slaughter an entire village of innocents, so she could keep using her.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When you think about it, the downfall of the queen, our real Big Bad, only happened because she sent Christina to kill Gardis. If they had never met, Christina would still be loyal to her mother and stuck in her Fantastic Racism point of view.
- Offing the Offspring: Christina's mother isn't above sacrificing her own daughters to achieve her goals. In Gardis' bad ending, she kills Christina without hesitation (and, unknowingly, her unborn grandchild).
- Older Than They Look: Most demons are subject to this, if Bishounen Gardis and Jin are any indication.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Christina has these a lot due to Laser-Guided Amnesia of the time she was made to slaughter an entire demon village.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: For Christina's older sister, despite it being a May–December Romance.
- Pointy Ears: One of the demons' main characteristics.
- Really 700 Years Old: The demons have extremely long lifespans and barely age.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: All demons have red eyes. Later averted, as the demons aren't as evil as the humans think.
- Redemption Quest: In the second half of the game, Christina seems to be trying to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
- Reset Button: In Gardis' route, Christina travels back to the second day she spent at the demon kingdom after Gardis is killed. In Lezette's route, she does the same after Lezette leaves her side. It isn't really explained if she just saw a Bad Future or she did travel through time.
- Shipper on Deck: Jin shows shades of being this for Gardis and Christina at times. At the very least, he likes the idea of them together.
- Tsundere: Christina shows many traits of this.
- Valentine's Day Episode: Once the player completes the five endings, a special Valentine's day story will be unlocked in the scenes menu.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The ending shows what happened to the main characters after the events of the game. People who Christina helped during the gameplay are included too.
