Sakura Sakura (visual novel)

Infobox VG
title= Sakura Sakura


caption=
developer= Haikuo Soft
publisher= Haikuo Soft
released= vgrelease|JP=October 24 2008
genre= Eroge, Visual novel
modes= Single-player
ratings= 18+
platforms= PC
media=DVD
requirements=Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista
input= Nihongo|"Sakura Sakura"|さくらさくら is a forthcoming Japanese adult visual novel developed by Haikuo Soft. It will be released on October 24 2008 for the PC as a DVD. The game is described by the development team as a Nihongo|"school dormitory romance see-saw game"|学園寮恋愛シーソーゲーム|Gakuen Ryō Ren'ai Shīsō Gēmu.citeweb|url=http://sakura.iam-hiquality.com/staff.html|title=A list of staff and specifications on "Sakura Sakura"'s official website|publisher=Haikuo Soft|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-06-16] The gameplay in "Sakura Sakura" follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters.

Gameplay

The gameplay in "Sakura Sakura" requires little player interaction as most of the duration of the game is spent on simply reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents either dialogue between characters, or the inner thoughts of the protagonists. Similar to 2D platformers, "Sakura Sakura" allows the player to navigate through the dormitory from a profile side-view perspective.citeweb|url=http://sakura.iam-hiquality.com/sys.html|title=An introduction of the system of "Sakura Sakura" on its official website|publisher=Haikuo Soft|accessdate=2008-06-17|language=Japanese] Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point" where he or she is given the chance to choose from options that are displayed on the screen, typically two to three at a time. Gameplay pauses at these points until the player makes a choice, and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are multiple plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience. To view all of the plot lines, the player will need to replay the game multiple times, access different areas and make different choices to progress the plot in an alternate direction. One of the goals of the gameplay is to view the hentai scenes, depicting one of the protagonists having sexual intercourse with one of the heroines.

Plot and characters

Unlike most visual novels, "Sakura Sakura" consists of three chapters and follows the stories of two protagonists. The first chapter follows the life of Nihongo|Tōru Inaba|稲葉 徹|Inaba Tōru|"Voiced by:" Kentarō Ōkubo and his romantic relationship with Nihongo|Nanako Sakura|桜 菜々子|Sakura Nanako|"Voiced by:" Izumi Maki and Nihongo|Sakura Kirishima|桐島さくら|Kirishima Sakura|"Voiced by:" Yukari Aoyama. The second chapter takes place a year afterwards, and follows the life of Nihongo|Naoki Fuse|布施 直樹|Fuse Naoki|"Voiced by:" Hitoka Kinosaki, and his romantic relationship with his childhood friends Nihongo|Akira Shinden|新田 晶|Shinden Akira|"Voiced by:" Yuika Kanematsu and Nihongo|Kurumi Tachibana|立花くるみ|Tachibana Kurumi|"Voiced by:" Yui Sakakibara. It is then followed by a third chapter, which continues the relationship between Tōru, Nanako and Sakura.

The story begins with Tōru Inaba, a second-year high school student transferring into the Nihongo|Rintoku Academy|麟徳学園|Rintoku Gakuen. On his first day of school, Tōru discovers that all the empty rooms at the school dormitory, Maison Lune, was arranged for only first-year students, and he has no choice but to move into a second, smaller school dormitory named Nihongo|Tsukimi Apartments|月見荘|Tsukimi Sō. There, he meets two residents of the dormitory, Akira Shinden, a short-tempered, aggressive member of the gymnastics club, and Naoki Fuse, an easy-going kendo club member who shows no interests in education, which resulted in him often being referred as a NEET. Both of them attempts to recruit Tōru into the club they respectively belong to, but is interrupted by Nanako Sakura, a soft-spoken, caring teacher and the dormitory's matron, who falls into Tōru's arms, while trying to stop the two.

Development

"Sakura Sakura" was the fifth project developed by Haikuo Soft, and was developed as an adult game like "Yotsunoha". Much of the development team is composed of the staff that has previously developed "Yotsunoha". The scenario was provided by Tatomu and Keikei. Art direction and character designs were headed by three people, Akira Kasukabe, Xsara, and Yukari Higa, who has previously illustrated the manga series "Shina Dark", with cut-in graphics provided by Mako Aboshi. The music used in "Sakura Sakura" was composed entirely by Ryō Kyōna.

Release history

Before the game's release, a free game demo of "Sakura Sakura" was released online on June 6 2008, [citeweb|url=http://sakura.iam-hiquality.com/down.html|title=A list of downloads related to "Sakura Sakura" at its official website|publisher=Haikuo Soft|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-06-18] which gives the player a glimpse into the story and gameplay of "Sakura Sakura". The full game will be released on October 24 2008 as a DVD playable only on a Microsoft Windows PC, after several postponements. [citeweb|url=http://sakura.iam-hiquality.com/enki.html|title=An announcement of the release delay of "Sakura Sakura" at its official website|publisher=Haikuo Soft|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-06-18]

Adaptations

Books

Before the game's release, a book titled "Sakura Sakura Prelude Book" was released on October 14 2007. The book was fully colored, and contained information on the release of the visual novel. Four A3-sized posters were included with the book, each depicting one of the four main heroines from the game.citeweb|url=http://sakura.iam-hiquality.com/goods.html|title=A list of media related to "Sakura Sakura" at its official website|publisher=Haikuo Soft|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-06-27]

Audio CDs

The visual novel featured two pieces of theme music. The opening theme was "See-saw!", and was performed by Chata, composed by Ryō Kyōna, and written by Keikei. The ending theme was "Place", performed by Yuiko.

Prior to the release of the game, an image song single titled Nihongo|Nanako Sakura and Kirishima Sakura's character disk|桜菜々子・桐島さくら　キャラクターディスク|Sakura Nanako Kirishima Sakura Kyarakutā Disuku was released on May 28 2008. It was sung by Izumi Maki and Yukari Aoyama, two voice actress who voiced Nanako Sakura and Sakura Kirishima in the visual novel respectively.

Reception and sales

Prior to the release of the game, according to a national ranking based on pre-orders made on bishōjo games, "Sakura Sakura" was placed at fifth place during mid-February to mid-March 2008,citeweb|url=http://www.pc-press.net/reservationrog.html|title=PCpress back issues pre-order rankings|publisher=PCpress|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-07-17] and was again listed on the ranking during mid-April to mid-May, as the fourth most pre-ordered title; it was listed on the ranking during mid-June to mid-July, as the second most pre-ordered title, and was placed at fourth place on the same ranking the next month. [citeweb|url=http://www.pc-press.net/reservation.html|title=PCpress' mid-July to mid-August pre-order rankings|publisher=PCpress|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-07-31]

References

External links

* [http://sakura.iam-hiquality.com/ Haikuo Soft's official "Sakura Sakura" visual novel website] jp icon